Chapter Text
“You talk to her on phone?”
“Yeah, there’s like a group chat for skaters.”
“Impressive.”
“She’s not going to ROI this year.”
“What?”
“Javi’s show, she can’t go.”
Javier was absolutely exhausted. He couldn’t feel his legs and he was sure that he had broken something on one of his falls against the ice.
Okay, maybe he was exaggerating, it wasn’t even nearly as bad as the falls he used to take after quad training or one of the repetitive run-throughs. This kind of falls didn’t make Javi wish he could perish after every session or reconsider all of his life choices.
Besides, it had been an amazing night, the arena was filled to the brim, the guests had enjoyed themselves, the audience had been as warm as ever and the whole show had been considered one of the biggest spectacles in Spain by the media.
He couldn’t really ask for more.
They might not have reached the level of craziness of the Japanese ice shows, but they were getting there. Perhaps one day he might be able to bring the show out into the world, but until then, this was more than enough. Traveling around Spain had been exhausting but still, he was home. He will never have to go back to a seemingly endless winter in a foreign city, where he had barely any friends and didn’t quite fit in.
So no, he didn’t miss Toronto. He missed Brian and Tracy and every single coach and staff that had been part of his success over the years, but the city himself had never felt quite like home. Not like Spain.
There was only one regret and only one thing he would forever miss by his side. A gap that not even his home country could fill inside his heart.
And he had tried to forget about it, oh God he had tried so hard.
But it was too late now, and Javier felt like he owed himself to just shove that gut-wrenching feeling to the deepest part of his brain and just try to…live. No matter how much it hurt.
Javier brought the back of his hand to his eyes and chased away the tears that had seemed to gather there without his permission. It happened all the time these days.
It happened when he landed his Salchow, and no one clapped and jumped up and down on the other side of the rink.
It happened when nobody would lecture him about the concept of punctuality and how he was becoming lazy and old.
And it happened when he was out there getting medals and prizes, and no one was there next to him, begging the Spanish audience to clap louder. Harder.
It happened when he looked at the ice.
But that was something that he would have to deal with on his own. No amount of success would help him get over that kind of pain. It helped him to keep himself busy, and it helped to distract his mind from dangerous thoughts.
Unfortunately, it didn’t help him forget.
Javier got up from his place on top of his rumpled bed as the doorbell sound rang through the whole room. He wasn’t expecting any kind of visitors so late at night. Maybe something happened with one of the skaters?
When Javier had opened his door, he had expected a lot of things. A distressed manager coming to him to find a solution to some schedule problem, a guest that had come to say goodbye, or even a friend trying to lure him out of his room to have a drink.
What he didn’t expect was a soaked figure standing awkwardly in the hotel hallway, looking unsure of what to do next and shivering like an abandoned puppy in the rain. Well, perhaps more like a drenched cat that had been thrown around a bit but the point remains.
“What are you doing here?” Was the only thing that came out of Javier's mouth once his brain had caught up with his eyes.
His former training mate stared at him and like it was somehow obvious, answered him almost immediately, “I came to help?”
Yuzuru’s hair hid half of his face, and he wore some ridiculously oversized jacket that had been clearly bought in the airport with big red letters across the yellow front that spelled “I love Spain.” On his hands, Javier only spotted his usual gold carry-on. The same one he had seen dragging behind him every day for the past seven years.
“You what?”
Why was Yuzuru Hanyu in freaking Spain, dripping wet, at his door and offering his help? Did he fall asleep and hadn’t noticed?
“She not tell Javi…?” Yuzuru said, biting his lip as he tried his best to explain while still shaking like a leaf, “Yuna can’t come so she ask me.”
His brain still couldn’t exactly compute the information he was hearing. Yuna Kim, the Yuna Kim, one of his beloved guests couldn’t make it to his show. Okay, that was fine. He could make some adjustments. He could explain to the audience whatever catastrophic event had occurred that justified her absence.
And to the sponsors.
It still made zero sense why Yuzuru freaking Hanyu was standing in front of him though.
Did he even know Yuna to begin with? Do all legendary skaters know each other? Oh god they have a Whatsapp group, don’t they?
“You are telling me, that Yuna Kim randomly called you to fill in for her, in my show instead of calling me or literally anyone else?”
