Chapter Text
The first time it happens, they don't even mean for it to happen. They had been part of the USA team for a while now and sure, they could’ve stopped and just go to sleep but where’s the fun in that seriously?
It was Amber’s twentieth birthday, and they had gone out to celebrate properly even though most of them were not legally allowed to drink yet, whatever, sue a girl that wants to have some fun.
They were in London for the World Championship, and after coming back to their hotel room after dropping Isabeau off at hers, Amber and Alysa stumbled together towards the twin beds
“So, tell me, how does it feel to be old?’’ the shorter girl asks, looking up with shiny eyes
“Please, you’re literally 7 months younger’’ Amber bit back
“Still younger than you’’ Alysa made her way to Amber’s bed, flopping beside her
“Alright’’
They stayed in silence for a while, looking through the room’s window until Amber’s phone lit up.
yoo happy birthdayyy, you ever want a tour round london, yknow where to find me!!
They both looked down and up, and down again
“So why is miss sexy british soccer player in your dms’’ She questioned, jockily enough
“Um, these things happen? I don’t know, he asked for my insta back in July, at the USA - England charity match’’ she rotated her body fully, so she was facing Alysa ‘’So i gave it to him’’
“Didn’t know you had game, Glenn’’
“I have lots of game, I just don’t announce it publicly like others’’ She scouted closer and blew the other girl’s bangs off her forehead, knowing how much she hated it.
“Now lets not play dangerous games miss’’ Alysa placed her bangs correctly again “Media day is going to kill me, I might actually have to die’’
“Don't be dramatic’’
“I am not’’
“Yes, you are’’
“Oh fuck off, whatever’’ she pushed Amber slightly away from her “Not all of us get to kiss hot athletes everyday’’
“And who said anything about kissing’’ she smirked “Jelous, Liu?’’
“Oh, you wish’’ maybe.
“Do you want me to kiss you?’’
Alysa froze. But not the ‘’I don't know what to do’’ freeze. More like ‘’a pretty girl just asked if I want her to kiss me and I’m evaluating how much from 1 to 10 will i regret this tomorrow’’. Her eyes accidentally went down to the other girl’s lips. Terrible idea, Bad, bad. Very bad.
She had always noticed Amber, who wouldn't. The girl was beautiful. And the arms… don’t get her started on that. But they always kind of gravitated around, and not towards, each other. And now, well, they were doing their own thing. Amber was messing around with stupid boys who she wouldn’t text back and she was just living her best life let’s say.
“Don’t ask questions whose consequences you aint gonna follow through Glenn’’ she teased the waters. Not like it was a big thing, girls kissed each other all the time.
“Says who?’’
Amber doesn’t move away after saying it. If anything, she’s closer now, close enough that Alysa can see the tiny crease near her eye when she’s trying not to smile.
Alysa huffs a quiet laugh. “You’re so annoying.”
“You didn’t answer the question.”
“Because it was a stupid question.”
“That sounds like a no.”
“Did I say that?”
Amber tilts her head slightly, like she’s studying her, like this is suddenly a competition she plans on winning. “You’re overthinking it.”
“I’m not”
“You are”
Alysa nudges her shoulder again, weaker this time “If this ruins team dynamics, I’m blaming you.”
“Noted”
There’s a second where neither of them moves. London lights spilling through the window, the faint sound of traffic way below, their teammates probably asleep by now.
Amber’s voice drops a little “So… is that permission or a warning?”
Alysa rolls her eyes, but she doesn’t lean away “You talk too much, Glenn.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah”
There’s a beat where nothing happens.
Alysa thinks she might laugh it off. Roll away. Make some comment about how weird this is and go to sleep.
Instead, Amber moves first. It’s not dramatic. She doesn’t rush it. She just reaches up and lightly tucks a stray piece of Alysa’s hair behind her ear, fingers brushing her cheek for a second longer than necessary. Alysa’s brain helpfully stops working.
“Still time to say no” Amber murmurs.
“You’re stalling” Alysa says.
“Oh, am I?”
“Yes”
Amber leans in a little closer. Alysa should probably say something smart. Something sarcastic. Something that makes it clear she’s totally calm and not noticing how Amber’s eyes keep flicking to her mouth.
Instead she says “You’re really annoying tonight”
Amber laughs softly and that’s when it happens.
The kiss starts quick and light, like Amber’s still half teasing, just the briefest press of lips before she pulls back a fraction to see Alysa’s reaction.
Alysa blinks at her “That it?” she says
Amber raises an eyebrow “You complaining?”
“Maybe”
Amber huffs a quiet laugh and kisses her again, a little slower this time. Still playful, but more certain. Alysa doesn’t freeze like she expected to. If anything, she leans into it before she realizes she’s doing that.
