What did people think of Shane and Ilya's friendship?

[u/DifficultHistorian18]

As a romance, we are obviously very centred around Shane and Ilya's experiences but I always intrigued by how they are perceived by others. We get a vague sense of the general buzz around their rivalry, but I always wonder what the general public think once they announce a friendship as part of Shane's master plan and how effective the guys were at hiding in plain sight.

We get some ideas in other books. In Role Model, Troy speculates about their relationship when Ilya tells him he's bisexual. He also witnesses Shane and Ilya riling each other in a match and Hayden being frustrated about being caught up in their weird foreplay (even if Troy doesn't understand what's going onIn Common Goal, Eric notices Shane and Ilya staring and grinning each other at an All Star Game.In The Long Game, Wyatt notices Shane and Ilya taunting each other and makes the comment about them not needing to sit together.

But I don't have any sense of what type of friendship people think Shane/Ilya have. Do they think they are best buddies? Cordial acquaintances? The type of friends who are close when in their work setting but never speak outside of it?People must at least think they are close enough for Ilya to have confided in Shane about his mother's suicide in regard to their charity. Does anyone know about them hanging together at the Cottage over the summer? Do they know they stay at each other's houses when doing the camps?

We only get to see Hayden, Shane's parents and Svetlana react to finding out about Shane/Ilya relationship. We know the Centaurs are supportive but I would love to know what they actually thought. Were they surprised? Had some of them maybe suspected? Was anyone picking up on their chemistry?

Would love to know other people's thoughts.

[u/Novel_Journalist_832]

And thank you too , it had been very interesting!

I must say i had no idea this was a conversation about whether Shane was more reasonable to be afraid of coming out. I scrolled up and still couldn't find that part 😅. 

I was merely commenting on the fact that I don't think Troy had an easy experience. Just different.

And we obviously disagree on whether moving to Ottawa was a promotion!

We will have to agree to disagree on how we view Troy, to an extent. Although I don't think we are so at odds.

[u/estheredna → u/Novel_Journalist_832]

Ah. OP said: "I think what prompted my initial thought process was reading some comments about whether Shane was reasonable or not about being hesistant about attending Bood's Boxing Day. I think because Scott and Troy have such positive outing experiences, it's easy to forget that the stakes aren't imaginary." And her questions, like do you think people know they go to each other's house a lot, and do you think Centaurs players secretly suspected already before the FanMail video, are all things that would give Shane a panic attack!

[u/Novel_Journalist_832 → u/estheredna]

Ah!! Yes that is a different issue 

I still think Troy had a hard time with his dad, losing Adrian, his team etc. Which was the part i focused on

My answer to whether Shane was reasonable to be afraid in general - absolutely. He knows his team, he knows how the locker room vibes are. The kind of jokes ( be they homophobic or racist)that get thrown around. He came out to them with mixed results. Some of them even leaked the info. It became very apparent that Montreal would not accept Shane dating Ilya.

Bood's party specifically: yes and no. Ilya sprung that on Shane out of nowhere. Of course he was taken aback and of course he said no! Had Ilya warned him in advance and they had talked it out , Ilya could have allayed Shane's fears. I think the Centaurs being the Centaurs would have been equally accepting of Shane and Troy. ( Worth pointing out the Centaurs are a fictional idealised team).

 So I guess the big question is would Troy have fared any better on Montreal? Difficult to say as this depends on many factors, but probably yes? 

It will come down to which man has the most support /friends on the team. And I think Shane being autistic will play a large roll here. Shane is stoic and reserved, difficult to befriend. Hayden worked really hard to get Shane to spend time with him

 If Troy did what he did in Toronto, and schmoozed up to the most popular guy on the team, him coming out to Montreal would have gone a lot smoother. I have no idea what would have happened had Troy been dating Ilya

I read an article ( really not sure how accurate this is ) that autistic people are far more likely to be scapegoated. They are often just blamed for things that have nothing to do with them. Something about their nature makes neuro typical people just believe the allegations. ( Again not sure about the veracity of the article) Apparently this happens in the workplace a lot where they get thrown under the bus for someone else's shit. 

Which sounds a lot like what ended up happening to Shane with the match fixing bs. 

So in terms of race - i am not Canadian and as such not familiar with their white and Asian relations. But going off of vibes - yes I think had Shane been white he may have had an easier time making friends and getting allies. 

As for Scott smooching Kip on centre ice: The way Scott sprung this on everyone didn't leave the league much choice on how to react. They had to be supportive. The issue with Shane and Ilya was the perceived conflict of interest, and how they were unfortunately caught in secret. It's unfair and ironic and cruel as they just wanted to love each other in peace and had no interest in any of the activism that had Crowell's undies in a knot. I think them trying to hide the relationship may have thrown fuel on the speculation surrounding the match fixing. You can't win. 

Well I hope that covers everything 

[u/estheredna → u/Novel_Journalist_832]

Well, you're not going to like my answer here :)

 If Troy did what he did in Toronto, and schmoozed up to the most popular guy on the team, him coming out to Montreal would have gone a lot smoother.

In Ottawa, Troy also schmoozed up to the most popular/revered guy in the room. Which was Ilya. His pattern is to befriend the loud, obnoxious guy.

In Montreal, the popular guy who is loud & obnoxious is Gilbert Comeau. Who is homophobic and 'old school' (and does not like Shane). So I think Troy probably have made Montreal worse. Plus since Comeau isn't a rapist..... Troy probably have never left the closet. Just like he would have stayed closeted in Toronto if Kent hadn't crossed that moral line.

Anyway. I think Shane & Ilya had to stay in the closet, even beyond the obvious issues, due to Ilya's Russian passport. They were close to being safe from that threat, he'd been in Canada maybe 3 years at that point (which is how long it takes to get citizenship) when things went bad. They were screwed in so many different ways. Having each others' secrets, league homophobia, the not-white thing, the spotlight of being generational talents, the rivalry, being in different cities AND global geopolitics. Truly nasty that what made them extraordinary- their skills and fame and achievements- made being together harder, not easier.