This was inspired by hotelroyalty's tumblr post in-depth analysis of Victor's feelings for Yuuri during the Grand Prix Final banquet.
There were so many tumblr posts with a screenshot of Victor blushing when Yuuri told Victor to be his coach and I was really curious to what made Victor blush. I kept rewatching episode 10 over and over to pick up as many things as possible that I missed to put together the puzzle.
If you have theories of your own or know of a tumblr user who has good theories or headcannons of their own, let me know in the comments. I'll make sure to include any theories and headcannons that go with the current outline I have for this.
By the way, this is a fan fiction so there will be bits and pieces and sooner or later, entire chapters where it doesn't go along with the anime. A lot of my chapters will be inspired by tumblr posts (that make good, concise, and logical points and arguments) and fan arts.
Victor froze when Yuuri's eyes lit up at the sight of him. The man was steadily making his way towards Victor. He was completely floored when Yuuri embraced him and proceeded to dry hump him. His brain didn't completely process what was going on, even as Yuuri started to gibber away in Japanese. For a moment, Victor wondered why Yuuri was clinging to him and found himself curious of what he was saying. Perhaps he should enlist in some Japanese lessons.
"Be my coach, Victor!"
Victor's cheeks heated up at Yuuri's proposal. Figure skaters did typically go into coaching or choreographing after they retired from competitive skating. It was the most logical path for him to take, what with people speculating that this season would be the season that he would finally retire. But while people speculated whether or not Victor would retire, he knew better than anyone that they didn't want him to. While Victor was considered old in the world of figure skating, he was still the biggest news as the five-times winner of the Grand Prix Final; that kind of fame was something people weren't yet willing to part yet.
Unlike anyone else, Yuuri was presenting him an alternative and Victor wondered if the man was aware of the hope he was feeding Victor. Even his own coach, Yakov, still wanted him to continue skating. Victor once thought that his fellow skaters would at least emphasize with him and understand that he was getting stretched thin by skating but they felt strongest about him leaving the rink. Christophe and Jean-Jacques wanted him to continue skating until they could take next season's gold medal from him and Yuri was of the same mindscape and wished to surpass him even.
Yuuri was opening a new door for Victor and giving him a new direction of life to follow if he pleased. He was suggesting that if Victor wanted to coach, he could do it since some figure skaters just weren't cut out for coaching or choreographing regardless of their history as a top skater. Everyone still wanted a piece of Victor, for him to continue with competitive skating and Yuuri was telling him that he doesn't have to continue competitive skating if he doesn't want to.
Victor knew that what Yuuri was proposing to him, on some level, meant so much to his fellow skater. While he didn't know his name at first, he knew that Yuuri was considering retirement after he spectacularly self-destructed at his first Grand Prix Final. Victor felt sympathy for Yuuri; while he never experienced defeat to the same extent as Yuuri had, he had seen several of his competitors fall out of the grid after suffering a miserable loss to him. Yet Yuuri looked at him with such expectant eyes, truly believing from the bottom of his heart that Victor could help him win next season. Victor could see the naked admiration and raw confidence in Yuuri's eyes and the sincerity in Yuuri's proposal was a breath of fresh air. Even though Victor had never tried his hand at coaching the slightest bit—people may argue otherwise but offering his fellow skaters under Coach Yakov and actually coaching a skater were two completely different things—Yuuri thought that Victor could still be a great coach.
He knew better than anyone that he was growing stagnant, regardless of what anyone else had to say on the matter. People could deny it all they want and swear blind, but competitive skating was a fleeting sport that didn't stop for anyone. Victor wasn't going to get any younger and while he kept his body in optimal condition, not even he was folly to aging. In a couple of years, he would hit his thirties, and eventually, his body wouldn't be able to hold out any longer with competitive skating. Furthermore, he was done as a figure skater even if he pushed back his retirement a bit longer; he lost his inspiration to choreograph his programs and he couldn't even find any motivation to truly skate with his all. The rush of excitement and heart-pounding adrenaline that once filled his veins like a drug during his teenage years was washed away by his achievements over the years, as the consecutive five-times winner of the Grand Prix Final.
