Listen to the song that inspired this whole fic if you like

“Representing the United States of America, figure skater Joshua Hong!”

Jeonghan sighed as he slid in his seat. His younger sister let out a tiny cheer.

“Do you like him or something?” He looked at her eyes narrowed.

She scoffed. “He’s nice. Unlike some of the other people in the competition.” She wrapped her jacket around her closely. “He doesn’t discriminate against the competitors who normally only do the junior circuit even if he’s doing the senior circuit. And it helps that he speaks Korea. Even if it’s broken.”

“Broken?”

“He’s American born Korean. So, he doesn’t always put the right words in the right places. It doesn’t matter though. He’s nice enough to help and talk to me when no one else will.” She made a noise, “The other competitors aren’t that nice to the junior competitors.”

“Do I have beat some people up for you?” Jeonghan clenched his fists.

Snorting she smacked him in the chest, “Please. I don’t want to be like Tonya Harding.”

“Tonya Harding?” Jeonghan was so confused when she threw out references to figure skating.

“She’s famous for having her ex-husband take out her competition. Then she was banned from figure skating forever. You’re my brother so it’s not exactly the same but I’d still be banned.”

“But—“

She hit him again. “Quiet. He’s starting.”

Jeonghan rubbed his arm, glaring at his younger sister. But he turned his eyes to the skinny boy on the ice.

He placed his hands above his head, one hand on top of the other palm. The whole rink quieted down and the music began to play. Classical music started filtering through, a soft sounding with some light beating, a few violin sounds.

Immediately the hands went down and out in front of him, and he moved backwards. Joshua twirled in a light spin, the back of his right hand coming across his mouth in a choregraphed move no doubt. He skated around the rink, hands moving along with the music.

He pushed backwards and down, laying his upper body in half to the ice, in a layback. Pulling forward again, Joshua moved, gliding on the ice for a few seconds before digging his blade into the ice. He leapt forward. Spinning, way too many times for Jeonghan to even fathom, he heard his sister let out a gasp as he landed on the opposite foot arms out to the sides.

“Is that a good thing?” He asked. But he wasn’t answered as an applause sounded through the rink. “I guess it is.”

Joshua started some sort of dance step, weaving in and out, moving quickly on the edges of his skates. The song hit a crescendo. Sungah sat forward, hands covering .

He dug his toe pick into the ice, launching off it. She stared, eyes bugged out, letting out a shout of joy and Joshua landed. Jeonghan jumped out of his skin. Most of the rink also clapped and cheered. Jesus Christ what was so good about that jump. Before he could ask, Joshua had launched into a smaller jump that garnered more applause.

Once more around the rink the skinny boy spun and did things like Ina Bauers, spread eagles, spins, throwing in smaller less impressive jumps than the one that had the whole rink cheering. As the song neared the end, the sound heightened, sharpening. Joshua spun faster coming out of the dizzying moment in a pose similar to his beginning one.

Jeonghan watched as that tiny twig of a boy kept that position before bowing deeply to the applause in all directions. Sungah screamed in joy, jumping up and down herself. For a boy who had a sister who did skating Jeonghan knew next to nothing about it. Some moves were drilled into his head simply because Sungah would always bring them up. But he could tell at the very least that Joshua had artistry. The other boy moved elegantly.

Joshua stooped and picked up some stuffed animals it seemed and flowers before skating over to the kiss and cry and his coach.

Sungah stared at the big screen, her nails going to .

“Why are you so anxious? You’re not the one who just skated.”

“Shut up oppa,” she hissed. “He did great and I want to see his score.”

Slowly the total score came up, flashing an impressive 102.25. The score totaled once more, totaling 190.45, giving him a rank of 2. Which made Sungah happy as she cheered once again.

Joshua smiled at the score and waved to everyone, bowing shallowly as he got up and moved back into the interior of the rink.

“You sure you aren’t crushing on him,” Jeonghan asked wryly.

“No,” she said fiercely. “I like the way he skates. Now let’s go down and see if we can catch him. I want to congratulate him.”

“Can we even go back in there?”

“I’m in the exhibition. Yes, I can.” She walked down the stairs and into the inner rink, flashing her competitor’s badge, dragging Jeonghan by the arm. Smiling she skipped along shouting as she saw Joshua who turned away from one reporter. “Oppa!”

