Chapter Text
Harris had already been sitting on the couch for half an hour now, cuddled up with his boyfriend while they watched The Office, but there was a consistent whining from the dining area. When he turns his head, he sees Ilya on his phone looking miserable. “I can see you moping, just tell us what the problem is.”
Ilya stumbled into the living room and plopped himself onto the couch with a huff, “I have made a terrible mistake.”
Troy raised an eyebrow to Ilya and grabbed the remote to pause the episode. “And what would that be?”
“I told Shane I would plan the perfect Valentine’s Day, but I have no ideas. My mind is completely blank.”
Harris sat himself upright, sending Troy falling into the cushion behind him. “ We would love to help,” he smacked Troy on the arm, “right?”
“Yeah, of course we’ll help you.”
“It must be perfect, it’s our first Valentine’s Day together and I promised it would be perfect.”
“What do you have planned so far?”
“Well, I was going to get flowers for him to put into a vase in the morning so he’d have something pretty to look at when he got back from classes. Then, I wanted to take him out for dinner, but I'm not sure which restaurant. The only thing I have right now is the hockey book that he has been talking about for ages, but I can’t just give him a boring book and call it a day.”
Harris is already on his phone scrolling, Troy is looking over his shoulder and watching intensely as his boyfriends continue to scroll and type on his phone at a rapid pace. “Don’t you worry, we’ll figure it out.” He opens up the notes app and shoves it in Ilya’s face, “I’m gonna take some points on my phone, tell me what he likes.”
“Well, he likes hockey, reading about hockey, eating healthy food, he’s very insistent that he sticks to his diet all the time. He likes nature, he likes going for long walks even if it’s freezing. He likes ginger ale, more like loves it actually. He also likes yoga and meditation, he tries to do it every morning before class. And he likes me, he said he likes my hair, my eyes, my mouth, my body, my-”
“Yeah, yeah, we get it, he likes you.” Troy rolled his eyes.
“I just want to make sure I get the point across.”
Troy grimaced at the remark. “I’ve walked past your room in the middle of the night before, trust me, I know how much he likes you.” That makes Ilya grin in pride, for a brief moment Troy thinks he can see a faint blush spreading across Ilya’s cheeks but before he can make a comment about it, Harris spoke up. “Okay, how about this yoga class in the morning?” He showed Ilya an Instagram page called puppy_yoga, “Then you go to your classes afterwards, my first class on Monday is with Shane and it’s at 11:30, so plenty of time. Then, you guys meet up at 6pm and you take him to L’avenue, it’s a cute French restaurant. Me and Troy went a couple months ago and it definitely has food Shane can eat. Then you can either get dessert at the restaurant or you can take him to a place down the street where they sell the most delicious gelato.”
“That is…perfect! Harris you are a genius, a full on genius!” Ilya grabbed him and planted a kiss on his cheek.
“I just planned it, it’s your job to actually book these places, Valentine’s is in 2 weeks, I would hurry up if I were you.”
“Yes. I will begin now.”
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Ilya had decided to walk to the yoga place instead of calling because Harris had warned him that places were limited usually and if there weren’t any spots, maybe he could use his charm to convince the receptionist to let him and Shane get a spot ‘magically’. He honestly didn’t mind, it wasn’t that long of a walk and it would give him a chance to see if the place lived up to its reputation.
As he opened the door, he was hit with the scent of vanilla, it was such a strong scent and he wasn’t quite sure whether he wouldn’t suffocate on it before he could make a booking. The receptionist was a young girl with tan skin and luscious black hair that was tied half up- half down. She immediately looked up from her desk and offered a gentle smile before typing away on her phone.
“Hello, you do yoga with puppies right? I was wondering if you had availability for me and another person for Valentine’s Day, Monday, 14th of Feb?”
“Yes, we do! We have just a couple more spots left, I’m glad you booked in advance, so many boyfriends come in a day before asking if we have availability, and we usually don’t. Your girlfriend is a lucky gal.” She continued clicking away on her computer humming a light tune.
“Uh, it’s for my boyfriend actually.”
She stops for a moment and looks up with a smile. “That’s adorable, actually my brother and his husband will be here on Valentine’s day too.” She hands him an I-pad that's now propped on the desk and leans in closer. “Just pick whether you want morning or evening, then choose the time, if the block is closed off, it’s because those classes are fully booked, then enter your name and credit card details and you’ll be done.”
Ilya grabs the I-pad and props it on his left hand, he selects the morning option and sees that any class after 8:30 is already full, lucky for him, Shane is an early riser. He chooses the 7:00am class, which would end the class at 8 and give Shane and Ilya plenty of time before their first class of the day. He enters all the other necessary information and hands the I-pad back to the receptionist.
“Thank you for filling it out so quickly, I’ll see you and your boyfriend in 2 weeks.”
“Thank you for the help, can I get your name?”
“Amelia” She beamed.
“Thank you Amelia, see you soon.” He walked out of the yoga place and was hit with the fresh air again, he almost forgot that the air was not always laced with vanilla. That was one thing ticked off his list. The next thing to do was book the restaurant, which Harris admitted was even harder to book.
By the time he got back to the house, Wyatt and Zane were sitting in the living area playing games with some of the other guys. He made his way to the kitchen and dialed the restaurant, after the second right he got an answer. “Hello this is L’avenue, I am Paula, how may I help you?”
“Hi Paula, I would like to book a reservation for two on Valentine’s Day.”
“Sorry Sir, it’s already fully booked for Valentine’s Day, there is a waitlist that we can put you on, so if somebody cancels, we’ll call you and let you have their spot.”
“Perfect! How long is the waitlist?”
