Archive of Our Own ^beta

MLHers not being allowed to compete in the 2018 Olympics was frustrating, but it did have some small benefits. The hype of the games, along with different athletes going viral, especially those Canadian Ice Dancers, had made most people move on from the Rose Landry-Shane Hollander-Ilya Rozanov alleged love triangle. People thought Rose was dating someone else now, people thought Rozanov was dating everyone else now, and people thought Shane Hollander was dating no one.

Well, everything was quiet until April, as the playoffs were approaching and people decided to start paying attention to hockey again. Way too much attention to hockey.

"Did you find this place okay?" Shane asked as Svetlana sat down across from him, 15 minutes late.

Svetlana busied herself with the drink menu. "Yes, I've been here before. Clients love it."

"Yeah, Ilya said you sell fancy cars? That's why you are in town right?" Shane played with the collar of his shirt. "How has that been going."

Svetlana waved her hand dismissevely in the air with her nose still buried in the menu. "Fine," she said plainly. "But you do not care about fancy cars. Ilya said all you do is read hockey books. What are you reading currently?"

The true answer was a book about the history of Canada at the Olympics, but he did want to make a good impression. "A book about the Russian Five. The documentary is coming out soon so I wanted to be prepared." And it wasn't a total lie. He had read it a few months ago when he learned about the documentary's release date.

Svetlana put down her menu and looked him right in the eye. "Shane Hollander, you have excellent taste."

"Shane, please tell me you are not dating Ilya Rozanov's girlfriend," was how Hayden greeted Shane in the locker room for practice the next day.

"What are you doing on my stalking reddit page?" Shane quipped back, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the locker room and heading right for his stall.

"Dude! It's all over Twitter. Even Hockey News is talking about it," Hayden replied, holding out his phone to show Shane, who had already seen all of the posts this morning as he tried not to freak out with Ilya on the phone.

"Okay, Hayden, I'm not dating Ilya Rozanov's girlfriend," Shane deadpanned. "Anything else? Like maybe how we have Toronto tomorrow and how we really need to work on the power play so we can win?"

"Then what were you doing with Sergi Vetrov's daughter?" J.J. called out from the other side of the locker room.

Shane took a deep breath. "None of your business?" He tried to sound stern, like a captain should sound, but he failed because they kept going.

"I think we deserve to know," Draperu joined in. "We need to know if we need to protect you against Rozanov next week. Dude is going to kill you for making moves on his girlfriend."

Shane wanted to scream. Svetlana wasn't Rozanov's girlfriend. Rozanov didn't have a girlfriend, he had a boyfriend, and that boyfriend was me! And yeah, they used to fuck on and off, but they haven't in a long time, and Shane was mostly okay with their past.

But he didn't do that. Instead, he lied. Lied like he had been his whole career. "Svetlana is not Rozanov's girlfriend!" He said a little too confidently. "At least I think she is not. She sells cars, like nice expensive ones. I was thinking about buying one, so I was talking to her. I got her contact from Rozanov."

"You want a sports car?" Hayden's eyebrows were raised, and Shane could see that his friend didn't believe a word he had to say.

"You went to Rozanov for advice?" J.J. asked right after Hayden. Everyone in the locker room started talking amongst themselves, and Shane tried not to have a panic attack right then and there.

"Okay enough!" Shane yelled in his best captain's voice. "I thought about buying a sports car because I was going through some late 20s crisis or whatever, but I decided against it after talking to Svetlana. And I asked Rozanov because, believe it or not, the two of us can have a conversation together, and he knows more about buying sports cars than anyone."

Shane didn't really think anyone in the locker room believed him, but thankfully, they dropped it. Maybe they realized that playoffs were approaching, and they still needed to clinch a spot.

"Rozanov, what the hell is Hollander doing?" Marleau met Ilya at the entrance of the locker room, waiting for his captain to make an appearance.

"Playing hockey most likely?" Ilya played dumb. He was hoping his gossipy team would not pay attention to this and thought he got away with it when no one mentioned anything on the plane ride home last night. They had wifi on the plane, but he suspected most of them were too tired from their loss to scroll social media.

"I mean with Svetlana, man, that's your girl! Is he getting back at you for the Rose Landry thing?" Marleau followed Ilya to his stall, and even though theirs were right next to each other, the giant didn't make any indication that he would move to his.

"Svetlana is not my girl, and neither is Rose Landry," Rozanov rolled his eyes. "Both women would most likely beat you up for saying that." Well, Rose Landry would probably get one of her fancy bodyguards who were terrible at their actual job to do it. Svetlana would kill him.

