Hello! I'm Jay, I'm an adult, and my pronouns are they/them. You can find me on Ao3 at bluejayblueskies. My fics are tagged under #my fic and fics I've liked are tagged under #fic rec. I bookbind as well, and you can find my binds under #jay's bound books. I have a Ko-Fi here!
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first post for context / see the tag 'open relationship au' for more snippets or the masterlist so kindly put together by @tafkarfanfic. two posts in one day, don't get used to it! i won't have time to write tomorrow so it'll probably be a couple of days until the next part.
All Stars 2015
It's been six weeks since the last Boston-Montreal game.
It makes Ilya want to claw his skin off a little bit, thinking about how long it's been since he last saw Shane Hollander naked. Knowing that in his absence, Hollander's boyfriend has been fucking him regularly, erasing the memory of Ilya's touch and replacing it with his own.
Whatever. Ilya's mostly disappointed he's failed to break them up so far despite multiple attempts. But then, all of those attempts were made in hours of stolen time dispersed over half a year.
By comparison, the three nights they're spending in the same hotel during All Stars feels downright extravagant. Ilya will be able to take his time for once, to wear Hollander down over the weekend with as many orgasms as he can wring out of him, until he can no longer remember ever wanting another man.
Convincing Hollander to meet up the first night is easier than Ilya expected - whatever his boyfriend is doing in the bedroom must not be satisfying him.
Hollander forbids him from actually fucking him, since he doesn't want to be sore for the skills competition or the games themselves, even though nobody takes them seriously.
Ilya pins him face down, pushes his thighs together and fucks his dick between them, cockhead pressing teasingly against Hollander's rim on every push. When Hollander starts whining loudly, Ilya shuts him up with three fingers shoved roughly in his mouth.
He finishes between Hollander's legs, then flips him over and swallows his cock down. Hollander comes like a shot down Ilya's throat, biting down on his own fingers to muffle the sounds.
They rest for a while and go a second round, trading lazy handjobs and kissing until their lips feel numb.
It's a good night.
Convincing Hollander to meet up the second night is even easier than the first and Ilya mentally congratulates himself on a job well done so far.
It takes them longer to sneak out unseen than the previous day but Ilya refuses to feel rushed. Once they're in his room he takes his time, stripping Hollander's clothes off one by one and kissing him slowly and languidly, laying him out on the bed like a meal to be savored.
He brings Hollander near the edge with his hand, and then his mouth. By the second thwarted orgasm Hollander is already writhing, hips thrusting uselessly into the empty air and hand grasping Ilya's shoulder so tightly, he knows it's gonna bruise.
"Fuck," he breathes, voice threaded high. "Fucking - let me come, Rozanov."
Ilya kisses his stomach. "No. Is more fun this way."
"Fun for who?" Hollander demands.
"You like it," Ilya says decisively. "You like having to earn your reward."
Hollander considers that. "What do I have to do to earn it?"
Ilya hadn't thought quite that far. He feels a little bit like a big cat, playing with his meal. All he knows is he's not ready to eat just yet.
He also wants to see just how far he can push Hollander.
"Tell me about your first time."
Hollander looks down at him, brows furrowing. "What - why?"
"I want to see if I can do it better," Ilya says, grinning.
"That's sick, Rozanov."
Ilya hums. Hollander's cock is inches away from his face, from where Ilya's been pressing kisses into his overheated skin. It's still rock hard.
"Is it? You get off on competition."
Hollander's lips twist. "It's not a competition."
"Everything can be a competition," Ilya disagrees.
"That's not - it doesn't matter. It's not a sexy story, anyway. It would kill the mood."
"It's a story about you having sex," Ilya says. "What's the problem, exactly?"
Hollander shrugs, the motion clumsy since he's currently resting on his elbows. "It was just... awkward. You remember what it was like being a teenager."
Ilya raises his eyebrows. "Oh, you assume I was having sex when I was a teenager? You think I'm a slut like you?"
Hollander's cock twitches. Interesting. "Don't even try."
"Alright," Ilya concedes. "It was awkward, but I was having sex with other awkward teenagers. You had a... ah, senior citizen? To guide you."
"Fuck off," Hollander says, so quick Ilya knows it's mostly instinct. "I'm just saying, I didn't know what the hell I was doing. It was weird."
Now Ilya is curious. "Tell me."
Hollander looks conflicted. He shifts on his elbows, abs twitching at the movement. "We were in the backseat of his car, the first time. He like... crawled on top of me? It was really cramped, so he had me pretty much pinned down."
The mental image is both enticing and repulsive. Hollander looks good pinned down, but Ilya finds that he viscerally hates the idea of another man doing the pinning.
"And then?" Ilya asks, because he's a glutton for punishment.
"He took my hand, to show me where to put it. We gave each other handjobs, and then he drove me home."
"What a way with words," Ilya says flatly. "You are sure you're a hockey player, not a poet?"
Hollander rolls his eyes. "I told you it wasn't a sexy story."
"Or maybe you are a bad storyteller."
Hollander kicks him. Ilya grabs his foot and uses the leverage to push his legs apart, grinning when Hollander easily lets him.
"Is okay," Ilya says. "I will show you how a real first time should go. This fancy hotel room is no backseat of a car, but we will make do."
Hollander rolls his eyes.
It's a pity Ilya won't be able to fuck that attitude out of him until tomorrow.
Tonight he'll have to make do with edging him until he cries.
+
tag list (let me know in the replies if you want to be added): @quillquiver @mybloodstream-caffeine @tearsofshane @natmoose @knippsblips @myshanela @mariesthename @sage-herbal @hornylittlecoyote @starrrlve @catscatscats0104 @bluest-hyacinth @casualsheepcollection @shashanene @thedragonflylover @livythewidow @kevinssecretplace4546 @moonrise-rebel @shanetism @2014federalbudget @buckitweride @illustriousprophetlillila @chaothur @silverssorrysoul @dandelionsinsunshine @mrv-l-blog @and-come-to-dust @psyche-dahlia @hollos @wannabetonthat @dropbear8118 @shanebug @vogeley @intersemiotic @hollanders-left-tit @toapoet @what-is-life-but-an-empty-void @riversidecacti @sunless-garden @princess-of-fangirls @shadowflame84 @anxietycroissant @poetic-mac-n-cheese @jizzinandsplizzin @shouldveagesago @tamtamwithicecream @darlingsoulbeautifulthoughts @steddieassheg0es @whoneedscanon
first post for context / see the tag 'open relationship au' for more snippets.
2014
The panic sets in the day after Vegas.
