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Hayden hoped he never had to use Lily’s number that he stole from Shane’s phone. Shane was so secretive about whoever this Boston girl was. But he knew that no matter how much Shane denied that she even existed, it was obvious his captain and best friend was in love with the girl.
At the start of this season, Shane stopped denying she existed. He even admitted to Hayden that she had visited him at his cottage over the summer. He offered no more info about her, but at least it was a step in the right direction. At this rate he’d see a photo of her in…maybe 5 years? Ugh, Shane.
Hayden ended up in the hospital after a bad hit at a game in California. Shane was able to keep Jackie up to date without a second thought, and it got Hayden thinking. More like worrying, actually.
He had been so grateful for Shane being able to text his wife updates while they were all the way across the continent. He wondered how Lily had felt when Shane was in the hospital last year. As far as he knew, nobody but Shane knew anything about her, so she had to have been worried sick! He needed to get Lily’s number. Just in case. He’d never use it unless something happened! He just needed it, to ease his mind.
Once Hayden was cleared to get back on the ice, he set his plan in motion. He knows that Jackie would have been losing her mind if Shane wasn’t there to give her minute by minute updates. So Lily probably would be too, if anything happened to Shane. So Hayden carefully watched Shane to figure out what his passcode was. Shane was pretty good at being secretive, but it still only took Hayden a week before he was able to catch him typing 8124. Bingo.
The next time Shane left his phone in his locker to shower after practice, Hayden quickly glanced around to make sure the coast was clear before grabbing Shane’s phone, going straight to his contacts list. He didn’t want to invade his privacy any more than he had to by opening the messaging app (he was also mildly terrified to read something that was very much not meant for his eyes to see and learn a lot more about his best friend than he ever wanted to). He typed Lily in the search bar and whispered “thank god” that there was only one result.
He typed the number into his own phone, labeling the contact “Boston Lily (Shane’s GF)” before closing the contact app on Shane’s phone and putting it back where he found it. Now that he had the number, he could forget about it unless the day came that he needed it.
The day never actually came. And Hayden did manage to forget about the contact altogether, since it was no longer a nagging fear in his mind.
A year later, Rozanov did one of the most unexpected things he had ever seen in the hockey world – left Boston for Ottawa. The only explanation offered whenever Rozanov was asked about it was simply, “Life is short, I am best player. I play where I want, and I make team I am on best team too. I want to play in Ottawa.”
The team theorized many reasons he would want to play in Ottawa, but the most common theory was that the notorious asshole womanizer had actually fallen in love and was moving there for her. The lack of paparazzi and media attention about Rozanov partying and being with random women in every city was enough proof for Hayden, so he didn’t put much more thought into it. Maybe if Rozanov was in love he’d be less of an asshole at least. A man can dream, right?
This years NHL All Stars game was the weirdest matchup yet. Normally it was a totally normal mashup of the best players in the NHL – East VS. West, European vs American, that kind of thing. And Hayden usually didn’t get chosen for the team. It’s not that he was bad, but he wasn’t a star like Shane. But this year, apparently, they decided to do something super convoluted that honestly made no sense.
The theme was called “Friends VS Rivals.” It took a few explanations before Hayden understood what it even meant (he had had a lot of concussions, okay? Give him a break!).
The idea was that any two star players that were considered “rivals” and have their closest teammate friend play for the rival team. It took awhile before he realized what that would actually mean: as Shane’s best friend, he had to be on a team with Rozanov and play against Shane. Shane would have to be on a team with Marleau, since Rozanov’s first season with Ottawa hadn’t begun yet.
The logistics of how the NHL had figured out all the team members had to have been a nightmare, since not every team had such a clear rivalry like Shane and Rozanov. But apparently they found enough to make up two teams, so more power to them, he supposes. But then it sets in that he and Rozanov are gonna have to be on the same team.
“Ugh I don’t know how you did it last year,” Hayden laments to Shane in the locker room before an Boston vs Montreal game, just 2 weeks before the All Stars game is set to happen.
“Gonna need a little more to go on than that buddy” Shane laughs back at him.
“Play on a team with Rozanov. I don’t know how I’m gonna not punch his stupid smug face.”
