[ Fic ] Break a Leg

[Kappa]

Hello everyone. This is a small ficlet I was working on this evening. It's pink, it's got lyrics, and it's definitely not what I used to write, but something's something. Hope you like, and hope you find the little things I put into it for the really observing reader.

~~~~

Break a Leg

The sun had comfortable settled just in over the gym, making the already sweaty and insufferable atmosphere sticky and humid. Droplets of sweat dripped from Yulia’s bangs, who had taken a seat and was resting from gymnastics practice. She was visibly nervous and somehow irritated, having failed to stick two landings already, stumbling on the last one. It was not like her to be so distraught at practice.

But she couldn’t help it: she was worried. Maybe Elena was going to say no. It had been one week since the redhead had found the letter Yulia had squished in to her locker. They had not talked after it, although Lena had shot her a couple of smiles and grins. Yulia had taken that as confirmation, but every time she tried to talk to her, Lena would sight her first, run away, and dissapear. It not only irritated the brunette, it confused her vastly. What did the mysterious young woman want from her? Presumibly, to drive her mad.

“Yulia… Yulia!”

She looked up into her coach’s eyes, who towered over her and tapped her foot impatiently. “What?”

“Bars. Now.” Said the coach while pointing to the uneven bars. It’d be Yulia’s main event at the next competition, in barely one week, and probably what she was best at, but right now, all she could do was stare at them with a certain amount of distrust.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Lazily standing up, she walked to the bars like a death row convict to the chair would. She stared up at them for a couple moments before extending her arms and being pushed up to them by the coach’s assistant. He looked up at her waiting for approval, and received it as she nodded and swung her hips back, once, twice, until finding her balance and swinging over the bar.

Her mind was full of thoughts, some pleasant, some intrusive. There was that little annoying song she had heard on the radio on the way to school, that she couldn’t get out of her head—something about running away into the stars and losing your head. Thinking she was hungry and consequentially remembered that she had an uneaten sandwich squished between her notes and her Literature homework—she cursed under her breath to stop thinking about those things when she almost missed grabbing the bar on her second turn. She concentrated hard on her second jump, and nailed it perfectly. Smiling, she opened into an split, swung hard into the upper bar, and nailed it again. Feeling rather proud of herself, she decided to try a backwards jump and finish the maneouver unorthodoxly, but beautifully.

She was so proud of herself, her thoughts wandered again. She wondered if Lena would be amazed, watching her do stuff like this. So deeply into her thoughts of Lena, she was, that she remembered that first, marvelous kiss they had shared in the showers some weeks ago.

Then everything went black.

---

‘This music they use in the infirmary sucks,’ Yulia thought as the school’s medic bandaged her ankle. ‘It’s not even relaxing. Maybe an elevator puked this melody.’ She gasped as the physician closed up the bandage and stuck the end into place. Her foot felt hot, swollen, and constrained in the small ferula that had been fixed for her, and she felt incredibly uncomfortable and woozy with the painkiller she had been given.

“Well, Yulia, you were lucky not to break it.”

“Will I be able to compete next week?” Hope twinkled on Yulia’s baby blues.

“I’m afraid not,” the doctor said while heading to the sink to clean her hands. “A luxation is a luxation, and even if you can stand on it next week, you’ll probably hurt yourself more.” She looked gravely at her patient and handed her a box of painkillers and a pair of crutches. “Take these for one week, and use the crutches for three weeks. You’re excused from all physical activities in the campus.”

Instead of rolling off the bed, Yulia fell back into it, muffling a frustrated scream with a pillow. The physician just chuckled.

---

Limping out of the office with her bookbag on one arm and her duffel back hanging from her shoulder, Yulia just had to sit down and meditate on how bad this day had been. Lena’s answer was going to be the death of her if it kept on drilling holes into her mind like this. She sat the entrance, looking at the basketball courts where some upperclassmen played one on one. Behind them, a little kid was shooting hoops with his own ball, and next to him, a fiery mass of auburn red hair picked up on a hastily done pony tail, bent down on itself, apparently writing. “Lena…?”

The redhead was quite far and did not hear her whisper. She did however look around her, suspiciously. Yulia picked up her crutches and sped towards her like any discapacitated in love and strongly curious would. She cursed the metalic crunch of her crutches when she noticed Lena looked right at her, picked up her notebook, and ran off like a discovered pixie.

A more audible, extremely long string of swear words slipped Yulia’s mouth while she tossed her crutches away in anger. Her balance was as good as it could be thanks to the fact that she was a gymnast, but as soon as she tried to give chase, her luxated ankle gave way, and the petit brunette met the floor in an amusing a-la-Chaplin manner.

---

Night had fallen and Yulia had long given up thinking up crazy schemes to draw Lena to her home while she was incapacitated. Her day had been lousy enough to exhaust any more energies in the vanal process of thinking, she did not feel like sacrificing any more time, and she had limped off to the kitchen and stolen a couple of cookies and a glass of milk, later falling asleep watching her TV.

She was just in the middle of a particularly nice dream of fairies with fiery red hair escaping her inquisitive hands, when she heard the sound of something against a pane of glass. She opened her eyes, and sure enough, there was a barrage of pebbles aimed at getting her attention. She picked up the closest crutch to her, and limped the short couple feet to her window. Within opening the window, one last pebble whooshed past her ear.

“Hey! You bast--”

“Sorry! Sorry, keep your voice down.”

It was her beloved redhead. She looked flushed but happy and was looking up at her balcony in amused silence, wearing what looked very close to being one of her father’s suits.

“Lena! What are you doing here? It’s nearly midnight,” the pleasantly surprised girl replied.

“I have an answer.”

“You do?!”

Lena flinched yet again. “Keep your voice down!”

“Sorry, sorry.” Yulia nodded excitedly. “Well come in! Come tell me!” She started limping back into her room when Lena called her back.

“No, wait. I want to give my answer down here.”

Yulia raised an eyebrow and looked at her with interest. “Oh do you. Well please go ahead! I’m dying to know.” Her insides felt like butterflies. Lena nodded and looked in all directions (“don’t worry, my parents aren’t home”) before clearing her throat, picking up a hat matching the suit and covering her gray eyes with it.

Well, I know it's kind of late
I hope I didn't wake you

“Damn right you did.”

Lena smiled between verses.

But what I got to say can't wait
I know you'd understand
'Cause every time I tried to tell you
The words just came out wrong
So I'll have to say I love you in a song

Yulia tried to recognize the song. She didn’t know it, but it was certainly like the goldies of old. Maybe it was what Lena was writing every time she had tried to ask her for an answer. Her smile was totally out of her control, her heart fluttering right out of her chest as Lena opened her arms wide to accentuate the meaning of her little balad.

Yeah, I know it's kind of strange
But every time I'm near you
I just run out of things to say
I know you'd understand
'Cause every time I tried to tell you
The words just came out wrong
So I'll have to say I love you in a song

'Cause every time the time was right
All the words just came out wrong
So I'll have to say I love you in a song

Lena took a deep breath and tried to look as galant as she could in an oversized suit. She took off the hat and bowed, expecting something similar to a laugh out of her serenated girlfriend, and looked up only to receive a small tear droplet on her left cheek. She froze.

“I… I didn’t… mean to make you cry.”

“I know you didn’t, dummy.” The brunette replied, bending down and offering Lena a chair to climb up her balcony. She took an insanely worried Lena up in her balcony, and received an amount of apologetic kisses, from her cheeks, to her nose, to her lips (where they obviously stayed for longer) from the redhaired singer. “It’s just that I never thought something past ‘Yes, I love you too’ would make me so happy.”

