♡ Unrequited Feelings- Aimer
♡ Close To You - Little Glee Monster
♡ I Want to Convey My Love or Something Like That - Aimyon
♡ Symptoms - SHINee
♡ My Melody - Haseul & Yeojin / LOONA
♡ Let’s Sing A Song - moumoon
♡ True End Outro: Before Our Spring - Jonghyun
♡ Normal End Outro: You - Utada Hikaru
Title: Drabbles on Ice
Fandom: Tales of Xillia & Yuri! On Ice
Pairing: Jude Mathis/Ludger Will Kresnik
Rated: T just in case
Description: Jude is a medical student, Ludger is a gold-winning figure skater. Ludger comes over a video of Jude skating and decides to become his coach.
Notes: Beta’d by @yukinomonshou. Figure Skating AU. Non-chronological. Just a few drabbles to help me further develop my ideas (and my skills) into maybe writing a full fanfiction for this AU.
{AO3}
Drabbles on Ice: A Yuri! On Ice AU Drabble Collection
Bullet
Even just standing in the same corridor as his former coach made the anxiety flare in Ludger’s gut. He wasn’t a skater anymore, he had had no contact at all with Bisley since quitting his post to coach Jude, but it wasn’t as if the former skater wasn’t intimidated by him, evidently.
Swiping down through the contents of an app he chose at random on his phone, Ludger at least pretended as if he hadn’t noticed as he leaned against the wall of the corridor. Hopefully, the others would catch up with him quickly; they had only stepped out for coffee while he was being interviewed.
“If it isn’t Ludger,” a more than familiar yet dreaded voice called out, being carried closer and closer to the said former skater. “I didn’t think you’d actually go through with your sudden call for coaching, never mind seeing you here. But you seem to be doing well.”
Ludger raised his head, his own green eyes meeting his father’s blue.
”Ah, Bisley. I didn’t see you there,” he quickly responded with a faux chuckle, as well as an artificial smile. Honestly, it couldn’t seem any faker than it was, but also, it wasn’t as if his former coach called him out for it at all.
He was taking the bullet and biting down on it, just wanting the feeling of apprehension to hurry and be watered down.
Lesson
Practice could always be frustrating for Jude. Maybe less so if it was just him and Milla. But when it was him, Milla and Ivar – with Leia lingering somewhere in the background, the difficulty in concentrating seemed to escalate immensely.
“So, what was it you needed help with again, Jude?” Milla asked, tilting her head if only very slightly, her arms crossed. He needed help with something, a jump – but with the rush of preparing for competitions – it seemed to slip her mind.
The newbie of the group rubbed his head nervously as he eventually piped up with his answer. “Well, I was… I was wondering if you could – if one of you could show me how to land a quad salchow?” It was a large request, or at least, a large request for him. However, it was one of the jumps that he failed to land, no matter how many times he had attempted it or how many times his coach had tried to show him.
“A quad salchow, huh?” Ivar began, smirking lightly to himself. “Of course, a phony like you wouldn’t know how to land one. And yet someone as talented as Milla Maxwell can land it with ease.”
The blonde deadpanned her companion. “Ivar, do I remind you of the time where you asked me for the same–”
“–but at least I landed it pretty quickly after being taught! More than this phony has done!”
Jude smiled wryly at the conversation being thrown to-and-fro in front of him. Everyone had to start somewhere, right?
Wind
“I’m sorry we ended up practising a little later today,” Ludger apologised, throwing Jude a smile before concentrating on walking down the steps that led to the local ice rink. “I did promise your parents I’d try not to interrupt your studies, after all.”
The dark-haired younger shook his head, a similar smile set on his own lips. “Don’t worry about it. I shouldn’t have any tests in a while and I’ve finished all my assignments… I’ll just have to study a little more tomorrow.”
Honestly, as much as he did enjoy and was dedicated to studying, Jude’s interests and passions towards figure skating were unwavering. Especially now he was being coached by his idol, Ludger Kresnik; a figure skater who won gold medal after gold medal, who set record after record. If anything, it only motivated the student.
Or at least, it motivated him when he tried to push himself out of bouts of self-loathing.
“But it’ll all pay off. I try not to be overconfident, but I’m convinced you’ll do well in your next competition,” the coach attempted to reassure, pulling his gloves from his pocket, the gloves in the lingering, light grip of his hand, before he continued in covering his left hand with a glove.
As he was about to do the same with the right, a gust of wind passed by him, the glove flew from his hand and… for all Ludger knew, the glove didn’t seem to be anywhere. He blinked, before looking over to his companion who seemingly did the same.
A smile cracked on the older male’s lips, a smile that reflected onto that of his friend and student. The sound of carefree chuckling from the pair was what was pulled in the next strong breeze.
Resurface
The elder stood by the rink, with an expression that was almost considered smirking, as he approached the pair of coaches, who were watching their respective students from the side of the rink. But there was a lingering question that had haunted their thoughts since the last time Rowen had appeared;
How did he know Gaius?
Gaius tended to keep to himself, to the point where not even his students seemed to know all there was to know about him. Why did he begin to coach figure skaters for competitions when the aura he gave off, was one that contradicted the sport? Why was there a silent determination whenever he watched the routines of his students?
Rowen, however, gave a hearty chuckle to himself in reply to the coaches’ queries. “I can at least see what you mean. Gaius may not exactly come over as someone who is passionate about skating, however, his past would likely disagree with the current image that he tends to play.”
Ludger and Mira blinked in confusion. That didn’t mean… what it sounded like, did it?
“What do you mean, ‘his past would likely disagree’?” Milla’s twin asked, crossing her arms and furrowing her brow.
