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Hayden is already at the arena when Shane finally answers his messages from yesterday.
He’d like to think he’s pretty calm about it, but in reality he’s probably closer to freaking out. But who can blame him? Shane has been with Lily for who knows how long now—well, he knows it’s been no longer than four days, but that still leaves a lot of room and certainly is enough time to have Hayden even more worried since he found out—and his brain is helpfully supplying horrific scenarios of Shane being heartbroken every now and then.
Yes, Shane did sound okay when they talked, and he did write Hayden an update yesterday where he seemed to be better once again too, but he’s also not said anything since, and who knows when Lily will change his mind again about treating Shane the way Shane deserves to be treated?
Because Shane deserves better than whatever that was he read.
He’s not even upset about what Lily said about him—he didn’t expect Lily to go that far, but jealousy was kind of his goal there—but talking about Shane like he couldn’t make decisions on his own was pretty sickening.
Thinking Hayden was sleeping with Shane was one thing—and surprisingly a thing he’s already kind of used to, considering some fans for some reason ship them, but also who cares, he knows he has a perfect wife and great kids and as long as nobody is harmed he really couldn’t care less about people thinking that he would be good enough for Shane, it’s honestly more a compliment than anything else—but calling Shane easy and talking about him like it wasn’t his phone… yes, Hayden had probably been responsible for part of it, because he took the phone first even though he shouldn’t have, but the answer should have been angry at Hayden, and should have been telling him to give the fucking phone back because Lily wants to talk to Shane, not some other guy, and that instead Lily had lashed out at Shane just really wasn’t a good sign, in Hayden’s opinion.
So yes, as long as Lily made Shane happy, he was fine with putting most of his anger aside, but also if they broke up, would he be famous enough to get away with mugging someone? Maybe Jackie would have some input for him.
So all that to say, he’s a little worried that he hasn’t heard from his best friend in a while, and that he can’t really tell if it’s because Shane is just happy with Lily and therefore forgot about Hayden—totally fine, Shane should be happy—or if it’s because he’s heartbroken somewhere and decided not to bother Hayden after all—absolutely not fine, because Shane should be happy.
And Hayden knows he told Shane he’d trust him, and he really meant it, because he does trust Shane, but also he absolutely does not trust Lily and love is known to make people stupid, and sometimes blind, and so he’s not exactly as cool about it as he would like to be when Shane finally texts him back.
He really doesn’t know how he got here, but also who cares. He certainly doesn’t when he opens the text. It’s a long one even. None of his usual short and compact things. He’s not sure that makes it better though.
He reads it once.
Then again.
But the message doesn’t change.
»I’m good. He’s at work now but will be back later. He’s really sorry any of this happened and it won’t happen again.«
It’s not bad, Hayden knows it’s not bad, but it still doesn’t sit right with him.
He taps his phone to reply, then stops, when he’s unsure what to say exactly. He should be nice, probably. He did say he trusts Shane. He should say something positive. Only he doesn’t really feel positive about Lily at all, whoever the guy is.
»He left?« Hayden types eventually. And then »Was his work more important than you?« because that’s actually what’s bothering him here. Shane was almost dying just a few days back, and now Lily is already good to let Shane out of his sight again? Hell, Hayden would be staying around, if he could make up a reason Shane wouldn’t ignore, and he’s pretty sure he could make up some good reasons if he was having sex with Shane.
Shane’s answer comes pretty fast this time, and it could be calming—Shane’s good, they’re good, Shane wouldn’t have wanted Lily to miss work even if he was worse—if it didn’t also just read like some generic thing Shane would say to stop people from worrying about him.
It’s not as helpful as Shane would probably think, and Hayden is fully aware he’ll have to question it, because otherwise this will bother him the whole time.
»When you say good, what do you mean?«
Somebody is clapping his back while he waits for the answer, but doesn’t actually start talking to him. Good. He’s really not in the mood right now. But the others probably aren’t either. Facing Boston without Shane is pretty big actually, and so obviously all of them are concentrating on that right now and not really into small talk. Strangely enough the vibe seems more tense without Shane, even though Shane isn’t usually someone who cracks many jokes for the team. But it’s probably already putting you at ease if you know you have someone who’s easily keeping up with Rozanov, and knowing you don’t have them is probably pretty good at achieving the opposite effect.
Hayden leans back against the lockers, when Shane tells him that him and Lil talked. Properly. Whatever the fuck that means.
»And?« Hayden writes back.
Then exhales slowly, when Shane once again tells him they’re good. With the additional information this time that they figured it out, and it won’t happen again.
