Thinking about Ilya utilizing a therapy strategy unintentionally on Shane when his struggles with food flare up and it kinda shifts their entire dynamic around food. He just naturally responds one time without really thinking about it and finds it works so well that it becomes his new "trick" to help his husband actually eat something outside his strict meal plans.
They have been dealing with a particularly rough stretch of games in terms of other people's behavior, bad enough that Shane nearly let his composure drop to fight back at the absolute shit they have heard on the ice. They've taken all the proper steps with Wiebe to report things, and the team has been amazing at providing support, but it still grates at them both. The entire thing has Shane even more in his head than normal, which makes food especially difficult.
Shane is exhausted when they get home. It's too late for lunch and too early for dinner. It's a weird time for a nap or caffeine. He isn't one to ever let himself snack. The whole situation has him irritated and, frankly, hangry. Ilya gently tries to offer suggestions and just starts grabbing things from the fridge, but Shane keeps finding excuses.
Finally, Ilya just asks straight up what Shane wants to eat. Like with no rules or second thoughts, what is the thing Shane would genuinely like to eat right now, and he eventually admits that he would "fucking love some poutine" but he hasn't had it in years and it's not on his meal plan and he shouldn't eat something that heavy at all but especially at three in the afternoon and the reasons to resist go on and on...
Until Ilya cuts in and asks, "What is the worst thing that would happen?" and Shane is frozen for a moment before asking for a repeat of the question. So, Ilya, patient as ever, asks again, "What is the worst thing that would happen if we went to eat poutine right now?" Shane just flounders for a bit, at a loss for an answer, but eventually says, "It would make me, um...it doesn't feel good to go off my meal plan."
And Ilya starts to clarify things, asking "doesn't feel good like physically makes you sick or doesn't feel good like your brain is not nice to you?" which has Shane looking for ways to escape this conversation until he suddenly finds himself very vulnerable with his husband and admits that his "brain is not nice" about food and his body a majority of the time. Ilya is both devastated and proud to hear Shane vocalize that and decides that he will do everything in his power to heal that.
So, Ilya then asks, "if I promise to help when your brain gets mean, will you go eat poutine with me?" and he is even more proud of Shane for taking time to consider it rather than immediately shutting him down. Ilya expects Shane to say "no but maybe another time when I can think about it more", however, his husband surprises him in the best way by asking, "could we maybe share one? I don't think I could eat my own, but it wouldn't be as bad if I know it won't go to waste because I am sharing with you"
Ilya feels like he just won the lottery with that response. He lights up, telling him, "I will always share with you, sweetheart. Thank you for asking" which has Shane feeling warm and loved and maybe even a bit shy. Then, before Shane can second guess himself, Ilya has him in the car and has David on the phone asking for the name of any poutine place Shane may have loved as a child.
From then on, Ilya utilizes this strategy as soon as Shane starts getting wrapped up in tracking his food again or getting a bit too intense around his meal schedules. It will never be an automatic fix, and there are plenty of times that Shane is just too anxious to even entertain wavering from his plan, but it certainly works a lot of the time.
Ilya can't get enough of seeing Shane enjoy food, and with time, Shane also starts to realize that it is really nice to go on spontaneous dates with his husband and actually try the food at Boodram's parties and say yes to dessert and eat a Snickers without it feeling like a moral failing. I
It is a work in progress and Ilya has to ask the question more often in seasons of stress, but he can always seem to get through to Shane eventually. And over time, Shane convinces himself to give therapy a try, which brings on more healing and he starts needing Ilya's prompting less. He's a bit softer than he used to be, but he's also even stronger because he actually bulks now. More importantly, as he's gotten softer, Shane's brain has gotten nicer to him, and Ilya loves both of those things nearly as much as he loves Shane.















