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Tilde stopped her car next to a frozen river after they'd been driving north for quite a while. William parked right behind her and everyone left the car. The cameraman and technician were bringing out their equipment while Tilde guided everyone else towards the river bank where several snowmobiles were waiting.
"We'll be using these to get to the filming site," she announced. "There are compartments for your things. If you are carrying something too big to fit, you'll have to hold it by hand while you're on one of these snowmobiles."
William held up two backpacks. "Will there be enough place for the food, or should we just put these on?"
Tilde frowned. "Some of the camera equipment will need to be placed in the compartment, so if we can avoid putting the backpacks there it would give us more place." She held her hand out. "Give me one of them."
While William and Tilde continued discussing logistics, Lars, the manager, came close to Yuuri.
"My colleagues and I have all driven snowmobiles before when filming in such areas," he told Yuuri. "We only have four of them, so we'll have to ride in pairs. Do you have any preference for who you want as a driver?" He looked genuinely worried. "I wasn't aware you had anxiety problems, so if there's anything wrong, tell me and I'll do my best to help."
Yuuri's lips thinned as a surge of humiliation tore through him. That confession in the car had been meant for Viktor's ears only, and now Lars and William knew. Yuuri felt uneasy, cornered like prey. Lars' comforting words did nothing to quell the persistent embarrassment Yuuri was feeling.
A hand came gently down on Yuuri's shoulder and he turned around, forgetting all about answering Lars.
Viktor was behind him, and instead of the somber expression he'd been displaying since this morning, he was grinning.
"Don't worry, Lars, Yuuri will be driving with me!"
The comforting squeeze made Yuuri forget his embarrassment in favour of gratitude. Viktor didn't even know him that well, and yet had been able to see how uncomfortable he was and was now trying to help him out of the situation. The gratitude Yuuri felt was overwhelming.
Lars raised an eyebrow. "Do you know how to drive one?"
Viktor shrugged. "Sure. I've got a driver's license, which is what you need to be allowed to drive a snowmobile, right? And I tried one on vacation once. It should be fine."
Reluctantly, Lars agreed. "Very well. I'll go with Tilde at the front."
The man went to join Tilde while William and the two other workers settled down on their snowmobiles. The technician was the only one who had his own snowmobiles, as everyone else was sharing.
Viktor urged Yuuri forward and they sat down. Viktor was at the front of the vehicle while Yuuri was right behind, forced to sit closer to Viktor than he was strictly comfortable with.
"Everybody ready?" asked Tilde loudly, looking around.
There were a few nods and noises of agreement.
"Remember to hold on tight and follow my trail exactly. I know where the ice is thickest so don't drive on the side because I can't guarantee it'll be safe. Keep a bit of a distance between you and the vehicle in front of you so we don't put too much weight on the ice in the same spot. Any questions?"
"What do you mean by 'a bit of distance'?" asked the technician.
"Around five meters minimum," said Tilde. She gestured at a nearby tree. "Same distance as the one between me and that tree." She looked at the people around her. "Anything else?"
Head shakes all around.
"Good. Let's go."
With a nod to herself, she turned her vehicle on and drove down onto the frozen river. After a few seconds, the technician followed right behind her.
"Viktor, you go first!" said William loudly. "I'll be going last in case someone needs help."
Yuuri could feel Viktor's body move as the man nodded perhaps a bit too enthusiastically. "No problem!"
The engine turned on, and Viktor turned to look at Yuuri.
"Hold on tight, okay?"
After a second of hesitation, Yuuri obeyed.
-x-x-x-
It took quite a while until they'd driven far enough to arrive somewhere deserted where there were no people skating or walking across the ice, nor were there any marks left behind by anyone that had passed by. The ice was flawless and the snow on the river banks was untouched, with beautiful trees providing quite the contrast. The weather wasn't perfect as there were quite a few clouds, but the environment more than made up for it.
While the cameraman and the technician were setting up their equipment, Lars was explaining to Viktor and Yuuri exactly what would be expected of them.
"You've probably read the scripts already, but I'll remind you what we need you to do." He gestured at the shining expanse of ice. "I want you two to skate. Try a few jumps and twirls, and basically keep it as impressive as you can. I don't expect top notch jumps, because the ad is meant for the general public, not skating experts. Try to smile as much as possible, look like you're having fun, and so on. You're not actors, but try to keep it believable. We'll be filming as much as we can and keep more material than we need because we're not the ones who'll be deciding which shots to keep — the marketing team will do that and all the other editing that'll be needed. We might come back here tomorrow depending on how much we'll have time to do today."
