No your eyes do not deceive you, after 7 years THIS IS AN AN ACTUAL UPDATE! The fourth and final chapter.
I suddenly thought about this fic out of the blue (because a plot bunny occurred to me for a fic for another show) and when I reread it I realized that it was actually so much better than I remembered, so it would have been a shame to truly leave it unfinished. So here it is. Surprise!
Final Part: Real
It's been 7 months, 15 days, 13 hours and 43 minutes since Tazusa last saw Pete. But who's counting? Certainly not Tazusa, she has far better things to do with her time like practicing, practicing and more practicing. By the time she returned from Canada her coach was at a low point in his life and career, his hair was thinning, greying, like he'd aged 10 years in four months and he was selling out stocks of Pepto-Bismol from the pharmacies.
They talk do on the phone every day, sometimes twice a day and Skype every other. Pete updates her on his rehabilitation, which is going frustratingly slow; frustrating for Tazusa since Pete doesn't seem to be fazed in the least, like he isn't at all upset that he hasn't seen Tazusa is 7 months, 15 days, 13 hours—whatever, a really long time. Tazusa wished there was some way to e-mail a punch in the face.
Tazusa on the other hand has been fairing exceptionally well. After many weeks spent groveling her way back into her coach's good graces and getting Sarcastic the Third to stop glowering murderously at her, she's gotten back into her rhythm. She's won a couple of championships back in Japan and had been invited to compete in Skate America, which is where she currently finds herself, about to go on for her final performance; the final performance of the night to determine the first and second placement of the women's singles.
She should be concentrating, meditating…anything to get her in the zone, in the right head space, but instead she's glaring holes into the computer screen wishing she possessed laser eyes and that the computer screen was actually Pete's stupid face. But she didn't possess laser eyes and the computer screen was instead just displaying Pete's stupid face. He looks strangely pale even for a sick person and keeps on coughing intermittently. If Tazusa was slightly less pissed she would have realized that something didn't seem right, but she was currently majorly pissed, she probably wouldn't have noticed if there was an elephant in a pink top hat doing cartwheels in the room.
"What do you mean 'there was a setback'? Last time you said the doctor said your recovery was going well and you'd be able to make the trip to Japan this weekend?"
The image of Pete on the screen sighed. 'The doctor said might, there's a difference. I told you I didn't want to make any promises. Also I said don't call me before your performance. You're going to go out there angry and you're going to mess up and it's going to be my fault and I'm going to feel all guilty'
"I'm not angry!"
'Oh yeah, I'm totally convinced,' Pete rolled his eyes. 'Just calm down, Tazusa, I said I was going to come and see you and I will; I made you a promise didn't I?'
"I know you did, but I don't want you to come if you're not well. You'll get sick again and if you die, it's going to be my fault and then I'm going to feel all guilty."
'Wow, even after all this time your empathy level is still astounding.'
"I'm going to send someone to pick you up in a tomato car when you're coming, I swear."
There was a voice calling Tazusa to the ice before Pete could stop chuckling.
"Well, that's me. I have to go. I miss you, idiot."
'I miss you too, Tazusa. Don't skate angry, okay? I promise I'm coming to see you. I miss you too. Good luck.'
"Thanks, Pete."
And with that Tazusa got to her feet, smoothed the wrinkles on her skirt, made sure her hair and makeup remained impeccable and sparing one last glance at the screen, watching Pete watch her leave, she made her way to the ice.
This was it. She was ready.
The applause was thundering in the stadium. Tazusa's routine was perfect, she nailed all her spins and her twirls and her flips. She could see her sister and mother tearing up in the stand and her coach was beaming. Her choice of song had been a surprise to everyone, even her coach, but it had been Tazusa's choice and it was the perfect once.
As the instrumental version John Denver's Leaving on a Jet Plane slowly comes to a finishing, Tazusa had only to stick her final landing to be assured of gold. It was a Triple Lutz, a move she'd done thousands of times before, it would be a piece of cake.
She didn't stick it.
The moment she kicked off she knew she's messed up, her landing came up short and she couldn't recover her balance. In that split second before hitting the ice, memories of the long months having Pete stuck in her body came rushing back; the shock, the confusion, the fear, the anger, the frustration, the fondness, the happiness, the love. She remembered it all and even though in slow motion she could see the ice rapidly ascending towards her, it was okay. She was okay with it. She'd come to do what she had to do, what she wanted to do and she was proud.
