Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories:

Gen, M/M

Fandom:

Heated Rivalry (TV)

Relationships:

Shane Hollander & Scott Hunter, Kip Grady/Scott Hunter, Kip Grady & Shane Hollander, Shane Hollander & Carter Vaughn, Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov

Characters:

Scott Hunter (Game Changers), Shane Hollander, Kip Grady, Carter Vaughn

Additional Tags:

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Shane Hollander Gets Outed, POV Outsider, Social Media, Light-Hearted, Scott and Shane become friends, Scott Hunter does not know about Shane/Ilya, Post-Season/Series 01, Pre-Season/Series 02, Shane Hollander on the Admirals, Trades (Hockey RPF), Unreliable Narrator, Shane Hollander Leaves the Montreal Voyageurs | Montreal Metros

Language:

English

Stats:

Published: 2026-03-09 Words: 10,515 Chapters: 1/1

quick, he needs more hockey!

Summary

Kip sometimes teases Scott for how he prefers to stay off social media. But after some of the responses to his very public coming out, it's a survival mechanism more than not caring. Even Kip is less connected online than he used to be.

So the first sign Scott has that something had happened is when his coach catches him after practice — he stayed late to help two of the rookies — and tells him that management wants to talk to him as soon as possible.

Shane Hollander has been traded to the Admirals.

Notes

This fic would not have been possible without:

Bittercape, who told me their writing resolutions for the year and led to me deciding writing a 10k this year was a good idea.

Ivvic who cheerread this for me when it was shorter and then the whole thing again later!

And most importantly, for TheGirlBackThere who was kind enough to hockeypick and beta this for me! I am slowly learning hockey things but still reliant on those more knowledgeable than myself, that being said, I claim credit for all the mistakes that may still exist.

the F slur is used twice, one short one long, near the beginning regarding the video. Feel free to comment if you have questions/want clarity about it.

Kip sometimes teases Scott for how he prefers to stay off social media. But after some of the responses to his very public coming out, it's a survival mechanism more than not caring. Even Kip is less connected online than he used to be.

So the first sign Scott has that something had happened is when his coach catches him after practice — he stayed late to help two of the rookies — and tells him that management wants to talk to him as soon as possible.

He's not sure what he's expecting but it's not this.

"There is a chance," one of the staff members says carefully, "that we'll be able to acquire a talented center, depending on how things shake out. Obviously, nothing is decided yet but if we have the chance, we'll move fast, so we wanted to give you a heads up. This is not meant to force you out, and we absolutely want you to remain on first string and everything."

His coach clears his throat.

"Obviously, depending on what the coaching staff chooses to do. But we just wanted to touch base so you weren't blindsided, alright?"

Scott has no idea what this is about but he figures, based on the PR language he's getting that he won't get more, so he nods his agreement and is released.

He does wait until he's home to do a Google search. It does not take him long to find the answer.

"Holy shit," he mutters to himself. Some of the summaries warn him about what he's about to see, and he's never been one to trust random users on Twitter, but still.

And then, because neither the league nor Hollander has released a statement, he hits play on the video.

Marisa is setting up the room to do some talking head interviews — or, well, to do proof of concept to her boss to try to get her to let her do talking head interviews. Her coworker, Christopher, is going to join her for them, so she's setting it up in one of the empty offices at the rink.

Christopher is nice enough, but a little pushy, and she does not want to tell him where she lives. So it's her camera and recording equipment, but company property. She is a little nervous she's going to get in trouble for it, but she's pretty sure she can prove to her boss that it'll be a hit. Get the players in here for some playful soundbites will be great.

She's just got it all turned on and ready to go when the door opens — only it's not Christopher. It's Coach Theriault, followed by three of his assistant coaches.

"What are you doing in here?" he says, scowling, "get out of here. We need the room."

"Oh, can I just —" she reaches for her camera and then one of the assistant coaches is grabbing her and pulling her away and —

The door is shut in her face before she can say anything else.

She stands there, hesitating for a moment, before she takes a step back — and immediately runs into someone.

"Sorry," Shane Hollander says, catching her shoulders easily. He offers her a slightly stiff smile. "Marisa, right?"

He's absolutely her favorite of the players. He's not the only one who actually bothers to learn people's names — but he's the prettiest one who actually bothers to learn people's names. And she is a small bisexual and he is gorgeous.

"Yeah," she breathes.

"Did Coach go in there? He told me to meet him here, but didn't give me the room number." He asks, stepping back away from her but gesturing to the door.

"Yeah, uh, he did — uh," she is going to tell him about the recording equipment, just so he knows. But she gets so tongue tied around him and —

"Thanks," he says, with a grin and then knocks on the door and heads in before she can warn him.

She goes to lurk by one of the other doors, ready to grab her stuff as soon as she can. Christopher, the coward, must have taken off when he saw Coach Theriault come in.

She hears muffled yelling through the door and chews her nails down far enough that they hurt before the door opens.

Shane walks out, pale as a sheet, with his phone held up to his ear. His knuckles are white where he's gripping it and he looks like her roommate does when she's having a panic attack.

Marisa doesn't know what she would've done, maybe tried to help? But before she can, the coaches spill out of the room. Theriault is swearing up a streak and the others look nervous — they head in the opposite direction that Shane took and she flattens herself awkwardly against the wall so they can continue to walk three abreast — the last one trailing awkwardly behind offers her a smile.

She ducks in and grabs her equipment as quickly as she can.

It's still recording when she gets to it.

The link is posted on Twitter. It's the first post by the account and is posted without context. Through the account has replied to their own post and added context. Still, it's not much to go off of.

NotAnyoneReally @NotAnyoneReally

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&list=RDdQw4w9WgXcQ

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

NotAnyoneReally @NotAnyoneReally

↳I can't afford a lawyer but my friend in lawschool says if someone records themselves on your equipment it's fine.

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

Other people retweet it with their own context, and eventually someone tags a news media source and some poor intern watches the video.

SophieTalx @sophiet

↳Metro's Coach hate speeches Shane Hollander

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

Timblander @SexyBack

↳Shane Hollander Gay and Metro Coaches want him GONE

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

sonicwar @starlostmoon

↳what the fuck did i just watch

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

AlexWarden @AlexWarden

↳Holy shit is this real? @ESPN @MLH @HockeyNews @CBCSports

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

Only Shane's face can be seen in the video, but the back of Coach Theriault's head is visible in the corner, as he tells him that he doesn't want a fucking faggot in his locker room and he'll never play on the Metro's again. Shane just stares into the distance and lets his agent, on the phone placed on the table, talk for him.

