terrible influence

So. I would like to start by saying that quite literally everything that Shane does in that scene is submissive. Ilya isn't overly dominant in the scene, true--we've seen him much more assertive. However, it's pretty obvious that, despite Shane initiating, Ilya has the control. And Shane initiating doesn't read as dominant. Shane kisses Ilya's body, beelining for Ilya's crotch, and then buries his face there. This is...somewhat textbook submission.

When Shane swings a leg over, we see the placement of Ilya's hands. We see him subtly correcting Shane's posture, the way he wants him to sit. Shane is physically on top of Ilya but he is not in what's really thought of as a dominant position. Lapsitting is, itself, an element of kink and in certain communities is considered a way to establish possession over a submissive partner; i.e. the submissive sits in the dominant's lap to show who they belong to. They're not in public so it's not really that, but I do really believe it's still meant to be read as shorthand for Shane's submissive tendencies. Which have been spoken about, multiple times, by multiple people involved in making the show, including Hudson Williams.

Now we reach the big moments that tend to be cited by submissive/switch Ilya truthers as indicators of submission:

The 'Seeing God' look that he aims at Shane

"Gonna come for me, Rozanov?" "Fucking make me."

Ilya's vocalizations

So let's address them in order.

Ilya's 'Seeing God' look is, I will admit, heady. But I don't see it as submissive. Ilya, I think, just straight up thinks that Shane is beautiful and it's showing on his face. Connor is a really expressive actor. It shows here. Ilya's thought process is really obvious here, thanks to Connor's skill, and it's pretty clearly something along the lines of: Holy shit. This man continues to be the most beautiful man I have ever seen. And he is taking his dick out. And he's going to rub our dicks together. Lucky me. Also, Ilya in this moment is under the impression that he and Shane have agreed to be--not together maybe, but more. More than what they've been. Ilya thinks that they are consummating the end of their hookup era. He's allowing himself to do some things he maybe hasn't done before. Look a little longer, maybe, or a little nicer. This is still Ilya setting the tone. And, at the end of the day, they're having sex. His expressions are going to be pretty drunken.

Shane's, "Gonna come for me, Rozanov?" has never, and I mean never read as dominant to me. He's practically whining, and tone in human communication holds almost as much weight as the words--sometimes more. If we replaced one single word ('for' with 'on') I genuinely don't think that anyone would think it was anything but submissive. When Ilya says Fucking make me, it's meant to be read as a command, though a soft one. It's actually still a little whiny, lmao, but Connor loses some of his gravely Ilya-tone in this scene, I think maybe because of the repeated takes or because he's matching Hudson's energy--which is shaky and a little frantic. I noticed it again on the line, "Yeah, okay, you forgot team meeting," where he sounds more like Connor than Ilya, though it's subtle. Anyway, this is a bit of a nothingburger for me. It's just a sexy thing to say and Shane probably knows that it will--y'know, make Ilya come.

Ilya's vocalizations--LET THE DOMTOPS MOAN. For God's sake. Some submissives don't like it, I guess, but in my opinion they don't know what they're missing. This was the one scene that I considered skipping when I watched with my sibling because Ilya's vocalizations literally made me feel a way that I didn't want to feel sitting in a room with family. Thankfully I was expecting it the second time and felt a little more sane about it, haha. But yeah again, nothing about this reads as submissive to me. He's just...having a good time?? He's got the guy he likes in his lap kissing him and touching his dick. I think the implication is that they've never frotted before. It's pretty fun and nice to be doing something new. Also, again, Ilya is feeling a bit less inhibited here. He thinks he and Shane have reached an understanding. He's happy. Let dominants enjoy sex...let dominants moan...God fucking dammit...

Anyway. Here are a few ways that Ilya is still dominant in this scene:

The aforementioned ways in which Ilya guides Shane's body.

I do believe that Ilya nudges Shane to get in his lap when he has his face in Ilya's crotch but that's up for interpretation

Ilya gives several approvals throughout the scene. His Mm-hms early in the scene and his Da, like that a bit later. We know already that Shane likes to have Ilya's permission/approval. This is probably a normal part of their sex and not unique to this moment of their relationship, though this is the only time we see it onscreen.

The big one, for me, is Ilya making Shane hold out his hand to be spit in. That's...very dynamic-y, in my mind. That's not really something that I imagine a submissive deciding to do. Even if the argument is that Ilya is a switch--which I think it is, for most people. It just doesn't read as even remotely submissive to me, I'm sorry. I don't really know what a dominant headspace is like but if Shane wanted to be dominant over Ilya in that moment at all, I think that would take him out of it a bit.

