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“Is okay if you go to yoga, I know Saturday is yoga day.” Ilya tried hard to make Shane leave him alone so he could stay under the covers for just a while longer, warm and comfy to start their weekend off with.
“I promise you’ll love it, please Ilya.” Shane kissed up his spine, the stubble of his chin scritching the sleep-warm skin before he rolled him over gently to bring out veritable puppy dog eyes. They were a secret weapon that Ilya couldn’t resist and saying no was pretty much impossible.
“But it is nice and warm in bed and is day off.” Ilya complained, and half covered his face up with the comforter so only his eyes were visible as he looked over at Shane.
“We’re in Vancouver, come on Haze and Lisa will meet us there, possibly even Harris and Troy.”
“Really? You managed to get Haze to get out of bed this early when he doesn’t have to?”
“His wife and I text, she’s still part of the Ottawa WAG group chat,” Shane explained easily.
“Okay.” The smile alone was worth saying yes to whatever Shane had planned, beautiful lips stretching around a wide, happy smile, as his brown eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning.
“You convinced Harris, if he’s coming Troy will be there.”
“Yup, it definitely wasn’t Troy’s idea to join,” Shane confirmed while he gently pulled the comforter away from Ilya’s face and kissed him. Troy and Harris were like cuteness overload personified, once they had worked everything with each other, it was like they never left the honeymoon period of their relationship behind.
***
“Shane? Is this? Yes!” Ilya gawked at the awning that announced proudly: PupYoga Kitsilano and felt his chest burst with excitement at the idea of doing boring yoga with little puppies stumbling all around them. Their driver had taken them across the massive bridge from Downtown Vancouver, where their hotel was, to a different neighbourhood called Kitsilano. They passed a beach, a massive outdoor pool and many gorgeous detached houses along the way. Hazey often joked about retiring here and Ilya kind of understood, since his sister and her girlfriend lived out this way. And the place itself had a lot going for it.
“Rozy, good morning! I’m impressed, Hollander, that you got him out of bed this early,” Hazy teased while hugging Shane close before his wife Lisa did the same and they moved over to hug Ilya.
“I have my ways,” Shane joked, waggling his eyebrows which made Hazy bark out laughing and Lisa smile knowingly. Ilya wondered about her reaction for a split second but then remembered that Shane never left the WAGs of Ottawa chat that he had dropped “Jane” into when he first joined Ottawa years ago.
“I’m happy for you, no explanation needed,” Hazy answered, putting his palms up defensively.
“You boys did great last night,” Lisa complimented the three of them.
“Who are you calling a boy, sweetheart, I have a decade on these guys.” Hazy bantered with an ease that showed how close they all were.
“Still one of the boys to me, darling.” She kissed Hazy on the cheek and slung her arm around his waist. leaning into him.
“So, sorry guys, we didn’t intend to be late,” Harris was catching his breath after half-jogging down the sidewalk, Troy’s hand in his as they closed the distance to where the others were standing.
“I’m sure you liked it, whatever made you late, Harris.” Ilya replied dead pan while they all watched Troy try to hide behind Harris’ smaller frame, his cheeks flaming.
“Oh, come on, you big shy teddy bear, nothing to be embarrassed about.” Harris wrapped an arm around Troy’s waist, and brought him alongside himself. It looked adorable because Troy, who had a good amount of inches in height and about 25lbs of muscle mass on Harris, let him.
Lisa moved in and greeted both of them with a hug, with Hazy it was a brofist, while Shane and Ilya gave both of them a quick hug.
“Alright, now that we are all here, shall we?” Lisa asked, nodding toward the front door that they were essentially blocking by standing on the sidewalk bantering.
“Yes, let’s go,” Shane agreed and hooked his arm with Ilya’s pulling him along lightly. The fact that Shane could do that with Ilya in public, still sparked joy in Ilya’s heart.
***
The studio was bright and airy on the inside, the walls painted in off-white vanilla colors with gentle darker shade swirls, light birch wood furnishings around the space and brought together with live plants dotted around the space to create a relaxed atmosphere. The welcome counter was birch wood stained lightly to create a solid non-porous work surface and had a moss-wall lining the front of it that drew everyone’s attention when they walked in.
Ilya, however, only took that all in on the fringe because his eyes focused in on the small dark brown bundle of fur that yawned sleepily in a small dog bed on the receptionist’s desk. Their quiet talking amongst themselves woke up the little guy and he peered at Ilya curiously with dark blue puppy eyes which created a striking contrast to his chocolate brown fur.
“Look at him, Shane, so cute.” Ilya exclaimed quietly under his breath, not taking his eyes off the little pup and modulating his voice to not scare the little guy.
“He is adorable,” Shane agreed.
“Welcome to PupYoga Kitsilano. Can I… oh my gosh you’re Shane Hollander!” The woman behind the counter looked at him with wide eyes, as an adorable blush rushed across the bridge of her nose the instant she realized what she had just said. The reservation was under a different name so Ilya figured in her defense she had had no warning his gorgeous husband and hottest player of the MLH was going to show up at her work place this morning.
