Shall We Date? Let's Skate!

Summary: "Shall We Date? Let's Skate!" was the hottest dating sim game on the market . . . and it was also the video game one Yuuri Katsuki suddenly wakes up in. Now, Yuuri has to battle floating screens, pesky Quests, and . . . wait, what do you mean he's now the main character?! Featuring poor, poor Gamer!Yuuri.

Disclaimer: Nope, do not own, pfft. I wish.

Chapter II: First Flag?

Yuuri woke up that day, bright and early.

You have slept in your bed! HP is now fully restored.

And by bright and early, Yuuri meant very bright and very early because the glowing, floating words decided he just had to be up at 4 AM, what the heck.

"Urgh," Yuuri groaned, reminiscent of a dying cow. Falling out of his (very small) bed, he blindly patted the desk drawer top for his glasses. "Why am I awake . . . ?"

You have slept in your bed! HP is now fully restored.

The floating words headbutted him, making Yuuri shriek breathlessly in terror. Oh right. That was why he was currently not in Dreamland.

Rubbing his eyes in defeat, Yuuri sighed before making his way to the door. Since he was already up anyway, maybe he should go get started on breakfast? Two hours were enough to prepare a nice, full meal. Phichit would probably appreciate having something other than a granola bar, anyway.

Tiptoeing down the hall, Yuuri made his way to the kitchen and, wait. Yuuri froze. There was the distinct noise of someone breathing in the kitchen.

. . .

Yuuri wanted to cry. Wasn't he supposed to be in a dating sim game?! Did it suddenly change genres to horror? Yuuri hated horror games!

Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, Yuuri tiptoed to the front of the kitchen before . . .

Throwing open the door and smacking the light switch.

"Ah!"

Yuuri stared.

Red-eyed, splotchy-cheeked and teary Phichit stared back.

". . ."

". . ."

"Phichit-kun?!" Rushing over to his friend (because damn it, even if he was a fictional character, Phichit rubbed off on him okay?!), Yuuri fussed over him worriedly. "What happened? Why are you crying?"

Phichit gave a wet chuckle as he rubbed his eyes furiously. "Yuuri? Why are you up so early? I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"No! I . . ." Got woken up by bright and insistent floating words. Yeah, no, Yuuri was not about to admit his crazy. "Never-mind that, what's wrong Phichit-kun?"

Carefully, Yuuri grabbed a tissue before wiping his friend's face. Said friend stared at the ground before slumping down with a sigh.

"I just . . . I know it's stupid, but . . ." Phichit started with a hiccup. "I'm so proud of you Yuuri, but I . . . you got into the Grand Prix Final and I didn't even make it to the Thailand Nationals podium. I just . . ."

Yuuri stared, flabbergasted by the show of weakness from one of the strongest people he knew, before he snapped to attention and dropped to his knees beside his friend. How did Phichit keep up his cheery demeanor when he was so sad? Yuuri only knew him for a few days (he doesn't know him, right?) but his chest was aching because of the lost look on the younger's face.

"Phichit-kun," Yuuri started, voice firm but warm. "Do you love skating?"

Phichit blinked, surprised. "I . . . yes? I do?"

"Because I know I love watching you skate," Yuuri said with a soft smile. "Phichit-kun, you're amazing, and making the podium or not won't change that. Plus, you're younger than Old Man Yuuri, you know?"

Phichit stared with wide eyes, tears stopping from surprise. And then . . .

"Pfft," the boy let out a laugh as he flung his arms over Yuuri. "I'm not that much younger than you, Yuuri!"

Hugging back, Yuuri smiled brightly, happy he hadn't made the situation worse. He was afraid that Phichit might be more upset with Yuuri trying to console him, since Yuuri did make it to the Grand Prix Final (apparently). But Phichit looked so much happier now, and Yuuri was almost glad he had woken up so early―

+20 REP with Phichit Chulanont!

Phichit Chulanont Romance Flag: Obtained!

Yuuri shrieked.

.

.

.

("Yuuri?" Phichit asked, sounding concerned. "Are you okay?"

Yuuri resisted the urge to wail as triumph-sounding music continued to play, along with the sudden flying confetti. Instead, he just made some dying whale sounds.)

【Episode 1】What a Piroshki! The Grand-Prix Final of Tears

Progress: 12%

"Yuuri!" Phichit stared at him, dark eyes wide with un-shed, crocodile tears as he clung to him. "You'll text me every second you're free, right? And keep me up with the drama? And don't forget to send me pictures and selfies!"

Yuuri laughed nervously as he patted the back of his friend. Phichit, he had soon realized, was a major selfie and social media fan. "Of course I will. I'll take as much pictures as I can."

+5 REP with Phichit Chulanont!

"I knew I could count on you!" Phichit smiled brightly before letting him go and stepping back. He sobered up as their coach, Celestino, walked over. "Good luck, Yuuri. You'll do great."

Smiling, Yuuri thanked his friend before waving goodbye as he followed his coach into the plane. The Grand Prix Final was going to be in Sochi that year, which meant it was going to be a decently long flight. Mentally grimacing at just the thought, he relaxed into the seat beside his coach before fiddling with his phone.

