CHAPTER THREE HUNDRED SEVENTY TWO
Despite the cold, the snow, and the blustering wind...the sound of 'Stand in the Light' played loudly outside the Moscow event center. It was barely 2pm, and the Men's Singles practice had just ended. Skaters were starting to filter outside with their coaches and other support staff, expecting to be met by (the few) fans (who hadn't boycotted the event.) However, all they could see through the blizzard-like conditions were the soft grey silhouettes of a mass waiting to get inside.
Yurio paused where he walked, gloved fingers coming up to pull down on the scarf around his lower face. A few strands of hair escaped his hoodie, waving about like a stinging flail against his skin...but he looked on, even as he felt a body bump into him from behind. By the time he'd gathered his senses again and looked back, Konstantin was already in his shadow, crouching down to pick up the smallest member of their group.
"Vy ne raneny, vy v porjadke?"
Nikkita looked up in embarrassed confusion, already finding the immensity of the Russian bear coming down over her. She tried to dust herself off, protesting that she was fine...if that was even what he'd asked, she wasn't sure...but every brush of her mittens across her winter coat was futile. More snow fell, whipping around them in the wind, blowing hair of silver and gold in every direction.
Viktoria came around next, but it didn't take running into Yurio for her to stumble. The icy sidewalk under her boots was invisible beneath the snowdrift, and she yelped as she slipped, catching the bear's shoulder just before she could end up on her butt like her sister.
"Mikhail, led očenʹ opasen." Kon commented, looking past the three teens towards the darker figure standing at the front of the group, "Nam stoit ujti."
"Papa-" Nikki started, using the offered arm as a grip to hoist herself back up to standing, "What's he saying?" She grumbled more quietly then, "And what's up with this weather? Ugh...!"
The thin man had the lapels of his black woolen coat pinched in front of his face, but he looked back, seeing the four of them waiting, and returned a few steps towards them, "He was asking if you're okay, and said that we should get out of here. I agree...but these conditions are treacherous. Even if we drive perfectly well, there's a lot of junk plastic cars on the road still and they don't exactly stop on a dime."
"So what do we do?" Yurio wondered, "Stay here until tonight...?"
"We might not have any other option."
That just made the skater anxious, "That's so bullshit though...!"
"Well, if you can't magic us a way out of here safely..." Mikhail shot back, looking up to where his in-law had hoisted both of his girls off the ground, picking up one in each of his massive arms, [Do you mind staying until the weather passes?]
"Why would you even need to ask that...?" Yurio wondered stiffly, elbowing the older man's forearm, "Of course he'll stay."
"Kon lives in the middle of nowhere; this weather is nothing he doesn't handle regularly. He may have a better idea."
[I don't care where we go, but we need to get your girls out of this bluster soon.] The behemoth answered, looking through the pair where they were huddled against each of his shoulders, using his arms like big seats, [They're dainty, like your sister always was. I don't want them getting sick or frost-burnt.]
Mikhail grabbed for his hat before it could fly away, but nodded easily, [Let's follow the crowd back inside then. It looks like the front doors are open for the Short Dance.] He said, pointing past the bear's size towards where the grey shadows were starting to move. There was an unexpected uproar just then though, and the group became keenly interested, even as they started making their way carefully closer.
It was hard to hear at first, but it sounded like there was audio coming from an old radio, becoming clearer with every step, [...score for Viktor Nikiforov...212.15. He's in first place now with a total score of 327.9. He's really giving the Japanese a run for their money, but I suppose it's all good since he's competing for them now. And we can confirm that he's going to represent Japan in the coming Winter Games...he's been spotted wearing the Team Japan track suit alongside the other chosen.]
There was cheering in the small crowd, even as the quintet approached and joined with the mass. Yurio only heard the last few words as he caught up, needing to be pulled along through a particularly rough blast of wind. Once he was corralled into the safety of the human herd though, he looked around for the source of the broadcast, [...Is that...a report from Japanese Nationals?]
"Da!" A few people answered excitedly, [Viktor's in first place, just like we hoped! We thought he'd hold back at his first event there, but he isn't pulling any punches at all! He had his arms up for practically every jump just now!]
...I thought he'd go easy on them, too...score high in the SP and then take it easy to give the rest a chance, Yurio thought, keeping a few fingers over his scarf as the huddling crowd slithered its way into the Megasports Arena. As the fog and wind were cut off, replaced by the warmer, standing air of the indoors, he pulled the scarf and hoodie away, heedlessly giving himself away to the nearby crowd, [What did he score?] He asked simply.
