👻

[cozyinwinter]

Shane and the Centuars.

The Long Game Critical.

I haven't come across any posts that talk about this this. So, sorry in advance if someone has said it already.

If Unrivaled!Ilya is the same as TLG!Ilya, then I don't think that Ilya is going to be very happy with Shane regarding Shane's relationship with the Centuars.

Let's recap how the past few months have been for Shane and his friendships shall we?

Hayden - He is okay that Shane is gay. He's less okay that Shane is in a relationship with Ilya. He doesn't get along with Ilya. He doesn't stop JJ from trying to set up Shane with other people. He outs them.

JJ - He's okay with Shane being gay. He's so okay that he's determined for Shane to be witb someone and doesn't take no for an answer. He's upset when he finds out about Ilya. He's pissed after the trip.

The rest of the Metros/Voyageurs - They hate that he's gay. They hate that he's gay and with Ilya. They hate that he tripped. And they plain hate him right now. I don't know if there are any players who was okay with everything and I'm not up for going through the books again to dig up that info either.

Rose - She's very okay that Shane's gay. She's also okay with Shane being with Ilya(iirc😅(can you tell that it's been a looooooonnnng while since I re-read the books?))

The Figure Skater mentioned in the Olympics doesn't come up again or isn't as close a friend that Shane's come out to him personally?

So Shane has ☝🏼 one lonesome friend who's A-Okay with everything that has been happening for the past few years.

And even though Hayden and JJ do apologise, that doesn't mean that their friendship is going to be how it always was immediately. Or even ever.

This is a man who has had his life imploded and had very little support.

He considered his Montreal team his family. And he believed that everyone else thought the same about him too. But that didn't turn out to be true.

And now pivoting to the Centuars, they are all Ilya's teammates and friends first. And they all seem to be very close-knit group.

And Shane, carrying the hurt from his past team and friends, will probably be expected (by Ilya) to get on with everyone like a house on fire immediately.

After having his trust broken, he will be expected to open up and let them in.

There is also the fact that he's married to the captain. Do they see him as Ilya's husband first? Always? Because while he is Shane Hollander Hockey Player, they initially got to know him as Ilya's husband. Do they see him as an extension of Ilya or as his own person?

I can not imagine the stress of having to be Good™️ because those are the expectations set by everyone around him even though he would rather peel off his skin than open himself up to new people immediately.

There is also the Ilya side of it all.

Ilya obviously gets along with everyone. So Shane should too!

Ilya obviously knows his team. So Shane shouldn't worry about anything!

Ilya definitely knows that his team is not homophobic. So they shouldn't hold themselves back like they did at Fabian's concert!

I feel like Ilya feels that his life is absolutely the best right now because he's out of the closet and is married to Shane and gets to play on the same team as Shane. And he might not be okay with the fact that Shane isn't as happy as him. Or that Shane isn't willing to know the team immediately. Or that Shane isn't willing to be very enthusiastic about PDA.

Immediately Immediately Immediately

That's what keeps coming up in my head.

Why would you need time to get used to the team Shane!? They are not Montreal!

Why wouldn't you want to be friends with the Centuars Shane!? They are not Montreal!

Why are you still uncomfortable with touching Shane!? We are out! And we are not in Montreal!

Shane knows that he's not in Montreal. He is always aware of it.

But I don't feel like he'll be given the space or grace to grieve everything that he lost.

I feel like everything around him will want him to be only happy about everything he's gained and not have any negative emotions about everything that he lost. Because he got his happily ever after didn't he?

He did. Only at the cost of everything else.

I want to be wrong. And I hope I am wrong. I hope Shane gets to heal at his own pace and time and not on anyone else's schedule. And that is to be seen.

