#Anna and thr French kiss | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fangirling-throughlife · 1 year

Text

Planes, Cannes and a déjà vu

A/N: this occurred to me hours before catching a plane, and was a nice distraction from the exhaustion I was feeling. I love Anna and the French kiss, and ther aren't enough fics to fulfill my need to know what Anna and Étienne do after the third book.

Warnings: no content warnings, maybe just an attempt at disgustingly fluffy writing. 90℅ of this was written while I was deeply sleep-deprived.

Anna Oliphant St. Clair was, by all means, a good flier. If she was tired (which was certainly the case lately) she was out before the plane even left, and she would wake up for meals. Frequent trips to visit their friends, who were scattered around the world, turned flying into a routine and uneventful happening.

Maybe that was why Étienne looked so stunned when his wife dropped her carry-on and purse the moment they walked into the Charles de Gaulle terminal and ran to the closest toilet with her hand clasped in front of her mouth, looking greenish pale.

Anna didn’t understand it either. She had slept through the first three quarters of their flight, unaware even of the turbulence Étienne mentioned. But the moment the flight attendant arrived with their breakfast, a wave of nausea had woken her up. There was nothing she hated more than being sick, and the idea of being sick on a plane was completely unacceptable, so she didn’t touch her food and let Étienne eat it, and spent the better part of an hour practicing breathing exercises until she eventually started breathing into a paper bag, just in case. She hadn’t eaten anything since they left LAX, so she was throwing up bile, and the taste that it left in her mouth made it start again every time she thought she was done.

“Excusez-moi, madame. Ma femme est là, je veux voire si elle a besoin de quelque chose”. Étienne’s voice made it through the haze, and Anna let out a relieved sigh as she dropped her head against the bathroom stall door. Not that she could think of anything Étienne could do to make it stop, but she had the feeling that, if he held her, she would feel better. “Anna, darling, are you alright? Can I come in?” Anna unlocked the door and pushed it open as she changed positions to sit against the wall, head resting on the closed toilet seat.

“What happened, sweetheart?” Étienne asked softly. He’d been worried from the moment he had noticed her discomfort, his own less than fondness for flying forgotten. He was running his fingers through her hair, watching her eyes fill with tears. “I don’t know, but I feel like crap.” She grimaced, and he quickly moved to lift the lid, but she shook her head. “I feel like I’m all done now. It was probably the exhaustion, dehydration, the pressure changes… just a perfect storm that made me sick.” “Do you need anything?”, Étienne asked. Anna shook her head again. “How long till we have to start boarding?” “Just over half an hour. We should probably start walking there, you can eat something light by the gate”. Anna nodded and took Étienne’s outreached hand to help her stand up. Once she stood on her feet, Étienne grabbed their bags, pecked her cheek, and walked out of the women’s lavatories while she rinsed her mouth and washed her hands thoroughly. Now that she could think clearly, she winced at the idea that she had sat down on the floor of an airport bathroom stall, and that she had even touched surfaces with her face. She examined her face in the mirror, as if her reflection could answer the question running through her mind: why was she so sick?

Étienne was waiting for her just outside the toilet area. Wordlessly, Étienne got a chewing gum out of his pocket and gave it to her, which she popped into her mouth to get rid of the bad taste. He took her hand and they started walking towards their connecting flight in comfortable silence. Once they arrived at the gate, Anna sat down at a café and ordered plain toast to further ease her upset stomach, while Étienne approached the crew that was setting up for boarding.

“Hi, may I ask you for a favor?” A kind-looking woman, who sort of reminded him of his mother, turned from the screen to talk to him. “Bien sûr, young man. What do you need?”

“Well, my wife, over there” he turned lightly to point at Anna “isn’t feeling well, but our seats are on opposite sides of the plane. Would it be possible to change one of us so I can sit with her in case she needs me?” He grabbed his wallet. Another crew member chipped in “I’m afraid it’s impossible. We’re fully booked, there isn’t a single free seat. Either way, why didn’t you choose adjacent seats when you got your tickets?”

“Well, my wife is traveling for work, she’s accredited at Cannes, so her company got the tickets. I just tagged along, and I couldn’t get the seat next to hers for this flight.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to ask for her seat neighbor if they’d mind switching, because there’s nothing we can do.” The first woman informed. “I’m so sorry we can’t help you further. I hope your wife is feeling better.”

