Mal | She/Her | Queer | Indian | This blog is a hot mess of my hyperfixations and I'm sorry to all my followers | Avatar is by @buckybarsn & header is a photo taken by me :D
Meet the Toucan Barbet (Semnornis ramphastinus)! This thick-billed bird inhabits cloud forests throughout parts of Colombia and Ecuador. It uses its bill to crush berries and squeeze nectar out of flowers. Both males and females have vibrant plumage; the main difference in appearance is that males have a black tuft by their necks.
On the one hand, it's one of the days he can most keenly feel the loss of his mom. He misses the way she would wake him up by pulling his ears – one tug for every year of his age – and then hand him his gift. He misses the way that she would always sneak him a second gift right before bed so that he wouldn't be sad about this birthday ending.
On the other hand, they're also a good reminder that life is better than it has been for a long time. Instead of the cold, perfunctory, "Happy Birthday, Ilya," he'd get from his father (if he was lucky), his team have always celebrated him. He's always had a pile of gifts left outside his locker to surprise him, he's always been taken out clubbing, never once having to buy a drink for himself.
His favourite thing has always been the happy birthday text he gets from Shane every year, going back to long before he was his boyfriend. He's never missed a single one, and they're a good encapsulation of how much their relationship had changed over the years:
Happy birthday.
Happy birthday Rozanov.
Happy birthday Rozanov.
Happy birthday Rozanov. 🎂
God knows if you'll actually get this, it's been literal fucking months, but for what it's worth, happy birthday. Hope you're okay.
Happy birthday Rozanov. 🎂🎉
Happy birthday Rozanov. Remind me to give you your 'gift' next time we're together. 😉
Happy birthday Ilya. I'll see you soon. Counting down the days. ❤️
On his first birthday as Shane Hollander's boyfriend, he finds that he's looking forward to waking up to this year's birthday text almost more than anything, and is disappointed when there isn't one. He figures Shane must just be busy and he'll text when he's finished with whatever he's got going on. Ilya carries on with his day, finishes his workout, showers, but still there's no text from Shane.
Now he's starting to panic. He's always gotten Shane's birthday messages first thing in the morning. Has something happened to him? He doesn't want to message in case it's nothing and he makes it sound like he's desperate for Shane's birthday message (as much as he kind of is), so he ends up scouring the news sites for any sign that something might have happened to him. There's nothing.
Feeling a little pit in his stomach at the idea that Shane might have forgotten his birthday in the first year of being his boyfriend, he makes his way to the living room, deciding that he'll watch the rest of the cup final that he and Shane were too busy sexting during to finish watching the night before. He's just sat down on the couch when he hears the knock on his door.
No way. Surely not?
But it is. There, right there, close enough to reach out for, is Shane, carrying an overnight bag, holding an enormous gift box, and wearing a slightly nervous smile.
"Surprise," he says. "This is for you. Happy birthday, Ilya."
Ilya takes the box from him, and leads Shane inside where he places it on the kitchen island and immediately turns, intending to crowd his boyfriend against the nearest window and kiss him to within an inch of his life.
Shane, however, puts his hands on his shoulders to stop him.
"Mom and Dad are here too," said Shane. "They're waiting in the car. They aren't staying the whole day, and I can tell them to leave now if you're not comfortable with them being here, but they wanted to celebrate with you. If you'd like. You said you didn't really have plans so I figured—"
And Ilya immediately changes tactics and hoists Shane up onto the island, pushing the gift further back on the counter as he kisses him to within an inch of his life.
"I thought you forgot," he says, feeling embarrassingly teary all of a sudden. "I thought you forgot or that you died or something. I was checking all the news sites."
"Oh, baby," says Shane, giving a small laugh and swooping in for another kiss, finally breaking apart to rest his forehead on Ilya's. "I would never forget something this important. And for what it's worth, I seem to be alive too."
A few minutes later, David and Yuna hand him a gift box that's just as big as the one Shane did, and another box that turns out to be a beautifully decorated birthday cake, that they share after lighting candles and singing to him. They tell him to make a wish as he blows the candles out and the only thing he can wish for is more of this forever. They spend the day talking, rewatching the finals, and making Ilya feel more loved than he can remember feeling for a long time.
Later, long after David and Yuna have left to catch their flight home, long after Shane and Ilya have spent several enjoyable hours completely wrecking Ilya's bed, while they're lying cuddled together just basking in the glow of how magical the day has been, Shane turns to Ilya, chews on his bottom lip, and then reaches out to tug Ilya's ear 27 times.
"Shane..." he says, voice choked, not sure what he wants to say, not sure if he can describe the scope of what today has meant to him. Shane's cheeks flush.
"Sorry, I read somewhere that was a tradition or something, but if it isn't and that was just the weirdest thing I've ever done to you, please, just for my sake, pretend it never happened?"
And Ilya kisses him. He kisses him long and slow and so full of all the gratitude he can't put into words. He's crying by the time they pull apart, unable to keep it together after the enormity of what the day has meant to him.
"I love you so much, Shane."
Shane presses a kiss to his chest, right over his heart, then another to his lips.
"I love you too, Ilya." He settles his head back down on Ilya's chest and they lie there in comfortable silence for a few moments before Shane speaks up again. "So that's a yes on the ear tugging?"
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