Rating:

Not Rated

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories:

F/M, Gen, M/M

Fandoms:

Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers | Heated Rivalry - All Media Types, Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid

Relationships:

Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Troy Barrett/Harris Drover, Gloria Grey/Carter Vaughn, Troy Barrett & Scott Hunter

Characters:

Troy Barrett, Scott Hunter (Game Changers), Ilya Rozanov, Shane Hollander, Wyatt Hayes, Luca Haas, Cliff Marlow | Cliff Marleau, Carter Vaughn, Roger Crowell

Additional Tags:

Post-Book 6: The Long Game (Game Changers), Hockey All Stars, Supportive Ottawa Centaurs (Game Changers), Fluff, Mentions of Injuries, Minor Injuries, Dumb Hockey Boys, Warning: Hockey, Roger Crowell Being an Asshole, gratuitous use of All Stars by Smash Mouth, POV Troy Barrett

Language:

English

Series:

Part 15 of Troublemakers

Stats:

Published: 2026-05-01 Words: 5,934 Chapters: 1/1

Breaking the Mold

Summary

It's All Stars Weekend, the first since Shane and Ilya's marriage. And they are going to prove to everyone that the Rivalry is alive and well.

Notes

Sorry everyone. I dunno why this fic took so long to write but it did (Ok, maybe it was all the Troy Hate which has been on my dash recently. While I agree with the fact that Shane is not obligated to like Troy after how he acted, it was still a little disheartening when I was trying to write him as a good friend to Shane)

But between starting and finishing this fic, I somehow managed to also finish my Skip Serial Killer AU and write a whole 'Married In Vegas' prompt fic (And a small Vampire Marleau fic which is on my Tumblr) and yet this one, I struggled with for some reason.

Oh well, it's here now and I hope it at least gets a little giggle out of people.

Again, I know nothing about Hockey. I looked up the All Stars format and then bastardised it for my own amusement but that's about it.

If anyone asked where Troy Barrett was for the 2020 All Stars Game, he would not have to think about the answer. Because it would be obvious. In 2020, Troy would have been bar hopping the whole weekend away with Dallas Kent and a few like minded players. They would have visited as many bars and clubs as they could, drunk enough to make fools out of themselves, Dallas would have propositioned as many women as he could and Troy would have laughed awkwardly and hoped the alcohol would cover his discomfort, while any of the other jackasses they managed to wrangle into their pack for the weekend would have laughed like the donkeys they were.

The All Stars games would have been an afterthought and, if the teams were lucky, they would bother to take anything seriously. Oh, they would have gone to the skills night and the games, but everyone knew the All Stars were a joke of a comp. A cash grab. Far below their skills set. No one cared to try.

If 2020 Troy Barrett had been told that the next time he would be at the All Stars, he would be playing for a completely different team, a respected and admired player throughout the league, openly gay and engaged to the man who he was determined to spend the rest of his life with, he would have laughed awkwardly in the teller's face. Hell, if anyone had told him he would spend the majority of his next All Stars weekend sitting quietly in a fancy hotel bar with Scott Hunter, trading pet photos, while Dallas Kent sat in prison awaiting sentencing, Troy would have thought they were nuts.

That’s because, Troy mused as he took another sip of his beer, 2020 Troy Barrett was a fucking idiot.

The 2022 All Stars was very different from any Troy had been at. For one, it was his first one since his trade from Toronto to Ottawa, since he had unofficially been banned from attending (That decision had been quickly reversed after he came out and went on to play some of the best games of his career so far. The fans were quick to ask why he had been excluded and the League, still reeling from the fallout of Shane and Ilya’s accidental outing and the subsequent backlash from Shane’s sudden signing to Ottawa, had thrown all three of them back into the limelight. Troy could practically see the invisible signs the League were holding above their heads reading ‘Don’t worry, everything is Fine. No one sue us.’)

So, it was unsurprising they had all been invited this year. Not that it was completely innocent.

It looked to Troy that whoever had planned out the lineup for the All Stars was out for blood. He had figured that; the moment he had received the call up and saw the plans for the teams.

This year, the All Stars week was being played in Nevada. The teams, made up of the best players of all divisions, facing off against each other in what the League was pitching as a display of the greatest players ever, but what Troy couldn’t help but think, was a glorified Beer League.

