Chapter Text
Harris had a lot of good ideas for growing engagement on the Centaurs’ social media pages, but every now and then he was presented with a suggestion that he never would have concocted on his own by one of the ~thicker~ members of the Centaurs. Today was one of those days, and Dykstra was the man of the hour.
“Okay, explain it to me again..” Harris asked, he was pretty sure he understood the vision that Evan had been going on about for the last 15 minutes, but he wanted to make sure that he’d heard him right, because the pitch was actually a good one.
“Okay so, I saw it on TikTok, don’t ask,” Evan paused with a sheepish smile, “but basically we pick a word that has nothing to do with hockey and we challenge as many guys to say it as possible in their pressers. Tell me you wouldn’t die to see Hollzy try that?”
“God he’d go bright red immediately,” Harris tried to hold back a laugh, he was envisioning Shane genuinely quaking at the pressure of the game. The fans would absolutely eat that up.
“Right? Haas too. Rozy will probably dominate it, nothing he says ever makes sense anyways,” Evan replied, his small smile replaced by a wide, toothy grin.
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“Okay guys, listen up!” Harris walked into the boisterous locker-room after practice the next day. He had done some research and seen other teams in the NBA and the NFL had done this before, so there was great precedent for the challenge and he was excited to tell the team about the next big social media blitz.
“Harris! What is this speech?” Roz shouted with glee, “where is Chiron?”
“He’s at home Ilya, you know this,” Shane admonished, rolling his eyes and giving Harris an apologetic smile, then lovingly punching Ilya on the shoulder as he pressed a kiss against his husband’s temple. It was still new to the Cents to see Shane and Ilya be so openly affectionate with each other, but they’d won the Cup last season so as far as they were concerned Hollanov could fuck in the locker-room if it meant they kept winning championships,
“I am just kidding Harris,” Ilya turned to survey the rest of the team, some rookies were still chatting in the corner, “everyone be quiet. Harris has announcement.”
Ilya nodded at Harris who rolled his eyes with a smirk, “okay so I can’t take credit for this idea, it was actually Dykstra’s..”
“If this has to do with country music I will kill somebody,” Wyatt muttered and the room erupted into laughs, Evan throwing his hands up in defense and giving everyone an exhausted sigh,
“Not country music no, don’t worry. I would never subject the team to that. We want people to LIKE our social media remember?” Harris answered and Wyatt winked at Evan, clapping him on the back and then turning back to Harris who was waiting to continue with his speech,
“So Dykstra saw a great challenge on TikTok where the social media team assigns the players a word or saying that has nothing to do with the sport, and the players have to fit that into their post-game press conferences. I was thinking we could do it this week against Toronto since it’s a home series and we’ll probably put a few of you up for post-game commentary?”
“What is word? I am Russian this is unfair,” Ilya complained loudly, “I will not know how to fit word into silly reporter answer my husband writes for me.”
“Fuck you, I don’t write your press speeches,” Shane called back playfully, “I would never green light half of the things you tell reporters. You’re insufferable.”
“Insufferable?” Ilya asked, wiggling his eyebrows and giving Shane what could only be described as a deeply flirty look,
“I’m fucking exhausted,” Shane put his head into his lap and Ilya took the opportunity to start playing with his husband’s hair,
“моя глупыш (my silly boy) I will not embarrass you with Harris game. Probably. No promises,” Ilya blew Shane a kiss who reluctantly leaned onto Ilya’s shoulder and looked back up at Harris,
“Did he just call you a silly boy?” Haas asked incredulously. He has become somewhat of an adopted younger brother to the couple since Shane had moved to Ottawa two years ago, and he’d gotten tired of not knowing what the pair was yammering on about during practice, so he’d downloaded Duolingo and was actually making light work of the Russian language.
“Please don’t ask,” Shane sighed as Ilya nodded feverishly, then Ilya turned to Harris,
“So what is secret phrase I must use to win?”
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Ottawa had whopped Toronto in a way that was embarrassing to the entirety of Canada, 8-1 in the first game of the week, but that is not what the Centaurs wanted to talk about. Harris had assigned them the phrase “hot boy summer” for Round One of the challenge, and the lucky victims included Shane (obviously), Luca and Wyatt.
“But why not me?!” Ilya cried when the phrase was revealed, “I am hot boy. I am married to hot boy. Some would say I am expert at hot boys.”
“Exactly,” Harris laughed at Ilya’s protests, “you would fit this one in too easily. We have to make it a challenge for everyone. You would say hot boy summer and be fully serious about it. Your husband however is going to lose his mind trying to sneak that in.”
“Is true,” Ilya gestured at Shane who was bright red and trying not to hyperventilate, “hot boy summer is not in his approved media statement. But he is hot boy, yes?” Ilya reached down and tipped Shane’s head up to look at him, “moya lyubov’ is just game.”
Shane stood up like he was being led to the execution chamber. Luca looked equally as thrilled (which is to say, not at all) that he had been tapped for this round. He knew the team was going to rib him constantly about what he had actually gotten up to during his “hot boy summer”.
“Kind of messed up for you to not pick your boy for this one Harris,” Wyatt pointed out, jabbing his thumb at Troy who was trying to put his gear away as quickly as possible, “you guys had the hottest of boy summers. Jet setting all over Europe for your Honeymoon and all that.”
