Critical hours

[notes: this category might better be described as canon-compliant + canon-adjacent. for me, this includes fics that either fit right into canon with little-to-no adjustments, or fics with very minor diversions from canon in terms of timeline/plot beats/etc. that don’t really alter the trajectory of the story. if a fic takes place during hr/s1: as long as the story will still conceivably lead to the cottage and all that entails, it’s part of this category. if a fic takes place after hr/s1 (in the period before tlg): as long as the story will eventually lead into tlg with no major changes, i’ve included it here. lastly, i consider any fic which takes place after tlg to be canon compliant, considering unrivaled is not yet out. until it is, post-tlg canon is our sandbox!]

✧₊⊹ gatorade galas & moscow mules by toraten – explicit / 85.5k # dual pov, brief svetlana pov, post-finale, pre-tlg, slice-of-life, depression, panic attacks, jealousy, phone sex, unprotected sex.

“Your team psychologist prescribed these to you?” Shane asks. “No. He sent me to another.” “And you went?” “I went.” “For what?” Shane asks, even more confused about this whole thing than he was before. It’s feigning ignorance, maybe. Maybe because he doesn’t want this to be happening, maybe because he wants Ilya to just tell him himself, without Shane having to guess and infer. “They looked for CTE. Put my head in the machine. They found nothing. They say maybe it’s genetic. So they gave me this.” “They put your head in a fucking machine? When? What?”  “I said there was nothing.” “I just... I don’t understand why you wouldn’t tell me any of this, after all this time. I was right here—” “You don’t want depressed fucking loser, okay? No one does.”

Shane Hollander is worried about everyone and everything. Ilya Rozanov is mostly just sick of air travel. (Or: Shane and Ilya are having trouble balancing their very private relationship and their very public lives.)

✧₊⊹ like a bright new dream ‘series by moonsock – explicit / 39.3k # shane pov, post-tlg, slice-of-life, honeymoon, ottawa centaurs ensemble, depression, jealousy, unprotected sex.

“It’s been a hard year.” A good year, undoubtedly—he got married, honeymooned, joined the same team as his husband. And beating Montreal is… God, it’s the best fucking ‘I told you so’ there is. But also—he’d thought he was going to retire there. He used to picture his jersey in the rafters.

Shane and Ilya’s life after The Long Game, through Shane’s eyes.

✧₊⊹ continuity errors/tuesday again by anonymous – mature / 32.9k # ilya pov, post-finale, pre-tlg, slice-of-life, depression, miscommunication, metaphorical time loops.

It’s not depression, because he remembers what depression looks like. He remembers his mother’s smiles and the way the edges of them were always a little sad. He remembers the way her body looked in her bed before it became her deathbed, when she’d retire there eary in the afternoon and stay there beneath the covers through the night. He remembers her hair dulling, falling out in long strands he’d find on the pillowcase, in the hallway—the way it lost its shine, turned from spun gold into something mousy and pale. His hair is still soft, clean, and curly. Golden. Shane likes running his fingers through it, likes pushing it out of Ilya’s eyes and tucking it behind his ears even though it’s short enough that it never stays there for long.  The point is that whatever has broken within Ilya is not depression, because he knows what that looks like. He knows all the warning signs or symptoms or whatever they’re called. This is not that. This is just—Tuesday, over and over and over and over again.

The first thing you should know about time loops is that they’re really fucking hard to break. The second thing is that you can never break one in such a way that it is incapable of returning.

✧₊⊹ slash and burn by eleadore – explicit / 29.6k # shane pov, hook-up era, episode: 1x04, unknown drugs, dubious consent, jealousy, infidelity (not between shane/ilya).

He didn’t look right. Rozanov’s tendency to lock on Shane was the worst thing about him, hands down, but his eyes slid right past Shane now, unfocused. Shane found himself cataloguing the rest as if he had Rozanov on a slide: his lax mouth and set of his shoulders, how fast he was breathing. No way to know in this light if he’d paled, but he was shiny with sweat, so much that curls had matted to his forehead and the nape of his neck, and the hollow there of his clavicle gleamed. Was his chest flushed? Shane couldn’t tell. Everything was bright fucking pink. Rozanov was grinding against the guy’s hip with sloppy, urgent rolls of his body. He was still looking at Shane.

