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:

Shane Hollander, Ilya Rozanov, Hayden Pike

Additional Tags:

Secret Relationship, Hayden Pike Finds Out About Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Good Friend Hayden Pike, Fluff, Sickfic, Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Hockey Injuries, Soft Hockey Boys

Language:

English

Stats:

Published: 2026-02-10 Words: 3,523 Chapters: 1/1

It's Always Been About You

Summary

Hayden always wondered why Shane was so secretive about his "Boston Lily", but he didn't think much of it. Until Scott Hunter came out. Now, he's beginning to wonder if there's a less heterosexual explanation for his secrecy.

Notes

The title comes from Boyfriend by We Three!

   Hayden has known about “Boston Lily” for a long time. He knew even before Shane started being so obvious about it. He knows nothing about this girl, but he knows she drives Shane wild.  

   Shane is the most buttoned up, controlled person that Hayden knows. That’s what surprises him the most when he started to see Shane return home from nights out with wild hair he hadn’t bothered to tame, evidence of his most recent hookup with “Boston Lily” as well as red marks all down his neck, chest, and across his thighs that he didn’t bother to hide. At first, it was like he hadn’t realized the marks were there as he undressed to crawl into bed. Hayden had spotted them immediately, letting out a choked noise before clamping a hand over his mouth. Shane had gazed at him in confusion before his eyes tracked Hayden’s gaze and he began to trail his eyes down his own body, noting the bright red marks that would soon darken into bruises. At first, Shane had flushed a dark pink all down his body, almost making the marks disappear, before he scrambled to cover up.  

   “Oh relax, dude.” Hayden had scoffed, waving off Shane’s embarrassment. Still, Hayden knew his acceptance wouldn’t deter Shane from covering up and never showing an inch of skin again; that’s just who he was. Except a few minutes later, Shane had come striding out of the shower, hair dripping and towel wrapped around his waist, looking almost proud with the love bites on his neck and chest on full display. No one would ever call Shane Hollander cocky, but that was the closest adjective Hayden could find to describe his expression.  

   For a long time, Hayden thought it was just sex. Shane never mentioned anything about being in a relationship and Hayden only ever noticed him disappearing from their hotel rooms when they played in Boston. For a long time, he was under the impression that Lily was just really good in bed and Shane had found a routine he enjoyed with someone he liked.  

   Then, Hayden started noticing Lily’s name popping up more and more frequently on Shane’s phone. They texted almost constantly, making Hayden think that maybe there was more to the two of them than he’d originally believed. Even more telling was one of Shane’s expressions that Hayden had coined his, “Lily smile”.  

   Shane had a lot of different smiles. He had his press smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes but was charming all the same. He had his smile when he was on the ice, which somehow depicted the perfect mix of determination and peace. He had his smile when he was just with the team, which was relaxed and happy. Then he had his “Lily smile”. Hayden didn’t quite have the words to describe this smile of Shane’s, because it wasn’t as much of a facial expression as it was a full body action. He sort of ducks his head, pulls his phone in really close to his chest and grins dopily down at the screen. If he’s wearing a hoodie, more often than not the strings will end up in his mouth when he’s texting Lily. Sometimes his eyes darken and Hayden hopes to every deity listening that he’ll never see what message Lily sent Shane to bring that expression to his face. Other times, he just blushes and ducks further into his shirt or turns his entire body into his locker to hide.  

   Hayden has always wondered why Shane was so secretive about “Boston Lily”. Hayden had brought it up more than once that they should all get together and go on a double date, but Shane had always found a way to weasel out of it.  

   As strange as Hayden found Shane’s secrecy, he never would’ve thought there was something deeper to it. That is, until Scott Hunter came out in the most public way possible. Hayden watched the scene unfold with most of the team surrounding him, each of them displaying similar levels of shock. Finally, and Hayden wasn’t even sure who it was, someone uttered, “I wonder if anybody else in the league is a secret flute player, " which got a few snorts in response. Hayden wrinkled his nose and shot up a middle finger in the general direction of the noise.  

   “I don’t know how anybody keeps that kind of a secret from their team. I’d explode.” JJ chimed in from across the room, his phrasing making Hayden freeze.  

   He wasn’t sure why his mind immediately jumped to Shane. Maybe it was because they’d just been talking about their absent captain and how they wished he was there to watch the game with them. Or maybe a switch finally flicked on in Hayden’s brain, but he suddenly began to wonder if there was a less heterosexual reason why “Boston Lily” was such a big secret.  

