CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED SEVENTY
He could still hear the laughter and banter of the oldest two skaters as they headed under the blue curtain to the Players' Club; the huge lounge-like area where normally were just benches and halls at other venues. The look on Yuri's face though, that bothered him more than anything else. Yurio grit his teeth and sighed to himself as he pulled his team jacket off, hearing his name called out high above. His heart was still pounding from the chance meeting between their eyes, and he regretted having looked at all...rather, that he'd been caught looking.
I don't even know how I'm going to manage fixing this. I didn't just burn bridges with Viktor...I incinerated them, and salted the earth all around for miles. I don't doubt that Katsudon wants things done and over with...he all but said so just a few minutes ago. But...
"Yuri," Yakov's voice spoke, drawing the Russian Tiger from his thoughts, "You're wasting time. They called your name half a minute ago."
Green eyes lifted in sudden panic, and the teen burst out onto the ice, kicking his blade guards off and throwing his jacket glibly. Blades carved a few long lines into the frost as he quickly made his way out to the center of the rink. He barely had a few seconds to reacquaint himself with the rink before he took his position, digging in the right toe-pick where he had both skates slightly parted beneath himself.
"YUUUURIIIIII~!" Nikkita called loudly and unexpectedly, "DAVAAAAAAAAI~!"
The teen lifted his head a little, surprised to have been able to hear it over the sound of the rest of the crowd. Even his fanclub's membership had quieted some when the silver youth's voice rang out, piercing the air like a warning siren.
['Inner Universe' - Origa - Long version opening 0:00-0:11, then 0:23-1:55, then 2:06-2:42, then 4:25-4:48 for a total of about 2mins 50sec]
The arena boomed with the start of the music, startling half the audience out of their stupor, and the blonde burst out to the side, kicking off hard enough that flakes of ice followed in his wake.
Nikki sat back in her seat, quite proud of herself, and looked over the line of people between herself and her father with a smug look on her face, "See, papa? I told you he'd hear me."
Mikhail had a finger in his ear, as though trying to soothe his broken eardrum, "...I think the dead could hear you, sweetie."
"Did the music start?" Viktoria asked sarcastically, cringing still where she sat between her sister and Yuri's, "I can't hear it over the ringing in my ears."
Yurio swiftly pushed into a backward-entry camel-spin, spinning a few times before reaching back to grab one black blade as the song's lyrics began.
Angely i demony krujili nado mnoy
Rassekali ternii i mlechnye puti
The rotations went on with the full Biellmann, both hands on the skate being held above the teen's head. When he let it go, he used the momentum of his foot coming back down again to dip a bit, followed by an immediate hop upward to change feet, and then swung his head down low for an illusion spin before continuing.
Ne znaet schast'ya tol'ko tot,
He rose back up to normal, keeping the free leg up as he started moving backwards into wider arcs.
Kto ego zova ponyat' ne smog...
He stepped into a backward-entry clockwise twizzle, twisting several times as he moved across the ice, pausing to kick his free leg out briefly before setting it down onto the cold to rotate yet again. By the third twist, the blonde set his left leg down, but instead of spinning again, he twisted himself over to turn the twizzle into an outside spread-eagle. At the end, he vaulted into the triple Axel...and stumbled.
Mana du vortes, mana du vortes
Aeria gloris, aeria gloris
"Skater Yuri barely manages to hold onto that landing, but his hand touched down!" Newscaster Morooka called, "No doubt he'll lose points for the exit! Up next is an even harder jump...his first quad!"
Yurio grit his teeth, moving forward swiftly along the long-side of the rink-wall, arms spread wide out to the side as the music grew calmer over head.
Mana du vortes, mana du vortes
Aeria gloris, aeria gloris
He closed his eyes, lifted his right foot forward, toed through a 3-turn, kicked that same foot back...and picked.
The music for everyone seemed to stop in that heartbeat.
Brown eyes were wide open at the television screen behind the first of two bar areas, and time seemed to stand still. The Russian Tiger was stopped in the middle of that jump for what seemed like an eternity. Yuri could feel his breath caught up in his chest, trying to look up and over his spouse's shoulder to where the nearest screen was. Viktor and Chris were still chatting while the younger was getting his skates off.
I am...CLAK...Calling,
Calling out!
