A/N: Well, hi there! Don't I know you crazy kids from somewhere? I mean, it's been a couple weeks, but do you know what that means? It's BOMB WEEK! Yaaaaayyyy! *cue confetti cannons and flower petal cannons with [Property of the Ouran Host Club] stamped on the side of them that are definitely not stolen, they're borrowed* Now, I'm not posting to Black Butler until the 31st and I'm not posting to Ouran until August, so…That leaves you. What to do with you? Well…I hope you all enjoy the next five updates you get…because on Friday, the story's going to be over. Adopted is ending this week. I know it's going to suck, but trust me. I have another YOI story on the horizon that could seriously take off. You've already gotten my parental!Victuri. This upcoming story is more romantic!Victuri. And done a way that I don't think I've seen yet. But because it has been a while, how about a quick recap?
Where we last left off, the Nikiforov family (and Celestino, too!) is in Barcelona where Victor and Violet got married. And we're about to see our favorite little ball of anger, frustration, and overall cuteness go out onto the ice. Are we ready now? Let's go!
"Alright, Yuri," I started my pep talk, "Are you ready?"
"I don't know," Yurio seemed a little off. I wonder what had him so jumpy, "Maybe I should go with the Primadonna set."
"Yuri," I got down to his level, "What's going on?"
"Why do I have to go first?" he pouted, "Of al the places I could've picked, I get the cursed first spot! There's no way I'll win!"
"Sweetheart, you'll do fine," I promised, "And you'll do it with the Tale of the Dragonborn. You know that routine like the back of your hand. This is just another enemy. Who are you here to fight?"
"Myself..."
"No," I stopped him, "Don't start that. There's no winner in that fight. What are you really fighting?"
"How scared I am," Yurio thought out loud, "The nerves in my stomach. The urge to throw up right now."
"Now," I drove it home, "Who's my little dragonborn?"
"Me..."
"Come on," I poked his belly, "You can do better. Who's Mama's little dovahkiin?"
"I am!" Yurio let out his battle cry.
"And who's going to break the curse of the first position by taking home gold here?" I kept psyching him up.
"I am!" Got him.
"Alright, baby," I hugged him tight, "You got this. Make me proud."
"I always do."
He had me there. Yurio never could disappoint me. He had become quite the performer in these past few months. If Yakov would've been here, he would've made Yurio even worse before going on. That's why we don't have Yakov coaching Yurio anymore. Among other reasons. You got this, kid. You can do this. I know you can. You came here to kick ass and take names. As he skated to the center of the rink, Yurio looked to me for some reassurance.
One nod from me was all it took to spark a little glint in his eyes. There it is. There's that fire that makes my simple, little Yurio the true son of a dragon. Oh, yeah. Yurio's got this. That kid's walking out of here with some hardware. He looked really good in gold. I blew him one last kiss and a soft acoustic guitar filled the rink.
"You handled that nicely, Violet," Celestino praised, "Couldn't have done it any better myself. You've become a hell of a coach."
"Thanks, Celestino," I wrapped myself around his arm. It's been nice having Celestino around. While Victor was in the locker room with Yuri getting him ready, my old coach has been a perfect stand-in.
"You're not nervous, are you?" he worried.
"No way," I scoffed, "I know Yurio's going to kill it. I expect nothing less from him. Even if he only gets silver, I'll still be proud of him. He's my son. How could I not?"
"Violet..." Celestino saw right through me, "I coached you for your entire skating career. I know you talk too much when you're nervous. You can't fool me, bambina."
"Dammit," I grumbled, "You're right. I don't want him to have to come this far only to lose big here and blow his shot for Junior finals. I don't think my heart could take Yurio being so disappointed. It'll probably crush him so bad that he'd never want to skate again. And I really can't do that. He loves this too much. I never want that fire in him to ever go out."
"Relax, Violet," my coach threw his arms around me, "Remember? If you're nervous, Yurio's going to be nervous, too. And it'll throw off his performance. Just have faith."
"I do," I mumbled, "But what if..."
"No," Celestino shut me up, "Faith. All he needs is for you to have a little bit of faith."
And there's the other reason I liked to have Celestino around. Even when I'm not skating anymore (yet, anyway), he still manages to be my coach. When I'm in serious need like this, when I know damn well I'm about to spiral out of control, Celestino can put me back on track when Victor can't. It's kind of nice to have something like that.
When I went back home after meeting Victor and Chris in New York, I told my parents that I was going to take up ice skating. Their reaction wasn't exactly fanfare and rainbows. More or less, they wrote me off, thinking Violet was going through some things that she doesn't want to talk about and her want of ice skating would be a fleeting thing.
Then, when I brought Victor to meet them for the first time, they had the same reaction. He's just a passing fling. Adding the fact that he's Russian made my very right winged father a little nervous and the fact that he's gorgeous made my somewhat superficial mother swoon. Victor did have that effect on people, though. Luckily, he could charm his way into both their hearts with little to no effort on his part.
