Chapter Text
Hayden Pike was not having a good day. In fact, he was prepared to say that his day couldn’t get any worse.
He loved playing home games because it meant that he could spend more time with Jackie and the kids, but despite the fact that he would be the first person to admit he loved being a family man, there were certain things that Hayden did not like doing, no matter how much he loved his kids.
Ruby and Jade both had the flu. He and Jackie had been called earlier in the day to pick them up from school after Ruby had thrown up in the playground. He loved his kids, he really did, and he hated seeing them sick, but he had had plans with his wife goddammit. Plans that involved a romantic lunch after morning practice. Plans that involved him and Jackie at home, relaxing in the bath, and maybe moving to the bedroom if things went well.
In all honesty Hayden loved getting any extra time with his children, but he hated to lose time like this with his wife, especially when they had been on the road for a few games in a row, and well, who likes to see their children ill?
A small selfish part of him also admitted that he did not enjoy clearing up vomit from his carpets, but as Jackie so lovingly reminded him, because he had missed so many diapers when Ruby and Jade were babies, this one was on him. And how could he argue with that logic?
So Hayden spent the rest of his afternoon looking after two sick five year olds, his romantic plans for the afternoon abandoned.
By the time Hayden and Jackie made it to bed, he had cleaned up vomit from no less than three different pieces of furniture, and washed the girls’ bed sheets.
Hayden wished that he could say the bad luck ended that night. But it seemed that that day had just been the beginning. When he woke up, it was to the realisation he had forgotten to plug his phone in before he went to bed and it had died, and so his alarm had never gone off.
He groaned as he stared up at the ceiling, thinking of the team meeting that was starting in twenty minutes that he was almost definitely going to be late for. Of all the game days for this to happen it had to be when they were playing Boston. Of course.
After borrowing Jackie's phone to text Shane asking him to let the coach he was running late, he grabbed his game day bag from the closet and went downstairs to grab one of the protein bars they kept around for Shane to eat in the car.
Once he made it to the rink though, it seemed like his luck was turning around. His favourite parking space seven spaces down from the main door was empty, and his favourite flavour of gatorade was in stock in the vending machine near the locker rooms. In fact, he began to think his luck was turning around.
Hayden had almost forgotten that playing Boston meant Rozanov. So when he saw him walking towards the fire exit, a pack of cigarettes in hand, he couldn’t be blamed for the feeling of hatred rising in his chest. It was no secret that there was no love lost between him and Ilya Rozanov.
Ilya appeared to be texting someone as he was walking down the hall. Hayden sighed and started to turn away when Rozanov looked up from his phone and made eye contact with Hayden.
But just as he was opening his mouth, no doubt to make a snide remark about Hayden’s children or wife, he tripped over his shoelace that had come untied and smacked into the wall, arms flailing a little as he dropped his phone with a shocked expression on his face.
Hayden laughed. Before Ilya could say anything though, Hayden had disappeared through the doors back towards the locker rooms, a grin on his face. This day just kept getting better.
So all in all, he felt that this day was turning around. What else could the sight of Rozanov looking like an idiot be other than a sign that his luck was improving.
It wasn’t until after stubbing his toe on the bench, and realising that he had left his lucky socks in the laundry basket yesterday that he started to suspect that this day wasn’t so lucky after all. In fact, he hadn’t packed socks at all, and had no spares in his locker.
“Fuck,” Hayden groaned. “I left my socks at home.” he admitted, leaning his head back against the wall.
Shane looked up from where he had been staring down at his phone and opening his bag held out a pair of thick black socks towards him. “Here, you can use these if you want.”
“Thanks man,” Hayden grinned. “I owe you one.”
Shane shook his head and smiled, his eyes crinkling.
“No, seriously,” he added, “ what would I do without you?”
“Probably have to borrow off J.J.” Shane responded and they both glanced to where there was a messy bag of clothes shoved haphazardly in the next locker over, which Hayden would swear had been there for the last week.
“Yeah like I said, I definitely owe you one.” Hayden said with a shudder as he finished getting ready and reached back into the locker to grab his skates and gloves.
Once they had made it to the ice he felt like maybe this day might be turning around again. The team was playing well, and Shane seemed to be in great form tonight. He won the face off and was skating away before Rozanov could do anything about it.
Hayden wanted to win. He always wanted to win, but against Boston it was different. It wasn’t even that it was Boston, although that was certainly a part of it. No, it was that it was Rozanov.
Hayden Pike hates Ilya Rozanov. That is the simple truth of the matter, and Hayden knows with a deep certainty that Ilya Rozanov deserves it.
It doesn’t matter that he knows the rivalry is between Shane and Rozanov, he also knows that no matter how competitive Shane gets, he will never truly hate anyone. So someone has to hate Rozanov for him and Hayden is happy for that someone to be him.
It doesn’t hurt that he thinks Rozanov is genuinely a dick. He never passes up an opportunity to insult Hayden and quite frankly Hayden is sick of it. But more than that, he hates that Rozanov is a dick to Shane. Sweet, innocent, naïeve Shane who always looks to Hayden to explain the jokes he doesn’t quite get in the locker room. Shane who Hayden and Jackie joke about being their fourth child, but he knows that they’re only half joking.
That’s why when Shane checks Rozanov into the boards to steal the puck Hayden grins and skates away from them toward the goal, getting ready to help.
That’s why when he sees Shane glance behind to look at Rozanov he gets confused.
That’s why when he sees Cliff Marlow come towards Shane at a dizzyingly fast speed he cries out, even before Shane has been hit.
Hayden thinks then that he should have known that this was going to be a terrible day from the moment he woke up. Forgetting his lucky socks that morning had been a sign.
Shane is lying on the ice and he isn’t moving. Medics are skating onto the ice towards him, and Hayden only waits long enough to hear Shane groan, long enough to know that he is alive, before he throws off his gloves and launches himself at Marlow.