Chapter Text
after hours of searching shane had finally found the costumes. "found it!!" irina came running into his arms between all of the boxes. "yes!!! i will be the prettiest miss starfire!!"
"you sure will." he booped her nose as they got up.
— Trick or Treat —
"come on dad!" she exclaimed, skipping with excitement, pulling her dad door to door in order to collect most amount of candy. "i can't lose to arthur and amber." he reminded her dad
she went ahead and knocked on the next door. a man opened the door with the warmest smile in a red hood costume Irina jumped pointing a him, looking back at his dad who stood one step behind her. "Look dad this mister knows about our books!"
shane was dressed in a Nightwing costume at the age of thirty and Irina was dressed up as Star fire. The man crouched down to her eye level. "i give you special because our costumes match." he glanced up at shane for a slight nod before patting her head and throwing fist full of candy into her basket. "Thank you!"
The night was way to long for shane, way to short for Irina. she had made a stop at every door on their new neighbourhood. they had moved in, in the morning of halloween, and this was not the best idea shane noted.
"Daaaaad!" she jumped onto him, he slept through the sun that was shining on his face. "yes princess?" he gave a kiss on her hair. She listed all the things she wanted to eat for breakfast while ending all of the options with halloween candy. In the end shane decided on pancakes and started the machine to grab some coffee for himself. he was really glad that halloween came on a friday this year.
he looked around the living room, eyeing all the stuff that was waiting for him to deal with. he huffed sitting on the couch and started the tv. irina sat beside him with a bowl on her legs as she ate down the pancakes with much gusto.
there wasn't much else to do, shane was starting a new life for his first time at thirty. Which might sound a bit worrying, like a mid life crisis but it was neither.
"im sorry, shane. I can't do this anymore." he couldn't believe his ears. he should've.
"we have a daughter." he was desperate. she hold his hand at dinner. "i know, but we are not compatible shane and you know that." shane felt like something had crushed him into million pieces, not being able to answer her.
she squeezed his palm as an act of reassureance. everything is fine. her eyes told him. he saw her through cloudy eyes now.
he swallowed down the coffee before falling too deep into the past. Irina had already started colouring on the floor, kicking her feet in the air singing the starting song of her favorite cartoon. Shane regretted many things but Irina was never one of them. Some people need longer to find themselves they would say, but shane still felt like a foreigner in his own body at thirty.
Finishing his coffee gave him the energy he needed, so he started unpacking as Irina helped him. he divided everything to where they belonged and left the empty boxes closer to the door so that he could take them out all at once. first floor was done so they put the boxes into one another and Irina hoped onto Shanes shoulders. As they walked out of the door, the one opposite of them had opened too.
a man walked outside, heavy duffel bag hanging across his shoulder. "oh it's the red hood!" the man smiled at them dearly. "we met again miss Starfire." he said with a thick russian accent.
Irina pressed her palms to her mouth "you sound funny."
"Irina, we don't say that." he glanced back at Ilya "im sorry about that." but he wasn't taken. "it's fine." he saw the pile of boxes through the litte opening at the door "can i help?" he offered, pointing to the boxes.
"no i- it's fine, we wouldn't want to hold you back." he huffed and took the boxes out of Shanes hands. their hands brushed against each other that made him look away, he moved to get the rest of the boxes. they were all sorted out thanks to hours of affords they put into. Irina's chin was resting on Shanes head as her arms cradled his face between them. she was still singing the same melody as before. they dropped the boxes into the trash.
"Thank you so much for your help." shane felt awkward. "We just moved in. Im shane, this is Irina." he stretched his hand and ilya gave it a shake adding "im Ilya. nice to meet you princess Irina." the name felt heavy on his mouth. he knew it shouldn't feel that way but it somehow did. "We will be seeing each other alot." he added looking down at shane. "yeah, you live across the hall so it's inevitable." inevitable Ilya would search that word later.
he left as Irina screamed "see you again mr. red!" he waved at them and left. shane couldn't help but notice the car he was driving.