Étienne gave her a smile. “I understand, thank you anyway.”

When he reached Anna, she had finished half her toast and had started to look pale again. “Are you alright, darling?” She looked up and half-smiled at him. “My stomach’s still upset, but I think I can keep half a toast down.” “I asked if they could change our seats so we could sit together, but it looks like we’ll have to ask for a favor.” Anna nodded, seemingly lost in thought. “Are you sure you’re okay? You start tomorrow, don’t you? If you don’t think you’re up for it, you should maybe call and ask for someone from another office to cover for you…” Anna grabbed Étienne’s arm to stop his rambling. “I’m sure I’ll be fine, Étienne, I told you it must be a perfect storm of circumstances. And I don’t really have anything to do until tomorrow evening. Plus, Julie and Patrick from the London and Sydney offices will be there as well. They’ll have their articles, just… maybe with less points of view if I’m not patched up by tomorrow.” She smiled sweetly at him, and he started rubbing circles in the palm of her hand, making her giggle.

“Passengers to Nice, please start boarding now from gate 24.”, the voice of the woman at the gate suddenly boomed across the space. “Let’s go.” They said simultaneously, light shining in their eyes. Étienne turned his palm to face hers, and entwined their fingers. “After you, Mme. Oliphant St. Clair”. Étienne expected a cheeky remark from his wife, but instead, she got a hazy look in her eyes as she stood and tried to balance herself. “Anna, you’re not okay. I’m taking you to the doctor.” “Étienne, I just stood up too quickly and got lightheaded. Besides, it’s a short flight. I promise that we’ll go to the doctor if I feel worse in the meantime, okay?” Étienne nodded, this face betraying his concern. “Come on, then.”

Anna felt lucky the magazine had booked her an aisle seat. As much as she had tried to put Étienne’s mind at ease, she didn’t feel better, and she had left half her toast uneaten when the first bites had threatened to come up. She hoped against hope that she would be okay for the 90 minutes. She kept on racking her brain for the reason of her sudden ailment, but she didn’t find any meals that could have caused it, or places she could have been infected with a stomach bug. Suddenly, her husband appeared next to her.

“Excuse me, ma’am. I’m so sorry to ask this, but would it be possible to change seats with you? This is my wife, and she’s been feeling ill this morning, and I’d like to stay close to her in case I have to hold her hair or a bag…” The woman next to her looked grossed out and had started to gather her things before Étienne was even done with his speech.

“Pardon me, but I wonder if you wouldn’t mind switching seats. You see, that’s my girlfriend there, and she’s pregnant. And since she gets a bit ill on airplanes, I thought she might need someone to hold back her hair when…well…”

The scene in front of her gave her a sense of déjà vu, and suddenly it felt as if the last piece to complete the picture fell in its place. She started listing symptoms and facts. I’ve been feeling very tired lately. There are smells I can’t stand but I haven’t had a migraine in months. I haven’t had my period since late March. That last item made her nauseated for completely different reasons (“or the same ones” her traitorous brain provided). She turned to Étienne, who was watching her face closely. Still not over the shock of the fact that she might be pregnant without having noticed a thing, she decided not to tell him yet, not until she had any confirmation. She knew he wanted kids, but she also realized they’d only been married for a year, and they’d both started their jobs less than a year ago, and they were going to talk about it, and suddenly it was a possibility and they hadn’t had the talk. Anna’s mind was racing, and she became aware of her breathing starting to speed. She tried to control her breaths, and looked into Étienne’s eyes. She immediately knew she didn’t have to be scared. Whatever challenge life would bring, they would be okay.

After promising Étienne over a hundred times that she felt okay – which was true now, coming to the realization of what might be wrong with her had calmed her system, apparently. And it was 12 pm, so it was a possibility that morning sickness was a time-limited thing for her – they finally got the rental car and left for Cannes. After a gruesome 50 minutes in high-density traffic (during which Étienne moaned about not deciding to come earlier, to which Anna had laughingly responded that he had had to wrap his last classes), they finally arrived at the hotel. Thanks to the popularity of her blog, Anna already had some fame in the critic’s circles before starting her job (and the only reason she hadn’t been invited to critic’s week was because her magazine had already one accredited critic with higher rank). Still, this meant that she had directly started at a higher position that other starters, and the hotel was proof of it. They had booked her a room for two weeks at a nice mid-sized hotel, not too far from the venue, instead of one of the dingy hotels she knew other freshmen were staying at. When Étienne confirmed he could tag along, he had upgraded the room himself, and they ended up in one of the bigger double rooms, with a nice view of the sea, and a terrace with a table, four chairs and a small sofa.

