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1. Zane Boodram
Hayden had a lot of interests in life. Hockey, obviously. His beautiful wife, duh. He liked cooking, but he didn't have much time to do it anymore, between his professional hockey schedule and his professional hockey team number of children.
He had recently taken up barbequing, following every dad's inevitable trajectory into old-man-hood. He had to give his four children something to buy him for Christmas every year. It was the right thing to do for the children.
He made burgers and steaks, mostly. He could grill corn on the cob and a couple of other things. He was good. Well, he was at least better than average.
Which is why he couldn't understand why Shane Hollander, his best friend, the light of his life (don't tell Jackie), was posting about another man's barbeque.
Shane was cheating on him. It was upsetting, and all his wife did was laugh at him.
"It's not funny," Hayden grumbled. His wife only took this as encouragement, laughing harder and not even trying to hide it. First his best friend betrayed him, and now, his wife. Unfair. What had his life become?
"You're so dramatic!" Jackie said, too loud and breathless from all of the laughter. "I'm calling Ilya, he needs to hear this!"
Hayden sprung out of his chair, and nearly climbed over the counter to snatch Jackie's phone out of her hand. "Don't! You can't say anything! Shane will find out!"
Shane could never find out. He was happy, having a great time in Ottawa, if the last conversation they'd had still held true. Happy, on a team that wasn't Hayden's. Happy without him.
Hayden frowned.
Jackie smiled, holding a hand to her mouth, trying not to laugh again. "You're insane. It's an Instagram post!"
The post in question was of (traitor) Shane Hollander, with his (traitor) husband, holding a plate of food and sitting in a backyard, featuring several photos of barbeque chicken, steak, burgers, and one Zane Boodram, wearing an apron and a chef's hat.
"Yeah," Hayden stared, "with another guy!" This clearly wasn't understood by his wife, who broke out into another laughing fit.
"You sound like a jealous ex! Oh my god, is there something you wanna tell me, Hayd? I thought our four kids was enough proof that you were straight, but I'm starting to have doubts." Jackie's face was as smug as you could look while laughing directly in the face of her husband.
Hayden pouted, which only egged his wife on. "Maybe I will call Ilya. He needs to know about this affair you're clearly having with his husband."
His eyebrows moved closer together, trying as hard as he could to appear mad. In reality, he was trying not to find his wife laughing at him endearing, but it wasn't working. His wife doing anything was endearing, and her sense of humor was too good. It wasn't fair how Hayden couldn't stay mad at her.
He was mad at Shane, though. How dare he flaunt another man's food in front of Hayden. Shane knew how insecure he was about his barbeque chicken recipe that he hadn't perfected. And yet, there he was, shoving Boodram's directly in the face of his best friend, who could only wonder about the recipe.
So rude.
-
2. Luca Haas
He was not mad at a child. He wasn't. Nuh uh. No way.
He was, and it would have been more embarrassing if he wasn't spiraling.
See, Hayden had always been Shane's emotional support person. He was the one who invited him over to his house. He was the one who cooked weird food, always making sure to accommodate Shane's weird diet. He was the one who always made sure he had small forks and spoons clean when Shane came over, strategically replacing every utensil on the table with a slightly smaller version.
He understood his best friend better than anyone.
Except, apparently, stupid Luca Haas. Was he even old enough to play hockey? He looked like he was thirteen, which was definitely violating some type of labor law, or NHL policy. Maybe he could report him?
"No, Hayd."
He turned to stare at his wife with wide eyes. He hadn't realized he was talking out loud. Oops.
"What?" He tried to feign nonchalance, but Jackie only looked at him tiredly.
"You're not seriously considering trying to report a perfectly fine young man to the NHL because of Shane's dumb tweet."
And no, he wasn't. Not seriously anyway. He knew Luca Haas was definitely an adult, and was actually a very sweet rookie. Still, though. He wasn't not considering it.
Apparently, the young rookie had gotten his best friend a thoughtful birthday gift, and apparently, Shane just had to post about it. (He should really stop calling Haas a rookie, as he'd been on the Centaurs for three years now, playing with Shane for two. Still, he was a rookie in everyone's eyes.)
Apparently, stupid Luca Haas had drawn stupid Ilya Rozanov and stupid Shane Hollander a stupid drawing of a stupid photo from their stupid wedding, and of course, the stupid couple had to put it in a stupid frame and hang it on their stupid wall.
