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Getting woken up at 5 in the morning is not something Shane could say he was happy about, but his phone was ringing like it had a personal vendetta against him. Still groggy, he reaches over to grab the damned device, and reads the caller id.
Hayden
Jesus, what did his friend need at this hour? He sighs, and picks up the call.
“Dude,” Shane starts, “it’s 5 am. What do you need right now?” Shane grumbles out, fully sitting up now. He glances over at Ilya, who was sleeping peacefully despite the phone that had been ringing for god only knows how long, and his heart melts.
“Sorry man, I know it’s really early, but Jackie and I are needed in Ottawa. It’s an emergency. We really need you to watch the kids, and it shouldn’t be more than 2 days. Please, man.” Hayden spills out. Shane can only feel bad for the guy, and he wouldn’t leave the poor guy stranded. He really answers before he can fully think things through.
“Yeah of course man. I’m at the cottage right now, so if you can drop them off I can watch them.” Shane says. He hears Hayden on the line sigh with relief.
“Oh my god, Shane, you are a lifesaver. We will be there soon.” And then the line goes dead. Shane sits in bed, still half asleep, and glances back over at Ilya. It was summer, so they were staying up here as they normally do. Without having to worry about practice, or people seeing them, they both got to relax so much more.
While looking at Ilya, Shane starts to think about what they are going to need for the 4 Pike children while they are here. He’ll need to head to a store nearby, and grab some more kid friendly food options. During his deep thought, Ilya shifts, and realization starts to dawn on Shane.
In his half asleep state, and his natural need to take care of the Pike children, he must have forgotten that no one really knew that Ilya was here, let alone that they were trying to keep the fact that they were so close a secret. That really wakes Shane up, and he starts panicking a little. What would happen if Hayden saw that Ilya Rozanov was going to help him take care of his kids for the next 2 days? It’s not like he could take back his promise, Hayden and Jackie were probably already on their way over.
Shane starts thinking about how to avoid the problem. He still had 2 hours, right? He could go to that store in the town 25 minutes over, which would give him just enough time if he left right now. What about Ilya, though. He hadn’t even asked him if he would be alright with taking care of the kids, and this would take up 2 days of the limited time they had together.
Jeez, maybe Shane should stop answering calls half asleep. He dragged his hand over his face and resigned to the fact that the kids were going to be here soon, and he had to be ready to answer the door once they got here. He pulls himself out of bed, making sure not to wake the blonde next to him, and shuffles over to the kitchen. He pulls a sticky note and pen out of the drawer, and scribbles down a note.
Hayden and Jackie had an emergency and we are watching their kids for 2 days. I am going to the store to get food for the kids. Will be back as soon as I can. Will talk later. I love you.
-Shane
Satisfied with his quick note, he sticks that bright pink paper on the fridge, and heads to the front door. He pulls his Reeboks on, grabs his car keys, pulls on a hoodie (since he is still in his pajamas), and sighs deeply. While walking to his car, he sees the sun is showing no signs of rising for a while. He glances at his watch, and deduces that he should have at least 1 hour and 45 minutes if the Pike family had left right when they had called him.
He climbs into his car, and puts the store into the GPS. 23 minutes. That should be enough time, right?
—
At 5:30, Ilya Rozanov woke up to use the bathroom, and immediately noticed that Shane was not sleeping next to him. Usually, this would be no reason to panic, but the fact that there was no running water sound coming from the bathroom, Shane’s side of the bed was cool, and his phone wasn’t there quickly induced that panic.
He pulled himself up, and started to wander around the house, looking for the shorter man. Maybe he had gone for a run? His shoes weren’t there, so he must have gone somewhere. The car was also gone. Shane usually left a note when he went somewhere without telling Ilya, so the blonde wandered into the kitchen and immediately noticed the bright pink sticky note on the fridge. After quickly scanning the handwriting he became so familiar with over the years, he only got more confused. What did Shane mean, they were watching boring Pike’s kids? He wondered when Shane had left, and how much time he had to sleep until the house had 4 loud children in it.
He shuffled back to their bedroom, and continued wondering about what was going to happen. Had Shane told Hayden that he was here? What was he thinking if he didn’t tell him? Why didn’t Shane wake him up and ask him about it? Would Shane even be back from the store before they got here? Ilya stared at the ceiling from his bed, and let his thoughts reel. He then remembered who Shane was, and realized that he likely had a plan like he usually did.
This thought allowed him to drift back to sleep, a slight smile on his face at the thought of Shane. He couldn’t wait till he was back.
—
One thing Hayden failed to mention to Shane when he had called him at 5 in the morning was that they were already on the way to the cottage. In his frantic state, he nearly forgot that he had to ask if Shane could even watch his kids. They were only 45 minutes away at the time, and Hayden was thankful that Jackie had asked him if he even considered calling the man before showing up to his house with 4 kids in tow.
