Chapter Text
“Huh” Ilya said again, as he took a look down at the ring sitting in its open box on the table beside him. He tilted his head, nose wrinkling as he looked at the simple white gold band. He frowned before he shook his head and went back to his breakfast. He'd been doing that a lot recently, especially for the last twenty minutes. Thinking hard about something before he'd look down at the ring, frown and shake his head.
Shane thought at first he just kept remembering it didn't fit and thought that was amusing but as time went on he was starting to realise that Ilya wasn't making a huh funny noise he was making a huh thats bad noise. It was the same one he made when Shane corrected some of his grammar and he learnt another stupid English rule.
“What?” Shane demanded, Ilya looked at him and smiled before he shook his head at him, free hand reaching out to pat his cheek.
“Nothing” he said simply before he retook his fork and continued to eat his breakfast. He didn't last even a minute before his eyes landed on the ring and he frowned and shook his head. Shane felt like he was being stabbed with a small blunt knife. He knew he fucked up eith the ring size and the appointment to get it resized was literally that day but this felt different. It wasn't the size that seemed to be the issue but it was clearly something with the ring.
“No no, do you hate the ring?” Shane asked, he knew it was a little plain but they were still hockey players, they couldn't wear elaborate jewellery because of all of the physical contact they got into. The only reason Ilya was allowed to keep his necklace on during games and practice was because it was classed as religious paraphernalia. So it was a plain white gold signet band with a five carat diamond set in the bezel.
“I do not hate it” Ilya reassured but his nose did a little twitch that betrayed his displeasure. He was lying to him and gone was Shane's sadness now he was mad. He wouldn't be hurt if Ilya told him he didn't like the ring; he'd just get him a new one. This time he could get Ilya's opinion as well and they could get something Ilya would love.
“But you don't like it” Shane said flatly, kicking him harshly under the table. He leant back to cross his arms over his chest and Ilya grinned, amused at his petulant display. Ilya kept eye contact for a moment, eyes searching for something. Shane didn't step down but he did smile to tell Ilya he really didn't care and it seemed to work. Ilya deflated his shoulders dropping as he looked down at the ring.
“I just thought you were rich” Ilya teased his tone jovial but his expression dower. Shane paused mouth opening to respond, was that off topic or was that the point? He frowned and nodded
“We are” Shane confirmed, looking around the cottage they were currently sitting in, the one he had built, he could see Ilya's sports car parked outside, the jetskis on the dock, the ice rink down the hill. They were very rich, more so nowadays since ilya had started picking up real brand ambassadors and started taking more modelling jobs.
“Right” Ilya nodded, waiting for Shane to catch on to what being rich had to do with the ring.
“Right?” Shane repeated. Ilya rolled his eyes before he just went back to eating, eyes now glued to the ring and the center diamond that was catching the light in such a beautiful way. They were parting with it that day so it could be resized, hence why it was in a box and not on Ilya's necklace as usual.
“I have more carats in my ear stud” Ilya admitted with a grimace realising after he said it how bratty it sounded. He didn't like feeling this selfish, but for some reason he did feel a little slighted. He knew the ring must have cost a pretty penny. But Shane always said there were no limits on an investment, the cottage for instance, his house, the apartment buildings, his ice rink for gods sake.
He brought it up to Galina and she said it was probably linked to how he'd been expected to fork over cash to his family for so long that he saw money and gifts as a form of caretaking and love. His love had been reduced to how much he could afford to give because he'd been told that if he didn't then it meant he didn't care. So yeah he'd expected maybe something bigger, maybe something more expensive and he felt really awful about that.
He shook his head and pushed his plate away, hesitating to look up and found that shane was looking at him in shock. Eyes wide as he tried to figure out what to say to that. He seemed more amused than hurt but it still made Ilya feel a little itchy. Too exposed.
“I did think i could have gone bigger but rose talked me out of it, said that five was extreme as is” Shane explained and Ilya deflated and smiled. Yeah of course she thought five carats was extreme. Svetlana would have done the opposite, would have looked at the biggest diamond they had and asked if they had anything bigger.
