[AU][C] Ice Angels

"All right, my little ice angels, are we all ready?"

Three tiny girls nodded their heads, sending big curls flying around their heads in their excitement.

Giacinto smiled, a warm smile that not a lot of people saw. It was a smile reserved for family and children. This group of girls, the oldest seven, and the youngest just three, definitely fell into the 'children' category.

Giacinto clapped her hands together in front of her. "Okay then. Have you three been practising?" Another set of enthusiastic nods. "Excellent! Okay then, show me your lunges!"

The three girls took off, excited to show off their practising. The youngest and oldest both showed off wobbly, but successful, lunging glides. The middle child, a girl of four, only got so far before she tumbled and skidded along the ice.

Giacinto was on her in seconds, helping her up off the ice as the girl sobbed. She set the girl on a shapely hip and wiped a bit of ice shaving from a rosy cheek. "Dear me, that was quite a trip. Shall we try it again together?"

The girl nodded and Giacinto let her down onto the ice, keeping hold of her hands and pushing them off. She glided forwards slowly, ushering the girl to move into a lunge.

When the girl did, Giacinto smile and congratulated her warmly. "That's it! Well done."

Dick walked into the rink, tired and aching but raring to go. Especially after his morning coffee.

He was still a little dazed from yesterday's events. It was all so unexpected. Especially when he got home and opened up his Instagram feed, looking at his own face. On Giacinto's Instagram. He had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

Now he had time to process it he found it very difficult not to smile. Even with how tedious the skating session was, the congratulations picked up his mood. He would have been willing to do single Salchows for that full hour after that.

Looking around he spotted a handful of small group lessons. All filled with tiny kids.

Ah, he may have read the timetable wrong. A very easy to do when he still doesn't know basic phrases in Italian.

He spotted Giacinto coaching some kids. Honestly, when he first met her he wouldn't have expected it from her. But after yesterday's events, it wasn't surprising at all.

She spoke to them easily and warmly. He watched as she instantly went to the aid of one of the girl's who fell. Picking her up and wiping away the tears. She was a natural.

Dick wasn't sure what time the children's session ended but he decided to stick around and watch. For all, he knew it ended in ten minutes and he will be on the ice.

He made his way to one of the benches to watch. It will be interesting  to watch Giacinto coach on the spectating side instead of the receiving side. Even if she was just coaching tiny kids.

Five minutes of lunging later, Giacinto had the three kids lined up again.

"All right then. Good lunging, girls. You'll beat me in no time!" She was upbeat and energetic as she taught the kids simple backwards skating techniques.

It was a very different type of teaching than Dick had, but it was no less repetitive. She had the kids go again and again, aiding them with gentle hands and enthusiastic words.

A half hour later, she was escorting the three of them off the ice to an awaiting mother.

After a quick chat and laugh, Giacinto was back on the ice, just circling the rink languidly.

Dick watched for a while. 

He was glad to see he wasn't the only one given repetitive treatment. 

He was also glad that he wasn't given the sugary sweet type of coaching. It suited a group of young girls well, but not a twenty-year-old man. Really, it was impressive how she managed to tweak her coaching techniques to fit who she was teaching. Most coaches he knew tended to stick to one age group. He imagined she still had her prefrences though.

Ten minutes in he found himself looking at his phone. Flicking through the sports news. As predicted, the media already got whiff that he had a new coach. And not any new coach, one of the few high profile skaters who didn't skate professionally. 

He didn't bother to read them. 

Hearing the session coming he began his warm up and stretches. Taking his time today. His body was still sore from yesterday and he didn't want to risk injury. Again.

Satisfied, he changed into his skates and he was on the ice - meeting Giacinto at the gate.

With a smile he greeted her.

"I didn't expect you to do children's classes."

A little smile curled Giacinto's lips when she caught sight of a familiar face, and he greeted her with that comment.

"No? Really?"

Though she supposed she had a very different public persona than her personal one. Family knew she wasn't as distant as she was on stage. There was always a sort of calculated air about her in front of a camera. In less professional settings she was a lot warmer.

Giacinto span around, skating backwards so she was facing Dick. "They're my favourite of all the people I coach."

"No. Although, you are a natural at it."

He didn't think he would be able to entertain kids for more than five minutes. Let alone coach some kids for God knows how long.

Really, he shouldn't be jealous of a bunch of tiny kids. But he was.

"I am guessing they don't have the pleasure of hearing you say "go, do" on repeat?"

It was odd how after the hug and grueling training he felt so much more comfortable around her. His idolized version of her shifted into a more human version of herself.

Giacinto laughed.

"No, that's reserved for you and Chrysanthemum. You lucky boys, you." It was so obvious that she was teasing him now.

She span on her toe, and her hair followed her movement like a long, curly tail.

"I feel honored," he said dryly. 

Yet he couldn't help but smile.

"Pretty sure I was dreaming those words last night."

He wasn't sure if she heard him as she spun. He took a moment to watch and appreciate how casual she made it look. He skated around her  to avoid a collision. Then he was off. Doing the traditional few laps around the ice before he went into practicing.

Giacinto's laugh followed after Dick as he went for a lap of the rink.

"I wouldn't call my training sessions a dream."

She was hard on her students, but under that pressure they flourished. That didn't mean that training was a dream. She was tough and more often than not her students didn't appreciate her efforts.

