Ok but headcanon that Shane is one of those people who will just write “Love, Shane” at the bottom of a card UNTIL he feels comfortable being vulnerable with that person, at which point he writes the most heartbreakingly sweet and earnest notes
And no one is ever ready for the switch, and even after it happens they can never fully prepare themselves for what they’re going to get. Shane has learned that when he’s going to do that he should take them aside to give them the card rather than in front of people
Once Shane feels comfortable with Hayden as a genuinely good friend in his birthday card that year he writes out a whole thing about how he’s always wanted a best friend like other kids had but never had one and had accepted he never would, and then Hayden came into his life and gave him a level of love and friendship he never thought he would get and he loves everything about Hayden and can’t wait to be by his side as friends and brothers for the rest of their lives. Hayden fully breaks down and loses it, Jackie notices they’ve been gone a while and walks into the kitchen to see Hayden hugging Shane and sobbing into his shoulder. She raises her eyebrows at Shane and Shane just gives her the OK sign and goes back to rubbing Hayden’s back
Ilya learns about the card thing when it’s yunas birthday and he notices her opening Shane’s card like she’s deactivating a bomb. She stares silently as she reads it and Ilya starts freaking out a little when she starts to tear up and then pulls Shane in for a long silent hug. He looks at it later and sees that Shane wrote about how the last year made him realize over again how lucky he is to have someone as strong and supportive as her as a mother and he hopes to one day be half the parent to his own kids as she was to him
When it’s their first time having Ilya’s birthday together he’s legitimately nervous because this is his first Shane Card and he doesn’t know what to expect and part of him is afraid he’s built it up too much in his head and Shane won’t have as nice things to say as he did with other people. And then he opens the envelope and there’s no card but instead multiple pieces of paper because Shane couldn’t fit it all into a limited space. Ilya spends the better part of the next hour walking around the house reading it, taking breaks occasionally to cry or hyperventilate before going back to reading it because holy shit does Shane Hollander love him. Like he knew logically that Shane did but now he’s got pages and pages of Shane walking him through his feelings over the last decade of their life and every moment he remembered and cherished. Shane finally catches up to him and he’s on the floor of the kitchen, face a splotchy red mess, chugging Gatorade because he’s dehydrated from crying
David texts later to ask how his first Shane Card was and he just sends a wall of crying emojis and David is like “LOL yup, the first Father’s Day he did that for me I had to take the week off work or else I would remember it and cry in my office”
Dennis has always believed he is just truly unlovable. He's had friendships and relationships but they have all just fizzled out through the years. They tolerate him for a bit but then he does something wrong and they quickly drop him. Just look at his family, the people who were designed to love him couldn't accept him for who he was so why should anybody else? How he's managed to maintain his friendship with Trinity this long honestly baffles him but he's not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Being unlovable was a simple fact that he had come to accept over the years. When he really thought about it, he supposed it was a little sad but sometimes you just have take the hand that God dealt you.
Now Dennis has started seeing Robby, but he’s sure it's just a casual thing. They spend nearly every night together but it's always at Robby's place. Occasionally they will go out if their days off align but it's not a regular thing. He's heard all the rumours and the warnings about the 'seven-week itch' but he is beyond thrilled. Seven weeks is longer than any of his past relationships have lasted so he will take what he can get.
Robby, on the other hand, thinks he has finally found the person who has cured the itch. He's found the person he wants to spend forever with and he's not going to give him up. The way that Dennis has slotted into his life so effortlessly seems so perfect that they must be meant to be.
The relationship has become very serious, very quickly. But poor Dennis has never had a serious relationship before so he doesn't realise it. He's moved his stuff in, he's wearing Robby's clothes, he's deleted his dating apps, he's rearranged Robby's kitchen because 'it just makes more sense to have pans near the stove', he's somehow enticed a stray cat to move in. Her name is Moxi (short for Amoxicillin), she's a tabby and Dennis adores her.
And Robby is just letting him because it's the happiest he's ever been. It's also the happiest Dennis has ever been too but he knows there's a time limit and they seem to be hurtling towards it.
