Chapter Text
He turned off his alarm with a groan and pulled the duvet above his head, not ready to get up yet. The clock said 4:30, which was about four hours too early for a normal human being. His head hurt, his eyes stung and his mouth was extremely dry.
He should be used to these hours by now, but Harry simply wasn’t a morning person and never will be. Unfortunately, his flat mate knew that.
Right on cue, Liam stormed in his room and sighed when he saw the scene in front of him. Already fed up with him, he forced a groaning Harry out of bed by bribing him with freshly baked blueberry muffins.
It was cruel, manipulating him like that, but Harry had to get up anyways and that muffin sounded pretty good. Liam knew him far too well.
When Harry moved to New York for his career about five years ago, he somewhat struggled finding a roommate who could get up at the same hours he had to. He didn’t want to live alone either, but luckily his old high school mate Liam lived close by and searched for a roommate as well.
They reconnected and when he found out that Liam owned a bakery and therefore had to get up at similar hours, Harry was moving in two weeks after.
It all worked out perfectly.
“How do you always manage to make these taste like heaven? Seriously, that’s not normal anymore,” he mumbled while taking another bite, rolling his eyes.
“If I couldn’t my career would be over mate,” Liam chuckled and poured them two cups of coffee, “When will you be home later?” he asked and handed Harry his coffee while sipping his own.
“Thanks mate, you’re an angel,” Harry gladly accepted his coffee, “and I’m not sure yet. We have some kind of meeting at four in the afternoon. No idea what that’s about, so we’ll see.”
A few days ago, his coach approached him with the news. They haven’t done a formal meeting in months, especially not with everyone who was skating there. What could be so important that it would affect everyone? God, he already gagged when thinking about all the faces there. One in particular.
Harry still wondered about it on his daily morning run, the air so cold that his breath could be seen. He took his usual route, a trail next to the woods which was peaceful and quiet. He felt at home there, undisturbed and alone with his thoughts for once.
There was still some morning fog like usual making him shiver even though he wore a big sweater, one of his favorites.
After his run, he took a shower and made his way to the rink. He opened the glass door and already saw some of his friends in the main hall, chatting and laughing. Harry smiled, thinking he couldn’t wait to join them, and made his way to the locker room.
He felt this sense of familiarity, having skated here for years now.
He took off his shoes and changed into his training clothes, his black skates and gloves. Once his long curls were put into a tight bun, he went outside again. They were a mess sometimes, but he couldn’t bring himself to cut them off.
“There he is, the king of figure skating has arrived,” Niall joked, although that was in fact what the world called Harry Styles.
Ever since he passed his senior tests, became a U.S. Figure Skating Gold Medalist and won Gold at the last Olympics, he was one of the most popular and successful figure skaters in the world.
At this point, he has won too many competitions and medals to count.
“Quit it, Ni. We don’t wanna boost his ego too much,” Natalie said and winked at Harry, making him laugh bitterly while he sat down.
“I hate you all, just for the record,” he grinned and leaned back, looking around and searching for his best friend amongst all the other people. “Have you guys seen Zayn? Did he come in already?”
“Yeah, he’s already on the ice. Wanna watch?” Jack asked, everyone nodding automatically.
“Do you even have to ask?”
Harry and the others always went to the rink earlier than necessary, mainly to watch his best friend skate. He didn’t know how to put it in words, but there was something truly fascinating about seeing Zayn move the way he did.
It was the highlight of Harry’s entire day.
He could be the best professional figure skater in the world if he wanted to, but he didn’t compete anymore ever since he injured himself. Physically he was fine, but he never got over it in his head. He didn’t even do jumps anymore or just a simple toe loop because he was too afraid, but he was a beautiful skater. He didn’t get paid since he wasn’t competing, but he told Harry once that he couldn’t give it up completely.
It wasn’t just a passion for him anymore, it was his identity. And Harry definitely could relate to that.
That’s why Zayn came here every day in the very early morning for an hour or two, when no one was around. He could skate with no distractions and after attend his real job, coaching the younger ones who are still in their pre-preliminary or preliminary levels.
