CHAPTER NINE

-Keep your eyes to the sky and one ear to the ground! I'm really in St. Petersburg!?-

My name is Yuri Katsuki, and I'm one of the dime-a-dozen top figure skaters certified by the JSF. I'm 24 years old, and the last year has been one of the most incredible in my entire life. After a disastrous 6th place finish at the Grand Prix Final in Sochi, Russia, and a close brush with retirement...my childhood idol - five-time consecutive World Champion, and legendary figure skater - Victor Nikiforov, suddenly turned up at my family's Hot-Springs Resort to be my coach! I can still sometimes hardly believe it!

With his help, I was not only able to get back into the Grand Prix Final again...I was able to win the Silver Medal, too! I even somehow managed to break Victor's long-held World Record score in the Free Program in the process! It's nothing short of unbelievable!

But the best part...isn't even the skating success he's helped me find. It's the 'Life and Love' in our engagement rings.

Today is December 29th...and I've moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, to be with him. It's the eve of a brand new year...and our whole new life together.

.

Yuri looked at the house with wide eyes. He wasn't sure if he was hallucinating or not, but it seemed a lot bigger than he imagined, even though it was dark and snowing lightly. The neighborhood had decent lighting, so he could see the outline of the house where the snow glowed on the roof and iron-wrought fence. His head swam from the trip still, despite how much he'd tried to sleep, and it only added to his awe of what was in front of him.

"What do you think?" He heard Victor ask, one arm draped over his shoulders casually.

"...Is it still technically Tuesday right now...? Or is it Wednesday...?" Was all he could think of to say.

The silver Russian just laughed and started stepping towards the walkway that lead to his front door, opened the metal gate and pulled his sleepy partner along with him to make sure he got inside safely, "It's Tuesday night, late...almost Wednesday morning."

When the door was unlocked and pushed open, Makkachin rushed inside, barking excitedly. Victor shuffled in and hit the lights, careful to avoid two rather large packages sitting on his front step.

Yuri was ahead of him, still marveling at the whole thing, so Victor turned back to try and figure out a way of getting the big boxes inside himself. The smaller one was easy enough, so he tucked it around the door, and then scratched his head at the bigger one, which was more like a large crate than a box, reinforced by wood paneling, "Yuri...come help."

The younger skater was mesmerized though and hadn't heard him. Yuri took in a deep breath, drawing in the smell of this place that had been his idol's since before they'd ever known each other. It smelled much as he expected; like recently-used cleaners. Looking around, he saw walls filled with professional memories, dating back to when the Russian skating legend was still a rising star in the Junior ISU. He even saw a photo of the man's 16 year old self, when he wore what would eventually become the 'Eros' outfit, and his face flushed a little to see the teen so proud in that ensemble, having no idea back then what would happen in the years to come.

"Y-Yur...Yuri...!"

Five golden medals hung inside a large wood-framed rectangle, labeled at the bottom as World Championships, suspended on a wall in an adjacent room, protected from dust by treated glass. More medals from other events were behind glass on other parts of the wall, many of them gold as well, and even more trophies sat on the mantle and on shelves than Yuri realized Victor had even won. There were even a few newspaper articles clipped and framed. Oddly, Yuri never saw any photos of anything normal. Like family, friends, or anything else. Only a few shots of Makkachin here and there, or Yakov.

"Yuri!" Victor said again, louder than before, finally getting his attention.

"Huh?" He turned around, and saw his partner still in the doorway, unable to lift the large wooden box high enough to get it over the lip of the last step to the indoors, "What's that?"

"My mail from the last few months, I think." Victor answered with a huff, looking a bit red in the face from his efforts, "I don't have a wheelie-hand-truck-thing to get it off the ground, so help me get it onto this ledge so we can push it inside."

"Just the last few months?" Yuri repeated in disbelief, and set the costume bag down on a nearby hall-table before going back to the doorway, "Is there more somewhere?"

"Probably." The silver laughed, "It just piles up! The post office probably heard I was coming back and wanted to get rid of it."

"No kidding."

Between the two of them, they were able to get the huge crate over the 8 inch step-threshold, pushed it along on a rug, got it inside the entry-hall far enough to make clearance for the door, and then closed said door behind them. Victor huffed a breath and turned around to sit on the crate, kicked his shoes off, and heaved a relieved sigh, "It's good to be home, but now there's so much work to do~!"

