CHAPTER SIX HUNDRED NINE

The hustle of the last main freestyle practice before the start of competition was in high gear. Skaters from all disciplines scrambled for territory, leaving precariously little space to spread out and focus. Yuri frowned at the sight of the seething mass of athletes, even though he could barely see more than just their shoulders and heads as they passed by close to where he was sitting behind the rink wall. He looked down again instead, and returned his attention to tightening his boot strings.

Viktor and I have taken an incredible amount of time-off from practice... If I can't pull off a decent score this weekend, I'm not sure I can entirely blame it on being sick...

He shook his head and pushed up from the rink-side bench, and looked around for his wayward husband. Spotting the man not too far off - but surrounded on one side by a ring of people - Yuri raised his hand and gave a quick wave; enough for Viktor to take notice and bid his farewells. Even more people appeared around him, standing up from where they'd been crouching on the ground, and Viktor offered and amused smile as he stepped closer, blade-guards thumping on the concrete floor.

"I can tell who the real celebrity is around here," He commented, and looked down to where Jiro trotted happily alongside him, tethered by his harness to the Russian's wrist, "Everyone was so focused on little-dude here that I felt like I kind of disappeared."

"Don't worry, that won't last." Yuri pointed out, snaking his arms around the man's waist and back, and hugged him tight like they'd been apart for hours. He took in a long inhale of his partner's cool scent, and lingered on it a moment before he pulled back again.

Viktor slid his free arm back over the shoulder he'd perched it on, and moved his palm up to cup over Yuri's cheek, giving a soft rub with his thumb, "You ready?"

Hesitating a moment, Yuri nodded, and reached up to pull his glasses off. He folded them carefully, and deposited them into Viktor's waiting hands, feeling a quiet kiss press to his bare brow.

"Take it slow. You're not getting scored yet."

Yuri gave another nod, and moved off towards the nearby opening in the rink-wall. Blade-guards were pulled away, and were handed back over the wall as Yuri came around to Viktor's new perch. Sensing Yuri's apprehension, Viktor leaned down to lift the smol Akita up, and held him with front nubbins over the ledge. Feeling the relief of the unspoken offer, Yuri took a moment to rub the pup's ears and cheeks, then held his two front paws gently in his hands, "Keep yourself and your dad out of trouble, okay?"

Jiro's eyes lifted from the fingers holding to his paws, and though the pup's back was squished to Viktor's frame, Yuri could tell that there was a tail-wag in those dark orbs.

"You're so serious." The silver teased, "I know it's a bit chaotic out there now, but try to lose yourself...focus on the feel of the ice under your blades. Feel the cold air on your skin, the wind as you pick up speed...the feeling of total freedom. Forget everything else. Pay enough attention to others to know where they are, but no more. They're trees and birds on the edges of a frozen lake."

Yuri closed his eyes, and pictured the scene in his mind. It took a moment to clear the noise around him, but the scratches of blades gradually started to sound like the flutter of wings taking flight. When he opened his eyes again, the rink was gone, replaced by a great expanse of white, with a whirlwind of ravens flying in wide circles above it. Viktor was still in front of him with Jiro though; the only pairs of eyes that he wanted to see, and have on him.

"Hiiiii~! Yuuuri~!"

The lake and the ravens vanished like shattered glass, and Yuri deadpanned severely as the owner of the blades careened onward and beyond hearing. He grumbled a sigh, "This isn't going to work."

Viktor gave a nervous but well-meant smile, "Maybe just do a few warm-up laps. We'll go back to the lake another time."

Hazel eyes lifted, and Yuri resigned himself with a single nod. He leaned forward and slid his arms over his husband's shoulders, "Thanks for trying anyway."

"Of course."

He squeezed his arms for a hug and stole a quick kiss, but then moved off, joining the stream of other skaters who were going around the rink. Viktor watched him go quietly. Once the younger skater was on the other side of the rink, Viktor set Jiro back down on the ground, and the pup shook to recombobulate himself to the new vantage, then seemingly took point.

"You going to watch my back while I watch Yuri?"

The Akita's ears twitched, hearing the words, but his focus was on all the people walking around in the stands beyond them. Viktor turned his attention out to the ice again after that, and he reached into his Olympic blazer to withdraw his notepad, and pulled the mechanical pencil from the spiral that held the pages together. When he looked from the paper to the rink again, he found Yuri going by on the first complete circuit within the walls. GuangHong and Phichit had managed to snare him; Viktor briefly looked around for Leo, but didn't see him right away. For a moment at least, the silver was relieved that it was the calmer of Yuri's many Four Continents comrades that had found him. On the other hand, knowing they were there would make it harder to focu-

"So how's the coaching life treating you, Viktor?"

Blue eyes turned back - he'd all but jumped from the start - but he saw Celestino there approaching from behind, "Oh, Ciao Ciao...hi~" He started, and glanced down at Jiro for a second to give the pup a wry look. Jiro just looked back and wagged his curly tail; Celestino wasn't enough of a stranger to sound the alarm, it seemed. "It gets better all the time, but it's still harder than it looks."

"Be glad you only have one student." The senior coach said, coming right up to the wall, fingers hanging off the edge of his pants pockets, "I've had all three of them for the off-season a few times." He added, nudging his head towards the trio on the opposite end of the rink, "It was like trying to herd cats."

"Oh, Guang Hong went to America to train?"

"Two or three times. He was still in Juniors at the time, but he latched onto Phichit like a barnacle. He's a total Americanophile. Every time he came here, he'd replace his entire wardrobe with western clothing." Celestino explained, shaking his head with a quiet laugh, "He was born in the wrong place, but he picked a good path to get out once in a while."

