CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED FIFTY EIGHT

Yuri watched his husband's SP with a slight hint of jealously, but tried to put it at the back of his mind. His turn was coming up soon, and it would finally be time to really put his condition to the test; not being allowed to do any jumps would be a handicap, but his spins and footwork would still be enough to push him to his limits. He had a worried look on his face as the music above entered its final few seconds.

We were born to make history...
We were born to make history...
Yes! We were born to make historyyyy...

Viktor huffed and puffed to catch his breath, holding his arms out to the side in his last pose. He brought them both inward to fan himself with his hands though as he started making his way over to the rink exit, "Whew! That's hard to do so soon after eating."

"I hope Ciao Ciao gets here soon." Phichit commented, looking at his phone and the time-stamp for the last text message his coach had sent, "He left the Marriott 30 minutes ago but I haven't heard from him since. He might be stuck in traffic..."

"How come he's still at the Marriott?" Yuri wondered, holding out one blade-guard at a time for his partner to take.

"Oh..." The younger skater looked a bit nervous, "...The Leroys packed up so fast after JJ's accident that the ISU offered one of their vacant rooms to me and Celestino. He went to bring his stuff back and put it in the room so he wouldn't have to worry about it later."

Yuri wasn't sure which of the numerous questions that came to mind he should ask first, but he shook his head as he felt the second blade-guard pulled from his hand, "They did?" Was all he could think to say, not even specifying which 'they' he meant.

"...Yeah." Phichit nodded, "Apparently JJ's family is taking him back home later tonight."

"During the event? They don't even want to stay and watch?"

"I guess it just stings too much to know he's not participating." The Thai figure shrugged, "It's not the same as me wanting to watch when I didn't qualify before. But, now that I've taken his place, and he's too injured to even walk...maybe I can't blame him. I don't know that I'd want to be around if I were in his position."

Yuri just felt his head starting to hurt again and sighed quietly, "...Same."

"It's a wonder the ISU is even letting you skate at all, Yuri." Otabek pointed out, still sitting in his front-row seat where he'd retaken it after his own practice, leaning to rest his jaw onto the curve of his hand, "They're taking a huge risk by not contesting your wishes to participate."

The other skaters all turned to glance back at him, but none of them could really argue the point, valid as it was.

Viktor pulled his team jacket on again and set his hands over his partner's chest, sliding them up to settle on his shoulders, thumbs on either side of the man's neck, "We'll see how his SP goes. Yuri knows I'll pull him if I'm not completely sure he can manage."

"What about you then?" The Kazakh followed-up.

The Russian held quietly for a moment, looking from Otabek to his husband's anxious face, "I won't compete either if he can't."

Otabek barely flinched, "That's what I thought."

Chris and Phichit were surprised, "What!? You can't withdraw just because of that!"

"It's not up for debate." Viktor said, proverbially putting his foot down, "If I have to force him out of the Final, then I'm not going to pour salt in the wound by competing without him. And I'm not even saying that because we're married...it's just the right thing to do. It's no different than those videos we've all seen, where track athletes will stop and go back to help carry their rivals across the finish line when they collapse. I've even seen some where they'll push their competition over the finish line first because the other person was ahead of them in the race when they fell. Besides..." He pulled his hands back and stuffed them into his coat pockets, "It would just look bad if I withdraw from the event as a coach but not as a competitor in that case. I have more responsibility than before."

"Half the people coming to watch the Final are here because of you guys, never mind your obligation to the RSF." Chris pointed out, crossing his arms, "The ISU is probably only giving Yuri a pass to try anyway because they're worried you'll do exactly what you just said you'd do. The Men's Singles event will implode on itself if a third of the competitors suddenly disappear. That'd be unfair to us, too."

"Will Skater Phichit Chulanont please enter the rink."

"Ahhhhh!" The aforementioned skater was getting nervous, "Ciao Ciao, where are you!?"

"...I'm starting to wish I went first instead..." Yuri grumbled, "Then we wouldn't even have to worry about this. I'll bet they're going to have me go last. Is the practice line-up the same as the official one for later?"

"I think so." Chris said simply, "So that means it's Phichit, Plisetsky, and then you."

"Yurio's been avoiding us as much as he can." The Japanese skater noted, looking up to the far end of the rink where he knew the younger skater had gone to hide. He could see the duo of silver-haired heads peeking slightly over the edge of the barrier wall of the viewing-box, but from his vantage on the floor, Yuri couldn't see any of the blonde, "I feel bad for yelling at him. ...I feel worse now for thinking it felt good at the time."

"I think anyone could forgive you for being testy right now." Viktor explained, reaching one hand back up to run his fingers through that black hair, careful to stroke only the unhurt side of the man's head, "I'd be cranky too if I got hurt right before an event."

