Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories:

F/M, Gen, M/M

Fandoms:

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

Relationships:

Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Jackie Pike & Ilya Rozanov, Ilya Rozanov & Original Character(s)

Characters:

Ilya Rozanov, Jackie Pike, Original Characters

Additional Tags:

POV Outsider, POV Original Character, WAG Ilya Rozanov, Texting, Identity Reveal, Secret Identity, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Very Minorly Altered tbh, Book 6: The Long Game (Game Changers), Humor, Montreal Voyageurs | Montreal Metros WAGs Group Chat (Game Changers), Texting Fic

Language:

English

Series:

Part 1 of Texting Fics Are Fun (Hollanov)

Collections:

My heart is full

Stats:

Published: 2026-02-18 Completed: 2026-03-05 Words: 15,073 Chapters: 3/3

A Contact Of Past

Summary

Vanessa started dating her long-term boyfriend the same year that his team drafted rookie superstar Ilya Rozanov. Now, it's a decade and several teams later and Montreal traded to get Rhys to add to their defensive for their attempt at back to back Cups for the second time during the Hollander Era.

Nothing could have prepared her for who she found waiting for her in the Montreal WAGs group chat.

Notes

This is vaguely a 5 + 1 but it didn't quite end up holding to that in terms of the original notion (ie. five times Vanessa wasn't sure it was Ilya in the chat and one time it definitely was)

I am playing in someone else's sandbox here but I used my own OCs and tried to actually have original ideas but there's a solid chance I'm not as creative as I hoped lol

Why I chose to do something that made me stay up fucking around with code until like 2am last night, I will never know. It was 100% not something I could have done on my own, this is the skin/code I used. I originally found it linked in a different fic so this is as sufficient of a citation as I can provide.

This is obviously more related to book canon (since... TLG obviously) but I went with show team names mostly just 'cause lol

• Inspired by please leave a message by subcorax

Chapter 1

Rhys has been on four teams in the time Vanessa has been with him. She wasn’t new to finding her way around a new rink- whether as a home team or away team WAG- but this was the first time she had to do it in the middle of a season. It was not her first time in Montreal’s rink, though she was in her teens the last time around, and the WAG box was a whole different deal than regular seating.

Jackie Pike met her at one of the security checkpoints with a welcoming grin and a child on her hip. The woman who had called out Vanessa’s panicked look had told her who was on her way to collect Vanessa after she radioed up to the box. “Hi,” she offered her free hand to Vanessa to shake without losing any of her grip on the kid. “I’m Jackie, you’re Witty’s girl?”

“Girlfriend, yep. Pike’s wife?”

The girl in Jackie’s arms squirmed to be released as they made their way through “And the mother of his four very excitable children.”

The box was distinguishable by merit of its color scheme and the logo taking up most of one of the walls adjacent to the ice, but it was the same as any other WAG box she had been in otherwise. There were remarkably few people present come to think of it. There were a handful of children running about that the girl Jackie set down joined quickly and five other women.

“So, we aren’t many,” Jackie said. “I’m aware it's kind of unusual, but I promise we’re great! And there are a few more of us who aren’t here. The three ladies over there are Monica, Theresa, and Crystal,” they were sitting in chairs closest to the front of the box, but seemed to be talking to each other with no regard to the warm up happening below and no intention of changing that anytime soon, “they tend to keep to their own little triangle so you probably won’t interact with them much but they rarely miss a game. Cece and Fatima are the two who are staring at you like it's Christmas morning and you’re the biggest box in the room.”

The two women immediately spun away from Jackie and her. Vanessa coughed down a laugh.

“We’re a subtle bunch. Yep. Anyway, Genevieve is usually here at games so you’ll meet her soon. Harley, Eloise, and Lily are our out of town WAGs. Eloise sometimes flies out and we get to see her when we play in LA. I assume that you’ll figure out the who’s who of HABs. I realize every year that I don’t have an efficient way of explaining all of that. I can get you a list maybe? I should really figure this out, I’ve been A-WAG for like a decade now even if technically this should be Lily’s responsibility now. Do you want a list?”

“I’ll figure it out. I have a system for contacts, this is not my first rodeo.”

“Oh, awesome.” Jackie held out her phone. “Add your number in there and I can add you to the group chat. You can get everyone’s number who is here or wait for everyone to introduce themselves later.”

Vanessa sat down with Cece and Fatima after Jackie had to go break up an altercation between two of her kids. She would have to start cataloging the team kids once she got a handle on the adults. She didn’t go out of her way to try and get Monica, Theresa, and Crystal’s numbers.

Jackie added her to the group chat just before puck drop and Vanessa had three names saved shortly after.

She had had a system for WAGs and players since things got serious between her and Rhys. He had introduced himself as Witty and refused to acknowledge the fact that he had a first name for the first few months. Even put his name into her phone as R.Whitman like he was in any way a serious person. She knew his name- the Boston team roster was wildly easily accessible, he was a hockey player, not a spy- so that was just how all hockey players went into her phone.

WAGs got to have names, they were her people at the end of the day. Unfortunately, who they were in a relationship with was quite relevant so there was a need to specify which member of the boy aquarium was theirs so those who were married and took their husband’s name just had their full name and the girlfriends and fiancees and those who hadn’t changed their names had their name with their man specified in brackets.

The game against Columbus was tight but they came out on top. They were looking to make it deep into the playoffs this year, hence dragging in new blood so close to the trade deadline to give their defence even more edge.

Vanessa was laying in bed waiting for Rhys to finish his post game snack when she finally returned to the new group chat with her new buddies.

❤️🏒💙WAGtros💙🏒❤️

Jackie Pike

Hi ladies! I’ve added Rhys Whitman’s girlfriend Vanessa to the chat so everyone make sure you introduce yourself so she knows who is who

Unknown Number

Heyyyyyy girlie :)

I’m Eloise. The boys will be in my city in a couple weeks, hopefully ill be able to meet you then

Panarko’s wife btw

Unknown Number

hallo Vanessa. love and welcomes from Germany 💖

I am Schulz’s girlfriend Harley and very tired…

Unknown Number

Theresa; Marc Grishold.

I.Rozanov

Vanessa! I hope that everyone was very welcoming in person. I am Shane’s Lily.

Vanessa blinked, looked away from her phone, looked back, and blinked again.

No. Simply no.

This was not happening.

She tried swiping up her messages app. She tried turning her phone off and on again. None of it worked.

“Babe?” Rhys tapped her foot from the end of the bed. “Are you okay?”

“What? Yup. Everything’s fine. Bridget’s just infodumping about some new work drama and I think I’m too tired to be dealing with this right now.”

Rhys patted her calf in sympathy before heading to the closet to change. She hadn’t officially moved with him, if things worked out and he would be staying in this part of Canada for a while, it would work out perfectly for their long term plan of ending up close to where she grew up in Ontario. For now, she still had their apartment in Alberta and would be spending as much time with him here as she could.

Thank fuck for the flexibility of tech jobs. You can code from anywhere.

“I think that can wait until morning. Whatever this is will be there tomorrow and will probably make a whole lot more sense.”

“Yeah. Hopefully.”

She woke up the next day to a couple more introductions and sent her thanks along for the warm welcomes in the chat and at the rink.

Things were just as confusing as they had been the first time around. Sure, maybe the world’s most convoluted series of coincidences led to Ilya Rozanov getting rid of the phone number he had when his rookie year overlapped with Rhys’ time in Boston, then some girl acquired that phone number- which, who changed phone numbers as an adult anyway?- and that girl happened to be or become Shane Hollander’s girlfriend. The very same Shane Hollander who was supposedly Ilya Rozanov’s like arch fucking nemesis.

Whether or not that made more sense than Hollander and Rozanov being in a relationship, she wasn’t entirely certain. It was easier to digest at a glance, but still.

Vanessa vowed to never bring it up. Maybe one day she would meet this mysterious ‘Lily’ and she could tell everyone about this funny thing that was happening in the background of their group chat or she would take it to her grave.

Scott Hunter might be out but if this Rozanov and Hollander thing really was a thing, Vanessa didn’t anticipate either of them dragging the other onto the ice after a cup win.

The MLH wasn’t ready for that.

Someday, for them and for everyone, she hoped that it would be.

So, she was not going to bring it up. She would just sit back and maybe undeniable proof one way or the other would present itself to prove ‘Lily’s identity.

Nothing all too substantial happened in the first couple of weeks. ‘Lily’ joined in on some advice offering, teasing Olsen for his terrible cooking via commiserating with Fatima, and other small, innocuous things.

❤️🏒💙WAGtros💙🏒❤️

Cece Varn (Martins)

Good evening (ish) to all my wonderful wags, I have a confession to make…

Sam and I finally moved all of the baby shower gifts into the nursery last night and things got a bit mixed up

I cannot for the life of me figure out/remember who got these things for us

They were in a box with Metros onesies and all of the stuff Jackie sent so I’m hoping its some of yall

Sorry again… god this is so embarrassing

Eloise Panarko

Omg girlie that is so fair. I swear I was fighting wedding gifts for months after

None of those gifts are from us so you can at least rule us out

Fatima (Olsen)

Not us either. I don't have any kids so my gifts for these things are always so lame

I.Rozanov/Lily?????????

134 all me and Shane

You are welcome

Eloise Panarko

Lmao

Jackie Pike

…

Cece Varn (Martins)

Lily, girl

That ‘and Shane’ is doing too much

(but thank youuuuu you know me so wellll)

Fatima (Olsen)

For real. Love Shane to death but that boy does not know how to buy a gift especially for a baby

Lil, you know you don’t have to lie to us…

I.Rozanov/Lily?????????

