just a little place

It’d taken Ilya a while to forgive JJ. To even consider giving him another chance. He didn’t mind so much that JJ was a jerk to him, but the way he’d acted towards Shane? Yeah, that had been a lot to swallow. However, Shane had asked him emphatically to try his best, so Ilya was here, trying his…well, trying a little.

The thing was, it wasn’t that bad, having lunch with Hayden, JJ, and their significant others. Not because JJ was particularly exciting, but because sometimes, Shane spoke French. And yeah, Ilya had heard it referred to as the language of love before, but fuck, hearing it come from Shane Hollander’s mouth? Delicious.

That, plus the fact that Jackie Pike was there and Ilya loved her, was enough to make it so he thought he could endure quite a long lunch with these Montrea fuckers. Until Shane, mid-conversation with JJ and his girlfriend, turned to Ilya.

“Ilya, mon ange, est-ce que tu–Shit, I mean,” he chuckled, blushing a bit and laughing at himself. “Ilya, do you…”

But Ilya was too busy losing his damn mind. Because he was pretty sure Shane had just called him a pet name. In French.

“Bathroom,” he stuttered, standing and nearly running for the restroom, trying to make his very empty mind work, all of his blood due south at the moment.

Shane followed shortly after him. “Ilya, what’s–”

“We have to go home,” he said hoarsely, leaning on the sink and trying to remember how to breathe. It was difficult.

“What–why?”

“You say nice things in French. I–”

Shane broke into a grin. “Wait. You–my French turns you on?”

“Solnyshko, please,” Ilya whined, about to lose his mind. “Was so hot, I am dying.”

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.

Hmmm OKAY yes I think I have a few more:

- "Luca come here. Let me see. Open your fucking mouth, kid. Okay yeah, he's bleeding, tell them to give that fucker double, Ilya--"

- "Yeah so like...you eat the food with your hands. No forks. No, they give you this bread. Yeah it's good. Kind of spicy."

- "Hey buddy. Nah, not much. Jackie and the kids good? That's good. Surprised you're not part of the scrum. Yeah he told me he was gonna try to fight you tonight."

- "Ha, no, stay there. I don't wanna hear it. No, I don't want you to whisper it either. Save it for the power play."

- "Can you do this with your pinky? Yeah. Huh, maybe it's because I've broken mine. Hey, Bood, can you do this with your pinky? Huh. Chouinard--tap Chouinard--hey, try to do this--"

- "That ref fucking hates me and you know why--you fucking KNOW why--no I will not calm down!"

- "Yeah it was nice, but I don't think we'll go back. I dunno. It rained the whole time and Ilya said it made him feel homesick. No, like, for Russia. Yeah. Big sad Slavic eyes the whole time. And he's, y'know. My guy. When he's sad, I'm sad. Nah, that's not sappy, that's just marriage, man."

- "Hey, did you know that the point of hockey is actually to keep your blades on the ice? Yeah it helps. You can't go as far skating on your nose."

- "Aw shit, buddy, did he get you? Did my husband use his big stick to put you on your back? Aw man, bud, I dunno. Sounds kind of gay."

- "No, it's fine, not broken. Don't fuss. I'll tell you what I said later. No, later. Uh-huh. You get it. Eyes on the game, Rozanov."

- "Aw, fuck, he threw a blade. Oh you are not serious. Why is he crawling. COME ON, THIS IS WHAT WE LEARNED THE POWER PULLS FOR--"

- "Oh, kiss cam. You know, I asked them not to--helmet, Ilya. I said you could kiss my helme--mmm. Fine."

- "Say that again about my fucking family, motherfucker! Say that shit again! I'm not gonna let you fuckers play like that anymore!"

Like most people would probably be feeling pretty insecure if they finally had sex with a guy for the first time and then got ghosted for six months. It would be very easy to think the sex wasn’t good for the other person and they moved on.

Does not even occur to Shane. Like he is definitely hurt and definitely insecure about whether Ilya cares about him on a personal level (see “we didn’t even kiss” text), but obviously the sex was not the problem. The sex was so mindblowing that he’s like yeah obviously this was one of the greatest experiences of both of our lives. He does not need to spend any time contemplating that.

Meet Comical Specimen, a comic artist and the cover designer for Pins & Patches! They can be found on YouTube and Tumblr at @comical-specimen, and on Bluesky at comicalspecimen.

yuna raised shane on a diet of scathingly critical commentary over hockey games; she raised him to excel over his fellow hockey players. I can see it being a fun hollander family pasttime, for all three of them to watch games together, shane and yuna tossing deep cuts and absolutely foul chirps back and forth about whatever player just fumbled a shot at the goal or got slammed into the boards because he wasn't paying enough attention to the opposing defense or whatever. shane "bunch of finnish guys talking about the cousins theyre in love with" hollander, son of yuna "fuck him. right up the butt!" hollander. and david is there providing the snacks and nodding and humming along (not that he doesn't have his own opinions as a former hockey player, but to me he seems like he would be far less intense about it- more likely to balance shane and yuna out by complimenting the new chicago rookie's edges or saying stuff like "they've been rebuilding nicely"). shane needs to be reserved and polite for the camera, during press runs and commercials and whatever else, but that doesn't extend to the hollander's family time. yuna knows her boy, and he's a good boy, but he's ALSO a mean little fucker sometimes—especially when he's relaxed, feeling safe, and has his guard down. (idk how well this actually fits with what we see of shane and his mom's relationship in canon, but shhhh I'm just playing in my little sandbox.)

so. what I'm imagining is this carrying over into yuna's perspective on shane's relationship with ilya. she's wary of him for a while at first, because he's ILYA. he's her son's rival; she's spent almost a decade hating him on shane's behalf. it's going to take a little more than a few awkward dinners and a love confession for her to warm up to him. but the more dinners and movie nights ilya is over for, the more HE warms up to THEM, and the more shane starts to relax with him around yuna and david—the more yuna starts to notice about their relationship.

at first, ilya is more reserved around the hollanders, trying to be a Good Boyfriend and make a Good Boyfriend impression in them, but he gradually starts to loosen up and be how he usually is with shane-- poking and prodding and teasing to get a rise out of him, because he likes stirring shane up. and shane pokes and prods and bitches right back, "fuck you"s and "shut the fuck up, asshole"s and chirping ilya with a grin on his face. but it's not even just that; shane is comfortable being mean WITH ilya. they're watching a game at the hollanders' and ilya tosses out a chirp about buffalo's goalie, and shane immediately 'yes, and's it with something just as sharp. yuna brings up one of she and shane's regular bits about philly's center being way past his prime, and shane doesn't even hesitate to keep it going with ilya right there next to him—easy and relaxed in a way she knows he usually isn't around his team.

For Shane, bisexuality is his last ditch effort to deny his queerness and desire for Ilya. For Ilya, flaunting his bisexuality in front of Shane—who is struggling so hard with the desire to be ‘straight passing’—is both a taunt and a plea.

Both of them using bisexual exploration and expression in deeply flawed and destructive ways for a scene that is lit with bisexual colors is so interesting.

The bisexual flag colors are meant to represent authenticity, visibility, and pride but both Shane and Ilya are so deeply buried in fear, hurt and shame that they are branded by the bisexual colors instead of embraced by them.

The bisexual colored lighting is as atmospheric and inescapable as identity itself, further contrasting and coloring everything that is keeping them apart.

“Ilya I know you like to joke by On God you Cannot tell people that I bottom (insert explanation of the feminization of Asian men here)”