phichitchu Love has no comfort zone, Love is the sweetest strange

[huggingcompetition]

He'd been planning it since he'd realized he'd be able to have Phichit for his birthday. Now, finally, they had the time, in the off-season before they had to start training again.

"Ok, now you can look," he said quietly, after having led Phichit into what was obviously an empty rink, holding the typical chill and echo of footsteps muffled by the padding around the rink proper. He'd trusted Phichit not to look and spoil it, but...well. It was a pretty predictable surprise anyway after a point. But it still stood that he'd rented one of the rinks in Prague and invited his lover along with him, just so that they could share it all by themselves. He had his duffel with him, carrying their skates and training clothes with him, packed in secret.

They'd discussed it once, as a possibility they hadn't really had the time for when it had first come up: a pair skating routine, something they could do together as an exhibition, or purely for fun. Now they could spend the day making one up, tossing music back and forth until something really felt right. They'd find their rhythm, just as they had through the rocky parts of their relationship so far.

He had something else stashed away, tucked down deep in his belongings to be brought out when they'd exhausted themselves and were ready to retire for the night to the hotel in the city he'd blocked not too far away. He wouldn't listen to any argument about it being his birthday, either. After all, he enjoyed doing things for Phichit, and this was, more or less, his gift to himself. The other's presence was really all he needed for his day to be perfect.

So he stood back, cheesy grin on his face, arms open wide to indicate the whole of the open rink that they would be able to carve up as much as they saw fit.

Comments

return of your super cool icons!

[phichitchu]

Phichit spins elegantly, quick on his feet on the ice, letting the momentum of Emil's arm push him and following through cleanly. When they stop, he has his game face on.

"Define 'in a row'. There's no way I can do them all from one jump, that's impossible. And so is a quad axel, so you have to accept a triple."

Yes. All hail decent paychecks allowing for prolonged every icon having :v

[huggingcompetition]

"Just wait, one day maybe I'll be the first person in men's singles to ever land a quad axel!" He lets go of Phichit's hand as soon as their little cicle has slowed enough, drifting back on one foot.

"I mean if you can do one cleanly, then another one as soon as you're up​ for it. Do them all without messing up. You'll get a good reward." It's his own jump warm-up that he's suggesting after all. He isn't totally sure that Phichit can pull it off but he wants to see him try nonetheless.

[phichitchu]

"If anyone can do it, it's you," Phichit said confidently. "Thorough research has confirmed you have the best thighs in men's skating."

He laughed, then rolled his shoulders out and stretched his arms over his head. "Okay. If I pull them all off, I'm holding you to giving me the best reward a boyfriend could give his boyfriend." He winked and skated backwards, taking a few deep breaths and turning into an Ina Bauer, lolling his head back. When he was upright again, he built up his momentum and jumped, landing a clean quadruple toe loop and air pumping in his joy.

"One down!"

[huggingcompetition]

"It'll be the best, I promise." Of course, he wasn't telling Phichit that he'd give it regardless of whether he landed all of his quads. It was still the effort that counted in the first place.

Sliding back out of the way and into an easy to follow step sequence, he stopped long enough to watch first the beautiful position, then the successful toe loop. He applauded, beaming over his boyfriend's first achievement. "Alright, my turn!" His own quad toe loop is nigh on flawless, ridiculous height behind him making it all the easier. He wasn't doing it to show off, just hoping to run through the same motions as Phichit so that they were working on the same things at the same time. He exits it in a wide arc and comes back to spin gently in place at the other's side.

[phichitchu]

Phichit nudged Emil gently, pretending to be upset. "How does someone so dense get so much height? You're just trying to upstage me now!" He accused, wrapping his arms around Emil's broad shoulders.

When he'd pouted long enough, Phichit let go and skated off again, building momentum for a triple axel. He landed a bit wobbly, but didn't need to use his hand to stabilize himself, so he counted it as a win.

[huggingcompetition]

He rocked a bit when Phichit bumped him, but looped his arms around the other's waist and bowed to nose against his temple playfully. "Or perhaps I'm giving yo a goal to try and reach. Outdo me, Chula."

Before Phichit can get very far Emil kisses his cheek, then goes back to circling the rink as he watches the next jump. It's not as steady as the quad loop, but it still lands, and in his head he can figure about how many points it might be worth in competition. Not as accurately as some of the other skaters, but that doesn't matter so terribly here. He's follow the motion, leading in with a sequence from the last year's free skate, then launching into the triple axel. There wasn't quite enough height to allow him to try for a fourth rotation, but now that he had the idea, he'd start trying for it before the next competition season.