I do not lie

Shane is very serious when it comes to wrapping presents

Was all him

Jackie Pike

I can second the wrapping comment, he could have been one of santa’s elves in a past life

Eloise Panarko

I still call bullshit on Shane being anything more than shown what Lily was buying

We all remember the before Lily era of Shane gifts

I.Rozanov/Lily?????????

I do not know what you are talking about

Shane gives me many many gifts every time I see him, or call him, or text him

Jackie Pike

NOPE

Fatima (Olsen)

Let the girl speak, you know we can never get anything fun out of Shane

I.Rozanov/Lily?????????

Fine, I am done

Cece Varn (Martins)

Booooo

Well, thanks again Lily (and for the wrapping by Shane). Why are you so good at getting gifts anyway, I wish I had your talents

Eloise Panarko

Agreed, I could never

I.Rozanov/Lily?????????

I am perceptive, annoys many people

And I am the best at getting gifts for kids

Jackie can tell you this and I have niece that I try to spoil

Vanessa has been waist deep in professional hockey life for over a decade now, a lot of those men were treated like celebrities in all of the worst ways. Every word they said was listened to by too many ears waiting to declare them a blight to their favorite team or to try to uncover scandalous secrets.

She didn’t like that they all had their privacy largely stripped away from them but it was an unfortunate result of their job. Under normal circumstances, she would never go snooping into someone’s personal life but… these were not circumstances.

Rozanov had a lot of information available on him. It was easy to navigate to his family information once she clicked on one of his pages. His mother had a whole paragraph, detailing information that linked back to the Irina Foundation website. A deceased father had a brief statement, as did a brother, sister-in-law, and niece.

Point Rozanov.

What was her life?

❤️🏒💙WAGtros💙🏒❤️

Jackie Pike

Hayden hates it but we get shown up in the gift department more often than we would care to admit lol

Harley (Schulz)

I think it is cute that Shane and Lily compliment each other like this

Eloise Panarko

Girl. Go to bed. Isn’t it like 3am for you???

Harley (Schulz)

I was on facetime

timezones suck :(

I.Rozanov/Lily?????????

You need to prioritize your sleep, long distance is hard but mental health and health is important too

Cece Varn (Martins)

… Lily will never be beating the good parent allegations

Fatima (Olsen)

You and Shane’s future kids are going to be so lucky to have you

Vanessa had known Rozanov as a rookie who was new to anything and everything except hockey. He took to the night life of a young hockey player like a fish to water and knew how to run his mouth when he felt like it, but he was a good teammate and from everything she has seen in this chat in the last couple weeks he was actually really sweet.

If the two of them wanted kids, Vanessa hoped that they would be able to have that one day.

❤️🏒💙WAGtros💙🏒❤️

Harley (Schulz)

Shane with a baby >>>>>>>>>

I.Rozanov/Lily?????????

You are correct but you are still a baby Harley

Do not get any ideas even is Schulz is very happy to see you next time he is home

Harley (Schulz)

🫣🫣🫣🫣🫣

Eloise Panarko

Lmao Lily

Unknown Number

Do not try to distract from the topic at hand, Lily

Harley (Schulz)

GENNNNNN

Fatima (Olsen)

Wb wb wb

Jackie Pike

Do you want to talk about anything, Genny? This was a longer break than normal?

Unknown Number

Nothing for certain right now. Marriage councilor is giving us a lot of stuff to try and work things out

I am sorry for ghosting, I spent a couple weeks with family and just took a big phone/internet break while I was doing it to clear my head

Fatima (Olsen)

🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵

Jackie Pike

❤️❤️❤️

I.Rozanov/Lily?????????

💛💛

I still think you are too beautiful and nice for Comeau to be making your marriage difficult

Eloise Panarko

❤️💙❤️💙

(Lily not the time… but I agree)

Vanessa

Um 💙💙💙

This is a totally awkward time but I hope things go well? With your marriage and stuff

I’m Whitman’s girlfriend Vanessa

Fatima (Olsen)

She speaks!

Eloise Panarko

It is never an awkward time in this WAGs chat

I.Rozanov/Lily?????????

Yes. because we are too cool

Unknown Number

Thanks everyone and thank you Vanessa, it's nice to meet you. If your a Montréal lady I’ll see you soon, I’ll be back for games starting next week

I’m Genevieve Comeau… legally and possibly temporarily

Eloise Panarko

You’ll always be a WAG Gen, (cough ex cough) husband or not

Genevieve Comeau(...)

❤️

Vanessa was holed up in her and Rhys’ Calgary apartment. She was supposed to fly back out to Montreal yesterday but between the weather, her catching a remarkably inconvenient cold, and Rhys being away for games, they ended up scrapping the trip. She would have only seen him for a couple of days, but it still kind of sucks.

She was able to substitute meeting up with Bridget to watch the game for FaceTiming for the whole evening and pretending they were right there with each other. They didn’t see each other often with Vanessa being out west, but that wouldn’t be as much of a problem if this Montreal thing works out to be semi-long term.

Crazy how far they have come. One day they were the reluctant older sister and brother of soccer playing younger brothers who weren’t quite old enough to stay at home on tournament weekends and now they were avid hockey fans.

They were still a few hours from puck drop in Boston, it was going to be a late night for her. Timezones, everyone’s best friend. Not that she kept regular people hours anyway.

❤️🏒💙WAGtros💙🏒❤️

Fatima (Olsen)

Am I correct in saying I’m the only one who is here for this game?

Eloise Panarko

You know where I am 😑

Jackie Pike

Maybe two or three kids ago…

Genevieve Comeau(...)

I would love to keep you company but I am still in Montréal

Vanessa

Calgary, sorry

Fatima (Olsen)

Dang, can’t even give Vanessa her mandatory WAG in Boston induction

Harley (Schulz)

???

Fatima (Olsen)

Literally when do you sleep child

Harley (Olsen)

when hockey isn't on 😎

Vanessa

What induction?

Is this related to the whole rivalry thing?

Montreal and Boston as teams have been rivals for basically as long as there has been hockey in both of those cities. The Hollander-Rozanov rivalry was a former page in that book that no one ever understood the ending of.

Only, apparently it didn’t end. Rozanov moved to Ottawa… probably for Hollander.

They were in love-love.

❤️🏒💙WAGtros💙🏒❤️

Eloise Panarko

Fatima, girlie, it has been ages since that was relevant

Fatima (Olsen)

But stilllll, for old times sake

Vanessa

I’m so lost

Harley (Schulz)

^^^

Fatima (Olsen)

I guess I will have to explain (unless @Lily wants to chime in)

Our illusive C-WAG lived in Boston for the first couple of years that we knew her, but she has the worst luck on the planet and was never able to get time off of work for any of our games in Boston

We’re like 91% sure that she moved at some point but they’re still somewhat long distance because they do not get to see each other often and even when she is able to make it to Montreal we feel too bad taking away from her Shane-time to beg to meet her

Eloise Panarko

Harley notwithstanding, I’m the most recent WAG who did go to Boston and not meet Lily but Andy was traded a few years ago

Harley (Schulz)

And you guys just don’t know? Isn’t Lily like always talking in this chat

Fatima (Olsen)

They’re very private and both very busy, we would love to be there for her irl but this is what they have asked for so of course we’re going to respect it 100%

Vanessa had no idea if any of these women knew the big secret. Nothing had indicated it so far, but unless it was an open secret in the group, it wasn’t like they were going to just talk about it with people they weren’t sure knew.

“So, I am clearly the least interesting thing happening on your phone right now. Isn’t Reese's Pieces busy with… whatever happens on game day?”

Vanessa stuck her tongue out at Bridget through the phone. “It's the WAGs groupchat.”

“Oh nice. The Metros? You never talked much in the Calgary one.”

“CalgarWAGs were all nice and everything, but very overwhelming. I had to mute it early on because my phone literally vibrated itself off of my nightstand once.”

Bridget laughed more than she should have at that. Then again, she had been sipping on her favourite white wine in preparation for the game because she somehow took it more to heart than Vanessa did. “Is this group better?”

“A lot smaller. They’re all very sweet, the ones that talk anyway. There are a couple of the older wives who just communicate with each other. Like I have one of their numbers saved but the other two have never said anything so there's just two numbers I don’t have in the group chat."

“That sounds a lot more your speed.”

“Literally, I can actually keep up with the messages most of the time.”

❤️🏒💙WAGtros💙🏒❤️

Genevieve Comeau(...)

WAGs chat is a sacred space, we respect each other’s wishes and protect each other

Harley (Schulz)

I will be one with the sacred space 😎

Fatima (Olsen)

It isn’t that serious… mostly, but the normal what happens in the chat stays in the chat rules apply even from the boys but we side with the chat first always (not that we ever wouldn’t, we all know who is in the wrong in the Comeau household)

Genevieve Comeau(...)

❤️ things are okay right now, we’ll have to deal with a lot after playoffs but for now just maintaining the course

Vanessa

I am all for the sacred spaces and being there for one another… for however long I’m here

Fatima (Olsen)

Witty is doing really well, we need depth in our defensive end year round, management would be dumb to let him go

Eloise Panarko

Would you want to be in Montréal long term? Like move out with him if he gets a longer contract

Vanessa

I grew up in Ontario, we’ve been hoping he’ll land in eastern Canada for a while now with all the trading he’s been through

Eloise Panarko

Oh! This would be perfect for you guys then. I hope it works out and not just because I selfishly want to keep you in this chat

Fatima (Olsen)

In town WAG! In town WAG!

Vanessa

Maybe

No promises

Eloise Panarko

Me, Lily, and Harley will hold down the out of town fort for you if you do get to make the move

I.Rozanov/Lily?????????

You are correct I am not in Boston anymore

I am in Ottawa but work is still very busy so I am not able to meet any of you :(

Fatima (Olsen)

Ottawa! What! Lil omg for how long?

