u/IllustriousLemon8146

I need to hand in my gay card, it's obviously been too long since I studied for the entrance exam. Pretty sure this was unintentional on RR's part, but hilarious given the post-photo shoot shower scene and the story's climax at the cottage:

>Cottaging is a gay slang term, originating from the United Kingdom, referring to anonymous sex between men in a public lavatory (a "cottage"^([1]) or "tea-room"^([2])),^([3]) or cruising for sexual partners with the intention of having sex elsewhere.^([4])^([5]) The term has its roots in self-contained English toilet blocks resembling small cottages in their appearance; in the English cant language of Polari this became a double entendre by gay men referring to sexual encounters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottaging

FYI I've only ever heard the term used by drag queens, and that was long ago.

In the brief time we see Shane and Ilya at the cottage Shane gets a text from Rose and a call from Hayden (plus missed calls from his father). In that same time Ilya gets nothing. While I see Ilya as much more comfortable ignoring his phone than Shane is, I think this also shows his isolation, and foreshadows TLG.

Throughout HR we only see Ilya interact with Svetlana when they are together, if they keep in touch regularly we don't see it. Similarly with his teammates, he doesn't seem to keep in touch outside hockey and team parties. The only calls he gets are from his family, and the only text are from Shane. In the summer breaks Shane runs with Hayden, Ilya works out alone.

Obviously we don't get to see Ilya's every day life, in only six episodes we only get to see what is important.