CHAPTER NINETY TWO
October 25th
"Okay, Makkachin...absolutely no sticky buns this time." Viktor explained, crouching down in front of his dog where they waited in front of Yu-Topia. He held the poodle's front paws in his hands tenderly, but then let them go and leaned in to hug the pupper. Makkachin could tell his human was going to be gone for a while and whined, flopping down onto his back in a bid to keep him there. Viktor gave it a scratch, but then stood up and drew in a deep breath.
"Good luck, boys." Hiroko said, stepping forth from the open doors, and pausing at the base of the step, "We'll see you all again after the Japanese event."
"Bye everyone!" Yuri waved.
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As usual, the flight was exhausting, even though they'd flown in first or business class to make it as comfortable as possible. There were two layovers though, which wiped Yuri out entirely; one in Tokyo, and another in Seattle.
"That's what you get for insisting on saving money." Viktor teased, "We could've skipped the US layover."
Yuri was too asleep to hear him, sprawled out over the bench in the waiting area. Viktor looked down at him and sighed, shaking his head as he took a spot next to him and pulled out his phone.
I guess there's nothing else to do but wait until he wakes up...
He poked around on Instragram for what felt like forever, seeing several posts multiple times before realizing it was because he'd seen them before, not because they were being posted by multiple people. He'd even stumbled onto a video feature for the Skate Canada event, which he had actually avoided looking at previously for lack of time (and also because he promised he wouldn't.) Coaching and practicing had taken up the bulk of his attention for the last several months, as well as the reality of his final year in competition weighing in at the back of his mind.
...I could go another year after this...but...
He shook his head and clicked into the video, stroking his husband's hair where he'd set his head against his lap to use as a pillow.
The screen was white, and the logo for Skate Canada 'folded' itself onto the screen; a simple text image with a render of the Canadian maple leaf. When it folded itself off again, different letters bled onto the white background like ink from under a piece of paper, revealing the words 'PARTICIPANTS...'
Three photos appeared after that, and to Viktor's delight, saw an image of Yuri from Worlds there in the center, with two other skaters on either side. The 'slideshow' went on to show several other skaters for the Men's Singles event, until it finally stopped to focus on each one individually.
NIKIVOROV
YURI
JAPAN
The Japanese flag came up on the bottom left, and Yuri's image came in again in the center, this time showing one of his Duetto photos. More text appeared to the right of the photo.
'Last season, Yuri broke the world Free Skate record several times, setting the stage for an incredibly tense finale at the World Championships, where he set a new Total Score record with a jaw-dropping 346.03. Yuri joins an elite group of skaters whose total scores enter into the 300+ range. He is currently considered Japan's top skater, and also enjoys status amongst the world's all-time best skaters.'
The page flipped, and a new photo emerged, depicting an image of Yuri in his Firebird costume, but using the much-more-flattering Worlds Exhibition version, where he didn't look like he was about to have a coronary at any moment.
'Before last season, many would remember Yuri for not only his incredible spins and step sequences, but for how he was consistently dogged by his inability to land most of the more complicated jumps. It seems that he and his coach, five-time World Champion, Viktor Nikiforov, have solved this problem.'
The next image to come up was a composition featuring both of Yuri's final poses at the last GP Final in Barcelona...his collapse onto the ice after his Short Program, and his victory-cry after his Free Skate.
'Yuri is a true warrior. Despite his crash at the Sochi GPF 2 years ago, he came back to claim World Championship gold, and continues to fight until the end.'
The next photo showed both Yuri and Viktor. It was a shot from Four Continents, with Yuri facing the rink wall, having his shoulders rubbed while Viktor gave him some last words of advice before the Short Program. Viktor smiled at that.
'Though he is obviously a world leader at the moment, Yuri never stops improving himself. In September, he and his coach announced new programs for the coming season, which include 3 quads in his SP (4S+3L, 4Lz, 4F) and 5 quads in his FS (4T, 4L, 4S+3T, 4Lz, 4F) - both incredibly difficult programs, especially in light of the fact that he fainted at the end of his Worlds FS performance, where he unexpectedly did 5 quads for the first time.'
The photo switched again to show his Worlds medaling ceremony, with Viktor and Chris on either side.
'The only way Yuri can lose is if he makes some huge mistakes. For the most part, he is entirely unmatched in all of his GPS events, so his only rival is himself.'
"Sheesh, I better not let him see this...or Yurio..." Viktor laughed weakly.
The video finally moved on the other skaters, but Viktor had already seen what he wanted. It seemed like serendipitous timing after that, since as soon as he clicked off his phone, an announcer overhead called out for the boarding process to begin for the final leg to Calgary. Viktor reached down to wake his husband gently, stroking his hair and whispering in his ear.
