going off script

INT. FILM STUDIO - HAIR & MAKE UP - MORNING

When Ilya agreed to this a year ago, he had actually been excited about it. It's exceedingly rare for him to book some kind of publicity and look forward to it, but this opportunity had kind of fallen into his lap… while a few drinks in at a bar after Boston played in Toronto.

She told him she was a casting director and he didn't know what that meant but something about how she couldn't focus on kissing him on the dance floor and pulled away to ask if he's ever considered acting reminded him of… someone. She wanted him, that was clear, but she more passionately wanted to do her job well.

Eventually she gave up dancing with him and gestured to a booth where she sobered up a little and told him about an action film she was working on and that she has been trying to scout out a star athlete to come in for a scene or two. Ilya Rozanov would be the perfect fit.

And Ilya had been charmed and fascinated and a little childishly excited to be on a film set, so he said yes and gave her his email.

But that was a year ago.

Now it's December 2016. Rose Landry's name is on the call sheet and Ilya wants to crawl into a hole and die.

It could've been anyone else, anyone else. If it was any other random movie star, he'd be able to read off some lines, do what they tell him, have a little fun with it, and leave. But it's not anyone else. Shane Hollander's girlfriend is his 'scene partner' as they keep calling it today.

He knows this is partially his fault for not reading the earlier emails all the way through but he hadn't had any reason to until a few weeks ago. Even if her name was mentioned earlier, he wouldn't have had a reason to drop out back then.

He sits in the makeup chair and scrolls through his contacts, slowing down as he reaches the Js.

Some soft corner of his heart that survived the walls he's been trying to put up is telling him to talk to Shane about this. It's the same part of him that said stay and are you hungry.

He locks his phone and shoves it back into his pocket.

What does it even matter? If Shane cares about his movie-star girlfriend faux flirting with guys on film sets, that's his responsibility to talk to her about it. Ilya has nothing to do with this.

INT. FILM STUDIO - SOUND STAGE / BEHIND CAMERAS - MORNING

They set Ilya loose to watch the scene before his be filmed as if he's a child on a field trip, but secretly he's so glad for it. It's fascinating and helpful to understand the flow of it all. He's shot commercials and this isn't too different from that in practice, but the energy in the room is something else entirely. There's a focus and a level of care that he never witnessed while shooting commercials.

And despite how he feels about her, Rose Landry is a star.

She nails all her lines, performs her fight choreo like she could do it in her sleep, and remains focused and professional between takes.

Ilya notices all of this because he's desperate to spot any of her flaws to validate his hatred of her. He comes up blank and it leaves him feeling numb.

INT. FILM STUDIO - SOUND STAGE / CORNER - MORNING

There's a long break as they set up for the next scene and Ilya's about to retreat to the snack table when he sees Rose Landry's eyes lock onto him from across the room. She smiles welcomingly as she walks over.

She doesn't know.

Why would she? Shane would never tell her.

Something dark inside him reminds him that he could lash out, he could ruin Shane with one conversation. But he knows he won't.

"Rozanov," Rose folds her arms across her chest confrontationally.

Ilya, as he manages to stop staring at her skin and wondering where Shane has touched her and how recently, can recognize that she's faux angry at him the way fans of other teams are. Ilya tries his best to be the asshole everyone expects him to be. "Landry."

"I'm willing to put aside my loyalty to the Metros for the next few hours to make a cool movie. Deal?"

Ilya loves to feign ignorance. "You are not Canadian, why are you loyal to the Metros?"

Rose blinks. "Oh. Do hockey players not gossip much? I'm dating your rival. Shane Hollander."

Your rival.

Rose has no idea the knife she's slid into Ilya's chest by using a possessive pronoun. Your rival. Yours.

Ilya makes a face. "Oh, sorry about that. You can always trade-in for an upgrade."

Rose narrows her eyes at him. "Are you for real?"

The slang doesn't totally compute for a second. "I'm… real, yes?"

Rose hesitates, a little disarmed by the reminder of a language gap. "No, I mean are you seriously hitting on me?"

Any other girl, Ilya would say yes. But he doesn't want this getting back to Shane. Hurting her would hurt Shane and even now he can't do that. "Ah, no. I am not for real. Just making jokes."

Rose raises an eyebrow at him. "I can see why you're testing out acting. Thinking of making this your career after hockey?"

And nope, that had not remotely crossed Ilya's mind before but it's actually not a terrible idea. Depending on how well today goes, "Maybe."

Rose studies him in a way that makes Ilya squirm. "You know, Shane tried to brace me for working with you today and so far you're much quieter than he led me to believe."

This conversation was made in a lab to drag Ilya further into his depression. "Really," he says dryly. "What did golden boy of hockey have to say about me?"

Rose snorts. "That you'd talk shit about him if I mentioned him so I shouldn't. That you're always being abrasive to the press, but when the cameras are off you're not so bad."

Ilya chooses the safest thing in that to respond to. "Well, the cameras are off."

"They are," Rose smiles at him.

Before she can say anything else, the question eating at Ilya finally leaps out of him. "Did Hollander see the script?"

Rose laughs. "Yes, we talked about it."

It's Ilya's turn to study her. "He's okay with it?"

Rose sees something in his eyes that she shouldn't.

Ilya shouldn't have asked but he had to.

Rose nods slowly. "It's my job. He understands."

There's a terrible moment of silence between them while Ilya knows he's failing to hide some of his emotions but he's able to eventually get it under control and lock them away. "Hm, okay. Don't need him to be dropping gloves at the next game. He'd hurt his weak hands on my strong jaw."

"You're not worried about him fighting you." Rose says without an ounce of doubt. There's a question there though. Why did Ilya ask if Shane's okay with it if he wasn't worried about fighting?

Ilya curses in Russian under his breath and hard pivots. "Everything is always about Hollander. He's not even here. Maybe today can be about me and how hot I am as an undercover spy."

Rose stares a moment longer, way too perceptive about the fact that Ilya is uncomfortable about something, but allows the subject to change. "Do you want to do a quick read through before they call us over?"

Some of Ilya's bravado fades again because he's never really had lines before and he doesn't want to make a fool of himself once the cameras roll so he bites back his pride and nods. "Okay."

INT. FILM STUDIO - SOUND STAGE / DIVE BAR - MORNING

The film is one of those action movies that doesn't make sense if you think about it too hard, but it's fun. Ilya is playing himself, but a version of himself that had been tapped by a spy agency to help smuggle stuff between cities while he travels for games.

He'd even gotten them to add a couple lines joking that him being Russian made him a worse spy because he hates that American film stereotype and the crew seemed delighted to add it so he felt a little smug about that.

The scene he shares with Rose is set at a dive bar after a game, not dissimilar to the place and time where he met the casting director. They built an entire fake bar into the studio and Ilya amuses himself by looking at how detailed all the props are.

They roll cameras as they run through the scene, probably because Ilya is an unknown quantity and they want as much coverage as possible just in case anything goes wrong.

Ilya watches all the actors, even the background actors, come to life and suddenly it's hard to remember this is a set and not a real bar.

He leans against the bar and taps it to order a drink but before he can, Rose – or now that they're filming, Sarah – sidles up to him.

"Ilya Rozanov?"

And Ilya's done this a thousand times so it's easy as breathing. He lets his eyes slide to hers before looking her up and down.

There's an undercurrent of that's Shane's girlfriend running on loop in the back of his mind but he tries to ignore it. She's Sarah right now. Sarah.

"Stanley cup champion, Captain Ilya Rozanov, yes." He would love to pretend he's never hit on a fan like this when he knows he's been recognized but that would be a lie.

Sarah steps in close and Ilya opens his body to her, letting her hand slide onto his chest as her lips press to the shell of his ear, "SIBA sent me, act natural."

This part bothers Ilya because he's supposed to act natural but the cameras need him to react to that information so he decidedly does not act natural and raises his eyebrows for a moment before going back to pretending to flirt with her.

He slides his arms around her and wonders if Shane has–

"I made the drop off yesterday," Ilya says, kissing her neck. "It's done. What do they need from me?"

"A cover." Sarah pulls back, hand on Ilya's face. "I need a place to lie low tonight. Maybe a ride on a private jet with your team tomorrow?"

Ilya scoffs. "This is the most complicated play I've seen from a puck bunny."

Sarah rolls her eyes, pulling away to open her purse. The audience would know at this point that it's all the same gear Ilya's character keeps and acts as verification of who she is for him.

Ilya hums pulling her in close by her hips. "Question," he says, as he's spotted by his teammates across the room, winking at them.

Sarah goes along with it. "Shoot."

Ilya lifts her chin with his finger and looks directly into her eyes. "Does the cover need to be totally fake or can we have fun with it?"

With an absolutely dangerous smile, Sarah says, "We can have fun with it." And kisses him.

"CUT!"

Ilya pulls away from her immediately.

Rose reappears suddenly, shaking off Sarah, eyes bright with excitement as she playfully punches Ilya's chest. "Oh my god, you're so good?"

Ilya looks at her like she's crazy. "At kissing?"

"At acting! That was so fun!"

Ilya doesn't understand at all, but he's relieved that he pulled this off at least.

The entire room seems energized in a different way and Ilya realizes that Rose must've been telling the truth. Everyone's excited that he was the right person for this role after all.

The director comes over and gives them both some notes that Ilya tries his best to interpret.

The note he's most focused on is, "More heat this time, guys!"

Something about the way Rose shifted into and out of the scene makes this easier.

Like she said earlier, this is her job. She's being professional and not taking any of this personally.

Ilya's the one thinking about where Shane's lips have touched her and if touching her there can bring him closer to Shane.

They run the scene again and Ilya does as he was asked, he turns up the heat.

Rose meets him there. At one point, she even runs her fingers through his hair and tugs and he's mortally embarrassed by the fact that the mics pick up him moaning in response to it before pulling away from her and effectively ending the scene. Rose immediately breaks character and laughs in his face about it.

The directors eventually save Ilya from what feels more and more like purgatory by declaring the scene wrapped, but they still have one more scene to do in the hotel room and Ilya already knows what the director is going to say about the heat level.

They break for lunch and Rose attaches herself to Ilya's side. "Join me for lunch so we can talk after making out with each other in front of a room full of people 16 times?"

Ilya wants to say no. The smart thing to do here is to say no and protect himself from the jagged pain of knowing that who he lost Shane to is actually a really good person who is worthy of him in a way Ilya isn't.

But Ilya's always been a masochist.

EXT. FILM STUDIO - COMMISSARY - NOON

"It's more fun than I expected." Sitting at a table outside of the commissary, Ilya feels a little more normal than when he was on set with Rose Landry and he's talking with his mouth full. He makes a face, "Reading the lines, not–" He gestures between them.

Rose snorts, "You act like it's such a chore to touch me. If I didn't know your reputation, I would be wondering what that meant."

Ilya's eyes snap to her, a sharpness in them that he forces himself to relax. "It's nothing to do with you being a woman." He glances around the room for a moment and thinks no one is close enough to eavesdrop. "You are taken, but you're hot. Difficult to walk that line when I am being asked to pull your body against mine."