Shane had everything he’d ever wanted, plus a girlfriend. Ilya Rozanov was not his problem.

✧₊⊹ tongues a-wagging by anonymous – teen / 29k # dual pov, outsider pov (epilogue), hook-up era, original side character, social media, jealousy, miscommunication.

Shane’s never been straightforward with his emotions, his preferences. Ilya’s just spent many, many years learning them. Paying attention. So when a stranger sneaks into the peripherals of Shane’s texts, Ilya notices. When the I’s become we’s, Ilya notices. When Ilya gets a text from Jane in the evening on the West coast, asking if it’s true that in Russia, you don’t cross your heart when you tell the truth, you promise to give someone a tooth, Ilya fucking notices.  Dovonchezky is everywhere in Shane’s life, insidious and unshakable, and Ilya would cut off his own hands if it meant he could stop keeping score on his fingers.

Barstool Sports Canada reports that Montreal Metros captain Shane Hollander has started learning Russian from new teammate and Russian rookie Sergei Dovonchezky. Ilya has some thoughts. None of them are particularly kind.

✧₊⊹ bull in the heather by garagepaperback – explicit / 28.3k # shane pov, hook-up era, post-tlg, gambling (kind of), texting, jealousy, miscommunication, unprotected sex, original child character (epilogue).

Shane tells himself: it’s a few hundred bucks. Shane tells himself later that it’s fine because he only does it the one time, and unlike the other thing he’s told himself that about, over and over and over—unlike that, it is actually just the one time. Mostly. Really, he was fucked the second he opened the text thread. He’s not great at self-preservation when his dick is hard, and he gets a little thicker just from the shape of Rozanov’s not-even-real name on his phone.

Shane never had any vices until he met Ilya Rozanov.

✧₊⊹ careful all the time by anonymous – mature / 24.4k # shane pov, brief svetlana pov, post-finale, pre-tlg, slice-of-life.

“I was thinking about the honeymoon phase thing.” “Yes?” Ilya said. “I think it’s different for us. I don’t want us to be all blissful and then only start fighting when we’re back to barely seeing each other. I think it’s good if we figure things out now, when we have the time. Whatever needs figuring out. So we have a solid foundation going into the season. Sort of like training camp.” “So this means you will keep getting mad at me for things,” Ilya said. Shane smiled, rolled his eyes. “Yeah, exactly,” he said. “Good, I find it very hot,” Ilya said, and kissed him.

An insecure over-thinker and a self-destructive thrill-seeker walk into a relationship.

✧₊⊹ for a split sec, i was a train wreck by anonymous – explicit / 18.9k # ilya pov, hook-up era, injuries, boredom, texting, phone sex.

Never mind the next two weeks, the next eight hours stretched endlessly in front of him. He had no idea how to occupy his time. His house was basically empty, which sounded sad but was really a good thing, evidence he’d built himself the life he wanted—where he always had something to do, outside and with other people. Ilya had been restless for as long as he could remember, had never been able to sit still. He’d gotten in trouble for it as a kid at the dinner table and he got in trouble for it as a full grown man on the team bus. He’d gotten in trouble for it when the doctors had been trying to take the x-ray, his leg jumping without his permission.

Ilya gets injured, stops leaving the house, loses his mind, learns to read tarot, and sends Shane Hollander a lot of photos.

✧₊⊹ free rein by eleadore – explicit / 18.3k # ilya pov, hook-up era, under-negotiated kink, consensual non-consent, feminization.

“Stop asking me if it’s okay. If I want it. You’re always, like—whatever. I’m not one of your fucking girls, okay? If I don’t like it, I’ll stop you. I can make you stop.”

Ilya dutifully navigating the steel-trap of Shane’s mind.

✧₊⊹ another uninnocent, elegant fall by anonymous – explicit / 17k # ilya pov, hook-up era, post-finale, mentions of ilya/others, public sex, getting caught, blackmail.

