176Disclaimer: I don't own Yuri On Ice, or any of the characters. This fanfic is based on that show and any OCs in here are made by me.
Hello, everybody! Welcome to my first fanfiction of YOI! I just finished the final episode and I'm mildly satisfied with what happened. With the coming of season 2, I thought 'why not begin writing something that could possibly happen in between the seasons?'
I know that some people may like things canon over non-canon, but I hope you guys will enjoy this fanfic in general and don't try to insert it into the timeline of YOI. It's something that I've been wanting to write in a long...ever since I saw episode 7, I've been wondering why Victor's coach, Yakov is so upset that he left this season.
I mean, given how long Victor was in the game for and the number of wins he had over the years, I would think that Yakov would be proud of his student. As a figure skater in real life, I know that achievements like Victor's are really hard to get. And if he found motivation and inspiration in someone else, he would want to help that person be the best they can be.
So why was Yakov so against Victor leaving? Other than not having their strongest competitor anymore to bring home medals for Russia to put in the hall of fame anymore...
I would say that it's because Yakov knows that Victor isn't coach material. And we've seen that sometimes over the series. A prominent example being how Victor didn't know how to deal with Yuri's anxiety. That could be due to inexperience or his inability to understand different skater's point of views.
Sorry, if this is getting kind of long...if you don't want to read this whole description, just skip ahead to the story. Oh and just a reminder, that I'm in the Victuri boat. (If you see anything in this story that says otherwise, it doesn't mean that I don't ship them, ok?)
Great! Enjoy the story.
Ch 1: Harmless game of 20 questions...right?
The Grand Prix Final was finally over. The result was a bittersweet ending. Yuri Katsuki looked out the large window of his hotel room, which gave him an amazing view of the city of Barcelona. Though he already mentioned to himself that this was his first time here, Yuri was still in awe of the brightly lit-up city.
Shining like gold in the night.
"Gold...at least a five-time World champion…" Yuri pondered to himself silently. "Come on! Is that really necessary to make it up for Victor's comeback next season?"
Bzzz! Bzzz!
The sound of Yuri's phone vibrating echoed throughout the room. He immediately rushed over the dresser where his phone lay on top. Turning it on, he could see the caller appear on his screen.
It was Phichit.
Yuri touched the answer button, "Hey, Phichit. What's up?"
"Yuri! You have to get down here! We're being swarmed by dozens of reporters and fans who've been trying to devour us the entire night just to find out where you are! Come down here and save us already!" Phichit yelled.
"I already told you. I don't wanna ever go to another after-competition banquet again! If you guys can't handle the crowd, then why don't you just—"
Another voice shouted over the phone. "Pork cutlet bowl, you get down here right now! Or I'll destroy you at next year's World Championships! Ya hear me? Destroy!" Yurio shouted at the top of his lungs.
His voice was barely audible due to the high shrieks of fans in the background and the endless clicks from the cameras. Yuri's body went rigid upon hearing the threat. He knows that Yurio is just that kind of a person, but that didn't stop him from feeling frail and fragile. Changing into the suit Victor bought for him, Yuri took several deep breaths to calm himself down.
"The same thing won't happen again. The same thing won't happen again. The same thing won't happen again!" Yuri repeated to himself.
Grabbing his coat and putting on his shoes, Yuri reached for the front door of his hotel room. Before he could touch the doorknob, the door itself flew open and hit him smack in the face.
Victor's cheerful face showed up, his arms loaded with shopping bags of all kinds of miscellaneous items the city had to offer.
"Yuri! Where are you? I wanna go down to the banquet. Are you already dressed? Are you wearing that new suit I bought you? Oh."
Looking down, Victor sees an unconscious and rather silly-looking Yuri sprawled on the floor. Dropping all of the shopping bags, he picks the fallen Japanese skater back to his feet and wraps his arm around his neck.
"This is no time to be sleeping, Yuri! This is the time to celebrate!"
At the banquet hall.
The group of skaters all sat together at one large reserved table. They were lucky that Chris managed to twist his thumbs around and get them a much quieter spot where they could properly enjoy themselves and just socialize.
Yuri sat awkwardly between Victor and Chris. Who were both sitting dangerously close to him. He could feel his face growing warmer with each passing second. It was Yurio who finally broke the uncomfortable silence.
"Well? Pork cutlet bowl? Are you still gonna retire?" He demanded.
"Retire? No way he's gonna retire. Right, Yuri?" Phichit asked from across the table.