He was passing on his wisdom to the new, unexperienced ones since he couldn’t use it himself anymore.
It was an unspoken agreement that him and his group of friends always met earlier to watch Zayn, his friends being Niall and Natalie, Sophie and Jack, and Zayn. Harry and Zayn both were solo skaters, while Niall and Natalie were in Pair Skating, and Sophie and Jack were in Pair Ice Dancing.
It was very practical since that way everyone could give objective tips to others, because everyone focused on and paid attention to something else.
Right now, everyone was preparing for the World Figure Skating Championships that was coming up in a few months. With the exception of the Olympic title, a world title was considered to be the highest competitive achievement in figure skating, which meant it was a pretty fucking big deal.
This time, the location where the Championships were going to be held was Boston, thankfully not as far away as the last couple of years.
This upcoming competition meant that everyone trained for hours and hours, perfecting every single move. That included Harry, who could not afford to be distracted or unfocused in any way.
He was in the middle of practicing his short program, the first part of the competition in men’s singles. He needed to include seven elements that were already given, and they weren’t easy. Even for Harry.
Although Harry was currently working on the first part, he couldn’t stop worrying about the second part, the free skating. He only had an idea of a choreography and definitely hasn’t started to create one, which meant he was obviously behind. He should at least already have one-third of it, but a lot of things recently happened and he didn’t focus as much as he should have.
That’s exactly why he promised himself that starting now, he was going to do better and would spend every free minute either training at the rink, or at home creating a choreography.
He was taking a break from his training when his coach arrived, and together they went over the details of the short program, jumps and technique before Harry went out on the ice again.
By the end of the day, he was pretty content with how it went and now he was talking with the others in the main hall while they were waiting for the manager to arrive.
“What do you think this meeting is about?” Harry wondered; he still couldn’t stop thinking about it. There was this nagging voice in his head that whispered to him. Told him it wasn’t good news. Niall shrugged his shoulders, “Maybe it’s just a standard procedure? Or somebody new will take over?”
By now, most of the people who skated here had arrived, including the coaches, and a small crowd formed in the room. Some of them were getting rather annoyed because they had to be somewhere else, but this meeting was mandatory.
“I heard that someone new is going to join us,” a voice behind them said. Harry rolled his eyes at the familiarity before half-turning around on the couch, seeing Nick stood behind him.
“A new member wouldn’t require a meeting, Nick,” Zayn absently commented, disliking him as much as everyone else on this couch.
“It would if they’re really important,” Nick said before walking away, making them frown. Hm.
They didn’t have any more time to speculate because two seconds later the manager of the ice rink and skating club stepped out and whistled to get everyone’s attention.
“You’re probably wondering why you’re wasting your time right now,” he clapped in his hands once before continuing loudly, “but we have something important to announce. There are going to be some changes here, nothing too life-changing but we want everyone to cooperate. Now, we’re very excited to tell you that someone new is going to join us…”
He heard Nick snicker behind him and Harry mentally cursed him for being right while the manager continued, “…that the one and only Louis Tomlinson will be joining us for indefinite time since he quit his old management and fired his coach.”
Harry’s breath got caught in his throat and his eyes went wide. He hoped he misheard him, but by all the whispers and concerning looks from his friends it was obvious that he didn’t.
This couldn’t be happening, not after everything.
“Wait, do you mean the Louis Tomlinson?” A girl asked.
“The best figure skater in the world?”
“The guy who managed to do- “
“Yes, yes, that Louis Tomlinson,” their manager interrupted all the murmurs while Harry’s temperature was slowly rising. “I know that this is very exciting, but we hope that everyone will treat him with the respect he deserves, the amount that everyone here deserves. I know that this will be a great addition and I hope you will make him feel welcome and comfortable enough.”
This was going to be fun, Harry thought, already dreading what was about to come.
-
“He’s an obnoxious little twat who thinks he’s better than anyone else. If he even tries to get in my way, I will literally break his neck.”
So, it turned out that Harry wasn’t so fond of this new change.
A few days after the announcement, they all went out for drinks, including Liam. Harry had been uptight for days and when they told Liam about the news, it was no wonder why.
