Full offense, but can we talk about how this fandom refuses to look at the tuna melt scene within the context of its previous episodes?
To Shane the ccm photoshoot was a one time hook up. Then the all stars game happens and Ilya gives him his number. Then ghosts him. Then yells at Shane when he tried to talk after he beats Ilya out for the rookie award, then kisses him. Then Ilya spends two years trying to get back into his bed. Shane lets him. Then Ilya shuts him down at Sochi and ghosts him. AGAIN. Then Vegas happens and Shane doesn’t send that text because it’s humiliating isn’t it? Begging for affection from a man that’s only rejected it time and time again.
Shane knows to rules now. He’s allowed to want sex. Not affection or even friendship. They talk, but if Shane gets even close to a topic that matters, Ilya deflects and Shane backs off. He doesn’t make those mistakes anymore, Shane knows what Ilya wants and more specifically what he doesn’t want from him. And this arrangement works for years.
We as the audience know the circles of hell Ilya is being put through but Shane doesn’t, because Ilya doesn’t tell him. He’s unaware of the depth of feelings Ilya has for him because Ilya doesn’t show it.
Then tuna melt happens, Ilya breaks all the rules. He asks Shane to stay over, they nap together, ilya cooks for him and they are cuddling??!!? Shane is visibly confused the whole time. (“I’m hungry,” “For what?” “Food, you pervert,”)
The whole time Ilya is happily playing out his domesticity scene, Shane is sitting there waiting for the other shoe to drop. Then Ilya says him name like that. And all the feelings Shane has packed away neatly, refusing to acknowledge, comes bubbling up.
Shane maybe suspects at this point that his feelings are not one sided. But what the fuck is he supposed to do with that? It has never mattered before. Each time he lets Ilya draw him in, it ends badly for him.
Shane’s at his best friend’s house checking his phone, waiting Ilya to text him back (he won’t). He’s walking away from a balcony after getting whiplash from all the mixed signals. He’s at a stadium in a foreign country, shot down just for caring, again. He’s in an elevator in a fancy hotel, heart in his stomach, hating how much he wants.
Ilya hasn’t giving him any reason to think that this time it would be any different. But for Shane it hurts worse each time Ilya pushes him away. Shane has gone and fallen in love with his regular (and only) hook up like a fucking idiot.
So Shane walks out of there. He says, I can’t do this anymore because each time Shane feels like he’s finally found his footing, Ilya pulls the rug out from under his feet.