If I see a fic tagged #Ilya Rozanov is obsessed with Shane Hollander and it doesn't have the accompanying tag #Shane Hollander is obsessed with Ilya Rozanov, I scroll past. I am #strict.
Maybe my favorite thing about Shane and Ilya is that not only is their relationship a massive shock to literally everyone, but their relationship once you do know about it is fucking unhinged in really funny ways. Headcanons for post-TLG related to this concept:
The other SAPs (Spouses and Partners, including Harris) all expect that Shane and Ilya may be uncomfortable with the amount of lighthearted complaining-about-our-partners that goes on in the groupchat, like won't that be weird for you? since you're both here? Only for Shane and Ilya to be fucking thrilled at the chance to take their weird fighting/flirting foreplay to a new platform. They both start texting as if their husbands are other people who are not also in the chat and complain aggressively about each other all of the time. At least four times it turns into some kind of weird infidelity roleplay and everyone else is like ????
Shane and Ilya are very happy to be on the same team for, like, a lot of reasons, but about midway through their first season together the novelty wears off and they both kind of go wait :( I miss competing against you :( where's the fire? where's the drama? :( And the team is forced to invent little ways for the two of them to compete against each other in practice as Enrichment In Their Enclosure. Wyatt is most successful at this by just keeping track of who scores on him at practice, which turns into Hollanov metaphorically beating up Wyatt for fun at the end of every session. This is a fucking grind for Wyatt but does end up turning him into the best damn goalie in the league.
Everyone places bets on how long it'll take for the honeymoon phase to wear off and for Shane and Ilya --- who are, between working together and living together, essentially never apart --- to get sick of one another. But as it turns out, 12 years of long distance and utter secrecy has lowkey made them codependent. They don't get sick of each other, they just start engaging in low-grade psychological warfare over the laundry and then fucking it out. Everyone is confused about how they never seem to have issues until Luca Haas discovers their freaky codependent nonsense by accidentally overhearing them on a plane ride (his earbuds were in, they thought he was listening to music, HE WAS NOT) and is traumatized. His thousand-yard stare tells everyone else to just accept it and not ask any questions whatsoever.
Poor Scott Hunter genuinely and wholeheartedly believes that Shane is the Reasonable And Normal One...until an out and proud Shane comes to the Kingfisher with Ilya after the Centaurs utterly smoke the Admirals at home and suddenly Scott is double-teamed by the Russian Menace and his husband. They also fuck in the bathroom. It's obvious enough that Scott's utterly horrified expression makes Ilya burst out laughing. (Ilya has literally never been more in love with Shane in his life, quite possibly including on their wedding day.)
STRONG disagree with everyone who suggests that the Tuna Meltdown could've been avoided if Ilya had communicated more clearly. I actually think it would have happened faster if Ilya had just come out and said, "I like you and I want to be exclusive."
Shane's problem in that moment is not weird mixed signals from Ilya (although they probably don't help). Shane's problem is that he feels as though he can't take any step forward with Ilya, because Shane is still very much in denial about his own sexuality and future. He still hasn't even acknowledged that he's gay. Shane firmly believes, pre-Rose, that one day he'll finally find a woman who makes him feel something sorta-kinda-maybe like what he feels for Ilya, and then he'll break it off with Ilya forever for good and have the white-picket-fence life everyone has always expected him to have. That's why Shane immediately seeks out Rose and starts dating her: Rose is The Perfect Woman, and ergo Shane's best shot at normalcy.
It is still late 2016 and Scott Hunter has not come out yet. Shane and Ilya's involvement, as far as they're concerned, is the stupidest thing either of them has ever done, and an enormous risk. It is impermanent. It must be impermanent. Anything more than what they already have is impossible.
If Ilya had just straight-up told Shane, "I like you and I want to be exclusive," Shane would've immediately said no. No, we can't have that. No, that's not what this is. No, that's impossible. No. We can't. I can't. Sorry. Goodbye.
I do love the headcanon that Ilya and Cliff Marleau used to have threesomes during Ilya's Boston era. And Marleau 100% is the bro-y type that believes a threesome cannot POSSIBLY be gay if there's a girl involved and has literally zero doubts in his heart that he and his bestie buddy brother man captain Ilya are both entirely straight, despite kissing (full tongue in mouth) over the top of the girl they pulled together (ignoring her for a solid two minutes) at least once (it was multiple times).