"I shouldn't have done it though. I have no excuse." The younger figure lamented quietly, watching as Phichit slid out across the ice behind his husband, "That makes it twice that I've yelled at him. Some friend I am."

"Sometimes people need to hear harsh truths. You were justified both times."

"You don't even know what I said on either occasion though, Viktor."

"Maybe not...but you've yelled at me before, too. I've never held it against you."

Yuri just blinked at him, "...What? That's not true. You were mad at me after I did it before the wedding party."

The Russian just booped his nose before pulling his hand back again, "I was upset about what you said, not how you said it."

Phichit nervously shook his hands around as he meandered around the ice, looking back over his shoulder several times to see if he could spot Celestino coming through the mezzanine. He was starting to run-up the proverbial clock though, and reluctantly took his position in the center of the rink, setting a toe-pick down amidst the shallow ticks in the frost where the previous three skaters had done the same.

"Don't worry about Ciao Ciao not being here yet!" Viktor called out unexpectedly, trying to get the young skater's attention from the gap in the rink wall with a wave, "I'll watch you!"

The Thai athlete could feel his face go red; he'd frequently watched videos of Viktor and tried to emulate his jump technique, as many other skaters had, and had even gotten help with his quad Loop from the man. But actually having him offer to stand-in as a coach, even for the paltry 2 minutes and 30-or-so seconds that it was...that was uniquely different.

Then the worry set in, and Phichit's red cheeks switched over to his whole face going pale. The eager but sinister smile on the Russian's face was telling.

Oh heck! He's going to eat me alive when I get done!

['King' - Lauren Aquilina]

Yuri just fell back into one of the seats next to Otabek, slouching so far that he nearly slid right off the end of it again. He turned his head though and looked again at the viewing-box on the far side of the rink, then looked forward to where Viktor was leaning against the rink wall still, and Chris standing nearby to him.

"Don't let it bother you." Otabek said unexpectedly, watching Phichit skate, "Just go out there and do what you always do."

The older skater turned his head slightly, but then went back to center and sighed, "I feel like the success of the entire Men's Singles suddenly rests on my shoulders." He admitted reluctantly, "Chris is right. With all the pressure for Viktor and I to win Gold at all of our events, so that it'd jokingly be a competition between him and I for who takes the Gold here...if we both suddenly drop out..."

"If you two knuckleheads don't start focusing on the skating, someone else is going to come up and take the Gold from both of you." The Kazakh warned, "You're skating against three other people who've all made it to the podium, be it here or at Worlds. Your own friend is out there trying his best, too."

"I know...that's why I said it was a joke." Yuri pushed to sitting up properly, folding his hands together where they came to rest over his chest, elbows on the arm-rests between the seats, "But even the ISU made a big deal out of it. ...If Viktor pulls me, I'll have to try and convince him to compete anyway, even if it would hurt to be put on the sidelines."

"How's your head, anyway?"

The older skater glanced over at the younger, "It was bad overnight, I had a hard time sleeping...but it's gotten better throughout the day."

"You should take a nap then before our event starts."

"I was starting to think the same." Yuri nodded in agreement, "It's not like we have to be here for Opening Ceremonies."

The conversation fell quiet after that, and the music overhead played on. Yuri watched his husband carefully, knowing how the lyrics had impacted the man the last time he'd heard them. However, it seemed that the Russian was focused, eyes keenly watching the young skater on the ice. He could only wonder about the list of things Viktor would point out after the show was over...though, that seemed less important suddenly as he heard the frantic footsteps of a certain coach coming down from the second-floor prep area. He and Otabek turned their eyes to see Celestino suddenly flinging himself down onto the concrete, rushing out to rinkside as he half-panicked about getting there so late.

Viktor just turned as he heard the man coming, and clapped as he laughed about the precipitous timing, "Better late than never, I suppose. What took so long?"

Celestino heaved as he leaned forward, holding himself up with his hands on his knees, "Traffic...was bad...accident, on the snow..."

"Winter driving can be precarious." The Russian mused, resting a finger on the side of his jaw as he curled the opposite arm around himself, "But at least you're here now. I've been watching him in case you didn't get here at all."

The coach tried to catch his breath, and finally pushed to standing fully upright again, stepping past Chris and into the open gateway next to the silver skater, "Thanks for that. He's probably sweating bullets over it."

The Russian chuckled at that, "Probably."

Celestino glanced around, trying to spot the other skaters just for reference, but as he spotted Yuri sitting just to the side, he suddenly lost all focus on the ice. He put a hand on the eldest skater's shoulder and stepped off, "Keep watching."

Viktor blinked at him, and followed his path briefly before realizing what he was after.

Chris huffed a laugh, "Eyes on the prize, Mr. Coach." He grabbed the man's head from behind to swivel it back out towards the ice.

