A Bonnie Fangirl

But to me it’s not weird at all? Like I listen to a lot of music, but in my family, both my dad and brother (so it’s genetic somehow) have this thing where they cannot hear lyrics to songs. We’ve tested it. Their brains cant focus on the lyrics over the noise and all it is is sound to them.

This doesn’t stop them from loving music (kinda?) my dad is/was (pre back surgery so) very into fitness but he can’t listen to music and work out or he spends the entire time trying to hear the lyrics. He LOVES wicked tho for no apparent reason, he has no idea what happened in it, but he loves it.

My brother is the same but he does listen to music when working out and hates musicals. He hates Hamilton for gods’s sake. But when working out he listens to like “2016 party mix” on loop just for the beats.

“Chopping carrots with Ilya,” Shane sings under his breath. “Making salad with Ilya.”

Yuna smiles softly from the dining room. This is one of her favorite things about her son. From the time he could (barely) talk, he made up little songs about anything and everything. The first time he’d done it, he’d been strapped into his car seat and watching cars go by. When he’d caught Yuna’s eye in the rear view mirror, he’d smiled with all 8 of his little teeth and waved.

“Dwiving,” he’d sung, all of 18 months old and barely able to say the word properly. “Dwivin’ wi’ Mama. Wuv Mama.”

Yuna’s not sure if it’s Shane’s way of processing the world around him, just A Thing some people do, or something special about her baby boy. All she knows is that from the first time he’d made up a little tune about Driving With Mama, everything turned into a song. When he’s comfortable and feeling at ease, Shane turns little things around him into music.

Learning to tie his shoes? “Daddy’s teaching me to tie my shoes. One lace over the other. Make the bunny ears!”

Gearing up for practice when he was 8? “Going to practice. Gonna be great. Gonna score a goal!”

Studying for a science test? “Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. Everyone says it because it’s true. Moving on—organelles and cell walls.”

Gearing up for his first Metros game as captain? “Taping my hockey stick. Going out on the ice. Gonna kick some ass.”

It’s something so uniquely, adorably, perfectly Shane.

Today, though? As Shane’s in the kitchen preparing a salad for lunch? For the first time, someone else sings along. For the first time in Shane’s life, someone hears the tune and lyrics that only exist in his head and joins in.

“Making salad with Shane,” Ilya croons along, hooking his chin over his boyfriend’s shoulder and wrapping strong arms around his waist. “Preparing lunch with my love.”

Shane smiles and sings back as Ilya nuzzles his neck. “Being domestic with my boyfriend. Thinking of boring things we can do together.”

Ilya laughs and kisses his ear before finishing the song. “I love to be boring with yooouuuu.”

• Shane playing with the curls at the nape of Ilya's neck when he lays his strong arm around Ilya. Also Shane absentmindedly brushing hair out of Ilya's face

• laying in the bed at night, facing each other, telling each other stories before they fall asleep and often they giggle just like at sleepover parties they never really had

• discovering a new TV show they love and watch it religiously together and share the euphoria of hyping each other up and exchanging wild theories (my vote is on them watching Money Heist)

• they are firmly team wired headphone, so they can share a pair when they sit next to each other in am airplane and listen to a playlist they curate together

• Ilya lightly scratching Shane's thigh in easy circles, enjoying the sensation of strong muscles under soft hair, and more than often Ilya draws the letters of Я тебя люблю on Shane's skin

• Shane taking Ilya's hand and leading him through a crowd

• Ilya adjusting Shane's cap (a backward cap obviously)

• Shane tying a scarf around Ilya's neck in the cold canadian winter

• Ilya sweeping a crumb or a blotch away from Shane's lips (and licking his thumb clean afterwards)

• Ilya resting his hand on the small of Shane's tuxedo clothed back during galas or other formal events that stress Shane out

• Ilya picking out clothes for Shane to wear the next morning (he says it's because he has better style but actually he picks the normal athletic  things Shane feels most comfortable in)

• Shane bringing home the most random little things that remind him of Ilya, from flowers to a new type of hot sauce

• bitching about golf and other boring sports together  <3 they love being haters together and noone gets them like they get each other

Yuna and David are doing something (cooking dinner, out to the store, etc.) and Shane is giving Ilya the tour. An actual tour this time because they are at his parent's house.

Once Ilya sees the little practice rink, he lights up. The walls are splashed with Shane's youth trophies - snowplow sam badges in a case, tiny little baby skates, power-skating ribbons, pictures from his first tournaments, team jerseys from U8-16, his first hockey stick hanging on the wall, his first game winning puck on a shelf, his first tiny jersey. Ilya takes his time to comment on everything.

Then Ilya grabs a stick from the wall (one of the practice ones) and a puck from the bucket that hasn't been touched in a decade. Shane, never one to back down from a challenge, especially on home turf, grabs his own practice stick. There are no skates that fit either of them, so they just step on the synthetic ice with socks on.

And that's how Yuna and David find them, checking each other into the flimsy boards that are not meant for fully grown hockey players, firing shots into the little nets with enough force to knock them over, cursing at each other like there's a ref around to do something about it, etc.

because they’re both so soft with one another but also insane about the other that like they bicker constantly and are competitive over little shit but also like they never (post marriage) raise their voices or leave in the middle of an argument,

like they’ll argue just to argue because they know that the other person will hold space for them and that they finally have someone safe to play at

because Shane “professional repressor” Hollander and Ilya “ professional masker” Rozanov are both used to acting very carefully with everyone in their lives both professionally and personally

so to have someone where in Shane’s case he can be a little bitchy and snooty both to and with but will always end up kissing and making up because it was never that serious