I.Rozanov/Lily?????????

Little bit

Sorry I did not tell

Eloise Panarko

Girlie you are so okay, you don’t owe us a thing but I’m so happy that you are a little closer to Shane even if it is still difficult

Fatima (Olsen)

🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵

Harley (Schulz)

Ottawa Lily 💖 I love that for you

Vanessa

Long distance sucks, but physically closer even with life getting in the way is something

I.Rozanov/Lily?????????

Thank you wonderful ladies

It is better, not perfect but easier

Eloise Panarko

Wait! Aren’t we like totally going to be playing Ottawa in the first round this year?

Fatima (Olsen)

We still have like so many games left this season…

Eloise Panarko

I am right and you know it

I.Rozanov/Lily?????????

I also think Eloise is correct, but I will most likely not be able to watch any of the games :(

I am very unlucky with this

Harley (Schulz)

💖💖💖

Fatima (Olsen)

If you do have time… you don’t have to sit with us if that would make being there for Shane more difficult for you

I know we have talked a lot over the years about seeing you at games but if you aren’t actually busy every single time you don’t have to say that you are, we understand

Cece Varn (Martins)

100%

Harley (Schulz)

are we talking about this openly?

I.Rozanov/Lily?????????

Shane is out to team, has been for a while

Most of them do not like to talk about it and he appreciates not making a big deal about it

Genevieve Comeau(...)

The amount of times that has come up in therapy is unnerving

Gil is so weird about it

Fatima (Olsen)

We are not weird about it. We are wonderful and supportive and stand behind you both

I.Rozanov/Lily?????????

I know

Shane does too

But he is very bad about talking about being gay

And he still does not realize how much I talk to this chat

Jackie Pike

That might be my fault, I was his soul impression of and connection to the WAGs for a while and I enjoy teasing him because he is very uptight. I think he might be scared of us…

I.Rozanov/Lily?????????

Is best way to make him be less tense

Well

Second best

Eloise Panarko

Ignoring that, Vanessa you cool?

Vanessa

I am very cool. Is it a dumb question if I ask if you’re a man…?

I.Rozanov/Lily?????????

No dumb question

I am a man

A secret man

Is better this way

And I was Lily for many years in this chat, is fun to be Lily

It was probably also safer to be Lily than Ilya Rozanov when it came to dating Shane Hollander.

“Didn’t that really good guy from Montreal date some actress a few years ago? Is that still happening?”

Vanessa bit down a laugh. She had no idea where Rose Landry fit into all of this but it definitely was not still happening. “Don’t think so, no Rose in this chat. I don’t think that lasted long ago enough for her to have been added.”

“Anyone else famous in there?”

“Not as far as I can tell.”

It was definitely time to update his contact name. The original name was correct, but the last thing she needed was for someone to see Rozanov in their group chat when they knew Shane was gay.

She still doubted anyone knew who he was even if they knew he was a he and she was not going to fuck that up for them.

❤️🏒💙WAGtros💙🏒❤️

Fatima (Olsen)

We love Lily 🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵

Jackie Pike

❤️❤️❤️

Harley (Schulz)

💖💖💖

Eloise Panarko

Lily is our girl (she is one of us and referring to her as such is habit but also done with love)

Lily (Hollander)

Love you all 💛💛

Chapter 2

Chapter Notes

So... this was finished and then I was left to consider it for too long and things happened lol

They were still three weeks out from the start of playoffs but they were guaranteed in and with how things seemed to be shaking up just south of them, Ottawa was going to clinch a position as well. The Ottawa-Seattle game on her TV was indicative that they were going to do just that.

Everyone in the chat has been switching into playoffs mode in both their homes and in their mentalities. Rhys was susceptible to the typical personal superstitions during the postseason but nothing too serious, Vanessa knew that for some WAGs they were dealing with completely different men for a few weeks of the year.

She wasn’t displeased that she didn’t have to deal with that but there was something that she was meaning to ask before things got too close to the end of the season. The Ottawa game was nearly over anyway.

❤️🏒💙WAGtros💙🏒❤️

Fatima (Olsen)

I remain extremely undecided on the playoff beard

It has been a hot minute since we did a full cup run though so I can’t properly remember the full extent of it

Eloise Panarko

Andy has a beard year round, it makes no difference to me

He usually shaves at the beginning of the summer when he comes out here though so 🙃

Harley (Schulz)

I think Liam’s gonna try this year and I don’t think it is gonna go very well

Lily (Hollander)

Shane cannot grow a playoff beard

Is very sad for me personally

Jackie Pike

TMI

Cece Varn (Martins)

…

Lily (Hollander)

Is fine, I can grow a beard for both of us

The Ottawa game on her TV only just finished. This man was on his phone before he even got dragged in front of the media.

Ottawa won. Their season wasn’t record breaking but all of the big changes from the last few years were starting to work out in their favor. Rozanov, Barrett, Hayes, their new coach. Vanessa was a little bit more interested in them than just any other team- even above her usual passive monitoring of the other Canadian teams- ever since she saw who she was sharing a group chat with.

Rozanov moving to Ottawa was a career ending move according to some when news first broke, but he was a stubborn motherfucker who was well on his way to bringing a second team from the depths of the bottom of the league to a powerhouse. Just like he did in Boston.

Just like Hollander did in Montreal.

The two of them were really in a league of their own. It wasn’t as lonely at the top as she would have guessed.

❤️🏒💙WAGtros💙🏒❤️

Vanessa

I do have a non-playoff related question to ask

Rhys is a chicken, so now I have to ask

Fatima (Olsen)

It always ends up being on us to ask the important questions

Eloise Panarko

No need to warm up to asking a question, girlie

Vanessa

It is mostly for Jackie and Lily now that I think of it but also a little general curiosity after the question so I guess I’ll keep it here and wait for them to be ready, don’t want it to get lost in the shuffle

Jackie Pike

I am here and will be for a bit, Hayden has the kids in the basement and I am resting (the kids think I’m cleaning, lying is justifiable)

Lily is a bit busy tonight so just wait on him

Rozanov was talking to the media. Her TV was muted so she couldn’t tell what he was actually saying but he had his usual cocky grin on and a shot from some Metros-Centaurs game flashed for a moment between questions so it wasn’t hard to guess. It was still looking like that would be their first round match up as long as nothing went horribly sideways in the next few weeks.

Hollander-Rozanov rivalry, will Ottawa be able to put up a fight, something cocky but simultaneously sincere about how well they will do. The media was certainly benefitting from Rozanov turning things around in Ottawa so they could still keep the rivalry money coming in, even if they were publicly friends now.

A lot of people still thought it was a PR stunt. Those people did not look closely enough at Rozanov’s face for the first second after Hollander’s name was mentioned.

Then again, no one knew to look.

❤️🏒💙WAGtros💙🏒❤️

Cece Varn (Martins)

I will always be jealous of your friendship with Lily, Jacks

Eloise Panarko

Mood

Fatima (Olsen)

Literally the weirdest hill to die on Cece?? You and Lily message constantly outside of this chat and in this chat???

Jackie Pike

Hazard of being involved with one half of Hayden and Shane

I have no idea where they would be without us

Lily (Hollander)

Shane would still be second best hockey player

Pike would be very sad and confused and childless which is sad because children are best part of him

Eloise Panarko

I understand their friendship less

Jackie Pike

They love each other

Lily (Hollander)

We are not friends, this is fake news

Vanessa

Hayden works at Hollander and Rozanov’s summer camps right? (hi, it’s me with the question)

Jackie Pike

He does

Lily (Hollander)

Unfortunately

Jackie Pike

Play nice

Lily (Hollander)

Fine…

Vanessa

How does one get involved with that, I know some of the Centaurs also couch and a few others, Rhys is always looking for something to do during the summer and he hasn’t been able to coach much but he used to help out with younger teams back when he was in the UK

We really love what the Foundation stands for and would love to be involved if it wasn’t too selective for who they brought in

Lily (Hollander)

Whitman is good defenceman

He is good with kids?

Vanessa

We don’t have any but he grew up with a lot of cousins, he isn’t actually all that witty (ironically) but he can put on a silly persona when he needs to

Jackie Pike

We can let Shane and Ilya know that you guys are interested

Lily (Hollander)

Shane likes Whitman, and I like you, can put in a good word

Jackie Pike

It will be nice to have some more Metros rep there, Hayden definitely needs a buddy for when Shane is distracted

Lily (Hollander)

Pike will be using your boyfriend as human shield, this is warning Vanessa, he hides from Ilya like scared bunny

Eloise Panarko

I don’t think I’ve ever asked, Lily what are your thoughts on Ilya Rozanov? Have you met him since he and Shane became friends?

Lily (Hollander)

He is only person who is better at hockey than Shane, but it is very close

Do not tell Shane I said that

He is very funny and very good with kids, good captain and coach

Eloise Panarko

That is a lot more thoughts than I expected

Cece Varn (Martins)

So you have met him??

Lily (Hollander)

Yes

Eloise Panarko

Jealous

Harley (Schulz)

me too, I was a big fan of him growing up

Lily (Hollander)

Ah, so this is a German thing too

Harley (Schulz)

???

Cece Varn (Martins)

So just Lily and Jackie have met Rozanov?

Fatima (Olsen)

I think I met him once in passing

Lily (Hollander)

What? When?

Fatima (Olsen)

Girl idk, it was all stars like six years ago or something

Eloise Panarko

Anyone else?

Vanessa didn’t put her name forward. She had no idea if he would even remember that night when she had to leave the bar before everyone else and he insisted on exchanging numbers so that she had someone who could contact her. He was a few drinks in and she never ended up texting him back after he put his number in her phone.

Still, there was no reason to risk him remembering that.

