NOTE BEFORE READING: This fic takes place in the summer of 2014. As noted in the summary, Otabek is fifteen, and JJ starts out as sixteen, eventually turning seventeen during the course of the fic. This story does include the characters having underage sex if that's something that bothers you, although the actual sex will take place off-screen and not be explicit.

Chapter 1

Another new coach, another new country.

Otabek had gotten used to it over the years, as there were no high level figure skating coaches in his native Kazakhstan. To be considered among the best skaters in the world, he had to learn from the best, and Otabek was willing to do almost anything to make his Olympic dream come true, even if it meant living far from home, rarely seeing his family and friends. At least he had managed to squeeze in a month long vacation back home to Almaty before his latest move. It had been good to see his parents and little sister – who wasn't so little anymore – again.

He stared out the plane window, leaning his forehead against the glass. They were no longer flying over open water, the landscape below dotted with houses and buildings. It wouldn't be too much longer before they landed in Toronto, his home for the foreseeable future.

His new coaches were the 1994 Olympic ice dance champions, Nathalie (formerly Dion) and Alain Leroy. His previous coach Celestino Cialdini, a former competitor of theirs, had highly recommended them. Even though they were ice dancers, the singles skaters they coached had a reputation of blending athleticism with artistry and superb skating skills. He would need everything to make his way to the top.

He couldn't wait to get started.

After landing and going through customs, Otabek grabbed his rolling suitcase and skate bag, then began looking around for his new coaches, who were supposed to pick him up from the airport according to the email they had sent right before he left. He didn't see any sign of them, but he did notice a good-looking teenage boy around his age – maybe a year or two older – holding up a sign that said "Welcome to Canada, Otabek!" in childish handwriting. He looked vaguely familiar. Otabek walked over to him, the boy smiling brightly.

"You Otabek Altin?" He had a heavy French-Canadian accent.

"Uh, yeah." Otabek shifted the bag on his shoulder. "I was expecting –"

"My parents?" the boy guessed. "They couldn't make it. Family emergency. They texted you about the change, but I guess you haven't checked your messages yet. Anyway, my brother had a bad fall in practice this morning and hurt his ankle. Probably just a sprain, but they took him to the emergency room to be sure. I'm Jean-Jacques Leroy, by the way." He held out his hand for a handshake. "Feel free to call me JJ, though."

Oh, right, that's why he looked so familiar. Jean-Jacques Leroy was the reigning junior men's World champ. Otabek took his offered hand, a tiny jolt of electricity running up his arm as they touched. He let out a small gasp, but JJ didn't seem to notice, shaking his hand with a firm, strong grip.

Maybe it was just my imagination, Otabek thought. "Nice to meet you, JJ. I hope your brother's injury isn't too bad."

"Thanks. I'm sure he'll be fine. Pip's a scrapper." Wordlessly, JJ took the handle of Otabek's suitcase and motioned for him to follow him to the parking lot. "So, do you go by Otabek, or do you have a nickname?" he asked conversationally.

"Um, my friends back home call me Beka."

"Beka," he repeated mostly to himself. "Hmm, sounds like a girl's name, but, hey, if that's cool with you…" He threw his free arm around Otabek, clapping his shoulder. "Welcome to Toronto, Beka!"

He certainly was...friendly, in an over-bearing extroverted sort of way. Talkative, too. JJ barely paused for breath on the drive to his family home in one of Toronto's suburbs, mostly talking – well, more like bragging – about himself, although sometimes he would point out a landmark or sign when they passed by something he thought would be of interest. Otabek didn't particularly mind. He wasn't much for small talk anyway, so he was more than happy to leave the bulk of the conversation to JJ.

About half an hour later, JJ pulled into the driveway of a large white two-story house. Otabek had suspected the Leroys were well-off when he saw JJ's car – a late model BMW – but seeing where they lived confirmed it. His eyes went wide as he followed JJ inside the mansion.

"Welcome to Chateau Leroy!" JJ said.

