Yuuri had been burdened with his anxiety and panic attacks for as long as he could remember. He'd been an extremely clingy yet distant child as a result. He sought and longed for constant reassurance from his parents and sister, but he could also curl up in the darkest corners of the room when he felt like too much of a burden to his loved ones.
Everyone around Yuuri eventually developed their own ways of dealing with his mood swings and episodes. Hiroko would hold him tight and sing him sweet lullabies. His father did the same, just without the singing. They usually ended up playing Shogi after Yuuri calmed down again. Yuuko would sit by Yuuri's side and tell him all the latest Victor Nikiforov gossip she'd heard. Nishigori would try to see if Yuuko or anyone else was around. But if they were alone, he'd lend Yuuri a shoulder to cry on and tell him everything he needed to hear. And though Minako's way of calming Yuuri down was the most effective (She would make him do breathing exercises and stretches until the only thing he felt was the burning of his muscles), Mari's way soon became his passion and third favourite thing in the world (behind skating and Victor Nikiforov).
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Yuuri could remember how it had all started. It was one of his first memories: After one particularly bad day at the preschool, Yuuri found himself alone with his sister while their parents were busy running the Inn. Yuuri had been hyperventilating and Mari, how was already in the second grade of elementary school, pulled Yuuri onto her lap and quietly started to explain her math homework to him. Her voice was steady and soothing, making it easy for Yuuri to fixate on the sound of it. He only started of actually listen to what she said after he calmed down, and when he did, he found out that Mari's homework was surprisingly similar to what he did at school. Though Yuuri had troubles understanding the tables. His sister had been very patient when she explained the tables and helped him memorize them before the two of them continued working on her homework together.
From that day on, Yuuri and Mari could often been found together, sitting behind Mari's desk and bent over that day's assignment. Mari also tried to interest him in some other subjects, but Yuuri found none of them as soothing as Math. Math was logical, it was calming. Yuuri's anxiety made him doubt his every action, every spoken word. There were infinite 'what if's' and so many different ways how everything could've ended. But when it came to math, there was only one correct answer, no matter which path you took or which formula you used. The numbers meant certainty, and when he doubted his answer, he could always double check it.
Their parents were glad they found a common interest and had been nothing but supportive. They also bought Yuuri some grade school leveled self-study math books from the local bookstore so Yuuri had something to do after they'd finished Mari's homework.
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Eventually, Yuuri became old enough to go to elementary school himself. And of course, you could imagine his teacher's shock when she found out Yuuri could do fourth-grade leveled math. At first, she'd suspected that Hiroko and Toshiya were tiger parents, forcing their son to be an overachiever. But after a long talk with his parents, she – and all of Yuuri's other teachers – also started helping Yuuri whenever they could. It didn't take long for his teachers to learn that the best way of dealing with Yuuri's panic attacks was to help him calm his breathing before handing him a package of math assignments.
Though Yuuri excelled in the extra mathematical challenges, he'd never been the best at holding his own during social interactions with his classmates. He quickly became the weird silent kid with the problems in his head. The fact that the teachers sometimes paid more attention to him also didn't particularly help his social status in the class.
Later on, when everyone started to feel the pressure of test scores and rankings, jealousy became another reason why Yuuri want popular among his peers. Sure, he was average in subjects as History or Japanese, but it was an entirely different story when it came to mathematics. He made the standardized tests of fifth graders when he himself was still in the second grade. His name would always be on top of the lists hanging on the school's public announcements board since he never scored anything but a perfect 100%.
This resulted in people spreading rumors about him throughout the school. Katsuki Yuuri, the weird kid without any friends, who never spoke to others because he deemed himself above the rest. The kid who was as cold as the ice he skated on.
And though Mari, Yuuko, and occasionally Takeshi tried their best to dismantle these false rumors about Yuuri – usually by showing pictures of a smiling Yuuri with Vicchan – there was only so much they could do against an entire school of students.
Yuuri, who tried not to let the words get to them – or at least tried his best not to show they did – threw himself at dancing, skating, and extra math to cope with his frustrations.
Of course, this led to him becoming even better at the things he was doing. Soon, Yuuri's mathematical abilities surpassed that of his sister and he worked himself through sixth-grade math in the span on a few weeks. Yuuri wasn't a genius, he just spent more time on his hobbies than others.
