Summary:

“Are you… are you saying that you want to be in a relationship with Shane Hollander?” The room held a sort of tension, like everyone in it was holding their breath, waiting for Ilya to vehemently deny it. The reporter had taken his words in the complete opposite way than Ilya had meant them, but he supposed he was too committed to stop now. “Of course not.” “Of course.” The reporter parroted, laughing nervously. “Obviously, we are already in a relationship.” — In Ilya’s rookie season, he impulsively jokes about dating Shane to an invasive reporter. Then, he just… keeps doing it, since publicly announcing it enough times that everyone writes it off as a joke is a great way to hide a clandestine relationship.