Wings of Change | Yuzuru Hanyu

31.

"Yuzu" she moaned softly into the kiss, his arms around her holding her tight to his body "You know we shouldn't"

He released his hard grip on her but kept his arms around her.

"Can't we just forget about the rest of our problems for a little while and pretend nothing happened back then?"

"Maybe we could but then real life would show up and be a bitch about it, and it will hurt like hell to let you go again"

Yuzuru couldn't care less, capturing her lips once again, more passionately.

Joan was too weak, allowing the Japanese to kiss her and even kissing him back eventually.

"Zuu, we really need to stop" she said putting some distance between them.

"But it's so good"

"What happened to Friends?"

"I said to start as friends, not be friends forever"

"I'm afraid"

"I know, me too"

"What if things go bad again? I don't think we can survive that again"

"We need to do our best so things go well. We were kids back then... The way I reacted when you asked for a break showed how much I still needed to grow. Eventually, I realized that you were right, even if it hurt to admit it. We were hurting each other so much"

"Not just you...I also quit too easy then, it's unusual for me"

"I think we didn't realize how much stress we were under"

"Yeah... But the distance, I don't think I can just go back to Toronto "

Yuzuru sighed deeply "I know. I also don't know how much time I'm staying there, I would never ask you to move"

"We've been doing long distance for almost two months and it's been alright. You said we needed to compromise, let's do that"

"Hum??"

"You're still competing, which means you will be around Europe during the season at least once or twice, most of the GPs around here are less than 3 hours away from London, we know them in advance so I can take my vacations accordingly and we can see each other at least then. I have 22 days off during the year, plus a few extra hours, we can probably manage maybe 4 weeks a year?." Joan started mumbling, speaking very fast as her head turned

"Breathe Joan"

"I'm trying to make this somewhat possible"

"I know. We can do it, we need to plan well, but we can do it"

"Yes, and I finish my specialty soon and we'll be able to look a bit more into the future, and see what we want then"

"Not only that, I have to stop competing eventually"

"Yes, but you won't stop skating"

"You seem very sure of that" he told her laughing.

"Come on, what else would you do?"

"You do realize I'm taking a degree, yes?"

"How's that going?"

"Finishing my thesis soon, I hope"

"Wow, that's amazing! I had no idea. What is it about?"

"AI technology to grade Skating"

Joan started laughing uncontrollably, of course, it was.

"And you still ask why I'm sure you won't stop."

"Good point"

A knock on the door alerted them to the presence of Ghislain who was smiling at the hugging couple.

"I'm sorry guys, but the medal ceremony is about to start"

"Okay. Stay next to Ghis?" Yuzuru said before kissing her forehead and unwrapping himself from her, heading directly to the door and towards the main venue again to be the superstar skater again, not her Zuzu.

The older man looked at them lovingly and couldn't resist adding "friends huh?"

Joan watched from a safe distance as Yuzuru played with Ghislain and a few other skaters while waiting for his turn, he was dancing to the music with a slightly bored and pissed-off look. The man had always been too transparent in his emotions, he couldn't hide when he was unhappy with something.

She watched him respectfully clap every time one of his competitors received their medals or flowers, he had always been like that, no matter how bitter he was.

After the official ceremony, the crowd roared every time he showed up on the screen, almost ignoring the gold medalist. It was like Joan told him, it isn't about the medal he gets, it's just that everyone loves him. She saw the crowd singing Happy Birthday as he left the ice with a smile. The love they had for him was almost overwhelming.

Joan eventually decided to wait for Yuzu at the hotel, giving him an extra keycard and room number, knowing how many eyes would be on her in case she were to leave by his side.

Only a few hours later did the Japanese politely knock and enter her room, Joan was on her laptop, glasses on her face, working on a few patient reports as she watched him enter the hotel room with a slight hesitation.

"Hey, just make yourself comfy if you want" she told him, looking at the extra space on the bed. "I'm just finishing some work"

He settled by her side, watching her cute focused look at the screen. Not even 5 minutes later, she saved the documents and closed the laptop, placing it on the bedside table.
"Sorry, all yours now birthday boy" she told him with a smile.

"Do you need to finish anything? I really don't mind"

"No no, I finished the important stuff. That reminds me of your gift"Joan got up and retrieved a small bag, handing it to Yuzuru. "It's nothing big or out of the ordinary, I just wanted to get you something"

Inside the bag was one pair of very exclusive custom earphones with his initials engraved on the plate. Both of them were somewhat of sound geeks, but even so, Joan was a bit afraid he wouldn't like this particular pair.

"I've been looking into buying these! The normal version, this is even better, thank you." He told her, hugging her body next to his.

"You're welcome, I had literally no other ideas."

"I love anything from you"

Yuzuru kissed her lips softly and allowed her to cuddle into his body.

"What should we do tonight? I know we can't really go outside, but we can watch a movie and talk if you want."

"Don't be mad at me, but..."

"What is it?"

"I honestly just want to sleep"  It dawned on her that it had been a very long day for Yuzuru, physically and emotionally,  he was probably exhausted. "I know it's not a very exciting birthday plan..."

"Whatever you want, I can definitely use the rest too"

"So I can stay here?" He asked with uncertainty

"If you want, yes"

Like in the past, Joan cuddled into his chest with his arms around her. She had missed the feeling of his cuddles.

Soon enough they both fell into their slumbers, enjoying the joint warmth of their bodies.