Although she probably would just laugh if someone called her Shane Hollander's girl. Cheeky little shit thought the whole thing was funny.

"Don't act like you two don't fuck. I've slept over when you two have gone at it," Cliff decided to inform the whole locker room about. He was never shy about his activities before, but right now, he did not want this aired out.

"We used to, now we do not. Haven't for a while," Rozanov shrugged. "She can do whatever she wants with whoever she wants."

"So you are just okay with the fact that Shane Hollander, the Shane Hollander, your biggest rival and the captain of the Montreal Metros, dating Svetlana?" Marelau asked, and Rozanov was painfully aware that everyone in the locker room was deathly silent, listening to their conversation.

"Why would I be upset with Svetlana dating Hollander? He is nice guy, yes?" And maybe this was a good time to start testing the waters of their "friendship" announcement that they planned to announce next year, once he hopefully signs with Ottawa.

"Nice guy? When did you become Hollander's biggest fan?" Since before rookie year, Ilya wanted to stay.

"Is lie? He wins sportsmanship award and visits sick kids in hospital. He never fights and is good hockey player? Very boring guy. Better option for Svetlana to date than most of you, though" Rozanov explained. He would call Shane boring and use other insults about his lack of fun. But he never said in this locker room anything about his being a bad hockey player or being an asshole. Being an asshole was his thing, and he didn't lie about Shane ever. Ethical insults only.

"Wait, so you are saying that they are dating?" Cliff asked, and everyone in the locker room held their breath. What a bunch of gossips.

"I don't know, probably not. He asked me about sports cars at All-Star game, I give him Svetlana's number. They talked. She told me he is chicken and decided not to buy one. I will make fun of him for it," Okay, so maybe he lied about Shane sometimes. Or a lot of the time.

"Whatever, Roz, fuck him still." Yeah, he was planning on that.

“So, true love is not making your boyfriend good to the MLH Awards,” Shane took a spot next to Ilya at the bar, not looking at him, but slightly knocking his leg as he held up his hand for the bartender to come take his order.

“Yes, if said boyfriend is not required to be at a boring event as well,” he took a sip of his drink and peered over at Shane. “Mr. Art Ross,” Ilya pointed at the plaque for most points in the season that Shane had set on the bar.

“Names actually Shane Hollander,” and Ilya couldn’t help but smile. “And I don’t think you were required to be here?”

“Rub in that I didn’t get nominated for anything some more,” Ilya huffed.

“Rozanov.”

“Shut up,” Rozanov covered his mouth from smiling again as the two made eye contact. True love was going to MLH awards when you weren’t nominated for anything to see your boyfriend get an award okay, sue him.

“Rozanov.” Ilya rolled his eyes. This time it wasn’t his sexy boyfriend saying his name anymore.

“Scott Hunter,” he turned to face the man he had made go slightly viral earlier for his comments. “What do you want?”

“Mostly for you to stop talking about me,” Hunter sighed. “But unfortunately, my boyfriend would like to meet you.” Ilya straightened his back and craned his head to see a shorter man behind Hunter.

“Mr. Kip!” Ilya moved off his barstool and grabbed the man's hand to shake.

“I heard you had some relationship advice for me,” Kip smiled back and shook his hand, apparently not at all intimidated by the Russian who liked to terrorize his boyfriend.

“Yes, this event is very boring, right? If he really loved you, he wouldn’t make you talk with annoying hockey players with no teeth.”

“You might be on to something. I didn’t realize how much the hockey accent wasn’t a stereotype, and I’ve been called a ‘beaut’ all night.” Kip looked back at Scott, “But I love him too, so I want to go to these kinds of events with him.”

Rozanov blew a raspberry as if he hadn’t also shown up to this thing to support his boyfriend, even if he couldn’t show it.

Speaking of which, “Mr. Kip, this is Shane Hollander. He is okay player.”

Shane stood next to Ilya and held out his hand for Kip, and then, with the most shit-eating grin and with an accent Ilya had never heard him do before, introduced himself, “Hey ya bud, nice to meet ya, eh. I’m Shane.”

Ilya was both disgusted and turned on. Scott Hunter actually laughed.

“Oh, I’m very aware of who you are,” Kip beamed, and oh no, Ilya didn’t like where this was going.

“Kip, don’t-” Hunter started to say, but Kip cut him off.

“Look, I’m just saying. If Rozanov wants to use us to distract people from asking questions about the last year, then I think I should at least get to ask.”

Rozanov felt Shane freeze next to him, and it took a lot in him not to reach out and place a hand on his back.

“You want to know if we are actually dating each other's ex-girlfriend?” Shane shifted back to his monotone voice.

