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I’m listening to it right now, and one of the questions was how Shane and Ilya would have come out if they hadn’t been outed by the fan mail video, and Rachel said that before she knew she was going to write TLG, she’d actually planned for it to happen during the epilogue of Common Goal — during Scott and Kip’s wedding, Shane and Ilya make an Instagram post coming out and everyone at the wedding ends up talking about Hollanov coming out instead of the wedding🤣

it doesn't count as crying if you don't let the tears fall~

Ilya’s chuckles stopped as he took the photo. His breath caught. The picture: a round-cheeked Shane, a shy grin as he leaned into the side of a woman. A woman who Ilya had not seen since he was twelve, her wild hair and strong nose, her dimpled smile and shiny coat, her fingers behind Shane’s head—bunny ears. It wasn’t possible. But there she was, in all her glory: Irina.

read the fic Small Serendipity by @himbotheninth which made me cry Real Human Tears where a young shane is found in the airport by irina and i just had to draw some of it :3

bonus irina+shane without text under the cut

(edited to add:) as was pointed out in the comments, of course there's Rose's name - a flower, like Lily, but also literally the first syllable of Ilya's last name, and means the same thing. It's SOO deliciously inescapable; it had to have been intentional.

But like, even their very first meetings were so similar:

Shane already knows who they are and wanted to meet them.

A private meeting where they're not introduced by someone else or on display. It's not for appearances.

Shane starts off complimenting them.

They're not in the least starstruck by him.

They put something in their mouth.

They issue a hockey-related challenge.

From the comments: they order him to put something in his mouth. (for Ilya, admittedly this is during their third encounter, but still)

From the comments: in the book, there's also a seafood connection. Ilya makes a tuna melt for Shane and Rose is eating cod fritters instead of french fries.

This is nothing that hasn't been said before, but yeah, there is real chemistry there. Shane does genuinely like her and gets along well with her. It's just not sexual or romantic. And if Shane was finally going to accept that he's not into girls, it had to be Rose, specifically because she's so perfect for him.

I just love how it was set up--from the very first time we see her, she's positioned in opposition to Ilya. Shane will never be able to stop comparing her to Ilya, and finding her wanting. The relationship was doomed from the start. But it was still necessary, you know? Rose changed the course of Shane's life. It's so cool.

Shane: I literally begged a man to get on his knees in a bathroom and suck my dick and almost cried when he didn't then basically crawled on my hands and knees to suck his dick after he watched me finger myself

At first they don't acknowledge it, but then there's a particularly loud sound from Ilya. One of them almost spits out the water she just sipped and then they're laughing and comparing notes ("did Shane ever make you moan like that?" "never! Did Ilya sound like that for you?" "never, and we had some great sex")

After a while, Ilya emerges looking thoroughly debauched to fetch a fresh glass of ice water for Shane and finds his best-friend-with-former-benefits and his husband's best-friend-former-girlfriend debating whether Shane is incredibly talented in bed with men or Ilya is just down bad.

He's still a bit awkward about it at first but Rose is always just so excited for him and never judges him and it's not like she's keeping quiet about what she gets up to so eventually Shane is literally calling her like "I finally convinced Ilya to fuck me with no prep! He probably still wouldn't have done it except for the fact that it was only like an hour since he fucked me last but it was so hot he just pushed me down on the kitchen counter, pulled down my pants, lubed up, and slid right in."

Sometimes he just needs someone to tell him that he's not being weird before he's brave enough to ask Ilya for a new thing, like when he first saw Ilya play Call of Duty with Marleau on headset and he wanted to ask if he could just stay on his knees with his cock in his mouth while he played if he promised to not move.

"Do you think your younger self would be surprised? If he saw you now?"

Ilya frowns at the question, tilting his head to the side.

It's certainly not the first time he's been asked this. It's something that's been posed to him a thousand times, ever since he'd been drafted to the MLH. 'Did you ever think you'd get this far? What would you tell your younger self? How does it feel for all of your dreams to come true?'

But up until recently, his feelings have always been the same: honestly, he isn't surprised at all. Not really.

He's always known he was good at hockey. That he'd make a career out of it and be one of the best. That part was a certainty. It wasn't just because he was good, but because his father had demanded it be so. He'd never had a choice, really.

But everything else...love, family, a sense of home. Those were the things he'd wondered if he'd ever have. The things he'd fantasized about and figured weren't in the cards for him. The things he was desperately jealous of, when he saw other people flash them around with ease.

So now, as he sits in front of a reporter, a wedding ring on his finger and his husband next to him in the same jersey colors, he can't help but tear up at a question he's been asked so many times before. "Uh, yes," he says honestly. "But...not because of hockey. Even when I was young, I knew I was the best."

Shane scoffs next to him, and the reporter smiles pleasantly. 

Ilya takes a second to collect his thoughts. "Is…everything else. Um. Small Ilya would not believe it was possible. To settle down. To marry someone perfect as Shane. To be so happy. So...maybe not surprised, but...hopeful. Younger self would be much more hopeful. If he knew. Would not feel so…sad." He sniffs a little, trying to keep his face stoic. It's something he's worked with Galina on: he wants to be more honest in interviews, to be a better role model to the kids out there that he knows look up to him. But fuck, it's terrifying, to share his emotions like this.

But the light kick to his foot under the table reminds him that he is loved; makes him relax.