CHAPTER FIFTY ONE

-Too much and never enough, thoughts of the real world intermingle with competition!-

Scores for the familiar competitors had been comparable to past performances, but Chris had managed to knock JJ off the Gold medal slot by a fraction of a point. He'd even manage to squeeze out a new personal best and was quite pleased with himself. When he spotted Victor and Yuri finally arriving, he sauntered over with a knowing look.

Yuri was already red-faced when he saw the blond, "H-Hey Chris."

"Yuri." The man nodded amiably, "Victor."

"Congrats on your new high score, Chris!" The Russian said happily, "Sorry we missed the show. We just got here."

"I know." He mused, stepping up near Yuri, "Your sexy little plaything told me you'd be late."

"Oh? Did he?" Victor wondered, amused now, and he leaned closer to his partner's ear, "What'd you tell him?"

"Some...stuff. You know. Nondescript...things." Yuri got more and more nervous, and he started to slither off to avoid more questions.

Chris stood next to the Russian and they both watched him go with a sigh and a laugh, "...He was so proud of himself when he left, too."

"Oh, tell me!"

"You wouldn't believe how fast he was running to get to the shuttle." The Swiss skater nudged Victor's side, "So, do you two start with sword fighting or oral?"

Victor just acted bashful suddenly, "I couldn't tell you all that...Yuri would never forgive me!"

"You can tell him it's for research purposes."

Yuri could hear the two having a mighty-fine laugh, likely at his own expense, but he just kept going, trusting that Victor wouldn't give away any details that might embarrass him later. It was one thing to brag about a future event - vaguely - but it seemed like another entirely to talk about it after it happened. He headed over to the televisions to see what was going on, up on the ice, and to see the exact scores. His phone app was a bit behind and he didn't know who was at what rank anymore.

With so many competitors, it was always interesting to see the full list from top to bottom, especially since it was usually the difference of a single point that separated whole classes of ranks. The top scoring skater might be well-and-beyond the 2nd place athlete, but below that...it was just fractions of points. It could be crushing to see a score that was, for all intents and purposes, fantastic, but have 14 people squeeze ahead with scores just barely 0.01 points higher. Yuri knew the disappointment of that fact better than anyone.

He could see that there was a fairly wide variety of scores. Most skaters had done fairly well, with Short Program scores in the high 80s and low 90s, and their Free Skates were equally respectable with scores ranging from the 160s to 190s. The top 10 skaters were above all of those, with Short Programs above the mid 90s and Free Skates in the mid to high 190s. And then there was Victor, whose 122+ Short Program made everyone else's look sad. Until he did his Free Skate though, his name was at the very bottom of the list, along with his own, Yurio's, and a few others who hadn't skated yet.

He tried to remind himself of his own scores at past events, and how it put him in at a combined total of over 300 points.

All I have to do to get on the podium is repeat what I did at Four Continents and the Final...but to beat Victor, I have to do even better…

He whined pitifully and felt the butterflies growing in his stomach. In just under an hour, it would be Victor's turn, and he was sure that he'd be witnessing history in the making all over again. When he looked back from the scoreboards to return to where he'd left Victor with Chris, Yuri spotted an odd group of people standing near to them. They were in business suits like anyone could expect for non-competitors, but none of them were carrying cameras or microphones. Victor just stood there looking at them rather seriously, the mirth of his previous conversation completely extinguished, his hands casually hanging off his track-suit coat pockets by two fingers each. Chris spotted Yuri approaching and excused himself from the group to keep him back.

"Hold here." He said simply, grabbing the shorter figure by the shoulders to spin him about-face and push him back the direction he came.

"What's going on? Why do they want to talk to Victor?"

"It's a surprise."

"...I don't think I like this surprise! Chris!"

"You will. Ignore the look on Victor's face; he's always like that when talking to the bosses."

