'I'm calling out to you, please come and stay close to me' Victor thought to himself as he finished his practice for the program he planned to use at the upcoming Grand Prix. He choreographed the program to the song 'Stay Close To Me', a song that is full of longing.
A yearning, a longing of wanting to find a lover with whom to stay close.
This. This was the program Victor planned on choreographing the day he won gold so many years ago, the day when he met Chris as someone who looked up to him. Now he was competition - someone wishing to steal his winning streak out from under him.
This choreography contained all that Victor wanted to say through skating. He wished that his soulmate would be watching the Grand Prix. Finally, he had choreographed the program he had planned for years. And he was going to perfect it. No matter the performance difficulty.
He was surprising the audience, one of his top priorities when he was skating.
But only he would know the complete story he planned behind every jump, every step sequence, every movement in the program. The audience could attempt to figure out his specific story. Some may come close, others miss the mark completely. That was the thing, skating was interpreted differently by each viewer.
Inside Victor hoped, no he pleaded, for his soulmate to watch and understand the message in his movements. What others thought the story was didn't matter, what mattered was that he heard Victor's message.
That was the point, the reason why he made the routine the way he did. For that one person; hoping, pleading, longing for him to find Victor. Or Victor to find him. He wished for exactly what the song describes, his soulmate to come and stay close to him.
~oO0Oo~
"That's was beautiful, Victor!" Mila greeted him as he stepped off the ice and back onto regular ground. He placed his covers back on his skates as he took a break to allow the other skaters to use the entire rink. Everyone had paused their practice to watch Victor run through his entire routine.
"Thanks, Mila," Victor smiled as he slipped off into his own thoughts once again, easily ignoring the world around him as he leaned against the boards.
There were parts of his program that he knew for certain that he would have to clean up and polish. But most of it just felt right. As though this was exactly what he was supposed to be doing at this exact moment in his life.
This program full of longing seemed to be the perfect collection of everything Victor decided that he was indeed feeling. Everyday he longed for the moment when he would finally get to meet his raven-haired soulmate. Every dream was another interesting piece of the puzzle of his soulmate's life that he was determined to put together.
Victor couldn't deny to himself that, yes, he was indeed lonely without affection from another person. Something more than a simple hug between friends. The more intimate side, the hugs that each person would simply fill with all of their emotions that they were feeling. Victor quickly figured that it would take him a while to find his soulmate. And while he did want to find them, and only them, the absence of the affection he needed in his life finally came crashing down full force.
Being so intensely focused on his skating, Victor had to push some family away, as he became further and further distanced from his parents. Soon his only family, or at least people he was close enough to consider them family, became Yakov and a couple of his rinkmates.
This is why this program was so important to Victor. He put a lot of faith in this program; that it would call out to his soulmate, who currently took up residence in Detroit, apparently pursuing skating as a career. Although he wasn't the best with jumps, some a complete and utter mess, his step sequences made up for it. Victor saw plenty of potential in the skating he witnessed every night. Every fall he witnessed from his soulmate's eyes made him wince.
Victor also was constantly amused by his soulmate's new Thai friend, Phichit. The younger boy was excited by almost anything. There was also the fact that he was basically attached to his phone, and the social media on there. Not that Victor wasn't as well, but definitely not to the degree of the younger boy. The amount of selfies he took made Victor laugh constantly. Even thinking about it now made him laugh, jolting him out of his daydreaming and drifting thoughts.
Multiple gazes from around the rink, mostly those who were already fairly close to where Victor stood, turned towards him at his random outburst of laughter. Multiple skaters turned to each other with looks on their face of 'What's so funny?' and 'Did I miss something?'. No one's questions were answered but instead grew when Victor left the rink covering his mouth to hide the smile on his face and his continuing laughter. A minute was how long most people stood staring at the door where the famed skater left abruptly. Most supplied themselves answers to what happened, many of which were simply that he was taking a break. It was indeed a weird exit but everyone just shrugged it off and went on to continue practicing.
"- that was absolutely amazing!" Phichit called and waved from the other side of the rink, beckoning his friend over to the edge.
His soulmate easily glided over the ice to lean against the boards, looking at his friend. "You really think so? There's still a lot that I have to clean up though." He let out a sigh, clearly bringing himself down.
"Well yeah, but everyone has that to begin with! I bet you even Victor isn't perfect the first time he practices a program," Phichit pointed out, earning a smile from the other boy. Victor's heart jumped slightly at the mention of his name, but Phichit was right; he wasn't perfect when he first begins a new program.
