Chapter Text
Look, Micah was born and raised in Las Vegas. Westside, to be exact. They still live in the Westside with their family. Sure, the commute to the Downtown theater district is kinda annoying, but it’s home and what’s affordable. At least they don’t live in fuckass Reno. That would suck.
For their whole adult life, Micah has worked in theatrical tech. They did tech crew all through middle and high school, got a gig when they were 16 working special events on weekends, which landed them a full-time gig as a stage technician at their current theater fresh out of high school. After 5 years, they finally worked their way up to Assistant Technical Director.
At no point in this general projection did Micah expect to befriend international hockey icon Shane Hollander.
It’s rare to ever really talk to the on-stage performers with any meaningfulness for one-off events. Yeah, Micah’s tight with some of the actors in the area, but the events don’t really lend well to those same relationships. So imagine their shock when a man in the most cishet profession asks the person in the most gay ass profession to be friends.
And maybe that’s a bit of a stereotype on Micah’s part. Look, they live and breathe theater. All of their friends are theater people. Their partner used to teach music. Their kid siblings are into visual arts and dance. They’re an arts family. They are not a sports family. Frankly, they just don’t give a shit about sports.
Maybe that’s what Hockey Shane liked about Micah— their total obliviousness to who he is. Yeah, Micah was aware of the nebulous concept of everyone that night of the awards being big famous millionaires, but they just couldn’t be bothered to care beyond being professional enough to not get fired. They were polite and all, but just didn’t expect the end result to be Hockey Shane Hollander asking to hang out again and for their number.
The first time Hockey Shane texts Micah, it’s a couple days after the award show in 2014 at a truly ungodly hour. Of course, Micah's awake, though.
Personally, Micah isn’t totally sure how they feel about their dinner plans involving a celebrity amount of plane-fueled global warming; however, they’re not about to shoot down plans because of those ethics. If they would just build the freaking train between LA and Vegas already, then Micah would be totally unopposed to the idea. But not, America refuses to actually invest in anything outside of car-centric infrastructure.
"Tesoro, ¿quién coño te está escribiendo (Who the fuck is texting you) at fuckass o'clock por la mañana (in the morning)?" Kat groans, squinting at the light of Micah's phone.
"Hockey Shane, quiere quedar el 4 de julio (Hockey Shane, he wants to hang out on the 4th of July),” Micah explains, then wraps an arm around their partner to pull them in closer, "Vuelve a dormir, cariño (Go back to sleep, dear)."
When it’s no longer fuckass o’clock in the morning, Micah looks a little closer at the spreadsheet that Shane sent. They're all shitty options, honestly. No offense to the guy. Most of his choices are on the Strip, overpriced, and just not really great food. After looking up what the fuck a macrobiotic diet is, the slim pickings make sense.
Whatever, Micah’s not gonna yuck his yum and ends up picking a Pan Asian-French fusion place. Sorta seems like sacrilege, but it was the least “we just serve salad and misery” type place on the list that still left Hockey Shane with a decent amount of options.
“Who you texting?” Micah’s little brother, Zeke peeks over their shoulder.
“Hey! Butt out, nosy,” Micah lightly shoves him away, “New friend I met at the awards thing I worked, he’s Canadian.”
Zeke wiggles his eyebrows, “A friend?”
Aria, Micah’s little sister-in-law, gets summoned out of nowhere and is snooping over their other shoulder, “OOOH! Kat!! Micah has a new friend named Shane!”
“You both need to be back in school ASAP. Too much freakin’ energy and nowhere to go” Micah chides the two tweens, shutting their phone off, “He’s cishet, FYI.”
“Summer literally just started, honey,” Kat teases them from the kitchen.
Micah dramatically groans. They love their siblings, they’re just a lot sometimes. Especially when they’ve been home for a month and got all their initial summer excitement out of the way and are now just bored. It doesn’t help that the school district cancelled the free summer program they usually have, so they’ve mostly just been stuck in the neighborhood.
“Do you have work today?” asks Zeke.
“Yeah, but it’s only a few hours. Rehearsal and a meeting,” Micah replies, “I’ll be off by like 2. Whatcha wanna do?”
