#ssosh

[gurlsrool]

I’m glad to see some conversations about the implications of casting Shane as the team mom. Because while I don’t think we should rag on specific fics, I DO think we should have conversations about why certain fic tropes are popular in this fandom and why others are despised. Often that “why” is rooted in heteronormativity and racism.

The team mom one in particular is interesting to me because like…maybe I’m simply too gay but it never even occurred to me that Ilya being a “team dad” means that Shane would fall into a team mom role? The way I conceive of secret society of stickhandlers is that Ilya and Bood are the team dads and Shane is, at best, a reluctant step dad.

Even aside from the heteronormativity at play, it’s important to me to emphasize Bood’s leadership role. He was drafted to Ottawa in 2014 and has the A, he’s been captaining that ship since it was sinking! And while Ilya was depressed, closeted, and isolated, Bood was the social heart of the team.

It’s nice to think of a Centaurs post TLG where Ilya and Bood get to truly be captains together. But even then, I don’t think of either of them as the mom? Because they’re…men…and there can indeed be two dads

[fybaekhyun]

Happy Birthday Baekhyun ♡ © ssosh | do not edit.

[gurlsrool]

Like Ilya, I’m a queer person with trauma and depression. This informs the way I write his character in fics. My goal is to portray him as a nuanced human being, not to make him a perfect sex doll to fulfill your fantasies.

I am in fact part of this fandom and I see y’all shitting on me for the bit in secret society of stickhandlers where Ilya doesn’t provide extensive aftercare for the women he sleeps with. People keep telling me/posting that it’s OOC and upsetting that he tells one woman she can go to a 7/11 down the street for food after sex and he chucks Gatorade at another as she’s walking out the door.

It’s OOC? When in canon he doesn’t provide food after sex for Shane, who he actually cares about, for like SIX YEARS??? Ilya being a fuckboy is part of his character in the early years. Why is it considered a wrongdoing to portray that? I can’t help but think people are upset because they like to imagine he’d be a perfect angel if THEY slept with him and I’m shattering that illusion. Disrespectfully: boo fucking hoo!

We also do have to think about how Ilya’s treatment of the women he sleeps with informs his relationship with Shane. If Ilya is an amazing partner after sex and super kink informed and conscious of the importance of aftercare…what does that say about his dynamic with Shane in the early years? Nothing good imo!

Feel free to have different HCs from me. Think what you want. But please stop ragging on me because I don’t have Ilya treat his hookups like girlfriends. You’re welcome to view Ilya as a saint or a wife guy at 20 or a substitute for a vibrator. I’m not a bad writer or person because I don’t do the same.

[gurlsrool]

I get requests to write a hollanov sex tape leak for secret society of stickhandlers on like a weekly basis and I don’t think anyone understands how DEEPLY depressing I would make that. Like there would be no group chat jokes, it would just be the slow breakdown of 2 men who lost their autonomy the second they turned 18 losing the last shred of privacy they have left

[gurlsrool]

I don’t have a lot to contribute to the Troy discourse that hasn’t already been said, but I will say that I think about Troy and Ryan every single time I sit down to write a new secret society of stickhandlers scandal

Like the premise is rooted in queer solidarity but I’m always hyperaware of the fact that Ryan is in this group chat with his fucking bully. I think Ryan overall wouldn’t be online much and wouldn’t be invested in these scandals. But I also kinda have him detach from the group chat because…his bully’s in there

Ryan’s anxious enough to take the path of least resistance but I hope that sometimes he talks to Fabian or Wyatt or his therapist about the fact that everyone’s just kinda…cool with Troy now and how bizarre that feels.

I think people are capable of growth and redemption—but I also think Ryan is well within his right to never, ever forgive Troy. And tbh I know it’s not really his style but I think Wyatt is well within his right to slap Troy on his bestie’s behalf. Just once. As a treat.

[gurlsrool]

Another thing re the “team dad” discourse is that I do think we forget sometimes that this is a workplace. The last time a job used a “we’re a family here” line on me, I ran top speed in the other direction.

It’s fic though. It’s just for fun and Ilya making daddy jokes is indeed fun so I get it! But I will say, just to speak to my own writing, this is something I thought about when writing Luca’s scandal in secret society of stickhandlers

The way I write is I envision a story first and often when I sit down to write it, what actually happens is far from how I imagined it. With Luca’s scandal, I was imagining a story with a bunch of silly Ilya jokes about his “child’s” innocence being ruined, etc etc. That’s what commenters were explicitly anticipating would happen. It’s an easy way to get a laugh and I’d made that kind of joke in the series previously.

Then I sat down to write the story and I realized…that’s so infantilizing in a way that didn’t feel true to Ilya. I realized that Luca was the same age that Ilya was when he won his first Cup which made for an interesting parallel. And it also meant that Ilya’s response wouldn’t be “but you’re a child” it would be “yeah, okay, you’re an adult. Game recognizes game. How can I support you as your friend and your captain?”

I think that’s what it comes down to to me. They can make the offhanded dad jokes but in times of actual need, Ilya comes from a place of genuine support as their captain and friend. Because Ilya will always extend a hand to someone in need, regardless of age

[gurlsrool]

Sometimes i’m just lying in bed or whatever and then i think of stickhandlers Shane publicly apologizing to all the women he slept with for making them feel bad by not getting it up for them and i just start giggling

lol thank u!!! people asked me previously if I’d ever write a scandal where Shane was chaotic online and I was like “mmm no, he’s too media trained”

but then one day I was like “wait. You know what’s a stronger force than media training? The autistic need to overexplain and overapologize”

[gurlsrool]

I love your secret society of stickhandlers series so much!!! And I especially love the inclusion of Ludwin and Baldwin. I’ve grown to love those characters so much that I get sad when they’re not included in other gay hockey player group hats lol. Also am I wrong for picking up some vibes there 👀👀👀

Sorry for sending this here I know I could have commented on the actual fic I just read but I wasn’t thinking of speaking until I came here to follow you 💀

hmmm idk maybe there’s a vibe 👀 maybe 👀

and lol yeah I don’t blame people for leaving them out of fics because we know nothing about them. But personally that’s kinda why I like having them in the group chat. A lot of the humor comes from them because so many of the canon hockey gays are very serious? And I was like ooooh I can just make them vessels for the jokes I wanna make that aren’t in character for anyone else. Thank u Baldwin and Lundin for letting me be goofy to my full potential