“We shouldn’t talk about that. About anyone knowing. Please.” “Okay,” Ilya said. He wasn’t sure it scared him the way it scared Shane, the idea of people knowing, and that made him feel guilty and a little ashamed. It should scare him. Logically. He had as much to lose as Shane—probably more, considering the Russia of it all. And he obviously didn’t want it to get out, but he wasn’t scared of it to the degree he couldn’t even entertain it as dirty talk. Ilya wondered what it’d be like moving through life with that much fear in him. He thought maybe it would be nicer. Clarifying.

Seven scandals in the life of Ilya Rozanov.

✧₊⊹ real love makes your lungs black by anonymous – explicit / 16.6k # dual pov, hook-up era, post-finale, addiction, smoking, jealousy.

If Shane had had a good, close friend, a confidante, somebody he could talk to about whatever was happening between him and Ilya Rozanov, and that good close friend got it in their head that maybe Shane liked Ilya, had feelings for him, one of the first things Shane would say to refute it would be: but he smokes.

Shane, Ilya, cigarettes—a love triangle for the ages.

✧₊⊹ buzzer beater ‘series by mcshrug – explicit / 21k # dual pov, hook-up era, under-negotiated kink, orgasm control, orgasm denial, semi-public sex.

“Drink,” says Ilya. His tone is light, but it’s firm. It’s not a suggestion. Shane lifts the glass to his lips and takes a sip. “All of it,” Ilya says. The fingers of his left hand, resting lightly on the edge of the counter, are beginning to drum against the marble. Shane takes one gulp, and then another. He drinks steadily, until the glass is empty. Then he sets it down on the counter, breathing harder now, and stares at Ilya. Ilya’s fingers are still tapping that same steady beat on the counter. He says, “You listen when I tell you what to do.” Shane swallows. His mouth is still wet. It seems entirely pointless to deny it. “Yes.”

Shane finds getting himself off boring. At least, he used to. Before Ilya Rozanov got involved.

✧₊⊹ and i want what i want by thesehands – explicit / 14.2k # ilya pov, hook-up era, under-negotiated kink, pain play, spanking, shower sex.

“Hollander. Relax. So you lost one game,” Ilya said. “Big deal. Win next time.” “It is a big deal,” Shane said. His hands were clenched tightly into fists. “It’s not just the game. You know I can’t afford to fuck up like this, not this close to playoffs. It’s a pretty big deal. Fuck. And it’s my fault. I wasn’t focused. I can play better than that, and I just… didn’t.”  “Okay, your fault, so what?” Ilya shrugged. “You think you should be punished for this?”

Shane plays badly. Ilya thinks he can beat the guilt out of him.

✧₊⊹ this ache of mine by owshampooinmyeyes – mature / 13.5k # ilya pov, hook-up era, post-finale, childhood flashbacks, brief ilya/svetlana, depression, grief, homesickness.

“Do I dream?” Hollander repeats. When Ilya nods, he says, “Yes? Why?” His eyebrows bunch together. “Wait, you’re not—do you mean in like, a sex way?” “No,” Ilya says, watching that flush spread. “But I like your idea better. What do I do in these dreams?” Choking, Hollander says, “Fuck off.”

He is his mother’s son.

✧₊⊹ and he spoke the bridegroom fair by laundry (lovesjar) – explicit / 12.5k # shane pov, hook-up era, shane’s ambiguous eating disorder (brief mention), marriage roleplay, feminization, unprotected sex, semi-public sex, car sex.

The world did not work like this, with him under Rozanov, with Rozanov fucking him for the first time in his life and then again and again and again. It did not work like hiding his whole life, the important parts of it, from his parents. But also, it did. And fuck if Shane was going to give it all up because he was scared.

Shane Hollander, you do not have to be good.

✧₊⊹ excoriation by intertwingular – explicit / 12k # shane pov, hook-up era, post-finale, childhood flashbacks, under-negotiated kink, light feminization, consensual non-consent, pain play, dry sex, marking, scarification.

