My Kink is Found Family Tropes

[foundfamilylove]

I've been playing around with some drabbles of a whole Alternate Universe of Game Changers Universe where due to all the humans suddenly living much longer than normal suddenly (like over 150 years and healthy as horses), all countries get together and decide to change the age of adulthood.

This occurs very very early on in Shane and Ilya's hookups. Maybe the 2012 era, but pre-Rose Landry.

Now to be considered an adult you have to be 30+. There's no grandfathering in either. Everyone under 30 will be stripped of adulthood and taken out of the workplace. That means the MLH teams will lose about 80% of their rosters as their players are moved back down to Juniors. Everyone under 25 has to either go back to high school (if they haven't gotten a diploma) or be enrolled in at least 1 college course per Fall/Spring semesters.

Young parents like Jacki and Hayden are now considered teen parents and in that weird middle ground where they're old enough to have parented kids but not old enough to book a hotel room or sign legal documents.

Shane Hollander is absolutely baffled as he is stripped of his captaincy and team and moved back in with his parents. How are he and Ilya going to meet and hookup? What's he even supposed to do in college courses? Maybe business? Sports medicine? How can he handle living at home full time again when his parents when he's got so many secrets now?

As for Ilya, hockey is the least of his concerns. As a now underage foreigner with no ability to get a work visa, he will be deported back to Russia and into the care of his father or his older brother (depending on how bad his dad's dementia is). Ilya knows if this happens, he will die. His one saving grace is the "Blue Form".

As the law goes into effect, there is a brief 2 week window where the 18-29 year olds may obtain the Blue Form. It's basically an adult adoption. They, rather than their former guardians, can sign over custody of themselves to any adult over 30.

When the news breaks of the new law, the Raiders have just finished a game against the Admirals. Ilya only knows one person over 30 who can tolerate him and that he actually trusts not to take advantage of him. He calls Scott Hunter a "dinosaur" for a reason (because in this world, there is an actual age gap between them closer to the actors' ages and not the 3 year book gap because I need it to work like this)

So when he storms into the Kingfisher and promises Scott (and Kip- because the age up meant the kiss happened earlier than in canon) that they can take whatever money they want out of his accounts, and he'll keep his mouth shut and help with whatever work they want if they will just please sign the papers and keep him from getting deported, Scott and Kip realize their whole world is about to change.

Shane and his parents learn who he is with things besides hockey in his life (because it turns out he actually likes some of his college courses and develops interests outside of hockey and sees that there are other options out there- yes, he's still very much playing on a level but just not as time consuming now). Shane also starts to trust his parents with more of his worries and anxieties and learns that maybe he can tell them that he thinks he might be gay.

Ilya, meanwhile, is surprised when Scott and Kip don't just treat the adoption as a business arrangement, and suddenly he's folded into this supportive family with two dads and three somewhat strange uncles. He starts learning how to let himself be cared for and how to let others help shoulder the weight.

[truelovestea]

I am hilariously amused that people are actually botting their comments/kudos/hits on AO3.

The weird obsession with appearing to be popular through deceptive means is really...wow.

Fanfiction has gotten too mainstream.

like, girlypop, tell me without telling me that your first fandom was 1 of 5 specific kpop fandoms.

As someone who was in the middle of refreshing the tag, I saw your fic become public, and then within 10 minutes immediately jump to 10k views and nearly 500 comments. Please bfr right now.

[shanesloverboy]

Why do people keep forcing the narrative that Ilya secretly hates hockey and just wants to be Shane's WAG and stay at home cooking with their kids and dog. You don't get to the level he did at a sport unless you're obsessed with it to a slightly unhealthy level. It's giving misogyny, homophobia, and toxic heteronormativity.

[foundfamilylove]

More serious headcanon

Ilya is the one MLH player (other than the Admirals) who might as well be called a regular at the Kingfisher. He makes it a point to go any time he is in town, and sometimes during longer breaks, he makes a point of purposely going to New York just to visit the Kingfisher.

The bar is one of the safer places for him to grab a drink. The company is not bad either, even if it's usually Admirals, people dating Admirals, or Admiral fans. Ilya is usually treated well there regardless.

One night though there's someone who's not a regular. Someone who's had a few too many drinks and is a bit handsy, and when Ilya politely turns them down, they don't react well. Even get a little angry.

