The reason you think I left Tamiko for.
The reason YOU think I left Tamiko for...
Sophie rolled on the other side of the bed, wrapping herself tightly in the duvet and trying to get the whole monologue Yuzuru gave her that day from her head to get some sleep. She kept replaying that one specific sentence over and over again as it was a clear confirmation from him that the inability to have kids would not have been the main reason. But didn't she already know that anyway? He seemed the angriest about the fact that Tamiko knew it before the marriage too and was lying to him. But if that was the main reason, it was still no good to her. Because after almost four years of relationship he would not be able to understand why Tamiko was afraid to tell him and forgive her, trying to find a solution together.
Would I be able to be friends with someone who did something so cold-hearted?
After all, it would not be a relationship anyway, and being friends again would make things so much easier....
Or maybe, unlike Yuzu, do I just forgive people way too easily?
She tossed herself around once more, this time at least trying to redirect her thoughts to Lewis. She had so much fun with him that day but of course, once they returned to the rink, he was already gone. He did text her that he had fun but that obviously she has some unresolved things with Yuzuru and he would not want to get in the middle of it, but as long as she would like, he would be happy to see her again.
And she would like that very much, but no matter how hard she tried to think of him, it was still only Yuzuru who was on her mind.
Why him? Lewis was nice and funny and easy-going. Just that, all clear and simple.
Yuzuru was just next-level batshit crazy. Bi-polar....no, tri-polar...quad-polar(?) crazy. She could never guess with him if that day he will be his nice, kind, and polite self, or the closed-off, barely talking one, the angry one who just throws accusations all around, the funny one, or the damn attractive, confident, seductive one.
She giggled a little, thinking that he is actually behaving as his various skating programs.
Sometimes being the Yuzuru from Blinding Lights that made her just block out all of her concerns and throw herself at him even if it would be just for one night of fun.
And another time the arrogant, hard to approach Seimei version of him. Or like today, the rarest one, where he actually did choose to be vulnerable around her, just like his Requiem gala program.
Lewis.
Lewis.
Think of Lewis for fuck sake!!
What should I get Yuzu for Christmas, though?
Oh, shit! Christmas was already in two weeks and knowing nothing about him would make buying a gift really hard.
Really, really hard.
__________________
"Good morning, Aki!" Sophie said with a wide smile the moment Akira appeared in the kitchen, but instead of an answer, he just stood there, switching from looking at her and at his watch.
"What's going on?" He asked nervously, looking around for some clues but only getting more confused seeing all of his favorite breakfast dishes on the kitchen counter. "It is Sunday, right? Not Monday?"
"Not Monday."
"So why are you up? You should be still asleep for at least two more hours." He cautiously approached the counter, looking at the food as if to check if it's real, poking into it with his index finger.
"Don't touch the food like that!" Sophie slapped his finger and he quickly retracted his hand. "I just thought I would get up earlier and make a nice breakfast, that's all."
She kept smiling but Akira suddenly gasped in horror and ran into the living. "You broke the PlayStation, didn't you?!!!" He yelled while running and collapsed on the floor in front of the TV, quickly turning the console on to make sure it's okay.
"I did NOT!" Sophie marched straight after him, her hands on her hips.
"So what did you do? What's going on?!" He stood up and closed the distance between them and Sophie sighed in defeat.
"I would need your help with what to get Yuzu, I mean, Hanyu-san for Christmas."
"Oh." Akira let out in relief and then his eyes lit up brighter than a Christmas tree. "OH!!"
He put his index finger against his chin, something Sophie noticed he was recently doing anytime he was deep in thought, and after few seconds happily exclaimed, "Earphones!"
"What?"
"Give him earphones!"
"What?"
"Ear--" Akira pointed at his ears, "phones," he finished gesturing to be on a phone. "Earphones."
"I'm being serious, Aki." Sophie rolled her eyes and walked back into the kitchen, bringing the plates with food to the dining table. "I want to get him something he would like, not what he needs."
Akira facepalmed himself and followed after her, grabbing a plate himself to make the table ready faster. "He is obsessed with earphones, trust me."
"Nobody is obsessed with earphones."
"He is."