And if all else fails, I have faith that the wonderful fic authors will do him justice 🙂‍↕️

(and this is pt 2 of a post that started somewhere and ran away from me once I started typing✌🏼)

[ragehangover]

rereading the part in tlg about running the camp and how ilya is shown to effortlessly teach the kids and mediate conflict as shane is shown to be oblivious and incompetent while ilya also calls jj the real captain of montreal and like. has anyone got fic recs where shane gets a fucking apology for literally anything in this book

[orufreyhaunting]

I need someone to write a fic where

1) Shane is moving to the Cens and it actually IS very awkward and the Cens are not lovely and wholesome right off the bat because

2) there is a widespread misunderstanding when Shane and Ilya get outed where the Cens, missing ALL of the context, are assuming that Shane must’ve been a shit partner with how rough Ilya was doing this past season and assume that Shane was *forcing* Ilya to stay closeted because he’s *ashamed* of Ilya and their relationship

3) Shane is actually pretty hurt by the Cens being cold and distant with him but doesn’t complain about it because literally everyone else ever has behaved like that towards him in his life except for Ilya, Rose, and the Pikes. He’s very much like “well well look who’s inside again” about it.

4) Ilya doesn’t realize the Cens are thinking Shane is BadTM because he’s wrapped up in how happy he is to have Shane around now. He actually does not realize any of this is happening until their first week of practice as a new team and he sees his team icing his husband out

5) Ilya tries to talk to Shane about it but Shane is very much like “don’t worry Ilya this is normal and I’m fine cause I have you” and it makes Ilya want to kill the Metros three times over

6) Shane also agrees with the Cens about himself being a shitty husband when he hears the reasoning behind their behavior. So he just decides to work hard at being a husband and a teammate and keep his head down.

7) Ilya doesn’t know what to do. Shane is adamant that he doesn’t want Ilya to confront the team and that he can’t control what others think about him and he doesn’t want it to be a big deal. But Ilya is also seeing Shane be as sad and withdrawn as he was last season and is actively getting worse- being more strict than ever about his diet, constantly working out and straining himself, being first on the ice and last to leave

8) some of the Cens slowly start realizing that they have Shane wrong over more time with him- mainly Luca, Troy, Harris, Wyatt, and Bood. But they have put walls up that they don’t know how to tear down without spooking Shane.

9) The rest of the team don’t realize how shitty this must be for Shane until the Cens go up against the Metros and they realize that they’ve been treating Shane the same way his old and terrible teams did- they watch as Shane takes scathing insults with a blank face, gets back up without a word after being smashed against the boards, gives a polite smile (the same smile he’s given them when they’re being passive aggressive) when receiving glares and threats from his ex teammates.

10) idk it can go many ways from here- Shane gets hurt and has to leave the ice and the teams finds him genuinely upset and they all have a confrontation- or the Metros target Ilya and the Cens see Shane lose his shit and how in love and protective he is- or the Cens stop icing him out after this and slowly start to actually get to know him and maybe apologize. Idk. The world is your oyster or whatever. I just want Protective Cens but it Backfires Pretty Badly.

11) Bonus points if Ilya eventually confronts them and then, when he hears their reasoning, is very much like “you??? Hurt my husband??? For me??? He wasn’t a bad partner??? I have depression??? Is chemical imbalance not abuse???????” And is absolutely pissed lmao

[as-the-stars-foretold]

ideas that eat at me all day and make me write after like a solid three months of creative burnout

(excuse the writing all ive been doing is writing essays and emails recently)

[filmfliiicks]

a fic where fanon Ilya meets post-tlg Shane and Ilya and is horrified by how emotionally neglected Shane is please. 😌

[mr-raindrop-13]

Thinking about how Ilya’s career achievements are tied to his personal narrative while Shane’s just … are. Like, there’s nothing wrong with either of these approaches but using one for each lead only feeds into the inherent bias the book has towards Ilya.

Ilya losing rookie of the year is tied to angst about going home, going out early at the olympics is tied to angst about being home, and therefore his cup win that year feels like a victorious and deserved comeback after that failure. Doing badly with the cens is part of his sacrifice for love and a factor of his depression.

Then with Shane, winning rookie of the year gets made into a moment of him being unaware of Ilya’s struggles, a good amount of the fandom don’t even know if he won gold or silver medal, and his back to back cup wins are glossed over, as is his third one.

It is only natural then, that Ilya arrives at his happy ending alongside arriving at a good place in his career. He can be out and his mental health is doing better while his team becomes competitive and he gets to play with his husband. The audience is meant to feel happy for him for both, and meant to feel like his hockey achievements are deserved and earned because they come with his development as a character.

