Hello. Canada and Japan fans who feel indivisible, this story is for you! Feel free to post comments for your feedback.
Matthew didn't watch the results of who won the figure-skating champions, but that Japanese was mentioned more than once in the sports section of newspapers all around, and was the topic of discussion on many talk-shows. So ,Matthew assumed he did rather well. He found out later that day that Kiku Honda got 1st place.
There was some other news as well. Another figure-skating tournament would be held right in their city and Feliciano along with Gilbert's brother Ludwig would be flying with Kiku. They would be staying at Gilbert's place.
Matthew had decided to intentionally avoid Gilbert and his house for the next few days, to give Ludwig, Feliciano and Kiku a few days to adjust to the jetlag. Alfred on the other hand, was anxious to see "Luddy" and "Feli" again and to meet the "new kid" whose name Alfred had already abbreviated to "Keek". No matter how much Matthew tried to convince his brother to leave them be, Alfred had already drove off to Gilbert's house at eleven in the morning. Matthew, determined to give the newcomers their space, had taken his tattered hockey skates and book-bag for the courses he would be attending afterwards and went in the opposite direction to the hockey rink.
Ludwig downed his sixth cup of coffee when the front door smashed open. Ludwig leapt to his feet, overturning the chair and dropping his mug as he did so. The mug didn't shatter, but hot coffee pooled around his feet.
"Ever heard of knocking?" Ludwig said waspishly jumping as the hot liquid touched him.
"Dude, it's been like forever! Where's Feli and Keek?"
" "Keek"?" Ludwig echoed raising an eyebrow.
"My new nickname for Kiku. Do you think he'll like it?"
"You've never even met the man and you're already giving him a nickname?"
"I asked a question first."
Ludwig exhaled sharply while putting a hand to his brow.
"Feliciano and Kiku are practicing at a rink for the tournament. That is the reason why we're here after all."
Sounds of footsteps stumbling down the stairs could be heard. Then Gilbert stuck his head into the kitchen.
"What's with all of the noise? I was sleeping…"
"Hey! Gil! Which rink are Feli and Kiku practicing at?"
"The rink that Mattie and I usually go to every morning before work. I decided to skip out because I was up picking up them up at like two o'clock in the morning."
"One thirty." Ludwig corrected as he cleaned up the coffee spill.
"Yeah, yeah whatever." Gilbert mumbled as he stepped over Ludwig to pour himself the remaining coffee in the pot.
"I don't know how Kiku and Feliciano do it." Gilbert continued. "Up half the night on a plane and their already practicing."
"Life of a professional I guess." Alfred said.
"Say, where is Matthew?" Ludwig questioned as he deposited the mug in the dishwasher after making sure there were no cracks that would deem it unusable.
"He went off to the rink this morning. Something about "letting you guys recover from the jetlag"."
"It's called "being considerate". Maybe you should try it sometime."
"Not likely Luddy."
Ludwig groaned at the nickname and turned to Gilbert.
"You started this."
"I'm your older brother I have rights."
There was a second of silence before some unidentifiable sound could be heard from Gilbert's phone.
"That was from Mattie. He says: "Hey. Feel free to kick Alfred out of the house if you have to. It's not fair that your guests have to adjust to the time zone and deal with Alfred at the same time."".
Ludwig approached Alfred.
"I'll kick him out, but in a different way than Matthew implies. Can you go and pick up Feliciano and Kiku. They've been practicing since seven in the morning and it's just about to end.
Alfred beamed.
When Alfred finally pulled his car out of the driveway, Ludwig plopped back at the kitchen table.
"Hey Gil?"
"Yeah?"
"Tell Matthew as nice as it is to allow us time to relax and adjust without trouble, his company will be required and he needs to get his Canadian ass over here as soon as he can."
Feliciano twirling his way across the ice when he noticed Kiku dug his skates into the ice, coming to a complete stop. Feliciano twisted his body to stop and quietly approached the back of Kiku. He was staring at someone. Using the picks located at the front of his skates to expertly balance himself on his tippy-toes, the craned over the top of Kiku's head and almost immediately, a devious grin spread across his face.
One couldn't see the man's face well due to the caged-helmet, but the red hoodie and the hockey gloves immediately gave himself away.
Kiku's gaze followed Matthew until he had disappeared behind a set of doors. Feliciano then decided to make his presence known.
"So um...handsome man isn't he?"
Kiku jerked around so fast, he nearly lost his balance.
"Feliciano-kun, don't scare me like that!"
"What of that person? Did we develop a three-second crush "
Feliciano playfully nudged his arm.
Kiku could feel heat crawling up his neck and into his face.
"It wasn't a "three-second crush"!"
Feliciano blinked.
"What?"
"We made eye-contact for a brief second. He smiled and waved slightly. They're unusual; this deep purple I've never really seen before. It's nothing."
"Oh. That's too bad. I suppose you won't be interested in who that was. I know him."
Feliciano almost laughed at the look in Kiku's eyes. He may be oblivious is many things, but when it came to romance, he and Francis shared the throne.