Rating:

Mature

Archive Warning:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Category:

M/M

Fandoms:

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

Relationships:

Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Hayden Pike & Ilya Rozanov, Shane Hollander & Hayden Pike

Characters:

Shane Hollander, Hayden Pike, Ilya Rozanov

Additional Tags:

5+1 Things, Good Friend Hayden Pike, Hayden Pike Finds Out About Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, POV Hayden Pike, Protective Ilya Rozanov, Protective Hayden Pike, Russian Mafia, technically, Alternate Universe

Language:

English

Series:

Part 9 of love-a-nov (hollanov one-shots), Part 3 of mafi[oh]so in love - hollanov mafia au

Stats:

Published: 2026-05-15 Words: 3,434 Chapters: 1/1

when a hockey player and a russian fall in love, don't say surprise

Summary

Three times Hayden meets Shane's quiet but weird boyfriend, plus the one time he meets Shane's Russian mafia boyfriend.

Notes

This is /technically/ part of my Mafia AU series, but it hardly has anything to do with it. You don't need to have read the other parts to read this.

All you need to know is that Yuna goes by a different last name and nobody (except Ilya) knows that she's Shane mom, Yuna owns the Voyageurs team, and Ilya is, in fact, the head of the Russian mafia and Shane very much knows this.

one

In what is perhaps a rookie mistake, Hayden doesn’t try knocking a second time before using his key. He’s had the key almost as long as Shane has had this apartment and Shane is usually very prompt at opening the door. So when Hayden knocks loudly―even calls twice―and gets no response, he assumes Shane is simply not home. Unfortunately for Hayden, this proves to be incorrect.

Not only is it incorrect, but Shane is also not alone. Rather, he is crowded against his kitchen counter by a guy with blond curls. He does not look upset about it.

“Hayden!” 

Shane notices him as the door swings open, but Hayden has already been accosted by the image in front of him. It isn’t all that bad, really. Especially considering that Hayden has just walked in on Shane clearly about to fuck or get fucked by some strange guy. The worst part is that the stranger is shirtless. Until Hayden interrupted, he appears to have been very determinedly marking up Shane’s neck if the dark spot on Shane’s throat is anything to go by.

“I am so sorry!” Hayden shuts his eyes as the door closes after him. “I thought you weren’t home! You didn’t answer.”

“You didn’t knock!” 

“I did.” Hayden opens his eyes to see the blond stranger smirking. He’s still pressing Shane against the counter. “I also called twice.”

At that, Shane has the decency to look sheepish. There’s no question about why Hayden’s knocking and calls went unanswered now. Not when Shane’s hair looks messy and he’s got three hickeys where Hayden can see. He refuses to think about whether there are hickeys he can’t see.

Nobody says anything after that. Shane has turned bright red and the stranger has yet to do anything other than smirk. After a very long, awkward silence, Hayden takes it upon himself to break the ice.

“Well, you gonna introduce us, buddy?” He asks Shane because he’s the one Hayden knows. Luckily for all of them, Shane’s good manners win against any other impulse he may have, and he’s quick to take Hayden up on the suggestion.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry.” Shane pushes the stranger back a step and then gestures between them. “Ilya, this is my best friend Hayden. Hayden, this is―” He hesitates only a second but Hayden catches it. The stranger―Ilya―does too. “―my boyfriend. Ilya.”

Ilya’s eyes narrow at Hayden and it feels like a dare. For what, though, Hayden has no idea. He decides to ignore it.

“Nice to meet you.” Hayden offers his hand but Ilya doesn’t take it. “Shane has told absolutely nothing about you.”

“Hayden.”

“Sorry!” Hayden says. “It’s just―I’m surprised? I’m happy for you, man. Surprised, but happy. How long has this been going on?”

Shane very pointedly doesn’t answer that question. Instead, he steps around Ilya, either uncaring about or without noticing the way Ilya turns to him, and heads for the dishwasher. When he pulls out the casserole tray that Jackie had sent Hayden over for, Hayden doesn’t know whether to be surprised that Shane has figured out why he’s there or confused about the lack of answer.

“Jackie said she wanted it for this weekend,” Shane says, and Hayden wonders if he can read minds now. “This is what you’re here for, right?”

“Uh, yeah,” Hayden says dumbly. He takes the dish. “She texted you?”

“Yeah, this morning.”

“And you were still surprised I came over?”

“Can I help you with anything else, Hayden?” Shane asks. He’s got an odd little grin on his face that Hayden can’t pin down. He doesn’t think he likes it, though. “Or will that be all?”

“No, that’s―this is all.” Hayden might still be in shock about the boyfriend thing. “Hey, you―I really don’t care about the boyfriend thing. You know I’d never judge you for that, right?”

Shane softens and behind him, Ilya stops scowling. Hayden counts it as a win.

