Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Category:

M/M

Fandoms:

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

Relationship:

Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov

Characters:

Wyatt Hayes, Troy Barrett, Zane Boodram, Evan Dykstra, Luca Haas, LaPointe (Game Changers), Ilya Rozanov, Shane Hollander

Additional Tags:

Ottawa Centaurs (Game Changers), Supportive Ottawa Centaurs (Game Changers), Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff, Humor, Ilya Rozanov is Obsessed With Shane Hollander, Ottawa Centaurs Find Out About Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ilya loves his team but is so done with their bs, Mixed Media, there is a tiny bit of texting, Relationship Reveal, Shane Hollander Walks Ilya Rozanov Like A Dog, (sometimes), Ilya Rozanov is a Menace, Light Angst, Really only a tiny bit, POV Wyatt Hayes, POV Ilya Rozanov, POV Alternating

Language:

English

Stats:

Published: 2026-03-19 Completed: 2026-04-04 Words: 27,444 Chapters: 3/3

Operation: Hollanov

Summary

"Okay, so let's say that what you're saying is correct, and he is in fact making heart-eyes at Hollander. That doesn't immediately explain moving to Ottawa for him, does it?" Troy asked, looking genuinely interested in Wyatt's theory.

"We know Ilya, don't we? When that guy likes something then he is absolutely gone for it; look at how he treats Chiron. Just imagine. He develops a crush on Shane Hollander and then decides to do anything possible to get together with him. Even if it means moving across countries and joining a shit team.

"You know… I'd be willing to see it." Bood relented. "He did start a charity with him."

Or, the Centaurs figure out how down bad Ilya is for Shane, not realizing the feeling is mutual, and decide to try and bring them together with ridiculous plans.

Notes

This fic is inspired by this tumblr post by @escapepodding . All credits for the idea go to her! I thought the concept was absolutely hilarious, so I had to write it myself.

The story will be mostly canon compliant, with the only divergence being how the Centaurs find out. Though there will probably be a mix of both TV and book canon because I honestly cannot tell them apart at this point, so forgive me for that. I‘m hoping it doesn‘t bother anyone too much since the stories are so similar anyway.

Also, English isn‘t my first language, so please forgive me for any mistakes I may make. If anything sounds too weird you can let me know in the comments, and I‘ll fix it!

Chapter 1: Ilya likes him?

Chapter Notes

It was during a game where Ottawa played against Montreal that Wyatt noticed something. Something his teammates were never going to believe if he told them. During the entire game, their beloved captain was making heart-eyes at none other than Montreal's captain Shane Hollander.

At first, Wyatt was able to brush it off; pretend like Ilya's glances had a different reason for lingering on Hollander's face for too long. But it really got to a point. One heated look toward Hollander? Fine, understandable. They were rivals, after all. However, now that Wyatt was really paying attention to Ilya, he had realized that Ilya constantly gave Hollander this look of pure adoration.

Wyatt had seen it before. Whenever Luca managed to learn a particularly difficult trick, or when Chiron begged for Ilya's attention. Those were the times where Ilya would look at them as if they were the greatest beings on earth.

He kept those looks to himself most of the time. It was a rarity to see. So there really couldn't be any real explanation why Ilya would be giving their opponents captain this expression all of the time. No explanation other than the obvious one: Ilya absolutely adored Shane Hollander.

The more Wyatt thought about it, the more it made sense. He was at the point in his logic, where he believed even his teammates might have to at least hear him out. The evidence was damning if you put all of it together.

So he decided: fuck it. He was going to tell his friends about his theory, and they could make fun of him all they wanted, but deep down they were going to realize that Wyatt's words held weight.

Absolutely no one was surprised when Ilya was once again busy after their game against Montreal. They may not have won the game — actually, they lost pretty badly — but Bood invited everyone to his house to party anyway.

If they couldn't keep themselves happy by winning, they'll just have to keep themselves happy through other methods. Are the methods questionable? Sure. But they're effective.

Of course, with Ilya not being there with them, that was the perfect opportunity for Wyatt to bring up Ilya's affections toward Montreal's captain. But just how was he supposed to get to that topic? It's not like he could just say: Oh, hey guys, I think our team captain has a major crush on Shane Hollander.

If Wyatt wanted to keep any hope of his teammates believing him, he'd need to introduce the topic gently. At a time where it actually fit.

Fortunately for him, Troy started talking about just how crazy it was that Ilya Rozanov of all people had decided to join the Ottawa centaurs. In all honesty, it was a completely over chewed topic. They've discussed it probably around a million times, and not once had they come to a realistic conclusion as to what was going on in Ilya's head.

But for once, Wyatt had a new guess. One that wasn't something like: Ilya decided to come to Ottawa because he just really likes the concept of centaurs, and he just really wanted to play for this team specifically. Really, Troy? That was the best you could come up with?

"Have we considered that maybe Ilya moved to Ottawa for someone else?" Wyatt said, trying to swerve the topic into his direction.

"Yes. Wyatt. We've gone over fifty variations of that theory. He's got a girl in Ottawa that he likes, he's got multiple girls in Ottawa that can give him exactly what he wants during sex, or he fell in love with a Centaurs fan that forced him to switch teams. We've been over this topic, dude." Troy replied, rolling his eyes.

Wyatt just ignored Troy's complaining. He shouldn't have brought up the topic if he thought it was so overdone. "Sure, but I've got a new one."

"Oh, have you now?" Dykstra leaned forward. "Go on, I'm all ears. Though I'm telling you right now that if you pull up with some shit like: Ilya met a girl in Montreal that hates Boston, so he moved to Ottawa since Montreal wouldn't take him, I'm smacking you over the head."

"Well." Wyatt's eyes darted across the room, a little uncoordinated. "Sort of?"

"Sort of." Dykstra stared at him with a blank look on his face. "What the hell could that even mean?"

"Guys just hear me out before you call me insane, alright?" Wyatt ran a hand through his hair. "Just trust me. It all makes sense."

"Sure, buddy. Just say it already; you're acting like you're telling us some information that is going to destroy the earth." Troy said.

Wyatt shot Troy a glare before continuing. "What if Ilya actually moved to Ottawa because he is in love with Shane Hollander?"

Gaping faces greeted him whichever direction he turned to. Some started to laugh, out of the sheer absurdity of the situation.

Luca spoke up in a tiny voice. "Actually I think you're on to something. I've noticed that Ilya seems really happy whenever we're playing against Montreal."

"Oh, come on! The guy's just excited to play against his long-term rival." Bood was still laughing when he said it.

Troy's face seemed to morph from one of complete shock to actual contemplation. "So just why exactly do you think this? It can't just be that he's excited to play against Montreal, right?"

"No, of course not. Actually, I hadn't even noticed that part, but thanks to Luca for bringing it up 'cause it supports my argument." Wyatt looked at Luca appreciatively. "I first got the idea when I saw Ilya making his heart-eyes at Hollander during the entirety of our game. Like I am telling you guys you need to pay attention to it, 'cause it really does not stop. Now think about it; Ilya wouldn't just give those looks to anyone. He keeps them incredibly guarded. If he's looking at Hollander like he's the sun, there must be a reason, and I believe that reason is that he's got a crush on him."

"You're saying Ilya has a thing for Shane Hollander, of all people, because he looks at him funny sometimes?" Dykstra replied.

"No. He doesn't look at him funny sometimes. That's my entire point. He's giving Hollander his signature heart-eyes. Constantly. It doesn't ever stop." Wyatt defended himself.

"I've noticed that too, actually. It isn't just on ice. Whenever they're together he looks at Hollander like he's about to start making out with him." Luca added.

Wyatt hadn't thought he'd have such a great supporter; not to mention one that noticed it even earlier than he had.

"Okay, so let's say that what you're saying is correct, and he is in fact making heart-eyes at Hollander. That doesn't immediately explain moving to Ottawa for him, does it?" Troy asked, looking genuinely interested in Wyatt's theory.

"We know Ilya, don't we? When that guy likes something then he is absolutely gone for it; look at how he treats Chiron. Just imagine. He develops a crush on Shane Hollander and then decides to do anything possible to get together with him. Even if it means moving across countries and joining a shit team. Sorry guys, but we all know we're bad." Wyatt saw that most people weren't even trying to fight him on that last point.

"You know… I'd be willing to see it." Bood relented. "He did start a charity with him."

Wyatt had been so focused on Ilya's adoring looks that he had completely forgotten about that part, but looking at it now it all makes so much sense. "Oh my god. Right! Why would Ilya just randomly start a charity with his biggest rival for no reason?"

"I have to admit that even I've seen Ilya's looks directed at Hollander." Troy finally said. "I hate to say it, but I believe our captain may genuinely be down bad for him."

Slowly but surely, everyone was coming around to Wyatt's idea. Especially with the added validation from both Luca and Troy, it seemed more and more believable than anything else they had ever come up with.

"Perhaps we should continue observing the two for now? If it really is as obvious as you guys say, then we should be able to know for sure once we start actively looking for it." Even Dykstra ended up on their side.

"Sounds good. I'm not saying I'm a hundred percent sure yet, but there's certainly a huge possibility." Wyatt replied.

Once you saw it, it was impossible to miss. After the last few weeks of observing, it became clear that during any and every interaction with Hollander, Ilya would give him the sweetest looks he's got.

It didn't matter what Hollander was saying or doing, Ilya would quietly agree with anything he did. He may outwardly try to chirp Hollander, but his body language made it clear that Ilya didn't actually believe a single word he was saying.

"Okay guys, this is getting ridiculous." Bood opened the conversation, after another game spent enduring Ilya's incessant staring at their opponents captain.

Again, Ilya of course did not join them, when they said they were going to the bar after the game. Perhaps the guy was too busy staring at Hollander to drink with them. I wasn't even an impossible scenario to think of at that point.

They ended up at some decently sized bar in Montreal and sat down at one of the tables far away from anyone else. There was enough noise going on that no one was able to overhear them.

Only a small light was lit overhead them, making the place rather dark. Beers decked the entire table, not a single one of them wanting to get through that conversation without alcohol.

Dykstra sighed. "Even I have to admit that Wyatt was right. Ilya does have a thing for Hollander. There's no doubt about it."

"So what do we do now?" Luca asked.

"What do you mean? There isn't really anything we can do, is there? We'll just have to suffer through watching him pine over Shane fucking Hollander." Bood said.

"I mean… maybe we could help?" Luca suggested, eyes darting around the room.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Wyatt asked. "How the hell are we supposed to help?"

"Like—" Luca made a few strangled hand gestures, earning confused looks from everyone at the table. When he noticed he wasn't getting the point across he continued. "What I'm saying is: maybe we could… get them together?"

Dykstra choked on the sip of beer he was trying to take, while Bood just stared at Luca as if he had just told them to set the bar on fire.

"What?" Luca's voice pitched up an octave. "We want our captain happy, right? So lets get him what he wants."

Wyatt's laughter echoed around the table. "And how exactly are we supposed to get Shane Hollander to like Ilya back? I feel like you didn't quite think this through, Luca."

Luca hung his head down and mumbled: "I feel like we could think of a few ways."

"I think you're ignoring something pretty damn significant, no?" Bood said. Raising his hands in the air in mock surrender, he said: "I can't be sure of course, but I pretty heavily suspect that Hollander is straight."

"But didn't we also suspect that Ilya was straight?" LaPointe piped up. "I wouldn't even have considered Ilya being into men before Wyatt brought this thing up."

Looks were shared across the table. LaPointe was right, after all.

"All right, fine. But Shane Hollander?" Bood argued. "Seriously?"

LaPointe shrugged. "Maybe. You never know."

"We could at least try?" Troy opened his mouth for the first time that night. "If there's a chance we could help our captain, I think we should take it."

Wyatt looked across the people sitting beside him sceptically. "Sure, I guess. But don't you think we'd be getting a little too into their business?"

"I think Ilya has made it our business as soon as he started looking at Hollander as if he wants to tear his clothes off any moment." Troy replied.

"Whoa!" Bood exclaimed, then, realizing he was too loud, continued quieter. "I thought we all agreed he gave him his affectionate face? Not the 'I want to fuck you' face?"

Troy shook his head. "Then you haven't been paying enough attention."

"I have to agree with Troy." Luca mumbled.

"No, you don't. Actually, why are you still here? This is adult stuff we're talking about." Bood suddenly turned to him.

"I'm twenty! Stop treating me like I'm five years old!"

"Fuck, kids these days grow up so fast." Bood said. "Fine, whatever. But still, Ilya doesn't give him those looks, does he?"

Wyatt felt the obligation to speak up. "I've seen it too."

"And we are absolutely sure that wasn't just the rivalry?" Bood asked.

"I thought we were over this." Wyatt threw his head back, admittedly a bit dramatically. "Ilya is way past rivalry with that guy."

"Alright, alright. Fine, I concede."

"So, as I was saying." Troy continued. "I think there isn't really anything against at least trying to get the two together. If it doesn't work then it doesn't work. At least we can say we tried. And lets be real guys. Ilya would definitely be in favor of trying to get two people together."

"That's the best point you've made all night." Dykstra said, to which he got a slightly dirty look from Troy.

"Does this mean we all agree that we should try and bring the two together?" Luca asked.

"I guess so." Wyatt couldn't really believe that their conversation managed to get to this point. "Just how exactly do you guys plan to do this?"

"Easy. We start by showing Hollander how good of a guy Ilya really is. Right now he believes Ilya is just this chirping asshole on the ice. We have to make him realize that Ilya is actually the biggest sweetheart imaginable." Troy looked way to sure of himself in Wyatt's opinion.

"I don't know, man. Ilya is still a pretty big asshole." Bood leaned back on his chair, taking a sip from his beer.

"Fuck you. You know what I mean." Troy didn't even grace him with a look.

"Okay, okay. First objective: showing Hollander how great Ilya would be as a boyfriend? How do we manage to do that?" Dykstra asked.

"Ilya is always really sweet with Chiron. Maybe we should somehow make sure Hollander sees how Ilya interacts with him." Luca suggested.

"And how, pray tell, are we supposed to do that? Do we just invite Hollander to our training facilities? Go up to him and say: hey, Hollander. I know this is like really weird but do you wanna have a look at our dog? Oh and Ilya Rozanov is here petting him. Look how cute they are." Doubt was written across Bood's face.

"Obviously not." Luca hissed at him. "We could force Ilya to go on a walk with Chiron — not like much forcing is necessary. Then we hope he runs across Hollander."

"We hope he runs across Hollander?" Bood laughs. "I'm sorry, but our plan can't base on hoping that Ilya runs across one person in a massive city."

"Maybe we tell him to walk past Hollanders house?" More uncertainty laced itself into Luca's voice by the second.

"Do you know where Hollander lives?"

"No. But perhaps Ilya does."

"Okay, lets assume he does. What kind of justification would we have to make Ilya walk past Montreal's captain's house. He'd knew something is off immediately."

Luca sighed. "Yeah, alright. It doesn't really make a lot of sense."

"I think we can still twist Luca's idea into something though." Troy brought himself into their conversation. "I propose: we tell Ilya to walk Chiron. At the same time, we tell Ilya to give Hollander our congratulations for winning the game. Now he will absolutely run into Hollander, and Hollander will see Ilya being cute with our adorable dog."

Dykstra looked over at Troy as if he lost his head. "Why the fuck would we make Ilya offer our congratulations to Hollander a day after the game?"

"I don't know!" Troy threw his hands up in the air. "We make some random bullshit up. He'll be a little skeptical, but we don't really have a lot of options here!"

"I accidentally hit Hollander a little too hard today. Maybe we could tell him to apologize for me? I have been meaning to apologize anyway, but I was a little too scared to talk to him." Luca got quieter the longer the sentence moved on. The last part was nearly ineligible.

"Luca, I swear to god that was the tiniest hit ever. Hollander probably forgot about it already. I promise he's had much worse." Dykstra groaned.

Wyatt sat up. "But it's a good idea. Ilya wouldn't be too weirded out if we asked him to go to Hollander like that. It's sort of a win-win. Luca gets to apologize to Hollander without having to face him, and we have a reason to make Ilya meet Hollander with Chiron."

"It really is good. Sure, Ilya will probably make fun of you, Luca," Troy gave Luca an apologetic glance. "But he'll end up doing it because Ilya does anything Luca asks him to do."

Luca's face turned red. "He wouldn't— whatever. I think I can ask him. For the sake of his relationship, and for the sake of us hopefully not having to watch Ilya pine over Hollander anymore at some point."

"Great! It's decided then. Luca will go up to Ilya tomorrow, ask him to walk Chiron and request he also apologize to Hollander for him." Wyatt declared. "Any objections?"

No one spoke up; even Bood looked like he was on board with the idea. Seemed like Luca could get anyone on his side if he just tried hard enough.

"So what do we call this? Operation: Ilya and Hollander?" LaPointe asked.