Shane is honestly surprised it took so long. It feels like Rozanov managed to fuck all of the anxiety and second-guessing out of his body, and it's only now with a little distance that they can come back.
And they do come back, with a vengeance, because oh my god what the fuck was that?
Shane didn't know sex could be like that. So intense that his brain would shut off, that he'd loose control of his own reactions. He didn't know it was possible to have that kind of chemistry with someone you'd never slept with before. Rozanov touched him like he knew exactly how he liked to be touched, did things even Shane didn't know he wanted.
It's never been like this with Brian.
Shane feels so guilty thinking it, he could throw up.
He also feels guilty about sleeping with Rozanov in the first place, even though it's exactly what Brian asked him to do. Maybe he should have told Brian about it before it happened. Maybe he should have picked someone he didn't already want to fuck - even though that would have brought his list of prospects down to zero.
This open relationship thing is stressful. Shane thinks he may not be built for it.
He goes to Brian's place after Vegas and even with the guilt eating Shane up from the inside, it's nice. Brian is more attentive than he's been in a while, showering Shane with praise and affection. The sex is better than it's been in a while, too.
(It's not as good as with Rozanov, a thought Shane mercilessly banishes as soon as it pops up.)
So their new relationship status is definitely working for Brian. Shane probably just needs time to adjust.
He thinks about telling Brian about Rozanov, but he's not sure what the rules are. Brian hasn't told him about anyone he's fucked or is thinking about fucking. Maybe Shane should wait for him to bring it up. Brian hates it when he pesters him for constant clarification, and Shane doesn't want to ruin his good mood. Better to just follow his lead and work through the rest of it on his own.
Besides, if Brian doesn't know about Rozanov, he can't tell Shane not to sleep with him again. Shane can't pretend that's not a little bit of a factor.
+
Months pass and Shane somehow settles into the new status quo.
Montreal plays Boston three times and he meets up with Rozanov after each game and has the best sex of his life. Rozanov texts him in between games, too, and more often than not it leads to sexting.
Shane doesn't like thinking about how even over text, Rozanov is still an amazing lay. He's got stability with Brian, he reminds himself. Love, commitment. That's not something Rozanov is ever gonna offer.
Not that Shane would want it even if he did. Because he loves his boyfriend.
Jesus Christ, dude, pull yourself together.
Brian doesn't tell him about any of his hook ups and Shane doesn't ask. Whoever he's fucking, it doesn't affect their sex life.
Shane can't say the same for himself. After his third time with Rozanov a need starts to set underneath his skin, an itch that sex with Brian just can't seem to scratch.
Shane feels awful about it, especially when Brian notices.
"You good, babe?"
They're naked in bed (the bed Rozanov fucked him in last month) and Shane is on his back, Brian nestled between his legs, hard cock brushing against his thighs. Shane's mind should not be wandering right now, and yet it has been.
"Yeah," Shane says, flushing guiltily when Brian shoots him a disbelieving look. "It's just. Um. Could you be... rougher, maybe? Hold me down?"
Shane rarely asks for things in bed. The things they normally do have always worked well enough for him that he hasn't felt the need to. He's certainly never had to make himself pay attention when his boyfriend's about to fuck him.
This is all Rozanov's fault. That fucker broke Shane's dick.
"Hold you down?" Brian repeats, a little incredulous. "You know you're way stronger than me, right?"
"I wouldn't be trying to really escape. Just... pretending."
Brian sits back on, a sour expression on his face. "Sure. That doesn't sound emasculating at all."
"How would that be emasculating?" Shane asks incredulously.
"You don't think I'm strong enough," Brian accuses. "Why else would you need to pretend different so you could get off?"
Frustration flares hotly in Shane's chest. Rozanov isn't stronger than him, either. When he holds Shane down, it's with the knowledge that it's a game, that Shane could throw him off if he really wanted to. That doesn't make it any less hot, or make Shane wish Rozanov was stronger.
"You're being ridiculous."
Brian blinks. "Fuck this," he mutters, and then he's climbing off the bed.
"You're leaving?" Shane asks, stunned.
"Obviously I'm not good enough to fuck you, so I won't pretend to be."
Shane sits up, his frustration now crushed under a rush of guilt. What the fuck his wrong with him? He's started comparing Brian to Rozanov in his head and now he's got his boyfriend thinking he's not good enough for him.
"I'm sorry," he says, reaching for Brian's arm, relieved when he doesn't pull away at his touch. "It was just an idea, I didn't mean - I'm happy with what we do. It's just been a stressful day."
Brian looks down at him, lips twisted in an unhappy frown. "Where did you get that idea?"
Shane should tell him. He doesn't know why he doesn't want to.
"Porn," he says finally, hoping the redness on his face can be mistaken for embarrassment.
"Hm." Brian turns to face him again, wrapping his arms around Shane's shoulders. His cock pokes Shane's chest in this position, thankfully still hard. "Well, if we're borrowing from porn, I've got a couple of things we could try instead."
Shane nods, relieved beyond measure that his slip-up didn't fuck up their whole night. "Whatever you want."
Brian smiles, petting his hair sweetly. "You're so good to me, babe."
The praise warms Shane, making his heart flutter. It doesn't matter if it isn't the same with Brian as it is with Rozanov, he decides. Brian is the one who loves him, the one who will stick around.
Besides, Rozanov is new and exciting. Surely he won't stay that way for long. Shane will get him out of his system in a few months and then, Brian will hopefully be ready to close the relationship again. They'll go back to the way things were, only better, because both of them will have sown their wild oats.
+
tag list (let me know in the replies if you want to be added): @quillquiver @mybloodstream-caffeine @tearsofshane @natmoose @knippsblips @myshanela @mariesthename @sage-herbal @hornylittlecoyote @starrrlve @catscatscats0104 @bluest-hyacinth @casualsheepcollection @shashanene @tafkarfanfic @thedragonflylover @livythewidow @kevinssecretplace4546 @moonrise-rebel @shanetism @2014federalbudget @buckitweride @illustriousprophetlillila @chaothur @silverssorrysoul @dandelionsinsunshine @mrv-l-blog @and-come-to-dust @psyche-dahlia @hollos @wannabetonthat @dropbear8118 @shanebug @vogeley @intersemiotic @hollanders-left-tit @toapoet @what-is-life-but-an-empty-void @riversidecacti @sunless-garden @princess-of-fangirls @shadowflame84 @anxietycroissant @poetic-mac-n-cheese @jizzinandsplizzin @shouldveagesago @tamtamwithicecream @darlingsoulbeautifulthoughts @steddieassheg0es @whoneedscanon
Tags: Canon Divergence, Outing, Angst with a Happy Ending, Breaking Up & Making Up, Manipulation, Blackmail, Kidnapping, Police
Summary:
Ilya sees the post at 11:47 AM.