"how is it going honey!" asked the voice at the end of the face time. it was shane's mother and it was surprising that she hadn't called him earlier. shane continued working on the second floor now in Irina's room. she ran around the room while shane placed her clothes into the wardrobe.
"This is why i didn't wanted you to move there shane. Look at you." "im fine mom." he said trying to stop Irina finally catching her and put her on top of his shoulders. "say bye to grandma Irina."
"bye granny!!!" she exclaimed. He hung up the phone and moved her hands up like a airplane starting to run. "Yaay i am a plane!!" she shouted. this had been one of the games they had created together at twenty-seven and the realisation of being thirty hit him harder than expected. he hold her under her arms and put her on the ground.
✧.*
duffel bag hangin from one side, a snickers bar pressed in between his teeth as he entered the hall. "hii mr red." Irina said he was leaning on the door.
"hello Irina." he turned away from his door, crouched to her eye level. "what are you doing here?"
"i am waiting for my dad," she said eyes stuck on ilyas last bit of the snack. he looked down at the chocolate. "oh, and where is your mom?"
"she is far away."
"so just you and your dad?"
"yes!" she started rocking back and forth with a mischievous smile as ilya gave the last piece to her. "mr red, can i show you my room?!" her eyes went wide with the idea. shane had arrived but it came to ilya's attention after he was standing at the door slightly scolding Irina not in a harsh way.
"is okay shane." he winked at Irina and she led out a chuckle. before he could answer she pulled on his hand "can i show mister red my room pleaseeeeee?" he hugged around shanes legs. and of corse it wasn't a no.
leaving his fathers side he grabbed Ilyas finger pulling him behind himself into the house. "careful!" shane yelled following them. the room was fully pink with white furniture and a strawberry shaped bed. there were books stocked on one side and some comics on the other.
Ilya felt like a giant moving around fearing he could break something. she sat him down onto her bed bringing the comics out "see, these are my favourite books. dad reads them to me everydayyy."
Ilya nodded with a big smile on his face, he was really interested in how much she could talk. he got introduced to some dolls and some plushies as she introduced them. "finally meet mister snoopy!!" she showed it to ilya, standing in front of him. "snoopy, met mister red!!" Ilya gestured "nice to meet you snoopy. so this is your best friend?" she nodded enthusiastically. "can i be your friend too?"
"yes! yes!! yess!!!" he stumped her feet, jumping onto him making him fall back with little her arms wrapped around her neck.
Ilya was happy, maybe even happier than when he had won the cup for the first time. this little creature had infected him with the jot she had. shane was looking at them leaning onto the doorframe not interrupting, since he saw Ilya's amusement.
✧.*
"so you moved here just yesterday?" ilya asked sitting across the table, irina and shane opposite of him. digging into the dish he got to taste thanks to Irina's plea.
"yeah." shane chuckled, adding more parmesan to irina's pasta. "we used to live in ottawa. it was near my parents and the nature was beautiful, but then -he cupped his hand under irinas chin catching the falling food- i decided it was time to get our life alone."
"good, Boston is nice. you will like it here."
"i hope so." he took a bite of his food. the silence started growing so he tried again. "how long have you lived here?"
"is twelve years now. i am here since i was nineteen years old." shane couldn't hide that he was surprised. "alone?" he saw ilya tense up bh the question so wanted to brush it off but he was faster. "yeah, my family.." he chewed on his words "they are in russia."
"sorry about that, you must be missing them." shane felt a sudden jealousy rise up inside of him. the man sitting across was a person that already had his life together. he had also moved away at eighteen but being in Montreal just two hours away from home wasn't exactly like being in another country. i wish i had that. he thought to himself.
meanwhile Ilya felt like he was being crushed under the assumption that shane had just made. it lingered heavily on the air as he tried to swallow the rest of his food, washing it down with water.
