boston and ottawa both have ābad roz daysā group chats to warn each other, the first ottawa vs boston game where roz gets the two teams together marly is leaned over the table while roz gets drinks like āyou guys have a group chat about him too, right?ā and they spend the night exchanging war stories (ottawa is horrified by marly describing 2016) and thus the chats marry. every time roz is having a bad day someone will text the mass chat and get either āwhat if i call out sickā from ottawa players or āpraying for your safe return home brotherā from boston. marleau sends flowers to the rink a few times too.
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Ilya lost (1) rookie while out clubbing when he was a Raider (rookie was fine, he just slept outside for a night) and now he goes to insane lengths to never lose one again. And thus. Handholding once a certain threshold of drunkenness has been achieved is now a rule.
This continues into him being a Centaur, and nobody questions him bc when Ilya Rozanov wants to hold your hand, well, youāre going to let him.
Autistic Shane has echolalia which is why he likes to randomly switch to a Russian accent and repeat back all the little Russian phrases and accented words Ilya says. At first, Ilya thinks heās making fun of him like some weird form of chirping, but he eventually realizes Shane is just Like That TM (being his cutie patootie self.)
Shane: *sounds progressively more Russian during a conversation*
Ilya, thinking Shaneās making fun of him: that fucking asshole?
Ilya: neveroyatnyy
Shane, whispering in a perfect Russian accent: āØneveroyatnyyāØ
Ilya, clearly wasnāt supposed to hear that: ????!!
Ilya drops several Russian curses while they fuck once, and Shane just moans them right back. (Maybe Ilya fucks Shane three ways to Sunday afterward, and maybe he starts speaking Russian more during sex, but that is NO ONEāS business!)
Shane speaking to JJ during warm-ups: *unconsciously copying his accent*
Ilya, eavesdropping: No, thatās our thing >:(
Shane has genuine difficulty staying quiet and not echoing when Ilya gives his monologue over the phone, but he thinks it would upset Ilya if he did. (And Ilya will never admit it, but each time he said āI love youā in Russian, he hoped Shane would say it back in his little echo, even if he knew Shane didnāt mean it. (He would.))
Shane in the hospital, high as a kite, in a Russian accent: bye bye :)
Ilya, heart eyes 15000%: fuck this, fuck you, nurse I am having heart attack
This is also why Ilya believes Shane could learn Russian in two weeks because SOMEHOW (with his echolalia) Shane is really good at replicating the proper pronunciation.
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Ilya is like hey what if I give and give and give because while Iām Giving I have worth even if it hollows me out and if I stop everyone will realise Iām this horrid broken thing and being alone is a worse pain than this emptiness so I will give them my time I will give them my money I will give them perfection and performance and snark and humour and everything they expect from me and it will protect me from this incurable feeling Iāve had since I was born and if they canāt love me Iāll make them hate me because even that is better than the cold indifference of my home
The Ottawa Centaurs was his boyfriendās favorite team growing up. Ottawa was Shaneās hometown, and though Ilya moved here over the summer, it wasnāt quite home yet.
The home-opener crowd was foreign and different than Bostonās, which had been deafening and raucous. Over his first decade in the NHL, Ilya had come to feel at home among them, but now he was unnerved by the quietness of the arena and the strangers in the stands.
Wait. Was that David Hollander?
It took Ilya three turns about the ice to confirm that yes, Shaneās father was in the stands, sitting neatly behind the Centaursā bench and sipping what appeared to be ginger ale.
Like father, like son.
Ilya would send one of the team assistants to get him and place him in a suite. Yes. That would be all right. Shane and he were now known as āfriendsā or at least co-creators of their foundation. Ilya could be seen with David Hollander.
Probably.
Maybe.
Theyād find out.
And for David ā his boring boyfriendās boring father ā heād impress.
Four goals later ā okay, maybe Ilya overdid it ā he met David in the now all but empty box high above the ice.
āMr. Hollander, you enjoyed the game, yes?ā
David turned from the railing and started toward Ilya in a show, relaxed stride. āI did. I havenāt seen a crowd this size since Shane was a kid. Youāve really reinvigorated the city. And four goals! You are truly talented, Ilya.ā
Enough small talk. āWhy did you come?ā
David blinked, clearly taken back. āTo watch you play.ā
Yes, Ilya knew that. āBut why?ā
āI thought you might like to see a friendly face in the stands,ā David said slowly, as if feeling out the words. āYouāre new here. Probably donāt know the regular fans yet or even anyone really in the city besides Yuna and me. I thought you could use some support.ā
Shaneās father came for himā¦? Just for him? āIā¦did not know anyone in Boston when I started there.ā
Why should Ottawa be any different?