Things were still very up in the air in the Western Conference, the wildcard slots were being vied for by like six different teams who each had a shot at eeking into the playoffs. San Jose and Colorado were tied with just minutes left in the third and the outcome of this game could put one of them out of the running.

“Where is my favourite Brit anyway?” Bridget asked, between eating popcorn by the handful.

“Sleeping.” It has been a few years since the last time she lived through the playoffs, but she knew how it went. “The technical term is pre-gaming sleep I believe.”

“Is that actually a thing?”

“It is definitely not.”

Vanessa tipped forward on the couch, Colorado had it in the offensive end. Four of them and only two defenders. One shot. A second.

The whistle blew.

“Damnit.”

“Someone needs to score,” Bridget sighed, “my nerves can’t handle this.”

There were still four minutes on the clock.

❤️🏒💙WAGtros💙🏒❤️

Jackie Pike

Lily, my children have become aware that you have a dog

You are now required to bring said dog over for a visit and convince them that they do not need a dog because I cannot handle a dog and you are making my life very difficult

Fatima (Olsen)

Ummm, puppy pics now??

Harley (Schulz)

yes, please

Eloise Panarko

If not Lily, then did Shane tell your kids about the dog?

Jackie Pike

He told the twins, I don’t think it was intentional, he was very apologetic

Lily (Hollander)

Shane told me. I will bring her by today

Fatima (Olsen)

You’re visiting Jackie????

Lily (Hollander)

And Pike, unfortunately. Is fine, Pike children love me, I am favorite uncle

Vanessa

So dog pics?

Lily (Hollander)

I do not think that I can

Eloise Panarko

:(

Harley (Schulz)

dang it

Cece Varn (Martins)

Even the dog is top secret? What kind of life do you live

Lily (Hollander)

Is fine, we are going to be coming out in the summer. After season is done

Then I will be able to tell you all everything

Harley (Schulz)

really???

Lily (Hollander)

… Shane would not like people to know everything, so maybe just some things

Eloise Panarko

Omg omg

Cece Varn (Martins)

That is so exciting! I finally get to meet my bestie!

Genevieve Comeau(...)

That’s wonderful, I look forward to maybe getting to meet you in the future

“What’s happening? Are you okay?” Bridget waved a hand in front of her face.

“Yeah. Just- group chat being crazy.”

“Playoffs stuff?”

Vanessa shook her head. “Summer plans mostly. I know something that I shouldn’t though and it's driving me crazy.”

“Anything I can do?”

“Not kill me when insane news breaks this summer because I knew? It is not something I can talk about at all, to anyone.”

“I look forward to hearing all about this.” Both of them snapped their heads to the TV as a crescendo hit, followed by the disappointed exhale of a whole crowd. “Someone score, anyone, please.”

❤️🏒💙WAGtros💙🏒❤️

Fatima (Olsen)

Does this mean you don’t have to worry about Visa stuff anymore?

Lily (Hollander)

Will be citizen soon

Eloise Panarko

THAT IS NOT HOW YOU TELL PEOPLE YOURE ENGAGED LILY

Harley (Schulz)

!!!!!!!

Fatima (Olsen)

OMG

Cece Varn (Martins)

gilr what omg ahhhhh im so excitde

Vanessa

Lily you broke Cece

Eloise Panarko

She is having an entirely justifiable response

We’ve been waiting for this forever

Fatima (Olsen)

We really do have the full spectrum of relationships here. Jackie got married within like a few months vs Lily and Shane who have been dating for longer than any of them will fess up to

Lily (Hollander)

Dating is since 2017

Is everything else that Shane does not want you to know

Vanessa

Everything else deeply intrigues me, but I think I’m worse. Rhys and I have been dating since like Hollander was a rookie

No one needed to know why she had a frame of reference for that off the top of her head. Maybe that was a bad thing to bring up, she was still trying to keep from reminding anyone of the overlap of Rhys and Rozanov with the Raiders the year she started seeing Rhys ironically.

Bridget slapped her shoulder. “Phone down, phone down. There are like thirty seconds left.”

Colorado won the face off.

San Jose intercepted a pass and got it into the offensive end.

Colorado turned it around. One guy took it from one end to the other.

A shot. A block. The buzzer went.

“Fuck!”

❤️🏒💙WAGtros💙🏒❤️

Lily (Hollander)

Ah so I am still longer

We started before Shane was a rookie

Eloise Panarko

WHATGEBHEBIW

Cece Varn (Martins)

Since wehn

Harley (Schulz)

longer than his whole NHL career 😧

Fatima (Olsen)

Thats like half of Harleys life

Genevieve Comeau(...)

I would not have guessed that long. Everyone thought he was allergic to any human interaction outside of hockey when he first got here

Jackie Pike

Try being the one who was pushing your husband to get Shane to go on blind dates that whole time

Lily (Hollander)

Shane… can not know I told you this

We had a casual relationship for many years, we could not be out, we both did not want to do anything stupid like start to have feelings, but we did

Vanessa

I can’t even imagine going through that. All the stress and hiding. If you need anything we are all here for you both

Fatima (Olsen)

Yes, that, all of the way

Harley (Schulz)

💖💖💖💖💖

Jackie Pike

❤️❤️❤️

Eloise Panarko

If anything happens with your visa I promise to kidnap you and hide you in LA so they cannot find you

Cece Varn (Martins)

I think I’m having heart palpitations

Lily (Hollander)

You are all very sweet

I hope that kidnap will not be needed

Genevieve Comeau(...)

Cece, take a lap around the room that you are in and get some water ❤️

Lily, I can’t promise things are going to be good with the team but we will do what we can. The less welcoming guys might not like having it be more difficult to ignore Shane’s “thing” (not my words)

Lily (Hollander)

We know that it will probably go very badly

He hopes that it will not, I know that it will

But he is free agent in July

Eloise Panarko

He would leave Montréal???

Cece Varn (Martins)

But he’s supposed to be a lifer

They’re supposed to retire his jersey in the rafters of our rink

Fatima (Olsen)

I can’t say this is completely surprising, Coach Theriault, a lot of the louder guys, and management are all really ‘traditional’ hockey guys

Some stuff really has to change before this is a good place, our decent boys are really outnumbered here

Harley (Schulz)

yeah… I didn’t want to say anything but the stuff I’ve been hearing hasn’t been great… it isn’t about any of your guys tho!

well…

Genevieve Comeau(...)

Well indeed

Lily might not be the only one having a big relationship moment this summer

Eloise Panarko

Oh. That bad?

Genevieve Comeau(...)

He is on thin ice and I don’t even know if I want to fix it anymore. I just don’t like being around him lately, even when he’s trying to do what he thinks he’s supposed to to get on my good side

Fatima (Olsen)

🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵

Eloise Panarko

❤️💙❤️💙

Cece Varn (Martins)

How insensitive is it if I request we turn things back to Lily or Vanessa

There have been some big reveals here that I don’t think we’ve properly processed

Genevieve Comeau(...)

I am very in favor of that, much more fun to talk about

Lily (Hollander)

You are getting no more out of me

Vanessa you have been dating for many years, do you or him not want to get married?

Vanessa

We want to. We will. He just needs to land somewhere permanent and we aren’t rushing to the inevitable. We already live together, do a lot of stuff as if we were married, it will happen

Fatima (Olsen)

Do you, now that its been a bit, still want to stay in Montreal even if a lot of the team is… how they are

Vanessa

We like it out here, I’m from Ontario (London actually, I find it way to funny to ask people which of the two of us they think grew up in London) so its nice to be close and my family and best friend are here

There are some good eggs on the team and long term maybe good can win out here, we might just have to wait out some people. Theriault will have to retire soon and after Hunter and Barrett, tides are shifting so they will need to clean up their image should anything bad happen with Hollander

Lily (Hollander)

You know you can call him Shane, you are not his rival

Vanessa

I’ve been with too many hockey teams

Last names are safest, some WAGs are weirdly territorial about the player-friend boundary

Lily (Hollander)

Call him Shane or one of his nicknames, last name in WAGs chat is weird

And what you said is true, it will keep being bad for a while but you are not all bad, you will be there to be good even if I steal Shane away so that he can be happy

Eloise Panarko

It will suck and I will hate it but I do want Shane to be happy and I agree that I don’t think that can happen here

Harley (Schulz)

will you ask him to go to Ottawa for you Lily?

Cece Varn (Martins)

No way Ottawa can afford him and Roz

Fatima (Olsen)

No way he wants to go further after all the work to get as close as Montreal and Ottawa and Toronto… is Toronto

Lily (Hollander)

I will not ask him to do anything just for me, but I would like to have him in Ottawa. I could make him very happy (and not in weird way before anyone text-yells at me)

Jackie Pike

You know that Hayden and I are always in your corner

Lily (Hollander)

Even if I tell your children that if they ask very nicely you will get them a dog?

Jackie Pike

I will have Hayden swap out Shane’s tape

Fatima (Olsen)

Well, there are worse threats

Lily (Hollander)

I will make them never want to have a pet in their whole lives they will not even want to meet my dog again

Please do not do this to me

Harley (Schulz)

that was apparently a very serious threat

Fatima (Olsen)

I stand corrected

Bridget shook her awake as some ungodly hour. Rhys was conked out beside her and she allowed herself to be pulled out of the room without waking him.

“I know what you couldn’t tell me yesterday.”

Vanessa rubbed her eyes. “What? Why are you even awake?”

“It’s a completely normal time to be awake- nevermind. Look at… anything, honestly.”

Vanessa accepted her phone from Bridget, she hadn’t even noticed her grab it off of the nightstand when she woke her. There were a lot of notifications waiting for her, way more than she would ever normally wake up with.

