Victor walked towards the banquet hall accompanied by Yakov, Yuri, and Mila. All of whom were dressed up, the guys in suits and Mila in a simple evening dress.
Mila nudged the blond standing next to her, who had a look of annoyance on his face. "Come on Yuri, lighten up! Let's have fun tonight!"
"Shut up, you hag," he snarled back at her.
"Yuri!" Victor turned around and stopped walking to look at the younger boy, a look of fake distress on his face. "How could you disrespect Mila like that?!"
"You're an idiot," Yuri angrily muttered at Victor.
"And disrespecting your elders!" Victor placed the back of his hand on his forehead in an attempt to act over-dramatic. "Yuri, how could you?!"
Everyone quieted when Yakov sent an annoyed glance at the three skaters. The four of them then continued to head to the banquet hall, Mila sending Victor a smirk in relation to the angry blond trailing behind them, which Victor gladly returned.
Upon entering the room, the group noticed how it was fairly full with people. They were apparently some of the last people to show up.
There were long tables lined up against all the walls, holding a buffet of food. Waiters walked around with trays filled with glasses of champagne for the of-age skaters, and sparkling cider for those under the drinking age. There were also a couple circular tables for attendees to sit at and conversate, if they so wished.
Mila quickly looked around the room before locating the person she had been looking for. She said a rushed 'see you guys later' before hurrying off to the other side of the room. The redhead gave a hug to another one of the female skaters, Sara Crispino. She had previously made offhanded comments about how she'd finally get to meet her soulmate.
Victor smiled at seeing Mila happy with her soulmate; he wished that he found his as easy as she did. He was still searching, and still unsuccessful. But tonight wasn't for that, Victor quickly decided and shook the thoughts from his head. No. Not tonight.
Yuri slinked off to some other part of the room. Probably to grumble and complain about having to be dragged down here, Victor concluded. That seemed like a very Yuri thing to do, especially with his already sour attitude.
Victor moved out of the doorway to allow others the ability to come into the room without having to maneuver around someone else. He looked around the room, although he had been to many banquets before this one felt like it would be different. Victor couldn't place his finger on exactly what was different, he just knew that it would be.
One of the waiters walked past him and offered a glass of champagne to the famed skater who gladly accepted. Early that evening, Victor had decided that he would cut himself off at no more than four glasses.
Victor lifted the glass to his lips to take a small drink when he noticed out of the corner of his eye someone else enter the banquet hall. Well more specifically two people. One of which was a dejected looking raven-haired, glasses-wearing skater whom Victor recognized as Yuuri Katsuki - the skater who came in last place. The other person with him, who was coaxing the skater into continuing into the room, Victor guessed was Yuuri's coach. There was something interesting about this skater to Victor. Most likely the fact that he messed up a good portion of his planned program.
Victor waved it away as simple curiosity about the other man. He was always curious about those he competed against.
The silver-haired skater was roped into conversation after conversation, so he acted as he knew he had to. Although he occasionally stole glances at the Japanese skater who now stood by himself next to an empty table. Well, empty except for the few champagne glasses that now took up residence there. Victor didn't take too much interest in this and turned his attention back to the conversation at hand. He was pretty sure that the people he was talking with were simply praising him on another victory.
The utter joy of winning was almost completely gone, but to Victor this program was special. Although it didn't really bring back the joy he once found in surprising the audience and taking first place.
"Victor! Do you have a minute?" A female voice called from behind him, which he immediately recognized as Mila's. Victor quickly dismissed himself from the conversation.
"Yes, Mila?" Victor turned around to see Mila with her arm protectively wrapped around Sara's shoulders, Sara's brother probably not too far away. After a quick glance around the room, Victor found that Mickey indeed was trying to make his way over to where his sister stood. But he was getting stopped by everyone who simply wanted to talk to him.
"I wanted to introduce you to Sara! Although I'm fairly sure you both know each other," Mila smiled as Sara wrapped her arm around the redhead's waist.
"It's still a pleasure to meet you once again, Sara. Is your brother losing his head over this?" Victor lifted the brunette's hand and left a kiss on the top of it.
Mila gently smacked Victor's shoulder, "Hands off, Victor," Mila smirked. "Sara's all mine," the redhead proceeded to wrap her arms more protectively around her soulmate. "Also, you're not being very secretive."
"Whatever do you mean Mila?"
"Victor, even I noticed," Sara chimed in.
"Hmmm?" Victor questioned as he took another sip from his glass of champagne.
