Summary:

They’re in Boston on Ilya’s couch when it happens. They’ve lapsed into a comfortable silence, a muted game on in the background, Ilya’s head in Shane’s lap and Shane’s fingers in his hair. Ten minutes ago, they were tugging and twisting and curling; four minutes ago, they grew slow and tepid. When they go entirely still, Ilya turns in his lap to look up at him, ready to chirp him for falling asleep, but his breath catches in his throat at what he finds instead. Shane is not asleep, but he is not awake either. While visiting his boyfriend, Shane has a verbal shutdown in front of a woefully-unprepared Ilya for the first time.