CHAPTER NINETY SIX

The night was hard to process after the humiliation of fleeing the ice, but Viktor wouldn't let Yuri simmer on it. He was already writing things on the notepad he'd brought with him and was scratching the codes for different maneuvers, pulling the entire Free Skate from memory. Yuri was walking quietly behind, trying to look inconspicuous as they passed various other skaters trying to get in one last late-night practice before the game began again the next morning.

"You'll be able to save a lot of energy this way." Viktor was saying, clearly in the middle of something that Yuri hadn't quite heard.

He bluffed though, "...O- ahem...okay."

"You're not mad at me, are you?"

"What?" The younger skater was baffled, his voice still raw "N-no!"

"Then what's with the look?"

They were getting back to rink-side by that point, but Yuri held back in the hall so no one from earlier would spot him, "...I j-...just…made a huge scene..." He coughed, "...I don't...want to face th-them..."

"Don't worry about them right now. Focus on yourself. We have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it." The Russian explained, though it didn't look like his words helped alleviate any of his husband's anxiety. He folded the notepad back up and put it into his coat pocket along with the pencil he'd been marking it with, then quietly stepped back into the thin hallway to run a gloved hand through Yuri's hair, "I'm going to take care of you. It'll be fine."

The younger man nodded, his sore throat forcing him to cough again.

"Don't get sick though. I forbid it. That's an order from your coach." Viktor said, trying to lighten the mood with a bit of light sarcasm.

Yuri couldn't see the humor in it though and just lowered his eyes.

"Ahhhh you'll be fine!" Viktor went on, moving in to hug him instead, "You should know by now that you're only allowed to take one thing as hard as you're taking this."

"...Huh? What's...th-that?"

"Me."

Yuri's face was so red that he was practically glowing at that point, getting the desired effect and leaving the Russian in a better mood than before. He could only hope it would do the same for his athlete. So he took his husband's hand and walked him out to the rink-side area, letting him put his skates on away from the others, and put on his own as well after going back to grab them from where he'd left them by Yakov. Once they were finally out on the ice, Viktor shrugged out of his coat and tied the arms around his waist in his customary way, and stood casually with his left heel-blade anchored to the ice. The notepad was back in his hand, and he flipped through the pages to get to where he'd been writing before.

"I'm cutting two quads off the top." He explained, looking over the spiral ring to see Yuri's reaction, though he just stood there, unblinking like a soldier, "...Yuri."

"...Cutting two q-quads..." He echoed reluctantly.

"You can still react if you want."

The young skater had nothing to say; he just kept his eyes low.

Viktor had the strangest sense of déjà vu at the sight of him. Yuri looked just as terrified and defeated as he had in the minutes before his Cup of China Free Skate the year before.

'Should I just kiss you or something?'

'NO! Just stand by me! I need you to believe more than I do that I CAN WIN!'

The Russian narrowed his eyes a little bit in thought.

Would that even work this time? To just stay back and support him while he figures things out?

He crossed one arm over himself as the other came up to set a finger over his mouth, "...Yuri."

Brown eyes lifted a little at the sound of his name. The sight of it brought Viktor back to Sochi, and the look he'd seen on Yuri's face when he had finally lifted his head to face the audience's judgment after his appalling final Free Skate.

.

Sweat dripped off him, and his legs and back were a ruin of soon-to-be large bruises. Frost clung to his pants, leaving big, cold, wet patches as it melted against his skin underneath. The audience cheered, and gifts and flowers were thrown on the ice, but he had an angry, disappointed look on his face...wishing for it to be over.

Viktor sighed and shook his head, turning away from it all to go back into the prep area, "What a shame. I wonder what it would have looked like if his heart was in it? Can't force something like that...ah well."

.

"Do you want to drop out?"

The young skater finally gave more than a tepid response, looking a bit shocked to hear the words, "N-no...! I want to k-" More coughing, "...I want to keep going...!"

"Then I need you to act like it." Viktor said, stern in tone but with a softer look on his face than before, "I can't coach you if your heart isn't in it."

Yuri averted his eyes again, but at least he wasn't looking down at the ice that time. He painfully cleared his throat, raising his hand up to rub at it. His eyes were practically watering from it.

Viktor listened a moment longer, but then pushed off and skated away, leaving Yuri alone there on the ice. He raised his hand to the other group, "Uncle!"

The elder Russian pushed up from where he'd been leaning on the rink wall and saw the gesture, then seeing the younger skater clawing at his neck behind the man, and realized what was needed. He looked back around to where Viktor had left his things before and saw the water bottle that was still on the bench, grabbed it, and tossed it quickly to his nephew. Viktor caught it while still moving, but continued coming closer until his toe-picks were practically digging into the yellow rubber guard that lined the edge of the ice. He pointed at the bench as well, "Hand me my bag. I have to do something to get Yuri out of this funk before he drives himself crazy."

