Chapter Text
"Sebastian! Stop looking at the news. Let's go back." His father screamed at the young figure skater. Sebastian had finally got a place in the Grand Prix Finals this year, and he conpletely blew it. His father was more than unhappy about his mistake, the news was talking about it, and he got last place.
It feels like everything had gone wrong. All the mental and physical pressure from his father constantly on his back about 1st place had finally got to him on the big day, and he missed and forgot several parts.
Sebastian sat on the toilet in the bathroom, frantically calling his mother. She never really gave him any support, but at least it wasn't his father degradation. "Mom? Were you sleeping?" Sebastian asked. "No, I wasn't. We had a public viewing and were talking about it. What happened?" It was an innocent question, but Sebastian felt his heart drop to his stomach. Another thing his father would be angry about, he's sure. "I'm sorry. I messed up." The figure skater said as he hung up his phone.
He let his composure drop, and he started sobbing. He felt like a complete failure, to himself and his father. How could he mess up so badly? Sebastian knew when they went home he'd pay the price for his father's humiliation, as masterful retired figure skater's son couldn't do even half of what is father could.
He was cut short by a loud kick to his stall. "Sebastian! Stop your whining and come out of there before you get dirty." His father's voice came from the other side, silencing any tears he still had. "Of course, father. I'm sorry."
As they walked to their plane back home, his father continued to lecture him. "There will be so many talented young skaters rising through the ranks. You need to become better than them." His father grumbled as a news reporter came up to him, shoving questions in his face. "Are you going to retire?" "What will you do after you graduate college?" "Will you still train in Moscow?" Sebastian quickly and flatly answered the questions, looking out the airport's large window. He didn't want to think about anything in that moment.
A voice snapped his out of his thoughts, "About your free performance, the step sequence could use more-" "I won, so who even cares?" A younger blond teenager who couldn't be older than 16 grumbled at the advice given to him. Sebastian didn't care much about the teen as much as he did the older figure skater. Mid-length brown hair kept straight with a headband around his head, now talking to their coach. He was a 5-time Grand Prix gold medalist, much better than Sebastian could ever be. He didn't realize he was staring at the man until he looked back from where he was standing at him.
It flustered him, realizing he'd been starinv at him the entire time. "A uh, commenorative photo?" The brunette smiled back at him warmly. Sebastian didn't know what to say, and stared back at him for a moment. Sebastian quickly turned around and walked away, ignoring any yells from his father or the new reporter. It was humiliating. He was an idiot for finally thinking he could meet his idol on the same playing field.
It was over a year later, and he finally visited home. He'd barely been ice skating that entire time, almost too humiliated at what happened at the Grand Prix Finales. His father hasn't talked to him since he ending things of ice skating, but he was happy he could finally talk to his sister again. He had graduated college, but he wasn't sure what to do for the future.
His sister met him at a train station, and was walking him home when the blonde realized, "Don't you have ballet practice?" His sister looked back at him, "We're closed today. I barely have any students these days anyways. The town's been losing more and more people. Not to mention the kids skating." She said, looking forward again. "You should cheer the kids up, Sebastian." Though he could not see her face, he knew she was smiling. A rare occurrence.
Lydia said he should visit his old skating rink, where he used to practice. He figured it couldn't hurt to go. As he walked into the building, he heard the voice of the old receptionist, and his friend. "We're closed right now- Sebastian?" She excitedly ran to the edge of the counter at seeing her old friend. "Oh! You came to skate, right? Go right on ahead!" She said happily, smiling at him.
He remembered his childhood with her. Though his father didn't let him talk to many people, he remembered Vicky was one of the people he talked to. She also was the one to show him his idol, Ches. "He won gold in the Junior Worlds with the highest score in history!" She said excitedly infront if the ice rink's old tv. He remembered since that day, always striving to be like him. Replicating his jumps with her often.
As Sebastian and Vicky walked to the ice rink, Sebastian stood by the side to talk to her. "I wanted to show you this. I have been practicing it since the first competitions ended." He paused in nervousness for a moment. "Please watch."
Sebastian skated to the middle of rink, Vicky watching patiently. She realized what the program was, and smiled happily. Sebastian learned one of Ches's programs, landing each quad perfectly, a quadruple Lutz, a quadruple flip, and a quaddruple toe loop. Vicky stared in awe as he finished the program. "That was super cool! A perfect copy of Ches!" She happily banged he hands on the rails. "I thought you'd be depressed or something!" Sebastian timidly nodded, "I was. But i got bored of feeling depressed, so i got to thinking that I wanted my love for skating back."
After Sebastian went home, he turned on his phone to see what texts he got. It was a text from Vicky. "Huh?" Sebastian said as he opened the text from her. He stared in shock at his phone. It was a link to YouTube. Turned out she recorded him doing Ches's program and...
It went viral.
The following text she sent was "I'm sorry!! I didn't think I would go viral!!"
Sebastian stared in shock as Lydia came into his room. "What's with that video? It's going viral!" Sebastian stared at her,in as much shock as she was.
He'd decided to go to sleep, thinking that maybe it'd all blow over by the morning. That morning he woke up to scratching on his door and saw a large brown poodle on his doorstep. The poodle tackled him to ground, licking his face. While Sebastian wasn't sure where this poddle came from, he didn't mind the dog's affection.
"Isn't he cute? We have a guest!" Lydia said, walking out from her room. Sebastian stared at her, surprised.
There was no way it was him, right? Sebastian gently pushes the dog off of him and ran down the stairs, the fluffy brown poodle following him in tow. He stood at the bottom of the stairs, dumbfounded at what he saw. The poodle ran infront of him to his owner. "What are you doing here? " He said weakly, still in shock at the person infronr of him.
With a warm smile the brunette figure skater said "Sebastian, right? Starting today I'm your new coach!" He pet his dog beside him. "I'll help you win the Grand Prix Final!"
Sebastian felt like he couldn't say anything, his own voice caught in his throat. "Huh?" was all he could make out.