PROLOGUE

a tokyo welcome

THE CABIN LIGHTS went on slowly — they started to flicker on in the back of the plane until they travelled all the way to the front. It was a soft, slightly purple light that was distinguishable from almost anything else — not as harsh as the doctor's office, but not as soft as your favorite lamp back home. The flight attendants came rushing down the aisle with coffee and tea for the first class passengers. Their hair was tucked in neatly, black suits just so with a blue scarf tied perfectly around the female's necks. A warm smile adorned each of their faces, hiding the hasty concealer for their eye bags in the dim light.

Yawns were rampant all around the cabin, signs of businessmen, the wealthy and the lucky people who got an upgrade were waking up. A crackle was heard over the speakers placed in the small televisions at each seat and the clearly of a throat.

"Good morning, this is your captain speaking," the voice sounded, sounding like white noise as it sprung into the cabin, making the heavy sleepers flutter their eyelashes. "It is a beautiful morning here in Tokyo, the weather is hot and sunny at 32 degrees Celsius, 90 degrees Fahrenheit. We will be touching down in about 25 minutes and we would like to thank you for flying United, the proud partner of Team USA." 

Emma groaned and shifted in her reclined seat and buried her face in her mom's travel pillow. However, a tap on her shoulder that quickly turned into a shove disturbed her plans. She turned over with an annoyed look only to find a raised eyebrow. 

"You ready to go, Em?" her coach, Ben asked. She was luckier than most, her personal coach had been selected to be one of the fencing team's personal coaches, probably to help with the sabre events. However, she didn't feel lucky in that moment as he stared at her, chewing on an airplane croissant. 

"Let me sleep," she grumbled as she turned back over, pulling her blanket over her body once more.

"Nope," Ben replied as he reached over and wrestled the blanket out of her hands, almost causing him to drop his croissant. "You're an Olympian, Em, whether you like it or not, so that means we have shit to do when we land and we need you as awake as possible."

"Fuck you," she grumbled as she sat up.

"Save the trash talk for the games," he scolded as he waved over a flight attendant with a smile. "Could we get this young lady some breakfast? And some orange juice?"

"Right away, sir," she replied as she scurried off.

"At least you remembered the juice," Emma grumbled as she covered her eyes with her hand, however, she could feel his disapproving face and a smile creeped onto her own. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Ben replied haughtily as Emma gave him a look. "We've been away from Tasha and Mags for only 14 hours and you've already lost your manners."

"You don't win gold medals with manners," Emma quipped.

"You're right," Ben said as he looked at her pointedly. "But, it's how you keep winning them."

"Meaning?" Emma asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Fencing isn't exactly the most popular sport," Ben pointed out. "But if you're sweeter than a peach, then it doesn't matter to the sponsors, they can capitalize off of that alone."

"Would you look at that, not just a pretty face," Emma teased as her eyes caught the flight attendant carrying her 'light breakfast'.

"I am mostly a pretty face," Ben replied with a charming smile, which was redirected up to the flight attendant who was standing next to their seats.

"Here we are," she said cheerily. "Anything else I can get ya?"

"Your number?" Ben asked with his most charming more.

She smiled tightly and stuck out her hand, swinging down her fingers. It was obvious that Ben didn't understand what was happening, but she could tell that Emma did and winked playfully at her. "Nice try, dynamo. Have a nice rest of the flight."

It took everything in Emma to contain her laughter as the flight attendant walked away and only once she was sure that she was out of sight, did the giggles erupt. Ben, however, looked positively baffled as he stared at his laughing athlete.

"Care to — " he started to ask, annoyed.

"She's gay, Ben," Emma interrupted as more laughter spilled from her lips. "Nice try, dynamo."

"Just ... just eat your croissant," Ben huffed as he shoved it towards her.

"Aye aye, captain," she replied sarcastically as she opened the paper box. 

"That's coach, to you," he corrected with a sly smile. 

