Chapter Text
Hayden Pike drove home through the cool Saturday afternoon with the windows cracked just enough to let the fresh air drift into the car. The weather was nice; clear skies & sunny, it made everything feel a little lighter.
A pop song played through the radio as he hummed along, fingers tapping against the steering wheel while waiting at a red light. For the first time in months, Hayden wasn’t waiting for life to punch him in the dick again. Hockey season was starting back up, the boredom of offseason finally coming to an end, and the constant noise in his head of his failed marriage began to quiet down. His left hand felt light when he grabbed his bottle of water for a swig. Even after six months, the absence of his wedding ring still felt weird. The divorce from Jackie hadn’t been ugly, just painfully fucking civilized. Shared custody. Polite conversations. Careful scheduling.
The ugly parts happened in private. Crying alone. Visiting his old house like he hadn’t lived there a few months ago. How the fuck did you end up ringing the doorbell of a house you were still paying the mortgage for?
Whatever.
The kids live with Jackie full time. Hayden was constantly traveling for games, making it harder to be part of their daily lives now that the marriage was over. They didn’t want to stress the kids out, so this was the only option.
The whole situation sucked big dirty monkey balls.
Hayden loved his kids more than anything. They were the first thing on his mind every morning and the last thing before bed. Now he missed all the little things. Bedtime stories. Breakfast with them. Laying on the couch with them watching Lilo & Stitch. Now everything got squeezed into short phone calls and the occasional day off back in Montreal. That shit hurt more than he liked admitting.
Thankfully hockey had given him the ability to provide for them. Years in the league meant Jackie and the kids were financially secure no matter what happened between the two of them. He tried not to think about how expensive divorce was. He still paid the mortgage on the house and covered everything for the kids because how the hell was Jackie supposed to go back to work with children that young? Then they would need a nanny, and that was even more money. Make it make sense.
At the same time, he was paying rent for an apartment he barely even lived in. He spent most of his time at Shane’s anyways.
And lately, he was pretty sure Jackie was fucking someone. Not because she said anything, but she stopped sharing her location on her phone with him. They originally had it on for the kids, but now it was just gone. He wanted to ask her about it but didn’t want to sound like a jealous dick. They were divorced. She didn’t owe him any explanation.
Especially because she looked fucking fantastic. Her clothes or appearance didn’t change and at first Hayden thought it was because he missed her, but no, she genuinely looked happier and relaxed. It seemed pretty clear Jackie was getting laid and by someone that wasn’t Hayden. Hayden did not like thinking about her with anyone else, which made him the biggest hypocrite ever.
This too sucked big dirty monkey balls.
Since Hayden had apparently decided to become the king of deflecting responsibility, he still felt bitter about the entire chain of events that led to the divorce. Mostly because of all the bullshit started with Jackie repeatedly insisting he had a crush on Shane. Not just joking about it either. Really fucking insisting. At first Hayden thought she was fucking around, but she kept pointing out how he apparently got “big fucking puppy dog eyez” every time Shane was around.
Like she could read Hayden’s mind like she was professor X, constantly suggesting for him to “test the water”. This was even before they knew Shane was gay. She figured Shan was so uptight at times but sweet, and that he could benefit from a fuck buddy to chill him the fuck out. Who makes a safer fuck buddy than your “bro”?
Jackie had always been fully supportive of people exploring their sexuality, but after a while it started to irritate the fuck out of him. Just because Hayden spent nearly every day with Shane, didn’t mean he wanted him. They were together 90% of the time during the season, that was part of the job. That was normal. That was part of why they get paid the big bucks.
It didn’t mean he wanted to fuck his best friend.
What made it worse was Rozanov constantly pushing buttons about it too. Like he knew some secret Hayden didn’t.
According to Ilya, Hayden had apparently been looking at Shane like he wanted his “throat to memorize every vein in Shane’s dick”. Jesus Roz was always graphic.
Hayden was just protective of Shane, that's all.
That was the benefit of having him as a best friend. Loyal as fuck. If Shane got into an argument with someone, He sided with Shane automatically, didn’t matter, Shane was right. Shane was his best friend. His best man at the wedding. The godfather to his kids.
And apparently the man Hayden had wanted his throat to memorize every vein in his dick for years.
Who knew.
Apparently, Jackie and Ilya did. Assholes.
So, when Jackie gave him the go ahead to see what would happen, he ran with it, and it fucked everything up. Because after one drunk night full of drinks and horniness, everything changed. At first, nobody thought it would turn into anything serious. It was supposed to just be fun. Something to explore and move on after Hayden got it out of his system.
Except Hayden never actually got it out of his system.
Jackie was fine with it in the beginning. When Hayden admitted he wanted to keep things casual and keep exploring, she supported it as long as he didn’t confuse his marriage responsibilities with fucking his best friend. So much for it being a casual situation.
Shane somehow became part of everything before any of them realized it. Even more texting and hanging out with him since Roz was in Boston for most of the year. Hayden and Shane were spending more and more time together.
Once the flood gates opened, Hayden turned into a horny teenager with his first boyfriend and things got complicated as shit.
Some dumb part of him really thought he could fuck Shane and keep the rest of his life exactly the same.
Turns out life didn’t work that way. Jackie said fuck it and bowed out.