I am so bad at guessing updating times, but I hope you can all forgive me. After all, I did finish this story. Woo. I am so proud of myself :P.
The only reason why this chapter is shorter than the previous one is because I don't have the guidelines on this chapter. If you need the guidelines, feel free to refer back to the previous chapter.
Enjoy~!
Needless to say, these past few months were one of the most hectic ones in Yuuri's entire life. Ever since he first met Viktor that faithful April morning, his life had gone straight down the rabbit hole to get lost in Wonderland.
It started with Viktor and banning him from skating until he lost weight. That was agony. He was practically banned from eating katsudon - ever. Then, when he had finally lost all the weight he had to to finally be in shape, Yuri Plisetsky decides to kick him into the doors of the ice rink and step on his face. Who does that?! And not to mention the events of the competition they had afterwards.
There was the prefecture competition, where he won against his successor, Minami. The Cup of China, where he got second place with his best friend, Phichit, coming in first. And finally, the Cup of Russia, where he competed against Yuri.
Still, all of the struggle he had to deal with has lead to this: him participating in the Grand Prix Finals.
It took quite a bit of blood, a lot of sweat, and even more tears to get here. And he couldn't have done it all without the help of Viktor.
It was funny when he thinks about it now. Because now, he can't even imagine his life without Viktor.
And they were coming unto their last skate together.
His throat suddenly had a huge lump in it.
He was in 4th place right now and he needed to do a beyond perfect performance if he was going to place in this competition.
The lights past the curtain were beyond bright and everyone's attention was on him as soon as he stepped into the center arena.
He could feel his nerves tense as soon as he slid onto the ice. His pulse was racing.
His knuckles were white from how tightly he gripped onto the railing of the rink.
This is crazy. He should just quit right now before he fails just like he did before. Everyone was going to see him fail and he wouldn't be able to look Viktor in the eye anymore after this. Why? It would have been better if he just-!
"Believe in yourself."
It was Viktor.
Viktor had placed his hand on top of his.
The warmth easily permeated onto his own hand and he could clearly see the ring on his finger shine from the stadium lights.
And suddenly everything came back into focus.
"Hey, Viktor..."
He heard the low hum in Viktor's throat.
"You said before that you want to stay true to yourself, right? Don't suddenly start trying to sound like a coach now."
He didn't have to even look at Viktor to know that he was surprised. Instead, he moved his hands to grip tightly onto Viktor's.
"I want to smile for my last time on the ice."
"Yuuri, listen to me."
"I debated whether I should tell you this now, but...I took a break after becoming the five-time world champion to coach you,...so how is it possible that you still haven't won a single gold metal?"
And all he could do was stare at Viktor in surprise.
What?
"How much longer are you going to stay in warm-up mode?" Viktor said with a cunning smile. "I really want to kiss the gold medal."
And he couldn't help the quirky, relieved smile he had on his face as he hugged Viktor one last time.
Viktor really was a crummy coach, but even so, he knew just what to say when he needed to hear it the most.
They held hands once more before he slid his hand out of Viktor's and skated away.
'I've already made my mind up about my goal.'
He stopped once he reached the center of the rink and moved into his starting position.
And the music started.
And he skated.
x
'Thank you for bringing me all the way here, Viktor.'
.
.
.
'Do you realize it now Viktor? I want to be in figure skating with you forever.'
.
.
.
'But your staying on as my coach...means slowly killing you as a competitive skater.'
.
.
.
'Look at the Viktor that lives on inside of me.'
.
.
.
'Your becoming my coach was not a waste of time. I'm the only one in the whole world who can prove that.'
x
And as soon as he hit his last pose, the audience roared.
"Katsuki Yuuri has succeeded in creating a masterful culmination of his career!" the announcer yelled out, barely audible over the enthusiastic cheers.
He couldn't help but throw his arms in the air, his vision blurring from the tears running down his face.
This was it. Everything that happened these past months had all come to this.
His heart swelled with pride and happiness, as well as sadness.
"Yuuri!"
He turned his head in the direction of the kiss and cry.
And there was Viktor, waiting for him like always.
And like the dopey guy that he was, he had his arms wide open with a wide smile on his face.
But this time, he couldn't bring himself to smile back.
'I don't want to go to the kiss and cry.' he mentally wept.
'Because going back there means it's over.'
x
He couldn't bear to look at the screen displaying a repeat of his perfectly executed quadruple flip.
"Don't worry. Your performance was so perfect, I'm sure you'll get a great score." Viktor assured him.
He squeezed the sushi plushy in his arms. He still couldn't help but feel his insecurities bear down on him once more. What if his performance wasn't that good? What if the judges thought his skating was awful? What if they noticed his trip on the landing? He knew he should have worked on that Salchow more! Why was he so incompetent!
"We have Katsuki Yuuri's scores..." the announcer called.
His head snapped up along with Viktor's towards the giant screen as the scores showed up on the screen.
Please let it be a decent score...please let it be a decent score!
"His free skate score is 221.58!"
Oh my god...
"He's broken Viktor Nikiforov's long-time world record for the Men's Singles Free Skate!"