Yuuri parents continued buying him middle school leveled math workbooks, but he could no longer ask his sister for help. Mari, after noticing Yuuri's not so subtle frown and pouts, took him to the library once a week to find books on mathematics that they'd read together. They had a working system: Mari would read the books to Yuuri, since he still had problems with the Kanji, and Yuuri would explain the content to Mari once he understood it. They did the same with their homework: Mari would seek Yuuri's help for math, while Yuuri sought Mari's help for anything but math.
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Yuuri loved math, really, but there was only so much a ten-year-old could do before finally getting bored.
It all changed when Mari went to middle school. There she was taught a number of new subjects and she didn't wait to tell her little brother all about it.
The day that Mari introduced Yuuri to Physics was the best day of Yuuri's life. Not only did it mean that Yuuri could start anew and at the same pace as his sister (for as long as they could, of course), but it also changed Yuuri's perspective on the world, because physics was everywhere. It was in the water that filled their hot springs, it was in the seagulls that flew above his head, but most importantly, it was in skating.
Yuuri started looking into the physics behind his jumps and studied them until he knew exactly how everything worked. From the best height for a jump or the minimum velocity he needed for his mid-air turns.
He'd been really proud of himself when he told Minako sensei what he'd learned. But she'd only smiled and told him to try the jumps out for himself. Yuuri learned it the hard way that just because his mind understood the dynamics of skating, it didn't mean that his body did too.
And though he started off with a minor humiliation and setback, it didn't stop him from staying up late, calculating whether a quadruple axel was actually possible. Nor did it stop him from analyzing skating video's to determine whether Victor's grow spurt affected his jumps.
That year, Yuuri's passion for math expanded to a passion for science.
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When Yuuri was finally old enough to go to middle school himself, he was overjoyed when he received an acceptance letter to the best school in Hasetsu. It only got better when he found out he'd also gotten a scholarship due to his academic accomplishments and his figure skating career.
Yuuri knew that going to that school meant that the science classes weren't going to be the only classes taught at a more advanced level. But luckily he had an older sister who could help him with the rest.
Yuuri's middle school flew by in a haze filled with figure skating, science, and a lot of Victor Nikiforov posters. And though Yuuri had hoped that his mental health issues would decrease as he grew older, the opposite seemed to be the case. Even in a new school, he managed to make little friends. The competition and jealousy were even worse at a school like his. Yuuri also missed a lot of school because of his competitions, which were always held at the worst possible time like during school trips or festivals.
The same thing happened throughout high school. Becoming older meant that he was allowed to compete in larger competitions, which of course, were hell for his nerves. He tried to stick to Minako's breathing exercises and stretches, but when he was stuck in small spaces like cars or planes, he'd try to calm his nerves by reciting the periodic table or read a book on quantum mechanics or astrophysics.
During Yuuri's last competition before graduating high school, Yuuri met Celestino. The man had offered him an opportunity to train in America. Yuuri had been inclined to decline the man's offer, but after a long talk with his coach, he understood that he had to take this chance if he wanted to have a future in competitive skating. He needed someone who was more experienced to guide him.
When he arrived back in Hasetsu, he informed his parents of his decisions. Though they were sad to see him go, they continued to support him every step of the way. With the help of his coach, teachers, and Celestino, Yuuri managed to get a full-ride scholarship at the University of Detroit and sponsorships for Celestino's coaching program. (Yuuri had spent his last months of High School staying up late, trying to find a way to finance his plans. He knew that his parents were more than willing to pay for everything, but everyone knew that studying in the States was incrediblyexpensive).
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Starting a new life in a foreign country was the most stressful thing Yuuri had done in his life. The constant pressure of having to prove himself worthy didn't help either.
Yuuri daily schedule consisted or training from dawn until he had to leave for his lectures, lunch, more lectures, training until the rink closed and physics homework until he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. Yuuri's passions were his coping methods in a foreign country. The Ice cleared his thought and helped him think while science relaxed him and offered him clarity.
The tactic worked, but the minimal human interaction made it incredibly lonesome.
It changed when Phichit started training in Detroit as well. Sure, it took Yuuri some time to get used to the energetic Thai skater, but the two of them became inseparable.
Phichit forced Yuuri out of his shell and comfort zone, showing him things and experiences he would never find on ice or in a book. Phichit was always the one to push Yuuri into doing new things (sometimes quite literally, like the time he pushed Yuuri on stage for his first Ted-Talk), but he was also the one who understood Yuuri's limits better than anyone else. Phichit, being the best friend Yuuri could ever ask for, always had a couple of complex math or physics equations on his phone and brought a notepad and pen with him in case Yuuri forgot his own.
