1 XXXX XXXX

2 Mila Babicheva RUS

3 XXXX Pogorilaya RUS

4 Yuri Katsuki JPN

5 Sara Crispino ITA

"Oh," Chris murmured softly. "Oh."

Viktor didn't know what to say about the final results. Seeing that Yūri had finished in the top five overall—with a disastrous short program and a phenomenal free skate—he, too, couldn't find the right words to say.

Yūri Katsuki had surprised all of them—she had surprised Viktor the most—with a free skate that portrayed her as the epitome of beauty and grace. Unlike her short program, every element had been executed without a hitch. But her second-to-last jump—meant to be a triple toe loop directly after her choreographic sequence—had been entered from an unexpected arabesque spiral before she swiveled around in time for a quadruple toe loop. That single quad and its unusual entry had been enough to grant her a free skate score beyond the record held by Yuna Kim and catapult her to the top.

While Yūri had scared many of the skaters after her, the last two groups had enough time to compose themselves. When Mila managed to place above Yūri, Viktor practically heard Yakov gloating in the kiss and cry even from where he sat. With the proof that a world record holder could be displaced, the remaining skaters had gathered their wits until two of them placed high enough to take Yūri off the podium.

As disappointed as he was, Viktor knew it wasn't a total loss. Yūri had landed the first quad toe in ladies' figure skating and set a world record. She climbed all the way from the bottom to finish a world-class skater. Even if she wasn't the world champion like Viktor had originally hoped, Yūri hadn't failed completely.

"That must be a hard blow to take for her," Chris said, shaking his head as they left the medal ceremony.

"Mila?" Viktor looked at him, confused. "She might be frustrated coming second to a girl who can't execute a Lutz, but I don't think she'll be angry about it."

Chris gave him a look that told Viktor that he had gotten it all wrong. "I meant Yūri."

"Yūri was amazing," Viktor said automatically. "But she has nothing to be ashamed of. A quad and a world record at her first Worlds is incredible!"

Chris was the first to round the corner, but he immediately spun back on his heel and clamped a hand down on Viktor's shoulder. "Detour," he hissed in a low voice.

"But why—?" Chris left no room for questions as he tried to lead Viktor away while the Russian fought against him to look around the corner, curious to know what Chris didn't want him to see. He barely managed to get a glimpse of a figure in a Japanese team jacket with her back to him before he heard the sound of a nose being blown.

Viktor swallowed thickly as Chris succeeded in leading him away. It wasn't unusual to see skaters upset with their final standings at competitions. While most could put their emotions away until they were away from prying eyes, there were some who couldn't help but let it out. But Viktor couldn't understand why a female skater from Japan would be upset. All three women had placed in the top ten, and the two higher ranking skaters had placed well enough to secure three spots for next year's Worlds. Of course, it probably had to do with the fact that not one of them made the podium. The woman crying certainly couldn't have been Yūri, but Viktor also couldn't imagine Mao Asada—the oldest and most experienced of the three Japanese ladies—crying in public.

All around them were spectators who recognized the two easily and asked for photos, delaying their departure. And the lobby wasn't any better, packed with reporters and even more spectators looking for even a minute of a skater's time. Viktor had fallen behind Chris several times when fans wanted a selfie, allowing the Swiss to exit the arena quickly and get on the competitors' bus.

Viktor looked away as soon as the current selfie was taken. Just several meters away, Yakov stood with Celestino, but they didn't seem to be talking to each other. Yakov didn't even look at Celestino, who in turn looked at someone that Yakov blocked from his view. If Celestino was there, the person Yakov was facing had to be— "Yūri!" he called, walking over.

Yakov turned to look at him, revealing a brief glimpse of the young lady who surprised the whole world. But Yūri had turned away from him, directing her attention instead to a teen with dirty blond hair with a streak of red running up to her. The boy was definitely her fan as he talked animatedly in Japanese, squeezing a box that could only be meant for his idol.

