Disclaimer: I do not own YOI, all of that belongs to Kubo sensei. I just own this fanfiction idea. Enjoy!
Merry Christmas everyone! Here's my present to all of you: a new chapter!
Anyways, I'm back, and I'm currently on winter break. It's sort of less stressful right now, but I got one large project to work on and some university supplementaries to fill out. Man, forget what I said earlier, this is stressful.
Anyways, I was sitting up last night, thinking about what on Earth I want to do with my life when I get older. I mean, I kind of already applied to certain programs for university, but thinking about it again. Do I really want to go into those programs?
If I got to choose from my heart. I would've gone with something that has to with creativity. Something like digital art, studio music, drama and playwriting, film-making, creative writing, etc.
I think what got me to not choose one of those programs was because I was afraid that I won't be able to live up to my dreams. That I won't be able to make a living out of it. But then again, if it's something I love, then I don't care how much my paycheck is, right?
Geez, I don't even know myself anymore.
But I know one thing for sure. I'm going to finish this fic before I graduate. I will and I must.
Thank you all for your support!
Please FAV, FOLLOW, and REVIEW if you enjoyed this chapter!
Ch. 26: Success is the top Priority
Several weeks after New Year's Eve.
Yuri was helping his dad and several other workers in moving planks of wood around. The destroyed section of the inn is nearly fixed by now, it just needed some more stability and after that, the furniture needed to be moved in again.
Then those rooms will finally be opened for guests again. Yuri puts the plank down and wipes his forehead. He had never imagined something like this to happen. Well, that's the last time he'll be underestimating Victor's words.
Next time, he'll remember to hide the alcohol in a safe and bury the safe six feet under the ocean when Victor's folks come to visit again. He and his entire family will remember.
"Yuri!" His sister, Mari called inside for him. "Your cell phone's ringing!"
Yuri walks back in, dusting his hands on his pants. "What's the number? Who is it?"
"Not your boyfriend this time. It's someone else." Mari hands the cell phone over to Yuri, who held it to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Yuri. It's Celestino."
"Celestino!" Yuri gasps. "What brings you calling? And isn't it like super late where you are?"
"Kind of, but I needed to ask you something. Yuri, I saw your status on the Four Continents and Worlds. They said that you withdrew due to injury. I thought you said you were feeling better?" Celestino truly sounded concerned. "What happened?"
Yuri leaned against the wooden wall. "Oh, don't worry. I'm fine, well, not fine—I mean, my hip injury hasn't healed 100% yet, so Victor and I decided that the safest bet is to withdraw for the rest of this season and work harder during the summer. That's all. Nothing to worry about. I'm glad to see you're concerned about me though…"
Celestino seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "Ok. It's just that I kind of thought that something worse happened and you decided to give up skating altogether, I mean the last time I talked to you, you were in a pretty unstable condition. I'm glad to see you fixed your relationship with Victor. That's the way to get at life, Yuri!"
Yuri nods. "Thanks. I'm just so overjoyed about this. It's like a dream that actually came true. Victor actually returned to me, and was honest with me. That's the best case scenario I could've imagined."
"Mmhmm. And you should cherish him more now, don't let another fallout happen."
Yuri laughs. "Oh, I'm feeling pretty good. I think I'll be able to fight for my relationship with him this time around. No more running away. I hope."
Celestino agrees. "By the way, is Victor still competing?"
"Yeah. He's going to the Europeans this month and then the Worlds. He should do better now that he can focus solely on his stuff."
"And what are you planning to do in his absence?" Celestino inquires.
Yuri's mind goes blank. He thought that he had this completely mapped out since December, but as soon as Celestino asked him that question, he realized that he doesn't have too good of an idea of what he's planning on doing for the rest of this season until summer.
"Uummm. I'm thinking of practicing by myself at my usual rink. Maybe start thinking of potential program music? And work on basic stroking until my hip is completely healed…" Yuri trails off, losing things to say.
"All by yourself?"
"Yeah."
"Why don't you come over to Detroit for a while? I could oversee your training until the season's over."
Yuri's eyes widened to Celestino's sudden offer. "Really? You mean it?"
