shane and rose canonically never publicly breaking up to the point of where yuna and david think they're still together after shane's concussion.... yum yum yum i eat it up
was there a convo of "shane...what about rose?" when they found out?? where there whispered discussions in the kitchen of david going its probably sorted and yuna going what if hes cheating david? and davids like we raised him better than that and yuna throwing her arms up bc yes but she also needs to know for certain
and when she asks this ilya hears the Kill Bill sirens bc apparently his mother in law to be wants his bf to be with his ex instead??
meanwhile shanes like oh? rose? shes doing a movie rn where she has to wear all this body paint so shes tired a lot bc of the early hours in the make up chair but otherwise shes fine :) oh yeah i was meant to say hi to you guys from her
Ilya knows that he has plenty of assumptions that follow him around, mostly because he’s created half of them. It just comes with the territory of trying to wade through becoming a successful hockey player, building a legacy from the ground up practically ever since he could maneuver a stick on the ice. Reporters sometimes find him aloof when he responds to questions, other players assume he’s an asshole, a ragebaiter, a hothead—and sometimes he’s all of those things. Sometimes the assumptions are true. But what people fail to realize is that it’s a carefully constructed mask. He’s doing all of these things with purpose.
So when people think he’s angry on the ice, he’s really not. He can turn it off as quickly as it was flipped on—usually with a grin when opposing players realize Ilya was trying to just push their buttons. And he’s succeeded.
Shane, however? is not someone who’s riled up easily, at least not to the point where he might start throwing punches. You really have to dig under his skin for him to toss away the aura of calm, cool and collected that he tends to always carry.
Ilya has seen that up close, and what is even more fascinating is that sometimes it doesn’t even happen on the ice.
They’re in this club that is definitely not Shane’s idea, but he’s humoring that Ilya wants to be here. That they can have a few drinks and dance and maybe make up for lost time in which past moments they’ve been together have felt far too rushed. They have a shared lazy day planned for tomorrow, so the night feels young and vibrant and theirs.
Ilya holds onto his drink as he dances near the bar, his other arm stretched out and his head tipped back with his eyes closed. He can feel Shane’s gaze on him as his boyfriend leans against the bar counter, a small, amused smile pulling at his lips when Ilya looks in his direction. Ilya is doing most of the dancing and drinking, but Shane doesn’t seem to mind that. Just wanting to be here in Ilya’s orbit.
Shane reaches for his hand and hooks their fingers together briefly, running his thumb over his knuckles before letting go. He turns and faces the bartender, ordering another beer. Ilya drinks Shane in too, even though he’s in an outfit that is quiet in tone compared to his own—blue jeans and a black t-shirt, while Ilya has black jeans and a floral sheer t-shirt. The gold of his cross shines brightly against the pinkish-purple lights filling up the club. He finishes his drink before fully sliding up next to Shane, his hip pressing into his boyfriend’s.
“We can go soon,” Ilya says over the music.
Shane places water in front of him before turning to angle his body in the direction of Ilya. The bar area is packed but not in an overwhelming sense, there’s enough space for them to hang out here instead of on the dance floor to drink. He enjoys the proximity to Shane, their intimacy hidden in the darkness of the club, in the way that no one is paying attention to them, in a shared bubble of a universe they’ve created where it’s just the two of them.
Shane leans closer to speak and Ilya’s stomach flips at the scent of his skin mixing with cologne and laundry detergent. Something purely Shane, “It’s okay, you’re having a good time.”
Ilya hums lightly, fingers brushing against his water glass as he picks it up to sip it, “But are you?”
Shane smiles a little, his fingers moving to curl up and underneath Ilya’s sheer shirt at his hipbone to touch his skin. Ilya fights a shiver down his spine, “I’m having a good time watching you. You’re so pretty tonight.”
“Oh, so not every night?” Ilya teases with a grin, definitely preening from the compliment.
Shane rolls his eyes but there’s still that smile that’s living in the corner of his mouth, his thumb pressing into Ilya’s waist.
People slide in and out of the bar area, pressing in all around them to get drinks. A guy moves in behind Shane, his gaze sticking to Ilya in a way that is not appraising. But that’s fine—Ilya doesn’t fucking care what people think about him. He’s never tried to fit himself into any sort of box when he doesn’t have to. He’s done that far too long for family, for people he thought might care about him. He doesn’t now.