Spirits, I am calling!
The audience was mad with cheers, and the teen stuck the landing for the quad Flip without the same mistake of the Axel. Even Yuri twitched a bit as he saw it, finally able to draw breath again as the music and performance went on.
Soboy ostat'sya dol'she...
Like Chris in the prior performance, Yurio too had a stars maneuver, kicking through a camel-spin like rotation as he moved diagonally across the ice with each upward thrust of his free leg, until he culminated the maneuver with a scissor-kick into a sit-spin.
Calling, Calling, in the depths of longing!
Right-leg landing, left slightly curved around. Yurio reached down to grab the dragging blade, raising up his left arm at the same time for added difficulty. Soon after, both arms were up, behind his back, and he kept on spinning. Arms came back down under the skater, and he crouched briefly to change feet, continuing on with the twist variant, right leg sticking out straight to the side as the skater sat mostly upright, arms out and then coming back to center to speed himself up.
Soboy ostat'sya dol'she...
He rose back to his full height with his arms still close, breaking out of it before it could be called a scratch-spin and count sloppily towards an unintended combination spin. Yurio made two deliberate rotations, kicking the ice with each pass before heading off straight down the middle of the rink.
Mana du vortes, mana du vortes
Aeria gloris, Aeria gloris...
Finding himself at in the center of the ice, closest to the short end that was in front of him, the teen dropped down to one knee, the right leg dragging behind him, both hands up towards the rafters and being brought down towards his chest as he dipped his head down over them.
Mana du vortes, mana du vortes
Aeria gloris, Aeria gloris...
Yurio, and the music, seemed to hold still for an instant, even as the final S-sound of the previous lyric morphed into the first word of the next.
Stand alone, where was life when it had meaning?
The Russian Tiger rose back up the standing, one hand up in a gesture towards the audience, bringing it close again as his right blade went around him in an arc, turning him a full 540 before he paused again, looking out towards the entirety of the rink again. A toe-pick went into the ice, and he pushed forward into the start of his step sequence.
Stand alone, nothing's real anymore, and...
Beskonechnyj beg...
Each syllable of the line was another arcing twist of the skater's thin frame, almost drunkenly traversing the white frost in a repeated S-formation. Fully in control, his blades were moving expertly, until the sound above changed again.
Poka zhiva...
Arriving at the opposite short-side of the rink, the teen moved backwards into his last jump element. He kicked off and raised one arm for the tano quad Salchow, landed, and launched again for the triple Loop.
...Ya mogu starat'sya na letu ne upast'
Almost immediately after landing, the Russian Tiger maneuvered into his final required element, the combination spin, starting with the backward-entry camel spin.
Mana du vortes, mana du vortes
He held his arms out to the sides, then leaned back a bit for the layover variant.
Yuri had fully turned around by then, entirely captured by the performance, and having no clue what was going on in the conversation behind him. It wasn't until Viktor tried to move him, and he refused, that either of the two older skaters had noticed he hadn't been paying attention to them. Eyes were wide, and as the blonde twisted down low for a broken-leg sit-spin, Yuri's brow furrowed with worry.
The Russian glanced down at him for a moment, then at the television that had transfixed him.
Yurio pulled out of the last spin of the combo, rising up to his full height only long enough to push forward and drop down to his knees, sliding into the last position, arms raised up towards the ceiling.
Aeria gloris, Aeria gloris...
Sweat rolled down the side of the teen's face and neck, leaving long cold streaks where they passed. He panted heavily as the audience around started to cheer, throwing their gifts towards him from all sides. Slowly, he rose back up to his feet, holding onto his knees for a moment as he tried to find air, and then gradually raised back to standing, and bowed his head. Right arm went up to acknowledge the crowd, and Russia's youngest Champion let the wave of excitement rush over him.
"Do you want to go somewhere else?" Viktor wondered, looking curiously at his partner's anxious expression, "Yuri?"
No answer came, and the silver legend worried it might mean his partner was starting to let things get the better of him again. So, like in China the previous year, Viktor abruptly started dragging the skater off somewhere less populated. Yuri flailed in surprise initially, but sighed and accepted his fate as he spotted Chris waving goodbye at him with a knowing but amused look on his face. Even Phichit glanced back, looking past Celestino's shoulder where they were both sitting on bar-stools at the counter, wondering what was going on...but Yuri was out the doors and behind the glass wall rather quickly, and no one gave chase.
