Intention By Design

As You Were

Skate America, Las Vegas, Nevada, October 18th, 2019

The rink was full of hushed whispers, anticipation trickling across the ice as the first wave of seniors skaters began their six minute warmup.

A cacophony of languages meshed together as the crowd speculated about their country's chances of success. A Japanese flag near the front caught Yuuri's eye. Of course Minako had shown up to his first important senior event. Embarrassed, slightly proud, and a little ashamed, the boy gave a small nod of acknowledgement and continued his warm-up laps until the skaters were signaled to remove themselves from the rink in preparation for the event's commencement.

Luckily, Yuuri hadn't drawn first, but he had drawn third, meaning he would be proceeding Christoph Giocometti for the short program, and Nikiforov would be skating directly after him. Feeling queasy, he shoved a pair of tattered earbuds into his ears and fiddled with the bitten down fingernails that he habitually hid under his team Japan jersey.

Music was capable of drowning out the announcer's analysis, but it did little to calm his nerves. "Maybe", he thought, "I should have listened to my coach and skipped the coffee this morning". Yuuri was the second youngest performer there. Having turned seventeen earlier that year, he was both literally and figuratively a child in the world of senior skating and the gap he felt between himself and the other participants was immense.

A no-name dime-a-dozen figure skater from Japan had no chance of measuring up to the world's greats. The JSF must have lost their goddamn minds placing their faith in him like this. It was purely luck that had gotten the young skater this far. His short program was strong, Celestino had made sure of it, but his jumps were weak, and that was putting it generously.

The boy's short was set to the song 'Let's Go Crazy' by Prince. The step sequence was a level four, but there were only two quads, both in the first half, meaning that the eleven percent point multiplier rewarded to jumps in the second half of the skate wouldn't apply.

Many afternoon practice sessions had been spent pleading with his coach to move just one quad to the latter half, but alas, to no avail. Ciao Ciao didn't seem interested in using Yuuri's seemingly endless stamina to their advantage this season, and in all honesty, the young skater was more than a little put off by it.

'Let's Go Crazy' was an energetic piece, something Yuuri was a little unfamiliar with, preferring to stick to classical in both his short and free programs, but the change in pace was electrifying, setting his veins alight with a newfound enthusiasm.

Although the fabric was slightly itchy, his costume was generally comfortable, if not a little flamboyant for his tastes. The long, sheer, purple sleeves and glittery marbled vest hugged his slight frame making the boy appear even younger than he actually was.

It was an insult to injury considering the fact that he already felt too young to be in the midst of so many talented skaters. It suited his program well, however, and that's what mattered most.

Though time seemed irrelevant in the face of his concerns, the clock had no intention of stopping on his account. Unyielding and cruel, it continued ticking as his peers completed their programs, scores being called out one by one.

Dropping his head down and needlessly tightening his skates, god knows why, as he'd already re-laced them six times, Yuuri threw up in his mouth a little. The cheap vending machine snacks he had stress binged on the night prior churned prophetically, warning him of the danger to come.

Isn't that just the cutest thing? Yeah, real nice Katsuki... vomit on the ice too, why don't you? The crowd would love a good show. Figure skating fans ate that kind of drama up, so why not give them something to talk about before the real star of the show makes his appearance? Fuck, why did he have to perform his short directly before Viktor Nikiforov?