Rating:

Explicit

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Category:

Multi

Fandom:

Heated Rivalry (TV)

Relationships:

Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Shane Hollander/Rose Landry/Ilya Rozanov

Characters:

Shane Hollander, Rose Landry, Ilya Rozanov

Additional Tags:

Threesome - F/M/M, Cuck chair, fujo throne, Cunnilingus, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering, Blow Jobs, Kissing, Making Out, Complicated Relationships, rose/shane isn't romantic but it is sexual, Mildly Dubious Consent, Episode: s01e04 Rose (Heated Rivalry)

Language:

English

Stats:

Published: 2026-01-09 Updated: 2026-02-08 Words: 12,805 Chapters: 2/?

this is not enough

Summary

“You’re not bothered that I’ve thought about another man?”

Rose smiles. “No, Shane, I’m not. I… Trust me, I’m not bothered, at all. But I do want to know what you’ve thought about doing with him.”

Shane still doesn’t look at her, but he seems a little less tense. “I’ve thought about… A lot, Rose, I…” He swallows. “Being on my knees, for one thing.”

Rose notices Shane making eyes at Ilya in the club, and invites him over for a threesome. She gets more than she bargained for.

Notes

the “what if rose noticed them making googly eyes across the club and did something about it” fic

Dubcon tag is because Rose is operating under false pretences and doesn’t know their history, and also because everyone has had a little bit of alcohol.

title from “all the things she said” by t.A.T.u obviously.

Thank you so much to my betas HopelessScribe and Internerdionality for their work on this! mwah

Chapter 1

A good song is playing, the dance floor is lively, but Rose’s boyfriend is nowhere to be seen. 

He’d disappeared to the bathroom a few minutes ago, but as Rose dances, she happens to see him at the edge of the dance floor, drink still in hand, like he hadn’t gone anywhere at all.

Rose frowns. She excuses herself from Miles, and makes her way towards Shane, but he doesn’t seem to see her. His eyes are locked onto something else. Someone else.

She follows the gaze, and finds someone looking back at him with the same intensity.

Not someone. Ilya Rozanov. Shane’s arch-rival in the hockey world.

And yet… the expression on their faces is not one of rivalry. It’s not one of hatred, disgust. It’s one of barely disguised jealousy.

Jealousy?

The girl Rozanov is dancing with is objectively hot, enough that Rose gets a little heated under her own dress at the way his hands are roaming across her breasts—but she's not hotter than Rose herself, so unless Shane knows her or something, there’s no reason for him to be jealous. 

Well. He has no reason to be jealous of Rozanov…

And the way he and Rozanov are staring directly at each other, the woman completely oblivious, feels telling.

It makes more sense, actually. 

She’s suspected he was gay for a while, if she’s being honest. They’ve only been dating for a few weeks, but she has a sense for these things. They’ve had sex a few times, and it hasn’t exactly gone well. And she’s okay with it. After her fifth gay boyfriend in theater school, she learned not to take these things personally. She’s just been making sure it’s actually the case before trying to have that discussion. Tonight was sort of meant to be a final test, in a way. So far, it’s been going alright, but they haven’t gotten to the sex yet. And now Shane is off, staring at Ilya Rozanov with heat in his eyes that he’s never had for her.

As she watches them, Rose has an objectively terrible idea. It might not work. She may be way off base. And even if she isn’t, it’s a little insane… But she thinks if she can get this to happen, if it works out, it could be the hottest night of their lives.

Besides, she’s always wanted to see two hot guys going at it in real life, and these are two of the hottest guys she’s ever been in a room with. How can she resist?

“Shane,” she says as she steps up and wraps a hand around his bicep. He looks startled, but she smiles up at him, pretending she’s noticed nothing. 

“Sorry,” he says, loud over the booming music. “I was looking for you when I got back…” 

She knows it’s a lie, but it’s okay. She’ll let that one slide. 

“Come sit with me,” Rose says, tugging him back towards the table, which is now empty of others. Good. It’s a little quieter over here, just enough that they can talk at a normal volume and only hear each other. “Did you see Rozanov is here?”

His eyes stop grazing the dance floor and he glances down at her again. She can see him swallow.

“Yeah,” he says, looking and sounding like a deer in the headlights. 

Rose hums. “I was thinking,” she says. She has to take this gently. She can’t push too fast, too hard, or he’ll freeze. But she has to try. She knows that look she saw in his eyes, and she knows it’d be a shame if nobody ever tried to push these two together. “You know what might be hot?”

“What?” Shane asks, sounding confused. She looks away from him, out into the dance floor again.

“It might be hot,” she reiterates, “if we invited him back to your place.” She glances up at him and grins. “Make a little use of all that rival-heat you guys have backed up. What do you say?”

Shane looks clammy. Rose wonders if he’s drunker than she thought, but he sounds clear when he speaks. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he says. It’s quieter, and she can barely hear it over the new song playing, another club remix she sort of recognises.

“I do,” she pushes, making sure he sees the earnestness in her expression. Then she backs off a bit. “If you really don’t want to, you can tell me. But, come on, tell me you’ve never thought about it?”

Shane bites his lip, and then his eyes are on the dance floor again. It takes a few moments before he speaks again. “No. We can’t be seen leaving here with him. That’d… the pap might be outside.”

It’s a good point, but it’s curious that that’s how he decides to deny it. She smiles. “Let me work my magic? We can meet him back at yours. See what happens.”

Shane still seems hesitant, but looks down at her. “You want to… have sex with him?” he asks, again more quietly. She can’t figure out what his tone is, whether it’s jealousy, and if so, what direction it comes from. “While I watch? Or…”

Rose shrugs. “We’ll see what happens, what he wants, but I was thinking more along the lines of I get to watch the two of you.”

His eyebrows raise a little. He seems to have a complaint on his lips, so she leans up and kisses him. 

“Let me?” she asks. He holds eye contact with her for several moments before looking away. He nods.

She kisses him another time before making her way across the club, finding Rozanov by his height and his curly hair. She finds him back at the bar, the woman he’d been dancing with abandoned. She leans up against it next to him and asks for another glass of champagne. Then she turns, looking up at him.

“Ilya Rozanov,” she says. She knows he knows who she is. He’s not an idiot.

“Rose Landry,” he says. Her name sounds beautiful in his accent, but she guesses many things do. “What do you want?”

“Your number in my phone,” she says, sliding her open phone just far enough over that he can take it without anyone noticing in the busy atmosphere. This club caters to more discreet types, like the three of them, so they can have their fun with a modicum of privacy about their private lives. But Shane was right. If all three of them get a taxi together, someone is bound to see. “Then I’m going to text you the address to Shane’s condo, and you’re going to come and meet us there after we leave.”

Rozanov’s eyebrow twitches, but he slowly puts his hand over the phone and starts typing something in. “Did he put you up to this?” he asks.

“No,” she answers, looking forward, towards the bar, as the bartender serves her. “I put myself up to it. I want to watch you two, together. Do you want that, too?” 

Ilya doesn’t look at her as he slides the phone back over. “We will see. I leave here twenty minutes after you.” 

He’s so confident about it, asking so few questions, but Rose figures that’s just how he is. He’s an attractive man, though she’d never date him. He doesn’t seem like the type to want to be tethered down. She doubts he’s ever fucked the same person more than twice in his life. But maybe that’s too much of an assumption. He could be totally different from the persona he puts out to the world.

“Looking forward to it,” she says with a grin, taking her phone back, and her champagne, and walking back to Shane, who looks a little scared but like he’s trying to keep it off his face. She sits beside him and sips. 

“What did he say?” Shane asks, more demanding than usual. 

She smiles. “He says he’ll leave here twenty minutes after we do,” she says easily. “We can get going as soon as I’ve finished this glass.”

Shane swallows, and nods, seeming a little… stressed. Or impatient. It’s hard to tell. Rose puts a hand on his thigh.

“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” she says, a bit more serious. “It’s meant to be fun. Just fun. If it’s not fun, we don’t do it. Okay?”