“Oppa,” Jeonghan sputtered. “Hey. Sungah, I thought you said you didn’t like him.”

She shushed him. “I said I don’t. I wanted to and he lets me.”

He turned. Up close and personal Jeonghan saw that the boy well, more like teenager, since he looked to maybe around the same age as Jeonghan, was quite the looker. He had big eyes, and full lips, with a cute nose. From far away it seemed as the boy’s jaw would cut the ice, but Jeonghan could still see baby fat clinging to his squishy face. The skinny remarks he made in his head were correct though. The other boy was skinny, painfully thin.

“Sungah,” he said with a smile. “Congratulations on moving up this competition.” He held out a hand; Sungah high fived him.

Blushing a bit, she replied, “Thank you. I tried and well I didn’t do as well as I wanted but I did move up several spots from my last competition.” She smiled back at him. “But you. You’re going to get another medal; you’re doing so well this season oppa.”

Joshua laughed, sheepishly messing with the back of his head. “Thanks, Sungah. Hopefully no one ousts me from second place. There’s still a few more competitors.”

She shook her head. “No, you did so good. The quad toe loop was amazing. And the axel and Biellmann spin. Everything was so good.”

Joshua smiled at her, his eyes crinkling, practically disappearing really. It was…cute. Weird. Jeonghan need his brain checked.

“I wish I could be on your level,” she said a bit sadly, her expression falling as she remembered she didn’t medal.

Hand coming out, Joshua lightly patted her on the head, the black of his gloves contrasting against her red hairband. “You’re young. Plenty of time to practice and get better to medal next season. Not to mention this is your first senior competition.” He gave a wry smile. “I’m not done growing yet. I’ll have a hard time in a few years training myself to jump again. Don’t worry I won’t be so good in those seasons.”

She gave him a tiny smile.

Jeonghan coughed, loudly, drawing attention to himself.

“Oh. This is my older brother, Jeonghan.”

Joshua smiled at him and bowed, before holding out a hand. “Joshua Hong. Nice to meet you.”

Awkwardly Jeonghan took his hand and Joshua shook it withdrawing.

“Sungah talks about you a lot,” Joshua said.

Jeonghan looked at the other boy. Did his eyes just twinkle? What the ? Was this kid Dumbledore? “Does she? Good things I hope.”

Laughing Joshua said with a sly smile, “She complains. Some of it goes over my head,” he said in stilted Korean, “but I can get most of it.” But his expression turned soft, “In the end though she always talks about you with a smile on her face.”

Ok. Wow. Jeonghan could see why Sungah liked this guy. He was really. What was the word? Soft? Warm? Friendly? All of the above really. Jeonghan smiled back. “Good. That’s great. Better than I thought.”

He looked over to Sungah who looked away from him, her lips in a pout. Muttering about being betrayed.

Joshua turned his head as he heard his name. “Oh I have to go now. More press stuff before the final results. I’ll see you at exhibition practice Sungah?”

She nodded.

He sent her a smile and one to Jeonghan too. “It was nice meeting you. Maybe we’ll get to talk at the dinner tomorrow.” He bowed his head and left in his sparkly black outfit.

When Joshua was well out of earshot Jeonghan said, “I can see why you like him.” If he was slightly dazed well he’d keep that to himself.

Sungah pushed him lightly. “I told you I don’t. Not in that way. But he’s super nice. It’s hard not to like him.”

“Yea,” Jeonghan murmured.

Jeonghan watched his sister quietly rink side. She listened attentively, but no doubt she didn’t know much of what the choreographer said. This was only her first big competition that took her out of Seoul. Her grasp of the English language needed work. Even if Joshua helped her learn maybe.

Joshua stood to the other side of all the skaters who were invited to do an exhibition piece, sending a glance her way. He mimed some of the moves to her, giving her a thumbs up as she understood him.

As the lower ranked competitors skated off to the side, Joshua patted Sungah on the head before taking off on the ice. Jeonghan leaned forward as he watched Joshua copy the choreographer. It seemed as a medal holding skater he had more moves to learn than the others.

Watching as Joshua moved as he was told, Jeonghan noticed that while he had a certain fluidity the sharp angle of his body made some of the moves awkward. Joshua still had that growing body much like Jeonghan still did. The wonders of being a teenager.