"And what about the second part?" asked Viktor, looking at the surroundings curiously. "Where we take off our shoes and I say the name of the brand?"
Lars waved dismissively. "That's not for today. We'll need to use makeup on Yuuri to make his foot look really bruised and painful and that part will be filmed somewhere else entirely. Today we'll just be focused on the skating." He stretched, barely hiding his yawn. "Well, I'll let you put on your skates. We'll start filming in ten minutes." And with those last words, he walked off towards the two guides who were standing further away, chatting in low tones.
Viktor opened up the compartment of the snowmobile and tugged out two bags. "This one's yours, right?" he said, handing the dark grey bag to Yuuri.
Nodding, Yuuri grabbed the sports bag and fished out a pair of bland, uninteresting skates that Pios had given to him for the advert. They were meant to be overshadowed by Viktor's Pios skates, so that at the end of the advert the Pios shoes would look better by comparison.
There was a moment of hesitation as Yuuri looked around to find a place to sit so he could put his skates on. They didn't expect him to sit down on the river bank, in the snow, did they?
Viktor seemed to understand, because he smiled and gestured at the snowmobile they had ridden on. "Sit there."
"Thanks," said Yuuri shyly, feeling ridiculously pleased for some reason.
Viktor was incredibly kind and polite and Yuuri still had some trouble believing it was all real. Ever since he'd won at the Grand Prix final, it was like some inner fire had been lit within Viktor and he'd started paying a surprising amount of attention to Yuuri. It was flattering without being overwhelming, which was just the right mix for Yuuri's anxiety to stay dormant. Most of the time, at least.
Yuuri sat down on the automobile and realized as he did so that while two people could easily ride on it, it wasn't wide enough for two people to sit on it and comfortably put on skates. The vehicle was made to be sat on with one leg on each side, which Yuuri wasn't doing in order to change his shoes.
So instead of sitting down, Viktor raised one of his legs and pulled of his boot with a strong tug. He was balancing on one leg, trying to lace his skates, and the way he had trouble keeping himself from falling made Yuuri snort. Honestly, how could a figure skater have bad balance?
Yuuri's reaction made Viktor lift his head in surprise, and unfortunately that was all it took for him to overbalance and fall.
"Oof!" was the noise Viktor made as he landed sprawled across the surface of the ground, half on the ice and half on the river bank. The ice didn't crack, which put part of Yuuri's fears to rest.
"Are you okay?" asked Yuuri, seconds away from dropping his skates to hurry over to Viktor in his socks.
Viktor looked up, rubbing his head with a grimace, and the movement revealed his nose, which had turned bright red from the impact.
The sight of that red nose and the way Viktor had fallen made Yuuri grin despite himself. He shouldn't be laughing at the misfortune of others but this was rather amusing and ridiculous.
The moment Viktor saw Yuuri's smile his pained frown disappeared and he grinned back.
"It takes more than that to hurt me!" Viktor chirped. Completely nonchalant despite his red nose, he stood up and finished putting his shoes on.
Yuuri was taking a bit longer to lace his skates, so Viktor entertained himself by skating circles around Yuuri. Viktor was smiling so brightly Yuuri had trouble focusing on his shoes properly.
"Done," said Yuuri after a few seconds of struggling with his laces and pretending he wasn't staring at Viktor.
"Perfect!" the words were exclaimed in a way disturbingly close to a squeal.
Viktor grabbed Yuuri's arm and yanked him off the snowmobile. Off balance, Yuuri tripped straight into Viktor's waiting arms. Without a second's pause, Viktor hoisted Yuuri up so that their heads were at the same height and began skating. Yuuri's feet were dangling above the ice uselessly while Viktor moved them both across the ice in a parody of a waltz.
Face red, Yuuri looked away from Viktor's intense stare. "I don't think this is very professional." But he wasn't moving away, despite his words.