"We are not giving this thing some random corny name." Dykstra groaned.

Troy rolled his eyes. "Operation: Ilya and Hollander doesn't even make any sense. Either we use both their first names or both their last names. Maybe we mix them. Ilshane? No wait— Shaneya— no that's even worse—"

"What are you doing? Trying to make up a ship name? It already exists, man. It's Hollanov." Dykstra said.

"Hollanov." Troy let his face rest on his hands, turning around and fully looking into Dykstra's eyes. "How do you know that?"

"I— I'm online sometimes. I see things… sometimes. I mean— " Dykstra spluttered.

"Interesting." Troy just said, turning away again and saving Dykstra from another round of stumbling over his words. "So Operation: Hollanov?"

Wyatt died a little internally. He had to agree with Dykstra: it really was a corny. Though the others seemed to have fun with it, and even Wyatt has to admit that the name has a certain ring to it.

This whole thing was ridiculous anyway; a ridiculous name just rounded everything off.

"We should make a group chat with that name. Just in case we have to communicate quietly when Ilya is in the room with us." LaPointe said.

"Shouldn't we use a different name? What if someone sees the group chat name?" Wyatt felt like the others weren't really thinking too clearly about this whole thing.

"Then we play it off as a joke. Nobody but us would believe that Ilya has a thing for Shane Hollander. It could easily be explained away by pretending like we're trying to get into Hollander's head."

Admittedly, that was a pretty good point. "Alright. Fine. Just don't blame me if the name is the thing that gets us caught in the end. If Ilya sees it he'll probably realize immediately."

"Yes, Wyatt. We'll make sure to remind you that you had no part in this if that does actually happen — which it won't." LaPointe shook his head lightly.

The group chat was easily set up and afterwards they were actually able to talk about something else. As much as Wyatt liked their team captain, it was also nice to finally switch topics after such a long time, so he welcomed the change.

Once they finally decided to get out of the bar — all having drunk a bit too much — Wyatt couldn't help but be excited for tomorrow. He was looking forward to hearing about Ilya's reaction to Luca's request. With his knowledge about Ilya, Wyatt could only assume that he'd be incredibly confused, proceed to laugh at Luca for a good few minutes, and then end up doing it anyway.

Though, of course, the main goal was to get Shane Hollander to like him back. As much as the pairing was a little strange on surface, Wyatt could see how Ilya would fall for him. Opposites attract, after all.

He really hoped that their plan could work out in the end. Ilya would certainly benefit from having a partner by his side.

Chapter End Notes

I hope you enjoyed reading, and I‘d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

If you have any ideas what the Ottawa boys could come up with to get the two together you can certainly write about them in the comments. I‘ll consider adding them to the story!

Chapter 2: Convince him!

Chapter Notes

I was planning on getting this chapter out way earlier, but I also didn’t intend for it to be so long. I was thinking of breaking it into multiple chapters, though I made up the structure of the fic and decided to stick to it.

Also shoutout to grapefruitsalot from who I took a few ideas for both this chapter and the next one, which is pretty planned out by now.

Ilya was just about to go to Shane's house before Luca came up to him, with Chiron in tow, tail wagging in excitement. He couldn't help but be slightly annoyed about it — as much as he loved both the kid and their team dog, spending the little time he had with Shane was his first priority. He hoped whatever Luca wanted could be done quickly.

"Hey, Ilya." Luca rubbed the back of his neck. "Could you do me a favor?"

Ilya held back a sigh; there was no point in letting his frustration out on the young rookie. "What is it?"

"We need someone to walk Chiron. Harris is still busy, and we haven't got anyone else here that has time right now."

The walk would probably only take half an hour. Ilya should've been able to sacrifice that little bit of time. Not to mention that he absolutely loves walking Chiron under normal circumstances. However, the circumstances today weren't normal. Thirty minutes walking Chiron were thirty minutes he couldn't spend with Shane.

"Are you sure there is no one else who could do it?" Ilya considered whether he should've added that he had plans, but just in case Ilya was really the only option, he didn't want Luca to feel bad about asking him.

"I mean—" Luca was staring at the floor intensely. "I could technically do it but… I actually wanted to ask you to do something else while you're at it?" His voice was an octave higher, when he finished the sentence.

"And what would that be?" This type of vagueness was unusual for Luca. Just what did the kid want from him?

Luca started swaying from one foot to the other. "Well, you know how I accidentally hit Hollander yesterday?"

"Yes, I said do not worry. He probably didn't even feel it."

"I guess, but I still wanted to let him know I feel bad about it."

"What does this have to do with walking Chiron?"

"I was thinking… maybe you could walk Chiron and on the way meet Hollander, to apologize for me?" Luca made a facial expression that looked like he only realized after saying it out loud, how ridiculous his request actually sounded.

Ilya's face morphed into a grin. So he is being asked to go to Shane? He can work with that. Of course he will inevitably say yes; he'd say yes to whatever as long as it involves meeting Shane, but he'll let Luca suffer a bit beforehand.

"This could be done with Instagram message, no? Just text him: Hello Hollander, I am sorry I hit you. Slightly. Done." It was clear that Luca wasn't going to do that. He was clearly embarrassed about approaching someone as popular in hockey as Shane Hollander, and Luca's red face proved Ilya right.

Luca spluttered over his words a bit, not getting any coherent words out before Ilya intervened. "Yes, yes. I know. You are afraid of big, scary Hollander."

"I'm not—!" Luca stopped himself. "I mean, I just… Hollander is, you know, Hollander."

Ilya nodded wisely, putting on a serious face. "Yes, of course. Hollander is Hollander. I should have thought of that."

"You know what I mean!"

As much as Ilya liked to tease Luca, he also desperately wanted to go see his boyfriend. "Okay, I will go to Hollander, and then we walk Chiron together, and I apologize to him, yes?"

Luca took a slight step back. "You don't really have to walk Chiron with Hollander?" After switching through a myriad of different facial expressions that all weren't there long enough for Ilya to interpret them properly, he backtracked. "Wait, no, no that's great. You should go on a walk with Chiron together with Hollander. Thank you."

Chiron's leash was practically shoved into Ilya's hands, and Luca pretty much sprinted away from him.

There was a feeling bubbling up in Ilya that this wasn't just about apologizing to Hollander, but he pushed it down for now. Subtlety had never been Luca's strong suit. Whatever it was; he'd figure it out eventually. Probably soon, with the way Luca was acting.

But for now, a few seconds of his time could be spared. Ilya crouched down to Chiron and pet him the way he knew he liked, whispering Russian phrases. He was determined to teach Chiron Russian before the others managed to teach him English.

Finally, Ilya made his way to his car, excited that he had a reason to go on a public walk with Shane. If anyone recognized him and asked, Ilya could just explain that Luca had made him do it. And it wouldn't even be a lie.

While Shane didn't live too far from the hotel they were staying at, he would still have to drive all the way there. Chiron didn't like driving, which was also why they tended to avoid taking him out of Ottawa — even taking him to Montreal was unusual, but they did it anyway, since it was only a two hour drive and absolutely no one in Ottawa was able to take care of their dog for some reason.

Ilya hoped that Chiron could forgive him for the twenty-minute drive; he would have to make sure to tell him that it was actually Luca's fault. Obviously, the award for the best dog dad still had to go to Ilya.

When Ilya had first woken up today, he had already planned to drive to Shane's house. What he hadn't planned was that he would drive to Shane's house on request of his teammate, bringing along a dog.

Shane's face when he saw Ilya walking in proved that he also had not been expecting such a development. "Why do you—?"

Ilya shut him up with a kiss, one hand in Shane's hair and the other on his neck. They both got lost in it, Ilya knowing exactly what to do to make Shane's brain stop working, before Shane finally pulled back, eyes slightly glossed over.

"Luca asked me to walk Chiron." Ilya simply said.

Shane just looked at him, not quite understanding what Ilya was referring to. A light laugh broke out of Ilya. Once Shane finally regained his composure, he swatted at Ilya in a mock attempt to hit him.

"You fucking asshole. Don't just—"

"You do not want me to kiss you?" Ilya threaded his hand into the one Shane was flailing around.

"No, you know what I mean!" Shane's hand stilled in Ilya's, his cheeks turning crimson. "Why did you bring the dog here? You could've just walked him and then come here later. How are you going to explain this to your team if someone sees you?"

Ilya briefly contemplated teasing Shane even more, but he knew he was walking on a thin line, and with the way Shane looked, he was barely holding it together. "Luca wanted me to come to you."

"He did? Are you fucking with me?"

"No, I'm not fucking you, yet. Later."

That made Shane tear his hand from Ilya's grip. "Ilya." Shane said, in his oddly terrifying tone.

Immediately, Ilya brought his hands to Shane's shoulders. "Luca said he needed someone to walk Chiron, and he also wanted to apologize to you for hitting you yesterday. So he asked me to do both at the same time."

"What? That makes no sense."

"Yes, I know."

"Besides, it was barely a hit?"

"I told him he didn't need to apologize, but Luca was very—" Ilya now felt safe to lower his arms again, which led to him running his hands across Shane's arms. "Ah what's the word? He did not stop bothering me."

"Insistent?"

"Yes! He was insistent. What was I supposed to say to him? No? I could not break his heart like that."

Shane rolled his eyes. "You're so dramatic. Tell him I accept his apology, even though it wouldn't have been necessary. It's very considerate of him."

"Yes, well, I also said I will walk Chiron, so we should go."

"We?" Shane took a step back, breaking their contact.

"We. I told Luca I would walk dog with you. So we should not disappoint him."

"How long did he think the apology would go? You are absolutely sure that he didn't mean anything else?"

"Yes, Shane, I am sure. I was confused as well. Trust me, okay?" Ilya caressed Shane's face, not being able to keep his hands off him for long.

"Okay." Shane leaned into his touch. "So if anyone sees us walk together outside, we have a valid reason, right?"

"Yes. Media will think Luca is cute for asking me to apologize, and we also wanted to…" Ilya paused, trying to remember his conversations with Shane about the topic. "Change the narrative? No?"

"Yeah, I guess this would help." Shane buried his head in Ilya's chest. "Sorry, I was being paranoid."

Engulfing Shane's body, he ran one hand through his hair and kissed him on his head. "Is okay."

They took some time just standing in the hallway, relishing the time they had together, before Ilya got himself to say: "We should go."

"Yes, right." Shane tried to smooth the wrinkles in his shirt, frowning slightly when it didn't work.

Ilya laughed. "Come on, no one will see slightly messed up shirt. Let's go."

"Fine." Shane glared at him, though there was no real heat in his eyes.

They walked outside, keeping a totally normal and friendly distance between them.

It wasn't long before Ilya noticed the tension in Shane's shoulders. "What is wrong?"

Shane sighed. "It's just— does this mean you have to leave after we're done with the walk?"

"What, why?"

"You know, to bring the dog back? To your hotel, I presume?"

"Oh." Ilya hadn't thought about that part. "I think I can tell team that I keep Chiron for the night."

"Won't they get suspicious? If you just go out and don't come back to at least drop him off?"

"It will be fine, I think. They will make up stupid scenario in their head, none of which include me fucking Shane Hollander into the bed until he can say nothing but my name."

"Ilya." Shane hissed. "We're in public."

"Right now, we are in park with no one around us."

Shane looked around to confirm that there really was nobody. "Still. You never know."

"You think you have person following you?"

"I don't think I have a stalker! You just shouldn't be saying stuff like that in general when we're outside." Shane's words came out in a bit of a whisper-yell.

"Yes, okay."

"You really think it won't be weird if you let Chiron stay tonight?"

"It is a bit weird. But whole thing is weird, so it should be fine." Ilya took out his phone. "I will text Luca, okay?"

"Alright." Shane still looked a bit worried, though the tension has largely left his body.

It was terribly moving, the way Shane had worried about Ilya disappearing for maybe forty minutes like it was the end of the world.

The rest of the walk was peaceful. They mostly kept to small parks and tiny roads, so they didn't run into anyone that recognized them. Or if they did, then whoever was there at least didn't show it.

Luca only sent him the word 'okay' in response to Ilya's text. Realistically, the kid probably had found it strange that Ilya wouldn't bring Chiron back, but as long as he didn't ask, Ilya didn't feel the need to come up with any excuse.

On the way back, Shane had the foresight to buy some dog food for Chiron, with Ilya showing him which one exactly was the best. Shane also bought anything possible to make a dog feel more comfortable in his house. Maybe Ilya should consider getting a dog for the two of them, considering Shane had so much fun picking out things to buy. It would be a shame for the dog toys to just lay around most of the time.

Later, Ilya made up on his promise and fucked Shane within an inch of his life. Shane had insisted on waiting till Chiron was asleep back in the living room, not wanting to traumatize the poor dog.

Operation Hollanov

Bood: How'd it go, Luca?

Luca: He made fun of me.

Troy: wow, water is wet

Luca: but he also somehow turned it into going on a walk with Hollander?

Dykstra: he took Hollander on a walk instead of Chiron?

Dykstra: Is Hollander his new dog already?

Luca: what?? No.

Luca: I meant that Ilya went on a walk with Chiron together with Hollander

Luca: or at least that's what he said he'd do

Bood: Damn, Ilya is really down bad for the man

Wyatt: It's not really what we planned, but it's somehow even better? Like if Ilya really went through with it then that means Hollander spent an entire walk's worth of time with Ilya.

LaPointe: Yeah, this is actually really good.

LaPointe: They can't hate each other that much if they're willing to spend that much time together.

Troy: Guys, we still don't know whether Hollander actually said yes.

Wyatt: Fair point. Maybe we could ask Hollander about it when we next see him. Subtly, of course.

Troy: Good luck trying to find a subtle way of asking that

Luca: Uh, guys?

Bood: Luca, please just write what you want to write

Luca: Ilya just texted me that he is keeping Chiron for the night?

Wyatt: ???

Troy: I just spit out my water. Thanks, now my whole counter is wet.

Dykstra: wtf?

Luca: What do I say?

Wyatt: Just answer okay or something. Is the possibility of Ilya staying at Hollander's house with Chiron too much to hope for?

Bood: it is.

Bood: Maybe Hollander would go on a short walk with him. But there's no way he'd allow Ilya to stay the night.

Bood: right???

Dykstra: well now we really have to ask Hollander about it the next time we see him

Troy: Aren't Ilya and Hollander doing a charity thing next weekend?

Wyatt: Yeah, they are! A charity event trying to get money together for the foundation.

Luca: Is anyone of us going there?

Wyatt: It's in Ottawa

Wyatt: Technically we could all go

Wyatt: To show support as a team, I mean.

Bood: Do you think Ilya will have any problems with us going?

Wyatt: I can't imagine he would. It'd be great for the foundation if a whole hockey team showed up.

Wyatt: Though I can ask him next time I see him.

The charity event was held at a gorgeous venue. Whoever decorated it must have been payed a fortune if you took into account how the place looked. Round tables decked the entire hall, all in white, but with a slight purple hue coming from the violet lights.

For NHL proportions, the event was still rather small. Though even then, around three-hundred people were there, all brought together by the same cause.

Ilya had been excited upon hearing Wyatt's suggestion of the entire team coming. Their captain hadn't said it, but Wyatt could tell that Ilya didn't want to bother them by asking, and was especially delighted by them coming up with the idea.

The team had of course made a generous donation, coupled with everyone that came also adding their own share.

Hollander and Ilya already held a speech in front of everyone. It was pleasantly surprising just how well the two of them seemed to work in a team. Their speech went off without a hitch, and if Wyatt didn't know better, he would've thought they had actually been friends for years.

For the first part of the night, Wyatt had to say that he honestly forgot about the whole reason they wanted to come to the event in the first place. Looking back at it, it was quite an immature reason to show up. Though he was still glad the reason was there because it allowed him and also the rest of the team to experience this incredibly well-planned and thought out event.

Now, they were all just enjoying their time together. If there was any time to go seek out Hollander, it would be at this moment.

Wyatt was genuinely interested on Hollander's thoughts about the fundraiser and how the event has gone so far. He had also wanted to ask who exactly had planned it.

Finding the man was easy enough, and as an added bonus he was alone, which allowed Wyatt to politely ask Hollander whether he could sit down on the seat next to him. Hollander was definitely surprised upon seeing Wyatt approach him, but quickly regained his composure and gave his assent.

After he bothered Hollander for way too long, simply asking dozens of questions about the event, he thought he should probably try and cut the conversation off soon. While he had got acquainted to Hollander during their summer camp, Wyatt thought they didn't really know each other well enough for Hollander to enjoy talking to him the entire night.

"So, how do you like our team dog?" Wyatt said.

Hollander choked on the sip of water he was taking. "Oh, yeah, he's cute." He paused before adding: "Rozanov did tell Haas that the apology wasn't necessary, right?"

Wyatt laughed. "He did, but the apology made Luca feel better anyway."

