CHAPTER EIGHTY FIVE

Phichit's performance was just as well received as any of the others, with fans clapping and singing along. The brief interlude between his and Chris' presentation was filled with photos and funny videos of the antics Chris and Viktor had gotten to in more recent years, as well as some of the funny shots Chris had gotten at Yuri's expense. There was even a brief video of the three of them as a group, where Yuri had already been hanging out with the Swiss skater the day of the GPF Short Program when Viktor showed up, but Yuri was paralyzed by his nerves and didn't say a thing the whole time. Even when Viktor had made the effort to say hi to him and welcomed him to his first Grand Prix Final, all Yuri could do was squeak a nonsensical greeting and wave weakly before retreating.

Embarrassed, Yuri just buried his face against Viktor's chest, hiding from all the eyes that were so entertained by his historically crippling anxiety. Viktor patted him gently on the back to reassure him.

There was a short break after Chris skated to Intoxicated, as they gave Yuri time to go change into his Eros costume for the last performance of the day prior to the long intermission. It had already been several hours since the event started. The JSF had done its best not to be intrusive, switching from 'actual competition' mode to almost a documentary style of filming. They interviewed more fans than they did skaters, leaving them to their plans for the afternoon after hearing Yuri basically yelling at them to back off if they couldn't play nice.

Viktor followed the other skaters outside as they waited, pulling on his long-coat and gloves as they went. Just as they were about to get through the double-doors though, Minako, Yuuko, and Mikhail all jumped ahead of them and protested that they stay inside.

"I'm sure Yuri will be back out in just a minute! We don't want to keep him waiting right!?" Yuuko asked frantically.

"There's nothing out there but a mob of fans anyway! You'll be stuck out there forever!" Minako pointed out; she wasn't lying on that part at least, since the group could see a good number of people waiting out there with umbrellas. A few had somehow seen them just inside the inner set of doors and were rushing forward to see them, only to be stopped by the locked outer doors. It would be easy to push them open from inside, but from outside, they couldn't be budged.

"Look, it's even starting to rain!" Mikhail added. He was shockingly unconvincing, even if what he said was true.

"...O...kay?" Viktor wondered aloud, but finally relenting and turning around.

Of the rest of the group, Chris was the only one who followed him. To Viktor's surprise, Yurio, Otabek, and Phichit were all allowed to pass through the doors without protest.

"...So it's just me that can't leave." The Russian said to himself, "They're up to something."

"If they're letting the others go outside, then maybe I can find out." Chris suggested.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Yuuko heard him, and she shook her head with a knowing smile, so the two sighed and went back into the rink proper. It seemed like forever that they were waiting on Yuri after that. The trio that had gone outside had come back already, and even had time to wade through the numerous fans that wanted their attention or photos. They inevitably only hurried their return because Yurio was getting flustered over the questions about his spot on the Russian team, and it was mostly Otabek that ended those lines of inquiry by dragging Yurio away from them like back when he'd saved the teen from Yuri's Angels in Barcelona.

Viktor cozied up to Yurio and asked indirectly what he saw, but even then, the teen was so focused on what'd happened to him that he had nothing to say about any forbidden knowledge.

Phichit wasn't much more helpful, but that was because Viktor didn't really know him that well and wasn't sure how to approach a question like that to him.

Otabek was...well, Otabek. Viktor got as much information from him as one could get milk from a stone.

He resigned himself to knowing that he wouldn't know, so he went towards the locker room to see what the hold-up was. When he pushed the doors in from the entrance near the building's outer doors, he rounded the corner and was surprised to see Yuri there with his parents and sister, having a private conversation. Yuri spotted him, and the voices quickly died out.

"...Well, at least you've been ready this whole time." The Russian mused, pointing at the Eros costume, "But this is super awkward...sooooooo I'll just be going now." He pointed back towards the exit and ran for it.

"V-Viktor!" Yuri called back after him, though too late to give chase.

As Yuri came rushing out through the same doors, he was stopped by the sudden muffled shrieking of a familiar voice coming from outside. The skater turned his head and saw Minami there, plastered to the glass of the outside doors like a starfish against the inner panes of an aquarium, "...Minami-kun!"

"YURI-KUN LEMME IN!" The teen begged.

