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There’s been a new lightness to Shane’s shoulders lately. It had been building for the past two years, since he’d gotten his bell rung, really, but it’s been even more noticeable over the last few months. The crinkle slowly building in the corner of his eyes, like he spends a lot of time smiling, the sureness in his squared shoulders, the newfound steadiness in his voice, self-assured and certain, like the rest of his life looks just like he knew it would.
When Jackie had pointed it out, because of course Hayden hadn’t noticed any of this on his own, he spends too much time with Shane to assign meaning to the gradual infinitesimal changes in his posture, she had come prepared with a theory. “He’s in love,” she said, sounding absolutely certain of it. “What was the name of that regular hookup you said he had? Lily? I think it’s finally serious.”
In response, Hayden remembers humming and shaking his head. “I don’t think so, babe, I think he would’ve introduced us already if it was serious.”
Jackie had shrugged. “I mean, Shane is really private.”
“But he barely even talks about her, that’s beyond being private. I don’t know if I like the thought of my best friend dating a woman who’s making him lie to everyone.”
“Jumping to conclusions again,” Jackie reminded him gently. “I know we joke about Shane being our fifth kid but he’s a grown man. He can handle himself.” A look flickered over her face, a there-and-gone pinching around her eyes. “Maybe they just want to keep it to themselves for a little bit longer. It’s sweet.”
Hayden had long learned what that look meant on Jackie’s face. “You know something.”
“I don’t know anything!” she exclaimed in picture-perfect indignation.
“Jackie.”
“Let things play out,” is all she said in the end. “We’ll find out eventually.”
Since then, Hayden hasn’t been able to stop thinking about it. His best friend… in love? Why would he keep it a secret? Hayden had told Shane everything about his relationship with Jackie, from when they first met to when he asked her to be his girlfriend to meeting her parents to proposing. The only reason Hayden knows anything about Boston Lily is from catching snatches of dirty texts over Shane’s shoulder. It hurts him, just a little bit, that he’d shared such a big portion of his life with Shane while Shane doesn’t share anything with him in turn.
At least, that’s what Hayden tells himself to feel better about all the snooping. He doesn’t look through Shane’s phone while he isn't looking or anything, so really, it barely counts as an invasion of privacy. If Shane just happens to sit in the locker room blushing at his phone, Hayden can’t be blamed for surreptitiously peaking over his shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of the elusive Boston Lily.
Even after months of this, though, the sum total of everything Hayden’s learned about Boston Lily amounts to a pathetic three things.
One, she speaks Russian or some other language that uses that script; Ukrainian, or Belarusian or Bulgarian or Serbian, a quick Google search tells him.
Two, Shane is learning that language for her. Hayden had been forced to concede to Jackie’s point when he’d seen Shane shakily navigate to a Cyrillic keyboard to text her back. Shane had been learning a whole other language with a whole other script for this girl. He was definitely in love with her.
Three, she’s a huge fan of Ilya Rozanov. At first Hayden had thought it was Boston pride or even Russian solidarity but she seems to know everything about him. Once, the first time they’d beat Boston right after Shane had come back after his injury, he had chirped at Lily about her home team losing and she had replied something about Rozanov coping with his luxury cars, listing each one with an accompanying picture. Later, Hayden had looked it up and found out that everything Lily had said, down to the specific alterations Rozanov had made for each car, was true.
Hayden remembers when Rozanov’s dad died, and how, before anyone knew that was the reason he was out for a few games, Shane was insistent he wasn’t out sick. Maybe that’s how he knew for sure. His girlfriend, a Rozanov superfan, had been keeping tabs. Maybe that’s why Shane's hiding her, he's embarrassed. Hayden can admit it weirds him out a little but it could have been worse. People had weirder kinks.
When he tells all this to Jackie, the same look, her i-know-something look, flickers over her face. But once again, she refuses to elaborate.
Everything slots into place after another game against Boston, a few months after Rozanov’s unceremonious departure from the city. Shane, surprisingly, agrees to go out after a stunning 6-0 victory against the Raiders, who are very much missing their star center.
At the club the team ends up in, Shane takes on the role of responsible designated sober person, like he always does, tucked into a corner with a can of ginger ale. The two of them are laughing along with JJ who’s in the middle of a dramatic rendition of what happened the last time they won in Boston when a fight breaks out by the bar and Hayden’s heart tries to jump out his throat in surprise.
The fight, in and of itself, is not at all surprising. What is surprising is how Shane Hollander, their captain who doesn’t even drink during the season, is out of his seat in an instant, rushing over to the fight.
