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In hindsight, Ilya probably should have set an alarm or something. Or maybe, just maybe, he could have resisted his gorgeous boyfriend for once in his life.
But Ilya was a weak, weak man when it came to Shane Hollander. One pleading look from those big brown eyes and a slight pout from those impossibly plush pink lips and Ilya was folding like a lawn chair. Not to mention the freckles. Ilya might have actually died if he couldn't touch those freckles again.
Which was why Ilya drove from Ottawa to Montreal, as soon as Shane had called that morning and mumbled something about how much he had missed Ilya. Even though Shane was incredibly high on pain medication, he knew the sentiment was still there. Besides, Shane was concussed, he shouldn't even be using his phone, and he was stubborn enough that no one could stop him from doing it. And who was Ilya to say no to Shane, especially when he was calling him baby over the phone, slurring his words?
They had talked so much about everything at the cottage. Ilya had finally opened up to him about his shitty father and brother, and he had cried in Shane's arms after telling him about his mama. They were completely honest with each other, in a way Ilya hasn't been with anyone since he was twelve. Sometimes, though, on the darkest nights, Ilya would be honest with his mama, clutching her cross and spilling his thoughts in Russian as tears streamed down his face. Ilya was glad Shane's parents weren't like his. Shane deserved the best.
Shane had also told him about his family, especially about his mother and how obsessed she was with hockey. Ilya and Shane were probably the most famous current players in the league, so any hockey fans would have recognized them, let alone Yuna Hollander.
Which was why Ilya was pretty proud of his disguise as he went unnoticed by Yuna, David and Hayden Pike stepping out of Shane's room. He wasn't expecting Pike, but then again he wasn't surprised either. Shane adored Hayden, and Ilya was happy that Shane had a friend he could trust. Even though that friend was the fifteenth best player in Montreal.
As soon as he saw them step into the elevator, Ilya went straight to Shane's room. He paused near the door, looking at his surroundings to see if anyone had been recording, but all he saw was staff members minding their own business. Confirming that it was safe to enter, Ilya stepped into the room, carefully closing the door behind him. He couldn't imagine waiting another second. He fully expected Shane to either be sleeping, or too high to be coherent, but he didn't mind. Shane sounded adorable on the phone, and he wanted to hear his boyfriend's ramblings in person.
"Ilyaaaaa!"
Shane's face was bruised, his freckles barely visible under the purple and brown mottled skin of his cheeks. His eyes were slightly unfocused, but he seemed to recognize Ilya well enough. There was a tray of the terrible hospital cafeteria food that Shane had barely touched. Ilya mentally set a reminder to bring Shane a smoothie and some real food next time he visited.
After a few failed attempts to get him to be quieter, Ilya gave up and walked over to Shane, who immediately held on to Ilya's arm like it was a child's teddy bear. He remembered how scared he had been yesterday, not knowing a thing about Shane's condition. He was unbelievably thankful that he was okay. He was even more thankful that he got to see Shane Hollander high as a kite. Ilya shifted and sat sideways on the firm hospital bed, facing Shane.
"Missed you, baby," he slurred. God, why was this so endearing?
"I missed you too, sweetheart. How are you feeling?"
"M'okay. Wanna kiss you," Shane puckered his lips and Ilya laughed, obliging. He leaned in and kissed him tenderly, tracing his freckles. Ilya's tongue slipped into Shane's mouth, eliciting soft moans from his boyfriend. He heard the heart monitor speed up and pulled away gently, resting his forehead on Shane's. Shane pouted and tugged at his sleeve.
"Wanna cuddle. Please?"
Ilya shook his head. Shane was clingy now, but by the time the drugs wore off, he would definitely be mortified at potentially beingseen in a hospital bed cuddling with his rival. He didn't want to stress future Shane out.
"Shane, I don't think we should-" Ilya didn't finish that sentence as Shane's face crumpled, eyes welling up with tears.
"No- fuck, Shane, it's okay," Ilya soothed him. He had never seen Shane cry before, and he definitely didn't expect him to be so gorgeous doing it.
"Hey, don't cry. We can cuddle, okay?"
Anyone could walk in on them, but seeing his boyfriend's red-rimmed eyes and frown fade into a content grin, Ilya didn't really care as he carefully crawled into bed with him, wrapping his arms around Shane, pulling him close and planting a kiss on each cheek as Shane giggled.