"You moaned," Rose teases with a laugh.

Ilya ducks his head waving that off as much as he possibly can. "Method acting. It's nothing."

"Right, because you're such an experienced actor and didn't tell me this morning that you've never seen a script before last week when this got emailed to you."

Rose's phone keeps buzzing and she types back responses with a mischievous look on her face.

Ilya knows he's paranoid but he's also not an idiot. It has to be Shane.

The urge to snatch the phone out of her hands is building in him like a tidal wave.

If he can just catch a glimpse of those little dots, if he can just see physical evidence of Shane typing, would that settle something within him?

But they're talking about him, right? They have to be talking about him.

Rose looks up at Ilya and catches him staring at her phone.

He looks away immediately, but knows it's unconvincing.

"He wants to call, if that's okay." Rose's voice is oddly neutral as she asks.

"Who?" Ilya asks pointlessly.

Rose shoots him a look. "William Shakespeare."

Ilya huffs out a laugh against his will. "You can call whoever you want."

Rose studies him again and Ilya is getting sick of this.

He shouldn't have had lunch with her.

Rose finally says, "I want to put him on speaker."

Ilya stops himself before saying, he would not want that.

Ilya's not supposed to know what Shane wants, but he does know. Intimately.

Instead, he says, "We don't talk, me and Hollander. Not more than chirping on the ice."

A hint of confusion enters Rose's eyes. "He said you shoot promos together sometimes."

Ilya realizes that he needs to be careful with what he says. If his lies don't match Shane's, this will implode. "Sure, but we don't talk, um, regular."

"Regularly." Rose fills in for him. "I think prepping to film a sex scene with his girlfriend is maybe a special circumstance and you should talk."

Ilya rolls his eyes. "It's not a sex scene. Little bit of dialog and flirting, then I take off my shirt and cameras cut."

Rose laughs. "Yeah, in a bed while I'm only wearing a bra."

Ilya counters, "There's no touching in the script."

Rose raises an eyebrow at him. "We had chemistry today and I guarantee you the directors are going to ask us to add some touching."

Ilya frowns. Great, purgatory part two.

Rose doesn't ask this time. "I'm gonna call him."

Ilya can't figure out how to say no to that. "Fine."

The phone is on speaker and gets answered after one ring, "Hey, Rose."

The floor drops out from under Ilya.

This is stupid.

All of this is so fucking stupid. He's seen Shane at games since that day in Boston, heard him doing press. But this is… this is different.

Rose's eyes are on Ilya and he doesn't want to even imagine what she sees. "Hey, Shane. You'll never guess who I'm having lunch with."

Shane has never caught a hint in his life, "You already told me over text. You're still with him?"

Rose slides the phone into the middle of the table.

Ilya hesitantly says, "Hollander."

Shane says nothing.

Ilya should leave. He should reach over and hang up the phone. He should do anything but what he's doing, but the phone line is open and Shane's on the other side and he might say something.

"Rozanov, you're not being a dick to her, are you?"

Ilya sighs, grabbing desperately onto the practiced teasing lilt in Shane's voice. They're pretending nothing happened. Chirping. He can do that. "No, Hollander. I am being a perfect fucking gentleman to your girlfriend who is way cooler than you and out of your league."

Rose chokes back a laugh. "He's shockingly civil when you two aren't trying to kill each other for possession of a hockey puck. Maybe you're the problem, Shane."

It should be funny but as they left things, it hurts.

There's another increasingly awkward pause before Shane, voice oddly serious, says, "Yeah, maybe I was."

Ilya stops breathing.

This is fucked. They can't be doing this.

Rose can't take it anymore. "Okay, why is this so weird? Do you two actually hate each other and you're trying to be nice for my sake? Or is this because of the sex scene."

Shane squawks, "Sex scene?"

"It's not a sex scene!" Ilya defends himself, "It's just a bed."

Rose explains it again to Shane, "The next scene we're shooting we're supposed to be in a hotel bed. I showed you the script. There weren't plans for anything physical but everyone said we have great on screen chemistry so I told Ilya they're probably gonna ask us to be more touchy for it."

Ilya can't imagine what Shane is feeling about that. A hotel bed. Chemistry.

Shane's voice is neutral as he says, "You have chemistry with Ilya Rozanov."

It's not a question.

He sounds kind of pissed.

In any other scenario, Ilya would laugh.

Rose tries to joke away the tension, "Aren't you two playing on the same team at All-Stars next month? You can borrow some of our chemistry to cancel out the rivalry."

Ilya's laughter surprises even him. It bursts out of him uncontrollably.

The idea that he and Shane need help with their chemistry is so fucking laughable, even this terrible situation, even Rose calling him by his first name in front of Shane, can't keep him from laughing about it.

Ilya doesn't say to Rose, You will have more chemistry with Shane when he tastes my spit on your lips later.

Before the conversation can spiral even further, a PA approaches them to let them know they're due for hair and makeup touch-ups before filming starts again.

Ilya's poor impulse control forces him to say, "Have fun imagining me having fake sex with your girlfriend." And he realizes it's a crazy thing to say, but he said it because he knows Shane will know he's joking.

"Fuck you, Rozanov." Shane says with tense laughter.

"I'll talk to you later, Shane." Rose says cutely.

"Bye, Hollander."

"Good luck, babe. Um, Rose. Bye." Shane ends the call.

Ilya laughs again. "He is awkward."

Rose stares at Ilya. "You don't talk with him."

Ilya stands up shrugging. "No, not really."

They walk together. "Seems like you do," Rose says suspiciously.

Ilya holds up his hands defensively. "All hockey guys have like six concussions. We understand each other."

"Not Shane," Rose says carefully. "He's not like a lot of the other guys."

They make it to a fork in the road, both literally and conversationally. "See you in bed, Rose Landry." And he ducks into hair and makeup before he can say something he shouldn't.

INT. FILM STUDIO - SOUND STAGE - AFTERNOON

Ilya's torso is covered in bruises from this week's games and he almost expects the makeup team to want to cover them up but after a quick consult with the creative team, they decide to emphasize them which Ilya finds hilarious.

As Rose predicted, they change the blocking of the scene so that it starts with Rose– Sarah – taking Ilya's shirt off and getting in bed. The dialog stays the same but it's interspersed with kisses, half the scene spent with Rose Landry straddling him with her top off.

They cut at one point, while she's straddling him, and she doesn't even move to get off of him. Just listens to the direction, completely comfortable with the proximity.

It's when she's on him like that but shakes off the character that Ilya panics about it again. He realizes he hasn't even been thinking of her as particularly attractive. She is, absolutely no doubt of that, but if this was any other woman he would probably be thinking of following her back to her actual hotel room after shooting ended.

He realizes that the closer he gets to her, the more he can only think about Shane. It doesn't satisfy anything in him to grip her thighs when his hands want to be digging into firmer muscle. His hand tangles in her hair and he wishes it were shorter. She's too blonde, too thin, and her skin is too perfect. Completely unblemished and painted into a blank canvas by the makeup team. No freckles in sight.

He does his best to swallow it all back and comes to the conclusion that Rose reminds him a lot of Svetlana. She's gorgeous and it's far from a chore to be intimate with her, but he doesn't want her the way he knows he should.

The director tells them to reset and Ilya lets himself have fun, manhandling Rose onto her back with a laugh as he gets back into position over her, her legs wrapped around him.

Rose looks at him and for a moment, Ilya can't see the cameras.

He just sees Rose, the woman he's talked with all day, her hair messy against a pillow and her lips a little swollen from kissing. In another world, they're actually hooking up.

Rose boops his nose with her finger. "You're fun."

Ilya laughs softly. "Yes, that's what they tell me."

The director calls action and her eyes change, back to Sarah.

She digs her fingers into his hair and kisses him, hot and heavy. And all Ilya can think about is making sure he doesn't forget his lines.

INT. FILM STUDIO - SOUND STAGE / BEHIND CAMERAS - AFTERNOON

They call a wrap on Ilya and he's weirdly flustered by the cheers he gets from the entire cast and crew. A couple of them even approach him to thank him for his focus and hope that they'll get to work with him again one day.

There's one person waiting for the others to leave him alone before approaching and Ilya feels a lot of conflicting feelings about saying goodbye to Rose Landry.

Luckily, Rose's forwardness helps navigate through most of them. "Can I completely platonically give you my number?"

Ilya keeps his voice dry and sarcastic, "Yes, you will need a rebound when things don't work out with Hollander."

She punches his arm lightly, but she's smirking. "If anyone else said that I'd kill them."

"But I'm fun," Ilya quotes her.

"Unfortunately, yeah." Rose laughs as Ilya hands her his phone and she types in her number. She calls herself so she has his number as well. Then the phone buzzes in her hands and she looks up at him, one eyebrow raised. "You talk a big game for someone who's taken."

Ilya can't even begin to understand what she means by that.

Rose hands his phone back and Ilya sees the text.

Jane: Can we talk?

Rose winces. "Not a good sign though. A 'can we talk' text. Is it serious or casual?"

Ilya can't take his eyes off the screen and answers her honestly. "We're not together."

Rose's attitude changes. "Oh, so maybe a good thing then. Maybe a talk to get more serious."

Ilya's brain whites out listening to Rose try to give him advice for how to steal her own boyfriend.

"I don't think it's that." He tears his eyes away from the phone screen and looks back at Rose Landry.

Rose is looking back at him, curiosity swirling behind her eyes. "When do you fly out?"

"Tomorrow night." Ilya doesn't know why he keeps answering her questions but he does.

Rose nods. "We're doing night shoots tomorrow. Wanna grab breakfast before you leave?"

Ilya has to tease to keep this feeling remotely normal. "You're asking me on a date? I shouldn't have assumed, maybe you're open."

Rose rolls her eyes but she's figured out Ilya's humor by now. "We're closed, but I feel responsible for your budding acting career and we should celebrate. Maybe I can even give you some tips on how to build up to better roles. Book some films in the off season."

Ilya realizes she's serious.

She's offering to mentor him. If it was anyone else, he would say yes. He had fun today and apparently he's good at this, or at least okay. He could get better at this. It feels like an escape hatch, if the worst should happen. Maybe he can fall back on this.

He tries not to think of Shane, of the text on his phone burning in his hand. "Breakfast, but kissing is off the table. I know it is hard to resist but you have to try."

Rose snorts, "And how about hugging?"

Ilya's so caught of guard he actually can't think of how to respond to that.

Rose laughs, gesturing at his phone. "Whatever leash she's got you on, you're well trained. I'll give her that."

Ilya has to get the fuck out of here. "Good bye, Rose Landry."

Rose lowers her voice, "Good bye, Ilya Rozanov."

He flicks her off as he leaves the set and looks back to see her doing it back, but taking a photo

INT. ILYA'S HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

Ilya thought about sending a text, but the longer he thought about it contrasted with hearing Shane's voice at lunch today, the more he hesitates.

So he's sprawled on the chaise lounge in his hotel room when he opens his texts with Jane and hits the call button.

"Hey."

Ilya has to laugh. Yeah, what else was Shane going to say. "Your girlfriend is a good kisser."