"Speaking of Victor," Phichit continued as his friend made his way off the ice and to a bench to unlace his skates. "I bet you, when you completely iron out this program, you'll be able to get on the podium with him at the Grand Prix!"
If Victor had been drinking or eating something at that moment he would have choked on it. Upon hearing mention of the Grand Prix his breath hitched. This was impossible. There was no way that fate was so kind as to let them both be competing at the same competition. Unless there was a cruel twist and in fact the Thai boy was not talking about the upcoming competition but instead one that was being looked forward to somewhere in the future.
"There's no way, Phichit," His soulmate shook his head as he finished undoing his skates. "I'm kind of surprised that I made it into the Grand Prix." At those words Victor let out a breath that he didn't realize that he was holding. They did indeed mean this upcoming Grand Prix.
"Come on -! You're a great skater! Maybe you flub some of your jumps but your steps, man they're great!" Phichit came and sat down beside the other skater and wrapped his arms around him. "You'll do great! I know it," The Thai boy beamed, apparently more than happy to see his friend succeed in figure skating.
"I hope I do. This will probably be my only chance to skate on the same ice as Victor, I'm hoping I don't mess it up."
Phichit groaned at his friend's comment. "I swear -, you are such a downer. You need to lighten up a bit. Have some more fun! I know!"
"Wha-" Victor's soulmate was cut off as Phichit stood up and pulled him along, as he continued.
"Let's stay up all night and binge watch Disney movies!"
"Phichit, I have practice tomorrow," the older boy whined as he was dragged behind his friend.
"No you don't, none of us do! Remember Celestino gave us all the day as a break?" Phichit stopped running for a minute to smile at his friend reassuringly. "Come on, this will be fun!"
"I guess, tonight only Phichit. Tonight only." Victor's soulmate finally succumbed to his friends wishes.
"It'll be great!" Once again Phichit resumed pulling his friend towards their shared dorm room.
When Victor woke up the following morning he knew there was something important that he needed to write down. Something critical. Something about his soulmate. Something that he really needed to remember.
He rolled over to look at the small table which stood next to his bed with only a clock sitting on it. Victor groaned, of course, he never kept a pen and paper on his bedside table anymore. Quickly he rolled out of his bed to begin his search of the needed paper and writing utensil.
In his mind, Victor kept repeating that he needed to remember this, occasionally murmuring about it. He knew he was forgetful, very forgetful, he may have possibly forgotten a couple of promises he made to a couple of people, only to be angrily reminded by them. He didn't want to forget this crucial piece of information he just learned from his dream.
"Aha!" Victor cried triumphantly as he grabbed a piece of notebook paper and pen from a drawer in his desk. He placed them on the top of the desk, running his hand through his short hair and pushing his bangs to the side. Victor attempted to remember what he was so intently trying to pen down. His mind remained blank.
"Oh God no," He breathed out, barely above an audible whisper. "No there's no way I already forgot. Oh please no."
Nothing came to mind no matter how hard Victor tried to remember what he just witnessed in his dreams. He wracked his brain continually minute after minute. Eventually, he had to give up and decided to just lay on his floor and groan in anguish. This could not be happening. There was no way. He prayed that at some point this would re-enter his mind. He pleaded.
Finally I've updated this story! I've actually had this written for a bit but there's a reason that I didn't update until today. That's because I've decided all updates will be posted on Wednesdays! Remember Yuri on Ice was released on Wednesdays so I thought I'd update my Yuri on Ice story and Wednesdays. I know it's genius. I'm amazing. But this isn't every Wednesday, it depends how long it takes me to write each chapter. But all updates will be Wednesday!
Also! The next chapter is based on the banquet scene! I know it's super exciting, but please be aware that it's simply based off of the ending, everything isn't 100% canon. Hell, I literally wrote MilaxSara cause you know what. I ship it. Please don't go off about that. Thank you. This will probably end up being the longest chapter!
Once again thank you to sabdypenguin6 for betaing this story!
Ps. I have a twitter! It's Winter_Skye (2 underscores!) on here there's a lot of Yuri on Ice, cosplay related things, fanfic related things, and sometimes sneak peeks at upcoming chapters! Feel free to follow me!
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed :) As always feel free to favorite, follow, and review! I love all of you who take the time to read the story!