Hayden and JJ make eye contact for a moment before getting up to follow.
The fight is between two women, yelling in what sounds like Russian and clawing at each other. Shane says “Svetlana, what?” and rushes behind one of the women, holding his arms in front of her face to protect from her opponent’s claws.
The woman, Svetlana, is tall and gorgeous, her eyes lined with gold and her hair falling in perfect curls over her shoulder. Hayden is happily married to a very gorgeous woman but he’s not blind. Svetlana looks like the kind of woman that only exists in red carpets and magazine covers. And she’s turning to Shane and placing a familiar hand on his shoulder and speaking in rapid Russian in his ear.
The other Russian woman is also being pulled away by a harried-looking man who takes one look at Shane and says in a crisp French accent, “I’m not fighting that guy for you, no fucking way.”
“No one is fighting anyone,” Shane says, measured. “Sveta—” Svetlana is talking again. Shane blinks in confusion. “Sveta, slow down, please.” Svetlana doesn’t slow down, but something she says makes her opponent bristle because she wriggles loose from the man holding her back and launches herself at Svetlana, pulling her from under Shane’s arm to claw at her back, yelling with enough vitriol that Hayden gets the gist of it even though he doesn't speak a single word of Russian.
Shane reaches into the tangle of arms and Russian insults to grip Svetlana’s waist and drag her away, putting his body between the two of them. Shane makes eye contact with the French guy, deliberate and with the flat affect he always denies is absolutely terrifying, then flicks his gaze to JJ, who snaps out of whatever trance locking both of them in place and goes to join the fray. It’s not much of a fight by the time JJ stands beside Shane, the girl and her French guy slinking away, clearly outnumbered. The girl, as she makes her exit, shouts loudly and in English this time, “Fucking puck bunny.”
Svetlana shoots forward, meeting a wall of Shane, shouting, “rather a puck bunny than an evil conniving piece of shit!” as Shane mutters to her in quiet Russian.
Then, as if a switch has flipped, she stops straining against Shane’s hold and pulls him into a hug. “Hi, Shane,” she says, pressing a kiss to his cheek. If it weren’t for the angry scratch marks on her shoulder, it would look like she hadn't been in a fight at all.
“Hey Sveta,” Shane replies with a fond, if exasperated, smile. “It’s good to see you.”
The pieces fall into place. Boston girl. Russian speaker. Familiar and affectionate with Shane, who is not a very touchy-feely guy, but doesn’t seem to mind when it comes from her.
Hayden’s connecting the dots. So is, it seems, JJ. “Capitaine,” he says, “will you not introduce us?”
Shane heaves a sigh like JJ just asked him to hold up the world on his shoulder. “Let’s go back,” he says in a tone that invites no arguments. For a moment, Hayden is disappointed but Svetlana just loops an arm around Shane’s and follows them as they make their way back to their corner of the club. When they’re sitting again, Svetlana in the vacant seat next to Shane, she says, more to Shane than to the table, “Don’t worry about the fight, she was an old friend, you know how it is.”
“Old friend or old friend?” Shane says.
His inflection doesn’t change between the two options but Svetlana seems to understand because she replies, “bit of both.”
“Capitaine…” JJ sing-songs, making Shane’s attention snap back to his teammates.
He frowns at him for a moment before his expression settles back to blankness. “Oh, right. This is my friend, Svetlana.”
“Hello, Metros.” She waves, just a half-hearted waggle of her fingers. “I would say it is good to meet you but you are Metros, so.”
“I hate to tell you this,” JJ says, but he has an impish grin on his face like he’s about to milk this interaction for a million years, “but you are sitting next to the Captain of the Metros right now.”
Svetlana shrugs. “He is the best. And he’s hot. It makes up for the Metro of it all.”
“Svetlana,” Shane mutters, half in reproach and half in amusement.
It’s almost crazy how obvious it is. Hayden thought Shane and Boston Lily were trying to keep it a secret. Maybe she isn’t Boston Lily? He knows one more thing about Boston Lily to really confirm it. “So, what, you’re a Raiders fan, then?”
“Her father played for the Raiders,” Shane supplies. “Sergei Vetrov, their goalie in the nineties.”
“Yes, and I grew up with Ilya. We have been best friends since we were teenagers.”
“Yeah, there’s that too,” Shane agrees with some reluctance. His gaze is focused on Hayden and JJ’s face like he’s scared they’ll figure something out.
“Ilya…” says Hayden. “Ilya Rozanov?”
“Of course,” Svetlana says. Of course. That makes sense then, her knowledge of Rozanov’s general wellbeing and all his cars.