She was beautiful with below shoulder-length reddish brown hair that sat in glossy waves down her back and wore the company-branded black yoga outfit of a crop top with a loose baby blue tank over top and a pair of black leggings. Ilya figured wearing black anything was a questionable choice around puppies and he watched her go all fangirly for his dear husband in a matter of seconds. He knew the reaction well; there wasn’t anything more than starstruck wonder in her eyes and he found himself counting down the seconds to the “I’m such a big fan of yours.” moment but she surprised him.
“And you are Ilya Rozanov, well, wait until I tell my dad about who came into our yoga studio today. He’s been rooting for you both since you joined Ottawa. He’s an Ottawa local but moved out here for work over two decades ago.”
“Your dad has good taste,” Ilya teased with a wink.
“Nice to meet you, Nancy,” Shane gave her a small wave, reading her nametag like the professional and courteous person that he was and yet Ilya felt him move in closer to his side just a bit, which made all the warmth and fuzzies bloom in his chest. Mine, he thought with soul-deep affection for Shane at his side.
“May I pet him?” Ilya finally asked to draw the attention away from Shane.
“If you like you can bring him with you. Your class will be in the studio over there, number one to your right.” Ilya made grabby hands and smiled widely waiting for Nancy to hand him the chocolate brown puppy, which had the cutest light brown toepads.
“How does this work? I mean puppies do grow up and how do you ensure you have puppies for people to do yoga with?” Harris asked Nancy, while he tickled the little pup with two fingers under his chin, before it snuggled right into the crook of Ilya’s neck.
“It is a combination of private, local breeders and animal rescue organizations. The benefit is mutual, the puppies are exposed to people and learn to socialize and we pay the owners a nominal fee in return since we generate revenue from their presence. Plus, we help facilitate adoption interest applications if anyone in class expresses interest.”
“I think it’s wonderful,” Ilya gushed while accepting puppy kisses along his jawline.
“Alright, just a last piece of checking you in. You are a party of seven, we are just missing one right? We have Shane, Ilya, Wyatt, Lisa, Harris and Troy?”
“That’s us.” Hazy and Harris confirmed at the same time and Ilya wondered who the seventh person was.
The receptionist showed them where to leave their shoes and socks, pointed them to the free lockers where they could stow their valuables and explained that picture taking was perfectly fine.
Harris asked her a few follow-up questions about posting some images on the team’s socials and nodded Shane’s way when he followed them into the studio, which told Ilya that Harris likely already discussed posting photos with Shane before even coming here.
***
The studio itself followed the theme of the reception area and it had floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over a lush, green city park with flowering rhododendron bushes and maple trees. The morning sun streaked across the birchwood studio floor with its gentle warm light. There were studio-branded yoga mats laid out in a half circle facing the teacher’s mat, so they all would have an unobstructed view of the instructor, who was walking toward them now. She extended her hand out to shake each of theirs with a friendly smile on her face.
Ilya wondered about the extra mat - he could just see bothering Shane because they were a group of six and Shane liked the order in things, but a few glances at him showed him that he was relaxed. That was good enough for Ilya to shrug his shoulders and not concern himself with it.
She was, in Ilya’s not inexperienced opinion, a gorgeous leanly-muscled woman in her mid-thirties, who moved with the kind of grace and light-footedness that spoke of someone who has devoted their life to this discipline and Ilya was in silent awe of her. He loves watching Shane do yoga and he pinpointed some of the same smooth agility in him that he now noticed in her. All thoughts about her form however went out of his mind when a gaggle of two chocolate brown puppies bounded over to him, looking much the same as the one he held in his arms already. They yipped excitedly and stood up against his legs as if he were their center of the universe. A bright simile broke out on his face at the sheer cuteness of the little pups who had clearly chosen him.
But they were not the only ones. There was the tiniest of dachshund pups that meekly sniffed his or her way toward Shane as if to say: “Are you friendly? Can I trust you?” The little black nose moved with the little puffs of air moving through it and the small brown eyes carefully pingponged between the four two-legged newcomers.
“Good morning, everyone, thank you for booking a private session with us.”
The teacher, Melanie, introduced herself and gave a small intro of who she was, her background with yoga and welcomed them with a voice that sounded as Zen and strong as she looked. Her clothes were different from the receptionist’s, consisting of turquoise yoga pants and an opaque, form-fitting, white tank top with a flowy, sheer white cotton wraparound shirt overtop that was knotted flatly at the side of her waist. Ilya looked over at Shane questioningly, this wasn’t your normal yoga session. Shane would always try to drag Ilya to yoga when they had some extra time off during a roadie. His explanation was flexibility and agility as they got older and Ilya couldn’t really argue with that. As Ilya looked over at him now, what he got from Shane was a soft, warm smile from the man he loved so much, his eyes full of affection that hit Ilya in the chest like the very first time Shane had looked at him like that.
