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David watched Yuna get up from the table without a word. He heard the crash of a pot and the tap running in the kitchen.
"Well, it's getting a bit late in the day. Can you stay for some dinner?" he asked the boys sitting across the table.
Shane eyes were glassy and down-turned, looking intently at the table cloth in front of him. God, David's heart ached for him - it was David's fault that he was this upset. Him and his stupid charger.
In hindsight, David realised that leaving Shane's cottage without a word probably wasn't the best move. But he panicked, and at the time it made total sense to just leave and let Shane pretend it never happened. He tell Yuna that Shane was busy and Shane would be free to bring up whatever was going on when he was ready. Or never again. Whatever would make him happy.
David glanced to Rozan - Ilya.
He had asked the question about dinner to both of them, but Ilya was just looking to Shane to respond. It was hard to reconcile the guy the commentators called a 'menace on the ice', with this polite, deferential kid who just showed silent support for Shane while all this was happening.
Well, mostly silent - Not rookie season, the summer before. Those 6 months were an important distinction apparently.
"Shane?" David prompted.
"Uh, yeah Dad. We can stay." he mumbled.
"Great! Well, I'm going to take over the cooking from your mother." David pushed himself up, "Before she poisons us all." he stage whispered, which made Shane smile slightly.
Entering the kitchen, he found that Yuna hadn't got very far. She stood in front of the stove, holding the spaghetti jar, and pot on a burner attempting to boil the water inside. Yuna herself was just staring blankly at the tiled backsplash, with the same glassy eyes Shane had.
Walking up to her he gently took the pasta container from her hand. "Making bolognese?"
"Huh?" broken from her musing she turned to him "Oh yeah, i guess. Are Shane and...?" She sighed "...um, Shane and...?"
He sighed "Honey, I know this has been a bit of shock for you. How about you go lie down in bed and process, and let me take care of dinner, ok?"
"Yeah, ok. That'll be...good." She nodded absently. Instead of heading for the hallway towards their bedroom, she turned the other way and went through the door that lead out to the porch.
He sighed and rubbed the patch of skin between his brows. Switching gears, he found the lid for the pot, popped it on, then started taking out ingredients from the fridge and pantry.
He had just salted the boiling water and placed the spaghetti in the pot when Shane and Ilya entered the kitchen.
"Can we help?" Ilya asked. Such a polite boy. Kinda makes you forget that time he was mic'd up on the ice and told a young swedish rookie that he was going to send him back to his mama in a flat pack box.
"Yeah - If you could start chopping up that onion, that would be great." He nodded towards the knife block on the kitchen island.
Ilya grabbed a knife and dragged the cutting board closer to him, but then looked back "Shane?"
Shane stood stock still looking out the window at Yuna standing on the porch.
"Hey Shane," David called and waited for Shane's to look his way "It's pretty chilly out there. Can you take your mother's cardigan out to her?"
Shane gave a nod, gulped, and made an effort to school his face into the one he put on before stepping out onto the ice. He left briefly to double back to the dining room to pick up Yuna's cardigan from her chair before walking out the door to his mother.
Left alone, there was an awkward silence between Ilya and David, that was only filled by the meat sizzling in the pan and the thuk of a knife hitting a cutting board.
Clearing his throat, David started "I forgot to ask you if you had any allergies, R-Ilya? Or if your vegan or...?"
Ilya gave him a small smile "No, no I'm easy. What are we making?"
"Spaghetti bolognese. Nothing fancy, sorry."
Ilya shrugged "No, is ok. Sounds good." Finishing the onion, he moved onto the carrots and celery without being asked. David smiled.
"So...you're visiting Shane for the summer?
"Yes. Shane invited me to his cottage"
"Ah, so you've just been holed up there?"
"Yes. For nearly a week now."
"Shane been cooking for you?"
Ilya eyed David and pondered what he was trying to get at - did he secretly disapprove? Was this a macho thing and did not want his son to be 'the woman in the relationship' and cook for his partner?
"...yes?"
"Ah, so you must be starving for some edible food by now." David grinned at him.
A burst of laughter escaped from Ilya before he could swallow it.