By being with Shane he realizes that people can love him as who he really is.
So he ignores the pointed looks and the slight disgust and the assumptions this guy is making—but what he doesn’t realize is that he also must say something. Something that Shane hears.
Because his boyfriend goes completely rigid.
There’s a brief moment where Shane’s nostrils flare and then he’s turning around, “What was that?”
The guy blinks, clearly not realizing his comment would be heard or maybe even addressed. He sort of opens his mouth but nothing comes out. Shane isn’t much taller than him, but the way he’s angling his body is pure hockey aggression; a metaphorical taking off of his gloves. His shoulders straighten, his back is like a rod as he towers over this guy,
“Go head—say it again.” Shane hisses, “Talk about my boyfriend to my face.”
Ilya’s hand clamps over Shane’s forearm, a gentle tug backwards. Despite how utterly arousing it’d be to see Shane get into a fist fight, it’s not worth it. Not here. Luckily the guy turns pale as a ghost, backing up a few steps and sputtering before he leaves the bar. Apparently all talk but not worth getting into a physical confrontation.
Ilya presses himself up against Shane’s back, wrapping an arm around his waist. He presses a soothing kiss against his neck, where his fluttering pulse is, slowly feeling him calm down. He leans back against Ilya, letting out a short breath.
“Sorry,” Shane mumbles and Ilya shakes his head.
“I would have done same thing,” He promises, understanding feeling protective over someone he loves completely.
Ilya draws in a breath, his hand pressing against Shane’s stomach, slipping just a bit lower to toy with the waistband of his jeans, “Let’s get out of here. Maybe fool around in Jeep.”
Shane turns, letting out a soft huff but even in the dimness of the club, Ilya can see the flush on his cheeks where his freckles are, “We are not fucking around in my car.”
Ilya grins, their noses brushing in a bunny kiss, “Not with that attitude.”
Shane smiles, his hand slipping into Ilya’s and squeezing his fingers before leading him right out of the club.
i know in my heart that post-outing, ilya is using the FUCK out of "because you are homophobic?" when he's not getting his way
you will not let him have the seat he wants on this bus? ah, he sees. clearly the homophobia.
you will not give him the lemon-lime gatorade and are trying to keep it for yourself? you think gays should have to drink only fruit punch? he is telling twitter IMMEDIATELY.
you will not come cuddle with him instead of doing the dishes? just because he is queer? "ilya, i am literally your gay husband." "yes, violence from within the alphabet is the worst kind. 😔" "🙄"
today's low stakes headcanon is that one morning ilya catches shane looking up lasik eye procedures on his laptop and he freaks out. "you would take them from me? me? your husband who you claim to love?" and shane laughs saying that he was just looking into it after meeting with the team doc yesterday, he's noticed that his eyesight has changed over the last season and he doesn't want it to interfere with his game. ilya shakes his head "impossible, you are best hockey player" and shane's like "oh yea? best hockey player?" with a huge grin and ilya loves when shane's praise kink comes out so he fans the flames saying, "ahh yes very best so good you do not need eyes, only hands" and ilya runs his hands through shane's hair as they look at each other, laptop and eye procedures forgotten about
They move in together full time and Ilya notices that Anya acts differently with Shane than she does with him, more quiet and less playful, and he worries that means she doesn’t like Shane or is jealous, so he hires a dog trainer to come over and see if there’s anything they need to do to help
After a while of talking about how Anya acts the trainer says there’s nothing to worry about, Anya likes Shane just fine, it’s just that she sees him as the boss and is acting accordingly
And Ilya is like. But. I’m the one who adopted her? And raised her before Shane got here?? And the trainer is just like yeah well she sees you more like an equal. And Ilya is like WAIT she thinks Shane is in charge of both of us?? And the trainer is just like well do you interact in a way that would make her think that?
Ilya’s life flashes before his eyes as he thinks of all the times Shane has come over with a snack for Ilya and a treat for Anya, or all the times Shane has announced they’re all going for an after dinner walk, or pets Ilya’s hair and tells him he did a good job at practice, or the fact that he uses the same warning tone with Anya when she misbehaves as he does with Ilya when he’s causing problems on purpose
Shane comes home to Ilya with his face in his hands going oh god I’m not Anya’s dad I’m her brother and she thinks we’re both your pets. And Shane just goes. What.