What the fuck, Svetlana had texted, and below that, Did Shane get hacked? I hope he deleted your dick pics if so.
And then, because Svetlana knows he’d rather throw himself into the Rideau Canal than check social media when there’s breaking news about him, there’s a single Instagram link. A post from shanehollanderhockeyplayer, which is still, Ilya maintains, an absurdly long and unwieldy username for a man with over a million followers.
Ilya clicks the link. He’s expecting to see four candid photos, a well-crafted statement from Farah, a bold declaration of the rumors are true, and fuck you very much.
Instead, he sees three paragraphs of Shane Hollander, his fiancé, love of his life, publicly breaking up with him.
.
Or, Shane Hollander realizes that getting kidnapped isn’t anything like what it is in the movies. Neither is getting blackmailed. It’s less like a bang and more like a whimper.
.
Read Chapter 4 on AO3
Or read below:
.
Shane watches the clock on the center console of the police car blink over from 9:59 to 10:00 PM, and he finally lets himself admit, fully and absolutely, that he’s not letting his anxiety get the best of him.
He leans back against the seat and tries to take deep breaths. His hands are already stuffed beneath his thighs so he doesn’t do something reckless and desperate like scrabble at the metal grate separating him and the officer or frantically try a door handle he knows is locked from the outside. His seatbelt, securely fastened, feels like a noose around his neck, and he has to resist the urge to unbuckle it, because they’re still—impossibly—driving. Three hours later, and they’re still driving. Maybe, Shane thinks, they’ll never stop. Maybe he’s trapped in the back of this police car forever.
He leaves the seatbelt fastened. It’s not like he’ll be able to breathe any better without it.
He tries to decide what to say. If he should even say anything at all. He feels, suddenly, like he’s the one who has a bomb strapped to his chest. No timer, no ticking, no indication of when or if it’s going to go off. Maybe he’ll breathe wrong, some tiny mechanism inside it will shift, and that’ll be it. Or maybe he’ll walk around with it forever, unbridled terror making a permanent home in the pit of his stomach until it, too, becomes routine.
He suspects it wouldn’t take very long for him to get used to living with that kind of terror. It wouldn’t be that much different than what he’s been experiencing for the last decade, after all. And that bomb has already gone off.
The metaphor gets stuck in Shane’s brain like a thistle until the thing that finally forces its way out of his numb lips is, “Is the bomb threat real?”
It’s probably the least important thing he could have asked in this moment, but he suddenly, desperately needs to know. Needs to know if they’re still keeping up pretenses, or if they’re done pretending like this is anything other than what it is.
The wolf in the driver’s seat holds the wool over his hunched back for a moment more, letting the silence stretch. Then, he straightens, rolls his shoulders, and lets his teeth glint in the moonlight as he says, “No.”
He doesn’t elaborate. He doesn’t need to. Shane gets it just fine.
“Oh,” Shane says, a single, wobbling syllable. He curls his trapped hands into fists and digs his fingernails into his palms, hoping for clarity. Relief. Absolution. Anything.
It doesn’t come.
The car continues forward, endless, and the night stretches on.
.
“You understand why we’re having this conversation in the first place. Don’t you?”
Shane’s jaw wants very badly to twitch. He clenches it harder in response, feeling his teeth protest the resulting grind. He kind of wishes he had his mouth guard right now, just for something to bite down on. He worries if this goes on any longer, that something is going to be his tongue. “Yes,” he says evenly, because if he gives them even an inch, they’ll take a mile. “But what I don’t understand is what you expect me to do about it.”
His phone is recording in his pocket. It’s been recording since he first stepped into Centre Bell. At some point, it’s probably going to die or run out of space or something and it’ll stop, but for now, it listens, and it dutifully transcribes every single word.
Nothing will come of it, probably. In a year or two or ten, it’ll get deleted, scrubbed away as if it had never existed at all. But it had felt nice, during that meeting with Crowell, to know that he had insurance. That if something went wrong and he was forced to do something he didn’t want to do, he could take out his phone and press play and say, See? Did you hear what he said to us? You believe us now, right? You know that we didn’t want this? You know that this wasn’t how it was supposed to go?
That’s what he wants to say now, as he sits in a room surrounded by every Voyageurs coach, a butterfly pinned to a corkboard. I didn’t want this. I didn’t want any of it. The only thing I want is for it to go away.
He wants to say it, but he doesn’t. Because really, at the end of the day, it just isn’t true. What he actually wants is Ilya, maybe more badly than he has wanted any goal or award or win or Stanley Cup (and that’s not a thought he can inspect too closely, otherwise he doesn’t think he’s going to make it through the rest of these meetings with his career intact). He can’t believe the people in this room can’t see that. That he didn’t want their relationship splattered across the front page of every gossip rag and news site and social media post, but now that it’s out there, he can’t hide it away again and pretend it doesn’t exist. No putting toothpaste in tubes. Or cats in bags. Not anymore.
“We expect you to act in accordance with the values set forth by this institution,” Theriault says. Like Ilya is some felony, rather than the love of Shane’s life. “You’ve always been clean, Hollander. It’s one of the reasons I knew I could trust you to be captain, even when you were still so new to the team. You don’t cause trouble.” His jaw ticks, probably regretting his use of the present tense. “You are the face of this team. What you do affects all of us. So you understand that this… situation with Rozanov casts a considerably poor light on the reputation of our organization. Don’t you?”
Last year, when Dallas Kent’s dirty laundry was sent scattering across every major news station, a few of the guys on the team had been caught making lewd remarks about the women involved. Some fan with a smartphone had recorded them in a bar after a game in Washington, posted with a simple caption of the nausea emoji followed by the vomiting emoji. It had barely surfaced above the media storm following Troy Barrett’s abrupt trade, but it had been enough of a minor scandal that Montreal had put out a bland statement about the actions and beliefs of individual players do not reflect those of the organization. Shane’s certain Theriault never thought twice about the entire affair. Maybe never even thought once.
Last week, before the video dropped and Shane’s life imploded, Comeau told one of their rookies that he should try to get traded as soon as possible, because it’s just a matter of time before the way we’re all expected to suck Hollander’s dick becomes literal. It was loud enough for Shane to hear it on the other side of the locker room, head ducked as he laced up his skates. Not that Comeau cared. Maybe that was even the point.
Shane takes a breath, looks Theriault in the eyes, and says, “No, coach. I don’t understand that at all. Could you explain it to me?”
.
There is a picture of a boy taped to the driver’s side sun visor.
