{ Includes references to Ep. 11 so if you haven't seen it/don't want spoilers than don't read :) }
Cold
Cold
Cold
Yuuri was cold. That was a given, since he was in fact sitting with his legs extended in front of him and his hands by his side, on the ice. Now, anyone in their right mind would know that sitting on the ice is probably a bad idea, but that was the thing, Yuuri was not in his right mind. In fact, he was quite the opposite. Nerves were the center of it, as usual, however this was somehow different. This was the Grand Prix Final, and after the way he had performed the day earlier, he knew he would have to do better. Better... that was the key word, wasn't it. He had to do better, perform better, skate better, everything he was doing had to be better.
Huh... overwhelming isn't it?
Of course it was, which is exactly why Yuuri was sitting in the middle of the ice skating rink. Nose, cheeks, and fingertips turned to rose as he stayed put. In his mind he didn't register the cold, his thoughts had overpowered his rational thinking brain. They clawed away his common sense like a flock of vultures preying on roadkill. Thoughts such as this seemed to mostly haunt him at nighttime, however I suppose this could be considered nighttime itself. It was the time between times when everything appeared to fade into the darkness, yet seemed desperately close to the coming morning. The clock on the far wall of the rink had reached 3:48 A.M. and Yuuri knew Viktor would become concerned if he didn't return to the hotel room soon, but that was the least of his concerns at the moment. In hindsight coming to the rink this late was a bad idea, however he had come to the rink at nearly 10:00 with the intent of practicing his routine for just an hour, which had seemingly turned into almost six. Despite his overwhelming talent, his practice had been lacking, flubbing up on jumps he should be able to perform flawlessly, and skating with a tense and stiff nature he normally didn't. So as the night wore on he pushed himself harder and harder until now when he couldn't take it anymore.
And as the clock stuck four he promptly burst into tears.
He covered his mouth with his shaking, shivering hands in an attempt to dull the sobs, yet was clearly not working. Eyes already fuzzy from not wearing his glasses, became even more blurry with tears. He rested his whole face in his hands as he dragged his knees into his chest, letting the skates scrape along the ice. Yuuri was normally alright at keeping his nerves in check, yet in doing so it had all built up, and in the hazy confusion of the before dawn darkness, they exploded. Tears seemed never-ending as they fell onto the ice, dissolving in little spots on the cold, frigid rink. He could barely breathe.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Yet in light of Yuuri's breakdown he had forgotten about Viktor, who happened to assume that the only place Yuuri would have gone at a time like this would be to practice. He had gone to sleep before the smaller boy, but was jolted from his sleep at nearly 3:40 A.M with a feeling of unease, as he scanned the bed for the raven haired boy, only to find his bed still made up. "Did Yuuri not go to bed.....is he even here?" Viktor pondered aloud as he scanned the hotel room, noticing that his bag which held his skates and such was gone. Viktor had worried over Yuuri's stress in the past, however he was not usually sure how to help him deal with it. However, after previous experiences he realized that tough love was certainly not the answer. After a few minutes of considering his options on where the boy had gone, he decided to check the rink first. Normally he would let Yuuri practice away his stress, yet he was now concerned the boy was overworking himself. So Viktor slipped on some clothes, his boots, a jacket and a scarf, and made his way down to the rink.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Yurri's mind was going blank, his breathing hitched with every breath he took, to the point where he was no longer sure if he was even breathing or not. Tears still brimmed at the corners of his eyes, yet his stress induced crying had edged its way into a full blown panic attack. The world was becoming blurrier and darker, so much so that he hadn't noticed Viktor enter the skating rink doors. Yet once Viktor laid eyes on the boy, knees pulled to his chest, crying and gasping for air, the silver haired man ran to him. Not bothering to put on skates, he shuffled as fast as he could until he was knelt in from of Yuuri.
"Yuuri! Oh god, what happened?!" Viktor half shouted, eyes overflowing with concern and heartbreak, seeing his other half in such a fragile and broken state. He lightly took Yuuri's hands from his face and held them both with one hand, while his other went to cup his the smaller boy's cheek, wiping away the remaining tears.
"Hey, just look at me. Breathe."
"Viktor I-I can't do it, I'm not g-good enough Viktor I...I let you down..." Yuuri somehow managed to sputter out, yet his voice was raspy and quiet. He tried his best to avoid eye-contact with Viktor, yet was unable to, for Viktor still held onto Yuuri's cheek and a gentle, yet firm way. Yuuri didn't know how he had expected Viktor to react, but he certainly hadn't expected this. Viktor smiled and leaned his forehead into Yuuri's before chuckling once more, and then placing a gentle, fleeting kiss on Yuuri's nose.
"You could never let me down."
Yuuri was so shocked his brain had completely forgotten about what was causing his panic attack and his breathing had now evened out. "B-But-" Yuuri started, yet was cut off by Viktor. "Yuuri you could get last place for all I fucking care! You want to know what matters to me?" He stared intensely into the onyx hair boy's eyes, before holding up the hand, which was adorned with a golden ring. He then proceeded to take Yuuri's ringed hand and held it up to his own, and smiled as he intertwined their fingers. Yuuri let out a small laugh as the last of the tears spilled off of his cheeks, though he was not sure if they were the remaining sad ones, or new, joy filled ones.
Yuuri then took a hold of the front of Viktor's scarf with his free hand, wrapping his fingers lightly around the soft wool and pulled Viktor's face down to his own. "I love you so much, Vitya." He whispered just as their lips melted together, the kiss was not lust filled, nor was it hungry or rushed, but it was symbolic of everything their relationship stood for. Sweet, kind and steady, yet laced with an underlying passion. As they pulled apart, both their eyes remained closed, yet this was probably a good thing, for the smiles that were pasted on their faces appeared brighter than the sun. "I love you too, Yuuri." Viktor whispered back, before resting his forehead against Yuuri's again.
And as the dawn began to break, and the Grand Prix Final drew closer, Yuuri was now sure that no matter what happened, Viktor would be by his side.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
{ Yo its Mae here! I legit cannot believe that this book had nearly 80 reads and want to thank all of you SO SO SO MUCH! It takes me a while to get ideas so updates are not as fast as I'd like, but I will work on that :) so anyways, thank you all once more and I hope you enjoyed this one! }
