CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
-Butterflies in your stomach!? Let them carry you to Free Skate Gold!-
The Four Continents Men's Singles Free Program had arrived faster than Yuri had wished. Still, despite all the nerves he had for his scores and final position on the podium - or whether he'd even be on it - he felt more nervous for the Exhibition Gala the following night.
In true Nikiforov fashion, Yuri napped until it was practically his turn to go skate. Victor gently woke him up, and they proceeded to get ready and head over to the skating arena. Yuri felt eerily calm. His skin felt cool despite his layers. He thought he could see more clearly than normal, even without his glasses. Colors seemed more vibrant, even sounds were richer, tastes more sensual.
He looked up from where he sat in the staging area, "Am I dying...?"
Victor gawked at him, "...Are you what?"
Yuri shook his head and looked back down again, "I read once that people who are consciously aware of the moment of their own death, will experience the world around them so much more intensely than they ever did before that moment. I kind of feel like that's happening to me right now."
"You'd better not be dying." Victor pointed at him, "You haven't even skated yet. We haven't even skated yet!"
"I've never felt like this before." He added quietly, moving off the bench to sit on the floor and stretch. He spread his legs far apart and moved to reach as close to the left foot as he could; his tender parts were a bit more tolerable than they had been. Victor crouched behind him and helped push him down, just like Takeshi once did in Hasetsu, "I think I'm too calm."
"This is good!" Victor encouraged, "Go onto the ice with a clear mind."
Yuri agreed to try, finished his stretch, and got back up again. It was about 6:23pm by then, and he decided it was time to get his skates on. The Men's Program would begin in half an hour. When the laces were done, and he'd pulled the bottom of his costume pants over his ankles, he paused...seeing Victor kneel in front of him unexpectedly, "What's wrong?"
The Russian put his arms on the bench on either side of his beloved's legs, and brought those azure eyes up to meet hazel, "Do you think it's strange that I'm probably more nervous than you are?"
Yuri tilted his head a little, but then smiled, and brought his hands together under Victor's chin to toy at the knot of his tie affectionately, "Be nervous for me so I don't have to be."
Victor nodded, and rose to stand, pulling Yuri up with him before they headed over to the viewing area. The ice was just about ready to start Men's practice after the Ladies had gotten done with their medaling ceremony. Soon though, the Free Skate was underway, and scores were being called out like gun-shots.
Phichit's earned a respectable 192.45, with a final score of 289.37, similar to his GPF final score. He was happy, but disappointed at the same time.
JJ managed 214.89 with his own Free Skate, just under-shaving Victor's old record, and brought his total to 317.42. He was much happier with that score than he'd been with his just-barely-300 at the GPF.
He still didn't get all six planned quads though, Victor scoffed as he watched the celebration in the kiss and cry. He turned to rub his fiancé's shoulders, "Stay loose, Yuri. You scored higher than that at the Final, and you scored some 20 points less coming out of the Short Program. Just do as well as you did in your previous Free Skates and you'll get Gold for sure."
When Otabek finished his program, JJ still held onto the 1st place spot, with the Kazakh skater holding firmly to second. Leo de la Iglasia skater held third for the moment, with Chinese friend GuangHong sitting at 6th.
Victor felt a vibration in his pocket, and pulled out his phone to see a FaceTime request from Yurio. He tilted his head, surprised, but smiled and accepted the call, "Hey. We were just thinking about you."
In a side-hall - out of the way and out of ear-shot of the crowd - Yuri went through the shuffle of his step-sequence. He saw motion out the corner of his eye though and paused, spotting Victor there waving at him. He pulled out one ear-plug, and looked down to the Russian's phone as he approached with it. When he saw Yurio there looking back at him, Yuri got excited and quickly grabbed the device, "Yurio! Hey!"
"Davai, Katsudon." The blonde said simply, his face as still as stone. To Yuri's surprise though, his Russian counterpart gave a thumb's up, "Give us all the show we want to see."
"Don't look away, or you might miss something." Yuri said eagerly.
