Playing with Fire | Yuzuru Hanyu

33. I Need You

From the very first text, Yuzuru could feel Aria slowly giving him more and more chances.

Their conversations flew easily and it was easy to tell that they had far more in common than he ever expected.

He soon learned about her degree and how much she wanted to be able to work as a pharmacist once it was all done. She mentioned subjects from her classes and they discussed things he barely understood.

Yuzuru went as far as googling the subjects she was doing and learning them extensively like his own to make sure he could keep up with the conversations.

That was just the way he was. Every little thing was carefully thought out and studied until he knew it perfectly.

As soon as Aria understood that, the mystery of why he had hired her as an escort started slowly making more and more sense.

You see, this was a man that absolutely hated to be bad at something and he couldn't handle his ex-girlfriend's allegations.

It was almost too cute when you thought about it. The dedication was admirable.

They didn't meet again, not right away.

All of their interactions were purely through text but somehow, it seemed to make the awkward part of getting to know the other a bit easier.

With every little message, Yuzu only wished to see her in person more and more.

All of it came right amid his preparation for the National Championships and the mere thought of leaving Canada to compete and ditching her felt somehow wrong.

Sure, he was quite aware that this was his job and that it was expected of him to ignore everything his heart desired for the sake of his athletic success but it still felt wrong to leave her when they were in such a fragile state.

It was almost ridiculous given that they weren't even seeing one another in person but Yuzuru had long stopped to try and explain his mind.

So it didn't come as a surprise when he found every possible excuse to delay his trip, going as far as telling his mother to go and leave him for a few days.

The truth was that he was very aware of just how much his mother had sacrificed through the years and every day, he was reminded of just how much she fought for his rights and way of living. She was the support he always had in Canada.

It wasn't even a sex thing because he had no plans of seeing Aria in person but the sheer knowledge of her proximity made him feel better than it should.

That woman had to be doing some sort of sorcery to make him so addicted. Either the pheromones or just the way she carried herself was enough to make him smile and kiss her.

His plan to just stay a little longer in Canada ended up backfiring in ways he could have never expected.

The flights were booked, his mother had gone back to Japan a week prior and he was all alone in the Condo.

Brian was helping him with the last details of his training and most of the time was spent on the ice.

He was feeling ready to win once again.

Yet, once again, as fate would determine it, Yuzu ended up out of the competition.

Truly, the last thing the skater expected was for his light cold to start getting worse.

On most occasions and if his mother had been around, he would've probably started taking medicines and being extra careful in how he did everything. His asthma was way too aggressive to dismiss the possibility of getting worse.

Being alone, however, meant that he fully ignored it for a while.

Yuzuru alone could often resemble a child, he barely ate, only did the things he loved (skating), and barely went outside the house. It was just how things were for him most of the time and why his mother constantly kept herself around.

So when he ended up in bed with a crazy high fever and asthma attacks threatening to start, Yuzuru also had to deal with the consequences of being alone.

I must get better, he told himself after realizing just how close all of this was to Japanese Nationals.

But even with his expectations of improvement, Yuzuru was also fully aware that he needed to tell his mother. She would have to handle all the legal and boring aspects of his withdrawal in case this all went south and he didn't improve at all.

Sugarcoating it as much as he could, Yuzu just warned her that he had a light fever and a runny nose, conveniently hiding the fact that all of his body ached and that he struggled with breathing more often than tolerable for any human.

The woman wanted to instantly go back to him, only to be quickly dismissed.

Yuzuru could bet she was enjoying her time in Japan, as it was now usual. He was very aware of just how much sacrifice she made throughout the year to stay by his side. There was no way he could take that away from her just because of a little cold.

What that also meant, however, was that when he got worse and worse, barely being able to get out of bed, there wasn't a single person to help him get through it by his side.

There was someone he desperately wanted to call but the thought alone was too crazy. She didn't have any responsibility over him and plenty of other worries in her life.

He couldn't ask her.

But coach Tracy was away, Brian had told him that he was taking the weekend off to Montreal before Nationals and there was no one else around.

So when they were texting that evening, Yuzuru couldn't help but try.

"Aria, I need you."