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“So, tell me everything!” Jackie demands as soon as Hayden walks into the house. He hasn’t even taken his shoes off yet, but he understands her enthusiasm.
He’d spent the past hour replaying everything in his head. How the day started with a seemingly innocent text from Shane asking for a favor, and ended with him watching Shane get married. To Ilya Rozanov. Hayden was still in shock.
There was just so much to unpack.
“So, Shane is gay.” Hayden announces. He probably could have been a little more tactful, but it’s Jackie. She knows how he operates, she should be used to this by now.
“Duh!” She laughs.
“You knew?” Hayden gasps.
“Um, yeah. You didn’t?” He suddenly feels self-conscious with the way she’s is staring at him, silently judging as her eyes try to bore into his soul.
“NO! What the fuck? How did you know? Did he tell you? Why didn’t you ever say anything?” Hayden is so confused.
“I wasn’t positive, but I just kind of assumed. And it’s not really my place to say anything. If it’s true, it’s Shane’s news to share.” She explains.
Ok, that’s fair. But still? “Why did you assume? What the heck did I miss?”
“Did you ever notice that he never talked about women? Never really seemed to date anyone? Never brought anyone to events or parties? And always changed the subject when we offered to introduce him to one of my friends?”
Of course he noticed. But he just came to a different conclusion. “Well, yeah, of course. But I just thought he was socially awkward. Somewhere on the autistic spectrum.”
“Well, that’s true also. But still? Never mentioned any women?” She shakes her head at him.
Ugh. Fine. Yes, she has a point. Why did she always have to be right?
“But also, in all the time I’ve known him, he’s never once stared at my boobs. Even when I was pregnant and they were huge.”
Hayden’s eyes go wide. “What the fuck?” Yes, Jackie has a very nice chest, he’s personally a fan, he loves to stare at them. And more. But he never really thought much about other people looking. Those were his! Jackie was his wife. Especially when she was pregnant and her boobs were a little more plump then usual.
“Please tell me I do not need to draw you a picture.” She rolls her eyes. He does not want to think about it.
“No!” He hisses. But ok, she makes some very valid points. Maybe he should have figured it out before.
“Anyway, so Shane is gay. We’ve established that. But why the sudden marriage? To a man I assume?”
“Yeah.” Hayden sighs. How is he going to explain this? “Remember Lily? The girl… well, I assumed it was a girl-”
“Lily is a man, that completely tracks. But he always denied they were together.” Jackie reminds him again. They had both tried to get information from Shane for years, but he was always incredibly tight lipped, denying everything beyond her existence.
“That’s the part I didn’t get a straight answer on.” Jackie starts to laugh as Hayden realizes what he said. “Ok, not so straight answer.” He grumbles. “He said he would be back in Montreal in a few days and would explain everything then.”
“So he just randomly decided to get married? Today? To someone he wasn’t even in a relationship with?”
“Yup!” Hayden shrugs. “But the weirdest part was that Shane’s parents were there and they seemed completely fine with all of it.”
“What? Seriously?” Hayden confirms and Jackie finally asks the most burning question. “So who is the mystery Lily then?”
This is the part he’s been dying to tell her, he can’t wait to get it out. “Ilya Rozanov!”
“WHAT?” She gasps. But before either of them can say anything else, the girls come screeching into the kitchen, interrupting them.
The house quickly descends into chaos, and they aren’t able to continue the conversation until everyone is finally in bed that night.
“Ilya Rozanov?” Jackie asks as they lay down. “Really? How the hell did that happen?”
“I have NO idea. I still haven’t managed to process it.” He’s been wanting to discuss it for hours, to vent, to yell and scream and get the shock and frustration out of his system. But before he opens his mouth again, Jackie interrupts.
“Yeah, I kinda get it.”
“WHAT?” Hayden growls.
“Shane and Rozanov.” She explains, like Hayden wasn’t following the conversation.