Shane’s smile dropped just a bit, before he fakes a laugh and says “Seriously he’s not that bad, especially when you’re playing on his team. The whole asshole thing is mostly just an act to intimidate the other team. He’s a good captain.”
Hayden has heard him say this before, but he thinks Shane is just way too nice of a guy, and tells him as much. Shane laughs it off, playfully punching Hayden on the arm before turning around to give his pre-game captain speech.
Montreal beats Boston 4-3, which is good since it’s the last chance they’ll get to play Rozanov on a team that doesn’t suck. But maybe if Rozanov is as good of a captain as Shane claims, Ottawa will become good next year. That’d be hilarious honestly.
Hayden did not expect to run into Rozanov after the game as he’s leaving the locker room. Especially because he seems to have been purposely looking for him.
“Ah Pike, good. I found you.” Yep. He was looking for him. This is only mildly terrifying.
“Uhhh you were looking for me?” Hayden stutters out, eyes darting around to see if there was anyone nearby to witness what may be an attempted murder. There’s absolutely nobody around. He can’t even see a security camera. Great.
“Yes. Give me your phone number. We are teammates at All Star game in 2 weeks, yes? I make team group chat. Good for bonding. Helps us win.”
That was…not what Hayden was expecting. But he honestly didn’t know what he was expecting. Rozanov having his phone number….he could always block him if he needed to. He decides it’ll be fine.
Rozanov hands him his phone and says “put number in here,” showing that he has a new contact open that he named “Pike👶👶👶👶👶👶👶”
“What the hell?”
“You have, what, 9 children now, yes? I thought was appropriate.”
“4. I have 4 kids. Why do you even know anything about my personal life?” He deletes the emojis and types in his number before handing the phone back to Rozanov, who gives a disappointed raspberry and says “You are no fun. Okay I text you now so you have my number. Feel free to add fire and heart emoji next to my name”
“I will not be doing that.”
Rozanov rolls his eyes and sends off a text. A second later Hayden’s heart stops when his phone says
Boston Lily: Hello Pike. Add new contact as Ilya Rozanov❤️🔥
After a second he laughs at the insane coincidence that apparently Rozanov got Shane’s girlfriend’s old phone number. Shit, now he’d have to go through Shane’s phone again to get her new number.
“Why you laugh? Emoji is true. I am very hot.” Rozanov fakes offense.
“How long have you had this number? You must’ve just gotten it. That’s crazy.”
Rozanov’s smirk turns to a confused frown “What? I have this number since I come to America. 2008. This my only American number.”
Hayden furrowed his brows, utterly confused, his mind going a million miles per hour. Did he somehow get the wrong phone number from Shane’s phone? Why would Shane have Roz’s number? Oh right, the last All Stars game. If Rozanov liked making group chats he probably did the same thing.
But he remembers how relieved he was that there was only one Lily in this phone. He definitely didn’t type Ilya by mistake. He was very careful to get Lily. Lily. Ilya. Boston Lily. Boston Ilya. Oh no. Oh no no no no no no. All the color drained from his face and he began backing up slowly and saying the “Oh No’s” out loud.
“Pike? What the fuck is wrong with you?” Rozanov was trying to stay calm, but he did seem mildly concerned by whatever was going on with Pile.
“You…You’re…You….”
Hayden couldn’t even formulate a sentence. It was too absurd for words. So instead he simply held his phone out for Rozanov to see the message, and who the contact was.
Rozanov’s eyes widened and he mumbled something in Russian before narrowing his eyes at Hayden. Just before he could switch back to English to explain…whatever the hell was going on, Shane decided to walk down the hall, spotting Rozanov but not Hayden.
“Ilya, you ready to…ummm” Shane stops in the middle of his sentence once he sees Hayden there, and their respective horrified faces. Had Shane called him Ilya???
“Oh. Hayden. I was just trying to find Rozanov because. Um. Post game…captain…debrief. We’re sort of friends now so. That’s something we…do…now.”
Jesus Shane’s lying had not gotten any better.
Shane clearly senses that his lie had not worked. “What’s uh…what’s going on guys?”
