gestures vaguely

what did toronto think about them? were they just like “yup thats a normal marriage. thats how it should be”

I meannn, do any of the people Troy hangs out with in Toronto really know what a healthy marriage looks like? I think not.

Hmm, I think it fell somewhere in between for several reasons. One of which is, at heart, both Troy and Vivienne love a good party, and what better party then your wedding?

However ☝️ I don't think either of them were overly involved in the actual planning of their wedding. I think Vivienne's mom took over almost immediately, because, y'know obviously they're old enough to get married but god forbid they be in allowed to plan their own wedding. They want it to be timeless! Not some silly party.

(which, uh, side note: Yeah, Vivienne's parents are one of the reasons she's so willing to throw herself in a relationship with Troy.)

I think the guest list wasn't as large as it might have been if they had gotten married later. They got married after Troy's first season, and Troy made the decision to not invite anybody from the Toronto Guardians to the wedding.

I’m imagining teenage Vivian running mental social calculations, clocking baby gay Troy, and weighing the pros and cons of publicly dating him. Not much changes because they were already in the same friend group. Basically just informing him they’re dating now. You’re taking me to the school dance. Look you’re an attractive guy, I’m an attractive girl, the photos will be good, everyone will be jealous. What does “like-liking” someone have to do with anything? 🙄 added benefit of creeps leaving me alone and stopping your team from hassling you. Somehow they get prom king & queen, maybe because they’ve been the most stable high school relationship

I’m imagining them coming out to each other, Vivian just going on a full rant one day about her toxic situationship when they’re alone, Troy’s eyes bug out, you’re into girls 😯 and she like yeah. He tentatively tells her he’s into guys and she like obviously 🙄 then has to back track significantly to reassure him no one can tell and that’s why they’re dating in the first place

I’m imagining their monthly meetups, sometimes they’re preforming for family. He’s like her Ken doll for when ever she needs ‘husband’🧍‍♂️specifically to show off her ‘hot husband’ to judgmental family members and her enemies (fully forgetting he’s a pro athlete), she’s perfectly curated her online image, she fully took control of the proposal, engagement, and wedding once they’d decided to get married, everything is Pinterest perfect, she’s picked out the exact ring she wants, scouts proposal locations, gets him to hire a photographer, nails hair makeup are just so it looks like she’s not even trying

They both have intense skincare routines, maybe she introduced him to the concept, in addition to any other calls throughout the week they have have ‘weekly resets’ where they’re doing face masks, drinking wine, shit talking anything and everything. Every so often Troy’s able to use the “my wife” excuse in Toronto it’s a god send

I’m imagining Vivian meeting Harris pre-divorce post-plane hookup going full Addison Montgomery season 1 Grey’s Anatomy “I’m Vivian Barrette, and you must be the man screwing my husband.” She knows what’s going on, they know what’s going on, she just wants to see Harris squirm, it doesn’t work as well as she wanted it to, unfortunately Harris is too likable 🫤 A rookie definitely overhears the introduction but not the conclusion of this conversation. The locker room is tense. Does she keep his last name post divorce?

I saw a girl online say her husband gives her the option every like 6 months of handbag or trip and she said she picks the trip because she knows he’ll buy her a bag on the trip and I’m imagining something similar happens between them, she’s still on call for business things tho during their trips

This got long, sorry about that, but yes thoroughly enjoying lavender marriage Troy

THAT'S MY VIVIENNE BARRETT!!!!

Yes she's mean, yes she's calculating, YES she's stopping in the middle of her "of course your gay, Troy" talk to make sure he knows that she clocked him not because he's obvious, but because they're in the same boat. They're the same. And they can be the same together! And sure they'll be miserable, but they'll do that together too.

Her online image is, like, the blueprint for the modern day WAG. She knows enough about hockey to carry a conversation, but not enough to argue with the hockey players. She's beautiful and she's charming and she's just mean enough to keep up with known asshole Troy Barrett. (She's meaner, actually, but nobody else needs to know that.)

I'm not going to lie, I have very much considered giving her the "You must be the person screwing my husband" line, she could make it work. She would eat a fur coat and a bitchy one liner. And Harris IS too likable, but that won't stop her from trying to not like him. (She's failing.)

Half the locker room had no idea he was married, even the half that did know are confused about how overjoyed he sounds.

Imagine Vivian getting added to the WAG groupchat and going ??? Because she forgot Troy plays hockey.

I think it would be funny if she's also a pro athlete of some kind, or so super involved in her own sport that she forgets others exist.

Anyway I love your au, it's possessing me

I think Troy and Vivienne get divorced during the off season and he comes back with the intention of a) Locking down Harris as soon as possible b) Winning a Stanley Cup, so he can c) Pull a Scott Hunter and come out by kissing a hot guy.

Vivienne in the WAG group chat....I have considered it. I think she was in the Toronto one but very rarely actually participated in conversations (again, Vancouver) but she did occasionally pour herself a glass of wine and scroll through these women's problems like it was reality tv. Sometimes she would call Troy up like, "Did Michaels really call his sister in law ugly?" and Troy would have no idea what she's talking about.

She would not like the Ottawa WAG group chat. Everybody there is too nice. She can't read about their problems without feeling bad, which takes the fun out of it.

oh my godddd i haven't really considered the Ilya of it all, however

Ilya is a little more on the fence about Troy, I think. He's suspicious about him, about his marriage, but there is a lot of plausible deniability considering that Vivienne lives in Vancouver, and Troy had lived in Toronto, and now lives in Ottawa.

One of the things that really sounds some alarm bells is that when they play Vancouver, Troy makes basically no attempt to see Vivienne (both because Vivienne is very busy at work that week, and Troy is avoiding the serious conversation he knows is coming). However, Troy does still spend the night drinking and Curtis does still show up at the hotel in this au, so Ilya sort of overlooks the other stuff in favour of clocking Troy's daddy issues.

He stills brings him to the Kingfisher, and the vibes are significantly weirder. Troy doesn't necessarily come out, but there are some....implications in their conversation they have on their way back to the hotel (side: I do think Ilya comes out to Troy, maybe not as directly, but still).

In my mind Vivienne does make her way to Ottawa pre-plane crash, which is when Ilya really starts clueing in on what's happening. Like, that is not how happily married people act. It reminds him of how he and Sveta act, more then anything.