A Place for Heated Rivalry Brain Rot...

So one year for charity different pro athletes get asked to participate in a live game based on one of those “how well do you know your partner” games but instead it’s “how well do you know your rival” and participating means you get to raise money for a charity of your choice and obviously Shane and Ilya want to promote the Irina Project so they agree and go up against other current famous rivals from other sports

And Shane and Ilya discuss ahead of time that obviously they’ll have to just play things off as they usually do, light hearted chirps back and forth and what not, “winning” is just for the show and won’t impact how much money gets made for their charity so it doesn’t matter. Except then they get there and become overtaken by the need to Win and Be the Best and they are the best. So without needing to discuss changing the plan, as soon as the questions start they lock in and decide that actually they have to demolish everyone else

The other rivals are laughing and making jokes at the questions but Shane and Ilya are deadly serious and the host starts to get a little weirded out by the fact that they actually know the answers and aren’t just saying things like “how many goals last season? Probably one less than me haha” and actually have each others stats memorized

Because the audience is loving it they go to a lightning round that’s just Shane and Ilya and it’s now the usual couple game questions and they’re still getting them right because they can make excuses for knowing later, right now is about Winning

“What is Shane’s favorite breakfast?”

“Kale protein shake with a scoop of peanut butter and a handful of blueberries.”

“Ok um, what is Ilya’s favorite breakfast?”

“Two sausage egg McMuffins with an extra slice of cheese and hashbrowns.”

“What is something on Shane’s bucket list?”

“Sleeping in one of those see through igloos under the northern lights.”

“What is something on Ilya’s bucket list?”

“That thing where you feed giraffes at a zoo.”

“Ok last one. I think we all know Shane’s answer is former paramour Rose Landry, but who do you think is the most famous person Rozanov has ever slept with is?”

*through teeth gritted so tight he is in danger of chipping one* “Probably a model. Or something.”

“… Yeah, let’s go with that.”

yuna: ah I see, hmm, one moment please, let me bring up an alphabetical list of all 700+ current MLH players. is it aaron a. aaronson???

shane: of course not!! mom!!!

when ilya learns that either of them know how to play at all after dinner one night at the hollander house, he can't quite hide his surprise. he enjoys playing with shane and his parents nonetheless. the family gets quite loud, but it's so different from the way ilya's family used to get loud. this is rambunctious. this is safe. this is fun, actually, even though shane keeps elbowing ilya in the side with how he's shifting from side to side where they sit next to each other on the loveseat.

it's only after they turn off the tv—after yuna pulls shane aside to talk about some sponsorship meeting before shane and ilya leave for the night—that ilya finds out why shane's parents know how to play.

he's joking around with david as they clean up the living room together, saying that for all that shane might have gotten some of david's hockey skills, the video game know-how clearly must be from yuna.

david laughs and smiles, but it's a smile tinged by sadness. "yuna was actually worse than me at the start, if you can believe it," he says.

ilya makes an exaggerated noise of surprise. "no, this i do not believe! she kicked both our asses tonight. she gave even shane a run for his money."

"yes, she did," david says. "but she worked for it. we got the game for shane for his birthday one year—he had been invited to a classmate's house, and he played it there, and he liked it so much. but it was right at that age where the teachers stopped insisting everyone in the class got a birthday invite, and shane wasn't invited back. and none of his teammates were extending invites, either."

david doesn't elaborate, but ilya can hazard a guess anyway. little shane, in turns rambunctious about his interests and shy about everything else. of a one-track mind, like he is now. particular in the way he likes to do things and unable to explain why at that age. more talented than other kids his age. different from other kids his age, in more ways than one. ilya knows how kids treat kids like that.

"and so we got him the game, right? but he had no one to play it with, and he got tired of playing against the computer after a while. it stopped being fun for him—after he had been so excited about it before! almost as excited as he was about playing hockey."

david is looking down at his hands where he's neatly wrapping the charging cords for the controllers back up. ilya, on the other hand, has paused where he was folding up one of the throw blankets. he can't look away from david's face, so nostalgic and so full of love for his son. for the love of ilya's life.

"so yuna and i said we would play with him after he finished his homework one night. it was hard. there's so many buttons, and yuna got so frustrated. she's like shane—she doesn't like to lose. if she's not good at something right away, if she's not passionate about it, it can be a struggle to get her to keep trying."

david chuckles, and ilya smiles even though his throat feels a little tight. like mother, like son.

david keeps going. "i swear, she almost threw a controller at the wall. we both did. shane was so happy, though! you should have seen him. he had the biggest smile on his face. we kept playing, even though he was kicking our butts. and after he went to bed, yuna said that we had to get better so we could keep playing with him. when we took turns taking him to hockey practice, whoever was at home would go against the computer for a little bit after the chores were done. and there were a few date nights where yuna's parents would take shane and we'd just stay in, playing round after round. very romantic, i know. but it was worth it. the first night yuna beat shane, he was just thrilled. you'd think he would have been upset, right? especially being so young—you know how little kids can get. but he wasn't. he was glad to have a challenge. he was glad to have a reason to keep playing and get better. it made it fun for him again."

ilya can picture little shane, giggling, smiling a gap-toothed smile. he can picture little shane picking up the controller for another round, a determined and concentrated set to his little baby brow.

he’s straight, white, neurotypical(or at least navigates the world as one), conveniently attractive, good at his sport, rich, and he got married young and had kids with a conventionally attractive wife.

with Shane in Ottawa, hayden loses his Visible reminder of how bad the other guys in his locker room are. Montreal has one of the worst locker room cultures in the east (that we see) and Shane was affected deeply by that (cptsd?). but now he’s gone and with him, an in-your-face reminder that Other people exist and are Affected by your words. Hayden has been a part of the same room as long as Shane without any of the same experiences (see above paragraph) and i need to see that explored especially now that Shane is gone. (and happier!)