Skating was all Victor ever knew and because of that, he neglected his personal life and love life, only focusing on his life as a professional skater. Because he thrived in skating, it was all he ever paid any attention to; skating gave him his career, fame, awards, friends. But now that Victor had achieved all that one could, he reached the dilemma everyone went through at one point; he didn't know what he would do with his life once he left the rink for good. He achieved so much through skating but one part of him was relieved that he would be retiring sooner or later, what with saying of how lonely it was to be at the top.
To be honest, Victor was tired of being at the top and yearned for a rival to challenge him before he retired more than anything. While he was sick and tired of skating because it was what people wanted from him and more importantly, expected from him, he wanted to experience the same heart-pounding adrenaline rushing through his veins and to actually feel pressured by his competitors. Victor wanted more from life but because he neglected his Love and Life, he didn't know how to get it.
Victor always studied all of his competitor's routines beforehand so as to adjust his own routine accordingly. That didn't mean he could match a name with a face but he recognized the Japanese man, whom he felt staring a hole in the back of his head for the past minute, as the skater who was particularly skilled in step sequences and spins. Victor figured that the man was too shy to initiate a conversation so he offered Katsuki Yuuri a commemorative photo with him. His interest was immediately piqued when instead of readily but shyly accepting his offer, the Japanese man instead looked hurt and simply turned his back on Victor. Admittedly, he was confused to why the man didn't deign to reply; he had been staring at Victor for longer than what would strictly be considered socially acceptable and based on what little he gathered from the man, the Japanese weren't the type to engage in such behavior.
He was drawn in by Yuuri's dismissiveness of himself. It was quite odd of him but after years of being in the limelight, it was a breath of fresh air that Victor never knew that he needed. Everyone wanted a piece of him—to continue to wow the audience; to throw together another awe-inspiring routine; to not retire from competitive skating just yet.
At the beginning of the banquet, Victor eyed every nook and cranny of the banquet room for the Japanese man. He wanted to get to know the man more and the desire was further encouraged by Victor's decision to no longer neglect his Love and Life. It was the prime reason why he was one of the first to take out of his phone and snap photos of Yuuri's drunk dancing, getting closer and closer to the "Dance Battle of the Two Yuuri's", as Chris had aptly named it until he was eventually dragged into it as well. He was drawn in by the music that Yuuri's body made; the Japanese man was known for his proficiency in his step sequences and for good reason when he could still out-dance Yuri even he was drop-dead drunk with sixteen glasses of champagne.
Victor felt moved by the need, confidence, and sheer blind faith Yuuri had in him. No one was ever surprised by his skating anymore and Victor felt like people were taking his skating for granted, only ever expecting him to continue with competitive skating and to continue to dazzle them. Yuuri had other ideas and didn't mind taking him off the ice; he wasn't the slightest bit put off by the possibility that Victor might retire next season and wholeheartedly embraced it.
He knew how much the offer meant to his fellow skater. He saw how crestfallen and despaired Yuuri appeared when he placed last during the Grand Prix Final. Gossip was never something that he indulged in, but people contemplated that the Japanese man was considering retirement with his grand failure. Yuri had even confided in him that he witnessed his Japanese counterpart having a breakdown in the bathroom stall.
What a bold, cute, little piggy, he thought. Victor was completely enraptured by the wide, innocent eyes Yuuri looked at him with. His cheeks were flushed red and he looked earnest and hopeful that Victor would at least consider his proposal of being Yuuri's coach. Victor gave Yuuri a genuine smile, sincere instead of charming and suave.
Yuuri looked positively ecstatic at Victor's smile. His cheeks, now flushed entirely red, stretched across his face widely. His eyes crinkled and narrowed into his smile until they looked as though Yuuri had closed his eyes. It was an adorable and entirely endearing smile. Yuuri unwrapped his arms from around Victor's neck to drop down back to his feet and instead, tightly wrapped his thin arms around Victor's waist. He snuggled his face into Victor's chest and let out a very happy, content sigh.
Victor leaned into the embrace and followed Yuuri's example, wrapping his arms around Yuuri's lower back. He buried his nose into the bird's nest of Yuuri's hair and closed his eyes, breathing in Yuuri's scent—ignoring the strong smell of champagne, Yuuri smelled of books, cinnamon, and oddly of a meat dish. Although he was just as content as Yuuri to remain in their embrace, he could hear the guests murmuring to each other. Yuuri swayed on his feet unsteadily and once Victor finished writing his number on Yuuri's arm, he had to wrap an arm around Yuuri's lower back to keep him steady and prevent him from falling to the floor. Yuuri slumped forward into Victor's chest and became limp in his arms.
