(Author's Note: Sorry to keep you all waiting. I had major writer's block last weekend and went back instead to start making edits to the start of the story. As of now, Ch1-11 have been updated in their Final Forms, and quite a lot of new content has been added, including a whole brand new chapter. Sorry again.)
CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED THIRTY THREE
The Russian Punk awoke with a start, feeling the weight of an arm over his back. Somehow, the huge, heavy plush tiger had fallen slightly over him while he slept. All he remembered from beforehand was throwing the front paw over his shoulder to bury his head under the beast's frame. He glanced around the room after that, pulling himself free of the tiger's grasp and pushing to sit up on his knees.
A terse look at his phone told him it was early evening at that point, "Great...I was out for like 3 hours..."
The words of his last conversation were still echoing around in his head, and he looked down at the wrinkles in the blanket, not sure what to make of it all. Grinding his teeth for a moment, he closed his eyes, and moved to get up onto his feet. He paused briefly in the doorway and glanced back at the huge plush tiger.
Why would he make an offer like that when there's so many variables? One thing could go wrong and the whole thing would fall apart. Dumbass...
The door was pulled shut behind himself harshly, but the teen paid it no mind, heading down to the common room and then towards the doors to leave. He quickly threw on a heavy coat and grabbed for a scarf, but even then, it was jarring to feel the cold winter air on his face when he left.
The sky was clear by then, leaving the subtlest hints of the night sky to peek through the purples and oranges of dusk. The first and brightest stars were starting to glow dimly through the horizon.
Yurio turned his emerald-green eyes towards the Ice Castle's direction, and pushed through the shoveled-snow walkway to start heading there.
.
SssssskSHHA-...THOKskshhhhhssss...
Viktor moved through the out-bound slide of his quad Loop, then kicked off again for the triple Loop to follow.
This is who I am, I'm not going to hide!
Yurio pushed the doors open that lead into the rink-side area from the skate rental desk. Yuuko was watching him from behind the counter, but he'd said little and nothing as he passed her.
Cuz the greatest risk we'll ever take is by far...
Green eyes watched as the silver Russian pushed into his step sequence, twisting about elegantly on the ice to the music as it played from the portal stereo at one end of the rink.
To stand in the light and be seen as we are...
To stand in the light and be seen as we are...
Viktor rotated in a diagonal across the ice, down on one knee, sliding directly across the cartoonish samurai mascots embedded in the frost. He had one arm bent over his head, lifting his face to the rafters as the other arm arced out to the side. When he opened his eyes to rise back up to his feet though, he caught sight of a certain blond-haired head near the doors, and stopped the performance. The music went on without him, but the Russian waved; he was alone.
"Hey, Yuri."
"Hey."
The silver skater moved over to the rink wall and grabbed his notepad, cut the music off, and plunged the arena into near-silence, save the scratching of his blades along the ice, "You missed out on all the fun earlier." He explained, moving closer slowly, "We kind of took over the kids' class that was still here. It was complete chaos." He laughed, putting his hands on his hips casually, "One little girl was so mad about Minako being gone that we had to convince her that skating was just ballet with knife-boots. You'd have been real handy for that."
"Why?" The teen answered stiffly.
"I remember Uncle Mimi saying that you had to help with the kids' classes back in St. Petersburg over the summer. Plus, you've had all that extra ballet influence from your choreographer, so you would've been a great example of how the two are similar."
"You know ballet."
Viktor shrugged, "Sure, but it's not as obvious as it is with you lately."
"Where'd everyone go? I thought you'd all be here for a while." Yurio changed the subject, leaning over the rink-wall and setting his chin over his crossed arms.
"Yuri and his friend went out on their own. I decided to stay so I could practice my new Free Skate. We're leaving for Detroit tomorrow, so..."
"So it's just you here."
"Da."
There was silence between them again after that, but the taller skater simply nodded to himself and started moving around again. He pulled the notepad up and slid the pencil out from where it was woven into the coils at the top, glancing at the planned lineup in the list. He crossed out where it said 4T-3Lo and wrote instead 4Lz-3Lo, then tapped the eraser against his lip as he scanned the rest.
