didn’t matter anymore. no consequences of them coming out would hurt nearly as bad as one of them having to grieve the other in private for the rest of their life, with no one understanding the depth of what they’re going through bc they didn’t tell anyone until it was too late
people love to call the plane scene in TLG corny, but that just tells me that they’re misunderstanding the stakes of the scene.
of course we KNOW nobody is going to die. it’s a romance book. that’s not where the emotional impact of that scene is supposed to come from. you’re not supposed to finish reading that scene and think “thank god they all survived.”
the purpose of that scene is to highlight the real, tangible toll and impact that shane and ilya’s secret actually has. it’s to show that keeping the secret is unsustainable.
the point of that scene is to hammer home that if one of them were to die right now, the other one would have to mourn in secret. they’d have lost the part of their life that made them whole and nobody could ever even know.
they’ve spent the whole book up to that point struggling with this huge secret but thinking that it’s worth it to keep. this is the turning point for the reader AND them that no, it’s not worth it.
the stakes in that scene are the emotional fallout. it serves to make the consequences of keeping this secret into something real, making it so that the reader can understand the real impact of what they’re doing.
ilya couldn’t keep living in secret anymore so to him, this seemed like shane choosing hockey over him. they would have continued to lock horns over it if it weren’t for the plane crash. it’s what made both of them - but more importantly, shane - realise that the consequences-
au where ilya, who is deeply uncomfortable with doctors and anything medical, goes to his first pre-season physical for the bears and meets dr hollander
dr hollander isn’t the most receptive to social cues, but he can see ilya’s heart rate spike on the monitor. he doesnt mention it, of course, its not like ilya would admit to being nervous. but he takes extra time explaining everything he’s doing
have yall seen the video of that guy flexing while a mosquito is feeding on him and it gets so full of blood it explodes bc that’s what just happened to my dick