In either of your verses, since shane is so popular, do you think ilya ever finds himself getting territorial? Everyone's in love with his man 😔 and because you mentioned it in the social media post, what about vice versa? Does ilya appreciate shane glaring daggers at others who are getting too close to his alpha/dom? (Thank you for replying to ideas/hcs here....its so fun to see in between chapters!!)
Thank you for sending ideas/hcs!!! I am always so behind on answering them, but I literally loveee getting to yap about my AUs, and I'm always so excited to hear from other HR fans!!
To answer your question: I think they do both get a little territorial, but I think the flavor of it varies between the AUs.
In the Omegaverse AU: I think the territoriality is more primal from both of them. I think Ilya isn't particularly controlling, but he's so perceptive that he's definitely Noticing when other alphas are interested in Shane. And it's fine for them to be interested!! But he's also definitely going to sling an arm around Shane's shoulder and tuck him close to his side to make sure no one gets the wrong idea. If there's any inappropriate behavior, he's going to let his eyes flash red and step in to put an end to it. I think he feels a little better once Shane has his mating bite, but he's still keeping an eye out. He probably has to rein himself in some, though, because being in an alpha-dominated sport just means that a lot of Shane's social circle is going to consist of alphas, and it wouldn't be fair for Ilya to try to curtail that. (But if Ilya is a little touchy at team parties to make sure everyone know Shane is spoken for, no one really blames him.)
I think omega!Shane is also very territorial! I actually have a fic idea that I want to write where Shane gets in trouble for getting jealous early on in the public portion of their relationship. I think he might get taken along with Ilya to some social event early in the season when their relationship hadn't been well publicized yet, and it's the first time they've really attended an event as a couple. Shane is still on chemical scent-blockers, so while he smells like Ilya, Ilya does not smell like an alpha with an omega partner! So, Ilya has a well-meaning omega flirt with him, and he handles it by politely not entertaining the flirting and pulling Shane closer to make it clear he came with someone, which ends the flirting. Shane, though, is very upset. This is the first time he's ever had a real partner and seen someone else flirt with them!! He's feeling insecure and threatened, and he doesn't really know where to put those feelings. He handles the emotion by being kind of bitchy to the other omega, shooting dirty looks for the rest of the night and making a few catty comments that aren't overly cruel, but do cross the line.
When they leave, Ilya is like "So, you're in trouble. You know that was inappropriate." And Shane is sooo pissed, he's halfway to stomping his foot and crying because why is HIS alpha defending another omega?
And Ilya just has to make it clear to Shane that "I'm not ever, ever going to entertain or flirt with another omega when I'm your alpha, but I'm also not going to create trouble at an event by overreacting to someone being misinformed about my relationship status when I could just inform them, which I did."
Anyways, then I think Shane handles this by going off of his scent blockers so that his scent returns and Ilya will always smell like an alpha with an omega, which effectively frees Ilya to not have to deal with "uninformed" omegas, because Shane would rather smell like an omega than see his alpha get flirted with!!! After that, I think Ilya gives Shane the go-ahead to shoot flirtatious omegas all the dirty looks he wants because they really should know better when he smells like Shane. (And I think Ilya would maybe even be a little smug about it at times).
In the BDSM AU: I think they're both a little territorial, but it's much less instinct driven and also generally more relaxed. I think the omegaverse has a much stronger emphasis on monogamy than the BDSM AU does, and while they are very much monogamous romantically, the AU is set up to sort of inherently include sexual contact with multiple people, especially with their roles on the team.
I think, once they're together, Ilya is territorial of Shane in terms of making it clear that while Shane technically belongs to the Centaurs, he really belongs to Ilya, and the Centaurs should be grateful that Ilya is generous enough to occasionally share Shane with the rest of them because he does not have to. He's already spent years "sharing" Shane with the Metros, and once they're in Ottawa, Shane is his. If Shane has any sexual contact with other centaurs, then it is at Ilya's discretion alone.
I think Shane is less jealous in this AU because Ilya makes it so very clear that he's Shane's dominant. He also has been on professional hockey teams his whole adult life, so he knows that all teams have submissives, including Ottawa. I think he's okay with Ilya domming any other submissives that play for Ottawa because he knows those submissives need some level of attention from their captain. I also don't think Ilya is having much, if any, sexual contact with the other team submissives? He's domming them non-sexually and keeping an eye on them, but I think he's letting other team members take care of the more sexual components. However, I do think Shane would get a little jealous if he sees Ilya praising another submissive and not him, even if he knows that's not fair of him.