"Did they say where they were going?" Yurio asked, getting the man's attention again, and forcing him to drop a toe-pick to stop moving.
"Huh? No, they hadn't decided before they left." Viktor paused a moment, turning slightly and lowering the pencil, giving a somewhat skeptical look, "...Did you need something?"
The blond shrugged and moved to turn around, "I just wanted Katsudon's opinion on something. It's fine. I'll find him later." He started heading back towards the doors after that, pulling one hand out of his heavy jacket to reach for the handle.
"What, on the Mikhail thing?"
Yurio stopped, hand on the cold metal, turning his eyes back to look past the rim of his hood, "...Sort of."
"You should talk to Mikhail about it, not Yuri."
"I did. That's why I'm here now." The Russian Tiger said simply, turning back to the door, "The old man said something that made me think, but...I don't know."
Viktor made a face, though the teen hadn't seen it. He drew in a sharp breath and headed over to the rink wall nearest the younger skater, "What'd he say?"
"Some stupid idea about him saying he's going to move to Hasetsu to be with Okukawa, and that he'll be dragging his Hellspawn with him, but that he wants me to be here, too. It's dumb."
The silver Russian glanced to the side, almost rolling his eyes a bit, but then turned back, slouching over the wall casually, "If you moved to Hasetsu, you wouldn't be able to train under Yakov anymore. You'd need a new coach."
Yurio tried not to react, but he felt his heart clench in his chest all the same, "Yeah, I would."
"So what are you going to do about it?" Viktor asked simply, his tone unchanging.
The teen could feel the blood leave his face, and he pushed the door open to step through, "Nothing, I guess." The door clicked closed behind him, and he left the Ice Castle without another word.
Crystal-blue eyes watched him disappear, but the man they belonged to did nothing to give chase. He just pushed back up to standing and crossed his arms, tapping the pencil against his elbow as he looked around. He flinched slightly when he saw Yuuko coming in the way Yurio left.
"Is everything okay...?" She asked quietly.
"Yeah, why?" He wondered back, pushing forward to get back to the stereo and reset his music.
"Oh..." The Madonna shied away a bit, looking back out through the doors, then turning back again, "Yurio looked crushed about something. I thought-"
"It's nothing." Viktor insisted simply, setting the pencil and notepad down, "He just came looking for Yuri and Yuri wasn't here." He hit Play on the front of the stereo and kicked off swiftly towards the center of the rink, quickly took his position, and waited for the start-delay to catch up.
Stand in the light and be seen as we are...
.
"Kanpaaaai!" Yuri and Phichit cheered, clinking their glasses together as they sat at the 7-person sushi bar of the small Sushidokoro Tsukuta. They drained their tiny cups of Sake and set them down next to the bottle they shared between them.
"Ahh! This is so great!" The Thai skater said excitedly, "I didn't get to do so much last time I was here! We were all so busy with things!"
"Right?"
"So when are you coming to Bangkok?"
Yuri lowered his head in an apologetic bow, "I've been thinking about it! Honest! I just don't know yet."
"Oh! You should come before Four Continents, then we can go together like we're doing for the Final!"
The first pieces of nigiri were being set on the flat wooden tabletop, and Yuri reached for his with his white ceramic chopsticks, "That actually sounds like a really great idea. I'll tell Viktor so we can start planning."
"Maybe I'll even get onto the podium with you this time." Phichit said hopefully, grabbing for his own piece of the fancy fish display, "Now that I can land the quad Loop, I can compete at a higher level. Beating JJ and Otabek will still be hard though..."
"Considering how long it took me to get up there, I don't think there's any hurry." The other skater pointed out, reaching next for a piece of the palate-cleansing ginger, ready for the next morsel, "But there's never any guarantee any of us will be medaling anyway. Otabek really surprised everyone with his Worlds performance before he came into the Grand Prix for the first time last year. Now he's just steamrolling everyone."
"Remember when he made JJ fall apart at the Final?" The Thai skater laughed, "I've never seen someone get cold feet so fast! JJ got so flustered that he forgot to start when the music began!"
