Victor Nikiforov was never one for subtle. If it wasn't too much for the average person, it wasn't enough for him. I love Victor dearly, but he is the single most extra human being I've ever met in my life. Would I have him any other way, though? Not for all the tea in China. Although, I'd be lying if I said his excessive nature didn't make me nervous.
"I have a little surprise for you," Victor took my hand and the two of us walked the streets of Barcelona, leaving Yuri and Yurio in the capable hands of my coach. Allegedly capable. For their sake and for his sake, I just hope we don't come back to the hotel room floor covered in Cheerios and Yuri tied to a chair.
I could only imagine, though. Victor's surprises were never little. He was incapable of little. They could be anything. But so many memories on these streets. The mornings spent regretting the evenings. The long, celebratory nights that I'm almost one hundred percent positive that Victor doesn't remember. At least a few of them anyway. The only thing missing was Chris using me as a crutch when he and Victor would be drunk and I was the only one they could call. Maybe Chris was the surprise!
"Violet," Victor nudged me out of my nostalgia-induced haze, "Are you ready?"
"As ready as I'm going to be," I came to again, the two of us standing in a dark room, "What's my surprise?"
"Do you remember," he began, "what we were doing six years ago?"
"Let's see," I thought back, "Six years ago, I was still skating. You were still skating. We were skating together. And the following year would've been my last season because we'd get the boys that spring."
"Barcelona," Victor let out a heavy sigh, "Truly the beginning and the end of an era for us, wouldn't you say?"
"This is where we ended our career," I shared his sentiment, "Where we began our marriage."
"You think this is going to be a nice cloud of beautiful memories," he wrapped his arms around me, "Wait until we get back to New York for finals."
"Are they really?" I gasped, "I wonder if the girls at the burlesque club still remember me."
"You're unforgettable, dorogoy," Victor nuzzled his face in my neck.
New York. That was going to be a weird pill to swallow. Barcelona may have been the beginning of our life together, but so was New York. New York may be a little worse than Barcelona. It was the beginning of a life I never thought was possible for someone like me. In my cards, I was going to dance at the burlesque clubs full time and live my life in the city until I die by my three dogs. In a way, I still have those three dogs. Well...Two dogs and a finicky kitten. But becoming a wife and mother never even dawned on me. Not until Chris and Victor came into the club that night.
"So, where are we?" I asked, my eyes blurring with the prospects of tears over days gone by.
"Where else would we be?" Victor flipped on the lights, illuminating a clear ice rink, nicely prepared for the upcoming festivities, "I got them to set it up early, so you and I could have some time alone."
"Victor," my heart melted. If the mixture of thinking about Barcelona and New York wasn't enough to get my emotions on high, this was. This was the last place we skated professionally together. This marked the end of our career together. This was where we had our first dance after we got married. We didn't have a reception. We had a competition. This only confirmed my suspicions. Victor Nikiforov was never ever, ever capable of little surprises. Because they had me floored every time.
"Now," he extended his hand to me, along with a pair of light purple skates, "Violet Plisetsky, may I have this dance?"
"Always," I fell into my husband's arms, swallowing the swelling lump in the back of my throat. Then, other things started to fall into place in my head, "Is this the reason you told Celestino to take the boys tonight?"
"Yes," Victor kissed the top of my head and sat me down on the bench, "I love our boys, Violet, but I love you, too. Sometimes, when things are getting as high stakes as they'll be, a little quality time will do us both some good. Wouldn't you say so?"
"Duh," I giggled a bit as he laced my skates for me, "Victor?"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"You ask me for a dance," I smiled, "But there's no music."
"You don't think I don't have this thoroughly planned?" he scoffed, "I'm a little insulted."
"You're really not that much of a planner, honey," I pointed out, "You know that as well as I do. If you didn't write things down, you'd be a mess."
"Then, it's a good thing I have you," Victor stole a quick kiss.
"You know," I jabbed, "You can do that with your phone, too."
"But you're not my phone," he teased, "I can't make calls with you. Or send texts. Or Google myself."
Why would I not be surprised if Victor googled himself? I couldn't help but roll my eyes a little, "What am I going to do with you, Victor?"
"First," he tied his skates and brought me to the middle of the ice, "I'd like for you to dance with me."