‘Do you want something,’ Ilya had asked. The answer was, as it always was, yes. But that had not been the question.

Shame and Desire—the Shane Hollander thesis.

✧₊⊹ stickhandling by moonlitgarden – explicit / 11.9k # shane pov, hook-up era, body image issues, phone sex.

Women flock to Rozanov; he’s the gravitational centre in every room. Shane gets it. He’s felt it, the shark pull of his orbit. He’s been swallowed up into the belly of desire. What he doesn’t get is how easy it is for Rozanov. Even with Shane’s teammates pooled around him on the dance floor, his hands get clammy when a girl in a sequined skirt makes a move on him. Shane used to think maybe he was just awkward; maybe he needed a couple of beers in him to loosen up, but he couldn’t do that during the season. Then Ilya Rozanov kissed him and the craving was so clear in Shane’s mind he was able to visualise every sharp edge of it, and he knew he wanted to be on his knees.

2013. It’s been two years since he and Rozanov hooked up in Nashville and exchanged phone numbers. It’s a month till Boston comes to Montreal and Rozanov’s promise of ‘next time’ could go into fulfilment. Shane Hollander wants to play hockey. He wants to play it well. The other thing is a thing he cannot allow himself to want.

✧₊⊹ oh, the lips that tell me lies and i can’t wait to kiss by jewelledfoxes – explicit / 10.6k # ilya pov, post-finale, pre-tlg, under-negotiated kink, mildly dubious consent, unprotected sex, light feminization.

His mouth parts. A hint of his soft, wet tongue as it swipes briefly across his lower lip. A second passes. A hesitation. Then, “You’ll make a mess.”

Ilya has learned that when it comes to Shane, sometimes “no” really just means “convince me.”

✧₊⊹ the night shift by thecouchsofa – explicit / 10.4k # ilya pov, hook-up era, under-negotiated kink, cock-warming, orgasm control.

Hollander is always a bit like that, in increments. He takes every loss personally—every missed shot, every empty netter, every failed pass. He could stand to get out of his head for a while. It would be good, Ilya thinks, for him to calm down. To sit and relax, maybe.

Montreal loses to Boston. Ilya manages to get Shane out of his own head for a while.

✧₊⊹ i was raised out in the cold by lavenderprose – explicit / 10k # shane pov, hook-up era, long-distance booty calls, semi-public sex, car sex, getting caught (kind of), panic attacks.

He crowds Shane into the hood of the car, hands up under his shirt and jacket again. October is getting cold; nights are getting colder. The places where Ilya is touching him are the only parts of Shane’s body that are warm right now. Maybe that’s why he wraps his arms around Ilya’s neck and clings to him, though he doesn’t necessarily surprise himself with it. They don’t even kiss for a moment. Ilya busies himself breathing into the crook of Shane’s neck, trying to regain control. Shane opens his eyes and gazes over Ilya’s shoulder at the dark field and realizes that an utterly foreign feeling has risen up in him. It’s Ilya’s broad shoulders and beautiful hair between Shane and the world and he feels—small. Protected. “Oh my God,” Shane whispers, completely ashamed of the feeling and hungry for it. It curls warm in his stomach. His toes arch inside his shoes. Something about being so close to this man, something about Ilya putting himself between Shane and—the world. Whatever lurks in the deep night. It’s a feeling like a ghost, something that Shane isn’t allowed to look directly at except for moments like these. Quiet and dark.

Shane, Ilya, Vermont. Meeting in the middle.

✧₊⊹ cottaging by gone_girl – explicit / 9.7k # ilya pov, post-finale, pre-tlg, working out together, under-negotiated kink, orgasm control, light feminization, unprotected sex.

Ilya loved to watch Shane do yoga. Ilya loved watching Shane do anything in the gym. He loved to watch him in the gym and on the ice and during sex, because these were the only times that Shane ever appeared genuinely comfortable in his body. It used to practically get him drunk, watching the tension start to melt from Shane with a single word from Ilya. It made his stomach hurt and his dick twitch, after, watching Shane knit back up tight again when they were done.