"'Course. It'll be like old times. Come over sometime near the end of this month maybe. Phichit'll be glad to see you too. I'll let you talk this out with Victor before you make your decision. But still, I'll be looking forward to seeing you again in person, Yuri."
"Me too. This is—I can't—just, wow. Thank you. This way, I'll be able to present myself newly improved to Victor once his season is done. I'll get onto it. Bye, Celestino!" Yuri says quickly.
"Bye."
St. Petersburg Arena. Practice.
Victor was running through his free skate to Croatian Rhapsody while some of his other rinkmates were resting on the bleachers and the remaining were on the ice also practicing for upcoming Europeans.
Sitting on the bleachers was Yurio and Mike, both were reading their math textbook questions furiously. Norah sat on the bleacher beneath them with her math textbook too, looking even more frustrated than the two of them.
She gives up on the question and stands up. "Victor! I'm borrowing your phone for the answers, I really don't know how to solve it! Don't worry, I won't go into anything private!"
Victor skates a series of steps and turns right past them, barely being able to hear Norah audibly. "What? Oh, sure, sure. Go ahead!"
Norah types in Victor's passcode and opens his PDF documents reader app where Victor kept the answers to practice questions he did with her over the week.
Then a call suddenly came in.
Victor's loud heavy metal ringtone goes off and the image of Yuri comes up on the screen with his name and number on top of it.
Norah's eyes open wide with shock as a smile slowly forms on her face. Without taking a second thought, she answers the call.
"Y'ello!" She sang.
"Hi! Oh, uh…is this Victor?" Yuri's voice slowly dissipated on the other end.
"No, it's his little sister that he never told anyone about," Norah replied cheerfully. "If you want to speak to my older brother, then you mus—"
Snatch! With one hand, Mike takes the cell phone away from Norah's hand and goes onto the ice with his skates on. He shouts after Victor.
"Victor! Victor!" Mike cried.
Norah chases after Mike across the ice. "Oh no, you don't!"
Victor stops his program run through and sees the two teenagers speed skate towards him. Yurio cheered on Mike from the boards. "Go, Mike! GO!"
In a desperate effort to get the phone back, Norah took a leap of faith and pushes Mike down onto the ice with her. They slide across until they are only a few centimeters in front of Victor.
Mike still had the phone in his hands though. He held it up weakly.
"Here…it's your beloved fiancé…"
Victor takes his phone with excitement from Mike's shaky hands and answered in a sing-song voice.
"Y'ello!"
"Was that really your little sister?" Yuri asked in confusion.
"What? No, that's just lil' Norah Meyer. You met her before when you came here. Yeah, sorry about that. But this is me! The real me!" Victor skates towards the boards as Mike and Norah slowly got back on their feet. "What's up?"
"Oh, I was just going to tell you something. Celestino called me earlier today, he offered to oversee my training until your season is done. So I'm planning to go to Detroit soon. I just wanted you to know and all…"
Victor grew serious as he put on his skate guards and he left the arena and into the hallways where it was quieter. "I see. It's a good idea. It's just a bit out of the blue…"
"Sorry. I just received his offer this morning, so I wanted your approval as soon as possible."
"No, no! I understand, if you want to go, then go ahead! I think this is a great opportunity," Victor cried. "You'll be able to improve and work on so much more with someone qualified watching over you. Go to Detroit, Yuri!"
"Alright, then. I'll be scheduling a flight sometime next week or after that. I won't let you down." Yuri says. "Promise."
Victor smiled gently. "I know."
"I'll call often."
"Not more often than I will."
Yuri's laughter is heard on the other end of the call.
Click.
The call ended and Victor sighed. He leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to the ground of the hallway. He knows that he should feel happy that Yuri is going out of his way to improve his skills for him.
But still…
"Why does it feel like the more distance between us, the tighter our relationship is pulled?"
"What are you doing out here?"
Yakov appears from down the hall, his usual expression on his face. Victor looks up at his coach with feigned joy.
"Just thinking about how ethical it would be to make a dog collar and leash for humans."
"And why…?"