There must be a rational explanation behind it all. Because he was either going crazy, or he was probably still sleeping on his very comfortable bed and his mind had just conjured the image he longed to see for so long. It was an elaborate story that he himself had come up with. Why did he have to sacrifice Yuna of all people though? Seemed a bit rude even in his dreams. If anything he would have conjured up Ondrej falling down the stairs or something.
He was not salty at all about Hotarek. He really wasn’t.
“I thought she told Javi.” Yuzuru’s voice had significantly dropped, and as if trying to get himself warm he wrapped his noodle arms around himself, “if you don’t want me I can-”
That seemed to make Javi’s brain turn back into full gear again, and quickly realize that his friend was still standing outside his room completely soaked and shivering. It wouldn't look very good if people found Yuzuru's body the next morning, right by his door. Although, with that yellow jacket, he would easily be confused with a giant corn dog. The golden suitcase though would immediately give him away.
He wasn’t nearly done with his questions, but he guessed that those could wait.
“Yuzu...just come in.” He ushered him inside and prayed that no one had actually seen him around the hotel, then again if someone had indeed seen him, it wouldn’t be as quiet outside as it was right now. He didn't trust that all his invited skaters wouldn't just forget their much-needed rest and just gush at Yuzuru Hanyu, the show be damned, and never mind that he looked like a wet mop.
“Where are your bags?” Javier asked him before he closed the door and pretended that the madness was now contained inside his room. If the rest of the bags were still down in the lobby, he could fake some bullshit reason as to why he needed them ages after his check-in. He was known for his forgetfulness so maybe people would believe that inside those bags, were still his costume and skates for that competition in Italy.
Yuzuru looked behind him like he suddenly remembered that luggage was a real notion, “I-I don’t have more bags.”
“Where did you leave them?”
“In Toronto?”
Great, so Yuzuru had also been a victim of airport malfunctions. He could seriously see a pattern here, it was starting to get obvious that air companies and airports were absolutely against figure skaters from the TCC. Was this because they supported Boitano? They really needed to let it go.
Wait, so the golden suitcase behind him…?
“Yuzu what’s inside that case?” Javier prayed. He really did.
“My skates!”
His skates.
That was it. He had clearly entered a parallel universe with fewer superheroes and more insanity, so he obviously did the most plausible thing.
“Yuzu, go get a damn hot bath and I’ll lend you some clothes, we’ll talk later.”
And that’s how Javier found himself sitting on his bed, yet again, looking at the wall in front of him and avoiding even glancing towards the golden bag on the floor.
What if he looked at it and it was gone? Worse, what if he looked at it and it looked back at him?
No, Yuzuru was really here. He could hear the sure sound of water hitting the shower tiles. Yuzuru was probably getting ready and taking off his wet clothes-
Nope.
What would he tell his skaters tomorrow?
Hello, good morning, how are you? Let’s get started on morning practice, ignore that thing over there, it’s just my friend cosplaying as Yuzuru Hanyu, ignore him. No, he doesn’t talk. No, he is not a skater, that triple Axel from a standstill was just a collective hallucination.
“I’m done, thank you for clothes, Javi.”
Out of a sudden, Yuzuru emerged from his bathroom door, looking much more like a person and less like an attempted drowning victim. Javier really tried to not coo at how soft Yuzuru looked inside his own now-baggy clothes, his old ratty sweatshirt hanging only on one shoulder for dear life and the pants all rolled up by his ankles. He wasn't even that much taller than Yuzuru but he guessed that everything looked big on him by default and didn’t follow the rules of reality.
That was the only reason why he had never managed to get a fitting suit in his life probably, even if you tailored a suit that was glued to his skin with scotch tape, it would never fit his curves well-
“It’s nothing.” Who was he kidding, the thought of Yuzuru wearing his clothes, no matter how awful they looked, did things to his brain, it was not something he had done just out of the goodness of his heart obviously, and now it was like he could witness one of his fantasies come to life. “We do need to talk though.”
“If I’m bother and Javi don’t want me I can leave-"
“No!” Yuzuru jumped back at his sudden outburst, and Javier willed his voice to not sound so panicked and borderline desperate, “Please, I do want you.”
