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Viktor is fourteen when he soulmate finally hears his soulmate's thoughts. Ever since his parents told him that his soulmate could hear his thoughts if he allowed it, he began to reach out to his soulmate. After the first month of trying to reach out to his soulmate through their soulmate telepathic bond, he began to feel discouraged. He thought that either his soulmate was not born yet, or that-well he didn't like to think that he was born without a soulmate.
Eventually his daily thoughts to his soulmate became weekly and then eventually monthly. As he became more focused on his skating career, he began to forget to send his thoughts to his soulmate.
When he hears his soulmate's thoughts in his head for the first time, he is in the middle of making a salchow jump. Needless to say, he horribly screws up the jump and hits the ice hard due to his shock at his soulmate's shy hello. Yakov yells at him and one of the nearby skaters ask him if he is okay, but he doesn't hear them. All he hears is the echo of his soulmate's voice inside of his head.
"Hello," Viktor enthusiastically thinks back to his soulmate as he skates towards the edge of the rink. Practice be dammed Viktor thought privately to himself as he takes off his skates. He was going to talk to his soulmate without any distractions.
"It's so nice to hear your voice," Viktor thought to his soulmate through their bond. "I was beginning to to think that I did not have a soulmate. You don't know how excited I was to hear your voice. I actually miss landed my jump since I was so surprised to hear your voice. However, I don't mind that I miss landed my jump, though my Coach Yakov might. I would gladly miss land all of my jumps if I could hear your thoughts again."
Please, please respond Viktor privately thought to himself. And his soulmate did.
"I'm not Russian," he heard his soulmate shakily say in Russian in his head. "I only know some Russian."
Oh Viktor privately thought. No wonders his soulmate never responded to Viktor's thoughts.
"English?", Viktor thought in English to his soulmate.
"Some," his soulmate thought back to him in English.
Good Viktor privately thought to himself.
"Where are you from?", Viktor thought to his soulmate.
"Japan," his soulmate responded.
"Japan eh that's cool. I hear the sakura trees over there are beautiful. I always wanted to see them and now I know I am since I definitely want to meet you"
It took a while for his soulmate to respond after Viktor's last thoughts.
"I do not understand," his soulmate nervously thought.
Okay Viktor privately thought. I'll have to use simple English phrases and words which he hoped his soulmate would understand.
"Sorry," Viktor apologetically thought, "I'll use simple English."
"Okay"
"How old are you?"
"Ten. How old are you?"
"Fourteen"
"What do you like to do?"
Once again his soulmate took a while to respond. I guess that question was too complex for my soulmate to understand Viktor privately thought. My soulmate is only ten, but already knows some Russian and English. He must be amazing. I'll need to learn Japanese if I want to be able to communicate with my soulmate.
"Skating," Vikotr's soulmate's thoughts interrupted Viktor's own private thoughts. "I like to skate."
"Awesome! I skate to," Viktor thought with happiness. What luck he privately thought to himself.
"Good bye. I sleep," his soulmate thinks to Viktor.
Why is he going to sleep Viktor privately thought when it hits him that his soulmate's and his time zones were not the same.
"Good night," Viktor lovingly thought to his soulmate. "Sweets dreams my родственная душа."
----
Since his soulmate contacted him when he was fourteen he learned quite a lot about his soulmate. He knew, or rather he inferred that his soulmate was quite shy. His soulmate's favorite food was a bowl of katsudon. Viktor could go on and one about the things he knew about his soulmate. However, there were two things that troubled him.
The first thing that troubled him was that his soulmate wouldn't tell Viktor his name. Viktor asked for his soulmate's name during their second or third conversation together, but his soulmate did not respond. Viktor quickly changed the topic, and privately thought that he would learn soon enough his soulmate's name. Now years later, he still didn't know his soulmate's name ,which was a little frustrating since he hoped his soulmate would trust him enough by now.
However, he knew he didn't have much room to talk. He learned pretty early on in his conversations with his soulmate that his soulmate not only knew about Viktor, but admired him for his skating skills. His soulmate's praise of Viktor made Viktor's heart leap for joy that his soulmate knew about him. Yet, he didn't tell his soulmate that he was actually the same Viktor that his soulmate admired. He doesn't know why he didn't tell his soulmate his true identity. He had plenty of times to do it since his soulmate constantly mentions Viktor's latest accomplishment to him. He just could never tell his soulmate who he was since the moment never felt right.
