Thin Ice

4. Oh No!

"That turn just keeps getting sloppier and sloppier Y/n, come on we've been through this", Levi's voice continues to echo against the walls of the rink.

You've been at this for hours and it feels like you keep messing it up even worse. It's a routine that you guys had been working on since the start of the week and at first it was easy enough but now you just couldn't seem to get it right.

You had been antsy all morning, barely being able to function without your mind being distracted. The worst part is that you don't even know the root of what's bothering you.
You also haven't been able to sleep well these past few days and you're unsure what the cause of that is too. Overall, you could admit that you weren't having a good time.

It was a vicious cycle. You couldn't sleep well and that would make you unable to focus in practice. Then you would fuck up in practice and that would be the only thing you thought about for the rest of the day, causing you to also not sleep well.

No matter how many melatonin gummies you chewed, it felt like your sleep was becoming more and more fitful.

The only good thing was that you were still able to get your school work done so that was one less thing to worry about. You needed a break, you weren't sure from what but you felt like you needed a vacation really soon.

With your current schedule  however, you knew it wouldn't be possible for a while so for now you would just have to look forward to the days where you didn't necessarily have anything to do.
They were rare but that made you appreciate them much more.
You tried to make a deal with yourself that if you perfected this routine within the next four days you would treat yourself to a little retail therapy on your off day.

Maybe you would even recruit Hitch to accompany you to the mall because if it was one thing she encouraged, it was your bad spending habits. You're convinced that the both of you could spend a million dollars in an hour at the mall.

You shook yourself from your thoughts and inhaled deeply. This condition that you had made yourself to help motivate you to work harder seemed like it would work. You just had to get serious, not that you weren't already serious but you had to give it your two hundred percent now.

It felt crazy, your hunger and drive sometimes scared you. You wanted more than anything to be successful in something you loved and you wouldn't let anyone, not even yourself stop you from doing so.

"Y/n, I really think you should take a break", Levi said, causing you to pause in the middle of the ice.

"It's fine, I'm fine I just need to focus", you reply, not wanting to stop.

"You've been saying that for the past hour. Look if you want we can call it a day. Go home, rest, you need it" he encourages and it sounds appealing but you know yourself well enough to know that it would be a bad idea in hindsight. You needed to get it right and FAST.

You have to get frustrated before you can really get to work. There was a method to your madness.

"No, I promise I just need to get this perfected and then we can go. I don't think either of us will be satisfied if I don't get it" you say, speaking for the both of you.

"Ok, but if you look like you're going to hurt yourself I'm sending you home." he says sternly as he starts the song over.
You nod in agreement before starting the routine again, still determined.

Levi watches intently as you go around the rink, flipping, twisting and turning with a force he hadn't seen since...well..himself.
The truth was that you had started to remind him of his younger self and that was beginning to prove to be a double edged sword.