Chapter Text
The elevator doors open with a soft chime. Shane steps out, feeling good. First practice of the season is done and there’s that familiar early season energy in his chest again. He adjusts the strap of his hockey bag and walks toward his apartment, already reaching into his pocket for his keys. That’s when the door across the hallway opens and a small figure suddenly runs out. Very fast.
Shane barely has time to react before the kid is right in front of him. He steps slightly to the side and catches her gently by the shoulder before she can crash into him. There’s a quick pause.
Shane looks down. “Hey. Are you okay?”
The little girl just looks up at him and smiles like she didn’t almost just run into him. She has curly blonde hair and a pink dress. She is also very tiny.
“Hi.” she says.
Shane blinks, then crouches down a bit to her level.
“Are you okay?” he asks again. “Do you live here?”
“Yes.”
He nods slightly, still looking at her, then glances toward the apartment door behind her.
He knows someone is supposed to be moving into the apartment across from him. Building manager mentioned it a while ago but he hasn’t been around enough to notice when it actually happened. He was at his cottage for the whole summer and only got back a few days ago. So this is new.
“I live here too.” he says as he points to his own door with his head. “My name is Shane.”
“Shane.” she repeats like she’s testing how it sounds. “My name is Polina.”
“Nice to meet you, Polina. Where are your parents?”
“I’m waiting for papa. We are going to the park but he is very slow.”
Shane glances at the door again.
“Okay.” he says lightly. “I understand waiting is not fun but you shouldn’t run like that. It is dangerous.”
Polina nods very seriously.
“Waiting is boring.” she says, completely ignoring the warning.
Before Shane can say anything else, the apartment door opens and a man with a pink backpack in his hand steps out. He pauses immediately when he sees them. Shane straightens up a little.
Polina’s face lights up. “Papa!”
The man’s eyes go from his daughter to Shane in one quick, careful look.
“Polina.” he says, voice calm. “I told you to wait for me inside, solnyshko.”
Polina doesn’t look guilty, just excited. She runs straight to her father and wraps her arms around his legs.
“I was waiting.” she says. “Shane was here. I met him.”
The man sighs softly through his nose and slowly runs a hand over her hair. Then his attention shifts fully to Shane.
“Hi.” Shane says, simple. “I’m Shane. I live across from you.”
“Ilya.” the man replies.
Polina is still holding onto Ilya’s legs, looking between them like this is something important.
“He is nice.” she says, like she’s making an official announcement.
Ilya glances at her. “Is he?”
Shane shifts slightly. He understands the reaction. To Ilya, Shane is just a stranger in the hallway talking to his kid. He speaks again, carefully.
“I’m sorry.” he says. “She ran out of the apartment and we almost bumped into each other. I didn’t mean to step out of line or anything.” he adds, tone steady. “Just wanted to make sure she was okay.”
Ilya studies him for a moment, then his expression softens slightly.
“She is okay.” he says. “Thank you. Sorry if she startled you. We just moved here and she gets excited every time we go outside.”
“It’s okay.” Shane says quickly.
And then there’s a pause. Shane knows he should say goodbye and go inside his apartment. He doesn’t mean to keep looking at Ilya, but he does. He has curly blonde hair too, just like Polina. He looks around Shane’s age, maybe a little younger.
Shane realizes a second too late that he’s just staring. He clears his throat, a little embarassed. Ilya's still looking at him too.
Before either of them can say anything else, Polina suddenly lets go of Ilya’s leg. Shane guesses she’s gotten bored of standing still. She grabs her father’s hand instead and starts tugging it.
“Hurry up, papa!” she says. “We are late.”
“We are not late.” Ilya says, smiling softly. “The park is not a place you can be late to, baby.”
Polina huffs like she strongly disagrees and tugs harder.
“Papa!”
“Okay, okay.” Ilya says, finally shifting his attention fully back to her. He glances down and holds her hand. “We are going. Say goodbye to Shane.”
“Bye, Shane.”
Shane’s smile comes easily.
“Bye, Polina. Have fun.”
Polina smiles at him too, and then she starts walking to elevator, still pulling Ilya with her. Ilya lets himself be led but as they pass Shane he adds, almost casually. “Nice to meet you.”
Shane nods once. “Nice to meet you too, Ilya.”
Ilya gives a small nod back and keeps walking with Polina. Shane stands there for a second, then he unlocks his door and goes inside.
