Fancake

Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairings: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov
Rating: Gen
Length: 2917
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: glittercity on AO3
Themes: Just like canon, LGBTQ+ canon characters, Hurt/comfort, Humor, In vino veritas

Summary: “Ilya?” Shane said in that same dreamy, loopy voice as that morning. Ilya exhaled in a rush.
“Shane,” he said, and wanted to sag against the glass with relief. “What happened? Is something wrong?”
“Not! Any moooooooore.”
Ilya swallowed. Shane hadn’t gotten any quieter in the past seven hours.
“Why are you calling me? You need to be resting,” he said, and it sounded softer than he’d meant it to.
“I forgot to tell you something. Important.”
“You should not be telling me anything, you should be—”
“My cottage has really good water pressure,” Shane announced.
Ilya stared out the window while a small plane taxied past.
“What?”
——————
Shane's cottage has a lot of amenities, and he needs to tell Ilya about all of them.

Reccer's Notes: This is a lovely, funny fic giving us more of "loopy on the good drugs" Shane from canon, after he takes the hit on the ice and is briefly in the hospital. Shane high on pain meds is adorable and Glittercity gives us more, as Shane tries to impress on Ilya how wonderful his cottage is, in the hope of persuading him to visit. Short, sweet and a favourite.

Fanwork Links: The same number of stars everywhere, and there's a podfic by jennisaisquoi

Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairings: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, OMC
Rating: Explicit
Length: 10,048
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: LavenderProse on AO3
Themes: Journey and travel, Mutual pining, Established relationship, Huddling for warmth, Missing scenes

Summary: He crowds Shane into the hood of the car, hands up under his shirt and jacket again. October is getting cold; nights are getting colder. The places where Ilya is touching him are the only parts of Shane’s body that are warm right now. Maybe that’s why he wraps his arms around Ilya’s neck and clings to him, though he doesn’t necessarily surprise himself with it. They don’t even kiss for a moment. Ilya busies himself breathing into the crook of Shane’s neck, trying to regain control. Shane opens his eyes and gazes over Ilya’s shoulder at the dark field and realizes that an utterly foreign feeling has risen up in him. It’s Ilya’s broad shoulders and beautiful hair between Shane and the world and he feels — small. Protected.
“Oh my God,” Shane whispers, completely ashamed of the feeling and hungry for it. It curls warm in his stomach. His toes arch inside his shoes. Something about being so close to this man, something about Ilya putting himself between Shane and — the world. Whatever lurks in the deep night. It’s a feeling like a ghost, something that Shane isn’t allowed to look directly at except for moments like these. Quiet and dark.

Shane, Ilya, Vermont. Meeting in the middle.

Reccer's Notes: This is set during the episode four montage of hook-ups, with Shane and Ilya driving some distance (and in Shane's case, crossing a national border) to meet up a couple of times in Vermont, midway between Montreal and Boston. At this stage they still haven't admitted their feelings, but the logistics, and an unexpected interruption, lead to them spending more time together than usual. Excellent writing, amusing and poignant, with lovely intimacy and hotness. Great sense of place in both locations where they meet (surprisingly outdoorsy for city-boy Ilya, especially given the weather). Recommended!

Fanwork Links: I Was Raised Out in the Cold

Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairings: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Hayden Pike, Wyatt Hayes
Rating: Explicit
Length: 7060
Content Notes: Underage, as both Shane and Ilya are seventeen.
Creator Links: toomuchplor on AO3
Themes: Journey and travel, Forced proximity, First time, AU: Fork in the road

Summary: Regina to Edmonton was nine hours by bus if the weather was decent; it took a bit longer if — for example — your bus lost power on Highway 11 just past Dundurn, Saskatchewan.

Team buses, night drives, and one way things might have started differently.

Reccer's Notes:
This is a lovely story about Shane and Ilya as teens, just after the first World Juniors Cup, being forced into proximity on a long nighttime bus ride. The inevitable happens, and it kick-starts their relationship and their friendship at a much earlier stage, allowing them to rewrite the MLH's narrative. Told from Shane's pov, with wonderful characterisation and details.

Fanwork Links: Torture Me (With All I’ve Wanted)
Podfic read by mific

Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairings: Scott Hunter/Kip Grady, Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Cliff Marlow, Elena, Carter Vaughan, JJ Dagenais, Eric Bennett
Rating: Mature
Length: 14,405
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: toomuchplor on AO3, sweaters_in_the_summer on AO3
Themes: Inept in love, Canon LGBTQ+ characters, Established relationship, Outsider POV, Humor, Happy Endings

Summary: Scott Hunter is just trying to make the most of his closeted NHL career, keep his head down, wait until he retires before he tries find his person.

He doesn't want to know anything at all about these two dumb rookies and what they're getting up to behind the facade of their so-called rivalry... but they're making it really hard for him to ignore them.

Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov are not Scott's problem. That's all there is to it.

Reccer's Notes: This is a brilliant and often hilarious fic about Scott and Kip, but also about how Scott keeps catching the two damn rookies giving themselves away ineptly left, right and centre. I love outsider POV and this delivers, and there's also a wonderful portrayal of Scott and Kip's relationship across the years - Scott can be pretty inept in love, as well! I loved the texting and chat between Scott and Kip as Scott overhears yet another Shane/Ilya secret or catches them out somewhere - Kip is so gossipy and funny. There's some angst, but of course a happy ending. So good, and very clever and full of heart.

