Everyone is getting into the Shane and Troy of it all so I am jumping in to add my own headcanon. I think Shane HATES Troy. And I think he actually hates him even more after he comes out. Like I think he always hated Troy the way he hated Dallas Kent and the dozens of other players who spewed slurs at him on the ice. But that was hatred bordering on indifference. He knew he was better than them and the slurs were just a desperate attempt to get under his skin because they couldn’t beat him with skill alone. Troy and those other players are nuances that he does not spare a thought about off the ice.
But once Troy joins the centaurs and becomes Ilya’s friend and then has then has the audacity to come out? As if that erases everything he’s done? Watching people accept and forgive him when Shane was the one taking the brunt of Troy’s treatment? Watching Troy come out at a pride night and celebrate with his team and fall in love when Shane has put himself (and Ilya) through hell remaining in the closet for nearly a decade because of the pieces of shit like Troy? Is still actively going through that hell?
And then when Troy actually becomes best friends with Ilya and Shane joins the team and Shane is expected to be friendly with him? Oh he is fuming. He does not give a fuck that Troy is a better person now and it was his own fears/internalized homophobia making him behave that way. Shane was gay and in an actively hostile environment and you know how often he said slurs in his career? Never. Ilya is in a closeted relationship and from a country where homosexuality is criminalized and you know how often he said slurs? Never. Same with Scott Hunter. The fact Troy was gay the whole time makes it feel like a betrayal. Troy knew what it was like to be othered, and that didn’t stop him.
Shane is so tired of having to bear these responsibilities he never asked for. He’s so tired of taking the blame for his own pain. He’s tired of being the Asian role model who doesn’t get to get angry. Who has to grin and bear it. He never had the option to behave like Troy, so all his internalized homophobia was only ever pointed inward. Troy took the easy way out and he still got the happy ending Shane fought tooth and nail for. It’s not fair.
And now Shane is finally out. He’s finally on a team with his husband with players who support him. But fucking Troy Barrett is there. And he just has to grin and bear it.
EDIT: if you love this idea, check out the fic I wrote ft. Shane crashing out at Troy
