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

Characters:

Rose Landry, Svetlana Vetrova, Shane Hollander

Additional Tags:

Bodyguard, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, (Off-Screen & not between main couple), Pre-Relationship, Past Shane Hollander/Rose Landry, Good Friend Svetlana Vetrova, Phone Calls & Telephones, Shane Hollander & Rose Landry Friendship, Podfic Available

Language:

English

Series:

Part 12 of [challenge] Heated Rivalry Febuwhump 2026

Collections:

febuwhump 2026

Stats:

Published: 2026-02-12 Words: 1,398 Chapters: 1/1

matter of fact (caught you looking back)

Summary

Rose faces a problem. Svetlana may be the answer.

Notes

For Day 12: Bodyguard

Title from Bad Things by Cailin Russo

“God, and it’s – it’s nothing over the line, you know?”

“So they, what – they want you to just ignore your discomfort?”

“Apparently!” Rose exclaims. The incredulity in Shane’s voice is comforting, because it tells her she isn’t crazy. Which she didn’t actually think, but it’s been getting harder to stand firm with every day her dickhead of a co-star for this film has made just slightly-too-familiar comments. Brushed past her a little too close, and looked at her.

They still have at least two weeks of shared scenes to film, and she doesn’t want to think about the studio work – and the promo – they will need to do.

“That – that’s impossible.”

Rose scoffs. “I wish. But – I’m used to it. It’ll be fine. I’ll try to do the buddy system with one of the other girls; it’s always better having back-up.”

“Didn’t you say there were no other female main characters? Will they be around… enough?”

Damn him for actually listening to her. It truly is a pity he’s gay. Not that he could just pack up his life and shadow her even if he was, but he would provide a nice cover. “It’ll be fine, Shane. Please don’t worry about me.”

“I will always worry about you,” he says, matter-of-fact. Rose’s heart clenches in her chest. It’s worse, somehow, that he says it so genuinely. That he means it. That he doesn’t realise how romantic it sounds – how much more it means to hear him say this since she knows he isn’t chasing after her skirt.

“I’ll be fine. And in the meantime, I might just call you up to bitch.”

“Any time,” he promises her immediately. “Though – I can’t be around during practice. Or games. And during travel, you’d have to face-time, not call, because –”

“– because you’ll be in the air. I know. Shane, I’m a grown woman, I’ll manage.”

He subsides immediately. As usual. “I know. But – you shouldn’t have to.”

How beautifully naïve. Rose smiles into the distance. “It is what it is. But hey – thanks for being here. I love you.”

“You, too,” he echoes, sounding like he’s swallowing the same protests again.

Rose can’t help but smile again as she hangs up. She has a lot of friends, but not many who care as much as Shane Hollander. Really, what a pity he’s gay.

When Rose arrives at the private café in downtown L.A. – in a mostly-pap-free zone – nerves zap through her body, kicking her heart into overdrive every time she’s managed to calm it down. It’s silly, really. But she can’t help but be nervous when Shane has been so cryptic about all of this.

I have a friend in the city I’d like you to meet, he’d texted her late last night. He hadn’t told her more, just given her a time and location (five minutes from now, right here), and asked her to keep an open mind. That it would be easier for her to form her own opinion. Which isn’t ominous at all, considering their call earlier that day.

But still. Shane is Shane, and he would never mean her harm, and so she’s shown up in black slacks and a blouse and sunglasses that probably do very little to disguise her but send a clear message: she’s here for business, and usually, the paps are pretty okay at respecting that.

With another deep breath, she pushes the door to the little café open and enters. It’s a cosy thing, with nooks and crannies that make it hard to see who’s there from the front, all done in light wood and adorned with a plethora of plants to keep it from feeling oppressive. The space is sparsely populated this early in the morning but still alive, and Rose can’t believe she’s never been here. She’s absolutely in love – and thinks Shane would be, too. She’ll really have to take him here the next time he’s in L.A.

