CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR
The medaling ceremony was similar in scope to the one at Four Continents. Three podiums had been raised on the ice, and each skater was called out by name from gold to bronze.
"Please congratulate your World Championship Gold Medalist for Men's Singles...Yuri Nikiforov!"
He pulled out of the hug he'd been in with Viktor while they waited, and skated out across the darkened arena, spotlight following him. He casually performed a quad flip to entertain his fans, and then waved and bowed to each side of the arena, knowing the audience was there, shadowed in the darkness. Camera flashes twinkled like bright stars.
His heart raced as he finally went back around to take his place on the three-tier podium, and looked at the center. 'Yuri on Ice' was playing above him. One step at a time, Yuri put a skate on the tallest platform and got up on top of it, turning around slowly to behold the ice ahead of him. There were no flags out there this time though. Yuri thought that was strange...but only for a little while.
"Next up...your World Championship Silver Medalist...Viktor Nikiforov!"
People could hardly hear the super-quiet piano of 'Winter's Wish' as the Russian came out onto the ice; the audience was cheering too loudly for all that. For the fun of it, instead of doing some complicated jump or another, Viktor spun around in a long series of multiple singles, going maybe 20ft across the ice before he spun back around to wave his thanks to the cheering fans. He went back around towards the podium and looked at the lower level, then up to Yuri. He smiled, sighed, and laughed as he hopped up onto the 2nd place pedestal, reaching over to take Yuri's ring-hand and kiss it briefly before assuming his place.
"And finally, your World Championship Bronze Medalist...Christophe Giacometti!"
'Rapsodie Espagnole' began in earnest, and Chris came out like the other two, graciously accepting applause from the unseen audience and giving them a super-sexy spin before heading over to the 3rd place podium.
I wish Phichit could be up here, too… Yuri thought, But without him, this is probably the best moment I could ever hope for.
He looked to the side to see the medal-bearers and bouquet-holders as they came out onto the ice, taking their places on either side of the podium. The ISU officials and special judges came out after them and started divvying up the awards. When the official came in front of Yuri, the Asian skater took a deep breath, looked over at Viktor, and then bowed his head to accept his medal.
He could hardly believe it. Even with Viktor right there next to him, the gold medal was around his own neck. He took the big bouquet of flowers and his small plush mascot toy, got his hug and hand-shake, and watched as they moved on to do the same with his husband.
Viktor was gracious as could be expected, but Yuri could tell he was disappointed. In either case, when he had his medal, flowers, and little plush toy, he tilted his head a little to wave his bangs out of his eye and glanced back at him. He had a sultry smile only for Yuri...and the words came back to the younger skater's mind.
'Because you're the only person in the world that I like being under.'
Yuri's entire body was probably red from embarrassment at that point, and Viktor just laughed, knowing exactly what had just gone flying through Yuri's imagination.
Chris looked over to see them as he stood back upright from getting his medal, but knew he was looking at an inside joke and just smiled.
The arena took full advantage of modern technology and raised massive digital versions of the countries' flags along the walls, the Japanese flag bigger than the other two as that anthem played for Yuri's sake.
And then...the best part of all. The three skaters descended from their platforms and were allowed to skate to the other end of the arena to face the media with their prizes.
Viktor had been so used to skating front and center that it was strange to be behind anyone, even Yuri, seeing Chris next to him for once.
Yuri wasn't even sure what to do with himself. He propped the bouquet of flowers in the crook of his elbows and held his gold medal up with both hands, smiling nervously.
Viktor wasn't even holding up his medal, simply letting it dangle around his neck as he waved politely to cameras on all sides.
Chris noticed and motioned to get his attention, "Viktor, if you don't want it...I'll trade you!"
"Pssh!" He scoffed, finally reaching to hoist the silver thing up by its ribbon, "I guess silver's not such a bad color."
"Matches your hair."
