“You’re so far away,” Shane said, sniffing hard. “I want to rent a car and drive there.”
“Would be a long drive,” Ilya said with amusement, “from Washington.”
“Thirteen hours,” Shane smiled sheepishly. “I looked it up.”
TLG AU - post near crash but Shane does that 👆 after hanging up
spoilers for TLG obvs - just go read it already
Ilya is in a Florida IHOP booth with Harris, Wyatt and Luca Haas and he doesn’t feel real. He knows distantly that this is the combined effect of a hangover and the massive adrenaline crash after the near death experience yesterday. It’s unbearable and he doesn’t care and it feels like it will last forever.
He's been staring out the window at the parking lot without seeing it for probably too long.
“Too bad Chiron isn’t here,” Harris jokes. “That would cheer everyone up.”
Ilya’s mind fills with terrified puppy noises and his attention snaps back to his companions. “Then Chiron would have been on the plane. What the fuck, Harris? He would have been so scared!”
Harris puts his hands up, startled. “I was just saying. A puppy would be nice right now.”
Ilya glares and takes a bite of his toast and feels completely justified but also like he needs to bury himself in his phone. He pulls it out of his pocket while Harris tries to be cheerful.
He finds texts from Shane, the first of the day. They came in just a few minutes ago. Ilya feels his pulse lower and loses track of the conversation around him.
J: I did something stupid
J: good morning also
J: where are you
L: morning
L: harris made us get pancakes
L: what did you do?
Ilya’s cheek tugs a little like he might smile. He only ordered black coffee and toast for himself - he had no appetite - but maybe he'll take a picture of Luca's pile of whip cream just to gross Shane out. He's not sure why it matters if it's IHOP or Denny's (Florida is ridiculous, the two places are right next to each other in a hideous parking lot across the street from the hotel) and he doesn't care; he likes that Shane is texting like normal and not like they were both crying over facetime 12 hours ago.
I: IHOP, thank god, I could not have dealt with denny’s bacon today
J: oh good
J: wyatt, luca and harris are cool right? Like they’re not… dallas kent?
Ilya frowns after hitting send and scrolls back up through the short conversation. He never told Shane who he was sitting with.
I: shane...
I: what stupid thing did you do?
There's a timid knock on the glass door of the restaurant, the one Ilya was staring out of minutes ago. He looks up again very slowly.
Shane Hollander is standing there in the Florida sun looking exhausted and anxious. He's in pajama pants and a McGill hoodie. There's luggage on the sidewalk next to him. He's shifting his weight from one foot to the other like a kid who has to pee. His face splits into an overwrought smile when their eyes meet and he waves and then winces at himself and crosses his arms.
"Roz," Wyatt says, "you okay?"
Is he? Probably not. He's hallucinating, which can't be good. Shane is in Washington. Shane's worst fear in the world is being abruptly outed. Shane doesn't like Florida.
Or maybe Shane feels like Ilya does, and all the reasons to stay hidden seem very, very feeble right now, so fuck it all and here he is, waiting for Ilya in broad daylight.
The hallucination knocks again, loud enough for Harris to glance over his shoulder at the door. Harris turns back to Ilya, his eyes wide and his mouth a perfect "o" of surprise.
"Is that... Shane Hollander?" Luca squeaks.
That's enough proof to get Ilya crashing out of the booth and running to the door. Shane pulls it open just as Ilya reaches it.
They collide together and barely keep their feet, stumbling in a circle across the sidewalk, Shane's arms tight around Ilya's neck, face buried against his throat. Ilya knots his hand in soft, dark hair and tries to pull him closer.
"Fuck," Shane is saying, "fuck, you scared me, fuck, fuck fuck-"
Shane laughs against his skin. "D-don’t ask what I spent on that Uber."
They hold each other in the sunshine for a very long time. Shane's heart pounds against Ilya's chest, and Ilya, for the first time since that plane dropped, feels completely, vividly, joyfully alive.
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