101 – 120 of 195 Works in Character Study
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Lovers of the Sun by OpalApparition
Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid, Game Changers | Heated Rivalry - All Media Types
2026-01-20
“Shane,” Ilya tried again, savouring the snap to attention it earned him, “Take off your clothes. I want to swim with you.” They’ve spent years hiding what they are to each other in hotel rooms with locked doors and stolen hours in the dark. But at Shane’s lake cottage, there’s no one watching and nowhere to hide. When Ilya dives in and calls Shane to follow, it’s the first time they’ve ever done this in daylight, and everything about it feels like stepping off a cliff.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 2,750
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Files:
- 2 versions
- AO3:
- #78019956
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you are the one mouth i would be a tongue to. by hcneymooners (romqntics)
Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid
2026-01-18
Ilya's hand continues its path up and down Shane's back, and Shane thinks again about how love is sometimes just this: a palm on the spine, moving in circles, waiting for you to come back to yourself. There is no promise of saving you—Ilya cannot save him, they both know this and are alright with it in their own ways—but there is a vow of staying, lingering in order to witness. Touching the bruise so that its pain triggers the memory that you are allowed to be touched. Outside, the snow continues its work of erasure. Inside, Shane's breathing begins to even out, every limb recalling how to be a man at rest rather than an animal fawning and freezing. The trembling subsides, wave by wave, as if Ilya's hand is smoothing it out of him. "Sleep, зайчик," Ilya says softly, his free hand coming to rest in Shane's hair. "I have you." This is not true, Shane thinks, and it is also the only true thing. ⋆ recovery, shane learns, is not a straight line. to begin to understand something, you must first name it.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 14,178
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Files:
- 1
- AO3:
- #77899881
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heart on your sleeve by Candetrona
Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid
2026-01-18
“I’m sorry,” Ilya began drafting. The text conversation with Jane had sat unanswered since the “Are you okay?” message came in over two weeks ago. Or, what if Ilya put on his big boy commincaiton pants and didn't ghost Shane for six months?
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 2,895
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Files:
- 1
- AO3:
- #77904596
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what do you say to a brand-new ghost? by Sapphic_terror
Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid
2026-01-16
Ilya did not want to die. It’s a natural thought as the plane seems to fall around him. He’s twenty-nine, he does not want to die. It’s the intensity that surprises him, the desperate need clawing at his heart, pressing against his ribs, surging in his throat. He’s choking on it, aching with it, burning with it. The plane is falling around him, and he wants to live so badly it’s all he can see. - Or, The Plane Crash nearly goes as wrong as possible when Shane's game is cancelled, and he sees Ilya's messages in real time. To make matters worse, Ilya spends fifteen minutes falling out of the sky and mourning all that he would never have. Or, Ilya's pov of i pray this love changes me (this grief will) ft. the very confused but supportive Centaurs
- Part 3 of found family *hockey edition
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 5,759
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Files:
- 2 versions
- AO3:
- #77746396
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Shane had never really understood what made taping his hockey stick in a specific way so different from folding his pants a specific way. Why was the one something every hockey player had their own way about, but the other warranted teasing every time it was noticed. Parts of Shane's pre-game routine.
- Part 1 of hockey stick tape
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 2,237
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Files:
- 1
- AO3:
- #77731116
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Simpler, Easier by Sriracha_Watermelon
Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid
2026-01-14
Shane Hollander’s vision had worsened significantly, and rapidly, in the months since turning thirty. This event, although initially distressing (Could it be CTE? Brain cancer? Was he having a stroke?), eventually unfurled itself into something like relief. Or It's easier to unmask when the world is a little blurry.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 1,080
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Files:
- 2 versions
- AO3:
- #77650096
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Friendship In Retrospect by Anonymous
Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid, Heated Rivalry (TV)
2026-01-14
Cliff Marleau gets assigned to keep the new Russian rookie out of trouble. Fifteen years later, he gives a speech at Ilya's wedding.