Shane can just barely see it from where he’s sitting. It flickers in and out of focus as they drive past streetlamp after streetlamp, twilight now fully consumed by the dark of night. But it’s definitely a boy. He’s young—maybe eight or nine, but even after years of being around the Pike children, Shane is still terrible at guessing a child’s age—and he’s giving the camera a smile so wide Shane can see the whites of his teeth even from here. In his hands, he’s clutching a hockey stick that is far, far too big for him.
It’s wrapped the same way Shane wraps his own sticks.
It’s not like Shane’s the only one who wraps his sticks this way. Plenty of guys in the league do the same. Still, this feels important somehow. But when Shane tries to figure out why, it slips through his fingers like snowflakes.
He could ask. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t say anything as they drive and drive and drive. He never knows the right thing to say at the best of times, and this is certainly not those. He doesn’t want to say something wrong. Something he’ll regret.
Shane looks at the boy, smiling wide and happy, and he takes shallow breaths that leave him dizzy, and he thinks, for the first time but not the last, Am I going to make it out of here alive?
.
Shane is not making it out of this fucking conference room alive.
“So I’m still benched,” he says, calmly, because if he isn’t calm, he’s going to start throwing things.
“Yes, Hollander, you’re still fucking benched!” Theriault snaps. It comes out of nowhere, except it doesn’t, because the tension in this room had to go somewhere and apparently, it’s all gone into the vein throbbing on Theriault’s considerable forehead. “What the fuck did you think was going to happen? That we were going to throw you a fucking party?”
Fuck, Shane should have brought a lawyer with him. Why didn’t he bring a lawyer with him? It had just all happened so fast—the call this morning, followed by the multiple calendar invites that had pinged into his email one after the other. Probably, Shane should have called his lawyer anyway and had her sit in virtually. She would know all the ways that this is illegal, and she would have the tools to fix it, or to at least fight back against it.
Maybe he could call her now. Maybe it’s not too late.
“I’d like to call my lawyer,” Shane says. Which has about the same effect as if he’d said I’d like Ilya Rozanov to bend me over this absurdly large conference table and fuck me until I forget this conversation ever happened.
Theriault gets over his disgust first. “Don’t bother. We’re done here.”
Great. Shane wants nothing more than to get out of this fucking room. He pushes back his chair and stands, which is much less dramatic than he’d like it to be given the wheeled chair and plush carpeted floor. As he turns to go, though, Theriault adds, “But if you think that’s going to change anything, then you’re wrong.”
Shane freezes, his back to Theriault. “I need a team I can trust,” Theriault continues. “A captain I can trust. I’m sorry, but that’s not you anymore. Even if we reinstated you tomorrow, that wouldn’t change. I don’t have faith in you, the guys don’t have faith in you—Christ, Hollander, this is such a fucking mess.”
Theriault sighs, and Shane’s heart climbs up into his throat. He knows what’s coming—can see the writing on the fucking wall, has maybe been seeing it for months but has been desperately trying to pretend it doesn’t exist—but he still braces himself for what he knows is going to be a brutal check. Shoulders back, core muscles engaged, thighs tensed. Ready for impact.
“I don’t really have a choice,” Theriault says, and the bruise begins to bloom across Shane’s ribs, an oil spill he’ll never be able to wash off. “I’m transferring the captaincy to Boiziau, effective immediately.”
.
“Awfully quiet back there.”
Shane startles. He doesn’t know how long he’s been staring blankly out the front windshield, watching the buildings flick by. Well, he does know—half an hour, according to the clock. But it hasn’t really felt like half an hour. It hasn’t felt like much of anything at all.
Is he supposed to respond? What is he supposed to say?
“Sorry,” Shane says on autopilot, then winces. Why is he fucking apologizing? For what—being too quiet while he’s being kidnapped? Jesus.
You apologize too much, Ilya always tells him. If Ilya were here now, he’d roll his eyes at Shane so hard they’d surely pop out of his skull.
Shane is so, so glad that Ilya isn’t here right now. And yet, at the same time, he desperately wants him to be. It’s an animal instinct, he thinks—a chicken seeking the safety of the flock when it hears the coyote howling late at night. He wants to feel the weight of Ilya’s hand in his, to have the hot line of Ilya’s thigh pressed against his, to hear Ilya’s voice murmuring quiet Russian into his ear. Ilya would know what to do in this situation. He’d know exactly what to say.
Ilya never would have gotten in the car in the first place.
God. Shane is a fucking idiot.
“Well,” the officer says after another long, extended silence. “I can talk, then. If you’re not going to.”
Shane can’t decide if that sounds like a threat or not. He doesn’t have time to figure it out, though, because for the first time in hours, he feels the car begin to slow. Something crunches beneath the tires as they turn off the main road and begin making their way between tall, shadowed buildings. Gravel, Shane realizes belatedly, feeling like he’s operating on a several-second delay. His brain is disconnecting further and further from the situation at hand, like if he just floats far enough away, he can forget that any of this is happening. He can pretend that he’s back at his house, and he’s texting Ilya, and he’s warm and safe and happy, and all of this is just a very, very bad dream.
The car finally rolls to a stop, tucked into a dark shadow behind a building Shane doesn’t recognize in an industrial park Shane doesn’t recognize. The lack of motion after so long on the road is disorienting enough that it makes Shane nauseous, like some sort of reverse motion sickness. He sways forward unconsciously, forehead approaching the metal mesh in front of him, then jerks back with a start when the officer turns to face him. His face is cast in deep shadow, but Shane can still feel the intensity of his gaze. It drills into his chest, cracking through his ribcage and burrowing into his marrow, a deep ache that begins shuddering its way throughout Shane’s entire body.
Shane has never quite understood what people mean when they say feeling of impending doom. They point to articles about panic attacks and heart attacks and asthma attacks and probably, he thinks, any other sort of attack, because if something bad is happening, then it’s surely going to feel like it is. He never really understood what threshold needed to be crossed for something to transition from knowing that something is wrong to feeling that something is wrong, and nobody else was ever able to explain it in a way that made sense. After a while, he gave up on trying to understand, focusing on other things like chest pain and shortness of breath and nausea and vomiting. Those, at least, were easy to grasp.
He gets it now, though. Impending doom, he thinks, probably feels exactly like this.
“But you’d better fucking listen, then,” the officer says, a verbal gun pressed to Shane’s temple. “Because I really don’t like repeating myself.”
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My printer is on the fritz and I was woe-is-me-ing for a while about not being able to bind fics, when I suddenly realized that I don't need a printer to do a fancy rebind! I already owned The Martian, and had been wanting to read Project Hail Mary, so I got that in paperback also and -- voila! -- a matching set of fancy rebinds! More details under the pics.