When Amber pulls back again, Alysa squints at her “You’re way too confident.”
“You didn’t stop me”
“That doesn’t mean I won’t”
Amber tilts her head, eyes bright “Go ahead”
Alysa leans forward like she’s going to shove her away. Instead she kisses her first this time.
It’s clumsy for half a second because they both laugh into it, but Amber quickly steadies them, one hand lightly catching Alysa’s wrist like she’s guiding the moment without making a big deal out of it.
“See?” Amber says when they separate, voice a little softer now “You wanted to”
“Don’t start”
“You literally kissed me”
“After you started it”
Amber grins “Technicality”
Alysa rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling too, which is probably a mistake. Amber notices immediately, because of course she does.
“You’re smiling” Amber says.
“I’m not”
“You are”
“Shut up”
Amber kisses her again mid-argument, which is extremely unfair and honestly a little strategic. This one lingers longer, warm and easy, the kind of kiss that makes it feel like they’ve been doing this way longer than five minutes.
Alysa nudges her shoulder. “You can’t just”
Amber does it again.
“That is cheating” Alysa says.
“Works though”
Alysa shakes her head, but she doesn’t move away. Amber’s hand ends up resting loosely near Alysa’s jaw, thumb brushing there absentmindedly, like she’s getting used to the idea.
The room is quiet except for distant city noise outside the window.
“Your lip gloss tastes like strawberries” Alysa says.
“It’s not gloss,” Amber says automatically.
Alysa pauses. “Lip combo then” and kisses her again just to prove a point.
At some point Alysa ends up half leaning against her, and Amber definitely notices because she goes a little quieter after that, less joking for a moment. Like she realizes this stopped being a joke a few minutes ago.
Which is exactly why Alysa decides this is getting dangerous.
She pulls back suddenly.
“Nope”
Amber blinks “Nope?”
“Nope”
Amber looks confused, which Alysa finds extremely satisfying for about two seconds.
“What happened?” Amber asks.
“You’re getting too smug”
“That’s not a real reason”
“It is tonight”
Amber shifts closer again like she’s going to argue, but Alysa puts a hand on her shoulder and gently pushes her back “Control yourself, Glenn”
Amber laughs under her breath “You started this round”
“I’m ending it”
Amber squints at her like she’s trying to figure out if Alysa’s bluffing “Alright” Amber says lightly.
“Strategic retreat, you know”
Alysa slides off the bed before Amber can stop her and crosses the tiny space between the twin beds. She flops dramatically onto the other one, pulling the blanket halfway up like she’s sealing a deal.
Amber props herself up on an elbow, watching her.
“You’re really done?”
“For now” Alysa says
Amber smirks “You’re going to regret that.”
“Goodnight, Amber”
There’s a pause.
“Goodnight, Alysa”
The lights from outside still spill through the window, and Alysa stares at the ceiling trying very hard not to replay the last ten minutes in her head.
It works for about eight seconds. Eventually the room goes quiet enough that sleep wins.
The next thing Alysa knows, someone is shaking her shoulder.
“Alysa!”
Alysa groans into the pillow “Five more minutes.”
“No. Wake up”
She cracks one eye open to see Isabeau standing beside the bed, already dressed, hair done, looking way too awake for this hour of the morning.
“What time is it” Alysa mumbles.
“Media day chaos o’clock” Isabeau says “Also why were you smiling in your sleep”
“I was not”
“You were”
Alysa pushes herself up slowly, hair a mess, brain still foggy. Then she notices something. A faint, slightly sweet scent.
Strawberries.
Oh no.
Her eyes widen a little as she brings a hand to her mouth. The lip product is mostly faded, but there’s still just enough there to remind her exactly what happened last night.
Amber’s stupid lip combo.
“You look like you just remembered something embarrassing” Isabeau says
“I didn’t”
“You did”
“Where’s Amber?”
“They took her early” Isabeau says, grabbing her bag from the chair “Some extra interviews or something. She looked very smug about it, by the way”
Of course she did. Alysa flops back onto the pillow for a second, staring at the ceiling again.
This is going to be a problem.
A fun problem.
But definitely a problem.
The week passes like nothing happened.
Which is weird, because something definitely did.
Alysa notices it first during breakfast the next morning. Not anything obvious—no dramatic tension, no awkward silences that make the rest of Team USA suspicious. If anything, everything looks exactly the same.
Except it isn’t.
Amber still jokes with everyone. Still bumps shoulders in the hallway, still argues about music in the warm-up area, still complains about early practices like she always does.
