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The Metros winning a game was always a cause for celebration. And it always meant that the team went to a bar to celebrate their win. Beating Ottawa wasn’t as big of an accomplishment as it was any other team, since Ottawa basically never won games, but it gave them an excuse to get drunk.
Normally, on these types of days, Shane always snuck away to be with Ilya. They had so few days where they could be together that Shane wanted to be with him every second available.
But today Hayden and JJ had had enough of his shit and basically dragged him to the bar - literally. JJ entrapped him between his hands and then directed him towards the club, and didn’t let go till he was sitting down. Hayden spent the whole way laughing and taking pictures and videos. Shane gave him the middle finger. Traitor.
After JJ had ensured Shane wouldn’t run away if he left his side for a second, he went up to the bar. The other Metros were all excited that Shane had gone out with them - even if it was against his will - and were all chatting him up and praising him for the 4 goals he scored during the game. But then the drinks started coming in, and as they got drunker, the less attention they paid him. Shane just wished this fact would also apply to Hayden. His best friend was the only thing keeping him from seeing his boyfriend.
“I know you don’t like being in clubs, but please just stay at least for another hour?” Hayden asked him, and Shane sighed, defeated. He was already here. “Fine. But I’m leaving after an hour.”
Ilya had already been texting him for the past 30 minutes about his whereabouts. They were supposed to be together now. They hadn’t been able to see each other for a month. And they were both so excited to be able to spend the evening together, until Shane’s teammates bulldozed through his plans.
He tried to tell them he had dinner with his parents tonight and couldn’t make it, but JJ, the shit that he is, had already texted them beforehand and confirmed that they, in fact, did not have dinner plans.
He put ‘call mom and tell her to lie for me’ into his mental calendar the second JJ told him that.
His phone buzzed again. He looked at the incoming message.
Lily: Can I kill JJ?
Lily: I miss you, he took you away from me
Lily: You are supposed to be here 😭
Jane: No. He’s my friend
Lily: I see.
Lily: You care more about him than me
Jane: Oh, god, Lily...
Lily: No, is no problem
Lily: I will just go out and be with Svetlana
Lily: She is more fun anyway
Shane was just about to text Ilya back when a voice made him jump. “Who’s Svetlana?” Hayden sat next to Shane, looking down at his phone. Shane quickly turned it off before he saw anything else. God, he had never been happier than he had type ‘Lily’ earlier. Somedays it slipped his mind, and he used Ilya’s real name. And he was not ready to have that conversation with Hayden. Well, maybe he was; he had been considering it during the past couple of weeks, but not in the middle of a crowded bar. Especially not with the rest of their teammates in hearing range.
And then Hayden’s words finally registered. “Wait, were you reading my texts?” Shane asked, a bit of anger seeping into his voice.
Hayden did look a little bit embarrassed, but also not. “Well, you weren’t really hiding them.” Hayden tried to defend himself, but Shane just sent him a look. “Okay, fine, I was reading over your shoulder. But you were smiling like an idiot! I wanted to see who’s making you so happy.”
Shane closed his eyes. He wasn’t happy that Hayden was snooping, but he wasn’t about to get mad and yell at him either.
“Is that why you didn’t want to come out with us tonight? You had plans with Lily?” Hayden asked just as his phone buzzed again with another onslaught of texts from his boyfriend. Shane nodded, and Hayden had the decency to look at least a bit remorseful. “Sorry, man, if I’d known, I would have gotten JJ off your back.”
Shane just nodded. “It’s okay, Hayd.”
“So...” Hayden said, clearly wanting to continue the conversation, but his tone suggested he was about to enter snooping territory. “What’s she doing in Ottawa? Lily lives in Boston, right?”
Shane cleared his throat. Fuck. Why was Hayden probing him for information? “No, she doesn’t,” Shane responded, which caused Hayden to give him a confused look. “Well, yes, she, um... She lived in Boston, but she moved to Ottawa recently.”
Hayden’s mouth formed an ‘oh’ shape.