And Ilya's bracing himself to perhaps take a few hits while trying to calm it down verbally. Funnily enough, fighting on ice was fine for his career (he's a baiter- not a fighter, but still - it doesn't hurt him much) but getting into a fist fight outside of game hours could be a possible issue with the league or with his visa, and he's not willing to risk either right then.

So he's getting ready. He can take it. But just as quickly, there's no issue. Because there's Scott Hunter, Carter Vaughn, Eric Bennett, and Kip Grady already standing in front of him like the Avengers. Scott's got his hands on the person who was just invading Ilya's space and is warning them off.

Meanwhile, a grip on his arm- not too tight but firm- is suddenly dragging him backwards, and a quick glance over his shoulder tells him it's Kyle Swift who is suddenly determined to have Ilya right behind the bar with him.

And Ilya should be pissed or annoyed. He's a hockey player himself. He's a captain. He's not some tiny little rookie who needs to be looked after.

But also, as Kyle pulls him all the way into the staff only area, and Kip follows to make sure Ilya is sandwiched between them. And as Scott, Carter, and Eric all give some very colorful descriptions of what will happen to the person if they return to the bar, Ilya can only stand there and wonder just what made them all decide he was worth that kind of care.

[fleabagsversion]

I have maybe made several posts about this before but fuck it.

Ilya Rozanov is Shane Hollander’s equal. No, he is not the second best hockey player after Shane. No he is not worse than Shane. Ilya is EQUAL to Shane!

The names Hollander and Rozanov are always used together by the league because is this reason. Because if they weren’t equals, the rivalry won’t exist, nor would Shane and Ilya ever meet.

And oh, Ilya is the ONLY one who can understand Shane’s situation (because he is the only other closeted best hockey player, duh). Say what you want but this is literally canon.

I am tired of y’all reducing Ilya to a side character in his own story. Just because you think Shane deserves someone “better” than Ilya, doesn’t make it true or negate the importance of Ilya in his story.

The name of the book/show is Heated Rivalry because both the boys are equals in every way possible. Literally, no one else in the story can understand them more than they understand eachother. You can even say that they are eachother’s true soulmate.

[mutinsfromthemoon]

i don’t think shane would EVER reprimand ilya in front of their friends. there’s no “walking him like a dog” in the ottawa centaurs group. it’s the opposite, ilya is a spoiled little shit. shane only says no to him in the private and it’s rare. he’s an ilya’s enabler. he letting his husband do whatever and it’s not like is the worst cus not only ilya is an adult he’s very thoughtful, intelligent, respectful and professional. he knows there’s limits, he probably put it himself. so yeah fics with that tag is very funny is for hahas and hihis but i don’t think it would ever be canon

[totearup]

One of the things the time jump between Heated Rivalry and Long Game robs us of is seeing the effect coming out to his team has on Shane in real time. And that experience does a lot to inspire his anxiety and responses in TLG.

No one will ever convince me that there's not a connection between Shane coming out to his team, it not going well, and Shane volunteering to start an even more intensely restrictive diet than he was already on, that also punishes his relationship. Just like I will always view Shane's anxiety around Ilya coming out to the Centaurs/his friends as a trauma response based on how badly it went for him.

One of the most heartbreaking parts about Shane's performance diet to me, is how in both My Dinner with Hayden and TLG Shane and Ilya mention how they love to cook together, and it's like a fun couple thing for them. It's a point of connection, something they do together aside from hockey. And, unlike hockey, it's something they don't compete about.

Shane's performance diet robs them of this. There's a scene in TLG where Ilya has done a bunch of research to find a meal they can cook together that fits in Shane's diet. And Shane is delighted by this. But, notably, he puts no effort into finding other recipes they can do this with again. He tells Rose he likes the discipline of his diet, and I don't think he means just in regards to what and where he's eating, I think he also means in his relationship.

There's another major change we see in Shane between books. At the end of Heated Rivalry he's talking fairly optimisticly about both of them coming out to friends.

This is at the cottage. Very soon after they've decided they're in a real relationship. It's hard not to compare this with Shane's sheer panic in TLG when Ilya talks about coming out to Troy - not even about them, just about being bi - and also to the possibility of even meeting the rest of his team.

So, what's happened to Shane in the last three years that makes him go from joking around about coming out to his friends to rabidly controlling his relationship and protecting every small detail of it that he possibly can?

