In which Yuuri's sexuality is katsudon

…o…

"No no no, Yuri."

Yuri glared at Victor as the man prodded his cheeks. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Stop glaring!" Victor complained, pulling Yuri's cheeks so that he was forced to smile. "Agape isn't angry! This is about love!"

"Love is stupid."

Victor sighed dramatically, throwing his hand against his forehead. "And you're a teenager, but of course! But what can I do to help you…?"

Yuri didn't understand what was wrong. He had picked up the song fairly quickly, and he had only messed up once. Wasn't that good enough progress, considering the mock competition was in a week? All he had to do was refine the song a bit, and that didn't have to be hard.

"Yurio, do you understand what agape is?"

Yuri leaned against the side of the rink, watching as Yuuri went through his song for the millionth time. He kept missing a jump, and it was beginning to frustrate Yuri a bit. Katsudon hadn't gone on the ice properly for what, months? What made him think he could compete against Yuri properly? He wanted an actual competition.

"Pure love or some shit," Yuri muttered. Almost by habit, his eyes drifted towards his wrist. He had never bothered to hide his soulmate's name unless it was at competitions. Everyone at the Russian rink knew better than to bring it up (everyone except Victor) and in all honesty, Yuri didn't care. He didn't have time for love or soulmates, they could wait. They didn't matter.

He had to win.

"But do you understand what pure love is?"

Yuri looked up and glared at Victor. "The hell do you mean, old man?"

Victor grinned, tapping his finger against his lips. Yuri's eyes widened. That was not a good look. That look meant that Victor Nikiforov had an idea, and Victor Nikiforov's ideas were never—

"Yuuri~! Come over here, you and Yurio are going to go to the waterfalls!"

Yuri felt like cutting himself open with his knife shoe.

…o…

Yuri sneezed.

What the hell was this? It was so damn cold outside, and they were stuck underneath a waterfall, getting soaked? Was this even hygienic? What did this even have to do with skating? And-

"Yurio, you look like you're about to explode—"

"SHUT UP, KATSUDON."

-on top of that, he had to be here with the katsudon.

The Japanese skater beside him felt silent, and Yuri glanced down.

…As annoyed as he was, something about standing there, hearing the roar of the water around them, the gentle drift of the wind, was oddly calming.

It reminded him of something.

"Did you see?! Did you see?!"

Nikolai laughed as Yuri ran in to his arms, leaning down to catch him and lift him up. Yuri had just finished his first competition, coming in second place. It wasn't as good as he wanted, but as long as his grandfather was proud, he didn't care.

"You did very well, Yuratchka," he said with a smile. He set Yuri down, but immediately took his hand. They were both bundled up in coats and scarves, as the cold weather had begun to set in again. Snow drifted down beside them. It was pretty, and it was calm, but most of all, Yuri felt warm, holding Nikolai's hand as they trudged along.

It was normal for Yuri's parents not to attend his practices, they were busy. Yuri didn't care much, though. As long as his grandpa was there, nothing could go wrong.

"You'll come to my practice again, right?! Right?! I can do well, even if Mom isn't there!" he proclaimed excitedly, practically jumping up and down as they arrived to the car. His grandpa smiled, opening the back door and lifting Yuri into his seat.

"Of course, Yuratchka. I'll always be here for you."

"-Yurio? Yuri?"

The blond blinked, his eyes refocusing as he felt a tug on his arm. He looked up to see a worried Yuuri pulling him out of the stream of the water.

"Let's go, we've been under there long enough. We need to dry off before it gets cold."

"I…yeah, yeah, let's go, katsudon."

Yuuri glanced at him for a moment, clearly understanding the look on his face, before pulling him along. Yuri blinked away the wetness from his eyes, and for once, he was grateful for the stupid katsudon.

Agape was about pure love, unconditional love. A love that existed without ever needing something in return. A love—a person that had guided Yuri throughout his skating career, a person that he cared about, a person that he taken for granted for far too long.

…o…

There was one part of Yuuri that was extremely happy to be skating regularly, and another part that was beginning to hate it.

Skating was like freedom, in a way. Yes, you had to stay with the program and follow the music, but you still had ways to express yourself. That was the part of skating Yuuri loved. That was the reason that even though competitions made him anxious and worried, he still did them. Because there was something about skating in that setting, having watched so many talented performances, having practiced for so long, that made him feel alive.

