Chapter Text
Hi Everyone!
Thanks for coming here to read this fic!
I wanted to include a little background into why I wrote this fic.
I was struck by the idea to write Shane and Ilya as women quite a while ago. I wanted to go the whole Rule 63 route and sort of explore that dynamic. What had started as a generally fun idea to just mix up some gender stuff, turned into an ORDEAL!
Over the summer I listened to A LOT of sapphic music. What with Chappell Roan sort of skyrocketing into our consciousness and then Billie Eilish coming out with a new album, all I was listening to was music about queer women.
On top of that, the PWHL had just had an incredible season and Laura Stacey and Marie-Philip Poulin got married!
I decided that, instead of just swapping Shane and Ilya’s gender, I would swap the entire world. What if Shane and Ilya were women pros? How would things be different for them? How would their relationship look? Their careers?
This fic became less about internalized homophobia and combating a homophobic NHL and much more about navigating a long distance relationship and the challenges that come with being a pro woman athlete... and really just a woman in general.
Since the story became so big, there were some characters that didn’t get included, and things that are very different from the books. Things just took on a life of its own. I kept gender neutral names if I could and feminized others.
I decided to keep Leah and Max as they were because that helped me create a template for the women’s team and I wanted to keep Max trans.
Anyway, I loved writing this fic and it is very dear to me. I hope you enjoy this alternate universe of professional women’s hockey and queer women in love!
XoXo,
PeaceLilies