Joshua glided across the ice, arching his back in a layback. As he neared the ladies silver medalist, he pushed up and held out his hand, the two of them joining them. They did some sort of cutesy dance move that they both snickered at, before letting go as per the choreographer’s request.

His chin in the palm of his hand, Jeonghan couldn’t help but think Joshua had a very cute laugh. He was knocked out of his odd thoughts of thinking another boy was cute when Sungah skated up to him and lightly smacked his arm.

“Why are you staring so hard? Did someone catch your eye?” She sounded suspicious. The only reason Jeonghan was here in Paris with her was because their parents couldn’t leave their jobs for the few days of the competition and they happened to have no school since they were on break. And they thought an extra pair of eyes besides her coach’s was better. So Jeonghan at the tender age of seventeen had a free trip to Paris, to watch figure skating, mostly. Which he didn’t even like. Yet here he was watching the ice intently, like a hawk. Sungah was completely right to act suspicious.

“Just curious is all,” Jeonghan said, playing it off. He couldn’t tell her he was sort of interested in that boy she cheered on and called oppa. But Joshua with his stilted Korean, baby fat filled face, yet skinny frame had Jeonghan’s attention. For whatever reason, he wanted to keep looking at him.

She stared at him, eyes narrowed, for a good minute before nodding and sitting down next to him. “Whatever you say oppa,” she said a tad mockingly.

Jeonghan gave her a light shove for her insolence.

She squawked and they started to squabble, albeit quietly.

The exhibition was slow, more fun, and just less tense than the actual competition. Jeonghan watched the skaters do a silly group piece with the medalists skating away from those who stuck to the sides, to do impressive jumps or spins, showing off the audience. The applause was high and the mood infectious rather than nail biting.

Sungah was all smiles as she no longer had the weight of the competition bearing down on her. While she may have been disappointed; the fact that she made it into Worlds was the biggest accomplishment of her career so far, and Jeonghan was proud of her.

Everyone skated off leaving one lower ranked skater to do their exhibition piece. Jeonghan stared, eyes glazed over. Sungah wouldn’t be getting onto the ice until another two skaters than it was a mix of medalists from each section. The only people he was interested in was Sungah, and Joshua.

Ten minutes later Sungah entered the ice, in a baby blue, bedazzled dress. The skirt was shaped like an upside down flower, the top of her dress modest but giving her the look of a blue dancing fairy. Exactly what she wanted. She screamed it down the house when she and their mother had gotten home from the skater shop. A custom made dress that finally saw the light of day at a big competition. His sister was beautiful.

Smiling at the audience she began her cute little program to the music of a broadway number. She did jumps and spins; the audience clapping along and smiling back at her. She flubbed one of her jumps but still they applauded, which brought her mood up it seemed.

Jeonghan smiled as she skated, happy that she finally achieved something big even if it wasn’t a medal. Sooner or later she’d get there. He clapped and cheered as she spun her last spin, grin wide on her face. This wasn’t her last exhibition. He knew that she’d train until she’d be going to international competitions all the time.

 Other skaters came and went off the ice: pairs, ice dancing, other women competitors, and then finally Joshua.

He skated onto the ice, wearing a simple white button up and black pants. No sparkly black outfit with rhinestones. It was a pity that the women’s short program wasn’t the same day as the men’s short program, because then he’d be able to see Joshua’s other costume. Immediately, Jeonghan pulled a face. God damn he was getting a little too into this boy. It was just some weird crush/attraction. It would go away. He’d just watch him for the last day they were here.

Joshua also flashed a huge smile at the audience before getting into his opening pose, hands on his heart curled into fists. English began filtering through the ice rink, as he skated off, hands coming away in a flying motion. Circling the rink a few times, he waited until the song increased in volume, launching into that same jump that Sungah screamed at. He landed, in a rather breathtaking manner. Joshua skated, throwing in in his spins and his flexible laybacks.

The whole exhibition program seemed to revolve around his hand movements and what he was trying to convey rather than his fancy jumps. As he stopped spinning, the song hit the high notes, and Joshua paused, holding out his arms, his expression soft before he pulled them in to hug himself and then let go to begin circling once more to do one last jump as the song died, a big smile on his face.

