Work Text:
“Shane… Shane,” Ilya whispered gently as his hand slowly rubbed Shane's back. Shane woke up in a panic. Ilya only wakes me up if it's an emergency and he’s never awake before me, this must be serious.
“What! What?” Shane croaks out, his throat hoarse and dry. He chokes out a cough. “What happened? Is Anya okay?”
“Yes malysh, everything is okay. I was just worried because you were not awake yet.” Ilya places a hand on Shane's forehead, “Wow. You are warm. I knew it, you are not well. I will text Coach. We will not be there, husband is very sick and he needs me more than the team does”
“No, Ilya, I’m fine, really.” Shane coughs again. His throat screaming at the abrasion. Shane hates being sick. For one, he feels terrible, and secondly, it throws off his whole schedule. No training, no early mornings, different food. It's all too much. But luckily, he doesn’t have to think about any of that anymore now that Ilya is here.
“No. You are not fine. I will go downstairs and make you nice breakfast, and you will stay here. You will not try to help or try to go to gym. I know you.”
“Fine.”
Ilya leaves with a gentle kiss on Shane’s forehead and ventures down into the kitchen. He first grabs his phone and drafts his message to Wiebe.
Ilya: Shane and I will not be a practice. Shane is sick and dying and I must attend to husband.
Coach: Noted. Thanks for letting me know. Ilya, help him, but don’t get sick yourself. We have a big game against Boston in a few weeks. I need you both healthy.
Ilya: I will try my best ;)
Ilya set his phone down and immediately went to the fridge to grab the ingredients for Shane's disgusting morning smoothie. But, he also grabbed ginger, to help with the muscle aches Shane always gets when he’s sick, and extra strawberries to boost his vitamin C. He blended the smoothie until it turned its disgusting shade of brown, poured it in a cup and put it on a tray with a spoonful of honey accompanying it.
Ilya approached the bedroom door and found Shane back asleep. He must really be sick, Ilya thought before knocking gently on the door frame.
“Sweetheart, I am back with breakfast.” Ilya cooed. He set the tray on Shane’s lap as he sat up against the headboard. Shane’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the spoonful of honey.
“Ilya, do you know how much sugar that is?”
“Shane, you are so boring. Honey will help your throat, soothe your screaming esophagus.” Shane rolls his eyes. “And besides, is good natural sugar. Has immunity benefits.”
Shane reluctantly puts the whole spoonful in his mouth and swallows. Although he doesn’t admit it, it feels damn good going down. He will have to figure out a subtle way to ask for more of that later. Maybe tea?
“I also added extra to your smoothie. Ginger and strawberry, to help with your frail body.”
“I am not frail, it's just a little cold,” Shane says as a chill runs over his body.
“Right, just a cold” Ilya mocks as he wraps another blanket around his husband.
“Thank you Ilya.”
Ilya slips into bed next to Shane, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and bringing him into his chest to cuddle, being careful to not spill the fresh smoothie on the clean sheets. Ilya does not want Shane to stress more than he already is.
Ilya leans in to kiss Shane, “Wait.” Shane says, “I don’t want to get you sick too, we have that Boston game coming up.”
“So what am I supposed to do? Go days without kissing my gorgeous husband with the sexy freckles? I do not care about sick. Russians do not get sick.” and then he leans in and plants a long, loving kiss on his husband's lips, feeling the warmth radiate from his aching body.
Shane takes a few sips of his smoothie before deciding that more rest would be necessary. Ilya takes the smoothie from Shane after tucking him into bed and runs downstairs to place it in the fridge. Shane would not like the texture of a lukewarm smoothie.
Ilya goes back upstairs as quickly and quietly as he can and slips back into bed with Shane. Shane feels the dip of the mattress and leans into Ilya’s warmth.
The two husbands lie there for a while. Ilya doesn’t fall asleep, he is too warm from Shane’s burning body and is determined to make sure he is ready and available to do whatever Shane needs. And also Ilya just likes laying there watching Shane sleep as he runs his hands through his dark, coarse hair.
After a few hours, Shane wakes up in a sweat. He didn’t realize how warm he got. Ilya is still wrapped around him and running his hand along the back of Shane’s neck. Shane turns over to face Ilya, “This bed feels gross.”
“You want to go downstairs? I can make soup and we can watch one of your boring movies?”
“Uh yeah that sounds nice.”
“I will go prep the couch, you stay here.” Ilya gets up to leave before his wrist gets grabbed by Shane.
“Wait, I need to shower. I feel disgusting. Will you help me?”
Ilya flashes a gentle smile, “Of course moya lyubov.”
Ilya helps Shane out of bed and assists him in stripping off his sweaty boxers and t-shirt. Ilya leaves Shane on the bed as he goes to warm up the shower.
Ilya fetches Shane from their bedroom and helps him into the warm shower. The warm water and steam immediately melt Shane’s body aches and help clear his sinuses. He is relaxed by the continuous connection of Ilya’s hands rubbing soap up and down his body. The touch is chaste and unhurried.
Ilya can feel Shane drifting to sleep again so he makes a point to rinse off the suds, turn off the water, and wrap Shane in a warm towel. Ilya taps his shoulder, “Shane, you need to stay awake just a few minutes longer. I will go grab you clothes, can you dry yourself off for me?”
Shane nods slowly as he moves the towel across his body, his eyelids heavy and his body aches returning. Ilya returns to the bathroom to see Shane staring at himself in the mirror, his eyes lifeless and his eyelids betraying his efforts to stay awake. Ilya taps Shane’s right arm to let him know that he has clothes for him to put on.
“Can you clothe yourself or do you need me to help?”
“Help please” Shane whispers.
Ilya helps Shane into his sweatpants and t-shirt, before lifting him bridal style and helping him downstairs. Ilya sets Shane down on the couch before running to grab him a spare set of pillows and sheets for the couch. Ilya tucks Shane in on the couch, although Shane has already fallen asleep again.
Anya hops up on the couch and snuggles up next to Shane. Ilya beams as he looks at his little family.
Shane wakes up to the droning sound of quiet talking on the TV and steaming bowl of soup on the coffee table in front of him. Ilya walks over to the couch with a glass of water and sits by Shane’s feet. “The soup will be hot, but you should drink water. Liquids will help flush the sickness.”
Shane takes a few slow sips from the glass.
“Thank you for everything today Ilya. You didn’t have to. I know I’m a lot to handle when I’m sick. If you don’t want to keep doing this I can just call my mom its real-”
“Shane, please. You act like this is torture for me! Oh no! I have to take care and hang out with my husband all day. And we made a vow, did we not? In sickness and in health? I will always be here for you moya lyubov, I love you.”
“I love you, Ilya.”