plumeriade

finished reading tough guy and i loved it ofc i loved it but like I've to talk about Ilya haunting the narrative in the best possible way. Like he is supposed to be this big bad russian dude who's notorious for mouthing off, and getting under people's skin and spewing shit and he has this reputation of being a ladies man and driving sports car, like of a typical hockey jock with a bad rep (and we know he's more than that because of his own books where's thoughtful and beautiful but still) and yet in every book, whenever he's mentioned, he's always spoken about in such good light by other characters. be it troy barrett who ilya basically adopts (probably because he seems too much of himself in him) or scott hunter who can't help but admire him even if he's an asshole or be it ryan price who can't remember any player (except for wyatt hates who is sunshine in human form) be nice to him, except Ilya. Ilya who offered him his earphones so he could watch fast and furious on the plane. Ilya who shows up at Duncan Havey's funeral whom he barely knows when he has an All-Star weekend to attend. Ilya who checks up on Ryan about his mental health. Ilya who offers him the job as a coach for his summer hockey camp and also tells him that the camp is inclusive and he'd fit right in knowing that Ryan is Gay. Ilya is such a force for good that even his act of being a macho asshole can't stop him from touching people in profound ways. I love him so much. I love seeing him through other people's eyes who are not shane or himself. because ofc they love each other so they see the best in each other. but it's when we see him through other people's eyes, people he has no reason to "care" for, we see him for who he is. He is like a comet, shining bright and providing warmth to any one who is in his orbit even if he crosses their path only briefly. He doesn't even realise the effect he has on people because he doesn't even seem to be doing anything to actually leave an impact. It's just who he is. His inherent goodness shines through. Irina would be so proud of him. He's literally the best character, ever.

Do you guys think [redacted] is gay? *remembers it’s bad to speculate abt people’s sexualities* I know for certain [redacted] is gay