The apartment is quiet in a way that feels a bit too empty. He thinks about how loud Polina is. Good loud. Then, almost immediately after, his mind shifts to her father. Shane actually pauses at that, like his brain just threw something at him he didn’t ask for. Ilya. Attractive, his mind supplies and Shane almost physically reacts to it. That’s not helpful information right now. He has a kid, probably a wife. That should be the end of it.
He shakes his head slightly at himself like that helps reset it. He walks toward the bathroom, deciding a shower is the easiest way to shut his thoughts off for a while.
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Ilya follows Polina out through the lobby, barely keeping up with how fast she moves. The second they step outside, she lets go of his hand and immediately starts hopping over sidewalk cracks.
“I like Shane.” she announces. “We will be friends.”
Ilya glances down at her, amused. “You talked to him for two minutes.”
Polina shrugs her shoulders. She is quiet for approximately five seconds before speaking again.
“Do you think he is sad because I did not invite him to the park?”
Ilya blinks, then lets out a soft, fond little smile. His daugther is an angel.
“I think Shane will survive not being invited to the park, moya zvezdochka.”
“Did you like him?”
Ilya snorts softly. “We don’t know him, baby.”
“But did you?”
Ilya sighs dramatically just to make her grin. “He seemed nice.”
“I know.” she says immediately. “He needs friends too.”
Ilya raises an eyebrow. “How do you know that?”
Polina shrugs again. “I just know.”
Ilya shakes his head, smiling faintly as they continue down the sidewalk. His thoughts drift to Shane before he can really stop them.
Honestly, when the building manager mentioned the guy across the hall was a professional hockey player, Ilya had immediately prepared himself for the worst possibility. Loud parties, giant ego, random people in the hallway at two in the morning. The kind of person Ilya himself probably would have gotten along with a little too well back in university, before life completely rearranged his priorities. Instead, Shane seems normal.
Polite, careful with kids and unfortunately, very attractive.
Ilya catches himself thinking about the freckles across Shane’s face and immediately rolls his eyes at himself. Irrelevant. The important thing is that the man across the hall doesn’t seem like an asshole. For now, that is more than enough.
The apartment itself had felt right almost immediately. Bright, safe, close to Polina’s preschool and enough space for both of them without feeling too empty. His commute to the office was technically worse now, but he worked from home often enough that it barely mattered. Besides, it felt like they needed the change.
Polina tugs his hand again. “Are we almost there?”
“Yes.” Ilya says. “Just a little more.”
“Can I have ice cream when we get there?”
Ilya glances down at her. “We are going to a park.”
“So?”
“So parks do not come with ice cream truck.”
Polina thinks about this seriously for a moment.
“That is not nice.”
“I’ll talk to them.” Ilya says.
Polina nods approvingly. “Thank you.”
Ilya hesitates just a moment, then asks. “Are you excited for preschool?”
“Yes.” she says instantly. “I am brave.”
“Yes, you are.”
“I will make friends. I think.”
Ilya lets out a quiet laugh, shaking his head a little as if that answer somehow feels both too simple and completely perfect at the same time. “Of course you will.” he says softly, more to himself than anything else.
When they finally reach the park, Polina doesn’t even wait. The second she steps through the entrance, she’s already running.
“Polina!” Ilya starts automatically, more habit than urgency, but she’s already halfway to the slide.
He watches her for a second, then walks a little closer, settling near the edge of the playground where he can see her clearly. He sits down on an empty bench. For a moment, it’s just noise around him. Kids shouting, footsteps on gravel, wind through trees. Then his phone rings. He looks at the screen and answers almost immediately.
“Hi, Sveta.”
“Hi.” Svetlana replies. “You sound tired.”
“I’m fine.” Ilya says, leaning back slightly on the bench, eyes still on Polina. “We came to a park.”
“And how is my favorite girl?”
“Already climbing something she shouldn’t be.”
“Good. Normal day, then.” Svetlana says approvingly. “When does preschool start again? Next week?”
“Monday.” Ilya says.
“Right. That’s soon.”
“Yeah.” he replies. A brief silence follows. “It’s a lot.”
Svetlana hums. “Excited or stressed?”
“Both.” Ilya admits. His eyes stay on Polina as she jumps down from a low platform and immediately runs somewhere else. “She is excited. I just want her to be okay there.”
“She will be.” Svetlana says easily. “She is the most amazing girl ever.”
“I know.” Ilya says, softer now. “I want her to make good friends. Not feel out of place.”
