Shane and Ilya who are moving in and unpacking boxes and Shane carefully unwrapps an old dvd that Ilya recognises as the MLH15 game, the one they played back when they first spent time together at the cottage. Which is not that strange in itself, except for the fact that Ilya knows they own never versions of the game and neither of them have used the MLH15 version in some time. Shane also seems oddly attached to the dvd case, staring at it with a small smile and rubbing his thumb over the cover.
Ilya comes up to hug him from behind, hooking his chind over Shane's shoulder. "Missing my face already, Hollander?", he teases with a kiss to Shane's cheek. "You should have said, I would have come help with boxes earlier instead of organizing spices by boring canadian system."
Shane just rolls his eyes with a "Shut up, asshole". But then his eyes go fond and his smile kind of sad as he adds, "You know, for a long time this was the only picture i, well, felt like i could allow myself to have of you."
Shane's cheeks have turned red and Ilya has gone very still behind him. "And i know we have actual pictures of us together now and we get to keep them, which i am so grateful for. And I know this a promotional picture, but sometimes i just wanted to walk through my home and, uhm, look at you, you know?"
And Ilya just tightens his hug and blinks his tears away. "I guess a part of me is still not fully used i get to have you. The real you. And not just a picture of you on the cover of some game."
And Ilya can't do anything but hug Shane to his chest and bury his head in Shane's shoulder because, he gets to have this. The real Shane, next to him, forever. So he holds Shane tightly, sways them both softly from side to side. The Game ends up on the mantle next to their other pictures.
(When the other Centaurs first see it at a friendly hangout with the Pikes some time later, they rib and tease them about it. Ilya just shrugs and tells them that it's in honour of Montreal's 15th best player, who unfortunately never made it on the cover himself, so sad. Hayden flips him the off while cutting apple slices for the twins. Ilya just winks at Shane and grins. Shane just laughs and leans into him, happy to share the true meaning with the only person who really matters).
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