Chapter 4 - That First Night in China
Author's Note:
My current music obsession is also Yuri! On Ice :D
History Maker….and "Still Alive!" (That song's awesome and I simply adore Leo!)
This chapter is written from Yuri's POV, depicting the start of Episode 6 at the hotpot place + some extra original content that comes to my mind.
Please help to support my stories by leaving a like, follow and review!
And many thanks to the readers who left a like, follow and reviews to my fanfic "Towards the Next Stage of Eros"! Especially the reviews – Thank you so much for the kind comments~ it really made my day reading them haha~
This chapter's dedicated for all of you out there!~ (:
Next chapter will be after the next YOI episode!
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Victor and I had our first dinner together in Beijing at a hotpot place. Victor had highly recommended the restaurant as he had always dined there whenever he was in the country. When the dishes were served in front of us, Victor's eyes started to sparkle – almost like a kid in a candy store.
"Look, Yuri!~ Shanghai crab, Drunken Shrimp and Duck Blood!~"
"Vkusno~" He shouted a word of praise as he slurped a raw shrimp in delight. He looked contented with his meal while I watched him eat in silence. Victor shot me a curious look and was surprised that I hadn't started digging in.
"Huh…? Yuri…you're not eating…?"
"I prefer to avoid raw food before the competition though"
Victor had a look of disappointment on his face when I rejected him politely. "It's so delicious though~".
Rather than paying attention to Victor, I was self-destructing in my thoughts as I remembered what I did at the previous press conference.
"I ran my mouth too much at the press conference…What will people say if I lose after all of that…?"
I began to cringe when the images of news articles depicting my epic failure started flowing in my brain. However, all my negative thoughts were blown away by a friendly and familiar voice.
"Oh. Yuri~! So you were eating here~"
"Phichit-kun!" I was so surprised to see him in the restaurant. He was my best friend back in Detroit, and I was excited to see him again.
"Hi~" Victor casually greeted the unexpected guest with a smile, which the latter responded courteously with a Thai greeting.
"Talk about a coincidence~ Oh. Can I call Ciao Ciao over? Yuri…you want to see him again right?"
"Erm…not really…" I shrugged at the fact that Phichit was going to call Coach Celestino over. He was my previous coach and I ended my contract with him after my utter defeat at the Grand Prix Final last year. It was almost a year since I last saw him, and I was hoping that things wouldn't get too awkward.
Around ten minutes later, Coach Celestino arrived at the restaurant and started off with his signature Italian greeting. "Ciao Ciao!"
"Uhm…Hello." I tried not to sound awkward greeting him, but I wasn't too comfortable with Celestino to do so.
Victor casually broke the silence in an instant.
"Celestino~ You want some shrimp? It's really delicious~"
As Victor spoke, he enthusiastically picked up a live shrimp using his chopsticks. Celestino tried to reject politely while he gave an obvious look of disgust.
"Oh, Victor. You're also here. That kind of food doesn't agree with me."
"It's really good though~ You should try it!"
Celestino took the seat beside Phichit. His eyes were solely focused on me as he tried to strike a conversation. "Yuri…I'm glad you're looking fine. Are you working well with Victor?"
I silently nodded my head in response. Celestino heaved a huge sigh of relief as a smile gradually appeared on his face.
"I don't trust him to be a good coach, but I admit that he is most definitely the best figure skater around, albeit his attitude issues. You can bet on that."
"Celestino…thank you for your concern. Victor's been a great coach to me. Together with him, I will aim to win the Grand Prix Finals this time".
I could hear a soft chuckle coming from Celestino as he looked at me with kind eyes while he continued to speak.
"You've changed, Yuri".
"I haven't seen such motivation from you when I was your coach. I wished I heard those words from you back then".
Victor was shooting a comment from his corner as he interrupted our conversation.
"Oh, Celestino. Are you starting to get jealous already? It's obvious that Yuri likes me more~"
"I can't exactly deny that fact, but it's really frustrating hearing that from you…!" Celestino responded with much frustration as he started devouring a glass of beer. Victor started to play host and kept on pouring more beer in his glass.
"Here, here. Drink up!~"
Victor then started to taunt Celestino as a joke, and challenged him to a drinking match.
"Hey Celestino~ I bet I can hold my liquor much better than you~"
"What!? Bring it on then!" Victor's taunts seemed to have worked effectively on Celestino as it immediately lit a fire in him. I tried my very best to stop them, as I knew the fact that the both of them were bad drunks.
"V-Victor…!? Stop drinking already…Celestino…not you too…"
"Phichit-kun…you should help me- "
I turned to approach Phichit for help, but I caught him fidgeting on his phone again. He was busy making phone calls to notice the dire situation at hand, and I instantly gave up at that moment. It was obvious that he was enjoying the current situation.
"Ah- Leo…? If you see Guang-hong around, could you call him over too? It's getting exciting here! Coach Celestino and Victor are starting a drinking match!"
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
With much anticipation from Phichit, Victor and Celestino began their drinking match – Celestino immediately went down after a few bottles of beer. On the contrary, Victor was practically three sheets to the wind as he started to strip in a drunken stupor. His voice was slurred when he started to speak.
"Yuuuuri…I'm feeling really hot right now…Hey Yuuuuri ~"
He removed his undershirt and tossed it wildly. In my desperate attempt to stop him, Victor hugged me tightly from behind, refusing to let go. He slowly pulled my face towards him and started to plant kisses all over despite my attempts to stop him.
