idc if ilya is explicitly religious or not, i think he should still hold traditions close to him because they remind him of his mother; i want him trying to be so casual as he tries to ask little questions like 'oh, are your parents religious at all? are you? do you celebrate christmas? easter?' and shane's family really doesn't. he's not religious, neither of his parents are religious
they like the holiday season but don't really celebrate it religiously, and as a kid, they gave shane little easter baskets, maybe even took him out to easter egg hunts every couple years, but it was never big, and ilya's just nodding along like ahaaha yeah i'm so cool about this and asking for no particular reason i literally don't care i'm winning the idgaf war and inside he's just screaming because it's a huge tradition for him; he adored it before his mother died because she always made the day so much fun, and even after she died, his father was always better on paskha, always a little kinder and more prone to a smile, and then he joined the NHL and couldn't celebrate for years because who the hell would he celebrate with?
it wasn't like he was going to ask his team? they'd make fun of him for it--ooh scary russian guy who likes to go out clubbing wants to stay inside and paint eggs with onions; russians are so fucking weird, man and he doesn't want to hear it
but then he moves to ottawa and their schedules work out so that he can celebrate easter with them but he also doesn't want to be fucking weird about it, so he tries to be subtle, buying a cake pan thin and tall enough to make a good kulich, buying the dried fruits for the paskha his mother always scolded him for eating during lent, and buying more eggs than he usually eats, boiling them all
he wakes up early on paskha so he can paint them in peace, still not entirely sure how he'll introduce the idea of the egg crack to shane
he's still thinking over this as he's boiling the onion skins to dye the eggs and leans a head on his shoulder, still half asleep.
"whatcha making?"
ilya doesn't respond to it. "is nothing. breakfast will be ready shortly. sit down on couch. find something to watch."
shane gives him a look like he's acting weird. he probably is. "are you making some like...russian breakfast food for yourself? you don't have to make something extra for me, I can try it, and if i don't like it, i can just make myself something"
and this is as good a time as any to explain. "it's not food. it's...a tradition. paskha is today. easter."
"oh" shane says, "is easter big in russia?"
ilya can't help his smile; the light laugh through his nose
understatement of the century
"yes"
"did you...want to celebrate?" shane asks, and ilya's heart stops at how easy this is, as he realizes that maybe he didn't have to go planning behind his husband's back for a holiday of all things
then, he thinks that maybe next year, they can do all that together, the shopping, the baking...
"yes," ilya says, "i want to celebrate"