The fucking Voyaguers.

[truelovestea]

It's really sad too because since Shane is withholding that information (if that is what is happening) from Ilya then all Ilya knows is that his boyfriend has suddenly done a 180 on their relationship.

He has a boyfriend who went from wanting to tell their friends about them to basically telling Ilya not to tell any of his friends. Or anyone at all.

He has a boyfriend who went from wanting to spend as much time together as possible to cutting out an activity that they enjoyed doing together.

He has a boyfriend who is suddenly giving the idea that "Actually, it's okay if they know I'm gay. It's just if they know that I'm with you that it's a problem."

He has a boyfriend who went from making a whole ten year plan where they would change from being rivals to being friends to being lovers that now is still to afraid to be seen in public with him as friends even after 3 years of this plan. 1/3rd of the way there.

He has a boyfriend who went from saying "I don't know that side of you at all" when Ilya called himself lazy to accusing Ilya of no longer trying hard a hockey or wanting to win and instead sit around smoking pot with friends.

Like, really it's not that big of a surprise that Ilya doesn't want to say anything negative around him. Between the shift in Shane's attitude and Ilya's own depression, of course, he would assume that one more pressure would send Shane running. And like not only is Ilya madly in love with Shane and used to being told that he is difficult and any inconvenience is on his end, but Ilya's also given up everything. If Shane and Ilya were to break up at this point, Ilya's literally thrown his life and career into the fire for nothing.

And I am so tired of people claiming it was only Ilya's lack of communication that caused the issues because Shane never once told Ilya - until the Boxing Day Fight where they both admitted it- that he was struggling either even while pushing Ilya to share his own feelings.

overall TLG would have been a much richer and stronger story if just a bit more of Shane's plot had been fleshed out.

[foundfamilylove]

Say all you want about Ilya's depression being why he doubts Shane's feelings for him in TLG, but I'll argue it's not only Ilya's depression.

I think it's so easy for people in the fandom to be like "Oh, Ilya's so silly. It's just all in his head. Of course, Shane loves him."

And yes, part of it is his depression. Yes, we know that Shane loves him. However, due to their situation and do to Shane having issues himself that he's not working on (because he obviously needs therapy himself for multiple issues in TLG), Shane is not actually doing a fantastic job of showing Ilya that he loves him in ways that Ilya, who is perceptive af, can feel confident in.

Yes, Shane keeps asking if Ilya's okay, but...that's literally all he's doing. He's asking, and when Ilya won't tell him (likely because of the above), Shane moves on. Why should Ilya bring up that he's miserable when Shane won't bring up that he himself is miserable? Why does it all fall on Ilya? Shane could see something was wrong with Ilya. Shane himself admits to having trouble with hiding. Shane could say, "Hey, let's sit down and talk about our plan again and see if there are ways we can make it work better for both of us". There are two people in a relationship. It can't constantly be Ilya's fault when Shane is just as bad at communicating as Ilya.

Shane's character is written so passively until the last few chapters of the book. And by then, he's still making plans, and the plans aren't working (except with Crowell- which I will argue was the one place where romantically it would have been better to see Shane without a secure plan- making his words even bolder -because choosing Ilya over hockey when he had 50+ backup ways to keep hockey already in his back pocket is not really...choosing Ilya).

[shetheyshenanigans]

on my bullshit again about the watering-down of Ilya as a person that some (SOME I SAID) fans do in order to kinda valorise (?) Shane (NOT AN INSULT TO MY BELOVED SHANE HE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!!!!!)

But this time in relation to the Centaurs.

It's a thing I've seen frequently that upon Shane moving to the Centaurs, Ilya immediately starts deferring to him or the Centaurs immediately switch like "friendship allegiance" to Shane and kind of mock Ilya or Shane is portrayed as generally being In Charge of Ilya with the Centaurs supporting that narrative.

Similarly to my issues with the Shane Walks Ilya Like A Dog genre, it erases Ilya's agency as a character by making him something that Shane has to handle rather than Ilya being a multifaceted character in his own right and additionally diminishes him as someone with his own drive, talent and ambition to become a kind of "pet" to Shane. It also reduces Shane's character to Ilya's "parent" or "minder" and portrays him as being exasperated or annoyed with the man he loves and willingly and enthusiastically got married to.