Shane on the other hand arrives at this ending through being professionally humiliated. He loses his reputation, his team’s respect, and he’s basically forced to move from the team he created a dynasty with and take a big pay cut. But because the romantic plot takes precedence over hockey, Shane’s career being so narratively disconnected from his personal life means this isn’t addressed or treated as the serious loss it is.

Instead, the simultaneous professional success of Ilya and failure of Shane is wrapped in the same ending. And ultimately the audience is meant to view this as happy without taking time for what Shane has lost, because the book is only set up to create empathy and connection with Ilya’s career.

[cozyinwinter]

I know that a lot of people are dreading The Trip™️ in season 2. So let me give you one more reason.

There is one major difference in how Shane's accident in the game against Boston is portrayed in Episode 5 vs how it is portrayed in the book.

The book doesn't have a lot of details about it. It's an accident. Nothing more, nothing less.

Buuuuutttt....

In the show, Shane bumps into(*cough* gets hit by *cough*) Marlow/Marleau/Marlowe(sorry!) because he turned back to look at Ilya.

Now I know that some people have said that what we see in the show is how Shane and Ilya remember everything. So if we think of it that way, then either Shane or Ilya remember that Shane got hurt because Shane turned to look at Ilya. But in reality, it could've been a complete accident. Just like how it is in the book.

But we don't know that.

And that is why I believe The Trip for show!Shane is going to be a lot worse than book!Shane.

Because book!Shane can say that they've never let their relationship affect their game and have concrete evidence to back it up.

But show!Shane doesn't have that advantage.

Let's say that the reality isn't that Shane got hurt because he was looking at Ilya. Either Shane or Ilya remember it differently because at that point they were both in love with each other and it's not a stretch to believe that they remember it differently for different reasons. If they find out during the documentary, then there can be a conversation about the other person was feeling guilty about it for a long time and even though watching it from an outsider's perspective doesn't make it magically better, it does ease the guilt because there's concrete proof that the accident was just that. An accident.

Noooowwww...

If Shane did indeed get hurt because he was looking back at Ilya, then it makes everything exponentially worse.

I don't know how they'll handle the documentary. If they do show that Shane got hurt because he was looking looking back at Ilya or not.

But the fact that Shane got hurt because he was looking back at Ilya is Not Good. Because Shane cannot say that he never let their relationship affect their games against each other. Because it did.

Considering that what we can imply from the book is that the situation with both the Voyageurs and the metros got so bad after the trip that Shane did not feel like he could stay in Montreal. And this was just from the trip.

Shane cannot say that they never let their relationship affect their game because hey remember that one time☝🏼 where you got hurt? because you were looking back at your boyfriend? and then got hurt? thereby tanking the Metros' that season?

Is it the assumption that everyone is going to be A-Okay 👌🏼 with that? If not, then Shane gets crucified for both the accident and the trip. And the trip, based on the book is a complete accident. Then what about when he got hurt? How is "Hey everyone. I didn't look back at my then-situationship because I was trying to help him win. I was just so overcome with joy at being close to him that I couldn't but look back. 🥰 " going to help?

Show!Shane will have it so so much worse! His integrity will be called into question. All the Shane haters who could be drowned out by everything else gets fuel. The vitrol Shane will face is doubled.

I am not looking forward to whatever they're going to do with this.

Sorry if it got too ramble-y. It made sense in my head and got it's own mind when I tried to write it all.

[cozyinwinter]

Or is it gonna not get acknowledged? at all? 👀

[cozyinwinter]

I know that a lot of people are dreading The Trip™️ in season 2. So let me give you one more reason.

There is one major difference in how Shane's accident in the game against Boston is portrayed in Episode 5 vs how it is portrayed in the book.

The book doesn't have a lot of details about it. It's an accident. Nothing more, nothing less.

Buuuuutttt....

In the show, Shane bumps into(*cough* gets hit by *cough*) Marlow/Marleau/Marlowe(sorry!) because he turned back to look at Ilya.