"Neh neh, Yuri...time to go."
The younger skater snorted as he woke up, looking around blearily to reorient himself, "...Wh...really? Already? Didn't we just get here?"
Viktor smiled and shook his head as he stood up, "You're in the Twilight Zone...it's been 2 hours. You ready for the final leg?"
Yuri just rubbed his eyes and yawned, then finally pushed to stand, "...I think so... I can't wait for teleportation machines though...these flights are brutal..."
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With two full days to recover from the flight, Yuri was in fighting form by the morning of the Short Program. However, the whole thing reminded him of Rostelecom the year before, where other than Yurio, he really didn't know any of the other skaters. It made it easy to take the whole thing more seriously than he normally would, where he'd otherwise be stuck wanting to win the event on top of wanting his friends to win as well.
SP practice had been simple, practicing the triples and quads he needed to land, taking a half-nap in the prep area while other skaters did their shows, and doing a brief interview to discuss whether or not he'd lost his mind to put 3 quads into a 2.5 minute performance.
"I've done it a hundred times at this point." Yuri explained, his new outfit entirely hidden under his full track-suit, "Viktor and I worked really hard to perfect this one so the show isn't just a jump-fest. I think everyone will really like it."
"How do you feel about the Series assignments? You won't be competing against Viktor at all unless you both make it to the Final." A reporter asked.
"Oh, we'll both be going to the Final, I have no doubt about it." He answered, showing the same burning confidence he'd had when he'd revealed his theme the previous year, "The lead-in events will be pretty relaxed by comparison...but once the Final arrives, I think we're all going to have to buckle in for a ride."
"Oh, wow...Yuri's really fired up." Yuuko said, watching the interview on the television in Yu-Topia's common room.
"He was really in a slump there for the first half of summer for some reason, but after that, he really started taking everything super seriously." Hiroko explained.
"Has he ever seemed so sure of himself?" Toshiya wondered, sitting next to his wife, seeing the fire in his son's eyes like it had gone from a mere ember to a raging maelstrom, "I wonder what happened."
The interview continued, "What about Yuri Plisetsky? We've seen the reports that he's gone back to Hasetsu numerous times during the off-season, mostly since being reinstated on the Russian Team. Can you comment on that?"
"Mh." Yuri nodded, "Most of his trips weren't for skating reasons, but he did swing by once to get pointers on his Short Program. He refused to show us his Free Skate, so we're both looking forward to seeing it this weekend."
"Can you tell us a little about your Short Program?"
Viktor slipped into the frame suddenly to whisper something into his ear, then waved politely before pulling back out of the shot again. Yuri turned to face the camera, "Looks like I'll be showing you instead. I'm up after the next skater."
The interviewers cut away from the skater to focus on themselves for the television audience, but the Katsuki clan could still see Yuri walking off in the background.
Coach Viktor slipped his arm around Yuri's back as he got closer to the rink-side entrance, holding back the curtain to let him through and follow after.
"No one's gotten over 90 yet." He explained.
"How many were there?"
"Eleven have gone up so far. It's just you and five others now."
"The score for Helmute Knabe...89.25."
"Still not over 90. This will be easy." Yuri said, crossing his arms loosely over his chest as he looked out over the ice.
Viktor just gawked at him, his jaw a bit slack.
Yuri turned his eyes over at him, "What's the matter? I scored over 90 the first time I did Eros last year."
"...This will be easy? You're getting really confident." The Russian said.
"...O...kay..? Is that bad?"
"On the contrary. It's really hot." Viktor was smirking behind the poodle-plush tissue box as he held it up to his face, "I wish I could bottle it and sell it for a premium."
"Hah..."
"Next to take the ice...representing France...Fleurent Beaumont!"
"Yuri!" They both heard, turning their heads towards where the curtain had parted again and seeing the Russian Tiger coming out after them, "Shouldn't you be halfway onto the ice already? You haven't even gotten out of your track-suit yet."
"I was about to." The Asian skater reached his arm out to pull the teen into their customary greeting.
The speakers above them started to play the next competitor's music; Tears of the Sun. The athlete was a small figure, about 5'3", wearing body-hugging black leggings, a grey tunic, black straps across it, and a loose, sheer, wine-colored shirt with fringed cuffs.
As Yuri broke off to go pull his track-suit off, Viktor was looking around for his own former coach, "Where's Yakov?"
"He ran into Mikhail earlier. They're probably chatting like old ladies right now."
"I guess I'll find him when he comes out for your Short Program." He turned to where he spotted Yuri pulling the buttons apart on the side of his dark-colored track-suit leggings.
