Icy Highness | Yuzuru Hanyu

9.

Deciding on a dress to wear suddenly got way more challenging than Athena had anticipated.

She had been informed that this was a formal event, but not 'too formal' and it only confused her. The princess had no idea what it meant and she didn't want to look bad in front of the athletes... And in front of Yuzuru.

Athena ended up settling on a calf-length dress that had a bit of glitter in it. It was discrete, but according to Joanna, perfect for the event.

It wasn't as if the princess was expected to stay for a long time, but the last thing she needed was to make a fool of herself.

After being assured that she looked 'absolutely perfect' about a hundred times, Athena was finally ready to go.

The princess had no idea what to expect when she entered the place assigned for the banquet right after the gala performance. Her head was still gathering the thoughts about his performance. It had been so emotional, and even if she couldn't know why, it looked almost as if he was mourning something on that ice.

When she entered the dining room, she could understand immediately how relaxed the atmosphere was. Everyone was seemingly just trying to relax after the long weekend and competition. Photos were being taken, skaters talked and smiled with each other and all of the mood seemed incredible to her.

Yuzuru had arrived about 20 minutes before and was already messing around with Misha and a few of the other guys. He had been teased from the moment he walked inside the place.

"Who are you trying to impress, Yuzuuu?" Misha asked promptly.

"What do you mean?"

"You styled your hair and somehow aren't wearing those two sizes bigger suits?"

"I not understand" he said as he turned on his step.

He did understand, but he needed an escape from this. He couldn't tell them that he had begged someone from his team to get him a better outfit for tonight and a bunch of hairspray that he had forgotten.

His mom's look had already been too much. She was onto him for sure but chose against saying anything and embarrassing him further.

Before he could find someone else, the princess showed up at the entrance. His eyes didn't lie as he observed her come in and watch her every step. She looked beautiful in the light blue dress she chose. Beautiful may not even be enough to cover it, but Yuzuru had no idea how to describe her at that moment.

"Ah, the princess... That's a dangerous game." Yuzuru heard the unmistakable accent of Javi at his side.

"What?"

"You like her."

His friend seemed oddly confident about the statement, but Yuzu didn't confirm it at all.

"She pretty, yes. That all."

"I saw your eyes at the podium, I don't think you find her just 'pretty'"

"It don't matter anyway."

Javi didn't say anything else and just vanished almost as quickly as he showed up, making Yuzu focus on her once again.

They met with one look and it was enough to bring a smile to both their faces.

But none of them wanted to be too obvious and that's exactly why Yuzu was quick to take his phone and message her through Line.
It was almost funny that after exchanging numbers on that night, they hadn't texted anything at all, but it had to change eventually.

'You look good' Yuzu wrote and added a cute sticker, he and always been a sucker for them. 'Very pretty'

The English autocorrect of his phone was a blessing whenever he typed and it helped him a lot with the language barrier that they seemed to have.

'So do you... You look very handsome' she texted back in no time but he hadn't even seen her take out her phone. She was very sneaky.

'Thank you.'

'What does one do at these events?'

'have fun'

'I have to be careful. Can't have my face plastered all over the news tomorrow.'

'I would buy that newspaper.' The fact that they were texting back and forth was almost ridiculous given that they were mere meters across from each other, but it was easier this way.

'you're so silly" followed by a series of cute stickers.

'When you leave Spain?'

'Tomorrow morning, why?'

Yuzuru sent a bunch of sad emojis that made her smile at how cute they were.

'I sad'

Athena looked at him and found him looking at her as well. When he saw her eyes, Yuzuru visibly pouted and she couldn't help but giggle at the ridiculous reaction.

'We can text'

'I hope we can'

'Of course, I told you before...'

Their interaction, even if from afar, was broken by a few skaters messing with Yuzuru again and Athena smiled, even if a little jealous that they could interact with him so closely when she was stuck with a phone and text messages.

By the end of the night, Athena had barely spoken to him in person. She had the chance to meet other skaters but no one came close to the effect Yuzu had on her.

It was hard to explain, it wasn't physical attraction. He was handsome, but far from the men she considered attractive. Whatever it was, it clearly affected her. She wanted to text or speak to him for the rest of the night and was sad when that wasn't possible.

She waved in goodbye from the distance when her bodyguards told her it was time to go. Athena had requested to be warned at a certain hour since she was flying back the next morning and wanted enough time to rest.

As she left, another message notification made her look at her phone again.

'Can I see you before you go?'

'I leave at 5 am.' she texted back with a frown, not happy with the way they parted before.

'What about today? I leave soon...'

'Room 111, don't be too late"