"This place is incredible." Yuri said idly, looking around again, "I don't even know where to begin." He pointed at the wall with the most photographs on it, "You don't have pics of family up there. Do you have any in St. Petersburg? Will I get to meet them?"

"Our stuff won't arrive until tomorrow morning, so if you want to rest, the bedroom is down that hall." Victor leaned back on one hand and pointed with the other, completely ignoring the questions, then twisted around with one knee on the box still as he leaned against his partner's back, "Make yourself comfortable."

Yuri could only pause and turn his head, and looked at the man with a strange look on his face.

"Something wrong?"

"Is that a no?"

"Is what a no?" Victor asked, looking innocent.

"...Never mind." Yuri shook his head, and turned back around again to look at the house all around him, "It's better than I could've imagined. I just...can hardly believe I'm really here." He fidgeted and rotated his ring around his finger a few times with his thumb as he spoke, "I'm not dreaming still, right? This is real."

"After the last year, you think you might still be asleep?" Victor wondered curiously. He peeled off his beloved's back and sat on the crate again, and crossed one leg over the other.

Yuri lowered his head a little, "I know it's real...it's just... It's more than I deserve. I feel like I'm going to wake up tomorrow morning and it'll still be the day after last year's Nationals. This house will be gone, this ring will be gone...you'll be gone...and I'll have to start all over again without you. When I said I never wanted to wake up again without you beside me...it wasn't just because I'm happy being with you... I'm ashamed and afraid of where I came from, before you; what I used to be."

Victor's expression changed from curiosity to bewilderment. He raised an eyebrow and then settled to resolve the issue, "Close your eyes, Yuri."

"Close my eyes...?" He echoed in confusion.

"Just do it~!" Victor repeated, and got back up to his full height as his bewildered fiancé stopped second-guessing what was said and finally did as he was told. The Russian grabbed him by his shoulders, turned him around several times -which made him even more dizzy than before - and then stopped him back in his original position. Victor put his hands over both ears for what seemed like a full minute. All Yuri could hear after that was his own heartbeat.

"...Victo-"

"Ssst."

Yuri went quiet again, and endured another minute of awkward silence. He could sort-of hear the sound of Makkachin's claws tapping against the wood floor in the kitchen, followed by soft panting as he came closer. Victor just stayed there, making him steep in his uncomfortable silence.

"I told you before that you're stuck with me." The silver legend purred quietly, "Now, on the count of three, you're going to open your eyes. You're going to be in St. Petersburg, Russia. You're going to be a Silver-and-Gold-medal winning, world-record-breaking top figure skater with the JSF, training under your coach, Victor Nikiforov. You're going to be engaged to him. You're going to have a golden ring on your finger, and he's going to have a matching ring on his finger, too...and he loves you more than skating and life itself. Ready?"

Yuri's cheeks were flushed, but he nodded.

"Okay. Ichi...ni...san...!" (One...two...three!)

Yuri awoke with a start, and his eyes shot open. A brown poodle was startled next to him, having been asleep on top of the covers where the skater had been under them. The room was dark, the walls practically invisible on all sides. Eyes went down where Yuri realized he'd had his arm over the dog when he woke, and pat the poor creature on its head, "Sorry, Vic-chan, I didn't mean to scare you." He said quietly, his expression changing from mild concern as he pushed to sit up, to near-crying disappointment as he turned around to hug his knees, "...It was all a dream after all. I knew it..."

There was a moment where the distraught figure just hugged his knees, pressing his eyes against them and the blanket covered them. He drew in a deep, though shaky breath, and lifted his head to rub at the burning feeling that was creeping up his throat. He felt a wet sheen across his skin, and full beads of sweat where he placed his hand on and rubbed his face...and felt the brush of warm metal on his cheek. Stunned and confused, he pawed in the dark for his phone, confused even more for why the edge of the bed was so hard to find.

This bed is huge...I've never had one this big...what's going on?

