sostarry

obviously shane hired a travel agent to create The Optimum Vacation, but he also studied and approved everything and also has custody of all important documents just because it makes HIM feel better and in control

meanwhile ilya?? straight elevator music. where are they going? unclear. when's the flight? not his concern. how long are they staying? who's to say. where's his passport? his husband has both of theirs.

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

And this kid did not have a lot of friends. His teachers thought he wasn't very smart because he made everything about hockey. And they dismissed him when he struggled with math and reading. "if you could just put some of your hockey energy into school, then maybe you would get better." His classmates laughed at the hockey themed valentines day cards him and his mom had to hand make because nowhere was selling hockey themed valentines day cards. And they laugh at him when he repeats the same thing over and over about "getting pucks deep, pucks deep, pucks deep." When he would play all by himself on the yard pretending he was skating, picking up any big stick he could find on the ground, they'd push him around. "Can we play? We'll be defenders" and ram him and take his stick. And he'd just go through all the penalties they would have just gotten over and over again until he can calm down. He celebrated every birthday at the ice rink in his full hockey gear even though he didn't really have classmates showing up. Not for lack of invite.

And his parents try to steer him away from it. They try and watch new sports, they try and get him to watch kids shows, get into things kids his age like, but all he wants to do is watch reruns of the metros cup wins. Wants to wear his hat backwards with his black shirt because that's how Shane looks in the interviews. Memorizes the answers he gives in french even though this kid never learned french in school. And its useless. This kid is hooked and they just kinda have to ride this wave.

So when the announcement comes for the Game Changers camp, these parents do absolutely everything to get him there. They don't care what it takes, this is like a light for all of them really in the midst of all the bullying at school and the meltdowns at home and the obsessive routines that fall apart if even one thing is out of place.

And they explain to the camp that their boy might have a hard time. Might need some time to adjust. That he struggles with math, and reading, and can get caught up in all the rules sometimes. Preemptively trying to say "he's not a bad kid. he's trying his best."

So at the end of the first day, his parents are prepared for a meltdown. Its new, its a lot of kids, the rink can get loud and cold, and he doesn't always do well with transitioning out of hockey. He's hard to pull off the ice at home.

And they can see some upset under the surface when they arrive. He clearly doesn't want to go home. Thats no surprise.

What is a surprise is the way Shane gets down on one knee next to where the boy is sitting upset on the ground. He doesn't move to touch him. He just gets down and the two of them softly have a chat. The boy is tugging on his hair and nodding at what Shane says. And eventually he stands and the parents walk over to them.

"You must be the parents. Its good to meet you," Shane says softly. "I was just going over some things about tomorrow. So that way he would know the schedule."

And they can see their son isn't quite happy, still clearly exhausted. He'll nap in the car and be grumpy at dinner. But he is much more regulated than they expected him to be.

"And, I was telling him about my schedule when I go home. About getting some quite time, making sure I can decompress. I think that's what all good hockey players need, right buddy?"

"Right buddy," he repeats.

ilya: shane is the best player in the NHL no contest

reporter: shane hollander same question.

He gets to the cottage a day before Ilya's due to arrive to get all the groceries and snacks they'd need for their two weeks, but also to check the new arcade and it's absolutely perfect. He's so excited going to fetch Ilya he can barely contain himself. He thinks that he'll like it, but there's a small part of his mind that's like is it too much though?

"Excited to be going back?" Ilya asks, taking the hand Shane's been nervously drumming against the wheel. And Shane can't even really speak. He just nods, and brings Ilya's hand up to his lips to kiss it.

When they get to the cottage, Ilya immediately starts dragging him off in the direction of the bedroom, and Shane digs his heels in. Ilya turns around looking concerned.

"Something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," says Shane, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. "I just have something to show you and I'm not going to be able to think about anything else until I do. Come with me."

Ilya only looks marginally less worried as Shane leads him to the games room.

"See anything new?" he asks, and Ilya dutifully looks around for anything that looks different from last time.

"You have bookshelves now," says Ilya. "I did not know we would be doing so much reading this time."

