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, Yuna Hollander & Ilya Rozanov, Shane Hollander & Yuna Hollander, David Hollander & Yuna Hollander & Ilya Rozanov

Characters:

Yuna Hollander, Ilya Rozanov, Shane Hollander, David Hollander, Rose Landry, Hayden Pike, Jackie Pike, Hayden Pike's Children

Additional Tags:

Found Family, Family Feels, Texting, Post-Episode: s01e06 The Cottage (Heated Rivalry), Post-Book 2: Heated Rivalry (Game Changers), Book 6: The Long Game (Game Changers), Spoilers for Book 6: The Long Game (Game Changers), Past Shane Hollander/Rose Landry, POV Yuna Hollander, author knows little about hockey and less about NHL, Good Parent Yuna Hollander, Good Parent David Hollander

Language:

English

Series:

Part 2 of Yuna's Boys

Stats:

Published: 2026-02-13 Updated: 2026-06-28 Words: 25,488 Chapters: 33/?

Favorite Son

Summary

Life after Heated Rivalry from Yuna's POV, with lots of texting.

Technically a sequel to "Shane's Lily", but you don't need to read that in order to understand this.

Notes

Here we are, in the sequel era! There are likely to be spoilers for The Long Game here, but I can't yet predict how closely we'll follow the events of the actual book (I don't plot, I just vibe).

Huge thanks to everyone who's read all of "Shane's Lily", especially the people who found the time to comment!

Chapter 1

Yuna and David have both always followed the official accounts of the Ottawa hockey team. Now, Yuna is extra grateful for that, because she'll be able to see the highlights of her boy's career without worry. Over the past few months, she's made sure to start following some of the individual players, too. Not too many and sprinkling in some from the other teams as well, to avoid sparking questions regarding Shane's next career move. Just enough that she would one day soon be able to click that little button under Ilya's profile picture without raising questions.

Fans can be nosy. They'll turn the most innocent thing into a clue... Except they would be right onto something if they watched Yuna's online activity too closely.

She's looking forward to the day Shane and Ilya officially announce the Irina Foundation and they'll all have to worry a little less about mundane interactions.

Chapter 2

Ilya is used to handling things on his own. Both the boys are, really. And still Yuna wishes she could go with him on the day he drives down to Ottawa to look at houses. 

But he arrives for dinner with a phone full of pictures and that has to be enough.

The boys have been spending more time with them than the summer before. While last year they savored every moment they got to be alone together, this time their visits with Yuna and David last longer and happen more frequently. They stay for hours after dinner, chatting or playing board games. Maybe it’s because they are more established in their relationship, or maybe because the deadline of their separation is not quite as harsh. This year, they are both staying at the cottage until their pre-season training starts again, and after that, they’ll be living a much shorter distance apart.

“Do you have the list I gave you?” Shane asks. “Of the things to watch out for?”

They are sitting together on the sofa in Yuna and David’s cottage and Shane has Ilya’s phone cradled in his hands as he scrolls through the photos. David is sitting on the sofa opposite them, waiting for his turn, while Yuna waters the plants in the room for something to occupy herself with before she can look at the pictures.

Ilya rolls his eyes. “Relax, Hollander,” he puts his arm around Shane’s shoulders. “I’ve bought property before.”

There is a house in Boston currently being packed up by a crew, its contents to be moved into Ilya’s new home before he sells the place where he’s lived for the past few years. Yuna has never seen it, but from fragmented descriptions within conversations, it is quite nice.

“Do as you wish,” Shane shrugs, but leans into Ilya’s side until they are practically cuddling. “But don’t complain to me if the roof is leaking and the water damage is so bad you have to replace walls.”

Ilya presses a kiss into Shane’s hair. “I saved the list to my phone,” he says softly. “And asked the realtor all the questions you told me to.”

“Are you considering any of these houses?” David asks when Shane has finished looking through the pictures before handing the phone back to Ilya. 

Ilya reaches across the space between the sofa where he and Shane are sitting and the one currently occupied by David, and hands David the device. “This one.”

Yuna puts away the watering can and joins her husband. She looks over his shoulder as David scrolls. 

She’s seen the house before, on the website, but Ilya’s photos show new angles. Less flattering, perhaps, but more interesting ones. Yuna can see where the potential lies. The house is a nice size, has a large yard and the tall fence and privacy gate are already in place, constructed in a way that gently blends into the surroundings so the house looks like a home rather than a fortress. “It’s a nice neighborhood,” she points out.

“A quiet one,” Shane frowns. “Your neighbors won’t be pleased if you throw parties.”

The party boy is not a side of Ilya Yuna knows personally. It’s almost hard to imagine when he sits here in a flannel shirt and wrapped around his quiet boyfriend. She has, however, seen the articles that claim that no one throws parties like Rozanov, at least as far as the Boston Raiders are concerned.

“The property is big,” Ilya shrugs with the shoulder that doesn’t have Shane resting against it. “Yard is big. The neighbors won’t be too bothered if I don’t have live band or something.”

For a moment, Yuna worries that Ilya’s already controversial reputation will take another hit when neighbors call in a noise complaint. But he continues.

“And anyway, who do I party with? The Centaurs are all old, married guys. They won’t party.” That’s objectively not true, but Ilya seems quite serious in his assessment of his future team. “Are you throwing parties at my house?” he finishes, looking at Shane and lightly poking him in the chest.

“Yes, I’ll invite all the Metros,” Shane deadpans.

“Ugh. They’d probably enjoy trashing my house.”

Ilya takes his phone back from David and puts it in his pocket.

They talk about the properties he’s looked at today for a little while. Ilya keeps looking at Shane after every other sentence and Shane’s very bad at acting nonchalant about whatever Ilya chooses to buy. Yuna wonders whether she should point out they are both equally invested and both very bad at pretending they’re not building a future together. Even when that’s what their whole plan is about, somehow they still aren’t ready to admit that not much about their lives is separate anymore, regardless of what the public can see. 

She decides that’s not a group conversation.

“I’ll be living in a hotel most of the season anyway,” Ilya says eventually. “Unless I want to live on a construction site.” 

He launches into the plans he has if he buys the house he’s shown them first. He wants to transform part of the basement into a gym, put in a whole new kitchen, replace all the bathrooms, change the floors in several rooms and put a new coat of paint on every wall. And he’s experienced enough to know that once he starts a reconstruction, problems will crop up. It’ll take a while before the house is ready for him to move in.

“You could stay with us,” David offers.

It’s not an unreasonable offer. Their house has enough space, it’s a comfortable distance from the rink and they both like Ilya. 

And yet.

Shane gives them a wary look. And Yuna meets his gaze and sees it reflect her own concerns.

She would love for Ilya to move into Shane’s old room and stay there until his house is suitable for habitation. Yuna would happily make him breakfast and analyze games with him late into the night. It would be nice to have someone else home again.

There are, however, reasons against it. Ilya Rozanov is not an unknown entity in Ottawa and once he establishes himself on the home team, he’ll be even more noticeable. Their house is not so secluded that someone wouldn’t notice the same person, the same car, new to the neighborhood, coming and going every day. Sooner or later, someone would raise a question. Sooner or later, there would be paparazzi camping on their doorstep, especially now, while Ilya’s move to Ottawa is still a hot topic of discussion.

Whether Ilya is aware of the issue, too, or something else kicks in, he says very politely: “I wouldn’t want to abuse your hospitality.” He straightens his back as he speaks, arm sliding off Shane’s shoulders, and he sounds prim and proper like a well-behaved schoolboy. 

Yuna would laugh if she didn’t want to hug him instantly.

Instead she says: “You don’t have to move in with us, I know that’s a lot. But you’re always welcome to stay a night or two if the hotel gets bothersome.” About this invite, she's entirely serious. She can’t even imagine the suffocating feeling of months being stuck in an impersonal hotel room, so she reaches out and pats his knee. “I mean it. I expect you to come over and watch hockey with us.”

“She actually does,” David says. “Yuna’s been talking about how she hopes we can talk you into watching the occasional game with us. I think she hopes you can match her enthusiasm better than I can.”

Ilya laughs. His cheeks look pink, but no one points it out. “Happily,” he says, taking Shane’s hand into his. “But you’ll have to promise Shane to not murder me if I don’t cheer on the same teams.”

Shane rolls his eyes. “We all know you have the worst opinions about hockey.”

Yuna adds: “And we all love you anyway.”

Ilya is definitely blushing, his smile blindingly bright, even as he threatens to shove Shane off the sofa.

Chapter 3

She calls him. 

“Those would all be very bad,” she says softly.

“I know,” he huffs. “I don’t mean that. I’m just getting all the upset out of my system.  Before they get here. So I can be nice and pleasant to Rose Landry.”

Yuna shakes her head to herself. 

Ilya gets so grumpy about Shane’s brief past relationship with the famous actress that at one point, she asked her son about the timeline. Not that she wanted to accuse Shane of anything. She raised a good boy. A boy who cares for fairness and what is right, who'd never knowingly hurt someone's feelings. Of course he’d never cheat.

“You know Shane isn’t interested in her that way,” she says now.

“I know.”

“He wants to show off his boyfriend to a friend he cares about.”

“Obviously. I’m a catch,” it’s never been more obvious Ilya’s faking his confidence.

Yuna pretends not to notice.

“No reason to be jealous, then.” 

There’s a long exhale on Ilya’s end. “Is not jealousy,” he says after a moment of silence. Then he asks: “Are we all still invited for lunch tomorrow?”

“Of course.”

“Good. I can hang out with you and David while Shane and Rose catch up.”

There are two MLH star players and a movie star at Yuna’s cottage.

She’s extremely grateful for how secluded this property is. Any paparazzi would have a field day with this arrangement. 

Gossip writers would be working overtime.

Forty five minutes into their visit, Ilya has already called out Rose’s Russian accent in a recent spy movie.

Before Yuna can be mortified, Rose, very graceful, pulls up a clip. Then a Reddit thread. It speculates her character will be revealed to be faking her Russian origins in the sequel.

“I’m so bad,” Rose is laughing, loud and sincere, leaning into Shane’s shoulder, “I think the writers are actually considering it.”

Shane shakes his head. “Your accent is still better than mine.”

“Oh, no, that’s actually true,” Ilya grins gleefully. “Shane’s learning bad habits from text-to-speech. Don’t be like him, Rose. Google translate is not a tutor, Hollander!”

And that’s how Yuna discovers her son has started learning his boyfriend’s mother tongue.

“I’m sorry about Ilya,” she tells Rose, when the young actress briefly joins her in the kitchen alone. 

A second later, she realizes what she’s said.

It’s silly. Yuna has not raised Ilya Rozanov, she bears no responsibility for his behavior. She can’t possibly control him. What bizarre world does she live in, where she’s apologizing to Shane’s ex-girlfriend for Shane’s boyfriend’s antics?

More bizarrely, she feels like she’s betraying him by bringing it up at all.

But Rose just smiles. “Why? He’s been very sweet. I feel like I’m staying at a five-star resort. Ilya’s almost as neurotic about hosting as Shane,” she accepts the cup of water she’s originally come for. “Found out none of the slides they have are my size and was about three seconds away from arranging same-day delivery. Fortunately, I prefer to go barefoot.”

Then Rose’s smile turns into an amused grin.

“Who you really should be apologizing for is Shane! Not a word of warning that the secret boyfriend is his archrival. That shock is five years off my lifespan, right there.”

Later, after the three of them leave, Yuna does her online research. 

She keeps telling the boys to not engage with the rumors, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t staying on top of them. 

There’s nothing to worry about. The lack of calls from Rose’s publicist during their lunch confirms as much, too. Rose Landry was spotted at the airport, took two selfies with fans, but no one has seen her with Shane. No one has followed her. No one is even sure Ottawa is her final destination.

But there’s speculation. This much comes up in Yuna’s alerts for Shane’s name. There are not many reasons for Rose Landry to be in Ottawa, but everyone knows Shane Hollander spends his summers nearby.

There are threads of people begging for Rose and Shane to get together, or telling them not to, or discussing evidence they’ve never split up in the first place.

Not all of the talk is positive. There are harsh words thrown at both parties.

But a lot of it is nice. 

“So cute,” and “power couple” and “goals”. 

The loving comments are loud, and Shane Hollander’s hashtags and mentions are flooded with old pictures of him and Rose holding hands.

And Yuna suddenly understands. The emotion behind Ilya’s irritation is not jealousy.

It’s envy.

Chapter 4

Summer doesn’t slow down and soon they are at the doorstep of pre-season. The boys are about to be thrown back into the endless cycle of practices, games and travel. 

It’s their last dinner as a family before Shane returns to Montréal and Ilya starts his life as an Ottawa Centaur, and Yuna expects it to be a quiet, maybe a little mournful evening. 