Now. A bit of friendly joking or mocking is a common thing! Sometimes we make fun of our friends! In a loving manner!

However there's a lot of stuff out there that's just consistent mocking of Ilya by the Centaurs, a lot of it the kind of "idk how he puts up with you!" type of boomer humour. Again insults both Ilya and Shane imo and their relationship.

(Why are you making Shane the mature calm collected one and Ilya the hyperactive dumb sexual idiot he has to control? I think people forget that Shane is a Jock, even more so than Ilya and his silk shirts, and he is not a blushing maiden! It is the biases people have against autistic men, men who bottom and East Asian men let's be so fr. Shane is not scandalised by Ilya like a Victorian maid. Yeah he didn't want Ilya calling them lovers in front of Yuna and David, but they're his parents! As far as MY parents are concerned, my boyfriend and I chastely hold hands five metres apart on the couch, my friends know we fuck!)

Also makes the Centaurs kind of one dimensional characters? Kinda gives them a henchman vibe.

I support them chirping Ilya, that's so understandable and common. But at the same time, a lot of the stuff I see is not consistent with a team that have been captained by Ilya for nearly three years, that have been supported by him and supported him! Like the Cens were truly in the trenches for a while and Ilya was there with them, hauling them up out of it! That speech post plane incident was such a motivation for their team, to the point they actually won multiple games in a row and made it to the second round of playoffs, after a playoff drought of literal YEARSSSS. Like they beat freaking Montreal! In a series!

Textually, the Cens have a lot of loyalty and respect for Ilya as their captain and friend. He may have missed a lot of off-ice bonding due to the fact loverboy 3000 was spending every spare second he could have with yearnerboy 3000 but he still supported them! Especially Troy, his Cens best friend!

Immediately pivoting their characters to be on "Shane's Side" (which again, there are no sides to be taken in this relationship, it is Hollanov vs the problems (institutional homophobia, racism, the Russia of it all) not Shane vs Ilya!) does a disservice to that loyalty and friendship. They love Ilya, they don't see him as something to be managed or put up with.

On the point of Ilya deferring to Shane as captain, I think that's bullshit. Shane probably gets the A at some point, that's understandable, but Ilya is captain for a reason. We see in both books that he's a good captain as well, to both Boston and Ottawa! I think part of that is a general lack of knowledge (not meant in a bad way) about the actual duties of an NHL captain, but at the same time, Ilya is canonically one of the two best players in the MLH and an experienced captain. He knows what he's doing! He understands his players (again looking at everything he did for Troy) and as much as I love Shane and know he supports Ilya (bc he's a good partner), Shane also knows that Ilya's got this.

(Quick sidebar to pivot to the general hc about the Cens being annoyed with Hollanov doing PDA in the locker room. Hollanov are not doing that. Ik Shane thinks at some point that he doesn't understand how Ilya's teammates are capable of being normal about his hotness in the showers etc but that's because he's in love with Ilya and they are not currently on the same team. In an actual professional setting, they're not making out in the locker room. lowkey undertones of unconscious homophobia on that one but whatever. Hollanov are probably told to get a room when the Cens are at a club or at a gathering, but they're not going to be unprofessional at the rink. Moving on)

My final point. Shane does not save the Centaurs. God knows I adore him, and he is OF COURSE a generational player. He's insanely good. He is a hockey beast and everyone should fear to be on the ice against him.

That being said! Ilya canonically makes the Centaurs better. Bood is canonically one of their best players. Getting Wyatt, Luca and Troy is canonically a large part of the Centaurs rebuild. Ilya is 110% their star player who helps drag them up, and the other Cens are also locking tf in. Wiebe is a massive part of their rebuild!

obviously getting THE Shane Hollander gives them massive centre depth, and I wouldn't be surprised if Unrivalled gives us Troy-Ilya-Bood as a first line and then Luca and Shane on second line (I don't care to remember if Troy Bood and Luca are left or right wingers) bc when you have two generational centres, you're gonna have basically two first lines and then slap them together for the power play. (Sorry turned my IRL hockey brain on)

But it's important to note that the Centaurs get to the second round of playoffs in TLG without Shane. I'd imagine they win the Stanley Cup in Unrivalled or they'll have won it in the gap between TLG and Unrivalled, but they were on track to become serious Cup contenders without Shane. He undoubtedly will be a massive help bc again he's Shane fucking Hollander, but place some respect on my OG Centaurs' names! They've put in a lot of work, Ilya especially, and they are a good team.

all of this to say. Ilya's team loves him. Shane loves him. Ilya is in fact also a generational talent and an extraordinarily good hockey player and captain. Diminishing his character to Shane's lap dog does him a disservice by erasing his character and also insults and mischaracterises Shane, who is not Ilya's parent he is his husband.