Hollander nodded, setting his glass down a bit further away than necessary.

Asking Hollander subtly whether Ilya had stayed the night now proved to be difficult. Wyatt could understand why Troy had put himself out of the conversation there. At last, he went for the best thing he could think of.

"I hope Chiron wasn't too much of a bother in your house?"

In the dim lighting, it was unfortunately difficult to see Hollander's expressions clearly, so he couldn't tell from the reaction alone whether or not he'd stayed at his house.

"He uh—" Hollander took a sip from his water, then cleared his throat. "He wasn't there very long? We went for a walk outside."

"Oh, yeah, right. Of course." That answer confirmed that Ilya did not stay the night, but it also confirmed that Ilya managed to convince him to go on a walk with him. The possibility of Ilya staying the night was a heavy stretch anyway, so this was still good; they could work with this.

Now that he had that out of the way, maybe he could try and discern Hollander's feelings toward Ilya. They couldn't be entirely negative if they went on a walk together, though he still hoped the feelings were more positive than neutral.

"Do you enjoy it? Spending time with Ilya, I mean. Whether it be for the charity or… walking our dog." Wyatt had to admit that he trailed off a bit at the end. The sentence could've definitely been brought across smoother.

"Yes?"

Was Hollander asking him? Wyatt just stared at him. What was he supposed to do with that answer?

"It's, you know, strange, since we were rivals for so long. But we've become friends?"

Wyatt wasn't so sure whether Hollander was trying to convince him or himself. "So you get along?"

"I guess." Hollander nodded, his right leg now bouncing up and down.

I guess? What type of answer is that? As much as Wyatt didn't like the possibility, it started to sound a lot like Hollander was just trying to keep up the image of their friendship for the foundation.

He thought before that Hollander couldn't hate Ilya if they went on a walk together, but looking back now, maybe Hollander had only did it to try and be friendly with the guy he founded a charity with.

Was Hollander only nice to Ilya for the cause of the charity?

"Do you spend time outside the foundation?" Wyatt knew he was toeing the line of asking too personal questions now, but he was trying to grasp at anything that would prove his theory incorrect.

"No! I mean— yeah. Sometimes. When we both have time. As friends."

"Okay." Wyatt really needed to get out of this conversation. If anything, the longer he talked with Hollander, the more it became clear that the man did not like Ilya at all. He'd have to tell the others that they needed to find new ways to make Hollander see how good of a person Ilya is.

If Troy were here, he'd tell Wyatt to make something up. Convince Hollander right now during this conversation that he should give Ilya a shot. But frankly, Wyatt just isn't that creative. Especially not in such a high-stress situation.

He ended up making up some excuse to leave, and if Wyatt saw right — which certainly wasn't guaranteed in the relative darkness — Hollander looked relieved to see him go.

The rest of Wyatt's team was now sitting together at a table, looking at Wyatt expectantly. They must have got together while he and Hollander were talking. Wyatt wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to bring over the bad news; they all looked so hopeful of what he had to say.

"Should we really be discussing this here?" Wyatt asked, once he sat down.

"Wyatt, there's music and everyone is talking among themselves. Nobody is paying attention to us. If you really insist on quiet then whisper." Troy said.

Wyatt did whisper — better safe than sorry. "They definitely went on that walk together, but before you guys celebrate. Ilya did not stay the night, and I'm also pretty sure Hollander hates him."

"What? Why?" Luca asked.

"You should've seen the way he talked to me about Ilya. He sounded like he was trying to convince himself that he liked him. I asked him whether he got along with Ilya and he said: I guess. I also asked him whether Ilya and him spend time outside of the foundation and he first said no and then quickly corrected himself to a yes." Wyatt was still whispering, even though everyone around him seemed content talking in their normal volume.

"Fuck. That does sound like he hates him." Bood took a sip of whatever cocktail he had. If Wyatt had to guess, there was at least twenty-five percent alcohol in there. He should probably get something to drink as well.

"Well, then we should fix it." LaPointe said.

"We tried, didn't we? With the Chiron plan." Dykstra countered.

"Right, but we can't just give up after one single failed attempt."

Dykstra gave LaPointe a sceptical look. "Maybe we should leave them be for now. We still don't know whether Hollander is actually into men, and if we start trying to force them together too much, maybe it will just lead to Hollander disliking Ilya even more."

Luca nodded. "I think so too. With the way he sounded now, I don't think he'd appreciate being thrust into another situation with Ilya. I say we just observe a bit, and maybe an opportunity will open up."

"Yeah," Wyatt said, "I think that's the best idea for now. We shouldn't ruin this for Ilya. He clearly is completely gone for Hollander. I know we all think it's unfortunate that his feelings are unrequited, but we need to have patience."

"Patience for what?" A voice from behind, with a very Russian sounding accent spoke.

Wyatt quickly turned around, facing none other than Ilya Rozanov himself. "Nothing!"

"You guys keeping secrets from your team captain?" Ilya asked.

"No, of course not. We were just discussing how patience is needed in a game. Get a grip, asshole." Troy answered.

It's quite impressive, the way Troy manages to sound like he is actually telling the truth. If it were Wyatt, he'd definitely have stumbled over his words and not gotten out anything meaningful. Usually, Troy wouldn't be able to lie to Ilya so well either. Troy must be really invested in their plan.

"Okay. If you say so. I just wanted to say that I am leaving. Try not to miss me too much." A grin spread over Ilya's face.

"We're all happy you're leaving." Bood said.

"Yes, yes, of course. Have fun with the rest of the night." Ilya waved, walking away.

"I think we handled that quite nicely." Troy said, after making sure that Ilya was far enough away so that he wouldn't be able to hear them.

"You just called him an asshole. How is that handling it nicely?" Luca asked.

Troy just shrugged. "Sounds nice enough to me. At least he probably didn't figure out what we were doing."

Shane was driving them both back home — through the dark streets of Ottawa, only lit up by a few artificial lights at this time — when Ilya finally got to ask the question that had been burning on his tongue.

"What does unrequited mean?" Ilya had a suspicion, given the context in which it was said, but he still wanted to make sure.

"Unrequited?" Shane's brows furrowed. "Usually it means that you don't return someone else's feelings. Why?"

Ilya sunk down in his seat. "So you don't love me anymore?"

"What?" An accusation so absurd, that Shane Hollander actually took his eyes off the road for a split second to look at Ilya.

"Wyatt said that my feelings for you are unrequited." Ilya pouted, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Wyatt? What the fuck are you talking about? Wait, your feelings? How do they—?"

Ilya sat back up and decided to talk seriously about the topic. Maybe he would've continued teasing in a different situation, but he didn't really want Shane completely losing his focus on the road. "When I went to the guys to say I was leaving, I heard them talk about how it's clear I'm 'absolutely gone' for you — which is of course true — but also about how you did not return my feelings, and that they should be patient."

"What?"

"Shane, you talked to Wyatt, yes?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess." Shane seemed like he was increasingly struggling with driving, though he still managed to keep it under control.

"What did you tell him?"

"A few things, like how my mom planned the event for us—"

"No, I meant what did you tell him about me?"

"About you? Well, he asked something about whether I enjoyed spending time with you— oh." There was quite a long pause before Shane continued speaking. "Before that he asked about your guys' dog, and I panicked since I didn't want him to know about you staying over, so I lied about it. And then afterward, whenever he asked me questions about you, I panicked even more. I guess maybe he could've thought that the panic came from a different place."

Ilya threw his head back in laughter. "You panicked so much about him maybe finding out about how much you love me, so you made him think you hate me? Brilliant."

"I— I guess he at least didn't figure out about our relationship." Shane mumbled.

Ilya only hummed his agreement before softly saying, "Shane. The speed limit was lifted. You're driving too slow."

"What? I didn't see a sign?" Shane must've recognized the part of the city he was driving in because he suddenly accelerated. "Fuck, right. Shit."

"Do you want me to drive?" Just for the night, Ilya had refrained from drinking any alcohol. He wanted to stay sober for the event, and perhaps there was also a certain thrill to taking Shane apart when he was at his full cognitive functions.

"No, it's fine. There's only five minutes left. I'm paying attention to the road. Explain to me when we're home how exactly Wyatt managed to figure out about… the rest."

Shane kept his word. He drove like a model student on his driving test. Not going a single kilometer over the speed limit. Fully stopping at every single stop sign even though there was no one around. His driving instructor would've been proud of him.

As soon as Ilya closed the door behind both of them, his hands were all over Shane's body. Shane stopped Ilya in his tracks, while also moving away from a kiss. "First tell my why your teammates think you've got feelings for me. Afterwards you can do whatever you want."

Ilya groaned; he wouldn't have brought up the thing if he knew he was going to be hinder himself from fucking Shane. Though the promise of more made him determined to get this over with quickly. "I'm not sure. I only heard that I have feelings for you that are unrequited, and that they should be patient."

"Why patient?"

"I am not sure, but… I have a theory."

"Well?"

"I think they believe I am in love with you and are now trying to get us together. Starting with making you like me."

"What? Why would they—"

"I'm their favorite team captain. Of course they do anything to make me happy."

"You're their only team captain." Shane glared at him.

"Yes, but I am still the best."

Shane's glare softened slightly. "I guess… though I still don't understand how they found out in the first place."

"I don't know. Maybe I did something. But they seem not to care, and I know they would not tell."

"You're not worried about it?"

Ilya could tell that Shane was worried about it, but didn't want to annoy him with it. "They think you hate me, so they don't even consider a relationship. All they know is that I have feelings for you. But they are also supportive. So no, I am not worried about it."

"Okay. That's okay." Shane sounded like he was trying to convince himself instead of Ilya.

"I only think they will maybe come up with stupid ways to get you to like me."

Shane huffed, a smile breaking out on his face. "Not necessary."

His boyfriend really shouldn't overthink so much, and Ilya always had the best ways of making Shane stop thinking.

"Show me how much you like me Shane. Show me how much you love me." Ilya's mouth found itself at Shane's neck, while he simultaneously hauled him up and carried him toward the bedroom.

Shane's legs hooked across his waist; his arms clung around Ilya like a vice. Throwing his head back, Shane granted him easier access to his neck. A small moan tore across his throat, followed by Shane rasping out: "I love you." A mantra he kept repeating that night.

Wyatt got to the rink early for their game against Buffalo today. While Ottawa still wasn't an amazing team by all means, they had gotten significantly better in the last few months. They didn't have to immediately assume that they would lose any game they would play in anymore.

The centaurs had high hopes for beating Buffalo; Coach had put them through an intense training, while their Captain kept their spirits high.

When Wyatt arrived, he wasn't expecting to see Bood, Luca, and Troy all huddling around each other, discussing something in hushed voices. He hadn't been expecting anyone at the rink at this time anyway, much less like that.

"What's going on here?" Wyatt asked.

Luca jumped back and seeing it was Wyatt, let out a deep sigh of relief.

Bood grabbed Wyatt and tried to shove him towards somewhere, while also pointing up toward the grandstands. "Those two, you see them?"

Wyatt blinked, trying to figure out who exactly Bood was talking about. There weren't particularly many people at the grandstands at this time, but even so, there were enough that the vague description of 'those two' wasn't enough for Wyatt to figure out what he meant.

Bood sighed. "The woman in the white button up shirt, who's next to a guy in a grey shirt. Both wearing blue jeans."

Bood trying to be subtle made it difficult for Wyatt to discern just where he was pointing at, though after a while of searching, he believed he found the couple. "Oh. Uh, yeah, I guess? What about them?"

"Are those not Hollander's parents?"

"Maybe? I don't know?" Wyatt was a little irritated. He came here early to prepare for the game, not try and figure out who exactly was in the audience.

Troy shook his head. "I'm telling you guys. Those are definitely Hollander's parents."

"Okay? So what?" Wyatt said.

"So why are they here?" Bood now pulled him back to a spot from which Hollander's parents wouldn't be able to see them staring.

"Maybe because they are into hockey? This is not as crazy as you guys are making it out to be." Wyatt answered.

"I guess so, but why would they show up to a random game where their son doesn't even play?" Luca asked.

"Probably because they live in Ottawa? And we're playing in Ottawa?" Wyatt was trying his absolute hardest not to sound too condescending.

"I guess so, but perhaps they're also here for Ilya?" Luca argued.

"What?"

"Think about it. Ilya and Hollander's parents must know each other from the charity. You said they planned the event together, right?"

"I guess so." Wyatt relented.

"Right, so perhaps they became friends and are now here to cheer Ilya on."

Wyatt couldn't help but gape at him. "I feel like that's a major stretch."

Troy swooped in. "You're right. It is a stretch. But it's also a possibility. If Ilya and Hollander's parents are at least friendly with each other that would be really good for our operation."

Over the last few weeks of relative silence, Wyatt had nearly forgotten about their plan of trying to bring Ilya and Hollander together. Though he supposed it did make sense. "So what do you plan to do?"

"Easy. One of us goes up to them and tries to convince them how great Ilya is as a person. Maybe they already like him from the charity; that'd be great, but even if not, we could still do something." Troy laid out the plan as if it was entirely obvious.

"And what if they actually hate him? The same way Hollander hates him, I may add."

"Doesn't matter. We just have to be smooth enough and talk them into liking Ilya. Mention how happy Ilya is about the joint charity and how much it means to him. Talk about how much he likes hanging around Hollander. Any parent would warm up if they knew someone liked their son so much."

"Then go ahead and do it, Troy. I've had my experience with Hollander, and I don't think I want to be the one to talk again."

Troy huffed. "I think Luca should do it. They're most likely to listen to such a young rookie."

Luca took a step back. "What? Me? But I—"

"It'll be fine." Bood clapped Luca on the back. "Don't worry about it too much. The Hollander's are probably nice people. I mean, Shane Hollander has to get his politeness from somewhere. Just try to hype up Ilya as much as you can and if it gets too uncomfortable, you can always come back."

Luca was now swaying from one foot to the other. "You seriously think I'd be good at it?"

"You have a way of making things very convincing. I'm sure they'd hear you out." Wyatt had to admit.

Troy checked his watch. "You better go now before Ilya shows up. We don't need him to ask questions about why any of us is talking to Hollander's parents. You should still have an hour before we all need to be in the locker room."

"Guys! Wait! I still don't know what to say." Luca was being ushered away by Bood.

Wyatt could only quietly wish him good luck. You could call him selfish, but he'd rather Luca stumble through trying to talk to Hollander's parents than end up being the one to do it himself again.

They absolutely crushed Buffalo; Ilya couldn't be more proud of his team. On any other day he would've gone out to drink with the rest of them, but today, Ilya had plans with David and Yuna.

Ilya had offered to cook dinner for them, but they hadn't taken any of it. There was no way Shane's parents were gonna let Ilya cook dinner after a game. It's not like Ilya didn't try to convince them; he was determined to become the perfect future son-in-law, after all.

However, David had said that he would cook for them after the game was over. By the time Ilya was done with all his post game duties, he could drive to their house and arrive to finished dinner.

It was a weekend game, so when Ilya was driving, it was just getting dark in the cold Ottawa winter.

Yuna opened the door for him, while immediately embracing him and ushering him inside. The smell of David's spaghetti that wafted through to him from the kitchen never failed to remind him of the first time he had properly met Shane's parents.

Ilya was already on his way to set the table when Yuna told him to just sit down and relax. Everything was basically laid down anyway, so Ilya had relented just this time.

David's timing really was impeccable — not even a minute after Ilya sat down, he came out with the food and they all started eating.

"What did Luca say to you before the game?" It was a question that Ilya wanted to ask ever since he showed up to the rink and saw the three talking. Obviously, he couldn't refrain from walking over himself. He had wanted to talk to them before the game anyway; the interest in what Luca was doing just gave him an extra reason.

Though as soon as he showed up, Luca practically jumped away and tried making up some excuses to leave. Ilya just stared him down before exchanging a few words with David about what he wanted for dinner.

Expectedly, David laughed when he heard Ilya sheepishly ask for the same spaghetti he always wanted. It wasn't like Ilya was opposed to trying new dishes, he just found himself always asking for the same thing whenever Shane wasn't there. As much as Ilya loved Shane's parents, he always wanted Shane's presence with him in some form, and if that form was the spaghetti then so be it. Maybe Shane was infecting him with his boringness.

When Ilya looked back, Luca had already disappeared and refused to talk to him at all about the situation afterwards.

"Not much?" Yuna set her fork down. "I think he tried to convince us how good of a player and person you are?"

"No." Ilya groaned. He would've put his head on the table if there wasn't a half eaten bowl of spaghetti in front of him.

This could only mean one thing. His teammates must have started trying to get Shane to like him again — this time using Shane's parents.

"What did he say exactly?" Ilya wasn't sure whether he found the situation funny or horrifying.

"Uh, something about you being a great captain, which we obviously already know. And also that you're the — and I quote — 'best dog dad ever'. He also told us how you've been really nice to him even though he is just a rookie. His words not mine." Yuna said.

