CHAPTER EIGHTY TWO

Yuuko corralled the two speedy skaters and shuffled them over towards one side of the rink, leaving them both somewhat confused. The other skaters were there nearby to make sure they stayed put.

"Aren't I supposed to do Firebird now...?" Yuri wondered.

The lady shook her head, and appeared to give a signal to someone behind the crowd on the far end of the rink, then turned her attention back, "You won't skate for a little while. We have to do this properly! It's not just an ice skating event."

"...Properly? What else could there be?"

"It's a wedding party, right?" She smiled at him, "We have to start from the top. It's a story!"

"Oh, this should be good!" Viktor mused, looking up as the lights were dimmed.

On the opposite end of the rink, a huge white panel was unfurled over top of where 'ICE CASTLE HASETSU' was displayed on the wall. At the same time, the huge hanging wall-scroll of Viktor was rolled back up. A projector came to life from the rafters, casting its pale light onto the makeshift screen.

Yuri was about to have a coronary when he realized what was about to play.

Fading in from black, the audio was unmistakable...

"Next up at your Sochi Grand Prix Final, representing Japan...Yuri Katsuki. He just turned 23 this year before the Rostelecom Cup. This is the first time he's made it all the way to the final competition of the series, and expectations for him back home are fairly high." Newscaster Morooka's voice was saying, narrated over the footage.

"Oh no..." Yuri whined, "...Why are you guys-"

"Tsst!" Yuuko hushed him.

Viktor reached his arms around his partner's waist to pull him close, "I'm sure it's not what you think it's going to be. Just watch."

"Mmmnnnnnnhhh..." He was fidgeting horribly.

"Skater Katsuki's Short Program from yesterday, Dark Eyes, earned a respectable 87.45. Competition this year is pretty stiff though so he has a ways to go to get onto the podium! What tricks does he have up his sleeve?"

Oddly, the sound of Morooka's voice faded out towards the end, and the screen went dark. It didn't even show the footage of that last Free Skate, at least not the way Yuri had expected. Instead, it showed still-frames of his falls, and his entirely unenthused final pose, all while the sound of the after-skate interview audio played over it.

"Skater Katsuki, what happened out there?"

"Are you feeling okay?"

"...I think I'm just going to go sit down. Sorry."

"It must've been the pressure." Viktor's voice suddenly came on, and the screen resumed moving footage, showing an interview with the Russian that even Yuri didn't know had taken place, "Everyone gets a little nervous when they get to the Final for the first time."

"As the reigning Champion, what advice would you have for him?"

Yuri watched the screen with wide eyes. His hands clenched down where Viktor's arms were around him.

The Viktor on the video touched his chin in thought, but then looked straight at the camera and winked, "I'd tell him to keep trying. It may seem rough to come in last place here today, but coming in 6th when there were dozens of competitors all vying for the same spot...that still puts him in the top bracket, and that's something to be proud of. I expect to see you here at the GPF again next year, Yuri!"

The screen cut out, and numerous news broadcasts became superimposed on one another. Many were in Russian, but a good number were in Japanese as well, and even some in English. All the dialogue was subtitled, to pull out to important points that were being made.

"Shocking news this week in Figure Skating; five-time World Champion Viktor Nikiforov suddenly left the country to become a coach!"

"Viktor wants to take time off until he finds his motivation again." Yakov's voice was saying, standing outside the St. Petersburg training rink, "Personally, I doubt he'll be able to return if he takes a break now."

"He's going to train Katsuki Yuri in Japan-"

"That man only thinks about himself! He'll never be anyone's coach!"

Viktor burst out laughing at that, "Yeah, Coach Yakov would say that about me! I already miss him..."

"TSST!" Yuuko chided again.

"Oh~!"

Yuri smiled nervously between them.

"Rumors are going around the JSF that one of its top skaters has recruited Russia's top talent to become a coach! We are looking to confirm those rumors by sending reporters to Hasetsu in Kyushu..."

