Archive of Our Own

Shane grins and pushes Arthur once more on the swings as Hayden’s son begs him for more. He tucks his phone back in his pocket, glad he’s not dealing with the twins at least for today, though he’d never admit that out loud.

He loves all of Hayden’s kids, he does. Emma and Ruby are hilarious, but their sheer energy levels often make Shane feel like he’s played a cup final on no sleep. Amber is adorable, but too small for Shane to not feel awkward and bulky around. But he’s got an extra soft spot for Arthur, the boy a little more reserved than his sisters in a way that feels… familiar, to Shane.

“Alright bud,” he says softly, as the swing gently rocks to a stop. “Time for us to go. You okay to walk back home?”

“Yeah,” Arthur nods amicably, hops off the swing and lifts his hand up for Shane to take.

Shane holds the gate open as they exit the play area and cut through the park, Shane having to focus hard on keeping his steps short and slow enough that Arthur’s not struggling to keep up with his little legs.

They’d had a good couple of hours together, while Hayden was taking the twins to their ballet rehearsal, and Jackie took Amber with her while she went to meet a few girlfriends. Arthur had no interest in either of these things, and with a rare day off in Montreal Shane was happy to volunteer to spend time with him. They’d spent the last couple of hours in the park, sitting and watching the ducks for a bit with a coffee for Shane and juice for Arthur, before spending a while in the play area after that.

“Uncle Shane?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m tired. Can I go on your shoulders? Please?”

Arthur lifts his arms when Shane grins and nods and he lifts him up, swings him around until little legs are dangling down his chest. The boy confirms he’s okay when Shane asks, and he carries on, exiting the park and turning down the road as Arthur hums above his head, hands gently in Shane’s hair for balance, though Shane walks as smoothly as he can to avoid any pulling.

“Uncle Shane, look!” a finger points just above his eyeline as Shane turns a corner, and he follows the line of sight to where the Fire Station is, both garage doors open and one of the bigger trucks on the driveway, being hosed down by a couple of the firemen.

“Do you want to go see?” Shane asks, and can't help but wince as Arthur shouts a “yes please” directly into his eardrum.

Shane carries him across the road, and pauses at the edge of the driveway, sets Arthur on his feet and takes his hand again while the boy stares up at the truck in wonder.

“You want to come closer?” a Russian-accented voice calls, and Shane looks across to see a fireman, dressed in black slacks and a tight black t-shirt and with one of the hoses in his hand, watching the two of them.

“Can we, uncle Shane?” Arthur asks, tugging at Shane’s hand.

“You sure that’s okay?” Shane calls over, even as he follows Arthur as he starts to walk closer.

“Of course.”

Shane swallows as he gets a better view of a tightly muscled torso leading up to a face made by the gods; golden hair a neat halo around his head, hazel eyes piercing, sharp cheekbones and a deep cupids bow that stretches out softly as the man grins at them.

“Hello,” the fireman says, crouching so he’s on Arthur’s level as they approach him. Arthur veers slightly closer to Shane, his grip tightening on his fingers, but the curiosity about the truck must win out as he remains by Shane’s side, rather than hiding behind his legs as he’s done before.

“Hello,” Shane replies, encourages Arthur to do the same with a gentle squeeze of his fingers.

“My name is Ilya Rozanov, but you can call me Ilya,” the fireman says warmly, still watching Arthur. “What is your name?”

Arthur seems to go mute for a minute, fingers gripping Shane’s almost hard enough to hurt. “This is Arthur,” Shane eventually offers. “I’m Shane.”

“Oh, I know who you are,” Ilya grins up at him, and fuck the images that spring to mind from Ilya on his knees like this are not appropriate for this setting, or company. “Number 24. Congratulations on your fourth cup.”

“Right,” Shane flushes. “Um, thanks.”

“You want to see the truck, Arthur?” Ilya turns back to the boy and Shane takes a surreptitious deep breath, exhaling as slowly as he can to calm down nerve endings suddenly on fire.

“Please,” Arthur nods and Ilya stands, leads the way over towards the truck with a wave at a colleague or two.

“This is my friend Marlow,” Ilya introduces, as one of the other firemen approaches. He’s just as tall as Ilya, almost broader, with dark stubble and a sharp grin.

“Nice to meet you both,” Marlow greets, and Shane returns a ‘hello’.

“Arthur said he would like to see the truck,” Ilya tells Marlow, who grins brightly down at the boy.

“I think we can do one better than that,” he offers, and opens the front door to the cab. “Do you want to sit inside?”

“Can I? Uncle Shane?”

“Yeah, of course. Just don’t touch anything unless these guys say it’s okay, okay?”

Arthur nods obediently, and lets go of Shane’s hand as Marlow rounds the cab and enters from the other side, pats the passenger seat in welcome. Shane helps him climb into the cab and can’t help his smile as Arthur looks around with amazement, sheer joy beaming out of every pore.