"So the people dear to me will never leave my side." Victor stood up. "Yuri's going to train in Detroit with his former coach, Celestino until the season's over."
Yakov seemed delighted hearing that. "That's good! Finally, a skater with an actual plan! Yuri should be a role model for others. Putting his skills before anything else."
Victor groaned. "Will you stop putting salt in the wound in my heart? Look, Yuri and I were already separated by 1037484 km and now, we'll be separated by 1038488589229 km!"
"Good, so focus on your season," Yakov replied. "Yuri's doing this for you. To make sure you're at the top of your game."
"I know that," Victor answered. "You're right. I should focus on my own stuff. He's focusing on his with Celestino."
Yakov nodded with approval. "Ah, if only Celestino can do this more often. It would be great. Actually…"
Yakov stops midway and looks at Victor with an idea glowing above his head. "That's not a bad idea. Victor, have you ever thought about getting a partner?"
Victor looked confused. "Like uh…a spouse…?"
"No!" Yakov bellowed. "A working partner! A co-coach!"
Co-coach...that word rang through Victor's head. He completely understood what Yakov is saying but he just couldn't bring himself to accept it. He wants to be the only in charge of Yuri.
But, after thinking about it again. Victor realizes that Yuri is a skater too, and this coaching thing he has with him, isn't purely for the fun of it, but to make him a better skater and competitor.
So maybe a co-coach is what Yuri needs. What they need.
"A co-coach, eh? That does seem like a beneficial idea," Victor answered.
"It is!" Yakov insisted. "You two can split how you want to coach Yuri, and this way, you'll have less load on your plate during competitive seasons!"
Victor nodded. "I'll give Yuri a call. I think he'll agree."
"You go ahead and do that. I'm pretty sure he'll agree." Yakov said confidently. "And during the time he's in Detroit, he can also focus on finding a suitable co-coach with Celestino. Of course, the final decision will be run by you too. But only after they think they have a good candidate."
"Yes, coach." Victor rolled his eyes as he tapped on Yuri's name in his recent calls list.
Several weeks later. Hasetsu airport.
Yuri's family sees him off as he boarded the plane with his suitcase and backpack and a big smile on his face.
Once on the plane, Yuri quickly takes out his laptop and reads over the email Victor and Yakov sent him, talking about the search for a co-coach. He was taken by surprise several weeks ago when Victor called him back after he just told him about going to train with Celestino for the season.
"A co-coach does seem pretty beneficial though…" Yuri thought aloud. "And it would give Victor less work and pressure. That's a good thing."
The email outlines things like the searching and interviewing process, qualities of a good co-coach, assessing their personality to Yuri's preferences, etc, etc.
It didn't long before Yuri fell asleep on his seat as the plane flew out of the country and across the Pacific Ocean.
In his own little dream world, Yuri imagines the best candidate for his future co-coach. He wakes up as soon as the image came to his head.
Opening up his laptop again, Yuri types a quick note on his notepad app.
"Maybe co-coach candidate: Nobuo Adachi?"
Besides Victor, Yuri also admired Japan's former all-star figure skater, Nobuo Adachi. Before he retired, Nobuo was considered to be the only one in the world who could Victor a run for the gold.
The only skater who has the jumping consistency and demanding presence to sweep the audience off their feet. The only person Yuri currently has in mind to become his future co-coach.
If it wasn't for Victor's injury before the men's singles of the Sochi Olympics, it would've been a brutal battle between them to claim the title of champion of the 2014 Olympics men's figure skating event.
Yuri used to imagine himself in the skates of Nobuo back then, being able to compete on the same as Victor and be successful at it too.
"Well, that's only a dream. But one that would great if it came true."
One day later.
The airplane flew in the Detroit airport and landed. Yuri quickly got his backpack and checked to make sure he didn't leave anything behind before heading off the plane and into the airport where all the other passengers were going.
Inside, he waited for his suitcase to come out onto the conveyer belt. After minutes of waiting, the black and grey suitcase came out and Yuri takes it off before it continues going down.
He walks down to the main entrance of the airport where several cars and taxis and buses were already lined up for passengers to travel to and fro.
"Yuri! Over here!"
