erin-go-blah

I’ve got gadgets & gizmos aplenty; I’ve got fandoms/obsessions galore (except mostly usually one at a time and right now it’s totally HR 🔥🏒)

[erin-go-blah]

“There were no nice men in Montreal?”

David…I cannot tell you seriously enough that Montreal never stood a chance.

[erin-go-blah]

"Thank you for coming," Shane said, all business. "I appreciate it."

Ilya nodded. "Get well soon, Hollander."

He quickly left the hospital room of the man he loved, and forced himself to focus on winning the Stanley Cup.

[erin-go-blah]

[erin-go-blah]

[erin-go-blah]

Hudson Williams after Jacob Tierney said “you should look like you eat pasta” but then saw the other guys “looking like underwear models”

[erin-go-blah]

Ilya hadn't texted Hollander in over two months.

Not that they had ever regularly contacted each other before, but this silence had been particularly deafening. The past few weeks had been the first time that Ilya felt sure that, if he texted him, Shane wouldn't reply.

Shane would probably show the text to his movie star girlfriend, and they would laugh at how pathetic Ilya was.

No. That wouldn't happen. Of course Shane wouldn't do that.

Maybe.

Had Shane brought his girlfriend to All-Star weekend? Would he introduce her to Ilya? …

Ilya ran out of time to fret, because at that moment, Hollander walked into the bar. Every head turned …

Ilya leaned against the bar and watched Shane shake hands and clap guys on the back.

He watched him smile and laugh with everyone. He looked relaxed and confident, like a man who had gotten his life together. Like a man who didn't question himself anymore.

He looked...

Christ, he looks so f*cking good.

[erin-go-blah]

Ep 3 placement (timeline snafu aside) is so significant because of the contrasts in the relationships (as well as the monumental, linchpinic importance of Skip to the main relaysh, ofc) - it’s SO sweet and honest and refreshing when Scott is “sure” about Kip, and asks him to stay…it’s a huge contrast to the previous episodes where the adorable dummies don’t understand or don’t want to be honest about their feelings. But right after, in ep 4, Ilya is now asking Shane to stay and we’re like whaaaaaaat omgomgomg…this journey has brought us here PRIMED, NEEDY, READY for this. We have been BEAUTIFULLY set up (to be ABSOLUTELY crushed). 🧱 I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again Rachel Reid you diabolical mistress of your craft. 🙌

[erin-go-blah]

Troy had only one (secret) boyfriend before, felt like he was a bad person who didn’t deserve a chance, and had no idea what he was doing so his behavior around Harris was kinda like this but with cake pops:

[erin-go-blah]

Connor Storrie before he committed (self-)twinkicide:

[erin-go-blah]

Lucky lucky darling friends they *each* get to love the *other* most lovable person in the world other than like idk Paddington maybe?? And I love that for them and I love that for us.

[erin-go-blah]

Shane raised his arms in celebration and he just looked so happy. He was beaming and his eyes were crinkled and his cheeks were flushed. Ilya embraced him, and Shane wrapped both of his arms tight around him. Ilya felt a puff of Shane's hot breath on his neck, and he could see the glisten of sweat on his skin and Ilya kissed him, hard, on the cheek. He was sure, to the crowd, that it looked like Ilya's usual obnoxious shenanigans, that the kiss was just another way of annoying Hollander. But the truth was he simply couldn't help himself. He had seen an opportunity, and he had taken it.

"What the f*ck?" Shane laughed.

Ilya felt his own cheeks flush, which was a rare and uncomfortable feeling.

"Nice goal," he said

"Nice assist," Shane said, shooting him a weird look.

Ilya grinned and shrugged. He thumped Shane on the back in an overly macho way and skated toward the bench.

[erin-go-blah]

No casting rumors for Mr. Neck-Neck yet?

C’mon Jacob D what’s the scoop

[erin-go-blah]

The prologue to Heated Rivalry is so good. SO GOOD. It’s FUNNY, it draws you IN, BAYBEE, and when you reread it and realize that Shane and Ilya make plans to meet in “three weeks, then,” and THAT meeting is Tunameltdown™️, and it takes you another 132 pages to get back to where they are in that timeline…! ITS 👏SO 👏GOOD. 👏👏👏

Knowing what we know now, we also see Ilya being way more tender with Shane (calling him beautiful, wishing he could stay longer and being sad when Shane shuts him down) and it just leads us right to TMD. The way everything is set up…CHEFS KISS, RACHEL.

OH AND THEN chapter 1 starts with Ilya’s POV, when just before he was only “Rozanov,” and he was this cocky charmer but is now ~thanks to narrative time travel~ suddenly a curious, wary kid? SUBLIME! PLZ TAKE ME ON THIS JOURNEY RR!

…In May of 2023, when I finished HR, I: 1) bought a kindle because I knew I wanted to read the whole series (TLG wasn’t quite out yet), and 2) immediately went back to the beginning and read it again. It’s *on another level* in the genre and I feel bad for those who don’t understand that.

[erin-go-blah]

He is so vulny here - ✨years✨ of wanting to be let in, finally in Shane’s true happy place, somewhere he’d only fantasized about WATCHED ON TEEVEE but never thought he’d get to. ILYA BB HBD 😭

[erin-go-blah]

Ilya has this backpack throughout the show; you can see him carrying it back in ep 1. This is the last time we see it and here, we see that he no longer has to carry his “baggage” alone - Shane *simply won’t let him.* 🥹

(This is a book moment too, where Shane insists on carrying Ilya’s bag at the cottage and it’s very sweet. All hail Rachel Reid.)

And for those who know…it’s also foreshadowing for TLG. 🥺

I know I KNOW I’m reading too much into “it all” and that’s fine thats just how I am now it’s totally cowabunga good times✨✨

[erin-go-blah]

Ilya had wanted to talk too. But he was sure Shane wouldn't have liked what he had planned to say. He had convinced himself that the only sensible thing to do was to end this thing between them entirely. No good could possibly come of it. Ilya's heart had entered into it, and that changed everything. It wasn't thrilling or fun anymore—it was torture. He was going to tell Shane as much last night, but now...

"Shane," he sighed.

Shane reached his hand up and took Ilya's, tangling their fingers together and holding tight.

"Will you come to the cottage?"

"I-I don't know." No. No, there was no way Ilya could do that. He couldn't possibly spend that much time alone with Shane. Not if he ever wanted to be free of this.

"We can have a week or two, Ilya," Shane said.

"Haven't you ever wanted more time?"

Ilya's stomach clenched. He should just say no. Let Shane believe that he didn't want any more from him than the hour or two they stole a few times each season.

But instead he brushed his thumb over the back of Shane's hand and said, "Of course."

"Then come to the cottage. Please. It will just be the two of us, completely alone for as long as you want to stay."

And, god, that sounded so perfect. And Shane was looking at him like his heart would shatter if Ilya said no.

So Ilya took the coward's way out.

"Maybe."

Shane beamed at him like he wasn't a man who was in a hospital bed with serious injuries.

[erin-go-blah]

It’s fun when the little pannies have a belt