Jeonghan stared as the audience clapped and cheered, threw gifts, wondering why was he so soft for this boy that he barely knew.

Jeonghan let Sungah go off to grab more dessert as he sat at the table. He let out a sigh of relief that after this the competition would be at an end and they’d go home to Seoul, away from boys in tight black pants and soft smiles.

Silently Joshua plopped into the seat next to him, cup in hand. “Hey,” he said with a cat’s smile, freaking the crap out of Jeonghan who was lost in his thoughts.

“ting hell,” Jeonghan exclaimed, clutching at his chest. “Make some noise. Are you some sort of cat burglar?”

Joshua laughed, hand coming up to cover his mouth. “No. But I’m a cat,” he said, tilting his head.

Cutely. He tilted his head cutely and Jeonghan sort of wanted to die.

“Some of my friends say so. And a lot of my fans give me cat stuffed animals,” Joshua nodded, “So a cat.”

Wryly Jeonghan said, “Cats don’t speak. They just jump into their owner’s lap and stare at them until they get what they want. Be it food or petting.”

“I don’t have an owner,” Joshua said, mouth wide in a giggling smile. “And I’d ask. Politely. Like I’m supposed too.”

Jeonghan scoffed. “You look like you’d be a sneaky kitty.”

“At least I’d be a cute one,” Joshua replied, voice in a teasing lilt.

God Jeonghan wanted to melt into a puddle. What sort of teenaged boy could do cute like that? Joshua had his hand against his face, eyes wide in a playful manner, teeth on his lips. Joshua freaking Hong apparently.

Thankfully Sungah came back two plates piled with desserts. “Oppa,” she said. “Perfect. You can help me eat all of this. Or else I’ll gain too much weight and my coach will yell at me.”

Joshua laughed. “And mine won’t yell at me for gaining weight?”

“You’re a boy. You’ll work it off and you’re growing faster than me,” she pouted, “help me.”

Nodding Joshua moved over taking a plate. “All right. At least you got the chocolate stuff. I love chocolate.”

Sungah giggled. “I remember. You held out a chocolate bar to me the first day when I looked like I wanted to throw up.”

Joshua took the fork she handed him and nodded. “Chocolate works wonders and helps break the ice. Figuratively of course.”

“If you two eat all that you both will break the ice just by stepping on it,” Jeonghan teased.

Both of them turned to him, affront clear on their faces. “Excuse you?” Joshua asked.

“Oppa?!” Sungah said, slapping him.

“I’ll have you know I’m still too skinny,” Joshua huffed, “my nutritionist tells me to eat more.”

Sungah nodded. “Coach says I need to eat. I’m growing and being too skinny doesn’t give a completely elegant feel.”

Jeonghan just nodded. Not willing to get hit again. And the pout on Joshua’s face was cute. Maybe he would get the other boy to pout some more before the night ended.

But he hadn’t. He instead watched the two of them laugh and talk about figure skating things, exchanging gruesome tales of coaches and exercise routines on steroids. Occasionally Joshua would look up and include him, the sparkle in his eyes, distracting Jeonghan’s thought processes.

The rest of the night went on like that until the dinner was over and the skaters went back into their respective country buses and back to their hotels to rest to leave tomorrow.

The only good thing was that Sungah mananged to get Joshua to make a Kakaotalk account and they exchanged contact details. Joshua kindly even exchanged them with Jeonghan too.

He warned them though, “I can barely speak Korean. I can’t write or read at all.”

“Don’t worry oppa. I’ll teach you. You’re like a kindergartner. It’ll be easy,” she said nodding sagely.

Joshua just looked at her skeptical. “If you say so.” He turned to Jeonghan, “You’ll go easy on me, won’t you?”

Jeonghan looked at Joshua’s face, he the big watery animal eyes. Dangerous. This boy was dangerous. What teenage boy could be dangerous to another teenaged boy? Joshua Hong that’s who. But Jeonghan nodded in agreement.

Joshua had waved goodbye to them, shouting, “Message me!”

But as circumstances went, Jeonghan soon forgot about the boy with wide eyes and a cat’s smile. Until the two butted heads on his home turf.

I ended this in a way so I could introduce it as a part of the Figure skating story I had stuff on should i ever feel the urge to.