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  1. The Interview by

    Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid
    • G
    • ✓

    2024-10-15

    After their wedding but before the start of their first hockey season on the same team, Shane and Ilya sit down for a sports network interview, finally explaining their relationship to the world. They sat in the green room, huddled together on the couch, hands clasped, Shane breathing suspiciously fast and loud. Ilya wondered how close he was to full-on panicking. He squeezed Shane’s hand, and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “Hey,” he intoned softly next to Shane’s ear. “It will be fine. All is OK here. Just you and me talking to a nice guy like we are in our living room.” Shane made a distressed noise. “If our living room had five thousand cameras in it.” Ilya smiled. “Is only three cameras, I think. You can ignore them. Come on. We have cameras in our faces every day. This is no different.” “Except we’re talking about our relationship to millions of people, not just having our picture taken or talking about hockey. Why did we agree to this?” Shane whined with an upward, slightly hysterical lilt to the last few words. Ilya decided being sympathetic and soothing was not working. Time to change tactics. “Enough of this. You are Shane Hollander, hockey superstar. Your picture is hanging on the wall of every teenager in Canada. You told off Roger Crowell to his face. You have given a million interviews to reporters before. You can sit down for one more. This is nothing for you.” Shane huffed out a breath, put his hands on his thighs, and stood up. “You’re right. I’m being stupid. It’s fine. We don’t have to hide anymore. We don’t WANT to hide anymore. So let’s get this over with and then maybe people will stop asking us annoying questions everywhere we go.” Ilya smirked as he also stood up and moved next to Shane. “That is maybe a little too optimistic, but yes. We need to, what is the phrase? Set the record straight.” Shane leaned over and kissed him softly. “OK. I’m good. Thank you.” Just then, the young intern who had been put in charge of them returned to the room. “Mr. Ryland is ready for you. Let me bring you to the stage. As a reminder, this is pre-recorded, so if you don’t want to answer a question, or you flub a sentence, we’ll edit around it. No worries. Just be relaxed.” She escorted them to a soundstage with a couch facing one direction, and a leather armchair angled catty-corner toward it. She pointed to the couch and asked them to sit. The PAs fitted them with microphones as Thomas Ryland, anchor of a popular TSN show, came over to shake their hands. He settled into his own chair and fiddled with his notes. The director announced they were rolling and Ilya took Shane’s hand in his and squeezed. “Good evening everyone. I’m here with NHL superstars Ilya Rozanov of the Ottawa Centaurs, formerly with the Boston Bears; and Shane Hollander, also an Ottowa Centaur as of a month ago, formerly of the Montreal Voyageurs, for their first official interview since coming out as a couple last season. Gentlemen, we’re honored you took the time to be here with us.” “Thank you for having us,” Shane replied on cue. “You can understand that the news that two world-famous rivals were actually in a secret relationship for years is both shocking and of great interest to many people. Can you tell us what it’s been like the last several months, being out as active LGBT players, being out as a couple, and now being on the same team?” Shane huffed out a big breath. “Wow, those are complicated questions. On the one hand, it’s such a relief not to hide anymore. It was so stressful every day, worrying who could find out and how, and what would happen then. But also, just like we feared, it has led to a lot of gossip and recrimination, and invasions of our privacy. And then again, so many people, especially young people, have reached out to us, telling their stories, and saying we gave them courage to come out to their teams, their schools, their parents. So it’s a mixed bag.” Ilya added, “I can say that playing on the same team is wonderful. The Centaurs are made of the best people in the league. Everyone loves us and accepts us and knows that for us, there is nothing more serious than playing hockey and winning. We have never brought personal feelings to the ice and we still don’t now.” Shane smiled. “It’s also a big plus to see each other every day. To live together. The hockey season was always hard on us. We were really limited in the time we could spend together. On the whole I’d say there are way more positives than negatives to being out.” Ryland nodded seriously, as if they were discussing world peace instead of hockey. “Probably the biggest question on everyone’s mind is, exactly how long has this been going on? At what point did an epic rivalry turn into an epic love story?” Ilya turned to Shane, and they smiled softly at each other. They had debated how honest to be in this interview and ultimately had decided there was no benefit to avoiding the truth. “Well,” Shane said slowly, “that’s not a simple question. But in the end, the answer is that we’ve been together for about eleven years.” Ryland had trouble masking his surprise. As if to verify he had heard correctly, he asked, “Eleven years?” “Yes,” Ilya said with a hint of humor in his voice, “since before our rookie season. We met for the first time at the World Junior Championship in Saskatchewan. We started a casual relationship afterward that lasted for many years.” Ryland was clearly gobsmacked but put on his professional reporter face and cleared his throat. “I imagine people are wondering how that worked. Ilya, you were in Boston, and Shane was in Montreal. The hockey season lasts nine months a year including training and playoffs. When did you see each other, and how did you keep it a secret?” Shane answered, “We saw each other rarely, which is one of the reasons it was casual for so long. We were afraid for anyone to know precisely because of the famous rivalry. And also,

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    1,898
    Chapters:
    1/1
    Files:
    1
    AO3:
    #59765038

  2. Mine All Mine by

    Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid
    • E
    • ✓

    2024-02-15

    Shane Hollander is a single guy living a fairly boring life until he meets ruggedly handsome and European, Ilya Rozanov. A whirlwind romance begins, but Ilya has a secret that could come between him and Shane.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    70,698
    Chapters:
    18/18
    Files:
    2 versions
    AO3:
    #52615867
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