Chapters: 5/?
Fandom: Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov
Characters: Shane Hollander, Ilya Rozanov, Yuna Hollander, David Hollander, Svetlana Vetrova, Ottawa Centaurs Team Ensemble (Game Changers), Ottawa Centaurs WAGs Ensemble (Game Changers), Hayden Pike, Jackie Pike
Additional Tags: Post-Book 6: The Long Game (Game Changers), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Retired Hockey Player Shane Hollander, WAG Shane Hollander, Relationship Soft Launch, Coming Out, Bad Friend Hayden Pike, Shane Hollander self discovery
Summary:
Zane Boodram makes a goal and cameras show his wife Cassie clapping and screaming for him. Later, towards the beginning of the second period, Ilya makes his own goal and Shane can’t help but think of the camera panning over to show him cheering for Ilya in the stands.
He could picture it so clearly. Sitting with the other partners, cheering for their boys, Shane wearing a Centaurs jersey with ROZANOV 81 plastered across his back. He thinks about how happy he’s felt these past few months, and it mingles with need for his vision to be reality, and just like that the thought is finally pulled front and center in his mind with no way to ignore it.
Almost as soon as he thinks it, his decision is made and he starts forming his plan.
__________
or: Shane decides to retire from the MLH
I know its like. sexually charged and all but i cant help but find the gym water bottle moment so CUTE. Babys first act of submission!! He drank more when rozanov told him and he got a finger brush and a wink as a reward!! He was so good!!
The one and only time Ilya seriously considered divorcing his husband was when their daughter was two years old.
Their baby was growing so fast and she was getting to be so independent, better able to express her idea and interests and preferences. They both loved watching her grow.
She was also, like her dad, Ilya would tease, a runner. Anytime she saw an opening, she would yank her little hand out of theirs and take off. They were working on it and their pediatrician said it was very normal, but it was still terrifying.
One day, during a family lake day, Ilya decides they need a fire. He goes off to gather some firewood from the border of the beach and forest while Shane watches their daughter.
Ilya drops the wood and runs back when he hears and panicked, "Lera!"
When he runs back to the beach, he sees his daughter sobbing, rubbing her shoulder and his husband crouched over her, looking her over while breathing in short, panting breaths.
His daughter who did not have her life vest on. What the fuck?
"What the fuck happened?"
Shane looked up at him. He was trembling slightly. He was more scared that Ilya had ever seen him. And that made Ilya scared. He had tears just brimming in his big brown eyes.
"I'm so fucking sorry," he said and pulled her closer to him while she tried to wiggle away. "I - her life vest is too small now. I was going to put the other one we brought with us the - the bigger one. I took my eyes off her for one second, Ilya."
Ilya looked at their wiggling little girl. He then said, in Russian, "Lera, come here."
Shane let her go and she ran to him. He knelt down and looked her over. "Was her head underwater?"
"I don't think so, or maybe just for a second," Shane said quietly. "I heard her splash in the water but by the time I ran over she was already where she couldn't stand. I...grabbed her arm to get her out. Probably too hard."
"Does your arm hurt?" He asked her. She didn't respond, just blinked fat tears down her cheeks and clung to him. He wrapped his arms around her and stood up. "Okay, we are taking her to the hospital."
"Ilya, it was really only a second. I think she's more scared than anything."
"You...," Ilya took a deep breath as he turned to his husband, the love of his life. He had never been so angry with him before. Never. He hated the feeling, hot and unwelcome in his chest. He spoke in Russian. "You never, fucking ever take your fucking eyes off her, Shane. Not for a second. Especially when she doesn't have her fucking life jacket on. At the lake."
"I know," Shane said in English, a slight whine in his voice that alerted Ilya he was very close to letting the tears in his eyes fall. "I know, I'm fucking sorry, okay?"
"It would take one second," Ilya stepped closer to him, shifting Lera to one side and gesturing with his other hand. "One second and she," Ilya tightened his hold, "would be dead. You understand that? Did you think about that?"
Shane doesn't fucking understand. He had never lost anyone close to him. He didn't understand that she would be dead and gone and cold and they would have to bury their baby in the dirt and leave her there. That they would lose a part of their soul if she died.
"I was...," Shane's eyes raked over her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Ilya."
"That isn't fucking good enough!" Ilya threw up his hand and Shane flinched back. It was just a little bit, really just his eyes instinctively shutting, which caused tears to spill over, but still. He flinched.
