Chapter Text
Shane Hollander is one of the only wasian players in the NHL. But in the realm of figure skating is a completely different story. Shane had never met Yuri Katski, but he had the utmost respect for him. Yuri Katsuki was a figure skater in Hasetsu Japan. Why did Shane have the utmost respect for him? Well he was in a public relationship with Viktor Nikiforov, his coach.
Not only did he have the utmost respect for them, but he was also kind of jealous of them. He was jealous of the fact they were so happy and in love. Shane knew why, because hockey was a “macho” sport, meaning the majority of the players are hetero and make very homophobic comments in the locker room. Figure skating is seen as a “queer” sport. Which is actually stupid because sports can’t be queer. He hoped one day that stigma would be good and that he and Ilya did not have to hide anymore.
He hated that Viktor and Yuri could be so open, don’t get it twisted he was so happy that they could be happy in public, even though Viktor had not been back to Russia for long periods of time since they announced their very fast engagement. It almost made him want to reach out to viktor for ilya, so they could connect about being bisexual Russians who are in love with men.
“Shane, you okay,” ilya asked pulling shane out of his thoughts
“Yeah, i’m just thinking” shane said
“About,” he said.
“Yuri Katski and Viktor Nikiforov” he nonchalantly.
Ilya sat down next to Shane, “what about them”
“I am thinking about how they can be so happy and public together. No one bats an eye when they are seen holding hands in public. And we can’t” Shane rambled. Ilya listened carefully not really knowing how to respond.
“While people think differently about figure skaters,” Ilya said after finding the words.
"It's not fair,” Shane said.
“I know Shane," Ilya said.
They sat there in silence just sitting together, which was one of their favorite things to do, not awkward, comfortable.
~~~
Ilya knew how hard it was for Shane to be out to his parents and only his parents. It affected him too, he wanted nothing more than to be able to hold Shane's hand and make everyone know that Shane was his. He would love to see a change in the hockey community and they were getting somewhere with Scott Hunter, but Ilya it was more complicated. Scott Hunter was American, people are more accepting and it is not illegal to gay in America.
Ilya is Russian, his father was police, his brother is police. If he wanted to be with Shane publicly he would have to get an American passport (or Canadian passport).
He also knew about the racism Shane faced in the NHL. It was becoming less common because he paved the way for a more diverse NHL. Ilya was inspired by Shane, he made sure he told little fans that they could do anything. It genuinely pained him when he saw that was going on earlier in his career.
~~~
Hayden invited me over for dinner.
Okay text me when you get home
I will!
Shane made his way to the pike residents, Jackie and Hayden were Shane’s people, Hayden being his best friend. Surprisingly when he met Jackie the instantly bonded, he figured they would at least get along, but now he feels like he texts Jackie way more than Hayden.
He made his way to the door, and knocked Ruby and Jade opened the door and immediately embraced him in a tight hug.
“Uncle Shane!" the girls yelled in unison
“Hi girls” Shane said respiracting the hug.
“Girls let Shane at least come in the house” Jackie says, coming to view holding little amber in her arms. The girls let go and let Shane walk through the door.
“Hayd is in the shower, but will be down in a minute.” Jackie said.
“Hey buddy!” hayd said, walking down freshly showered.
Hayden comes down and daps Shane up, and leads him to the coach. “Are you ready for the game with Boston next week?” Hayden asked.
“Yeah, ready to kick their butts.” Shane says smiling to himself, he knew they would be in Boston meaning after the game he would go get laid.
“Is Rose Landry coming to the game?” Hayden asked.
“No, she can’t get out of filming this weekend. But also I forgot to mention we broke up in January.” Shane said.
“You mean Rose Landry is not going to join the WAGs groupchat.” Jackie said coming into the living room.
Shane did not say anything in response.
It was a few minutes later when Hayden said something crazy. “You were not seeing Lily while seeing Rose?” Hayden said, eyes wide.
“No, Never! We actually did not speak while I was with Rose. We only recently got back into contact when we broke up.” Shane explained.
“Good!” Hayden said with a sigh of relief.
