deelay

The point I'm trying to make still holds, Ilya likely grew up with the belief that bottoming is not only gay but womanly. Now Ilya would never think that of Shane but it's easy for people to have cognitive dissonance when it comes to self-image. He doesn't think any less of Shane for it but if he were the one bottoming those old prejudices might affect his view of himself and his willingness to try bottoming.

We get a small hint of this kind of thinking when Cliff Marleau accuses Ilya of blushing in episode 2 and Ilya's reply is, "No, never in life have I blushed, Russians do not do this." While the words seem playful there is something about the look that looks dead serious. (This could just be part of the fear of anyone finding out who "Jane" is but I can also see him subconsciously taking it as a dig on his masculinity.)

The fact we never get even close to Ilya bottoming in season one could just be that they really are both "gold-star" but Ilya's view of himself and his masculinity could also play a part in it.

Since I base all my analysis on the show only I am unsure if it is ever talked about in the books but the fact Shane and Ilya never have any hint of a discussion on their preferences seems unusual to me. Now this could be about time constraints for the episodes, but I was surprised, with how consent centric Ilya is, at the fact Ilya automatically assumed Shane would bottom (episode 1). This was before they had each other's phone numbers so there has been absolutely no discussion on this matter beforehand. And even when Ilya knew Shane was having a panic attack he didn't offer.

Part of this is probably because most of Ilya's sexual experiences have been with women and there is an inherent expectation that in that kind of situation the male is always the penetrating partner. No matter what, Ilya is used to being the top and not having to ask what role he will take.

Either way I think it would show a lot of character growth for this to at least be touched on in season 2. Because as far as we know Shane’s line of, “I rather be the hole.” Is untrue/incomplete. He doesn’t know this for sure because he hasn’t been given the chance to be the “peg” with someone he is actually attracted to.

You can find power and control in bottoming but it also puts you in a physically vulnerable position. Being physically vulnerable with someone you trust is also about being emotionally vulnerable. Ilya, who comes from a culture where men are discouraged from being either, could grow a lot by allowing himself this vulnerability with Shane. Their relationship would grow so much by just allowing himself to trust Shane in this way.

Yes, there are ways to get that same vulnerability without bottoming but I am a firm believer that everyone, no matter the gender or sexuality (except asexuals) should bottom at least once with the person they choose to share there life with. I strongly believe that opening yourself up to being in your partners shoes in this way leads to stronger, healthier relationships.

Shane

While Shane is only half-Japanese throughout the show we see him constantly considered as solely Asian. So I think what I'm about to talk about would apply to him despite being biracial.

There is a stereotype of gay asian men that if they are in a interracial relationship they are automatically the bottom. While this is true for Ilya and Shane's relationship I still want to talk about the origins/"logic" behind this stereotype, why it's harmful and how it would affect Shane.

A lot of this stereotype is grounded in the belief that Asian men are more feminine than other men. This "logic" comes mostly from the fact east asian men tend to have less or thinner body hair. There is also a component that east asian people, rightly or wrongly, are considered to be on average shorter than people from other parts of the world. I have also seen this attributed partially to a belief that east asian men are less muscular and more slender in frame. All of these physical attributes are used by the uninformed to determine who is the more feminine partner in a gay relationship and therefore the bottom.

Despite Shane and Ilya being the same height and just as muscular as each other as far as we can see from the show, many people would automatically assume Shane is the bottom in their relationship. Because he is Asian in general but also because Ilya seems to have more body hair.

The problems with this all should be obvious but if it isn't, the belief that gay men who bottom are feminine is misogynistic and the belief that asian men are bottoms is racist and misogynistic.

I did a test and asked 15 straight friends who don't interact with the LGBT+ communities but consider themselves allies and who also haven't seen Heated Rivalry and asked them based on pictures of Shane and Ilya what they thought were their sexual roles in their relationship. All but one of them said the bottom had to be Shane. When asked why, three shrugged and said, "vibes". Two said something along the lines of, "Don't gays usually switch?" And all the others when asked said something like, "Don't asian men bottom?", "The asian guy seems more feminine." And funnily enough one person said, "That dude's got bottom eyes." The only person who said Ilya must bottom said that shirt, the Hawaiian one, was the reason.

To be clear I showed everyone these pictures:

If the average straight person, not even big sports fans, in the year 2026 still believe this stereotype then there is no way sports fans during 2010-2017 wouldn't think along the same lines.

Why does this matter?

In homosexual relationships the person perceived as the bottom tends to be looked down on and are more likely to be harassed by homophobes at a greater rate.

There is no way this all wouldn't be known by Shane. If not through general culture (twitter, facebook, media, ect) than because it is the kind of racist, homophobic things other players would say to him during games. Another thing to note when it comes to this is Shane’s hockey position of centre and captain, he would have the most contact with the other teams. This means he would be the biggest target for such harassment.

Once it was known he was gay, Shane's masculinity would be constantly questioned. And unlike Ilya, who is known to have been with many women, Shane doesn't have the same shield of having a womanizer persona.

