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It was the off-season, meaning both Shane and Ilya got to be at home with their daughter, Irina. Irina had been with them since she was a baby, but you would think she was truly theirs. Not to say she wasn't, she was theirs in everything but blood. She had Ilya's eyes and Shane's hair, but she also had some of her own features. Like, her skin was more tan than pale, which could be argued that it was similar to Shane's in the summer, but unlike Shane, she never lost her tan. Both men had always been honest with her about her adoption, with Ilya not wanting to lie to her and Shane feeling wrong about lying to her. Irina still called them Dad (Ilya) and Papa (Shane), regardless.
With it being the off-season, both Shane and Ilya got to spend more time with Irina and Shane's parents, but they did usually spend more time with Irina considering they saw Yuna often enough since she was their manager. Plus, they loved seeing her smile whenever they both went with her to the ice rink near the house to skate with her.
Since she was 4 years old (Shane was overly worried about something happening to her on the ice before then), Irina had loved coming with her Dad and Papa to skate on the ice. From there, she would watch hockey with them, but that wasn't what caught her attention. No, what caught her attention was the figure skating. Here's what happened:
Ilya and Shane had been playing in the Winter Olympics, both for Canada since Ilya changed his nationality forever ago now, but they got there early enough for their daughter to see the other sports. She had been sitting in the stands with Yuna and David when the first figure skater came out to perform. He had on a sparkly leotard and stopped in the middle ice, getting into the starting position for his routine. Irina had watched, eyes wide in awe, as the music started, and he moved. She watched him skate around, pulling off so many tricks and spins that she remembers tugging on Yuna's sleeve and pointing, a smile lighting up her face. Later, after the figure skating and during a bathroom break (David said so and she loves Grandpa enough to not argue), she had turned to her Grandma and said "I wanna be like him!"
Which leads to now. The three of them had arrived to the rink, skates and bags in hands. When they got to the rink, it wasn't as crowded as it could have been, but there was still quite a bit of people. After all, everyone knew that was where the legendary Shane and Ilya Rozanov-Hollander went to skate in their off-time. Thankfully, no one really bothered them besides the usual polite wave or a polite "can I get a photo" or "can I get your autograph?" Shane hated it sometimes, other times he loved it. Ilya, on the other hand, absolutely loved when people recognized him, just because it made him feel like he was doing something right. However, if Irina was with them, they made sure she wasn't in any photos for her own safety, not wanting her face to be all over the media as much as possible, especially with how people reacted when the two of them first were outed.
Once they got their skates on, they skated onto the ice, Shane and Ilya on either side of Irina as the three of them just skated around for a bit. They liked to just skate around before Irina went off to do her routines, it let them just have some peaceful time together.
After about two laps around the rink, Irina broke off to go to a somewhat empty spot on the ice, with enough space that she could jump around and do her spins without hurting someone. Papa had always told her that's what she had to do, and she didn't like it when Papa got mad, so that's what she always did. Papa was scarier than Dad when he was mad. She got in starting position in her spot, then heard music playing in her head. It was from The Nutcracker, her favorite ballet show and her Papa's favorite too. Dad always said it was "too boring" and that she was "just like your Papa, boring." She never took it to heart though, she knew that was her Dad's way of teasing her Papa and her, he'd done it for years, as long as she could remember really.
Irina was doing some spins and some jumps to the music in her head, when she noticed another little girl and a little boy watching her. She stopped, chest heaving as she was catching her breath, and waved them over. The two younger kids came skating over, eyes wide with the same awe she knew she must've had when she watched her first figure skater.
"Do you want to learn?" She asked them.
Both of the children nodded. Irina looked over to where she knew Papa and Dad were, and saw the two of them smiling at her, then skating around each other as if they were playing against each other again. Irina rolled her eyes with a smile, then turned back to the two kids in front of her.
"What are your names?"
The little boy answered first. "Christopher."
"Angelina."
Irina told them her name, then started showing them how to do the very first move she learned: how to safely fall and get back up. Once that was mastered, she taught them more and more moves. Every now and then, she'd saw her fathers watching the three of them, but she only focused on the Angelina and Christopher. She enjoyed being able to teach them about everything she did, it made her feel good.
Some time later, Angelina and Christopher both had to go home, but they had both learned some great new skills to try on their own time. Irina went back to her starting position on the ice, but then noticed neither her Dad nor her Papa were on the ice anymore. Looking around for a moment, she found them. They were sitting on the side of the rink, just watching her get ready to perform. Dad gave her two thumbs up, a giant smile on his face, and Papa smiled at her with his eyes soft. They were holding hands. She honestly can't think of a time where they weren't touching, she could only hope to find someone like that someday.
Turning back to her routine, Irina got back into starting position, took a deep breath, and let The Nutcracker music play in her head again.