Rozanov speaks first. Thank god, because Hayden didn’t even know what he would say. “I find Pike to get number for All Stars team groupchat.”
Shane relaxes a tiny bit at that, but then seems to realize there’s still clearly more happening because of the way Hayden is staring at him and Rozanov is looking…small. Like he’s trying to hide himself.
“Is…is that it?” Shane questions carefully.
Rozanov lowers his voice and gets closer to Shane, but Hayden can still hear him. “I text him. He shows me phone, my text come through as name “Boston Lily (Shane’s GF)””
“What????” Shane is clearly about to have a panic attack, so Hayden decides it’s his turn to speak.
“After I got hurt last year, I was grateful that you could keep Jackie up to date, and I thought about how if the situation were reversed I had no way to contact your girl. Because at the time you didn’t even admit she existed. So I got “Lily’s” number out of your phone and put it in my contacts in case of emergency. I’m sorry. I know that was an invasion of privacy but I just couldn’t imagine if Jackie had no way of knowing how I was so I just felt like i had to.”
That was all true. He made it sound simple But it was not addressing the big Russian elephant in the room.
“Okay. Um. That makes sense. I guess I appreciate the thought…”
“Okay now we should probably address Hippo in room” Rozanov speaks.
“Elephant. The phrase is elephant in the room.” Shane corrects him.
“I know. I just know correcting me helps you focus on panic less.” And Rozanov gives Shane a shy smile. Hayden doesn’t think he’s ever seen a face like that on the Russian man. It was almost…sweet.
“Okay Shane, Pike is good friend, yes? Even if he is not so good hockey player. You can tell him truth. He will still be your best friend.”
Hayden was so distracted by Rozanov being soft and calling Shane by his first name that he forgot to even scoff at the insult.
“Yeah man, you’re my best friend. You can tell me anything.” Hayden subconsciously knows what he’s about to be told, but he still isn’t ready to accept it.
Shane takes a deep breath. “So um. I’m gay. And Ilya is my boyfriend. He’s Lily in my phone so nobody would get suspicious. I’m Jane in his phone.”
Hayden is trying so hard to keep calm. He doesn’t want Shane to freak out more than he already is, and he definitely doesn’t want him to think Hayden has any problem with him being gay!
“Okay. Wow. Uh thank you for telling me. It’s gonna take me a minute…not the gay thing! That’s TOTALLY cool, I’m glad! Just…Rozanov?? Really?”
Shane scratched the back of his neck nervously. “Yeah…I tried not to fall in love with him but I couldn’t stop it. Neither of us could” he turns to Rozanov and smiles, so clearly in love.
“Wait. You’ve texted Lily like the entire time I’ve known you.”
“Yeah… we only officially started dating over the summer. But um. We were…involved…since”
Rozanov takes over “summer before rookie season”
Hayden just blinks. Very slowly. Trying to process. His best friends and Ilya Rozanov had been fucking since before he even met him. What the fuck.
“I know you’re probably gonna have a lot of questions. And it’ll take awhile to adjust to it. I was planning on telling you sometime this year, once Ilya was in Ottawa. I just didn’t know how. So at least I guess I don’t have to worry about that now. But whenever you’re ready we would love to have you and Jackie come over for dinner so you can properly meet Ilya? Not as Rozanov, my rival and asshole hockey player, but as my boyfriend. Who I love. Very much.”
“Oh…okay. I guess. Yeah. Okay we can do that.” Shane smiles, and he knows how much relief he is feeling at Hayden’s acceptance of him.
Hayden is not looking forward to this at all. But maybe he’ll finally be able to see a different side of Ilya than he sees at games. Hopefully. He just wants his best friend to be happy. If Roza…Ilya doesn’t make him happy, he’ll gladly beat the shit outta him next game, penalty box be damned. But he hopes that’s not the case.
Hayden gives Shane a quick hug so he can go home and talk to Jackie about all of this. He doesn’t think he can stand another minute of keeping this information from his wife.
“See you at All Stars, Pike! Please practice so your mediocre hockey skills don’t ruin my chance to show my boyfriend who is better player once again!” He laughs and kisses Shane’s cheek while Shane scowls. Yep, still an asshole. This is gonna be rough.