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“Mom, we have been over this a million times. Just drop it.” Shane grumbles.
“Well, I am just making sure we are both getting ahead of this and doing what we need to make sure you guys are in control of the information and the situation.” Yuna replied.
Ilya, Shane and his parents were once again gathered around the table in David and Yuna’s cottage. This was the third dinner the four had shared and just like the last two, Yuna inevitably found a way to talk optics and strategy. Shane was getting frustrated. His relationship with Ilya wasn’t about optics and strategy. That’s not where he wanted the focus to be. He certainly did not want their happy cottage bubble being popped by the reality of the outside world.
Ilya was enjoying his dinner, seemingly oblivious to the tension between mother and son. Seemingly. The truth of it was that he was laser focused on Shane, ready to provide comfort or distraction if needed.
David, having watched many such interactions between his wife and son, bounced his eyes back and forth between them, ready to diffuse the situation.
Shane sighed, “I know, but I just want to enjoy dinner and our last few days here. Just drop it.”
“Fine, I will drop it. For now, but we need to have a plan. And several contingency plans. I just want you safe and happy. Both of you.” She smiles softly over at the young man that was the last person she ever expected to be welcoming into her family. After watching the interactions between Ilya and her son over these dinners, she is more than happy to have the Russian here. That man loves her son. It is written in every look, touch, and words exchanged.
Ilya looked up, beaming at the other three. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“Ilya, for the last time, call me Yuna! I insist.”
“Ok. Thank you, Yuna.”
Beneath the table, Shane slides his foot over, tapping Ilya’s.
“This is the last thing I will say about it, and then I will not talk about it until we are home. I know you only have a few days left up here and while it is private, we still have to be mindful of certain things. Pictures. Pictures and the cloud. We know those things get hacked. I don’t know how many pictures you two have together, or… what kind…”
“MOM!”
“I’m just saying, we know that leaks happen from hacking so I want you to both be careful about how you store your photos together.”
“We don’t even have any pictures together.” Shane mutters.
With a frown, Yuna says, “All this time and no photos…”
“Is not true.” Ilya jumps in.
“Ilya, I’m not talking about pictures of us in games or from interviews. And the commercial doesn’t really count. Those are of us as rivals, not of us as… us. Not taken by us. Not on our phones.”
“I know. I have photo of us. Photo I took on my phone.”
“What? When?”
“Awards show. It was part of skit, but I did not delete. I kept.”
“Really?”
“Yes. When safe I set as phone background. See.” Ilya holds up his phone, screen lit up and shows it to everyone around the table.
Yuna felt her heart soften even more toward Ilya. “You really set that as your background?”
“Yes. Whenever safe. Alone in hotel, at home, here. Then change back before I leave.”
“That wasn’t exactly a great night. And Ilya, that’s a terrible photo of me!”
“No. Is cute. You look like little deer. Like Bambi. Big eyes. Very cute.”
“I was freaked out. Up on stage with all those lights and cameras and you were touching me. We hadn’t talked in months and I was completely freaked!"
“Yes. Like I said, is cute.”
Yuna jumped in, “If you don’t love that picture, I can take a new one for you and he can use that instead.”
“No! If someone finds that photo on his phone, he can explain it away as not caring enough to delete it or it being a joke to mess with me. He couldn’t do that with a different photo. Too many celebs and athletes have had photos on their phones leaked. It’s just not safe.”
“I just think it is sad that you don’t have pictures together. Especially since you have to spend so much time apart.”
“Yeah, mom. It sucks. Trust me, I am aware. Can we drop this too.” Shane says, staring down at his plate. Ilya puts his hand on the back of Shane’s neck, squeezing gently before running his hand down to Shane’s lower back, rubbing gentle circles.
“Is ok. Whenever I miss him, we have Facetime. Sometimes I get to see those glasses he wear.” Ilya says, smiling softly at his boyfriend.
Meanwhile, David quietly stood up and left the room. For a few moments, there was nothing more than the sound of cutlery hitting plates.
