Paraprincess

Hayden was hiding in the kitchen.

On the counter there was a large white cake with ‘Boy or Girl?’ spelled out in a mix of blue and pink icing, with a mix of blue and pink flowers piped around the edge. The idea was that they would cut into the cake later this afternoon and the inside would be either pink or blue; pink for a girl, blue for a boy.

It was ridiculous but it also made Jackie happy to celebrate with all of her friends and family and when Jackie was pregnant, it was Hayden’s job to go along with the balloon invasion in the name of his wife’s happiness.

But he was still allowed to be relieved when his best friend showed up with a perfectly wrapped gift and a crate of beers that his mother had probably suggested he bring.

“Oh good I need a drink.” Hayden went straight for the beers.

“Hello to you too.” Shane smirked, setting the gift down on the stack that had taken over one of the side tables in the hallway.

“What did you get us?” Hayden eyed up the rectangular box encased in white paper with both a pink and blue bow stuck to the outside of it as he led Shane through to the kitchen.

“Mom picked it out.” Shane shrugged. “Baby clothes.”

“Nice.” Hayden nodded, as if they didn’t already have plenty left over from the first three kids.

“What do you think of… you know… me and Rose?”

“I… I mean I haven’t actually met her yet.” Hayden searched for the right words. “She seems kind of intimidatingly cool.”

“I know.” Shane agreed, stretching over the ice. “Not really sure what she sees in me.”

Hayden couldn’t help the laugh that escaped his lips, earning a few sidelong glances from both teammates and opponents warming up nearby. Shane shot him a look.

“Dude, you do realise that you’re like hockey’s most eligible bachelor, right?”

“Fuck off Hayden.” Shane scoffed as if he couldn’t possibly believe that it might be true.

“Yeah, you are.” Hayden nudged Shane playfully with the end of his stick. “I mean, no homo but you’re kind of hot dude.”

“What the fuck dude.” Shane hissed, flushing bright red as he pulled himself up onto his feet.

“Relax man.” Hayden sighed, sticking by Shane’s shoulder as they made a quick lap around the ice. “I mean, the two of you look great together.”

“Dude… kind of famous? You realise Rose Landry is like mega famous right?” Hayden scoffed. “You’re kind of famous.”

“I’m hockey famous, that doesn’t count.” Shane protested.

“No I’m with Hayden on this because Hayden is hockey famous, but you are actually kind of famous.” Jackie chimed in. “There are people who literally know you for that one shirtless ad who know nothing about hockey.”

“Which shirtless ad?” Shane asked with a painful amount of innocence that sent both Hayden and Jackie into a downward spiral of giggles.

“Okay come on tell us literally one thing about Rose.” Jackie pried.

“Um… she likes hockey?”

“Duuuuude.” Hayden groaned because that was, as Jackie had said before, the bare minimum.

“She’s gonna to come to the next Detroit game… I can introduce you guys maybe?”

The entire world stopped on its axis and Hayden was fairly sure that the apocalypse must be coming because had Shane Hollander just offered to introduce them to a girl!? A girl that he was actually dating!? A girl that was A-list megastar probable future Oscar winner Rose Landry?

Hayden felt a sudden urge to sprint over to Shane’s house right now and check he didn’t have a fever because clearly, he wasn’t okay. Or maybe Shane had been body snatched and this was a clone of Shane who went to parties and dated celebrities instead of reading books at home and being weird about hook-ups in Boston.

Twenty minutes later he was in the shower, staying true to his word about fucking himself more than once.

Except this time he wasn’t thinking about Jackie.

It wasn’t like he was actively trying to think about anyone else; it was just that someone else kept popping into his brain like an incessant child begging for candy.

Chalk it up to the fact that they were in Boston and he was off somewhere right now doing whatever it was he did with Boston Lily.

Still, Hayden couldn’t help thinking about Shane. Thinking about when he might be back… if he might already be on his way… if he might catch him again like he had once before.

UPDATE: As I am off to see MCR at Wembleeeeyyyyy tonight, Chapter Two will be uploaded on Sunday instead <3

“I will not go back on my deal Hollander.” Ilya shrugged it off as though it was no big deal.

“Ilya…” Shane sighed “If you don’t want to…”

He was cut off by Ilya’s finger pressing firmly against his lips.

“I would not make deals if I was not at least a little bit… curious.” Ilya’s eyes met Shane’s, washing away any doubts that Shane had about whether his husband wanted this. He knew the look in Ilya’s eyes very well. It was a look of stubbornness and a need to get exactly what he wanted through whatever means necessary.

It was a look that Shane had first become acquainted with in cheap hotel rooms with terrible lighting.

“In that case.” Shane pushed Ilya’s shoulders gently, creating space between them, and Ilya went willingly, watching Shane closely with anticipation and a touch of amusement. “Take off your clothes.”

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

“Ruby! Jade! Slow down!” Hayden yelled hopelessly after them, keeping an eye on where they were squabbling over one of the exhibits up ahead.

Shane was happier to move slower, scanning his eyes over one of the informational plaques as Hayden hung back with him, bouncing Arthur very slightly in his arms in an effort to prevent any sudden crying.

Hayden had known Shane a really long time. They had been rookies together. They had spent hours training together, playing together, doing basically everything together. He didn’t have a brother, but he had a Shane and that had to count for something. He kept food and drinks in his house explicitly for Shane.

But in all the time that Hayden had known Shane, he wasn’t sure that Shane had ever had anyone else. Sometimes he thought he caught him grinning at his phone like an idiot, presumably texting some girl, and he had dated some makeup artist he’d met on an ad campaign a couple of years ago for all of five minutes, but nothing had ever stuck.