Shane tries to relax himself, taking a long breath in and out. He fidgets a little less. “Yeah,” he says. “Okay.”

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, you get that, right? Even if I want to.” She’s a little worried now, that she’d misread it all. 

“I know,” he says, and finally that gorgeous smile is back on his face, for a moment. He actually looks at her, not the bar, not the dance floor, but her. “I trust you. I do.”

She takes big sips of her glass, wanting to get them home soon, giddy for what the night will bring. She knows she’s not unique in being a woman who enjoys watching gay porn, but having it happen in real life is a whole different endeavour. She’s thought about it before, but the opportunity has never come up. This is exciting.

“Let’s go,” she says, finishing up her glass. She isn’t drunk, but she’s pleasantly buzzed, just enough to forget any reason this might be a bad idea. “I’ll get a car.”

Rose gets them a driver to bring them back to Shane’s house. They barely talk during the car ride home, but she can feel the energy rolling off of Shane, equal parts excitement and nerves. She’s hoping to squash some of those nerves before Rozanov can show up. She texts Rozanov the address before they arrive, and tells him to text when he’s close so one of them can come get him.

“Hey,” she says, once they’re in the condo and the door is closed. She grins up at Shane, and he looks down at her with a small smile on his face.

“Hey, back.” He leads her in to his living room, and they sit, knees tucked up together. “You seem really worked up about this,” he says. 

She nods. “I am. That’s not weird, is it?”

Shane shakes his head. Then tilts it. “No. I mean, I don’t know. Maybe. Look, can we… can you please tell me what you want to happen?”

She nods immediately. She knows by now that Shane does best with really direct language. “It’s up to what the two of you want to do, but I want to watch you. Make out, touch each other, suck each other…” She’s getting wet just thinking about it, and shifts her legs. “What do you think about that?”

Shane licks his lips, then takes a moment, like he’s choosing his words really carefully. “Why do you think he’ll want to? What if he just wants to do stuff with you?”

“I told him what I wanted,” Rose says. Sure, Rozanov might’ve misinterpreted, but she doesn’t think he did. “I get bi vibes from him, for what it’s worth. But we’ll figure it out when he gets here. Can I ask you something?”

Shane nods. “Yeah, of course.”

Shane seemed to accept this idea pretty quickly, for a man who presumably hasn’t examined his identity very much. “Have you ever thought of him, like that? Him specifically.”

Shane once again seems caught in the headlights, taking several moments to answer. “Is it that obvious?” he breathes out.

Rose tilts her head. “Not really. Probably not to everyone else. So you have, then?” He nods, minutely, and she continues. She can’t help but feel a little smug at having guessed right. “What do you think about?”

He swallows and looks away. “It’s intense, on the ice, is all,” he says.

“I get that,” she says, nudging his knee affectionately. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, either, by the way. Thinking about him, even though he’s your rival. It’s natural.”

He seems surprised by this, but responds after only a moment. “You’re not bothered that I’ve thought about another man?”

Rose smiles. “No, Shane, I’m not. I… Trust me, I’m not bothered, at all. But I do want to know what you’ve thought about doing with him.”

Shane still doesn’t look at her, but he seems a little less tense. “I’ve thought about… A lot, Rose, I…” He swallows. “Being on my knees, for one thing.”

She feels her heart rate pick up. She nods. “Yeah? Do you want to try that, tonight?”

Shane nods. He licks his lips. He’s thinking about it now. “What do you think about? What are you thinking about?”

Rose hums. “I want to see you two kiss, for one. The intensity of that, I think, with all your history… I don’t expect either of you to be up for fucking, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Shane repeats back, and then licks his lips again. “And if that’s wrong? If I… If we are?”

Rose raises an eyebrow. “We can ask him, I guess, if he’s willing to… Wait, in which direction?”

Shane bites his lip, and then looks at her, his foot jiggling. 

“You’ve thought of that too, haven’t you?” she says, and she rises up onto her knees. His eyes widen a bit. “You’ve thought of him fucking you, yeah?” He doesn’t reply, but Rose can tell it from his face, in the tension of his jaw and the way he looks to the side, and she grins. She leans forward, over him, crawling on top of Shane and pressing down into a kiss. She can’t help herself, turned on beyond belief before Rozanov is even here. There’s a heat to it she hasn’t felt before, but still a touch of that same hesitancy from their previous times. She pulls back. “Have you ever had a man—”

Just then, her phone pings. She reaches over for it, and sees that it’s from Rozanov. He’s here. He definitely hadn’t waited a full twenty minutes. Maybe he’s eager.

“Let’s go let him in, we don’t want to keep him waiting,” she says, pulling herself away from him. She helps Shane up with a hand and the two of them, still dressed in their club attire, go to the door. 

Shane opens it for Rozanov, who steps inside. He doesn’t look around. He looks at Shane, and nods. “Hollander,” he says.

“Rozanov,” Shane says back, his voice carefully neutral.

“So,” Rozanov says, speaking to her. “You said you want to watch, yes? Watch us?”

“I do,” she says easily. She smiles at him. She’s not sure if he’s trying to be intimidating, but she isn’t scared of him. “You’re both incredibly hot, and I’m into it.”

“And what makes you think I will be into this?” Rozanov asks, his brows arching up. 

“You’re here, aren’t you?” She raises an eyebrow to meet his, and then shrugs. “You can say no, obviously. I can’t force you to do anything. But I figure, if I had a rivalry as intense as yours, I’d be curious about how that intensity might translate. Am I wrong?”

Rozanov clicks his tongue. Then he glances over at Shane. “And him?” He turns his attention back to Rose. “You’re not worried about him?”

“I trust him,” Rose says. “And we talked. So.” She looks over at Shane as well, who is once again staring at Rozanov with that same intensity he’d had before. The moment he catches her looking, he looks away from the both of them. Fascinating. The thing is, while she trusts Shane, she doesn’t trust him not to leave her. In fact, she thinks it is probably inevitable, if he’s actually gay as she’d guessed—or if he’s just not as attracted to her specifically, but she doesn’t think it’s just her ego that leads her to feel that isn’t the case. But she isn’t bothered by that, if it’s inevitable, and out of either of their control. And she thinks they can all have a bit of fun first. “Do we want to keep standing here, or should we show you to the bedroom, Rozanov?”

Rozanov regards her once again, and then his lips quirk up into a cocky smile. “You’re in charge here, are you?”

Rose stands tall, staying firm in front of him. “This was my idea,” she says. You’re only here because I brought it up. “Think of me like a director.”

Rozanov nods, smile still on his face. He regards her for a moment before responding, a little mockingly, “Okay, director.”

Rose smiles back, and steps forward, towards both men. She takes Shane’s hand first, which grips hers back comfortably, but then she turns to Rozanov and offers her hand to him as well. He raises an eyebrow, but takes it, and follows as she starts to lead them back towards the stairs. She lets go to walk up, letting them both trail her and probably stare at her ass. Part of her can’t believe this is happening, giddy for what’s coming.

They make it up into the bedroom. Rose moves to sit on the bed, the two men staying standing in front of her, a few feet ahead. They both look a little awkward, and Rozanov looks at her. 

“What now, then… director?” he says with a cheeky little smirk. “What do you want us to do?”

Rose has half a mind to remind them they can say no to anything she says, but she knows Shane heard her earlier, and she knows Rozanov isn’t going to do anything he doesn’t want to. Instead, she licks her lips, watching intently. “Why don’t we start with a kiss?”

Rozanov turns towards Shane, who glances at her. She gives him an encouraging nod and a smile, and then he turns to look at Rozanov instead. Rozanov takes a step in towards him, and Shane’s gaze shifts slightly upward, their eyes meeting, before he glances down towards Rozanov’s lips.

Wow. Shane really wants this.

“Ever kissed a man before, Hollander?” Rozanov asks in that gorgeous accent, and Rose latches onto the answer. Shane’s eyes flick towards her, but then Rozanov is raising a hand – on the outside, not blocking Rose’s view – and cupping his jaw, gripping his chin lightly. “Well?” he prompts when Shane takes a moment to answer.

