the metros are fucking scared of shane. NHL as a whole is scared of shane. his skills and precision almost feels like witchcraft to everybody who watches him play. on the ice, his eyes are always analysing and measuring up the opponent, like he can read their fucking minds. he creates impromptu plays that sometimes even hockey experts cannot wrap their minds around.
he can go months on the same brown rice, smoked salmon and fuckass ginger ale diet without a single ounce of frustration. his teammates have seen him watch and rewatch their practice tapes till 3 am and then wake up and go to the gym at 5 am day after day. nobody, absolutely NOBODY has the grit of shane hollander and that scares the fuck out of people.
but not Ilya. as much as he doesn't want to admit it, shane really is the best hockey player of all time, ilya doesn't even come close to him as far as strategic playing is concerned. and he respects the hell out of shane for that, but he's never intimidated by him.
for him shane is someone who likes to have a straw in his soft drinks because it keeps his mouth busy. someone who wears noise cancelling headphones to do laundry because he doesn't like the noise (Ilya has offered to do the laundry a million times now but shane says he prefers that his whites stay white and not turn pink, so—). he's someone who tries to do the best at whatever he does, but doesn't know how to take a genuine compliment on his hardwork.
he's also someone who likes to play connect the dots with ilya's moles on his torso and his back. he's someone who kisses ilya on his temple and holds him tight anytime things start to feel a little too heavy. someone who likes to have control over anything and everything in life that can be controlled, but trusts ilya with his own goddamn life. oh and he also bakes these stupid healthy oats and pumpkin seed cookies that Ilya loves but will never admit to it either.
he feels sorry for anyone who is not Shane Hollander's husband. (no, the fuck, he doesn't. people can fuck right off, only he gets to experience The Golden Boy of Canada personally.)