A/n: Kamiko Ikeda is an OC of my prereader, Lady Eve, and is used with permission.

Chapter 6 - Back from Redemption

Viktor was a bit annoyed at losing. He hated losing, and he had lost to a skater who had only been four years old when he had won his first title. Yes, it stung a bit - okay, more than a bit - but he congratulated Yurio along with everyone else. He deserved it. That didn't mean that the Viktor couldn't be a little annoyed by the situation, though. He accepted it, but that didn't mean that he had to like it. This was his first loss, after all, in almost six years.

That was what he was asked about during the press conference. How did it feel? Was he disappointed? How did this set him up going into Europeans? It was never-ending barrage and reminder that he had lost. He just kept repeating that the guard in figure skating was constantly changing and that the world had caught up with him. This was a good thing, and it was bound to happen sooner or later. He was proud of Yurio. Everyone had skated extremely well, even down to Ivanov. The future of Russian skating was bright. Viktor also said that this performance set him up very well for his next two competitions - Europeans and Worlds. This was true.

Yurio was very happy, as he should be. He talked about how only it was only up from here, and he was going to keep improving no matter what, and how it had nothing to do with Viktor. This was about him, and what he could do. Viktor silently gave him kudos for doing that, because he was right. It wasn't about him, and Yurio needed to stand up for himself when people kept comparing them. It was going to be a while before that happened, but if anyone could come out of his shadow, it would be Yurio.

When they left the press conference, Viktor had a message waiting from Yuuri. Sorry you didn't win, but you did good! Call me later, yeah? Tell Yurio congratulations. Love you! He smiled at the text, quickly responding to it. Thanks. A bit stung that I lost, but it can't be helped. Yes, I will call you when I get back to the hotel room. With that, he turned to Yurio. "Yuuri says congratulations."

Yurio looked up at him. "Oh, well… tell him thanks."

Viktor smiled down at him. "I will when I talk to him later," he said. "You did extremely well. You should be very proud. Fifteen and already a National Champion. That's quite impressive."

"Yes, I suppose it is," Yurio said, a smile crossing his face. "Oh, Happy Birthday, by the way… old man."

Viktor grinned. "Thank you!" He ignored the old man comment because he knew that was just Yurio being Yurio.

Yurio stopped, reaching into his bag and grabbing an envelope. The young man held it out, his eyes not quite meeting Viktor's. "Here. For your birthday." Viktor was touched, truly and sincerely. He grabbed it and quickly opened it. It was a simple card, though Yurio had signed it himself. Inside was a gift card. Viktor looked up at him. "It's to the Japanese place near your apartment, you know, the one on the way home from the rink. I thought maybe you could take the Katsudon there. The food would probably be nowhere near as good as his mother's, but he might appreciate it."

"Aww, this is so sweet, thank you!" Viktor said, wrapping an arm around him to draw him into a hug.

Yurio instantly pushed him away. "Don't make it weird, seriously." After that, they caught a cab and headed back to to the hotel. As soon as Viktor got inside, he got comfortable, set his laptop up and called his fiance on Skype. A sleepy Yuuri answered, and Viktor smiled lovingly at him. They talked for a bit, Viktor reminding him that if he needed him not to hesitate to call him. Yuuri agreed before drifting off. As always, Viktor stayed up until the was sure that he was asleep before closing Skype.

Good luck tomorrow, Yuuri…

~*o*x*o*x*o*x*o*x~

Viktor wanted to watch the Pairs and Ladies - honestly, he did, but watching the ladies meant missing the men's at Japanese Nationals. Viktor would not miss his beloved Yuuri. Nonetheless, he was going to watch what he could. Last night, the Dance competition had ended. Anna Zhirova and Alexander Glukov had come up to win, which was not a surprise to most, with Elizaveta Yakushina and Denis Portnov slipping to second. What was a surprise was a young, rising pair named Malvina Adamovich and Nikolai Markov had placed second in the free to place third.

