Icy Highness | Yuzuru Hanyu

10.

Athena didn't expect him to come.

And she definitely didn't expect him to come mere minutes after she had arrived at her room.

The worst of it was that she wasn't ready at all. Dressed in just her nightgown, Athena was quick to pull her warm robe over her body. Even so, curious eyes observed her every action.

Joanna was still there when he knocked on the door and the princess almost panicked with that knowledge.

"Waiting for someone?" The maid asked with wide eyes.

"Don't say anything. I just promised someone to say goodbye."

"Someone?"

"Yes. Please promise me you will keep your mouth shut. I don't want to scare him."

"Him? Oh..."

"It's not like that!"

"Sure, sure."

When Athena finally gathered the courage to open the door, Yuzuru was standing there looking very different from what she had seen before.

His tie was long gone, as well as his jacket, which was casually hanging on one of his arms. A few buttons of his dress shirt were unbuttoned and the sleeves were raised to his elbows. She had always seen him as a skinny man and it was one of the reasons why Athena always thought that she wasn't attracted to his body, but the sight in front of her was good enough to change all of that.

Yuzuru wasn't skinny, he was lean. And even if his costumes hid it well, the white shirt he was now wearing highlighted all of the beautiful athletic muscles underneath the glitter.

That wasn't just what that made her eyes carefully observe him. His hair was slightly disheveled as if he had run his hand through it a few times and it strangely looked amazing on him.

"Hey" he said casually while looking at her up and down. Only then did Athena realize that she had been caught staring, making her cheeks flush.

"Huh... Hello."

They stayed in that position for a while, none of them moving, eyes observing one another with a deep stare.

"Your highness... I think you should invite your guest to come in." Joanna interrupted, making her turn even redder than before.

"Uh... Yeah. I'm sorry, come in."

Joanna stared back and forth at the two people in the room with a curious look. She wasn't at all aware that the princess had become close enough to the skater for him to be in her room at that late hour.

"Jo, can you...?"

Athena didn't need to say the sentence fully for her to understand. And it made sense because she doubted the two could be comfortable with her around.

"Of course. You know my room number if you need me."

"Thank you."

"Well...Have a good night... Both of you."

The princess understood what she meant and dragged her across the room towards the door.

"Don't..." Athena whispered as she noticed the look on the maid's face.

"I wasn't going to say anything... But damn, you work fast."

"Shut up and go."

Once the other woman was finally gone, the silence was back again, but this time it looked a bit more awkward. Just before they were taking the time to observe how the other looked, but right now it wasn't about that at all. Rather it looked like none of them knew how to act.

"Did you have fun today?" She finally asked, trying to improve the heavy atmosphere that was consuming the room.

"Yes. I like gala day."

"I liked your skate, by the way."

"Thank you."

Athena thought for a few seconds about whether she wanted to ask what had been consuming her head ever since he finished his performance, but she still worried he wouldn't want to answer.

"You thinking..." He broke her thoughts.

"You looked very emotional during the performance. I was debating with myself if I wanted to ask about it or not..."

"Why not ask?"

"You might not want to share."

Yuzuru didn't waste any time before explaining it all.

"We made it thinking about earthquake."

"Wait... The one of a few years ago in Japan?"

"Yes. My hometown was bad...badly affected."

"Oh... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring down bad memories."

"It okay. I think about disaster every day. Changed my life."

"Did you lose anyone?" She asked, almost afraid to know the answer.

"No one close. I was lucky."

"It was probably still hard."

"Yes. But I try to think of good."

"Of course.

"I was at rink when it happened." Yuzuru breathed hard before continuing, his eyes slightly teary. "I ran away quickly and didn't protect the skate blades, they were so bad after. My house had damage so we stayed at an evacuation center, it hard, but I survive."

Athena looked at him in a whole different light. She knew how spoiled she had been through the years and most of her problems were mere crumbs in comparison to what the man in front of her had suffered. The princess instantly felt bad for even thinking that her life was hard whenever she was stuck at the palace. The truth was, she has never been in a situation where she doubted her survival or was scared for one of her own.

"God... I can't imagine. It just brings a lot of my supposed problems to a new perspective" she said while wiping the tears that were unexplainably running down her face.

"Don't cry." Yuzu begged, but his face was also filled with tears.

"It's so stupid... It's your life and I'm crying."

Yuzuru observed her for a few seconds before placing his jacket on a chair in the room and closing the distance between them.

He wrapped both of his arms around her crying form in a tight hug and allowed her to cry on his shoulder. "It okay. Over now."

"The memories are still there."

"Always. But they make me stronger. I skate for the victims and to make sure I give back to who helped me back then."

"I'm sorry."

"No apologize. It okay."

As if on a whim, only then she realized the position they were both in. His warmth enveloped her in such a perfect way that he felt like he was meant to always be there.

And at that moment in time, the only thing she wished for was to always be in that warmth.