Chapter Text
It was snowing quite a lot, but that didn’t stop Toya Aoyagi and Akito Shinonome’s parents from getting them to practice figure skating.
They were close childhood friends, born to move swiftly across the ice, they basically mirrored each other's talents— well, at least that’s what Akito thought when he climbed up to the finals with Toya as his only obstacle from that shining gold medal.
His sister cheered him on from the sidelines. His parents roared with approval as he did his sequences, all movements calculated and fitting with flames waving across his tight long sleeve.
Alas, Akito didn’t know that this performance would soon end in the utter demise of his pride. He was sixteen then, when Toya Aoyagi stepped forward and claimed victory soon after with his stunning choreography and elegance.
Akito was criticized for his lack of grace in his performances. Toya won it all.
It drove them apart, and despite the strongest bond they had in their teenage years, it was all over just in a matter of five minutes.
Akito couldn’t stand looking at his face ever again as tears rolled down his face when he went home.
They all said there was always a second time. And he knew that.
He knew that damn well.
Aoyagi Toya was twenty-one years old.
He decided to not let his past deteriorate him in figure skating.
As his skates practically glided against the ice, his father clapped with satisfaction. “You’ll get somewhere if you practice, Toya.”
He grimaced, biting his lip as his legs hissed in pain— but it really was nothing compared to his other training days— on those days, he’d sleep like a log for sixteen hours. His muscles were set on fire. He’d skate for so long it’d feel wrong simply if he was just sitting down for dinner, thinking, Why aren’t I moving?
Toya jumped, twirling twice in the air before landing on one, letting out a small breath of finality. His father watched him. “Your posture.” He yelled sternly. “Keep your shoulders confident. Keep it there!”
“Yes, father.” He whispered, gliding forward in swoops— the private stadium was silent, and when he reached the middle, spinning endlessly, only the scraping of his skates on ice were audible enough to pass through the silence. He raised his hand up and let the other trail down.
Toya shut his eyes and kept his head up high. He imagined the lights surroundings him in the center.
As it came to a close, he slowed and extended his arms, making eye contact with his father with labored breaths. His blue hair was plastered on his forehead sickly.
His father tapped on his arm decisively, staring at his son right in his eyes before he turned,
“You’re shaky. Try again.”
Toya lowered his arms and swallowed solemnly. “…Of course.”
He exhaled, regaining himself as his father left the stadium.
Alright… just a few more sequences before he can go…
As he glided across the ice, his arms were extended and he leaned forward. Times like these, when he was alone and skating, were times where he often got lost in his hurricane of thoughts.
Toya never really had a lot of friends when he was younger, often reserved from others due to his interests but also his parents, who cherished his intellect and talent more than friendship. I guess… Toya was used to it. There was no such thing as hopscotch. It was stretching before you put everything you worked for in front of everyone in a stadium. He enjoyed this, but sometimes… he really didn’t.
He practiced his jumps, landing on one foot like it was absolutely nothing. Toya was the best in his line of work. His medals were practically walls and walls worth in his bedroom.
Toya had been practicing every day… for this tournament. The biggest one in the country.
He planned carefully and thoughtfully, to win it all with grace.
By the time he finished, he got off the rink and stumbled, sitting gingerly on one of the benches before he took his skates off. He let out a small sigh at the feeling, running a hand through his hair. He could already imagine himself holding that medal on the podium. He really had no doubt that he was going to win since everyone in this area he had bested a long time ago.
He recovered quickly from his practice— he’d been training so much that there wasn’t really an affect on his body.
His phone rung on the table and he picked up. “Father?”
Toya went silent. “They’re renovating the rink? Can it be done before the competition?” His eyes narrowed, and he got up and sighed. “I guess… It’ll be just as fine if I use the public one. It’s spacious and not so popular, anyway. Barely anyone goes to it… alright then.”
The man’s mind was distantly far away as he hung up and exited the rink into the locker room, taking a change of clothes and then going outside where his father waited in the car.
