Snow fell around him. Bright, white flakes that seemed to glow against the blue sky. Yuuri looked from snowflake to snowflake as they gently glided by. It seemed as if the world was moving in slow motion around him. He tried to call out, but his voice wouldn't rise to the surface. Even though the silence was peaceful and the scene serene, Yuuri couldn't help but feel on edge. Where was everyone? Why snow? Hadn't it just been spring? His body was shaking. He didn't feel cold. Just nervous with every passing second.
"Yuuri?" He spun around to the sound of Victor's voice. With an empty voice, Yuri's mouth opened to call out to him. The feeling of suffocation slowly began to fall over him. The snow continued to drift down. His footsteps were not even leaving footprints. It was as if he didn't even exist in this beautiful and cold world.
"Yuuri!" This time, Yuri did not call out to Victor. He began to run in the hopes that he could see anything. The snow began to fall harder around him. It blurred his vision and swirled around his feet. Yuuri yelled in silence to Victor's voice yet again. He could feel tears beginning to burn his eyes. Why could he not see him? The snowflakes now were like ice shards against him. They spun so fast he could barely see the blue of the sky. Yuuri sank to his knees on the ground and looked at the snow below him. It was beginning to turn red. Fear gripped his chest and his breathing sped up. With a final attempt, Yuuri screamed out Victor's name with full force and his voice finally broke through the silence.
"Yuuri, wake up!" Yuuri's eyes flew open. Sweat beads rolled down from his forehead as his breath left his chest in a ragged cough. Victor sat on the side of the bed, staring at Yuuri as he wiped away the sweat from his brow. His hand lingered on the side of his face. Victor's worried eyes searched Yuuri's face. Slowly, Yuuri felt his heartbeat slow and his fear subside as he stared into the blue eyes waiting for him.
"Are you alright? You were crying," Victor murmured, wiping away a tear from the corner of Yuuri's eye. Yuuri nodded slowly and sat up. His head seemed to be spinning more slowly now.
"It was just a nightmare, I think," he said, wiping the back of his neck and leaning his forehead into Victor's shoulder. Victor nodded, but slid his hand to the back of Yuuri's head to hold him there. He hadn't seen Yuuri like this before. The eyes that greeted him when Yuuri awoke looked terrified. His scream was so loud it sent chills down Victor's back.
"Well, you should probably shower with all this sweat on you," Victor chuckled. He patted Yuuri's head and stood up, gesturing to the kitchen.
"I made breakfast, so come get some food when you're done." Yuuri nodded and watched Victor's back as he left their room. The sky was blue outside with no clouds, just as in his dreams. His stomach turned uneasily. He sighed and stood to go to the shower. There was no point in worrying Victor over a nightmare.
The pair made their way to the rink in Moscow. He had moved here with Victor after their pair-skating exhibition. They both trained in the company of other skaters, but today was an off day. Victor wanted to perfect his step sequence in his new short program. Yuuri had agreed to join him so that Victor could have an outside opinion. Throughout the day, Yuuri's mood lightened. The dream fell away to the back of his mind and he let himself get lost while watching Victor skate. He couldn't help but stare at the man he loved, skating with a new ferocity for the upcoming season.
"How about that last step over? I think it might be perfect without it," Victor asked, staring intently at his skates. Yuuri shrugged and skated over to him.
"I liked it," he said, doing a few steps himself. He nodded and smiled at Victor. Victor smiled back and slid closer to him on the ice. He caught Yuuri by the waist and the blood rushed to his cheeks underneath the frame of his glasses.
"Victor, wait! What if Yuri shows up or someone else?" He looked down and Victor laughed softly.
"Am I not allowed to kiss my fiance?" Yuuri blushed more fiercely and tried to shake the blood out of his face. Victor laughed again and lifted Yuuri's chin up toward him. Before a protest could come, Victor kissed his nose softly. He felt Yuuri's tension leave his body and pulled back to see the surprised expression on his face. A laugh bubbled out from Victor's chest as Yuuri scowled.
"Leave the last step. It helps the flow," Yuuri said, stepping backwards. He looked away from Victor as Victor pouted.
"Fine, no more kisses. I still think you should relax more," Victor said with a grumble. Something had changed in Yuuri's expression. Victor followed his gaze to the other side of the arena. A man with sandy blonde hair stood watching them. Victor's muscles tensed the moment he saw him.
"Who are you?" Yuuri asked. Before the man could answer, Victor slid his body in front of Yuuri's and stared at the man.