Despite his behaviour over the years, previous Troy had been secretly ecstatic whenever he got the call up to attend these games, believing it to be recognition of his talents. But those were the old days. Now he was older, wiser and knew a lot better.

The All Stars may seem fun, but for Troy, it was nothing more than a weekend away from home, playing stupid little games while the rest of his team relaxed for the free week before beginning their campaign for the Play Offs. A whole weekend away from his fiancé who had to stay home for work. A whole weekend trying to ignore the fact that someone in the League wanted to make a point.

Well, to be fair it wasn’t the whole team being left behind. Five Ottawa Centaurs had received the call up. Troy, Ilya Rozanov, Shane Hollander, Wyatt Hayes and for his debut, Luca Haas.

Which was why Troy knew this week had been rigged against them.

Instead of the normal themes which tended to guide the teams' lineups, this year it was titled ‘The Best of the Best’. But Troy thought it should be renamed ‘Trying to break Relationships.’

That had become evident the moment he saw that Shane and Ilya had been announced as opposing team Captains, despite being in the same division and that the fantasy draft had been scrapped. Instead, a group of League officials picked the lineups for each team and announced it on the players arrival.

Oh, they claimed that it was by popular vote, but Troy wasn’t a moron.

The rumour that Shane and Ilya’s famous rivalry wasn’t real had grown louder since Shane had signed with Ottawa, among certain, bigoted people. Troy suspected, whoever it was who thought this up (And if Troy had to guess, he suspected the person’s name started with ‘C’ and ended with ‘rowell’) wanted to prove that the rumour was true. Not that he was going to win.

The rest of the team layouts hadn’t fared much better. Troy had been placed on Team Hunter, the third of four teams. He wasn’t too upset. Scott Hunter was a great guy and a good Captain and Troy was happy to play with him. Hell, although he had kept it secret for a long time, Scott was still his idol. But the fact that the only Toronto Player who had been called up had also been put on Scott’s team felt very targeted.

Micheal Dempsey, a fairly good defenceman for the Guardians, had always been in the background during Troy’s friendship with Kent.

Dempsey had idolised Kent and desperately wanted to be his friend for as long as the guy had played. Troy remembered, back in the bad old days, how they had laughed at the kid and Kent had delighted in pitting him against Troy, dangling the idea of his friendship with the man, if he could impress them.

Troy had hated it, even as outwardly he laughed at the man’s antics. If he could, he would have apologised to Dempsey for the shit he had put him through, the same way he did Wyatt and Ryan and so many others.

Unfortunately, Dempsey had turned that competition into a huge grudge against Troy. The guy had been the loudest voice against him when he was ousted from Toronto and Kent’s biggest cheerleader throughout his trial (Although he had now gone quiet. Someone smarter than him must have told him it was a bad look to back a convicted rapist)

So, it was unsurprising that the man was seemingly determined to attack Troy.

Troy wasn’t stupid. He was very aware that he still had a target on his back with some players. He was almost certain that the Montreal Protocol, as the Centaurs had called the ongoing plan to humiliate the Metro’s and prevent them going after Shane, had been re-tooled into a similar strategy when they played Toronto.

The last game the Centaurs had played against the team had ended with three of the Guardians having to seek medical attention and Tanner Dillon fined for biting. Troy hadn’t even thrown a punch, but he had definitely become aware of the strategy when Callum Young of all people ‘accidently’ tied him up when he tried to get into a scuffle.

Dempsey had been hit so hard by Ilya during play, he had actually been flipped over (Thankfully it looked like an accidental collision, so Ilya didn’t wear any time for the hit)

So the prospect of being on the same team as a guy who hated his guts and was looking for any excuse to stab him in the back was not appealing. Not that Troy was going to let any of those assholes rattle him. Besides, he knew he was better than any of them.

Thankfully, Scott seemed to understand the situation. It had also helped that Troy had been named as Assisting Captain for the weekend, placing him above Dempsey (Troy was actually excited for the opportunity to wear the ‘A’. He had once had aspirations to be a Captain of a team in the future. Hell, back in Toronto, he and Kent had often talked about leading a team together someday. Unfortunately, Ottawa was the worst team for someone with that sort of ambitions since they had Ilya as their Captain, Zane Boodram as their Assisting and Shane and Evan Dykstra waiting in line before Troy for the role)

Troy was perfectly happy to take on the position, even if it meant Dempsey had even more reason to hate him, not that Troy gave a fuck about what a rape apologists had to say about him. Scott had agreed.

