huh what?

for Ilya, obviously hes a pleasure top throughout their relationship, but would it have been different if he wasn't pleasuring The Shane Hollander, the object of his sexual affection and fiercest competitor, who checks him into the boards and then lets him put Shane face first into the mattress in the hotel room?

Ilya was surprised the first time he gave a command and Shane followed it without a word. Shane fell to his knees three seconds into that hotel room with nothing but a few blowjobs worth of experience and a dream.

Shane Hollander, the person who his father rips into him for losing to, his greatest rival and the source of the worlds dissatisfaction with him. Goody-two-shoes, golden-boy Shane Hollander. Perfect beautiful Shane Hollander wants to be taken apart and the only person who can give it to him is Ilya. and that thought crawls into Ilyas brain and makes a home there.

For a dude with as low self worth as Ilya, pleasure is the only thing he feels confident offering to someone else. if The Shane Hollander wants something from me, then i must be worth something.

and for Shane, a majority of his physical submission seems to be related to his performance of masculinity out in the "real world" vs the interior space of their relationship. hockey is obviously a big factor contributing to this necessary performance, but Ilya doesn't help!

Ilya is a hard shell to crack, and opening up to Ilya first is practically a requirement to finding anything out about him. if Shane wasn't so vulnerable, Ilya wouldn't have been able to open up to him, maybe ever. by leaning into his own submission, he gave Ilya the sense of control and autonomy that he needed to grow their relationship.

Shane also refuses pleasure constantly. he refuses food he likes, relationship with people, sex, all for the sake of his hockey performance. as a hedonistic guy himself, would Ilya be as fixated on pleasuring his partner if Shane was willing to take pleasure for himself?

When Shane comes out to Ilya in Florida he asks if Ilya wants to be more and Ilya says he would never be able to go home, Shane doesn’t ask Ilya to give up his family. He doesn’t ask Ilya to risk it and get into a relationship anyway. He just holds Ilya and takes what Ilya is willing to give. And then, when Ilya comes to realize there’s nothing left for him in Russia and he doesn’t want to go back, he’s the one to offer a more serious relationship. He’s the one to first call them boyfriends and imply that yes now they are officially more (despite them already admitting they love each other).