(To check out some of my drawings of Osha, check out my Pinterest – daisy0754)
Previously in, "The Charms of a Nikiforov":
"Nah, Vitya will probably realise later. I can trust him not to get too obsessed over the whole thing."
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters, nor the universe of Yuri! On Ice – they all belong to Kubo 3, nor do I own any of the famous skaters, jumps, music etc. I only own my OC's and this story.
Chapter Two
Easy as Pirozki, The Grand Prix Final of Tears
(First Skate)
***3 Months Later***
Osha pulled her keys out her pocket and unlocked the door to Victor's flat.
"Makkachin! I'm back!"
She laughed as the large dog lolloped through from the living room. He jumped up and pressed his front paws on Osha's shoulders, licking her face wildly. Eve Makkachin was technically "taller" than her, but she just laughed and pushed the old dog back down ruffling his big, floppy ears and kissing the top of his curly head.
"Hello boy, I missed you too, but I had to go to college and see my tutor today. Yes, I did. Yes, I did!"
Makkachin barked again and the pair of them walked back through towards the open-plan layout of Victor's flat. Victor, himself, was actually in Tokoyo. The skating season was coming to its climactic finish with the World Championships, with Victor already having earlier success in other competitions, and he was due to skate later. He was in first place after the Short Programme, which Osha had watched the night before, curled up on Victor's sofa with Makkachin.
Osha dumped her bags on the kitchen counter and started working on an essay for her degree. The TV was on in the background so she could keep track of the competition. When her brother was mentioned she scoffed and rolled her eyes as he winked "seductively" at his fans.
Honestly, sometimes he thinks he is such a peacock when really he looks like an ass.
As seven drew nearer, Osha set about making herself a cup of tea.
"Group Two has now finished skating…"
"Tea, glorious teaaaa. Where the hell is the milk?!"
As she sung about her tea, Osha opened her phone and checked her Instagram, too see what everyone else – in the skating world – was up to.
"Looks like Chris is getting ready for his skate soon. Oh, and Otabek Altin got a new personal best, he's really starting to make a name for himself. Haha, look at this Makka."
She waved the picture of Yura wearing a cat-eared hoodie towards the poodle. He sniffed the screen, and then licked her hand, before turning his attention to the raggedy toy owl Osha had bought for him.
"All eyes will be on Russia's Victor Nikiforov, he'll be skating last. What do you think we can expect from him tonight?"
"If anyone can clench this fifth title, it's Nikiforov!"
Wasn't there meant to be a football match on tonight? Ah who cares, football sucks anyway.
Liking and commenting on a few more posts: one of JJ and his current girlfriend, and of her friend Sara Crispino and her brother Michele, who'd been in the Grand Prix last year – Osha sent a quick snapchat to her friend Katya. Then she finished making her tea and microwaved herself a bag of popcorn, before running of to her room in Victor's flat and changing into some pyjamas.
I'm confident Vitya is going to win. This programme has been one of my favourites and he always skates with so much passion
Opening her phone again, Osha opened YouTube and clicked on one of her favourite accounts. It was a set of Japanese triplets known as the "sukeota3sisters" who posted videos of various skates they'd seen and liked. She had commented, liked and watched all their videos and had basically turned into a superfan of their channel. As she clicked on a video, which was one of their mother's skates from when she was younger, she was reminded about the first time she had skated.
***16 Years Ago***
"Ok, Vitya you take good care of Oshi with her first lesson today, ok?"
"Yes, Mama! Oshi will be fine with me, I promise."
Their mother laughed and tucked some of Victor's long silver hair behind his ear. He gave her a tight hug, skating bag slipping off his shoulder. Osha, aged 4, clung onto his blue body warmer. She didn't want their Mama to go to work. She didn't want to go skating. That was Vitya's thing…not hers.
"Osha, doesn't Mama get a kiss goodbye?"
Victor's question caused her to sniffle and her eyes to water.
"I don't want to go! I want to stay with Mama."
Being pulled into a tight hug, by her mother, Osha sobbed and rubbed her eyes furiously. Her big brother never cried, so she shouldn't be. He loved skating, so she should too…so why was she so afraid? Their mother took her chin gently and kissed her nose, nuzzling them together.
"Aww, sweetie, you're going to have lots of fun! And Mama will be back to pick you both up later, but right now you get to spend the whole morning with Vitya! No Mama and no Papa, just you and him, ok?"
She rubbed her runny nose on the sleeve of her duffled coat.
"Ok."
At that she received another kiss on the forehead, as did Victor. Then their mother stood up and blew kisses as she walked back to the car.
"Behave yourselves!"
"Bye Mama!"
"Mama I love 'ou!"
"I love you too, darlings!"
Victor then took his little sisters hand and together they marched into the rink. He waved politely at the lady at the desk and said, "good morning". She said it back and then then tried to say something to Osha, but she hid behind Victor's arm. This generated a laugh from the lady who then asked for her shoe size.
Once they'd gotten her some skates, Victor had helped her put them on and shown her how to tie them. Her mouth formed an "o" as she watched him cleverly loop the laces around. However, the awe was replaced with anguish when she fell over trying to walk. When Victor had laughed she had scrunched up her nose, before standing up – gripping his hand as they walked into the rink. His coach wasn't there yet, so Victor decided to do a loop of the rink with Osha.
As soon as she touched the ice, however, the little girl had lost her grip of her brother's hand and had slid away…landing on her bottom. Tears began rolling down her cheeks and her silver ponytail had become disheveled. Victor skated over to her and smiled.
"Come on, Oshi, up we get."
"NO! I can't do it, Vitya!"