But every once in a while, Alysa looks up from across the room and catches her looking already. Not long. Just a second too long.
Then Amber looks away like nothing happened. And because Amber isn’t bringing it up, Alysa definitely isn’t bringing it up.
So they just… don’t talk about it. Which somehow makes it worse.
During practices, they’re normal. During meals, normal. During team meetings, normal. But there’s this strange thread of awareness running through everything, like both of them are quietly remembering something the other person might pretend didn’t matter.
Once, in the elevator, their hands brush by accident. Neither of them comments on it.
Alysa spends the entire ride staring at the floor numbers. Amber looks like she’s trying not to smile.
Competition week moves fast after that.
Team event first.
Team USA wins gold, which means chaos—photos, flags, loud celebrations in the hallway, teammates yelling over each other. Alysa barely processes half of it, adrenaline still buzzing through her.
Amber hugs everyone. When she hugs Alysa, it’s quick. But not that quick.
Then the individual events arrive.
The short program goes by in a blur of nerves and bright lights. The free skate even more so. By the time it’s over, Alysa’s legs feel like they’re not fully attached to her body anymore.
When the scores come in, the arena noise shifts into that rising wave of reactions.
Third place. Alysa exhales, half relief, half disbelief.
Second: Kaori Sakamoto.
First.
There’s a pause before the announcement that feels longer than it probably is. Then the name.
Amber Glenn.
For a second, Alysa just stares at the screen like she misread it. Then the realization hits along with the crowd reaction.
People didn’t expect that.
Amber did. Or at least she’s pretending she did.
Across the rink, Amber looks stunned for about half a second before the grin breaks through and she covers her face with both hands. Alysa starts laughing. Not because it’s funny, just because of course this is happening.
Later, when they’re off the ice and the medals are around their necks, Alysa finally finds her near the boards.
“You’re buying dinner” Alysa says immediately.
Amber blinks “For winning?”
“Yes”
“That doesn’t seem fair”
“You’re rich in medals now”
Amber snorts “That’s not how that works”
Before Alysa can respond, someone calls Amber’s name.
Then another person.
Then about five more.
Media.
Amber groans quietly “Oh, fuck me’’
Alysa smirks “Have fun, champion.”
Amber points at her like she’s about to say something else but the media swarm reaches her first, microphones already appearing out of nowhere.
“Amber! Over here!” “How does it feel-” “Were you expecting-”
Alysa watches for a moment as Amber gets pulled into the crowd of cameras and questions, her smile shifting into that media-ready version. She catches Alysa looking once before someone turns her toward another camera.
Then she’s gone. Alysa sighs.
She had been planning to drag her and Kaori around the ice rink to celebrate, while dancing to the music and signing off autographs for the people there
But the night stretches out into interviews, people moving in different directions, team members disappearing back to the hotel in waves.
By the time Alysa finally gets back to her room, it’s late. Really late.
She kicks off her shoes, drops her medal on the desk, and flops onto the bed face-first. The room is quiet except for the city outside. She checks her phone. Nothing from Amber.Which is fine.
Totally fine. Not weird at all.
Alysa groans into the pillow.
“This is stupid” she mutters to no one.
Time passes. She scrolls for a bit. Stares at the ceiling again. Almost falls asleep.
Then, the door clicks.
Alysa sits up immediately.
The door opens slowly, and Amber slips inside like someone sneaking into a crime scene. She’s still in her event jacket, hair slightly messy from the night, medal still around her neck.
And she’s holding a bottle.
Alysa squints. “Is that-”
Amber closes the door quietly behind her and lifts the bottle a little.
“Champagne” she says.
“Where did you get that?”
Amber pauses.
“Media room”
“You stole champagne from the media”
“Borrowed”
“Amber”
“Strategically relocated”
Alysa starts laughing despite herself “You’re going to get banned from interviews forever”
Amber shrugs, walking further into the room “Worth it”
It’s quiet for a second after that.
Alysa realizes this is the first time they’ve been alone all week. Which apparently Amber also realizes.
Because the energy in the room immediately becomes that weird mix of casual and not casual at all.
Amber gestures with the bottle “You said you wanted to celebrate”
Alysa narrows her eyes slightly “That was hours ago”
“I got delayed, you know”
“By fame?”
“By journalists asking the same question twenty different ways”
Alysa nods slowly “That tracks”
Amber sets the bottle on the table and looks around for glasses. There are none.
They both notice at the same time.
‘’Straight from the bottle i guess’’ Amber says.
Alysa points toward the bathroom “Luxury”
Amber starts trying to open the bottle. Trying being the key word. It takes longer than it should.
“Do you actually know how to open that?” Alysa asks.
