i absolutely LOTHE the dumbing down of ilya in fanfics…turning him into some stupid caveman who’s unable to control his impulses or hold any sort of responsibility.
mind you this was the man that was arranging round the clock care for his father in another country and taking over most of the financial burden and responsibility for his family.
also when fanfics act like he would be irresponsible and stupid enough to reveal him and shane’s relationship by making him say a bunch of sus shit to the media/public. like this man is from RUSSIA he is not going to be yapping in interviews about having GAY SEX. he is not gonna be going up to mic’d up shane saying omg remember when we had gay sex last night hahaha oops is that a microphone. this man is used to filtering his EVERY WORD about EVERYTHING as to not put him or his family in danger he’s not gonna be having slip ups in public.
but what i LOTHE especially is making it seem like he can’t understand or speak basic english. this is a man who is insecure about how his accent sounds, who hates that it makes him sound like a “cartoon character”, who is visibly embarrassed when he can’t understand interview questions…who probably had his father in his ear his whole life telling him he is stupid and a fuck up for the tiniest mistakes. HE IS OVERCOMPENSATING BY BECOMING REALLY GOOD AT IT!!!
it’s also just a disservice to all the reasons WHY shane is attracted to ilya, yes he loves his brash and loud personality, his asshole behavior (and his bangin body) but most of all i think shane loves ilya’s BRAIN. ilya was the one to plant the idea of him switching to a canadian team so they could be closer. all of this is not to say that shane isn’t smart but i think ilya brings a kind of levelheadedness and creativity to shane’s crazy idea brain. i think their dynamic is very much shane bringing him a bunch of pieces of an idea or details of a plan (autistic bottom up thinking mentioned) and ilya is putting them together big picture and being like ok here’s one direction you could take with it but also here’s another way to go about it and shane is like omg your RIGHT!!! i didn’t think of it that way!! and kissing his his husbands big beautiful brain.
like ugh i just wish there was more love for smart big brain ilya. especially when in the books one of his greatest fears is coming off as less intelligent/experienced then he actually is. MY ILYA IS SMART!!! he likes solving puzzles for fun!!! he is an information sponge!!! he is responsible and observant!!!