āWell, Yuna and I didnāt know you then, and we didnāt live in Boston.ā He telegraphed his actions, giving Ilya enough time to step back if he didnāt want Davidās hand upon his shoulder. He leaned in close, as if telling Ilya a secret. āBut we do live here, though, and we know you now, soā¦ā
āSoā¦this will become a thing,ā Ilya deduced. āMr. Hollander attending my games.ā
āDavid, please, and I would like it to be. Would you like it to be?ā
Ilya took a moment to actual consider the question. Heād never had someone religiously attend his games. His father had only come when convenient and only to scold. He couldnāt even remember if his brother ever showed up, even to the Olympics. His mother certainly had come beforeā¦
And now Mr. Hollan-David. David had come. To cheer Ilya.
He would very much like it to continue and told David as much.
āGood,ā David said with a warm smile, ābut next time, Iām fine in my seat. Up here is too far away from the ice. I like to be close to the action.ā
Ilya nodded. āThen I will get you good seats.ā
āNo need.ā David waved him off and encouraged Ilya to start out. āYuna and I can get our own. You just focus on getting that biscuit into the basket and the Centaurs into the playoffs.ā
David didnāt even want his help?
āWhere is Yuna tonight?ā Ilya asked.
āWeāre splitting parenting duties.ā
Ilya nodded. āYou make a good team.ā
āI think you and Shane do, too,ā David said, and Ilya beamed. āHey, Shaneās game in Calgary should be just at the end of the second period. Why donāt you come back to the house and watch the rest of it with us? We have coke and cookies and cream ice cream.ā
David had Ilya at āShaneās game,ā but it was kind that the Hollanders began to stock his favorite foods.
Ilyaās heart was in Calgary at the moment, but as he started toward his SUV, David at his side, he thought maybe a part of it was here in Ottawa, too.
i love how nice shane is to everyone else about hockey. Like when he meets Rose Landry, and she's talking about her brothers, she like "oh yeah, one is a free agent in the AHL and the other made it to the Frozen Four at Princeton" and shane is just like wow, amazing, incredible, you must be so proud
And with Shane and Ilya talking about Shane's dad at McGill (iconic) shane gets sooo defensive! he's like you shut up, McGill is a great school and my dad played hockey there and i am so proud
And Ilya's just like--light of my life, my moon and stars, you didn't go to college because you got drafted when you were 18. You are the lebron james of hockey
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i heart david cause he finds out that ilya and shane are something and when they come over david thinks "gasp. i have russian vodka. i was made for this moment. best gay dad ever"
One thing I haven't seen discussed a lot is WHY Yuna goes outside at that moment. I have seen people posit that she is overwhelmed, that she is angry at Shane, or angry at Ilya, or angry at the situation in general. I can tell you, as a mother myself, that woman is angry at HERSELF. She is livid, completely livid, that she could have given her child even the smallest amount of evidence that she wouldn't be okay with his sexuality. And then to have him try to tell her that he TRIED TO CHANGE HIMSELF in order to make her happy, that anger turns immediately to sadness, to regret that she was thinking for one second about herself when this is about Shane. And when he forgave her, I don't think she forgave herself, which is why she went immediately into PR mode. That wasn't about greed or selfishness, it was about "How can I fix this horrible mistake I have made" in the only way she knew how.
Shane and Ilya invite Svetlana to dinner with Yuna and David at Yunaās insistence.
*10 minutes into dinner*
Yuna: So, Svetlana, youād at least consider doing anything if itās for Ilya, right?
Svetlana: Of course, and knowing how important Shane is to Ilya, that devotion extends to him as well.
Yuna: Iām so thrilled to hear that, because Iām sure you understand the planning and consideration thatāll need to go into these two having kids, and itās never to early to look at all the options available.
Shane: Mom!
Yuna: What?
Shane: *feels soul depart body*
Ilya: *choking from suppressing his laughter*
Yuna: What?! You two said you were open to considering kids at some point. You know who her father is, to say nothing of her own brilliance and game intelligence. Can you imagine the potentialā¦
Shane: Iām imagining the potential for the floor to open up and swallow me whole.
It doesn't really make sense that Yuna Hollander is second generation Canadian, because immigration from Japan was heavily restricted by racist laws between 1907 and 1967. Her parents were likely born some time in the 1930s. It's possible they arrived post-WWII some time, maybe even before the immigration system was amended in 1967 if they were, say, university professors or some other special circumstance. Or they arrived soon after 1967 and quickly had Yuna in Canada.