I love Shane Hollander. I love how anything other than first place is repugnant to him, how a silver medal may as well be a dead rat for all he wants it. I love that any emotion that’s slightly too strong will bring him to tears and I love that he stubbornly refuses to let them fall. I love how snarky he is. I love that his vocabulary is 60% cursing and how his media persona would never betray that. I love his need to solidify himself as the unofficial face of the NHL. I love that he shoulders the responsibility of winning so entirely that every loss is a personal failure. I love that his true desires are buried so deep he barely ever even allows himself to recognise them. I love how much he loves being filled, how he craves having Ilya inside him, how he can’t let him leave without tasting him, even after he already fucked him. I love how the only time he can truly let go is when he trusts Ilya to bring him physical pleasure. I love his awkwardness and his pretty face and his freckles and his complete inability to communicate effectively. I just love Shane Hollander.
You knowwww Shane and Ilya are those big fat dorks who need to be one one body- we already know this yes so you know they do the stupid talking into each others mouths thinks because they just, don’t see a reason to pull back. Shane will break their wet soft kiss just a millimetre and keep his lips pressed to Ilya’s. “Do you want to defrost the soup mum made us for dinner? Or we can do that Thai salad recipe you found” words muffled because he’s half speaking them into Ilya’s mouth. Ilya humming and rubbing his back as he’s like “he’s too hot for soup, let’s the make the salad.
Or when Ilya gets home from being out and Shane greets him at the door, arms wrapped around his neck kissing him soundly- he’s pulling his tongue from Shane’s mouth to ask “miss me sweetheart?” And Shane is like “not at all” and then shoving his hands up under Ilya’s shirt. And then a few kisses later Shane is mumbling into Ilya’s lips “did you have dinner out? There’s leftovers”
Or post sex, happy hot mushy glow, pink cheeked and tangled up in a mess of each other kissing kissing kissing slow as Ilya’s hands cup Shane’s face, fingers trace his jaw gently. “Not too sore?” Ilya asked nose smushed against Shane’s, lips moving Shane’s with his words. His hand rubbing Shane’s hip gently. “It’s good” Shane is exhaling back, before their tongues taste each other again. Then Ilya “okay, but we have bath yes? I got the nice bath salts” his breath is all over Shane’s face and his eyelashes are smudging against the high of his cheekbone near his freckles. “Yeah, okay, bath” Shane replied and his teeth mash Ilya’s a little
Yuna as the momager is very selective about what brand deals Shane takes, which initially carrier over when she starts managing Ilya. She mentions off handedly once that she was annoyed that low brow brands would even reach out to her and Ilya, genuinely curious, asks who has asked about him that she turned down. “Well, quite a few I’d never even heard of, but some that were unappealing for a professional athlete like Sunny D.” “SUNNY D??? YOU SAID NO?? HOW LONG AGO? CAN WE SAY SORRY YES I WANT TO DO??”
This is how Yuna finds out that Ilya grew up drinking sunny d as a rare American treat in Russia and how Ilya starts screening all brand requests.
Ilya: *making bicep curls behind Shane as Shane is doing weighted squats, he had already lost count on how many reps he´s done because he can´t stop looking at his husband´s ass*
To be clear. Shane's whole thing about Ilya being a Sex God is because of the limerence. Ilya is nineteen and he can get a rhythm going and that's about it. He was throwing shit at the wall when he hit that 'Get on your knees' in Nashville but only he knows that because Shane's brain turned OFF. Ilya said "Let's do a little experiment here" and the results were "Oh my god oh my god oh my god." Shane came hands free because he was that obsessed with the idea of Ilya Rozanov being inside him. Ilya said "Do you like that do you like that" because he's nineteen and he needs the validation and Shane was like "YES YES YES I LIKE IT OH MY GOD YOU'RE SO DEEP YOU'RE SO GOOD" and objectively. It was okay. Ilya fully did not know where to put his hands a couple of times. He forgot about Shane's dick. Luckily, Shane is God's special angel who can come from the idea of Ilya's cockhead being in proximity to his prostate a few times. Mind over matter, says Shane Hollander's dick. And then Ilya said "Oh God Hollander" because it was also, objectively, one of the hottest things that had ever happened to HIM, Ilya Rozanov. Shane sits on that step afterwards plotting about how he's gonna get this over and over and over again for the rest of his life and he has no idea that there are women in Boston who have Ilya listed in their contacts as "Hockey Guy 6/10". Shane Hollander cannot fathom a world in which Ilya Rozanov doesn't lay the maddest pipe this side of Lake Michigan. "Ilya Rozanov is a some kind of nineteen year old sex God" No Shane honey he was just designed in a lab to score goals and make you cum and he's done scoring goals for the night.