Yuri looks up and sees Phichit standing a little to the side of the entrance area, waving at him. Immediately, Yuri runs up to his friend. They embrace.
"I've missed you!" Yuri cried. "I'm sorry about bailing out on you on the Four Continents and Worlds!"
Phichit smirked. "Uh huh, you'd better be. What happened to the saying, 'bros before uh…', never mind."
"What are you doing here exactly? Other than greeting me?" Yuri asked, stepping back from their embrace.
"Oh, right!" Phichit grinned. "I signed up to be your guardian while you stay here! It'll be a throwback to college days! Except I have my own apartment by now, so we can turn up the heat and be loud as much as we want!"
Yuri rolled his eyes. "Oh no, does that mean midnight drinking parties?"
Phichit leads the way out of the airport and towards the parking lot where his car was located. "Maybe. Maybe not. I was thinking more of outdoor places to take you to. Let's have some fun while we still can!"
"Why not?"
Events of the day.
The first thing Phichit and Yuri did was check in at the hotel Yuri was staying at before he moves in with Phichit at his new apartment.
As soon as Yuri dropped off his luggage in his room, Phichit yanked him out the door and back downstairs. Outside, they got in his car and drove off to the downtown portion of the city. They stopped the car in a side parking lot, for the time being, paying for the ticket to park there.
For the rest of the afternoon, Phichit takes Yuri to every department store, every diner, every arcade, and every theatre, though they weren't able to catch any shows going on.
It didn't matter, Yuri was having a blast. Skating was the last thing on his mind right now. He was laughing and prancing about with his old college roommate and friend.
By now, it is evening and they recently finished eating dinner at a buffet. Yuri never felt so bloated his entire life. He felt like hurling in the nearest trash bin, but he didn't seem to dislike the feeling of throwing up.
In fact, he felt almost completely numb to any feeling. Phichit had to drag him out of the buffet to prevent him from banging against every wall, lamppost, and person they come across.
He wasn't drunk. No, Yuri was just ecstatic. Ever since New Year's Eve, he's been feeling as everything is going to be fine. He's even been humming the melody to, 'If you're happy and you know it clap your hands,' for quite awhile.
Finally, Phichit reached the area where his car was parked with Yuri's arm across his shoulder. Then the laughter came to a stop.
There on the windshield of the car was a green and white parking ticket. Yuri plucked it out from the car and Phichit snatched it out of his hand, reading the fee printed on it.
"But it's only like twenty seconds over!" Phichit cried.
Yuri pointed at a nearby police car that just drove off. "Well, we were twenty seconds late. Sorry, it was probably my fault. If I didn't act up, you wouldn't have to drag me."
Phichit shook his head and threw the ticket into the air carelessly. "Whatever. It's only a few bucks. Today was worth it! And tomorrow is when training begins!"
Yuri swung his arm excitedly. "Oh yeah! Can't wait!"
Victor's apartment.
After a hard day of practice, Victor was ready to go to sleep right on the rug of his foyer. But thanks to the insistent barking of Makkachin, he managed to wake up again to at least change out of his jacket and winter get-up.
Comfortable in his regular clothes underneath the jacket, Victor slumps onto his bed inside his bedroom and closes his eyes.
"41 minutes…" he mumbled. "And then I'll get up to eat some dinner…"
Victor was in his hotel room resting on his bed. Suddenly, he heard a knock at his door. He jumped up and opened it.
Yuri was standing there, looking upset and disappointed.
Victor's jaw dropped. "Hey, Yuri! You're back so soon from Detroit!"
"Where were you, Victor?!" He demanded.
"Wha—wha…?" Victor was taken aback.
"Don't play dumb with me!" Yuri put his foot down. "I gave you an invitation! I tried to call you, but you wouldn't answer! Why? Why didn't you come?"
Now Victor was really confused. "I don't think I understand…"
"My wedding!"
Yuri lifted his hand up, showing off the giant golden ring around his finger. Victor nearly fainted at the sight of that.
"You're familiar with my wife, right?" Yuri opens the door wider, revealing another person standing next to him. "Olivia Nguyen?"
