Chapter Text
As the music fades, the last of the drums echoing in Liu Sang's bones, there is a moment of stillness. Liu Sang’s arms are raised to the ceiling, reaching out and clasping a fist around empty air in triumph. His chest heaves, feeling the burn inside his lungs but finally, after so many years, it doesn’t scare him anymore.
The moment passes and the roaring cheers hit him like a wave, bringing him down to reality once more. He blinks his eyes and looks around, his lips par almost in surprise as the crowd of the gala registers in his mind once more. He can’t see them but he can hear them, loud as ever even after he was gone for months due to a stupid injury. They’re still there, and Liu Sang is still on the ice.
He feels his throat grow tight, his eyes stinging and he lowers his arms out of the final pose. A quiet laugh bubbles from his lips as he smiles, feeling his body tremble from the effort.
When he had begun to think of an exhibition centred around flames and fire, he had feared it would be impossible after all. Even just the flicker of his costume out of the corner of his eye used to make his heart race, high strung on the memories that had fuelled his idea for the program. The burn in his muscles, his lungs, the strain on his knee: it all had almost been too much many times before. And yet…
As always, a black shadow hops onto the rink, uncaring for the shouts of the staff trying to hold him back as he skates with his usual dramatic flair.
Liu Sang’s lips part on the edge of a name, his arms open just a fraction but soon they’re full of Hei Xiazi as the man crashes into him and spins them both around at the centre of the ice.
“I did it,” Liu Sang says, looking up at the man in awe. The answering grin is warm and joyful in a way that Liu Sang has come to treasure.
“You did it,” Hei Xiazi confirms. In a moment of remarkable tact, the man extricates himself from Liu Sang, simply keeping both hands lightly on his shoulders as they continue to spin. “Don’t you start crying now, all your makeup will melt off and you need to show off your competition program too. There’s an encore, remember?”
Liu Sang punches Hei Xiazi, eliciting a squawk sound and a laugh from him. “Shut up. That also means you shouldn’t be here in the first place, you prick,” he protests, though his voice is getting choked up already.
As staff members scurry around the ice, trying to make gestures and hurry the gala along, Liu Sang grabs Hei Xiazi’s wrist and pulls him closer. The man goes willingly, letting Liu Sang clutch onto his jacket and hide his face in his shoulder as gentle sobs course through the slimmer body.
“I told you that it would be alright. If you had the guts to make a whole program about a house fire, getting back onto the ice would be a piece of cake,” Hei Xiazi says in a quiet tone that soothes Liu Sang through the tears. “Ask any doctor, they’d all tell you it’s about mental strength.”
“I don’t think that’s how medicine works,” Liu Sang grumbles, though his argument is not very impressive due to a few hiccups.
“What do you know? You’re not the one who’s friends with the best doctors in Beijing.”
“Your fraught medical history is not something you should brag about.”
“Says you!”
Liu Sang huffs loudly to hide a laugh, but Hei Xiazi just pulls in his bangs to annoy him some more.
For a few moments, all noise seems muffled by Hei Xiazi’s grounding presence and slowly Liu Sang manages to get his breath under control once more.
When they part, Hei Xiazi smiles brightly at him before pushing him gently and taking Liu Sang’s hand. He raises it up to the ceiling once more and together they face the crowd and cameras before bending into a bow.
When they rise, Liu Sang is about ready to slither off the ice and find a quiet corner to catch his breath before his encore performance, but suddenly he feels his feet leave the ground. He blinks and finds that Hei Xiazi is much closer, holding him up and spinning under the spotlight.
The man whoops loudly, spinning and skating all across the ice while carrying Liu Sang like he weighs absolutely nothing. He did this once before, when Liu Sang had just gotten out of the hospital with his leg still in a brace, when Liu Sang had thought he’d never skate again. It’s undignified and it’s reckless, and Liu Sang loves it more than anything.
As they skate, Liu Sang once again clings onto Hei Xiazi and lets the air brush away his tears.
