Okay people, tell me if you’d have any interest in this heated rivalry fic idea:
Inverse Heated Rivalry AU where the league frames Shane and Ilya as best friends BUT they secretly loathe one another. Or more accurately Shane is irritated by Ilya because he thinks Ilya is fucking with him. Picture Shane and Ilya having to do interviews together about how they love each other meanwhile Shane is gritting his teeth and trying not to choke Ilya out. Ilya is right where he wants to be.
Is this something we would be interested in? Yes or no answer quick.
Okay here is the first part of this! If anyone has ideas or scenes they would like me to write, please let me know. Oh bitchy Shane Hollander, you are so dear to me.
Shane could count the number of times he had fantasized about punching Ilya Rozanov during post-game interviews. Right now, the number threatened to go up by one because of the way Rozanov had his arm slung across Shane’s shoulders. The stadium lights made his skull pound, his jersey had rubbed his neck raw during the game, and now Rozanov was plastered to his side with his entire weight upon Shane’s shoulders. The fans will love this, his mom’s voice rang in his mind.
“And you Shane?” The reporter’s absurdly small microphone was shoved in his face and he blinked once. Quickly, he refocused on the woman in front of him. .
“Could you repeat the question? I’m sorry.” Rozanov’s laugh grated his ears, and Shane gritted his teeth to keep the smile on his face.
“The fans, as well as myself if I’m being honest, were wondering what you and Rozanov plan on doing after today’s game? Are there any rituals you two upkeep, or traditions you do with the team? I know everyone is dying for any insider information about your guy’s friendship” The woman’s chipper voice was loud enough Shane didn’t know how he had tuned her out the first time.
Truth was, Rozanov and him weren’t friends like the media thought. Ever since Rozanov was traded to the Ottawa Centaurs, the media had raved about how they were perfect puzzle pieces for one another. Fire and ice. Sun and moon. The Centaurs needed all the help they could get to make up for their shoddy performance on the ice, which is the only reason Shane acquiesced to Harris’s desperate begging for “more content”. Whatever that meant.
“Ah, well we are typically too wiped after the game to do anything crazy, but occasionally the team can convince us to go out with them.” Shane put on what Haden had dubbed his “media voice” and glanced at Rozanov. The man was already looking at him, with his infuriatingly bright smile plastered into place. He winked.
“What Hollander means to say is that he is too wiped, I am always wanting to see him after the game, but he tells me no. Very sad for me.” Rozanov’s bruised lip pouted at the statement and Shane was close enough to note the way his eyelashes fluttered in mock sadness.
Shane shrugged Rozanov’s arm off his shoulder, hoping he looked abashed rather than irritated. Shane didn’t know why Rozanov felt the need to mock him on live TV. They were meant to be acting as friends, not rivals. How was mocking his habits meant to prove they were friends? The man made no sense.
For some reason, the reporter laughed as if Rozanov had said something funny.
“Shane, is this true?” Shane hated when reporters used his first name. Regardless, he forced a chuckle and shouldered Rozanov. If it was a bit rougher than he let on, nobody needed to know.
“Ilya just doesn’t want anyone to know that he experiences things like tiredness. He’s being dramatic, we spend plenty of time together outside the ice.” A lie.
Rozanov had been on the team for around three months now, and other than a couple manufactured hangouts for the paparazzi to spread their rumors, they had never seen each other off the ice. As captain, Shane knew he should probably make more of an effort to welcome their new recruit, but the childish, stubborn side of him wouldn't allow it. There was just something about the man that irked him.
