Chapter Text
The Boston Raiders began the season with a short road trip this year. Florida, Tampa, then Carolina before heading home for their first home game. Shane was starting to settle in, mostly centering the second line, and going out on the powerplay with Ilya and rotating cast of other wingers and D-men. His parents had not attended a game yet because Shane wanted them to come to a home game for their first one, so this would be Yuna and David’s very first Raiders game. Their opponent was Calgary, which should make for a decent first home game. Not a division rival, but a team that would certainly put up a good effort.
The Hollanders offered to stay in a hotel, but Ilya would not hear of it. “Shane, we have two guest rooms, of course they will stay with us!” So that was how they ended up hurrying home from practice to get home ahead of Yuna and David’s arrival. They had scarcely been home for 15 minutes when the Hollanders buzzed at the gate to be let in. Shane was still in the shower and Ilya suddenly felt shy about greeting Shane’s parents without him. He ran his fingers through his still-damp hair and took a steadying breath before walking towards the front door.
The moment Ilya saw Yuna and David smiling at him and waving, his nerves eased a little bit. It was confusing, if pleasant, having people who were eager to see him for no apparent reason other than they wanted to. Ilya was still getting used to this.
“Ilya!” Yuna practically flew out of the car the second David put it in park. She stood on tiptoe and tugged Ilya down so she could get an arm around his neck as she hugged him more fiercely than she had the last time she’d seen him. “We were so relieved to hear about your green card approval, honey,” she said, pulling back to look at him. He blinked at her for a moment.
“Me too,” Ilya managed to say.
Yuna patted his cheek fondly. “Hey, your skin feels nice, what products do you use?” She asked as David approached.
“Good to see you, son,” David gave him a quick hug. Ilya felt slightly overwhelmed by all the parental attention.
“Ah—I can show you. Is just a face wash and a few different lotions,” Ilya felt his face grow warm as the Hollanders regarded him with more affection than anyone else ever did besides Shane. After a beat he remembered his manners, mentally kicking himself for being awkward.
“Can I help you carry anything in?” Ilya started towards their car. “Shane is in shower, he’ll be out soon, probably.”
Yuna laughed. “Or forever from now—that boy takes the longest showers. I bet your water bill is much higher now that he lives here with you.”
Ilya snorted. Yuna did not need to know the primary reasons for their recent longer showers. “No, he will be quick. He won’t want to leave me alone with you and David for too long. He is worried you will tell embarrassing stories or that I will become favorite son.” Ilya winked at Yuna as he picked up her bag. She gave him a bemused look as they followed him into the house.
“Please make yourselves at home,” Ilya said as they stepped inside. He noticed that both Yuna and David took their shoes off at the door without him saying anything. Maybe it was just how Shane grew up and not his own personality quirk.
“Wow, Ilya, this place is beautiful,” Yuna immediately began wandering towards the kitchen, inspecting details of the layout and decor. She looked and sounded so much like Shane did the first time he walked in here that Ilya had to bite back a laugh. “There’s so much natural light from those windows. I bet that’s really lovely in the late fall.”
“Amazing kitchen, Ilya! Do you cook?” David asked as they rounded the corner of the entryway into the main area.
“Yes. Shane and I have been cooking together sometimes. Is nice,” Ilya could not help smiling, thinking of bickering with Shane about what constituted a healthy dinner.
“Oh that’s so sweet!” Yuna said. “Hey, maybe we should do a late Thanksgiving celebration on Sunday. We didn’t have a chance to celebrate as a family this year.”
Ilya was not sure what a Thanksgiving celebration would entail, having never been to one despite living in North America for the past 8 years, but if it included Hollanders and home-cooked food, he was all in. “Yes, Thanksgiving would be fun,” he agreed.
“What would be fun?” Shane asked as he came down the stairs.
“Your mother was just saying we didn’t have a chance to celebrate Thanksgiving as a family this year, and maybe we could cook a meal on Sunday together in this beautiful kitchen here,” David said as he greeted Shane with a hug.
“I bet we could find a turkey somewhere, and maybe some roasted carrots and mashed potatoes and rice?” Yuna ventured.
“It’s not Thanksgiving without butter tarts. I can make my mom’s old recipe,” David volunteered.
“I do not know what butter tart is, but I like butter and tarts,” Ilya piped up.