Tentatively, Shane nods. Rose doesn’t let herself outwardly respond. She’s not really surprised, but she also kind of is. 

Rozanov smiles, and it’s a different smile than the one he’d given her previously. “Don’t worry. So have I.”

Then he leans in, and their lips connect, and Rose hears the joint intake of breath. Rozanov’s eyes shut as he moves his lips against Shane’s, slow, exploratory. Shane’s eyes stay open, and he doesn’t respond as much.

Rozanov pulls away after a few moments, and Shane’s eyes go to Rose, and then dart to the floor. Rozanov grips his chin again, and tips his head up. 

“I’m the one kissing you, Hollander. Or do you need reassurance from your girlfriend?” 

Shane glances at her again, and she takes in his expression, his flushed cheeks and the look in his eyes. He seems nervous, but she doesn’t think he wants to stop. She nods her reassurance.

“Go on,” she says. Shane’s a good kisser. She knows he has it in him. “Kiss him like you mean it.”

Shane looks back at Rozanov, whose eyes haven’t left him. Rozanov’s other hand comes up to Shane’s hip, and he pulls him in closer.

“Like you mean it,” Rozanov says, just barely loud enough for her to understand, before leaning in again. 

This time, when their lips meet, there’s a different energy in the air. She can feel the electricity coming from them as their lips move together, both of their mouths opening at the same time, and tongues pushing into each other’s.

Shane’s hands come up, one of them settling on Rozanov’s chest and the other finding his cheek. The intensity escalates quickly, their breathing louder, and Rose watches, enthralled by their kissing. This is already more making out than kissing. 

They keep going for a while, but she doesn’t want to interrupt. It’s hot, just as hot as she’d expected it to be. There doesn’t seem to be much anger there, like she thought there might have been, but a restrained type of intensity that must come from their rivalry. Their hands move, feeling each other, seemingly tentative but learning. Neither of them are new to men, but given that they’re new to each other, there must be some level of exploration needed. They haven’t started tugging at each other’s clothes yet, though, which is what she really wants to see. 

She’s definitely feeling the heat herself, wet in her panties just from watching them kiss. It’s so much better than watching on a screen. Rose lets them keep at it for a good while. Finally, she speaks up. “Why do you both have clothes on, hmm?”

Rozanov pulls away, and gives a short, low laugh, his fingers sliding up under Shane’s shirt, just testing the waters. “A very good question, yes, Hollander?” 

“Yeah,” Shane breathes, and he sounds a little overwhelmed. 

His eyes are closed, but they open as Rozanov starts to pull his shirt up. Shane lets him, and raises his arms to help him take it off. Rozanov hums and puts a hand on his chest, as Shane reaches up and starts fumbling with Rozanov’s buttons. 

Rozanov laughs softly and nudges his hand away. “I will do that. You have chair here, for your Rose to sit in?”

Shane nods. “There’s a, uh, ottoman in the closet, I guess–”

“Good,” Rozanov says. “Go get it for us, hmm?”

Shane searches his face for a moment, and then glances to Rose. She nods, smiling, and he walks off to the closet.

Rozanov takes off his shirt without unbuttoning it, and Rose gets a good view of his toned chest and stomach as he steps forward, towards her, towards the bed. He gets rather close, and then speaks in a rather low tone.

“You direct, but I do what I want. Ok?” he says. She opens her mouth to speak, but he continues. “I know what I’m doing, I know what feels good, for him. For men,” he clarifies. “Trust me with him, yes?”

Rose slowly nods, and stands up. “Okay. I’ll trust you. But I won’t let you do anything he wouldn’t want.”

She has more she wants to say, but Shane is already back, bringing in the nice ottoman he has in his closet and setting it off to the side of the bed. Rose moves to sit on it, crossing her legs. Rozanov’s gaze lingers on her for a moment, his eyes dragging gratuitously across her breasts and legs, and she preens under it. He’s attractive, and he’s allowed to think she is, too. Rose knows she is. 

“Both of you, down to your underwear, now,” she directs them. “Shane, that means your socks go, too.” 

Rozanov laughs softly, and Shane glares at him, and then glances at her, before starting to shed his pants, his shoes already off. Rozanov makes quick work of his pants, shoes, and socks, leaving them in a pile on the floor, while Shane takes a moment to fold each of his and set them on the table underneath the tv in his room. 

Rozanov makes his way to the bed and sits down on the edge of it, facing her. He spreads his legs, and his underwear is tight enough that she can see the growing erection he’s sporting through them. She looks without shame, glad to find that he’s just as aroused as she is, just from making out with Shane. She’s glad she’s guessed this correctly.

A glance at Shane tells Rose that he is as well, his cock harder than it usually is after he’s only been kissing her for a bit. 

“Go on,” she says. “Kneel over him and kiss a bit more.” The angle won’t be great for her, but she’ll get to look at Shane’s ass, which is always nice.

Shane moves where directed, putting his knees on either side of Rozanov, straddling his lip. Shane leans in and they kiss again, heads tilted just enough. She can’t see their lips well, but she can see their heads moving, can hear the wetness of their mouths moving against each other. She rubs her legs together, taking the edge off of her arousal for the moment. She’ll wait to touch herself, for now.

Rozanov’s hands slide down Shane’s back. There’s no hesitation in them as they move down over his ass and grip there, and Shane lets out a huff of a moan. Shane’s own hands are on Rozanov’s shoulders, steadying himself, but then one of them slides downwards, finds his chest and gropes at it without even needing to look. It’s harder than he’s ever touched Rose’s tits, which she supposes is good, because it looks like a rough grip that she would find too much. But there’s a hunger in it, a need that she’s never seen from Shane before.

She lets them keep kissing for another minute before clearing her throat. “Shane,” she says, in a slightly more demanding tone than before. “Kiss down his neck for a second. His chest, if you can reach it.”

Shane pulls away and starts to kiss down to Rozanov’s neck, all without ever meeting his eyes. Rozanov’s hand grips his ass, and he tilts his head to the side, and then looks up, staring directly at Rose. The expression on his face is both hazy with lust and full of challenge—it’s a combination that Rose can’t resist.

“Do you want him to suck your cock?” Rose says, slow and simple, the words rolling off her tongue, as she keeps Rozanov’s gaze.

A smile quirks Rozanov’s lips, and he reaches up to grip the hair at the back of Shane’s head. “Yes,” is all he answers with.

“And Shane,” Rose says. “You want to?”

Instead of answering verbally, like she expects, Shane slides off the bed and straight down onto his knees. Rozanov slides to the edge of the bed, putting his cock right up in Shane’s face, behind its barrier of athletic briefs. Shane looks for a long moment, and then leans forward, and Rose thinks from the sound it that he’s mouthing at Rozanov’s cock over the fabric.

Rozanov groans, a hand sinking down into Shane’s hair. “There, like that, Hollander,” he grunts. Then he looks up at her again, and raises an eyebrow. “It is okay for me to take off underwear, now, yes?”

Even though his tone is brattish, Rose nods permission. “Go ahead,” she says, but Shane is already pulling off Rozanov’s underwear. Rozanov just leans back on his hands and lifts his hips up to help, and he smirks a bit, too. The asshole just can’t resist.

Rozanov’s hand leads Shane’s head back towards his cock, and one of Shane’s hands goes inwards, presumably to hold it steady. Rose still can’t quite see the action, but she can see the expression on Rozanov’s face, so she watches that. He’s clearly enjoying Shane’s mouth, moving his head up and down. 

“Fuck, your mouth, Hollander,” Rozanov says, sounding a little breathless, groaning the words. His eyes have fluttered shut. “Just like this, yes.” He leans back on one hand, his hips starting to work in slow rolls up into Shane’s mouth while keeping it steady. “Let me, good.” 

