Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Two years change things in ways no one really announces.

They do not arrive like milestones. They settle instead, quietly. In habits that stop feeling new. In looks that no longer need explaining. In the way four people can sit in a room without performing for each other at all.

Shane notices it most in the silence. It no longer feels like something waiting to be filled. It feels complete on its own.

After graduation, he and Ilya are pulled onto competing MHL teams. Rivals on the ice, partners everywhere else. With part of their signing bonuses, they build a cottage in Shane’s hometown. A place that is theirs in a way nothing else is. Summers, breaks, anything they can get, they spend it there. All four of them.

Now it's Christmas break, their second season as professionals, and everything has settled into something steady. Something good.

Shane still finds a way to disrupt it.

The cottage is warm against the cold outside. Snow presses softly against the windows, muting the world into something distant and slow. Inside, the lights are low, the fire steady. Easy, in a way that still surprises him when he thinks too hard about how this all started.

He looks across the room.

Ilya is sitting on the arm of the couch, relaxed, talking quietly with Rose and Svetlana. Not guarded. Not performing. Just there.

Rose laughs at something Svetlana says. Svetlana watches her like she always does now. Openly, without hesitation.

Something tightens in Shane’s chest. Not nerves, not exactly, but something closer to certainty. His hand shifts in his pocket. The box is there, heavy in a way that does not feel entirely real.

He exhales once as Svetlana catches his eye from across the room. Just for a second, a signal.

Shane nods.

It's time.

— ✦ —

The moment does not feel cinematic, it feels real.

Shane stands, brushing his hands against his jeans like it matters or something. The room shifts as everyone notices.

Rose notices Svetlana's expression shift and takes her hand while mouthing, "Okay?"

Ilya looks at Shane immediately. That alone almost undoes Shane. “Hey,” Shane says, steadier than he feels. Ilya tilts his head slightly. “Hey.”

Rose glances between them. “What is happening?” Svetlana says nothing, she just watches.

Shane takes a breath, then steps forward until he is standing in front of Ilya. Close enough that everything else fades out.

Ilya looks up at him.

Shane exhales. “I wasn’t going to do a speech,” he says.

Ilya’s mouth twitches. “Good.”

A quiet huff of laughter leaves Shane, then he reaches into his pocket. The second the velvet box appears, the room stills. Rose goes silent, Svetlana does not move and Ilya blinks once, like he is making sure this is real.

Shane lets out a breath he did not realize he was holding. “...This is me not deflecting,” he says.

Then he drops to one knee and opens the box. The ring inside is plain at first glance, a thick gold band with clean edges and no decoration. Timeless rather than flashy. The same warm gold as the necklace Ilya wears beneath his clothes every day.

Ilya’s expression shifts immediately. Surprise first, then something softer, something open.

Shane looks up at him. “You made me stop running,” he says. “You made everything loud in a way I couldn’t ignore,” he pauses to steady his voice. “So I’m not going to, I love you. I want all of it. Not just this part, everything.”

He holds the opened ringbox up slightly. “Ilya Grigoryevich Rozanov, will you marry me?”

For a second, Ilya does not move. Then he lets out a small, disbelieving laugh, and something in his face breaks open. “Yes,” he says immediately while he stands up. “Yes мой любимый My love .”

Relief hits Shane all at once. He exhales hard, a laugh slipping out with it.

Ilya pulls him up without hesitation. Hands at his shoulders, grounding, pulling him in like gravity finally gave up resisting. They stay there a second too long, forehead to forehead, both breathing like they forgot how.

Shane takes the ring out of the box while his hands shake a little. He takes Ilya's right hand, slides the ring on his finger and lets the box drop to the ground as he throws his arms round his fiance.

"We will have to get you one too," Ilya jokes as he holds Shane tighter than he has ever before.

Rose sniffles quietly somewhere behind them.

“Now,” Svetlana says, calm and precise. Shane barely has time to register it before there is movement. He lets go of Ilya a little and turns slightly. Svetlana is already standing. Rose looks at her, confused.

“...What now?” Rose asks slowly.

Svetlana steps forward. Her hands are shaking, just enough to notice. Shane reaches into his other pocket and holds out another small box. Svetlana stops in front of him and takes it without a word.

There is a brief pause. Then she exhales and turns to Rose. “I did not plan a speech,” she says.

Rose lets out a nervous laugh. “That seems to be a theme tonight.”

Svetlana’s mouth curves faintly, and she lowers herself onto one knee. Rose freezes.

Behind them, Shane lets out a quiet, breathless laugh. Ilya’s arm is still around him, but his attention has shifted.

Svetlana looks up at Rose. For once, there is nothing calculated in her expression. “You were not supposed to notice me first,” she says. “But you did, you always do.”

Rose’s breath catches and Svetlana continues.

“And I stopped pretending I did not want that,” she takes a deep breath and opens the box. Inside is a thin gold band with small white gold accents around the setting, holding a single oval diamond. Elegant rather than extravagant. The kind of ring chosen by someone who had been paying attention for years.

