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"What are you doing?" Yuri asked, feigning ignorance as he let his skate bag fall in the hallway, lazily throwing off his shoes before making his way to the kitchen where he grabbed the first juice carton he could find. He never once looked to Katsudon, who had half the kitchen sprawled out on every available surface in sight, mainly because he knew exactly what was going on.
"I'm making chocolates," came Yuuri's focused reply. He didn't look at Yuri either, but it was impossible to tell from his voice whether or not he knew what Yuri was doing.
He took a gulp of the juice (Viktor obviously wasn't there to tell him off about it and Yuuri seemed too focused on the chocolate to care) and eyed the mess before Katsudon. He'd seen Yuuri's valentine's chocolates before (the whole team had gotten some last year after all) and from the way they turned out, one would never suspect the mess they were born from. But they were all made from scratch and they tasted excellent. It was of course also the only sweet thing Yuuri knew how to make. Yuri, unfortunately, knew this from experience. Never eat Yuuri's baked goods, no matter what he may tell you. It was a trap.
It wasn't for nothing that Yuri had come by today. It was Katsudon's last rest day before he set off to Four Continents, which meant that he would inevitably spend it making chocolates for Viktor (and everyone else he knew). It was all calculated, but it was a little hard to ask directly.
"Is it difficult?" Yuri asked instead and Yuuri's hands stopped moving for a moment as he thought about it.
"Depends," he speculated helpfully, "Maybe not for you. Wanna try?"
Okay. So maybe Yuuri did know what he had been fishing for, but no matter. It just sped up the process.
"Well," Yuri huffed and downed the rest of the juice before throwing the empty carton in the bin, "How hard can it be if you're doing it?"
Yuri found an apron and got to work.
So, as it turned out. It was pretty difficult. Tempering the chocolate was the hardest part. At first, Yuri hadn't understood why it was necessary to do exactly what Katsudon had told him. After all, he just had to melt the chocolate and reshape it, right? Obviously, that hadn't worked and his chocolate never set probably, leading the two of them to simply make hot chocolate out of the failed attempt. On his second attempt, he tried to do exactly as Yuuri had told him, yet he still failed miserably and was slowly, but surely, beginning to look like Yuuri (covered in chocolate from top to bottom), but even when Katsudon offered to do the tempering for him, Yuri refused. It would be pointless if he didn't do it himself.
On his third attempt he did it right (Yuuri praised him for it, but Yuri shrugged it off) and got to work on the shapes he wanted. That, in itself, was difficult. He tried to shape a chocolate like Potya and when it looked nothing like his precious cat, he settled for a simpler cat design, which took roughly five attempts to get to look somewhat right. He had to temper some more chocolate, but he had it down now (he didn't and still messed up once), and after three hours of grueling chocolate making, Yuri finally had what he had come for in the first place: Homemade, cat-shaped chocolates.
Yuuri gave him a nice box to put them in and in return for the box and the ingredients, Yuri helped him clean up the mess before Viktor got home.
(When Viktor did come home, they had also ordered a pizza and the coach scolded them for two minutes before helping himself to a piece as well).
Yuri followed the competition on his phone (through Twitter because he had no access to a livestream!) and cursed the plane company for having delayed him for a whole day. It had already been hard enough for Yuri to convince Yakov to let him take a detour to the B competitions that was supposed to serve as his warm-up for Worlds just to watch a few days of Four Continents. And now he wouldn't be able to catch anything but the free skate! Ridiculous. Screw plane companies and their inability to take off during a blizzard. Did they not live in the twenty-first century? Cowards.
He refreshed his Twitter for the hundredth time only to learn that the leader after the men's short program was JJ. Fucking JJ! As if this day couldn't get any worse. Sitting in second place was Seung-gil, while Otabek was in third. Katsudon had miraculously managed to land in sixth place, more than ten points off the lead, after doubling both jumps in his combination, resulting in him getting a big fat zero for that wasted effort. Well, Yuri was sure he would make a comeback in the free skate. He always did. And he'd rather have Yuuri than JJ any day of the week. But, ideally, Otabek would take the win. The competition was in his hometown after all. He deserved it.
Yuri sunk down in his seat. How was there still two hours left of this flight? He checked the standings for the other categories out of curiosity, not surprised by any of the leaders. Not that he particularly cared. Outside of men's competition, he only really followed fellow Russian skaters, and since this was Four Continents, there wasn't much for him to care about.