The Russian Punk turned his head slightly, but then cocked a smirk, "Crush Leroy for us; we can feel how hard he's patting himself on the back all the way here in St. Petersburg." He commanded.
The words told Yuri all he needed to know, and he happily nodded, then gave the phone back to his fiancé. The flutter of excitement rushed through him, and he drew in a long, contented breath, "I feel good about this. I'm going to do better than at the Final."
"That's a bold prediction, don't you think?" An unwanted voice asked suddenly, "Yuri?"
The smile faded from his face like milk from a broken bottle, as did Victor's - replaced by one of irritation and impatience - but Yuri put his hand on his coach's arm gently and looked the Canadian square in the eyes, "I'm going to win."
It was almost comical, but a group of sportscasters somehow overheard the exchange, and before much else could be said or done, were all gathered behind JJ, waiting for a response. In his usual cocky manner, the Canadian brought his hands up to form his own initials with his fingers, "It's going to be a JJ Style Victory lap. Good luck in the attempt though. You'll have to break Victor's record a second time in a row to catch up to me. Considering how quickly you crash and burn..."
"Okay well that's enough of that," Victor interrupted suddenly, and began walking away from his partner, towards JJ and the press-gaggle. He waved his arms out after them, "Go on, shoo. You don't get to try and sabotage my athlete with petty jabs and insults. Only losers get Gold by tearing others down. Maybe you should just skate better next time."
Cameras rolled and excitement buzzed, and JJ stood defiantly. In the most embarrassing-possible moment though, the Leroy parent-coaches both walked up at that exact moment, "Come on, JJ, Isabella is waiting for us in the stands. You said you were just going for a bathroom break." His mother said, and started ushering him back the way he came.
Victor's steely-blue eyes watched stiffly as the Canadian was corralled-off and taken away again, and only heaved an annoyed, audible sigh once the teen was out of earshot, "... Vysokomernyj durak." (Arrogant idiot.) He growled under his breath.
Yuri just watched, the high of his euphoria long gone. He felt Victor snake an arm around him though, and pulled him close, slate blue eyes staring deep into him.
"...I'm sorry you keep having to deal with him like that." The silver said quietly, "I feel like he's picking on you as a way of getting on my nerves."
"Oh, is that what it is?" Yuri asked dryly, arms going up to return the hug, "Is that what he tried to do at Rostelecom? I didn't hear what he said at the time."
"Yeah. Obnoxious, isn't it?" Victor confirmed, and reached up with his free hand to trace a line over Yuri's heart, "The 4CCs Gold medal will be sitting right here in an hour. I anxiously await the moment I can watch Leroy's face as he realizes it."
"...No pressure..."
"He needs to be taken down a notch." Victor explained, "He doesn't know how to be humble. It disgusts me." He moved the free hand from Yuri's chest to his chin, and stroked his lower lip with his fingertips, "And since I can't compete here...I'm counting on you to be my proxy. So...Yuri. Go out there and show him what a real champion looks like. You want to do that, don't you?"
Yuri nodded immediately, "I do."
They heard the cheers as the previous skater's show concluded, and smiled at one another.
"It's time."
.
Yuri held to Victor's shoulder as he leaned over to pull the rubber guards from his blades, and then handed them to his coach so he could get his track coat off. He could feel the energy in the stadium, and it filled him with excitement.
"Next to take the ice...representing Japan...Katsuki Yuruuuuui!" The announcer said overhead.
The athlete took a deep breath and stepped through the gateway, feeling his blades slide on the ice beneath him. He turned back around to face his coach one last time, but found that there wasn't really a lot to say. Victor held his hands with his own, bought them together, and kissed those fingers gently.
Yuri watched happily - but nervously - as it happened, and looked up at his partner's face when Victor pulled away again. Unable to help himself, he propped himself up by his elbows on the rink wall and kissed him lightly. Victor smiled through it, and brought up his right hand to deftly, barely touch his fiancé's jaw. After that, Yuri was off without a word, heading for the center of the rink with the roar of the audience propelling him forward.
