Ilyushka Lyublyu

Having breakfast all over his Tiffany's, munch munch munch, yum yum yum.

[ilyushkalyublyu]

This is a sideblog. I love Heated Rivalry and EVERYONE involved in it, but especially Rachel Reid, those two beautiful boys (noodles!), and Jacob Tierney, who is in a class by himself. This is a Jacob Tierney stan blog. I love his work, y'all. Everyone go watch Letterkenny and Shoresy! Do yourself a solid!

Miss me with bullshit, plz. I am here for the joy, and I block liberally.

She/her, central Europe, queer, grown-ass woman with a job.

Regarding Hudcon: I post about whatever that is sometimes, but am neither truther nor rpf-er. I am a passive, delighted observer. Whatever is going on there is so fucking charming, and I am in love with it. I love them both so much. If they are in love with each other, I LOVE LOVE! If they are very handsy and affectionate BFFs I LOVE THAT TOO. Whatever their deal is, they are changing the game of being a man in public and I love to see it! But also? I feel Fox Mulder like never before: I want to believe.

BE NICE TO THEM AND LET THEM BE.

[ilyushkalyublyu]

It is so hot of him to actually read real fucking books. And like, GOOD books. Angela Carter! Jane Austen deep cuts! Seneca! Like... 🔥🔥🔥.

[samwwise]

[deedala]

"I love this, Shane. I love you so much. You are beautiful. Perfect." He turned his head and kissed Shane's ankle. "Perfect," he repeated. — My Dinner with Hayden (Bonus Story, Heated Rivalry)

[shanyushahollander]

i went back to tlg to reread real quick and yeah shane’s straight up risking breaking an ankle so that he can whoop ilya’s ass and annihilate him completely at some bullshit friendly skills competition for funsies. on a diet of carrot sticks and cauliflower rice. character of all time truly

[shanyushahollander]

but THEN even though he’s been kind of a twerp all day ilya tells him afterwards that he’s always been the better hockey player and shaney’s lost in the sauce/in total subspace at this point but he still makes sure to point out that actually they are both the best hockey player of all time <3 don’t get it twisted ilya

[shnehollander]

mannn she reallly dont give a damn about shane its sort of crazy

[ilyushkalyublyu]

And the tags: #shane literally an asian man in the whitest fucking sport like. yeah shane has never been hurt by hockey shane doesnt lnow anything hes dumb

I'm sorry, but I am going to disagree with you here. Shane is portrayed in the book and the show as "not really thinking about stuff like that" and I think that is a very common reaction to being racialised when all you want to do is play your game.

I live in the Czech Republic, which, wonderful as it is in so many ways, is in the running for the whitest country on earth. My close friend is Saudi, and his name is Mohammed. He could not find a place to live for months because no one would rent a flat to him. Because he's Saudi, and his name is Mohammed and so many Czechs have a serious case of ignorant white fright. He is regularly subjected to intense racism, but every time anyone points it out to him, he says: I don't think about things like that. He denies it happens to both himself and when others tell him it's happening. And, he's a nice person, so he tries to explain it away and see the best in people. So, to recap, he is literally an Arab man in the whitest country on earth, and he regularly refuses to accept that anything untoward has happened, or to pay any attention to the darker side of this country.

I think this is a common experience of the people who are not terminally online discussing racism, and is very realistic for an autistic, high-performance athlete character who is single-mindedly focused on being the best hockey player in the world. Shane spends A LOT of time narrowing his focus down to Hockey, maximizing his performance, and Ilya. This other shit canonically does not occupy his mind that much. Now, maybe this is a trauma response, but if it were, SHANE WOULD NOT KNOW IT. That's how trauma responses work. And, Ilya would not know it either. They are, at this point, a couple of sweet 20-something hockey boys who are not enmeshed in social justice discourse, and if Rachel had written them as if they were, it would not have been better.

I'm not saying Rachel Reid is beyond criticism, but an mlm hockey romance novel is a very different genre than a tumblr social justice post. I think she does a good job of writing characters you have to think about, and whose thoughts about themselves give you, the reader, space to have your own thoughts about them. She obviously loves Shane because she writes him so sympathetically, but he's not perfect! Neither of them is. They are both so right about some things, and so wrong about others. And, she does not write Shane as dumb at all, she just writes him as living in his brain less than Ilya does. Again, very realistic for an athlete.

[wordsonapage2]

In the book, the homophobia that Shane is subjected to in hockey is so significant that he tries to conversion therapy himself because he cannot reconcile being a gay hockey player. Shane is very aware of how homophobic his environment is--that's why he's in the closet and not out. You think he's having sex he doesn't want with women for fun? Because he's too stupid to realize he's not enjoying it?

White people aren't more tuned in to racism than the minorities that experience it. Shane isn't a visitor to North American hockey culture. He's grown up in it. So, your personal story doesn't even apply, nor does it explain why ALL the white men are able to see the dark side of hockey but the POC is blind to it. Treating Shane like he is a some sort of hockey robot is incredibly racist and feeds into tropes of Asian people having less emotions and being socially unaware. It's not cool.

