All Chapters of Hearts on Ice: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

The morning air now felt strangely warm despite the cloudy sky above them and nobody wanted to move at first, all four of them just stood there staring across the street while Lydia and Klaire sat beneath the café umbrella looking…weirdly…domestic. Two untouched iced coffees rested between them while Lydia leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed tightly staring at Klaire while Klaire scrolled through her phone beside her looking exhausted enough to collapse.“…why does this feel illegal?” Nikola whispered.“Because every time those two appear, something bad happens,” Viktor answered immediately, quietly and Elias nodded once. “That’s actually fair.” Across the street, Klaire noticed them first and froze…Lydia turned immediately after noticing the shift in her expression and the second her eyes landed on Lukas and Viktor standing together, she looked like she started regretting her very existence.“…oh no,” she muttered.Nikola grinned instantly. “Oh, this is gonna be messy.”Lu

The rink lights flickered awake one by one above them, the cold air wrapped around Viktor instantly, the second Lukas pushed the heavy doors open and suddenly, everything smelled the same. Ice, rubber…metal and hockey. His chest tightened immediately and for a second he couldn’t move at all. It felt like he had forgotten how to breathe.The empty rink stretched endlessly ahead under pale white lights, smooth untouched ice glowing softly in the silence while the distant hum of the cooling systems echoed through the arena and even Lukas stopped breathing properly because God…home and it still felt like home and somehow, that terrified him. Lukas glanced back after dropping his duffel bag near the benches and immediately noticed Viktor hadn’t moved an inch. His expression softened slightly.“You okay?”Viktor stared toward the ice silently for a long moment before finally shaking his head once.“…no.” Lukas didn't force him, he only nodded once before quietly starting to gear up beside t

The first training back felt wrong immediately. Not bad wrong…just different as the rink roared back to life around them fast, blades carved sharply into ice, whistles screamed across cold air and players crashed right into drills like they’d never left but Viktor…Viktor observed everything, every hesitation and every second slower than before. It drove him mad instantly. He pushed off too cautiously during turns. His stops weren’t sharp enough and even his acceleration felt delayed and worst of all? Everybody noticed…every single soul but it wasn't in a mocking way and somehow, that made it worse…because it felt like pity.“Easy,” Lukas murmured while skating beside him during drills.“I am being easy.”“That’s the problem.” and Viktor glared immediately.“Can you not psychoanalyze me while I skate?”“No.”“Wow…evil.” Lukas laughed but his eyes stayed careful…always watching then the coach blew the whistle sharply from across the rink.“Again!”The team groaned collectively before re

The apartment was quiet again but not a peaceful quiet…heavy quiet. Sunlight spilled faintly through the curtains while rain threatened somewhere far outside and Viktor sat legs crossed on the couch pretending to study something on his laptop even though he hadn’t actually read the same paragraph in nearly twenty minutes. Behind him, Lukas moved around the kitchen silently making coffee and the distance between them had started feeling routine now and somehow that terrified Viktor more than the fighting ever did because at least fighting meant they were still reaching for each other. This? This felt like slowly bleeding out.“You want sugar?” Lukas asked eventually without looking over and Viktor blinked slightly like he’d forgotten Lukas was even there.“…yeah.”Lukas nodded once quietly before continuing to stir the coffee and the domestic normalcy of it made Viktor’s chest ache suddenly because God…this apartment had become dangerous. Not because it was bad but because it felt too

Morning started softly for once. No yelling…no panic and no pain…Just warmth beneath their skin. Rain drizzled quietly outside the apartment windows while sunlight crept in lazily across scattered blankets and Lukas slept deeper than usual beside Viktor, one arm wrapped tightly around his waist like even asleep he still needed to be sure Viktor was there. Viktor woke first this time but didn’t move immediately because Lukas looked unfairly peaceful asleep and honestly? That still felt rare enough to stare at.His dark hair fell messily over his face while his breathing stayed low against Viktor’s shoulder. It felt too domestic, too soft and too easy to lose. Viktor reached up carefully brushing strands of hair away from Lukas’s eyes and Lukas immediately made a sleepy sound before pulling him closer without even waking up properly.“Stop moving,” he mumbled against Viktor’s neck.“But you’re crushing me.”“Survive.”Viktor snorted quietly beneath his breath and relaxed back into him a