Yuri scratched the back of his head, "Well, not yet—"
"Especially since he hasn't landed a quadruple axel yet! So he can't retire!" Victor chimed in.
Yuri almost jumped out his seat.
"Quadruple axel? QUADruple AXEL?"
Chris shrugged his shoulders, laughing. "Who knows? Anything's possible. Just look at the feats you've risen to ever since Victor started coaching you. Maybe a quadruple axel is just an arm's reach away…"
Yurio was getting a little sensitive over their discussion of landing a jump that has never been landed in competition before. "It's not an arm's reach away. Any hard-working skater knows that. It's gonna take time, practice, and dedication. You're gonna have to sacrifice eating, sleeping, schoolwork, spare time—"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Even women?" JJ asked in a shocked voice, a sarcastic shocked voice.
The Canadian skater was waiting for the perfect moment to jump into the conversation. After his disastrous short program, JJ wanted to bring himself closer to the rest of the competition and lower himself from his high horse for awhile.
Otabek and Phichit, who were sitting next to JJ, were in shock from this once overly-arrogant skater's desire to fit in. Phichit burst out into a fit of laughter after hearing JJ's remark. Chris shook his head at Yurio in disappointment.
"Yuri Plisetsky...tsk, tsk, tsk. I expected more of you at age fifteen. You shouldn't just throw your life away like that. Especially when you're still young and could explore the wonders of the world freely! You have to stop and look around. Look at what's going on around you. Smell the flowers a bit, look at the sky...admire a pretty girl," Chris suavely explained.
Yurio growled as half of the skaters at the table began laughing. He was going to make them take him seriously.
"Oh yeah? Well, no wonder you didn't place on the podium this time. Maybe you were just too distracted by the females in the audience!" Yurio shot back.
Chris shook his head calmly. "Not at all. It's one thing admiring beautiful women. But it's another being in an actual relationship. That's where the distractions would come in. You would know that, Yuri Plisetsky, if you've been in a real relationship."
Otabek saw the uncomfortableness in Yurio's eyes, despite his fierce exterior appearance. He could sense how hard he's struggling internally. Though he isn't much of a talker, Otabek enters the conversation just for Yurio's sake. "What's so bad about never being in a real relationship, Chris? Yuri Katsuki here probably never been in one either."
Yuri's eyes opened wide and his face went up several degrees Celsius. He felt sweat dripping down his back and completely soaking his tuxedo. It was an awful feeling. Well, not exactly awful, but just uncomfortable. Victor became interested in the direction this conversation is heading towards, thanks to Otabek. He gazed at Yuri from his resting position on his propped elbow.
"Eh. Otabek's right. Back then, when I was asking about your personal life, Yuri. I don't remember you ever mentioning a special somebody you had maybe once. I assumed that it was Yuko the first time I saw her, but then I saw that she's already married and has three kids. So I don't know anymore, Yuri. Why don't you tell us about your love life?" Victor asked.
Phichit nodded in agreement. "Come on, Yuri."
"I—I already told Victor. I don't want to talk about this kind of topic…" Yuri stuttered awkwardly.
And why were they talking about this in the first place? Thought Yuri.
Yuri assumed that from all the experience he went through with these guys, they were all pretty physically or emotionally intimate with one another. It didn't even have to be a nice kind of intimate! They would connect even through rivalry and differences and arguments!
Yuri's seen more fanart and eroticism than he needed to see from Victor's fan websites. It was filled with things that only comes from the wild imaginations of fangirls and guys, but he did understand where they were coming from.
And that's why he felt so surprised when the majority of them here, including Victor, were acting so natural when talking about women.
Were they straight this whole time?!
"I'll tell you mine. If you tell me yours," Chris said. "Alright so, I had in total about five real relationships. All of them ended, not because it wasn't working out. But because we lost interest in one another romantically. But I have to say, I kind of wish I had at least one relationship that's still lasting."
"Five real relationships?" Victor asked in shock. "What about Romania? Taylor? And who was it again...oh! And Kate?"
Chris waved his hand at him. "Ahh...they were just friends. I was infatuated with them. But it never got to the point where I truly felt something...you know?"
Victor nodded, "That sums it up. Well, Yuri? What about you? Any high school sweethearts whom you never had the chance of confessing to?"
"Or maybe a childhood friend that you completely lost to a former bully…" Yurio accidentally lets out.
He was immediately struck on the head by Victor, who turned his attention back to Yuri after doing that. Yuri thought hard of a way to get out of this situation. Suddenly it caught him. The highlight from the gold ring he and Victor wore gleamed in his eye.