For the most part, it is.

Until Shane, between bites of pasta, says: “I think I’m going to tell Hayden. And maybe J.J.” 

Suddenly, all eyes are on him.

“Not about this,” he gestures between himself and Ilya, “Obviously.”

“Obviously,” Ilya breathes out, turning his gaze from his boyfriend to his plate. It’s not quite a sigh, but it is something.

If Shane notices, he doesn’t react.

“But I’m going to come out to them, I think… They’ve been very good about Scott Hunter.”

It’s been a year since the New York Admirals’ captain unexpectedly, and very publicly, came out by kissing his boyfriend on the ice after his Stanley Cup win. The response since then has been a mixed bag, but Hunter hasn’t been scared off by the negative. He posts about his relationship on his social media, frequently appearing alongside his very handsome boyfriend. 

It’s good to know that Shane’s friends aren’t among the haters. 

Hunter’s one of the hockey players Yuna follows, so she sees that Hayden and J.J. follow him too, occasionally hitting the like on his hockey or charity posts. Jackie Pike, Hayden’s wife, sometimes comments on his photos with Kip, the boyfriend, in a way that suggests she sees no difference between her own relationship and Scott’s. 

Still, there’s a difference between a gay hockey player as a concept, someone on another team whom you vaguely know, and your own captain. Your own friend.

Yuna really hopes Hayden and J.J. don’t find that difference too difficult to handle.

She likes them both and her son doesn’t have many friends. She would be devastated if he was to lose them. Rather to lose them over who he is, though, than to keep them because of who he’s pretending to be.

“Hayden’s a good kid,” David says. “He’ll support you.”

Perhaps it’s silly to call Hayden, a married father of four, a kid, but Yuna agrees with David. “Jackie absolutely will, too," she adds, because if Shane tells Hayden, Jackie will know the same day, too. "And I can’t imagine J.J. giving you any trouble either, but if you’d like some NDAs—”

“Mom, no,” Shane groans. “I’m not going to make my friends sign NDAs.”

“They’ll be okay,” Ilya says, with calm confidence that suggests manifestation rather than true belief. He puts one hand on the back of Shane’s neck, very gently. “And if they’re not, or if they say anything, I’ll put them through the boards so far Jackie Pike will have to buy a whole black wardrobe.”

“Ilya!” Shane and Yuna gasp unisono.

He shrugs, not a shred of apology on his face. “No need for NDAs if they can’t talk.”

Now that she thinks about it, she’s not sure Ilya even has friends. He has teammates, and if the devastated responses to his departure from Boston are anything to go by, he’s popular with them, but Yuna rarely hears him mention anyone. He keeps people at an arm's length.

Chapter 5

Yuna is ashamed to admit that for a moment, she simply stares at Ilya’s messages. The answer is an obvious ‘yes’, a loud ‘of course’, but the question startles her nevertheless. 

It’s been two weeks since Shane returned to Montréal. Although they’ve reiterated an open invitation for Ilya to visit them anytime, for dinner or just because, he hasn’t accepted it yet. He’s been busy in a whirlwind of practices with a new team and meetings with contractors and designers regarding his new house. Yuna imagines he usually crashes into his hotel room bed the moment he is able.

And he’s never asked her for help before. The closest he’s ever come was letting her send updates on Shane’s health during Shane’s concussion recovery a year ago.

Therefore, Yuna is instantly worried.

Contrary to popular belief, Yuna Hollander does have social life. She has friends from high school and college and from the time Shane was a tiny little preschooler on ice and she was swapping tips with other moms on how to stay warm during the practices and games.

But Yuna is also a person who’ll drop anything and everything when her child needs her. Therefore, she’s cancelling coffee date plans in another message window, before she can even notice she’s doing so for her son’s boyfriend.

Some twenty minutes later, there is Ilya Rozanov standing on her doorstep. He has a backwards cap over his curls and shades hiding his pretty eyes, but he wouldn’t fool anyone on closer inspection. His gold cross is dangling on his throat, and he has an Ottawa Centaurs’ t-shirt on. Sure, it’s one of the unassuming ones, all black with just a tiny logo on the side of his chest, but it’s branded nonetheless.

It’s the first time he’s been to her house without Shane.

“Have you eaten?” she asks first, before adding: “Is everything alright?”

He shakes his head, then nods. “Thank you, I had a burger earlier. And everything is fine, promise, it’s just… ugh. Homework?” He makes a face.

Yuna arches an eyebrow at him while he steps out of his sneakers and takes off his cap. “Homework?”

She can’t imagine what kind of homework a professional hockey player could possibly have. Rewatching games and studying plays, sure, but he wouldn’t need her help with that. And while she’s dropped hints that there’s never too early to start studying for a citizenship exam, she doubts Ilya would get on that quite this soon. Especially with everything else he has going on.

His words make her guide him to the kitchen, however, before she even has the full context. Homework is done at a table, not on the living room sofa.

“From my agent,” he explains, obediently taking a seat. “And the social media guy with the Centaurs. They have a new one. He’s very, uh, enthusiastic?”

“Now you’ve made me curious.”

“Is nothing, really. He just wants to make a video with me. Like an introduction,” Ilya shrugs before pulling out his phone. “He’s given me the questions in advance and my agent wants me to prepare the answer myself so it’s authentic. I just wanted to— You’re good with these things. You’ll make sure I don’t say something that I shouldn’t.”

Yuna still believes Ilya should hire a publicist, but he’s been very against it anytime she’s brought up the idea. “It makes it look I did something wrong,” he would frown, “and I didn’t. At least, not in this case.” And Shane pointed out that for a publicist to do their job effectively, they would likely have to be told Ilya’s secrets, and neither of them was very excited about revealing them to a paid stranger.

So now Yuna’s sitting at her kitchen table across from Ilya, having to help him prepare for what will be his first interview since leaving the Boston Raiders. He’s been avoiding giving any since the news broke, no matter how much his phone kept ringing.

“So we workshop,” Yuna says with a nod, ready and locked in. “Are there any questions you’re worried about?”

“Harris, that’s the social media guy, said I can reject any that I don’t want to answer, for whatever reason. But maybe I’ll have to answer some that could be tricky?” He grimaces at the last word, his expression filling in all the rest of the context.

He hands her his phone then, with the email app open to the list of questions sent by Harris Drover. Yuna looks through them quickly. Many of them are the standard icebreakers – favorite food, what would you do if you weren’t a hockey player, coffee or tea? Little fun facts about Ilya the person. But there are others that are specific to Ilya Rozanov, the hockey player.

“We are worried about this one, aren’t we?” Yuna asks with a sigh and reads: “Everyone is wondering, what made Ilya Rozanov choose Ottawa?”

Ilya nods. “That’s one of them. I don’t think I can tell Harris to not ask this. I could, but it wouldn’t be good.”

“It would be suspicious.”

“Yeah. And I can’t say I moved closer to my boyfriend.”

“What do you think you could say?” she prompts him. Even without a publicist, Ilya has received media training over the years. He knows how to answer questions without answering them, how to redirect conversations or distract from the topic. She’s sure he has canned personal anecdotes that he can pull out when the occasion calls for it.

“I want to say I had personal reasons and my personal reasons hate being talked about.”

“That would be a very bad answer.”

Ilya groans, dropping his head briefly into his hands. “I know, I’m kidding. I just don’t know why everyone needs to know.”

“Well,” Yuna thinks back to her initial feelings when Ilya revealed his intentions to leave Boston, “it was an unexpected move. People expected you to finish your career in Boston, have your jersey raised to the rafters there, have your number retired with you. Instead you chose to move to a different country, to a much less exciting city, to an underdog team. People naturally wonder. I know you did it for Shane, but—”

“I didn’t,” Ilya interrupts her.

Yuna blinks.

“I didn’t do it for Shane. Was for me. Yes, Shane was a factor, but it isn’t for him. He didn’t ask me to change teams or to move. Was my idea and I did it for me,” he repeats, frowning. “Shane suggested Ottawa because it works best for us and they would definitely want me, but I wanted to change teams. I wanted to come to Canada. Because Shane is here, yes, but that’s only a part.”

Yuna watches him curiously. She can’t remember the last time she’s heard him say so many words at once, or explain the reasoning behind his actions.

“Even if I’m not with Shane, I’m still bisexual,” Ilya continues. “Russia is not so good about that and I’m famous,” he waves his hand and lets her fill in the blanks, behind which she can imagine everything from blackmail to making a public example of him. “I want to be somewhere where that isn’t a problem. Or not as big a problem. And yes, I have a Canadian boyfriend and I want to see him not just three times a year. I want to be boring at home with him even if it’s not summer. So I move closer, but it’s for me. Because long distance sucks for me, too.”

She nods. “I think I understand.”

“Yes. But I can’t say any of that in Harris’ video.” His face brightens slightly a moment later. “Harris wears a rainbow pin,” he says with a tap against the side of his chest, around his Centaurs’ logo, presumably where the social media manager wears his pride pin. 

“Really?” Yuna smiles encouragingly.

“Yes. Is nice.” 

She gets up from the table. “Do you want some pie? We have leftovers,” she offers, because she hasn’t failed to notice that he’s shaken his head first when she asked whether he’s eaten. “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

This time, he accepts her offerings.

In the video, posted to Instagram and cross-posted to all the team’s platforms, Ilya is sitting in his stall in an otherwise empty locker room. He is wearing casual wear, but it includes an Ottawa Centaurs hoodie with the logo prominently displayed on his chest. The interviewer is off-screen, from where he introduces Ilya before asking him the questions.

HD: Everyone is wondering, what made Ilya Rozanov choose Ottawa?
IR: I’m very young. I know my birth year says 1991, but I’m very young, practically teenager, see? And everyone talks about my legacy, my number being retired in the future, things like that. I wake up from a dream of my jersey halfway to the rafters and I think, no, I’m much too young. I have to try a new thing. And Ottawa says: We’d like to try having Ilya Rozanov on the team, and I think great, let’s win a Cup together!

Yuna thinks it’s funny Ilya is framing his move as a quarter-life crisis when in reality, he is working towards settling with his partner. It is, however, the best answer they came up with, and one not entirely untrue. After a long while of pondering and talking in cycles, Ilya groaned that he wanted to hear nothing more about his legacy and retirement when he was still on this side of thirty. The answer was born.

HD: What’s the worst and the best thing about moving to Ottawa?
IR: The worst part is that I’ll have to buy a sensible car. Best is I can buy a new car! And the people. Everyone I’ve met so far has been great.

There are a few inevitable hockey questions, which Ilya responds to with the mix of his usual bravado and the expected emphasis on teamwork. Then the video wraps with a lightning round of random questions, most of which Ilya didn’t feel the need to run by Yuna.

And she should have known better than drinking her coffee while she watches. The spilled liquid is entirely her fault.

HD: You are on a date. What article of clothing would make you leave instantly if worn by the other person?
IR: Eh, I don’t think I’d leave because of clothes. If you’re comfortable and confident about it, I don’t care if you’re wearing a sack of potatoes or a Hollander jersey.

Chapter 6

Chapter Notes

I can't begin to tell you how much your comments mean to me! I'm especially happy that the sack of potatoes joke in the last chapter worked for you. I aim to be very intentional with Ilya's use of language, but being a Slavic ESL speaker myself, it isn't always easy :D

Note on the timeline:
We're in the 2018-2019 season, currently. Shane and Ilya have just recently turned 27. The Centaurs are months away from acquiring Wyatt Hayes and years away from Coach Wiebe, Troy Barrett or Luca Haas.

Yuna has to update her calendar. She’s used the same color-coded system for a decade. Purple for her own appointments, green for David’s, blue for Shane. Dark blue for games, with a little heart for the ones she intends to see in person. Lighter blue for his photoshoots and brand deal meetings. The lightest for when she’d get to see him off the ice and off work, for dinners at home and holidays.

Now she has Ilya to add. 

She has to choose a color. When she thinks of Ilya, Yuna thinks of golden light. Not because he’s a particular ray of sunshine, not at all. Ilya Rozanov is moody, his smiles usually come with an edge. But Yuna’s quiet, serious son lights up around him. Perhaps Ilya isn’t the most sunshine boy, but the warmth comes with him into their home anyway.

Yellow looks awful on her screen, however, so Ilya ends up red on the calendar.

Dark red for games. Lighter shade for when the mess of dates he’s sent her turns into useful calendar entries for his photoshoots and engagements. The lightest for time spent as a family, for Ilya’s visits, and for his birthday. 

Just to be careful, if anyone ever sees her pull up her calendar, his name’s nowhere to be seen. There’s a lot of information she has to hide in notes, or not record at all. It’s frustrating, but such is life.

