steel artist

‘None of the people who question Shane’s attraction to Ilya know Shane well enough to accept that he *loves* his asshole/sassy persona as well as his softer side. Shane likes him *for* it, not *in spite* of it. But they all have also swallowed the media narrative of Shane as the clean-cut prude who would never say anything rude or even think it, and it’s hard for them to change their minds’

The fact that they have forgotten they invented this media persona *for* him is upsetting. It reminds me of how awful that scene where his mom says, ‘But you’re not a liar!’ and then carefully proceeds to not notice/overlook his reaction to this statement because it suits her to have him stay in the box they built for him.

No wonder he desperately tries to apologize for being unable to stay inside those lines—everything is all tangled up in a way that will make the dominoes fall if he admits to any of it. When Ilya suggests he doesn’t actually have to admit to who all he’s been sleeping with if he comes out to them, I don’t think that Shane feels that’s a realistic option—it’s all one thing at this point. Admitting to part of it will undo enough that the rest will have to come out too.

Fake it (till you make it) by penandinkprincess has a theme like this, if anyone wants a fic along these lines 😉

This also reminds me of my theory that part of Hayden’s asshole behaviour is that he will have to accept that he *didn’t* actually know Shane better than anyone else, and that there is a whole underlying layer of intense desire and basically a secret life he wasn’t welcomed into.

rachel reid these discord screenshots… you’re a DUD.

like…

she’s getting awards for inclusion and “elevating underrepresented voices” btw, she’s fucking ridiculous.

even her editor was weirded the fuck out but i’m not supposed to think she hates shane?

like no wonder people hated shane before the show even aired when she was encouraging and enabling that shit with them at any and every opportunity she had. she switched up quick once shane got popular and people were giving her kudos for autistic rep she didn’t even write with purpose in the first place.

don’t get me started on her giving shane and ed to make him look selfish because he’s not focusing 100% on ilya’s problems and letting ilya and everyone else make fun of shane for his struggles and anxiety. she clearly sees shane’s fear of coming out as selfish which is crazy cause then she literally proves all of his fears right the moment he is outed.

No, he's not being an unreliable narrator. I've said this before, but neither Ilya nor Shane are unreliable narrators. That term refers to a specific and complicated narrative device that Reid is not attempting in these books, nor would she succeed if she did, because she is not a sophisticated enough writer to even be writing reliable narrators lmao.

It seems to me that majority of this fandom believes that an unreliable narrator is when the character has opinions and points of view and sometimes doesn't notice things, or worse, can be imagined to not be noticing things. I have seen this fandom justify absurd interpretations of the text by pointing out that the reason it's not present in the text could be because Shane/Ilya "is an unreliable narrator" and just didn't notice. That is not how it works.

If you want to write an unreliable narrator, you still need to find a way to make it indisputably clear that your narrator is unreliable, and virtually every instance of them being unreliable will be undeniable, because some other aspect of the narrative will be demonstrating that.

If Reid intended for Ilya's depression to be making his internal monologue unreliable in that moment, she would have needed to have done something to make it indisputably clear that was the case in that moment, or in surrounding moments. For example, she could have written that scene the exact same way and then when she switched to Shane's pov, had him thinking about, well, hockey's flaws, lmao. She could have had Shane voice something in that moment to demonstrate he knew about hockey flaws that directly contradicts what Ilya was thinking. She could have had Ilya verbalize his thought at some point that Shane is oblivious to hockey's flaws, and had Shane be offended and the two of them fight about it. There are many ways she could have revealed to us that Ilya's internal monologue was unreliable in that moment - but she doesn't ever do that.

But you know what she does do? She proves that Ilya's perception of him was accurate:

When Shane and Ilya go out with Fabian and Ryan, it's from Shane's pov, and when Fabian brings up Ryan retiring and his perception of hockey changing, Shane thinks that he "couldn't imagine hockey ever making him feel bad."

Now, this would have been a perfect opportunity to demonstrate to the reader that Shane actually is aware of hockey's flaws, so that we would understand that when Ilya assumes Shane doesn't know, we shouldn't believe him. But she didn't. She made it perfectly clear that Ilya's perception of Shane was accurate because Shane himself reiterates the belief.

And again, the way these books are written, it is clear that Reid isn't even attempting to do unreliable narrators. She rarely even attempts to show how these characters' own personal worldviews and life experiences shape their points of view, much less attempts to make them unreliable. She is constantly switching between limited and omniscient without meaning to because she is that incapable of conveying anything happening in these stories through these characters themselves. Her books are frequently obnoxiously straightforward in how reliable these internal monologues are, I can't emphasize that enough. So reliable in fact that the characters' own perceptions of themselves are often impossibly objective. Reid couldn't write an unreliable narrator if she tried. She does not even have a grasp on showing and not telling. If she tried to write an unreliable narrator her head would explode.

