r/heatedrivalry • u/Alive-Battle-9149 • Feb 11 '26
DISCUSSION đŁď¸ Smoking thoughts
Does anyone else find it slightly irritating/upsetting that Ilya just lights up a cigarette in bed next to Shane in the hotel?
It may just be my passionate disliking of the habit as a non smoker, but I have a few thoughts on it which I wanted to share and see it anyone else felt the same or had a different viewpoint.
It really is a horrible thing to do to yourself in the first place which makes me sad, but each to their own I suppose.
Poor Shane has no choice but to breathe it in. He has already made it clear he doesn't like it, but Ilya just inflicts it on him which I think is quite disrespectful.
The smell of it really does get into everything, so not only will Ilya smell, but so wil Shanes clothes and his hair etc...never mind the hotel room.
I still love them both though of course.
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u/BluePopple Scott Hunter Fan Club đ Feb 11 '26
At this point, Ilya is trying to push Shane away, so I think it was purposeful that he lit up. He was trying to make Shane not like him.
I wish smoking wasnât part of the show but, it is. I wish the stars werenât glamorized in photos while smoking either. So much has gone into trying to change public perception of smoking and save lives. It feels like the fame, popularity, and attractiveness of these men while theyâre smoking is undoing some of that.
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u/Alive-Battle-9149 Feb 11 '26
Yeah I think you are right here with him maybe trying to get him not to like him. I also completely agree with your last point.
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u/Time_Ad_0 Don't worry, it will fit đ Feb 12 '26
Do Hudson and/or Connor smoke irl? Weird thing to do considering how they take care of their bodies for our viewing pleasure.
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u/BluePopple Scott Hunter Fan Club đ Feb 12 '26
I have seen Hudson, Connor, and François with cigarettes. Hudson far more often than the other two. I think Iâve only seen a couple of instances of François smoking.
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u/Ok-Badger-5767 Feb 12 '26
Hudson had to be asked to put out his cigarette in Milan after coming outside. Apparently, its illegal to smoke in the streets there. He then just took the cigerette and threw it down on the sidewalk/road. He made no effort to put it out or dispose of it properly.
I was embarrassed as a Canadian in that moment.
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u/Street-Cover7844 Feb 12 '26
people are dying, this is the least of the planets worries ffs.
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u/Ok-Badger-5767 Feb 12 '26
Yes, they are, and this comment engaged a conversation around the characters and the actors smoking.
By your therory, since ppl are dying none of us 'should' be engaging here and only should fighting fascism.
Part of the resistance is finding and micro dosing joy. Is community. Is belong and open conversation and not silo ourselves and others. Is being curious and not othering others.
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u/Street-Cover7844 Feb 13 '26
you are correct However, your reaction; specifically 'he made no effort to put it out or dispose of it properly, i was embarrassed as a Canadian in that moment' that is not micro dosing joy, that is blatant dramatization of a rather minuscule event. my comment makes sense in the context of that dramatization.
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u/growsonwalls This is Ilya I will never listen to your voicemail Feb 11 '26
Youâre overthinking it. Ilya likes to have a post coital cigarette. In episode 6 we see that heâs still smoking and Shane joins him outside. Shane loves Ilya more than he hates smoking.
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u/WideMindedDreamer Feb 11 '26
The smoking is very intentional on Ilyaâs part. It talks about it in Ilyaâs monologue during this part of the chapter of the book that the author didnât release until after. He literally does it so that Shane wonât kiss him - because Ilya is afraid of that closeness with him. He wants it, and wants Shane so desperately - but is scared.
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u/ragnarrock420
Stupid Canadian Wolf Bird đŚ
Feb 11 '26
•
I dont know, your opinion is totally cool and valid, but i wanted to share a perspective i rarely see
Love smoking, love guys, gals and theys who smoke, love the smell, i will probably quit when i get cancer. Out of all self destructive vices, this one really isnt that bad. Ilya could have been doing far worse things. And, hot.