Both fabrics are Duo, but only one is the two-tone and I wish I could capture how it shifts from pure green to blue-green to pure purple and every combination in between. The second pic is my best attempt at catching a purple angle. Vinyl is Siser Easy Weed in gold, which is a matte gold, and papers are from Sustain and Heal on Etsy (the green with gold) or probably Hollander's for the blue/yellow one. The font is Audiowide, downloadable for free. Bookmark crimps and charms are from Amazon. Feel free to ask me for more deets if needed!
everyone knows that shallergies has me by the hair and won't let go, but i am also Compelled by the thought of ilya with food allergies
the way it plays into his father treating him like a disappointment because i ABSOLUTELY buy that his father would hold it against him and count it as a mark against him, especially where disability intersects with masculinity as a detraction. i also see it being held against irina, and the complex guilt of his mother being held responsible for his weakness.
this is even worse if alexei DOESN'T have any food allergies, because his brother both joins in and is an example that his father can use that it's a defect of ilya.
related: ilya being drilled from the time he's a kid to tell NO ONE about it because he's been brought up under the idea that he should be ashamed of it as a failure because rozanov men aren't susceptible to fucking tree nuts of all fucking things. ilya at family dinners/public events who becomes an expert at moving things around on his plate because he's not allowed to admit to any allergies, so nothing there is safe for him even among family. ilya who technically has a seat at the table but nothing on his plate that won't hurt him.
ilya in a new country having to translate every fucking label when it uses words he had no reason to learn in his english classes and different countries use different words for different things, so some things don't even have a translation that he can find.
ilya who is on med leave for a game because of accidental exposure and who hears people being happy about it because his reputation makes people rejoice at him potentially being sick or injured and not on the ice with them. ilya in a hospital, still feeling like shit because anaphylaxis is a bitch, seeing tweets of people not knowing what exactly happened but still being happy about it.
ilya leaning into partying/drinking/clubs because alcohol (at least as shots or single mixers) is a reliably safe option for socializing. he can't do dinners or meals with other people without admitting to what he's been trained to think of as a failure, but he can go to a club and down some vodka and be the life of the party because his weakness can't follow him here.
the reassurance of shane being so driven by routine and predictability. he's not bringing home surprises or new brands, and even if he did, he already checked the label after he's aware of ilya's allergies. he can go to shane's home at any time and know that the same things are in there and that those things are safe for him.
the summer at the cottage being the first time ilya has got to spend a summer being relaxed. he doesn't have to fake eat at family events. he doesn't have to hear his father's scorn when he checks labels as subtly as he can but still gets seen doing it. he gets there and finds out that shane already went grocery shopping and that everything in the cottage is available to him because it's all safe.
the pasta with shane's parents looking so simple and basic because david said he'd make lunch, and shane spoke up before ilya could tell him not to to say he needed to check the labels first to make sure they were good with the new diet he's trying. shane who covers for him, not because he views it as a failure but because he knows that ilya does. shane who got to tell the truth to his parents for the first time but still lies for ilya's sake. and even after he fesses up because he doesn't want shane keeping secrets from his parents just for him, david and yuna don't scorn him for it. it's a group hunt through labels and google, and in the end, it's pasta with some sauce made out of a tin of tomatoes they luckily had on hand and parmesan grated off of a fresh block that came still in the wrapper.
and for the first time, ilya is at a table with a family where he can eat his fill and know that he's safe while doing it.
ilya who grew up with his father telling him he's a failure for his allergies who now has david, who actively looks up and practices recipes that are safe for him to eat.
the concept of him embracing a habit with longterm consequences because he needs something to make him feel okay in the present, and how this thing he adopts to cope just masks the central problem
and also ultimately causes him harm (nicotine addiction/smoke damage/etc.), but how the FUCK else is he supposed to make it long enough to even HAVE consequences
oh my GOD shane being the person most often telling him he should stop smoking and shane being the person who would get to work removing the need for him to do it anyway by creating a home where it's always safe for him to eat
the comment about how svetlana has led ilya around since they were kids, and it seems completely normal for her to be taking him from a conversation and disappearing with him and the way in which svetlana could have had a habit from childhood of sneaking around at events (her father was a goalie but i think?? in canon?? ends up in a government position? and her comment in the scene we see in the bathroom is that she has to go to bed to look perfect the next day, so tiny svetlana holding her head high and playing lady of the house with catering to ask questions) to find food that was safe for ilya and sneaking it away so she could lead him to it later and how it was a lifeline for him both practically and also emotionally (someone taking care of him, who didn't think he was wrong or bad for his needs) but how this also emphasized for him that getting what he needs has to be something hidden away from everyone
oh my GOD and the timing of the invitation to the cottage being made right after the death of his father, meaning that this vulnerability would be required immediately after the loss of the person who trained this sense of failure into him in the first place, and how this means letting go of things he's carried so long that he doesn't know what he'll be if he's no longer under the weight of them
lighter element: at all stars or something, scott hunter finding out about his allergies because maybe he had a reaction or something and scott ran into him and shane in the elevator on the way to the hospital, and it sparking a "...huh" moment and then adding detailed allergen warnings/listings on the food menu at kingfisher and getting rid of things like peanuts on the bar because he purely just didn't think about it before, honestly. but seeing it in person makes it more Real in a way.
which means that between one visit (primarily to heckle) and the next (came along while complaining loudly because the centaurs wanted to go), the menu now has labels and options that make this a place that's safe for him to eat.
and ilya is SO annoyed.
he is going to owe this antique hockey player a favor? he is going to have to personally pay his social security or something? he is going to have to drive him to his end of life doctor appointments? fucking obnoxious. he will have the chicken wings, please.
also this is not a lighter note but: the possibility of severe allergies and passive suicidality.
ilya who doesn't usually carry his epipen with him because it's cumbersome, especially with the clothes he tends to wear, and he will NOT answer questions about it if someone sees the stupid thing sticking out of his pocket.