"You've been stealing glances at that Japanese skater all night." Mila blatantly stated, almost making Victor spit his drink. Had more people noticed this? He didn't think he was being that obvious.
"It hasn't been subtle at all," Sara agreed. "Have a good night Victor, we'll see you later!" Sara turned away with Mila, stealing a quick kiss from her soulmate and waving goodbye to Victor.
"See you two later," Victor muttered under his breath as the two girls disappeared into the crowd of people.
There was no way he was being that obvious. No way. He attempted to sneak another glance over to the corner where the dark-haired skater had been. To his disappointment, he no longer stood there, but instead what looked to be more than 10 champagne glasses littered the table. Victor quickly downed the champagne in his glass, marking the fourth and final glass of the night for him. He set the empty glass down on the table next to him and began his search for the Japanese skater. As he made his way into the throng of people Victor could feel the slight impact of the alcohol. Not that he was drunk, just slightly tipsy.
There in the middle of the group of people stood two skaters, Yuri Plisetsky and Yuuri Katsuki. The latter clearly drunk. Victor gently pushed his way towards the front of the crowd to get a better view as to what was going on.
"I am not dancing with you," The blond snarled at the man standing across from him. "Go dance with someone else." Yuri's eyes scanned the crowd which had formed until they landed on Victor and a sneaky grin formed on his face. "Why don't you go dance with Victor." Yuri pointed at the silver-haired skater in question.
Yuuri's eyes lit up at the idea and he gleefully half skipped, partially stumbled over to Victor who just stood there, mouth slightly agape at the turn of events. The music that had been playing in the background seemed to become louder and more inviting to dance to.
"Victor," Yuuri began, "Dance with me?"
"Of course," Victor quickly agreed as he held out his hand for Yuuri to take and lead him to dance. Yuuri quickly noticed and gently grabbed his hand. Victor noted how the other man's hand was soft and warm.
Yuuri did indeed lead him to an empty section of the room where he dipped Victor in his arms. Victor let out a small noise of surprise, quickly covering it with a laugh. Yuuri was smiling wide laughing a little as well.
"A little warning next time, Yuuri?" Victor grinned as he joked.
"But that takes away some of the fun!" Yuuri stood Victor up and quickly spun him. "Surprising someone is always fun."
"Of course," Victor in turn spun Yuuri, earning a giggle from him. Both were grinning from ear to ear. For Yuuri, it might have been a good portion from the alcohol, but for Victor this experience was one of the things he had enjoyed the most in a couple years.
"You're as good a dancer as you're a skater, Victor."
"I wish I could say the same about you, Yuuri," Victor joked. That is, he thought of it as a joke. Yuuri didn't take it as lightly and his face became distraught like it was earlier that night. He was easily reminded of his crushing defeat in the competition the previous day. He looked as though he could cry at any moment.
Victor immediately realized his mistake and moved to comfort the other skater. "No no no don't cry, Yuuri," he gently patted the younger man's head, slightly running his fingers through soft, black hair. "I was only joking. I didn't mean it as anything to hurt you. I'm so sorry. Yuuri?" Victor questioned as he felt a pressure on his hand as he realized that Yuuri was leaning his head into it.
"I forgive you, Victor," once again Yuuri was grinning. Victor was thinking to himself how this boy was an emotional roller-coaster when he was drunk.
"I'm glad." Victor returned the smile. "Want to continue dancing?" Again Victor held his hand out for Yuuri who eagerly accepted and nodded his head.
Anything the raven-haired skater wanted to do, Victor was happy to oblige. Any ridiculous dance, any pose. After all, he was having an amazing time. They both continued to laugh and smile throughout the entirety of it all. That was, after all, how Victor continually ended up in Yuuri's arms more than once.
The next thing Victor knew, Yuuri was pulling him by the arm to where Yuri stood, downing another flute of champagne on the way.
"Yuri," The Japanese skater caught the attention of the younger blonde.
"What is it?" Yuri turned around and snarled, his face ever so slightly softening when he saw Victor being dragged around. He had to stifle a laugh.
"I challenge you to a dance-off!" Yuuri pointed at the Russian. Apparently the last glass of champagne brought more confidence to Yuuri.
"WHAT?!" Victor and Yuri exclaimed in unison at the sudden proclamation. This was a development neither of them expected. This was not the shy and depressed Yuuri that had walked into the room earlier that evening.
"Of course!" Again Yuuri reached out to a passing waiter and downed yet another glass of champagne.