Victor sighed in slight exasperation. He swiftly tucked his arm around the back of Yuuri's knees and swiftly lifted him in his arms. He shifted his arms around Yuuri a couple times, jostling Yuuri's head in the process so that he could get a better grip on Yuuri and carry him more comfortably in his arms. Victor smiled softly at the innocent visage of his sleeping beauty. Yuuri slept peacefully in his arms. His cheek was squished into Victor's chest and a small trail of drool was escaping the corner of his lips. One of Yuuri's hand was latched onto Victor's sit while the other was curled over his stomach. Occasionally, his sleeping beauty would shift around slightly and murmur Japanese as he slept, smiling bashfully now and then. He looked so young and pure in his arms and Victor still found it hard to believe it was this same man who could pole dance so enticingly and do so with a seductive expression that should be sin personified. Beside him, Chris whistled and smirked at the completely smitten expression Victor knew that he was sporting. "Looks like the Casanova has finally fallen."
Victor laughed loudly but made no effort to deny it. He knew he had fallen in love with Yuuri and he had fallen for the man hard. The man didn't even show up on Victor's radar during the Grand Prix Finals but his attention was ensnared instantly by his drunken performance. He was so enduring, all smiles and cheer, and lit up the room with laughter and merry cheers. It was a sharp contrast to the gloomy and nervous man who appeared with Coach Celestino during the kiss and cry.
Love at first sight was something he never believed in but, it could be applied loosely to Victor's situation. He certainly didn't fall in love with Yuuri when he first saw him. Yuuri was one great surprise after another—who would've thought that the seemingly dark and gloomy Japanese man knew how to pole dance, and so good at it too? —and Victor loved surprises like no other. He sought to surprise the judges and the audience with his ice skating during the competitions each time but after winning the Grand Prix Final for the fifth consecutive time, no one was surprised at anything he did anyone.
If anyone can do that, Victor Nikiforov would be the one. Because he surpassed everyone's expectations during the beginning, everyone knew that he was capable of going above and beyond, and succeeding. And so, competitive skating lost its glory when the excitement he once held for it disappeared. He still loved to skate and hadn't yet lost his passion for it, but it just wasn't the same anymore now that he couldn't surprise the audience—and wasn't that the biggest tragedy when part of his inspiration came from being able to surprise the audience.
Yet Katsuki Yuuri surprised Victor once and continued to do so. Victor never imagined that the man could be so good at dancing and managed to press all of the right buttons to get Yuri to join Yuuri in a dance battle. That Yuuri won against Yuri was a bigger surprise and it was a breath of fresh air to see Yuri lose to someone he deemed a failure—a nobody, because that was everyone's first impression of anomaly that was Katsuki Yuuri—when Yuri had spoken so boldly before, only to have his words thrown right back at him. Victor had his breath stolen from him when Yuuri began to strip in front of everyone—and their cameras, Mila's phone flashed continuously as she laughed and cheered the man on—and exposed a very tantalizing body and proceeded to pole-dance with Chris.
Victor fell in love with how Yuuri surprised him exactly how Victor once surprised the audience when he was younger, less experienced, still not as well known in the figure skating world. He loved the way Yuuri's cheeks flushed pink whenever he smiled, even if it was only because he was drunk. He loved how Yuuri's eyes seemed to sparkle brighter than a night sky in the countryside of Russia. He loved the way Yuuri's laughter sounded like the odd amalgamation of a belching goat, hissing cat, and the cry of an elephant because it was enduring and sounded adorable when it came from Yuuri. He loved the way Yuuri smiled so wide that it made his eyes look like they were closed to hide his embarrassment or shyness.
He loved how Yuuri noticed that some of Chris's smiles weren't as sincere as people liked to believe them to be, and loved even more how Yuuri could differentiate between when Chris smiled because he was expected to and when Chris smiled because he couldn't help but do so. He adored how insightful and perceptive Yuuri appeared. He worshiped how innocent Yuuri looked in his arms, with a thin trail of drool escaping the corner of his lips and the sharp contrast of how seductive Yuuri appeared when he was pole dancing with Chris. He fell in love with how entrancing Yuuri appeared when he danced along with the music.
