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Irony really sucked, Guang Hong realized. Somehow, he had ended up at Skate America, but of course Leo had been put in the China Cup bracket. It had been so long since the last time he had seen Leo in person, and all he wanted was to leap into his boyfriend’s arms and hug him for an excessively long time.
Boyfriend.
That felt so weird to think. “Leo de la Iglesia 是我的男朋友,” he muttered to himself. Even after three months, it felt bizarre. There were days when he forgot about it, when it was like last year before the Grand Prix Final when they were just friends. Then, there were days where he missed Leo so much that his arms physically ached from hugging himself in the hopes that it would feel like he had Leo in his arms.
“Guang Hong?” his coach patted his shoulder gently. “Is something wrong?”
He shook his head. “Nothing, coach. I’m sorry. Just… nervous,” he sighed. Hopefully, she would buy it.
She was quite clearly not convinced, given the tight-lipped, furrow-browed look she shot at him, but she nodded. “I heard some of the other coaches talking about how some of the senior skaters are going for dinner. Do you want to go with them?”
Guang Hong bit his lip. “Can I?” He wasn’t really close with any other skaters besides Leo and Phichit, and, prior to dating Leo, his English was not what one would call fluent. “I’m not sure I’m invited.”
She nodded again, smiling sympathetically. “I’m sure they won’t mind.” As she got up from the lobby chair, she winked. “You’ll see Leo again, soon,” she reassured him.
Half an hour later, Guang Hong found himself standing in a group with Yuuri Katsuki, Yuri Plisetsky, Christophe Giacometti, Kenjirou Minami, and Jean-Jacques Leroy and his fiancée. How this happened, he was unsure.
Chris was the first to speak up. “So boys, where do you all want to go?” he winked seductively at Yuuri Katsuki, who just smiled sheepishly.
“Just because Viktor isn’t around - “
“Yuuuuri,” he purred, “I know. I’m just messing around. I would never cheat on my wonderful boyfriend or hurt Viktor like that.”
Guang Hong blushed. They were talking about sex, he realized. What must it be like to be that comfortable flirting with people?
Beside him, he heard a high pitched squeal, and he saw Kenjirou’s face, red with embarrassment. It looked like he wasn’t the only one who was squeamish about sex, then. He breathed a little sigh of relief, hoping that he didn’t seem like a little kid to all of the other skaters.
Despite being younger than both Kenjirou and Guang Hong, Yuri Plisetsky looked unfazed. “You’re both disgusting perverts. Knock it off,” he barked.
Jean-Jacques was even more unfazed. It seemed like he had been too busy kissing his future wife to even notice what had transpired. All the better, Guang Hong supposed. He wished he had missed that awkward moment. Would I have been making out with Leo? He doubted it. They hadn’t seen each other in person in the three months that they’d been dating, and he was personally uncomfortable with showing too much intimacy in public. Plus tongueing sounded gross . He blushed a little in the cold Boston air, his face stinging. The thought of Leo’s lips on his felt warm and inviting, and even a little bit dirty. Before he could stop himself, a small giggle escaped from his cold lips.
“Guang Hong?” Yuuri asked, a little concerned, as if he had already asked something many times.
Yuuri probably had, Guang Hong realized, while he was thinking about Leo and kissing. He felt himself turn even more pink. “Yeah?” he squeaked.
“Is there anywhere in particular you wanted to go for dinner?” Yuuri repeated, a small smile on his face.
“Ohhh ummm, I... I don’t know?” He thought about all the times he had asked Leo about America, and he drew blanks on basically all the restaurants they had talked about except the one Leo had gone to for his birthday. “Cheesecake… Factory?”
Yuuri and Chris nodded, the latter already typing the name into his phone. “Ooooooh, I love cheesecake! Excellent choice,” he crooned.
It took a while to get there because despite all of the skaters being well-versed in their hometown’s transportation, their knowledge of the Boston metro was lacking, to say the least. When they finally arrived and sat down, everyone, with the exception of perhaps the two Yuri’s and Christophe, was extremely awkward. None of them talked to each other, even when their food arrived. Christophe smiled and hummed to himself, Yuuri was texting Viktor, Yuri Plisetsky had his headphones in, Kenjirou was looking up pictures of Yuuri from past Grand Prix Finals, and Jean-Jacques and Isabella were… otherwise preoccupied. Guang Hong could have texted Leo, but he wasn’t sure if his boyfriend was busy. Because the Cup of China was only a few days before Skate America, the Cup of China competitors had stayed behind a few days to go sightseeing, while the Skate America contestants arrived a few days early to gather their bearings. At first, Guang Hong had been happy to have time to adjust to time zones and such, but he soon realized that meant that probably neither he nor Leo would have time to watch the other’s performances. He sighed, staring at his dark phone screen.
Luckily, a FaceTime call invite from Leo came right at that moment. Guang Hong jumped on the opportunity.
When he accepted the call, he was somewhat disappointed that the face filling the screen was Phichit’s.
“Oh,” he said softly, hoping his disappointment wasn’t that obvious.
“Hello to you, too, Guang Hong,” Phichit scoffed in mock offense.
“Ahhh, I’m sorry, Phichit! I just, um, I thought it would be - “
“Leo?” Phichit grinned, panning the camera around to show a very grumpy looking Leo de la Iglesia. Guang Hong had to admit that Leo’s pouty face was incredibly cute.
“Give it back, Phichit,” Leo exclaimed, exasperated, as he reached for the phone. The video was incredibly shaky, so Guang Hong assumed that Phichit was running around with it.
“Is Yuuri there? Tell him I said hi!” Phichit shouted gleefully.
