So hi.

I am aware that I am a dreadful person for not updating this sooner so I hope you don't hate me too much for the 3 week wait... Uni work got in the way and then life got in the way and then ugh. Anyways, I hope that this chapter makes up for the long wait.

Chapter title from Yuri! on Ice

Enjoy!

The sight of Yuuri and Victor gliding over the ice in the Detroit rink had become a regular occurrence. The pair spent more time training than anything else. While they mostly spent their time at the rink together, Victor often sent Yuuri upstairs to the small dance gym to work on his flexibility with some ballet while the elder skater worked on a secret project. On one of these days, Yuuri tripped down the stairs after a few hours of intensive practice to see Victor leaning against the rink barrier with a smile on his face. When Victor's eyes met with Yuuri's they lit up and the smile spread further across his cheeks.

"Yuuuuuuuuri!" Victor shouted across the open space as he waved to the younger man. "Let me show you something!" Victor picked up his phone and waved it in Yuuri's direction before leaving it on the rink edge and skating to the centre and taking up a starting position with his head bowed and arms by his side.

Yuuri noted a small waving motion from Victor and took it to mean he was to play the music that had been set up on the phone in front of him. The title of the song was written in Cyrillic lettering that Yuuri could not read so he had no idea what he was about to witness.

Victor cocked his hip out to one side and began to wave his arms around his head in a sensual manner. There was a brief pause in the seductive guitar strumming which Victor coincided with looking directly at Yuuri and sending him a seductive smirk. Yuuri could feel his face flush instantly but couldn't bring himself to look away for even a second. Time seemed to slow as Yuuri watched Victor skate alluring patterns across the ice, paired with multiple flawless jumps and spins. Yuuri could see the story Victor was creating with his body as clear as the ice he was skating on. The young playboy enchanting the women he desired in a twisting game of cat and mouse before discarding her to move onto his next victim.

The younger skater drew in a sharp breath as the music reached a crescendo and Victor ended the routine stood in the centre of the rink with his arms wrapped around his body. The look of seduction and concentration on Victor's face dropped away suddenly and was replaced with his usual easy going smile.

"So Yuuri," Victor said as he made his way over to the rink edge where Yuuri was standing, "what did you think?" Yuuri had to take a few seconds of staring at the ice rather than Victor, in order to compose himself and remind his lungs that breathing was probably a good idea. By the time Yuuri felt able to look at Victor again, the older man's smile had morphed into a slight smirk but the kind spark never faded from his eyes. Yuuri drew in a deep breath and prayed that he would be able to speak without making a fool of himself.

"U-um, it was great. Really good Victor." Curse that small stutter. "What are you planning on using it for?" Yuuri was understandably curious as Victor had already shown him the routines he was planning on skating for the upcoming season.

"Oh, this one isn't for me." Yuuri looked at Victor, brow furrowed with confusion. If Victor didn't make that routine for himself, who the hell was it for? "I was thinking that maybe you could use it for you short program this season." Yuuri's jaw hit the floor.

"W-w-what? I couldn't. There's no way I would be able to-" Victor cut of Yuuri's panicked muttering by placing one of his hands on Yuuri's, which were clutching onto the rink barrier in an attempt to help Yuuri remain upright.

"Yuuri, stop being so hard on yourself. With a bit of help on the jumps, you could pull this off easily." Victor tried to catch and hold Yuuri's eyes but they kept disappearing with a shake of the younger man's head. "What's stopping you from believing that you can do this? I believe in you, so why can't you believe in you?" Victor was looking at Yuuri with a mix of concern and encouragement and Yuuri found himself spilling his thoughts before he could stop to think about it.

"You're just so perfect, I can't live up to that. You made that routine so effortlessly sexy and there is no way I could replicate those emotions or movements." Yuuri's voice dwindled to a halt as he become more embarrassed by what he was saying. Victor lightly placed a finger under Yuuri's chin to turn the younger's head towards his own.

"I can teach you. I can see it inside of you Yuuri, all we need to do is encourage it out and show it to the world." Yuuri's eyes remained locked on Victor's as though there was some kind of force preventing his from looking away as Victor began to lean closer. "All you have to do is say yes." Yuuri could feel Victor's breath dancing across his own lips and chin but couldn't seem to move from the soft grip on his chin.

