Birdie_Canfly

[cozyinwinter]

Remember the Conversation Ilya has with Shane about moving to Canada in Heated Rivalry? And the parallel in The Long Game about Shane's move to Ottawa?

Ilya's reasons for not wanting to move to Montreal are that he won't be paid well and a demotion in terms of captaincy and starting line position. So we can infer that these are all important things that he wants from the team he moves go. And Shane takes that into consideration when he comes up with the plan. All his conditions are met.

Considering everything everything that happened near the end of The Long Game, Shane decided to not re-sign with Montreal. And things are apparently bad enough that he "hopes someone signs him". It can be assumed that the backlash from everything is bad enough that he's worried that no one will sign him. And considering that he goes to Ottawa, we can agree that his conditions too are essentially met.

But I think what bothers me and a lot of people is that Ilya's concerns are acknowledged and he's given comfort and support. Shane's concerns are trivialised and he receives very little comfort comparatively.

I keep thinking of how I wish it could have gone differently and I realised that I would have been happy with the bare minimum - acknowledgement. Ilya saying that "I know this is not how we thought everything would be. I know that it is hard losing an entire city. But I am here with you. You won't have to go through this alone. We are also getting something that we didn't think was possible. Getting to play on the same team. I know that everything will not be magically fixed. But I hope we can find out more reasons to be happy here along with your amazing husband and parents."

It reminded me of how, for some people, things are only an issue if it affects them and is their problem. But if it's someone else, then it's a complete non-issue.

[ilyannarozanova]

Heated Rivalry is like Okay here's two guys who are so evenly matched it's impossible to call one better than the other. They're the only two people who can truly understand each other because they are equally unequalled. They are both world champions captaining teams they built up from scratch. They only get a real thrill when playing each other because no one else will ever come close to challenging them.

And 90% of the fandom is like Okay cool love that! Now what if we centered their whole relationship around a sexual power dynamic where the white guy is always dominant and his POC partner is always submissive?? Wouldn't that be hot??? Wouldn't that be so sexy and fun?? And the author agrees with them.

Anyway y'all have got to stop making Shane into Ilya's sheltered-but-secretly-sex-crazed ultra-subby woobified sex toy pregnant omega or I'm taking the internet away forever. And then blowing up the world. Frankly.

[tarawitht]

And another thing: even if we ignore everything professionals say and agree that Shane’s diet is just a performance enhancing diet that has nothing to do with his mental health issues, it still doesn’t make it ridiculous or gives other characters the right to make fun of him for it. Shane is on top of the league with three Stanley cups by the age of 29 and is winning all stars competitions. His diet is working. (I’m not defending the diet but the reason Shane is so hell bent on it is because it hasn’t affected his performance negatively. And realistically more players would be asking for and following his diet so they could be close to his level.)

[amarriageoftrueminds]

The worst thing about TLG Ilya, much like Steve Rogers in Endgame, is that it's such a thorough character assassination that it makes you re-evaluate what you thought you knew about him before.

Like: Oh, actually, maybe he always was that Troy Barrett type?

Trope of 'Cruel abusive white man who uses 'daddy was mean to me' as an excuse to be horrible to everyone so you can't be mad at him because he's capital 's' Sad.'

(It's just they carefully neutered all the content of Ilya's chirps, and not Barrett's, so we never saw it that way.)

Capable of being so nice when he wants something (s e x) but of going right back to making Shane feel horrible for no reason when he doesn't; and sometimes not even then.

Always being most cruel in secret, where no one can call Shane's attention to his own mistreatment because -- as Shane said himself -- 'who else am I going to tell?'

He's so consistently un-pleasant to Shane that being even very mildly pleasant (showing him physical affection, showing he wants him around, offering him food, a drink he likes, making 'nice' small talk?!) is so unlike him that it weirds Shane out.

('You want to... make me a tuna melt?!')

But Shane isn't the only person Ilya is unpleasant to: look again at his interactions with his 'friends'.