Ilya felt his stomach twist but anger was still so hot in his chest and fear was prickling at his skin and all he could think his she could have died she could have died toddlers can drown in less than one minute she could have died.
They ended up taking her to the hospital. They didn't speak during the drive. About halfway through, Lera seemed to forget nearly drowning. She was listening to her Disney playlist and just kicking her feet against Ilya's seat. Usually, he would tell her to stop, that it isn't polite. Today, he let it happen because all he could hear was her little feet thudding, alive alive alive, against his seat.
The doctor said she was in perfect health. No water in her lungs and no irritation in her throat to indicate she had swallowed water. Her shoulder was fine. She reached up for the lollipop the doctor held above her head. She had no complaints about the doctor moving her arm around and pressing on her shoulder. They thanked the doctor, promised to bring her back if any symptoms arose, and took their daughter home.
When Shane went to start her bedtime routine, Ilya said, "I'll do it tonight."
He bathed her, washing away any trace of the lake and sand and hospital. He kept the water level in her bath lower than normal. He dried her, dressed her in pajamas, and settled into their oversized rocking chair to read to her.
Throughout all of it, he was thinking about divorcing her other father. He ran a hand through her hair. The hair she inherited from Shane. Would she even remember her fathers being together if they divorced now? Did he remember being two? He didn't think so.
But... he had scared his husband. His husband who would never hurt their daughter. Who had made a mistake. Took his eyes off her for one second. A mistake that had happened to thousands of parents. A mistake Ilya could have made.
He made Shane think he was going to strike him. He had made Shane promised him something, a very long time ago.
"My mother, she had nothing without my father. If she left him, she would not have gotten my brother and me. She had no money, no education. Her family was terrible, they would not have helped her. You have so much more, Shane. Promise me, if I ever...hurt you. You will leave me."
"You're not going to hurt me, Ilya."
"My mother thought my father would never hurt her, once. Please, Shane."
"Okay, okay, I promise."
But he did. His father rarely hit his mother. Mostly, he would raise his hand to backhand her and she would flinch and he would call her pathetic.
That's what he did today. Granted, he did not want to do that. He was just throwing up his hand, he was not directing it at Shane.
Wasn't he?
Lera was asleep on his chest now. He carefully transferred her to her toddler bed and watched her sleep for a while.
When he headed back to their room, Shane was still up and reading.
"Hey," he greeted. "She go down okay?"
"Mhmn," Ilya nodded. "Better than normal."
"That's good."
"Shane," Ilya said at the same time Shane said, "Ilya,"
"You go," Ilya said.
"I'm so sorry," Shane closed his book and set it by the bedside. "I know that isn't good enough. But it's all I can say. I wasn't thinking. I should have waited for you to hold her before taking the life vest off. I just... I wasn't thinking and I'm sorry."
"No," Ilya said tightly and leaned his back against their bedroom door. "I'm sorry, I-"
"Ilya?"
"I scared you."
Shane's face scrunched up. "I scared myself."
"No, I," Ilya had to stop again. Did he actually forget, just like his daughter? Or, was he just pretending to forget to make Ilya feel better. His mother would often do that. Father would bring her flowers and she would say, 'my love, what are these for?' "You thought I was going to hurt you."
While he was holding their baby.
"No, I didn't."
"You did," Ilya said harshly. "You flinched away from me."
"I - okay, yes," Shane took a deep breath. "But that doesn't mean I thought you were going to hurt me. Ilya, you would never-"
"You don't know that," Ilya cut him off. He didn't deserve his placating words. "I... I was so fucking angry at you, Shane."
"I know."
"I'm still...," Ilya rested his head against the door and looked up at their ceiling. He wasn't still mad at Shane. But he was. And he was still mad at himself. For not being their for his family. "I could have hurt you. No, I did hurt you. I did."
"You weren't trying to hurt me, Ilya, and you weren't trying to scare me. It's ridiculous to think that."
"I have to be able to trust that you will leave me if I hurt you."
"Ilya...," Shane shifted. "Do you want to see if we can schedule an emergency appointment with Galina?"
Ilya huffed. "No."
Shane finally got up, then. Ilya was struck by what he was wearing, just comfortable thick sweatpants and a tank top. But it was beautiful. Ilya wanted to memorize every inch of him.
Ilya thought Shane was going to hug him, but he didn't. He laid his hands on Ilya's biceps and rubbed them roughly, almost too hard. It was... grounding.
