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Fic: You Want a Fight (You Found It)

It’s a good thing our mother is dead. If she were alive, she’d be so ashamed of what her son has become.

Of course Alexei had to open his big mouth and give a statement to some shitty gossip site, and of course the entirety of the internet is posting it now, because Shane and Ilya took the internet and pop culture by storm a few Marches ago, and keeping them in headline stories keeps people engaged. If it were a random comment, Ilya knew it wouldn’t sting as much as it does, and he would just let it go, but it’s Alexei, and it’s Alexei talking about their mom. Their mom, who Ilya puts on such a pedestal, a woman Ilya and Shane dedicated their charity to, a woman that Ilya strives to do the best for every day.

It doesn’t just sting, it’s a shot that’s blasted through his heart.

AKA: Alexei opens his big mouth, and the Hollanov Defense Squad responds.

ily-a

#ilya can't even comprehend someone asking how he feels HEATED RIVALRY (2025-)

fuck-yeah-middle-earth

Lord of the Rings + locations

jaymanclayton

As much as David loves Yuna and Shane, you just know some days he's just happy to have Ilya, who is emotionally intelligent and has a great sense of humour and some balance in his approach to hockey.

They exchange looks often, "you're hearing what I'm hearing?" and they probably cook together too.

409-conflict

Hayden, finding out Shane’s gay: hey man, thanks for telling me, I’m so honored to have your trust

Hayden, finding out Shane has a boyfriend: dude, so happy for you, congrats!

Hayden, finding out it’s Rozanov: like, I don’t get it. At all. But you seem happy, so, okay?

Hayden, finding out Rozanov’s been to the cottage: I mean … would kinda like an invite too? But, you know, when you’re ready

Hayden, finding out Shane eats burgers and hot dogs and pasta and non-macrobiotic food when he hangs with Rozanov: this is a betrayal of the worst kind, how could you do this to me after all these years, what the fuck, I thought I knew you man

weirdplutoprince

Well, well, well. If it isn't the consequences of someone else's actions that I am directly impacted and severely affected by

notahungrywish

When Yuna has her “no son(in law) of mine will have inferior brand deals and management” takeover shortly after she learns about Shane and Ilya, how long do you think it takes her to figure out his money situation with his family?

I’m imagining her/maybe Shane playfully ribbing him about how he has no real financial manger or decent investments and what do you MEAN you just let a paycheck like that sit in your account while buying luxury cars every five minutes no wonder your net worth is shockingly low for your value, etc etc. and he’s not even offended he’s surprised and pleased that his new family is so invested in him and also enjoys watching where Shane gets some of his crazy. Like Ilya Mommy Issues Rozanov is “yes please ma’am optimize my finances and worry about my wellbeing harder” while he shovels whatever David made for dinner in his mouth.

But then at some point while she’s (lovingly) harping on his financial irresponsibility he just kind of quietly mentions that actually so much of his paycheck was going back home to his family when he was younger that he needed to blow shit on cars or whatever pretty quick if he didn’t want it to disappear. And she realizes that yeah he’s a little dummy who spent a concerning amount of money on VIP sections last year and thinks bank account interest is investing but he was also a child supporting his entire family in a foreign country with no one bothering to look out for his best interest or explain planning for a future.

David gets treated to impassioned rants every night about how “David I’m not convinced anyone even read that boy his contract in Russian”.

She starts managing him as well, obviously, and she’s kind of disturbed by how easily he just signs whatever she puts in front of him and doesn’t bother asking questions before agreeing to hand over all his management to her. He just seems thrilled she got him a Lamborghini partnership and an invite to fashion week.

The only time he puts up a fuss is when he realizes she’s not planning to take any significant cut of his money because “you’re family sweetheart” and he looks like he got smacked in the head with a shovel and has to go outside on the porch with Shane for a suspiciously long period of time.

Just to make sure it’s not suspicious that Yuna Hollander is now managing Ilya Rozanov she takes on a few more clients too. And if she specializes in managing rookies with no support network or active language barriers then that’s just a coincidence.

So, I finally finished Common Goal, which means I've now finished the Game Changers series. So obviously that means I need to rank the books, right?

6. Game Changer--Don't get me wrong, I love Scott and Kip, and so many aspects of their story, but instalove will always, always, always be a bottom-level trope for me, and no matter how much I love the couple, I just can't with the instalove.

3.25/5 stars

5. Common Goal--Age-gaps are also a bottom-level trope for me. They make me go ick inside, though I will say I minded Kyle and Eric's far less than I would have if Kyle was less than twenty-six. I loved Eric's love of art, and I loved the relationship between him and Scott and Vaughn. I also loved the talks he had with his goal posts.

3.5/5 stars

4. Tough Guy--I know other people really did not like Fabian, but I loved him. I loved the second-chance aspect of it all. I thought Reid did a really good job in writing the anxiety as well. Overall, this was just a good comforting romance for me.

3.75/5 stars

3. Role Model--There is a large jump between my like of Game Changer, Common Goal, and Tough Guy, and my love of Role Model, Heated Rivalry, and The Long Game. Maybe it's because we start Ilya's Ottawa era, maybe it's because we get Chiron, and maybe it's because I love Harris Drover and the fact that Troy gets a good character rehab storyline, but Role Model was everything I needed at that moment. Again, I love Harris. I love how positive he is, I love how much he loves his job, I love his family, I love...everything. And Troy. I read this before Tough Guy, so I didn't realize how much of an ass Troy was, but even with that, he went through quite a character transformation though this book and I loved that.

4.15/5 stars

2. Heated Rivalry--I will forever love Ilya and Shane. For a book that spans years, Reid did a great job of giving us a real feel for their story, from the hookups to the I love yous. I appreciated that we have little moments that will be memorable to all of us (tuna melts and I'm coming to the cottage and stupid canadian wolf birds and the club and and and and).

4.25/5 stars

1. The Long Game--As a depressed girlie, seeing Ilya recognize something was wrong with him and seek help was everything to me. I'm such a sucker for some good miscommunication, and our boys are nothing if not the kings of it. The Long Game not only gave me miscommunication, but it gave me by far my FAVORITE trope in all books: found family. I love found family, and I love that Ilya found it not only in his new team and his foundation, but in the Hollanders (and even the Pikes) as well.

4.75/5 stars

Extra note: Ilya being a bisexual chaos demon in the books he doesn't even need to be in will also be a favorite running theme through the series.

#game changers #heated rivalry #book review

livnothewson

shane and ilya growing up together

thisfeebleheart

the holy trinity of soft kisses

snap-crackle-cunt

yuna: how long have you two been dating?

ilya: uh. like. one spoonful of pasta ago. you were there. we have been fucking for like a decade tho

signsofsam

My Dearest Love (AO3),

You've been departed from our world for what seems like years (it's been hours) and we've yet to have luck in finding someone to resurrect you (they don't have a timeline for your return). Though I have phantoms of you in my life (15 tabs that are still open and working until they inevitably refresh and also go dark), I miss you.

Please come back soon (you and my lexapro are saving my brain from being messy depressy).

signsofsam

My dearest love (AO3) has returned from the grave (it's up and running again thank you mods you are wonderful)!

My health is hale and whole again (menty b averted).

#ao3 #ao3 is back

llatimeria

Apparently the Congo river is deep enough that there are several species of fish with cavedwelling adaptations (near-total to total blindness, loss of pigmentation, etc) because light doesn't reach where they live. the fuck