Now I know that some people have said that what we see in the show is how Shane and Ilya remember everything. So if we think of it that way, then either Shane or Ilya remember that Shane got hurt because Shane turned to look at Ilya. But in reality, it could've been a complete accident. Just like how it is in the book.

But we don't know that.

And that is why I believe The Trip for show!Shane is going to be a lot worse than book!Shane.

Because book!Shane can say that they've never let their relationship affect their game and have concrete evidence to back it up.

But show!Shane doesn't have that advantage.

Let's say that the reality isn't that Shane got hurt because he was looking at Ilya. Either Shane or Ilya remember it differently because at that point they were both in love with each other and it's not a stretch to believe that they remember it differently for different reasons. If they find out during the documentary, then there can be a conversation about the other person was feeling guilty about it for a long time and even though watching it from an outsider's perspective doesn't make it magically better, it does ease the guilt because there's concrete proof that the accident was just that. An accident.

Noooowwww...

If Shane did indeed get hurt because he was looking back at Ilya, then it makes everything exponentially worse.

I don't know how they'll handle the documentary. If they do show that Shane got hurt because he was looking looking back at Ilya or not.

But the fact that Shane got hurt because he was looking back at Ilya is Not Good. Because Shane cannot say that he never let their relationship affect their games against each other. Because it did.

Considering that what we can imply from the book is that the situation with both the Voyageurs and the metros got so bad after the trip that Shane did not feel like he could stay in Montreal. And this was just from the trip.

Shane cannot say that they never let their relationship affect their game because hey remember that one time☝🏼 where you got hurt? because you were looking back at your boyfriend? and then got hurt? thereby tanking the Metros' that season?

Is it the assumption that everyone is going to be A-Okay 👌🏼 with that? If not, then Shane gets crucified for both the accident and the trip. And the trip, based on the book is a complete accident. Then what about when he got hurt? How is "Hey everyone. I didn't look back at my then-situationship because I was trying to help him win. I was just so overcome with joy at being close to him that I couldn't but look back. 🥰 " going to help?

Show!Shane will have it so so much worse! His integrity will be called into question. All the Shane haters who could be drowned out by everything else gets fuel. The vitrol Shane will face is doubled.

I am not looking forward to whatever they're going to do with this.

Sorry if it got too ramble-y. It made sense in my head and got it's own mind when I tried to write it all.

[cozyinwinter]

It will be interesting to see how season 2 adapts Yuna Hollander. I was going through the Heated Rivalry book and realised that show!Yuna is a lot more involved in Shane's career than book!Yuna.

She tells Shane that a lot of kids are looking upto him, kids that don't see themselves here a lot.

She gets accompanies him to most of his shoots.

We can infer that brands that reach out to Shane go through her because she is the one telling him about Rolex and Wimbledon.

And when all four of them are having pasta, she is the one delving into planning and talking about optics.

I find it really hard to believe that show!Yuna, who spent most of Shane's career making sure that he is successful on and off the ice, who wants Shane to be a role model for kids like him, is going to be okay with Shane going to Ottawa with a pay cut and no captaincy or assistant captaincy.

Considering that there are already a lot of differences between the book and the show, I'm a little optimistic. But that would mean that there will be major changes.

[cozyinwinter]

Unrivaled Epilogue:

Shane and Ilya finally have a child either via adoption or surrogacy.

Shane takes one look at the child and gets the revelation that nothing more is important in life than being with his child.

He quits hockey to take care of the child while Ilya continues to play on.

His life is fulfilled taking care of his husband and his baby.

Thereby completing his arc with a husband and 2.5 kids(1 for now, more in the future obviously), picket fence and a dog.

Life has never been better.

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

There is a lot that I'm bitter about regarding TLG and its treatment of Shane, but I could live with it... IF the fandom also took it seriously and had plenty of fics addressing it. And yet, crickets.

So I am wondering if you or any of your followers have fic recs that take Shane's pain in TLG seriously, preferably something salty that calls out the people who belittled it (namely Ilya and Yuna). I don't have many high hopes but I REALLY need some salt to go with the angst, some moments of Shane getting rightfully angry and the narrative rewarding him for it instead of shaming him...