Approaching quickly, his blade-guards thunking along the ground as he went, Yuri quickly opened the door and permitted the blond-haired youth within the inner sanctum. He even went so far as to step outside, not realizing the doors were locked from out there, and was quickly mobbed by several close-by fans who'd spotted him.

It was chilly outside, but after what his parents had told him, he couldn't help but want to look around. His attention was grabbed though by Minami yanking him back through the doors before too many people could get in the way. The fans that had gotten close were trying to peer inside, hands on the glass with disappointed looks on their faces.

Yuri bowed deeply in apology, "Sorry! The entire Ice Castle is already full to bursting with people! There's no more room! We'll all be coming outside in about half an hour though!"

That seemed to satisfy them for the moment, and they went back to looking at the event LiveStream on each others' phones.

The skater then finally turned and came back through the inner sliding doors, and was promptly mauled by the teen, "Yuri-kun! Why didn't you invite meeeeeee!? I got the alert that the JSF was LiveStreaming an event and then it turned out to be this and AHHHHHHHH!" He was too hyper, proverbially bouncing off the walls.

"Sorry!" Yuri apologized again, "We didn't actually intend for this to be such a public event. Viktor and I just wanted to do Duetto for the family, but then it turned into this whole thing. I hope you weren't traveling for too long."

"I got on a train as soon as I realized what was happening!" Minami explained as Yuri was pushing him towards the safety and quiet of the locker room, "My phone ran out of juice about half-way here though, so I don't know what I missed!"

"What was the last thing you saw?" The door closed behind them.

"Viktor was in the middle of his old Free Skate. What's happened since!?"

"Well, the end of that one, obviously...the Russian Yuri did his new Short Program for next year, and then Chris and Phichit-kun did their Short Programs from this past year. I'm about to go do mine, then there's a big break where everyone's gonna get kicked out for a little while. We'll pick up again after that with our Free Skates, and then Duetto at the very end."

"Oh good, I didn't miss it then!" Minami was super relieved, "I was so high up in the audience when you guys did it at Four Continents that it was hard to see! I was so happy to hear that Viktor had told the press that you were going to be doing it again once you got back! I just didn't know when! I really want to see it up close!" His eyes got wide, "CAN I SEE YOUR COSTUME!?"

"Oh, sure." Yuri nodded, moving over to the line of labeled lockers and pulling open the one that was earmarked for Duetto. He reached within to pull the hanger off its hook, and the clear plastic bag containing the outfit crinkled and rustled as it was moved out.

"WOOOOOOWWWW!" Minami spun around excitedly, "It's JUST LIKE VIKTOR'S!"

The older skater nodded, silently wondering where the man had run off to.

"I got to see your Gala performance from Worlds on TV!" The teen had continued, "It was so great to see you get vindicated! I can't believe I missed that you did it again here!"

"Viktor and I are making this place our permanent home-rink, so you can come visit anytime you want." The taller figure said, putting the costume back into its place within the locker before gently closing it, "I should probably get out there though. Everyone's been waiting a really long time since Chris got finished. There's going to be a whole new showcase before I do Eros, too."

"Let's go then!"

They came back out through the rink-side doors, and found the audience clapping Yuri's appearance.

"Took you long enough, Katsudon!" He heard Yurio chiding, "Get out there!"

"Yes, yes, I'm going...!" He said sheepishly, wading through the thin path that attendees had cut for him to the rink entrance. It was impossible to see over them, so it was only after he'd gotten to the doorway to get his blade-guards off that he spotted Viktor again, waiting for him alone in the middle of the rink.

The Russian spotted him and waved, still sporting a slightly awkward look on his face from earlier. Yuri saw his coat and gloves hanging over the edge of the rink wall, as the man had been too embarrassed by the previous encounter to go put his things away in the locker room. The crowd was starting to cheer again as Yuri set his first skate onto the ice, and then got louder as he started to move away from the wall, even picking up speed to playfully skate wide circles around his husband. He even went into a long outside spread-Eagle into his quad Salchow like he would in the actual program, and then finally went to join Viktor in the center with the stationary spotlight.

"Sorry about earlier." He said quietly, keeping Viktor's mic-hand down so it wouldn't pick up his words, "I didn't know they were going to come in there until they did."