"S-Stop it Victor…People can see us…"
I was so embarrassed that my body felt weak when I was receiving his kisses. His every touch was so intoxicating, that it made my heart skip a beat. The lingering scent of alcohol from his warm lips was simply arousing. It was a great feeling. I was lost in my thoughts for a moment, until a sudden epiphany brought me back to reality. Glancing from a corner of my eye, Phichit had a sly grin showing on his face. He started to chuckle mischievously while covering his mouth.
"Oh Yuri. Didn't know that you already got so close to Victor~ Don't tell me that the both of you 'did it' already!?"
He gave me a pat on the shoulder and showed me a thumbs up as a sign of reassurance. "Don't worry about it Yuri~ I will definitely support the both of you!~"
Phichit's reaction got me so flustered that I unconsciously stammered while trying to explain myself.
N-N-N-No! What are you saying, Phichit-kun!?" I tried to refute his words but the drunk Victor took me by surprise as he kissed me on the nape affectionately. "V-Victor…!"
Without a care in the world, the intoxicated Victor continued to be in a playful mood as he started to sing a random song in russian. The excited Phichit was being his best audience as he was enthusiastically taking a video with his phone.
"He's like that when he gets drunk…don't pay any heed to it, okay!?"
A smirk gradually appeared on Phichit's face, and I was convinced that he was not satisfied with my answer. However, he stopped pursuing the matter as he did not want to stress me further. "Well if you say so, Yuri~".
Phichit immediately stopped his teasing as he flashed a gentle expression on his face. He seemed to look unusually relieved as he started to speak his mind.
"Well, at least I'm glad that you finally have someone like Victor on your side to help you this time. You always seemed to be fighting your own battles alone in the past, but looking at you right now has erased all my doubts. Your facial expressions seemed to be a lot gentler too."
Phichit gradually revealed a confident smile on his face as he continued talking.
"As your good friend, I'm really looking forward to seeing how Victor has influenced your performance. I've haven't been slacking either and I'll definitely show you my best performance. I'll cheer you on, so will you cheer for me too~? "
Phichit extended out his hand to me, and I accepted it graciously in turn. I was glad to find a great friend in Phichit, whom I could always confide on.
"Thank you, Phichit-kun. Of course I will. We'll always be good friends and rivals striving for the same dream."
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Moments later, Guang-Hong and Leo soon arrived to the scene to witness the bizarre aftermath of the drinking match. Both of them had their phones out as they were anticipating to take selfies with Victor to upload it online.
"Oh…I'm sorry. As you can see…Victor's had too much to drink".
They had a disappointed look on their face, and I felt apologetic to them who came down specially to see Victor.
Phichit was just right beside Celestino, trying to wake his coach who was now a dead drunk. "Celestino! Hang in there!"
Being the SNS maniac that he was, he couldn't help but take a picture of his drunk coach.
The drunk Victor noticed the addition of the two younger skaters to the table, and he seemed to be in a joyful mood. He was so wasted that he seemed to forget the fact that he was in Beijing right now, not at my place in Hasetsu.
"Let's all go to a hot spring~"
"Hot springs…Hasetsu Hot Springs…Great Place…"
On the other hand, Victor was still clinging onto me with his arm as he was starting to unzip his pants with his other free hand. He must have imagined that we were all having a dip in the hot springs. I started getting frantic again. "Hey…! Don't strip any more! We'll be chased out!"
The two younger skaters, Guang-Hong and Leo shivered in their tracks as they were dumbfounded. This was not what they were expecting. I could see Guang-Hong starting to whisper quietly to Leo, asking for his opinion.
"This is getting kind of R-rated…is this okay to post it online…?"
The latter shook his head as he offered Guang-Hong a consoling tap on his back.
"Guang Hong…I know it must be tempting…but…don't. Restrain yourself."
Despite Yuri's attempt, he did not manage to stop the drunk Victor from stripping completely naked. He threw his pants and underwear around and it disastrously landed on the heads of the two innocent skaters. Judging from their facial expressions, I assumed that the two of them were probably traumatized by Victor's recklessness right about now.
After a while, it seemed that Victor was completely knocked out as he went into a deep sleep. I hastily picked up his clothes and dressed him up. I got Guang Hong to grab us taxis back to the hotel, while the remaining of us were carrying two drunkards back. It was a chaotic night to remember, but I was glad to have a chance reconnect with Celestino and my fellow rivals.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
The next morning, Victor and I were on our way to the competition venue when we heard some fangirls squealing at us. It was such an eerie feeling that made goosebumps appear on my skin. Something must have happened. Feeling suspicious, I turned around to observe my surroundings closely. There were fans following behind and secretly taking photos of the two of us, and random passerbys who paused in their tracks to give us encouragement when they saw us. "Good luck…! You two look good together…!"
I was utterly dumbfounded by the sight. Nothing like that had happened before and I became intrigued at our sudden popularity. On the contrary, the happy-go-lucky Victor was just greeting the fans enthusiastically. It made me felt that I was being oversensitive, but my gut sense was right. Something had happened.
I finally discovered the truth behind the sudden phenomenon when I happened to overhear a conversation between a few of the fangirls.
"Did you see the photo that Phichit-kun uploaded…?"
"Yeah…! That was pretty risqué..!"
I immediately logged onto the SNS and saw the photo in question. My hands started to tremble as I tried to dial Phichit's number. At the other end of the call, the latter was also apologetic but he didn't sound too regretful of his actions.
"I'm so sorry, Yuri…! I just couldn't stop myself from posting it online…! I didn't know that the situation would get this big…"
"P-P-P-PHICHIT-KUN…..!?"
I was fearful that the whole world might have thought I was fooling around a night before the competition.