October 2007

Fourteen year-old Katsuki Yuuri didn't know when he'd nodded off at his desk, but the buzz of his phone just centimetres from his face, woke him up with a start.

Lifting his head up, he realised that he had his English homework stuck to his face. Groaning, he peeled the worksheet off his cheek before reaching for his phone and checking the text message Yuu-chan had sent him.

"Stop what you're doing and go to Viktor's official site. I'm Skotaku!"

"Eh?"

Yuuri grumbled and pulled his keyboard over, mashing on some keys to bring his desktop's monitor back to life. He quickly input the url of Viktor's site and looked at the newsfeed on the right-hand side.

New for the 2007/2008 Season – Viktor's Forum!

Viktor would like to invite you to join his official forum where you can discuss everything on ice! We'll have boards to discuss all the big competitions, all the routines, the competitors, ISU news and more!

Ah! This was what Yuu-chan was talking about!

Yuuri quickly clicked the link to the new forum. While reading over the blurb, his heart skipped a beat – the moderator mentioned that Viktor might join the forum and host Q&A sessions from time to time if his schedule allowed. The forums also made note of the usual rules of forum etiquette – no hate speech, no bullying, respect peoples' opinions etc.

Yuuri suddenly felt even more proud to be Viktor's fan. Some of the top skaters had limited contact with their fans, sending out newsletters and others having a chat box on their sites, but others only had the limited profiles on their respective skating organisation's sites. Viktor however was different. He had a full website which was regularly updated, as well as a newsletter. He'd even uploaded a video of a practice session to YouTube not long ago. And now he had a whole forum!

Feeling a little giddy, Yuuri quickly clicked on the register button.

Now came the dilemma – what would his username be?

Hmmm…

Coming up with something suitably vague to just about any non-Japanese person, Yuuri continued filling in the rest of the form, putting only his initials in rather than his name. Yuuri planned to be competing at Viktor's level sooner rather than later – It wouldn't be clever professionally to out himself as Viktor's fanboy.

He quickly searched for Skotaku and added her to his friends list, before picking a forum icon, giggling slightly at the default ones that were available. It was so cute that Viktor's web team had used pictures of Makkachin as icons!

Makkachin icon in place, and friend request from Yuuko accepted, Yuuri decided it was time to introduce himself.


The forum was a hub of (mostly) good-natured activity, with lots of discussions about the Grand Prix Series, The Worlds, European Championships etc. For the fans from outside of Europe they managed to get a forum dedicated to the Four Continents and there were threads for fans of the other elite skaters, though other Russian skaters like Georgi Popovich dominated, which made sense as the forum did mostly consist of Russian fans.

Yuuri found it difficult to interact on the forum at first. He didn't know any Russian, save for recognising Viktor's name, and his English was far from perfect. Many of the Russians only knew Russian, but those that knew English were keen to interact, and Viktor's web team soon added an English language forum, which was great for Yuuri and Yuuko (and their English grades). Being sensible kids, they both kept their identities secret, and since Yuuri was already taking part in regional competitions, Yuuko understood his need to remain anonymous.

Despite both this and the language barrier, within a few months Yuuri soon found his niche on the forum. A lot of kids wanted to know how to get started in ice skating, so he, Yuuko and others gave advice as best they could, explaining the basics about types of ice skate and more technical stuff like what separated figure skating from ice dancing. Some fans on the forum loved the technicalities of skating, arguing about the ISU scoring criteria and some of the judges' decisions during competitions. Others lived for the artistry and would gush about Viltor's chosen music, and his costumes. His black, half-skirted outfit from his final year in the Juniors was seen as the benchmark – all costumes were judged against it. But his beautiful Free Skate costume for his senior debut – a blue outfit with a leafy motif and a mesh sleeve – was hot on its heels in the forum's costume poll.