"Everything's okay though?"

"Mh!"

The complete lack of hesitation or obfuscation in the shorter man's tone gave Viktor all he needed to know it was true, and he drew in a breath of relief, "That's good to hear. Let's get on with it then, okay?"

"Okay."

Viktor signaled to Yuuko after that, and the rink went slightly darker than before, with the horizontal lights on the far ends of the rink being turned off, leaving only the glow of the spotlights and the projector above them to illuminate the ice. Yuri went close to take hold of his husband's free hand, moving behind him like he was a bit nervous about what was to come. Without Yuuko or Minako with them though, it was even more anxiety-driving than anything else, since Viktor was...well, a genius that never stopped surprising him, no matter what it was.

"Next, we have the skater Katsuki Yuri, who's thought to be the next leader of men's singles in Japan. Please, show us." The narrator's voice could be heard. The image of a particular pre-GP series interview started to fade into view, and Yuri recognized what it was immediately.

"That's Newscaster Morooka...at the unveiling." He said quietly to himself, seeing the footage of his past self hesitating with the white-board in his hands. Photos were being taken from all angles, half-blinding him in the process with the flashes.

"Uhm...please show us your theme for this year. Skater Katsuki?"

Yuri's face was flushed, but he finally moved, turning the white-board around as he set it against the podium.

'GRAND PRIX SERIES' the board read on the top left, and in the middle in a huge font, the Kanji for 'LOVE,' followed by the Kanji for his own name way down on the bottom right.

"My theme in this year's Grand Prix Series is 'love.'" He said, keeping his eyes low even as he spoke into the microphone, "I've been helped by many people in my skating career thus far, but I've never thought about 'love' until now. Though I was blessed with support, I couldn't take full advantage of it. I always felt like I was fighting alone. But since Viktor showed up to be my coach, I've seen something totally different. My 'love' is not something clear-cut like romantic love, but the more abstract feeling of my relationships with Viktor, family, and my hometown. I was able to realize that something like 'love' exists all around me. Viktor is the first person I've ever wanted to hold onto! I don't really have a name for that emotion, but I've decided to call it 'love!' Now that I know what 'love' is, I'm stronger for it, and I'll prove that to myself with a Grand Prix Final gold medal!"

Yurio suddenly felt really awkward after seeing the footage, and hid behind the rink wall with nothing but his eyes to peer over the edge of it, grasping to it with his fingers.

Viktor gently squeezed his husband's hand before pulling his out of the man's grasp, and skated casually in a circle around him, tracing around the very edge of the spotlight's perimeter on the ice, "You didn't end up winning gold though, Yuri..." He started, making the younger figure feel a little guilty. He winked at the man, and then snapped his fingers, signaling for something else.

Yuri could hear the clatter of very tiny skates on the ice, and he quickly spotted the triplets skating all around him like cats underfoot, each one carrying one of his medals so Viktor could grab them and put them over Yuri's head one at a time.

"You won silver..." Viktor was saying, sliding the lanyard over that raven hair, "Which really wasn't so bad, considering you broke my Free Skate record in the process." The next medal came up was gold though, and Viktor held it in his hand to look at it fondly, "You did win gold at Four Continents though. Your very first one at an international competition, and your first gold after I came on board as your coach." He moved the lanyard up over Yuri's head to follow the first one, holding the disc in his fingers for a second longer to kiss it before letting it go to hang. He then reached down for the last of the three, "...and then, the biggest surprise since doing my quad flip at the end of the China Cup...Yuri, you won the gold medal at the World Championship, an event I myself was competing in..." He put the mic in Yuri's hand and then moved his arm up to hold it between them so he could get his own hand back again. He held the medal up by its lanyard and looked at his husband through the opening, "As your coach, your choreographer, and your husband...it was the proudest moment of my entire life. Winning gold myself was never so special as seeing you win it."

The younger skater's eyes were starting to well up as he heard the words. He had to lift his other hand up to hold the mic, and clenched his fingers around it like the device would just slip through his fingers like sand if he didn't.