The elder gentlemen simply hummed in amusement. “Why, of course, Gaius used to be a skater himself. You wouldn’t know about an Erston Outway, would you? Gaius is simply a name he chose to rebrand himself – or, what one would call ‘hiding from his dark past’. He simply resurfaced when an old rival returned to the sport.”
An entertained grin grew on Mira’s lips, and a dry smile on Ludger’s own because they both knew that it wasn’t going to be long before the other coach in question reappeared, and it was going to be hard to act unknowingly.
Winter
“Are we even sure we left the rink?” Leia grumbled quietly to herself, rubbing her arms in an attempt to warm herself up. Although her point rang true with her other two friends, they couldn’t help but laugh faintly as they began to walk through the cold streets, with their separate destinations being somewhat the same in name; home.
Ludger’s smile faintly sat on his lips as he walked, with Leia and Jude walking slightly ahead of him. Since when had he last been like this? Complaining about the cold, and yet walking slowly so a conversation could flow in the icy air, doing childish things like blowing into the frozen air for a white mist to show. The more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t remember.
A few minutes into their walk, a walk filled with the cheerful voices that Ludger hadn’t heard in a long time for people he could consider friends, the trio’s attention was quickly enticed by the gentle fall of white powder from the sky. Expressions of wonder, amazement, and excitement grew on their faces as they realised what they were witnessing.
The falling of the first snow of winter.
Uncle
Agria rolled her eyes in annoyance as she glided over the ice to the side of the rink on her blades, stopping beside where Jude and Milla stood on the other side of the barrier. “Well, what do you know? Moneybags is making a cameo this season too.”
The pair turned to where the younger girl’s eyes were piercing, the image before them setting Ludger talking to an older, dark-haired man who seemed to hold a resemblance to the younger skater’s coach. Jude raised a brow in curiosity, as while Milla simply sighed.
“However, I’m sure a lot of people would rather have him around than Bisley,” the blonde quickly added in the analysis. She paused, realising that Jude probably didn’t recognise the figure they were talking about, and so she decided to elaborate. “The person who Ludger is talking to – I believe it’s his uncle, Victor Kresnik.”
“Victor… Kresnik?” the younger male repeated, his brow furrowed. Where had he heard that name before..?
“He’s the president of the Spirius Corporation, you dolt,” Agria sighed loudly, the annoyance in her tone probably louder than the volume of her voice. “You know, the official sponsor of the competition we’re working our butts off to qualify for?”
Jude threw her an uncomfortable smile before looking over his shoulder at Ludger and this Victor person. Why was he concerned?
Cruelty
It was hard going home at the end of practice. Partly because it meant that Jude would have to stop practising, that he’d have to wave goodbye to Ludger for another day. However, another factor was that he didn’t want to have to deal with this discouragement and the comments from his father.
Jude was still a medical student, he had promised to remain dedicated to his studies despite his training, hell – even Ludger had promised that training wouldn’t get in the way of the younger’s studying. His mother had been as supportive as she usually was with his decisions, repeating on several occasions that she had faith that Jude achieve his potential both on and off the ice. His father, however, was a completely different story.
“Don’t you think you should dedicate more time to your studies?”
“Jude, let’s stop this silliness already before it’s too late. You need to think what’s better for your future.”
The student could understand the logic behind what his father was saying, but rather than coming across as someone who was genuinely concerned with their son’s life choices, it honestly just came across as cruel to the teenager.
Bunting
“Leia, what are you even doing?” the girl’s childhood friend questioned, tilting his head as he watched her struggle with putting up decorations. “You know you didn’t have to go this far..?”
But Leia was Leia, and would Leia listen to him in telling her that she really didn’t have to go this far for him? No, not at all. But he guessed her stubbornness and dire need to show her optimism was what gave Leia her charm.
The girl in question turned, squinting her eyes at Jude. “What do you mean ‘I don’t have to go this far’? Of course, I do! This is your first competition since the qualifiers, Jude! It’s super important that we do this properly. I’m sure Ludger would back me up on this one.”
Jude shook his head, before letting out a sigh. He wasn’t going to win this one, was he? Not like he won many discussions with Leia, but he definitely wasn’t going to be able to defeat her level of stubbornness on this one.
“I even got these specially made for the occasion! And I’m totally gonna start using them from now on,” she grinned, holding a collective of bunting with each flag also holding a letter, spelling out his name in full.
Stalked
Jude looked down at the ground as he walked in the dark, his hands tucked inside of his coat pockets, just wanting to quickly make it home from studying with Leia. He hadn’t even realised how dark it had gotten until a few minutes before he left, but he began to prefer walking at night as opposed to during the day – if only because people were beginning to recognise him, they were beginning to want his autograph. It was… weird.
Fame hadn’t crossed his mind when he had accepted the offer of Ludger becoming his coach, nor had it when he had begun to participate in competitions with other competitors he did consider famous. But him? He was just Jude Mathis – he didn’t consider himself to be anything special.
The idea of being famous… it seemed fun when he was with his newly found friends, it didn’t even seem so bad when he was around Ludger (although they often seemed a lot more interested in Ludger as opposed to him, so maybe that was probably why?), but he honestly wasn’t one for all the attention he was getting, even if he was getting used to it.
His eyes widened. The figure skater stopped in his tracks, turning around to see nothing. Even though he swore someone was behind him for a second. A shiver ran down his spine. Why did he suddenly feel cautious? On edge? Turning around, Jude began to run – hoping it was just his imagination.
He wasn’t a fan of the bad feelings fame could bring either.