“Rose Landry, will you marry me?”

“Yes,” Rose says in an instant. “Yes, of course, yes! Oh my god!”

Svetlana exhales like she has been holding it in for years. She stands quickly. Rose pulls her into an embrace just as fast, tears already falling. Svetlana tries not to cry but fails anyway.

They pull apart a little, just enough so they can kiss. Then Svetlana takes Rose her left hand and puts the ring where it belongs.

Shane laughs softly as Ilya pulls him a little closer.

Four people. Four friends. All of them were a little stunned. All of them were smiling.

Across the room, Rose is still holding Svetlana’s hand like she needs to be sure it is real, Svetlana squeezes back.

Shane glances at Svetlana. “We planned this,” he starts. “And they had no idea.”

A quiet laugh leaves Svetlana. “We are insane.”

Ilya nods once. “We all are.” He looks at Shane, something softer settling in again. “But we are together.”

Shane meets his gaze, something in him finally easing. “Yeah,” he says. “Together.”

— ✦ —

Outside, snow keeps falling. Inside, everything finally stops being a plan and just becomes life. "да, okay," Ilya says, getting everyone's attention. "We had double PowerPoint confessions, double dates and now double proposals. So..."

"We are not having a double wedding Ilya," Shane says quickly.

Rose breathes out a breath he was holding. "Oh thank god".

They all start to chuckle as they slowly sit back down on the couch together. "And to think this all happened because you two," Shane says while pointing to Rose and Svetlana, "made a PowerPoint presentation about us".

"This would have happened without the PowerPoints too," Ilya says with an endearing smile.

"Shane, you made Ilya all sappy and romantic," Rose says.

"He has always been sappy, he just hides it very well," Svetlana interrupts.

Ilya yelps. "да, but that was supposed to be a secret! I have an image to uh... uphold or maintain?" Ilya asks while turning his head towards Shane.

"Both work but maintain is less professional" Shane answers.

"Thank you мой любимый My love ," Ilya responds and kisses the the tip of Shane's nose, "Yeah an image to maintain, we are big time hockey players," Ilya continues, "no one can know that I am secretly soft inside for my hockey rival with cute freckles." Ilya strokes his hand over Shane's cheek tracing his freckles.

Shane looks into Ilya's eyes and sees a combination of pure happiness and sadness, and he knows exactly why. "Maybe they can?" Shane asks with a hopeful yet scared look.

Rose gasps quietly, "Shane..."

"I know I said it needs to be a secret but i'm so done with lying to everyone," Shane says with a little pent up anger. He shifts on the couch to look towards Rose, "remember rookie season last year? when we were seen together and all news outlets were convinced we were dating?" He says and Ilya bites the inside of his cheek keeping in the things he wants to say so Shane can finish.

"Well they don't anymore..." Svetlana whispers while chuckling.

"Yes, because you came out..." Shane signs, "but when people were speculating about Rose and me all I wanted to do-" Shane hesitates and thinks for a moment before he speaks again, "All I wanted to do was say that I'm with Ilya and we're very happy and that they all can suck my dick if they don't like it!"

Shane says those words a little too loudly and shifts his position on the couch so that his forearms are resting on his knees.

Ilya puts his hand on Shane's shoulder and starts rubbing circles on it with his thumb. "Well... why don't you?" He asks with a smirk.

"Ilyusha don't joke right now," Svetlana says while glaring into Ilya's soul.

"Am not joking, it was hard keeping relationship secret but will be even harder keeping marriage secret no?" Ilya says as he gets off the couch and crouches in front of Shane, putting his hands in his own.

"Shane, мой любимый My love , I know world thinks we hate each other, but what if we uhm... flip the script?"

"Flip the script?" Shane says while now looking with question at Ilya in front of him.

"You were teammates in college, the story the league made up does not even include that, not one bit of it." Svetlana answers, Ilya didn't even think of that. Shane stands up off the couch making Ilya stumble backwards a little, "You're right!" Shane says with more enthusiasm than he has ever had.

Ilya straightens himself and stands in front of the couch where Rose and Svetlana are still sitting hand in hand. Shane starts walking back and forth by the coffee table, "We could say we've always been friends off the ice and love being competitive on it."

"They would be shocked, yes, but the shock of you two getting married will be more manageable," Rose says with her free hand waving as she talks.

Shane keeps pacing, running a hand through his hair as the idea settles into something real. “We control the narrative for once,” he says, slower now, like he’s testing every word before letting it out. “No more hiding, no more half truths.”

Ilya watches him carefully, like he’s afraid this might disappear if he blinks. “We say it together,” he adds, softer, “so no one can twist it.”

Svetlana leans back into the couch, nodding. “Joint statement, maybe an interview. People love a good ‘rivals to something else’ story.”

“Friends,” Rose corrects with a grin, squeezing her hand. “Let’s not give them too much at once.”

