Archive of Our Own

After the pasta and emotional conversation of the night, Ilya and Shane lounge on the couch; feet touching, Ilya with no shirt, Shane with a cozy blanket on his lap, warm herbal tea in their mugs.

Boyfriends.

They labeled themselves today. Granted, Shane wishes it hadn't happened at his parents dining table — the same table where he cried at eight when he broke a finger at practice, where he did his algebra homework at when he was fourteen, where his mom gave him The Talk at sixteen.

Shane wishes he could have told his parents on his own time. He wishes him and Ilya could have had the boyfriend discussion on their own, privately.

But, looking across the couch at his handsome boyfriend, he can't bring himself to regret anything that happened today.

Even his dad watching Ilya grope his ass seems inconsequential in the big scheme of things.

Ilya frowns at him. Uh oh, he's been caught.

"What? I have sauce on my face still?" Ilya asks with a subconscious wipe of his face.

"No," Shane assures. "I just love you."

Ilya melts instantly. "Я тоже тебя люблю."

Shane wiggles his foot against his boyfriend's in a fit of cuteness aggression before tearing his eyes away. He's not ready for round two for the day, and if he keeps staring at Ilya, that's exactly what would happen.

Shane pulls his phone out, planning on aimlessly scrolling on YouTube Shorts, when an unused app catches his attention.

Facebook.

The app must be in deep-sleep because Shane can't even remember the last time it's been opened.

He has a personal account, privated with only family members as friends. Nothing extravagant or excessive.

Shane glances at Ilya again before pressing on the blue icon.

Shane and Ilya might not be able to be public. They might be closeted for the next decade, fighting to keep this relationship going until they can be in the same city together.

There's one small thing Shane could do for them. No one will know, but Shane will.

That's all that matters.

First, he finds Ilya's own personal Facebook — not private, the idiot — and sends a friend request to him.

First step, done.

Next, he navigates to his personal Facebook page and presses the Edit button beside Personal details.

He stares at Relationship status for a few seconds before clicking it.

Status: In a relationship

Add partner:

Shane types in Ilya's name.

He presses Save.

Shane smiles to himself as he closes out Facebook, an app to be forgotten again until his next birthday when Yuna makes him respond to well-wishers, and opens his Kindle app instead of YouTube.

It's nice to do nice things for your boyfriend, even if no one else will ever know it.

Shane and Ilya's time on the couch quickly turned into round two shortly after his status change. Once Shane told Ilya about the private Facebook status, there was only one thought on the Russian's mind.

Which means, Shane wakes up the next morning to a flood of notifications on his phone.

Shane pales instantly as he reads through the seemingly endless texts from relatives and highschool friends. What post? All he did on Facebook last night was—

Holy shit holy shit holy shit

With shaking hands, he hurries back to the damned blue app and presses his profile picture.

Right there, on his timeline, is an update:

Shane Hollander is in a relationship with Ilya Rozanov

Fucking holy flamingo shit balls

He's going to die. That's all there is to it. Shane has to die.

Because he thought he did something really really sweet and private and important, but instead? He outted himself to everyone on his Facebook!

He outed Ilya to everyone on his Facebook!

"Hmm, Shane?" Ilya groans from beside him in bed, completely unaware of the mess that's happening on this side of the bed. "Lay back down. Is too early."

"Ilya-"

"Shhh, you no think. Close eyes, sleep. Sun is barely awake, shhh."

"Ilya, I-I can't, uh…"

What the hell is he supposed to say?

Ilya frowns and starts to sit up. "Okay, we get up. Is okay." He checks the time on his phone. "Is six AM, but yes- Oh, why do I have texts from Yuna?"

"Uhh…"

Shane knows why. Because he's on the same text feed that Ilya is on.

Ilya looks over at Shane after he finishes reading. He doesn't look angry, just confused.

"It is early, yes? Maybe my English is not awake, but-"

"Everyone saw my Facebook post last night."

Ilya blinks slowly before nodding. "Yes, this is what I thought Yuna means."

Shane springs out of bed to start pacing. Movement is good. If he's moving then the ground of disappointment and desire can't grab his foot and pull him under.

"Fuck, Ilya, I am so sorry! I thought it was a private update! I didn't know it would shout it to my whole family and tell everyone! Holy shit, my whole family knows-"

"Shane."

"Everyone knows I'm gay. Holy fucking Christ on a banana split, fuck me."

Ilya's on the edge of the bed, hesitant to stop Shane from pacing, but unwilling to allow him to spiral. "Shane, calm down. Everything will be okay."

Shane pauses for a moment, staring at his boyfriend. "You know how yesterday, I said that was my literal nightmare? I was wrong. This is it. Yesterday, it was just my dad. Today, this is three hundred people who know now. My grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, old friends, highschool teachers, my Timbits coach! Everyone knows, Ilya."

Ilya nods his head without breaking eye contact. "Yes, okay. World still in one piece, yes?" He carefully stands and grabs Shane's hands. "You woke up from nightmare yesterday. Let's do it again, okay?"

Shane wants to droop into Ilya's arms. He wants to melt into a pool of Shane Essence and feel Ilya's warm through his body. He resists though, unsure of if he's allowed anymore.

"Ilya, I outted you, too," Shane said slowly. "You understand that, right? Your name is right next to mine."

Ilya nods in confirmation and pulls his boyfriend into a concerningly warm hug. "Yes. Our names look sexy together. Very sexy names."

"Shut up," Shane mutters into Ilya's chest.

"No, never."

Written by a human in Ellipsus.