They also had to post a stupid photo on their stupid tweet.
And the stupid post had ended up on Hayden's stupid timeline on his stupid phone.
"Stop saying stupid, it's annoying."
He didn't realize he'd been talking out loud again. Oops, again.
Hayden put his phone down on the nightstand, a bit too aggressively in the otherwise silent room, and pouted into his pillow.
Stupid Jackie Pike and her stupid pretty face and stupid emotional intelligence.
The worst part of the post was the background of the photo. In the background of the already terrible photo, was a box of ginger ale, with a big red bow taped onto the top.
Not only had stupid Luca Haas given his stupid best friend the most thoughtful, amazing present ever, he'd also bought Shane a box of ginger ale. The good ginger ale. The kind Hayden still kept in his house, in case Shane ever came back.
Stupid ginger ale.
-
3. Young, Holmberg, and Lapointe
Hayden loved Halloween. It was his favorite, even out-ranking Christmas. He loved dressing up, going out and seeing all of the other costumes people had. He especially loved it now, with his big family. He loved coming up with clever family costumes, going trick-or-treating and talking to people.
Except now. Now, Hayden hated Halloween.
It sucked. It was terrible. Worst holiday ever.
"Oh my god, you're still pouting about this?" Jackie questioned across the kitchen.
It was eleven pm, and the kids had finally gone to bed, high on sugar and excitement from the night. And Hayden was in his kitchen, face stained red from cheap paint. (He was boycotting Spirit Halloween after this. He looked like a tomato.)
"You're so mean to me," Hayden replied, putting his hand over his heart. "I'm already sad, kick me while I'm down, will you?"
His wife rolled her eyes, completely uninterested in her husband's theatrics. "He's in a different province! What did you want him to do?"
Not dress up with another family, Hayden's brain supplied. Not parade his amazing family costume around for the whole internet to see.
Shane had recently posted a photo with his teammates Holmberg, LaPointe, and Young. Hayden still didn't know their first names, Shane hadn't mentioned them. And yet, they were close enough to dress up in a family costume on Halloween.
Shane was wearing a black suit with lace details, longer black hair worn long and straight to look like a gender-swapped version of Morticia Addams. Ilya had a black wig on, with a fake mustache and a pinstripe suit like Gomez, arms wrapped around Shane.
If it had ended there, Hayden would have loved it. They looked good, but also silly in a way everyone did on Halloween. It was a great costume.
It didn't end there, though. Holmberg was next to Ilya, looking ridiculous in a knee-length black dress. He had on a shiny black wig with long braids, and was kneeling down to appear smaller than the Russian beside him. He was clearly trying to look like Wednesday, but the beard and muscular physique made him look more like a crazy man had robbed a woman's costume store.
To make it worse, Lapointe was dressed like Pugsley, oversized white button down and bowtie, black shorts, and dress shoes. He was also kneeling, but this time, next to Shane.
They both looked insane, but attention was taken off of them by the final man. He was in a full greenscreen suit, face covered and all. The only thing you could see was his hand, as one of the gloves of the suit was cut off. He was crawling on all fours, exposed hand on the floor to look like Thing.
It was ridiculous. If Hayden was an ounce less jealous, he would still be laughing about it.
The caption was short, but just as chaotic as the pictures attached.
ShaneHollander24: 'Let's dress like the Addams Family' , they said. 'It'll be so good!' , they said. Young could have been Lurch, but noooo, he just had to be Thing.
The younger players were all tagged, and the other Centaurs could be seen in the background laughing. A man, who Hayden thought was Evan Dykstra in a Woody from Toy Story costume, was on the floor, clearly collapsed from laughter.
It made a pit form in Hayden's stomach.
"You know he loves you," Jackie said, now at his side. She rubbed her hand on his back, and he let some of the tension leave.
"I know. I'm not really mad. I'm glad he's happy, you know I am. I just miss him."
His wife just put her arm around his shoulders. "I know, honey. He knows too. He misses you too."
Hayden let the final bit of sadness out, and let Jackie talk him down from his spiral.
"I love you," He replied. It's all he really had to say.
"I love you too. Now please, let's go to bed. I'm so tired."
