It's a Goddamn Shane

Cat (or Tiny), she/they, 34. A Heated Rivalry sideblog to spare my poor mutuals. Main blog @tinylilemrys and I'm tinylilemrys on AO3 too.

[tinylilhollander]

Only heaven and the lilies know 12-year-old Shane Hollander hates the shopping trip they always do first thing when they arrive at the cottage every summer. He just doesn't get why they can't just bring all the stuff they need with them from Ottawa so he can get on with his vacation. But when this year's shopping trip ends with him meeting the very cool and mysterious Ilya Rozanov, the son of the new flower seller in town, well, he finds he doesn't mind it as much this year. He's hoping he's finally found the friend he's never quite been able to make. And if this friend has a smile that maybe makes his heart do little backflips sometimes, well that's just because Shane is excited to finally have a friend to make smile... right? Or, what would happen if Irina chose another way to escape, brought Ilya to Canada, and he and Shane became childhood best friends? Without the rivalry, without the need to be enemies, would they figure out the rest?

MASTERLIST:

Read it on AO3 here (Updates appear on Tumblr first)

Read it on Tumblr:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6| Part 7| Part 8| Part 9 | Part 10| Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15

[tinylilhollander]

At some point in the future, Rose is stunt cast as one of the moms in Dear Evan Hansen. And of course Shane goes to watch to support her. But the story freaks Shane out so much, like he spends so much of the show in pure ass-clenching terror as he watches Evan Hansen dig himself deeper and deeper into his hole, that he refuses to ever go watch a stage show ever again.

[butdarlingthestarrs]

Connor Storrie | Milli Point Two | 2023

[hudconvent]

hudson is 100 % doing this type of shit

[blond-shell]

HEATED RIVALRY GIF MEME ➤ [7/7] kisses

[onecells]

YOU🫵'RE 🫵 NE->XT.!! moTHERFUCKER!!!!

GET LOVED!!!!!!!!!!

[lucylehane]

shane

ilya

[shilyas]

cutie!ilya (2/?)

[tinylilhollander]

Spare a thought for the Boston Raiders in the 2017/2018 season, who, when Roz explains that the reason he has so many pictures from Hollander's ad campaigns on his phone is so that he can make fun of him for them, are then confused when they later make jokes about Hollander's campaigns and Roz doesn't join in. In fact, he looks kind of murderous. Who looks at them all like "Is this how you want us to win a cup? If you have time to laugh you have time for extra bag skates."

[tinylilhollander]

I totally believe that Shane and Ilya, using their vast hoards of wealth, are using it to play out their crazy sex roleplays with a degree of accuracy and budget mere mortals like us can only dream of.

Their favourite is "Mr Landlord" where Shane buys a shitty little house or apartment or something, and pretends to be a landlord renting it out, while Ilya pretends to be looking for a cheap place to stay. And they haggle back and forth about a price because the rent is always too high, until eventually Ilya is like "Maybe I can pay the lower rent and make the rest up to you in another way." 😏

And then they keep it for several weeks, sneaking away to the house or apartment to fuck on a shitty mattress in every room until they get bored and sell it again.

But crucially, Shane is getting a team in to renovate and fix it up each time before selling it on so that he makes a neat little profit. That's Part Of It. It turns Shane on to know that he's Winning at property, and it turns Ilya on that his husband is so fucking turned on by resale values.

[girlbossndarkpink]

people younger and the same age as me complaining about 67 is funny to me. do you know mi pan zuzuzu and pen pineapple apple pen

[hr-rep]

If Harris is skinny

[tinylilhollander]

HAHAHHAHA JINX on that photo of Hudson all in white. Like Im sure others will think/ say it but we did at basically the same time

Ajdkfjfj he's just so backstreet boy in that outfit. Hudson in that outfit don't care who you are, where you're from, don't care what you did as long as you love him.

[fyeahhollanov]

neoncomplex 🇰🇷 SEOUL SQUAD 🇰🇷

[russianblush]

OKAAAAAAY

[bea-goldfish]

one of the things that I honestly find most compelling about Shane Hollander is his comphet and the way he navigates this space as he begins to accept not just his desire for men but also his lack thereof for women

Like, when I think of book!Shane especially, he’s been with women, even before Rose. He’s not a total shut-in. It’s very occasional and rare, but he does hook up sometimes and it’s like… rote. He’s doing it because he thinks he should and he thinks he ought to enjoy it and he thinks he ought to enjoy women. There’s one point in HR where he mulls over not understanding why some guys like eating girls out because it’s just, like, not doing it for him.

And! I think it’s also crucial to remember! Shane never DENIES that he likes men. His comphet does not actually feature denial of his desire for men — the reason he tries to deny his desire for Ilya isn’t because he’s a man, it’s because he’s Rozanov and because there’s the fear of feelings. Not cuz he’s a dude.

No, Shane’s arc is so interesting to me because it’s not a story of realizing or discovering his queerness. He’s not, like, figuring out that he likes men. He’s figuring out that he doesn’t like women.

And I think that’s so interesting! Shane Hollander, golden boy of hockey, forcing himself to fit the mold and also go above and beyond, he thinks for a long time “okay, I want to fuck men and that’s fine, whatever, but I’ll find a nice girl and settle down someday” and he thinks it’s the first part that is making him feel trapped and panicky and scared, but NO! It’s the second! It’s the trappings (literally) of heteronormativity that has him reeling! He’s convinced himself it’s an option, just like it’s hypothetically an option for Ilya, and the tuna melt scene emotional overflow scares him because he’s thinking oh fuck, I have these options and I might choose the “wrong” (re: not straight) one

The moment he realizes “I don’t want to fuck women,” when Rose makes him confront that he’s gay and not bi?? That’s when he’s like “oh. That doesn’t have to be the choice I make. That doesn’t have to be an option for me. I don’t have to like women”

It’s liberating for him. It lets him open up, lets him let the feelings in.

Shane’s sexuality arc is SO fascinating because it’s not actually a story of discovery — it’s a story of letting go

[stayqute]

I thought it would be a fun project to re-cover my copy of Heated Rivalry with something that felt a little more like the vibe of the TV show. Cartoon romance novel covers aren't really my thing, so I wanted to make one that wasn't shy about being a novel for adults!

This cover puts the reader in the position of voyeur, peeking through the hotel window in Las Vegas. The dust jacket's window frame purposely obscures the identities of Shane and Ilya, as a reference to the secrecy of their relationship in this book.

I don't have a printer, so it was a good challenge to figure out how to make this all by hand. I illustrated the inner cover with colored pencils (this is the project that made me really fall in love with my Prismacolors), and hand-lettered the dust jacked with acrylic paint and gel pen.