When he finally moved far enough, he felt at the soft edges of a wooden night-stand, and found a phone there with a charge-cable plugged into it. He didn't even consider a glance at it, pulled the phone free, and clicked it on, using the light to shine onto his hand...and saw the shine of gold on his finger. His eyes were wide in disbelief, turning the phone over to see the time...only to find that the wallpaper on the phone's Lock screen wasn't the image of Vic-chan he'd had there for so long. It was something else entirely...not even a dog.

...This...is me...and Victor Nikiforov...!? I won Silver...? And Chris and Phichit-kun are there, too...? When did that happen? Wait...Vic-chan is next to me...but Phichit-kun is... Haven't I moved to Detroit yet...? Where am I...?

The blankets came flying off himself after that, and the shaken young skater flew towards the dim glow of light under a door that he'd only just-then noticed. The door burst open, phone still in-hand, and a dull glow greeted him from the hall and the next room. Yuri's heart pounded and raced in his chest, and his eyes darted from one unrecognized wall to the next, each step forward feeling like it took too long.

"V-Victor...!?" He called out, a panic in his voice.

The silver-headed Russian twisted his head around, unseen by the fear-stricken man coming towards the living-room, not having spotted him yet. In a mad dash, he gathered up a bunch of clothing that had been set out in front of himself and quickly stuffed them back into the cardboard box they'd come from, only to hear his name be called again in a different tone. He barely had time to turn before he caught sight of his fiancé falling to his knees in front of him with a hard thud against the wood-flooring, and then leaned forward towards him, arms going around his sides.

Yuri collapsed against him, all but sobbing for the relief of it all, arms pinned under the man's back where he'd pushed Victor down. He could feel a leg pressed up against his side where the other was lying straight under him, parted slightly to go around his own legs where he'd slid down on the polished hard-wood.

"Y-Yuri...? What's the matter?" The Russian asked, worried beyond words, trying to push himself up onto his elbows to avoid squashing his partner's arms, "...Why are you so upset?"

Yuri's voice was ragged, but he refused to lift his head from where he'd buried his face against his partner's chest, "I woke up suddenly and it was dark, I couldn't see but I could feel Vic-chan sleeping next to me like he always used to...I thought everything before was a dream and that I was still at Yu-Topia before I'd ever moved to Detroit in the first place, but then I grabbed your phone by accident and saw your Lock screen photo and used the light to see my ring...so it wasn't Vic-chan at all and this isn't even Yu-Topia and I jus-"

"Yuri." Victor cut him off, lifting his legs out straight to use as a counter-weight to try and sit himself up, and set one arm after another around the rattled figure's small frame, "...It's okay, it was just a dream." He stroked his hand gently up and down against his partner's shoulder, "You were delirious from the trip, so I put you to bed when we got here." He explained, and rubbed his cheek gently across his partner's hair, "You've been anxious about this move since before we even got on the first plane...you tried to sleep on every flight, but even after all that, you never did seem to get any rest, except for that brief time during our layover. Is any of that ringing a bell?"

Yuri still seemed too overwhelm to process it all, and his fingers clenched a bit harder around the silver Russian's t-shirt.

"...We're at home in St. Petersburg now. We got here a few hours ago."

The big brown poof strode by as the man spoke, nails tapping the floor as he passed, passing the long blue couch on his way to the kitchen.

"The poodle that was sleeping with you was Makkachin... You didn't think he was kind of big to be Vic-chan?"

Yuri's quick, shallow breaths finally started to mellow out, calming to a normal pace even as he still clung on for dear life. Eventually, his panic melted away, and made room for the normal anxiety he seemed to always have simmering at the back of his mind...though that on its own just lead him to feel guilty and ashamed. He pulled back from the Russian's chest and tried to hide his eyes behind the fingers he pinched to the bridge of his nose, "...S-Sorry...I...don't know why I did all that..."

"Do you feel better now at least? You really had me nervous. The last time you had a melt-down like that, at least I could understand why...this just came out of nowhere..." Victor reached his arms forward again to pull the anxious skater's shoulder back down against his chest, "Did you have a nightmare or something?"

"B-Before...I feel asleep..." He tried saying, still feeling his heart thumping, "I didn't say anything weird or stupid before that, did I?"

