Chapter Text
When the game finally came, there was an onslaught of media covering it. This wasn’t unusual for a hockey game, but this level of coverage was near scandalous. Everyone knew Ilya and Shane were a couple, everyone knew Shane left Montreal and was out for the season, everyone knew Shane would be at the Centaur vs. Voyageur game, sitting on the Ottawa side, so naturally, everyone was tuned in. People who didn’t even care for hockey wanted to watch.
It was all anyone could talk about, even the Announcers for the game had a hard time keeping the topic to just ‘two nhl teams’ duking it out on the ice. Everyone knew this was more. Way more.
“I am requesting! No, I am demanding! That these Voyageurs leave here limping. Hurt! Injured!” He said injured with a sting of passion more than the others. “But most importantly—” He looked around the locker room of his teammates, they were laser-focused on Ilya, “LOSERS!” They all erupted in loud cheers, they all erupted in hollers and swear words. They all had the most grueling practices the last weeks because of this stupid pathetic fucking team and each one of them were going to do it for Ilya. For Ottawa. For fucking Shane Hollander.
Ilya took to the ice along with the team. The crowd was deafening when they came out. Ilya skated around and did arm pump ups to get them even louder.
Shane was wearing an Ottawa Centaur sweatshirt; Ilya’s actually. He was sitting with the hood up, with the Ottawa Centaur team, which would seem impossible, but for safety reasons, no one wanted him in the stands and accessible to any Montreal freaks (which is the nickname dubbed from the internet for people defending The Voyageurs). They considered it a safety concern to even have him in the arena as is, so it was either with the team, or in the Owners Box. Shane wanted to be closer to the action. No one can really tell Shane Hollander ‘No’. Plus, he already had a contract with the team next season, even if no one knew that. He was going to start practicing at their stadium with Ilya as soon as he was cleared, which is supposed to be next week.
When Montreal stepped out on the ice, the Boo’s came in like a Dolby Atmos system. It was so loud and low, it felt like vibrations were stirring the entire arena. Ilya was stretching and started laughing, looking around at his teammates, who started laughing alongside him. They all looked manic.
Shane watched in horror. He knew this game wasn’t going to be pretty, but this was starting to seem like it might be a bloodbath. He started chewing on the strings of the hoodie. He hadn’t been watching much of the news, but he still knew this was a big deal. To Ilya especially, or mainly. But more cameras seem to be covering this event more than he’s ever seen, besides at the Cups. He keeps his hoodie up but he can see the cameras already see where he’s sitting. They plaster Shane’s face up on the screen. He drops the string out of his mouth and gives a sheepish smile and wave in his black Ottawa hoodie. The Boo’s immediately change to a resounding ‘HOLLANDER’ chant, which takes over and the whole place is stopping their feet and shouting his name. He gulps and almost gets emotional. They start clapping and cheering for him. He hopes the camera moves off his face soon. Ilya looks up and sees Shane’s face on the screen, then looks over to the bench. He flashes a smile and a wave. Shane waves back and then shrugs in disbelief, which only makes Ilya grin harder. He’s going to kill Montreal.
**
When Ilya steps to the face-off against Comeau, who has the plastered C on his jersey, Ilya says one thing in his low Russian accent, without looking up at him,
“Ready to die?”
Comeau didn’t chirp back.
Comeau did not get to play but 10 minutes before Ilya sent him so hard into the boards he needed medical attention. Needed to have a sweep done because Comeau smashed his face so hard, he lost teeth. Shane was turning pale. He just realized Ilya might try to kill them all. Shane tightened his hoodie around his head nervously. The refs called it fair play though and Ilya didn’t receive a penalty. Technically, and Ilya is very technically skilled, it was a fair hit. Ilya ended up scoring the first goal soon after and the stadium went crazy. Shane could not even begin to explain the response and noise level of everyone here. It was louder than Montreal had ever been. Playing for the Centaurs might be the most fun team he’ll have ever played for come next year. Ilya immediately looked to Shane after the goal, and stuck his stick out pointing to him, breathing heavy and smiling. With his team celebrating him, Ilya dropped into the player’s bench after that goal, went over to Shane and hugged him, then planted a kiss on his cheek. Shane smiled, turning red, and looked up to see it made it on the Jumbotron. Of course it did.
