AMOTM

This time I have some thoughts about this scene and what Shane specifically is thinking.

Starts out innocently enough. Ilya finds a nice segway to his question; do you like girls? (In his roundabout way since he couldn't ask a direct question to save his life) And you can literally see how tense Shane is immediately. Like as soon as Ilya says it. He does NOT want to be thinking about women. He JUST got dicked down for gods sake. He's already weirded out by how this day is going (they've never hung out before. Never just sat in the same room not doing something either hockey related or sexual). But now he also has to contend with the whole not-being-into-girls thing and his feelings around that AND his feelings about Ilya. So he shuts down.

AND THEN. Even worse! Ilya brings up a specific girl. Possibly his girl. He "likes her very much."

And everyone sees Shane's face as jealous here. And that isn't wrong. But I don't think it's all of it. He had finally kind of settled. Was starting to have a regular conversation, only to be YANKED back into reality. That this is strange and unusual for them. He is so out of his element.

And then MORE EVEN WORSE. Mystery girl Svetlana is interested in him! And Shane could not be less interested. He is NOT into this conversation. The jealousy of having to think about Ilya with someone else, the weirdness or the day, and now the ever-familiar pressure to be interested in girls when he just isn't . He doesn't look just upset. To me he looks tired. There is a lot going on for him in this moment.

Now Ilya, on the other hand, is pleased. His question hasn't been answered but he at least knows that Shane is not interested in Svetlana. And he enjoys riling him up, of course. Maybe he enjoys knowing Shane gets jealous about him if he really clocked that it was jealousy. Ilya's still fairly in the dark about Shane's feelings as well. And maybe it's a minor confirmation that Shane doesn't just fuck anyone who lets him. Less other people to worry about.

NOW THIS PART I'VE BEEN DYING TO TALK ABOUT. Look at how he doesn't look at Ilya when he asks this. I've seen people say how jealous he looks (not wrong) BUT I've never seen this particular take: He's asking if she's his girlfriend. The underlying issue here is NOT just "is there another person in your life you fuck like you fuck me?" (Because he can ignore the nameless hookups he only hears rumors about) But is she your GIRLFRIEND? ARE YOU CHEATING ON HER WITH ME? Shane does NOT want to be the side piece (he wants to be the main piece). Does not want to think about Ilya being serious with someone else. Does not want to be put in a position where someone could find out about them and possibly be vindictive with that information.

And Ilya says no.

Silkwing art for Zagadkaa.