Tits up !

As soon as he entered the house, Ilya made a beeline for the kitchen, giving both Yuna and David a hug and greeting them with his customary kiss on the cheek. Shane, of course, recognized the new addition to the living room right away, as he had lived in the house almost his entire life. He decided, however, to keep quiet, eager to see his boyfriend’s reaction. 

It took Ilya until after dinner to notice.

"What–what the fuck is this?" Ilya asked, eyes wide and a small smile appearing on his face as he saw the pictures Yuna had hung in the living room. 

Shane smirked as Yuna grinned, both of them amused by Ilya's reaction. 

“I just updated some of the pictures,” Yuna answered, grinning. “What do you think?” 

“Is…is me?” Ilya asked, as if it wasn't obvious. He stood up from the couch and moved closer to the frame where a picture of five-year-old Ilya playing in the snow was displayed. 

“And so is this cutie over here,” Yuna added, gesturing to another picture hung on the wall a few feet away. 

Beaming, Ilya looked over and saw another photo of him at about middle school age, with his arm slung around a young Svetlana. Ilya turned to Shane, eyes glittering. "You give these to her?" he asked Shane, nearly vibrating with joy. 

"No, it wasn't me. Where would I have gotten them?" Shane replied, though he wished he was the cause of his boyfriend’s huge smile.

"You Hollanders are magic," Ilya replied, his voice almost accusatory as he narrowed his eyes. "You could do anything when you are being stubborn." 

David, who had been sitting on the couch, laughed in agreement. "Absolutely right."

Yuna, however, was too eager to blame the actual source. “Your friend Svetlana stole my number out of Shane’s phone,” she revealed, grinning a little. “She and I have become fast friends.” 

This only made Ilya light up more. "You have been talking to Sveta?" he asked, absolutely beaming. 

Yuna grinned as well. “Yes, she's an absolute delight. She sent me these pictures because I decided I wanted to have both of my sons on the wall.”

At this, Ilya's eyes filled with tears, and Shane felt warmth wash over his body. "Thank you," he mouthed to his mother as Ilya pulled Yuna into a hug. Yuna just beamed. 

Most older players hated the All-Star Games. It felt like an obligation, and it took up one of their very few free weekends during the season. 

Shane and Ilya, however, enjoyed them. Not only were they nostalgic, but they brought back one of the very few times they got to compete against each other. 

Of course, Shane never regretted moving to Ottawa. He absolutely adored being on the same team as his husband, and in the last two seasons, the Centaurs had been unstoppable. However, the feeling of competing against Ilya was something that was completely unmatched…and it also made for really great sex. So he had been looking forward to the All-Star Games for weeks. 

Looking forward was actually probably not a strong enough term. 

He'd been relentlessly teasing Ilya, telling him that he was going to kick his ass at all of the competitions they were both signed up for, reminding him of the many times he’d done so before.

The entire team had laughed at the chirps they'd sent back and forth, joking that it was just foreplay and that maybe none of them should room on the same floor as either of the men this weekend. 

Shane wholeheartedly agreed. 

However, when they got in the locker room to get ready for the skills competition, Ilya, a giant smile on his face, approached him with two red roses. "Is for you," he said sweetly, handing the roses to Shane and giving him a beautiful smile. “Good luck for today.”

And Shane's stomach sank a little. It had been a very long time since they'd competed in this way–in anything more than joking bets about stats during games. He wondered maybe if Ilya no longer wanted the same heated rivalry that they'd had when they were young. Maybe Ilya enjoyed the camaraderie they had now and had been hurt by the way Shane had been treating him over the past few weeks. The flowers were so kind and thoughtful. 

So guilt ate at him, making him think that he'd been far too harsh. 

That was until one of the younger players, a Russian man named Abaza, who was in his third year in the league, approached him with a smirk on his face. “He gives you two flowers?” The player asked, nodding knowingly. 

“Yeah,” Shane responded, looking confusedly at the gift Ilya had given him. The roses were wilting in his hands slightly, mimicking the feeling he had in his stomach. 

"Asshole," Abaza chuckled, gesturing to the roses. 

At first, Shane was confused. Was Abaza referring to him? Yes, he'd been an asshole to his husband, apparently, but Abaza had no idea how Shane’s been acting the past few weeks, right? Then, the younger man explained. 

“In Russian culture, only give even-numbered flowers for bad things. Meant for mourning or sadness. He is telling you you will do bad,” the man said, laughing. 

But this year he's not in Russia, and he slips into this warm syrupy slumber while Shane pets through his hair (incidentally making a disastrous mess of his curls) and reads his book. When Ilya eventually rouses, with a happy grumble of contentment, nuzzling closer into Shane's stomach, he can feels Shane laughing gently at him almost before he hears it.

"Did you sleep well?" Shane asks, and that sounds warm and syrupy too, and Ilya rolls over so he can smile at Shane and revel in the smile he gets in return.

And then Shane says, "Are you hungry? It's almost dinnertime," and Ilya realises he's been lying here, napping and pinning Shane to the couch and wasting both of their time, for hours, and he jackknifes upright so suddenly that Shane startles back.

"Fuck!" Ilya spits out. "I was--fuck, has been so long. Why didn't you wake me up?" already guilty because Shane had wanted to make some pasta thing that he was weirdly excited about and they'd talked about maybe playing more Chel but now the whole day's been napped away and--Ilya sneaks a look---Shane's book is lying closed on the couch, bookmark set neatly aside, so Shane had finished his book and not even been able to get up to go do something else.

And he's just smiling at Ilya, completely unconcerned that Ilya's been idle and asleep and... and... lazy, all afternoon, just glad Ilya had a good nap.

Shane's frowning in mild confusion at him. "Why?" he says, genuinely not seeing the problem. "You were napping, it was nice. I mean, if I'd needed to pee or something I'd have got up but I was fine." He reaches out and smoothes some of Ilya's hair down. "Oh, the pasta. We can do that tomorrow, we have all that salad from lunch and rolls and there's peaches if we want dessert."

Ilya must have responded somehow because Shane beams at him and says, "Cool, I'll go set the table if you want to go wash your face." He smirks and pokes at Ilya's cheek. "Got a little drool there." And then he smacks a kiss on Ilya's head, gets up, and trots over to the kitchen while Ilya just sits there reeling.

long distance selfies

so when they started officially dating, shane was preparing himself for what he's gonna do when ilya will catch a flu. it was challenging enough managing with his own... body fluids (HA!). and he genuinely didn't know how he's gonna react to ilya's mucus all around. but he was much more scared that a disease would turn ilya into a catastrophe.

he was very dedicated to be a good boyfriend and do whatever needs to be done, though.

what a shock he had, when he figured out, that when he's sick, ilya turns small, trying to hide in the darkest place and disappear. he is quiet, lying in the bed curled into a ball and shivering with fever. shane heart broke, when ilya started to apologize, almost crying, that he couldn't make him food and he's a shitty boyfriend.

never shane wanted to kill more, understanding that this is how probably ilya's family treated him every time he got sick since his mother died.