Chapter Text
The lights were low when she entered the rink. It couldn’t have been that late, the building was still open even if no one was working the front desk anymore. The key she’d swiped from Hirotsu years ago proved useful on days like this. Days when Higuchi was vibrating with energy and emotions and everything she had bottled up that month. She needed to skate, get it all out of her system.
She took a deep breath, letting the artificially cool air take over her senses. The bag carrying her skates dug into her shoulder as she made her way towards the ice. She was eager to skate alone and free and—
Higuchi heard the distinct noise of skates hitting ice. Someone had just landed a jump, she definitely wasn’t alone. She retreated into the stands, towards the door she had come in from. She wasn’t interested in sharing the ice tonight.
As she reached the door, curiosity got the better of her. Higuchi turned to see who could possibly be on the ice this late.
To her surprise, it wasn’t her ex partner. Akutagawa was always prone to practicing late into the night— and dragging her along. Maybe that was where this habit had come from. But he didn’t skate at this rink anymore, Higuchi had to keep reminding herself of that. She wouldn’t be seeing him here any time soon, similar to how she wouldn’t be seeing any competitions if she couldn’t find a new partner soon.
Higuchi gasped as the skater landed another jump— not the cleanest axel in the world, but still somehow mesmerising to watch. Two and a half rotations, nearly half a metre off the ice. A graceful landing on the skaters outside edge. Their arms raised in a flourish as they moved on to the next element. Higuchi’s grip tightened on the bag weighing her left side down. Akutagawa Gin was intoxicating.
She stood frozen as she watched the other girl skate. There was no music playing in the rink, but Gin didn’t seem to care. She glided across the ice, executing quick turns and clean jumps with ease. The beauty of her movements, the way she flew across the ice, would make even birds jealous. She skated with the same grace and power she always had with Tachihara in competition. Higuchi had missed seeing this. The beauty of Gin’s jumps and choreography almost made her jealous. She always wished she looked as elegant at the top of a lift as Gin did.
Gin was a year younger than Higuchi, but it didn’t show. The other girl was taller and a better skater, and definitely more mature. She’d seen Gin take losses with grace many times— but she still had more medals and trophies than Higuchi ever would. She tried to convince herself again that the constant losses weren’t the reason Akutagawa had left, that it wasn’t her fault.
Her thoughts were interrupted as Gin stepped off the ice. Higuchi knew she should have left by then, shouldn’t have stood there watching for who knows how long. But even now, she couldn’t will herself to leave. When she finally moved, it was towards the other girl, not the door. As she got closer to Gin, she could see her breathing was heavy, no doubt she had started skating long before Higuchi arrived. Gin’s face was flushed as she took a sip of water, and she hid her surprise well when she caught sight of Higuchi headed her way. Her eyes widened only for a moment before she blinked the expression away. This was a mannerism Gin shared with her brother, and one Higuchi was very fond of.
Gin gave her a small smile, swallowing to catch her breath, “Hi.”
Closer now, Higuchi could see Gin’s earbuds draped around her neck. So she was skating to music. Higuchi wondered what song it had been. “Hi,” She smiled back. “I’m uh— sorry for interrupting. I didn’t think there would be anyone here this late.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Gin waved a hand and sat on the bench to begin untying her skates, “I’m leaving now, so the ice is all yours.”
Higuchi felt a pang of disappointment at the idea of Gin leaving. Isn’t that what she wanted? To have the ice to herself tonight?
“You looked great out there, by the way. I mean—” Higuchi mentally kicked herself for sounding so ridiculous, “You skate really well. You always have.”
She thought she could see Gin’s face grow redder at the compliment as she sat down to slip into her skates.
“Well, thank you. I… I’ve been having trouble finding someone to skate with since… you know.”
Higuchi did know. Both of their partners decided to switch disciplines around the same time, leaving them to rebuild years of work with someone new. At least Gin’s partner stuck with the same rink and coach, she thought. But then again, Gin would see Akutagawa outside of the rink, too, right?
Higuchi nodded. She bent over to lace up her skate, pulling it a little tighter than she needed to. “I’ve been having trouble too.”
Silence fell between them. Higuchi replayed Gin’s skating in her mind. The way the other girl glided across the ice, covering the whole rink with such speed. The jumps and spins— the grace of every moment.
A thought crossed her mind, and before her brain had time for reason, her mouth had decided to tell it all to Gin. “I think we should skate together.” She blurted it out like a confession.
Gin stared back at her, the surprise taking her longer to blink away this time. “...What?”
“Oh, well. You know— I just thought that since we’re both looking for partners,” Higuchi made a mental note to never speak without thinking again, “It would make sense for us to just… skate together?”
“But how would that work?” Gin questioned, tilting her head to the side.
“...What do you mean?”
“Well… the lifts. How would we do those? Neither of us has any experience lifting someone else.”
Higuchi hadn’t thought of that. She hadn’t really thought about anything, actually. “I could lift you,” She decided.
