em’s Reviews > The Long Game > Status Update

"What I'm trying to say, and Yuna's always been the better speaker, is I've always felt so lucky to have a son as wonderful as Shane that I never expected to be blessed with a second one."

"It is. We are engaged." Ilya was still getting used to saying those words aloud. To believing them.
"Then Shane Hollander is a lucky man"

"You are Shane fucking Hollander," Ilya growled. "If you ever forget that, I will drag you back in here and fuck you until you remember."

“Walking into the Montreal Voyageurs Locker room at the practice facility was the hardest thing Shane had ever forced himself to do.
For a long moment, he stood, frozen, just inside the door while everyone in the room—the men he loved like broth-ers—stared at him with obvious disgust. He felt sick. Or like his heart might explode.”

“Ilya wanted to say something obnoxious about how all of Shane's food restrictions and self-sacrifice translated to exactly one three seconds’ worth of athletic supremacy, but he decided to let Shane enjoy his victory instead.”

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"You should Bo be with your team." Ilya sighed. "Probably. Yes."
"Call me tomorrow. Or later tonight if you want. I'll just be, y'know, freaking out in my hotel room."
"Don't. Jerk off or something instead. Send me pictures."

“Shane realized that most of Ilya's posts were, in weird cryptic ways, about Shane. His entire account was like a secret diary of their relationship, full of inside jokes and little references that only Shane would understand.

How could Shane have doubted for a second how fiercely Ilya loved him?”

"What? No way. Fuck that. Answer the question."
"No," Ilya said firmly.
Because Shane couldn't leave anything alone, he asked agaın,
"Would you choose me?"

Ilya didn't want to fight. He was exhausted, and miserable, and his boyfriend was breaking his fuking heart.
Quietly, in a voice that couldn't disguise his pain, he said,
"I already chose you, Hollander."