Unfortunately, as soon as somebody mentioned Louis, Harry started all over again.
“That guy couldn’t take himself more seriously, I’m telling you,” Harry complained, Niall and Zayn looking at each other desperately because they knew it was not going to stop anytime soon. They just sighed and threw back some shots, handing Liam one. “Trust us, you’ll need it,” they murmured.
“Okay, what am I missing? Did he do something to you or…?” Natalie asked confused. She was kind of new in the group since she just moved here to be Niall’s partner, so she hadn’t heard Harry ramble about Louis before, which happened unfortunately more often than you would think.
“Louis beat Harry at the Olympics the last time and he’s still pissed about it,” Zayn whispered loudly which made Harry scoff as he threw back another shot.
“Uhm, excuse me? It wasn’t just that, he was a fucking asshole to me. Every time our paths crossed, he was a twat and ignored me when I tried to be nice. And he tried to fucking disqualify me at the U.S. Championships two years ago, what the fuck did I do to him?” Harry leaned back.
The memories still hadn’t faded, it had almost lost him his gold medal just because Louis couldn’t stand being second, after Harry.
He didn’t know what his problem was, but he didn’t like it.
He certainly won’t be treated like shit once Louis would arrive and act like he owned the place.
“He’s an arrogant piece of shit, so what?” Jack stated, “don’t let that bother you.”
“I don’t want to work with him. If I even think about seeing his face every day, I’m going to throw up.”
“Please don’t.”
It was true, skating at the same place Louis would was all Harry had thought about in the last couple of days. Just when he wanted to concentrate on his practice for the World Championships, Louis had to come along and screw it all up. Of course he would.
He didn’t have a single moment of peace.
He didn’t even know why it bothered him so much, he managed to ignore every other prick there as well. He managed to do it with Nick and that said a lot. But something about Louis made his blood boil, made him unfocused and it was maddening.
He was going insane.
“I think what our precious Harry here is really pissed about is that Louis is the first person in the world to manage to do a quadruple axel when that was exactly what Harry wanted and practiced to do at that time. He’s the best figure skater in the world, of course Harry’s jealous.”
Everyone looked at Niall who just spoke, including Harry. He just managed to laugh, that’s how ridiculous it was. “Me being jealous of Louis? He wishes,” he scoffed, “I mean, yeah- of course he’s an amazing skater but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s a dick.”
Harry was taller than average figure skaters, making it more difficult for him to do jumps and figures, but he was still immensely high on the world ranking list.
He could admit that when Louis passed him and was considered the “best in the world”, it hurt a little.
He was a bit annoyed that everyone made such a big deal about him joining the rink. A whole fucking meeting just for that?? He still heard the voices in his head, their reactions throwing him off.
„The Louis Tomlinson? The best figure skater in the world?“
Honestly, what was so special about him?
He couldn’t recall anyone throwing a big tantrum when he joined himself, and he was a big deal too. Louis was already getting on his nerves, and he wasn‘t even there yet.
Harry knew what kind of a person he was and he knew that Louis didn’t deserve all this with his attitude.
“I’m just saying mate, you’re a little obsessed with him.” Niall continued and Sophie silently agreed with him. “But who could blame you? As much as you hate him, you have to admit he’s fit as fuck. And I’m straight.”
“He’s average,” Harry spoke quietly, although he knew it was a lie. Louis Tomlinson was gorgeous.
But wasn’t it always the pretty ones that were the most dangerous?
Even if Louis was attractive, it didn’t make him less unlikable. Harry still hated him, and nothing would change that.
“Speaking of pretty boys, that guy has been staring at you for the past hour Harry,” Zayn mentioned and looked to their left. “I know,” Harry sighed, not in the mood for any action right now.
“Oh c’mon, it’s been ages since you last got laid. Maybe this will distract you from all the drama, eh?” Liam nudged Harry who just rolled his eyes.
“Maybe, but it would definitely distract me from training,” Harry argued and after that, the topic was back to the competition. Harry was rather silent for the rest of the night though, still thinking about Louis.
The others kept quiet about it, but they knew what was going on in his head. What annoyed him even more was that he couldn’t stop thinking of the trouble Louis would cause.