"It'd be my pleasure," I bowed to him, "But again. There's no music."
"Yes, there is," Victor had the sound remote in his pocket and pressed play. Only for I Don't Want to Miss a Thing to bounce around on the walls.
"Victor," I tried my damnedest to hold myself together, but he was making it really hard to do that, "Really?"
"It is my favorite thing to dance to with you," he admitted, "This is alright with you, is it not?"
"Of course it is," I shivered a little in his arms.
"And you remember the choreography?"
"Like the back of my hand," I beamed, "I love you, Victor."
"I love you, too, Violet," he spun me around, "You're my favorite snap decision."
"Mine, too," I blushed a little, "You know what we should do since we have the rink to ourselves?"
"What's that, my love?" Victor dipped me.
"We should choreograph a new routine," I suggested, "Just something for the two of us."
"Ok," he allowed, "Theme?"
"You know what theme," I laid my head in his shoulder.
"Eros or agape?"
"We can't do eros," I decided.
"Why not?" Victor pouted, spinning me into my first lutz. A double in competition, but I was feeling cocky, so I made it a triple.
"Because..." Oh, how my husband was so very scatterbrained, "You don't love me like that. You don't have eros feelings for me. I'm your agape. Chris is your eros."
"That's true," he nodded, "Agape then?"
"Agape," I confirmed.
"I got something," Victor skated over to the partition, taking his phone off the ledge. Aimlessly, he scrolled through his music and a soft piano began to play.
"The stars lean down to kiss you," the speakers played, "And I lie awake and miss you. Pour me a heavy dose of atmosphere."
Vanilla Twilight...Why did it have to be Vanilla Twilight? When Victor was still skating and I had the boys, he did his special program in Paris to Vanilla Twilight. We watched it on TV as it happened and once the song came to a close, Victor looked dead into the nearest camera and kissed the lens. I knew that all the while he was gone, he was with Chris in every hotel room every single night. But that little kiss on the camera...That was for me.
Everything hit me all at once. Especially when all of our moves came so natural. We didn't have to choreograph our routine. Our routine choreographed us. I needed this. This was a part of my life that I never wanted to fade away. I loved my boys more than anything, but sometimes, Mama has to do some things for herself, too.
And I broke down in Victor's arms. I tried so damn hard to hold myself together, but the glue wore off, the rubber band had snapped, the safety pin had rusted, and the sugar in the gum had completely dissolved, "Violet, what's wrong? What's the matter?"
"Nothing," I wept, "I want to come home, Victor."
"You want to go back to Russia?" he wondered, "Ok. We can get you on the first flight out tomorrow morning and I can take over coaching Yurio."
"No," I shut him up, "That's not what I meant. I want to come home. Here, home."
"You..." Victor gave me a look, "You want us to get property in Barcelona?"
"No," I fell to the ice, "Here. On the ice. I want to come home. And next season, I'm going to do just that. I'm getting my last season."
"Really?" he squeaked, hugging me tight, "Violet, that's wonderful!"
"Shh..." I settled him, "Don't tell anyone. I'm not ready to share that with the world quite yet."
"Still," Victor's unwavering enthusiasm pressed on, "Yay! It's about time. You know what, Violet..."
"What?"
"Speaking of our skating careers," he smiled, "And us being back in Barcelona, you know what we should do?"
"What, Victor?"
"We should renew our vows," he suggested, "We could still do it in secret."
"And we would still be keeping it from my coach," I giggled, "Do you really want Celestino to bitch at us again?"
"We're not competing," Victor reminded me, "You won't be doing that until next season. You think Celestino would have you back?"
"Oh yeah," I nodded, giving myself minor whiplash, "He told me he would if I ever wanted to get back in the fray. As sweet as the thought is, no. We're not renewing our vows. They'd be more or less the same. You'll love me. I'll love you. I'm cool with you being with Chris on the side. Nothing's changed, Victor."
"You're right," he pulled me back to my feet, "How about we do one more routine then?"
"That I can do," I agreed, "What's the song?"
"You pick."
"Ok," I scrolled through the music on Victor's phone. Every part of me wanted to do one of our old swing routines, but I had a better one in mind. We needed something with a higher tempo. I Don't Want to Miss a Thing was slow. Vanilla Twilight was slow. I needed something upbeat. And I knew just the one.
