The Rozanov Hollander Family Chronicles
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After their wedding but before the start of their first hockey season on the same team, Shane and Ilya sit down for a sports network interview, finally explaining their relationship to the world. They sat in the green room, huddled together on the couch, hands clasped, Shane breathing suspiciously fast and loud. Ilya wondered how close he was to full-on panicking. He squeezed Shane’s hand, and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “Hey,” he intoned softly next to Shane’s ear. “It will be fine. All is OK here. Just you and me talking to a nice guy like we are in our living room.” Shane made a distressed noise. “If our living room had five thousand cameras in it.” Ilya smiled. “Is only three cameras, I think. You can ignore them. Come on. We have cameras in our faces every day. This is no different.” “Except we’re talking about our relationship to millions of people, not just having our picture taken or talking about hockey. Why did we agree to this?” Shane whined with an upward, slightly hysterical lilt to the last few words. Ilya decided being sympathetic and soothing was not working. Time to change tactics. “Enough of this. You are Shane Hollander, hockey superstar. Your picture is hanging on the wall of every teenager in Canada. You told off Roger Crowell to his face. You have given a million interviews to reporters before. You can sit down for one more. This is nothing for you.” Shane huffed out a breath, put his hands on his thighs, and stood up. “You’re right. I’m being stupid. It’s fine. We don’t have to hide anymore. We don’t WANT to hide anymore. So let’s get this over with and then maybe people will stop asking us annoying questions everywhere we go.” Ilya smirked as he also stood up and moved next to Shane. “That is maybe a little too optimistic, but yes. We need to, what is the phrase? Set the record straight.” Shane leaned over and kissed him softly. “OK. I’m good. Thank you.” Just then, the young intern who had been put in charge of them returned to the room. “Mr. Ryland is ready for you. Let me bring you to the stage. As a reminder, this is pre-recorded, so if you don’t want to answer a question, or you flub a sentence, we’ll edit around it. No worries. Just be relaxed.” She escorted them to a soundstage with a couch facing one direction, and a leather armchair angled catty-corner toward it. She pointed to the couch and asked them to sit. The PAs fitted them with microphones as Thomas Ryland, anchor of a popular TSN show, came over to shake their hands. He settled into his own chair and fiddled with his notes. The director announced they were rolling and Ilya took Shane’s hand in his and squeezed. “Good evening everyone. I’m here with NHL superstars Ilya Rozanov of the Ottawa Centaurs, formerly with the Boston Bears; and Shane Hollander, also an Ottowa Centaur as of a month ago, formerly of the Montreal Voyageurs, for their first official interview since coming out as a couple last season. Gentlemen, we’re honored you took the time to be here with us.” “Thank you for having us,” Shane replied on cue. “You can understand that the news that two world-famous rivals were actually in a secret relationship for years is both shocking and of great interest to many people. Can you tell us what it’s been like the last several months, being out as active LGBT players, being out as a couple, and now being on the same team?” Shane huffed out a big breath. “Wow, those are complicated questions. On the one hand, it’s such a relief not to hide anymore. It was so stressful every day, worrying who could find out and how, and what would happen then. But also, just like we feared, it has led to a lot of gossip and recrimination, and invasions of our privacy. And then again, so many people, especially young people, have reached out to us, telling their stories, and saying we gave them courage to come out to their teams, their schools, their parents. So it’s a mixed bag.” Ilya added, “I can say that playing on the same team is wonderful. The Centaurs are made of the best people in the league. Everyone loves us and accepts us and knows that for us, there is nothing more serious than playing hockey and winning. We have never brought personal feelings to the ice and we still don’t now.” Shane smiled. “It’s also a big plus to see each other every day. To live together. The hockey season was always hard on us. We were really limited in the time we could spend together. On the whole I’d say there are way more positives than negatives to being out.” Ryland nodded seriously, as if they were discussing world peace instead of hockey. “Probably the biggest question on everyone’s mind is, exactly how long has this been going on? At what point did an epic rivalry turn into an epic love story?” Ilya turned to Shane, and they smiled softly at each other. They had debated how honest to be in this interview and ultimately had decided there was no benefit to avoiding the truth. “Well,” Shane said slowly, “that’s not a simple question. But in the end, the answer is that we’ve been together for