Maybe Harry was talking a bit too much about him, so what? He already had to endure Louis at every competition he was at, and that was hard enough.
But seeing him every single day?
Jesus. How would he survive that without going crazy?
That boy really was going to be a pain in the ass.
-
“Yes Nialler!” Harry cheered while watching them on the ice during his break. They successfully did a split triple twist lift, a very difficult move where the male partner throws the woman in the air while she does a split and rotates three times before the man catches her again.
Niall and Natalie only tried it off-ice before, but today they finally nailed it.
Harry himself finally had his short program ready and was working on his other program, the free style. He was already planning which elements he’d like to include, daring the quadruple lutz and quad salchow, which would give him a lot of points if executed right. He had been practicing them endlessly and was confident enough about them to include them.
He took one last sip of his water before retying his skates and stepping back out on the ice. He breathed in, immediately feeling the comfort, like he belonged. After doing a few laps on ice to get his heart rate up, Harry started experimenting and just doing what felt right in order to figure out which elements felt right to have in the part. Gliding over the ice, he didn’t have to think for a second.
He started by doing some easy back spins and the regular jumps, feeling confident when he got them right and even managed to do a combination. After the warm-up, he decided that he wanted to try a butterfly jump directly after landing from the triple flip.
The butterfly was a flying spin with a two-foot takeoff, in which the body goes parallel to the ice in the air with a scissoring leg motion. He had already done the move a few times during a program, but it was always a good way to earn points since it wasn’t exactly simple.
Luckily, Harry was one of the best there is, and the element felt natural to him.
He could feel the younger children’s eyes on him, a group that Zayn was currently training. He always felt a little anxious and under pressure when he knew they were watching. He knew that he was a role model to them, which was why he couldn’t allow himself to make any mistakes.
He did the jump a few times solo before moving on to the triple flip. He had done this jump a lot and it never disappointed. It was a beautiful move to watch and still impressive. He practiced this one as well for a few minutes before trying both elements together.
It actually worked and Harry felt relieved, glancing up and closing his eyes before moving towards the barrier to take a breath.
He glanced over at Zayn and realized that he watched him as well when he put two thumbs up and grinned like a proud dad. God, he loved Zayn. He grinned back before he went out on the ice again and continued working on his choreography, step sequences and trying out different elements in different orders.
Harry had no problem training while others were on the rink as well as long as nobody got in each other’s way, but that rarely happened. He couldn’t help but to think that this was the last time he was going to feel comfortable with other people here, since as of tomorrow, that would change.
Louis was officially starting here and he still didn’t know how he felt about that.
All he knew is that he wanted to focus on the competition, but he knew he couldn’t manage to do that with Louis breathing down his neck. He just hoped that Louis was going to leave him alone. If he even dared to steal parts of his choreography, Harry was going to end him. He wouldn’t put it beneath Louis, which is why he just hoped that they had different training hours.
But he knew that wasn’t the case.
He would just have to be careful around Louis. Who knew what could happen.
-
He got up at four in the morning that awaited day, as if he usually didn’t get up early enough. He didn’t fall asleep until past midnight and slept like shit. He didn’t even know why he was so nervous. It was just another day at training and yet he had this pit in his stomach that told him today was just the beginning.
Normally, he would be tired as fuck right now but for some reason, he was wide awake.
He packed his bag and briefly talked with Liam before making his way to the rink, listening to the music he picked out for his free style, ‘Take me to Church’ by Hozier. He had been listening to the song for a while now, it fitted his skating style perfectly and the song had a beautiful rhythm to it.
The music they were going to pick for their program said a lot about them as a person and a skater, and it was always interesting to see what music his friends picked. Sophie and Jack decided to dance to a Taylor Swift song, a pretty bold choice. But once he saw the choreography, he understood.
It was a back and forth, they were telling a story and it was bewitching. He really should listen to that song sometime; it was called ‘exile’ if he remembered correctly.
He got out of the car and went straight past the locker rooms to the gymnastic room so that he could stretch and warm up. Luckily no one else was there, meaning he was undisturbed. He stretched for about five minutes before he did a small workout and then stretched again.