Sure enough, Liv was standing there. Clinging to Yuri's arm like they're a newlywed couple. She smiles at Victor.
"Hello, Mr. Nikiforov."
"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Victor woke up panting and in cold sweat. His face was pale as he quickly reached for his cell phone on his nightstand next to his clock.
As soon as he saw the time displayed on the clock, Victor nearly dropped his cell phone.
"11:43 at night already?!"
Groaning in annoyance and fear, he desperately scrolled down his contacts list to Yuri's name.
Tapping on Yuri's name, Victor held the phone to his ear, anxiously waiting for his beloved student to answer.
Ring…ring…ring…
That dial tone was starting to drive him insane. Come on, Yuri. Pick the goddamn cell phone already!
Detroit skating club. Ice rink.
Yuri takes a breather after just finishing his old free skate run-through. Phichit praises him for a successful practice before leaving to get a snack from the vending machines outside.
Taking a look around the rink, Yuri feels a wave of nostalgia wash over him. Back then, there were about 10-15 people on the ice during freeskate sessions and now, there were about 9-10 people.
Well, Celestino did say that they spread out the practice times more so that higher-level skaters would not have to be so cautious around lower-level skaters. This made practice easier and safer.
Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz!
Yuri spots his cell phone vibrating on the edge of the boards where he placed it. Then his eyes widen in horror as he saw that his phone was about to fall over the edge, each vibration sent it closer to falling.
Skating over to the boards at top speed, Yuri catches his phone last minute and sighed in relief.
Looking down at the phone's screen, Yuri smiles and rolls his eyes at the sight of Victor's image and phone number. He presses the green phone icon to answer.
"Hello."
"Yuri!"
Yuri quickly separated his ear from his phone to prevent himself from going deaf. "What happened?"
"I just had a nightmare! What are you doing right now?" Victor shivered.
"Uhh, practicing at the rink…"
"I need confirmation!"
Conveniently, Phichit appeared before Yuri, holding a water bottle in his hand. "Hey, Yuri. Who are you talking to?"
Yuri puts his phone on speaker mode and shoves it at Phichit's face. "Here's your confirmation, Victor."
Phichit looked confused but decided to play along anyway. "Hey, Victor! Don't worry about a thing! I'm looking after this roll of innocence for the time being!"
In his bedroom, Victor almost sighed in relief. He was about to say goodbye and hang up when he suddenly remembered another issue he had to address.
"Yuri! Still there?"
"Mmmhmm."
"Ok! So, about the co-coach thing. We need to take this slow and serious. It's not a game. Whoever we find, he or she is going to be working very closely with us all the time. So if you're not comfortable or I'm not comfortable with that, we're going to have problems," Victor explained.
"I know that," Yuri answered, putting his phone off speaker mode and bringing it up to his ear again. "I already made a list of qualities and traits I'm looking for in coaches. Not to mention that Celestino and I have been going through PSA ratings of different coaches and we've even called a few."
Victor nodded eagerly. "And?"
"And…I'm planning to either go see them in action at their rink or call them over here to talk to them in person," Yuri shook his head. "I don't know. I want you to have a say in the selection process too, after all, the person we hire is going to be your colleague."
"Alright then…what I suggest is this. For whatever coach you think meets your list of qualities, you meet them in person. Talk to them. See what kind of person they are. If they've been coaching for awhile, see how they interact with their students on and off ice."
Yuri quickly gets off ice and towards the bleachers where his skating bag is. He fishes out a pen and paper and jots down what Victor is saying. "Ok…talk to them…personality…interaction with student…got it."
Victor sits upright on his bed and rakes his hair. "Usually, coaches are coaches because they're 'good.' In terms of skating, teaching, and goal-setting. But that's too general. I know you, Yuri. The real you. You're a fragile piece of glass with a lot of emotions trapped inside. For you, someone who can connect with you is of utmost importance."
Yuri remained silent. He slowly jots down notes but is barely able to concentrate. Victor was right. What he really wants is a co-coach who understands what he's been through, and understand his feelings when he's skating, whether it's competitively or leisurely.
"Yuri, you're an artist on the ice and I love it. You need a co-coach who can relate to that, otherwise we're just going to be butting heads all the time," Victor finished.