Toya opened the car door and when he went in, he asked, “Why are the renovations so sudden? Are… you sure we can’t push that to a later date?”
“Afraid not.” His father responded coolly. “It does need a little work now since you’ve been training a lot.”
Toya looked out of the window, a little concerned as he leaned against it. “I guess that’s reasonable. Alright. Take me to the public one tomorrow if that’s possible.”
As they drove and his body relaxed, he had a bad feeling deep in his stomach.
Surely,
it must be nothing.
“This is a crazy hotel we’re gonna be staying in.”
Akito Shinonome wheeled his luggage into the lobby, and his eyes sparkled. “It’s been a hot minute since I’ve been back to this place.”
His bodyguard, although more of a casual friend, took him along onto the elevator to their hotel room. “There’s a public skating rink in this area.” They noted as the ground rose, “It’s said to be peaceful there despite the tournament nearing.”
“Then it’d be nice if I trained there.” His expression suddenly turned fiery and determined, “No matter what… I wanna rise to the top.”
“With your skill, you already have.” His bodyguard laughed as they stepped out of the elevator, turning to a long hallway— Akito used his card to unlock the door and went in with a sheepish smile on his face. “Would you like me to put all of your luggage in the closet?”
“That’d be good, thanks.” Akito said, going forward and pushing away the curtains that revealed the view of the city— the dome of the competition could be seen, city lights blinking and cars whizzing by in the dead of night. He also saw the ice rink, which seemed to be in a different place than it was roughly five years ago when he was sixteen. Other than that… nothing about this place seemed to really change.
Over the years, after that day when he was sixteen, Akito had vowed to never lose like that again. His pride was shattered into pieces— and he never wanted to shatter another time— so he practiced, almost the entire day, dusk till dawn, his body ached every day but he knew it was worth it. Even when he caught a cold… he knew it wasn’t a good idea, he did it anyway.
Akito knew it’d all be worth it.
“When I win this,” Akito looked down at the city, “I kinda wanna drink.”
“You can’t submerge yourself in the feeling of victory just yet.” His bodyguard advised.
“…Right.” Akito focused on the present. “Tomorrow, we wake up and we go to the skating rink nearby. The earliest time so nobody is there.”
“No problem.”
As he changed his clothes he crashed onto the bed which was disastrously cold, as if the sheets had been tossed in a freezer— he shivered and hid under them.
He needed all the rest he could get. Akito knew the next few days were going to be brutal.
Akito won’t let this opportunity slip away from him.
The sun barely broke the surface, and Akito was already stuffing his skates into his bag, wearing his black training outfit basically ready to go. His bodyguard was already waiting outside.
Something about this day felt electrical.
He exited his hotel room— which by the way was very lavish compared to what he was used to— and went into the lobby, waving goodbye as he exited out to see his servant. “You ready, Akito?” They asked.
“Yeah.” Akito replied, stretching slightly. “We don’t have a lot of time to waste. Come on.”
It was chilly, but that never stopped him from driving to the rink and sitting down on one of the benches, where he put his ice skates on.
He could already see his choreography gliding across the ice as he made his way to the barriers. Something about the ice was so comforting and familiar to him he was so willing to get on there already. His servant was sitting on the bench, watching him diligently.
Akito put on his gloves.
As he trained, saying that he was ‘in the zone’ was quite an understatement. He was really able to tune out any noise that bothered him in the outside world, only focusing on how he felt.
He saw a figure mysteriously making its way into the barriers in the distance, and he spun, directing his focus—
“Shinonome?”
“Hm—?” He glanced, and his eyes widened as he stumbled back, thankfully near a wall as his hands grasped for it instinctively. “You… what the hell—“
“You’re back here?” Toya Aoyagi. asked, adjusting himself to the ice. His expression was hard to tell as his gaze flickered back to an expensive car pulled near the curb. “Since when?”