   Hayden was sure the team were still chattering away about the Scott Hunter revelation, but he was off in his own little world, overthinking every single interaction since he’d learned of Shane’s “Boston Lily”.  

   Hayden tried to wrack his brain to come up with anything that was a dead giveaway that Shane had a secret boyfriend, but he couldn’t come up with anything that felt like hard proof. That’s when Hayden started paying even closer attention to Shane.  

   The first thing Hayden noticed was that it wasn’t just the Boston away games where Shane would disappear from the hotel. It was also the Montreal home games where Shane would basically be vibrating out of his skin to get out of the locker room as soon as the game was over. This made it clear to Hayden that whoever Shane was dating was traveling along with the team, but seemingly only when Boston and Montreal played each other.  

   The next thing he noticed, that almost definitely cemented the boyfriend detail in his mind, was that, once, when Shane must’ve thought Hayden was dead to the world asleep, he picked up a phone call.

   From the first, “Hey.”, it was obvious that Shane was talking to “Boston Lily”. His voice had taken on a softer, sweeter tone. Hayden suddenly wondered when he’d gotten so good at discerning each of Shane’s tones, expressions, and moods. The call wasn’t loud enough for Hayden to hear what they were talking about. He could only hear Shane’s side of the conversation, which was obviously filtered in case Hayden happened to wake up. What Hayden could make out, though, was a distinctly male voice on the other end of the line. He couldn’t tell whose voice it was, if he’d ever even met Shane’s secret boyfriend, but he could tell by the timbre and the cadence that it was definitely a man. Hayden smiled to himself and tried his best not to move so Shane could relax and talk to his boy in peace.  

   Now that Hayden knew Shane had a secret boyfriend, he began to wonder who it was. Hayden wondered if he’d ever met him in passing and just didn’t know who he was to Shane. The biggest indicator of who Shane’s secret boyfriend was came one night after Boston and Montreal played each other. Shane and Hayden were unpacking for their next two nights in a hotel in Nashville when it happened. Shane was pulling a pair of sweatpants out of his duffle bag when a pair of shorts came flying out with them. When they landed in a pile on the ground, Hayden and Shane both seemed to notice at the same time that the shorts had the Boston Raiders logo plastered on the thigh.  

   Even though it was obvious that at least half of Shane’s “Boston Lily” was a lie, it still seemed like his boyfriend had something to do with Boston. He probably grew up there. He probably grew up a Raiders fan. They were probably his shorts that had ended up in Shane’s bag by accident.  

   Ordinarily, Hayden wouldn’t have thought anything of it. Except as soon as Shane noticed the logo, he practically flung himself down onto the carpet to scoop up the offending article of clothing before Hayden could see the logo. Hayden pretended not to have seen it for Shane’s sake, but he had.  

   Shane was visibly antsy after that for the rest of the evening, so Hayden tried his best to make it seem like everything was normal and that he hadn’t noticed anything, but his brain was working overtime.  

   He kept trying to picture the logo in his head. Something about it seemed off, different from the usual merch in the shops. Finally, it clicked in Hayden’s head. There was a reason it looked slightly different from the Raiders’ merch. It’s because it wasn’t merch. It was official gear from the team. Each team released merch in their online shops that was ever so slightly different from the official team gear. It was so slight that you would have to be intimately familiar with each team’s logo and gear to know the difference, but Hayden was suddenly positive that those shorts were given to someone who played for the Boston Raiders.  

   The realization hit Hayden like a ton of bricks. Shane’s secret boyfriend played for the Raiders.  

   Hayden still didn’t say anything to Shane, but he paid even closer attention to his behavior, especially when they played Boston. As he observes his friend, Hayden begins to notice that Shane’s rivalry with Rozanov doesn’t seem as tense as it used to be. Not that Shane was ever outwardly hateful to the guy. Actually, now that Hayden thinks about it, he’s not sure Shane ever really referred to them as rivals. 

   There was a distant pinging in the back of Hayden’s mind telling him that this rabbit trail was going to lead him somewhere, so he continued to follow it.  

   He thinks back to the All-Star game where the pair had so much chemistry on the ice and they seemed to get along so well that week that it was odd to think that they hated each other. He thinks back to when Shane scored off of Ilya’s pass and Ilya’s first reaction was to skate up to Shane, practically barreling him down, and kiss the side of his helmet. Hayden didn’t think that was something he would’ve done if they hated each other, even if they were temporarily on the same team.  

