Kate (she/her). 36. Hella bi. Obsessive tagger. Welcome! Here you will find lots of DT, ineffables, RWRB, Narlie, Tolkien, Merthur, Taskmaster, BTVS, Leverage, Stucky, Bones, DW, Sense8, music, birds, pics, etc. Current hyper-fixation is Heated Rivalry, prepare yourself lol. Adorable header by emziess 🥰
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?"
saw a post that said shane is the most Boy to ever boy and i love that so much. he is so Boy.
and now i’m thinking about how he loves to be romantic and chivalrous to ilya— like when they get to the cottage and shane carries ilya’s bag in. he’s a great Boyfriend(husband.) he holds the door for ilya every chance he gets, and ilya (not so) secretly Looooooves it. when they’re at the bar with their team, shane will ask ilya if he wants a drink and go get it for him, hands it off to ilya with a little here you go, baby and then sits at a stool at the bar and ilya leans back between shane’s legs. at team cookouts, shane will tug on ilya’s arm as he’s talking to people until he’s sitting in his lap and ilya will go willingly without even pausing his conversation. shane will grin and wrap his arms around ilya’s stomach, kiss his shoulder. when they’re out to dinner and the bill comes shane will put his card down and ilya will make it a big thing, like oh thank you shane you’re sooo sweet and shane will be like ah it’s no trouble baby (they have a shared bank account.) he loves taking care of his baby!!!!!!! there’s been a rare time or two where shane and ilya are at a club and shane will let go and have a few drinks, get wonderfully tipsy and ilya will drag him out to dance. shane will hold ilya’s hips as ilya dances against him.
this doesn’t really connect to shane is such a Boy. anyway shane is such a Boy who loves taking care of his ilya
Yes!! Canon Shane is so traditionally boy! At its core, this is a jock4jock relationship between two hypermasculine men. An overwhelming need to be dicked down doesn’t erase that
After they’re outed, Shane and Ilya start to indulge in all the normal “date night” stuff they couldn’t experience before.
Ilya sees a trend on social where a couple picks a color and then goes into a store and have to get the other person things in that color, in specific categories.
They pick red after a lively debate but it’s the color Shane is most ok with when it comes to random food items (he can’t really explain why but Ilya doesn’t need him to), and their categories are: a favorite snack (a treat, not overly healthy), a favorite drink (can’t be their two most likely drinks - coke and ginger ale), and something silly.
Shane is very confident picking out things for Ilya. He keeps an organized list of things Ilya likes in his notes app, so he starts scrolling through that as he wanders away from Ilya.
Ilya is going for vibes, as always, but also has an encyclopedia’s worth of Shane-knowledge locked forever in his brain.
Thirty minutes later they check out in different lines to prolong the surprise, even though Ilya is trying to sneak a peek the whole time.
They get out to Shane’s “boring” car and Ilya insists on going first. For the food he got the red wax Babybel cheeses. They’re hardly a treat for most, but cheese for Shane is practically a sin and Shane gets a soft smile on his face as he pulls them out of the bag. Next is a four pack of fancy blood orange ginger ale.
Shane: We said no ginger ale!
Ilya: Is not *just* ginger ale! Is blood orange! Very different thing!
Shane: Agree to disagree, but I will accept because I really want some ginger ale right now.
Last is a red crop top t-shirt from the women’s section. Shane’s a little confused until Ilya says, “This one is actually more a gift for me.” “Pervert!” Shane says as he balls up and throws the shirt in Ilya’s face. “Ok, my turn!”
Shane starts with the drink. He’d picked some horrible energy drink called something like “Red Card Raspberry” that has more Red Dye 40 in it than should be legal, but he knows Ilya loves these drinks and doesn’t allow himself to have them often because he knows Shane doesn’t like that he drinks them. “I will drink this before next run to be sure I beat you,” Ilya says while wagging his eyebrows at Shane.
Shane hmphs and moves on to the silly item he picked - a red slinky. Ilya scrunches his brows in confusion, but Shane explains, “It’s a slinky!” Which doesn’t mean anything to Ilya. Shane figured this might happen since Ilya’s childhood wasn’t very… fun. He pulls up a video on his phone and shows a slinky going down a set of stairs. Ilya’s face is lit up like he’s a five year old on his birthday morning, and Shane gets a smug little smile on his face. “We can try it out when we get home.” Ilya pulls him across the cars center console for a kiss.
Shane pulls away, “Hold on! There’s one more…” as he pulls out a red can of whipped cream. He knows Ilya likes to put it on his coffee, but they rarely keep it in the house.
Ilya is looking at Shane like he’s going to eat him.
Shane: You know, for your morning coffee?
Ilya: I think I will use it on something else.
The next morning the red crop top and empty red whipped cream can are thrown on their bedroom floor. Ilya and Shane are snuggled up together, and Shane looks up at Ilya. But Ilya’s looking at something on top of their dresser.
Shane: You’re thinking about the slinky, aren’t you?
Ilya: I think I’ve earned it, no?
