Svetlana visits Shane and Ilya and stays with them for a few days and one night, when they've been sitting on the sofa and talking for hours, she starts reminiscing about childhood memories.
Shane is delighted and Ilya is embarrassed, especially when Svetlana starts talking about when they first met at age eight and how sweet and sensitive Ilya was.
"He was a little bit of a crybaby," she says with a teasing grin.
Ilya pouts, which does nothing to dispel the crybaby allegations.
"He brought an injured bird home once," Svetlana continues fondly. "When it died, he was inconsolable for days."
"What child wouldn't cry over a dead bird?" Ilya mutters, leaning in when Shane strokes his hair comfortingly.
"We gave it a funeral. Ilyushka carved it a tiny little cross."
Ilya huffs. "Jesus, why are we talking about funerals now? How depressing. Didn't you used to be fun, Sveta?"
Svetlana throws a pillow at him.
Later, once Shane and Ilya are alone in bed, Shane leans his head on Ilya's shoulder and tells him, "I wish I'd known you back then."
"Little crybaby Ilyushka?"
Shane pinches his chest. "Yes, little crybaby Ilyushka, you asshole. Sveta said you were sweet. You probably would've been nice to me."
"Am I not nice to you now?" Ilya wonders. "I always fuck you so good."
"That's not even remotely what I'm talking about. I just mean, maybe we would've been friends." Shane swallows. "I didn't really have any friends back then."
He'd been too weird. Too quiet most of the time, and too loud when he wasn't. He likes the thought that maybe sweet and sensitive Ilya, who cried for days over a dead bird he couldn't save, would have been kinder to him than the other kids were.
Ilya exhales shakily, breath tickling the top of Shane's head. "Yes, of course I would've been your friend. We would be, ah, childhood sweethearts?"
Shane's heart jumps at the idea. "Childhood sweethearts," he echoes happily.
Ilya hums. "Yes, I think so. Poor little Ilyushka would be defenseless against your boring Canadian charm."
"Poor big Ilyushka didn't do such a great job of resisting me, either."
"That is true," Ilya agrees.
He gently grasps Shane's chin, tilting his face up to meet him for a kiss.