"So you want to tell me that he is like collecting them or something?"
"Yeah!"
Sophie arched her eyebrow and placed the last bowl on the table, sitting down. "Wait a minute! Is that why you wanted those insanely expensive earphones last year?"
"I still need them!" Akira said as he sat down as well and began to devour the food in front of him. "The music sounds diffelent in 'em"
"Don't talk with your mouth full." Sophie shook her head watching him fight with the need to eat it all and talk at the same time. "And you don't need them. You just want them."
"I need them." Akira said seriously and Sophie couldn't believe they are back to this conversation that she managed to close already a year ago.
"Aki, you wouldn't hear the difference anyway. Don't you remember how we tested it on those two different headphones and both me and you didn't hear any difference?"
"But the ones Yuzu has are special!" He exclaimed, getting clearly worked up again, "He does hear even the slightest difference!"
"Of course he does," she rolled her eyes, "he has a super hearing, right?"
"Yeah!"
"Oh, God. Is there anything that is not super about him in your eyes?" She rubbed her forehead, angrily cutting her fried egg with a fork. "Soon you gonna tell me that he goes out in the middle of the night and fights the crime in Toronto, hm?"
Akira paused and when Sophie raised her head she was pretty sure he was actually considering if his idol might have real superpowers, but after a moment he shook his head, dismissing the theory.
"Nah, he wouldn't have time for it."
Sophie sighed in exasperation and went back to her egg, muttering a quiet "Just eat, please."
But when they were finished with the breakfast, Akira dragged her to his room and showed her on youtube a compilation of Yuzuru talking about earphones, and she had to admit the figure skater might indeed have a strange obsession with something she considered to be a normal, everyday item.
"See!" Akira exclaimed, pointing at a frozen image of Yuzuru taking all kinds of earphones from his backpack. "I told you!"
"Alright, alright. I give up." Sophie ran her hand through her hair and sat down on his bed. "But I know nothing about earphones."
"That's why you have me!" he exclaimed again and Sophie began to feel a slight headache from all that loudness early in the morning. "I know everything about his earphones!"
"Okay, can you please just find me the ones I should buy?"
"On it!" Akira shouted while saluting and Sophie massaged her temples, going back to bed and far away from all the noise.
____________________
To say that Akira was proud of himself would be an understatement.
He was practically glowing with satisfaction during the Monday practice. Not only that he managed to find exactly the brand Yuzuru was most obsessed with, but they were also about to release completely new ones, being now still in production and not possible to buy. That is for people who were not unbelievably rich. Sophie gave it as a task to her new assistant and with Yuzuru being one of their regular customers, the company had the specific mold for his plugs in the database and would produce him a custom one.
Akira had to bite his tongue several times anytime he skated past Yuzuru just to keep it in and not spoil it. But at least his coach did seem deep in thought and didn't pay that much attention to him. Only constantly stealing quick glances at Sophie and frowning.
And just before the morning practice was over, he skated to Akira, pulling him aside.
"Aki, I might need your help." He said anxiously and looked around. "Let's say if a Santa was to bring something to your mum, what do you think she would like the most?"
Oh damn, Yuzu!! You still believe in Santa?!!!
"Um, Santa?"
"Yeah? I am, um..." he once more looked around and lowered his voice even though he spoke in Japanese. "I am writing him a letter, you know? Wondering what should I ask him for your mum."
"Oh." Akira let out, slightly disappointed that Yuzuru, who just turned thirty, didn't yet figure out that Santa isn't real. "OH!" he suddenly exclaimed, realizing he now has more power than he thought.
"Have him get her a ring!!"
"A what?!"
"You know, a ring! The one that you could then hand to her kneeling down and all that." Akira wiggled his eyebrows and Yuzuru chuckled, trying to ruffle his hair but he dodged last second. "I am not kidding."
"I know." He said with a sigh and his tone was serious again. "Maybe an idea for something slightly less personal?"
"A mug?"
"Something more personal?"
He put his finger against his chin and Yuzuru giggled, watching him with amusement as he thought about a balance between an engagement ring and a mug.
"I don't know, she always says I am all she needs."
