Beyond the Sound | Yuzuru Hanyu

14.

Surprising no one, Maya got up early from her bed the next day and started getting ready.

She didn't do much besides the usual and didn't dress up in any way.

This was her way of saying that she was just casually going to an event because she was invited and not anything else.

It wasn't that uncommon that her acquaintances in the music world invited her for a few shows. That was exactly what this was.

Deep down, Maya had been trying to find answers to her current predicament and somehow on the previous night, she deemed that treating this like any other situation at work was probably her best choice.

That was the mood as she headed to Yokohama once again.

When she arrived, Maya didn't expect the sea of people who were already there, waiting patiently for the doors to open.

If his popularity was still in question, this seemed to answer that very clearly.

Yuzuru had texted her before that she could lift her pass with one of the guards at the gate.

She didn't want to seem like she was trying to cut the line, but it wasn't as if she had much of a choice.

Ignoring every mad look, Maya just went along with it until she reached security.

"Hello, I'm Yamamoto Maya, Hanyu-san said I should come to security to lift my pass."
A few of the fans heard her words and the mad looks turned into curious ones.
"I'm on the sound team"

Adding that seemed to take the interest off her, just like planned. The guard just nodded and asked her to wait.

In just a few minutes, a staff credential was handed to her. What surprised her was to see a familiar woman waiting for her by the entrance.

Yumi.

"Yamamoto-san, it's nice to see you again.  Yuzuru is on the ice and asked me to welcome you."

There it went the idea that this would be just like any other event.

No artist had ever sent his mother to welcome her into a venue.

Then again, Yuzuru worried too much and wasn't like most performers.

"It is nice to see you again. Yuzuru didn't have to send you personally, I'm sure I would've been fine."

"He is very thankful to you, he had been very stressed before you came along and solved the issues with the sound."

"it was concerning, given how bad it was. I'm just glad I could help."

"Come on, I'm sure he wants to see you."

It seemed like every step she took was a new inner battle.

Part of her wanted to see this normally but another part kept telling her brain that none of this was logically usual.

Well, all logic was thrown out of the picture when the ice came into view.

Not that the ice mattered.

Her eyes were fully fixated on something very different, or rather, someone.

Maya had seen Yuzuru on the ice before and had seen him in sports clothes as well, but she had never seen him like he was now.

Besides being completely immersed in the song he was skating to, giving a performance like she had never seen before, the one thing that stood in her eyes was what he was wearing.

He was still wearing sports clothes, it was just that they were as tight as humanly possible, not leaving a lot to her already vivid imagination.

Let's just say that she wasn't exactly looking at the clothes but rather the body they were clinging to.

Holy shit...

Yuzuru was an athlete, she had known as much, but the frail-looking boy who was usually drowned in oversized clothes was hiding a body that she could have never imagined.

The legs were a big point of attention. Those quads were massive and for sure defined. Well, when he turned on the ice, she got a marvelous view of his backside.

Maya wasn't drooling... Not at all...

She had no idea what to do or think as her brain slowly processed the information.

Maya felt completely numb for a good few minutes until she could finally process all the thoughts running through her mind.

All of her mental strategies of the previous day had gone completely down the drain just because of this guy's physical look.

Being fair with herself, this was always
what happened when she found herself sexually attracted to a man.

It had been a long time since she felt the need or even thought about someone else this way but a few years back this was always the way she chose the people to get in her bed.

If they could tempt her eyes, she was interested.

Now, however, the person behind her attraction was someone she had to work with, so it was probably completely out of the question to even think of it as a possibility.

It still gave her some decent pictures to imagine whenever she was alone, so it wasn't completely useless.

Maya tried her best to gather her wits on her, knowing fully well that she was admiring a man in such a non-innocent way with his mother right by her side.

By the time he was finished with whatever song he was practicing, she felt a bit more in control of her reactions.

Well, at least until he realized she was watching and came to her, looking like that...

"Maya! You came!" he said her name with excitement, making her look around immediately. 

What happened to calling her by last name when they were in public?

"I told you I would..."

"I would hug you, but I'm all sweaty."

"I can see that" she said before even realizing it. Maya was completely mortified that she had said that out loud, her eyes immediately looking at the place where Yumi had been just a few minutes prior.

"She went away as soon as I noticed you" he told the girl, saving her from her misery... well, in part, given that he heard it as well.

"At least that..."

Maya did not doubt that her face was for sure bright red. She had the confidence to flirt freely, but not with the person's mother watching.

The man in front of her seemed to be enjoying the situation a bit more than he should.

"Your face was priceless..."

She was slowly learning that Yuzuru wasn't a saint like Chiara had put it. In fact, he looked very aware of the way she looked at him and the worst was that he was a complete brat about it.

Maybe an endearing brat, but still one.

This was going to be a long journey but she knew it would be a fun one.