Late that morning, Viktor had run into Georgi and wished him a happy birthday. While they were talking, they ran into Yurio. The three of them ended up going for lunch, where Georgi told them about his new girlfriend, Darya. Apparently, they had met a market. She was a ballet dancer. He had almost literally run into her, but it ended up working out. They had gone out for coffee and ended up talking for hours. They hadn't stopped since. Viktor thought it sweet. Yurio had thought it was disgusting. After that, they had headed to the rink to watch the Pairs Final.

Ekaterina Vasiliyeva and Dmitri Sedov had dominated the competition, winning by over eleven points. Elena Shirokova and Artur Antonov managed to hold on to second with an extremely strong surge from Ksenia Yurasova and Yarsoslav Vasiliev. (Ekaterina and Yaroslav were not related in anyway, though Viktor used to wonder that himself before.) After that, he headed back to the hotel room, wishing Mila and Alexandra good luck. He had to watch Yuuri, though.

~*o*x*o*x*o*x*o*x~

Yuuri wasn't sure how he felt right now. He was at the rink, warming up as he waited for his warm-up group. He had watched the Ladies competition earlier. Reigning Champion, Yamada Akane, was in the lead over a young, fourteen-year-old Matsushita Yuki and veteran Ikeda Kamiko. None of that distracted from what he had to do later, though, so he sat there, he just kept going over and over in his mind what he had to do. Just skate clean, just skate clean…. He didn't even have to stay on his feet. All he had to do was not make too many mistakes.

It didn't help. None of it helped. Celestino kept trying to give him pep talks, and tell him that he had done so well this season, but all he could think about was his free skate at Nationals last year. What if he did that again? What would Viktor think? Viktor loves you, you moron, said a voice inside his head, but he didn't want to disappoint him. What would he do? He only had thirteen points over Tanaka. He could make a few mistakes, but a meltdown and he would be in the lead.

All of a sudden, a phone was shoved in front of his face. He looked over to see the serious face of his former coach, Celestino. "Call him." Yuuri opened his mouth to protest that he wanted to prove that he could handle this, but Celestino cut him off. "He's your coach. Not me. I'm only doing you a favor. He's also your fiance. Now call him."

Yuuri grabbed his phone out of Celestino's hand, quickly called Viktor. "Yuuri! How are you doing? Are you okay?" He must have assumed that he called him because he needed him. He would be right about that.

"I - I'm okay. I just… I needed you."

"What's wrong?" Viktor sounded worried now, and Yuuri felt bad for even calling him.

"I just - what if I have a repeat of last year, what if I can't do it, what if -" He felt his pulse quicken, his palms get sweaty, and he felt as if the world was falling down around him.

"Yuuri, stop," Viktor said gently. When Yuuri didn't respond, he continued. "Listen, you are fantastic. You broke my world record, and just because you're not perfect today doesn't mean you are any less of a great skater. Even if you lose, it doesn't matter. I know you want to win, and I know you can do it. I believe in you no matter what."

Yuuri nodded, Viktor's words and voice slowly calming him down. "No matter what."

"Of course, lyubov moya," Viktor said. "I love you, more than you know."

Yuuri took a long slow breath, allowing his pulse to return to normal. "I love you, too." After that, they said their goodbyes, and he put his phone back in his bag. "Thank you," he said, turning to Celestino.

"Of course, he told me to make you call him if I had to." Celestino smiled at him. "Now keep warming up, your warm up group goes on the ice soon." He was right, and it seemed like no time at all, he was going on the ice with the rest of the final six. He kept the world tuned out, despite the fact that he had given his headphones to Celestino. After the warm up, he continued listening to music and staying in the zone. He remembered everything Viktor had taught him.

Before long, he was standing on the side of the rink, then going on the ice while Tanaka waited for his scores. They were high - 185.72, for a total score of 275.93. It was the highest he had ever scored. He was happy for him, but he had a job to do - and letting Tanaka win was not it. "Ladies and gentleman, on the ice… Katsuki Yuuri-san!"

To be quite frank, Yuuri could have skated better. This was not a world record skate, but it was good, better than good. If he hadn't missed that combination because he had been so worried about the Quad Flip - which had been clean by the way - he would have been pretty damn close. At least he thought so. "That was good, Yuuri!" Celestino told him as he skated off to the Kiss and Cry after his bows. "Not perfect, but very good!"

