another state of mind
title another state of mind
rating pg-13
word count 2,193
pairing apolo ohno/jr celski
summary from this prompt at wintergameskink: a little cracky but would love Apolo/JR, after retiring, Apolo decides he needs another hobby and gets obsessed with curling and decides he could do another Olympics as a curler. JR is worried and decides an intervention is in order. so this didn't end up as cracky as it was initially going to be, but it works, i think.
“Apolo, come to bed,” JR said.
“Soon,” Apolo said, waving his hand around his head in the vague direction of their bedroom. “When this is over.”
“Suit yourself,” JR grumbled, retreating into the bedroom. He was in training. He had to get his sleep. If Apolo wanted to stay up all night watching curling, that was his decision.
--
Curling was, Apolo had decided, actually kind of interesting. And one of the million channels he and JR got at their new apartment was, it seemed, wholly dedicated to showing curling. It had begun as a good way to lull himself to sleep- now that he wasn’t spending every waking hour training, Apolo had an abundance of energy and just could not sleep. And even though JR often suggested he come to the rink, Apolo just couldn’t.
He liked being retired. He kind of missed being America’s darling, but he was starting to like his life quieter. He liked being able to eat whatever he wanted and, when he actually had something to do, he liked the extra energy. But he couldn’t go back to the rink just yet. He figured, maybe in four or five years, he could go back. Coach someone- JR even, if the kid would let him. But he knew that if he were to go back now, he would do something stupid, like bring his skates, and maybe try to qualify for Sochi.
No, Apolo couldn’t go back to the rink just yet. Not until those thoughts were completely out of his head.
The tennis channel was kind of relaxing, he’d discovered during his bouts of insomnia. Watching the ball go back and forth was almost hypnotizing, sometimes. But then he’d actually become invested, and the tennis channel stopped being a way of falling asleep. Besides, watching tall, sweaty, muscled bodies made him ache with some sort of envy, that some of those guys were older than him and still in the game, that while he sat on his couch and grew soft around the edges, they were still strong and powerful. Watching JR skate had the same effect, really, but JR was his successor, so that was to be expected.
Watching curling, though, was different. He was more entranced by the glide of the stones than the athletes themselves, when it came down to it. It was hypnotizing. And, in Apolo’s sleep deprived delirium, it was kind of beautiful.
--
“Where are you going?” JR asked, slinging his gym bag over his shoulder. Apolo shrugged.
“Nowhere,” he mumbled, trying not to blush.
“Yeah, sure. Call me when you get back and let me know if you need me to pick up dinner, okay?”
“Mmm.” Apolo dropped a kiss on JR’s cheek before moving out the door.
He wasn’t embarrassed that he was going curling, exactly. He was more embarrassed that it would be his first return to, well, physical activity, since retiring. He also wasn't sure how he felt about going, period, if he was completely honest. It was one thing to watch curling on tv when he couldn’t sleep. It was another entirely to actually try it out.
But he was Apolo Ohno, dammit, and he was going to be good at it.
--
“Hey, I got you that Thai stuff you like,” JR greeted him around a mouthful of noodles. Apolo ruffled his hair as he walked past and plopped down at the table across from his young lover, pulling a box of take-out towards him.
“Thanks,” he said.
“No problem. So, you going to tell me where you were?”
“Nope.”
--
The thing was- Apolo was good at curling. Granted, he’d been playing with a group whose average age was, probably, 72, but Apolo was actually good. There was still some power left in his thighs from his skating days, and just being on ice again, albeit without skates, made him feel like he could do anything.
--
“Hey,” JR mumbled, tiredly draping his arms over Apolo’s shoulders. Apolo startled, and quickly moved to minimize the window on his computer. JR didn’t need to know that he was looking at customizable curling shoes. “What’s that?”
Apolo turned, pressing a kiss to JR’s cheek. The boy was slurring a little, he was so tired. They would both be relieved when Worlds was over. “Nothing. Hey, hit the shower, you smell like sweat.”
“Mfgh. Come with?”
Apolo lathered JR’s hair with shampoo and pulled the boy close against his body, letting his hands explore the sharp angles and hard muscles. He let his hands slip farther down and felt a familiar twinge of envy as he explored JR’s muscled thighs before reaching up to cup JR’s hardening cock in his hand.
“Too tired,” JR mumbled in protest, but Apolo shut him up with a kiss and when JR came with a soft moan of “’Polo, yes,” Apolo pressed another kiss to JR’s forehead and figured it was worth it, despite the verbal thrashing in store for him tomorrow.