Yuuri wasn't the type of person who liked to draw attention to himself, especially not through social media. But of course, one could not simply be roommates and best friends with Phichit Chulanont without having at least one Instagram and Twitter account.
After weeks of pleading, pestering and blackmailing, Yuuri finally decided to create an Instagram and two Twitter accounts. One for his skating career and one for his academic one.
Yuuri's time in America had been the best years of his adolescent life. But everything had to come to an end eventually and for Yuuri, the end was his disastrous Grand Prix final in Sochi. Those were the worst three days of his life. Not only had he lost his dog and embarrassed himself, Celestino, and everyone who ever believed in him, but he'd also realized that being on the same stage as Victor Nikiforov didn't mean that his idol acknowledged him as a fellow skater, laying his life-long dreams and fantasies in ruins.
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Once he was back in Detroit, Yuuri started to focus more on his researches than his skating. His failures in the 2016 competitions only drove him further into the opposite direction.
Accepting the end of his competitive skating career, Yuuri finished his PhD research and ended thing with Celestino in favor of going back home. Though Yuuri never officially announced his retirement, he figured that it was rather obvious.
Perhaps he could become a professor at the local university. Well, if he was lucky enough to obtain the position.
Yuuri never got the chance to apply since Victor decided to show and surprise him buck naked in his family's onsen.
Two years later, Yuuri had completely settled into his daily life in St. Petersburg. Victor had placed a desk and installed extra bookcases in their bedroom. They had originally wanted to turn the extra guest bedroom into Yuuri's study, but they decided against it since they needed a place for Yuri to stay.
Victor wholeheartedly supported everything Yuuri did, and often asked him to explain what he was doing. Yuuri knew that Victor didn't understand a word that came out of his mouth, but he also knew that his fiancé loved to hear Yuuri talk about something he was passionate about. Yuuri didn't mind it in the slightest. Telling Victor about his work helped him order his thoughts. He was also incredibly grateful that Victor didn't get irritated whenever Yuuri rushed off the ice to write down new realizations every time he had a little eureka moment.
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Wednesday evenings were reserved for family dinners at the Katsuki-Nikiforov household. Though family dinners meant the two of them plus Yuri and occasionally Yuri's not-quite-boyfriend Otabek.
It all started when Yuuri saw Yuri struggle with his homework one day after training. He'd offer to help the younger skater, but Yuri had rejected his help, claiming that Yuuri wouldn't be of any help when he couldn't even read the questions. But math was a universal language and Yuuri didn't need to know Cyrillic when it came to solving equations.
Now, every Wednesday the three (or four) of them walked back to Victor and Yuuri's apartment after training. Victor would start preparing dinner while Yuuri helped Yuri with his math, physics of chemistry homework. Yuuri liked helping Yuri, it reminded him of the times he did it with his sister.
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Yuri slammed his pen down on the table and kicked his chair back. 'Fuck this shit!' He shouted. 'I'm fucking sick of it! I'm a goddamned figure skater for fuck's sake. I've broken world records, I don't need math!'
Yuuri didn't answer. Instead, he calmly waited for Yuri to finish screaming out his frustrations. It happened every time Yuri got stuck on a question, so Yuuri had gotten used to it.
After a few minutes, Yuri seemed to have calmed down a bit. 'You done?' Yuuri asked, unimpressed.
The younger boy huffed in response.
'Maybe we should take a break', Yuuri suggested. 'Clear your head for a bit.'
'I don't need a fucking break', Yuri bit out. 'What I need is for math to fuck off. It's stupid and a waste of my fucking time.'
'A break it is', Yuuri decided. 'But you know what? Here-' Yuuri took a piece of paper and wrote down a couple of equations- 'type this into your graphing calculator.'
'The fuck is this', Yuri growled. 'I'm not fucking doing that.'
'Just do it', Yuuri told him, standing up. 'I'm going to check on Victor and Otabek.'
Yuuri was barely out of the guest bedroom when he heard Yuri's shouts. 'What the FUCK?'
With a small smile on his lips, Yuuri continued his way to the kitchen. Within seconds, the younger boy was at Yuuri's side. 'What is this?!' Yuri demanded, shoving the calculator in Yuuri's face.