He also knew that there was another reason why he had been put in this position and it had to do with the shake up.

Scott wasn’t the only Admiral to be called up but his best friend, Carter Vaughn had been placed on Ilya’s team as his Assisting Captain. Which was going to be interesting since Cliff Marlow had also received the call up and was wearing the ‘A’ for Shane’s team.

(Wyatt and Luca had gotten lucky. They had both been placed on the fourth team, under Minnesota's Captain, Vincent Lemaire)

The shakeup was definitely designed to put everyone at a disadvantage.

Of course, Troy’s team (And Luca and Wyatt’s team) had been barely mentioned throughout the weekend. All three of them had shined during the skills competitions, Luca in particular, proving himself, by breaking a long-standing speed record. But they were not interesting. Not when the League was waiting to see the famous rivalry. Not when the League had deliberately manipulated the stats to have the two teams face off for the final.

And returned, it certainly had.

Troy had been around Shane and Ilya enough over the last year or so, so he shouldn’t have been surprised when the shift had happened.

The night before they were due to fly out, all five of them had met up for drinks at Wyatt’s place. It was mostly to help Luca with his nerves, since it was his first time going to the All Stars and it had been an enjoyable night.

Hell, they had spent most of the night joking around and listening to Ilya’s current plan to create a vodka line (This was a Yuna Hollander backed idea. The woman was always looking for good investment opportunities for her boys, and the celebrity alcohol market was definitely something which would interest Ilya. Troy knew all this already, since Ilya had reached out to Harris' sisters to see if they had any connections in sales which could help him with his launch) and Shane had been gazing at Ilya throughout, looking absolutely besotted.

The switch had happened sometime during the night, between Troy waving Shane and Ilya goodnight before going home to Harris and arriving at the airport to fly out.

When leaving Wyatt's house, the two had been handsy in a way that suggested they were at serious risk of indecency if not sent home. But when they had both arrived at the airport to meet the rest, Troy had initially thought they had a massive fight.

Both Shane and Ilya had barely looked at each other. They didn’t speak. Hell, they kept their distance and didn't acknowledge each other’s presence.

Troy had been confused at first, when Ilya sidled up to him and began chatting away, as if he was ignoring his worst enemy, not his husband. Wyatt had thrown an equally confused glance at Troy when Shane did the same, only speaking to him and Luca.

It wasn’t until they were all on the plane and Ilya made a dig about a slow backhand to the general audience, to which Shane had snorted and muttered ‘Fucking Asshole’ just loud enough for everyone to hear that Troy clued in. Shane and Ilya were playing up their competitiveness for the weekend.

The League wanted a Rivalry, and they were going to get it.

Not that it had ever really gone away. Troy was not going to think about the number of cat fights Shane and Ilya had gotten into on the ice during practice. Ilya seemed to mistake flirting with rage baiting and Shane was his favourite target, the man poking and prodding at Hollander until he snapped.

Hell, Troy had once been close to stepping in when it looked like Shane was about to kill Ilya during a morning skate. Thankfully Harris who had stopped him, placing a hand on his shoulder and with a knowing glint in his eyes, said “Don't help him. He's exactly where he wants to be.”

The resulting body check Ilya had received at Hollander's hands had been brutal enough that everyone had winced but despite it, Roz had grinned like a lunatic for the rest of the day and was quick to bundle Shane into their car after Wiebe had released them (The hickies on Shane’s neck the next day had been impressive)

So no, the rivalry wasn't dead. And Troy got the feeling some people were going to learn a little too much about the relationship for their own comfort this weekend.

Due to the sheer number of professional players and their families in town for the All Stars, the four teams' accommodation had been split between several hotels surrounding the Arena, Troy’s team staying in the same hotel as Shane’s while Ilya’s, Wyatt and Luca’s were on the opposite side of the arena. Without asking, Troy already knew that Ilya hadn't set foot in the hotel Shane was staying at, unlike some of their friends. Marlow had definitely snuck out for a drink with Ilya. They weren’t exactly subtle about it. And Vaughny had joined Scott when Troy had gone to meet him on arrival on Friday night, for a makeshift strategy meeting which turned into an engagement celebration.

