Love is Etched in the Ice

~Shaun’s POV~
What’s up with Apolo? He never forgets about outings with me. Me of all people. Geez.
“Shaun!”
I sat up, “Yes, Saf?”
No, we didn’t share a dorm, we were across the hall from each other, but she often stayed in here with me. No, we aren’t married. Or engaged. It’s complicated.
“Will you be my ‘It’s Complicated’ on Facebook?” She asked me, two years ago.
Of course, I said yes. We had known each other for… a long time. Hm, so long I couldn’t even remember how long we’d known each other. Is that bad?
“Help me. I can’t get the comb out.”
I sighed, walking into the bathroom and taking a hold of her hand, slowly and gently pried her fingers off the handle. I patiently untangled her hair from the bristles.
“Here. All done,” I handed her the comb, kissing her cheek. I glanced at my watch. “Hey, I got to go. Practice runs. See you there.” I kissed her and left, grabbing my gear.
I made it to the half pipe and started my practice runs.

~Avery’s POV~
I didn’t realize I fell asleep until I woke up. It was noon so I hadn’t slept that long.
My phone beeped signaling I had missed a text. I opened it to see another Twitter update. A picture. From Apolo. Of me, sleeping.
There were four comments, one from @IrisSaf (‘Aww!! She’s super cute!! She must catch that from me. ;) Haha’). One from Apolo in reply to Iris, (‘I agree, that’s why we’re married. And she gets it from you? Ha! Try from ME’). And two from people that followed him (‘Aw… Congrats guys!’ and ‘Why is it so dark? Did you have the lights off?’).
“Thanks, Sweetie. I’m so glad the ENTIRE world of Twitter can now see how horrible I look when I’m asleep.” We were both lying down, me still snuggled up to him.
He twirled a lock of my hair in his fingers, “You do not look horrible. You’re beautiful.”
I sighed, “Uh huh, I’m glad you think so. And I get my cuteness from my genes. Though, you help with it, too.” I traced the design in his black shirt.
“I don’t think so. I know so.”
There was a knock at the door. I groaned.
“I’ll get it. Just stay there.”
Gladly.
Apolo got up and walked towards the door. He barely turned the knob when Iris bursts in.
“Hey, Saf,” Apolo smiled, closing the door.
“You haven’t updated Twitter in two hours. Update.” She held her phone up and looked at me.
I typed a text and sent it to Twitter. “All done.”
She looked at the screen, “Twins!?”
I nodded, still groggy from my nap.
“Congratulations!” She ran over and hugged my shoulders awkwardly.
Apolo put his hands on her shoulders, “You should probably let her sleep. Go watch Shaun do some practice runs. He needs the support.”
“Okay!” She skipped out the door and down the hallway, whistling.
“Can I have two percent of her energy? I have none.” I rolled over on my back and looked up at him.
He grinned, “Let’s go watch Shaun, maybe you can absorb some of his.” He picked me up and set me on the ground.
“Fine.” I put on my jacket again, followed by my boots.
“Come on.” He took my hand and led me out the door, locking it behind us. “So do you want to meet my mom? ‘Cause, like I said, you don’t have to.”
“Like I said, if you want me to, I will. But she doesn’t deserve a part in our life. Do you want me to meet her? It would be your first time meeting her, too.”

~Apolo’s POV~
Ave didn’t know this, but I only considered my mom as a genetic donor. Nothing more, nothing less. What I did know was that she still lived in the Seattle area and had an idea of where we were living. I did kind of want to meet her just to know what she was like, but I never wanted her involved in my life. Yeah, she was pretty, but she left me. I didn’t care for her just like she didn’t care for me.
“Apolo?”
“Yeah? Sorry. I was thinking.”
“About what?”
I kissed the back of her hand. “The medal ceremony,” I lied.
“Oh.”
We were outside, in the snow. It wasn’t a blizzard, but it was cold and still gently snowing. I looked up into the lights. The snow reflected it, making it almost too bright to see.
“If you did meet her, you know she would want to be a big part of our lives. And possibly force herself into it.”
Yeah, forcing herself into means she would get attached and then leave, like she did twenty-seven years ago.
“As long as you promise not to get attached, okay. But I don’t want her here forever,” I detached my hand and put my arm around her shoulders.
“I know.” She leaned into me and put her arm around my waist, just tall enough.
We made it to the half pipe and found seats with Saf. She snapped a few pictures of us, her, and Ave and I.
“Ave, stand up.” Saf was practically bouncing in her seat.
Ave stood up.
“Now, Apolo, get in front of her and kiss her belleh. But don’t forget to unzip your jacket, Ave. Otherwise it would look weird.”
I did as she instructed and she snapped a picture.
Ave looked down at me, smiling genuinely. I stood up straight again and looked at her. She put her hands around my neck, lacing her fingers and pulled me down, kissing me.
I heard the clicking of the camera.
“Get some!”
I pulled away and turned around to see Shaun, holding his helmet and board in one hand and waving with the other.
Ave stood off to the side, rubbing her stomach in small circles, “He already did!” She laughed, and waved back. “Good luck, Little Bro!”
I looked around, spotting a camera on us. I waved and mouthed, “I love her.”
She got down and mouthed, “I love him, too.”
We posed for a few more pictures and did a small interview with MSNBC.
Ten minutes to go and Shaun would run.
No regrets. Let’s do this.