"Yes, you can, give me your hand Oshi."
"No, I'll fall."
"I promise I won't let you fall, Oshi."
He crouched down, long silver hair falling around his face and held up his pinky.
"This is a pinky promise and it is one of the most powerful promises. If I break it then I have to do whatever you want for a whole year!"
"Oh.."
"I promise I won't let you fall, Oshi."
He wrapped his much larger pinker around her tiny one and shook, a smile plastered on his face. Osha managed to smile back and Victor scooped her up under the armpits and placed her on her feet. He then took her hand again, she gripped his arm with the other, and together they set out at a gentle pace – managing to do a few circuits of the rink before Osha was laughing and smiling at the feeling it created.
'Good', Victor thought, 'All that's left now is to introduce her to Yakov and hope he doesn't scare her!'
…
Wow…it's been a long time since that first skate. We had no idea what was gonna happen after that day…
Osha sighed and took another handful of popcorn and the crowd on-screen began cheering loudly. Makkachin had his head resting on her lap and was snoozing quietly, as the name of his owner was announced.
"Next up, Victor Nikiforov."
I wonder what Yuri Katsuki is doing? He didn't qualify for Nationals, and he rarely every posts online…maybe he's gone home…Hasetsu wasn't it?
The girl smiled and pushed up her glasses as her phone screen lit up. It was a snapchat from JJ. She opened it and snorted as tea shot up her nose – due to the laughter she tried to suppress. The picture was of JJ who had face-swapped himself with Victor and it was the funniest and yet creepiest thing to look at. The caption was "Good Luck to the Fairy Queen of the Ice!". Osha pulled a face and replied with "Thank You Oh Mightiest of King JJs x", before locking her phone and turning her attention back to the figure of her brother.
His skating is truly beautiful.
"He has an ambitious programme, with four quads planned. Here comes his first, let's see if he lands it…a quadruple lutz, nice! Very clean! Next quad is his signature move, a real crowd favourite. Here we go…a quadruple flip, he nailed it."
He has a "signature" move? Vitya hates having a "signature" anything. It means that he is predictable…maybe that's why he has been struggling at practice? He loves to surprise the audience, it is why he skates – to inspire them. If he cannot inspire…
"A flying sit-spin… The song he has chosen is "Stay Close to Me"."
Stay close to me…Papa took us to see that opera when I was 12. Vitya and I loved the music. That the year before he "left" home.
"Flawless quad salchow."
Losing track of her thoughts, watching her brother skate, Osha looked at his moving arms and suddenly Victor seemed to resemble some kind of purple flamingo. This, once again, cause her to choke on her tea, waking up Makkachin with her coughing, because she began laughing at herself. Unaware she had spoken aloud the words "caw caw motherfucker!"
"A triple lutz!"
The music was coming to a climactic build and even from Victor's sofa in Russia, Osha could feel the emotions coming from the crowd.
"A triple flip. Now, the last quad is coming up…a quadruple toe-loop, followed by a triple toe-loop. That's it he did it, he landed all of his quads."
The crowd was going nuts.
"Now all that's left is a combination spin."
And with one final pose and beat of the music, Victor's skate was over. Osha wiped a couple of tears away with her sleeve and ruffled Makkachin's head. It was a winning performance, that much she knew. Victor would be home the next day with yet another gold medal to his name…
It's moments like this that make me miss skating.
"With his fifth consecutive gold medal in the World Figure Skating Championships Vik-"
"Hang on!"
Osha paused the screen.
"Why does it say our last name is Niliforov?! Who confuses "k" with "l"?!"
She took a picture and sent it to her old rink-mate Mila Babicheva under the caption "Who is Victor Niliforov and what has he done with my brother? (also why does Otabek look so mad?)" Then she unpaused the screen.
"-ktor Nikiforov has made history here tonight."
Osha yawned and flicked the channel. She had watched far too many of Victor's press conferences, so she really didn't need to watch this one.
The next day she greeted Victor at the airport, along with Makkachin. The siblings chatted on the bus journey home about random things like Yakov's excessive balding and Yuri's senior debut, when it came to Victor's stop the pair of them got off and went into his flat. While Victor unpacked and went for a bath – under strict instructions from Osha "The Clean Freak" Nikiforov – his little sister made tea and set up a pillow fort. She was quietly sipping from a mug when her brother jumped onto the sofa, Makkachin then lying atop of him.
1 New Notification 'sukeota3sisters' have posted a new video.
"Ooooh! Yay! The triplets have posted something."
"You're far too obsessed with those girls."
"Hey, let the retired skater pine for her career."
Victor's brow creased. He hated being reminded of the accident. Osha could skate again, she just never tried…no matter how hard he pestered her to do so. The best he'd gotten was a circuit of the ice, before she complained about her knee.
"'Katsuki, Yuri copies Victor Nikiforov's "Stay Close to Me Free Skate"' Oh we are so watching this! I've been wondering what he's been up to for ages."
When Victor said nothing, Osha took this as a green light and played the video, clambering up next to her long and lithe brother as it loaded. Together they watched as the Japanses skater beautifully mirrored the skate Osha had watched…without the assistance of music. It was amazing, he landed every jump, emphasised every step sequence perfectly. By the time the video, which had already gained thousands upon thousands of views, had finished Osha was sat jaw-dropped and Victor was glaring at the screen.
"How is it…"
"Vitya.."
"…he can skate like that?..."
"Vitya, my… my phone."
"And yet he still hasn't won a single competition?!"
"No no no! Don't throw it!"
...
Russian Dictionary
Vitya - Victor
Oshi - Osha
Mama - Mum
Papa - Dad
Yura - Yuri