At this point I would take a Shane divorce fic too - I like Ilya, and the fandom version of him is usually a pretty good boyfriend, but TLG Ilya frustrates me so much!! Why is Shane even still with him, if that's how he is treated by the supposed love of his life...

I don’t have any fic recs but I’m gonna post this here to see if anyone else has fics they want to rec.

I honestly don’t read all that much heated rivalry fic and I don’t read any fic from post tlg because it always reminds me of how angry the canon ending makes me. My rule with fandom and art in general is that I need to take a step back if I’m not able to engage with it in a way that’s healthy. If I think about what happens in canon for too long I get Viscerally Angry, which isn’t a healthy relationship to be having with art, so I have to take a step back. I read very little fic as a default and I read absolutely no fic dealing with tlg ending, so I’m not gonna be good for any recs.

See, I also agree that Shane getting forced out of Montreal can be well done. You can explore it in a way that validates and inspects the pain of it. I just know that I personally will not have the healthiest experience with those fics, so I dont read them myself. Someone else may have some though!

[halflesbianhalfanger]

nothing like clicking on a boxing day re-write, hoping for catharsis, and instead finding yet another shane apologises and cries for 1000 words whilst Ilya stands there and goes. Yeah, this is a good resolution to this conflict 🤩

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

You briefly mentioned how Shane acts like he's been one wish willowed in the tags and now I imagine a horror version of tlg where everything about how Shane acts after being outed is a result of how Ilya in a desperate moment wished for Shane to be with being out/choosing him over hockey/something similar.

So I was thinking about how I would execute this kind of storyline and I think I personally would not have Ilya involved in stepford wifing Shane at all. Make it a totally unrelated third party, like a parasocial fan or something. Because then the horror is localized in the fact that no one notices what happened to him. Like, these are the broad strokes I’m thinking of right now—trigger warning for the rape/non con inherent in this kind of premise:

Diverge from obsession’s set up. Make it magical realism. Witches are rare but they exist and curses are real and a known part of life. Celebrities usually have precautions taken against curses but someone gets a piece of Shane’s hair or some shit that gives them a direct link to him, bypassing any defenses.

Shane gets hit with some archaic bullshit that has been historically used to stepford wife your partner. She doesn’t love you back? She doesn’t respect you as the head of her household? Haha, don’t worry, we can fix that. It’s very, very, very illegal now but people can still do it.

Ilya has no part in cursing Shane. He didn’t know it was happening in advance. He wasn’t told about it after. This was a sincerely unilateral third party that wanted to either hurt Shane or make Ilya happy, and they thought this would do it. They are unfortunately right.

The thing about this storyline that interests me would be that it could really showcase the horror of tlg’s ending. To do that properly, I think it’d be important to not make anyone’s actions better or worse than they actually are. Take as many direct quotes from canon as possible. Play out the scenes as they are written. Let the horror be what actually, literally happens to Shane in canon. Soften nothing, harden nothing, make it be the actual ending of the long game. Show the horror in it

And specifically the horror is that Shane’s just hollowed out into a smiling, vacuously happy fuck doll and quite literally nobody in his life notices. That’s actually not fully accurate—people notice. They’re just happy about it. They like him so much better like this.

Shane’s “happiness” is never real. It’s not that he feels the happiness he claims to have or believes anything he’s doing or saying. He is fully conscious. He is aware. He is locked behind a pane of glass. He has no control over anything that he’s doing or saying. But it’s still him on the inside. He never gets to sink behind false feelings of happiness—he has to live out the nightmare and feel everything happening to him.

Again, magic is a known element in this world. When he first gets cursed, Shane is certain that Ilya or his parents or anyone is going to notice that his entire personality has disappeared overnight and realize what happened. They’ll hire a curse breaker and he’ll be saved.

They don’t.

He isn’t.

Again, keep this as close to canon as possible. Take direct quotes. Use the exact words they use in canon as much as possible. People notice he’s different and they’re so, so glad. He’s so much better than he was before. He seems so, so happy now. Everyone’s so relieved.

