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When Shane decides to move into his own apartment his rookie season, rather than billet with a veteran player, his parents worry that he'll be lonely. Shane's pretty sure that will never be a problem for him, but he also doesn't want to argue about it so he does the only logical thing and heads to the local animal shelter.
He finds a pair of bonded cats and falls in love. He calls the small inky black one Puck. The larger orange guy is The Great One. The guys on his team haze him, both for the names and for having cats in general, but it's easy enough to ignore.
He pays his cleaning service extra to make sure the litter boxes, food and water are seen too when he's out of town.
The cats are assholes. They, more often than not, hiss and swat and hide whenever someone is over. If they're not bolting, they're ignoring anyone but Shane or sitting on a high shelf and judging everyone. Shane's right pretty sure they're the best cats in the entire world. And that they're great judges of character. They hate everyone, except for him.
And, as it turns out, Ilya Rozanov.
At first Shane doesn't know why. So he observes. He wants to understand.
It takes awhile.
It's sometime in 2015 that he finally realizes why Ilya is the exception. It takes that long because they only get a handful of hookups in Montreal, so Ilya has really only met Puck and The Great One a few times, sometimes weeks or months apart. But it only took three meetings for Puck to allow a gentle head pat from Ilya, and The Great One actually rubbed against Ilya's ankle in 2014 and now will head butt him for attention.
Puck still hides under the bed when JJ and Hayden are over and being loud (he's fine when it's just one of them, but more than that he goes into flight mode; The Great One tolerates being within 2 feet of JJ and Hayden but doesn't allow pets, only treats), and Mitty had to get shots when The Great One scratched him that one time. The only time the cats disappear when Ilya is around is when Shane locks them out of the bedroom. For obvious reasons. It's just weird when your cats watch you having sex. And the only scratches on Ilya are the ones Shane gives him.
So Shane thinks he can be forgiven for taking a while to realize what's happening. He doesn't say anything about it though. Not for another year, when in an alternate version of the Tuna Sandwich Day, they're hanging out in Shane's apartment before a game. They have all day for once, and they've already fucked once and napped. Now Shane is laying on the couch with the Great One on his chest, watching Ilya tease Puck with the wand toy he brought as a surprise. It had been Ilya's idea to spend the day together at Shane's apartment; he'd mentioned missing the cats and Shane hadn't been able to come up with a reason to deny them the company of each other.
It was Shane's idea that Ilya spend the night.
Shane feels all warm and syrupy watching Ilya okay with Puck. He doesn't think he's ever seen a smile quite so unguarded as the one Ilya when Puck jumps and misses the feather at the end of the string. There's something bubbling in his chest that wants to come out; it feels like it might overwhelm him sometimes. It mixes with the downright terrifying feeling of Ilya in his space for such an extended period of time, but not in a way that Shane hates. It's all very confusing.
And it's made more confusing because Ilya is saying something now about warm weather and girls and Shane is only half paying attention, because he's never seen Puck be so playful and trusting of anyone but him before. And he realizes that he actually feels the same way about Ilya as his cats do and it's terrifying so instead of answering Ilya's confusing question about women he blurts out,
"My cats really like you. They don't like anyone. But it's because you respect their boundaries and listen to what they tell you, and you've earned their trust, but that's not easy with cats because they've got you know, teeth and claws and stuff and will let you know when you've fucked up." And he knows he's not making sense but the words are just spilling out. "And that made me think that maybe you've been trying to figure out my boundaries too, but I'm not a cat and people are so much harder to understand than cats--"
And Ilya has stopped dragging the wand around for Pick and is looking at him with that blank, stoic face he has around reporters when they talk really fast and Ilya can't quite keep up with the translations fast enough. Shane takes a breath and holds it for a count of four, then exhales and tries again.
"I...fuck this is hard." His eyes feel hot and his face is burning and he stares up at the ceiling as he pushes the next part out. Puck and The Great One trust Ilya. So does Shane. Shane's pretty sure he trusts Ilya more than anyone else in his life. He can offer this much of himself to someone like that. He can be brave and honest, the way his cats are brave and honest.
So he continues, even if it's the scariest thing he's ever admitted to another human being.
"I don't think I... like...women. But...I do l like..." The words want to come, they're right on the tip of his tongue but he can't get them out, not all of them, but he can get this one out. "You." It's a relief and he feels something loosen in his chest all at once. "I like you...Ilya."
There's silence for a long stretch of time (probably only seconds but it feels longer) before Shane makes himself look at Ilya.
He looks...not stoic, Shane decides after a moment, but stunned. His eyes are wide, and a little glassy. He's frozen on his knees with Puck batting at his leg for attention. Shane has a horrifying moment of wondering if he just fucked it all up when Ilya lets out a breath that sounds like a sob and drops the wand.
"Shane. Shanya." His voice is rough but there's a grin on his face as he shuffles on his knees across the floor to the couch. "солнышко. I like you. Too. Even when you are so confusing."
Shane reaches for Ilya at the same time Ilya leans down and then they're kissing, Ilya peppering tiny, soft kiss across Shane's face, murmuring things in Russian that Shane can't understand but doesn't need to because for right now he's content to just exist in the moment. With the guy he likes. And that's enough.