She goes through the teams’ schedule, the entire season’s worth, and marks every game Motreál will play against Ottawa. With an emoji of two little stars orbiting each other. She’s learned how to add emojis to her calendar and she can be fun, too. 

“We’re going to Shane’s last pre-season game,” she tells David that evening, when he comes home, before he can even put his briefcase away. 

“Any particular reason?” David asks, curious. For someone who has played hockey in his life, he has never been able to match her enthusiasm as a fan. He’d always support Shane, but he only pays as much attention to the league as absolutely necessary. Playing hockey and watching it are very different hobbies for him.

“It’s in Ottawa,” Yuna replies, marking it on the calendar with an additional heart. “And it’s Ilya’s last pre-season game, too.”

They can’t go to all of the games between Montréal and Ottawa. Not without making Shane so worried about public perception he’d go prematurely gray, and he wouldn’t be wrong to be concerned. Nothing will stop Yuna from seeing one or two, however.

Shane scores a hat-trick by the end of the second period.

Ottawa loses 6-2, the last two goals shot into the empty net once their goalie is pulled out of the game. 

The boys are still in the handshake line when opinions start pouring in online.

@puckme7ways: Being from Ottawa, I was excited to see Roz come here. But I feel like I witnessed his hopes and dreams murdered live on ice.
@cents4life_94 replying to @puckme7ways: his and every cents fans in the stands

@marlyraidme: has ottawa won any of their pre-season games? bet rozy has some regrets
@cents4life_94 replying to @marlyraidme: buffalo
@marlyraidme replying to @cents4life_94: 3-2 in ot and then lost to them 3-1 the next game lmao
@ilyasecretwife replying to @marlyraidme: You sore he left Boston, huh?
@marlyraidme replying to @ilyasecretwife: i just think it’s hilarious he thought he could like singlehandedly save ottawa

@ilyasecretwife: C’mon, people. It’s just pre-season. Centaurs have months to turn this around!
@cents4life_94 replying to @ilyasecretwife: let’s start by explaining to kleiner what the goalie’s job is

@meninthecrease_pod: Montreal Metros win their last preseason game, beating the Ottawa Centaurs 6-2 on the Cents’ own ice. 
@meninthecrease_pod: We don’t like to judge who’s a contender in the upcoming season based on preseason performance, but with Ottawa losing 6 of their 7 preseason games, we are placing our bets on who isn’t. 
@meninthecrease_pod: You also have to wonder, what does this mean for the legendary rivalry between Rozanov and Hollander? Is it still rivalry, or is it kicking a man while he’s down? Catch us discuss live tomorrow at 4PM EST.
@marlyraidme replying to @meninthecrease_pod: no were not doing this we are not feeling sorry for that man @ilyarozanov81 chose this

Yuna stops reading. 

Chapter 7

Chapter Notes

I'm sorry about the cliffhanger last chapter! It's nothing bad, I promise.

Yuna is not worried. She isn’t. Shane, familiar with anxiety, shoots her a quick “It’s nothing bad” message before disappearing for the rest of the night, which is alright. She’s gotten used to hours of radio silence when the boys haven’t seen each other for a while.

The next day, though, there’s quiet anticipation at the table.

Brunches are the most difficult to prepare for, in this family. Shane is firmly back on his performance diet, and he’s nibbling on fish and vegetables and wild rice salad, while Ilya could probably live on pancakes and pies. 

It’s not the food that’s the concern, however, not today.

Both of them are more quiet than usual, which is saying something. It’s not the subdued kind of silence of a recent injury, however. Instead, they keep casting glances at each other, waiting for the other to bring up whatever topic they want to discuss.

Yuna’s mind is running wild.

She’s considered everything. From a wedding (it’s much too soon for that) through grandchildren (extremely soon for those, unless an unexpected one pops out from somewhere), all the way to a joint ad campaign (unfortunately, she doesn’t think she’s ever going to get that lucky again). Despite Shane’s reassurance, her mind bounces to the bad things, too. A breakup (she dismisses that instantly; the boys are as in love as ever). A trade (not this time of the year, and besides, Ilya has a no-trade clause set in stone and the Metros wouldn’t give up Shane). A serious illness (no, neither of them looks like he’s freaking out).

“Didn’t you want to talk to me about something?” she asks finally, no subtlety at all.

They look at each other.

Shane clears his throat and says: “Right…”

“Um, yes…” adds Ilya.

Under the table, David squeezes Yuna’s knee. 

Ilya gestures for Shane to start.

“It’s about the charity,” Shane says, and Yuna blinks.

“Oh!” They’ve mentioned the plan to start a charity before, but she has been under the impression that actually starting it was still a year, maybe two, away.

As if reading her mind, which is very much never the case, her son says: “We’ve been thinking about moving up the timeline. We could start operation next summer, if everything goes well.” He puts away his fork and reaches for Ilya’s hand instead, without looking, seemingly without even thinking about it. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think we’d both like being interviewed about something other than hockey.”

“Is not that bad,” Ilya says softly, rubbing his thumb over the back of Shane’s hand in small circles.

As if the Centaur’s goaltender didn’t let in 3 goals on 5 shots in the first ten minutes of yesterday’s game. As if every other headline today wasn’t about what a devastating loss it was for the hockey world that Ilya Rozanov signed with a team that could only ever lose. The media and fans alike are burying Ilya’s prospects to win the Cup ever again before his first season in Ottawa has even begun.

And the articles and tweets that aren’t about what it means for Ilya are about Shane. Is Shane Hollander interesting to watch without a worthy opponent against him?

It was likely only going to get worse as the season progressed.

Given the circumstances, Yuna wants to advice them to wait. Perhaps they don’t need any more attention drawn to them. 

They look so hopeful, though, and between Shane’s serious face and Ilya’s hopeful gaze turned towards him, Yuna wants to do everything to make things work. “Well, if you claim to have been friendly for a while before Ilya moved to Ottawa…”

“Which is not untrue,” Shane says.

Ilya arches a skeptical eyebrow at him. “Define ‘friendly’,” he says, making Shane glare at him and pull his hand out of Ilya’s hold.

Ilya laughs and something in the atmosphere eases. 

“Anyone who’s watched the 2017 All-Star game will believe you’ve been friends for some time,” David says with confidence and receives a smiles from both of them, before the boys turn to each other with a tender look.

It’s moments like this that Yuna’s heart swells with gratitude that she can witness her son be this deeply in love. She’s always hoped to see Shane this comfortable with someone.

"We'll say is something we discussed before," Ilya explains, still gazing at Shane. "Me moving to Ottawa made a good opportunity."

“What we actually wanted to talk to you about,” Shane turns back to Yuna, looking at her very intently. From a boy that rarely meets people’s eyes, that always means something. “Is that, uh, in order to register we need a third director.”

Yuna gasps.

For a moment, she is stunned. 

Shane breaks the eye-contact again.

“We know you’re busy,” Ilya hurries to add, as if he wasn’t currently running between practices, games, travel and house renovations. “You don’t have to do anything except sit in on the annual meeting. Which you do not have to do either, we can write down that you did.” He reaches for Shane’s hand again. “We— We thought it would be fitting. Would be right to have you on board. We name the foundation after my mother,” his gaze flicks to Shane, “so it would be…”

“If you aren’t interested, we’ll understand,” Shane says. “But you were the first person we thought of.”

She pushes her chair back and gets up from the table. “Come here, come here,” she says, her eyes suddenly very wet. 

Her boys are both tall and broad, hugging them both at the same time is complicated, they envelop her in their arms completely. 

“Of course. Of course!” She sounds hoarse even to her own ears. “I’m so honored you asked me. That you would trust me with this. Whatever help you need, I’m here,” she says against’ Shane’s shoulder before stepping back.

Yuna has to wipe her eyes discreetly, but no one comments on it. Especially not Ilya, who is doing the same, turning away from them all to rub the heel of his palm over his eyes.

The truth is, Yuna is touched more than anything.

She can’t remember the last time Shane has requested her involvement with anything. Yuna’s become his brand manager when he was still a teenager and it never changed, but he’s never asked for her help with managing his properties or arranging anything else. He begrudgingly accepted her advice when she offered it, but he liked being independent wherever he could. Ilya accepted her suggestions with gratitude, but rarely reached out for them, with the exception of those interview answers for Ottawa Centaurs’ Instagram. Sometimes, her son will ask her to take a step back. Sometimes she lays awake at night, wondering whether she’s been too pushy.

Today, though…

Today she feels like perhaps she’s been doing something right.

“Does this call for celebratory drinks?” David asks, getting up from the table, too. “I think it does.”

“It’s barely noon, Dad,” Shane huffs.

“So what?” Ilya asks. “In Russia, we have vodka with breakfast.”

“I still have to drive back to Montréal And I don’t drink during season.”

“Or you could go in the morning… And your season doesn’t officially start for another three days.”

David shakes his head, watching the two of them with fond amusement. “Maybe we do celebratory smoothies.”

“Great idea,” Shane says, although it’s anyone’s guess whether he’s being sarcastic, “I’m going to grab the folder…”

He’s already halfway to the entryway, where Ilya’s backpack sits against the wall. Now that Yuna thinks about it, it should have occurred to her to wonder why he’d come to brunch with a whole backpack.

“Shane has whole research folder,” Ilya says, shaking his head but unable to bite back a smile. “Good thing we do not want to do environment charity, we’re killing so many trees for it.”

They end up in the living room. The folder is massive, detailed and well-organized. 

Yuna is deeply proud.

Ilya is very fond. “Shane bought a printer because of it,” he says. “I tell him we’re living in the age of computers. We do not need to use stone tablets like we’re Scott Hunter.”

“Paper is practical. It’s easier to organize,” Shane says.

“Isn’t Scott Hunter involved with charity?” David asks. “Have you asked him for advice?”

“No,” Ilya says, sounding a little petulant.

Shane rolls his eyes. “Ilya has already talked to Hunter civilly this decade. He needs a couple of years to recover.”

“He will think I like him.” 

“He would if he knew how often you bring him up in unrelated conversations,” Shane shakes his head. “Now, can we look at the outline of proposed activities?”

Chapter End Notes

Next time: Ilya's first game in Boston.

Chapter 8

Chapter Notes

Your comments are honestly giving me life. Thank you so much!

Yuna wishes Shane was still a teenage boy who’d message her right after landing. These days, she only knows he is alright on his roadies, because he appears on her screen at game time, and not in the news. 

It’s worse with Ilya. Yuna can message or call her son anytime to ask about his whereabouts, but she doesn’t think she’s earned that same right with his boyfriend yet. She’s not a stranger to Ilya. They’re a family. And yet she doesn’t think she has the right to demand information on his coming and going.

That frustrates her.

Especially today, when Ilya’s first roadie with the Ottawa Centaurs concludes in Boston.

The Montréal Metros arrive from their own roadie that day, already on a winning streak. Shane’s start of the season has been outstanding. He’s collecting points like he wants to leave no doubt who is taking home the MVP award this season.

Yuna and David drive to Motreál to watch Ilya’s game with Shane.

At least Ilya's better at texting than Shane's ever been.

It’s not a good game. 

The Boston fans are booing every time Ilya’s stick touches the puck. Ottawa isn’t playing well, they never do, but Boston doesn’t seem focused on scoring. They’re out for blood. Ilya’s, to be precise.

The Centaurs’ defensemen are doing what they can, but eventually, Carmichael’s elbow connects with Ilya’s face. The stands brace for a fight. It never comes, because Ilya simply lets himself be shoved against the board. When Cliff Marlow pulls his teammate back by his jersey, however, Ilya rewards him with a bloodied grin.

The referee calls a penalty.

Ottawa takes advantage of the four-minute powerplay, at least. Zane Boodram manages to put in a goal that might be ugly, but puts Ottawa in the lead for precisely two minutes and thirteen seconds before Boston’s rookie responds. Ilya scores once, too, but Ottawa’s goaltender lets four pucks fly into his net.

“It’s as if he isn’t even there,” Yuna sighs, when Boston celebrates another goal. The celbration is lukewarm. They’re not really trying. If they were, the score would be even more devastating.

Shane is watching the screen with a frown on his face and his arms crossed on his chest, even quieter than usual.

Marlow still makes Yuna think of the worst injury of Shane’s career, more than a year later, but she pushes down the knot in her throat. It was an accident. Part of the game. 

Despite whatever bitterness she feels against Cliff Marlow, it’s nice to know that someone in Boston is still in Ilya’s corner. Or at least not actively trying to take their frustration out on him.

If she had any doubts about the temperature of Ilya’s mood, the tone of his texts would make it clear. He always jokes around, but he’s usually polite or at least friendly.

Maybe she shouldn’t, but Yuna feels a wave of fondness wash over her. She doesn’t like Ilya’s prickly response, but it’s nice to know he feels comfortable enough in their family to let his messages drip with irritated sarcasm when he feels like it.