Yuuri smiled at him. "Thanks." He felt good that he had worked through his anxiety. It would never go away, and this had been mild compared to others he had in the past. They would never go away, but maybe with Viktor, he could do it. Together, Yuuri realized that they could accomplish anything.

"The score, please, for Katsuki Yuuri-san. The short program score - 215.37." The crowd's screams of joy were absolutely deafening that Yuuri could barely hear the rest as Celestino patted him on the shoulder. "The total score is 318.64. He is currently in first place." That was close to what he had scored at the Grand Prix Final. He could do this, just maybe… he could. Yuuri could only think about one thing right now, though - he had gotten his National title back. He was now, officially, a three-time National Champion of Japan.

~*o*x*o*x*o*x*o*x~

Yuuri got a call from Viktor right away, gushing about how proud he was. "It wasn't perfect. I can do better. I will do better." It meant the world to him that he had made Viktor proud, though, and the older man assured him that they would work on anything that needed to be worked on they were together again. The important thing was to enjoy his win. He won, and it was okay to be happy about that despite any mistakes that he may have made. "I promise, I will. I am happy." It felt damn good to have his title back, too. He didn't plan on letting it go again, either.

After that, he had to head to the press conference. He hugged Celestino and thanked for helping him out. His old coach said that he was welcome before Yuuri headed off to the press conference. Tanaka was on one side, and Daisuke-kun on the other. It felt good, and to be sitting in the middle was a bit surreal. He never sat in the middle at a press conference. On occasion he was in one, he was always to one side or the other. (Maybe he shouldn't say never, because obviously, it did happen and since he had won Nationals before, it had happened before, too.)

Yuuri was asked questions about how it felt to win his title back? "It feels really good," Yuuri said, trying to keep the smile on his face to a minimum. "I wanted to win, I came here to win, and I'm glad that I did that." After his silver at the GPF, and winning his third National title, how was he going to use it to prepare for Four Continents and Worlds? What were his plans? That was a bit of a tricker question because of course, he wanted to win!

"I want to win, of course, but the only thing I can control is myself," he said. "I'm learning that, and I'm just going to try and do what I did today, and keep improving. I will be satisfied with whatever placement I get as long as I do that." Well, or he would try at least. He did want to win, but there's no way to predict what would happen with the other skaters. That's what he had been trying to learn, and he was going to try and apply that as much as possible.

Both Tanaka and Daisuke were asked about getting back on the podium after their injuries last year, and skating personal bests. Both responded positively about wanting to do well at Four Continents (since neither would be going to Worlds as there was only one spot.) Tanaka made a joke about how Yuuri better win back at least one more spot so someone else could go to Worlds next year. Yuuri just laughed along with everyone else and said that he would try his best to do so. After that, Yuuri wanted to go back to his hotel room. He needed to talk to Viktor.

~*o*x*o*x*o*x*o*x~

Viktor was so proud of Yuuri! He had had a rough year, but he had overcome it, and now he was once again National Champion! It was a good feeling. He knew it well. That is until Viktor remembered that he had lost his to Yurio. That still stung, and probably would until he won it back next year. Next year… Would he still be around next year? He wasn't sure at this point if he wanted to continue competing next year. Only time would tell, of course. He didn't have to decide that right now anyway. He wanted to see how the rest of this season went before he decided when/if he was going to retire or not.

Viktor did check on the results of the ladies event at Russian Nationals, though. Mila lost. She performed very well, but Tatiyana was better and won her first National title. Mila had to settle for silver, while another young skater, Anna Goreva had a great free skate and come up from fourth to finish third. Svetlana Nenasheva, who had been third, fell to fifth. Alexandra had done well, at least for her, and had come up one spot to finish sixth, but it was still the end of her season. There was the still the Russian Cup, a domestic competition that was considered a qualification for Worlds, but that would be it for her. Russian Nationals was officially over.

Viktor grinned widely as he saw the Skype notification pop up, saying that Yuuri was calling. He clicked on it as fast as he could, and there was the face of his loving fiance. "Yuuri! How is my National Champion? Congrats on winning!"

Yuuri smiled at him, laying on his side on the hotel bed. "I'm good, tired and happy but good," he said. "And thank you. I'm sorry you didn't win, though."

