Summary:

Pride Night was supposed to be the easy part.

Then Dallas Kent showed up, Troy Barrett threw the first punch, Ilya Rozanov stopped the fight, and Ottawa won a game nobody felt much like celebrating.

By morning, Dallas was in custody, Ilya was in hospital, and the internet had decided everyone knew exactly what had happened.

A week later, injured, furious, and barely holding himself together, Ilya tries to get back to hockey.

Instead, he gets a camera.

One soft question.

One honest answer.

“My boyfriend.”

It is the truth.

It is also the one thing he and Shane were supposed to choose together.

Based on a Reddit fic prompt by u/backtothefuture2028.