"Yes." The word slipped out of Yuuri's lips in a whisper before he could register what it meant. The light in Victor's eyes could have lit up the entire building but he seemed to have the sense to keep his excitement reigned in to match Yuuri's unsure mood. Yuuri closed his eyes in surprise to finally escape from the hypnotic gaze that he had been enraptured by. He was jolted out of his internal panic at the feeling of pressure bearing down against his forehead. Yuuri allowed his eyes to fly open to find himself nose to nose with his childhood idol as Victor had leant his head down again Yuuri's to bring them closer together. Yuuri could see the combination of his own curling black hair entwining with the long silver strands of Victor's own fringe out of the corner of his eye. Victor let out a deep breath as a contented sigh as he wrapped his free hand around Yuuri's back, holding them together in a light embrace.

"Amazing."

Yuuri managed to pick up the choreography of his brand new short programme remarkably quickly. Victor was, needless to say, very impressed with his student's progress but while the choreography was mostly nailed within a few days, the emotion was proving harder for Yuuri to grasp, even after a few weeks. After a particularly gruelling practice session in the ice rink, Victor noticed Yuuri retired to his room with barely a word to either Victor himself or Yuuri's shadow, Makkachin. Yuuri had even closed his door on Makka, meaning the dog couldn't see his new friend and ended up wandering around aimlessly, much like Victor was doing. Victor meandered over to Yuuri's door after around half an hour, to the sight of his dog lying beside the door with his nose pressed up against the gap by the floor to reassure himself that Yuuri was still there. Victor paused to stoop down and run his fingers over the curls of Makkachin's head, before standing again and taking a deep breath before knocking on Yuuri's door.

"Hey Yuuri, do you want to go out to the roller rink with me this evening?" There was no response for a while but Victor could hear the other man shuffling around in his room. "I asked the owners last time and they said that they don't mind if we took Makka with us, they would look after him while we skated." Victor heard the shuffling sound halt on the other side of the door which was paired with an almost inaudible metallic click as Yuuri rested his hand on the door handle. Victor took half a step backwards as Yuuri opened the door. Makkachin was up in an instant and ran past Yuuri's legs into the room and jumped onto the bed while wagging his tail relentlessly. Yuuri rolled his eyes at the poodle with a small smile before turning back to Victor gingerly.

"Roller-skating sounds fun. And taking Makkachin with us would be nice too." Yuuri said in a small voice. Victor smiled widely and without thinking, swiped a fingertip across Yuuri's forehead to push the black fringe away from the younger's eyes. Victor paused in surprise at his action with a hand still hovering by Yuuri's ear before Yuuri's face lit with a blush and he pushed past Victor and headed towards the kitchen. "Maybe I could cook us something for dinner before we go?" All of a sudden, Victor recovered from his statuesque pose to bounce into the main body of the flat.

"Yeah ok, I think I have most of the ingredients for something relatively quick." Victor smiled happily and continued to make his way into the kitchen.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Victor asked as he leant against the doorframe to watch Yuuri as he began to gather the ingredients and equipment he needed.

"No, no it's fine. I think I would kinda like the time by myself to be honest." Victor nodded and pushed himself up and away from the doorframe.

"Sure, no worries. Do you mind if I go get Makka from your room while you cook?" After seeing Yuuri's affirming nod, Victor left the kitchen and went back over to Yuuri's room.

After a quick meal courtesy of Yuuri, the pair were throwing light jackets on over their clothing and clipped Makkachin's lead onto his collar, much to the dog's excitement. The walk to the roller-rink was kept relatively quiet as Yuuri still mostly remained stuck in his own head after the troubles he had during the earlier practice. Victor tried to lighten the mood at various points with further compliments to Yuuri's cooking as well as occasionally allowing Makkachin to run to Yuuri's side and shove him ever so slightly closer towards Victor, causing the two men's arms to brush. Victor made a mental note to give Makka a treat or two that evening as a thank you for being the best wingman. Wingdog? Whatever Makkachin was, there was an extra helping of food in his future.

