Preface
Free Dance
Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at https://archiveofourown.org/works/79835616.
- Rating:
- General Audiences
- Archive Warning:
- No Archive Warnings Apply
- Fandom:
- Heated Rivalry (TV)
- Characters:
- Rose Landry, Shane Hollander, Svetlana Vetrova
- Additional Tags:
- very lightly implied future rose/svetlana as a treat, actual figure skating, leporova & brissaud 2024-2025 free dance
- Language:
- English
- Stats:
- Published: 2026-02-19 Words: 466 Chapters: 1/1
Free Dance
Summary
Rose: this feels like something I shouldn't be watching at work.
Shane: Shit, that's hot. I'm gay and that's hot.
Notes
This was drafted as a shitpost style coda to a more serious "outsider POV, and the outsider is Joe The Figure Skater" fic. Right now I wanted to figure out how to make texting work skins, so. Here we are.
Have Rose introducing Shane to the kinky af Laporeva/Brissaud free dance from 2024-2025 that Tumblr saw fit to show me this week during my work lunch break.
Edit 20.2.2026: turns out the video I linked is not accessible in the US. Important learning, before I unleash Normal Joe The Figure Skater's outsider perspective fic on everyone. Edits to this fic (to account for the fact that Rose couldn't actually be watching the Worlds video) pending once I find a better solution. In the meantime, please see this tumblr post that made me go "well shit" in the workplace.
Free Dance
April 2025, LA
The hairstyle they have her in for these scenes is ridiculous, and takes forever to do. Rose wonders if maybe she should get a buzz-cut and just demand wigs henceforth. She's following a YouTube rabbit hole that started with highlights from Dancing On Ice, and has ended up watching actual competition routines from a few weeks ago in Boston. Rose likes watching pretty people do things skilfully.
And then there's… that.
Shane
Today 6:51 AM
ROSE: This feels like something I shouldn't be allowed to watch at work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh0iSvDuczU
Time: Today-10.16AM
SHANE: I should probably not watch it on the bench between drills then.
ROSE: Perfectly legitimate; you're showing an interest in your fellow ice athletes. Sportsmanlike of you.
Time: Today-1.13PM
SHANE: … shit, that's hot. I'm gay and that's hot.
ROSE: I know, right? That starting pose, holy shit.
SHANE: I'm gay. Why am I so into this?
ROSE: Because you like competent, slightly scary people?
ROSE: Wait, hon. Was that a serious question?
SHANE: Yes.
ROSE: Shane, honey. I love you, but I'm an actress. I'm not the bisexual you should be asking.
Svetlana Vetrova (Hockey, Rozanov)
Today 2:02 PM
SVETLANA: Rose Landry.
ROSE: Yes?
SVETLANA: Why is your ex-boyfriend texting me about ice dancing?
ROSE: Ah. I may have been insufficiently specific. Do you know anything about ice dancing?
SVETLANA: I'm a hockey girl, but I'm open-minded when it comes to hot people on ice.
ROSE: And I gather Shane knows this.
SVETLANA: I think I told Ilya that I had tickets to one of the days in Boston, maybe?
SVETLANA: That routine was hot as hell, he's right about that.
ROSE: You saw it in person? I barely know you and I hate you for that.
SVETLANA: the ISU footage is more impressive, honestly. Especially on the starting pose. Laporeva's facial expression, generally.
ROSE: Yeah I can see that wouldn't come across so well on stadium screens.
ROSE: I'm professionally impressed. I do, what, somewhere between two and twenty takes and then move on. They're putting in months of blood sweat and tears to make it look hot at just the right moment, over and over again.
SVETLANA: Hot on multiple levels.
ROSE: Do you want to tell Shane to go ask his husband, or will I?
SVETLANA: Don't worry about it, I texted Ilya the link with no explanation, they'll be fucking about it within the hour.
ROSE: I like your approach to problem-solving.
SVETLANA: I value efficiency. Especially when it comes to those two.
ROSE: I love them but they're idiots.
SVETLANA: Rose Landry, next time you're in Boston, text me. I will share the good vodka and we will not talk about Rozanov or Hollander.
ROSE: Deal.
Afterword
End Notes
Baby's first workskin! I used festiveferrets workskin maker and codenamecarrot & la_temperanza's guide to text message workskins
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