Johnny had been staring at Evan reading a magazine for almost a minute before he even realised that his eyes were open. It took his brain that long to figure out he wasn't sleeping anymore. Evan looked somewhat dishevelled; his hair was not styled, he had stubble, and his clothes looked more thrown on than chosen. It was a strangely attractive look on Evan, which was the thought Johnny's mind decided to kick start while having and he finally blinked.

That was the kind of thought he hadn't had since he and Evan had really started the rivalry. It was unsettling to wake up thinking it. If his head hadn't chosen that moment to inform him it was aching, he might have been more worried.

"Ow," he said as the thumping made itself known.

"Johnny," Evan said, sounding half pleased and half genuinely concerned, "you're awake. Do you need me to get a nurse ... um ... I mean healer?"

He made a non-committal noise; he wasn't sure.

"I'll call someone," Evan decided, at which point Johnny made up his mind.

"No," he said as he came to the conclusion that was a bad idea, "I'll be okay."

His head was aching, but it wasn't too bad, and he didn't like medication. The potion Healer Gladstone had fed him tasted bad and even though it didn't seem to have had any of the side effects of normal medicine, he still didn't want any more.

"Thanks," he added as an afterthought.

His thoughts seemed to be working faster than they had been before and he blinked and looked around the room.

"Where's Patti?" he asked, surprised that Evan was there, and his mom wasn't.

"Talking to Healer Gladstone about how long you need to stay here and what after care you'll need now that you're awake," Evan said, clearly parroting off information he had been given.

It said quite a lot to Johnny's psyche that he didn't find that anywhere as annoying as he used to do. Clearly Evan had changed brackets in his head, but then when it came to people looking after his mom when he couldn't, it tended to mean a lot to Johnny.

"I hope the answer is not long and not much," he said and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Everyone seemed quite excited that you were awake," Evan told him, looking what Johnny thought was probably hopeful; he was out of practice reading Evan.

Once they had been friends, but that seemed like such a long time ago.

"Shame it's not just a matter of waving one of those wands," he replied and then did his very best not to shudder.

He was more than aware that the memory of a stick pointed at him was going to haunt his thoughts for a while.

"I heard something about a couple of days," Evan said and sounded as if he was trying to cheer Johnny up.

While appreciating the sentiment, Johnny didn't find it that easy to let go of the recollection that was bothering him. It was also clear that Evan had shadows of his own to deal with as an awkward silence fell.

"Well you'll need to get back on the ice as soon as possible to be ready for Worlds," Evan said in that earnest tone he had in what appeared to be a desperate attempt to change the subject.

Johnny was pretty sure he should be certified for finding it kind of cute. Just because Evan was being friendly did not mean it was time for any of the feelings he might have once had for his rival to surface. He was so busy thinking about that, that it took him a second to realise what Evan had actually said.

"I made it?" he asked as the idea finally resolved in his head.

The fact that he had been incapacitated before he had heard the final result only then dawned on him. It was incredibly important, but seemed so distant after what had happened.

"Oh, of course, you don't know," Evan said, eyes going wide with realisation, "oh, no, I should have let your mom tell you."

Evan appeared pathetically worried; Johnny almost wanted to laugh. It was a nice distraction.

"Well you didn't," he said and would have rolled his eyes if he hadn't thought it would exacerbate his headache, "so spill; what were the final placings."

Evan's expression was kind of panicked.

"Evan," he said in a warning tone.

"You came first, I came second, Jeremy came third because he fell," Evan finally confessed.

For a few seconds Johnny forgot about everything else and gave a whoop of joy. It never occurred to him not to sit up and throw his arms around a very startled Evan and give the other skater a hug.

"Oh crap," he said as his jubilance became a nauseating room spinning and he came over all lightheaded and weak.

"Johnny, you're an idiot," Evan said, proving that he wasn't as much of a wimp as he seemed to have been trying to pretend.

"Winning idiot," Johnny countered as Evan helped him lie back on his pillows.