Svetlana shows up at his house to surprise him and he... shushes her to read a text from someone else, then jumps straight into sex to distract her. Marly is consistently lovely and really supportive to Ilya, and all he gets in return is 'shut your stupid face', 'fuck off', 'go fuck yourself' (this last said with a smile only because Mary just complimented him). He shows no sign of sadness at leaving them at all, not even Svetlana he's known since childhood; no reluctance at disloyalty to them, because they were only ever a vehicle for him to win with. (Yuna was right; loyalty is important.)

He's good enough at hockey that he doesn't have to be a pest to win; he never has to chirp anyone if he didn't want to. But he does it anyway because.... he likes it. He enjoys bullying. He likes beating people who're weaker than him and then rubbing their faces in it.

And have you noticed they're always careful to include a bit about Ilya's dad being mean to him... right before Ilya starts being horrible to Shane? Why did we need to see those angry texts at the Olympics, right before Ilya lashes out at Shane, who has done nothing to deserve this treatment?

To excuse it; to DARVO it; to make us feel sorry for woobied abusive white man instead of his victim.

Just like we're expected to do with Troy Barrett.

(The one time there's a phone call that's Ilya being mean for once and not his father / brother?, while he's in Shane's vicinity = not followed by a scene of him being bad to Shane. So there was no 'excuse' needed.)

Really is it any wonder Ilya saw nothing wrong in befriending a bigot like Barrett, once he found out he had a bad dad -- as if the sad dad story was an excuse?

And we're not expected to read this as the red flag it is, either, because Troy gets the same narrative armour, the 'I couldn't help being vile my daddy was mean to me' 😥 excuse.

(Can you imagine Shane telling someone 'we are not anything, go away... no I didn't read your boring text, now will you go away?', being deliberately mean to someone under any circumstances whatsoever, for any reason?)

Is it any wonder she wrote Ilya befriending Troy Barrett -- they're basically the same character.

So, depressing to consider, but:

Maybe Ilya isn't OOC in TLG?

Maybe Rachel Reid really does know that horrible character the best.

[cozyinwinter]

Shane in Unrivaled

TW: Depression

Ilya got to be his authentic depressed self after moving to Ottawa.

Will Shane get that too?

Shane won't.

Because the narrative is that he's not traumatised.

He's not traumatised even though he's a POC in a predominantly White Sport.

He's not traumatised even though he's been moulded to be a perfect Asian-Canadian Role Model that he probably doesn't know who he is outside of Shane Hollander Hockey Player.

He's not traumatised even though his love of his life almost died in a plane crash.

He's not traumatised even though his team started hating him after he came out to them.

He's not traumatised even though the one friend in his team who knew about his relationship wasn't happy about it and probably didn't give him much hope about how everyone else would react.

He's not traumatised even though his relationship was outed to the entire world.

He's not traumatised even though his team and everyone hated that he was in a relationship with Ilya Rozanov.

He's not traumatised even though his entire team turned on him after he tripped.

He's not traumatised even though he has to take a pay cut.

He's not traumatised even though he's not on the first line anymore.

He's not traumatised even though he doesn't have a letter.

And even if he is traumatised by anything,

Why should he be sad,

When he gets to be with his husband?

[https-lovers]

heated rivalry (tv) 🏒

First of all, I didn’t read the books.

I liked the show. Skip was cute, and hollanov was intense. Their chemistry was insane and they go through a lot together. This show gave us one of the most beautiful dynamics to grace our screens.

They met when they were young (definitely younger than anyone could guess), and they became fixtures in each other’s life, so intertwined that their personalities have probably rubbed off on each other, too. They were there for each other through everything. Ilya’s family was tragic, but he could find solace here. They were together through the bad years that nobody else ever be privy to because for the longest time, it was only them. They know each other so well that they can have mind blowing sex while arguing about hockey statistics and somehow consider this all normal. A balm to Ilya’s painful world. He found someone who knew him best, who he could trust completely, who knew everything about him. This person is such a good thing in his life that he says “I don’t deserve you.” To which she replies, “You do”.