According to Jackie this was something that they should be worried about.

Hello!

First of all, yes I had a lovely vacation thank you. Hotter than we expected it to be but lots of fun and glad to be back home now.

I just wanted to share some updates of what I've got coming up... I don't know if anyone really reads this stuff but just in case, for that one person who cares, this is for you haha.

So I have a few fics in progress and a few drafts that I want to go back to a polish up. Still lots of Heated Rivalry stuff, BUT I also have some other stuff in the pipeline as well including a Captain Amercia/Black Widow fic that I'm having so much fun writing and I can't wait to share with you. I am a little nervous about branching out because I know my regular readers love the Heated Rivalry stuff but I just have some really fun ideas that I want to explore! COMING UP IN JULY

All The Thing I Could Never Say: 2017 from Hayden's POV!

Very Helpful And Attentive: Part 2 of 'The Breakup'

I'll Make You A Deal: The smuttiest Hollanov smut I have yet to smut

PLUS: A Love Simon short and Part 1 of the Random Fanfic Generator Challenge (which was going to be Cap/Widow until that evolved into something else lol)

COMING UP LATER THIS YEAR

Untitled Captain America and Black Widow Fic that will literally make you cry.

The continuation of 'The Best Days' Series

Twelve Days of Game Changers: Yes I am already working on content for Christmas. You guys should be very afraid.

Basically just a whole lot of stuff that I'm very excited about and I hope you guys are just as excited!

Lastly, I just want to say thank you if you have read this far down and thank you if you have ever read any of my stuff. I read all of your comments - I try to respond to most if not all of them - and they're so lovely and so encouraging and I would not be doing the most if it wasn't for my wonderful readers.

To my regulars... the ones who comment on every fic... I love you guys so much. It blows me away that there are people in the world who like my stuff enough to keep coming back for more. It's because of you guys that I am dusting off my old childhood dream of being a published author so thank you <3

A low chuckle ran through the crowd as Cliff nervously shuffled his notes.

“I’ve known Rozy for a really long time. He’s my oldest and best friend and I’m honoured that he wanted me to give a speech today considering he knows how much I suck at this.”

“Now I do have plenty of embarrassing stories that I could tell about Rozanov…” Cliff’s eyes turned to the grooms who were both shooting daggers in his direction “But I will save those for the party later. Right now I want to tell you guys a story about Rozanov’s ex-girlfriend… Jane. I know we’re not meant to talk about exes at a wedding, but Roz was absolutely obsessed with this girl. He was always texting her and whenever we were in her city he would always disappear for hours at a time. None of us ever met her, and he would never admit that he was in love with her, but to anyone who had eyes it was completely obvious…”

“Did I mention that Jane lived in Montreal by the way? Such a coincidence… And isn’t it strange that Jane kind of sounds a little bit like Shane… You know, Roz, I think you might have a type.”

THE FINAL CHAPTER

Guys I'm so proud of this one.

“Is that… I mean… you didn’t go to Russia.” It came out as a statement rather than a question.

“No I didn’t.” Rozanov nodded.

“Why not?” There the was the question Cliff wanted to ask.

“I didn’t want to.” His team captain answered plainly as food arrived. “And for once I didn’t have to.”

“Oh.” Cliff nibbled on a fry, studying Rozanov’s face. He was completely genuine. Calmer than Cliff had seen him in a very long time and entirely unbothered by Cliff’s line of questioning. There was no hint of a lie. Rozanov was genuinely okay with the fact that he hadn’t gone home this summer for the first time in his life.

For a little while they ate in relative silence, occasionally commenting on the baseball game that was being shown on the screens in the bar. The Red Sox were playing the Yankees and so the bar was buzzing with activity as patrons huddled around in mutual despair as the Yankees took a commanding lead. Cliff couldn’t help wondering what had changed to make Rozanov skip out on a summer back in Russia.

Cliff had a pretty good idea. 

“So your friend that you were hanging out with this summer.” Cliff reached across the table for a hot wing, a smirk crossing his face. “You finally gonna tell me about her?”

Rozanov smiled, keeping his eyes fixed on the TV screen as they cut to an ad break and one of Shane Hollander's obnoxious Rolex adverts took over the screens.

“No.” He answered, with a familiar sweetness in his eyes.  

The game was in its third period with just minutes left to go and New York were ahead by two. The result was as good as certain now. Scott Hunter was about to lift the Stanley Cup for the first time in his career.

Cliff reached for another beer, his eyes flickering over to where Rozanov had paused packing his bags to smile softly at something, or someone, on his phone. He had been doing that a lot lately. After every playoff game, the first thing Rozanov had done when they got back to the locker room was check his phone. When the team went out for drinks last night before going their separate ways for the summer, Rozanov had ignored every girl in the club and instead given all of his attention to his phone. And now, as Scott Hunter was making history, there was that same strange smile.

There were many words that Cliff could use to describe Ilya Rozanov, but sweet had never been one of them until now. It was the only word that could be ascribed to the look that Rozanov had on his face when he looked at his phone like that and smiled.

On the screen the other Marlow had taken control of the puck, darting across the ice and delivering a neat pass to one of his teammates.

“Fucking Scott Hunter man.” Hammersmith let out a low whistle as they watched the clock count down the last thirty seconds.

Thirty seconds wouldn’t change anything. New York had won and the season was over.

It all felt terribly anticlimactic.