gracias a la vida

shane & ilya + alcohol

Heated Rivalry (2025-) dir. Jacob Tierney

Shane and Ilya are obviously hunkering down at the cottage together. There's no hockey, but they don't know for how long, so they're still training all the time. They're doing interviews and having to make it look like they're in completely different places. Ilya has to keep being reminded that he's supposed to still be back in Ottawa.

Ilya's teammates keep asking if they can be in a lockdown bubble together and he's gotta be like "No, can't do that. I'm not taking any chances." But now they're worried because he hasn't seen or been around another human being in months and they've noticed that even before lockdown he made more jokes about killing himself than the average person, so they're stressed to their eyeballs about his mental health.

Meanwhile Ilya's living the kind of domestic fantasy with his man that he didn't think they were going to get until retirement. For the first time ever most days he can truly pretend that he and Shane are the only people in the world. Sometimes David and Yuna come over for dinner because they are also isolating at their cottage. But most of the time it's just endless hours of just the two of them and neither of them could be happier. Their biggest decision every day is when and where to fuck. Some people are getting into sourdough – Shane and Ilya have committed to learning one new sexual position every day.

it's all there in shanes eyes. the way he relaxes the second ilya touches him. like he's suddenly remembering that whatever waits for him at the end of that drive he won't have to face it alone.

"I think someone's abducted Rozanov," Hayden said under his breath as he, Shane, and a few of the other coaches stood at the edge of the rink, watching Ilya from afar. "Replaced him with a nicer model."

Shane, however, just smirked, watching his boyfriend. Ilya was in the middle of what looked like a very intense face-off against 7-year-old Brian, muttering chirps that included, 'Your shoelace is untied' and 'I heard your favorite flavor of ice cream is vanilla, so boring,' while Brian kept cracking up and missing the puck. Shane's heart felt swollen with joy, about to crack free from his ribs.

"He really is good with the kids," Max agreed, though he sounded far less surprised and suspicious. 

As the other coaches skated off to join in the fun, Shane snorted and shot Hayden a look, not saying a word.

"What?" Hayden demanded, turning to Shane and raising an eyebrow. 

And for a moment, Shane thought about keeping his mouth shut, like he usually did. He really considered keeping the peace, and keeping his thoughts buried in his brain. But he'd been insisting for so fucking long that Ilya was so much more than what he was made out to be; that his bad-boy persona was only that...and Hayden had fought him every step of the way.

So now he looked to his friend and shrugged. "Just...I told you so," he muttered.

"Hey, um, Shane, buddy?"

Hayden's tone immediately has Shane's attention. While he's often the guy in the room to misread things, he knows Hayden better than most people, and it'd be damn hard to misread this: the light, tentative words; the uneasy expression; the avoidance of eye contact and the fidgeting of hands and feet. Hayden is nervous, which is odd because normally he's a pretty easygoing guy.

"What's up, man?" Shane replies, trying and failing to make his friend calm down.

"Um, listen....I'm trying, like, really hard to be cool, you know?" he says, and of course this makes Shane tense up. "Y'know, about the whole...Rozanov thing?"

And lately Hayden has. He's said some stupid shit, but he really is trying: making feeble attempts to befriend Ilya and even joke with him when they're in the same room. It's awkward and tense but Shane appreciates it all the same. 

"Okay..." Shane replies, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"But...could you guys, like, maybe clean up a little? Before I bring the kids over here?" Hayden asks, looking a little nauseous as he speaks.

Shane has to stare for a moment. Because, like, he has never been told in his entire life that he's anything other than immaculately clean. So...what the fuck?

"Um...Hayd...no offense, but your house is definitely messier than mine," he says bluntly, thinking of the toys on the floor and the unknown sticky substances that lay on multiple surfaces in the Pike household. He's never let it bother him because he gets it–kids make things hard–but Hayden's being a fucking hypocrite right now.

Hayden rolls his eyes and chuckles. "Yeah, man, I get that. But I just, um...I don't want them to come over and find, like..." and then whatever he says next is so quiet that Shane can't hear it.

"Find what?" Shane asks sharply, his brain attaching words on the end that feel targeted and hurtful.

Hayden's eyes widen. "Lube, dude! I–fuck, every time I come over here, I find some! And, like, good for you two or whatever, but I don't feel like explaining to Jade and Ruby what 'I Licked It So It’s Mine Strawberry Flavor' is!"

And now Shane is looking down at the floorboards, blushing scarlet. "Oh. Um..."

But it's Ilya's laughter from behind them that makes them both look up.

"Do not worry, Pike," he says reassuringly, his whole face alight with amusement. "We will make sure lube is hidden. We do not want children to think sex is normal when they live with parents who have only fucked three times before."