Shane sighs. "You're such a fucking asshole. We don't have to do this. We can just talk about this without you being a dick."

"My dick is one of my best qualities. You used to think so." Ilya's lashing out but he can't bring himself to care.

He met Rose Landry today and she's wonderful and she's probably going to marry Shane Hollander and this is over. So what's the point?

"I'm sorry."

Now that, Ilya was not expecting at all. "You're sorry?" There's still some ire in his voice.

"Yeah," Shane sounds so defeated. "The way things happened… that could've gone differently."

Ilya wants to snarl. "Yes. It could have. But you have a super hot girlfriend now who I spent all day in bed with."

Shane's not even fazed. "She told me you were good about it. That you never touched her outside of the choreographed instructions. That every time you even pretended to hit on her it was so obviously a joke. So you don't get to act like you had an affair with her when I know she had fun with you today. And she's giving you acting lessons tomorrow?"

Ilya wants to keep being mean, but Rose spent all day knowing he didn't mean it and it seems like Shane's unbothered as well. If he can't hide behind his reputation as an asshole, what's left? "Okay, great. I'm friends with your girlfriend now. Why do we need to talk about it? We don't talk anymore, right? No big deal."

"What if we did?"

Ilya's hand that's not holding the phone to his ear covers his face. "Hollander, why the fuck would we do that?"

There's an innocence to Shane's voice that Ilya wishes he could bottle. "Is it so impossible for us to be friends?"

Ilya's eyes are closed, trying to imagine what Shane's face would look like right now. "You don't want to be friends."

"Fuck you. Yes, I do."

"Hollander…" Ilya says, exhaustion in his voice.

"Rozanov." Shane says it confrontationaly. "Look, I'll say it again, okay? I'm sorry. I freaked out and I left and we never talked about it. I thought it was better if I just left it and moved on…"

He stops talking but it doesn't sound like that was the end of his sentence.

Ilya prods him. "So leave it and move on."

"I can't. Talking to you at lunch today…"

Ilya can't do this. "You have a fucking girlfriend, Hollander. And if you hurt her, I'm pulling some illegal checks at our next game."

Shane laughs, can't help himself. "You're threatening to beat me up in defense of my girlfriend if I leave her for you?"

When it's said like that, Ilya realizes it's insane.

Shane keeps talking, "That's not what I mean, though. We can be friends. We both… we have a lot in common. We kept saying the hookups needed to stop eventually and now they have so why can't we just be friends?"

Ilya wants to say, I can't be your friend. I'm in love with you.

But Shane means it. Somehow, despite everything, Shane legitimately wants Ilya back in his life even if it's without sex.

It would tear Ilya apart, to be so close yet so far.

But Ilya's always been a masochist. "What would you even tell her? About how we started talking?"

"I don't know," Shane sounds like he's pacing. How the fuck does Ilya know what that sounds like. "Maybe you can ask her for my number tomorrow? Or… no that's stupid. We can say we talked about her at All-Stars in a couple weeks?"

Ilya thinks about what Rose said at lunch, the way she quietly implied that Ilya was gay and seemed amused but not offended. "You could just tell her the truth."

Shane's affronted gasp makes Ilya smile to himself. "No fucking way."

"You could! I was being so good about touching her on set that she tried to ask me if I was gay at lunch."

Shane chokes out a laugh. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," and suddenly he's laughing with Shane again.

Like two magnets snapped back into place.

This is dangerous. It helps to think of Rose. It helps to focus on doing this in a way that won't hurt her. He's only known her for a couple of hours but already feels deeply protective of her. He wasn't really joking when he said that to Shane earlier.

The laughter dies down and Shane asks, "Have you, um, told anybody? Not about us, I mean. About… you."

Ilya nods. "Svetlana knows, she knew before me though I think. And Sasha, I told you, my coach's son."

"Right. But no one… not like Marlow or anyone."

"No, I haven't told any fucking hockey players except for you."

Shane's quiet a moment. "I haven't… No one knows. Only you."

Ilya could've guessed that, but it's different to hear Shane say it.

No one else.

Ilya is the only person on the entire planet that knows this side of Shane Hollander.

Ilya doesn't know what to say. He can't hold this fragile truth without breaking it, so he has to change the topic at least a little. He has to not make this about them. "I can tell Rose tomorrow that I'm bi. Let you know how she reacts. Maybe even joke about how hot you are."

He wishes he could see the blush on Shane's face.

Shane swallows. "Bisexual?"

"Yes. I thought that was obvious."

Shane laughs bitterly, "Not as obvious as you'd think."

"What, you thought you were some special exception?"

Shane lashes out with honesty, "It felt like that sometimes. Like you got off on corrupting me. And you're always grabbing my chest."

"You do the same to me."

"I copied you because I figured you liked it and it seems like you do."

Ilya sighs, long and hard. "We can't talk like this if we're supposed to be friends."

Shane agrees, "Right. Would you really, um, tell her? That you're…"

Ilya laughs. "Yes, I wasn't kidding. She's very cool and out of your league. I trust her to keep it quiet if I tell her. Then we will eat brunch and rank all the hottest men in the league."

Shane laughs too. "Where do I rank?"

"Tsk, asking your friend to flirt with you is work place harassment, Hollander. I'm number one, of course. Rose will agree. Then maybe Scott Hunter."

"You're such an asshole," but Shane's smiling, Ilya can hear it.

A tear makes its way out of Ilya's eye, falling down his cheek.

This hurts.

Having Shane like this but not how he wants him.

Friends.

There's no way he can be friends with Shane Hollander.

"I should go." Ilya says abruptly. "Need my beauty sleep so I can go on a date with your girlfriend."

Shane sighs, accepting that this is a bit Ilya will never let go of. "Tell her I miss her," Shane jokes.

"Gay," Ilya says, smirk on his lips.

"Fuck off."

"Night, Hollander."

"Good night, Il– Rozanov."

The call ends but Ilya heard him slip.

A pit opens up in his stomach. He can survive this. If this is the only way he can have Shane, he has to find a way to survive this.

INT. ROSE'S HOTEL ROOM - MORNING

Ilya knocks on Rose's door and she opens it with a flourish, gesturing to an insane amount of room service. "Good morning."

Ilya raises an eyebrow at her. "If I thought you'd invite me to your hotel room, I would've asked last night."

Rose glares at him. "I've got a busy schedule, I knew they booked us both here, and I don't really want to be gaped at by strangers if we went somewhere public. It's bad enough that people recognize me, your fans are a whole different demographic. The chances of being recognized would skyrocket."

It's a fair point and not one that Ilya considered at all.

Because Ilya has no self control and a penchant for self-sabotaging, he asks, "Does your boyfriend know I'm here?"

Rose opens the camera on her phone and spins, leaning back against Ilya as she snaps a selfie. She walks over to the food, typing. "Now he does!"

Ilya has no idea how to feel about that.

Shane's girlfriend is sending selfies of them to him.

Rose pockets her phone and looks up at Ilya suspiciously. "You ask about him a lot."

Ilya makes a face. "Yes, because this is strange. To be friends with you and you just happen to be, what did you call it, my rival's girlfriend."

"So we're friends?" Rose latches onto it.

"If breakfast goes well." Ilya says neutrally. "This is an audition."

Rose throws a roll at him.

Ilya catches it and takes a bite.

"Sit down and tell me your life story. When did you start playing hockey?" Rose is adding a little bit of everything to her plate, looking completely comfortable with zero makeup on. She's wearing sweats and a Metros shirt, which Ilya thinks was intentional to bait him but he's not falling for it.

He sits down at the only other chair in the hotel room and helps himself to the coffee and food. "My life story is too tragic for breakfast. Dinner with wine at least, but best told with a night cap of vodka." The image of Shane, naked in a hotel room in Vegas sipping vodka pops into his mind and he desperately blocks it out. "I don't know when I started hockey. Three probably. As soon as he could get me on skates. My dad."

Rose nods, picking up a lot of what's being left unsaid there. "My brothers played when the lake froze over by us in Michigan. I used to run after them and slip so much that my parents started me skating young too. There was a minute where they thought I could go pro, you know, if there was a women's league. Which there wasn't at the time."

"There is now," Ilya says, suddenly rapt by this information about Rose.

Rose shoots him a look, "Are you kidding me? Have you seen those girls?" She flexes her arm at him unimpressively. "They would snap me like a twig."

Ilya shrugs. "If you're into that, no problem."

Rose snorts. "Smooth. I'm not into girls, unfortunately."

"Unfortunately?" Ilya asks, confused.

Rose looks at him, really looks. "I mean, you're a little… something, aren't you?"

Ilya presses. "Why do you think that?"

"You're way too nice to me." Rose talks with her mouth full, sucking some jam off of her thumb. "But you did get a little hard yesterday." She raises her eyebrows at him, daring him to deny it.

Ilya can only say, "Method acting."

Rose wheezes. "Fair enough. But I don't mean to offend you by assuming anything. I just thought… but if I'm wrong, no problem."

"You're not wrong," Ilya admits. "I just don't understand how you knew. Because I'm nice to you?"

"You have girl's girl energy. Like you want to gossip with me about hot boys."

"Straight men can gossip." Ilya challenges, trying not to think about the way he joked with Shane yesterday about ranking MLH players with Rose today.

"Yeah, but straight men have to act like they don't want to gossip when they gossip."

"Only if they're assholes. Plenty of nice men are good at gossiping."

"And how many MLH players are 'nice men'?" She puts the words in air quotes.

Ilya smirks. "Just the one you're dating, probably."

Rose looks at him. "Okay, so are we gonna talk about that too?"

Ilya focuses on the food. "About what?"

"About the fact that you definitely have a crush on my boyfriend?"

Ilya actually chokes on his coffee.

He clears his throat, but won't look her in the eye. "I don't–" The words get caught in his throat by a very real cough. But the struggle is as mental as it is physical. "I don't have a… a crush."

Rose seems entirely unbothered by all of this. "But you think he's hot?"

Ilya has already decided that Rose is trustworthy, but this is different. He's not sure if she'll keep this from Shane or tell him.

She seems to sense his hesitation. She draws an X over her heart. "What happens in this hotel room, stays in this hotel room. I won't say anything to him, I swear."

Of course, Shane knows that Ilya thinks he's hot. But if he actually tells her… it feels like an admission.

"So?" Rose asks.

Ilya shrugs. "He's Shane Hollander." That's enough, right?

Rose prods him, having too much fun at his expense. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ilya gestures vaguely. "He's in a thousand ads. Covers of magazines. Everyone thinks he's hot. It's a boring question."

Rose accepts his answer and ponders it, "I mean, I get it. If I were a hot bisexual hockey player considered a generational talent and the entire national league set me up as rival to another generational talent who is also super hot, I would have a crush. You'd have to. It's too perfect. You have so much in common."

Ilya stares at her blankly.

Rose looks up at him and laughs at whatever she reads in his expression. "What?"

Ilya shakes his head. "You are online too much, aren't you?"

Rose's laugh is closer to a giggle. "In my defense, I'm actively getting death threats from people that ship you with him."