(lowkey a lot of people are wife-coding Shane and wife guy- coding Ilya, bc of racist stereotypes and thinking towards East Asian men, autistic infantilisation of Shane and misogynistic and homophobic stereotyping and assumptions towards Shane as a bottom. They also masculinise Ilya bc he's a top, when this man is much more likely than Shane to explore the gender spectrum and be more "stereotypically" gay by engaging in typically feminine hobbies. Only one of these idiots had to hire a stylist to get him out of athletic gear and it wasn't Ilya and his leopard print shirt. Shane ily never change) (this will be another post in itself)

This got ridiculously long but I'm not putting it under a cut, you are going to read it <3 (lh)

[shetheyshenanigans]

is this a safe space to say the framing of Hayden being biphobic and slutshaming Ilya as him being "protective" over Shane

1. Is an example of infantilising Shane as an autistic man of colour, when he is actually aware of Ilya's consensual sexual past and has had his own one night stands, bc he is a grown adult who enjoys sex.

2. purity culture making people think that Ilya needs to repent for "being a slut". God forbid a man have multiple consensual sexual relationships before he starts seriously dating and marrying someone.

3. Making excuse for a cis het white man, who truly does not need the defense. He should actually have to confront and be uncomfortable with his bigotry, bc he is not being "clueless" or "protective", he is biphobic.

Hayden Pike is not the devil from the bible, but he has unconscious biases and bigotry that we as fans can and should confront if we want to act like he is the World's Best Ally for not calling his gay best friend slurs.

[ilyarozanovv81]

🗣️ STOP MOVING SHANE AND ILYA TO THE SAME TEAM AND MOVING ILYA TO WING OR SECOND LINE CENTER SO THAT SHANE CAN STAY FIRST LINE CENTER

🗣️ ILYA WOULD ONLY MOVE TO PLAY WING IN A POWERPLAY! SHANE SHOULD BE MADE CENTER SECOND LINE FOR DEPTH

🗣️ ILYA IS THE CAPTAIN AND THE ONE WHO BUILT UP BOTH BOSTON AND OTTAWA AND IF HE GOT MOVED TO A LESSER POSITION TO ACCOMMODATE SOMEONE WHO IS JUST! AS! GOOD! AS! HIM! IT WOULD BE INCREDIBLY INSULTING

🗣️ PLEASE START VALUING ILYA FOR THE AMAZING PLAYER HE IS! HE ALSO SPENT HIS CHILDHOOD TRAING FOR THIS! THIS IS ALSO HIS GREATEST AMBITION! FOR EVERY PERSON WHO THINKS SHANE IS THE BEST THERE IS ANOTHER PERSON WHO THINKS ILYA IS THE BEST! THATS! THE! WHOLE! POINT!

[foundfamilylove]

Shane Hollander Pre-My Dinner with Hayden and Shane Hollander Post-My Dinner with Hayden are not the same character.

[foundfamilylove]

I don't know how to explain it exactly, but if everyone in the Game Changer universe were gender-flipped...

Scott and Ilya would be mean girl besties. They're not actually mean, but they like to be bitchy with each other and if anyone else is bitchy to one then the other one takes that personally and will destroy them. Ilya invites herself over to Scott's place and flings herself dramatically on Scott's bed to tell her about how everyone just sucks. Also, your closet is my closet, but why do you dress like an old lady?

Hayden would be that straight girl that tells her gay bestie Shane, "When my husband dies, let's start a llama farm together."

Shane and Ilya would have been exclusive in the first year and flip-flopped the narrative into codependent "besties" separated by team rivalries. "We're like Romeo and Juliet." They'd be blatantly out here telling everyone they're together and in love and everyone would be like "Oh yeah, I totally love my work wife too! I get it!"

