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As professional hockey players neither Ilya nor Shane have any kind of ear or body piercings. Well, they technically could have them, but Shane has never really had any kind of urge to modify his body like that and was wary of needles in general, and Ilya once saw a guy’s ear get shredded after another player’s helmet cage caught on his helixes during a fight.
So neither of them have piercings. That didn’t stop Ilya from wanting them, however. Though he had mostly resigned himself to having to wait for retirement to actually get the piercings done, he still spent a not-insignificant amount of time scrolling through the instagram portfolios of piercers from around the world. He was constantly sending Shane photos of curated ear stacks, custom jewelry pieces, and, occasionally, some more… interesting material.
The first time Ilya had shown him a “play piercing”, Shane didn’t fully understand what he was looking at. The model in the photo stood with her back to the camera, with two rows of rings in parallel lines down her back, a red ribbon laced through the rings in an overlapping pattern.
“That doesn’t look very practical” Shane had said, looking concerned.
“Is not supposed to be ‘practical’ Shanya, is for fun!” Ilya replied, swiping through the photos of the post, showing different angles of the same piercing.
Shane’s brows knitted together.
“For fun?”
Ilya was already swiping through to search for more, not having noticed Shane’s confusion.
“Yes, yes” he said, dismissively “for fun! You know what fun is, Hollander?”
“I know what fun is,” Shane said, flatly, which finally prompted Ilya to look up from his phone.
“Oh, малыш, I’m sorry” Ilya said once he noticed Shane’s face, “that was rude.”
Shane smiled, but shook his head.
“It wasn’t rude, don’t worry baby, I guess I’m just confused about the fun part of having a bunch of rings in your skin like that. It seems like it would be painful and potentially very prone to infection, especially if you catch it on clothing or--”
Ilya cut him off with a kiss.
“What was that for?” Shane asked once they had come up for air.
Ilya chuckled, picking up his phone again.
“You are very cute when you’re being sensible like this. But no, you are right it is not a ‘practical’ thing to have done, but people call it a ‘play piercing’. They do them at piercing conventions or in private studios, and they are not meant to stay in long, just a few hours at most. It is like skills exhibition for piercers too.”
Shane nodded, understanding finally and leaning over to look at the new pictures Ilya was scrolling through.
“I definitely get it for the piercers, but what does the person getting pierced get out of it?”
Ilya grinned, looking into Shane’s curious brown eyes.
“That is where the fun part comes in.”
_______________________________________________________
It was clear to Shane from Ilya’s increasing fascination with piercings that it was something he desired both aesthetically and sexually, so it only made sense that he make this possible for him in some way.
They had delayed their trip up to the cottage for this summer for a few weeks, planning to meet there around Canada Day instead of immediately after that year’s MLH Awards. Ilya had a few filming commitments for both the Centaurs and external marketing teams, and Shane was going to help out with the Montreal camps in the meantime.
Well, that’s what he told Ilya at least. In reality he had called in a favor and convinced Scott Hunter to come up from New York, leaving Shane with two weeks to himself in Ottawa before he needed to head up to Lanaudière to set things up for their visit.
By the time Ilya arrived on a warm Sunday evening, Shane had finished his preparations and was pacing nervously around the kitchen, holding a now-warm can of ginger ale in his hands to give them something to do.
Ilya, ever observant, could tell something was up as soon as he scooped Shane up into his arms for a kiss.
“Shanya, what is wrong? Is it Yuna or David? The camps?” he asked, slight panic creeping into his voice.
“Oh, shit, sorry, no, everybody’s fine” Shane replied, trying to convey an easy confidence that he definitely wasn’t feeling as he set down the can of ginger ale and fidgeted.
Ilya eyed him carefully.
“Are you fine?”
Shane blushed, averting his eyes under the strength of Ilya’s concerned look.
“I’m fine just…” he trailed off, unsure of how to start.
Ilya tipped his chin up with a gentle finger, blue eyes searching Shane’s for a sign of what was going on.
“Just…?”
Taking a deep, slow breath, Shane held Ilya’s gaze.
“Just worried my hands might shake a bit because I’m nervous.”
“Nervous for what? Shake doing what?” Ilya asked, even more concerned than ever.
Shane wordlessly reached up to grasp Ilya’s hand in his own, tugging him along behind as he turned and walked toward the stairs down to their home gym. Reaching the door, he pushed it open and stepped inside, turning to watch Ilya’s face.
“Nervous for this”, Shane said, letting Ilya take in the scene before him. Most of the gym equipment had been moved to the side of the room, leaving space for a folding massage table covered carefully in the same kind of paper found in a doctor’s office as well as a small table with various sizes of sterile pre-packaged needles, jewelry types, and alcohol wipes carefully arranged on top.
“Shane… what--” Ilya started to ask, but Shane’s eagerness got the better of him and words began spilling out before he could stop them.
“I didn’t actually go to Montreal, Scott covered for me. I found a piercer in Ottawa who was willing to give me private lessons and that’s what I’ve been doing the last two weeks. I’m not APP certified, obviously, and the piercer was a bit hesitant to do it at first, actually. But once I explained that I wanted to learn for you-- and once she googled and figured out that we were kind of famous so going to a convention wouldn’t exactly be possible-- she was super cool about it. I practices both cartilage and surface piercings, and I’m planning to go back and learn more because it was actually kind of fun once I--”
Once again, Shane found his babbling cut off by the sudden warmth of his husband’s lips on his. Sighing into Ilya’s mouth, Shane wrapped his arms around Ilya’s neck, enjoying the feeling of being held and kissed by the person he loved more than anything in the world. After a few moments, Ilya pulled back to look at him, smiling with a fondness that made Shane feel warm all over.
“Спасибо, мой любимый.Thank you, my love.”
“Of course”, Shane replied, kissing Ilya again quickly before asking “So, do you want to play now or after dinner?”
Ilya laughed, cupping Shane’s face in his hand.
“So eager to test out new skills, дорогойsweetheartдорогой. But I think I might faint if I do not eat first, so why don’t I make dinner and then we play, yes?”
Shane grinned. This was going to be a fun two weeks.