During the drive, Anna had already checked the location of the closest pharmacy, and had elaborated a plan to leave without alerting Étienne. While he was hanging his dress shirts in the closet and she was putting away the toiletries in the bathroom, she saw her chance. “Étienne, we forgot to take the sunscreen!” – a white lie, since she had just wrapped the four bottles of sunscreen in one of the towels. “I’m going out to the pharmacy to get a few bottles, okay?” Étienne protested as he emerged from the closet “Wait, I'm almost done here, I’ll go with you.” “No, it’s fine! It’s actually two streets over, I’ll be back before you know it!” She hurried to give him a kiss and left before he could object again.

True to the information she’d found online, she got to the store in less than 10 minutes. Figuring she should buy some sunscreen to justify the trip to the store, she took two bottles of their usual brand before gathering the courage to look at the pregnancy tests. Not for the first time, she felt happy her dad had sent her to SOAP, and that she would sometimes speak French at home so she didn’t lose the skill (and because it was hot as well, obviously), because she couldn’t imagine trying to understand the different types of products in front of her had they been labeled in any language other that English or French. She finally grabbed two different types of test and hurried to the counter. For some reason, she felt embarrassed when they scanned the tests, as if she were a teenager who’d had a slip-up, not a married adult with a paying job and a decent savings account (even though she essentially still felt like a teenager some times). She avoided eye contact as she paid, and left the store in a hurry.

Back in their room, she found Étienne sitting bare-chested on the terrace gazing at the sea, looking deep in thought. “I’m back”, she announced softly, trying not to startle him. He looked up at her with a soft smile. “Hey. I wanted to wait and see if you’re up to going out, or if you’d rather stay in and rest this afternoon. Then I’ll dress appropriately.” “We can go take a walk by the beach, and grab something light there for dinner. I’m not very hungry, but we shouldn’t go to bed yet. Jetlag.” Seeing a perfect excuse to take the tests, she added, almost as an afterthought, “I’m going to go shower and dress. I’ll be out in half an hour.” She pecked his lips and walked to the bathroom, with the pharmacy bag hanging nonchalantly from her arm.

In the bathroom, she opened both the boxes and read the instruction pamphlet. The figures were clear, and she quickly peed on the first one, leaving the second to confirm later. Since the pamphlet stated she should check after 5 minutes, she busied herself around the bathroom, too nervous to step in the shower. When the timer of her phone went off, she quickly turned the test. Pregnant. Tears sprung to her eyes, and her resolve to shower and then take the second one disappeared.

“Étienne” her voice came out weak, “Étienne”, she tried a bit louder, but her voice cracked. She heard his quick and loud footsteps, and in less that 5 seconds he opened the door wide-eyed. “What’s wrong?” He saw Anna’s face, both smiling and crying, and he looked down to the stick she was holding in her hand. It took him a few beats to realize what he was looking at, and when he did, he locked eyes with Anna, who was full-on grinning. Unable to form words, he nodded questioningly, tears forming in his eyes. Anna lifted the test to show him the word. Pregnant. He closed the gap between them, hugged her and lifted her from the ground, laughing and kissing her hair. “Sweetheart, I’m finally not nauseous anymore, I don’t want to be sick again.” Anna laughed. Étienne let her stand again, keeping his hands on her hips. “We’re going to be parents?” he asked, still unbelieving. “Apparently so. I’ll still have to make an appointment with a doctor when we’re back in California, but I’ve got another test to confirm later. I was going to make sure before I told you, but I guess I got a little overexcited.” Anna was biting her lip, her gaze a bit more guarded. “Why would you want to wait to tell me?” “Well, you know, it’s soon, and totally unplanned. We’re still young, and we haven’t really talked about it yet…” Étienne cut her off with a peck on her lips. “Anna, darling. Don’t tell me you have doubts on how I’d feel about this. You know I want to have kids with you, I’m 100% in.” He rubbed his thumb on her cheek to wipe a stray tear. “How long have you been dealing with this?” “Not long, I swear. I suddenly thought of it when you switched seats on the plane to Nice, honestly. It made me think of that first flight together, you know? When you told the man I was your “pregnant girlfriend”?” Étienne chuckled, a blush rising to his cheeks. “I realized just then that I haven’t had my period for almost 2 months, and it sort of clicked that it was a possibility. Besides, you know me too well, I don’t think I could have hidden it for long.”

