Hollanov Trash Sideblog

Shane is visiting Ilya during his last year in Boston post-cottage. He had a few days off and did a brand shoot in New York and swung out to Boston, getting in just as Ilya's game finished. He wakes up early and gets up, despite an exhausted Ilya's protests, but promises to bring him back a coffee.

Now, Ilya will swear later that he told Shane exactly what he wanted. Shane contends that Ilya made up the most insane sounding fake drink name *in the world*. In reality, it was probably Ilya mumbling sleepily combined with Shane being utterly enamored with his adorable boyfriend and forgetting to pay attention...but when he gets to the Dunkin drive through and spits out the absurd drink name that Ilya gave him...the barista has absolutely no clue what he's talking about. Well, do you know what's in it? She asks, trying to be helpful. And it hits Shane like a punch to the chest that he has no idea what Ilya's coffee order is. He just orders something off the menu and drives back in a fog.

Shane and Ilya met up after the game last night, of course, and it was quick and hard and enough is just never quite enough. They said goodnight early because they both had early morning commitments. But now the teams are shoving together in the terminal for the photo, and in the crush of it all, Ilya ends up right next to Shane and runs a hand over his ass that can't be an accident.

They take the picture and the Metros keep walking on toward their gate and Shane gets a text.

Prayer room across from Dunkin at Gate 110, 5 minutes.

And so Shane makes his excuses about needing coffee and leaves his carryon with a half-asleep teammate and finds the chapel. Ilya locks the door as soon as Shane is in. The room is barely more than a closet with a few chairs and a crumpled paper of prayers written in different languages.

Half this airport knows we are here! What if someone sees us?? Shane hisses, but Ilya's mouth is all over him and god, he can't think when Ilya kisses him like this. Ilya drops to his knees and pulls Shane's pants down just far enough to take him into his mouth.

Ilya gets him off quicker than anyone has a right to, Shane's hands fisted in his hair. He stands and they are kissing lazily when the doorknob rattles. Ilya pushes Shane towards one of the chairs and he barely has time to adjust his fly and yank his hood up before Ilya is unlocking the door.

The lock must be broken, Ilya tells the older woman with a smile. He leaves as she enters and kneels in a corner of the room, whispering prayers in a language Shane can't identify. She didn't seem to recognize Ilya and Shane keeps his face towards the wall as he exits a few moments later.

The Raiders are boarding as Shane walks past their gate and he hears one of the other players ask Ilya where he went.

Seemed to work for Michael because he won some ridiculous amount of medals, so Shane talks to the trainer and they get him set up with a few appointments at a local provider.

Fast forward a few weeks. The therapy is going fine and Shane thinks he is feeling the benefit, great. Boston and Montreal meet for the first time in the season. Ilya and Shane get to be together in person since the season started and god, they are so desperate for each other. Ilya's got Shane's shirt off in less than 30 seconds and they're kissing and hands are everywhere. And then things move to the bed and Ilya growls at Shane to get on his knees and HOLD THE FUCKING PHONE HOLLANDER, WHY are you COVERED in HICKEYS????

And these bruises are old news to Shane and they are perfect circles exactly the same size lined up perfectly down his back, Ilya, it's just a new physical therapy thing, didn't you watch the Olympics and why aren't we fucking yet??

Ilya is grumpy for a second because what do you MEAN some random physical therapist can give Shane hickeys but he can't, how is that fair?? He does move past it for a while but when they're catching their breath a little while later and he's spooned up around Shane, he can't help but suck a mark into his trap muscle.

AND

The angst potential if they HADN'T said it yet? *Chef's kiss*. Walk with me.

Shane and Ilya have spent what, three, four days together at this point. They are definitely, for sure head over heels in love with each other, but they haven't said the words yet. Shane lays awake next to Ilya the night after "I never want this problem to go away" and cooks up his 10 year plan, and decides he's going to pitch it to Ilya that night at dinner. Ilya can tell Shane's got something chewing on him and so he's slowly trying all day to needle it out of him and is almost there when Shane suggests an earlier dinner as they head back in from playing in the water.