"Look at me," Shane said in the cadence of a captain. Ilya obeyed. "If I thought, for one fucking second, that you were going to hit me, that you were even threatening to hit me, I would not have let you walk away with our daughter. I would not have let you drive her in a car. I would not have let you give her a bath and put her to sleep."
Ilya's voice broke. "I don't know - I can't trust myself-"
"Then you trust me, Ilya. Your husband. You trust my judgement. And my judgement is that I fucked up and you were fucking pissed at me but that you were not going to hurt me. That you were not even thinking about hurting me."
And Ilya did trust him. Trusted him with his life, with his daughter, with his past and future. "Okay."
"Okay, then," Shane breathed out. "Come to bed?"
And Ilya did. He woke up a few hours later though, to no Shane.
Wandering over to their daughter's room, he watched through the crack of the door as Shane leaned over their girl's bed, his hand in her wispy hair. "I love you so much, baby. Daddy is... is so sorry."
Ilya never told Shane he had thought about divorcing him. That he was convinced, for a just a moment, that he would surely turn into a visage of his father. Granted, it was only for less than a day. But still, it was the one and only time he worked through what their divorce would look like, how they would raise their daughter separately, how he would be able to live on without the other half of his soul.
He wondered if he could do it. If Shane struck him, if he could leave. He didn't think he would. Even for Lera, he didn't think he was strong enough. Maybe if Shane hit her but... he just didn't know. He didn't know. It wasn't fair. He had to trust that Shane was stronger than him.
He had to trust Shane.
And he always had. Since they were teenagers. And that trust never lead him astray. That trust gave him a home, a family. That trust was an accomplishment better than any Stanley Cup would ever be.
one of ilya's regrets is how he never got to take enough photos of shane and anya together.
so, one summer, ilya buys a professional camera and brings it to the cottage.
all the brands collaborating with shane are so happy to see the high-quality photos that ilya posts each day (yuna has taught ilya, a long time ago, the importance of tagging everything that shane wears and uses.)
pet brands start to reach out, and ilya jokes that he should retire and focus on anya's fame on the internet. yuna happily takes on the role of managing anya's brand deals, too.
shane hollander is a sleep talker and you can’t change my mind
sometimes when ilya can’t sleep he can’t help but giggle at all of shane’s mumbles, then he holds him tighter and tries harder to fall asleep (once shane is talking he knows it’s wayyy past bedtime), and when they wake up he teases shane about it
“you were saying my name in your sleep like ‘ilyaaaaa’ ‘ilyaaaa’, you sounded like you were trying to invite me to the cottage again”
Ilya and Shane going out and there's some people flirting a lot with Ilya and Shane doesn't really say anything about it in the moment, just drags Ilya off to dance with him. But later while they're dancing together Shane grumpily tells him he didn't like the way that guy was looking at him and Ilya's immediate instinct is to take Shane home, carry him inside and fuck him in missionary til he can't walk all while looking lovingly at him and reassuring him he only has eyes for Shane, never for stupid drunk guy at bar.
Ilya secretly recording himself kissing Shane on the cheek to capture the little sounds me makes. Not sexual at all, he has full intent on sharing this compilation with others some day, but Shane's little vocal stims of joy and contentment when Ilya gives him a smooch powers him through the day. It reminds him of those videos of peoples kittens meowing when they get kissed. Shane hums or makes squeaking sounds or blows raspberries. Ilya loves and documents every one.
Shane and Harris, sitting in a bar together while Troy and Ilya are off doing something. Their eyes are locked and they're listening and judging the shit out of the bachelorette party sitting behind them that are talking about some of worst straight bullshit they've ever heard of.
In my beautiful mind after they are outed and married shane is always complaining that he has no phone storage space like he’ll say “hold on I gotta delete DoorDash” why? “My camera won’t open if I don’t free up some space” and Ilya finally is like moya lyubov this is a solvable problem. And he takes Shane’s phone to check the storage and his photos app is taking up 90% of the space on his phone and Ilya is like okay just delete some pictures. Easy. And Shane’s like ?? No I need them. “Can’t you save them somewhere else?” I mean, Yes, they’re already saved but I want easy access to them. “What do you need easy access to look at all the time.” Don’t worry about it “Shane.” Don’t worry about it!!!!! And that’s how Ilya finds out Shane’s “husband ❤️” folder is 25k pictures deep
My favourite Adrian headcanon is that they're a biologist/zoologist who has seen so much shit, they're completely unphased by any and every alien habit of Grace's.
