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Victor sent Yuuri ahead to the rink, but when he follows into the arena, Yuuri still hasn't made it onto the ice. He's leaning against the boards and waving to somebody instead. The target becomes clear when one of the skaters waves back and makes a beeline for Yuuri.
It's probably Phichit, the friend Yuuri's been excited to meet again. He's been talking about it for weeks, in between obsessing over his jumps and preemptively fretting about his nerves. Their greeting is still considerably warmer than Victor expected. Phichit throws his arms around Yuuri, almost pulling him over the boards. Victor's close enough to hear their delighted laughter, but not to understand what they're saying.
He walks over unhurriedly, but they still haven't separated by the time he's close enough to recognize Phichit's words as Thai. "Yuuri, you didn't tell me you had a boyfriend," he says brightly, which finally makes Phichit loosen his hold on Yuuri.
Victor expects blushing denial, but he's only half right. Yuuri pinks up and stammers, but only gets as far as "Vi-Victor! Um..." before he trails off to look back at Phichit with wide eyes. Victor's eyebrows climb up in surprise.
Phichit smiles reassuringly at Yuuri and turns to Victor. "I was Yuuri's rink mate, too," he says, and if he's sad or resentful about the former status of either, he's hiding it well. He holds his hand out to introduce himself. "Phichit Chulanont."
"Victor Nikiforov."
"I know," Phichit replies, smiling up at him as he shakes his hand. "I'm glad you're taking good care of Yuuri."
Victor puts his arm around Yuuri, pulling him in to his side, and smiles at him when Yuuri shoots him a questioning look. "I try," he says, and Yuuri ducks his head, but doesn't pull away.
Phichit turns back to Yuuri, his face settling into a pout. "But that's pretty cold, Yuuri. I can't believe you didn't even mention me to your new..." He pauses, his eyes trailing down to where Victor's hand is curled around Yuuri's waist. "...coach," he adds, looking like he's holding back laughter and clearly coming to a different conclusion.
It's not quite the right conclusion, but it's one that Victor is happy to encourage. At least Phichit doesn't seem as painfully oblivious as Yuuri.
"I did!" Yuuri protests, frowning accusingly at Victor. "I told you about Phichit! Just not about..." He turns to Phichit with a dismayed expression. "I'm sorry, Phichit-kun."
"It's fine, Yuuri," Phichit says with a laugh, patting Yuuri's shoulder with a look that Victor would describe as disgustingly fond if he had any leg to stand on himself. "But now I definitely won't go easy on you in the competition."
"Of course not!" Yuuri actually looks a bit offended before he grins at his friend. "I won't hold back either."
"Good," Phichit replies and starts skating away, calling out something in Thai over his shoulder as he goes. Yuuri responds in kind, raising his hand in an aborted wave.
Victor waits a few moments until Phichit is out of earshot. "Yuuuuuriiii..." he drawls, and Yuuri goes completely still against his side. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Yuuri fidgets out of his hold and starts tugging at the zipper of his jersey, but at least he doesn't pretend not to understand the question. He clears his throat. "You only ever asked about ex-girlfriends," he says to Victor's right shoulder.
Victor heaves a put-upon sigh, but it's true enough. He usually does that, because some people get stupidly offended when asked about boyfriends, and the ones who are comfortable with him knowing can just correct him. He should've known the cue was too subtle for Yuuri to elaborate on his own.
Still, one would think that tirelessly inviting Yuuri to sleep with him was enough indication that a past boyfriend wouldn't be a problem. Far from a problem, it's actually pretty great news that Yuuri is comfortable dating a man.
"Well, I meant ex-boyfriends, too," he says easily, leaning back against the boards. "Do you want to hear about mine?" Though Victor's former flames are probably much less fond of him now. Leave it to Yuuri to be on almost annoyingly good terms with his ex.
Yuuri stares at him for a moment, startling when Victor tugs lightly on his sleeve. He takes off his jersey and hands it to Victor, his cheeks dusted with pink. "N-Not really," he says, leaning down to take off his blade guards, but not before Victor can see him bite his lip.
The revelation cast a new light on some things. Victor hums, considering. "I suppose you had some inspiration for your eros after all! You didn't have to be so coy about it, Yuuri."
Yuuri's head shoots up. "What? No, no no no," he protests, waving his hands. "That's completely different!"
"Oh? How so?" Victor asks, his tone innocently curious rather than pleased. But he is pleased, selfishly glad for the confirmation that Yuuri doesn't think about another man while he's dancing the program Victor made for him.
Yuuri's eyes grow comically wide when he gets that he's just digging himself in deeper. "Um, it's just different," he blurts, a blush spilling over his face as he presses the blade guards into Victor's hand. "A-Anyway, I'm going to. Go now."
It's adorable how he thinks it's the end of this conversation, but technically they are at work, so Victor lets it go for now with a noncommittal sound. "Go, show him the new Yuuri," he says, and Yuuri nods with a smile.
Victor turns to lean his elbows on the boards and watch as Yuuri skates out to join Phichit on the ice. They loop around the rink, seemingly random bits of Japanese and Thai from their conversation gliding over the ice to reach Victor. Then Yuuri speeds up to turn and execute a precise quad Salchow.
He looks in Victor's direction even as Phichit calls out to him. Victor makes sure to smile brilliantly enough that it's visible from across the rink, and Yuuri grins back before turning back to his friend. Victor settles in to wait for him, tapping his finger on his lips in contemplation.
Maybe it's time to teach Yuuri some Russian.