Seeing him there, Yuri handed the track pants to his coach; the pattern below was revealed to be dark as well, but with shimmering silver stripes with occasional breaks to reveal a little skin through sleek fishnet windows, similar to the long stripe that had gone down and around the left leg of the Eros outfit. These stripes were shorter though, like tiger-stripes across the outside of Yuri's thighs, fading away below the knee to just black.
"Putting on another sex show, Yuri?" The blond wondered with an eyebrow up, "You want a rose in your teeth, too?"
"Oh, that's a good idea~!" Viktor mused, nudging his husband with his elbow, "We should get one for you for Shanghai."
The skater's face was bright red at the thought of it, "...It's not a sex show, sheesh. Where do you guys come up with this stuff?"
"Let's see the rest of it, then."
Viktor stood back excitedly, oogling his husband even as he leaned comically against the teen's back, much to his annoyance, "Take it off, Yuri!"
"You two are making me all self-conscious now!" The skater protested.
The music above was coming to a close though, and he had no choice but to start unzipping his coat, turning his back to the gawking duo to avoid their prying eyes. Trying to out-wit them though, he let the coat stay over his arms, keeping the last little bit of the zipper clasped at the bottom, and then moving off towards the rink entrance about 20ft from the kiss and cry.
"Aw, he got all flustered..." Viktor whined, slouching heavily against Yurio now.
"Get offa me, idiot!" The teen protested, bucking like a wild horse, though still not shaking the older man.
"The score for Fleurent Beaumont...82.45."
"Ah...time to go..." Yuri whispered to himself, turning to where he spotted Viktor finally coming up to him, still grinning about the prior exchange.
"You ready?" The Russian asked, stopping just near the doorway so his partner could hand his blade-guards off, taking them in-hand just a moment before the pink-cheeked skater stepped onto the ice, came back around, and finally moved his hands up to pull his coat off.
Yuri nodded nervously, "Not sure what the butterflies are for though...skating, or showing off my outfit." He glanced sideways to see Yurio still watching him, and Viktor's hungry eyes on top of that, so he just closed his own and shrugged the jacket off without looking at anyone at all. He still heard Viktor whistle at him though as he bowed his head in embarrassment and jerked his arm out to give the jacket over.
The costume jacket that had finally been revealed was similar to the pants, but instead of fading to solid black at the end of Yuri's arms, the silver stripes became wider until they took over the whole of the sleeves, ending in black ruffles at the cuffs. The jacket was form-fitting to the skater's thin frame, open in the front and short-cut, the silver and black alternating stripes coming around his sides from the back to end just aside his abdomen. The decorative buttons on the front were black, going up in two rows to where the black lapels came to a point. Under the jacket was a black shirt with a slight turtle-neck, and a zipper chain with a quarter-sized ring at the dip of his collarbone. Where it came down over the rim of the pants, it was trimmed in silver, matching the cut pattern of the jacket over top of it, and coming around to a point for the coat-tails in back.
The Russian gingerly took the track-suit coat and hung it over his own arm like always, and waited patiently as Yuri cleared his nose and handed the tissue over as well. Though Viktor took it into his gloved hand, he kept the hand out, extending his finger to stick it under his partner's down-turned chin and lift his face again. Blue eyes looked into brown, half-lidded with a happy-calm affect. Yuri looked back in anxious silence.
"I tease you because I love you." Viktor explained quietly, "But I do think the rose thing is a great idea~!"
Yuri deadpanned him, "You would."
The Russian sighed happily, but then shook his head and decided to get serious finally, "Okay, okay...it's time."
"Next to take the ice...representing Japan...Yuri Nikiforov!"
"You said that this program was supposed to be to sequel to 'Yuri on Ice,' but it's a lot more upbeat than YoI was. You've come a long way since that story was told, though. This isn't the sad story of a lonely warrior trying to find his way anymore...you've beaten all the odds and come out on top, learning from your mistakes, and growing with the love and support of those around you. Go show them what your love looks like now." Viktor said, his hands over his husband's where they rested on the rink wall. He gathered them up and pulled them close to his face, kissing the ring and then leaning forward to kiss the man himself. They closed their eyes and held for a moment, even amidst the wild cheering of the crowd, hearing the chants of 'Viktuuri' and 'good luck' in various languages. When they parted, Viktor leaned in to kiss him lightly a second time, then grabbed his shoulders to spin him around and leaned close to his ear, "Like you already said, this will be easy. You don't even have to take this one all that seriously. Drop the 3rd quad if you don't feel like it."
"I won't be a history maker if I don't up the ante." The skater said, tilting his head slightly to glance back at his husband, "I have to keep being worthy if you're going to pass the torch to me."
"You only need two quads to stay on par with me for the Short Program. But do as you like...just go have fun."
"Mh. I'm off."