“Yuna, the salmon is very good. The pasta was better, but this is very good.”
Yuna chuckled softly, “Thank you, Ilya. It is one of Shane’s favorites. Do you like to cook? I can send you the recipe.”
“Sometimes I cook. I cook for Shane. I would like recipe. Thank you.”
“He makes a great tuna melt.” Shane says, finally raising his head and smiling at Ilya.
David comes back in the room, holding an old shoe box. He places it on the table, between Shane and Ilya.
“What is this?” Shane asks, looking toward his dad.
“Open it.” David responds.
Ilya quickly reaches over and takes off the lid. His eyes light up as he sees the old polaroids of young Shane.
“Baby Shane!” he exclaims, pulling out a handful of pictures, looking through them. There were pictures of Shane with ice cream smeared all over his face, him in swim trunks racing toward the lake, him smiling broadly toward the camera, freckles on display, front teeth missing, and a few of Yuna and David. Ilya was beaming as he sorted through.
Shane, however, couldn’t take his eyes off the other object in the box. The old Polaroid camera. He slowly reached for it.
“I bought it for you to use at the cottage, when you were a kid. I have been holding on to it for all these years. I think it is time you took it back. Take it to your cottage. I popped in some fresh batteries and there is plenty of film. It’s ready to rock and roll.”
“Thank you, dad.”
Shane carefully picked up the camera, pointed it at Ilya, and took a candid picture of the beaming Russian looking over at him.
“Ah!” Ilya shouted, startled by the flash. “I was not ready!”
Shane grabbed the photo the camera spit out and started to shake it.
Confusion clouded Ilya’s face. “Why you do this?”
“You’ll see.” Shane grins mischievously.
“No. Tell me!”
“Here. Look.” Shane holds the picture up for Ilya to see.
“Ah! So quick! Now you!” Ilya reaches over, grabbing the camera and snapping a picture of Shane with a small grin across his face. He pulls the picture out and start shaking. Exclaiming loudly when Shane’s face appears, “Yes! Perfect! Now together!” He quickly hands the camera to Yuna, wrapping an arm around Shane and pulling him in close.
Yuna takes the picture. She takes the photo out and hands it over to Shane. Once developed, the image staring back at him shows Ilya with a massive grin across his face, staring straight at the camera. In the photo, Shane is not looking at the camera, but instead is glancing over at Ilya, a grin spreading wide across his face. He starts to feel the heat behind his eyes and the tears build. Yuna, noticing the tears building, stands, grabs David’s hand and gently leads him out of the room, “Come help me get dessert ready.”
Ilya looks up from the photo he took of Shane. His smile falters as the first tear falls down Shane’s face. He gently reaches up and brushes it away with his thumb. “Hey. It is ok. Everything is ok. This is a good thing, no? We can have pictures of each other and together. We can have pictures to take with us. This is good!”
“Yes. This is good. These are happy tears. I know we can’t have a normal relationship. Not now. But having a picture together, having a picture of me with my boyfriend, well that feels normal. I am happy.”
“Good. Yes. Pictures are normal. I like this too. Very happy. Come here.” He pulls Shane in close. Holding him tight until the tears stop.
“You done? Because now we need another one together. No fair that you have one of me and one of us and I only have one of you. I want one together. One I can have with me, always.”
“Always?”
“Yes. Always. I want you with me always, but this do for now.”
“Ok, then let’s get you one of us together.” Shane says softly, hand reaching out to grab Ilya’s hand, “Mom?” he calls out.
Yuna quickly comes back in the room, pie in hand, David trailing behind, “Yes?”
“Can you take another picture of us together, so that Ilya has one too.”
“Of course.” Yuna takes the camera as the two men snuggle in close, “Smile!”
This time, Shane’s face splits into a huge, dorky smile, while Ilya is glancing over toward his boyfriend with a soft smile and eyes brimming with emotion. Yuna hands the photo to Ilya for him to shake.
A moment later Ilya looks up, smiling broadly, “Perfect. Picture is perfect.”