“I don’t want you to come, not yet,” Rose interrupts, watching. Her hands lay on her thighs, but she has half a mind to push one up under her dress. Actually, she might take it off entirely. But she’ll wait until they’re both looking at her again to do that. She wants Rozanov to look at her again, with that assessing, hungry gaze, wants him to be jealous that Shane gets to touch her, and he doesn’t. The thought makes her even hornier than she had been.

Rozanov nods in response to her, and tugs Shane’s head up and off his cock. Shane leans against his thigh, and looks up at him, and he’s out of the way enough that Rose can see Rozanov’s cock now. And damn, it’s big. She almost wants it for herself. But she wants it more for Shane.

“Not bad job, for your first time sucking cock. If it is,” Rozanov says with a cocky smile down at him, his other hand sliding up to Shane’s cheek. 

Shane reaches up and shoves it away. “Shut up,” he grunts. Then in a lower voice, he adds something she can’t quite hear, but that sounds like “you know it isn’t.”

Rose doesn’t react, but she’s fascinated, to say the least. She won’t ask him to repeat himself, but she’s going to have to ask about it later.

Rozanov looks at her and hums. “What now, Rose Landry?” he asks, his voice drawling and still touched with that hint of brattiness, of petulance, that she has to admit is doing it for her.

She could rub herself while watching them, but she has a better idea.

“Shane? Come here a second,” Rose says, crooking her finger. Just as she’d hoped, Shane doesn’t get up, but instead crawls on his knees across the carpet until he’s in front of her. Fuck, that’s hot. “Good,” she says, the praise falling easily. “Are you still up for what we talked about earlier?” 

Shane doesn’t quite look at her, but nods regardless. She sees his head twitch, like he wants to look back at Rozanov but restrains himself. 

“Yeah,” he says, and nods another time. 

“Good,” she says again, cupping his cheek. He looks nice on his knees, like this, in front of her. He looks right there. “How does eating me out while Rozanov fingers you open sound?”

Shane licks his lips, and nods. “Yeah,” he says again. “Yeah, I can do that.”

Rose smiles. Rose looks at Rozanov. “Can you take care of getting him ready?”

Rozanov looks back at her. “You allow me to fuck him, then?” His voice is carefully even, as if he’s trying very hard not to sound affected by arousal. This really is getting to him. Good. 

“If you’re good,” she tries. Rozanov raises his eyebrows. “Open him up well for us and we’ll see.”

Rozanov ponders for a second, and then stands.

“Lube is in the nightstand, on the left—” Shane blurts, but Rozanov is already going specifically there, as if he somehow knows where the lube is. A good guess, maybe, though it’s weird he hadn’t asked or waited to hear. She puts it from her mind. There are more important things happening.

Rose sits up and peels off her dress, tossing it somewhere to the side. She lifts her hips and slides off her thong. Shane looks up at her, eyes taking in her body and then her face. She spreads her legs.

“You’ll tell us to stop if you need to, understand?” Rose says, phrasing it as an order, and Shane nods. He takes orders well. If they stay together, she’ll definitely be using that. “I want your tongue on me, slow, but don’t get distracted by him, okay?”

Shane nods again, licking his lips. He gets in position, on his hands and knees, leaning in towards her. He waits, though, until Rozanov drops down to his knees on the carpet behind him. She likes being the only one in the chair, for a bit, with these men on the ground. 

“I will start now, okay?” Rozanov says, breaking the silence, and Rose nods. 

“Go ahead. Gentle with him,” Rose warns. She doesn’t want Rozanov making this experience bad for Shane. He deserves a lovely first time getting fucked by a man – if it is. “Mouth on me, now.”

Shane’s tongue is warm and wet and feels wonderful as it slides against her clit just as she taught him. They’ve done this a few times, and while it was clear to her that he hadn’t had a ton of experience in it before, he’s figured it out by now. He now knows how to divide his attention between toying with her clit and eating out her cunt properly. 

She watches Rozanov as he pulls Shane’s underwear down and off, and is surprised when he seems to have no reaction to seeing his ass for the first time. She knows it’s a gorgeous ass. He should be more grateful to get a part of it. 

Rozanov opens the lube and gets some on his fingers, and Rose feels Shane’s intake of breath against her as Rozanov starts touching him. From her angle she can see what he’s doing, for the most part, that right now, Rozanov is just rubbing two fingers around the entrance without pushing either inside. She lets him. This is where she does trust that he probably knows what he’s doing better than her. She’s glad she can learn from him, really.

Rose sinks a hand into Shane’s hair and relaxes on the edge of the ottoman, into his mouth as he licks at her, and watches as Rozanov’s fingers start to press inside. She feels Shane’s breathing coming a little harder. Two fingers seem to go in at once, she sees, which seems a little fast, given what she knows. 

But Shane just lets out a gentle, restrained moan, like he’s holding in a louder sound, and presses his mouth more firmly against her. His eyes flick up to her, and then slide closed as he lets out another sound, his tongue pausing its movement for just a few moments. 

“You like that, do you?” Rose asks, leaning back with one hand and gripping Shane’s hair with a bit more force. She rolls her hips, his mouth still working against her. “You like having his fingers in you?”

She sees Rozanov smirk, but she’s looking at Shane, whose eyes slide open again. “Yeah,” he breathes, kissing just beside her cunt before pressing his tongue into it. 

“You like it more than fucking me, don’t you? Thinking about him fucking you?” she muses.

“Yes, he does,” Rozanov replies with a smug laugh. Shane pulls off again, and opens his mouth to respond, but Rozanov must move his fingers some way, because Shane instead melts into her and groans. He still glares.

“Not fair,” he says, but his voice is a whine.

It’s clear that she was right, that he does enjoy this more than anything involving just her. She should probably be offended by that. But it’s too fucking hot for her to care. 

“Very fair,” Rozanov says, and Shane moans again, swallowing some of it, but unable to contain the full sound. 

Rose sinks a hand back into his hair. “Keep your tongue working, come on,” she demands. Maybe it’s a little mean, but his lidded eyes sure make her think he’s liking it.

He sinks his face back into her, taking a breath and then starting to lick at her clit again. She moans, feeling the heaven of a tongue flicking against her. It’s not expert, yet, but it’s damn good. She’s an excellent teacher.

“I will use third finger now,” Rozanov says, and Rose nods across at him. She’s sure she looks affected, but she’s determined not to lose complete composure in front of him, not before he does. “He takes it well.”

Rose isn’t sure how much she likes the commentary about her boyfriend, but she doesn’t show it. She smiles, tightening her hand in Shane’s hair. “I’ve thought about fucking him myself,” she admits, looking down at Shane. His eyes widen a little and he looks up at her. “But I don’t have a harness and don’t want to be seen buying one at a store.” And not something she wanted to risk getting delivered to a hotel, either. But she has considered it.

Shane’s face is a mix of surprise and pleasure, as Rozanov keeps thrusting his fingers, and he closes his eyes and leans in to lick at her with renewed vigour.

“Yes, he is made for this, I think. Look how sensitive he is,” Rozanov says, and he must shift his fingers somewhat, because suddenly Shane moans, the movements of his tongue lapsing. “He likes it a lot.”

He really does. As Rozanov does whatever he’s doing, Shane can’t keep little sounds in, can’t keep his tongue moving steadily. At one point, he fully turns his head and tucks it into her thigh, his breath heavy. She lets him, though she’s surprised. It must mean he’s overwhelmed with sensation, with everything, because he’s certainly eaten her out for longer before without needing to take a break. She doesn’t nag him about it. 

“He should be ready,” Rozanov says. “But…”

“But?” she prompts.

Rozanov smiles at her, just a touch away from cocky. “I think you should make him beg for it, first.”

Rose raises an eyebrow, looking down at Shane, whose eyes are still closed. Should she? It would be a little mean. But, well… she can’t deny that it’s a hot idea, that she wants it. She’ll stop if Shane doesn’t seem into it.

“Well?” she says pointedly, tugging lightly at Shane’s hair. “Beg for his cock.” Shane lifts his head slowly, and looks up at her, and his eyes are shining and bright despite the slightly dazed look on his face. Then he turns slightly over his shoulder, as if to talk to Rozanov. She frowns and shakes her head, tugging his hair again until he’s looking at her. “Beg me to let him fuck you.”

