:D

In the show, Scott being a veteran player that Shane grew up admiring (to the point of calling him Mr. Hunter lol) adds an extra layer of emotional weight. Seeing a role model come out is powerful. And by making Scott push 40, his coming out feels bittersweet because you can’t help thinking about everything he gave up and all the years he spent hiding. This is his prize after a very long career, a cup and Kip

But I also think something gets lost when people act like that version is automatically better.

In the books, Scott is only 28. He’s not at the end of his career. He’s still in his prime. His story isn’t about finally getting to live authentically after a long career. It’s about choosing authenticity while he still has everything to lose. There’s something powerful about that too! A peer coming out can be just as impactful as a role model. So I don’t really see one version as superior to the other. They’re emphasizing different things.

The problem is that once Scott gets aged up, I think people start taking Ilya’s humor way more literally than the books ever intended.

In the books, Scott is only three years older than Ilya, which means all the “old man” jokes are exactly that: jokes. He’s chirping a guy who’s basically his peer. Once Scott is almost 40, the joke starts reading like a factual observation instead.

Ilya says Hayden is the 15th best player in Montreal. A lot of fans have accepted that as fact. Meanwhile Hayden is playing on Shane’s line, keeping up with the best player in the league, and leading the team in assists. The books are clearly showing us that Hayden is one of Montreal’s better players. Ilya is just being a hater. 😭

The same thing happens with Shane. I read fanfiction all the time where people genuinely seem to believe Shane has a weak backhand because Ilya made one joke about it. If Shane is anything like his spiritual father Sidney Crosby, he probably has one of the best backhands in the league. But even setting the Crosby comparison aside, you do not become the best player in the NHL with a glaring weakness like that.

The girls obviously notice and try to ignore it but honestly it’s A Bit Much. After a while they conspire to feign an argument and Rose storms out. Svetlana huffs to herself and pays for the meal, has a quick interaction with the waiter, then leaves.

The crew shows up totally unsure of what to expect, charmed but surprised when it's Ilya opening the door in a tank and sweats and dramatically sighing, "Is meal prep day."

They spend hours filming the couple navigating the kitchen, arguing over how much salt to put in their egg cups, talking about how they learned to cook together when they first made a real go of their relationship.

Shane keeps his hands busy and his eyes focused on his prep work, and that makes it easier to talk about the murky grey area between healthy food choices and disordered eating. Ilya just rubs his back and mocks how he's dicing the bell peppers and keeps calling what he's wearing his "unlucky sweatpants" until Shane hits him in the face with a spatula while mumbling something about tuna melts.

Surprising exactly no one, the video goes viral when it drops on YouTube. It explodes on socials, with thousands of people stitching together Ilya saying "is meal prep day" with videos of their own meal prep, their healthy habits, sharing their own journey to loving food and treating it as fuel and not punishment. They use the tag #eatlikehollanov and it trends immediately.

Ilya's favorite part is when fans start to battle over #eatlikehollanov - the food posts get overtaken with videos and photos of them out at social events, serving cunt and generally looking like top designers battle it out for who gets repped by The Gay Wonder Twins of Hockey (which they do, and stop calling us that, we're married you perverts).

Then Shane and Ilya are spotted at a bar making out in a dark corner and everyone remembers these two probably spend 30% of their waking hours eating each other alive, and suddenly it's #eatlikehollanov munch munch munch yum yum yum.

The Centaurs jump on the trend, sharing their own food prep videos with increasing innuendo. Luca Haas turning bright red while eating a glazed donut gets 3 million views, but Troy really breaks the internet by eating a banana while maintaining eye contact with the camera the whole time. Harris threatens to replace the Kiss Cam at games with #eatlikehollanov and Shane tries his hardest to crawl into a corner and die because he just wanted to share how he protein loads, you guys, why did you have to make it so weird.

