#kyric

[peloriq]

A kyric in the woods

[decepti-geek]

eric shows up to the kingfisher for the first time after he and Kyle get married, wearing his new wedding ring. he immediately beelines to go chat up Kyle. Kyle gives him an exaggerated bitchy once-over and responds uhhhhhh sorry I don't flirt with married men whilst Kip mimes vomiting in the background like a hypocrite

[cunning-and-cool]

criminal lack of eric/kyle in the fandom

[anachilles]

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.

then

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.

maria is stoked.

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.

the end.

[marmelade-sky]

(idk if prompts are still open OR if I'm allowed to double dip but I just thought about Eric and Kyle babysitting Oliver and now I feel like I have to shoot my shot. Apologies if this is extremely presumptuous!)

You can double dip, triple dip, quadruple dip, I don't mind 🥰 no problem ever

send me prompts for the other GC couples outside of hollanov, let's show them some love <3 (hollanov prompts also welcome but will be answered later!)

-

"So, uh, what do we do now?" Kyle held the baby away from him at arm's length, staring at him. Little Oliver stared back with an equally skeptical face.

"Baby things," Eric suggested helpfully.

"Which are?" Kyle asked.

"Just hang out, I guess." Eric reached out to tickle the baby's foot. Scott and Kip had called them, desperate for a babysitter since all of their usual support had fallen through and their nanny was away for the weekend. Just for two or three hours, Kip had pleaded. He had looked very desperate, so Kyle had agreed to take Oliver.

Oliver kicked his little foot when Eric tickled it, giggling adorably. "God, he is cute," Kyle sighed, still somewhat unconvinced.

"They're all cute until they shit themselves," Eric said, keeping his voice light.

Oliver squawked and reached out for Eric; Kyle happily handed him off. Eric held him professionally, cradling him against his side and giving him a smile which, admittedly, made Kyle's heart melt just a little bit.

"You look like a mini Scott, you know that?" Eric asked the baby. Oliver did not say anything to that, and instead started to reach for Eric's beard, fascinated.

"A full ten minutes and he hasn't cried once," Kyle remarked. "I think we've got this."

-

"Oh, thank god." Kyle handed Oliver back to Kip. He was sweaty, and there was pureed pumpkin on his t-shirt. "You're crazy for doing this all day."

"That bad?" Scott asked, looking mildly concerned as he scanned Oliver, who was crying now, letting Kip hug him close and rock him.

"No, he was fine," Eric said, holding out a hand, "It's just... a lot."

"He can't even tell you what he wants," Kyle whispered, clearly haunted.

"He kind of can," Kip argued, shushing their baby. Oliver was clinging on to him now, clearly relieved to have his dads back. Kip kissed his chubby cheek, patting his back.

"Or maybe you are just psychically linked with your own baby," Kyle replied, wiping at the stain on his chest.

"That, for sure." Scott ran his hand soothingly across Oliver's little head. "Thank you for doing it anyway."

"No problem," Eric said. "I'm sure it gets easier with practice."

Scott and Kip exchanged an amused glance. "Yeah, sure."

Once they'd said their good-byes, Kyle collapsed on the couch. The white couch, which now also had pumpkin stains on it. "I am so glad you don't have kids."

"Same." Eric sat down next to Kyle, pulling his feet into his lap.

"Let's never have any," Kyle continued, closing his eyes.

"Agreed," Eric said, amused. "Although you did do a good job. I didn't know you had Baa Baa Black Sheep memorized."

"Desperate times and such," Kyle grumbled.

[iamnotathornbird]

thoughts on common goal, role model & the long game.

i liked common goal much more than i liked tough guy. still somewhat repetitive when it came to their central relationship problem -- too old/too young/just have a conversation, but i though eric and kyle were, despite the age gap, more interesting? tough guy just felt like -- how can these two characters be described as complete opposites in every possible way, over and over?

liked role model even more than common guy. troy and harris were cute together. their relationship felt very quick, but the most... organic?

and lastly, the long game.

honestly... i was kind of underwhelmed. i've seen pages posted online, i've seen people post videos crying, and it was... fine. i think i've seen a lot of feedback online where like... people dislike shane because of what happens in this book. it's obviously more of ilya's POV, where heated rivalry was shane's, but i think it's unfair given that they're apart so often, and ilya wasn't sharing any of his thoughts/problems with shane -- who, btw, is hockey obsessed and dealing with his own issues, so why should he be expected to read ilya's mind? and he does pick up on... something, but when he brings it up to ilya, ilya dismisses his concerns.

and then on top of whatever relationship problems there are, shane is also preoccupied by his own unsupportive/homophobic team issues + threats from cromwell + his own issues with food/eating. so like... yeah. ilya was having a hard time with things, but i don't think it's fair to expect shane to know if ilya wasn't talking to him.

also -- based solely on all the fanfics i've read, i really thought the centaurs won a stanley cup, but i guess not... yet lol.

[jestwithmebuddie]

When I'm scoring my Skip burlesque AU and my hand slips on the keyboard and accidentally makes Kyle drive the plot with his very demure little Ain't Misbehavin' routine because apparently we're all yearning for more Kyle/Eric

[landrian]

eric asked kyle to show him how to be intimate with men but he didn't realize he was actually getting the lesbian experience of casually recieving the most romantic treatment of ur life and the other person acting like it means nothing