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Flaw in the Game

Summary:

They were supposed to be rivals. Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, two high school basketball players at the top of their game, competing for stats, Team Canada, and Division 1 college offers. But when they spend an eight hour plane ride sitting next to each other, they discover something in each other neither one expected: friendship.

Or: the Hollanov friends to lovers basketball AU.

Notes:

this is inspired by the two lovely fics above! shoutout to those two authors for their incredible works <3

a couple friendly disclaimers:

1. make sure creator's work skin is on! (i have no idea what the text will look like without it but everyone says this so i am saying it too)

2. that while i do know some about basketball, a lot of this (also including emailing etiquette, college recruiting, etc) is made up for fanfic purposes!! please do not take anything too seriously.

3. i am trying to push myself as an author and want (almost) the entire fic to be told in multimedia via texts, emails, or anything else i make up. if this is not your cup of tea, then please scroll away!

4. and because the story is mostly being told in texts/emails, there will be a certain amount of expository writing in terms of wishing happy new year, talking about the end of the school year etc to tell the passage of time. again, if not your cup of tea please scroll away.

Chapter 1: 2007 - Fall

Chapter Text

Mom

Today: 1:26 PM
Through security

Phew!

Do you know what seat you have?

It looks like a window

Oh that’s good, so you won’t have to deal with people bumping your shoulder in the aisle

Yeah

And you’ll hopefully get to look out over Portugal as you leave Lisbon

Hopefully, it’s really pretty here but we didn’t have much time to explore

I know

We are so so proud of you for everything you accomplished in Portugal, Shane

A gold medal at the Junior Olympics is a big deal!!

Thanks, Mom

But you know, basketball is a team effort

I know that hon, but we’re still so proud of you

I thought you played much better than Rozanov

Mom!

Well you did!

He’s a guard like you, so it’s important to see how your competition is playing

I hate how everyone calls us competition

We don’t even go to the same school

And he’s only gonna be a freshman, I’m a sophomore

You’re the only two players from the Greater Montreal/Ottawa area who were selected for the Team Canada Junior Olympics team, so that does make you two competitors in a sense

If you say so

Today: 2:02 PM
Boarding now

See you and Dad later today :)

Safe flight honey!

We’ll be in parking lot C, same as usual

Love you.

Love you too

Mom

Today: 5:37 PM
Landed

Great!

Will have to wait at baggage claim for a little bit though

No worries, Dad and I found a spot so we’re good to wait

How was the flight?

It was fine, we hit a lot of rough air but nothing too bad

Rozanov ended up sitting next me

Oh no!

Was he a complete jerk to you?

He did not seem like the most…friendly of players when your dad and I were watching the tournament

He wasn’t that bad actually

We talked for a little bit, then watched movies until the food came

Oh that’s… good I guess hun

Ok getting off, text you when I’m in the parking lot

See you soon!

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Headphones

To: [email protected]

Hi Rozanov,

How are you? It’s Shane Hollander. If you couldn’t tell that from my email address haha. Anyways are your headphones black? The ones you couldn’t find on the plane? I know we used my white ones to watch movies during the flight but somehow some black ones also ended up in my bag.

Let me know!

- Shane Hollander

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Headphones

To: [email protected]

hollander,

how did you get my email? you are stalking me? that will definitely get you kicked off team canada :P

black headphones are not mine

- rozanov

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Headphones

To: [email protected]

No I’m not stalking you!! Your email, along with everyone else from the team’s, are on the recipient list on every email sent from the Team Canada coordinators. It didn’t take a genius to figure out your email.

Or maybe it does? Cause I found your email before you found mine :P try to be a little faster next time Rozanov.

Weird about the headphones. Maybe someone else put them in my bag my accident? I can ask around some of the other players.

- Shane Hollander

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Headphones

To: [email protected]

is joke, hollander. do not take everything so seriously

and i was fast enough to beat you in half the suicides this weekend

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Headphones

To: [email protected]

You seem to have forgotten that I beat you in the other half of those suicides.

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Headphones

To: [email protected]

ah, tomato, potato, or whatever they say

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Headphones

To: [email protected]

You know that’s not the saying, right? And it doesn’t exactly come across the same over text.

Anyways, I asked around with other guys who were at the tournament and no one claimed the black headphones. So weird. I guess I’ll hold on to them just in case someone remembers they lost them.

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Winter Invitational

To: [email protected]

Hi Rozanov,

Are you going to the Winter Invitational in December? My team was invited but I didn’t know if yours did too.

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Winter Invitational

To: [email protected]

hollander,

of course my team is going to winter invitational, we are one of the top ranked teams in the league

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Winter Invitational

To: [email protected]

Wowww, someone’s awfully cocky about their team ranking, huh?

Guess it would be good to remind you that my team is currently the number 1 rank, while yours is at number 3.

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Winter Invitational

To: [email protected]

whatever. we will move up to number 1 when we beat you in the tournament

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Winter Invitational

To: [email protected]

I’d like to see you try.

See you on the court, Rozanov.

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Winter Invitational

To: [email protected]

Hey, good game this weekend.

Sorry about your knees, I know my teammate didn’t mean to push you that hard.

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Winter Invitational

To: [email protected]

ahhh, i beat you and all i get it a “good game” ?

where is all that smart talking now, hmm hollander?

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Winter Invitational

To: [email protected]

I wish you could see me rolling my eyes.

I should remind you that we BEAT you in one of those games, and the other two were super close, the last game you only won by 4.

But I bet your coach was happy about the win, right? Mine definitely wasn’t pleased. He thought we were gonna sweep the tournament no question. Pretty sure we’ll be running suicides all week as punishment…

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Winter Invitational

To: [email protected]

blah blah, win is win.

coach was happy, my father, not so much. he was disappointed i didn’t score double digits in the last game, even though my coach had told me that i should make sure the rest of my team has opportunities to shoot

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Winter Invitational

To: [email protected]

Yeah, my coach says the same thing. About how important it is for the whole team to be active participants on the court, not just providing assists for one player.

I thought you played really well, by the way. It felt good to be challenged by another tough competitor, someone who is one my skill level.

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Winter Invitational

To: [email protected]

is hard sometimes though, yes? my father wants me to stat-pad, while coach wants me to share the ball with other people.

ahh i was challenging for you?

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Winter Invitational

To: [email protected]

You know what I mean. We were both invited to play for Team Canada for the Junior Olympics so I meant the same level of playing that it took to get there.

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Winter Invitational

To: [email protected]

we will need a rematch soon hollander ;)

 

 

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Winter Invitational

To: [email protected]

You’re on anytime, Rozanov.