Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Category:

F/F

Fandom:

Heated Rivalry (TV)

Relationships:

Rose Landry/Svetlana Vetrova, Shane Hollander & Rose Landry, Ilya Rozanov & Svetlana Vetrova

Characters:

Rose Landry, Svetlana Vetrova, Shane Hollander, Ilya Rozanov - mentioned

Additional Tags:

Soul Bond, Mild Hurt/Comfort, The Inherent Lack Of Choice in Soulbonds, Good Friend Rose Landry, POV Rose Landry, Podfic Available

Language:

English

Series:

Part 6 of [challenge] Heated Rivalry Febuwhump 2026

Collections:

febuwhump 2026

Stats:

Published: 2026-02-06 Words: 1,394 Chapters: 1/1

red string of fate

Summary

The first time Rose sees Svetlana Vetrova, she doesn’t even get to talk to her, and it still steals her breath.

---

In which destiny meddles and Rose wishes it didn’t.

Notes

Day six: Soul Bond.

I hope you enjoy!

The first time Rose sees Svetlana Vetrova, she doesn’t even get to talk to her, and it still steals her breath.

She’s agreed to accompany Shane to a function – a sponsor dinner for the MLH, where the top of the league rub shoulders with the rich people funding them. Shane had been understandably unenthused to go alone, and while it’s far from Rose’s ideal way to spend the evening, she’s pretty good at it. The chance to see Shane in the flesh had also worked in her favour.

It’s him who points Vetrova out to Rose, as he quietly fills her on who’s who; a lot of the players in attendance, like Rozanov, are familiar to her, though Shane also knows spurprisingly many plus-ones.

“Mom always looks them up for me,” he admits sheepishly as they take their seats – as far away from Rozanov and Vetrova as possible, because clearly the organisers want things to stay civil tonight.

“And you didn’t think to share with me?” Rose raises her eyebrows at him, though her gaze drifts back to Vetrova, laughing by Rozanov’s side. It’s hard not to, really, because she’s gorgeous. Breathtaking. Even knowing her name in advance would not have shielded Rose from this, she’s pretty sure.

It’s just a shame they don’t actually get to talk.

The second time Rose sees Vetrova, it’s at a wedding. It’s late in the off-season, for a hockey player, but it’s in Ontario, and Shane actually seems to want to go. Keith Brown has been with Montreal for two seasons now, though he’d bounced around before that including a stint with Boston, so it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that Rozanov is invited.

Vetrova is at his side, radiant and wearing a very short black dress. Rose looks politely.

They’re once again seated as far away from Shane and her as possible, though Rose keeps glancing over until Shane excuses himself to go to the bathroom. She uses the opportunity to get herself another drink from the bar, and is pleasantly surprised when Vetrova sidles up to her.

For a moment, they both lean against the bar as they watch the bartender mix drinks.

“Already abandoning your date?” Vetrova peers at her from the side. The whole room narrows down to her scrutiny at that moment, and Rose’s heart jumps into her throat to match.

“It’s more that I’ve been abandoned.” Rose smiles in thanks as she accepts her drink and turns to face Vetrova. “And – he’s not my date. Please don’t start rumours we’re back together. I’m Rose, by the way.”

“Svetlana.” Svetlana smiles at her, and then nods at the bartender as he slides her drink over to her. “Looks like we’re both on our own, now.” Her lips are very pretty when they wrap around the straw in her drink, distractingly so. Rose takes a sip of her own and lets the burn centre her.

Then, her brain catches up with Svetlana’s words. “Oh, darn – should we be worried about them disappearing at the same time?”

Svetlana snorts, though her face is amused. “I should probably go look. Before we have a scandal on our hands.”

“What a shame,” Rose says.

“Oh.” Svetlana smiles at her, and it’s a promise if Rose has ever seen one. “I don’t think we’ve seen the last of each other, Rose Landry.”

“I hope not.”

Svetlana gives her one last smile, and then disappears in the same direction Shane had disappeared earlier.

In Rose’s chest, her heart does an odd thing. She decides not to think about it.

