wild to me that there are people saying ilya isn't yearning in the show. like yes i read the books so i do know his internal monologue, but also conner storrie's performance and the show itself are showing us that yearning even without that context, it's just not being portrayed in the same way as the show/hudson williams is portraying shane's yearning. like.
it being ilya's idea to do the joint brand photoshoot (like this is absolutely just an excuse for him to see shane again lmao)
ilya being obvious enough about how much he wants to see shane (bouncing his leg at the airport while checking his phone, him texting shane in the locker room and definitely blushing about it) that cliff fucking marlow is able to catch on to him clearly pining over someone
the rooftop vegas kiss?? how desperate ilya is?? the way ilya calls out to shane after he leaves??
the fucking LOOK in ilya's eyes after the sex scene in shane's apartment, when shane kisses ilya's forehead. like that's an "oh. oh." look if i've ever seen one. to which he then ofc freaks out over his feelings and bolts
eh you could say that ilya turning down sasha's advances ties into his shane yearning, but ilya having sex with other people doesn't mean he's not yearning imo. i feel like that scene is more about illustrating his very complicated feelings with russia generally and him being at a different point in his life now, where he's no longer just looking for trouble, as he puts it in the first ep
okay but the bit that REALLY gets me that i see no one talking about is after the award presentation in the bathroom, when ilya tells shane if he wins MVP ilya will give him whatever he wants, and when shane asks "and if you win?" instead of replying verbally, ilya kisses him. like THAT'S what he really wants, what he's too afraid to ask for in any sort of vulnerable context, and mirrors so well with both the "we didn't even kiss" deleted text and the stolen vegas rooftop kiss.
i do understand where people are coming from but when you consider all that, and then consider ilya's sarcasm and distance being used as a defense mechanism due to most of the love in his life being stripped away from him (dead loving mother, asshole leech brother, asshole father who's never shown any pride or love him no matter how hard ilya tries) (also some of that distance post-olympics is ilya being desperate to prove himself and being completely focused on the cup/not wanting any distractions. and shane is very distracting to him) it's a lot easier to see where ilya is coming from.
anyways i love him, yes he's a bitch but he's also the ultimate loverboy and i can't wait to see where the show goes with his character from here.