CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED SIXTEEN
The instrumental start to the music gave Viktor a moment to gain speed, rounding around the rink with flare, spinning into the first set of lyrics with his right hand up next to his ear, excited for Yuri's voice to resonate throughout the arena.
Can you hear my heartbeat?
Tired of feeling never enough.
He twisted around with his arms out to the side, heading back along the far end of the rink to get back to center.
I close my eyes and tell myself,
That my dreams will come true.
He leapt into a quad flip, landing elegantly and spinning off again.
There'll be no more darkness when you believe in yourself, you are unstoppable.
Yurio lifted his head, realizing the voice had changed, "...Wait, is that...Viktor singing now?"
The older skater nodded, "He didn't want anyone to know until they heard it."
The crowds seemed to notice the difference, too, and roared their approval, drowning out all thought.
Where your destiny lies,
Dancing on the blades,
Viktor thrust his hand out as he slid forward on the ice, reaching straight for Yuri at the opposite end of the rink.
You set my heart on fire!
Yuri couldn't help but smile and reach back. Viktor saw it and felt energized anew, rising up from the kneeling slide and launched into a scissor-kick, then moving off again, chains jingling softly at his hips.
"We sing this next part together." Yuri said, looking over at his blonde counterpart.
Serpentine step sequence.
Don't stop us now, the moment of truth,
We were, born to make History!
We'll make it happen, we'll turn it around,
Yes, we were born to make History!
The Russian skated eerily close to the wall as he came back around, flying right by the judges before throwing himself into a flying sit-spin further out towards center.
Born to make History!
He dipped down, corkscrewing one leg over the other as he descended, one arm up above him. The blue and silver blur grabbed his left blade with his free hand, holding onto it as he half-rose-back-up again. He brought his upward arm back down again for balance in the pancake spin, then moved his captured blade behind him as he rose back to normal height. He pulled his skate even higher after that into a full Biellmann spin, with both hands on the blade.
"Incredible! Flying combination spin! Beautiful flow and execution!"
B-b-born to make History!
Viktor kicked out and moved away again, bringing one hand to the center of his chest as his husband's voice echoed throughout the arena once again.
Can you hear my heartbeat?
The Russian twisted, arms up and open as they went around him, then swinging his right leg forward like a pendulum.
I've got a feeling, it's never too late.
The right leg came back and pulled the skater into a sway-back Ina Bauer. He clipped the ice to face forward into the jump, and turned to launch into a double-tano triple Axel, landing in reverse and moving off cleanly to pick up speed.
I close my eyes and see myself,
Tano triple-flip, tano triple toe-loop combination.
Yurio grumbled to himself on the rink wall, pulling his elbow down from its perch on Yuri's shoulder, "...He's gonna waste the both of us like it's a game."
The older skater's face went blank with knowing anxiety, ...If he really scores around 119 for this, I'll never forgive myself... What was I thinking!?
How my dreams will come true.
Viktor hydro-bladed with the left leg crossing in front of him into the next set of lyrics, both arms up and to the side like wings. He listened as the audience cheered to hear his voice in the song again.
There'll be no more darkness when you believe in yourself, you are unstoppable.
Ice flew as he brought the left blade back across to brake, forcing the Russian to stand slightly, then descend into a tighter circle as he rotated it back around himself and moved into a broken-leg sit-spin, left arm out as the right curled over his head.
Where your destiny lies, dancing on the blades,
Viktor rose up again, sliding forward a little slower than before, crossing both hands over his chest.
You set my heart on fire!
Inside-spread eagle as he raised his hands up towards the ceiling, then moving back out again.
Yuri found himself mouthing the words as they went on, watching his idol skate the program with the same eyes that once only saw him from a distance.
Their voices began in tandem again, signaling the start of the program's second half. Jumps' base values would be multiplied by 1.1 from then on, and Viktor was going to capitalize on it. He moved into another step sequence, in line with historical rules for the Short Program, and hoping to get more points for it as a result.
Don't stop us now, the moment of truth,
We were, born to make History!
We'll make it happen, we'll turn it around,
Yes, we were born to make History!
The Russian reached back with his right arm and leg, then kicked off on his toe-pick, spun four times, and gracefully landed on the right blade for a flawless quad Lutz.