Yuri looked out the window. It was getting dark outside and between the landing, getting his luggage and going to his hotel, it would likely be very late before he had any free time – which would immediately be used for sleep. There really was no telling when he would be able to actually see Otabek as he did not want to disturb his preparation for this very important competition.
Yuri slept past his alarm that morning and woke up much later than intended. The competition (although not the men's thank god) was well under way, and Yuri speed showered before shoveling down some breakfast and taking a cab to the arena.
There were two rinks at the arena. The one used for competition – which was currently hosting the pair's free skate – and the practice rink where the men were doing their final practices. Yuri scowled as he let himself into the practice rink, immediately recognizing JJ's obnoxious free skate music, but resisted the urge to leave for another five minutes as he found a part of the rink that was mostly empty, wanting to avoid rabid fans. He obviously had his hood pulled up to avoid recognition, but there was no telling with fans sometimes. He wouldn't be surprised if they had cataloged his whole wardrobe by now.
JJ finally finished his run-through (Yuri had not been paying attention to his skating, only the music) and then it was Otabek's turn. It wasn't a full-on run-through, but everything he did was very well executed and Yuri felt good about his chances. Otabek wasn't one to get very affected by nerves, and he was in third only because he had lost out on base value. He was stronger in the free skate, and JJ's layout was so ridiculous that there was no way he would skate clean anyway. Yuri was confident in Otabek's chances, though Otabek's own facial expression after the run-through remained unreadable (perhaps because Yuri was so far away).
Yuri remained in the rink (without letting himself be known to anyone) until the end of the practice. He texted Otabek a message of good luck and watched the slight smile that appeared on his face as he read it. Otabek didn't know that Yuri was here. No one really did (though Yuri had a sneaky suspicion that Katsudon knew, which by extension meant that Viktor knew), so he had the freedom to do whatever he wanted. He had a plane to catch at midnight of course, but other than that, he was free.
Yuri squeezed the box of chocolates in his hands as he contemplated the best time to give them to Otabek. Maybe after the medal ceremony? That way, he wouldn't be interrupting anything, but would he able to get to Otabek after he won with the amount of media surrouding him at this competition? Yuri wasn't sure. And what if, on the off-chance, Otabek didn't win? Would the chocolate feel like a consolation prize? Yuri bit his lip. What could he do? And what would he even say? I came all the way to Almaty to give you these homemade chocolates. Goodbye, I have a plane to catch. That was stupid and lame. Wow, Yuri really hadn't thought this through. It had seemed like such a good idea when he had booked the plane ticket.
Whenever Viktor acted on his impulses, it somehow always worked out. And the crazier his impulses, the bigger the rewards. After all, acting on his crazy impulses had scored him a husband. Yuri did not seem to have that kind of power. Perhaps because he, unlike Viktor, actually had a sense of shame and rationality. Which was supposed to be a good thing, yet also seemed to be working against him at the moment. Yuri was unable to tell if he was being considerate or simply a coward for not knowing what to do.
And before he knew it, the men's free skate had begun. Yuri had an, obviously, excellent seat, sitting in the front row just across the judges, surrounded mainly by reporters who hadn't bothered him since the event had begun. The first three groups had gone by quickly, Yuri almost having forgotten the box of chocolates on his lap, but then, the final group and Yuri knew he had to make some sort of decision.
The skaters were introduced in order of skating and Otabek was the very last in the group. Yuri knew that he was at least twice as nervous as Otabek right now, because his hands were shaking. Was it Mila that had once said that Yuri didn't care for his competitors? Clearly, she was wrong. Yuri just didn't care about all of them.
As expected, Yuuri had a miraculous comeback in the free and if it wasn't for his sub par short program, he would probably have won the competition, but a competition wasn't won by excelling in just one segment. It was won by excelling in both, which continued to be Yuuri's nemesis and probably the main reason he wasn't building a legacy as crazy as Viktor's.
The next three skaters didn't even come close to Yuuri's score, so he guaranteed himself at least a bronze when it was JJ's turn. Yuri would love to see that bronze turn into silver personally.
Yuri hated to admit that JJ was pretty good. He landed all his opening quads, which Yuri hadn't expected, and unlike in the Finals where he had run out of steam halfway through, this time, he didn't look quite as tired. Yuri almost thought he'd keep his first place until the final two jumping passes, where he missed his last combination and singled his triple axel. He went into second and still earned himself a medal.
