I think I love this headcanon because Shane is actually pretty reticent with straight up compliments, unintentionally. Obviously, it's a product of him Repressing™ and downplaying just how much Ilya means to him during their situationship era, but then that just accidentally sticks. So when Shane looks at Ilya one day while he's sprawled out on the couch in that black tank that makes his arms look insane and his hair is just starting to dry from the shower, he just stops in his tracks and stares. And eventually Ilya notices and glances up like What? And Shane just shakes his head and goes "Nothing, nothing it's just... You're really handsome." And it feels a little silly to say it that bluntly, but it's the truth. And suddenly Ilya gets all pink cheeked and wide eyed and now it's Shane's turn to go "What?" And Ilya shrugs, playing at noncommittal because "You have not said this before, really." And Shane stares at him blankly because "Surely I have." And Ilya kind of shrugs again but - but no, no surely not because - "I think it all the time. It was the first thing I thought of when I saw you in person." And now Shane is genuinely flabbergasted, searching back in his memory because surely this has come up before, surely Shane let it slip at least once even when he was desperate not to let on just how much of an effect Ilya had on him. And when Shane twigs that no, actually, he's somehow kept a lid on just how blisteringly attractive he finds his boyfriend, suddenly all bets are off. He is blurting out every compliment that crosses his mind. He becomes the compliment MACHINE. And it always leaves Ilya a little flustered and squirmy and quietly delighted.