Svetlana

It says a lot when the fandom isn’t sure of something as basic as her relationship or dynamic with Ilya. I’ve read fics where she’s his confidant and basically a therapist, fics where she’s a bit of an enabler, analyses that they could have been happily married in another life, while others say they didn’t have the intimacy Ilya needed, or she would have laughed in his face if he asked her to marry him. Others think her feelings for him were never purely platonic without delving into how this makes Ilya someone who took her for granted or lead her on (which she was perfectly content to do, as others say), while others hang on to the “Are you jealous?” “You know me better than that.” line as proof that she’s an infallible girl boss plot device meant to reflect all of Ilya’s inner thoughts. She doesn’t have what Ilya needs in a relationship, but you can’t look at his relationship with Shane in a vacuum without treating her like chopped liver.

She’s both Ilya’s purest most unconditional love, but also someone who’ll drag him to the club or into bed if she thinks he’s bummed about losing or his homophobic abusive dad. But one thing is consistent— from her chemistry, to her choices and dialogue, to her background, to how everyone writes her, she’s ilya rozanov’s girl. she’s on his side. she’s choosing him first and daresay he’d do just as much for her. Her love for Ilya defines how much she hates or loves someone, including his significant other, at first meeting. The show gave them an unseen, obviously tumultuous history with a very specific dynamic of him following her around since diapers, where she’s there for him at every single turn and seeing right through him. And I don’t get that from Shane and Ilya at all. I’m not being biphobic. I don’t think Ilya would cheat on everyone. I don’t think them staying friends while he’s with shane is disrespectful. or that he’s ew “basically straight / would be happier with a woman”. This isn’t “Ilya can only be with Shane or be completely alone.” I’m just talking about writing chemistry and history. Why didn’t they end up together? Because the author said so Shane Hollander is his True Love.

Shane

Again, this is going to sound like yucking peoples yum, but I guess I’m also in a bit of a limbo. Shane doesn’t like any other guy, doesn’t hold any experiments except with Rose Landry, who was perfectly understanding. He met one guy and said “this is it”. Maybe this is where I should have decided to read the book, but I get little sense of him discovering what he wants through other people. I know “he’s the most repressed man on earth and has autism and basically hit the jackpot with Ilya, who is very into it.”

And I actually think that’s sweet! I’ve loved romances that climbed the same peaks. I understand the appeal of finding someone who just clicks with you, especially when you’ve spent so much of your life feeling like your particularities are too much for other people. But as a character dynamic, it leaves me wanting a little more friction.

Not necessarily conflict between Shane and Ilya, but opportunities for Shane to figure himself out through other men. For as much as the fandom complains about shipping him with other people, he really doesn’t do much or get much. If Shane had another relationship that was good, comfortable, and fulfilling, what would he suddenly realize he had been taking for granted what he had with Ilya? What would he discover he actually needs from a partner, as opposed to what he simply learned to accept because Ilya happened to provide it? Would he choose Ilya again after knowing what other kinds of compatibility feel like? (Don’t take this seriously? I KNOWWW he sleeps with other people in the books, but based on the scenes I saw it was still very much ‘the author said so’. The show could have translated it differently, showed us a way it could have gone without seeing Shane’s inner thoughts. Just would have been more satisfying)

Because “Ilya gets Shane” is satisfying, but I’m not sure it tells me very much about Shane by itself, except for the jokes about how he loves hockey so much he had to marry it via Ilya. This isn’t bad in itself, but it’s another reason why this show wasn’t for me lmao

Hayden and other friendships

I like him in the show. based on what I’ve heard he kinda sucks. But also based on what I heard, I actually enjoy how divisive people are about him. that’s exactly what he was made for and I can appreciate that. What happens if shane hollander’s number one fan is also kinda stupid? Alternatively, neither he nor Rose Landry are Shane’s equivalent to Svetlana. If Shane left the voyageurs in his second season, the only way he’d know what Hayden was up to would have been through Christmas cards with +1 Pike child. Just wanted to bring that up.