Troy ended up getting a penalty after getting into a fight late in the 1st period. Wilson had definitely said something, because, sure, Troy was playing hard, but he didn’t drop his gloves and swing for no reason.
“Fucking losers!” Troy snapped at Wilson when pinned up against the boards,
“At least we’re not faggots!” Troy dropped his gloves and swung. Broke Wilson’s nose, lots of blood they had to do a second clean up. Penalty. Worth it. Wilson didn’t even get a touch on Troy. Ilya had the shittiest biggest grin on his face when Troy skated over to the penalty box. Troy flashed him an equally wide grin back.
“That my best friend!” Ilya shouted at him.
Troy sat in the box and under his breath whispered “She a real bad bitch.” Then smiled. But he’ll take it to his grave that he and Ilya listen to that song together in Ilyas Lotus Emira when they drive around town.
Montreal did absolutely nothing with the powerplay. They couldn’t. They didn’t have Shane Hollander and Ilya was like two players himself. Hayden Pike and J.J. would never admit it, but they were not playing that hard. They were skating fast, to avoid getting hit, but they were not even stick-handling well, and how could they? Ilya was all over the ice, on top of everyone and everything and without Shane on the line, they have no connection. Meanwhile, Ilya and Luca were passing the puck like it was a game just between them. Luca ended up scoring towards the end of the 1st period with a minute left. The crowd went nuts. 1st period ended 2-0.
When the 2nd period started, Ilya scored in the first minute. Then he scored again in minute 4. That’s already a hat trick. The crowd was feverous. Every time Ilya scored he looked to Shane, he smiled from ear to ear, sweat dripping down his face. He blew a kiss at him, then he returned back into his devilish grin when the game would start again. Rogers from Montreal was so pissed he just decided to try and punch Ilya when they were both chasing the puck. Ilya laid him out so quickly, you’d think hes a professional boxer (in his spare time) too. Rogers had to be taken out of the game because Ilya punched him in the eye and it looked to swell pretty quick. Ilya skated away scotch free since he didn’t start the fight. The crowd went nuts, booing Rogers as he skated off. 2ndperiod over, and the score is 4-0. It was embarrassing.
Shane caught sight of Theirault. Then he just stared at him, but he didn’t see his coach, not the coach he used to know, years ago. He didn’t see his team playing right now either, at least, not the team he knew and won cups with. Everything felt different, a bit off kilter, like an uncanny valley. He reached for the sore side of ribs, but they weren’t sore. Everything was as it was supposed to be. He glanced over at this bench he’s sitting at, with the team he's sitting with. There’s Troy, encouraging the rookies, and then he looks to Wyatt on the nice at the goal, thats the goalie who puts his arms over his shoulders at parties and says things like ‘Roz is so fucking in love with you’. He sees Ilya skate as fast as he can while grinning like a maniac. He’s home. Over here. On this bench. In Ottawa. He accepted that now. He’s happy about that. He saw Hayden flash him a smile and he nodded back. He spoke to Hayden every day. At minimum a text. Hayden told him he’d look good in the Centaur colors, like he already knew. And Shane knows now too. Something in him healed. Maybe everything. This is how it’s supposed to feel.
Harris came up from behind the home bench to get Shane’s attention and waved him over to talk.
“Hey, so I’ve got it set up for when the game ends.” Harris says, Shane nods.
“Great, perfect, thank you Harris for doing that for me.”
“We’re going to get fined just so you know.”
“I’ll pay for it, I promise.”
“I literally don’t care. It’s worth it.” Harris winked at Shane and patted his shoulder and returned back to his seat. Shane sat back down in his spot at the end of the bench.
“What did Harris want, love?” Ilya asked taking a seat next to Shane for a moment, getting ready for the 3rdperiod to start.
“Something about social media, lots of attention we’re getting.” Shane smiled, Ilya just stared at him lovingly, he always did this, get lost in Shane’s face. He took a second to look down at the floor then back up at Shane,
“Of course we are, we are hottest nhl couple.” He shook his wet hair and nuzzled into Shane’s hoodie and laughed. “Now watch me win it for you.” Ilya got up and took to the ice.
