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There was no reason to not like him, logically speaking: his curly brown hair was beautiful, his warm eyes were enchanting and his Spanish accent was charming. And he was not ugly, no one could deny that. So, yeah, logically speaking, there was no reason to dislike him. But they still did; they disliked him with passion, Stéphane even more than Johnny, even though he would never admit it. They had had heated discussions about the topic but they couldn’t just act on it, could they? They didn’t want to embarrass him, especially on his first year at seniors, and especially when it was not proved that they were more than friends.
“You should really stop glaring at him like this, you know?” Brian Orser had creeped up behind them and was now staring amusedly at the protective parents. “You’ll make my new student combust and I would not appreciate that.” Johnny and Stéphane grinned embarrassedly and turned to shake hands with their old friend, turning their backs to the young boys that were chatting animatedly a few meters away from them.
“So, how is Javier this season?” Johnny asked conversationally, and felt Stéphane tighten his grip on his hand at the mention of the Spaniard’s name.
“Oh, he’s good, he’s been doing a lot better than with Morozov; the boy felt too tense and too abandoned with him, can’t blame Morozov though, with so many students, it’s hard to focus. Still, I feel we did a good job. How’s Yuzuru? Nervous about his senior debut?”
“He’s been working very hard, I know he’ll do well.” Johnny answered, throwing a glance at his son over his shoulder.
It seemed like yesterday, as cliché as that sounded, when they had met that doe-eyed Japanese three-year-old boy in the orphanage. His parents had been killed in a car crash while he was at kindergarten. They had met quiet a few kids before but Stéphane had taken a liking to Yuzuru immediately; the boy had approached him quietly and had showed him his stuffed Pooh; that same Pooh remained in Yuzu’s bedroom in their house in Sendai, where the couple had stayed when they decided to adopt Yuzuru. It was both heart-warming and despairing to see how grown-up their boy was already, so grown-up that people were flirting with him, right in front of his parents’ eyes.
Both parents knew their child was a huge fan of the Spaniard, he had posters of him pinned to his noticeboard and he always watched his programs, no matter what time zone it was. They had been talking since Yuzuru was just a child and Javi was his senior, they had shared ice during their junior days and had become good friends over the years.
“You should control your student, Brian, or else Johnny will leave you without a pupil.” Stéphane joked, clenching his hand around his husband’s arm, who was throwing daggers at Javi without the Spaniard noticing, too busy talking and touching Yuzuru.
Brian laughed and checked on his student with a grin, then narrowing his eyes mirthfully at the pair of coaches. “Oh come on, as if I didn’t see you two when you were their age.”
“Yuzu is so young! Javi is much older than him.” Johnny argued.
“Only three years, come on.”
By then, Yuzuru had noticed they were being watched and turned around, waving cheerfully at his parents while Javier bowed his head with an embarrassed smile. Then, without further preamble, Yuzuru whispered something in Javi’s ear and grabbed his arm, dragging him out of their view. The three adults’ eyes widened and they looked at each other confusedly.
“I’m sure they just wanted to show something to each other.” Johnny said quickly and the other two just nodded their heads silently, not voicing what everyone was thinking.
At the end, the competition was about to begin and the skaters had not appeared yet, so Stéphane was the one who volunteered to go in search for them. He found them in the warm-up area, talking while doing their exercises. A heavy weight seemed to disappear from Stéphane’s shoulders; his boy was still just a boy, he was only sixteen after all, they were just friends. They were not even sure the Spaniard liked boys, he had been seen with girls after all.
Javier joined Brian and Tracy, going over his program; meanwhile, Johnny was making sure Yuzuru’s hair was properly styled for his Phantom of the Opera program, meanwhile Stéphane was giving his son some last pointers for his skating. However, Yuzuru didn’t seem very focused.
“Dads…” The Japanese boy whispered. “Could you…” He murmured, trying to find the words, as if he was not very sure of what he wanted to express. But finally, with shinning, teary eyes he let it go. “Could you not embarrass me?” The words were uttered so quickly that the pair almost missed it. Then, Stéphane and Johnny looked at each other with a raised eyebrow.