“Well Rose has tiny hands, five carats would be like a golf ball on her finger.” Ilya agreed, nodding down at the ring before he slipped it onto his pinky finger and even on his smallest finger it looked just normal. He held it up for Shane to see “on my hand? Small”
“Oh” Shane said, taking Ilya's hand in his and pulling it across the table and shane could agree that it looked so ordinary, it didn't scream “engaged” it just looked like something Ilya would wear on a regular day. Which he supposed was the goal. Something Ilya could wear and not immediately be asked if he was engaged.
“It is fine, i love the ring and im very happy we are engaged” Ilya said standing up to lean over the table and press a kiss to Shane's lips. The warm grasp on his face coupled with the cold press of the ring, made Shane's heart flip all over again and she knew he was gonna do anything for his fiance.
“Ill get you a bigger ring, this can be your everyday engagement ring that you wear out and then you can have your engagement engagement ring which you wear to the engagement party, and around friends and family” Shane offered as Ilya moved to push his chair back. He stilled looking down at the ring like he was considering it.
“You’d do that for me?” Ilya asked, Shane felt his eyes water a little. He'd do everything for Ilya and he became more and more aware of that fact every single day. He'd just wish Ilya knew how far he'd be willing to go to get it done. He'd mine the diamond himself if it meant Ilya would be happy.
“Of course, we can look at some tonight” Shane offered as he stood to gather their cups. Ilya's smile was so bright it could blind.
“Id like that, maybe we can get you one as well” Ilya offered and shane smiled but it was more of a grimace. He couldn't stand things touching his hands. He spent a good hour every time he got new gloves cutting down the excess fabric on the inside because it tickled his fingers too much whilst playing, jewellery was an optional torture he wasnt interested in.
“No?” Ilya asked not looking even a little hurt by Shane's rejection of his idea. Seemingly already having known.
“No” Shane agreed, following behind to deposit their glasses into the sink.
===
It took them a couple of hours but eventually after the groceries had been bought, and unpacked, the ring delivered to the jewellers and Ilyas actual ring size taken, they arrived back to the cottage. Shane grabbed his laptop and a notebook from the office and brought it out into the living room.
Ilya was sitting in the middle of the couch, his thumb rubbing over his ring finger like he would if there was a ring on it.
“I miss my ring” Ilya admitted quietly looking down at his finger, even though the ring had never sat there he could feel the phantom weight of it heavy in his heart. It had never been there but it was meant to be and Ilya desperately wished it could be.
“The ring you hate?” Shane asked teasingly and grinned as a pillow slammed into his arm as he moved around the couch's arm.
“I love the ring” Ilya defended hand over his heart and he did mean that.
“Youre just a size queen and have to have bigger to feel satisfied” Shane said flatly but the quiver of his jaw told him he was being playful. Ilya rolled his eyes and reached for another pillow but was stopped as he tried to hit him with it. Shane laughed into his arm as he caught it in his hand tugging the pillow from his hand and dropping it beside the couch. Ilya tilted in his grip and moved to press a kiss to his lips. It seemed they didn't go five minutes without kissing as of late, always so happy and affectionate.
“Hmm, i deserve the biggest” Ilya whispered into his lips as he pulled back and slotted himself into Shane's side moving to rest his head on his shoulder. Shane smiled and adjusted so he could have the laptop open on his lap and pulled the small table closer so he could make notes on the side.
“How many carats are you thinking?” Shane asked as he brought up a few websites on his browser. Most of them were the stores he'd visited when he'd been looking for Ilya's original ring.
“A carat for how much you love me?” Ilya said sweetly, and Shane smiled, there wasn't a diamond in the world that was as big as his love for Ilya and he bloody well knew it.
“Impossible, none of them are big enough, how about a carat for all the years ive love you, so twelve” Shane offered, trying to do the math on that. Twice as big as his current diamond and a little bit more. That had to be plenty big.
“Round up. fifteen” Ilya stated simply.
“I don't think I could find one of those online,” Shane admitted, cheeks warm. He was getting a lot of good options but most of them were so feminine and dainty, three carats, one and a half carats, a very lovely looking four carats that as he looked closer realised was actually just a two and a half with accompanying stones.