“Yes”
“You look like you’re fighting it”
“I am winning”
The cork finally pops with a quiet thump, and both of them laugh immediately like it was louder than expected.
They stand there awkwardly for a second before Amber takes a long sip and hands it to the shorter girl
“Wow” Alysa says “This is romantic” She hands the bottle back
Amber nearly chokes on her drink “It’s not romantic”
“I didn’t say it was”
“You implied it”
Amber rolls her eyes, but there’s that same smile again, the one from the other night.
The room goes quiet again.
Alysa takes a sip “So… first in the world.”
Amber shrugs like it’s not a huge deal, which is ridiculous “Third in the world” she says back.
“Yeah, but you beat me”
“Barely”
“You’re still paying for dinner”
Amber laughs softly “You’re not letting that go, are you?”
“No”
Another pause. They’re standing closer now than when Amber first walked in. Not that close.
But close enough that Alysa notices the girl’s familiar scent again.
Amber notices Alysa noticing. Her eyebrow lifts slightly.
Alysa immediately looks away “Don’t start”
Amber grins. And suddenly the room feels a lot smaller than it did a minute ago.
Now the bottle is being passed back and forth.
Alysa takes a drink and hands it back. Amber drinks and wipes the rim with her sleeve in an exaggeratedly polite way.
“Wow” Alysa says “So considerate”
“I’m a very thoughtful person”
“Sure”
They sit there with their backs against the headboard, legs stretched out across the bed, shoulders just barely brushing sometimes when one of them shifts.
The room is dim except for a lamp on the nightstand.
Alysa glances at Amber’s medal again, still hanging around her neck.
“You’re still wearing it”
Amber looks down like she forgot it was there “Oh”
“You planning on sleeping with it too?”
“Maybe”
“That’s weird”
Amber bumps her shoulder lightly “Rude”
Alysa smiles a little, but it fades after a second. The thought that’s been sitting in the back of her head all week finally pushes forward. She takes the bottle again, drinks, then says it casually like it doesn’t matter.
“So are we talking about it?”
Amber pauses mid-reach for the bottle.
“…About what?”
Alysa gives her a look. Amber looks very interested in the label on the bottle.
“You know what” Alysa says
Amber takes the bottle and drinks instead of answering.
“That was days ago” Amber says after a moment.
“Yeah”
“We didn’t make it weird”
“It is weird”
Amber glances at her quickly “It’s not that weird”
Alysa snorts “We literally made out and then just… never mentioned it again”
Amber winces slightly “Okay when you say it like that”
“That is what happened”
Amber takes another sip from the bottle like she’s buying time.
“Well” she says finally “it didn’t seem like you wanted to talk about it”
Alysa blinks at her “Me?”
“Yeah”
“You’re the one who acted like nothing happened”
“I thought we were mutually acting like nothing happened”
“That’s still acting like nothing happened”
Amber squints “You’re making this complicated”
“I’m not”
“You are”
Alysa leans her head back against the wall with a groan “This is exactly what I meant”
Amber laughs quietly. For a moment neither of them says anything. Then Amber nudges her knee lightly against Alysa’s.
“Well” she says slowly “we’re friends”
Alysa raises an eyebrow “Friends”
“Yeah”
“Friends who...”
Amber immediately interrupts. “Sometimes kiss”
Alysa stares at her. Amber tries very hard to look like that sentence made perfect sense.
“You’re serious?” Alysa says.
“Why not?”
“Because that’s not usually how that works”
“According to who?”
“According to… people”
Alysa takes the bottle from her and drinks straight from it this time.
“We’re just friends.”
“Correct”
“And friends can kiss”
“Yes”
“Sometimes”
Amber nods very seriously “Occasionally”
Alysa studies her face like she’s trying to find the catch “You’re way too calm about this”
Amber smiles a little “You’re the one who brought it up”
“Yeah, but I expected at least a little panic”
“I don’t panic”
“You absolutely do”
“Not about this”
That lands differently than Amber probably intended. There’s a quiet beat.
Alysa looks down at the bottle in her hands and turns it slowly.
“…So we’re good?” Amber asks after a moment.
Alysa glances back at her.
“Yeah” she says “We’re good”
Amber relaxes slightly, shoulders dropping a little.
“Cool” Amber says.
“Cool”
They both nod like they just finalized a completely normal agreement. Then they keep sitting there. Still close. Still not moving. Still very aware of each other.
Alysa drinks again and realizes they’ve gone through way more of the bottle than she thought.
“Wow” she says “We’re kind of destroying this”
Amber leans over to check “Oh”
There’s barely any left.