With my first overseas competition, I called home from France and my mom yelled at me for calling so late. It was still early in the afternoon where I was, but time zones didn't compute. But in one of my last, I called home that morning and they were about to go to bed. An hour later, I had Victor knocking on my door in our suite asking me to take a leap of faith with him. And an hour after that, I had a new last name. That made for a fun post-competition trip home.
After that, we went for a year without speaking to each other. I moved to Russia. That's quite a jump for being from a little town in Vermont. Not surprising, though, I had to be the one to make the move. I didn't hear from them until I called saying they had two new grandchildren. Not exactly thrilled that they weren't exactly blood, but they'd get over it.
No matter what happened, though...If it were my first competition, my first steps onto the ice, when I got sick in Tokyo, I always had either Victor or Celestino. Two people that cared for me deeply in their own different ways. Those two have always been my support and I had a feeling that was never going to ever go away. And I loved them even more for it.
Even now, talking to my parents is a touchy thing. In a way, though, I still had my family. I had my boys, my Victor, my Chris, my Natalia, and my Celestino. That's all I needed. If my biological family ever wants to pull their heads out of their asses and be a little more supportive of me and my skating career, then they're more than welcome to. Until then, they're kept at arm's length.
For now, I had to be the support system for the little boy on the ice right now. He's all alone and I had to make him ok with that from a distance. I'm proud of Yurio's decision and even prouder that he isn't giving up just because he's a little scared. Every turn, every step, every jump was landed on a dime. Yurio's anger and hatred toward his enemies was outweighed by something else. I've never seen this before.
What is going through that kid's head? This wasn't fighting for himself anymore. This wasn't about Yurio fighting his demons and conquering kingdoms. For more than anything, this was Yurio fighting for honor and pride. For love and passion. This was Yurio growing as both a skater and a warrior. He knew he was the dragonborn, but this was him proving it. Something flipped inside him. I could see it all over his face. That was my son and he is more than worthy of being called dragonborn.
"You see that, Violet?" Celestino gave me a little nudge, "You did that."
"I did?" I gasped, my heart turning into a complete puddle.
"Absolutely," he assured, "I don't know if you know this, tesoro, but I've seen that same look on your face once or twice before."
As the music died down, the crowd more than made up for it. They exploded! The screams and cheers have never been so deafening! Going by the look on Yurio's face, he wasn't sure how to handle it. Get used to it, baby. Because this isn't the life you chose for yourself. It chose you. They love you.
"Mama," Yurio skated off the ice and jumped into my arms, "I'm exhausted."
"I'm proud of you, dovahkiin," I hugged him tight, "You ready to hear your score?"
"Yes, I am!" For being so tired, Yurio had quite a bit of energy left in him. Despite his pants and stumbly walking, I guarantee that all this kid needed was a bottle of apple juice and he could go out and redo that routine with the same excitement as the first time. He needed a break, though.
"Yurio!" Victor charged at him, taking him off my shoulders, "I'm so proud of you! You did so well!"
"Get off me!" Yurio swatted him away, "Let me go!"
"Victor," I settled them both, "We're all proud of him. Let him rest a bit."
Not to mention, Victor's gushing wasn't exactly good for his own skater. I had a feeling that I'd have to give Yuri a pep talk, too. Hopefully, Celestino would take that off my hands. I'm pretty drained, too. We had to wait for the judges to tally the scores yet.
"Hey, piggy," Yurio reclaimed his spot on my shoulders.
"Yeah?" Yuri quivered in his skates.
"Davai," he settled his brother.
"Uh..." Yuri wasn't sure what to make of it, "Thanks, Yurio."
"Come on, Yuri," Victor took our other baby's hand, "We're next."
"Good luck," I gave my husband a quick kiss.
"Mama," Yurio rested his head on top of mine.
"Yeah, baby?" I walked him over to the kiss and cry to await our score.
"I miss Otabek," he sighed out, "What if he doesn't get to finals?"
"I'm sure he will," I promised, "You saw him. Do you really think the judges aren't going to push him through?"
"I guess you're right..." Yurio was starting to crash from the adrenaline buzz.
"Hey," I couldn't let him be down like this. Not now, "You're going to see Otabek in New York. I'm almost positive."
"Ok," I got him off my shoulders and sat him next to me, waiting to hear those magic numbers we needed to hear.
94.14! A personal record! That's my boy, "Look at you, Yuri! You killed it today. I knew you would."
"I did it!" Yurio hugged me tight, "I did it, Mama!"
"Yes, you did, sweetheart," I kissed his forehead. And of course, one of the lovely photographers behind the barricade managed to get that on film. I'm sure it's going viral in minutes and to the highest bidder, "You want to stay and watch Yuri's performance or do you want to get a drink?"
"I need a drink," he pulled himself to his feet. Honey, you just said a mouthful.
"I can get it, Violet," Celestino volunteered, not even giving me a chance to protest, "You stay and watch Yuri."
"Thanks, Coach," I let him go. Why? Why couldn't we have started with Celestino instead of Yakov? Yurio never would've gotten sick. I never would've had to have the eating disorder talk with him. Not to mention, Celestino would've had zero problem with me teaching him to skate or being his dance teacher and would've been all around much more pleasant to deal with. Stupid Violet.