“I never want to come back here again. I fucking hate it here. And they all fucking hate me. I pay for everything. I make sure everyone has clothes they like. I make sure the food is perfect. That father is buried next to his parents, that the tomb is perfect. And the only fucking word I ever hear is: i want more Ilya, i need more Ilya. More, more, more, more, more. And I have nothing for these people. I give them everything.. but I feel fucking empty. They don't care, they look at me and see a bank. Or an enemy. Or I don't even know what. My brother, he always hated me. And I know why... but it kills me. And it kills me that he took care of my father and I didn't. But I couldn't. I wasn't here. I still paid for it all. And he will never forgive me. For any of it. For existing. And it means... I have no one now. Well not no one, I have Svetlana. She loves me, and I love her. But not like... fuck me. But not like I love you. That's the worst fucking part of all this is. That all I want is you. It's always you. I'm so in love with you and I don't know what to do about it.

joke shamelessly stolen from this post:

Can you tell us a bit more about Moss and Stephenson/Marti?

oh wow! thank you sooooo much (づ ᴗ _ᴗ)づ♡

oki:

Moss

is a nonbinary professor from London, but actually born in Manchester. They love pub nights, board games, reading smutty romance novels and Bad Bunny. They kind of dress like a goth version of Hozier, and they have a few tattoos (all forest related like moths, mushrooms, trees, bones etc) and a tongue piercing. They're incredibly smart and have the patience of a saint. incredibly sassy and like to "channel the audacity of cishet men" to achieve what they want in their life. (part of their character is modelled after my wife lol)

Emil Stephenson/Eduardo Martinez

they met in 2019, and Eduardo was the first one to chirp on the ice after Emil tried to goal on him. (hey, yes, I know that goalies are technically not allowed to become captains in the nhl, but dang, guys, this is a story were people wear their soulmate's first word on their skin, permanently...lemme give them goalies some extra love and appreciation.) Pissed out of his mind, not because of the soulmate thing, but because who fucking daresto critizise his skating, Emil chirps back and boom, "gurr gurr you fucking pideon" is on Eduardo's skin.

Their relationship is a whole lot more intense from the start. They don't even kiss until 2024, only after Hayleau accidenally come out and Emil visits Cliff to get advice. (All he got was a hangover and Yuna Hollander's phone number lol.)

Emil is from Denmark. He is about 195cm/6.4 tall, huge muscle dude with a good belly. he has grey eyes with gold eyelashes (Eduardo is fascinated by them), shoulder long blond hair he wears in a bun and gets a pigeon tattoo in 2025 once he and Eduardo finally say ILY for the first time. He has a tiny lisp, is actually extremely shy, but his body does most of the intimidation anyway. He speaks a bit French and German. His favourite place in the world is a tiny beach at the Baltic Sea. He hates licorice, could eat chocolate ice cream all day. Listens to tons Japanese and Korean Rap. Favourite Movie is Matrix. He's pretty good friends with Luca Haas (European bromance!) His favourite player is actually Zane Boodram, but when he's being asked he always says some old dude from like 60 years ago. Has bitten Eduardo's butt cheek SOOO many times, the mark basically stays there.

Eduardo is from San Diego, but his parents are Brazilian-Cuban decendant. He's 189cm/6.2 tall, body like a damn fridge guys, beautiful brown eyes, the most perfect face ever. imagine the most beautiful man on earth and add 200%. (Emil is LIVID about it, bc what the fuck is this guy so pretty for? also hides his face all day behind big goalie helmet, stupid fucker!) He's incredibly romantic, and feels so much remorse for the chirp-soulmate mark on Emil's body. Boy can dance, like REALLY dance (hiphop, freestyle, rumba, tango, salsa, lambada, popping, breakdance, waacking, you name it, Eduardo does it!) Super allergic to hamsters and bunnies, which he finds is a great tragedy in his life because why does his body reject cute fluffy animals. Gets a belly piercing as a joke, keeps it when he sees Emil going feral for it. big fan of stargazing, hand holding, whispering sweet-nothingnesses into his partners skin, absolute romantic by heart. has a bright, contagious (obnoxious) laugh. has reflexes like a god.

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