It was close to ten, Rhys was definitely already awake for his morning workout but they didn’t have practice until the afternoon so he was resting. Or had been resting and fell real asleep.

There were news alerts, an absurd amount of Instagram notifications, and a plethora of group chats and direct messages.

Her heart sank when the corner of her eye caught a few words from an article title. Hollander, kissing, and rival.

Shit.

She navigated through a few less relevant group chats and messages- swiping away anyone who was just looking for gossip or a former WAG chat she was apparently re-added to. Bridget pulled her to the couch by the time she opened WAGtros.

There were a lot of chats there already, but she started at the present since more were coming in.

❤️🏒💙WAGtros💙🏒❤️

Jackie Pike

Hayden just left theirs, they know, give them time to come to us without adding extra demands to their day

Fatima (Olsen)

The amount of notifs I woke up with… I can’t even imagine what things are like for them

Jackie Pike

I think they’re agent/Yuna are trying to bear the brunt of it right now and they will probably mostly keep off of their phones until they’re settled. Ilya has Shane right now, the best thing for us to do is not make anything worse by talking to anyone outside of the gc. No media, no socials, we are radio silence until they tell us how they want to handle things

Genevieve Comeau(...)

So this is true? I’m sorry, I just got on my phone, I was at yoga all morning

Jackie Pike

It is. That information is still top secret, I don’t know exactly what their plan is with all of this

They were going to come out this summer but- this was a whole fuckup

Fatima (Olsen)

Is Hayden doing okay? He made a mistake because there was no way this was intentional, I would feel so awful

Jackie Pike

He isn’t doing great, his first text to me after was his surprise that he made it out of their house alive (this wasn’t actually a concern, he was just panicked) but they accepted his apology and they know it wasn’t intentional

We have known for a while, not as long as ‘Lily’ has been in the chat, but a while. Hayden guessed it as a joke and he was right. I didn’t believe him until Shane told me himself

Fatima (Olsen)

Also, now that I think of it, this was a mistake by Hayden but BRAD definitely did this shit on purpose

Genevieve Comeau(...)

I’m sorry, who is Brad?

Jackie Pike

The guy who bought the FanMail from Hayden then posted it for the entire world to see

Genevieve Comeau(...)

I am rather not a fan of this individual

Jackie Pike

Agreed

Fatima (Olsen)

100%

I was scrolling back through this chat right after I first saw the news break and I can’t believe how obvious it seems in hindsight

Like… there were so many things that make so much sense. Not from here, being out on a visa was dangerous (russia), never being able to watch games either boston or ottawa played against us

Cece Varn (Martins)

Since befoeiur thye were rookise!!

Fatima (Olsen)

Oh shes back, how are you holding up girl?

Cece Varn (Martins)

I have been talking to Ilya Rozanov for years. We talk privately a lottttt. I joke, but I think he is actually one of my closest friends at this point in my life

I have no idea what is happening

Im going to go take another lap around the house

Genevieve Comeau(...)

The outside of your house?

Cece Varn (Martins)

Yes

Genevieve Comeau(...)

Wear a coat, its raining

Cece Varn (Martins)

Rain is helping

Fatima (Olsen)

I went through this with her life an hour ago

Jackie Pike

Headcount time, Hayden says that things are kind of terrible in the boys’ gc so I need to know who I need to yell at here before I start dealing with them

C-WAG is helping Shane and I am going to A-WAG the rest into shape so that his last few weeks with this team aren’t absolutely miserable

@Fatima @Eloise @Harley @Cece @Vanessa @Crystal @Theresa @Monica @Genevieve

Fatima (Olsen)

I feel really bad for them and… I fear that Kyle is being kind of weird about the whole former rivals/opponent captain thing but I took his phone and told him he needed to write me a list of every time he was impressed by Shane’s playing since Lily joined the Centaurs

(he doesn’t know why and I only went as far back as Ilya has said they were dating since Shane has hang ups about the rest)

Cece Varn (Martins)

I feel like I am on crack

Frederick (who is getting fully named for the foreseeable future) keeps trying to rationalize with me about why this is a tiny bit fucked up and everytime he does I just point to a new baby/wedding gift that came from them and he shuts up again

Genevieve Comeau(...)

The ice broke

I haven’t even spoken to Gil yet but I saw his face when he was on his phone when I got home and yeah

Jackie Pike

Oh Gen…

Genevieve Comeau(...)

This was a long was coming

Harley (Schulz)

I don’t know what to do with myself

I told him to him that he was my favorite growing up

Liam hasn’t responded to me other than telling me that all the people being weird about this on his phone was overwhelming him so he was putting it away

I’m just hoping he put it in his dresser or something and not a toilet

Fatima (Olsen)

So, so far we have Hayden and the rookie who aren’t being difficult about this… lovely

Jackie Pike

I will be very real, Hayden was very confused at first but mostly just because Ilya can be abrasive and annoying when all he ever pictured for someone good for Shane was neither of those things when clearly it is exactly what he wants. It was never really about the rivalry part, he has way more faith in Shane than that

Fatima (Olsen)

Exactly! That’s why Kyle is working through his exercise right now, anyone who has ever met Shane Fucking Hollander knows how seriously he takes hockey

Cece Varn (Martins)

The rivalry was competitive flirting

They have been involved since BEFORE they were rookies

Fatima (Olsen)

When and how

Jackie Pike

Don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to

Fatima (Olsen)

That's not what I meant!

Theresa Grishold

Marc and I have been trying to figure out how to approach this situation, obviously Coach will have to sit the captain so Hayden will have to step up for the playoffs and we need to have a united front when it comes to dealing with the media shit storm they caused. Trenton is going to talk to Coach today if any of the other guys would like to go express their concerns

Unknown Number

Reynauld has already been talking to Marc, I trust Coach to handle this appropriately. It was bad enough when it was just him saying he was gay. Now this.

Fatima (Olsen)

… you came to the wrong place if you want any sympathy for those kinds of opinions We are here to support Shane and Ilya

Harley (Schulz)

they haven’t done anything wrong 🤨

Theresa Grishold

Why did I expect any different from any of you? When this all settles, we will all see where you stand

Jackie Pike

Vaguely threatening or ill meaning messages are not welcome in this group chat, we are here to support each other and our HABs

Unknown Number

No need to try and act like you didn’t want this news out there Jackie, Hollander won’t be captain much longer but that doesn’t mean we will respect your nonsense anymore once you’re really C-WAG instead of just parading around

A few responses to that kind of talk popped into the groupchat, but a notification from a new one flashed before Vanessa could find anything to say that wouldn’t just lead to more negative talk.

❤️🏒💙WAGtros Deluxe💙🏒❤️

Jackie Pike

So I figured it was high time that we have a separate chat given how they wanted to use it. That kind of negativity isn’t needed right now and I doubt that will be the last time they decide to start talking there

Crystal didn’t actually say anything but Hayden said that Jasp was vocal enough in their gc that it was a good bet she would be in agreement, I texted her separately to try to sus out her opinions and will add her here if she proves to be chill

Eloise Panarko

Andy just called me

This is very weird and unexpected and all of that to him but we are cool

He was starting to let the loudmouths get to him but I reminded him of the real world and things that aren’t just thinly veiled excuses to be homophobic

Fatima (Olsen)

And Andy makes three

I’m not huge on these numbers

Vanessa

Rhys was awake earlier for his workout but he’s sleeping right now, I don’t know how he’ll react but I would be very surprised if it was weird in any way

Fatima (Olsen)

How much processing did you do before messaging, that was an unprecedentedly composed message for someone I know was awake for the whole overtime and shootout last night?

Vanessa

I already knew

Harley (Schulz)

!??!?!?!?

Fatima (Olsen)

HOW

Jackie Pike

They never mentioned you finding out?

Cece Varn (Martins)

Knew?????

Genevieve Comeau(...)

I am impressed, you figured it out in just a couple months. Most of us and known “Lily” for years

Vanessa

Sooooooooooo

Rhys was drafted to Boston and he’s a couple years older than Shane and Ilya

A few months into my relationship with him I was out after a game with the Raiders and their WAGs and I had to leave before Rhys. Ilya stopped me and gave me his number so I had a way of contacting all of them if anything were to happen to Rhys

It was actually really sweet of him but I never ended up using his number, I still saved it though

Imagine my surprise when a decade later that contact popped up in this group chat under the name ‘Lily’

Jackie Pike

Oh my god

This is better than Hayden guessing

How did we never think that this could happen??

Fatima (Olsen)

How did this never happen before, the most sociable man in the MLH has been here the whole time and none of us had his number

Harley (Schulz)

it was really nice of you to keep this a secret

Fatima (Olsen)

Wait you said you didn’t know how Witty was going to react?

Vanessa

I never told him, never told anyone

Changed his contact pretty quickly too so no one would ever see it

At first I wasn’t completely certain I believed it but like Fatima said, when you are looking for Ilya it is really obvious it is Ilya texting

Bridget was reading over her shoulder. That was technically a violation of the privacy enacted for this information leaving the group chat but Vanessa did know separately to Jackie saying anything. Based on what Ilya was saying just the day before about coming out, she had a feeling that the confirmation would be coming from them soon.

“I can’t believe you’ve known this for months.”

“It wasn’t like I was going to out them to anyone? Like, me, obviously not.”

Bridget snorted. “I am well aware. You told me you were bi when we were fourteen. I just mean it's so insane that this happened at all. Like one random moment years ago accidentally clued you in on hockey’s biggest secret.”

“What is hockey’s biggest secret?” Rhys asked from the doorway to the hall.

“Have you been on your phone yet?”

He shrugged. “Nah. Either of you want food? I’m making myself an omelet if you haven’t eaten.”

“No follow up questions on the secret thing?” Vanessa said as Bridget opted in for the omelet. “But yes, please make me breakfast, I love you.”