Nice Fernández. Tell him you want him here now and forever, preferably in your clothes so that everyone knows that he’s yours because that’s what you say to your friend that you haven’t seen in a while and just shows up at your door looking like someone had fished him from a river.
“I mean I want you…here obviously! It’s going to be great! Can you imagine how surprised people will be when they see you? It’s going to be awesome!”
Yuzuru didn’t look very convinced and squinted his eyes at him, sitting on the bed (his bed) and slowly drying his hair with the towel Javier had given him while he fumbled around. To be honest, Javier was still trying to convince himself.
He wasn’t succeeding much.
“Javi is sure?” he asked again, looking more comfortable on his bed by the second and Javier was not sure he was ready to look at his bed again and not see Yuzuru on it. With his clothes on was optional-
Calm the fuck down, Fernández.
“You’re Yuzuru Hanyu.”
And people are going to lose their minds when you show up in the middle of practice, completely unannounced and without even a program that we can fit somewhere. Possibly screwing up a bajillion people’s work. But I can make you fit anywhere, I’m sure you would fit just fine on my-
“Right, people know I train with Javi!”
No. More like people know that I was your training mate.
“Exactly!” Javier would take anything if that meant Yuzuru understood he was very welcome to stay, in this room, in his house, in his country. Well, not really his country but that was beside the point.
How did he even find me though?
“How did you find my hotel? And my room?” Japanese skaters’ intel forces were impressive but surely they didn’t have connections in Spain? Javier was pretty sure they had only heard of Spain when he showed up in the circuit and to an extent, he doesn’t think they care about the exact country. He was just that skater from…sunny place.
Yuzuru’s eyes lit up and he clapped his hands as if it was the most interesting story ever, if Javier remembered well, Yuzuru’s stories never were. “Yuna told me hotel, but the room was very easy! Lady downstairs said she was fan, so when I ask for your room number she ask for sign in exchange!”
Javier was torn…between banging his head on a wall or jumping off the window. The hotel lobby lady had obviously taken advantage of the situation and basically given out very private information to a stranger. Yuzuru Hanyu or not, he would have to talk to her, she couldn’t just endanger their guests like that. Imagine if it was Ondrej’s room? It could get dangerous for sure, people like Michael Myers could show up on his room all of a sudden. A true tragedy.
“That’s great but please stop signing stuff randomly, if your Spanish fans show up tonight, I’ll just hand you over.”
Javier would probably sell them a ticket to his show before making the trade, but Yuzuru didn’t need to know that.
“It was not random-” Yuzuru defended himself, sounding offended at the suggestion.
“Just warning you. And now we need to find you a room.”
“No room.” Javier was not sure he had heard correctly but Yuzuru just scooted further into his bed and made himself at home, he was not sure starfish would call human beds their home but oh well.
“What?”
“Before asking for Javi’s room I asked room for me, lady said there was no more rooms. Everything taken by other skaters.”
The Revolution on Ice cast was considerably big.
But not that big.
Definitely not that big.
“Right,” he would take care of that detail tomorrow, “I’m going to call Yuna now, so we can sort out what happened.”
A small hand was immediately wrapped around his wrist and stopped him from getting his phone from the nightstand, “Her phone got stolen.”
Now, Javier was fighting sleep and exhaustion really hard at that precise moment, so he almost accepted what was told to him and dropped his hand but, something inside his skull told him that perhaps his previous star skater hadn’t really been a victim of theft in one of the safest countries in the World.
“How did she call you then?”
“She didn’t, she talk to Jun in group chat and Jun talk to me.”
Of course, Jun talked to Yuna, it made all sens-
No, it didn’t.
None of it made any sense, but right now he was beyond exhausted beyond comprehension, and he couldn’t deal with reality so he just did the best thing he could at the moment.
“You know what, I’m going to sleep.”
Javier pulled the covers off the bed and crawled inside, turned off the light, and went over the planned routines for the next day in his head. It could still all be a hallucination, maybe he had hit his head a bit harder than he thought.
He could almost feel himself falling into the sweet oblivion that he craved until-
“Javi?”
“What?”
“Can I sleep here?”
Fuck me.
“I can’t.”
“Yuzu, you won’t have a second chance or a better opportunity.”
“He might not even...”
“You won’t know unless you try.”
“I still don’t get how you could forget your bags.”
“Checking in bags is expensive?”