Ilya

Russia’s Greatest Feminist. This always cracks me up. Even outside of this, his characterization (among others) in fandom has strayed so far from the light so I’m actually going to ignore it. The show was straightforward with who he was and why he was. We never really see him contradict himself without the narrative explaining it all to us.

[from3am]

My distaste for Troy Barrett redemption arc keeps ruining fics for me. Wow i just wanted to engage with the E rating and a little bit of jealousy but now I am annoyed that Ilya is so reactive to his poc gay boyfriend not liking the ex homophobic racist sexist idiot. Dallas Kent is the holder of all of the league’s bigotry and described as evil by literally everyone and Troy was HIS BEST FRIEND. And Shane (and me) are expected to believe that he just… CHANGED HIS MIND? Nah, drawing the line at one of the worst things someone can do is still too many lines crossed. Internalised homophobia ain’t going to explain away racism either buckaroo.

[hanlight]

I was wondering if anyone is any critical towards the writing of the long game on Instagram and tiktok so I went on the latter to see and a couple of scrolls led me to a video of someone saying Shane in the Boxing Day fight sounded like ilya’s father.

Closed the app immediately.

I guess I’ll stick to tumblr, Twitter and threads (occasionally)…

[ragehangover]

Mx. Hangover how would you rewrite the boxing day fight? Pretty please??

and then shane finally calls jj

[filmfliiicks]

Imagine if a disgruntled long suffering assistant of Crowells loses it one day, and releases thousands of incriminating emails, recordings and files on the internet, damning not only Crowell, but the NHL.

There is countless proof that Kent’s crimes were brushed under the carpet, potentially causing a nearing trail to be postponed. There is a player in Minnesota with a spiralling drug addiction and no support from upper management. Emails detailing how Ilya confronted Crowell to defend Troy go viral - mainly due to a strong but loud group of rpfers who have shipped them since Troy joined the Centaurs.

Video footage of Shane’s meeting with Crowell and being subtly threatened to stay in the closet are shown as evidence of the NHL’s insidious treatment of Shane as a gay POC.

But it’s also fantasied about by Ilya/Shane enthusiasts. Because if Ilya defended his best friend openly against Crowell, can you only imagine how he reacted when he heard about what he did to Shane?!

Ilya is crushingly ashamed because he resented him, while Shane wonders quietly if he’s not worth protecting.

[lem0nademouth]

hudson did the Lord’s work giving shane a reason to enjoy submission that isn’t “he’s the Asian One”. hudson’s shane is so tense and scared and hypervigilant and hesitant and slow to trust and then Ilya comes along and suddenly he’s offering up his hand to shake. ilya tells him it’s ok if he’s scared and suddenly shane is utterly fearless and unashamed with his desire. shane enjoying submission in the show serves a narrative purpose: it shows how much trust he gives to ilya and how being with ilya means having the freedom to give that trust and experience pleasure for pleasure’s sake and not perform for once in his life.

[ragehangover]

what i think about a lot is like. ilya telling shane that he talked about being queer w troy and implying he wanted the opportunity to tell someone else about their relationship. and shane’s completely understandable response being hey erm. troy barrett the known bigot and bestie of a rapist? that troy barrett? and rather than explain literally anything ilya ends the conversation like this:

[gettingheated94]

The follow-up to this is absurd as well.

Shane is the one who apologizes for getting jealous (something that Ilya never does after he handles his own jealousy with physical violence) and Ilya’s response is to tell him that it’s fine because Troy is very hot.

He then jokes about having a threesome.

