[AU] [C] Dress

Dress rehearsals were some of Giacinto's favourite things. She loved the glitter and glamour, dressing up in beautiful dresses and strutting her made up body on the ice.

Today was no different.

She was dressed up in a deep crimson red dress that bared her shoulders. The sleeves clung to muscular arms and flared slightly into a gausy transparent cuff. It clung to the rest of her body, cupping her breasts and showcasing her cleavage. The short skirts of her dress swished with every slight movement, and the small amount of glitter at the hem caught the light just the same as the glittery designs on her chest.

Her eyes were bold, lined in thick black and her hair was piled up, accompanied by a tiger lily tucked behind her ear.

The ice was shared today. It was free time for the members of the club, but everyone stayed out of her way, keeping to the edges of the rink. They would do the same in an hours time when Dick made his appearance for their first training session.

Giacinto inhaled deeply. Her eyes snapped open and she began.

She glided across the ice, arms and hips moving in seductive undulating movements. The skirts at her hips swished and danced around her upper thighs, teasing with audience with bold flashes of the black underwear she had on underneath.

Dick made his way through the cafe. Americano in one hand and his skate bag in the other.

He was pleased to find he was early - or terribly late. He hoped it was the former. If it was, he would be a whole quarter of an hour early at quarter to five.

Unbeknown to him he was a whole hour and fifteen minutes early.

He settled into a seat that looked onto the ice behind glass. 

He spotted Giacinto immediately. It was difficult not to. Stunning didn't even justify how she looked, her costume was beautiful. What was even more striking was the way she owned the ice, demanding people's attention.

Dick rested his cheek on his hand. He wanted to be on the ice all week since they last met. But without a card, there was no chance. He had to make do with building up his strength and stamina in the gym.

The performance was unusually long. Though, without being judged, Giacinto had the luxury to go for as long as she wanted. There was no set time-frame for her performances.

With the stamina of an ex-hockey player behind her, Giacinto could dance on the ice for a lot longer than some, even some professionals.

So a twenty minute performance, even one as intense as the one that she had just finished, with a hip-swaying flourish, wasn't something that would completely exhaust her.

A smile bloomed on her face as the handful of people on the ice clapped and cheered.

This was why she loved skating.

Dick was enthralled by her performance. Music wasn't needed to enjoy it. That was always a sign of a fantastic performance. 

He tried to make mental notes of how she moved and acted. Pulling people into her silent performance. Even the few groups and couples in the cafe gathered around the glass to watch the silent performance.

Her performance finally came so a stop and the little group around him left. Watching it made him tired for her. Skating competitively meant putting all your energy into short bursts; ten minutes at the very maximum. 

He took a sip of his coffee. 

Then spat it back out. 

He grimaced into the cup, nothing was worst than letting coffee go cold. Especially coffee that he paid for. Which made him wonder; how long has he been sitting here?

He fished out his phone from his pocket to look at the time. Ten past five. Either she was late (which he doubt) or he assumed the wrong time. He prayed to God that he was still early and not late.

Performance run through, Giacinto took the time to nitpick and practise a few things that she wasn't happy with.

Surprisingly, during her practise, she didn't focus on jumps. Jumping was something that Giacinto had practise til she was blue in the face. She had no problem performing or landing her jumps. It was the transition in between jumps that she wanted to practise.

So she did. For almost an hour, she practised her routine, running through it over and over.

She was almost exhausted by the time she made her way to the gate.

It didn't take long for her to change shoes and slip on a jacket. Then she was making her way to the café.

"You're here. Good," was her greeting as she approached the man.

Hearing her voice he turned and grinned. It was hard not to after watching someone he idolized skate. In the Flesh. A second time round, too.

"I saw your practice performance - it was stunning."

He stood up to politely greet her. Unsure if they were staying in the cafe or moving out on to ice.

Giacinto called out an order over her shoulder then sat down.

"It wasn't perfect. I need to do a lot more practising before I perform it." Really, there was so much wrong with it that she wouldn't dare let herself on ice in front of expectant audiences.

She rubbed at her shoulder and rolled her neck slowly.

Yes, she had a long way to go.

Dick grin dropped into a soft smile. 

Hard criticism on yourself was something he was well versed it. He could understand it - picking out flaws on what other people saw as brilliant. 

It was something he understood, and yet it was very difficult to hear coming from someone he idolized.

"Maybe so, but I still think it was beautiful."

Beautiful isn't good enough.

It was something she had always lived by. Beautiful, by itself, wasn't good enough. It was something her first coach, her first husband, had told her so long ago, and she'd loved by it ever since.

You couldn't just be beautiful. You had to use that beauty, be powerful with it. Do all you could.

"Are you ready for tonight?"

Dick perked up in his seat.

"Yes!"

He hadn't been this long off the ice in weeks. Not only tonight is he getting back on it, but he will also have Giacinto coaching him for a full hour. Christmas may as well come early.

"I just need to put on my skates."

