Memorabilia
Right after a tasteful pasta and a good vodka, Shane gave Ilya a tour on his childhood home. It was exhilarating for Ilya to see this part of Shane's life... a life beyond hockey and something you couldn't search on the internet.
Touring around the house, seeing all these medals, trophies, awards, and pictures on display Ilya realized how much Yuna and David loves Shane. Even the jersey Shane used to wear were encased on a frame, and along with it, some news paper clip from local station about a young rising candian hockey player and the day they were drafted.
Listening to Yuna and David talked about Shane with so much pride and joy while his boyfriend was struggling with embarrassment and begging his mom to dropped the topic made Ilya laughed but Ilya can't help... to imagine what was it like to have that support syatem too but he quickly brushes it off. He doesn't want to dwell on it.
Months later,
Ilya visited the same house. He didn't notice the few changes on designs as he walked past it. In just a span of few months, a lot has changed to Yuna and David's home. It took Ilya more visits when he finally noticed the changes.
The Jersey Shane wore during World Junior Hockey Championship no longer sits alone, besides the frame, stand another one... but it was a similarJersey Ilya used to have.
On the other wall, the framed with news clip of Shane being drafted to Montreal changed. It used to be folded with only Shane's picture and small article about him is visible, but Ilya noticed that the frame was now bigger and it was no longer folded - his picture was now visible too.
Ilya: h-how did you-
Yuna: oh! It wasn't the original one you used, Shane found a fan made of the jersey.
David: yeah, it's the only one we can find close enough.
Ilya heart swell, now that he noticed how Yuna and David changed their decorations... including him too.
Yuna: I'm still not a fan of Boston! But it's too good not to include it.
Ilya was lost for a second, until he realized there was a space of him with his Boston Jersey and a newspaper clip of him winning a cup. Yuna proudly showed the frame David made himself so Ilya and Shane were matching.
And few frames were changed, their CMM commercial pictures were there, and the in famous All star photo where Ilya kissed Shane's helmet were there too.
David: ilya? Are you okay? If you are uncomfortable we can take it-
Ilya: ah no, no no. It was- it was good you don't have to do this-
Yuna and david face quickly soften.
Yuna: oh sweety, we love doing this.
David: we are proud of you too Ilya.
Ilya smiled, he felt his body wants to cry but he tried to repressed it, afraid he would ruin the moment.
Ilya: I still have the jerseys. The original one... if you want-
David: of course! Oh, Shane would loved that. He kinda feel irck with this one. It wasn't close enough with how he remembers it.
David said, pointing at the replica of his eorld junior championsjip jersey.
Sometimes, Ilya feels overwhelmed with the love and support he has now, remembering the days where all he had is his family lf Boston Bears and Sveta.
But he was happy, incredibly happy.
He can't wait for Shane to go home and shared this with him.
