A/N: I wanted to write this before hand because there are a few things I wanted to say before you read this chapter.
First off, this has been the most dreaded chapter for me for what feels like forever, this is the wedding where you will finally see Yuuri's attempts at pole dancing. Let me just say I spent weeks doing research, sketching designs, and even acting out the routine in an attempt to get it just right for you guys, so I hope all the work paid off.
Second, I found out while trying to research Swiss wedding vows, that Chris and Erik would have technically already been married by this point, so I thought the best way to fix my mistake was to make Viktor drunkenly out them. And I just couldn't resist messing around with poor drunk Viktor. Just something to note, I don't think Viktor would get this drunk very easily or often.
Finally, this is not for the chapter, this is just life stuff. I'm sorry I've been away for so long. I moved, twice, the school started back up, then I had two hurricanes hit, and stress of school, and funerals, and depression, and just a lot. I'm an art student that can't even do art right now because I injured my stupid hand and I'm not ambidextrous. So please forgive me, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
P.S. THANK YOU TitaniaMimzy FOR INFLUENCING THIS CHAPTER! THIS WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT YOU AND ALL THE REST OF THE WONDERFUL READERS OF THIS STORY!
"Man, I love this guy," Viktor declared to the group, words slurring slightly as he held a glass of champagne in his hand, "Chris and I, we have had many crazy times together, most of them not appropriate to talk about with other people." The Russian lifted his glass in his blushing friends direction before taking a sip, ignoring his husband's attempts to get off the stage, "Yeah, crazy times. Crazy times… Did you know that Chris was already married before the wedding though!" A gasp runs through the audience as Chris sinks lower into his seat and Yuuri face palms, "That's right! Chris married Erik a few weeks back actually. It's customary to be married before the party in Switzerland! You two really pulled one over on us all-"
Minami rushed the stage and gently coaxed Viktor off of it, "Alright Niki-sama, I think it's time for you to go sit down."
"Minami! Such a good little puppy. Such a pup," Viktor declared as he wrapped his arms around Minami and started petting his head, much to the young man's indignation.
Yuuri tried to hide the smile threatening to split across his face at the sight of those two as he silently asked for Pitchit's help in following them out of the room.
The younger Japanese man dragged the heavy older man to the room he was staying in with Yuuri, and dumped him unceremoniously on the bed.
"Good puppy," Viktor said, closing his eyes briefly before crawling up to grab a pillow and start petting it.
Quietly, Yuuri shooed Pitchit and Minami out of the room, then attempted to get Viktor's attention by patting his legs.
Looking down to see the Japanese man at the end of his feet, Viktor dropped the pillow and swiftly sat up, leaning close to his husband's face, "I have something I really need to tell you, please don't freak out Yuuri." Looking around as if to make sure no one could hear him, he put his lips to Yuuri's ear and said in a loud whisper, "I think I might be in love with you!"
Yuuri did his best to try and restrain his smile, "I hope that's the case, I've been married to you for a while now."
"Wait, you're married?" Viktor sat back, shock filling his face, "When did that happen, wait who is it?"
Now Yuuri could feel himself slowly dying of laughter, he couldn't wait to remind Viktor of this later, "Well, I'm married to a man, and he's Russian."
"Hey! I'm a Russian man too!" Viktor cut the younger man off to exclaim.
"Are you now? Hm, what else… He has beautiful blue eyes, and the softest snow-white hair." Viktor pulled a strand of his own hair in front of his eyes so he could attempt to look at it crossed eyed. He didn't say anything so Yuuri continued with his little game. "Let's see, he is also a figure skater and, his name is Viktor."
Turning his now sad eyes back on Yuuri, Viktor said, "You sound like you really love this Viktor guy. He must be lucky."
Finally, Yuuri had enough of the game and decided to clue Viktor in, "Viktor, it's you."
Looking around the room as if some other Viktor would pop out of nowhere, the drunk Russian turned back to his husband and pointed a finger at his chest, a dumbfounded expression on his face.
"Me?"
Yuuri nodded his head.
"You're married to me?"
Yuuri nodded his head again, smiling more this time.
A grin broke out on Viktor's face and he clapped his hands in excitement.
"Well I'm one sly dog."
The Japanese man couldn't hold it back anymore, and finally let out a roar of later at his poor drunk husband's expense. "Come on, let's sober you up."
oooOOOoooOOOooo
-Yuuri's perspective-
Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Breathe. You can do this. Slow deep breaths. Viktor, I see Viktor's face in front of me, he's smiling and saying something, but the words aren't processing. I nod my head as if I had understood; that must have been what he wanted to see because his smile grew larger. I feel his arms wrap tightly around me, and for a moment everything stands still, and it's just the two of us, in perfect clarity.
"You're going to be amazing," he whispers in my ear, before pulling back slightly to place the softest of butterfly kisses on my forehead.
Viktor stands up and smiles down at me, the rest of the world rushing back in around me, sounds and smells assaulting my senses. In the distance, I can hear Pitchit talking into a microphone, telling the guests about my previous dance on the pole, the one-time I don't remember. I feel a presence behind me, and turn to see Viktor had moved to his usual place at the handles of my chair. He had already helped me into the costume, a simple gray vest buttoned over my bare chest and a pair of black leggings. I also already had my legs strapped into the braces that had gone through further modifications as we had discovered problems with it while practicing.