"Sorry, guys. But I'm already engaged, so as you can see, talking about other relationships are out of the question!" Yuri smiled to himself, hoping that this would cause everyone to just drop the topic and be done with it. But it didn't work.
"As your fiancé, I say that I do not mind if you talk about your other relationships in this time. There you go, now you may speak freely to your heart's content!" Victor grinned.
Yuri deflated back into his seat. He gave up. He's gonna have to say something or even make up something to get out of this. He was so tempted to say Yuko's name when he realized another solution out of this.
"Why are we even talking about my love life? I'm pretty sure the majority of you would find it very boring and dull. But I'm pretty sure that Victor's stories won't be!" Yuri smirked.
That did it. Everyone's interest stirred at the table. Even Chris leaned in towards Victor's direction, anticipating whatever he's about to say. Victor's smile stuck on his face. As if it was stitched on. He touched his chin with one finger, thinking deeply.
"Aha! I'll tell you guys my story if Yurio tells all of us what person he's got his eyes on right now!" Victor clapped.
Yurio's expression was priceless. He almost spat out his drink and his jaw hit the table. "What? Why?" He coughed.
"Because I said so, and I would like to hear a confession out of at least one of the two Yuri's at this table…" Victor made a pouty face.
Yurio swallowed his water and exhaled heavily. "Fine. It...was...um...one of the girls from middle school...I dunno...I was still young that time! It was nothing more than an elementary crush! There! Happy?"
"Mmmmm...that's too vague. And how do I know that you're not making that up?" Victor challenged.
Yurio's frustration hit its peak. "Are you serious? What is this, Victor? 20 questions?"
Victor smirked. "No, but it can be if you want it to be."
"Oh, oh, oh, oh! Me first!" Phitchit cried. "Were you ever in an intimate relationship before?"
Victor smiled slyly. "Yes."
Chris cleared his throat. "Was it with a girl? Did she do any sports herself?"
"Yes and yes."
Yuri saw that the conversation was now revolving around Victor, and felt comfortable again. He decided to join in on the fun. "What kind of sports did she do?"
"That's not a 'yes or no' question," Victor corrected, wagging his finger in front of Yuri's eyes in an extremely exaggerated manner.
"Fine then. Ummm...ok here goes nothing. Was she a skater?"
"Yes. Who else do you think I'd go out with?!" Victor said.
The whole table exploded in conversation and questions. Everyone now wanted to know who this person is now that they know that she is a skater. Which meant that at least one of them would've known her unless this girl never made it to the national or international levels.
"Ok so, was she hot?" JJ asked without shame.
"That'll depend on your standards. Next!" Victor called.
"No, wait! Did you think she looked attractive?" JJ rephrased his first question.
Victor nodded fiercely. "Of course I did! I'm not blind!"
"Did we ever see her before? Like on tv? Or in competitions?" Phitchit asked.
Victor paused for awhile before answering. "Uh...yes…"
"I'm gonna see how far this romance went to. Tell us, Victor. Did you ever sleep with her?" Chris asked.
Everybody sat on the edge of their seats as Victor answered the question in a rather tired-sounding voice.
"Fuck...yes. Yes, I did. Don't judge."
Yuri nearly fell out of his seat. He always had the feeling that Victor was no virgin, but hearing that confession only made him feel more inexperienced than ever! Now Yuri was afraid. All those times when Victor tried to close in on him, was he thinking of that?
Yurio felt his face grow red due to being in a conversation where he feels extremely underaged! He quickly changed the topic. "Was she in novice?" Yurio asked curiously.
His tone changed as this game of twenty questions gradually drew out his interest.
"No," answered Victor.
"Junior? Senior?" Yurio asked again.
"No, for junior. Yes, for senior," Victor confirmed.
The whole table began exchanging whispers and private conversations. Yurio's mouth hung agape when he realized that this mystery girl was a senior. Phichit and Chris began looking on their phones and searching up women senior skaters over the last few years.
"If she was on that level, then I would've for sure seen her!" Phichit said to himself.
"I dunno anymore. I always notice the skaters that really stick out. I mean, if this skater caught Victor's eye, then she would've caught mine too. But I don't remember seeing anything phenomenal over the last two years or so," Chris sighed.
"Maybe it's because you don't really pay attention to women's figure skating. I watch it, but I don't watch it to the end," Otabek admitted.
Yuri joined in on the search for Victor's mystery girl. "Well, what if she wasn't competing during those last two years? She could've been refining skills or healing from an injury, right?"