“Oops”
“Media’s going to notice”
Amber shrugs “I’ll deny everything”
“You’re bad at lying”
“I’m excellent at lying”
“You literally confessed to stealing it five minutes ago.”
Amber laughs “Okay, fair”
They pass the bottle back and forth again until it’s basically empty and by now they’re both a little looser, conversation drifting into quieter territory. At some point Alysa reaches up and taps Amber’s medal again.
“You’re really not taking this off?”
Amber glances down. “I guess I should”
Alysa doesn’t wait for her to do it. She reaches over and carefully lifts the ribbon off Amber’s neck. Amber stills slightly when Alysa’s fingers brush the back of her neck.It’s quick, but noticeable.
Alysa notices it. Amber notices that Alysa noticed it. Neither of them comments.
Alysa studies the medal for a second before leaning over and placing it next to hers on the nightstand. Two medals side by side. She quickly grabs her camera from the nightstand and takes a picture.
''I'll post it, eventually''
Amber looks at them, and something about that seems to make her smile a little softer than before.
“That looks cool” Amber says.
“Yeah” Alysa agrees.
Silence settles again, but it’s not awkward in the same way as earlier. Just… charged. Eventually Amber shifts like she’s remembering something.
“I should probably go to my bed” she says.
Alysa glances across the room at the other bed.
Right. Shared room. Normal situation.
Totally normal.
“Yeah” Alysa says “Probably”
Amber slides off the bed and stands. For a second it looks like she’s actually going to walk away. She even takes a step toward her bed. And that’s when Alysa makes a decision she absolutely did not plan on making.
“Amber”
Amber turns around. Alysa is already leaning forward when she kisses her. It catches Amber completely off guard for about half a second. Then Amber responds immediately. The kiss is different from the ones before.
Less joking.
Still playful, but deeper now, like the week of pretending nothing happened finally cracked open all at once.
Amber steps closer without even thinking about it.
Alysa’s hand ends up grabbing the front of Amber’s jacket to pull her closer.
“Friends” Amber murmurs against her mouth, slightly breathless.
“Yeah” Alysa says
Amber laughs softly and kisses her again. This time Alysa’s the one pushing the pace a little, like she’s testing that agreement they just made.
Amber doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, Amber very clearly does not mind.
At some point Amber ends up leaning forward enough that Alysa has to shift back against the headboard to make space.
Then somehow that turns into Amber half climbing onto the edge of the bed again.
Then closer.
Then closer than that.
“This feels suspiciously not friendly”
Alysa kisses her again instead of answering.
Amber laughs into it but doesn’t pull away.
The whole thing turns messy fast.
Not in a bad way.
Just chaotic.
They keep bumping noses and laughing and then immediately kissing again.
At one point Amber says something that makes Alysa roll her eyes mid-kiss, which only makes Amber grin more.
Eventually Amber ends up fully leaning over her, one knee pressed into the mattress as Alysa slides down slightly against the pillows.
Now Amber’s basically hovering over her.
Alysa notices this.
“So much for going to your bed” she says.
Amber shrugs like she has no explanation.
“You started it”
“Did not”
Alysa pulls her down again before Amber can finish arguing. That’s when Amber’s lip combo situation makes its return. Alysa feels it immediately; faint lipstick, gloss, whatever Amber put on earlier still lingering.
Amber definitely notices a second later.
When they pull apart briefly, Amber squints at her.
“…That’s going to be everywhere again” Amber says.
Alysa smirks “Your fault”
“You kissed me”
Amber opens her mouth to argue and then just laughs instead.
“Yeah” she says. “Okay”
They keep going anyway.
Which absolutely does not help the situation.
By now Amber is fully pressed against the edge of Alysa’s bed, one arm braced beside Alysa’s shoulder, the other hand loosely resting near her waist like she forgot it was there. Alysa’s hand ends up at the back of Amber’s neck again. At some point they both stop for a second just to breathe. Amber looks down at her, hair slightly messy, expression somewhere between amused and definitely aware of how close they are.
“This seems like a bad idea” Amber says.
“Probably” Alysa agrees.
Neither of them moves away.
“Also, like, dangerous” Amber adds.
“Very”
Another pause. Then Amber kisses her again anyway. Which lasts longer this time. Long enough that Alysa briefly forgets what they were even talking about. Eventually they both slow down again. Amber rests her forehead lightly against Alysa’s for a second, still smiling a little.
“Yeah” Amber says quietly “We should stop”
Alysa exhales “Yeah”
Neither of them moves for another few seconds. Then Amber finally pushes herself up slightly, though she’s still very much on Alysa’s bed. Alysa looks at her lips and then snorts.
“It’s definitely a mess again” she says.