"You're drunk off your ass," Yuri scoffed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Even if I did there's no way that you'd win."
"Well let's see then!"
Yuri groaned as he realized that if he didn't give up anytime soon Yuuri would continue pestering him until he did. "Fine."
Victor stood off to the side watching the exchange. The next moment he went to look at Yuuri but was caught off guard when the dark-haired man basically jumped on him. He wrapped his arms around Victor's neck. When Victor looked down at the man hanging off of him he realized that at some point, during a time he momentarily looked away, Yuuri had lost his pants and had tied the blue tie he wore around his head.
'Oh God' Victor thought to himself as his face turned a shade of light red. This whole night was escalating in a way he never expected to happen.
The glasses of champagne were finally taking full effect on Yuuri, the more recent ones were at least. His face was flushed and he looked a bit like a mess. Victor had to admit that his disheveled hair was kind of cute.
"Victooorr," Yuuri drawled, his speaking slightly slurred from the alcohol. "If I win this dance off you'll come and coach me, right?" Yuuri's eyes continued to light up as he talked and wrapped his arms tighter around Victor, pressing himself closer. Close enough to make Victor's face flush more and his heart skip a beat.
Victor simply quietly gulped as Yuri caught Yuuri's attention.
"Oi, are you going to get off of him or no?" Yuri leaned against the wall.
Yuuri quickly nodded and untangled his limbs from where they were around Victor.
Victor had to place a hand over his heart in an attempt to slow the ever-growing beat of it. There was also a fluttering in his stomach, a kind of sickening feeling. But not as though the food he ate was bad. No, Victor knew this feeling all too well, except this time it was about ten times stronger than all the previous times.
He went through plenty of crushes when he was younger, even though he knew fully well that he would prefer to wait for his soulmate. But the heart wants what the heart wants and doesn't really listen to one's thoughts. No, the heart doesn't care. Except this wasn't as fleeting, or as small as those feelings. No. This was something else entirely.
'I can't be falling in love, I'm just drunk. That's it. We're both drunk, that's all it is.' Victor easily reasoned with himself, the part about him being drunk wasn't entirely convincing though as he was thinking completely clearly. Maybe he was just tipsy. Yes, he decided, tipsy seemed like a more correct word for this.
But as he watched the dance-off between Yuuri and Yuri his heart would speed up every time the former would even send a glance his way. Intentionally or otherwise.
Victor had to admit that they both kind of looked like dorks, although Yuri appeared to, for once in his life, be having a good time. A slight smile occasionally sneaking its way onto his face where a grimace would usually take up residence.
Every so often Victor had to swallow down a laugh, from both the display in front of him and the large crowd that was forming because of it. To be honest, it really was quite an amusing display.
Somewhere along the line someone had given Yuuri another drink, in the form of a full bottle. Victor questioned who in their right mind would give him anything else alcoholic. Water would probably be helpful. But no, someone decided to give Yuuri more alcohol that he poured in his mouth as he continued to wildly dance with Yuri.
The music continued to play as Victor felt a pair of arms snake around his waist and a chin rest on his shoulder. He almost expected the raven-haired skater that had managed to captivate him that night, to be the one resting on his shoulder. But to his shock when he tilted his head, he was greeted with short blond hair that could only belong to the Swiss skater, Chris Giacometti.
"Victor~" Chris breathed against Victor's neck. The latter could only let out a sigh at the Swiss skater. "Your friend has some nice moves," Chris commented as he watched the spectacle in front of them.
"Oh, Yuuri? I don't really know him that well," Victor awkwardly laughed as he talked.
"Well he seems to have taken a liking to you. He looks like he's fairly carefree and he looks like maybe he could just…" Chris mumbled the last part and trailed off. Victor turned to look at him once again a look of uncertainty on his face.
"Chris you don't mean-?"
"Oh, you know me too well Victor! It's already set up too," Chris unwrapped his arms from Victor and started walking towards the dance floor, sending a wink to Victor. "I'll see you later, Victor~ Thanks for the nice chat!"
"Chris no don't," Victor moved to stop Chris from what he knew was going to happen, but he was already too far gone. Victor just had to let out a sigh as he watched the exchange.
Yuuri had stopped dancing for a moment and stood off to the side, where Chris came to stand with him. The Japanese skater listened intently to what the other told him. It didn't take too much convincing on Chris' part before Yuuri was almost busting with excitement at whatever idea Chris supplied.