And she realizes she’s doing what she told herself she wouldn’t do: she’s pushing and prying and demanding the information about Ilya’s life as if she had any right to it.

But he’s responding.

And now she wants to know whether he has anyone he can trust the way Shane's been able to trust Hayden and J.J.

Chapter End Notes

So much gets worse for Ilya before it gets better...

Chapter 9

Chapter Notes

Montréal and Ottawa are both playing at home for two weeks, so Shane and Ilya manage to squeeze a family dinner into their schedule on a no-game evening.

“Are you okay?” Yuna asks Ilya when he is helping her put away soup bowls and plate the main course. He always offers to help. She’s learned that it’s best to let him; it always seems to brighten up his mood.

He laughs. “Do I look that bad?”

“The game against Boston was rough.”

He shakes his head while carefully arranging steamed vegetables on a plate. “I tell you, it was nothing. They needed to get it out of their system. And they did, we are fine. Carmy unblocked my number to ask me to send medical bills. I tell him I live in Canada now, we have free health care.” He says ‘we’ like he means it. “And it was barely a hit. What medical?”

“It should have been game misconduct,” Yuna puts a piece of grilled salmon on another plate and pushes it towards him for Ilya to complete.

“I’d be offended. I’d fight the ref on that myself. Such light tap!” His gaze is firmly on his tasks. “Boston’s playing here in a few days. The team’s coming over, I’ll buy them pizza. I don’t have a single sofa or anything yet, so they’ll sit on the floor and feel like sleepover. I’ll make them tell ghost stories, maybe. They’ll forget they were ever angry with me.”

“I’d think you’d throw a proper party.”

Ilya shrugs. “Neighbors have small kids. I don’t want them to hate me right away. I don’t want noise complains before I even buy armchairs.” He takes two of the completed plates and heads out of the kitchen. “Besides. I want to see Shane the next day, before he flies to Buffalo. I can’t be too hangover to drive.”

Shane is quiet. Quieter than usual.

At first, Yuna thinks it’s because of hockey, or because of the Boston drama, but suddenly, he sighs and looking at no one says: “I came out to the team.”

Silence falls over the room. Everything goes still.

“Names,” says Ilya, slowly putting down his fork.

Shane frowns at him. “What?”

“Anyone who was shitty,” Ilya explains, his usual warmth disappearing behind a stone-cold mask. “Give me names. I’ll make widows.”

“You can’t kill my teammates!”

A dark, menacing smirk appears on Ilya’s face. “Hard ice, heavy puck, sharp blades. Plenty of ways.”

“Let me rephrase,” Shane crosses his arms, glaring at his boyfriend. “You may not kill my teammates.”

"Maybe just maim a little?”

Shane lets out a long-suffering sigh.

“Was anyone shitty?” Yuna asks. “Because I’d also like names. Not for murder,” she adds when Ilya grins at her and David turns his alarmed face her way. “But if any action is needed…”

Shane shakes his head, more like he’s trying to shake all of this off. “All of you need to calm down. No one’s done anything.” He resumes poking at his salmon with his fork. “They’re not going to throw me a pride parade, but they’re not going to beat their captain up either. I’m just glad to have it off my chest.”

Yuna briefly meets Ilya’s gaze and sees he’s no more contented by Shane words than she is.

“What about you, Ilya?” David asks. “Will you come out to your team?”

Ilya shakes his head. He picks his cutlery back up, still a little tense but trying to resume normal functioning. “I couldn’t come out in Boston. If I come out, then move to Ottawa, then start a foundation with Shane Hollander…” He looks at Shane and shrugs. “They’re stupid, but they’re not that stupid. And I don’t know the Centaurs that well.”

“Would it have been fine, coming out in Boston?” Yuna asks. It would be good information to have, about what the atmosphere is like in various teams. 

“Would have been fine, probably. Boston is a good city for that, and I didn’t let my team be assholes. Not that kind,” he adds when Shane arches an eyebrow at him meaningfully. “Not about this sort of thing. So it probably would have been fine, but hockey is still hockey.”

David nods, then asks: “What about Ottawa?”

“They seem fine. I think they were more worried I’d be the toxic one,” Ilya chuckles. “But it's too early to tell.”

“Didn’t you say the social media manager is gay?” Yuna prompts him.

Ilya brightens. “He is! So much gayer than you,” he tells Shanes gleefully, which Shane responds to with a glare. “He wears pins and everything. It’s wonderful. But he’s very new, too. But I haven’t heard anyone say anything bad.”

“How can he be gayer than me?” Shane complains. “It’s not a competition!”

“Don’t worry, kotenok,” Ilya pats Shane’s cheek, which only makes Shane’s brows knit further. “I know you’re super gay.”

“Alright,” Yuna clears her throat. “Let’s finish the food. I believe Ilya brought dessert.”

Chapter End Notes

If you haven't read it yet, there's an Ilya POV chapter about him and Marly after the Boston game: And I could give you my apologies.

On an unrelated note, someone needs to save me from all the plot bunnies that are coming after me. I have ideas for at least 3 different AUs and I can't be trusted with them.

Chapter 10

Chapter Notes

The first game Yuna and David go to following Shane’s coming out to the team is a home game against Washington. On the way to Montréal, the usual thrill is replaced by quiet tension.

“I don’t know why I’m nervous,” Yuna admits, fingers clenching around the handbag in her lap. “They are not going to do anything to compromise their chances at winning.”

It’s a sickening thought. The idea that Shane’s teammates might quietly tolerate him on the ice for a chance at victory rather than love him because he deserves it.

“We don’t know that they have any issues with him at all,” David says softly and briefly takes his hand off the steering wheel to put it over Yuna’s tense hands.

“You saw how quiet he was.”

Yuna has always worried about her son. When he was a little boy on the ice, when he was a young man constantly on planes and getting dragged to parties, when he was in a hospital. When she realized he was not only gay, but deeply and irreversibly in love with his rival.

These are the worries that trouble her the most. The ones she can’t spreadsheet her way out of.

“Scott Hunter is doing a campaign with Pride Tape,” she says. “And he has a new collaboration with—“

“Yuna,” David interrupts her, gentle but firm. “Shane said not to reach out to brands.”

“I know,” she sighs and no one else needs to know that there is a file folder on an external harddrive that’s full of pitches. It pays to be prepared if things suddenly change. “I just mean that Scott Hunter is out and not at all quiet about it. And I’ve heard nothing but support from his teammates.”

“That’s good.”

“The comments under his post are a minefield, though,” she frowns. “He really ought to hire a better social media manager to moderate them.”

She thinks about that sort of abuse leveled at her son, so quiet and earnest about everything. Shane takes everything so seriously and so personally.

Yuna clenches her bag harder.

As always, they sit near Jackie Pike in the family section. Jackie is Yuna’s favorite Montréal WAG, a genuinely nice, down-to-earth woman. Shane is lucky to count her among his friends.

Once upon a time, Yuna hoped for someone like that for her son. A girl willing to cook his healthy food and cheer for him at games. But Yuna is the last one to complain about the boy he brought home instead.

She just can’t sit next to that boy at a game, because Ilya is in Ottawa playing his own game against Buffalo. So Yuna sits next to Jackie and her eldest daughters. 

Ruby and Jade have their hair pulled into pigtails and both are wearing Montréal jerseys. It’s not until they jump up to cheer a goal (Shane’s, off a Hayden Pike assist) that Yuna notices: only one of the girls has a Pike jersey. The other one is wearing number 24.

“We can’t get two Hollander jerseys in the right size on a short notice, they’re always sold out,” Jackie leans in to whisper when she notices Yuna looking. “So they’ve been swapping.” She’s loyally wearing a Pike jersey herself. “But we are Shane’s biggest fans.”

Yuna smiles at her. “He’s been playing well, hasn’t he?”

“He’s been playing like he’s got something to prove,” Jackie replies, voice low, only for Yuna to hear. “But he shouldn’t have to.” 

“He shouldn’t,” Yuna’s heart aches.

After a little while, in between helping one of the twins open a candy wrapper, she says: “If you ever need a babysitter, I think I still remember a thing or two about childcare.”

Chapter End Notes

Hayden has all autocorrect options turned off because he kept not checking the autocorrected versions and sent people too much nonsense.

If you're willing to trust me with another WiP, I have a canon-divergent AU in the works: nowhere to go but on

And an alternative take on Ilya and Cliff Marlow's friendship here: best man code

Chapter 11

Ilya has been living in Ottawa for a handful of months and he and Shane have visited several times during that time. However, Yuna and David haven’t yet succeeded in getting Ilya to come over on his own.

“Maybe he doesn’t want to hear about how the Centaurs need to solve their goalie situation,” David says one evening when Yuna has been thinking out loud about how to get the boy to come to dinner.

“Well, they do need to do that,” she huffs, because the team’s starting goalie is completely useless. “I’m not sure Kleiner knows what a puck is. He sure as fuck isn’t stopping it often enough.”

“And I suspect Ilya’s already aware of that,” David says gently, rubbing her shoulder.

Yuna sighs.

Ilya never complains about his team. Not in his texts, not during the boys’ visits. He tells them Boodram is reliable and a great cook, that Dykstra has awful music taste, and that Nick Chouinard mysteriously always has a minimum of three open chewing gum packets on his person at any given time, but Ilya practically never mentions hockey.

“Did Ilya tell you I talk about hockey too much?”

David sits down next to her on the sofa and refills her wine. “When would he have said that?”

“You text,” Yuna points out, because she knows her husband’s communication with their newest family member is much more frequent than hers. “Did he say anything? Am I making him uncomfortable?”

“Oh. He didn’t say anything like that,” David says, soft and soothing. “Look.”

He takes out his phone and hands it to her. Recently, he’s finally got a passcode for it, somewhere between Yuna’s urging and his job’s cybersecurity requirements. It’s Shane’s birthday, though, so there’s still room for improvement.

The texting thread with Ilya is one of his most recent conversations, slotted between a text notification about a phone bill and a message from a coworker. When Yuna opens it, she quickly finds out that Ilya has not complained about her at all.

He hasn’t said anything at all.

The conversation between her husband and their son’s boyfriend is a continuous thread of exchanged links and images. Recipes from around the internet. Pictures of crossword clues and solved Sudoku puzzles. The most random photos of the sky, nameless streets and various food. Each message is diligently reacted to: a thumbs-up emoji, a heart, occasionally a shocked face. There is, however, not a single word anywhere, even though Yuna scrolls up a few weeks just out of sheer curiosity and bafflement.

She sees Ilya sends as many messages as he gets back so it’s not a lack of interest to communicate. They are just speaking a language she doesn’t fully understand.

It doesn’t help her in her plan to make Ilya visit them more often, but it’s very sweet.

In the end, it’s Ilya who invites them first.

“It looks beautiful,” she observes, looking around the room with a large mounted TV and stylish seating. His house is still not fully furnished and apparently some parts of it upstairs are still lacking floors or paint, but he is no longer stuck in a hotel room.

Ilya grins. “I still need to decorate, but I can actually have people here now. Not just hockey players.” He’s setting up the TV so they can watch the Metros win their next game. “Shane picked the sofa. Turns out, all I needed to do was to send him picture of obviously wrong one. He has very strong opinions about furniture. I am never getting to choose a single piece of furniture ever again.”

It’s the happiest he’s ever sounded.

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Ilya’s helping her clean up the kitchen, because that’s his task now whenever he visits. He’s taking things out of the dishwasher, while Yuna packs him leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch. Although him coming over without Shane is fairly new, his presence in their kitchen is familiar. He puts things in their right spot without having to ask.

“Will you be having dinner with us this weekend?” Yuna asks, because she knows Ottawa doesn’t have a roadie scheduled for another week. Neither does Montréal, so she adds: “Maybe with Shane, too?”

Lately, she’s seen more of Ilya Rozanov than of her biological son. Not that she’s complaining about having Ilya here, but it’d be nice to have them both. She’s never had hoarding tendencies, but she wants to collect every moment with her family she can get. Sometimes, it feels like they’ve already missed out on so much time.

To her disappointment, Ilya shakes his head. “I have to drive to Montréal,” he says with much less enthusiasm than Yuna would expect. “My boyfriend wants me to have dinner with the Pikes.”

“I thought he might have told Hayden about you,” Yuna said, remembering her last exchange with Hayden Pike. He didn’t sound excited about Ilya Rozanov, but at least he has been supportive of Shane. She is sure that given the opportunity to get to know Ilya, he’ll love him as much as the rest of Shane’s family already does.

“Shane’s terrible liar,” Ilya says, putting away the last little bowl before leaning against the counter. “He tells Pike: I’m not going to Ottawa and not meeting with my secret lover, who is definitely not Ilya Rozanov of the Ottawa Centaurs. And he expects Pike to believe that.”