The Asian sitting in the stands just waved nervously as his former teacher came up right in front of him, hands in pockets and looking straight down at where he sat, "H-Hey, Celestino."

"I didn't get a chance to talk to you at that conference earlier this morning. How are you holding up?" The man asked casually, looking happy just that Yuri was even there.

"I'm okay. Viktor and I are going to see JJ after...Phichit-kun just told us you guys got their room."

The elder coach nodded, "Yeah, we'll have to pick up his things from your room when you have time." He took on a more serious look after that though, one hand coming out of his pocket to gesture at the skater, "How bad was the damage?"

The music was coming to a close overhead, and the Thai athlete was making his final moves.

You can be King again...

Yuri glanced from the ice to the man in front of him, but reached up to pull his bangs back a bit, "It looks worse than it feels right now."

Celestino eyeballed what few stitches he could see, "How far back does it go?"

The skater felt at it, fingers rubbing gently across each thin, metal clamp until he'd gone back to nearly the center-mark of his head, "About to here. Viktor spent half the morning pulling my hair out from under the staples so I wouldn't look silly coming here."

"I saw the video of the accident. Tess is probably worried sick about you right now." The coach pointed out, "I'm actually surprised anyone's letting you into the building."

Yuri shrugged, "She isn't here right now...I was told she'll be back during the Short Program though. I'm not going to let this thing get me down, at any rate. I'm still hoping for Gold."

Celestino gave one of his characteristically proud smirks, and reached down to pat the skater's shoulder, "Don't push yourself too hard. Have you done your practice skate yet?"

"No, we think I'm being put last. Yurio is the only other one who hasn-"

"GOODBYE, CRUEL WORLD..." Phichit suddenly cried out rather dramatically, arms up towards the rafters as he fell to his knees before the Russian skater-coach.

Everyone looked over at the spectacle, but Viktor just looked rather pleased with himself, "You didn't even hear the whole thing!"

The flustered skater just went down to his hands, and then further to lie flat on the ice, all but weeping, "I'M NOT MEANT FOR THIS LIFE..."

"I only meant it as a way to fine-tune things! You skate really well!" Viktor insisted, "You even snuck the quad Loop in there, which was great!"

"...It was...?" Phichit glanced up with a hopeful look in his eyes.

"You just need to position your free leg better to land it more smoothly! You wobble a lot on the exit because you don't have enough balance on the follow-through! You also need to put your landing-blade down straighter and more on the toe-pick than the rocker, so you don't lean so far down into an edge! It's supposed to be a smooth transition, not an invitation to break your ankle!"

The athlete just fell back down to the ice with a thud, "TUNNEL OF LIGHT, TAKE ME NOW..."

"Quit abusing my skater, Viktor!" Celestino teased.

"CIAO CIAO!" Phichit was immediately up on his feet, skating over to throw himself at the Plexiglas, "SAVE ME."

"Why are you clinging to the inside wall then? Come out and around." The coach deadpanned him.

"Will skater Yuri Plisetsky please enter the rink." The announcer called overhead.

Everyone by rink-side, save the coach, suddenly fell into an eerie quiet. All eyes turned up towards the viewing-box where they knew the teen had escaped to, and watched as the silver-haired figures stood up first, followed by the blonde.

"Huh, another one." Celestino commented, putting a hand on his chin, then turning to Viktor, "Is that girl a relative, too?"

The Russian blinked at him briefly, but then gave a wry nod, smiling awkwardly, "Yeah...Uncle Mimi's daughter. There's another one floating around here somewhere, and a son that stayed behind in Canada."

"You used to never have family at competition, now they're practically crawling up the walls." The elder figure mused, "Uncle since Worlds, father at NHK, cousins here...who's next? Your mother at Nationals? Grandparents at Euros?"

Yuri winced, but looked from Celestino to the man he'd been speaking to, and watched as the previously hollow-but-well-meant smile faded from the Russian's lips.

Viktor just shrugged, "I doubt it." He answered simply.

The arena sounded rather empty after that, no sound really coming from anywhere save the generators that kept the ice frozen, and the echo of the thunk noises Yurio's skates made as he plodded down the steps of the rink-side bleachers and made his way closer. By the time he'd finally made it and was shuffling past, avoiding everyone's gaze as he headed for the rink entrance, it was obvious that something had changed.

Yuri and Otabek were the first, and possibly the only ones to notice, but the Russian Punk's eyes were a bit red and he looked more exhausted than before. The two glanced at one another, but weren't sure what to say, if anything, so they just waited and watched as the blonde went to pull his blade guards off and threw himself into the rink like no one else was there. He took no time to acclimate to the ice, simply finding his place in center, swerving around to take his position, and bowed his head.