Ilya was good at noticing things about people, and he was good at understanding them. Shane was not. That was okay. Shane had developed his own way of getting to know Ilya. It involved a lot of inane questions and, more importantly, no longer involved condoms.

✧₊⊹ slow show by hockeyfinches – explicit / 8.7k # shane pov, post-finale, pre-tlg, shane’s ambiguous eating disorder (brief mention), under-negotiated kink, pain play, biting, unprotected sex.

“If you don’t come here, I will come to you.” “Rozanov.” “I will drive,” Ilya tells him without sympathy. “Park illegally in my big muscle car. Everyone will notice. Lots of photos, probably.” Shane rubs his forehead. He gets to his feet and glances at his bag, still packed, on the hotel dresser. “I hate your car,” he says, at last. “Yes, I know,” Ilya says. It sounds like he’s smiling.

The excruciating ordeal of asking for what you want.

✧₊⊹ drop the gloves by mcshrug – explicit / 8.4k # shane pov, hook-up era, on-ice fighting, under-negotiated kink, pain play, unprotected sex.

Jesus, the smell of him. Something about it makes Shane’s thoughts grind to a halt. It makes him feel less like someone who just lost the biggest game of his career and more like an animal, wanting to bite into the meat of Rozanov, wanting to fuck against the warm bulk of him until he comes and comes and comes.

Shane has been trying to figure out how to ask Ilya to stop using condoms. He finally works up the courage the night Boston eliminates Montreal from the playoffs.

✧₊⊹ magnetic fields by thecouchsofa – explicit / 8.3k # shane pov, hook-up era, under-negotiated kink, multiple orgasms, overstimulation.

‘How many times can you come in an hour?’ Shane doesn’t know. But he’s happy to test it.

Shane and Ilya conducting very serious experiments.

✧₊⊹ tape to tape by mcshrug – explicit / 8.2k # ilya pov, hook-up era, original side character, jealousy, injuries, marking, hickeys.

He manages to make himself relax enough to loosen his jaw, but not enough to stop himself from saying, “Are you happy?” Shane hesitates. Ilya hates the way Shane so visibly thinks through what he’s going to say before he says it to Ilya, sometimes, like he’s trying to figure out how best to tiptoe around a subject without hurting Ilya’s feelings. Ilya knows it’s his own fault, for not being able to handle heavier steps.

Shane Hollander has chemistry with his new American linemate. Montreal fans are thrilled. Ilya Rozanov is not.

✧₊⊹ afterglow by christinegrrl – explicit / 7.9k # shane pov, hook-up era, episode: 1x02, brief shane/ofc, masturbation.

The Raiders beat the Sharks 6-1 and Rozanov gets three points and the first star of the game and there’s no text waiting for Shane about how Shane should be planning the way he’s gonna reward Rozanov the next time they see each other. It’s fine. It’s only been a week—nine days—and it’s not like they were frequent texters before. Rozanov was always the one to initiate their exchanges, so Shane is doing well to follow his lead and not be like that girl who hooked up with J.J. and couldn’t catch a hint afterwards, increasingly desperate texts being passed around the Metros locker room until finally someone suggested he block the crazy bitch.

Shane processes his first time with Rozanov.

✧₊⊹ heaven can wait by garagepaperback – explicit / 7.7k # shane pov, hook-up era, jealousy, tattoos, injuries, unprotected sex.

The tattoo is so big. Shane doesn’t know if he likes it or not, is only just beginning to understand that this means forever.

Yearning with your eyes fully squeezed shut.

✧₊⊹ running down the hills by hockeyfinches – explicit / 7.1k # ilya pov, hook-up era, injuries, wound care, erectile dysfunction (due to alcohol).

“You are…” Ilya licked his bloodied teeth and tried to remember the word. “Squeamish?” “No,” Hollander said. His eyes were still so wide, tracing over Ilya’s bruised face like searchlights. “Fuck. Just—” He stepped back, stumbling a little on socked feet, and jerked his head at the doorway. Get in.

