Summary:

“I said I’m fine.” “You don’t sound fine.” “Why does it matter how I sound?” Ilya spins back around, frustration spilling over. “Why is there always something? Tone, face, body language. Maybe I’m just fucking tired, Shane. Maybe I don’t have the energy to be ‘okay’ correctly.” Shane swallows. “I’m not asking you to be okay.” “It feels like it,” Ilya scoffs. “It feels like if I don’t say the right words, if I don’t say them the right way, you’ll keep pushing until you get something out of me.” — Ilya’s mother’s birthday sends Ilya down a rough episode, in which Shane tries understanding him.