fandom. come get some.

for Ilya, obviously hes a pleasure top throughout their relationship, but would it have been different if he wasn't pleasuring The Shane Hollander, the object of his sexual affection and fiercest competitor, who checks him into the boards and then lets him put Shane face first into the mattress in the hotel room?

Ilya was surprised the first time he gave a command and Shane followed it without a word. Shane fell to his knees three seconds into that hotel room with nothing but a few blowjobs worth of experience and a dream.

Shane Hollander, the person who his father rips into him for losing to, his greatest rival and the source of the worlds dissatisfaction with him. Goody-two-shoes, golden-boy Shane Hollander. Perfect beautiful Shane Hollander wants to be taken apart and the only person who can give it to him is Ilya. and that thought crawls into Ilyas brain and makes a home there.

For a dude with as low self worth as Ilya, pleasure is the only thing he feels confident offering to someone else. if The Shane Hollander wants something from me, then i must be worth something.

and for Shane, a majority of his physical submission seems to be related to his performance of masculinity out in the "real world" vs the interior space of their relationship. hockey is obviously a big factor contributing to this necessary performance, but Ilya doesn't help!

Ilya is a hard shell to crack, and opening up to Ilya first is practically a requirement to finding anything out about him. if Shane wasn't so vulnerable, Ilya wouldn't have been able to open up to him, maybe ever. by leaning into his own submission, he gave Ilya the sense of control and autonomy that he needed to grow their relationship.

Shane also refuses pleasure constantly. he refuses food he likes, relationship with people, sex, all for the sake of his hockey performance. as a hedonistic guy himself, would Ilya be as fixated on pleasuring his partner if Shane was willing to take pleasure for himself?

I have this headcanon where Shane is the more butch between the two. I imagine his dad taught him how to be handy around the house, how to do some minor construction/repairs, how to start a campfire, and he enjoys the outdoors, and maybe did scouts when he was a boy. And in contrast, Ilya grew up as a slick, city boy in Moscow and hated the wilderness and hires people to fix things and is like afraid of spiders.

I have this headcanon where Shane is the more butch one between the two. I imagine his dad taught him how to be handy around the house, how to do some minor construction/repairs, how to start a campfire, and he enjoys the outdoors, and maybe did scouts when he was a boy. And in contrast, Ilya grew up as a slick, city boy in Moscow and hated the wilderness and hires people to fix things and is like afraid of spiders.

shane: "fuck off"

hayden: jesus what a dick

As the audience, we already know that Ilya loves Shane because we heard him say it in Russian. But we also know that love is not enough - Shane loves Rose but they weren't compatible. Sometimes love isn't enough, for a variety of reasons.

This is why Shane and Ilya are terrified of coming to the cottage. Because we still don't know if they're compatible beyond the incredibly hot sex and psychic level hockey passes. The tuna melt date was nice before Shane crashed out, but that was just one afternoon.

"I like you" is the missing piece in their relationship. I know that I love you and I desire you and we play good hockey together, but do I like you?

The cottage scenes answer: yes. I like playing with you and I like cooking with you and I like talking to you and I like sharing space with you and I like sleeping next to you and I like waking up with you. I like you.