Étienne cupped Anna’s face, and they kissed, slow and sweet. “We’re going to be parents.” He whispered, smiling against her lips. “This is insane.” At that, Étienne pulled away, alarmed. “In a good way, I swear. It’s just, we’re young, and most of our friends are still in college.” “And we’ll be fine. They’ll be the luckiest child, with tons of people around them loving them. Don’t worry, darling. Baby steps.” “When did you become such a mellow guy? Baby steps.” She dropped her voice an octave, mimicking him. “I know you’re already overthinking, that makes it easier to stay grounded.” She nodded, in silence. “How about I take a shower, we go out, eat something and get back for an early night?” Étienne wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, laughing. “Isn’t that a bit overkill? I mean, you’re already pregnant.” He saw Anna’s slap coming, so he ducked just in time. “You’re in idiot, you know that, right?” She played mock-angry so successfully that he was worried for a second, until he saw a glint in her eyes. “I am, but I’m your idiot.” He said sheepishly. This made her crack the façade, and she smiled at him. “You are. I love you.” She pecked his lips and walked towards the shower. “Now get out and let me get ready. Put on a shirt.” She licked her lips to tease him, and held his gaze as she pulled off her shirt. Étienne stood staring at his wife, until the shower door closing broke his trance. “I love you, mommy-to-be!” he exclaimed from the door. Anna laughed. “I love you too, daddy-to-be!”

#Anna and thr French kiss #Anna Oliphant #Étienne St. Clair #Fanfiction

1 note · View note

artificialqueens · 4 years

Text

learning to be silent (multi) — chapter six - Roza

[ summary ] : the final skater of the event takes to the ice as a podium is set in stone meanwhile, alaska battles her own issues with her skating and detox is in a stump.

[ author's note ] : getting more and more motivation by the minute since russian nationals haha, so shocked my girl alena didn't pull through but congrats to the girls !! enjoy this chapter y'all, ignore the fact we are deblibaretly ignoring cup of china in favor of rostelecom.

AO3 / My Tumblr / (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ｡*♡

— *.✧

Don't fail your country. Don't fail yourself.

Sasha took a deep breath before looking forward with a smile, attempting to hide all her deep anxiety and all the insecurities she had been facing while attempting to do this skate back in St. Petersburg. The blonde kissed her hand and said a prayer before fading into her starting position.

As soon as the music started she was off and jumped before spinning on to her backwards edge, smiling as she extended her hands behind her and skated at the edges of the rink, kicking her leg out as she bent back and turned. She was enjoying what few bars of true free skating she had before all the jumping and hysterics would begin.

Anna Karenina was a beautiful soundtrack and Sasha was always more than glad to pick programs that represent her culture, Russian or Slavic. She had won the short program with a Serbian song, why couldn't she get a second gold with a soundtrack about a book from her own motherland?

Hearing the beginning of the brass she began to prep for her quad flip, it would be her first jump and one of the more difficult elements. her stamina was slowly taking a toll but now was definitely not the time to bitch and moan about choreography. Her skates took off from her back inside edge, jumping as she rotated four times before sticking her landing on the back outside edge of the opposite foot. Cheers poured out from the stands though she ignored them, knowing there was still so many more jumps and even more quads to go.

Sasha turned and continued, having fun with what was definitely the more upbeat section of the music. All the little details that could give her an extra percentile in presentation scores mattered, Sasha was a technical wizard but knew it took more than technical skills to win a competition.

Adding in some twizzles she grinned as she exited, turning to begin her forward takeoff for her triple axel. Her skates approached with a series of backward crossovers, in direction to the jumps rotation before she felt herself off the ice, spinning the needed three and a half rotations. It was followed by her skates backwards on the full outside edge with one leg behind her in the air. She knew her triple axel's were possibly the cleanest and had the most height in all of skating and she tried not to let the pressure get to her. It felt clean, that was what mattered.