Yuuri was used to being manhandled. When he had been a child, Minako would often move his limbs to help him position himself correctly during ballet classes, and his coach Celestino had sometimes held his arms or legs to help him during flexibility exercises. However, Yuuri wasn't used to Viktor as he was used to Minako and Celestino. Normally he should be moving away, but after his confession to Viktor about his anxiety, there was enough trust for him to… not run screaming from Viktor's arms
"Nonsense!" responded Viktor, smile audible. "This is fun and perfect for an advertisement." He turned around, moving Yuuri along like a doll, and dipped him.
"I'm not sure—"
"Lars!" Viktor called.
The manager, who'd been talking with the cameraman and gesticulating at the equipment, turned around sharply when he heard his name. His face brightened when he saw Viktor.
"What is it?" As he asked that, he seemed to finally take in the way Viktor and Yuuri were waltzing around. "Oohh, what an interesting idea! We could incorporate some pair skating in the advertisement!" His eyes were shining with excitement.
Yuuri frowned. "Are you sure?"
Pair skating would be more complicated to do because Viktor and Yuuri didn't have experience skating together. They'd need to put more effort in to achieve a similar result to what they would get by skating separately.
Lars nodded encouragingly. "Yes. If we can get you and Viktor skating like that, we could spin it as being pro gay rights. It's extremely popular at the moment to support homosexuality. That alone could get a lot of people talking about about the advertisement, and our brand as a result."
Yuuri pushed away from Viktor, landing back down on the ice. His lips were pursed and he was trying to find a tactful way of explaining to Lars that his idea wasn't as great as he seemed to believe.
"Lars…" said Yuuri, eyes downcast. "I don't know if you realize this, but Russia has laws against homosexuality. And Japan isn't exactly the most accepting country either." He swallowed, uncomfortable with Viktor and Lars watching him. "And figure skating is a sport where some athletes get docked points if there are rumours of them being homosexual. We can't afford to do this. Especially Viktor. His career would take a big hit, or might be ruined entirely."
There was a pause while Lars' face showed regret at his badly thought-out idea.
"... It's fine," said Viktor.
Utterly bewildered, Yuuri turned around to stare at Viktor.
The man was smiling! He looked completely oblivious. Had he even listened to the problems Yuuri had just cited?
"No, it won't," said Yuuri slowly, as though Viktor were a small child. "Doing this could ruin your career and you might get fined! Or go to prison." He threw his hands in the air. "Whatever punishment is used in Russia for this."
Viktor skated close to Yuuri, breaching his personal space as if it didn't exist. He grasped Yuuri's chin and tilted Yuuri's face up so that they were looking in each other's eyes.
"I am perfectly aware of that," said Viktor. He still had that same oblivious smile on his face, but now that Yuuri was closer he could see a certain sharpness to it, a brittle edge that would cut until it broke. "But you only have half the information, Yuuri."
Yuuri stood his ground. He didn't blush, step back, or stammer. This was too important. If Viktor was agreeing to Lars' proposition, then he might as well be killing his chances of ever winning a gold medal again.
"Then tell me what I'm missing, Viktor. Convince me you're right. Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you're about to make a big mistake. Do you realize the effect this could have?"
In any other situation, Yuuri would've been overjoyed at the idea of filming an advert where he'd be so close to his idol, to be given a chance to get to know the man behind the legend. But he refused to take part in the destruction of Viktor's career.
Yuuri wouldn't have minded doing something like this in an advert with anyone else, but Viktor had to take his country's laws into account.
Viktor sighed, looking away. "Do you know what happens these days when a pop singer or a famous actor or any kind of public figure admits they are not heterosexual? They get called brave, and stunning, and everyone behaves as if the star made a large sacrifice, something risky, while the sales for that person's music or movies go through the roof. Being bisexual or homosexual is so accepted in Western civilization that I've seen people pretend to be bisexual for sympathy points and attention." Viktor shrugged. "If I do anything controversial, Russian authorities might do something to me, but there'd be so much outrage that they wouldn't dare."
"That's not enough," said Yuuri, outright glaring now. "You're not a singer or an actor — you're an athlete. Sports are not as accepting as those other fields. You're risking a lot for nothing."
Lars was standing on the side and looking quite embarrassed at the argument he'd cause, trying to signal them to stop talking.
Viktor made a noise of exasperation, even though his face was still frozen in that easy-going expression Yuuri was only beginning to recognize as fake.
"I'd planned to announce my retirement at the end of this season."
Yuuri froze. Even Lars stopped moving, realizing how important this was.
