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Alexander who greets David with a handshake and a pat on the shoulder, obviously close enough to stop and chat with David outside of work. And David puts a hand on Ilya's shoulder and goes "This is Ilya", and Alexander's eyes light up. But before Ilya can say anything, Alexander goes "Oh yeah, I recognize you from the pictures!", he smiles and shakes Ilya's hand. "That must have been a fun bareque, David talks about it often."

And Ilya's mind has shut off and is racing a thousend miles at the same time because yeah they did have Yuna and David over at Shane's Cottage this summer for a barbeque, as they have done often, but surely that - why would David have a picture of that on his desk?

He must manage a Thank you or something because Alex still smiles warmly as he tells thr two of them "Well, it was nice to run into you guys, I won't hold you up any longer. Enjoy your family Christmas" and Ilya, through the rushing in his ears, hears David say "Thank you, Alexander. Have a good Christmas as well, give my best to Elaine".

It's not until they're back in the car, groceries in the trunk on the way back to the house, when Ilya turns to David. There are a million things he wants to say, but he ends up blurting out

"You have pictures of me at your office?"

And he doesn't know what he expects David to say. No, this was all a prank orchestrated by my work colleague and me? Yes i do but only because Shane made me? Yuna told me to keep the Hollander-Rozanov brand strong I get five dollars everytime someone mentions your name?

The rational part of his brain knows these are all absurd. He's still not quite ready to be hit with David's completely sincere "Oh, yeah. With you boys on the road so often I like to keep pictures on my desk, you know? Yuna as well, of course. It makes me feel as if I have a part of my family with me even at work."

Scott just lets out a long sigh everytime and counts to ten in his head.

He ends up on the same flight to New York as Shane after an away game in Ottawa, with Scott going back home and Shane travelling for the launch of a new Rebook store in New York.

And Scott can't help but laugh when he sees what the in flight movie options are. At Shane's curious look he waves at the small tv screen and explains the bit Ilya has going on. And Shane, just for a second, gets this weird glint in his eyes before offering Scott one of his earbuds with a smile.

"Want to rewatch the game with me instead?", he asks, holding up his IPad. And, why the hell not, Scott thinks, there are worse things than reviewing their game with Shane (even though he doubts Shane will share any of his strategical thoughts with him).

It's not until Jackie's cousin, in a well meaning gesture to support Athur, gifts him a tarantula. Which, well. He buys him the appropriate terrarium and hands Hayden a stack of pamphlets on how to take care of a tarrantula. Which is all well and good except for the fact that there is now a fucking enormous tarrantula in their home.

Arthur squeals with joy. Jackie and Hayden less so. Next to them on the couch, Ilya pulls his feet back from where they almost touched the newly unwrapped terrarium.

But it's fine. Hayden loves his son and wants him to be happy (although he did high-five Jackie after she pulled her Cousin to the side to tell him in a kind but very firm way to never ever gift them an animal again without consulting them). So, it's good. It's fine. Toby the Tarrantula happily lives withe the Pike family while Hayden manages to not completely freak out whenever goes into his son's bedroom. It's fine. It's good.

It very quickly turns very bad though on a sunny Saturday evening. The evening had started out well enough, with Shane and Ilya coming over for dinner while Jackie was out for dinner with her old college friends. There was a slight hitch when Hayden realised that he had promised the girls pancakes for dinner without checking the fridge. But even that problem was quickly resolved with Shane simply grabbing his car keys and announcing that "I'll get them, i'll be back in 10 minutes".

No, the very bad part started just after Shane had left the driveway, when Hayden bumped into the tarrarium which was currently staying in the living room while they got Arthur's bedroom painted. The thankfully still intact but unfortunately very empty terrarium.

"Rozanov, I'm gonna ask this once and you better be honest", Hayden said, focing himself to stay calm while his eyes were still locked on what should be Toby's home. "Did you take the fucking Spider out to fuck with me?"

Ilya just gave him an unimpressed stare. "It's a tarantula, Pike", he said drily. "And no, I did not take it out of the terrarium. Why?"

Hayden swallowed. Fuck.

"Pike? What-"

"It's empty."

Hayden finally turned to look at Ilya. Ilya took over with staring at the terrarium in horror.

Shit.

Shane finds both of them huddled together on kitchen stairs when he gets back 15 Minutes later with a carton of eggs and some blueberries in hand.

"Are you guys okay?"