"But she does wear a lot of jewelry, right?"
"That's why I said she should get---"
"Okay, I think I have an idea," He muttered more for himself, "thank you, Aki." And skated away, still visibly deep in thought.
Akira wondered what it is and he was no wiser three days later when Yuzuru skated to him again with another request, asking him if he could email him two pictures of himself, one with his mum and one alone.
"Ha! Don't you worry! I am very photogenic!!"
Yuzuru chuckled, patting his shoulder gently, "I have no doubt about that."
Akira hoped that it is linked with the Christmas present and Yuzuru is not solely dependent on Santa. Because it would be really lame to watch the exchange when Sophie would get him the personalized, new edition earphones and Yuzuru would be looking out of the window instead, waiting for some magical sleigh with reindeers to come down on their terrace.
And so when he had his break, he put on his skate guards and walked to his mum, whispering into her ear while she sat at the cafe.
"I think we have a problem, mum." He said in all seriousness and Sophie raised her head to him. "Yuzu still believes in Santa."
Sophie chuckled and looked on the ice, watching Yuzuru explaining something to Nari. "Oh, he does?" she said with amusement and Akira nodded sternly, watching now Yuzuru as well.
"Yeah, I don't think you are getting anything from him for Christmas."
Yuzuru glanced at them and noticing they are both staring right at him and talking, he frowned a little and interrupted his talk with Nari, looking back at them.
"That's alright, Aki. I don't need any Christmas presents, I have you." Sophie giggled again and continued with the stare battle. "Let Yuzu, I mean, Hanyu-san, believe in Santa. Don't ruin it for him."
"I think you should hold on to the earphones and if he doesn't give you anything, just give them to me. It would be a shame if they would go to waste."
Sophie laughed at his obvious attempt to snatch the earphones for himself and they watched as Yuzuru skated to the edge of the rink, putting on his skate guards.
"People should give presents to others because they want to, not because they expect one in return."
"Just sayin'" Akira raised his hands in all innocence and soon after Yuzuru walked over, making Akira wonder how come he walks on those skates on the ground way better than anyone else he has ever seen.
"Everything alright with you two?" Yuzuru said with a suspicious smile and Sophie inhaled to say something but Akira beat her to it.
"We were just discussing that we open the presents on the 25th in the morning, so you should come already on the 24th and stay overnight." He said quickly and Sophie sharply inhaled once more to interrupt him but he continued before she managed to get out a word. "Also, mum would like to start calling you Yuzu, but is too shy to ask."
Sophie growled and rested her head against the wooden table with a slight thud. She heard Yuzuru giggling and after he asked Akira to go back on the ice, he sat down next to her, poking into her foot with his skate.
"Is that so?" He said with amusement and Sophie sighed, leaving her forehead still against the table. "You can call me, Yuzu if you like, you know." He ruffled her hair and she quickly darted up, pointing her finger at him.
"That's NOT what we were talking about!"
"But will you call me Yuzu from now on?"
"And we open the presents on the 25th after lunch, so you can come around noon, no need to---"
"Nah, it's no problem, I will come on the 24th already."
"That's not how----"
"So will you call me Yuzu?"
"Why do you care how I call---"
"It just sounds nice with your Spanish accent, that's all."
"Then call Javi if you want to hear your name said----"
"He might be my best friend, but believe it or not, your feminine voice makes it sound much---"
"Just go, please," Sophie whined and put her head in her hands, giving up trying to do anything about him or Akira and his constant set ups. At least for now. But on Christmas, she promised herself, she will get her autonomy back and make them see she is the one setting the rules.
She heard Yuzuru standing up and she jumped up in surprise when she heard his whisper next to her ear. "See you on the 24th, Sophie." He ruffled her hair again and she raised her head only when she couldn't hear his footsteps on the floor anymore.
_________________________
24th of December, afternoon
It was hard for her to believe it but she was genuinely looking forward to Yuzuru to finally come over, checking her watch every few minutes. The rink was closed for a few days already and hence Akira had no way how to channel the excess of his energy. And needless to say, he had a lot of it.
