i wrote a snippet of how the tlg should have went, starting with shane’s reaction and interpretation on ilya being called the favorite son.
shane heard it everyday now, “that’s why you’re the favorite ilya,” “ hi my favorite son,” and every other variation of those words. don’t get him wrong, shane is so happy ilya finally has a family that loves him after so long of not having that support, he’s happy his parents treat ilya as their own, but why did it have to be at the expense of him. isn’t he their own flesh and blood, didn’t they feel proud of him, wanted him. did they really want a kid like ilya all along but instead they got shane, the boring hockey player. shane watches them around the house, ilya doing all of the things he once begged his mom to do. shane wanted to help in the kitchen and set the table, he wanted to spend time with his parents outside of hockey, he wanted to talk to his dad about landscaping and real-estate and regular dad things. he wanted to learn how to throw a ball and how to cook like his mom. he wanted to do that, but she always said no, focus on hockey, rewatch clips to make yourself better, go practice while dinner is cooking, go watch replays while i clean up, it was always hockey and never hanging out, always managing and never being his mom, until ilya came. shes a mom to ilya, she lets ilya help her cook and clean and set the table while shane just watches from afar as the person he loves steals the one job he always wanted. his mom makes little comments about how shane never helped out, never helped her cook or clean or set the table, never taught her new recipes or talked to her about things beyond hockey, like shane never tried to do those things for the first eighteen years of his life, until he joined montreal and gave up because his mom always said no, because his life now revolved entirely around hockey at the rink and at home. shane tried his whole life to be the perfect son, to play for the team that his mom loves even when it’s the last team he would ever want to be on right now, even when his love for hockey is gone and he flinches every time he thinks about driving to practice or games when he once used to count down the hours until he could go back on the rink again. he did everything they ever asked for and it was never enough, but when the best thing in his life gets introduced to his parents, one of which (his mom) who hated him, and automatically gets more love and attention then shane had ever gotten in his whole lifetime, then maybe he is the problem, maybe he is not lovable, maybe when he and ilya eventually break up because shane has never deserved ilya, his parents will take ilya, and shane will be alone, with no one besides hayden, and even then hayden will probably realizes how horrible of a friend shane is and leave too, and then shane will officially have no one, no team, no parents, no hayden and jackie and his godchildren, and no ilya, no reason for shane to keep living anymore, montreal doesn’t need him, ilya doesn’t need him, his own parents don’t need him, hayden won’t need him, he isnt needed anymore, and shane doesn’t know what to do.
i might turn this into a longer fic at some point but i needed to get this out there because i wrote it all in 5 minutes and yeah, this is no way beta read, it’s a product of 4am brain and insomnia