- Part 1 of A Formal Study of the Heart
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 14,275
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Files:
- 1
- AO3:
- #77644981
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He’s already in the room, shutting the door behind himself as quietly as he can before he realises that not only is there someone other than Shane in the room, but there are three someones other than Shane. And, as if he hasn’t already fucked up spectacularly, the someones happen to be the Hollanders and Hayden fucking Pike. // or; Ilya visits Shane in the hospital and meets his parents. He's traumatized and grieving, everything hurts, and Shane takes after his mother.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 12,398
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Files:
- 4 versions
- AO3:
- #77650301
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“I don’t know what’s wrong with me, Rozy.” That was a lie; he knew perfectly well what was wrong with him, he just wouldn’t admit it to himself. “I thought therapy would help, and I also thought winning the cup would help, but I guess we’re both just too fucked in the head for that.” Ilya laughs softly, nodding. or Shane Hollander studied through conversations, interactions, and therapy. or Shane accidentally gets diagnosed with autism
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 23,726
- Chapters:
- 8/8
- Files:
- 1
- AO3:
- #77628031
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”Shane Hollander, Montreal’s perfect captain,” Ilya mutters. His breath tickles Shane’s ear. Shane turns his head, tips his chin up and lets Ilya kiss him right against the front door until his lips are buzzing with it. He is what Ilya says he is — he’s boring and proper, polite. He sticks to his meal plan and eats brown rice and vegetables and steamed fish, and no processed sugar. He tries not to make his parents worry. He gives perfectly fine, safe interviews and ignores it when the press tries to get him to say anything that would be out of line, and he is professional and good at it. No one needs to know that he lights up under Ilya’s touch like the New Year’s Eve sky, how easily he goes down to his knees for him, how his heartbeat kicks into overdrive the second Ilya leans into his space. It is only for Shane to know, and for Ilya, maybe, if he would like to. Or: Shane Hollander and the pressure of being in the spotlight.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 10,873
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Files:
- 1
- AO3:
- #77635346
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Morals Clause: A contract provision that may be used in endorsement, spokesperson, and similar agreements to give the advertiser the right to terminate the deal, seek damages, or remove branding if the individual engages in actions bringing disrepute, scandal, or negative attention, protecting the brand's image and financial interests. Yuna does her research—apparently, a morals clause is common, in contracts like this. It bothers her, a little, how vague it is, but ultimately, she doesn’t see an issue with it—at least, not really. Shane is many things, and she is so, so excited to see how much more he becomes… but, for all of the many things she imagines in his future, she doesn't think he's capable of doing anything that could be accurately described as scandalous. She's wrong.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 13,059
- Chapters:
- 2/2
- Files:
- 1
- AO3:
- #76487081
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I Do Not Have Wings (Love, I Never Will) by Sea_Sea9000
Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid
2026-01-12
Ilya told Shane's family that he talked to Scott Hunter. He didn't tell them when. Scott and Ilya and the times they met up on rooftops over the years.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 5,167
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Files:
- 1
- AO3:
- #77528151
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conscience runs, ‘til out of breath by tothemoon
Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid
2026-01-12
Ilya considers, then, the idea of a smaller joy, the kind so molecular no one would know how to make him feel sorry for any of it. He thinks of Svetlana and him at McDonald’s, drunk and laughing; sprints, instead of long and dreadful runs; and even then that familiar swath of freckles, all faded from weak winter sun. There are times when Ilya is sorry, and there are times when he is not. (or: Heated Rivalry, as told through so many apologies.)
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 16,284
- Chapters:
- 2/2
- Files:
- 1
- AO3:
- #77519496
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Ilya knew sadness could kill, and it could do it quietly like it took his mother. So he stayed charming, desirable, and useful. He never asked for reassurance, didn’t get needy. He would never admit he needed Shane. Right?