He was supposed to start his new school right after New Year and when he wasn't talking about that, he was telling her all about the new PlayStation games that came out and describing in great detail the story arcs of each, in last hopeful attempts it would catch her attention and she would buy it for him.
As much as she loved him more than life itself, it was not easy to be closed with a kid for so long and she really craved any kind of adult talk. Just anything not involving superheroes, anti-heroes with unrealistic backgrounds, pokemons, digimons, and billion other 'mons' and heroes.
"But Loki is really misunderstood, you know," Akira was telling her, following after her while she took a basket with clothes to her bedroom and began to fold it on the bed.
"Uhm.."
"His whole life, he thought he is an Asgardian but it turned out he was actually a Frost Giant."
"A frost giant...interesting..." Sophie mumbled wondering what exactly is the amount of information her brain can retain before exploding from overload.
"So it is actually quite understandable he took it hard when he found out. But there is still very little we know about his real ancestors." Akira plopped himself on the bed, lying on his side and supporting his head on his elbow. "That is until now. The new game that just came out dives exactly into the history of his legacy."
"Uhm..."
"But it's an Xbox exclusive..." he quietly added and Sophie didn't even have to raise her head from the t-shirt she was folding to see his hopeful look.
"You are not getting an Xbox, Aki." She said with exhaustion, being over this topic a thousand times before for the past two years and most of all, trying not to spoil that both the game and the new Xbox console are already wrapped in her closet.
"B-But---"
Suddenly the reception phone rang and Sophie almost broke her leg how fast she darted out of the bedroom to answer the phone and confirm they can let Yuzuru up.
An adult, an adult....no more superhero talk.
They both waited at the door for him to come out of the elevator and Sophie was sure that Akira's excitement is matching hers.
"What do you think about Loki?!" Akira asked the second Yuzuru made it to the door not even letting him take off his shoes first.
"Um, I think he is quite misunderstood?" He said with a frown of what's going on and Sophie moaned, stomping with her foot and striding back to her bedroom, muttering a quiet "I give up, I fucking give up."
She threw herself on the bed, burying her face in a pillow and grunting quiet swears into the soft fabric.
A moment later she felt the bed shifted under the weight of somebody else and heard Yuzuru's concerned voice.
"You okay, Sophie?"
"Where is Aki?" She muttered into the pillow and felt Yuzuru scooting over to sit closer, putting his hand on her back.
"I asked him to play in his room for a while if that's okay?"
"And he listened?!" Sophie rolled swiftly over and when his hand ended up on her stomach instead, he immediately pulled away.
"Yeah, he did." He said with a smile and Sophie only whined once more.
"I asked him to do that at least ten times today!!" she rubbed her face and looked at him with a defeated look in her eyes. "Sorry. And thank you. It's just, he can be a lot sometimes. He is driving me mad in the past days and I didn't even go to the gym since TCC closed."
"Isn't there a gym downstairs?" Yuzuru stood up, walked over to the basket of clothes, and began to fold the individual pieces.
"Yeah," Sophie let out, admiring the neat folding that she had to admit was much better than her sloppy one. "I just didn't want to bother Elliot, his new au pair, just to come over for two hours."
"Aki wouldn't go with you?"
"Not for two hours." She sat up, fishing out from the basket a t-shirt to fold as well. "He can't obviously keep up for that long, but an hour is not enough for me."
"And would you like to go now?" He glanced at her from the t-shirt with a soft smile. "I could watch him."
"You do know you are not here to do some kind of penance, right? No need to fold shirts or to babysit Akira."
"I know." He said simply but there was something sad about his eyes. He re-did the t-shirt she folded a moment ago and sat down next to her on the bed. "But if I can make things easier for you, I will try."
She smiled at him softly, watching him play with the t-shirt in his lap, and he suddenly seemed to her quite lonely. As if he knew he is just a visitor here, an outsider who doesn't belong in their little family. Making her wonder how many friends he actually has in Canada himself if he still chose to spend Christmas with her and Akira.
"Yuzu," she said gently and put her hand on his knee, "do you promise to be on your best behavior?"
"What do you mean?" he looked up at her confused.
"No flirting and all that."