Finishing up the last letter of his notes, Yuri put his pen and paper away in the smaller pocket of his skating bag. He sets his phone aside while doing that.
"Hello? Yuri? Did you get all of that?"
Yuri picks up his phone again. "Got it. But about the last part…how am I supposed to know if they can relate to me or not?"
"I don't know. You tell me," Victor shrugged. "Listen, hon. They're relating to you, so you have to find out yourself whether or not they share your ideas and feelings. Not me."
"But I really don't know, Victor. I don't want to mess this up."
"Whoever you choose and hire, I'll be in full support of it. It's your skating career, do what you want with it. I believe you're going to make the right choice."
Feeling slightly relieved to hear Victor's confidence in him, Yuri decides to end the call. "Ok. I'll find a way. I will."
"I know. Bye. Love you."
"Love you too."
I won't let you down, Victor.
During these months away from home, Yuri pushes himself every day with Celestino to improve his skills. Being as patient as he can and as cautious as he can.
Starting off with small technical elements and then working his way up to more difficult ones. Day by day, Yuri wakes up at five in the morning and works until five in the afternoon. In the first few weeks, his body becomes so sore after practice that Phichit had to drag him back to his place.
Yuri would sleep like a child every evening when he and Phichit got back to his apartment. He could barely move after every practice. It was a huge toll on his endurance and stamina.
But after those first few weeks, he became used to the pain and is able to keep his body up and moving every day after practice. Now Phichit was able to get some rest from constantly carrying him back then.
Practice got tougher when Yuri decides to up the difficulty of his elements. No more singles or doubles, time to go into triples again. Under the watchful eyes of Celestino, Yuri practiced triple jumps.
Triple salchows, triple toe loops, triple loops, and more.
Revisiting these old jumps. It's almost like going back to being a novice skater again.
With every fall, Yuri reviews what he did wrong and tried again. And again. And again. Until he could land it consistently. When he's done practicing jumps, he would work on spins and field moves, which weren't too much of a struggle for him.
Those were artistic elements for Yuri. He's always comfortable performing them.
But I'm going to accept the fact that the ISU isn't always going to admire those elements. If I want to win. I have to jump higher!
Celestino and Phichit helped Yuri with selecting possible candidates for a co-coach. Going through resumes, interviews, and old skating clips of all those candidates with Yuri. And of course, always listening to his opinion on those candidates.
Yuri and Celestion would go out on weekends or even after practice sometimes to visit nearby coaches and see what they're like. They'd schedule ahead of time so that the coaches know to be expecting Yuri.
During those visits, Yuri would watch those coaches give lessons to their students on ice. And after lessons, he would talk to those coaches off ice. They'd talk about things like Yuri's skating goals, his dreams, and Victor's impact on his life.
Oh, Victor. It's so hard looking for the perfect candidate. I'm so afraid of making a wrong move. Everyone I'm meeting so far has been very nice and are very promising.
After every visit, Yuri would cross off names on his list of candidates. The list grew narrower and narrower. But he still felt like he was getting nowhere close to hiring someone permanently.
During practices, Yuri finally reached the last stage of his technical elements, which were the quadruple jumps. Celestino gave him strict instructions to not try anything too risky or attempt any variations to ensure Yuri won't injure himself again.
I won't hurt myself again. Taking risks is a must, Victor. But I have to make sure I'm taking the right kind of risks!
One day, Yuri was finally able to land his quadruple salchow again. On that day, he finally thought of his strategy on how to find the co-coach that can understand and relate to him as a skater.
"Celestino!"
"What?"
"Round up the people whose names I haven't crossed off yet! I know how to select them now!" Yuri shouted as he skated off the ice.
Celestino followed behind him. "And what are you going to do?"
"Improvise a routine to my free skate song, Yuri on Ice."
How about that, Victor? How about it?
I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! And please be sure to tell me in the reviews whether or not you want more competition event chapters or non-skating chapters. Because squeezing competitions and non-skating daily events in one chapter is really difficult. It's one thing or the other.
Anyways, I wish you guys all a Merry Christmas! :D