"Ciao, ciao, Viktor!" Celestino greeted, sounding surprised. "I thought you would be out sightseeing to celebrate."

"I couldn't not cheer on my rinkmate." Viktor refrained from mentioning that he hadn't completely supported Mila, not when his attention during the ladies' free skate had been on the woman just an arm's reach away from him.

Going by Chris' words, Yūri rarely interacted with anyone. She was elusive to both fellow skaters and fans alike. But at the moment, as she accepted and opened the gift her fan presented, Yūri gave her undivided attention to the one who managed to catch her before she could disappear. Not even a pair of sunglasses over her eyes could hide the joy on her face as she examined her gift.

"Where's Mila?" Yakov asked, drawing his attention away from Yūri.

"I think she's still in the locker room," Viktor said, though he didn't doubt that some fans were holding her up.

"What?!" Yakov jolted and Celestino looked at his student, both alarmed and ready to scold her for raising her voice in public. Viktor turned around in time to have Yūri shove her gift into his arms—not that he minded at all. But Viktor had to dive down to catch the sunglasses she threw off. The Russian skater wanted to marvel (in horror) at how easily Yūri would have broken a pair of brand name sunglasses.

None of that seemed to matter to her as she held the boy's face, which had a patch taped to the left cheek. He must have been injured, given by how panicked Yūri had sounded. In any other setting, she could have been a mother worried for her child. But instead of embarrassment, her fan's face was flushed pink with awe at the attention he was receiving from Yūri. Pink turned to red and Viktor watched dumbstruck as the Japanese angel stood on her toes to kiss the boy's forehead.

"She's certainly bolder than before," Celestino said behind him with a chuckle.

Viktor glanced at the Italian man, trying to ignore the burning feeling in his chest. "You should tell her to be careful. Her other fans will get—" The Russian's words were cut off when he felt someone reach for the box in his hands. He looked at the culprit, smiling when he came face-to-face with Yūri.

"V-Viktor!" She stammered, a blush forming on her cheeks.

That only caused his smile to grow. "Hello, Yūri," he greeted brightly.

Now that he thought about it, this was the first time she actually spoke to him. Back in Sochi, she wouldn't even look at him when he spoke but now she was here, just barely meeting his eyes with a timid pair of brown. "I didn't mean to make you hold my things! I thought you were Celestino!" Yūri squeaked, bowing her head before she looked up at him again. "Viktor?" she asked. "Why are you here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Did she really not know what she did to him? He leaned down to look into her expressive brown eyes: bright and alluring in Sochi, startled and innocent now. Chris did say that she was shy, but did she have to look like a timid little rabbit? "I want to get a photo with you!"

"What?" Yūri cried, leaning back just a little that Viktor could tell she was trying to get away. "Oh, no, no, no—I don't think you want a photo with me!"

Was she…was she snubbing him? Yūri had no problem kissing her fan, but she wouldn't stop for a photo with him? Viktor didn't know whether to be sad or insulted. Yet as he looked at her face, she looked scared at the prospect of a photo with him—almost horrified. Was she scared of her own boyfriend's reaction?

Before he could take advantage of the possibility, Viktor winced as nails dug into his lower back. The Russian legend bit back a yelp as he pulled away to try and pry off the fingers discreetly. Mila—"Sneaky Baba" as Yura once called her and Viktor now found the nickname incredibly accurate—popped into view with a wide smile on her face and a hand hidden under Viktor's jacket. "Viktor, Yūri just landed a quad toe and set a world record," she reminded a little too cheerfully. "She needs to get her rest!" she added with a hidden edge to her voice, digging her nails in further to drive her point across.

Getting Mila's nails off of his back was difficult, considering that her nails were conveniently long. By the time Viktor pried them off and turned to look at Yūri, she was nowhere in sight now. Mila's interference had allowed her to vanish. Celestino finished whatever he and Yakov were discussing and left the arena, presumably to locate his runaway skater. "Yakov~I really wanted a photo with Yūri but Mila ruined it!"