--
“Curling shoes?”
Apolo almost coughed out his drink. “Sorry, what?”
“You were looking up customizable curling shoes? And you thought you could distract me from it with shower sex?” JR sounded amused and not like he was going to leave Apolo for being weird and into curling. Apolo relaxed a little.
“Yeah, maybe,” he shrugged, returning to his breakfast.
--
“Are you coming to Worlds?”
Apolo looked up guiltily from his computer. He was in the process of signing up for a curling tournament that was happening in a month. And sure, he was going with the same group from the senior home he’d been playing with for just over two months, but they were good. They had a chance of actually winning.
“I know you’ve been avoiding deciding but if you’re coming I need to get you a ticket, like, now, so can you decide please?”
Apolo sighed and shut the computer. “I want to, JR, I really do. But it’s just- I don’t know if I can be there just yet.”
JR rubbed Apolo’s shoulders soothingly. “Shh, it’s okay. I get it. But you’d better get your shit together for Sochi, man, I mean it.”
--
“Were you planning on telling me you had a curling tournament during Worlds?”
“I didn’t think it was important,” Apolo mumbled.
“Whatever, dude. Go to your fucking curling tournament and not the most important race of my career before Sochi. It’s chill.”
--
After the not-fight (because it wasn’t a fight. After JR’s outburst, Apolo had slunk off to the curling rink and tried to ignore the voice in the back of his head telling him to go back and apologize to JR and maybe even buy a ticket to Worlds to surprise his lover, but he didn’t, and for the next week, JR had been training at a ridiculously intense level and was too tired to do anything other than snuggle up to Apolo in the middle of the night. It kind of helped to lessen the sting of waking up alone each morning) Apolo started going to the curling rink every day. Just to keep his mind off of things, he told himself.
--
“I will watch every race, I promise,” Apolo said, kissing JR softly. JR picked up his bag and squeezed Apolo’s waist.
“I’ll call when I get there,” he promised.
--
Apolo and his team of old men won their tournament. Surprisingly enough, there was local press coverage, and one of the reporters pulled Apolo aside as they were leaving the rink. Apparently, years later, his name was still enough to warrant some good air time.
“Apolo, what made you take up curling?”
Apolo rubbed his chin and aimed a dazzling smile at the camera. “I’ve always watched it, you know, on tv, at the Olympics, wherever. It’s a great sport- lots of teamwork and planning. It’s been really fun to get into it myself.”
“So, everyone knows you and JR Celski are in a relationship- has he been supportive of your new sport? Does he mind that you’re here competing while he’s at Worlds?”
Jesus Christ. Apolo had forgotten how vicious the press could be. “JR’s great, he always has been.”
The reporter didn’t look exactly mollified, but had enough sense to move on. “Any thought to next year’s Olympics? Will you be coaching, or perhaps going as an athlete again? With the curling team?”
“Honestly, that’s not something I’ve thought about. But you never know, maybe you’ll see me there.” Apolo flashed another smile at the camera and said goodbye to the reporter before heading to his car.
Of course he’d thought about the Olympics. If he was completely honest, that was one of the reasons he’d gotten anywhere near serious about curling. But- it wouldn’t be the same, he knew. It wouldn’t be anything like waiting for the starting gun, or training with the relay team. It would the Olympics, though. He could go back to the Olympics.
--
“Sit.”
JR had come back from Worlds with two more gold medals and a whole lot of attitude. Unwarranted attitude, in Apolo’s humble opinion.
“So I saw that interview,” JR began. Apolo blinked. “Apolo. I know you’re having a hard time with the whole retirement thing. And I understand that, seriously, I do. And I totally am one hundred percent behind you taking up other hobbies.”
“So then what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that you trying to get back to the Olympics any way you can? That’s not cool. That’s not healthy. You need to stop.”
“Is that some kind of intervention?”
JR laughed, but stayed sitting right across from him. “Yeah, I guess it is.”
--
“What happened to the curling channel?”
JR poked his head out from their bedroom door. “I told you. Intervention. No more curling for you, ‘Polo. Come to bed.”
And Apolo had to admit, he was okay with giving up nighttime curling if it meant he got to fuck JR until the only thing he could think about was the boy beneath him.
--
“Where are my curling shoes?”
“God damn, I didn’t think pretty always meant stupid,” JR grumbled. “This is an intervention. No more curling. I thought I already told you that.”
Apolo groaned. “Seriously? No more at all?”
“No more at all. Find yourself a new hobby. Go join an amateur soccer team or take up tennis, or marathon running, I don’t care. But no more curling. Period.”