David is there, Shane freaks out, Ilya wonders if what has been eating Shane was a plan to come out to his parents, and they go over together.

"But you hate each other," says Yuna.

"No, we don't," Shane assures. "We actually..." he doesn't finish the thought, but he looks at Ilya and takes his hand.

They sit and talk, have drinks.

"It's true, I've been with many women," Ilya admits, covering Shane's hand with his own. "But I've only felt this way about one person." They're looking at each other and Shane's heart is pounding in his throat as he turns his hand over and intertwines his fingers with Ilya.

"Same here," he confirms. "Only one."

David feels like he's watching something even more intimate than them making out on the deck, and he's not actually wrong. Yuna knows too, and she and Shane have their talk in the yard before dinner.

They don't get into the details of the timeline, Shane doesn't have to watch Ilya almost explain FWB to his parents, and Ilya doesn't call them boyfriends.

It's clear by the end of dinner that things are absolutely okay and once everyone has had a night to process, they can get on with the details and try this whole thing again, so they make plans for dinner at the cottage the next night. Shane and Ilya get back in the jeep and drive back to the cottage in silence, holding each other's hand so tightly their knuckles are white but neither is willing to loosen even a bit.

Shane unlocks the door and they stand in the kitchen for a moment, hands still gripped together so intense that their wrists ache. Shane looks Ilya straight in the eyes.

"Thank you for going with me, and I'm sorry it had to happen that way." Ilya crushes him in a hug and presses a few kisses to his temple, wherever he can reach without disturbing their embrace. They're both shaking a little bit and Shane's got tears in his eyes as their bodies process the adrenaline. And they stand there for a few minutes just soaking it all in in silence.

Finally, they're both breathing normally and their hug slackens from desperate to comfortable, and Ilya presses a few more kisses to Shane's neck as he dries his cheeks on Ilya's shoulder.

"Ya tebya lyublyu," Ilya whispers into his skin. Shane stills and pulls back just a tiny bit to see his face.

"I love you too," he breathes, and now they're both crying, and saying it back and forth and back and forth and they just sit down there on the floor in the kitchen in a pile, heart-achingly desperate and relieved and happy.

"How did you know?" Ilya asked when they've finally calmed down again and they are leaned against the island and their limbs are tangled together and Shane's head is on his shoulder and his face is pressed into Ilya's neck.

"I've wanted to tell you for weeks. It's been killing me not to say it. I looked it up in Russian, just...so I'd know. Like, even if I couldn't say it in any language, I'd still know."

Ilya tips Shane's chin up and kisses him deeply and tries to pull him into his lap, like maybe they're going to fuck about this right now, right here on the floor in the kitchen, but Ilya's shorts are too slippery on the tile and the sun's in Shane's eyes, and so Shane stands up and pulls Ilya after him up the stairs towards the bedroom. Ilya stops him on the way for a few more hungry kisses and Shane can't help the giddy laugh that bubbles up in his chest.

"You know," he says as Ilya devours his jawline with open-mouthed kisses and his fingers pull at the hem of that stupid raiders tank top, " I had a whole plan to ask you something tonight."

"God, Hollander, what?" Ilya teases, kissing Shane's throat and undoing just enough of the buttons on his linen shirt to pull it off easily.

And sometimes people notice that they've disappeared together when they were only supposed to be crossing the room, and that Shane looks so much more relaxed and calm than he did and if they want to assume that Ilya just got him off in the janitor's closet then hey, that's on them (and is maybe not a wrong assumption every time).

He'll take the hit if they have to leave, too. So sorry to be leaving so early but I have splitting headache. We'll catch up in a few weeks! Or sometimes, depending on the crowd, just a wink and a comment about how amazing Shane looks and it really is getting late. No one ever has to know that Shane's the one struggling.