Hayden and Ilya both do a horrible impression of acting casual.

"Of course we are, Solnyshko", Ilya assures him, casually leaning against one of the kitchen cabinets. If it weren't for his shaking hands and the way he kept glancing at the terrarium every two seconds, he'd almost pull it of.

"Yeah man, all good", Hayden adds in a voice that sounds only slightly panicked.

"If you say so", Shane says, unconvinced. "Why are you both standing on chairs?"

Hayden and Ilya look at each other. Look at Shane. Turn to look at each other again.

Ilya raises an eyebrow.

Hayden crosses his arms.

Both of them turn back to Shane.

"Easier to keep an eye on the kids that way, you know", Hayden says. Ilya nods. "Direct view to garden", he adds. Hayden nodds.

"For sure", Shane agrees easily before turning to put the eggs into the fridge to hide his smile. Even if he didn't know them as well as he did, it wouldn't be difficult to figure out that they're lying. It's also not particulary difficult to figure out why they chose to stand on top of two chairs that allow them to look at the terrarium while also being as far away as possible (and, to be fair, still keep an eye on the kids playing outside in the garden).

Of course, it's also not that difficult to remember that Jackie dropped off Toby at the Vet before heading out to meet her friends. And it's just as easy to know that Jackie will definitely want picture proof of her husband and Ilya Rozanov furiously whispering at each other while standing on top of two chairs -

"Why don't you get down and look for him"

"You crawl around the ice all the time, probably advantage for you to find him"

"Oh fuck you-"

And it's Wyatt who, drunk after a night out celebrating a victory, pulls them both close and is like "listen, listen you guys, s' a fucking priv'ledge, bein' loved an' like, showing that". And for a second both Shane and Ilya tense up because they know Wyatt is good and kind and supportive but old habits die hard. But then Wyatt just pulls them closer and goes "m' jus' so happy for you guys, you know? We get too see y'be happy and in love and, and s'a fucking beautiful thing man, that you finally fuckin' get that, you know. And s'just, we love you guys."

Imagine getting absolutely crushed by the Centaurs, Shane with a hat-trick before the second period ends and Ilya hot on his heels with his own two goals. And on top of that, everytime Shane shoots the puck in the net with a brutal combination of talent, confidence and joy, the Metros just hear:

But I'll say, "Arrivederci, au revoir"

Forgive my French, but, fuck you, ta-ta

Goodbye

So they gather around and have a Strategy Session to discuss how to best proceed. Because Ilya is clearly heartbroken and they don't want to see him hurt. Hence, the strategy meeting. They can't tell Ilya directly, that might spook him. Can't tell Hayden directly either, though. Sure he seems like a decent dude based on what some of them have seen at the camps and events, but who knows how me might react to being told that Ilya Rozanov is in love with him?

No no, best to find someone more neutral. Someone who would be polite about it and discreet and not run to the next gossip magazine or group chat to yell about it. So obviously, there is only one good option. Shane Hollander, famously decent guy and apparently friends with both Hayden Pike AND Ilya Rozanov. Also, he co-funded a charity about mental health with Rozy, surely he would not be an asshole about that, right?

They consider this to be an ansolutely foolproof plan. Bood and Wyatt are elected as the ones who are to message Shane. Best to do it over text so not to corner him, right? Also it's difficult to talk to him somewhere where they may get some privacy.

Ilya comes up to hug him from behind, hooking his chind over Shane's shoulder. "Missing my face already, Hollander?", he teases with a kiss to Shane's cheek. "You should have said, I would have come help with boxes earlier instead of organizing spices by boring canadian system."

Shane just rolls his eyes with a "Shut up, asshole". But then his eyes go fond and his smile kind of sad as he adds, "You know, for a long time this was the only picture i, well, felt like i could allow myself to have of you."

Shane's cheeks have turned red and Ilya has gone very still behind him. "And i know we have actual pictures of us together now and we get to keep them, which i am so grateful for. And I know this a promotional picture, but sometimes i just wanted to walk through my home and, uhm, look at you, you know?"

And Ilya just tightens his hug and blinks his tears away. "I guess a part of me is still not fully used i get to have you. The real you. And not just a picture of you on the cover of some game."

And Ilya can't do anything but hug Shane to his chest and bury his head in Shane's shoulder because, he gets to have this. The real Shane, next to him, forever. So he holds Shane tightly, sways them both softly from side to side. The Game ends up on the mantle next to their other pictures.