AU where Shane makes one tiny, heartbreaking mistake and is outed before the world junior championship but through sheer force of will, and the power of Yuna Hollander’s understanding of discrimination statutes and how to harness media pressure, is able to keep on his preferred career trajectory and make it to the draft. Crucially though, this means he does not approach Ilya Rozanov before they meet on the ice at the WJC, and Ilya, despite being highly intrigued by the incredibly talented and incredibly beautiful spitfire that led the Canadian team to beat him TWO YEARS IN A ROW, is not stupid enough to approach the boy the entire Russian team has been warned about. At least until he has an NHL contract signed and his American work visa secured. Which all coincidentally is completed just in time for the CCM shoot he masterminded to have an excuse to interact with said talented beautiful spitfire. Who hates him and thinks he’s a homophobic dick (despite almost zero empirical evidence to support this conclusion). But that’s just a minor detail, Ilya’s overcome worse odds.
Enter higher stakes for both of them, increased scrutiny, a Shane Hollander with even more to prove to the world, an Ilya Rozanov with a higher garden wall to scale, and an attraction that overcomes the odds in every universe.
Idk I just think it could be fun.