Shane moans softly again, and reaches up to grab her thigh lightly. 

“Please,” he says, without hesitation. “Please let him fuck me.”

Then, because she can’t help herself; “I think you can do better than that.”

His brow creases for just a moment. “Please,” he tries again. “Let me… let me have his cock. Please, Rose, I… I want it. I need it. Please.”

Rose smiles, scratching over his scalp. “Good boy,” she says, the words slipping out. She likes this a lot. Shane leans into her hand, his eyes falling shut. Rozanov finally pulls his fingers out. She looks up at him. “Are you ready?”

Rozanov hums softly, then lightly taps Shane’s ass, not hard enough to be a smack. “Come here and beg me for it as well, and I might be convinced. Or I might leave.”

Shane’s eyes fly open and he looks over his shoulder, already starting to turn around. “You wouldn’t,” he says, sounding upset at the prospect of it. Rose shoots Rozanov a firm look at hearing that in Shane’s voice.

Rozanov tilts his head, and then shakes it. “No, I will not leave,” he says, and his voice sounds more soft than before, something in it she can’t identify. “But maybe I choose not to fuck you. Unless you beg for me. Then I will fuck you.”

Shane looks up at Rose for a second, and she nods. She’s not going to let Rozanov upset him, though of course, she can’t force him to fuck Shane. But she doesn’t really believe that the man with eyes that wild is going to pass up a chance at that ass. If Shane weren’t already so far gone in lust, he wouldn’t believe it either. 

Shane turns back towards Rozanov and moves around on his knees, rising up on them to be at Rozanov’s level. “Please,” he starts off the same. “Please fuck me.” He doesn’t stop there this time. “Please give me your cock, please take me, give it to me. Rozanov. Please.” Rozanov raises his eyebrow again. Shane sucks in a breath. “Please fuck me. I need it.” Throughout this he’s gotten closer, until he’s knee to knee with Rozanov, whispering just loud enough for her to hear, their faces inches apart.

Rozanov doesn’t respond, not verbally. But he leans in and kisses Shane, kisses him hard, and reaches up to his hips to pull them against his own. Rose hears Shane gasp against him, and then his hands are going even further up, into Rozanov’s hair, down the back of his head and over his neck, down to his chest. It goes on and on, far more heated and passionate than any kiss she and Shane have ever had. She reaches down between her legs and starts to touch herself, watching them. 

Rozanov is the one to finally pull away, and Shane lets out a sound that could almost be described as a whine, or even a whimper. Rozanov keeps his hands on Shane’s hips, and leans down to kiss at his neck, then, finally, opens his eyes and looks at Rose, taking in her touching herself before meeting her eyes. His grip on Shane seems to tighten, almost possessive in a way he shouldn’t be, reaching around to grope at his ass. Eventually, he pulls away from this as well, and Shane sighs softly.

“How do you want us to do this, Landry?” Rozanov asks. 

She hums. “On the bed,” she says, for the sake of their knees. “Facing the headboard.” It’ll be sideways to her, and give her the best view. “Hands and knees for Shane.”

Rozanov smiles. “Good position. Go on,” he says, squeezing Shane’s hips. “I will be right there.”

Shane glances back at Rose but doesn’t wait for a reaction before slowly rising to his feet and up onto the bed. He settles on his hands and knees, his legs spread, a slight arch to his back. Rose stares, enticed and aroused. It looks just like the position he sometimes takes, stretching on the ice, but if she hadn’t known that she’d absolutely think he’s been fucked like this before.

Rozanov stands and takes a moment to stretch out. He’s grabbed the condom and lube and takes a moment to roll the condom onto himself, and then coats his hand in lube and spreads it over his cock. He looks at Rose and winks, before making his way over to the bed. He climbs up behind Shane, wiping his hand off on the bedspread – Shane will hate that – and lines himself up.

“Ready for me?” he asks, and she can’t tell if he’s teasing or truly checking.

Shane just nods, arching a little more, pushing his hips back. “Please.”

Rozanov slides inside slowly, and Rose leans forward to get a better view, fingers still on her clit. Shane moans as the tip slides in, his hands gripping at the comforter as he slides ever so slowly deeper. 

“Fuck, Hollander,” Rozanov says. “You are so tight, so perfect.” His words are between a grunt and a groan, lost in pleasure.

“Please,” Shane just says again, voice muffled as he buries his face in the comforter. “Please, fuck me.”

“I am getting there,” Rozanov says, a hint of humour in his voice. “Do not want to hurt you.”

Rose is almost surprised at his tenderness; it certainly doesn’t match his reputation. Not that she expected him to be cruel and hard, not that she would have wanted that for Shane. It’s just a little startling, the gentleness with which he seems to be treating Shane as he slowly stretches him out with that big cock. It’s also hot as fucking hell. Her fingers rub a little faster.

Rozanov grips Shane’s hips as he starts to thrust in small, slow strokes, gradually building speed and momentum. He shifts the angle until Shane’s soft moans turn sharper, and then sticks to it. He wasn’t lying when he said he knew how to please a man. Shane’s hands tighten in the comforter. By the time Rozanov is thrusting into him properly, fucking him like he means it, Shane’s sounds have graduated to whimpers and loud moans interspersed with swearing.

“Fuck, Ilya,” Shane gasps out, like he can’t hold it in anymore.

“Hollander,” Rozanov grunts as he starts to work in a rhythm, thrusting hard but at a pace he should be able to keep up for a while. Especially with the glutes he must have in that massive ass of his, which she can now appreciate properly from the side view. Both these men have impressive asses. Hockey works wonders.

“Please, I know–” Shane cuts off with a moan, and Rose sees him swallow. “I know, I know I, and I’m sorry, but please–” Shane cuts off and buries his face into the comforter, but the muffled words are still moaned loud enough that Rose hears him. “Please, Ilya.”

Rozanov keeps fucking Shane, and he grunts softly, but then Shane pushes his hips back, starting to work with Rozanov in his pattern, meeting him on every thrust. Ilya’s face scrunches up. 

“Fuck, Shane,” he moans, his hands moving to Shane’s hips to thrust even harder, a little faster. “Better?” Shane’s back arches harder and he nods and moans and lets out sounds she’s certainly never heard from him. “You love this, don’t you? You love my cock in you.” Shane nods again, head moving against the pillows as he spreads his legs wider. But Rozanov reaches down and grabs Shane by his hair, using it to turn his head, take his face out of the comforter and point it towards her. His hand slides down Shane’s face, a finger pushing into his mouth for a second, before he pulls back and returns his hands to Shane’s hips. “Tell her. Tell your girlfriend how my cock in you is all you ever want.”

Shane looks wrecked as he makes eye contact with Rose, tear-tracks running down his face, sweat dripping across his chest, and for a moment she has the thought to stop this. But her fingers are still moving over her clit, sending waves of pleasure through her, and she knows she won’t. Shane even sounds fucking wrecked, little moans and whimpers falling from his mouth with each thrust. “I–” he hesitates, until a particularly hard thrust drives a shout out of him. “I love it, fuck! All I ever want is his cock in me, I think about it every day, I’m—” Another moan cuts him off, but she wonders what he was going to say. It almost sounded like the beginning of I’m sorry. “Ilya, I’m so close, please,” Shane groans out, his eyes glazing over.

Rose is, too—she’s got her entire hand up between her legs, now, the base of her palm pressing urgently against her clit as she rubs the tips of her fingers into her cunt. 

Shane grips harder at the comforter, his eyes rolling shut as his back bows and arches again, and Rozanov fucks him just a touch harder, a bit faster, grunts and groans falling from his lips.

“Come for me,” Rozanov says, almost a growl. “Show her how good you come on my cock. How only I can make you come.”

Rose rubs harder at her clit and comes as she watches Shane coming on Rozanov’s cock, his own completely untouched. He’s so fucking pretty like this, his eyes shut and his mouth open, a tremble to his lip. She gasps as Shane whimpers, his cock twitching under him, making a mess of the comforter. 