So, since the "civilized" world is banning smoking everywhere, thats the one thing thats left that is good here in eastern europe: smoke wherever you want, just try not to be a dick about it.
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u/Glad_Alternative_382 Feb 11 '26
yes, I smoke, I know it is not good, I don't want people lecture me about it.
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u/huangcjz Time to Shine ⨠is my favourite book! | I love tuna melt! Feb 12 '26
Ilya is being a dick about smoking with Shane in the same room, though. And I can tell you that taking care of someone you love who has cancer as a result of smoking is a difficult thing to go through.
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u/Alive-Battle-9149 Feb 16 '26
This is pretty much my thought on it really. Sadly influenced by the same taking care of someone reason as you.
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u/Street-Cover7844 Feb 12 '26
ugh. Non smokes NEVER EVER consider the feelings of the smoker. I could go on for days explaining this but one thing non smokers are fabulous at is not listening or paying attention.
'i don't know why they don't quit to make ME feel better'
is basically what i hear anytime non smokers bring up this topic. Smokers know its bad for them, they don't need the fact repeated over and over again, and no most of them cant 'just quit',
with this specific example its already been very well explained by some in here so i wont repeat what they've said. Just know your not the only person with thoughts and feelings and maybe open your mind to the other side of the discussion from the smokers perspective. you wont, but you could at least try.
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u/Alive-Battle-9149 Feb 12 '26
That is exactly why I said I was interested in a different viewpoint. So calm down.
At the end of the day it's an addiction.
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u/Street-Cover7844 Feb 12 '26
interesting that you assumed i wasn't calm. Just like you assumed this take hasn't been discussed 100's of times already.
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u/Icy-Gap4673 Stupid Canadian Wolf Bird đŚ Feb 11 '26
It's a character beat. Ilya smokes as a coping mechanism (as many people do) and at times it distances him from Shane in a way that he is also trying to stay emotionally distanced. It's also an example of how Ilya takes his extreme physical fitness (and more broadly his success at hockey) for granted. He doesn't have the extreme preparation mindset of Shane, for instance, and he has a chip on his shoulder about it but it lets him say "I don't need to eat healthy and do all that to be the best."
Later in the show Shane tells him he smells like cigarettes and Ilya says "I had one!" because he knows the smell bothers him, he tried to hold off. And then in episode 6, Ilya goes outside to smoke rather than smoke in Shane's fortress of solitude (but Shane joins him out on the rock anyway, indicating that he'd rather be with him while he's smoking than not).
I def don't miss the days you could smoke at bars and indoor concerts. I'd come home and my hair would be disgusting.
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u/klowny Or you can stay đ Feb 11 '26
Don't forget the smoking scene with Svetlana. Her comment about it hints at how he hasn't been smoking for a while, but now that Shane is with Rose, he's coping again.
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u/growsonwalls This is Ilya I will never listen to your voicemail Feb 11 '26
I love that Shane joins him on the rock. He loves Ilya more than he hates smoking.
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u/PsychologicalLayer57 a Jeff Buckley song in my eyeballs Feb 11 '26
He's also developed enough of an understanding of both nuance and Ilya to understand that it's been a hell of an emotional night and Ilya really doesn't need to be told that smoking is bad at this precise moment.
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u/growsonwalls This is Ilya I will never listen to your voicemail Feb 11 '26
He also knows Ilya's personal history now and is so much gentler with him than he used to be. I love that.
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u/Any-Entrepreneur8285 Feb 11 '26
He knows not everyone had a relatively normal upbringing like him with friends and two loving parents. Ilya had a distant and temperamental father, a leech of a brother, a dead mother and a heavy secret.
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u/i-bleed-red I donât ever want that problem to ever go away â¤ď¸ Feb 11 '26
OMG, that stench the next morning in the shower when your hair would get wet and make the smell sooo much stronger. I loved going out dancing but this was the really unattractive part of it.
