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[gazeboliberty]

I swear to god, if TVL doesn’t stop with these underwhelming ass teasers. Hand-to-forehead, I can’t.

They are making me less excited every time they drop something that gives absolutely nothing. I want this to be good, I need this to be good but I’m not sure they believe it’s good.

[gazeboliberty]

By the time Shane and Ilya decide to be together, they would have both been under heavy scrutiny about their sexualities.

Shane alleviated some of that scrutiny by getting into a very public relationship with Rose, but I don’t understand the writing for Ilya.

David says Ilya has a “reputation with women”. Is that reputation not having any because we don’t actually see Ilya having any kind of public hookups. He isn’t even really using Sveta for that since when he brought her up to Shane, he had no knowledge of her after many years. Given they are both around the league and famous in the league coupled with the fact that Shane would have been obviously curious about Ilya, him not knowing means Ilya wasn’t taking Sveta to public outings.

Sure his teammates would have seen him in bars and taking women home but years with no girlfriend- absolutely nothing coming from those hookups - would have been suspect.

Perhaps the book showed Ilya having public girlfriends but at least in the show, tongues would have been wagging after “all these years”.

When Ilya told Shane he never hears about him hooking up with “gworls”, Shane should have looked him straight in the eye and said “And I never SEE you hooking up with girls, despite your talk. Clearly you’re obsessed with me.”

[gazeboliberty]

So we know what the other potential Ilya looks like (the “Ilya” who was good but not quite good enough to make Hudson believe he was ready to throw Shane on the floor and fuck him) because that actor ended up playing Sasha.

Who were the other Shanes? I demand to see them.

[gazeboliberty]

Like Rose, I too would have put away my well-earned gadar (80% gay boyfriends) after being CHARMED by the absolute adorableness that is Shane during that meet-cute.

He made himself impossible to resist.

[gazeboliberty]

Nipples. Out. And. Stuff.

[gazeboliberty]

Christian Siriano wasn’t being very strategic in calling Hudson’s red carpet look boring. Hudson is the exact person who would wear something gender bending from Christian’s collection and make it look amazing. There was probably a more diplomatic way to get his point across.

I think Hudson looks amazing. More conservative than usual but he’s killing it!

[gazeboliberty]

So tell me your coming out story.

“Well, I told my now-husband I was gay, he made a joke and laughed in my face and then I ended up holding him while he cried about his dad having dementia. Yours?”

[gazeboliberty]

I love how Shane never defends himself when Ilya calls him boring, but he will not stand for Ilya disparaging his backhand or his car (It’s a normal car!).

[gazeboliberty]

What if I told you that Ilya didn’t freak out because Shane gently rubbed their noses together and gave him that sweet kiss? He only partially freaked out and got a little wide-eyed when that happened.

Ilya fully fucking freaked out and moved away when Shane TOUCHED his necklace ☦️

😭 how was he to know this dude will become the love of his life and never leave him?

[gazeboliberty]

Every single time I reheat this episode and see Ilya laying on Shane’s lap having a healing moment, my brain yells “THICK THIGHS SAVE LIVES”!

[gazeboliberty]

Shane was so irritated here, lol. He’s like “You know your ass told me they like you in Florida and now you’re acting like you don’t care”.

[gazeboliberty]

👇 you got hard

😏 and according to our rules

👍 I’m allowed to touch your dick with my mouth

[gazeboliberty]

Anyone hoping that The Vampire Lestat learned from Heated Rivalry that the audience demands more skin and more sex? Just me? It’s 2026, we need a win.

[gazeboliberty]

No of course Hayden doesn’t know what is happening during that call. Hayden thinks Shane only gets laid in Boston.

[gazeboliberty]

🕚pm: I hate you

🕚am: I like you

🕐am: Ya tebya lyublyu

[gazeboliberty]

What is happening?! I can’t be the only one noticing that Hudson is getting exponentially hotter every single day. Soon it’s going to be like staring at the sun.

[gazeboliberty]

Look I love Ilya and Shane wholeheartedly and people who give our boys trouble have got trouble with me.

With Ilya, we see his dad, brother and Russia be mean to him. All of them are on my bad side now.

With Shane, the only person we’ve actually seen be mean to him is Ilya. So Ilya is going to sometimes be on my bad side and I’ve got beef with him on Shane’s behalf just like I have beef with Russia, dad and Alexei on Ilya’s behalf. But HR fandom behaves as if the Ilya character is above criticism and the Shane character is below empathy.

The constant dismissal of the bad behaviors of white male lead characters in shows with the parallel lack of empathy for the characters played by their non-white costars needs to be studied.

I see it across Interview with the Vampire, The Bear and Heated Rivalry fandoms and it explains A LOT about our last presidential election in the US. The exact same people who are likely claiming to never have voted for certain candidates are out on social media looking like Neo dodging bullets defending behavior of white male characters “because they have trauma”. It’s wild wild shit.