Born to make History!
B-b-born to make History!
An effortless glide, reversing direction and a backwards-entry camel spin; five rotations.
Don't stop us now, the moment of truth,
We were, born to make History!
Change of foot, building speed again; five more rotations.
We'll make it happen, we'll turn it around,
Yes, we were born to make History!
.
"...I can't believe you roped me into doing this..." Yuri sighed, standing in the sound booth by himself.
"It's just practice for now!" Viktor insisted, standing on the other side of the glass with a finger on the comm.-button, "We aren't even going to record it."
"...But what if I can't get it right? You should just use the original! It's going to sound all weird with my voice instead!" The younger skater said nervously, sweating a little in the tiny room.
The Russian huffed a laugh on his side, "It'll only sound weird to you because you sound different to yourself in your own head. To me it'll sound perfect! It already sounds weird to hear it the other way!"
"Viktoorrr..." Yuri grumbled.
"Tut tut...no arguing! If you could perfectly copy my Aria when you were still a little piggy, you can copy this song!"
Yuri's face just went red from the humiliation of the reminder, and the sound-tech assistant sitting in front of Viktor blinked nervously as he listened.
"...You had to bring that up again...!"
"You should believe in yourself more! You sound like an angel, now SING!" Viktor clapped once, signaling the tech to start playing the audio into Yuri's head-phones. The cue to begin the lyrics came and went, and the anxious skater just stood in the booth without moving. His mouth was open like he'd meant to start, but sound just wasn't coming out. Viktor hit the pause button, then the comm.-link button again, "What's wrong?"
"...I...froze up."
"Why?"
"I dunno! I've never done this before! It's weird!" He lifted one side of the head-set and put it over-top of his ear instead of over it, "No one's ever asked me to sing for them before!"
"Do I have to come in there?" Viktor asked pensively.
"...Maybe you should anyway." The younger figure sat back on the tall wooden stool behind him, sighing as he lowered his head behind the mic screen. He heard the sound-booth door open and close, and then felt his husband's arm over his shoulders.
"Think of it like Hot Springs on Ice then..." The Russian suggested, pulling the head-set completely off the man's fluffy black head of hair, flipped the muffs over to reverse their direction, and held one against his right ear, "It's just like skating. You practice the moves, make adjustments, and then do the thing. You've known about this song for ages and you know the lines by heart...so what's the hang-up?"
"...I'm a skater, not a singer."
Viktor quirked a brow, but then moved his free hand to nudge the other head-set muff towards Yuri's left ear, "If I sing it first, will you do it after?"
"...I feel bad making you go that far."
"Well," Viktor laughed, "I planned on doing a part of the song myself anyway, so this just knocks it out sooner than I expected to."
"You did?"
"Sure. The lyrics were practically gift-wrapped for us." The Russian nodded, pulling a pen from his back pocket and scribbling on the line-card in front of them, "See? This part is you...this is me...then this is us at the same time."
"But I thought..."
"I don't want anyone else to know I'm doing a part of this." Viktor explained, "It'll be a surprise! Now..." He cleared his throat, "Ore no uta wo kike!"
Yuri blinked at him, "...You're getting better at Japanese, too."
"Deshou!"
"Sou desu..."
.
Wide arcing moves across the ice, leaving impressive scratches along the path.
Don't stop us now, the moment of truth,
We were, born to make History!
We'll make it happen, we'll turn it around,
The final required element for the Short Program...a normal-entry combination spin with a foot-change... Starting with the camel spin, hands initially behind Viktor's back as he rotated swiftly on his right leg.
Yes, we were born to make History!
He moved his arms outward, and in a seemingly-impossible fashion, bent entirely over backward with his free leg bent, arms out 'above' him, body horizontal to the ice. He then descended gracefully without losing rotational speed.
We were born to make History!
Sit spin with twist variant. Brief touch of his left skate on the ice, and he was on the opposite foot, continuing the spin as quickly as he could, falling into a shoot-the-duck position, holding out his right leg perfectly straight and grabbing his calf as he rotated.
We were born to make History!
Viktor rose back up to standing, settling into what almost looked like a ballerina's spin, slowly raising his arms up above himself to spin even faster. He controlled it well enough that he didn't travel, even as he lost perspective of where he was on the ice.
