Chapter Fourteen: Yuuri vs. The Commentator of the Century: Yurio Takes the Mic!

January blended seamlessly into February. House Suzaku absolutely slaughtered House Kirin in their Valentine's Day match, at least from what Yuuri heard from his teammates later because Victor didn't even allow him to attend. The two of them spent that morning flying on the other side of the island, Victor doing impossible tricks on his broom and trying to goad Yuuri into copying him.

"You just grasp the handle and..." Victor swung all the way around on the broomstick like a windmill.

"I can't do that!" Yuuri told him, laughing.

"I don't believe you for a second," Victor said. Yuuri just shook his head.

March brought with it the dreaded prospect of the match with Komainu. Yuuri's nerves mounted with every passing day until...

"Yuuri?" Victor whispered.

"Yes?" Crap. He shouldn't have responded. Now Victor would know he'd been awake, tossing and turning for...

"Your match is in five hours."

"Yes, I know that. Thank you, Victor," Yuuri snapped. Oops.

Victor didn't respond, and for a second Yuuri thought he was angry. Then he heard the creak of Victor's futon and footsteps as he crept over to Yuuri's bed. He laid down behind Yuuri and placed a warm arm around his waist, snuggling him close.

"Don't worry," Victor murmured. "Sleep in a little. I've done that before matches too."

Yuuri was out like a light in an instant.

"Time to wake up!" Victor sat on the edge of his bed and shook him gently on the shoulder. Yuuri just groaned. He'd slept wonderfully once Victor was in the bed, but it still wasn't as good as a full night of uninterrupted rest.

Yuuri ate breakfast in silence despite Victor's gentle, prodding questions, and got up to go to the pitch very, very slowly. The rest of the team was ahead of them when Victor stopped him in his tracks then hauled him off to the side into a small enclosure of trees. Yuuri stared at Victor for a moment, then began to stretch as Victor just...watched. What is he doing? Yuuri thought.

"It's almost time to get started, we better go," Yuuri said, stepping out of the trees and toward the cliff.

"It's at least partially my fault if you mess up today," Victor told him thoughtfully. Yuuri stopped in his tracks and turned around to face Victor.

"If you don't win, I'll take responsibility and resign from training you."

The words were like a sucker punch to the gut and maybe two months ago, Yuuri would have fallen into a sobbing heap on the ground upon hearing them. The tears still came, thick and fast even now. But he wasn't sure why—he couldn't really grasp how he was feeling. It wasn't sadness. It wasn't fear.

"Victor, why would you say something like that? Like you're testing me?" he gasped. His voice came out watery but he ignored it. His shoulders shook as he attempted to control his breath.

Victor seemed to immediately realize that he'd made a huge mistake. He stepped cautiously toward Yuuri, arms out in an expression of placation.

"Look Yuuri," he said softly, "I wasn't being serious, I'm sorry— "

"I've failed a lot," Yuuri bit out, "so I've gotten pretty used to it. But it's different now because I'm worried about my mistakes reflecting on you! Part of me has been wondering if you secretly want to quit— "

"I was just saying that," Victor told him calmly. "Of course I don't want to— "

"I KNOW!" Yuuri shouted through his tears—and that's when he grasped it. Anger. Yuuri was angry. He knew from the moment he said it that Victor didn't actually mean he was going to leave, and that made it even worse. Their...whatever it was...friendship, for lack of a better word, was so obviously no longer based on Quidditch mentoring that the idea that Victor would use it as a leverage tool to try and get a rise out of Yuuri was infuriating. Yuuri attempted to heave in a full breath between sobs.

"I'm not very good with people crying," Victor said. Well whoop-de-freaking-do, Victor. I'm not crazy about me crying either, but here we are and guess whose fault that is?

"I don't know what to say in this situation. Should I just kiss you or something?"

"No," Yuuri said firmly, because at the moment he would've preferred slapping Victor to kissing him. "Just have more faith that I'm going to win than I do! You don't have to say anything, just stay close to me, Victor."

Victor's gaze softened at that. Yuuri was still mad enough that he was pretty sure nothing nice could come out of his mouth at the moment, so he wiped his streaming eyes and stalked off to join his team at the edge of the cliff.

"Are you okay?" Yuuko asked him immediately. "You look like you've been crying! What happened?"

