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Hayden let out a yawn, resting his head in his hands. It was only nine in the morning, but having four kids meant that, whatever the time of day, it constantly felt like it was 4 a.m.
This morning, Shane was driving him and J.J to practice. Today they were playing against Boston, in the late afternoon, but at least it was a home game. They didn’t usually carpool like soccer moms, but Hayden’s car had broken down last week, and Jackie couldn’t give up her car for a whole day.
So, Shane had offered to pick Hayden up on his way. And since J.J was always at least ten to thirty minutes late to practice, Hayden had suggested they go and get J.J as well.
Hayden yawned again.
”God, Hayd, you gonna make it through practice without falling asleep?” Shane asked, a small smile on his face. It was as close as Hollzy got to chirping.
”Ha ha.” Hayden said dryly. “Come back and talk to me when you’ve got four kids.”
J.J laughed. “How is that your excuse for everything, Hayd?”
Hayden shoved his hand into the front seat, where J.J was sat in the passenger seat, hitting J.J in the side.
”Oof-“ J.J said. “Bâtard.”
The car fell silent. There wasn’t even any music; Shane said it distracted him from the road.
Ding!
The screen on the dash lit up with the message emoji.
“You have a message from: Lily.” The car’s automated voice read out.
Hayden grinned, suddenly feeling very awake. With all the secrecy Shane kept around this girl, Hayden knew next to nothing about her, only that she lived in Boston, and was pretty much the only girl except Rose Landry that Shane had been with since he joined the Voyagers.
Hayden glanced in the rearview mirror, watching as Shane’s eyes went wide in alarm.
“Ayyy!” J.J cheered. “The famous Boston Lily! Let’s hear what she has to say.”
Shane reached over to the dash, frantically pushing the bluetooth button.
“Disconnect blueto-“ Shane spoke clearly, holding down the button.
J.J smacked his hand out the way. “No way, dude!”
Shane pushed back, and the car swerved slightly. The car next to theirs beeped loudly.
”Woah, eyes on the road, fuck!” Hayden yelled. Hayden had never known Shane to be anything less than perfect when driving.
The automated voice continued. “Can’t wait to have my [tongue emoji] in your [peach emoji].”
Shane’s cheeks flushed bright red and he frantically attempted to shut off the connection.
”Ah!” Hayden shouted. “What the fuck!”
”Jesus fucking Christ, Hollzy!” J.J burst out, laughing hysterically. “She can’t wait to do what?”
“She just has a weird sense of humor, ignore her.” Shane kept his eyes locked on the road as he spoke through gritted teeth, though his cheeks were bright red.
J.J cackled. “Alright, Hollzy, sure. Damn. It’s always the quiet ones.”
”Jesus, Shane.” Hayden gasped for air. “This was more than I ever needed to know about you, seriously, dude-“
Over the years he’d seen certain very interesting texts from Lily, but nothing this raunchy.
Jesus.
Shane groaned quietly, looking more embarrassed than Hayden had ever seen.
He exchanged a glance with J.J.
”So, Capitaine,” J.J said innocently. “What else does this Boston Lily like to do?”
The blush had travelled from his face to his ears and neck. Soon there probably wouldn’t be any skin left of Shane’s that wasn’t bright red from embarrassment.
Hayden laughed. “Please, no! I can’t hear any more. The view of my innocent best friend has already been tarnished, I can’t take any more-“
“Ha! I think is no longer a secret that our Capitaine is a bit of a freak, eh?”
“Hayd, can you disconnect my phone please?” Shane said, one hand coming off the wheel to rub at his face.
Aw, bless. Hayden supposed he’d take pity on his best friend. Poor guy was almost maroon.
Hayden reached over through the middle, trying to grab Shane’s phone where it was laying in the box. He swiped down, looking for the bluetooth button.
“You have a second message from: Lily.”
“Hayd, disconnect my phone now please.” Shane repeated. He looked like he was trying to be casual about it, but his hands were white knuckled over the wheel.
“If I win game will you wear my jersey while I fuck you [question mark] [winky face emoji].”
J.J coughed suddenly, as if he’d choked on air. “What the-“
Hayden froze, his jaw dropping open.
While I fuck you?
My jersey?
What the fuck was he hearing?
His mind was racing, trying to put together what he’d just heard.
Boston Lily was a guy.
Boston Lily was another player.
Holy fuck. Was Boston Lily a Bear?
Hayden felt a little sick.
”Oh God,” Shane muttered.
The car had fallen silent.
Shane pressed the indicator and leaned forward to check if the road was clear.
“You have a third message from: Lily. Pretty please [angel emoji].”
As soon as Shane had merged into the traffic, he reached over to the dash, holding down the bluetooth button. “Disconnect bluetooth.”
”Sorry, I didn’t quite get that. Please can you repeat your message?” The automated voice spoke.
Shane blew out a breath as he turned onto the next road.
“You have a fourth message from: Lily. I am boyfriend now I think I should get special boyfriend privileges.”
Hayden heard the sharp intake of breath from both J.J and Shane in the front.
Fuck.