Stepping inside, Otabek set his luggage down on the checkerboard tiles of the foyer and took it all in. Was he really going to be living here? The inside was even fancier than the exterior. An elegant staircase with wrought iron railings led up to the second floor, and a beautiful chandelier dripping with crystals hung down from the high ceiling.

"Here, I'll give you the grand tour," JJ said, waving his hand in the direction of the room on the right. Through the archway, Otabek got a glimpse of a long table surrounded by at least ten, maybe twelve, chairs upholstered in velvet, another fancy chandelier coming down from the middle of the coffered ceiling. "That's the formal dining room. We don't use it much except on holidays and for birthday parties," he explained, grabbing Otabek by the elbow and leading him toward the room on the left. "And this is the living room."

The living room was beautifully decorated as well, with two white plush sofas facing each other, a glass coffee table placed in between them, and a stunning hand-woven rug covering the hardwood floors. Extra seating was provided in the form of poufs and a couple of armchairs located near the bay window looking out the front. The focal point of the room, however, was a large wood-burning fireplace covered in white stacked stone, flanked on each side by custom built-in shelves.

"The TV is down in the family room in the basement," JJ continued as Otabek looked around. "This room is mainly for entertaining guests, although you can hang out in here if you want. Read, or whatever."

Otabek walked over for a better look at the contents of the built-ins. They were filled with trophies, medals, and framed photographs. A pair of gold medals from the 1994 Olympics were prominently displayed, next to a picture of a much younger Nathalie and Alain in costume, skating their winning free dance to Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet.

JJ joined him, grinning when he saw what had caught Otabek's eye. "One of these days, I'm gonna win me one of those for myself." He shook his head. "No, not just one. At least two, maybe three."

Those were ambitious goals, but he said it with such confidence that Otabek almost believed he could make it happen.

JJ pointed to the photograph on the shelf below. "Those two are my little brother and sister," he said, referring to the young red-haired boy and brunette girl in matching purple sequined costumes. "Madeleine is ten and Philippe is eight. We call them Madi and Pip. They're following in Maman and Papa's footsteps as ice dancers, although they still train as singles, too."

The built-in on the other side of the fireplace seemed dedicated mostly to JJ's achievements. He had already won quite an arsenal of medals, many of them gold. The most recent photograph had been taken at last season's Canadian championships, judging by some clues in the background, where he had won the bronze – still an impressive result for a junior skater skating at his first senior Nationals. In the photo, JJ was doing some sort of strange hand signal, a striking young woman with ruby-colored lips kissing his cheek. "Who is that?" Otabek asked.

If possible, JJ's smile grew even bigger. "My girlfriend, Isabella. Me and Bella have been going out for almost a year now. Pretty, isn't she?"

"Yeah…" She was, although not really Otabek's type.

JJ pointed out a few of his more prestigious medals, including the gold he had won at last season's Junior Worlds, then continued the tour of the first floor, showing Otabek the kitchen, laundry room, powder room, and his parents' office. "Like I mentioned before, the family room is down in the basement, along with another bathroom. Madi and Pip tend to hang out down there the most, playing with their toys and video games," JJ said, pointing out the door leading to the basement on the way back to the staircase. "Come on. I'll show you to your room."

After grabbing his things from the foyer, Otabek followed JJ upstairs to a decent-sized bedroom, furnished with a full-sized bed, nightstand, dresser, and a desk. Over in the corner was a small stack of boxes filled with items he had shipped ahead from Detroit.

"Yeah, sorry it's so small," JJ said. "We used to use it as the office until Maman and Papa decided to move it downstairs."

Otabek shrugged, setting his skate bag on the neatly-made bed. He didn't find the room small at all. In fact, his bedroom back home in Almaty was even smaller. "It's big enough. I didn't bring much."

"Good. Well, anyway, my room is right next door, and the bathroom is directly across the hall. We kids all share it, so it can be kinda wild in the mornings with everybody trying to get ready. I've gotten in the habit of taking my showers at the rink, although you can also use the bathroom down in the basement if you want."

