Chapter Text
David Hollander doesn't have much social media. His wife manages both a personal and a public twitter, along with an instagram and a few other profiles David cannot keep up with when she explains their purpose.
Every one of them is focused on hockey, of course, and Yuna keeps a sharp eye out for anything regarding their son. Anything that might help him - potential brand deals, fan support, even criticism.
It's worked well, obviously, between her and Farah, Shane is probably the most well known hockey player on the planet. He's done more commercials than David can keep straight
He likes being out of the loop on that sort of thing to be honest. It gives him a chance to ask silly questions and get Shane talking about things that aren't hockey for once. Youtube rabbit holes and twitter spirals David would otherwise be totally oblivious to.
The one social media he bothers to check is Facebook. A private profile, just for him keep up with friends from back in the day - college roommates and hockey teammates from McGill, coworkers from the Treasury Department. Sometimes he'll post a picture or comment, but mostly he just scrolls through his feed each morning and likes all the various updates.
When the story breaks, his facebook is inundated with messages and friends requests. David gets off work that evening and just stares at the rising number of notifications. He has no idea what's happening and when he calls, Yuna's number goes straight to voicemail.
And then the videos and pictures are shared in one of his alumni groups.
David almost doesn't recognize his son in his hurry to scroll past what are - quite obviously - very explicit photos. They're poorly censored and that first one is obviously from a rather old cell phone camera. The second one is signficantly less grainy though. Much clearer than any picture taken with a mirror has any right to be really, and David would recognize those freckles anywhere.
Even with Shane's head thrown back against another man's shoulder, half obscured by their hair. Thankfully, a bathroom counter blocks everything below their waists. Shane's face says more than enough though, his expression one of bliss. Cheeks flushed and his eyes glazed over. The man behind him has one hand on his chest as he mouths at Shane's throat.
It's more suggestive than explicit. Just two shirtless men in a hotel bathroom really. The Calvin Klien ad Shane did recently had left far less to the imagination.
David quickly backs out of Facebook anyway. He tries Yuna again, and this time it rings. Just the once.
"He's not answering his damn phone!" Yuna is frantic and David doesn't need to see her to know she's pacing.
"Is his game over already?" David asks her and his wife exhales, taking a slow breath, "No phones on the bench remember."
Yuna growls, "This is unbelievable. He's going to be blindsided, at the least, and the photos..." David blanches. "You saw them?"
"Facebook, I kept scrolling and now I've closed the app. I don't need to see my son like that."
She laughs. A light, half-hysterical chuckle, "They're everywhere. And its not just photos. There's videos and... well, there's a lot of them, David. Years of them."
With a sigh, David sets his phone up on the dashboard and starts driving, "I'll be home soon. Have you and Farah tracked down the source? Is it..."
He doesn't know how to finish that question. Are they real? Is it true?
If he'd understood that photo right, before closing out, his son was, at minimum, not exactly straight. Shane's smile, his freckles, David knew them well, in every stage of life.
The blond curls on the man kissing his neck had been familiar as well, even if David hadn't paid nearly as close attention to Ilya Rozanov as his wife or Shane had through the years.
"Pretty sure they're real," Yuna croaks. She takes another a breath, sniffling, "I told him to be careful, to never keep photos like this..."
"Young men make dumb decisions sometimes," David reminds her. His knuckles squeeze at the steering wheel, "Even Shane is entitled to a few." A strangled scoff tells him exactly what Yuna thinks of that.
David frowns. Their son isn't even 25. Shane's had the world on his shoulders for a decade now. Or, all of Canada, at least.
"Yuna?" David breaths out, brow furrowing, "You're not actually upset with him are you?" She huffs. "He hasn't done anything wrong. Someone breached his privacy."
"I know! I know!" Yuna is pacing again, her hands surely flying out, "But Rozanov?! Seriously? He couldn't have found any other man to... to do this stuff with?!"
A chuckle slipped out and David can't say he didn't have the same thought, but then he thinks about the picture again. The soft smile on Shane's face, the upturn of his lips as he took the picture.
How long had it been since he'd seen a smile half as joyful on their son's face?
"You said there's years of photos right?" David asks, fingers drumming on the wheel when he's forced to stop at a traffic light.
Yuna confirms it. She takes a very slow breath, calming herself, before David points out the obvious.
"This isn't just some hook ups then," David says, staring up at the red light, "It's serious. Shane wouldn't take such a risk for just anyone."
"I know," Yuna whispers. She sniffles and her voice cracks, "Why wouldn't he tell us?" She's crying now, David can tell by the tremor in her words, "Did... Did he think we'd be angry? That I-"
She cuts herself off and David swallows around the pit of emotion lodging itself in his throat. His wife muffles a sob.
"They've been seeing each other since their rookie season," Yuna manages to explain, "Maybe before. That... the CCM ad, the summer before. One of the pictures is from that shoot so I think..."
He hears the unspoken question. The one she can't make herself ask.
Yuna had been at that shoot, coordinating with Rozanov's agent since Farah had been busy. The last minute change throwing all of them for a loop.
"I think..." David exhales as the light turns green, "The situation is complicated. We shouldn't jump to any conclusions."
With another controlled breath, Yuna agrees and David steps on the gas, speeding just a little. Just this once.
"I'll be home soon, and then we'll call him, alright? Once the game is over, we'll get to the bottom of this whole situation, together, as a family."
He has a sneaking suspicion that their family would soon include a rather obnoxious Russian hockey player, if it doesn't already. Russia's laws regarding homosexuality are quite famous after all, and their son could give Yuna a run for her money when it came to his plans. Overly practical, even to a fault sometimes.
David thinks it best not to mention that part to Yuna just yet. Not until he knows for sure. He asks her about the game instead, the score, anything to keep her distracted until he can park the car in their driveway.
"The Voyageurs won," Yuna announces when he comes through the door. She's pacing in front of the television still, frowning at the screen as the newscaster highlights the fierce battle between Shane and Rozanov for the puck in the last period.
She's dialing before David can say a word.