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The collision was brutal, they crumpled to the ice almost in unison, unmoving for a worrying amount of time, long enough for the medics to get on the ice, long enough for their teammates to start freaking out, game forgotten.
“M’okay” Shane mumbled as he was lifted up on a stretcher, “can’t see” his eyes fluttered back and he went still again.
“Is he okay? Someone fucking tell me what’s going on?!” Hayden demanded, following his unconscious best friend off the ice.
“We’re taking him to Montreal General, it seems like a bad concussion but he needs treatment immediately to properly evaluate his condition” a medic responded.
Hayden smashed his stick against the ice, hands coming to his head, because fuck, it sounded bad, it looked fucking bad, his best friend was limp on a stretcher, god he looked dead, and Hyaden knew he wasn't, knew the paramedics wouldn't merely be wheeling him out if that were the case but he still couldn't bite back his worry.
He watched as Ilya was rushed out immediately after, the Russian muttering incoherently, eyes dazed and pupils blown.
If he weren’t so worried he’d probably be laughing, the rivals head-butting each other into unconsciousness and both sustaining apparent concussions.
The game continued, but no one was really in it, not the players, not the fans.
***
Yuna rushed into her son's hospital room, unsure of what she would find, the doctors said he was fine and in stable condition but that didn’t cease her worry, she had to see him for herself to be sure.
“Mommmm” Shane mumbled, his face lighting up as soon as he saw her, he was bleary eyed in the bright fluorescent hospital lighting.
“Shane, I came as soon as I heard, your dad’s just parking the car” she said as she came to his side.
He smiled up at her dopily, "don’t worry, I’m all good! I feel greattt!” He chirped.
She couldn’t help but laugh, “you scared us baby, I’m glad you’re okay” she said, brushing his hair back earning an appreciative hum.
“Mhmm, they gave us the good stuffff.”
Yuna frowned, what did he mean us?
“Shaaaane!” A voice whined, and Yuna frowned, reaching to pull back the curtain, Ilya Rozanov, they put Ilya Rozanov in the same room as her son, what were they thinking?
“Oh my god mom, you found him, the nurses won’t let us keep the curtain open they’re so meannn” Shane complained.
“So mean!” Ilya exclaimed.
“I think maybe they’re onto something there, don’t want you boys fighting all drugged up like this” she said, but seriously, was there not another room in this damned place to put Rozanov in?
“I would never hurt моя Шанюша!” Rozanov sounded absolutely horrified.
“You literally gave me a concussion” Shane accused, waving a lazy finger at the man.
Ilya balked at him and gestured wildly to himself, "no you gave me concussion” he retorted.
Yuna was thoroughly confused, the door clicked open and David entered, he stopped in his tracks because why was his son and his biggest rival sharing a hospital room?
At least she had someone to share her confusion with.
“Dadddd! You’re strong, can you push my bed over there so I can slap him in the face?” Shane asked, looking over at his father pleadingly.
“No one is slapping anyone,” Yuna said, looking at both of them. Ilya looked insulted, like what did I do?!
“Yes, no slapping” David agreed, nodding his head firmly but unable to hide his amusement.
“Yes I agree, do not slap me, was accident! I would never hurt you моя любовь” Ilya said, pouting then he promptly burst into tears.
“Wait nooooo, I was kidding, I know you wouldn’t малыш, stop crying, you’re gonna make me cry” Shane demanded then suddenly he was in tears.
“I am such bad husband!” Ilya wailed.
Both David and Yuna stilled.
“You’re not even my husband, what?” Shane laughed through his own weeping.
“Oh yeah, do you want me to be?” Ilya asked, suddenly stopping crying, turning to Shane seriously.
Shane gasped excitedly, "wait, that's such a good idea, let’s get married!” he said, his tears seemed to have stopped also.
“What the hell is going on?” Yuna questioned because seriously, what was this conversation? Did the concussions really damage their brain that much?
“Whoops, my momma heard us,” Shane snickered.
“Oh my god, Mr and Mrs Hollander?” Ilya sat up, bleary eyed and swaying, “you must give me permission to wed your son” he stated.
“Yesss, say yessss!” Shane cheered to his very very confused parents.
