"Pork cutlet bowl! Has that idiot Victor arrived yet?" Even as a little buzz coming out of his mobile phone Yurio sounded angry.
"Not yet," Admitted Yuuri.
"I'm heading to the finals, pork cutlet bowl, so you better not screw up!" The teen continued to gloat. Following the events whereby Yurio had discovered his new found freedom, his free programme was so scarily impressive that he leaped bounds over the other competitors, making a full comeback from the short program, and landed himself neatly in second place, still some points behind Victor whose free skate somehow surpassed his short programme.
"That's not very nice!" Yuri heard a young woman yell on Yurio's side and there was a loud rustling sound across the line that sounded like static and muffled complaints. "Don't listen to this idiot, Yuuri." The same voice said.
"Thalia? I didn't know you were there." Yuuri admitted, though he'd heard what the two had gone through thanks to Victor's crazy, yet well intended, plan.
"You're the idiot! " He heard Yurio complain. But Thalia chose to ignore him.
"Yeah, since Yuri and the coaches decided to stay here a few extra days and my trip isn't over yet, we agreed to watch your competition together at his old training rink" Thalia explained excitedly.
"Make sure Yurio treats you right." Yuuri replied, considering Thalia's identity as Yurio's mystery girl had blown up the internet, she seemed to be handling it well.
"I heard that!" Shouted Yurio, Yuuri must be on speaker."Has that idiot Victor arrived yet?"
"Last I heard he landed and caught a taxi, though I haven't heard much since." Yuuri's anxiety was sounding in his voice.
"Signals must just be shoddy." Tried to reassure him, Thalia. "He'll be there soon enough."
"Yeah I know, but the other competitions have already started, the men's short programme will be starting soon."
"Well Victor promised he'll be there so I'm sure he will." Thalia said confidently.
"You don't have time to worry about him!" Yelled Yurio.
"You don't need to yell in my ear!" Thalia yelled back before saying in a normal voice."Well we'll be cheering for you here."
" I won't." Grumbled Yurio.
"So good luck." Thalia continued, ignoring Yurio. "Oh! And happy birthday! I heard it's tomorrow right?"
"Yes, but Victor believes it's bad luck to say that before the actual day." Yuuri laughed nervously, trying to calm his nerves.
Thalia apologise profoundly before Yurio reclaimed his phone and the line cut.
"He seems to be doing better." A deep, cool voice caught his attention.
"Oh! Otabek, I didn't see you there." Yuuri apologised as the man, who must have wondered here for some quiet before his performance came into focus. "Yes, Yurio's back to his usual confident self."
Otabek just nodded his head and turned his attention away from Yuuri, a look of concentration plaguing his handsome face. Taking that as a sign their brief exchange was over, Yuuri wandered back towards the rink where the first competitor had already entered the rink, Minami kenjirou. The young teen's excitement seemed to increase disproportionately as he saw Yuuri but he took multiple calming breaths before adjusting his stance as the music began.
One by one the competitors performed, Yuuri was last on the schedule but as the minutes ticked away, Yuuri's anxiety continued to increase, not just because of his performance, but something in his gut was telling him something was wrong with Victor. He should have been here by now, and although he had tried to call, it just failed to connect.
"I'm sure everything is going to be fine ." Confidently said Minami, having chosen to spend his free time observing his idol at work, but what he had learnt from him other than that Yuuri suffered from severe anxiety at times, Yuuri didn't know. Yuuri left his phone on the ground as he tried to stretch against the wall, one person left and still no response from Victor, what was going on?
Minami gingerly bent down and picked up Yuuri's phone as if it were the most precious item in the world and the device chose that moment to light up and vibrate. Surprised, Minami almost tossed into the air, catching it rather aggressively before handing it to Yuuri but the Japanese skater was too worried about Victor to even comment.
Yuuri could feel the blood drain from his face as he read the notification banner. It was an email to his private email.
The recipient name read N.E.K.O
We'd thought you'd like to see where Victor is…
The subject read as he opened the email.
"What wrong?" Minami carefully asked, seeing the colour drain from the older man's face.