"I wouldn't have said it straightaway," continued Viktor obliviously. Except, no, Viktor wasn't oblivious at all, was he? Or if he was, Yuuri had trouble separating Viktor's true personality from the mask he put on. "Because I knew that the media would talk about nothing else after my announcement and I wanted to give my competitors the chance to shine and have their accomplishments be praised. I would've announced my retirement after World's."
"Why didn't you?" asked Yuuri, voice cracking.
Viktor gave a self-deprecating smile. "I was distracted by the man who stole a gold medal from right under my nose. I couldn't just retire after that."
"W-well," said Yuuri, regaining his momentum after that bombshell, "if you're not retiring, then you should continue to be careful with your image. And try to avoid doing things that Russian authorities would have to arrest you for."
"Yes," said Viktor, with an edge of exasperation that Yuuri wouldn't have been able to detect before today. "But if I do decide to continue one more season, I should plan my retirement. I'll be doing advertisements to make money after I stop skating, and if I do something controversial and surprising right now, people will be talking about it for weeks. People will be tripping over themselves to invite me - and you of course - to talk shows and interviews. Plenty of brands will want us to sign endorsement contracts. This isn't as world breaking as you seem to think. Nowadays the western world, it's harder to come out as right-wing than gay when you're famous because progessive ideologies are so massively popular. That's how okay it is for celebrities to be gay. This will be a great opportunity for our careers, Yuuri. Skating and what comes after."
Yuuri was already opening his mouth to tell Viktor how unrealistic his naïve optimism was and the fact that as an athlete, he couldn't compare his situation to that of a pop star, but Viktor's next expression distracted him.
Viktor smiled, and with the sun shining on his hair, he looked like an angel. "Besides," continued Viktor, "it'll be fun to do something new, right? And you'll be there, too."
Any remaining protests died on Yuuri's lips when he heard those last sentence. His face went red and, without thinking, he said:
"It sounds like you care more about filming this with me , than trying to make yourself more popular with a controversy."
Viktor's eyes widened, and then his face relaxed in a languid smile. "Ahh, Yuuri, you read me so well."
A throat was cleared rather pointedly.
Yuuri suddenly realized that while he and Viktor had been talking, everyone else had been awkwardly staring and them and waiting for their conversation to finish. The manager had been the one to clear his throat, and looked rather uncomfortable now that both Viktor and Yuuri were staring at him.
"So, uh…" Lars coughed. "You know, if it's a problem, then we don't have to do it. It was just an idea…"
Viktor waved the issue away. "The pair skating will not be a problem. I'm fine with it."
Then both Viktor and Lars turned to Yuuri, who barely took a second to think before agreeing too. His career was less important than Viktor's, because he'd already achieved his dream — he'd skated on the same ice as Viktor and had even beaten Viktor at the Grand Prix Final. If his reputation was tarnished by controversy then it wouldn't bother him because he'd already done what he had set out to do. After all, his love for the ice was second to his deep admiration of his idol, the one that had had such an effect on his childhood back in Japan.
"Are you sure?" asked Viktor.
Yuuri raised an eyebrow. "You just made a big speech confirming this is a good idea. Why would I not agree?"
Viktor just continued to stare at Yuuri with insistence.
Yuuri's shoulders slumped. "Yes, I'm sure."
Viktor put a hand on Yuuri's arm and squeezed comfortingly. Yuuri could feel some of Viktor's body heat seeping into his sweater. With a shiver, Yuuri stepped backwards, knowing he had to put some distance between Viktor and himself before he did something stupid.
"Perfect!" exclaimed Lars with a clap of his hands. "Viktor, Yuuri, skate a bit together and see what you're comfortable doing. Aim for visually impressive skating and don't worry about technique — most people watching the advertisement won't know enough about skating to tell the difference." He turned to the cameraman. "Michael, you'll be filming them from different angles. We won't be doing the real filming just yet, so you can use the time to get used to the way Viktor and Yuuri move and how you'll be able to get the best shots. Thomas," Lars told the technician, "we don't need sound right now so focus on visuals so that we get the best images possible. You can take care of audio afterwards." Finally, the manager looked over at the two guides. "William, Tilde, as mentioned in the email, we'll be done at around four in the afternoon, so I trust you can stay busy until then?"
Tilde had already brought out a laptop with a large battery next to it, and William held a thick paperback in his hand.