[Wh-... It's Yuri! Yuri Plisetsky!] Someone noticed, crying out with as much surprise as the Nishigori triplets had upon his sudden appearance at the Ice Castle so long ago, [Everyone! It's Yuri Plisetsky! He's here with us!]
The crowd was starting to gather around, making the skater's entourage a bit nervous, but they kept close. Kon kept the girls on his arms, and above most of the mass, even though Mikhail struggled to keep ground by his side.
[Yeah...so...what'd Viktor score?] Yurio asked again, looking defiant as always, [His usual?]
[Pretty close!] A man with a tech-backpack answered; the sound of the event's broadcast seemed to be emanating from the speakers he had attached to the shoulders of his jacket, with cables running into the pack he carried, [He's still screwing around with that less-technically-difficult program that he made for the Final, though. He's in first with nearly 330 points.]
[Has Katsudo-...er...Katsuki skated yet?]
[Katsuki?] The man echoed, finding the mistake almost funny, [You mean the other Yuri?]
Yurio grit his teeth, [Yes, the other Yuri.]
[No...he's due up in 3 more turns.]
[You know that him and Viktor are married, right?] The man's companion, a woman with auburn hair, looked down at the skater with a perplexed expression, [It's Yuri Nikiforov now. Has been for a while.]
Mikhail would've laughed under normal circumstances, but he just remained stoic, more keen to Konstantin's reaction than Yurio's verbal stumble. The bear seemed to be ignoring it entirely though, focused more on Nikki's attempts to defrost her hair and jacket than the banter that neither she nor her sister could understand.
The teen just shrugged and scratched his head nervously, [Of course I know...I just never know what to say around here. The RSF announcers never call him that.]
[That's why we're here.] The woman mused, looking around to the rest of the enamored crowd, [This is the Moscow Division of the Nikiforov Protection Squad. We came to make sure the RSF didn't think they would or could get away with what they did, and that nothing they do can erase them.]
[...Nikiforov Protection Squad?] Yurio repeated in disbelief, [You're kidding.]
"Nyet!"
[So you must be the ones who had the signs with their scores at yesterday's Short Program.]
[And once Yuri's done, we'll have new signs.] The tech-guy followed.
The just made the teen feel a confusing mix of envy and irritation.
[Gotta give skaters like you something real to be challenged by, right?] The man added suddenly, drawing Yurio's eyes up again, indignant though they were, [You're scoring 50 points higher than most of the next-best skaters here. Viktor would've been your only real challenge, if the RSF hadn't booted him. So we're bringing him here, as much for the sake of you and the other Men's competitors as it is to put a stick in the eye of the event officials.]
Yurio quirked a brow, [Thanks, I think?]
"Yuri," Mikhail said, setting a hand on the teen's shoulder, "I still have my tablet. We can catch a LiveStream if you'd rather watch the rest of their event than the Ice Dancers here while we kill time."
"Huh...?" He shook his head, temporarily unable to move his brain from Russian to English, but then nodded, "Yeah, I guess so."
"YURATCHKAAAAA~!"
"Eh!?" Yurio twisted around in a hurry, seeing the unexpected and extremely excited remnants of 'Yuri's Angels' suddenly coming in through the main doors, "Ah shit..."
"Yuri! Quickly!" Nikki called, reaching down awkwardly to get his attention above himself, "Get up here!"
"What!?" He quaked in embarrassment, "I'm not getting on Kon with you! He's your majestic steed, not mine!" That didn't stop Mikhail from suddenly hoisting his skinny frame up as though in offering, and the hulking man-bear seemed to take a hint, leaning down to let the skater be set onto his arm next to his younger 'sister.' Yurio tried to wiggle away like a cat being put in a pet-carrier, but when he heard his fangirls shrieking again in excitement, only for them to fall into silence upon seeing that girl with him again...he stopped. He slouched where he sat on the wrist-end of the Nikiforov patriarch's arm, back against the man's massive chest, "...Bloody fucking Hell..."
"Language." Mikhail chastised, waggling a finger at him, only then to pat Kon's less-full arm on the other side, [Let's hurry and find somewhere less noisy. I'll FaceTime Minako on my iPad and see if she can't show us Yuri's program.]
Nikki half-hugged Yurio with her free arm to help keep him in place while they were walked around, "They must've been snowed-in, too. No reason for them to stick around after your practice unless they can't leave, right?"
"I guess." He sulked, crossing his arms, feeling ridiculous being carried, "...This is all really goddamn annoying suddenly."
"What were those people saying?"
Yurio wiggled again, trying not to sink so far down. He managed to get free, but instead of hopping down, he put his heels where his butt had been and pushed up to sit on the bear's shoulder instead, feeling rather superior then, as he could look over and above everyone else's heads from that vantage. Once he was satisfied, he looked down to the jade eyes that were still waiting for an answer, "They said they were part of a Viktor-Yuri Fan Club. Apparently they think they're being helpful by showing off Viktor and Yuri's scores here, as though they're a part of Russian Nationals even while they're in Osaka."
