Skater Boy

Quiet On The Ice

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Todoroki tugged at his laces, pulling them tight across his worn black skates, red guards pulled over freshly sharpened blades, protecting mittened hands from their unexpected jerking.

It was seven am on the dot and he was at the rink, ready to go. Well, technically, he had been there since six thirty, but stretching time didn't really count, did it.

Aside from himself and the receptionist, there wasn't a soul in the rink, not even the regulars, but that was exactly what he'd hoped. (Tuesday mornings were notoriously quiet, with most either at work or to tired to come for the day's first freestyle session)

Pulling on thin black gloves, he stood and pushed through the door dividing the entrance and actual rink.

A blast a cool air whipped his face upon entry, refreshingly sudden as usual, completely waking him up.

He made his way round to a row of benches along the width of the boards, the short wall that boundaries the ice to contain the hockey pucks and act as a support for beginners. Setting down his skate bag, a little tote with tissues and other necessities, he slid off his guards and grabbed his phone.

One of the perks of being the first or only person there, was complete control over the aux cord to the rink's speakers, a luxury he promptly took advantage of.

The board-door swung open, and he stepped onto the freshly Zambonied ice, plugging his phone into the sound system and pressing play on a his favorite playlist, a lovely mix of classical and jazz.

Chopin's Minute Waltz filled the arena, airy notes providing the perfect background as he began his on-ice warm up.

Stroking, power pulls, edges, power three turns, Russian stroking, scratch spins, single jumps, really every baseline move he could think of.

Coming off a double lutz, he spotted his coach, reclining on the bench, arms crossed over his chest.

"Torino," he murmured, a twinge of excitement to his flat voice. Giving a little wave, he quickly skated over, spraying the boards with snow as he skidded to a stop.

"How's it goin'? I saw that lutz, looked nice," his coach said, a slight smile crossing his face.

"Oh, thanks, I could have held the landing longer though," Todoroki noted, staring back at the large, blue, center circle, marked for hockey games though was frequently used as a guide by the figure skaters.

"Probably. Anyway, I came to see that short program of yours, I've only got a couple minutes so let's do a quick run through," His coach's authoritative but kind voice requested, gesturing toward the skater's phone.

"Yeah, sure," Grabbing the phone and selecting the appropriate audio, 'Born from Ashes' by Eternal Eclipse, he handed the phone to Coach and made his way to center ice.

The first notes stabbed the air, echoing in haunting gorgeousness, the sound following his arms as they unfolded, revealing his face and leading the way as he rose from a crouch.

The music danced alongside him as he pushed into a three turn that transitioned smoothly into four perfect S steps, arms trail along when the sequence became a gorgeous Ina Bauer.

Sound paused momentarily as his first spin approached, a beautiful flying camel spin, transitioning into a sit spin so stunningly low, he could've been on the ice.

Pushing out of the spin and into a back crossover that slowly dissolved into toe turns, dragging his arms up, almost tracing his outline as they floated through the air.

His edges sliced through the ice with such a perfect rip, four back crossovers pulling away from the rink's corner, beelining back through the center for the first jump.

Triple axel, double toe-loop.

The axel stumbled but the toe loop was near flawless, but there was no time to fuss about it, three forward crossovers into a spiral. Each limb stretched as far from the torso as possible, creating the most lovely extensions every skater admires. His leg quickly drew down and slightly in propelling him into a shaky quadruple lutz.

Another set of forward crossovers provided a brief break, before a waltz three transformed into an outside spread eagle. A step sequence prepared for the next jump, a triple loop; landed without a stumble.

Mohawk cross, two counters, loop turns and finally, double flip, Mohawk, double axel. Letting the landing hold for a bit extra time, he allowed himself flow to the music as his blades swished in beautiful flurries of shine, back and forth off edges.

His second spin had arrived, a layback, his least favorite. Besides traveling a bit, the spin was fine, arched back, leg turned out, arms up.

As he continued, he could feel himself begin to tire, though, set his mind back on track, pushing on through a Biellmann spiral, falling gracefully into twizzles.

Dipping close to the ice and rising into elegant sequence of power pull, rocker, rocker his arms became the center of attention as he preformed a lunge. Hastily pulling his back leg around his last spin wound up, a y spin.

Rotations slowed alongside the music, and a toe-pick chipped the ice as he threw his arms out, staring up at the sky, and as the violins faded his body slowly crumpled back into a crouch, returning to the positing he started in.

The rink filled with silence for a sliver of a moment, and he stood, pushing over to the board for his coaches reaction.

"Nice job kiddo, your quad lutz and triple axel were a little iffy but otherwise your doing great." 'Gran' Torino chirped, passing the panting skater his water bottle.

"Mhm, I hadn't  run through yet, so I expected it to be... shaky." Todoroki admitted, taking another swig of water.

"I've gotta run, but I'm glad I saw it," he enthused, standing. "Keep working, it's getting there,"

With that, Todoroki waved goodbye and watched his coach disappear behind the big swinging doors, glancing at the overhead clock.

Oh, nine o'clock, the session was already over.

The next session was a public skate and to be honest he wouldn't mind a bit more practice; he was energized, ready for more and it was a Tuesday after all, he figured there wouldn't be that many people coming, taking the extra ice time could be a like little treat.

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