I also lowkey dislike that moment in episode 5 where Ilya is playing with those kids at the pool and Shane is all heart eyes. It's even worse in the book where Shane literally starts thinking about having kids in his internal monologue (you have literally barely just accepted that you are gay, and you might love Ilya why are you thinking about popping out 2.5 kids rn?? A straight woman definitely wrote this smh) I rlly don't have a moral problem with that moment in the show other then I just find it cringe, the whole "man is good with kids and that makes him charming and desirable" trope is just so ick to me
But I will say as a queer person who never wants kids myself, I get that many gay people want children and that's all well and good to be represented in media. HOWEVER, I hate the way it's done in HR (the books) because it is treated as inevitable; "the next logical step" for their "true happy ending" It sucks when they do this in straight romance but it's even worse here, so heteronormative... Having children is a big choice for queer people, and many do not want them, that does not make their happy ending incomplete.
And like I sincerely do not think Shane would want kids, I think in the past he saw it as inevitable that he would have them (it's what you do right?) but after being in relationship with Ilya he would realize it's not something that just happens when you're gay. He would be able to free himself from that cultural expectation and actually choose what he wants for himself in his goddamn life. I think once he gets over the feeling that he's failed his parents once again by not meeting heteronormative ideals, he would actually start to ngaf and be so free. I think Ilya would casually want kids, but not enough that he's really unhappy being child free with Shane. He'd probably have some thoughts about wanting to end generational cycles by righting wrongs with kids of his own, healing his own inner child, but realize that's not really a good reason to want to have kids. (idk is that shitty of me to say?
Anyway, even if I didn't have a problem with it as a queer, I also just don't want kids in a smut series lol... I want the books to be about them falling in love and having amazing sex lol not doing the thankless task of childrearing. There's also the fact that children are always treated as cute little dolls in romance stories like this not as actual characters. Like it's already awful that she makes them spend so much time taking care of Hayden's kids (he's literally rich he would have a full-time nanny irl) it's decidedly unsexy and I am dreading season 2 where there's gonna be a bunch of child actors on screen.
sorry this kind of got away from me :0
Yeah this is my biggest problem with it too. I mean, I don't like children being treated like the default in any story, especially a queer story, but typically I'd be expecting it in a romance and dealing with it. But then Reid put so little fucking effort into make Shane and Ilya the types of characters who would actively want children. She didn't take into consideration their careers or their life circumstances at all either, which in real life, is a crucial step in the decision-making process when it comes to having kids. She didn't show why they want kids or what would lead them to wanting them. She just decided that they just did want kids, just because. Beacuse that's just what you do. And that's what makes it so heteronormative and offensive to me. Nothing on earth could convince me that Shane would ever want kids, and yeah, I could see him having them because that's just what you do if he was with a woman, but you're right that once he's with Ilya, there's no way.
First of all, by the time he decides to be with Ilya, he has developed into a character who chooses what he wants for his own life, who will allow himself to have what he wants for his own life. So there's already that, but then there's also just the fact that there wouldn't be the same pressure on him to have kids as there would have been before. There wouldn't be the same expectation. He will have already gone against the status quo by being queer - he can't earn himself social norm points now by deciding to have kids. Once you're queer it doesn't matter how perfectly you conform to cishet society and while I believe Shane might fall for the respectability politics of that at first, in time it's something he would understand.
And honestly, I don't think Ilya would want them either. I can deal with Ilya being "good with kids." It's certainly fucking corny as hell, and I resent it being treated like this trait I'm meant to desire and fantasize about too. I also hate that Reid made him "good with kids" with zero regard for how he became good with kids, or why he likes kids as much as he does. It's another thing that just is, just because. But I can deal with him being good with kids. I just can't buy that he would want them. Being good with kids and wanting to raise kids are different things, and nothing about Ilya's characterization would suggest he wants to raise kids. I can imagine him enjoying being the fun uncle, enjoying going to the children's hospital, enjoying the hockey camps etc., but for that's where his desire to be around children and have any role in children's lives ends.
I could deal with Reid making them adopt older kids, but that is absolutely the most in the way of them having kids I could buy, much less enjoy at all.
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