"I love you," he whispered, already half asleep. Ilya said it back in Russian, though he was pretty sure Shane couldn't hear him. He kissed the top of Shane's head and breathed in the comforting scent of his seaweed shampoo as he felt his eyelids go heavy.
Shane was having a weird fucking dream.
"Holy shit-"
"Is that Rozanov-"
"What are they even-"
"What the fuck-"
"Shane hated him, I swear-"
"This isn't real, there's no way-"
"I think he's waking up-"
He groaned as the room went quiet again, the voices fully going silent. He had probably woken up from whatever the fuck his brain decided to pull today. He slowly blinked his eyes open. The lights were too bright, even though he distinctly remembered asking a nurse to dim them, and he felt a comforting weight around him. Ilya, he thought, as his memories came back to him. It wasn't a dream then, he was really here. God, he missed him so fucking much. He kissed the crook of Ilya's neck, breathing in his scent and pulling him closer.
"Shane?" Ilya croaked. His voice was deep and raspy from sleep and his accent was thicker.
He sounded incredibly sexy.
Shane lifted his head to look at his boyfriend properly. Ilya smirked, still half asleep. How the fuck did this man manage to look hot even when he was barely awake? "Good morning, sweetheart," he breathed into Shane's hair.
He heard a scuffle of what sounded like footsteps behind him. There was no one here but Ilya, though. Maybe it was the drugs making him hallucinate or something.
"I don't think it's morning, baby. What time is it?" Shane asked, punctuating his statement with a yawn.
Ilya shifted slightly and lifted his head up to look at the wall clock in their room. Huh, they really are useful, he thought. He remembered making fun of Shane for having three wall clocks in his cottage. You have phone, Hollander, why do you need clock?
Instead of looking at the time, however, he looked straight into the eyes of Yuna Hollander.
After letting out an embarrassing high-pitched yelp that he would later deny ever doing, Ilya promptly fell off the bed, startling his boyfriend in the process. He was grateful for sleeping on the other side of the bed, or he probably would have taken Yuna down with him.
Ilya opened his eyes yet again to see David Hollander and Hayden Pike standing above him. God, could this get any worse?
Hayden looked at Ilya like he had grown a second head, while David looked surprisingly calm as he reached out a hand to help Ilya up.
To David's horror, Ilya flinched so hard he hit his head on the chair behind him.
Ilya opened his eyes again just in time to see David pull his hand away as if he had been burned.
Ilya gratefully took it and stood up, bracing himself on the chair he had hit his head on.
Shane must have heard the commotion, Ilya thought, as he heard a small rustle of bedheets and Yuna's gentle, motherly voice behind him.
"Shaney, sweetie- no, don't try to get up, Shane, your head-"
Ilya whipped around to see Shane still curled up on the bed, hiding under the covers as Yuna tried coaxing him out like a scared kitten. Ilya carefully walked up to him, ignoring Yuna's eyes burning into his skin.
"Shane? Dorogoy, is okay, is just me," Ilya murmured. He reached out and ran a hand through Shane's soft dark hair which was peeking out of the stark white hospital bedsheets. Slowly, Shane revealed just the top half of his face, staring up at Ilya with those pretty doe eyes. Ilya smiled, gently pulling the covers away and handed him a glass of water, which Shane drank obediently. Ilya saw Shane's eyes wordlessly focus on something behind him and Ilya turned to see Yuna, David and Hayden staring at him, jaws agape.
"Shane? Buddy, are you alright?" David asked, breaking the silence.
"I'm fine, I'm just freaking out," Shane answered honestly. To be honest, Ilya was freaking out too.
"I can explain," Ilya offered, trying to calm him down. Shane would probably have an aneurysm explaining their almost decade long situationship to his parents.
"You better be fucking explaining, Rozanov," Hayden gritted out, glaring at him. Ilya rolled his eyes. Why was Pike so damn annoying?
"How long has this been going on, son?" David prompted. Ilya flinched at the word son, even though it was nice to be called that by someone other than Grigori.
"Since the summer before rookie season," Ilya answered honestly. David's eyes went comically wide and Hayden let out a strangled noise.
"Since rookie season? You two have been-" Yuna waved her hand at the both, "together since then?"
"No, we have been together for almost two years, technically," Ilya said quickly. "Before that, we were just- ah, lovers?"
Shane let out a yelp. "Ilya, don't use that word, please," he croaked. Ilya grinned, despite everything.