Yuuri remembered the "oh shit" look on Victor's face when he'd started to tear up and smirked to himself.

"Nothing, I'm fine," he assured her. His smile seemed to convince her—she just patted him on the back and mounted her broomstick.

"Ohayo, Mahoutokoro!" came Emiko's voice. "White Day is going to be on Tuesday and I hope you've all bought gifts for your boyfriends! I know I got something special for—oh, right. I should tell you that Ruika isn't here today. Her Potions project blew up in her face this morning and she's at the nurse right now. They promised that they'd have her lips back to normal in no time, but for the moment she can't speak so today it's just me! Anyway, back to White Day, I have..."

There was a scuffling, then an earsplitting feedback noise from the megaphone. Yuuri squinted toward the commentator's box and watched as someone from the stands climbed into it, wrestling the megaphone from Emiko. He'd recognize that leopard-print bomber jacket anywhere.

"No," came Yurio's voice. "I can't listen to this chick for an entire match. It's bad enough when it's her and her sister."

Apparently, Yurio didn't feel that it was necessary to announce who he was. Yuuri was certain everyone had seen him around—he was distinctive-looking (not to mention loud) enough that he was difficult to miss, but as far as Yuuri knew, he hadn't actually interacted with anyone outside the House Tanuki Quidditch team. Oh, other than the time he shouted across the shokudou at Otabek Altin.

When no one challenged Yurio's coup in the commentator's box, Yuuri took to the air with the rest of his team.

"Okay, here we go. The Quaffle is released and it's caught by that annoying friend of Katsudon's with the ponytail. She passes it to that short kid, but he drops it because he's incompetent and it's caught by that Komainu Chaser with the terrible hair—I don't know who he thinks he's fooling with those highlights—and he passes to the guy with the really thick glasses."

Yuuri had cried after matches plenty of times (especially last year's final) but he'd never cried before one and he had to admit, he felt a lot better for it. He was still sort of angry at Victor though. What had he been thinking? Yuuri chalked it up to his inexperience with being a leader and pep talks—despite his skill, he'd never even been a team captain, let alone a coach.

"—the Komainu Seeker looks like he's lost, he's just floating around like he doesn't know how he got here. Even Katsudon is paying more attention and he's barely moved."

Yuuri had never had so much trouble tuning out the commentary of a match. Equal parts hilarious and insulting, Yurio continued to unintentionally (or intentionally—it was always hard to tell with Yurio) roast every player until—

"—and that irritating perky boy who hangs out with Katsudon is within scoring range but Otab—Alt—the...the..."

Yuuri smiled in spite of himself because this was the first person who Yurio had almost accidentally referred to by name and apparently, he couldn't find anything awful to say about him.

"—the Keeper for Komainu blocks it easily. He kicks the Quaffle into the arms of the guy with the bad hair, and he immediately loses it to that Tanuki girl. What the hell is wrong with him? No one has scored a single goal against Komainu all year. Altin's Keeper talents are wasted on this loser team—he should transfer to Durmstrang and play for Drekr House. He could replace our idiot Keeper and— "

Yurio stopped cold—it seems he felt he'd said too much. Yuuri happened to be close enough to the commentary box to see that he was blushing. He then looked over at Otabek Altin, who gave no indication that he had noticed.

"—and we're twenty minutes into this game. God, it feels like forever. No one has even come close to losing a limb from a Bludger. That big-ass guy who is always hanging around Katsudon's ponytail friend could knock someone out with his fist better than his bat, his aim is terrible."

Yuuri chanced a glance toward Takeshi, who was scowling at the commentator's box. Yuuri hoped that Yurio wouldn't be throwing any more insults that way, because he suspected that Takeshi might use Yurio's nose to prove how good his aim really was.

After three more attempts, the Tanuki Chasers had been unable to put the Quaffle past Otabek. Komainu scored the first goal off of a complete fluke; Seung-gil aimed a Bludger at Legaspi who screamed and threw wildly—right through the right goalpost.

"Ugh, this is ridiculous. That Keeper from Tanuki can't even defend the goal against accidental throws, so I'm not even going to say the Chasers did a good job. This goal was a fluke. 10-0 Komainu."