Shane stops pacing. He looks at Ilya again, and the nervous edge in his shoulders finally drops. “Friends,” he repeats, then smirks a little, “Very competitive friends.”

Ilya huffs out a quiet laugh. “да, we fight for puck and then go home together and I fuck you so hard you have to skip practice next day. Very normal.”

“And when they ask about the rings?” Rose asks, raising an eyebrow.

Shane glances down at Ilya's hand like he almost forgot it was there. Then he shrugs. “We tell the truth. Or enough of it atleast.”

“Enough of it,” Ilya echoes, stepping closer again, not quite touching but close enough.

There’s a small pause, the kind that feels like standing on the edge of something big. “Okay,” Shane says finally, exhaling. “We do it.”

Ilya’s grin comes back, bright and a little disbelieving. “We do it.”

Rose claps her hands once. “Look at that, a plan that didn’t require a PowerPoint.”

Svetlana snorts. “A miracle.” And that gets them all to laugh.

Shane and Ilya sit back in the same spots they were in before and Shane leans into the couch, shoulders finally loose, one arm draped along the backrest behind Ilya. “For the record,” he says, still a little breathless from laughing, “I still hate PowerPoints.”

Ilya tilts his head, eyes glinting. “We know Shane, they are terrible.”

“They’re dumb,” Shane adds.

“They’re dumb,” the others echo almost perfectly in sync.

That sets them off again, louder this time, messier. Rose folds into Svetlana’s shoulder, grinning. Svetlana shakes her head, but she’s smiling just as wide. Ilya’s laugh is bright and unguarded, his knee knocking lightly into Shane’s as he leans closer without thinking.

"Omg this reminds me," Rose says while standing up, "I totally forgot!" She looks around the room and finds her bag. The other's watch as she reaches in and takes out her laptop.

"What are you doing?" Ilya asks, still holding Shane who slowly but surely loses all the color in his face as Rose starts screen mirroring to the tv.

Shane lets go of Ilya and looks towards Rose who has sat back down but is now hunched over with her laptop in her lap, "Please don't tell me you have a PowerPoint there," Shane says.

"I think you'll like it," she responds as the tv screen illuminates with something that seems way too familiar. Shane could swear he was asleep as he had seen that exact screen in his dreams.

"You found them?" Svetlana asked as her face turned to her fiance, "Should we go through it again?"

"YES!" Shane says way too enthusiastic as the others turn their heads, all with the same surprised look on their face, "What? I know that back then we all had our feelings about... the things that were shown, but it got us here didn't it?"

"You are right мой любимый My love ," Ilya says as he takes Shane's hand in his own and looks at the tv.

Svetlana puts her hand on Rose's thigh and says, "Alright then," Rose uses the mousepad to clicks on the 'start presentation' button as her eyes already start to fill up with tears.

— ✦ —

Rose: “I still think the subtitle was genius.”
Shane: “It looked like a classified FBI document.”
Ilya: “Because it basically was.”

Svetlana: “You touched each other constantly.”
Shane: “Athletes are supportive.”
Rose: “You were basically attached at the hip.”

Ilya: “You can literally see him forgetting hockey exists.”
Shane: “Okay that one is bad.”
Rose: “BAD? Shane you looked at him like a Victorian wife waiting for her husband to return from war.”

Shane: “You added these just because you thought we looked cute.”
Rose: “Correct.”
Ilya: “Very professional investigation.”

Svetlana: “This was the point where you stopped pretending.”
Ilya: “No.”
Shane: “Ilya, there is literally a graph.”

Rose: “And then you immediately started dating.”
Shane: “Not immediately.”
Svetlana: “Three days later.”
Ilya: “Okay okay now time for ours.”

— ✦ —

Rose: “The exclamation marks are still killing me.”
Ilya: “Needed dramatic effect.”
Shane: “I should have really went trough what he made before presenting.”

Svetlana: “I know we made a graph, but you really had to make 2 huh?.”
Ilya: “Data is important.”
Rose: “You two are somehow worse than we were.”

Shane: “Again, I did not cry.”
Ilya: “You absolutely cried.”
Shane: “Okay maybe a little.”

Svetlana: “Okay this one actually got me.”
Rose: “You were staring at me like I personally invented sunsets.”

Svetlana: “And now we are engaged.”
Ilya: “And so are we.”
Shane: “Which somehow makes this whole thing feel even crazier.”
Rose: “PowerPoints change lives.”

— ✦ —

By the end of both presentations, Rose and Ilya are full on crying as Svetlana and Shane have tears in their eyes, while holding their respected partner.

Shane speaks first, "Maybe it's time I change my opinion on PowerPoints."

" мой солнышко My sunshine no, you can still hate them. Just not these ones."

"Yeah okay, I don't hate THESE PowerPoints"

They still have a plan like usual, but now it's their plan. To be gone through together.

Forever.

~Fín~