Melody of You | Yuzuru Hanyu

29.

It turns out Sophia didn't even make it to dinner with her friends, she barely noticed the time passing during the afternoon. The feeling of Yuzuru's cuddles on the couch with their long conversations about what had happened while they were apart was more than enough to keep her distracted.

She learned how needy the man holding her was, not just for sex, but for intimate moments like this, they enjoyed each other's company like any two old friends would, just with a bit more physical contact.

"You're staying tonight, right?"

"I need to get my stuff... tomorrow Yuzu"

"No... you don't need them, you can borrow my clothes or better yet, not wear anything" he told her with a huge grin and the smirk she grew to love.

"It's not just about the clothes, I need my violin for rehearsal tomorrow"

Yuzuru pouted in disappointment, clearly trying to come up with a strategy to make her stay.

"What if I take you there, we get your stuff and you come back here?"

"You want to go there with me?"

"What's the problem?"

"Just the two fanatics for a certain figure skater that happen to be my best friends?"

"I don't feel like hiding that I'm your friend, Soph"

The word friend was hard to utter between them. They knew very well what they were doing and the feelings between them were not the ones of simple friends. Recognizing that out loud would take far more courage to do.

"So you would be up to having them fangirling over you?"

"They are your friends, I want to meet them"

Sophia wasn't so sure it was a good idea. There was a huge chance her friends would freak out, especially Josh. But this was a decision Yuzuru made and she wouldn't be the one telling him it was wrong.

Yuzuru drove to her hotel and parked peacefully, he admitted to her that his driving license was taken in Canada and he rarely used it outside the country. It was quite practical since he lived a bit far from the rink and didn't want his mother to drive him all the time. He told her that even though he would be recognized in Canada sometimes, the chances were slim in comparison to Japan and he could live a fairly normal life there. Sophia couldn't exactly imagine how things were back in his home country but judging by how tense he used to get in the Shinkansens, it was far worse than just being recognized.

Entering the elevators with him by her side made her nerves spike, what if her friends reacted badly? What if they didn't get along with Yuzu?

The ding that alerted them of the right floor came through and a small touch on her back made her return to reality.

"Are you okay?" he asked, noticing how tense she had become in the past minutes.

"Just nervous"

"It will be fine, you said they are my fans... They already know me, kinda"

Yuzuru stopped their moments for a bit and pulled her body to his, quickly capturing her lips.

"Yuzu! We're in public"

"It certainly made you relax, so I don't mind the risk"

"You're crazy"

"You keep telling me..."

The skater followed Sophia in the direction of her hotel room, not failing to notice how her hands shook a bit when she opened the door.

As soon as the door clicked, her friends reacted immediately.

"Sophia, you're alive!!" Josh said with excitement.

"Hey!"

"Tell me you asked Yuzuru and he said yes!?"

"Asked what?" Came a sound beside her, that made the two friends squeal when the person who spoke showed up behind her.

"Ohmygoddddd"

"Hello" Yuzu said with a huge grin.

"Someone hold me, I'm not okay" Josh said.

Yuzuru seemed concerned and looked at her peaceful form with questioning eyes.

"Don't worry, he always exacerbates. He's fine."

"I'm not fine... Yuzuru... Hanyu...in front of me"

"I assume you're Josh? It's nice to meet you." Yuzuru said and her friend squealed again

"He knows my name? Sophia!"

"You can stop talking as if he isn't here." Soph said laughing. "Yuzu, that is Josh and this is Hilary." She said pointing to her friends. "Please do behave normally, I have to pack some stuff"

"Pack?"

"Yes, I'm staying with Yuzu while I'm here in Toronto."

Josh looked at her with an incredulous look.

"Stay at his house? Like..."

"Separate rooms... Calm down. It's close to the practice location and we can catch up" Sophia said, already reaching for something in her closet.

It didn't take too long before she was rolling her two bags to the door.

While she took the time to organize her things, Yuzuru started a conversation with her friends about skating. The skater was in the middle of an axel explanation, half demonstrating in the middle of the hotel room.

Sophia couldn't help but laugh at the scenario in front of her, she couldn't even tell why she had been worried in the beginning. It was evident that even though Yuzu valued his privacy, he was quite an easygoing person.

"Don't injure yourself" Soph said while touching his shoulder softly, not missing the look they threw her.

"You would take care of me if I did" he told her with a smirk, earning an elbow hit in his torso.

No matter how much they tried to hide, it was quite obvious from their interactions that they were far closer than they would ever let on. It was just hard to hide, the pure adoration they felt for each other.

It didn't matter that they wouldn't admit it out loud, it was still visible to anyone with eyes.