“Do you mind if I take a photo or two?” Shane asks the firefighters, and gets nods to his relief. “Your dad will want to see this, can you smile for him?” he encourages Arthur, who nods and beams into Shane’s phone as he takes a couple of photos.

“Okay, so,” Marlow grins at Arthur and instantly takes all of the boy's attention as he points out various things in the cab of the truck, from the steering wheel to the light switch to their other equipment and Shane takes a step away to give them both some space.

“You do not want to sit, also?” Ilya asks him, and Shane huffs a laugh. “Can take your picture for you?”

“I think I’ll leave that to you guys, and Arthur,” he replies. “But thanks. You sure it’s okay that we’ve interrupted your work?”

“Is fine,” Ilya shakes his head. “If siren goes we may ask you to leave quick, but is always nice to show kids around the truck if they want. We also have proper station tours,” Ilya adds, “If you think Arthur would be interested. Can get you a card, one second.”

Shane watches as Ilya jogs into the station, his gaze falling down to a butt that he wants to sink his teeth into, it’s straining so tightly against his trousers, and he has to take a deep breath again, focus on Arthur for a long second which helps to immediately push the lustful thoughts away.

Arthur’s beaming as he gets to switch the flashing lights on and off, though he’s told apologetically that they can’t make the siren sound unless it’s a real emergency. 

“Here,” Ilya jogs back up to him, holds out a little business card and Shane swallows as their fingers brush as he accepts it, sparks flickering down his fingertips.

“Thanks,” he says, tucking it into his pocket, where he realises his phone is buzzing.

He sends the photo of Arthur in the fire truck, and adds quick ‘be 10 mins or so’ to a little thumbs up in return.

“You okay?” Ilya asks him as he puts his phone away.

“Yeah, sorry. Just Arthur’s dad checking in. We might need to head out in a minute, but I’ll definitely pass on the card for the tour, I bet he’d love it.”

Ilya grins at him, though there’s something a little dimmer in it.

“Of course.”

Arthur’s been shown most of the things in the cab, and Shane lifts him out of the seat as Marlow thanks him for being such a good listener.

“We’ve gotta go, bud,” Shane says apologetically, when Arthur glances back at the cab. “But, hey, these guys do tours of the whole station. We can’t today, but we can try and go next time, yeah?”

Arthur nods, and Shane’s charmed as both Ilya and Marlow crouch in front of Arthur and offer their hands in a goodbye handshake, so delightfully serious that the boy doesn’t stop beaming as they walk back down the driveway.

Shane glances back to see Ilya still watching him, and feels the heat rise in his cheeks again as he lifts a hand in goodbye to get a returning wave back. He tries not to feel like he’s missing something, as they head back to Arthur’s house.

“Mom! Dad! Did you see?!” Arthur shouts as he beelines across the garden with a giant grin on his face, livelier than Shane thinks he's ever seen him. “I got to go in a firetruck!”

“We saw, bud. You looked very cool,” Hayden promises, and Jackie beams at Shane as Arthur starts delving into everything he'd seen and can remember of the experience.

“Thank you for taking him,” she whispers to him, as he shuts the front door behind them all.

“I think it might be all he’ll talk about for a bit,” Shane says, half-apologetically. “But the guys were really nice and let him sit in the cab and switch the lights on and off and things. Oh, and they said they do tours of the station and everything else,” he fishes out the card from his pocket, holds it out to Jackie, “I’d be happy to take Arthur back, if you guys don’t have the time, but thought it might be a nice summer holiday thing?”

“Thanks."

Shane gets distracted as Ruby and Emma tear through the room, Hayden’s exasperated voice yelling at them to "go and wash your hands before lunch, I swear-”

“… you sure you want to go back just for Arthur?” Jackie asks, something teasing in her voice as Shane turns back to her, to see her holding out the card out back to him. He notes the swirls of black ink, incongruous with the clean lines of the card, and takes it from her, immediately flushing as he reads the handwritten note on the back.

“Any cute firefighters, then?” Jackie asks blandly, as Shane’s fingers tighten on the card.

“I- uh,” Shane can feel his cheeks burning red as Jackie’s grin turns into laughter.

“Keep the card,” she murmurs, “I know the name of the fire station, I can google them and call up easy.”

“...Thanks, Jac,” Shane grins sheepishly as he tucks the card away safely in his pocket.

They’re both quickly distracted as the kids appear demanding lunch as they’re hungry. Shane sticks around for lunch but excuses himself after, exhausted already just watching Hayden and Jackie wrangle all four kids into eating.

He ignores Jackie’s knowing grin as he leaves, and just for that makes himself drive home so she can't see him before he gives into the temptation and pulls the card out from his pocket.