Day 3
"I don't know how much longer I can keep this up." Yuuri moaned. He leaned forward in the barstool on which he sat. The cool granite of the breakfast bar was beginning to look deceptively comfortable.
"Uh oh, looks like someone didn't get very much sleep last night!" Victor's feet slapped the hardwood floor as he approached. Yuuri sighed warily. The Russian had always been a morning person, but today he seemed particularly chipper, and it was already beginning to grate on Yuuri's sanity.
"Yeah, no thanks to you." He mumbled into his cereal, "By the way, this is yours." He set a silver object onto the counter with a solid thump. Yuuri had been a desperate man when he raided the utensil drawer at 4 am. It had taken him another hour to remove the grate from the ceiling and retrieve the source of the unyielding buzzing. He just hoped that Victor wouldn't miss the now-bent knife and mangled spoon which had been the instruments of his success.
"Oh hey! You found my alarm clock!" Yuuri could almost feel the smug grin creep on his housemates face.
"I hate to be that guy," Yuuri lifted his head to glare at the man smirking before him, "But don't you think setting one alarm every ten minutes was a bit overkill?"
"You could have just turned it off." Victor shrugged, plucking an orange out of a bowl on the counter.
"I tried," Yuuri frowned, "But the instructions are written in Russian!"
"Ah, it seems they are!" Victors grin widened without sparing the clock a glance.
"You planned this whole thing out, didn't you?" The younger man lamented, resuming his position slumped over his breakfast. Victor's methodical eyes bored holes into him as he debated how to proceed.
"Well clearly we're not going to get anywhere training you when you're like this," Victor said after a moment, "Set an alarm and sleep for a bit, then meet me at the ice rink at 10, okay- eh, Yuuri?"
Victor had barely finished speaking when Yuuri flopped onto the couch, fast asleep. He had never been more grateful to close his eyes.
000
Buzz, Buzz.
Buzz, Buzz.
Yuuri blinked, squinting against the bright light of his phone. He tilted the device, only to realize that he had five missed calls.
"Wha-"Yuuri rubbed a bleary eye and peered closer. It was 2:00.
"CRAP!" He sprang to his feet, wide awake. He didn't bother to so much as check his appearance as he grabbed his coat and shoes and ran from the apartment. He caught a few strange glances as he dashed down the street. I must still look pretty terrible, Yuuri realized, mussing his hair to hide any traces of bed-head. Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot he could do about the dark circles under his eyes.
When he finally arrived at the Ice Rink, Yuuri noticed more odd behavior from his fellow skaters. A group of women standing by the front desk whispered, glancing in his direction every so often. In the locker room, he could hear snickering as he laced his skates. A young woman said something snide in Russian as he stepped out onto the ice. Yuuri cursed his coach's name for convincing him to participate in his little game. His obvious lack of sleep had made him the laughing stock of the rink.
"Yuuri! You made it!" Victor skated in his direction.
"I'm so sorry I'm late! I must have over slept!" Yuuri could feel his ears burn in shame.
"Never mind that, let's start practice." There didn't seem to be a trace of anger on Victors face. Yuuri hadn't even been scolded for the infraction. Okay, that's strange.
"Let's start with your short program." Yuuri sighed at the announcement. The program included a combination spin, which he had been having trouble with.
His skates slid on the ice as he found a spot where he wouldn't take others down with him if he fell. He took a deep breath before curving his path to gain the momentum needed to meet the required number of rotations. Crouching slightly to tighten the spin, he lifted his right leg and thrust his arms out behind him to stay balanced. A near perfect camel spin.
"Straighten that back leg!" Victor's voice bounced off of the walls. Yuuri complied, curling his body while twisting the same leg so that it stuck out in front of him. He grasped his ankle to maintain the difficult shape. His left thigh and calf screamed in agony at the focused attention the move put on them. The flying sit-spin was always where he screwed up.
"Tuck your head in!" Yuuri grimaced, but he obeyed nonetheless. He tried to rise from his position but before he could gain two inches, his leg trembled and he found himself lying on his back.
"Ow," He groaned, gingerly rubbing the back of his skull. He had no doubt there would be a nasty bump there later. Skates ground against the ice as his coach rushed toward him.
"Yuuri! Are you okay?" Victor's concerned face came into view. His silver hair fell away from his face, giving Yuuri a clear view of his captivating blue eyes.
"Yeah. I'm fine," Yuuri mumbled, grasping his coach's waiting hand and hoisting himself off the ice, "I don't think I'm flexible enough for this."
"You've landed this move before," Victor frowned, "You did it in that video of you skating my 'Stay Close to Me' routine."
Yuuri couldn't help but cringe at the memory. The triplets had uploaded a video of him skating the routine just last year, and it had gone viral. He couldn't go online for weeks afterword for fear of seeing it. The internet, alas, seemed to take delight in his mortification. People created fan art and edits; Yuuri even stumbled upon a few remixes, including version in which the beat was replaced with short clips of him falling on the ice (this one Mari in particular found amusing).
Whatever Yuuri thought, he knew that much of his good fortune in the past year could be attributed to the incident. If the girls never posted the video, Victor never would have flown all the way from Russia to coach him. He would never have walked away from the Grand Prix Final with a silver medal. Yuuri may have quit skating all together. And he certainly wouldn't be in his current predicament.
"Barely! I didn't have to tuck my head in as far." Yuuri protested, "I get dizzy and lose my balance."
"Hm," Victor tilted his head back, deep in thought, "Hey Yurio! Come here for a sec!"
"Wait wha-"But the fifteen year old was already half way to them, a stormy look in his eyes.
"What do you want, old man?" He spat, folding his arms across his skinny chest.