When he could look up again, Evan was smiling at that. Sometimes he forgot that Evan had a sense of humour, but he smiled back, enjoying the camaraderie. Everything was so weird, but he felt kind of closer to Evan, because they had shared part of it.

"I promise not to fall out of bed if you'll tell me what I've missed," he said with what he hoped was a winning batting of his eyelashes.

Evan rolled his eyes.

"If your mom kills me it's your fault," Evan told him, but then started to explain what had happened while he was asleep.

He was quite surprised by how comfortable the whole situation felt.

====

Rest and relaxation, that was the order of the day, and Johnny made himself stay in bed even though every instinct told him he should be on the ice. Healer Gladstone assured him he would be fully recovered soon, but they couldn't rush the treatments. Until they were finished, he had strict instructions to do as little as possible and eat what was put in front of him. Patti was enjoying the last part far too much; she always worried about what he ate.

A new email popped up as he scanned his laptop and he clicked on it. It was from Tanith, but the message only read, 'you should see this' with a URL. It was a Youtube link, so he clicked it and waited. What came up was Evan and it was some form of newscast.

"Evan, what do you think of the USFSA's proposal?" a reporter off screen asked.

"It's disgusting," Evan said in no uncertain terms.

Johnny hadn't heard of any proposal and he began to worry.

"Rerunning the men's competition would be plain wrong," Evan continued vehemently. "The only reason they suggested it is because Adam is ready to compete, and Johnny isn't."

Ice ran up Johnny's spine as he listened. The USFSA couldn't do that to him, could they? If they reran the competition, they would take away his title, declare it void, and he'd have to do it all again.

"There was disruption at the nationals," Evan was not stopping talking; very unusual for him, "but we all competed. Adam is a great guy, but he was down for competition. We all know what that feels like. He didn't ask to be kidnapped and hit over the head, but none of us ask for a broken toe or a sprained ankle either. Johnny won, fair and square; he was so damn good they couldn't mark him down, and he should lead us to the Worlds. If he chooses not to, then that's up to him, but the USFSA can't take that away from him."

Evan appeared positively furious.

"If they try," Evan said firmly and looked right into the camera, "I for one won't be there."

Johnny sat there with his mouth open. He didn't know what to think. Evan was not only defending him, his biggest rival was putting his career on the line.

"That was two hours ago," the reporter said as the report showed clips from the men's free skate, "when Evan Lysacek led the protest again the USFSA's proposal to re-run the men's figure skating national competition. So far fifteen of those who competed this year have added their names to the list who say they will not compete again. Included is last year's winner, Jeremy Abbott as well as the skater at the centre of the controversy, Adam Rippon."

He couldn't believe it, he really couldn't. The powers that be were conspiring against him, but above that, his fellow skaters were going up against them. For a moment he felt a bit lightheaded; he wasn't very good at dealing with shocks to his system at the moment.

Of course, that was the moment Evan decided to walk in and Johnny's equilibrium went flip and he burst into tears. The expression of panic on Evan's face might have made him laugh if he hadn't been on an emotional rollercoaster. From the way Evan looked around the room desperately, Johnny was pretty sure that Evan was hoping Patti would pop out from under the bed or something to help. Johnny just buried his face in his hands and carried on crying; he couldn't help it.

"Johnny," Evan's voice was a little scared, but very gentle as he spoke and a long, warm arm was draped carefully around Johnny's shoulders.

It was all the permission Johnny needed and he reached out blindly, wrapping his arms around Evan and burying his face in Evan's shirt. Definitely not what he had intended, but apparently what he really needed, because he kind of dissolved into a blubbering mess as all the emotions that had been bubbling around inside him all broke free.

Also, it seemed, Evan was not as bad in a crying crisis as Johnny might have suspected, because after the initial awkwardness, Evan seemed to get with the program and gently embraced him back. He was pretty sure there were meaningless platitudes being spoken, but all that he really cared about was the large hand making slow circles on his back in a very calming manner.