   Hayden also started to notice their heated gazes and smirks to each other during their face-offs. Now that he was paying attention, it was clear these weren’t angry expressions. It was more like kids on the playground, giving you shit and picking on you because you like each other.   

   Then, Hayden remembered when Ilya’s dad died and the whole team had been wondering why Rozanov hadn’t flown to Nashville with the team. Shane seemed so adamant that he wasn’t hurt or sick. It was like he knew it for a fact. Like he had been talking to Rozanov intimately enough to know that he was in tip top shape.  

   Hayden wouldn’t believe it if the facts weren’t staring him right in the face. It was like all of the puzzle pieces were finally coming together to make one cohesive picture.  

   The final nail in the coffin came the next time Boston traveled to Montreal to play. The game had actually almost been cancelled. Apparently, almost half of the Boston team was down with the flu. They barely had enough healthy players to make up a functional team.  

   Rozanov had been adamant to the media, and to Shane (not that Hayden knew that bit of information) that he was perfectly healthy and ready to play. Except as soon as they stepped onto the ice to begin stretching and drills, it was obvious, even to Hayden, that Rozanov was paler than a ghost and moving slower than normal. As soon as Hayden realized Rozanov had clearly come down with the same flu as the rest of the team, his attention shifted straight to Shane, who was clearly distracted as he gazed in Rozanov’s direction. Hayden could practically see the gears turning in Shane’s head before he finally shook his head and skated over to Rozanov. Hayden watched them chat quietly for a few moments before Rozanov pointedly stared down at the ice, indicating their conversation was over. Hayden watched Shane shake his head, visibly rolling his eyes before skating back over to his own bench.  

   “All good?” Hayden couldn’t help but ask as Shane skidded to a stop next to him.  

   “Yeah, just telling him how many more goals I’m going to score than him tonight.” Shane mumbled, still clearly distracted by the stretching Russian. Hayden decided to let it go for the moment and focused on beginning the game. 

   It was a damn disaster. Shane wasn’t playing anywhere near his usual level, clearly distracted by how incredibly terrible Rozanov was playing. He hadn’t scored a goal all night, he hadn’t completed a pass all night, and he was skating sloppily.  

   They were barely into the second period when everything came to a head. Hayden couldn’t even tell who it was, all he saw was a flash of blue checking a black blur into the boards. It didn’t seem like a particularly hard hit to Hayden, but the black blur crumpled onto the ice and didn’t get up again. It was right then that Hayden realized it was Rozanov laying unmoving on the ice. The game came to a halt as the medics stormed the ice. Hayden knew the medics would handle Rozanov no problem so, once again, Hayden turned his attention to Shane whose complexion had gone pale, his eyes wide, and he’d drifted closer to Rozanov on the ice instead of further away to let the medics work.  

   “Is he okay?” Hayden heard Shane ask, only to be brushed off by the medics as they started to cart Rozanov off the ice.  

   “Shane.” Rozanov muttered as he was carted past, thankfully still conscious. Hayden glanced back at Shane, and it was like seeing his heart shatter into pieces on the ice in real time. Shane stared after Rozanov as he was carted off the ice and back into the locker rooms to be examined. He didn’t move until Hayden physically started dragging him back to the benches.  

   “Shane? You good?” Hayden asked when he continued to just stare off into space.  

   “Fine.” Shane muttered unconvincingly, still staring down the tunnel even after Rozanov had disappeared. 

   “Come on. Bench.” Hayden said, grabbing Shane harder by the elbow and leading him back to the bench. It was clear how distraught Shane was when he didn’t even protest. 

   Once Hayden had deposited him down on the bench, he skated back onto the ice, preparing to replace Shane for the next face-off. Out of the corner of his eye, Hayden could see Shane talking to their coach in hushed voices. Hayden had no idea what Shane was saying to him, but whatever it was had coach sending Shane back to the locker rooms, where he wasn’t seen again for the rest of the game.

   Once the game was over and the team had congregated in the locker room to celebrate, coach announced that Shane had gone home sick, saying he wasn’t feeling well in the middle of the game. Hayden knew this was a lie, one Shane had clearly told to get him off of the ice and to wherever they’d taken Rozanov. Hayden didn’t blow his cover, but he knew he couldn’t keep quiet anymore. He resolved to give Shane a couple of days to “recover” before deciding to show up to his house and tell Shane that he knew everything. 

   Later that evening, the Raiders announced that Rozanov had tested positive for the flu along with half of his team. They announced that he’d been given fluids by the team doctor and sent home with family to rest. Hayden didn’t have to guess which family he’d been sent home with. 

