Runaways AU cw//Ilya Rozanov has depression
Albert slipped out of the shop when Shane and Ilya entered, saying he was going to take Martha home to rest off the morning's excitement.
"Kate's in charge," Albert had called through the broken window. "Don't let them break any more windows, dear!" Kate had just rolled her eyes and told him to drive back safe.
Turned out, Shane did know Kate and Evelyn. Once he saw their faces it was easier to remember the day they dealt with Ameri-Gas for he and Ilya, as well as a few more times they'd crossed paths around the community.
There was an awkward silent work flow for a minute or two within the broken shop. Evelyn was at work cutting off a large branch from the pear, and the chainsaw whirl made it too loud to talk. There was a mutual understanding that once she was done they would then need to find a way to drag the limbs out the window. Issue: there was still glass everywhere.
Ilya set down his camera on the counter in a way that made Shane question if it was recording, before dipping through a behind-counter-curtain and magically reappearing with a dust pan and brightly colored broom. Kate took it from him before he could start sweeping and nodded towards her wife who was in the process of littering the floor with a layer of wood chips that would render any current clearing efforts useless.
The chainsaw finally whirled to a stop. Evelyn climbed down from the display ledge with a grunt.
Kate chuckled into the silence. "Apparently the gay agenda is... community service."
Evelyn snorted.
"Nothing quite like the tragic end of a poorly maintained invasive species to bring a people together," Shane snarked before he'd fully thought out the remark.
Kate gave a single chirp of a laugh as she handed the broom back to Ilya. "Oh he's a feisty one!"
Evelyn took a hold of a now loosened branch and started dragging it through the glass. "So, this is why you're always speaking in Russian. You're gossiping about us aren't you?"
"No," Shane said too quickly, moving to pull aside a toppled stool Ilya was trying to sweep under.
Ilya gave a Cheshire smile. "Don't let him lie to you, he absolutely is."
"Hey!" Shane dropped the stool back into place. "And even if I were, as my husband and confidant, you are supposed to keep those secrets for me."
"Oops." Ilya grinned.
Shane smacked him on the arm. Kate failed to bite back a laugh at the abuse.
-
They fell into an easy rhythm with the clean up. Ilya swept glass and returned items to safety; Evelyn cut up pear limbs; Shane dragged branches outside; and, true to Albert's wishes, Kate kept a watchful eye on logistics—making sure the glass was gone before anyone ducked through the broken window, and that whatever branch was being removed next, it wasn't dragging half the store with it.
Shane found he liked Kate and Evelyn. They were straight forward and unafraid to be a little bossy. They also laughed easily, and like someone else Shane knew, cracked jokes every chance they got. At one point—when there was a question about what to do with the logs once they got them outside—Evelyn had the gall to offer Ilya and Shane take the lead on that decision because: 'You boys definitely know more about wood than we do.'
Shane had to bury his face in Ilya's shaking back to at all contain his laughter. They left the decisions about the wood for 'Chief Chris Lane' to figure out once he got back.
-
By an hour past noon the tree was out of the window and the glass was swept into paper bags. Chris, who'd been back for awhile, offered to plastic over the front window. Kate made the executive decision that the four of them had done enough, and took Chris up on it.
"You two should come down to the station for lunch." Kate's tone didn't leave much room for argument. "You worked hard today—earned it."
"That's–" Shane started to decline when he saw Ilya's face light up. "That sounds wonderful," he corrected. "Are you sure we won't be in the way?"
"Not at all, and at least Blue will be over the moon by your visit." Evelyn sounded like she was hiding something. It wasn't obvious what it could be. "Blue?" Ilya asked so Shane didn't have to.
Evelyn crossed her arms over her chest. "Our dalmatian."
Ilya grabbed his camera off the counter. "We are joining you!"
-Ilya-
"That is a Staffordshire Terrier." Ilya was both proud of himself for knowing the breed, and not just saying pit bull, and confused.
"But she's spotted like a dalmatian," Evelyn countered.
"That, I can't argue with."
The Not-Dalmatian, who must be Blue barreled into Evelyn for a total of three seconds before registering the presence of strangers and abandoning her owner in favor of the novelty. She wiggled between Shane's legs, doing her best to knock Ilya's husband over with her butt, then when that failed, she looped around to try and climb into Ilya's knee.
"Blue. Down," Kate snapped.
Blue did not bother with the command. Ilya loved her already.
-
Lunch was a pallet of homemade sandwiches from the Longphisher's. The couple had made them as a thank you over the time the shop was being cleaned up.
Evelyn brought them out from the back kitchen. "Who want's a Real Firehouse Sub!"
The firefighters dotted around the room happily cheered for food and crowded around her to each grab one. Kate leaned down between Shane and Ilya. "The only fire house sub here is Evelyn, and no one can have her but me."
Shane grabbed Ilya's shoulder so hard Ilya was sure it would bruise.
-
Over lunch Ilya dedicated most of his attention to Blue. Shane teased him about being dog obsessed, but that was only partially true. Mostly, Ilya just wanted to stay out of Shane's way, because Shane, despite himself, was making two new friends.