“Seriously? What the fuck? How?” This was not the reaction he expected from her.
“Ok, well first of all, he is ridiculously hot. You can’t deny that. But also, he’s probably the only person on this planet that can could even come close to being Shane’s equal when it comes to hockey.”
Hayden is not even going to touch the part about his wife describing Rozanov as hot. Fucking hell, he does not want to even think about that. “But he’s an asshole!”
“Maybe. But I’m pretty sure Shane can handle it. He puts up with all the assholes on your team without a problem.”
Ok, that was just rude.
Shane texted Hayden a few days later, saying he was back in town and asking if they could get together for dinner. Jackie invited him over immediately.
“So, tell me everything!” Jackie teases as soon as Shane walks in the house. Hayden had to hold in a laugh at the approach, the same words and tone she used with him when he came home days earlier.
The kids were at their grandparents house for the evening, so the adults could have some alone time, and Jackie could properly grill Shane.
Shane just smiles. The same smile he had on his face at his wedding. He just looks… happy. “Where should I start?” He asks.
“How about at the beginning? How long have you been having an affair with Ilya Rozanov?”
“I don’t know if I’d call it an affair.” Shane shrugs. “It’s not like either of us were married.”
“Well, you weren’t before. You sure as hell are now.” Hayden interjects.
“Yes, too each other!” Jackie grins. “Come on, start talking. We don’t have all night here.”
So Shane does. He tells them about their first meeting during the World Juniors, then their paths crossing again over the next few years, and finally about them hooking up after the CCM photo shoot.
“Oh my god, before your rookie season?” Jackie seems so surprised, but when Hayden really thinks about it, he realizes that the concept of Lily had been around for a long time. Almost as long as he has known Shane.
Then it really starts to sink in. This has been going on since before he even met Shane. That alone was a lot to take in.
“So you’ve been in love this entire time?” Jackie clarifies, the words pulling Hayden out of his spiral.
“No! Oh god, no.” Shane tries to correct her, but something about it just doesn’t feel sincere. It wasn’t like Hayden thought Shane was lying to Jackie, but more that he was lying to himself.
“So then what? Did something change?”
“Yeah, kinda. Maybe in the last few months.” Hayden notices a little blush on Shane’s cheeks. “We actually don’t completely agree on when.”
“Oh god, the All-Star Game!” Hayden exclaims. “You two…” but he couldn’t even bring himself to say it. It was the first time Shane and Rozanov had played on the same team, and watching the two of them together was unlike anything he had ever seen.
Jackie starts to laugh. “And he even gave you a kiss on the ice!” Shane closes his eyes and shakes his head, but he’s still smiling.
“That actually had nothing to do with it. Something else happened that weekend.” He finally admits.
But then Shane gets quiet and the smile disappears from his face. “What happened?”
“After the game, we were in Ilya’s room.” Just hearing Shane call him by his first name made Hayden squirm. “And Marleau started banging on the door.”
“Did he catch you?” Jackie chimes in, concerned.
“Um, sort of.” Shane continues. “He wouldn’t stop, so Ilya finally opened the door, and he barged in. I was in the bathroom, so he didn’t see me, but he knew Ilya wasn’t alone, and he saw my clothes and shoes and knew it wasn’t a girl he was with.”
“Oh shit” Hayden mumbles, realizing suddenly how bad this could be. “Wait! Vaughn said that he heard Rozanov and Marleau fighting in the hallway one night. Was that why?”
Shane nodded. “Yeah, Marleau ran out once he realized, and Ilya went after him. When Ilya came back, things were… different.”
“Fuck man, did Marleau out him? That’s really fucked up. Are you ok?” Thankfully Hayden doesn’t remember hearing anything about it, but he’s still worried.
Shane waved his hands. “No, he swore that he wouldn’t and told Ilya he didn’t care, but I guess the whole thing was kind of a wake up call for him.