BUT I think it's much more likely Yuna is third or fourth generation Canadian, and her parents, like many Japanese-Canadians, ended up in Montreal after they were interned and/or forcibly relocated by the Canadian government during WWII.
(I can then see Yuna's parents putting a lot of emphasis and pressure on proving their 'Canadianness' as a result of the horrific experience of being treated as an enemy by your own government. And one of those ways could've been, consciously or subsconciously, being huge hockey fans, as hockey is so tied to this idea of Canadianness. I honestly think you could read a lot of Yuna's traits - her relentless drive, her need for Shane (and by extension her) to be the best, to win the best sponsorships and earn the most money - as a result of parents who, understandably, valued self-reliance and achievement.)
(There's also, then, this really interesting tension where Shane is now Canada's golden boy and face of hockey and, if we accept this family history, only 70 years ago they were trying to deport his grandparents...)
Edit: I also wrote some meta about David Hollander's family, expanding on my tags on this post.
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I donāt think Shane knows heās been picked by Ilya. Not until the cottage.
In Boston, just before Shaneās freakout, Shane knows that he likes Ilya - he doesnāt know (yet) that he canāt force a relationship to work with a woman.
Which is what he thinks he has to do.
And he knows, from the tabloids and Ilyaās casual conversation, that Ilya both enjoys sex with women and has a lot of it.
Shane, as far as he knows, is just one in a long line of people for Ilya, and Ilya using his first name just causes Shane to freak out because Shane realizes just how much he wants Ilya to think of him as more.
So Shane, finding out that he is definitely gay by discovering that not even a woman he connects with emotionally can help him be the ānormal heterosexual manā he is trying to project, comes out to Ilya.
Ilya, who tells him that a public relationship is not in the cards. That being able to return to Russia is important.
So Shane, just like he does later, comes up with a plan.
Which he fucks up a bit by looking back when skating into the neutral zone and getting his bell rung.
Heās going to invite Ilya to the cottage and show him how nice a relationship with Shane can be without the outside pressures.
He invites Ilya - who he thinks is still sleeping around.
Ilya - that Shane is sure hasnāt picked him.
Itās only after theyāve collapsed onto the couch and Ilya tells him that he hasnāt been with anyone since their last night together - that Shane starts to think that Ilya is as serious about a possible relationship as Shane is.
Because Shane has picked Ilya - heās just good at hiding that he has. Ilya is it for Shane. There is no second choice. Ilya or nothing.
Which makes this scene hit all the harder.
Ilya, just like in Boston before Shane freaked the fuck out, starts talking about Svetlana. That they could get married for the green card. And Shane is sitting there, freaking out, as the person he had this whole plan for is making plans to marry someone else.
Three cheers for Shane, who has grown a bit from his Boston freakout and - this time - asks for what he wants.
āDonāt marry Svetlana.ā
The current underneath is āmarry meā.
And Ilya is able to tell Shane that it doesnāt seem to matter how sexy or available women are to him - Shane dominates his thoughts.
And you can see the relief flood Shane.
Because it is only then, really, that Shane starts to believe that Ilya chose Shane, as Shane has already chosen Ilya.
And all of this before Shane comes out to his mom.
i'm devastated for ilya because this poor twenty something year old - who has had far too much responsibility and resentment pushed on him for far too long, finally falls in love and it's in the exact way that he hoped he'd never fall in love because not only is it so beyond unsafe for him but it also means he'd have to completely say goodbye to all the responsibility and resentment for good - but that also means saying goodbye to his family, his home, the only one he's ever known, the one that hates him, the one that maybe sort of loved him once but just - stopped.
it's all heaved onto him and it's killing him but he still wants to keep it, he cannot abandon it more than he already feels he has. especially when his 'abandonment' comes not only from the career that gives him the means to care for his family, but also the exact love he knows will mean he can never return to it
and it's all so stark and bright and devastating and hopeful and terrible that ilya can barely let shane in in the slightest, he tells shane his father is sick and his mother is dead but he doesn't get into how he feels, for him or about any of it, but his body reacts to the safety of shanes prescence anyway and he cries and immediately feels so much shame for it
and then so much comfort
and it's the tiniest release but then his father dies and suddenly he can't acknowledge his feelings whatsoever. it's only after he cuts his brother off completely and svetlana lets him know that in no uncertain terms, she knows he's in love with someone else, that he can admit he's in love with shane
he has been denying it and denying it and he only allows himself the relief of saying it when he's lost all of the burden he's been holding onto - and it's only a relief for a moment before the guilt sets in