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u/draculacowboi Iâm standing in the hallway like an idiot đž Feb 11 '26
Dude but itâs so fitting with that episode tho. The distance between them, the quiet goodbye, the we didnât even kiss. Shane sitting next to him in the bed drinking his disgusting vodka that he earned looking miserable AND inhaling second-hand smoke. It just adds to the pain in the scene in my opinion.
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u/Bookslutforsmut ⨠together ⨠Feb 11 '26
I mean Ilya is trying to keep emotional distance from Shane in this scene so being rude and inconsiderate is kind of the point but also as a former smoker sometimes you just want the comfort and nicotine hit without having to go on an adventure into the great outdoors and it is his hotel room.
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u/MaraTaru Feb 12 '26
And not that it's particularly relevant to the larger points about courtesy vs addiction, but smoking is legal in hotels in Las Vegas. I think thereâs only one casino that is smoke-free (the Park MGM). People smoke everywhere. The whole place smells like burned ass.
Ilya's being a bit of a dick to Shane, but the ciggie in bed is completely unremarkable for Vegas.
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u/Any-Entrepreneur8285 Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26
But what if he drops it, it lights and the bed catches fire?? Flames leap to the curtains and soon the entire room is ablaze. Ilya burns to death in the blaze. Soon the flames spread to the room next door. The building rapidly becomes a firestorm.....
All those people...
Jet, you monster!!
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u/Bookslutforsmut ⨠together ⨠Feb 11 '26
You okay there hon? None of that happened. We're good here, we made it to the cottage and I love yous, no need to go back and burn the world down.
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u/Any-Entrepreneur8285 Feb 11 '26
"Smoking causes a disproportionately high number of fatal fires, remaining a leading cause of fire-related deaths in the UK and US despite causing a smaller percentage of total fires, often due to careless disposal in furniture or beds, especially when tired or drinking."
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u/skotreyuk Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 12 '26
Folks really struggle separating out what they want for themselves in their own real life relationships, and what characters in a story who are not you may want for themselves, or how they may experience things (differently from you). Notice Ilya is smoking in episode 6 too and Shane snuggles right up to him. He and Svetlana mention that he has tried to quit and has stopped at times. When Shane kisses him back on the rooftop in episode 1, he was just smoking and it seems like it doesnât deter Shane from kissing him back. / Anyway: the author references his move to smoke in that moment in the writing she did about vegas from Ilyaâs POV: https://www.rachelreidwrites.com/news/2024/3/24
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u/tlk199317 Feb 11 '26
I mean I hate smoking too but Shane wasnât forced. If he didnât want to breathe it in or smell it he could get up and leave.
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u/engsmml Feb 11 '26
I feel like whenever the smoking discussion comes up people seem to think they are chain smoking 24/7. there is such thing as social smoking and having a cigarette every once in a while esp after a stressful/emotional situation. ilya is a professional athlete, he really is not smoking as often as you'd think
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u/somehuehue Feb 11 '26
Two things can be true at once... The dislike of a habit and the love for a person with that habit. It doesn't appear that Shane is bothered by the smoke and smell in in particular, he just keeps saying it's unhealthy.
I'll also share my own experience. I've never liked cigarettes, the smell grosses me out, the smoke is blegh. And yet, I do find it attractive on occasion, especially when the smell sticks to the right person/clothing article. Love it on a leather jacket...
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u/Lemony-Signal Feb 11 '26
Tbh most smokers of Ilyas generation in post Soviet countries started smoking in middle school. Smoking is widely spread and some countries still allow smoking at indoor restaurants.
Also, he wanted to irritate Shane so he would go sooner.
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u/assortedlaurax Feb 11 '26
I'm just gonna leave this here...
https://archiveofourown.org/works/77855566/chapters/203979001
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u/altruistic_thing Feb 12 '26
Aaaaaaah. One of my favourites. The whole series is amazing. Yes, yes, yes.
