spoilers for the long game

ilya and shane both love to be held by the other. it's not really a "shane is always the little spoon" type of situation, ilya is all for being tucked right into shane's arms

shane loves a baseball cap. forwards, backwards, he likes wearing them a lot

ilya will randomly say "i miss anya" when they're out. even if they're doing something as quick and simple as grocery shopping

although they have different personal styles, when it comes to athletic wear and casual outfits, their clothes are basically a free for all. they're always in each other's things (unless it's an old boston/montreal shirt)

shane finds it satisfying when a time creates a quick math equation (ex. 6:32 6=3×2)

ilya listens to nine inch nails. not in the "closer is a sexy song" kind of way

they're not super into hosting. keeping their home mostly just for them is like creating their own sanctuary for once. they have yuna/david and the pikes over on a regular basis, everyone else is pretty much just for special occasions

shane still barely uses social media, but becomes way more open to ilya posting the two of them together. shane frequently stars in ilya's instagram stories as well as his regular posts. fans go crazy, especially because many of ilya's posts change fans' understanding of the relationship

the centaurs never have to worry about hearing shane and ilya on the road. they snuck around for over a decade, they know how to be quiet

which combined with ilya loving just making things up and saying them (as seen in the "yes, the rumors are true-" scene) offers the very funny idea that ilya actively tries to offer as much privacy as possible by just throwing out stories about them at random so there IS no central story for people to hound shane about.

assorted backstories a la "ilya just started talking and found out with everyone else where he was going with this":

they got snowed in at all stars one year (b-but wasn't that year in florida?) and decided there was nothing better to do

it started as a bit and neither is willing to give up first

they paired off to combine forces like nato

they paired off to limit how many kids they could have in the future to make sure hockey stayed fair

ilya lost a bet six years ago

shane lost a bet three years ago

ilya got tired of remembering phone numbers for his hookups and shane's is easy

ilya got tired of having to look things up in english and french when talking to other people and decide to marry someone who speaks two languages to save time

shane is gifted enough (wink wink wink) that other people are cowards and only ilya was brave enough to rise to the challenge (this one gets him in trouble on the phone later but it also gets him laid that night at home and also confuses the online speculation about who tops and bottoms, so net positive tbh)

yuna hollander is the best manager in the business and a political marriage was the best way to secure her services longterm

the reporter obviously knows he's not serious (...mostly) but plays along with "what kids?" and ilya just ☝️ as he pulls out his phone and starts looking through, and everyone is like "surely not...bUT WHAT IF", and then he goes "ah! here", and holds out his phone

and it's a picture of anya and luca haas