   A few days later, after borderline radio silence from Shane, Hayden couldn’t take it anymore. He showed up at Shane’s door, awkwardly shuffling his feet before he gathered his courage to ring the bell. 

   A few moments later, the door swung open to reveal a very rumpled looking Shane. His hair was a mess, his cheeks and nose were flushed a deep pink, he was wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket, a pair of grey sweatpants, and a pair of socks. Hayden couldn’t help but grin victoriously when he saw that Shane was wearing a Boston hoodie, the edges of the logo peeking out from underneath his blanket. 

   Shane’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw Hayden, and he instinctively wrapped his blanket tighter around himself. 

   “What’re you doing here, Hayd?” Shane asked, making Hayden wince at the sound of his voice. It was much lower and raspy than usual. 

   “I came to check on you. And I think we need to talk.” Hayden started. He was about to push past Shane and enter the house when he heard a clatter coming from inside. 

   “Shane. Get out of cold while you’re sick.” a very distinctive, male, Russian voice said from inside the house before Ilya Rozanov’s head appeared from around the corner. His eyes widened as well when he saw Hayden standing on the doorstep. Rozanov looked equally as rumpled as Shane, if slightly less fever flushed. Clearly, Rozanov had shared his flu with Shane. “Pike. What’re you doing here?” Rozanov asked stiffly even as he came to stand behind Shane, bracketing him in to share some of his body heat with Shane. He didn’t protest since it was clear the jig was up. Shane sighed heavily, which made him duck into his blanket to muffle a few coughs while Rozanov rubbed his back soothingly. 

   “I could ask you the same question.” Hayden fired back, although there was no mirth in his voice. If anything, he was slightly giddy that he’d been right. 

   “If you’re willing to enter the plague house, I think we probably should talk.” Shane relented softly, pulling a chuckle out of Hayden. 

   “I think I’ll survive.” Hayden rolled his eyes fondly as he stepped past Shane and Rozanov and into the house. 

   “Go sit. I make tea. And time for your medicine.” Hayden heard Rozanov mumble softly to Shane. Hayden chanced a glance over his shoulder as he flopped down on Shane’s couch. What he saw was Shane sinking into Rozanov’s embrace, looking anxious and sleepy, before Rozanov pressed a lingering kiss to Shane’s forehead, probably checking his fever, before spinning him around to kiss him sweetly on the lips. “Is okay, yes? He’s your friend. Will be fine.” Rozanov muttered, barely loud enough for Hayden to hear what he was saying. 

   “I love you.” Shane whispered next, which finally made Hayden freeze. He’d pieced together that they were dating, but Hayden would’ve never guessed they were in love. Hayden grinned to himself when he heard Rozanov, Ilya now, he guessed, whisper something back to Shane in Russian that made his flush deepen as he blushed. Hayden assumed he’d told Shane he loved him in his native tongue. 

   “Pike? You want tea?” Ilya called as he gave Shane a gentle nudge toward the couch. 

   “Please. Thank you.” Hayden replied, his gaze shifting between Shane who was burrowing himself into the corner of the couch and Ilya who seemed just as at home in Shane’s kitchen as his own. No one said anything as Ilya puttered around in the kitchen. Shane still looked slightly anxious and uncomfortable. Hayden was fairly certain he was shivering slightly even as bundled up as he was. 

   As soon as Ilya came back into the living room, 3 mugs of tea balanced in his hands and a blister pack of cold and flu meds held between his teeth, Shane gazed up at Ilya with such a fond expression on his face and literally made grabby hands at Ilya. Hayden grinned as it reminded him of his kids. Ilya handed Hayden his tea first, then Shane. Then, before he sat down, he pulled a can of Ginger Ale out of his pants pocket and popped two of the pills out of the blister pack and handed them over to Shane before ruffling his hair affectionately and finally sitting down next to Shane with his own mug of tea. Shane promptly burrowed into Ilya’s side, stealing his body heat. 

   “I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone.” Hayden mumbled as he watched the pair, clearly intimately comfortable with each other, wondering just how long this had been going on. 

   “So, we should probably talk about this.” Shane mumbled, glancing between Hayden and Ilya. Hayden grinned and reclined back further into the couch. He was equally confused, surprised, and slightly giddy that his, frankly, insane theory was right. He shook his head fondly at Shane, heaving a heavy sigh and looking at Ilya for the first time with an open mind. 

   “I’m all ears.”