Victor's eyes followed where they were heading as they both moved to a different side of the room. What his eyes landed on slightly surprised him, but not too much since this was Chris they were talking about. There, standing from the floor to the ceiling, was a shining silver pole.
"Really, Chris?" Victor mumbled to himself. He was debating whether or not he wanted to make his way over to the other side of the room. Victor knew if he did his heart rate would sky rocket once again and the fading blush would most likely reappear on his face.
Victor watched as Chris held onto the pole with one hand and hooked a leg around it. He let himself spin around it, to test it to make sure that it would indeed hold their weight. But also as a demonstration for Yuuri who stood next to him eager to try.
When given the chance, Yuuri eagerly mimicked Chris. He didn't really spin around it but instead simply slid down the metal pole. Chris laughed heartily and patted Yuuri on the back before explaining to him how he needed to grip the pole with his thighs. Victor had to place a hand over his face to hide the blush that insisted on returning. He still was unsure as to why his eyes were continually drawn to the Japanese man.
After a couple tries, Yuuri was able to copy Chris fairly well. Soon they both were working seamlessly together, switching on and off but also sometimes would be on the pole together.
Victor made his way over to one of the unoccupied tables and took a seat. He let out a sigh as he dropped his head into his hands. Yes, this banquet was indeed very different from any of the other ones he had ever attended.
Quickly, he glanced at his phone to check the time. It was already after midnight. The crowd was beginning to thin as people began to head back to their hotel room and get some rest. Victor decided to follow suit and attempt to leave, leave behind the dark-haired skater even though his heart told him to stay. Part of Victor tried to pull himself in the direction of asking if the other man would like to accompany him back to his hotel room. Not for any intimate activities, Victor reassured himself, he just wanted to know this man who captivated him so. But no, he pushed the part of him that suggested it to the side and made his way out of the room.
The following morning Victor woke up and all the events from the banquet came flooding back into his mind. As he laid on the hotel bed, Victor sighed as he covered his face with his hands in distress. Once again the feeling of wanting to see, wanting to get to know, the skater who captured his heart in a single night. He couldn't believe that in one night he quite possibly fell in love with a drunk skater who he barely knew.
On the small table next to the bed Victor's phone lit up with an alarm Victor didn't realize that he had set previously. He quickly rolled over and silenced it. With the last battery that the phone currently possessed, Victor opened up the camera roll and browsed the pictures he absent-mindedly had taken from the night before.
Most of the pictures included the elusive skater, in some of which he looked like an utter dork but in others, to Victor, he almost looked like a prince. A prince who showed up one day to a gathering, only to leave and never be seen again. Victor hoped that it wasn't the case now. He utterly wanted to meet this skater at least one more time.
Rolling onto his back, Victor let his phone fall out of his hand onto the bed next to him as he groaned. This was not what he expected when he decided to attend the banquet the night before. Not to actually enjoy himself. Not to meet someone who made him smile, a real smile. Not to possibly fall in love.
Ahhh so many things I want to say right now! I guess I'll go one by one.
First of all, thank you all so much for over 500 follows. This continues to absolutely blow my mind! Because of this, this story has become the most followed story in the Yuri On Ice category (excluding M rated stories, and even then it is the second most followed story) I swear this absolutely is amazing and I love you all so much. I say this all the time, I know.
I've been seeing things a lot lately about how authors of fics love to get art from our readers. It's absolutely true! If you ever read any of my scenes or chapters and want to draw something for me, I'd love to see it! No matter what you feel about the art, I will absolutely love it. Send it to me on Twitter ( Winter_Skye It's 2 underscores) or pm me the link if you post it somewhere else ^^
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! It was so much fun to write drunk Yuuri. To all of you who wanted to smack Vitya in the previous chapter, I bet you all want to seriously slap him now. Also a big thank you to Okaeri-Kairi for helping me figure out how to write a paragraph better, she literally sent me about 5 different ways to write it ^^; she's such an amazing writer, I would definitely recommend her story Separation Anxiety. Also a thank you to sandypenguin6 for once again betaing this story! Finally, thank you to all of you who read this story.
Honestly, I hope you think I did the banquet justice! It really was so much fun to write.
Feel free to follow, favorite, and review! All of your reviews make me smile, thank you :)
I love you all!
Side note: I might not have a chapter up for about 2 weeks, maybe more. Please remember that I am indeed a human who cannot solely dedicate themselves to fanfic. I am a high school student with prior commitments. Thank you ^^ Long author's note is over.