There's back and forth debate about if it's faked, about it being some other conversation with dubbing taking place over it.

Then a reporter springs it on one of the assistant coaches, who responds, "What do you mean there's video? How did you get this?"

CBC Sports ✅ @CBCSports

↳Assistant Coach Marc Laver confirms video leak is real

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

After that, it's a blood bath.

Hollander usually holds himself small, off the ice. So it's weird to see him walk into the locker room now, as big as he usually looks on the ice, even without his gear. His shoulders are back and he looks like he's prepared to fight.

Which is, well, not shocking.

For a second, Scott hopes that it's good, like he's more comfortable and no longer making himself small. But it's only a second and then he realizes that Hollander looks more like a small mammal trying to make itself look big to scare off a predator, all puffed up with fur. (He and Kip have been watching a lot of animal documentaries right now.)

The words from the leaked meeting echo in Scott's head for a moment, the Montreal Head Coach saying, "I don't want any of that fag shit in my locker room."

And fuck, Scott wants to give Hollander a hug.

He thinks he'd probably get a black eye for his attempt, so he doesn't, but shit.

"Hey," he says, holding out his hand. Hollander shakes it politely, making HockeyRobot eye contact the whole time. And Jesus, Scott is not going to miss facing off against him. "Happy to have you here, man," he continues. Except, shit, he's probably going to face off against him in practice a lot, isn't he? But that's just practice. Surely he'll be more chill in practice.

"Thanks," Hollander says, and then some of that extensive media training obviously kicks in and his face softens a little. "It's good to be here."

Scott mentally translates that to "it's good to not be there" but just smiles and steps back. He's immediately replaced by Vaughn, who is a madman and throws an arm around Hollander.

"Fuck yeah," he says, "gayest MLH team and we're gonna get all the fucking cups!"

Hollander chokes on a laugh, some of the tension finally easing from his shoulders, and Scott feels like it means he can take a breath as well.

"Back to back cups for you seems like a good idea," Hollander says, once Vaughn has released him by his new cubby. "Let's see what we can do."

Scott should've known the easiest way to get the kid to relax would be talking hockey.

Alex Gille: Okay, so is it time to talk about the elephant in the room now?

Brennan Weiz: Yeah, I think we got everything else done, so let's talk about that. Is it 'elephant in the room' or 'elephant on the ice,' do you think?

Alex Gille: [Groans] That's bad, wow.

Brennan Weiz: [Laughter]

Alex Gille: Anyways! So, before we get started talking about the Hollander trade, our legal team wants us to be very clear that when we're talking about this, and talking about the video, we don't know if it's real.

Brennan Weiz: Yeah, the camera only shows Hollander's face, and he hardly says anything, and you can obviously see that Theriault, and Amsted, and Laver are in the room, but we can't see them actually speak, so it could've been a conversation about anything with some convincing dubbing. We don't know!

Alex Gille: We don't know, but we cannot talk about the Hollander trade without talking about the video. So with this disclaimer, we acknowledge that it could be a conversation about, like, groceries. [Laughter]

Brennan Weiz: [Laughter] Yeah, totally, groceries.

Alex Gille: Okay, break it down for us?

Brennan Weiz: Early last week, Hollander waived his no trade clause and was promptly traded to the Admirals, with them trading Jeffers and Markowski to Montreal, and Barthel opting to retire early to open up cap space. Now they don't need that cap space yet, because inexplicably Montreal is still paying some of it, but if they want to keep Hollander at the end of this year, it's a good call to make.

Alex Gille: Hollander is a beast — he's already played two games for the Admirals, and if I didn't know he'd just started training with them, I would've thought he'd gone through all of preseason with his line, you know?

Brennan Weiz: And you have to remember that he's a two time Stanley Cup winner for the Metros — he was captain at the time too, and first line. And you know I have to mention the first round the Metros played against the Drillers in 2015.

Alex Gille: When you die, do you want to see your life flash before your eyes or just that game?

Brennan Weiz: [Laughter] Just that game would be good enough. But seriously, half the Metros were out on IR and he pretty much played that game by himself, and sent the Drillers down so hard we haven't seen them in the playoffs since.

Alex Gille: R.I.P.

Brennan Weiz: So like, what the hell was Montreal thinking?

Alex Gille: It really only makes sense when you know about the video.

Brennan Weiz: Which might not be real.

Alex Gille: Which might not be real! But, obviously, something went down, and all we have is the video, so as we already said, we're going to discuss it like it's real. So like, you're Shane Hollander and you get called into a meeting where you get reamed out for coming out to your teammates, allegedly.

Brennan Weiz: The reaming is alleged, the coming out has actually been confirmed by Hollander at this point, and the fact that he told his team the month before.

Alex Gille: Right, so you're getting reamed out and told that you won't be able to play hockey and — Have you ever met Hollander? Like, actually had a conversation with him?

Brennan Weiz: I have not, but I know you have, and I am so jealous.

Alex Gille: Okay, well, I need you to understand that this guy lives hockey. Like, if you told me he was actually created in a lab to play hockey, I would believe you. Like, all he talks about is hockey. And I don't mean in that way where some guys —

Brennan Weiz: Do not name any names!

Alex Gille: Where some guys on some teams are not smart and can only like grunt and talk hockey. Like, he can talk hockey. Apparently, you can give him any year and he will just tell you who won the Stanley Cup and even what the score was and who they played. Like, he needs hockey to live, you get me?

Brennan Weiz: Doctor, the patient is seizing! Quick, he needs more hockey!

Alex Gille: [Laughter] Yeah, exactly. So if you're Hollander and you literally will die without hockey and here comes your coach telling you that you can't play? He's going to do whatever he can to go somewhere he can play.

Brennan Weiz: I hear you, I do, but I think he's being short sighted.

Alex Gille: You don't think he should've gone to the Admirals?

Brennan Weiz: Okay, don't say it like I hate the Admirals. I don't, they did great, they won the cup, whatever. I just think if he were a little more patient, then the front office would've looked at him and looked at Theriault and made the right choice. Yeah, Theriault was the coach for both cup runs, but Hollander was the captain and as I said —

Alex Gille: Two mentions! Has anyone made this a drinking game yet?

Brennan Weiz: Shut up, but for real. That game against the Drillers is just fucking insane, and that was all Hollander. If I was the Montreal front office, I would be willing to replace the entire coaching staff to retain Hollander.