Victor was well aware of how attractive he was, and he used his attractiveness to his advantage. One-night stands were something he was well acquainted with but he never actually experienced anything he could consider to be love. All he had ever been in was a series of primarily physical and relatively, emotionally meaningless relationships that hardly ever lasted past the two-month mark. His past partners never mattered to him because they were replaceable and more importantly, there were plenty of people who were more than willing to be his next partner and even more who didn't mind that they were only going to be a one-night stand or a short-term "item" if it meant they could bed the Victor Nikiforov.
Yuuri made him feel as though he was tripping over his own two feet and falling headfirst into a pit full of "What the hell am I even doing?" All of the years of experience that Victor had inadvertently racked up through his years of meaningless relationships went out the window and straight into the dumpster when it came to Katsuki Yuuri. It had only been a few days since he actually learned that the man even existed and a single day in between to actually interact with him. It was worse than the three days that spanned to create The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.
Yuri shuffled towards Victor with a scowl on his face and a man following behind him, folded clothes hanging over one arm. Victor presumed that the man was Yuuri's coach and smiled secretively to himself. Yuri wasn't fooling anyone with his delinquent act and Victor likened the teen to a tortoise; a tough shell hiding a soft inside. And in Victor's opinion, anyone who owned a cat and absolutely worshiped their very existence could never amount to any delinquency of the sort. Yuri was proving that he was a softie as well since he found Yuri's coach despite his bold statement that he hoped Yuuri retired so that there wouldn't be two Yuri's for his senior debut.
"Ciao! Ciao! I'm Coach Celestino!" the man introduced with cheery enthusiasm. "I'll take Yuuri to his room. Looks like he had a good time. Sorry for the trouble"
Victor laughed and waved his hand at Coach Celestino dismissively. "It's fine. I'll do it for you. I want to go to my room too. You can just enjoy the banquet."
Coach Celestino looked surprised and eyed Victor with scrutiny. Victor wanted to pat Yuuri on the shoulder for finding such a genuinely caring and protective coach. He also chalked it up to the man's Italian heritage. Whatever the man found, he obviously took comfort in it because the tension in his posture visibly left him and he relaxed. He handed Yuuri's discarded clothes to Victor and waved a two-fingered salute before walking off. "I'll leave it to you then!"
Victor smiled appreciatively and tossed Yuuri's suit jacket, dress pants, and shoes over his cargo's sleeping form. He slipped out of the banquet hall unnoticed as everyone was too distracted by sharing the pictures and videos they took during Yuuri's dance battle and his and Chris's pole dancing with the other guests. After a split-second decision, Victor brought his own phone out and snapped several pictures of Yuuri's sleeping face. It would be a crime to let such a golden opportunity slip from him when it was practically handed to him on a silver platter. Let it be known that Victor was the greatest opportunist of them all.
It took ten minutes for Victor to call for a taxi this late at night since Yakov had arranged for a van to drive everyone—himself, Yuri, Mila, and Georgi—to the hotel when everyone was ready; even Yakov deserved a break and from Yuri's latest antics, that break was the banquet and the many bottles of champagne. Checking in with the hotel proved to be a rather cumbersome task with Yuuri with him and unconscious due to hotel policy stating that all guests needed to show their key card or have a friend show it for them. Victor didn't have Yuuri's keycard so he had to resort to charming the lady at the reception desk and the convoluted celebrity logic that Victor Nikiforov would never steal his fellow competitor's key card and managed to get a copy of Yuuri's room.
It was almost too troublesome for Victor to bother with tucking Yuuri into bed. Said man, despite his unconscious state, swung his arms and legs wildly whenever Victor tried to untangle the monkey from his person. Yuuri was very stubborn and insistent even in his sleep and made it clear that he wanted to remain clinging to Victor's now crinkled suit. Victor had half of a mind to simply call it a night and join his fellow competitor in the enticing bed that called to him.
Unlike Yuuri though, Victor was still sober and Yakov would have his head if he didn't return to the banquet hall once he finished his business with Yuuri. It was already a miracle and a half that his brooding coach didn't stick a tag-along with Victor since the man was hyperaware of the press. Victor found the irony hilarious that he was the least concerned about his presence in the media and that despite his coach's scathing remarks that he only bothered to do any damage control because it would reflect badly on him as Victor's coach, everyone and their grandpa—and Yuri's grandpa really could attest to it as he came to the same conclusion just from what Yuri had to say—knew that the elderly man was just one big softy.