“Look, sorry, you don’t have to tell me. I was just joking around, I’m sorry,” Kip rushed out, his cheeks flushing.

“Is not serious,” Rozanov tried his best to put on a fake smile. “Is not true. I didn’t date Landry, and Shane didn’t date my friend Svetlana. Just silly rumors because people do not understand that men and women can talk without sleeping together.” Kip nodded, still looking embarrassed, but Hunter just looked at the two of them with a knowing look.

“Yeah, just friends,” Shane stumbled out. “You know how people are online. I saw last week that the two of you eloped, but also got divorced.”

Kip held up his hand. “Yeah, no ring yet.”

Rozanov saw the opening and quickly changed the subject. “Are they not paying you in New York, Hunter? Or are you spending all your money on plastic surgery so people don’t know you were alive during World War II? Why does this man not have a giant ring on his finger yet?”

Things died down for the most part as the summer continued into the beginning of the new season. Well, people were going insane over the fact that Ilya Rozanov had signed with Ottawa instead of Boston, but they weren’t speculating on who was dating whom as much. Rose and Svetlana weren’t even in Canada all summer, and the two men were focused on spending as much time together as they could while also moving Ilya to Ottawa. People didn’t even blink twice if they saw him out and about. It all made sense now why he was there, and people moved on to other things. 

“Svetlana is going to be in Montreal for a while,” Ilya hit the power button on his phone after ending the call with his best friend and plopping down on the couch next to Shane. He burrowed his head under Shane’s arm, who let him settle against him while he continued to review tape on his iPad. “Business is going well here, said it’s a good middle point between all her clients in Toronto and Boston.” 

“Also conveniently two hours from her best friend,” Shane raised an eyebrow and gave him a small smile. 

“Yes,” Ilya mumbled, turning his face fully into Shane’s chest and wrapping his arms around him. Taking the cue, Shane put his iPad to the side and pulled his boyfriend tighter against him. “I miss her.” 

“She misses you, too.” Shane threaded a hand through Ilya’s hair. “Is she moving here permanently? Do you think she needs help finding a place?” 

Ilya laughed, vibrating against Shane’s chest. “Mr. Real Estate.” And then lowered his voice to almost a whisper. “No, just temporary. I think she is worried about me moving.”

Shane didn’t respond and just continued to play with Ilya’s hair. 

Ilya turned his head to look Shane in the eye. “She likes you, you know.” 

“I did have fun when we got dinner. You weren’t kidding about her hockey knowledge.” 

“I would never kid about that,” Ilya untangled himself from Shane so that he could pull him against him instead, leaning back so they could lie fully on the couch. Once Shane was settled on top of Ilya, he continued. “Maybe you two should hang out while she is here.” 

Shane sighed. “We just got people to stop thinking that she and I were dating.” 

“Who cares?” Ilya ran his hand up and down Shane’s back. 

“Me,” Shane tensed. “What if people speculate that we are together instead?” 

“Some might,” Ilya agreed. “But they will probably anyway.” He started rubbing circles into Shane’s shoulders to try to get him to relax. “Plus, we are supposed to be friends soon, right? Friends hang out with each other's friends.”

“I’ll think about it,” Shane moved his hand to hold onto Ilya’s face. “I liked hanging out with her, I’m just scared.” 

“Shane Hollander,” was how Svetlana greeted him outside the small arena. 

“Hey,” Shane gave an awkward wave as he walked up to her. “Did you invite me to a girls' youth hockey tournament?” 

“Yes,” she told him, like it was the most normal thing in the world. “Let’s go inside.” 

Shane, who was desperate for Svetlana to like him and also a little afraid of her, followed. He tightened the strings on his hoodie a little to keep his face hidden.

There was no admission fee for the event, as ten-year-olds playing hockey wasn’t the hottest commodity in the city. Shane kept his head down as Svetlana led him over to the press box area, which was empty for the same reason. 

“You see that team,” Svetlana pointed to a group of young girls in orange jerseys stretching on the ice. “That’s my team.” 

“Your team?” Shane raised an eyebrow. “You got money on them or something?” 

Svetlana nodded. “Yes.” She reached for her phone and scrolled to her album. “These are my girls. I finance their team.” She showed Shane a picture of her at practice with the same girls who were on the ice. 

Shane had about a million questions and wanted to ask them all. He didn’t think Svetlana was mean or anything, but despite dating her best friend, he didn’t really know much about her. Sponsoring a youth hockey team in Montreal didn’t really cross his mind as something that’d she do. 

“That’s nice,” Shane tried to keep his voice neutral. “What made you want to sponsor them?” 

Svetlana nodded, as if it were the correct question for Shane to ask. 