Alex Gille: And the fans agree with that.

Brennan Weiz: Right?

Alex Gille: But that would've taken time — the front office can't just drop the whole coaching staff immediately, you know? And in the meantime, Hollander wouldn't be playing.

Brennan Weiz: Well, he's certainly playing now.

A few weeks after Scott had won the cup, Hollander had sent him an email. It had been super bland, but supportive, and Scott had assumed it had just been written by his PR person or something. Still, supportive and lame was better than the alternative.

Now, Scott has to wrangle with the very real possibility that Hollander had written it himself. Sincerely. Awkwardly. Because off the ice he's awkward as hell.

Fuck. What he's going through is basically Scott's worst nightmare — forced out of the closet.

It's early on in the season, well before the trade deadline, but they still have to figure out how to fold Hollander into the existing team.

Well, the existing team that traded two team members and had another retire early to make the cap space. Scott is most upset about the retirement, sure Frank had said he was going to retire at the end of the year, so it's not like unexpected, but he'd been one of the good ones. The two who went to Montreal were clearly biting their tongue from calling him a cocksucker or something worse every day, those fuckers he's glad to see gone.

But still, it always takes a bit to get someone comfortable on a new team.

Except, apparently, if you're Shane fucking Hollander.

Scott could hate him, he really could.

Because he gets suited up with them, chats for a few minutes with his probable new line mates, and then when they have them run drills, it's — well, it's not flawless. It's still a little rough. But it's like a month in of practice rough, not we've been doing this for less than two hours rough.

They have two days before their next game and Scott is increasingly convinced that Hollander's line will be perfected by then. Which is insane.

And not something that Scott should be upset about.

To: SHunter@gmail.com

From: ShaneHollander@gmail.com

Subject: In Regards To Acceptance Speech

Hello Scott Hunter,

I just wanted to write to let you know that I appreciate what you said in your acceptance speech. I offer my condolences that it has been difficult for you these past years and hope that your team and the League doesn't make it more difficult now. It is important what you did, for the future of the League and for the fans, and I would like to acknowledge that.

Thank you,

Shane Hollander

Kip told Scott to invite Hollander over for a meal as soon as the news about the trade had broken.

Scott is still avoiding the internet and everything it has to say — there was some support of Hollander, but a lot of the rest of it was heinous — but Kip has taken to watching the opinions online like it's a television show. This does mean that Scott hears about a lot of the big points without having to wade through the shit, so it's kind of convenient for him.

"Oh shit, he just released a statement —" Kip says, the day the trade goes through, and then reads it to him. "It has been an honor and a privilege to play for, captain, and lead the Montreal Metros to two Stanley Cups. I regret that I won't be able to continue to play for my fans and the team, but due to differences in opinion between myself and the coaching staff, I did waive my no trade clause. I wish all of the fans who supported me through the years the very best. I'm sorry I have to leave you. I am excited to continue to have the opportunity to play hockey and thank the New York Admirals for allowing me to join them for the rest of the season. All the best, Shane Hollander, 24."

"Montreal is on fire," he gleefully tells Scott the next day. "The homophobic coach has gotten so many death threats that they had to hire security just for him."

Scott is honestly surprised that the general manager didn't just fire the coach to keep Hollander — and maybe they meant to. But after that meeting leaked — yeah.

Kip continues to follow all social media mentions of Hollander, with slightly frightening glee.

So to say that he's disappointed when Scott comes home that first practice without a wayward new teammate in hand is a bit of an understatement.

"You're his captain," he says, "can't you just order him to come?"

Scott gives him a look, "yeah. Hollander seems like the sort of guy who really likes to be ordered to do things," he says. Some of the guys have already started calling him Hollzy, but it still feels awkward to Scott.

"Okay, fine," Kip agrees. "But if not tonight, then a different night! Or day! We could do lunch."

"Babe," Scott says, "I mean this in the nicest way possible. The kid just got threatened by his coach after coming out to his team, then forcibly outed to the rest of the world. This was followed up by him having to pack up and move to a new city in two days, and now he's having to learn how to play on a different team, that he's no longer the main forward for or the captain of. Let's give him a little while to adjust, okay?"

He does not mention to Kip that the reason that Hollander had turned down his original invitation was because he apparently already had some new brand deals he had to do a shoot for.

This proves maybe a mistake when a week later, the billboard by their apartment has Hollander on it, wearing rainbow Adidas.

ESPN ✅ @ESPN

Breaking news! Hollander trade, Metros to Admirals!

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

hanna | screaming crying throwing up @hannabanana:

↳i cannot believe we lost Hollander because of ol' man homophobia coaching. i'm going to kill the head coach of the metros

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

metrosfan024 @metrosforever

↳Hypothetically, if Theriault is dead, Hollander will come back, oui?

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

sean | come back @seanhellender

↳Bro I don't care if Hollander wants to fuck my dad, he won us two cups, I will unlock the goddamn door and give him a beer after

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

CTV News ✅ @CTV

Road closures around the Bell Centre due to rioting, Fire and Police present to control area.

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

Scott thinks he might be more stressed about their first game against Montreal than Hollander is. It's their first game on this roadie and Scott just hopes like hell that it doesn't set a bad tone for the rest of it.

Hollander does seem preoccupied in the locker room, but when Smitty yells, "Hollzy! We're gonna fuck 'em up for you!" he just frowns in confusion.

"What? Why?" And the thing is, he looks genuinely confused.

"For what they did to you!" Smitty responds, banging a fist against the bench.

Hollander continues to look baffled. "They didn't do anything?" he says, trailing off. "I mean, unless you're planning to try to go after Coach Theriault but I think that would end with like a suspension? Probably something worse. Don't do that, that's pretty much the only way we could lose."

The boys hoot and holler at that and Hollander just looks at them confused. Like, he's not trash talking.

"Why are we going to beat them?" Scott asks as he pulls on his socks.

"The Metros don't have enough depth at center," he says, promptly, "and didn't have anyone pulled up during pre-season for it. They've pulled Vermian from the farm team, and he's going to be good, but I doubt he's managed to gel with the line yet, you know? His style is different. Better. They should swap out the wings for him, but they won't since he's newer. So he'll be playing rough, trying to be me on the line and it's going to fail. Keep the puck on the left as much as possible and you shouldn't have any troubles. Also, Mitty pulled something in the last game and either we're going to get Drapeau who is going to be homophobic enough to be playing angry, which is bad for a goalie, or Mitty not able to give his all. Aim low on the right for Mitty or mid left for Drapeau — or really just be anyone but me shooting. He's going to be trying to block me even if I don't have the puck. So, unless we really fuck up, we should be fine."

