Note: This is unedited.
There are a lot of brand name drops in this chapter.
Yuuri resisted the urge to roll his eyes when he noticed Phichit, and Yurio lounging in the living room of his and Victor's apartment. He had forgotten that Victor had invited them over to celebrate the end of skating season – he had a feeling the older man just wanted a reason to have a party because they certainly didn't have one at the banquet the night before. Then again, he doubted anyone was up for partying since he had a feeling everyone had one too many drinks – even those who are minors because who doesn't sneak in a drink or three when no one was looking.
He let out a huff as he watched Yurio, Victor, and Phichit hunched over with a controller in hands and their eyes fixated on Victor's large television screen. They were playing Mario Kart, and from the looks of it, Phichit was in the lead, followed closely by Yurio. Victor… was in 9th place after his choice of character (Yoshi) drifted off the ledge.
"You suck, old man." Yurio snickered as he threw a red shell towards Phichit's Toad, and crossed the finish line.
"Dude! I was in the lead!" Phichit cried dramatically.
"Now you're not. Hah! I win! In your face!"
"Victor, you suck at this game." Yuuri remarked in a deadpanned tone. "If you don't know how to drift, it's better if you don't do it."
The said person let out a dramatic yet scandalous gasp and looked at him to say, "Yuuri, racing is all about drifting."
"If you're not good it, it's as good as crashing." He answered with a shrug. He then sat down on the couch behind his fiancé, and grabbed the controller. "It's suicide if you tried to do that in real life, especially during a race. Now then, let a real pro show you how it's done."
A competitive smirk graced his lips when he heard Phichit's sharp intake and grumble, "If you're playing Yuuri, I don't want to be a part of it."
"Why, scare of a little competition, Phichit?" Yuuri taunted as he selected his character – Tanuki Mario (because Tanuki is cute) – and scrolled through vehicle customizations.
He heard a strangled noise from his right, and turned to smirk at his best friend, who looked at him with narrowed eyes and looked offended. He doesn't know if it was because of his remark or something else, but the younger male looked ready for the challenge.
"You're a pro at Mario Kart. I don't even know how you have time to be a pro at this game, given our training schedule and other stuff." Phichit retorted with a huff, but he resigned himself to another round.
"Just how good are you at this game, Katsudon?" Yurio interjected into the conversation, reminding them of his presence.
"Unfortunately, Yuuri here placed first in every race." Phichit grumbled at the unfairness of the situation while he selected his character – Baby Mario this time. "I tried following how he does it, but it doesn't work. I always end up crashing into the wall or the guardrails."
"You're lucky that it's just Mario Kart." Yuuri responded in an amused tone as he accepted his choices for the vehicle customizations. "If it were a real race, you'll be in the hospital. Besides, you just need follow the road and turn tightly. Now, watch me as I make you eat dust."
He heard a low whistle from his fiancé, and a comment of, "Wow, Yuuri. You sound so sexy when you talk smack to your opponents."
Yurio let out a gagging noise, and shouted, "I don't want to hear it, old man!"
Needless to say, Yuuri was a front runner with a huge lead while Phichit and Yurio tried and failed to catch up to him. There were bombs, a blue shell, and a lot of red shells but Yuuri won in the end. It was an easy feat since he took tight corners and knew the routes like the back of his hands so he took shortcuts when he could.
"Like I said, if this was a real race… you'll end up in a hospital with the way you're driving."
Two weeks later, Yuuri failed to understand why Victor and Yurio decided to drag him back to Yutopia – his family's inn – simply to host a mid-autumn party. Granted, he chalked it up to one of Victor's whimsical whims, and his parents loved the sudden business boomed that came with famous Russian figure skaters staying at their inn. However, that also meant he had more work to do to help them – and it doesn't help that Victor, of all people, had him running around like a headless chicken (not that headless chickens could run… could they?) for various things.
Like, Magnum Grey Goose or a Himalayan edition of Stoli Elit.
Why would they carry those kinds of vodka? Yutopia is a Japanese inn – therefore, they have sake (from Juyondai to Michisakari) and maybe some vodka (the non-expensive kind), if his father felt like stocking on those, but certainly not expensive vodka. Let's not forget the fact that Victor gave him a nervous look like he wouldn't know what a Magnum Grey Goose or a Himalayan edition of Stoli Elit are. Of course, he would – he worked a high-end host club which meant he had more knowledge about alcohol, its brands, and its background information… not that he could bring it up in casual conversations.
He huffed exasperatedly as he put down a bottle of drip-pressed Nanbu Bijin on the table, and headed back to his room. He wasn't going to join Victor and Minako-sensei's drinking party, and listen to Yurio's grumbling about irresponsible adults. Usually, he would partake in their shenanigans, but he had a call from a certain someone about a race and it had been years (not really, but details) since he took part in one.
Yes, he – Yuuri Katsuki, the silver medalist of Barcelona Grand Prix Final – used to do illegal street racing. Not that his parents or anyone else knew, and the only reason his older sister found out was because he wasn't that quiet upon his return during his teenage years.
His illegal street racing changed into something legal when Suzuki-san and his wife found him, and asked him to do test driving for their new cars. It took him a while to agree since he had his hosting schedules to consider, but he ultimately agreed. His racing ground used to be on mountain passes with other racers around the area, but it moved to a race track when Suzuki-san hired him. One thing led to another, and he does test driving to big-named car manufacturers and they bestowed him a car whenever the car he test-droved ended up popular. Of course, he had to turn down the gift since he didn't have a need for owning multiple vehicles or a large garage to store them. Hence, he replaced his old (not that they were old since it had only been a year) vehicle with his new one, and the money he received tremendously helped with his skating expenses.
