Rating:

General 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:

Ilya Rozanov, Shane Hollander, Wyatt Hayes, Troy Barrett, Lucy Darling

Additional Tags:

Ottawa Centaurs (Game Changers), Post-Book 6: The Long Game (Game Changers), Silly, The Cens See a Show, POV Outsider

Language:

English

Stats:

Published: 2026-03-31 Words: 1,782 Chapters: 1/1

Go Cens, Darling

Summary

Just after preseason for Shane’s first season with the Centaurs, Lucy Darling is in Ottawa for a show. Ilya, Shane, Wyatt, Lisa, Harris and Troy attend it. Ilya’s question gets drawn, and Lucy quickly loses control of the audience. — Lucy’s Camera Person (Jack) POV

Notes

Heavily Inspired by the character Lucy Darling from Carisa Hendrix, and the shorts she and team post on YouTube.
Lucy Darling Talks to Juan
Lucy Darling Talks to a Canadian Calf Model

The laughter was dying down as Lucy pranced across the stage to draw another audience member question. Jack kept his camera on her even as he readied himself to scan over to the audience. He and Tyler shared the camera responsibilities, and Jack thought he had the most fun job. He shifted back and forth between Lucy and the audience throughout each show, enjoying the way people reacted to seeing their faces on the large monitors over the stage.

“Dear Lucy,” she read out. “Every time my husband goes out with his best friend, people think they’re together. How can I get people to stop speculating and realize that he’s mine?” Lucy raised her eyebrows dramatically to the sound of the audience oooh and an jaunty piano scale. “Oh, my! This sounds juicy! Where’s Lyla?” She squinted down at the paper and scanned the audience. “Lyla?”

A male voice shouted from the second row. “It’s Ilya!”

Abi sent the cherry shaped mic down the row, as Jack scanned over to him. The man was handsome, with curly blond hair and a mischievous grin, but the audience reaction seemed disproportionate. People began cheering as his face filled the screen over the stage.

“Well, this is intriguing,” Lucy declared over the applause. Her smile was wide and amused as she waited for him to take the microphone. “Ilya, these nice people seem to know you. Could you tell me why?”

“You’re suppose to ask me what I do?” He failed miserably at copying Lucy’s exaggerated pronunciation of what, his accent putting a V into the word.

Lucy rolled her eyes, and Jack hoped that Tyler caught it in a close-up. This interaction had the potential to go viral; he could feel it in his bones.

“Very well, Ilya. What do you do?”

Ilya laughed, and Jack caught the edges of his seat mates elbowing and gesturing. Following his instincts, he zoomed out, catching sight of five more people in the row. The man next to Ilya looked familiar, though Jack wasn’t sure why.

“I am Ilya Rozanov, and I am Captain and First Line Center for the Ottawa Centaurs!” He said it loud and proud, practically shouting over the audience cheers.

“Go Cens go! Go Cens go!” The cry surged and washed over the performance hall, infecting Jack with its energy.

The moment the wave of sound began to fade, Lucy laughed. “I didn’t know Ottawa had Centaurs. Are they native to the region?”

A braying laugh echoed into the mic from two seats over before the man clapped his hands over his beard. His handsome neighbor leaned over enough to be heard. “This one was recently adopted, kind of a rescue situation.”

“Shut your face, Barrett.” Ilya elbowed his friend and moved the microphone away from him.

In Ilya’s distraction, the other man beside him leaned down to say, “We play hockey.”

Ilya rolled his eyes. “How do you make that sound so boring?” he complained. He turned his attention back to the stage. “Miss Lucy Darling, since you are not from here, I will introduce you.” He pointed to his far right at the bearded man whose eyes were still dancing with amusement.

“This is Harris. He is social media for the team.” Jack focused the camera on him, and Harris waved. Barrett took his hand and kissed it, receiving some adoring coos from the audience. “And that is Troy Barrett, Harris’s boyfriend.” Ilya earned another sharp elbow, and he laughed. “Barrett plays wing on the first line with me.”

“So, he’s literally your wingman?” Lucy asked with a teasing lilt.

“He is much better wingman on the ice than off of it!” Ilya declared, earning a few raucous laughs and jeers from around the room. He pointed to the far side of his group, at the lone woman with them. “And that is Dr. Lisa Hayes, Emergency Medicine at Ottawa General Hospital. She is with her husband Wyatt, who is the best goalie in the league!”

The audience cheered again, the call of “Go Cens Go!” even louder as Wyatt grinned and waved for the camera. His wife leaned over and kissed his cheek. It took a moment for the noise to die back down.

“Alright, so… you skipped over someone in your row.” Lucy pointed beside Ilya, and Jack focused the camera on the handsome man who crossed his arms and frowned sternly.

Ilya shrugged. He jerked his thumb to his left and said, “This is Shane. He is new.”

“Rozy, you suck, man!” Wyatt reached across Shane for the mic, and Ilya held it away from him. Barrett immediately stole it and threw it over their heads where Wyatt made a perfect catch. “Nice pass,” he said with a nod to his teammate.

