Chapter Eighteen: The Quidditch Final

Yuuri had a few seconds upon waking where he gazed at Victor's peacefully sleeping, sun-streaked face before he remembered that that guy—his idol, his mega-crush, his...well, now his best friend too probably, but literally the man of his dreams, was his boyfriend. It sounded almost banal when he thought of the word boyfriend because it didn't really encompass the crushing, cosmic love he felt for Victor. Everybody had "boyfriends." Victor was his soulmate. They were born to be together, and Victor had purposely sought him out. Victor had abandoned his life in Russia, flown to Japan and fitted himself into Yuuri's life on purpose. Because, God help him, drunk-off-his-ass Yuuri had apparently made such a lasting impression that Victor had literally put everything on hold to come for him...

...and in just a couple short hours, they would both find out whether Yuuri was worth the risk. His anxiety about the final match came swarming down around him like a pack of angry dementors with beater's bats, smashing the glowing happiness he felt about his relationship in a swirling cacophony of fears—you're going to fail, he won't want you once you've failed, you're going to be separated from him forever when—

"Good morning, Yuuri," Victor practically purred from the other futon, stretching and opening his eyes to gaze unabashedly at Yuuri.

How the hell did I pull this off? His fears fell silent under Victor's stare.

It was as though he'd blinked and they were out on the cliff, and he'd kissed Victor before they separated without even really feeling it, and he was mounting his broom and kicking off. Streaking upward through the air did nothing to dispel the sweltering humidity of the day. Yuuri looked for comfort in the familiarity of the wind whistling in his ears and found none. There simply was no wind. The reflection of the sun bouncing off the surface of the water was blinding.

"Ohayo Mahoutokoro!" Ruika called to the crowd. "Welcome to our final match of the year—Tanuki versus Suzaku!"

The crowd was enormous today, it usually was. Yuuri had no problem spotting the recruiter for the Tengu sitting in the teacher's section in bright red robes. She held a clipboard and seemed to be conversing with Minako. Yuuri's spirits lifted—it bode well for his luck today that she'd picked a seat next to his favorite teacher. The recruiter nodded and squinted toward Yuuri. Minako waved toward him.

"Good luck, Yuuri!" she bellowed. So much for making the recruiter think Minako was unbiased. Oh well.

"Suzaku has had an absolutely amazing year," Ruika gushed. The Suzaku section roared in agreement. "Especially coming on the tails of last year's humiliating season. They have gone undefeated this year; the first all-witch team I've ever seen at Mahoutokoro— "

"—and while I love the girl power," Emiko cut in, seemingly on topic for the first time in her tenure as a commentator, "let's not forget that everyone's favorite captain Yuuko Tsurumine has led House Tanuki to their second championship match in a row!"

The Tanuki section drowned out Ruika's response with their applause.

"...Katsuki's performance isn't a repeat of last year's final," Ruika shouted over them. Yuuri didn't have to hear the whole sentence to tell it was a jab. He didn't feel as crushed by her words as he normally would—it was like he had Victor's approval as an invisible shield around him. Ruika's opinion of him meant nothing. He only needed Victor's love.

Oh, and the Tengu recruiter. It would be really great if she also loved him.

"Here comes the Quaffle...and the match begins!" Emiko yelled.

Every player hesitated as the Quaffle rose, sizing up their counterparts on the other team. There could be no mistakes, no slip-ups. Each play counted, and the fate of the match could depend on any given pass.

The second hesitation broke, as six amber and amethyst blurs collided. Suzaku emerged first with the Quaffle, and within a few seconds had broken clear of the Tanuki Chasers. Wang was speeding towards the center goalpost, and Mitsumi flew in from the left. Wang feigned a throw to the center, while dropping the Quaffle to Uchiyama, who sped to the left and shot. Mitsumi changed direction a millisecond too late—the Quaffle grazed her outstretched fingers before sailing through the left goalpost.

Yuuri was stunned. They had never lost the first goal that quickly and it didn't bode well for their morale or their chances. Suzaku had improved, if that were possible, since their last match, using plays that Tanuki was wholly unprepared to counter. Their beaters, Murakami and Otgonbayar, had seized possession of a Bludger, and were hitting it back and forth between them, readying a strike against the first Tanuki player to pass mid-pitch.

Yuuri had an idea, and immediately acted. He dived, speeding straight for Matsumoto as Phichit, who had the Quaffle, reached mid-pitch. It worked. Matsumoto's eyes grew wide, and hit the Bludger at Yuuri. He spun on his broom, the Bludger's wake buffeting him as he dodged. Phichit passed the Quaffle to Yuuko, who scored. Yuuri sped back to his previous height. No doubt he had given the Suzaku seeker, Park, ample time to search for the Snitch unhindered, but Tanuki needed the confidence boost after their early setback.