Starting off strong: (also made this and realized I don’t explain the fic just my vague opinion on them but idk trust my judgement anyway)

where nobody knows you

This is the hollanov reveal fic. It was only finished in January and I’ve reread it about 8 times. I was rereading it before it was finished. I love Yuna and idk if my son was hiding a relationship from me for 8 years I’d fall into hysteria so I love the exploration of her reaction. I love that it’s about Yunas perspective on Shane’s relationship and not just his relationship with Ilya. It’s really beautiful ngl, I be crying.

Silver Lining (Golden Seams)

I genuinely cannot explain my obsession with this fic. It’s really great and it shows a realistic (crazy adjective to use) perspective on Shane’s view of Svetlana. Plus Svetlana clocks his shit and I live for that.

Worlds Worst Ally

Hayden Pike isn’t homophobic, just confused. Momentary angst but it’s Hayden pov so mostly just funny.

Miscommunications (Lead to Fallout)

This one was so funny. I love reading Hayden Pike reactions cause he’s kinda stupid.

I Like Jane For You

Another Hayden Pike reveal but he’s really funny and this one gave me so much secondhand embarrassment. It’s a whole series so look at that too!

Scott Hunter's Life-Changing Road Trip

This one is super cute and I highkey need more Scott Hunter + Hollanov content. But everyone was so supportive it was so cute

(omg speaking of of hunter + hollanov im looking for a fic where they slowly reveal their relationship like menaces to him and kip and drop the bomb on everyone at kingfisher—so specific I know) - update: found it Oh Captains, queer captains

Lily and Jane's Reddit Adventures

This whole series owns my soul. Ugh I love social media crack but it’s really deep too? Go read it!

Would You Believe

I have a really deep love for Scott and Shane in this, like their segment is short compared to the whole thing but it’s what made me bookmark. It’s very cutesy.

First Time WAG

The reveal actually isn’t a big part of this but I think the buildup is really funny. Also can we please give Shane and Ilya more friends to talk to.

Right Formula, Wrong Answer

More Hayden Pike reveals, more me falling out of my chair laughing.

hot mics and hotter rivalries

This fic is so good I’m 100% you’ve read it by now. I love a good crack reveal.

something you can fix

Less of a reveal and more of a forced outing, but there’s a reveal in there. I’m a really angsty girl ngl.

Maybe a Good Change?

This one is so good and such a good angsty reveal. And a fix-it! Another Hayden Pike reveal. If you guys can’t tell I really love friendship.

ways they didn't find out

It’s a series! But like a series of one-shots not a series series. Everything in it is so good, I laugh, I cry it’s beautiful. I’ve read all of these a bunch of times. My favorites: fuck the news, love and other drugs, Yuna Hollander fucks around and finds out, and Hayden and Ilya cuddle (not clickbait)

unknowingly knowing

This one technically isn’t a reveal. Just chaotic hockey player group chats with Lily and Jane. But it’s really sweet and really funny and wtf is Mitty/Connors and why do I love it?

This is actually what made tlg so painful for me, and what continues to make this fandom so insufferable to me.

Hayden's character, in and of itself, is useful for this story. Conceptually, a character like him should exist in this story, and in this environment specifically. I would have never liked Hayden as a character, but I could have loved his inclusion because it could have been useful. It could have been used to make a point.

The reason I fester and seethe over Hayden is because Reid included him and then instead of making the point she should have with him - a point about "nice guys" in the NHL who are just as misogynistic, just as homophobic, just as hateful as all the others - she proceeded to absolutely fucking BABY him.

She so thoroughly fucking babies him that one of the biggest plot points of the book, the part where the characters reach their lowest low, the part that should have been entirely about Shane and Ilya, should have been about their pain, the loss, their fear, and like you say, should have had Ilya showing up for Shane, becomes about poor wittle straight white side character Hayden who made an oopsie.

Not too long ago, I talked on my blog about how epithets (”the taller man,” “the younger man”) are not only bad, but completely unnecessary. I got a couple of responses that were, shall we say, a bit rich in sodium chloride. I was accused of not understanding that some people have to write scenes with two characters of the same gender. LOL well I’ve only written two hundred M/M fics, so yeah, I guess I wouldn’t know anything about those struggles XD I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Epithets are a non-solution to a non-problem. They are speed bumps in prose, forcing a reader to discern which character is being referred to – just for a fraction of a second, but long enough to be disruptive to the experience. Also, although I love that fan fiction is not bound to the standards of commercial fiction, I do think it’s telling that no professional author uses epithets, and any publisher or editor who receives a manuscript with epithets in them will tell the writer to remove the epithets and try again. Nevertheless, some people believe that epithets are a preferable alternative to using a character’s name or their pronoun “too much,” on the grounds that this can also be distracting. So I’ve decided to make this post, wherein I, with the help of two characters of the same gender, will show you some sentences that have epithets, and then demonstrate how and why the epithet is unnecessary.

