Wings of Change | Yuzuru Hanyu

41.

"Once things calm down... Will you marry me?"

She stared at him with a dumb expression, completely speechless as her brain processed the question very very slowly. His expression shifted from hopeful to genuinely scared after not receiving any answer for a while.

"Hum? What?" She asked, wanting to say something but still shocked at his words.

Yuzuru inhaled deeply, questioning everything now but not backing away.
"Will.you.marry.me?" He asked word by word slowly, to ensure her that she heard correctly. "I don't have a ring here but after everything that happened I just..." He started muttering words uncontrollably only to be silenced by her lips on his. The kiss was short but filled with intent.

"That means yes?"

"Yes" she told him laughing "I would love to be your wife". The sadness, the despair, even the pain seemed to go away in that very same moment. "Yuzu, you're sure about this, it's not just a spur-of-the-moment thing?" She asked, now doubting the happy moment after such a tough week.

"I'm very sure... I have a ring back home for you... Bought it after the nationals. I've been waiting for the right time, but never expected to ask like this so it stayed home" he confessed with shyness. "If you don't like it we can get something else"

"Absolutely not, I'm sure it's perfect." she answered with a kiss "The nationals were two months ago"

"Yeah. Well, even when you first came to Sendai I knew, but we needed time to settle" Yuzuru admitted. "You know, telling the JSF lady to fuck off was very sexy"

They both started laughing.

"That lady hates me now"

"You don't love her either, I saw the glare, I was sure you were about to throw a punch or pull some kind of crazy military stunt that made her drop to the ground."

"I was close..." Joan admitted " But I have to admit I loved your authority tone when you told her to address you as Hanyu-san"

"I'm sick of being the good guy that everyone uses as door mat"

"I'm glad, confidence is very sexy on you"

Even with all the pain, when they found each other everything would go away. They spent that night making up for the week apart. Yuzuru rested the ankle for a few days before showing up to practice.

Joan watched as her now fiancé ran through a series of his old programs on the Olympic practice ice with a smile she hadn't seen in a while, not when skating. Even knowing that the ankle was going to be a headache to heal, she allowed him to enjoy these last moments with the pain numbed away by painkillers.

The press conference he held at the Olympics had too many retirement rumors attached, but he would never do it this way, he spoke of his axel challenge with pain and honesty.
When asked the dreaded question, he shocked everyone by suggesting a possible participation in the 2030 Olympics if they were held in Japan. Joan knew it was a joke, but it also scared her that he could unretire as an unexpected move, with that man, you could never know.

The gala was beautiful, the promise that better days would come in his 'Haru yo koi" program. He said his final Arigatou gozaimashita on competitive ice and Joan couldn't hold the tears that escaped her eyes.

They returned home after the Olympics with hope rather than regret, Yuzuru took some time off the ice to heal, giving them the opportunity to start planning their wedding.

The Japanese did Fantasy on Ice that summer. A look into what his future would be.

In July, at a scheduled conference, without any warnings to the federation, Yuzuru Hanyu announced he was leaving competitions and becoming a professional "athlete". He still dreamed of the axel and had no intent of lowering the quality of his skating. Major sponsors stayed and supported him, just like Joan told him years before, she had always been right.

Yuzuru started his YouTube challenge in hopes of being able to share his skating directly with the fans, without any barriers or rules.

The months that followed were as busy as ever for him. They did all the wedding planning for the event to be lowkey enough to not drag too much attention, but still enough to fulfill their wishes. During that time, Yuzuru also started planning in secret a solo ice show, it was ambitious but it was the only way he was stubborn enough to make it happen. The start of a hopefully successful pro career.

The bloodbath for tickets told them everything they needed. The fans would always be there for Yuzu, because of who he was and not the amount of medals he could've achieved.

The solo show ended up being an amazing success despite Yuzuru's worries. Joan helped a lot by giving him what he needed to improve his stamina, they changed his diet and training to fit this new type of performance while being extremely careful with any possible asthma triggers.

They married in January after Prologue was done. The ceremony was organized thoroughly to incorporate the Western and Japanese cultures. Joan insisted on having a traditional Japanese ceremony to honor the country that took her in at such a cruel time. Thankfully the pandemic was pretty much over and controlled. She managed to invite her parents and some old friends, some of them skaters, others from the hospital.

The honeymoon was a request of Yuzuru, he had never been to Portugal and always wondered what her home country looked like and experienced the culture that raised his now wife.

They took two weeks to visit the whole country, it was quite small when you compare it to Japan, but like his homeland, each city was different and had its own charms. He found the food to be an acquired taste for his Asian palate, but he made her promise to cook things like that for him once in a while. But the people, he loved them. Southern Europeans were very warm and kind, he knew that from his time with Javi. Yuzuru loved her grandparents, they barely spoke English but always made sure he had everything and that he ate enough to 'gain some healthy weight'.
It was truly incredible

Their little trip brought some valuable lessons to the couple.

No matter how bad things get, it always gets better if you have the right people by your side.

The end 🥺