He catches Phichit's hand in passing, turning them both around with the momentum of it before bringing him in close and taking the other hand as well. "So far so good?"

[phichitchu]

Phichit had to applaud Emil's amazing showmanship; he wasn't petty enough that he would get upset at seeing his boyfriend being amazing. He even whistled for him, and took his hands when he was close enough.

"You're brilliant. And I'm keeping up. I'd say we're doing pretty well," Phichit grinned, squeezing Emil's hands. "Salchow next? To keep going up in the number of points? I'm going to nail this one."

[huggingcompetition]

He could always count on Phichit to be a good sport, and be encouraging where most would grouse or try to make him feel lesser for pulling off such things. Emil brought one of the other's hands up to his lips to press a kiss to the knuckles before sliding away again.

"Take a second then go for it. Then...we could try it in tandem. If we can get the timing down, we could maybe work on doing other things together here."

[phichitchu]

Phichit was already considerably bright, but when Emil suggested they try it together, he light up even more.

"Do you mean you want to pair skate?" He asked eagerly, gliding over the ice. "Because finally, Emil, I've been waiting!"

He laughed, then skating off ahead at a quick pace, before jumping and landing a beautiful quadruple Salchow.

[huggingcompetition]

"Well, we have the time now!" Emil laughs and moves back enough to give Phichit room to make his perfect leap, applauding and returning to his side once more to take his hand and spin a bit on the spot. The music had changed to something heavier, less romantic and more frenetic. Not something he'd try to skate to, with or without Phichit, but it was adequate background noise for now. "One more to go, then you get your surprise," he reminded, his smile softening as he leans his head to butt gently against his boyfriend's lightly.

[phichitchu]

"Only one?" Phichit laughs. "I still need the Loop, the Flip, and the Lutz. But if you want to lighten my load, I'm definitely not complaining."

He tilts his head up and kisses Emil's lips briefly. "What is this song? It would be fun to skate to for an Exhibition, or something." He rested his hands around Emil's neck. He was really enjoying this closeness, and just drifting on the ice with his beloved.

[huggingcompetition]

"Obviously I've been wowed, so you get it sooner. Show me the rest and you'll get even more." Emil grins, cheeky and hooked his fingers loose around Phichit's elbows, lingering close and slouching his posture to bring himself a little closer to the other's height.

He looks up at the song, listening a moment then grinning. "We can skate to this if you want. It's not as high energy as you normally go for though."

Ramadan is over, so NSFW can resume

[phichitchu]

Phichit gets on his toe picks so he can kiss Emil again, and makes a little delighted noise as he does so. "You're so generous. What a good boyfriend," he coos, petting the top of Emil's head and threading his fingers in the other's fluffy hair. "I would want to do anything you want to do. I'm just excited for us to finally be skating together."

"So just one more jump? Alright. You've gotta let me go, though, I don't think I can take you with me."

and I am back from con, so tags will be faster!

[huggingcompetition]

"If you could I'd be even more impressed." Emil laughs and bows for a last kiss before easing away again. He took up a level position with Phichit, shooting him a wink then striking a brief pose with one arm up and the other across his chest, as if about to dance in place. As soon as Phichit starts to move, Emil follows, keeping his eye on his lover until he's about to dip into his last jump. They wouldn't land at the same time, his jump much higher, but he doesn't have to hit the ice at the same moment to be able to loop back around smoothly with his hand out to take Phichit's again.

Hooray! Did you have fun?

[phichitchu]

When Emil eased away Phichit focused, and took off on the ice, building momentum. He heard Emil's skates against the ice behind him, and turned with a grin to see his partner skating behind him. He winked and bent his knees before taking off for a quad loop. His landing isn't the cleanest, and he has to put a hand on the ice for balance, but he doesn't fall. He's up in time to see that Emil lands flawlessly, and reaches for his offered hand.

"Your jumps are beautiful. Rub it off on me!"

It wasn't as good as last year but I got a lot of good stuff. Photos are over on plurk.

[huggingcompetition]

"Practice with me more then!" Emil takes his hands and steadies him, sliding back a bit until Phichit's stopped in front of him. He leans back and swings their hands some in between them. "D'you wanna keep going through them with me now?"

[phichitchu]

Phichit laughs and lets Emil guide him, until they end up swinging their arms together like school children playing a game. He rolls his shoulders as he shrugs, even though he can't stop smiling.

"I think you can run them with me a hundred times, but as long as I don't have your godly thighs my mere mortal self will only be capable of so much!"

