A Promise Between Friends
Under the chilly morning sun, Yuuri glides gracefully across the frozen Great Lake. He sweeps into a camel spin, followed by a simple double toe loop, and then lets the momentum pull him across the ice.
Beneath his feet, a solid thud resonates across the lake, stumbling his landing. Yuuri shoots a glance where the Giant Squid is watching. He's used to it already, the times when the Squid smacks the bottom of the frozen lake, strong enough to vibrate under his skates, but never enough to break through. It's nothing a little extra concentration can't fix, and really, it helps him learn to focus on the minuscule actions that strengthen his landing posture.
Besides, Yuuri knows it's not intentional, because the Giant Squid is his biggest fan - no one's been there for him longer than it.
The Squid watched him for six years, since that first day as a tiny eleven-year-old, when Yuuri saw the lake by the school and its potential for training. Yuuri's drills are followed by the Giant Squid's gaze, as he jogs around the lake and does his body conditioning. It bobs closely by and waves its giant tentacles when Yuuri looks over, to silently cheer him on.
It's time like these Yuuri is glad he goes to Hogwarts instead of Mahoutokoro – not that he'd planned on accepting to begin with. He's already set on dedicating his life to figure skating, but he compromised when his parents worried he would regret losing his one chance at magic. They found him a famous English-speaking school instead, so that Yuuri could practice the language and, after graduating, move to America and find a coach for his skating as he always planned.
Now there's only one more year until he graduates, and Coach Celestino Cialdini already promised to train him in Detroit once he turns eighteen.
A content smile stretches over his lips as he turns towards where he knows the Giant Squid is watching. "When I get into the Grand Prix Finals, I'll bring back a medal for you," Yuuri swears with conviction, feet weaving over ice.
It's a solemn promise between the best of friends.