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Shane is happy Ilya was able to secure a spot on a team in Canada so they could be closer to one another. Estatic about it—really—most days. What he wasn’t expecting was for Ilya to get into watching anime, and demanding that they watch one together. Each new episode, once a week, while they were both home. If they’re too busy, then they let the episodes pile up so they can binge them together on a day off when they’re not otherwise preoccupied.
Today, after two weeks of being busy, and only a quick meet up earlier in the week, it’s finally time to catch up on the latest episodes. The latest is season 3, episode 29, “Deku vs. Kacchan, Part 2”.
As they settle into the couch and press play on the episode, Shane can’t help but feel like Ilya has something to say. It’s more of an observation thanks to him noticing Ilya chewing at the inside of his bottom lip as he pressed play on the remote. Whatever it is, Shane isn’t going to ask if he’s not ready to tell.
He’s learned to not question what’s happing in the Russian’s head a majority of the time to avoid roping himself into Ilya’s plans. The last time he questioned him was what got him stuck watching this show.
The episode starts with a small recap. Bakugou and Midoriya were about to talk, or more than likely fight thanks to all of their previous interactions. The blonde still angry that Midoriya suddenly had a quirk and could actually compete with him.
As the fight starts, Ilya speaks quietly to Shane. Like the characters might hear what he has to say and he doesn’t want to interrupt them.
“So we think the blonde one and the one with green hair get together, yes?” Ilya turns to look at Shane’s face only to see his eyes still fixed on the screen. The yelling coming from the tv continues, along with the sound of an explosion.
“What do you mean?”
“They have been friends almost their entire lives, and now that they’re rivals, and can fight one another, there is even more tension. Like there are feeling they cannot talk about, so they should just kiss and figure it out.”
Shane reaches for the remote and pauses the show. Unable to continue watching while Ilya demands his attention to this very non-important conversation.
“What makes you think they’re gonna kiss? They’re kids.”
“We were kids, and we kissed and figured it out.”
Shane’s mouth opens and quickly closes so he can swallow back the words that instantly die in his throat because he’s right. When they met, they were basically kids, still unsure of their place in the world and figuring out what they wanted from life. Making their way into the hockey world and building their images.
“The blonde one is obviously not straight, and the way he constantly talks about and thinks of Deku and how he’s going to surpass him sounds familiar, yes?”
“I mean, yeah, but it’s different.”
“Different how?” Ilya leans back into the couch, his arms stratching over the back of it as he looks at Shane with a curious gaze. Challenging him to convince him otherwise.
“They have quirks, Rozanov, there’s no way you would know they’re going to get together. Their story is still being written. Plus, I’m pretty sure being gay is like, super taboo in Japan, so it’s not possible for them to be a thing.” Shane lets out a small huff before Ilya speaks.
“Are you using your eyes, Hollander? The entire show so far has been all about these two and the weird shit they have going on. Sure, the one didn’t think he was special, but now that they’re more like equals they have the chance to figure it out. It’s obvious.”
“Yeah, cuz you know when someone’s being obvious…”
Ilya groans at the statement as his right hand covers his forehead then slides down his face. He uses the same hand to reach for the remote in Shane’s hand, pressing play so they can keep watching. Shane settles back into the couch and refocuses on the screen.
Bakugou watches from the ground as Midoriya reaches out his hand to him. Offering help, just like he does in the vision that pops onto the screen almost everytime they have some kind of interaction that leads to Bakugou feeling smaller than he truly is. Like his need for help, whether he wants it or not, makes him weaker than everybody else. Meanwhile, the green haired boy stands there, watching, and waiting. Unable to do anyything more than offer his hand and listen to the blonde rant about how terrible he was. How weak he was.
As the blonde wipes the tears from his face, Shane can’t help but flinch at the sight. The struggle he’s going through—they’re going through—and how they’re choosing to handle it as Midoriya restarts the fight. The internal monolgue from him about knowing this is how he vents his emotions, and his choice to stay so they can get through this together.
The episode plays, and the fight is a good watch. It’s when Bakugou tells Midoriya he must have thought he was so much better than him that the tone shifts again with Midoriya’s response.
“All Might was my hero, but you were the one actually in my life.”
Shane can feel his lips part as he takes a quick breath in.
“Told you so,” Ilya chimes as the episode continues.
“Fuck off, Rozanov.”
They sit in silence for a minute before Midoriya says yet another heart wrenching line. “Without meaning to, I start talking like you.”
Ilya chuckles at the line, and Shane can’t help but turn to look at him so he can see that playful smile lingering on Ilya’s lips as his eyes stay glued to the screen. Before he can ask what’s so funny, his mind processes what it is. His interaction with Scott Hunter on the ice. One of the few times he’s gotten into it on the ice with another player.
When Scott said that Shane sounded like him. It was something so insignificant, that Shane hadn’t even realize he’d done it at first, always too focused on the game to throw jabs at fellow players.
“Stop it,” Shane grumbles, shifting so he can move further from Ilya, but a hand grabs his shoulder and presses him closer. So he has no choice but to lean into the solid torso next to him, his cheek against Ilya’s chest before he looks back to the tv and sees the fight supposedly over. Bakogou holding Midoriya against the ground, a hand on his face, and the other holding and arm at his side and a foot on the other as they both try to catch their breath.
He can feel Ilya’s chin press against the top of his head. “Not a word,” Shane warns him.
Ilya hums in response, and Shane lets out a sigh through his now, knowing that he doesn’t need to hear another word from Ilya’s mouth. He did, in fact, use his eyes, and he doesn’t need Ilya to say ‘told you so’ again.
Instead, he sits and watches, feeling that smaller flicker of hope in his chest for two animated characters on a screen that he remembers feeling years ago. The hope that things could work out, and that chasing your rival could lead to so much more. That maybe, one day, they could work together in a way that matched how they felt rather than how the world saw them. As more than some heated rivalry