Lovesickness is real and Ilya has it. (Or: the Tuna Melt Prologue.)

✧₊⊹ coach, i’m threading needles by anonymous – explicit / 6.3k # shane pov, hook-up era, jealousy.

Ilya definitely went through more trouble to fuck Shane than he did most other hook-ups, and going back to the same person over and over wasn’t his usual approach, information Shane had deduced and latched onto from some fucked out pillow talk six months prior. It was an impossibly low bar, but among Ilya’s sexual partners maybe Shane was special. And Shane didn’t want to try to put a number on how many people had slept with Ilya, but there had to be hundreds if not thousands more who had wanted to, who had imagined it but would never get to have it, would never know what it was like, and by this impossibly low bar Shane was special too.

Ilya fucks a girl in a Hollander jersey. Word gets back to Shane.

✧₊⊹ yes, i come back ‘series by naokime – explicit / 6.2k # dual pov, hook-up era, body image issues, under-negotiated kink, pain play, face-slapping.

His body is good for two things: hockey and sex—even then, the latter comes with an asterisk. He’s good at being available for sex, he supposes, and that is a thought he cannot afford to entertain.

Shane versus his body.

✧₊⊹ like one of your girls by creamsicle_melt – explicit / 5.7k # shane pov, hook-up era, post-finale, jealousy, under-negotiated kink, feminization.

Rozanov posts on Instagram a lot. Not on his feed, but his stories. Every time he lands in a city, he posts a story. Usually it’s just back of his seat, or sometimes the view out the window—on the tarmac, never anything exciting, one of just many cities their lives are broken up into—and a location tag. Low effort. It’s pretty obvious what it is. Guys laugh about it, call it Rozanov’s Fuck Signal. The easiest way to get the hot girls who follow him to slide into his DMs. Easy pussy.

Shane wants to be special. He hates himself for it.

✧₊⊹ car wash redhead, tube top r.e.m. concert, juror #6 by rockbound – explicit / 2.8k # ilya pov, hook-up era, post-finale, financial management, rabies as a love language.

When Ilya sees someone he knows what they have and how to ask for it in a way where it will be given. Ilya did this to Shane himself, intuitively. The only trick is to have no fear, and even less fear than that the more trouble one is in. He cannot teach that to a man who has directed his energies into becoming, not like a saint, but like a painting of a saint, all dripping in symbolism: the way the robe drapes here, yes, that is on purpose, and the angle of the light, the patron’s face in the crowd, the instrument of the martyrdom in his hand and the fruit in the bowl on the table, all arranged except when—

What is a real person? Can it learn to be loved?

✧₊⊹ six-seven-eight, triple nine, eight-two-one-two by insatiablegaydesire – teen / 2.7k # shane pov, the era between hook-ups, episode: 1x02, texting, flirting.

It starts, like any good small talk does, about the weather. ‘Jane. I am dying.’ Shane is still in bed, spending his last hour before practice clicking endlessly through YouTube when he gets the notification. With no one there to see, he lets the smile settle comfortably as it spreads, and switches apps. He’s about to shoot down Ilya’s latest attempt at desperate seduction when another text arrives. ‘I will play next game with no feet because cold took them.’ This... was new.

Shane expects texts from Ilya to bring him to his knees. They do, but in another way instead.

[notes: this category is for fics that, you guessed it, diverge from canon in a significant way. basically, stories that take a sharp turn away from canon at one point or another, thus changing the trajectory of the original plot. that change could happen very early on (like, literally before the 2009 draft even happens), or could occur much later in the timeline—the fic simply has to be set in canon to begin with in order to be included in this section.]

✧₊⊹ frequently, secretly ‘series by milominderbinder – explicit / 225.4k # dual pov, episode: 1x01 divergent, teammates, neighbors, boston raiders ensemble, panic attacks, mentions of ilya/others, unprotected sex.

Shrugging one shoulder far more casually than he possibly feels, Ilya says, “I like both. Is secret, okay?” “Okay,” Hollander says, voice cracking. He doesn’t say anything else. The air’s so heavy around them that it feels like being in the middle of a scrum, the weight and heat of all those bodies pressing down on you. Danger always feels like hockey; it’s the most dangerous thing Ilya knows, except for this. Everything dangerous in his life involves men’s bodies and just how close he can get to them. Closer than he probably should.