I mean full-on khaki-shorts-wearing, traversing-wilderness-with-nothin'-but-a-machete Adrian who yoinks snakes outta trees and pets swamp puppies and will unflinchingly dig around in elephant faeces for signs of a rare parasitic tapeworm if needed.
Oh, humans eat socially? No problem, Adrian has observed many many animals eat. Did you know that an obscure species of small underground dirt creature from the north side of Erid also eats socially? Adrian can give you a not-so-short presentation on them.
Oh, the human has no external carapace and so its internal sounds are absurdly loud, wet and off-putting? No problem, Adrian was just conducting an expedition last month researching the incredible eridian animal, the Wet Loud Worm from the south-east region of Wet Loud Wormland. They're desensitised, it's fine.
Oh, Grace leaks often from many orifices and it can be a bit of a learning curve to get used to? No problem for Adrian, see Wet Loud Worm paragraph again!
Meanwhile, Rocky is bewildered as to how he's managed to third-wheel both of his relationships, because both Adrian and Grace are nerds who nerd out about things, and Adrian is shaking in their carapace with enthusiasm to learn more about human culture and biology, not to mention everything about earth animals. And yeah, sure, Grace might be a molecular biologist, but he'll be damned if he'll pass up an opportunity to learn about alien fauna from a fellow scientist, and yes, Adrian, he'd love to hear about the small underground dirt creature from the north side of Erid, and he's so excited to learn more about the Wet Loud Worm, do go on.
I love the headcanon that once back on Erid, Rocky refuses to give up the astrophage solution until his starving dying alien friend is safe.
It's even funnier to think that he never told Grace about this.
Picture this.
Grace, recording a video diary for future human visitors or something:
"Oh boy, and the ERIDIANS are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet! They've done so much for me, I can't even put into words how grateful I am! Once we arrived on Erid, their top priority was saving my life despite the fact that their planet was dying! Me, a stranger, someone who doesn't even belong here! They went above and beyond for me, and all just because they're SUCH amazing, caring people. Right, Rock?"
Rocky, having flashbacks to the time he yelled "STAY THE FUCK BACK, NO YOU CAN'T HAVE THE TAUMOEBA! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY? ALIEN ISN'T PRIORITY? FUCK YOU! ROCKY WILL KEEP TAUMOEBA FOR HIMSELF! ROCKY WILL BLOW UP ALL OF ERID! ROCKY WILL....":
canon divergence where instead of getting engaged how they do in tlg someone (Hayden probably) is like “hey since you’re both guys who do you think will be the one to propose” and they both laugh like the answer is obvious and say “me” at the exact same time. at this point they forget entirely they’re in company and whip around to face each other and Ilya is like “Shane, my love, obviously it will be me” and Shane is like “uhhh no??? it’ll be me?? I have a plan and everything” “well so do I!!!” (crucially, neither of them have a plan)
and thus it becomes like everything else in their lives: a competition. neither of them rush it because they want to do it right but they both want to propose before the other gets the chance and what ensues is multiple attempts to foil each other’s proposal plans and obviously it ends with them both proposing at the same time but then neither of them will accept the other’s proposal bc it means that person will forever get the glory of being the one who proposed and anyway it takes like 20 minutes of bickering for them to realise that, by virtue of them both asking, they’ve both effectively already said yes and are now technically engaged and well. why are they arguing when they could be having fiancé sex?????? ofc for the rest of their lives the question of “so who proposed to who??” never gets an accurate answer
one must imagine shane in a bathroom stall in the metros locker room right before a game against boston, headphones in watching the video ilya just sent of himself jerking off in the bathroom in the guest locker room along with a message that just says good luck tonight :)
ilya still inside shane after sex, head lying on top shane and he lifts a little to look at his husband “wait a little and we go again” and shane asks “again?” and ilya goes “shane im addicted to you. is worse now that im seeing you every day, i want you all the time. im sick and you’re my disease. you’re a virus that took all over my body” and shane stares at ilya but burst out laughing asking “you’re calling me a virus?” and ilya’s like, while he leans to kiss shane “yes i can’t get rid of you, there’s no remedy for that i wake up thinking of you and go sleep thinking about you” and shane kiss his husbands and says “that’s beautiful ilya but we really need to get up and eat breakfast” and ilya whines “no shane one more time” and shane just laughs and shakes his head but he’s not making any move to actually get up
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