“We can just look at styles and you can add the diamond after” Ilya offered, eyeing the styles on the screen.
“Good idea, okay so what style do you want, did you like the style of your ring?” Shane wondered, he'd thought long and hard about it, the setting, the shape of the metal. So whilst he knew Ilya wasn't entirely fussed he did hope he'd liked it a little.
“I did and I liked the shape, I want that same shape but bigger and with two stones either side. Like anya kournikovas" Ilya said, getting excited as he thought about the ring. Shane was nodding along making notes, bigger, and two accompanying stones. He frowned at the name and hummed.
“You know her” Ilya said and shane thinks he'd remember if he knew this woman.
“I do?” Shane asked.
“Shes a tennis player,” Ilya explained nodding like that was obvious and shane wanted to remind him that neither of them watched tennis, and getting invited to one Wimbledon final didn't make him an expert all of a sudden.
“Look it up” Ilya tapped the screen and Shane did just that, typing in her name and engagement ring beside it. Shane knew Ilya wanted big but something about what he'd been imagining and what he was looking at didn't align because the ring was massive. It was a beautiful pink diamond that spanned almost half of her finger.
Ilya looked awed at it smiling as he turned the laptop to face him more, he clicked to a better picture of it before he turned to Shane with a look of pure want.
“Does it have to be pink as well?” Shane asked the small titles beneath were giving him some pretty rough estimates for how much he was going to have to fork out for this ring and despite the amount making his chest a little tight he'd do it, he made twenty times the amount in a year anyway that was a month's salary at best.
“No” Ilya shook his head but Shane wasn't convinced because Ilya looked contemplative. He looked back at the screen before he hummed and took the laptop typing in colourful engagement ring in a new tab.
“Not pink but a different colour?” Shane asked and Ilya shrugged as he flicked through pictures, lingering on a few but not sparing them more than a passing glance until he stopped on one ring. It was quite nice, a massive dark blue sapphire surrounded by a couple of assorted diamonds in the shape of little stars. Not quite an engagement ring but very pretty.
“If you can get i wouldnt say no” Ilya admitted quietly.
“You already said yes i dont think you can say no” Shane teased back, technically they were already engaged and this was just a formality. They had a ring and Ilya just wanted a bigger ring but whether or not he got it wouldn't change whether or not they got married. Well Shane thought that anyway because Ilya loved him and wanted to marry him.
“We're not married yet, I still have to walk down the aisle and if you want me to then you better” he motioned to the screen and Shane squawked as he rolled his eyes.
“Okay how about this” Shane pulled up a listing and wanted to gasp at the price but he kept his face neutral. It was a pretty simple ring, gold band, two kite shaped diamonds either side of an emerald cut center stone. Ilya made a disapproving noise.
“I can get it in silver," Shane added but Ilya shook his head and clicked the next photo. His face scrunching up even more as he looked at it on the ladies hand.
“I do like gold, that's not the problem, I don't like this stone” he tapped his finger against the accompanying kite shaped diamond.
“So no kite” Shane noted in his notebook.
“No, i want a triangle or another rectangle” Ilya decided and shane was quick to note it down as well.
“What about this, two medium sized stones” Shane said, getting up a picture of a ring which had two lined up marquis diamonds, one was a white diamond the other a coloured stone. Multiple stones, one coloured, and they were decently sized but not as extortionately priced as a single massive diamond. They'd both be winning.
“No” Ilya said simply and took the computer to click out of it and scroll by himself for a moment.
“Okay” Shane sighed. Ilya clicked out of the site and simply typed into the search bar unique engagement rings with big diamonds. Shane chuckled into Ilya's hair as he nuzzled his nose into the soft curls. Ilya was scrolling through photos when he stopped on a ring that was a little odd looking in Shane's honest opinion. Kind of ugly if he was being really honest.