Perhaps it was a mercy that the young skater was too far away to clearly hear the results of the teen's program, but it didn't do much to assuage his guilt over everything else. By the time Viktor had stopped walking and let them both stand normally near a wall just inside an open-space that looked something like a receiving area, the booming echo of the audience roared its approval for the last skater's score, filling the back-halls behind the Players' Club. Those brown eyes just stayed low though.
Viktor was rummaging around in his jacket pockets, "Do you have your ear plugs with you? I have my buds if you want..."
"No..."
"No? No to having your ear-plugs or no to borrowing mine?" Blue eyes looked nervous.
"...Neither."
At rink-side, Yurio was stepping out of the kiss and cry with Yakov and Lilia, and held his hand out for a low clap with Otabek to wish him luck on his own performance.
The Khazakh slightly raised a brow at his younger friend though, "What's wrong? You got over 100. Shouldn't you be happier?"
"I've scored much higher before. This is my lowest score of the season so far, too."
"Still higher than Chris got."
"I guess so."
He tilted his head a bit, but reached for his blade-guards as the younger teen stepped off, himself unsure what else to say.
"Davai, Otabek." Yurio paused and turned back, standing side-face to the older skater, "I don't think I'll mind so much if I lose to you."
"You'll never be satisfied with anything if you're already settling for second when only one other competitor has hit the ice so far." The dark-horse warned, "You need to sort out your business with Yuri and Viktor before you skate tomorrow. You'll lose your competitive edge otherwise. This brooding, hostile animosity is holding you down like lead weights."
Those green eyes just blinked back at him in confusion, but the Russian Punk nodded anyway.
"I'm off. I'm not going to go easy on you."
"I'll be mad if you do."
"The next competitor of the Men's Singles event...representing Kazakhstan, Otabek Altin!"
Yuri slouched a bit where he stood, rocking slightly on his blade-guards, "I'm not worried right now over the scores. ...I've kind of come to accept that I'll probably score lower than everyone else. I can't trust myself to do quads without falling, and I don't want to have you biting your nails the entire time I'm out there. I'm going to lose a lot of points because of it."
"...I thought we sorted this out. You were going to go for sty-"
"I know...that's not what I'm nervous about though. I'm over it, like you are for everything else." He interrupted, leaning back against a concrete pillar just behind himself.
"What then?"
The younger skater drew in a breath, "I've been throwing life-lines at Yurio since we got here, but every time he realizes I'm looking at him, he quickly looks away."
"I've noticed."
"He looks more scared than angry now." Yuri explained, "I want things to be like they were before."
"That's up to him." The Russian shrugged.
Otabek's music was starting, though it sounded more like a creepy echo than the orchestra the two skaters knew it to be.
['Requiem - Dies Irae' specifically on YouTube channel 'fanworldmusic']
Viktor put his hands into his pockets, tilting his head slightly to the side, "Would it make you feel better if I told you I'd agreed to be his choreographer?"
Those hazel eyes opened wide, but then narrowed a bit in confusion, "You did...? When?"
Dies irae, Dies illa
"Earlier this morning. When Mimi pulled me aside. That's when he asked me, and I agreed."
Yuri just looked skeptical at that, "...Why...would you agree to be his choreographer if not his coach...?"
"He took 'Agape' home with him, didn't he?" The Russian offered.
Solvet saeclum in favilla
Teste David cum Sibylla
Otabek was already finishing the first required element of the Short Program; his step sequence. It ended with the seemingly-traditional outside spread-eagle into the triple Axel, which he landed easily enough and skated off backwards to applause.
Quantus tremor est futurus
"Putting together a program for him won't cause me nearly as much grief as coaching him would." The silver legend continued, "He'll have it forged into his brain the first time he sees me demonstrate it."
Yuri was still stunned, and reached a hand up to scratch the unhurt side of his forehead, "You've been so adamant about wanting to keep your distance from him though...what did Mikhail promise you in return?"
"Nothing."
"...You can't mean that."
Quando judex est venturus
The performing skater was crouched low in a catch-foot sit-spin, holding his left blade under his right leg where it was folded beneath himself.
