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One Step Closer

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Skate 1:

Beginning of an Ending

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A deep sigh emitted from Ryuuji's lips as he sat on his windowsill, watching Viktor as he slept soundly on his couch in the middle of his living room. 'I still couldn't believe it' he thought as he turned his gazed outside of the window, gazing at the beautiful sight of the snow falling gently from the skies, 'Is this really happening? Or was it just some sick joke?'

Sighing, he stood up from the windowsill and walked towards the TV to watch the news regarding a certain figure skater. He grabbed the remote from his coffee table and took a seat on the floor by the couch where Viktor was sleeping. Ryuuji turned the TV on and watched as a beautiful young reporter recited the big news.

"This just come in, there's big news from Russia today. The Famous King of Figure Skate, Viktor Nikiforov was reported to take a break for the next season..."

A hint of frown slowly appeared on his face as he turned the TV off, ignoring the speculation made for Viktor's sudden break before turning his face to the said man. He was surprised when he suddenly faces to faces with the Russian skater as Viktor silently gazed into his deep green eyes and slowly wrapped his arms around the young man, whispering, "I'm hungry," as his stomach growling at the lack of food.

A hint of sweat drop appeared on Ryuuji's face as he looked at the older man in disbelieved for his words, "Really?" he murmured as let himself being nuzzled by the Russian skater. Viktor pulled away from the warmth of Ryuuji's body and looked up at the young man with a big wide goofy smile upon his handsome face, "Ryuuji, as your coach, I'd like to know what your favourite food is," he said as he looked at his student expectedly.

Ryuuji sighed and gently pushed the man away as he stood up from the carpet floor, "Very well," he said reluctantly as he made his way towards the kitchen, "You might as well go and get yourself a bath. You stink."

Leaving the ex-skater behind, he folded his long sleeve to his elbows and began making dinner for him and his unexpected guest. 'Hmm... What should I make for dinner?' he thought as he browsed his fridge. Ryuuji picked a few items from the fridge and gently placed it on top of the counter, 'Maybe some fried rice, eggroll and miso soup, I guess.'

"Ryuuji."

The owner of the name turned his head away from cooked miso soup on top of the stove and was surprised to see a wet half naked man standing in the middle of the kitchen. The clinking sound of the steel ladle hitting the pot echoed loudly inside the kitchen as a pair of deep green eyes gazed widely at Victor's appearance, "V-Victor" he stuttered, running his eyes up and down in disbelieve at his lean body with a hint of blush adorned on his apple cheek, "W-What are you doing standing half naked? You're gonna catch a cold," he scolded as he turned the stove off to give him his full attention.

Viktor shrugged and smiled nonchalantly as he ruffled his wet locks with his towel, "It's seems like I forgot to bring my pyjama with me," answered as he let the towel down onto his shoulder.

An animated sweat drop began to appear behind Ryuuji's head as he shifted his deep green orbs to the mountains of box towering near his front door, 'How can he forgot to bring his pyjama with those mountains of boxes?' he thought as he leaded the grey haired man towards his bedroom to find him his unused pyjama. He opened his wardrobe and shuffled through his clothes as he pulled out pale blue coloured pyjamas for the older man, "Here," he said, "I'll leave you to change."

A pair of light blue eyes watched as his so called protégée closed the door of his bedroom to give him some privacy before turning his attention to the pictures and trophies standing proudly on the shelves next to the wooden wardrobe. Viktor walked towards the shelves and browsed through the trophies to see his student's achievement, 'Not bad,' thought the legendary figure skater as he looked at the numbers of trophies he owned. The Russian skater turned his eyes at the picture frames standing beside the trophies and couldn't help but noticed how young he was when he first won the National Junior Ice Skating Championship. A hint of smile appeared on his face as he took the frame to get a closer look on his student's face.

There were three people standing on top of the podium. As expected, his soon-to be student, Ryuuji Sakamoto was the winner of the championship. The mix-blooded Japanese stood proudly between his competitors with a golden medal in his hand. A pure genuine smile adorned beautiful on his young face as he wrapped his arm around his partner, Yuri Katsuki if he wasn't mistaken, who was in the second place.

Placing the picture back to its original place, Viktor put on the given pyjamas on and walked out from the bedroom with a thoughtful look on his face. He had read the file about his soon to be protégé before he came here. Ryuuji Sakamoto, the so called Ice Prince, dubbed by his people for his breathtaking performance on ice. He was one of the most talented ice skaters in Japan and was nominated to the Grand Prix Final along with his partner, Yuuri Katsuki. But something happened. He suddenly withdrew from the competition, leaving Yuuri Katsuki in his place. They said that he had an accident a few days before the competition which ended his career as an ice skater.

