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Three years till their meeting.
“Yuuri! Yuuri look, I got a streak! I can’t believe it’s finally happening,” Phichit Chulanont spoke while he excitedly shoved a tiny scrap of black hair, still attached to his head, in his rink-mate’s face.
Yuuri, sighing, responded with a bit less enthusiasm, ”That’s great! Only one more year till you meet.” Phichit’s eyes were practically sparkling. Yuuri skated over to the side of the rink and pulled off his skates.
“Are you done for today?” Phichit asked not having moved from his original spot in the middle of the ice. Yuuri nodded without looking back to the thai skater. It’s not that he wasn’t happy for his friend, of course he was, it was just a bit disheartening to see everyone around you, even those much younger than you, get to meet their soulmate when you hadn’t even gotten a streak yet.
Though he knew it would happen eventually, he couldn’t help the negative thoughts. What if he wasn’t good enough for a soulmate, so he wasn’t given one? Shaking away that particular possibility, Yuuri walked back to his room.
*
Two years till they meet.
Yuuri read the message from Phichit quickly, apparently he had just met his soulmate. It was a total freak meeting too. The person was here for visiting and also a professional figure skater. Figures that Phichit would get super lucky. Yuuri set down his phone and stretched out his legs. Skating has never been so appealing.
Now that Phichit found his soulmate, he didn’t know anyone past the age of thirteen that was still as painfully alone as he was. His childhood friends were soulmates, it had been really weird that they had met so soon, his sister had a soulmate, along with his parents and coach.
There were probably other skaters in Detroit who didn’t have a soulmate, he tried to reason, but... Yuuri didn’t know them, so he figured that they didn’t count.
As soon as Yuuri’s legs were warmed up and ready to go, he slid his skates on, making his way around the rink slowly.
His mind wandered which made any jumps impossible. He thought about how happy his sister had been when she noticed the streak of yellow in her hair, how excited Phichit had been, then about how Yuko acted with Takeshi. All of it was very stressful, everyone he knew was happy with their destined partner already. All Yuuri had was the ice, thank god he had at least that.
About an hour later, more skaters were starting their practice. That was what ultimately made Yuuri leave. He quickly exchanged his skates for outside shoes and made his way to a park nearby. He had decided that a breather might help him focus on skating rather than soulmates.
It did, but only temporarily.
*
One and a half years till they meet.
Yuuri was tired of hearing about how relieved Jean and Phichit were about their left eyes going back to normal. Here’s the thing, yes he was intrigued by how soulmates worked, but no he didn’t want to feel even more miserable about not being a year or less away from meeting his.
Though… He had wondered what the whole process would be like since he was a child. Would his streaks be a noticeable color- like red? Would it be weird when his left eye changed color? Would the duet stage be annoying? Phichit said he hated that part the most, even though it lasted for the shortest amount of time.
After pushing the most nagging thoughts away, he put in earbuds and started practicing his free skate for next season. Celestino had picked the music, as always, but Yuuri would still try. When he felt that he needed a break from that program he pulled out his phone, selecting Victor Nikiforov’s last routine’s theme.
Yuuri had been practicing this one for awhile, he was so close to being able to perform it. Despite being a dime a dozen skater, he added lightly.
*
One year till they meet.
“Yuuri,” Celestino asked during practice one day, ”are you already greying?”
Yuuri whirled around to face him, almost losing his balance in the process.
“W-what do you mean?” he asked shakily. Celestino pulled out his phone and pointed it at Yuuri. After taking a picture, the shuttering sound made that clear, he shoved it in his student’s face. The younger man pulled back in shock. In the picture you could clearly see a dash of grey popping out of his scalp.
Yuuri’s heart rate sped up, how could he be greying already? He was only 22. He hadn’t even met his soulmate yet.
Of course, because that’s what he immediately assumed, he never consider the possibility that it was his first streak. Even when signs pointed to it not being natural, i.e. the fact that the grey wasn’t coming in singular strands all across his head but in medium sized locks, he remained oblivious.
Three weeks later, Yuuri stood in front of a full length body mirror, running his hands through his half grey, half black hair. He was very concerned, if he was getting to have silvery hairs already, despite being in the peak of his life, would he start feeling older than his age in other places too?
He decided to watch the recorded Grand Prix from a few weeks ago to distract him from his problems. Victor’s short program was his favorite, as it almost always was, guaranteeing that he’d watch it more than once.
Yuuri’s heart dropped after the third time he watched the video, his thoughts finally catching up to him. Victor had probably met his soulmate already, just as everyone else had, how else could you explain his hair being one color? Yuuri didn’t take into fact that he may not have been close to meeting his soulmate yet either. He also didn’t think of the possibility that Victor’s streaks were just covered by other parts of his hair.
Yuuri pulled a blanket over his head and, being the cry baby he was, bawled. Once he felt relatively awful about himself and dehydrated, quite dehydrated actually, Yuuri rolled off of his bed.
He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and then grabbed his phone from the table where it sat. After scrolling through a few worried messages from his coach, Yuuri left for the rink. Practice was exactly what he needed right now.
*
One year till they meet.
Victor had a much easier time with his streaks, mostly because he actually identified them as such.
