1 – 1 of 1 Work in Domestic Softness

  • Domestic Softness ×

  1. The Long Weekend by

    Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid
    • G
    • ✓

    2025-12-22

    A long weekend at Shane’s cottage is meant to be quiet, private, and uncomplicated. Then Ilya discovers canoes, wildlife, and the exact limits of Shane’s patience—and somewhere between turtles, bets, and stolen kisses, Shane realizes he’s already given Ilya more than a key. The cottage is supposed to be peaceful. That’s the whole point of it—Shane’s place, tucked into the trees where no one bothers them, where the lake is quiet and the neighbours are far enough away that privacy is a given rather than a carefully maintained illusion. Shane knows every creak in the floorboards because he chose the wood. Knows every window because he approved the placement. The dock he built with his dad one summer, the stone path Ilya helped lay last fall without being asked. It’s the one place Shane doesn’t have to perform, doesn’t have to be anything other than himself. Which is why, when Ilya suggested they spend a long weekend here, Shane didn’t just agree. He gave Ilya a key. Not permanently. Not with any ceremony or speech. Just—“Here. In case you get here before me.” Ilya had looked at it for a long moment, turning it over in his palm like it was something more than stamped metal. “Is for cottage?” he’d asked, even though it was obvious. “Yeah.” “Just for weekend?” Shane had hesitated, then shrugged, trying for casual. “Or, you know. Whenever.” Ilya’s expression had done something complicated—pleased and careful and maybe a little overwhelmed. He’d closed his fingers around the key and said, very quietly, “Okay.” He’d added it to his keyring that same day. Shane noticed. Now, standing on the dock watching Ilya gesture dramatically at the canoes, Shane thinks he should have known better than to expect a peaceful weekend. “Is too far,” Ilya calls from the shore, hands cupped around his mouth like Shane is somehow going to miss him from thirty feet away. Shane looks up from where he’s securing the second canoe to the post. “It’s not too far. It’s right there.” “Is *too far*,” Ilya repeats, more emphatically this time, gesturing at the water like it’s personally offended him. “Why do we need two boats?” “They’re canoes.” “This is what I say. Two boats.” Shane straightens, pushing his sunglasses up into his hair so Ilya can see he’s not kidding. “We need two because last time you nearly capsized us trying to—” “Was not capsizing.” “You stood up.” “Was looking at bird!” “In a *canoe*, Ilya.” Ilya waves this off like it’s a minor detail, already turning back toward the cottage. *Their* cottage, Shane thinks, and the thought sits warmer than it should. “We take one boat. I promise I do not stand.” “You’re not getting in a canoe with me.” Ilya stops. Turns around. The key—*Shane’s* key—glints on the ring hanging from his pocket. The look on his face is somewhere between offended and delighted. “You do not trust me?” “Not even a little bit.” “Shane.” Ilya presses a hand to his chest like he’s been mortally wounded. “After everything. After all this time. You think I would put you in danger?” “I think you’d get distracted by a loon and forget physics exists.” “Physics,” Ilya scoffs, already walking back down the dock with purpose. “I know physics very well.” “Then you know why standing up in a canoe is a bad idea.” Ilya reaches him, close enough now that Shane can see the exact moment his expression shifts from mock-injured to something more dangerous—playful, determined, the look he gets right before he does something inadvisable on the ice. “I make you deal,” Ilya says. Shane crosses his arms. “I’m listening.” “We take one boat—” “Canoe.” “—*one canoe*,” Ilya corrects, mouth twitching, “and if I stand, you can make me do anything you want for rest of weekend.” Shane raises an eyebrow. “Anything?”

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    2,881
    Chapters:
    1/1
    Files:
    1
    AO3:
    #76177491