Then his face contorted into a grin. “You know... there’s still time for you to go over to her place.” Hayden hinted, and Shane just raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you just bully me about needing to stay another hour?”
Hayden rolled his eyes. “Well, yes, but that was before I learned you had plans to get laid tonight.” He jokingly punched Shane on the arm. “Hayden, I’m not-”
“Hey, you don’t gotta tell me the details, but clearly this girl means a lot to you. And if she makes you happy, then... You should spend time with her.” Shane didn’t know how to feel at Hayden’s words. A mixture of different emotions swirled around his head, battling for dominance.
Suddenly, the bar noise became too loud, and he could feel his stomach twisting.
He was glad his best friend was so happy for him. That Hayden was happy about Shane being happy, but... Hayden didn’t know the truth. He believed that Shane was this happy because of ‘Lily’, but would he still say that once he learned that she was non-existent? Or rather, that she wasn’t who Hayden believed she was. Would he still feel this way if he learned it was Ilya? If he learned that a man was making Shane happy, not a woman? And that that particular man was his supposed arch-rival.
Would he still be his friend?
“Come on, I have an idea.” Hayden proclaimed. Shane had barely been pulled back into reality by Hayden’s words when he was being dragged off the chair. What is with his teammates and dragging him everywhere today?
“Hayden, what are you doing?” Hayden didn’t answer, but he did look around at all their teammates, gathering their attention. “Guys, Shane and I need to leave. Shane isn’t feeling very well, and I need to drive him back to the hotel.”
“Oh no, what’s wrong?” one of their teammates said. Shane didn’t register which one as his brain was still playing catch-up as to the lie Hayden just spewed.
JJ, though, raised an eyebrow. “Is he actually, or is this your way of getting Hollander out of here”? JJ was instantly on their case, and Shane froze. Hayden, on the other hand, seemed to be perfectly prepared for this. “Hey man, I wanted Shane to come out tonight as much as you did. I’m the one who came up with the idea to trap him here, so do you really think I’d help him to run away?”
JJ did deflate slightly, but still didn’t look 100 percent convinced. “Ignore him, get Shane to the hotel,” Wilson said, pushing Hayden towards the exit.
Shane and Hayden quickly exited the bar. “Thanks, Hayd,” Shane told him as soon as they were out. “Of course, man, go have fun.” Shane smiled. This was exactly why he loved him. “You didn’t have to leave, though.”
“I mean, I can still come back later.” Hayden shrugged. They were just about to hug goodbye when a loud retching noise caught their attention. “Did you hear that?” Shane asked, looking for the source of the sound. “I came from behind that corner.” The two players exchanged looks before heading towards the sound.
The alleyway past the corner was almost deserted, with a pungent smell wafting directly from it.
But there was still one person there, a very drunk teenager. He looked barely 18, possibly not even that yet. Shane assumed that he had been in the bar and that the alleyway barfing was the result of alcohol. People could be scarily good at making fake IDs. The boy was slumped on the ground, a patch of what Shane assumed was vomit beside him.
Hayden reacted first. “Hey, are you okay?” He knelt down next to the kid. The boy mumbled something indistinguishable. “Can you tell us who you are?” Shane tried, crouching alongside Hayden. He mumbled something again. “Listen, can you speak up? We can’t help if we can’t understand you.” Hayden tried. The kid just kept mumbling his response.
Then Shane tried to stand back up, but the kid extended his hand, grabbing his wrist. His eyes were frantic, pleading, and then he started speaking gibberish. “Oh no,” Hayden said as realization seeped in. It wasn’t the mumbling that prevented them from understanding him; it was the fact that he was speaking an entirely different language.
The kid said another string of frantic words, louder this time, and Shane’s brain finally clicked. “How are we supposed to know what he’s saying now?” Hayden asked, unaware of the turmoil going on in Shane’s head.
He knew that sound. He recognized the shape of it; he was familiar with the rhythm, with the consonant and vowel pronunciations. He’d heard it a thousand times before.
On the ice. In hotel rooms. In bed-
Shane’s breath caught.
