CaseyMaru



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  1. Rec *

    Tour de Force by

    Fandoms: Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid  

    24 Mar 2026

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    Summary

    Shane had told his manager, verbatim, that he “trusts her judgment” to pick the opener for his first ever world tour.

    Her “judgment” shows up to soundcheck with a parking ticket in his hand and a crimson hickey on his neck. Her “judgment” is Russian DJ, Ilya Rozanov.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    57,347
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    5/5
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    Bookmarked by CaseyMaru

    09 Jun 2026

    Bookmarker's Notes

    It's true, I love me a long fic. And in general, I adore an AU: what other jobs and lives can our beloved Hollanov enjoy?

    This, here, is just the BEST. Shane is a world class popstar, Ilya is the bad-boy (or is he?) brilliant Russian DJ who's the opening act on Shane's world tour. Here you will find a refreshing lack of yeaning (if you catch my meaning) and some really gorgeous writing, sprinkled with THE funniest little moments: watch out for the term "public transit" and you'll get what I mean.

    Everybody is who they are but in a different timeline. The smut is glorious. The ending makes it a true romance. I will read every word by this writer.

    This fic is one of my personal jewels of our fandom art: I can offer no higher recommendation.

  2. Rec 47

    in his arms, watching the sunrise by

    Fandoms: Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers | Heated Rivalry - All Media Types, Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid  

    14 Apr 2026

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    Summary

    I have spent the last few months trying to understand how a mother is meant to keep breathing after burying her child. I still don't know. What I do know is this: over the last two years, I have lost two sons, and lived through a kind of grief I did not know a person could survive. The first was Ilya. The second was Shane.

     

    Yuna Hollander eulogizes her sons.

    Series
    Language:
    English
    Words:
    1,234
    Chapters:
    1/1
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    349
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    Bookmarked by CaseyMaru

    28 May 2026

    Bookmarker's Notes

    Devastating. Yuna Hollander writes a eulogy for her two sons.

  3. Rec *

    new words for old desires by Anonymous

    Fandoms: Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid  

    09 Feb 2026

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    Summary

    “You bring me flowers?” Rozanov asks, incredulous. “Like I am on death bed?”

    Shane rolls his eyes, secretly relieved that Rozanov isn't making a bigger deal of the gesture than it needs to be. He pulls the bunch of tulips out of the bag and thwacks Rozanov lightly on the shoulder with them.

    “You ungrateful asshole,” he says. “You stay here and try to nap. I’m going to get started on the soup.”

    Or: the club scene never happens. Instead, Ilya gets sick and someone unexpected shows up to care for him. 

    Series
    Language:
    English
    Words:
    10,292
    Chapters:
    4/4
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    Bookmarked by CaseyMaru

    27 May 2026

    Bookmarker's Notes

    What if you got sick one day, and you're trying to be all grownup about it and look after your sinusy, sweaty self, going through Kleenex and hot soup in equal measure. Sure, you can look after yourself, but wouldn't it be nice if someone was looking after you? Say... a professional hockey player with big brown eyes and freckles like scattered stars?

    Sure it would. And for times like those, here is the perfect fic: a sweet read of 4 compact chapters, the club scene never happened, and Ilya has the flu.

    Thoroughly recommended.

  4. Rec *

    The Vocabulary of Exile by

    Fandoms: Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid  

    10 Jun 2026

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    Summary

    At twenty-one, Ilya Rozanov is the Soviet Union’s most perfect weapon, a soldier of the Red Machine who has spent three years locked in a silent, jagged war on the ice with Canada’s golden boy, Shane Hollander.

    When the Montreal Metros claim him as a "wasted" mid-round draft pick, the rivalry transforms from a professional grudge into a desperate lifeline. On the final night of the 1988 Calgary Olympics, he risks everything, his family, his career, and his safety, to start a new life in the West. Forced into a high-stakes billet under the roof of his bitter professional rival, Ilya must navigate a world where freedom feels like a new kind of prison.

    As Ilya struggles to adapt, the crumbling Soviet empire reaches across the ocean, searching for leverage to help pull him back.

    OR: What if Ilya fled Russia in 1988 to play for the Montreal Metros?

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    199,954
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    28/35
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    Bookmarked by CaseyMaru

    21 May 2026

    Bookmarker's Notes

    Though still incomplete as I write this, The Vocabulary of Exile occupies a singular place in my personal pantheon of HR fanfic. As in- I can hardly believe we get to read these gorgeously-written complete books, FOR FREE. It is one of the jewels of the fandom in my eyes, where every new chapter is received with joy, and it already occupies the "comfort re-read" tier.

    In this canon-divergent hockey AU, Ilya is a Soviet hockey star who plays and subsequently defects to Canada at the 1988 Olympic Games. Meticulously researched in both the time period and the actual history of Soviet hockey players who ended up in the NHL before glasnost: this is the story of Ilya's life in Moscow, the labyrinthan dangers of his decision to leave, and his life as a newcomer in Canada. It is such a rewarding read. i love it.

    Of course, Shane Hollander exists, and you already know that they'll find each other in any timeline, and any universe. But in the intensely macho word of the NHL in the late twentieth century, where the closets are necessarily deep, its a different game than in the original texts of Heated Rivalry.

    The writing is austere, precise, descriptive, and beautiful. It has the quality of technique so good as to be invisible: like listening to Annie Lennox sing without noticing her breathing, the writing is transparent in a way that you only experience the story without noticing. There is no higher praise I can offer.

    Recommended. I mean, obviously.

  5. Rec *

    why fall in love, just so you can watch it go away? by

    Fandoms: Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid, Heated Rivalry (TV)  

    15 Mar 2026

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    Summary

    Hayden had been expecting this call for months.

    He had known somewhere deep within himself that it was coming, ever since the Centaurs' plane crashed and his best friend lost the love of his life – even if Hayden had never cared that much for the man himself.

    Watching Shane receive the news from J.J.'s careless mouth, watching him bend over at the waist like someone had scraped out his inner organs–

    Yeah, Hayden knew.

    He was weirdly proud of Shane for holding out this long.

    Language:
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    Bookmarked by CaseyMaru

    12 May 2026

    Bookmarker's Notes

    If you can bear MCD

    If you are in need of an ugly cry but have a time crunch

    THIS is the fic for YOU!

    Compact, intricately built, so bleak, but devastatingly, heartbreakingly lovely.

    Proceed, clear-eyed, at your own peril.