"You landed a flying sit-spin in your 'Agape' program last season, right?" Yuuri did not like where this conversation was going.
"Da." The teenager looked just as suspicious, "You should know, you choreographed it."
"I did." Victor conceded with a smile that confirmed Yuuri's suspicions that neither of them were going to like what he was about to say. "Would you mind teaching Yuuri?"
Yuuri groaned. There it was. Yurio finally acknowledged his presence with a glare- or, what began as a glare but quickly morphed into a look of shocked delight.
Is the bump on my head that noticeable already? But the look vanished just as quickly as it had appeared; Yuuri wondered if he hadn't just imagined it.
"Fine." The blonde grumbled, "Come on, Pork Cutlet. Let's get this over with."
000
Yuuri bent over, panting. They had been drilling the same move for the last hour, and he wasn't sure how much more his body could take.
"That's enough for now." Yurio sniffed.
"That actually works out great!" Yuuri mustered a weak smile, "Victor and I were going to go out for lunch, do you want to come?"
"Nyet, I'm meeting my Grandpa in a few minutes." The teen shrugged.
"Okay, well, thanks for the help." Yuuri gave a small bow before heading for the locker room. He had only been practicing for an hour or so but his feet were already killing him. The lack of sleep had taken a larger toll on his body than he'd expected.
His shoulder muscles ached in protest as Yuuri pushed open the heavy locker-room door. It was going to be a relief to sleep when he got home.
As he changed out of his skates, Yuuri got the distinct feeling that he was being watched. He glanced up only to see a younger skater hastily draw his gaze away. Seriously, what is everyone staring at?
Curiosity piqued, Yuuri rose to look in the mirror at the back of his locker. He gasped in horror at his reflection. Someone had hastily scrawled Russian characters across his forehead. A hard lump formed in his stomach. He couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding that 'Вы действительно перевели это? ;P' wasn't something a person wanted broadcasted across their face.
He fled the room, almost running straight into Yurio.
"What does it say?" Yuuri grabbed onto the younger skater in desperation.
"Took you long enough." Yurio smirked, wriggling free of his rivals grasp.
"What. Does it say?" There was more force behind his words.
"It says 'Property of Vitya'." The blonde chuckled maliciously.
"And you didn't tell me?" Yuuri cried, eyes wide with anxiety. When did Victor even have time to - the nap! He groaned. Victor had planned this whole thing from the alarm clock prank!
"Consider it payback for Hot Springs on Ice." Yurio grinned before pushing past the older man.
"I'm going to kill him for this." Yuuri stalked the halls of the Ice Rink in search of his coach.
000
While Yuuri didn't actually kill his coach, he knew that what he was about to do was equally bad, if not worse.
The tube he was squeezing into Victor's conditioner made a squirting noise as he manipulated more of the pink liquid into the bottle. Victor wanted to bring their prank war outside of the apartment, and that was fine by Yuuri.
He snuck into the bathroom to replace the conditioner bottle in the shower. Just as he was leaving, he met his housemate in the hallway.
"I'm going to shower, then maybe we can watch a movie or something, yes?" The man was completely naked, save for the towel wrapped low on his hips.
"Okay sounds good." Yuuri was having a hard time concentrating on what his coach was saying, much less remembering that he was supposed to be mad at the man. The lines of Victor's body had become more defined since he started training again.
"You can choose, I'll be out in a bit." Victor sailed past his stunned fiancé with a smirk. Yuuri swallowed, ducking into his bedroom with a sigh of relief. Victor had never been shy when it came to putting his body on display, in fact, he seemed to relish in the discomfort he could inspire in his more modest disciple.
Scuffling on the floor outside Yuuri's bedroom signaled Makkachin's entrance. Yuuri patted the bed next to him and the dog joined him obligingly. The poodle settled in next to him as Yuuri scrolled through various titles on Netflix in search of a movie that would satisfy both his and Victor's tastes.
Yuuri hadn't even realized he'd fallen asleep when he woke to a shout from the bathroom. He grinned, his prank worked!
"Yuuri." There was a dangerous edge to Victor's voice. Yuuri stretched, wincing at the stiffness in his joints.
"Yes?" He asked as innocently as possible. He deliberately remained in a position which left his back to his housemate, both to maintain a straight face and to draw away suspicion. Just as he closed his eyes, the bed dipped next to him and a hand grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to meet Victor's eyes. And he would have had it not been for the now-violently pink hair falling onto his face.
"Is it permanent?" Was that fear? Yuuri couldn't help but smirk a little at the thought.
"Of course not." He rolled his eyes, "I'm not that cruel." Victor sat back on his heels, releasing his housemate from a vice-like grip. His eyes shimmered with relief and Yuuri couldn't help but laugh at the look of sheer bewilderment on his face.
"Yuuuuuriiiiiiiiiii! This isn't funny!" Victor whined, pinching a lock of neon hair in dismay.
"Are you serious? Have you seen yourself?" Yuuri could barely see through the tears streaming down his face. However, he did notice when a still-very-naked Victor rose from the bed to inspect his appearance in the mirror over Yuuri's dresser.
"Victor, put some pants on!" Yuuri covered his eyes in show of courtesy, though it also helped to hide his blush.
"Fine!" Victor groused, "But this isn't over!" He spun on his heel and glided from the room with dramatic flair. His footsteps pounded especially loud through the apartment for emphasis.
"You're so extra!" Yuuri yelled after him, shoving his face into his pillow with a sigh. Makkachin nudged his arm, wanting to be pet.
"I guess this means movie night is canceled, huh girl?" Yuuri scratched behind the poodle's ear. The dog whined in agreement.