"Well, you said you were worried that you'd wake up and all this would be gone...so maybe you managed to set yourself up. Never go to bed worried or mad or it'll stick with you all night." Victor lifted a hand so he could lift a finger up to emphasize the point, then looked down to see if his fiancé had any sort of reaction.

Yuri's expression changed a little, letting himself have the benefit of the doubt that he wasn't somehow still dreaming. He turned his head, trying to glance around the room some, and finally took in the sights and the small semblance of familiarity from his arrival. The more he saw, the less his mind got away from him, and soon, he was able to twist fully around and lie down on his back, sinking down against his fiancé's core such that his head was against the man's abdomen. He held there a moment and drew in a deep breath, feeling where the Russian pulled both hands up his front, coming to a stop against his chest. Cherry-hazel eyes lifted to look at the figure, but then closed again lightly as he felt the forward lean.

Lips met where Victor curled over his partner's head, fingers clasping around one another when he felt Yuri bring his hands up. Silver-grey bangs brushed against pale skin as the Russian finally pulled back again, "Maybe this is all a bit more overwhelming for you than I thought it would be. You say that you've gotten comfortable with things...but deep down, you're still the Yuri Katsuki who ran away from me for all those years, too scared to even say hello, and who could only get over those fears when you were drunk." Victor surmised, and stroked his thumb back and forth slowly, soothingly, "I once said that you and Yurio should be more self-aware, but here I am completely unaware of some really important things."

"...It's...it's not your fault..." Yuri sighed, letting himself be washed over with the feeling of his partner's arms around him, "Crippling self-doubt is something I've dealt with for years."

"...Self-doubt or doubt of me?" Victor wondered skeptically.

Brown eyes lifted again, but then turned, "Maybe...the doubt about what you see in me..."

"Let me assuage those doubts then." The Russian purred, and pulled one hand away so he could reach to the side of himself, "I wanted to wait to show this to you until tomorrow...but I think now is better. You'll really like this." He explained, still holding his fiancé close as the sound of plastic crinkling under a hand-grip resonated around the room.

What landed in Yuri's lap was a confusing sight; a neatly folded blue and black garment with numerous crystal inlays, making it shimmer and sparkle before his eyes. The upper parts, on the shoulders of what Yuri could identify as the front of a jacket and shirt, were thin, braided silver epaulettes, and over the left shoulder were two silver cords.

"I don't get it." He shook his head a bit in utter confusion, then tilted his head back against his partner's front and looked at him skeptically, "Why did you get your 'Aria' costume redone? Are you going to use it for another Exhibition...?"

"That outfit isn't for me. I'm too tall to fit into it, just like how I'm too tall to fit into the outfit you now wear for 'Eros.'" The Russian answered with a huffed chuckle. He reached for the bag with both hands to pull it further open, withdrew a second costume - wine and black in color - and shook it out before setting it down properly over the front of his own frame, "So, this one is mine..." He waited a moment for the realization to settle in, but it seemed like Yuri was still a bit slow, "The blue one is your costume, for 'Duetto: Stay Close to Me,' the Pair-Exhibition performance I've been thinking about."

Skeptical and still wondering if he was somehow inside a dream within his previous nightmare, like the whole thing was just some horrible prank, Yuri rose to sit up, and took the blue outfit with him as he went. He turned his head back and looked from the costume jacket to the man who'd given it to him, "...What...are you saying...?"

Victor smiled proudly, but it was the wink after that finally allowed the man 'permission' to accept the reality of the gift.

"...EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?"

It was a while before Yuri could compose himself enough to even look at the costume again, clutching it tightly to his chest with both arms wrapped around it like it might slip through his grasp if he didn't. Victor held him where he stood, patting his head gently as he sobbed, "Breathe, Yuri. Breathe."

"But look at it!" He cried out, finally holding it out in front and gaping at it like it was just too precious to be real, "It's just like yours!"

"I know."

"But it's blue!"

"That's what I asked them to use."

"And you said it was for me!"

"It is for you."

"Because you want to do a Pair Exhibition version of 'Stay Close to Me!'"

"Everything on the ice is love, and this is how I want to show my love to you. Call it a late Christmas or Couples' Day gift." The Russian explained dutifully, and stepped out in front of the man to hold his hands where they still held to the jacket in turn.