He moans Ilya’s name under his breath.

Rozanov groans Shane’s.

Rozanov fucks him for another few moments before pulling out and stripping his cock, tugging the condom off and coming in stripes over Shane’s back and ass. It’s hot as hell, even though Rose wishes she could see his come dripping out of Shane’s hole. 

She finishes rubbing herself and sits up again. None of them speak for a long moment. Shane lays down on his side, facing her but with his eyes closed and his chest moving with hard breaths. Rozanov takes off the condom and ties it, tossing it somewhere. Then he looks over at Rose for a moment, and raises an eyebrow, before laying down beside Shane and wrapping an arm around him. 

As clarity hits her, so do several things. 

Little things, like Rozanov finding the lube so easily, and the way he’d spoken about knowing how to please Shane. What he’d said in the heat of the moment, about how he knew how to make Shane come. 

Then more, like how they abruptly switched to using each other’s first names in the middle of having sex. How those names had sounded familiar on each other’s lips. How they’d come out with so much passion. 

And then there had been Shane’s apology in the middle of all of it, and Rose has no idea what he’d been apologising for, but that was… peculiar. Fascinating. She doesn’t know what to make of it.

And, despite the realisations that they’ve both been with men before — that Shane might have even been fucked by one before — there had been more of a familiarity between them than she’d expected. She’s never had a rival, so she doesn’t know if maybe it’s just like this, but her gut is telling her there’s something more there that she doesn’t know about.

Rozanov pulls Shane in close, and presses a kiss to his shoulder, and she can’t hold it in anymore.

“That was hot. Really hot,” Rose starts. “But I feel like I’m missing something. Definitely missing something.” Rose looks between the two of them, sees Shane tense. She feels a bit bad, but now that she’s started, she can’t exactly stop. “I thought you two were just rivals, but there’s something more there, isn’t there?” There’s silence for another few seconds, Shane’s eyes squeeze closed, and he pulls his knees into his chest, almost in a fetal curl. Rozanov sighs. “Well? Anyone care to fill me in?”

Chapter 2

Chapter Notes

“I figured Hollander had not told you,” Rozanov says. “Followed his lead.” 

“Told me what?” Rose asks pointedly. She feels like she’s missed something, something big, and she worries she’s made a fool of herself. She doesn’t like feeling like a fool. 

Rozanov continues, “Yes. We have been fucking, for some time, now.” He shrugs, but there’s something uneasy to it, and he still holds Shane to his chest. Shane, who’s still tense, his eyes still closed. “Just sex, when we were in same location. Not exclusive, and not since the two of you. It is simple. Nothing that needed talking about.”

Rose has to have a moment to take that in. Her boyfriend was already having sex with his rival. For some time. It doesn’t really bother her that Shane never said anything, because she’s not obligated to this information. But it surprises her nonetheless, so much so that she’s silent for several moments, looking between the two. 

Shane’s eyes have opened, and he pulls himself from Rozanov’s grip, sitting up on the side of the bed. He places his hands at the edge of it and leans forward, his head hanging. “It was over before I met you,” he says. “I’m sorry, Rose, I never thought— I thought nothing like this would ever—”

Rose stands, and makes her way over, bending down to him. She reaches up and cups Shane’s cheek, not making him look at her, but trying to comfort.

“Hey. Hey, Shane, it’s alright. You don’t need to apologise,” she says gently. He glances up at her, before looking down again. She slides her other hand into his hair. Rozanov still lays on the bed, now on his back. He looks almost bored. But she knows acting, and she can tell the expression on his face is intentional, that he’s masking something deeper. She just can’t read what it is that he’s hiding under it. She shifts her attention back to Shane. “You didn’t do anything wrong, babe.”

Shane shakes his head, and he looks near tears. Rose curses herself internally for making him feel like this. For not at least waiting until the morning. But how could she have left things where they were?

“I did, I…” Shane looks off to the side, avoiding her gaze. “I…”

She gives him a few more moments, but the words don’t come out. She wonders if this would be easier if Rozanov wasn’t here. 

“It’s okay,” Rose reassures Shane again, when it’s clear he’s not going to sort his words out. He looks relieved. “I think we all should still talk about it, but I’m not mad at you.”

Rozanov lets out a loud sigh, and Rose’s focus turns to him. He sits up, and looks at her. “There is nothing to talk about,” he says. “When we are in same city for game, sometimes we meet up, we fuck. No more to say. That is all it is.”

Rose gives him a harsh look, and he seems surprised by it. She shakes her head, hands protectively on Shane’s shoulders. 

“Bullshit that’s all it is,” Shane says before Rose can respond. 

Rozanov’s eyebrows raise. His mouth opens.

Rose quickly butts in. “Look. We’re all a mess. Let’s clean up, get into some comfier clothes, and take this conversation to the living room?” 

Rozanov starts to climb out of the bed. “I have early flight. I should get back to hotel room.”

Rose shakes her head again. After all this, and he thinks he can just leave? He’s got another thing coming. 

Rose lets go of Shane and stands again, getting in Ilya’s way. “You are not going back. You are staying here and having an adult conversation with the people you just had sex with. That might be hard for you, but you’re going to do it.”

Rozanov stares at her, his eyebrows raised again, challenging this time. She puts her hands on her hips, uncaring for her nudity, and holds the eye contact. She’s not going to be the one to break here.

And she’s right. After a solid minute of pointed staring, Rozanov lets out a loud, put-upon sigh. “Fine,” he says, moving to sit again. “I will stay. For an hour. I have early flight.”

Rose slowly nods, not wanting to push harder than that. Maybe she will, later. She doesn’t think a time limit on a conversation like this is the best idea. “Shane, do you want to go get cleaned up a bit?” Rose asks. He’s the one who probably most needs it. Shane nods, and starts to stand, and Rose offers a hand. “Do you need help?” She kind of wants to stay with Rozanov to make sure he doesn’t run out on them, but if Shane needs help, she’ll offer it. He’s her priority here.

But Shane shakes his head, not taking her hand and not looking at either of them. “No. Just… give me a minute.”

Shane disappears into the bathroom and Rose looks over at Rozanov with a pointed expression. He looks back at her with one, as well, the challenge strong. Neither capitulate, but eventually Rose speaks.

“I’m not going to let you hurt him,” she says, in a soft tone in case Shane can hear from the bathroom. 

Rozanov seems offended, his brows falling from high on his face to low. “You don’t know him, Rose Landry.” He says her name like a curse. “You met him, what, a month ago? I have known him for eight years.”

“And how many normal conversations have you had in those eight years?” she challenges back. “If it’s just sex, not even enough to have a conversation about now, how much do you really know him?”

Rozanov glares at her, opens his mouth, but then shuts it again. Rose tries not to feel like she’s won, because this isn’t her goal. She doesn’t want to defeat Rozanov. She wants him to talk to Shane, for the two of them to figure this out. She wants them to stop ignoring their feelings, to put an end to what’s clearly been years of lying to each other—and themselves—about this thing between them. 

Neither she nor Rozanov have said anything else when Shane emerges from the bathroom, glancing between them. 

“Your turn, Rozanov,” Rose says, and to his credit, he nods and heads to the bathroom, not stopping as he passes Shane. Rose stands, heading over to Shane’s dresser to find something for them to wear. She pulls out two pairs of sweatpants, boxers, and t-shirts. Then she goes over to her overnight bag, which she’d brought here previously, and finds her pajamas to change into. “Get dressed,” she tells Shane. “I’m gonna run and use your guest bath. I’ll just be a second.”

She takes her pajamas, and goes to the bathroom quickly, wiping herself off and washing her hands. She gets dressed and returns, and re-enters the bedroom just as Rozanov exits the en-suite. 

“Get dressed,” she tells him, as well.

“I came here in clothes,” he says, though he’s already picking up an athletic shirt to put on. It fits him well. 

