#poor ilya

[bugbugly]

i do think it’s beautiful that ilya refers to him and shane as lovers so soon after their first mutual i love yous. hello shane’s parents, i see shane is struggling to define what we are. i feel you should know we are in love. hmm there must be a word for this. something chaste and sweet that expresses the depth of my feelings for your son. and he accidentally tells them that they’re fucking

[wonderlusth]

I had a thought that maybe the tuna melt day from Ilya's POV is not so much a way to take things on the next level (not consciously at least) but a way to prove to himself that what he has with Shane is the same thing he has with Svetlana, and it can just be nothing more than that? Like with Svetlana yes they fuck sometimes but they also cuddle and hang out as friends, and if he can just prove to himself he can cuddle Shane on his couch and make him food and still not feel anything romantic then it's all good and he can keep this forever.

[potatomode]

[wtf-is-hockey]

When Ilya says "I could marry Svetlana" he's doing the exact same thing he did at the bar in Tampa.

At the bar, he asked Shane like three different questions trying to get him to answer his real question, "Are you and Rose Landry still together?" without having to actually ask that question outright. With each question, Ilya gets more pointed, closer to his real question, and each time, Shane doesn't pick up on it. Ilya is ultimately forced to ask his real question to get the answer he wants.

At the cottage, Ilya talks about wanting to get rid of his Russian passport and wanting American or Canadian citizenship. Obviously, marrying an American or Canadian would expedite this process. Ilya is hinting again. Hey, I want to talk about this with you, but I don't want to say it directly, because it might reveal too much or scare you, so I'm going to hint and hope you take the bait, essentially. Except, Shane doesn't realize it's bait. He doesn't realize Ilya is hinting at anything or trying to get Shane to bring something up.

So, when Ilya says, "I could marry Svetlana," he is being more pointed about it. Getting closer to what he's really trying to say.

Shane still doesn't get it, but Ilya gets lucky this time because the way Shane responds takes the conversation in the direction Ilya wants anyway.

Honestly, the first time Ilya tried baiting Shane with this same conversation was when Shane visited him, and Ilya said he was friends with this woman who was perfect for him, and that he thought he'd get married someday, but that he thought he'd find "someone else."

So like, literally just like back in Tampa, Ilya hinted multiple times, each time needing to get more direct before getting Shane to say what Ilya really wanted him to say.

It's such an obvious case of like...Ilya communicating in the roundabout way most people do, and Shane not understanding because Shane is not only very literal but also just so honest. He doesn't always say what he actually thinks - he stops himself from saying what he actually thinks with Ilya often - but when he does decide to say something, he almost always says what he actually thinks, what he actually wants to say, and it doesn't occur to him others don't.

[vodka-and-gingerale]

"We'll be completely alone... together..."

"Is lie, liar told you that"

[everything-maxriemelt]

Shane looks like the world’s greatest boyfriend here

[writerjayne]

Horrifying write realization of the day: IM MEAN TO ILYA CAUSE ILYA IS ME AND IM NOT MEAN TO SHANE CAUSE THATS MY WIFE. and I don't mean Shane Hollander is my wife I mean my real life wife is a stressed out autistic anxiety ball too so I'm automatically nice to Shane in my writing (beyond normal canon issues) cause I can't be mean to my wife! I love my wife! BUT ILYA? He is me, me is he, he can take it! Let's make him an affair baby who gets shipped to another country, let's make him a home schooled unwanted (by his father) kid who is kicked out at 18 to fend for himself, LETS HAVE HIM RUN AWAY TO JOIN THE CIRCUS AT AGE 12 CAUSE THATS FINE

[c0pyca7]

okay but everytime i rewatch scenes with alexei i feel like he uses waaaaaay to many homophobic slurs towards ilya to not know about him or like he's guessing something...