"I would now like to welcome to the stage, my friend, our entertainment for the night, one Yuuri Katsuki, dancing to David Guetta's This One's For You, the Kriss Kross Amesterdam Remix. Choreographed by his husband Viktor Nikiforov!" The guests cheered at a level that Pitchit approved as he flung his arm in the direction of the door that Viktor and I had just came through.
Lights shine on us, blinding me instantly. Squinting my eyes, I attempt to make out any forms in the audience, but without my glasses it's impossible; and maybe that's a good thing. The cheering fades away, and I could hear the whispers passing through the guests, they were commenting on my status in a wheel chair, on what I was thinking of going through with this. Taking a deep breath in and holding it, I turn to look back at Viktor, nodding at him that I'm ready for this. Turning back around, I keep my eyes on the pole as we move slowly closer to it, to the moment I had been working towards for weeks.
Everyone watches silently as Viktor helps me out of my chair, guiding my hands to the pole to grip onto it. Slowly he pushes the wheel chair towards Pitchit, who moves it off to the side of the area that was to be my stage. Standing there, facing away from the pole, with only my arms to hold me up, I flex my wrists and fingers slightly, testing all the mechanisms to make sure that they would be working while up in the air. Moving my right wrist forward, my right leg slowly lifts off the ground into a bent position, the same occurs on the left side when I move my left wrist.
"Everything is working," Viktor assures me quietly, keeping his face as the only thing I could see clearly, "You're more than ready for this. I believe in you."
Slowly, Viktor steps away from me, leaving me alone on the stage; but he remained close enough in case something happened.
Silence fills the room as everyone waits in anticipation for my first moves, then the music starts.
Slowly, I allow my right hand to travel from the pole down my body, relying on my left arm to keep me upright. When my hand finally reaches my side, I loosen up my left hand slightly and flex both wrists, making my knees bend in below me before using the force down to push myself back up. I hear gasps and cheers from the audience, but I'm no longer acknowledging them. My hand travels back up towards the pole, before I grab tightly with both hands and swing my body around until I'm facing the pole, and then I'm climbing it, pulling myself up until I'm a little over half way. Grabbing tightly to the pole with my right hand, I use my left to swing my left leg around the pole in one smooth motion and attach it to the pole by flexing my fingers. Loosening my right hand ever so slightly, I lean back, relying on my right arm and left leg to keep me from falling. I can hear people cheering loudly, but I'm no longer in the room anymore.
Pulling myself back up, I grab the pole with both hands and move my legs in to a split as I hold myself perfectly sideways with only my arms. Following the beat of the music, I begin swinging around the pole, one move right after another, one slight shift leading into another. The entire time, only one thing fills my mind, Viktor. His courage, dedication, love, determination, his everything. The amount of nights he stayed up late working out the flaws in the design for my braces, all the times he would rewrite the program to ensure my safety while dancing, every time I slipped, and he would always be there to catch me. Viktor may have picked this song for the wedding, but I had picked this song for Viktor.
Leaning back until my head is almost touching the ground as only my legs are holding me up, I feel weightless. For the first time in weeks, I feel really and truly free.
I can feel the end of the song coming, I know all the moves left to end it with. I'm preparing for the final position, both hands holding on to the pole with me doing the splits while facing the ground. I'm prepared for this, we had spent days perfecting this move in particular as the big finish. But, although we both know I have good stamina, and should be able to keep up all the arm swinging required throughout the song, neither of us predicted what is happening currently. All the anxiety and adrenaline I had been using to fuel my performance, is quickly draining from me. I swing around, making to move into my final position, when I feel one of my hands slip from the pole.
Everything happened so fast, although it had seemed to have happened in slow motion. A blur of a person streaked into view in the corner of my vision as the crowd gasps in fright, I close my eyes to prepare myself for a face plant into the ground, when suddenly I feel another body swing onto the pole next to me, moving me into a different pose, but doing it so fluidly it appeared to have been practiced. I open my eyes wide and looking into the slightly frightened but still caring eyes of Viktor, he has one arm gripping the pole tightly, the other is behind my back, holding me up off the ground. Slowly, he slides us down the pole until his feet are back on the ground, it isn't until he is putting me back in an upright position that I realize the entire audience is on their feet cheering for us.
Reaching into his coat pocket, Viktor pulled out my glasses and carefully set them on the bridge of my nose as Pitchit quickly pushes my chair out to us. Looking out into the audience, I see everyone's amazement and delight at the performance, and there in the front of the entire group stood Chris and his new husband, tears streaming down his face. For a moment I am taken aback, did I do something wrong?
Viktor, always knowing what I am thinking before I even do sometimes, leans down and whispers, "tears of joy."
It took no time for my mind to understand what he was meaning, and for the first time since entering the room, I feel my lips pull in to a large smile, and it stays there, even as I am slowly lowered back into my chair.