When he had noticed the first streak of black in his hair, Victor Nikiforov practically screamed. It didn’t help that this was also during practice, with around fourteen other skaters in the area near him.
Victor ran, or the equivalent of that in skates, to Yakov, “Yakov, look! It’s a streak!” Three skaters looked his way in confusion, the others were already used to him being overly loud.
“That’s great, Vitya. Now, back to practice?” The old coach asked, raising his eyebrow. Victor, feeling the happiest he’s felt in a long time, nodded quickly.
*
Six months till they meet.
Celestino was the first to notice when Yuuri’s left eye changed. They were practicing hard for the upcoming competitions. Yuuri had just landed an important jump when his eye turned from a brown to a blue.
Celestino was quite shocked at first, why didn’t Yuuri tell him he’d gotten his streaks? But once that was gone he had a choice to make, would he tell Yuuri or let him figure it out after the training week they had planned? Celestino, being the dedicated coach he was, chose the latter.
Yuuri probably would have done much better in that week of practice if he’d have just told him about the eye thing, but the past is the past.
Yuuri pulled the blanket with him when he rolled off his bed. The alarm he had set was filling the room with annoying screeches. With an irritated, half growl, half sigh, he turned off the dastardly piece of machinery. Once he was actually awake enough to move, he walked into his bedroom.
The ravenette quickly suited up for practice and left for the rink, as he did practically every day.
The second to notice his eye was Phichit and after noticing he spent the entire day giving knowing looks to an unsuspecting Yuuri. Needless to say, Yuuri remained unaware of the six month warning. He was also berated with congratulations from a random stranger on his way home.
When the encounter ended he walked just a bit faster and if no one knew it was because he was slightly scared, well, all the better..
*
Six months till they meet.
Victor’s eye changed from blue to brown while he showered. Of course that made it impossible to notice until a while after it first appeared, but it’s practically all the same.
When he made eye contact with his reflection, after clearing off his mirror, Victor gasped. A smile already started stretching it’s way across his face.
He spent the entire day bragging to Yuri about it. All in all, he was taking the whole soulmate process in stride.
*
Three months till they meet.
Yuuri stared at the ice in contempt after his third time messing up the most important jump in his short program. He wasn’t mad at the ice, he was mad at himself. Why couldn’t he just get his mind to focus on skating? Why did he constantly have to think about the whole soulmate thing?
Yuuri had spent the last three months practicing until exhaustion, causing him to be nearly consumed with sleep whenever he was faced with a mirror, i.e. he had yet to notice the blue eye. He pulled a trembling hand through his black and grey hair slowly. His hand wasn’t the only part of him that was trembling.
Celestino let him leave an hour early because he looked out of it. Yuuri took the chance to take a long bath and then nap. Not once did he even glance in the mirror.
When he woke up he was quite shocked to find that his ring fingers on both hands were painted and had tiny little beige bows on them. He hadn’t done it, that’s for sure, Yuuri didn’t even own nail polish.
*
Three months till they meet.
“How can I remind my soulmate that we’ll meet soon?” Victor asked an irritated Yuri.
“How should I know, you old man!” Yuri didn’t have a soulmate yet, he was also very sick of hearing Victor talk about his when they haven’t even met yet. It was gross, not to mention annoying.
“How long has your eye been brown?” An older skater asked from the opposite side of the locker room.
“Umm, maybe three months?” Victor responded after a short period of silence needed to think of the answer.
“Then you should be well into the nail stage. You can just paint your ring fingers and then they’ll be reminded that you’ll meet soon.”
Victor had totally forgotten about the nail part. He never painted his, so he let that information go once he had learned it. If he thought about it, it did go in that order, though. Streaks of your soulmate’s hair color, left eye the color of your soulmate’s, then came the nail stage where anything done to your nails was also done to your soulmate’s.
“That’s a fabulous idea!” Victor sprinted out of the locker room, ignoring the shouts of ‘wait! Vitya, practice hasn’t even started yet’ and the like. You could call him selfish all you wanted, he didn’t care.
Ignoring the questioning look he opened the door to the nail parlor and payed for two of his nails to be done. Both ring fingers, he thought it turned out quite beautifully, tiny bows and all.
*
One month till they meet.
Victor had been waiting for this stage since he had looked up the order of soulmate signs a few weeks ago. The duet stage, he could sing whatever he wanted and his soulmate would have to sing a duet with him. Granted, it did go both ways, but he was still excited.
It took him a few minutes to decide what he wanted to sing and another few to find the lyrics, it was an old russian song that he heard as a child. It held high sentimental value, okay? Don’t judge.
He started on the first line and hoped his soulmate was somewhere, singing too.
*
One month till they meet.
Yuuri was sitting next to Phichit watching The King and The Skater when it happened. Yuuri opened his mouth to say something, in clear English, to his friend, but instead of what he had wanted to come out, a song in another language flew from his mouth.
Phichit laughed and Yuuri held eye contact with him as he continued to sing a random song in what he thinks is, Russian? Yeah, that sounds right.