Lars smiled. "Good. I'll call to get the pair skating angle approved. It's highly unlikely they'll refuse, so I should be done in about ten minutes. In the meanwhile, stay busy. Chop chop!" He clapped his hands briskly and everyone scurried away and made themselves busy.
Everyone, that is, except Michael, the cameraman. He was standing in place and looking rather hesitant.
"Mister Thorsten?"
Lars turned around with a scowl. "What?" He was already holding his phone and didn't seem happy Michael hadn't obeyed his orders immediately.
"I…" Michael hesitated. "I don't think it's a good idea to film something that might send Mister Nikiforov to prison. Wouldn't it be illegal to do this?"
Lars rolled his eyes. "We're in Sweden, and it's perfectly legal here. It's also why I'll call my superiors to be sure we're allowed to do this." He shrugged. "It's Viktor's choice. Besides, if he gets sent to prison over it then the scandal will generate outrage and Pios will be mentioned in just about every news outlet. Tons of free press for us."
The cameraman looked disgusted, but Viktor himself didn't look like it bothered him.
When Lars realized that Michael wasn't ready to let it go, he raised an eyebrow. "We're part of a business, not a charity. Try to remember that."
Michael shut his mouth and moodily returned to his camera.
Satisfied, Lars turned his attention to his phone and left everyone else to work. The only people that were doing much were Yuuri, Viktor and Michael. The technician had finished whatever he was meant to so and was relaxing on a fold-out chair. The two guides were seated next to them, keeping themselves busy for what would be several hours of free time until they were needed again.
The cameraman was already filming, so Viktor took the initiative.
"I was thinking we could start simple," he said, "by skating together while we hold hands, and maybe at some point one of us could carry the other on the ice. And after that we could separate and perform the same jumps side by side, in synchronisation?"
Yuuri's expression was thoughtful. "The music they'll use is rather fast paced, isn't it?"
Viktor nodded. "I think it was a mix of classical and dubstep. It gets faster near the end, which is why it's best to keep jumps for that part." He caught sight of the cameraman and waved him over. "Michael! We have a question!"
The man came over, though he didn't stop filming.
"Are we supposed to do anything special to go with the music? Faster spins or slow moves?"
Michael shook his head. "You don't need to do that. The stuff I film will be edited and if something doesn't synch right with the music it'll be sped up or changed to slow motion. For now, just do whatever you want. In two days I'll have enough footage to see if there's anything specific I'll need to ask you guys to do or if what we've filmed is enough."
That seemed to be all the permission Viktor needed to go wild. The next few minutes showed exactly how good Viktor was at choreography. Yuuri had known Viktor choreographed all his programs, but he hadn't realized just how passionate Viktor was about it.
The man insisted on trying all sorts of moves together. A lot of it was hard at first, and they knocked into each other quite a lot, but it didn't take long for them to get comfortable. Yuuri even dared to dip Viktor once, and was gratified by the delighted smile he received in return.
Twenty minutes later, Lars returned after having finished his phone call and declared he'd received permission from his superiors to change the theme of the advertisement.
Viktor's energy only seemed to grow after that.
Yuuri smiled, despite the niggling doubt that this manufactured controversy would backfire on them.
Everything would be fine. The first step towards a happy ending was believing in it.
-x-x-x-
A/N: This chapter is important mostly because of that argument between Viktor and Yuuri. One of the issues I have with YOI is how easily Yuuri and Viktor get together. I feel as if there should have been a few more disagreements here and there to make the relationship feel more realistic. So that's what I'm trying to convey here.
Also, there is mention of Russia and Japan's stances on homosexuality. That's another thing I wish canon had talked about.
Currently votes for next YOI fic are at:
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1) Urban Fantasy/Mafia Viktuuri fic:
15 votes
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2) Viktor/Yuuri/Chris fic (Viktuuris? Chruutor? What kind of ship name would work?):
28
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3) Time travel Otabek/Yuri/JJ fic:
9
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Only one vote per person allowed. If you haven't voted yet, then chapter 5 has a detailed summary of each story idea in the Author's Note at the end of the chapter. So if you are interested, you can take a look at that and vote. Right now it seems like the second story idea will win, unless the people who are interested in number 1 or 2 suddenly grow in numbers.
By the way, who else is super excited about season 2 of Miraculous Ladybug? I am totally planning a fanfic for that series.