“I want this,” Ilya said, bringing the picture up on the designer's website. It was a custom ring, with an enamel white band embellished with small yellow diamonds, swooping under the center stone and seeming somehow unattached. The center stone was a beautiful brilliant cut diamond and because of the minimal setting you could see straight through it. At its sides were two marquis shaped blue stones. The description said it was a little under six carats so not quite what ilya was after in size but it was unique and it was a bit flamboyant and so pretty.
Shane took a moment to look at the ring, it was awful. It was weird and so untraditional. He wasn't very fussed about the enamel band but he supposed the diamonds set in it were pretty but he wished it was all one colour, why have blue diamonds besides yellow diamonds it made no sense to him. The other problem was that it was once again a custom ring which meant that it could take months to be made. More months to save Shane thought but he'd kind of hoped he could get the ring sooner than later.
“Is this the ring you want to wear on our wedding day?” Shane asked and Ilya picked up the laptop and set it on the coffee table so he could roll on top of Shane, face pressed into Shane's neck hiding away. He nodded soft curls tickling Shane's chin.
“If we get this one we'd have to push the wedding back” Shane murmured more to himself than Ilya but a second later Ilya's teeth were digging meanly into his collarbone before he pulled off to lick at the small mark.
“We haven't got a wedding date yet” Ilya recalled and Shane nodded. Ilya might not but Shane did. He'd been thinking about it quite a bit, it had been his wank material for a little while there. He'd sit in bed and think about their wedding and their suits and the altar and just get so hard he'd jack off. Trying to buy the ring had been a true test of his patience because he'd somehow taught himself to associate marriage with pleasure. Maybe that's why the ring was too small, all of the blood must have drained out of his head.
“Well we cant pick one now till i get a timeline on the ring” Shane said, a ring this intricate with the sorts of stones ilya wanted wasn't going to come quick. They'd be lucky to have it in time for their June wedding, four months.
“Ask for a rush job” ilya huffed, pulling back to blink at Shane with a pout, his lip pushed up and tired eyes pleading.
“You want them to rush your ring?” Shane asked rhetorically, nothing rushed ever came out well and Shane would rather have no rings than a rushed unfinished ring that wasn't what Ilya wanted.
“Hmm, no” Ilya agreed, laying his chin down on Shane's peck hand reaching up to tug annoyingly at Shane's hair.
“Exactly” shane said reaching for the computer to see if he talks about timelines and sure enough in the description said the ring had been a work of three hundred hours across twelve weeks “this one took the designer three months”
“So it's possible to get it in time for the wedding in your head?” Ilya asked and Shane shrugged. If they pushed it he supposed, and if they paid a hefty premium.
“Not really this rings smaller, has less carats, we'd need to find a date and time to go in for the design, get our lawyers in to write up NDA’s, the designer might not even agree to make the ring, just getting an appointment could take weeks” Shane admitted his voice laced with panic as the logistics tried to work themselves out in his head but either way he planned it they'd be pushing it. Between games and playoffs and their sponsorship responsibilities their schedule was jam packed as is.
“I can't wait that long to marry you though, I don't need this ring” ilya conceded with a shrug as he moved to sit up, legs shifting to straddle Shane's waist. he looked fine about it but shane could see it in his eyes he wasn't pleased.
“Youll have your ring and we'll have our wedding exactly as planned in June" shane announced pushing up to press his lips to Ilya's mouth before he was sitting back to grab his laptop and get up the contact information for the designer.
“Promise?” Ilya whispered, pushing the laptop lid closed and taking it out of his hand. Shane sighed and nodded, he could feel the roll of his boyfriend's hips pushing down into his own groin.
“Is ring shopping really getting you hard right now?” Shane asked teasingly grinning stupidly up at him and ilya shrugged.
“No, my sexy rich boyfriend is going out of way to get me something ridiculously priced because I asked nicely, is very sexy, very manly,” Ilya's finger ran up Shane's chest to linger on his neck. Shane had never found much need in the materialistic things and he really couldn’t see the appeal and it must have shown because he continued “Makes me feel taken care of”
“You know I'll always take care of you” Shane whispered. He spend the rest of his life caring for Ilya's every want and need if he was allowed.
“And you do take great care of me, moya lyubov”