When Shane says “goodnight Ilya” (which to me is a pretty clear indication that it’s not something he’s discussing right now) Ilya adds it would be “a nice Christmas present…”

Shane types (what seemed like forever in Ilya’s own thoughts per Rachel) and finally answers “for Troy, maybe.”

Ie not interested but worried anything else will start another fight.

Emotionally intelligent and perceptive, my ass.

[ragehangover]

anyway my #shanethesis (or #shesis if u will) wrt the boxing day fight is that the outcome for shane shouldn’t be shame about not recognising ilyas sacrifices and struggles. it should be the horrifying realisation that his boyfriend and partner has spent the entire story up till this point silently resenting and thinking the worst of him. and blaming him for things that were not his fault rather than communicating honestly

[auf-ner-giraffe]

i can't wait for season 2 and people just shitting on shane because the white boy is sad. AND he has a tragic backstory!

all shane has is having to have dealt with racism all his life and especially in the hockey community. where he works lives and breathes. oh and the homophobia before he even came out! and then the worse homophobia when he did came out! oh and that all the things that gave him anxiety? literally coming true after he came out (and their relationship got outed)! and how even his boyfriend is painting him as the villian who is holding him back, who is not caring enough, who doesn't love him enough. (and sure thats mainly ilyas depression brain and in a few scenes he is like no thats not true to his own brain BUT he often does act like it. especially the christmas fight is a good example for that!) or whenever he doesn't hang out with the centaurs because he doesn't know how to act without giving anything away - thats his decision but he keeps making it about shane not wanting to be out. giving the blame to shane.

however, since tlg focuses so much on ilya (and his mental health which is weird because hr did not focus so much on shanes mental health :() we see how ignorant ilya is to all the things shane has to deal with, ilya says he understands shanes reasons but in many scenes we can see that he doesn't truly understand because he doesn't think about how his life experience is so so different from shanes (eg. racism, homophobia (which again are two things that are integral to the hockey world but ilya never experienced bc hes white and slept with enough women to never ever be gay)). reading tlg that has really irritated me. and then shane is like "maybe therapy?" and ilya is "no" but then goes and doesn't tell shane because ... ??? he was the one suggesting it and you think he'd think lesser of you? fucking hell. yeah shane's communication needs improvement. however, i'd argue that most fights/miscommunications are caused by ilya (rooftop rookie season, sochi, vegas, tuna melt, the 'you can fuck other people'-talk, therapy, christmas fight). (do not come at me protecting your white boy!). and i haven't even started with ilyas relationship with troy (and look; i love troy, loved his story, he is a good character (read: character! learn some media literacy)). but lets get into that, at least a bit by prefacing that ilya having a friend is not the issue. neither is that that friend is troy. it makes sense, yk two white boys with shitty dads (and please do not mistake this as me belittling their trauma!). yet we cannot ignore what troy did to shane / what he laughed about, agreed with when someone else bullied shane and ilya being so ignorant of this - only focusing on troys internalised homophobia, his issues - when his love of his life was the victim? and he had the audacity to think shane was jealous of troy. he came out to troy, who then made the connection to hollanov. ilya said nothing, basically a confirmation itself (tho anything he could've said would be a confirmation here) with which he outed their relationship to a guy who used to bully call shane racist slurs, without consulting shane or thinking about why that is actually so not cool. also why is ilya such a better friend to troy than to shane? you could say its the distance. but by doing that the 'distance' is not just physical it becomes emotional as well. a reason why many long distance relationships end. but anyway moving on from troy.

the ending is kind of like a humiliation ritual for Shane and Ilya doesn't address it in any way or offers any support to the matter in fact he is actually happy/reliefed they got outed even though Shane's whole life is falling apart and all of shanes (valid!!!) fears come true.

assuming most of s2 is gonna be from ilyas perspective... but yeah i can't wait for season 2 and all the hate shane is gonna get because of the sad white boy.