“Whoa, you’ve never had a butter tart?” Shane looked at Ilya like he’d just said something blasphemous.
“Ah—no. I’ve never had Thanksgiving at all,” Ilya said, pulling on his ear. No one has ever cared to invite me to one.
“Well that settles that!” Yuna clapped her hands. “We will make a feast for Ilya’s first Thanksgiving!”
The next morning, Ilya did a short workout at home while Shane went for his usual run. After cleaning up, he found Yuna and David puzzling over how to use the coffee maker in the kitchen.
“Ah, here, let me,” Ilya showed them how to set it up and got coffee brewing.
When it was done, he sat with them as they all sipped on steaming mugs.
“I was thinking about going to the grocery store and getting ingredients for our thanksgiving meal tonight.” Yuna said.
“I can go with you,” Ilya found himself offering. That was the polite thing to do for a guest who wouldn’t know the area, right? It should be fine for them to be out in public together, shouldn’t it? No one in Boston would really know who Yuna Hollander was—if anyone stopped them it would be just for Ilya.
—————
Yuna sat in the passenger seat of Shane’s new Audi SUV while Ilya drove them to the grocery store. David had a call to make and Shane was still working out so it was just the two of them. She noticed Ilya tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as he drove. He’d told her that he didn’t want to make her get in and out of any of his sports cars and besides, the trunk space on this car made much more sense for grocery shopping. Yuna was privately a little disappointed that she didn’t get a chance to ride in any of the bright flashy cars in Ilya’s garage, but it made sense to her that this car was obviously more practical for a grocery run.
In the store, Yuna pulled out a list she’d made and Ilya pushed the cart. She hadn’t gone grocery shopping with Shane in quite a few years, so it made her feel a little nostalgic to go to the store and have Ilya following her around with the cart the way Shane used to when he was a kid.
Yuna picked up some carrots and was about to put them in the cart when Ilya stopped her.
“Ah—we should get these ones,” he indicated the carrots in the next bin over. “Shane will prefer organic carrots.”
“Oh…right,” Yuna said, putting down her first selection. Ilya was generally quiet as they walked through the store, though as they went through the list he kept making suggestions and swaps catering to Shane’s preferences. Yuna marveled at Ilya’s attention to detail as he scrutinized package labels and helped her tick things off her list. She wasn’t sure what she should have expected out of grocery shopping with Ilya, but she was quite surprised and touched to witness the careful and methodical way he was attempting to take care of Shane. Yuna knew that Shane was very particular about his food. Sometimes it drove her crazy trying to have things in the house he would eat when he visited. She had privately worried that it would be a problem for him if he ever had a girlfriend—or partner, she corrected herself. Ilya did not seem annoyed or frustrated, though. He just made space for Shane like it was the most natural thing in the world for him. He was even humming softly to himself as he pushed their cart towards the checkout.
Just as they reached the checkout area, a little girl wearing a too-big Boston Raiders sweater squealed and ran up to Ilya. “Are you Rozanov? You look a lot like him!” She said loudly.
Yuna watched as Ilya set the cart off to the side and knelt down on the ground. “Shhhh,” he stage-whispered and looked around conspiratorially. “Depends. Are you a fan of his?”
The little girl giggled and turned around to reveal Ilya’s name emblazoned across her back. “He’s my favorite player,” she said earnestly, turning big brown eyes back to look up at Ilya.
“Ah, well then. I might just be him,” Ilya winked at her. The little girl’s jaw dropped.
“Oh. Wow! Can you sign my jersey?” She turned around again. Yuna was about to offer the pen she’d been crossing items off her grocery list with but Ilya was already smoothly slipping a sharpie from his pocket. He had just finished signing her jersey when they heard another voice.
“Emma! Dad says we have to go!” A boy, a little older than Emma, came around the corner and stopped in his tracks like a deer in headlights. His mouth formed a small ‘O’.
“Look Dylan, it’s really him! He signed it!” Emma squealed, spinning to show off her new autograph. It was then that Yuna noticed the boy was also wearing a Raiders jersey. She glanced at his sleeve to see if it was also Ilya’s number like his sister’s.
Oh. He was wearing number 24, Shane’s number. It was the first Raiders fan sweater Yuna had seen of Shane’s in the wild. Based on Ilya’s surprised expression, she had a feeling it was also his first time seeing Shane’s new sweater on a fan. Yuna’s breath caught as the boy approached Ilya with caution.