Ilya's lips drops into a frown. "What? Death threats?"

Rose shrugs, but her eyes lose a bit of their shine. "It's fine. Nothing I haven't dealt with before."

"Does Sha– Does Hollander know about this?"

Rose looks at him as the first name slips out, but she answers his question. "My team's dealing with it."

Ilya shakes his head, "No, not enough. You should tell him. Especially if you're going to his games. Security needs to know."

Rose puts a hand over her heart. "Wow, Rozanov, it almost sounds like you care."

He throws a roll at her and she catches it in her mouth.

They stare at each other before cracking up laughing.

Ilya pulls out his phone, trying to figure out what she's talking about. "I can say something about… privacy. If it helps."

Rose sobers, smiling at him. "You don't have to do that."

Ilya tsks, "My good friend and acting coach Rose Landry is getting death threats from people who think they are fans of me. I am not media trained Shane Hollander. I can yell at people on Twitter. Works especially well if I do it in Russian and then they translate."

"So what I'm hearing is," Rose says gently. "That you use your evil powers for good."

"Only sometimes," Ilya mutters, already sending some spicy replies to people on Twitter who are talking shit under some of Rose's recent tweets about Shane.

Rose's phone buzzes with a notification since Ilya is verified too and she looks at the insane shit he's saying. "People are going to ask you why you're doing this."

Ilya looks at her, unbothered. "We met on a movie set and became friends. No big deal."

"You being in this movie is like one of the biggest secrets I've had to keep in my career. They have a whole special announcement planned about it."

Ilya nods, "Okay, so I'm building suspense. If people ask, I say no comment."

Rose rolls her eyes. "They'll think you're having an affair with me to fuck with Shane."

"It's a fun rumor," Ilya nods approvingly. "I'm okay with that."

Rose slaps him. "I'm not!"

Rose's phone starts ringing and she laughs, showing Ilya the caller ID that says: Shane 💕.

Ilya's eye twitches but he says nothing.

Rose answers and puts the phone on speaker. "Good morning, sweetie pie."

Shane sighs. "What the fuck are you two up to?"

Rose and Ilya devolve into chaotic laughter.

Shane raises his voice to be heard over them. "My publicist just texted me saying we have to discuss the Ilya Rozanov Twitter situation."

Ilya snatches Rose's phone away. "Hollander, your girlfriend says she is getting death threats but won't tell you about it so I had to do my part to protect her."

"Death threats? From who?"

Ilya primly hands the phone back to Rose, smug about making Rose speak up about this.

Rose looks at Ilya strangely and it takes a couple more seconds for Ilya to recognize the corner he has backed himself into. Rose does her best to explain with subtlety. "Not everyone online is super supportive of me dating you and they're getting pretty intense about it."

Shane gets huffy. "Why didn't you tell me? If they're Metros fans, I can make sure our team is monitoring it. Especially if you're at games. Security at the rink should know."

Ilya gestures at the phone meaningfully.

Rose laughs. "Ilya said the exact same thing."

Shane tsks, "Why is he replying to them? How does that help anything?"

Rose keeps her eyes on Ilya as she says, "It's nothing, some of them are mentioning him."

"Why would they mention him when they're talking about us?" But before either of them can say anything, Shane seems to find the tweets in question. "Oh."

Ilya feels sick. He doesn't care so much about these kinds of rumors, but suddenly he thinks about what Shane's reaction would be. He speaks quickly, trying to keep his voice calm and level. "It's no big deal. Just a couple of people online."

Shane's breathing goes a little shallow. "It's more than a couple… um…"

Ilya's on the edge of his seat, tension evident throughout his body.

Understanding filters into Rose's eyes.

She'd already figured out that Ilya had some form of a crush, so there's only so many more dots left to connect when she remembers that Shane's been acting weird too. And now he's having a panic attack because people online ship him with…

Without a word, she hands her phone back to Ilya.

"Hollander," Ilya says softly. "It's no big deal. No one…" He looks at Rose and knows they messed up. He stops trying to lie. "They don't know anything."

Guilt swirls in Ilya's chest.

He didn't mean for this to happen. He didn't mean for Rose to find out like this.

He takes the phone off speaker and practically runs out onto the patio, closing the door behind him. "Hollander, it's just me. Talk to me."

"There are so many fucking pictures. There are theories, some of these are right. What the fuck? How were we so stupid? They caught us years ago."

"Hollander… they didn't catch anything. They don't know anything for sure. Like you said, theories. No one believes them."

Shane can't catch his breath. "What did Rose hear? Did I say… it was too much, wasn't it? She knows."

Ilya nods to himself slowly. "We are maybe very bad liars. But I think it would probably be good to tell her it was, um, before and not during."

"Before?"

"You should probably tell her we are not cheating on her."

"Fuck. Right."

Ilya hesitates. "I can… give her the phone and leave. If you need to talk to her alone." He looks back into the room.

Rose is watching him warily.

He can't blame her. This looks really, really bad.

Shane lets out a shaky breath. "If it gets… maybe if it gets bad, give us space. Fuck, I wish I was just there and not in Montreal."

"Yes," Ilya says softly before he can stop himself. "I wish you were here too."

Shane groans, "Don't say that."

Friends.

They're so stupid.

"I'm gonna go back and give her the phone, okay?" Ilya says blandly.

"Yeah. Yeah, okay." Shane tries to calm himself down.

Ilya steps back inside.

Rose's expression is cold in a way he's never seen before.

He hands her the phone and backs away, sitting down without a word.

Rose switches the call to video so she can see Shane's face while they talk about this. "Shane, what the fuck is happening?"

Shane struggles to get his words in order, "It was before, I mean. It was over before. I didn't cheat on you."

Ilya can't help the sputtered laugh that tumbles out of him. This is a terrible explanation.

Rose glares at him. "Nothing from you."

Ilya mimes zipping his lips.

Shane tries again. "We stopped in November, before I even met you."

Rose prods him to say it. "Stopped what?"

Ilya tries his best to keep his gaze concentrated on the floor but Rose keeps looking between him and Shane like one of them will give her the answers she needs first.

"Hooking up?" Shane says it awkwardly, like he's not sure what to call it. Which is fair because they definitely never said it in that many words.

Rose is stuck on another part of this. "So you do know each other. You have talked regularly." She looks at Ilya while she says it.

Ilya looks up at her contemplatively. Now that he wasn't expecting. Rose isn't mad that they hooked up. She's mad that they lied to her about not knowing each other.

Shane tries to explain. "I… We didn't talk much."

Despite herself, Rose bursts out laughing but tries to wheel it back in and maintain her anger. "I'm still upset but… god, Shane. You are not built for casual hookups."

Ilya latches onto the laughter and finds himself saying, "He's definitely built for it."

Rose's lips twitch into a smile but she controls herself and throws another roll at him, harder this time. "Shut up, I'm mad at you."

Shane struggles to parse what's happening. "You're not… um, I mean… it's…"

Rose doesn't understand.

Ilya does but it reveals too much for him to help.

So he helps.

Ilya speaks gently. "He's never told anyone. That he, um…"

Rose softens instantly. "Oh, oh my god, baby, no. I don't care that you like men. I'm just confused– okay, I guess I'm not confused with the MLH of it all, but I don't like that you lied to me about not knowing each other. Because I believed you. And that's… it's hard not to think about what else you're lying about. But you're both being such awkward idiots about this that I do believe nothing happened since you and I started dating."

Shane rushes to confirm, "I swear, Rose. Nothing happened."

Ilya vouches for him. "The first text he sent me since November was the one you saw when you had my phone yesterday."

Rose's brow furrows for a second and then her jaw drops. "Jane? Really?"

Ilya shrugs. "It worked."

Rose slaps her hand against her face. "Oh my god, and I was trying to give you advice and it was Shane!"

Ilya smiles wryly. "In retrospect, very funny. But kind of made me sick while it was happening."

Rose stares at Ilya. "Everything about how you treated me yesterday is making so much more sense."

Ilya squirms. "Don't do that. Don't analyze… stop it. You are already very perceptive. Hollander, I didn't say a word. She asked me if I'm bi."

Rose throws a judgemental look at Ilya. "You two really still do last names after…"

Ilya spits back, "We like men but are still jocks."

Rose snorts. "Fair, I guess."

"Rose," Shane's voice is small and still a little scared. "Are we good?"

Rose lets out a breath and thinks. "I need to process for a bit. To be fair, you tried to lie and it lasted like… less than 24 hours. So I guess that's a point in your favor. And you were both trying not to out each other so, I get it. Even though it sucks to be lied to. I get why you had to do it." Then her voice drops. "This is real for you, right? It's not just… I'm not like, a beard, am I?"

"What?" Shane speaks fast. "Yes, it's real. What do you mean, a beard?"

Rose doesn't mean to, but she and Ilya make slow, judgy eye contact with each other and both bark out a laugh. "Nothing, never mind. It's just… I mean, you know."

It's clear that Shane doesn't understand but Ilya does.

The sex isn't working for them.

Because Shane doesn't like women.

This is a fact that Rose seems to have just fully realized, a fact Ilya thought he knew up until a few weeks ago, and a fact that Shane is purposefully making himself oblivious to.

Ilya stands, "Um, I should go. I have to pack before my flight."

It's barely 10 a.m. and Ilya said his flight is at night, but Rose doesn't argue.

"Hold on a second, Shane." She puts her phone down and stands next to Ilya. "This was an insane two days, but I'm still happy to have met you and I owe you some acting industry tips."

Ilya laughs.

Rose holds her arms out. "I think we kissed enough yesterday and talked enough today that I have earned a hug."

Ilya shakes his head. "You are a goddess amongst women."

Rose winks. "That's what they tell me."

Ilya pulls her into his arms. It's different now. It doesn't feel like it did yesterday, under hot lights in a fake bar.

Ilya feels all his defenses fall and he whispers into her ear. "Don't break up with him because of me."

Rose pulls away with a sad smile. "We have to talk about it."

Ilya nods, guilt still swirling in his chest.

Rose walks him to the door. "We're gonna work together again one day. I'm calling it now."

Ilya nods, thinking about the fact that that day is probably years in the future. "I hope you're right." He kisses her on the cheek gently and walks away.

Rose closes the door behind him and takes a steadying breath.

She walks back to the phone and picks it up.

Shane's attention snaps to her. "You and him… seems like you get along well."

Rose smiles sadly. "He's a good guy, Shane."

Shane pinches the bridge of his nose. "Yeah… Yeah, I, um, I know."

Rose doesn't know the best way to do this. She doesn't want to diminish her own feelings from being lied to, but she can't imagine how scary this is for Shane. They have to find a way to talk through this and meet in the middle before they can really decide what to do about it.

She thinks about the way Shane had started panicking over the phone.

The way Ilya understood what was happening and completely blew their cover to help Shane through his panic attack.

Even if Shane thinks things are over, Ilya still cares about him. And Ilya doesn't want her to break up with him.

This is all so fucked.

Rose wipes some tears from her eyes she was holding back while Ilya was here. "Maybe… maybe we take a breath and process all of this. And then we can have dinner when I'm in Montreal next week?"

