The first time Shane and Ilya have like a normal domestic day together, post coming out to Shane’s parents, I think there’s probably a moment when both of them are like— holy shit that’s my guy. And some wires are getting crossed because they’ve lived extremely homosocial lives where they spent a large amount of time playing a single gender sport where they put their identities to the side for the team always about the team and the guys and yeah we’re really clicking out there on the ice. So they know about chemistry. They know about communication. But the thing that makes them different from other hockey players is that they’re not just in the rabble, not just one of the guys. They’re at the top, kind of doomed to be alone by virtue of just how good they are. Maybe they never thought they would have the camaraderie that other players get, that sort of pseudo military bond of being in the trenches together that athletes feel.
But when Shane sees Ilya shuffling sleepy around the kitchen in the morning, mumbling something like “gonna make you the best eggs Hollander where the fuck is your whisk” or later when they’re getting ready to have dinner with Shane’s parents and Shane helps Ilya pick out a parent-friendly button-down from his own closet, doing up the buttons for him instead of undressing him for once and taking a look at the result (“no, let’s try the this one, the color is better, maybe”) I think they’re both like holy shit this is my guy. This is the team I’ve always wanted, above the one where we play hockey on TV. And it crosses some wires in their brains because oh this is what it’s supposed to feel like to have someone have your back. Not that they both aren’t beloved by their teams but we honestly don’t see it besides the transactional nature of their skills (maybe Hayden is an exception with Shane, but really Ilya’s closest person in the show is Svetlana, he has no one close in the books) weighed with how they get the team accolades.
This is why I don’t think the commitment part was ever going to be hard for them. They are both craving a person, someone that is just there for them. They were conditioned for this type of bond, promised brotherhood when they started hockey, but never reaped the benefits because of their talent. Sure, Shane could have found a nice man in Montreal, but this is so much deeper than just finding someone you want to date and falling in love that way.
It’s also why I think despite marriage not being required for commitment, they want it. They want a formal distinction saying no, this one’s mine. This is my team. And we’re going to win. At what, who knows, but they want that win.
