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The first surprise comes a decade before they meet.
It all starts when Yuuko puts on one of his performances after skating one day. Takeshi is ignoring them as usual, but he can’t bring himself to tear his eyes from the skater on screen.
“That’s Victor Nikiforov!” Yuuko exclaims. “He won the gold in the Junior World with the highest score in history!”
Victor Nikiforov... Yuuri can’t help but keep his eyes glued to the screen. There’s something about the way he moves, the way he jumps that captivates him. It’s enough of a feeling that causes a gasp of surprise and wonder to escape him.
From then on, Victor becomes an important part of his life. Yuuko and him spend hours copying his routines, they spend their allowances buying posters and magazines with articles about him; one of which causes him to get a poodle of his own which he names after said skater, Vicchan for short.
Yuuko’s not wrong when she says he really likes him. It’s been one surprise after another, and he’s enjoyed it all.
Someday, he’ll skate on the same ice as him. He’s looking forward to it.
The next surprises come hours apart from each other.
The Sochi Grand Prix Final arrives and the results are as expected. Victor wins gold yet again, with Christophe Giacometti getting silver and Jean-Jacques Leroy getting bronze.
As for Yuuri...it’s an utter defeat. Fifteen points behind the other finalists, all due to his usual anxiety, stress eating before and his dog dying.
Fate has not been kind to Katsuki Yuuri, and it only gets worse, or better depending on your sense of humor.
Sure, it’s humiliating to get yelled at by a fourteen year old Russian Punk, who has to stand on his tiptoes to yell at you, but it’s got nothing on how the meetings with his idol are to go.
Newscaster Morooka comes up to him as he and Celestino are leaving, telling him not to give up. After this season, that almost seems to be what he should do. How is he supposed to recover from a defeat like this?
“Yuri.”
He turns only to see Victor talking to the other Yuri. He shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up, today was already enough of a disappointment, he didn’t need another reminder.
Maybe I was just hoping for too much thinking I could catch up like this...but the chance was there… he sighed to himself. It wasn’t like this was the first time those thoughts had come up, but with his idol right there he couldn’t help but think like that. And said idol seemed to have notice him, turning around and with a smile on his face, “Commemorative photo? Sure!”
Yuuri couldn’t help but gasp and turn around, watching the other way. Sure he had wanted to meet his idol but not after what had happened. Not after a defeat like that, and not especially with the same intentions as a fan. He wanted to stand as equals with him. But that was too much to hope for wasn’t it?
Later that night at the banquet, while Yuuri drank to forget about the previous few hours (and everything else that had happened), Victor was socializing with the other skaters that were there and the sponsors, most of them congratulating him on his victory. He simply smiled and accepted the thanks. It almost seemed expected for him to win, and while it was nice to win, it didn’t seem to mean anything anymore. No matter what happens, no one’s surprised with what he does. He almost didn’t want to come tonight, the banquet’s are all the same.
Though when someone points out how drunk a certain skater looks, maybe it was a good idea he came.
He recognizes him, Katsuki Yuuri. He finished sixth and had walked away from his offer of a photo. His skating wasn’t bad, but he had stumbled a lot, but his step sequences had caught his eye; along with his offer of a photo being rejected.
Well this is certainly unexpected, he thinks with a smile as he takes out his phone. It’s not everyday that someone gets drunk at an event like this. Yuuri stumbles around before his eyes seem to fall on one Yuri Plisetsky (who was nearby on his phone as well taking photos; he might be a bit of an angry kitten but this had to have caught his attention as well) and challenges him to a dance off. Yuri looks almost offended at such a request, but complies anyways. They’re gathering much more attention, he can spy Chris taking photos as well, along with some of the other finalists.
The next couple of events happen in what seems like a blur, one minute the two Yuris are having a dance battle, the next Chris and Yuuri are pole-dancing half naked (apparently Chris had been challenged as well, or had wanted to get in on the action as well, when was there a pole in the banquet hall anyways?) and then Yuuri is latched onto him with Yuri looking mortified and Chris is looking on in amusement. He can catch a string of slurred Japanese coming from the other’s mouth, but the one thing he hears clear is in English as Yuuri jumps at him, a half-drunk and half-heartfelt plea of “Be my coach, Victor!”
Katsuki Yuuri is a man of surprises he can tell, if the forming blush and the gasp he lets out says anything.
It’s months later that the two begin to surprise each other yet again.
Nationals come and while Yuuri fails horribly and moves back to Japan as a result, Victor crushes the Russian Nationals, European and World Championships. Shortly after the end of Worlds, a video goes viral and everyone is telling Victor to watch it; his name was mentioned several times as the video spread over social media.
So one afternoon he watches with Makkachin curled up in his lap said video, and it then that he realizes that what he had thought after the banquet was true.