And Shane laughs and tells him to take a closer look. When Ilya approaches the bookshelf and notices the little wooden loon, Shane knows his plan will work. As soon as Ilya tries to pick it up, presumably to chirp him about it, it tips and the bookshelf springs forward on one side. Ilya turns back to Shane looking like a kid at Christmas.

"You have a secret room now? A sex dungeon? My Shane, are you planning to do wicked things to me in here for the next two weeks?"

"Just go look, asshole," Shane laughs, following Ilya into the room, heart catching when Ilya sees it for the first time.

"An arcade?" he asks, awestruck. "You have an arcade?"

"You have an arcade. Or, I mean, we have an arcade." Ilya turns to look at him. "I know you've always wanted one and I want the cottage to be yours as much as it's mine so I, uh—"

And that's all he can say for the next few minutes because suddenly he finds himself crowded against a claw game being kissed to within an inch of his life.

"You're so fucking crazy, Hollander," says Ilya when they eventually part, pressing his forehead to Shane's. "A fucking secret arcade. Thank you, lyubimyy. I don't even know how to say it. Just thank you. I love you and your big crazy heart so fucking much."

And Shane laughs and presses a small kiss to his lips.

Ilya tries to be a little more careful. Sure he bitches about her over wine to Shane and some of their friends in the PTA, but the PTA chair's son is in the same class as their daughter, so even if they manage to oust her, they'll probably still have to deal with her for the whole time their daughter is at the school and is it worth the fucking headache that would be?

But then one day he and Shane get called to the school because their daughter was caught fighting with the PTA chair's son. And when they get the full story, it turns out the PTA prince had been bullying their daughter for having two dads. And PTA chair is adamant that her precious Caden would never bully. Sure, because of their religious beliefs, they don't condone Shane and Ilya's lifestyle, but their Caden would never use that as a reason to bully anyone.

And that's when Ilya sees fucking red. He's like "Oh so you just tell Caden that Rini's dads shouldn't be together because god says so and are now surprised that he would say that at school to our daughter? Do you even fucking know how children work? Have you read a single fucking parenting book? Well, in our house, our religion is hockey and in our religion, if someone talks shit you're allowed to punch them as hard as you want."

Ilya wins his first awards and hes got nobody he really wants to thank after his team and coach cause he he hates his family but he knows his speech is too short so on impulse he goes "And I want to thank Shane Hollander for being slightly worse than me this season". Everyone knows it was going to one of those two, so everyone thinks hes an asshole to say that but whats new so it works for him. But from then on it then becomes a bit for both of them to thank each other in their speeches in a snide way as a reason they won.

Shane winning the Art Ross Trophy (Awarded to the player who leads the league in total points at the end of the regular season). and going "special thanks to Rozanov for missing at least 5 shots this season, he was a huge help"

Ilya winning the Conn Smythe Trophy (Awarded to the most valuable player for his team in the playoffs.) "Just want to give a quick shout out to Hollander for getting knocked out in the second round this season. Must hate to see me up here."

so yuna and david show up to every Centaurs game wearing Rozanov jerseys instead of hollander. they had to buy so many new ones and ended up donating a bunch of shane’s they never wore anymore.

david always calls and asks Ilya what he’d like for family dinner, but never asks shane. shane will pull out frozen meal prep without complaint if he doesn’t like ilya’s choice, while ilya marvels at whatever david cooks up for him. “what is this you say? marriage chicken” ilya asks. “Marry Me Chicken,” david answers. “this is gravy, yes?” Ilya says, shoving half a chicken breast into his mouth

at christmas they have to get new stockings made, because the hollander’s traditional stockings are too old to buy a matching one for Ilya. Ilya cries fat tears when he opens them on christmas eve. Shane pouts because he’s going to miss his Santa stocking from childhood, and Yuna smacks him upside the head until he shuts up. They also have a stocking made for Anya <3

when both ilya and shane come down with a nasty flu at the same time (one in montreal one in ottawa), yuna and david camp out with ilya to help him through his convalescence instead of shane. because they know ilya is a big baby when he’s sick while shane will refuse any help and would prefer to be left alone

when ilya goes through a particularly bad depressive episode, yuna and david call up Galina and ask for advice on how to care for him, and pull out every trick in the book. ilya is too raw and embarrassed to thank them but cries into shane’s chest every night because he feels so loved but also so guilty