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Ilya had volunteered weeks ago to babysit the Pike children for the afternoon so that Jackie and Hayden could have a date night. He was doing it more for Jackie’s sake than Hayden’s if he were honest. The real unfortunate part was that Shane already had a photo shoot booked the same day. So Ilya would be by himself with the four children for hours on end.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Shane asked for what sounded like the millionth time as he parked in the driveway.
Ilya rolled his eyes, “You act as if I’ve never babysat them before.”
“But this is the first time you’ll be babysitting by yourself. At least the other times I was there to help. Four is a lot to keep track of by yourself.”
“Only four? Did Hayden lose some of them?”
Shane gave his husband an unimpressed look. Ilya huffs.
“Jackie does it all the time. I think I’ll be fine for a few hours, Shane. They’ve never been problem before.”
It was true, they were angels around Ilya, but he knows what Hayden has told him. Jade and Ruby were chaos incarnate. Amber, the youngest and now 6, was the main vehicle for the twins' chaos. Because they recognized early on that, since she was the baby, she could get away with anything. Then there was Arthur, the middle child, whom Shane wasn’t worried about. Normally the kid would orbit around Shane or Ilya and stay out of the girls’ mess when they visited.
Shane deflated a little, “You’re right.”
Ilya got out of the car walking to the driver’s side. “Arthur and I will color in dining room as the girls put on rager in living room.”
“You joke, but give it a few more years. Jackie and Hayden are going to come home to cops breaking up the party.”
Ilya grinned at the thought. “My love, don’t worry too much. Go look sexy, but not too sexy, for camera. Then you’ll come back here and see how well I did.”
“Yeah,” Shane kissed Ilya through the window. “I love you, baby.”
“I love you more.”
After Shane leaves, it isn’t long until Jackie and Hayden are leaving too.
“We’re just seeing a movie and grabbing lunch. Minimum 3 hours. Promise.” Hayden tells Ilya.
“Take all the time you want. We will be fine here.”
The look of doubt from Hayden pissed Ilya off.
“Again thank you for doing this. Our regular girl is on vacation. They’ll probably just read or draw most of the time. Feel free to watch a movie or show. You can eat whatever is in the kitchen. The kids have already eaten.” Jackie then turns to her children, “All of you be good for your Uncle Ilya. We love you. We’ll see you later.”
She was met with a chorus of I love yous and we wills. And just like that Ilya was alone with the little Pikes. For the first two hours, everyone did just as Jackie had said they would do.
Everything is fine, Ilya thought. He looked up from the game on his phone to see Arthur drawing a bird. Everyone overreacts.
“Uncle Ilya! Uncle Ilya!” Jade ran into the kitchen. “Will you watch Up with us?”
“This is movie?”
“It’s—“ Ruby started but Arthur interrupted.
“A sad Disney movie.”
“All Disney movies are a little sad, Arty.” Jade rolled her eyes. “They’re all happy in the end.”
Ilya was brutally reminded of the time he watched Bambi at the Hollander’s. He doesn’t remember that Disney movie being happy at all. Ilya bit his lip. Surely Jackie and Hayden wouldn’t let their 6 to 10 year olds watch a traumatic movie like Bambi. So it stood to reason that Up was like the Moana movie they used to be so obsessed with.
“What is this movie about?” Ilya asked cautiously.
“It’s about a grumpy old man, a little boy, and a dog that have an adventure in South America after they fly his house there,” Ruby said.
“A dog? Sad but happy? Mmm, one moment.” Ilya unlocked his phone to pull up an app Shane made him download after a movie night with Wyatt and Troy a few years ago. He had given him strict orders to look the movie up on Does the Dog Die? the second he learns of a dog being in a movie.
The movie the three had ended up watching, per Wyatt’s recommendation, was I Am Legend starring Will Smith. That was clearly a disaster waiting to happen. The movie night ended with Ilya and Troy hugging and crying over Chiron. Harris, after coming home to the ridiculous scene in the living room, called a confused Shane to bring Anya when he picked up his husband. Ilya was in no state to drive himself.
Shane pelted Wyatt with pucks the next time they had practice. Wyatt only winced at the force of it, but didn’t complain once. He felt terrible for not warning his teammates about the contents of the movie. Shane didn’t sweat it when he had gotten several comments on his shooting that day. He only shrugged it off. Making up an excuse about how he didn’t stretch enough before practice.
What was really unfortunate, for Ilya’s nerves and Shane’s sanity, is that shortly after this the Centaurs had to take a nearly three week road trip. Ilya floated the idea of bringing Anya with them. Management immediately said no. Then he briefly entertained the thought about just quitting hockey all together in the middle of the season. In the end, he was just attached to his phone as much as possible to check on Anya at her doggie hotel.