Quando judex est venturus
"I'm serious." Viktor explained, "He only spoke as many words as it took to actually ask me if I'd do it. I told him yes, and he lamented how he was getting himself worked up to beg me, only to feel all deflated because he didn't have to."
Cuncta stricte discussurus
His partner could do little but feel his own brain starting to short circuit from the revelation, "...I guess I still don't understand. I didn't think you'd be willing to help him at all anymore."
"I'm not marrying him just because I'm putting a program or two together for him." The Russian slouched a bit as well, but shook his head and stood straighter, "You sound like you don't want me to do it though."
Dies irae, Dies illa
Solvet saeclum in favilla
The Khazakh launched into his quad Salchow, triple Toe-loop combination jump, stepping through it cleanly.
Teste David cum Sybilla
"That's not it at all!" Yuri insisted, bringing his hands up defensively, "It's just a bit surprising! ...A lot surprising, actually..." His hands went down again, "Does he know?"
"Not that I'm aware of. I'm not actually sure who knows, other than Mimi, myself, and you now. I figured I'd let Mimi tell him, in case he rejects it, then he doesn't have to do so to my face."
Hazel eyes lowered again, but the young skater nodded, "Now we just have to get him to be willing to stay in the same room as us."
"I think he's working himself up to that." Viktor said, turning his head to look down the hall they'd come down, seeing the lights and glass walls leading to the Players' Club, making sure no one was coming their way, "He isn't yelling at anyone anymore, at least."
Otabek was rising up from his Cantilever, fingertips dragging across the ice as he leaned way back in the long curve. It was nearing the moment for his last major jump, and his heart was pounding as heavily as the drums of the music had been.
Quantus tremor est futurus
When he rose up again, his left boot immediately went back, and he toe-picked down as hard as he could, launching, and like in China...fell again. This time, he got up much more quickly.
A -3 on a quad Lutz is still worth more points than a +3 on a triple Lutz...even if the fall hurts a lot more...
Quando judex est venturus
Cuncta stricte discus surus
He clenched his eyes shut, and when they opened again, he was refocused and able to ignore the pain. He only had two required moves left, and both were spins, so he threw himself into the Death Drop for the camel spin as well as he could. Right arm extended ahead of himself as the left wrapped around, in part because it made his guts feel better, and in part because that's what he'd choreographed it to look like. When he twisted around, he switched feet gracefully, and spun even faster when he pulled into himself tightly, reaching for his free skate to pull it back behind his head for the catch-foot variant.
Quantus tre-e-mo-or e-est fu-you-turus
Dies irae, Dies illa
Yuri had been staring at the toes of his skates, but drew in a breath and pushed off the pillar he'd been leaning against, walking forward until he bumped his forehead into his spouse's shoulder, "Let's just go back. Otabek's going to be done soon and then you're up anyway. I'll feel better when I get to watch you skate."
Quantus tre-e-mo-or e-est fu-you-turus
Quando judex est venturus
Viktor pulled an arm over his husband's shoulders, "You let yourself get worn down too thin over other peoples' issues. It's not your fault he's mad to begin with."
Cuncta stricte discus surus
"I keep hearing that but I don't entirely believe it. If nothing I said was worth getting mad about then Yurio wouldn't have gotten mad. But he did, so I feel bad about it. If he'd let me talk to him..."
"Not until after you skate."
Yuri blanched slightly, "...If you'd let me talk to him, then."
They passed beside the glass walls again, able to look inside the Players' Club and all the different skaters and coaches therein, most watching the Kazakh winding down towards the end of his program with his combination spin.
Cuncta stricte, Stricte discus surus
Emerald eyes lifted slightly where Yurio had been sitting on one of the lounge's huge leather couches, keeping a keen eye on the performance on one of the many big-screen televisions against the walls. His attention was grabbed slightly by the sight of motion just to his right, but when he spotted the unfortunate sight of Yuri and Viktor coming in his direction on the other side of the glass, he practically gaped. If not for the fact that they were right there, then because in his mind's eye, Yuri wasn't just walking next to his coach...he was walking between two of the three heads of Cerberus, the HellHound's massive jaws resting across his shoulders as the third head watched where they were walking. The eyes on the center head spotted the Russian Kitten, and he scrambled to get out of sight before Yuri had seen him.