Yuuri gently pushed the calculator away from his face. Victor, being the curious man that he was, leaned over Yuuri's shoulder to see what Yuri was getting so worked up about. 'Those are graphs, Yura', Yuuri answered nonchalantly. 'I thought it was obvious.'
'Don't give me that shit!' Yuri growled. 'How did you draw a middle finger with them?!'
'Wow!' Victor said, sounding amazed. 'You can do that with a calculator?' He wrapped his arm around Yuuri's waist.
'Yeah', Yuuri answered. 'You just need to find the right equations.'
'My Yuuri is so smart!' Victor crooned, snuggling closer to his fiancé.
Yuuri stuck out his hand and Otabek handed him the notebook and pen he had been gesturing at. 'Here', Yuuri said, writing down a few equation. 'Type this in and it'll make a figure skate.'
'Where the fuck did you learn this?' Yuri asked, baffled.
'I used to get bored a lot during classes, Yuuri shrugged.
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A few weeks later Yuuri won gold at the Cup of China, sharing the podium with Otabek and Phichit.
The Thai skater had made plans for all of them to go out, so Yuuri and Victor sat in the lobby of the hotel, waiting for the rest to show up. Yuuri leaned against Victor on the couch while the other scrolled through his social media pages on his phone.
Yuuri heard a hushed bickering conversation going on behind him and he turned his head to look. He didn't expect to see Otabek standing in front of the elevator arguing with another woman.
The woman had long dark hair and Yuuri could see the clear resemblance between her and Otabek. That's when Yuuri remembered that Otabek mentioned that his sister would come to see him at the competition. Yuuri strained to hear what they were talking about and he managed to pick up bits and pieces of their conversation.
'…C'mon Beka', the woman said. '…..came all this way …..'
The look on Otabek's face showed that he wasn't fazed by his sister's pleading. 'I thought …. Cheer on me….. instead….'
'Of course!... wanted….. meet him….thesis….'
Yuuri startled when Victor nudged him, showing him pictures their fans posted on their social media pages. Phichit showed up not long after with Emil and Guang Hong following closely.
'Hey!' Phichit greeted. 'Are you guys ready to go? I'm starving.'
'Who's Otabek talking to?' Guang Hong asked, looking at the bickering pair near the elevator.
'His older sister I guess', Yuuri answered. 'Should we invite them to come with? Maybe they have plans already.'
'It won't hurt to ask', Emil said. 'The more the merrier, right?'
'Hey Otabek!' Phichit called. 'We're going out for dinner, you coming?'
Otabek seemed to hesitate, but his sister dragged him over to the group.
'Hello, I'm Ayana, Otabek's older sister', she introduced. 'Mind if I tag along?'
'No problem', Phichit answered cheerfully. 'Now let's go!'
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They ended up in a traditional Chinese restaurant and Yuuri learned a lot about Ayana. Apparently, she was a physics major at the Nazarbayev University in Astana and she was writing a research paper on one of Yuuri's theories.
Yuuri would've loved to spend the whole night discussing physics with Ayana, but he knew the rest of the group stopped listening when they first heard the word 'physics'.
'Yuuuuuuri!' Phichit whined. 'Remember code three!'
Yuuri sighed. They had roommate codes back when they were both still living in the US. Code three meant no talking about skating or physics when they were out having fun unless it was to pick up dates.
'Sorry, Ayana', Yuuri apologized. 'Let's continue this tomorrow morning over a cup of coffee.' She agreed and they joined the others in their conversations.
The skaters basically inhaled their food when dinner was finally served. And afterward, Phichit and Guang Hong dragged the rest of the group to a popular nightclub in the neighborhood. Of course, they were stopped by the bouncer and had to wait until he'd seen Guang Hong's ID.
'Why does this keep happening to me?' The Chinese skater pouted. 'I'm nineteen! I don't look like a child anymore!'
Yuuri barely held back a snicker while Phichit laughed and dragged the boy to the bar to get the drinks.
Yuuri managed to refrain from drinking too much, to Phichit and Victor's dismay. He tried his best to stay in the middle ground between tipsy and blackout drunk. Though at the end of the night, Yuuri was less than two drinks away from embarrassing himself and getting kicked out of the country.
Victor, on the other hand, had been drinking so much he had to lean on Yuuri for support the entire way back to the hotel. The walk home involved a lot of groping and quiet whispers that resulted in an incredibly red Yuuri by the time they reached their hotel room.
The next morning, Yuuri went on a jog before meeting up with Ayana in a nearby coffee shop. They continued their conversation and Yuuri helped her with her paper, answering all the question she had.