Shane nods, eyes watery with his own unshed tears. "Um, okay." He takes a shaky breath in. "You, uh, still want to come to my game?"

Rose laughs. "Shane, I'm a hockey girl. I will not say no to a free VIP box even if this is complicated right now."

Shane laughs softly. "And here I thought you cared about me more than hockey."

Rose looks at him fondly. "I love that you can still laugh through shit like this. I want to find a way for this to work, if we can."

Shane nods severely. "Me too."

Don't break up with him because of me.

Rose realizes something. "Can I ask you one more question?"

"Yeah, of course." Shane has no idea how dangerous the question is.

Rose asks gently, "This thing with you and Ilya, you told me when it ended, but when did it start?"

Shane dissociates.

Rose can see the way his eyes go unfocused.

Shane wets his lips. "Um, I mean. It was on and off. It wasn't like… we were never together."

Rose starts seeing the shape of it. This wasn't a recent thing, not a one time thing. She waits. She wants him to tell her the date, or at least the month.

Shane seems to realize that she's not going to take that as an answer. "I guess, the first time we hooked up was, uh… 2010."

Rose's eye bulge out of her skull. "Twenty… Shane, six years?"

"It was on and off! We didn't see each other very often."

Rose laughs. "I thought you were gonna say like six months. Years?!"

"It was casual."

"But you like him."

"I mean, sure. We're trying to be friends."

"Friends," Rose laughs. She almost says, Shane, he's in love with you.

But she realizes Shane probably doesn't know that. Ilya doesn't want him to know that.

"Dinner." Rose says instead. "One week."

Shane nods. "Yeah, okay. Dinner. Are we… are we good?"

Rose answers honestly. "We're okay."

"Okay," Shane echoes. "Right."

Rose gives the same bad excuse Ilya did. "I have to get ready to head out to the studio soon. But we're okay, Shane. Really. It's just a lot to process."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I lied about him."

Rose nods. "I know you are. I'm sorry this happened the way it did. You shouldn't have had to…" She sighs. "It's complicated. I know that."

Shane nods, eyes watering again. "Okay, go get ready. Call me after?"

"I'm not scheduled to kiss anyone else today, just so you know."

Shane laughs, running a hand over his face. "Well, at least there's that."

She makes a kissy face at him through the camera because she's weak. "Talk to you later."

"Bye," his lips curl up into a smile as a tear finally falls from his eye.

Rose ends the call and collapses in her bed.

She curses her teenage self for ever wishing that her life were more like a movie. This feels like being run over by a freight train.

INT. ROSE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Rose: can i ask you a sex question

Ilya: this is an insane way to start our text history

Rose: ha, i guess that is the first text i've sent you. but sex question y/n?

Ilya: you can ask but i won't promise to answer

Rose: deal okay

Rose: what's your favorite position

Ilya: im not answering any questions that imply anything about Jane

Rose: that's not why i'm asking!!!

Ilya: then why are you asking

Rose: for the love of the game!

Ilya: talk to your boyfriend

Rose: we have decided to process and talk about it at dinner when i'm in montreal

Ilya: …for the game?

Rose: against boston, yeah

Ilya: interesting

Rose: are you scheming?

Rose: ilya if youre scheming you legally have to tell me

Rose: nooOOO i'm usually the annoying schemer in the friend group you cant do this to me

Ilya: we're not a friend group

Rose: not yet!!!

Ilya: your optimism is limitless

Rose: im taking that as a compliment!

Ilya: it wasnt one

Rose: it was to me 😇

INT. ILYA'S APARTMENT - NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

Lily: i hear youre going to have a lot on your mind before the game so i wanted to get a head start and say i look forward to beating you

Jane: What are you talking about. Heard from who?

Jane: Do you have Rose's number?????

Jane: You CANNOT talk to her about me

Lily: tell HER that

INT. SHANE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)

Shane: What are you talking to him about?

Rose: NOTHING

Rose: oh my god he's such a snitch

Rose: i was just brainstorming

Shane: And you have no other friends to text? Why him?

Rose: it was sex stuff

Shane: Rose…

Rose: i don't know very many queer men!

Shane: Please delete that text. And this one.

Shane: You can ask me

Rose: i was trying to give you space

Shane: You're the one who asked for space. If we need to talk, we can talk

Rose: i hate what text messages do to your tone

Rose: dinner is only two days away now, i'd rather talk it out in person

Shane: He's threatening to take advantage of my mental state during the game

Rose: wooOOOOow so winning a hockey game is more important to you than having a good environment for a hard conversation /j <<<tone tag

Shane: I didn't mean it like that! Just… telling you what he said

Rose: don't worry about him, pretty sure you're evenly matched on the mental state front

Shane: What do you mean?

Rose: you two are worse than teenagers

Shane: ????

INT. ??? - NEXT DAY

Ilya: when do you land in montreal?

Rose: two minutes ago, i'm still waiting to get off the plane. why

Ilya: is he picking you up?

Rose: no, he's shooting something for rolex i think

Ilya: i'm picking you up

Rose: with what car? you don't live here?

Ilya: rental car. you accused me of scheming, remember

Rose: WHAT do you have planned

Ilya: tell me when you have your bags, i'm in the cell phone lot

Rose: i have my bags and my suspicions

INT. ILYA'S RENTAL CAR - DAY (CONTINUOUS)

Rose tosses her bags in the back of the car and gets in the passenger seat. "Hi, Ilya. As nice as it is to see you, what the fuck are you doing?"

Ilya takes off out of airport pickup. "Got to Montreal a little early. I was bored. Are you staying at a hotel?"

Rose stares at him. "No, I'm staying with Shane."

Ilya goes quiet, frowning. "Can you, um, type in the address?"

Rose rolls her eyes. "Don't play dumb. You know where he lives."

Ilya winces. "I don't, actually. I've never been to his actual place."

Rose lets out a pitying sigh. "Ilya, why are you doing this to yourself?"

"What do you mean?" He tries to act aloof.

"Why are you helping me with him? You should want us to break up."

Ilya stops at a light, knuckles gripping the steering wheel. "You are his best chance at happiness. I was jealous at first, sure. But you're good. Good for him. If you can figure it out… He would be happy."

Rose folds her arms across her chest. "Can I ask you another sex question?"

The light turns green and Ilya quickly says, "No."

But Rose asks anyway. "Was the sex with him ever complicated? Did you ever have to start over or go slow or try again tomorrow?"

Ilya's eyes are devoid of emotion. "We were only hooking up. It's different."

Rose shoots back, "You're a man and it's different."

Ilya lets out a shuttering breath. "You should not talk to me about this."

Rose throws her hands out helplessly. "Then why did you pick me up from the airport? Why are you here?"

Ilya's brow furrows and the emotion starts to leak out of him, so powerful that it's finding all the cracks in his walls. "Because I have a fucking stupid idea and if it works maybe we all get what we want."

Rose doesn't know what that implies. "What are you talking about?"

Ilya follows the instructions on the GPS because despite herself, Rose did type in the address for Shane's house.

Gritting his teeth, Ilya says, "You're right. You shouldn't have asked but yes, the sex was always… really good." He glances at her for a moment, gauging her reaction. He has to lighten the mood. "Insanely good actually. Like the kind of sex I would love to brag about in the locker room if it wasn't with a man."

Rose's lips twitch with fond irritation. "You've made your point."

Ilya's happy to see her smile and takes a few deep breaths himself. "I could tell, in the hotel, that maybe… the sex with you wasn't… but sex with me is always good. So easy fix, just make sure I'm also there."

The car goes dead quiet.

Rose stares at him.

But Ilya expected a bad reaction. "And if you tell me to fuck off, I fuck off and never talk to either of you again. I know that's probably what will happen anyway so why not try, right?"

Rose has no idea where to find the words to respond to this.

"Ilya…"

Ilya nods. "Right. I'll drop you off."

"Just, shut up for a second." Rose watches his face, carefully closed off again. Then she looks out the window at the streets of Montreal as they get closer to Shane's place. "Did you even tell him you were doing this?"

Ilya shakes his head. "I knew it would be better to ask you first. Last time he and I tried to talk things through… well, he started dating you."

"My turn to ask a question and I swear to fucking god, Ilya, you have to answer it honestly and I know you don't want to but none of this will work if you don't."

Ilya finds a spot on the street and puts the car into park.

He keeps looking straight ahead for a moment before relaxing and turning to Rose. "Okay. Ask."

Rose doesn't want to do this but she has to. "Are you in love with him?"

Ilya looks up at the roof of the car, inhaling sharply. It's harder to hear than he expected.

He squeezes his eyes shut, willing himself not to cry and failing. "Maybe. I don't know."

Rose reaches out and puts her hand on his arm gently. "If you're not gonna be honest with me, at least try to be honest with yourself."

Ilya laughs, voice think with emotion. "Fuck you, Rose Landry."

"You wish, Rozanov."

Ilya reaches and grabs her hand from his shoulder, holding it in his. "I tried not to."

Rose squeezes his hand. "I know." Her eyes flick over his. "You can't possibly want what you're suggesting. That you, what, have sex with us so we can keep up a public facade of a straight relationship for Shane? How can you possibly think any of us would be happy with that?"

"I don't know," Ilya cries. "I just thought if it was nothing or something…maybe I could have something."

They watch as a car pulls into the garage.

Rose reaches over and helps wipe the tears from Ilya's face. "Shane's home."

Ilya laughs, "Yes, I noticed. Thanks."

Rose doesn't move to get out of the car. "What do you need?"

Ilya grunts, "This isn't about me."

"What if it is?" Rose says stubbornly. "What if you joining us just for sex isn't the only option?"

"What's the other option?" Ilya asks tiredly.

Rose raises her eyebrows at him.

Ilya does it back.

Rose spells it out for him. "Joining us for more than just sex."

Ilya scoffs. "That's not an option."

"Says who?"

The words echo in the silence of the car.

Rose squeezes his hand again. "Come have lunch with us. We can't make it this far and then never let me see you two in the same room together."

Ilya rolls his eyes and acts put upon. "Ugh, you're so horny and so desperate for images to fill your spank bank."

Rose snorts. "Right, that's what it is. Come inside and let me fill my spank bank with two fully dressed men eating salmon over awkward silences."

INT. SHANE'S HOUSE - NOON

When Shane opens the door for Rose, his entire sense of reality crumbles.

Ilya waves awkwardly. "Hi."

Shane snaps out of it. "Both of you get in. What the fuck are you doing?"

He closes the door behind them and immediately checks out of the blinds to see if anyone else was around.

Rose stares at Shane, baffled. "Is this what it was like keeping it secret?"

Shane's eyes find Ilya's. "Yeah. Kind of. Not here, though."

"I told you," Ilya says. "I've never been to his house."

Shane's eyes don't move from Ilya's. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Ilya makes a face, raising his eyebrows. "Yes, so good to see you too."

Rose punches Ilya's arm lightly. "Stop being a dick."

Shane perks up, oddly validated by someone else calling Ilya out for this kind of bullshit.