“Yeah, club clothes. This is more comfortable.” Rose finds a hair tie to put her hair up into a loose bun. “Let’s go get some water.”

She waits for both men to be following her before she heads back down the stairs and to the kitchen, getting three glasses out and filling them with water. She hands one to Shane, who nods his thanks, and one to Rozanov, who looks at her skeptically. She rolls her eyes. 

“Drink,” she says. “And let’s sit. I have some questions.” Not necessarily just things she wants to know, but what she thinks is going to be useful to get them to actually talk. They make their way into the living room and she sits, patting the couch beside her for Shane. Rozanov sits across from him, not quite looking at either of them. “How long has this been going on?” 

Shane holds his cup in both hands and looks down at it. She doesn’t make him look up. He sighs. “Since our rookie season. So… around six years ago?”

Rozanov hums softly, and shakes his head. “No. Was summer before our rookie season, when we first hooked up. The ad we did together.” He’s set his glass down and put his arms up over the back of the couch, taking up space.

Shane is folded in on himself, and sighs again. “I know when it was. But it wasn’t ever… frequent.”

Rose is fascinated by them. She looks between them. “How often?” She’s curious for her own sake, but she also thinks saying it out loud will be good for them.

Shane bites his lip, but he always seems to do better with direct questions, and he answers after a few moments. “Slow, at first. Then, for the past few years… A couple times a season. Whenever we overlapped, pretty much. Until–”

Shane cuts himself off, looking to the side and taking a long drink of water. Rose lays a hand on his knee, gentle and reassuring. She looks at Rozanov, who is staring at Shane.

“Until you ran away,” Rozanov says when Shane doesn’t speak for a minute. He sounds a little upset, but like he’s trying to cover it up. He’s not doing a great job.

Rose waits for a moment before asking again. “You ended it?” she prompts Shane. “Why?”

Shane still looks to the side. “It…” he starts, and then pauses for another several moments. He shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter.”

Rozanov lets out a sound like a scoff. “Right. It was just sex. Nothing you needed to freak out over.”

“I didn’t freak out over nothing. Can you try not to be an asshole for one second?” Shane snaps, and he shoots a look across at Rozanov, somewhere between glaring and pleading. “It wasn’t nothing. And I am sorry I freaked out. But I freaked out because… because it was more than nothing. More than just sex.” This seems to put a pause on what Rozanov had been about to say, his mouth closing. Shane looks down again, takes a big sip of water. He sets his glass down. “It felt… different? And I just…”

Rose waits patiently, but he doesn’t continue, the words seeming stuck in his mouth. She squeezes his knee encouragingly. “Different how?” she asks. 

“Hollander,” Rozanov says, sounding once again sort of bored, or like he’s trying very hard to sound bored. “This is fine. We do not need to discuss it. We go back to normal. Nothing changes.”

“That’s the problem,” Shane says, and his hands are balling up into fists next to him. “That’s what I can’t do.” Shane looks up at Rozanov again, and his eyes are big and wet. “Maybe it’s just me, maybe I’m making it up, but I swore it felt… Like something.”

Rozanov stares back at him for several long moments. He sighs. He drops his head onto the back of the couch and groans. It all feels a bit immature. Rose is surprised by the way he’s behaving, after seeing how much care he’d put into taking care of Shane while they’d been fucking. 

“Rozanov,” Rose says pointedly. He lifts his head to look at her, eyebrows raised. “Stop acting like this.”

“Like what?” Rozanov asks, slightly petulantly.

“Like a child!” Rose can’t stop herself. She sees surprise in Rozanov’s face, quickly disguised. “I don’t care how allergic you are to talking about feelings, put that down for a moment and listen!”

Rozanov seems cowed, and she wonders if he’ll retaliate, if Rose has just made this conversation impossible. But he drops his gaze, and sighs again, and reaches out to grab his glass of water and take a long drink. 

Shane looks like he wants to say something, so Rose nudges him and nods encouragingly. Shane swallows, and looks to the side again as he speaks. 

“Last time was… it was nice. Wasn’t it?”

Rozanov slowly nods. “It was.”

“It made me think about, about… what if things were different?” Shane hesitates. “What if we could…”

“We can’t, Hollander,” Rozanov says, and this time there’s a sadness to his voice that breaks Rose’s heart a little bit. 

“I know that, I know, but if we could, if we could be something, would you want to?”

“We can’t!” Rozanov snaps, and this time it isn’t out of an inability to talk about his emotions, but Rose thinks he’s genuinely upset. This runs a lot deeper than she’d have ever guessed. “There is no use talking about it, because we can’t be anything! We can have what we have, and we can’t have more. Either be okay with it, or leave me for Rose Landry and we stop this.”

Ah. Rose sees how this is, now. Rose looks at Rozanov—at Ilya—and she can see right through him. He’s in love. He’s trying hard not to believe it, but what she’s done—what she’s pushed both of them to do—is eroding the walls of denial that he’s built up. She gets it now, why Rozanov has such animosity towards her. If she was in his situation, she’d be angry, too.

“Why can’t you have what you want?” Rose asks softly, after both of them just stare at each other for another minute. 

“We’re rivals,” Shane says, glancing over at her and deflating a little bit. “We could never be out, hockey isn’t like that, we just—”

“Because I am from Russia,” Rozanov interrupts, sounding resigned. “Hockey doesn’t matter. Rivals does not matter. If I get caught I will never be able to go home again. That is why.”

Shane watches him for a long moment. “What would happen if you did?”

“Nothing good,” Rozanov says sharply. “I don’t want to find out how bad it would be.”

“Oh,” Shane says softly. He lifts his hand, but then lets it drop again. “I’m sorry.” 

“It doesn’t matter,” Rozanov says with a shrug. His arms are by his sides now, more hunched in on himself. He looks like he needs a hug. 

“It does matter,” Rose says softly. “You’re allowed to be sad about it.”

Rozanov glances at her, and she sees tears in his eyes, threatening to fall. Her heart breaks a little bit. 

Shane swallows. He glances up at Rose, and then back to Rozanov, and then stands, walking to Rozanov. He sits next to him on the couch, close, and reaches out to take his hand. Rozanov avoids his gaze, this time, even when Shane leans forward and looks up, trying to make eye contact.

“I… I know we can’t be anything. Publicly,” he says quietly, just barely loud enough for Rose to hear. “I know it’s risky, but… I can’t keep pretending I don’t like you. When we’re alone.”

Rozanov lets Shane keep his hand, but turns his head to the side, hiding his face from both of them. Nonetheless, Rose catches a tear shining on his cheek. “You don’t like me,” he says. “You can’t. You barely know me.”

“I know you better than I know anyone else,” Shane counters. “And I do like you. More than I should.” Shane looks down at their hands, and rubs his thumb over Rozanov’s. “Is that… could that be enough?”

Rozanov finally looks at Shane, and the eye contact is so intense Rose can barely look at it. This feels like a moment she shouldn’t be here witnessing, but she can’t look away, and she can’t interrupt it by leaving. She doesn’t know where she fits into this. But she likes Shane, even without being in a relationship with him. She wants to do what she can to support him. She’ll be here for him, however she can.

Rozanov slowly nods, his eyes closed.

“Ilya,” Shane breathes, and he slides over and straddles Rozanov, pulling him into a hug. After a minute, he pulls back, and cups Rozanov’s cheeks, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. “Stay the night? I know you have to leave in the morning, just… stay?”

“Shane,” Rozanov says softly. “Yes. Okay.”

Shane and Rozanov hold each other for a while. They kiss gently, and then just hug. Rose keeps herself from moving too much, not wanting to do anything to disturb them. It seems like a moment they both really need. 

Eventually they do start to separate, and Rose shifts. Rozanov glances at her immediately, but Shane takes a moment before looking up at her. Rose can tell he’s tired. They’re all tired.

There’s more talking to do, but she knows Rozanov will be having an early morning and she doesn’t want to make his day tomorrow suck. She has an early call time, too, and she needs to look and feel rested. 

