I honestly don't think Yuna struggles to accept Ilya's role in Shane's life. I know a lot of people find her overbearing (although I don't think we really saw that in the show) and even though we see her guiding Shane early on (he was a baby) about wearing his sponsored outfits or handling his brand deals, we never see her pushing Shane into anything he doesn't want. She understands he needs help with things (every person does) but she's respectful of his boundaries and independence.
We see this a little bit when she waits while Shane's 'freaking out' to see how Ilya will handle it.
She likes that Shane has another person in his life that can support him - one that he is probably much more receptive to than his mom and dad. Yuna knows about that first hand - it was so much easier to let David bare some of her burden than her parents. And vice versa.
So Yuna has no problem stepping back and allowing Ilya to be Shane's main support person.
Yuna: Hi honey! Just saw the game. Is Shane okay?
Ilya: He is okay. Very grumpy though so maybe no phone calls tonight.
Yuna loves that Shane has such a wonderful, understanding partner to lean on. It's really all a parent wants, to know that their child will be taken care of. And Yuna is very confident Ilya will take care of her Shane.
The first time she's absolutely confident of that is when Shane is downright angry.
"No, mom, it's fucking ridiculous," Shane fumes, blinking. He's gotten better over the years, but when he was little, he couldn't get angry without crying.
"I know," Yuna agrees with him because that is usually the best thing to do. She glances over at Ilya, who seems relatively unbothered at Shane's anger.
"It's in the contract for a reason," Shane continued, paused, and then smacked his hand on the table. Not hard, but hard enough.
At that, Ilya stood up. "Come on."
"What?"
"We are going to the rink," Ilya stated simply, grabbing his and Shane's jackets from the coat rack.
Yuna winced. Shane didn't get angry too often, but ordering Shane around when he was angry never went well. He was going to-
"Fine," Shane said tightly, grabbing the jacket Ilya held out to him and walking through the door Ilya held open.
Yuna raised her eyebrows.
"I will fix," Ilya said quietly to her, smiling. "Tire him out. We will be back before dinner."
"Okay," Yuna smiled back, surprised.
As she locked the door behind Ilya, she found herself realizing she really trusted Ilya with Shane.
He was so confident with what Shane needed, so in step with him. After years of hearing how her son was emotionless, hard to read, anti-social, blank stare, etc. She knew he wasn't. He was so expressive and she didn't understand how others couldn't see that. But Ilya could read him so well - he always seemed to know what he needed, even when she didn't.
iāve read a few posts about how ilya avoids certain clothes when he notices shane doesnāt like them, but i also love the idea of shane doing the same aka being mindful of textures for ilya, because i can absolutely see him doing that! (which would bring us back to one of my favorite acts of tenderness aka hollanov being protective of each other even when thereās objectively no need.)
i donāt think itās far-fetched for very undiagnosed shane to think his experiences are sort of universal, meaning of course everyone dislikes bad textures, theyāre probably just not talking about the atrociousness of it all because they donāt want to look like theyāre complaining too much (just like him!), so when they start hooking up at shaneās house (and later at the cottage), shane tells ilya he doesnāt have to worry about the bed sheets because they have a very high thread count, also all his towels are new and extra soft so he doesnāt have to worry about those either. and later when ilya asks if he can borrow a T-shirt shaneās like, āitās in great shape because iāve found the best fabric softener, and iāve already removed all the labels so itās good to goā, and ilyaās like okay heās either gone Full Canadian with the politeness all of a sudden for some reason or heās just bragging about being knowledgeable aboutā¦ laundry detergents? but then, it just keeps happening, and so later when theyāre at the cottage shane goes, āi got chicken instead of turkey because itās obviously better and doesnāt have that persistent dry texture (you know, the one that makes you wanna Die), so you donāt have to worry about it, and i have a very good food processor so if we wanna make pea soup later itāll be all smooth with no chunky bitsā and ilyaās like okay heās probably bragging again although i donāt know about what exactly. being the best at blender? and itās not long (about ten more āyou donāt have to worry about itā explanations) before ilya realizes shane has been trying to protect him from the Bad Textures of the World all along, and if ilya wasnāt already in love with him he would be now just because of that.
and maybe thatās how ilya finds out about shaneās autism (heād always known but that was just shane being shane to him), or maybe he doesnāt come to that conclusion just yet, but what he knows is that from now on heāll make sure no pea skin treacherously hides in future soups to harm the love of his life ever again.
Jade Pike: *Hayden, Shane and Jackie are inside the house getting food and Ilya is outside with the Pike kids and Anya* Uncle Shane, Uncle Ilya had an accident in the car... Ruby is helping him.