Victor suddenly tensed and gulped down the remainder of his drink. He looked up at the bright crystal chandelier lights before smiling back at Yuri.
"Are we gonna continue this game or what? You still got twelve more questions to go!"
Yuri knew exactly what to ask. "Alright. So is she still skating right now?"
Victor's bright smile dimmed as his mouth opened, almost trying to say something. But no words came out. Instead, he turned his body towards the table and looked down so that no one could see his face.
Yuri sensed the change and instantly regretted his question.
"Victor! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"
He was stopped abruptly by the sound of a soft cough. Even though he couldn't see Victor's face, he could see the tears that are falling and landing on the surface of the table, shocking everybody.
Victor's body was shaking slightly. This whole scene reminded Yuri of himself when he was crying over his first Grand Prix Finals experience of failure in the bathroom. Except he was crying over his loss. He had no idea what Victor was crying about.
Everybody began asking Victor if he was alright.
"Victor? Victor?" Chris asked, trying to get him to raise his head.
"We're sorry about asking the questions! We'll stop right here, promise!" Phichit exclaimed.
"Please, Victor. We won't do this anymore. Let's do something else. Just please…" Yurio stopped midway.
The soft sobs coming from the crying man gradually became louder and louder...and then the sound of muffled laughter was heard. Victor burst his head back up, laughing so hard that he had to wrap his arms around his stomach in order to contain himself.
He couldn't stop laughing. It was so great the tears were coming out of his eyes and he began to pound his fist on the table top. This caused everyone to go pokerfaced.
"Uhhh...what just happened?" Yurio asked cautiously.
"He's drunk. Should've known that from the very beginning! Idiot!" Chris smacked himself on the head.
"Ok...so, was the whole game of twenty questions just a lie? That girl never existed?" Phichit asked nervously.
Victor spoke in a mildly slurred speech, laughing while he did. "What girl? What are you guys talking about? We're all girls here! And you know what girls like to do best? Dance! Let's go!"
Victor pulled Yuri out of his seat and dragged him out of the private area and towards the main hall where the majority of the guests are. The rest of the skaters looked at each other in confusion, before shrugging their shoulders and running after them.
In the main hall, Victor dragged Yuri across the floor, spinning him in all directions, while leading him towards the buffet table. Victor grabbed several shot glasses and forcefully made Yuri drink them all.
"You're too sober, Yuri! Loosen up and show me that beautifully amazing side of yours again! Please? Come on! Hic!" Victor begged in a drunken manner.
Yuri tried to push the glasses away as Victor held them towards his face. "Victor...please stop. This is getting embarrassing…"
Some of the guests who were around them began watching their little act and exchanging conversations. Yuri tried his best to mute them out, but his imagination gave way.
"Look at them, going at it again."
"Didn't that Japanese guy get drunk last year and began pole-dancing with that Italian guy?"
"Don't you mean the Swiss guy? Yeah, it was the Swiss skater who danced with the Japanese skater who came in last place! I still have photos of that night!"
"Look! Here comes the best part of this whole banquet. Girls, hold onto your panties!"
Chris grabbed Yuri by the arm and pulled him away from a drunk Victor, who lost his smile when Yuri disappeared. Chris put his arm around Yuri's shoulder and smirked.
"Hey, why don't we find another dance pole, Yuri? For old times' sake?" Chris suggested.
Yuri had steam coming out of his ears by now. This was getting too far. This was the whole reason why he didn't want to come down to the banquet in the first place!
"Oh great. Oh great. Oh great…" Yuri sweated.
Suddenly, he was pulled from Chris and back into Victor's arms. Chris shook his head as more of the other skaters showed up. Yurio gulped upon seeing Yuri being held tightly in Victor's arms, he was not about to go through this again.
"Hey, Pork cutlet bowl! Do something about this!" Yurio shouted.
Yuri looked at him incredulously. "Do you think I have the power to do anything at all right now?"
Victor tightened his hold and Yuri gasped. "Shh...Yuri. Don't speak right now. Save your strength for later. This is clearly between me and Chris…"
The Russian man looked at Chris, shooting daggers at him. But he wasn't fazed at all. Grinning, Chris accepted Victor's challenge.
"Fine. So be it. But don't say I warned you. I'm a pro at the erotic arts," Chris winked.
Victor walked up to him, smiling confidently. "Who said anything about erotic arts? This is a competition...of memorization! Of the competitive life of Katsuki Yuri!"
Yuri's world crashed around him. "Wait—what?!"
The last thing he needs to hear is the retelling of his past competition results, or in other words, his failures of living up to the champion figure skater he dreamed of being. He needed this to end, right now.
