Shane and Ilya cannot be trusted to be alone in a room together for 2 minutes without going at it in some capacity and that’s why Ilya had to keep so much physical and emotional distance between in Russia, a place he doesn’t consider safe.
They shared a single, brief, stilted conversation and Ilya was staring at Shane in the rafters while he was actively involved with a practice with his team at the International Prospect Cup.
At the draft, Ilya stares down at Shane from above and corners him in a public hotel gym to flirt with him.
At the CCM photoshoot, Ilya calls Shane pretty and cannot stop himself from giggling at his proximity to the cute boy who’s been consuming his thoughts since their first meeting. Afterward, in the shower, he touches himself next to Shane and they end up hooking up.
At the Nashville All-Star game, Ilya taps his foot against Shane’s in a room full of people, moves across the bench to flirt with him, and pointedly tells him his hotel room number as he skates by him in front of everyone. A few hours later, Ilya is throwing himself between Shane’s legs and begging to fuck him.
On the Vegas rooftop, which is accessible to anyone, they argue yet Ilya can’t help but push Shane against a wall and kiss him passionately.
At the Vegas award show, he holds Shane’s neck in the crowded room and sensually trails his hand down his back. In the bathroom, which is, again, public and accessible to everyone, Ilya can’t help but cross the small space to touch Shane, caress him, and kiss him, then text him in the middle of a crowded party his hotel room number.
In the episode 4 montage, Ilya doesn’t even make it to the bedroom in Shane’s apartment before he bends Shane over the couch, and in the same montage refuses to part his lips from Shane’s as the ascend the stairs in Shane’s apartment. When Shane comes to Ilya’s house, it’s barely a minute before Ilya’s mouth is on Shane’s and he has Shane up on the counter.
Contrast this to Sasha in the Russian bathroom in episode 2, someone who Ilya has been intimate with. He allows Sasha to crowd into his space, unaffected, and rejects him with ease because it’s disinterest motivating his rejection here more than fear.
Ilya does not trust himself around Shane because he knows he can’t resist being close to him, touching him, kissing him, holding him. Ilya tries to come off as cool and unaffected, which can lead to the shallow interpretation that he’s manipulating or using Shane, but the fact of the matter is he knows he can’t resist Shane. When Shane approaches him in Russia, Ilya barely looks at him because he knows there’s a chance he’ll crumble if he does, and that’s dangerous.
Ilya desires and loves Shane so much he’ll often behave recklessly just to be near him in places where he feels less threatened, but Russia is one place he knows he cannot do that, and his distance is to protect Shane as much as it is himself.
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