“Bob shoved his hand down the back of Mike’s trousers, cupping the other man’s ass.”

“The other man” is not needed. Just use “his” instead. In the first half of the sentence, we made it clear who was shoving their hand down whose trousers, so in the second half of the sentence, the reader doesn’t need a “hint” about who’ll be doing the groping.

“Bob placed his hands on Mike’s thighs, which thrilled the taller man.”

Okay, I just had to stop reading, go to IMDb, and find out who is taller, the actor who plays Bob, or the actor who plays Mike. Turns out Mike is one inch taller. This could all have been avoided if the sentence had instead read, “It thrilled Mike to feel Bob’s hands on his thighs.”

“Mike heard a gasp from the brunette, the only sound he could muster.”

Super simple: “Bob gasped, the only sound he could muster.” In the original sentence, filtering the action through one of the character’s senses added nothing to the prose. If you wish to use a filter like this, try something a little more evocative instead, like “Bob gasped, the only sound he could muster, and it was music to Mike’s ears.”

“As Bob entered the taller man, the brunette cried out at being penetrated. The florist was worried that he had hurt the barista, but Mike assured the older man that everything was alright and he could keep moving.”

Is this an orgy? How many people are here right now? And why does it matter at this particular moment that one of them is a florist?

a lot of people are giving examples in the notes of things they just find annoying like not using headphones in public, but OP is talking about actual literal scripts of things to say in awkward situations

if you have a date or two with someone and you don't see a relationship developing? most millennials / gen Zers just end up ghosting. but a social script that might have been taught and rehearsed in the past could be:

"I really appreciated getting dinner with you the other night and I enjoyed your company, but I'm afraid I didn't feel a spark. I wish you the best, and hope you find that special someone!"

Remember things about your friends! Ask people about their weekends, hobbies, holidays, studies, and jobs! Listen for the concerns people have and what they are working on! Draw connections between one person and another to get the ball rolling. "Oh, Maura, you just got your first cat! You should talk to Felix, he used to work at a rescue. Felix, please tell Maura all the new-cat-guardian pointers."

"Bill, Sheila, Xan, this is my friend Kale. Kale is really into Star Trek, Bill you and them should talk about it!"

If you're looking for a manual on these sorts of things; social etiquette, social scripts, how to handle difficult and/or awkward social situations, etc. then I highly recommend picking up any book by Miss Manners. Her books really are the gold standard for learning the types of skills this post is talking about. I should also mention that Miss Manners is witty and hilarious so her books are also fun to read.

The best book by Miss Manners to get started with would be Miss Manner's Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior. This one is probably the best starting point because it gives the best overview of all the basics.

Sorry @darlingdear but I couldn't let this stay in the tags.

I say this as someone who is neurodivergent had grew up very socially awkward, but recently I find the "screw small talk, I wanna get to know the REAL you" attitude to be pretentious as well as a demonstration of a lack of boundaries.

But also, I think a lot of people who have this attitude don't actually really know what does qualify as small talk. The definition of small talk is any topic that's of no real consequence and includes topics like food, pets, sports, music, whatever show you're currently streaming, whatever book you're currently reading, and yes, the weather. A lot of people who have this "I hate small talk / I don't do small talk" attitude probably think it's only reciting a bunch of secret scripts about the weather, and don't realize how much they engage in small talk whenever they talk about their pets or their favorite foods or the really cool show they're watching right now.

Small talk is a way of sounding out a person’s attitudes. It’s about finding out if they’re a rabid asshole or someone you want to spend more time with.

I had a professor who got angry at a group of (mostly women), from five countries, all of whom met yesterday, for talking about daytime TV. He basically insulted us and called us shallow.

It's not just the fact that this book is perfect for those of us who are neurodivergent, who can really benefit from having a book which kindly and patiently bothers to explain social rules and norms that people just expect you to know without ever telling you themselves.

It's also the fact that, despite this book being nearly 45 years old, Miss Manners makes it clear in the preface and opening chapters that she is explicitly against classism, sexism, and homophobia. She also makes it explicitly clear in the preface that her personal belief in the importance of good manners and etiquette has nothing to do with a desire to return to "the good old days", because those days were not actually good for women, LGBTQ+ people, poor people, and people of color.