Akito’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t wanna tell you anything.”
“Are you afraid?” Toya murmured.
An arrow of anger struck him, and it made Akito’s stomach bubble irritatedly as he went forward, Toya sucking in a breath as they met eye to eye— “You know damn well what you’re doing.”
Toya shrugged. “I was simply asking. Are you doing the competition?”
Akito stepped back, and Toya followed him, and suddenly they were in motion— their gaze as strong as cold steel, “I don’t know why I’d come back here if there wasn’t a competition.” Akito said. He pulled on his tight training shirt and grimaced. “I don’t want to… start this with you again—“
“Are you still hung up on the fact that I beat you a couple years ago?” Toya asked, a knowing glint in his eyes as he circled him, hands behind his back.
“Toya…”
Toya stopped. “Alright then. What do you wanna say after all these years?”
…
“Do you wanna partner up with me in the competition?” Akito asked, and the words seemed to be struggling to come out of his mouth, throat burning. His gaze was stone cold.
“Are you only asking that because you don’t want to lose against me again?”
“Toya.” Akito’s jaw clenched in vexation.
They were at a stand still in the middle of the rink, and Toya realized he was being absolutely true and legitimate about this, and he tensed. Toya’s grey eyes regarded him. “Why do you want to do this?”
“Because—“ Akito stopped himself. He didn’t want to act weak. Not at all.
But he so eagerly wanted to say, Because I missed our bond. I missed smiling at you across the ice. I liked how close we were when we were younger. But Akito’s pride and determination to improve acted as a stubborn barrier. “—Because I want to show you how far I’ve come.” He said halfheartedly.
Toya pursed his lips. “Really? He mused. “You wanna prove it now?”
Akito’s eyes glittered at him, something between perseverance and annoyance. “Whatever. Sure.”
Toya swept him through a course of different movements and patterns, basically going in a circle as he twirled thrice in the air— multiple times, none of them were to be giving up any time soon.
Toya stared back at him with a troubled expression. Akito grinned.
It’s so nice to see him hating me, sometimes.
They ended the routine, and Toya stretched in front of him. Akito tilted his head. “So…”
Toya looked up. “You have the stamina, but you lack gracefulness. Robotics isn’t a very big part of this sport, Shinonome.”
“Giving me constructive criticism instead of staring at me? I won.” Akito said.
He couldn’t really believe it when he saw Toya roll his eyes and push past him, gliding to the edges of the rink and starting more training without him. “Do you hate me?” Akito called out.
“Starting to!”
“But you’ll partner up with me, right?” He yelled.
“…Fine!”
As Toya loaded the rest of his things into his bag and hopped into the car, he was very kindly greeted by his father, who gave him a cold glare. “Why were you talking to someone during practice?”
Toya buckled himself and blinked. He looked down at his lap. “It wasn’t a stranger, Father.”
“It doesn’t matter, unfortunately.” His father kept his eyes forward. “I don’t want you to get distracted from your goals.”
Toya understood and respected that, and basically agreed due to the fact that his blood would boil ever so slightly when he saw that mess of ginger hair on ice— but weirdly enough, he had an urge to talk back— he didn’t. He did not want to make the situation bigger than it already is. He looked down.
As his father drove in silence, a tense feeling draped over them, he said, “What do you want to say?”
Toya swallowed.
“That… person.” He managed. His father looked at him through the rearview mirror expectantly. “I partnered up with him for the competition.”
…
“You what?”
Toya was not sure how to continue without stepping on one of the many landmines strewn across this tense conversation. “We’re a duo now.” Toya murmured. “Do you remember Shinonome, from a couple years ago?”
His father fell deadly silent and guided him to continue.
“That was him.”
It was quiet except for the blinker of the car, and that made Toya even more nervous than if his father were to actually respond angrily. He gripped his seatbelt and his duffel bag tighter, unzipping it and opening his phone silently.
He made his way to his contacts, and saw Akito Shinonome’s contact displayed on screen.