“I thought you’ve been promoted to a secret boyfriend?”

Ilya chuckles. He doesn't look very relaxed, however.

“The Pikes have been very good to Shane,” Yuna says softly. Sometimes, she dreads to imagine what would have happened to Shane in the hockey world without someone like Hayden Pike steadily by his side. “His entire career, but especially now that he’s come out to the team. The Pike kids have a Hollander jersey they proudly wear to games.”

Ilya shrugs. “Well, their other option is Pike’s, so…” He shifts his gaze away from her, rubbing his nose.

He looks like a petulant child.

“Quit it,” she tells him. “Hayden’s a decent player.”

He’s not as good as Shane, because few people are, but he’s leading the Montréal Metros in assists. There’s a reason he’s Shane Hollander’s linemate: he can keep up with him on the ice, and pass the puck to him at the exact right moment. They make a good team.

“Nowhere as good as Shane,” mutters Ilya.

“Who is?”

“Sometimes I get close.”

Yuna types: I think I'm having a panic attack thinking about it.

She never sends it.

Chapter 14

Chapter Notes

A portion of this chapter is a rewrite of a scene from the epilogue to Heated Rivalry. A little bit (what Ilya says during the conference) is a direct quote, because I didn't want to leave it out and I wasn't going to word it better.

CW: Mention of Irina Rozanova's suicide

And then there they are, in mid-December, Yuna’s boys seated at a table in front of a room full of curious reporters.

The press conference is scheduled for a day after a game between the Montréal Metros and the Ottawa Centaurs, taking advantage of the boys being in the same city. Ilya’s face still bears a bruise from the previous day. Yuna made an attempt to cover it up for him, but it didn’t help much.

“Doesn’t matter,” he laughed when she gave up. “I’ve reputation to uphold, anyway.”

“Do I even want to know what you said to earn it?” Yuna asked, but Ilya only shook his head.

“I also have a reputation with you I don’t want to ruin.”

Now, Shane and Ilya are both wearing Irina Foundation t-shirts under their suit jackets, Shane in black under a gray suit and Ilya in white under a black one. Yuna notices Ilya adjusting the flaps of his jacket to ensure the logo is clearly visible.

She’s had the first few branded t-shirts delivered to her house, so she had the opportunity to witness the boys unpacking them. There’s a photo somewhere on her phone of Ilya touching the bold letters of his mother’s name with reverence. That picture is not for the media.

She’s standing in a far corner of the room, away from the cameras. Hayden Pike’s beside her, brows knitted together, and he looks almost as nervous as if he was giving a press conference himself.

Yuna is used to seeing Shane switch between who he is in private, her quiet, focused and somewhat socially awkward son, and his media-trained persona of the modestly charming Montréal Metros captain. She’s also used to seeing the way Ilya portrays himself. However, she’s grown accustomed to Ilya as he is at home: always funny with an undeniably bitchy side, but polite and gentle. Now, she notes the way he transforms for public consumption: the way he speaks in a lower register and the way he postures. He’s not a small man by any means, but he holds himself in a manner that makes him appear even larger. Today, he has his serious face on, not his signature cocky smirk, but he’s still much more Ilya Rozanov the Hockey Legend than he is Ilya, Yuna’s son’s sweet boyfriend who helps her clean the kitchen and solves puzzles with David.

They are sitting much further apart than they ever would at home, within reach from each other and yet so far apart.

Shane reads the words they’ve written and rewritten until they were perfect.

Tonight, the story of a lifelong rivalry transforms into a tale of mutual respect and off-ice friendship. “I consider Ilya Rozanov a friend,” is one of his practiced lines and he manages to say it with a straight face, but Yuna still hears Hayden beside her take in a sharp breath as he battles a chuckle.

Some of the reporters also look skeptical, but perhaps for different reasons.

Yuna can tell there will be speculation later, but she highly doubts anyone will guess correctly. Not any of the newslets that want to remain reputable, anyway.

Watching her son’s calm and professional delivery, in English and in French both, pride swells in Yuna’s chest.

She feels the same when Ilya clears his throat and leans towards his microphone.

He starts with a light joke, making the room laugh as easily as he always does.
Then, he goes off-script.

“I want to say that the Irina Foundation is named for my mother,” he explains. “She battled depression without help for many years. She had no support, no medical treatment.”

Yuna’s heart clenches. She’s known this, Shane has told her about it with Ilya’s permission when they invited her to work with them. Still, it’s something else to hear it said in Ilya’s voice.

“When she…” his voice wavers.

Without thinking, Yuna places her arm around Hayden, because otherwise she might cross the room and hug the boy her family has grown to love. Now that would be something for the press to talk about.

Fortunately, she has more self-control than that.

And Shane has it covered, anyway.

His gaze firmly on Ilya since Ilya began talking, Shane reaches out and puts his hand on Ilya’s forearm. A gesture of friendly support, to uninformed eyes. Ilya looks at his boyfriend briefly, just for a split second.

Then he turns back to his audience. He speaks with more emotion than any of these people has probably ever heard from him: “My mother died when I was twelve years old. She lost her battle. This foundation is for her. It is to help people like her, so they do not have to fight alone.”

Ilya lowers his eyes to the table, and audibly sniffs. He’s not crying, but only just.

Yuna dabs one hand over her own eyes, careful to not smudge her mascara.

For a moment, the room is completely, utterly silent. Not one is even typing, even that much of a sound would be too loud in the charged atmosphere.

Then Shane breaks the silence. “Thank you, Ilya,” he says, more softly than he normally speaks in public.

A moment later he is back on track, talking about the structure of the hockey camps they are planning and the organizations they wish to support with the proceeds. He sounds much more collected than he must feel.

Yuna knows her own heart aches.

She does, however, let go of Hayden in time for Shane’s gaze to find her as he turns his attention her way. He says: “I would also like to introduce the director and treasurer of the Irina Foundation, Yuna Hollander. Thank you for accepting this position, Mom, I think I speak for both of us when I say we couldn’t imagine anyone better suited for it.”

It’s a little strange, to hear her son talk about her with what sounds like pride.

It’s also a very nice feeling.

Ilya adds, so quietly that the microphone barely picks his voice up: “Felt right.”

They wrap the press conference up with the remaining necessary info, then quickly leave the room.

“They’re so obvious,” Hayden mutters, shaking his head.

“Only if you know what you’re looking at,” Yuna says, hoping she’s right.

As she prepares to field the information from the public once questions start pouring in through their website’s contact form, she does two things on her phone she’s wanted to do for over a year:

She changes her lockscreen image. Now it shows a selfie of her and the boys, Shane and Ilya standing on each side of her, all three of them wearing the foundation logo on their chests.

And she updates her contact list.

Chapter 15

Chapter Notes

I'm so happy you enjoyed last chapter! Thank you so much for all your kind comments ❤️

Writing chronologically means you get a Christmas chapter on Easter. Enjoy?

“I realised I’m not a baker,” Ilya says, when he carries in a basket of store-bought pies into their kitchen on Christmas Day. “And my boyfriend hates Christmas joy anyway.”

“I don’t eat sugar,” Shanes calls from the hallway, still unwrapping himself from a scarf. “Or coal.”

“They weren’t that burnt!” Ilya protests indignantly. This year, he’s wearing the ugliest Christmas sweater Yuna has ever seen. It is striped in red and black with Santa playing hockey on the chest.

“You tried to feed me a tray full of sweetened coal.” Shane walks in. He’s dressed in something soft, gray and not seasonally-themed, but so nice it had to have been chosen by his stylist. “On Christmas.”

“Don’t worry, son,” David says, clasping Ilya’s shoulder. “I don’t really bake either. I’ll cook, but I’m happy to leave most of the baking to Yuna.”

Ilya sighs. “Is because cooking is art, but baking is science.”

“It’s because you’re allergic to following a recipe,” Shane says. “And because you refuse to read the manual to your oven.”

“Is an oven! The manual is the size of War and Peace!”

“I watched the game against Washington,” Yuna tells Ilya later, when they’re sitting in the living room, presents unwrapped and food eaten, and some random Christmas movie is playing on the TV. “Hayes is really good.”

Ilya nods. “Coach is making him our starting goalie permanently,” he says. “Kleiner is not happy about that, but I think he wants to retire anyway, so…” He shrugs.

“And Young’s passes also improved,” Yuna continues, recalling how much Ottawa’s rookie struggled in the beginning of the season.

“Yeah, he’s working hard. A good kid.” Ilya smiles, then shakes his head. “But, ah, I don’t think I should be discussing team strategies with Montréal people.”

Yuna laughs and shakes her head. “I’m not going to tell Shane anything relevant,” she says, as if Shane wasn’t sitting on Ilya’s other side with Ilya’s hand on his knee.

“You don’t understand how Shane’s brain works,” Ilya says, ignoring the sideways glance his boyfriend gives him. “You let something slip, like you tell him it’s Dykstra’s mother’s birthday in two days, and he’ll somehow figure out the whole defense strategy from that.”

Shane opens his mouth. He looks like he wants to explain exactly how that piece of information would influence his understanding of the game, but then he just shakes his head and refocuses on the movie, like he won’t dignify Ilya’s remark with a reaction. As if he actually cared about the film’s plot, when Yuna knows for a fact he only ever willingly watches action movies and documentaries.

“He does have the highest hockey IQ in the league,” Yuna chuckles and is rewarded with a pleased grin from Ilya, like he can’t help but be proud of his boyfriend even if his boyfriend’s team is constantly beating his own.

They’re quiet for some time, before Yuna tells Ilya: “It’s a shame you’re both away for New Year’s. Growing up, New Year’s was a much more important holiday than Christmas.”

Ilya is silent for a moment, then he nods. “In my family, too. New Year’s was the big one.”

“You know, I looked at your schedules and you’ll be back from your roadies and neither of you has a game on the 7th,” Yuna points out. “Did you maybe want to do something?”

He smiles his shy smile, the one that looks almost startled. “I don’t know, might be silly to celebrate twice.”

“Maybe we can at least look at that oven of yours, when you’re back in Ottawa. You did promise me Christmas baking last year.”

“I did, didn’t I? I guess we do need to do that, then.”

His smile brightens, and Yuna ruffles his hair before pretending she cares about the movie.

“Did you use to bake with your Mom?” Yuna asks cautiously when they are standing in Ilya’s recently finished kitchen, where half of the appliances still smell of newness. She worries about bringing up sensitive topics, but she’s also curious and it’s so rare for Ilya to open up.

It’s January 5 and Shane isn’t coming to Ottawa until after his game the next day. In the end, Yuna and David have agreed to leave the actual free day to the boys to spend together without parental interference, but Ilya is keeping up his side of the agreement to bake together.

He looks up from the recipe on his tablet, which lays on the counter. “When I was very little. Later she…” He frowns. “Every weekend, she baked, even when she didn’t feel like it. Even when she already had much to do. She never asked us to help. With anything. Even Alexei, even though he was older. Sixteen already, when she…”

His voice wavers and he trails off. After glancing at the recipe again, he pulls out the measuring cups and Yuna thinks the topic is closed.

But then he says: “I used to think was normal. That Mom did everything around the house. The chores, the cooking, us and all the things. Polina, my stepmother, she had hired help to come clean. I have a lady who comes clean the house. But Mom did everything, all the time.” He is staring at the measuring cups like they’ve personally hurt him. “And I thought it is normal. I should have helped out more.”

Yuna’s heart is breaking for the young man in a silly apron. Sometimes she looks at him and sees just a boy, someone who should be taken care of.

She reaches out and rubs his back. “You were a child, Ilya. And you already had so much on your plate.” She’s raised a hockey player; she knows what their lives are like when they are preteens.

“Still. Is not okay it was all up to her.”

She doesn’t know how to put into words that it wasn’t his problem to fix, but that it’s a good thing he’s aware of the problem in retrospect, so for a moment, she just stands there, patting his back. “You know,” she says eventually, dropping her hand and stepping away to compare the recipe’s list of ingredients with the things set out on the counter. “My mother was horrified when she found out David cooks. She thought he would leave me if I let him do it, even though he enjoys it more than I do. He’a changed a lot more diapers than I’ve ever done, too, but please don’t mention to Shane I’d ever brought that up.”

That startles a laugh out of Ilya, which Yuna considers a victory.

“Shane and I have been cooking together,” he says softly. “When we have the time. Because of his diet at first, but also is just nice. To do something together that’s not gym and stuff.”

Yuna comes home with a box full of pryaniki, decorated with glaze and nuts and candied citrus peel like Irina Rozanova used to make them, and another of cookies rolled in more powdered sugar than Yuna’s son had eaten in his entire life. They’ve only burned one tray-full and then made too many cookies successfully, but Ilya intends to off-load them on his ever-hungry teammates and the Ottawa Centaurs’ staff.