He took his position, and took one last deep breath. Soon, it would be over and done.
The sound of the piano rose into the air, and the audience quieted.
The soft scratch of blades whispered beneath him as he started to move.
On the ice, he felt like he was home.
"Katsuki Yuri is opening his program with two consecutive quads again...the first one is coming up...a combination. Quadruple Toe-loop...dou-...no, triple Toe-loop!" Newscaster Morooka announced, surprised.
Not that Yuri could hear what was being said while he was skating, but he could feel the excitement. He had already increased the difficulty of his program and he'd barely even started.
"Quadruple Salchow! Beautiful! Followed by a triple Flip! AND HE HAD BOTH OF HIS HANDS IN THE AIR!"
Yuri felt a wobble as he landed, but recovered from it without anyone noticing, and skated on.
The calmest part of his Free Skate came up. He slid forward on the ice for what seemed like forever, twisting only when it was time to complete the wide outside spread-eagle, following into a flawless Ina Bauer.
Victor had one hand over his mouth as he held onto the poodle-plush tissue box. The whole display was like déjà vu. Yuri is going to put it all out there and go for the highest possible score with his current skill, and as it stands...it's even more difficult than my last Free Skate...
Yuri rounded back, and threw himself into the air, one arm over his head as he completed the triple Axel. The crowd screamed its approval. They were even louder when he finished the quadruple Toe-loop after that. He didn't dare raise an arm for that one though.
.
"I think the triple is all I'll manage this time." Yuri said, breathlessly slouching on the back of the bench.
Victor tapped his boots against the support-post, knocking some snow off, "Even a single with an arm in the air gets a higher score than one without. But are you sure you want to do this? You don't need all this extra stuff to win. I rarely resorted to Tano jumps."
"It's not about winning anymore..." Yuri answered, and stretched his arms before rubbing one shoulder, "It's about seeing how far I can push myself while I still have this chance." He looked at Victor and put his hands over the man's hips, "I may never score this high again. Either because of nerves when you start competing again, or because I myself will start to wear down...this is it. I have to put it all on the line."
.
"Triple Lutz...triple Toe-loop...! Very clean!" Morooka and Oda continued.
.
"I don't want you to think you're not allowed to try your hardest just because I'm on the roster alongside you." Victor scolded, resting his arms over Yuri's shoulders in turn, "You've more than proven that you're my equal. If you push yourself too hard, you may end up sabotaging your future ability."
"I'll never be your equal, Victor." Yuri insisted, though he offered a smile despite his doubt, "You've been my hero for more than half my life. I'll always look up to you. So...don't ever stop trying to surprise me, okay?"
.
"Here comes the fourth and last quad...the Flip! Victor Nikiforov's signature move is quickly becoming one of Skater Yuri's trump-cards!"
Excitement rang high as Yuri entered the final loop before leaping into the jump.
Shards of ice flew off his blades, and the world spun around him. He felt the ground come back up at him, landing on the opposite foot from the one he jumped off from, and the wind blew by as he moved backwards, away from the final vault of his Free Skate.
He finished his combination spin, slowed, stopped, set a toe-pick to the ice...and raised his hand up towards his fiancé.
He and Victor smiled at each other.
It was over.
Yuri raised both his arms to the audience and bowed, clasping his hands together in gratitude before he finally pushed off with his toe to head for the rink exit. Victor held a hand out for him, with blade guards in the other.
Yurio watched the event intently from his grandfather's house, his fluffy cat snoozing next to him. The teen nodded in approval.
Yuri felt as calm at that moment - now in the kiss and cry - as he had when he'd been waiting in the staging area. He couldn't understand how it was possible. Sitting on that hot-seat had always been so terrifying before, yet now... He let himself slouch against his coach's left arm, holding it to his chest as Victor clasped their hands, lacing their fingers together. Victor was, of course, confident and beaming at his pupil, and moved his free hand to push a strand of hair from Yuri's eyes as they both heard the voice on the overhead speaker echo through the stadium.
"The score for Katsuki Yuri..."