Viktor just shrugged. He had learned a long time ago that he couldn't help things like that. "It's not the first time I've lost," he said. "It's just been a while that's all." Seeing the worried look on Yuuri's face, Viktor continued. "I'm not saying that it doesn't sting because it does. It's annoying, and I hate it. I want to win. Yurio can have my National title, though, but I'm not going to give up my European title without a fight." Yuuri smiled back at him. They made promises for when they saw each other again before Yuuri went to sleep. Viktor stayed up until he was sure he was asleep before shutting off Skype and going to bed himself.

~*o*x*o*x*o*x*o*x~

Yuuri woke up the next morning, unsure of yesterday really happened or not. No, it had. He had won back his national title. There was only a few more days until he and Viktor would be back together. For now, the last day of Japanese Nationals was here as well as the Exhibition Gala for Russian Nationals. He wanted to watch as much of Nationals as possible, support the the other skaters. However, supporting Viktor was more important, and he was dying to know what he was using for his Exhibition skate. The man had refused to tell him, just like he had refused to tell him about his costume, which of course had been gorgeous.

Yuuri had figured it out, though. He could watch pairs and dance, but he would have to miss the second half of the ladies to make sure he saw Viktor. He had lunch before making his way to the rink. Kanako Morita and Brendan Cross had won the Dance title with a 149.68. Ito Umiko and Damien Arceneau placed second with a 139.28. Hirata Setsuko and Eguchi Kuro rounded out the podium with a distant 116.25, while the only other pair, Nagata Amaya and Teshima Yoshiro were an extremely distant fourth with a 76.42.

There were only two Junior Pairs, with Okada Sora and Hashimoto Akira winning the title with a 115.93, and Takata Hikaru and Takata Itsuki taking a very distant silver with a 76.50. In the Senior Pairs, Ishikawa Ami and Romain Fortier won the title with a 155.71. Fukui Sakiko and Matthew North were second with a 133.44, while Akiyama Masumi and Shimizu Takeshi were a distant third with a 105.64. After that, there was a break before the ladies competition started. Yuuri watched have of it before excusing himself and heading back to his hotel room.

The Gala was already half over, but luckily, he hadn't missed Viktor. The announcer listed a long list of his accomplishments, before ending it with the silver medal he had won. He was wearing a maroon button-up shirt, with beading around the edges, the collar, and all along the buttons down the front. It looked great on him, but then again, everything did. As the familiar, haunting somber notes started playing, Yuuri knew what it was before the lyrics started. "I've seen the world, done it all, had my cake now…" He had heard a rumor of Viktor wanting to skate to it. Apparently, that was true.

The skate was great, no sign of Viktor not having choreography to this before he skated - at least nothing concrete that he planned. He made a note to talk to his fiance later, before getting a feed up to watch the ladies competition. Yamada Akane had won the ladies competition. Ikeda Kamiko had come up with a great skate to finish second. Matsushita Yuki, too young for Four Continents and Worlds, fell to third. The last spot at Four Continents and Worlds was likely to go to fourth-place finisher, Hashimoto Sachi.

That meant Japanese Nationals was over. All that was left was the Gala and the banquet tomorrow night, and then… he could go to Viktor.

~*o*x*o*x*o*x*o*x~

Yuuri almost skipped the banquet but ended up not doing so. He had a good chat with Kamiko-chan and Daisuke-kun, both of whom congratulated him. They talked for a bit, including about Yuuri moving to St. Petersburg. It was nice to have people here that he knew, but he was glad when it was over. He talked to Viktor that night when his plane landed, though it was very late in Japan, so the conversation was brief. The next morning, he had an early flight, and he was off to St. Petersburg, well, after a seventeen-hour flight.

Upon landing, he immediately looked for Viktor. No, his fiance had told him that he would meet him outside of security. The line was long, but as soon he got through the secure area - there he was. Yuuri's heart immediately started beating faster, filling with a longing before that he didn't even know he could feel. He saw the same longing echoed on Viktor's face. Ignoring the people around him, he started running towards him. Viktor opened up his arms as Yuuri threw himself into his fiance's waiting embrace. He didn't have a chance to think before Viktor's lips found his, and soon, they were kissing hungrily, desperately, almost as if they hadn't seen each other in months or years as opposed to weeks.