...but also...if he needs it and doesn't have it...
it wouldn't be his FAULT, really. he reads warnings and will go to the back of the restaurant subtly to ask questions if he HAS to. so if something happens and he goes into anaphylaxis and doesn't have the thing that will save him...it's not like it would have been on purpose. he wouldn't on PURPOSE die from something that got held against his mother until she couldn't survive the weight anymore. it would be an accident.
and the way this then changes after shane is in the picture and now he actively WANTS a long future and the way this requires caution he didn't necessarily always exercise before. and he gets an auvi-q because it's easier to carry (no reason to think about why he didn't do this earlier. no reason.) but now has to get in the habit of carrying it everywhere with him, which is a PAIN. kudos to sveta who used to put his epipen in her purse when they went out together despite him telling her not to because that's ANNOYING, sveta, don't make a scene, because remembering this stupid thing after years of not bothering is obnoxious. has to add a new step to the keys wallet sunglasses check, and it's ANNOYING.
but it's also something he does because it contributes to keeping his future with shane safe.
and I'm imagining them going out in the early days of them being married and they're in the car and on the way to the restaurant to eat in public with their friends (a new thing and exciting and a contributing factor to him forgetting the stupid thing he needs), and ilya groans in annoyance knowing this will make them late because shane will make them turn around even if ilya says not to bother, and shane glances at him, and ilya just *heavy sigh* "forgot my fucking auvi-q"
and shane shifts, pulls his jacket aside-
-and pulls the auvi-q out of his pocket and hands it over
"yeah, grabbed it when you were busy being an asshole and telling me i was going to make us late when YOU were the one who wanted me to put on a different shirt"
and ilya feels. STUPID emotional about this. about someone carrying the weight of this with him.
and how it feels less like being a burden when someone seems to carry it so easily.
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imagining shane hanging out with his parents and while he's away from his phone doing something with his dad a call comes in. yuna sees this and goes, "shane, someone's calling you!"
and shane says, "who is it?"
"lily!"
"oh." shane immediately sets aside what he's doing and walks over, saying to his mom, "that's ilya."
yuna looks at him in confusion as he picks up his phone. "why is ilya saved as 'lily' in your phone?"
and shane looks at her, away, shrugs as if it's obvious and simply says, "I can't have ilya rozanov saved on my phone, mom" before answering the call with a, "hey, baby" and walking away.
leaving yuna (and david) standing shocked and, once again, shaken at how little they knew about their son and the layers of concealment he's had to operate under for years just to love who he loves.
Ilya being born 30 years before Shane, defecting from the USSR to get away from his father and going to Montreal. He's alone and depressed and maybe he isn't as careful as he should be. Maybe it was an accident, maybe it wasn't but now he's haunting his mansion, well actually he's haunting his mother's necklace which is tucked behind a drawer in the master bath.
People don't like living in Ilya’s mansion, they can feel him there. Then along comes young and hungry rising mlh star Shane Hollander, who after billeting his first year jumps at the chance to buy the Ilya Rosanov's old house. The last great player on the Voyageurs, the one whose death led them to a 20 year losing streak that Shane is there to fix.
Shane likes living there, its not creepy no matter what Hayden says. He likes the heavy feeling of eyes on him at all times, it makes it impossible for him to feel like he's disappearing. He likes the feeling of hands brushing against his skin, of phantom lips and teeth, of a big body right behind him at all times, its less lonely. Every night he dreams that Ilya Rozanov forces him to take his cock. Shane just really likes the place, it's got good bones.
My smol contribution to shallergies is that mangoes can be REALLY hit or miss ESPECIALLY when they're out of season and ESPECIALLY in north america, so I can imagine Shane buying his Illicit Mango, cutting it up, and tasting it, only to discover it was a Bad Mango. He feels personally betrayed. His hands are already red and itchy from the juice. Motherfucker can he not have ONE SINGULAR GOOD THING. There are times when he has especially bad luck and ALL the mangoes he picked are bad and he is literally already having the allergic reaction so he cannot go out and buy more.
Then, maybe one day hollonav get to the point where Ilya is resigned (aka understands it is Shane's choice to make) to The Mangoes, so it's the end of the season and it's Shane's Illegal Mango Time and Ilya (huffing and sighing and whining) presents Shane with a batch of precut, pre-tasted mangoes that Ilya visited like 3 separate stores to get. There are 3 in the tupperware versus the like 15 that Ilya bought to try, ranked for sweetness and juiciness etc etc. They are hands-down the best mangoes Shane has had in his entire life. This ranks amongst top 5 most romantic things Ilya has ever done for him. Ilya remains bewildered that he is getting kissed and thanked and blown because he is aiding and abetting Shane willingly poisoning himself every once in a while.
HI HELLO PLS HAVE FICLET BECAUSE I WAS INSPIRED BY WHAT IS INDEED THE MOST ROMANTIC GESTURE OF ALL TIME
Having his entire life implode around him has meant a variety of changes and plans and contingencies and conversations and contracts and discussions.
It has also meant reducing this year’s Mango Time to only one week to fit within all of his other obligations.
Naturally, because apparently it’s the theme of the entire fucking year, it also has to go badly. He had allotted himself three mangoes for the first day, but he’d ended up going through six in his increasing desperation to just find one fucking good one.
He hadn’t succeeded.
By the time Ilya–away for a photoshoot for a magazine and then a brand event and thus not here for Mango Time–calls, Shane’s mood has plummeted sharply in a way he knows shouldn’t be hitting him so hard.
And yet.
“Hello Mango Maniac,” Ilya says with fond resignation as soon as the call connects. “How badly-what’s wrong?” His levity drops in an instant. “Shane, what happened? What's wrong?”
Shane wonders if it's worse to answer and tell him the humiliating truth or just hang up. Knowing the latter would likely have Ilya on his doorstep within two hours, though, photoshoot and contractual obligations be damned, he answers, voice absurdly tight for such a stupid thing.
“My mangoes all sucked.”
Ilya blinks.
“I tried, like, six,” Shane says, feeling stupid and weak and ridiculous.
And itchy.
“And they were…not good?” Ilya says carefully, obviously a little thrown by what’s happening, which Shane can’t blame him for. He knows it’s beyond ridiculous, being upset because the mangoes were all stringy or bitter or astringent, but-
“It's not fair,” he says, scrubbing his arm over his eyes, hating himself and mangoes and allergies all together in a blend of hurt and humiliation at being so hurt over something so fucking stupid. “I already feel like shit, and it’s just going to get worse, and it was for nothing.”
As soon as he says it, he's aware it's not just something that applies to this year's shitty inaugural session of Mango Time.
But at this stage of things, being upset about the mangoes is easier than being upset about the Metros.
“I can't have fucking anything,” he says, scrubbing his arm over his eyes, knowing he sounds petulant and stupid but unable to help it, knocked down in this last little cosmic fuck you, offering him all of the price and none of the pleasure of his singular fucking vice. He eats clean. He trains hard. He follows the rules. He does everything right.
And he can’t even have the one fucking thing he lets himself indulge in knowing it’s not good for him.
It’s just not fucking fair.
