Nikiforov Dominates Russian National Championship

Following his victory at the Grand Prix Final, Viktor Nikiforov went on to become the winner of the Russian Figure Skating Championship. With this, he is guaranteed a spot in the European and World Championships.

Nikiforov is now 27 years old. Only time will tell if he will continue to skate after this season.

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Saint Petersburg, Russia

Viktor sighed as he laid back on his couch, his feet propped up on a pillow. Makkachin jumped into his lap, head resting on his thighs. He patted the poodle's head as he unlocked his phone and opened his news feed. At the top was an article with a thumbnail of him at the Russian Nationals.

"'Guaranteed a spot...'" he read. Was there ever a doubt that he wouldn't win the Nationals?

Well, there was some on Viktor's part. He was getting old—at some point he would have to retire. But he lived to surprise others—he didn't want to call it quits when everyone expected him to. So he continued to skate, surprising the audience by not retiring at the expected age.

As much as he loved surprising others, Viktor wanted to be surprised the most.

The gold medal was starting to lose its luster. What was considered the greatest achievement in the competitive season to all skaters meant almost nothing to Viktor. That wasn't to say that he didn't want to win anymore. No, no, Viktor loved winning. But where was the fun when it was what everyone expected him to get?

Viktor was about to leave the app when he saw a related article with Katsuki's name attached to it. Unable to help himself, he tapped on the link that directed him to the article.

"'A late bloomer...'" That explained why she only just entered the Grand Prix Final. She had promise—Viktor knew that much from watching her exhibition skate. To think that a woman her age only just began to peak. Viktor was slightly envious of that—by the time he was twenty-three, he was having thoughts of throwing in the towel.

He wondered if her youthful appearance had anything to do with that. Physically, she looked about Mila's age. When he saw the two women together at the banquet, Viktor honestly thought that Mila was the older one. To think that Yūri was older than Mila the whole time…

There was a picture of her with two other skaters standing next to the NHK mascot, Domo. Out of all the assignments, the NHK Trophy was definitely his favorite. He loved those mascots, and it was always funny and adorable when Domo fell over. Sometimes Viktor wondered why the other Grand Prix qualifying events didn't have fun mascots like Japan did.

"'Speed and musicality...'" Viktor was glad to see that he wasn't the only one who thought that. There were some routines where one could tell that the skater was just going through the motions. That was something Viktor was afraid would happen to him—that one day, a program would be nothing but a chore he wanted to get out of the way.

This girl, Yūri Katsuki, was different. It wasn't just that the music was already inside her. She skated like she was the music. And her footwork! She was fast and meticulous during her step sequence. Viktor wouldn't have been surprised if she had cross-trained in some forms of dancing.

Viktor pulled up YouTube and quickly typed in what he wanted to find. As soon as the thumbnail of her in her floaty costume appeared, he tapped it and waited for the video to load. He had to wait longer because the dreaded ads.

"Look at her, Makka," he said, showing his phone to his dog. The great poodle sniffed at the screen a little as Yūri landed a triple Axel. "Doesn't she look beautiful?" Makkachin huffed in response.

There was something familiar about the spiral sequence she moved into after the cymbals struck a second time. Not just familiar—something that made him nostalgic. Usually this happened when he was watching older videos of himself.

That was when he realized why it made him nostalgic—somewhere in her routine, there was his style added to it. When Viktor skated, he did so with an air of grace that made him seem untouchable. When Yūri skated, she seemed like a bird that would fly away if one even tried to approach her. Whereas Viktor was more mature with his skating, Yūri seemed to have added an innocent touch to it.

Was she a fan of his?

One Google search led him to her Wikipedia page. If she was a fan—or if she saw him as an inspiration—the Wiki profile would tell him. Most skaters usually had someone or something to inspire them to skate in the first place. Viktor quickly scrolled to the section marked Personal Life.

Call him vain, but he secretly hoped he inspired her to start skating.

Yūri Katsuki...born November 29 in Hasetsu, Japan...parents run a hot spring inn, has an older sister and—

"A poodle, Makkachin!" Viktor gushed. "She has a poodle! She'll definitely love you!" Makkachin barked excitedly.