"So is this like a thing? Is it serious?" David asked.
"Yes, very serious. I love Shane very much."
"I thought you guys hated each other," Hayden said slowly. He looked at Shane. "All this time, we've been talking shit about Rozanov, and you didn't- you couldn't do anything but agree with us."
Shane winced. "I was scared. I wanted to tell you guys, I really did, but I-"
"You've been with Rozanov longer than we've even known each other, Shane. Did I- fuck, I knew the locker room was bad, the jokes they were making, I didn't even tell them to stop-"
"It's not your fault, Hayd. I was just scared. I wasn't ready," Shane assured him. Ilya gently took Shane's trembling hand in his.
"So, you're- gay, right? What about Rose Landry?" Yuna questioned.
"Yeah, mom, I'm gay. Ilya's bisexual. This was not going to be how I told you guys," he let out a shaky breath. "Rose was- well, we weren't compatible, obviously."
Yuna didn't say anything. Ilya wondered what his parents would have to say about his sexuality. His father would probably shoot him dead the moment the words left his mouth. He liked to think his mother wouldn't be like that. No, he knew Irina wasn't bigoted, she had always taught him the same.
Just as Ilya thought Shane's parents were taking this news pretty well, Yuna promptly burst into tears. Based on everyone's flabbergasted looks, Ilya was sure this wasn't something she did on a regular basis.
"I'm sorry, mom, please don't cry," —Shane begged, tears forming in his eyes as well—"I tried, I really did- but I love him, mom."
Yuna shook her head, crossing the room and pulling Shane into the tightest hug Ilya had ever seen. He absent-mindedly reached for his mother's cross hanging around his neck.
"Shane, baby, don't ever apologise to me, not for this," Yuna sniffled. "I'm sorry- we're sorry that we made you feel like you couldn't tell us, okay? I love you so much, Shane. I'm so, so proud of you."
"I love you too, mom."
"Wait, Rozanov," Hayden interrupted. "Did you move to Ottawa for Shane?"
"Wow, I didn't think you would figure it out Pike," Ilya smirked as Hayden rolled his eyes.
"You left Boston for Shane?" Yuna asked, peering at Ilya judgementally. Shane snorted behind her.
"What? Loyalty is important, and Boston drafted him."
"Mom, he's trying to be loyal to me, not Boston."
"Wait a minute," Yuna said slowly. Ilya braced himself, as if she was going to yell at him.
"That night, in the elevator," Yuna started, and she knew what she said was right, seeing the grin forming on Ilya's face, "You were- you were seeing Shane, weren't you?"
"Oh my God, mom, did you really have to bring that up?"
Yuna blushed. "Sorry, sweetie."
"Shane, buddy, I'm happy for you, really," —Hayden said, something in his voice betraying him—"but why him?"
Ilya snorted. "You know, I would say he has better taste than you, but Jackie is an extremely sexy woman."
"She's my extremely sexy wife, thank you very much."
"I'm sure I could change her mind, but I am very happy with my gorgeous boyfriend. We also don't want a million children, so-"
"We only have four kids!"
"Seriously, guys?" Shane raised an eyebrow at Ilya and Hayden's bickering. He didn't blame Hayden, honestly— Ilya was ruthless at chirping, Shane would know. Maybe if he dialed it down a bit, he would still have some real teeth left, but Shane had given up trying to correct his incorrigible boyfriend.
"Sorry sweetheart," Ilya said, walking over to Shane and planting a kiss on his cheek. He immediately blushed and smiled shyly at Ilya, who was gently running his hand through Shane's hair with a tender expression on his face.
"Oh my God," Hayden muttered, "he- they're in love!"
"No shit, Sherlock." Ilya quipped, making Shane laugh.
"Who taught you that word, Ilya?" He asked, amused.
"Your mother," Ilya answered quickly, before he realized what came out of his mouth. Fuck, he really needed to tone down the chirping off the ice. He whipped his head around to see at Yuna Hollander smirking at him, eyebrows raised.
"Sorry, Mrs. Hollander," he said sheepishly.
"Call me Yuna, dear. You are our son-in-law, after all," she turned to David, who just nodded. David seemed to be a man of few words.
"Mom," Shane groaned, hiding his face in his hands while Ilya just grinned and nodded eagerly. He would get Yuna Hollander's seal of approval no matter what it took.