(warningg: i'm like rarely online anymore? idk life's been busy and.... i'll come back but i'm not very active atm.... but i still love y'all very very much and one day i'll be backk & throw a little party haha) (now i'm online again... i have my phases... idk guys)
english isn't my first language, i think i have a kinda solid level but yeahh..if i accidentally say something offensive or you don't understand me just tell me :)
- homophobes, transphobes, aphobes and in general any person who doesn't respect other peoples identity
- racists
- you don't believe in gender equality and are sexist? out.
- people who don't respect other people's boundaries and are creepy
- people who have really sexual content on their blogs or anything like that... (i don't care about a little bit but dni to absolute porn blogs and people who are creepy)
- if you are a trump and/or ice supporter get tf out (you already fall into other categories listed here but the more i say it the better)
I am a big defender of Shane not wanting to come out and one of the biggest reasons that I havenāt seen discussed much is how much worse it is to come out as a Gay Asian Bottom compared to coming out as a bisexual (white) man who is already regarded as a sex machine. Like Asian men are already overly feminized in the west. Shaneās general demeanor is subdued, he doesnāt drink or party often, and he abides by strict rules and a diet that already makes him an outsider. He doesnāt sleep around and has only has one public relationship with a woman under his belt, which ended very quickly. Heās the exact opposite of Ilya in all these ways and it puts him at a disadvantage. He has a āsoftā image he spends his whole life actively opposing. His image is working against him; him being gay contributes to it and worsens it. Ilyaās image is working in his favor; being with a man is an anomaly OR further proof of his sexual prowess. And bc of Ilyaās well known history of sleeping around and generally aggressive attitude, it will be assumed he would be the top. Through a heteronormative lens, which is obviously the norm in hockey, that makes him the āmanā in the relationship. If anything, his ability to ādominateā another man may bolster his image, make him even more of an āalpha maleā. But being a bottom is seen as inherently demeaning and effeminate, thanks to misogyny, homophobia, and rape culture. The less bulky, quiet, shy man with a shocking lack of experience with woman is obviously the bottom (and this is even worse if they have the height and body differences canon to the books). Shane will be seen as weaker (and what could be worse than that in a contact sport like hockey). Heāll be viewed as the āwomanā in the relationship, which is to say he will be viewed as inherently inferior. And draws further attention to the parts of him heās tried to hide (aka autism symptoms) which will now be treated as further evidence of his sensitivity and otherness. Everything he does now is gay. But being with Shane is the only gay thing Ilya does. Without the threat of Russia, Shane has far more to lose from coming out imo. And his teamās reaction proves that. He deserves some grace.
i do think when ilya introduces shane and svetlana heās so excited because yay theyāre gonna talk about me and how sexy I am and good at fucking i am the entire time but WRONG they just talk about hockey all night long and shane and svetlana both have a hand on ilya touching him while the other hand is waving around when they talk and completely ignore ilya otherwise and ilya is like omg this is so boring but he actually is having the best night ever because his entire world is sitting on this couch with him nerding out over hockey and playing with his hair and fingers while they do it and he is just sitting there like š„°
In the final moment, Williams turns to Storrie and does a version of Ilya's "attack-y" face, as Tierney describes it. He left that sweet exchange in to show how Shane is capable of breaking his guarded facade. "I think Shane does have a playful side that is stifled... Under every scene in season 1, there's not much room for super goofy play," Williams says. "There's a tentative nature to episode 6. Although it's calm, it's still like, 'Can this work, when we're left alone to our own devices?'"
"It does feel like a puppy learning to play," Tierney adds.
Shane does an interview after they're outed where he says, kind of off-handedly, that the one thing that still bothers him about having to keep their relationship secret for so long is that there are no pictures of them together as a couple from those years.
Someone clips it and it goes viral.
Over the next few days, Shane and Ilya's mentions start to get flooded with pictures. Mostly it's screenshots from various games they played against each other, meticulously picked through by dedicated fans to find every moment Shane and Ilya looked at each other on the ice.
Some screenshots get shared by hundreds of different people because they stand out so obviously: Shane and Ilya meeting each other's eyes during a face off; Ilya looking at Shane while his back is turned, naked longing visible on his face; Shane chasing after Ilya with a small but delighted grin.
There are also pictures from press events, award ceremonies, behind the scenes at All Stars. Seemingly any time Shane and Ilya got captured in the same frame gets dug up and shared.
Finally, a couple of weeks later, the director of Shane and Ilya's CCM commercial posts outtakes from their shoot. It's captioned 'Took a bit of digging but I knew I still had these somewhere! I had to make my contribution to the #HollanovArchives even though this must have been a while before they got together. These kids had crazy chemistry, right from the start!'
Shane hasn't responded to the onslaught yet, too overwhelmed by the (slightly terrifying) dedication of their fans as well as the fact that he now has dozens of pictures clearly displaying his and Ilya's love for each other during a time in their lives when it was so desperately hidden.
He does respond now, sharing the director's post with a sincere (and publicist-approved) caption thanking him and the fans.
Ilya also shares the post, tacking on 'yes if a while means a few hours š ' like he didn't cry when Shane showed him the videos.