After that, we talked, and he said he didn’t want to keep lying to himself any longer. That he wanted us to be together and would do whatever he had to to make it work.”
“So you married him?” Hayden groans, interrupting Shane.
Shane laughs. “Not exactly. Well, actually, maybe? The week after All-Stars, he came up to Montreal for a few days. I introduced him to my parents, and kinda came out to them at the same time.”
“How did that go?”Jackie giggles.
“Ah, better than expected I guess?” Shane shrugs. “They didn’t freak out too much, I think they were just more shocked about the whole Rozanov part.”
“Anyway…” Hayden motions for Shane to continue.
“Since Ilya’s contract with Boston is up this year, he’s going to sign with Ottawa as a free agent next season.”
Before Hayden can interrupt again, Jackie takes the opportunity. “I’m still not following the part about getting married?”
“After Marleau, we were both really worried about getting caught. What if someone found out and leaked the story or god forbid got pictures of us.” Shane sighs. “We knew we wanted to be together forever anyway. So it just kind of made sense. If it got out, we could at least prove it wasn’t just… an affair.”
“That’s very… practical.” Hayden finally admits. He still doesn’t like it, but at least he’s following Shane’s train of thought right now. Even if it feels like it’s about to crash full speed into a building.
“Shane, honey, I get it. But you’ve talked about what he wanted, and haven’t really mentioned what you want. Is this what you wanted too?” Hayden’s mind quickly catches up to his wife’s. Oh shit, did Rozanov force all of this on him?
Shane closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “I’ve been in love with him for as long as I remember. Before I understood what it meant, before I understood myself. Then when I finally started to accept it, I didn’t think this was something I could ever have.”
Oh. Shit. Wow. That was not at all what he was expecting to hear.
“So when do we get to meet him?” Jackie asks.
“He’s going to be in town next week. I thought maybe we could all have dinner together.”
“That sounds wonderful!” Jackie coos. Unfortunately, Hayden wholeheartedly disagrees.
No matter how happy Shane seems, Hayden is still struggling with all of this. It’s Rozanov. He just doesn’t get it. It makes no sense. He hates the fucking guy, he’s an asshole. He does not want to have dinner with him.
But he knows full well that Jackie is not going to give him a choice.
A week later, Ilya Rozanov waltzes into his house like he owns the place.
Hayden wants to punch him in his smug face.
He chirps at Hayden every chance he gets. He asks Jackie why she married him. He calls Hayden the 15th best Metro. Everything about the evening is awful.
Well, almost everything.
“He’s really good with the kids.” Jackie comments as they are clearing the table after dinner. Rozanov had offered to help, but Jackie turned him down, instead letting him be dragged away by the twins, only to return an hour later wearing a tiara, blush, and bright red lipstick
Ugh. As much as Hayden hates him, this one he could not disagree with. Shockingly, Ilya really had been amazing with the kids all night, and had already offered to babysit multiple times. Even if Hayden hates the guy, he is willing to let him take care of his kids, as long as Shane was there to supervise. The two things were somewhat unrelated.
“He’s really good with Shane too.” Jackie adds. This was a bigger pill for him to swallow. Hayden had seen it the day of the wedding too, the way they looked at each other, the way they interacted.
And tonight, all night, Ilya doted over Shane. Smiling at him, checking on him, getting things for him, touching him constantly. It infuriated Hayden.
“I know.” He grumbles. “But he’s still an asshole.”
“I don’t think Shane sees it that way.” She tsks. “And they seem really happy together.”
If Hayden were a weaker man, he probably would have cried. It was bad enough that his best friend had kept such a big secret from him for so long, living a double life for years. But now, it felt like he was losing him completely, and to Ilya Fucking Rozanov of all people. This was not ok.
“Hayden!” Jackie yells, snapping him out of his spiral. “You know this is all going to be fine, right?”
“No it’s not!” Hayden whines back, but Jackie just cackles.