Shane Hollander-Rozanov remembers the fear he felt when his mother and father told him and Ilya that their daughter wanted to do figure skating. Granted, it wasn't as rough of a sport as ice hockey, but it still involved ice and the dangers that could be involved. Come on, what if she fell wrong and broke her arm, or her ankle? Or what if she fell wrong and the blade of her skates sliced her or something?
He had voiced those thoughts to Ilya, who had very quickly shut it down with a simple "Moy lyubov, she will be fine. If not, we help her like always."
So, grudgingly, Shane had agreed for his parents to take their granddaughter to her first ever figure skating lesson. Of course, Shane had gone with them, but he refused to drive her there when he couldn't get his heart rate to calm down. He hated that, but he'd rather play it safe. Ilya had been at a therapy appointment, but promised to meet them at the rink right after, so there was that too.
The first lesson they had taught Irina was how to fall and get back up safely. Shane had been so nervous when she fell, that he had held his breath. But then, Irina had turned back to him with a big smile on her face after she got it right, and he relaxed knowing his little girl was having the time of her life. Of course, his mother was thinking of all the potential deals that Irina could be a part of whenever ("not if, Shane, my granddaughter is just as talented as her fathers, if not more than. She'll make it to the Olympics if I have anything to say about it") Irina started becoming known for her figure-skating. When Ilya had shown up, he saw how their daughter had such a big smile and was already onto the next lesson, and just smirked.
"Our daughter is fucking amazing."
Shane nodded his agreement as he gripped Ilya's hand. The rest of the time, Irina was a lesson ahead of the others, and the coach even told both of them that afterwards.
"Your daughter is talented on the ice, which I'm assuming comes from the both of you." She'd said with a knowing smile. "I think she needs to be moved up into a bit more advanced lessons."
Ilya and Shane had looked at each other, Ilya's smile and eyes proud while Shane's were a little nervous. Then, in Russian, "She can do this, trust her moy lyubov."
Shane took a deep breath, then turned to Irina's coach. "If you think that's best, then she can start the advanced lessons next time."
Irina had squealed when she found out she was in the advanced lessons, hugging both of her fathers when she found out they had agreed to it.
Ilya Rozanov-Hollander knew that his husband was an anxious mess a good amount of the time, which is why he loved how the two of them were together. He was always able to ground Shane, especially when it came to their daughter. Shane had been a nervous wreck (Ilya was not, don't listen to whoever told you he was. They're a liar) when they'd first brought Irina home, but it had also been Shane who had come up with the name. Like always, his husband had been up late in the night, and had woken Ilya up from quite a nice dream, telling him that he knew what to name the little girl they'd be adopting.
"Irina."
Ilya had froze, eyes wide. "Irina? Like my mother?"
Shane nodded, and Ilya had broken down sobbing.
Irina is the light of their lives, their little girl, even now at 14 and going through the dreadful teenage years, she was still their everything. Ilya had sworn that he would do anything for his little girl, and he means it. Even if it led to a few nights without sex from Shane, dreadful by the way, but it made Irina happy! When Irina had shown excitement and interest in figure-skating? Done, she was signed up. Shane had lost it a bit, thinking of all the potential bad things that could come up from this, but Ilya had shut that down pretty damn quick when he reminded Shane that "we are hockey players. We are in more danger than she will be. Is safe sport, da?"
Safe to say, Shane begrudgingly agreed to letting their daughter figure-skate in the advanced team, but their daughter was so happy, Ilya knew his husband didn't regret it for one minute. Irina was one of the best in her age group, and she showed it with how much she practiced. She reminded Ilya of Shane with that one-track mind of hers. Her and Shane could talk about figure-skating and hockey, respectively, all day long and well into the night if Ilya let them.
The night of Irina's first ever competition, she had been so nervous, but Shane had been the one to step in as Ilya watched from the side with Yuna and David. By the time Irina got onto the ice and in the starting pose, the four of them had been leaning forward in excitement and anticipation for how it would go. Not to Ilya's surprise, he was extremely confident in his daughter and had no doubt for a second that she'd do great, Irina got first. Ilya remembers bragging to Shane that, just like him, Irina was the best of the best. Shane only rolled his eyes in response.
Irina's trophy is on the shelf with Shane's and Ilya's, along with Irina's many other competition trophies.
Shane and Ilya, to the best of their ability, show up to every single competition of Irina's that they can make it to. There was one time Ilya even wore a shirt that said "GO IRINA" on the front, and Shane had been only slightly embarrassed at first. Yuna and David had asked Ilya for shirts of their own, and they all ended up wearing them to Irina's next competition (Ilya had given one to Shane the night he'd worn his shirt). There has actually been a few times now that the Ottawa Centaurs as a whole team would show up to watch Irina skate, all of them wearing some form of "Irina Merch" as Yuna had dubbed it.
Irina opened her eyes to look over to where her fathers were once she finished her routine. Both of them were clapping as they smiled at her, and she laughed and skated over to them.
"That is next routine, da?"
"Da!" She said around a laugh.