Jemy

[hollanovbiter]

I know i have already discussed this ad nauseum, but I love that Shane never talks down to Ilya because of his weaker english skills. especially at the beginning when he’s just moved from russia. he just talks like he would with anyone else.

similarly, i love that ilya never teases or laughs at shane when he misses obvious conversational cues (re: ilya asking shane four times in florida if he is still seeing rose). he obviously finds it endearing mostly but even when he starts to get frustrated and just asks outright he never makes shane feel lesser or aware of his misstep. he’s endlessly patient with it

they are both just so earnest with each other, sort of unintentionally??? they really are like fated mates hehe <3

[otwicepairing]

JeongMo is so funny

[otwicepairing]

You can definitely tell Jeongyeon is the youngest sibling in her family just by how she treats Momoring

[cakepopsandcoffee]

Shane chasing Ilya's lips.

[otwicepairing]

JeongMo used to be roommates who shared the same bed and room, and you can really tell

[handsywoman]

[blacksheepcolorfulskin]

He just wants to protect him so bad 🥺

[my-2nd-account]

It's so important to me that everyone who meets Ilya feels safe around him. Shane at age 19 trusting him with his body and his sexuality and his reputation therefore his whole career. Svetlana who left home and could've gone anywhere but chose to move to Boston because guess who also lives there. Every person he's ever hooked up with because that's 100+ of people trusting him and saying yes. Yuna and David who spent less than an hour around him (Ilyushka not Rozanov) and accepted him as Shane's boyfriend even though they've spent the last decade hating him on Shane's behalf. Jackie trusting him with her kids after only meeting him once. Harris's family inviting him over so many times. His neighbors' kids making it a habit to wish him good luck before games. Troy coming out to him when it's his first time saying it out loud. Luca asking him for advice because he's finding it hard to "meet people". Coach Wiebe coming out to him and telling him about the guy he was in love with.

He's the safe space he needed growing up. He's the comfort person he wished for when he felt like he had no one. He's the familiar warm presence who has so much love to give to make up for all the love that was taken away from him.

[lavenderprose]

Shane is never gonna see that flannel again btw. It’s going straight in Ilya’s suitcase and back to Boston with him. He wears it when he’s missing his man. Which is constantly. He wears it on flights sometimes. Maybe a lot of the time. Several years down the line the cuffs are frayed and several buttons are missing and Shane finds it in a drawer and barely remembers that it was once his. The only reason he remembers is because one of his most revisited memories of that first cottage summer is seeing Ilya wearing that shirt and the triumphant, roaring animal it awoke in his chest to see Ilya Rozanov wearing fucking plaid and knowing he was the reason.

[normal-about-hollanov]

ilya struggling with emergency contacts. he can't put his father. who barely remembers he has a son in the show. barely remember he has a son at all some nights. can't put his brother. god fucking forbid something happens and Alexi picks up the phone. he probably wouldn't really. wants sometimes to put his mother down so bad it hurts. an ache in his stomach that feels like a sucker punch. leaves it blank most times. when he can get away with it. puts Svetlana when he can't. lies and says she's a cousin and never tells her because she'd laugh so hard she'd probably choke. and he'd laugh too and then spend the night trying to remember what was funny anyhow. pretends he doesn't care when he watches shane fill out forms deftly. mom. dad. like it wasn't anything at all. ilya who marries shane. one day. after all that aching and waiting and preemptive and permanent grief he felt so often he forgot it was there. who gets those stupid annual papers and writes (like it isn't anything at all) Yuna. David. and has to pretend it doesn't close a gaping wound he'd been bleeding from for so long it almost scares him. to press on and find no. I belong. I have a family. a family.

[sunnypeachyy]

Ilya's back appreciation post

[perlukafarinn]

Svetlana visits Shane and Ilya and stays with them for a few days and one night, when they've been sitting on the sofa and talking for hours, she starts reminiscing about childhood memories.

Shane is delighted and Ilya is embarrassed, especially when Svetlana starts talking about when they first met at age eight and how sweet and sensitive Ilya was.