He huffed a laugh and half-amused agreement, but then skated ahead, "Time for group photos!" Chris followed quickly after and the two draped themselves over Yuri's back to get into his pictures. He was caught off guard though and looked even more awkward for some pictures than he did on his own. He only straightened out again once Viktor reached for his gold and held it up, "Smile, Yuri! Don't be so stiff!"
The younger skater did his best, but it was only after his partner winked at him and kissed his medal that he started to loosen up again. Hundreds of camera flashes dazzled his eyes after that. Before he could even think about it, he was already sitting at a high table with the media asking him questions in a much-better-lit room. They'd all already switched back over to their track suits for the conference, and Yuri felt so out of place being in the middle.
It was, after all, one thing to medal at Four Continents, where neither Russia nor Switzerland were competing, but it was another entirely now that they were, and he was still sitting in the middle of them. He was smaller than both Viktor and Chris, and clearly less physically imposing given how small he'd try to make himself. Yuri always felt a little overwhelmed with the media attention, even if it was just in the prep area or on some sports show where the JSF would ask him what his theme for the next season was.
Viktor lifted his chair to move closer to Yuri and kept an arm wrapped around him, giving him that last little push of security he needed to be more confident in front of cameras.
"Skater Yuri!" A reporter asked, "With the absolutely mind-boggling progress you've made since Sochi last year, what goals do you have in mind for next year?"
"Uhm...I guess..." He stammered, taking a deep breath as he felt Viktor's hand squeeze him gently around the upper arm, "...I want to go back and refine some of the things I used to be known for, like my step sequences and style. Viktor and I focused a lot on my technical capabilities this past season, so now that I've built up my repertoire of jumps, I think it'll be good to focus on the art of it all again."
"Do you already know what you're going to be producing?"
"Like, themes?"
"Yes!"
"We originally considered something like Metamorphosis." Yuri answered, scratching his jaw, "But I don't have any music picked out yet...it's all just...amorphous ideas."
"Will you be staying to train in St. Petersburg?"
Yuri was thrown by the question.
Why would anyone ask that unless they'd suspected we were leaving? Chris couldn't have said anything...he's practically been with Viktor and I since we told him about out plans in the first place… Was it Yurio…? Or am I just over-thinking it?
Viktor put his hand over the microphone and whispered into his partner's ear, "Do you want me to answer this one?"
"It would probably be best coming from you."" Yuri answered back, "Makes it sound like your idea, so we don't have to explain why we're going."
The Russian nodded and leaned forward to speak up, "We're actually going to go back to Hasestu, so the Ice Castle will be our home rink again."
A whirlwind of questions flew at them after that, but no matter which way they sliced it, the media wanted to know why anyway.
Viktor had already thought of the Plan B answer, thankfully, "We accomplished a lot over the months between seasons, before the Grand Prix Series started last October. Since I'm only going to be in this for one more year, maybe two, we both think it would just be easier to train where we're familiar and there isn't so much of a language barrier. Hasetsu has become a home away from home for me! I'm looking forward to going back to be with family again."
"Didn't you just have an Uncle show up, Viktor?"
The Russian nodded, "Da, Mikhail Rozovsky. He comes and goes as he pleases."
"What about the rest of your family?"
"They're in Hasetsu." He said simply, ending the dialogue about it right there with a smile that ever-so-clearly said 'shut your faces about it or we're done.' He could feel Yuri's hand going down to his thigh, giving it a gentle, reassuring squeeze to help relieve the tension.
"So what will your theme be next season, Viktor?"
He had to think about it for a moment, realizing there wasn't really any specific theme that tied together the two shows he had planned, so he shrugged and laughed, "I don't really have a theme. My Short Program was chosen by Yuri kind of randomly, and it's dedicated to him as well... My Free Skate, well...I guess it has a theme..."
"What's that?"
"Rage." He was smiling as he said it.
The media mob got kind of silent after that, not sure what to think or how to react.
.
.
.
The both of them were too exhausted to bother going out to eat with Mari and the rest, so Chris went with the trio in their place and left them to their own devices at the hotel. He'd expressed some heightened curiosity about this Uncle of Viktor's that had been mentioned and decided he should add Mikhail to his list of 'research' subjects.