Yes, we were born to make History!
The spin abruptly ended, and a dizzy-as-all-hell-but-trying-not-to-show-it Viktor planted his toe-pick into the ice and thrust his arms out, lifting his head...and then music ended.
The audience was quiet for a moment, but then burst into a cacophony of screaming and cheering.
"He's still got it! Viktor Nikiforov, everyone! Showing us all how it's done!"
The Russian panted heavily where he still stood alone on the ice, clasping his fists where he still had his arms out. His face was a little red from exhaustion, but he finally leaned his head forward and allowed himself to relax, letting his arms drop as he caught his breath a little, only to then spin around slowly and wave at the audience gratefully. Taking a page from Yuri's book, he bowed to each cardinal end of the arena before pushing off to head to the kiss and cry.
Yuri couldn't wait for the man to get back onto normal ground before lunging at him, but Viktor took it in stride and welcomed the jump. With his husband's arms over his shoulders, he spun around with the momentum, hugging him back despite his muscles starting to feel the post-show burn. As Yuri scrambled to feel his toes on the ice, the Russian started to lower him, letting him at least get a small foothold before Yuri had one hand running through silver hair.
"That was probably the best program you've ever skated!" Yuri fanboy'd, "The ISU might as well just give you your GP Final Gold medal right now so the rest of us can fight over Silver and Bronze!"
"No way..." Viktor huffed, "If I'm taking it, it's only after I've beaten you on the ice, fair and square."
"Really?" The younger skater wondered, almost rhetorically.
The Russian had the strangest feeling of déjà vu in that moment, and was half-tempted to put his husband onto his back on the ice and redo that first kiss all over again. Instead, he just rolled his toes forward a little to anchor the jagged front edges of his blades, and leaned the last inch to kiss him while standing. The audience cheered loudly anew.
Half the people on rink-side were watching closely as well, wide-eyed as they were, but clapping alongside everyone else. Only the Russian team seemed a bit awkward about it, barely patting their fingers together in a thinly-veiled uncomfortable tap. Yurio grumbled at the sight of them even as Chris clapped rather enthusiastically next to him.
"...The ISU should just give him the Gold? Is Katsudon nuts? A bunch of us have a good chance at winning it!" He deadpanned the pair as they finally disconnected and came back through the doors. Viktor reached for where Yuri had left his skate-guards on the thick top of the gateway.
"Let the guy sweet-talk his husband." Chris scolded half-heartedly, smiling as he still clapped, "Maybe you need a girl to whisper sweet nothings into your ear like Yuri does to Viktor?"
"I don't need anyone!"
"You have enough fans in that little club that follows you around to every event." The Swiss skater laughed, leaning onto the rink wall as Viktor pulled his track-suit coat over his arms and moved with Yuri over to the kiss and cry bench, "Surely one of them annoys you less than all the others."
"Did I stutter...?" The blonde growled, moving off to get out of ear-shot.
Chris just huffed another laugh to himself and watched the teen go, leaning his chin into the palm of his hand where he held it up by an elbow.
The silver-haired skater sat onto the bench and leaned back, stretching his legs out in front of him eagerly, "Whew! That one was really tiring, too...but it was a lot of fun!" He tilted his head back to look at Yuri as he sat next to him, looking over his shoulder to see the man's anxious face, "Just wait until we get backstage! The media's gonna be all over us over that song!"
"...I'm super nervous about that, actually." Yuri confessed, "Now that they all know you had a part in it, too."
"Maybe I should do one of your programs for next year!" Viktor suggested, nudging the man with his elbow as he leaned forward to rest over his knees.
"Maybe..."
"Aww, Yuuri-kōchi..." The Russian cooed, "You sound like you didn't enjoy the song at all!" He leaned his head to the side and rested it on the edge of the younger man's shoulder, weaving his arm around Yuri's to take his hand where it rested on the bench between them, "I'm sure everyone loved it!"
"...The hype was so high though...I hope I didn't underwhelm everyone..."
"Not a chance!"
"...The score for Viktor Nikiforov..."
Everyone's heads craned up at the sound of the announcer's voice. Yuri was starting to sweat bullets, and he clamped down hard where Viktor held to his hand, making the Russian grimace through his excited smile.