"He was a little bit of a crybaby," she says with a teasing grin.

Ilya pouts, which does nothing to dispel the crybaby allegations.

"He brought an injured bird home once," Svetlana continues fondly. "When it died, he was inconsolable for days."

"What child wouldn't cry over a dead bird?" Ilya mutters, leaning in when Shane strokes his hair comfortingly.

"We gave it a funeral. Ilyushka carved it a tiny little cross."

Ilya huffs. "Jesus, why are we talking about funerals now? How depressing. Didn't you used to be fun, Sveta?"

Svetlana throws a pillow at him.

Later, once Shane and Ilya are alone in bed, Shane leans his head on Ilya's shoulder and tells him, "I wish I'd known you back then."

"Little crybaby Ilyushka?"

Shane pinches his chest. "Yes, little crybaby Ilyushka, you asshole. Sveta said you were sweet. You probably would've been nice to me."

"Am I not nice to you now?" Ilya wonders. "I always fuck you so good."

"That's not even remotely what I'm talking about. I just mean, maybe we would've been friends." Shane swallows. "I didn't really have any friends back then."

He'd been too weird. Too quiet most of the time, and too loud when he wasn't. He likes the thought that maybe sweet and sensitive Ilya, who cried for days over a dead bird he couldn't save, would have been kinder to him than the other kids were.

Ilya exhales shakily, breath tickling the top of Shane's head. "Yes, of course I would've been your friend. We would be, ah, childhood sweethearts?"

Shane's heart jumps at the idea. "Childhood sweethearts," he echoes happily.

Ilya hums. "Yes, I think so. Poor little Ilyushka would be defenseless against your boring Canadian charm."

"Poor big Ilyushka didn't do such a great job of resisting me, either."

"That is true," Ilya agrees.

He gently grasps Shane's chin, tilting his face up to meet him for a kiss.

[mybeautifuldarktwistedshane]

We (rightfully) make fun of shane for putting on a suit before their first hookup but we should also be making fun of ilya for wearing a fashionable denim jacket. They were staying in the same hotel. he put that jacket on just to down the hall and up the elevator. he only wore it because he thought shane would think it looked cool (he did) and that shane would love a sexy little striptease (he did). Embarrassing!

[hudcon-archive]

Connor Storrie for GQ Magazine for his Met Gala debut!

May 4, 2026

New York City

[chubby-cry-baby]

shane and ilya creating a joint bank account and making the excuse it’s for the irina foundation (there is a completely different non profit account for that) but they’re soooooo giddy about a joint bank account that they both have access to… i think shane would use it for “shared” expenses like groceries and ilya would use it for mcdonald’s so shane can see that on the statement and get annoyed.

[rainbow-femme]

Cliff wants to be a good bro and a good ally so when he and Ilya hang out to watch a movie, he decides they’re gonna watch a Gay Movie. And what is the one Gay Movie every straight guy knows? Brokeback Mountain. And what is the only thing straight guys know about Brokeback Mountain? That it’s the gay cowboy movie. And hey that sounds fun, cowboys are fun

Shane gets a text two hours later from Cliff that’s a picture of Ilya on the couch with his head down between his knees and he’s just like “HELP I BROKE HIM IM SORRY I DIDNT KNOW THEY BROKE UP AND THEN THE ONE GUY GOT HATECRIMED TO DEATH I THOUGHT THERE WOULD BE GUNS AND TRAIN ROBBING”

[rainbow-femme]

“Bro what are you so upset about? It’s just a blonde guy and a black haired guy who spend years in a gray area secret relationship where they hook up a few times a year and have feelings for each other but are kept apart by society, only for the black haired guy to not be able to wait for the blonde guy anymore and tries to move on only to be killed in a brutal homophobic attack that the blonde guy hears about well after the fact because no one would know to contact him. I don’t understand why you’re identifying so heavily with this narrative, it’s crazy.”

[heymacy]

This is Ilya Rozanov. But you already know that.