Mikhail reached for it as asked and handed it over, watching his nephew rummage through it as Yuri stood awkwardly on the ice far behind him, "He's still not over it?"

"The heart is willing but the mind is holding him back." Viktor answered, slowly finding the things he was looking for.

"You don't think he's just over-tired and taking it all worse than he normally would?"

"That's part of it, but I don't have the luxury of time. If we put it off till after he sleeps, it could cost him his shot at the Final. He might not even sleep unless this is resolved first anyway."

"So what are you going to do?"

"...Try to reset him to a better time." Viktor answered, "He's sensitive. He came to this place feeling like he was on top of the world, and got shot down faster than a dove in Argentina, so his ego was shattered into tiny little pieces. I have to rebuild him from the bottom up again."

"And you can do that in a night?"

"With some duct tape and a prayer, maybe." He finally found the last of the items he sought, closed the bag, and handed it back to his uncle, " His anxiety can't be cured...only managed. So...all I can do is my best."

He glided off across the ice again, stopping only when he returned to his husband's side, falling back to spouse-mode for the time being. Mikhail watched curiously, despite not being able to hear a single thing that was being said between them.

"...What if I'm...getting s-sick though?" Yuri asked warily, looking at the water bottle that he knew wasn't his, "...What if I g-get you sick...?"

"We rise together and we fall together." Viktor said simply, "Wet your throat. I'll get you tea later."

The younger skater nodded quietly, though lifting his chin to take a drink made him cough again anyway. He watched through watery eyes, trying to catch his breath, as Viktor seemed to be playing with his phone. He plugged in his ear-bud cable, set one into his left ear, and then slid closer to put the other into Yuri's ear as well.

"Yakov says I can't be your coach and your husband at the same time...but the joke's on him, I think." Viktor said, pulling up a song he liked, "Almost since day one, I've considered myself your coach and your lover, even if you didn't think of it that way for a long time yourself. Remember that time on the beach?"

.

"What do you want me to be to you? A father figure?"

"No..."

"A brother?"

"...Nh..."

"A friend, then."

"...No..."

"Then, your boyfriend."

"What!? No no no no no no no!"

"I can do my best."

.

Yuri's pink cheeks answered better than his words could at that point, and Viktor smiled to see it. He slid even closer after that, lifting Yuri's face up with his fingers gently under his chin, thumb on his lower lip, "And before that, I'd imagined the potential for months already. Doing Aria at my Nationals, Euros, and Worlds...all while thinking of you, and the brave, happy fool you were at the Sochi Banquet. I asked once if there was a limit to how many times I could fall in love with you at a glance...but it keeps happening every single day anyway...because you're my life, my love, my everything...and I'll go down with this ship before I let you go." He leaned in the last half inch and kissed him, sneaking his phone into his back pocket before sliding his hands up his husband's chest, settling his arms over his shoulders casually until he could loosely lace his fingers together behind Yuri's head. He held there until he could feel the man starting to relax.

The few skaters that still remained on the ice paid them no notice. The sound of blades scratching against the frost, clicking with the launch of a jump and cracking again on the landings, the hollow noise of coaches and athletes talking to one another...it was all drowned out into the background.

Yuri finally let himself enjoy the moment, his previous hesitation melting away with the warmth of his husband's touch. He let himself pass off the water bottle to his left hand so he could raise the right up between where Viktor's arms went to either side of his head, touching his fingers deftly to his jaw and sliding up. As he wove through the silver-grey hair, his hand paused, thumb gently touching to the side of the Russian's left eye.

Viktor paused and pulled back a little after that, a little nervous to feel that particular spot being brought back to his attention. He saw the look in those hazel eyes though, and he leaned his cheek against the palm of Yuri's hand, bringing his own back to place over it.

"...I don't...want to g-give up..." Yuri managed, "...I can...keep fighting, because y-you're with me."

The Russian could see the fire burning in those eyes again, and a wave of relief washed over him. He leaned in to kiss the younger man lightly again before slipping in behind him, snaking his arms around Yuri's lithe frame and pulling him back along the ice. He reached away only long enough to hit 'Play' on his phone before returning his arm to where it had been a moment before, gently gliding across the frosty surface, guiding their slow movements in wide arcs as the music of the Worlds Exhibition began to play in both their ears.

Yuri leaned his head back against Viktor's shoulder and let himself be pulled along with his eyes closed, finally settling into the calm safety of his husband's embrace.

On the ice, no matter where on the earth they were, they were home.

.

.

.

