Ok but headcanon that Shane is one of those people who will just write “Love, Shane” at the bottom of a card UNTIL he feels comfortable being vulnerable with that person, at which point he writes the most heartbreakingly sweet and earnest notes
And no one is ever ready for the switch, and even after it happens they can never fully prepare themselves for what they’re going to get. Shane has learned that when he’s going to do that he should take them aside to give them the card rather than in front of people
Once Shane feels comfortable with Hayden as a genuinely good friend in his birthday card that year he writes out a whole thing about how he’s always wanted a best friend like other kids had but never had one and had accepted he never would, and then Hayden came into his life and gave him a level of love and friendship he never thought he would get and he loves everything about Hayden and can’t wait to be by his side as friends and brothers for the rest of their lives. Hayden fully breaks down and loses it, Jackie notices they’ve been gone a while and walks into the kitchen to see Hayden hugging Shane and sobbing into his shoulder. She raises her eyebrows at Shane and Shane just gives her the OK sign and goes back to rubbing Hayden’s back
Ilya learns about the card thing when it’s yunas birthday and he notices her opening Shane’s card like she’s deactivating a bomb. She stares silently as she reads it and Ilya starts freaking out a little when she starts to tear up and then pulls Shane in for a long silent hug. He looks at it later and sees that Shane wrote about how the last year made him realize over again how lucky he is to have someone as strong and supportive as her as a mother and he hopes to one day be half the parent to his own kids as she was to him
When it’s their first time having Ilya’s birthday together he’s legitimately nervous because this is his first Shane Card and he doesn’t know what to expect and part of him is afraid he’s built it up too much in his head and Shane won’t have as nice things to say as he did with other people. And then he opens the envelope and there’s no card but instead multiple pieces of paper because Shane couldn’t fit it all into a limited space. Ilya spends the better part of the next hour walking around the house reading it, taking breaks occasionally to cry or hyperventilate before going back to reading it because holy shit does Shane Hollander love him. Like he knew logically that Shane did but now he’s got pages and pages of Shane walking him through his feelings over the last decade of their life and every moment he remembered and cherished. Shane finally catches up to him and he’s on the floor of the kitchen, face a splotchy red mess, chugging Gatorade because he’s dehydrated from crying
David texts later to ask how his first Shane Card was and he just sends a wall of crying emojis and David is like “LOL yup, the first Father’s Day he did that for me I had to take the week off work or else I would remember it and cry in my office”
OH my god I love this so much and now I'm thinking about Shane writing a letter to Ilya on the day of their wedding. I know in book canon they don't do personalised vows but I like to think they do exchange personal vows privately. I'm talking everyone has left and the house is quiet and it's just Shane and Ilya in their living room with the lamps on low and warm. Their suit jackets are folded over the back of the couch and their ties are untied and they're just in their socks. Anya, tired from an incredibly exciting day is curled up on her plush dog bed and snoring a little, the snuffling sounds the only backdrop to where Ilya and Shane are curled together on the couch, rings glinting in the lamplight. They are each holding an envelope with the other's name on it, in what is clearly their respective best handwriting. The envelopes are heavy with pages of thick paper covered in vows that are many things: reminiscence, love confession, appreciation, expressions of joy and love and lust and hope and wonder, gratitude, promises to take care of each other. Just exchanging the envelopes and running his fingers over Shane's careful tender cursive of his name makes Ilya's chest tighten the way it has been all day, even the anticipation of reading his precious Shane's precious words has his eyes burn with tears he frankly didn't know he still had. A glance across the scant few inches separating them and he can see Shane similarly affected, beautiful brown eyes wet and shining, red-cheeked from emotion and the lingering champagne, tongue darting out to briefly wet those enchanting lips in a familiar nervous habit. Fuck, they haven't even opened the envelopes yet! How will they survive this? Eyes lock, and with a nod, Shane encourages Ilya to open the envelope, read the words that came out of him onto the page with the same steadiness and ease his blood flows out of his heart. It might as well be written in blood. in tears. in the sacrifice and suffering and triumph and release of every part of their relationship. Ilya takes a deep breath, like he's going to submerge himself in the water of the lake by the cottage, like he's going to be baptised, like he's about to take to the ice for the last face-off in a cup-deciding game.
It takes him three hours to read it all, in between the crying and deep breaths and kisses and hugs and soft words and cuddles and desperate drinks of water and a mountain of tissues and Shane's hands running through his hair and him breaking down more when he read the section where Shane promised Irina he would take care and love and protect Ilya the way he believed she would want him to be if she could see it and pulling himself together enough to lose it again when he reached the section Shane wrote in Russian, clearly tenderly practiced Cyrillic letters summarising his vows as best as he could, and Ilya knows that yes Shane's Russian was coming along well in conversation but he still read and wrote/typed mostly in the romanised version so to see this declaration of love and effort and dedication makes his heart ache with love and sets him off again, especially seeing his written vow to continue pursuing his proficiency in the language, to communicate with Ilya in his first language the way Ilya does with Shane in his and fucking hell how many more tears can a person cry?