It wasn't long to wait before the group moved off again, and left Victor to exhale the breath he'd been holding since they first came up to him. He didn't even get a chance to look back at Yuri or Chris when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. When he clicked it on to accept the call, he held it to his ear briefly, and then pulled it away. Yuri could hear Yakov yelling even from as far away as he was standing.

"DID YOU REALLY ONLY JUST GET HERE!? WERE YOU SLEEPING AGAIN!? YOU WON'T EVEN HAVE TIME TO GET DRESSED OR STRETCHED!"

"I'm already loose...I just need to change..." Victor protested pitifully, trying to find the humor in it, "I'll go right now." He clicked the phone off and heaved a bemused sigh before putting the phone away again, and turned to approach the two skaters, "Sheesh...did you hear that?"

"Half the audience probably heard it." Yuri said meekly, "But yeah, you should go change. You have maybe 30 minutes before show-time."

"Yeah...I'll be right back. Don't wander too far." Victor nodded, stepping close enough to kiss his partner's forehead before taking off with his luggage. Yuri and Chris watched him go, taking off one direction and then another as he looked for a changing room. When he finally vanished into the crowd of media, other athletes, and coaches, Yuri looked back at the Swiss man next to him.

"So…?" Yuri wondered pensively.

"Hm?"

"What'd they say?"

"Can't tell you. Victor would put my head on a spike."

"It didn't even look like you were there for the whole conversation...how'd he have time to tell you to keep your mouth shut about it to me?" Yuri glowered.

"I've known him longer than you. I know his posture and body language." Chris explained, "He doesn't put his hands in or near his pockets unless he's trying to be sneaky."

"I see him with his hands in his pockets all the time."

"It doesn't count if it's cold out."

Yuri scoffed, "What...but… We're at an ice rink! It's always cold here! How can you tell the difference!?"

"He's Russian. He can handle this like it's nothing; this is barely a chill to him." Chris went on, "...Yuri...don't tell me that you can't read his body like a book at this point?"

"...I've never considered looking at his skin for letters." He answered sarcastically.

Chris sighed, almost parentally, and raised his hand up to cup his cheek, "And here you have the advantage of getting to see him naked… Such wasted opportunity."

Yuri's face flushed, "Well, I saw him naked long before we got married..."

The Swiss man seemed eager for details, "Really? So you took him for a test drive before you agreed to buy!? I suspected you were already sleeping together in China, but..."

"W-what!? No! I I meant that he had to be naked to get in my family's hot spring! We've been over this!"

"Next to take the ice...representing Russia...Yuri Plisetsky…"

Yuri looked anxious at that, and Chris could sense it easily, putting his hands on the shorter skater's shoulders to reassure him, "You still eclipse him in the Free Skate. Breathe. You beat him in the Short by a huge margin, so unless the skies open up and angels descend to carry him through his program...he won't be able to catch up."

"...For once, that's actually not what I'm worried about." Yuri explained cautiously, lowering his head as the intense piano of 'Allegro Appassionato' started above them, "I want to go cheer him on and see him do his best, but..."

"But?"

He sighed, "Yurio's developed this weird vendetta against Victor and I. He accused Victor of basically robbing him of his future because Victor came to Japan to train me instead of staying in Russia to train him. He thinks that all the skill I gained should've been his own and that Victor was basically 'helping the enemy' by being my coach. I feel like he hates me now because of it. Victor doesn't think of it like that at all...you know how he is."

"He's proud of who and what he is, but he doesn't think that representing Russia is something that should hold him back or draw arbitrary lines in the sand." Chris clarified.

Yuri nodded, "He came to Japan because he wanted to coach me, Yuri Katsuki, not 'that Japanese guy who screwed up so bad at the Sochi Final that he couldn't even show his face the whole rest of the season from the shame of it.'" He held up air-quotes as he said it, "I don't know if Yurio knows yet that Victor plans to move with me to Hasetsu permanently."

"He does? Victor's leaving Russia for good?"

"Well, maybe not forever, but at least until we both retire from skating. No one really knows yet..." Yuri explained, but then put a finger up to point at Chris' face, "So if I start to hear rumors, I'll know who started them!"