“Finally got to the duet stage, huh?” Phichit asked over his laughter. Even if Yuuri’s mouth wasn’t preoccupied with Russian words, he still wouldn’t have been able to respond. How could respond to that? How could he be in the duet stage when he hadn’t gotten streaks or a new left eye color.
Then the grey hair popped into his mind and Yuuri sprung up from the bed he was previously seated on. He dashed to the bathroom and flipped on the light. When everything was illuminated he saw one blue eye staring back at him along with his naturally brown one.
His knees shook and then gave out.
How could he have not figured it out when the streaks had come? Why hadn’t anyone told him? Ultimately though, his thoughts were blown away by the inexplicable happiness he felt.
He had a soulmate! And, seeing that he was still singing a song he’d never heard before, Yuuri was going to meet them in less than a month.
Wait, if he makes the Grand Prix, then they’ll be meeting there. What if his soulmate is another competitive skater? Imagine his luck. Tears of joy spilled from his heterochromic eyes.
Thoughts of meeting his soulmate kept him stable until shortly before the Grand Prix finals.
*
One week till the meet.
Victor was quite liking the duet stage, he had no idea why people hated it. Every night before sleeping he’d sing a song in Russian and knowing his soulmate was singing with him he fell asleep. He also didn’t have to deal with someone else who liked singing at random times, his soulmate never forced him to sing a duet with them.
Victor was excited for everything that was to happen in the next week, there was finals as well as the meeting. The only thing that worried him was the period between meeting your soulmate for the first time and touching your soul mate for the first time.
From what he’s read he’s heard that if you don’t touch each other as soon as you meet you’ll have to share emotions with each other until you do. If that was true he was a tiny bit worried, how would sharing emotions feel?
Victor brushed off the thought and patted Makkachin’s head absentmindedly.
*
Two weeks till they meet.
At this point Yuuri was used to being forced to sing a song he didn’t know, in a language he didn’t understand, once every day. It wasn’t even that bad once he got the hang of when his soulmate would start singing.
He was stressed about the Grand Prix finals but other than that everything was going pretty well. He was going to meet his soulmate soon and that was exciting enough for him.
*
One week till they meet.
When Yuuri found out about Vicchan he cried, yes he did cry about a lot of things but this was much more serious. Not even the daily reminders of and by his soulmate made him feel better. That night he went to bed singing a song from his childhood that him and Yuka used to sing all the time.
*
One full weeky-week till they meet.
Victor was surprised to start singing a song in Japanese in the middle of practice but at the same time it reassured him that his soulmate did, in fact, live out there... somewhere.
*
One day till they meet.
Yuuri was devastated to read the words, ‘A commemorative photo?’ on his wrist after he bombed his short program. The words were supposed to be what his soulmate would say to him when they met and for some reason they felt so negative.
*
One day till they meet.
Victor was buzzing around in his seat, he couldn’t even focus on the other skaters’ programs because tomorrow he was finally going to meet his soulmate! No words were printed on his wrist, that usually just meant that he would say the first thing to his soulmate, not the other way around.
Victor Nikiforov would have been able to see his soulmate sooner if he had just payed attention when the crowd fell into a dreary silence as Katsuki Yuuri completely failed his program.
*
They meet.
Yuuri pulled the bathroom door closed and then sneaked into a stall. The phone call with his parents was awful, as was everything else that had happened that day. He probably cried as much as he’s cried in all his life in just the three minutes he was in that stall.
If he couldn’t even do well at the one thing he was supposed to be okay at, why does he deserve to meet his soulmate today?
When Yuri Plisetsky kicked his door Yuuri felt almost relieved that he could stop crying. Mostly because the sadness is replaced with slight feelings of fear and self loathing.
Yuri’s words don’t even register until he’d already left the bathroom.
When Yuuri came to stand next to Celestino he felt terrible and very unprepared for what happened after he met eyes with his long time idol.
*
They meet.
Victor had been conversing with Yakov and Yuri when he felt someone staring at him. As soon as he turned he met eyes with Katsuki Yuuri, he started talking before his brain informed him that this black and grey haired man was his soulmate, not another fan.
“A commemorative photo? Sure!” Before he has a chance to say anything else or even realize who Yuuri is, Yuuri’s already left.
Then he feels it, exactly what he was worried about. They met but failed to touch, now Victor can feel what Yuuri does. Victor’s heart squeezes and his knees shake and if he wasn’t so damn charming everyone around him would be concerned about why he ran away.
The sudden and intense feelings of disappointment, sadness, anger, and downright hopelessness, pushed Victor to throwing up in a public toilet. Well… he’s never done that before.
*
Yuuri-23, Victor-27
Yuuri downed another glass of champagne as he stood in the corner of the room, by himself. A feeling of worry and realization had been pushing at his heart all night. He should have known It was all his soulm- Victor’s feelings.
After Yuuri’d already had a bit too much champagne to be healthy he felt a hand on his shoulder. The feeling of worry and realization and brief elation, disappeared. He turned to meet the same eyes he had.
Victor Nikiforov, his idol- his soulmate, spoke to him, slightly out of breath, “Your hair… looks nice.”
Yuuri smiled, even though he’d just gotten dead last at his first (and probably last) Grand Prix, “Your’s does too.”