It is not the sort of locker room speech that Scott has ever heard, but there is something oddly encouraging about it, so he just roars, "You heard the man!" and they go out onto the ice to warm up.

Scott immediately clocks the signs that are everywhere — about forty percent "Hollander" or "24" or some variation thereof, and about forty percent threats against the coaching staff, and then the other twenty percent split between normal team stuff and some 'shut up and skate' type of messaging, which is honestly less than he is expecting. So that's nice.

Hollander doesn't seem to clock it or mind, and just goes about his normal warm up routine, shooting some and doing some stretches before his path takes him towards the red line and —

He's met there by five of the Metros and Scott only has a second to be worried before one of them is pulling him into a hug. He glances to see if anyone is going to object, skate blades are definitely edging the line, but no one seems ready to jump in about it. Except maybe a few of the Metros who start glaring.

Scott makes note of who they are.

It's good that the room wasn't totally awful when Hollander was there at least.

Still, it ends up being a rougher game than Scott might like, and within the first five minutes there's a fight and he ends up paired up with Pike, holding each other back — even though neither of them are interested in joining in as the refs clear the situation up.

"Oh, hey," Scott asks as they wait, "when Hollander was your captain —"

"Oh, so you do want to fight?" Pike mumbles but he doesn't disengage.

"Did he ever like break down exactly how to win against the other team and what was wrong with their lineup?" Scott continues.

"Oh yeah," Pike is smiling now, audible in his voice. "I always thought he could weaponize it for chirps, but he didn't want anyone to actually improve from his feedback, you know?"

Scott snickers at that. "Was that most of his pre-game speeches then?"

"Oh no," Pike says, sounding odd, "the uh, coaches and guys didn't like it. Since, you know, if he tells you not to fight if you want to win and then you do fight it's, well, feels shitty, I guess."

"Ah," Scott says, considering, then, not trying to be mean to Pike, who had been one of the ones hugging Hollander across the line, he adds, "we're going to crush you."

"Yeah," Pike agrees, "I know." He pauses and then adds, "you should ask him about how he decides on where to be during plays sometimes, I think Coach's head just about exploded."

And luckily for both of them, that's when the situation gets resolved and they let go and head back to their stations.

It looks like it's just Comeau getting time, which is great. Scott grins viciously as Hollander joins him for the power play.

The lights dim at the first long tv timeout and the last of the tension that Scott had been carrying about the game leaves him.

There, on the jumbotron, is Hollander, looking even younger and scoring his first goal on MLH ice. He grins, wide, and pumps his fist — exactly like he did earlier in this very game, and Scott turns and looks at his side where Hollander is, stock still, looking up like he wasn't expecting it.

The crowd is cheering, deafeningly, as they run through the highlights.

And Jesus, there's a lot of them.

Scott wants to hassle him about it, but the kid — who really isn't a kid anymore — is tearing up and Scott instead just keeps his eyes up to watch. Let him have this moment, they can give him shit about it later, after they win.

And they will win.

Scott remembers what Pike said when they're in the locker room before a game with the Nomads. The rest of the team is still trickling in, getting dressed. So it's not a private conversation, but it's certainly not the loudest in the room.

"Oh, hey," Scott starts, "Pike said something about how you see the ice, decide on where to be during plays?"

Hollander pauses for a moment, pulling up a sock, brow furrowed, and then it clears and he rolls his eyes. "Hayd's an idiot, it's normal."

"Alright," Scott agrees, already amused. "So what is it?"

Hollander sighs, leans back, and looks up at the ceiling. "It sounds stupid when I talk about it."

"Sure," Scott agrees again, and then because he thinks maybe the waiting is going to make Hollander clam up again, he goes back to getting dressed.

"Okay, so, obviously, we all know hockey is fast paced, that's why we run so many drills. So that when things are going too fast, you still have the muscle memory to get the puck where it needs to go, right?" Hollander says, pulling on his other sock.

Scott makes an agreeing noise, and when he glances up, he can see a few of the other guys listening in.

"So like, if Lemaire is up against the boards with the puck, he's most likely to make a shot on the goal. That's what he almost always does. He'll aim for the far corner, high, but depending on how he's pinned, it'll go somewhere else. So if you're there, you want to be between him and the goal to try to limit where it can get, right?" Hollander is using an example from the Nomads, which seems fitting, since they're about to play Lemaire. "But if it's Nelson who's pinned on the boards, he's gonna pass the puck unless he has no other choice. So it's better to stay back and give him a clear lane to another teammate, but be ready to swoop in to grab it when he does, you know?"

Scott considers that he hadn't noticed that pattern, had always just tried to get the puck himself. "So what, you look up what people will do before the game?"

Hollander looks at him blankly, "No? I just know it. It takes a little longer to figure out the patterns of the rookies, of course, and I don't tend to keep track of the western division as much, but everyone else I play against, yeah."

Scott pauses, leans back. "You know how everyone is likely to react when pinned against the boards with a puck?"

"Or when they've got a clear lane, or when they're on a power play — yeah," Hollander agrees.

Scott kind of wants to swear, but he doesn't. Vaugnhy does though. "What the fuck, Hollander! You're a madman. Fucking glad you're playing on our team!" he chortles and reaches out to rattle Hollander around, who just looks bemused at the attention.

Fuck, that kind of analysis on the ice must be normal for him. And sure, Scott does some of it — knows how people are likely going to react, but that's just people in general, not specific players. No wonder he's almost always in the top three for scoring.

They'd played the Raiders right before the trade had gone through, which meant there had been a nice long break before they had to play them again.

Scott never really likes playing the Raiders — they aren't the worst, and he doesn't dread the games the way he does some of the most hate speech prone teams — but the Raiders are always a very physical team, so he'll be going home with bruises either way. And Rozanov chirps like he's part fucking bird.

He's extra not looking forward to playing them with Hollander on the team — and not just because the media circus about them will be terrible like it always is. But also because Scott is a little bit worried about what Rozanov might say to Hollander — who is finally starting to really relax around the team.

He's making more jokes — not many, not loudly, and mostly deadpan but hysterical.

