Be the magic you want to see in the world

obviously Ilya is coaching during the pregnancy and as you mentioned feels better being seen during this pregnancy. but does he have to go on bedrest toward the end of the pregnancy? i feel like a lot of plural birth pregnancies end with bedrest so they don’t go into labor too early.

if yes, i wanna think about how the twins and Shane take care of him :)

do they cuddle with him and read to him and bring him meals in bed and all eat together? do they make up games to keep him from being too bored? does Shane learn to slow down a little so he can spend more time laid out in bed with his ever growing pregnant husband?

now i’m thinking about them cuddling while Shane presses kisses to Ilya’s swollen belly and feels three individual kicks (maybe not from all three of them but he likes to imagine it’s one from each 🥹)

anyway i love seeing your Ilyapreg posts please never stop xx

YAYYYYYYY I LOVE ILYAPREG QUESTIONS 🫶🫶🫶

yes he does get forced into bed rest bc the triplets end up dislocating his hip 😭 it was already messed up from playing + carrying the twins so the triplets were the last straw (it was very scary at the time but now shane thinks it's hilarious . their babies did what the scariest enforcers in the league never could....)

shane spends as much time as physically possible with him !!! if he's not at the rink then he's at home with Ilya and the twins. yuna comes to stay with them while he's on bed rest bc the twins are a handful and shane has to work still (Ilya is doing a lot of working from bed because they have a good chance of a cup this year)

the twins love hanging out with papa and grandma :))) they're a little fussy cause they're like two years old and they can kind of feel that smth scary happened and their dads are feeling emotional but luckily they have the most loving reassuring parents in the WORLD 🫶🫶

like, Ilya would be totally valid for thinking like that since he was a child in an abusive household where his physical things probably weren't safe, and his wants were dangerous. Of course he kept them as secret temples in his head.

But he's also seeing first hand, in vivid, technicolour detail, what might happen to his most treasured possessions, his memories and desires and hopes under the ravage of time. Grigori's mind is fading and the foundations of his identity, built up over decades of life, are crumbling away underneath him. The only record of Grigori's whole life? Actively dying.

Hell, this could also be applied to Irina and Alexei.

Alexei is a cocaine addict, actively ravaging his mind and body with a dangerous drug and catastrophic addiction, to the point that it's wiped away all but remnants of the mind where his big brother he used to be.

Irina too lost the greatest record of her life when she took her life, because depression is just another way the mind destroys itself.

It's so fucking heartbreaking to imagine a young Ilya, unable to keep any physical or digital record of his queerness, his relationship with Shane, his vulnurabilities, anything, because of the threat of his family and the media.

One practice, Ilya spends more time in the penalty box and bench than on the ice, and the car ride home, Irina can tell he is fuming. She pulls over, turning to him in the back seat.

"Why do you keep starting fights?"

"You're supposed to!" he whines.

"I'm not asking why you're fighting, I'm asking why you're starting them. It's holding you back from playing the game."

"Volkov keeps calling me names," Ilya pouted.

Irina nods and thinks a moment.

"Ilyusha, from now on, every car ride to and from practice, you and I are going to practice talking shit in the rink."

Ilya's eyes light up at his mother's naughty language. He had never heard her curse, he didn't even think she was capable.

"And you will be allowed one - I mean it - one curse word per practice. If you instead reply with your words and they reply with their fists, you'll stop getting penalties."

Ilya agrees excitedly. "Mama, I already know bastard and asshole, can I use those next practice?"

Irina holds back her laughter hearing her cherub-faced son proudly swear. "Pick your favorite, Ilyusha."

She pulls the car back onto the road and takes them home. Before getting out, Ilya plants a liss on his mama's cheek. She looks at him seriously.

"No swearing in the house. Especially not to your father."

Ilya nods and hauls his gear back up to his bedroom, his mood improved. Irina watches his mop of golden curls disappear up the stairs.