---
Viktor is woken up by a wailing screeching sound in his head.
"What's wrong?", Viktor worriedly thinks to his soulmate. Still the wailing sound continues. Viktor tries to think of soothing sounds to his soulmate, but still the howls of his soulmate's pain continues.
"Please tell me what is wrong," Viktor desperately pleads to his soulmate as he sends all of the comforting thoughts he can. Eventually the shrieks of his soulmate turns into a a broken sob.
"What's wrong? Are you okay? Do you need help?", Viktor thinks to his soulmate, hoping to provide comfort to his soulmate that was clearly in anguish.
There is no response for a while. His soulmate's sobs stopped to. Please be okay Viktor privately thought.
"Dead," his soulmate thinks to Viktor, "They are all dead, and I wish I was to."
Chills travel down Viktor's back. This is not good he privately thought.
"What happened?", Viktor thinks to his soulmate.
"Just check the news. I'm sure that they'll have a story on this"
Viktor hurriedly gets out of bed and walks to the living room. He picks up the remote and turns on the television to a channel showing international news.
No Viktor privately thinks to himself hoping what he is seeing isn't as bad as it looks. The pictures of destruction shown on his television is horrific. He hears a newscaster narrate that an earthquake of a 9.0 to 9.1 magnitude had struck off the coast of Japan. The newscaster continued to narrate as photos of destruction was shown that the earthquake caused a massive tsunami to hit Japan and that an estimated total of two thousand people were dead, but the body count was continuing to rise.
A photo of a young Japanese woman with tears rolling down her face was shown on his screen. Poor thing Viktor privately thought to himself.
"Are you okay?", Viktor thought to his soulmate. "I just saw the news."
After a few minutes his soulmate responded.
"No. Everyone is dead," his soulmate seemed to choke out though sobs.
His voice seemed hoarse in Viktor's mind. He must've been crying and wailing again Viktor privately thought with sorrow.
"I'm so sorry," Viktor thought to his soulmate, "I want you to know that I'm here for you and that I'm going to do everything to help you."
"You don't need to worry about that," his soulmate thought.
He heard his soulmate's thoughts of suicide cross their mind. Viktor came to the conclusion later that his soulmate didn't mean to share these thoughts with him, but his soulmate's fragile shaken state kept his soulmate from controlling his private thoughts.
"Don't you dare!", Viktor screamed in his mind at his soulmate. "I know your situation right now sucks. Honestly, I can't imagine the pain you are going through. I know life sucks for you right now and that you are probably thinking that your situation won't get better, but you don't know that! You still have so much to live for. You told me that you wanted to skate on the same ice as your idol, Viktor. If you can't think of anything else to live for, then live for that dream of yours! I don't want you to die, so don't take your life. Please, stay with me," Viktor finished thinking to his soulmate with tears streaming down his face.
"Okay," his soulmate thought back. "I'll stay with you."
"Thank you," Viktor thought back in relief. He waited to see if his soulmate would say anything else, but after a few minutes without response Viktor returned to his bed.
As he was drifting into sleep he heard his soulmate think to him, "At least I didn't lose you."
---
Viktor lost all contact with his soulmate after the earthquake that struck Japan in 2011. He knew his soulmate was still alive because he could still feel the bond between them. He tried multiple times after the earthquake to regain contact with his soulmate. He even asked where his soulmate was, so he could go find them and meet them. However despite his multiple attempts, his soulmate didn't contact Viktor.
---
If this doesn't get my soulmate's attention I don't know what will Viktor privately thought to himself. He checked the nearby clock. Five minutes until performance. That's plenty of time.
"Hay," Viktor thought to his soulmate, "I know you haven't responded in the past, and this message isn't like my previous ones. Instead of asking you to contact me, I want to ask you to watch me. I'm competing at the Grand Prix Finals and the program I made is for you, and you only. I'm the next skater, so please, watch."
Viktor waited for a response. Honestly he wasn't expecting one, but he hoped that his soulmate still like to skate or at least still watched the Grand Prix Finals.
"Okay...Viktor," he heard his soulmate say.
---
"Viktor that was absolutely amazing," Viktor heard one fan yell.
"Breathtaking," said another fan.
"Marry me you sexy beast," yelled yet another fan girl.
Viktor smiled at the crowd as he joined Yakov to wait for his scores. There was only was skater left that had to go, a Japanese man if Viktor recalled correctly.