Like Troy, Carter Vaughn was going to be married soon, to his long term girlfriend Gloria and he was very excited to talk about it.

Troy had learnt that Vaughny was looking at moving teams when his contract was up, to go to LA to be closer to his soon to be wife. It was a good move for the man but still, it was going to be a blow for Scott, who would miss his friend.

Troy had tried to lighten the mood a little by letting the two men in on his closely guarded secret about his impending name change. Troy hated carrying the name ‘Barrett’. It was his father's name and frankly, the only reason he hadn’t changed it when he cut the man from his life was the vindictive part of him which got a little bit of joy knowing that his homophobic dad had to suffer being linked to a famous gay athlete. But that didn’t mean he wanted to be connected to Curtis Barrett for the rest of his life. No, as soon as he married, Troy intended to take on the Drover name.

Until now, the only people who knew were Sam and Marlene, Harris’ parents. Troy had made sure to ask permission from them before he allowed himself to contemplate the change and now he had it, he was excited for this next chapter.

Both Scott and Carter had congratulated him on the impending change and Vaughny had even made him smile by clapping him on the back and jokingly calling him ‘Drover’.

Scott too, had some advice to impart for the two soon to be newlyweds. Both Vaughny and Troy had been keen to learn about Scott’s specially made wedding ring, a rubber creation which was safe to wear on the ice.

All of the Centaur’s who were already married had advised Troy to leave his engagement ring in his stall when they played, due to the risk of injuries (Troy had been present when Shane had noticed Ilya forgot to put his own ring on the chain around his neck where he usually kept it during a practice and the resulting rant to the whole team had included some nightmare inducing pictures) But despite the risk, and despite Harris telling him over and over it was ok, Troy hated the thought of leaving his ring behind. Having a safer alternative which he could keep wearing on the ice was a great idea and Troy had made sure to get all the details from Scott so he could discuss it with Harris.

But the night had ended and now they were at the tail end of the weekend, everyone ready to go home and return to their lives. The Skills Night had ended, along with two of the three games earlier that day. The losing teams had been relieved of duty, and the winning teams were given time to prepare to face off for the final game.

Troy and Hunter's team had played well, despite losing in overtime to Shane's team during the first match. Wyatt and Luca’s team had suffered a far more humiliating defeat to Ilya in the second match. Now there was one more game to play. The anticipated Hollander vs. Rozanov game.

Puck drop was only minutes away, the League officials choosing to call a break before the final, probably to build more suspense and hopefully sell more last-minute tickets when local fans realised who was leading the two remaining teams.

Initially Troy had been content to stay in the bar with Scott during the second and third games, the two sharing laughs and pet pictures and only partly paying attention to the reports from the arena.

The footage Scott had shown him of his tiny kitten Cathy, perched on his shoulder and aggressively headbutting the 6’2” man while he tried to work on his emails had amused Troy. The Family Guy soundtrack Kip had set over it, of Stewie Griffin shouting various versions of ‘Mom’, in time with the cats' attacks had been the cherry on top.

But there was only so long the two could share Cathy and Chiron’s antics before curiosity got the better of them. Their teammates for the weekend had already disappeared, heading out with their families or relaxing and enjoying the hotel's features, so they were all alone.

Honestly, Troy would have been happy to stay in his room for the rest of the weekend and Facetime Harris, see if his fiancé would be down for phone sex. But Scott had dragged him out to socialise and Troy knew Harris would approve so he hadn’t fought too hard to get out of it.

Then he had received the text from Wyatt.

Along with Luca, the Centaur’s starting Goalie had decided to stay at the arena after their game to watch the bloodbath and after a little bit of coaxing, Troy had finally been convinced to join them.

Scott had decided to tag along and “Watch the shit show” as he had said, (Troy knew damn well Scott was as aware as the rest of them what was about to happen) and support his best friend, so that was how Troy Barrett found himself leaving the relative safety of the hotel bar and heading the short distance back to the arena to see Crowell’s plan to discredit his friends crash and burn.

