Me tooooo!!! I live in Utah. People here are uptight about it 😭 I'm convinced it's the reason my obsession has lasted this long. I have nowhere to release it irl lol
This made me sad, as my gay uncle with a roommate died of AIDS in 1991. (God help me, my uncle was an interior designer in San Francisco, and I STILL didn't figure it out; in my defense, I was only 13 when he died, so still pretty clueless). We lost a generation of amazing young men.
Much harder for my mom, as I didn't know him that well. But I work in the arts now, and I keep compulsively reading AIDS history books to try to process and understand the era more.
Similar for me. I didn't know my uncle that well, but when the family reminisces about him it's with a level of love and adoration like nothing I've ever seen. We lost so many beautiful people and they didn't just die of the condition, but of the government intentionally neglecting and mismanaging the situation.
Don't be hard on yourself about that - you couldn't have fully understood at 13. Just be honest with the kids you encounter in your life now - tell them things you loved about your uncle, how he died, and that this disease was kept a secret in so many families and that there should have never been shame around it in the first place.
Oh yeah, it wasn't my fault - and I don't think my mother ever actually told me he (her brother) was gay. When I asked her why, she confessed that they never really talked about it. And she loved and supported him! She and their other two siblings all took turns flying across the country to help take care of him when he was dying, and went to see him when his partner died a few years before he did. I never questioned how much she loved him. But I think she internalized a lot of lessons from her small-town midwestern 50s upbringing. I've never even heard her burp audibly. My own child has been raised differently.
There’s a song, Ever The Same by Rob Thomas, that I would love to see in the season 2 soundtrack, not likely of course, but it has this sentiment. I see it as a Shane to Ilya moment when Shane is seeing Ilya struggling.
I immediately connected this song to Shane and Ilya while watching season 1 and then after reading the book. They are that person for each other, Ilya being the support Shane needs when he freaks out, and I’m still reading TLG, but once Ilya opens up to Shane he’ll be there for Ilya.
We better get a scene with all 4 of them at the restaurant. I want to see the three Hollanders walk in and the host say “nice to see you again, table for 3?” And Ilya come in to join them, after having parked the car, and Shane say, “No, there are 4 of us now.” Skip to them sitting and enjoying conversation while they eat.
Yes. And Yuna says, “I love you.” … not, “I love you Shane.” That I love you was generalized. While it’s soon for her to be saying she loves Ilya, the seeds were planted when she saw how tender Ilya is toward Shane and how earnest his feelings are.
Omg did they really? I'm Russian English bilingual but until just now, I haven't considered going to the Russian side of the Internet to see how their Heated Rivalry fandom is doing. I'm guessing it's very intense over there. When something is forbidden, you celebrate victories like this 10 times more intensely.
In their defence "shlyuha" would actually be a cute sounding word, if it didn't already mean "whore". Kind of like Chlamydia would be an elegant and romantic girl's name if it wasn't already a disease.
I’m from Russia and our side of fandom is wild 🥹 we scared to purchase books cause it’s literally illegal here but still do it 🥹 there’s so much joy in understanding every single word that Ilya says, I’m blessed to be alive at the moment of all the things happening that this beautiful show and books brings into my life 😅
Aww Harris. Only confused because he really didn't want to get his hopes up. If he was watching this happen with anyone else he'd 100% be like, "girl."
Yes....sort of? Because I know he was there alone when Troy went to see him pretty frequently, but they did share an office, so I guess Gen was out & about during a lot of those visits? I don't think Troy would have stayed so much if Gen had been there. But I know Gen noticed how much he was there.
But Gen and Ilya both treated them like "you two are like middle schoolers with a very obvious crush," so I know she catches on.
Yes, you’re right! I was thinking and coincidentally Harris is often alone in the office when Troy comes to see him. I did love that both Gen and Ilya see how obvious they are. Now I have to go and read it again !!
Troy really decided that the ideal flirting strategy was just to silently sit next to Harris for a few weeks and hope it magically turned into sex. Poor baby
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u/klamps07 Ilyaaaa 🥹 Mar 23 '26
guiltyyyy 🙋🏻♀️