"I won't say a word." The blonde mused, though doing so as he stepped away to gesture for Yuri to move forward, "You're up in a few more turns. I doubt you want to be stretching when Victor's on the ice."

"No way…!" He agreed, and stepped off to a more open area with Chris in tow.

The blonde leaned against a nearby wall as Yuri started to warm up, doing windmills with his arms. Chris thought on his younger friend's words for a little while though, and rubbed his chin, "Regarding what you were saying though... I suppose that was why you were getting, shall we say, intimate with the ice this morning?"

Face red with embarrassment, Yuri nodded anyway, remembering all of his falls by the sore spots they'd left on his body, "...Y-Yeah...you could say that…"

"Does Victor know you were cheating on him?" Chris laughed.

Yuri balked, "Chris!"

The blond just laughed at him, "...Don't worry...I won't tell him." He winked; they could hear Yurio's music coming to an end above them, faded as it was through the auditorium walls. Soon, they'd know Yurio's final score, "Well, in either case, it's just Michele, Otabek, and a couple other people left before Victor's turn. Are you ready?"

Yuri sighed and went back to loosening up against the wall, "...I think I'll get my skates on. I feel pretty loose already anyway."

The Swiss skater just laughed and pulled Yuri close with a hand around his back, leading him over to where he could switch out his footwear. When his skates were finally on, Yuri drew in a deep breath, looking around to see if Victor was coming back yet. There was always a sort of ethereal quality about Victor whenever he was all done up for a competition, almost so much that it was surprising to see he still walked on the ground like the common rabble. It wasn't hard to spot the man as he strode through the thin crowd of other skaters and coaches - extra tall on his skates and blade-guards - towards them, and waved. Yuri was quick to head in his husband's direction, and quickly took hold of the telescoping handle on the man's suitcase, "Was starting to wonder if you were lost." He teased, "I was about to send a search party for you."

"Nah," Victor mused in answer, and threaded his now-freed arm over his beloved's shoulders as they joined-up with Chris again, "Just took my time to make sure everything was perfect."

'The score for Yuri Plisetsky...'

All three of them looked up in silence at that point.

'...195.15, bringing his combined total to 299.89. He is currently in 3rd place.'

"Ouch..." Yuri grimaced, "Bet he's not happy about that."

"Not much we can do about it. It's his bed, he has to lie in it." Victor replied with a sigh, "He's going to have to live with the revelation that he isn't the center of the universe."

"...Did you tell him about our plans?"

"It would've been cruel not to." The Russian said, "After he finally admitted all the reasons why he was so angry, I couldn't keep the move secret."

"How'd he take it…?"

"You heard just now how he took it."

Yuri sighed, "I feel terrible about all of this. I don't know what to do."

As they stopped walking, Victor let the bag hanging off his shoulder slide down and set it on the ground. He turned in place, and touched his fingers lightly to Yuri's chin, raising the younger man's face a little to look him in the eyes, "There's nothing to do. This is his journey now. He may not be an adult, but he not a child anymore either, and he's going to have to face that. All we can or should do is give him his space."

"Next on the ice, representing Italy...Michele...Crispino...!"

Yuri nodded, eyes lowered slightly as the feeling of guilt slid through him. He looked over only as he saw Yurio walk by, hands stuffed into the pockets of his track-suit coat and his head covered by the hood. The blonde didn't even glance his way as he walked by. Victor noticed the shift in Yuri's expression and looked back behind himself, seeing Yurio there as well. But, not one of them dared to make a sound. Michele's music - 'Serenade for Two' - made the scene feel especially awkward. Yurio appeared to be back there only to refill his water bottle, replace his skates with shoes, and then went back out again, likely to show solidarity with Otabek, who was one of the increasingly-few competitors left before Victor's turn - and, as it happened, one of the only people he wasn't angry with.

Yuri drew a deep breath and pulled closer to his husband's frame, It's only early afternoon, but it feels like it's been a really, really long day already...