“Love you too. You know I’m not big on gossip.”

“I am painfully aware. You never get enough information, or you just never tell me enough. One time you told me your sister was thinking about moving and didn’t even know to what fucking country.”

Vanessa dragged herself off the couch so that they could continue this conversation without shouting across the apartment. She and Bridget pulled out adjacent barstools while Rhys started fiddling with ingredients.

“Shane, your captain, is in a romantic relationship with Ilya Rozanov.”

Rhys paused what he was doing, tilted his head in though, then shrugged. “Friends to lovers,” he hummed, “rivals to friends to lovers I guess. Good for them- or, I can’t see Hollzy announcing this kind of thing right before playoffs. Shit.”

Vanessa locked eyes with Bridget and vaguely gestured at him with both hands. Bridget equally did not know what to do with him.

“I’m glad you’re taking this well,” she said.

“How else would I take it? People date people they meet at work all of the time.”

❤️🏒💙WAGtros Deluxe💙🏒❤️

Vanessa

Rhys makes four good ones

I swear I’ve seen him more caught off guard by weather updates

Fatima (Olsen)

I would question your choice in man but it’s working out well for you so

Cece Varn (Martins)

Frederick still has yet to successfully say a full sentence to me without being silenced, so does anyone have any insight into how the team at large is handling this?

Vanessa

Rhys’ phone is probably dead if I'm being honestly

Fatima (Olsen)

I’ve been snooping on Kyle’s phone and its really echo chamber-y

There are a few guys who definitely suck and they’re dragging everyone else down with them

Jackie Pike

J.J. will come around but right now he has a lot of feelings about the fact that Hayden and I knew but he didn’t even if we weren’t told

Shane is going to try to talk to him at some point but he probably won’t get a chance before practice

Lily (Hollander)

Hello

Fatima (Olsen)

Omg hi! Are you okay?

Harley (Schulz)

💖💖💖

💛💛💛

!!!!!!

Cece Varn (Martins)

Ilya!

Eloise Panarko

Everyone did a great job of remaining calm

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

I scrolled back a bit, you are all very sweet, thank you for standing with us and punishing the idiot HABs

Fatima (Olsen)

It was entirely necessary, I would have done it even without knowing you but it is way more personal now since him being weird is insulting to my friends Shane AND Lily and not just Shane

Harley (Schulz)

❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Harley you and Liam are very fine, he has been normal

I have to drive back to Ottawa now, I will check in later

Fatima (Olsen)

So… what do we do now?

Vanessa

There isn’t a whole lot we can do, some of the guys are just going to be awful, Coach still sucks, Crowell will no doubt have something to say to them, etc

BUT we can try to poke a hole in the echo chamber and give Shane a safety net in the locker room

Eloise Panarko

That sounds like something we can do

Fatima (Olsen)

Kyle has finished his list, I’m about to tilt this man’s whole world, wish me luck

❤️🏒💙WAGtros Deluxe💙🏒❤️

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Vanessa, you knew about me and Shane

Cece Varn (Martins)

Hours of silence and crazy things happening and this is all he cares about smh

Fatima (Olsen)

Can you blame him? Van was keeping an insane secret from us

Vanessa

I did know yes

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Thank you

And I am sorry that I forgot you and Whitman from all of those years ago

Vanessa

It was a decade ago for a single season, I think I have forgotten most of the guys Rhys has played with

Eloise Panarko

How are things going Ilya?

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Benched, most of your team is not very good, but not everyone so thank you, we need to have a meeting with Crowell soon

Fatima (Olsen)

And your team?

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Good, I am very lucky they are good guys

Vanessa

Do you still think that once Shane is a free agent…

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

I hope, it will be better for him

Cece Varn (Martins)

I wish that we could make everything here better for you guys so he doesn’t feel forced to leave but this is what’s better for him right now

Harley (Schulz)

you will get to play with your boyfriend!!!!

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Fiance, will be husband by then

We have talked about this

Harley (Schulz)

!!!!!!!!

Fatima (Olsen)

INVITE ME TO THE WEDDING IM BEGGING

Cece Varn (Martins)

My feet already hurt from doing laps, how am I meant to process this

Jackie Pike

❤️❤️❤️

Eloise Panarko

❤️💙❤️💙

Vanessa

Took you guys long enough

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Are you and Whitman planning on doing wedding? Time is running out to be less bad than Shane and I

Vanessa

Not yet, wouldn’t want to take the spotlight away from the two of you

I expect the wedding of the year

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Will be the best wedding ever because it will be ours

Harley (Schulz)

💖💖💖

Eloise Panarko

You. Are. Adorable. Ilya. Fucking. Rozanov.

Genevieve Chaisson(!!!)

❤️

Jackie Pike

❤️❤️❤️

Cece Varn (Martins)

Love love love

Vanessa

💙💙💙💙💙

Fatima (Olsen)

🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

I will get to meet all of you then

And you can meet Anya (my dog)

I am very excited to meet you all for real now ❤️🤍❤️

Chapter End Notes

This is where the 5+1 original structure ends, also where the fic was supposed to end but I kind of wanted to see a little bit of the next piece of the story before things split up a bit between them. So, more to come but still no major differences to canon just a few fun ladies added to make it a little bit better along the way :)

That part is written but not coded (ahhhhhh) or edited so I'll posted it in a couple days. Most likely no more parts to this but I fear the texting fic demon residing on my shoulder now lol

Chapter 3

Chapter Notes

The heading for this in my doc is "Part Three (you weren't supposed to exist)"

This fic has done long lasting damage to the frequently used emojis on my phone lol

The WAGs went their separate ways after the game ended. Vanessa was one of the first to split, even before she had any personal ties to the MLH, watching the men at the end of their careers have their final moments on professional ice- whether they went out in an earlier round or they were celebrating the biggest win there was in the sport- made her inexplicably very emotional.

She was laying on the floor between the couch and dining table when Rhys finally made it home. He sat down near her head.

“I kind of hated being in the locker room after that game.”

“Because of how it ended?”

“Straw that broke the camel’s back. They would have found a way to blame it on Hollzy even if he wasn’t on the ice when they scored.”

Vanessa sighed. “He was a distraction, he was distracted, he was secretly a spy for the enemy,” she speculated in jest. “That series would have never gone to game seven if everyone didn’t start second guessing him. Well, not everyone. But the handful of you who took this information well and the few we’ve talked back from the call of the darkside are still not everyone and are mostly other line forwards so that doesn’t help him.”

“Hansey is really back and forth, but I think losing out on assist points to me this whole series since I actually pass to Hollzy- the fastest player on the team, usually one of the first to get open- and he either scores or gets us a good chance in their end.”

Rhys has been his usual few-word self when it came to his opinions about a lot of the team since he was traded in. Hansen was one of the ones she knew a little bit about from him directly as his defense partner. Then again, all the information Rhys had been able to provide- the non-play related stuff at least- was that he complained about his sister a lot and he really thought that he was all that for being a hockey player.

“Has talking to him been helping?”

“Maybe. He didn’t outwardly agree when everyone started implying that Hollzy tripped on purpose but he still tried to play devil’s advocate to Jork and I… There was really nothing to advocate for though. The team I’ve played with this week isn’t the same one from three weeks ago, and Hansey seemed like he was realizing that at the end of our conversation. Hollzy was out of there before I even realized.”

Bjorkman was a fourth line defenceman, one of the few they have identified as being mostly chill after the FanMail incident. Not one of the three who had actually been good on that fateful day, but it didn’t take much to put his head back on straight.

It had been a WAG group project, trying to catalog all the players’ behaviour and divide and conquer the ones they felt could be rationalized. Vanessa had made a spreadsheet for them; it was color-coded by initial reaction and between her, Jackie, Fatima, and Cece they were trying to make things slightly better for Shane and in general. No one should be treating others the way the team was and that would still be true even if Shane leaves once he was a Free Agent. The two away girls were helping too but it had been mostly an in person endeavour.

“I have a bad feeling that today’s outcome might have undone some of our progress.”

“You are probably right about that.” Rhys glanced at her hands and the table behind him. “Have you talked to your mates yet?”

She shook her head. “Went straight for the floor when I got home, needed to decompress. My phone is on the couch I think.”

Rhys pushed himself to his feet and handed her phone to her a moment later. “I’m going to go try to wash that experience off of myself, talk to them. You won’t be able to rest until you’ve figured out how to proceed.”

“Thanks, Babe.” There was a new group chat waiting for her, it was the top notification on her phone and the only one she cared about in that moment.

🔪🏒Support Squad 🏒🔪

Eloise Panarko

Sooooooo

Andy is a chicken shit but he feels bad about it, how are things for yall?

Harley (Schulz)

Liam wanted to say something but his cubby is between Comeau and Drapeau ☹️

Eloise Panarko

Oh, yeesh

Vanessa

Rhys was talking Hansen and Bjorkman down, Shane was gone before he could say anything to him

Cece Varn (Martins)

Days since he was Frederick again: 0

Harley (Schulz)

how long did he last not being full named?

Cece Varn (Martins)

His record since the outing was three days, this time was like not even two

Like he isn’t a bad person, he just keeps letting himself “have an open mind” to the assholes on the team who just want to think the worst about Shane

He came to the conclusion that he was in the wrong in the dressing room today before he even made it home, so there was that at least

Harley (Schulz)

oh

Liam did talk to Jarn when they were walking out, he feels bad for how this whole series went for Shane because of how so much of the team decided to play

Vanessa

Jarn was yellow, right?

