Chapter Text
Cover
November 2016
Shane
Ilya, have you seen this?
YouTube link – Heated Rivalry teaser trailer
Ilya
Hollander, I just woke up, what is this?
Shane
Just watch it and call me, NOW!
Ilya
Okay Shane. It is too early for you to be this weird. But fine, I watch.
Ilya calling.
"What the fuck Hollander?" Ilya said, not even bothering with hello.
"I know right? This is crazy!" said Shane.
They were talking about the latest teaser trailer of a hockey show called Heated Rivalry.
The summary listed for the show was:
A romance set in the world of hockey; Shane Hollinger and Ilya Morzanov are two stars in Major League Hockey, bound by ambition, rivalry, and a magnetic pull neither of them fully understands.
What was odd however was that Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander were
1. Not NHL players, they had played collegiate hockey from the 2009 to 2013 seasons, yes, each had brought their team a University Cup, also yes.
2. They had had a rivalry of sorts, yes, given Shane had played for McGill University and Ilya for Concordia, both based in Montreal.
But neither of them went on to play in the NHL afterwards.
Shane was a hockey talent scout for the Boston Raiders, and Ilya had played in the AHL league for Montreal, the Laval Rocket, for 2 years.
That is before he tore his ACL. Nowadays, another couple years later, he had transitioned into a coaching career.
He had been the assistant coach for the Toronto Marlies for the past 2 seasons and this year had started coaching for the Providence Bruins (based in Boston).
3. And lastly, Shane and Ilya were not rivals anymore, they were actually friends. Really good friends.
In fact Shane was the one who helped Ilya pick out his Boston apartment, as he had a knack for real estate.
Ilya liked teasing him, calling him "Mr. Real Estate."
So to see a romance show loosely based on their relationship was quite surprising to them, to put it mildly.
"Shane, did we have a stalker? Did you sell your diary to a producer? Did you doodle Mr. Shane Rozanov in your journal? What is going on?" Ilya said, sounding confused but unable to resist an opportunity to tease his friend.
"Oh shut up, asshole! If anything, you must've been the one doodling Ilya Hollander in YOUR diary!" Shane grumbled.
"Be serious Hollander, I am Russian, not teenage girl. Russians don't do this," Ilya said, continuing to annoy Shane.
"Anyway, moving on. So I looked it up while you were busy teasing me. There was this girl, Rachel something, in my batch at McGill.
I didn't know her but apparently she was a big hockey fan and she wrote a few romance books... based on hockey," Shane said, sounding very nervous.
"The first one was called Game Changers and it's supposedly based on Scott Hunter's career a bit, his character, Scott Gunter, played in the MHL. And it's about him and his barista boyfriend Nick I think in the books? But the second book...." Shane hesitated.
"The second book?" Ilya asked.
"The um second book seems to be partially based on our old college rivalry.
She's obviously changed our surnames and added this whole romance and NHL angle to it.
But that's the thing. I hadn't heard of the book series at all but apparently it's successful and now they have this show releasing on November 28th on this new streaming platform Crave," Shane said, rambling a bit, as he had a tendency to do when he was nervous.
Ilya was silent a moment, then he started laughing.
"It's not funny Rozanov!" Shane grumbled to his friend.
"What are you saying Hollander, it's hilarious!" Ilya said once he managed to stop his laughter.
"You've had a crush on me since Saskatchewan, is that it? How come you never told me?" Ilya yet again teased his friend.
"Oh fuck all the way off, asshole!" Shane said, feeling grouchy.
"Ok Hollander Hollander, listen to me, we HAVE to watch this show together, yes?" Ilya said, sounding very excited.
"I'm marking it on my calendar, it's a Tuesday. I will come over, you make the popcorn, okay?"
"Um actually it'd be better if I could come to your place?" Shane said, again a bit nervously.
"My address is a bit up in the air at the moment," he added a bit bitterly.
"Is everything ok Shane?" Ilya asked, concerned now for his buddy.
"Is everything ok with you and Peter?" he asked tentatively.
Peter was Shane's boyfriend of 2 years, who he'd been living with for the past year.