Apolo swung himself over JR’s lap, straddling him in one swift move. “If I can’t go curling in the afternoons, you know that means you’ll have to find another way to keep me occupied, right?”
JR laughed. “That I can do.”
--
Apolo went back to watching the tennis channel, and even seriously considered taking it up, before he realized that he knew nothing about tennis except how to score it. Then he got the call from NBC and all thoughts of taking up another sport flew right out of his mind.
“So, I’m coming to Sochi with you,” he informed JR, curling into the younger man’s body and reaching to turn off the light. JR tugged up the comforter and let himself play with Apolo’s hair, gently tugging on the silky strands.
“Damn straight,” he said, biting back a yawn.
“No, like. I’m coming to Sochi with you.”
JR sat up so quickly Apolo’s head fell off of his stomach and onto the mattress with a dull thump. “Give me some warning, will ya?”
JR glared down at him. “I said, no more curling. I sold your curling shoes. I got rid of the curling channel. What more do I have to do?”
Apolo laughed and pulled himself up to stroke JR’s cheek. “I’m not going for curling.”
“Good,” JR huffed. “So now do you care to explain yourself?”
“I’m going as a commentator,” Apolo said, pushing his lips against JR’s collarbone and speaking into the skin there. “NBC called yesterday. I’m gonna cover all the short track events. They made me promise not to show you any favoritism, though.”
JR laughed. “Is that so? You gonna be able to do that?”
“You bet,” Apolo replied, tugging JR back down under the covers.
“I’m happy for you,” JR mumbled, the exhaustion from a minute ago returning.
“Good.”
--
“So, Apolo, what do you think of this relay team?”
Apolo turned to smile at the camera, his bandana firmly in place. It was a little weird to be in the commentators box and not on the ice, but it was also the best seat in the house, so he didn’t mind too much.
“Well, honestly, I think we’ve got a good team here. Lots of talent on the ice right now, and they’ve been skating together for so long, there perfectly tuned to each other.”
“What do you think of JR Celski taking your place as anchor?”
Apolo laughed. “I think he’s a great skater and he’s a great rock for this team. He knows when to pass and when to stay put and he’s gonna do a good job tonight.” He paused. “And that’s my completely unbiased opinion.”
rating pg-13
word count 2,193
pairing apolo ohno/jr celski
summary from this prompt at wintergameskink: a little cracky but would love Apolo/JR, after retiring, Apolo decides he needs another hobby and gets obsessed with curling and decides he could do another Olympics as a curler. JR is worried and decides an intervention is in order. so this didn't end up as cracky as it was initially going to be, but it works, i think.
“Apolo, come to bed,” JR said.
“Soon,” Apolo said, waving his hand around his head in the vague direction of their bedroom. “When this is over.”
“Suit yourself,” JR grumbled, retreating into the bedroom. He was in training. He had to get his sleep. If Apolo wanted to stay up all night watching curling, that was his decision.
--
Curling was, Apolo had decided, actually kind of interesting. And one of the million channels he and JR got at their new apartment was, it seemed, wholly dedicated to showing curling. It had begun as a good way to lull himself to sleep- now that he wasn’t spending every waking hour training, Apolo had an abundance of energy and just could not sleep. And even though JR often suggested he come to the rink, Apolo just couldn’t.
He liked being retired. He kind of missed being America’s darling, but he was starting to like his life quieter. He liked being able to eat whatever he wanted and, when he actually had something to do, he liked the extra energy. But he couldn’t go back to the rink just yet. He figured, maybe in four or five years, he could go back. Coach someone- JR even, if the kid would let him. But he knew that if he were to go back now, he would do something stupid, like bring his skates, and maybe try to qualify for Sochi.
No, Apolo couldn’t go back to the rink just yet. Not until those thoughts were completely out of his head.
The tennis channel was kind of relaxing, he’d discovered during his bouts of insomnia. Watching the ball go back and forth was almost hypnotizing, sometimes. But then he’d actually become invested, and the tennis channel stopped being a way of falling asleep. Besides, watching tall, sweaty, muscled bodies made him ache with some sort of envy, that some of those guys were older than him and still in the game, that while he sat on his couch and grew soft around the edges, they were still strong and powerful. Watching JR skate had the same effect, really, but JR was his successor, so that was to be expected.
Watching curling, though, was different. He was more entranced by the glide of the stones than the athletes themselves, when it came down to it. It was hypnotizing. And, in Apolo’s sleep deprived delirium, it was kind of beautiful.