"The score for Yuri Plisetsky...192.65. His combined total is 295.1."

The Russian Tiger seemed pleased with himself, and both Yakov and Lilia were satisfied as well. He'd even allowed himself to voluntarily put a headband with cat ears onto his head, and to the shock and awe of practically everyone who knew him (especially Yuri's Angels,) he 'Nyaa~'d at the camera.

Viktor had a good laugh about it from where he stood just a few feet away from the kiss and cry, "You're going to have to do that every time you get your score from now on, Yuri!"

"...Only if I score well." Yurio said conditionally, "If I score less than 190, they get nothing."

"That only seems fair." The older skater smiled and shrugged, pulling the band off the blonde's head as he passed by and stuck them onto his own head instead. The crowd seemed to notice and started to cheer excitedly, and Viktor couldn't resist but to wave at them and suck up some of the attention.

Just behind him, inside the edge of the prep area, Yuri was leaning against a concrete wall with his phone in his hands. He looked more rested than he had been the night before, and wore a small hint of a smile as he listened to Yuuko on the other end of the FaceTime session. He had his ear-buds in to hear her better.

"...Don't forget to breathe when you're out there!" She was saying, "And drink lots of water!"

Yuri nodded, having the same sheepish look on his face as he had the first time he'd gone to the Ice Castle after his 5-year absence, "...It's...chmm...it's almost time..."

"You really should've just texted me if you lost your voice." She winked at him despite it, "You sure you're able to skate though like this?"

Again, Yuri nodded, trying his best to answer despite his raspy whisper, "Viktor went out and...got me some lemon tea and lozenges... I might've lost my vo-" He coughed, "My voice, but...my throat doesn't hurt so much... Just dry..."

"Oi, Yuri, you're up soon, you should get to rink-side." The Russian Tiger's voice came suddenly.

The raven-haired skater looked up to see Lilia and Yakov holding back the curtain as the blond came through, looking at him directly like he'd known he was there the whole time. Viktor came up behind him soon after with a similar sentiment.

"Who's there?" Yuuko asked, hearing voices but unable to identify them over the ambient background noise.

"Viktor and Yuri." He whispered back, turning the phone around to show them both, "Say hi."

"Yuuko!" The blond waved, "Did you see me!?"

Viktor waved as well, but stepped out of frame soon after, moving to where Yuri stood behind the camera.

"Yeah! You did great!" She answered, though he could only see her response.

"Ah, shit, I can't hear what you're saying...Yuri's got ear-buds in. I'll just text you later." Yurio said, flicking the cord where it dangled over the phone, "Davai, Yuri."

"Sp...Spasibo."

The FaceTime window came back around again. Yuuko's attention had been grabbed off-screen somewhere, "...Ah, I should get going. The girls want to get over to Yu-Topia before you go on."

"Better run quickly. It's only a few more minutes." Viktor explained, squeezing into frame by smooshing his cheek against his husband's, "Talk to you after!"

"Ganba, Yuri!"

The screen's imagery suddenly flipped around, and the pair were beholden to the triplets looking up at them, waving excitedly and wishing him good luck as well.

"Arigatou gozaimasu, mina-san." Yuri bowed his head a little, and the call was disconnected. He set it to silent and handed the device over to his coach, then drew in a deep breath, "...I'm ready. How many...are left?"

"Three. Yurio's the one to beat right now. Get perfect scores on the presentation section, and it won't matter that you're only doing three quads, so don't push yourself." Viktor answered, licking his thumb before smoothing out the skater's eyebrows, "You have a great program. Even Yurio is taking it easy right now and only did two quads for his Free Skate. Chris and your friend Phichit did the same thing at Skate America."

"...I didn't ask what...events they were going to be g-going to..." Yuri said, clearing his throat before reaching for his honeyed lemon-water.

"You'll see them, but only at my events." The Russian explained, "Chris will be in France and Phichit in Japan."

The younger skater nodded, soothing his throat by not saying anything else. He could see a media posse starting to gather and head in his direction, and he pulled Viktor through the curtain to avoid them, not wanting to bother having to explain what happened to his voice since his last interview. Viktor understood it well enough and followed after, watching as the event's French skater went through his Free Program. 'Nocturne No 20.' by Chopin played above.

Viktor settled his ringed hand against Yuri's lower back as they approached the rink wall, "Remember...be proud but humble. You don't have to prostrate yourself before the judges when you go out there, but acknowledge them politely before you do the audience."

Yuri nodded again, feeling the butterflies rising in his gut. It suddenly felt like the first event of his return to the Grand Prix Series the year before again, knowing he had something to prove, but also that he had a lot to make up for. It was the only kind of anxiety he knew what to do with...and he was excited to put the energy to good use finally.