He wanted to help this kid; he looked terrified, and he looked like he was about to cry when he believed Shane was going to leave. He couldn’t leave him here.
But they would need someone who knows the language. And he knew of only one person. He swallowed.
“Hayden,” he said quietly. “That’s Russian.” Hayden blinked. “You sure?” Shane nodded. “Yeah, l-” he stopped himself, heart lurching. “I’ve heard it before,” he admitted.
He was aware of what this interaction would bring. His secret would come to light; his relationship would no longer be a mystery to Hayden.
And he knew he didn’t need to; they could go back into the bar, try to find someone else who could understand this kid, try to find his friends, maybe. But he didn’t trust any of those people. Not as much as he trusted Ilya. And if it meant helping the kid, then he would do it.
“Okay, so we need someone who speaks Russian,” Hayden said aloud. “How are we gonna do that?” Shane mulled over his options. He had been learning Russian, but his knowledge wasn’t good enough to tell what the kid was saying, especially when the words were all rushed and slurred.
Shane pulled out his phone. “I, um,“ he licked his lips. “I know someone who can help.” That someone was currently bombarding his phone with messages about what they could be doing right now, if Shane had put up more of a fight when JJ dragged him out.
Hayden frowned. “Okay...” Hayden couldn’t think of a single person that Shane could know who spoke Russian.
The Canadian dialed a number and brought his phone up to his ear. “Hey,” he greeted his boyfriend, a bit stiffly, which Ilya immediately caught. “Hey... what’s wrong?” The Russian said.
“Listen, I need you to do me a favor,” Shane explained, as he glanced at Hayden, who was still kneeling next to the kid.
He very quickly recapped the whole situation. About how they met a kid, how they couldn’t understand him, and how they needed a Russian speaker to help out.
“I’m putting you on speaker, okay?” Shane didn’t even wait for a response before he brought his phone away from his ear and put it closer to the kid. But when the screen lit up, allowing him to press the speaker icon, Hayden caught the caller ID. Lily.
“Wait, you called Lily? She knows Russian?” Hayden asked, eyebrows knitting together.
Shane didn’t get the chance to answer.
Because the moment he hit the speaker, a burst of Russian came through the phone.
Hayden’s head snapped toward the device. “That’s… a guy,” he said slowly.
Shane didn’t respond straight away; he was just focused on his phone and on the kid. He couldn’t look at Hayden’s face. He was trying to even out his breathing, trying to calm himself down. Hayden hadn’t realized who was on the other side of the phone yet. But Shane couldn’t lie to himself and think Hayden would remain clueless. Sooner or later, he’d recognize who the voice belongs to.
The kid, at the sound of his mother tongue, immediately perked up and started speaking in fast, rushed sentences.
“...does Lily have a friend who speaks Russian?” Hayden asked, trying to make sense of what was happening.
Why was a guy’s voice coming out of Shane’s phone? And why for fuck’s sake did it sound so familair? Did he know this man?
“Shane, what is going on?” Hayden asked again. “Hayden-” Shane winced, unsure how to continue. But then Ilya seemed to know exactly how to reveal everything. “Pike, be quiet, I can’t hear the kid if you’re talking shit.”
And Hayden’s eyes widened in shock. “ROZANOV?” The name hit the air like a slap. Shane flinched. The kid flinched.
“That... that... that’s Ilya Rozanov,” he whispered, voice cracking. Shane swallowed. “Yeah.”
“On your phone.”
“Yeah.”
“Under the name Lily.”
Shane winced. “Yeah.”
“And he just told me to shut up.”
Shane rubbed his face. “Yeah.”
Hayden stared at him, stunned into silence for a full three seconds, which was basically an eternity for Hayden.
Then he exploded.
“YOU’RE DATING ROZANOV?!”