“Think of as investment, our children will come out womb as hockey pros, is genetics!” Ilya said.
Shane giggled, “Ilyaaaa, for the last time you can’t get me pregnant” he said.
Yuna and David turned to each other, horrified.
Ilya looked indignant at Shane’s claim, “I can if I try hard enough!” He said.
“Mommyyy tell him I can’t get pregnant” Shane whined, reaching out to his mother.
“If there is will there is way!” Ilya stated adamantly.
“I’m afraid that’s not biologically possible hun” she spoke lightly, the same way she might've when Shane was only little.
“Fuck biology, I will beat up!” Ilya declared.
“Don’t worry, we can still have babies, there’s ways n stuff” Shane consoled.
“I want girl baby so we can buy pretty dresses” Ilya said, turning his head to smile dopily as his boyfriend.
“Yessss, girl baby” Shane agreed with an equally dopey grin.
“Then I guess we could have boy baby, orrr MORE girl baby!”
“More girl babyyyy!” Shane cheered.
“Yes we will be best girl dads, and all other girls will be so jealous that our girls got best dads” Ilya
“Whoa there fellas, jumping the gun here, how about a first date before you do all that” David joked, all the while wondering what the fuck was going on.
The two boys laughed as though they were in the front row seats to a stand up comedy show, “dad you’re so funny” Shane wheezed.
“Honey, your dad and I are a little confused, we thought you hated Rozanov?” Yuna said, the phrase posing as more of a question if anything.
Shane gawked at her as though that was the most impossible thing in the world, "noooo, I could never hate Ilya, never in a gazillion years”
“You looooove me” Ilya teased, wiggling his eyebrows at the other man.
Shane let out a groan, “ughhh I do! I so do, so much, so so much” he said it like it wasn’t the biggest confession he could ever make, like it was completely normal to him.
“I love you too моя любовь, so so much” Ilya replied, not that he even had to say it, his eyes shone with so much love it was almost sickening.
The room was silent as they stared at each other before Yuna spoke, the realisation that there was something real between them hit her like a truck, “how long has this been going on?” She asked, softly.
Shane blinked, turned to her, “huh? Oh since forever, but shhh it’s a secret!” He whispered that last part.
“Yes big secret” Ilya inputted, nodding affirmatively.
“Forever? That seems like an awfully long time” she said, sitting at the end of Shane’s bed, letting the new information sink in.
“The all stars, you two had so much chemistry then…” David inputted, trying to create the timeline in his head.
“Nooo, way before that, the very start, my rookie season” Shane said, waving a dismissive hand through the air.
Yuna gaped at him, "your rookie season?!"
Her eyes darted between the two in disbelief, Ilya shook his head, "noooo not true, was summer before remember?” He said.
Shane’s eyes lit up, like he remembered a fond memory, “2010” He hummed with a dreamy sigh.
Yuna stood up, 2010, her son hid the love of his life from her since 2010, her heart felt heavy, how could he not have told them? Did he think she wouldn’t accept him? God, had he thought that this whole time?
“Oh baby, why didn’t you tell us?” She asked, teary eyed as she grabbed his hand.
“We weren’t… it wasn’t serious for a long time, we were too scared” he mumbled, lips curling into a frown.
“So stupid, I can’t believe we denied our love for so long, so much time wasted” Ilya said, he looked heartbroken.
“Stopppp, you're just saying shit to make me cry at this point” Shane whined, lazily wiping his eyes with his good arm.
“Even when you cry you are so beautiful” Ilya spoke, staring at Shane lovingly.
“Daaaad, push my bed to his so I can kiss him” Shane whined, turning to his father once again with pleading eyes, this time they were full of love.
David teary eyed, nodded.
***
The teams were in and out of their changing rooms faster than ever before, and before Hayden knew it he was sitting in an overcrowded waiting room with almost all the guys that were on the ice, Rozanov’s team included.
Yuna and David were already there, they were allowed to see him, a part of Hayden felt bad for Roz, for not having family here to check up on him, no matter how much Marleau pleaded, the nurses were adamant that only family could visit the injured player.