“Their coach is from Russia,” she pointed towards a young blonde woman who was leading the girls in their stretches. “Played on the national team for a few years. She’s also a lesbian. She is afraid of going back. We were acquaintances back in the day.” 

“So you guys reconnected?” Shane asked. “When you decide to stay in Montreal for a while?” 

“Yes, her wife is from Montreal. She’s the personal assistant for one of my clients. It’s a small world.” 

Shane smiled. “Are they good?” 

Svetlana smiled back. “Of course. They have Natalia coaching them and me when I have time. The girls don’t have money, though. Not like the other hockey kids.” Shane cringed. Hockey was an expensive sport. He was lucky enough that his parents could afford it and that he was good enough to get scholarships. 

They watched the game start and were able to make comfortable conversation about the hockey. Hockey was easy to talk about for Shane, and it was nice to have someone to talk to about who was obsessed with it like Svetlana. Obviously, Ilya and he talked about hockey, but he didn’t care about hockey history and other players' stats, the way Shane was obsessed with it. The way Svetlana seemed to be obsessed with it, too. 

Shane loved hockey. It didn’t matter if it was professionals or ten-year-old girls, apparently, because he and Svetlana got way too into the game. They were jumping and screaming when one of the players, who couldn’t be more than four feet tall, had a breakaway and scored a goal. They started booing the refs when they didn’t agree with one of the calls. He restrained himself when one of the girls on the other team ran into their goalie from yelling at them to fight, although Svetlana seemed to have no qualms about doing so. 

“Dude, please tell me you are actually fucking Rozanov’s ex!” Comeau slapped Shane on the back in the locker room, trying not to look or talk to any of his teammates, which didn’t make him the greatest captain in the world. 

“Guys, let him be,” Hayden, who actually knew why Shane was hanging out with Svetlana now, tried to help him. 

“Is Rozanov actually going to beat your ass this time?” Schneider joined in. “Like Ottawa is awful, it’s not like he has anything to lose by getting a suspension.” 

“Rozanov is not going to fight anyone,” Shane held his hands up. He really didn’t need anyone fighting his boyfriend tonight. Ilya would be more than happy to fight Shane’s teammates, but he really wanted to spend time with his boyfriend without a split lip or black eye. “Svetlana and I are friends.” 

“If it were anyone else, I’d scream bullshit, but it’s Hollander,” J.J. came to his defense. “Plus, a kids' hockey tournament isn’t really romantic.” 

“Please,” Drapeau rolled his eyes. “It’s Hollander, so any hockey is romantic to him. He jerks off to MLH highlights.” 

Shane had it. “That’s enough!” He very much didn’t jerk off to MLH highlights, thank you very much. Well, sometimes to his boyfriends' highlight videos, but that was different. “You guys are way too invested in my sex life for a team that has lost 3 of our last 5. Now, are we going to gossip, or are we going to beat Ottawa?”

“Hollander!” Wyatt Hayes cheered from the booth where the three Ottawa players, Svetlana, and Rose were sitting. “Nice to see you, man. I was surprised when Rozanov said you were coming out!” 

“Rozanov said you were coming?” J.J. asked from behind him. 

Shane froze, and Ilya laughed. “You are hiding me from your friends?” He placed his hand on his chest. “I’m offended.” 

Shane rolled his eyes. “Rozanov and I are working on a charity together. We are announcing it in a few weeks after the game in Ottawa, so keep it to yourself, okay?” 

J.J.’s mouth fell open. “What-” But he was cut off by Svetlana. 

“Excuse me, very beautiful women sitting here being ignored.” Shane, because he was oblivious but not an idiot, went over and hugged both of them and thanked them for coming, while J.J. and Hayden settled with the Ottawa players. It wasn’t unlikely for players from different teams to get together, and even though they were division rivals, Ottawa sucking since forever made it so the two teams really had no beef besides the fake Rozanov-Hollander rivalry.  

Shane actually had some fun that night. He didn’t stay long, just a few hours. And he did get dragged into dancing, which he hated to do, but he didn’t really know how to tell Svetlana no, and he felt protective of Rose, who had definitely attracted some fans nearby. The rest of the hockey players also joined them on the dance floor, so Ilya wasn’t that far away from him. If he thought about it enough, it was almost like they were dancing together.

And by dancing, he was mostly standing there and nodding his head. 

It was nice to be able to be around his boyfriend in public. Soon, they would have the cover of being friends and the charity, and could go out more. And even though J.J. still looked very confused at them all together, he at least had the decency to keep his mouth shut for the most part. Most likely because he wanted to impress Rose, but still, it was nice.