Now that they were married Anya normally stayed with David and Yuna, but this time Ilya insisted on the 24 hour access. Shane thought he was being ridiculous, but kept the opinion to himself. He knew how rattled his husband still was from the movie.
When they got home from the roadie, Ilya refused to let Anya sleep by herself for a week. In case the zombies got her before he could save her. It only lasted a week because even she got tired of Ilya’s hovering. Before they even got to sleep she would end up back in her own bed. This got Ilya to eventually chill out.
According to the website, it said that the dogs that were in the movie seem to swim to safety. So they were okay.
“Okay,” he tells the girl. “Movie seems safe to watch.”
The girls cheer and run off to the living room to tell their sister Amber. Ilya and Arthur walk after them. They already have the movie pulled up on Disney+. He can see the aforementioned characters on the screen. Everyone settles down on the couch and the play button is pressed.
Ilya thinks the movie starts off cute enough. Boy meets girl. Boy marries girl. Boy and girl start a family. Typical until it wasn’t. The transition from the bright nursery, where the two were setting up the room, to the dark doctor’s office threw Ilya completely off.
Ilya frowned; he had a terrible feeling. They weren’t even 10 minutes into the movie, and this children’s movie had already taken a turn for the worse.
The baby Pikes didn’t seem to be reacting. They’ve already seen this movie and knew what to expect. Maybe they didn’t fully grasp what was happening?
The woman, Elle, was clearly depressed after losing a child, but Carl was a good husband. They seem to refocus their goals in life to save money to travel to Paradise Falls. But life gets in the way, but it doesn’t seem to shake them.
Ilya smiles as the montage shows them growing older. But it slowly dawns on Ilya that the description of the movie he was given did not include Elle. Just an old man and a boy, and they didn’t have children together.
They’re maybe 10 minutes into the movie now. His eyes well up as he watches Elle struggle up the hill. Then she’s in a hospital bed, and then she’s gone. Carl is alone.
When Carl wakes up in bed alone after who knows how many years, Ilya is crying. He’s trying not to sob when the construction workers knock over the mailbox the couple painted.
Ilya feels something being placed on his lap. He looks down to see Chompy Arthur’s stuffed crocodile. He looked down at the kid but he was watching the movie. He clutched the croc to his chest.
Hayden & Jackie
Hayden
Hey Shane I don’t know what happened while we were gone but Ilya was crying in the kitchen.
The girls immediately came running to the door saying they didn’t do it.
Makes me think they’re the reason.
Shane
???
Hayden
Not like full-blown crying.
Not anymore at least.
His eyes are red and he’s sniffing a lot. He’s trying to act like nothing is wrong though.
Jackie
Arty says they watched Up. Says he told Ilya it was a sad movie but the girls convinced him it had a happy ending.
Shane
WHAT
Hayden
Now he’s telling me I’m a bad father for secretly traumatizing my kids??
They’re Jackie’s kids too!
Shane
Hayden Up is on the list of movies Ilya should not CANNOT watch!
Hayden
WELL DOES HE KNOW THAT
Shane
I thought I sent it to him but maybe he forgot?
Jackie
So when are you leaving the shoot? I think he really needs to see you.
Arty gave him Chompy to hold on to for the moment
Shane 🩷 message
Shane
I left 10 minutes ago. I’ll be there in less than 45
Shane made it in 30. He wasn’t one to speed, but it was an emergency. He didn’t even bother knocking as he burst through the door. He sees Jackie sitting on the couch.
“Where is he?”
“Patio. Said he needed fresh air.”
He nods and goes outside. Arthur was sitting reading a book to Ilya. Ilya is sitting at the table with his head down cushioned by the kid’s stuffed crocodile, Chompy.
Shane stepped up to interrupt the kid, “Hey, Arty, thank you for watching out for my husband. Why don’t you go inside? I need to talk to him, okay?”
Arthur was about to walk back when Ilya stopped him to hand back Chompy. “Thank you.”
The child nods and runs back inside.
“Sorry,” Ilya apologizes for some reason.
“Nothing to be sorry for.”
“No. Sorry for not double-checking your ban list. Dog was okay though.”
“Like I said nothing to be sorry for. Although I should probably make a better list. A ban list and a list for movies you probably shouldn’t watch without me. So that you can cling to me and cry on my shoulder if you need to.”
Ilya glared at him. “I feel ridiculous crying over kids’ movie.”
Shane stepped up and hugged his husband. “You’re not ridiculous. Was it the beginning of the movie? Hayden said he cried too the first time he watched it.”
That admission actually made Ilya feel a little better.
“Yes. Wasn’t expecting to be hit with thought of living without you or you living without me again. Even if Carl and Elle were old.” Ilya gripped Shane’s waist.
“Don’t worry, baby. We’re going out The Notebook style.”
“What’s The Notebook?”
Fuck.