Chapter Text
Adam was rudely awoken to the feeling of his back hitting the cold, hard floor. Blearary, he look back up at the bed to see Stephen sprawled all over it.
"Fuckkkk," he groaned, patting a hand around his dresser to find his phone. Huh. It wasn't there.
Frowning, he looked back up at the clock. 9:30. Late enough that he probably shouldn't lie motionless on the floor for any longer.
The noise he made as he got dressed must've woken Stephen up. The other rolled over in bed and groaned, sitting up a couple seconds later.
"Welcome to the land of the living, sleepyhead," Adam teased.
"Shut up." Stephen yawned. "What time is it?"
"About half nine. I figured we should go get some breakfast, then maybe so something together?"
"That sounds perfect," Stephen told him, moving to get dressed himself. "These beds are absolutely tiny. How did we both fit on this thing?"
"We didn't," Adam grumbled. "You rolled over and threw me onto the floor. That's why I woke up."
Stephen looked horrified. "Did I actually?" He peppered kisses all over Adam's face. "I'm sorry love."
Adam's face reddened in response to the pet name. Stephen had always used them, even when they were just friends, but it had only increased in frequency since they began dating.
"Now hurry up and get dressed. I'm hungry," Adam complained. "Wait, where's my phone?" he realized it was missing as he went to reach for it again.
"Oh, I'm not telling you," Stephen said as he reached for one of his red Canada hoodies. "I took it away last night when you were in the shower. You don't have anything to do today, so don't worry about people needing to contact you."
Adam nodded happily. Truth be told, he didn't want to have to open his phone and be immediately confronted with what the media had to say about his skate last night.
Knowing the athlete's village was closed to the public, the two skaters held hands on their way to the dining hall.
"They have waffles and pancakes." Stephen's eyes widened in wonder. "Jackpot." He merely shrugged at Adam's raised eyebrows. "Day after competition is always a cheat day."
Their search for a seat was short-lived, as Kaori frantically waved them over to where she was sitting with some other skaters. Adam waved back and pulled Stephen over with him, dropping into the seat next to her.
He immidiatly regretted it when he saw her shit-eating grin.
Right. They hadn't seen each other since that dated night after the short program.
"I want details, Adam," Kaori stared directly into his eyes, just daring him to lie to her.
"Fine," Adam sighed. "So I went back to my room after. Miraculously, I fell asleep almost immediately. I woke up the next morning to someone," he turned to face Stephen, then back to Kaori (and the now assembled crowd of Ami, Yuma, Kao, Shun, Jun and Kevin), "literally trying to break my door down.
"Ok wait, hang on," Kaori interrupted him, turning to the others and speaking Japanese. No doubt translating his story for the new, non-english speaking audience. "Ok, continue."
"There's not much to tell," Adam shrugged. "We talked it out, figured out the misunderstanding, and now we're debating." He waited for Kaori to relay his information over to the others.
Yuma made a kissy face at him, which Adam interpreted as him asking if they'd kissed. "Yes, Yuma," he nodded, rolling his eyes at the juvenile behaviour.
"Well," Kevin fixed his eyes upon Stephen. "I think I speak for all of when I say this: If you ever hurt Adam, I'll kill you."
"Charming, but I'll try my best for that to not be necessary." Stephen grimaced. "Besides, I think Benoit would get there before you."
"Yeah, he would." Kaori agreed with Stephen. "You're like his adopted child."
Adam shook his head, taking a bite out of his eggs. It certainly didn't feel that way right now. Benoit hadn't said a single word to him after his free program.
Now that he'd had more than two bites of scrambled eggs, they were kind of gross. He nudged Stephen, who was engaged in conversation with Kaori about Benoit, to ask if he wanted them.
"If you don't want your eggs then I'll eat them, but you have to make sure you've had enough, ok?" Stephen told him gently.
"I had sausages and a bit of fruit already."
"They have an excellent selection of jams, if you want some toast," Kevin offered an alternative.
As he so often was, Adam was glad that his teammate was here with him.
Kevin was right. He slotted a slice of bread into the toaster, and waited for it to get crispy.
He watched the hustle and bustle of the cafeteria around him. There were lots of skaters. Evidently, people had had a bit of a lie-in after being up so late watching.
Ilia and Misha walked in just as he finished spreading blueberry jam onto his toast. He gave them a wave, waiting to see if they'd acknowledge him before properly interacting.
When he received a wave and slight smile back, he tentatively approached them. "Me, Stephen, Kevin, and some of the Japanese skaters are sitting over there, if you two want to join us." He extended the invitation.
Adam was sure nobody would be offended if they passed it up. Ilia looked like an absolute wreck, and it was very possible he wouldn't be up for the social interaction.
To his surprise, Ilia nodded. "Thanks. We'll join you once we've gotten some food."
Adam returned to find Yuma and Shun pointing at different objects around the table. "What are you guys doing?" Adam asked, not sure if he really wanted to know.
"They're teaching us japanese words," Stephen explained. "We're not very good at it." He peered down at Adam's plate. "What's on your toast?"
"Blueberry jam. So you guys know, I saw Ilia and Misha. They're just getting food and then coming over to sit with us."
