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Shane didn't see it coming, his gaze focused on his rival-full of sweat, grin slowly dropping knowing he can't save Shane in time. He caught his breath as the referee shoved him away from the scene, Marleau being attacked by Hayden as more and more noise surrounded him-paramedics surrounded Shane trying to put him onto the stretcher. Ilya stood there quietly with emotions even he can't explain, tears formed little by little in his eyes, was this the end? Was he never going to see Shane ever again? Will this be the last time they would share a night together? His vision blurred as droplets of his tears came down crashing. He looked to the side, Shane's coach contacting someone-more likely to be his parents with a worried expression on his face as he followed the paramedics. The referee breaking down the fight with Hayden and Marleau, the camera zoomed in to Ilya-commenting on his facial expression using dialogue to keep the viewers entertained, one thing was on Ilya's mind "It's over isn't it?".
Shane struggled on the stretcher, he wanted to assure that Ilya was alright and doing well even after what just happened, he wasn’t sure if this was it and that they wouldn’t get to see each other one more time.
“I need you to stay awake, Okay Shane?” One paramedic asked Shane.
Shane cleared his throat trying to respond to whoever's asking him to stay awake, wishing it was Ilya.
“My parents,” Shane answered.
The paramedic answered quickly while moving the stretcher. “Your parents? Your coach is calling them, Ok?”
Shane moved his head a little, feeling dizzy and on the brink of losing consciousness-trying to answer. “Tell him I'm fine, I'm okay.”
The paramedic replied, “Tell who?”
Shane almost formed a tear trying to bear the pain, "He's gonna worry.”
“The coach is calling your dad.” The paramedic responded, assuming Shane was referring to his Father.
“No, not him, Ilya.” Shane’s words became more and more quiet, making it harder for the paramedic to understand.
“Who? Hey Shane, you really need to keep your eyes open, Ok?” The paramedic didn’t really hear Shane at that last part-considering he was doing other things than talking to Shane.
Shane’s vision went completely dark, he doesn't really remember what happened before he passed out, he knows he said some words but he doesn’t clearly remember them. He opened his eyes to reveal a hospital room, ah yes he finally remembers what happened now, he thinked for a bit until 5 seconds later a familiar face walked in the room, the person was panting-it seemed like he was sprinting all the way over to Shane’s room.
The person finally faced Shane-
“Hayden?..” Shane revealed a little smile as Hayden walked straight to him, his eyes looked tired like he was crying this whole time.
“Are u alright? The team was worried about you man.” Hayden sat down next to Shane, both palms on his face as he cooled down.
“Yeah I'm fine, tell the team I'm doing fine.” Shane looked at Hayden with a worried expression. “You should get some rest-you look like you need it more than me.” Shane let out a small chuckle at Hayden to cheer him up.
“Yeah I should go, take care dont force yourself out of this hospital unless you're recovered, if you do I will not hesitate to hunt you down.” Hayden said jokingly as he waved goodbye.
A couple of hours went by-Shane was still awake trying to find a good position on this god-forsaken bed, facing the wall thinking of Ilya as two people walked into the room.
“Shane? Honey?” A woman's voice filled the room with so much love with just two words, Shane locked eyes with the woman-his Mom. Next to her was the person he looked up to-his Dad.
“We brought you food thinking you might need it.” Shane's Mom stepped in closer, giving comfort to Shane, “Are you doing fine? Do you need something?” Her words filled Shane's heart with care.
“No Mom I'm fine, great actually since both you and Dad are here” Shane replied to his Mom knowing those words he said were true, he was glad they came to visit him.
“Take care, get some rest sweetie” His Mom placed the food her husband prepared near Shane, both of them left the room hands intertwined.
At that point it was at least 6PM that time and Shane was really tired after filling his tummy with the yummy food his Dad made for him. A couple of nurses went to his room making sure he was doing fine and luckily he'd be out of there in 1 week or so. Already in a perfectly good position to sleep Shane decided to rest until someone walked into the room, who was it? Another nurse probably-going to ask him about what he was feeling or if he needed anything, Shane just kept his eyes closed assuming it was a nurse ready to respond to their questions.
“I'm doing fine thank you I also don't need anything, I don't need any help I'm perfectly fine I don't nee-” Shane was about to finish his sentence as someone cupped his cheek, he wasn't sure if this was one of the nurses checking pulse type of thing. He opened his eyes revealing that one person he was waiting for-was this a dream? Was he dreaming?
A name came out of Shane's mouth as he smiled looking directly at that person,
“Ilya..” Tears formed in Shane's eyes-giving him deja vu about that one night he thought he would lose Ilya, droplets fell down as the other tears ran down his face. Scared it was a dream he pulled in Ilya for a sweet memorable kiss, no it wasn't those kisses they shared during their night meetings it was different- it was filled with gentle care and love. They both pulled away to catch their breath, looking at each other with pure love.
“Shane.” Ilya caressed Shane's hair as his hand slowly moved to Shane's face to wipe his tears.
“Why are you here?” Shane said in a low tone, it was just 10 seconds before Ilya replied but for him it felt like an eternity.
“I wanted to see how you were doing, I'm guessing someone beat me to it, sorry I couldn't come sooner” Ilya finally replied.
“No, it's fine, don't blame yourself, I know you have other things to do that are
important.” Shane held Ilya’s hand in comfort, to Ilya those ‘important things’ are actually just him thinking how to greet Shane in the hospital.
“Shane.” Ilya looked at Shane with nervousness.
“Ilya?.." Shane was scared thinking about the worst things Ilya could say right now. But none of those were on Ilya's mind.
Ilya held both of Shane's hands, looking at him with eyes Shane has seen every time they meet at each other's hotel room. At first Ilya hesitated on what he was about to say, breaking down each word in his mind.
“ya tebya lyublyu.“
Those words that Ilya longed to say face to face with Shane, the man he only loved.
Shane looked at Ilya, he was sure he heard those words before- and then it clicked. The day where Ilya didn't fly to Nashville because his dad died, Shane told Ilya to say everything he felt but in Russian even though he couldn't understand him, he closed his eyes trying to understand one single sentence in that call. “ya tebya lyublyu” Ilya said in a sentence he recalled, he never knew what it meant until he heard it in some videos on YouTube. Connecting the dots- that means “ya tebya lyublyu” means-
“I love you too.”
Shane said louder than he should've, Ilya looked amused at what Shane responded.
And Ilya knew there was only one thing to do.
He pulled him into one final kiss, cherishing it as one of his treasured moments, repeating the same word over and over again until that's the only thing Shane would remember that night.
“ya tebya lyublyu.”
Irina would've loved him.