When the Hollanders joined them Yuna explained Shane’s condition to them, he had a pretty bad concussion but nothing that would have any lasting damage, his wrist was sprained also but not badly. Rozanov’s team, they didn’t have the luxury of an explanation and instead were subjected to being left completely in the dark of their captain's own condition.
At least that’s what Hayden figured but when Yuna finished filling him in she turned to Marleau.
“Ilya is okay—“ Ilya, when had he become Ilya? “—he has a concussion, his shoulder was dislocated, he’s doing well though, he’s doped up on pain meds so he’s very talkative" she explained and the tension in the room almost completely dissipated, replaced with an overwhelming sense of relief.
“Thank you, thank you so much,” Marleau said earnestly, “how’d you get them to tell you?” He asked, almost in awe.
Yuna and David shared a look, “I have my ways” she said simply and Hayden could sense there was something more to the story but he didn’t push.
“Also Shane and Rozanov are sort of sharing a room” she said and the whole room went silent.
“They’re going to murder each other!” JJ squawked.
“I am very concerned right now,” Miitka voiced, staring dumbfounded.
Rozanov’s team also looked on edge at this fact, but not as much as the Metros did.
“Relax, Roz doesn’t actually hate Hollander” Cliff piped up, rolling his eyes.
“Funny!” JJ barked.
“No really, he said he respects him, I mean he was drunk when he told me but y’know, he still said it,” Cliff explained.
“He’s got some way of showing it” Comeau scoffed.
“That’s just Roz, his favourite games are the ones with Hollander, their rivalry it’s, I dunno, it’s real yeah, but it’s not hate” Carmichael said with a shrug.
“Boys, don’t worry, they’re being very civil” Yuna said, preventing whatever argument that was bound to break out.
“Shane did ask me to move his bed closer so that he could slap Rozanov” David inputted unhelpfully.
“That’s my boy” Hayden said with a grin.
“Then Rozanov started crying and he apologised profusely” David added and Hayden’s face fell while Cliff barked out a laugh.
“Jeez, how drugged up are they?” He mused.
“Very drugged up, I had to explain to Ilya that it’s not biologically possible for men to get pregnant” she said and the boys got a good laugh out of that.
“I wanna see looped up Roz so bad” Hammersmith snorted and his teammates all laughed in their agreements.
“So Hollzy and Rozanov are both high as kites in the same hospital room and no one’s fighting?” Comeau questioned, it made no sense Hollander hated Rozanov.
“Yeah we know how it sounds, they’re getting along just fine, you boys have nothing to worry about, they’ll be up for visitors in the morning” David explained and there was a chorus of nods.
“Man, I can’t believe our captains managed to take each other out like that” JJ laughed, seeing the humour in the situation.
“Head first man, head first, have you seen twitter?” Cliff asked.
Leave it to shared concussions to bring two rival teams together.
***
Hayden visited the hospital the next morning, bringing Jackie along with him with all the food she made Shane stored in tupperware containers.
He was glad he wasn’t holding any of said containers when they walked in because he’s almost positive he would have dropped them at the sight which greeted them.
Even Jackie was entirely taken aback, something that wasn’t an easy feat.
Rozanov was in Shane’s bed, why the fuck was Rozanov in Shane’s bed and why the fuck was Shane letting it happen?
“Haydennnn my brother!” Shane exclaimed through a series of giggles.
Well that explained it a little, he was doped up, like heavily doped up.
“Did you know that pike is type of fish?” Rozanov said and the two practically folded into each other as they erupted into a long chorus of laughter.
“Why are you all cozied up with Rozanov?” Hayden questioned, eyes narrowed at the placement of Ilya’s hand on Shane’s waist.
“They’re stingy with the heating here, Ilya’s warm” Shane smiled and he honest to god fucking started snuggling into his sworn fucking enemy.
“Is this like a joint psychosis? Did you both forget you hate each other?” Hayden asked in complete and utter confusion because even worse they were smiling all dopey at each other like a couple of lovesick teenagers.
“Did we used to hate each other?” Shane pulled a look of confusion as he looked up at his boyfriend who shared a similar look.
“Noooo, I do not remember this, I could not hate you, is not possible” Ilya replied, shaking his head.