"I can't judge." Yuri sighed nervously, "A breeze could pass over the back of my neck just right and I'll turn into a worthless puddle on the ice. If another competitor got under my skin, I don't even know what I'd do. I'd be a nervous wreck."
"Yeah but you're practically the Come-Back King, Yuri." Phichit teased, "So if you're going to have a panic-attack, always do it before your Free Skate!"
The older skater just gave a nervous smile, "Don't say that, I'll end up doing the exact opposite next time."
Two more pieces of nigiri came before them, and each figure reached for his own.
"Your Free Skate in China was something else. Really." Phichit went on, "I don't think I've ever seen you fight so hard. Not to mention, before you even went onto the ice, and were talking to Viktor at rink-side..."
"Yeah..."
The memory of that afternoon was suddenly fresh. The arena, full of screaming fans chanting his name, many holding up banners telling him to 'Overcome the Short Program,' in reference to his husband's roof-top melt-down the night before, and the way Viktor himself completely broke down crying when he saw it all, too.
That Free Skate was both our battles, not just mine. I don't know that I would've been half as motivated to try that hard if I still had Celestino as my coach. Going out there...
He cast his cherry-hazel eyes on his ring and bent his thumb over to touch it a little.
...I wasn't just skating to get Gold, or even to get into the Final. I was skating to protect Viktor's honor and reputation. I couldn't just let my mental weakness stop us from achieving our goals.
"I hope I can skate like that one day." Phichit said, his voice trailing like he was dreaming it in his mind's eye, "Scoring over 100 in the SP, and over 210 in the FP...or even higher."
"You'll get there. I'm sure of it."
"Are you going to try to beat Viktor's FP records soon?" The Thai skater went on, reaching for the third piece of nigiri set before them, "Eight quads in a single program?"
"No way." He shook his head, "I went down on just five before."
"People keep saying it was only because you were dehydrated."
"Even still..." Yuri held the morsel in front of himself, "What Viktor did for his FP wasn't normal, even for him. After saying last year that he didn't even want to do more than 3, only to belt out 8, including the quad Axel? Maybe Yurio will be able to do it in his own time, but not me. I think I might be able to do 6 at the most, but I'd need 'Overcome the Short Program' levels of motivation to get me there."
"Why only 6? Viktor's talked about your stamina before, and you guys are always putting your hardest jumps at the end for the point bonuses. If you flipped things around and put the hard ones at the start instead, you could put the easier ones at the end."
"Maybe if it were one of my old programs." The skater explained, eating the nigiri quickly, "But the shows Viktor choreographs are really hard. I'm worn out at the end as it is, even just doing the 4 quads we already plan."
"I guess that's true. I bet Viktor gets a lot of requests from people asking him to choreograph stuff for them now!"
"...I'm...actually not sure on that." Yuri tapped his lip with the end of the chopsticks, looking up in thought, "Maybe he has and I just don't know, but I feel like he'd say something if he did. Mikhail once suggested we think about managing a skating rink when we're both retired, so I'm sure Viktor would've thought it funny if someone asked him for stuff like we already did."
"Ooohh...a skating rink? That'd be awesome! People would come from all over to learn how to skate from you guys!"
"That's what Mikhail was saying, too."
"So you're thinking about it?" Phichit seemed excited about the idea, "I'd come!"
"I actually hadn't put much thought into it yet." Yuri gave a hesitant smile, "We'd have to buy the Ice Castle, or move somewhere else, if we wanted to do that...and I'm just not sure. Someone will have to take over Yu-Topia when my parents finally decide to stop managing it."
"What about your big sister?"
"I don't think she'll want to stay in Hasetsu forever." He said, looking over at the Nori soup just to the side of his hand, "But maybe. I dunno. It's all so far in the future now, it's hard to want to worry about it. I still owe Viktor 4 World Championship victories."
"Do you think you'll get Gold at the Final this time?" Phichit wondered, "You've been outscoring Plisetsky a lot already this season."
Yuri just huffed a laugh at that and turned slightly to look at his friend, "I like how you skipped the idea of beating Viktor and just went right to Yurio."