[ilyushkalyublyu]

You make a lot of unfounded assumptions about who I am, and what my perspective is! But ok. Not my first rodeo.

These are comments on a work of literature, and I am saying that what Rachel Reid wrote is not indicative of her not recognising that Shane has suffered at the hands of hockey culture, or that he is blind to homophobia, but that he is characterized as wanting to ignore it. And, I think Shane meets a girl he actually likes and tries it on because he's still figuring himself out. "Conversion therapying himself" vastly overstates it, and shows no respect for the fact that some people have a journey to understanding the exact nature of their queerness. He doesn't enjoy it, so he stops. Very reasonable really. Sad, but a thing that happens!

I would never argue that white people are more tuned in to racism, but I have seen people around me respond to the specific racism that affects them in ways that are very like Shane's. And, very often when we grow up in an environment and when it is all we know, we are blinder to its flaws. As an immigrant who does cultural and DEI work for a living, I have seen that many, many times, and from many different perspectives. I am not saying it's the only possible response, nor am I saying that a person's public response is the only feeling they have, I am merely saying that it is a thing that Ilya, speaking from his perspective and without being inside Shane's brain, could believably have observed or think is true. These words are ILYA's. This is a book where we are inside the brains of two hockey boys. The book would not be made better if it were broadcasting a public service announcement about Autistic Gay Asian Hockey boys and their plights.

I also never argued that Shane has fewer feelings or is a hockey robot, and I don't at all think that! Shane Hollander is positively bursting with feelings, obviously! But, one thing I do fucking know is high-performance athletes, having actually worked with them, and I think Shane is a very good portrayal of what they are like and how focused they are, whatever their racial background, and of that, I do have actual, direct experience.

Shane is blind to some things because he is Shane. Ilya is blind to some things because he is Ilya. They both love each other and neither of them is better or worse than the other. They are both so sweet and lovable. I don't see how it is less racist to treat every character or person as a representative of their racial and other identities, and not as simply characters or people with their own particularities who are who they are.

[mrmnn]

🙄🤨 [affectionately]

[russianblush]

ILYA ROZANOV APPRECIATION WEEK — day three: favorite quote

[shnehollander]

mannn she reallly dont give a damn about shane its sort of crazy

[ilyushkalyublyu]

And the tags: #shane literally an asian man in the whitest fucking sport like. yeah shane has never been hurt by hockey shane doesnt lnow anything hes dumb

I'm sorry, but I am going to disagree with you here. Shane is portrayed in the book and the show as "not really thinking about stuff like that" and I think that is a very common reaction to being racialised when all you want to do is play your game.

I live in the Czech Republic, which, wonderful as it is in so many ways, is in the running for the whitest country on earth. My close friend is Saudi, and his name is Mohammed. He could not find a place to live for months because no one would rent a flat to him. Because he's Saudi, and his name is Mohammed and so many Czechs have a serious case of ignorant white fright. He is regularly subjected to intense racism, but every time anyone points it out to him, he says: I don't think about things like that. He denies it happens to both himself and when others tell him it's happening. And, he's a nice person, so he tries to explain it away and see the best in people. So, to recap, he is literally an Arab man in the whitest country on earth, and he regularly refuses to accept that anything untoward has happened, or to pay any attention to the darker side of this country.

I think this is a common experience of the people who are not terminally online discussing racism, and is very realistic for an autistic, high-performance athlete character who is single-mindedly focused on being the best hockey player in the world. Shane spends A LOT of time narrowing his focus down to Hockey, maximizing his performance, and Ilya. This other shit canonically does not occupy his mind that much. Now, maybe this is a trauma response, but if it were, SHANE WOULD NOT KNOW IT. That's how trauma responses work. And, Ilya would not know it either. They are, at this point, a couple of sweet 20-something hockey boys who are not enmeshed in social justice discourse, and if Rachel had written them as if they were, it would not have been better.

I'm not saying Rachel Reid is beyond criticism, but an mlm hockey romance novel is a very different genre than a tumblr social justice post. I think she does a good job of writing characters you have to think about, and whose thoughts about themselves give you, the reader, space to have your own thoughts about them. She obviously loves Shane because she writes him so sympathetically, but he's not perfect! Neither of them is. They are both so right about some things, and so wrong about others. And, she does not write Shane as dumb at all, she just writes him as living in his brain less than Ilya does. Again, very realistic for an athlete.

[ilyarozanovgifs]

Ilya Week 2026 | Day 2: Fave Look | the bisexual tank top

[ilyushkalyublyu]

✨This beautiful creature!✨

[ilyushkalyublyu]

People who live in this fucking world and use even one second of their precious time hating Hudson Williams are just straight up ridiculous. Like, be so for real rn.

[ilya-rozanova]

he wanted that cookie so bad

[gaygoatshane]

what if we were coworkers who were also soulmates that rose to fame so quickly that when we reunited, all the cameras were so bright that we had to create a little tunnel for just us to see each other and have a moment alone like this

[samehere-onlyone]

Watch your crush sleep, then put on your best "I just woke up too" act. ✅ Nailed it.

[firstprinced]

[ilyushkalyublyu]

So, who's looking forward to getting wrecked by Connor Storrie in literally everything next year?