"Yūri wasn't in the mood for a picture, Vitya," Mila chided.

"Mila had the right idea to stop you," Yakov said. He held out his hand, silently asking for the sunglasses that Viktor didn't know he still had. "Katsuki is easily moved to tears, but no one can fault her for that tonight." The elder Russian inhaled deeply before sighing. "She may not have made the podium, but she'll be invited to the gala. Not even the ISU can deny her that."

Viktor frowned, confused by his coach's words. "Easily moved—? What do you mean?"

Mila sighed in exasperation while Yakov inhaled deeply and turned to leave the stadium. "Viktor, you idiot," she hissed in a low voice.

yuzuavenue

[Video: A young man is seen from the side leaning over the rink boards with a present in his hands. Yūri skates over and takes the gift and the youth jumps and screams excitedly.] I'd gif this but y'all need to hear Yuzu squealing after Yuri accepts his gift.

3,061 notes

sukeota3sisters

[Photo 1: Yūri accepting the Trimmien plush from her fan right after her free skate.]

When you thought Yuzuru was Yuri's favorite cinnamon roll, but then she goes and does this.

[Photo 2: Yūri standing on her toes to kiss Kenjiro]

1,587 likes

{Someday, Yuzu-kun}

{Forget Yuzu, look who's behind Yuri. I'm wheezing}

minami-kenji YURI-SAMA KISSED MY HEADBAND! #worlds #yurikatsuki

mila-babicheva yuri-plisetsky Junior worlds silver medalist just got something better than your gold

yuri-plisetsky mila-babicheva Who the hell wants a stupid kiss from a girl?

v-nikiforov yuri-plisetsky You're not fooling anyone, Yurochka~

yuri-plisetsky v-nikiforov At least I wasn't caught glaring at a kid, stupid geezer

figureskating-confessions

[Photo: Yūri after she kissed Kenjiro's forehead while Viktor is in the background] Anyone wanna talk about Victor Nikiforov glaring at Kenjiro when Yuri kissed him? #worlds #yuri katsuki #kenjiro minami #victor nikiforov

{When you're secretly in love with Yuri Katsuki. But same, Victor, same #jealousmuch? #whatdoicallthis? #victuri?}

{The fabled Katsu-Kiss: a mystical blessing given by the Japanese Angel and guarded closely by the Shanghai Dragon. Legend has it that whoever receives it is granted fortune and longevity. And Viktor missed out! #katsukiss #lmao #rofl #thatfacethough #sorrynotsorry}

{Victor: I don't get jealous. [Yuri kisses Kenjiro] You'd better wash your face if you know what's good for you, kid. #katsukiss #victuri}

{This is bs. Everyone knows that Yuri is in love with He Long and Viktor's not interested in romance at the moment. #yutsuki}

{You say that, but Viktor clearly wanted that kiss #vikturi}

yuri-on-ice

[Video] Am I the only one who finds it weird that Yuri sounded more worried about Kenjiro getting into a fight than his actual injuries? #yuri katsuki #kenjiro minami #katsukiss

{No, she really was worried about his injuries}

{Listen to the video! She's telling Kenjiro not to fight or he'll be suspended!}

{[Hermione Granger . gif] I watched the video and was reminded of this little bit.}

{Yuri knows what happens when the ISU gets wind of skaters getting violent with each other. Her rinkmate Venus Jones was suspended that way}

{Really? Who was she fighting?}

{…are you serious? You don't know about the scandal? What the hell are you doing here?}

{What does Venus Jones have to do with the scoring scandal in Sochi?}

{Nobody tell those idiots anything}

Viktor looked up after his fifth lap around the ice when he saw someone stepping on, deflating when he found it was only the gold medalist of the women's event.

"You aren't very subtle with your disappointment, Viktor," Chris snickered as he skated up to him. "Anyone can tell who you're looking for."

"I can't help it!" Viktor turned to look at the Swiss skater. "I asked for a photo with her last night and she blew me off, Chris!"