Yuuri had to admit, it felt kind of weird that someone found his theories interesting and important enough to write their papers about them.
Eventually, their conversation drifted to Yuri and Otabek. The two of them traded cute or funny stories about the pair and showed each other the pictures they had on their phone.
Yuuri had a great time, but he had to leave early to catch his flight.
'We should do this again sometime', he suggested. 'Maybe you can visit St. Petersburg the next time.'
'That sounds amazing', Ayana agreed, giving Yuuri a hug. 'Thank you so much for helping me, my professor is going to be so jealous! And if for some reason we can't meet up again, at least we'll see each other at Yuri and Beka's wedding.'
Yuuri laughed and made a mental note to invite Ayana to his own wedding before saying goodbye.
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Sometimes it could be quite frustrating when Victor didn't understand the importance of his work.
Yuuri stood at his desk, searching for his USB-stick with important documents and presentations.
'Victor?' Yuuri called. 'Have you seen my USB?'
'Which one?' Victor called back.
'The blue poodle one!' Yuuri answered, pulling every drawer open in search of the USB.
'Oh, I used that one to store the movie I downloaded yesterday!'
'WHAT?!' Yuuri screeched, stumbling out if the bedroom and staggered to a halt in front of the couch. 'What did you do?' He breathed, looking down at Victor, who laid on the couch with Makkachin draped on top of him.
Victor gave Yuuri a careless smile as he said, 'I downloaded the movie you wanted to see. I thought we could watch it on the plane tomorrow.'
Yuuri felt himself starting to panic. His heart was racing had his breath didn't fully reach his lungs. 'D-did you delete what was on it?' Yuuri croaked. There was a really important PowerPoint presentation saved on the USB which Yuuri had been working on for over three months. He'd been invited to give a guest lecture at MIT after Skate Amerika and he did not have the time to start all over again.
'Of course not!' Victor answered, and Yuuri could finally breathe again. 'I would never delete your things without asking! I can't believe you'd think I'd do that!' Victor pouted.
'I'm sorry', Yuuri apologized. 'It's just that stuff on the USB is really important to me.'
'I know', Victor answered, placing a kiss on Yuuri's forehead. 'It's for that speech you're going to, right?'
'Something like that.'
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Yuuri won silver at Skate America with less than a hand full of points behind Victor. Chris, who'd returned to skating after claiming that retirement was a bore, took his rightful place on the podium with them.
'We should go out and celebrate!' Chris exclaimed, throwing his arms around both Victor and Yuuri's shoulders. 'I know a nightclub not far from the hotel.'
'As much as I'd love to get drunk and end up trending on Twitter again,' Yuuri said sarcastically, 'I can't.'
'Aww, c'mon Yuuri', Chris pleaded. 'I missed having fun with you guys.'
'Sorry Chris, but I already have plans with Phichit', Yuuri told him.
'Phichit?' Chris asked, raising an eyebrow. 'He's still in Bangkok, isn't he?'
'Nope!' A new cheery voice said behind them. 'I'm right here!'
'Phichit!' Yuuri greeted as his friend pulled him into a tight hug. 'You're here!'
'Of course I am', Phichit grinned. 'I didn't want to miss your free skate.'
'What are you doing here?' Chris asked. 'Shouldn't you be training for the final?'
Phichit waived off Chris' concerns. 'I can miss a day or two', he said. 'Yuuri, are you ready for our road trip? The car's ready and I've packed everything we'll need.'
'A road trip?' Chris asked, sounding intrigued. 'And I wasn't invited? I'm hurt!'
'Don't worry about it, Chris', Victor said, draping himself dramatically over his friend. 'I wasn't invited either. It's a BFF thing.'
'But they're going to some boring speech so I guess we won't be missing out on much', Victor added.
'In that case, we'll just have to do our BFF thing and drink until we drop', Chris decided.
'Please don't', Yuuri said, already cringing at the potential scandal.
'Hmm….. We'll think about it', Chris winked.
Knowing that the two of them were definitely planning on clubbing, Yuuri sighed and kissed Victor goodbye. 'We'll be back tomorrow afternoon', Yuuri promised.
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'Hey, doesn't Victor know that you're the one giving the lecture tomorrow?' Phichit asked when they were both seated in the car.