Harley (Schulz)

yes

Cece Varn (Martins)

Second forward line was the best by far

Frederick is the worst they have (orange) and he was one of the yellow-er oranges when we made the spreadsheet

Eloise Panarko

That only does so much when Shane is basically never on the ice with them tho

Harley (Schulz)

I’m not disappointed Liam isn’t on the third line (sorry Elly)

Eloise Panarko

Red (almost) across the board is such a bad look

Andy and I did talk to Kolt the other day though and he was quieter today than Andy thinks he would have been before so small victory?

Vanessa

It isn’t a regression, that’s something

Fatima (Olsen)

Kyle and JJ talked for a while after the game and JJ feels like shit for doing that to Shane

Cece Varn (Martins)

How was Kyle?

Fatima (Olsen)

A lot better than he was about them at first, he’s done a lot of introspection and shit about this and not even all because I told him to

He wishes he had been better at first but nothing can change the past, doing better in the future is the best he can do

Vanessa

So Frederick aside our guys are pretty okay? As a starting point for starting round two of turning grown men into decent people

Cece Varn (Martins)

He “is a dumbass who needs to stop listening to Coms and Drap because they’re just bad people”

His words

This has really shown a light on something that had never happened to come up between us because neither of us really have queer friends or family and it has been hard to have seen this person I love so much act so differently to how I know him but he is going to work on himself this summer, for them, for Estelle and any other kids we might have, and just to be a better person

Harley (Schulz)

awwww 💖

Eloise Panarko

Character growth

Vanessa

💙💙💙

Fatima (Olsen)

I don’t think there has been any change to who seems reasonable and who doesn’t?

Vanessa

From what’s been said, Jarn and Kolt might be soon ready to upgrade a color and I noted that

Fatima (Olsen)

I can’t handle the spreadsheet right now also my laptop is super far away

Vanessa

I’m editing it on my phone (I’m laying on the floor)

Cece Varn (Martins)

Your effort is appreciated Van

Vanessa

It really isn’t much

I say that we don’t do anything beyond our guys tonight, maybe it will be better in the long run to cut into the echo chamber bullshit sooner than later but we also need to focus on us and ours first

Then we start back on our previously agreed targets

Eloise Panarko

This won’t make much difference for Shane, but it will lead to a better locker room for everyone in the long run, even if we only succeed within our own walls

Cece Varn (Martins)

The road to progress is paved one stone at a time

Harley (Schulz)

that’s really beautiful Cece

Cece Varn (Martins)

I get poetic when I’m mellowdramatic

Fatima (Olsen)

And you get the opposite when you’re overwhelmed

Cece Varn (Martins)

… I contain multitudes

Genevieve Chaisson(!!!)

Hi ladies, just checking in on yall after the loss

Harley (Schulz)

hi Gen

Fatima (Olsen)

Have you been spared from the complaining?

Genevieve Chaisson(!!!)

I have not but fortunately I’m no longer obligated to listen to him whine

His text notifications are muted and his calls go straight to voicemail

Eloise Panarko

Faiirrrr

Jackie Pike

We’re still getting the kids down, I’ll check back in later but we should away something in the other chat so Shane and Ilya don’t think we’ve gone silent on them

Rhys was in sleep pants and nothing else when he came back from their bedroom down the hall.

“Are you planning on sleeping on the floor tonight?”

“That entirely depends on your willingness to carry me.”

He was not willing to carry her. He did help her stand and walked with her down the hall after shutting all the lights off behind them.

Vanessa pulled her phone back out once they were laying in bed together.

❤️🏒💙WAGtros Deluxe💙🏒❤️

Eloise Panarko

You guys played so amazing ❤️💙❤️💙 + ❤️🤍❤️

Cece Varn (Martins)

We are sooo proud of you (we are assuming you will tell/show Shane this)

Harley (Schulz)

💖💖💖

Genevieve Chaisson(!!!)

❤️

Fatima (Olsen)

SECOND ROUND CENTAURS I AM ROOTING FOR YOU NOW

Also 🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵 for you both

Jackie Pike

❤️❤️❤️

You have a cheering squad ready to swap Pike jerseys for Rozanov

Cece Varn (Martins)

Lmao Jackie you actually bought them???

Jackie Pike

It wasn’t me or Hayden who bought them but they found their way here anyway… 🧐

I’ll message directly but Shane is obviously welcome to commiserate with Hayd while we watch

Fatima (Olsen)

… are we also welcome

Jackie Pike

If Shane doesn’t come or he does and is okay to have a lot of people there

Fatima (Olsen)

Fair!

Vanessa

Good game to you both, Ilya and Shane 💙💙💙💙💙

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Thank you everyone from both of us

We are very glad to have you on our sides ❤️🤍❤️

The Centaurs were out of the playoffs not long after, but it was an excellent run for a team that was so terrible that thousands of people on Twitter speculated Ilya Rozanov must have been sent to as a punishment or because he was running from it.

They flooded WAGtros Deluxe with hearts and love for him that night and only kept it up more when he tried to pretend like he was annoyed by their spamming. He loved them, they all knew it.

Rhys and her kept up with the rest of the playoffs for the most part. They missed a few games for life stuff and obviously couldn’t fully watch more than one at the same time in the earlier rounds but they had a system. Bridget was over to watch some of the earlier games since she still had work.

Vanessa crawled back to reality from the depths of coding hell midway through second in the third game of the cup finals.

“I thought you said you just had to polish something off?” Rhys had his wrist flipped to check his watch. It was dark outside and had been early afternoon… ish- she either forgot to look, just plain forgot the time, or some combination of the two, the passage of time was not her strong suit- when she pulled out her laptop to keep on track with her deadlines. The timelines she worked with were largely self imposed but there were still company assertions to keep to.

“Had an idea, a good idea but a long idea. It’s done now though. I’ll send it over in the morning once I test it again.”

“So it’s not done.”

Vanessa dropped down on the couch with him, searching the many pockets in her pants for her phone. “It is… it could just be done-er.”

“Whatever you say.”

She flipped off her Do Not Disturb before checking anything and several notifications flashed at once. When she swiped down to see, both WAGtros Deluxe and Support Squad had a pile of messages waiting for her. They seemed to have started not long ago, so she hadn’t missed much.

“You okay?” Rhys asked when she tensed.

“I-“ she was swiping upwards in one of the chats- “all good.” She relaxed against him. “Ilya and Hollzy settled on a wedding date. Did you not get told about that?”

“Probably.”

The computer programmer and a guy who would forget modern technology existed if left to his own devices; the irony wasn’t lost on her.

“I have a strong feeling that you were told differently than we were.”

She held her phone in front of him for a moment so that he could see what Ilya had sent them a few hours ago. It was the infamous gif of him winking shirtless in some post game interview and had the words ‘you have a wedding to attend’ in some terrible early 2000s fun font waving like they were on a flag above his head.

The wedding date was typed in the next text along with an address in Ottawa.

That was all.

“Yeah, no way Hollzy sent that to us.”

“A real shame that everyone else missed out on this.”

She wasn’t entirely kidding.

❤️🏒💙WAGtros Deluxe💙🏒❤️

Cece Varn (Martins)

You know what, you sending that as a suggestion for my wedding invites a few years ago makes so much more sense now but really??? This is how you do this??

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Yes 😇

Fatima (Olsen)

I’m shocked your phone still has that emoji to be used

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

You wound me, I am a perfect angel all of the time

Cece Varn (Martins)

A long history of saying remarkably unhinged things about Shane suggests otherwise

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Do you have a list of these?

Cece Varn (Martins)

No and if I did I would not give them to you

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

☹️

Fatima (Olsen)

You would do evil things with that kind of list

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Evil but very good for Shane

Jackie Pike

Stop

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Fine, I am no longer allowed to have my fun. Very Pike of you Lady Pike

Jackie Pike

Back to the topic at hand, we have a wedding date now! Ladies mark your calendars

Cece Varn (Martins)

Already done!

Fatima (Olsen)

Doing it rn

Eloise Panarko

Wedding at your house Ilya??

But also thank you again for inviting all of us

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Shane and I do not want crazy wedding planning, will be fun and nice and that is what matters

You do not have to thank me you are all my friends and I want my friends at my wedding

Cece Varn (Martins)

I will have to see about a babysitter, Estelle is still so little

Jackie Pike

I warned my parents weeks ago that Hayden and I would be going away for this lol

Fatima (Olsen)

We are going to have so much fun together, WAGs are the best people to party with (no offense)

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

None taken

I am WAG too

And Cece you have husband, he can keep baby while you have fun

Jackie Pike

I’m now shocked Hayden wasn’t volunteered to do the same

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Pike is Shane’s friend

Martins is okay but he and Shane are not close, not like you and I are close

Cece Varn (Martins)

Fair enough, we are besties

Vanessa skimmed the conversation after that followed. Mostly talking wedding plans- of which there seemed to be very few, it was going to be a very relaxed affair- and nothing stuck out that she wanted or needed to respond to. She wasn’t the last to respond but it was close.

She scrolled back up to heart Ilya’s original gif and laugh at a few messages in response to it.

The messages in the other group chat were fewer and even more recent.

🔪🏒Support Squad 🏒🔪

Cece Varn (Martins)

Like he said it as a joke but might be leaving Estelle with Freddie anyway, he is working on it (and doing a lot better) but the way he originally acted to their outing and stuff still rubs me the wrong way and I don’t want to have to think about him maybe being weird if I’m trying to have a good time and celebrate my friend/friends

Fatima (Olsen)

I think that’s definitely a fair conversation to have with him

You deserve to have a good time and they deserve to only have people there who fully support them

Cece Varn (Martins)

How has Kyle been?

Fatima (Olsen)

Doing okay, he showed me Shane’s message after he replied thanking them for the invitation

Cece Varn (Martins)

Do you think you’ll take him to the wedding?