"I did say she is very shy," the Swiss reminded.

"But she kissed her fan a minute before that!"

"Which reminds me." Chris pulled out his phone and unlocked it, swiping the screen several times before he turned it over to Viktor. He didn't know why his friend was showing him a picture of Yūri after she had kissed her fan, but Chris zoomed in on the shot of Viktor. In the photo, he was standing behind the Japanese woman, who was oblivious to the intense stare the Russian gave her fan.

Chris glanced at him briefly before he broke into laughter, earning looks from the other skaters and an unimpressed face from Viktor. "You're not helping at all, Chris."

"I can't help it!" Chris howled, coming to a stop by the rinkboards so he could lean over it. "You were actually jealous of a kid!" When the Swiss finally stopped laughing, he held up his phone to zoom out of the picture. "But that is unusually bold of her."

"That's just about what Celestino said last night," Viktor confirmed. Out of the corner of his eye, a tiny figure in black stood on the other side of the rink boards. Viktor turned to see who had arrived, only for the figure to quickly duck out of sight.

Meanwhile, Chris nodded slowly as he locked his phone. "Celestino would know about that," he admitted with narrowed eyes. "During her senior debut with him, Yūri was as shy as a clam."

"Isn't she always like that?" Viktor asked.

"No," Chris answered, shaking his head. "Before she moved to Detroit, she was…" The Swiss furrowed his brows, no doubt trying to find the right words to voice his thoughts. "She was still shy," he confessed, "but not so much that even her own shadow scared her!"

"She moved to a different country to further her training. Perhaps she was homesick?" While Viktor could never understand how other skaters made the choice to relocate to a rink far from their home country, he imagined it must have been hard on the other Yuri. It wasn't too hard to imagine her scared of her new surroundings.

Chris only hummed thoughtfully, as though he had no idea of the answer himself. Except Chris already seemed to know the reason if his next words were anything to go by. "It could be that, but I'm willing to bet that Celestino had something to do with it. He's rather insensitive when it comes to female students."

"I'm surprised that you know so much about Yūri. I thought you didn't pay attention to women."

The Swiss' head spun towards him, eyes wide with astonishment. "Yūri was practically all over the news after she made her comeback last year, Viktor. Everyone was paying attention to her then." Chris cocked his head, eyeing Viktor like he didn't know what to make of his question. "Weren't you?"

"Last year?" Viktor pressed a finger to his lips as he thought back to the events of the previous season. "Last year, my rinkmate had become the youngest to win the Junior Grand Prix Final and Junior Worlds."

"Your rinkmate who has a crush on Yūri? His name is Yuri too, right?" When Viktor nodded to confirm, Chris stroked his chin. "That makes sense. Another rising star would have been more newsworthy in Russia than a returning skater who quit during her senior debut."

"She quit during her senior debut?" Viktor asked incredulously. That certainly caught his attention. "Why?"

Chris only offered a shrug and a puzzled expression. "No one knows, Viktor. Right before her Nationals, she just said she needed a break. Everyone thought she would return the next season, but she didn't. For two years, she was just…gone. But…" Chris narrowed his eyes again, this time in displeasure. "If you ask me, it probably had to do with Venus—"

A loud guffaw from the other side of the rink interrupted Chris, making him and Viktor direct their attention to a skater sitting on the rink boards. "—should have known what he was getting into when he stole you away from us!" He had to be talking to someone, except Viktor didn't see anyone else with him.

Viktor tried to shrug it off as the gala choreographer called for the skaters to gather for the opening rehearsal. But the loud skater reached for something out of sight, pulling Yūri into view before posing for a selfie with her.

Now Viktor couldn't help but feel well and truly cheated. Yūri had refused a photo with him last night, but there she was—happily stopping for a selfie with another skater. "I thought she was shy, Chris," he hissed as the loud skater—a Canadian, going by his jacket—led Yūri to the ice and bowed to let her go first.