“What do you mean…?” Stéphane asked, kneeling down in front of Yuzu. The boy’s cheeks were red with shame and his eyes gleamed with unshed tears.
“It’s just… Back in Junior you always cheered so loud and it was okay but now I’m in senior and…”
Oh... Oh… So their boy was indeed growing up. They had put off the embarrassed phase far enough, it had to arrive sooner or later; their little ice prince was too perfect, he had to be a normal teenager; they knew that day would come sooner or later. Still, it did not stop their hearts from clenching painfully, their stomachs from turning with sadness.
“I’m sorry, I just…!” Yuzuru tried to apologize but Johnny hugged him tight to his chest, burrowing his nose in his child’s head.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. We understand, Yu-chan, we really do. We’ve been where you are, we know how you feel. You don’t have to apologize, we know we can be a little extra sometimes.” Both Johnny and Stéphane chuckled before Johnny continued. “So you tell us what you feel comfortable with, okay?”
Yuzuru nodded, still feeling too ashamed to say anything. He hugged his parents again tightly and together they left for the ice, where the warm-up was almost starting. Yet, before they entered the rink area, Yuzuru stopped them and grabbed their hands.
“But you will still be with me at the Kiss and Cry, right?” The boy asked fearfully, his eyes lowered. Both Stéphane and Johnny laughed and answered that yes, of course we will be there.
Yuzuru almost made it to the podium, but it was his first senior competition so he was not expected to even make it that high in the scores. Of course, the Japanese boy was disappointed, he was so used to getting the gold or at least making it to the podium that he couldn’t help but be angry at himself for falling on his stupid quad toe loop; yet, the boy cheered loudly when Javier took the ice, his inner fanboy showing.
Javi ended up taking bronze, just two positions above Yuzuru, and although the younger voice eyed the medal jealously, he was genuinely happy for his friend. Stéphane and Johnny had let the boys a bit of space for them to talk, so they started leaving on their own.
“I hoped for more time, you know?” Johnny said, throwing the sentence to the wind. Stéphane took his hand and squished it, bringing it to his lips. “It’s just… I wish he was still five years old and learning how to skate… When he showed us his first scratch spin or the day he managed to jump a waltz… He was so happy he… He just wanted us.” Johnny’s eyes filled with tears without him noticing and a few of them spilled from his eyes.
“Hey, come on. He is still our son, you know? That he has grown up to be what he is now only proves that we brought him up well. It’s normal that he also wants to have a more private life or that he does not come to us anymore like an excited puppy when he manages to land a quad. It’s… It’s life. The circle of life.”
“Oh now, don’t quote the Lion King to me, that just makes me more emotional.” Johnny punched his husband’s arm playfully and whipped the tears away from his face. “I know, and I’m glad, so proud to see him out there, skating like that. Still… Just a few more years…”
Then, Yuzuru’s voice telling them to wait up broke the spell. They both welcomed him and walked to their car, talking about the program’s strong and weak points. Yuzuru sat in the backseats, and looked outside the window with a lost gaze, absentmindedly stroking his tissue Pooh.
“Dads?” He said, breaking the trivial conversation the adults were having. “I… I’m sorry for what I said before-“
“Yuzu, we told you, there is no need to apologize.”
“No, yes there is because… I missed you. I mean, I missed that you cheered for me. I did not realise how important it was, how accompanied and strong I felt because of it so please… Forget what I said. I always want you to cheer for me.” Yuzuru said, worrying his lower lip between his teeth.
Stéphane and Johnny looked at each other from the corner of their eyes, before Johnny turned around on his seat, while Stéphane was driving, and mussed Yuzuru’s hair, chuckling.
“Of course we will always cheer for you, my little Pooh.” Yuzuru smiled warmly at him before swatting his hand away, trying to fix his wild hair but to no avail.
Half an hour into their journey back home, Yuzuru had fallen asleep, his head against the window, his face half-smashed into it. Johnny and Lambiel stared at it fondly from the rear-view mirror and then sighed contentedly, staring ahead in the road.
“He is still our little boy, after all.” Stéphane commented, and Johnny could only nod happily.