Viktor's face fell when he found out how she began skating in the first place. Yūri studied ballet first before her teacher—one Minako Okukawa, whose name had a link attached to it—encouraged her to try figure skating.

That was it. There was no inspiration from watching figure skating. She was just pushed towards figure skating and fell in love with the ice.

Even though he had all that he needed to know, Viktor read on. He didn't want to stop. He wanted to know more.

He needed more.

She moved to Detroit when she was eighteen to train and attend college.

Viktor was impressed. Athletes usually abandoned higher education until the end of their careers. There were some who insisted that they could balance the two. Most of those people ended up choosing one or the other in the end.

Studied various forms of dance—Viktor had been spot on with his guess—and a year ago, she started dating classmate and speed skater Yuan He Long.

Viktor stopped reading. He had never learned the last name of the young man who was smuggled into the banquet. Seeing it now—with a link attached to it—this had to be the same young man who Yūri Katsuki had introduced as her boyfriend.

"'You say that like we're not supposed to trust each other so much.'"

Viktor wanted to leave. He wanted to exit the page and forget that the young man existed just once more. But curiosity won out in the end and he tapped on the highlighted name.

The picture that greeted him was of the reddish-brown haired young man he met at the banquet. Instead of formal wear, the young man wore a red and black skin suit along with a pair of clear goggles. But what really got Viktor's attention was the Chinese man's expression. He had a look of savage triumph on his face. It was quite obvious to Viktor that the He Long in this picture knew that he had won.

Yuan He Long (Chinese: 袁河龍 Yuán Hé Lóng) is a Chinese short track speed skater.

He Long Yuan. There was his name, written in Chinese characters followed by the pinyin. Yūri's boyfriend was a short track speed skater with quite a collection of medals from various competitions.

Viktor never paid much attention to the other sports played on the ice. The only time he did was during and after the Sochi Olympics. That was because of the stir created by a short track speed skater Russia had gained at South Korea's expense. Viktor had briefly acknowledged the sport's existence only because the athlete that created the international ruckus chose Viktor as his Russian name. For a while, the news was all about a skater named Viktor—half the time they were referring to the figure skater and the other half the speed skater. The surname kept escaping Viktor, but he knew it started with An—maybe it was Antonov?(*)

Born May 6, so he was currently twenty-one years old—Viktor was surprised to learn that. He thought He Long was older than Yūri or at least the same age.

Born and raised in Shanghai...was first introduced to skating when neighborhood children invited him to a skate park. Currently studying and skating in Detroit and dating Yūri Katsuki.

Apparently, He Long had caused a stir as well when he said he wanted to study fashion design in America. There were concerns because that meant he would be training away from China and the rest of the country's short track speed skaters. His speed didn't seem to be hindered by that fact, if the medals following his move to Detroit had anything to say about it.

Having read and learned more than he wanted, Viktor erased the page and locked his phone. Makkachin moved closer to Viktor's face, as though the large poodle could sense he was troubled.

Viktor patted Makkachin's head gratefully as he glanced at the black screen of his phone. He tried to remind himself that the Wikipedia page was gone now. There was nothing on his phone to remind him of the young man who was lucky to have Yūri Katsuki.

But it did nothing to erase the image of the speed skater smirking at him, daring him—anyone—to try and take away his shining moment.

Sports Champions Club

He knew this routine like the back of his hand. He choreographed it himself. Viktor spent so many hours skating and revising Stay Close to Me until it was one that satisfied not just himself, but Yakov as well.

Of course, Yakov always found something to pick at.

"You need more height during your quads, Vitya," Yakov said, after Viktor had skated Stay Close to Me for the umpteenth time. "You didn't jump high enough during your quad lutz. You could have lost the edge on the landing or even fallen."

Yuri found Yakov overbearing. There were times when Viktor did, too. Georgi, on the other hand, held onto Yakov's words like a lifeline. Still, the fact that Yakov could find the tiniest flaw in a person's skating proved how effective he was as a coach.

Then again, this was also the Yakov who once found a curious detail in the contract Yuri's landlord wrote up when the blond teen needed Yakov to prove he could pay rent for his apartment. According to Yuri, the storm Yakov swore up that day was the most glorious thing he'd ever witnessed in his young life.