On top of that, he recently got a new-yet-to-be-released-car from an Italian car manufacture to test drive and review. He doesn't know how their Chairman and CEO knew about him, but he decided it wasn't worth the headache trying to decipher it. If anything, he would make a wild guess and say that Suzuki-san probably had a hand in it. It wasn't the first time a foreign car manufacture's Chairman and CEO knew about him and his test driving job. There weren't many people who knew about that detail, after all.
'Perhaps, it had to do with my involvement with previous test drives?' He pondered while he changed his clothes.
Another thing is that Yuuri doesn't like wearing contacts – he knew he looked good because Mari had said just as much since she said he looked like one of the idols she liked, and he wasn't going to ask for clarifications because he doesn't want or need to know. Then, there is the fact that he had to poke his eyes to put on contacts, and he doesn't like poking his eyes.
"Yet, here I am, wearing contacts because it's a bother driving with my glasses." Yuuri grumbled with a sigh as he took off his glasses in exchange for contacts.
Once he finished, he grabbed a set of keys from his nightstand and headed out the door. He still hasn't decided what to tell Victor or Yurio, and he certainly wasn't going to take them with him. Besides, his new car could only fit two people – well, they could certainly try fitting in three people if he wanted to tango with the law, but he doesn't want a ticket. Granted, he still raced on mountain passes whenever he got a chance – not that he does it often these days due to his hectic practice schedules and he wanted to keep this a secret from everyone – so he would still get a hefty fine if he got caught.
'Maybe I could sneak out the backdoor?'
"You have a race?"
Yuuri jumped out of his skin when he heard his older sister's voice. He had no idea how she knew based on his casual attire, but he supposed the fact he wore contacts gave it away.
"I know it's been a while, but yes." Yuuri nodded with a slight smile. He then looked around the premise before his voice dropped to a whisper, "A certain F brand sent me their latest model for a first drive review."
"You mean that expensive red sports car parked in the back? The Ferrari?" Mari asked with an eyebrow raised expectantly. "I was wondering who that belonged to, but I half-guessed it was yours since you do test drive for car companies and they gift you with a car or two afterwards. Besides, it's not like Victor would bring his car with him for a visit, and I doubt he has a Ferrari that isn't on the market yet."
"Yeah, it's my newest car. Doesn't it look cool?" Yuuri replied in an excited tone and his eyes sparkled in amazement. "It has 800 horsepower, and a dozen cylinders. Not only that, it can go from 0 to 100 kilometers in about 3 seconds, and 0 to 200 kilometers in about 8 seconds. On top of that, it's also the first Ferrari to introduce electric power steering, so I'm excited about trying that out."
Mari just stared at him for a moment, trying to decipher and comprehend what he said. In the end, she just uttered, "...That's cool, bro. Only I don't understand what you said."
He gave a sheepish grin, knowing that not everyone understood cars like he does – but that's only because he worked with cars since his teenage years.
"So, how are you going to sneak past those two Russians? I don't think I need to remind you that one of them is your fiancé." She asked in an amused tone with an eyebrow raised.
"I was hoping to slip through the back door." Yuuri answered with a shrug. He then ran a hand through his hair and huffed a sigh as if the very thought tired him, "It's not like I can take them with me on a downhill race. They're going to have a heart attack at the speed I'll be going and the way I drive. I don't want to be accused of sending two famous skaters to an emergency room for cardiac arrest and whatnot. That, and you know street racing is illegal."
"Then, why do you do it? And don't forget that you're a famous skater too."
"Because it's fun, duh." Yuuri rolled his eyes uncharacteristically. He took out his cellphone to look at the clock, and a small yelp escaped from his mouth. "I'm going to be late!"
"You could just cross-dress and walk out of here. No one will know." Mari smirked at her panicking brother, who shot an annoyed look at her direction. "I'm just saying, bro. You could be my sister if I didn't know that you're my brother underneath all the makeup and wig."
"Nee-san, you're evil." Yuuri sent an aggravated look and uttered various complaints under his breath.
He stalked over to the living room while he ignored his sister's chortles behind him. He really disliked that she kept bringing up his cross-dressing days whenever she got a chance, especially now that everyone knew about it. His seniors at the host club taught him well… a little too well that he could look like a girl (if he wanted to) when he wore the wig, dress, and applied right amount of makeup.
"Yuuri? Where are you going?" Victor asked in a curious tone with his head tilted.
"Katsudon, why are you dressed like me?" Yurio asked with the look that clearly said 'why-are-you-copying-MY-punk-looks?'. "And I can't believe you have three earrings on each side. That looks so cool!"
"I have a race. I'll be back late tonight." Yuuri replied in a hurried tone and walked out before the two could question him.
"A race? What race? YUURI!"
He snickered at the disbelieved cries as he slipped into his new car and ignited its engines. It had been a few months since his last race since he couldn't attend these as effortlessly as before due to his skating competitions and practices. More so now that his 'home rink' was in Saint Petersburg, and he wasn't going to race on one of its mountain passes when he doesn't know the route or the racers there well.
He looked at the rearview mirror and saw Victor's gawking expression at his red Ferrari 812 Superfast. Yeah, he couldn't believe it when the car manufacturer sent him this car so he could test drive and give a review. He had already done the test drive – it passed superbly – and now he might as well do the review of its specs while he raced.
Killing two birds with one stone, and what not. Not that he was going to kill any birds tonight.
He was going to make his opponents eat his dust.