Ilya let out a sigh. "Anything else?"

David picked up where his wife left off. "He told us about how much you enjoy spending time with Shane? Along with that you apparently never go out partying after games, so you have to be really responsible, and when fans approach you, you're always really nice to them."

Yes, responsible. Responsibly having phone sex with Shane. That thought was probably better kept to himself.

"Is there any reason why Luca feels the need to tell us this?" Yuna asked.

"They think Shane hates me." Ilya didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Why would they think that?" Yuna looked taken aback, taking a sip from her wine glass.

After Ilya told them what happened at the charity event, Yuna had burst out laughing, while David just smiled, probably holding back a laugh himself.

Once Yuna calmed down she continued. "Actually, I noticed while I was talking to David that Luca was taking a picture of us. Could you ask him what that was all about?"

"Really?" Ilya must have been so focused on his conversation with David that he hadn't noticed that. He thought Luca had immediately left after he arrived, but apparently not. "I'll ask him."

When Ilya went to text Luca about it, he saw Harris had already sent him a message with a photo attached. The photo showed him laughing with David, and Yuna smiling at both of them. Along with the photo, Harris had texted him that Luca took it while they were talking and asked him whether they could post it on the team's Instagram account.

Ilya had a feeling this was probably about the Shane hating him thing. There was no reasonable explanation why Luca would otherwise take a picture with him talking to the parents of a rival team's captain, and then also want to post it online.

Maybe if he stretched his imagination, it could've been about the charity, though then it wouldn't really make sense to post the picture on the Ottawa team's Instagram account.

Ilya turned his phone around to show the picture to David and Yuna. "This is Luca's photo. Harris asked whether he was allowed to post on Instagram?"

"It's a nice picture." David commented.

Yuna thought about her answer before saying: "I think it should be fine if Harris posts it. I'm guessing this is another attempt of his to try and make Shane like you, but if we ignore that, it's great press for the charity and really makes your friendship more believable."

"Yes, I thought that as well. I'll tell him I also got your permission to post." Ilya quickly typed out his message to Harris before putting his phone down again.

There would definitely be an explanation to Shane necessary, though that could be done later. For tonight, Ilya had to make sure to beat his boyfriend's parents at Yahtzee — after insisting on washing the dishes for them, of course.

"You guys are not dragging me into this again!" Harris complained.

"We are definitely dragging you into this again." Troy took a chip from they snack stash that they had deposited in the middle of the little circle they were all sitting in.

"I invited you guys over to my house to celebrate the win! Not to somehow try and get Ilya and Shane Hollander together! Who the hell even came up with this plan?" Harris looked around the group.

"It's Luca's fault." LaPointe immediately deflected.

"What? Wyatt was the one that first brought up the topic." Luca said.

Oh great, now Wyatt was responsible. To be fair, Luca was sort of right. He had been the one that brought it up first. He raised his hands. "I just shared my observations."

"Whatever. I don't want to hear it. Just try not to take pictures without asking first? This is directed at you, Luca. I know you panicked, but still. You guys realize I have to ask Hollander's parents too before posting this, right?" Harris waved his phone around, as if that proved his point.

Luca pointedly looked at the floor.

Wyatt felt a little bad for him. Taking a picture and suggesting to post it was a stroke of genius, and everyone in the room secretly agreed. While Shane Hollander certainly wasn't online often, he would definitely see a picture of his parents with Ilya. And the picture really was beautifully shot, showing the exact right moment where they were all laughing together.

Just then, a notification sounded from Harris' phone. He read it with pinched brows before putting the phone down with a blank face and leaning back. "Wow. Okay."

"What?" Bood asked.

"I guess I don't have to ask Hollander's parents?" Harris still looked a bit out of it.

"Why, what message did you get?" Wyatt was interested too now.

"Ilya said that we could post it. And that Hollander's parents approved as well." Harris looked at his phone while saying it, probably rereading the message again to make sure he didn't misinterpret anything.

Dykstra set his beer down with a little too much enthusiasm. Thankfully, the glass was almost empty, so nothing overflowed. "That proves that Ilya is with them right now!"

"Not necessarily. He could've texted them and asked." Wyatt reasoned.

"But even then it means that Ilya is on good terms with them!" Dykstra said.

Wyatt couldn't argue with that. "Does that mean our plan is working?"

"It definitely does!"

"Guys, lets not get overly excited, alright?" Harris still didn't look particularly thrilled about the whole thing. "I'll post this picture, but that still wont magically make Hollander like him."

"Not yet, but his parents might be able to talk him into it now! And don't forget to tag Hollander in it. He'll definitely at least have to ask what the picture is all about!" Dykstra leaned back, looking way too proud of himself for doing absolutely nothing.

"Fine, fine." Harris mumbled, typing away on his phone.

"Maybe you should write something about the charity. Just as a cover." Wyatt suggested.

"Was already planning on it." Harris said.

A minute later Harris cleared his throat. "Alright, here's the caption I wrote: 'our captain Ilya Rozanov getting along with Shane Hollander's parents in their home town. A charity can bring even the biggest rivals together. Read more about it on their website.' And then the link of the website. Is that good with you guys?"

"You're the social media guy, Harris." Troy said.

"Well, this was your guys' idea! I thought I'd at least ask!"

"I just meant that you'd know best what to write. If you think it's good then you should post it." Troy didn't seem particularly phased by Harris' annoyed tone.

"Right. Yeah, I'll post it. The internet is going to go insane over this." Harris sighed.

It didn't even take ten minutes for the comments to be completely flooded. Usually, Wyatt wouldn't check his team's Instagram account, but absolutely everyone was just staring at their phones and reading the comments, so he thought he might as well join them.

Reading through the comments, Wyatt realized they all said one of the following three things. It was either 'This has to be staged', 'Nice.', or 'omg look at them, they look so happy together, and they're so cute!'.

There wasn't any point in reading any more of it. They didn't want the internet's reaction; they wanted Hollander's reaction, and that was one they weren't going to get from scrolling through the comments.

Everyone else seemed to believe the same thing, since they all put their phone down around the same time as Wyatt.

Luca was the last one still on his phone, when he said, "Someone here wrote: 'Hollanov is so real, guys.' Are comments like these the way you first learned about the ship name, Dykstra?"

Dykstra went red. "No— I mean, yes. I mean… I guess?"

"Come on, don't be embarrassed. Share with the class how you found out." Troy said.

"I—" Whatever Dykstra said next was mumbled so quietly, that absolutely no one was able to pick up on it.

"You're gonna have to speak up, man." Bood stared at him.

"I found out through twitter. Which then lead me to fanfiction." Dykstra was still mumbling, though at least this time Wyatt could hear what he was saying.

"Fanfiction?" Troy nearly fell over laughing. "Did you read any?"

"No! I just saw it, and once I figured out what it was I decided to stay as far away as I could." Dykstra glared at him.

"How much is there of them? Where did you find it?" Troy asked, already pulling out his phone.

"Fuck, give me your phone." Dykstra pulled Troy's phone out of his hand. He typed for a bit before handing it back, and pointing on the display. "Here. Shane Hollander slash Ilya Rozanov."

"Why is there more fanfiction about Shane Hollander and Hayden Pike?" Troy glared at his phone as if it personally offended him.

"Maybe because that ship objectively makes more sense?" Harris shrugged.

"No, it doesn't! Hayden Pike is married! Both Ilya and Hollander are single. Hollanov makes much more sense." Troy said.

"Maybe we could try and get more fans onto Hollanov." LaPointe suggested. "That post probably fuelled the ship a bit. I'm sure we could make even more."

"What did I say about not involving me again?" There was warning in Harris' voice.

"It'd be good for the team's imagine if Ilya got along with him. We can keep it completely friendly on social media. The fans will interpret whatever they want anyway."

Harris looked at LaPointe, unconvinced. "What would even be the point?"

"Perhaps Hollander will see the posts."

"Okay, firstly, I'm pretty sure Hollander is literally never on social media. I relented on the one picture because the chance of him looking at a photo containing his parents is still relatively high. Secondly, even if he was, how would shipping posts convince him?"

LaPointe sighed. "If more of the internet is convinced, then there's a higher chance of Hollander seeing it. Even if he isn't on the internet often, he can't stay off it forever. And if he sees it, it may plant a seed in his head."

"That makes no sense." Harris stared blankly.

"It kinda does." Troy nudged Harris at his shoulder.

That earned him a glare in return. "I'll do whatever makes sense within the scope of my job. You can give suggestions, but I make no promises." Harris ended up saying.

"Maybe you can start writing fanfiction yourself, Dykstra." Bood grinned. "Bring up the numbers a bit."

"What the—" Dykstra suddenly turned to face Bood. "I'm not gonna start writing fanfiction about real people!"

"So you write about not real people?" Bood was obviously having a lot of fun teasing Dykstra.

"No! I'm just saying that I especially wouldn't write about real people!"

"Okay, sure." Bood nodded, still smiling.

"Fuck off."

Harris intervened before the conversation could go on any further. "No one is writing any fanfiction. I think we are done with this topic."

Even after that, they certainly weren't done with the topic. Every now and then, someone would say something that would remind someone else to bring it up before Harris quickly shot it down again.

It was only when Harris threatened to kick them all out of his house that they really stopped. Wyatt kept his thoughts mostly to himself. He didn't think there was much potential in trying to get social media to believe in the relationship, but he wasn't going to spoil it for the others. He let them believe it would do something.

Weeks later, the near plane crash had shaken the entire team up. It all went well in the end, but for the first time, they were genuinely confronted with the possibility of dying.

Wyatt had been slightly surprised to get a phone call from J.J., but he supposed they had become friends when they coached at the summer camp.

"Hey, man. Are you doing okay?" J.J. asked, right after Wyatt picked up. Straight to the point.

"Hey. Yeah, I'm good. Had a bit of a scare, but other than that, amazing." There was slight irony in his voice. He wasn't quite sure yet how he was supposed to feel about the whole thing. On one hand it was scary as hell, on the other they all managed to come out without a even a scratch.

"Seriously? All's good?"

"Just a little rattled. That's all. I'm glad you called, J.J."

"No, absolutely. I realized you would've probably been on the plane, and I had to check that you're really doing okay."

"Thanks, I think the team has started to calm down about it now."

"Must've been really terrifying, right?"

"Yeah, definitely was. I didn't really notice much around me 'cause I was panicking so hard. Was pretty glued to my phone, texting my wife." Wyatt couldn't help but think that he may not have ever been able to see Lisa again if the incident had gone just a little bit differently.

"Oh fuck, did you text her while the plane was…" J.J. sounded like he wasn't going to be able to find the words to describe what he wanted to say.

"Yeah. In hindsight, I wished I hadn't, since I absolutely worried her to death, but when I was flying I just thought that it was perhaps the last chance to talk to her."

"Shit. That's rough. Thank god Shane only saw later."

"Hollander?" What did he have to do with this?

A dull thud could be heard over the line. Did J.J. just drop his phone?

"Uh. Yeah, no. He was a bit worried about— uh, Rozanov. I think it's because they're rivals, you know? He was just concerned for him. You don't ever want anyone else to die, right?"

So Hollander had been worried for Ilya? The way J.J. talked made it seem like he knew something else. Specifically, something that sounded a lot like Hollander liked Ilya a lot more than Wyatt had originally thought. He wouldn't have put any mind in Hollander being worried for Ilya. Though J.J. spluttering and weird excuses made the whole thing incredibly suspicious.

"I guess? Those two are friends, right?" Wyatt said.

"Right. Of course. Yes. Friends." The line became muffled at the other end, but still audible enough for Wyatt to make out what was being said. "I can't believe Hollander has a crush on that asshole," J.J. said, followed by a groan.

What the fuck. That asshole was definitely Ilya. There was no doubt about it. And J.J. sounded incredibly sure of himself. Very unlike someone that was just making baseless assumptions. Much like Wyatt and his own team sounded now, when they were talking about Ilya's crush on Hollander.

Holy shit. Did Wyatt just get confirmation that Hollander liked Ilya back? He did, didn't he?

He felt a little bad about it. J.J. had obviously not wanted to share that with him. Otherwise the line wouldn't have become muffled. He can only assume J.J. was trying to get the phone away from himself but had misjudged how loud his voice was and how far it travelled.

Wyatt absolutely wouldn't bring the topic up. "So, Hollander is fine now? He calmed down?"

"Huh? Oh! Yeah. Yeah, he's fine now." J.J.'s voice was back to being clear again.

"That's good. Tell him Ilya is doing good. If he cares."

"Right. I will. Thanks."

"Hey, so I still had some stuff to discuss with the team; I'll leave now alright? Thanks again for calling." He definitely needed to end the phone call quickly; his brain was running a hundred miles an hour trying to compute the new information he just got.

"Of course, anytime. Have fun with your team. Tell them Montreal won't hold back next time we see you just because you nearly had a plane crash." J.J. laughed.

That had managed to make Wyatt smile, despite the internal crisis going on in his head. "We don't need you guys to hold back to win."

"Yeah, buddy. Keep telling yourself that."

Wyatt just shook his head, exasperated. After ending the call, Wyatt finally felt like he had time to think about all he had just found out, and what exactly he was going to do with this new information.

Ilya had a crush on Hollander. One that is apparently requited. Great. Amazing. So what now?

Was it a little bit unethical of Wyatt to tell his teammates about what J.J. had just accidentally let slip during their phone call? Yes. But he also felt it was slightly justified. He was only doing it for the good of Ilya and Hollander. They both liked each other, so obviously they should be together. And who better to help than their team?

Operation: Hollanov

Wyatt: I may have just found out that Hollander likes Ilya back.

Wyatt: Don't ask how. I won't answer.

Wyatt: Don't ask whether I'm sure. I am.

Troy: Holy fuck. Seriously?

Wyatt: I just said not to ask whether I am sure.

Troy: I guess, but it's a little unbelievable, you know? And you could be joking

Wyatt: Fine. Yes, Troy, seriously. Why the fuck would I joke about this?

Troy: Who knows…

Wyatt: Well, I'm not joking. So can we please talk about what we do with this information?

LaPointe: I think we should first pat ourselves on the back for being good teammates

LaPointe: Our plan worked!!

Luca: we don't know whether it was actually us though?

LaPointe: I'm believing it was. Hollander definitely saw all the social media posts and was inspired

Wyatt: It doesn't fucking matter.

Wyatt: All that matters is that Hollander likes him back.

Bood: Right. So we should really start bringing them together now

Luca: I thought we've been doing that this whole time?

Bood: We've been sort of bringing them together. But Hollander not liking him back was definitely an issue. Now we can start dropping hints whenever we can that Ilya should confess. There's nothing to lose now.

Luca: Just hints?

Bood: Or whatever else you guys can come up with. I think we just fully stop holding back now. No more patience.

LaPointe: This is going to be fun.

Dykstra: Am I the only one still freaking out about this?

Dykstra: How are all of you just moving on like Hollander liking him back is like a totally normal thing to happen?

Bood: No, I'm definitely freaking out too. Just internally. And not over text.

Luca: Same

Wyatt: Okay so do we have any solid plan yet?

Troy: We'll play against Montreal soon. Maybe we can do something there?

Wyatt: Like what.

Troy: Shove them into a closet or something. I don't fucking know.

Wyatt: We are not shoving them into a closet.

Troy: Why not? It'd be a great opportunity for them to come out of it

Luca: I think he's got a point

Wyatt: Not you too.

Bood: I agree with them. After the game there has to be some opportunity.

Wyatt: You guys want to stick them into a closet after a game when they're both disgusting and sweaty?

Bood: We can let them shower first if you insist.

Wyatt: How do you guys even plan on doing this? It would still have to be subtle. Is there even a closet that is reasonably big for two men that play hockey?

Dykstra: I think the closet idea, while slightly funny, won't really work. Maybe the locker room instead or something?

Wyatt: The locker room? How do you plan on doing that?

LaPointe: Getting Ilya into out locker room should be easy enough. We just have to make up some kind of excuse for Hollander to check it out. Then we accidentally lock it.

Wyatt: And what kind of excuse are we talking about here?

LaPointe: Literally anything. The guy's so polite he'll say yes even to the stupidest bullshit.

Wyatt: That's a fair point, I guess.

Wyatt: And what do we do in the meantime?

Bood: Get him a book on fifty ways you could confess to your secret crush?

Wyatt: He'd see through that immediately and you know it.

Bood: Not if we play it off as a joke.

Bood: Think about it. He never goes out to party. So we could joke that he is definitely into someone specifically and then gift him the book. He'd think we are just being obnoxious

Wyatt: Do you have like a specific book in mind or why are you so set on the idea?

Bood: Maybe…

Wyatt: You know what, sure. You do whatever you want to do. Anyone else can think of their own subtle ways of trying to convince Ilya to convince.