They spend the rest of that morning drinking coffee (with no whipped cream) and wandering the house seeing all the ways Ilya can think to test out the slinky.
As much as I believe Shane's preferred term of endearment for Ilya is "baby", and as much as it's what we use for Shane I truly truly in my heart of hearts choose to believe that Ilya would call Shane "My Shane" just all the time.
"My Shane, I am picking up oat milk from the store. Do we need anything else?"
"What's wrong, My Shane? You are frowning so much behind your sexy glasses."
"Yes, My Shane, that's it. You always take it so beautifully."
"My Shane! Tokyo Drift is not boring. You have thirty seconds to apologize to Vin Diesel or I am going to bite you."
He just loves saying it. That name means everything to him, and he gets to use it all the time now because that's literally his Shane.
ILYA ROZANOV WEEK: DAY ONE
FAVORITE MOMENT
↪ ilya working overtime to “shhh” high shane at the hospital so he doesn’t hard-launch their relationship (they succeed) 😂💕
You know what the Green Heron is basically the best heron because it is like 90% neck so when it is all folded down it looks like a giant head with wings and legs
anyway good morning a crucial tenet of hollanov’s relationship is that they’re equals and they’re the only people in the world who could ever be each other’s equal. they were supposed to stand alone at the top but they’re there together. shane does not view ilya as a lazy useless inconvenience. ilya does not view shane as a nagging killjoy. they are equals and they both think the other is the best thing since sliced bread and they love each other but more importantly they LIKE each other. stop making them not like each other!
Fully wakes up, at least. He has a hazy recollection of Shane pressing a kiss to his temple and whispering "happy birthday, baby" as he got out of bed, but it had been too early, still dark out, and Ilya had been too sleepy, snuggling into the warm patch left behind by Shane and letting himself get pulled back under by sleep.
But when he eventually blinks his eyes open for real, he's alone in the bed. On their bedside table is a small stuffed bear and a handwritten note from Shane: "Happy birthday! I'll be back soon. Get dressed - wear something nice but comfy. Love you <3"
Ilya pulls on a favorite t-shirt and shorts before padding downstairs. There's a box of donuts and another small bear on the counter, which makes Ilya smile. Hopefully his husband makes an appearance soon, but in the meantime, he could do worse than help himself to a jelly donut or two.
Soon enough, he hears Shane's key in the door. Dropping the bag he'd been carrying, Shane beelines to Ilya, licking the sugar out of his mouth and murmuring happy birthday against his lips before pulling away with a smile. "I'm kidnapping you," he says with a grin, holding up a bandanna. Ilya barely has a chance to protest before Shane's tying it snug-but-not-too-tight over his eyes, carefully tugging it just into place before pressing a kiss to Ilya's knuckles and leading him by the hand out the door and into the car.
It probably isn't too long a car ride, but it's hard to keep track of time and distance when you're blindfolded. (In truth, he can see a tiny bit if he crosses his eyes and looks down his nose, but he wants to play along.) Shane refuses to give any clues, no matter how much Ilya wheedles, and firmly moves Ilya's hand when it wanders over to his crotch (though he lets Ilya rest it on his inner thigh, just where the hem of his shorts meets the skin, and that alone feels like birthday present enough).
Soon Shane's pulling the car onto a gravel road, car bumping along and eventually swinging into a parking spot. "Don't get out yet - I'll come around to you," Shane says, unclicking his seatbelt and opening his door, long enough for Ilya to make out--
"I hear Ke$ha," he says when Shane opens his door.
Shane laughs, "Yeah, they've got her playing. I gave them a whole list."
"Them?"
"You'll see."
The sun is warm on Ilya's skin as Shane leads him over grass, and he can smell... sugar. Cotton candy? Popcorn, too, he thinks.
"Shane, did you...?"
"Okay, here we are!" Shane brings them a stop and reaches up to untie Ilya's blindfold, kissing his cheek as he does so.
It takes a moment for Ilya's eyes to adjust to the bright sunlight, but then--
"You got me a carnival?"
"Rented you a carnival. For the day. They were already in town, I just paid them to stay an extra day."
The Cens are there and their families, the Pikes, David and Yuna and Svetlana, as many people as could make it, and they have the place to themselves. They play all the games on the fairway, and Shane wins Ilya an enormous stuffed bear to accompany the smaller ones at home. Ilya gets his face painted like a tiger and roars as he chases after the Pike kids, eventually collapsing when they tackle him to the ground. He eats more sugar and fried food than he knew was possible.
But the best part is the dunk tank, where Ilya gets to repeatedly knock Hayden into the water and laugh every time he comes up spluttering (all in exchange for an extremely generous donation from Shane to the charity of Hayden's choice).
That night Shane brings out a pair of handcuffs to go with the blindfold, uses both on Ilya while he fingers him, back arching off the bed as he comes untouched as Shane murmurs encouragements and presses kisses to his thighs.
Can we talk about how both David and Grigori are on the right side of the frame, Yuna is to the left of Shane- but to the left of Ilya is just a sharp drop.
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