"What are you doing here, Taylor?" The man smiled and stepped onto the ice. Yuuri slid to Victor's side despite the worried glance from Victor. The man's gaze shifted to Yuuri for a split second and then back to Victor.
"You think I would ignore your return? That I would just let you return to the ice? You're nothing more than a sham." The man had a thick American accent and his eyes were black with hostility. Yuuri felt his gut tighten. Something was very wrong here. Even Victor's jaw was clenched in anger.
"Leave now, Taylor. You know you're not welcome here." Yuuri searched his memory for the name Taylor. He stared at the man, whose face looked tired and pale in the light. Taylor lifted his lip in a snarl. Yuuri recognized him in that moment.
Before this season, there had been reports of an obsessive fan following Victor. He had been appearing at private practices and signings without a ticket. Though the fan had been warned multiple times, he kept following Victor's every move. There was eventually news of a confrontation where the fan had leapt over a barrier to reach Victor. After tackling Victor, he used a knife to slice away a piece of Victor's hair before security could reach him. Victor cut the rest of his hair shortly after, though he claimed he had planned to cut it all along. A restraining order was issued and the fan disappeared from the ice skating scene ever since. The only picture of him that Yuuri had seen was on the cover of a newspaper, snarling as the security officers dragged him away.
The epiphany hit Yuuri's chest like a punch. The same snarl he'd seen on that newspaper stared back at him now. Victor was tense next to him and Taylor stopped coming toward them.
"You threw me away, Victor! You didn't even care about how much I loved you. Now, you're going to return to the ice without a single glance my way? I begged you never to leave! Even worse, to coach this pathetic excuse for a skater?" He hissed out each word as if it burned his tongue. Yuuri had been holding his breath. Victor opened his mouth to speak, but Taylor lifted his arm toward him. The black metal of a gun glinted in the sunlight filtering in through the window. Victor inhaled sharply and raised his hands slowly.
"Taylor, you attacked me at that signing. Security had no choice but to remove you. I'll be skating again for all of my fans this season." Yuuri was impressed at how calm Victor's voice remained with the barrel of the gun staring him down. Though, Yuuri was not even looking at the gun. He was staring at Victor in fear. His body had gone ice cold as Victor attempted to reason with the man. His white hair looked like snow in the light. Every part of him was beautiful in that moment. He noticed Victor's hand shaking as he held them in front of him. His gold ring seemed to burn into Yuuri's eyes.
"If I can't have you skate for me, you shouldn't be able to skate for anyone Victor," Taylor yelled, tears streaming down his face. "Especially not him!" Victor shut his eyes tightly as a loud bang resounded throughout the rink. He waited for the pain to hit him, perhaps even the darkness of death to greet him, but he felt nothing.
Victor opened his eyes to see the top of Yuuri's black hair. Yuuri was standing in front of him with his arms spread out. The world seemed to move in slow motion then. Taylor turned to run, but was captured by the security team at the edge of the ice. He screamed and kicked as they wrestled the gun from his hand. Yuuri stood still for what seemed like minutes. In that brief few seconds, hope gripped Victor in a cruel way. Had Taylor missed?
Three drops. One. Two. Three. The three red droplets stained the ice in front of Victor. That was all he could see as his entire body began to shake. Yuuri collapsed then and Victor barely caught him in his arms. Yuuri's eyes were open and staring into Victor's. He had a small smile on his face and anger flushed into Victor's veins.
"Yuri...what the hell were you doing?" he choked out, tears beginning to fall. His eyes left Yuuri's face to look over his body. Bright red blood was pooling from his stomach, staining through the light blue sweater he wore. Horrified, Victor began to scream for help and hugged Yuuri close to him. Yuuri inhaled while wincing in Victor's arms. Yakov and Mila arrived then, running over to them on the ice. Victor had tears pouring from his eyes.
"Don't cry," Yuuri said, reaching up to brush his fingers against Victor's chin. Victor grabbed his hand and held it to his lips, sobbing into his fingers and kissing his ring. Yuuri's vision was beginning to blur. That had hurt much worse than he could have imagined.
"How could you do that?" Victor groaned, holding onto Yuuri as Mila slid next to him on the ice. Victor couldn't hear what she was saying. He could only focus on the slow motion of Yuuri speaking.
"You said you wanted to skate again, so you will," Yuuri said, smiling again. Victor shook his head frantically and held Yuuri's hand to his cheek.
