“is there anything so undoing as a daughter”

"Your freckles." Ilya grazed a fingertip over his own cheek. "I am nuts about them." "I have no idea why. I hate them." "Noooo..." Ilya moaned. "Hollander. They are stunning." "Stunning?" "Yes. Am I not using that word right? Very beautiful. Um...take my breath?" "Wow. All right." The skin under Shane's freckles turned very, very pink.

In the book, the 2014 Vegas scene is allll about Shane taking control of the moment. Ilya is being bossy and pushy and telling Shane what to do but Shane almost immediately realises that he can push right back. By having Shane act out his fantasy, Ilya is making himself vulnerable to having that fantasy enacted upon him; he's too into it, he's too affected by the image of Shane Hollander naked in his bed, "putting on a show" for him to keep up the arrogant, icy demeanour.

And Shane is so fucking into it. He was uncomfortable at first because Ilya set him up to be vulnerable and exposed but as soon as he realises that he can provoke Rozanov into breaking character, he leans all the way in. Shane wants but when he says "get it for me :)" he's confronting Ilya with his own want and Ilya breaks basically immediately! He wants so badly that he can't stop his wanting being known!

The whole thing is a back-and-forth, forcing each other to admit to their desires. Shane is initially humiliated to hear himself beg (because he still hates how much he wants gay sex in general and Ilya specifically) but then he also understands, maybe for the first time, that begging is not just an act of submission. By begging, he is exerting power over Ilya, who, after all, wants to give exactly what Shane wants. By pushing at the limits of Ilya's self-control, Shane is claiming control for himself because he has the power to affect Ilya so strongly. This is an empowering scene for Shane!

It's also notable that afterwards they kind of collapse onto the bed together and share a moment of "Jesus, dude, that was hot" until Ilya kicks Shane out (right after Shane asked about Russia, mind you! stuck his finger right in that festering wound!). Shane doesn't leave that scene feeling weird or uncomfortable or humiliated by what they did, but he does leave suddenly aware that he craves a tenderness (kissing) that he isn't entitled to under the usual rules of their relationship, and that's what makes him uncomfortable:

so prim :)

bonus:

bonus:

So yeah, the first time Ilya is just down and out gross in front of Shane he gets one of those hard and fast stomach bugs that hits out of nowhere. One minute he’s waking up in bed feeling kind of off, and then he’s sprinting to the bathroom and doesn’t fully make it to the toilet before puking

Now, given his upbringing, I would imagine he was raised in a house where, if that happened when he was growing up, he got scolded while sick and told it was his job to clean it up. So he’s feeling awful, throwing up, thinking that Shane’s gonna be annoyed and he’ll have to clean it quick because Shane doesn’t like mess

But Shane, raised in a supportive household, sees this and just quietly grabs paper towels. Ilya takes a second to lift his head and sees Shane cleaning up the floor. Ilya tries to say that he’ll get it and it’s fine but Shane just tells him not to worry and he can’t argue because he has to throw up again

A big wad of gross paper towels land in the garbage and then Shane is gently rubbing his back and saying soft soothing things about how he knows it’s miserable and he’s sorry Ilya is feeling this way but he promises that once everything is out Ilya will start to feel better. And Ilya is kneeling in front of a toilet, puking, covered in clammy sweat, and is hands down the least sexy he has ever been in Shane’s presence

When the dry heaving is done Shane makes sure he can stand on his own and lets him brush his teeth while he goes and gets something. Ilya is surprised he’s allowed back into bed being sweaty and gross and not sent to the couch, but Shane gets him down and settled, puts a Gatorade on the nightstand for him, wipes his face with a damp cloth, and then sits down and strokes his sweaty hair until Ilya falls asleep, curled up on his side with his face pressed to Shane’s thigh

He spends the next day sleeping, eating toast, rehydrating, and getting spooned by Shane until he feels ok enough for a shower where Shane washes his hair for him, telling stories about times he was sick growing up

The entire Boston roster piling behind Marly as he types, trying to decide what to say that could save them because their captain has been possessed by the spirit or a soviet military trainer with knife shoes and if they are forced to make double bagskates again they will either puke or die or both.

Rose and Shane (who are both closet cinephiles; Shane because he thinks it's embarrassing to have hobbies and Rose because being a cinephile as an actor just seems cringe to her) are working their way through one of those "100 movies to watch before you die" lists and finally get to Dirty Dancing.

"I can't believe you haven't seen this," Rose says, and Shane grumbles something about not really being a fan of the genre and well, their rule is that if they think the movie is stupid they can turn it off after an hour so Rose finds it on one of the 6000 streaming platforms Ilya pays for (the Fast and the Furious movies keep jumping around) and starts the stream fully expecting for Shane to exert his veto power in an hour.

And then he just doesn't. He sits there and watches the whole thing, mouth slightly open. Usually they talk at least a little bit about the plot or the cinematography (Shane has developed some opinions in that regard, mostly adopted from Rose whose opinions he takes as gospel by consequence of knowing next to nothing about the industry) but Shane is just. Rapt.

Then Ilya comes stalking into the living room towards the end of the movie and by pure coincidence he's wearing a black shirt and pants and Shane looks away from the TV for the first time in 90 minutes.

"Shane," he says, and puts two fingers on Shane's jaw, entirely chaste but extremely proprietary. "Have you seen my iPad?"

"Den," Shane says softly. "It's in the den."