“Can you take us to the mall to hang out with our friends? We can be done when you’re done,” Zeke reveals his true intentions, Aria batting her eyelashes along.
Micah hesitates. They really wanna say yes, the kids deserve to have fun summers with their friends. However, they don’t really have any cash to spare for spending money. Not to mention, they’ve been getting some shit from their parents lately. At the same time, the mall is right next to their work and it’s sorta diabolical to say no.
“I got money from babysitting and Zeke got money from walking Mrs. Anderson's dog,” Aria addresses their concerns without Micah having to say anything.
“Okay, just keep your location on and be safe, okay? Don’t do dumb shit,” Micah settles on, “Kat, do you want me to grab anything while we’re out today?”
“I put a hold on a few things at the library, mind picking them up and returning these?” Kat gestures at a pile of books and movies on the counter.
“Gotchu,” Micah gets up and gives Kat a quick kiss, “Y’all got 20 minutes until I gotta leave, be ready.”
Their stomach grumbles. Work has a stash of snacks, which Micah fully intends on raiding today. Today’s grocery day, but Kat’s taking care of that while Micah’s at work, so for now there’s nothing in the house for Micah. This usually happens the last few days before SNAP funds reload, so it’s whatever.
On the way to drop off the kids, Micah also picks up Juniper. She passes them a breakfast sandwich. The pay gap is super fucked at their theater, but Juniper essentially lives in a 3 income home, no kids, so it’s different.
“Yo, can you text the director from my phone and say some shit about me looking forward to working with him and that I sent the initial design drafts to his email? He was on my ass about them,” Micah realizes they got too annoyed to answer earlier.
“Why the fuck are you texting Hockey Shane Hollander??” Juniper interrogates them, as soon as she finishes the message.
“Didn’t I tell you? The dude came by when I was striking. Awkward, but nice. Wanted to be friends,” Micah shrugs.
Juniper’s jaw drops, “Um… no?? This is a major development!”
“He’s cishet,” Micah pointedly says, glaring at their coworker to hope she gets the point that the kids can’t know their previous extremely gay sightings.
“Right?? They need to have some fun and date around!” Aria encourages.
“Everyone you’ve dated recently has been so boring! Shane’s Canadian!” Zeke adds on.
“You both need structure, holy fuck,” Micah sighs, “For the millionth time, my dates being boring to you doesn’t mean they’re boring to me.”
“Adam,” Juniper deadpans.
“Kylie,” Aria says.
“Levi,” Zeke adds.
“Alex,” Juniper piles on, “and the other Alex.”
“I’m being bullied by my family, this is so fucked,” Micah groans, pulling into the parking garage, “Everyone get out and leave my desolate dating life alone, I have a beautiful spouse. Aria, Zeke, text me when you meet up with your friends and if you need anything. I can step away if I need to.”
Sometimes, Micah’s job is a very “you only step away if somebody's dying” type of deal. Namely, during shows. Most other times, though, it’s flexible about the fact that Micah’s a 22 year old with two kids. Everyone’s pretty aware of Micah’s… situation. It’s messy. Not their fault at all, but definitely their problem.
Rehearsal is fine. The meeting is fine. Honestly, this lull is really nice and Micah likes that they have vaguely normal hours so that they can spend some more time with their little siblings. Plus, somebody reloaded the snack closet because the theater’s running an acting summer camp. Mega bonus.
After work, they head over to the mall with Juniper, “So… You’re talking to Shane?”
“Girl, you talk to Shayne, he literally works with us,” Micah rolls their eyes.
“Fucker, I mean the other one from work, your new friend?” Juniper wiggles their eyebrows just like Zeke did. Little shits.
“We need to come up with some codename that isn’t Hockey Shane or just saying Shane. He’s like… super big on privacy. And no I’m not doing that last name frat bro bullshit,” Micah decides.
“What, Shayne on Lexapro and Shane that needs Lexapro?” Juniper proposes like the little shit she is, Micah shoves her, “That dude is higher strung than the rail lines! Fine then, Canada Man, Canada for short.”
“Did you google him? There’s no way you actually knew that,” Micah derails the conversation, Juniper’s face tells them the obvious answer of yes though.