After they'd left, the only thing on either skaters' mind was relaxing.
"The hotel has a pool and a hot tub. Want to go?" Viktor wondered, looking at the list of amenities as they ascended the elevator.
"...Mmmmmh...soaking in the hot tub for a while sounds really good." Yuri said longingly, "It'll almost be like home..."
To their shock, when they got there, the entire pool area was completely empty other than themselves.
At least, for the first 15 minutes.
Viktor had gotten used to the solitude all too quickly and was settling in to nibble on Yuri's neck when they heard people coming in on the far side.
"See?" Yuri chided under his breath as Viktor reluctantly pulled away, "Just like I said...as soon as you start, someone's gonna show up."
"...I couldn't help it. I had to try." He mused, sitting normally again in the hot tub, then sinking to where the water was just above his collar bone, "By the time we get back up to our room, I'll be too tired to try again."
"Hey you two!" Mila waved, finally seeing them as the group rounded the last corner to get to poolside, "How are our Men's Singles champions?"
"Hiiii~" Viktor waved meekly, his head bobbing around the center of the hot tub like flotsam, his body invisible under the frothy white bubbles.
Yuri stayed where he was sitting at the edge, one arm propped up on the deck, "Hiiii~" He echoed.
The rest of the group included Sala and her twin brother, and Emil, who followed them around anywhere they went.
"How's it feel to come in second place, eh Viktor!?" The Czech skater couldn't help but taunt/ask.
"...I'm still trying it on for size." The Russian answered, trying to be nice.
"No one can lie when they say you did this to yourself, you know?" Emil continued, "You trained up a skating beast. All the previous medal contenders have pretty much kissed their chances of getting gold or silver for the next few years goodbye."
"Rightly so." The Russian agreed, rising up a little bit higher as he put his hands on the underwater ledge that Yuri had been sitting on, "Yuri's going to win every gold medal there is next year." He put his hand on his husband's shoulder as he said so.
"Oohhh...them's fightin' words!"
Yuri just tried to make himself small again.
It didn't help though, as Sala and Mila go into the hot tub with them, sitting on either side of him. He suddenly felt super uncomfortable.
"So Yuuuuuri..." Mila started, being more familiar with him since his stay in St. Petersburg, "You've won two gold medals in a row now. You think you can keep it up?"
"...Ihopetoyespleasethankyou..." He said nervously.
"I'm really glad you decided to come back!" Sala added, touching one hand to his shoulder, "After what happened in Sochi, and then quitting...ah, I was so sad! Viktor really brought the best out of you! People can't take their eyes off you now!"
"...ThankyouverymuchIappreciateyourkindwords..."
Viktor was watching quietly from the center of the hot tub still, trying not to crack up laughing at his expense. Yuri could even see where the tips of Viktor's fingers were poking up just above the foam where he was trying to cover his smirk.
Emil had just teasingly shoved Michele into the main pool and the splash was enormous...and so was the protesting that went along with it afterwards. Emil was just cracking up, but then jumped in with a cannonball after him.
As Mila and Sala both looked up, the splash getting their attention, Yuri slithered out from between them to go back to safer territory, going so far as to flip around backwards, back up into Viktor's chest and pull his arms around him just to be sure. He could feel the Russian smiling against the back of his neck as he reversed to sit on the opposite ledge of the hot tub from the ladies, with Yuri slouching casually against his front. Viktor could feel the man relaxing tremendously in his embrace, but he was sure most of that was just because Yuri had been so highly strung after getting pinned between two nearly-naked women all of a sudden.
"We can leave if you want." He whispered into Yuri's ear, hands flat against his abdomen and chest beneath the foam, "I'll make you that Irish coffee you like as a night-cap. It's late enough to go to bed if you're tired."
"You don't mind? We haven't been down here that long."
"We'll soak extra-long in the onsen back home. I'll buy the whole place out for a weekend if I have to for us to have the spring to ourselves."