Fifteen minutes in, and the match began to grow brutal. Suzaku had taken a massive lead, scoring fifty points in ten minutes. Takeshi accidentally (or so he said) whacked Uchiyama in the chest with his bat, claiming he thought she had been a Bludger. A thoroughly winded Uchiyama was awarded two penalty shots; one from the foul, and a second because she had been holding the Quaffle. She scored both times.

In retaliation, the next Bludger hit by Otgonbayar broke Takeshi's nose. She claimed she thought he was a Chaser, because he certainly hit a Bludger like one. Tanuki was awarded a penalty for that one, which Yuuko threw with such force at the Suzaku Keeper, Matsumoto, that it rebounded off of her head, hit the inside of the center goalpost, and shot through. The score was now 80-20.

Every time Suzaku scored, Yuuri's stomach sank lower. He was now frantically looking for the Snitch, but it was nearly impossible to tell which, if any, of the thousands of dazzling lights bouncing off the water's surface below was the little golden ball that would decide the match. Yuuri, no matter how much he trusted his team, was certain they could not match the Suzaku players. It would be up to him.

A sudden burst of inspiration drove him downward, until he was skimming the ocean waves far below the heated battle above. The sweltering heat was much more bearable close to the water, and he wouldn't have to compete with the sun's reflection on top of a rival Seeker.

It was hard to tell who was who from this angle, except for the couple of times the Quaffle dropped almost to the water, the raging storm of Chasers in its wake. However, it was clear which team was which—Suzaku scored 40 more points, making the score 120-20. It soon wouldn't matter if Yuuri caught the Snitch at all.

The Tanuki Chaser's caught a needed break when Seung-gil managed to unseat Yoshida from her broom with a Bludger. She fell twenty feet, and belly-flopped onto the water with a resounding splat that could be heard throughout the stadium. A timeout was called while her teammates fished her out. By the time they did, she was thoroughly waterlogged and bruised, and would be unable to continue playing. As Seung-gil had made a legal attack, the Quaffle was Tanuki's.

Unfortunately, the Suzaku players proved nearly as effective with only two Chasers. The Suzaku Beaters, angered by the loss of one of their own, attacked the Tanuki Chasers with renewed vigor. Before long, Yuuko, Phichit, and Guanghong were all sporting several new bruises from grazing Bludger shots. While they were dodging Bludgers, Suzaku scored three more times, making the score 150-20.

To her credit, Mitsumi had made some truly incredible saves during the game—one where she accidentally slide sideways on her broom, and caught the Quaffle upside down—but she was still hard-pressed to keep the Chasers away. Yuuri swore as the Quaffle sailed past her once more-it was now 170-20, and Tanuki would have to score again before Yuuri caught the Snitch.

And then he saw one small, blurred figure streaking toward him. With a jolt of panic, he realized it was Park, and just ahead of her—a tiny golden glimmer. Abandoning all other thoughts, such as the current score, or caution, he spurred his broom forward. Yuuri and Park were speeding toward each other, the Snitch in the middle. They both saw what was coming, but there was no way either of them could stop now.

The two Seekers collided with the force of a bullet train. Park—much lighter than Yuuri—spun in uncontrollable circles, drifting steadily down toward the water. Yuuri's vision was spotty and unfocused, and there was a ringing in his ears that drowned out the sound of the excited commentary from Ruika and Emiko.

A split second later, Yuuri remembered why he had decided to fly headlong into a speeding bullet, and looked around wildly for the Snitch. He found it again, flying swiftly toward the Tanuki goalposts. He shot after it, weaving drunkenly through the mob of Chasers, but somehow finding his way through. The Snitch dove, and so did he.

He heard a sudden rise in the distant cheering that didn't seem connected with his dive, and Emiko's excited voice taking control of the megaphone. It wasn't important.

His head was now throbbing painfully, but he shook it off. He was gaining on the Snitch, and all thoughts of how far down his team was were driven from his mind. He was twenty feet from the Snitch. Now ten feet. And he saw, upside down as he was, Park zooming towards him again, level with the Snitch as he was diving for it.

And then the Snitch slowed, and veered ever so slightly to Yuuri's right. His outstretched hand was now inches from it, but he would need to adjust his dive as it had done, and he didn't have the time.