“Come on lovebirds, time to do some yoga.” Hazy teased and for a second Ilya jumped mildly, shoulders bunching up as if caught doing something they weren’t allowed to. “Just teasing Rozy, I’m happy for you guys, you two on the same team are a fricking menace in the best of ways.” Ilya felt Hazy pat his shoulder and dropped them, happiness curling in his gut at being with people that were in their corner, that stood by them. The fallout of coming out had been mostly positive but where there were fans there were always trolls too.
“Alright, first things first. If the puppies are on top of you, around you or beside you please consider just relaxing with them and please be mindful of your size. If they end up under you when you do a plank or any movement where your whole body is above them, please gently grab them like this, or roll to the side and off of them, they may move unexpectedly.” She grabbed one of Ilya’s puppies to demonstrate a safe one-hand hold and Ilya barely managed to keep from pouting when she took it.
“Clearly, they have already bonded with you. Let me just put him right back with his sisters,” She carefully placed the little puppy, who keened softly at being removed from his litter, back into the circle of fur the three of them had become around Ilya’s bare feet.
“We will be doing a beginner’s class today, so that you can follow the poses easily. Wyatt, I believe this is the first time doing yoga for you, right?”
“Sure is,” Wyatt admitted freely. Everyone proceeded to take a mat after that, Shane at the edge, next to Ilya, then Wyatt and Lisa.
“The other guys are gonna be so jealous,” Harris exclaimed, knowing full well how much the Ottawa team loved their team dog,
“Hey, I asked a bunch of them, as soon as they heard the time of day there was a resounding wall of nope.” Shane admitted defensively.
Like clockwork, the door to the studio opened and Haas poked his head through it. “I’m so sorry for being late but is it okay if I join in?”
“Good morning, you must be Luca?” The teacher welcomed him without missing a beat and Ilya smiled widely when their Centaurs team mate entered the room.
“I am, nice to meet you. I can’t miss seeing our Captain’s birthday surprise.” Luca said with a bright look on his face in Ilya’s direction and waving good morning to everyone.
"Birthday surprise?" Ilya stared at Luca and then at Shane. He had completely forgotten his own birthday in the fever of their Stanley cup series they were in against Vancouver.
“This is for my birthday?” He clarified quietly so only Shane could hear, as a lump formed at the back of his throat and his eyes started burning. Shane nodded back and smiled at him, mouthing “happy birthday” silently. Ilya wiped his eyes and focused on the puppies at his feet, while listening to the teacher and the guys around him.
“Hey Captain?” Luca’s shoes appeared in Ilya’s field of vision and he stood up to face him. “Happy birthday, Ilya. Thank you for getting us here, it means the world to me to play alongside you and Shane.” Luca awkwardly held his hand out but Ilya dragged him into a hug and the kid laughed into his shoulder hugging him right back.
Luca carefully navigated around puppies over to the last empty mat in the studio. Ilya let himself be pulled in by the chatter from Harris and for once just allowed himself to be in the moment.
“All I heard was puppies and it was a done deal,” Harris chirped happily while trying to capture a picture of Shane with the little dachshund puppy he was cradling against his chest. “Plus, Troy and I are kind of a package deal, you know he couldn’t resist,” Harris gave his man the sappiest of heart eyes with Troy leaning down and kissing him softly, as if it were impossible not to. Ilya felt his heart fill with happiness for his friend who just happened to be their team’s social media manager. Ilya knew he looked exactly like Troy gazing at Harris when he looked at Shane, who was presently pressing a soft kiss to the head of the tiny puppy in his arms. The little wiener dog looked like it was about to fall asleep cradled against Shane’s chest.
“Can hold him if you need hands free for yoga?” Ilya offered with a smirk, in a low whisper.
“Don’t you dare,” Shane mock turned away from Ilya as if guarding the little pup with his life.
“Alright, everyone let’s get going with some warm-ups.”
Ilya lost track a million times, distracted by the three pups that keened pitifully whenever he removed his ankle or any other body part they’d decided to snuggle up against. Ultimately, he found himself on his back doing some stretches with the three of them curled up on his stomach.
Shane and his wiener dog fared a little bit better as the little thing seemed to mimic his movements which had the entire room laughing with utter adoration.
About twenty minutes into the one-hour session, Ilya took off his hoodie and as soon as he set it down beside his mat it was adopted as a bed by the little dogs. They curled into each other like a furry donut where it was unclear where one of them ended and the next one began.
With the puppies snuggled up with each other and sleeping soundly within minutes, Ilya took a moment to glance around the room, giving the instructor a friendly smile. Hazy and Lisa had a German Shepherd puppy between them, Troy and Harris had two black Labrador puppies that kept jumping up on them and yipped happily whenever they moved around. Ilya loved dogs, always had, but what really hit him were the people that were here today. On this random Saturday on the west coast of Canada during the Stanley Cup Playoffs no less.
This was, without a doubt, the best birthday ever and he felt like the richest man in existence right now for the friends and family he had. Also a man who may or may not get into trouble for trying to help Shane smuggle a dachshund puppy out of the studio after class.
The End.