"...When did you even...have time? If you just thought this up when we were messing around at the Ice Castle right before Nationals..."

"Remember when I took that call in the taxi before?"

"...Sure, but-"

"Those were the tailors, saying they could have the order done in just a few days. I was asking them to deliver it here instead of to Yu-Topia!" Victor explained excitedly, "That's why I didn't want to say a whole lot about what was happening out here while we were getting ready for Nationals. I didn't want to risk spoiling the surprise!"

"...Wow..." Yuri sat back on his haunches, eyes on the shimmering material in his hands again, "...I don't...even know what to say. This must've cost you a small fortune, and I...didn't really get you anything at all..."

"You got me the most of all!" The Russian corrected, spreading his arms out to the sides, "You gave me my ring, a new perspective on things...and...on the day itself, you made love to me! In more sexy terms, one could say you gave me your virginity that night, which, I might point out, is a onetime gift that can never be taken back or given to anyone else." Even Victor Nikiforov couldn't stop himself from getting a bit of color in his cheeks at the mention it, and he smiled brightly, "I'll cherish it forever."

Yuri was, of course, rather pink for it as well, and brought the blue jacket closer to himself as he cast his eyes down and smiled sheepishly, "...Y-Yeah...I...I guess I did, didn't I?"

"Mh!" The silver legend nodded enthusiastically, "And 'Aria' was the thing that brought us together! I want the whole world to see it now." He pulled back a moment to roll-up the garment he'd displayed over himself, set it back in the box it had come from, and withdrew the remaining components to Yuri's outfit; the pants and black shirt, "Go on, Yuri. Try it on."

Still in disbelief of the whole thing, Yuri could only nod in stunned silence, and scooted forward on his knees first. He leaned into his fiancé's embrace and hugged one free arm over a shoulder, "Thank you thank you thank you!" He said excitedly, trying his best not to cry as he pulled away again. He returned to sit where he'd been a moment before and started to unpack the rest of the outfit, and pulled the items on quickly. The jacket went on next as Yuri rose back up to his feet, tucking the bottom of the black inside shirt and carefully fit his hands into the thumb-gloves at the end of the sleeves.

Victor stepped in to help settle it properly on his partner's shoulders; he moved his fingers down to clasp the silver cords across the front, then looked the whole thing over carefully for the tiniest of flaws.

"Is it ok?" Yuri asked, his face as red as it had ever been.

Victor nodded, but reached forward to run his fingers through that mop of raven-black hair, and slicked it back into show-fashion, much like how he'd done to 'out' his partner at the restaurant the other night. As he held it there, keeping the skater's bangs from getting back into his face, he looked into those deep hazel wells and smiled proudly, "Perfecto! You look fantastic."

Yuri's face lit up at the sound of those words, but he could do little to stop the tears in his eyes that time. The happiness was too much for him to be able to think of anything else to say, so he just stepped into the silver legend's frame and kissed him where he stood, hands clinging to whatever they could clamp onto.

Victor moved his arms over his partner's shoulders in return, and kissed him back quite happily, beaming over his pride and joy. He had to huff a breath when they parted again, "...Hah...you'll have to practice every day."

"I will!"

"You'll have to land all your Flips and learn to land the Lutz."

"Quad Flip and quad Lutz!"

"No more 'warm-up mode.'"

"Not warming-up anymore!"

"And you're going to win the Gold at Four Continents, and every competition after that."

"...And I'm...going to try my hardest to win Gold!"

"No, no...Yuri...let's do that again. You already promised. So say it with me." Victor started, "'I'm going to win Gold from now on.'"

"I'm going to win Gold from now on."

"Do you believe it?"

"Ican'tbelievethisisreallyhappening." Yuri's eyes welled up again, "Iloveyousomuchrightnow!"

Victor just sighed happily and laughed, "That's exactly what I wanted to hear, Yuri."

.

It felt like hours passed as Yuri practiced as many moves of the program as he could right there in the living room. His joy was contagious, and the Russian genius watched him dance, slate eyes following every move through perfection. Before long, Victor stepped into the fray as well, and moved to hoist his fiancé into the air like he would if they were on the ice. Yuri was caught off-guard by it, but when Victor set him back down on the ground again, it made sense.