Although the arena was full, there was a box set aside for players and families to watch the games. Most of the players from the other teams had refused the offer, since their part was done and they wanted to salvage what they could of their free weekend before they returned to the chaos of professional hockey. A few WAGs of players on the two competing teams were mingling but the majority too, were mostly absent.

It wasn’t hard to find Wyatt and Luca, sitting in some seats at the front of the box. Luca had ditched his padding but was still in his sweaty green team Lemaire jersey and had managed to find popcorn and the two were watching as the players conducted their warmups.

“What’s happening?” Troy asked as he took the seat next to Luca, Scott sitting on his other side. He shook his head as the younger player offered him some popcorn.

Wyatt, eyes fixed on the ice, was already grinning.

“Roz must be going already. Hollzy looks like a tomato.”

Troy glanced down at the ice. Shane was on all fours on the ice, doing his calf stretches, an inherently vulnerable position to be in. Ilya was skating laps around the ice.

As Troy watched, Ilya slowed until he was right behind Shane. He said something and Shane froze, throwing a look over his shoulder at Ilya, his cheeks visibly red even from the distance. Ilya’s face split into a huge grin as Shane spat back a reply.

Then Marlow was there, dressed in the same red jersey as Shane, pushing Ilya away. He too said something which resulted in Ilya laughing and pulling his glove off to flip the other man off.

Besides Troy, Scott shook his head and Troy could tell he was thinking the exact same thing as everyone else. This was going to be insane.

Thankfully, the warmup was soon over, the two teams retreating to their benches for a last minute strategy meeting. The crowd, already warmed up from the previous two games and excited for the promised showdown, began chanting.

There were only two names on everyone's lips.

Troy watched as the first lines skated back out onto the ice. Unsurprisingly, both Ilya and Shane were there. It was even less of a surprise that both headed to center ice, bracing themselves and preparing for the puck to drop.

The crowd fell silent and Troy could swear, he could almost hear Ilya’s chirps.

Then the puck hit the ice and the two players were fighting for it, trying to steal it from the other's possession. Ilya won, breaking away but Shane was on him in an instant, trying to wrestle back control as the crowd roared in approval.

The rest of the players all joined the fight for what would unsurprisingly be a 20-minute chaotic battle.

But the big draw was always going to be what Shane and Ilya would do. And they didn’t disappoint.

Within two minutes, Shane had slammed Ilya into the boards so hard, Ilya had slipped to the ground, his stick breaking under his weight as he landed badly, leaving him stunned as his husband skated away.

Thankfully, Ilya was back on his feet within moments, rushing to his team's seats to retrieve a new stick.

His payback was equally brutal and Troy actually started to worry for the Centaur’s next few games when he noticed the bruise forming on Shane’s chin after Ilya returned the favour. They couldn’t exactly mount a good campaign if two of their best players gave each other concussions.

Even the ref’s seemed at a loss on how to control the two. They didn’t dare penalise either man and Troy could guess why. The crowd had been whipped up into an absolute frenzy, and he had no doubts, if either Shane or Ilya were kicked off the ice, a riot would break out.

And they weren’t the only ones behaving badly. Both teams seemed to be ready for battle.

At one point, Ilya slammed so hard into Cliff Marlow, he actually knocked the taller man down. Another moment resulted in Carter Vaughn, a very good contender for nicest guy in the League (He was probably battling it out against Luca for that title. Luca had been busted on hot mic, apologising and thanking an opposing player once while stealing the puck and had yet to live it down), throwing down his gloves with one of Shane’s defencemen, a guy called Cooper Sullivan who played in Dallas.

And yet, the sheer brutality of the game had meant both teams managed to remain score-less in the first 10-minute half.

The crowd was restless and as the teams skated back to their seats for a quick breather. Almost without thinking, Troy glanced up at the jumbotron as the camera’s did a sweep, allowing the crowd to show off. Briefly, a camera swept the boxes and Troy saw it land on the Commissioner's Box. Crowell, the utter bastard, was sitting front and center, and if Troy wasn’t mistaken, looked nervous. This game was not going the way he had planned.

He had probably hoped that Shane and Ilya would be subdued, and would be afraid to do anything in case they hurt each other. He had probably hoped he could get some ammunition to use against them, to prove that married couples should not be allowed to play in the League if they weren't willing to fight each other. Maybe even give him a reason to follow through with his threat to stop them playing.