Shane forces his attention to Rose. "Sorry, hi. How was your flight?" He hugs her tight to his chest, kissing the top of her head. He does his best to not look at Ilya.

Rose hugs him back. "It's okay, we kind of jump scared you. Flight was good." She gestures at Ilya. "This asshole surprised me with an airport pickup."

Shane squints at Ilya. "You don't have a car here."

Ilya rolls his eyes. "Rental. Jesus, both of you are so worried about logistics."

Shane doesn't follow. "Why?"

This would be harder if Ilya didn't ease into it by talking to Rose in the car, which was part of why he did it this way. "I wanted to see you."

Shane spits back, still too panicked to accept the meaning behind those words, "And you couldn't ask? You had to just show up at my fucking house and… and… kidnap my girlfriend?"

Rose glares at him. "I have lots of experience being kidnapped and I assure you it was consensual."

Shane's fingers run through his hair the way they do when he's really freaking out. He keeps looking between the two of them, trying to understand how and why they're in the same room with him.

Ilya looks at Rose.

Rose nods slowly.

Ilya steps closer to Shane, touching his elbow. "Hey," he says gently.

Shane jerks away, looking at Rose. "Don't."

"Shane, it's okay."

Shane's eyes close, his first name on Ilya's lips like a balm.

"We're okay. No one saw." Ilya steps closer, feeling the warmth of Shane's body radiating between them.

Shane's hand finds Ilya's shoulder and holds himself steady.

Ilya's hand hesitantly lands on his hip. "We should sit down, maybe," he says quietly.

Shane nods, blinking his eyes back open.

They make their way to the living room and Shane drifts closer to Rose, holding her hand.

Ilya's steps slow as he takes in the space.

He's not sure why he's surprised that Shane's home feels as sterile and unlived in as the apartment was. Part of him expected the space to feel warmer, more Shane. But there are no photos, nothing that would tell you Shane Hollander lives here aside from a bookshelf full of hockey books.

Shane and Rose sit on the couch and Shane looks over his shoulder at Ilya. "What are you doing?"

Ilya shrugs, shamelessly looking around. "Nice place."

Shane narrows his eyes, sure he's missing something in Ilya's intonation but too focused on whatever the fuck they're doing here to clarify.

Rose runs her thumb over the back of Shane's hand. "Maybe ease up just a bit?"

Shane relaxes his hand around hers. "Fuck. Sorry."

She lifts their clasped hands to her mouth and kisses the back of his hand. "It's okay."

Ilya drops gracelessly onto an arm chair facing the couch. "Do you have as many pillows here as you do at the other place?"

"Fuck off," Shane says, easily following their script.

"Hm." Ilya nods. "That's a yes."

Rose redirects them. "Shane, I think maybe we need to have that dinner conversation a day early."

Shane nods, eyes going a little unfocused. "Okay." He breathes in sharply and looks at her, nodding again. "Yeah, um, okay."

Rose holds his face in her hand. "Is it okay that Ilya's here too?"

Shane laughs, but there's nothing funny about it. "I'm assuming he's part of the conversation."

Rose smiles softly. "Yeah, I think he probably is."

Ilya's shoulders start to curl up nervously, unsure how to process the attention.

Rose looks at Shane, really looks at him.

He's perfect in so many ways. So incredibly sweet, a true gentleman. He's hot, he's funny. He's the whole package. She loves him. She really does. But after seeing the way Ilya loves him, she knows for a fact that she's not in love with him. Not like Ilya is. "I really like you."

Shane scoots closer to her. "I really like you too."

It's hard for Ilya to watch because Shane is so genuine. He truly does like her.

Rose forces the words out of her mouth. "But I think maybe I'm not doing it for you?" She watches the fear creep into Shane's eyes and keeps going. "We have so much fun together and we can talk for hours, but do you like kissing me?"

"Sure," Shane says.

Ilya snorts.

Shane glances at him and then back at Rose, panicking. "I mean, yes. Sorry. I don't know why I said that."

Rose looks at their hands. "Can you do something for me?"

"Yeah," Shane says without hesitation. "Of course."

Rose gestures at Ilya. "Can I see you kiss him?"

Shane's face goes blank. "What?"

Ilya makes a noise of distress. "You don't have to."

Shane keeps his attention on Rose so he doesn't accidentally stare at Ilya's lips. "Why?"

Rose doesn't know if she can say it in a way Shane will hear. "Can I kiss you?"

"Yeah," Shane nods, eager to prove himself.

The kiss is a kiss.

It's not bad. Shane's a good kisser, but he always kisses her like he's thinking about how to be a good kisser.

Rose pulls away and pushes him off the couch and towards Ilya. "Please?"

Shane finally lets himself look at Ilya and his eyes immediately betray him and drop to Ilya's lips. "Um, you don't have to do this."

Ilya looks at Rose. He knows why she wants Shane to do this. And he knows what the result is going to be.

If Shane's gotten this far without realizing he doesn't like women the same way he likes men, maybe this really is the sharp contrast wake-up call he needs right now.

Ilya decides to trust Rose. He stands up.

Rose pushes Shane until he stands too.

Ilya and Shane watch each other like the other might take off running.

Ilya's the one who caves and crosses the room. He mumbles, "Been a while."

Shane's already caught in his sway. "Yeah…"

Ilya studies Shane's eyes for a moment and then cups his jaw and kisses him.

Shane melts into him, a moan pulling out of his throat as his hands fist in Ilya's shirt.

And Rose watches the way Shane's mind finally turns off. He's not thinking about how to do this with Ilya, he's just doing it. Feeling it.

"Mm," Ilya pulls away, laughing. "Okay, I think you proved her point." He sits back down in the armchair.

Shane blinks back to himself, leaning towards Ilya as he backs away. "What? What point?"

Rose smiles sadly. "That looked a lot easier than it was with me."

Shane's brow furrows and sits back on the couch. "I don't… I mean, he usually leads so it's just… different."

Rose huffs a sigh. "Should we try again and I'll lead or whatever you think is happening?"

Shane looks at Ilya as if that will answer a question for him.

Ilya gestures at Rose.

Rose kisses Shane again, more aggressively this time.

It catches Rose off guard, but with the idea in his head to let Rose lead, Shane does seem to relax into it.

His hand finds her waist and she deepens the kiss. But he doesn't moan, doesn't grab at her.

Shane pushes away this time and that's telling too, the way she's not sure he would've stopped if Ilya hadn't stopped him. "What does this prove?"

Ilya can't help laughing. "You tried, Rose. I really thought that was going to work."

Shane scowls at him. "What the fuck are you talking about? Did you plan this?"

Ilya rolls his eyes. "No, no plan. I just know what she's trying to do because we both know you pretty well."

Shane doesn't have any patience left for this. "What does that mean? Can you just fucking say it out loud?"

Rose does as he asks. "I think you're probably gay. Maybe."

Shane's shaking his head. "No, no, I mean, I know the sex is… is a problem." He desperately avoids looking at Ilya.

"No, Shane. A problem is something you can fix." Rose says it so delicately that it hurts.

It's such a compassionate, loving thing to say that Ilya kind of falls in love with her for a second.

Shane doesn't say anything.

Rose gestures at Ilya. "It was better with him."

Finally, like a dam breaking, Shane nods and his eyes well with tears. "Yeah." The singular word holds decades of repression. The tears spill. "Yeah, it was better."

Somehow, hearing her boyfriend admit he's gay makes Rose look so relieved and happy. "You know, I tried to ask Ilya what positions worked best for you and he wouldn't tell me."

Ilya gasps, connecting the dots. "Holy shit, you wanted to know if you should try pegging."

Rose shrugs innocently. "I don't mind trying new things."

Shane's entire face is pink. "Please stop talking."

There's a beat of silence and then Ilya says, "It probably would've worked."

"Ilya," Shane snaps at him but it's the first time he's used Ilya's first name since Boston so it carries absolutely no weight.

Ilya turns his focus to Rose. "Much better than my idea. Fuck, you should've tried that. Maybe this whole conversation wouldn't have needed to happen."

Rose can't help giggling. "Fuck off, it wouldn't have worked that well."

Shane glances at Ilya curiously. "What are you talking about? What was your idea?"

Ilya looks him dead in the eye and says, "Threesome."

Suddenly the air in the room is three times thicker. "Oh," Shane says helpfully.

Ilya acts a lot more casual than he feels. "Not sure what you two decided with all of that and where you stand with your, um, relationship. But I know you both at least like kissing me."

Shane's face turns a darker shade of pink.

Rose barks a laugh. "In retrospect, I'm realizing that during the shoot Shane was never jealous that I was kissing someone for work."

"No," Ilya says, eyes going predatory as he looks at Shane. "He was jealous you were kissing me."

Shane drops his face into his hands. "I hate both of you so much. You should not be allowed to know each other."

Ilya gets up and sits on the couch next to Rose. "But we get along soooo well and the whole film crew says we have chemistry." He leans in and kisses her shoulder, making sure Shane is peeking out from behind his hands to see it.

"I can't say I'm not a little curious about kissing you without a camera on." Rose teases, but her eyes keep flicking to Shane. She doesn't want this unless Shane does.

Shane stares at them. "You can't be serious about this."

Ilya raises an eyebrow at him. "Shane, it's simple math." He points at himself. "One hot person." He points at Rose. "Two hot person." He points at Shane. "Three hot person. Would probably be very hot sex. Three times as hot."

Rose watches Shane process Ilya's nonsensical math problem. She bites back a laugh. "I think I don't factor into that equation for him."

Shane tries to protest. "No, you're hot."

The words are said so meekly that Ilya and Rose almost feel bad about laughing.

Shane throws a pillow at them. "Fuck off!"

Ilya leans in and kisses the back of Rose's ear. "We should run the scene for him."

Rose legitimately gets excited about that idea. "The bar scene?"

Ilya scoffs. "Bed. Obviously."

"Right, excuse me." Rose rolls her eyes. "Do you really remember the lines?"

"Fuck no," Ilya admits. "I remember the blocking."

Rose laughs. "Of course, you do."

Ilya pretends to think really hard, "Actually, remind me how it started?"

Rose shakes her head. "You're such a little shit."

Ilya looks at Shane and winks as Rose pulls Ilya's shirt off. He keeps his attention on Shane as Rose's hand falls onto Ilya's bare chest. "So," his voice softens and Shane may as well be drooling. "Bed?"

INT. SHANE'S BEDROOM - AFTERNOON

Ilya's shirt has been abandoned in the living room, but as they relocate to the bedroom things slow back down again.

Ilya can't stop himself from looking around curiously, taking in Shane's home for the first time.

Shane watches him snoop on personal items scattered around the room while Rose wraps her arms around Shane's neck. "If this is crazy, we can stop."

Shane laughs, hands on her hips. "It's definitely crazy."

Rose brings her hand to his cheek. "We didn't really talk about… what we're doing, but I hope it's obvious that I don't intend to stop talking to you. I think tonight we're kind of… blurring some lines."

Ilya snorts as he reads tiny inscriptions on really old trophies on a shelf.

Shane ignores Ilya, holding Rose in his arms. "You know, if anything's crazy I would say it's probably you friend-zoning me while propositioning me for a threesome."