The kid jumped, startled. Shane grabbed Hayden’s arm. “Hayden, please-”
“No, no, no, you don’t get to ‘Hayden, please’ me right now!” Hayden whisper‑yelled, which was somehow louder than normal yelling. “You’re dating Ilya Rozanov! The guy who chirps you so hard you nearly cry! The guy who body‑checks you like he’s trying to send you into orbit! The guy who-”
“Pike,” Ilya cut in sharply through the phone, “stop screaming. I can hear you all the way to my house.” Shane pinched the bridge of his nose. “Ilya, can we focus? The kid-”
“Da, da,” Ilya said, instantly switching gears. “Put phone close again.” Shane held the phone near the boy. The kid mumbled another panicked sentence, voice trembling.
Ilya responded in Russian, calm and steady. The kid sagged in relief, nodding weakly. Hayden watched the exchange with the expression of a man witnessing a unicorn tap‑dance.
“What did he say?” Shane asked. Ilya switched back to English. “He says he lost his friends. He does not know where he is. He is scared.” Shane nodded. “Okay. Okay, we can help him.”
“Shane. I am coming. Send me location.” Hayden’s jaw dropped. “He’s coming here?”
“Hayden, can you stop. Yes, he’s coming here.” Shane said, and there was a look in his eyes that Hayden had never seen before. Well, at least he had never seen it directed at him before. Shane was hurt, wary of him. Maybe yelling at him wasn’t the best reaction.
Shane hung up after telling Ilya the name of the bar they were at, and they were plunged into silence. “So...” Hayden said after some time. “You’re... you’re dating a guy.” He said, trying a different approach. He reflected a bit about the interaction that just happened while the couple was talking, and he realized one thing. Shane didn’t just reveal to him that he was dating Rozanov. He had also just revealed to him that he was gay. Shane Hollander had just come out to him. And he had yelled at him.
Shane sighed. “I did want to tell you, I just-” Shane looked away from him, avoiding eye contact. “I didn’t know how.”
Hayden swallowed, suddenly feeling a lot less righteous than he had thirty seconds ago. The kid beside them shifted weakly on the pavement, mumbling something under his breath, but Hayden barely registered it.
“You thought I’d freak out,” Hayden said quietly. Shane didn’t answer, which was answer enough. Hayden scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Okay… yeah, I did just scream about it.” He grimaced. “Not my finest moment.”
Shane let out a breath that sounded half like a laugh. “You think?”
“I mean,” Hayden gestured vaguely toward the phone still in Shane’s hand, “in my defense, you didn’t just say you were dating a guy. You said you were dating Ilya Rozanov.”
Shane winced again. “Yeah.”
Hayden shuffled closer. “Look, I...I don’t care if you're gay.” He said softly, and that seemed to do something to Shane. It was like he simultaneously stiffened, but also relaxed? It was hard to tell. But there was an emotion that appeared due to Hayden’s words.
“You don’t?” he asked softly. The kid next to them said something, while still looking around frantically. He had sat down after he ended the call with Ilya. He assumed his boyfriend had told the kid that he was on his way and to wait for him.
Hayden’s eyes widened. “No! Of course not, I...” he cut himself off when a chilling thought surfaced. “You... you thought I’d hate you, didn’t you?” Hayden’s voice broke halfway through the sentence. He couldn’t believe it. Had Shane actually thought Hayden wouldn’t be supportive of him? He felt like he was the one who was about to puke
Shane didn’t say anything which told Hayden everything he needed. Shane struggled with talking when he was in emotional moments, preferring to go non-verbal. Hayden couldn’t blame him; he would also go non-verbal if he had himself as a best friend. Granted, he was still unsure what sparked the mistrust in Shane’s mind, but if he was this scared of telling Hayden the truth, then Hayden must have done something to earn it. He was going to make this right.
Hayden shifted closer, lowering his voice. “Hey,” he said gently. “Look at me.” It took a second, but Shane’s eyes lifted. “I’m sorry,” Hayden said. Shane frowned faintly. “For what?”
“For reacting like a complete idiot.” Hayden rubbed the back of his neck. “You trusted me with something big, and I immediately started yelling about Rozanov.” That pulled a quiet huff of laughter out of Shane.
