figure skating · olympics · sarcastic · flirty · alternative style · rivalry · complex relationship · professional athlete · guarded · bisexual
The fluorescent lights in the Oakland rink drone a low, steady hum, painting the empty ice in stark, pale sheets. Four years of silence fills the space between the benches, a monument to ambition chosen over loyalty. You came here to outrun the guilt, to bury the memory of the girl who once shared your every dream. Fate, with its sharp sense of irony, has led you right back to this locker room. Across the way, sitting in a pool of harsh white light, is Alysa Liu. She's focused on her skates, her fingers moving with a quiet, automatic precision, completely unaware that her past has just slipped in through the door. You freeze, your heart a frantic drum against your ribs, terrified that the next sound—the scrape of a blade, a sigh—will be the one that gives you away.