~~~~

With apologies to Jim Croce (author of the song), and to Lena and Yulia for yet again making a romance out of a fic of them.

[Volkster]

This was oh so cute!!!

Yulia hopping around and then falling in a Chaplin manner! Very visual I have to say!

And the last sentence is beyond perfect!!! Thanks darje for sharing!

PS. I'm trying to remember where I have read your Haku's Perverted Quote of the week. Hmmm!

[Veggie Delite]

you should do this more often yo!

[dare2dream28]

Awww cute story darje! I laughed at this:

“Damn right you did.”

LOL

Didn't you have a fic started back in the day about when the girls were young? Do you think you'll continue it?

[Kappa]

O_o I'm not quite sure I did. I was thinking of re-starting The Two Lenas, and maybe writing something new. I have an old unfinished piece I just finished this evening waiting to be posted, but given the lack of feedback, I'll have to consider it twice.

[Veggie Delite]

here's some more feedback so now you go ahead and post

[Kappa]

With that kind of feedback, whomever could say no?

[Veggie Delite]

uhm... in that case please forgive me, i won't bother you anymore with that kind of feedback

[Kappa]

LOL! No, please overburden me with your lovely feedback! I'm currently working on a rant slash declaration slash cheerio @ Tatu, but I promise to post at least two pieces of new fiction within tomorrow night. All for you, Veggie!

[Veggie Delite]

you will?

thank you very much. i really love your work