Fatima (Olsen)

Maybe, he said it’d be nice to go but we’re probably also going to have a super fun conversation about this

Jackie Pike

Do you want Hayden to reach out to them? Shane and Ilya have asked us not to push people to come to the wedding but it is a little different since they’ll be your plus ones

Cece Varn (Martins)

Nah, I’m pretty sure he’ll end up staying home for Estelle and the other reasons since he still needs some time

Fatima (Olsen)

I think Kyle has been talking to one of the other guys?

Jackie Pike

Not Hayden

Cece Varn (Martins)

I don’t think it’s Freddie

Eloise Panarko

It could be Andy? I’m not really sure

Andy will be at the wedding so we have two HABs so far for sure

Cece Varn (Martins)

W Andy

Vanessa

It could possibly be Rhys but I feel like you would be dealing with a lot more complaining about communication issues if it was… I swear he intentionally loses his phone in the off season

Fatima (Olsen)

… says Vanessa like she doesn’t also fall off the face of the planet out of nowhere

Vanessa

I was working!

Cece Varn (Martins)

So not Rhys on the talking thing but I feel like he’ll be another HAB going?

Vanessa

Yes

I need to figure out how to rsvp to a gif apparently

Fatima (Olsen)

Lol

Jackie Pike

I feel like this calls for another headcount

@Harley @Genevieve

Nvm on Gen, I had a moment lol

Cece Varn (Martins)

Harley is probably asleep

Fatima (Olsen)

Historically no but hopefully yes

Cece Varn (Martins)

I mean there isn’t hockey to stay up for

Eloise Panarko

But there is Liam

Fatima (Olsen)

When does he go back to Germany

Jackie Pike

After the awards I think?

Cece Varn (Martins)

Do we think they’ll fly out for the wedding?

Harley (Schulz)

I don’t think I can I have summer classes

Liam wants to but with travel and everything he’d lose at least a week at home for just a couple days there so he’s trying to figure it out

Jackie Pike

Shane and Ilya will fully understand him putting his family first

Vanessa

If our guys are figured out we should switch back to the other chat

Cece Varn (Martins)

Yes exactly

Some more messages had been coming through from the other chat that whole time, but Vanessa was godawful at having two conversations at once, even over text. Mostly inquiries about wedding plans, though few existed so far as it would seem.

❤️🏒💙WAGtros Deluxe💙🏒❤️

Eloise Panarko

Wait Ilya, you mentioned some Boston players coming did they get the same gif as us for an invitation

Cece Varn (Martins)

My silly goofy joke invite gif? That gif?

Actually, I don’t even know if I would be upset or just amused

Fatima (Olsen)

He was responding just a minute ago… where did he go

Cece Varn (Martins)

Ilya?

Eloise Panarko

?

Harley (Schulz)

…

Vanessa

Fess up Ilya we know you’re lurking

Jackie Pike

Share or no Pike kids for a week

Fatima (Olsen)

Just a week?

Jackie Pike

I’m desperate not evil

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Wellll

Cece Varn (Martins)

Telll ussss

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

I kid

I did not send them that gif, is only for us

Vanessa

Does that mean they got a different gif or like a normal invitation?

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

🤷

Fatima (Olsen)

… helpful

She was having a genuine, preplanned for, sleep in day. She had Rhys poke her awake long enough to take her meds on time and went back to sleep with no alarms set. Just her, the black out curtains, Do Not Disturb, and whimsy setting course for waking up well rested for once in her life.

Her phone started buzzing out of nowhere.

Only two people could bypass those settings and one of them was two rooms to her left.

“Why?” She asked, not even bothering to greet Bridget.

“Yeesh, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.”

“You woke me.”

Bridget was making her judging face. Vanessa could hear it through the phone. “It’s like noon.”

“I have sleeping plans for at least another hour.”

“Not now you don’t, they traded Hollander.”

Vanessa shoved herself up on her elbows, knocking off her sleep mask. “Who what?”

“Montreal, they traded Hollander to Ottawa.”

“For fucking who? How? He’s a free agent and trading instead of just signing there instead benefits Montreal which he wouldn’t want to do because that makes no sense as a competitive and intelligent player.”

The line was silent for a moment. “So you remember that part where I understand watching hockey but not all of the other fancy non-ice related parts of it?”

“So he signed with Ottawa.”

“Probably?”

“Never become a reporter.”

“You never know, might be fun. I do have to go though, my lunch break is almost over but I wanted to hear your thoughts on that and maybe express annoyance that you didn’t tell me they were doing this.”

Vanessa rubbed her eyes, trying to wake up enough to read tiny words on her phone. “I didn’t know, Ilya never confirmed if this was happening, only that he kind of hoped Hollzy would make the change after things got even worse with the team.”

“Wild. Anyway, I’ll call you after work.”

“Bye,” Vanessa said before the call ended, her attention was already in a group chat.

❤️🏒💙WAGtros Deluxe💙🏒❤️

Cece Varn (Martins)

ILYA MIDDLENAME ROZANOV

YOU ARE SUPPOSEED TO TEL SU STHESE THINGS

Fatima (Olsen)

You did so well in the first text

Eloise Panarko

I agree with her sentiment, spelling notwithstanding

Harley (Schulz)

What are we yelling at Ilya about?

Jackie Pike

Shane signed with Ottawa today

Harley (Schulz)

oh good for them

Cece Varn (Martins)

Stop being sweet and start being grievanced that Ilya withheld this from us

Jackie Pike

I don’t think they told anyone?

Cece Varn (Martins)

The point

You

Fatima (Olsen)

… the saying is beside the point not below

Cece Varn (Martins)

I am working in a limited medium for expressing my meaning artistically please cease your critiques

Eloise Panarko

So anyway, @Ilya, Shane to Ottawa????

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

😇

Vanessa

Montreal is doomed for the foreseeable future but that is entirely management’s + a lot of the teams own fault soooo

Very happy for you guys even if I was woken up because of this

Fatima (Olsen)

It’s noon?

Vanessa

So I’ve been told

Genevieve Chaisson(!!!)

I am very happy for you and Shane, Ilya. He deserves a team that will all support him without question or hesitation

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Thank you Gen

And Harley, Eloise, and Vanessa too, you also said nice things without getting mad at me

Cece Varn (Martins)

I wasn’t mad 😑

Fatima (Olsen)

We don’t actually expect you to share massive hockey secrets with us but we have talked about the possibility of Shane moving before so we might have anticipated being less caught off guard if it did happen

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

I know, I kid, you are all very loving but was top secret

Eloise Panarko

Fine :/

Cece Varn (Martins)

You just wanted to fuck with everyone done you

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

🙃

The only time Vanessa had been to Ottawa before this season was in the tenth grade for a school trip. She had been there twice now for games but that didn’t feel like a trip to a city, that was just a trip to a rink with extra steps involved.

Now she was walking through Ilya Rozanov’s house in a nice neighbourhood outside of the city with Rhys at her side and a strange mix of hockey players of various teams and some outside of the MLH, WAGs and other partners of hockey players which they definitely needed an all encompassing name but she didn’t have one off of the top of her head, and a few others. Of note, Rose Landry was in attendance and people were being mildly chill about it.

She was grabbed as soon as she had two feet on the grass in the back yard.

“We’re doing a picture, we need to go to Ilya’s room before the reception starts.”

Fatima had her wrist in her hand and Eloise was similarly being pulled by Cece not too far ahead of them. Rhys looked startled but did nothing to interrupt.

“Gen and Jackie are already in there,” Cece said, to Vanessa or to the hallway at large.

Vanessa came to a stop behind Fatima as Cece knocked, she was halfway grabbing the doorhandle before Ilya said to come in.

“Why are you not outside?” He asked.

“Group picture.”

Ilya was partially ready, his dress shirt was mostly buttoned on the front and he had pants on but no shoes. “Shouldn’t this wait until after?”

“After you will be completely distracted by your new husband,” Jackie said, “and this way we get a nice, quick picture before chaos discends.”

“Then what are we waiting for? We have picture to take?”

“Just an FYI,” Fatima said as they all arranged themselves and an unsuspecting guest- a hockey player if she had to guess- was kidnapped to take their picture, “we are hanging out every time you guys play in Montreal. This is non-negotiable.”

Ilya blinked back at her. “Okay. That… that will be good.”

“It’s gonna be amazing,” Cece corrected.

Jackie whistled and got the lot of them to stop yapping and actually take a photo. Or, maybe a camera rolls worth of pictures. The kid looked panicked behind the three different phones he was juggling, but he did well.

❤️🏒💙WAGtros Deluxe💙🏒❤️

Cece Varn (Martins)

[4 images]

Putting these here so everyone can have them!

Fatima (Olsen)

🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵

Vanessa

💙💙💙

Genevieve Chaisson(!!!)

❤️

Jackie Pike

Harley, will you have any time off from school soon? We should fly you out and have a group get together

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

YES

Eloise Panarko

Aren’t you supposed to be getting ready to get married in like ten mins?

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Am waiting, Shane is taking forever

Fatima (Olsen)

So… time hasn’t been altered, the ceremony is still not supposed to start for ten minutes

Harley (Schulz)

!!!!!

you guys look so awesome

and I think I have some time off in August? We have a break from school near the beginning of the month

Cece Varn (Martins)

OMG yessss we can have a party together

Eloise Panarko

But first! Hockey wedding of the century

Ilya Rozanov (Hollander)

Yes. Will be best wedding.

Eloise Panarko

❤️💙❤️💙

Harley (Schulz)

💖💖💖

Jackie Pike

❤️❤️❤️

Vanessa

💙💙💙💙💙

Genevieve Chaisson(!!!)

❤️

Cece Varn (Martins)

Love love love

Fatima (Olsen)

🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵

Ilya Hollander-Rozanov

❤️🤍❤️

Chapter End Notes

Hope you enjoyed :)