Her path continued across the ice as she spun into her camel spin before exiting and adding on her triple toe, triple loop combination jump though that was a jump that never seemed to phase Sasha. The Russian focused on her next quad though her mind was completely deserted with only thoughts about exhaustion and how she was about to pass out at any moment.

Her head shook out of it as she focused on the program, on being Anna Karenina herself— feeling every emotion melt and encapsulate her at once. The music slowed, piano keys pressing and playing the next piece of music which signaled the blonde to go into her quad salchow.

A backward takeoff from the backward inside edge of one skate led her in the air with four full rotations as she landed on the backward outside edge of the other skate. She took a small breath in between all the applause and all the screams. She added in another triple axel soon after to try and boost up her technicality score. She knew her coach wouldn't enjoy her changing the program but she had to win: she had to earn her points and qualify for the Grand Prix final.

After two more quad's Sasha was officially wrecked and felt some kind of joy knowing the only jump left was her attempt at a quad axel, it had never been done (men or women) in competition before and she knew the risk was worth the chance: it be worth a good chunk of extra points even if she fell.

She jumped and jumped into her sit-spin before slowly standing and executing her biellmann spin. She stood with a one-foot spin, holding her other foot extended over and behind her head, forming a teardrop shape with her body before she dropped her arms and skated into another jump once the music progressed to be even more intense with the violin and strings playing into the final segment of the program.

The forward takeoff gave away it would be another axel but whether she would land it would be a completely different story.

I need this gold, I need it.

She felt herself mellow into the orchestration before her backwards crossovers began. The blonde knew it was truly now or never with attempting the first ever successful quad axel. Her direction of the jump's intended rotations landed her in the air with four and a half turns before she landed for a brief moment before finding herself on the side of her hip. The crowd gasped and clapped loudly at the pure attempt, she had landed it but fell slightly short: figuratively and literally.

Sasha didn't let that get to her as she still had to complete the final chunk of her program before she could finally breathe and exhale. She grabbed her free leg and pulled it in front of her face as she executed her I-Spin with a skate hold.

The final notes leading up saw the Russian skater in a pearl spin before going into a layback spin with her hands perfectly folded together as if she was a ballet dancer.

The train station engines puttered, the whistles of the station signifying the end. For Sasha, for Anna Karenina and for this skate, more importantly.

She finished her layback before putting her arms out in front, standing perfectly straight with an emotional smile across her face as the crowd stood up before the song had even ended. The cheering beginning the minute she got out of her spin. Sasha collapsed to the ground and groaned, her gloves covering her eyes as she gave a thumbs up to those watching. She laughed and cried in her hands knowing that was possibly the greatest program she'd ever accomplish before the Olympic season.

A French volunteer came, worried that she needed medical attention but the Russian brushed it off and smiled sweetly extending her hand for some help before turning on her skates and bowing to all sides of the arena as all stood and cheered, screamed, threw plushies and flowers for her behalf.

"Repenting the Russian Federation, Sasha Velour."

"Représentant la Fédération de Russie, Sasha Velour!

She smiled before stepping off the ice to hug her coach who took her to the Kiss & Cry as they sat with plushies abound in hand. He mumbled about how it was a clean skate but wasn't happy about the landing of the quad axel, understandably though there had been no one to even land it in competition before.

All the Russian could do was nod and smile politely though she was hoping to achieve the score she wanted, the score she needed to get the gold medal and officially qualify for the final. She won gold at Skate America, she needed this final piece to complete the puzzle.

"The scores please."

She ran a hand through her blonde hair as she held in a breath, staring down at the floor for a brief moment before the announcer continued.

"Sasha Velour has earned in the free program, a total combined score of…"

Please.

"267 points."

The entire arena gasped with shock, some screaming as a response though Sasha stood mouth dropped to the floor as her coach simply grinned in nothing but victory.

"She has earned a new world record and is currently in first place."

Sasha's ears bled from the excited screams and loud meltdown for cheers as she squealed, standing up and jumping in excitement with a tight hug to her coach who genuinely smiled and said her peace to the younger woman as Sasha turned towards the arena and waved as she bowed once more.

"Sasha Velour a obtenu dans le programme gratuit un score total de 267 points! Elle est actuellement en première place."

Sasha was officially the first skater to qualify for the Grand Prix final, placing with a perfect thirty points or two gold medals behind her. She walked towards the couches completely breathless before hearing an undeniably loud and familiar voice scream to her.

