heart of hearts

ilya rozanov and shane hollander for calvin klein

bonus (!) text message convo between "Lily" and "Jane":

“Shit! Rozanov, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean-.”

“I know.” Ilya quickly scoops his mother’s necklace and examines it. He sees that the clasp is broken. He looks up to tell Shane about the clasp that’s when he notices Shane’s heavy breathing. Shane’s hands are trembling and there are tears in his eyes. “Hollander, it is okay.”

Shane shakes his head. “No, I’ve ruined it.”

“Hey, it is fine, is just clasp. I broke it before. It is easy fix.” That’s a lie. Ilya has never broken his mother’s chain but Shane is on the verge of a panic attack and he needs to calm him down.

“Really?” Shane questions and Ilya nods. “Let me up.” Ilya moves off of Shane and watches as he goes over to his dresser. He looks through a box before going over to Ilya.

“I got this from a brand deal but I don’t really wear jewelry. You can use this until the chain gets fixed.” Shane offers Ilya the box. He opens it to find a thin gold chain staring back at him. Ilya carefully takes the cross off the broken chain and threads it onto the one Shane gave him. He asks Shane to put it on him and Shane happily obliges.

No, Shane still doesn't really wear jewellery, but his wedding ring needs to go somewhere. He can't wear it on his finger while playing, too dangerous (don't google degloving injuries, I warned you!), and he was on the verge of a panic attack at least once when he thought he'd lost it in his locker or wallet or wherever he put it to keep it safe. He doesn't like taking it off anyway. It's not like it's jewellery, it's his goddamn wedding ring.

Ilya might not have had a family heirloom engagement ring to propose with, but that chain's the next best thing. Always close to Shane's heart from that day onward.

2nd base: exist in a public space together

3rd base: you witness me have a real, candid emotion

i've made a home for us. will you learn to play with me?

hang it in the louvre