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Jason Hesling was a (bloody good) hockey player. He didn’t care about figure skating. He didn’t miraculously start caring about it when he found out his cute Asian crush was a figure skater, and he still didn’t care even after becoming friends with JJ, who was a professional figure skater himself. As such, he had an understandable dilemma what to do with five tickets to a figure skating exhibition. (Detroit Ice Castle, Kings on Ice – seriously, who came up with these weird names?) In the end, he decided to keep the three VIP tickets and sell the remaining two on eBay. He totally didn’t expect to make a killing with his online auction. Who in the world would pay so much to see a bunch of men in spandex dancing on the ice? Still, the tickets to the show had sold out in three days and people were obviously crazy enough to pay outrageous money for a chance to see it, so it had to be good, right? (And JJ, who was skating in the ice show too, sounded pretty excited about it.) Maybe Jason should go see it, after all...
Okay, but there was no way he would be caught going to a figure skating exhibition by himself. It was Will who’d got him the original tickets, so it seemed only fair that he should suffer through enjoy the performance together with Jason. Much to his surprise, Will was actually pretty enthusiastic about it. Not to mention Heidi. (His poor eardrums would probably never be the same.)
Anyway, here he was, sitting in the VIP sector of the auditorium with Will and Heidi, waiting to see what the fuss was all about. The crowd hushed as the lights dimmed. The sound of an electronic guitar riff caught him off-guard. He had expected to hear some dainty piano or boring violin – not a fast-paced rock song, of all things. A long-haired blond in a badass biker’s jacket entered the rink – Jason recognised him from Ice Castle. With the change in music Yura jumped like the gravity didn’t apply to him and-- turned around his axis four freakin’ times!? And he had the audacity to casually land and skate on like it was no big deal!? Jason’s jaw dropped to the floor.
He turned to Will incredulously. "Did you see that?"
His former captain nodded, a matching shocked look on his face. Jason’s eyes darted around, judging the reaction of the audience. They appeared entranced, but not surprised at all. Could it be... Could it be that this inhuman feat was normal for Yura? Surely not!
But it wasn’t the only impossible air pirouette Yura had up his sleeve. He performed a fair share of tricks before leaving the ice to the thunderous applause of the crowd.
"Stop catching flies, boys," Heidi chuckled, amused at their reaction.
"Babe, that... That shouldn’t be humanly possible!" Will exclaimed, pointing at the rink. Jason nodded emphatically.
Heidi shook her head with a knowing smile. "We're watching the Olympics when we come home. This is just fun. Just wait until you see him when he gets serious!"
Well. Looks like Jason and Will's jaws could make themselves comfortable on the floor and be done with it.
The announcer informed the crowd that the skater was Yuri Plisetsky, the ruling world champion and Olympic gold medallist. Oh. That explained a lot. Of course the world champion would be capable of impossible jumps, twirls and whatnot. Surely not every figure skater could dance like that.
Still blissfully ignorant for the moment, Jason had no idea what was in store for him that evening.
--
Next up was Giacometti (also known as Christophe Let-me-grab-your-ass Giacometti according to Yura), who did actually start his performance by grabbing his ass. Not that Jason didn’t appreciate a nice shapely behind but someone please tell him there are minors watching! Jason glanced at the blushing Heidi. Make that 'minors and married women'. (Not that he could blame her. To be honest, by the time Mr Sexy-and-I-know-it left the ice, Jason felt like fanning himself too.)
JJ's performance was nothing short of breath-taking. His spins made Jason dizzy just by looking at them, and his jumps were on par with Yura's. (Where the hell did these guys get their stamina from anyway? Jason was a professional athlete. He worked out every single day, not to mention the demanding hockey practices and actual matches – but he somehow got a feeling he might be hard-pressed to keep up with them, never mind look half as graceful while attempting to do so.)
"Ladies and gentlemen, Olympic bronze medallist Jean-Jacques Leroy..."
Wow. Jason had had no idea he was friends with an Olympian! Should have googled him...
There were some other skaters whose names Jason didn’t quite catch – that’s not to say they were any less incredible than those before. They made the audience sing along and clap to the rhythm enthusiastically. Especially the Thai skater (Peachit?), whose song got swapped with his best friend’s music according to Heidi – he raised an eyebrow, shrugged, and started skating anyway. And he was amazing. Jason would never have guessed from the smooth dance moves that there had been any mix-up.
The moment the last chord faded, Cute Asian Guy got on the ice and hugged the skater with teary eyes, moved by the performance. As the standing ovation subsided and Peachit skated towards the exit, Cute Asian Guy stayed on the ice alone. Jason took a moment to appreciate the black partially see-through skin-tight costume with a skirt-like flap.
"And now, the most requested solo performance of the evening! Ladies and gentlemen, the four times world champion and Olympic silver medallist, Yuuri Katsuki-Nikiforov, performing On Love: Eros."
The audience went wild. Moments after the music started, Jason understood why. Holy puck in the opponent's net!
He wasn't aware he'd actually voiced the thought until Will and Heidi nodded in agreement.
Yuuri's hands ghosted over his body, imitating a lover's touch without actually making contact. It was nowhere near as explicit as Mr Grab-ass and his performance – but no less enthralling. By the time the seductive dance ended and Yuuri came to a stop at the centre of the rink, embracing his invisible partner, Jason's throat was thoroughly dry and his heart was pounding in his chest. What he wouldn't give to be the one in Cute Asian Guy's arms!
But that privilege belonged to another man. Viktor didn't hesitate to throw his skate guards off and glide up to his husband at full speed, sweeping him off his feet and kissing him like the world was ending, happily ignoring the cheers and wolf whistles of the crowd.
Honestly, Jason wanted to resent Viktor. He longed to find something to criticize about his angelic appearance, beautiful costume or flawless performance. Or the romantic duet he danced together with his husband. But Jason's inner critic was fated to come up empty-handed on that day. Even a blind man could see the two loved each other. And not just in the 'Wow, this guy’s hot, I wanna do the bed sheet tango with him' kind of way. No, this was the actual 'I will love you, honour you and cherish you until death do us part' straight from the fairy tale.
And Jason reluctantly had to admit it was beautiful.
Jason greeted his fans with the Charming Smile #4 and a pen ready to sign autographs. He loved interacting with his fans – selfies, autographs, words of encouragement to young aspiring hockey players, you name it.
“Thank you!” the teen clutched the newly signed notebook to his chest like a treasure. “This is my little brother, he wants to be just like you!”
“Really?” Jason smiled at the shy (maybe eight years old?) boy.
The boy shook his head defiantly. “Nu-uh. I wanna be a figure skater!”
His brother groaned. “Dan, we've talked about this. Figure skating is for girls. Boys play hockey. Right?” The last part was clearly directed at Jason.
“No.” The hockey player crouched down to meet the boy's eyes. “You wanna be a figure skater? Go for it. Don't let anyone tell you it's a girly sport.” He ignored the big brother's indignant spluttering. “Do you know the Skate America gold medallist, JJ Leroy?”
The boy nodded enthusiastically.
“He's one of my best friends. Who's your favourite skater?”
“Yuuri Katsuki-Nikiforov!”
Jason ruffled the boy's hair. “Mine too, Danny,” he sighed. “Mine too.”