"Good to know." Walking over to the window, Otabek drew back the curtains to look outside. His new room overlooked the backyard, which was just as gorgeous as the rest of the house. "You have a pool," Otabek noticed. It wasn't exactly Olympic-sized, but it was still fairly massive, taking up over half of the yard.

"Yeah! Swimming is good exercise, especially during the off-season," JJ said. He came up behind Otabek, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Feel free to take a dip whenever you want."

"Thanks." Shrugging JJ's hand away, he turned back around. "Is there anything else I should know? Any special rules or…?"

"Nah, not really. My parents aren't that strict. Curfew is ten o'clock on weekdays, eleven on weekends, and all electronics are banned at meal times, but that's pretty much it. Anyway, I'll let you get settled in. If you need anything or have any other questions, let me know."

"Thanks, I will."

The Leroys gave Otabek the weekend off to settle in and recover from his jet lag, so Monday was his first official lesson at his new rink. Nathalie, who was in charge of on-ice coaching, started him off by putting him through some skating drills to work on the quality of his edging, then told him to work on his jumps on his own while she worked with another student. He decided to practice his quad salchow.

He'd been working on the quad since Junior Worlds, although he hadn't had much luck with it so far. He'd only ever landed two or three of them completely clean. Most of the time, he either fell or two-footed the jump, unlike JJ, who was landing them like they were nothing – huge, beautiful jumps that took Otabek's breath away every time he saw them.

If only he could jump like that, the judges would be forced to notice him despite coming from a smaller fed...

"You okay?" JJ asked, skating over and holding out his hand after Otabek took a particularly nasty fall, having been distracted by JJ's jumps once again.

So much for making a good first impression on the ice... "Yeah." Otabek took JJ's offered hand, allowing him to help him back to his feet. "Thanks.

"No prob, but is there a reason why you're so hunched over when you take off on the sal?"

"I am?" He had never really noticed before.

"You're relying too much on your upper body strength to get yourself in the air," JJ said. "You need to use your legs more. You'll get more height that way. And stand up straighter." JJ moved to stand behind him, Otabek sucking in a sharp breath as he pulled his shoulders back. "You have good posture on your other jumps, so use it," he said, lightly pushing Otabek forward. "Go on. Give it a try."

Otabek wondered when JJ became his coach instead of Nathalie, but he supposed it was worth a shot. He set up for another attempt at the quad, keeping JJ's advice in mind as he launched himself into the air. It was a much better effort than any of his other tries that morning, although he still had to put his hand down on the landing as a balance check. It was amazing what one small change could do. JJ had been right about his posture; the jump felt much lighter and higher when he wasn't muscling it like before.

JJ clapped in encouragement. "Good try, good try! It's already looking better," he said, skating over to rejoin Otabek. "Now, this time try pulling in your arms more to speed up your rotation. Like this." JJ again moved behind Otabek, grabbing his wrists and moving his arms across his chest as he demonstrated what he meant. "Got it?"

Otabek could only nod, too overwhelmed by JJ's nearness to speak.

"JJ!"

At the sound of a woman's voice calling his name, JJ abruptly released his hold on Otabek, smiling and waving to a pretty dark-haired girl at the boards who Otabek recognized from the photo from Canadian Nationals. "That's Bella, my girlfriend. Come on, I'll introduce you," he said, motioning for Otabek to follow him.

Though Otabek wasn't particularly interested in meeting JJ's girlfriend, he went along with him to be polite. Isabella regarded him with an inquisitive stare.

"Hey, babe," JJ said, kissing her on the cheek. "This is a nice surprise! I wasn't expecting to see you until our date later tonight."

"The rink was on the way to the mall, so I thought I'd drop by and say a quick hello."

"I'm glad you did." Remembering Otabek, JJ threw an arm around his neck. "Oh, this is Otabek Altin, by the way. He's the skater from Kazakhstan who moved in with us, the one I was telling you about. Beka, meet my girlfriend and biggest fan, Isabella Yang."

"It's so nice to finally meet you, Otabek." Smiling, she offered her hand, although Otabek sensed something guarded about her, her smile not quite reaching her eyes. "JJ's told me a lot about you."

