I mentioned this headcanon of mine in a post I recently reblogged but I realized I've never made it its own post so its getting one now. I love all the funky tension around shane and yuna with yuna being his manager and pushing him to keep up the Golden Good Boy of Hockey image, but I feel like... it isnt a mutually exclusive thing that yuna is probably also aware that her son is a bit of a bitch.
yuna raised shane on a diet of scathingly critical commentary over hockey games; she raised him to excel over his fellow hockey players. I can see it being a fun hollander family pasttime, for all three of them to watch games together, shane and yuna tossing deep cuts and absolutely foul chirps back and forth about whatever player just fumbled a shot at the goal or got slammed into the boards because he wasn't paying enough attention to the opposing defense or whatever. shane "bunch of finnish guys talking about the cousins theyre in love with" hollander, son of yuna "fuck him. right up the butt!" hollander. and david is there providing the snacks and nodding and humming along (not that he doesn't have his own opinions as a former hockey player, but to me he seems like he would be far less intense about it- more likely to balance shane and yuna out by complimenting the new chicago rookie's edges or saying stuff like "they've been rebuilding nicely"). shane needs to be reserved and polite for the camera, during press runs and commercials and whatever else, but that doesn't extend to the hollander's family time. yuna knows her boy, and he's a good boy, but he's ALSO a mean little fucker sometimes—especially when he's relaxed, feeling safe, and has his guard down. (idk how well this actually fits with what we see of shane and his mom's relationship in canon, but shhhh I'm just playing in my little sandbox.)
so. what I'm imagining is this carrying over into yuna's perspective on shane's relationship with ilya. she's wary of him for a while at first, because he's ILYA. he's her son's rival; she's spent almost a decade hating him on shane's behalf. it's going to take a little more than a few awkward dinners and a love confession for her to warm up to him. but the more dinners and movie nights ilya is over for, the more HE warms up to THEM, and the more shane starts to relax with him around yuna and david—the more yuna starts to notice about their relationship.
at first, ilya is more reserved around the hollanders, trying to be a Good Boyfriend and make a Good Boyfriend impression in them, but he gradually starts to loosen up and be how he usually is with shane-- poking and prodding and teasing to get a rise out of him, because he likes stirring shane up. and shane pokes and prods and bitches right back, "fuck you"s and "shut the fuck up, asshole"s and chirping ilya with a grin on his face. but it's not even just that; shane is comfortable being mean WITH ilya. they're watching a game at the hollanders' and ilya tosses out a chirp about buffalo's goalie, and shane immediately 'yes, and's it with something just as sharp. yuna brings up one of she and shane's regular bits about philly's center being way past his prime, and shane doesn't even hesitate to keep it going with ilya right there next to him—easy and relaxed in a way she knows he usually isn't around his team.
and yuna is just witnessing all of this with big sparkly eyes and a full, vaguely aching heart, because Oh. her boy feels safe. her boy is in love. and then she goes into the kitchen to cry about it a little under the guise of replenishing the veggie plate and david rubs her back with a commiserating "i know, honey, i know" (and he's probably a little teary-eyed too, because he knows what shane's comfort around ilya means just as well as his wife does).
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