Zhenya appears as if from nowhere; quiet, like Shane. She takes after him in that way, along with her dark hair and freckles. The curls are all Ilya, but tonight they're scooped up elegantly atop her head.
"Daddy, Lena wants to know if we can have a glass of champagne."
It's not a question. She looks up at Shane with the same stubbornness he's seen in the mirror a thousand times, and in Ilya a thousand times more, and it takes everything in him not to break open with love for their daughter.
The party around them is, as usual, stunning; the entire ballroom of his parents' mansion bathed in golden light, live music, every person worth knowing present and dressed to the nines.
Shane raises an eyebrow. "Lena wants to know?"
"Yeah. Well, we both want to. But I thought we should ask you, first."
Shane nods, and pretends to think it over. The twins are sixteen, now; it wouldn't be the end of the world if they each had a single glass of champagne, under the watchful eyes of him and Ilya and Shane's parents.
But.
"What did papa say?" Shane asks, and watches Zhenya's stoicism completely fall away. Her carefully-held posture falls, clearly caught, and she transforms from the straight-backed Hollander soldier back into his teenage daughter.
It's Shane's job to know what's happening under this roof, and his own roof, and basically any roof that covers his husband or his children. The more they have, the harder that task seems to get.
"You know he said no," Zhenya says, the closest she ever really gets to whining. "It's so unfair, daddy, he never lets us do anything."
Still, he can see Ilya from the corner of his eye; salt-and-pepper blond curls bouncing as he laughs, clearly charming an older couple that Shane thinks he should probably know, but that's what he has Luca for. To remember names, and faces, and mutter them in his ear before he has a chance to embarrass himself.
A few feet away, the triplets stand in a small circle, either discussing something very intensely or playing something on the games consoles he'd forbidden them from bringing downstairs. Typical; Marlow hovers a few feet away, as ordered, keeping a watchful eye.
"Mm. And where is Lena?" Shane asks, holding an arm out for Zhenya to collapse into his side.
She's maybe the most like him of all their five daughters; easily exhausted by things like parties and social gatherings, which are an unfortunate fact of their life. He can see the party starting to wear at her edges. Shane drops his arm around her shoulders, presses a quick kiss to the top of her carefully-styled hair.
"She's outside, with Andrej. But, um, I didn't tell you. If she asks."
"Outside with Andrej? Alone?"
He feels the shake of her head against the side of his jacket, and allows himself a small sigh of relief.
"Uncle Hayden is with them. But, like, six feet away. Like, behind one of grandpa's rose bushes. She threw a rock at him."
Shane hums. "That sounds like your sister."
It does sound like her, is the problem. Shane knows for certain thatif he'd said yes, it wouldn't have been Yelena's first glass of champagne. She and Zhenya are chalk and cheese; identical twins, polar opposites. Where Zhenya is quiet, reserved, a little too stoic at times, Yelena is loud, and wears her heart on her sleeve, and can fly from one emotion to the next at the drop of a hat.
Shane worries for them both, in different ways, for the same reason. But he worries for Yelena, and her boyfriend Andrej. He worries for Zhenya, and the sense of responsibility she seems to have placed on her own shoulders, and how she insists on becoming her sister's keeper.
It weighs on him. The business, the blood on his hands, his daughters and their safety. Their future. And Ilya, always Ilya, so steady beside him, so strong, so accepting of every shadow that tumbles out of him. There have been so many, over the years.
Main one I saw seemed to be mean dom vs service top bc if he’s a service top then he knowingly didn’t give Shane aftercare in Vegas (making him abusive for withholding) vs if he’s a sadist then yeah he might have just slipped up. Also people talking about how Ilya as an abusive victim wouldn’t/shouldn’t get off on being mean. A lot of the discourse becomes very transparent when you realize a ton of people have see Shane as the “woman” and Ilya as the “man” and project their slovenly doesn’t care about their orgasm bfs onto hollanov. Thats why ao3 is plagued with Shane getting a roster/being a wag/treating Ilya with disdain fics. The weird sex is seen as something done to shane.
interesting…..i see…..what i will say is that this all seems like things ppl under the age of 25 would say and or be concerned abt in the context of fictional characters. and that is all i will say
Luna I just saw an interview clip of Dylan Sprouse telling a story from his teenage years that made me think of mafia family, if you will indulge me:
So the twins are like 16 and going through a bit of a party phase; Shane and Ilya try to keep them safe and tell them to please at least keep it in the house and to NEVER drive or they will literally kill them. One night the twins are staying up late while Shane and Ilya are out of town for the night, they’re playing music and watching dumb movies and being teenage girls and then they decide they want to make drinks. So they go to their dads’ very intensive liquor cabinet and get a bottle of Papa’s vodka.