"Oi," Yakov said as he nudged Viktor in the side, "you're in first place."
Great Viktor privately thought. He hoped that his performance was enough to get his soulmate's attention. He never wanted his soulmate to feel alone again like his soulmate did after the tsunami struck Japan. This led him to select the song "Stay Close to Me" for his free skate program. He was interrupted from his private thoughts as he heard the crowd wildly cheering.
He looked up and was stunned by what he saw. The man skating on the ice was an absolute monster. The movements were just so raw and the man's facial expressions were just so genuine. Nothing about the performance seemed fake. The man seemed to moving through the music instead of just merely skating alongside the music. Who is this guy Viktor privately thought to himself as the man effortlessly landed a triple axel. His stamina is amazing Viktor privately thought. He doesn't even look like he is breaking a sweat.
What surprised him the most though was the quadruple flip at the end of the man's program. Amazing Viktor thought. The program was close to flawless. The only major error was that the man awkwardly landed after the quadruple flip.
In the end, Viktor still won the gold, but he won it by a narrow margin. The Japanese man, Katsuki Yuuri, won silver while Chris won bronze.
"Congratulations on winning the gold," he heard his soulmate think to him.
"Thanks. Did you like the program?", Viktor thought back.
"It was absolutely amazing. You never cease to surprise me with your programs and your skills. However next year, I'll make you really work to keep the gold. I don't plan on being the runner up again."
"Runner up?" Viktor thought. "You're not..are you. Are you Katsuki Yuuri?"
His soulmate didn't respond, but Viktor could've sworn he heard a faint laugh in the back of his head. Afterwards, he tried to find what hotel Yuuri was staying at with no avail. Even trying to find out any information regarding Yuuri proved to be difficult. No one in the skating community seemed to know much about Yuuri since he was a newcomer. He did find out that Yuuri became an orphan after the tsunami struck Japan in 2011, and was enabled to pursue a career in skating due to generous charitable donations and because of the help of a ballet teacher. However, the most important thing he wanted to know, the whereabouts of Yuuri, was the one thing he couldn't find.
---
It wasn't until a few months later that he managed to get a lead on where Yuuri was located in Japan. His other favorite Yuri texted him a link to a video. The video showed Yuuri skating to his program for ''Stay Close to Me" at a ice skating rink that Viktor easily found online. He bought a ticket to Tokyo and took a cab to the ice skating rink. After a few days of questioning the locals to gather information about Yuuri, here he was standing outside Yuuri's apartment door.
What should I say Viktor thought as he prepared to knock. Hello I'm your soulmate, maybe? My love how long I've waited for this moment to give you a sweet loving embrace. That's stupid. Yuuri, I'm here to be your coach. Agh that's even more stupid than my idea of showing up naked and wooing him with my good looks.
"You could always just say do you mind if I come in," Yuuri said through their soulmate bond. Whoops Viktor privately thought.
"I wasn't controlling my thoughts again was I," Viktor thought with a wince.
''No, but I didn't mind. It was frankly quite amusing. Especially your idea of showing up naked at the onsen I visit and surprising me there. Though I'm kind of disappointed you didn't chose that option." Viktor felt his cheeks heat up at that remark.
"Soo..," he heard Yuuri think. "Are you going to knock?"
Viktor raised his fist and knocked. The door opened to reveal Yuuri.
"Hi," Viktor said.
"Hay," Yuuri responded.
"Do you mind if I come in? It's freezing outside."
Yuuri grinned. "Well of course you can come in. As long as you promise to stay by my side because I'm quite cold myself."
Fin
Ending Note
The earthquake that I described is an actual historical event. An earthquake did hit off the coast of Japan in 2011 and thousands died. Many homes were destroyed and loved ones were lost. I know from personal experience (Hurricane Katrina) that devastation like this leaves those who lost everything in a bad state of mind. I felt like it was appropriate for Yuuri to not contact Viktor after the tsunami and his parent's death because he wanted to initially not get close to anyone again and then wanted to overcome his feelings of grief and pain by himself through his skating. I hope you enjoyed this story. If you want to rewrite this story, do a fanfic based on any ideas in this story, make fanart of this story, or do anything involving this story you have my permission. Just let me know if you are inspired by my story because I want to see if I inspired someone else to create a work of art (probably not, but one can hope)