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This was not a conversation Shane really wanted to be having with his parents but he knew that if he wanted the most privacy possible then he would have to tell them the truth. Part of it anyway. They had both been so supportive when he had told them he was gay and he had no reason to believe that they wouldn’t be understanding now. As long as he didn’t tell his parents that the guest he would be having over was Ilya Rozanov. Everything should be okay.
“What are your plans for the summer?” Yuna asked as though Shane didn’t do the same thing every summer. He always spent it at his cottage although part of him was grateful that Yuna had brought it up so he didn’t have to.
“Spending it at the cottage.” Shane replied.
“I don’t know why you expected a different answer, Yuna.” David commented with a laugh.
“Actually…” Shane started. “I’ve got a guest coming. To stay for a week or so.”
“You have!?” David and Yuna asked in unison.
“It’s not that big of a deal.” Shane shrugged.
“You never invite anyone to the cottage.” Yuna argued.
“That’s not true. Hayden has been a couple of times with the kids.” Shane defended.
“You had that cottage built years ago.” David pointed out.
“Am I not allowed to invite anyone?” Shane questioned. He knew exactly what his parents were thinking right now considering it hadn’t been that long since he’d come out to them. Yuna would definitely be thinking that he had invited a guy over. Which he had but as he had told his parents that night, he wasn’t seeing anyone.
“I thought you weren’t seeing anyone.” Yuna said.
“I’m not.” Shane repeated.
“Right…” David trailed off. Shane sighed heavily.
“Yes, I’ve invited a guy to come and spend a week or two at the cottage with me. No, we’re not together. Yes, I’m hoping that maybe we could be but that is a conversation I need to have with him. No, I’m not going to tell you who he is. No, you may not come to the cottage under any circumstances.” Shane ranted. David and Yuna both looked a little shocked.
“Why can’t you tell us who he is?” Yuna queried.
“Because there’s nothing to tell you, not yet anyway.”
“Nothing?” David double checked.
“Look, it was difficult enough to come out to you. Me liking men is something that I’ve been keeping to myself for a very long time. There are two people other than you guys that know. I haven’t even told Hayden yet and he is my closest friend.” Shane rambled.
“Do you think he would take it badly?” Yuna checked, moving to give Shane a hug. She felt bad for all the years that she and David (mostly her) had pushed him towards trying to find a woman. It had come from a place of caring, they loved their son and they just wanted him to be happy. They were worried that Shane was lonely.
“I’m just not used to sharing that part of myself with people. Rose was the first one to see through the ruse although I genuinely thought I liked her. Obviously we’re much better off as friends for multiple reasons but she was very kind to me.” Shane said.
“It upsets us to think you’ve been carrying this alone for so long.” Yuna sighed.
“I’ll tell him soon. Depending on how things go.” Shane accepted.
“Do you really think this man doesn’t want to be with you? It would be his loss, you’re great.” Yuna smiled.
“You have to say that, you’re my mom.” Shane deadpanned.
“Shane…” David said, with intention.
“I guess I’ll find out. Now can we please talk about something else?” Shane said. He really wished they would stop asking questions. Shane didn’t want to talk about Ilya with them. He knew Ilya wanted to be with him as much as he wanted to be with the Russian but it wasn’t as simple as that for them. It never had been. It must seem like such a huge step to his parents that he had invited some guy he wanted to date over to the cottage but there was no way he was explaining his casual relationship with Ilya Rozanov to his parents. He would only tell them if there was something to tell and right now, Shane couldn’t see that being very likely.
“We just want you to be happy.” Yuna added.
“I would be happy if we could talk about something else." Shane snarked. David couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Why did you not say anything sooner?” Yuna continued.
“I’m done talking about this.” Shane said. He had known it would be a bad idea to tell his parents he was having a guest over to the cottage. He knew his mom wouldn’t be able to resist asking questions and he was very impressed she had managed not to ask any on the night he had come out but this had been inevitable and it had been avoidable. He could have simply not said anything but he knew what his parents were like. They would worry about him being alone in his cottage all summer and would come and visit him without warning. That could go badly if they walked in on him and Ilya in a compromising position. Shane would just die of embarrassment if that happened. He couldn’t imagine anything worse. Thankfully his parents had been warned.
“What would you rather talk about instead?” David asked.
“Ooh, have you spoken to Scott Hunter? Obviously him kissing his boyfriend had such a profound influence on you.” Yuna continued. Shane had not attended this year’s award ceremony due to still recovering from his injuries and because he didn’t really have a reason to. He knew that Ilya had been in attendance and wondered how the night had gone but was sure he would be able to ask him soon enough.
“Or we could talk about something other than hockey?” David suggested, a little pointlessly.