Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Rose Landry,” Ilya loomed over the table, where the actress was already sitting. The restaurant was very trendy, with dark lighting and neon signs, even in the private dining room, but Rose could still make out all of Rozanov's features. He was very tense.

“You know, Rozanov, most people use hello as a greeting.” Ilya didn’t respond but sat down across from her.

Both of them stared at each other for a few moments before Rose grabbed her menu and started reading it. “Relax, dude, I’m not going to steal your man back. He is very gay and very in love with you.”

Ilya scoffed. “Not gay enough for Rose Landry, apparently.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Very much was, trust me.”

The corner of Ilya’s mouth tilted up a little. “Tell me more?”

“That’s something you would need to ask Shane. I’m not sharing that.”

Ilya finally smiled. “He won’t tell me either!”

Rose set the menu down and took a sip of her water. “So, Rozanov, you want to hear how my brothers and I used to sneak in Octopi and throw them on the ice when we were kids?”

“Ilya,” he corrected. “And very much yes.”

Ilya arrived at the locker room before the game the next day to applause.

“My boy is a God!” Cliff Marlow cheered, which caused the rest of the team to start hooting and hollering.

“Not only did he bag Rose Landry, but he also bagged Shane Hollander’s ex. That’s legend shit,” one of their defensemen added.

Ilya put his hands up in the air as he walked to his stall. “Okay, okay.”

“Are you guys dating or was it just a one-night thing?” One of the rookies asked.

He rolled his eyes, but before he could answer, another rookie spoke up. “Roz doesn’t do girlfriends.” Ilya thought about how bold the rookies had gotten and how he needed to take care of that soon.

“Well, except for Jane,” Cliff wiggled his eyebrows in the stall next to Ilya.

Apparently, he needed to take care of his alternate captain as well. And by taking care, he needed to kill him.

“Okay enough!” His voice was harsh, which probably told everyone in the locker room a little too much. “I do not kiss and tell. Now, are we going to beat Seattle or gossip like children?”

“Oh fuck off, Roz, you are the biggest gossip of us all,” Cliff shoved his shoulder slightly.

Slow and painful. That was how he was going to kill his best friend on the team.

God, he needed to get better control of his locker room.

“Bro, what the hell!” Was how Hayden greeted Shane in the locker room before their game against Toronto.

“Hello Hayden, how are you? I’m doing great, thanks for asking,” Shane replied in a monotone voice. He tried to keep his head down as he walked to his stall. The room was already full, Shane being one of the last people to arrive today because his coach wanted to go over some captain stuff with him.

“No you’re not! Your ex is dating Rozanov!” Shane started questioning why he considered Hayden his best friend in that moment.

Shane rolled his eyes. “They aren’t dating.”

“Fucking, same thing. Either way, that fucker is making moves on your ex,” Drapeau replied from across the room.

“You know me and Rose are still friends? She’s not dating Rozanov or whatever. They are probably just friends.”

Drapeau burst out laughing. “Rozanov with a female friend? Yeah, right captain, you are so naive.”

J.J. placed a hand on Shane’s shoulder. “I’ll kill him next time we play him, fuck that guy.”

“Please don’t do that. I’m fine. I really don’t care guys,” Shane tried to make his voice as monotone as possible. He did care, but not for the reasons his teammates thought he would.

J.J. scoffed. “I was going to do it anyway. Just wanted a reason.”

They didn’t play Boston for another month, not until New Year's Day. He really hoped that everyone would forget by then.

He needed to warn Ilya.

“Ilya, you don’t have to stand guard. I brought my bodyguards,” Rose yelled over the loud music at the tall Russian who was standing stiffly next to the two dancing women.

“Those men are staring,” Ilya pointed at the offending men, who had the decency to turn their heads away.

“Because we are hot!” Svetlana cheered, grabbing Rose’s arms to spin the actress.

Rose giggled, quite intoxicated. “Relax, dude. You look like Shane, just standing in the middle of the dance floor staring off.”