There is a beat of silence. “There are at least 10 people waiting before you, Sir.”
Ilya frowned, there was no way he would be getting a table, his plan was ruined. “Just add me to the waitlist anyway, you never know what might happen.”
“Of course, what name should I put down?”
“Ilya Rozanov” The lady asked him to spell it out so he did, and once that was completed, he ended the call with a huff.
Ilya is spooked by the loud yell from the living room, “Roz, what’s going on, who were you calling?”
“The French restaurant I wanted to take Shane to on Valentine’s Day, but they are fully booked.”
“L’Avenue?” Luca asked. Everybody looked to him for a moment.
“And how do you know that place, you take someone there recently?” Wyatt smirked.
“No! I work there, I started a couple months ago.” He claimed.
Ilya’s eyes sparkled for just a moment, “You work there?”
“Yes?” Luca confirmed. This was going to work very well in Ilya’s favor.
“I need a hugeeee favor. Please” Ilya leaned over to Luca and offered his puppy eyes.
“Well, what do you need me to do?” He asked.
“I am currently on the waitlist for the restaurant. However, if someone were to move my name to the top, that would be very helpful.” He batted his puppy eyes once again to seal the deal.
Luca shook his head, “There’s no way. I could get in serious trouble. Plus, my manager is always watching me like a hawk since I’m still new” Okay, so the puppy eyes seem to only work on Shane, noted. This is minor setback, Ilya knows he can get Luca to help him. His desperation must be showing because Luca already looks like he regrets saying no. Ilya knows that Luca will crack within seconds, “Look, I can’t do much, but…I could ‘accidentally’ leave the back door open, and if you happen to sneak in and find the I-pad used for reservations and change your name from the bottom to the top, I would never know, because you would be completely undetectable the entire time, right?”
Ilya smirked. Poor, naïve, little Luca, if he weren’t helping him get a reservation, he might have smacked him on the head for folding so quickly. “You are a life saver Luca, thank you, thank you so much.”
“I have a shift tomorrow, it’s a Wednesday so basically nobody will be there. If you linger at the back of the restaurant around maybe 3pm when everyone is on break, I’ll probably leave the door open then.”
With a puzzled look, one of the freshmen spoke up, “Lots of work for one reservation.”
“Clearly you have never been in love.” Ilya scowled. “Shane deserves the best, and this restaurant is allegedly the best.”
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Now Ilya was standing at the back of L’Avenue trying his best not to be suspicious, it’s not hard seeing as how there was barely anybody on the street. Luca had told him to wear all black so it looked like he worked there. Luca claimed that it was a sure fire way to avoid people reporting him for lingering at the back of a restaurant, which Ilya had thought was ridiculous. Hopefully the plan would work or else Luca would have a stroke.
He was getting more weary as time went on, he considered lighting a cigarette to make time go faster but then he heard the faint click of a door opening. He edged closer to the door and saw that it had finally been unlocked, no Luca in sight, just like he had said. He had told Luca to go to the opposite side of the restaurant so that if he was caught, it wouldn’t look like Luca had let him in. He pushed the door open and saw the kitchen was empty, everyone must be in the dining area having their break. He looked around and saw the I-pad that Luca had mentioned, he swiped and it unlocked instantly. He found the calendar app and found the page for Valentine’s Day bookings. He quickly switched his name by deleting it and retyping it at the top. After a quick glance around the kitchen he could understand why it had such a good reputation, the kitchen looked very high end. He quickly placed the I-pad down and left the restaurant.
Luca
Ilya:
Done
Luca:
Oh thank goodness
Now I can relax
Ilya:
I told you I would be stealthy
Luca:
Just because you say it doesn’t mean you’ll do it
Ilya:
Thank you Luca
Luca:
You’re welcome
Ilya rolled his eyes jokingly. Luca would live a much easier life if he was as calm and collected as he was. He quickly made a call to a diner that he and Shane frequented quite often, obviously they had a space available on Valentine’s Day but he wanted to be sure, just as a backup plan. The last things he had to figure out were the flowers. Harris had sent him the link to a beautiful place that was only a 10 minute drive from the college. He put it in his calendar to remember to pick up the flowers the day before and keep them fresh in a vase for the morning after. He had already pre-ordered a bouquet of roses, lilies and tulips and he hoped it lived up to Shane’s standards.
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2 weeks later, 14th of February 2011
“Now, what the hell are you doing up at 6am?” Wyatt asked.
Ilya went straight to the cupboard to grab himself some breakfast, “I am going to puppy yoga with Shane,” he pours himself some cereal and adds the milk, Wyatt watched as he scoffed it down as quickly as possible. “It’s Valentine’s day, did you forget?”
Wyatt murmured into his cup of tea "Of course not. What happened with your reservation at L'avenue? Did you get a spot?"
"They called 2 days ago, so we're all set there." Ilya smiled as he put his snow boots on. "Why, you looking to take our spot?"
"Obviously not, I have a beautiful date with Lisa planned, but I doubt it'll compare to puppy yoga and a French restaurant." He rolled his eyes.
Ilya smiled as he grabbed the bouquet from the vase in the living room. “Better luck next year then.” He walked out without another word and trekked up to Shane’s dorm.
Wyatt stayed in the kitchen with the hot cup of tea steaming in his hands, “Couldn’t sleep?” He asked Luca.
“Something like that.” Luca grumbled wearily.
Wyatt hummed, “It’s sweet, isn’t it? He’s going to puppy yoga with Shane, I never thought I’d ever hear of Roz doing something like that, especially this early in the morning.”
“It is sweet. I'm glad they have one another.” Luca smiled.