Hayden smiled, and nodded. "Ok. Let's go to bed."
He slept well that night, and had never felt more thankful for his beautiful wife.
-
4. Wyatt Hayes
Over summer, Hayden actually got to see Shane for longer than a night here and there. He had recently developed a new-found respect for Ilya Rozanov, not that he'd ever tell him that. Being away from someone you consider family for that long at a time was hard.
He'd already made the couple come stay with them for a weekend, which was both selfish and practical. With Ilya around, they had a built in babysitter and child-wrangler, and Hayden got to steal Shane away for a bromance-renaissance. Win-win.
Now, it was time for Game Changers, and he was getting spoiled with best friend time.
Not only did he get to go out, have dinner, and talk with Shane again, but he also got to play with him again. The Voyageurs had sucked, to say the least, and Hayden missed his captain.
All of that was thrown away on the second to last day of camp, though.
The last three days of the two week camp, the kids were encouraged to dress up, with different days being different themes. Wednesday was NHL day, because it wouldn't be a hockey camp without it. The kids wore jerseys of their favorite teams, and the players thought it would be fun to wear each other's jerseys.
Hayden wore Shane's, obviously, but Shane wore Wyatt Hayes' jersey. Something about 'It would be funny, because I would be a terrible goalie'. Whatever that meant.
Safe to say, Hayden was already a bit peeved going into day two.
Thursday was Superhero day, and he had gone to several costume stores to find a cool Iron Man costume that would also be okay to play in. Arthur was obsessed with Iron Man recently, and he thought it would be a cute tribute to his son.
He'd walked in feeling pretty cool, and even felt a bit confident after seeing Ryan Price, who'd put a cape over his old uniform and called himself "Hockey Man".
He was killing it.
Until Wyatt fucking Hayes stepped onto the ice, in fully custom goalie gear designed to look like an actual Iron Man costume. Of course he was also Iron Man.
Apparently, Hayes was a huge comic book nerd, and had already made an Iron Man goalie costume, for fun.
To make matters worse, Shane had posted a new story on his Instagram. Several stories, actually, detailing his favorite costumes from the day, and on the final slide, Wyatt fucking Hayes stood in front of the goal, in his superior costume, looking (annoyingly) really cool.
And Hayden wasn't even posted. He hadn't even seen Shane taking pictures, and Shane hadn't even asked him for a picture.
Friday, the kids were encouraged to dress like their favorite cartoon character. Hayden woke up two hours early to paint his whole body yellow. He even went to Party City and looked for a prosthetic nose. They didn't have any, and Hayden didn't know if he was grateful or annoyed.
He showed up, and Rozanov took one look at him before dropping to the floor and laughing for three minutes straight. Then, he posted on his Instagram story.
Take that, Wyatt fucking Hayes.
-
5. Troy Barrett
This was Hayden's 13th reason.
Not only had Shane posted a picture Troy Barrett and Harris Drover on Twitter, he'd called them his 'best friends'.
Troy Barrett. Shane's best friend.
He didn't know much about Harris, but he seemed like an angel, so he wasn't mad at him. Troy Barrett, on the other hand, he knew.
The guy was an asshole. Well, technically, he was an asshole, past tense. Supposedly he'd gone through a spiritual-slash-metaphysical-slash-homosexual transformation, and was actually a good guy now. But still, he was an asshole.
Hayden wasn't an asshole. He was lovely. He had done nothing to Shane!
Okay, not nothing. There was the whole hating on his husband at every possible chance thing. And the fanmail thing he definitely wasn't going to mention. And that whole joke about bird food anytime Shane was eating. And one time, he had purposefully hid all the ginger ale in the house because he was mad at him.
But other than that, Hayden was perfect! He did everything right, and now Troy Barrett was Shane's best friend.
He couldn't stand for this. He had to call Shane.
So he did. And Shane answered on the second ring.
"Hey Hayd, what's up?"
Hayden could do this. He could talk to his friend in a logical, sensible, and completely mature way.
"Do you hate me? Why do you hate me? Why Shane, why?!"
Jackie, who was sitting on the other side of the couch, just facepalmed.
Shane took a breath, and then asked, "What?"
"You heard me! What did I do? Is it the Rozanov jokes? Are you mad about the time I hid all the ginger ale and made you drink milk? Are you-"
"Hayd, shut up for a second. Wait, you did that?"
