✍🏻 Little Matchmaker

2 - According to Plan

"Hey," he said with a nonchalant nod, chewed on the gum, and leaned with his back against the barrier, elbows resting on top of it.

"Um, hey." He heard The-coolest-guy-on-the-planet answer but didn't dare to turn his head to look at him and just stared at the people skating in front of them, the same as Yuzuru was doing.

"Nothing too great, huh?" He chewed some more and again flung his hair from his forehead.

"What do you mean?" Yuzuru asked in response and then added with a serious tone "You shouldn't be chewing when you skate."

Akira ignored the bit about the chewing gum and went straight to the point. "The girls here. Nothing special, right?"
Yuzuru chuckled and that finally made Akira turn his head, giving him a dark glare for laughing at him.
"Aren't you too young for that---" He made an obvious pause and Akira quickly filled the gap.
"Akira. But everybody calls me Aki."
Yuzuru nodded and introduced himself as well.

"And I am not interested in any of them. I meant for you!" Now that made Yuzuru laugh out loud, his hand gently patting Akira's shoulder.
Normally Akira would internally freak out from the touch but right now he was getting increasingly annoyed.
"Well in that case I think I am too old for that." Yuzuru continued, still suppressing laughter. "I am afraid none of the girls are in my age category, you know?"

Akira looked back in front of himself, glad the conversation is now again going his way, even though he didn't appreciate the pat on the shoulder.
"Yeah, I know what you mean, man." Another chuckle coming from the side but he didn't let it distract him. "That's why I think you should check out my sister."

"Oh, I should, shouldn't I?" Yuzuru's voice was still playful, for a reason Akira didn't understand, so he just went with ignoring it and pointed at Sophie who was staring mindlessly somewhere into the distance. Sitting on her usual top bench with the notebook in her lap.
"That's her. She is single. Think about it."

And with that, he pushed himself off the barrier and skated away without looking back.
But no matter how far he skated, he could still hear Yuzuru's fit of laughter, filling his ears and turning him red with anger. Because there was absolutely nothing funny about their man-to-man exchange.

_____________________

Joy. Sheer joy. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Sophie was going down the stairs, tablet in her hands and aiming straight towards Hanyu!

At that point, Akira was pretty much fed up with him, because for the past hour, ever since their chat, he did not acknowledge Sophie at all.
But now she was coming to him!

He kept his distance from them but stopped skating and leaned against the barrier. No chance to hear anything from how far away he stood but he had a very good view on them now and was broadly grinning in anticipation.

They started with something that seemed like a very polite introduction, both of them searching for him on the ice. Akira instantly turned his head away, pretending to be stretching his legs.
A few seconds later he dared to look back at them and they were now standing next to each other, Sophie showing something to Hanyu on her tablet.
Akira frowned. They were standing way too far away from each other. Keeping a very polite, casual distance. Just as if they were not supposed to get married by the end of the year.

It looked as if Sophie was showing him some images on her tablet and he was attentively nodding and talking to her about something with a serious expression. They were not smiling at each other.
Akira unconsciously moved just a little bit closer to see more, hand clenching the barrier.
And then it happened.
Sophie swiped with her finger on the tablet at the same moment the coolest guy on the planet was about to do the same. And for a fleeting moment, their hands touched.
And later that night Akira was lying in bed, replaying this moment and trying to figure out what went wrong.
Because there was no spark. There was supposed to be an electricity-like spark coming out of their fingers when they touched. But there was not.
And soon after they finished their short chat and looked briefly into each other's eyes, there were no little sparkling stars reflecting in their gaze.
They just shook hands, slightly bowed and Sophie finally smiled at him. But it was exactly the same polite smile she was also giving to the lady in the grocery store when she helped put her things into a shopping bag. Or to a barista when she was taking over her coffee order. Why would she give him her polite smile and not her 'I love you' smile?

But the worst part came when she turned around and began to casually walk back to her seat.
And Hanyu turned back to look at the rink, scanning the people as if he just didn't talk to his future wife.
Akira angrily stomped with his skate, wanting to scream at the lamest-guy-on-the-planet to call after his mum and ask her out, but Yuzuru did no such thing.
But he did turn after her two seconds later.
He scanned her up and down and for longer than was necessary stopped with his eyes on her behind.