“Everyone else gets to eat whatever the fuck they want all the fucking time, and I have to read every goddamn label and menu and ask every waitress and check every ingredient and be so goddamn careful all the goddamn time and never slip up because I could fucking die and-” He cuts himself off, looking away, like that’ll mean that Ilya doesn’t notice that he’s being a fucking basket case right now. “And I can’t even have a good mango,” he finishes miserably, voice small.
“I’m sorry you had bad mangoes, malysh,” Ilya says, and the sincere sympathy in his voice just makes him feel even worse.
Shane tucks himself down a little firmer on the couch under the throw blanket he’s under, primarily as a guard against him itching the way he wants to.
A price he’s paying for something he didn’t even fucking enjoy.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I know it’s stupid to-”
“Is stupid to eat something you are allergic to, yes,” Ilya interrupts. “But is okay to be upset, Shane. You do not have to apologize for this.”
“Okay, Galina,” Shane scoffs, but Ilya doesn’t take offense.
“Hey,” Ilya protests, faux-offended. “She is very smart person, and I listen to very smart people.” He lifts his eyebrows. “Just like other people could listen to smart people like, oh, I don’t know, their fucking allergist-”
Shane makes a face, but he does feel a little better, just having Ilya in front of him, even if only on a screen.
If he can’t have good mangoes, at least he can have a good boyfriend.
*
By the end of their first year on the Centaurs together, his and Ilya’s sex life has gotten sparse enough that when Shane is playfully told to close his eyes and hold out his hand after collapsing on the couch after coming home from end of season PT for his bad shoulder, he's expecting to feel the weight of his husband’s cock or a new dildo in his palm. It wouldn't be unwelcome, honestly. He’s already been making a list of everything he’d like to catch up on that he’s thought about but not had the energy to explore in the bedroom.
Instead, though, what lands in his hand is…tupperware?
He opens his eyes before he's told to.
“What’s this?” He asks, tilting the container up and then frowning when he realizes what’s in it, even more confused. “You're enabling my mango habit with pre-sliced mangoes?” He asks, suspicious, frankly, at this gesture from the president of the Jesus Fuck Shane Stop Eating The Fucking Mangoes Club.
“I am enabling you with the best mangoes,” Ilya corrects, dropping down next to him and looking distinctly pleased with himself. “You still should just stop eating the fucking mangoes,” a look, “but if you are going to keep making bad choices, it should at least be worth it. So: the best mangoes.”
“The best mangoes, huh? Promise?” Shane asks, both touched and amused at the grandness of the declaration. “What, did you hire a mango witch?”
“Would have been easier,” Ilya says wryly. “Then I could have not eaten so fucking many. I don't know why you-”
“You were eating them?” Shane asks, thrown, as he pops the top on the container, mouth watering immediately at the sweet, juicy, floral scent that wafts up to him, feeling hunger so intense it feels almost like arousal.
“Yes,” Ilya says. “For the first day of the world's most stupid annual event-”
Shane kicks him.
“-here are the best mangoes Ottawa has to offer. I bought five from five stores, and these are the winners of all 25 in celebration of the first day of Shane's Stupid Mango Time Cel-”
“You bought 25 mangoes?” Shane asks, incredulous. “You-wait, you also ate 25 mangoes?”
“After peeling them–which was the worst part, why do you have to love such a stupid fruit, huh?–I ate a piece from every single one, and these are the best. The others-”
He doesn't get to finish the sentence.
Not when Shane carefully puts the bowl of mangoes down on the coffee table, straddles his husband, and pulls him into a kiss so filthy it couldn't be aired on television were someone filming them. When he pulls back, it’s only far enough to rest their foreheads together. If his eyes are a little wet, Ilya doesn’t mention it, instead thumbing affectionately at the apple of his cheek.
“You got me the best mangoes?” Shane asks, voice a little rough.
“I would still prefer if you would just have healthy bad habits like normal people, like maybe getting addicted to cocaine-”
Shane snorts.
“-but this is what you like, and I know you wait all year for it.” He brushes Shane's hair back, stroking over his cheek before resting his hand along his jaw. “And last year was bad. So this year I am making it good. So you can have a good Mango Time.”
“Ya tebya lyublyu” Shane says, kissing him again, once, twice, three times.
“I love you, too,” Ilya says affectionately, ruining a bit of the sweetness of the moment with an appreciative squeeze of Shane’s ass before he nudges him off. “Now eat your stupid choices so both of us suffering can be worth it. Commence Shane Hollander’s Very Stupid And Bad Mango Time.”
Shane graciously ignores the slander of his holiday and climbs off of his husband to sit on the couch again. He reclaims the bowl and picks out the smallest piece of mango he can find from the beautiful morsels on offer, moaning without meaning to when he chews. Jesus fuck. It is a fucking excellent mango.
Ilya's look of pleased amusement at his reaction fades slightly into hunger of his own when Shane slides off the couch to his knees and reaches for Ilya's belt buckle, swallowing his bite of perfect mango and licking his lips as he lowers his husband's fly.
After all, sweet always tastes better with a little salty to go with it.
(And if he pauses mid-blowjob for another bite of mango, well.) (Ilya already signed the marriage certificate and can’t follow through on his threats to leave him.)