“I think it’s about time for bed,” she says, hating to break the silence but knowing someone has to. She feels a yawn brewing and lets it come out, her eyes squeezing shut for a second. 

Then she realises there’s three of them. She could be the bigger man and offer to take one of the guest beds, but… she doesn’t really want to. She knows if Rozanov weren’t here, she’d be sleeping next to Shane tonight, regardless of how sex between just the two of them might have gone. But she figures Shane should be the one to choose. It’s his place, after all.

Shane must be thinking about the same thing, because he looks up at her and tentatively asks; “Is it alright if Ilya sleeps with us?”

Rose smiles softly. “Of course.”

Shane nods, and smiles back, but then turns to Rozanov with a slightly more nervous expression. “You don’t mind if Rose joins us?” 

Rozanov glances at Rose, and then looks back to Shane. “No, that is fine. As long as she is not between us.” It’s a bit of a quip, a joke, and she sees the way it soothes Shane, pushes the nervousness right out of him. Shane was right. Rozanov really does know him, more than he even seems to think he does.

Rose stands first, the other two following her after a moment. Shane automatically picks up their cups and brings them to the kitchen, leaving them in the sink. In the brief moment alone, Rose and Rozanov regard each other. Rose can’t read much from Rozanov’s face, but she hopes hers says what she wants it to: that she’s proud of him for having that conversation, and that he better not regress back to emotional unavailability after this.

Shane returns and stands between them, seemingly unsure what to do. Rose reaches forward and takes his hand, and after a moment he holds his other hand out for Rozanov to take. Rozanov blinks, and then takes it, and Rose starts to lead the three of them back up the stairs.

She doesn’t know where she’s going to stand with Shane after this. It’s clear that he’s in love with Rozanov—far more than he’s had the opportunity to fall in love with her, if he even has. And she’s not interested in being a second choice. But perhaps… Despite only having known Shane for a month, she feels they’d really clicked. Not with the sex, but as people—and isn’t that more important, in a lot of ways? And it doesn’t feel like a normal friendship to her, either. Like he said about him and Rozanov—it feels more serious, deeper than that. She doesn’t think she’d be unhappy about being with Shane even if sex isn’t an active part of it. Perhaps, even if she has to share him with Rozanov? 

But that’s a topic she has to think about and a conversation for another day. The three of them take turns in the bathroom again. While Rozanov is having his turn, she hugs Shane tight and feels some of the tension leak back out of him. 

“I’m proud of you,” she says softly. “I know that was a lot. But I’m really proud of you for talking to him.” 

Rose rubs Shane’s back lightly, and he pulls her in close, though not squeezing too tight. He doesn’t say anything, and neither does she, just holding him until Rozanov returns and Shane goes off to use the bathroom.

Rose looks up at him, softer than the glare she’d aimed at him before. She’d always thought of him as an asshole, a womanizer, and while she still thinks that side of him is real, she’s seen another one tonight. An important one, a side that she’s glad is there.

“Thank you,” she says gently. He seems surprised by this. Rose reaches out and takes one of his hands, squeezing it once before letting go. “We’ll sort this out, I know we can. There’s a way we all come out on top, here.”

Rozanov seems skeptical, not quite looking at her straight on. But he nods. “If you say so.” He seems to have settled back into discomfort, that mask coming back up, but she doesn’t try and push him out of it. Not tonight.

Rose takes her turn in the bathroom last, a little worried about what might happen when she’s gone. She knows that Shane and Rozanov are both able to handle themselves, but she can’t help but rush a little to get back quickly. 

When she’s done and emerges from the bedroom, her heart melts a little. They’re both already laying under the covers, cuddled up close to each other and kissing softly. They stop after a moment, Rozanov’s eyes landing on her, and Shane’s head falling onto Rozanov’s chest. She smiles softly, approaching the bed and climbing onto the opposite side to Rozanov. 

The bed is big enough for the three of them, especially as Rose leans in to steal a kiss from Shane. She lets it linger for only a moment before laying back against the other pillow. She lets them stay snuggled up, but reaches over to take one of Shane’s hands in her own. He squeezes it, and she squeezes back, and there’s some shifting as the three of them get comfortable. Rose closes her eyes and drifts off to sleep in a matter of minutes, tired from the long day.

When she wakes up, her alarm beeping softly from her watch, the other two are still out cold. She’s got an arm draped around Shane and his hair is in her face. 

And on the other side, Rozanov is wrapped around Shane, a leg thrown over him, mouth open and making soft noises. It’s almost unbearably cute. 

Shane doesn’t have anywhere to be, she knows, until practice in the afternoon. But Rozanov probably has to get going for his flight. She doesn’t want to bother him. But she knows he’ll be in deep shit if he isn’t back at his hotel in time for the pickup to the airport, so she reaches over and lays a gentle hand on his bicep, and squeezes.

This wakes him up, and he slowly blinks, eyes focusing in on Rose. She smiles softly, hoping they can get ready to go without waking Shane, though she doesn’t want him to wake up alone.

Rozanov leans over to his phone on the bedside table, and when he sees the time, he immediately sits up, muttering something under his breath. Hopefully he doesn’t regret their late night too much. 

The two of them quietly get up and get dressed, Rozanov in the clothes he’d worn to the club, and Rose into a t-shirt and pair of sweats she’d left at Shane’s the other night. She’d known they’d go clubbing at some point and she’d end up at his in only a dress, and would need something to wear the next day. Rozanov didn’t have that luxury.

“I’ll call a cab after you leave,” Rose tells him in a hushed tone. “If you want to get yours first.” They shouldn’t be seen leaving at the same time, even by the drivers of their respective vehicles.

Shane gradually wakes when they’re nearly ready, and Rozanov has already called a car. Rose notices first and smiles, sitting back down on the bed. 

“Hey,” Shane says quietly. He looked between her and Rozanov, blinking slowly. 

“Hey,” she says with a smile. “We have to get back to our hotels.”

Shane nods.

Rozanov looks at Shane intensely for a moment. “My cab is already on way,” he says, a frown on his face.

“Right,” Shane says. “I won’t see you for a while.” He stares back up at Rozanov with a sad expression. Rose lets them have a moment.

“I know,” Rozanov says. He reaches down and strokes Shane’s cheek. Shane leans into it and closes his eyes. “We will text.”

“We’ll text,” Shane repeats, sighing softly. 

Rozanov bends down and presses a kiss to his lips, and Shane leans into it. Rose can’t help but think about how much more passion there is in this early-morning kiss than any she’s shared with Shane, but instead of feeling sad about it, she’s just glad Shane has this. 

Rozanov eventually pulls away, whispering something with his mouth still close to Shane’s lips, and Shane’s face brightens with a smile.

“You’re such an asshole,” Shane says, in the fondest voice Rose has ever heard in her life.

Rozanov smirks back, getting up with one last caress of Shane’s cheek. “I will see you at the All-Star Game.”

Shane softens. “I’ll see you then.”

Rozanov looks at Rose as he leaves the bedroom. He gives her a short nod, one that Rose interprets as a thank you, before he leaves. 

Rose makes her way back across to the bed. Shane looks up at her.

“So, uh…” he starts to say, and then stops. She sees him swallow. “That was…”

Rose nods and smiles softly. “A lot, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Shane says, letting out a breath.

“I do really need to get going, my pickup’s super soon.” She’s not sure she’ll get back to her hotel in time to get ready, but they can wait for her if she really needs them to. “Let’s do dinner this week and talk about everything, okay?”

“Yeah,” Shane says again, and he nods. He sits up slowly. “Thank you. For everything.”

“I’m here for you, Shane. No matter what.” Although they’ve only known each other for a few weeks, she can feel that her relationship with Shane will last, whether it’s romantic or sexual or neither or something else entirely. She leans over to kiss him, just a peck on the lips, before standing. They’ll figure this out, she’s sure of it.

Chapter End Notes

Thank you for reading! Updates to this will probably be slow but I'm hoping for at LEAST 2 more chapters. We'll see. Thank you for sticking with me!