Wyatt: I'd like to stress the importance of subtle.

LaPointe: Is sending him Hollanov fanfiction subtle?

Wyatt: No!

Troy: I feel like anything could be twisted into a joke if you tried hard enough, LaPointe.

LaPointe: Yeah, you're right. Thanks Troy.

Troy: No problem.

Wyatt: Guys!

Chapter End Notes

Hope you enjoyed reading, and I’d love to hear about any thoughts you may have!

I would like to add that I felt like I struck gold when I read that J.J. canonically called Wyatt right after his conversation with Shane where Shane let him think he had a crush on Ilya.

Chapter 3: Get Them Together!

Chapter Notes

I honestly didn’t expect that this fic would be so goddamn long. This became way more of a commitment than I thought it was going to be. Anyway, for me it’s kind of bittersweet that it’s over. I hope you enjoy the last chapter!

(I really tried to make this fit the timeline and also be decently hockey accurate, but there could still be some mistakes, so forgive me if you do notice any.)

Ilya was spending his free time fucking his fiancé over the phone when he was rudely interrupted by a text notification. He really should've put his phone on silent. Now he was forced to read the preview of whatever LaPointe decided to text him at half past eleven. Shouldn't the guy be sleeping at this time?

Looking at the message, Ilya realized it was a link and promptly decided that whatever was behind that link wasn't interesting enough for him to stop focusing on Shane's gorgeous face on his screen. Especially since he was wearing his glasses.

It was only when Shane and him had both come down from their highs, and Shane took his time cleaning himself up that Ilya remembered the text from earlier. Now was probably the best time to check what it was, considering Shane was gone.

The link looked sketchy; just some random words strung together that made no sense in Ilya's head, along with random numbers. If it wasn't LaPointe sending him this, he might have been a little more hesitant about opening it.

The website looked about as suspicious as the link itself. One thing that immediately stood out to him though was both his and Shane's full names besides each other. Right under the word Relationships. Just what exactly was this?

It was only after excessive amounts of googling that he first found out he was looking at fanfiction and then found out what exactly fanfiction was. So LaPointe decided to send him fan-made works about himself and Shane in a relationship?

Ilya had a crinkling suspicion that this had something to do with his apparent unrequited crush on Shane Hollander. So was this their new plan? Sending him stories about Shane and him to make him… feel better?

Ilya: Why are you sending me this?

He wasn't really expecting an answer; by now it was way past midnight, but LaPointe seemed to be waiting for his response, if Ilya considered how quickly he received a text back.

LaPointe: stumbled across this while I was scrolling on twitter

LaPointe: thought you might find it funny

Ilya: why would this be funny?

Ilya: Is a very sweet story.

Ilya hadn't read it, but he felt the need to defend it anyway. Besides, the summary sounded sweet enough.

Honestly, it was Ilya's right to fuck with LaPointe a little bit here. The centaurs were trying to mess with Ilya's love life — which might've been nice if he actually was crushing on Shane in secret, but Shane is his fiancé now — so it's only fair that Ilya messes around with them. And do they really think he wouldn't be able to pull Shane? He's nearly offended.

LaPointe: Oh

LaPointe: So you liked it?

Ilya: Yes.

Ilya: Was cute, no?

LaPointe: I mean, I didn't really read it?

LaPointe: So I guess it might be?

Ilya: You send me something without reading it yourself?

Ilya: Disappointing.

LaPointe: Well the story isn't really about me, so it felt a little weird to read…

Ilya: Ah, you think two men in a relationship is weird?

LaPointe: NO

LaPointe: No wait Ilya I never said that

LaPointe: I can definitely read it

LaPointe: It's not weird at all!!!

Ilya was chuckling to himself when Shane came back.

"What's so funny?" Shane said

"LaPointe sent me fanfiction of us."

"Fanfiction? What's that?"

Ilya very gently tried to explain, while making sure that it was clear that no one had actually found out about their relationship — as much as Ilya knew that Shane now also wanted to go public soon, he also knew Shane wasn't mentally ready for it quite yet. Ilya counted Shane's reaction of only panicking a little bit a success.

"Wait so why did LaPointe send it to you?" Shane asked.

"It is a little strange. I believe it's about my feelings for you. But I don't really see how fanfiction would help in getting you to like me."

Shane thought for a second before answering. "Unless they already know. Maybe they figured out that I like you back?"

"Ah, yes. You're so smart." A grin spread across Ilya's face; he just couldn't help it. "They probably think we both like each other and are now trying to get us together."

Shane blushed at the praise. He was always so easy to rile up. "I think that conclusion makes the most sense. Even J.J. figured it out. Have I really been so obvious with my feelings towards you?"

"Maybe. Not your fault that you can't hide how much you love me. I know I am amazing."

Shane rolled his eyes, while crossing his arms. "I hate you, actually. Self absorbed asshole."

"I don't believe you. I think you love your fiancé very much."

The word fiancé was a sure way to make Shane crumble. "Yeah, I do love you."

"That's what I thought. I love you too."

They stared at each other for a while. Simply basking in their shared time together. While it was only a call, and they couldn't actually be physically together, these moments were all they had for now.

After a while, Shane started talking again. "So what? LaPointe thinks fanfiction will make you confess your undying love to me?"

"It worked, no?" Ilya laughed.

"I don't really think that is what he had in mind." There was a smile threatening to break out on Shane's face. "Though I guess it did work."

A notification interrupted the two of them. Ilya really should put his phone on silent.

"LaPointe just texted me that he finished reading." Ilya said.

"The fanfiction? Why was he reading that?"

"I may have convinced him to read it… that's not important. LaPointe said it was nice."

Shane stared at him and dumbly repeated, "It was nice."

"Ah, of course. He also texted: 'I feel like this story could be inspiring to some people. The way they confess their feelings to each other.' This really is his plan to get me to confess." Ilya couldn't help but laugh, and Shane joined him.

"I feel like there must have been smarter ways than fanfiction?" Shane said through his laughter.

"Yes. But you forget my team is full of idiots. None of the plans they had were smart."

"Yeah, I guess so. What are you going to reply?"

Ilya hummed. "Maybe: 'Oh? Are you trying to tell me something? Is okay if you want to come out and confess to a man. I will support you.'"

As much as Ilya could tell Shane wanted to, he couldn't hide his amusement at the answer. "You shouldn't say that…"

It was such a weak attempt of convincing Ilya that they both knew it wouldn't do anything.

"Already sent my answer." Ilya raised his hands; grin still plastered on his face.

Shane just sighed. "He kind of deserves it for meddling in our life."

"Exactly!" Ilya knew he could count on Shane.

"Tell me his answer once you get it."

"Right now he is switching between typing and not typing. Probably panicking about what to say."

Ilya didn't fail to see the smirk that graced Shane's face for just a second. A minute later, he finally received a text back.

"He said: 'I am definitely straight.'"

Not even Shane could hide his laugh now. "That's it? That took him quite a while to come up with. Is he sure?"

"Perhaps not. I'll ask him."

Shane sat up straighter on his bed. "I want to hear exactly what you write."

"Bossy." Ilya locked eyes with Shane for a second, before focusing back on his screen. "I wrote: 'I understand it's hard to admit to yourself. I can tell from how long you took to write. Are you really sure?'"

Shane chuckled. "Brilliant."

"Oh look," Ilya said. "He learned from his mistakes. His response was fast this time. 'I really am straight,' he said. With three exclamation marks. Ah, now there's more. 'This isn't about me. I just thought it could maybe potentially help some people.'"

"Tell him: The story really seemed to resonate to you. Otherwise you wouldn't have sent it to me. I think that's something you need to unpack within yourself first."

Ilya smiled. "Now my fiancé likes to be mean?"

Shane huffed in response. "It's not mean. He started it."

"Yes, yes. You are right." It wasn't often that Shane leaned into his side of being a little shit. Ilya didn't want to risk destroying the moment.

Another notification.

"Very sad," Ilya chuckled. "He's giving up already. He wrote: 'You know what? Forget about it. I am straight. I promise.'"

"Just tell him you're there for him if he ever needs someone to talk to." Shane said.

Ilya typed it out before replying. "Done. Now I think I'm done with talking about my teammate. I'm hard again, and it's your fault."

"Oh? You like it when I am mean?"

"I thought you weren't mean?" Ilya smiled innocently.

"I guess maybe I was." Shane shot back.

Ilya had expected him to blush, backtrack, stumble on his words. But all he managed to achieve was getting himself even more desperate for Shane. Good thing his fiancé also seemed to want to go for a second round, even despite it being way too late.

Operation Hollanov

LaPointe: I am never sending Ilya anything ever again.

Troy: ???

Dykstra: lmao what happened

LaPointe: I sent the guy Hollanov fanfiction, and now he convinced himself that I'm in love with a man???

Troy: Omg lol

Dykstra: Cap is hilarious

Dykstra: Wait does he genuinely think that or is he joking???

Haas: DYING

Haas: How did you even manage to do that??

LaPointe: Honestly, I don't really know myself?

LaPointe: To both of those questions

LaPointe: Don't know whether he's being serious or just fucking with me

LaPointe: I was kinda trying to be subtle about how the story could inspire people to confess to others. And he thought I was talking about myself and that I suddenly want to confess to another guy???

Wyatt: I have a feeling he was fucking with you…

Troy: No, no. He's definitely being serious.

LaPointe: Troy, are you fucking with me too now?

Troy: Fuck Wyatt you made it too obvious. It was so fun seeing him get all scared.

Wyatt: Sorry???

Troy: Yeah you should be sorry.

LaPointe: Okay, so I'm just going to say that my attempt was unsuccessful. I'm also assuming Ilya was just being his usual asshole self. I still want to reiterate once again that I am very much straight!!!

Troy: Sure you are. I'll ask Harris to prepare a coming out post for you.

Troy: Just in case <3

LaPointe: Go fuck yourself.

Bood: Honestly a little scared about giving Ilya the book now…

LaPointe: Don't be. I need someone to share my misery with me.

Bood: Not helpful…

The entire team still hadn't come down from their high of beating the Admirals at home. Ilya also actually went partying with them for once; he definitely couldn't have missed this one.

He was just coming back from getting another drink — because he sure as hell wasn't going to settle for just plain beer if he could have some good vodka — when he heard it.

"The other guy that was with us?" Luca said. "No, I'm sorry, I can't give you his number.

Was Luca rejecting a woman for him? Ilya couldn't really complain. If Luca didn't do it then he would've, but it was still a little strange considering Ilya wasn't officially dating anyone. Not to Luca's knowledge at least. At most the kid thought he had a crush on Shane. Ilya supposed that was enough for Luca to reject a woman for him.

"Why not?" She replied.

"He's actually not interested."

"Are you sure? I think it would be public knowledge if Ilya Rozanov was dating someone." She raised a brow.

What a bold thing to assume.

"I guess…" Luca trailed off. "But still. He's not interested. I'm sorry."

Ilya considered just taking Luca around with him anywhere. He could reject any advances made toward him. Not only was it convenient for him, he could also watch Luca splutter through trying to find excuses to reject people. Not that Luca was actually finding any excuses. Though reiterating that Ilya wasn't interested seemed to do the job as well.

"And you are absolutely sure about this? Maybe I should try my luck with the man himself."

There really was no need to try with the man himself. He had a lovely fiancé waiting for him at home.

"No! I mean— I promise he isn't searching for a relationship right now."

"Relationship?" She laughed. "I just want to fuck."

Ilya at least had to give her credit for being direct. Though people at clubs usually were pretty direct anyway, so it wasn't really too much of a surprise. And it's not like Ilya was known as anything other than a ladies man.

He wouldn't admit it, but Ilya was sort of excited for that reputation of his to be skewed once people realized he was actually married in the summer.

"Right." Luca blush was visible even in the dim lighting of the club they were in. Honestly, the kid was already blushing from just that? Someone get him out of this club. He was way too young for this.

"Still. I'm absolutely positive that he also isn't interested in that." Luca managed to say in a confident tone.

Ilya at least had to give him credit for sounding convincing enough. Maybe he should actually make Luca follow Shane around instead. Ilya could see the way other people looked at him; he had noticed multiple times how people have gone up to Shane, just to get rejected in the end. Luca rejecting everyone for him would be quite helpful. Then at least Ilya probably wouldn't feel the urge to personally go up to anyone who dared to flirt with his man.

"Okay… I guess I'll believe it if you say so." She quickly left, making her way over to dance. It wasn't long before she found someone else to get comfortable with.

Ilya knew he should probably be scolding Luca for what he just did. Especially since for all Luca knew, Ilya was still single. But Ilya actually was grateful that he didn't have to deal with any advances made to him. So he let Luca believe he didn't notice it. Or any of the other three woman that various members of his team tried to subtly reject without him noticing.

Practice was over, and all Ilya wanted to do was get back home. It was already quite late, and he had taken a hit that was just a little too hard. Nothing that would stop him from playing, but it was just enough to be slightly painful and really annoying. But of course, he couldn't be so lucky. He was just on his way out when he heard him.

"Hey, cap." Bood came up behind him, swinging an arm across Ilya's shoulder.

"Hey? We were just together…"

"Right. Of course we were. Just thought I'd say hello again for a change of topic."

"Okay?" Ilya really didn't want to think about whatever Bood was doing right now.

"I thought I'd give you this." Bood held out a book that looked a lot like the boring hockey books Shane liked to read in his free time. Though Bood also held it upside down, so Ilya couldn't really tell what the book was about. All he knew was that it looked white and boring.

Bood practically thrust it into Ilya's hands, after which Ilya turned it around. 'Fifty ways to confess to your crush' it read. So that's what this was about. It was way too late for Ilya to deal with this shit.

Ilya just exasperatedly held the book up. "Why are you giving me this?"

"Well, it really helped me with my wife. Who I love very much, by the way. Anyway, I was really scared to confess back then, so I thought maybe it could help you."

"I do not think I have someone to confess to." Even now, Ilya could manage just a little bit of teasing. Besides, he wasn't lying.

"Look," Bood said. "The team isn't blind, alright? We can all see that you don't go out partying like you used to. Maybe the reason is that you're into someone specific. I just thought this could really help you. If not now then in the future."

"I can confess on my own. I do not need…" Ilya read the title again, for good measure. "Fifty ways to confess. There is just one, no? Say I love you. Simple."

"It obviously can't be that simple if you haven't managed to do it." Bood mumbled, probably thinking Ilya couldn't hear him.

Ilya let him get away with it. Bood didn't need to know that Ilya was aware of their plan. "I do not know why you need a book to tell you fifty ways to confess. Tragic for your wife that you don't know how to say I love you, but some people can figure this out without a book."

"Hey! There's no shame in being a little scared about confessing! Just take the book, alright? Maybe it really can help. You never know."

Maybe on another day Ilya would've bothered Bood more, but he really did want to leave, and this conversation already went on for way too long. So he ended up just taking the book, which made Bood look way too proud of himself.

There was a small part of Ilya that just wanted to tell Bood the truth. Tell him he didn't need the book because he had already confessed. That he had a fiancé in Montreal. But of course, he couldn't. Not now. Soon, he told himself. Shane said they'd make their relationship public in the summer. Ilya could be patient. He had already waited quite a while, after all. What were a few months more?

Operation Hollanov

Bood: I think my plan was a bigger success than LaPointe's

Bood: He did kind of insult me, but he took the book!!!

Haas: he insulted you?

Haas: what did he say?

Bood: said something about how it's unfortunate for my wife that I needed a book to tell me how to confess

Bood: Honestly, the guy can't even confess himself but is talking a big game like I'M the weird one here.

LaPointe: Lmao, why is he kind of right tho

Bood: I have Harris' number.

Bood: You want me to tell him to post that coming out post?

Troy: Can confirm he's made it btw.

LaPointe: Wtf??? He made it??

Troy: not like it takes a long time…

LaPointe: I'm straight! There's no need for a fucking coming out post omfg

Bood: Then how about you keep quiet?

LaPointe: Yes, fine. Lesson learned.

Bood: good.

Dykstra: Hate to say it, but LaPointe is right…

Bood: Oh? you wanna join this conversation?

Bood: Why don't you come up with your own plan before talking shit about ours?

Dykstra: Sure, why not.

Dykstra: Can't be that hard

LaPointe: Don't be surprised when he makes fun of you…

Bood: I'm betting that Dykstra will come crying to us in the groupchat afterwards

Dykstra: It can't be that bad.

Ilya was trying to just trying to pack up quickly after practice. It was a day before their game against Montreal, and Shane had arrived in Ottawa already. But of course, he could never be left in peace. It was probably his retribution for never leaving others in peace either.

"I actually wanted to give you something before our game." Dykstra said.

"What is it? I hope it is not a book. I will not read it."

Ilya couldn't really help it. Any time any of his teammates started with a line like that, he just had a feeling it would be about his feelings about Shane. The ones that he supposedly hadn't confessed yet.