Yuuri shrugged. 'I told him about it….' Yuuri said, but then he remembered the way they'd spent the rest of that night together and suddenly it wasn't surprising that Victor didn't remember everything correctly. Yuuri felt his cheeks redden at the memory of that night and quickly started playing Phichit and his Road Trip playlist.
The Thai noticed Yuuri's blush and started prying for details. Yuuri told him to keep his eyes on the road.
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Later that night, Yuuri sat on one of the twin beds, scrolling through all the pictures he'd been tagged in. Most of them were of him skating, but some were posted by people he knew.
The first one was a selfie of Phichit and him, captioned with: 'Road Trip with my BFF Katsuki_Yuuri, who'd just won silver! We're coming for you MIT!'
The second picture was posted by Chris, in which Victor and Chris could be seen drinking bright colored cocktails. It was captioned with: ' Phichit_Chu and Katsuki_Yuuri aren't the only BFFs having fun tonight!'
The last one was posted by Victor, featuring a half-naked and pole dancing Chris, captioned with: 'Wish you were here Katsuki_Yuuri. Bet you could've done it better than Chris_Giacometti here ;)'
'I can't believe we missed out on pole dancing', Phichit whined, flopping down on the bed. He gave Yuuri a sideward glance. 'Your lecture better be the best thing those grumpy old professors have ever heard.'
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Yuuri's lecture went better that than he expected. His usual stage fright barely affected him and he didn't stumble over his words at all! He probably had Victor to thank for his boost in self-confidence.
The lecture wasn't all that special in Yuuri's opinion, but for some reason, the audience deemed it worthy of a standing ovation when he finished. Yuuri left the stage with a small bow and was greeted by Phichit immediately after. 'Oh my god, Yuuri!' He screamed, pulling Yuuri into a hug. 'I have no idea what you were talking about but I'm pretty sure you just blew all of their minds!'
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Yuuri spent the rest of the afternoon talking to professors and other scientists. He answered their questions, accepted their congratulations on his latest general relativity theory, and exchanged emails with a couple of interesting people. Needless to say, Yuuri was drained after hours of social interaction. He sunk into the passenger seat when they finally finished and he felt as if he could sleep for a week. Preferably with Victor as his personal pillow and heater.
Phichit and Yuuri took one more selfie for Phichit to post before starting on their five hours trip back. But they did stop for a celebratory ice cream on the way.
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'Did you have fun?' Victor asked after they'd boarded the plane back to St. Petersburg. Yuuri only managed to hum a sleepy response before snuggling closer to Victor and falling asleep.
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Less than a month later, Yuuri stood atop of the podium at the Grand Prix final in his homeland. A surge of happiness overwhelmed him as his fellow countrymen's cheers surrounded him. Victor, who'd won silver, took Yuuri's hand and brought it to his lips. Yuuri couldn't help himself as he pulled his fiancé up next to him and kissed the man senseless.
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Yuuri was surrounded by all the people he loved. His friends and family had taken the day off just to see him perform in Nagoya. Yuuri couldn't keep his tears at bay as his mother pulled him into a hug.
A few years ago he'd also shed tears at the GPF. Those had been tears of grief, shame, and frustration. He'd disappointed everyone back then.
But so much had changed since then: He'd grown confident in himself and his skills, he'd learned from his failures, but most importantly, he'd found Victor. Victor, the man he loved with all his heart, the man who'd given Yuuri a second chance at skating, the man who Yuuri got to marry now that he'd finally won gold.
'Yuuri, zolotse', Victor whispered in his ear. 'The world is waiting.'
Victor was right. There was a whole room filled with reporters and journalist waiting for the press conference to start.
'Five more minutes', Yuuri whispered back. 'Please?'
Victor placed a soft kiss on Yuuri's lips. 'I'll see what I can do.'
Victor had barely left before Mari stated screeching. 'YUURI!' He was almost tackled to the floor by his enthusiastic sister. 'You did it! You won!'
'Yeah, I did', Yuuri answered, confused by his sister's sudden outburst. 'The medal's hanging around my neck.'
Mari slapped his arm. 'Not that!' She held her phone to his face. 'You just won a Nobel Prize!'
Everything seemed to stop for a second. Yuuri was shocked. His mind wasn't processing the new information. His family was cheering and hugging him again, but Yuuri barely noticed that. Nor did he notice Victor guiding him towards the conference room. One second he was surrounded by his family and the other he was staring at a room filled with people and cameras with his fellow skaters besides him.
'Are you all right, Yuuri?' Victor asked, eyeing him worriedly.
