AXIS | Yuzuru Hanyu

33.

After getting back to the warmth of the bed, the couple fell asleep easily, finally allowing Brianna a bit of rest.

Yuzuru woke up before her in the morning and used that time to do his own digging on social media. The person that had posted the offense didn't even seem like his fan. There were posts from when he was competing that even hated him for trying the quad axel. It looked like it was one of those people who faked being fans to try and cause problems with others.

Yuzuru was mad, it was only natural that Brianna didn't look any further, but he was relieved to see that most of the reply comments were defending Bri, even if they don't know her at all. He was proud of his fandom and was confident they would respect their bond once they announced it publicly.

He felt her stir and kissed the top of her head, bringing a smile to her sleepy face.

"Morning beautiful"

"Good morning baby"

"I want to show you something" Yuzu said a bit unsure. "It's about the post you saw... I found it"

"Oh"

"I just want you to read the comments, okay?"

Brianna did and tears fell from her eyes when she realized that a lot of people were defending her, despite not even knowing how her.

"I'm feeling like an idiot for not looking at the comments when I saw the post"

"It's natural... I looked into their profile, and that person is not a fan, they have more posts hating me than anything else. Looking at what they have been saying, I think my fans will accept you with open arms."

"We should tell them"

"How do you want to do it?"

"it could be just a simple photo and post? Just tell everyone in the caption and that's it...I don't think we need to make it any bigger than that"

"I like that"

Choosing the right photo ended up being a challenge, they didn't have a lot of pictures together and the ones they had were quickly deemed 'not cute enough'.

After a shared shower, they got dressed in their usual loungewear and took a few pictures, hoping it would fix their problem. The impromptu photo session was eventually forgotten as they started messing with each other, completely forgetting about the camera that was shooting automatically.

When they checked the pictures, there was one that stood out. It was very simple, they were standing in the living room looking at each other with huge grins and loving eyes. Being such a genuine picture made it special. The rings were visible enough to make the picture perfect for the announcement.

Brianna wasn't so sure when he decided to tag her accounts, but imagined they would find them either way, might as well do it in one blow.

The photo went on Twitter, Instagram, and even the Community part of his YouTube. A small caption was written.

'I asked my best friend a question... and she said yes.' he wrote in Japanese, with a heart emoji.

Her profiles were all public and she didn't bother to do anything besides blocking tagging from people she didn't follow to avoid the spam. She also did a post on her Instagram with another impromptu picture from their session.

'Found my Prince, stole him from the ice' she wrote casually, trying not to overthink or overdo anything.

Without many surprises, In seconds she was overflowed with notifications from her accounts. They decided to lay off their phones and allow everything to settle down before looking into it. Yuzu was worried about the reactions and tried to hide it without success from a knowing fiancé.

"You know It's obvious how nervous you are today?" she asked as they came back from the rink.

"Is it?"

"I haven't seen you this tense in a long time. Are the reactions that bad?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen them. My mom texted me saying they put the picture on the news"

" I know you're popular, but I'm never ready for the celebrity status you have here in Japan"

"It will die over once they process the information... How's your social media?"

"Flooded. I haven't seen any comments. I want to, but I'm afraid."

Yuzuru took his phone once they arrived home and took a look and what was written under her post with a smile. He proudly told her to look into her social media. Not only was she being treated amazingly, but the fans were also kindly thanking her for making him happy, asking her for more pictures of them and even inviting her to fan events.

Brianna laughed and smiled at most of the comments, he was right when he said his fandom was warm and inviting, she knew that from the time she spent on Twitter. Remembering that social media, she realized how active she was with some of the other fans and wondered how those virtual friends of hers were doing with the news.

It didn't surprise her one bit to find that some of the people she followed were going a bit crazy. 'I can't believe you did this to us, you're a traitor Bri... He was not supposed to see the silly things we write here... Jk, I'm so happy. Please keep in contact with us, you're always welcome' said one of the tweets that made her laugh.

She replied to it with a huge grin 'You have such little trust in me... I would never show him those... maybe just a few.'

They were on the news again at night but eventually, everything settled. She was relieved to see that the reactions weren't even close to how bad she imagined it all. There was the occasional hate comment, but she started embracing those with a laugh at how ridiculous they often were.

Most of all, going public brought relief to be able to freely love him. 

Things were easier from that point on, even if she wasn't an anonymous girl on the internet anymore. This obviously meant she had to be more careful with what she wrote and said, but if it came with the perk of having him fully, it was worth it every single time.