"Oh," he hung his head again and put his hand over hers. "Don't worry. I know that ship has sailed a long time ago," he muttered quietly, "I wouldn't even dare to try anything."
"It's just the other day when you whispered to me you are looking forward to the 24th it sounded kind of...you know, suggestive."
"It wasn't supposed to come out that way. Sorry. I was just happy, that's all."
"Hmm," she hummed quietly and continued with the same gentle voice, "and would it make you happy to stay a bit longer?"
"What do you mean?" He asked frowning but with a clear glimpse of hope in his eyes.
"Well, as long as you wouldn't mind, I would appreciate some downtime from that little demon as well as to talk to an adult here and there until everything opens again." She saw his frown disappearing and casually shrugged her shoulders, smiling. "So if you are not busy and if you would like to stay until New Year, it would be kinda great."
He beamed her the widest smile and pulled her lying down with him on the bed, wrapping her in a hug. "That would be super great," he said giddily into her ear and she inhaled to protest but he quickly interrupted her, lifting himself up on his elbows. "It was just a hug, Sophie." he smiled some more and when she opened her mouth to answer, he leaned down above her forehead, placing a quick peck there. "And that was just a friendly, 'thank you' kiss."
"Nothing you do from this kind of distance seems 'just' friendly to me."
"But that is not my fault." He straightened up completely, sitting down on his heels. "I do remember how you said there is nothing attractive about me anymore." He said with a slight bitterness in his voice but then his eyes softened again. "Does that mean I can't even give you a friendly hug anymore?"
"Of course you can, it's just," she raised herself on her elbows, feeling more nervous than she would expect, "the way you do it, all soft and gentle."
"Do you want me to hug you harshly?"
"Well, no, but---"
"And just a simple peck on a forehead, does that seem sexual to you?"
"Normally no, but---"
"Well then, make up your mind, Sophie-chan."
She growled and put her hands over her face, wondering if she is really just imagining things that are not really there.
Suddenly there was a loud rumble of thunder and she let out a fearful squeak, making Yuzuru chuckle.
"Are you afraid of storms?"
"A little." She mumbled anxiously and got up from the bed, going over to the window to check how bad it is. The sky was dark even though it was still late afternoon and the strong wind was already picking up. And as much as she didn't like this kind of weather it was still better than the conversation they were just having, being kind of glad for the interruption.
"Before it starts to rain, would you help me to move the flowers from the terrace inside, please?"
"Yeah, sure," he stood up and grabbed his things, looking around momentarily. "Can you just tell where can I put this?" He raised his small bag, glancing at her closet.
"We have a guest room, you are not staying here, don't worry."
"Oh, thank God." He let out as if a great weight fell off his shoulders and Sophie shook her head in disbelief.
"You seem relieved." She put her hands against her hips. "So, was I right? Would you be tempted to try something if we were to share the bed? Hm?!"
Yuzuru smiled weakly and threw the bag over his shoulder. "I am relieved because you are a terrible bed companion, that's all."
There might have been a big storm brewing outside but the lightings were no match to the ones Sophie had now in her eyes.
"What the hell?!" She cried out and Yuzuru gave her a cheeky smile before turning on his heel and going into the hallway.
"Do I snore or something?" She demanded, following closely behind him.
"Nope." He pointed at the various door and Sophie passed him by, barging into the room opposite hers.
"That's your room." she snapped and once more put her hands against her hips. "So what is the problem?!"
Yuzuru walked in, her obvious anger not affecting his gleeful mood. "First you are mad because you think I want to sleep in the same bed with you and now you are mad finding out that I don't."
Sophie opened and closed her mouth a few times and Yuzuru put his bag on the bed, walking out of the room and leaving her behind.
She stood there for few quiet seconds, pursing her lips and feeling offended that suddenly she is not good enough for him to sleep next to her. Especially since it was his broken promise that he would leave that night, that brought Tamiko to her doorstep. So why did he stay the night if she was such a terrible bed companion?!
She barged into the living room, just to see Yuzuru bringing the large flower pots from the terrace inside. She hurried to help him and a second later Akira ran in as well, pulling all the windows and curtains shut.
