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“What’s up with him?” Harris asks Shane the moment he steps off the ice and onto the bench. He’s there to film some sort of behind-the-scenes type of video to give the public a general idea of what their team actually acts like behind closed doors because they apparently always blow up on the internet. Not that Shane would really know, since he pretty much only gets any social media update through Rose or Hayden.
As of a couple of months ago, Harris doesn’t actually need to be there filming the video, since he got a promotion and everything, but Shane supposes he’s probably half there for Troy. It doesn’t hurt to see your hot hockey boyfriend play hockey once in a while. Shane would know.
Speaking of, his own hot hockey boyfriend husband is currently beside himself, sulking quietly in the corner with a face etched with worry.
“Oh, Ilya?” Shane responds. He nods, “yeah, he’s probably not acting great for your video, is he?”
Part of the Centaurs’ appeal is Ilya’s personality. He’s funny, cocky, and incredibly smart; he knows exactly how to explain things easily, relate to others, but also phrase things in a way that is helpful and collaborative. And usually, he’s the life of the team. Harris was probably expecting him to be his usual self at practice today, given from the microphone he placed on Ilya’s jersey earlier. To his credit, the video would have been great if not for what occurred in the Hollander-Rozanov household this morning.
“Oh, no!” Harris is quick to reassure. “I mean, yes, it’s not great for the video but mostly, I’m worried. He seems down.”
The man pouts dramatically and Shane is inclined to believe that he is genuine. Harris doesn’t seem like the guy to have even a single bad atom in his body.
“Anya threw up this morning,” Shane says, shrugging. That should be enough for anyone to understand the inner turmoil in Ilya’s mind right now. He loves that dog more than Shane realised anyone could love a dog.
“Oh,” Harris’s usual smile morphs a sympathetic frown. “That’s the worst! Do you have any idea why?”
Suddenly, Shane regrets not coming to this guy sooner. Of course they could rely on Harris, he has, like, fifty dogs at home. He’s probably used to dogs being sick.
“I mean, my parents were over so we cooked some ribs and Ilya fed her a couple. But we didn’t really think anything of it.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I briefly mentioned it this morning but I think Ilya was too distraught to actually consider that it could be his fault.”
Harris nods, completely somber. “I totally get that. Back when I was still living with my parents, I used to sneak food to our dogs all the time. Once, I gave them some pesto pasta and they were ill all night, the poor things. I felt so bad. Since then, I’ve been much more careful but you can’t always predict these things, you know?”
Shane exhales, feeling a lot better than before. He thinks Ilya should really have a conversation with Harris about Anya; it might calm him down a little bit. Even though Shane’s not as troubled as Ilya by all of this, he’s still been overthinking since they arrived at the rink.
It was a lot worse this morning, though. Ilya had been the one to find out first.
Shane was busy making them some breakfast, a smoothie for himself and an omelette for Ilya, when he heard an uncharacteristically shrill yell from the other man coming from the living room.
“Shane, come!”
He headed over quickly, confused to see Ilya standing in panic with Anya standing by his feet, looking dejected and a little awkward.
“What’s wrong?”
“Look!” Ilya exclaimed, pointing at the carpet in front of him. “Anya was sick.”
“Oh no.” Shane examined the scene but couldn’t help but notice, “And on the nice carpet as well.”
Ilya turned and glared at him.
“Sorry, sorry. Not important, I know,” Shane lied. It was important. He would probably need to bring out the mop from the downstairs closet for this. Damnit, Anya.
“How could this happen?” Ilya sighed. Cursing softly in Russian, he ran his fingers through his messy curls and only then did Shane really survey his husband. His mouth was drawn into a frown and his eyebrows were pinched together tightly, not a common look for the confident man. Safe to say, he looked really worried. Shane edged closer to Ilya and ran his hand along his upper arm, hoping it was somewhat comforting.
“Hm.” Shane’s thoughts raced. “Maybe she ate something bad? Ooh, what about those ribs from last night?”
Ilya was uneager to accept this possibility. “No, was only a few,” he declared, jerking his head side to side. But he still looked unsure when he turned to look at Shane. His eyes shone with doubt and Shane resisted smoothing out the creases in his forehead with his thumb. “You think it was the ribs?”
“I don’t know, Ilya. Um, maybe she just has a cold?”
“At this time of year?”