“Dinner is ready by the way boys, let's go eat.” Jackie says getting up.
~~~
“Did you guys see that those figure skaters got engaged a few weeks ago.” Jackie asked.
“I did.” Shane said, bringing his ginger ale to his lips.
“Wait what?” Hayden asked.
“Hayd, I told you that Viktor and Yuri got engaged. The Japanese and Russian figure skaters.” Jackie said.
“Ohhhhh, yeah I did see that.” Hayden said.
When Shane saw that he only could think about Ilya, if he was here he would say something about Hayden being dumb.
“I think it is really good for them, I think they are very sweet.” Jackie said, pouring more wine in her glass.
“I think so too, I just wonder if Viktor is okay with never going back to Russia” Hayden said, no venom in his voice.
“I think he is okay. I mean he can get a Japanese passport since he is getting married.” Shane interjected.
“True!” Jackie said.
Shane had been wanting to tell Hayden and Jackie that he was gay for a while, but he knew they would start to set him up with guys and he only wanted one guy: Ilya Rozanoff. Shane was starting to think about him and Ilya again. It was fresh on the mind since their conversation the last time they were together.
“Shane, buddy you okay?” Hayden asked.
Yeah just thinking about something Shane said.
“Thinking about that lily girl from Boston?” Hayden asked, smirking.
“You're still seeing that girl?” Jackie asked, shocked.
“Is it serious or something? It has been like 7 years since you guys started seeing each other.” Jackie asked.
A smile formed on Shane’s face. “Yeah, you could say that we are serious.” Shane said. “We weren’t always serious, but since the summer we have become serious.” Shane explained.
“So this is a recent thing?” Jackie asked, bringing her wine glass to her mouth.
“Yes, very recent.” Shane said. He never did this but the urge to talk to someone about him and Ilya was starting to consume him. So the best thing was to talk about Ilya like a girl is fine for now until she retires and can actually come out.
“So when can we meet her?” Hayden asked excitedly.
“Ummm… i don’t know,” He said.
Just as he said that, his phone buzzed. “Is that her?” Jackie asked. Shane looked at his phone to his surprise it was not Ilya, it was his mom checking in on him. “No it is my mom.” Shane said plainly. “So, how does it feel to be back on the ice?” Jackie asked, noticing the rising tension in Shane and changing the subject.
“It's really good, I got really antsy when I was injured. I am so ready to get back into the routine of having games.” Shane said. “I bet,” Jackie said.
“We are so ready to kick Boston’s ass next week.” Hayden yells enthusiastically.
“Hayden Pike, hush amber is sleeping.” Jackie said, slapping her husband's shoulder.
“Was the food good?” Jackie asked looking back at Shane. “It was good.” Shane said, picking his phone up to check it.
~~~
“Alright, guys I should get home, I have to meet my parents for breakfast tomorrow morning.” Shane said, getting up. The three of them walked over to the front door, “Thank you for coming over, we will have to do this more often.” Hayden said. “Most definitely, maybe next time Lily can come. I can not wait to meet her.” Jackie offered.
“Thank you for having me. And I will talk to her, I'm not sure when she will be in town again so it might be a couple weeks.” Shane said, getting his shoes on. “Can’t wait.” Jackie said happily. Shane left the pike feeling good, he got to talk about his relationship without coming out to them. He hoped they would not see him differently, when he came out to them. Shane knew he was probably over thinking Jackie and Hayden loved him like their fourth kid.
He was about 5 minutes down the road, when his phone buzzed. The caller ID said lily. “Hi.” she said when he answered his phone.
“Hi, how was dinner with the 15th best player on the metros?” Ilya asked. Shane could hear the smirk on his face through the screen. “It was good, we just talked about you. Without actually talking about you.” Shane said.
“So, you are going to lose next week.” Ilya said.
“You're such an asshole,” Shane said laughing.
“So you admit it, you're going to lose?” Ilya joked.
“No, I never said that we were going to win,” Shane said.
Shane and Ilya talked till he got home. It was needed after not talking for most of the week. Shane had a bunch of morning practices and then he also had some commercials to film which means he had twelve hour days and then they would have games, so he had no time to talk to his boyfriend. Another thing he was happy about was that they were about to see Iyla in a week because of the game. Shane thinks that he hates long distance more than he does being a secret.