In summary:

- people giving their life story to explain why they have a special secret valid trauma reason to be a reactionary tar pit

- white true crime women assuming I don’t know what it’s like to fear rape

- fascists calling me a euroslave

Don’t they know that murder is illegal? You just know there are a bunch of homicidal maniacs out there who love to read those stories. They write them, too, in between killing people. 

Not sexually (their teammates would be more okay with that, actually), just straight-up gross:

they would swap mouthguards if they weren't custom fitted

Same water bottle. They don't even pretend they have separate ones. There's no heterosexual squirting the water into their mouths from a distance, they're fellating those gatorade bottles

All of their base layers are communal. So is their deodorant.

full visual inspections of each other's injuries. shouldering in next to the team medic to look into each other's bloody mouths and applying each other's steri-strips to keep cuts closed.

putting on shin guard tape for each other

I'm not sure if it's popular/known outside the UK but it's essentially strawberries, raspberries and blueberries (any berries you want I think, but that's the version I know) with cream and meringue and you smash it all up together and eat it like that. Story goes that Eton (fancy private school for the elite) was hosting some event and someone dropped the desserts and served it anyway and it got really popular. Meringue is obviously refined sugar but if you make it yourself you can choose how much to add. I use shop bought ones, it's great.

The Ilya we see in Heated rivalry would not be throwing the first punch, he's not an enforcer. Ilya is a star center and a Pest. He wouldn't be doing his job correctly if he was punching players every other game, it would end up with not enough ice time to let him be the playmaker he's paid to be.

But being a pest can be playmaking! Find a player to bait, emotionally push them just enough that they try to fight you, and then get the fuck out of there before the ref gives you both penalties. This gets your team the power play. There is probably someone on Ilya's line dedicated to helping him get out of the fights he starts, and finishing them for him!

I also think this is also something that Shane would respect. Ilya is good at it and it's a good strategy for his team. I don't think Shane would see it as some dirty tactic, because Shane probably thinks everyone with a brain can see it for what it is! He probably thinks everyone should be able to see that being an asshole is a tactic for Ilya, that it's something to ignore and not fall for, that it's a strategy and not personal beef.

like wait, hold on, this is a good point that I never considered. Yuna Hollander being a momager would definitely be something Shane would get chirped for and Shane doesn't go for stupid fighting penalties but also you can't let an insult to your mother slide, no one can. Yuna is both present in the hockey world and also very recognisable. There can't be many Japanese women involved in hockey in the GCU, it would be obvious to even the most concussed player that that's Hollander's Mom. Let's also add a sprinkling of "Shane's mom is hot' because while that's never been explicitly stated in book canon, it's clear in the show, and also, Shane got his genes from somewhere he's got hot parents for sure.

So what do we get? Shane's got a momager. A fair number of other players probably recognise her. She's really hot. Shane never dates. Shane's the best/2nd best in the league and it's really fucking difficult to make him get a penalty. Hockey players are generally misogynistic.

Shane baby I'm so fucking sorry for the horrible shit you've had to hear about your mother

And Ilya wouldn't go for this because 1. the obvious trauma, and 2. he likes Shane and doesn't want to genuinely piss him off.

The Ilya we see in Heated rivalry would not be throwing the first punch, he's not an enforcer. Ilya is a star center and a Pest. He wouldn't be doing his job correctly if he was punching players every other game, it would end up with not enough ice time to let him be the playmaker he's paid to be.

But being a pest can be playmaking! Find a player to bait, emotionally push them just enough that they try to fight you, and then get the fuck out of there before the ref gives you both penalties. This gets your team the power play. There is probably someone on Ilya's line dedicated to helping him get out of the fights he starts, and finishing them for him!

I also think this is also something that Shane would respect. Ilya is good at it and it's a good strategy for his team. I don't think Shane would see it as some dirty tactic, because Shane probably thinks everyone with a brain can see it for what it is! He probably thinks everyone should be able to see that being an asshole is a tactic for Ilya, that it's something to ignore and not fall for, that it's a strategy and not personal beef.

No literally though that's the whole point. They're Equals. They're Equally Matched.

In any world where Shane is working himself to the bone to maintain his performance while Ilya fucks around eating nothing but McDonalds and showing up to games hung over the premise of their whole relationship evaporates. That is not 'they literally decide who is the best and second best player in the World on a game by game basis' anymore, that is not 'their rivalry pushes them to even higher heights' anymore, that is 'Shane is working himself as hard as he can and Still losing half the time to a guy who isn't making an effort' which terminates at the logical point of 'if Ilya were to actually start taking his training seriously then he would become Decisively the better player' which just conclusively destroys any point to them being Rivals and Equals.

The Whole Point is that the thing that initially drew them to each other is that they were both putting in the work and functioning at a skill level that Only Each Other Could Understand.