Shane and Hayden: *They get super concerned and get outside fast af because Ilya was showing off his Porsche to the kids, they immediately head out to see what happened*
ilya rozanov whoās known to boston as the mysterious fuckboy from russia who chirps like heās getting paid for it and is crazy good at hockey. one day a teammate is absent from a few games in a row and turns back up to practice with a fucking newborn and theyāre all in their hockey gear fawning over this tiny baby. then once everyoneās said hi before practice, the crowd parts and ilyas just stood by the doorway, a literal deer in headlights staring at the bundle of blankets in his teammates arms and-
ādo you wanna hold him?ā
ilyaās moving forward before he can process the words and everyoneās holding their breath as he gathers the newborn into his arms, pausing to take his gloves off first. itās a few tense seconds before the baby babbles and shifts slightly before tucking his head into the crook of his arm and swiftly falling to sleep.
ilya looks up to see his whole team stifling grins, āi think weāve found the new babysitterā and he bites back a chirp because he doesnāt want to wake the baby heās holding so delicately to his chest.
heās stuck on the sidelines for the whole practice while he rocks the baby through the slams against walls, waving its little arm towards its dad when it eventually wakes up.
and yeah pictures surface soon after of fucking rozanov staring down at the baby in his arms with the fucking softest eyes and twitter has a field day proving heās a softie at heart
"'We could only have one child,'' David said quietly. "We thought about adopting, but we decided in the end to just focus on making Shane the best person we could. I think we did an okay job of it.
Ilya smiled at the understatement.
"We couldn't be prouder of the man he's become,' David continued. "I don't have any Stanley Cup rings, but I have Shane.''
Chapter 39, The Long Game
....
It's Christmas of 1988.
There's one more present under the tree, and Yuna's eyes are dancing as she hands it to David. He opens it to find the tiniest pair of shoes he's ever seen.
"No. Really?" He's dizzy.
"Really," Yuna grins, and her eyes are shining with tears, and David loves that face more than anything. He hopes their baby looks just like her.
.....
It's a bitterly cold day in February of 1989 when David puts the shoes away. He pushes down all the anger of it's not fair, why us, why our baby. Yuna needs him.
The doctor had said you're young, you can try again.
.....
In the spring of 1990 the flowers are blooming to life and Yuna's belly is starting to look rounder. David looks around the empty bedroom in their Ottawa house and thinks green might be nice, something that works for a boy or a girl, a nice cheerful shade. Next week he'll buy the paint.
The call from the hospital comes before he gets the chance. When he looks at the doctor's scrubs he thinks green is the ugliest colour on earth.
.....
They don't talk about it. Not when the leaves are changing colour and the nurse offers them congratulations. Not at Christmas or New Year's as they turn the calendar over to 1991. It's Valentines Day before David gets the courage to touch the rounded swell of his wife's body and he cries when whoever is inside touches him back. It doesn't matter that they don't have a name or a face yet, he loves them so much it hurts.
.....
On a Friday morning in May, David holds his son for the first time. His face is scrunched and blotchy red and angry. He's the most perfect thing anyone has ever laid eyes on.
He watches Yuna sing and rock him near the nursery window at home, her face glowing. He thinks the yellow paint was definitely the right choice for their sunshine, their only sunshine.
.....
Shane is a chubby baby (they laugh themselves sick when the baby shoes don't even fit on his fat little biscuit feet) but by the time he turns two he has leaned out into a little boy, they think maybe they are ready to try again. David imagines a girl this time, introducing Shane to his baby sister. Melissa sounds pretty. The baby name book had said it meant honeybee and doesn't that just fit perfectly amidst sunshine and flowers and springtime?
.....
It never happens.
Shane is an only child at four and five and six and he's becoming something special on the ice, all the coaches say so. David thinks that they have no idea what they're talking about when they say that because Shane Hollander has always been special from the time he kicked and rolled inside his mother, before he ever knew what cold was.
If he's all they get, they will make sure he knows he is everything.
.....
Sometimes David wants to take Shane by the shoulders and apologize to him for making him think he has to be everything. You don't have to try so hard to be perfect for us, he wants to say. You're perfect to us because you're you, you're ours, don't you know how we prayed and hoped and waited just for you to exist, don't you know that's enough?
Much, much later as he waves to him (to them) in late evening sunshine, he sees Shane relax behind the windshield with a loving hand on the back of his neck. David feels something inside of him loosen.
.....
On Shaneās wedding day, David embraces both his sons and dances with his wife and my god, if this is all he ever gets in life, no man has ever been so lucky.