In the 3rd period, right at the top of it, Bood made a goal. 5-0. Dillion was seen chirping it with some player on Montreal, who was shouting something no one could make out. They got into an altercation so the refs had to come over and break up. The Voyageur took a swing and accidentally hit the ref. Major Penalty. They’re fucking lucky it wasn’t a Match Penalty. Ottawa gets a powerplay now for 5 minutes.
Ilya, Bood, and Troy are on a rampage. They’ve got five minutes and they want to crush Montreal. They look insane, passing the puck back and forth, running circles around the Montreal defenders, tiring them out. Ilya swings the puck out to the right and Troy slaps the puck hard and fast, it goes right between the goalie’s mitt and top corner post, score! 6-0. The whole crowd goes wild! That only took 2 minutes, they still have 3 left of this powerplay to try and score more. When Bood has possession, he passes it around to Troy, who swings across the back of the goal and passes it to Ilya, who’s on the left, at the touch of getting passed the puck, Ilya fakes a pass to Bood and quick shanks his stick to take a shot. The goalie didn’t even get a chance to comprehend it. The puck hits the back of the post and makes that beautiful loud ringing sound. Score!
7-0. The team gathers together in celebration. It’s a bloodbath, in both score and injury. The Centaurs hurt, in some fashion, about every starter and part of the 2nd line. It’s everything Ilya wanted. He skates over to the bench to take a breather as they do a line change. He goes over to Shane and smothers him. He’s sweating and breathing so hard, his chest is huffing in and out in his bulky uniform, and he’s grinning at Shane like it’s all for him. He hugs him and wraps his sweaty arm around Shane’s shoulders. There’s only 3 minutes left in the game. They let fresh rookies rotate to finish out the game.
The giant buzzer goes off when the clock hits 0.0. seconds. Final score: 7-0
The team gathered on the ice outside the bench in celebration. Shane joins in, Ilya doesn’t leave his side. It would be time to lineup and shake hands, but they aren’t going to. Ilya has the rookies shooing the Voyageurs off, telling them to go home and get the fuck off the ice. Ilya had already discussed this with Wiebe before the game that under no condition are they shaking the Voyageurs fucking hands after, regardless of outcome. Coach didn’t argue, in fact, he agreed.
One player from Montreal tried to tussle over being shooed off by rookies, but Luca swung so fast, the guy ducked to dodge it but fell on his ass, leaving him and the rest of the Voyageurs embarrassed. Ilya came up beyond Luca with a scandalous glare, then he quickly met with Hayden on the ice and patted his shoulder. They were still on speaking terms, he wanted Hayden to not feel totally ostracized. But the Voyageurs, guided by Hayden's stern attitude to keep them in line, just started packing at the bench and leaving through the tunnel one by one. If ever there was a time to skip a post-game handshake, this would be it. The team celebrated together as the arena went nuts. Ilya went back over to the bench celebration and grabbed Shane’s hand, asking him to join him on the ice,
“I don’t have skates on!” Shane quipped. He wasn’t part of the game he didn’t really want to be out there. Bad enough the Jumbotron showed him as much as they did.
“It’s okay, I’ll carry you!”
“No you fucking aren’t. who are we? Scott and Kip? Celebrate with your teammates” Shane smiles and shoos him off, Ilya smiles sweetly and let’s go of Shane’s hand, he doesn’t force him on the ice. Ilya takes to the ice to continue celebrating, he hugs Wyatt Hayes who made his way over finally from the goal.
Then loudly over the speakers starts the celebration music, while the crowd is still going wild.
Song Lyrics:~* I got, I got, I got, I got Loyalty…~*
Ilya snaps his head at Shane and stares in disbelief that his song is playing. They share a moment where Shane shrugs and beams a smile, “You deserve it!” He shouts. Ilya motions and grabs his own heart, while being hugged and practically tackled by random teammates, he points to Shane and shakes his head and mouths, “No, you deserve it” then smiles.