It's not going to give you a virus, we promise. Was the sole message in the email apart from the link, which he clicked on his shaking fingers.
Yuuri didn't believe the virus thing but something, possibly his anxious nerves had clouded his rational part of the brain, forced him to click the link.
It directed him to a news website where the headline caused Yuuri to drop his phone like it had burnt him.
"What's wrong.?" Minema jumped, trying to catch the phone but not before it hit the ground, a broad crack spreading across its illuminated surface.
The youth didn't mean to but he glanced down at words.
Traffic crash in krakow- passenger Nikiforov in critical condition.
"Oh, no, no, no!." Minami was shaking his head reading through the article in disbelief. "This can't be real! It has to be a hoax, it has to!"
A hoax, yes ...N.E.K.O had sent him the article to unnerve him like they had the video of Victor's dad but, from what Victor had told him, the video had been undoubtedly authentic, so what was saying this wasn't real as well?
"None of the other news websites are saying a thing!" Hastily confirmed Minami, "This can't be real Yuuri! It's just some cruel joke!"
Cruel was an understatement.
Oblivious to Yuuri's current meltdown an organiser informed him that it was time for him to head out to the rink.
"I can't do this!" He blurted out, surprising the rink hand at the look of total devastation on the man's face, "I can't do this, not with Victor…"
"We don't know." Minami tried to explain.
"But it could be true! N.E.K.O hadn't lied before"
"N.E.K.O- N.E.K.O sent you this?" Minami shouted, his naturally loud voice getting even louder.
"I-I can't do this, not like this." Yuuri began to reverse away, his eyes that of a cornered animal, his hand covering his ears as if that could make the news less real."
"Yuuri! Yuuri!" Minami Yelled, gripping his wrist and forcing him to look at him, that wild unhinged look still in his eyes. "You have to head out there and do your short programme."
"No I can't, Victor may be…" Yuuri couldn't even say the words.
"Fine." Minami finished . "This is N.E.K.O, they just want to get you off your game. They did this on purpose, sending this just as you have to go skate, the timing is too perfect."
Yuri knew that, it was all too perfectly in N.E.K.O's favour, but N.E.K.O hadn't lied before, something inside him nagged, and he hadn't been able to contact Victor in ages.
"You have to go out there and skate," Minamai insisted.
"I'm in no state…"
"But you have to!" Minami ordered, he didn't want to yell at Yuuri, he couldn't even believe he was touching his hands at that moment, but he looked so distraught Minami had to push his excitement away and think clearly. "That's what N.E.K.O wants, and…" Minamu gulped before continuing, "and if Victor is… and this mess is real, he'd insist you skate! He'll haunt you If you do otherwise."
Minami was right and a small voice inside Yuuri agreed with him, the small rational part that remained, that moved his legs to the rink and the rest of his mind and emotions tumbled and turned making him want to feel sick. He couldn't let N.E.K.O get to him but yet, a little voice at the back of his mind whispered, what if it were true?
"There's something wrong with the pork cutlet bowl." Scowled Yurio, leaning back in his chair with his legs on the table.
"Maybe he's just tired of being called a pork cutlet bowl." Thalia quickly retorted, as she leaned in over the table to see better.
"Well he insists on calling me that wretched nickname…"
"You mean, Yurio?" Thalia teased, she'd never called Yuri that, but seeing how much it annoyed him she just might start.
"It looks like he's going to ball his eyes out!" Complained Yurio. "Did that idiot not get there yet?"
Thalia let out a loud gasp, almost dropping her phone.
"I hate it when people do that." Growled Yurio but his complaints were silenced when Thalia practically pushed her phone into his face. He swore loudly in russian as he read the headlines, the same headlines claiming that Victor had been in a crash. Yurio shook his head in disbelief, "That can't be!"
"The timing is too perfect!" Began Thalia, already scanning through other websites to verify the article's claims.
"It must be N.E.K.O" Growled Yurio, "It's the same trick they pulled on Victor."
"Yuuri's smart, he wouldn't believe this, right?" Thalia almost begged.
But it wouldn't matter if Yuuri believed the article or not, any professional would be nervous, and in that state, with every muscle tense, even the slightest news, real or false, could cause someone to snap.