hayden already completely disregards how both Shane and Ilya feel (or potentially feel) about his words against their relationship, which are ignorant and ‘im being a good best friend by hating his partner on his behalf’ at best and biphobic/homophobic at worst.

he’s the reason Shane was terrified to come out to anyone else because instead of correcting his initial reaction (like the hollander parents) he doubles down. he doesn’t really face social consequences for how he acts. (it pisses me off that when he shows up to tell them about the Video, they comfort him???? are you kidding me??? he begs forgiveness and them pays no penance, even in his own head?? but i digress)

The trade off of getting to play for the NHL is giving up their bodies, names, and likenesses. Their whole identities are used as a marketing tool and that’s part of their job. People are making a lot of money off of their rivalry. The NHL is getting more ticket and jersey sales from it. Fans are placing bets on their games. It really is that serious and people really are that invested.

That’s why the Irina Foundation plan is so smart. The rivalry is a narrative people are buying into, so Shane’s suggesting a new narrative. It gives the league a new marketing angle and it generates enough positive PR that people are kinda backed into a corner of letting the rivalry go. No one wants to be the guy saying a sports rivalry is more important than charity, kids, and mental health.

So no, Shane and Ilya are not stupid for feeling trapped by the stakes of this rivalry. They are trapped. They’re trapped in that tricky dissonance between the Hollander and Rozanov the media, league, and fans expect them to be and the Shane and Ilya they really are.

When Shane wakes Ilya up in the middle of the night with his plan, he’s saying: who we really are matters. What we have matters. I’m tired of giving up happiness to contort myself into the shape of who Shane Hollander is supposed to be. The real me wants you and chooses you and this is how we can make it happen.

via Heated Rivalry Wiki

🌅 The Parallels of Heated Rivalry

Heated Rivalry is such a beautiful show. And the parallels are one of my absolute favourite aspects. So here are 10 of my favourites.

And if you want to see all of these parallels side-by-side, you can head to my Heated Rivalry Wiki. There are 32 parallels in total there and I hope you like them! :)

Maybe they didn’t kind of talk before getting to the hotel room in Tampa, so Ilya just gets a text with a room number and time after months of no contact from Shane

Ilya feels fucking insane when he receives the text. He was so sure that he had lost Shane forever by trying to take too much from him.

Shane had wanted sex and sex only from him, and Ilya being too obviously in love with him broke everything.

but now there’s this tiny ray of hope and Ilya zeros in on that shit like a fucking starved bloodhound, he is NOT letting Shane go without a fight

So Ilya makes it to the room exactly on time, picks his sluttiest top and fixes his hair to fall perfectly across his cheekbones, makes sure his cross is right below his clavicle.

He has condoms and lube in his pocket and looks like sex incarnate and all he can do is fucking pray to god and his mama that this won’t be Shane ending things between them forever. He doesn’t care about Rose Landry. He doesn’t care if Shane loves him or not. He just wants him for as long as possible, in any way Shane will let him have.

Shane opens the door and for a second it’s awkward silence, frigid static crackling the air between them. The door closes behind him, and all Shane can get out is an “uh… thank you for comi-“ before Ilya is on him, kissing him like whole world is over.

if he can just delay what Shane’s going to say, distract him from the inevitable break up, then maybe he can have one last time with him.

maybe if he fucks Shane well enough, makes him feel good enough, Shane will think Ilya fucking him is a risk worth continuing.

Shane hesitates for a second and Ilya is just trying not the sob against his mouth, before ultimately Shane melts into him.

They fuck, and every time Shane tries to say anything, Ilya is getting his mouth on his cock or his fingers in his ass, anything to stop the words from forming, anything to make Shane keep kissing him.

And Shane is SO sweet and soft under him, gentle in a way that fucking terrifies Ilya because people are only gentle when they pity him, and Shane would only pity him if he really did want to end things, if he really did want to break Ilya’s heart.

So Ilya puts everything he has into making Shane feel better then he ever has, better then Rose Landry could even attempt, because thats the only way he knows how to plead his case.

eventually they’re both too exhausted to continue, and Ilya hurries around the room, washing Shane so softly, never making eye contact or conversation, leaving the room to ‘go to the bathroom’ or ‘rinse out the stained washcloth’ every time Shane tries to talk.

Shane ends up falling asleep with Ilya sweetly fussing over him, and seeing his sleepy face and hearing the little gasps he makes in his sleep for the second and probably last time makes Ilya feels so raw he could cry.

Ilya leaves him with a forehead kiss, just like the one Shane gave him after their first time, all of those years ago.

-

Over the next few months, this is how it goes between them. Ilya tries to be more subtle about cutting off any serious discussion when they fuck.

He also doesn’t really have to worry about a hard conversation happening online, because Shane is a Good Boy raised by Yuna Hollander and would never break up with someone over text.

So every time they meet up, Ilya is simultaneously so fucking desperate for him, he feels so alive in the days leading up to them touching, also like he’s walking to the gallows.

(little does he know that what Shane WANTS to tell him is that he is Gay, Single, and also wants NOT to be single, with Ilya specifically. Shane is also getting increasingly dejected, because from his pov this is more like that time in Vegas, but with the care of the tuna melt day. The only reason he isn’t having his own crisis is because he’s significantly more assured in himself then he used to be, and he KNOWS he wasn’t hallucinating that way Ilya said his name that day.)

They do figure it out still…

This was made for @flawlessassholes for her donation to @iceouthr event! The prompt was something NSFW or something for her fic Alligator Bites Never Heal so I sort of went for both here 😅