"Never in my life, after all the years I'd been on the ice, or even in the years before that when I was hailed every day as this national hero of Russia, being an international gold medalist or champion, big-time winner this, ultra-champion that...world's most eligible bachelor and everything else...never once had I thought that sharing all that with someone would ever be possible. It was either a fan who couldn't see the world through my eyes and tried to control me...or a fellow skater who was already with someone else...or even another one who gave up too easily. Like you, I ended up believing that I was in this fight alone. The best I thought I could ever hope for was that maybe someone would appreciate me after I retired, and no longer had the lime-light on me as a distraction. I thought that would be the only time where I could trust someone to be honest with me. So I put everything and everyone at arm's length and focused everything I had on skating. My winning streak only started after I resigned myself to being by myself." Viktor had lowered the medal by then and was just looking at his husband normally, his gaze slightly down-cast for their height difference, "But everything changed in Sochi, Russia. That Grand Prix Final of Tears. I saw you leave that event at the lowest possible point. Offering to take that photo was the first time you hadn't completely squeaked-out on me, and it broke my heart to see you so sad that you'd turn away without saying a single word. But I knew because of Chris that you weren't a miserable person all the time...and you proved that in spades after Ciao Ciao dragged you to the banquet that night. You danced, Chris danced, you and Chris danced, even the other Yuri danced, despite what I'd heard he'd done to you before then...and then...we danced."

The projector had slowly gone through the Banquet photo album to show the specific photos Viktor had mentioned, and he idly looked over at the screen with the gold medal still in both of his hands.

"Viktor... After the season ends, my family runs a hot springs resort, so please come! If I win this dance-off...you'll become my coach, right? Be my coooooach, Viktoooor!"

The words echoed throughout the silent arena as the footage played for all to see.

The video ended, and Viktor turned back to where Yuri was trying not to cry. He quietly moved in a little closer and placed the gold medal around the man's neck, still holding his fingers around the lanyard even as the medal hung down just above the other two.

"I can't even count how many times since that night that I've fallen in love with you, Yuri." He said, "Every single day, I wake up with you next to me, and I wonder how I'd ever been so lucky. Every time I see you skate, I'm in awe of how far you've come, and it makes me so incredibly happy to have had the honor and privilege of helping you get there. Every time you glance around at the world with that special look in your eyes, like you're looking for something...I realize just how much I want to protect and cherish you. Is it even really appropriate to use a word like 'love' to describe how I feel for you?" Viktor wondered, "I feel like there isn't a word strong enough to describe it. So, like you, I've settled to call this feeling 'love' for lack of knowing what else to do with it..."

Yuri was failing the fight to hold his tears back, and a few fell down his cheeks. Viktor just smiled at him though, and raised up his right hand to dry some of them away with his single-gloved finger.

"We went all the way back to Barcelona to say our wedding vows." He continued, his hand staying there on Yuri's face, "And every day since has been the best of my life, even when some of them were the absolute worst of my life. You were there. You were my rock to lean on, my pillar to hold me up, my sanctuary of warmth and peace to shelter me. You've been everything I thought I would never find, and best of all, you were able to share the journey with me as an equal, not as someone I was dragging behind me."

Most people in the audience were already misty-eyed as they listened to the Russian's declaration, but none moreso than Yuri himself.

"So for the rest of our lives, Yuri, and into the next...Stammi vicino."

The younger skater nodded, "St...stamm...v...vi...cin..." He couldn't even say all the words, his throat too sore for it. He leaned forward to wrap his arms around his husband's chest, clinging to him tightly as he started to cry freely.

Chris was crying...Phichit was crying...Minami was literally sobbing...Yuri's parents were crying, even his sister...Minako, too, and Yuuko as well. Pretty much everyone was crying. Even Yurio, who did his best to hide it where he was still lowered behind the rink wall. Not even the JSF reporters were immune from the outpouring of emotion. They could only wonder how many people across the world were bearing witness to what was happening at that moment. Other media folk that had been hanging around were rolling cameras and snapping photos as well, loving every second of it.

Yuri finally came up for air after a while, as Viktor had rocked him back and forth slowly and gently while he cried himself out. His eyes were red and his voice hoarse, "...H...How am I...supposed to do...Eros when you...when you've gotten me like this?"

"I expect you'll do the best you can." Viktor smiled, leaning down to kiss that man in front of everyone.