Unbeknownst to them this is a really expensive, very limited batch vodka. Ilya bought it before they were born, he intends to only drink it for his girls’ weddings and the birth of his grandchildren. So it’s a bit of a shock for him when he and Shane get home early the next morning and the empty bottle is just sitting on the kitchen table.
And Ilya’s devastated but also he’s not going to lose his temper over a bottle of booze. He goes upstairs and wakes up one of the twins (who is very hungover and fell asleep like two hours prior)
“Rybka. Did you drink the vodka?”
“…yes, Papa, we had it all last night, I’m sorry, we didn’t go anywhere I promised we just drank in the living room”
“…oh god, malysh, at least tell me what it tasted like.”
“Papa..we drank it all with orange juice.”
oh my god hollanov twins partying phase is SOOOOO SPECIAL TO ME…… please in my head the twins (yevgenia and yelena) are identical but kind of polar opposites; yevgenia is quiet, and reserved. still waters run deep. a bit of a tomboy. and then yelena is very loud, very emotional, wears her heart on her sleeve, and is always going through some kind of epic breakup with some guy. and they both worry shane and ilya to death in different ways, but the partying phase (despite being relatively tame) is giving ilya a HEART ATTACK. yelena already reminds him so much of himself at the age, mix in the alcohol and the drugs he knows they have access to through the kids of other high-ranking figures in the family and hes pretty sure hes gna have a heart attack at 45.
BUT !!! his beautiful sweet responsible daughters wanted to get plastered. so they just got drunk at home while they were watching practical magic, maybe with friends, but most likely just alone. the triplets were with yuna and david (14 is, in ilya’s opinion, too young to be home alone) and. with a big, empty mansion with minimal oversight (cliff and luca were still there bc they aren’t crazy) and credit cards with no limit, they didn’t throw a party or damage anything or even fight. they just drank a lot of vodka, with orange juice, because apparently shane hollander’s DNA is strong. and how can he be mad at that !!! how can he be mad at his wonderful wonderful daughters !!!
so he just kisses her head and says okay mlaysh, go back to sleep, daddy will come and get you for lunch, okay? and goes downstairs and cries on shane because their babies are growing up. and they’re doing it so well!!!!
I waffle a bit on how much PDA Hollanov would get up to, but I Know they are menaces when people come over to their house. It's just too much to expect them to be in Their space and not touch each other whenever they want. It doesn't help that they've fucked on every surface, making it impossible to get away from the memory of being together. Whenever someone sits on the couch (that Ilya held Shane down on just that morning), Ilya gives Shane a little knowing grin, and they have to disappear to "check on Anya" in the bedroom.
If I ask nicely will people reblog this and tell me what their most common breakfast is? Not your favorite necessarily, just what you have for breakfast most frequently? 🙏🏽
i love Not to jump the gun here but with rozanov’s permission…? i think shane in that scene was feeling fiercely protective over another person for the first time in his life. so bowled over by the intensity of his own emotions that he stumbled back to his hotel room in a daze and immediately jerked off in the shower about it. “what if rozanov got arrested and i had to use my immense hockey wealth to bail him out of jail and it was winter in boston. so he had hypothermia. and he had to live with me while we sorted out the legal situation and i yelled at journalists for him and helped him with his paperwork and hired the best lawyer in the world and nursed him back to health and he was like “hollander……..you saved my life 🥺” and he fucked me soooo hard every night for stress relief (obviously he couldn’t fuck other people. due to the lawsuit) and we fell asleep in each other’s arms afterwards. because there’s only one bed in my apartment and he’s too tall for the couch” stuff like that. normal fantasies
• holding ilya’s hand while they cross a busy street full of hazards (potholes, roadworks, etc)
• rescuing ilya from kidnappers (he kicks down the door)
• rescuing ilya from a burning building (bridal carry)
• fighting in a gladiatorial ice hockey arena for ilya’s hand in marriage
• massaging ilya’s bad knee and ilya says with wonderment “wowww wow. shane you’re so good at this… you are better than every physical therapist on earth probably”
• saying “he asked for no pickles” to the mcdonalds cashier
• carrying ilya’s bags
• washing ilya’s hair
• applying o’keefes working hands cream to ilya’s calluses