"yes." he managed to say hardly, but he saw shane nod.
his phone rang and he got up to the kitchen area to get it, it was hayden. "is it uncle hayden?" Irina asked big brown eyes looking even bigger now with curiosity. shane nodded as he came back to the table answering the phone. "hey buddy!...." the excited voice filled his ear so he moved the phone away. hayden was...talkative. and even after all these years shane wasn't used to that.
but now he had Irina and as expected she wanted to talk to the kids so he cut him off "are the kids with you? Irina wants to talk to amber."
"yeah, hold on. Ruby let your sister alone!!..." another phone removal from his ear. he mouthed sorry to Ilya as the other just nodded it's fine.
the next second they had already switched to Facetime and Irina asked his dad for her candy from yesterday. she sat with the bucket, that shane brought to him as she spoke to the four year old girl at the end of the phone.
he started cleaning the table as ilya insisted to help. they got the dishes in the sink and now he was cleaning them as shane moved to clean the counter. they had been so in trance not knowing that Irina was now pointing the back camera at them smiling mischievously.
"Hold on! Shane!" Haydens voice drag the attention of them to the camera. A sudden panic rose up inside shane as he throw the wet cloth on the counter and grabbed Irina as he walked to the couch to give Ilya some privacy. it felt more like he was running away from him.
"Omg dude!!"
"shhh, cut it. he is just our neighbour who helped us." he tried to explain.
"YOUR NEIGHBOR?!" he moved the phone away a third time. "Dude do you now who he even is??"
now shane was confused by the reaction of Haydens. at first he had worried that he would misunderstand him for having a boy over at her daughters presence. Also he wasn't used to be out yet. it had been less than a year since he came out.
"Ilya?" he whispered trying his best not to make it obvious. "THATS ILYA ROZANOV! he is the center of Boston Raiders!"
"and?"
"and? AND?? dude he is a legend. he holds a record of winning four Stanley cups back to back. He is a really strong player on the ice."
"sooo, you mean he is your celebrity crush?" he joked.
"dude!" he laughed slightly. they always had a banter going on. they have known each other since Uni after all. Being roommates for four years had teached them alot about each other. but mostly made him realize how much he craved the silence in his life.
hayden was just...too loud sometimes, or too energetic, enthusiastic or too touchy. so much that shane had mistaken him being gay at first. the way he would dress and everything were just screaming stereotypical gay men. but then again thats what he had heard people say. he wasn't even old enough to understand what they would meant by that.
at eight years old he had worn some "normal" pants and a shirt not knowing that would be the start of his internalised homophobia. the kids had made fun of him for having tight clothes on and shane was a shy kid so he didn't say anything. he went home and throw the clothes into the trash. from then on he only wore "masculine clothes". Which meant every fit screamed "im going to the gym."
So seeing hayden in some overly thigh jeans made him think that. but then he was introduced to her -now wife- then girlfriend Jackie. they had married pretty young right after hayden graduated, he had joked about him being a child wife but of corse was the best man at his wedding.. years after they introduced him to Katelyn at twenty-five years old.
he would always lie about having casual people over but they were all a lie. so when hayden insisted on introducing them he didn't refuse and got married a year later into dating.
"yeah, send my regards to Jackie and the kids."
"love you too man."
"bye."
"sorry about that, a close friend of mine so i had to pick up." he explained, even though Ilya didn't say a word. he was just standing behind the counter looking at them.
"thank you for the food, you are a very good cook." he came to them as he crouched down to Irina. "thank you for inviting me princess." he booped her nose. "you're welcome Ilya!" she hugged him.
"im not mr red anymore?"
"no you are my best friend now, with mister Snoopy."
ilya smiled ear to ear as he met eyes with shane who had been looking at them. "well, lets let Ilya go now."
"will you come tomorrow too?" she asked at the door. Ilya didn't know what to say so he looked up at shane. shane gave him a comforting nod as if he said its up to you. so ilya looked back down "maybe." and left.
it was the first time ilya had felt something closer to a family dinner since fifteen years. his last one had been when his mother was still alive.