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“And how old are you, little man?” The reporter said, hunched down to put the mic to Arthur’s mouth.
“I’m six!” Arthur said proudly and Jackie smiled. When the Metros had asked Hayden if they could do a intermission interview with Arthur on his birthday, which happened to fall on the same day as the home game against the Centaurs, Jackie had asked Arthur first. He had always been their quietest child, but when she explained that he would talk to a nice man and that he would get special cake at the arena, Arthur had nodded once determinedly and agreed to the interview. Jackie liked to joke that Arthur was a little Shane in the way he held himself, so serious he was about everything.
"And who are you rooting for tonight?" The reporter asked Arthur. The question was a clear ploy to get Arthur to say the Metros and cue the audience to cheer voraciously. But this is when things started to go wrong.
"I’m rooting for the Centaurs." Arthur said slowly. The reporter, clearly caught off guard, laughed.
"You don’t wanna support your dad?"
Arthur shook his head back and forth. "Noooope. Uncle Ilya said if I root for Ottawa tonight, he’ll let me have as much cake as I want after the game."
The smile froze on Jackie‘s face. llya, Goddamn you. Jackie hadn't thought to warn Ilya that Arthur had been invited to do an interview today and so not say anything that Arthur might repeat back to a stadium full of Metros fans.
"Uncle Ilya? I didn’t know you were so friendly with the Ottawa captain!" The reporter dropped his voice into a conspiratorial tone, "Does your dad know about this?"
Arthur nodded seriously again. "Uncle Ilya and Uncle Shane come over and babysit us. Uncle Ilya will sneak us snacks when Uncle Shane isn’t looking."
"Shane as in Shane Hollander? You have some impressive babysitters! That’s quite a story you’ve made up."
Arthur frowned, aggrieved. Oh no. Jackie thought. Arthur hated when he was misunderstood. "It’s not made up! Uncle Ilya and Uncle Shane babysit us all the time. We married them at the house. I was the ring bearer. Ask Mommy, she'll tell you."
“Married! Oh my.” The reporter said, clearly thrilled at the story he thought Arthur was spinning for the crowd. “Mom, what do we think of this story?”
Suddenly the large camera swung to face Jackie where she had been waiting on the side to reacquire her child. She was ready to abandon him as someone else’s.
Jackie put on a big, fake smile. “Ah yes, one time Shane and Rozanov were in a meeting when I hurt my ankle and watched the kids while Hayden took me to the ER. I think they did a game of pretend with the kids.”
Arthur, who had appeared at her side, pulled on the Pike sweater Jackie was wearing. “It wasn’t pretend, Mommy. They kissed and everything.”
Jackie smiled so hard she was pretty sure it now looked like a grimace. “That’s nice, Arthur. I think we probably need to say goodbye now, right?”
“Go Centaurs!” Arthur said, waving at the camera.
Jackie was so, so fucked.