If Russians blushed, Ilya would have in that moment, remembering the night at the beginning of the year when he had shown up at the same club that Shane and Rose were at. He wondered if Rose ever realized who he was looking at that night.

“Ilyusha, dance! You are being boring,” Svetlana grabbed his hand, pulling him with the two women, and well, he did like to dance.

Ilya was able to relax for a little bit, drinking and dancing with his friends, until some overzealous Rose Landry fan decided to try to cut into their little circle and grab her. Ilya was not about to wait for her slow bodyguards to take care of it, instead putting himself between Rose and the fan, one arm on the man's chest to push him back, the other wrapped around Rose.

Ilya skated back to the bench, a big smile on his face as all his teammates high-fived him, the replay of his goal playing on the Jumbotron.

“Rozy, that was insane. You need your girlfriend to be here every night!” Cliff Marlow slapped him on the back and sat next to him while their line rested.

“Not my girlfriend,” Ilya rolled his eyes, which was redundant under his visor.

“Yeah, sure, man. You know, I was thinking the other day.”

“Did you hurt yourself?” Ilya teased him. Shane taught him that one.

“Fuck you, man. I was thinking, it all makes sense now why you were being a little terror when Hollander and Rose Landry were being spotted earlier this year. Rozy had a little crush on Rose.”

Ilya kept his face even. Marlow was a fucking idiot, but he was very close to the truth and didn’t want him to get anymore ideas about his behavior last year. “I was not a little terror. I have never been little.”

“You are an insufferable man bro. You were insane. Glad you finally got your girl. Maybe stop texting that Jane chick, though. You don’t want to fumble Rose like Hollander did.”

“What is fumble? He did not drop her on the ground?” Ilya played stupid. He had been around American hockey players long enough to learn that slang, but it did his job as Marlow just shook his head and shut up.

He missed his boyfriend. He couldn’t wait for Christmas.

“Should we be worried about Hollander trying to take your head off tonight?” Marlow asked as he shoved on his pads in the stall next to Ilya. He had a good afternoon, sneaking in some time with his boyfriend earlier at his house, and Marlow was going to ruin it.

Before Ilya could respond, Carmichael spoke up from across the room. “Like that pussy could even throw a punch. Never even heard him chirp before.”

Ilya clenched his fist and tried to ignore his teammates. Usually, he would join in on the ribbing, but he really didn’t want to shit-talk his boyfriend like this. He only liked to participate in ethical shit talk about Shane.

“Hey, he fought Scott Hunter that one time,” one of the rookies called out. “Only got one punch in through.” Ilya smiled at the memory. He watched that clip way too many times, even to this day.

“That was probably just a lovers' quarrel,” Carmichael chirped.

Ilya was no longer smiling. “That’s enough!” He yelled, getting everyone in the locker room's attention. He tried to relax his features and put on his fun captain persona. “We win this game. Montreal goes home crying, we celebrate the new year at the club. My treat.”

“Cap wants to impress his new girlfriend,” Marlow stood next to him. “Saw on Twitter that she is in a box. Let’s win this one for our captain in the first annual Rose Landry Bowl!”

Ilya let out a big huff. He has grown too soft on these idiots. He blames Shane.

“Hollander, you going to fight him tonight?” J.J. asked, swatting Shane on the back with a towel as he walked by.

Shane sighed heavily. “No, and none of you will be either over this. It doesn’t bother me.”

“No way capitaine, he disrespected you! You cannot take this lying down,” J.J. replied loudly, getting the attention of the rest of the locker room.

“Yeah cap,” Hayden joined in. “We got your back.”

Oh God. “No one has my back. If you want to fight him, find another reason. Rose Landry is a good friend of mine. She can do whatever with whoever she wants.”

“Good friend? What good friend dates your biggest rival and pain in the ass?” Comeau asked. “You keep giving us that PR answer that you split amicable but I think you are lying, Shane. You cheat on her or something?”