Now it was Harris’ turn to go bright red, he and Troy had probably had the most interesting summer of anyone on the team after their wedding last June. The 30 day trip across Europe had been Troy’s idea since Harris had never been outside of North America, and the two of them had enjoyed long, lazy days full of sex and good food with views of the Mediterranean,
“I don’t think you’re using the phrase hot boy summer properly. We got married remember?” Harris replied evenly, trying to hide his embarrassment, but then he saw Troy’s face light up at the mention of their escapade and he just shrugged, “plus some stuff should be private. Right Ilya?”
“No. Nothing is private with team. Please,” Ilya groaned, “even if you want private. People say oh you are too loud, oh we hear you all night, oh can you please stop pleasuring your husband on the team bus.”
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Shane, Luca and Wyatt entered the press-room with tight smiles. Wyatt had a good plan, he was relatively confident that he could slip in the phrase with ease as long as someone asked how he felt about the new season, which was almost a guarantee for the second series of the year. Shane and Luca looked uneasy, so that should be a quick win for Wyatt.
Sure enough, the first question thrown the trio’s way was exactly what Wyatt had been counting on hearing,
“So, the Centaurs had an incredible run last season that ultimately ended in your team winning the Cup. Do you feel like this year could be a repeat performance for the team?”
Wyatt jumped at the mic, he was not going to lose his chance to mention the phrase swiftly and early so he could enjoy the show for the rest of the time,
“You know Roger, last year was pretty epic. We obviously have a really great squad here and our chemistry both on and off the ice is pretty undeniable,” Wyatt chuckled, throwing Shane a knowing sideways look, he went red, “obviously it’s pretty exhausting playing competitive hockey all the way through June, but we all took the time over break, had ourselves some hot boy summers, and now I think we’re back and ready to go again.”
Wyatt leaned back, Luca was trying to suppress a groan and Shane was massaging his temple as if he was attempting to conjure up any other way to possibly slip in hot boy summer into his messaging. The reporter seemed pretty happy with the answer, jotting it down and then indicating that they were good to move to the next question. A few other questions went by, none that set up either of the other two for their secret saying, but finally a young female reporter named Jenny grinned and pointed to Luca,
“Haas, this one is for you,” Jenny started and Luca smiled at her to continue on, “you’re one of the youngest players in the organization. How has it been having both Hollander and Rozanov as mentors during the beginning of your career?”
Luca stuttered a bit, the media had picked up on the sibling dynamic (or parental if you asked some sources, including Ilya who loved to call Luca his son) but he’d never been asked outright about his relationship with the two icons,
“Well obviously it’s been amazing, having two of the best players in the league and in league history on my team.,” Luca smiled shyly at Shane who was getting redder by the minute, “when I first found out Hollander was going to be joining the Centaurs I couldn’t believe my luck. I grew up with posters of him and Roz on my walls, now we share a locker room. And they’re really patient, always willing to help with my game or if I need advice about life off the ice too. But I gotta say there are some things that I wish I didn’t know about my heroes. Hayes mentioned our hot boy summers earlier,” Luca paused before giving Shane an apologetic look, “well I spent my hot boy summer learning Russian. I was tired of not knowing what Roz and Hollzy were talking about on the ice when they chirp each other. I just really wish I hadn’t done that.”
The room broke into laughter and Shane slammed his head onto the press table, taking a deep breath before popping back up and being a good sport about Haas brutalizing his sex talk with Ilya. He smiled and rolled his eyes a bit, leaned forward and tapped the mic,
“Hey that’s on you kid. I warned you.”
A handful of questions passed before finally, a reporter they’d known for a few years named Alex raised his hand,
“Hollander, this is your third year with the Centaurs. In the first two years, your team has made the playoffs twice and won a cup. How does it compare so far to your time in Montreal and what has been the biggest difference?”
Shane was used to getting questions about Montreal. They team had fallen to the bottom of the barrel after ousting Shane and had lost a chunk of their previously loyal fanbase for their treatment of Shane and Ilya during their outing. Usually he didn’t like reflecting on his past life as a voyageur, but tonight that question set him up perfectly for a slam dunk.
“I wouldn’t change anything about my time in Montreal,” Shane started and then stopped with a chuckle, “except maybe the last bit obviously. But the biggest difference is I used to only really get to be my true self in the summers. I know both these doofuses are talking about their hot boy summers, but when I was with the Voyageurs, before I was out, my hot boy summers were more like sad boy summers,” Shane took a deep breath before continuing, “I mean I only got to see my boyfriend for like 3 months out of the year back then, so now pretty much my whole year is a hot boy summer. Even when it’s 0 degrees outside, I have my,” Shane paused again, knowing what he was about to say was entirely out of character but would please Ilya a great deal, “hot boy on my team and at home. So it’s a lot easier to succeed on the ice when I don’t have to waste energy hiding who I really am or who I’m with. The Cents are the most welcoming team in the league and I think that’s going to help us build a dynasty here.”
Wyatt threw his head back, Luca blushed and the two of them simultaneously leaned into their mics, looked at their director of communications who was trying to hide a massive smile in the back row and both said, “Hollzy wins.”