‘Katsuki Yuuri Tried to Skate Victor’s Free Skate Stay Close to Me’ is the video in question and it is an exact copy of his program. He knew that Yuuri hadn’t gotten to Worlds or the Four Continents, yet here he was, perfectly replicating his program even if he was slightly out of shape. Yet he was good , and this only proved it more. Yuuri had the skills needed, so why wasn’t he at either championship?
It was then and there that he decided he was going to Hasetsu; Yuuri had asked him to be his coach and he couldn’t forget that (plus with how utter enamored he was with him; Chris hadn’t stopped teasing him about that shortly after the banquet when Yuuri hadn’t tried to contact him)
Which had lead to Yuuri being greeted one April morning to snow in the beginning of spring, a very affectionate poodle greeting him when he was to snovel said snow and…
“Victor...why are you here?”
One Victor Nikiforov, naked in his family’s hot springs, declaring that he was to be his coach and help him win the Grand Prix Finals.
If this didn’t say that Victor would keep surprising him, then he wasn’t sure what else would.
Over the course of the next few months, that seemed to have been the understatement of the year.
Shortly after Victor had showed up, Yuri Plisetsky had arrived as well, demanding for Victor to come back to Russia to be his coach and then the Nishigori triplets had proposed a competition between the two Yuris to see which one of them could impress Victor more. Simple it seemed, yet Victor had assigned from him to skate to Eros (and Yuri to Agape) surprising him yet again. A program meant to portray sexual love could he even do that? If he was going to keep Victor as his coach, he was going to have to.
Even with his inspiration for Eros found, it still wouldn’t be easy. Yuri was more technically sound of the two and he was still having trouble nailing his quad salchow even with Yuri’s help. Yet Victor had said that he just needed to have confidence in himself and that was what he was here to do. He needed to win, he wanted to keep Victor around.
It’s a win by both equal parts skill and performance. He was worried that not landing the salchow cleanly would cause him to lose, yet it was enough. Declaring that he’d try to win the Grand Prix Final with Victor as his coach.
Even a week later the shock of winning and having Victor around as his coach hadn’t left. It still felt like a dream in some ways that he was here teaching him, but he was going to take advantage of it for as long as he could.
Even then it’s still a surprise of how little the two know each other. It’s been a month since Victor arrived and sure, they’re learning about each other bit by bit but it’s a sore spot when Victor brings up the topic of lovers, which results in him shutting him out for the rest of the day and brings them to the beach the next day.
It takes a lot of courage to be able to open up about his doubts and shortcomings, and it’s just as much of a surprise to Victor as it is to himself. “You’re not weak Yuuri. No one else thinks that either,” is what Victor tells him and he’s surprised by both that statement and Victor’s offer to be his lover. He just wants Victor to be himself, he doesn’t need him to be anyone else but himself.
And if anything, the head poke is a surprise that he just did that. Maybe he just needed a physical confirmation but this is real and is happening.
The Chugoku-Shikoku-Kyushu Championships come and with more surprises such as the hug before his short program, cheering for Minami, his program having all the original jumps (even if he had gotten a lecture about that afterwards, especially for hitting his face in the barrier), Victor wordlessly signaling for a hug and dodging said hug, but by far the biggest one is during the press conference and announcing his theme.
It’s both equal parts a confession and admission to himself about how he feels about love. It was something he knew that was around him, but never could really realize until Victor had showed up. His family and friends were people he knew that he loved, but it was surprising to figure out that he could count Victor among them and perhaps even more than that. Maybe he was in love with him, but who could really say at this point if that was what this feeling was.
All he wanted at this point was to prove that he could win at the Grand Prix Finals, with Victor at his side.
The Cup of China comes with some of the biggest surprises.
Phichit getting carried away with social media and posting a rather risque photo of him and Victor the day before the Short Program is something he’s come to expect from his best friend and former roommate. It’s more amusing if anything in some ways (other than that people might be thinking they were fooling around the day before)
Coming in first after the Short Program is the real surprise of that day. He was half-expecting Chris to catch up and overtake him but that doesn’t happen. All he knows is that he’s in first going into the Free Skate and that his anxiety and nerves are acting up more than ever. He can’t let them get the better of him now, lest it reflect on Victor as a coach, so he needs to keep it together.
It’s then that he learns just how inexperienced Victor is as a coach. Sure he tries to do everything he can to keep him from having a full blown attack, but even then he goes too far to the point of him crying and having to tell Victor what he needs. He forgives him anyways if the head poke before he goes out to skate says anything.
The crying planted a strange seed of calmness in his body as he begins his program. He feels a lot better after it, and the look on Victor’s face when he had cried causes a smile to creep up on his face. It shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that Victor doesn’t know what to do as his coach when his mental health starts acting up, but it doesn’t mean that he can’t scold his coach a bit before he lands his quad salchow.