- Part 3 of Amiera's Hollanov
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 4,586
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Files:
- 1
- AO3:
- #77567096
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Women flock to Rozanov; he’s the gravitational centre in every room. Shane gets it. He’s felt it, the shark pull of his orbit. He’s been swallowed up into the belly of desire. What he doesn’t get is how easy it is for Rozanov. Even with Shane’s teammates pooled around him on the dance floor his hands get clammy when a girl in a sequined skirt makes a move on him. Shane used to think maybe he was just awkward; maybe he needed a couple of beers in him to loosen up, but he couldn’t do that during the season. Then Ilya Rozanov kissed him and the craving was so clear in Shane’s mind he was able to visualise every sharp edge of it, and he knew he wanted to be on his knees. 2013. It’s been two years since he and Rozanov hooked up in Nashville and exchanged phone numbers. It’s a month till Boston comes to Montreal and Rozanov’s promise of ‘next time’ could go into fulfilment. Shane Hollander wants to play hockey. He wants to play it well. The other thing is a thing he cannot allow himself to want.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 11,952
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Files:
- 1
- AO3:
- #77499916
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it's worse to be nothing by destielpasta
Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid
2026-01-11
How are you feeling today? Ilya stares at Shane’s text, biting his lip. You are asking too many questions again, Hollander, he types. His thumb hovers over the send button. Instead he deletes it, switching briefly to the Cryllic keyboard to type out: I feel like I was hit by a speed train, but instead of killing me it punched a hole through my heart, making more room for you. Fuck, that’s insane. OR Ilya eats pelmeni and texts Shane a lot while still in Russia. Takes place the day after the tunnel phone call in episode 5.
- Part 3 of Liminal
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 4,037
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Files:
- 1
- AO3:
- #77518531
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In episode 1, Ilya and Yuna almost get to know each other in a hotel elevator. A month after episode 6, Ilya and Yuna do get to know each other in a hotel elevator.
- Part 1 of Diminutives
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 2,431
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Files:
- 1
- AO3:
- #77517841
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What is hell? I maintain as follows: by doctorenterprise
Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid
2026-01-10
Shane remembers Ilya telling him once that hell is the suffering of being unable to love anymore, and Shane hadn’t understood that then. He couldn’t imagine being unable to love, because they were freshly married and blindingly happy and there was no force in the world that could take it away. But Shane thinks he gets it now, as he thinks about that grey December afternoon and beautiful blond boy in a toque with no one to love and no one to love him. That’s hell, he thinks. That’s hell, and he can barely speak around the swell of emotion in his throat, around the grief he feels at having held Ilya’s young hand for only a moment, for how he can never go back and hold him like he deserves to be held. They’re out - they’ve been out - and Shane can hardly stand it sometimes, how fucking good it feels to see Ilya enter a crowded room and meet his eyes and not feel that cold shock of terror zip down his spine. How plainly he can show love on his face after a decade of closed doors and frantic, not-enough stolen moments and being too terrified to let even his phone know he loves Ilya Rozanov. How he can reach out and tangle fingers with the love of his life and this new world they live in doesn’t try to cave in, or make them leave it, or make them leave each other. It drives him out of his mind daily, thinking about the life they lived together - apart, too fucking apart - for nearly ten years. Sometimes he looks at the slope of Ilya’s shoulders peeking out of a dark cotton tank top on their couch or the point of his toes tapping Shane’s across the space between their chairs or the soft swirl of golden curls darkened in the shower they designed together. Sometimes he looks at those things and his chest wells so full of love he feels like he might burst. Sometimes he looks at those things and feels like he might burst, yeah, but it’s not what drives him crazy. What drives him crazy is the memory of baby-rounded cheeks outside a rink in the prairies in 2008, in the dead of a bitterly cold winter, his first look at the face that would wallpaper his twenties, his whole life. Pinked by the wind, softened by youth, eyes sharp with interest but not familiarity, not yet. Eyes so icy grey they could have been carved from the pavement beneath their feet. A cigarette dangling from lips Shane hasn’t felt yet, but thinks about for months after. It’s the cheeks, though, when he really considers it. Ilya’s eyes are the same, still that