Stick To The Stuff You Know || Thayne Jasperson x Reader

17

"This woman rewrote figure skating history. And I think you already know who I'm talking about. She's got a couple of Olympic medals around her neck, along with countless others and was now straight up rewarded with a ticket to the Grand Prix Final after her phenomenal performance at the Cup of China.

"Please welcome with me, Y/N Rippon!"

The crowd met me with cheers as I walk onto the stage to Jimmy Fallon. Inwardly I'm a fangirling mess, because holy shit it worked. I got invited to a talk show. I've never been this excited before.

We shake hands and I'm afraid my smile is so big that it'll start to hurt any second.

After we sat down, Jimmy looks at me and goes "It's so great to meet you!"

"Thanks, I can only say the same. It's so amazing to be here, thank you for inviting me!"

"Y/N, you rewrote figure skating history. You're the fourth woman to attempt a quad, the third to do so in competition and the first to land it cleanly on the first try," Jimmy hadn't even finished talking and the crowd already cheered again. I could only smile. This was truly a dream come true.

"How long did you practice for this to happen?", Jimmy asks and I think for a moment before I reply "I've been practicing the quad for about three to four months now."

Jimmy looks astonished "I've got to say, I don't know a lot about this, but, correct me if I am wrong, this isn't usual for a skater, is it? To take only a couple of months to learn a new jump?"

I nod "It takes a lot of time and energy and focus to learn a new jump and usually you do that starting when you're young. I had a lot of help from fellow skaters and also got a lot of tips from my brothers coach Rafael Arutyunyan when I visited them in the summer."

"How did it feel to finally do something that you've been practicing for for some time and get such an amazing result out of it?"

"I'm going to be honest, I felt nothing at all the moment I landed it," I laugh slightly and Jimmy grins at that "The only thing on my mind was that I wanted to finally get this program over with. I only realized what had actually happened when I took my bows and got off the ice to my coaching team."

"You were quite happy when you got your scores though," Jimmy says and I laugh again, my face burning a little "Just a little. I was so ecstatic afterwards, I mean, who wouldn't be? If I had rewritten history then and wouldn't have reacted at all and would've just been like 'Yeah cool, I did that', I don't think I'd live today. My brothers would've yelled at me for that."

The whole room is filled with a round of laughter and Jimmy, after also calming down a little from the laughter, asks "How did your family react to your success? Not even a week ago you were 'just another top skater' and now you broke a couple of records and were the first woman to cleanly jump a quad. Basically your face and name are everywhere."

I grin "My family was so happy. When I answered their phone call they were all yelling in my ear. I couldn't hear anything on my right ear for the rest of the day."

"Your brother Adam is also in competitive skating, as we mentioned before. How did he react?"

"Oh, he was yelling the loudest. And let me tell you something, he's so jealous that I'm sitting here." 

Jimmy laughs "He's jealous that you're sitting here?" "He dragged me into this sport and yet I'm the first to be invited to a talk show. I'd say he's pretty jealous. That's just how he is."

We laugh together and Jimmy then continues "You had planned to make your big debut earlier at Skate America, but only did a triple. What happened there?"

I fold my hands in my lap and lean forward a little, leaning my elbow on the armrest of the chair. "I wasn't feeling good during the warm ups and practices. I didn't really feel safe with attempting a quad, so I just said to myself that I would use the little time I've got left before the Cup of China to practice even harder and get that quad down so I could get my ticket to the top."

"How many hours do you practice?", Jimmy asks and I immediately respond "24 hours on ice and 16 off ice. Depending on the day and on how I feel, I switch it up sometimes."

"That is definitely a lot. When you've got to practice so much, how do you deal with your social life?"

"That is a really good question," indeed it is. I didn't even have a social life until Thayne gave me his number.

"It's actually quite a funny story, I didn't really have that much of a social life until recently. I found new friends by chance and now I just push some time open here and there."

"New friends that are part of the cast of a certain musical named Hamilton?", Jimmy asks with a suggestive grin. The crowd cheers and I let out a laugh "Yeah, friends that are in the cast of Hamilton."

"I've heard that you recently saw the musical. I think everyone has, after a certain photo posted by a cast member, where you're standing together with singer and dancer Thayne Jasperson. The caption made probably hundreds or thousands of people curious. 'When two stars find each other, Oak is there to let it rain.' Is there any special meaning behind that sentence?"

I blush a little. By the sounds of the squeals and cheers in the audience and by Jimmy's laugh, that didn't go unnoticed.

"Apparently, there's a rumor going around that Thayne and I are dating," I say and Jimmy grins even more suggestively "Is that true?"

"It's just a rumor," is what I say, but inwardly I already know that within the next couple of days, social media accounts will be overflowing with theories that this is anything but a rumor.