“If I’d known, I probably wouldn’t have just walked in,” Hayden says with a laugh. “Just―I really am happy for you, okay?”

“Thanks, Hayd.” Shane walks him to the door and Hayden tries not to think about how it’s a little pointed and a bit rushed. “I’ll see you at practice in three days, okay?”

Ah, so Shane is skipping the optional practices to hang out with his boyfriend. That’s fine. Hayden can be fine with that. He’s totally telling Jackie, but that’s still fine. 

“Sounds good, man.” Hayden leans around Shane to wave at Ilya. “Nice meeting you! See you next time!”

“No, you won’t.” 

Hayden blinks at the Russian accent, confused for just long enough that Shane closes the door on him. A handful of seconds later, Hayden is walking back down to his car while trying to balance a casserole tray and his phone. Jackie is never going to believe him.

two

Hayden parks himself in the chair beside Shane’s hospital bed and resolves to not get up until either Shane’s parents or boyfriend appear. Shane shouldn’t be alone. Not even if he doesn’t realize it.

He’s been in and out of consciousness, words slurring in the few seconds he manages to say anything. So far, the only comprehensible thing has been Ilya’s name followed by a garbled mess of what does not sound like English. He’s concussed. His words are going to slur regardless, but with his minimal consciousness, there’s no hope of them being very understandable. Hayden’s surprised that Shane managed to say even one thing he could understand.

Shane’s been silent and unconscious since arriving at the hospital. They fixed his collarbone already, which strikes Hayden as unusually fast but he’s glad the doctors could help his friend so soon. It means he’ll recover faster. Probably be in less pain.

It’s a little startling how quickly Shane wakes up once the nurse leaves. Hardly half an hour later, Hayden looks up to see Shane blinking at him.

“Jesus.” Hayden startles out of his seat and is immediately standing over Shane. “How are you feeling, buddy? Need anything? I can get the nurse.”

“Ilya?” Shane frowns up at him and then peers over Hayden’s shoulder at the door.

“Not yet, buddy,” Hayden says. “He’s on his way. Should be here soon.”

Hayden has no idea if that’s true, but he hopes it is. The medic had said she’d gotten ahold of him and he’d told her he was on his way. Hayden doesn’t know where the guy lives, but it’s been almost two hours now. For Ilya’s sake, Hayden hopes the guy lives far out of town. It’s the only reason Hayden will forgive him for taking so long to get to Shane.

Luckily, Hayden’s reassurance boosts Shane’s spirits more than the pain killers he’s being given. For what must be the next hour and a half, Shane tells everyone who walks through his door―the nurses, the doctors, and Hayden (several times)―that Ilya is on his way. He’s coming from Boston. He’s the best. Shane loves him so much. 

Shane doesn’t say the last one out loud, but it’s easily inferred. He won’t stop talking about Ilya even as his eyes droop and Hayden tells him to take a nap. Even the promise to wake Shane up when Ilya does arrive isn’t enough to make Shane sleep.

Eventually, after the fourth time Shane has told Hayden about how great Ilya is, Hayden steps out to get a snack from the vending machine and text Jackie. He can’t very well send her updates about how ridiculous Shane is when Shane is right in front of him. He has a little more decency than that. 

When Hayden returns to Shane’s room, Ilya is standing inside. He’s at Shane’s bedside, one hand lacing their fingers together and the other brushing very tenderly under Shane’s bruised eyes. Shane is grinning so widely that Hayden knows his face must hurt. He doesn’t seem to care.

Hayden stops just shy of reaching for the door handle. He doesn’t want to interrupt. Besides, Ilya is here now. That means Shane won’t be alone anymore and Hayden can go home. 

Hayden won’t just leave, though. He decides to take a lap around the hospital floor―five minutes or so―to give Shane and Ilya time to reunite, and then he’ll interrupt to say goodbye. When he returns to Shane’s room, however, Ilya is gone and a woman who must be Shane’s mom is speaking with a nurse just outside of Shane’s room. Her back is to Hayden, but her voice is familiar and fierce, so Hayden decides to leave her to her conversation with the nurse.

Confused, Hayden ducks into Shane’s room to say goodbye. Maybe Ilya is in the bathroom. He did come from Boston, apparently. It isn’t a long flight, but Hayden knows that if he were flying to see Jackie in the hospital, he wouldn’t stop to pee until he saw her for himself.

“I’m gonna head home,” Hayden tells Shane. “You’re gonna be fine now that Ilya and your parents are here.”

“Not Ilya,” Shane says with a frown. Hayden mirrors it.

“What?”

“He left,” Shane grumbles. “Business. Russia.”

“He was here for like two minutes!” Hayden can’t believe him. The bastard flew all the way to Montreal just to see Shane for a handful of minutes and then leave? What kind of man does that?

