The Boy Aquarium

The only one who was there for all four times when it happened to recognise this "pattern" is JJ. He tried to tease Shane about after the first time but when he saw Shane's scared bambi eyes he quickly realised that this has to stay a story they never talk about so he made it his mission that Shane could have a drunken ciggy in privacy if he needed to without anyone taking pictures, because it's a matter of honour to protect your captain and also JJ is a friend like that.

Anyway, Ilya finds out during their Stanley Cup celebrations and Shane disappears for a moment to come back, suspiciously tasting like smoke, staring right into Ilya's eyes, saying that he can't smell anything, and Ilya has to laugh so much it hurts because Shane is such a bad liar and he just loves him so much. He leads Shane outside to watch the sunrise as they share a smoke and he knows they can't ever talk about this unless he wants Shane to get a full-blown panic attack but that is okay, that little secret of him and his not-so-drunk-anymore husband indulging a little bit on their celebration day will quitely exist between them.

Wiebe would love to be able to claim this had been a deliberate strategy when he decided to put Shane and Ilya on separate lines but have them go out as a unit on the power play but that's simply not true. It was just an unexpected but fortunate byproduct of that.

You could stay.

it's well made, well shot, well directed, the music is interesting, the costumes are both thoughtful and subtly period accurate, the sex scenes are intentional and, again, accurate to what hooking up when you're like 18 actually feels like...the actors are of course attractive but they look like real people. the characters are varied and well fleshed out, the acting is really, really strong

so many shows and films shoot and then slot in whatever music kind of fits or could be licenced in the budget after time, but you can tell that the scenes in hr were shot with that specific music in mind. and the same intentional approach runs through the whole thing

-Ilya just lost his father to an illness affecting the brain and the person he loves most just got a brain injury and he doesn’t yet know how severe

-Ilya has been made to feel unwelcome by his family for years and probably isn’t sure if Shane will be mad that he’s there, tell him to leave, be embarrassed that he’s there, or laugh at him for thinking he wants him there

-It’s also notable that this is one of the few times they’ve interacted where hooking up isn’t an option, and when it wasn’t an option in Russia Ilya reacted coldly to Shane and told him to leave, and doesn’t know how Shane will react to a situation now where the only thing he has to offer is his presence

-And Shane’s reaction is unbridled delight at seeing Ilya and he makes grabby hands until Ilya comes close enough to hold hands with him

-Ilya’s family have never had problems showing how they feel about him, which is usually insults and contempt. Shane is affectionate with him but clearly has emotional walls up a lot of the time. This is the first time Ilya has interacted with Shane where he has no inhibitions blocking how he treats Ilya, and he treats him with so much delight and love and affection, showing that the only thing he’s been holding back is just how much he cares, rather than any judgements

-When Shane asks Ilya to come to the cottage he doesn’t say “We could have so much sex” but “We could have so much fun”. Showing that Ilya is not just a hookup but someone whose company he enjoys just as a person