"I'm happy you aren't hurt," Yuuri mumbled, his eyes quivering. Victor saw him slipping then and tapped his cheek with his hand.
"Wake up, Yuuri! Don't fall asleep," he said, choking on the sobs racking through his ribs. Yuuri could barely see the blue of Victor's eyes before he slipped from consciousness.
Snow fell around him. Bright, white flakes that seemed to glow against the blue sky. Yuuri looked from snowflake to snowflake as they gently glided by. It seemed as if the world was moving in slow motion around him. Each seemed so familiar. Had he been here before? The snow was warm as it touched his hand. He could hear something far away, but ignored it to watch the snow. It was so pretty. He smiled and opened his mouth to catch the snowflakes on his tongue.
Yuuri flopped onto his back in the soft snow. It felt so warm around him. He happily let the snow fall against his skin. It seemed to be covering him bit by bit. The background noise grew louder. It was a soft humming noise. Could it be music? No, it wasn't smooth enough. Maybe it was voices? Yuuri didn't really care. He curled up against the snow and let it cover him in its warmth. The humming was much louder now. Yuuri grew impatient. Why couldn't he just fall asleep? He sat up and brushed the snow away from his sweater. The snow was glowing brilliantly around him now.
"Yuuri." Victor's voice came from directly above him. He squinted up at the glowing sky, but couldn't see Victor. As he stood up, the snow seemed to flurry around him. It covered him in chills now. The sky was getting harder to see, but each time Victor called his name the sky grew clear again. Yuuri decided he wanted to go that way, away from the snow.
"Victor!" He called up and the snow was now blinding him. It spun faster and glowed brighter against the blue sky. Yuuri closed his eyes and felt the weight leave his body. The humming suddenly stopped.
"Yuuri?" Yuuri opened his eyes. He was staring at a buzzing incandescent light panel against white ceiling. It seemed so bright to his eyes. He felt so warm, but also stiff. Blinking time after time, Yuuri turned his head toward Victor's voice. Victor was holding his left hand in both of his and smiled at Yuuri as he stared into his eyes. Had his eyes always been so bright? They were full of tears now. Yuuri's brow furrowed and he wiggled his fingers.
"Why are you crying?" Victor let out an immense sigh and shook away the tears.
"Because you're an idiot! A beautiful, lovable idiot," Victor said. He looked so tired. Bags were under his eyes and his hair was a mess. Yuuri smiled and took a deep breath in, flinching against the searing pain in his torso. He tried to pull down the cover to see what was hurting. Victor kissed his ring then and held his hand tighter.
"The doctors said you were beyond lucky. The bullet dodged all of your vital organs, but it was lodged inside so they said you'd be sore for awhile." It all came rushing back to Yuuri then. Taylor's scowl was burned into his mind's eye as he remembered leaping in front of Victor to shield him. Yuuri nodded slowly and put the cover back in place.
"What happened to Taylor?" An angry hiss escaped Victor's lips and he shook his head.
"He's in custody now. The charges will be sorted out in time. Yuuri, I'm so sorry. I never would have guessed he'd be bold enough to-" Yuuri cut him off by pressing his left hand to his mouth.
"I'm just happy you're safe. And I'm alive." Yuuri looked so small in the hospital bed with his stupid grin on his face. Victor couldn't help it and smiled in return. Yuuri noticed a golden glint on his right hand. The hospital band on his wrist read ICU in bright golden letters. He chuckled and lifted the band so Victor could see.
"Look, I finally got gold!" He was about to laugh it off, but Victor's lips were on his then. Yuuri was caught off guard by the sudden kiss. Victor's lips were soft and coated in his tears, leaving salt against Yuuri's tongue. He looked up at Victor when he pulled away who had fresh tears falling again. One hit Yuuri's cheek and Victor wiped it away.
"Any gold, anywhere, I'll kiss you every time. So please, don't go away again," he whispered. Before Yuuri could reply, Victor kissed him again and Yuuri kissed him back.
"Let's get married. As soon as you heal, let's go get married," Victor said, smoothing Yuuri's hair away from his face. Yuuri blushed and tried to stutter out a response.
"W-we can't do that! Two married competitors in ice skating? Think of how the fans would react," he said, trying not to focus on how close Victor's lips were. Victor laughed softly and winked at Yuuri.
"I thought you knew this already, Yuuri. We're pretty far from normal." He pulled their intertwined fingers to his lips again and then put his forehead against Yuuri's.
"It almost seems as if we were born to make history."