"I checked it online as soon as I heard the thunder, mum." He said hurriedly just as they brought in the last flower pot. "It is gonna be a big one. They said it might be the worst one of the decade."
"Great." She muttered under her breath and Akira grabbed her hand, leading her to the kitchen.
"Get the ingredients ready for the Christmas cookies and I will blast some loud Christmas carols. You won't hear a thing."
_____________________
They spent the next two hours in the spacious kitchen, both Akira and Sophie singing along with the songs and Yuzuru just constantly chuckling, probably from listening to Akira's screeching and the fact he did not care he can't sing. Yuzuru made the least amount of cookies, but all of his were the neatest ones, cut out and painted with meticulous perfection. Whereas looking at Akira's pile, he went for quantity over quality but seemed not to care, as long as there was enough to eat throughout the holidays.
"Choose your winner then." Akira said with his chest puffed out as he took from his pile a Pikachu-shaped cookie and began to carefully write his name and the year on the back of it with the frosting, the tip of his tongue stuck out in concentration.
"Every year, each chooses the best cookie and we hang it on the tree, together with the ones from the previous year." Sophie explained to confused Yuzuru, watching his eyes sparkle with realization.
"That is a lovely tradition." He said with a smile but didn't touch any of his creations and Sophie gently poked his sides.
"C'mon, pick one for yourself." She said gleefully but he still looked at her as if to make sure it is okay. "Two years ago, we had Maria over as well and a year before that two of my friends from Spain came over too. So don't worry, it is not exclusively just for me and Aki."
Yuzuru grinned and it was no surprise to her he chose the cookie in the shape of pair of skating boots.
He followed Akira's example and wrote '2025 Yuzu' on the back. Sophie then picked hers, most of them in shapes of flowers, painted with bright colors, and flipped it over, writing only '2025 Soph' since her name was too long to fit.
"So what now?" Yuzuru asked and Akira hurried with an answer.
"Now we let it dry and meanwhile start...." he made a pause and exchanged an important look with Sophie. They both inhaled and loudly exclaimed in unison with their arm up.
"Tree decoration!!"
It was already late at night when they finished and when they all took a step back to admire the masterpiece, Sophie doubted they would get any praise from a design magazine. The tree was playing with all colors possible, most of the ornaments not matching each other at all since they were buying them randomly anytime they traveled to different countries, but she loved that each of them had a little story behind it.
It seemed that even the perfectionist part of Yuzuru didn't mind it, because when she looked at him, he was smiling from ear to ear, his eyes dazed from all the colorful lights the tree was now emitting.
It didn't take any arguing to send Akira to bed, because he was well aware the sooner he would fall asleep the sooner it would be the next day.
Once Sophie made sure that he is fast asleep she came back to the living room, and was surprised to see Yuzuru sitting on the sofa and reading. Her book. Being well behind the half already.
Oh, míos Dios, please don't read about Clara's death on Christmas!
She came over and sat down next to him on the sofa, poking his sides to make him distracted before he would get to the deadly chapter.
"You must be like the last person who didn't finish the book yet."
"Yeah, it was really hard to stay away from all the spoilers." He answered but kept reading, obviously not willing to close the book just yet. "I just really do hope that Rockwell finally realizes his feelings for Clara."
"Um, there is a war brewing between all of the kingdoms and you are most worried about Clara and Rockwell?"
"Yeah, well she is my favorite character. She has been through so much, I can't wait for her to have a happy ending."
Sophie tensed up a little, feeling as if walking on thin ice. He never talked to her about the books he liked and even though this may not have been his favorite book, hearing him talk about his favorite character was a big deal. But of course, he just had to pick that one book she really didn't want to talk about. Always worried that she will make it slip and say something that she only wrote but didn't publish yet, sometimes getting lost since she was so much ahead of the readers and didn't always remember what she already included and what will be only in the next volume.
She glanced over the part he was just reading, knowing he is just a few pages away from Clara's tragic death.
"Um, would you maybe help me bring some of the presents under the tree?"
"Sure, can I just finish this chapter first, please?" He glanced at her briefly and quickly returned back to where he was, quietly muttering. "Clara is just in the middle of the battle, trying to find Rockwell in all the mess."
