Deep Edges | Yuzuru Hanyu

21.

Izumi couldn't help the chuckle that left her when he clearly tried to come up with a conversation topic to avoid the crazy tension between them.

"How have you been?" he had asked with the smile that she was now used to seeing on his face.

"You know... the usual. You?"

"Same."

"Hum..."

They were too awkward. So much so that both had no idea what to do.

"I heard about your injury..."

"Yeah, it wasn't very nice."

"But your recovery was alright?"

"I
certainly hope so. They don't let me jump yet but I hope all of that time off the ice was worth it."

Yuzuru grinned at her with one of those huge smiles that she already loved, he looked almost ethereal, even when he was just being the most normal of human beings.

"I'm sure it will be. Going slow is your best choice right now."

"Speaking of experience, Hanyu-san?"

"Absolutely."

It was undeniable that the male skater had undergone some of the worst injuries that a figure skater could face and yet, here he was being one of the most successful skaters in the world as a professional. 

"You did win the Olympics with one and a half ankles." she said, already laughing as she realized what she was saying to the man himself.

He chuckled and got even closer, the distance between them almost non-existent at that time.

"I guess I did, but I was also lucky. Beijing proved that I'm no alien."

"Hum, I don't know. Attempting the quad axel on an injury seems pretty crazy to me."

"Well, I'm not the wisest of people." he joked, making her laugh as well.

"I have a feeling that no figure skater is wise."

"Now those are smart words."

Still smiling, Izumi eventually realized how close they had gotten and stepped a bit aside, skating in the opposite direction as if trying to escape the tempting warmth that his proximity brought.

Things were crazy. 

The way he was looking at her made her wonder if her coach had been onto something and seeing how close they always seemed to get whenever alone, it was only fair that she thought of the subject.

Izumi found that for the first time ever, the whole thing didn't seem to scare her anymore.

That's exactly why she somehow found the guts to play a bit with him.

"Hanyu-san... don't look at me that way or I will think that you're somehow interested in me."

The way Yuzuru's eyes widened as she said those words should have told her that maybe she hadn't been as wrong as initially thought. Maybe his thoughts and stares were similar to hers.

But wasn't her case just a silly, dumb crush?

"Well, Aoki-san, you're a very interesting woman. It's hard not to be interested."

She was surprised by his sudden confidence, but at the same time, seeing this other side of his also messed with her head. It was attractive as hell.

He closed the distance between them once again by skating in her direction, the red on her face more than evident as she tried to look at the ground and avoid his eyes as her confidence was completely gone.

"Where's all the confidence you had just a few seconds ago?"

The question was obviously made to tease, to bring her vulnerability to the surface and maybe even part of the personality that she hid from most people in her life.

Yet, as real as things were getting, she felt like this was a time when she almost felt comfortable enough to allow herself to pretend like he was just another guy that she found attractive.

If he was any other man, her confidence would probably be at an all-time high as she realized that she had some power over him but when it came to this man, nothing was that simple. He just had plenty of baggage.

"Maybe I just realized who I'm speaking to." she uttered, no fear or hesitation on her face despite all the doubts in her mind.

"I've told you before, I'm just a normal guy."

"You are not, but it's sweet that you want to be."

Another one of those gentle smiles and she could feel all of her walls dropping as if they were nothing.

It was almost easy to believe that she could have him, that he was just like any other guy she had taken to bed and got lost with. But he wasn't one of the guys she could just go along with and forget, that much had been obvious by how much she had missed him in the past months.

She heard him clearing his throat after his eyes roamed across her body. It wasn't hard to realize the true nature of his thoughts at that moment but he quickly moved and placed distance between them. If he either did so to stop himself from doing something crazy or just respect her boundaries, she would never know.

"Hum... It's getting late. I should go."

"Yeah. Sure, me too."

"Are you coming tomorrow?"

"It's the weekend, Hanyu-san."

"Ah, yeah, I guess it is."

Maybe Izumi couldn't asked why he was interested in the same place but given their already complicated dialogue, it wasn't that surprising.

"See you around?"

"Hum, hum..." he mumbled.

Just as she was about to leave that ice, Yuzuru grabbed her arm, stopping her movements and making her face him once again.

"Hanyu-san?"

Her face was filled with surprise. Izumi had no idea what he was doing or even what he expected but what she knew was that his eyes were incredibly expressive. There wasn't much that he could hide on that face.

"Just tell me something... Why are you afraid of me?"