Micah, begrudgingly, gives Juniper the rundown on everything and concludes with the fact they’re getting dinner soon. With not a lot more to go off of, the conversation wraps up pretty fast. It’s not like Micah’s interested in dating some hockey bro and Hockey Shane seemed pretty into Ilya anyways.
The next few weeks pass by pretty normally. Micah picks up a few under-the-table shifts at a coffee shop to get their siblings some extra cash and to have enough for the dinner. Hockey Shane doesn’t text the most, but they text consistently-ish. It’s mostly just small talk, honestly. Whatever, all friendships start out awkwardly.
On the Fourth, the kids are over at their friend’s house for a BBQ-sleepover and Kat’s staying in all day. She doesn’t do well with the holiday. The loud noises of the fireworks and all the smoke they produce is hard on her, so the plan is to usually shut in and keep headphones on all day. Nonetheless, she insists it’s fine for Micah to go out and have fun.
When Micah gets to the restaurant, they spot Hockey Shane standing outside talking to some guy. Looks like some kind of sports bro, but it sounds like a fan or something. Best not to interrupt, Micah’s not in the mood to deal with annoying people right now. Soon enough, the guy goes away.
“Hey, sorry about that,” Hockey Shane, king of unnecessary apologies, apologizes, “I called ahead and made a reservation for the private room this place has, so we shouldn’t be bothered again.”
Micah waves it off and they make their way inside, “It’s chill, you been to this place before?”
Shane nods, “I’ve come here with Hayden when we’ve played against Vegas, he says it has actually good food besides my bird food.”
“Eh, whatever floats your goat. You ain’t hurting me with what you eat,” Micah shrugs, “Who’s Hayden?”
“Hayden Pike, #35 on the Metros with me, Left Wing, Alternate Captain,” Hockey Shane lists off what’s assumedly a bunch of hockey stuff.
“Shane I’m gonna keep it 100, I have no clue what any of that means. I don’t sport. I have never sported. All that I got from that is Hayden Pike, hockey noises.” Micah admits.
“He’s my best friend on my team and plays the same line as me,” Hockey Shane clarifies, even though Micah doesn’t know what the fuck a line is in this context.
They lightly chat for a little while longer, ordering food and waiting for it to come out when Micah gets a text from Kat letting them know they’re shutting off their phone, but will be at home and the security system is all armed. Ugh, that means that something’s happening with their parents.
Both Micah and Kat’s parents are shitty. Like… shitty enough that the courts got involved and they currently have full custody of Zeke and Aria. Because they are straight up villainous, they often choose to start shit on holidays. Especially holidays Kat and Micah don’t like.
“Sorry, just my partner. They’re fine, I’m gonna bring them home some of my leftovers and they were wondering what I ordered,” Micah tucks away their phone.
“What do they like? We can just order something to go for them,” Hockey Shane offers.
Micah does not hide their brief grimace, they didn’t budget for buying a second meal, “Nah, it’s chill,” they try to play it off.
“I’m paying, order her and your siblings something nice. Isn’t 4th of July a big deal in the US? Yeah, call it for that,” Hockey Shane, the millionaire, insists… and who’s Micah to refuse money from the wealthy.
“We don’t really believe in celebrating, but the gesture is appreciated. Thank you, seriously,” replies Micah, “Today’s not really a good day to come over, but if you wanna come over some time I can cook you some good Mexican food.”
Shane smiles, “That sounds really nice.”
The rest of dinner is just… extremely normal. Hockey Shane talks about hockey a lot. Like… seriously a lot. But that’s okay, because Micah talks about theater a lot. Their jobs consume both of their lives, it seems, but they love it nonetheless. Hockey Shane seems genuinely interested in learning about Micah’s work, which is nice.
Micah tries their best with the hockey stuff. They really just aren’t that interested in the nitty gritty of it. Regardless, they can appreciate that Hockey Shane appreciates the sport. It’s kinda funny to hear about all the opinions that he has about various teams and players. As their time together goes on, he gets a little looser lipped and blunt. Micah’s all for the tea.
“When’s your flight out?” asks Micah.