It also makes sense why she and Shane are so secretive. Hayden can imagine the media circus if it comes out that Shane is going out with Ilya Rozanov’s childhood best friend, especially because most sports tabloids refuse to believe men and women can be friends at all. The first time Shane and Jackie were spotted together, there had been endless articles about him being a homewrecker, and Hayden wasn’t even close to being the most famous hockey player. If this gets out, there would be an article every week, turning their rivalry into a fight over a girl. Svetlana would be scrutinized to hell and back being linked to two of the most high profile players in the league.
Svetlana doesn’t stay with them for long, entertaining just a few more questions and delivering some scathing commentary on their last few games, before she smacks a kiss to Shane’s hair and darts back to the dance floor. “So,” says JJ as soon as she’s out of earshot.
“Nope. Not talking about this anymore. Finish your story.”
JJ doesn’t listen. “Is this why you broke up with Rose Landry?”
“JJ,” Shane says.
Hayden meets Shane’s eyes for just a moment, noticing the brimming uneasiness of it, and hurries to change the subject, launching into his own version of events of that last win against Boston, deliberately playing down certain details that has JJ rushing to correct him. When Hayden’s eyes find Shane again, the expression of gratitude makes something in Hayden’s shoulders settle.
His best friend is in love. And Hayden’s gotten to meet her! She’s gorgeous and clearly thinks the world of him and knows a lot about hockey. She’s wilder than he would have thought but maybe that’s exactly what makes her perfect for him, someone to coax him out of his shell.
When Hayden later tells Jackie about all of this, Jackie’s first reaction isn’t happiness or excitement, it’s confusion. “She could genuinely just be a friend,” she says after a long moment. “We shouldn’t assume until he tells us she’s his girlfriend, explicitly.”
“No, babe, everything fits!” Hayden insists. “He just said ‘friend’ to keep their secret, I don’t know how long they’re gonna do that but it’s definitely her.”
“Okay. Well, I’d love to meet her. You should ask Shane to bring her over for dinner. We won’t tell.”
So, Hayden sets out to do exactly that.
They’re in New York, after a close game with the Admirals, about to get ready for bed in their shared double. “Buddy,” Hayden begins. Shane’s attention snaps from his skincare routine to Hayden immediately. “Can I ask you something?”
“Wait,” Shane says. He finishes rubbing moisturizer onto his face and closes the container, slowly moving to sit at the edge of his bed. “Let me say my piece first, okay?” Hayden nods, trying his best to look encouraging. “I think maybe you’ve figured something out about me. I mean, I talked with Jackie and I haven’t told her but it seemed like she knew but I thought maybe I should just be up front and honest about it with you first. I mean, you’re my best friend. Well, other than Rose and she already knows.” Hayden can’t help but be a little offended but he tries not to let it show.
“Okay,” Shane says, almost to himself. He takes a deep breath. “Hayden, I’m gay.” What.
There’s a tense moment of silence. Hayden stares at Shane, mouth agape, absolutely gobsmacked. “Hayden,” Shane says, just on the edge of desperate. “Say something. Is that okay?”
“Of course it’s okay,” Hayden replies on instinct and before he can help himself, “Does Svetlana know?”
Shane’s face flickers through what seems like a million emotions. Hayden thinks Shane makes more expressions in two seconds than he’s made in the last decade Hayden’s known him. “Yeah?” he asks, looking absolutely bewildered. “Why does it matter if Svetlana knows? Do you—” The severe frown on his forehead loosens just slightly. “You’re not like, the last of my close friends to know, you know. JJ doesn’t know yet. I mean Svetlana didn’t even learn about it from me, Ilya told her.”
“Ilya?” Hayden interrupts. “Rozanov knew?”
“Obviously?”
“Why would— Oh my god. Boston Lily, Boston Ilya. I thought Boston Lily was Svetlana!” Shane blinks at him, once, twice, before his face scrunches up in a laugh. “It’s not funny!” he protests as Shane keeps laughing.
“It’s not,” Shane agrees, still laughing as he grabs his phone from the nightstand and clicks through to his contacts. When the dialing sound rings out in the room, Hayden thinks he knows who Shane is calling.
He’s braced for a Russian menace chirping at him but instead he’s pleasantly surprised by the sound of his wife’s voice. “Shane? Everything okay?”
“Jackie,” Shane says, “do you have a guess on who Boston Lily is? Be honest, please.”
Jackie is silent for a long moment before she says, sounding nearly certain, “Ilya Rozanov?”
Hayden makes a sound like a screech, high and offended and confused. All he gets in response is Jackie’s full, rolling laugh over the phone.