Shane huffed. “I’m not a dog expert! Ask google or something, jeez.”
Ilya groaned but scrambled for his phone which was on the coffee table, typing immediately. He sighed once an answer came up and began reading, becoming visibly more worried with every word. “Okay, it says, ‘vomiting can be a sign of an upset stomach or underlying health condition such as parvovirus or poisoning… which can be FATAL!’ Shane, Anya is going to die?”
“She’s not gonna– ugh, give me that.” Shane grabbed the phone and looked for himself. Okay, so this wasn’t looking good. Maybe googling wasn’t the best idea. He scanned the screen for anything that could ease their concerns in the slightest. “Wait, see it says ‘repeated vomiting’ here. And this is only one time for Anya so I think it’s fine.”
“Okay.” Ilya exhaled.
Shane frowned and took Ilya’s hands into his, rubbing his thumbs over the blond’s knuckles. “I’ll call my mom. We can ask her what she thinks.”
“Yes, ok. Yuna will know what to do.” Ilya nodded seriously and Shane bit back a smile at his husband’s cuteness.
They called his mom and she graciously offered to look after Anya for the day, while they were at practice and monitor her in case anything was wrong. Like Shane, she also suspected the ribs may have upset her stomach because there may have been small bones in them that they forgot to pick out but, really, it was still up for debate. Ilya wasn’t going to be blamed just yet.
Several hours later, Ilya seems only slightly less troubled and it is obvious that the rest of the team, along with Harris, have noticed.
Troy skates over to Shane and Harris and asks, “what are you two talking about?”
“Poor Anya is unwell. She threw up last night,” his boyfriend explains, empathetically. He is still holding his phone which Shane assumes is still recording them practice. It’s slightly odd that their conversation about Anya being sick is now on video but he can appreciate the dedication Harris has for his job.
“Oh, well, that’s um…” Troy swallows. He looks around the rink. “That’s not.. nice. For a dog. Uh, my condolences, Hollander.”
Shane stifles a laugh. “Thanks.”
“Anya is sick?” Hayes says from a couple of meters away. “That makes so much sense. No wonder Roz is acting so weirdly today.”
“Hey!”
A couple of guys skate closer too and soon, a group of them are standing in a horse shoe shape near the bench, invested in the wellbeing of Ilya and Shane’s dog.
“Did I hear our precious pet is sick?” One of them says.
“Are we talking about Chiron?”
“No, Anya.”
“Yes, the rumour is true.” Ilya sighs sensationally. “Our sweet daughter is suddenly poorly and we do not know why.”
“Well, it might have been passed on. Do either of you two have a cold?”
“Can dogs even get colds from humans?” Bood asks. A couple of players murmur but nobody seems to have an answer.
“Maybe she’s pregnant,” Troy unhelpfully supplies and Shane physically braces himself for his husband’s reaction.
“PREGNANT?” is Ilya’s outraged reply from across the ice. He skates closer hurriedly. At this point, they’re not practicing at all anymore; everyone is much more interested in hearing out Anya’s supposed illness and even Coach Wiebe has joined the huddle. “I— she cannot be. That’s — no. No way.”
A laugh bubbles up Shane’s throat before he can stop it. “Ilya, we got her spayed, remember? She can’t get pregnant.”
“Oh, yes,” Ilya says, calming down immediately. “This is true. I forgot.”
“Well, um, why don’t you take her to the vet?” Luca bravely asks, offering the first sane suggestion.
“Yes, Haas, I said this too but Shane really wanted to play hockey today so…” He sighs. “The sacrifices I make.” Ilya pouts and makes a show of shrugging dramatically. Shane resists the urge to roll his eyes. That’s not what happened.
Ilya is lucky Shane loves him very much, or he would not be so forgiving of this obvious attempt to embarrass him in front of the team. But at the moment, Shane is just glad Ilya is back to his teasing self. He has been so anxious all day, Shane was worrying about what to do if his mood didn’t improve.
“A vet might be good to be safe but I don’t think you need to worry that much,” Hayes says. “Surely, dogs get sick all the time. It's normal, right?”
One of the defenders hums in agreement. “Yeah, my childhood dog was sick a few times.” He chuckles. “I mean, we fed him all kinds of stuff so it was inevitable. I’m sure your Anya’s the same.”
