Rating:

General Audiences

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Category:

M/M

Fandom:

Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid

Relationship:

Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov

Additional Tags:

POV Outsider, Future Fic, Established Relationship

Language:

English

Series:

Part 2 of The Cens Beat Reporter

Stats:

Published: 2024-10-13 Words: 1,479 Chapters: 1/1

The Centaurs Beat Reporter

Summary

Casey knew that the rookie reporter was gonna get pulled from the room about halfway through his question. She almost felt kind of bad, she’d just assumed that he’d had The Talk, and maybe she should have taken it upon herself to check in with him. There was one very specific rule that all Ottawa Centaurs reporters had to follow:

Never pit the Hollander-Rozanovs against each other. 

Notes

i was clearing through my fic drafts and found this that I'd drafted like, two years ago. I'm likely not going to write more scenes to this, so you can at least have what I've written! I'd wanted to play around with the idea of Shane & Ilya through the eyes of a beat reporter. maybe one day I'll write more, who knows! I did just reread heated rivalry lol

Edit 12/31/25 - Couple years after posting this, I expanded on Casey's story a little bit in a new fic centered on her tweets! I'm not going to go back and change anything in this fic to make them match up perfectly, but i did link them so that people can see where the idea of my beat reporter named casey began. <3

2023

“What’s it like?” Casey asked, holding her phone out. “Playing your first All-Star Game as a couple?”  She knew what the response was going to be, but wanted to hear it anyway.

Sure enough, Ilya Rozanov scoffed. “It is not our first All-Star Game as a couple.” 

This was not news to her, not after years of covering hockey in one way or the other, and certainly not after working so closely with the Cens this past year, but she would only write about what was on the record, not what she heard when she wasn’t supposed to be listening. 

Beside him, Shane Hollander cut Ilya a glare. Casey had expected the glares to die down between them, after their relationship went public, but they’ve stayed pretty consistent. Now they had just a more open, underlying affection to them, one that wasn’t tucked under ball caps and averted eyes. “It’s great to get to be so open about our relationship,” Shane interjected, turning his eyes from his husband back to Casey. “It was hard, in the past, to be here together and pretend like there wasn’t anything, uh, more, between us.”

“Now I can kiss him all I want,” Ilya added, helpfully.

Shane turned a hilarious shade of red, and she tried (and failed) to keep the grin off her face.

“You two have been playing together for almost a year now, will it be hard to go back to playing on opposite sides of the ice?” She took mercy on Shane and switched topics. This year’s ASG was split European and North American again, most likely to see the two husbands play against each other. 

Shane shook his head. “I’m looking forward to it,” he said, an almost hint of a smile playing on his freckled cheeks. “We like to compete against each other, even now. I think we’ll both be bringing our A-game and going for the win.”

“Plus,” Ilya leaned forward. “We have a personal bet going, to make it interesting.” 

“Oh?” Casey raised an eyebrow, praying to the hockey gods that she wouldn’t have to write about Ilya Rozanov’s sex life again in her career.

“ Ilya ,” Shane hissed, and Casey could see the disapproving glare from her boss now.

But Ilya’s smile was playful as he slung an arm around his husband’s shoulders. “Loser has to do dishes for a month.”

Shane ran a hand over his face. “I can’t believe you.”

God, she loved her job and these married idiots.

“Ilya, what is your team going to have to do today to secure the win?” She asked.

“Uhhhhh,” Ilya said, hockey player brain switching on. “Will have to focus,” He shrugged. “Um, we play with our friends, guys we have known for years. Have to be focused on the game to win.”

“And not flirt with the other team,” Shane mumbled.

“Final question,” Casey interjected, before Ilya could respond to that. “What’s your favorite Taylor Swift song?”

Ilya lit up, and Shane groaned. “From which album?” Ilya leaned forward intently, both elbows on the table, looking more engaged than he’d been the entire interview. “I can make a list. There are many good ones.”

“He never shuts up about Taylor Swift,” Shane told Casey.

“Excuse me for having taste, Hollander."

“What’s that one that you sing all the time?” Shane turned to Ilya, trying to look annoyed, and failing miserably. “My favorite is anything but that one.” 