"Personally, it'll be interesting to see what happens. A five time World Champion, multiple record holder, and an Olympian on top of that...what can he do to impart some of that talent onto someone who recently announced he was going to stop skating after coming in last place at two competitions in a row? Will Yuri Katsuki become the next Viktor Nikiforov or will he just flounder? We're all anxious to find out."

Spotlights suddenly shot onto the ice, and Yuuko pulled away from rink-side to go stand in the light. She pulled the mic back up and gestured to the screen, "Well, that was a trip down memory lane, wasn't it?" She laughed as she could feel Yuri eyeballing her, "Almost exactly one year ago, Viktor showed up at Yu-Topia Katsuki to be Yuri's coach. What Yuri didn't know at the time..." She turned to raise her hand over to where the Dance Off scroll had been hanging, and a spotlight shone down on it to single it out from the others, which were still shrouded in shadow, "...was that he'd actually asked Viktor to do just that for him right after Sochi. Yuri is definitely Kyushu born and bred! We'll make sure you don't drink too much tonight though, okay?"

"...Isthismyweddingpartyorhumiliationnight?" The man grumbled to himself.

The audience was just laughing all around him. Yuri could even hear his father specifically, which made the his drunken escapades burn even more.

Viktor suddenly let him go, and moved around to skate over into the light. Yuuko was confused to see him coming, but she stayed where she was, and even let him swipe the microphone out of her hands as he rotated around her. She already knew the man was taller than her, but skating in circles like that, their 9 inch difference became super obvious, especially when he came up beside her with a hand against her back. He had to lean down a little so as not to entirely tower over her.

Yuri was completely confused, "...Wh...Viktor...?"

"Even diamonds start as nothing more than rocks, right?" He was starting to say, "But with enough pressure and time, they start to shine. Every once in a while they crack though. Sometimes that diminishes them, but sometimes...it means they've left the worst part behind, to move on and become even more beautiful than they would've otherwise. Those pieces that broke off were just a hindrance, extra baggage that kept them from realizing their full potential. Yuri..." He lifted his head and rose back up to his full height, reaching his hand out through the light and into the dark beyond it.

'It's not that I doubt you. It's that I doubt myself. I always have. You've always been so far out of my league... I mean, I've been looking up from the bottom of the barrel for so long...and then you reached down with your shining hand like God to pull me up. I worry sometimes that I pulled some of the muck up with me, that I've never quite been good enough...to be in the light, or to be with you in it...or worse, that I might just drag you back down with me.'

'I'd rather be in the muck with you than in the light without.'

"You left your broken pieces behind in Sochi." Viktor continued, his hand still outstretched, "Come show everyone the diamond you've become."

Yuri just gawked at him.

Even though you know about as much as I do about what everyone has planned today...you still manage to come up with something like that to say to me when you can feel me getting anxious?

He could feel Phichit and Chris pushing him away from the rink wall, telling him to go out to Viktor, but for some reason, he couldn't shake the surprise. He felt just as paralyzed as when he'd first met the Russian at Skate Canada, wanting to reach out for him but too scared to.

"Yuri! What are you waiting for?"

"Yuri, go on!"

"Get out there, you're making Viktor look stupid!"

Viktor finally moved forward, too quick for the spotlight to follow, falling into the darkness next to the rink wall. The gold on his finger still gleamed from the light behind him though, acting like something of a beacon to Yuri's eyes, and he watched it as the man approached. The feeling of his husband's warm hand finally brought him back from where his mind had gone into orbit, and he blinked a few times before letting Viktor pull him back to where he'd just come from.

"Ah...sorry, I just..."

"Déjà vu, right?" Viktor whispered.

"Oh yeah, big time..."

"Me, too." The Russian mused, and motioned his free hand up for the spotlight to follow. He pulled the younger skater out towards center stage as Yuuko moved off to make space. Viktor stayed with him there for a moment in the light, all three spotlights down on them, with the horizontal stage lights blinking on beyond them, and the large tapestry of Viktor's Duetto finally descending to take its place again. He put his fingers gently under Yuri's chin to lift his face, "Don't forget to breathe. You're a cute little piglet that became a pork cutlet bowl fatale that enthralls men, and ended up growing into the most perfect Prince, bedecked with gold and silver like none other. Skate this like the Exhibition. I'll come find you again when you're done, okay?"