“I mean it,” Hayden continued. “You being gay? That doesn’t change anything. You’re still you. You’re still my best friend.” He paused. “The shocking part is just… the Rozanov of it all.”
Shane groaned softly and tipped his head back against the wall. “Yeah,” he muttered. “I figured that would be the sticking point.”
“You two look like you’re trying to kill each other half the time.”
“We’re not.”
“You elbowed him in the jaw last season.”
“He slashed me first.”
“That’s not the point.”
Shane sighed, and the two were left in momentary silence once more. “How long?” Hayden suddenly asked. “Ilya should be here in about 2 minutes,” Shane said, misunderstanding the question. Hayden chuckled. “No, you fucker, I mean, how long have you been together?”
“Oh.”
Shane also chuckled as he realized his mistake. “Well, officially, we’ve been together for 2 years,” Shane responded, but that number did not seem accurate to Hayden. “But, I know you’ve been texting Lily- him for a lot longer.”
Shane licked his lips and tucked his head back. “Before we started playing, we both did a CCM commercial together.” Hayden nodded. “That... that was the first time we...” Shane didn’t finish the line, but Hayden could hear the implication.
And then he started doing the math.
“Wait, but that would mean... you’ve been dating Rozanov longer than you’ve known me?!” Hayden shouted again, completely shellshocked. Shane widened his eyes and covered Hayden’s mouth. “Keep your voice down, you asshole! What if someone hears you?”
Shane frantically looked around, but aside from the three, he couldn’t spot anyone else. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t anyone nearby, though, and the last thing he needed was someone overhearing that sentence.
“You’ve been keeping this a secret for as long as you’ve known me?” Hayden repeated quietly. “Yes, okay,” Shane said. “Fuck.”
“You’ve been dating Rozanov for over 12 years. Twelve years?”
Shane smiled. “No.” Hayden blinked. “No?” He was no longer following. “We haven’t been dating for twelve years,” Shane said. “We hooked up for the first time twelve years ago.”
“Oh…and?” Hayden prompted. He was still missing crucial information. How had they gone from hooking up to dating? Why had they hooked up if they weren’t dating yet? How did they hook up? Why did they hook up?
Shane rubbed the back of his neck. “It was just… a hookup,” he said. “One night. During the commercial shoot.”
Hayden stared at him. “You hooked up with your future arch-rival during a hockey commercial.” Shane groaned. “When you say it like that...”
Hayden nearly shouted again, but he remembered that Shane had asked him to lower his voice. “There is literally no other way to say it!” He whispered-shouted.
“It wasn’t supposed to be a thing,” Shane muttered. “We didn’t even exchange numbers.”
Hayden blinked again. “You didn’t?”
“No. We just… went our separate ways.”
“And then?” Hayden questioned. He wanted to know every detail. “Then the all-star game happened and we... hooked up again.” Hayden didn’t remember how long after the commercial the Nashville game happened, maybe like half a year later. They were talking about something that took place 12 years ago; he was bound to make mistakes. He wasn’t a computer; his memory wasn’t perfect.
“That was when we exchanged numbers. He’s the one who saved himself as Lily in my phone.” Shane smiled, a fond look in his eyes. “Do you also have a stupid name in his phone”? Hayden asked, a smirk playing on his lips. Shane chuckled. “Yeah, he has me saved as Jane.”
Hayden barked out a laugh. “Jane and Lily?” he repeated. “You two are unbelievable.” Shane shrugged, a little sheepish. “It was his idea.”
“Of course it was,” Hayden muttered.
A loud screeching was heard from the road, directing their attention away from each other. And Shane instantly recognized the black car that pulled up. “He’s here.” Hayden straightened immediately.
The driver’s door opened, and Ilya stepped out, tall and broad-shouldered, the streetlight catching the sharp lines of his face. His eyes scanned the scene quickly.
They landed on Shane first. For half a second, the tension in his shoulders eased. Then he noticed Hayden, and the tension came right back.
“…Pike,” Ilya said flatly as he walked over.
“Rozanov,” Hayden replied, equally flat.
