Chapter Text
Ilya was a nervous mess when he pulled up to the Hollander home. He had flowers in one hand and a bottle of Russian vodka, taken from his personal collection, in the other. He knocked on the front door and shifted the flowers and bottle to one hand, using the other to run his hand over his curls one last time.
It was his first dinner with Shane’s parents without Shane present. After helping with unpacking Ilya’s new house in Ottawa and them spending some few days at the cottage, Shane was back in Montreal, preparing for the next season and when Ilya had received a call from Yuna asking if he would like to come to dinner, he’d been too taken aback to come with an excuse on why he couldn’t.
So here he stood, heart slightly racing, and listened through the door as footsteps headed towards him. The door opened and David Hollander was on the other side. He was dressed as he usually was in dark jeans and a navy blue sweater that Ilya knew Shane had bought for him for Father’s Day that year.
“Ilya, son, you’re here. Come in, come in,” David said as he opened the door wider and gestured to the inside. Swallowing, Ilya stepped in, peeled off his shoes and slipped his sock-covered feet into one of the guest slippers always placed near the door that had slowly become his which each visit.
He held up the two gifts. “I bring flowers and vodka.”
David laughed and lightly clapped him on the shoulder before taking them off his hands. “Thank you, son. Let me take care of these as you say hi to Yuna. She’s decided to cook tonight, one of her mother’s recipes.” David shooed him towards the kitchen and Ilya obliged.
“Hello, Yuna,” Ilya greeted from the kitchen entryway. She was slicing tomatoes at the island counter but stopped as soon as she heard his voice. Her head snapped up and she was smiling—Ilya would never get used to how much the Hollanders smiled at him—before wiping her hands on a dish towel and moving towards him, arms outstretched. Ilya unfolded himself and met her halfway, bending down to return the hug. Yuna hugged the same way Shane did, wrapping her arms completely around him and tucking his face against her shoulder with a hand to the back of his neck.
“Ilya, I’m so glad you came. How are you?” Yuna asked and stepped back, her arms still holding his forearms.
Ilya smiled. “I am good. David said you are cooking tonight, so I am excited to try your food.”
Yuna laughed, lightly tapped his arms and dropped her hands. “Nothing as good as David’s chicken parmesan but I hope you like it.” She motioned him out. “Now, shoo. It will be another forty minutes before I’m done. You and David can keep each other company.”
Ilya pressed a kiss to her cheek before leaving.
He found David in the living room. The TV was off but from Ilya’s back view, he was leaning forward and concentrating on something on the coffee table in front of him.
“I do not think you should be slouching like that,” Ilya mentioned as he moved to sit on the seat to David’s right. “Is bad for back.”
David laughed and straightened and Ilya spotted several pieces of a puzzle scattered all over the coffee table. “You sound like Shane,” David stated, and Ilya took a moment to bask in the comparison. “I’ve been meaning to get a puzzle table but just never got around to it.”
Ilya hunched forward from his seat. The box was at the corner of the table and it showed Ilya’s arch-enemy, a loon. Several loons actually, all on a lake with trees and a mountain view in the background. The pieces were sorted by colour; various shades of blues, greens and browns. Three outer-edges were complete and David had started on the final edge when Ilya walked in.
“Would you like to help me?” David questioned. Ilya met his eyes but the man was smiling, glasses settled at the top of his head. The offer was genuine—almost everything about the Hollanders was genuine—but Ilya found himself hesitating nonetheless.
“I’d love the help,” David insisted. “And the company.”
Ilya cleared his throat. “Are you sure?” He had to confirm, he didn’t want to bother the man.
David smiled and waved his hand towards the incomplete puzzle. “Yes, son. I’m sure. Help me find the edge pieces first.”
Finding he was a bit too far from the table, Ilya stood up and settled on the other side of it, back to the TV but across from David. He’d meant to just sit on the floor but David held up a hand and handed him a large seat cushion. Muttering his thanks, Ilya sat on it and crossed his legs in front of him.
David correctly wore his glasses. “The blues we’re looking for should be in that pile to your left.”
Ilya sorted through the blues and found several pieces that would form the final edge. He held them up. David smiled at him, “Good job. Now just try to fit them where they should be.” Squirming on his padded pillow, Ilya did as told. It was easy and a minute later, the final edge was complete.
“Great!” David exclaimed with a clap of his hands. “Now we just need to follow the edges in. But if you see that you can complete certain parts, feel free to do so.”
Ilya nodded and got to it.
It was somewhat soothing, searching for pieces that would perfectly fit his incomplete parts. At one point, he ruffled through several bits looking for one piece that would complete a stupid loon in flight but after searching thrice, he let out a grumble in frustration.
“Stupid Canadian Wolf Bird,” he whined and had to fight back a stunned flinch when David burst into laughter. Ilya started laughing as well. “I cannot find one piece and it’s bothering me.”
David sighed. “Yes, that happens sometimes. I usually move on before I get too frustrated. That piece could be mixed in the wrong pile or dropped somewhere on the floor. I almost had Yuna call the puzzle company once because I was missing two pieces but I spotted them under the rug before she actually did.”
Ilya had to drop the pieces he was holding from how hard he laughed.
They continued working on the puzzle in silence, the banging on pots and pans in the kitchen the only audible sound in the home. They were halfway through, the pieces coming easier the less there were, when a cough broke their concentration.
Yuna stood just behind David’s couch, her arms crossed and a fond smile on her face. “Dinner’s ready. I tried to call you guys from the dining room but I now see the two of you were too focused to hear me.”
Both men let out a sheepish laugh.
They sat down at the table, Yuna and David on one side, Ilya on the other. The empty spot next to him felt wrong but then Yuna started filling his plate and David poured him a portion of the vodka he’d brought, the gifted flowers at the centre of the table, and Ilya found himself distracted.
He wasn’t sure how the topic came up, maybe when Yuna mentioned one of her bookclub members who’d recently given birth, but they were discussing names and why parents should be careful when choosing because names could have several meanings.
Ilya shrugged into his food. “My name is Elijah in English. It means ‘My God is Yahweh’. My mother named me.”
The scraping and clinking of cutlery stopped and Ilya slowly placed his glass back onto the table. Had he offended them somehow? “What? Is something wrong?” he asked.
Both the Hollanders were staring at him. They must have realised that Ilya was worried because they shook their heads. It was Yuna who explained, “It’s just, David’s middle name is Elias. The Greek version of Elijah.”
David smiled at him and reached forward to add more curry to his plate. “It means we share a name.”
Oh.
“Oh,” Ilya whispered. He had no response to that and could only smile back. The Hollanders didn’t push it, they went back to their meal and when Yuna stood up to get more water for the table, David tilted forward and staged-whispered, “I wanted to name Shane Elias but Yuna refused. So I’m glad I at least got you.” He winked.
Ilya tried and failed to hide his beaming smile.