Yuuri nodded, taking a sip of water. 'I- I'm fine', he assured Victor. 'Really.'
Victor didn't seem convinced, but there wasn't much he could do, so he reached out and held Yuuri's hand under the table. The warmth of Victor's hand helped to anchor him to the present, he gave it a little squeeze before someone announced that the press conference was starting.
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The conference was pretty much the same as every other press conference. Each skater answered questions about their performances, plans for the next season, and other questions that they'd answered a million times before already. Victor and Yuuri also got questions about their wedding plans since it was common knowledge by now that they'd marry if Yuuri won gold at the GPF.
It wasn't until the end of the press conference that things became interesting.
The last journalist, a young Japanese woman with large round glasses and a notebook, stood up to ask her question.
'Uhm, yes. Doctor Katsuki', she started. Yuuri was surprised. It's not often that people used his title when talking to him, especially not at skating competitions. He could see a couple of raised eyebrows in the audience. 'Congratulation on winning. How does it feel to have won both the GPF andthe Nobel Prize on the same day?'
The room suddenly fell dead silent. Everyone was too shocked to make a sound.
Phichit was the one who broke the silence with a high pitched squeal. He jumped out of his chair and tackled Yuuri into a bear hug. 'YOU DID IT!' he screamed. 'OH MY GOD YUURI YOU WON THE NOBEL PRIZE! I'M SO PROUD! I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT!'
Suddenly, everyone else was also yelling and demanding answers. Yuri's 'WHAT THE FUCK?!' was the loudest of them all.
Chris, who sat next to Yuuri, whistled. 'Damn Yuuri, I knew you were smart, but the Nobel Prize? Wow.'
Phichit, who was still hanging around Yuuri's neck, started telling everyone that Yuuri had always been the smartest person he knew and how Yuuri had finished his both his mathematics and physics bachelors a year before the rest of his class and did both his masters and PhD at the same time. Not to forget that Yuuri was also skating competitively during his academic years.
Yuuri turned away from Phichit, face reddened by his friend's bragging. He looked at Victor, but the look in the other man's eyes made his stomach churn and his chest tighten.
'You didn't tell me you were nominated for the Nobel Prize?' Victor asked, just soft enough that the microphones didn't pick it up, but loud enough for Yuuri to hear the hurt in his voice.
Yuuri wanted desperately to say that yes, he'd told Victor about it. He'd checked out the list of nominees the night I was published. He wanted to say that it happened on one of their date nights and that Victor had told him that there were better ways to spend the night than to look at pictures of balding old men.
But Yuuri couldn't. Not in a room filled with nosy reporters searching for news to make the headlines. So Yuuri announced that he'd take no further questions and that he'd arrange a private interview with the journalist who posed the question.
Yuuri didn't let go of Victor's hand as he led them through the swarm of reporters. He didn't let go as they powerwalked back to the hotel room, and he didn't let go when he sat Victor down on the hotel bed and started talking. Yuuri took his time and told Victor everything he wanted to know.
Victor buried his face into the crook of Yuuri's neck and apologized for being such a lousy boyfriend. He should've been paying more attention to the things Yuuri did.
Yuuri apologized too, since it was mostly his fault anyway. He should've taken the time to properly tell Victor the news instead of getting distracted by his boyfriend's charms. Communication had never been his strong suit, but that didn't mean he wasn't planning on improving.
Afterwards, Victor suggested that they should celebrate Yuuri's achievements in private before spending the rest of the night talking to sponsors at the banquet.
.
.
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At the banquet, Yuuri told Chris and Yuri his version of his life story since he knew that Phichit no doubt exaggerated most of his achievements.
Yuri was surprised that Otabek was unfazed by the fact that Yuuri won the Nobel Prize for Physics.
'Ayana's a big fan of his work', the Kazakh answered. 'She told me all about it. Besides, he's easy to find on the internet and his all published works are literally in their bookcase. I can't believe you never noticed anything.'
Yuri muttered something about not caring about anything but skating and that there were a million books in Yuuri's bookcase.
That day, Yuuri also found out that most of his skating fans assumed that Yuuri's second Twitter page belonged to a namesake since he never actually bothered to change his profile picture (it was a picture of Vicchan lying on top of his books).
And the world found out that figure skating champion and Nobel Prize winner Katsuki Yuuri could solve any mathematical equation thrown at him, no matter the complexity, while he was drunk off his ass and hanging upside down from a pole.