"Then I'll do this..." Victor explained, and stepped his right leg around the back of his partner's feet, pulled him down with one arm as he held the other out on display, then backed up to let Yuri stand again, "And there's another lift a few seconds later...and then we do a move from the original program..." He stretched an arm forward, with one leg lifted straight out behind himself, and motioed with his hands down his face towards his chest. Yuri knew which moves Victor was referring to, and mimicked him in turn, the both of them reaching high up towards the ceiling, then pulled their hands down again as though in anguish, until it came time for them to do the single reverse flip and they ran out of room to jump.

Yuri was about to burst out of his skin with excitement, and they flopped back onto the long blue couch, clasping each other's hands between where they sat, "How long have you been thinking about this? Neither of us has ever really done pair skating before, but you seem to know what to do already...!"

"Since you asked me to skate with you for one more year." Victor answered, "You said 'with' and I thought about it literally, and it just poured into my mind like a movie after that. I hadn't solidified which program though until after I had you skate to 'Aria' with me at the Ice Castle; it just made perfect sense. This is the last program I skated before taking a break..." He said, and gave the hand he held a gentle squeeze, "And since I left the ice to coach you, I think it's only fitting that you get to bring me back onto it...neh?"

Hazel eyes were misty again, but Yuri nodded, and turned his gaze back towards the ceiling He took a moment to look at the light-and-fan fixture that hung from above, "...This is really going to be incredible." He commented quietly, only to get a wry look on his face, and he looked down to his coach again, "This is just what Celestino would do though; picking my programs for me. Does that mean I should start calling you Vivi or something, like Phichit-kun calls him Ciao Ciao?"

Viktor pulled a rubber-face, his left eye squinting hard under his bangs, but he quickly shook his head and tried to feign a laugh, "Noooo no no, you don't have to call me anything else. Definitely not that. ...Do you think I'm really pulling a Celestino move?"

"Weren't you the one who said I should do more to take charge of my own programs?" Yuri side-eyed him skeptically, even though he had no hesitation to agree to the plan.

"Sure." Victor answered happily, like he didn't see the contradiction, "And you should freely choose of your own free will and without pressure to do 'Duetto.'"

Yuri gave him another strange look, but then laughed and turned his head, "Let me think long and hard about that."

The Russian watched as his partner tapped his head, as though deep in thought, "Such a difficult decision!" He twisted where he sat on the couch, and pulled one leg up to half-cross it in front of himself, draping an arm over the backrest.

"I just don't know, Victor." Yuri played along, pretending to be frustrated with the nonexistent conundrum, "It's such a tough program, and I don't know where I'll get the time to practice this routine that I've never done before."

Victor gasped emphatically, "Yuuuuuri! Whatever will you do!?" He turned around fully and draped himself over his partner's lap with tremendous flare, one hand up to press against the side of his forehead, "The fate of the world depends on your choice!"

"Calm down there, Georgi." Yuri laughed, and pushed his fiancé off of himself to sit on his own again, then raised his right hand up with a finger extended, "That's it! I've decided. I'm going to skate 'Duetto' to help officially announce your return to competition." He reached to put that same finger under his fiancé's chin gently, "May the God of Skating favor me."

"He does every day." Victor purred, and touched their noses together lightly. However, just as he'd finished, he found himself pushed down to his back rather unexpectedly, pressed up against a few pillows at his end of the couch. He watched with rapt fascination as his fiancé reached around to unsnap the elbow fastenings of his jacket, freeing the sleeves from the button-down it fit over. The three silver cords that hung across it came undone quickly after, and the black button-down behind where they'd hung. The sheer blue material came loose then, and Yuri set the garment gently over the back of the couch. Before Victor could even realize what was happening, Yuri slipped forward between his legs and pressed into another kiss, slowly descending to lie on top of him, a hand sliding down each of his sides. Victor settled his arms around his partner's shoulders, hands cupped around the back of the man's head, fingers woven through jet-black spikes of short hair...but it was the push against his hips that made him draw in a light gasp, "Nh... Yuri...this is..."

"You said once that there was an Eros in me that no one, not even me, had ever seen. I want to show it to you..."

Victor could only raise his arms up excitedly, "Wow~!"