It's me Ya Girl

Shane wouldn’t admit it, even to Ilya, but he was a bit terrified to meet Marleau.

It wasn’t just that the guy was good at hockey–he’d seen the Boston player move on the ice, and he was definitely nothing to laugh at. It wasn’t that he was super outgoing, or even that Marleau was the one who gave Shane a concussion a few years back. It was that Marleau was one of Ilya’s closest friends–Marleau had been something like family to Ilya during his years in Boston. Even though Shane and Ilya were engaged, something deep inside Shane still wanted Marleau’s approval.

So when he and Ilya approached the older man at the bar in Boston, it was with a lot of trepidation on Shane’s part.

Until Marleau broke into a giant, shit-eating grin. 

Completely ignoring Ilya, walking past his open arms, Marleau strode up to Shane and pulled him into a back-breaking hug. “Jane!” he yelled, catching Shane by complete surprise. “Fuckin’ finally, man! D’you know how long I’ve been waiting to meet the person who can walk Roz like a damn dog?”

Ilya let out a shout of laughter while Shane broke into a grin. “Uh, nice to meet you, Cliff,” he muttered, moving to take the farthest barstool from the other man’s, leaving the middle one for Ilya.

But Marleau shook his head, beaming. “Oh, no. You sit in the middle, my man. I’m getting you so fuckin’ drunk. And shit, I have stories for you. Has Roz ever told you about the time he threw a damn fit because our flight was changed so we wouldn’t have time in Montreal to see you? Or the time he bribed us with cars to beat you? Or once when he nearly cried because a song came on in the bar that reminded him of y–”

“Okay, okay, enough of that!” Ilya cut in, flushing slightly. “You are supposed to be my friend, Marly, do not betray me!”

But Marleu had already signalled to the bartender for a round of drinks. “Sorry, Roz. I’ve been waiting for years. We’re not moving from this spot until Hollander hears everything.”

“Hey,” Cliff says, suddenly struck with the best idea he’s ever had. “I think I know someone you’d get along great with.”

“Marleau, I’m not really looking—“

“No, no, trust me. He’s a good guy, and one of the best hockey players I’ve ever met—aside from you, of course.”

Shane isn’t sure where Cliff is going with this, but he does know he’s not interested in anyone but Ilya.

“I know you mean well but—“

“Rozanov,” Cliff announces, grin a mile wide, and Shane blinks. Cliff, for his part, is incredibly sure this is a good idea; he knows that Ilya is bisexual, even if he doesn’t talk about it. Even Cliff is aware of the dangers with Russia. Even if the rest of the league hates it, they can fuck off.

Mistaking Shane’s silence for skepticism, Cliff continues, “I know he seems like an asshole, but he’s one of the best men you’ll ever meet. I know you’ve seen it—the whole rivalry thing is bullshit anyways, right? He’s actually a big softie…”

He watches a highlight reel of Ilya celebrating with his line and realizes he's just going to have to accept it.

My boy Boromir? Spent FOUR MONTHS in the wilderness! Alone! No roads! High floods! His horse died! I’m amazed he showed up to Imladris wearing clothes, let alone with a decent haircut. I’m fully convinced that he left Gondor looking like Richard Sharpe being presented to the Prince Regent in 1813

*electric guitar riff*

And then rocked up to Imladris a hundred ten days later like

A few months later

All hail the High Warden of Gondor.

And no one is ever ready for the switch, and even after it happens they can never fully prepare themselves for what they’re going to get. Shane has learned that when he’s going to do that he should take them aside to give them the card rather than in front of people

Once Shane feels comfortable with Hayden as a genuinely good friend in his birthday card that year he writes out a whole thing about how he’s always wanted a best friend like other kids had but never had one and had accepted he never would, and then Hayden came into his life and gave him a level of love and friendship he never thought he would get and he loves everything about Hayden and can’t wait to be by his side as friends and brothers for the rest of their lives. Hayden fully breaks down and loses it, Jackie notices they’ve been gone a while and walks into the kitchen to see Hayden hugging Shane and sobbing into his shoulder. She raises her eyebrows at Shane and Shane just gives her the OK sign and goes back to rubbing Hayden’s back