"Sounds good," Kaori said. "I'm glad he's up and eating."
"And that his relationship with Misha survived," Kevin said, mouth pulling into a thin line.
Adam shuddered. "Trust us, we know it did."
Stephen rolled his eyes. "They really weren't that bad, Adam. If anything, we were worse."
"No we wern't," Adam insisted.
He was cut off from saying anything more on the subject by Yuma, who let out an excited squeal with his mouth full of melon.
The whole table looked over to see him point at Ilia's pants and make a little heart with his hands.
Poor Ilia looked so confused and slightly like he was already regretting sitting with them.
"I love them," Yuma clarified what he was trying to mine earlier when he had finished chewing.
Adam properly looked down to see what we was wearing, letting out a little laugh when he finally saw what had gotten Yuma so excited: Pyjama pants with ice skating Snoopys on them.
"Oh, thanks," Ilia said, smiling awkwardly. The two new arrivals settled themselves down on the same end of the table as Adam and Stephen. It ras rapidly becoming quite a squash.
Despite the vast lingual diversity of the group, they were able to hold a solid conversation. Kaori was able to translate for the three Japanese boys (although Yuma seemed to understand some without her), and Ilia helped Misha through any bits and pieces of English he didn't know.
Yuma's phone buzzed after a while, breaking the flow. Quickly reading the message and typing something back, he said something to his two male compatriots. The three of them stood up and left swiftly, leaving five confused skaters and Kaori in their wake.
"They're going to meet Yuma and Shoma's lovechild Rio," she explained.
"Ahh," they sighed in understanding.
"Can I ask," Misha said, once he was sure they were out of earshot, "Is there anything between Yuma and Shun? They seemed very close yesterday, but I didn't know if that was just them."
Kaori let out a long-suffering sigh. "Everyone and their mother on team Japan knows there's something between them, but we can't get any confirmation whatsoever."
"So you think they are together?" Ilia asks.
"Either they're toghether and not telling us, or they're so deep in denial that it's not even worth helping them."
"Speaking of dating each other…" Ilia let his eyes linger on the other couple in the room, "How long have you two been togheter, and how have I never noticed?!"
"Three days and two hours," Stephen rattled off without any hesitation.
"He realized this at about three this morning." Mikhail rolled his eyes. "After Adam spent ten minutes sobbing in your arms in front of him, while you kissed his cheeks and called him pet names," he told the Canadian, who put his head in his hands.
"I was distraught!" Ilia defended himself. Then, at poor Misha's confused look, he added, "Distraught is like, upset, I guess. It's just a stronger word."
Stephen set his hand over Adam's, who relished in the touch. It wasn't over. The blond picked up his hand and brought it towards his lips, pressing a delicate kiss onto it.
Adam stared ar him, mouth slightly open and face pinking.
"I think you broke him," Kevin said, smirking. "I've never seen Adam's brain shut down so fast."
"I think you two might be making a case to be worse than Nathan and Shoma," Kaori teased.
"I will never be worse than them," Adam protested vehemently.
"I think you get a bit worked up about this, my love." Stephen rested his hand around the back of Adam's chair, patting his far shoulder gently. "It's really not worth it."
"I know that," Adam smiled gently at him, rolling his head to the side and resting it on the arm around him.
The five skaters sat in the comfortable quiet, despite the ambling noise of daily life around him.
"We need you to film some videos."
Adam screamed and nearly jumped out of his chair, Stephen throwing his arms out to catch him. He felt himself pulled closer into Stephen, the pair turning around to see Piper.
"I'm sorry!" she apologized. "I thought you knew I was behind you!"
Now that Adam's heartrate had decreased, it was actually kind of funny that she had managed to scare him like that. He was usually pretty aware of his surroundings. "You're good," he reassured her. "I wasn't scared at all."
"Mmh hmm," Ilia drawled out, scepticism written all over his face.
"Shut up, Nepo baby," Adam stuck his tongue out at the american. It was an insult he used often, since he knew Ilia wouldn't actually take it to heart.
"Are they always like this?" Piper asked her fellow countryman.
"Unfortunately," Stephen replied mournfully. "I have no idea why they're like this, but they are."
"It's a coping mechanism," Adam and Ilia spoke at the same time.
"Oooookkkkk," Piper hummed. "Anyways, the media team want you to film a couple videos in the team Canada lounge. It should only take twenty minutes."
"Thanks for telling me. Ads, do you want to stay here? If you want to come with me I'm sure they'd let you in while they make me film."
"I'll come with you," Adam says, standing up.
"Good. We can give you your shovel talk while you're there." Piper grinned with all her teeth.
Adam reared backwards slightly. "Ok… good to know."
"Don't be afraid of them." Stephen took his hand as they walked in step with Piper. "They're big softies deep down."
Adam smiled, locking eyes with Stephen. The other man paused their walk to bend down and kiss his face.
Adam felt like he was in heaven, competition results de damned. "I'm so glad I met you," he whispered to Stephen.
"Me too." Stephen kissed him again, paying no mind to Piper, who just shook her head and walked away.