"ты блядь шлюха!" Katya screamed as she ran over and collapsed on Sasha, whispering how proud she was and how she deserved it. Katya held her hand and promised she'd be at the gala but explained how she had ran over from the stands in unfiltered excitement.

"Thank you Katya." She mumbled as they hugged tightly, enjoying the moment before the complete rush of media and the medal ceremony began.

Her tears started to flow again down her face before Katya rolled her eyes and gently slid her finger and took her tears and flicked them in her face, "No crying! You won, you need to put on a smile and get your gold medal!" Sasha laughed, sniffling as Katya stopped flicking her own tears back to her face. The two waved goodbye before Sasha found her way over to the couches where Brooke and Shea clapped, both clearly still shaken from that quad axel.

"Congratulations." The Canadian smiled with a sincerity yet an undertone of bitterness shown in her voice. Shea was quite the opposite, taking the silver medal with pride before Sasha fell into her arms and smiled happily as the American sighed.

"I knew you'd win, don't know why I thought I had a chance and then you attempted that damn quad axel! Bitch, I was shaking."

Sasha laughed as she held onto Shea's arms for comfort, still latched onto her as she replied with a grin. "I fell almost immediately after landing it, it was an attempt."

As the podiums and carpet and medals were being set up the three finalists chatted, mostly about how Sasha was feeling now that she was the first confirmed finalist towards the Grand Prix.

"Well—" she sighed, "there's only five more places and I sincerely hope there are two of them are specifically reserved for you both." Her answer seemed quite diplomatic but Brooke appreciated the comfort and sweetness in her voice as the three stood ready for the medal ceremony.

Brooke stood in front, being third, as it went last with Sasha. The three whispering to one another as they all stuffed their belongings under the one bench present before all three of them stuffed a flag of their respective countries down the back of their costumes.

The usual accordance of introducing the president, the French management, the cooperation side of things.

When they had finally reached the introduction of the medals, the flowers and the volunteers coming out with the president the girls knew it was time to begin. Sasha was impressed that almost all the crowd was staying for the medal ceremony, it was a lot of nothingness to see five minutes of crowning.

The lights dimmed and the spotlights flashed before Brooke began skating out hearing the announcement.

"In third place, representing Canada, Brooke Lynn Hytes!"

"En troisième place, représentant le Canada, Brooke Lynn Hytes!"

Don Quixote began to play as the Canadian skated out with a grin at the applause and cheers of encouragement, bowing as she did a final spilt for fun as she approached the podiums standing proudly at third as she waved and blew a kiss to the section completely covered in Canadian flags, feeling her pride swell.

"In second place, representing the United States, Shea Couleé!"

"En deuxième position, représentant les États-Unis, Shea Couleé!"

Shea cheered along with the crowd as her lips curled into a large smirk, skating along to her long program music that dimly faded once she hugged Brooke Lynn and stepped into the second place podium. She hadn't beaten Sasha but coming second next to her was the biggest honor she could imagine.

"Finally, first place, representing the Russian Federation, Sasha Velour!"

"Enfin, première place, représentant la Fédération de Russie, Sasha Velour!"

The blonde skated on to the rink with a smile, waving to all sections of the arena despite the deafening screams and the camera flashes going off all around her. She skated to the carpet before skipping over to hug Brooke who smiled and thanked her for a great competition again. A final hug was supplied to Shea who excitedly hugged up and whispered a sweet, "I'm proud of you." The Russian mouthed a silent thanks before jumping on the first place podium before the president came out with a volunteer holding all the medals on a tray.

The president began with Brooke as he placed what looked to be the gold medal to the rest of the skaters as Shea told Brooke, the Canadian gasped with a smile, staring at the Russian girl beside her. Sasha giggling at the mistake as the Canadian laughed and awkwardly took it off before the audience and three skaters laughed aloud. Brooke bowed to Sasha who stood on her left and put it around her neck, the Russian widely smiling as the crowd cheered for the excellent sportsmanship and for their winner. The president himself excused the mistake though they all had a laugh.

Brooke was crowned as the bronze medalist and accepted with a wave of applause and getting a special thanks from the French representative seeing as she was Canadian. She waved and bit down on the medal with a smirk, hoping her coach was proud of her with all the setbacks.