Ilya nearly cracks his head on the dresser as he laughs so hard he bends at the waist.

Shane's eyes drift to him, smiling foolishly.

Rose coos at him, "Nooo, I would never friend-zone you, you're so hot."

Shane rolls his eyes. "No, I get it. We're better as friends. So you'll just never get to see me shirtless again."

Ilya rolls his eyes, "Hollander, the whole world sees you shirtless on billboards in every major city."

Shane blushes. "Whatever, you know what I meant."

Rose looks to Ilya for an assist. "He said something about never seeing him shirtless again?"

"Hollander, come here." Ilya says it commandingly.

Shane swallows, still nervous somehow. Nervous to let Rose see Ilya's power over him maybe.

Shane kisses Rose's forehead and backs away from her to walk over to Ilya.

Ilya embraces him, their bodies slotting together and Rose can see all six years of them learning how to move together in it.

Their foreheads press together and Shane's eyes are closed again, surrendered. "Rozanov."

Ilya tsks. "Say my name."

Shane's voice goes softer, "Ilya."

Ilya kisses him greedily, grabbing his neck.

Shane whines into it, pressing their hips together.

There's no fight left in Shane's body as Ilya tugs his shirt off and tosses it onto the dresser. He's not folding it, but he knows it would probably distract Shane to see it on the floor.

He breaks away from the kiss and looks at Rose. "Ta-da."

Shane comes back to himself after a moment and glowers at Ilya. "You're such a fucking asshole."

Ilya scoffs. "Rose Landry is one of the hottest women on the planet. If I am about to have sex with her and her very recently ex-boyfriend, I am going to do whatever she asks."

Shane sighs wearily as Rose laughs.

Ilya turns Shane to face Rose and presses his chest to Shane's back. "He's very pretty, yes?"

Ilya runs his fingers over Shane's chest, grabbing at his pecs. "I think his tits are a little nicer than yours, sorry."

Shane shrugs Ilya off of him. "Can you be serious for five seconds?"

"No," Ilya answers honestly.

Rose covers her mouth with her hands, watching them both. Her eyes are sparkling with amusement. "This is… incredible. Holy shit."

"Hot?" Ilya asks.

Rose struggles to respond. "Definitely, but also just… wow. Wow."

Shane frowns. "What does that mean?"

Rose gestures at them. "Your whole dynamic is like pig-tail pulling. The rivalry really follows you into the bedroom, doesn't it?"

Ilya kisses Shane's ear. "Sometimes we race to see who comes first."

Shane swats him away again and pushes Ilya onto the bed. "I will actually fucking kill you."

Ilya cackles evilly as he wiggles out of his pants. "You too, come on."

Shane obeys immediately.

Rose is fascinated.

This is definitely a side of Shane she's never seen before. He's putting up a front of annoyance, sure, but she can see it radiating out of him; He's happy.

She's not sure she's ever seen him so happy and they're only about two minutes away from their breakup.

But she gets it. Somehow, she's really happy too. And not just because she's getting into bed with two extremely hot hockey players, but because she cares about these two a lot and it feels like slipping into a warm bath to be in the same room as them.

Rose peels her own shirt and pants off before joining them on the bed, but the two of them are already nude by the time she gets there.

Ilya's pulling Shane onto his lap, grabbing his ass. "I missed this."

Shane's smiling so freely, "Shut up."

"Mm, make me." Ilya coaxes and Shane, as always, complies. He leans in and the kiss is somehow gentler than before.

Rose wasn't sure before. She could tell Ilya was in love with Shane, but she was coming from the biased perspective of being in a relationship with Shane. It's probably something he once again hasn't been able to admit to himself yet, but Rose can see it plain as day.

Shane's in love with him too.

Part of her wants to leave.

Every social norm says that she should be sad and heartbroken right now. She broke up with her boyfriend and is now watching him kiss someone else. She's supposed to be betrayed or at the very least sad. But she's not feeling any of that. The emotion she keeps coming back to is relief.

Maybe she and Shane weren't compatible, but breaking up with him isn't the hard part here. The only thing that would break her heart is if Shane didn't want to see her again. If they'd grown to care about each other and then let something as irrelevant as social norms keep them from remaining friends.

So she doesn't leave. This isn't just a threesome for the sake of a threesome. This is the resolution of all the tangled emotions they've been parsing together. Tonight, it needs to be the three of them. They'll figure out the rest later.

Shane kisses down Ilya's neck and Ilya's eyes find Rose kneeling beside them.

"Mm," Ilya pats Shane's arm. "Okay, off. Move."

Shane sits up.

"One of us needs to take care of her and I know it's not going to be you," Ilya jokes as he squirms out from under Shane.

Shane just sighs and doesn't bother calling Ilya an asshole again.

Ilya's smile is half devilish and half ecstatic as he kneels in front of her. "What do you think, Landry? I hear I'm not bad when there are no cameras."

Rose rolls her eyes. "That was a terrible joke."

"No, you find me charming. Don't lie." Ilya kisses her neck.

Rose watches Shane watch them. There's a furrow in his brow, but he doesn't look upset or confused. If anything he just looks curious.

Ilya's hands run up her sides and grab her breasts, kissing the skin that peaks out from her bra. "Okay, they're better than I thought." He looks at Shane frowning. "Probably better than yours actually. Sorry."

Shane kicks him, but the smile never leaves his face.

Ilya kisses up her chest, her neck. His hand cups her jaw. "Can I kiss you?"

Rose looks at him disbelievingly. "You're really gonna grab my tits and then ask if you can kiss me as if that makes you a gentleman?"

Ilya tsks, "Kissing is much more intimate than touching. More important to check. Right, Shane?"

"Sure," Shane says, distracted by the space between Rose and Ilya's lips.

Ilya gestures, "See, he wants to see it."

Rose pulls back, voice going sultry and teasing. "And what if I say no."

"You won't," Ilya says confidently, matching her energy. "You remember how good I can make it for the cameras. Imagine what it's like when I don't have to hold back."

Rose looks at Shane in time to see him lick his lips.

Rose lets her eyes trail from Ilya's lips down to his bare chest. He's the kind of hot that feels untouchable. But he's here and very much so touching her. And she just broke up with her boyfriend. Who is also in bed with them.

God, tonight is a mind fuck.

Rose pulls him into her and he smiles into the kiss, arm wrapping around her as he guides her down onto the bed and feels her legs wrap around him.

Ilya laughs into the kiss. "I've been here before."

Rose raises an eyebrow. "You said you remember the blocking."

They go through the motions, trying to remember the steps to this dance they did on set.

Rose pushes him and they roll, Ilya on his back, shoulder to shoulder with Shane, as she straddles him.

Ilya whines, "Take your bra off."

Rose leans in to whisper into his ear. "You do it."

Ilya moans softly, "Yes, ma'am."

Shane laughs. "Really?"

Ilya glares at him. "Sorry, you don't like women bossing you around?"

Shane raises an eyebrow at him.

Ilya hums as he unhooks Rose's bra. "Your loss."

Shane's lips hover closer to Ilya's shoulder. "Can I…"

"Wish you would," Rose answers for both of them.

It's a tangle of limbs from that point on. Shane kissing Ilya, Ilya kissing Rose, Rose kissing Shane.

Eventually, Shane pulls lube and condoms out of his nightstand.

Ilya looks at him with faux boredom. "Oh, you think you're getting fucked tonight?"

Shane blushes. "I don't know."

Ilya hums at Rose. "You didn't pack your peg, did you?"

Rose laughs. "I don't actually own one."

"Hm, you should. Seems like you'd have fun with it even if not with, um." Ilya wants to say us. He leaves the sentence unfinished. "I think the most fun option is to put Shane in the middle. What do you think?" He directs the question to Rose.

Both of Rose's eyebrows shoot up. "You mean at the same time?"

Ilya shrugs. "Yes, I think so."

Shane's imagination hasn't stretched this far yet. "In the middle of what?"

"Fucking," Ilya says bluntly.

Shane still doesn't follow.

Ilya spells it out. "I fuck you while you fuck Rose."

The blush actually reaches Shane's chest. "That's… um, that's something we can…?"

Ilya laughs, leaning down to kiss him. "Yes, Shane. That's possible." He laughs, biting Shane's collarbone. "You need to watch more porn."

Rose stares at them dreamily. "I don't know that porn will do it for me again after tonight."

Ilya winks at her.

Rose giggles happily.

Ilya looks between the two of them. "Have you ever…?"

Shane scoffs. "No, I've never had a threesome."

Ilya waves it off, "No, I mean, you two. Um, when you fucked or… tried."

Shane glares at Ilya. "Why are you asking?"

Ilya shrugs. "I want to know how groundbreaking it will be when this works for you with my help. I like being the first one to set a record."

Shane rolls his eyes. "You're such an asshole."

"Mm," Ilya agrees, eyes wild. "You won't think so in a few minutes when you're whimpering my name and begging me to let you come."

And Shane says nothing because he knows Ilya's right.

Shane's spent most of his adult life dreading the moment he had to position his dick to slip inside of a woman, but tonight Ilya is already inside of him and it's Ilya's hand on Shane's dick guiding him into Rose and he's already a whimpering mess at the overstimulation.

Ilya's cooing into his ear. "You're doing so good, Shane. Look, her hand is gripping the sheets. It's a very good sign."

Rose laughs despite herself as her thighs squeeze around both of them.

"You set the pace," Ilya bites Shane's ear as he whispers gently to him. "You move, take care of both of us. I know you want to make her feel good. Forward for her, backward for you."

Shane protests with a broken off groan, "Backward for you."

Ilya laughs softly. "Okay, for me." He kisses the back of Shane's neck. "I'll help a little, don't worry. I've got you."

"Know you do," Shane pants. "Trust you."

Ilya's brows furrow as he presses his forehead to Shane's temple. "Fuck, Shane."

Rose watches the melodrama unfolding before her and squeezes her fingers into Shane's thighs so hard, there will be little crescent moon imprints there in the morning. "Someone move please."

So Shane does.

This, just like the kiss, is a side of Shane that Rose has never seen.

He loses himself to the sensation of it, the rhythm.

His lips find hers, but the kiss is sloppy and hot as Ilya fucks into him and then pulls Shane's back to his chest.

Rose lasts longer than she would've expected, the final straw being Ilya giving Shane precise instructions for how to touch her tits.

When she comes down from it she has enough presence of mind to get out of their way and watches as Ilya stops being gentle.

If this is what works for Shane, it's no wonder this never worked for them.

Shane begs for it, harder and faster. Whimpering as Ilya presses him into the mattress. It's hard to tell if either of them are saying anything intelligible.

Shane comes first, but seems to be used to being overstimulated and used as Ilya keeps rocking into him. Tears pour from Shane's eyes but at no point does he ask him to stop.

In a slew of Russian, Ilya finally comes, pressing sloppy kisses down Shane's spine as they collapse onto each other. "Fuck, Shane."

They separate and their mouths find each other desperately.

Ilya ties off the condoms and comes back to himself a little. His eyes find Rose. "You," that devilish smile is back as he leans over her, hand squeezing her breast as he kisses her.