Unfortunately, the two were giving the crowd the game of the year, not just disproving Crowell’s point but blowing it out of the water. No one was ever going to believe that two of the League’s star players were anything other than committed to winning, even if they shared a bed at night.

The second half was called and Troy watched as everyone skated onto the ice to begin again.

This half was just as brutal. At some point, Ilya ended up with a split lip but refused to leave the ice to seek medical assistance and in the dying minutes, Shane managed to score the only goal of the game.

The crowd were in an absolute frenzy as Ilya’s team attacked the opposing goal again and again in a desperate attempt to win back the goal but in the end, the siren sounded at 1-0. Shane’s team taking the win.

“Damn.” Scott muttered as the game ended, the two teams finally separating. All except for the two Captains, Shane immediately skated up to his husband. Troy could help but agree with Scott’s assessment as the cameras swarmed them, catching Ilya’s slightly crazed and bloodied grin as he pulled Shane into a hug, practically ripping the other man's helmet off his head and throwing it carelessly to the ground. Then he planted a kiss on Shane’s cheek, leaving a bloodied imprint on the other man.

Troy already knew that image, of Shane Hollander, sweaty and grinning, sporting a bruised chin and a bloodied imprint of a kiss on his cheek was going to be ‘the’ image of the League for a long while.

Shane laughed before pushing the other man away, but Troy could see him mouth the words ‘Great game’ at Ilya and Ilya’s reply was definitely ‘I love you’.

The two were still grinning at each other as Crowell and the rest of the officials arrived on the ice to announce the winner, the Commissioner failing to hide his displeasure at this turn of events.

It really didn't help that Ilya's team refused to leave the ice to make way for the winners, instead mingling with the other team. Marlow had an arm slung around Vaughny's shoulder and the two were talking jovially with some other players, as if they hadn't just thrown punches at each other. Shane, for his part, kept an iron grip on Ilya's hand, practically dragging him forward as Crowell reached over to shake the hand of the winning Captain.

Crowell looked like he had sucked on a lemon, his forced smile so fake that some of the fans noticed. The fact he refused to shake Ilya's hand when Shane gestured towards his husband was immediately clocked and a chorus of boo’s followed the man as he quickly retreated off the ice, leaving his team of suited lackeys to try and salvage the situation.

The cameras were still rolling as Ilya reached over and wrapped an arm around Shane’s waist again, pulling him closer. Shane in return, wrapped his arm around Ilya’s shoulder and turned to watch the Commissioners retreating back. The man was still grinning and Troy noticed, he cheekily poked his tongue out at the man, probably as a bit of a ‘fuck you’ to Crowell.

Ilya, on the other hand, took the opportunity to lean forward and lick at Shane’s cheek, cleaning the blood off his skin, right in front of the cameras. Hoots of approval were heard from the crowd.

Realising what he was doing, Shane pulled away from the Russian’s grasp and turned to glare at Ilya who was smirking. The two said something and then Ilya leant in and kissed Shane, who seemed to relax a little. Then, ignoring the cameras and people, the two turned and hand in hand, skated away towards the edge of the ice and the locker rooms.

Slowly, the other players started to follow.

In the box, the Centaurs (and their Admiral friend) knew the show was over. Wyatt was the first on his feet.

“Crowell is not going to be happy about this one.” He said but he was smiling.

“Well Crowell can go fuck himself. He has gotten away with harassing us for too long.” Scott replied and Troy nodded in agreement. There were a few moments of silence as all four players contemplated this.

“Welp, it's just about dinner time, kids. And not all of us have eaten our body weight in popcorn.” Wyatt eventually stated, eyeing Luca. “So, what’s the plan?”

“I heard there is a good Mexican place ten minutes from here.” Troy offered. He had overheard some of the hotel staff talking about it and it would be nice to have a farewell dinner with his friends before they all scattered again. He just hoped it was far enough from the arena that it wouldn't be crowded with fans.

“Sounds good.” Scott said. “I’ll text Vaughny and tell him to meet up with us.”

“Tell him to bring Marlow too. The poor guy could probably use a drink after all that.” Wyatt replied.

“Wait! What about Captain and Hollander? Shouldn’t we wait for them?” Luca asked.