Now they were in his drive way, hauling their tiny army out of the back seat, and walking up to the front door of Shane’s cottage. Hayden didn’t really register the fact that now there was only one car in the drive way, that being his, and went to ring the bell.
Then he waited. And rang it again. When the door opened, Hayden didn’t see his best friend of a decade. Rather, he saw something so unexpected he had to just stand there for a moment.
Hayden Pike has seen many strange things in life. Being on a professional hockey team and sharing rooms with grown men will do that to you, but there is something so startling about knocking on your best friend's house at 5:46 in the morning, and the person who opens it is his rival of 10 years. Shirtless and grey sweatpants slung low on his hips.
Either that was the moment Hayden’s coffee decided to kick in or the emotional shock of seeing Ilya Rozanov standing there like he owned the place was 10 times stronger.
“Rozanov. What the hell are you doing here?” Hayden squeaked out. Ruby giggled at his cursing, and his eyes snapped down to her.
“Boring Pike. I thought I had more time till you and your army got here. Shane is not here. He is getting food.” Rozanov responded to the confusion Hayden had. What was going on? Rozanov just opened the door farther, and invited them all in silently. He still seemed half asleep, yet he didn’t seem surprised.
Hayden turns to look at Jackie. She honestly didn’t seem as surprised as he thought she should be. She almost looked like she had solved the greatest mystery in the world. She grabbed Jade’s hand, adjusted her hold on Amber, and started walking towards the door without a second thought.
—
Ilya could have sworn that he had more time until the Pike family showed up, but apparently that was not the case. He could figure out a good lie to give so the two adults would have a half decent explanation as to why Ilya Rozanov was in Shane Hollander's house half naked and walking around like he owned the place. He glanced back at the Pike family, and noticed that Hayden hadn’t really figured much out (not surprising to Ilya), but it looked like Jackie had put the pieces together.
“Here, you can put bags right there.” Ilya stated, pointing to a spot in the living room. Hayden snapped out of whatever haze he had been in and narrowed his gaze at the tall russian.
“Right. Thanks. Care to explain why you’re here though?” He says, a little harsher than intended. Ilya looks up at him, and then looks at Jackie.
“Hayden,” Jackie starts, “maybe we should wait until Shane gets here or we can ask him later for an explanation.” She says sweetly, tearing her pitying gaze from Rozanov and looking at Hayden. What had she figured out, and why did Shane have to be here to explain it as well?
At that moment, he heard Shane’s car pull into the gravel driveway. Thank god. Now he will get an explanation. He turned his gaze to the front door, and it didn’t take long for a panicked looking Shane to rush into the house. The man stood there, eyes wide, looking between Ilya, Hayden, Jackie, and the kids.
“Oh my god.” Shane breathed out. He looked terrified.
“Shane. What is going on? Why is Rozanov in your house?” Hayden questioned. He felt bad for interrogating his friend so early in the morning, but he needed a reason before he left his kids here for two days. Shane looked like he was about to break down in tears, and in the blink of an eye Rozanov was standing next to him. He was talking to him in a hushed voice, and after a couple seconds, he was hugging him. Yeah, Hayden was slowly putting the pieces together now.
“Oh.” Hayden muttered. Shane looked up at him, and Rozanov did too, but didn’t let his arms fall from hugging Shane.
“Yeah,” Shane started, his eyes still glistening, “um.. Yeah. Ilya is…” He was hesitating.
Ilya, Hayden though. Not Rozanov. God, this wasn’t something simple. He stood there, waiting for Shane to finish.
“Ilya is here because he- well we- are seeing each other. Like boyfriends.” Shane blurted, looking relieved to finally say it. Hayden was honestly learning too much for a Monday morning. He kept staring at Shane, a little shell shocked.
“Look man, I am not mad.” Hayden said. “ I can’t say that I’m not confused about Rozanov, but I’m not mad. I love you, dude, and nothing will change that.” He said, earnestly. It’s true, nothing would really change how much he cared for his best friend. Shane looked at him, and looked so relieved.
“Thank you.” He muttered, turning back to hide his face in Rozanov’s chest. Hayden turned to look at Jackie, who was starting back at him.
“Um..” Jackie started, “Shane, you are part of our family, and that will never change. We love you so much. As touching as this revelation is, Hayden and I are in a rush to get to Ottawa. I think we should talk later once we get back.” She says, with a voice much calmer than Hayden could even hope to have in this moment.
“Yes, this is good. You both have emergency and need to be somewhere.” Rozanov says, answering for Shane. Hayden and Jackie turn to their kids, and kiss them goodbye.
Once they are back in the car, on the highway, Hayden looks over at Jackie, who was staring out the window. He turned back to look at the road, and thought to himself. Yeah, this made a lot of sense now that he was thinking about it.