But skating was also a lot of hard work. You had to stay in shape (Yuuri decided that this was absolute torture as he watched Yurio and Victor down pork cutlet bowl after pork cutlet bowl), you had to practice for long hours every day, and in Yuuri's case, watching someone skate five times better than you, and having them watch you.

Yuri Plisetsky still had a long way to go, though. His technical score was always off his chart for his performances, but whenever Yuri spared the time to watch them, he found that he couldn't stay focused. He had been missing the one factor that made the audience want to watch his every move, that made them unable to tear away their eyes from the performance.

But after they had gone to the waterfall the previous day, something had changed.

"Alright, we can move on to the next stage," Victor said, tapping his finger against his lips. They had finished practice for the day, and Victor had pulled Yurio aside to talk to him. Yuuri glanced behind him as he took off his skates. Victor hadn't spoken about a next stage before, but Yuuri assumed that it had something to do with the way he had skated today.

He frowned. If there was a next stage for Yurio, did that mean when Yuuri found his "eros," there would be a next stage for him, too?

As they walked back to the inn, Yuuri lagging behind the other two skaters, he began to wonder if eros was a thing he could ever achieve. Eros was confidence, beauty, and…all the things that Yuuri wasn't. It was what Victor was. What Yuri was.

The only thing he had figured out by that time was a sort of story that fit the song, something he often did to understand his pieces. A playboy had come to town, woo-ing every woman left and right, until he came across the most beautiful woman in town. He eventually won her over, only to throw her away and move on to the next town.

There were several things wrong with this: the first being that Yuuri was definitely not a playboy and he was definitely not interested in women. But for some reason, he could get the story of out his head, and he couldn't change it. So he was stuck trying to figure out a way to act like the character he had created, to become the character he had created.

They arrived at the inn and went to their respective rooms to shower and change, before meeting at the hall to eat. Yuuri frowned, staring at his meal with unfocused eyes. For some reason, he didn't have much of an appetite, and that was unusual for him.

"Yuuri? Are you okay?"

He looked up to the concerned voice of his soulmate and couldn't help but smile. Something about Victor's expressions oddly reminded him of a puppy. His concerned look was mimicked by Hiroko, but Yurio was too busy stuffing his face to pay attention to the conversation.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just…thinking about the routine, is all," he mumbled, scratching the back of his head. "I just can't seem to understand how to become the character."

Victor tapped a finger against his lips. Yuuri had told him the story he had come up with a few days ago, and Victor had agreed that it fit the song perfectly. However, they had been concentrating on Yuuri actually getting the routine down first, considering that he hadn't been practicing for a while.

"Well, find something that relates to you like women do to your character," Victor offered. "It will help you relate more."

"So something you love," Yurio piped up suddenly. "You love a lot of things, don't you?"

They all turned to stare at the Russian skater.

"What're you all staring at?" he barked, but there was a light blush on his cheeks. "Am I not allowed to give advice?"

Victor propped his head on his chin. "Mm, sure. But Yurio, how do you know Yuuri loves lots of things?"

"Easy, he always talks about food, about Maccachin, about skating, about you—"

"That's enough," Yuuri said abruptly. "Thank you, Yurio. But…" he frowned. Something he loved, huh? Sure, he admired Victor, and they were soulmates but…they hadn't known each other personally long enough for Yuuri to be able to call the feeling in his chest "love."

They continued on with their meal, and as Hiroko returned to the table with her own dinner halfway through, Yuuri's eyes widened. He slammed his fist down at the table, startling everyone, as he yelled, "PORK CUTLET BOWLS ARE MY EROS!"

…o…

Um…I'm sorry I took so long to update…? *smacked in the face with tomatoes*

Okay but really, I am so so so sorry! I lost motivation for the fic and I just,,,don't really have an excuse besides that and summer. But I hope that maybe this chapter makes up for it a bit! I'm still trying to concentrate on the skating aspect more than the soulmates aspect (my skating knowledge is extremely subpar, though) for now. ;;

But reading you reviews gave me motivation again so…thank you for leaving them and showing me so much support! It's still seems kind of ridiculous to me that this fic is so high up in follows, haha. It's such a big number that I can't even really process it.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Reviews are always super appreciated and help me write better and quicker! ^^ Sending lots of love your way!