In truth, Ilya had read a part of the book. He wanted to see just what exactly Bood had given him. There really wasn't any reason to read it because the advice was absolutely horrible. One of the points was invite them to your house and make them food. Make them comfortable before telling them something important.

That point reminded him way too much about a certain period of his life, so he quickly closed the book, not wanting to think of it anymore. Instead, he called Shane, knowing there was no need to confess anymore.

Ilya was proven right when Dykstra pulled a Hollander jersey out of his bag. Surprising that no one in the room had spontaneously combusted seeing a Montreal jersey yet. Though looking around, no one was actually paying attention to them. And even if they were, they'd probably be in on the plan. What did Ilya do to deserve being surrounded by so many idiots?

"Are you switching teams?" Ilya ended up saying.

"What? No!" Dykstra waved, trying to signal no, which just came across as uncoordinated hand waving.

"So you have a Montreal jersey for what?"

"For you?"

Ilya just stared at him. He needed Dykstra to really sit in the revelation that he just got the Ottawa team captain a jersey from the captain of their competitor. The longer Ilya looked at him in silence, the more uncomfortable Dykstra visibly got.

"Well…" Dykstra started, before shutting up again, clearly not knowing what to say next.

Ilya didn't reply. It was quite fun to just see Dykstra squirm in front of him. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Wyatt looking at them with surprise written across his face. Looked like not even Wyatt could believe that Dykstra was being so bold.

"It's just that we're playing Montreal tomorrow. So I thought you might want something to remember them by? Wait no— I mean. You might want something to fuck Hollander with." Dykstra choked on air, while looking at Ilya who was now nodding along. Irony was a great shield to hide behind. So what if Ilya really was agreeing? No one would believe so.

Dykstra tried to quickly correct himself. "Wait, no! What I meant was that you might want something to fuck with Hollander. Like it would probably really confuse him if you wore his jersey, right?"

"So you got me a Hollander jersey to fuck with him or to fuck him with?" Ilya couldn't let this opportunity slip by him. It was Dykstra's own fault for setting him up like that.

"Fuck him. What?" Dykstra seemed to be confused at himself. "I don't know! Just… fuck him. Cause we don't like him… that's why."

"So I should fuck him with the jersey. Okay." Ilya took it from Dykstra, who was still to stunned to do anything other than let Ilya take it. "I will make sure to do that. You want a picture as proof?"

"Huh? What? No! That's not what I—"

"Maybe a video? If you want to watch porn you could just find it on the internet, but I understand. You want to see me, yes?"

Dykstra's mouth opened without a sound being let out. Now it was Dykstra's turn to just stare at him. Though even now he was still the one who was uncomfortable.

"I'm blocking you." Dykstra finally managed to croak, before turning away and putting on some headphones.

Ilya just laughed in response. Looking around, he could tell that the entire team had witnessed the end of their conversation and were gaping at him before quickly turning back around when they noticed he had seen them.

Maybe seeing in person how Ilya would react to their incredibly unsubtle attempts of getting him to confess would get them to stop doing it. Ilya was able to appreciate the sentiment behind it. It was actually kind of cute; the way they all tried to help him find his happiness in a relationship. But he had already found it. There was no need for any of their antics.

Realistically, Ilya knew they would probably only stop once they realized he had been together with Shane the entire time. He really would have to endure their idiotic attempts for another six months, didn't he?

Once he returned home, he really did fuck Hollander with that jersey on. He would've even taken a video if Shane had let him, but alas, Dykstra would have to go without.

Operation: Hollanov

Haas: Sooooo

Haas: are we gonna talk about it?

Dykstra: No.

Bood: Not so funny now, is it? :)

Dykstra: shut up.

LaPointe: I thought you would be able to do it better?

Dykstra: well apparently not. Now can we please stop talking about it.

LaPointe: only because you've learned the errors of your ways.

Wyatt absolutely wasn't panicking. Okay, maybe he was. Just a little. But it was only natural considering the circumstance he was in.

Ottawa had just won against Montreal 5-3; the entire team was buzzing after their ninth consecutive win, and now they really wanted to jeopardize their happiness by locking Ilya and Hollander into the locker room together?

Coach Wiebe had given Wyatt the key earlier after he'd given him some random excuse about feeling safer leaving his belongings behind if he had the key. They both knew Wyatt was talking bullshit, but Coach didn't question him, so Wyatt didn't keep thinking about it too much.

The team had talked about their plan earlier. Keep Ilya behind in the locker room. Should be easy enough; Troy was handling that part. Getting Shane Hollander into the same room would be more difficult — they knew that.

In the end, the task had fallen on Luca. He simply had a face that made anyone unable to deny any of his requests. So the chance of him convincing Montreal's captain was higher than if anyone else tried it.

From a purely logical perspective Wyatt knew he didn't even have to do anything major. All he had to pay attention to was Shane Hollander walking through those doors and then lock them. Preferably with no one noticing.

If someone did notice, he planned to just brush it off by saying he didn't realize anyone was still in there. The excuse was probably as bad as the one he used to get the keys, but he was mainly hoping that he wouldn't need it anyway.

Wyatt purposefully took extra long getting his stuff together that day; he didn't want to stand in front of the locker rooms like an idiot for too long. He'd checked beforehand if there was anywhere to hide outside. There wasn't.

Once Troy gave him the sign to truly get out of there, Wyatt decided to lean against a wall and type some random text into his notes app. There wasn't really anyone he could text right now; he didn't want his wife to come home after her night shift as a doctor to ten random texts he sent that weren't important anyway.

From the outside, Wyatt looked like he was doing something urgent. Something that absolutely needed to be done right this moment before the locker room. Or at least that's how he hoped he looked.

It took probably fifteen minutes for Hollander to finally show up. Wyatt had been concerned that he never would. There was only so long someone could type away on their phone. And fifteen minutes had definitely already been way too much.

Troy had already been gone for around thirteen of those minutes. It really made Wyatt wonder what Troy had told Ilya to make him stick around for so long. He did ask over text, but Troy never answered him. Probably had better things to do; he'd heard earlier that Troy had plans with Harris. Selfish prick.

Hollander curiously eyed him while he was going inside. There was no way he wasn't going to know it was Wyatt who locked the door. After all, he was the only one around. And Wyatt made sure to lock it as quickly as possible so that he could leave as fast as he could. He really did not want to cross either Hollander or his captain after this.

Wyatt wasn't heartless — he didn't want Hollander and Ilya stuck in that room forever, so he still gave Luca the key on the way out. And by gave he meant that he simply thrust the key in his hand and ran away fast enough, so that Luca had no choice but to take it.

Luca probably also wasn't very keen on staying and later unlocking the door for them, but at least Ilya would forgive him. Probably.

"What was that?" Shane said as he bolted around to face the direction of which the sound came from.

Ilya knew immediately what it was. "Someone locked the door. Was anyone outside when you came in?"

"Wyatt Hayes was standing outside with his phone?"

"So I guessed right. This is another one of my team's plans to get us together."

"How many have you had at this point?" Shane turned back around, now facing him again.

"I don't keep count." Ilya said. "Maybe four?"

"Wait—" Shane suddenly walked toward him. "Was the jersey from your team?"

Ilya pulled Shane closer and mumbled in his ear, "Maybe."

"Fuck. Ilya." Shane shoved at his chest, but not strong enough to actually push him away. "We're still in public."

"The door is locked." Ilya whispered, nudging Shane's face up slightly to kiss him.

Shane clearly didn't have anything to say against that; he instantly kissed back, deepening the kiss even further.

After a while, Shane pulled away panting. "Stop— I can't."

"Hard already?" Ilya grinned.

"Fuck off. You're no better." Shane tore his gaze away from Ilya.

"Yes. But this is what my teammates planned, no? How could we resist after they made such a good plan?"

"The plan was horrible." Shane said flatly.

Ilya agreed. It really was horrible. Troy told him he should stay late because there was 'a surprise waiting for him'. If Ilya didn't have a feeling already what exactly was going to come, he would've just left immediately.

"Looks like it still worked on you." That earned Ilya a glare. "What did they tell you to make you come here?"

"Luca told me that I had to come here because you apparently had something important to tell me. I actually got kind of worried."

"Ah. You're so cute. Worrying over me." Ilya caressed Shane's cheek and felt him lean into his touch.

"I guess so." Shane mumbled. "I was still a bit suspicious though. Hayes standing outside really threw me off."

"None of them know how to be subtle. I'll have to be extra annoying the next time I see them."

"I don't think that's possible. You're always extra annoying." Shane laughed, batting Ilya's hand away.

"Oh? You want me to show you just how annoying I can be later?"

"You can try." Shane grinned.

Ilya shook his head. Internally already making a plan for the night.

"So what do we do now?" Shane asked. "I mean… I appreciate your team's sentiment but… I do still want to leave.

"Can't wait for all I will do to you, yes? I should tell the team that their plans are stopping me from fucking Shane Hollander."

Shane stared at him, probably debating whether he should react to Ilya's teasing. "So technically their plan didn't work. Told you it was a bad plan."

"Yes, you're right. But I have a key."

Shane took a step away from him. "You had a key this entire time? What the fuck?"

Ilya shrugged, smirking. "My teammates would be so sad if I just walked out immediately."

Shane laughed, "You are unbelievable."

"Yes, you love me because of it." Ilya closed the distance between them and gave Shane a peck on the lips.

"Yeah, I do."

A sound from the door made them instantly jump apart. Just a moment later, Luca was looking at the two of them. Thankfully far enough away to look casual by now.

"Oh! Hey! You two… are here. Wow. Didn't know that. I uh— I lost something. My… shirt." Luca stepped inside the room and looked around for a minute before continuing. "Looks like it's not here. Oh well. I'll just put the key here." Luca set it down on one of the seats near the door. "Lock up once you're leaving! Bye!"

Ilya just let him run away. He'd tease his teammates when he next saw them. He loved them, but god they could be so stupid.

Shane stared at Luca's retreating form. "I guess him opening the door is less suspicious. It would've been weird trying to explain why we stayed here so long if they knew we had a key all along."

"True."

"I'm leaving." Shane strode away before stopping at the door and turning toward him. "I'll see you later."

Ilya smiled. "Yes, you will."

Wyatt was drinking a beer with Ilya in a bar in Anaheim when he had an idea. An idea to get Ilya and Hollander together. Subtly. It was no secret that his team's plans until now had all been absolutely horrible. Ilya had not let anyone on their team forget about the locker incident, which is what they now called it.

He hadn't said what actually happened between him and Hollander during the time they were alone, but judging from how Ilya behaved, whatever happened can't have been too interesting. If Wyatt had to guess, Hollander probably just sat around and waited till Luca finally opened the door.

Exactly why Wyatt needed a better plan. One that preferably involved the two of them talking. He spotted Hollander sitting alone at the end of the other end of the bar. The place was bright, sunlight streaming through the windows with not a lot of people here during this time of day, so he was hard to miss.

It truly would be a waste to let this opportunity slip by. Hollander was usually swarmed by his team, but they weren't at the All-Star game, so he was able to drag Ilya along with him to sit next to Hollander under the guise of being nice. He did look pretty lonely, after all. Even without ulterior motives Wyatt may have sat down next to him anyway.

Hollander was sitting at a table for four, and after Hollander confirmed they could join him at his table, Wyatt expertly pushed Ilya toward the seat opposite Hollander's and then sat down next to Ilya himself.

Wyatt tried to strike up some kind of conversation. Anything to just get the three to talk. Yes, the weather was nice. Sure, they were looking forward to the All-Star game. Of course, it was stupid that Kent was there.

Once he thought the conversation flowed pretty steadily even without him talking, he downed the rest of his beer and got up. "Hey, I'm gonna get myself something new to drink? You guys want something?"

"I'll take a beer, thanks." Hollander said.

"I'm good." Ilya raised his still half-full drink.

And if Wyatt took a few detours on his way to the bartender, absolutely no one had to know. The table had been far enough away from the bar that Ilya definitely shouldn't see him mindlessly walking around. Was it believable that it took thirty minutes to get new drinks? Absolutely not, but he was hoping the two would simply forget the time.

When he finally came back, he saw Hollander laughing at something Ilya said. Perhaps Wyatt was delusional, but he was pretty sure the two of them were sitting a little too close to just be friends. They seemed so entranced in each other that Wyatt really didn't want to break the moment. Unfortunately, he knew it would be way too suspicious if he just never came back, so he would have to reappear eventually, and the chance of Ilya figuring out something was weird got exponentially higher the more time passed.

"Here you go." Wyatt deposited the two beers on the table.

"Thank you." Hollander said, before glancing at his phone and smiling.

"Anything interesting?" Ilya asked.

"No, nothing. Don't worry about it."

"So you always smile like an idiot when you look at your phone?" Ilya said.

Jesus, Ilya. What a way to talk to your crush. Wyatt knew the guy's love language was probably being an asshole, but how the hell was Hollander supposed to know that?

Though Hollander didn't seem to be too put off by the comment. He took a sip from his beer before simply saying: "Not always, no."

Ilya's mouth formed into a thin line. "Got a text from someone special?"

"You have a suspicion?" Hollander asked, now grinning.

The scene was weird. Really weird. Usually Wyatt was used to Ilya's teasing pissing off everyone around him. Right now, it looked like Ilya was actually getting a taste of his own medicine. Which was especially unbelievable if Wyatt considered that the teasing was coming from Shane Hollander.

"Rose."

The single word from Ilya threw Wyatt off a little. He didn't quite understand what Ilya meant by that. What was the context again?

Not until Hollander continued, "I did not get a text from Rose."

Right. Rose. Rose Landry. The movie star. They were talking about why Hollander was smiling at his phone. And Ilya was getting pissed off thinking Hollander was smiling at a text from Rose Landry.

Wyatt had to pull himself together not to start laughing on the spot. There was only one conclusion. Ilya was jealous. Jealous of Hollander's ex-girlfriend. The one he'd been in a relationship with years ago for maybe a few months at most — Wyatt didn't pay too much attention to all the gossip.

This was absolutely glorious. Not only did Ilya not make fun of Wyatt as soon as he came back, but he even got to see his team captain jealous.

Hollander seemed to find the situation just as funny as him, though he actually dared to laugh.

Ilya hummed, while still glaring daggers at Hollander's phone. God, he looked like an angry puppy when he was jealous. Wyatt mourned not being able to take a picture.

"No one texted me." Hollander held up his phone and turned it around to show absolutely no notifications.

A thousand questions ran through Wyatt's head. Did Hollander know that Ilya was jealous? Why else would he act this way? If Hollander knew Ilya was jealous, did that mean he knew of Ilya's feelings for him? Wouldn't he do something about those feelings then, considering they both felt the same way?

None of those questions were answered. Ilya just slumped against his seat. "So you do just smile like an idiot all the time. Got it."

Hollander was still smiling despite the insult. "I guess I do."

Ilya just chuckled.

Huh. The two really did seem to get along well. If Wyatt didn't know better, he'd think they were actually in a relationship already.

"You wanna know what I was smiling at earlier?" Shane was running a hand through Ilya's hair. Ilya had invited Shane to his hotel room after dinner, where they were now spending their time cuddling in bed.

"What?" Ilya turned his head toward Shane. "Don't say Rose."

Shane laughed. "You're so cute when you're jealous—"

"I'm not jealous."

"Sure." Shane gave him a short kiss. "It wasn't Rose."

"Okay. So what was it?" Ilya was probably still glaring at Shane. Probably not helpful if he wanted to convince him that he wasn't jealous.

"How long was Hayes gone?"

Ilya's irritation was replaced by confusion. "I don't know? A few minutes? He just got drinks."

Shane was now fully grinning. Ilya felt like a bit of an idiot; he obviously missed something.

"He was gone for half an hour."

"It took half an hour for him to get drinks? Why—"

Suddenly, Ilya buried his face in Shane's chest. Of course, how could he not have noticed? The whole thing was such an obvious ploy to get Shane and Ilya together. Ilya had just been so consumed with wanting to go to Shane himself that he didn't even see an issue when Wyatt brought it up. Sue him for not wanting his fiancé to be lonely.

Ilya could feel the way Shane was quietly chuckling. "I checked my phone to see the time and found it funny how long he was away."

"Do you not have really expensive watch?" Ilya turned his gaze back to Shane to glare at him.

"Thought it might be too obvious that I noticed the time if I checked my watch."

"Wyatt wouldn't have noticed." Ilya let his head fall back onto Shane's chest.

"I don't know." Shane chuckled. "I've heard he's pretty observant."

The next day — when Ilya saw Wyatt again — he didn't even give him any shit for his antics. Wyatt deserved it for actually being kind of subtle.

Ilya got ready to film a 'promotional video', as Harris had called it, for the team. He would've been glad to know absolutely anything about said video, but Harris had been set on it being a surprise. All he told him was to dress casual and show up in two hours. A little more time to prepare also might have been nice.