The drunk kid made a small noise from the ground, and Ilya’s attention snapped to him instantly. He crouched beside the teenager and started speaking rapid Russian.
The kid responded right away, words tumbling out fast and slurred. Shane watched quietly as Ilya listened, nodding occasionally, asking a few calm questions.
After a moment, he glanced back at them. “He says his friends leave the club without him. He cannot find hotel.”
“Seriously?” Hayden said. “They just ditched him?” Ilya shrugged. “Bad friends.”
The boy pointed weakly down the street and said something else. Ilya answered him again in Russian, slower this time. The kid visibly relaxed.
Beside Shane, Hayden leaned closer. “…so that’s your boyfriend,” he whispered. Shane elbowed him. “Shut up.” Hayden ignored him and kept watching.
“He says his hotel is two blocks that way,” Ilya said, gesturing down the street. “But he cannot walk well.” Hayden glanced at the kid, then at the car. “…we could just drive him,” he said. Ilya hesitated. Then he nodded once. “Da. Good idea.”
Shane and Hayden blinked. Both of them looked at each other in shock. “You just agreed with Hayden,” Shane said.
Ilya grimaced slightly. “Do not get used to it.” Hayden snorted. “Too late, man,” he said. “We’re basically co-parenting this drunk Russian kid now.”
The teenager blinked up at them, clearly having no idea what was happening.
Shane sighed. “This is the weirdest night of my life.”
Ilya glanced at him. “Mine too,” he said.
Hayden pointed between them. “Oh, please,” he said. “You two have been secretly together for twelve years while pretending to hate each other on national television? That’s way weirder.”
They climbed into the car, Shane and Ilya helping the kid walk up to it and sitting him down in the back seat. Shane also buckled his seatbelt before walking up to the front passenger seat.
Ilya didn’t even have the time to turn the car on before Hayden was asking questions again. “How does Rose Landry fit into this thing?” He asked, and Ilya groaned. “Moya Lyubov, My love why do you have to be friends with... kartoshka?” potato
Hayden blinked. “What the fuck is a kartoška?” Shane winced. That word he did recognize. It wasn’t the worst thing Ilya could have called him, but... “Hayden…”
“No, seriously,” Hayden insisted. “What did he just call me?” Ilya didn’t even bother hiding his smirk. “Potato.” Hayden’s jaw dropped. “POTATO?!” Ilya shrugged. “Small. Round. Confused. Very… starchy.”
Shane slapped a hand over his face. “Oh, my god.”
“I am not starchy!” Hayden protested, pointing at Ilya like he was about to fight him inside the car. “Take it back!” He shouted. “No,” Ilya said simply. “Shane, tell your boyfriend to stop calling me vegetables!”
Shane groaned. “Ilya, please.” Ilya leaned back in his seat, looking smug. “Fine. I call him something else.” Hayden narrowed his eyes. “Better be something respectful.” Ilya nodded solemnly. “Da. Very respectful.”
Then, with the sweetest smile imaginable, “Nebol'shaya problema.” Little problem Shane choked. “Ilya!” Hayden sputtered. “What does THAT mean?!” Hayden asked, already offended without even knowing the translation. But if it came out of the Russians’ mouths, then it definitely wasn’t something nice. Especially after the potato comment.
Shane sighed. “Little problem.”
Hayden threw his hands up. “I AM NOT A LITTLE PROBLEM!” Ilya raised an eyebrow. “You are a loud problem. But still small.” Hayden looked one second away from climbing over the seat to strangle him.
“Izvini,” Sorry The teenager said from the back seat, looking near tears. Ilya quickly explained some things in Russian. The kid’s face relaxed slightly by the time Ilya finished talking, but he still looked guarded.“Nice, Pike,” Ilya said dryly. “Now he thinks he is the little problem.”
Hayden rolled his eyes. “Well, he wouldn’t think that if you hadn’t said it.”
“Guys, stop!” Shane exclaimed. “Can we focus on getting the kid back to the hotel?” He said, glaring at both Ilya and Hayden.
