ok i know you're all like wtf is she on about but hear me out
hollanov hooked up like in canon, but after "we didn't even kiss", shane panicked so hard he cut contact with Ilya. and Ilya tried to pursue him for YEARS, truly years, but Shane, somehow, completely cuts him off, panicking so hard that it overrides his deep-seated desire for russian dick. and eventually, Rose happens, and Ilya is like, wow. Maybe he is bisexual after all. Or maybe he's decided to put himself through conversion therapy. Ilya pretends he doesn't give a fuck.
(but it hurts, oh my god does it hurt to lose something ilya wanted this much.)
so Ilya does what he did before Shane Hollander: have fun, play hockey, hook up with hot people. He does date women, but nothing lasts: three months here, two months there, six months (woo, new record!) there. It's not that serious, and the girls enjoy being seen with him, getting spoiled with nhl money gifts and coming out of it with a heavy gain in instagram followers.
When they play each other, Hollander can't even look him in the eyes anymore (can still beat him, though).
Ilya plays for Boston long enough that he gains American citizenship, and once his dad dies, he well and truly stops being careful.
Scott Hunter kisses Kip Grady on the ice, and six months later, Ilya Rozanov is papped leaving a gay club with a hot guy holding his hand.
In true Ilya Rozanov fashion, he "is not a big deal"s his way through the press uproar, and ends up out as bisexual on the other end of it. The most-repeated joke is "rozanov has fucked so many women that he's running out and had to move on to men".
meanwhile, in Canada, Shane Hollander is seething with anger.
Rose broke up with him months ago (kindly, they're still friends), and unfortunately, Shane cannot lie to himself any longer about the fact that he's gay. And while he is having this whole identity crisis, fucking Russia's greatest love machine casually comes out of the closet, and doesn't even get that much backlash about it.
And while Shane is fluctuating between wanting to smash something and having an hourly panic attack, Ilya is out at the club, getting drunk and trying to find someone for the night because there's a hole deep in his chest that feels like an empty cavern growing larger by the day, and the only way he knows how to fill it is with sex.
And there's a guy who catches his eye. Ilya can immediately tell that he, too, is russian. He's hot, well-dressed, dark-haired with high cheekbones and an expression that makes Ilya want to chase him.
Ilya hits on him in russian, just to see if he's correct, and of course he is. The guy's name is Nikolai, and Ilya takes him home.
It's fun, finally speaking russian again while they fuck, so Ilya gets his number. They fuck again, four days later. After, because Ilya is not, contrary to popular belief, an asshole to his hook-ups, they lounge around in bed, smoking and talking. Nikolai is a model, trying to establish himself in the scene, trying to gain followers.
Half-joking, Ilya goes "You can post a photo with me."
Nikolai raises one perfect eyebrow at him. "No, that's for boyfriends, not hook-ups."
Ilya considers it; he's done this sort of thing with girls before; both of them knowing it's not going to last, both of them knowing they will both gain something from it, a few weeks of shared fun, a few weeks of regular sex and companionship, no hard feelings.
Ilya gives him a shrug. "We can do that, too. I need a date to an awards show in three weeks, anyway."
Shane sees the photo in the Metros group chat, the guys making fun of it. He takes one look at it: Rozanov, clearly in bed, hair rumpled, giving the camera an unimpressed stare. Next to him, one of the prettiest guys Shane has ever seen: short dark hair, cheekbones so high they look like they could cut glass, eyes more seductive than Shane could ever muster.
Shane locks his phone, and spends the rest of the night throwing up in his marble tiled bathroom.