“Tomorrow afternoon, but I’m flying up to Vancouver to meet my parents for a couple days of vacation in Victoria,” Shane replies.
“I was gonna go out tonight, maybe pick up somebody to shut up my kid brother, you could come if you wanted?” Micah offers.
Hockey Shane looks really hesitant, “I don’t drink.”
“Eh, I don’t really drink that much either, I just hold something. Kinda hard to cruise without a drink in hand, yanno?” Micah explains.
Hockey Shane looks like he does not know, in fact, “Cruise? This is a desert.”
“Cruising, like gay hookups out at the club and stuff. Kat likes the house to be mostly empty on the 4th, so I usually stay out till 3 or 4 when then fireworks stop,” Micah clarifies, but it only seems to add more confusion.
“You’re cheating on your partner?” Hockey Shane even more hesitantly asks.
Micah furiously shakes their head, “No, no, no. We’re polyamorous, poly. It means that while we’re happily married, we ongoingly talk about our boundaries and have agreed on if/how we seek out other relationships. Like an open relationship.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that was an option,” Hockey Shane replies exactly how he did when Micah explained nonbinary to him, “I’m not a big fan of clubs, they’re loud and crowded. Sometimes the team drags me to them, but I never like it.”
“No worries, just wanted to extend the invite. They’re not for everyone. Kat isn’t a huge fan of them either, too loud for them too,” Micah shrugs it off.
Hockey Shane visibly relaxes, “Thanks for understanding, my team always thinks I’m super boring and lame when I say no. Well, they don’t say that, but it’s locker room talk.”
Surprisingly, they end up talking for a long while. Like… until the fireworks start because it’s dark. Hockey Shane sorta flinches at the sound, but seems fine otherwise. Maybe he’s just Canadianly not used to the loud sounds. Unfortunately, the niceness is fucked up when Micah gets a call from an unknown Vegas number.
“Hello, this is Micah. My calls from unknown numbers are recorded, who’s calling?” they politely greet after quickly starting the usual recording they do.
"Vete a la mierda, Anjelica la pecadora (Fuck you, sinner Anjelica),” a voice that Micah instantly recognizes on the other end. It’s their mother.
“Sorry Shane, give me a sec,” Micah switches to Spanish, “What the fuck do you want? You aren’t allowed to talk to me without a lawyer and you sure as hell don’t sound like you got one with you.”
“You’re a fucking disgrace of a daughter, stealing my kid from me. You’re going to hell, I hope you fucking burn,” she, expectedly, doesn’t actually answer.
“I’m busy right now, do you have anything to actually tell me or is this you just on your usual bullshit because you hate to know that we’re happier without you in our lives?” Micah shoots back, trying to wrap up the call fast.
“Watch your tone. We brought you into this world and we’ll take you out of it. And nobody will give a fuck if a useless transvestite prostitute piece of shit dies. Your father loves hunting,” their mother pulls her usual shit.
“I’m blocking your number, once again. Do not contact me without a lawyer and legal reason to,” Micah hangs up and takes a deep, calming breath.
“That sounded… intense, are you okay?” Hockey Shane asks.
“Sorry, my mother. We’re in the middle of this whole thing with her and my father, I should've stepped out,” Micah apologizes.
“I don't know Spanish, but I'm fluent in French and they're sorta similar. I don't mean to snoop, but do you want me to connect you with some good lawyers? I have some connections here,” Shane offers.
Micah shakes their head, “Thank you, but I really can't afford them and the state is prosecuting on our behalf anyways. I really just need to have the time to sit down and figure out the stuff from this website I was sent. It's a bunch of legal jargon, but not lawyer stuff.”
“Well if you ever wanna send it my way, I'm pretty decent at American legal stuff because of the MLH and all my sponsorships,” Hockey Shane leaves the door open.
Maybe Micah might take him up on it one day. That would require a major lore drop on their part, though, which isn't exactly new friend lighthearted chatting material. Nonetheless, the two end up heading to a small bar near Micah's home, just a little dive where nobody really goes, that has surprisingly good mocktails.
They stay out pretty late, late enough that Micah goes straight home instead of the club. Overall, they'd definitely call Hockey Shane Hollander a friend now— and even just Shane.