"Mh..." Yuri sighed, leaning back into the man as he thought about it. He felt Viktor starting to nuzzle at the back of his neck again, and nibble on his earlobe, as though trying to give him incentive to stay just a little longer despite his concessions, "...Well, I guess this is okay for now."
The Russian huffed a quiet laugh, "Thanks"
"Even if this situation is entirely less than ideal...I think we both need the soak before tomorrow." Yuri whispered, "This isn't so bad."
The play-fighting went on between Emil and Michele until Sala finally got out of the hot tub to silence them, jumping into the main pool to set them straight. The shock of going from the hot water to normal though was enough to make her yelp, and it caused the two men to immediately pull out of their half-joking-but-not-entirely fight to see if she was okay. Michele was all over his sister.
Yuri and Viktor had floated to Mila's side of the hot tub to peek at them over the ledge, holding their hands to the edge of the underwater bench as they let the rest of their bodies float up behind them.
"...That's a bit weird, isn't it?" Yuri wondered quietly, only the top half of his head visible over the stone masonry of the deck.
Viktor was between him and Mila, "...A bit clingy for brother and sister."
"They're twins." Mila pointed out, prodding Viktor's shoulder, "Cut them some slack. A lot of twins are like that. Some even have their own language when they're younger." She leaned in closer to whisper, "Sala likes that Korean guy anyway."
"...And Emil seems to have a thing for Sala, but her brother won't let anyone get close." Yuri observed, "...Ah, I'm so glad I was never in the middle of anything like that."
"Oh careful there, Yuri." Mila mused, "You might jinx yourself and have some of Viktor's old flames show up."
He seemed to go blank as she said it, but then looked to Viktor, "How many do you even have?"
The Russian looked up a little as he thought, "...Thhhhhhree? Two? No, three. For sure, three."
"You don't even remember?"
"It's been a while." He shrugged, kicking his feet a little where they stretched out behind him, "I was stupid and hormonal when I was younger. What do you expect? They were all throwing themselves at me and a few caught my attention for a while, that's all."
"So you didn't really..." Yuri tried to say the word but it wouldn't come out.
"...Love them?" Viktor finished, "There was a form of it there, sure, but it was nothing like what we have. None of them lasted very long...5 months, 8 months..."
Yuri looked nervous, "...We've only been together for 4 months..."
"We're married." Viktor pointed out, "But don't forget how long I was hoping for the idea of you before I ever went to Hasetsu. To me, this has been going for over a year already."
"I don't know if having an unsubstantiated intercontinental crush on someone counts towards the total." Mila pointed out with a brow raised, "...But, seriously? Over a year? You only just went to Japan a year ago. The heck happened?"
Viktor got bashful again, turning to sit against the stonework with his back to the trio in the main pool, "Lost opportunity."
"It all started cuz I was drunk at the Sochi Banquet and forgot everything I said and did." Yuri answered for him, "I knew nothing about what happened until we were all at the GPF in Barcelona."
"...What happened at the Sochi Banquet?" Mila was curious now, "I saw the strip-tease, but..."
"Yuri seduced me." Viktor said simply, remembering it fondly.
"I seduced the heck out of him." Yuri clarified.
The red-head remained unconvinced, "Go on."
"I got into a territorial dispute with Yurio over Viktor." Yuri laughed nervously at himself, "I still don't remember all of it, but I've cobbled together enough of a memory from the photos and videos I've seen that I can sort of figure out what happened."
"Mhm?"
"I was imbibing to drown my sorrows, and ended up doing that big strip-tease with Chris. At some point the alcohol gave me the courage to ask Viktor to be my coach..." Yuri continued, "So I drunkenly asked him to come to Hasetsu with me, and Yurio got all bristly about it."
"It's cuz I had promised to choreograph his Senior debut if he won his Junior Championships without quads." Viktor explained, "I'd made the promise ages beforehand, but he remembered that whole time...I'd long forgotten by then though."
"He was already trying to scare me into retirement at that event." Yuri sighed, "He did apologize for it later, but now..."