"I've already seen you beat Viktor when you're both at the top of your A-Game." The man winked, "But I've also seen Yurio beat Viktor's World Record. You added 50 points to your Free Skate score between Rostelecom and the Final last year, too, so it's obvious that anything's possible. Imagine Yurio putting 50 points on his own Free Skate."
"Might as well retire right then." Yuri laughed, "He already makes me nervous. He's only 16 and he's scoring as high as he does... Not even Viktor was doing that well when he was 16."
"People tend to get ahead way faster when they have Champions as rink-mates. Imagine how much better Viktor would've been back then if he had his future self as his coach. He'd have the experience and knowledge, technique and finesse...all of it. If Yurio were on his own, or if he only had rink-mates like that one creepy guy on his team..."
"Georgi?"
"Yeah him." Phichit pointed with his chopsticks, "He'd probably be way more average."
"Yurio's about the same age as one of my local fans." Yuri went on, "Kenjirou Minami-kun...you remember him from the wedding party?"
"Wasn't he that super excitable kid with the red and yellow hair?"
"That's the one. Him and Yurio were rivals in Juniors, but Minami-kun barely scores over half of what Yurio does these days."
"So you see?"
"Yeah..."
"And it's true for you, too. Ever since Viktor turned up, your own scores have shot through the roof. I bet that anyone who trains under him in the future will see the same results."
Yuri just gave a look, "I'm the only person Viktor's ever actually coached though, and the reason I got good wasn't just because he was my coach. He changed my whole mindset about competition."
"And other things!" Phichit laughed, "Mr. Nikiforov."
The older skater's cheeks went pink, and he turned back with a wry smile, "Yeah." He then looked frantic, "Ah! He was looking through your Instagram archive once, when we were on our way to St. Petersburg last year! You had this one picture of me in my bedroom back in Detroit and he saw the framed photo of himself that I kept in there as motivation!"
"Oh wow, I bet you died!"
"I DID, IT WAS HORRIBLE." The skater said, putting his chopsticks down to hold his head, "It would've been a hundred times worse if he only just saw it for the first time during that video you gave to Yuuko for the wedding party! Gaaahhh...I was so bad back then..."
"It's so funny how he turned out to like you so much." Phichit pointed out, nibbling on a piece of the Rockfish sashimi in a bowl nearby, "All those times you came back from a competition you'd had with him and couldn't even really say hi. Now you're leaving claw-marks on his back!" He was laughing quite hard then.
Yuri could feel the blood draining from his face as he looked on, aghast, at the amused skater next to him, "Ph-Phichito-kun!"
"I feel so silly for not having thought of that when I saw the marks the first time!" He went on, getting the attention of the three other patrons who were in there with them further down the counter, "In Bangkok though, there's so many shrines to all the dozens of different famous ghosts...I guess I was just still in that mindset when I saw it!" The hilarity of the situation suddenly faded though, and Phichit's expression got rather serious. He turned on his chair and grabbed Yuri by the sides of both shoulders, "Yuri, is he hurting you!? Are those marks from you trying to get away and he won't let you!?"
"W-what!? N-no!" The frantic skater answered, shaking his head emphatically.
"I know you're his biggest fan but if he's abusing you then you need to get out of there!"
"He'snotabusingmeohmygod."
"Then why are you leaving marks in his skin like that...?"
The blood returned to Yuri's face and his cheeks went bright red, "...C-Cuz...he makes me feel good..." He said quietly, mostly whispering, "And h-he...he likes it when I leave marks...on him, too..."
Even Phichit's face went red at that, and both skaters turned to sit normally after that, "...Oh." He said hesitantly, looking at the bowl of salt-grilled Iwashi sardines nearby, "...Uh...oh. Hm."
"...What?" Yuri grimaced, "You're not imagining us now are you?" He glowered dubiously.
Phichit just shook his head frantically, "N-no way! That'd be weird! You're my friend!"
"YOUAREIMAGININGUS."
"NOTINTENTIONALLY. YOUPUTITINMYHEADYOURSELF. ICAN'THELPITNOW. THISISYOURFAULT."
"PHICHITO-KUN."
The whole bar was looking at them with nervous expressions on their faces.