Hayden's eyes widened. Ok so not that.
"That's not the point. The point is, you hate me, and I want to know why." See? Mature, sensible, completely fair.
"I don't hate you?" It sounded way too much like a question for Hayden's liking. "Why do you think I hate you?"
Shane sounded confused, which did make him feel a bit better.
"Okay, so you don't hate me. Are you mad at me? Again, is it the Rozanov jokes? He starts them, you know!" Hayden gained self-awareness for two seconds, laughing internally at himself. That was the same excuse he'd heard his seven-year-old twins use, and here he was, using it as well.
"I'm not mad at you, Hayden. Where is this coming from?" Shane's statement was more firm this time.
Hayden started to feel bad about confronting his friend like this, but he needed answers. "You posted Troy Barrett on Twitter, and called him your 'best friend'."
Shane was silent for a while, like he was waiting for Hayden to say he was joking, or pranking him, or if Ruby and Jade had somehow cloned his voice and were now using it to make fun of their dad. "Hayd. You can't be serious."
Hayden frowned. "I am very serious! You replaced me! Why? You called us BFFs once! BFFs are forever, Shane! It's in the name!"
He heard Jackie say something to the effect of 'Jesus fucking Christ' under her breath, and then start laughing. Shane started laughing too, and it only made Hayden angrier.
"Don't laugh at me, asshole! It's not funny!"
Okay, he could admit it was a tiny bit funny. But he wasn't going to say that! He still needed answers, and he was determined.
"Hayden, you're an idiot," Shane stated, before continuing. "I didn't say Troy Barrett was by best friend. I said Troy and Harris were some of my best friends. Plural."
Oh.
Hayden pulled up the tweet, ready to fight back, but instead found he'd made a mistake when reading it.
ShaneHollander24: Dinner with @TBarrett17 and @DroverHarris. So lucky to have some of the best teammates and best friends!
Oh.
"Oh. Uh... Well it's not just that! You posted Wyatt's costume over mine! And you wore his jersey! Even though I wore yours!"
Shane let out a sigh, one that sounded more fond than actually exacerbated. "I didn't post anyone's costumes! Harris posted some pictures on the Centaurs' account. When would I have even had time to take pictures? I was running a camp at the time, in case you hadn't noticed."
That- that actually made sense. He hadn't seen Shane taking any pictures, but he had seen Harris taking pictures. That was also why Hayden's (albeit inferior) costume wasn't featured.
"Also," Shane continued, "I wore Wyatt's jersey because we had to wear someone who played a different position as us. You would have known that if you had read the damn email my mother sent out! I couldn't wear your jersey, because I play Center. And, in case you were too busy stalking me on Instagram to notice, you got moved to Center after I left."
That's why Yuna made him change into a different jersey! He thought Shane had told her to because he didn't like him.
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh. You're ridiculous. Anything else?" Shane's tone was full of laughter, enough to make Hayden feel a bit better.
"Um, the Addams family costume?" He winced as soon as he said it, understanding now it was a bit pathetic to complain about his best friend's Halloween costume.
Shane laughed, recalling the pictures he'd posted. "It was Bergy's idea. Since we were on the road for Halloween and not with family. Pointy had been homesick, and we thought it'd be a good way to cheer him up."
Hayden felt embarrassment poke at his cheeks. Wait, no, that was Jackie. She'd moved across the couch to be next to him, and pulled the phone closer to her.
"Don't let him fool you, he's been having breakdowns anytime you post another Centaur. That young guy, Luca, gave you a pack of ginger ale and he pouted for three days."
Traitor, he mouthed at her, before playfully snatching the phone back. Shane was laughing in earnest now, fully consumed by the sheer idiocy of his best friend.
"Oh my god, that wasn't even from Haas! It was from Ilya! I told him he couldn't get me anything for my birthday, so he put a giant bow on the box of soda I already bought. He thought it was so funny." Shane laughed a little too hard to convince either one of them he didn't also think it was so funny.
Jackie laughed harder, and Hayden remembered what got him into this whole mess in the first place.
"But the barbeque! You went to Bood's barbeque and posted about the food! You know how insecure I am about my chicken," he said with a pout, like he was a four year old and not like he had a four year old.