Shane spends the entire time trying to fight the curse. He gets close to regaining even a little bit of control over his body if he focuses on specific things that make him miserable and desperate and afraid. Those few statements in canon suggesting unhappiness or worry or fear are the only brief flashes of control he gets. Moments like when he says he’s worried no one will ever sign him again. He barely manages to choke the words out. He’s hoping that someone, anyone, will notice how his giddy, lovesick happiness in every other moment doesn’t comport with these flashes of unhappiness. He thinks maybe if someone just asked him a single fucking follow up question about how he feels or what’s been happening in his life that maybe the sudden switch from expressing unhappiness to expressing delirious, saccharine, lovesick joy would make the curse clear, or maybe he’d manage to gain more control and tell someone he’s cursed. He’s reaching out a hand and hoping someone grabs it.

Ilya fucks him happy, Ilya fucks him happy, Ilya fucks him happy

Again, make it as close to canon as possible. And that means emphasizing that Ilya has never been happier. Use exact words from the book. He is overwhelmed with happiness. This is his perfect day. His life has never been better.

Shane’s So Happy Too. He’s Never Been Happier. Make Him The Butt Of The Joke, He’s Laughing Too. Post Him On Instagram, Make The Sex Tape, Take Him To Bed. Fuck Him Happy, Fuck Him Happy, Fuck Him Happy.

On the inside, Shane is just. Decaying. He is a ghost haunting himself and not a single person in his life has realized that they’re talking to his fucking corpse.

Shane’s isolated from Hayden, J.J., and Rose. They’re all in a different city, and Ilya didn’t like them all that much. He’s got his husband’s friends now anyway. The Centaurs are all he needs.

There’s a subset of people online who sees his online presence 180 from Shane Fucking Hollander to Ilya’s giggling, lovesick husband on Ilya’s Instagram and the Centaurs’ social media accounts and they’re like “there is no goddamn way that guy didn’t get stepford wife’d.” It’s an online conspiracy theory with a moderate following but it doesn’t have any real traction.

Ilya has a brief moment of pause when he sees it. The theory is that he had Shane cursed and that their relationship was never real to begin with and he knows that’s not true. And there’s never been a case of someone doing this to someone else’s spouse. Like. The entire motive of this kind of curse is for sick, controlling fucks to do it for their own personal benefit. He’d never do this to Shane, and no one has any reason to do this for him. What would even be the benefit? Shane’s been… different, but that’s because he’s so much happier now that they’re out and married and playing for the same team. He says it all the time. This curse thing can’t be true.

Of Course It’s Not True. They’re Just Homophobic Fucks Who Want To Diminish The Life They’ve Built Together. Shane’s Never Been Happier. But, You, Know, Ilya, You Could Make Me Even Happier ;)

Ilya fucks Shane happy, Ilya fucks Shane happy, Ilya fucks Shane happy

Shane gets out of it but he’s not saved by any of his loved ones. Again, the horror is just literally what happens in tlg. Everyone’s so glad for him. He’s so much better now that he’s learned to let go and let himself be happy.

This shit gets broken by a random fucking witch who’s seen this curse before and clocks the signs. Again, witches in general are rare and this curse is extremely rare because it was made fuck-off illegal decades ago. Very few people even remember how to cast it and modern cases are few and far between. But this random fucking witch decides to risk catching a case and just curse breaks Shane without his prior knowledge or consent because if she’s right the man is in hell right now. And it works. It’s taken months, but he’s finally back in control of his own body

Crash out. Holy fuck crash out

Ilya has no idea what that spell was and tries to comfort Shane over whatever the fuck just happened and Shane does not want him to touch him. He does not need to be fucked better right now Jesus Jesus Jesus

I think one of the first things he does in his panic is wrench his wedding ring off. It wasn’t even him who said I Do.

Ilya gets arrested and then released when Shane tells the police that he’s pretty sure Ilya had no idea it even happened. A stranger cast the spell and Ilya hasn’t shown a single indication of knowing it happened in months.