Yuuri barely realised that the music had started, giving him a second's delay as he started the routine with an instant step sequence, however his movements felt sluggish, his breathing already difficult. At this rate, he'd tire himself out before he even reached the halfway point of his routine. Yuuri used the orchestration of 'Go the Distance's' slow start to try to clear his head, settle the trembling in his movements. N.E.K.O had done that on purpose, Yuuri knew that they could play with his anxiety and fear, as well as Victor's absence, to unhinge him, like they had tried to do with Victor. However Victor had fought back, answering with a performance that was beyond words. That's what Victor would want him to do now, to prove to N.E.K.O he wasn't some weakling they could torment with such news.
But what if it was true?
Yuuri would have to beg for Victor's forgiveness.
He was coming up to the first jump, this could be it, if he failed his first jump Yuuri was scared he'd crack and crumble. He jumped into the air and the quad turned into a triple toe loop but he landed without difficulty, easing the tension in his limbs as he skated around the ring, his arms extending before him in time with the music. He wobbled slightly as he balanced on one leg but he chose to ignore it as he performed a triple axel accompanied by cheering from the audience. He allowed his body to flow to the slow, nearly haunting opening of the song. He entered a short arabess position across the rink as the music began a slow crescendo successfully performing a quadruple salchow skating in time to the crescendo to perform another quadruple salchow amidst the cheers from the crowds. He then followed with a short dance sequence building up speed and he spun at the center on one leg, increasing as he increased the momentum of his spin as he lowered his leg into a full standing position, he hands moving from in front of his chest to over his head, gracefully breaking out of the spin he entered another step sequence, the crowd going wild as he did so.
He entered a complicated spinning step sequence, his arms outstretched on either side as the guitar sollo blared out of the speakers, entering a brief seated spin before stopping to point at the sky and continuing into a step sequence finishing his performance with another impressively fast spin ending in a slow, backward skate across the rink where he he stopped with one hand pointed to the sky.
The audience erupted into wild applause, enthralled by the youth's performance, even as the man's shoulders heaved, and he covered his mouth to gag the sobs that threatened to escape. He had done it, he'd somehow done it.
"Yuuri!" A voice called over the applause. Yuuri's head shot up, his hands still covering his mouth as his eyes widened to see the man who had called him. Tears pricked his eyes, blaring his vision as, on uncertain feet, he skated towards the exit.
"Victor!" He bellowed, the tears flowing freely as he clasped at the man who had called him, almost pushing him off his feet with the force of the impact, never wanting to let him go ever again.
"That was spectacular,Yuuri." Victor whispered proudly into his hair allowing his hands to encircle his crying student.
"Victor…" Yuuri tried to say something but that was all he could manage before the tears choked his words.
"Don't worry Yuuri, Minami told me everything." Victor whispered in a soothing voice, "I'm here and I'm safe, that was just a cuel article written by N.E.K.O"
"I-I know…" Hiccuped Yuuri, finally lifting his face off Victor's chest, scanning his face to make sure that this was Victor and not another cruel joke. "But when you wouldn't answer your phone and you never showed…"
"There was something strange about my taxi driver." Victor admitted carefully leading Yuuri away from the rink, they had a few minutes before they'd have to enter the Kiss and Cry. "Although I had charge for some reason I couldn't receive or send any messages or calls, not even my internet was working and the driver seemed to purposely have almost sent me to Zakopane before realising we were heading in the wrong direction."
"That N.E.K.O would go to such lengths..." Yuuri shook his head, as he hiccupped.
"Yakov contacted the taxi service we were using to ask for our location and they'd told him that their driver never picked me up." The horror must have shown on Yuuri's face because Victor quickly smiled, reassuring his fiance that he was fine. "You were amazing out there Yuuri, you have really grown as a skater." He murmured using his sleeve to wipe away his tears, "Even though that must have been hard you gave a performance worthy of you and all the work you put into it, now lets see if the judges agree with me." Smiled Victor, leaning down to kiss Yuuri gently, forgetting the agreement he'd made with the paparazzi, before leading him to the Kiss and Cry, all the cameras flashing wildly.