same ice-cold grey, but softened around the edges by love and warmth and being loved. His lips are the same too, still full and pink, and they still stick in Shane’s mind like a very lovely thorn, all these years later. The cheeks, though. Soft and round, like a child on the brink of manhood, pink from the wind and maybe a blush - although Shane knows, he’s heard it a thousand times, Russians do not blush, even though Shane’s seen it happen a hundred different ways. They’re different now, sharper and angled in a way that makes air stick in Shane’s chest every time the light catches Ilya’s perfect cheekbones just so. Shane knows the world looks at Ilya Rozanov, a study in curls and cheekbones and mouthwatering iliac furrows, and sees someone dangerous and hot. Shane looks and sees a mouth softened with warmth, a divot between pecs that holds the dangling gold remnants of the only other soul who ever loved Ilya more than Shane does now. He sees a scar low on a golden stomach where doctors took Ilya’s appendix three years ago while Shane waited alone and terrified in Ilya’s Boston penthouse, feeling like a bird in a cage he built for himself. He sees calloused feet, scarred and blistered and worth millions of dollars. And he sees those cheeks. Shane’s life is a montage, or a flipbook of all his greatest hits, all still life images of Ilya Rozanov’s beautiful face growing thinner and stronger and sharper with age right before Shane’s eyes. It drives him crazy. Sometimes he thinks he’s at peace with it all, the years that passed them by and the youth and time and fear they wasted. He doesn’t feel old, really. They’re both thirty-one, they both have many years of hockey and their life together ahead of them. But he thinks about those soft cheeks on Ilya’s seventeen year old face and he knows he will never forgive himself for the years he spent looking at Ilya as anything but the other half of his soul. What he wouldn’t give to go back, to stretch his hand out to the beautiful, pink-faced boy lighting a cigarette against the chill of a Saskatchewan wind in December and tell him he loves him. Too many years passed between that moment and their tearful, overdue profession of love at the cottage. Too many years where it was true and unsaid and only thought about with panic, or denial, or the desire for it to stop. Years ago, a gentle soul stood in the cold with no one to love him, and Shane didn’t fix it for far too long. It drives him crazy. It keeps him up at night, often, just like it does tonight. The house is dark, and Ilya is asleep beside him in their bed, one they’ve shared every single night for a year now - thank god, thank anyone, thank everyone - and Shane watches him like he still can’t believe it. He can’t, not in moments like this when Ilya is still and peaceful and relaxed in a way that makes Shane’s chest ache with love. It feels like a cosmic joke that Shane has ended up here, loved and in love, with someone who eases every ache that’s ever settled itself in his mind, heart, and body. He doesn’t feel special enough for a gift like this - he’s already been given
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 3,949
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Files:
- 1
- AO3:
- #77411426
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for the road ahead by flan (bitehard)
Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid
2026-01-10
Then, something weird happens. Something that Ilya can’t understand in the beginning, the way Shane’s smile drops and the arousal flickers off for a second—not enough time for him to understand it completely, but, well. He has been fucking Shane Hollander for years. Ilya knows his tells, and his boundaries by now, although some of them have been complicated to gather because he likes having them stepped on, sometimes. But this is not like when he says Ilya, don’t suck me off while I’m on the phone. This is something else. This is something that makes Ilya scared. -- Shane and Ilya have to face how they treated each other in the past.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 6,416
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Files:
- 1
- AO3:
- #77440506
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Reveal Themselves (One Star at a Time) by ashes2ashes15
Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid
2026-01-09
She had always expected the same life for Shane. Perhaps she couldn’t have predicted birthing and raising the number 2 draft pick, and future captain of her hometown team, but she saw him ending up in an easy and loving marriage. He took after David mostly, being shy and introspective. Despite knowing her son’s intricate list of tells and behaviours, Yuna couldn’t pretend she would ever truly know what was going through his head. Shane was like that. He always had been. Still, Yuna expected some cute, pretty girl to come around and throw Shane over her shoulder one day - similar to how Yuna had found her shy husband. ... Or how Yuna tries to understand Shane's love life for years, until she finally does.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 6,637
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Files:
- 3 versions
- AO3:
- #77396086