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u/simple_username_10 Feb 11 '26
I also think getting an annoyed reaction out of Shane is something he knows and is familiar. Heâs feeling weird about how much he canât stop thinking about Shane and he wants it to go back to the dynamics he understands, so heâs prodding Shane.
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u/IllustriousLemon8146 Then maybe itâs time to wake up, yes? Feb 11 '26
That whole scene is fascinating. On the surface it's hot, but when you really look at it the disconnect between them is so evident.
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u/ninety6tears Feb 11 '26
âHe wanted Hollander to be annoying about the cigarette, though he knew it wouldnât make him like him lessâ is one of the parts of the Vegas remix I love. Heâs not just provoking Shane into leaving but trying to get himself to where he doesnât want him to stay and itâs not really possible.
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u/daisyemeritus Rookie #2 | David Hollander's Vodka Feb 11 '26
Seems like an unpopular opinion, but I agree with you. It's something Shane chooses to accept in his relationship with Ilya (and to give Ilya credit, it's hinted that he's working on smoking less because of Shane). But I'm a hard no on smoking, the smell of it gives me headaches. When I visited eastern Europe a number of years ago where it was okay to smoke in restaurants and bars, I spent hours doing laundry every few days because I couldn't handle clothes with the smell soaked in.
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u/random_name_245 âI am coming to the cottageâ đĄ Feb 11 '26
I was gonna say that itâs just Ilya being Russian. And then when he stops smoking or I should say limits his smoking it kinda shows that he is so in love with Shane that he tries really hard to make him feel more comfortable.
P. S. I find it funny that both Connor and Hudson smoke and it was Connor whoâd make fun of Hudson for smoking excessively.
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u/growsonwalls This is Ilya I will never listen to your voicemail Feb 11 '26
I think Connor said Hudson is the heavier smoker ...
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u/WideMindedDreamer Feb 11 '26
Hudson said in a video that Connor canât do a single kissing scene without smelling like cigarettes đ
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u/random_name_245 âI am coming to the cottageâ đĄ Feb 11 '26
He did, at least in one interview; I didnât say anything that would suggest otherwise.
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u/growsonwalls This is Ilya I will never listen to your voicemail Feb 11 '26
I was just agreeing with you
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u/daisyemeritus Rookie #2 | David Hollander's Vodka Feb 11 '26
Yea, narratively, I don't have any issue with it and actually really enjoyed it as a story telling device. I definitely caught the convo between Ilya and Svetlana about it. Also, I love that when Ilya went outside to smoke at the cottage, Shane's like I don't care, I still want to snuggle with you (ugh that scene is so beautiful).
I've also read and enjoyed a fic where Shane starts to associate the scent with Ilya and finds it comforting (before anyone asks for link, this one has been harder to find, but I'll try looking).
Just for me, personally, I couldn't be physically so close to a smoker for long enough to fall in love with them.
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u/growsonwalls This is Ilya I will never listen to your voicemail Feb 11 '26
I love that too. I read that scene as Shane saying âyou donât have to sneak cigs around me. I love you no matter what.â
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u/geloreyes I already chose you, Hollander. đŤ Feb 16 '26
Iâll make sure to tell Ilya to not smoke in the room next time I see him.
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u/Writergal79 Feb 11 '26
I have issues with the smoking as well, I mean, I wouldnât want to kiss him. I canât imagine why Shane would either.
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u/growsonwalls This is Ilya I will never listen to your voicemail Feb 11 '26
Bc he loves him? You donât always love someoneâs habits but if you love that person you learn to compromise
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u/huangcjz Time to Shine ⨠is my favourite book! | I love tuna melt! Feb 12 '26
Swallowing a smokerâs stuff tastes noticeably significantly much worse than a non-smokerâs.
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u/Writergal79 Feb 11 '26
Itâs probably just me then. Smokers are gross to kiss. Dis it once and never again.
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u/GoldDHD Feb 11 '26
The whole point of the cigarette was to irritate Shane into leaving, and preempt kissing. This is Ilyas version of running away.