A year after mysteriously dropping out of the 2009 draft, Shane Hollander is signed by the Boston Raiders, right behind Ilya Rozanov. Having the two biggest stars in the league on the same line is great for Boston—but playing alongside their worst rival was never exactly in Shane or Ilya’s plans. Especially not when staying away from each other starts to feel just as impossible as getting along.

✧₊⊹ something you can fix ‘series by some1_around – mature / 134.7k # shane pov, ilya pov (missing scenes), episode: 1x05 divergent, public outing, panic attacks, dissociation, contract trades, shane leaves montreal.

Maybe if the video ended there, Shane thought, it would be okay. Okay-ish. Still incriminating. Still a fucking disaster. Still embarrassing, to have his breakup with this beautiful actress filmed and disseminated on Reddit of all fucking places, but not a nail in his coffin, burying him alive. But the video didn’t end there.

Shane’s conversation with Rose is secretly recorded. Months later, after the All-Star game and Ilya’s confession in Russian, the video gets leaked online. Shane is outed to the world while Ilya is in Russia, and must now finish the 2016-2017 season with the entire world in on his secret.

✧₊⊹ winners ‘series by pressuretoparty – explicit / 80.9k # dual pov, post-finale, not tlg-compliant, jealousy, depression, suicidal thoughts, erectile dysfunction (due to medication), gambling, injuries, medical negligence, under-negotiated kink, pain play, unprotected sex, car sex, public coming out.

Their rivalry, as history has written it, has finally come to an end. “I won,” Shane breathes, and the smile, the smile that’s been plastered on his face since he scored, grows wider. He doesn’t care how close he is to Ilya on the ice right now. He doesn’t care that people might see and think he looks gay. He lifts one hand, still shaky with adrenaline, and claps it onto Ilya’s helmet, dragging their faces together. Ilya starts, and in his surprise, lets himself get pulled forward. He wants Ilya to hear him say these next words. “I beat you,” he whispers, awed. Since he was seventeen, all Shane Hollander has done is chase after Ilya Rozanov. He’s chased after him on the ice. He’s chased him in the rankings, in cup victories. He’s chased after Ilya into hotel rooms, into stolen moments on gala balconies and gym staircases. It’s true. Ilya ruined him. Shane’s grip on Ilya’s helmet tightens. And now, Shane’s finally beaten him. Ilya stills, only for a moment, before his smile returns. “Do not worry, Hollander,” Ilya leans in close, too close, arguably, for plausible deniability. But Shane can’t even stop him, even if he tries. Shane is completely helpless, to the intensity of his gaze, to the possessive lilt to his lips. Ilya hisses this next part, just for Shane to hear. “I am not that easy.” 

Shane and Ilya try this dating thing for real.

✧₊⊹ and i spit out the seeds by linearity – explicit / 24.2k # ilya pov, episode: 1x05 divergent, leaked sex tape, public outing, impromptu road trip, unprotected sex.

The video takes a few seconds to get going. It’s fuzzy, hard to make out, warm-lit and dim. Sheets rustle. Ilya lifts his eyes, shooting Cliff a look that means, ‘What am I supposed to be watching?’ And then the footage becomes clear. Ilya drops the phone. But the video keeps playing. Now, Ilya understands the noises he’d been hearing before. White noise. A ringing in his ears. Tinnitus. Ilya feels bile rise up his throat. “What the fuck?”

A video of Shane sucking Ilya’s dick is leaked. Over the next twenty-four hours, Ilya goes on an odyssey.

✧₊⊹ play destroy by kneeinjury – explicit / 11.7k # shane pov, episode: 1x01 divergent, infidelity (not between shane/ilya), jealousy, unprotected sex, feminization.