Rose gives the name Shane told her – Sveta, which may be a code name or a nickname, but certainly is no one Rose knows – and is led over to a table towards the back, still empty. She doesn’t have to wait long, though: less than five minutes later, the door chimes, and a woman walks in, heels clacking. Rose looks up and – oh.

She does know this woman. Faintly, more because she’s been a hockey fan before she ever was an actress, and not personally, but she does know of her: dark-skinned, gorgeous, her hair in its natural, curly state, Svetlana Vetrova is making her way over. Of course. Sveta. Svetlana. Wow.

Svetlana smiles when she catches Rose’s gaze, and Rose rises to greet her with a handshake. The urge to pull her in, to do the polite half-hug with air-kisses cheek-to-cheek is strong, but Rose is a professional. Even if she can’t believe that Svetlana Vetrova is who Shane sent her to meet.

How does he even know her?

“Rose Landry,” Rose introduces herself, because she never likes to assume. “But please call me Rose.”

“Svetlana,” Svetlana replies. “Vetrova. A friend told me you might need backup.”

Rose huffs out a laugh, because that’s one way to put it. “That sounds like I’m planning a murder,” she says, moments before a waitress bustles over with the menus. Oops. It’s impossible to tell from her face if she heard Rose’s words.

“Are you?” Svetlana shoots back once the waitress is out of earshot again.

Rose chuckles. “Rarely before my first coffee.”

They peruse the breakfast menu – all items listed with their nutritional value, because the café knows who they cater to – and order drinks and food (hopefully tasty despite being diet-approved in Rose’s case) before they return to the conversation.

“Okay, so if it’s not yet planned murder, what ails you? My friend was very vague – interesting, but not forth-coming.” She smiles, teeth flashing as she leans forward on the table, and Rose’s heart kicks back up a notch. This is just a normal conversation, if one set up by her ex-boyfriend; why is she so nervous?

“Well. I’m working on this project…” Rose tells her as much as she can under the NDA; her co-star’s advances, the director and on-set manager turning a blind eye, how everything so far has been just this side of being actionable harassment.

“If they believed you at all,” Svetlana cuts in darkly at that.

Rose grimace but doesn’t contradict her.

“I see why I might your solution.”

“Oh?”

Svetlana smiles again, and this time, it’s slow and dangerous and promising, which puts Rose on high-alert. In a good way. “It sounds to me like you need a friend. A BFF.” Svetlana leans forward again and cocks her head. “A buffer between you and that asshole. So. Why not bring your good friend Svetlana on set, who so happens to be visiting you – I’ll sign the NDA, and I have nothing planned for the next two weeks, so. I’m pretty good dealing with assholes.”

Rose looks at her, stunned. It’s – it’s a big offer, one she wouldn’t expect even of her long-time friends. Certainly not from someone she’s only met today. “What’s in it for you?”

“Smart question. Sticking it to an asshole, mostly. I don’t have any ulterior motives, though you probably won’t believe that, but… you’re pretty, Rose Landry. And helping out a pretty woman sounds pretty rewarding.”

Rose blushes even though Svetlana isn’t wrong. “So you’re hoping for a favour?”

Svetlana actually laughs. “I do not need favours. I’m looking for entertainment. My friends… they’ve all become boring.”

Rose’s thoughts flip through the people she knows Svetlana Vetrova to be friends with – Ilya Rozanov at the top of that list. She has a hard time fathoming anyone calling him boring, and she’s pretty sure that if he’d settled down with anyone, the grapevine would have long since told her. She’s pretty tuned in to hockey gossip, after all. “I find that hard to believe.”

“Well. How about we hang out for a couple of days – that should certainly give you a taste of this. And my otherwise very boring life.”

It’s a stupid idea. But the thought of not facing her asshole co-star alone… “Deal,” Rose says before she can change her mind. “Let me just call my agency…”

Svetlana smiles, and yeah. The next days certainly won’t be boring.

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