And then, Otabek. The roar in the arena was crazy. Something Yuri had only ever experienced in Russia when one of their home stars were up. It wasn't like Kazakhstan was a big figure skating nation, but Otabek had certainly put them on the map, and Yuri had read many articles about all the new rinks being made and the rising interest in the sport. Otabek always lit up when that particular topic came up in their conversations so Yuri had naturally wanted to educate himself on the subject.
The applause only died down as the timer closed in on thirty and Otabek had to start to avoid a time deduction. Yuri loved this program. It was by far the best of Otabek's ever and it showed off his personality much better than all the ones he had had before. The track was mixed by himself and the choreography was made by Viktor. The two of them had spent so much time working on the program that Viktor had seen more of Otabek than Yuri had in the week he had been in Saint Petersburg. Yuri had originally been very displeased by this until Otabek had shown him the program. Then, all had been forgiven. And the program had only continued to grow.
Yuri was entranced by the performance, as was the whole crowd. There wasn't a single flaw in the whole program, each move and element elevating the music to something more, and Yuri rose to his feet as he landed the final jump, almost dropping the box of chocolates on the hard concrete beneath him. Right. The chocolates. He put them down on his seat and remained standing, applauding as the program came to an end and Otabek threw a victorious fist in the air. He bowed to the audience, and all around Yuri, presents began raining down on the ice. He got an idea.
He grabbed the box of chocolates and sprinted the the rink's border (no one could stop him, he was Yuri Fucking Plisetsky) and threw the box as hard as he could, hoping beyond hope that the box would reach Otabek. As soon as Yuri's hand let go of the box, Otabek turned in his direction, and Yuri's life flashed before his eyes. What the hell was he doing? He ducked beneath the border. Perhaps it would be less embarrassing to just leave now and spend a couple of extra hours in the airport? Yeah, that sounded like a solid plan.
Yuri slowly moved out of the arena, pushing pass the mass of people who were trying to get a better view of the upcoming ceremony. There was a roar as Otabek got his score, but Yuri had known from the beginning that he would win, so he didn't need to turn around to confirm it.
Yuri was surprised that he wasn't recognized at all and he made it back to his hotel safe and sound. He had four hours until his plane left, so there really wasn't any rush. And since he wasn't staying in the hotel where everyone else were, there was no risk of running in to anyone. Ideally, no one would know that he had been here at all.
He opened Twitter again. The results of the competition were posted everywhere. Otabek had won the competition with a clean five points and personal best in the free skate. The gold medal looked good around his neck and his eyes had been shining as the national anthem had been played. While often on the podium, Otabek rarely won bigger competitions, so he had every right to feel proud of this accomplishment. Especially on a stage that meant so much to him.
There were lots of photos with him and JJ (as Otabek often reminded him, they were friends and old training mates) and Yuri rolled his eyes at all of them. As he got further down on his timeline, Yuri saw pictures of Otabek in the Kiss & Cry and he almost threw his phone against the wall as he saw the gift in hands. A box, opened, displayed his handmade chocolates.
Scrolling further down, there were multiple videos of Otabek catching the gift and looking curiously in the direction it had come from only to find no one there. Yuri had yet to find a photo of him hiding behind the boards, but there was no way he hadn't been caught. What had he been thinking? This was sports and social media. Did he really think he could do anything in public (in an ice rink!) and not be discovered? He blamed Otabek's excellent free skate for his inability to think rationally.
When he was thoroughly embarrassed, Yuri turned off his phone and went to the airport.
His flight was delayed again (though only by an hour this time) and Yuri couldn't resist the temptation to open his phone again. He opened it and got a notification on Instagram. Which was weird, because very few things should notify him, but perhaps it was simply Otabek posting about his victory. That wouldn't be odd.
Yuri opened the app and almost had another heart attack. His face was certainly heating up in something like embarrassment and he locked the phone again. He was an idiot.
otabek-altin
[photo of catshaped chocolates]
liked by v-nikiforov, phichit+chu and 10.374 others
otabek_altin my favorite gift tonight thank you
view 3.479 more comments
phichit+chu cute
katsudon_yuuri they look very tasty ;)
RIGHT NOW
(When they met again at Worlds, Otabek gifted him a giant chocolate bear)