The quiet inside the bright room was very relaxing, just him alone with his thoughts, preparing for another training.
After putting on his equipment and proper skating clothes, he walked down the hallway towards the rink while putting his gloves on. He heard somebody skating on there, probably Zayn.
Thank God, Harry wanted to talk to him anyways and he was in no mood to search him.
But instead of seeing black strands of hair he saw light brown ones, and his first instinct was to just turn around and leave.
But for some reason he couldn’t stop staring at the way the man’s body moved in sync with the loud music he put on, or the way he was in perfect form while doing a spin sequence which ended in the Biellmann position, a classic.
It was such a simple move but the way Louis executed it left Harry speechless for eternity.
It was mesmerizing, the way Louis glided over the ice so flawlessly that it felt like he was flying, doing a few turns before he followed with a triple axel, nailing the landing. He moved his body and arms with the music and Harry couldn’t stop looking. He was skating to the song ‘War of Hearts’ and it fit perfectly.
It was such a strong and powerful song and it made Harry shiver, getting goosebumps as Louis performed a flying sit spin right as the beat dropped to the climax of the song.
Harry didn’t want to think that Louis was good, he didn’t want to be captured by it. But he just couldn’t help it, which was quite infuriating.
It was still dark outside and the lights were dimmed inside, creating an almost peaceful scene in contrast to the music. It was cinematic and Harry could feel the tension in the air as Louis was moving over the ice, the sounds of skates gliding over the cold ice being pure satisfaction.
Something told Harry that he knew he was being watched, Louis probably even knew it was Harry. Even though he really couldn’t care less if Louis minded or not, he did realize that it was a little creepy to keep staring so he started walking again, placing his stuff next to Louis’ and putting his foot on the bench to tie his skates before stepping on the ice as well.
He could immediately feel Louis’ eyes on him for the first time and he felt like interrupting a personal moment, but he needed to train himself and the rink didn’t belong to Louis. In fact, he just got here so he had no right to be pissed about anything.
If Harry wanted to skate, he would. That’s that.
Harry stayed close to the barrier for a while and did some rounds to warm himself up while Louis continued to do his thing. There was a different kind of tension in the room this time, like both were aware that the other was there but no one would acknowledge it.
Once Harry couldn’t avoid it anymore he moved closer to the middle, feeling slightly uncomfortable with Louis watching him. Didn’t he take breaks? Harry could have sworn he had been skating non-stop for at least 20 minutes. It didn’t matter, he thought as he started moving and doing some simple jumps and turns, he couldn’t care less how Louis arranged his training.
Harry swore to himself he wouldn’t let himself get distracted, but that was exactly what was happening right now. He needed to focus, but that was a little hard considering they were both trying not to come too close to each other.
It stopped working when they were both skating backwards but in different directions. Meaning, once they passed each other, their eyes met and they looked at each other for the first time in about a year.
He looked a little older since the last time Harry saw him, some stubbles making an appearance on his chin. He still looked gorgeous, his lips cherry red and he was blushing a little, probably from the cold.
But what Harry couldn’t get over were his eyes. His blue eyes.
They were in contrast to everything else, especially the ice. Harry kind of wanted to stare at them for hours if he could, but he would never admit that out loud. He could even see some small freckles and moles, and he knew that if Louis smiled, there would be crinkles next to his eyes.
He noticed that Louis studied him too, and he wondered how a person could notice so many little things in the span of a few seconds since they went further and further away, but still holding eye contact.
It was almost like they were dancing around each other but avoiding any kind of interaction, if that made any sense at all. It did in Harry’s head.
Louis raised his eyebrows slightly before breaking the eye contact and gaining a little speed to perform a triple toe loop which he successfully did. Harry didn’t even notice that he lost speed himself, too focused on Louis when he landed and looked back at Harry.
Did he-… did he mock him? Was he trying to brag?
Suddenly Harry was furious and looked away, determined to show him what he could do. He gained speed and turned to perform a death drop to a sit spin (difficult jump into a sitting position with one leg up), changing positions into a pancake spin (free leg tucked over the other and body bent over the leg) and then finally ending with the Biellmann position.