"Ah, yes. It would be nice. Shane has many nice qualities, but cooking is not one of them" He had enjoyed these days with Shane, and it had been so sweet that Shane was determined to feed him. However, the actual meals had been...interesting. Instances of over/under cooking, or over/under seasoning had been rebutted with "It's what the recipe said to do Ilya!"
David continued "Unfortunately, Shane takes after his mother in that respect. Both of them don't have the patience for it. Too many variables I guess."
Ilya walked the cutting board of vegetables up next to the stove. David accepted it with thanks and started to add them to the pan to sweat down.
"You know, when I first told my brother I was marrying Yuna, he said I was lucky to that I would have a wife to make hibachi for me every night. Boy, if only he knew how I had to teach her the difference between a clove of garlic and a bulb." he chuckled.
"He said this to you?"
"Yeah," David shrugged "He's an asshole. We don't really talk."
Ilya nodded without comment. Left without anything to do, he stared out the window. Both Yuna and Shane were openly crying now.
"Hey," David extended an elbow to Ilya. "They'll be ok. She's not mad at the whole..." lacking the word, he just moved his hand in some kind of gesture he hoped would explain. "She's just upset she didn't know. Can opener's in that drawer."
Ilya moved to get the opener and start on the tomato cans. "How can you know?"
"Cause I've known her for over 3 decades now. And I know how close Shane and her are. She has always done all that she could possibly do to give him the best possible life. She can be a bit 'momager'," Ilya made a note to look up that word later, "between all the hockey and the sponsorships. But Shane said he wanted to be a hockey player when he grew up. And Yuna did everything in her power to make that happen. Bring the garlic and stock with you, would ya?"
Ilya placed the jar of minced garlic and box of stock in the crook of his elbow as he carried the opened jars of tomato over to the stove. When he looked back out the window, he saw that Shane and his mother were now hugging.
"See, told you they'll be fine." David gave the pasta a stir before adding more ingredients to the pan. "It might have been for the best that Shane kept you a secret - if Yuna did know he was gay, she would have started to track down fancy gay guys to push in front of Shane instead of the girls she tried to set him up with." he added with a smile.
Ilya grimaced at the thought. He disliked to think of Shane and Rose Landry together. He hated the thought of Shane being matched up with similarly famous men even worse.
His hands started to fidget without anything to do so he shoved them into his pockets.
As David started to season, he continued. "So tell me about yourself, Ilya."
He didn't quite know what to say to that. Besides hockey, he didn't think he had much he could possibly tell him. Well, Mr Hollander, until recently, my hobbies have been clubbing, drinking, and hooking up with random strangers.
Luckily David took his silence in stride "I remember they saying your father died earlier this year. I'm really sorry to hear that."
"Don't be." Ilya muttered.
"Oh," David's frowned "Well, I'm even more sorry to hear that. Do you have other family back home?"
Ilya shook his head and looked away. Fuck he just started to talk about this to Shane, he really didn't want to get into it with his father.
"I have a brother, but..."
Picking up the hint, David filled in the gap "Family can be complicated"
"Da, yes, complicated." Ilya pronounced each syllable slowly.
"I remember having to sit my family down to tell them about Yuna," Ilya's eyebrows shot up. "They always loved me, but they just couldn't..."
With a look out the window to his wife, he continued "They just couldn't come to love her too."
Ilya didn't quite know how to respond to that. "I'm sorry"
David's mouth moved as he hesitated to go on. "The straw to break the camel's back was when Shane came along. My father said it was a good thing that he came out not as slant eyed as he thought he would."
Ilya winced. "What the fuck...?"
David nodded thinking of those memories. "And so that put an end to it. It was hard at first, going no contact, but in the end it was for the best. The family I made with Yuna made me happier than my blood family ever did."
Ilya kinda felt like crying. But David also looked a little teary, so he tried not to feel bad about it.
"Uh, don't mention that to Yuna or Shane. They don't know - I don't want them to know."
Ilya nodded. "Of course. And thank you for not being bad to Shane today. He wanted to tell you guys. But he was scared you would..."
David shook his head. "You don't have to thank me for loving my own son..."
"I think I do." Ilya interrupted. He left the rest unsaid We both know personally that not all fathers love their sons.
