Chapter Text
“I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart for so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can be together all the time.”
—Winnie-the-Pooh
“Yuzuru make sure you come back in time for lunch,” said Yuzuru’s mother.
“Okay mom,” said Yuzuru before shutting the door behind him. The sky was a bright blue today, a stark contrast to the grey weather Yuzuru had grown used to. The differences between Japan and Canada had faded away with time; his life primarily taken up with training. He had the unusual day off, giving him enough time to go the nearby local park and take some time to study outside. He found his usual tree, unoccupied and far enough from most of the park occupants.
As Yuzuru sat, underneath the tree absorbing half of the words on the page of his anatomy textbook, he had the sudden urge to call Shoma. He wanted to be able to show Shoma what a pretty day in Toronto could look like. It seemed like they always FaceTimed when it was rainy or late at night for Yuzuru. Shoma’s number rang a couple of times but he never picked up. Yuzuru sighed, Shoma was probably asleep, after all, Shoma had the habit of falling asleep as soon as he got home if he didn’t game.
Yuzuru turned his attention back to his anatomy book, he really wished Shoma could be there with him. He missed the sensation of Shoma’s weight comfortably leaning against him, curly hair tickling his shoulder ever so slightly. His eyes fluttering shut every so often as he attempted to pay attention to whatever story Yuzuru was telling him for the day. Shoma would eventually nod off and Yuzuru would sigh affectionately, repositioning Shoma so his head could lay on Yuzuru’s lap.
The buzzing of Yuzuru’s phone snapped him out of his reverie. A text from Javier asking if he was doing okay.
That was odd, Javier texted him every so often but rarely to ask how he was doing. Only if he had voiced his frustrations the day before but never out of the blue to start a conversation. They had passed small talk a long time ago, Yuzuru just spammed Javier with videos of him practicing the quad axel or the occasional funny video. Yuzuru picked up his phone to type a reply only to be distracted by the sound of Shoma’s voice.
“Yuzuru?” asked Shoma, there was Shoma Uno, in the flesh. Messy hair, sleepy eyes, and small, huggable stature right there for him to see. He seemed slightly different though, there was something otherworldly about him.
“Shoma? What are you doing here?” asked Yuzuru.
“What do you mean? Didn’t you want to see me?”
“Of course I wanted to see you, but how did you get here?” asked Yuzuru.
“That’s not important,” said Shoma, “let’s hang out. Today’s your day off right?”
“Yeah, Brian has been letting me off for some reason,” said Yuzuru.
“Maybe he recognizes you’ve been getting too stressed,” said Shoma offering his hand to Yuzuru. Yuzuru grabs Shoma’s hand and Shoma must really be there in the flesh, his hand was slightly warm and there were small calluses on his hands from weight training. Yuzuru allowed his hand to linger for a brief moment, soaking in the fact that Shoma was there before tugging on Shoma’s hand to pull himself up.
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know, you’d have to show me what there is to do in Toronto,” said Shoma.
“But how did you get here?” asked Yuzuru, still confused as to how Shoma was here with him.
“That’s not important, let’s just enjoy our time together, I don’t have long before Mihoko-sensei finds out,” said Shoma.
“What do you mean?”
“Come on, show me around,” said Shoma, “I’m hungry.”
“All you do is eat and game,” said Yuzuru walking in the direction of a restaurant.
“Is there something wrong with that?” asked Shoma.
“I thought you came here to see me? Or did you just come here to eat?” asked Yuzuru.
“Both, but more of getting you to eat,” said Shoma.
“Fine, fine,” said Yuzuru. Yuzuru guides Shoma to one of his favorite restaurants, the smaller boy follows along, stopping every so often to take in the scenery.
“It’s so beautiful today, you told me that it’s always gloomy here,” said Shoma.
“It usually is, I wanted to show this to you—” Yuzuru’s phone goes off and Shoma begins to fade. “No, Shoma—” Yuzuru reached out for Shoma and he disappeared with a small, sad smile, fading into the wind.
Yuzuru’s eyes opened and he was still under the tree, phone in hand. Javier’s text blinked at him.
He wasn’t okay.