Chris didn't answer him immediately, not when he was gaping at the duo now joining the rest of the skaters. He did lean closer so that only Viktor could hear him. "You're not skating to Hellfire again, are you?"

Viktor really hadn't thought about Hellfire after the European Championships. He had planned on going back to his Romeo and Juliet program for the gala but seeing Yūri look so at ease talking with the Canadian skater during the skaters' break after the opening rehearsal, now he was starting to consider reviving Hellfire.

Was it too much to want her to look at him?

"Watch out, Viktor!"

"Yūri, heads up!"

Viktor turned his head too late as another skater collided into his back hard enough to knock Viktor off balance. Whoever it was tried to grab his arms to stop him from falling but ended up falling on top of him. The Russian skater sat up at the same time that—to his joy—Yūri hurriedly pushed herself off of Viktor. "I'm so sorry, Viktor! I didn't see you until JJ and Chris yelled and it was too late to stop!" she cried all at once, clearly panicked. "Are you okay?"

"My head hurts..." Viktor reached a hand up to rub the back of his head—which didn't hurt at all. In fact, their collision didn't leave any lasting pain. "Perhaps you could kiss it better?" he asked innocently.

It took everything Viktor had in him to not laugh when Yūri burned as red as her fan after she had kissed him last night. "Uh—I—Viktor, I think you might have a concussion—"

Without warning, a thumb hooked itself under his jacket's collar while nails dug into the back of his neck. Viktor yelped in pain as Mila helped—forced—him to stand on the ice again. "Don't worry, Yūri, this happens every time he falls," Mila said as she helped Yūri up with more care than she had with Viktor. "Viktor only needs to skate it off." His rink mate patted Yūri on the back to send the Japanese woman away.

"Mila!" Viktor hissed, rubbing his neck after Yūri was a good distance away.

"What?" she defended, putting her hands on her hips. "Yurochka gave me a lot of rubles. I can't break my promise."

The first half of the gala ended with a performance from the fourth place finisher in Viktor's bracket who also happened to be the Canadian that Yūri had posed for a selfie with. And as luck would have it, Yūri would be the opening of the gala's second half.

"She's skating to her short program from her comeback year," Chris noted as Yūri skated out, greeted by thunderous applause from her home crowd. The welcome she received was much louder than what was given to her team mates who had performed earlier.

As Yūri folded one arm to cover her face and the other behind her head, Viktor couldn't help but notice how her starting pose mirrored the beginning of his own exhibition. While the position was the same, the music clearly wasn't. Yūri had chosen to skate to the sound of war drums and trumpets, gliding across the ice like she was preparing to go to battle. The woman he was seeing here was a far cry from the gentle beauty during her free skate.

One thing that caught his attention was her spiral entry into her opening jump combination. Spirals slowed a skater down gradually if the position was held long enough. But during her free skate, Yūri had landed her final jumps—a quad toe and a triple flip—from spirals that were held for at least three seconds. "Has she always jumped from a spiral, Chris?" he asked.

"Before her break, not often," Chris replied, never taking his eyes off of the screen. "It used to be doubles if she did. She started doing triples from a spiral when she came back."

While Yūri's spiral entries and her artistry were amazing, neither could get her the world title in the end. But Viktor was surprised by how unfazed the Japanese woman was afterwards. Yūri had kissed her fan and posed for a selfie with another skater while she turned him down for a photo. Now she was skating proudly with a fire in her eyes, as though she had been named the world champion instead of a woman robbed of her rightful crown.

How could she accept that so easily? Yūri had shown all the capabilities to make the podium and even become the world champion. But she didn't seem to care at all that she hadn't earned a medal. Viktor knew that he would have felt some kind of indignation if he had been in her position. He would have brushed it off, but his disappointment definitely would have shown in his skating afterwards.

So how was Yūri happy even without a spot on the podium?

Viktor didn't know what to make of the twinge in his chest when the monitor captured the joy on her face as she bowed to her native crowd's applause.

