I Certainly Hope It Would Be Weird

Let’s take a moment to compare and contrast these two bathroom scenes, which are about 5 minutes apart in episode 2.

These scenes are all about trust.

The scene with Sasha is taking place in a hotel suite bathroom because, in Russia, that’s one area Ilya is less likely to be under surveillance. It’s also pristine, opulent, comfortable. It looks like it smells great. Ilya is speaking his native language. Once Sasha and Ilya are alone together, Sasha starts complaining in a sarcastic way about how Ilya hasn’t kept in touch. He tries making him jealous. He comes on to Ilya oh so smooth, never drops the flirtatious, too-cool party boy persona. Ilya rejects him firmly but with no hard feelings - a big blowup means risk, and it isn’t meaningful enough to Ilya. There is a long history between these two but not real trust, only an understanding of mutually assured destruction (“we have same secret”). Sasha’s dad isn’t mentioned but he’s a sort of invisible danger in the room.

Skip to the MLH awards bathroom. Filthy, grey, bad lighting. Shane also starts complaining about how Ilya hasn’t kept in touch - but unlike Sasha he is full of emotion, unable to hide his hurt feeling, not even trying to hide. He loses his cool (was never cool to begin with), propositions Ilya by accident, blurting out an insult that Ilya turns back around on him, calling out the transparent want behind it and telling him to voice it directly. Shane makes himself so vulnerable, and Ilya has to pull that thread and unravel just a little bit more. When he says no to Shane they are curled close together, faces touching, and Ilya knows when Shane says “what?” that he’s really listening for an explanation, that there is this directness and trust between them that makes all this teasing meaningful. Once a firm (heh) sex plan is in place they go back to fondly ribbing each other about Ilya’s English and Shane’s boring dad.

And another thing!

When Ilya and Sasha are alone together, there is one split second when Ilya drops his mask and shoots a complicated look at Sasha when his back is turned. Blink and you’ll miss it. His head tilts down a fraction. He’s so forlorn and needy, but not for what Sasha can offer. It’s only there so you see the mask go back up.

inspired by the twitter ovechkin phd reveal

he doesnt tell anyone that he's getting a phd because he didn't know how long it would take but mainly because of the reactions he knew he would get

"shane are you busy on june 17th" "no I should be free why do you wanna do something" "yes I have my graduation will you come" "graduation? huh? for what?" "for my phd" "WHAT" "remember I told you about defending it a few weeks ago" "I thought you were doing something else not defending A DISSERTATION - wait what is your dissertation" "i was wondering why you barely asked any questions when i got home"

while ilya shows him his research and his thesis - shane mainly asks when he found time to do this, "well you see my boyfriend lived in a different city far far away" "2 hours! 2 is one of the smallest numbers"

shane gets his thesis leather bound (one for their house and one for his parents)

shane calls his parents and asks if they knew, "you know what shane, we were wondering why he would be busy on non game non practice days while you were busy... this makes sense he's very intelligent"

telling the centaurs was the delight of ilya's life, "can you even get a phd without an undergrad degree?" "I have a degree" "WHAT" "yes from russia" "WHO ARE YOU"

"rozanov" "dr. rozanov to you" "shut up" "it's true! shane tell them" "he did just get a phd" "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK ROZANOV" "doctor" (doing this to scott hunter made ilya smile with all 32 teeth)

he eventually posts it on social media - super nonchalant super dgaf

he gets requests to be a guest lecturer at universities all the time (shane is in awe during his presentations)

shane starts referring to him as ‘doctor ilya rozanov’ more than ‘captain’