With other fans, skating wasn't their reason for visiting the forum. They visited purely to indulge in their crushes on Viktor. They gossiped about Viktor's personal life and shared fan art. It was mostly harmless hero-worship, although some fans did get a little too involved at times. Some stuff just shouldn't be shared on Viktor's official forum. There were other fan-run forums for that kind of thing.

Yuuri didn't post in these sections at all, though he did lurk about a lot, secretly enjoying the gossiping and especially enjoying some of the fan art. Yuuko posted in the fan art section sometimes – she enjoyed drawing chibi versions of the skaters, and she soon became very popular. Yuuri stuck to posting in the more technical sections of the forum.


Over the next few years as the forum became bigger and bigger, some of the common problems associated with forums became more apparent, with some overzealous fans angry that "Viktor didn't love his fans or he'd post more", and others protesting at the inclusion of fan groups for the other skaters and attacking fans of Georgi Popovich and others. The forum had erupted when Viktor had cut his hair. Most fans were horrified that he seemed to be ditching his trademark androgynous look in favour of appearing more masculine. Others speculated that maybe his hair was thinning, or maybe he'd been forced to cut it by the Federation. Some fans went into mourning, with one fan opening a forum thread that was to serve as a Wake for Viktor's hair. Yuuri coped by making sure to get posters of short-haired Viktor up on the walls alongside long-haired Viktor as soon as possible. He looked at the posters for longer than he'd care to admit, and realised he kind of liked the shorter hair, although the long was so pretty he wondered what had possessed Viktor to let someone with scissors anywhere near it.


November 2009

Not long after Yuuri turned seventeen, paparazzi pictures surfaced of Viktor enjoying the company of a young woman. The forum exploded with some fans talking about how much they hated the mystery woman and she should keep her hands of "their Viktor". Yuuri was a very patient person, and he enjoyed being helpful on the forum, but he had his limits and recently he'd had to step in and deal with some idiots as the sole active moderator had been overwhelmed.

Yuuri had to admit, he'd been a little upset that his own question for Viktor's most recent (and increasingly rare) Q&A had been ignored, and after he'd spent so long writing it out and considering how the question would be received. Would Viktor find it cheeky or rude? Would his question be too vague? Would his English be understandable? Eventually his well-crafted question about pre-competition nerves was submitted and then not selected, although a similar question about pre-competition rituals was picked instead. Viktor's web team said that over a thousand questions had been submitted and that Viktor apologised but he didn't have time to answer them all.

Yuuri had also been quite miffed when he'd seen the pictures of Viktor and Mystery Woman, but there was nothing in the pictures that hinted at them being a couple, and even if they were, it was Viktor's private life and if he wanted to have a girlfriend then as his fan, Yuuri should be happy for him. It still made Yuuri feel uncomfortable however, but he couldn't put his finger on the reason why.

Still, he put it to the back of his mind and continued visiting the forum, adding a few individuals to his block list to avoid arguments.

Soon after the Q&A and Mystery Woman debacles, Yuuri found he was rewarded for his part in reigning in the more unruly elements within the fanbase when he was appointed a moderator in charge of the general skating forum. The moderator, Makkachinfan, told him it was due to his numerous positive contributions to the forum, making note that his knowledge of competitive skating was exceptional. Yuuri's forum friends Flutz and KnifeShoes soon joined him as fellow moderators. Yuuko also got an offer, but by this point her own interest in skating was beginning to wane slightly, and she wasn't on the forum that much anymore.

Yuuri was proud at being named a moderator on the forum, though he did panic at the thought of being outed since his own career on the ice was gaining momentum by the month. He'd made his senior debut this season, but he was aiming even higher for next season, hoping to gain a place in the Grand Prix series. Yuuko's dreams of skating at an elite level weren't going so well though, but she didn't seem to mind. He guessed that these days she was busier with university and she was rarely on the forum.

But Yuu-chan declining was surprising. Sure, she might be much busier with other stuff now, but she was still Viktor's fan!