--
“Where are you going?” JR asked, slinging his gym bag over his shoulder. Apolo shrugged.
“Nowhere,” he mumbled, trying not to blush.
“Yeah, sure. Call me when you get back and let me know if you need me to pick up dinner, okay?”
“Mmm.” Apolo dropped a kiss on JR’s cheek before moving out the door.
He wasn’t embarrassed that he was going curling, exactly. He was more embarrassed that it would be his first return to, well, physical activity, since retiring. He also wasn't sure how he felt about going, period, if he was completely honest. It was one thing to watch curling on tv when he couldn’t sleep. It was another entirely to actually try it out.
But he was Apolo Ohno, dammit, and he was going to be good at it.
--
“Hey, I got you that Thai stuff you like,” JR greeted him around a mouthful of noodles. Apolo ruffled his hair as he walked past and plopped down at the table across from his young lover, pulling a box of take-out towards him.
“Thanks,” he said.
“No problem. So, you going to tell me where you were?”
“Nope.”
--
The thing was- Apolo was good at curling. Granted, he’d been playing with a group whose average age was, probably, 72, but Apolo was actually good. There was still some power left in his thighs from his skating days, and just being on ice again, albeit without skates, made him feel like he could do anything.
--
“Hey,” JR mumbled, tiredly draping his arms over Apolo’s shoulders. Apolo startled, and quickly moved to minimize the window on his computer. JR didn’t need to know that he was looking at customizable curling shoes. “What’s that?”
Apolo turned, pressing a kiss to JR’s cheek. The boy was slurring a little, he was so tired. They would both be relieved when Worlds was over. “Nothing. Hey, hit the shower, you smell like sweat.”
“Mfgh. Come with?”
Apolo lathered JR’s hair with shampoo and pulled the boy close against his body, letting his hands explore the sharp angles and hard muscles. He let his hands slip farther down and felt a familiar twinge of envy as he explored JR’s muscled thighs before reaching up to cup JR’s hardening cock in his hand.
“Too tired,” JR mumbled in protest, but Apolo shut him up with a kiss and when JR came with a soft moan of “’Polo, yes,” Apolo pressed another kiss to JR’s forehead and figured it was worth it, despite the verbal thrashing in store for him tomorrow.
--
“Curling shoes?”
Apolo almost coughed out his drink. “Sorry, what?”
“You were looking up customizable curling shoes? And you thought you could distract me from it with shower sex?” JR sounded amused and not like he was going to leave Apolo for being weird and into curling. Apolo relaxed a little.
“Yeah, maybe,” he shrugged, returning to his breakfast.
--
“Are you coming to Worlds?”
Apolo looked up guiltily from his computer. He was in the process of signing up for a curling tournament that was happening in a month. And sure, he was going with the same group from the senior home he’d been playing with for just over two months, but they were good. They had a chance of actually winning.
“I know you’ve been avoiding deciding but if you’re coming I need to get you a ticket, like, now, so can you decide please?”
Apolo sighed and shut the computer. “I want to, JR, I really do. But it’s just- I don’t know if I can be there just yet.”
JR rubbed Apolo’s shoulders soothingly. “Shh, it’s okay. I get it. But you’d better get your shit together for Sochi, man, I mean it.”
--
“Were you planning on telling me you had a curling tournament during Worlds?”
“I didn’t think it was important,” Apolo mumbled.
“Whatever, dude. Go to your fucking curling tournament and not the most important race of my career before Sochi. It’s chill.”
--
After the not-fight (because it wasn’t a fight. After JR’s outburst, Apolo had slunk off to the curling rink and tried to ignore the voice in the back of his head telling him to go back and apologize to JR and maybe even buy a ticket to Worlds to surprise his lover, but he didn’t, and for the next week, JR had been training at a ridiculously intense level and was too tired to do anything other than snuggle up to Apolo in the middle of the night. It kind of helped to lessen the sting of waking up alone each morning) Apolo started going to the curling rink every day. Just to keep his mind off of things, he told himself.
--
“I will watch every race, I promise,” Apolo said, kissing JR softly. JR picked up his bag and squeezed Apolo’s waist.
“I’ll call when I get there,” he promised.
--
Apolo and his team of old men won their tournament. Surprisingly enough, there was local press coverage, and one of the reporters pulled Apolo aside as they were leaving the rink. Apparently, years later, his name was still enough to warrant some good air time.
“Apolo, what made you take up curling?”