"That's adorable!" Nikki cheered happily, "I can't wait to get to Hasetsu...it's going to be so much fun to hang out with them outside of a competition."
"That's what you think."
"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" She wondered innocently.
"They can be pretty gross."
"That's a funny way of saying romantic."
"Gross!" He argued, waggling his tongue from his open mouth.
"I'm with Yuri on this one." Viktoria mused, leaning over to see them both more easily.
"What!? Why!?" Nikki pointed at her dramatically.
"Viktor's our cousin. Doesn't that make it weird?"
The youngest just made some noises at the idea, "Is being happy for our kin's love-life weird...?"
"It's weird to walk in on mom and dad doing it, right?"
"That has literally never happened." Mikhail interrupted, making a face at them.
"Only half as weird as being on the other side of a bathroom door when Viktor and Katsudon are doing it." Yurio chimed in, grimacing at the memory of it, "I couldn't hear them, but I knew what they were doing."
"Why were you around when they were doing it?" Nikki asked pensively, quirking a brow up at the blonde.
"It was me and them and one of Katsudon's friends when we were at NHK." He answered grudgingly, "Apparently they thought they could do it in the bathroom while Pitch-it and I tried to find a movie to watch."
"That's a dangerous game you guys are playing," Mikhail commented, glancing over a shoulder before turning around to walk backwards instead, "The guy who's carrying you three nearly eviscerated those two over just the idea that they were together...now you're talking about their sex life right in front of him?"
"He can't understand English though." Nikki pointed out, "For all he knows, we're talking about the weather."
"...Still. It a cruel irony."
"This one time, those two idiots were so loud, there were scorecards involved." Yurio added with a completely straight face, "Couples are so annoying."
"Keep talking like that, Yura, and you'll be a couple sooner than you can say borscht." Viktoria teased.
"Pssht not likely. I'm happier on my own."
"With your cat." Nikki added, "Like a crazy cat dad."
"I'm not a crazy cat dad, oh my god." The teen argued, sliding down the bear's chest to sit where he'd been before, one leg swaying past the edge of a massive forearm like a pendulum, and pointed a finger at the girl who'd mocked him, "I have one cat."
"You know how many cats most guys have?"
"I don't have to dignify that with an answer." He crossed his arms and looked away stiffly.
"It's zero. Most...most guys have zero cats." Nikki answered anyway, reaching a hand forward to gently pat the Russian Kitten's shoulder, "It's okay though. You're a figure skater. We understand."
"THATLITERALLYDOESN'TMAKEANYSENSE."
The two silver ladies just howled with laughter at his expense, and he pulled his hoodie over his head again to hide his reddening face.
.
The audience clapped happily for the conclusion of the 7th skater, but just like after the 3rd, tensions were starting to rise again. It was cute to watch the less experienced athletes competing, but the best shows were taken rather seriously...and the next of the best shows was coming up next.
A low murmur rumbled through the audience as the judges tallied the score for the skater waiting anxiously for them in the kiss and cry, and a hush overtook the arena when the voice finally called overhead, "Yutaka Sano-san no tokuten wa... hyaku yon-jū ni, kyū-jū ni. Gōkei tokuten wa nihyaku jū hachi, hachi- jū san. Kare wa genzai san-i."
The look on the athlete's face was a mix of surprise and delayed acceptance of reality...the scoreboard's digital display told him more than he could believe.
[佐埜‧優 (Yutaka SANO) - 75.91 - 142.92 - 218.83 [3位]]
...Hm, jumping to third place, even with such a relatively low score...that's actually not bad, Viktor thought to himself, lowering his eyes from the display to where his husband and athlete was peeling the turquoise track-pants over his skates. He gave a nervous look, He hasn't said a word since he started crying earlier...I wonder if I just made everything worse...? His brow furrowed as Yuri stood up, avoiding looking at him as he stepped towards the curtain to rink-side. Viktor reached ahead to pull it aside and let the man pass unhindered.
The crowd roared their excitement for Yuri's return to the wall, none able to really see the fact that his eyes were red and his face was a bit pale.
Yuri nodded glibly to the younger skater as they passed one another...it was a stark contrast to the way he'd openly congratulated the one that went out before Viktor. He couldn't shake the empty feeling though; that alone made it hard to be happy for anyone or anything.
"Saga ken, Hasetsu kara kita sukēto no tonari...Nikiforov Yūri-san!" (Next to skate, from Hasetsu, Saga Prefecture...Nikiforov Yuri!)