The match resumed. Yuuko and the other Tanuki Chasers were taking bigger risks, desperate to find an opening in Komainu's defense. Twice, Phichit got hit with Bludgers, one almost full in the face. He was sporting a black eye now, and was slumped slightly on his broom, but refused Yuuko when she told him to sit out. Yuuko seemed to realize she needed all the help she could get—the score was now 40-0.

Despite the perfect weather, Yuuri couldn't find the Snitch. Once he thought he saw a golden shimmer, but it was just the reflection of one of the goalposts on the water. Ohashi was likewise getting nowhere. He was now tailing Yuuri wherever he went, and seemed to have given up on finding the Snitch himself. That not only annoyed Yuuri, but also forced him to remember the last time he had played Ohashi, and the embarrassing results of that match.

He felt a hot surge of anger again, and thought of his argument with Victor. Seriously, what had Victor been thinking? This was as bad as the first time they practiced and Yuuri ended up smashing into the cliff. And then he was struck with a sudden idea.

Yuuri dived suddenly, and Ohashi followed. He skimmed the surface of the waves and swerved to the left. Ohashi did the same. He sped as fast as he could toward the Kirin section of the stands, which was closest. Ohashi was slower, but again did likewise.

Yuuri was now seconds away from the stands, remembering now his match with Kirin. He made as though he was going to pin the Snitch against the rock pillars again, but turned sharply and ascended at the last possible second. Ohashi hadn't planned for that—he had been so busy trying to speed up and block Yuuri off, he didn't have time to stop. He jumped off of his broom as it hit the rock, and into the water. He was only a few feet from the water, and so easily rose again to the surface, but his broom was out of reach. Without a rider, and plainly offended at being abandoned, it zoomed away across the pitch, heedless of Ohashi shouts and curses.

"That was the dumbest move I've ever seen," Yurio declared. "I knew what Katsudon was doing like ten years ago and this loser didn't even see it when that cliff was right in front of his face. Even his broom doesn't want to be seen with him anymore—"

And there it was: in the exact center of the pitch, as if it was waiting for him. Yuuri darted for the Snitch, and snatched it easily from the air.

"Well, Katsudon catches the Snitch because that other Seeker is still floating around in the water somewhere, probably. Despite the fact that they've got the best Keeper in the school, the rest of the Komainu team can't seem to hold it together enough to use that to their advantage. Anyway, the final score is 150-50 Tanuki. You're welcome for not having to listen to that girl talk about her boyfriend or whatever for an hour and a half."

And with that, he stood up, dropped the megaphone on the floor and climbed out of the box. Emiko stared after him as though she'd never seen anyone so incredible in her life—Yuuri could almost see Sung Choi of MAJIC 8 being wiped from her mind and replaced with a swirl of leopard prints and blond hair.

Yuuri searched the stands for Victor, but didn't see him. Had...had he not even watched the match?

And then Yuuri spotted him, standing on the cliff side. He must've spent the whole match alone up there. Yuuri zoomed toward him and Victor stepped back, allowing him space to land.

A million thoughts raced through his head as he stumbled off his broomstick, eyes never leaving Victor's. Victor was inscrutable—he stood with his hands to his sides, his expression unreadable, eyes shining. Yuuri wasn't sure whether he was going to continue their argument, or tell him he did well, or start giving him tips on how to improve or what, exactly. But there was blood pumping hard in Yuuri's veins, and if someone had come back to that moment with a Time Turner and asked him how he knew, he couldn't have said, but he did know without a shadow of a doubt that something wonderful was about to happen.

Despite that, Yuuri didn't expect for Victor to launch himself forward and kiss him, and it didn't really register that that's what was going to happen until their lips had met and his back had hit the ground, Snitch tumbling out of his hand. Victor braced himself on his forearms over Yuuri without breaking the kiss, letting it linger for just a moment.

Yuuri could've happily stayed that way indefinitely. Victor's lips were warm and soft and Yuuri felt utterly surrounded by him—joyous and triumphant in his victory, and perfectly content in Victor's arms. Yuuri placed a hand on the back of Victor's neck, drawing Victor in and letting his emotions wash over him like waves.

At last, Victor pulled back just enough that their lips were no longer touching.

"I wanted to surprise you more than you surprised me," he whispered. "This was the only thing I could think of."

"Well," Yuuri whispered back, "it worked."