Shane laughed, because he'd laughed at everything Hayden had said for the past ten minutes. "I don't even like barbeque chicken. I go for the steak, and between you and me, Hayd, yours is better."
"Really?" Hayden's face lit up, and all of the jealousy and anxiety left his body at once.
"Yes. Now stop pouting. I can hear it through the phone, you big baby," Shane took a pause, before starting again. "I love you, Hayden. You're my best friend."
Hayden sniffled. (He couldn't help it). "Forever?"
Shane giggled. "Yes, forever. Now go to bed. It's almost midnight."
"Okay. I love you, Shane!" Hayden pushed, wanting to hear his best friend forever say it one more time.
"I love you, too. Good night."
Shane hung up the phone, and he looked at Jackie, all mushy and smiley. She shook her head at him, patting him on the head like a dog. It was only a little embarrassing.
"Come on, babe. Now that your bromance is restored, can we finally sleep?"
He nodded, and just because he could, he picked her up. She squealed a bit at the surprise, but wrapped her legs around his waist comfortably. "I love you."
"Yes, Hayd. I know, just not as much as you love Hollander."
He opened his mouth to protest, but she stopped him with the palm of her hand. "It's okay. I am just happy I am second, behind your boyfriend."
Hayden laughed, despite himself, and shook his head at her. "Shut up."
They went to sleep that night, together, and he was reminded just how much he loved his wife. And his best friend.
-
+1: Hayden Pike
Hayden woke up that next morning to his twins jumping into his bed, directly on top of him. It wasn't uncommon, but every time it happened, it knocked the wind right out of him. They giggled at him, as if they didn't just try to kill him.
"Girls! You wound me!" He threw his hand over his head in playful woe, and looked away. Even if he couldn't breathe, he still loved them more than anything, and he was in a good mood, so he he just played along.
They wrestled a bit, and he pretended to get beat up, eventually pleading for mercy.
Thankfully, Jackie called from downstairs. "Girls, breakfast! Your pancakes are going to get cold!"
The threat of cold pancakes was enough to scare them out of his bed, and he looked around for his phone. He grabbed it off the nightstand, looking through it to make sure there wasn't an emergency Captain's meeting or anything.
Instead, he found that Shane Hollander had tagged him in a new Instagram post.
He opened it curiously, and was greeted by a twenty-photo collection of Shane and his' friendship over the years.
The first photo was of them, Voyageurs jerseys on, messing around on the ice. It was when they'd just become friends. He thought JJ had taken it, but he couldn't remember.
The next couple were professional shots of them on the ice together, ranging from his rookie year through to Shane's last.
One was of him and Hayden at the aquarium, Shane with Amber in his hands and Ruby and Jade off to each of Hayden's sides.
One was of his kids and Ilya, when they'd convinced the Russian to let them turn him into a princess. He had glittery blue eyeshadow and pink lipstick, and Hayden was in the background, laughing at him.
A couple photos from Shane and Ilya's wedding were there. One professional looking shot of them all looking into the camera, and one of him on the dance floor. He was twerking on Jackie, and was definitely drunk.
The final photo of the bunch was a screenshot of their phone call last night. It lasted thirteen minutes and thirty-five seconds, and Shane highlighted the '35' on the picture.
ShaneHollander24: Hayden Pike is the biggest idiot I know, and my best friend of all time. He treated me better than most when I was just starting out in the NHL, and always made sure I was taken care of. He supported me through the saddest parts of my life, and continues to support me though the happiest ones. He's also a completely jealous lunatic, but I love him anyway. @Pike35 is my BFF.
Hayden didn't realize he was crying until the tear he'd let out fell off of his jaw. Several others followed suit, and he only looked up at the sound of a camera shutter.
He whipped his head up to see his wife, the love of his life, taking a picture of him under all of the covers, crying like a little kid.
"Traitor!" He yelled as he got out of bed, running towards her. She yelled back, running back down the stairs.
After he'd caught up to her, and they had eaten breakfast, his phone buzzed.
He'd expected to see a text from Shane, but he'd actually seen a tweet from Ilya. He had been tagged in it, and he scrunched his eyebrows together as he opened it.
He saw the photo of himself, crying in bed, zoomed in on his red, blotchy face.
IlyaRozy: #newprofilephoto