The rink was relatively quiet when Victor and Yuuri arrived which was not unexpected for a midweek evening. The owners of the rink were thrilled to see the poodle bounding into the building just before the two men and gladly took him to one side to keep an eye on him. Victor led Yuuri over to the counter to rent their skates before taking him over to the rink itself. Their warm-up time was brief after the time spent on the ice that morning but soon they were skating around in lazy circles trying to reduce some of the stress that had built up over the past few frustrating days.

Victor watched Yuuri closely through the first hour or so of skating before he decided to bring up the heavier topic of the day after falling into step beside him.

"Yuuri. How can I help you find your Eros?" Yuuri began to skate in the opposite direction as quickly as he could. Victor didn't hesitate to follow him. Victor, having a slightly longer stride, managed to catch up to Yuuri fairly easily and wrapped his arms around Yuuri's waist to prevent him from escaping again. Yuuri twisted in the grip and ended up facing Victor with a flush on his face and heart racing beneath his ribcage. Victor caught Yuuri's eyes and was almost floored at the intensity he saw there. He didn't allow his grasp to waver however. "M-maybe we should skate it together, as a pair skate instead of side by side to try and help you with the characterisation of the affair?" Victor didn't think he had ever stuttered in that way before and was just hoping that Yuuri hadn't noticed it. Yuuri's eyes widened slightly but nodded shallowly and Victor wasted no time in dragging Yuuri into the centre of the rink by the waist. The pair decided that attempting the jumps would be foolish in the wooden rink so the plan was to focus on the footwork but mostly on the feel of the routine with Victor skating around Yuuri, acting out the part of the woman Yuuri was trying to seduce.

The rink had been cleared out at that point as it had gotten rather late, however this allowed for Yuuri to go all out without the distraction of an audience watching him. Victor could see Yuuri steel himself in the centre of the rink as he let go and moved to one side, ready to swoop in and join the routine. Yuuri didn't need the music as the choreography was ingrained into his brain to the point where he could perform it in his sleep. Victor watched as Yuuri swung his arms around before looking him straight in the eye and winking with a small smirk. Victor practically melted on the spot.

Victor barely remembered that he was supposed to be skating along with Yuuri to help him understand the character better and joined in by flowing around Yuuri in a mixture of 'come hither' and 'I'm not interested' motions. Yuuri seemed to take all of Victor's signals and worked his performance to show the story of attempting to seduce the temptress. By the end of the routine, Victor had been cast aside to one side of the rink and Yuuri ended up alone again at the centre of attention as he moved onto a new target of his affection. While the character still wasn't quite there it was a sudden and great improvement for Yuuri that left Victor reeling. Seeing the mask of the playboy fall away as Yuuri hunched his shoulders and looked to Victor nervously, had Victor practically tripping over his own feet in awe. Once Victor had regained his senses, he went over to wrap Yuuri in a hug and praise his efforts and improvements.

"Yuuri, that was so great! I felt thoroughly seduced." Yuuri's face finally succumbed to the blush that had probably been brewing during the entire performance. "It's quite late though so should we call it a day?"

"Yeah, sure." Yuuri agreed readily, feeling the strain of a long day of exercise beginning to weaken his legs. "That felt pretty good though. Thank you." Victor grabbed Yuuri's hand to pull him off the rink and over to the main desk to pick up their shoes and Makkachin, who had fallen asleep on one of the couches at the edge of the room.

"Anything for you my Yuuri." Victor felt his hand being squeezed lightly before it was released to focus on the task of changing shoes.

This time, on the walk back to the apartment, Victor and Yuuri were side by side with shoulders brushing for most of the trek. Little time was spent together once they were back at the flat, with Yuuri heading straight for the shower and Victor retiring to his room, not without forgetting to grab a dog biscuit and toss it to Makkachin as his reward for being the best dog any hopeless romantic could ask for.

Well there you go (finally). Feel free to tell me your thoughts in a comment or drop me a favourite/follow to let me know you haven't given up on this story just yet! (I'm not above begging, can you tell?) The next chapter should be a good one so I hope you will all stick around for that one.

BN x