"You, too," Otabek said, shaking her hand. "JJ doesn't stop talking about you."

Her smile became a little more genuine at that, turning her attention back to JJ. "Is that true?"

"Of course." JJ let go of his hold on Otabek, taking both of Isabella's hands in his own. "You know you're the center of my universe, babe."

"Oh, JJ… You say the sweetest things!"

Otabek resisted the urge to roll his eyes. So they were that type of couple. Well, he had better things to do with his ice time than to watch the two of them make googly eyes at each other. His water bottle was sitting on the barrier close to Isabella, so he took the opportunity to take a swig, then tapped JJ on the shoulder.

"Hey, I'm going to work on the quad salchow some more," he said.

"Okay, cool," JJ replied, not even glancing back at him. He was too busy staring into Isabella's eyes, the two of them rubbing their noses together. "I'll join you in a minute."

Otabek sighed and skated off, keeping JJ's advice in mind as he built up speed and set up his next attempt at the quad.

The salchow was perfectly landed.

On Sundays, the Leroys attended morning Mass. Nathalie had invited Otabek to come with them, but since he wasn't Catholic – or even Christian, for that matter – he had declined. He'd been raised Muslim, although he didn't consider himself particularly devout or religious.

With the house to himself, he spent most of the morning unpacking the last of his boxes. Slowly, his new room began to feel a little more like "home", the walls covered in posters of some of his favorite bands and his desk organized just the way he liked it. Once he was finished, Otabek attempted to do some studying – even though it was summer, he took correspondence classes in order not to fall too behind on his schoolwork once the Junior Grand Prix began in September – but found himself unable to concentrate on the chapter in his chemistry textbook he was supposed to be reading.

He wanted to go to the rink and practice. Ever since JJ offered his advice earlier in the week, Otabek's success on the quad salchow had improved dramatically. It still wasn't at the point that he felt ready to risk putting it in a competitive program, but with a little more practice, he thought it could be consistent enough by the time his first competition of the season rolled around.

Unfortunately, he didn't have any ice time scheduled. Nathalie and Alain were very insistent that Sundays were "rest days" for both the body and the soul. The only time their students skated on Sundays was when they were at a competition. Otherwise, they were supposed to keep to light exercise at most in order not to overwork their muscles.

Maybe I'll take a dip in the pool, Otabek thought. The Leroys had said he was welcome to use the pool whenever he wanted, although he had yet to take them up on the offer. He bookmarked the spot where he left off and closed the book, then grabbed a pair of swimming trunks from his dresser, grateful he had thought to pack them.

Heading outside after changing, Otabek once again marveled at the fact that the Leroys' had an in-ground swimming pool right in their backyard. He tossed his towel on one of the lounge chairs surrounding the perimeter of the pool, then did a few light warm-up stretches before diving in.

The cool water felt great against his skin. According to JJ, Toronto in June was usually pleasantly warm, rarely getting above twenty-seven degrees, but a heat wave had arrived in the city the day before, raising the high temps into the low thirties. He began doing some laps around the pool, letting his mind go blank as he went through the steady rhythmic motions.

"Hey, you're good."

Otabek came to a stop, pushing back the wet strands of his hair as he searched for the source of the voice. It was JJ, standing at the edge of the pool, dressed in designer swim trunks and a "Stars on Ice" T-shirt. A towel was casually slung over his left shoulder.

"Thanks," Otabek said, swimming over and propping himself up on the ledge with his elbows. "Did you just get back?"

"Yeah, my folks dropped me off a few minutes ago. Madi and Pip wanted to go to the playground after church, but that's not really my scene, you know? They should be back in an hour or so, depending on how hot it gets or if Pip's ankle starts bothering him again." Fortunately, Philippe's injury had only been a very mild sprain. He hadn't been allowed back on the ice yet, but after a week of resting and using crutches to get around, the doctors had cleared him to resume most of his normal activities at his follow-up appointment the day before, as long as he was careful. JJ began rolling his shoulders, loosening up. "Anyway, I saw you out the window and thought it might be nice to beat the heat with a swim. Mind if I join you?"

