in your hc with shane and writing in russian cursive there was the part of shane having an in house tutor and- my only excuse is im half alseep rn but my brain just went *snort* of course he would hire someone for this
until two sentences further down i went wait- went back, read it again and was like 🧍🏻♂️its ilya. ilya is his live in tutor.
😂 My bad, totally. I was trying to be unduly cute by referring to Ilya as a live-in tutor. But he really does make it a lot easier for Shane to learn Russian cursive. He makes up post-its or flashcards with the names of everyday objects written in both Cyrillic and cursive and puts them everywhere, at home and at work wherever possible, because of course Shane wants to learn how to write hockey-related stuff. They practice together, in pencil first and then fountain pen, finding the best combinations of inks, nibs, and paper.
Their epistolary era starts with short notes from Ilya hidden around the house: little jokes, anecdotes written down instead of texted, random observations or tips about how to write more easily in cursive. Shane keeps each one and sometimes uses their contents to practice his handwriting. Things take off when Shane starts responding in kind. Ilya ups his game and starts writing full-on letters. Shane has learned to save them for reading in private because the contents are... variable. The first letter is all about Shane's performance on an away game that Ilya spent with Yuna and David when he was too sick to go. He gets a few light and sweet stories about Ilya's cchildhood, some important firsts and occasional youthful hijinks.
And sometimes the letters are straight up full of so much filth that Shane can't help but blush as he tackles his husband and drags him off to bed, Ilya smirking and calling him moy pomidor.