Chapter Text
Yuri had skated an impressive free skate performance at the Cup of China, not being the only one of its kind that season. If Victor hadn’t entered his life to become his coach, who knows where Yuri would have taken his skating career?
Katsuki was impressed with himself, to say the least, and it’s all thanks to Victor, that’s what he told himself. Skating with the Russian champion by his side made his confidence grow as it had never grown before.
He was still sweaty from performing his free skate, the overly confident version of himself that came through when he was skating was wearing off, something that happened every time he skated. Mostly Victor brought that confidence up in him, but sometimes he was able to channel it himself, thinking about all the reasons in the world he had to skate well.
But that’s not the only reason why he was so sweaty. Landing that quadruple flip was something he had wanted to do for a while, and finally doing it set his whole world on fire in all the right ways. For years Yuri had admired Victor. It was an admiration of his skating mostly, he always tried to keep up with his idol, being reminded of him every night he went to sleep and every morning he woke up. Ever since getting to know the Russian figure skater for who he was rather than for what he did, a whole new foundation of admiration for Victor was created. He always knew he had felt weak in the knees for Victor, and it manifested itself like an awkward secret, now that they were supposed to have a professional partnership rather than what Katsuki had caught himself imagining when he was younger. He never gave it more thought than what he often found himself doing when laying in bed, staring at the ceiling after a long day of practice. But recently, after spending so much time with Victor, and after experiencing what he perceived as literal flirting from Victor, he couldn’t help but get that warm, fussy feeling you get when you’re falling for someone.
And that is something Yuri would have to get used to, and learn to handle if he was to continue being in close quarters with Victor. Accepting the fact that he was absolutely and utterly smitten.
That said, the quadruple flip was Victor's signature jump on the ice. A difficult jump that proved just how technical and skilful Victor was underneath the beautiful performance he brought to the world. Yuri, having spent so much time copying Nikiforov and now trying to skate for him every single second on the ice, wanted to express just how grateful he was for everything Victor had done for him. He owed his entire skating career to him, something only a declaration of his deepest emotions could express. However, he had trouble expressing with words just how meaningful the entire experience had been to him. There was no simple way to do that, but Yuri was getting used to skating his feelings ever since Victor became his coach. Feeling all sorts of feelings towards Victor proved to be difficult to handle, which had sent Yuri into a stage of overthinking many times. How could he possibly express the deep amount of love he felt for Victor and what he had unknowingly done for him? His free skate represented the story of his skating career and also included how he felt when Victor unexpectedly entered his life. It only made sense to end his story with a quadruple flip.
And to Yuri’s pleasure, it seemed to set Victor's world on fire as well. He only realized it from the warmth that spread throughout him when Victor’s eyes lit up with pure love, and he planted a kiss on his lips after his performance, not thinking twice about the cameras on them. Yuri’s face heated up when he thought about it.
Walking away from the interviews with a silver medal around his neck was nerve-wracking for him. Not only did that mean he had to think about the next performances he was gonna do and likely stress about them, but it also meant, that at some point, he and Victor were gonna be alone again, perhaps only at the rink for practice, if Katsuki managed to avoid Victor - and in turn avoid the aftermath of the kiss - like a small part of him desperately wanted to do. What if it was just a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing? Did Yuri misunderstand? Did he read Victor wrong, what if he’s seeing things between them that aren’t even there? He knew Victor was an expressive character, and kissing him ran the chance of just being purely platonic and rooted in pure pride as his coach. What else could match a love declaration?
Yuri’s whole body tensed up, he looked like a shivering mess walking away from the rink. Cameras on him, people still talking about what a great performance it was, the occasional whisper about the kiss, it was all so overwhelming. And worst of all, he could feel Victor's eyes glued on him and it made him incredibly anxious. He desperately wanted to hide away, possibly not even seeing Victor for the rest of the evening.
However, that was not possible. In reality, he knew he didn’t want to be separated from Victor, and Yuri was reminded of that when they entered their shared hotel room. His heart started beating faster, it felt like he was going to skate the most important program of his life.
The sound of the door closing behind them sounded, confirming to Yuri that they were now alone.
Usually, he would rip off his costume and throw on some sweats and a t-shirt before taking a shower later, but this time he felt so focused on going to sleep and processing what had happened.
He breathed out, the kiss playing in his head like a broken record. “I wanted to surprise you more than you surprised me. This was the only thing I could think of”, “Well, it worked…”.
God, oh god, Yuri thought. His cheeks flushed a shade of pink that spread like a wildfire, and his breath got shakier with each second alone with Victor. Why did he say it like that? What part of him couldn’t understand that Victor just wanted to reciprocate the immense surprising element Yuri had given him and the rest of the world when performing an almost perfect quadruple flip? Nothing other than a kiss would match that. He knew that now, but being so caught up in his own emotions, he couldn’t help but release all the bottled-up butterflies, and they flew out of his mouth as he spoke. “well, it worked”. It stung, thinking about it. He felt so in love it hurt when saying that to Victor. It felt like a mix of being alone with Victor for the first time back in Hasetsu, the leftovers of his confidence from skating being the only thing keeping him from being a total mess.
He breathed out, now coming to the understanding that he had held his breath all this time. He looked up and realized he had stopped what he was doing completely, and with that, continued to unzip his jacket.
“You skated well today, Yuri” it sounded from behind him. Right. Victor.
“Yeah? thanks”
Yuri straightened up, turned around to face his coach and was met with Victor sitting on the edge of the bed, untying his shoes.
“I think I’ll take a shower and just relax in the bed if that’s alright,” Yuri said, heading straight for the bathroom with his sweats and a t-shirt in his grasp. A choked noise came from the back of Victor's throat, and he looked down. Did Yuri say something wrong? He looked at Victor with wondering eyes, as he stood up from the bed, and suddenly smiled at Yuri fondly, “Alright. If that’s what you want”. Yuri swallowed and smiled awkwardly followed by an approving hum. Was there an unspoken rule surrounding coaches kissing their students, he didn’t know about? He figured Victor was also tired from the evening’s shenanigans on ice, but an intrusive thought of Victor hoping that he would comment on the kiss or his program, nagged him. The way Victor spoke sounded like he was forcing himself to support Yuri’s decision, but in reality, wanting more.
No, he thought. His feelings had gotten the better of him again. He should know better than to imagine and convince himself that Victor was just as in love with Yuri as Yuri was with Victor.