It had been pretty obvious from the second text that Shane’s Boston Lily was a guy, and very likely to be another player, but it could have been passed off as a joke. There was no denying it now. It had been said plain and clear: boyfriend.
“You have a fifth message from: Lily. Why are you ignoring me [question mark] [sad face emoji]. ”
“You have a sixth message from: Lily. Shane.”
“You have an seventh message from: Lily. I love you, stop ignoring me [sad face emoji].”
Shane’s hand was shaking as he reached out again to touch the dash and hold down the bluetooth button. “Disconnect bluetooth.”
”Bluetooth disconnected.” The automated voice said.
Finally.
The car was silent until they pulled into the parking lot of the practice rink.
Shane turned off the engine and took a shaky breath.
J.J cleared his throat. “Hollzy-“
Shane’s head snapped up. His eyes were watery, as if he was already trying to hold back tears.
“Uh - I’m gay.” Shane said suddenly. “And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I - Trust me, this is not how I wanted this to go. I was going to tell you, soon, I just-“
Hayden shook his head. “No, Shane, it’s fine. Really-“
J.J interrupted with an incredulous laugh. “I don’t care about that, Hollz! But your boyfriend is clear a player, and from Boston, I mean - he’s a fucking Bear… right?”
Shane’s shoulders hunched over defensively. “I-“
Hayden shoved J.J’s shoulder, as if to say ‘fucking cool it’.
“Shane.” Hayden said. “Shane.”
Shane looked up. “I’m sorry, guys, I really am. It just… happened. I can’t help it-“
J.J laughed. “I get that, and, seriously, I’m cool with it. But why a Bear? Surely we could set you up with someone - anyone - else!
Shane’s jaw clenched. “Stop it.”
Hayden couldn’t say he disagreed. “I mean-“
It was at the point that Shane turned to them both, looking irritated. “Right. Because there’s so many opportunities for someone like me to meet normal guys. You guys can just go to a club and meet anyone you want, and nobody cares! You don’t have to worry about whether the girl your talking to is straight, or that one wrong move could get you beaten up, or worse, it could end your fucking career-“
Ah, shit.
Hayden exchanged a look with J.J.
“I’m sorry, we didn’t think-“
Shane blew out a breath. “I get it. It seems crazy, and stupid, I know… but - I love him. And he loves me. And… I know you might think we can’t be trusted to play against each other properly-“
Hayden shook his head. “No, Shane-“
”But it’s been going on since rookie season, so-“
”Rookie season!” Hayden gasped. “What the-“
Hayden glanced at J.J. His eyes were wide, staring at Shane as if he’d never seen him before.
”Non-“
Shane suddenly lost all of his anger. He looked exhausted. “Yeah.”
”Jesus.” Hayden muttered, still in shock.
Shane cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, J.J, I shouldn’t have snapped-“
“No.” Hayden interrupted, sending an unhappy look J.J’s way. “What you said was right, and you were right to say it. Wasn’t he, J.J?”
J.J looked up, still looking unhappy, but he nodded. “I’m sorry, Capitaine. Truly. I did not think-“
“It’s fine.” Shane said. “You won’t tell anyone, right?”
“No. Never.” Hayden said immediately.
J.J nodded. “No, I will not say I understand, but I would not do that to you. I swear.”
“Thank you.” Shane let out a sigh of relief. “God, Ilya is going to be so-“
Wait a fucking minute.
Ilya?
As in Ilya Rozanov?
”Ilya?” Hayden repeated, aghast.
Shane laughed and looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “You don’t still expect me to call him Rozanov do you?”
Hayden’s mouth shut closed and reopened, lost for words.
J.J suddenly cackled. “Mon dieu! You fucking idiot!”
Shane looked between the two of them, his brows furrowed.
“He did not realise that Lily was Ilya!” J.J laughed out. “Jesus. I am never having kids, they steal your brain away.”
”Hey!” Hayden scowled.
Shane burst out laughing. “Jesus, Hayd!”
J.J shook his head. “Moron.”
“Whatever.” Hayden flipped him off.
They sat there for a moment in silence.
“Come on, guys, we’ll be late for practice.” Shane said, getting out the car.
J.J grinned. “Ah, we cannot have that Captaine. We must practice hard today, to make sure to beat Boston, so our Captaine can force Rozanov to wear Montreal Jersey tonight.”
Shane blushed even harder and groaned. “God, I’m never, ever going to live this down am I?”
“What, live down the fact that Ilya fucking Rozanov sends you dirty texts about - ugh - licking your-“ Hayden shuddered. “Peach emoji?”
”Oh, God.” Shane couldn’t look either of them in the eye.
”I think not, Hollz.” J.J grinned.
”Yeah,” Hayden said. “We need to have some fun from this, you know, as payback from the trauma-“
“Oh, fuck you!”
J.J’s face lit up and his mouth opened.
“You say whatever you’re about to say and you’re spending the rest of the day doing bag skates.” Shane said suddenly, before walking off into the training centre.
J.J gaped. “The fuck?”
Hayden let out a breath. “I think Rozanov is a bad influence on him.”
“I still can’t believe you didn’t realise it was Rozanov-“
”Oh, shut up, J.J.”