“Yuzu, you used to travel with six.”
“People take care of that for me.”
“Of course they did.”
“One bag is enough, I only need skates.”
Javier shook his head as they made their way into the arena, everything was already in movement like the day before. They only had two more shows and then they would pack up and go home. He guessed that people would appreciate the big finale alright. He just needed to survive it.
A finale where they would see a living legend.
Who was currently trying to not trip on the cables that surrounded the ice, with his most concentrated expression and scrunched-up nose. God, he missed that stupid face-
“Still not very coordinated without skates?” Javier said instead.
“Shut up.”
Javier sometimes wondered if he had been born with skates, and somehow when he took them off he became somehow incomplete.
The loud thud he heard behind him, and the screech that followed proved his theory right.
By the entrance of the rink, you see that skaters had started to line up to greet Javier, and he could already predict the shitstorm coming as soon as they spotted their new fellow guest.
He could have sworn Lucca almost dropped Anna as Yuzuru waved at everyone and made sure he bowed to every single person on the ice. Raya was the first one that skated towards them and opened his arms for one of his usual dumb bear hugs, “Yuzuru, it’s been so long!”
Raya didn’t even question his presence and Javier didn’t exactly like how long that hug took.
One by one, skaters made their way to them, and some of the girls from the Revolutionettes group, kind of looked out of their minds as they shyly said hello, between nervous giggles and some shaking. But since none fainted, screamed, or threw a Winnie The Pooh plushie at his head, he was satisfied.
What did I expect, really.
“So, Yuna is not joining us for the rest of the tour. However, Yuzuru has come to help us out and perform in her place.”
The reaction was the same around the group. Everyone gasped and fanned themselves and Javi never felt the urge to ship Yuzuru back to Canada as strongly as in that moment, he would probably fit inside that damn golden suitcase along with his skates and Pooh bear. Yes, he knew how flexible Yuzuru was, how good he looked when he was bending-
“Sadly, he doesn’t have a costume, so if someone has any ideas-”
“I know!”
Javi looked at the girls in the back, one of them had bravely raised her hand. Would, leaving Yuzuru to one of them be a good idea? Was any of this a good idea?
“Stretchy jeans should work and then we just need a top, I think we can find him something!”
This was not going to end well. He just knew it.
“Do not go overboard.” Javier jokingly told them but this time in a language that only some of them could actually understand. Perhaps he was not joking. Nobody would know anyway.
“What did Javi say?”
I said that I would murder any of them that shoves you in a shirt with feathers. Oh, wait…
“Nothing important, do you mind if the girls help you find a costume?”
“Perfect! Thank you so much!” he once again bowed to everyone around them, and the skaters couldn’t help but coo at his cuteness. Javier wanted to punch them.
Softly.
With a chair.
Jeffrey patted his head and suggested something that spiked some fear into Javier’s soul, you simply didn’t challenge Yuzuru Hanyu, “You should put your popularity to the test and skate in pajamas.”
“I’m sure we can find something, anyways, what are you skating to?” Javier didn’t let him think about the possibility for long, just in case he…might consider it. He would rather have him skate in his Under Armour. Had he even packed that?
“I can skate to anything you want.”
Oh no.
The silence that followed was enough of a reaction for Javier to swallow hard and brush away any lingering and hopeful thoughts, “Yuzu you came all the way from Canada just to help me fill an empty spot in my small show,” Javier heard the small It’s not small that came from Yuzuru and smiled, “you can do whatever you want within the time we had planned for Yuna to perform.”
“Okay!”
Everyone was now settled in with their new tasks, some of them were in charge of teaching the basics of the group numbers and the girls asked Yuzuru about every single measurement, making impressed sounds when it came to certain…numbers that Javi rather not think about.
Especially when he knew how well his waist fit in his hands.
“Javi? What are you thinking?”
You. It's always you isn’t it?
“That if the owners of the arena knew that you would come, they would have given us the rink for free.”
“I'm sorry for the short notice but, where are my costumes?”
“Half of them are on tour.”
“And Hope? Crazy?”
“In Japan.”
“Origin? Otonal?”
“Still with Satomi for adjustments.”
“I can still wear Etude, can you bring it to me?”
“I’ll need an hour.”
“Forget it, I’ll think of something.”