Ilya shakes his head. “Anya is not like other dogs.”
Harris frowns. “How so?”
“She is special. Stronger.”
Shane actually rolls his eyes this time.
It turns out, like Harris had suspected, the fans online loved the video. Instead of being focused on them practicing, it turned into a detailed discussion about dog health and maintenance. And, fortunately, nobody minded.
Some netizens were surprised at the team’s knowledge (or lack thereof) about canine sickness whereas some were commenting on their ability to get completely sidetracked in the middle of practice. According to Rose, since she was the one to tell Shane all about this, many fans were also delighted to see more of the ‘Hollanov dynamic’, which Shane was unknowingly depriving them of.
“People are obsessed with you guys,” she tells him, over the phone on one of their weekly calls, “which I totally get, obviously. You’re adorable.”
He huffs, glad for their visual barrier so she can’t see him blushing. “What are they saying?”
“Hm,” Rose hums, thinking intently. “A lot of things, honestly. Some people were worried about Anya, of course. Most people are just fangirling over your little family. Ilya was, like, every protective dad.”
“Yeah.” He chuckles, thinking about Ilya’s reaction to Anya potentially being pregnant.
“You even have your own hashtag!” Rose says excitedly. “Or, well, Anya has her own hashtag.”
“Really?” Shane replies. He’s not surprised that people like his dog but he wouldn’t have expected her to go this viral.
“Yep! It’s called #HereForAnya. Isn't that cute?”
He sniffs. “That seems a bit dramatic. Plus, she’s fine now.” He looks down at his lap, which she is sprawled over, very much healthy and comfortable. “The vet basically confirmed she just ate something bad for her stomach. It’s all good now.”
“Welp, that’s the internet for you. They’re gonna milk this for the rest of your careers,” she tells him jokingly but Shane suspects there is some truth to her words. “Why don’t you go and see what they’re saying for yourself?”
Against his usual judgement, he relents and says, “Maybe.”
Official Centaurs✔️@ottowacentaurs
Watch what our players talk about during practice!
[Video: Click to load]
lillie @hollanov4eva
omg a video of shane and ilya in the same frame???? in their matching jerseys??? acting normal??? looking fione??? i prayed for times like these
mel <3 @rozdefender12
RIGHTTT
benny @satos_frog
i cant believe that ilya rozanov who has won several cups and is known for his brash personality is the same man crashing out over a dog rn
mel <3 @rozdefender12
‘crashing out over a dog’ tf?? rhats HIS dog anya who was SICK put some respect on her name #HereForAnya
benny @satos_frog
oh my god here y’all come
Crystal @soobinsbigtoe
Me personally I think it’s weird that they’re just talking about it so casually… Like a dog is sick and probably in so much pain right now. My poor baby #HereForAnya
max 😈 @imthebaddest
not u having a parasocial relationship with the dog im crying
Ilya Rozanov✔️@rozanov81ilya
Anya is okay now. Shane accidentally fed her some ribs. It happens. #HereForAnya
Crystal @soobinsbigtoe
ILYA ROZANOV????
mel <3 @rozdefender12
ARIANA WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE
Shane Hollander✔️@shanehollander
@rozanov81ilya No I didn’t. #HereForAnya
mel <3 @rozdefender12
SHANE ????? WJAT IS GOING ON
max 😈 @imthebaddest
ouu our parents are fighting
ilya’s wifey @sirenesatoru
Ilya looks so good worrying about his dog… im about to become one BARK BARK #HereForAnya
Beccy @scottyis_life
LMFAOO
Lee @getoscursedballs
you never disappoint me oomf ❤️
Anna 🇨🇦 @lucaismybae
omg shane a dit “we”, ça veut dire qu’ils sont allés ensemble chez le vétérinaire pour anya ? trop mimi
Celeste @montreal24holla
Bah ouais… ils sont mariés non ? Mdr tu attendais quoi ?
remi @andidontevencare
#cornplating but idgaf did y’all also see when shane laughed at ilya freaking out, ilya looked over at him and smiled a little bit?
mel <3 @rozdefender12
oh my goodness i didnt notice THATS SO CUTE
Summer isn’t over yet @zara_sunshine
thats his hubby fr
TJ @mypuck248
I just rewatched and he didn’t smile at all… Lol. Are you good?
Yreva @yrevass
hater behaviour