The next day, he sends her a message:

Yuna saves the image to her external drive, to the folder simply titled “Shane 💙” where she puts all the photos Ilya has been sending her, the ones he can’t keep on his phone.

Chapter End Notes

I have many headcanons when it comes to Irina, but Ilya was going to open up only so much.

Chapter 16

Chapter Notes

I can see the formatting isn't working properly (on previous chapters, too), but I don't know why...
Hopefully it's readable until I figure out a solution.
(It shows up okay on my phone but not on my computer so maybe a browser issue?)

@therealilyarozanov on Instagram

gorgeous and charitable @theirinafoundation @sportsillustrated @shanehollanderhockeyplayer

[a photo from the Sports Illustrated article’s photoshoot. Ilya is wearing a white suit jacket over a black dress shirt, Shane is in a dark gray suit with a white t-shirt underneath. Shane is facing forward, Ilya’s body is tilted slightly towards Shane’s.]

@svetlana_vetrova so gorgeous. И ты тоже хорошо выглядишь.

Chapter End Notes

И ты тоже хорошо выглядишь. - And you look good, too.

Chapter 17

Chapter Notes

This chapter contains spoilers for Tough Guy. Small ones, but if you haven't read the book and intend to (you should, I love it!), maybe you'll want to skip this one for now.
---
CW: minor character death, suicide, addiction

Chapter End Notes

I know last chapter I blue-balled you by not giving you a swimsuit photoshoot, but I don't think even Yuna and Ilya's combined powers could persuade Shane that a joint swimsuit photoshoot would be a good idea. When they are married, though... 😜

Chapter 18

Chapter Notes

Shane buys a new house, too. That doesn’t come as a surprise; architecture might be Shane’s only hobby not related to hockey. What is new is that the first time Yuna hears about it, Ilya has already visited the place.

The Montréal house has a lot more personality than the apartment ever did. It’s not quite as nice as the one Ilya bought in Ottawa, and much less impressive than Shane’s cottage, but it’s a step up from the luxurious but hotel-like condo. It offers privacy and plenty of space.

"What happens with the apartment?" Yuna asks the day they're helping Shane move in properly. All big items have been transported by movers, to protect Shane's body that is his professional asset, but there are boxes of nick-nacks that need to find their place on the shelves.

"I haven't decided yet," Shane admits. They are standing in his new living room, and Yuna thinks that this time, his place is actually starting to look like somewhere a person can live, not just sleep after a long practice or a grueling game. "I don't think I want to sell it, but I probably won't be using it either. I thought I might at first, because it's close to the rink…"

He trails off for a second and Yuna decides to tactfully pretend she can't tell it's because his eyes are following Ilya, who's walking past with a box full of kitchenware. For her own sanity, she represses the knowledge that Shane's distraction is related to the deep cut of his boyfriend muscle tee.

"You can rent it to me," Ilya throws over his shoulder. "When we're doing the camp in Montréal in summer."

Yuna lifts an eyebrow while Ilya sets the box down onto the kitchen island and cuts it open. "Isn't the whole point of this house that you can stay here when you are in town?"

She knows that for all his teasing, Ilya is glad to have an easier way to visit Shane that doesn't require waiting for the darkness and sneaking in through the back entrance.

"It'd just be for appearances, if anyone asks," Shane explains. "We agreed Ilya would get a hotel while we run the camp. At least this first year."

"People might believe we're friends," Ilya says as he pulls glasses out of the box and lines them up on a shelf. The fact that Shane allows him to do so without hovering over him says a lot. "Or willing to do friendly PR, whatever. But they're not ready to believe we're the sort of friends who stay at each other's houses." He grins at Shane. "If only they knew, right?"

Shane blushes. "The only people who would believe it are the ones who might be, maybe, a little too intense."

Ilya snorts. "Shane finds it terrifying there are people on the internet that think we're in love. Like five of them, but they exist. I think is funny, because not even they believe it, really." He walks around the island to get closer to them and wraps his arms around Shane's waist. "Shows what people know." He kisses Shane's cheek before releasing him.

It's clearly a move engineered to fluster Shane and distract him from wherever his mind is headed, and it works.

"Do you want to pick a guest room now?" Shane asks Yuna when he's collected himself. "There are two, I think you'd want to have a choice. You'll be staying with us during the Montréal portion of the camp, right?"

The hockey camps are approaching fast. The hockey season has not yet ended, but Yuna is already collecting applications from parents who want their kids to train with the best of the best this summer. The limited spots are filling up fast for both locations. They already wish they could open the camp up to more kids, but there is only so much capacity they actually have given the number of volunteer coaches they've secured and the time they have available. A week in Montréal, a week in Ottawa.

Yuna agrees to take a look at the bedrooms and Ilya returns to unpacking boxes.

"We're sorting the books by color, right?" he calls after Shane and cackles gleefully when Shane gives him a horrified look.

Chapter End Notes

If you haven't seen my silly little ficlet about the tuna melt day going a little better, I invite you to read Toothbrush.

Chapter 19

Chapter Notes

I don't think I realized how long this story would be... We're currently still two years away from the end of The Long Game.
I hope you're enjoying the ride.
Thank you so much for all your comments, they make me happier than I can ever express.

The Ottawa Centaurs don't make the playoffs. Yuna can't say she's pleased by that, but she's not surprised either and it does have the added benefit of Ilya having a lot of free time suddenly. Shane is still playing, busy with the first round of playoffs, so Ilya is around a lot.

He visits almost every day. Mostly because Yuna is using the excuse of the camp preparations to lure him in, only to feed him and coddle him a little when he's already at her house. And as it turns out, he is very useful.

Ilya throws himself into the work. He'll never be someone to make cute schedules in Canva, but he is the one to remind everyone that those schedules should include breaks. "Kids need snack breaks," he says, "and maybe we should provide snacks? If parents forget to pack." He's also happy to make calls to suppliers regarding equipment so that Yuna can focus on handling the parents.

And he puts himself in charge of the volunteer coaching staff. Listening to him make phone calls from her living room, Yuna suddenly understands what makes him a good captain. He's not just a good player. He is in fact a good leader. When the coaches give him vague promises about filling out their forms sometime this week, he is strict with them. When they are unsure about what value they might bring to the camp, he is kind and encouraging. And he's even patient when they need help filling out their paperwork, walking them through it step by step with minimum teasing.

Minimum. Not none.

Ilya sighs heavily. "Will Pike learn to read by the end of the playoffs, you think?"

Yuna shakes her head. "Be nice. Hayden's been a very good friend to Shane and he needs that."

Ilya rolls his eyes. "Pike acts like I will seduce his wife away from him if I talk to her about paperwork. Has he seen my boyfriend? If I want to seduce someone with paperwork, it will not be Jackie Pike. Mrs. Pike is lovely, but I have give up all lovely women to gaze at Shane's freckles instead."

For a moment, Yuna stares at him, trying to decipher his tone. Finally, she says: "I think it's time to ask David whether he has dinner for us."

She'll call Jackie later. Somehow, she suspects it'll be more fruitful than waiting for Hayden to be finished with the playoffs, anyway. He has the air of someone whose marriage ensures he never has to remember his clothing size or allergies.

Chapter End Notes

Normally, Shane would be the first one to be on Hayden's case about paperwork, but... playoffs.

Chapter 20

The Montréal Metros don't win the cup that year and the season ends for Shane, too. He and Ilya spend a handful of weeks at the cottage, emerging occasionally to have a meal with Yuna and David. The family group chat consisted mostly of "we'll be over at 5" and "what should we bring" and "we're leaving the house now, see you soon". Then it's time for the first camp.

Dressed in their gray camp director polos, they keep polite distance from each other. Yuna doesn't know how it looks to untrained eyes, but to her, it is obvious how much effort it costs.

Ilya's eyes stay on Shane until he has no other choice but to look elsewhere. He will stand on the opposite end of the room, but his gaze will find Shane and glue itself to him. There's longing in it, like every inch of separation between them is a source of physical ache. He only stops looking when something demands his immediate attention.

Shane's different but no more subtle. He turns away from his boyfriend physically, so much so that Yuna is starting to worry what it'll do to his spine. His head is always turned slightly to one side, shoulders tilted away from Ilya just so. It looks as intentional as it is, although Yuna worries a little it'll add to the general opinion that the boys' friendship is nothing but a PR stunt.

Not that it matters much, for now. Important is that people signed their kids up for the camp, that the camp runs smoothly and the kids have fun while learning something, and that the money goes to good causes.

She takes her camera and snaps pictures of the the camp coaches together, still in their polos printed with the Game Changers Hockey Camp logos.

Yuna nags Ilya and Shane into a photo together. The first one is stiff and awkward, the second and third picture is them struggling not to laugh. She knows that no matter how ridiculous the photos, they will be important one day. When they look back and there are so few pictures of them from this time. There are already too few from the years before now.

And selfishly, she wants something to frame in her office.

So she keeps her camera around, along with her phone always being ready, the entire day. There's much else to do. Officially, Yuna Hollander is the foundation's finance director, but the operation is small, they all have to do a little bit of everything. She is fielding questions and phone calls from the parents, accepting last minute equipment deliveries while the coaches give instructions and change into hockey gear, and she is also on the phone with the press.

The big news agencies and sports media just want her perfectly crafted press releases and a few pictures from her camera, which they'll supplement with material from their own archives. The smaller local press, however, shows interest in a personal visit.

They'll come later in the week to take professional photos and write articles of hockey stars training the next generation. It'll be a half of the real story.

It could never include the evening, when the boys crash on the sofa at Shane's Montréal house, exhausted like they've just played three overtimes in Game 7 at playoffs, laughing quietly, and Yuna takes their meal delivery orders because no one can be expected to cook tonight. Shane's head rests on Ilya's shoulder and Ilya has an arm around him, thumb caressing the shell of Shane's ear.

Yuna snaps a quick picture. She has transferred it to her secure hard drive by the time the food arrives.

Chapter 21

Chapter Notes

The summer flies by. The camps go well, the rest of the offseason is packed with the usual number of engagements and brief moments of free time. New season rolls in before they can blink an eye.

The Montréal Metros are playing amazingly. Whatever tension there was last year, they've put it behind them well enough to work together on the ice. Their style of play is best described as "supporting Shane Hollander in what he does best," and when they execute it, it works splendidly. Shane is scoring goals, the Metros are winning. The other teams rarely hold puck long enough for Drapeau's mediocrity in the net to become an issue.

The Ottawa Centaurs… well, they play. There's some improvement since the previous season. Zane Boodram, one of the first line wingers with an A on his jersey, is keeping up with Ilya quite well. Tanner Dillon on the other hang…

Yuna knows that the boys are just joking around. She's met Wyatt Hayes when he coached the camps in summer and he's a great guy, and also completely devoted to his wife. He's a regular at the children's hospital, entertaining the young patients in his free time. When the other Centaurs join his mission, their social media replies fill with grateful parents.

She's happy Ilya has people on the team he likes.

Despite the Centaurs having more losing streaks than winning ones, at least the atmosphere in the room seems good.

Chapter End Notes

If Wyatt Hayes has no fans, I'm dead.
In other news, only a few chapters until we get Luca and Coach Wiebe!

Chapter 22

Chapter Notes

This chapter could be considered to contain spoilers for Common Goal.

Suddenly it's November.

They joke about Ilya's non-reaction to the engagement, but Yuna starts to wonder whether she ought to be worried.

It's unusual for Ilya to not make fun of a situation, any situation, and it's also very unusual for him to stay quiet about things related to Scott Hunter. So much so that Yuna wonders if he indeed has a lowkey celebrity crush on the man. Not a real one, not the kind that turns into love and makes you move across a border and sell most of your sportscars. Just the kind that makes you pay a little more attention and hide attraction behind relentless teasing.

And now the biggest Scott Hunter news since his Stanley Cup comes out and Ilya is suspiciously quiet.

"Do you think they'll ever get married?" David asks her over dinner. They are eating alone tonight, both their boys are on road trips.

"Well, they're already engaged, so…"

"I meant Shane," David corrects gently. "And Ilya."

Yuna thinks about it.

Sometimes, it feels like they are as good as married already. During the week she spent at Shane's house in summer, it was easy to forget that their relationship was two years of long-distance dating added on top of almost a decade of vaguely-defined sneaking around. They moved so easily around each other. They fit so well.

"They are so good with kids," she sighs now, thinking about the photo framed in her office now: a picture of Shane and Ilya surrounded by their first group of camp-goers.