But then again, Yakov approached us with the offer. From what I understand, that doesn't happen. Getting Yakov as a coach takes months of intense begging and groveling at his feet. The last time he made the first move was with a young skater the tender age of seventeen. As far as I know, that skater was Victor.
When we went back to the rink, Yuri's set was already done. He had the crowd pretty worked up, too. As much as I love Yuri to death, I don't think he's placing over Yurio. If the judges are smart and take the crowd into consideration, there's no way Yuri's placing over Yurio. Yurio and I went over to Victor and Yuri by the railing.
"I wish I could've seen it, Yuri," I gave my baby a quick hug, "I'm sure it was great!"
"I stepped wrong coming out of a jump and fell," Yuri reported, "But I tried to make up for it!"
"And I think you did just that," Victor praised, "If I were a betting man, I'd say you're both going to finals this year."
"You were great, Yuri!" another one of the skaters came up to us, "I hope I'm half as good as that. Let's get a picture!"
"Ok!" Yuri's face lit up. Weird. I've never seen him actually make friends before.
"Who's this, Yuri?" I asked
"This is Phichit," he introduced us, "He's up for a spot in the finals, too!"
"You're Violet Plisetsky!" Phichit squealed.
"Yeah," I smiled, "That's me."
"Yuri!" Phichit glared at him, "You didn't tell me you knew Victor Nikiforov AND Violet Plisetsky!"
"They're my parents," Yuri boasted proudly.
"Your retirement was legendary!" Phichit went on with his rampage, attaching himself to my leg, "You're one of my favorite skaters ever!"
"Thank you, sweetie," I blushed, getting down to his level, keeping my voice barely above a whisper, "But I never said I retired, did I? That was all speculation."
"Does this mean…" he thought for a minute or two before all the tumblers fell into place and his jaw to the floor, "Are you coming back?!"
"Shhh…" I settled him, "That has yet to be determined. We'll see after this season."
"Please!" Phichit begged, his arms around my neck, "Please, Ms. Plisetsky! You have to come back! The skating world misses you!"
"Look, Phichit," I explained, "The skating world kind of hates me for taking Victor away."
"No!" he showed me his phone, "Those are just stupid people. Look!"
I scrolled through article after article this kid had compiled on me. I guess he really was a fan. There were petitions going around online for me to make a return. Blogs dedicated to me that were kept current. My god…Maybe people don't hate me nearly as much as what I think they do. I always knew I had fans, but I usually kept away from that kind of thing in my browsing of the internet for the sake of my mental health. Sometimes, they're not all assholes on the internet.
"Phichit," I took his hands, "Can I trust you with a secret?"
"Anything!"
I whispered in his ear, "I am coming back. At the end of the season, I'm announcing it officially."
"Yay!" If I didn't know any better, I'd think Phichit was about to do cartwheels.
"I think you're on, sweetie," I sent him off, "Good luck."
"Thanks!" And just like that, Phichit was off to skate his routine.
"You do realize," Victor jabbed, "That you probably made that kid's life, right?"
"No," I shook my head, "You did. I just added the sprinkles."
Once all was said and done, it was time for the announcement. Fingers crossed that we're making that trip to New York. I haven't been to the states in so long. Never found the time or the right reason. Maybe this is the push.
"In third place," the announcer called out, "With a score of 89.54, Phichit Chulanont."
"Congratulations, Phichit," Yuri gave him a little nudge, "Next year, you'll get to finals."
"Thanks, Yuri," Phichit still had a smile on his face as he skated up to the podium.
"In second place," the announcer went on, "With a score of 91.33, Yuri Nikiforov."
"I'm going to finals!" Yuri let out a heavy sigh of relief, sharing a quick hug with his father.
"I'm so proud, Yuri!" Victor cheered, "Go get your medal!"
"Ok!" Yuri followed Phichit's lead, skating to the podium.
"Looks like he's not the only one going to finals," Celestino shot me a wink.
"Mama," Yurio asked, "What was my score? I forgot."
"And our winner of today's competition," the announcer finished, "With a score of…"
"94.14," he and I said simultaneously.
"Yuri Plisetsky!"
"I won!" Yurio squealed, skating to the middle of the rink to claim what was rightfully his.
"Looks like we're going to have to celebrate, dorogoy," Victor wrapped his arms around me, "I never saw you as such a threat."
"I guess we'll see in New York, won't we?"
A/N: I'm so, so, so, so, so, so sorry this is up so late. That wasn't my intention. Hopefully, I'll have it out tomorrow earlier than damn near 10PM. But I kind of had a minor mental breakdown a little while ago and had to come down from that. All that aside, yay! We're going to New York! And Yurio broke the curse of the first position. And we got to meet Phichit! He's my babe and I love him! And Yurio misses his new "friend". I'm not saying we're doing any ships here because they are but children, but tomorrow! Tomorrow is going to be a delightful chapter. Pinky promise! See you next chapter! xx