about eleven years.” Ryland had trouble masking his surprise. As if to verify he had heard correctly, he asked, “Eleven years?” “Yes,” Ilya said with a hint of humor in his voice, “since before our rookie season. We met for the first time at the World Junior Championship in Saskatchewan. We started a casual relationship afterward that lasted for many years.” Ryland was clearly gobsmacked but put on his professional reporter face and cleared his throat. “I imagine people are wondering how that worked. Ilya, you were in Boston, and Shane was in Montreal. The hockey season lasts nine months a year including training and playoffs. When did you see each other, and how did you keep it a secret?” Shane answered, “We saw each other rarely, which is one of the reasons it was casual for so long. We were afraid for anyone to know precisely because of the famous rivalry. And also,
- Part 1 of The Rozanov Hollander Family Chronicles
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- English
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- 1,898
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- 1/1
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- 1
- AO3:
- #59765038
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Hayden's awesome wife Jackie makes a beautiful offer to Shane and Ilya, a year after the end of The Long Game.
- Part 2 of The Rozanov Hollander Family Chronicles
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- English
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- 1/1
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- 1
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- #59758000
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Two Are More Than Twice As Much Work As One by perachdavida
Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid
2024-10-15
Being a tough guy on the ice doesn’t mean much when you’re taking care of two infants and haven’t slept in a week.
- Part 3 of The Rozanov Hollander Family Chronicles
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- English
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- #59775292
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Shane and Ilya think the Stanley Cup playoffs are hard? Try taking two toddlers to DisneyWorld.
- Part 4 of The Rozanov Hollander Family Chronicles
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- English
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- #59758234
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Shane and Ilya have kids and a dog sleeping in their bed every night. It’s time to call in the grandparents and hightail it to a hotel for a sexy night out.
- Part 5 of The Rozanov Hollander Family Chronicles
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Shane and Ilya are tough hockey players who never cry. Until they have to drop their kids off for the first day of Kindergarten.
- Part 6 of The Rozanov Hollander Family Chronicles
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Ilya wasn’t planning on being woken up before 6 am on Christmas morning, but it can still be an otherwise perfect day.
- Part 7 of The Rozanov Hollander Family Chronicles
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Ilya might regret that he talked Shane into giving the kids the 7th birthday party they asked for...in this weird, horrible place.
- Part 8 of The Rozanov Hollander Family Chronicles
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At forty years old and on the brink of retirement, it only takes one bad hit to convince Shane and Ilya that maybe this should be the end.
- Part 9 of The Rozanov Hollander Family Chronicles
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- English
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A rainy week at the Lake House and two bored kids. What are parents supposed to do? Play hockey, of course.
- Part 10 of The Rozanov Hollander Family Chronicles
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Shane can’t understand what happened to his sweet and happy baby girl. Did fairies kidnap her and replace her with this short-tempered, constantly annoyed tween?
- Part 11 of The Rozanov Hollander Family Chronicles
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Shane and Ilya's son Sasha is a 17 year old hockey star entering the NHL draft. He's about to get everything he ever wanted. Except for the straight teammate he is in love with.
- Part 12 of The Rozanov Hollander Family Chronicles
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- English
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It is a year after the end of Sasha’s Story, and twins Eva and Sasha Hollander are chosen to represent Canada on the men’s and women’s ice hockey teams at the upcoming Olympic games in Anchorage, Alaska. Shane and Ilya will be proud parents cheering in the stands with Eva’s girlfriend Rachel and Sasha’s boyfriend Declan.
- Part 13 of The Rozanov Hollander Family Chronicles
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- English
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- 3/?
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- 1
- AO3:
- #77222376