Otabek shrugged. "Go ahead. It's your pool."

Grinning, JJ stripped off his T-shirt and tossed it, along with his towel, onto the same lounge chair as Otabek's. Otabek bit down on his bottom lip as he watched, glad that he was already in the water where JJ couldn't see the effect his bare torso was having on his lower extremities. Once JJ had finished doing a couple more stretches to warm up, he cannonballed into the pool, making a huge splash. Coughing, Otabek sputtered out some of the water that had gotten into his mouth.

JJ laughed. "Sorry about that. Shoulda warned you," he said, swimming over to Otabek.

"It's fine." Otabek lazily dragged his arms through the water, hoping JJ didn't notice the warmth that had crawled up his cheeks which had nothing to do with the warm temperature. "How was church?"

"Not bad. Father Chastain kept the homily short for once in his life, so we got to leave a little earlier than usual. And I was assigned a solo, so that was pretty cool."

"A solo?"

"During the communion hymn. I'm in the choir."

Otabek bit back a laugh, pressing his lips together. Somehow, JJ didn't strike him as the "choir boy" type, yet when he decided to give an impromptu encore performance of his solo, his baritone voice was rich and powerful. Though Otabek couldn't understand any of the French lyrics, he found himself captivated by the emotion JJ put into the words, barely breathing as he listened to the song.

"So, uh, you sing," Otabek said once the trance was broken, inwardly wincing. Way to state the obvious, but JJ didn't seem to pick up on the awkwardness, his lips breaking into a toothy grin.

"And play a bit of guitar. I just picked it up a few months ago, but I'm already pretty good at it, if I do say so myself," JJ bragged. "I'll have to play for you some time."

"Sure. Cool."

"What about you? Do you play any instruments or anything?"

"Oh, I...I took piano lessons for a year when I was younger, but I was never very good at it." And the less said about his voice, the better. "I've been teaching myself to cut and mix music, though."

"Like, for your programs?" JJ asked.

"Yeah, and just for fun. I came across some tutorials on YouTube and thought it seemed cool."

"Awesome. Did you cut the music for your free skate last season?"

Otabek rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, yeah, actually. It was my first time, so it didn't come out exactly the way –"

"No way, I loved your music cuts!" JJ exclaimed. "Most Moulin Rouge programs use the same boring songs, but you chose some of the lesser used pieces, which made it totally fresh."

"You...noticed my program?" The current Junior World champion had noticed him, a no-name skater from a country with no real figure skating history? He had only placed seventh last season, which was still the highest placement a Kazakh skater had ever achieved at Junior Worlds, but still...

"Of course I did!" JJ said, slapping Otabek on the shoulder. "Well, actually, once I heard you were moving in with us to train with my folks, I looked up some of your skates on YouTube."

That made more sense. Of course JJ wouldn't have watched him at Junior Worlds. They had never shared practice time at the event, and he had skated in the flight before JJ's in both the short and the free.

"You know, you really do have potential, though," JJ continued. "I can see why Maman and Papa decided to take you on as a student. Once you get that quad sal consistent and learn not to telegraph your axel so much… Oh, and your spins could definitely use some work, too. Losing levels on spins is just giving away easy points."

"Yeah, I know, I know…" Otabek turned around and started paddling away. He had heard it all before, but… It was flattering to hear a skater as great as JJ compliment him, even if it was in a slightly backhanded way.

JJ swam after him, his longer limbs making it easy to catch up with him. "Hey, you ever compete?" he asked, coming up beside Otabek and matching him stroke for stroke.

"In swimming?"

"Yeah."

"Some, when I was a kid. Only in a few local competitions." At one point, Otabek thought he might even want to become an Olympic-level swimmer, but then he discovered figure skating and realized he preferred the ice.

"I'm pretty fast myself, you know," JJ bragged. "Think I still hold a record or two back in Quebec for under 12 year olds, although it's been a while since I practiced." Moving even closer, he asked, "What's your best stroke?"