There are more interesting things to consider, anyway, when Shane returns from his bathroom break with his hair every so slightly askew and a flush on his cheeks that takes a couple of minutes to disappear, mirroring the redness on Rozanov’s cheeks when he follows Svetlana back into the dining hall a minute or so later.

Rose has seen guys fighting, and it sure doesn’t look like that.

Oh, Shane.

Rose likes to think she’s pretty even-tempered. And yet, in the weeks following her outing with Shane, her temper starts fraying. Rumours that they’ve rekindled things are picking up again, and it should be a positive, except that Shane is clearly torn over it – and Rose hasn’t confirmed with him, because she doesn’t actually want to give him a heart-attack, but from everything she’s heard, she wouldn’t be surprised if the guy he is totally not seeing (Ilya fucking Rozanov, because clearly Shane doesn’t do anything by halves) wasn’t overly amused by it. Even if neither of them is out. Even if rumours about Rozanov and Svetlana are also making the rounds again (not that Rose is keeping tabs, because why would she?).

She snaps at people, which she hates, wakes up ridiculously early, like she’s on Shane’s timezone and not back in L.A., is driven by a restless energy she doesn’t know what to do with. It sucks. And so does the nausea that shows up intermittently, and the headaches, and – god, if her schedule hadn’t kept her busy enough that the last sex she’d had had been with Shane, she’d think she was pregnant. Thank god it’s not that, though, because that would be a hassle and a half.

She ignores it as best as she can, which is pretty darned good. She’s in rehearsals for a new film, part of which will be shot on-location in Boston, and she’s pathetically grateful when that aligns with a Metros game against the Raiders. She loves her theatre friends, she really does; but sometimes, she just needs someone not involved in all of it.

And then she gets into Boston and all her symptoms lessen, and Rose thinks, fuck.

She doesn’t have concrete evidence, of course. Is still keyed-up to a ridiculous degree, her body yelling run run run, except there’s no where to run to. But the fact that her annoyance crumbles the moment she steps off her plane? That her headache disappears, that the nausea finally fades? It’s all just pieces in a puzzle, but she suddenly has a clear view of the final picture: she may be in the early stages of a soul bond.

Never mind that she’s pretty sure it’s not Ilya Rozanov who’s her soulmate. Never mind that she isn’t gay, or even bisexual (at least she’d been pretty sure up until now). Never mind that there is probably a different, less cataclysmic explanation. In that moment, she looks at the facts, and knows.

And when she runs into Svetlana on her way to the VIP box and her body just propels her towards the other woman, she isn’t even surprised. Neither is Svetlana, from the looks of it, when she catches Rose’s forearms with her hands.

“I’m sorry,” is the first thing Svetlana says to her since she went to pull Rozanov and Shane apart before their secret could become widespread knowledge at Keith Brown’s wedding four months ago.

Rose looks from Svetlana’s fingers on her skin to her face. Her eyes are beautiful, and her face is set in resigned amusement. Rose understands the feeling well, even if it didn’t echo through the sudden connection between them.

“So am I. This… this isn’t how I wanted this to happen.”

To her surprise, that makes Svetlana smile, and she slides her hands down Rose’s arms until she can grab Rose’s hand with one of her hers while she drops the other.

“But you did want this to happen?”

And Rose truly didn’t consider herself bisexual, but then again, her type so far has mostly appeared to be gay men. Which isn’t the most successful recipe for any relationship, as Rose well knows. “I think I did,” she says after a moment.

Svetlana looks at their joint hands. “This will suck.” She’s smiling when she looks back at Rose, but it’s not like she’s lying.

“Yeah. Yours or mine?” When Svetlana frowns at her, she clarifies, “Box, I mean.”

“Yours has fewer prying eyes, I guess,” Svetlana says, “while my flat is probably more comfortable than whatever hotel they have you in.”

It’s moving too fast, and yet Rose can’t get herself to slow down. “I guess I’ll find out.”

Svetlana smiles at her, and finally pulls her along to Rose’s VIP box. She doesn’t let go of Rose’s hand even once.

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[podfic] red string of fate by deepestbluesky