Svetlana pauses for a moment, then her tone warms slightly. “It is impossible to not love her. I don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about there.”
“I guess I can’t help it.”
“She’ll be fine.” Svetlana adds, more certain this time. “And you will be fine too.”
Ilya doesn’t answer for a moment. He just watches Polina for a second longer.
“Yeah.” he says finally. “I hope so.”
“How is the new place?”
“It’s good.” Ilya says. “Nice area. The building is kind of upscale. Spacious. We actually met our neighbor today. The one across the hall. His name is Shane. He plays hockey, I think.”
Svetlana goes quiet for a beat. “Shane?”
“Yeah. Why do you sound like that?”
“Hockey player Shane? Dark hair? Tall? Very handsome?”
“That’s an oddly specific description.” Ilya says.
“Ilya Rozanov.” she says, voice rising. “Are you telling me you live across from Shane Hollander? Captain of the Ottawa Centaurs?”
“Who?”
Svetlana exhales like she physically cannot believe what she’s hearing. “I know you are busy, but you can’t be that busy. Do you not follow hockey at all anymore?”
“I don’t.” Ilya says simply.
“You used to.” she insists. “This is Shane Hollander. Best player of the league. Basically the face of Ottawa.”
“He seemed normal.”
“He is normal.” Svetlana admits. “That’s also why people like him so much. Very grounded.”
“You know a lot about him.”
“And he came out before the summer.” she adds. “Publicly. It was everywhere. Hockey media talked about it for weeks.”
Ilya blinks once. “He did?”
“Yes.” Svetlana says. “How did you miss that?”
Ilya exhales softly. “I’ve been a little busy.” he says, tone light. “You know, raising a five year old and working. Not much time left for hockey gossip.”
His eyes drift back to Polina.
“Polina likes him.” he says after a moment.
“That’s usually a good sign.” Svetlana replies.
“Yeah. Good for him.”
There’s a short pause on the line. Then Svetlana’s tone shifts, she’s definitely amused now.
“So you are casually living across from Shane Hollander.”
“Yes.”
“Captain of the Ottawa Centaurs.”
“I guess so.”
“Very famous.”
“I assume.”
“Very attractive.” she adds.
Ilya doesn’t respond immediately.
“I didn’t comment on that part.” he says finally.
Svetlana laughs. “You didn’t have to.”
Another beat.
“And very single.” she continues, clearly enjoying this. “Unless he’s very good at hiding a relationship.”
Ilya sighs, mildly amused. “Sveta.”
“What?” she says innocently. “I’m just giving you context.”
“I don’t need context.”
Svetlana laughs softly again. “Honestly, I can’t decide what is funnier. You not knowing who he is or you acting like it doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t.” Ilya says simply. “He is a normal person. He doesn’t look like an asshole, which is a win for me. And that’s all.”
“I still think this is going to be interesting.” she says.
“It’s not.”
“We’ll see.”
Ilya shakes his head slightly. “I have to go.”
“Of course you do.” she says warmly. “Say hi to your famous neighbor for me.”
“I will not.”
“Call me later. I want updates.”
“I’m not giving you updates.”
“Sure you won’t.”
The line goes dead with Svetlana’s laugh still faint in his ear. He slips his phone back into his pocket and leans forward slightly.
“Papa!”
Polina comes running toward him, something clenched carefully in her small hand like it’s extremely important. She stops right in front of him and opens her palm.
“Look! I found a leaf. Looks like a bird.”
Ilya looks at it, then at her. A small smile pulls at the corner of his mouth before he can stop it.
“It looks like a bird. Very cute, solnyshko.” he agrees.
Polina beams like this is exactly the correct answer. Then, satisfied, she turns and runs back toward the climbing frame.
“Stay where I can see you.” Ilya calls after her.
“I am!” she replies without turning around.
Ilya shakes his head slightly, still smiling. And then, without really meaning to, his thoughts drift again.
Shane Hollander. Hockey player. Captain and best player in the league, apparently. It’s strange how little that changes what he actually saw. A man in a hallway being kind to a child he just met. That part doesn’t feel complicated.
What feels complicated is Svetlana being right. That Shane is very attractive. Ilya knows he shouldn’t think about it, so he doesn’t linger on it, but the thought still comes anyway. He hasn’t watched hockey in years, not properly. But now, out of nowhere, he finds himself wondering what Shane Hollander looks like on the ice.