Playing with Fire | Yuzuru Hanyu

43. Olympian

He still could barely believe that she was right there in his arms.

It seemed like their interaction was a mere culmination of the months on end that they had waited and somehow, it was even better than he remembered.

There was something about knowing that she was his that made it all even more intimate.

Truly, there wasn't anything that different about the way he was with her but it always seemed to be better than any other woman he had before.

Just embracing her in the aftermath was better than anything with his ex.

It didn't even surprise him that she managed to joke after all of that. It was clear that Aria wasn't anywhere near as tired as he was, but then again, he had just come back from Japan and went straight to her. No regrets there.

"You know, I really want to meet that dumb woman and tell her how wrong she was."

Aa funny as rhe oicture in his brain turned out to be, Yuzuru was sure that it would be a very bad idea. Aria would probably just tell Julia straight-up how she thought her to be wrong.

Personally, he had long moved on and accepted that the other woman wasn't right and that was the reason why things didn't work out in the end.

Aria, however, felt right in every sense of the word and it showed in the way he was willing to abdicate some hours of his precious skating to be by her side. Not that she ever asked him to do anything close to that.

"That would probably be a very bad idea."

"I can be polite..."

"It really isn't worth it and well, it led me to you so I can't complain about it. Maybe I even owe her."

Aria kissed him softly, placing a huge grin on both of their faces. 

A sudden shift made her turn serious and he wasn't sure what was about to leave her. Thankfully, it was nothing as bad as he had quickly gotten ready to hear.

"Maybe it's a good time to tell you that my family bullied me into telling them about you."

It was impossible not to laugh at the way she told him and he kissed her cheek in reassurance as soon as he noted her nervousness.

"My mom already knows too, so it seems fair."

"You're not worried about the secret being out?"

"I never really saw it as a secret, you know? Do you fear that your family will go to the tabloids about us?"

He could see her expression shift from confused to curious and it didn't take a lot to understand why once she asked the next question.

"Just... Just how famous are you?"

Yuzuru laughed in reaction. He had figured she would have googled him by now but it seemed like Aria had just decided to ignore the fact that he might be a bit popular because of his job.

"Let's just say that I'm a bit surprised that your parents didn't know right away. But maybe they just didn't make the connection."

"Are you serious?"

Yuzuru scratched the back of his head, not really sure how to tell her the true nature of his achievements without sounding too cocky.

"I just got some nice medals and brand deals that came with it. You know the deal...commercials and all..."

"Brand deals?"

"Yeah"

"Like...??"

"ANA is my biggest sponsor and Lotte, I guess you might know those"

Her eyes widened comically wide. If it wasn't for the obviously uncomfortable situation, Yuzu would almost be comfortable enough to go a bit further.

"That's big..."

"Yeah."

Yuzuru could see it in her expression that she was now even more curious than before. He just wanted to tell her to ask away and go through all of her doubts and uncertainties.

"So what's your biggest medal? Or...huh... The most important one to you."

"That has to be the Olympic one."

"Of course you have an Olympic medal... Gold I bet"

"Yeah" he looked even a bit embarrassed to admit it in front of her but Aria quickly shut it all with a kiss on his lips.

"And you're planning on going to the Olympics again?"

"I hope to. It's next year."

"And you want to win again."

"I wouldn't go if I didn't plan on winning."

His determination was something that still shocked her slightly and Aria truly had no clue about how dedicated to his craft Yuzuru truly was.

"So that's the big goal."

"I just want to focus one thing at a time and I have Worlds soon too."

"It's kind of unreal to me how I spent the last few months having no idea that you were such a big deal."

She said it while kissing his naked chest, not at all changing the way she saw him even with this detail.

"It's mostly just in figure skating, I'm not a celebrity."

"Hum...not so sure."

"I did go to the grocery store more than once without a single person recognizing me."

"Maybe you were just lucky."

He knew that she was mostly joking but it was still nice to have her taking all of it so lightly.

She probably had no true clue of the real implication of his fame but at the very least, all he wanted was for her to understand that part of his life. Truthfully, she deserved to know what she was getting herself into before being dragged into the madness that his life could be.

Still, he also knew that she was fairly safe while being in Canada, and maybe part of him almost wanted to be too selfish and always keep her there, away from the weird life he had back at home.

At the same time, he also knew that she needed to go there and see her family, no matter how reluctant she seemed to be about that.

So truly, this was just the start of their journey and even if there were still a lot of things to think and talk about, he was fairly certain that they could survive it together.