After reading the long game, I can't help but feel like there are similarities between the way ilya decided to go about his feelings for shane in hr and his desire to come out publicly in tlg
In heated rivalry, ilya had feelings for shane and he wanted them to be more than just casual fuck buddies but he also thought that was insane to want and impossible to achieve and so he would have to just ignore the shit out of the elephant in the room and keep things as they were. Except he wasn't happy with things staying like that, and ended up orchestrating the tuna melt incident, basically wanting to have his cake and eat it too: he wanted his relationship with shane to change to reflect the growing feelings they had for each other, but didn't want to acknowledge or admit those feelings to shane, or talk to him about changing their arrangements and the way they went about things with each other. And bc he didn't talk to shane about it, shane got scared and overwhelmed and ran away. After processing things better and admitting to himself what he wanted, shane forced them to talk about their feelings and only then they were able to discuss what they wanted their relationship to be like going foward.
Now, in the long game, ilya didn't want to keep hiding their relationship, but he also thought that was insane to want and impossible to achieve and so he would have to just ignore the shit out of the elephant in the room and keep things as they were for the next ten years. Except he wasn't happy with things staying like that, and ended up orchestrating the wyatt party incident, basically wanting to have his cake and eat it too: he wanted them to soft (maybe even hard) launch their relationship to his team but didn't want to admit to shane that he wanted them to know about them or that he also wanted everyone else to (way sooner than they had originally planned) know about them. And so obviously shane got confused and scared and they had a huge fight. Eventually, shane rethinks their plan and realizes it is not what he wants anymore and they end up talking and making a new plan. But you see the pattern, right?
Ilya is such a mess 💔💔💔 Put a gun to his head and he still won't admit the things he wants to the person who can give them to him. He always has to try to be nonchalant about it first and scheme a way to get it without having to ask for it. Shane might take more time to REALIZE what he wants but thankfully he is really straightforward about it once he does. He's always dragging ilya kickin' and screaming into talking about what they feel :/