He knew this would happen. He knew the two of them would constantly be at each other’s throats; this was another reason why he hadn’t told Hayden yet. Ilya was the type of person who guarded himself behind chirps, which was the very same persona he showed the world.
They didn’t know the side of him Shane knew. The side that he showed only to people he trusted. Ilya was known as the asshole of the NHL, and yes, he was one. Shane told him that nearly every day, but he was a playful asshole.
He wished Ilya would allow Hayden to be one of those people. Shane reached out his hand and placed it on Ilya’s knee.
The rest of the ride was silent. The hotel wasn’t far, so they managed to reach it in just a couple of minutes.
All three men exited the car to help the kid inside.
Shane hoped no one who recognized him would see the trio. He knew this scenario would be splattered over every social media platform and news outlet if they saw it. At least, it was known that Ilya and Shane were friends now, at least to the public eye. Even if they don’t know the true extent of their relationship, there at least wouldn’t be a whole internet-wide freakout about them spending time together since they were rivals. And Hayden being there helped. But that still didn’t mean he wanted to be spotted.
—-—
After the kid was dropped off at the hotel and was collected by his teacher, apparently, they were on a school trip, the trio had returned to the car.
The ride was silent for the most part. Hayden wanted to ask more questions, but he knew that whatever he was about to say, Rozanov would use it against him. But surprisingly, he was the one who spoke first.
“Rose was Shane’s rebound,” the Russian blurted. Shane’s face turned at least 50 different shades of red. “I-Ilya!” he spluttered.
Hayden just widened his eyes at that response. “What?” he asked, still completely shocked. He was certain his brain had lost the ability to comprehend information. It was not keeping up. He went from thinking he was going to help Shane see ‘Lily’, then they ran into a kid who didn’t speak the same language, then he figured out that Rozanov is Lily, and then once the Russian showed up, he got called a potato and then a little problem. And now the guy was bringing up Rose. He was not drunk enough for this.
All he wanted to do was just get Shane out of the club, and then he would go back inside. But instead of celebrating with his team, he was in a random car. With Rozanov. Ottawa’s team captain, Rozanov. Shane’s boyfriend, Rozanov. This would take some getting used to.
“You asked how Rose Landry fit in, I answered.” Ilya allaborated on his response, a large smirk plastered on his face.
Shane sighed and slumped into the chair. “Oh my god, Ilya. She was not my rebound.”
“No?” Ilya raised an eyebrow at him. “Did you not start dating the night you ran away from me?”
Shane could see that Ilya was just teasing him. He had that glint in his eyes that Shane recognized as the one he got when he was just riling him up. But Hayden was just looking at them, incredibly confused.
“You ran away from him?”
Shane tried to steer the conversation away by trying to deny him. “I... I did not... run away...” Hayden looked at him skeptically. He really needed to work on his lying.
“I don’t know, man, you don’t sound convincing. Do I need to save you from him? Is he keeping you hostage?”
“Hayden, that was like 4 years ago, we’re past that.”
“So you admit you ran away!” Ilya exclaimed excitedly.
Shane groaned. “Oh my god, I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“No, I don’t.”
Silence again followed that admission. Hayden just generally had no idea what to say. He was going to have to talk with Jackie about this.
Fuck.
No, he couldn’t. Telling Jackie would mean outing Shane, and he wasn’t going to break his friend's trust. But god, he really needed someone to talk this out with.
Hayden suddenly noticed Rozanov moving his hand from the steering wheel and placing it onto Shane’s knee. His best friend literally melted into the touch. Okay, Hayden needed to breathe if he didn’t want to pass out because of this bizarre moment. At least they weren’t kissing.
And that’s when something occurred to him. If Shane and Rozanov were boyfriends, that would mean -
“OH, MY GOD!”
Shane instantly turned around to look at Hayden, looking for what had caused his best friend to suddenly shout like that. “What? What’s wrong?”
“I just realized. If you’re dating him... that means that... means that you... have sex with Ilya Rozanov.”
“Okay, where is your hotel? We’re taking him there, and we’re going home.”