But that’s also sort of the issue with their relationship now. Ilya couldn’t figure out that Shane got body snatched in months. And that entire time, Shane’s been locked inside his own skull watching as he’s the butt of every joke, as his reputation’s been shredded without Ilya caring, as he’s not been consulted on a single decision Ilya makes, as his every issue was solved with Ilya bending him over the nearest flat surface and fucking him right. He can’t. He can’t do this right now. Maybe not ever again.

I don’t think there’s a happy ending you could claw out of this one. Like. His marriage would be annulled because he didn’t actually consent to it. His contract with the Centaurs would be invalid for the same reason. But I don’t see him being able to go back to hockey after this, at least not immediately. Like. He’d need time to deal with the fact that he got turned into a glorified fuck doll and everyone in his life told him how they liked him so much better like this. It’d be a very miserable and painful road forward.

[monkeysnplaybills]

the stepford wife curse au (master post)

POST 1 (The utterly horrifying original concept)

Post 2 (Running off with Rose)

Meme Post 1 & Post 3 (Memes about the curse and TLG Ilya, Shane’s reaction once the curse is broken, the curse bodying all the fun we were having with the Sochi Muppet AU, Shane and Rose and guns, fans figuring out the curse, Shane realizing everyone liked him better cursed, and us and Syn’s AUs; & the timing of the curse, no one saving Shane, or the hopeful ending of Ilya coming out of his depression and realizing)

Post 4 (Shane is done with Everyone.)

Post 5 (But The Muppets will save Shane, right? RIGHT?? - in reference to the AU of the Sochi Outing AU where Shane stars in a Muppets movie pre-Sochi, which was what most of the posts and asks were about the day before this AU emerged)

Post 6 (Book recommendation)

Post 7 (The Stanley Cup Wish end of the curse)

Post 8 (Waking up to this instead of the Muppets)

Post 9 (Shane can’t do anything that’s not for Ilya’s happiness)

Post 10 (The terrifying, looming threat of a threesome)

Post 11 (Syn enjoys the torment nexus)

Meme Post 2 (Memes about people watching the Centaurs Cup win, Cup Wishes, Trauma!, Shane becoming Sasquatch, TLG Shane, Magical Drug Tests, Ilya trying to fuck Shane better, “conspiracy theories” and more on Shane and friendships post-curse in the tags)

Post 12 (The sex of it all and Ilya realizing Shane isn’t “happy” in a more redemptive ending)

Post 13 (About the Curse: the feeling and history of it)

Post 14 (On Shane losing hope, the magic of the Bell Centre and Ilya realizing slowly)

Post 15 (The arena happy to have Shane back)

Post 16 (Forcible outings and everyone believing the change was from the closet)

Post 17 (A Magical Arena Saving Shane AU of the AU)

Post 18 (The Magical Arena Save AU of the AU - how it saves Shane)

Post 19 (The fic is currently being written!)

Meme Post 3 (A meme about waking up to the Stepford Wife Curse AU after the Muppets)

Post 20 (The healing power of the stepford wife curse au)

Post 21 (The curse is only so good at mimicking Shane and it has its limits)

Post 22 (What if a stalker figured it out?)

Post 23 (He can’t even cry.)

Post 24 (Shane waking up, exonerating Ilya and getting him on suicide watch)

Post 25 (The legal implications of the curse, Duty of Care, and the Centaurs’ possible culpability)

Post 26 (On the potential fallout for the Centaur players, and who gets to come see Shane)

Post 27 (On curse casting, curse tracing, and who cast it)

Post 28 (Shane’s first days un-possessed)

Post 29 (Can they ever have a relationship again?)

Post 30 (Shane has been reverse changeling child-ed)

Post 31 (What happens when the curse's spouse dies, could the curse be "useful" in war-torn areas, and more on curse history and rarity)

Post 32 (When the version you’ve been replaced with is “better” and “more complete” than you (also talks about Izuku in pez dispenser debris, one of polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup's fics in the Boku No Hero Academia fandom))

Post 33 (On Ilya’s legal liability, his path to recovery, Shane and Ilya reaching out to each other, and a possible way back together)

Post 34 (The Game Changers novels in their genre, and how Shane doesn’t have a happy ending in The Long Game)