“I have your jersey at home. But my birthday was yesterday and I got a new Raiders jersey as a present.” He turned so Ilya could see the name Hollander across his shoulders. “I would ask you for an autograph, but I know you two are rivals,” he said bashfully, looking at his feet.
Ilya laughed delightedly, not the gruff way Rozanov usually presented himself to the media and fans, the way he only laughed when he was at home with Shane.
“No, no, I will sign it, but only if I can also take a picture of it to show my friend Hollander,” he laughed again. “Where are your people?”
Yuna noticed that he did not say ‘parents’. She wondered if he always did that. A man who was presumably the kids’ dad appeared, and his eyes widened as he recognized who was kneeling on the ground to speak with his children. Ilya signed the Hollander jersey and took a picture of it to show to Shane with the dad’s permission. He also paused to take a few pictures with the kids and then the dad as well.
“Are you around here tomorrow? I can get you tickets to game, if you would like them,” Ilya offered quietly. “Dylan here told me it was just someone’s birthday, but I can’t remember whose birthday he said it was. Maybe I would remember if he wore my jersey,” Ilya made a show of rolling his eyes and putting his hands on his hips, and the kids giggled.
“Wow. Yeah, we live right down the street and—yeah, I mean, that would mean the world to him—to all of us. Thank you!” The dad seemed shocked by the gentle way Ilya was interacting with his kids. Yuna had also never seen Ilya with kids and she almost laughed to herself seeing him now. When Shane told her he was gay and then introduced them to Ilya a few weeks later she had briefly mourned the idea of ever getting to be a grandmother. She knew it was silly but between the shock of it all and learning who Shane’s boyfriend was, she had assumed they probably would not have children. Now, seeing Ilya with these kids, she felt herself begin to hope again.
Ilya leaned down to conspiratorially whisper to the kids again. “If you wear this jersey to game and are very lucky, I may be able to get Hollander to sign it for you, too. I will know where you are sitting. If you can come early during warmup and see me wave to you in crowd, come down to the glass. I will try to drag Hollander over,” he said.
“Hollander has been Dylan’s favorite player since he was this high,” the dad put his hand at the height of his mid-thigh. “He was over the moon when he found out he was coming to Boston, and begged for that jersey. It was the only thing he asked for for his birthday,” the man chuckled and looked at his son fondly. “You have no idea what this means to my kids, Mr. Rozanov. Thank you so much,” the man shook Ilya’s hand.
“Believe me, it means a lot to us too,” Ilya said. Yuna noticed him casually refer to himself and Shane as a unit and kept her head down to hide her surprise, pretending to be interested in the magazine rack she was standing near. The family hadn’t looked at her—not even a flicker of recognition. Yuna was grateful for the relative anonymity of being in a town who didn’t recognize her yet.
“I don’t mean to pry, but I have to say that you surprised me,” the dad said to Ilya. “I saw the video the Raiders put out announcing the trade, and the first few games. I would have expected more animosity between the two of you with your rivalry.”
Yuna watched as Ilya regarded him carefully. “Ah—no, we respect each other too much for this. Hollander is incredible player. We still compete of course, just not on separate teams anymore. Does not matter if we are on same team—scoring race is still on,” Ilya shrugged like this was a completely normal thing for two players on the same team to be competing for goals.
The man burst out laughing. “Okay, that can only be good for Boston! Good on you guys.” Ilya wrote down his contact information to pass along to the Raiders office to arrange for getting the family tickets and then they left.
“That was so sweet,” Yuna couldn’t help but murmur as Ilya came back to her and the cart.
“What?” Ilya looked at her, bewildered.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you interact with a fan before,” Yuna replied, still feeling a little misty about the exchange.
“Ah. I try to do things for the kids. They are always happy with autograph or pictures. Sometimes the fans are a lot. But the kids—never too much,” Ilya nodded to himself as he pushed the cart to the checkout counter.
Yuna pretended to be very interested in the loose string on the hem of her sleeve to hide the emotion that welled up seeing a fan positively acknowledge Shane and Ilya playing for the same team. They didn’t know the whole truth yet, of course, but it gave her hope that there would be more supportive fans than the boys thought there might be.