Cuncta stricte, Stricte discus surus
"It's not that I don't want you to talk to him." Viktor corrected, "I'd just rather you do so later. You've got enough to worry about...let that be a battle for another time. There's no telling what will happen or be said, and I'd really rather you don't go out onto the ice after what might and probably will devolve into yelling."
"So you're saying you'll let me find him after we're done here?" The younger skater wondered, stepping out in front of his husband to stop him where he stood, "Promise me."
"Why should I promise? It's not like you'll be alone."
Otabek was panting heavily where he stood, one toe-pick gouged down into the ice, right arm arced low before himself, the left behind pointing slightly up where he leaned forward. The audience was wild with excitement, clapping happily and tossing their gifts to the rink; flowers, and best of all, a certain teddy bear plush, each one wearing a different silly outfit than the last.
Yuri lifted his eyes when he heard the applause. He couldn't help but look back at his partner though with a bit of skepticism, "You've been putting yourself between him and I all day. I know you mean well, but when I ask you to promise to let me talk to him, I mean that you'll give him a bit of breathing room." He explained, "If you're just lurking around like some dread shadow, then you'll just be like..." He hesitated.
Viktor blinked at him, confused and concerned all at once, "...Like...?"
The younger figure gathered his courage, "Like how you thought of your father before. This shadow that loomed over you, threatening to jump out at any moment to destroy everything you ever loved."
The Russian was taken aback by that, and could do nothing but exhale quietly where the mention of Konstantin had made him unconsciously hold his breath.
"I may still not really know a whole lot about how you and Yurio were before you came to Hasetsu, but since then, I'd like to think he and I have become friends." Yuri went on, knowing his time was shrinking quickly, "I want him to think he can come to me without the worry that he might be walking into an ambush."
"I can only do my best to shield you from something that I know has caused you pain before." The silver skater explained, lifting his eyes back up again to look at his partner evenly, "That's the difference between me and my father. He wasn't protecting anyone."
The younger skater nodded, and stepped closer to thread his arms through where Viktor had put his hands back into his jacket's pockets, pressing his forehead to the man's neck, "I know...and I appreciate it. I really do. But I want to face this soon. He's going to be coming to live in Hasetsu after Russian Nationals. I feel like I won't have a chance to make this better if I don't do something about it before the end of the weekend. It's like you said though...Hasetsu is supposed to be our place. I told off the JSF people about it at our wedding party, and I'll say it again now...I won't hide, and I won't walk on eggshells...not there, not on what has always been my turf...our turf now." He explained, holding tightly for a moment before pulling back to look up the few inches of his husband's added height, "Having him be constantly mad at us will make the whole point of him being in Hasetsu moot."
"So you'd be willing to send him back to Russia if it doesn't work out?" Viktor wondered anxiously, "The idea of that makes me nervous. It wouldn't be like you. Not at all."
The younger skater shook his head, "It wasn't something that had occurred to me. I only meant that it would suck for him. Being there so he can live with a real family, only to spend most of his time hiding or running away because of us... This whole argument between us has had enough of an impact on everyone already. He's not himself right now. He's only this calm and introspective when he's really thinking deeply about stuff. I..." He hesitated a moment, and dropped his face back down to his spouse's shoulder, "...I saw him like this once before, when you were making us do that 'self-awareness' training back before 'Onsen on Ice.' He's vulnerable right now, and I jus-"
Viktor had put a finger on the man's lips, stopping him in the midst of that last thought. The Russian shook his head when he saw those confused hazel eyes looking up at him again, "Wakatta."
Yuri blinked at him, as though not really sure what the Russian had said at first, but then understanding, "...Hontou ni?"
"Sou da yo."
Those eyes practically shone with relief, and the young skater practically felt weak in the knees over it, holding tighter to his partner even as Viktor was helping keep him upright, smiling nervously.
"The score for Otabek Altin...108.37."
Yuri lost what strength he had left and fell to the ground in a puddle, "It's so high!"
"Don't give up yet, Yuri!" Viktor tried to reassure, looking up to see the scores in the chart-graphic on the television, "Everyone's still basically within 10 points!"
.
.
.
Wakkata = I know/understand
Hontou ni? = Really?
Sou da yo = It's true