Seven weeks after their first kiss passes by without any fan fair. Dennis assumes Robby has a different marker for the start of their relationship so he's just patiently waiting. Seven weeks after the first time they have sex goes by with nothing. Seven weeks after their first proper date and nothing. Seven weeks after Dennis first spent the whole night at Robby's, still nothing. Seven weeks after their first blow out fight as a couple and still Robby does nothing. Seven weeks since Robby gave Dennis his own set of keys to his place, yet again, nothing. Seven weeks after they became co-parents to Moxi still brings nothing.
Now Dennis has started to panic because he is in completely uncharted territory with no idea what to do. Until he finally realises what has happened.
Robby doesn't even consider what they have a relationship, so why would he get the seven-week itch? Dennis knew he was unlovable, did he honestly think someone like Robby would see him as anything more than a colleague who was good for a bit of fun?
But while Dennis might be unlovable, he wasn’t incapable of loving. And unfortunately for him, he was falling in love with Robby. So, he’s decided the best course of action is to cut all ties with Robby before his heart breaks any further.
Robby comes home from a long shift and smiles when he hears the tinny sound of Dennis’s funk music coming from the bedroom. His smile drops instantly when he sees Dennis with a duffle bag on the bed and clothes haphazardly thrown inside.
“Den? Baby? What’s going on?” Robby’s hands were itching to grab the clothes out of Dennis’s hand and demand he stop but he knew that was not the adult response.
“I’m going back to Trin’s.” Dennis replied, not wanting to look Robby.
“Just for tonight?” Robby asked, his eyes zoning in on the key on his dressers, sans the ridiculous tractor key ring Trinity had gifted Dennis. It gave him his answer.
“No, for a while.”
“What is happening here?” Robby dropped down onto the bed and finally looked at Dennis’s red-rimmed eyes. Robby’d fucked up and he wasn’t even sure how and now he was going to lose Dennis.
“I’m trying to make this less awkward for you. I knew this was coming so there are no hard feelings, I promise. I can still be professional because we need to work together.” Robby just stared at Dennis as if he couldn’t understand what he was saying. “I’m saving you from having to dump me, look I’m packing myself away nicely!”
“I wasn’t planning to break up with you.”
Dennis nearly flinched at Robby’s response. But why would he break up with someone he didn’t even think he was in a relationship with? Someone like Dennis wasn’t even worthy of getting dumped in Robby’s eyes.
Still, Dennis ploughed on. This was going to be hard but he could cry on Trinity’s shoulder when he left. Least, he hoped he could, unless she too had come to the same realisation as Robby.
“You are, and that’s fine. It’s not you, it’s me.” Dennis cringed at the cliché line but in this case, it was genuinely true. “I’m just unlovable.”
Robby just stared in disbelief as Dennis shrugged at him like this was his tiny cross to bear. A small little anecdote told at parties. ‘Oh Dennis Whitaker? I hear he’s unlovable.’
“Who the fuck told you you were unlovable?” Robby demanded through gritted teeth, Dennis frowned at his response. Nobody had ever cared when he’d said that in the past. They just sort of accepted what he was saying because they knew it was true.
“Noone has ever outright said it but they’ve never denied it either. I suppose my Mama did always say I was the hardest of all her boys to love and that God sent me to test her but even motherly love had its limits.”
Robby quickly rose from the bed, gently cupping Dennis’s face and brushing away the tears that had started fall.
“You, Dennis Whitaker, are one of the most loveable people I have ever met.” He said, kissing away his tears. “You are kind and giving. You are always there for people. You are funny. You are amazing. Despite everything, you are cheerful and happy. You are perfect. So fucking loveable.”
“Yeah?” Dennis grinned as Robby peppered kisses on his face.
“Yeah, and do you know how I know you’re loveable?”
“How?”
“Because I’m in love with you. My life is so wonderful now you’re in it.” Robby nuzzled at Dennis’s blushing cheeks. “I’m pretty sure if I asked everyone in the Pitt they’d all tell me they loved you too.”