During Shane & Rose's get-together, it would have been an arranged beard situation, and Ilya (now as the codependent bestie) would be "third-wheel" tagging along and making those reels about how she's the practice child for Shane & Rose's relationship. (Then making out with Shane when the camera's off. No one even questions why Ilya's always hanging out with the two. It's Bestie-behavior)

Ilya would also do this with Scott and Kip, but it would be actual third-wheel practice child situation. She's sitting in the backseat and demanding they stop and get her a treat on the way home.

Shane would also actually be tagging with Hayden and Jackie as their practice child because that's canon and since Hayden's the person who would carry the babies now and is a player, they don't have kids yet.

[foundfamilylove]

Two years after Shane and Ilya's wedding, Ilya and Scott are the friends they said they would be, and Shane and Ilya are used to hosting Scott and Kip at their cottage. This will lead to the start of a new dynamic between all four.

Shane likes playing mean. (Let's face it, he's attracted initially to Ilya because he's a bit mean.) While Ilya can give Shane what he wants for the most part, Shane will not ask Ilya to do certain things. There are phrases they both know Ilya cannot say or things that they know he cannot do to Shane without suffering a full guilt spiral over later. And Shane loves Ilya too much to even risk putting him in a place where he would have to deal with those negative emotions later.

You know who loves to play mean though? Kip. Scott is very aware that he attracts menaces into his life. He's got Kip as his wonderful love and Ilya as his friend, and while both are menaces, they are also very different flavors of menace. Ilya is playful. Kip can be playful, but he can also be sharp edges. Kip doesn't guilt spiral. Kip also knows Scott doesn't really like mean play. He likes teasing and chirping, but Scott's not turned on by aggression or being dominated in that manner. Kip's got plenty of energy to turn on someone.

You know what Scott does like though? Instead of mean play? Spoiling his partners. He likes being a provider. He likes being "Daddy" and Kip (and Shane) have great relationships with their actual fathers, so neither of them has much of a daddy kink, and that's fine. Kip allows Scott to spoil him in certain ways, but Scott knows to hold back in others.

Scott can see the way Kip and Shane could play together. How they would burn like fire and give each other what Scott and Ilya cannot easily give them. Scott thinks he and Ilya can perhaps be spectators. At least Kip and Shane can have all the kinks fulfilled while still having their loving partners. Scott doesn't necessarily need someone to indulge.

Except, Shane knows Ilya better than anyone, and Ilya has some needs of his own that maybe Shane thinks could be better fulfilled by adding an additional person. Shane loves to indulge Ilya, but there's always going to be that thread of competition between them (the one that makes all the other aspects of their relationship burn bright and hot). Shane also knows that even if Ilya prefers being the peg to the hole (unlike Shane), that Ilya likes being taken apart and then very gently put back together. And Shane will do that. Likes to do it often even. It's just that taking control in that area does not come naturally to Shane and instead takes him work. And he loves Ilya. He loves providing for him. It's just Shane needs recovery time after that.

Ilya is romantic and soft and is so afraid to be vulnerable, but Shane knows Ilya would be so good at it. He knows he would be such a good boy in the right hands. Shane wants to watch Ilya be such a good boy for someone.

That's how it all comes about. It might take several conversations and sit downs. It will take one session of Ilya cautiously letting himself be vulnerable with Scott for Scott to see past all the walls and get access to the soft parts that are usually only shared with Shane.

While Kip and Shane will push and test each other in new ways.

And all four of them will find that while they are each in the respective couples first and foremost, that there is perhaps more than just friendship between all four.

[thewingedwolf]

i think what's kinda funny about speculation/wishcasting that shane & troy are gonna fight is like. firstly. it was shane who encouraged ilya to give troy a shot. shane is the one who is initially impressed with troy standing up to dallas & imo this is part of why ilya is both so willing to come out to troy but also why ilya gets so in his feelings about shane getting anxious about ilya coming out - shane is encouraging this, shane is encouraging the troy friendship, shane is encouraging ilya to make friends. but secondly, and more important to me, is that shane himself admits to having some internalized homophobia. book wise, he is constantly talking about how disgusted he is by his attraction to ilya throughout heated rivalry, but then in the same book troy & ilya become friends shane thinks that fabian looks ~too gay~ and then admonishes himself for that thought. i think shane, who is emotionally aware & empathetic enough to completely forgive ilya jerking him around a bit during the situationship era, would also understand that troy said some shit he regrets because he was scared and closeted and look past that too. and show wise - shane literally sits there and says nothing when jj & yuna say homophobic stuff about ilya. almost as if....shane too has been scared and closeted and would understand why someone else would maybe get caught up in that bullshit!