It's a bittersweet thought. Yuna's always worried about Shane being alone, about what would fill his life when he wasn't playing hockey anymore, when he didn't have parents one day either. That's why she's always pushed him towards relationships. At the same time, she has never expected him to be one of the hockey guys who married in their early twenties. She barely expected grandchildren at all. But she had, on occasion, imagined taking grandchildren to watch their father play.

And now he is in a relationship.

And grandchildren seem further away than ever.

"But they still have so many years of good hockey ahead of them," she says, forcing lightness into her tone, because a wedding is out of question right now when it comes to Shane's ten-year plan. Even after coming out to his teammates, a word of which must be spreading inside the league, he won't let her discuss related opportunities with brands. "Let's focus on supporting them in that."

David smiles. "Some of the guys from work want to go to a game. I said I'd go with."

Yuna knows without having to ask that Ilya will be happy to have him there. Even when David definitely can't wear the Rozanov jersey Ilya had gifted him for a recent birthday.

Yuna sees him send an "At least we don't have that problem" message and delete it so swiftly she doesn't have time to evaluate the levels of sarcasm.

Chapter 23

Chapter Notes

This chapter could also be considered spoilery for Common Goal.
---
I skipped over Christmas for this season, because I've already written two Christmases for this universe and we'll have a lot to cover for Christmas next season.

@therealilyarozanov on Instagram

love the allstar week! I get to hang out with this beauty and maybe play some hockey

[Picture 1: photo of Ilya and Cliff Marlow at the hotel bar at All-Star; Ilya has an arm around Cliff's shoulders and their cheeks are squished together
Picture 2: photo of Ilya and Cliff Marlow; Ilya's pretending to take a bite out of Marlow's face, Marlow's girlfriend is also in the frame, trying not to laugh]

Chapter End Notes

Ilya's a menace.
His struggle with the word is my struggle. I can never remember how it's spelled. I swear some English words are designed to trap ESL speakers.

Chapter 24

Recently, when the Ottawa Centaurs' season ended, their coach went on to a public tirade about the fact that the team was very comfortable with losing. If his words were to be believed, the players didn't care whether the team excelled or not and felt no shame about their long losing streaks. While Yuna didn't know whether it was a correct assessment of the team, she felt that the coach would do better to keep his opinion to himself and fix whatever morale issue he found rather than rant about it.

Besides, from where she stood, it seemed that the team's struggles had far less to do with attitude and were far more related to the office's reluctance to invest in good players. Even after acquiring Ilya Rozanov, who was far from cheap, the team was well below their salary cap and so far, they had made no moves to take advange of it. She hoped they wouldn't squander their draft this year, at the very least.

@theirinafoundation on Instagram

Congratulations to one of our founders, @shanehollanderhockeyplayer, on his third Stanley Cup win! We're proud of Shane Hollander and sending congratulations to him, his entire team and fans!

[Photo of Shane Hollander lifting the Stanley Cup, smiling bright]

pinned comment: @theirinafoundation And proud to say we'll have several of this year's Stanley Cup champions coaching at our Game Changers camps!

Chapter 25

Chapter Notes

If you ever doubt the power of comments, know that this chapter only exists because so many people mentioned the garage cleanup in the comments.

When Yuna enters the garage, it looks like David and Ilya have progressed backwards. She expected them to simply throw the useless things into the container waiting in the driveway, and stuff the donations into the back of David's car. Instead…

"How is it going?" she asks, a little bewildered, looking around.

They are both sitting on the floor. An unpacked and fully assembled game of Grape Escape is spread a little to the side, clearly having been played recently. Now, they have a large plastic storage box open between them.

"I thought we'd end up with a much smaller 'To Keep' pile," David admits, sounding a little sheepish, but also casting a glance Ilya's way that suggests he doesn't fully take responsibility for how things have gone.

"I tell David I have the room to store things," Ilya says as he lifts his gaze up to her. He's wearing a shirt Yuna knows to have been Shane's once, because she was the one to buy it for him, but which now seems to have fully changed ownership. It's one of the collection of flannels Ilya likely wouldn't be caught dead wearing in public, but which he he seems to wear any time the weather at all permits. It's a soft shirt. He looks soft in it.

"Shane has already picked what he wants to keep years ago," Yuna points out. "This was all meant to leave the house."

"Ah, but Yuna, look!" Ilya lifts up an item from the box in front of him. It's a children's book, an old copy of Goodnight Moon. "I didn't know Shane used to read fun books. He only reads about hockey now."

"He used to love story time," David says, smiling gently.

"I forgot these were still here," Yuna sits down to look through the contents of the box, pulling out copies of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Disney fairy tale novelizations and books about the Berenstain Bears, checking them for water damage and mold, but finding them fortunately in good condition. "We meant to donate these a long time ago."

"No," Ilya shakes his head. "I will not allow. I'll buy new kids' book to donate, I will be keeping these." His tone leaves no space for compromise. "Which one was favorite?"

"I remember The Very Busy Spider being on heavy rotation while we were still reading bedtime stories to him," David says, looking through the box until he finds the correct picture book to hand to Ilya.

Ilya looks through the pages. "I see his, ah, interest in architecture started early," he observes, making everyone laugh.

"I remember him being really into the Frog and Toad books when he started reading for himself," Yuna mentions. She gives Ilya a curious look. "Did you read a lot as a child?"

"Ah," Ilya is running his fingers along the edges of the picture book in his hands, "not really. My mother read to us every evening," his voice shakes just the tiniest bit, "but then I started to skate and I am no reader."

And yet, the books end up in the back of his car.

Yuna thought, naively maybe, that the garage would take David and Ilya one weekend to get through, maybe even one day. Instead, they work through it sluggishly in late afternoons and every time she walks in, they are browsing the boxes item by item.

For a time she worries that most of the stuff will end up stored in the numerous rooms of Ilya's house rather than the trash or donation boxes where it rightfully belongs. He's not unreasonable, though. He doesn't need to preserve broken toys nor keep roller blades that have been too small for Shane for years. He does, however, crave the stories for every one of the items.

They can't hold it against him.

Yuna doubts he has any boxes of his own. It's unlikely he's moved to America with old toys and clothes from his childhood and if anything like that remains, it's in Russia. And he doesn't go there anymore.

It's not surprising then, that he's clinging to pieces of Shane's childhood instead.

It's not weird, she thinks, that she is looking up children's books in Russian. Or that several of them end up in her virtual shopping cart. One of her boys is learning the language.

It's not weird, either, that after a while she switches to searching for old books, secondhand, the ones with publication dates in the early 90s, with the soft illustrations that feel like history.

One of her boys is learning the language.

And the other deserves, perhaps, childhood nostalgia. She wishes she could give it to him differently, not in resold fragments. She wishes he had albums of childhood pictures to show her, tiny jerseys to frame and old toys to pretend to not be embarrassed about displaying. That's not what she can give him, though.

So instead, once her orders have been placed, she walks into the kitchen. It's the morning of Game 3, they're expecting Ilya later today. Yuna checks the fridge for Coke and the freezer for ice cream, making sure they have enough of Ilya's favorite flavor. He never states his preferences if asked directly, but she pays attention. And if she doesn't, David reliably has the intel.

Maybe they can't give him back his childhood, but she can still mother him.

Chapter End Notes

Yuna will give the books to Shane, Shane will definitely feel a little bit nagged into learning the language, but it'll inevitably end up with Shane reading children's book aloud to Ilya and Ilya having too many feelings to contain them all.

Chapter 26

Chapter Notes

Okay, so I think in the books Luca was actually drafted a season or two earlier and left to develop but *handwave*.

@meninthecrease_pod On tonight's episode, we'll be discussing our #MLHdraft predictions!

@barrettwatch replying to @meninthecrease_pod month later i still can't believe drillers won the lottery #rigged

@shaydenotp quote tweeting @meninthecrease_pod remember when boston's #1 overall pick left them for freaking ottawa at his first opportunity 🤣

@marlyraidme replying to @shaydenotp not an rpf fan throwing shade at roz

@shaydenotp quote tweeting @marlyraidme not at rozanov? i'm clearly shading boston?

@shaydenotp replying to@marlyraidme i don't think anyone even cares about rozanov anymore now that he's in ottawa, that's why he's leeching of shane's fame and success

@ilyassecretwife replying to @shaydenotp You didn't just seriously call a charity foundation named after Ilya's late mother "leeching off Shane's fame"

puckme7ways replying to @ilyassecretwife @ilyassecretwife @shaydenotp "Shane" this, "Ilya" that… You don't know these men well enough to call them by their first names!

@jacob4nomads replying to @shaydenotp isn't it kinda a wellknown fact rozanov left because he ran out of women in boston

@codygilbert replying to@jacob4nomads why are you interacting with the delulus? also if boston was better at managing its assets maybe he would have started a round 2. It's not like he moved to Ottawa for nightlife

@ilyassecretwife replying to @codygilbert No one knows why he moved.

@notadrill97 Why are people discussing drafts from like a decade ago in the replies? ☠️ We'll bring the cup where it belongs finally!

@cents4life_94 replying to @meninthecrease_pod pls lets not squander the 2nd pick pls lets not squander the 2nd pick pls lets not squander the 2nd pick

@puckme7ways replying to @cents4life_94 Sadly, knowing this team's management, they'll pick someone who doesn't know which end of the stick is which.

@baileytweets replying to @puckme7ways cents drafting some random 17 year old that's never played a game of hockey in their life but has access to free weed would be so on brand

@scottssmoothie replying to @baileytweets or they draft someone really good but he refuses to sign because he'd have to deal with rozanov lmfao

@theirinafoundation on Instagram

While the hockey camps are already full, this week you can still sign up for a wait list for both Montréal and Ottawa.

[photo of most of the Game Changers Hockey Camps' coaches, left to right: Ilya Rozanov, Wyatt Hayes, Max Riley, Leah Campbell, Ryan Price, JJ Boiziau, Hayden Pike, and Shane Hollander]

@freya_photo oh to be 11 again and have a chance to be coached by two-time olympic medailists

@nic99hockey replying to @freya_photo Hollander only played in 1 Olympics. Fake fan spotted.

@freya_photo replying to @nic99hockey i was obviously talking about @l_campbell and @thisismaxriley?????????

@theirinafoundation on Instagram

Thank you to @boiziau_jj for using his day with the Cup to bring it to the Game Changers Hockey Camp Montréal!

[photo of JJ Boiziau in the camp coach polo shirt; he is holding the Stanley Cup and is surrounded by several of the kids, whose faces are covered in smiley-face stickers]

pinned comment: @theirinafoundation We have it on a good authority @shanehollanderhockeyplayer will bring the Cup to Ottawa next week!

@cents4life_94 replying to @theirinafoundation tell @therealilyarozanov to do that next season

Chapter End Notes

Me: I'll never write a SMAU fic, that would be a pain to format
Me: *spends hours formatting this, screaming and pulling hair*
Me: Why has no one told me this was in fact a SMAU 😭

Chapter 27

Chapter Notes

CW: implied racism

@MLH_updates "I play to win games for my team, not to break records," says Shane Hollander on turning the Montréal Metros into a dynasty, coming close to breaking the record for most goals in a single regular season, and his hopes for the 2020-2021 season. Read more...

A memory surfaces, sudden and unwanted and unloved.

"That child of yours," Yuna's mother-in-law said, "talks only about hockey."

Shane was four at the that time and he'd just moved from generic skating lessons to learning hockey. They'd covered the yard in ice for him in the winter, and he would live there if he could. Already, watching hockey was more exciting to him than anything else, with the exception of actually being on ice.

"It's good for him to have a hobby," Yuna argued, "especially one that keeps him active."

"All I'm saying is that he should diversify his interests. You and I both know he'll never be a professional player and the sooner he realizes it, the sooner he can start to apply himself where it can really make a difference for his future."

He is four! Yuna wanted to yell. Instead, she straightened her back. "Oh. How do we both know this, exactly?"

"He's small," Mrs. Hollander said, scrunching up her nose as if the size of her grandson offended her in some way. "He's always going to be small. I know you like hockey, but you're never going to have a hockey player for a son. By encouraging his obsession, you're only setting him up for failure. You're setting both of you up for disappointment."

Yuna didn't share the conversation with her husband.

Not until four years later, when Shane was crying in the backseat of their car on the way home from his grandparents'. Quietly, tears rolling down his freckled cheeks and catching on the collar of his t-shirt.

When they managed to get a confession out of him, David was the most upset Yuna has ever seen him.

"Grandma said I should focus on school. That it's silly to spend so much time in practice when I'm never going to be a pro," Shane said in a small and shaky voice. "That I need to see that boys like me don't play hockey."

After that, their contact with David's parents shrank down to Christmas cards.

Now, that child of Yuna's is an adult man. He is a wall of muscle with broad shoulders and three Stanley Cup victories and stats that will secure him a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame. No one tells Shane Hollander that he doesn't belong in hockey anymore.

