The first time Romeo saw Juliet, he fell deeply and hopelessly in love.

 

“Good morning, Hanyu-san.” The simple greeting, something he heard on almost a daily basis, set the king of figure skating’s heart on fire as he watched the corners of the girl’s lips turn up in a soft smile. For a moment, it seemed like the world only held the two of them in it as he gazed into twin pools of dark midnight, captivating and holding him in place.

 

“...zuru. Yuzuru!” Coach Orser’s familiar voice snapped Yuzuru back to reality, and he jumped as he switched his gaze over to the older man.

 

“Yes, Coach?” He asked, still feeling dazed. Brian Orser was standing next to the mysterious girl, a slightly amused twinkle in his eye as he motioned at her again.

 

“As I was saying, this is Rika Kim.” He said, “She represents South Korea, and will be training with us starting today. You may recall seeing her on the Grand Prix circuit?” Yuzuru thought back to the previous season, and ducked his head in shame as he realized he didn’t entirely remember. The last season had been entire chaos around Grand Prix season, and he had had little time to even think about anything else besides having his ankle recover as soon as possible.

 

“I remember!” Javier piped up from next to Yuzuru, “It’s nice to meet you!” The girl, Rika, smiled and gave them both a polite bow.

 

“I am Rika Kim.” She said, “Please take care of me.” Her gaze flitted slightly over to Yuzuru before she looked away, her cheeks turning a soft pink.

 

“Rika came here because she was inspired by you.” Coach Orser explained, “Her goal is to learn quads as well.” Yuzuru felt his cheeks grow hot and he ducked his head in embarrassment.

 

“I’m not that good…” He mumbled humbly. It was strange; people often told him that he was their idol, their role model. It wasn’t something he rarely heard. Yet, when this girl, Rika, said that she came here because of him, he felt more shy than usual. Coach Orser cleared his throat.

 

“Well, if you two boys can start warming up, I’m going to get Rika started on some basic movements.” He announced. Yuzuru and Javier nodded, Javier giving a cheery wave as he watched them leave. As soon as the pair was out of sight, Javier grinned and elbowed Yuzuru in the ribs.

 

“Ouch! What was that for?” Yuzuru protested. Javier grinned, a playful glint in his eye.

 

“You were staring.” He teased. Yuzuru blinked in confusion.

 

“At?” He queried. Javier’s grin only grew wider and he nodded his head towards Rika.

 

“Our new training partner.” He replied, “In fact, you were so busy staring, you barely heard what Coach said at the beginning!” Yuzuru felt his cheeks grow hot again as he remembered that he had, in fact, been completely zoned out while Coach Orser was introducing Rika. He slapped a hand over his face.

 

“How embarrassing…” He muttered. Javier laughed and looped his arm around Yuzuru’s shoulders.

 

“Ahh, amor.” He said dreamily, “Isn’t it beautiful?” Yuzuru stared at his friend as he slowly turned the unfamiliar word around in his head. He had heard it thrown around a few times before, but now that he thought about its meaning...his eyes widened as he finally remembered.

 

“Love?” Yuzuru said with a laugh as he gave Javier a shove, “Don’t be ridiculous. I have only met the young lady once!” Javier grinned and returned the shove playfully.

 

“Love at first sight isn’t impossible, Yuzu!” The Spaniard declared, “Who says it can’t happen?” Yuzuru huffed and headed for the lockers, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

 

“You’re being silly, Javi.” He called over his shoulder. Javier hurried after him, still laughing.

 

“Our king is finding himself a queen!” He yelled cheerfully, earning himself a hand over the mouth from Yuzuru. Yuzuru shook away Javier’s silly suggestions as the duo split up to change in the locker room. Love at first sight? What a silly notion. This was reality, not a television drama written for teenagers. Besides, his life was full of other things that held far higher priority than finding a girl to date. Yes, Javier was only being silly.