Two weeks ago, Cartiere had called Hollander "Holly" — most of the guys have gone with Hollzy, which he seems to respond well to — and Hollander had looked up, blankly, and flatly said, "That's homophobic." And then had let Cartiere ramble, trying to explain that he didn't mean Holly like jolly like gay before Hollander had laughed and said, "I'm fucking with you, Holly is fine."

Of course, now the guys are calling him Jolly, or Jollzy, and Scott gives it another week maximum before they just start calling him Santa or some shit.

He is not looking forward to the first time a reporter realizes, because almost certainly Scott will be the one called on to explain.

But he's still worried that Rozanov is going to say something and Hollander will revert back to HockeyRobot and it'll undo all the hard work the team has done. Well, most of the team.

Luckily, with Hollander still on the second line, most of the face offs and run ins with Rozanov will be Scott's to deal with.

Unfortunately, Rozanov skates right up to the line during warm ups and hollers, "Hollander!" like he's doing a bad Marlon Brando impersonation.

Some of the guys on both sides look anticipatory, but most of the guys on the Admirals side bristle (and most of the guys on the Raiders side just ignore it), even as Hollzy rolls his eyes dramatically. But then he skates up to the line. Scott finds himself following — and he's glad to see a few of the guys inch closer as well.

Rozanov laughs, "If you need bodyguards, Hollander, you should not hire grandpa. If someone punches him, his bones will break."

"I guess I just have to hope the people attacking me don't want to murder an old man then," Hollander says.

"Hey! What the fuck?" Scott finds himself asking.

Hollander, to his credit, looks a little sheepish. Rozanov looks like he's going to throw out a rib, he's laughing so hard. "Sorry, Captain," Hollzy says.

Rozanov just wheezes. He hopes he chokes.

Scott scowls at them both until they're told to clear the ice.

Kip starts to worry after the first month and Shane still hasn't accepted the dinner invitations. Scott just keeps telling him that Shane is busy — and Kip has seen the man's face on practically every billboard and advertisement space in the city — and for a lot of new brands too. Notably, LGBT friendly ones, and Kip has been noticing.

So the busy line seems very realistic and he tries not to stress about it.

But it's now been more than two months since he's been traded and he hasn't shown up to dinner — or lunch! at his captain's house.

And look, Kip is fully committed to Scott — more committed than he should be sometimes, according to some of his friends. But Shane is an attractive man — and if Kip calling him by his first name instead of his last name, since Kip is notably not a hockey bro — gets Scott a little extra possessive, well, that works for both of them.

But the combination of those facts does make him start to wonder, and worry more pointedly, if there's actually some problem with Shane. In his interviews, he's always seemed polite and kind — but maybe he's actually an absolute prick. Maybe Kip shouldn't be trying to get the man into his house for a meal.

"Is he awful?" Kip asks Scott, late one evening as he unpacks from his most recent away game in Toronto (when he's talking to Scott he tries to use the right word but "roadie" sounds so stupid and "away game" makes so much more sense and it's not a hill he'll die on but it's one he maybe rants about to his friends when he's drunk enough that there's a ban on the topic.)

"Yeah, Kent is a fucking nightmare," Scott says.

Kip has to take a second to recalibrate. He had just shown Scott a tweet about Shane, so he'd assumed they were on the same page but — Scott clearly needs to vent, so Kip lets him.

And by the end, Kip is convinced that he'll try to spit on Dallas Kent if he ever sees him, so that's cool.

It's not until the next day that he asks again. "Is there something wrong with Hollander? Is he an asshole?"

Scott stares at him for a moment and then laughs, "No, he's a sweetheart. Why? Are the people online saying something?"

"Oh, no," Kip says, "I mean, maybe — probably. But just, he hasn't come to eat with us or gone out with the team like at all after local games, so I wasn't sure."

Scott makes a face. "Yeah, I'm working on that. He's awkward as hell, but he seems to always have plans. Like for a guy I'm pretty sure has no actual social life, he's shockingly busy." Scott considers, tilting his head. "Also, you know how I said I didn't have the dedication to be a serial killer? He does. Like I don't seriously think he is, but …"

Kip laughs and pushes at his shoulder. "Shut up, oh my god. But if he's always busy, it sounds like he does, actually, have a social life. And I want to meet him!"

"I know, babe," Scott says, "I'll ask again."

"Hi," says Shane Hollander, gaze not quite meeting Kip's. "My — uh — I was told this was a good wine? And Scott said you liked white wine, so I hope, um, you like it."

Kip is impressed that he doesn't squee or squeeze his cheeks immediately. On the billboards and in the television advertisements, Shane is hot. In person? He's adorable. Even more awkward than Scott said and clearly very earnest.

Oh god, if they ever bring him to a gay bar, he's going to be eaten alive. Was he really just going to tell Kip that his mom told him what wine to buy? "Hi," Kip says back, grinning wide enough to ache, "Thank you. Please come in."

"You have a lovely home," he continues and Kip is increasingly sure that somewhere on his phone there's a Google history of "appropriate things to say the first time you visit someone's place."

Is this really the hockey player who scored a hat trick last night while the other team did their best to kill him? Kip did not look up appropriate things to say the first time someone visits your house, and the awkwardness is maybe contagious? So he falls back on what seems like a safe bet and says, "Your hat trick last night was incredible."

Scott coughs to cover a laugh as Shane brightens like the sun. Okay, adorable gone, hot it is. Whatever, this might as well happen.

Honestly, it's a miracle that it didn't happen sooner.

Scott is just glad that he wasn't in the media scrum when it did finally happen, because his reaction would've only made it worse. Or better?

Kip can't stop watching it and laughing. "I know I should probably be offended," he says, giggling adorablely, "but babe, watch his face!"

And Scott rests his chin on Kip's shoulder and peers at his phone where he's playing Hollzy's viral interview again.

"And is there any romance in the locker room?" asks a smarmy reporter who Scott has always hated.

"What?" asks Hollzy, for once generally baffled by a question from the media, brow furrowed like he thinks the man said something else, possibly in a different language.

"Well, there are two gay players on the team, have there been any sparks between you and Hunter?"

Hollzy's face goes from confused to horrified and a little disgusted. Scott can practically hear "ew, no", but Hollzy does have more media training than anyone else in the room, so he says, "Absolutely not. Does anyone have any other questions about hockey?"

Kip dissolves into giggles again.

smoothiesrus @suspicioussmoothies

I had to clip this because the look on his face brb laughing forever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOikQWAL8qc

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

love me some drama @brandonsmith

↳this is the gay on gay violence we've been warned about

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

you know thats right @sunshineflower

↳scott hunter found dead in new york apartment, hollander on trial for murder

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

They don't win every game. But they're ahead enough going into the All-Star break that guys are starting to flirt around talking about a cup run.