And so he lunged, and jumped sideways off his broom. In hindsight, it was a ridiculous move, foolhardy at best, deadly at worst. What if he slammed into Park again, this time with no broom to steady himself? What if he didn't take a deep enough breath before diving headfirst into the water at 40 feet? Maybe it was the recent concussion, but none of those factors made any difference when his fingers whisked through the air, closing around the Snitch. It was as if he was suspended in mid-air for a moment, and then he plummeted to the water, hitting it with all the force of a speeding torpedo. Soon, all was dark and calm around him.

He continued to sink deeper and deeper into the water. It was so hard to think. He had caught the Snitch, the game was over. What was the score? Had they won, or lost, or tied? He almost didn't notice that he was losing oxygen. He heard the distorted booming sound of the megaphone, but it was soon lost in an avalanche of cheering that not even the depths of the sea could effectively drown. It brought him back to reality—he fished inside his robes for his wand, pointed it at the dimming light overhead, and shouted, "Ascendio".

A bubble escaped his lips, and all other sounds were deafened by the jet of water that propelled him upward. He saw something floating just above the surface above him, and as he broke through the rippling surface, he recognized his broom. With his wand in his hand, he willed it to catch him, and he landed smoothly on it as the crowd erupted into an ear-splitting roar of unbelief.

"...a hundred and eighty to a hundred and seventy!" Emiko was screaming, only faintly audible above the cheers from below. "House Tanuki wins the match and the Quidditch Cup!"

The team zoomed toward the cliff side as a unit, not so much dismounting as falling into a pile on the grass, jumping on one another and screaming with joy. As he stood, he felt Takeshi's arms lifting him easily into the air. Yuuri had never been hoisted onto six people's shoulders at once before, but he decided in that moment that it was an experience he'd like to repeat again sometime in his life.

And then the rest of the school came pouring up into the fray, and in the blur he felt himself being swept off his feet like a leading lady in an old movie and kissed—hopefully by Victor, but he hadn't really gotten a good look before he'd been grabbed—and there was Minako and Victor's friends and even Yurio, tailed closely by Otabek.

I could get used to this, he thought as he watched Yuuko holding up the Quidditch Cup and beaming out at the rest of their house to thunderous cheering. The recruiter from the Tengu smiled at him fleetingly, jotting notes onto her clipboard.

The ensuing party was like nothing Yuuri had ever experienced at Mahoutokoro, or maybe even anywhere. Minako brought cases of No-Maj sodas to the Tanuki house dormitories (for the younger kids) and turned a blind eye on the older kids chugging Firewhiskey.

"I sat next to that recruiter during the whole game," she told Yuuri, who politely pretended not to notice the alcohol on her breath. "You got this. She didn't even blink when Takeshi took that Bludger to the face, but I heard her gasp when you jumped off your broom. Oh and speaking of that—are you crazy? You do realize—"

"Yeah," Yuuri beamed. "I know it was crazy."

"You're going to be the best Seeker in the world," she told him, patting him on the back and walking off to congratulate Yuuko.

Victor arrived at his side moments later, pink-cheeked and eyes shining. He wound an arm around Yuuri's waist and snuggled up into his side, burying his nose in Yuuri's hair.

"Having fun?" Yuuri asked him.

"I don't remember the last time I had this much fun," he murmured.

"Not even at the World Cup?" Yuuri said, turning to face him.

Victor shook his head, eyes locked on Yuuri's. They stood that way for a moment—it felt as though the rest of the room had gone fuzzy and faded into the background, but he saw Victor in perfect clarity.

"I think I'm ready for bed," Yuuri said, maintaining eye contact. There was a pause, then Victor nodded slowly.

After saying goodnight to his teammates, Yuuri extracted himself from the party and Victor followed—it seemed to be a common understanding that if Yuuri was going to call it a night, so was Victor, because everyone said goodnight to both of them at once.

He undressed slowly, hanging up his Quidditch robes carefully and sparing a thought for the fact that this was the very last time he'd ever wear them. He rubbed his fingers over the material (still a little soggy from his diving stunt) thinking about what he might do with them now. It seemed silly not to leave them back home in Hasetsu while he went...well, wherever he went, and yet in that moment he was gripped with the desire to haul them anywhere he went like a security blanket.

Victor stood at the edge of his futon furthest from Yuuri, and Yuuri could tell he'd been watching when he turned around to face him. Victor gave him one of those mysterious looks—the half smile, the heavy lidded eyes—and finally Yuuri understood. There was no mystery at all. Victor's inscrutability was entirely in his head. It couldn't have been plainer what Victor wanted—now, and probably since they met.

The space between their futons was suddenly just that—a mere two feet of floor. Yuuri pulled out his wand and flicked it, and the two futons jumped immediately together. Victor's smiled widened as he pulled back the sheets and got into bed. Yuuri took a deep breath and closed the space between them.