Sophie sighed and for a second contemplated what to do but in the end, decided that it might be for the best to just give him the privacy and retire to bed before he gets to the part.
She got up, quickly moving the presents from her bedroom closet to the living room, Yuzuru not even noticing when it was done.
"Um, I need to go downstairs, Yuzu." she said quietly, but he immediately raised his head hearing her voice. Or maybe because of the way she called him. "I have the new skates for Aki in my personal locker there. Didn't want to risk for him to snoop around the flat and find it."
"Alright." He put the book away and stood up. "I will go with you then."
"Eh? You don't have to, I will be back in like two minutes."
"But you hate taking the elevator." He said simply and walked past her, putting on his shoes. "I will go with you."
Sophie was about to protest, but she had to admit it would be nice to have there a company to keep her distracted. And so she didn't say anything and slid into her shoes as well.
"The code for the door is 4277," she said as she closed the door behind them, going through the hallway, "since you will be staying for few days, in case you would need to leave at some point."
"Thanks, I will drive tomorrow morning back to my place to bring more clothes." He pressed the button on the elevator and turned to her with a small smile. "Also I feel like I need to warn you that I will hold your hand in the elevator. So before you freak out that I am trying to seduce you, it will be just a friendly gesture to make the ride easier for you."
He only announced it without any question if she would even want him to hold her hand but considering she did, she only rolled her eyes but didn't protest. She was used to this elevator already and didn't feel as uncomfortable as in the ones she didn't use before, but still having somebody by her side there was nice.
"You kind of remind me of Clara." He said absentmindedly as they stepped in the metal box and he curled his fingers around her palm. "She also hates small spaces after what her father did to her."
"Hmm," Sophie muttered and squeezed his hand just a bit tighter as the elevator shook a little, "believe it or not, there are plenty of people with claustrophobia."
"It's not just that, you actually have many similarities," he said still quietly, clearly lost in his own thoughts, "I thought about it already a long time ago."
Sophie shifted her weight, her nervousness doubling. As much as she didn't mind sharing some personal things with him anymore, she still always avoided anything from the self-insert she did with Clara so he, or anyone else, would not figure out the obvious connection. And now it seemed that he didn't even need to know anything about her past to start finding the similarities.
"She also always wears her hair loose and runs her hand through it when she is anxious or annoyed."
"Well, it's not like that is a rare trait for people to do."
"Maybe, but the way she is always talking about her small village and the protectiveness she feels towards her people there, it kind of reminds me of you and Akira. Just as she rushed into the war to protect them, you would go at the end of the world to protect Aki."
"Any parent would for their child."
"I know, but it's just all the things adding up, you know." He said with a small smile and the elevator finally stopped, Sophie darting out the second the door opened. She strode through the long hall of various locker boxes for mail and came to the one with her name, entering her code.
"Or like how she always worries if she is doing the right thing. Trying to be perfect and afraid it won't be enough. That something terrible will happen. You know, the same feeling of impending doom that you always have." He made a brief pause and stopped her hands as she was just reaching in for the box with Akira's new skates. "You okay, Sophie? Your hands are shaking."
"Y-Yes. It's just I completely forgot about the storm with all the carols playing in the flat. It's much more audible here."
"Oh." he let out quietly but looked at her with slight doubt in his eyes. "Let me take it." He reached in for the box instead and tucked it under his arm, grabbing her hand and walking back to the elevator.
"You don't seem happy about me comparing you to Clara, why?" he questioned, again scanning her face curiously like he always did anytime he wanted to exactly analyze what she thinks. "I would be over the moon with happiness if there would be such a cool character similar to me."
"She isn't that cool," Sophie said coldly, trying to focus and keep her face expressionless.
"What?!" Yuzuru exclaimed, and they entered the elevator again. "She is the absolute coolest! I love her! I honestly can't wait for the end of the battle, she will be the most decorated soldier when it's over."
Sophie whimpered and suddenly there was a loud sound of the lighting, making the elevator shake. She jumped up in surprise and he squeezed her hand tighter. "It's okay. Almost there."
But they were not almost there because the moment he said that, the lights flickered and the elevator stopped completely.