Home Can Be A Person

heated rivalry gif meme

— Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

ed: I don’t know, pass me that saxophone and we’ll find out ed: *BLASTS the saxophone*

izzy: WHO THE FUCK IS PLAYING THE SAXOPHONE AT TWO IN THE FUCKING MORNING

Ilya gets an undercut and Shane learns that the upkeep is more than he anticipated. Basically it’s just Ilya forcing Shane to shave his undercut in increasingly inconvenient situations, over and over, because Ilya is insistent like that. And eventually, Shane starts to maybe kind of enjoy himself. — This was supposed to be a 5+1 fic, but I got a bit carried away and then couldn't think of a +1

they're at the kingfisher after a game in new york and scott and some of the other admirals are there along with a majority of the cens and they're all having a good time. ilya and some random admirals player are chirping each other and ilya says something a little mean in the asshole way he does with a small tilt of his lips. and shane can suddenly feel eyes on him from scott and carter and troy and various other players, and for a second he doesn't get it. he doesn't get it, until all he does is snort in response, because well, it was true and also pretty funny and ilya really is the funniest person he knows, okay, and ilya nudges him with a small smile when he hears it, but then the stares slowly morph into something like confused gapes, and all of a sudden, he gets it. it's not the first time it happens and it definitely won't be the last, but shane starts noticing it a lot more and it continues to piss. him. the. fuck. off.

hayden giving him an expectant glance when ilya is half-yelling and groaning with a few cens in the bar at the soccer game on tv, like shane is for some reason gonna tell him to quiet down. scott giving him a quick side-eye when ilya chirps about his age on the ice, like shane is gonna tell him to stop; like he doesn't find the multiple layers to ilya's chirps to scott genuinely impressive, like he doesn't find it amusing. evan, though to his credit he was mostly joking, making a sly comment about shane needing to hold ilya back from fighting during a game, like shane would do that when ilya is well-fucking-aware of when to pick fights and when not to because he is the second-best hockey player in the league; like shane doesn't also find it unbearably hot when ilya has a little blood on his knuckles and dripping down the corner of his lips as he calls out mean little quips at the other team with a smirk on his face

because the thing about their relationship is that shane is undeniably attracted to ilya being an asshole. he thinks it's funny. it almost definitely also turns him on. and he likes when ilya is mean and smug and rowdy and a little shit. he likes when ilya is an asshole to him because that's their banter and their foreplay. he likes when ilya is an asshole to other people because he pretty much always thinks what ilya says is hilarious. (plus it's the fact that shane is also an asshole; it's just that ilya says it out loud more often than he does)

and so the thing about their relationship that, for some fucking reason, other people don't get is that shane, from the very beginning, has always and will continue to like when ilya is an asshole. and yes, they're married (shane also thinks some people seem to forget this, because why would shane marry ilya if he truly doesn't like ilya's personality. he thinks other people are a little stupid sometimes.) but they're also best friends and bond over being the best at what they do and how competitive they are and that they're both a little bitchy at times

He’s created a place where Ilya feels safe.

To some extent, Shane knew they sort of always had something like that - in 1410, in 1221, in countless hotel rooms that then became the homes they had separately, in Boston and Montreal - but this, obviously, is different. It’s different in the best way.

He looks down at Ilya, fast asleep with his head in Shane’s lap, covered in a blanket. His eyelashes are so long. There’s no furrow in his brow, and his mouth is just slightly open. He makes the kind of snuffling, clicky noises that he only makes when he’s sleeping really comfortably and really well.

This is a house they share. Ilya’s stuff is safe here. Their dog is safe here. Ilya can fall asleep on Shane’s lap on the couch with the knowledge that he’s safe and loved and cared for in every single moment. He doesn’t have to tiptoe around or worry about someone’s mood or censor himself in the way that Shane imagines he had to do when he was a child, after Irina passed and the house lost all its warmth. Here, Ilya and everything he is is treasured. He’s safe.