Shane woke up the next morning and got ready for breakfast with his parents. He had not seen his parents in a while. They had gone up to their cottage for the week to get away from life.
Jane
Good morning! Having breakfast with my parents this morning talk to you later
He texted Ilya, they had this routine Shane would get up before Ilya and he would send him a morning text. Shane put on his shoes and headed to meet his parents for breakfast, he drove to the restaurant, the only noise coming out is the music he is playing. The restaurant was small and modern with warm lighting. “Shane, over here,” his mom called when he walked inside the restaurant. “Hi mom, dad” he said sitting down. The waiter came a few seconds later, little notebook in hand ready to take orders. “Can I get you guys started with something to drink?” she asked politely. “Yeah, I have a ginger ale,” Shane asked.
“Okay, for you?” She turned to his parents.
“We both have water.” Yuna said.
“Okay, i will be back with that” she said and turned on her heels and walked to a different table.
“Oh! Shane, you will never guess who’s manager reached out to me." Yuna said, trying to grab her son's attention. “Who?” Shane asked uninterested, this had happened before some random white influencer or famous person wanting to have Shane on a podcast or a video and then they would ask him the same questions. “Yuri Katski” his mom half yelled and half squeaked. The name caught his attention immediately, he was now really excited to see where this would go. “Really, what did they want?” he asked. The waitress came over to drop their drinks. Shane saw his dad whisper something to the waiter. Something along the lines of give us a few minutes. “He wanted to see if you wanted to meet up, he is going to be in Montreal for a competition. He wants to meet up with you, he is a fan of your work.” Yuna said happily. “If you think about it will be good for hockey fans to see you two together.” Yuna continued.
“That would be really good, sure mom tells them I would love to meet up when he’s in Montreal.” Shane said with a smile appearing on his face.
“Good! I will email them back with your schedule, do you and Ilya have any plans this weekend?” she asked in a hushed voice for the last bit. “No plans other than after the game but I can rearrange them.”
~~~
The rest of breakfast went by pretty fast, Shane got a breakfast burrito, and then it was time to go to practice for the day. He walked into the locker room to see the team already getting ready. It did not take long for them to realize that Shane entered the room. “Captin, your back,” JJ said.
“Hi” shane said back smiling
“Hey buddy, how was breakfast with your parents?” Hayden asked.
“It was good, someone wanted to meet and do some collabs.” Shane said.
“Another podcaster?” JJ questioned.
“No, Yuri Katski wants to do some PR together.” Shane said, putting on his gear.
“That’s cool. But why you and not scott hunter who is gay.” JJ asked.
“They are both Asian," Hayden said, trying to help.
“I mean being gay is also not his entire personality, I'm sure he has other interests.” Shane said, grabbing his stick.
“Alright guys, on the ice” the coach says.
The team practiced really well today, no one was hogging the puck, they were passing very well. Even the newbies to the team who are usually the people who hog the puck. “We are kicking Bostan’s ass next week.” Hayden says, patting Shane on the back. “Yes we are.” Shane said. “Is Lily coming to the game?” Hayden asked. Shane grimaced at the mention of Lily, since Shane opened up and talked about Lily Hayden had been more persistent about bringing her up in their conversations. Shane knew he meant well, but he did not like lying to his best friend. It felt wrong. Hayden told him everything, and Shane told him barely anything.
“Yes lily is coming to the game then we are going to go meet my parents for dinner.” Shane said. Which was technically not a lie but instead of a girl named Lily it was Ilya Rozanoff. This had started after Shane came out to his parents, every time Ilya was in Montreal he would make their way to his parents house for dinner at least once.
“How does she feel about meeting the famous Yuna hollander?” Hayden tried to continue the conversation, when Shane's phone rang.
“Is that her now?” Hayden intruded.
Shane pulled out his phone to see it was an unknown caller “no, it is an unknown caller. Let me take this.” Shane walked away from Hayden and made his way to a quiet part of the rink.