Yuri couldn't help but see Skate Canada superimposing itself on the Ice Castle, with Viktor there in front of him again wishing him good luck.

"I love you." Yuri blurted unexpectedly.

The old Viktor turned his head back and looked at him, but then smiled, "I know."

Yuri blinked again and shook his head, and his husband was looking back at him then.

"I love you too, Yuri. Now skate!" Viktor stroked his cheek as he pulled back again, leaving Yuri there in the spotlights alone. The scratching of the gold-plated blades faded out soon after, and the young skater instinctively took his position. He set his feet apart, kissed his ring, and crossed his arms over his chest, one hand on each shoulder, exactly like he had at his World Exhibition.

The music started above him, quiet as a whisper, and the crowd hushed even more just to hear it. His skates scratched the ice as he started to move.

No longer did anyone see the old program. Even for Yuri, the more he skated, the further his disastrous Grand Prix Final sank to the back of his mind. This was natural now...and freeing. He knew how to move, he knew how the jumps felt, the spins, the step sequence...it was all muscle memory.

I wonder if this is what Viktor feels like? This sense...that you'll never fall again.

Viktor had propped himself up to sitting on the rink wall, resting one arm on Chris' shoulder where he'd come to watch next to him, recording the skate on his phone with the other hand. The whole performance had the group completely enamored.

It's completely different from the last time I saw it. Yurio thought, watching curiously, entranced like the rest of the crowd.

By the time it was over, and Yuri had his arms reaching up for the sky, his bomb at Sochi was entirely forgotten. He was a diamond. The audience roared its approval as the music faded out again, and Viktor was clapping his free hand on his leg so he could keep recording.

"Yuri! That was amazing!" He called out, eagerly watching as his husband finally broke away to skate over to where he'd been perched.

Out of breath, but excited, Yuri came right up to the rink wall and wedged himself between Viktor's legs, hugging him around the waist as well he could given how high up the man was. Chris joined in as well, and Viktor leaned in with his free arm, recording the whole thing with the other.

"I did good, right?" Yuri asked, gasping for breaths.

"I think it was even better than the Exhibition! You were really relaxed out there!" Viktor said, finally clicking off the phone and setting it down so he could get his blades back on the ice and properly hug the man in front of him.

Surprising the both of them though, Minako came out into the rink instead of Yuuko, and the woman was decked out like the rest of them, looking much like the regal ballerina she once was. He gown wasn't nearly as expansive as Yuuko's though, being much more slim and form fitting as befit an older woman.

With another hand gesture to Takeshi and the girls, another of the two largest hanging tapestries was furled back up towards the ceiling, this time being the one of Duetto Yuri. A second temporary screen came down, making Yuri nervous again.

"...What other terrors of my past are they going to put on display for everyone?" He wondered aloud, though mostly muttering to himself against the opening in Viktor's shirt.

"Don't worry so much Yuri, this isn't all about you!" Minako said, as though she could hear him, "Time to dig on Viktor!"

"...Is this a roast or something?" The Russian wondered, half-worried now what could've possibly been found on him that came anywhere close to being as embarrassing as what they'd put together for Yuri.

"Not a roast, per se." The older woman answered, "Just perspective." She gestured towards the audience, "I don't think there's a pair of eyes in the building that isn't aware of your illustrious history."

Footage rolled that showed a small clip of every one of Viktor's last World Championship victories, each slightly superimposed onto the other like a moving collage. What was interesting though, as Viktor noticed, was that the chronology was going backwards in time, having shown his Aria victory first and going back. Soon, it was showing his last victory at the Junior World Championships, where Viktor had last worn the costume that would eventually become Yuri's Eros outfit.

"Yuri was 12 when we all saw that event." Minako explained, "But even back then, he was already in deep. How interesting to look back on that and realize what lay in store for that outfit only 12 years later?" She gestured straight to the couple, "He'd have to wait his entire life all over again to see it in person."

"At least he was born already when I wore it!" Viktor called out, "Plisetsky was hardly a twinkle in someone's eye when I wore the Agape outfit!"