For as sexual as it is, it's weirdly platonic as she giggles into the touch. He kisses her neck. "That was so hot. Moaning my name while his dick was in you."

Rose hums, "I know who was calling the shots."

Ilya bites her lip playfully and then kisses her nose.

The part of this Rose really can't get over is how happy he is.

Both of them are just so happy.

And the sex was fun. It was hot, absolutely, but her general takeaway from tonight was that sex should really be more fun.

Shane makes a sound that's half whine and half moan which Ilya seems to translate easily enough and drapes himself over Shane, dropping all his weight onto him.

Shane relaxes, running his hands over Ilya's back.

Ilya kisses his jaw. "We should shower."

"I know," Shane says, eyes closed. "Just give me a second."

Ilya looks at Rose while he acts as Shane's weighted blanket. He holds her hand and she smiles at them. She mouths, I'm happy for you.

Ilya's eyes lose some of their shine. He mouths back, maybe.

Rose shoots him a look.

Ilya looks at Shane, running his fingertips gently across Shane's forehead. He looks back at Rose, You think so?

Rose speaks out loud, "Don't be an idiot."

Ilya laughs softly. "Okay, come on. Shower."

Shane moans as Ilya tugs him up but clings to him as soon as they are.

Rose starts pulling the sheets off the bed and Ilya shoots her a look.

Rose shoos them away. "You go ahead."

Shane looks too. "Shower fits three and you know it."

Rose relents and lets them pamper her. "Fine."

Shane's smile is soft and sweet as she joins them.

INT. SHANE'S BEDROOM - MORNING

There was no conversation needed about Ilya staying the night.

Shane and Rose wake up at almost the same time, Ilya sprawled between them. His mouth hangs open in his sleep.

Shane could stare at the sight for hours.

Rose makes eye contact with him. "He's pretty cute when he's not being a sex demon."

Shane makes a sound that's half pained-wheeze and half laugh. "Yeah, tell me about it." Then he blushes lightly. "It's crazy that I can talk to you about this now."

Rose hums smugly. "Yeah, and you better. Ilya promised me spank bank material."

Ilya's brows furrow as he forces one eye open. "What are you talking about? Spank bank?"

"Morning, pervert." Shane says, kissing the corner of his mouth.

"Mm," Ilya chases him to pull him back in for a proper kiss. "Morning." He looks at Shane, smile growing by the second. "Wow, never saw you in the morning before."

"Yeah? What's the verdict?"

Ilya's too sleep soft to lie. "More beautiful than at night."

Shane basks in the compliment. "Hm, I'm not falling for it. You want a morning blowjob, don't you?"

Ilya whines softly. "It was such a good compliment, please. You probably want to anyway." His hand gropes blindly for Rose and finds her thigh. "Rose, he loves giving head more than most people like receiving it."

Rose nods. "Uh huh, that I'm very familiar with."

Ilya's head whips to Shane. "Really?"

Shane's blushing yet again. "Do you drink coffee?"

Ilya tsks, rearranging so he's on his side facing Rose. "Whatever, go make coffee. I will gossip with your ex-girlfriend about sex."

Rose giggles.

Shane glares at her. "Traitor."

Rose shoos him away. "Go make coffee."

Shane receives nearly identical looks of mischief from Ilya and Rose.

This is an exceedingly dangerous duo that he's well aware he has no power of stopping anything they put their minds to.

So he gets up, finds some sweats, and makes coffee.

INT. SHANE'S KITCHEN - MORNING

Shane scrounges together some form of a morning-after breakfast. They lounge on the couches together and Shane's a little irritated that Rose and Ilya are cuddling and have left him alone, but he knows they're doing it on purpose to bother him so he's trying not to give them the satisfaction.

"The important question," Ilya asks while slipping orange slices in his mouth, half of which go into Rose's mouth as well, "is who are you rooting for tomorrow? Me or Shane?"

Rose snorts. "You think my loyalties would change after one night in bed with you?"

Ilya looks at Shane and back to Rose. "Yes, obviously."

Rose giggles. "Guess I have to think about it."

Shane's more offended by this than anything they talked about yesterday. "That's such utter bullshit! You can't root for him. You're a Metros girl."

"Excuse you, I was a Detroit girl first, you know."

Shane argues. "Detroit is closer to Montreal."

Ilya adds, "Detroit is in America like Boston."

Rose considers these points. "If the Metros captain just broke up with me, the funniest thing I can do is wear black and root for his rival."

Shane whines, "You broke up with me!"

Ilya shrugs. "It seemed pretty mutual to me."

"Fuck off," Shane and Rose say it to him at the same time.

Ilya cackles happily, arms wrapping around Rose as he buries his face in her neck.

Shane scoffs at his audacity. "What, are you two gonna date now?"

Ilya hums, "Would be very funny fake relationship to date Rose for PR. Very dramatic news for the rivalry and great promo for the movie."

Rose gasps, offended. "Wow, you immediately jump to it needing to be fake."

Ilya scrunches his nose. "Rose, you are very hot. I like you a lot. But I think we are not romantically compatible."

Rose rolls her eyes. "That wouldn't have anything to do with how down horrendous you are for my ex-boyfriend is it?"

Ilya swallows. "No idea what you mean."

"Sure," Rose shoots a look at Shane.

Ilya nuzzles his face into her neck again. "But I think open invite if we are ever all in the same town again. What do you think, Shane?"

Shane, once again, has never once caught a hint. "I always invite Rose to my games when she's in town."

Rose hums. "Is that what the kids are calling it these days?"

Shane blushes. "Oh, you mean–"

"Yes, I mean." Ilya's smile is feral.

Shane hesitates. "This is maybe the wrong thing to say but it was really fun."

"Not wrong," Ilya says sincerely. Then ruins it by letting his hand wander up Rose's torso and grab her boob.

Rose giggles and squirms away from him. "You only like me for my tits."

Ilya moans dramatically. "Agh, you got me. It's true. Rose Landry's irresistible tits made me drive to Shane Hollander's home in Montreal."

Rose gets up and drags Shane off the couch to push him onto Ilya. "Control your idiot."

"He's not my–" But Shane is already molding himself to Ilya's body, and when Ilya's hand runs over his torso and grabs Shane's pec, Shane doesn't even flinch.

Rose rolls her eyes. "You two deserve each other."

Ilya's voice is a little too emotional as he says, "Yes, I hope so."

Shane kisses him.

EXT. RED CARPET - DAY (EPILOGUE)

The movie is a hit, but it's not about to win any awards.

Rose and Ilya walk the carpet together, talking to the press. More often than not her arm is looped through his.

Multiple people ask if they're together and Ilya happily says that she's his PR girlfriend to help promote the movie to which Rose just laughs evilly and they scamper away together without elaborating.

Social media eats it up. Most people understand it for what it is – they're actually friends and both chaos demons. A couple people speculate that they may not be dating but they've definitely had sex. And well, they're not wrong.

Rose had posted the picture she took of her and Ilya flipping each other off on set and the comment section had been wild, especially when Shane commented, This is what game days feel like.

So Ilya and Rose go through the motions. They watch the film premiere with the cast and crew, they go to the after party, but the only part of the night they really care about is the advance screener DVD in Rose's bag as their hired driver takes them back to their hotel.

Shane is on them in an instant. "Finally."

He's pushing Ilya's jacket off and Rose walks by them, nonplussed. "How are you both always so horny?"

Ilya scoffs, "Have you seen him?"

Rose glares at Ilya as Shane drops to his knees and unbuttons Ilya's pants.

The sound of them sucking each other off and moaning has become something like white noise to Rose over the last year, so she's not distracted as she figures out the DVD set up in the hotel room and gets the movie started.

Shane's already in sweats so he settles on the couch watching the movie while Rose and Ilya scrub off makeup and change.

"I can't believe it's been like a year and a half and I'm only just now seeing this," he calls out to them.

Rose calls back, "If you were smart, you could've asked me to have a PA sneakily record some of it on set."

Shane laughs. "Why the fuck would I have asked for footage of my girlfriend kissing my rival?"

Ilya plops onto the couch next to him. "Because it was very hot." He kisses Shane's neck. He gestures at the TV, "This part isn't important. I'm not in it yet."

Shane pushes him off, "No, but Rose is."

"Ugh, fine." Ilya relents.

They'd joked about it, but Shane's still a little surprised when the scene starts and suddenly Ilya's pulling his sweats down and taking him into his mouth.

Shane tries to focus on the movie but Rose's lips are on his neck. "Fuck you both."

Rose hums, "Yeah, we're trying."

Ilya swallows him down and Shane pushes them both away, "Okay, can I actually watch it this time?"

He restarts the scene and Ilya and Rose amuse each other by trying to remember all their lines, Rose straddling Ilya on the couch.

Shane keeps shushing them but it's a useless endeavor.

Somehow they make it to the end of the movie and as the credits roll, Rose pokes Shane's cheek. "So, what did you think?"

Shane nods. "It was fun."

Rose slumps back on the couch. "Ugh, you always say that."

"It was!"

Ilya laughs empathetically. "Rose, you know he is bad at movies. He can only critique hockey."

Rose moves the question to him. "What did you think of the final version?"

"It was fun," Ilya says with a laugh. "It's good, I think. It's… interesting to see the final after knowing what it was like on set."

Rose's eyes light up. "Oh, you've got the itch."

Shane's brow furrows. "Itch?"

Rose nods. "He wants to do it again. Ilya's a movie star now."

Ilya's eyes track all the names in the credits. "I think so. Yeah, I want to do it again."

Rose squeals. "I'm calling my agent." She runs out to the balcony to make the call.

Ilya holds his arms open and Shane falls into them.

They lie together quietly for a bit and then Ilya asks, "Do you think she would rather live in Ottawa or Montreal?"

"Montreal," Shane answers quickly. "But if she's moving to Canada, Toronto or Vancouver are better cities for film."

Ilya shrugs. "Could be part time like us with hockey."

Shane nuzzles into him. "Just tell her you want her to be around more and she'll figure it out. She wants to be too."

Ilya hums. "Its complicated. She's not just a friend, not a hookup, not a girlfriend. I don't know what to do with her."

Shane rests his hand over Ilya's heart, looking him directly in the eyes. "Yes, you do. You do what we've been doing. It works. Whatever it is. Why does it need a name?"

Ilya lets out a breath. "You're right, I know this. I just want to make sure she's happy with it. We're boyfriends but I can't give her a label if she needs one."

"She's my best friend," Shane supplies unhelpfully.

Ilya rolls his eyes. "Yes, okay. Because you don't want to fuck her. Like, you do fuck her, but only when I tell you to."

Shane thinks he's making a joke when he says, "Can't she just be ours?"

But Ilya takes it seriously. "Ours. Hm. It's not bad."

Rose comes back inside. "What's not bad?"

Ilya perks up. "Rose Landry, would you like to be ours?"

Rose's brow furrows. "Your what?"

Shane says, "Just ours."

It takes Rose a second but then a smile blooms on her lips. "Aren't I already?"

THE END