“Hello, this is Shane Hollander speaking.” he said putting the phone up to his ear.
“Hi, this is Yuri Katski, your manager gave me your number. I figured that I would give you a call to introduce myself.” he said.
“It's really good to meet you.” Shane said
“You as well.” Yuri said.
“I’m so excited for you to visit Montreal, it is a really pretty place.” Shane said.
“Me too, I've been to America and Toronto but never Montreal.” Yuri said.
“Is there anything in particular you want to do when you get here?” Shane asked.
“Yeah, Viktor and I really just wanted to sightsee until the competition.” Yuri says.
“Viktor that reminds me congrats on your engagement.” Shane said happily.
“Thank you.” Yuri said you could hear the blush in his voice.
Shane and Yuri talked for a few more minutes, then said their goodbyes and both went on their way. It was going to be an interesting week with Yuri and Viktor. It did not really cross his mind that Viktor was coming, so Shane did not realize that he would most likely be third wheeling. Now he wished Ilya was going to be there for longer. He was flying out later than everyone else so he could hang out with Shane. His excuse was that he had family coming to the game and they wanted to spend time with them. Obviously his team does not know that he does not speak to anyone in his family besides Svetlana. It was just another secret on an ever growing list.
Shane walked into the locker room ready to get home and talk to Ilya. He quickly got out of his gear when Hayden walked over freshly showered. “Who was on the phone?” he asked with concern on his face. “Yuri Katski, he wanted to introduce himself before we meet next week.” Shane said, shoving his gear in his back. “That was nice of him.” Hayden said. “Ruby and Jade were upset that you left without saying goodbye to them.” Hayden laughed. “They were asleep.” Shane said defensively. “I know, they’re ridiculous.” Hayden said. Shane loved Hayden's girls.
The first time he met Amber when Hayden tried to take her back she cried. Ruby and Jade hugged Shane so he couldn’t leave. He hoped that when he came out to Hayden and Jackie they would accept him. Part of him wants to think that Hayden would only care that he is dating Ilya Rozanoff. His mom was the same way, she did not care that Shane was gay but had a problem with it being Ilya rozanoff. Now she loves Ilya more than him, it was kinda sad.
“So what are you and Yuri going to do while he is here?” Hayden questioned.
“Sightsee and Viktor want to see the game so they're going to use my seats.” Shane responded.
“He’s bringing his fiance? Does Viktor not trust him?” Hayden asked “it's not that he does not trust him but he is his coach. So yeah he would come." Shane answered.
“I forgot about that.” Hayden said, checking his phone. They fell into comfortable silence and walked out of the rink.
Shane pulled into his driveway ready to do nothing for the rest of the day, but he had a whole list of emails to look through and a lot of planning to do for some stuff to do with Yuri and Viktor. Again he wished Ilya was going to be there but with the game he could not get time off during the season. He desperately longed for the off season so they could spend time at the cottage again, something about the two of them at the cottage felt so domestic, or as Ilya would say boring. Shane decided he needed to talk to Ilya about this and debrief, he needed to hear Ilya’s voice.
Just as if Ilya could hear his thoughts his phone rang and lily contact was on the screen he happily answered it. “Hey baby!” He said happily. “Hi, how was practicing with the worst team in the whole league?” Ilya said.
“Fuck you” Shane said. He knew he did not sound upset or irritated by the remark because he changed the subject fast. “Hey so you might not be able to see me after the game” Shane said, grabbing his bag to go back to his house. Shane continued before the other man could get a word in. “I will be hanging out with Yuri and Viktor,” he said.
“Really,” Ilya said.
“Yeah they want to do some press, plus it will look good for the hockey community.” Shane said. “Why are you so boring, they would have more fun by themselves.” Ilya said laughing.
~~~
The rest of the week blurred by super fast and it was time for the game. Shane was really excited he was going to get some food with Yuri and Viktor after the game. Yuri and him had been texting back and forth getting his opinion on different places to see during the week. They had decided to go to Jean-Talon market tomorrow, then on Sunday they were going to the art museum. The rest of the week was just going to be very go with the flow. Shane was in the locker room getting ready for the game when his phone buzzed in the locker.