The man walked over to Shea next, the American shook the French man's hand before accepting the medal with honor, raising it towards the arena with the applause that came with it, she looked toward where she knew her American teammates sat and winked, showing off the medal.

After being handed each a small arrangement of flowers and Sasha a small trophy the crowd cheered for their three medalists. They snapped a photo of them all gathered on the first place podium before they stepped down and let the national anthem ceremony begin.

As the flags lowered Sasha couldn't help but get teary-eyed seeing the Russian flag above everyone else. She had a distinctive pride towards her motherland even if the government was absolutely shit and she would happily say it aloud if it wasn't for fear of losing her skating career.

"Rossiya – svyashchennaya nasha derzhava,

Rossiya – lyubimaya nasha strana.

Moguchaya volya, velikaya slava –

Tvoio dostoyanye na vse vremena!"

Sasha sang proudly as did the loud and proud minority of Russians and slavs that stood in the audience, waving their flags and cheering and whistling once the anthem ended.

The three pulled out their flags as they did a final skate around the rink, Sasha at the back of the line as she waved her large Russian flag around for everyone to see. The gold medal strapped to her neck as it shined under the spotlights.

Now it was time for the entire hour of media and photos with every journalist and then they had a gala seeing as they were the last event, it had barely even crossed Sasha's mind but she knew of one thing: she was absolutely going to take a nap before this damn gala.

— *.✧

Sasha hummed, steadily napping as she collected her energy for tonight.

The gala was in the simplest terms a collection of performances from each figure skating discipline: ice dance, pairs, men and women singles. All with a prepared program completely separate to their competitive long and short dances. These always happened after the last day of any competition day, celebrating all the medalists and letting all those who at least made it into the competition get their individual shining moment.

Most also took it as an opportunity to do programs with music that most judges frowned upon in competition which was basically anything that strayed away from classical orchestration or retro hits. Creativity was completely welcome in this scenario and it was often the one program Sasha didn't have to kill herself over.

Sasha napped on the couch of her hotel suite as Katya had invited herself in earlier, making sure her costume was steamed and nice and tidy. The Russian's eyes opened quietly hearing her alarm buzz off, alerting her that there was two hours left until the exhibition gala.

"Thanks for helping me out." Her voice spoke hoarsely as she yawned, leaning over and grabbing whatever protein bar she could hunt down from her duffel bag.

"Of course Sashi!" The other Russian exclaimed in utter bliss before curiously turning towards the younger blonde, feeling a bit intrusive and nosy at the moment once finishing up the final details of her costume.

"So can I ask something?"

"Of course."

Katya sucked in a breath before biting her tongue, "So you and the American skater, Shea?" Sasha immediately jumped up as she felt her cheeks spark an uproar of red, immediately denying any accusations Katya had of them being anything besides friends and wonderful competitors. "Sashi! I'm might be dumb but I'm sure not stupid!" She spoke as Sasha tilted her head bewildered by that statement.

"Sashi, it's very easy to see how you both look at eachother and how long your affection lasts, I know you're into her."

Sexuality wasn't something Sasha felt inclined or comfortable to talk about, especially not back home in Russia where one statement would get you killed despite all the bullshit propaganda hammering in how gay tourists could be safe, locals sure couldn't: it was all one big falsified statement. Sasha however was very open against speaking out and gained both a new platform of respect and a complete blow to her image due to the rampant homophobia in Eastern European countries.

"You know I like girls and boys Sashi, I'm very open with that, you can tell me how you're feeling."

The Russian shrugged with a sigh, rubbing her kneecaps as she took out the bobby pins in her hair, sitting on the bed with a lost expression. She didn't know exactly what to say or do at the moment, Shea surely wasn't just temporary: the two had texted all night and day since their arrival in France and went out to abandoned rinks and smaller cities around, touting what they could.

"I don't wanna say I have a crush because it's too soon but I definitely like to be around her and I love her smile."

Katya clapped, "I can't my little Sashinka is in love!" The Russian stammered before Katya shushed her, "Let me enjoy my moment! You're so picky and far too smart for any Russian man, of course you'd have a crush on an American skater of all people."

"Next subject!" Sasha yelled over her friend as Katya cackled, the younger skater rolling her eyes as she glared over straight at her exhibition costume as she picked it up and sighed. She had decided to do a Russian pop song from a very famous singer in her area, Sergey Lazarev, who also tweeted Katya's short program using one of his hit songs.