It was strange how peoples' priorities had shifted though. Both Yuu-chan and Nishigori were at university now, but it was the same with Yuuri's classmates. He used to speak to a lot of them online after school on Mixi, but a lot of them were taking extra classes to get ready for university, and others were doing sports like soccer or tennis. These days if he wasn't in class, he didn't really speak to his classmates at all. Sometimes on Mixi they'd post pictures of nights out, rare breaks from the pressures of studying, but Yuuri was never included and it had been a long time since he'd been invited. It made him a little sad, but his sacrifices now would be worth it in the future. In as little as a year or two he'd be skating alongside Viktor as an equal. Nothing would get in the way of that dream, not when he'd already sacrificed so much to the ice.

These days his life consisted of getting up very early and going for a jog with Vicchan, then helping Mari with some cleaning around the onsen before heading off to school. He was studying hard as his parents had agreed to support him financially with his skating, but only if he got a degree as well. In school he still made time for training, stealing a half hour in the gym when he should have been enjoying lunch. After school it was straight to Ice Castle where he still saw Yuu-chan on occasion. His coach would drop by three times a week, but he had the rest of his time on the rink to himself. Back at home his parents paid little attention to the strict diet regimen that his coach had prescribed, but regularly skipping lunch meant he could enjoy Katsudon and feel slightly less guilty, though he knew his coach would a) strangle him to death for eating it and b) strangle his corpse for skipping lunch in the first place.

After dinner he would usually spend some time with Vicchan, taking him out for his evening walk and playing with him for a little while. Then he'd head up to his room and go straight online to catch up on the latest Viktor news. Viktor had become more accessible online, sharing pictures with the website a few times a week, and he'd set up a twitter account, though he didn't use it all that often. After checking the news it was straight onto the forum to check any reported posts and to check in with Makkachinfan who was on the forum less and less these days ("real life is a rewarding bitch, but a bitch nonetheless" he'd said on one occasion). Yuuri liked talking with Makkachinfan – they could share some woes with each other, though Yuuri kept in mind that Makkachinfan likely knew Viktor in some way, having been forum moderator since day one, so Yuuri was careful not to reveal anything too personal. Makkachinfan did similar, but Yuuri guessed from the way he talked he was likely an employee of the Russian Skating Federation.

As Yuuri had grown a little older he'd become more aware of the dynamics behind the scenes of his sport, and he'd come to realise that different countries did things very differently. For example, in Russia figure skating was very popular. As such the most promising skaters ended up very much under the wing of the Russian Federation and no expense was spared in getting them the best coaches, choreographers and trainers, the best equipment, the most lucrative sponsors and the biggest media presence. Viktor was their golden boy, and the Russian Federation probably ran the whole website for him.

In Japan however, skating was much less popular, and still considered a niche sport. The Japan Skating Federation was supportive of Yuuri, but quietly so, sending branded clothing and training gear to him from their main sponsors, and checking in on he and his coach when necessary, but for the most part Yuuri's career rested solely on his own shoulders, and he was worried that once he began his degree he'd maybe lose sight of his dreams in favour of the practicality of a normal career.

Makkachinfan gave him some advice

Whenever I'm feeling a little lost, I try to remember what first inspired my goals. I remember what my dreams are. And if I'm feeling distracted or anything, I quite literally put my goals in front of my face. Seriously. I have posters up all over the place and everything.

Yuuri chuckled after reading Makkachinfan's comment and looked around his room, plastered in posters of Viktor, before responding.

It's good advice. I already have the posters so I'll just need to look at them some more!

Makkachinfan got back to him in minutes.

You do that too? Thank goodness I thought I was the only one! Everyone thinks I'm crazy with all my to-do lists adorning the walls.

Maybe he and Makkachinfan weren't quite the same after all, Yuuri chuckled.

KnifeShoes gave similar advice.

Keep a journal. Make sure to write down what your goals are and what achieving that goal would feel like. Remember that feeling when you're going about your day.

Flutz sent him a playlist of uplifting songs and instructed him to chill.

Good things come to those who wait my friend!