#hrblogging

masterlist

word count: 292

content warning: nsfw, smut (not as explicit though, no mentions of private parts or anything)

currently trying to get out of writer's block. The weather doesn't make it any easier since it’s just grey, cold and snowy. I hope that I'll find the inspiration again so I can actually write. That's why this piece (and others) are so short. I'm just trying to get something down so I'm sorry if it feels repetitive.

In the confines of Ilya’s house, moans fill the wide bedroom, increasing in volume and rhythm, the king-sized bed fully in motion, rutting and banging slightly. Summer sweat glistens on your skin, both your bodies hot, only being cooled down by a simple fan, doing little to prevent the heat from getting more intense. It’s one of the hottest days of the summer so far, the weather having changed to sunny and hot some weeks ago, both of you bored from not being able to do much or go out, deciding to not just lounge or rather rot on the couch, praying to the fan to do its job better.

Your hair is moist, especially on the back of your neck, hands running through your partner’s blonde curls, legs spread apart as his hips slam into you. You know this won’t be over anytime soon and you don’t want it to stop, more scared of boredom and monotony than sweat and an increase in heat. Sunlight fills the room in a soft golden glow, only fueling the momentary bliss that wraps itself around you.

You collapse onto the mattress, completely spent, lying side by side, basking in the comfort and silence, your head finding its new home on his broad chest. You stay like this for a while before you spare his face a glance. For once, you see the true color of his eyes, looking brighter and clearer than ever, putting you under their spell. You take in his scent that is now combined with the smell of sweat, head on his chest as you just lie side by side, feeling no pressure to break the silence and peace of the moment. You two can just “be”. Nothing more, nothing less.

THANK YOU. I want to make a longer post about this, but the enemies/rivals plot is so overused. It's not charming and just feels like a way to lazily make flat characters dynamic. This show does it so egregiously though. Again, I want to explore why this is bad in a longer post, but I find episode 2 to have some of the grossest manipulation written to be portrayed as 'love' as I have ever seen on screen.

For those who haven't seen the show, the first episode shows Shane and Ilya (the main couple) hooking up. They generally don't like each other but are intrigued by each other's differences and have a decent reputation in the public eye, and the public influences this dynamic that the two have. In the first episode, they get kinda flirty and hookup, with it being cathartic for Shane as it's his first time and he's not really a sexual guy. Ilya is more experienced and kinda cold in the bedroom, not being super passionate but clearly enjoying the sex. Then, in the next episode, Ilya goes radio silent (doesn't answer any texts from Shane, ignores him, etc) and when Shane confronts him at his friend's skating event, Ilya tells Shane things along the lines of not wanting to see him or speak to him. Then, he ignores Shane for months. (There's a small interaction with another gay man, named Sasha, where Ilya almost hooks up with him. Only mentioning because I know haters will call me out if I don't. This doesn't change much though as Ilya is already portrayed as being experienced before he met Shane and I believe it's implied that he was sleeping with other people when going into their next interaction.) So then, a formal event happens where the two are forced to see each other again. Shane and Ilya have to talk to each other at some award show, and clearly (and understandably) upset, Shane goes to the bathroom to control his feelings. Then, Ilya follows in and immediately tries to initiate sex with him. Shane then loses his backbone and feelings and immediately caves into fucking Ilya at his hotel. This. Is. Gross.

This is a common booktok trope that we see in a lot of books: this dark, brooding man and the emotionally-driven submissive person who captures their heart. It can go to different extremes (such as the "I hate everyone but you" trope, which I hate), but it's particularly gross here. Firstly, it's just pure emotional manipulation on Ilya's behalf. It isn't charming, it isn't 'yearning' as people online say it is. There is nothing to excuse Ilya's behavior and taking advantage of Shane's feelings. The grosser part is that it's in a queer show, which will likely be seen by lots of queer youth who tune in because this is the "hot new thing to watch." It just supports a really bad ideal of how anyone should be treated, but I fear for the impressionable queer youth, who are as inexperienced as Shane, navigating their sexuality and having this to go off of. I don't mind straight women writing queer experiences, but they need to understand that not everything translates neatly from one sexuality to the next. There's other issues like not practicing safe sex and promoting a lifestyle of sleeping around without showing the possible impact of that (like when do Shane and Ilya talk about getting screened for AIDS?). But a lot of other romance books don't do that, so I'm not going to give another book/show grief for it when so many others bypass it.

Also, I wanna say that the fact that Ilya is bisexual and a sex-addicted, non-romantic person is a horrible stereotype for this show to perpetuate. The cherry on top is the god awful Russian stereotypes shoveled in to complete this beyond shallow character. But it is just another case of the show displaying a stereotype of how bisexuals 'should be,' and that can be harmful for people who aren't very in-tune with their own sexuality. And I don't really find Ilya trying to hide his 'gay side' to be that compelling, it's so annoying that every popular queer show is about them overcoming homophobia. Queer people face more problems than just homophobia, like debt and taxes!

I really wish that we got more adaptations of real queer stories, ones written by queer authors. Again, that is not to say that straight people can't write queer characters or make up queer stories. It's just that there is an evident lake of them making any sort of effort to remove the lens of heteronormativity that they look through when creating this media. It sucks because a well-researched story could do wonders and still provide audiences with what they want.

Hello, please donate to @abdal7afez.

Campaign Information:

Abdalhafez is a man living iiving in Gaza. Before the genocide, abdal was a university student who worked hard to support his family.

But now, his youth has been buried, his studies are paused and the job he once had is lost.

Please donate to abdal so he can provide his family with basic necessities and study abroad to continue his education.

vetted by @/gazavetters (#618)

vetted by @/90-ghost