Her costume was very different besides what she usually wore: she had fishnets, a tight black skirt with a red top and a leather material jacket. It matched the tone of the song but it was definitely out her own element.

"It's fun! There's no pressure: it's all fans and a few video cameras, you won the gold so relax before you have to go back and start training hard."

"I'll enjoy it best that I can."

— *.✧

Alaska huffed aloud, putting her black tights over the base of her skates to extend her legs while on the ice before staring at Aquaria who hadn't been in the best headspace since the 4th place finish in France almost a week ago. It would be three days until Detox and Alaska would travel with Sharon and Aquaria to Moscow for the Rostelecom Cup.

Sharon kept a good eye on the young girl as they got back to America, noticing all her stamina and motivation drop to a solid zero after losing a medal though she still gained a decent amount of points from finishing 4th just barely shy of a bronze medal.

Aquaria had totally stolen the show at the exhibition gala with her Italian pop star realness track, her and Sasha were everywhere on Instagram the next day with their European popstar galas. It was lovely to see and Alaska had been blaring Soldi by Mahmood through her ears from the airport in France to the plane touching down in Los Angeles.

The American had been staring at that damned piece of paper pinned to the wall for hours the minute that France was over and done with, reading each name and subjecting herself to hours of YouTube clips to analyze her competition though most of them were either her sister's or huge rivals.

Her biggest rivals by far were Detox and Katya, more emphasis on the Russian who was completely ready to demolish everyone at her disposal considering how her situation back in her home country led her to now be training with Chad and her team. Detox stretched beside her with a groan, standing before lifting her legs behind her head and looking at the blonde beside her who certainly looked out of it.

Kameron was someone she had yet to skate with, she had only met with the girl during nationals and she often didn't place so they never got to speak. Chad always worked hard with her whenever Alaska would visit them up in Michigan.

"You good?"

"Just weird to think this is my last chance to go to a Grand Prix final is all. Olympics are the last big competition I'm going for and the American nationals are in January."

"Don't think about that now, we have to focus and you shouldn't be worrying yet: our competition is stiff but that's how figure skating is and how it always will be long after we're retired."

Alaska nodded quietly, taking a sip of her energy drink as Detox muffled her hands through her blue hair and unzipping her Team USA jacket as she jumped around the rink in her skates trying to break in to her new pearly white Jackson Ultimas. Alaska's quiet eyes stared a bit long at Detox who practiced her jumps off the ice though her mind was totally unfocused considering her own personal relationship issues with Trinity that had yet to be worked out.

Detox came to her hotel room a day after the ceremonies had ended to talk about how her and Trinity had blown up at eachother over some family tenseness and the southerner wanting to hide their relationship as long as possible: scared of backlash and her family disowning her. Apparently they came to France and Trinity introducing Detox as a "close friend" did not sit well.

It was an entire shindig Alaska enjoyed listening to but she sure didn't enjoy seeing her best friend sob on her hotel bed as they shared overpriced wine and french fries.

The American groaned silently as she felt tears swell up in her eyes staring at her best friend since she had started skating, it would be hard to leave behind the legacy and glory she had created with her Olympic, Grand Prix, World championship medals but the greatest legacy she could've created was her everlasting friendship with Detox that grew throughout the two decades Alaska had been skating.

She had gotten over the paralyzing fear of breaking her and Sharon's relationship with this forsaken retirement once the two really talked it over, in bed with the assistance of three entire packs of gummy bears. Detox was the one hurdle she couldn't jump over, the one thing she didn't want to think about was leaving her best friend alone without her. The fights, the podiums shared, all the stupid insults and jokes thrown around about their competitors in the secrecy of their hotel suites, all of it.

"You okay?"

Alaska snapped from her own tension as Detox rubbed her shoulder comfortingly, the older American nodded before turning the table on her not really wanting to delve into her own issues with her own untimely retirement plans.

This is our last Grand Prix event together and it's horrifying how quick my career has gone by.

"I'm fine, perfectly fine. Let's go and practice for Moscow."

#rpdr fanfiction #figure skating au #lesbian au #sasha velour #shea coulee #brooke lynn hytes #katya zamolodchikova #sharon needles #alaska thunderfuck #trinity taylor #sashea #shalaska #detox x trinity #learning to be silent #roza #concrit welcome #detox icunt

12 notes · View notes