.....
"Are you ready?" Shane is smiling and his eyes are shiny. Ilya looks much the same.
David is dizzy. But he nods and holds his hands out. Shane places the baby in his arms and oh, she's so tiny. He forgot how tiny they start out.
Her little knit hat is yellow.
"Hey there, honeybee," he murmurs, and his voice is foggy with unshed tears. "I'm your grandpa."
When Shane gets traded to Ottawa, Harris posts a pic of itty bitty toddler Shane in an Ottawa Centaurs jersey that he is absolutely drowning in (itās Davidās) cheesing like there is no tomorrow, next to a pic of current Shane in his new Centaurs jersey with the caption: welcome home, Shane.
ilya being in a period of Bad depression and between playing games and going to practice he doesn't really have the energy to do much else and he just kind of collapses when he gets home and he hasn't shaved in days and his hair is unruly and he just feels kinda gross and ugly but doesn't have the energy to do anything about it so shane is like Not On My Watch so he drags ilya into the tub and washes his hair with his special curly shampoo and carefully shaves his face and lathers him in too much body lotion which means he has to stand stark naked in the bathroom for 10 minutes before he can put clothes on and shane tries his best to do his curly hair routine for him he gets the special towel and the curl cream and his eyebrows furrow in concentration as he scrunches ilya's curls to the best of his abilities and ilya sits on the toilet lid with tears in his eyes
I love all the baby Shane swearing and generally all the baby Shane headcanons.
Consider: baby Shane who pronounces āpuckā as āfuckā. Like. Teeny (fat) baby. Heās about 14-15 months and in Yunaās arms watching a hockey game on TV.
āMAMA FUCK!ā
āYes, sweetie. PUCK.ā *glances at her in-laws awkwardly.ā
Heās almost two and running around with a baby hockey stick, and a cousin takes it.
the idea that hollander "tamed" rozanov is really funny to shane because like. ilya finds it hot and is always going along with it, yes of course my husband is so sexy why do you think i moved to this boring fucking city. for dick. meanwhile shane knows the truth which is that ilya tamed himself. he herded shane like a sheepdog until he was exactly in the right position for ilya to flop down at his feet and say i love you, i am a one man guy, sleep with other people if you want but you are it for me, so shane is always there like ??? ilya. what are you talking about. i was literally prepared to be a secret slot on your roster for the rest of time without even admitting that i was gay until you decided to have me over make me lunch and say my name while you come like a love confession and ilya goes lyubmiyy. shut up. i was untamable you tamed the untamable and so shane has to be like yes, baby, i worked so hard, i used all my tricks but he's rolling his eyes because ilya wants to be a wolf shane coaxed inside to sleep on the hearth but instead he's a cat who snuck through the window and fell in love with his prey. self domesticated. and this is just one of the many perfect games they play
Fandom: Game Changers | Heated Rivalry - All Media Types, Heated Rivalry (TV)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov
Characters: Shane Hollander, Ilya Rozanov, Yuna Hollander, David Hollander, Hayden Pike, Svetlana Vetrova, Cliff Marlow | Cliff Marleau, Grigori Rozanov, Scott Hunter (Game Changers)
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Rookie Shane Hollander, Rookie Ilya Rozanov, Bakery and Coffee Shop, Ilya Rozanov Loves Shane Hollander, Shane Hollander Needs a Hug, POV Alternating, Autistic Shane Hollander, Shane Hollander Speaks French, Language Barrier, Ilya Rozanov Needs A Hug, no beta we die like Irina Rozanov, Yearning, Pre-Relationship, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Episode: s01e01 Rookies (Heated Rivalry), Fuck AI, i wrote this on adhd meds, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, First Meetings, Situationships, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Summary:
Ilya is at this cafe, about a 10-minute walk from his hotel, waiting in line to get his hazelnut latte around 6:45 am. When he is just looking around the store, he could swear he sees Shane Hollander slumped over at a table in the back. He doesn't put much thought into it because, firstly, Shane Hollander would never be caught dead getting coffee; it affects his stupidly perfectionist diet he is on, and secondly, he would never fall asleep in a public place like this. He is too anxious and health crazed to do that, not even minding his āboringā uptightness.
Or: Shane and Ilya are both struggling with the new pressures of being the NHL's top draft picks, plus Shane is slowly learning how to speak and understand English while only ever speaking French before.
Guys why is posted an ao3 fic so hard like im just going to copy paste it I tried the tumblr straight from ao3 it was kinda mid lol so I do it again sorry guysss the tags got messed up
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