"Probably the backstroke?"

His smile widened. "What a coincidence – mine, too! How about a little friendly wager?"

Coming to a stop, Otabek arched an eyebrow. "What are the terms?"

JJ tapped his chin, contemplating. "Hmm, how about the winner gets to make the loser do one thing they want?" Without even waiting to see if Otabek agreed to the bet, he swam over to the end of the pool and climbed up the ladder. "Two lengths good with you?"

It didn't seem like he had much choice in the matter. "Sure, yeah," Otabek said, joining JJ at the end of the pool and getting into starting position.

"Ready? Set, go!"

JJ took the early lead, his strokes long and powerful, but Otabek had never been known for his fast starts. He preferred to conserve his energy until later in the race, taking advantage when his opponents began to tire. By the time JJ took a slow turn at the switch-around, Otabek had mostly caught up with him. They swam neck-and-neck for most of the second half of the race, neither gaining on the other until about five meters from the end. That was when Otabek made his move, using the energy he had reserved to make a final push for the finish line. JJ, who had already used up most of his during the first half, struggled to catch up, though he gave a good fight. If he had kept up with his training, he might have been more of a threat, but in the end, Otabek touched the pool wall first, several seconds before JJ.

A breathless JJ stared at Otabek in shock, then smiled, offering his hand. "Good race. Congratulations!"

"Thanks," Otabek said, shaking JJ's hand. It wasn't on the ice, but he had to admit if felt pretty good to beat JJ at something.

"So, what's my penalty? I'm a man of my word. Your wish is my command."

Otabek, still catching his own breath, struggled to think of anything he wanted JJ to do for him, but his mind was drawing a blank.

"Come on, there has to be something you want," JJ prodded, swimming a little closer. "It's not every day the great King JJ makes such a generous offer. Want me to make you lunch? Do your laundry? I can loan you one of my video games if you –"

Otabek bridged the small gap between them, pressing his lips against JJ's and cutting him off.

JJ simply stood there in shock, allowing Otabek to kiss him for a couple of seconds until he finally shoved Otabek away from him, swiping his arm across his mouth.

"What the hell, man?"

Otabek shook his head, horrified. He could barely believe what he had done himself. "Sorry, I thought –"

"Well, you thought wrong," JJ said, the angry look on his face softening. "I mean, it's not like I'm not flattered, but I like girls. I have a girlfriend, remember?"

How could he possibly forget? Other than himself, Isabella was the person JJ most loved talking about. As far as JJ was concerned, he was the sun, she was the moon, and everybody else were mere stars orbiting around them.

"Yeah. Just forget about it," Otabek muttered, pushing himself out of the pool. "I was only joking around."

"Beka…"

"I gotta go."

He grabbed his towel and wrapped it around his waist, ignoring the sound of water splashing behind him.

"Beka, wait, I'm sor–"

Otabek didn't want to hear it. He ran back into the house and upstairs to his bedroom, yanking off his towel and swim trunks as soon as the door closed behind him to take care of the raging boner that had refused to fade. When he finished, hand sticky with come, Otabek cursed and stared up at the ceiling.

It was official. He had a crush on JJ Leroy.

Fuck.

DISCLAIMER: "Yuri! On Ice" doesn't belong to me.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! Special thanks to the 18+! on Ice Discord server for hosting the Whip Those WIPs event last month, which got me to finally focus on this story (which has been in the works for a couple of years at this point) and get some serious work done. The next two chapters are mostly complete as well, but I'm planning to keep to a bimonthly posting schedule to give me time to work on future chapters. Next chapter should be out in early July!

(Skating fans might have caught the allusion to Anissina/Peizerat in Nathalie and Alain's Olympic winning free dance. IRL, Anissina/Peizerat skated to Romeo and Juliet for their free dance at the 1998 Olympics. Though they only won bronze, their R&J is one of my all-time favorite programs, so I "stole" it for Nathalie and Alain and awarded it the gold it should have won.)

Feel free to follow me on Tumblr! My username is kaleidodreams.