It seemed like forever before Viktor slowly broke the kiss, moving his lips off of Yuuri's so slowly that the Japanese man moved his lips forward, hoping to catch them. Viktor rested his forehead against Yuuri's, a small smile playing across his lips as he felt Viktor's arms tighten around him. "My Yuuri," he said. "I've missed you so much."

"I missed you, too," Yuuri said, as Viktor leaned forward and kissed him again. He felt himself melt into the kiss, even as the weeks of inconsistent sleep started to take its toll. He had been running on adrenaline, he supposed, but now it was all gone. The kiss didn't last long, and Viktor pulled back.

"Let's go get your luggage and go home."

Home…

~*o*x*o*x*o*x*o*x~

Yuuri was exhausted by the time they got back to Viktor's flat. As soon as the door opened, Makkachin nearly knocked him over. He chuckled. "I missed you, too." Then, he took a look around the flat before Viktor closed the door behind him. He insisted on showing him around. First, there was the open living room-kitchen-dining room. The living room had a large purple couch. Viktor had replaced the couch and chair that he had left in their room in Hasetsu with ones that looked very similar, both set perpendicular. There was a fireplace at the front of the living room, with a TV put on top. On both walls were bookcases, filled with books. There was a desk off in the corner. There was also a door leading out to a small patio, that looked to have a small table with a couple of chairs on it.

On the other side of the area was a large dining room table. A large stainless steel island lead into the kitchen, which was all stainless steel. The style fit Viktor, all modern and expensive and stylish. The one thing he noticed was that there were no personal items. There were only plants and no pictures, only pictures of places, not people. It was a bit odd, but Yuuri let him show him around. To be honest, he was nervous. He kept wringing his hands together, thinking over and over again that this felt different. It wasn't like when Viktor had showed up at his family's onsen. This felt like it was making things even more official. Not to mention the fact that he spoke next to no Russian, and was now living here.

"You're so nervous, lyubov moya," Viktor said, wrapping an arm around him after they had finished looking at the guest bath - modern and upscale like the rest of the house, with a nice walk-in shower, making the room look bigger than it actually was. "You seem more nervous than Yurio was when he moved here, and he was ten, and alone." The Russian smile down at him. "Oh, and by the way," he said, opening up the next room. "This is his room."

Yuuri looked up at him in a bit of surprise. "You have a room for him?" The room was good sized, with a nice bed, a dresser, and a desk. There was a tiger plushie in the middle of the bed.

"Yes, I let him hang around as often as he wants to," Viktor said. "Don't tell him, but I actually like having him around. He doesn't really have anyone here either, and he's still young, so I don't mind. Besides, I understand how he feels."

As they closed the door, Yuuri had to ask. "What about his family?"

"Yurio never knew his father. In fact, I'm not even sure that his mother, Nataliya, even knows who it was for sure. She was so young that it probably didn't matter. She's only about five or six years older than me," Viktor explained. "They don't have a good relationship. He's close to his grandfather, but he's in Moscow. They both know that Yakov and I keep an eye on him."

Yuuri thought it was sweet that Viktor did all this for Yurio. "So, he spends the night? How often?" He hadn't realized they were so close, but he supposed Viktor wouldn't have mentioned it while he was living in Japan. It didn't matter then, but it gave another dimension to Yurio's anger.

"Whenever he wants, really," he said. "Usually every couple of weeks or so. I gave him a key years ago, so he can get in and out whenever he needs to. I wanted to make sure that he had a place to go if ever needed it. Speaking of keys…" Viktor reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, gold key. "Your key to the apartment." Yuuri smiled up at him as they went into the master bedroom - their bedroom.

It was large, with a huge bed up against the far wall against the window. There was a dresser, and a couple of chairs with a table and a lamp. Next was a large walk-in closet where Viktor had made plenty of room for him, as he had in the dresser. The next was the master bath, with a large tub big enough for two and a walk-in shower. After that, Yuuri got changed for bed as Viktor told him that Chris had gotten him a stripper pole for his birthday, with a note saying that his fiance would find it useful. Yuuri just blushed furiously and refused to respond to that. He got Viktor's birthday present out, holding it out to him before carefully gave it to him.