Which is great on one side, but on the other does not satisfy Hayden in the slightest. Figure what out? How? And what makes Shane so sure it won’t happen again? It still might. What if Lily only told Shane he wouldn’t repeat it, and Shane is too in love to realize that that’s fucking stupid? No, that’s doing him injustice, Shane wouldn’t just believe anything, Hayden wouldn’t think so. Still, he really doesn’t like what this reads like to him.
So he tells Shane as much. Because Shane shouldn’t forgive Lily, and he shouldn’t sound like he already did. But he does.
And then is even telling Hayden that Lily is sorry and it was a misunderstanding.
But it wasn’t! Or if it was, then Hayden doesn’t care! Lily doesn’t get to talk about Shane like Shane’s opinion isn’t important and then it’s all fine again once he says sorry, and now Shane sounds like he’s defending the guy!
Even though Shane tells him he’s not, when Hayden implies as much.
At least Shane seems to understand a little where Hayden is coming from, when he writes again. But he also tells Hayden again that it’s alright, and that he believes Lily he didn’t mean it, and that they are not miscommunicating anymore, and then he even call them “kind of a thing now”. Why is there even a kind of in there? There shouldn’t be. If Lily isn’t fully committed, than he can leave and never come back.
But that’s probably a little extreme to write back, and he promised Shane to trust him, so he should at least try. Only it’s harder to do than he’d think, because every message he types sounds mean, and he doesn’t want to sound mean. To Lily, sure, but he doesn’t have his number, and Shane deserves better.
Eventually he decides to just play it safe and reply with a statement. Because he has to say something, and »You’re a thing« is honestly as good as it gets right now.
And then when Shane confirms it again, Hayden even manages a: »He said he likes you?«
See? He can be nice. Even gave Lily the benefit of the doubt. He’s a great friend.
»There might have been a love confession,« Shane confirms.
And that’s honestly good. Great even.
Until Shane tells him there might have been even more than that, and now it feels excessive. Because if Lily means it, why would he have to hammer it home so much?
It’s probably unfair to think like that, maybe Lily really did mean it, but the doubt is still there.
»Good,« he tells Shane before he can change his mind. Then kind of tells Shane about his concerns anyway by sending »A real one?« right after.
Maybe he’s not such a good friend after all.
But Shane doesn’t seem to mind, or maybe doesn’t read between the lines, Hayden isn’t sure, and just confirms again. And then in a new message tells him that Lily probably would have missed work if he asked, so maybe he did read between the lines after all, and also tells him Lily has been going out of his way to make things easier for Shane.
Which is good. Also bare minimum, especially after everything, but good nonetheless.
»I would hope so, that’s the least he should do,« Hayden still writes, because Shane really should get his expectations in order and not settle for less.
He thinks about leaving it at that, but honestly, no matter how happy Shane is about this whole thing, he should be aware there’s somebody in his corner, no matter what happens.
Shane doesn’t have to know he’s only half joking when telling him about still wanting to punch Lily. He is joking when he implies he could also plan Lily’s murder. Mostly. He’s not actually into the idea of murdering anyone, but also who knows what Lily will do in the future.
For now light punching is a compromise he’s willing to make.
Shane not so much apparently, considering he tells Hayden not to do it, but Hayden sure as hell won’t make promises to Shane he has no intention of keeping, so the coach calling them up for a last discussion before the game is a welcome distraction to not actually answer Shane’s message and make it about the game instead.
He smiles at the »Good luck.« he gets back and puts the phone down to concentrate on the others instead.
It’s weird, to have meetings without Shane. Shane doesn’t usually say a lot in them, mostly listens and nods, but Hayden still feels off balance without him there. Shane is the center, he should be around, and he’s Hayden’s center, so he should be around even more, but they’ll make do with what they have. They had three days to. get ready for this, the won the last game, they’ll win this too.
He tells the team as much when it’s time for somebody to say something and he’s the only Captain they have right now. He should be better at speeches than Shane, and he kind of is, at least the team seems happy, but there’s also something about the sincere honesty with witch Shane usually just tells them they’ll win, like it’s already a fact, that’s pretty hard to recreate. He’s not sure the others mind, thinks some of them probably interpret Shane’s certainty as pressure, but he knows it’s Shane believing in them, and he’s missing it.
When he reaches for his phone one last time to read Jackie’s usual hyping-him-up-message before the game one last time, there’s also another one from Shane again, this time just reading »Don’t go easy on them.«
He laughs. Like it would be an option for them to even think about going easy. But it’s surprisingly helpful in grounding him, and then Jackie’s message does it’s usual, and they got this.
Yes, they do it without Shane, yes, it’s not ideal, but so what? Then Hayden doesn’t do it with Shane, but for him, should work either way. It’s just Boston anyway, and Ilya Rozanov is honestly nothing, no matter what people say.