Ilya, obviously, 100% knows that Marleau is at least a little bi, maybe a Kinsey 1 or 2? But he just sort of doesn't have the heart to break it to Marleau because he knows Marleau will have a whole crisis about it and Ilya doesn't have time for all of that rn. Also Ilya absolutely does not want to Awaken Marleau because if Marleau realizes that he likes Ilya then Ilya might have to deal with that and one extremely stressful and confusing secret affair with another hockey player is enough for him thank you!!!
This only comes up when Marleau comes out with the Ottawa guys after a Boston-Ottawa game post-TLG, and whilst drunk mentions the threesome thing and maybe the kissing thing while everyone else slowly exchanges extremely wide-eyed looks across the table.
Shane is incredibly displeased about literally all of this. It's Shane who eventually loses his patience and makes some crack about Marleau being in love with his husband (careful emphasis on his!!!! and husband!!!!) and Marleau goes. Oh yeah no we're just bros. No like. It was all super chill it doesn't count if your socks are on :)
This is when Troy bursts out laughing directly in Marleau's face.
I find it genuinely fascinating how different people in the fandom seem to have diametrically opposed opinions on how fake "the rivalry" in Heated Rivalry is. You have some people who believe firmly that the rivalry was always real, Shane and Ilya are just also in love; you have other people who believe firmly that the rivalry was always entirely fake/manufactured because Shane and Ilya are in love.
And they're all correct.
This seems to be because everybody is operating --- consciously or subconsciously --- with two different definitions of "the rivalry":
The Rivalry(TM) as in the media-promoted narrative which caused everyone to believe that Shane and Ilya genuinely and personally loathed each other
the rivalry as in the earnest competition between Shane and Ilya for various achievements, wins, awards, etc.
So, actually, everybody is right. The Rivalry(TM) was fake the entire time. Shane and Ilya (as much as it would have been easier for this to be the case) never, ever hated each other. They liked and then loved each other the entire time. Whatever personal element existed inside their competition with each other, it certainly wasn't loathing; it was obsession, and attention-seeking, and delight at being so well-matched.
But the rivalry as in the competition itself was obviously incredibly earnest the entire time regardless of their feelings. They genuinely do want to win throughout their careers. They want to defeat each other. They perform their best against each other.
It's so interesting to me how these two seemingly opposed viewpoints are both right because, in the world of Heated Rivalry, discussing "the rivalry" between Shane and Ilya inherently means discussing two entirely different things.
at times when the world's wretchedness threatens to overwhelm, i remind myself firmly that despite all else, it is within my power to go to the chinese grocery store frozen section and buy an utterly enormous bag of dumplings. and that helps
eddie diaz out here inventing entirely new ways to be insane. roleplaying a therapy session between himself and his dead ex wife with his mistress is really something that actually just happened. on my tv screen. tonight.
honestly i think eddie diaz could stand to be reminded that his relationship with shannon didn't end because she died. it ended because she asked for a divorce
Why many people dislike Tommy Kinard (and you probably should too)
Listen, I don't like to try and dictate what characters others can like. However, I do find it concerning how quick so many people are to forgive a bigot who didn't even get a proper redemption. So, especially for those who simply don't really remember Tommy, here's a quick recap of him:
Let's start with Chimney Begins. Tommy is one of the firefighters at the 118 when Chimney becomes part of the team. The first thing Tommy says when Chim arrives is 'Hey Eli, did you forget to tip the delivery guy?' On its own, this isn't really bad, because it could very much just be a harmless joke. But in combination with Tommy's behavior throughout the rest of the episode, one could argue the comment has racist undertones. But this one's up to interpretation so let's move on.
Although not explicitly stated, it's very obvious the 118 captain is racist which is reflected in the way he treats him: he only lets him do annoying chores, is a jerk towards him, actively isolates him, and so on.
The rest of the team, including Tommy, does nothing to try and change this. In fact, they actively take part in isolating him too, for example by letting him sit by himself at a tiny table instead of the group table while they eat. Even when Chimney attempts to talk to them, everyone but Eli (the paramedic who ends up training Chim) blatantly ignores him.
One time, Chim and Tommy are alone in the locker room and Chim says: "Hey man, let's build a bridge here." Tommy doesn't even react. Chim keeps making suggestions of things they could talk about, like movies or sports, to which Tommy still doesn't react except by rolling his eyes. Chim then asks: "You just really don't like me much, do you?" and Tommy responds: "If I thought about you at all, honestly, I probably wouldn't."
