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It had been a long-fought season, but the Centaurs had finally won the Cup. They ended up beating Seattle four games to one, and everyone was still riding that high several hours later. The hockey world had watched Ottawa with intense scrutiny as not only the first team with multiple openly queer players, but the first team with two players married to each other. Ilya and Shane did what they always did when people were watching them, waiting for them to fail. They played fucking amazing hockey. Shane and Ilya both had arguably the best season of their careers; Shane narrowly ended up with a higher point total than Ilya, but no one else had come close to either of them, and it was obvious that one of them was going to win the Hart Trophy again this year.
The team had flown back to Ottawa early in the morning, and everyone was so tired that no one had wanted to do anything but sleep. Mercifully the press conference had been short as plans for a more formal celebration for Ottawa's first Cup win were announced to be held in the following weeks. Harris would be so busy helping to plan events that Ilya had joked that Chiron might be neglected and he would be more than happy to dogsit. But tonight Ilya and Shane were hosting a party to let their friends and teammates relax after the hardwork they put into the season. Several of the players had declined to spend time with their family, but there was still a good sized crowd around the fire in Ilya and Shane's backyard. Troy was leaning against Harris' legs as the bearded man silently played with his hair (Troy looked more content than Shane had ever seen him), David and Yuna were talking with Coach Wiebe and his wife, The Pikes had come down from Montreal (Shane knew that they were looking for a place in Ottawa as Hayden had signed with the Centaurs at the end of the season, it was only waiting for it to be officially anounced) and had drug J.J. with them. Shane was happy that his friends from Montreal had been able to come and celebrate with them. Shane had worried about J.J. being the only one left in Montreal, but J.J. had told him that he was considering several offers that had been floated his way unofficially for when he entered free agency at the end of next season. Shane was leaning against Ilya who was talking with Zane and showing a tweet on his phone.
@MontrealVoyageursOfficial: We want to congratulate our former captain on his success with his new team and bringing Ottawa its first cup.
"Can you believe this?" Ilya said, shaking his head and gesticualting wildly. "After all they did to Shane, they still can't say his name when they 'congratulate' him. Assholes." He looked sheepishly at Hayden and J.J. "Sorry, present company excluded, for the most part." Ilya was better at making fun of Hayden for Shane's sake, and his stance on J.J. had softened as he and Shane had worked through their issues. But the rest of the team? There was a reason Ilya had more penalty minutes against the Voyageurs than any other team.
"Don't worry about it, they are a bunch of dicks." Hayden said nodding.
"Media too," Jackie added, looking up from her phone that was facetiming her kids at her parent's house. Shane was sad about them having to uproot their lives, but he knew that both he and Ilya were looking forward to spending more time with their niblings.
"It might be the high from winning the cup, but I kind of want to reply "Fuck You" but I don't think the league would like that." Shane had said. He normally wasn't confrontational like that, but he still felt the hurt from the people he thought were his family turning their back on him. He would never admit it to anyone but Ilya, but he screamed in joy when Montreal was the first team eliminated from playoff contention this season. Ilya was right, Shane had carried them for years and this season had exposed the dangers of building a team around a single player. After what they had done to him, he was entitled to be a little petty
"Can I my lyubimiy? The league already doesn't like me." Ilya said with a sly grin.
"As the communication director for the Centaurs, I beg you not to. I already have so much to do this week without having to do damage control for an angry Russian." Harris pleaded.
"Fine," Ilya huffed, "For Barrett's sake I won't make your life harder. He's cranky when he isn't getting his dick sucked on the regular."
"Fuck you Rozanov," Troy said flipping his captain off. "But I agree, someone should do something, but I don't want whoever replaces Crowell to go on a power trip and come after us. Maybe we can send some of the Hollanov Stans after them."
"You've been spending too much time with Luca, Troy." Shane said. Luca had shown shane the Twitter reactions after he and Ilya were confirmed to be playing on the same team, and while most were polite, there were some that had creeped Shane out to his core. "Maybe it's best if we just ignore it," Shane said dejectedly. "Don't give them the satisfaction."
"No," Ilya said, "We need to do something, remind them of who you are. You are Shane Hollander, the reason why Montreal has so many cups. But alas, I cannot."
"Alas? Really Illya?" Shane said, nudging his husband in the ribs, earning a laugh and a kiss from the other man.
"I can't either, professional courtesy and all that," Wiebe said.
"I would love to boys, but as both of your manager it would not be a good look for any future brand deals I work for you two." Yuna said.
"I can make a passive agressive statement that looks friendly." Harris added.
"Thank you Harris, but maybe wait until after the Cup Parade, da?" Ilya said, smilling at the younger man.
"What about this?" David Hollander said, handing his phone over to Harris. Shane had honestly forgot his dad was still here.
Harris was silent for a seconds as he read whatever was on Shane's dad's phone. "Oh, I like that," he said, Troy nodding his consent as well. David handed the phone over to Yuna and Weibe who both smiled and nodded as well. Now Shane was curious what his dad had typed.
David got up and walked over to where Shane and Ilya were sitting, and handed them his phone. Shane looked down at the screen where his dad had Instagram pulled up. Shane didn't know that his dad had even had an Instagram account. Shane flipped through the three pictures that his dad had included in the post. The first Shane had seen before, it was Ilya lifting Shane into the air after he had scored the game winning goal in the championship game. Shane was laughing and the look on both of their faces could only be described as pure love. The second picture was Shane and Ilya lifting the cup together, while their team aws screaming around them. It was one of Shane's favorite pictures that he had seen from that night. The last picture took Shane by surprise. It was a joke picture that Harris had made them take where Shane and Ilya held their left hands over the bowl of the Cup, showing off their wedding rings. On the Centaur's official account he had captioned it "Our second favorite piece of metal this year". Shane scrolled down to look at the caption that his dad had written.
@therealdavidhollander: I couldn't be prouder of my boys @IlyaRozanov81 and @ShaneHollanderHockeyPlayer, who have shown the world the power that love has. Do not let anyone tell you that something is impossible because of who you love. Those who matter don't care, and those who care don't matter. No amount of false plattitudes can undo what was done to my son by his former team. It's time to catch up with the times. #loveislove #youcanplay #gocentaurs #fuckyouvoyagers except for you @H.Pikes.Place and @JJBoiz, you two are now my boys as well.
After he read everything he looked over at Ilya, whose eyes were as wet as Shane's own. When he first started hooking up with Ilya, he never imagined that he would have so many people supporting and loving them. "Thanks dad," Shane said, Ilya mumbled in agreement-Shane guessed not trusting himself to start bawling. "But do you think the "Fuck you" hash tag might be too much?"
"What can they do to me?" David said, grinning as he presses post. "I am not a player, not a coach, or manager, I am just a dad to two sons who have been hurt." Ilya stands up suddenly and wraps David in a hug that he hoped communicated what his support meant to him.