I’m thinking about the first time Ilya calls Yuna “mom”. I think it takes years.
Maybe he calls David “Dad” off-handedly after a couple of summers. Not all the time, but when David is being especially Dad-ish. “Yes, DAD, we remembered sunscreen”, or he says to Shane “Dad’s out on the deck” instead of “your Dad’s out on the deck”.
But she knows about Irina. She knows a bit about Ilya’s poor relationship with his father, and it seems logical that he’d be happy about finding a new dad-figure while… well. Ilya hasn’t had a mother since he was very young, but that’s exactly why you it would be weird to put someone else in that role.
So she feeds that boy ice cream and makes him welcome in her home, and when the Centaurs post pictures of him in the middle of the “Cens Moms Night” gaggle of moms, charming every one of them, her heart hurts because she knows his must. She thinks perhaps Ilya would like to be able to invite David to the Dad ones, if he could; she knows David would go… but mothers are different, for Ilya.
Maybe Ilya sends her flowers on Mother’s Day and she chokes up a little.
But I think it’s not until Ilya and Shane are married, and she and David have both been along to those mom/dad games and everything, that Ilya calls her mom. Maybe it’s after they win the cup - she realises as she and David head down onto the ice that Ilya has never had this before: not just his partner, but family.
Maybe she notices Ilya touch his necklace and look up at the rafters and mouth something that definitely includes “mama”, before she’s wrapped up in Shane’s hug. Shane says the same thing he said after every other cup win: he apologises for the grossness of his sweaty gear; Yuna tells him she doesn’t care, and she’s so proud of him. Shane smiles and says, “Thanks, mom. For… everything.”
This year she has TWO objectively rancid hockey players hugging her, one after the other. But before turning to David, Ilya holds Yuna’s hand in his for a moment and then says, “Thanks, mom.” There’s a question in his eyes, like he’s not sure if he’s allowed- or like he’s not sure she’d notice.
Yuna squeezes his hand and doesn’t address it directly, just tells him how proud she is of him. She doesn’t even say “and I know your mother would be, too”.
But after that, Ilya calls her mom. Not all the time, but when it matters.