“Shit, do you guys have amnesia or something?” Hayden asked, face dropping from disgust to concern.
“Whaaaat? No, I remember Ilya very well” Shane said with a grin too indiscernible for Hayden to read.
A rumble of laughter escaped the Russian as he beamed at the man, pressing a kiss to his cheek, “I remember you very well too” he said lowly into Shane’s ear.
“I told you not to do that, it ticklesss” he giggled, bringing his shoulders up to his head as far as they could go all the while burying himself further into the man.
“Okay what the fuck is going on?” Hayden spat.
“Hayd… let’s calm down a bit” Jackie said, her hand finding his shoulder.
He turned to her, looking completely lost and a little angry, she nodded in understanding before turning to Shane.
“Shane sweetie, we’re a little confused, we didn’t think you two were… friends” she said unsurely.
Shane let out a snort, “mhmm we’re goooood friends” he giggled and Ilya began to snicker beside him.
Hayden sent the Boston raider and borderline murderous glare causing the man to pause before falling into a fit of giggles.
“Really? How long have you been gooood friends?” Jackie asked, a smile beginning to spread across her face as she repeated the way he said it.
“Ugh too long” Shane groaned, throwing his head back into the headboard behind him.
“This… thing isn’t new? Dude…” Hayden looked a little heartbroken at this revelation, how long had his best friend been keeping this whatever relationship a secret from him?
“New? Ha! God no Hayds, it technically started before we even met” Shane replied with a snort and his friends both gawked at him.
“I am OG,” Ilya proclaimed.
“Don’t worry Haydennnn you’re still my bestie, Ilya is a lot more than a good friend, if you know whata meannn” Shane laughed, Hayden continued to gawk, Jackie tried to cover her amusement.
“I would hope so, I just asked your parents for your hand in marriage” Ilya grinned, pressing a needy kiss to his lover's neck.
Shane let out a surprised moan before giggling and pushing his head away, “oh my god behave” he said.
“I need to bleach my eyes and my ears, fuck am I having a stroke?” Hayden mumbled, looking completely shell shocked.
“Wait! Marriage?!” Jackie gasped, absolutely beaming with excitement, Hayden seemed to pale at the realisation of what that meant.
“No no no, fuck please, Shane stop this at once, where are the cameras?” Hayden’s head swivelled around the room frantically.
“Relaxxxx, we’re not getting hitched right now, maybe next year or something” Shane said, with a dreamy look as he thought of how his wedding would be, how beautiful and handsome Ilya would look at the altar, his mom would probably be crying, his dad definitely would and Hayden would be all mad grumbling about how it just had to be Rozanov but at that point he wouldn’t actually hate him after getting to know him the last year, the pike twins would be their ring bearers, Jackie would get wine drunk and probably cry as well. Ugh it was just gonna be so perfect, so so perfect.
“-Shane!” A hand waved in front of his face, it was Jackie, looking nothing but amused.
“Oh baby, you were daydreaming again, you are so cute” Ilya practically cooed, nuzzling his nose to Shane’s.
“Sorryyy, ‘was planning our wedding” he replied.
“We should have June wedding because that is the gay month” Ilya noted.
“You just wanna get married on your birthday” Shane teased.
“Pleeease Шанюшаaaaa, would be best birthday present” Ilya pouted, batting his eyes, buzzing his chin into Shane’s shoulder.
Shane merely rolled his eyes, “but then our wedding anniversary will also be your birthday” he said.
“Just say you don’t love me” Ilya huffed.
“Aww Shane’s got himself a drama queen like you babe” Jackie teased her husband who looked absolutely insulted.
“I am NOT like Rozanov!” He scoffed, “and I am not a drama queen” he added with a huff.
“Aww guys I can’t wait for you guys to get to know him, you’re just gonna love him so much, he’s just so loveable” Shane beamed at his friends before turning to press a kiss to Ilya’s cheek, immediately pulling him from his huff, putting another to his nose and a few more all over.
“Jackie I think this is my hell loop” Hayden mumbled, horrified, unable to look away.
He was contemplating pinching himself just to be sure this wasn’t some kind of dream, but no, this was reality.
His best friend was in love with Ilya Rozanov.
Hayden was not okay.