okay for the last few days i haven't been able to stop thinking eric/kyle engagement thoughts. so here's what i have:
i don't think marriage is something they talk about super often tbh. and when they do, for the most part it's talked about in more abstract/non-direct (even joking) ways?
e.g. through conversations (gossip) about other peoples' relationships. or like eric asking kyle to do something and getting a teasing "oof, you're gonna have to marry me for that."
neither of them are in any rush and that's evident from the get-go. eric's recently divorced (after being married for a long time), kyle's still young, and of all the GCU couples it's implied they arguably lead the least heteronormative kind of lifestyle?
a couple of years in though, they're on vacation somewhere together. it's very rural/remote (driving the wild atlantic way in ireland? hiking in the scottish highlands?), they've mostly just got each other for company other than elderly locals in the closest village to their air bnb and a load of sheep. so the setting sort of lends itself to a more intimate, more vulnerable fireside chat.
kyle is the one that broaches it. he has to kind of gather the courage before doing so, prefacing the question with a "this isn't me implying anything, by the way, i'm honestly just curious, but..." type disclaimer - because the last thing he wants to do is put any kind of pressure on eric, especially not for something kyle can say hand on heart he definitely wants himself? he thinks?
for him, it's complicated too. it's not a life he really saw as being possible for himself? or that he'd naturally gravitate towards? especially not when he was still in his twenties. he hasn't known stability within a family setting for so long, and after what happened to him, it opened his eyes really young to how fragile marriage as an institution is. how it doesn't guarantee stability or necessarily symbolise lifelong love or happiness, or whatever.
he could never imagine loving someone and trusting someone so much to be sure he'd want to marry them. or someone loving him or caring about him enough to want to marry him, broken and jaded as he was. he just couldn't conceptualise a version of his future where that would happen for him.
before he met eric. who makes him feel so safe. and seen. loved and cared about. and who he just has so much fun with. endlessly, it seems. they just get each other.
so kyle asks eric the question. "do you ever see yourself getting married again?"
eric has an impressive poker face, so it's sometimes hard to anticipate what he's going to say by expression alone. his eyebrows draw together, and he appears to seriously contemplate it before offering an answer. raw and honest.
"if it felt right," he says, the light from the fire flickering shadows across his face as he glances up, first to look around at where they were, then to meet kyle's eye, the tilt of his lips lightening the intensity of his gaze. "if i've learned anything these last few years, it's to not place arbitrary limits on my own happiness. but i'm also... not in any kind of rush. what about you?"
okay, they’re on the same page. kyle can't help but return the smile, attempting to be a lil bit cheeky with it, but his eyes are soft and betray him. "same here."
this puts the conversation to rest for a couple years more.
in the run-up to kyle's 30th birthday, eric gets the itch. they're coming up on their five year anniversary, they're happier and more in love than ever, they're living together and are settling even more into a routine. they've learned together, grown together, explored together, and he wants to keep doing that. forever. their lives are interwoven around each other's in such an irrevocable way and he just wants it to always be that way.
at the end of the day, even after retirement, at eric's heart he'll always be a pro hockey player and some of those ideals and sensibilities never really leave you.
(he's also just an incredibly practical person in general)
even though, despite being older, he's now much less likely to end up injured or incapacitated (or worse) on any given day - if something were to happen to him, the thought of kyle not being legally recognised in any significant way, or of him having to fight to be in the room with him or to have his voice heard or make decisions for him, for the life they're building together to not be protected in all the ways it could be - makes eric feel sick.
or vice versa - to think that if something were to ever happen to kyle, would kyle’s family be the ones calling the shots instead of him? the family that more or less cast him out and abandoned him after being so horrifically taken advantage of like he had been? that didn’t even know who kyle was, really, anymore?
so he buys a ring and tells no one about it. not even scott (eric's learned his lesson after he blabbed to kip about him and kyle even hooking up in the first place way back when, lmao).
i feel like it isn’t just a typical masculine wedding band? because they all look kind of boring and/or tacky and none of the ones eric looks at initially he can imagine kyle getting excited about. and he wants to wow him, lol.
i can see it being a more androgynous ring - not super out there/busy - looks like it’d realistically go with kyle’s regular rotation of rings that he wears - but has a nice stone in a colour that reminds eric of the colour of kyle’s eyes (ew. i know. but he’s in love, okay!)
they're (bougie) backpacking in south east asia (another dream vacation ticked off the bucket list) when eric proposes. because of course they're away on another trip.
at some point while they're biking/hiking the ha giang loop, they manage to find a relatively secluded vantage spot with a nice, scenic overhang that'd make for some amazing pictures. so they dump their bags and eric gets his camera out, directing kyle like he's trying to get the perfect shot.
kyle can hear the camera shutter and then... nothing. he turns back over his shoulder, impatient, like "do you want one of me looking back at y-" cutting himself off when he sees eric bent down rummaging through his backpack.
"no! sorry, just changing the SD card, turn back around..."
kyle's taken a little aback at his tone, but he's just like "daaamn, okay, sheesh." because whilst kyle may control his ass in the bedroom, don’t try eric when it he’s behind the camera artistically directing. also because he’s usually right and kyle’s insta photos have never looked better than when eric’s been taking them.
after a couple more 'click's eric, with an unmistakable smile in his voice, is like "okay, now turn back and face me."
when he does, eric's right behind him, on one knee, open ring box in hand.
kyle's jaw drops. he genuinely had no idea. not even one inkling that proposing was anywhere near eric's mind.
ergo his immediate reaction is an involuntary "oh my fucking god."
eric snort laughs. even though he's buzzing with nerves - more nervous than kyle ever remembers seeing him before. but it breaks the tension.
eric has a really sweet, heartfelt, speech and kyle absolutely cries. sort of in shock sort of in disbelief but also because his heart just feels so full?
they're sweaty and tired and a little grimy but hiking has also sort of become their happy place. a little hallowed ritual/activity ever since that day kyle took eric out when he needed to be distracted from the announcement of his retirement and, at least for a while, everything was perfect and as it should be between them. when they're able to disconnect from the rest of the world.
eric privately texts his family to let them know
but kyle doesn't text anyone, lol. just takes a photo of the two of them in front of the view, his hand held up showing off the engagement ring and sticks it on his instagram story. then turns his phone off and shoves it back in his bag, lol.
scott and kip are furious neither of them said anything. and then proceeded to not respond to texts for a good couple of hours after.
they start looking into wedding planning, see how much of a hassle it all is (eric feels bad he took so little to do with his own the first time around), then absolutely end up eloping and just having a party for everyone when they get back.