“It’s okay,” Shane says, and he sounds more sure than Hayden would if he were Shane. “He’ll be back before I know he was gone. But―” Shane fumbles to grab Hayden’s hand and looks at him with wide, desperate eyes, “―you can’t tell my mom. Is a secret.”

“Alright, buddy,” Hayden says hesitantly. “I won’t tell her.”

“Good.” Shane nods resolutely to himself. “She’d be so mad.”

Hayden doesn’t know Mrs. Hollander is the type to be homophobic, but now is not the time to ask. Shane is on at least two different drugs and he hasn’t been thinking clearly for hours. Besides, Hayden is pretty sure that between the two of them, Shane is more likely to spill the beans about Ilya. Nevertheless, he promises Shane not to tell and leaves the hospital with a soft goodbye. He decides not to think about Ilya’s weird travel habits, if only so he doesn’t end up hating the man his friend seems head over heels in love with.

three

Hayden decides he can’t ever hate Ilya after he breaks Theriault’s finger when the coach insults Shane. He can’t even slightly dislike him when he looks at Shane so gently and the rest of the team so furiously. It’s a jarring difference and Hayden gets to watch the man’s face change with an odd sense of fascination. 

And then Yuna Takayama, the owner of the Montreal Voyageurs team, appears and takes Ilya’s word at face value. She calls him a friend and fires Comeau and Theriault without a blink. The team files out in confusion and silence, and then Hayden is left with three people whose relationship he doesn’t quite understand. 

“For the record,” he says, because he knows Shane won’t, “they aren’t all bad. But I’ll rat on ‘em if Shane doesn’t. Just let me know, boss.”

He salutes Mrs. Takayama only to regret it seconds later and grimaces as he passes Ilya. The man has the audacity to smirk at him as he hurries past. It makes Hayden wish he could hate him.

plus one

Hayden is a good friend. The best friend! The best friend that a guy―any guy―could need or want. He doesn’t care if Shane explicitly told him not to plan an entire party for his birthday; that’s not what a good friend does. Instead, a good friend takes time and care to plan the best surprise party―free of their annoying teammates―and ensure that it’s something Shane would actually enjoy.

He’s done with the classic clubbing and giant birthday bashes. In the past, Shane had grimaced his way through them and made nice. That is, if he even showed up. This time, Hayden is determined to plan something that Shane will actually enjoy. He’s even going to host it in a place where he knows Shane will be comfortable: His apartment.

Getting everything set up is easy enough. He knows Shane is out with Ilya―when Hayden texted the night before about having him over for dinner, Shane had informed him that Ilya was in town and they had plans. Which was exactly the type of information Hayden had been hoping for. Once he’d confirmed Shane’s apartment would be empty for the evening, he’d gone to work.

With Jackie’s help, he has a cake that fits within Shane’s weird diet and enough decorations that he needs an hour or two to set up.

He knows it will be late by the time Shane and Ilya get back. Shane will be tired―probably ready for bed within an hour because Hayden refuses to think about his best friend having birthday sex―and Hayden isn’t entirely thickheaded. No one is actually invited to this thing. It’s just him decorating his best friend’s house and singing happy birthday before he leaves Shane alone with his boyfriend for the night. Hardly a party. But still, it’s something. Hayden can’t just do nothing for his best friend’s birthday and so this is what he’s settled on. Shane better be grateful.

The decorations are up and the birthday cake is on the counter when Hayden hears voices echoing distantly in the stairwell. They’re muffled, and he can only make them out because he left the front door cracked specifically for this reason. He needed to know when Shane was home so he wasn’t caught off guard. It isn’t a good look for the party thrower to be the one surprised. Besides, Shane isn’t stupid. He’ll probably suspect what Hayden’s up to when he sees the door is cracked.

Hayden rushes to turn off the lights and the apartment goes dark. He gropes at a wall, desperately trying to remember how to get from the light switch to behind the counter, and ducks behind it quickly. Blinking, he tries to adjust his eyes as the voices go silent.

Any second now. Shane and Ilya must see the cracked door. Maybe they’ll be confused for a bit and then once Shane realizes what’s going on, they’ll step in and Hayden will jump out to yell surprise. He just wishes that he could see a bit better. God, does Shane have special blackout windows? Why is his apartment so dark when there’s an absurd amount of city light pollution just outside? 

Shane’s door doesn’t creak because of course it’s well maintained. However, the stairwell light is on and as the door is pushed open, more light floods the apartment. It still isn’t enough to see, but it’s enough that Hayden knows Shane is finally here.

“Surpri―”

Hayden jumps up with a grin, still blinking rapidly to adjust his eyes, and collides with one of the barstools. He stumbles backward and something whizzes past his ear way too fast for Hayden to see.

“Whoa!” His attempt to stay upright is foiled and the barstool knocks him over. Again, something whizzes by him too fast and Hayden grumbles, “Stop throwing things. It’s me.”

