okay since nhl players aren’t required to disclose their marriage to the league, if the fanmail incident hadn’t happened, i think hollanov would have individually updated their marriage status with their respective hr teams (mtl and ott), and when shane’s a free agent he would go to ott. i would think mtl has shit to say about shane actually being married to a man, which he frankly had about enough, and ott would make more sense anyway.
there would be rumours that shane hollander and ilya rozanov were married (separately), but the public perception was yeah shane hollander is actually married and ilya rozanov’s was fake news or smth.
after being on ottawa together, their plan is as follows:
- after shane trusts and is comfortable with ottawa’s locker room, they come out with their marriage, and can enjoy work-appropriate pda
- no more hiding, but not making a statement either. sort of if you know you know, but they would still act as a couple in public (ie, holding hands, kissing on the cheeks, hugging, arms around each other, all the jazz)
- social media is as usual, free to post about each other with sappy captions, but no explaining. they don’t owe anyone anything about their relationship
they get homophobic comments, obviously, but the team and them agreed it’s best if they confuse them and lean into the absurdity of the situation. it goes like “lol ur C and A probably fuck” “oh yeah did you just know that? you’re not very smart.” “what?” / “hollander r u sucking rozanov’s dick tonight?” “yeah that’s the plan. did you want to join? you wouldn’t meet the standard. i like them good at hockey.” “what the fuck”
they get called into crowell’s office and basically sends an email that said we didn’t break any rules unless you would like to confirm in writing that you are a) under beliefs that we are in a relationship and b) that two non-heterosexual men in a relationship would affect hockey which can be regarded as discrimination based on sexuality and is grounds for legal pursuits. rozanov’s and hollander’s marriage status were updated to their respective administrative and human resources departments, in which the league was aware.
anyway the league couldn’t do anything to them and the team don’t give a fuck and it’s super fucking confusing for the homophobes. and their marriage certificate was dug out (via parasocial means obviously) so ok they’re married fr? and to each other? not to other people? but that could be photoshopped (it’s not) because surely rozanov and hollander’s behaviour are just hockey bros there’s no way they’re married???
meanwhile shane and ilya goes to gay bars and queer clubs and attend queer charities where they come in together and hold each other by the waist and there are photos of them kissing and grinding up against each other in clubs essentially living an open life and owing no one explanations and confuse the fuck out of people.
and it’s both shane and ilya’s dream come true