Wyatt stood up, and Jack pulled the camera out to catch him and his seated teammates in the frame. With a wide grin, Wyatt adopted an announcer voice that carried even without him lifting the mic up from chest level.

“People of Ottawa!” He paused dramatically. “Lucy Darling. It is my honor to introduce you to the newest member of the Ottawa Centaurs. He holds the league records for shot accuracy, fastest skater, and overall points in the regular season. He’s a Conn Smyth award recipient, Olympic Medalist, two time MVP, and three time Stanley Cup Champion! Give it up for Ottawa’s own, Shane Hollander!”

The crowd lost their minds. As Jack zoomed in on Shane’s blushing face, the cheers rang out again. That time, the calls of Go Cens Go intermingled with shouts of We love you! and Welcome home, Shane! To Jack’s surprise, the man of honor didn’t stand and showboat. He mouthed something that might have been Thank you and turned a bashful smile into Ilya’s shoulder.

The crowd whistled when Ilya lifted Shane’s chin and kissed him passionately. Behind the camera, Jack laughed at the joyous chaos playing out before them. As the couple broke the kiss and grinned for the camera, the noise finally started to fade.

“Well,” Lucy declared, pulling attention back to the stage. “I sincerely hope that Shane is the husband from your question, Ilya. Otherwise, you’re going to have some explaining to do.”

Ilya reclaimed the mic as he nodded. “Yes, Shane is my husband.” He grinned proudly and pulled Shane closer. “I worked very hard for him, and he is all mine.” Ilya’s eyes danced as he tried to glower at the camera.

“Well, that’s… sweet?” Lucy blinked, playing up confusion at his attitude. “How long have you two been married?”

“Three months,” Shane replied, leaning over to speak into the microphone.

“I see.” Lucy nodded at them. “Ilya, I forgive you for being a bit possessive. You’re barely back from your honeymoon, and people are trying to say your husband is with someone else? That’s terrible.”

“Exactly.” Ilya’s brows drew down into a glare. “It is stupid on many levels. Rose is a good friend, and Shane is very gay.”

Shane rolled his eyes. “I’m a regular amount of gay.”

Before Ilya or Lucy could reply, Barrett leaned close to the mic. “Dude, Rose Landry is a massive hockey fan and a literal gay icon, and you couldn’t take one for the team? You are very gay.” Jack’s heart stuttered in his chest at the newest revelation, and he tried to decide how quickly they could get this edited and posted online.

“Rose Landry?” Lucy laughed. “Finally a name I know!” She paced across the stage and leaned against the piano, eyeing the couple that had brought such chaos into her performance. “So, Shane, you were seen out with Rose Landry, and people decided that you were dating?”

“TMZ bought some photos from a charity lunch that we attended during pre-season.” Shane shook his head. “Ilya was in attendance too, but the headline they used ignored my marriage and just speculated about me and Rose. It was frustrating for all three of us.”

Jack made a mental note to find the headline for the video, but Abi was already ahead of him. The caption was suddenly superimposed on Lucy’s screen and the prompters they all used to keep in contact during the live show.

Rose Landry and Ex-Boyfriend Shane Hollander Attend Charity Event. Could They Be Rekindling Their Romance?

Lucy wrinkled her nose as she read the words. “That is appalling. Ilya, I don’t blame you one bit for being upset by that.” She tilted her head, glancing down at the question still in her hand. “What does Miss Landry think of it? She can’t be happy either, I assume?”

“She is not,” Ilya said firmly. “She is a very supportive friend. She was the third person Shane and I told about being together, after his parents.”

“But Shane and Rose dated at some point?”

“Four years ago… for two months,” Ilya insisted. “They were not compatible.” He smiled over at his husband as he said that. Shane chuckled.

“Ok, so, I think we just need to give TMZ a little advice.” Lucy smiled widely. “I may not know hockey, but, as fan of Rose Landry, I think I have a useful perspective.” She looked toward the cameras. “Tyler, Jack, we’re going to need to include the audience in this.” She grinned at them. “I don’t think this crowd will accept being left out.”

She turned her back to the audience, and the screen cut to Tyler’s camera. Her face appeared with Shane and Ilya, slightly out of focus, behind her.  Jack panned over the audience for some reaction footage.

“Dear TMZ! We, the fans of Rose Landry and Ottawan Hockey, kindly ask you stop suggesting she would try to steal anyone’s husband. It’s rude.” She huffed a little into her microphone before turning around. “I don’t know that they care about being rude.” She pursed her lips. “Alright, Ottawa, you’ve proven you can be loud so you’re going to help me with this last bit. On the count of three, we’re going to say, “Leave Shane and Ilya alone, TMZ.”

She turned back around, and Tyler pulled the shot back to show the sold-out theater behind her. She held up her hand.

“One,” she said, putting up a finger. The count appeared on the screen in the top corner.

“Two.” She held up another finger. The audience drew in a collective breath in preparation.

“Three.”

The crowd roared, “Leave Shane and Ilya alone, TMZ!” For that moment, over five hundred people were in perfect unison. It didn’t stay that way. The shouting devolved into whoops, cheers, and more Go Cens Go!

Lucy grinned proudly at them, as Shane leaned into Ilya for another kiss.