All three men turned to look at the youngest player, marveling at his wide eyed innocence. Finally, Troy decided to put the kid out of his misery.

“Haasy, I can promise you, those two have other plans tonight.” He said. Luca looked confused for a moment before it dawned on him.

“Oh.” He replied.

Plan made, the four quickly made their way back to their hotels to get ready. Soon, they were gathered in the lobby of the hotel, waiting for their ride. Carter and Cliff had met up with the group as soon as they had left the arena. Marlow was ranting about how both teams had ended up sharing a locker room thanks to Shane and Ilya commandeering the other one and no one being brave enough to kick them out. The others had been laughing at the man’s plight when they noticed two figures.

Shane Hollander dashed through the front doors of the lobby, his post-game suit jacket rumpled and his tie missing. His hair, despite being damp, was a noticeable mess. Ilya was right at his heels and had his hand hooked around Shane’s belt, the other man practically dragging him along.

Ilya too, looked messy. His own post-game suit was missing its jacket and his shirt was untucked.

The two reached the lift and Shane slammed his hand onto the panel, hitting the call button at the same moment Ilya slammed into his back. Immediately, Ilya was mouthing and biting at the back of Shane’s neck and even from the other side of the lobby, Troy could hear Shane chastising the other man while trying to suppress moans.

Thankfully, the few people still hanging around the lobby pointedly looking away from the over-the-top displays of affection.

The doors of the lift slid open, and Ilya was immediately pushing Shane inside. The Russian crowded the Canadian into the corner of the metal box as the doors slid closed again, blocking them from sight.

Troy glanced at the others and could tell that they were thinking the same thing as him. Marlow was the first to break, a huge grin crossing his face as he snickered at his friend's behaviour. That led to a chorus of chuckles from the group which didn’t subside until they were all seated in the Uber, travelling away from the hotel.

Unfortunately, that calm only lasted a few moments before the radio, with probably the best timing ever, started up a familiar tune.

‘Somebody once told me the world was gonna roll me,
I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed.
She was looking kinda dumb with her finger and her thumb
In the shape of an ‘L’ on her forehead.’

Troy tried not to look anyone in the eye, realising which song was playing. He heard Vaughny laugh, Scott snicker and could even feel Marlow’s grin.

Then Luca had to speak.

“Hey. Shrek song!” He said gleefully.

And that was it. They were all laughing again, occasionally singing random lyrics.

‘Didn’t make sense, not to live for fun. Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb.’

‘You’ll never know if you don’t go, You’ll never shine if you don’t glow’

‘The ice we skate if gettin’ pretty thin, the water’s gettin’ warm, so you might as well swim.’

And Troy, usually the stoic type, found himself grinning and joining the other five grown men who, with the fire and passion of children, sang aloud the chorus.

“Hey now, you’re an All Star,
Get your game on, go play.
Hey now, you’re a rock star,
Get the show on, get famous.
All that glitters is gold.
Only shooting stars break the mold.”

This was something 2020 Troy Barrett could never imagine being a part of. Hanging out in the back of a van with some of the greatest hockey players of his generation. The sheer number of awards and medals earned in this group of six men was staggering. And yet here they were, all acting like giant kids, joking and laughing and singing. Not posturing or trying to psych each other out. Just enjoying each other's company and having fun.

Eventually, they made it to the restaurant and managed to have a nice dinner to celebrate the end of All Stars.

The next morning, everyone waved goodbye and returned to their homes, Marlow to Boston, Scott and Vaughny to New York and the rest to Ottawa.

Shane and Ilya met them at the airport, both looking worse for wear. Ilya had a fat lip and the bruising on Shane’s face was dark and angry. There were also noticeable scratch marks down Ilya’s arms and a bite mark on Shane’s neck, but their fingers were entwined and everyone knew the status quo had been restored. No one mentioned anything to the two and life resumed as normal.

(Well, maybe with a few exceptions. Troy managed to convince Harris to pull some strings and make both Shane and Ilya’s scoring song for the next few games a certain Smash Mouth song but if anyone asked, he would deny his involvement til his dying day)

And they all knew Crowell had learnt a valuable lesson. In trying to discredit them, he had made them stronger. They were All Stars. And they were breaking the mold.