'I think I saw him once,' he thought as he entered the kitchen to find the said skater.

Flashback...

"I can't believe Yakov is making me practise again tonight. I need my beauty sleep before the Grand Prix Final" grumbled a young beautiful grey haired skater softly under his breath as he made his way through the stadium towards the ice rink.

The Russian skater ran his pale hand through his soft grey hairs and stopped suddenly outside of the door as a sound of soft music emitted from the other side of the door. Curious, Viktor slowly opened the door and looked up to see another man, probably somewhere around his age, skating beautiful within the ice rink, accompanied by nothing but the music played by his phone. He cautiously entered the rink and slowly made his way towards the audience seat, hoping to get a closer look on the skater as his deep sea blue eyes watched the skater glided gracefully on the pool of ice.

The full moonlight shined brightly through the large windows around the ice rink, giving it a dark magical atmosphere as it illuminated the skater. Viktor watched the skater with a pure genuine smile upon his lips as he saw him successful managed to conquer the quadruple flip, one of his signature move that he often used, 'Amazing,' thought Viktor as he watched the skater successful conquered another difficult moves and couldn't help but longed to skate along with him. As the music slowly started to slow down, the movement of the skater also began to slow, matching his every move along with music until the very note.

Silence began to fill the empty ice rink, as the skater stood up from his slight bow to his full height and slowly glided through the ice towards the entrance of the rink. He took a step onto the carpeted floor outside of the rink and made his way to the bench near the rink. Taking his shoes off, he decided to retire for the night as he promised his partner to have one final rehearsal tomorrow morning, unaware of the audience that he had ever since he started training alone in the night.

A pair of deep blue eyes watched as the skater slowly disappeared behind the main door of the rink before making his way to ice rink himself for his training.

...End of Flashback

Viktor stopped suddenly by the doorframe of the kitchen and couldn't help but silently watched as Ryuuji pulled out a pill container from the upper shelves, 'So, it's true,' thought Viktor as he watched him swallowed two pills of painkiller in hope of easing the throbbing pain on his once broken ankle, 'He's still injured,'

A hint of movement out on the corner of his eyes caught Ryuuji's attention as he turned his head to his right to see Viktor stood silently by the doorframe of his kitchen, "Viktor," acknowledged the ex-skater to his presence as he placed his pill back onto the upper shelves, ignoring the burning blue eyes as he turned around to have a glass of water, "Is there something you need?," he asked as he filled his glass with some tap water.

Plastered a small polite smile upon his youthful face, Viktor shook his head and walked deeper into the kitchen for a glass of his own, "Nothing," he said as he stood beside the stiffing raven haired for a glass of water. He leaned back against the counter and silently watched him as he placed the miso soup into the bowls, "So, it's true then?" he murmured absentmindedly as he followed him out towards the dining room, "You were injured during the last season of the Grand Prix Final."

An uneasy awkward silence fill the air between them as Ryuuji placed the bowl onto the table and looked up to meet Viktor's light blue eyes with his deep green ones. A hint of shame and anger flashed briefly within his gaze as he sat down onto his chair, picking his chopstick up with a soft murmur of 'Itadakimasu.'

"Ryuuji..."

The owner of the name swallowed his eaten eggroll and couldn't help but released a deep sigh in defeat at the Russian's persistence as he looked up at his soon to be mentor, "Yes" admitted the so called Japanese Ice Prince reluctantly to the King of Figure Skate with his eyes gazed darkly into his cooked dinner, reminiscing the said memories as he told him about the accident, "I've broke my ankle during practise and the doctor told me that I'd probably unable to continue ice skating because of the constant strain on the muscle as well as the bones. So, with that I decided to retired from skating but I guess old habit dies hard," he chuckled with a small sad smile upon his face, "I'm still skating though, hoping that one day I'll finish what I've started three years ago," referring to his withdraw during the Grand Prix Final.

A small genuine smile slowly craved its way onto Viktor's lips at his determination and couldn't help but took the younger man's hand into his, squeezing it lightly with determination of his own swimming inside his pale blue eyes, "Then, it will be my duty to help you achieve your goal," he said, bringing the hand closely to lips as he gave him a soft chaste kiss upon his knuckle, promising the younger man that he would do anything to achieve his goal, "Together, we'll make history."

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