"I can't think of anything that would make me love that kid any less," David cleared his throat before he went on.
"Well, I only thing I know about you is that you play hockey, but I'm sure Yuna will start grilling you about that soon. The only thing I know about you playing is that Yuna would shout at the TV about that 'asshole Rozanov'"
Ilya grimaced again. If he had any idea he would have nice boring Canadian in-laws to impress in the future, maybe he would have behaved more.
"Will I have to beg forgiveness for each time Boston beat Montreal?"
David laughed "I would like to say no, but I wouldn't be surprised if she had a list of those matches somewhere. But Shane like-loves you. I'm sure she'll change her tune about you soon. Not enough to root for Boston, but maybe enough to not cheer when you get checked."
Ilya snickered "Fair enough. Shane tells me you played for your school? Mc-something?"
"Oh yeah, that was ages ago back in college..."
As they let the food cook, Ilya found he liked chatting to boring David Hollander. They spoke briefly about playing hockey, and was pleasantly surprised that David knew a bit about cars. Ilya described his sport car collection back in Boston and David told him about the old Corvette he used to drive when he was Ilya's age. He explained that Yuna made him get rid of it when Shane was born - too fast and too impractical for a new dad. He would speak to Svetlana soon and ask her to let him know if any vintage Corvettes came up for sale.
It felt like Ilya was picking up a a new hobby - helping make boring people less boring.
By the time Yuna and Shane came in from outdoors, the dinner just had to simmer. David and Ilya respectfully but emphatically declined their offer to help with dinner - instead sending them off with plates and cutlery to set up the table.
Ilya could hear them in the dining room. It sounded like Shane was going over 'The Plan' with her. There was a little kick in his chest everytime he thought of 'The Plan'. 'The Plan' for their future. 'The Plan' for their future together.
He lowered his voice and leaned slightly into David so Shane and Yuna couldn't hear him "Mr Hollander -"
"Nope. If I'm calling you Ilya, you have to call me David."
Ilya smiled. "David - can I ask you a question?"
"Of course kid"
"I don't understand..." Ilya tried to find the words. "Why are we not lovers?"
David choked on his spit. "Uh, you mean you and Shane, right?"
"Yes."
Well that was a relief. David thought.
"Shane and I love each other, but he was not happy with calling us lovers? Is not the right word, I think"
David tried to not laugh. "No, not really. 'Lovers' kind of implies something not serious, something more just..."
Ilya nodded "Ah, just."
David nodded back "Just"
"So Mrs Hollander -"
"Yuna"
"Yuna used it correctly?" David nodded. "But Shane still did not like it?"
"No, well," David turned off the burners and grabbed the colander. "'Lovers' is an old fashioned word. Something left over from my parent's era. And not really the thing parents like to hear their children having. Could you grab the bag of parmesan from the fridge?"
"Stupid English. I thought of calling us 'boyfriends' but that seems too childish. And 'partners' seemed a bit too..."
"Stuffy?"
"Huh?"
"Too formal?"
"Ah, yes that. Serving dish?"
"Nah, it's just family, so I'll serve family style." David dumped the drained noodles back into the pot and started to pour in the meat sauce. "I would just stick with 'boyfriends' for now. Or you can use 'partners' - straight couples use that name too, plus it doesn't give away the gender of the other person. You know...in case you...want to...hide...that" He finished with a wince. He didn't want to raise the issue of hiding their relationship.
But Ilya just nodded thoughtfully. "Thank you David. I appreciate your help."
David let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Anytime, Ilya."
He instructed Ilya to grab a bottle of white wine and a glass for Yuna, while he grabbed a pair of tongs and serving spoon for the pasta. Then Ilya helped David carry out the food and place it on the table.
All in all, both men felt like today went OK.
Once David got over the shock of what he saw at the cottage, he was worried. Not about the gay thing. More of the fact that his son was playing grab ass with a reckless Russian playboy. But Ilya seemed to have other sides to him. David thinks he might end up liking this guy.
And Ilya had a great day - he went swimming with Shane, met his nice parents, got given some decent vodka, and was fed something other than Shane's slimy pasta salad. This was becoming the best vacation he's ever been on.