“Robby! Stop!” Dennis laughed. “I love you too.”
Robby pulled Dennis into him, not so subtly throwing the contents of Dennis’s duffle bag onto the floor to sort out later because they need the bed. And there is no way Dennis is moving out.
Later when Dennis is retelling the story to Trinity of his almost break-up with Robby, he expected her to laugh at how ridiculous the pair of them were. Tease him about how men just don’t know how to talk about their feelings and communicate with each other.
Instead, she hugged him tightly and fiercely whispered into his ear.
“Fuck you, you're unbelievably loveable!”
Dennis learns that he has always been loveable, he just didn’t surround himself with the right kind of people. Now he’s found his people and his home he never feels unloved again.
unreasonably amused by the idea of itty bitty shane not wanting to get off the ice after practice to the point that david gets ON the ice to get him, so itty bitty does the "my bones are gone now" resistance move kids are so good at.
but fails to consider that ice is. so slippery.
like stage your protest all you want, buddy, but you have literally never been more move-able.
Read the post and loved it exactly for the potential of what's in the tags: uh oh now David made it funnnn and Shane, quick little bean that he is, riiiight as he's getting to the edge of the rink, about to be picked up and passed to mom, gets up and skates away to the middle of the rink and PLOMP lays down on his back, giggling and kicking his little skates. "Again, Dad (Shane does not call David daddy in front of his friends, he's not a baby!), again!!"
It doesn't help David and Yuna that everyone and their mother thinks this is the funniest, cutest thing ever and laughs, just spurring Shane to do it more and more.
I’m very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very tired.
So one year for charity different pro athletes get asked to participate in a live game based on one of those “how well do you know your partner” games but instead it’s “how well do you know your rival” and participating means you get to raise money for a charity of your choice and obviously Shane and Ilya want to promote the Irina Project so they agree and go up against other current famous rivals from other sports
And Shane and Ilya discuss ahead of time that obviously they’ll have to just play things off as they usually do, light hearted chirps back and forth and what not, “winning” is just for the show and won’t impact how much money gets made for their charity so it doesn’t matter. Except then they get there and become overtaken by the need to Win and Be the Best and they are the best. So without needing to discuss changing the plan, as soon as the questions start they lock in and decide that actually they have to demolish everyone else
The other rivals are laughing and making jokes at the questions but Shane and Ilya are deadly serious and the host starts to get a little weirded out by the fact that they actually know the answers and aren’t just saying things like “how many goals last season? Probably one less than me haha” and actually have each others stats memorized
Because the audience is loving it they go to a lightning round that’s just Shane and Ilya and it’s now the usual couple game questions and they’re still getting them right because they can make excuses for knowing later, right now is about Winning
“What is Shane’s favorite breakfast?”
“Kale protein shake with a scoop of peanut butter and a handful of blueberries.”
“Ok um, what is Ilya’s favorite breakfast?”
“Two sausage egg McMuffins with an extra slice of cheese and hashbrowns.”
“What is something on Shane’s bucket list?”
“Sleeping in one of those see through igloos under the northern lights.”
“What is something on Ilya’s bucket list?”
“That thing where you feed giraffes at a zoo.”
“Ok last one. I think we all know Shane’s answer is former paramour Rose Landry, but who do you think is the most famous person Rozanov has ever slept with is?”
*through teeth gritted so tight he is in danger of chipping one* “Probably a model. Or something.”
“… Yeah, let’s go with that.”
Years later when they’re out Shane reshares the clip and the only non-PR approved thing he says on the matter is “It was me, by the way. I am the most famous person Rozanov has ever slept with.”
so metropolitan museum of art has a register of books they’ve published that are out of print and that you can download for free! they’re mostly books on art, archeology, architecture, fashion and history and i just think that’s super useful and interesting so i wanted to share! you can find all of the books available here!
jacobvanloon
stormborns
gummygunk
dededos
annaxmalina
pixelskylines