[foundfamilylove]

I've seen some fanfics along this line, but I want to expand on the Scott/Kip/Ilya/Shane dynamic

Where it's not so much that they all hook up with each other (everyone's too jealous for that), but Kip and Shane are more than fine with Scott and Ilya having a secondary dynamic because Ilya's such a brat and Scott's such a brat tamer that sometimes the two of them just need to get into it with each other. And sometimes Kip and Shane watch as Scott spanks Ilya until he's in tears (and then gets some soft moments with him after) and sometimes it's just Scott and Ilya - because while Kip and Shane understand it, neither one is exactly comfortable with it.

However, I raise the idea. Not Scott handling brat Ilya but instead Scott deciding to encourage brat!Ilya. The idea of a full out "Babygirl/Daddy's Girl" Ilya.

Scott wants someone to spoil (and Kip is never going to be comfortable with that). Meanwhile, Ilya and Shane both equally spoil each other, but they also have a really fun competitive edge to themselves, and sometimes Ilya just wants to let go completely and be absolutely ridiculous. (And Shane just loves Ilya too much to always give in)

So once Ilya finds out that the "Dad" chirp he's used on Scott doesn't quite hit him the same way a normal chirp does, and, in fact, gets Ilya a bit of indulgence from Scott, he pushes and tries out a "Daddy" when talking to Scott.

It fully changes their dynamic because now Scott is encouraging Ilya to be a brat (because it's no longer aimed at him, so hah!). Ilya tosses out a "Daddy", and Scott's the one talking to the car mechanic for Ilya (because Ilya got tired of listening to him babble on), Scott's driving an hour out of the way for the pastries that Ilya likes from a specific bakery that does not ship their goods, and Scott's handing over his card when Ilya's standing at the shop looking at two different designer jackets and can't decide which one he wants.

Meanwhile, Kip's just happy that Scott has someone to aim that attention at, and Shane, after Hayden showed him the viral videos, tried his own hand at doing that thing where one spouse drops the other off at the parents' house and goes "I can't afford him any longer." and usually the parents chase after the spouse and say something like "No returns!"

Only it's Scott, and he's just grabbing Ilya and shoving him into the house and yelling after Shane, "You get some more brand deals then because he's going to be even more expensive after I've had him for a few weeks."

And then Shane's like "No, not funny anymore. Give me back my husband!"

[foundfamilylove]

Game Changer universe where littles are known and where Scott Hunter and Kip Grady can't publicly be together because not only are they both men, but they are also both Caregivers.

Where there's the rivalry and the homophobia, but let's toss in that Ilya Rozanov is a Switch who is much more a Little and Shane Hollander is a Little, but everyone knows that Switches and Littles can't be together either because what happens if the Switch needs to drop to a Little? The other Little couldn't watch over the Switch.

But both couples are destined to be together and make it work still.

It's just sometimes yeah, Scott and Kip want someone to pour their caregiving into. And yeah, Ilya's shoved down a lot of his Little tendencies to be with Shane to the point that he presents more as a brat quite often.

And just one day, Ilya's had a sudden drop for whatever reason, and Shane's trying to take care of him, but he ends up dropping as well because he's worried over Ilya's sudden drop. And Scott and Kip happen to be there, and Scott sees Ilya trying to force himself out of a Little headspace so he can care for Shane, and Scott is just like "Absolutely not!"

Scott hands off Shane to Kip, and he just scoops Ilya up and to another room where Ilya is suddenly the only Little in the area for the first time since Ilya first got his classification. Because the last thing a Little needs is to force themselves out of headspace.

And Kip and Scott both use their Caregiver abilities to give both Ilya and Shane what they need. At first Ilya and Shane are fighting to get back to each other and pitching small tantrums, but after some time, they calm down and embrace the care. And only once Scott and Kip are sure they can be around each other without Ilya forcing himself out of headspace do they reunite them in the same room.

They have a talk once Ilya and Shane are back in Big headspaces, and it changes everything for the better because now Ilya and Shane have the extra support they need.

Also, Scott and Kip are both surprised but unsurprised that when Little, Shane is an absolute terror while Ilya is a clingy and shy baby.