Lilly
Ready to lose
Jane
No. because were not going to lose
Lily
But you're boring.
Shane could not help but smile to himself, he wished that Ilya could meet Yuri and Viktor. Viktor and Ilya had more in common then they think, at least Shane thinks they do.
Jane
That is not what you said last time i was in your bed
When he sent that text it made him think of the time he told Scott Hunter to show up next time they played, and he said you’re starting to sound like him. Maybe the man was right. “Dude is your girl texting you?” JJ asked, walking over to him, Shane put his phone off and put it in his locker. “Yeah, just wishing me good luck.” Shane said, turning around to look at them.
“Are you coming out with us after the game?” JJ asked.
“No, I am getting dinner with some friends,” Shane said, putting his skates on.
“Omg you have other friends?” Hayden joked putting a hand over his forehead dramatically. Shane laughed at the man’s ridiculousness, "I hate to break it to you Hayden but i do have other friends.” Shane retorted.
“So where are you going to get dinner from?” Hayden asked
“What ideas do you need for you and Jackie?” JJ asked
“Maybe,” Hayden said.
“I don’t know Yuri picked it out” Shane replied
“You mean the figure skater?” JJ asked.
“Yeah his team wants us to get together and said it would be good for us.” Shane said.
“I would be careful you don’t want the press to get the wrong idea about you.” JJ said
“What does that supposed mean?” Hayden asked if you could tell he was kind of taken aback by the statement.
“I mean come on, you have to be a certain type of man to figure skate. He is also engaged to a man.” JJ said. Both Hayden and Shane were super upset. That was the most dumb rhetoric from JJ they have ever heard.
Before they could address the statement it was time for the game to start. Shane started at puck drop with Ilya.
“Hey” Shane whispered
“Hey” Ilya responded
“I missed you” Shane mouthed to Ilya
He whispered “I missed you too” back to Shane and then the puck dropped and Ilya got it. Ilya had the puck so Shane raced after it. Hoping no one saw his little interaction with Ilya.
The game went by quickly and the metros won 4:2. Shane raced to the locker room and quickly got out of his gear, he had to meet Yuri and Viktor at the restaurant in 10 minutes. “I think you broke a record for getting out of gear” Hayden said when he walked into the locker room. “I have to meet them at the restaurant in like 10 minutes.” Shane said packing his bag, just shoving his gear in the bag. “Have fun seeing you at practice on Monday." Hayden called after as Shane left the locker room.
Shane ran out of the locker room before anyone else to get to the restaurant, Shane hoped they had Ginger ale. Shane's safe drink has always been ginger ale, especially in new social settings. He has always been a little bit socially awkward but when meeting new people it is really prominent. He knew if they had his safe drink he would feel more grounded, another way to be more grounded is if Iyla was there. He always felt safe with his boyfriend, shocking his boyfriend is his safe person.
Shane made it to the restaurant before Yuri and Viktor, which he hoped he would, so now
He was sitting awkwardly at the table alone. He pulled out his phone to see he missed a message from Ilya.
Lily
See you when you get home, i let myself in
Jane
Ok. will be back around 12:00
He looked up briefly to see a silver haired man and a man with dark hair sitting across from him.
“Shit.” Shane said, putting his phone down on the table.
“You're okay, we figured it was important.” Yuri said his English was broken.
“How was your flight?” Shane asked awkwardly.
“Long, and boring” Viktor said with a thick russian accent almost like when he first met Iyla.
Then a waiter came by and asked him what he wanted to drink. “ I'll have water.” Yuri said. “I will have a beer.” Viktor said. Shane looked around like someone else was going to order. The waitress looked politely. “I’ll have a ginger ale.” Shane said. “I’m sorry we don’t have ginger ale” “oh then i have sparkling water.” Shane said meekly. “Okay will be right back with that.” the waitress says.
“Why did you not get a beer?” Yuri questioned.
“I don’t drink during the season.” Shane said fidgeting with his hands, a nervous tic.
“I don’t either.” Yuri said.