Ilya learns about the card thing when it’s yunas birthday and he notices her opening Shane’s card like she’s deactivating a bomb. She stares silently as she reads it and Ilya starts freaking out a little when she starts to tear up and then pulls Shane in for a long silent hug. He looks at it later and sees that Shane wrote about how the last year made him realize over again how lucky he is to have someone as strong and supportive as her as a mother and he hopes to one day be half the parent to his own kids as she was to him

When it’s their first time having Ilya’s birthday together he’s legitimately nervous because this is his first Shane Card and he doesn’t know what to expect and part of him is afraid he’s built it up too much in his head and Shane won’t have as nice things to say as he did with other people. And then he opens the envelope and there’s no card but instead multiple pieces of paper because Shane couldn’t fit it all into a limited space. Ilya spends the better part of the next hour walking around the house reading it, taking breaks occasionally to cry or hyperventilate before going back to reading it because holy shit does Shane Hollander love him. Like he knew logically that Shane did but now he’s got pages and pages of Shane walking him through his feelings over the last decade of their life and every moment he remembered and cherished. Shane finally catches up to him and he’s on the floor of the kitchen, face a splotchy red mess, chugging Gatorade because he’s dehydrated from crying

Ilya gets so excited when he and Shane get invited to weddings. He loves coordinating their suits and taking cute pictures outside the venue. He’s crying during the ceremony and squeezing Shane’s hand.

At the reception, he’s dancing with toddlers and grandmas. He’s making a toast. He’s slow dancing with his husband. He’s taking shots with the groomsmen and then, again, with the bridesmaids. He’s dragging Shane to the photo booth and is like “ok and now we do a silly one”. When it gets late in the night and the dance floor is full, he is bending over in front of Shane to Yeah! by Usher. Then he’s turning Shane around and pulling their hips together and whispering the lyrics to Don’t Stop The Music by Rihanna in his ear. His tie is around his head. He gets lost and is found smoking a cigar with someone’s uncle.

At the after party, he’s putting his black card down and is covering the entire tab. They’re closing the hotel bar down.

when asked about it, ilya cryptically says, “is for crossword puzzles in the new yorker” and winks at the camera, and nobody fucking knows what THAT means and ilya never offers more than that.

when shane gets asked about it, he stares blankly at the reporter for thirty seconds before he says, “they bonded” without any further explanation and in such a tone that nobody dares to ask follow ups.

when david gets asked (because ofc reporters manage to catch and ask him), he smiles politely and says, “ilya is a delightful young man. he asked me for old man hockey tricks and now he’s teaching me slang”

But Shane will not tolerate poor injury maintenance so he tells Ilya to undress and lay down so he can give him a massage. Ilya keeps making “happy ending” jokes but goes quiet when Shane starts to legitimately massage his sore muscles, taking time to take care of Ilya and make sure he’s ok. Ilya weakly tries to make a few more sex jokes to distract from the sweetness of the moment but Shane just lightly whacks his head and tells him to shut up and relax

Half of ilya is panicking because this isn’t how this is supposed to work, Shane meets up with Ilya because Ilya provides sex and mental escapism, if Shane is the one providing something to him then Ilya is Failing. The problem is the other half of him has fully melted into a puddle on the mattress and he doesn’t know how much he could do in that moment even if he wanted to. And dammit he really does want to just exist under Shane’s hands as he is taken care of by someone who is asking for nothing in return for the first time in… Too long for Ilya to be willing to think about

He doesn’t realize he’s fallen asleep until he wakes up to the sun rising, a blanket tucked around his hips. Shane is gone and on the night stand there is a glass of water, some ibuprofen, and a note that says “You can pay me back next time, see you in two weeks -J”

The Ilya we see in Heated rivalry would not be throwing the first punch, he's not an enforcer. Ilya is a star center and a Pest. He wouldn't be doing his job correctly if he was punching players every other game, it would end up with not enough ice time to let him be the playmaker he's paid to be.

But being a pest can be playmaking! Find a player to bait, emotionally push them just enough that they try to fight you, and then get the fuck out of there before the ref gives you both penalties. This gets your team the power play. There is probably someone on Ilya's line dedicated to helping him get out of the fights he starts, and finishing them for him!

I also think this is also something that Shane would respect. Ilya is good at it and it's a good strategy for his team. I don't think Shane would see it as some dirty tactic, because Shane probably thinks everyone with a brain can see it for what it is! He probably thinks everyone should be able to see that being an asshole is a tactic for Ilya, that it's something to ignore and not fall for, that it's a strategy and not personal beef.