Summary:

"Yes. Not a big party. It will be chill. Mostly just the team and partners. Bood has fun parties." Ilya wasn't meeting his eyes. Shane still didn't know what to say, and he still had no clue why Ilya had brought it up. "Oh." Ilya looked up at him then. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed, his jaw tight. Something was going unsaid. Is he asking me for permission? Honestly, Shane wanted to tell him no. Ilya going to that party felt like a waste of their time together, and they got so little of it. Still, if he really wanted to go, Shane wouldn't stop him. "Did you want to go or something?" Shane asked. He pulled the pillow out of his lap. His feet had been tucked under his legs, so he moved them to be flat on the ground. "I could stay here, I guess. Or head back to—" "I want you to go too. I want you to come with me to the party." The Boxing Day fight from chapter 22 of The Long Game, from Shane's perspective. (AKA "I already chose you, Hollander.")