“Yuuri? I love you, Yuuri!” Viktor Nikiforov’s voice came from somewhere off the screen. “I can’t wait to see you again, Yuriichka~!”
“I love you, too,” Yuuri replied calmly into the phone Guang Hong held out to him.
Yuri Plisetsky gagged. “Holy shit, you’re even disgusting when you’re not together.”
“What about me, Viktor?” Chris teasingly cooed. Yuri gagged again.
Finally, a tan hand covered the screen. There was a shaky shot of the ceiling for a few seconds before Leo de la Iglesia smiled onscreen. “Sorry about that,” he muttered. In the background, Guang Hong could hear Viktor and Phichit yelling salutations to Yuuri and Chris and angry yelling in a language he didn’t know. Italian, maybe.
“S’okay,” he mumbled. “I wish you w- ahhh, that you guys were here, though.” He caught himself just in time, or so he thought.
Apparently not, because everyone could hear Phichit shrieking “Leo and Guang Hong, sittin’ in a tree,” while Viktor let out a prolonged “Awwwwww! That’s so cute!” Even Chris sighed. Guang Hong blushed. Maybe if he took his pasta fork to his throat, he could die now and be spared the embarrassment.
“I wish you were here, too!” Leo replied. “It’s just a bunch of old dudes here,” he said, as he shot a glance at Phichit. “I want to see you in your short program outfit! You look so cute, babe.”
Guang Hong turned as red as his country’s flag. Babe . Oh god, that was cute. Feeling emboldened, he bit his tongue and responded, “Not as cute as you are in your free!”
“No way,” Leo retorted. “You’re cuter!”
“No, you!”
“Noooo, you!”
Yuri Plisetsky made a sound that resembled a dying cat choking on antifreeze. “Oh my god, I’m trying to fucking eat, you’re both adorable , now shut the hell up! God, you’re worse than katsudon and that loser Viktor,” he growled.
Leo winked through his phone. “He’s just jealous that my boyfriend is cuter than him.”
Yuri Plisetsky rolled his eyes as Guang Hong laughed nervously. “Whatever,” the younger skater muttered.
“Jealous, Plisetsky?” Leo joked from Guang Hong’s phone. Yuri shook his head.
“I just don’t get why you always have to act so lovey . I don’t need or want a girlfriend or boyfriend.” He scowled and put his headphones back on, turning back to his food.
Guang Hong looked at his phone, blinking. “You really shouldn’t ummm what’s the word? Egg him? Like that?”
Leo laughed. “Egg him on? I know,” he smiled apologetically. “I just can’t stand that someone would say something bad about you.”
“He didn’t really say anything about me, you know, it was more about us,” Guang Hong reasoned, but Leo shook his head.
“I want to be open about you, about us , Guang Hong. Because you’re my boyfriend , and I love you, okay?” He smiled, that smile Guang Hong loved because it was warm as the streets of Beijing in the month of June, when the silver sky seemed a blanket and the humid air hugged you loosely, and it made him melt just as the heat did. Not to mention, it made him tingle all over, and his heart practically did a quadruple axel, triple toe combination out of his chest when he saw Leo’s incredible smile.
“O-okay,” Guang Hong squeaked, feeling his face heat up. Leo said he loved him. In front of everyone. Oh god. He cleared his throat and smiled, a toothy smile. “I love you, too,” he replied.
From offscreen, Guang Hong could hear Viktor and Phichit “awwww” in unison. Leo rolled his eyes. “Well, we’ve gotta go, long day of sightseeing and,” he glanced pointedly at the two extremely extra skaters in the background, “shopping ahead of us.” He flashed another grin at Guang Hong, though. “Good luck on your SP tomorrow, babe! I’ll be streaming it from the hotel room!”
“Really?” Guang Hong asked excitedly.
Phichit whooped from the background. “He set up the VPN to get through to the ISU site before the Cup of China! He even made us all make a shopping schedule so we’d be back at the hotel in time to watch y-” The video feed started shaking as, Guang Hong could only assume, Leo ran and tackled Phichit to shut him up.
He could hear Phichit laughing as the video blurred in a vicious game of tug of war with Leo’s phone. “Good luck, Guang Hong, good luck Yuuri, good luck, Chris!” Phichit cheerfully shouted. “And Yuri Plisetsky and Minami, too!”
“Yuuuuriiiii~” Viktor shouted over the struggling of Phichit and Leo. “Ganba! I love you!”
Yuuri chuckled. “I love you, too, hon,” he replied over Guang Hong’s shoulder.
Chris purred. “I’ll take good care of Yuuri, Viktor, don’t worry.”
“Chris!” Yuuri groaned, but Phichit laughed.
“Viktor looks pretty mad, Chris, better start hiding s-”
“Give me that,” Leo wrenched the phone back. “Anyway,” he smiled apologetically once more. “Good luck! Jiá yóu? Is that how you say it?” Guang Hong bit his lip to hold back a snicker at Leo’s accented butchering of 加油.
“Uhhh, a little wrong, but 谢谢,” he replied.
Leo smiled again, that big goofy smile of his. “That one means thank you, right?” When Guang Hong nodded, he beamed. “Okay, we should go. But good luck, babe! Love you!”
“Love you, too,” Guang Hong answered softly, as Leo hung up.
He stared at his home screen, a picture of him and Leo from last year’s Cup of China. They were both holding up peace signs for the camera, their arms around each other’s shoulders, cheeks pressed up against each other’s. Guang Hong smiled.
“Leo de la Iglesia 是我的男朋友,” he whispered happily.