TheBlueMeanie3000

But he doesn't know who Bad Bunny is, and Bad Bunny doesn't know who Shane is... So they're both just making small talk with this hot guy they met at the bar while they wait for their drinks. They're enjoying talking to someone who doesn't know their celebrity status. And Shane is getting a little flustered despite being married, because damn if this guy isn't his type, and Bad Bunny is lowkey flirting with him.

And then Ilya shows up and has a heart attack. Alternating between fanboying over Bad Bunny and wanting to fight him. Just standing there frozen with this bonkers expression on his face.

Ilya wins his first awards and hes got nobody he really wants to thank after his team and coach cause he he hates his family but he knows his speech is too short so on impulse he goes "And I want to thank Shane Hollander for being slightly worse than me this season". Everyone knows it was going to one of those two, so everyone thinks hes an asshole to say that but whats new so it works for him. But from then on it then becomes a bit for both of them to thank each other in their speeches in a snide way as a reason they won.

Shane winning the Art Ross Trophy (Awarded to the player who leads the league in total points at the end of the regular season). and going "special thanks to Rozanov for missing at least 5 shots this season, he was a huge help"

Ilya winning the Conn Smythe Trophy (Awarded to the most valuable player for his team in the playoffs.) "Just want to give a quick shout out to Hollander for getting knocked out in the second round this season. Must hate to see me up here."

1) It’s important to know that it’s not just Shane and Ilya who are struggling, and that struggle is not unique to them. Like, it's very easy to assume that they're afraid of admitting their feelings for each other solely because of their own personal hang-ups. It's very easy to assume that, if they could just acknowledge how they feel – that it's not just a casual hookup with no strings and Shane is gay gay – they could happily drive off into the Canadian sunset together and all would be well.

But we know that's not the case, because we have Scott and Kip.

Scott is way more advanced in his career, he’s a lot more confident in flirting with a total stranger, he asks Kip to move in with him the morning after they have a first date that’s almost entirely sex and Kip agrees… and it doesn’t matter.

There is absolutely no ambiguity about their gayness or interest in each other, they are incredibly good at communicating their feelings, they do nothing but love and support and understand each other, they're practically married after like a week and a half, and it doesn’t matter.

Scott is still legitimately terrified of being outed. Literally the only thing holding him back from living with Kip in openly gay wedded bliss is hockey, but that’s enough.

The only similarity between Shane and Ilya’s messy slowburn fuckbuddies-to-lovers arc and Scott and Kip’s coffee smoothie shop romcom is the overwhelming dread of losing the career to which you’ve dedicated your entire life (to the point that you have almost no marketable skills or significant relationships outside of it and have repeatedly hurt yourself physically and mentally in service of it) because of the homophobia inherent in the culture surrounding it.

But that similarity is hanging over the entire plot like the sword of Damocles.

Which is also why Scott outing himself by kissing a man on live TV after winning the cup is so powerful that Ilya immediately drops everything and decides to come to the cottage instead. If Scott can have all of that hanging over his head and choose to knock it down like a fucking piñata, if Scott can see the disaster coming and invite it in, if Scott has all the same fears that Shane and Ilya do about coming out and can still say, "Fuck you, I'm doing it anyway, and in the most spectacularly public way possible," why not hang out for a week or two in (theoretically) complete privacy with the person you've been in love with for nearly a fucking decade?

Why not take the lifeline of hope Scott's providing and grab it with both hands?

Without seeing Scott and Kip's full story (not just the kiss we see at the end), the stakes for Shane and Ilya aren't as obvious. We need Scott and Kip so that we fully understand exactly where Shane and Ilya are coming from.

2) GO HOME! GO HOME!

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Luca Haas/Cliff Marlow | Cliff Marleau Characters: Luca Haas, Cliff Marlow | Cliff Marleau

Additional Tags: Rivalry, Weird flirting, Possessive Behavior, Pain Kink, Kinda?, Luca Haas Has A Problem, Cliff Marleau Being Cliff Marleau, Pet Names, Bruises, Touch-Starved Luca Haas, Hypersensitivity, Banter, they’re weird about each other, Cliff Thinks The Bruise Is Hot, Luca Thinks Cliff Is Insufferable, But He Still Stayed The Night, Idiots in Love, Emotional Constipation, No One Is Doing This Normally, Developing Relationship, Secret Relationship Energy, Haasleau, i love them, Ship deserves more love

Summary:

Cliff checks Luca into the boards hard enough to leave a bruise blooming across his stomach.

Later that night, he can’t stop touching it.

OR

Luca discovers that getting body-checked by Cliff Marleau is somehow part of their flirting now.

so when they meet, is awkward at first. ilya tries hard to break the tension (there’s no tension, is just shane is shy and sveta wants a piece of him) and then the two of them starts to talk about hockey and just forget that ilya is also there.

now ilya is mad that no one is paying attention to him and even when he glues his body against shane and whines, shane doesn’t even glance at him.