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Ilya got lucky with his apartment in Boston. It’s convenient to downtown and the arena, in a good neighborhood, and fucking gorgeous.
Some of his teammates bitch about how they have to chase the landlords to fix the leaky faucets or broken stoves, but he never has problems with any of that.
The seals on the doors and windows must be awesome too, because dust hardly even accumulates.
***
The apartment he gets in Ottawa is older, but it’s still in good repair. He’s sure to recite the little rhyme his mama taught him for good luck when you move to a new house. It’s pretty much a perfect apartment except for the location: thirty minutes from the arena.
When Shane transfers to Ottawa they move in together. Ilya says the rhyme before Shane gets there. Shane gives him a weird look when he sets out a bowl of leftovers on the counter near the oven, but he’s always done that, either leftovers or bread and milk. Some of it evaporates overnight and the bread dissolves.
Their first fight is about that, Shane saying it wastes food and is beyond pointless. Ilya claims he’s always done it and it’s good luck. Finally Shane throws his hands up and says “Whatever!”
***
A few months later they get Anya, and there’s weird noises at night for a bit, but Ilya doesn’t think much of it.
Then Marley blows up his phone with texts and pictures saying he was getting married.
He demands Ilya be his best man, of course, and Ilya spends a few minutes rubbing his hand over his face when he sees that.
Shane’s annoyed that he’ll be gone for two weeks, but he needs at least that long for the bachelor party he’s got planned. He makes sure to give Shane extra kisses until he stops complaining.
***
Ilya checks in to the same hotel as the rest of the wedding party. The other groomsmen are the bride’s brother and a couple of other guys from the Raiders. The maid of honor is the bride’s sister and Ilya manages to charm her despite the horror stories she’s heard about him.
Cliff’s fiancee’s name is Emma. She’s a preschool teacher and Ilya loves her immediately. Despite this, he gives her the obligatory “shovel speech.”
After the bachelor party they all drag themselves back to Ilya’s suite and drape themselves over whatever piece of furniture is most convenient.
The wedding ceremony is beautiful, Emma’s sister catches the bouquet, and Ilya has the entire room falling over with his toast.
All in all, a complete success.
***
Ilya staggers into the concourse, almost asleep on his feet between the jetlag and the hangover.
“Ilya! Ilya!”
He sees Shane waving his arms and calling and a grin splits his face. He’s got Anya with him on a harness.
Ilya puts his arms around Shane and kisses his cheek, then kneels down to get kisses from Anya.
He’s so zonked out he doesn’t realize they’re not heading home until Shane pulls into the hotel parking lot.
“Wha...where?”
Shane rubs the back of his neck as he looks at him. “So yeah...I checked into a hotel a couple days after you left.”
Ilya shakes some of the fuzz out of his head to ask “Why?”
“You’ll think I’m crazy,” Shane mumbles.
“Hollander, is late and I am hung over and spent last hour and a half on plane, I want my bed.”
Shane coughs. “So...uh...yeah...I think our house is haunted.”
Ilya stares at him for a moment.
Then barks out a laugh.
“I’m serious!” Shane says. “Things kept disappearing and then reappearing in the same spot. And there were thunks and clanks on the roof! And things...laughing.”
“Laughing,” Ilya repeats.
“Yes!”
Ilya rubs the bridge of his nose. He’s too tired for this shit. “Shanya, you will drive home and if there are ghosts in the house I will chase them away.”
Shane scoffs, but puts the car in gear and Ilya dozes off.
***
He wakes up when Shane stops in front of the house. Shane gets his bags from the back, which he’s too tired to bitch about, and they stumble up to the dark house.
Anya runs in as soon as they unlock the door, followed by Shane and Ilya.
And the moment Shane turns the light on, a two foot tall grey-bearded man appears, making Shane yelp and drop Ilya’s bag.
The thing immediately starts complaining in Russian, in a surprisingly deep voice, with many jabs of its finger toward Shane, whose jaw is sagging to the floor.
Ilya barely hears it saying that Shane hasn’t been feeding it, that it was afraid it would starve “before master got back, where had he gone,” because he’s suddenly being flooded with memories.
A grey-bearded figure sitting by his bed, crooning a lullaby during a thunderstorm--
Pots and pans banging in the attic and raucous laughter, the night after he scores his first hockey goal--
Wailing and crying, then ominous silence, the night before he finds his mother--
Calling for them in the night after his father had yelled at him again--
He holds up a hand to stem the flow of words, raps out an “I’ll handle it.”
The domovoy bows and grins, then says “Welcome back, Master” and disappears.
“Spasiba, Nikolai,” he whispers, then turns to explain to Shane.
***
“So the food you leave out was being eaten by that...that troll-thing?” Shane asks in a higher-pitched voice than normal.
Ilya pinches the bridge of his nose. He needs to sleep so bad he can taste it. “Domovoy, Hollander. Nikolai is a domovoy.”
“Nikolai???”
“What I called him since I was young.”
“Wait, you’ve known about this thing since you were young and you didn’t tell me?”
“Not on purpose, Hollander. I forgot all about him.”
“You forgot, but you’ve been feeding him ever since we moved in together.”
Ilya flaps a hand at him, dismissing his skepticism. “Is just...thing you do.”
“You still could have told me if I stopped doing that I’d have a gremlin stealing my hockey tape!”
Ilya doesn’t bother to correct him again. “Hollander, I am exhausted. I am going to bed.”
***
The next day Ilya goes over the ritual for propitiating a domovoi with Shane, then sets out to formally introduce him and Anya to Nikolai.
They start with Anya, since Nikolai doesn’t have a grudge against her. After a moment he appears, then changes in form to match Anya. Her hackles go up, but after a few moments sniffing the domovoi Anya, she settles down.
Shane’s ritual is a bit more detailed. He has to offer Nikolai a bowl of beef stew and a heel of bread, then bow to each corner of the room while stumbling over the Russian apology.
Nikolai sniffs the bowl disdainfully, dips the bread in and takes a bite, then looks at Ilya, hmphs, says something Shane doesn’t understand and disappears, along with the bowl.
Ilya chuckles.
“What did he say?” Shane demands peevishly.
“He says he guesses I can keep you,” Ilya says fondly, pecking Shane on the cheek.
“I fucking hope so,” Shane says, pulling him in for a deeper kiss.