Here, queer, and filled with existential fear

Ilya having visions the likes of which we cannot comprehend

ilya: hm. what makes you think that? (my brother in christ we have been having gay sex for close to a decade now. wtf are u on about)

shane: fuck you! you aren't gay! (you have the choice. you can be with a woman and it won't be a lie to yourself. you wouldn't be in agony every second of your life. you can live the way the world wants you to and it won't be a lie)

ilya: no, not completely (yeah, i'm attracted to men and women both, but what does it fucking matter? whether i am completely gay or not, the fact that i like men is enough to alienate me from the place that birthed me)

shane: well i think i am! completely. (i'm not perfect anymore. i've realised that i cannot be with a woman. i lie in bed with a woman and it feels like a punishment. i have to think of you to feel even the slightest pleasure despite having a girlfriend men would kill for.)

ilya: why are you telling me this? (why does your being gay or not gay matter? a label means nothing when it doesn't change the secrecy, the wrongness, the inevitability of this, of us both.)

These two kids in eachother's faces:

Sirius: straight, straight cause that’s normal, please I’m straight, boobs, straight, don’t look at Remus, I’m straight, can’t stop staring at Remus, it’s hormones, I’ll find another girl today, I’m straight, after first time with a girl,….need to find the right one, I’m still straight, multiple girls later, …bi-curious, maybe , no harm in that, elites do it all the time, bi-curious but I’ll marry a woman, runs away to the Potters, asexual probably, duh, Remus, fuck I’m GAY, first time with Remus, I’m gay AS FUCK, after dating, bottomest bitch to ever bottom, cunt 💅

Regulus: age 13, fuck, this is bad, I don’t like girls, keep it in. Age 16, James, welp, there goes my secret

James: age 4…. Both. Fleamont: Both? James: BOAF, age 16, oh I always knew exactly what I was since I was a kid, what about you Moons?

Someone clips it and it goes viral.

Over the next few days, Shane and Ilya's mentions start to get flooded with pictures. Mostly it's screenshots from various games they played against each other, meticulously picked through by dedicated fans to find every moment Shane and Ilya looked at each other on the ice.

Some screenshots get shared by hundreds of different people because they stand out so obviously: Shane and Ilya meeting each other's eyes during a face off; Ilya looking at Shane while his back is turned, naked longing visible on his face; Shane chasing after Ilya with a small but delighted grin.

There are also pictures from press events, award ceremonies, behind the scenes at All Stars. Seemingly any time Shane and Ilya got captured in the same frame gets dug up and shared.

Finally, a couple of weeks later, the director of Shane and Ilya's CCM commercial posts outtakes from their shoot. It's captioned 'Took a bit of digging but I knew I still had these somewhere! I had to make my contribution to the #HollanovArchives even though this must have been a while before they got together. These kids had crazy chemistry, right from the start!'

Shane hasn't responded to the onslaught yet, too overwhelmed by the (slightly terrifying) dedication of their fans as well as the fact that he now has dozens of pictures clearly displaying his and Ilya's love for each other during a time in their lives when it was so desperately hidden.

He does respond now, sharing the director's post with a sincere (and publicist-approved) caption thanking him and the fans.