Gold, love and mint tea (Yuzuru Hanyu )

51 - Progressive

January 2018 - Moscow (Russia)

"Hola Chica! Cómo estás?" Javi waves at me enthusiastically from the other end of the hotel lobby and I smile at him, leaving my luggage with Misha and a very dubious looking Spencer - yes because unfortunately that guy's here - before I make my way towards him, immediately letting him engulf me in a bear hug "I've missed you!"

"Hey Javi! I missed you too!" I laugh, letting him squeeze the life out of me as he rocks us back and forth "How are you, ready to compete?"

"I think so. As ready as I can be right now..." he shrugs, flashing me a charming smile that made most women fall at his feet "How about you? Did you land any quads yet?"

"Ha. Ha. No!" I roll my eyes, shoving him playfully before wiggling my eyebrows at him mysteriously "Not yet..."

"Somehow I don't doubt that you would..." he chuckles, ruffling my hair teasingly as I see him furrow his brows at something behind me so I shoot a glance over my shoulder immediately understanding what he's looking at "What's um... up with those two?"

"Can I tell you about it over dinner tonight?" I ask him with a compassionate smile, having spotted Brian and Ghislain at the check in counter.

"Sure... You're not afraid to be seen with me?" he smirks draping an arm over my shoulder as I drag him towards his coaches "Valiente..."

"Well I didn't say we were having dinner around here! The place is crawling with journalists!" I scoff, swatting his arm away "And you're not helping by hanging on me!"

"Oh come on! I'm just teasing!"

"Well those vultures could write anything, even though you're old enough to be my father!"

"Ouch! I'm not that old!" he winces, slapping his hand over his chest and grunting dramatically.

"Okay fine, but you're still like my brother..." I concede, patting his shoulder in mock reassurance before skipping away to say hi to Brian and Ghislain.

~

"So what are we doing here exactly?" Javi frowns, looking around the half empty and shabby looking restaurant as the waitress scrambles to bring out all the food I ordered.

"Getting me my yearly dose of homemade Eastern European food and avoiding getting articles written about us..." I explain, taking a sip of water as he quirks a curious brow at me "Okay, fine. I also wanted to get away from everyone else and catch up with you!"

"Awww! Te quiero tambien!" he gushes, blowing me a kiss across the table "But what did you want to talk about?"

"I don't know..." I hesitate but he gives me a pointed look, prompting me to talk "Ugh. Fine. I wanted to know how he is!"

"Yuzu?" he frowns, accepting my nod before going on "He's dealing... Kinda... But why don't you ask him yourself?"

"I do it's just that I don't think he's being 100% honest with me..." I sigh, taking a big bite out of a pickle, waiting until I swallow to keep talking "I think he's trying to pretend he's fine because he thinks he's- that I don't want to listen to it...? I don't even know..."

"I actually think that he's in denial." Javi huffs, shaking his head disapprovingly "He's trying to convince everyone to let him back on the ice even though they keep telling him that it's too soon and I can tell that he's scared..."

"Scared?"

"He's scared of failure, he's probably convinced that if he doesn't start training again now it's going to be too late..." Javi explains with regret, hopelessness etched on his features "I'm not really sure how to help him... He just stays at home every day and probably works out."