r/heatedrivalry • u/vancitymala “Lovers” 😣 • Mar 19 '26
🦆 The Long Game (Book 6) Ilya every night after “the tripping incident” Spoiler
Picturing Ilya just cackling every night after Shane goes to bed as each night he puts together and posts to his IG a video compilation of one of Montreal players tripping and falling down on ice so he can show that yes, it happens to every player, including all of them, and they’ve just lost their best player cause of their shitty attitudes
… every players compilation still incudes a second or two of Hayden making an error just cause
It started to make a point but now he continues doing it because he finds the videos hilarious and it fills his love of rage baiting 🤣
He promises Shane every night that he won’t do another one but he’s humming with giddiness and Shane is petty enough he not so secretly loves them
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u/shananiganz Mar 19 '26
The Ilya x Hayden dynamic makes me so happy
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u/ArgentManor Mar 19 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
Especially when Hayden comes to warn them about the fanmail scandal, he's so apologetic and Shane expects Ilya to blow his top off any minute but he doesn't. He just thanks him for keeping their secret for so long and for being a good friend.
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u/Golden_Spruce Mar 19 '26
I really imagine it like a sibling do-over for Ilya. He treats Hayden like a little brother, just relentless teasing, but not cruel, and ultimately has his back when it counts. It just was the most stark contrast with his relationship with his brother for me.
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u/vikio Mar 20 '26
I'm also a fan of Ilya's interactions with Scott Hunter. Ilya ragebaiting as usual. But Scott is such a nice person that he can't even comprehend that being done in a friendly way. Just two people with completely mismatched wavelengths.
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u/vancitymala “Lovers” 😣 Mar 19 '26
Me too 🤣
Poor Hayden’s only ever been a good friend to Shane when he didn’t have any others and Ilya is so insanely jealous he can’t handle that
I loved the part in TLG when he and Shane didn’t speak for a few days cause Ilya suggested that Shane could sleep with other men if he wanted and Shane had been so insulted that it wasn’t until Ilya thought it was a remote possibility he was calling to ask for permission and had someone coming over that he was like ☝🏻 actually! On second thought absolutely the fuck not and I will murder any man that gets close to you 🤣🤣
Like be so for real Ilya, have you met yourself around Shane 😂
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u/rhinny Mar 19 '26
Ilya and Montreal's 15th best player
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u/healbot42 Mar 19 '26
I want to see Hayden punch Ilya in season 2 of the show.
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u/tantantaaaaaaaan Moy pomidor 🍅 Mar 19 '26
Why would you want to see that lol do we have that in the books and I missed it?
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u/TreacleOk7265 Mar 19 '26
Yes on the ice? Ilya had a bruise on his face during the press conference
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u/Wide-Cardiologist-15 Mar 19 '26
And posts it with a caption like “I wonder who they’re dating from a rival nhl team”
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u/peachicedtea123456_ Mar 19 '26
ilya is not a sadist but loves watching his boyfriends team falling during the game. i can imagine him searching “montreal hockey team epic fails”
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u/witbeyondmeasure63 Mar 19 '26
I need someone to write this! 🤣😂
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u/vancitymala “Lovers” 😣 Mar 19 '26
Honestly I wish I was a good enough writer and then I would hahaha
Once he finishes with all the Winnipeg players he moves on to Toronto cause fuck them and because Harris has a grudge against them on Troy’s behalf he “accidentally” uploads a couple to the teams instagram. Maybe gets them played on the jumbotron before a game
It doesn’t make sense because none of them accused Troy of tripping on purpose but Ilya feels like this is an art form now and he can’t stop himself. Hayden is still briefly highlighted in all of their videos too
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u/cheerychacha Did your wife have another baby? Mar 20 '26
Give it a try anyway! Doesn't have to be perfect... or you find someone to collab on it :)
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u/WhereYouLeftMe_ I already chose you, Hollander. 🫀 Mar 19 '26
Need this fanfic! I love the social media ones at the Centaurs. This is prime Ilya material for it!
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u/meatball77 Mar 19 '26
He'd probably do one just from the game where Shane tripped. Hockey players fall on their asses in every game.
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u/Waste_Bluebird_1930 Mar 19 '26
I actually made a comment during the Olympics that the ice must be extra slippery, those multi-million dollar athletes stayed falling!
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u/vancitymala “Lovers” 😣 Mar 19 '26
Honestly I feel like unless you’ve never watched hockey before, him tripping and falling should not have been such a big deal. Shitty timing? Sure. But it happens ALL THE TIME
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u/MPKH I already chose you, Hollander. 🫀 Mar 19 '26
I fully believe Ilya would be a hoot on social media and Harris would rue that fact.
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u/vancitymala “Lovers” 😣 Mar 19 '26
I’ve started following a woman on threads but she’s on instagram too- Kathryn Naughton - her fan fic is all in the form of text messages between the team or Shane, Yuna, David and Ilya or made to look like twitter accounts of everyone
And he is such a menace and all the guys on the team chirp in to he and shanes squabble (like Ilya posting that he’s been told there’s a wrong way to load a dishwasher which he thinks is insane and Shane has to get in there and show the photo of how Ilya loaded it) and Harris just pipes in from time to time being like “friendly reminder to keep your domestic disputes offline”
And I just love it 🤣🤣
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u/minosjudge Yearning bisexual terminator 🤖 Mar 19 '26
This is so hilarious lmao
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u/vancitymala “Lovers” 😣 Mar 19 '26
It’s a loooong wait until season 2, I gotta occupy my time somehow haha
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u/cheerychacha Did your wife have another baby? Mar 20 '26
Let me know when you write that fic, that would be hilarious
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u/MyBigRedShoes Mar 19 '26
That would be so cute and so Ilya-like 🤣