tell me more abt arranged married hollanov falling in love please
Ohhh, anon, it is Serious. I’m not a love at first sight person, but Ilya is definitely enamored right away. He and Shane meet up a few times before the wedding, neither one of them wants to do this sight unseen, and for Ilya it’s everything. He’s been so uncertain about all this immigration stuff and so scared that whoever the agency paired him with would be in it for the wrong reasons, like those people who look specifically for partners from Russia. But when they first meet up for coffee, Shane is kind and funny and so wonderfully normal, boring even, and that night Ilya dreams of deep brown eyes and freckles. It doesn’t take long at all for Ilya to realize Shane is the type of person he could fall in love with. He just feels so safe and steady. It makes Ilya imagine their whole future, unspooling in front of him with such clarity. By the time they get married, Ilya’s half in love already. (Importantly, realizing this is what makes Ilya commit to the “no sex before we’re both in love” thing. In one of their meetups they talked about their past relationships, and he learned that Shane’s never really been with a person he loves, and it makes Ilya feel so guilty and so unworthy that he’s determined to earn Shane’s love before he lets himself even consider having sex.) ANYWAY, they both agreed on nothing physical on their wedding night, but when Ilya walks out of the bathroom to see Shane curled up in bed with a book, wearing his glasses, giving him a soft smile and a “hi, husband,” that’s when Ilya fully falls in love.
MEANWHILE, Shane is in horny prison. If Ilya dreams about brown eyes and freckles after their first meetup, Shane goes home and jerks off desperately in the shower. It’s just that Ilya smelled so good and his shoulders were so broad and his voice was so deep and his hair was so curly and it’s been a long time since Shane's been fucked, ok?? Don’t blame him. These feelings, of course, send Shane on his own spiral because he doesn’t want Ilya to think he’s a pervert or something. This agency matches them, and Shane knows it’s because Ilya needs a passport, so Shane tells himself it will never be more than a business transaction, but once he sees Ilya he’s like, well at least the sex won’t suck. But the more Shane learns about Ilya’s situation, the more he thinks about how lonely Ilya must be without any family or support system in Montreal, especially when his immigration status is so precarious. So Shane promises himself he'll make sure Ilya knows he’s not a threat and he won’t push for anything Ilya doesn’t want, and that he’s not leaving. Not until Ilya wants him to. But also, as I said before, Shane is really, really horny. He wants to make it clear Ilya has an open invitation to his “marital rights” whenever he wants them, but he doesn’t want to ask for it because that might put even more pressure on Ilya than he’s already under. So for weeks Shane walks around half-dressed and buzzing for Ilya to touch him. And if he catches himself gazing at his wedding band and thinking about how handsome Ilya looked when they got married, and if seeing Ilya putter around their apartment makes Shane’s stomach flip, and if Ilya’s laugh becomes Shane’s favorite sound, and if his mind all day is Ilya Ilya Ilya, well, that’s just because he’s horny, right? Right?
hollanov arranged marriage AU thoughts