Shane is silent for so long that Rozanov leans, slouching against the doorframe, and raises his eyebrows at him expectantly. “Yes? You are selling bibles?” “You fucked my girlfriend.” It tears out of him. “Ah,” Rozanov drawls, as if the thought is just now occurring to him, “yes. I did.”

No one knocks and no one opens. Not until years later.

[notes: basically what it says on the tin. i don’t read nearly as many au fics for hollanov because i’m a canon-universe whore, but there are definitely some amazing ones out there that i’ve enjoyed and had to include. also! just because it’s au, doesn’t mean there’s no hockey lol. sometimes it’s just hockey in a slightly different font, if you will. what can i say? hockey is so fucking baked into the narrative of these boys and their relationship—it’s rare for me to branch out lmao.]

✧₊⊹ for the right reasons by citrusses – explicit / 63k # shane pov, reality tv au, bachelor shane, producer ilya, minor shane/ofcs, jealousy, manipulation, under-negotiated kink, unprotected sex.

“Why are you doing this?” Ilya asks him. “This show. I do not think you need the money. Every day so far you look like you would rather have your balls cut off than have camera pointed at you.” “Um.” The honesty of the question is so surprising that Shane finds himself kind of wanting to answer. He wishes he had an answer.  “Tell me,” Rozanov prompts, and he sounds so confident about it that Shane almost does tell him: because it was asked of him. Because in about a decade—if he’s lucky—he’ll have to retire, and he’s worried there’s nothing to keep him from floating into outer space without the tether of professional hockey to anchor him to the earth.  Of course, Shane says none of that.

Coming this fall to ABC… MLH star Shane Hollander is The Bachelor. Bachelor Nation, we have one question: will you accept this rose?

✧₊⊹ apogee by opalapparition – explicit / 50.4k # shane pov, astronaut au, international space station, forced proximity, near-death experience, panic attacks, jealousy, unprotected sex, zero-gravity sex.

Shane Hollander is the youngest Commander in ISS history; straight-backed, closeted, and so tightly on his own leash that seven months in orbit with Ilya Rozanov have not produced a single crack in his composure. Ilya Rozanov is the Russian cosmonaut who should have had his job, won’t stop bouncing a tennis ball off the walls, and is still looking for a fissure. Thankfully, a solar storm finds it for him.

Near-death, zero gravity, and the wrong man’s hands in exactly the right places.

✧₊⊹ good losing by chaentics – explicit / 28.5k # shane pov, non-linear narrative, a/b/o au, non-traditional a/b/o dynamics, alpha ilya rozanov, alpha shane hollander, brief shane/rose, injuries, mating cycles, knotting.

“Happy winner,” Rozanov says, kissing Shane’s hip. “How does it feel? Good, yes? Such a strong alpha.” Despite the teasing lilt, a soft, rolling r in ‘strong,’ Shane can tell that Rozanov is being sincere. He has never gotten the impression that Rozanov uses it as an insult with him—unlike every time he whips it out mid-game to taunt an opponent, or to provoke someone in an interview. Shane blinks down at him, and is reminded of what this is. Of why, in every way, they are implausible. Rozanov adds, “What?” “You just never call me that,” Shane says. His grip on Rozanov’s shoulder tightens.

Needing something that your body isn’t designed to want.

✧₊⊹ hollander vs. rozanov i by gone_girl – explicit / 19.6k # outsider pov, ilya pov, boxing au, violence, injuries, under-negotiated kink, pain play, light feminization.

They’d been apart for six months. Six months, they’d been missing what they so desperately needed. Long enough for both of them to risk permanent injury for it, long enough that it felt good to hurt this badly.

After nearly a decade separated by weight class, Shane Hollander has given up his cruiserweight title to challenge undefeated heavyweight champion of the world, Ilya Rozanov. The following is a presentation of HBO Boxing.

✧₊⊹ a world brought together as one ‘series by tofuflower – explicit / 14.2k # shane pov, a/b/o au, non-traditional a/b/o dynamics, alpha ilya rozanov, beta shane hollander, jealousy, miscommunication, scent marking, sex toys, masturbation, knotting.

In all matters but hockey, Shane strives to be unremarkable.