here are some posts that inspired my post and go into some topics more. :) by ragehangover & likeadisgruntledpelican & another one from ragehangover & tarawitht (not HR but the topic fits) & theghostofashton & again ragehangover & ilyarozanovsmouth & ttghiggfgg

EDIT: after some messages i crossed some things out and in italics added some stuff. :)

[gimmiekiss1221]

ilya boasting about how long he can go for, so shane decides to test it by teasing the hell out of him. not letting him touch, sitting on his legs; face down ass up and fingering himself open, precum dripping down onto ilya's thighs. turning back around so they're face to face and grinding down on him, letting ilya's dick rub against his hole between his cheeks but not actually letting it inside. shane finally reaches back and holds ilya's cock up and only pushes the tip in. he pulses around it and lifts himself up and goes back down, still only stopping at the head. ilya is gasping and writhing underneath him and b e g g i n g for more.

shane finally drops all the way down with a whimper, letting ilya sink completely into him.

"fuck, baby. love this fucking dick; fuck." shane groans breathlessly, his hands gripping onto ilya's thighs for leverage.

he stops and watches in delight as ilya's body shakes underneath him, and suddenly he's gripping shane's hips and muttering "fuckfuckfuck" under his breath; and shane can feel ilya coming inside of him.

shane laughs deliriously as ilya throws an arm over his face.

"wow, rozanov. could only handle lasting what, 10 seconds for me?"

"not fair, you play dirty. very bad, hollander."

shane laughs and grinds down on ilya again, making him suck his breath in through his teeth.

"i thought you liked it when i was bad?" he asks innocently as he smirks and leans in with puckered lips.

ilya sighs heavily and nods as he wraps a hand around the back of shane's neck and yanks him in for a kiss.

[themoonandmyman]

quickshooter Rozanov my beloved

[hollandar]

Heated Rivalry — 1x06 ⤷ COMING OUT (part 2/2)

(sources below)

Deadline — #1 Swooon — #2 Glamour — #3 Hollywood Reporter — #4 Loon Lovers Live — #5 Glamour — #6, #10 Variety — #7 Hollywood Reporter — #8 SiriusXM — #9

some more quotes that didn't fit:

[gingeralevodka]

I think what people don’t understand is that the true horror of the TLG ending is the fact that Shane is “happy”.

Can anyone really say that Ilya in TLG is a partner who sees, empathizes, validates and respects Shane’s feelings or voiced concerns? For every instance you can point out, there are 3 examples of Ilya ignoring or mocking Shane’s feelings or concerns. Shane has fully accepted a life where what matters to him should cease to matter, where he has to be the one to apologize.

Not willing to blow up his career to come out when his partner wants to? Noticing his partner is down and recommends therapy but gets stone walked? I’m sorry I’ve been so selfish. I’m sorry for not doing enough. Wow it’s a huge deal that you’re on a losing team now. I should risk my whole career to make you feel more appreciated.

Having concerns about a noted bigot who has befriended your partner? I’m sorry that I made you uncomfortable.

I’m angry that I’m not paid what I’m worth and not considered for a leadership position I’m qualified for? Yeah, I should stop worrying about all that. Why does this matter when I have a wealthy husband and I get to play with him now.

I’m angry that people are calling my professional integrity into question? Yes. “Not now”. Of course it’s a bigger deal that you got eliminated from the playoffs. That’s what I should be paying attention to.

You’ve invited people who are strangers into my safe haven without asking me? One of them was a bigot who tormented me for years? Of course, what’s mine is now yours. My personal boundaries no longer exist.

What matters to me? Who am I? I’m Ilya Rozanov’s husband. I now have an “intrinsic” sense of self worth that magically aligns with what my husband wants. It’s OK for my husband to still tie his happiness to external things like being able to tell his friends what matters to him, winning and me playing on the same team as him at a “discount”. I’ll make it happen for him.

It’s OK if my husband dismisses me, shuts me out, and makes fun of me. He loves me.

I’m happy this way.