Shane's biggest fear is being outed, both because of what that would mean for his career but also because of what that would mean for his reputation and how people view him. He has been placed on a pedestal for years, best player, golden boy, top asian player, ect. The moment Shane has any "Scandal" attached to his name everything he’s worked for would start to crumble around him. No matter how small the "scandal", no matter if he did something another player would be praised for, Shane would be demonized. Many racists would jump onto any "reason" to bash him without being seen as racists. Any excuse hateful people could use to attack him they would while still wanting to be seen as "good" people.

Being assumed, not even known, to be a bottom would be seen as a huge stain on Shane's reputation and there is no way it wouldn't affect his mental health.

Public Perception

This section is probably going to upset a few people who read this but I implore you to read it all the way through and really think about what I'm saying. I also want to note that I have little to no objections about this topic when it comes to fictional characters other than that it might affect how you treat real people. Basically be weird about fictional characters all you want but leave actual humans out of it and if you can't, keep it to yourself.

One of the most toxic reactions to high profile gay couples coming out is the sudden influx of people publicly debating who's the bottom. Gross questions like, "So, who's the woman?" or "Who wears the pants?" and such. And the weird "investigations" into who it is based on vibes (which I think we can draw a parallel with "trans-vestigating").

It's all extremely misogynistic, homophobic, heteronormative, and (at times) racist, wrapped into one gross package. (And I encourage anyone who sees this post to really think about this before you post such things about real life people and start call it out when you see it.)

There is no doubt in my mind that the two best players in the MLH would get flooded with such questions the moment they came out/were outed. They would suddenly lose all their privacy and every action they took together would be viewed through the lens of "Who's getting dicked down?"

And the person who the public decided was the bottom? Well they would be suddenly viewed as womanly/feminine. And because misogeny exists even homophobes who hate gays all together would hate who they assumed was the bottom more. Because somehow having a dick up your ass makes you more gay. I can not tell you the number of times I've seen/heard something along the lines of, "At least he's not the one getting fucked." Like being a top is somehow more socially acceptable.

Liking dick up your ass doesn't make you gay. Liking people of the same sex does.

And all of this doesn't account for the fact that most gay individuals aren't "Gold Star" tops or bottoms. And that most switch roles depending on mood or partner. Hell, I've known a few gay men who don't enjoy anal at all but are still "super gay" along with "super straight" men who enjoy pegging.

But when Shane and Ilya come out people would make assumptions, they would get the question thrown in their face by other members of the MHL, fans, random people online, and even interviewers. Yes those interviewers wouldn't ask outright but they would still ask veiled questions.

This little section was inspired by tags in a reblog of this post by @writer-and-thrasher. They brought up a really good point that when they are eventually on the same team. Though I haven't read the books, I hear they eventually end up together in Ottawa where Ilya is the captain. Now this likely wouldn't cause much problem in their sexual dynamic but it would bring greater ridicule for Shane and perceived sexual role. It would be an insult throw into both of their face on and off the ice.

All the gross posts on social media (and fuck people who @ celeberties with shit like this) would be there for them to see. They wouldn't even get the courtesy of Content/Trigger warnings. They could be innocently scrolling through pictures of friends only to suddenly see strangers theorizing about their sex life. And it's not like they can just ask people to stop, the people who are doing it are the worst sort so of course they wouldn't stop and the people who would stop at such a request wouldn’t have done it in the first place. (I'll allow some leeway to this statement for younger people, <20ish, who don't know better. Their brains still need some cooking.)

This also pairs horribly with the other sect of "allies" , the ones who say they have no problem with someone being gay just as long as the gay person acts like they don't have sex. But if their “rules” were followed there would then be allegations of the relationship being fake or that the couple is on the rocks.

It really is a no-win situation.

And with how society is, being so grossly parasocial, those random strangers would think they have a right to know such information. It would be so bad that some people (people who would consider themselves stans) if they found out their guess was wrong would get genuinely upset. They could openly tell the world and still people would ask/theorize about it.

They would know no peace on this subject until they retired and were completely out of the public eye.And even then I can imagine (with just how big of names they would be in hockey history) they would still have some die-hard RPFers who would keep writing/drawing/ect about them. (Please if anyone reads this who is a RPFer think about how you would feel if someone who you didn't know/didn't like wrote/drew erotic media of you. Sure if you never knew it was happening because they didn't post it you wouldn't mind. But think about how violating it would be to suddenly come across such “art” of yourself. Of just how mortifying the thought of your friends and family stumbling on such things would be. There are so many fictional characters shippers can get freaky about that there is no need to do it to real people. I promise there is a hotter, far less problematic fictional version of your fave out there. And if there isn't, fucking making one. Write a book and get famous.)

I know some people are gunna be mad about this but I honestly don't care. Fandom is so gross and toxic at times and I think it's our job to call that shit out and inform the uninformed. If you truly enjoy a piece of media you should respect those who produce and bring it to life, not just say you do.

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