This, unfortunately, comes to a head when they've let the media into the locker room after another win and stupid fucking Albert says, "Well, we asked Santa for a cup for Christmas and he said probably so —" and the rest of the team fucking loses it.

Hollander, the bastard, has made himself scarce somehow and Scott has to explain the Santa thing without sounding like an idiot.

He mostly fails.

Kip is gleefully watching the video when he gets home, the asshole. Scott loves him.

"I'm sorry this is going to be brutal," Hollzy says, smiling brightly in the face-off at him, "don't hold it against me, Captain?"

Scott rolls his eyes. "Just don't get depressed when you lose," he chirps back.

"Oh no!" Rozanov calls from Hollzy's wing, "Grandpa is off his medications!"

Hollzy's grin widens, which is, honestly, frightening and then the puck drops.

What could've been five minutes or five lifetimes later, Scott drops onto the bench next to Dollars. He has not ever asked about the name and he's not going to now, but the man does not respond to any version of William Laursen that Scott has ever heard, so he just goes with it.

"If they ever play on the same team for real, I'm retiring," Dollars says.

Scott makes an agreeing grunt and stares out at the ice. Hollzy's line is still playing, joy in every second.

They'd split the All Stars up by "generation" which was fine, really, since it wasn't a full game anyway, so it wasn't like the win was going to be swung by stamina or boundless energy. But it was not fine because Hollander and Rozanov on the same line was fucking ego death, every goddamn time.

"Nah," Novikov says, "they would be cats and dogs in real game, easy to win against."

Baumgartner, Scott is waiting for the day he retires — has some scotch held back to celebrate even, laughs. "Yeah, Rozy wouldn't wanna play with a —" he cuts himself off, slots a smug look at Scott that makes his blood rush in his ears, "with a guy like Hollander for a real game."

Scott takes even, careful breaths, laser focused on the ice again, waiting until he gets to go back out and won't have to keep sharing air with the other man. Punching a teammate during the All-Star game is not a good look.

But the next time they face Detroit? Oh yeah, fuck him with a cactus.

It's the end of the first period in game five in Eastern Conference finals, where Admirals are leading three games to one, when Scott decides to talk to the coaches. Because his ribs got lightly fucked in the first game and have been giving him hell this game, and Shinz from Hollzy's line is getting checked out for a concussion.

"Play Hollzy in my place," he tells them. "I'm not going to be able to take many shots like this, and we don't have anyone to reliably replace Shinz so —"

The coaches confer. And he's pretty sure they only agree because with the state of the team, they're not going to win this game anyway, but maybe they will with the switch up. But if they don't, well, they will still have another two chances if they fuck up here.

Hollzy narrows his eyes at Scott before going onto the ice. "Are you dying?" he asks.

"Dying to take a break — win this so we can all rest a little before the finals, yeah?" Scott says back and grabs the back of Hollzy's neck to knock their helmets together.

And Hollzy gets on the ice, scanning like his little weird HockeyRobot brain is trying to decide how to play it.

Scott knows how hard Hollander actually works now. Knows that during those busy days when he was moving cities after being traded after being outed after being forced to listen to homophobic bullshit he was spending every spare moment watching Admirals tape. Or tape of individual players who he thought would most likely be on the line with him.

And it's been months, but Scott knows that the first line — his line — had absolutely been on the review that Hollander had done. He's only played with them in practice, and never like this.

But he knows these guys and he knows how to play with them.

Hollzy takes a breath and joins them. The first play is rough, and honestly, even the second play isn't perfect — but Scott can hold his line to keep the other team from scoring at least, and Hollzy will score enough to get them through. It's enough.

Scott knew it would be.

They're through to the finals, and hopefully Seattle and San Francisco take all seven games, and he can rest before the real thing.

"So, who are you going to kiss when we win the cup?" Vaughny asks. "You should get him sitting with the WAGs so they have an easier time than poor Kippy did." For a second, Scott thinks he's talking to him, even though it doesn't make any sense.

Then he realizes he's looking at Hollzy.

"Don't jinx us," Hollzy says, texting someone on his phone and not looking up. "And don't you know plagiarism is illegal?"

"What?" Vaughny blinks, shirt around his arms but not yet pulled over his head. Scott is pretty sure he just likes to be shirtless as much as possible.

Hollzy sighs like they're exhausting him and Scott can't help but laugh at it, and then he looks up and says. "I'm not going to copy Scott and introduce my significant other by kissing them if we win the cup. And don't jinx us."

"So you do have someone?" Vaughny asks, intent, leaning forward.

Hollzy goes back to his phone. "Stop hitting on me, Carter. It would never work out between us."

Vaughny laughs and bumps Hollzy's shoulder. "Come on, who is it? Is he good enough for you? You gotta introduce us!"

"I've decided to keep my private life private," Hollzy says, bland as anything, "I didn't enjoy the first video and would hate a second."

Vaughny blanches and Scott's eyebrows shoot up, because for all his tone is mild, that's intense. "Understood," Vaughny says, holding up his hands, and then shooting a look at Scott like he thinks Scott can fix this.

"Are you planning to have anyone on the ice?" Scott asks, just to try to be slightly less obvious that he's steering the subject away from that specific mine field.

"My parents," Hollzy says, "maybe Hayden and Jacks, but they're only going to be able to come to game seven, so not if we finish it sooner. Maybe Rose and one of her friends, but they can only make it to game six, so not if we finish sooner or later." He looks up from his phone. "I'll be fine, this isn't my first time winning the cup, you know? I'm not going to lose my mind and grab a fan to make out with."

"Ouch," Scott says, hand on his heart, but Vaughny is laughing and Hollzy is smirking, proud of himself, so he lets it go.

Back-to-back cups feel incredible, and Scott thinks he could kiss Hollzy for it. It was a group effort, no doubt, but Hollander had kept going steady and confident the whole time and he'd kept the second line from dipping and —

Scott isn't even mad when Hollzy gets the Conn Smythe. After the year he's had, he deserves it. Besides, it's not a back-to-back cup for Hollzy — although he's had that experience too.

Scott is high on adrenaline and the win and laughing and wishing he'd asked Kip if he could kiss Hollzy about it before this.

