Life has been hectic lately and I haven't been able to comment about the last couple of chapters but OMG I HAVE LOVED EACH OF THEM SO MUCH ššš
Loved this journey for Shane and Ilya through monkhood but having them finally put and end to it and it being SHANE who asked for it? Perfect, no notes.
I have particularly enjoyed this progression for Shane and it makes so much sense for who he canonically is as well? Yes, he is insecure and questions himself constantly, but when he makes up his mind he LOCKS IN and its such a joy to see it and watch Ilya melt right through the floor when he sees his boyfriend being so intentional about wanting him and their relationship.
Finally, probably my favorite trope for hurt/comfort is "character who is always taking care of everyone even when he is sick, gets to be sick and taken care of for the first time" so yes, I was so so happy with this last chapter in specific.
Can't wait for the twins to know their Papa and Coach are š«togetherš« and I can't wait for the 20k+ words of it hahahaa
Okay but seriously that is my FAVORITE thing about Shane-- how as soon as he makes up his mind that he's gonna get/do something, there is literally nothing that will stop him from doing it. We see it in canon with winning, we see it when he locks in Tampa and decides Ilya is HIS, we see it when he starts planning their future.
And yeah in Deja Vu, it's taken Shane a long time (word wise, not timeline wise) to get to this point with Ilya, but he is HERE, he is READY, he is locked the fuck in. Every once in a while I'll be working on a scene with Shane and be like wait, does that seem OOC? and then I remember I am writing a character who canonically stated an entire charity so he had a plausible reason to be around the love of his life. Like Shane really set out to change hundreds of kids lives just so he had a chance to be with Ilya more often without anyone being suspicious. Him buying cute carseats for the twins is literally the most in character thing EVER.
Also love love the caretaker finally being taken care of trope. The whole thing about the character who desperately needs softness but is too traumatized to ask for it is a favorite trope of mine too (Tony, Bucky, Wade, Billy, etc) but it's EXTRA good when that person is giving 110% of themselves to others already and then gets the chance to turn their brain off and rest. So so good.
