Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Category:

M/M

Fandoms:

Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid

Relationships:

Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Cliff Marlow & Ilya Rozanov

Characters:

Cliff Marlow, Ilya Rozanov, Shane Hollander

Additional Tags:

Ilya Rozanov Loves Shane Hollander, Protective Ilya Rozanov, Good Friend Cliff Marlow, POV Cliff Marlow, Locker Room, teammate shenanigans, Injury, shane's injury

Language:

English

Collections:

*Heated rivalry melts my heart*

Stats:

Published: 2026-02-04 Words: 435 Chapters: 1/1

And I (Ilya) am mad at Marlow too

Summary

Ilya really wore his heart on his sleeve as he watched Shane get taken off the ice on a stretcher after his injury. He was too upset to keep it together. Cliff Marlow POV.

Notes

Cliff Marlow felt bad. He hadn’t really meant to actually hurt Shane Hollander. Shane wasn’t a bad guy. Cliff didn’t have anthing against him.

But Shane had been playing sloppy, he’d turned back to gloat that he’d stolen the puck or something, and hadn’t been watching where he was going. It was textbook. You did not look back in hockey. Juniors hockey coaches would be using this clip to make that point for years.

It wasn’t Cliff’s fault.

But he didn’t understand why Ilya was pissed off at him for it.

Cliff hadn’t even known he was pissed off until after the game was over when Ilya laid into him.

He hadn’t said anything on the ice, he’d been practically mute through the end of the game, but afterwards in the locker room, he was in a white hot rage.

“We don’t hurt other players like that, he did not deserve that,” Ilya said angrily. Cliff tried to be angry at Ilya for yelling at him, but something was off. Ilya seemed agitated. Upset, even.

“It was an ugly hit.” It hadn’t been. “You should have been benched.” No he shouldn’t. It was a normal hit. “Boston players do not do this. We are better than this. We play clean. We do not hurt people.”

We play clean?

Something was really wrong with Ilya.

“What is going on with you, you’ve never been mad like this before,” Marlow told him. He didn’t bother to defend himself, Ilya wasn’t being rational.

But they were in Montreal. There was one person here he could probably talk to.

“Go see Jane, you need a distraction,” Cliff said.

Ilya let out an unguarded, tragic “What?” that was open and broken and distraught and suddenly Cliff just knew.

Jesus fucking Christ.

Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander?

He wasn’t going to tell Ilya he knew.

There was no way Ilya was rational enough for that conversation right now.

But he knew.

And Ilya was devastated right now.

“Yeah, go see….Jane,” Cliff said, “Go. Just go.”

“I can’t-” Ilya began, sounding broken.

“Yes, dude, just go.”

Ilya looked at him and then turned and kicked his locker.

“I can’t right now,” Ilya said.

“Tomorrow morning,” Cliff said, “Go tomorrow morning.”

God knew Ilya needed it.

Ilya turned his head to look at him. He didn’t actually say anything. Cliff didn’t know what he knew, and he knew Ilya wasn’t going to tell him. But Ilya nodded once.

“Okay,” he said.

Jesus. When Shane was better and Ilya wasn’t losing his mind, that was going to be a hell of a conversation.