"Nope, nope." Viktor scooped up some of the hot water and dumped it onto his husband's head, "No."
"All right all right…!" The Asian protested, "But anyway...after asking Viktor to come back to Japan, Yurio and I got into a Dance Battle over it, saying whoever won would get Viktor's attention after Worlds. Viktor ended up creeping in at some point and danced with me though...so I guess that means I won?" Yuri scratched the side of his jaw and laughed weakly, "But afterwards, I forgot the whole thing, so I was back to being my sad self the next day."
"I saw him moping in the lobby of the hotel as everyone was getting ready to go home again, but he wouldn't even look at me...I was crushed. I thought he was mad at me for not agreeing to be his coach." Viktor added, moving to pull himself out of the water and sit on the ledge with just his legs dangling into the froth, "And so...I sat back and watched things unfold from a distance after that. I thought I'd approach him at Worlds in Tokyo, but he didn't make the cut, and then he quit skating outright after coming in 11th at the Japanese Nationals. I was reeeeeaaaally upset about it."
"I remember. You tried to hide it, but I could tell you were a miserable wretch for a while. I didn't know that was the reason for it though."
"Mh..."
Yuri just listened quietly from where he'd started to float in the water, just the top half of his head poking out above the bubbling tumult. He felt bad all over again for how things turned out back then.
"My entire performance at Russian Nationals, Euros, and Worlds after that was dedicated to how the loss killed me." Viktor continued, "Thought it'd be more helpful to channel that energy into my skating than to let it fester."
"Oohhhh yeah, Aria!" Mila nudged the man's knee where he had it near her shoulder, "I read the translation...! I guess it really fit the situation, didn't it?" She got a little dramatic and started acting out the motions, "Using a sword to cut peoples' throats or strangling them if they talk about love and passion… Dark stuff, Viktor! But it sounds so nice in Italian."
"And then after Worlds, the skies opened up and I was given a sign." Viktor got a bit more optimistic after that, and he leaned forward to reach for Yuri's black mop-top, mussing it up affectionately, "My little katsudon replicated Aria and called out to me!"
"I didn't know what I was doing." He protested, "Yuu-chan's girls recorded and uploaded it without me even knowing. I thought the whole world was going to make fun of me until the day I died… This little fat piglet trying to be all amazing like Viktor freaking Nikiforov..."
Mila just laughed quietly, "I remember seeing it. Viktor left St. Petersburg so fast… He was gone before most of us even realized what had happened."
The silver-haired skater gave a bemused shrug, "Yuri needed me."
"More like you needed him."
"Same thing."
"You must've been jet-lagged as Hell by the time you got there. Going from Japan for the Championships, back to Russia, then immediately back to Japan a few days after..."
"Oh yeah, it was bad...but it was worth it."
"Yeah, you fell asleep on the floor of the common room." Yuri teased.
"Worth it!" Viktor repeated before sliding back into the water again to get closer to Yuri, taking his arms and pulling them up over his shoulders, "I got exactly what I wanted in the end."
Yuri's face was red, but he didn't protest.
"Hm...the top- and the under-dog." Mila hummed to herself, "I guess you went hard and fast to make up for lost time, Viktor?"
"...Nah." He answered, "I just would've scared Yuri away. I probably wasn't all that subtle though..."
The younger skater started listing infractions off on his fingers behind Viktor's head, "Introduced your intentions to me while naked, held my hand on the first night, got so close to my face that I could feel your breath while you were saying we needed to build trust in our relationship before you could coach me, saying we should sleep together..."
"Wow, smooth, Viktor. Real smooth." Mila taunted.
"...Maybe I got a little excited."
"Yeah, you backed off in a big hurry." Yuri agreed, "Especially after Yurio showed up."
Viktor twitched a little at the teen's mention, and pulled his head back enough to look up at his husband. The man just looked down at him awkwardly.
"...Oh, right."
"Why's Plisetsky off limits suddenly?" Mila wondered.
The two turned to look at her, "You don't know?"
"I wouldn't be asking if I did."
"...There's been something of a falling out between us."