Gin looked her up and down, silently questioning the statement. She wasn’t misguided in her scepticism, Higuchi didn’t appear particularly strong. “Ok,” Gin said, leaning down to re-tie the skate she had almost taken off.
This time it was Higuchi’s turn to stifle her surprise, though she was much worse at it than the other girl. “What?”
“Well, you want to skate together, right? So let's try it.” Gin stood up, offering Higuchi her hand, “We’ll try some lifts and see how they go.”
Higuchi wasn’t sure how she got herself in this situation. First she was skating around the rink, shaking out her limbs and begging her blood to start flowing, then she was face to face with Gin, skating backwards and gearing up for a lift. She’d done this plenty of times, just a simple hand to hip lift. But she’d never been the one with their feet planted on the ice.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” She asked, catching Gin’s eyes while they skated, keeping a steady speed around the curves of the rink.
Gin nodded, grabbing Higuchi by the hands, “We’ll just try one, see how it goes. I trust you, Higuchi.”
Higuchi took a deep breath, steeling her nerves. She moved her hands to Gin’s waist, giving the other girl a small nod. Are you ready? Gin nodded back. Higuchi bent her knees, working up the leverage she needed to lift Gin above her head. And then Gin’s feet were off the ground, and Higuchi’s arms were over her head, and this wasn’t as hard as she thought it would be, really. But they couldn’t hold it for long.
All together the lift lasted maybe three seconds— barely a lift at all. But they did it. Higuchi was capable of lifting Gin above her head, and no bones were broken in the process. She couldn’t help but smile as she pushed off from the other girl, doing a small spin in the process and tossing her hands in the air.
“We did it!” Higuchi beamed, facing Gin once again.
Gin smiled in response, wide and excited and a complete reflection of how Higuchi felt right before her pick hit the ice. She fell forward, unconsciously grabbing onto Gin for support and dragging her down too. The wind was knocked out of her, and Higuchi felt the cold seep through her clothes as she lay there on the ice. Silence fell between them, both unmoving. It was odd how relaxed she felt laying here on the ice. She could’ve stayed there forever, she thought, melting into the ice below her and never worrying about searching for a new partner. Never thinking about Akutagawa or competition or landing that damn triple Sal. It must have been late by now, Higuchi really should’ve gone home a long time ago.
The silence was broken by Gin’s quiet laugh as she sat up, turning to face Higuchi. She pushed her hair out of her face as she continued to laugh. Higuchi couldn’t help but smile.
“I’ll talk to Hirotsu tomorrow. Meet me here for ten,” Gin announced, getting to her feet. She smiled as she skated away, leaving Higuchi to lay there, taking the moment in. She had a partner. Akutagawa Gin was going to be her new partner.
—
Higuchi was having trouble convincing herself the events from the night before weren’t a fever dream. She stood in the rink at 10 in the morning, just as Gin had said, stretching out her legs. There was no sign of Gin yet. This fed into the working theory of Higuchi making the whole experience up.
As Higuchi moved on to stretching on the ground, the doors to the rink opened. In walked Gin, followed closely by their lifelong coach, Hirotsu. They were clearly in a conversation over something, and Higuchi guessed it involved her in some way by the look she got when they caught sight of her. She stood, waving as she made her way to them.
“Good morning Gramps, Gin,” She nodded at each as she addressed them, “So… did you..?”
Gin nodded, “We talked about it this morning.”
Higuchi held her breath. If Hirotsu didn’t approve of their partnership, there was no way they would skate together. That meant both of them would have to return to searching for a partner instead of spending that valuable time practicing.
The older man sighed and gave a slow nod as he spoke, “You are both excellent skaters, and though I wish you hadn’t attempted a lift recklessly like that, it seems this partnership could work.”
Higuchi’s face lit up. She bounced on the balls of her feet, shaking her hands lightly and resisting the urge to hug Gin. She didn’t know how the other girl felt about physical affection, but if she was anything like her brother, it was best not to spring a hug on her unannounced.
“However,” Hirotsu continued, causing some of Higuchi’s joy to fade, “You both will need to work extremely hard for this to work. Higuchi, I’m told you will be the base for lifts?”
Higuchi nodded, “Yes, Gramps— I can’t hold her for long yet but— I will be able to. I’ll start training more and—”
“I understand. For today I’d like to see the two of you skating without any lifts, we’ll work from there.”
Higuchi nodded once again, and returned to her spot to finish stretching and lace up her skates. Gin joined her, pulling her long hair into a spiky ponytail to keep it out of her face while they skated. She wore all black to practice, a stark contrast from the light and delicate dresses Higuchi knew she wore outside of the rink. Somehow both styles suited her equally as well.
Soon Higuchi had finished her stretches and moved on to warming up on the ice. She removed her guards, tossing them on the nearby bench before stepping onto the ice. She pulled the sleeves of her pink sweater over her palms, wishing she had worn gloves but knowing she would warm up soon enough as she skated briskly around the rink. Gin followed shortly after, catching up to her with ease.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” Gin said, keeping pace with her.