She hit the ice hard on her hip, sliding those few meters on her side before coming to a stop just as the song chimed to a halt. She ended it with a dramatic pose nonetheless to a thunder of applause and cheers.
She'd lost the gold, she knew it, but it was okay. Bowing with appreciation to the crowd and the judges, Tazusa skated off the ice with a large smile on her face. She was proud.
The medal ceremony came and went. First place went to the US and third went to Canada.
Tazusa thought of Pete.
Before she knew it, she found herself surrounded by press, camera flashes going off around her and microphones being shoved in her face. Everyone wanted to know what she thought of coming in second. How she felt. Was she upset? What was her plan now?
No, she wasn't upset she told them. She did her best and she's proud of her routine. She just made a mistake, as everyone does. But first place went to a worthy skater. She thanked her fans for coming to support her, for continuing to support her. As she pushed past the journalists to get to her coach, a figure in the corner of her eye caught her attention.
No, it couldn't be.
Tazusa was dreaming. Wasn't she? It was the only explanation. It couldn't be reality. He was in Canada, recuperating. She hadn't seen him in 7 months, 15 days, 13 hours—
When he stepped forward, all lanky, blond hair, blue eyed; in jeans and a t-shirt with Tazusa's face on it, half hidden under a black leather jacket. Tazusa's first thought was that she was going to kill him. She was going to tear that shirt off his body and strangle him with it. Her second thought was that he looked good, really good. Her third thought was—she didn't have a third thought, at that moment, she dropped all the teddy bears and flower bouquet she was holding to the floor and rushed forward. She was going to pummel him.
"Sorry Tazusa, I can't make it to Japan this weekend because I already bought tickets to come here this morn—"
Tazusa was going to pummel him.
With her lips.
That's exactly what she did. She didn't care that camera flashes was going off in frenzy around her. She ignored the surprised mutterings and the collective sharp intakes of breath. She grabbed Pete by the lapels of his jacket and dragged him close because smashing their lips together in what turned out to be a rather unsexy, kind of painful, slobber of a kiss, but she didn't care because Pete was there and he was well. He was going to pay dearly for lying and getting her so worked up and pissed off earlier, but at that moment, she didn't care. She'd missed him so much.
"Wow." Was all Pete could say when they finally separated. "That is, to be honest, exactly the kind of kiss I was expecting to get from you. Kind of violent, super unsexy—"
"Pete, I swear if you don't stop flapping your lips right this moment I will drink an entire carton of tomato juice every time before we kiss."
"Sound pretty inconvenient, but okay. I missed you," he added with what was supposed to be a come-hither wink.
Around them the journalists were going crazy. By this time the stadium cameras were all on Tazusa and Pete, broadcasting their kiss to everyone present. The girls in the crowd were ooh-ing and aww-ing, talking about the good looking foreigner Tazusa had just locked lips with.
One same question kept coming up over and over, almost drowning out the sounds of the cameras clicking and the murmurings in the stadium.
"Is he your boyfriend?"
Was he? Tazusa didn't know. They'd been together for almost an entire year, from the moment she walking into his hospital room that fateful day. He'd been in her body for 100 days before that. They never thought to put a label on what they were though they'd said the 'L' word to each other so many times already.
"I don't know," Tazusa answered, and it was the truth. "But…I love you, Pete Pumps," she said to Pete, staring him in the eye.
"And I love you, Sakurano Tazusa," replied Pete, bringing a hand up to cup Tazusa's face, and lowering his lips to kiss her again.
Tazusa circled her arms around Pete's neck and this time, their kiss was much less awkward. It didn't matter that everyone around them was going crazy with excitement. It didn't matter that there was hundreds of camera flashes going off at once, not just from the lenses of the cameraman, but also from the crowd of onlookers that had gathered around them and from the stands.
It didn't matter that the entire world was watching the kiss, because Pete was there in Tazusa's arms. He was real and warm and alive and Tazusa couldn't have asked for anything better.
The end.
Thank you everyone who read and reviewed this fic. If you don't think reviews matter; this fic was supposed to be a one-shot, and look what happened! It turned into four freaking chapters, whaaaat. I remember when I wrote this fic there was seriously on 2 stories in the Ginban Kaleidoscope section. Well, at least I managed to finally finish ONE story, even if it was after 7 years lol.
Anyway, thanks again.