Fanwork Links: Knowing
And there's a great podfic by sweaters_in_the_summer

Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairings: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Cliff Marleau, Connors
Rating: Mature
Length: 5144
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply. Descriptions of illness, choking, vomiting.
Creator Links: Ragazza_Guasto on AO3, sd_ryan on AO3
Themes: Crack treated seriously, Pining, Getting back together, Canon LGBTQ+ characters, Angst with a happy ending

Summary: “Can you believe it? How the hell did he end up bagging her?”

Ilya stared, brain not comprehending what his body already seemed to, that Hollander was dating-

“Rose fuckin’ Landry! How does the lamest guy in the League-”

He knew that smile. He thought it was for him, just for him. But it wasn't.

“No,” he whispered. His stomach spasmed.

“You good, Roz?”

Why would he- How could he-

They were holding hands…

“Rozanov? What the fuck?”

He jumped up from the table and stumbled for the front door, just barely making it through before the first mass of petals came up. He heaved as he ran, trying desperately to get away from the pavement, somewhere he could hide what was happening.

Unfortunately, his teammates had followed, because of course they would. He saw a photo of Shane Hollander holding hands with a movie star and promptly threw up.

Who wouldn't be curious?

Reccer's Notes: Hanahaki disease, where a sufferer of unrequited love starts bringing up flowers, has to be one of the crackiest tropes ever. In this story Ilya develops Hanahaki after seeing the pics of Shane going out with Rose Landry. But it's not some gently romantic fluttering of petals from his lips, it's bloodily bringing up a hard, painful tulip bulb, then more flowers, more bulbs. I guess the trope always has a potentially serious outcome (death vs requited love) but to me the "treated seriously" aspects here are the medical details and treatment, the painful and unromantic way the disease affects Ilya, and the way the fic cleverly incorporates his family history, via his mother. Ilya gets very sick indeed before Shane finds out, with inevitable results. Well written, and a great read.

Fanwork Links: All I Do is Stay Winning
All I Do is Stay Winning (podfic by sd_ryan)

Fandom: Game Changers series (Heated Rivalry)
Characters/Pairings: Hayden Pike & Shane Hollander, Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Hayden Pike/Jackie Pike, Montreal team ensemble
Rating: Mature
Length: 5450
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: gurlsrool on AO3
Themes: Friendship, Five things, Humor, Outsider pov, Established relationship, Canon LGBTQ+ characters

Summary: “I don’t hate him!” Hayden says, which is only true because hate doesn’t quite capture it. No, he despises Rozanov. In his defense, everyone with a pulse and without the last name Hollander does.

Or: 5 times Hayden doesn’t get Shane and Ilya’s relationship, +1 time he does.

Reccer's Notes: This is set just after the end of the Heated Rivalry book so I guess mild spoilers for ep 6 follow (it's really not very spoilery). In the fic, Shane and Ilya have acknowledged their feelings and are exclusive, and Shane's told Hayden, his best friend on the Montreal team. The story focuses on Hayden's incredulity and his conviction that Ilya Rozanov is a giant dick (which Ilya delightedly feeds into). The more Hayden learns about Shane's relationship with Ilya, the more horrified he gets (the bottoming, their mild D/s dynamic). Then, in the sixth part, he sees another side of Ilya entirely. The story's very well written and extremely funny, with brilliant characterization of Hayden, Ilya, and Shane. A ton of fun!

Fanwork Links: fresh out of any good judgment

Fandom: Heated Rivalry, Game Changers book series
Characters/Pairings: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Yuna Hollander, David Hollander, Hayden Pike, Zane Boodram, Evan Dykstra
Rating: Explicit
Length: 26,873
Content Notes: contains depictions of homophobia and slurs, state-sanctioned and from individuals
Creator Links: pucksandpower on AO3
Themes: hurt/comfort, angst (with a happy ending), established relationship, canon LGBTQ+ characters, character development, au: fork in the road

Summary: One security camera. One leaked video. One choice that changes everything.

Ilya Rozanov loses his country, his team, and his shot at Olympic gold in a single night. But he doesn’t lose Shane, and that makes all the difference.

A story about finding home in a person, not a place. About choosing love over legacy. And about winning the medal you never knew you needed, standing next to the one person who matters most.

Reccer's Notes: Time to emerge from my Heated Rivalry obsession, with... Heated Rivalry recs! This goes au after the book (after season 1 of the show), so I guess it's a little spoilery if you haven't read the book or seen season 1. The plot takes a very different turn at the 2018 Korean Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. It's told from Ilya's point of view after what initially seems an utter disaster following which he has to flee the Russian authorities. Although it starts with trauma, most of the story is about how Ilya's life is rebuilt, with Shane being central to that, as are his teammates, and Shane's parents. It's an engaging story with great characterization and fun banter between Ilya and Shane, Ilya often being his usual in-your-face, snarky self. A heartwarming story with plenty of comfort to offset the initial hurt.

Fanwork Links: when the world sees (we run toward each other)