So I'm a big fan of Shane being super protective of Ilya on the ice and he gets the equivalent of road rage whenever he sees someone fouling his husband, because that's his baby and Shane will make sure that other guy understands not to fuck with him.
But! I'm also growing fond of the idea that Shanw develops strong protective feelings for the entire Cens teams. Or maybe especially fo Wyatt.
There is something moving about how an entire entire team jumps to defend their goalie when an opposing players just dares to touch him. And now I have to imagine Shane, who always had to keep himself emotionally distanced from the Metros, suddenly let's his inner guard dog out with the Cens - it's just a matter of manners and honour to defend your goalie but also he is actually friends with Wyatt and doesn't want to see him hurt either and now Shane actually feels like he actively needs to do something about it instead of only discussing with the refs.
Shane is not a defender, obviously, so it's not his main job, but whenever it's a all hands on deck situation infront of their own goal, he is not above shoving an opposing team player out of the way that skated into Wyatt, and yelling "Don't you dare touch him, asshole!" (And Wyatt gets all flustered about it, angry Shane is even hotter).
Another time he's just right in time to see a forward crosschecking Wyatt and Shane immediately drops the gloves, proudly taking the penalty for fighting. (Which Ilya reprimands is not assistant captain behaviour, but actually he can't take Shane home fast enough to reward him with the sloppiest of blowjobs because yes, angry, fighting Shane is a vision).
Yet another game, and some player is trying to get under Wyatt's skin to distract, chirps turn more inti insults over the time, and after another busy situation infront of their crease, Shane checks that guy and with his voice dangerously gives a final warning: "Leave my goalie alone, man. Or you won't like what comes next." (And Wyatt seriously starts reconsidering his sexuality).
Shane still mostly solves problems by arguing with the refs, but he loves sticking up for his goalie.
the first time shane called ilya baby he meant it in the “you big baby” sense. ilya was pouting and shane was smiling at him fondly saying “baby” but so much adoration was bleeding through his words it felt like it was delivered as a pet name. and ilya looked up at him awestruck and lovesick and looked like he could faint right then and there. so shane made it his mission to call ilya his baby all day every day
One of the things the time jump between Heated Rivalry and Long Game robs us of is seeing the effect coming out to his team has on Shane in real time. And that experience does a lot to inspire his anxiety and responses in TLG.
No one will ever convince me that there's not a connection between Shane coming out to his team, it not going well, and Shane volunteering to start an even more intensely restrictive diet than he was already on, that also punishes his relationship. Just like I will always view Shane's anxiety around Ilya coming out to the Centaurs/his friends as a trauma response based on how badly it went for him.
One of the most heartbreaking parts about Shane's performance diet to me, is how in both My Dinner with Hayden and TLG Shane and Ilya mention how they love to cook together, and it's like a fun couple thing for them. It's a point of connection, something they do together aside from hockey. And, unlike hockey, it's something they don't compete about.
Shane's performance diet robs them of this. There's a scene in TLG where Ilya has done a bunch of research to find a meal they can cook together that fits in Shane's diet. And Shane is delighted by this. But, notably, he puts no effort into finding other recipes they can do this with again. He tells Rose he likes the discipline of his diet, and I don't think he means just in regards to what and where he's eating, I think he also means in his relationship.
There's another major change we see in Shane between books. At the end of Heated Rivalry he's talking fairly optimisticly about both of them coming out to friends.
This is at the cottage. Very soon after they've decided they're in a real relationship. It's hard not to compare this with Shane's sheer panic in TLG when Ilya talks about coming out to Troy - not even about them, just about being bi - and also to the possibility of even meeting the rest of his team.
So, what's happened to Shane in the last three years that makes him go from joking around about coming out to his friends to rabidly controlling his relationship and protecting every small detail of it that he possibly can?