As the gala closed to roaring cheers, the skaters gathered for the traditional group selfie. Viktor was about to make his way to the front of the group and join Chris when he heard someone yell, "A little higher, Yūri!"

Viktor looked around until he found Yūri hanging around in the back of the group. The Japanese woman tried to add onto her height by standing on her toepicks, just barely clearing the shoulders of the skater in front of her. It was almost comical to watch, but her small stature meant that she wouldn't be seen in the photo.

Well, that wouldn't do.

Viktor didn't notice the ear-piercing screams from the audience when he lifted Yūri up by her legs. He didn't notice the roaring laughter from Chris when the Swiss looked back to find the source of the commotion. He certainly didn't notice the astonished glance from the loud Canadian.

What he did notice was that Yūri was very light—Viktor barely broke a sweat by lifting her and he would have sore arms if he carried Makkachin. She was also warm, and she rested a hand on his back to help stabilize her position. Yūri looked down at Viktor and he felt her jolt in his hold. "Viktor!" she squeaked, and did she have to look so adorable with that blush on her face?

Still, knowing that he was the one who painted her face pink made Viktor smile widely. "Hello again, Yūri." The Japanese woman averted her eyes, suddenly every bit the timid little rabbit he had met yesterday.

"Yo, Viktor!" While everyone else around them left as soon as the picture was taken, the loud Canadian skater skated up to them. "You wanna let Yūri down any time soon? She looks a bit uncomfortable."

Reluctantly, Viktor set the tiny Japanese woman back on the ice while cursing the Canadian in his head. Yūri glanced between him and the Canadian, her ponytail swishing back and forth before she bowed her head to Viktor. "Th-thank you for lifting me, Viktor."

"It was my pleasure, lapochka." Yūri immediately looked up and Viktor winked, making the woman in front of him squeak.

"Yūri, if you're interested, one of your team mates wanted to start a race over there," the loud Canadian butted in, pointing towards a handful of skaters still on the ice. Yūri quickly skated over to the group but the Canadian skater, instead of following her, slowly skated towards Viktor. "So, Viktor—you know she's got a boyfriend, right?"

Viktor's eyebrows rose in response to the Canadian's question. "I'm quite aware."

"If you know that, you should back off from her," the Canadian skater said brashly.

The Russian legend narrowed his eyes at the other skater. "Excuse me?"

The loud Canadian jabbed a thumb towards Yūri, who was presented with a notepad and a pen by one of her teammates. "The way you've been getting friendly with Yūri all day, it's like you're jealous of something. Don't get me wrong, I don't think you're mean enough to break them up," the Canadian defended. "But whatever you're doing, quit it. Yūri's the one who'll get hurt the most out of this."

"JJ, come over!" The Canadian—JJ, apparently—turned and skated away from Viktor without another word.

Chris joined him seconds later, oblivious to the Russian's bubbling anger. "What did I miss?" he wondered.

Viktor pressed his lips firmly as he watched JJ join the skaters lined up side by side like sprinters. Yūri and another female skater stood opposite of each other, apparently marking a starting line. "Nothing."

No, that wasn't right. Viktor wasn't fine. He was angry. Who did that JJ think he was? Did a photo with Yūri make him think that he knew everything there was about her? About Viktor?

What gave him the right!

But…no matter how angry he was at the cocky Canadian, he couldn't deny his words. Yes, he was trying to get close to Yūri. Yes, he was jealous of her boyfriend.

"'No matter what, Yūri will always return to me.'"

That wasn't right, either. Viktor wasn't jealous of the pretentious speed skater. He was jealous that Yūri chose to call the speed skater her love. But he didn't just want the love that made Yuan so arrogantly declare that Yūri would always return to him. He was jealous of it.

Viktor was jealous that Yūri received unconditional love from her home nation without even a medal to warrant it. He was jealous that Yūri would give her love to a fan when she was known to avoid them in the first place. He was jealous that Yūri was brought to life on the same ice that had stolen his life away from him.

He was jealous of Yūri.