“Me neither,” Higuchi agreed, “I keep trying to convince myself it’s not a dream.”
Gin stared blankly at her for a moment, the cold air causing her cheeks and nose to go a little red. The other girl nodded before speeding off to do another lap of the rink, leaving Higuchi behind.
Higuchi learned a lot of things on the ice that day. One of those things being that Gin preferred to take the more “masculine” role in spins, which was fine by her. Another was that Gin had many more triples than her. She wasn’t sure how many times she had fallen out of a triple Salchow before Gin stopped beside her, offering her hand.
“Let’s get out of here,” She said, helping Higuchi to her feet.
Higuchi’s thigh ached. No doubt there would be a bruise forming from the last fall. “Are you sure? I mean, Hirotsu said—”
Gin simply nodded, skating backwards with her hand still entwined with Higuchi’s. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t wishing for a break right now.
So the two left the ice, removing their skates and replacing them with shoes. Then they left the rink entirely, stepping into the afternoon sun. It was still early spring in Yokohama, not hot yet but not cold either. The perfect weather for walking.
The rink they trained at was secluded, or as secluded as a place could be in the middle of a city, so it took the two a fair amount of time to reach their destination. Higuchi filled the empty space with words. She was never a fan of long silences.
“Do you remember when we met, Gin?” She asked, looking up at the sky rather than the other girl. It was remarkably blue, as usual.
Gin hummed, “Yeah, you were crying. My brother was teasing you about something.”
Higuchi cringed, she’d hoped that Gin had forgotten about the crying part. “That's… true, yes. He told me I was terrible at skating. I guess I got a little worked up about it,” She laughed at herself, “But you told him off for it. I don’t know if I ever thanked you for that.”
She thought she saw Gin’s cheeks redden behind her long hair, “Well, I couldn’t let my brother do that to you. It’s a bit late for thank you’s though, that was nearly eight years ago.”
Higuchi sighed. Gin was right, time really flew by. They walked a while longer in silence, headed towards a coffee shop for a much needed lunch.
“I used to like him, y’know. Your brother.” Higuchi felt confessing this was something she should do before their partnership really began. She was over it now, but the idea of those past feelings becoming a problem bothered her in a way she couldn’t explain.
“I know.”
“I- What?!” Higuchi exclaimed.
“I think everyone did, you weren’t very subtle about it.”
This was news to her. Higuchi thought she did pretty well at hiding the feelings that plagued her for most of her skating career. “Everyone knew? Even Akutagawa?”
Gin laughed at that, scrunching up her nose and covering her mouth with a delicate hand, “God, no. Ryuu is the most dense, unobservant person I’ve ever met. I think the only person on the same level as him is Atsushi. It’s a nightmare watching those two interact.”
Higuchi let out a sigh of relief. She had to agree about Atsushi, though. Being around those two was almost painful with how much they denied their feelings for each other. Was that how everyone had felt around her back then?
She opened her mouth to ask just that, but they had arrived at the aforementioned coffee shop. Gin moved quickly to open the door first, holding it for Higuchi. The two had been to this shop plenty of times, but Higuchi couldn’t recall a single time it was just them together. Usually Tachihara or Akutagawa was with them— the latter a rarer sight than the former. Sometimes other friends would join them as well, other skaters they knew. Higuchi tried to recall the name of the pink-haired girl she’d seen with Gin that one time.
Higuchi ordered after Gin, going with a sandwich and coffee for lunch. She probably could’ve opted for something healthier, but the lack of sleep the night before was getting to her now. Coffee was a must to get through the rest of the day.
The two sat in a booth by a window picking at their food in silence. It was slightly uncomfortable, but Higuchi was running out of things to say in moments like this. She didn’t want to reminisce again, that would probably open up another memory of Higuchi embarrassing herself.
It was Gin who broke the silence this time, “So I’ve been thinking.”
“Yes?” Higuchi prompted.
“You and Ryuu used to favour delicate music for your programs. We should do that. It’s something you’re already comfortable with, plus people would like seeing girls skate all dainty and graceful.”
Higuchi sipped on her coffee as she processed the statement. Most of it made sense except, “But that’s not how you like to skate. I’ve seen you and Tachihara it’s- it’s not like that. I-I mean, it’s not that you aren’t graceful, really you are! It’s just… you don’t skate the way Akutagawa does.”
“I can make it work,” She says, “It was mostly Tachihara’s idea to skate the way we did.”
Higuchi thought back to the night before, how Gin had skated alone. It was graceful, sure, but not the same as her brother. Not the same as with Tachihara either, but that was closer. She was all power and speed and drama combined with beauty and grace. It gave Higuchi chills just thinking about it. It was clear Gin was making a sacrifice for Higuchi’s comfort. A reasonable sacrifice, probably. Higuchi knew she would have trouble adjusting to this new arrangement. She made a mental note to incorporate more of Gin’s style as soon as they could.
She nodded, finishing her coffee and placing the cup on the empty plate that had previously held her sandwich. “Okay. We’ll see how that goes.”