It’s when he does his triple flip that the thought pops into his head. What if he changed the last quad to a flip? How would Victor react? Even if he’s exhausted from his lack of sleep, he wants to be able to surprise his coach, to be able to surpass his wildest imagination that gives him the strength to push into a quad flip, even if he goes falling down afterwards.
He finishes and all he can do is scan the rink to see Victor’s reaction. Was he crying, mad? What did he think? He spots him with his hands covering his face before he moves to run over to the kiss and cry. He skate over, his arms out, smile on his face. “Victor! I did great, right?”
One minute Victor is there, a smile on his face and the next he throws himself at Yuuri, arms coming to wrap around and their lips meeting in a kiss. He sees Victor’s eyes flutter shut beforehand but he can only keep his open and before he knows it they’re no longer kissing but on the ice, a hand protecting his head.
He feels Victor move on top of him to look at him and he’s still in disbelief over what had just happened. “This was the only thing I could think of to surprise you more than you’ve surprised me.” So he had managed to surprise him with that.
“Really?” Is all he can manage out, but by the look in Victor’s eye he knows he’s being serious. Even managing to get silver after his performance isn’t enough to out do the biggest surprise he’s had in a lifetime it seems.
Rostelecom brings along new surprises, but not as big as the ones from before.
It’s surprising how fast they fall into simple actions that speak about their relationship, Yuuri muses to himself as Victor ties up his laces before it’s his turn to skate. He pulls at Victor’s tie to get his attention before his Short Program, a reminder of what he said before at China. It’s embarrassing but it works and he’s surprised he had the confidence to do that. Then again, he’s changed a lot in the past several months.
Victor kisses his skate at the kiss and cry after his score was announced and he can’t help but let out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a giggle of amusement. Oh how he’d never fall to surprise him.
So when Mari calls to say that Makkachin is being hospitalized, it takes no time for him to tell Victor to go back to Japan. He doesn’t want him to go through what happened to him.
Getting to the Grand Prix Final by the skin of his teeth is a surprise in some ways, considering how his Free Skate had gone beforehand. But he’s going, and he’s going to prove himself there this year; he’ll make up for last year. Yurio surprises him with the katsudon piroshkis (and remembering his birthday as well) but the better one is waiting back home at the airport.
He doesn’t expect anyone to be waiting for him considering when he gets back to Japan, but that familiar bark tells him who is waiting for him. Yuuri doesn’t take his eyes off of him for a second as they’re running and as soon as they’re in each other's arms, all he knows is that he doesn’t want to be apart from Victor again.
The Grand Prix Final is here, and with it is the most important surprises that they’ll remember for as long as they can.
Barcelona is beautiful and Yuuri can’t help but ask for Victor to take him sightseeing after practice wraps up. They haven’t really had time for themselves with practicing and the like, so it’s a nice change of pace (even if he has another reason for wanting to go sightseeing; there’s something he has to find while they’re out).
That he does, finding a jewelry shop and even while trying to justify to himself what he was doing, he can’t help it. He loves Victor so much and wants to be with him for the rest of his life if possible and even if he calls it a good luck charm, there’s evidence that it means something more than that. Even standing in front of a church with a choir singing and slipping the newly purchased ring onto Victor’s finger, there’s no other explanation for what is happening. It takes almost all of his willpower to not jump at him to kiss him as he feels Victor take his hand and slips a ring onto his hand as well. It’s the best surprise from him, in the years that he’s known him.
Then he finds out about the banquet from last year and wants to die in the restaurant. He knew he could lose control when he got drunk but still. Though he forgets about that when the other finalists notice the rings and he’s surprised when Victor casually announces their engagement. He’s not wrong but he just...wasn’t expecting it.
The next few days are a blur looking back on it. All that mattered was the joy and thrill of performing his best and breaking Victor’s record for Free Skating (considering what had happened the day before and what he had said in the hotel room that night), Victor announcing that he was coming back for another season and staying on as his coach for the next season.
Sure, he might have only gotten silver but everything else that had happened made it feel like a gold one and it was perfect.
“Move in with me.”
It was the casual way he said it that it caught Yuuri off guard.
“What?”
“When I go back to Russia, I want you to move in with me Yuuri. Is...is that okay?”
Always, always this man had managed to surprise him, and he was able to do the same in return but this...this felt more important than the other ones. If he needed more of a confirmation that Victor loved him, then this was it, more than the kiss back in China, more than their reunion at the airport and even more than them exchanging rings in Barcelona.
“It’s...it’s more than okay Victor, I’d love that.”
The look on Victor’s face, much like the one from when he’d asked for him to stay with him for another season said it all. And that was enough.
All he could hope was that Victor wouldn’t stop surprising him, and he wouldn’t stop surprising Victor. After all, they’d been doing it to each other since they meet.