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I’m so scarecited (scared/excited) for a potential scene that looks like next time Shane sees Brian after the 2014 awards scenes (absolute chef’s kiss btw) and he’s like “umm okay so babe you know how I don’t know how this open relationship thing works exactly?” “Yeah?🤨” “are we supposed to tell each other? Like afterwards? What went down?” And Brian because he’s so fucking myopic thinks it’s all about him is just all “oh! Hmm well idk babe, it might just make you really jealous y’know? I’m not sure you can handle it. Maybe it’s best not” and Shane’s like “oh….? Okay? Um sure. I did mean about me but I guess I see what you mean” and Brian’s all “wait what?” “I mean about me, like me being with someone” “in theory?” “…..” and that’s how Brian in master manipulator tactics who not only strongarmed Shane into an open relationship, but didn’t properly establish ground rules our expectations, condescendingly and angrily “explains” that Shane was “supposed” to bring up Rozanov before they hooked up (meanwhile Brian has of course absolutely already had hookups within the open relationship and arguably ambiguously beforehand without bothering to alert Shane because again these were Not predetermined rules) and that without doing so Shane essentially fucking cheated on him and how the fuck could you do this to us babe do all these years I’ve suffered because you’re in the fucking closet and on the road all the time mean nothing to you and blah blah blah and it’s Brian’s usual explosive bullshit and Shane does his best to follow the convo and understand what went wrong where and apologize and know what to do right in the future and no no fuck of course he loves him he only slept with someone because Brian fucking insisted on it he never would’ve had the idea himself (he ignores the nagging voice in his head that calls that a lie) and of course Brian is punishing afterwards with all the old tricks, the silent treatment and saying just the right things to wound Shane and making him overly apologize for things that were never his fault in the first place, but this time? This time?? Brian doesn’t get Everything he wants. Because Brian thinks what this’ll do is make Shane feel so much shame he avoids Rozanov like the plague. And while it’s certainly not the fight that breaks them up, not even the fight that makes Shane truly Realize™️ everything or serve as the straw that breaks the camel’s back, it is the fight that marks a turning point. Because Shane’s had a taste now, of Ilya and of what wanting can feel like and of what someone other than the person who took him when he was still a ball of clay and has been clumsily pressing their thumbprints into him ever since can feel like. He’s not going to go without tasting that again. He’s not going to go without feeling how Ilya shapes and moulds him in entirely different ways. He’s only just begun, dammit! And he’s Shane fucking Hollander, after all. If Brian says he fucked up at open relationship, well that’s simply unacceptable. He needs to work as hard as he possibly can until he’s good at things 😤 So he insists they carve out all the rules so he doesn’t “fuck up” again, and diligently texts Brian before every Boston or Montreal or All Stars hookup 🙂↕️🙂↕️🙂↕️🙂↕️🙂↕️ which y’know Brian’s a real fuckin sport about I’m sure ! (sorry aksnfks as I typed it turned out this was a little more fully formed in my head than when I began, that’s just a sign of how your au concepts have captured me I suppose!😩)
Don't apologize, I love that you've basically written an AU of my AU 🤩🤩🤩
As you can see from my latest update, I went a different route with the aftermath from Vegas (you'll get a scene between Shane and Brian to show what their relationship is like now soon) but I love Shane accidentally placing Brian in a torture chamber (where he belongs) simply because he wants to follow the rules and Brian being unable to get himself out because he's talked himself into a corner.
first post for context / see the tag 'open relationship au' for more snippets. just a heads up, updates will be slower now since i started working full time this week. i am still very excited for this au and hope to update frequently, i just won't have as much free time to write anymore.
2014
They arrange to meet up after the first Boston-Montreal game of the preseason. Montreal wins, a pretty embarrassing 4-2 defeat for Boston on home ice, and Ilya would feel worse about it if not for how cute Hollander looks when he's trying and failing not to be smug.
"You sure this is the same team that won the cup last season?" is his greeting when he arrives at Ilya's place.
Ilya rolls his eyes. "It's the preseason, who cares?"
"You should care about every game."
"And you should stop talking."
Hollander is still grinning widely as Ilya backs him into the nearest wall. He lets out a softly surprised sound as their lips meet, arms wrapping around Ilya's shoulders and pulling him in closer. Ilya groans; he's been waiting for weeks to have Hollander against him like this, and pinning him against the boards - while fun - just isn't the same.
They make their way to the bedroom, shedding clothes as they go. Ilya's heart is racing, hands grasping greedily as more of Hollander's skin is revealed to him. He's tan from the summer sun, warm and golden, the freckles on his cheeks even more pronounced than usual.
He's beautiful, and even more so lying prone on Ilya's blue sheets, looking up at him with those shining dark eyes, practically begging Ilya to bite into him.
Ilya crawls up between his thighs, admiring how big they've gotten in the weeks Hollander has been bulking. How easily they part for Ilya, despite the shy tilt of Hollander's smile.
Then he spots it.
A small bruise, hidden high on Hollander's thigh.
Something sours in Ilya's gut. It's not like he expected Hollander to dump his boyfriend of seven years after one night with him.... except who does he think he's kidding, that is absolutely what he thought.
After a night like that? Ilya doesn't think anyone should blame him. He doubts fucking Brian ever made Hollander come hands free, not if he can't even be bothered to eat him out.
"Are you okay?"
Ilya responds by biting the soft flesh of Hollander's thigh, grinning when Hollander gasps, hips twitching upwards.
He's just gonna have to keep going, he decides. One night was not enough but a few weeks or months of consistently amazing sex should do the trick. Ilya doesn't exactly love the idea of sharing Hollander for that long, but he can be patient.
To start with, tonight he'll suck Hollander's soul out of his dick.
But first, he'll make sure to wipe out every trace of his terrible boyfriend from Hollander's body and mind.
With that thought, Ilya places his mouth over the bruise and bites.
+
The first game of the season proper Boston beats Montreal and after, Ilya fucks Hollander in his own bed.
Hollander is tense when they start out. Maybe like Ilya, he's thinking of the fact that this is the bed where he sleeps with his boyfriend. Ilya doesn't mind; enjoys, in fact, putting Hollander on his hands and knees and fucking the tension out of him until he can barely stay upright.
They collapse on the mattress in the aftermath, sticky with sweat. Ilya turns his head to watch Hollander as they catch their breath, feeling smug at the dazed expression on his face.
"Where is your boyfriend tonight?" Ilya asks.
There were no hickeys this time but he's still fairly certain Hollander's relationship status hasn't changed and he wants to find out for sure.
"At home," Hollander says. "His place, I mean. We don't actually live together, it would be a logistical nightmare to keep hidden. He spends some nights here, I spend some nights at his, we make it work."
"Does he know I'm here?"
Hollander glances at him. "Why?"
Ilya shrugs one shoulder. "Just curious."
"Oh." Hollander's expression twists, lips tugging in a frown. "No, he doesn't. He doesn't tell me about other people, either. I don't wanna know."
"Sound healthy," Ilya says dryly.
"Fuck you. Don't you need to have been in a relationship to know what a healthy one looks like?"
Ilya resists the urge to tell Hollander that his relationship is so dysfunctional, a blind dog could see it. He doesn't feel like being thrown out of bed just yet.
"What about me?" he asks instead. "Do I get to know if you fuck anyone else?"
Hollander looks at him, startled. "Who else would I fuck?"
Ilya blinks. "Who - anyone you want to? You are aware that you're Shane Hollander, yes?"
Hollander's cheeks go bright red. It's a nice color on him, Ilya thinks.
"I know I'm successful," he mutters, like that's not a massive understatement. "But it's not like I could go out to a bar and pick someone up, you know? You're the only person besides Brian who knows I'm gay. I don't know how to find someone else I could trust to keep it secret."
"Hm." Ilya understands; it's the same reason men have been such a rare indulgence for him. It's also a sad reality he has no interest in dwelling on. "I see. So I am, what, last resort?"
Hollander rolls his eyes. "Oh, fuck off. You've got a different girl hanging off your arm every week, your ego doesn't need any more stroking."
"Still keeping up with me in the tabloids, I see."
Hollander smacks him in the face with a pillow.
+
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