Meme Post 4 (Includes original recipe curse AU and the Magical Arena Save AU of the AU - Memes about Montreal, The Bell Centre, the poor Intern Witch trying to deal with this all, Ilya realizing, Shane post-curse and the Centaurs failing their duty of care)

Post 35 (Shane’s diet and exercise regime during the curse)

Meme Post 5 (Meme about the Centaurs taking Shane despite the warning signs, and Syn always steering into the Torment Nexus)

Meme Post 6 (Meme about how magic is the only answer for The Long Game)

Post 36 (The curse’s treatment of friendship, the Pike twins’ cup wishes, and JJ & Hayden’s experiences of the curse year, and Shane being released)

Post 37 (info still being added)

Post 38 (info still being added)

Post 39 (info still being added)

[Up-to-date as of August 1, 2026. To check for more, visit polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup's tag #the stepford wife curse au]

[ttghiggfgg]

Does anyone have any fic recs that deal with ummmm how maybe not good Shane was treated by a lot of people but honestly mostly Ilya?

The show gave me a different idea of what the relationship looked like and in both books I just feel Shane's pain is never addressed?

I would love to see fics where Ilya maybe realises that he has been hurting Shane because I saw Shane constantly concerned with Ilyas happiness and wellbeing, constantly defending him and fighting for them always putting his own wants to to side and even fighting with friends and was willing if needed to fight with family and the world of hockey....... And Ilya who......took the $10 million contract and captaincy, citizenship (in the country he wanted. This was ALL Ilya's idea?? He said Canada, he refused Montreal??), new family, and finally the friendship network he was craving (that despite fandom he doesn't seem to have had with the Bears). Ilya is a better support to Troy who was cruel to Shane than he is to Shane himself it's so weird.

Then when I saw that my headcanon that Shane might be Autistic was actually canon I wondered if maybe hearing that would make Ilya re-evaluate things in their relationship, looking back and wondering how Shane was interpretating things might help him see that he was being an asshole at times.

Also I think fics exploring that Ilya's best friends are Svetlana (who he used to fuck and cares deeply for), Troy (who used to bully Shane) and maybe depending on your canon Cliff (who he used to go clubbing and hooking up with girls with). What a cocktail of emotions that creates. How do Svetlana and Ilya handle the transition into complete platonic friendship and the physical touch that is or isn't appropriate? Or how do Troy and Ilya navigate what level of joking around about Shane is okay? What level of talking about his and Shane's relationship to Troy is Shane comfortable with? Does he want a guy who used to call him slurs knowing what he likes in bed? What about Cliff who only knows how to hang out in clubs and thinks Shane is cool but needs to chill?

How do they deal with the change to their dynamic? From equals, rival captains to captain and subordinate. How does that affect their sexual relationship? Does Shane feel weird about submitting to Ilya in both his workplace and bed? Will he clam up the first time Ilya tells him to call him Captain in bed? How does he feel about the pay drop does it cause his brain to panic because that is a massive change and it also feeds into this change in dynamics.

Will Ilya ever address how so many of his thoughts in The Long Game about Shane are either wrong or a little mean and dismissive??

I've seen some fantastic posts on here about it but not many fics that still don't put the responsibility on Shane.

[cozyinwinter]

the moon is very moony tonight

[cupcakesandhags]

okay but for sure baby shane on his first hockey team got to play on the ice during an intermission at a centaurs game in the 90s. he scored a goal and did a cute little celebration jump (and immediately lost his balance and fell on his butt). harris pulls the clip from somewhere deep in the centaurs archive. he makes an insta post after shane's first game with the cens and includes the video with a caption about tonight being shane hollander's second ever centaurs goal.

ilya just barely manages to keep himself from sobbing in delight at the video.

[poppy5991]

Hiragi holding Suo up by the scruff of his oversized coat like a runaway kitten send post

[cozyinwinter]

Similar to how vegetables sometimes form shapes, headcanon that when Ilya is hunting for mangoes, he stumbles upon a heart shaped mango and gets it.

When Shane see what Ilya got for him, he starts buffering because the love of his life is holding the other love of his life(ha!) shaped like love. 🥭❤️