Mind you, he doesn't even know Chimney and yet he's pretty sure he wouldn't like him. What exactly is he basing that on? Race, perhaps? (Tommy is very close to some other guys on the team by the way.)
Eli tells Chim that the treatment isn't personal and that the reason everyone is so distant is because in this job, friends die and that the team isn't just gonna give Chim their friendship until they earn his respect. "You don't name a puppy until you know it's gonna pull through."
In my opinion this is absolute bullshit though. You cannot tell me every single probie at the 118 has been treated this way for weeks (maybe months? I don't remember exactly). Also, keeping someone at a distance doesn't mean you have to treat them like literal dirt. It's also worth mentioning that once the captain, Tommy and his best friend leave the 118, no probie seems to ever be treated this way again. So if it's about the nature of the job, why wasn't it like this for everyone? So, despite what Eli said, I think Chim's treatment was definitely caused by racism.
Eventually, Chimney is finally allowed out on calls and risks his life to save Tommy's, which basically makes Tommy go: "Oh hey! Maybe I could treat this guy like a human being?" He thanks him for saving his life and from this point on they're friends. I don't know about you guys, but personally I think someone who doesn't see it fit to treat you like a person until you save their life doesn't seem like a very great guy.
Let's move on to Hen Begins. The 118 is still under the same captain, who is also a misogynist. Unlike the racism, this isn't only implied but confirmed.
I've seen people argue that Tommy can't be blamed for not standing up to his captain because that's his boss. And yet, when the captain says "This is our new diversity hire" about Hen, Chimney says, "You know, Cap, there's another way to say that," which immediately proves that Tommy could stand up to him as well, and simply doesn't have the guts.
They treat Hen similarly to the way they treated Chim. Tommy, along with everyone else but Chim, for example throws some gear on the ground before Hen's feet so she takes care of it, not saying so much as a single word to her in the process.
Chim tries to make conversation with Hen and says "I would've bet money that you were from the east coast, you just kinda have that vibe." Hen laughs and says "Thank you for the compliment?" to which Tommy replies: "New York bitchiness is a compliment?"
He doesn't even know Hen and she's done nothing that could be seen as 'bitchy.' Just some good ol' fashioned misogyny. Chim also recognizes that comment for what it is immediately because he goes "woah, woah, nobody said anything like that, come on." Tommy only huffs in annoyance as a response.
The captain then goes on a rant about how training female firefighters is a waste of money and Chim once again stands up for Hen, unlike everybody else, including Tommy, who just lets the misogyny stand.
It isn't until Hen rescues someone on a call that Tommy and his friend admit they wouldn't have found in time, that they finally treat her like a person. You'd think they'd have learned from Chimney that maybe people shouldn't need to prove themselves to you in order for you to treat them like a human being, but apparently not.
Ultimately, the team submits complaints against the captain and supports Hen but if you ask me, this should've happened a lot sooner and not only after they deemed her worthy.
And that's pretty much all we see of Tommy, except for some short scenes in Bobby Begins Again in which he just interacts with his team until he leaves for a different station at the end of the episode. There's no redemption, no proper apology and, if you ask me, considering the fact that he treated Hen the same as Chim, there's also no development.
And yet there are people who will defend this man with their lives as if 90% of his screentime wasn't him being a bigot or at best a coward without the guts to stand up to his bigoted captain.
So yes, personally I think liking Tommy Kinard is weird.
With some time to retrospect, I think that the greatest thing about the Bi Buck arc in 7.04 is that, even if Buck genuinely had a crush on Tommy and was genuinely seeking Tommy's attention the whole time (and not just displacing his feelings for/about Eddie), that means that this is what Buck acts like when he's interested in a man. The confused jealousy, the attention-seeking, all of it. That's what Buck does when he has a crush on a man. Canonically.
...Which, uh. Which definitely reframes 2.01 a little bit. Just a little...
hands down the funniest part of 7.01 is that (1) Chris is canonically a player, and (2) Eddie’s first instinct was to send Buck in because OBVIOUSLY it’s Buck’s fault and he has to fix it
actually I’m wrong. the REAL funniest part of 7.01 is a therapized and un-repressed Eddie canonically being proud of turning women off. Eddie Diaz I know what you are
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