"Mh! It was one of your first! Do we have pictures of that?" She wondered at the triplets.

"We have pictures of everything!" They called back excitedly.

The imagery on the projector changed over suddenly, and soon after, a photo of Viktor in the Agape outfit came up.

"Sheesh, I was 13 and so awkward." Viktor laughed, looking at himself on the bronze side of the podium, "Still trying to figure out how the world worked." His hair was growing out at that point, but it was still short enough that his ponytail was a bit stiff behind his head.

"You'd only just left home by then, right?" Yuri wondered quietly, not wanting to speak too loudly where others could possibly hear.

Viktor stroked his cheek with his gloved thumb, "Mh. It was my first year officially with the Junior ISU. I even stayed an extra year there so I could be sure my Senior Premier was perfect." He raised his hand to get the triples' attention, "Are you guys linked to your Viktuuri account right now?"

"Naturally!" They called back.

"Bring up a slideshow!" He told them excitedly, patting Yuri on the head before pulling away again to go to where Minako was standing in the light.

He was about to swipe the mic again like he had from Yuuko, but Minako wasn't one to give it up so easily. She kept it out of his reach as he skated around her, "Not so fast, hot-shot!" She warned him, keeping a deft eye on any quick or sudden movements. The ice wasn't her element though and she slid around a little unsteadily, and soon, the Russian was right on top of her.

Almost literally.

"You were saying?" Viktor mused, being the only thing holding the woman up from falling on her butt in front of everyone.

Her skates had gone forward just as the Russian moved in for the kill, but he saw her tipping just as he was reaching for the mic, and diverted the direction of his arm to going around her waist and back instead, and then holding there with dramatic flair. She was gawking up at him with pink cheeks, and almost let him have the mic at that point. He just laughed and plucked it from her hands with his free one, winked at her, and then pulled her back up to standing, "Minako Okukawa, everyone. World renowned ballerina...not so much skater."

The crowd clapped and laughed along with him, even though the woman herself was a bit flustered. She noticed that Viktor hadn't let go of her though even as he'd set her upright on her unsteady skates, effortlessly gliding her around in slow circles, "You're being free with your flirtation tonight, Viktor."

"I don't want you to fall." He answered simply, "I'm taking over your show...the least I can do is make sure you don't end up on the ice."

"Uncle Viktor! It's ready!" Axel called out, "You'll like this album!"

"Oh~?" He spun around with the woman still in his arm, and looked up at the big screen to see what they'd provided. To his surprise and interest, it wasn't just some slideshow of his own past events, it was a mash-up to show the comparison between himself and his husband. The photos had been well altered to make it seem like the two had been taken at the same time and in the same place, even sometimes seeming like the two were interacting somehow, "Oh! That's clever! How'd you do that?"

Even Yuri was impressed by it, looking up at an image of himself in the Eros costume alongside the 16 year old Viktor in the same outfit, leaning against a rink wall as though having a conversation. His cheeks flushed to see such widely different periods of time converging like that.

"There's a bunch of Viktuuri fans out there who donated their time and skill for these!" Loop explained, "Some of the others are really good, too!"

Lutz came running out along the ice after that, looking like quite the tiny little creature compared to Viktor's blade-included 6 feet. He reached down to pick her up and settled her on his shoulder, and she held up her phone to go through the gallery, "I like this next one the best!"

The photo on the screen faded out, and the next one came up fairly quickly after, showing merged photos from when Yuri and Viktor were the same age...24. Yuri was in his YoI costume, holding up his first World Championship gold medal, and the Viktor from 4 years ago was next to him, holding up his 3rd in a row. The way the photos were melded together, it was as though they'd somehow won their gold at the same event, and were having a good laugh about it.

"Wow~! Amazing!" Viktor said, "Yuri, do you see!?"

"...That's...yeah, wow!" He agreed, finally letting himself skate out towards the spotlight again, coming up on Minako's open side to help hold her up, "You guys really outdid yourselves with these! Let's see the rest!"

"You guys are taking over my part of the show!" Minako protested, much to their amusement.