Then Kip is there and he's kissing Scott and Hollzy is nearby and Kip drags him closer and hugs him close — and Hollzy lifts him up off his feet and spins him before putting him back down, Rose fucking Laundry pulling him back to where his parents are laughing — and Scott can't even be mad that there are absolutely going to be articles about Kip and Hollzy hugging and he's going to have to field a bunch of 'is your teammate trying to steal your boyfriend' questions.

They just won the fucking cup! Back-to-back fucking cups!

Hollzy can do whatever he wants forever, as far as Scott is concerned.

It was a team effort, no doubt, but he fully believes the team without Hollander wouldn't have gotten there.

It's not really a gay club, but it is a step more exciting than Kingfisher and Shane is a three time cup champion and Scott is a two time cup champion— or whatever it's called. So Kip figures that something more exciting than the Kingfisher is the way to go.

Or, well, it is a club. But there are numerous tables where the music is soft enough that you can talk without screaming, so it's like a mild gay club. A gay club for when you want to be gay, but also you're going to turn into a pumpkin at midnight.

Whatever, it's a good time.

Kip is all prepared to be protective of Shane, and he thinks Scott is on the same page, but Scott wanders away almost immediately and leaves Shane alone with a guy and look — this is a baby gay! They can't just abandon him! He's so awkward! He's going to be eaten alive!

Except, he's not. Because he just … doesn't notice.

The first guy smirks at him and rests a hand on his arm and says, "I heard that hockey players have really strong wrists. Is that true?"

And Shane grins bright as anything — Kip had insisted they have a drink before they headed out and now he's concerned that Shane might be a lightweight — and says "Yeah we have to do these exercises so that we can handle our sticks," and for a second Kip thinks he's flirting and then he just full scale devolves into hockey talk to the extent that the very interested twink leaves.

This happens four more times before one of them gives up on subtlety and instead says, "Wow, you're really hot, do you want to go back to my place?"

And Shane says, "it is kind of warm in here. But I'm sure they have ice water, hold on." And then he honest to god goes to the bar and gets a bunch of ice cold, unopened bottles of water and brings them back and offers them to the poor twink and tells him that hydration is important.

Kip finds Scott and accuses him, "You've taken him out before!"

Scott shrugs. "Everyone goes out at the All-Star Games and he has never noticed anyone hitting on him. I was pretty sure he was going to be fine."

So Kip makes sure he's comfortable, chatting with Elena this time. Apparently, they both have opinions about picture windows? Whatever, Kip wants to dance with his very handsome boyfriend, who just made history again.

Which makes the fact that when he comes back maybe fifteen minutes later, Scott plastered to his back and plastered in general, and Shane is nowhere to be found even more alarming.

"Where'd Shane go?" he asks Elena over the music, which has gotten louder since they first got here.

"Oh, he just left out the back, said someone was picking him up?" Elena blinks at him, and the lesbian next to her glares at him, and Kip doesn't have time for this. He drops Scott off at the table, pushes one of the still unopened but probably less cold bottles of water into his hands and then heads for the back door.

The back door of this particular club opens into an alley that has an opening on the opposite side of the entrance, and Kip knows that people don't watch it because Scott has picked him up from here with a car service when he's gotten too drunk. So for a moment, Kip just assumes that's it, when he sees Shane walking towards the car that's pulled up — but then Kip registers the car.

It's a bright fucking orange sports car, there is no way that a car service is using that!

Shane moves fast, even when he's drunk — and he's definitely drunk unless Elena and her new lesbian bestie have livers of steel, Kip had seen the shot glasses — but Kip is able to catch up with him before he gets in the car.

"Heeeey Shane!" he says, catching his arm before he opens the door. "Where are you going? Let's go back inside. I can order a car for you."

"I don't need you to order a car," Shane says, speaking carefully in that way drunk people do who don't want to sound drunk. And he's still slurring his words a little. Oh shit, he's very drunk. "I have a car right here."

"Uh huh," Kip says, "I don't think you want to go home with someone you met tonight."

Shane blinks at him, "I didn't meet him tonight, I mean. I'm going to meet him tonight. But not like meet meet, just like, you know? Him."

Kip does not know.

And that's when the driver has apparently had enough and opens the door and stands up and leans over the roof of the car and —

"Hello. I understand why you would want to trade up for a younger model when you are dating a dinosaur, but I am going to win that fight." That's Ilya Rozanov, who Kip has heard Scott complain about often enough that he assumed Scott once had a thing for him. He's very attractive, Kip can't blame him. Kip also has no idea what he's doing here. He thinks that his team made it to the playoffs, but didn't end up playing the Admirals.

"Uh, what?" Kip asks.

"I don't like it when you fight," Shane says, frowning at Rozanov.

"Okay, zhizn moya," Rozanov agrees easily, "no fight. Get in?"

Shane grins and nods and pats Kip on the shoulder. "Thanks for letting me tag along with you and Scott. It was interesting. Elena's really nice. I think that woman wants to eat her alive. You should go make sure they're both well hydrated. Ilya's got me." And then he opens the door and climbs into the outlandish sports car.

Rozanov — Ilya — grins over the top of it, smug as anything, at Kip, before patting it once and winking. "Go back to your boyfriend and make sure he hasn't broken his hip, that is common with men his age, I am told." And then he's ducking down and the car is taking off and —

Kip stands there and watches it merge into the awful New York traffic and decides that he definitely needs to be more drunk. What an asshole, Scott was definitely right about him.

He really hopes Rozanov isn't going to go like kill Shane, because Shane is a sweetheart and also his mother scares the bejeezus out of Kip and she would definitely blame him for it.

Maybe if he gets really drunk, he'll manage to forget this happened, and then it won't be his problem? Yeah, that seems reasonable.

He proceeds to down the next four drinks he gets his hands on.

He's not sure how they manage to get home, probably Elena, but they're both still drunk by dinnertime the next day and Shane texts for proof of life once the hangover kicks in, so clearly he got home fine as well. Honestly, Kip was half expecting to have him passed out on the couch, but Elena probably got him home too. He owes her so much.

"He only has one more year on his contract with you, yes?" Rozanov asks during their first face off, unlucky enough to be meeting early on in the pre-season.

Scott sighs, fucking Rozanov. "Who?" he asks, even though he knows better. But it's the pre-season, it's just to shake the rust off, it doesn't really matter that much.

"Hollander, of course," Rozanov says, eyes darting to the Admirals' bench for a second.

The universe is not kind and the ref does not drop the puck during that moment of inattention.