“Hayden?” Shane’s voice sounds further away than it should. “Wait, Ilya―”

The lights flick on and Hayden groans at the sudden brightness. He blinks again, but not before he sees the silenced gun in Ilya’s hand and the snarl on his face. 

“Holy shit!” Hayden throws his hands up on instinct.

Already, Shane is sidling up to Ilya’s side and the gun disappears. Hayden watches as it’s tucked back into Ilya’s waistband and Shane mutters something that Hayden is pretty sure isn’t English. It’s soft, but firm, and Hayden has the distinct feeling that maybe he shouldn’t have tried to surprise Shane. 

“Shit, Hayden.” Shane finally turns to him, but Hayden doesn’t miss the way that he puts himself in front of Ilya. “What are you doing here?”

“Surprise?” It’s the weakest ‘surprise’ shout that Hayden has ever given, but he thinks he can be forgiven considering that Shane’s boyfriend just tried to shoot him. “It’s your birthday. I planned a surprise party. Did he―Did your boyfriend just try to shoot me?”

“You should’ve told me you were coming over.” Shane ignores his question. “We thought you were―a burglar.” 

There’s a moment where Shane pauses before the word burglar. It isn’t that obvious, but Shane doesn’t hesitate with his words. Hayden notices that he does this time. 

“Did your boyfriend just try to shoot me?” Hayden repeats. “Because that’s, like, a crazy way to respond to a burglar. Also, why does he have a gun?”

“We didn’t know it was you,” Shane says, and that is not an answer to any of the questions Hayden just asked. “Sorry, man.”

“Shane.” Hayden levels Shane with a look. “Why did your boyfriend just try to shoot me?”

“Can we move past that?” Shane asks. “The place looks great. You even―Is this a cake? Did Jackie make this?”

“Yeah, she made sure it worked for your diet,” Hayden answers. But then, “Dude, can I―talk to you for a moment?” He eyes Ilya. “Alone?”

Shane glances at Ilya and without a word, Ilya leaves for the balcony. He closes the glass door fully and when he turns his back on them, Hayden rounds on Shane.

“Dude, are you safe?” he hisses. “Your boyfriend has a gun. And, like, really good aim.”

Hayden knows that barstool saved his life. The bullets had whizzed by so close that if he hadn’t fallen over, he’d be dead on the floor. It would’ve been a terrible birthday surprise for Shane. 

“He’s―yeah.” Shane sighs. “It’s complicated.”

“Uncomplicate it,” Hayden demands, “or I’m going to the police about your gun-yielding Russian mafia boyfriend.”

He’s joking, but Shane’s eyes blow wide and he drags Hayden into the pantry where Ilya really can’t see or hear them.

“Don’t joke about that,” he hisses. “I’m serious, Hayden. Don’t even―Never joke about that again.”

“Again, dude: Are you safe?” Hayden just wants to be sure because this is not a normal way to react to anything that’s happened tonight. “I was kidding, man. I know he’s not Russian mafia or whatever.”

Shane hesitates for a fraction of a second but before any doubt can form in Hayden’s mind, he nods. 

“He doesn’t like the jokes,” Shane says. It isn’t even kind of convincing and suddenly, Hayden wonders if he should be more worried about this Ilya No-Last-Name guy that his best friend is dating. “They’ll make him upset. Cry. A lot.”

“You realize this is making me think he actually is in the Russian mafia, right?”

“It’s a joke!”

Hayden chooses to believe him. First, because it makes his life infinitely easier if he just―doesn’t know whatever the truth is. And second, because he knows Shane isn’t going to stop seeing the guy even if he is in the Russian mafia. Hayden also doesn’t want to fight with him about it.

He lets out a short, terse laugh and nods. 

“Well, I’m glad you’re happy and safe and that’s all I want to know about that.” Hayden pats Shane on the shoulder and they step out of the pantry. Ilya is eyeing them from the balcony, lips pursed and frown deep until Shane steps into view.

“Hayden―”

“I’m serious, dude,” Hayden says, “never tell me anything more. I don’t even want to know Ilya’s last name, okay?”

Shane sighs and it’s knowing. Hayden hopes that doesn’t mean anything bad for him; hopes that if it does, Shane will vouch for him well enough to keep him alive.

“And now that you’re home and I’ve done my best friend birthday duties,” Hayden continues, “I’m gonna head home.”

Their goodbyes are a little stilted and Ilya remains outside on the balcony the entire time. Shane apologizes exactly once for the gun thing, Hayden tells him happy birthday twice, and when the door finally latches behind him, he wonders what he’ll tell Jackie. He should probably leave out the Russian mafia thing. And the gun thing. And also the falling thing, because it’s a little embarrassing that Shane’s barstool got the better of him in the dark.

It’s a good thing he has a bit of a long drive home. Hopefully by then, he’ll have a believable story for his wife.