“Okay, time to get to the important stuff,” Viktor said, pulling out his phone.
“What do you have going on with boston raider captain Ilya Rozanoff” Viktor interrogated.
“Umm… nothing, I hate him.” Shane stuttered. Shane did not think this would happen, he did not think Viktor Nikiforov would interrogate him about his relationship 3 minutes into meeting the man. “If you have nothing going on then why could I cut the sexual tension with a knife.” Viktor said.
Shane stayed quiet for a beat before responding. “There is nothing going on with me and Il- I mean Rozanoff.” Shane said making the mistake of almost calling Ilya by his first name. “Let it rest, Viktor,” Yuri said.
Shane thanked the gods above for Yuri at this moment. Shane decided now was the perfect opportunity to change the subject. “So how did you guys get engaged?” Shane asked.
Yuri blushed before responding after a beat, “it happened when we were in Spain for a competition. I went into the store and bought two rings, then we put them on each other in front of a church, there was no really asking it was more we knew we loved each other and then we were planning the wedding.” Yuri told the story, love written all over his face.
“That is really nice guys.” Shane said
“Here are those drinks for you guys,” the waiter said.
They then decided that he needed to order food. Shane got salmon with carrots and sweet potatoes. “So, how did you start playing hockey?” Viktor asked. “My dad played for McGill, which is a really good hockey team, and my parents signed me up and I fell in love with it.” Shane said, taking a sip of his drink.
“The plan for tomorrow is to go to the market, if we go into the early afternoon it should be less busy” Shane said after a few moments of silence. “Sounds perfect, so we will go at like 1:30?” Yuri responded. They got the details for the day at the market all planned. “We just have to be back before 6:30. I am having dinner with my mom and dad.” Shane said they had dinner once a week on Saturdays and when Ilya was in Montreal. Dinners with his parents and Ilya had turned into his favorite events. “Okay yeah, that works.” Yuri said.
“Cool yall can come over around my place tomorrow for lunch, then we can head to the market.” Shane said. “Sounds good, me and Viktor can bring some drinks.” Yuri said, bringing Viktor into the conversation again. “Da, we can bring sweets as well.” Viktor said. “Sounds good.” Shane said.
The rest of dinner went by really fast, it was not as awkward as Shane thought it was going to be. He figured this press might turn into an actual friendship with the both of them. Shane realized him and Yuri were more similar than he thought. They were both obsessed with their respective sports, both had Russian boyfriends, and were socially awkward people. Viktor and Ilya were also similar, they were both cocky Russians, with Asian boyfriends.
“Ilya, I'm home.” Shane yelled when he walked in the house and took off his shoes (he is Asian of course he has a no shoe policy in his house). “Hi,” Ilya said, walking to Shane and engulfing him in a hug. “I missed you.” he said, picking Shane up.
Shane loved coming home when Ilya was there, it was comforting to come home to his favorite person. “How did dinner go?” Ilya walked with Shane still in his arms to the coach. “It was good, Viktor asked about you and me.” Shane said, remembering the tidbit that was left unfinished. “What did you say?” Ilya asked, rubbing Shane's back.
“I told him there was nothing going on between us and then Yuri told him to drop it.” Shane explained .
~~~
Shane woke up to someone knocking on the door, a very loud one bang. He woke up and looked around for Ilya. He was not in the bedroom, he must be down stairs. “Shane let us in,” someone outside yelled.
“Shane, are you awake?” Ilya asked softly.
“Yeah,” Shane said, throwing his blankets off him.
“Stay up here, I know who it is.” Shane said, putting on pants and a hoodie.
Groggaly Shane walks down the stairs to open the door for Yuri and Viktor, he forgot that he told them they would go to the market. He opens the door and leads them through the house to the living room.
“Shane, I thought there was nothing between you and Rozaofov?” Viktor asked slyly.
Shane looked down at the hoodie he was wearing, it was undeniably a Boston raiders hoodie. “Yeah, you can not lie your way out of this one.” yuri interjected. At that moment Shane decided there was nothing he could do to get him out of this situation. “Give me a moment,” Shane said, getting up and walking upstairs.
To be continued.