"You didn't have to!" Viktor exclaimed as he opened it.

"Yes, I did, and I know it's late, but I wanted to get you something."

Viktor opened the present to find a two-sided picture frame. "I remember this day!" Viktor said, looking at the first frame. Both were candid pictures. "Who took this?"

"My mom, she thought we were cute, and took pictures of us," Yuuri explained. "I liked these two." The first one was from before the Cup of China. He remembered that day. He and Viktor had just finished eating, and Viktor had wrapped his arm around him and pulled him close. They had been getting closer at that point in their relationship. He was looking up at the Viktor in the picture and smiling as Viktor smiled down at him.

In the second picture, they had their first snowfall of the season, and it had only been taken a couple of weeks before the Grand Prix Final. He and Viktor had gone out to shovel. One of them had slipped - Yuuri couldn't remember who now - and had ended up kissing. In the picture, Yuuri was on his back in a place where they had just finished shoveling. Viktor was laying half on top of him as they kissed.

"I love it!" Viktor exclaimed, leaning over to kiss him as they sat on his bed. Viktor then reached over and grabbed a present from underneath the bed. "Merry Christmas."

Yuuri looked up at Viktor in shock as he took the present. "I thought you said that Russians don't celebrate Christmas like other countries."

"We don't. Our Christmas isn't until the 7th, but you, lybuov moya, are not Russian," Viktor said, giving him a quick kiss.

"Thank you," he said, knowing that there would be other cultural differences for them to work through, but at least for the first step, things were going well. He opened it up to find a long, thick silver scarf with blue edging. "I love it!"

"It gets cold here in Russia in the winter, colder than you are used to," Viktor said. "I wanted to get you something to help you keep you warm, and of course, think of me when you wear it." Yuuri kissed him before they laid down in bed. Yuuri curled up against him as Viktor wrapped his arms around him. He was home, and home wasn't a place, but a person - Viktor.

"Viktor, I noticed something," Yuuri said, glancing up at the pictures of the two of them that Viktor had just set on the bedside table. "There's no… people in your apartment. The only pictures are just of places."

"I never had anyone worth putting up on these walls," Viktor said, smiling down at him. Yuuri kissed him, before laying his head against his chest. For the first in time weeks, he knew he was going to sleep well, and all the way through the night. And sleep well he did, but he woke up the next morning alone. Curling up, he was sure that yesterday had been a sick dream. That is until he felt a pair of long, elegant fingers slowly playing with his hair, and an accented voice saying, "It's time to wake up, beautiful." Slowly, Yuuri opened his eyes and looked up to see Viktor's smiling face. "Good morning. It's time to get up. Get something to eat while I get ready, okay?"

Yuuri slowly got ready and got dressed before getting some pastries that Viktor had brought and some coffee. It wasn't until Viktor came out fully dressed that he realized he wasn't ready. "I'm not done, hold on, I'll eat quickly and -"

Viktor kissed him on his forehead. "No, don't worry about it. Take your time. We'll have plenty of mornings together, a lifetime of them, in fact. I am going to go meet up with Yurio, okay? Come up and meet up with us when you're ready. Remember the directions to the bridge I told you about the other day?" Yuuri thought for a moment before nodding. "Good, then meet us there." He kissed him. "Call me if you need to, remember!" With that, Viktor left. Yuuri finished eating before getting ready and then leaving himself.

Yuuri remembered the directions well, but nonetheless, he was glad to see Viktor and Yurio standing on the bridge. He smiled at them as he ran towards them. Viktor turned to him and smiled as Yurio leaned up against the bridge. Yuuri kept running as they both got closer. While this move may not be easy on either of them, he knew that he and Viktor would make it through. Everything would be fine. No matter, they would do it together.

TO BE CONTINUED IN
CONTINUATION ON ICE

A/n: Yes, I am planning a sequel series! The first chapter is nearly done. Thanks to my reviewers!

Edit: The first part is finally up on archiveofourown: works/12933579 - due to the rating it will only be there.