"Don't you dare look back," the speakers sang, "Just keep your eyes on me. I say you're holding back. She said shut up and dance with me."
"Violet," Victor pulled me back into his arms, "You're too much."
"And that's coming from the king of too much," I kissed his cheek, "Shall we?"
"Let's." And Victor and I let the music consume us, take over our bodies, possessing us like a beautiful devil. All of a sudden, I saw a bright light. And it wasn't like the spotlights or the bright light I saw in Tokyo when I passed out on the ice. This was a flash. I looked out into the stands and saw someone duck.
"Hey!" I called out. And whoever took off running.
"Press again?" Victor cringed.
"I guarantee you the lobby's packed," I grumbled, "We're going to have to sneak out the back."
"Just like the old days," he gave me one last kiss, "But you know that picture's going to fetch a pretty penny. Maybe we should've asked for a copy of it."
"Maybe," I loved him, but some days, I wanted to throttle him.
"Come on," Victor took my hand, "Let's get out of here, da?"
"Ok."
The two of us undid our skates and slipped out the back door of the rink. But of course, because that was too obvious, there were six different reporters from six different news sources bombarding us at the door. All of their questions blended into one low hum that no one would be able to understand. And I just wanted all of them to shut up. But one stood out. The biggest one. Were Victor and I going to come back to the ice together?
"Look," Victor settled the crowd, "We're going to be holding a press conference tomorrow anyway. If you could all save your questions until then, thank you."
He did better crowd control than Celestino did and Celestino was the absolute master. When it came out about Victor and me getting married, Celestino did all the work. It got to be too much for Yakov to handle, so he pawned it off on my coach. Thank God, Victor could handle it, though. I know it was part of the job, but I hated having to deal with the press. I just wanted to let my skating speak for itself. They didn't need to know anything about my personal life.
When we got back to the hotel, Yuri and Yurio were fast asleep on their bed. And their babysitter was passed out on the couch with the TV on. I didn't think the boys were that big of a handful, but it had been a while since Celestino watched them. Maybe it took more out of him than I thought it would. I couldn't leave him like that.
"Which one of us is waking him up?" Victor asked, "I didn't bring the oven mitts."
"What do you need oven mitts for?" I gave him a look.
"To wake Yurio in case he bites."
I rolled my eyes a bit, "I'll do it. Celestino isn't a biter."
"Good to know," he giggled, "I'm going to go get some ice. I'll be right back."
No. In fact, Celestino was the complete opposite. I put my hand to my coach's shoulder, "Celestino…"
Nothing.
"Celestino," I shook him some more, "Celestino, you have your own room. You can't stay here."
"No," Celestino grumbled in his sleep, pulling me down toward him, "I sleep here. You come here."
Once I was locked in his arms, there was no getting out. Celestino was a lot stronger than I was and his strength multiplied when he was asleep. Fantastic. So much for getting him to leave. I will admit, though. Some nights when the competition bracket broke Victor and me apart, Celestino would take care of me and this was usually how our night would go.
"Wow, Violet," Victor came back, keeping his voice down, "And I thought me cheating on you with another man was bad."
"Shut up," I chuckled a bit, "I didn't ask for this. It just happened. Celestino's not going anywhere."
"Clearly."
"Go ahead and go to bed without me," I insisted, "I'm going to wait until he's heavily sleeping. Then, I'll be there."
"Alright," Victor kissed my forehead, "I love you."
"Love you, too," I sent him off to our bed and waited.
And waited…
And waited…
Was he sleeping? I think so. Heavily enough to where I could leave? We'll find out. I took Celestino's limp arm off me and moved as slow as humanly possible. If I wake him up even slightly, I'm back to square one and there would be no sleeping with Victor tonight. I put his arm down gently and tiptoed over to our bed, but not without giving goodnight kisses to my boys first. I'm so proud of them. They've come so far in such a short amount of time. They deserve a little rest. Then, I crawled into bed with my husband and curled into his chest. Good night, Vitya. Ya lyublyu tebya (I love you).
A/N: Hi, guys! I need the headcanon of Victor googling himself to be confirmed. If someone could get on that, I'd really appreciate it. Also, Victor Nikiforov is the sweetest human being alive. That's all I'm going to say. See you next chapter! xx