He decided to come in his normal training gear. Black, stretchy trousers, and a tight-fit blue top.

"And wait for me to have my coffee. I like you, kid, but not more than my coffee after the day I've had."

Dick was going to sit his ass down and wait for her to finish her goddamn coffee.

She wasn't going to accept anything else.

Dick slumped in his chair, leg bouncing with anticipation. The only thing that stopped him huffing and groaning as he did with his other coach was the fact she said she liked him. He wasn't going to ruin her opinion on him.

"After the day you've had?"

It was only after he said it he wondered if he was crossing the lines. As he noticed, again and again, Giacinto was a private person. She barely knew him. Maybe that question was inappropriate?

"I'll repeat myself only on this topic. Don't get married, kid."

She rubbed at her neck again and gave a pleased groan when a waitress appeared with her coffee. She thanked her and dove straight for it.

"I've had both of them on at me today. Really, as if Ignicio wasn't enough, I don't need Theo on at me like a dog with a fucking bone."

He stopped fiddling with the hem of his shirt. Okay, so that question was fine. He placed his hand on the table, automatically reaching out for the empty cup to hold.

At the mention of her first husband, Dick leaned forward.

He was renown in the competitive figure skating scene. Winning numerous of gold medals from numerous of competitions. He was one of the first figure skaters he saw on TV, which sparked his passion for it.

Despite his burning questions about Theo, he didn't bother to even think about asking Giacinto. Especially now.

"And I repeat myself: Don't plan to. Relationships, in general, I don't plan on having."

Listening to her complain about her past relationships confirmed his thoughts on them; they weighed you down. Right now, he needed to focus on his career.

Giacinto laughed, and it was most certainly at Dick.

"How old are you kid? Eighteen? Twenty?" He couldn't be much older than that.

"Just you wait." There was no way that he could evade relationships forever. Life just didn't work that way. One would jump up and hit him in the face.

Dick frowned at the laugh, not liking it was directed at him.

"I'm twenty," he huffed, "and I am not saying never. It just mean not now, while I am skating competativly."

Sometime in his late twenties seemed apropiate, once his competative career has ended.

"I said that when I was training for my first professional dance. Focus on the dance, Giacinto. Nothing"

She leaned back in her seat, still holding her empty coffee mug and shrugged. "I married that accident."

Relationships with your coach could never end well. A marriage with them? That was just begging for shit to hit the proverbial fan, and it certainly did when Theo pushed her to enter competitions. Their differences in opinions over competitions was what split their marriage, and their skating relationship, apart.

Dick leaned back in his seat, listening, a frown still in place.

He wanted to tell he that he won't be making any accidents. But that was just rude.

"You are still a pretty fantastic skater," despite the "accident".

"One of the few things I have to thank him for."

She wouldn't thank the Greek bastard for anything else. She couldn't thank him for anything else.

"Let's get going. We're working on jumps."

Jumps were notoriously difficult for the majority of skaters. So Richard was going to practise them until he could do them in his sleep.

Dick straightened up at the mention of (finally) going out on the ice.

"Sure!"

He leaped out his seat, grabbing his bag for his skates. He made his way over to the door that leads onto the rink. Then stopped. Huffing.

He still needed that damn card.

With as much patience as he could muster, he waited for Giacinto.

Giacinto smirked as Dick stopped in the middle of the hallway.

As she walked past him, she held up a card for him between two fingers. "Lose it and you won't get to use the ring."

She swiped her own card in a fluid movement and let them into the changing area.

She sat down on the first bench she came to and began changing her shoes again.

He plucked the card from her fingers. Finally.


He followed he rin and sat beside her. Sliding off his shoes, not bothering to untie them. He slung them in a seprate compartment in his bag. 

With the skates, he was a lot more careful. Taking time to loosen the ties and doing them up properly. There was no sort cuts. He put on the guards for even a few steps, then taking them off as soon as he was at the gate.

Closing his eyes, he just glided. One skate smoothly in front of another. He just took a moment just to apriciate the familiarity on it.

Opening his eyes, he turned to look at Giacinto.

"I am just going to warm up first."

An irrational side of him told him not to bother. He already lost five minutes talking to Giacinto and putting his skates on. But the professional side of him told him not to make that mistake again.

Giacinto nodded as she followed him onto the ice.

"We'll meet back here in five."

And like that, she was off herself, free skating around the rink. Loosening up herself was a good idea, too. She'd spent the day practising a set routine. Loosening up and playing around was a good idea.

He took it slow around the rink first. He was glad of how quiet it was this time of day. They small crowd that had been around when Giacinto was skating seemed to have left.

He began to speed it up a little, stretching his arms high over his head. Then behind and in front. He picked up speed again, wanting to bring up heart rate up.

Satisfied, he did one final lap around the rink before meeting with Giacinto again.

"We are working on jumps, right?"

Giacinto nodded.

"First you're going to demonstrate what you're comfortable with. Then we'll identify what you're less comfortable with, and what you absolutely can't do."

She tipped her chin. "Go. Do."