Dick threw her a smile.

"I wouldn't call them a nightmare either."

He skated round half the rink, not picking up pace.

"I guess it is more like one of those dreams where you don't feel like you are getting anywhere. Just running on the same spot. Then suddenly you are in - I don't know - candy land."

As frustraining as yesterdays session was, Dick was pleased to find that by the end of the hour he saw progress. 

A nightmare was paying a coach a ton of money and then not getting anything out of it.

"Candy land!" Giacinto let out a full belly laugh at that one as she practised a few toe loops.

"Theo would get a laugh at that one."

His training methods were like reaching candy land! How ridiculous.

He flushed as she laughed.

"It was an example! You know, not feeling like you are getting anywhere then suddenly realizing that you have made it."

Looking back, he should have just said that.

He picked up pace. For once hoping he will slip and bang his head on the side to escape this embarrassing ordeal.

"That I understand." A fond little smile took over her expression.

She pushed herself forwards, tipping forwards and putting her weight into it, executing a front flip that she landed with only the slightest wobble.

"Yes!" Front and back flips was something that she'd been practising recently, and that was one of her best so far.

Dick looped back around to face Giacinto.

His jaw fell to the floor at what he witnessed.

"No fucking way."

He then knocked into the side of the rink. 

With a grunt, he pulled himself back up. His attention back on Giacinto as she cheered to herself.

"Did you really just...?"

"Si, si!" She burst into an excited and quick chatter in Italian as she sped towards him.

She wrapped him up in a tight hug as she babbled at him in quickfire Italian.

She couldn't believe she had actually landed a front flip. Backflips were horribly difficult, but front flips were worse. And she'd just nailed that one!

She threw her arm up in an overly excited air-punch.

He let out another little grunt as she hugged him. Still a little dazed.

"I don't understand anything your saying, but what the actual fuck."

He began to laugh. Even if he couldn't understand a single word coming out of her mouth, her excitment was clear as day. It was quickly rubbing off.

"You landed a fucking-" 

He waved an arm in the air, the other still wrapped around her waist.

"Sorry, sorry. I know three languages and I can't remember any of the other two when I get excited."

It was a habit. She was fluent in three languages and yet she couldn't speak a word of English or Greek when she was overly excited. Sometimes she could hardly speak understandable Italian.

"I know! I've been practising that for over a year, and I finally-!"

She threw her arms back around him and squealed.

It was quite an experience having a thirty-something-year-old woman squeal at you when just last week she saw him as just another pestering fan.

With more enthusiasm he returned the hug, squeezing her a little. Still laughing with shock and awe.

"That was literally the most amazing thing I have ever seen!"

"It was pretty great, wasn't it?"

Her hand dove into her pocket. "I know he could irritate the tits off a bull, but we have to tell Theo."

Despite his judgement of almost everything she did, he would be proud of her for doing this. She knew he would be.

So skype was drawn up and she waited for him to answer. When he did, it was clear that her call had woken him up. He was laid sideways in bed, one eye cracked open slightly, an obviously shirtless under the blanket drawn up to his chest. "Giacinto?" Even his voice was laced with sleep, deep and husky.

"Guess who just pulled off a front flip. In front of witnesses." Her chest puffed out like a proud robin.

That woke him up. "You did? Syncharitíria!"

"Oh, sure."

As soon as skype was pulled up he slipped away.

As much as he would love to meet the person who inspired him to skate, he wasn't about to do so through a private conversation with his ex-coach.

Besides, that most definitely motivated him to work on his jumps.

"Witness!" Giacinto skated after Dick, coming up behind him and wrapping an arm around him, pulling him back against her chest and resting her chin on his shoulder. "Tell him how awesome my flip was."

When Theo recognised the boy from Giacinto's instagram, his pleased expression dampened a little.

Clearly he wasn't overly impressed with Giacinto taking on yet more students. Nowadays she barely had time to train for herself with how many people she was coaching. She was spreading herself too thin.

Okay, so it looks like he will be meeting Theo through a skype call with Giacinto.

He didn't note the dampened expression. 

He a nervous smile and nodded.

"It was amazing, like," his eyes looked up as he recalled the memory, "Not only did she do it, but landed it as if it was nothing."

His grin became easier.

"Honestly, I never thought I would see something like that with my own eyes."

Giacinto laughed and ruffled Dick's hair.

"You're just sweet talking me in hopes that I'll treat you nicer in training. No such luck."

Theo shifted on screen. "So you're her new trainee? Riccardo? Richard? Am I expecting another great to grace the ice? Or will you turn out like her other students?"

Giacinto huffed in Dick's ear. Bastard would try to confront them. "Bastard." She smiled bright, waved, then flipped him the bird before ending the call. "Ignore him, Richard."

Dick frowned as the screen went blank. He was quickly learning meeting the skaters you idolized never turns out the way he imagined.

"Like all your other students?"

He had a feeling that wasn't directed at him.

"My students are either still wetting their beds or haven't won gold medals in every single one of their competitions, so naturally I've failed as a coach."

Giacinto shook her head. "He Has ridiculously high standards when it comes to my conduct. A way to try and get me to stop."

He congratulated the good, but he was cruel about what he considered not good.

It had been that way for a long time.

"As I said, ignore him."