[huggingcompetition]

"Your flair more than makes up for the difference in jumps anyway. The crowds always love you." Not a hint of envy in his voice; they each have their individual strengths, and Phichit's was the crowd's favor. It's remarkable, to Emil at least. His head tilts as he gives Phichit a sly little smile. "Your thighs don't need to be as bulky. I know I like them just how they are."

[phichitchu]

He's obviously pleased by Emil's compliment, wearing the sheepish grin that nearly always comes out when he's delightfully embarrassed. Phichit squeezes Emil's hands, holds onto him tightly.

"You could definitely do the showmanship thing, too. You always come up with the most creative themes. And I know I'm not bad at anything, but sometimes I still wish I had a thing. Spins, jumps, footwork... I'm just kind of overall average?

[huggingcompetition]

"You are all-around wonderful. I'm glad they know it as much as I do." He may or may not be purposefully being as cheesy as possible. After all, he did this for Phichit, and he has plans for more. "I thought about the routine I proposed to you before, to Sunlight. I'm thinking maybe that will be my free skate next season. But the short program...what do you think of Holst's Jupiter?" A distraction with a purpose, really. He wants Phichit's opinion, but he also wants to keep the other from focusing on how they're moving around the rink, this time hand in hand, to head for the gate leading to the locker rooms again.

[phichitchu]

Phichit has to take a moment to recall the song Emil is talking about, because he listens to more soundtrack music than classical instrumental compositions; dating Emil has done wonders for his musical knowledge in that respect, but it still takes him a minute to isolate the song he's referring to now.

"That's that adventure music, right? The one that sounds like you're going on any epic space journey? That song would be perfect for you!" Phichit agrees. "It's larger than life, just like your sweeping moves and incredible jumps. I approve!"

He notices a bit belatedly that they're by the gate to the rink and frowns. "Speaking of adventure, where are you taking me? We barely just got warmed up!"

[huggingcompetition]

"I thought Jupiter fit best out of the Planets Suite. It's very fun and energetic and I kind of have some ideas for it."

Emil pauses long enough to let Phichit off the ice ahead of him, following close behind.

"We don't have to leave or anything, I did ask for the whole evening to be here and all. I think I'm a little overeager here though."

[phichitchu]

Phichit chuckles as he steps off the ice and fastens his skate guards back onto the bottom of his blades. "Eager for what, exactly?" He asks teasingly, not even attempting innocence the way he might usually; he's pretty eager himself. "Is this a kidnapping? Are you taking me somewhere to have your dastardly way with me?"

[huggingcompetition]

Emil laughs, pressing his nose against the top of Phichit's head. "Maybe later tonight I will. But does it count as kidnapping if you're as excited as I am?" He takes hold of his boyfriend's hand to lead him on, pausing long enough to snap on his blade guards and finally take Phichit back to the locker room.

When they get back to where his bag is sitting on the benches, he gets noticeably more anxious and gestures for Phichit to sit before digging into his bag.

"Ok so...so you know how I promised I'd tell you what manžel meant. And how we promised when we had better time to spend together we'd figure out where and how to get married. I kind of...maybe jumped the gun a little but. Here." He picks up a fairly plain little dark blue box and presents it, settling only mostly casually on his knee on the hard tile floor in front of Phichit's seat. When he manages to pop it open after a moment fussing with the slightly difficult spring lid, inside it a fairly plain silver band, with engraving along the sides that, upon closer inspection, would look like the tracks they made across the ice whenever they performed.

"You don't have to wear it yet. Or at all, if you don't want to. But I thought...well. Maybe if we made it official it'd feel more real. Not so far away in the future."

i died

[phichitchu]

If Emil wasn't stealing him away for sex, then Phichit had no idea what was going on; it wasn't completely out of Emil's character to pull surprises out of the blue, but usually when Phichit was physically with him he could tell when his boyfriend had something on his mind.

Although, come to think of it, Emil is acting really antsy. Things on the ice were different, probably because Emil was in his element during their jumps challenge, but now he was kind of shaking. He asks Phichit to sit and he does so readily, looking up at Emil with concern, confusion, and curiosity.

He brings up the word manžel again, then lapses into talking about marriage, and Phichit's heart feels like it's becoming lodged in his throat because there is no way he's understanding this correctly?

But then Emil pulls out a jewelry box and he's down on his knee and he's flustered as fuck as he displays the gleaming silver ring to Phichit -- Phichit should interrupt him and his nerves, but he's entirely's speechless, eyes wide as dinner plates.

When Emil is done talking, Phichit carefully reaches out with both hands, and cups the ring box as though it were a small baby bird requiring the utmost delicacy; he looks up at Emil, eyes watering.

"Do... do you mean it? Are you proposing to me?!"