Ilya skates off to do a lap around the ice, pumping his fists in the air. He starts pounding his chest over and over with one hand and pumping the other for the crowd to get loud as his song plays. Troy and Bood join him in pumping up the crowd; hands to ears, fist pumping. As he’s skating close to the visitor’s bench, most of the Voyageurs seem to be leaving through the tunnel, but he eyes Theriault just staring across the way at Shane. He takes a glance between the two, and stops dead in front of Theriault, blocking his view of Shane. “Ah, ah, he’s mine, not yours. And pity, seems you needed him. Good game, I loved it.” Ilya flashed a devious stare and held it. Ilya didn’t flinch when Coach Theriault took a quick step forward from the bench to try and scare him, in fact, he slowly began a wide grin with his eyes widening, then began laughing manically in his face until he looked crazy, his eyebrows shot up,
“I would be careful, or whole arena will see crazy Russian hit ugly man and I will enjoy too much and they will cheer. Do you hear them? That’s for winners, which you won’t ever be again.” Ilya skated away and then continued his hand pumping motion to get the crowd roaring even louder as D.N.A. kept playing. He decided to skate backwards to pass Theriault once more and smiled, devilishly.
**
Usually, this level of celebration cannot be contained. No one seems to be leaving the stadium besides Montreal. When Ilya gets back to the bench and sees Shane, sharing hugs with Wyatt and Troy, then Bood, he can’t help but feel the happiest he’s ever been. It was worth it. They are worth it. Everything that went wrong, everything they couldn’t control, it sucked, but it got them here. Shane lives with him, Shane loves him, chose him. It all feels right. It feels like everything he wanted and it worked. He gets to take Shane Hollander home, winners; both of them.
***
After the post-game celebrations commenced, it was late. Late, late. Shane and Ilya slumped into the house, slightly high from the excitement and completely exhausted. Ilya especially, he is beyond tired. All that extra work, hard practices, worth it to win 7-0, but he could use a week vacation, or two. Shane carried in his bag, even though Ilya protested, he actually loved not having to lug it and Shane was healed. Ilya felt he finally believed it now. Ilya had already showered after the game, he was already in sweats, as was Shane. All he wanted was to hold him in bed and sleep in tomorrow and wake up next to the man he loved. They gathered themselves to bed and slid under the covers. Shane looked over at Ilya, who looked exhausted and elated seemingly looking at the ceiling but replaying the game in his head, then, Ilya turned his head to look at Shane, now he looked in love.
“You had them play my song?” He said with a sleepy smile,
“I did, I had Harris set it up.”
“Ah, that makes sense.” Ilya opened his arms to tell Shane to lay into him and cuddle. Shane folded himself in immediately and wrapped around Ilya. “Thank you, love. Was perfect night.”
“Can I make it more perfect?” Shane asked, a slight indication that Ilya wasn’t sure what he was getting at. A blowjob? Because Shane Hollander is out of his mind if he thinks Ilya can do any sort of physical performance right now.
“I don’t think I can do that right now” Ilya said, but Shane cut him off quick,
“No! That's not...” Shane traced his finger along Ilya’s chest then he nuzzled his nose into his neck and squeezed him tight, then Ilya held him tighter back. Yeah, this is perfect, Ilya thinks.
Then Shane quietly gets out
“Shchyastye moyo.”
It takes Ilya a second to process that Shane just spoke Russian, then of course, he knows what he said, which makes him smile, then..
Then he realizes why he just said it. He jumps out of position to look at Shane who looks scared almost at the movement this stirred,
“Did I say it wrong?” Shane asked, Ilya shook his head no slowly, but his eyes got wide.
“No, is right, but are you saying it because?” Ilya remembered, they had only just had this conversation last week. Shane gave the faintest smile,
“Say the word, you said.” Shane finished his train of thought.
“Really? You want?” Ilya took a breath, he felt more out of breath than during the whole game tonight. “Want to marry me?” Ilya tried to steady his exhale. Shane now gave a huge grin and laughed,
“Yes. Thanks for asking.” Shane let out a nervous breath and Ilya smiled and laughed. Then Shane said, “Really, Ilya... will you marry me… shchyastye moyo?” Shane seemed to be shaking slightly. Nerves. Ilya started to tear up. It probably didn’t help he was beyond exhaustion, but this was the greatest day of his life.
“Da, Shchyastye moyo! Ya lyublyu tyebya. Da!”
Shane lights up, “Hey, I understood the whole thing!” Shane kissed Ilya, soft and with smiles exchanging between them, both crying now. “I love you Ilya. You’re the greatest man I know.”
It’s supposed to feel like this.