When he arrived at the agreed upon location, the last thing he would've expected was Shane standing there. Shane, who was supposed to be on in Montreal right now. They shook hands a little stiltedly — Harris was there watching, after all.

"Did you drive here?" Ilya asked.

"Yeah, got a call from Harris asking if I could spontaneously get here to film a video. Had an off-day, so I thought I could come over."

"Thanks for that, by the way." Harris said. "I didn't expect you to actually say yes considering how long the drive is and how busy you are."

"No problem, I like to spend time in Ottawa anyway." Shane looked at Ilya, who suppressed a smile.

"Okay, so the following idea might sound a little stupid to you, but I thought we'd make a YouTube video about the two of you answering commonly asked questions you." Harris brought forward a stack of little cards.

"You asked Shane Hollander to drive two hours just for that?" Ilya had to ask. It was absolutely ridiculous. Maybe the team could've excused making a video like this if it had been two of their own players, but someone from a whole other team?

"Well, yeah. You two are like the most interesting pairing. And I also thought it might be good for your charity. I'm sorry. I know this is a little absurd." Harris said.

Shane turned to Harris. "Don't worry, it's totally fine. Like I said, I like Ottawa, and I agree, a video showing us together would be good for the charity."

Ilya just shrugged. "If you say so." He wouldn't genuinely complain about seeing Shane. Especially since that meant Shane could probably come back to his house once their were done — even if just for a few hours.

The filming set was pretty much already set up completely. It wasn't much: a simple camera set in front of a large sofa with a little table in front of it. Harris made Ilya and Shane sit next to each other, both on either sides of the table, on which the little cards that Harris had brought out earlier sat.

Any truly professional video they wanted to make would've taken a lot more people and a lot more prep, but of course, this was probably enough for another one of his teams plans to get him and Shane together. Because that was definitely what this was. There was no other explanation.

Harris moved behind the camera. "Alright, so I want you two to take turns taking one of the cards and reading the questions on there. Obviously while answering the questions. If there's anything you don't feel comfortable with, then we can skip it."

Great. If Ilya had to guess, these questions were probably ninety percent about his and Shane's relationship off the ice.

"Ilya, you can start." Harris said.

He took one of the cards and read out loud. "Are Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov actually friends?"

"Yes, we are." Shane took the initiative to answer. "We connected when Ilya moved to Ottawa and—"

"Such a boring answer. We have told this story before. No need to repeat. Simple answer: I am irresistible, and Shane begged me to be his friend. Was practically charity to say yes."

"Fucking asshole." Shane glared at him. "Sorry, that probably wasn't appropriate for the video."

"It's fine." Harris was trying to smother his laughter quietly. "I can cut out anything bad later. Just continue with the next question."

Shane took a card. "How much time do Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov spend outside of hockey."

"Not a lot." Ilya said. "I'm usually with his mom."

Shane just stared ahead for a while, before slowly turning to face Ilya. "What the fuck is wrong with you." He quickly looked back to Harris, who had a hand over his mouth — probably to hide his grin. "Sorry."

"Is true, no?"

Shane didn't look back toward him, now facing completely straight. "There isn't too much time we can spend together since we're both busy hockey players. My parents live in Ottawa, so Ilya can obviously visit them more often to talk about our charity."

Ilya hadn't been expecting Shane to actually address his comment. He could only laugh at how seriously Shane took it.

"How about you go read the next question." Shane, while still not gracing him a look, shoved him slightly.

"Yes, yes." Ilya cleared his throat. "Are Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov married?"

"There's no way your card says that," Shane said, moving leaning toward Ilya to check. Once he realized that Ilya had in fact been reading what was on the card, Shane sat up straight again, trying to play off how he just invaded Ilya's personal space.

"We're not married yet, but maybe in the future." Ilya directed a wink at the camera. "Anyone would like to marry me. I'm sure I can convince even Shane Hollander, if I got on one knee."

"Who says I wouldn't be the one to propose."

Shane was so predictable, falling right into Ilya's trap. "Ah. So you'd kneel down for me? Even better."

"Perhaps I would." Shane grinned at him. "And you'd say yes because I'm irresistible."

Ilya laughed. Looking back, he did lay the foundation for that one perfectly. "Maybe."

Shane continued with the next question. "How many shots would it take Shane Hollander to—" He paused, and seemed to quietly reread his card over and over again.

"What is it?" This time Ilya leaned toward him and promptly fell back onto the couch laughing when he read the question.

"So? How many shots would it take for you to sleep with me?" Ilya said once he managed to calm down.

"Who the fuck wrote these questions?" Shane mumbled, hiding his head in his hands.

"Right. So zero, yes?" Ilya grinned.

Shane scowled. "Fuck off. Ten. At least. However many it takes for me to be blackout drunk."

The look Ilya gave him carried the word that he didn't say out loud. Liar.

The next few questions were a little more tame. All easily answered with Shane's boring responses. Questions like: Where did they first meet? When did they start the Irina Foundation? How often do they play against each other in a year?

Until Ilya read, "Do Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander have a crush on each other?"

"What?" Shane whipped his head around, probably having forgotten about the weird questions after having answered a few normal ones. "No."

"Unfortunate. Guess I will have to sit in my unrequited feelings forever." Ilya flopped onto the couch, putting a hand over his chest.

"Terribly sorry." Shane gave him a blank look.

Shane took the last card out of the little box. "Between Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, which one tops?"

Ilya laughed, surprised Shane even read the full question. "I prefer to sleep on the top bunk. So Shane will have to take the bottom one if we ever sleep in the same bunk bed."

"The bottom one is more comfortable anyway. Easier to get up from." Shane slapped the card onto the table with a little too much strength.

"Thank you, guys." Harris quickly wrapped up, looking a little scared of Shane now. "Sorry again for wasting your time, Shane. You two are free to leave now."

Shane deflated a little. "It's fine."

Ilya let Shane walk out before him, before turning to Harris. "Interesting questions. Who wrote them? You?"

"No! It was… the internet. Commonly asked questions, like I said."

Ilya hummed, said "okay," and promptly turned to leave.

Once outside, he saw Shane sitting in his car. Ilya got into the passenger seat.

"You're not driving back with me. Your car is still here." Shane said.

"Then why have you not left yet?"

"Don't know. Wanted to see you." Shane looked straight ahead.

"Okay. I will get out of this car and into mine. Once we are both home, I will prove to you that you do not need a single shot to sleep with me."

"Fine. Now get out."

Operation: Hollanov

Troy: Added Harris, since I thought he deserved to be in the groupchat as well

Harris: Why did I say yes to making that video again?

Harris: Shane looked like he wanted to kill me.

Bood: Couldn't have been too bad if you got out of there alive

LaPointe: Yeah, exactly. Besides, he didn't even seem that upset in the video

Harris: I mean, he was really nice about it. But still

LaPointe: well some of us have had it much worse… looking at Dykstra here

Dykstra: Oh shut up

Wyatt: Maybe you guys should learn the art of being subtle. Ilya wouldn't bother you then.

Dykstra: Right, as if you would know.

Wyatt: Matter of fact, I would.

LaPointe: You haven't even done anything???

Wyatt: I have.

LaPointe: when?

Wyatt: All-Star weekend

Dykstra: and you didn't tell us?

Wyatt: there wasn't really a need to. They just talked for like half an hour.

Wyatt: Oh and Ilya got madly jealous

Troy: Wait Ilya got jealous???

Dykstra: What do you mean nothing happened? Ilya getting jealous is definitely something

Wyatt: Didn't seem like that much of a deal back then. We all knew that Ilya has feelings for him, and obviously the guy would be jealous.

Troy: Yeah, sure, whatever.

Luca: So is no one going to comment on how Ilya confirmed he's a top?

Wyatt: Maybe he was really talking about bunk beds…

Troy: You don't seriously believe that

Wyatt: You're right, I don't

Conversations in the locker room after practice usually weren't too interesting. Just random thoughts thrown around, if there was anything at all.

Today, the Centaurs seemed to make it their mission to try and get Luca to confess his love to someone. If Ilya weren't sure this was actually targeted at him and not Luca, he would've been disappointed about not having noticed his rookie being in love. But Luca, honesty written across his face, gave it away. The way Luca's eyes kept flicking to Ilya was just too obvious.

"I swear she definitely likes you back."

"Yeah, you don't have to worry at all."

"Look. Even if she didn't, the worst she can say is no."

Ilya hated that piece of advice. If he really did still have to confess to Shane, that line definitely wouldn't have helped.

"Come on, Luca. Just admit you love her. Maybe go on a nice date first and then just say it."

"Preferably somewhere private. Who knows where the conversation might lead…"

"Nope." Ilya finally decided to intervene. "Luca don't listen to them. You're way too young for that."

"A relationship?" Luca replied.

"Yes. That. And… the rest." Ilya gestured with his hand.

"You were way younger when you started—"

"Ah. No." Ilya interrupted Luca. "Doesn't count. You are still a baby. This conversation is too inappropriate. Talk about something else." He directed that last statement at the rest of the team.

"You are absolutely ridiculous, dude." Wyatt laughed.

"Alright, then. Here's our book for the month." Troy came up to him and dropped a book into his hand.

"A book? I thought we were past books? I did not read the last book I got. I will not read this." Ilya turned the book around to see a cartoonish drawing of two men who obviously played hockey on the cover. "What even is this about?"

"You have to read it." Troy said. "It's our new thing. The whole team reads a book every month. For bonding. This one is about two hockey players who fall in love with each other."

Ilya stared at him. "Did you get injured during the game? Do you need doctor? I don't think you are making any sense."

"Fuck off. Just read it. We're all in this together. Bonding!"

"There is no way you read."

"Hey! The hell is that supposed to mean."

"You know what it means." Ilya looked around him. "And none of these guys read either."

"I read comic books!" Wyatt said.

Ilya flipped through the pages in his book. "This is not a comic book."

"Right." Wyatt went back to sorting his bag even though Ilya saw that it was completely packed five minutes ago.

"How about you worry about finding love first before recommending me a romance book?" Ilya turned back to Troy.

Troy took a step back. "Leave me alone! I'm finding love, alright."

"Sure."

"Whatever." Troy turned around. "You should still read it. Maybe improve your literacy."

"If you say so." Ilya shoved the book into his bag.

These guys were coming up with increasingly stupid ways to try and get Shane and him together. Ilya might have to consider just putting both them and him out of their misery.

Wyatt was reading one of his books in a small cafe in Montreal. One where you wouldn't expect a rich hockey player to be sitting. It was cozy, decorated with vines along the walls and small rainbow flags hanging around everywhere. His sister had recommended the café to him, and she definitely knew what she was talking about because the coffee was heavenly.

He had just ordered a new cup of coffee when he saw J.J. walk in the front door. It was clear from the way he immediately went to where Wyatt was sitting that he must've seen him through the window.

"Hey man, what are you doing in a place like this?" J.J. looked around a little sceptically.

"What's wrong with this place?" Wyatt asked. He had a feeling J.J. was talking about the rainbow flags specifically. The league was known for not being particularly LGBTQ friendly, but he had hoped J.J. would at least be supportive, considering how he knew one of his best friends was into men.

"Nothing! Just— unexpected, I guess."

"Okay." Wyatt took a sip from his coffee. "You want to sit down?"

"Right, yes, of course."

"It's good to see you." Wyatt opened the conversation.

"Yeah, same here. Excited to play against you guys!" J.J. looked like he was finally relaxing in his seat. "Well… apart from Rozanov."

Wyatt cracked a smile. "I know Ilya is a dick, but come on, he's not that bad."

"Eh, I don't know about that. I guess you know him better than me, but from my side he seems that bad."

"You should get to know him better then. I promise he's actually pretty nice."

"Seriously? Are you fucking with me?" J.J. said.

"Yeah, seriously. I mean, do you think Hollander's an idiot?"

"What?" J.J. sat up straight as if he was struck by lightning. "What do you mean by that?"

Wyatt blanched. "Shit. I didn't want to bring it up. Sorry."

"Genuinely, Wyatt. What are you talking about?"

Wyatt looked around; when he saw no one was paying attention to him leaned closer to J.J. and whispered, "I kind of overheard you talking about Hollander's… crush on Ilya?"

"What the fuck?"

Wyatt reeled back, not expecting J.J. to answer so loudly.

"Sorry, sorry, just…" J.J. was visibly panicking now. "When did you hear that? No one was supposed to know."

"On the phone. When you called me after the plane crash."

"Fuck. Fuck, this is bad."

"Look, it's not that big of a deal alright?" Wyatt tried to placate him.

"No seriously, I told Shane I wouldn't tell anyone and now you know. Did you tell anyone else?"

Wyatt suddenly felt bad about telling the rest of his team. He had his reasons back then, but he should've also known that it wasn't his secret to tell. Even if he had been very vague about it.

"Don't freak out about this, but my whole team kinda… knows?" As soon as Wyatt said it, he realized just how fucked up it was. His sister would've hit him if she knew.

"Oh my god. Seriously? Even Rozanov?" J.J. looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack.

"Well, no. He's like the only one that doesn't."

J.J. let out a sigh. "Well that's something, I guess…"

"Look, I'm sorry I told them, but can I explain to you why I did?" Wyatt knew from a logical standpoint that there really wasn't any valid excuse. But he still wanted to make J.J. understand that nobody on their team would tell anyone.

J.J. just stared at him.

Wyatt continued. "Promise me you won't tell anyone about what I tell you, alright? It'll probably make you feel better if you know."

"Sure, whatever. I won't tell anyone. Though I don't really know what could possibly make me feel better right now."

"I only told the team because we've been trying to get Ilya and Hollander together for months now." Wyatt was whispering again.

"I'm sorry?"

"Okay, funny story. We basically figured out Ilya has this huge crush on Hollander, and then we noticed Hollander didn't like him back, so we made all kinds of plans to get Hollander to like him. After I heard from you that Hollander does like him back we started to try and actually get them to confess to each other." Wyatt really should've taken J.J. somewhere else for this conversation. He probably looked really suspicious, talking in a hushed voice.

"Huh?"

Wyatt leaned back in his seat, glad he didn't have to talk so close to J.J.'s face anymore, and crossed his arms. "I feel like I was pretty clear."

"I think I heard wrong."

"I'm pretty sure you heard right."

"That's funny because I heard—" Now J.J. was the one leaning forward to Wyatt. "That Ilya fucking Rozanov has feelings for my team captain?"

"Yup."

"No."

"What do you mean, no? Yes."

"Uh, no."

"Dude." Wyatt said.

"Sorry, it's just… a little unbelievable."

"Yeah, well, so is your guy liking him back, but you know… shit happens."

"Wait so from what I'm hearing…" J.J. suddenly sat up. "It's actually your fault my team captain is miserable."

"I wouldn't say it like that…"

"I would! How could you make him fall for…" J.J. mumbled the name, "Rozanov."

"Look. We're trying to make them both happy by getting them together. It's for a good cause."

"Absolutely not."

"What?"

"Sorry to say this, but your guy is a fucking asshole. I don't want Shane dating someone like that." J.J. said.

Wyatt drank a sip from his coffee to keep his irritation at bay. "I'm going to tell you a few things about this asshole, and afterwards you will realize why he would be a great boyfriend, alright?"

"You can fucking try." J.J. leaned back and nodded for him to continue.

Wyatt looked around again. Still there was no one paying attention. Realistically, even if there was someone listening, they probably wouldn't go around telling anyone. This café was clearly very friendly toward queer people, and so was everyone here.

Nevertheless, one could never be too careful. So Wyatt spent the next few minutes whispering about everything Ilya had done for Hollander. He especially highlighted how Ilya moved all the way from Boston to a shit team like Ottawa, just to be closer to the guy he had feelings for.

Once Wyatt was done, J.J. seemed to crumple on his chair. "And you really think it was all for him? I mean, was there really no other reason?"

"Can you give me a better explanation why he moved to Ottawa. You must've wondered."

"Yeah… everyone wondered."

"My explanation makes the most sense, if you also take everything else into account."

J.J. ran a hand over his face. "Hate to say it, but it actually does. Fuck."

"Great. So can we stop calling him an asshole now?"

"I don't know, man. He's still kind of an asshole. But I guess he would actually be pretty good for Shane."

"Fair enough. I'll take it. Also, just wanted to say again that I'm really sorry about telling my team what I heard over the phone. I tried not to give any detail where I got the information from, but I did make it very clear that what I said was very likely true. I shouldn't have said anything."

J.J. shrugged. "Yeah, you shouldn't have, but I think maybe Shane would understand if he knew how you were trying to help him. Besides, it really does seem like none of you would tell anyone."

"Definitely not. Everything stays strictly within the team. So you're willing to admit now that we're helping?"