What really made me re-fall in love with Miss Manners though was right in the opening chapter she addresses using sexualized threats and insults to debase and degrade others (you know, like "get fcked", or "suck my genitals", or "yeah well that's not what your mom / sister / other female family member had to say last night") because if sex is something that's supposed to be good and pleasurable, why are we using it as a threat to debase and degrade others? Honestly I love her so much for calling out the inherent sex-negativity of using sexualized threats and insults like that, and nearly 45 years ago at that!

The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve. 

Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.

If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.

Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.

As this rolls out over the next few days and you explore it, we’ll keep reading your replies and reblogs, so please keep sharing your questions, concerns, and ideas.

Your creativity has always been the heart of Tumblr, whether you’re the original poster or adding something brilliant in the reblogs, and nothing about this change is meant to limit that.

Russians do not blush. Russians do not get sick. Ilya gets concussions. He gets stitches. He skates on cracked ribs and calls it fine. He does not get sick. Which is why, when he wakes up at three in the morning in the middle of June, shaking so hard his teeth knock together, his first instinct is irritation.

Shane is going to top. In fact he needs to top. Here is my argument as to why before you click out of this fic. First: yes, the bubble butt attached to that Russian man is significant. We will not pretend otherwise. That mf was built like a Renaissance sculpture and I refuse to ignore canon. However…this fic isn’t just about anatomy. It’s about power, identity, and what masculinity has done to Ilya his entire life. Secondly: This brings us to the real point. In conservative Russian spaces, being gay isn’t framed primarily as a sin the way it often is in Western evangelical rhetoric. It’s framed as weakness. As failure. As feminization. As not being a “real man.” This is the homophobia Ilya has grown up with. And in a system where masculinity equals status, dominance, physical strength, emotional stoicism…the worst thing you can be is positioned as subordinate. There’s also a cultural logic around sexual roles. In some traditional attitudes, the insertive partner can still cling to masculinity. The receptive partner is seen as degraded, feminized, “treated like a woman.” It’s not just about orientation. It’s about hierarchy…So if Ilya has internalized even fragments of that framework, consciously or not, then of course he gravitates toward control. And now we look at his life. He is constantly taking care of everyone. His father. His brother. His team. Shane. Even strangers, sometimes. So like what happens when the person who has built his entire identity around being the strong one… has to let himself be held? What happens when he has to receive? That’s the story….Reversing the dynamic isn’t about undoing bottom!Shane. It’s about expanding both of them. Shane often feels safer when he doesn’t have to define or perform his sexuality loudly. There’s comfort in not making the decisions. There’s comfort in not being the assertive one. But post–Book 2? Divas it character growth time. They’re older. They’ve fought through a LOT of their shit. It might be time for Shane to step forward…not just physically, but in confidence. In claiming space. In saying, “I want you. Let me.” And Ms. RACHEL REID—you teased us with the possibility of this for like Several ENTIRE PAGES in Book Two. The tension? Exquisite. The setup? Immaculate. AWARD WINNING. The promise that maybe, maybe, we were about to see Ilya finally let go? AND GIRL JUST Fingers. Just fingers. A cinematic zoom-in on vulnerability and then—AHHHHh i NEED more diva. And even then, even in that almost-moment, Ilya still would not let himself be fully taken care of. He was there, but he wasn’t surrendered. He was allowing, but not yielding. And I cannot stand for this narrative edging of his emotional growth. If the man cannot unclench long enough to be held without trying to manage the situation, then what are we even doing. I need the follow-through. I need the release—not just physically, but psychologically. Let him rest. Let him be wanted. Let him be undone. ….And yes. If we’re being completely honest. did you seen Connor next to Hudson at the Golden Globes? Come on

Then, if you go to the notes on the original post, it only shows the reblog from "two"

So the OP doesn't get to see how much engagement their post has unless people like/reblog from the original post. If someone adds any sort of comment, it splits them up like this. Artists, writers, crafters will see less engagement, nobody will know how far the reach of their post is or if someone says something nice about it. If you want OP to know, you'd have to make a conscious effort to reblog from the first post listed in the chain.

Not only is this going to be bad for general community things, but this could easily promote harassment. You won't see anything but the initial reblog from you if someone makes an addition, so there could be whole conversations that go completely missed.

Thanks, tumblr. Very cool 👍

EDIT: Also, the posts aren't even properly displaying the notes YOUR SPECIFIC VERSION of the post is getting, which this post has shown me.

This is what I see looking at my post at this moment:

But if I go to the reblogs tab of my activity page, we can see