Characters: Angel Snow, Yamazaki Sousuke, minor OCs

Pairings: Angel/Sousuke

Genre: Romance, AU

Rating: K+

Length: ca. 1300 words

Summary: A university swimming team is not happy with their new coach. Inspired by and based on a short story I read.

Reviews are welcome!

The Iceman

We called him The Iceman not only because his eyes had the color and warmth of a frozen lake, but also because of his unfriendly personality. Our coach introduced him to us at the start of the new semester and as soon as we saw his stern face, we knew that he wasn't someone who would take our training lightly. We knew he would put us through hell.

His name was Yamazaki Sousuke. Fresh out of college, he had accepted our coach's job offer. While he was supposed to be just an assistant, he was immediately tasked with preparing our training and dietary regime. We didn't know why, although there was a rumor that he had once been a professional swimmer but have been forced to quit. Nothing was known certain because The Iceman kept to himself and never shared anything.

He was 24 years old, a large man, at least a head above even the tallest swimmers in our team, with broad shoulders and short dark hair. Despite his size and cold demeanor, he had an oddly youthful face. On a few occasions, he was even confused for a student.

Yamazaki was an efficient coach. Under his guidance, we began improving quickly, but you couldn't say that this earned him any friends. Perhaps the reason was his stand-offish mien or his sternness during practice, but a lot of the swimmers were not fond of him.

After our first practice with Yamazaki, we invited him out to a little bar we frequented. He grudgingly accepted, though it was clear that he wasn't looking forward to it. The outing was a complete failure. He sat at the bar the whole time, digging in a bowl of snacks and sipping his beer. He made no effort to join our conversation and didn't even as much as glance at the girl behind the bar, Ichinose-san, who we had unanimously declared the hottest woman we've ever seen. A mere half hour after arriving at the bar, Yamazaki looked at his watch, yawned, said that he was tired, and left.

That was when we started calling him The Iceman.

We knew that we were in trouble. Yamazaki was the sort of person who would make us train mercilessly, much like a drill sergeant. Things needed to change. We had to do something. Finally Kaoru – the best swimmer among us and our informal leader – decided to take matters into his own hands. He went to Angel and convinced him to get close with the new coach.

Angel was a timid short boy who had little experience with swimming and even less with life. The youngest on our team, his best performance so far was placing fifth at a regional tournament. He was a hard worker, but he didn't seem to have it in him to reach our level. Some of our teammates would whisper that the only reason he was still on the team was so that we could show some diversity.

Heeding the orders, Angel stayed behind one evening after practice. Once the others had left, he approached Yamazaki. The Iceman was leaning on the wall, scribbling something in a notebook.

"You seem kind of tired, Yamazaki-san." Angel said. "It must be very exhausting, what you do. Managing a whole team's exercises …"

"Not at all, I enjoy it." Yamazaki interrupted him, not even bothering to look up. "What I truly find tiring is pointless conversations."

Even if Angel had sensed that the last sentence was aimed at him, he swallowed his nervousness and tried again.

"Um … I have two tickets for a movie today at 9.45." He said, for some reason emphasizing on the numbers. "If you're free …"

He couldn't even finish. This time, The Iceman looked up and gave him a cold, hard stare.

"Thank you for the invitation but I'm already planning on going home, taking a shower and watching TV. I believe there are other men who would rather kill two hours of their time with you."

Angel flinched and made a feeble attempt to smile while blinking much more than normal. He was finally able to grab a hold of himself.

"As you like …" He mumbled and retreated in defeat.

That evening the weather was horrible – gloomy and cold. However, Yamazaki could hardly hear the rain beating heavily on his umbrella as he walked to the train station. He was wondering if maybe he had been too brusque with the young swimmer. Perhaps it was the sudden invitation that had triggered his ire. It was fairly obvious that the swimmers were using this naïve boy to soften him up.

And yet … he shouldn't have rejected him so harshly… he should have been gentler …

By the time he arrived in his small apartment, The Iceman had decided to apologize to Angel the next day.

Once practice was over, he waited until the boy was alone and snuck up to him. He didn't dare ask if Angel had gone to see the movie alone, so he just started off with a small and rehearsed speech.

"I feel that I should apologize for what I said yesterday. I offended you."

"It's no big deal." Angel replied, waving his hand dismissively. "I'm used to it. Back in Wales, when I was in middle school, our school was celebrating its 75th anniversary. I was picked to read a speech at the assembly but in the last moment the principle decided that I wasn't presentable enough and replaced me with another student."

"How unfair!" Yamazaki exclaimed disapprovingly. "They did it just like that?"

"Yes." He replied, nodding. "Then, when I came to this university, I met this guy, Hiro. He's in his last year and he works for this big company as an intern. He would always flirt with me and after knowing me for only a week he proposed to take me to some hot spring resort for the weekend. Naturally, I told him that I had to reject his invitation. It made me feel really uncomfortable."

"What happened then?" Yamazaki asked, curious despite himself.

"Nothing. He went on the trip with his wife. We still bump into each other from time to time. When he sees me standing in line at the café, he always asks me to get him coffee and some pastry…"

The Iceman kept listening, this time with genuine interest. He suddenly realized that Angel's voice was incredibly soft and calming, and the boy's unusual accent gave it a nice exotic hint. His silky hair and the delicate lines of his jaw, nose and cheekbones did not go unnoticed either.

The next couple of days they kept meeting for coffee in the university café. During these meetings Yamazaki would sit and listen while Angel told him about all the places he had visited. The Iceman had the same stern expression as always, but we noticed that his eyes had lost their metallic shine and were now warm and soft.

This was not expected.

We watched them grow closer each day. They made an oddly pleasant pair, each complementing the other. Having finally let someone into his life, Yamazaki was now much more open and friendly and soon this showed in his coaching as well. And even though Kaoru kept taking credit for it, we knew who to actually thank for thawing The Iceman.

One day, Yamazaki arrived at the pool with two movie tickets. Standing in front of Angel, he waved them about awkwardly as he asked the other out.

"Thank you for the invitation." Angel replied, scowling dramatically. "But I'm already planning on going home, taking a shower and watching TV. I believe there are other students who would rather kill two hours of their time with you."

They both laughed and then left together, holding hands.