“As if Shane would ever cheat on someone,” Hayden defended his friend, and although Shane appreciated him for it, it made him cringe a little bit. He didn’t really cheat on Rose, not in that way. Hell, he hadn’t even talked to Ilya the whole time they were together. But he did spend the whole relationship thinking about him. And don’t even get him started on the club.

Rose was way too cool with everything. He was for sure not letting her pay for dinner tonight.

Shane was getting nervous. He felt like if they kept going they would somehow realize everything. Realistically, he knew they wouldn’t, but his brain didn’t work like that.

“Guys, I told you. Our schedules just didn’t line up, and I didn’t like all the added attention that came with dating a movie star. We realized we made great friends and shitty partners to each other. Can we just drop it?” God, Shane needed to learn how to be cool.

“It’s still not right!” J.J. whined, like he had personally been scorned.

Shane took a deep breath. “How about this? You guys want to get back at Rozanov for me? I appreciate that you guys care so much, so how about we make sure we win this game? That would feel like the biggest revenge to me.”

The locker room started cheering and yelling about how they were going to embarrass Rozanov in front of Rose.

Shane, for once wish everyone would go back to caring about college football and the actual Rose Bowl.

“Shane Hollander,” Ilya set his stick next to Shane at center ice as the ref got ready to drop the puck.

“Rozanov,” Shane bit his lip, trying to hide a smile. “Heard Rose is here tonight. Couldn’t get her to wear your jersey?”

Ilya smiled. His actual smile, the one reserved just for Shane. He looked like he was about to say something back, but the ref dropped the puck, and Shane got it, passing it to Hayden and taking off. The Rose Landry Bowl had started.

Hollander 1, Rozanov 0

“Shane, I love you, buddy. I can’t watch you just stand there and take this,” Hayden sighed, grabbing Shane’s shoulder as the sound of the goal horn overtook the arena. Rozanov had just scored and was pointing up towards the suites where Rose was standing, cheering.

Hollander 1, Rozanov 1

“My teammates said you would not fight me,” Rozanov chirped as if he didn’t have Shane pinned against the boards as the two of them fought for control of the puck.

Shane pushed his hip against Ilya’s to try to get more room to take the puck. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“So would Rose,” Ilya grabbed the puck and took off, leaving Shane chasing behind him.

Hollander 1, Rozanov 2

“Does that dude have a death wish?” Marlow asked as Shane’s line headed towards their bench, Hollander giving a wave to Ilya after he just scored his goal to tie the game. For most guys, waving at the opposing team after a goal was normal shit-talking behavior, but for Shane Hollander, that was extreme.

Ilya tried not to smile. Shane being sassy on ice was doing something not family-friendly to him. Maybe he could get him to fight him on ice later.

Hollander 2, Rozanov 2

“The whole arena wants us to fight,” Shane said later, waiting for the puck to drop to start the third period, the game still tied at one.

Ilya raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to fight?”

“No,” Shane’s voice was low, hoping that his teammates or any microphones wouldn’t pick up.

“Maybe we yell at each other. Give them a show?” Ilya suggested.

“Maybe.” Shane really didn’t want to do that either. He really just wanted this whole spectacle to end so he could go get dinner with Rose and then head over to Ilya’s house to spend the night. They didn’t have to leave until early afternoon the next day and would have plenty of time to sneak back into the hotel in the morning.

Ilya smirked and lifted one of his hands with his hockey stick to point towards Rose for everyone to see. Shane wanted to laugh, but instead tried to keep his face neutral.

“Heard you guys weren’t compatible?” And with that, Rozanov took off with the puck.

Hollander 2, Rozanov 3

“I don’t think she likes bad boys,” Shane smiled as he passed by the penalty box that Rozanov had just been sent to for tripping Comeau.

Ilya winked. “I know someone who does.”

“Hollander, quit gossiping and come play hockey,” the Ref yelled, and Shane skated for the puck drop and proceeded to score his second goal of the night on the power play.

Hollander 3, Rozanov 3.