"Ganba, Yuri-kun!" Minami attempted, knowing something was wrong and acting a little hesitant because of it, but trying to be supportive anyway, "You'll kill it like you always do!"
Brown eyes just glanced back slightly, and Yuri barely managed a few nods to acknowledge the younger skater. He stepped forward, coach on his heels, and approached the door to the ice, reaching down to pull his blade-guards one by one before stepping onto the cold. He glided in a wide arc, only about 10ft away from the wall at most, before coming back towards it, setting the rubber bars down on the ledge. The Makkachin tissue-box and water bottle came after it, and Yuri reached for each in succession, blowing his nose and taking a sip like it was someone else controlling his hands. There was a subtle tug that he felt on his shoulders, which traveled down the front of his chest, until it came free, and he found himself being turned slightly as his Olympic jacket was pulled from his arms, leaving the cold to rush in like an unwelcome wind.
"Yuri..." Viktor said quietly, but found that his words wouldn't lift those eyes to look at him. He sighed and set the jacket over one arm, placing his hands on top of the wall, "Please say something..."
His eyes moved...but only slightly to the side, staring more at the large font of one of the inner-wall's advert boards than anything.
In the stands, Minako felt a buzz in her pocket, and was curious as to who it might be give that it obviously wasn't either of her two favorite boys. When she saw the FaceTime request from Mikhail though, it was an odd relief, and she clicked to accept it, seeing several faces looking back at the camera on the Russian's end, "Oh...hey everyone." She said, waving her fingers into the viewfinder.
Asahi turned slightly to look, curious, but then looked away again, minding his own business. His focus went to the ice and the pending performance.
"Evening, lovely lady." Mikhail answered back, though his attempts at looking cute for her were thwarted by his being squashed by the three teens trying to get into the frame, "How's it going?"
"It's going, I suppose." She answered hesitantly, "I think I might've joined you on Viktor's shit-list, but otherwise it's good. Yuri's about to go out. He's on the rink-wall right now."
"Oh good, we were hoping we wouldn't miss hi-...wait..." The Russian made a face, "Why are you on Viktor's shit-list?"
"I'm doing something that he doesn't understand and has no context for. It's hard to explain right now." She said simply, looking up as she spotted movement on the ice, only to spy Yuri having pulled his partner's ring-hand up to his lips, holding it there with both of his own hands as though speaking a small prayer over it, "...Yuri looks upset."
"Uh oh..."
"What's happening?" Yurio asked, bullying his way into the front, "What's going on?"
"It's hard to explain!" She said again, flipping her phone around to show off the arena instead, facing it towards the rink to give them something else to look at, "Just watch him!" She turned her gaze towards the skater next to her, speaking to all of them, "He'll spell out how he's feeling when he skates."
Asahi gave a nervous look back, but still said nothing.
Yuri had his eyes closed, lips still lightly pressed onto the gold band, leaving his husband rather confused. His brow crinkled in the middle, and he huffed a nervous breath against the fingers he held. There weren't even words to think up...he just felt; hurt, nervousness, trepidation, worry, anger...and the longer it went on, the more it was anger than anything else.
Viktor was completely out of his depth, left in simple, dreaded silence. He felt the kiss against his ring and the finger it was set upon, and the slight pull on his arm where his partner had allowed it to go around his side as the younger man slid closer. It was just a hug that he got though, arms around his ribs as a face went to his neck, holding there for a moment before lifting to just beside his ear.
"What you did...to Sophia, back then... That...was really twisted...and mean."
Surprised, Viktor's eyes widened briefly, then closed as he nodded, returning the hug uneasily, "I know..."
Yuri wasn't sure what else to say; his mind was blank again. For lack of anything else, he just nodded in return, gave a small peck of a kiss to the edge of his partner's mouth and cheek, and pulled away. He kept his eyes down, not wanting to see how disappointed or worried the silver legend was in that moment, and made his way in a meandering, serpentine line towards the center of the rink. He could barely hear the sound of the audience cheering, though he could feel it against his cold skin.
I haven't felt like this in a really long time...like I'm completely alone out here. But in a way, this is all so different from how I've felt before, too...
He glanced up briefly towards where he knew Minako was standing, and saw how she held her phone out, thought it was a bit too blurry without his glasses to see what she was really doing. The black and teal blur next to her made him uneasy and he looked down again.
Isn't this what I wanted...? He wondered, setting a toe-pick down to hold himself still in the middle of the All Japan Championship logo, For him to watch Viktor and I do our programs...? To tell the story of us with our skating? ...So why does this feel like such a violation...? ...What am I still so angry about...?