Wings of Change | Yuzuru Hanyu

26.

Like everything in life, space and a clear mind is often the best way to learn and work things.

In the next years, no contact was made between them, and time made the heart forget, or that's what they hoped for.

Joan quickly became an ascending star in the world of medicine, a neurosurgeon in training, her name started being uttered through hospitals and medical schools all over the world for her brilliance. She moved to London, and the Royal London Hospital was her new home for the next few years, allowing her some distance from Canada. Her new surgical approaches, even as an intern, allowed procedures that seemed once impossible, saving lives along the way. Her name was tied to the legacy she built despite her youth and relative inexperience, Joan's creative thinking allowed her to be amazing at her job while maintaining the cold personality needed for her taxing job.

Yuzuru was gradually engraving his name in the sport even more, the records accumulating and fighting the new wave of quad jumps with the guns he could, his component score, and doing his best to keep the programs artistic while adding the dreaded jumps. Compromising with that balance was hard for him, he had to endure the stamina issues no one had because of his asthma, but that didn't stop him. He managed to finally achieve the dreaded 2nd world championship with one of the most incredible performances in figure skating.

When news of his injury came out, Joan wanted to reach out to him badly but knew it was a useless torture since he had her blocked.
She watched the whole circus of the PyeongChang Olympics from the start. The rumors of how bad the injury was to the questions of his physical condition after barely starting to train were ever so present.

It hurt that no one told her exactly what was happening, Tracy was a closed box, and Joan even tried Brian and Ghislain with no success. The only answer she got was to trust his judgment, and well, Joan knew how crazy that man was when skating was involved.

The official practice session had her on the floor laughing, Yuzuru decided to be funny and did a whole session of single jumps, trolling every single media person. He did end up doing a smooth triple axel near the end, and somehow that and his calm expression reassured her.

Joan watched the short program on her phone, in the middle of the E.R., scheduling her deserved coffee breaks to the times her boy was skating. Her boy? He wasn't hers anymore. When the Japanese went on the ice, the familiar costume of Chopin, her Chopin gave her butterflies, he had chosen this program for one of the most important competitions of his career. When he finished, the look on his face said it all. "You really doubted me? Really?"

The first place in the short gave her confidence that Yuzuru was really going to achieve his dream of two Olympic golds. It was true that one Yuzuru Hanyu in his Prime was truly unbeatable.

The interaction with Javier when he announced his retirement made her cry too, having to quickly clean up in the bathroom before going back to work in a mess.

She watched him fulfill his dreams on the sidelines and sent small messages here and there to remind him that she hadn't forgotten, but still, they didn't talk.

Joan wasn't sure if he had anyone else new in his life now, but she eventually tried to move on. The guy was a Cardio surgeon in the hospital she worked at. That's probably the first time Joan actually realized how incredible Yuzuru really was, because that guy was not even close. They barely lasted a month and for all of Yuzu's inexperience in bed, it seemed like this guy who thought he was a god couldn't even be close to satisfying her like the Japanese did, not helping the situation one bit.

The first time she saw Yuzuru skate live since 2015 was at Skate Canada 2019, secretly, she took a few days off and traveled there. Getting tickets was a nightmare, she managed to get 1 ticket out of courtesy from one of her old skating friends in Canada who was in the organization. It hadn't been cheap, and the view wasn't great, but it was a chance for her to see him again, even from a distance.

She watched him shine and win the dreaded competition for the first time in his career, it was visible how much he had grown, the costume and hairstyle helping him seem more mature, but her eyes were naturally drawn to the figure in purple sparkles that had an incredible skate in front of her eyes. With a text to Ghislain, the only one who knew of her presence, she managed to give him a gift for the man that stayed in her head for the past 4 years.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk to him? Maybe you should try, it's been so long Joan."

"I doubt he wants that. I don't want to bother him anymore"

"Joan"

"It's a no, G"

"You are both hardheaded and stupid, you know that? The fact you traveled here just to see him and not even say hi..."

"I just can't hurt him anymore"

"Okay"

They said their goodbyes and Ghislain took the carefully wrapped card, Winnie the Pooh keychain, and teddy that held a heart in his paws to the gold medalist.

He kept the gifts until after the medal ceremony and interviews, not risking the possible breakdown of the Japanese athlete.

Knocking on his hotel room door, Ghislain waited for it to open.

"Hey, I'm staying in" was all Yuzuru said

"Hello Yuzu, I figured you would. I have something for you though."

"For me? Special gift?"

"Yes" he said as he handled him the bag "I really hope one of you fixes this before it's too late"

"Huh?" Yuzuru questioned

"Just think about what you want after you are not competing anymore, skating can't be all you have forever, Yuzu" That was the last thing he told him before closing the door, not allowing any more questions.

He had a shower before opening his gifts, Yuzuru saw the Pooh stuff, predictable, everyone knew his obsession with the bear, but it was the card that drew his attention.

'Hey Zu, I'm so happy to get to see you live once again. I can't believe I saw your quad loop in competition. You've grown up so much, I hope you're happy, I want you to be. The small gifts don't have much meaning but I do hope you like them somehow, even if you have to ignore who gave them to you. I just wanted to congratulate you for finally snatching that Skate Canada title. You deserve everything and more. Stay strong and healthy. Joan'

 Yuzuru ran out of his room, looking for Ghislain, ending up in front of his coach's room.

"She's here?" was the first thing he asked when the door opened.

"Yuzu? huh?"

"Joan, she's here?"

"In Canada? She was, I don't know when she's leaving"

"I meant hotel, what do you mean leave Canada?"

"Joan has been living in London for the past 3 years, you didn't know?"

"No..."

"You two are going to be the death of me... just fix things"

"I can't"

"Why?"

"I don't have my old phone anymore, no number"

"You kids..." Ghislain entered the room, looking for his phone, and gave the number to Yuzu. "Don't screw up, now go, I want to sleep" was all he said before closing the door.

After being restless for a while, he eventually texted the number.

'Hello, when are you leaving? I think we should talk'.