He couldn't see Viktor's face, but the man was silent...
"His total score is 319.41! He's jumped all the way to first place!'
But Yuuri was no longer listening to the announcer.
All he saw was Viktor holding his hand out to him.
He hesitated a bit before placing his hand on Viktor's and giving it a firm shake. The hug, however, was a surprise.
"Congratulations, Yuuri." Viktor spoke into his ear. "Having both Yuris beat my records is the ultimate bliss as your choreographer and coach...but it's the ultimate diss as a competitor."
"Huh?" he couldn't help the elation in his voice as he pulled out of the hug. "Does that mean you'll come back?"
Viktor only gave him one of his cryptic half smiles.
But that was okay because now he wasn't even sure he wanted to hear the answer.
x
"Viktor?"
The tissue box with a brown poodle cover and a used water bottle were the only things he could find backstage.
Did he really leave so soon?
Yuuri's heart clenched in sadness, but he knew this moment would come.
He just didn't think it would happen right away...
Still, this wasn't going to stop him from watching Yuri's performance.
He owed that much to the blond, who was just as much a supporter as he was a rival.
He quickly changed out of his skates and raced up the stairs to the bleachers to cheer on the Russian tiger and (somewhat) friend.
Before the competition ends and the two would cease to compete.
x
He was oddly happy about not winning gold. Even if he only lost by a fraction of a point(.12), he wasn't mad at how close he came. Rather, he was relieved that he lost. But that also meant confronting Viktor once more with his failure.
"It's not a gold medal, but..."
"I don't feel like kissing it unless it's gold."
He wanted to crawl into a hole...
"Man, I really wanted to kiss Yuuri's gold medal. I'm such a failure as a coach." Viktor spoke as he walked closer and closer towards him, before enclosing him against the edges of the rink.
What was he doing?! Viktor was getting way too close!
"Yuuri, do you have any suggestions? Something that would excite me?" Viktor asked him as he leaned closer into his face.
He snapped his eyes shut. Did he want a kiss?
"What did you think just now?"
And it felt like his face turned a hundred degrees Fahrenheit. He could only hope that Viktor didn't notice...
"Oh, um...well..."
To heck with it.
"Viktor!" He leapt towards him and the two fell onto the ground. His arms wound tightly across Viktor's shoulders. "Please stay with me in competitive figure skating for one more year! This time, I'll win gold for sure!"
"Great! But keep going!" Viktor's eyes were sparkling.
"What?"
"Even I'm worried about making a full comeback to if I'm also staying on as your coach."
"In exchange, I'll need you to become a five-time world champion, at least."
"Okay." And his face was covered in tears.
x
Yuuri giggled as Viktor snuggled into his neck, causing the other man to smile.
"I still can't believe that after all we went through in that first year we met each other that your soulmate mark never completed."
It was true. Yuuri did not complete have his completed soulmate mark until after the exhibition skate where he and Viktor danced together as pair skaters. He felt the sting in his wrist as soon as they got off the ice and he glanced at his wrist.
Both he and Viktor saw as the name on his wrist had an additional line written on it. 'Viktor Nikiforov' was the completed name on his wrist. He remembers looking on in shock and could only feel as Viktor lifted him up in the air and twirled him around. Right in front of the audience, Viktor drew his face in with his hand on the back of his head and kissed him on the lips. He entwined their hands together with the marks on them and raised them high into the air.
And that was when the whole world knew that he and Yuuri were soulmates.
They became the highlight of the ice skating world - no, the celebrity world - for the next year, until the newest couple was made.
If you ask Viktor, it was about time Otabek had decided to ask Yuri out. Yuuri was just glad that the Russian kitten had found his soulmate too. The two had become like little family to the two of them and they often went on double dates together.
Yuuri shrugged. "The world works in mysterious ways. Though to be honest, I actually thought my poodle was my soulmate."
"What?" Viktor looked at him in shock.
"It's true. I called him Vicchan, but he was registered as Viktor in the databases and his birth certificate, so I thought he was my soulmate. That's why I was so depressed during my first Grand Prix finals and failed all my jumps."
"Oh, I see..." Viktor trailed off. "I'd be pretty devastated too, if anything happened to Makkachin and we aren't even soulmates! Isn't that right?" Viktor grinned down at the poodle, who barked in response.
"I remember telling myself that it was such a ridiculous idea, for me to even think for one second that the great Viktor Nikiforov would ever be my soulmate..."
He smiled warmly at the twin pair of rings, one on his ring finger and the other on Viktor's ring finger. The two gleamed brightly against the lights in Viktor's - their- apartment.
Viktor smiled slightly before placing a kiss on his soulmate's cheek. "Not so ridiculous now is it?"
Yuuri laughed. "No, no it isn't."
Ugh. It was ridiculous how long it took me to do this second update. Seriously. I hate my procrastination habit. Anyway, it's done now, so hopefully you all liked this fanfic and keep the Yuri! on Ice fandom going strong!
I might return to edit this story, but we'll see.
Do leave any last comments/questions/requests in a review, pretty please.
Thank you for reading!