Shane was sat beside Kate and across from Evelyn and laughing and chatting like he wasn't thinking about what he needed to say next, or how his words would land. He took a beer from Chris Lane as the chief walked by, and he brutally ribbed another fireman (who Ilya didn't know the name of yet) when the man made a stupid remark about Russia.
When Shane wasn't looking—which was a lot, Kate and Evelyn were very funny and caught his attention frequently—Ilya allowed himself to watch with sappy unashamed love in his eyes at the unguarded side of the man he loved. He got to have this at home, yes, but rarely was Shane relaxed enough to unfurl in public. Ilya loved him so much.
When Shane made the mistake of lying down on the old couch in the corner, Blue lost all interest in Ilya and went over to lick the crumbs off of Shane's face. Shane hated this—he did not like dogs licking his face.
"Someone wants a kiss," Evelyn called across the room.
"I'm taken!" Shane playfully shoved Blue's jowls away from his face. "Kate, tell your dog to stop being a homewrecker!"
“Oh, so sorry, Bodi,” Kate said in mock-sympathy, “I didn’t realize our Blue wasn’t good enough for you.”
“No woman ever will be!” Shane frowned at the dog still on top of him, “Sorry, girl, you’ll have to find a different man,” Blue let out a low croon and shuffled forward to lick Shane’s face again.
“Are you rejecting our daughter?” called Evelyn with false offense.
“Do you also call her your daughter? God, Irene calls Anya that. He insists that she looks like us.”
“She does look like us, solnyshko,” Ilya argued from where he still sat on the floor. “She has your freckles and my hair.”
Blue settled down on Shane's chest to just stare instead. Shane tipped his head over the arm of the couch closing his eyes and pulling his cap down.
Ilya brought his camera up to take a small video of Shane, eyes closed, head lolling on the couch with Blue lying with her paws splayed and her full weight on his chest.
Ilya knew Shane liked to fall asleep with Ilya splayed over top him. Shane was probably being Pavlov-ed into a nap by the big staffy. "Typical!" Kate shouted in alliance with Shane. "Thank you!" Shane nodded.
A wave of emotion hit Ilya and he suddenly didn't trust himself to talk. Had he ever seen Shane making a friend before? A real one, not fake banter for a TV interview. He had always felt small around his family; around Shane it sometimes felt like his gravitational pull was so strong it stopped Shane from having any life outside of his orbit. Shane circled him, and he loved it yes, but it also filled him with a deep guilt. Shane had a way of dedicating every action to him like nothing else mattered. Ilya had never asked, Shane did it like breathing. He felt selfish for drinking in all of the love offered, even if it was all that Shane wanted, he hated his own malignancy.
Shane deserved to be surrounded by so much love, he was so easy to cherish. And yet the man always seemed to shy away from it all, just to be close to Ilya. Ilya wanted more for his husband, he wanted Shane to have it all. He didn't understand how Shane could think he was worth giving up a life for—Or maybe he did, the moment Shane asked, he had he dropped everything and started planning to run—but that didn't make the devotion feel any less surreal.
Every day Ilya watched his husband's lonesome orbit and felt responsible.
"Svoboda, I'm going to head back and let Anya out." Shane started to move to get up, but Ilya hushed him. "No, no." Ilya switched to Russian. "Stay. You are having fun in town. Set up a time to see the Terrans again before you come home. I can tell they want to see you again." "Wait really?" Shane sounded actually excited at that. Maybe he had already recognized the potential for friends himself. The type of joy than made Ilya want cry sparked over the back of his neck. "Yes, go have another beer and learn what their hobbies are. I will make an easy dinner for you to heat up and store it in the fridge." "I am so glad I married you," Shane murmured towards him. "Me too, my love." Ilya slipped out of the station just before the tears fell.
'I am so glad I married you,' Shane had said—but they hadn't gotten married. Not for real.
No, instead Ilya had gotten back to his home in Ottawa for the first time since being stranded on a plane with a fire in the engine and found Shane on one knee.
That night Shane had asked him if they could call each other husband—to consider themselves married even without the paper work. That night Shane had talked through a plan for them to buy a house between the rinks and to move in together. Yes, it would mean he and Shane would have to travel further every day. That night Shane vowed to Ilya that he would sacrifice every facet of his old life if it meant he could grasp at one more minute together that they wouldn't have gotten before. That night Shane had begged for Ilya to accept an offer he would never turn down.
No, Ilya had never been able to give Shane a real wedding, or paper work, or anything other than a promise. He meant that promise, of course, but he still wished he could give more. Shane gave so much, Shane deserved so much more than words. What could Ilya do to ever repay him?
-
Ilya made twelve dumplings from a package in the freezer and left twelve of them on a microwavable plate in the refrigerator. He drew a small heart onto a post-it note and stuck it to the rim of the plate. He crawled into bed and pulled the covers over his head. He would brush his teeth in the morning.
Part 17 -> Part 18 -> Part 19