"He'll re-up," Scott says, more confident than he feels. It is only pre-season, but almost everyone has recovered from their cup run and is in good shape on the ice, their newest players fitting in needed niches, and Hollander's contract is up at the end of the season, but if they can get another run at the cup? Scott thinks he'll definitely stay. He was given an A this year, after all. And in a few years, when Scott does start to think about retiring, he'll get the C.

"Ah, I think I will seduce him out from under you," Rozanov says with a wink, "he will like Boston more."

And that's when the puck drops and Rozanov steals that, and Scott hates the little Russian bastard.

ESPN ✅ @ESPN

Breaking news! Hollander leaves the Admirals for the Raiders after second Cup win! Raiders hit their cap in unexpected move!

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

Dollardollarbill ✅ @DollarsOfficialMLH

↳I'm retiring

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

lost in the sauce u @scotthunger

↳Okay but for real, is Hollander just showing up, winning two cups and then bouncing?

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timeisfake @timeisfake

↳New theory: Hollander got cursed and can only win two cups with a team before things start going downhill

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

Hollander come home! @MetrosFanatic

↳why did you go there come home!!!! we haven't won a cup since 2016!

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Ottawapride @Ottawababes

↳↳we haven't won a cup EVER! come to your real home shane ottawa needs you!!!!!

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

Pop Media! ✅ @PopMedia

10 Signs the Admirals' Homophobia Chased Hollander Away

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allen | the best @allenb

↳r u fuckin wit me mate??????

💬 🔁 🩶 ⬆️

Alex Gille: Okay, so I think it's fair to say that no one saw that coming!

Brennan Weiz: Right? Like, it seemed totally reasonable that Hollander would hold off on signing until after the cup run, when it looked like they were going to succeed.

Alex Gille: And they did!

Brennan Weiz: Yeah! [Laughter] They did!

Alex Gille: And maybe he was asking for more than they were able to give, that's totally reasonable. He did show up out of nowhere and help them win two cups, you know?

Brennan Weiz: He didn't do it on his own though, it wasn't like the game against —

Alex Gille: [Laughter] Oh my god! We've barely started and you're bringing up the 2015 Metros vs. Drillers game.

Brennan Weiz: [Laughter] Look, you knew I was going to!

Alex Gille: [Laughter] Okay, okay, fine, carry on!

Brennan Weiz: [Laughter] Thank you. As I was saying, while Hollander was definitely an integral part of these wins, he didn't do it on his own. This team actually worked well already. Don't forget they'd won the cup before he got there.

Alex Gille: Three times in a row is insane! You know the Admirals had to want to keep everyone they could with a run like that.

Brennan Weiz: Absolutely, there's no way they didn't. But he still left.

Alex Gille: He still left!

Brennan Weiz: And to Boston! No one could've seen that coming.

Alex Gille: Absolutely no one saw that coming.

Brennan Weiz: They made some drastic moves to afford him, of course, but he definitely could've gotten more elsewhere.

Alex Gille: I think there are probably teams who would've emptied their bench to give him the full cap, given half a chance.

Brennan Weiz: Figuratively speaking. They'd need to keep a goalie. [Laughter]

Alex Gille: [Laughter] Right! Just Hollander and a goalie, what could go wrong!

Brennan Weiz: So yeah, out of left field for everyone. Especially the Metros, you know, I think they were expecting him back.

Alex Gille: They did make some moves, but some of the assistant coaches are still the same and rumor has it some of the team had some issues with Hollander's sexuality, and those guys are still on that bench.

Brennan Weiz: So not enough to get him back.

Alex Gille: No, not enough. And you know I've got a theory about why Boston.

Brennan Weiz: [Laughter] I know you do. Why don't you tell us?

Alex Gille: Okay, so I want to be clear that this theory is based on like practically nothing, okay? I am not expecting to be right, but it still seems more logical than thinking he's been cursed to have to leave a team after he wins two cups, so like, hear me out.

Brennan Weiz: [Laughter] Setting the bar real low with that one, okay, go for it!

Alex Gille: [Laughter] Managing expectations is good for all of us. But okay, so round two was the Admirals against the Raiders, right?

Brennan Weiz: Damn good games too, but enough overtime to shave years off my life.

Alex Gille: Anytime they showed Hollander's face when he wasn't on the ice, he was really focused on the Raiders' play, and I think he was spending the whole time going, "if they do this, they'll win." But of course they didn't, even if game seven was a beast.

Brennan Weiz: Absolutely the best of hockey, you know it's going to make every compilation for the next fifty years. But you think that's why he joined the Raiders, because he saw how they could win?

Alex Gille: Yeah, I mean it's either that or the All-Star's playing with Rozanov on his wing won him over and Rozanov promised to wing for him forevermore.

Brennan Weiz: [Laughter] I think the two cup curse is more likely than that!

Alex Gille: [Laughter] Right? Though … if the coaching staff has them switch it up, trading who is on first versus second and even having them on the same line sometimes, that's going to be vicious.

Brennan Weiz: That's going to be psychological warfare, is what it's going to be. [Laughter]

Alex Gille: [Laughter] So, any cup predictions?

Brennan Weiz: [Laughter] They haven't even played a single game yet! Let's give it at least the preseason!

"Marisa, right?" Shane Hollander asks as he steps into the room and Marisa just about dies. "How are you?"

"Uh huh," she says. She still feels guilty about, well, everything. Even though he's clearly thriving — he's won four cups now! He has doubled the amount of cups he had the last time they spoke! He is not hurting. "I'm good," she says, and then, for lack of anything better to say and the fact that he is still gorgeous and intimidating close up, "my girlfriend just graduated law school."

"Huh," he says, looking puzzled.

"Why do you already know our media people?" Ilya Rozanov asks, winking at her, as he follows their newest Raider into the room. "And why are you being judgy about her girlfriend? Do not be homophobic! Is a bad look!"

Shane Hollander rolls his eyes and sits down where he's clearly meant to, in one of the chairs opposite the camera. "I'm not being homophobic, I'm just surprised her girlfriend graduated law school."

"What?" Marisa asks at the same time Ilya Rozanov does.

Shane Hollander smiles lightly. "Well, she was giving advice like 'if someone records themselves on your camera, it's fine to publish it,' so I'm just doubting she was studying very hard, you know? That's awful advice."

Marisa is going to sink through the floor and die.

Shane Hollander winks at her, smile growing. Ilya Rozanov is staring back and forth between them like he's trying, and failing, to connect dots.