Putting on his earphones, Yuuri leaned back and closed his eyes as the quiet melodies of his program flitted through his ears. He felt almost crazy, with everything that had been happening lately. Yuuri was no athlete, and he definitely wasn't one of the world's best figure skaters.

But here he was, on his way to compete in the Grand Prix Final. How funny was that? If anyone from real life saw him now, they would either laugh to death or stare in disbelief.

Speaking of which, Yuuri briefly wondered what was happening in the real world. Maybe all of this really was just a dream . . . ?

.

.

.

You have slept on your airplane seat! HP is now half restored.

Yuuri woke up with a start as the brightness of the words seared into his poor eyes. Grimacing, the tired boy stretched out his cramped limbs as best as he could as the airplane eased to a stop.

"Did you have a good nap?" Celestino gave Yuuri a bright grin as everyone started to stand up. "You were out cold."

Yuuri gave his coach a sheepish nod as he picked up his carry-on. Following the stream of people, the two of them found and grabbed their luggage before waving down a taxi.

"The competition will be in three days," Celestino started, as if Yuuri would actually forget. Maybe the reminders were just a game thing, to help the player? After all, if Yuuri didn't have to actually compete, he wouldn't even know what the Grand Prix Final would entail.

"But I suggest you rest up today and do some light practice tomorrow and the day after," His coach gave the taxi driver the address of their hotel before turning back to Yuuri. "Wearing yourself out now isn't ideal."

"Okay," Yuuri agreed obediently. He blinked in confusion when Celestino made a surprised but pleased noise.

+5 REP with Celestino Cialdini!

"It's great that you aren't that nervous," Celestino smiled. "I would have thought you would for sure try to cram every second with practicing."

". . ." Yuuri sweat-dropped. Whoops, was he really that out of character? But wasn't an athlete supposed to listen to his coach?

The two of them grabbed lunch, as it was almost lunch time and Yuuri was starving (hey! Airplane food tasted awful!). Remembering his promise to Phichit, Yuuri snapped a selfie and a picture of his lunch before sending it to his friend.

Me (11:40 AM): [image]

Me (11:41 AM): [image]

Me (11:41 AM): Got here safely and now finally eating some real food!

It was around . . . 3 AM in Detroit? Almost 4? Phichit was probably asleep, right―

Phichit (11:43 AM): Hello there cutie! (*¯ ³¯*)❤ And oh wow that looks good! What is it?

. . .

Me (11:43 AM): It's Khachapuri

Me (11:43 AM): buT PHICHIT WHY ARE YOU STILL AWAKE

Me (11:44 AM): ISN'T IT ALMOST 4 AM IN DETROIT?

Me (11:44 AM): PHICHIT SLEEP.

+5 REP with Phichit Chulanont!

Phichit (11:45 AM): Ok ok sleeping Mama Yuuri pls don't worry

Me (11:46 AM): Good. Gnite!

With a sigh, Yuuri finished the rest of his lunch and convinced his coach to go do some sightseeing with him. Because hey! Even though they were in a game, it was still cool being in a different country!

After a few hours of shopping, Celestino finally excused himself so he could retire back to their hotel. Yuuri, on the other hand, still felt energetic because of his nap on the plane and thus decided to go and explore the city a bit more.

Sochi was really quite interesting, and Yuuri made sure to snap as many pictures as he could for Phichit. But it was on his walk to the local diner for dinner did he see something truly strange.

"MY FAIRY PLEASE MARRY ME!"

"HE TURNED AROUND THE CORNER OVER THERE!"

"OMG OMG OMG―"

Mini Quest Alert!

[Quest: Rescue the Russian Fairy]

The poor Fairy is in trouble! Rescue him from the clutches of the evil witches~

Completion Awarded: +500 EXP

Completion Failure: NONE

[Y/N]

"Привет―!" Staring with wide eyes, Yuuri snagged the collar of a kid seemingly running for his life (from a herd of crazy girls, um, what?) and ducked into the alleyway. Dragging the boy into the diner he had been going to, Yuuri held his breath until the sound of stampeding feet faded away.

Mini Quest Completed!

[Quest: Rescue the Russian Fairy]

The Fairy is safe, good job!

Completion Awarded: +500 EXP

+15 REP with Yuri Plisetsky!

Yuuri sighed in relief as he quickly read the words on the floating screens. Discreetly waving his hand to close them, he turned around and stared. Blond pretty boy (Yuri Plisetsky?) stared back before growling.

"Кто ты?!"

Which Yuuri . . . did not understand at all. Understandable, since he couldn't speak Russian and he was in Sochi, but.

Blond boy's face turned darker.

". . ." Yuuri sweated. This game wouldn't happen to have a handy, built-in translator, would it?

Continue . . . ?

[Yes/No]

AN: Help YOI won't leave me alone. Thanks for all the awesome feedback though! This story isn't doing as well on AO3 so if it weren't be for you guys I might be considering to drop it, aha. But Happy New Year, everybody!

Guest Review Replies:

Slippingonice: Thank you so much!

Guest: Aha, thank you! The dark side has been welcoming so far.

Unexisted User: LOLOL thank you :) Here's the continuation!