i feel like i am going insane whenever i open threads and someone complains about shane in the long game. they make him sound like the worst boyfriend in the world when that could not be further from the truth. he doesn't know ilya is struggling because ilya is too ashamed and scared to tell him he is depressed. ilya is not depressed because of shane or how shane treats him. it is a sickness. he thinks of suicide sometimes, he is really scared because he is happy and he has everything he wanted and he doesn't want to feel this way. it's inconvenient! so he keeps hoping he can deal with it. but shane doesn't know this because when he picks up on it ilya gets upset. shane is autistic. if ilya tells him he's okay, then he's okay. he doesn't understand what ilya is trying to communicate until it's said outloud and until later. he thinks they have this plan that they're both happy with until ilya admits he isn't! and it's not like he loves it either. he loves ilya so much he drives hours and hours in the middle of the night to see him fo a few hours. he learns russian so he can communicate with him in his mother tongue, he fucking proposes and essentially gives up his entire career when they're outed because he loves Ilya so much. and hockey means a lot to him. but he loves ilya more than anything. neither of them did anything wrong in that book, they just have heavy issues to work through and they always do with so much patience and love!