Apolo rubbed his chin and aimed a dazzling smile at the camera. “I’ve always watched it, you know, on tv, at the Olympics, wherever. It’s a great sport- lots of teamwork and planning. It’s been really fun to get into it myself.”
“So, everyone knows you and JR Celski are in a relationship- has he been supportive of your new sport? Does he mind that you’re here competing while he’s at Worlds?”
Jesus Christ. Apolo had forgotten how vicious the press could be. “JR’s great, he always has been.”
The reporter didn’t look exactly mollified, but had enough sense to move on. “Any thought to next year’s Olympics? Will you be coaching, or perhaps going as an athlete again? With the curling team?”
“Honestly, that’s not something I’ve thought about. But you never know, maybe you’ll see me there.” Apolo flashed another smile at the camera and said goodbye to the reporter before heading to his car.
Of course he’d thought about the Olympics. If he was completely honest, that was one of the reasons he’d gotten anywhere near serious about curling. But- it wouldn’t be the same, he knew. It wouldn’t be anything like waiting for the starting gun, or training with the relay team. It would the Olympics, though. He could go back to the Olympics.
--
“Sit.”
JR had come back from Worlds with two more gold medals and a whole lot of attitude. Unwarranted attitude, in Apolo’s humble opinion.
“So I saw that interview,” JR began. Apolo blinked. “Apolo. I know you’re having a hard time with the whole retirement thing. And I understand that, seriously, I do. And I totally am one hundred percent behind you taking up other hobbies.”
“So then what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that you trying to get back to the Olympics any way you can? That’s not cool. That’s not healthy. You need to stop.”
“Is that some kind of intervention?”
JR laughed, but stayed sitting right across from him. “Yeah, I guess it is.”
--
“What happened to the curling channel?”
JR poked his head out from their bedroom door. “I told you. Intervention. No more curling for you, ‘Polo. Come to bed.”
And Apolo had to admit, he was okay with giving up nighttime curling if it meant he got to fuck JR until the only thing he could think about was the boy beneath him.
--
“Where are my curling shoes?”
“God damn, I didn’t think pretty always meant stupid,” JR grumbled. “This is an intervention. No more curling. I thought I already told you that.”
Apolo groaned. “Seriously? No more at all?”
“No more at all. Find yourself a new hobby. Go join an amateur soccer team or take up tennis, or marathon running, I don’t care. But no more curling. Period.”
Apolo swung himself over JR’s lap, straddling him in one swift move. “If I can’t go curling in the afternoons, you know that means you’ll have to find another way to keep me occupied, right?”
JR laughed. “That I can do.”
--
Apolo went back to watching the tennis channel, and even seriously considered taking it up, before he realized that he knew nothing about tennis except how to score it. Then he got the call from NBC and all thoughts of taking up another sport flew right out of his mind.
“So, I’m coming to Sochi with you,” he informed JR, curling into the younger man’s body and reaching to turn off the light. JR tugged up the comforter and let himself play with Apolo’s hair, gently tugging on the silky strands.
“Damn straight,” he said, biting back a yawn.
“No, like. I’m coming to Sochi with you.”
JR sat up so quickly Apolo’s head fell off of his stomach and onto the mattress with a dull thump. “Give me some warning, will ya?”
JR glared down at him. “I said, no more curling. I sold your curling shoes. I got rid of the curling channel. What more do I have to do?”
Apolo laughed and pulled himself up to stroke JR’s cheek. “I’m not going for curling.”
“Good,” JR huffed. “So now do you care to explain yourself?”
“I’m going as a commentator,” Apolo said, pushing his lips against JR’s collarbone and speaking into the skin there. “NBC called yesterday. I’m gonna cover all the short track events. They made me promise not to show you any favoritism, though.”
JR laughed. “Is that so? You gonna be able to do that?”
“You bet,” Apolo replied, tugging JR back down under the covers.
“I’m happy for you,” JR mumbled, the exhaustion from a minute ago returning.
“Good.”
--
“So, Apolo, what do you think of this relay team?”
Apolo turned to smile at the camera, his bandana firmly in place. It was a little weird to be in the commentators box and not on the ice, but it was also the best seat in the house, so he didn’t mind too much.
“Well, honestly, I think we’ve got a good team here. Lots of talent on the ice right now, and they’ve been skating together for so long, there perfectly tuned to each other.”
“What do you think of JR Celski taking your place as anchor?”
Apolo laughed. “I think he’s a great skater and he’s a great rock for this team. He knows when to pass and when to stay put and he’s gonna do a good job tonight.” He paused. “And that’s my completely unbiased opinion.”