Emma slid down her mask as she took a bite out of the croissant and decided that it tasted like cardboard, but cardboard was better than nothing. She decided against using any of the jams that came along with it — not wanting to suffer a heart attack from all of the sugar, so she gagged a little at how dry the croissant was as well. The orange juice, however, was the highlight of the entire meal. 

The cabin lights switched on fully as they entered their descent into Tokyo, making Emma's stomach churn. It was one thing thinking about it or training for it, but arriving at the Olympics was a different thing entirely. So, she elected to staring out of her newly opened window, adjusting the nose wire of her mask ever so often out of nerves. Ben looked out as well at the foreign city — neither of them had been out of the country, let alone on a different continent, so they both marveled at the sight. 

"There it is," Ben whispered as he pointed to a small cluster of buildings that were nearly surrounded by water. There were flags from every country in the world floating in the breeze and she could see people walking around on the ground. What a funny thought that all of those people — people that she'd meet with sandy blonde hair or a love for volleyball, but others that she'd never know. People who would continue on with their lives, never knowing that for a brief moment, a member of the US Olympic fencing team wondered what their favorite color might be. 

"It looks beautiful," Emma replied as she stared at the lush green grass and the identical buildings. It looked like all of the building plans that she saw on television shows, but then they always butchered the final products. However, here, it looked like a drawing. 

"Last chance to turn back," Ben said, but something was different about his voice, making Emma look at him. She stared into his eyes, her lips slightly parting. "I'm serious Em, I know you had your ... reservations ... about Alan Hadzic still being on the team, which none of us agree with — "

"You'll protect me," Emma interrupted with an uneasy smile. She nodded, as if trying to reassure him. "You'll protect all of us and I've been in contact with some of the boys and they will too." 

"And besides that, it's a lot of pressure — " Ben continued as he placed a hand on their large seat divider. 

"Ben — " Emma protested with a scoff.

"You're only 18, Em," Ben reasoned with a sad smile. "I can't imagine what must be going through your head."

"No one watches fencing," Emma replied as she shook her head a little. "Save that for Suni Lee. She'll need it more than I do."

"Doesn't mean I don't care," Ben grumbled as he sat back. 

"Ben," Emma replied with serious eyes. "I'm fine, really. But thank you, I appreciate it more than you know."

"Of course," Ben replied with a nod. "You just ... even though you have two ... "

"You can say it," Emma urged with kind eyes.

"You've always been like a daughter to me," Ben sighed as he relaxed a little. 

"And you've been the closest thing I've ever had to a father," Emma admitted. "Not that that's a bad thing."

"Well, no time to dwell on it, we're about to land," Ben said as he cleared his throat and gathered everything from where he had stowed it in a compartment next to his reclining seat. Emma could've sworn she saw at least two tears in his eyes. 

"Flight attendants in landing position," the captain crackled suddenly over the speakers, causing both of them to jump and scramble to gather their things. 

Emma stuck in her airpods and started playing Cherry Wine by Hozier, an odd choice for her usual upbeat soundtrack, but perhaps she needed the gentle guitar and stunning lyrics for a change as the plane slowly turned downwards. 

She pressed the button near her chair and felt it slowly move into it's upright position as more pressure was added to her chest until in a couple of thuds, their plane landed, rolling fast down the runway. Only when it slowed did the now familiar crackle sound.

"This is your captain speaking, welcome to Tokyo! The local time is 9:30 am," the captain said through the speakers as murmuring started to ripple through the cabin. Bags were being hauled around and children started crying. "We hope you had an enjoyable flight and once again, thank you for flying United."

It took three more songs before their plane was actually at the gate and parked. Emma felt the plane depressurize and the peace that was once there — the silence of sleepy passengers and unpopped ears was suddenly cut in favor of real life like a film reel winding down. Silently, she gathered her things, as did Ben and they shuffled out of the plane.

"Thank you," Emma said with a kind smile to the flight attendant from earlier.

"Welcome to Tokyo," she replied with a cheerful tone.

NOTES ON YOUNG GODS

wow prologue. you can imagine ben as whomever you want, however, i feel like he has a beard, but that just might be me :)