He is, however, in love with another man, another player, and that player is his legendary rival.

It was rough and unfair, having to choose between her boys. And there wasn't much choice to begin with.

Even if Yuna hadn't been a Montréal fan for as long as she'd known hockey existed, she and David had gone to every single one of Shane's season openers so far. They couldn't very well skip one now in favor of Ilya Rozanov. Not because Shane wouldn't understand, but because there would be no good way of explaining it if they got recognized.

If only they were playing for the same team.

Or, if only they could be open, if only Yuna could claim Ilya publicly for the second son he'd become to her. Ilya deserved to have family in the stands.

"We were talking at work," David says over dinner when it's just the two of them, which is rarer these days than it used to be but not as rare as they both wish, "about some team bonding activities. I suggested we should catch a game sometime. You know, I hear the Centaurs are playing quite well this season."

Her heart swells.

Everyone knew Shane got her hockey obsession from her, even though David was the one who'd actually played. One day, perhaps, she'd be able to brag about another trait he'd clearly inherited from Yuna: the ability to choose a good man.

Chapter End Notes

You'd think that now that we're in the The Long Game timeline properly, it would be easier. But in fact, it's so much harder to write, because I don't want to just rewrite the canon scenes from a different POV.

Chapter 28

Chapter Notes

A small portion of the dialogue is taken directly from The Long Game.

There is a motorcycle in Yuna's driveway, which makes her uneasy.

Of the very few things in her boys' lives she strongly disapproves off, Ilya's Ducati is very near the top of the list. She can live with his sports cars, though she certainly prefers him behind the wheel of his SUV, but the motorbike is a little too wild for her.

"Sensible SUV is in the shop," Ilya says sheepishly as he hands her a box of pies he somehow brought anyway. "And this is less noticeable than the Porsche, yes? We don't need to tell Shane."

His tone is light, but his request is easy to understand. Shane is even less excited about the motorbike than Yuna is.

"He just worries," Yuna says softly.

Ilya lets out a theatrical sigh. "Yes, is very hard to be so loved."

Ilya has his chair at their table. He has a favorite mug. He has a strong preference for homecooked meal over restaurant delivery, although he never says as much out loud. He never comes empty-handed.

He plays board games or Yahtzee or cards after the meal, and Yuna is glad he indulges them. He must have better uses for his time, surely, although his long-distance relationship wrapped in secrecy definitely comes with its dose of loneliness. She hopes the time spent with them makes things easier for him as much as it makes them happier.

Today, he is halfway through completely destroying them at Yahtzee when his phone, laid on the kitchen table, vibrates loudly enough to shake their glasses. One look at the caller ID and Ilya is smiling, grabbing the phone, getting up from the table.

Everything about him softens in that moment.

"It's turned into a pregame ritual, hasn't it?" David leans in to whisper to Yuna, an amused expression on his face, while Ilya escapes into the living room to talk to Shane.

"It's sweet," Yuna says. She's noticed it too, the fact that Shane seems to call Ilya every time he's about to play a game.

She refills their glasses while they wait for Ilya to return. They don't need him to rush on their behalf. These days they see him more often than they see Shane, and the boys get barely more time together than they get with David and Yuna.

"I don't think we've ever spent so much time apart as they do," David says, as if he was reading her mind.

"We haven't," Yuna agrees. She honestly has no idea how they manage, except that their schedules keep them busy. If one of them had a regular job, hockey would still be keeping them apart more often than not.

They are busy, and despite the hardships, it seems that they're happier to be together than they would be apart in exchange for an easier life.

Ilya returns to the kitchen. "Your son is so sappy," he says, rolling his eyes and shaking his head, as if Yuna couldn't see that he is still clutching his phone close to his heart.

Her son, in fact, is a menace.

That wouldn't be surprising if Yuna was thinking of the man sitting next to her on their living room sofa, wrapped in a blanket and holding an ice cream bowl. Ilya Rozanov is a menace by definition, it's his entire brand. However, he is not the son Yuna is thinking of.

It's her biological child that has them all in awe as he skates across the tv screen, having just flawlessly executed the move known as "the Rozanov".

And then Shane winks into the camera.

And Ilya is no longer seated, he is waving at the screen, the blanket is pooling at his feet and he is yelling: "That's my move!"

David is the first to laugh, and Yuna can't not join in. Between Shane's antics and Ilya's theatrical frustration, there's much to be amused about.

"It's a show of respect," Yuna tells Ilya, when he keeps complaining.

"Is a show of being a thief," Ilya groans but he sits down again.

Yet, Yuna sees him fight a smile when he returns to shoveling ice cream into his mouth.

On the tv, Shane is smiling, too.

Chapter 29

Yuna always knows when Shane is hanging out with Rose Landry, not because he tells her but because her Google alerts do. She tracks the mentions of her son for brand-management purposes, but he is never in the news as much as when he spends time with his ex-girlfriend.

Rose Landry caught shopping with hockey player ex, say the headlines. Around Rose, Shane stops being the best known person in the room. Sometimes, Yuna thinks their relationship might not have worked out anyway, even if Shane wasn't gay, just because of this. He would hate to have this attention on him constantly.

Rose doesn't go to the LA game, which Yuna knows because a bunch of disappointed comments appear in Shane's mentions on social media.

Weirdly, she's glad. Enough people already think Shane and Rose are getting back together just because of their shopping trip, and Yuna knows how hard that hits Ilya.

Yuna doesn't say it, but sometimes she suspects… Ilya wishes, too.

Chapter 30

Chapter Notes

Yuna has always watched a lot of hockey, but probably never as much as the last few years. She now has two favorite players, two teams to pay attention to. When she's not attending a game or watching it live, there's one waiting in her tv's archive.

The Montréal Metros are very fun to watch for a genuine hockey fan, but the Ottawa Centaurs are easy to root for despite their many loses. They are a team filled with nice personalities. A bunch of good guys, whose hockey skills are solid, they just need to work on putting them to a good use.

Watching her boys, her teams, play against each other is always intense. Yuna doesn't think she's fully capable of rooting for both teams to win, she's still a lifelong Montréal fan, but she does hope both teams do their best. She definitely hopes both captains have the best time they possibly can.

Yuna sighs to herself, resigning to the fact that for the next few hours, she'll be monitoring social media for new hot takes on Ilya Rozanov being secretly homophobic. She's glad Shane being gay isn't a well-known fact outside the player circles, or this would be an actual situation.

As it is, it's part annoying and part hilarious.

And part sad.

Chapter End Notes

One of these days, I'd kind of love to write a story on the general public assuming Ilya's probably homophobic. (I've definitely read that fic before, but I still want to write my own.)

Chapter 31

Chapter Notes

I'm sorry updates have been much less frequent. Life has been incredibly busy.

Thank you for all your comments and kudos; they make me very, very happy ❤️❤️❤️

Yuna vaguely knows that Sveta is Svetlana Vetrova, the daughter of a notable Soviet goalie and a childhood friend of Ilya's. If she understands correctly, Sveta is also the one person in Ilya's social circle that knows he has a boyfriend. She might even know who the boyfriend is.

And yet Yuna finds herself glaring at her phone after Ilya has mentioned her.

Subconsciously.

She readjusts her face the moment she realises what she's doing, because she knows it'd be a difficult task to find a person more in love than Ilya is in love with Shane.

Or someone more loyal.

She feels a wave of fondness at the image of Ilya playing manicures with Hayden and Jackie's kids. Her large and rough hockey player, the most puncheable face in MLH, is soft and gentle around kids. Yuna sees it every time she visits the camps Ilya and Shane run in the summers.

Ilya will be such a good dad, they both will, she thinks.

Would be, she corrects herself in her thoughts. It's something that hasn't been put on Shane's ten-year plan yet, that she knows of, and she desperately wants to ask if it's something they see in their future, but she doesn't dare. If Shane was in a conventional relationship, she would be nagging him about grandchildren by now.

But Shane's relationship is not conventional. Committed and loving and stable, yes, from everything she can see, but also secret and long-distance and hindered by frequent travel and strange working hours, not to mention the semi-regular injuries. And that's before she starts thinking about Ilya's Russian passport. Shane and Ilya can't really acquire a child by an accident and they would be foolish to try to obtain one on purpose. They can't even live together publicly.

So Yuna won't have grandchildren. Not now, not anytime soon, maybe ever.

And it's okay.

She has two healthy boys with successful careers and four Stanley Cups between the two of them, and a calendar with family dinners and games to watch or attend.

Her life is impossibly, wonderfully full.

Something about that makes Yuna call him.

"I have nail polish remover," she tells him when he picks up. "Do you want me to bring it over?"

"Yes, thank you," he says softly in the way that suggests he is thanking her for more than that. "I would keep the nails, but Shane would worry what people say."

Yuna nods to herself. "Shane couldn't afford to wear nail polish in public without it being scrutinised," she says, knowing full well how people look at her child. The one who has to keep proving that he's masculine enough when he's always been very conventionally boyish. "I think you could get away with more."

Ilya snorts on the other end of the call. "Is because people see what they want to see."

"If it helps, if anyone asked me which one of my sons is better at—" she hesitates, looking for the right word.

"Not being straight?" Ilya supplies with a hint of amusement.

"That. I'd vote for you."

He laughs. "Don't tell Shane that, he hates losing at anything."

"Ah, because you're good at it?"

"No, I'm also very bad at losing," Ilya admits. Then he adds, still clearly amused: "But, Yuna, Shane's so bad at being gay. I don't think he even knows what blue, purple and pink mean."

Chapter 32

Chapter Notes

Thank you for all your kind comments ❤️❤️❤️

This chapter will make a lot more sense if you've read The Long Game.

Chapter End Notes

IYKYK

Chapter 33

It has been so strange to talk to the crew that made the documentary about the infamous rivalry between Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov. To be interviewed for it.

Yuna was proud to talk about her son, of course. There would never come a day when she'd grow tired of bragging about Shane's success and his drive and attitude that brought him there. Every mother would love to have a child like hers.

At the same time…

She could say: "I'm proud of the man my son's become."

But not: And I'm so happy he found someone who loves him exactly as he is.

It was okay to admit: "For Shane, there's never been anything more important than hockey."

But not: With Ilya around, I worry less what Shane's life will be like when he can no longer play.

When asked about the rivalry, she said: "From the day of the draft, I knew Shane's name would always be tied to that of Ilya Rozanov. At the time, it was frustrating. I thought Shane's worked so hard to get where he is and now he'll always be compared against this other kid. In retrospect, it was one of the best things that could have happened to Shane. To his career. When Shane was a kid, a teenager, there wasn't really anyone who could match his skill on ice. In Rozanov, he found someone he could measure his success against, someone who would make him push his own limits."

What she wanted to add was: Ilya's also the one who reminds Shane to pay attention to the here and now. Shane's always chasing the next goal, literally and metaphorically, but Ilya's the one who'll tell Shane to rest his injuries and remind us all it's Sunday brunch and we're not allowed to discuss Drillers' goaltending before coffee and carbs.

About the Irina Foundation she could say: "Despite being fiercely competitive, Shane and Rozanov collaborate well. Rozanov has ideas, Shane's a great planner. They both have the drive to see things through, and this is a project they both genuinely care about."

She decided not to add: You haven't experienced true joy until you've been sitting over grant applications until two in the morning and witnessed Ilya Rozanov, the Russian menace, giggling hysterically against Shane's shoulder because he's tired and the proposals are never-ending. I'm sorry we're actually hiring administrative help to handle these tasks in the future.

And there is only very little she could say about Ilya, about the son who's entered her life only a few years ago but has firmly established himself as a member of their family.

She contributed: "Probably the meanest thing I can say about Ilya Rozanov is that he's much more polite in real life than on ice. And his edges have been a bit sloppy recently."

When she would have loved to tell everyone: Ilya's an excellent cook but he'd live on McDonald's and my husband's chicken parmesan if he could. He is funny, and loyal, and he willingly spends hours a week with his boring, aging Canadian in-laws. We've always wanted to have more children, but couldn't, and we feel so lucky to have acquired a second son at a point where we've long stopped hoping.

Yuna sighs.

After Shane was hit by Cliff Marlow during his game against Boston, that year when they learned about him and Ilya, the Internet could be a bit of a minefield of still images, even a handful of really mean-spirited memes.

Now, with people knowing Shane ends up alive and well and still in the shape to keep playing, Yuna expects social media to get flooded with gifs of the event.

Later, she and David watch the documentary.

And Yuna thinks maybe it won't be the moment of Shane getting hit she'll have to worry about seeing endlessly gif-ed. No, perhaps the real danger is that all-too-telling closeup on Ilya's pale, devastated face.