just started reading heated rivalry and so far one of my favorite things is how considerate Shane is about Ilya's english. like the press conference scene where Shane is doing his best to cover for Ilya and not to make him look stupid??? and the foot tap definitely being Ilya's way of showing his gratitude in his own deeply stunted way??
especially how we know that Ilya is self conscious about his english and his accent and how he "sounds like a cartoon villain" (p.63). like it's clearly something that he cares about, he feels embarrassed by it and even if he doesn't know that Shane wouldn't, I imagine he expects Shane to chirp him about it at least a little bit. Ilya is such an ass to him on the ice, if I was him I would be expecting everything to be on the table for chirping, but it never is for Shane.
even in their first encounter where Shane is feeling vulnerable and has his hackles raised the whole time, he is STILL just being so incredibly patient(?) about Ilya's english. like when Ilya is struggling to find the word and when Shane "could think of a few words, but he didn't want to guess at what Rozanov was feeling" (p.50). even before they "like" each other (quotes around that because let's be real, they've been in love since the beginning) they're still so awkwardly careful about the other. like yes they want to win, they want to beat each other, they want to be the best, but they both refuse to do it at the expense of one another, they want it to be a clean win.
anyway idk, Shane being so polite and the most perfect man to ever live and being incredibly tender to Ilya without even thinking about it means a lot to me.
theartofmadeline
gamechangershow
ellievsbear
vaporwave