"I guess so. I still hate the guy, don't get me wrong, but I do want to see my captain happy, and it seems like your guys' plan might help with that."

"Wanna join?" Wyatt asked.

"What? How?"

"I mean, everyone in on the plan plays in Ottawa. We only have access to Ilya. You're the only one that could convince Hollander to do something."

"That does make sense…" J.J. groaned. "I can't believe I'm doing this, but fine. Do you have anything in mind?"

"I was thinking… after the game, we could convince the two to come to the club with us."

"Shane never agrees to go to clubs."

"Ilya's the same—"

"Wait seriously?"

Wyatt glared at him. "So when I told you Ilya completely stopped going out to party were you listening or not?"

"Of course I was, but… shit, he really doesn't go out?"

"No! I told you!" Wyatt looked at the ceiling, as if the pink LED lights that were currently turning purple could help him.

"Right. Sorry. It's just… kind of difficult to get a new version of someone into your head."

"Yeah right, fine. Anyway as I was saying: Ilya never goes out either. But I believe if we tell both of them that the other will show up, they might go as well."

"Could be worth a shot." J.J. nodded.

"So we have a plan?"

"Yeah."

Good. Because Wyatt was really bored of trying to conserve the last bit of his coffee to try and pretend he had any reason to still stay in the café. He drank the last tiny sip before finally getting the check.

Montreal beat them that night, just barely. It had been close, but in the end, Shane managed to score the winning goal for his team. He'd been grinning at Ilya when he did so. Ilya could only shake his head and try not to smile. It would look really fucking stupid if he smiled about a loss.

The mood in the locker room wasn't all too bad. Most of the guys were used to losing games, and this one had at least been fun. It was sort of bittersweet.

"We're all going to a club tonight. Celebrate our loss or something." Wyatt declared loudly.

"That makes no sense." Dykstra said.

Wyatt shrugged in response. "No, it doesn't, but who cares." He turned toward Ilya. "You coming too?"

"No, I'm busy." Maybe if the team won, Ilya could have been tempted to go out and celebrate. But since they didn't, there was no reason he shouldn't be spending his night with Shane.

"You sure? You really should come. I heard Hollander will be there as well." Wyatt said.

Hollander will be there as well, huh? At the random club which has not been specified yet, sure. That makes total sense. Ilya wasn't sure what made Wyatt so confident that he could convince Shane to go to a club, but he guessed if he said it so boldly, it must actually be true. Another one of those plans to get them together then, fun.

Ilya did end up agreeing to go to a club. But only because he was sure Shane would be convinced to go, and after a quick text, it was confirmed Boiziau had convinced him to come, by saying Ilya would be there.

So the boys had somehow gotten Boiziau on their side as well.

Theoretically, both him and Shane could've blown their teams off. They could've just not shown up, and spent their time together instead. But Ilya actually did want to go out with his team, and this was probably the one opportunity he'd get where Shane would also be there.

The night proved to be really fun. It was only his team, Shane, and Boiziau, who actually did not annoy him as much as usual. No further Montreal team, and especially no Pike. Ilya could definitely live with that.

Ilya honestly wasn't quite sure which number of drinks he was on. He'd probably had too many, but it was just so fun to let loose for once. He even allowed himself to be a little flirty with Shane, who sometimes even reciprocated.

"Shane, your freckles are so pretty. Did you know that?" Ilya furrowed his brows, confused why Shane wouldn't let him touch his pretty face.

"Yes. I did. Stop that." Shane pushed his hands away.

"Why? You're so beautiful."

Shane was blushing, still trying to create distance between Ilya and him.

Ilya really didn't understand. "Do you not love me anymore? Why do you keep pushing me away?"

"Ilya, please." Shane leaned close to his ear and whispered, "we're in public."

The words weren't quite computing in Ilya's head. All he knew was that Shane was close to him, and he wanted to be even closer. He tried leaning toward him, only to have someone pulling him away. When he looked back to see just who decided it was a good idea to separate him from Shane, he saw it was Wyatt.

"Alright, I think you've had enough."

Enough of what? Shane? "I could never have enough of Shane." Ilya pouted.

"Hey, Shane."

Ilya turned around to see who was talking to his fiancé. It was Boiziau; of course it was. The guy spent way too much time with Shane for Ilya's liking. He glared at him from across the table they were sitting at.

"You probably want to leave anyway. I know you don't do long nights, so do you maybe want to make sure Rozanov gets back safely?" J.J. said.

"Yeah, absolutely." Shane got up. "Come on, Ilya, lets go."

Ilya took the hand that Shane reached out to him. He had a stupid grin on his face from finally being able to touch Shane properly.

Shane practically dragged him toward his car. Ilya had no problems with that. Anything that made Shane continue touching him. He tried going in for a kiss, but Shane pushed him away. Rude. The entire night, Shane pushed away every single one of Ilya's advances.

"You're drunk. Sleep." Shane said, as soon as they home.

Ilya complained, but as soon as he laid down, his exhaustion took over.

The next morning, Ilya woke up with a massive headache. He groaned, blinking rapidly and looking around to try and figure out where he was.

"How do you feel?"

Ilya finally got his eyes open enough to see Shane. "Like shit."

"Do you remember what happened last night?"

"Yes."

Shane hummed, bringing him a glass of water. "Drink."

Ilya took it gratefully. The headache subsided a little bit, but it was still pretty bad. Getting old was such a pain. He used to be able to drink much more than he did last night, and still be energetic the next day.

"I was thinking…" Ilya said.

"Yeah?"

"Maybe we could reveal our relationship to my team… and Boiziau too, I guess." That last addition wasn't something he had been thinking of before last night, but he truly did a good job not pissing of Ilya last night, so he could be added to the list.

"Like— now?"

"Not right this moment. But soon."

"Why?" Shane sat down on the bed next to him.

"All of them know about us. My teammates keep coming up with stupid plans. Boiziau will now also start coming up with stupid plans. They were all supportive last night. They haven't told anyone about us. I don't think it would be too bad."

"I—" Shane looked away. "I've been thinking about it too, actually."

"You have?" Ilya replied, hopeful.

"Yeah. I noticed it too last night. It was fun. We were kind of open and no one cared. I wished I could be more open with you."

"You can." Ilya whispered.

Shane looked him in the eyes. They gazed at each other for a while, before Shane broke the silence. "Okay. Lets tell them."

Ilya sat up straight, headache forced into the back of his mind. "Really?"

"Yes. I want them to know. Really know. J.J., he— this is a little ridiculous." Shane laughed.

"What?"

"He asked whether I'd want to go to his house later, and he apparently also invited your entire team. I'm assuming they're still trying to get us together. Commendable of them to spend their one day of rest on us. I was thinking we could go as a couple?"

"Today?"

"Yes? Are you not ready? I just assumed—"

"No. Shane. I'm ready. I didn't expect you to be okay with it so quickly."

Shane turned away slightly. "Right. I'm sorry for taking so long. I know I'm not as brave as you."

"No. Stop." Ilya pulled Shane toward him, forcing him to fully get on the bed. He turned Shane's face around to look at him. "You are brave for doing this now. I love you."

"I love you too. Thank you for being patient with me." Shane kissed him on the head.

Ilya grinned. "Actually, I have an idea."

"What?"

Spending time at J.J.'s house on one of his only days off was really not what he was expecting to do, and it clearly wasn't what any of his teammates had expected to do either.

"Anything for those two idiots, I guess." Troy yawned, clearly still hungover from the other night.

They had decided to get together an hour earlier than they had told Ilya and Hollander to come, so they could discuss their plans a little.

"Okay, so clearly putting them in the same vicinity of each other isn't really working." Dykstra said.

"How do you know that? Maybe it has helped them forward." Luca chimed in.

"Yeah, sure. But we want them to confess to each other, not just move them forward." Dykstra replied.

It was then when the doorbell rung. Fuck, was one of them there already? They were supposed to still have nearly the full hour before either of them came.

J.J. went to answer the door and came back with Shane Hollander in tow.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm a bit early, but it seems like most of you are here already."

"Uh, yeah. No worries. Make yourself comfortable." J.J. gestured to the floor they were all sitting on.

They sat in silence for a while before LaPointe finally broke it. "So… how do you all like the weather?"

Seriously? The weather? Was there no better topic the guy could come up with?

Thankfully, or maybe not, the doorbell rung again. Wyatt couldn't even bring himself to be surprised that Ilya, too, had come early. Just what was it with these two?

He joined them on their little circle on the floor. The constellation truly looked quite strange. Pretty much the entire Ottawa team, along with Shane Hollander and J.J. Boiziau. Anyone walking in on them would question why the fuck those last two were there.

"So did you invite all of us here to sit around and say nothing?" Ilya said after another round of silence.

"Well, no…" Wyatt trailed off, not knowing what to say next. They had wanted to make a plan, but they hadn't really gotten the time to do that.

"Okay, how about this." Ilya propped himself up. "How about we play seven minutes in heaven? As icebreaker?"

Where the hell had the guy learned of all that? He knew Ilya used to sleep around a lot, but he didn't really think he was often indulging in teenage party games like those. Also, weren't they a little old for this shit?

"Sure, why not." Bood said, levelling everyone with a look. A look that conveyed that the suggestion Ilya made was the perfect replacement for whatever plan they could have conjured up.

Kind of smart actually, now that Wyatt thought about it. He wasn't quite sure whether putting Ilya and Hollander in a room together for seven minutes would make them confess, but they sure as hell could try. They just needed to make sure somehow that the two of them got each other.

"Okay, I'll write little strips of paper with our names on them." Dykstra said. "Be back in a minute. Boiziau, help me with where your stuff is?"

"Yeah, sure." J.J. got up.

It really didn't take long before they both came back with a little mug that hoisted a bunch of cut up pieces of paper. Wyatt felt like he was seventeen and stupid again. Why exactly had they agreed to play this game? Right, for the greater good. He could get through this.

"Ilya, come on, you first. You suggested it." Dysktra shoved the cup in Ilya's face.

"Sure." Ilya smiled, a little too wide. "Ah. Shane Hollander." He turned around the paper, showing everyone that that was in fact the name sprawled on top.

"So where do we go?"Ilya directed the question at J.J., but it was Hollander that answered.

"J.J., Your guest bedroom should be fine, right?"

"Yeah, sure. You know the way." J.J. said.

The two of them both got up, and Hollander lead Ilya upstairs.

As soon as they were gone, Troy started talking. "All those strips have the same name, don't they?"

"Sure do." Dykstra looked proud of himself.

"My teammates are so predictable. No wonder we lose so often." Ilya said.

"Not true. You guys have been winning a lot lately." Shane smiled.

"Yes, because I'm on their team. Otherwise they would be doomed."

Shane shook his head. "Whatever you say."

"Now stop talking. I have seven minutes to mess you up." Ilya turned his mouth toward Shane's neck, simultaneously pulling his hair.

"As if you need that long."

Ilya pulled back and smiled. "You're right, I don't. But I still want to enjoy my time."

"Will anyone go up to get them, or do we just yell?" Troy asked.

"Does anyone want to go up there to get them?" Luca looked around the group.

"I think yelling is the better option." Bood said.

"No need to yell." The voice came from upstairs, and was unmistakeably Ilya's. It was hard not to recognize that Russian accent. "We can keep track of time."

Once he came into view, Wyatt thought he might just pass out on the spot. Ilya himself wasn't really the problem. He looked quite normal. What didn't look normal was Shane Hollander, whose hand was intertwined with Ilya's. Maybe Wyatt could've looked past the hand holding, but what he couldn't look past was how Hollander looked — for a lack of a better word — debauched.

The guy was always put together perfectly; not a hair out of place. Now, his hair was completely messed up, his shirt looked crumpled, and his lip was very obviously bruised.

Ilya laughed at their shellshocked faces. "What? This is what game is about, no? You put us in the same room for seven minutes to fuck. I fuck him, and you're surprised?"

Dykstra wheezed. "You… what?"

"Come on. You wrote the names on the paper. It's sort of your fault." Ilya said.

"Hey! I couldn't choose which one you picked."

"So I am supposed to believe you did not write the same name on every piece?" Ilya sat back down, pulling Hollander down next to him, who seemed content being dragged around by him.

Seriously, how did that happen in seven minutes?

"How do you—"

"You guys are not as subtle as you think." Ilya sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bood said.

"For the last few months, you have been trying to get the two of us into a relationship." Ilya stated, matter of factly.

The room erupted into a bit of silent chaos. Some just stared blankly. Some couldn't manage to close their mouth. Others started randomly coughing. Wyatt joined the people that chuckled awkwardly.

"You… knew?" Luca was the first one to speak.

"Yes. I knew. You first thought he," Ilya nudged Hollander, who swatted his arm away, "didn't like me. So you tried to convince him that I am amazing. Of course that was not very difficult because he was already madly in love with me, but you did not know that."

"Wait, what?" Bood interjected. "Are you bullshitting, or is this real."

"He's actually telling the truth." Hollander evidently knew everyone would believe him over Ilya.

"Holy shit." Dykstra breathed out.

"Uhm, does that mean none of what we did actually helped?" Troy asked.

Ilya hummed, clearly pretending like he is deeply in thought, before stating, "No. You did not help."

"Fuck." Troy said.

"Yes. Anyway. After you all were convinced Shane does like me, you tried to get us together." Ilya continued.

"Did that at least work?" Luca asked.

"No."

"So what, you gonna tell us he was already your boyfriend the entire time?" Wyatt groaned.

"Actually, by then he was already my fiancé."

"Excuse me?" J.J. aggressively turned toward them.

Everyone else had varying degrees of shock painted on their face.

"Yeah, so I'm gonna need Hollander to confirm that one as well, or I'm not believing it." Bood said.

Hollander sighed. "It's true. I proposed after your guys' plane nearly crashed."

"You proposed?" Wyatt wanted to take it back pretty much as soon as he said it, but his mouth was a little too fast for his brain. "Sorry, that was a stupid comment. Ignore that."

"Why didn't you tell me?" J.J. seemed to be the only one in the room that was actually upset.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, it's just— I was scared."

"Did anyone else know?"

"Hayden did. He figured it out himself"

"How long?"

"A few years?"

"What the fuck." J.J. got visibly angry now, which Wyatt took as his cue to drag him away from the conversation and talk to him a little.

"Stop it." Wyatt said, as soon as he was sure no one else could hear them.

"Stop what?"

"Being a dick."

"I'm not— Shane is my best friend. He kept this from me for years! He lied to me for years! I'm allowed to feel upset about that." J.J. argued.

"You are, but he was justified in feeling scared to tell you. Frankly, I don't think you would've supported him properly if he had told you about his relationship earlier."

"What? The fuck are you talking about? Of course I would've!"

"Then tell me why I spent all that time in the café having to convince you Ilya is a good person."

J.J. reeled back. "I— It's not that… I'm just… upset he lied to me. He told Hayden!"

"He said Hayden figured it out himself. You can't fault him too much for that. I get that you're upset, but I want you to keep in mind that this was probably an incredibly difficult step for him to make. He's feeling vulnerable enough already. This is not the time to get mad at him."

J.J. leaned against a wall, and just stared ahead in silence. It took him a few minutes to finally start speaking again. "Fuck. Alright. Fine. I guess you're right."

"Lets go back to the others." Wyatt guided the both of them back.

"Sorry, Shane for… how I reacted." J.J. grimaced. "Are you happy?"

Hollander sighed. "Yeah, I am."

"Okay, then I'm glad."

"Thank you."

Wyatt looked around a bit, and, seeing that no one was panicking too much anymore, decided to ask the question that had been plaguing him. "So what the actual fuck was all that, Ilya?"

"What?" Ilya dared to smile innocently.

"That!" Wyatt waved. "Firstly, showing up here an hour early. How did you know we would be here?"

"Lucky guess. I told you. You're predictable."

Wyatt glared at him. "And everything after? You planned the game?"

"Of course." Ilya said. "You made so many plans to get us together. I thought is only fair if I make one too."

"Uh huh. And that plan was…?"

"I knew you'd say yes to the game since you want us together so bad. I knew someone would get the genius idea to write down only one name on the papers. And maybe I also wanted to fuck Shane."

"Did that have to happen in my guest bed, by the way?" J.J. looked pained.

"We left your bed alone—" Hollander started, before Ilya interrupted.

"You think I need a bed?"

"Okay, yep. Nearly forgot you're an asshole. Thanks for confirming once again. Will be deep cleaning that guest bedroom anyway."

Ilya laughed, pulling Hollander closer to him, who smiled at the contact. "Whatever you want."

Wyatt did think they had looked like they were a couple at the All-Star games. He supposed he should've trusted his gut feeling back then.

Chapter End Notes

I really debated quite a lot whether I actually wanted to include J.J. into the story since he’s such an Ilya hater, but I did decide to go for it in the end. Wanted to keep his canon personality anyway though, so I needed someone to talk sense into him.