"Vi—Victor! You're not feeling well, so how about we just go back to the hotel, and get some proper sleep?" Yuri begged.
"Shh! Yuri...I'm doing this for you. Don't worry. I won't lose. I'll show the entire world that I know Yuri Katsuki better than anyone else!" Victor cried triumphantly throwing his arms up in the air.
This was followed by an enormous round of applause and cheer from the surrounding guests, who were watching this entertaining and drunk showdown between two long-time competitive rivals.
Victor finished his final glass and places it down, getting ready to compete. Chris began doing some quick dynamic stretches on the spot. He pretended that he was so scared of losing this challenge, arousing more interest from the audience.
Yuri buried his face in his neck as he quietly turned around to make a break for the buffet table. And that was the beginning of the drunk craziness.
Throughout the night, Victor kept making new demands and challenges against every guest he caught staring at Yuri. He was seriously out of control. One of the challenges was to beat a certain guest in ballroom dancing.
Of all the people Victor could pick from, he picked Yurio. Poor Yurio was once again dragged into this unwanted craziness. The Russian Punk's face became more and more distorted as Victor dipped him down low and pulled him in close after a spin.
Finally, Victor decided to crush his opponent by lifting Yurio over his head in a difficult pair skating position. Yurio yelped—in a high squeak—as soon as his feet left the ground. This move was met with numerous cheers. Satisfied, Victor puts Yurio back down and prances away. Yurio stumbles over the buffet table, where Yuri cringes—though not in a bad way—over the way his coach is acting. Yurio looks at Yuri and scowls.
"How can you just stand here and do nothing? I didn't want to be a part of that!" He complained.
"Well, look at him. When he's like that, there's no stopping him. So it would futile if I tried," Yuri countered.
Yurio takes an appetizer from a nearby tray and stuffs the whole thing into his mouth. "Shouldn't have let him drink so much back at the tables. Anyways, about the game of twenty of questions...do you think Victor was lying?"
The memory came back to Yuri's mind. Was Victor really drunk and making stuff up when they were asking about his past relationship? Could it have been true? Maybe it was true and when he was drunk, it just all came out!
But maybe Victor was just referring to another girl he saw skate once and was just describing her in his drunken state. Yuri didn't know anymore. It was too real to be a fake right now. He wanted to know so badly who this person is and more importantly, what happened to her.
Because the moment the game began to go downhill, was when Yuri asked about the current state of said girl. After that, Victor began to cry and then laugh. Was he drunk? Or was he faking it so he wouldn't have to answer?
"I dunno if that game was true or false. How did we even get to that topic in the first place anyways?" Yuri wondered.
"You forgot already? We were talking about women and relationships and all attention was on you for awhile, but you were obviously uncomfortable with the topic. So you tried to push it onto Victor. Which lead to twenty questions. So there, this whole thing is your fault!" Yurio pointed out.
Yuri sweats. There's no arguing with that. Yurio was right to a point. "I know. It's my fault. I'm sorry, Yuri. About getting you dragged into another drunken banquet," Yuri apologized sincerely.
"I accept. But I still can't get that game of twenty questions out of my head...I've been training with Victor ever since he moved up to the seniors. If he was truly seeing someone during that time, then I would've seen her! But I didn't! I hate mystery!" Yurio growled in frustration.
"Victor wouldn't hide something like that. I dunno...I wouldn't think that he's that sort of person…" Yuri trailed off.
"Really, Yuri Katsuki? You think you know everything about Victor Nikiforov? Well, news flash. You don't. Just because you two are close and all, and are even engaged, doesn't mean that he's not keeping any secrets. And I bet that this is one!" Yurio exclaimed with confidence.
Yuri didn't say anything. He shouldn't worry so much about the fact that he doesn't know everything about Victor, even though they've been through a lot for the past several months.
He should worry about winning gold at the next World Championships coming up in a few months. But it's like what Yurio said. He just couldn't get that game of twenty questions out of his head.
Victor's hiding something from him. But it's perfectly normal. They can't reveal everything about their lives to each other.
Looking at Victor, who was doing an extremely funky combination of breakdancing, acro, and belly-dancing at the same time on the floor. Yuri found himself at ease again. He was not longer embarrassed about tonight anymore.
"Pretty soon. Victor and I would be competing together again. That should be interesting. I hope…" Yuri thought as he sliced another piece of cake from the tray.
Like it? Dislike it? Well, don't be shy! Comment in the reviews! I'll see you guys again next time! :D Thanks for reading.