He's even more anxious about my score than I am... Oh Yuri...Ye of little faith...
.
.
.
"...119.24!"
Yuri gulped, "Shimatta..."
Yurio and Chris were surprised to see those numbers, and both crossed their arms dejectedly to realize they'd just been steamrolled. Again.
Viktor just burst out laughing, pulling his arm up to lay it over his partner's shoulders instead and pull him close, "Don't be so disappointed! This is what you wanted, isn't it?"
"...I had half-thought there was no way you could pull something like that off though!" He protested, "There's just...I mean...how!?"
"Sore wa himitsu deeeeesu~!"
"Y-yahari..." Yuri just deadpanned him.
.
.
.
Camera-flashes were practically blinding as Viktor held Yuri nearby while the post-skate interviews began. Yuri was seeing spots before his husband had even started answering a single question.
"Is this part of your retirement plan, Viktor!? Do you mean to start a singing career!?"
"Hah? Well...not really." The Russian laughed, rubbing the back of his head nervously, "We just did it for fun! Doesn't he have a great voice?" He looked down at his slightly-shorter partner affectionately.
"V-Viktor..."
"Since we're going to be producing a lot of our own programs in the future, I don't see why we couldn't do another with our own vocals. Then it would really be our show! Right? Yuri! That way we never run the risk of accidentally having the same music as someone else." He leaned in closer to whisper into the younger skater's ear, "You know how many other people have done 'El Tango de Roxanne' before Georgi? Half the pair skaters have, at least!"
They shared an in-group laugh between them even though they were still prominently on camera.
Beyond the media mob, Chris watched quietly, shaking his head and laughing to himself despite his jealousy, "...Way to steal the show, Viktor. The rest of us are always picking up crumbs after you."
"...He did it again, huh?" Came a voice.
The Swiss skater turned his head to face the direction it came from, only to suddenly choke on himself in disbelief. He lightly hit his chest a few times to clear the sputum from his lungs, "...It...it's you! Why are you here...?"
"...Ça fait longtemps."
Yuri blinked past the reporters when he spotted Chris looking like he'd just had a stroke, but as he got a better vantage, he realized who he'd been surprised by. He lightly touched Viktor's arm to get his attention from the media again, "...I need to step away for a second. Be right back."
"Okay~!" The Russian answered, entirely oblivious to everything beyond the sparkle of the camera flashes.
The younger skater nudged his way through, and soon rounded his way back to where Chris had been waiting. He stuffed his hands in his coat pockets as he approached, "It's you again. I guess you want to interview Viktor alone or something since you aren't pressing into the media frenzy?"
The Sportscaster from before Group 2 went on the ice was standing in front of him, looking a bit wary. She couldn't take her eyes off the young skater.
Chris raised a brow, "...You two...know each other?"
"We met earlier. Briefly." Yuri said flatly, like he hadn't been impressed, "She caught me unawares in the main hall while I was wandering around on my own."
"...On your own?" Chris echoed, "So Viktor doesn't know she's here?"
"...Why would it make any difference? She's a reporter. There's dozens of them floating around." The Asian skater pointed out. The blonde looked unusually nervous for someone who was normally rather composed, which made Yuri wonder if something else was going on. His eyes went from Chris back to the Sportscaster, and then narrowed a little suspiciously, "Who are you?"
She fidgeted a little where she stood, "...I knew Viktor. A long time ago."
Realization was slow to settle in...Yuri evaluated the woman carefully.
Fair skin, pale hair, long and wavy, blue eyes...like...the ocean...?
His own eyes went wide at that point, "...Y-you're..." His cheeks went a little pink, and he turned his head to realize Viktor was trying to get his attention again. The young skater turned his whole body after that, and saw the journalists all parting a little to form a path.
"Yuri! I don't want to answer all these questions about the music by myself! Come back already! It's your song, too!" The Russian called playfully, waving, "You said you'd only be a secon-"
Chris put a hand over his chest anxiously, "...Here it comes."
Slate blue eyes got really small suddenly, and the hand that was up in a wave slowly went limp and fell to his side. The happy look on his face vanished. All he could do was stare.
"Ça va? Viktor..."
"...S...Sophia...?"