Victor didn't bother dressing Yuuri in his pajamas and figured it wouldn't hurt to nicely lay the man's discarded clothes over one of the lounge chairs. For a split second, he considered jotting his personal number down so that Yuuri could contact him once he woke up but decided against it. Yakov would personally grill him a new one—and while Victor couldn't care less with what his coach would do to him, it was too much of an annoyance and one that he wanted to avoid—and made it seem like Victor was coming on to Yuuri too strongly. He would simply wait for Yuuri himself to contact him. It wouldn't be too hard for the Japanese skater to do so either. Chris would be more than willing to part with Victor's number should Yuuri choose to approach him after they bonded over their impromptu pole dancing battle. Victor was positive that Yuuri noticed that Mila was very enthusiastic with her phone during the dance battle so she was another option, if not Yuri, who would do so grudgingly.
His phone buzzed and Victor rolled his eyes. It was obvious that Yakov was getting too impatient and didn't trust Victor to keep himself out of any sort of trouble. With a fond smile, Victor flicked Yuuri's nose and chuckled softly when Yuuri frowned and rubbed his nose before pressing his cheek into his pillow. Victor silently walked to the door and wiggled his fingers in a good-bye gesture despite that the recipient wouldn't see it and carefully closed the door behind him. He took his phone out from his back pocket and tapped on Yuri's speed dial.
"What the hell do you want, asshole?" Yuri asked scathingly.
Victor rolled his eyes at the tone and thought to himself, Yuri really needs to work on his acting skills. He simply laughed it off, knowing that his easy dismissal aggravated Yuri like no other. "I'm feeling pretty tired so let Yakov know I'm just going to head straight to the hotel. Japanese Yuuri is already in his hotel room."
Yuri scoffed harshly and Victor was positive that his junior was rolling his eyes at his words. "You better not go off to some bar and drink until dawn like you did last time."
"I won't! I won't!" he reassured even though he knew it fell on deaf ears. He shrugged to himself and raised his arm when he saw a flash of bright yellow approach his general direction. "I'm about to ride the taxi! I'm hanging up." He didn't bother waiting for Yuri to respond and ended the call just as he said. It was immature of him but he took satisfaction in the fact that he got the last word even though it wasn't an argument. Just knowing that Yuri would be pissed that Victor hung up on him, and that said man got the last word was sure to infuriate the teenager.
With a slight spring in his step, Victor boarded the taxi as he rolled into the curb and smiled charmingly at the driver before he rattled off the address of his hotel. It took fifteen minutes for him to reach his hotel. The media could draw the most accurate and wildest conclusions from the slightest bit of information and Yakov pounded it in his head to avoid doing anything that could be the slightest bit incriminatory. While Victor normally didn't bother with Yakov's instructions, he figured his coach deserved a break for once and paid the driver a tad bit more than what was strictly required and could be considered a bribe. "I wasn't here."
Victor checked in at the reception desk and quietly reached his hotel room. With a sigh, he stripped out of his suit and tossed it haphazardly over a random lounge chair since it was already wrinkled by Yuuri. He was left in his regular, black briefs and jumped into his bed with a tired sigh of relief. He wished Makkachin was in bed with him but comforted himself with the thought of seeing his beloved dog the next day.
I'm going to be going on a retreat for four days and three nights. Normally, I would spend the next few days after posting a new chapter working on a general outline for the next chapter and a rough draft where I just vomit all of what I want to incorporate for that chapter but I won't be able to bring my laptop with me. I'm on winter break right now and I really want to post another chapter before December ends even though that's really ambitious for me since I'm a lazy poster. Since it's Christmas and all, I would really appreciate it if I get any fan theories, headcanons, fan art (links or anything like that), or what you think might happen in the next chapter or would like to happen in your reviews.
In an alternate universe, who would you have wanted Yuuri to end up with if Victor didn't come to Hasetsu to be his coach?
By ending up, I mean separate answers for who you would have liked Yuuri to end up with as a lover and as a coach. (Please differentiate on the two!)