Once he was finished, he was quite shocked with himself. He didn’t plan anything that just happened, just did what felt right. It was a good combo though and he had to remember it because he wanted to include it into his choreo. He was also proud, a feeling that was very welcomed.
He didn’t dare to look at Louis, even though he knew that he was watching him.
Suddenly the music is turned off and both skaters came to an abrupt halt, frowning. They looked at each other, both clueless until they heard someone shouting from the top of the benches.
It was Niall, of course.
Something told Harry he didn’t just arrive but that he had been there for a while.
“Music was way too loud guys, keep it down. We’re officially open now so there will probably be people coming soon.”
Harry put his thumb up, “Got it Ni, thanks.” He was already turning away, but then he heard Niall’s voice again. “Oh, and Harold? Nice move,” he said and winked, making Harry grin.
Mainly because he knew that Louis heard it as well.
He saw from the corner of his eye that Louis slowly pulled at his gloves, taking them off and moving to the side door, stepping out. Harry thought about following him because he was extremely thirsty but he decided to keep going for a little bit, at least until the place would start to fill up.
He wanted to enjoy the almost-isolation a little longer.
He skated for another ten minutes, trying different things and thinking about specific step sequences to include, making mental notes in his head. He could feel Louis’ eyes on him the entire time but he tried not to be bothered by it. He felt extremely pleased when he landed a triple flip double toe triple salchow, and between the toe loop and salchow he did a half loop in between to combine them.
It was a jump combination that had to go into the choreography. He also knew that it looked beautifully from the outside which gave him a little bit of a push, knowing that Louis saw everything.
When he decided to do a break, Harry realized that he would have to sit next to him. He had no other choice though; he was exhausted after all the jumps and steps. All he hoped for was that Louis wouldn’t be a dick, now that he saw what he was up against. But maybe, that’s exactly why he would be.
Harry was breathing heavily while he moved towards the exit, taking off his gloves as he stepped onto the rubber floor. He looked over to where his stuff was and saw, as expected, Louis sitting next to it in his black training clothes. His head was hanging down and he was tapping on his phone.
Harry scrunched his nose once, walked over and let himself fall next to him, grabbing for his water bottle. He let out a deep sigh before taking a sip, the water refreshing his throat while Louis didn’t even acknowledge him. It felt even colder than it did earlier.
Harry really squeezed every last potential out of coming early though because as soon as he sat down, about ten people started to come in and fill the place with life. He didn’t mind it, but he was grateful that he had some alone time. Although when he thought about it, that’s hardly what he could call that morning.
He was pulling out his phone to text Liam when Louis suddenly spoke out of nowhere.
“Those were some pretty good moves out there,” he said in a decent tone, making Harry frown and he looked up to him surprised.
That was not what he expected. Did Louis actually make him a compliment?
He should have recorded that.
The air stood still around them and there was an uncomfortable silence, one that he didn’t like one bit. “Uhm, thanks I guess?” Harry answered unsure, extremely confused. Half an hour ago Louis acted like he hated him and now he was telling him he was good?
“Although your landing at those triple jumps needs improvement and your posture needs a lot of work during the spins. And your footwork was really sloppy most of the time.”
His face dropped.
Of course, he should have fucking known.
Louis Tomlinson didn’t know compliments or politeness. As if he wasn’t pissed enough at him, Louis had the audacity to stand up and make his way back to the rink. And, well, Harry just couldn’t have that.
In no way would Louis get the last word.
“Excuse me?” He stood up as well, still in disbelief but he shouldn’t be this surprised, he knew what expected him. He didn’t know why he was hoping for Louis to suddenly change personalities, but a man could dream.
“You heard me,” Louis said completely unbothered, “you may be good, but if you want to make it to the top you still have a lot to work on, my friend,” he dared to chuckle. Harry was furious and took a step closer, his blood filled with rage.
“You do remember I beat you two years ago? You may have landed a quad axel but that doesn’t make you king of the world, my friend,” Harry mocked him with the last words and walked past Louis, brushing his shoulder.
God help him, he was not going to survive this.