He contemplated texting him, his thumb hovering over the message button, but something like a mix of annoyance and almost jealousy coursed through him and he closed his phone with a small hiss.
Toya looked out the window as the world passed by.
His father was right, and his mindset was surely right.
Yet… he was reluctant.
Akito was still practicing, and his body had gotten used to it long ago.
His bodyguard was sitting down on one of the benches, watching him train in a daze. “Who was that person you were training with an hour ago?” They asked.
The man slowed on the ice, panting and running his hand through his hair. “He… he was an old friend of mine.” He looked down at the ice, streaked with the blades he had ran over them for hours, “We’ve ended up competing for the same competition and— we’ve decided to partner up for this once. Reluctantly.” Akito added the last word with hollow humor, and his bodyguard furrowed their eyebrows.
“You really partnered with him?”
“Yeah.” Akito said. “But… honestly, I feel like I’m going to regret it.”
“Do you hate him?”
“It’s hard to say.” Akito fell silent for a moment, until he concluded, “But probably. I’m still hung up about what happened a couple years ago and… I just hope this time I don’t make a damn fool of myself after training for so long.”
His bodyguard went silent, and Akito continued to plan his choreography on ice— it was a daunting task, especially since he had to discuss it with Toya which he really was dreading— but he definitely planned to have a jaw dropping move in it that would seriously drop that gold medal into his grocery basket easily.
He was willing to work with Toya for the rewards, even if it felt like torture as Toya stared at him unreadably. He never really knew what went through that guy’s mind when they were together, but for one he was sure they were still sort of annoyed with each other.
Akito raised his hands up and exhaled, shutting his eyes and letting himself sink into the moment gracefully.
He did not want to listen to whatever Toya had to say, that his movements were not so theatrical and more just trying too hard to impress… but reluctantly he was right.
He opened one eye and saw his bodyguard looking down on his lap.
Not sure what that was all about, but he could not let himself get distracted.
Akito’s body was threatening to collapse, but he needed to get this spin right, even if it meant he would be here for another hour.
When he was done, he halted in the center and stood rigid for a moment before he stumbled tiredly out of pose and sighed heavily. His bodyguard stood up. “Do you need help?”
“No… I’m fine.” Akito managed breathily.
He got off the rink and took off his skates, stretching. “I’m gonna sleep like a log tonight.”
His bodyguard hummed, “Definitely.”
As Akito changed and went out, looking quite dazed from the aftermath of his training, he and his bodyguard trudged back into the car and Akito took out a water bottle, exhaustedly sipping from it. “Ready to crash?” They grinned from the rearview mirror.
“Oh, definitely.” He said.
When they got back to their hotel, Akito set his bag down and looked at the view one last time before crashing onto the bed. He exhaled slowly. “I’m beat…” He mumbled.
His bodyguard leaned against the wall and turned off the light using the switch. “Get some good rest, Shinonome.”
“Yes.” Akito yawned and let his eyelids flutter.
His bodyguard stared at him until they focused their gaze on a slip of paper and a pen laid on the desk neatly.
Akito wasn’t sure what they did, because he fell asleep, thinking about the gold medal on his neck.
A few days later, Toya Aoyagi was sitting in his room with a notebook, writing down his next plans for the next few days.
It was frustrating how close Akito had gotten to him in terms of talent and in cooperation, because he was so used to hating him he didn't like the thought of actually staying friends with him after the competition. He convinced himself it was nice to get more friends once in a while.
His door opened and he glanced to see that it was his father, holding an envelope in his hands. “It’s for you.” Was all he said before he exited.
The envelope was plain, and unsuspecting. Nothing so special, only that it was for him and that there was no name at all from the sender. He blinked and opened it, eyes widening when he realized there was cash in it. “Who…” His voice died off as he read the folded paper that was in the envelope,
Sabotage is your only guaranteed way of safety once the time comes on the rink.