That definitely explained how Yuri's potty mouth came to be.

"Take a break, Vitya," Yakov added before he focused his attention on Mila. She must have attempted a triple Axel because the next thing Yakov yelled out was, "That triple Axel is a mess! Katsuki could land hers and still hold the edge and she placed third at the Grand Prix Final! Third, I tell you! If she hadn't messed up so much, she could have beaten you easily!"

Katsuki—ah, he was referring to the other Yuri, the Japanese beauty stolen by the Chinese speed skater.

What?

As soon as Viktor had his blade guards in place, he held his forehead. What possessed him to think that Yūri Katsuki had been stolen? She was her own person—she chose to love He Long. At the banquet, she was comfortable around her boyfriend that she clearly couldn't have been forced into a relationship.

So he reasoned, but the picture he had seen yesterday—the one of He Long smiling dangerously like a wolf with its fangs bared—that had scared Viktor. The He Long he had seen on the Wikipedia page was a far cry from the debonair young man he'd met at the banquet.

He needed to get his mind off of Katsuki and Yuan.

Now.

Unlocking his phone and searching through his music player, Viktor listened to the slow, dulcet melody of what he hoped would become the song to accompany his short program.

No, he wasn't going to change his programs now. Viktor was going to unveil his new program next season. But this was a piece with two different arrangements. This was On Love: Agape: a gentle melancholy song with a soprano singing with an ethereal voice. This was unconditional love.

He tried to imagine how he would skate to it. Slow, flowing movements; gentle—he would make himself seem delicate and vulnerable. Like a little bird, but more than that. Angelic, even.

An image of Yūri Katsuki in the middle of a Biellmann spin as a choir sang invaded his mind. The memory of the song she skated to conflicted with the melody of the song he was listening to right now. Still, he'd thought of her, during her exhibition: flowing, ethereal—hell, Viktor admitted she looked so tranquil that she seemed like an angel.

Deciding that On Love: Agape was not helping his thought process, Viktor tapped on the twin arrows that took him to Agape's parallel, On Love: Eros. The faster rhythm was a stark contrast to the slow tempo of Agape. Fast, heated, daring—this was a song of sexual love. A song that said, 'Catch me. I dare you.'

He would entice the audience to try and join him, but he himself would remain distant. Yes, he would skate like he was within reach, when in reality he was untouchable. Maybe Viktor would skate like he was trying to seduce a woman to abandon her jealous lover.

"'Jealousy? That's what happens when there's no trust and you let fear control you.'"

Viktor tried to drown the speed skater's words by turning up the volume by two levels. When that didn't work, he ripped his earphones out, but now he was left to sort his disorganized thoughts.

"'And when either side of a relationship lacks trust, what right does anyone have to call that 'love'?'"

How did he do that? How was He Long Yuan so sure that Yūri Katsuki could never have eyes for anyone else? She was beautiful. Anyone would fall in love with her easily and try to take her away. And the speed skater was so confident—to the point of arrogant—that no one could ever steal her from him. That no matter what, she would never leave him.

That amount of confidence shouldn't have been possible!

The image from He Long's Wikipedia profile—now burned into his mind—resurfaced. That look of savage triumph like he knew he'd won—a look that now seemed to say, 'Go on. Take her. I dare you.'

Oh, he would. Viktor wanted to so badly, just to see He Long Yuan crumble when he lost. He could think of nothing better for that pretentious speed-skating—

"Lucky bastard," Viktor found himself saying harshly under his breath. Now he sounded like Yurochka.

He regretted it a little—the young man from the banquet did nothing to wrong Viktor. Yet here he was. The figure skater was already jealous of a speed skater who he only knew for one night. Envious because the speed skater in question seemed to have no idea how fitting his nickname was—how lucky he was to have Yūri Katsuki.

Viktor decided to put the arrangements of On Love on hold. His short program music for next season was unclear, but Viktor wondered how Yakov would react if he chose The Hunchback of Notre Dame's Hellfire as his free skate music.

Author's note:

*In case you didn't get the reference, Viktor was talking about the real life short track speed skater, Viktor An. Before he skated for Russia, he used to skate for South Korea under his birth name, An Hyun-soo.