Ilya mock gasped. “I am filing for divorce. “Mine” is the best song off of Speak Now. ” 

“I’m not having this argument with you again, Rozanov,” Shane sighed, and dropped his head back to glare at the ceiling as he crossed his arms. This was going to make such great content. Every NHL team needed to have a married couple on their roster.

Ilya elbowed him, and then turned back to Casey. “I will come up with list, share it with you next interview, yes?”

“Oh, yes please,” Casey grinned.

“Good!” Ilya clapped. “This will be the most important thing I do this weekend.”

“Ilya,” Shane chided.

“Second most important thing,” Ilya amended with a wink.

Casey hit the stop button on her phone and lowered it, letting out a loud laugh. “Thanks guys, you make my job a little too easy.” 

Ilya grinned, leaning back in his seat and draping his arm over the back of Shane’s. “We are pretty good, right?”

“Much more fun than any other interview I’m doing today,” Casey nodded, checking her watch. She needed to get going to her next one. 

“Will you get any beach time?” Shane asked, returning to sit up like a normal person.

She shrugged. “A little, but this is where all the fun is.” 

Shane gave her a rare smile as he stood, putting his All-Star Hat back on his head and putting a hand on his husband’s shoulder. “We’ll see you around then.”

~*~

2024

Casey knew that the rookie reporter was gonna get pulled from the room about halfway through his question. She almost felt kind of bad, she’d just assumed that he’d had The Talk, and maybe she should have taken it upon herself to check in with him. Obviously, all reporters had like, actual and real training. But there was one very specific rule that all Ottawa Centaurs reporters had to follow:

Never pit the Hollander-Rozanovs against each other. 

That was the one rule that Shane and Ilya had set in stone when Shane had joined the team. Getting stupid questions or questions you didn’t like was a part of any athlete’s job, and you couldn’t always control the questions reporters were asking. But the newlyweds had insisted that their rivalry was over . Door closed, locked, key thrown into the Ottawa River. There were to be no questions about their rivalry or anything that remotely alluded to it, they wanted it to be laid to rest.

So when the dumbass rookie reporter called out “How does it feel that Shane is an NHL All-Star this year and not yourself?” Casey wasn’t even remotely surprised to see Ilya’s sharp eyes narrow. The Russian captain had become a lot more relaxed, in the last two years of playing by his husband’s side, but this look on his face reminded her of the more snarky, defensive man he used to be.

“Who let this guy in?” Ilya chirped, looking at the other reporters with a quirked brow. That got a chuckle out of everyone, except the rookie reporter, who looked a little less sure of himself. “First of all,” Ilya turned his attention back to him, pointing with his left hand, wedding ring glinting in the lights. “Shane Hollander is one of the greatest hockey players of all time, so jot that down.”

Casey had to fight the urge to snort. Harris had clearly been rubbing off on the team.

“Secondly, it does not bother me that he is All-Star and I am not.” Ilya shrugged. “He deserves it, and I still get to go as his plus one. So I will get to spend a week on a beach with my husband and cheer for him while having to do no work myself. It is ideal.” That got another round of laughs out of the room. “We have both been All-Stars many times. I am fine taking the weekend off to do my most important job and be a trophy husband.”

Casey rolled her eyes, and then cut in with another question, this one actually about the game, and Ilya looked a little relieved. Afterwards, when they were packing up their equipment, Ilya waved at her.

“Are you going to Florida with us?” he asked.

She grinned at him. She’d never admit it, but he was definitely her favorite player of all time, and she liked to think that she was his favorite reporter. She knew that Ilya didn’t have an easy relationship with the media, but she’d been covering him since she worked in Boston, and they’d always had a good relationship. 

“I am,” She slung her gear bag over her shoulder. “I’ll see you there?”

“ Da ,” he nodded. “I will not do any media unless it is you,” he pointed at her. 

Well, Casey doubted that a little bit, but it was a nice sentiment. She saluted him. “I’ll see you there, Captain.”

He saluted her back, and she slipped out of the room. 

She passed the rookie reporter getting chewed out, and she tried not to snort at how red his face was. Kid was lucky that Ilya hadn't chewed him out, but Shane had been a good influence on him. Or at least, he'd mellowed out over the years. She looked forward to seeing how the next couple years of a relaxed, happily married Ilya would be with the press. 

But no matter what, it was going to be entertaining.

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Book Cover: The Cens Beat Reporter by notlayingroses by redcomponibili