"No, I um haven't told anyone yet, not even my parents, but we um broke up.." Shane said, feeling bad he hadn't told Ilya about this.
"What! When did this happen? Are you okay?" Ilya asked, worried.
"It happened just a few days back, I came home early from my scouting trip to New York and I found him with someone else. He was cheating on me, can you believe it?" Shane said.
"What! What an asshole!" Ilya said, his jaw clenching.
Truth be told he'd never been a fan of Peter, he seemed extremely dominating and at the same time very selfish as a boyfriend.
But Shane loved him, so Ilya put up with that loud mouthed obnoxious idiot for him.
He couldn't lie, he was happy to hear about the breakup. But given Shane had been living in Peter's house, he wasn't sure where Shane was calling him from right now.
"Where are you right now?" he asked, demanding an answer.
"I uh checked into a motel," Shane mumbled.
"What the hell Hollander, here I thought you have a big crush on me. But you don't even see me as a friend, is it?" Ilya said angrily.
"Why would you live in a motel? You know I have 2 extra bedrooms, yes?" Ilya said, annoyed.
"I know but—" Shane tried explaining.
"Enough. Give me address, I am coming to pick you up, you're going to come live with me for a while. No questions," Ilya stated, a finality in his tone.
"And once we've settled in, and I've punched your ex boyfriend, then I will tease you again about this hockey show." Ilya continued.
"Okay, that's a deal. Minus the punching part. Peter could sue you! You know he's a lawyer!" Shane said, worried.
"Would be worth it to be honest. But fine, for you I shall not punch idiot man." Ilya agreed.
"Now, I am coming to get you." Ilya said.
"No no, don't. I'll come over, let me grab my stuff." Shane said.
And then an hour later, Shane arrived in his SUV, with his 2 boxes full of his things and one big suitcase.
One year of living with someone and this was all he had to show for it, he thought sadly. Feeling a bit pathetic.
Ilya was waiting for him at the lobby. He ran down to help him with his stuff.
As they were going up to his apartment, Ilya couldn't help but glance at his friend and see how sad he looked. He preferred Shane be annoyed at him than look this sad.
"Soooo Hollander, do you want to suck my dick?" Ilya asked, moving his eyebrows suggestively, hoping it agitated Shane.
"What the fuck Rozanov!" Shane said, blushing a bit and a bit annoyed.
"Relaxxx Shane, is line from show. I thought you watched the trailer, didn't you?" Ilya said chuckling.
He loved making Shane blush, it was one of his most favourite things in the world.
"Oh that! Jesus you're obsessed with it!" Shane replied.
"Ah no, you wake me at ass crack of dawn to talk about it, so it's definitely you," Ilya said.
"Oh shut it!" Shane said as they approached his apartment door.
"But seriously Ilya, thank you for doing this. It's been an awful few days," Shane said, as they entered the apartment. Shane was looking down at his feet, feeling a bit defeated.
"Hey, hey, Shane," Ilya said, putting two fingers on his chin to make him meet his eyes.
"This is not your fault ok? And you're my best friend, my house is your house," Ilya said sincerely.
"Okay?"
"Okay," Shane nodded.
Ilya's apartment was spacious, 2000 square feet, with 3 bedrooms.
Ilya worked as a coach now, but he had saved up as an AHL player, and with no family back home in Russia, he had managed to make a few wise investments.
"Okay, so here is your bedroom, remember lights out at 9 and no bringing girls here Hollander," Ilya said teasing him yet again.
"Remind me why we're friends again?" Shane said, shaking his head fondly at the Russian menace who, to the surprise of most, was his friend of 7 years now.
"Because I am strong Russian man who beat creepy man in a bar," Ilya replied, referring to the incident that kickstarted their off-ice friendship.
Shane just shook his head again, this idiot, he thought fondly.
_________________________________
2 weeks later
"Hollander it's time!" Ilya yelled from the den.
Ilya was sitting with a bowl of popcorn, Episode 1 of Heated Rivalry was about to start.
"Coming!" Shane said, bringing a can of ginger ale for himself and a can of Coke for Ilya.
They sat down on the sofa, as the TV lit up.
"Crave Presents"...
Lighter click