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

Halfway through a day of practice, the ice emptied for a short lunch break. Yuzuru paused on his way back from washing his face in the locker room, his gaze falling on a lone figure sitting on a bench by the ice. Rika sat with her head bent over a small notebook, her fingers twirling in little circles as she mumbled something under her breath. Curious, Yuzuru stepped closer to see what she was doing.

 

“Step, step, turn, and…” Rika’s fingers twirled the small sandwich in her hands as she spoke, “Jump!” She punctuated the word with a bite of food, as if the sandwich was a skater spinning in midair. Yuzuru couldn’t help but smile, an amused chuckle escaping his lips as he watched her practice with her food. Rika jumped at the sound and turned, her eyes widening in surprise.

 

“Hanyu-san!” She exclaimed, her notebook slipping from her hands as she stood. Yuzuru grinned.

 

“I apologize, am I interrupting?” He asked. Rika shook her head furiously.

 

“Not at all!” She said, her cheeks turning pink, “I’m embarrassed you overheard me actually.” Yuzuru reached down and picked up the fallen notebook. Curious, he examined the page it had fallen open to. The page was covered in drawings of stick figures in various stages of jumps, from the initial preparation stages all the way until the final landing back onto the ice.

 

“You drew these yourself?” He asked. Rika rubbed the back of her neck shyly and nodded.

 

“I thought it would be better to draw than to take notes using words.” She replied. Yuzuru smiled slightly.

 

“You are right.” He replied, “I do the same thing sometimes. But…” His finger tapped one of the figures on the page, “You have a slight error here.” Rika’s eyes widened as she leaned closer to peek at the figure he was pointing to.

 

“Where?” She asked quickly. Yuzuru felt his chest tighten in surprise at their sudden proximity. He cleared his throat and took a subtle step backwards to clear his head before speaking.

 

“Do you want to sit down to talk?” He asked, “This might take some time.” Rika’s eyes were wide with delight as she looked up at him.

 

“I would love to!” She said happily.

 

_________________________________________________________________________

 

Before Yuzuru realized it, lunch break was over and Coach Orser was calling his students back to the ice. Rika bounced to her feet, closed her notebook, and gave Yuzuru a polite bow before hurrying out onto the ice. Yuzuru stared after her in a slight daze. Had it really been an hour already? He and Rika had chatted about almost anything possible, from his hometown to his experiences during the past Olympics to how to jump quads properly. Her fluent Japanese had made the conversation flow even easier. A small smile curled up the corner of Yuzuru’s lips as he watched Rika twirled in little circles on the ice. Her eyes had glittered with awe as they had talked about skating, her excitement and passion for the sport more than evident during their hour long conversation. Yuzuru had never met another skater with the same level of love for skating before.

 

“Oh Romeo!” A familiar friendly arm slung around Yuzuru’s shoulders, “Oh Romeo!” Yuzuru jumped and turned to look at Javier’s grinning face.

 

“Romeo?” He asked in confusion. Javier chuckled.

 

“You are a Romeo.” The Spaniard replied simply before strolling off to return to the ice. Yuzuru watched him go with a shake of his head. Javier’s teasing attitude never seemed to change. Still, as his gaze returned to Rika laughing on the ice with another student, the same smile returned to his lips. As if she could feel him watching, she turned and flashed him a bright smile, and beckoned for him to come to the ice as well. Yuzuru’s heart skipped a beat, and he felt an unfamiliar warmth bloom in his chest. His cheeks suddenly felt flush hot, and he turned to fan it away before Rika noticed.

 

“Hanyu-san!” Her voice chirped, and Yuzuru blew out his breath slowly before turning to smile at her.

 

“Coming!” He called back. Yuzuru’s heart skipped a beat again as he skated past Rika. It was strange; he had only met her today, but he already felt so comfortable and happy around her. It felt like he could talk to her for forever, just drinking in the excitement in her eyes over skating and her bright smile.

 

This will be an interesting season.

 

______________________________________________________________________________________

Author's note: Hello! After a long hiatus, this story is back, and hopefully I will be able to finish it! I always imagined the pure and humble Yuzuru as someone who would fall in love at first sight, and be attracted to someone by their skating, so I hope that got through!