"It's one way of doing things, I suppose."

Celestino paused a moment, but then leaned forward, elbows on the wall, "Sorry. I didn't mean for what I said to come out that way."

The silver gave a feigned smile and shrugged, "It is what it is. I was fortunate enough to have someone catch me when I fell, so the landing was softer than it could've been otherwise."

"Have you had any trouble since then? Blowback from the Russia ban at the Games?"

Viktor scrunched his shoulders up and made a face, "Sort of? I'd have volunteered for it, but the JSF wants to run a battery of tests just to be sure. I'm entirely skeptical that it would make a difference. I plan to do something about it myself."

"...Oh?"

"This whole disaster came out of the Sochi Games. I can't ever prove that I didn't take anything back then, but I can skate one of those programs again. Under the ISU's watch, I'll do what I did before, and hope that if the world believes me now, it'll believe me about then."

Celestino nodded, "You've probably been practicing like crazy then, remembering your old choreography."

Viktor smiled mischievously, "I just started last night actually."

"...And you think you can pull it off?" The elder coach gawked at him incredulously.

"I did my whole NHK Exhibition the night before I debut it. I actually consider this a leg-up, that I did it once before already, and have a few days yet to iron out any improvements I want to make."

Celestino narrowed his eyes, "You're a monster."

The silver smirked haughtily, "I have an image to maintain. I refuse to let Russia besmirch my good name any longer."

.

Double Axel... Step-out.

Triple Axel... Fall.

Triple Toe-loop... Fall.

Double Toe-loop... Hand on the ice.

Yuri was sweating bullets, and panted heavily, gliding backwards wherever his blades took him. He eventually crouched down, hands sliding on the frost for a moment before he lost his balance outright and rolled backwards off his heels, flopping like a surprised seal. He whined and closed his eyes, splayed out on the ice as so many others passed by around him. Phichit, GuangHong, and Leo all stood around him and looked down, and not one of them could resist whipping their phones out. Yuri cracked one eye open just in time to see the flash, and he flailed, "You guys shouldn't be enjoying this so much!"

"You're the defending champion, Yuri." Phichit commented as he snapped a second photo, "I am merely the chronicler of this descent."

"I'm sick! I've been sick!"

"A likely excuse."

"You spent all night with me! You saw me take meds a few times!"

Leo and GuangHong looked aside at their third, but Phichit just smiled and put his phone away, "I did see you take medicine."

"...But...?"

"I haven't heard you cough or sneeze or anything."

"That's because I've been taking medici-" Yuri barked, forcing himself to sit up, only to pause as soon as he got there. There's only one thing I can do... He thought...and then proceeded to itch the back of the roof of his mouth with his tongue, an act which tickled his throat.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh no, he's not..."

"Phichit, what have you done!?"

"Yuri, you have to stop! This is madness!"

"Madness...?" Yuri replied, feeling the tickle start to do its work, sending tingles up into his sinuses, "This...IS..."

"VIKTOOOOOOOR!" All three skaters yelled.

"Wut."

"ACHSNCCCCHTsplth."

"Ew gross it went everywhere!"

The trio flailed and dispersed, leaving Yuri still on his butt on the ice with goopy strings of snot hanging from his nose and chin.

"Oh jeeze." Viktor said, stunned, and quickly ran with Jiro to grab the poodle soft-toy tissue box. By the time he wiggled out of his blade-guards and slid out to where Yuri had gone down, Yuri was having to hold his slimy boogers up with his hands; not a pleasant sight. The silver made sure Jiro could keep up, but then crouched down onto his toe-picks, holding out a handful of tissues, and moved it between his partner's wrists, then moved the wad upward towards the dripping mess, "My love, where were you hiding all that?"

"Jecht lemee grahb ghne tishoo wib'muh fengurs..." Yuri managed, waggling his small fingers downward like the spindly front legs of a spider, trying to grab the pile, but found it squished right against the offending mass of goop. He took it gladly, and more tissues came after to clean his hands, "Sorry... I didn't wanna get boogers on you, too."

"Of all the fluids you've gotten on me, you're worried about your boogers?"

Yuri's face went bright red, and he closed his eyes and shook his head frantically, "But you jumped out of the way that time-"

"You were threatening to bleed all over an expensive suit. A suit I would still have to wear for a while longer."

That just earned a deadpan, "Fine-"

"Also, boogers don't stain. And also also, we're married now, so your boogers are my boogers in the end." Viktor added, waggling the fingers on his right hand for emphasis on his gold band, "But seriously, where were you hiding all that crud? You didn't even sound congested."

Yuri blew his nose hard, mercifully and finally clearing out the last of whatever was hiding in his sinuses, "I think I had just enough clearance on one side to sound normal... But not now. Now I feel like I snorked all of my brains into these tissues."

"And you look totally wiped out."

"Oh, I am...super wiped out. Running on vapors." He admitted sullenly, lowering his head down, "I'm suddenly really glad you wanted to go first... I'd have been a total killjoy if you made me go instead."

"You're doing a lot better than you were, at least." Viktor surmised, and moved forward to hoist his beloved up to his feet, "You went about 45 minutes at a pretty decent pace, and you're able to do some jumps. By tomorrow's Short Program, you might even be able to land a triple Axel."

"'Might...'"

"Keep hope alive, my love. For now though, I think we can safely call it a day."

"I feel like I haven't skated in weeks... I'm going to be up all night feeling guilty that we had to go."

"You need the down-time. Resting is part of training, too."

"Haaaai, Viktoru-kōchi..."