Heart Hope

2

"Chris!" Valentina nearly squealed as soon as she, Pichit and Celestino stepped into the gigantic hall of the airport in Ostrava.

The brunette jumped into her brother's arms, delighted to see him again. Chris chuckled as he caught her, hugging her just as tight. "Hey Val! Prepared for your senior debut?" He asked with a grin, to which his younger sister replied "I sure as hell am!"

Chris let the shorter girl go and gently ruffled her hair, before greeting Pichit and Celestino friendly. Pichit wasn't competing (since Thailand did not belong to European territory, last she checked) but he was there to support his best friend. Just like a certain someone.

Valentina jumped when she suddenly felt someone wrap their arms around her. That resulted in her three companions and the ones behind her laughing. "Yuuri?!" She asked confused and turned around to see the Japanese man standing there.

At first she was confused as to why he was there, but then she saw the Russian team gathered behind him. Under them of course was a certain blond punk, who didn't even look at her.

Valentina shrugged it off and hugged Yuuri "I sure as hell hope you want to support me!" Yuuri snickered and nodded "Of course, only came to support you, he doesn't need it." He pointed at Viktor as he said that, resulting in the silver headed male pouting and Valentina and Pichit laughing.

She waved at Viktor with a small smile, before she then said "Okay, I propose we head to some place that has food because I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry, Val!" Chris tuned up behind her and Pichit agreed "He's right, you are." Valentina sent them a glare, before she then stalked off and headed to grab her bags.

The boys laughed and followed, Pichit quickly throwing an arm around her shoulders "C'mon, im sorry. But I was telling the truth." He grinned down at the younger girl, who only sighed and mumbled "Yeah right. Let's just get the bags and something to eat, kay?"

Pichit chuckled and tugged at her cheek "C'mon, smile." When Valentina didn't react, he leaned down and whispered "How do you kill a vegan vampire?" The girl pressed her lips to a small line, knowing very well what he would say next.

"With a steak to the heart," Pichit snorted, Valentina trying to not laugh at that lame joke. But whenever that wouldn't help, he'd use this:

"What's the best part about living in Switzerland?" Pichit smirked as he watched the corners of her mouth twitch, before she replied "Not sure, but the flag is a big plus." That resulted in the two of them beginning to laugh. Pichit always knew how to make her laugh.

"Okay you two, let's get going so my dear sister doesn't have to starve!" Christophe said as he grabbed Valentina's bag for her, throwing it over his shoulder. She grabbed the one with her skating equipment herself.

"There's a difference between me starving and me being hungry, Chris!" "No, there isn't," the blond deadpanned, before he then walked off, leaving his sister behind with a laughing Pichit. "I swear to god, sometimes I hate you," Valentina mumbled as she glared at the Thai male.

Otabek: My flight to Ostrava was canceled today, I'll come tomorrow if that flight isn't cancelled too

Yuri looked at Valentina for a moment, before looking back down at his phone. The poor Russian was dragged along by Viktor, the pork cutlet bowl, the Thai guy, that ice pervert and his little sister. Sadly he didn't have the chance to back out, so he was forced to tag along.

Yuri: It's fine, just don't leave me alone with all of these weird people for too long. You didn't tell me that your ex was the Swiss pervert's sister

Otabek: I did, you just didn't realize it

Yuri: You just dragged me along to watch that girl skate saying she was your ex

Otabek: I did not, you wanted to come along so don't blame me

Yuri: Tch

Otabek: If you're going to reply with 'tch' then don't reply at all

Yuri let out an annoyed sigh at that and shoved his phone away. He watched the others joke and laugh and whatnot. He didn't like being here.

"Yurio loved to watch your short program, by the way!" Viktor all of a sudden said, making Valentina choke on her drink and squeal "HE SAW THAT?!" Her cheeks were tinted a dark red and her eyes were wide, embarrassment and shock clearly displayed.

"Of course, you're skating to his song from the last season after all!" Viktor cheerily said, while Valentina stared from Viktor to Yuri in horror.

"I don't know what the fuss is about, I hated it. The jumps were horrible and don't get me started on the spins. Who were you trying to impress, a cockroach? You never moved in sync with the music. It was just horrible, you won't win anything with that shit," Yuri snarled, glaring at Viktor and then at Valentina. Silence fell over the table as they glanced from Valentina to Yuri and back.

The first to notice the tears in Valentina's eyes was her brother, who almost immediately sent a glare towards Yuri. "If you weren't underage then I'd beat the shit out of you," the Swiss man snarled, before Valentina jumped to her feet and ran off, the elder male quickly following to console his sister.

Immediately Viktor began to scold Yuri, the latter only listening with half an ear. He didn't care what Viktor said. He didn't want to be with these people in the first place. So then the blond punk simply got to his feet and left as well, leaving behind Viktor, Yuuri and Pichit.

Tina: How the hell can you be friends with someone like Yuri?

Otabek frowned when he saw that Valentina had texted him. It had been quite a while since she had last texted him or they in general had texted the other, so he was a little surprised. Especially when he saw the content of the text.

Otabek: What do you mean?

Tina: He's such an asshole, no wonder he has no friends

Otabek: But I'm his friend

Tina: That's not the point!

Otabek: What did he do?

Otabek watched as it read that Valentina was typing, but then again disappeared, reappearing and disappearing in a steady rhythm, before he finally received a text.

Tina: Can I call you? It's too much to write and...idk

Otabek: Of course you can call me, you know that you always can

And only seconds later his ringtone began to play and he saw a picture of Valentina on the display, along with the accept and decline buttons. He, of course, pushed accept, putting his phone to his ear and saying "How are you?"

It's been so long since they've last talked to each other like this. Of course, they saw each other from time to time, but never did they talk. Now was actually the first time they talked ever since they broke up.

He heard Valentina sniffle on the other end of the line before she spoke "Yuri really is an asshole."

"What did he do?" Otabek asked, before Valentina then began to tell him what had happened. The Kazakh male stayed silent the whole time, listening to what she had to say. When she finished, he remained silent for a moment.

"Why is he like this, Ota?" Valentina sniffled. It's also been a while since she last called him by his nickname. "It's just how he is, Tina. Offensive to others to protect himself. Just give it some time." Otabek calmly replied. He heard a sigh from the other end of the line.

"I believe you're coming tomorrow to root for him?" Valentina asked after a short while of silence, to which Otabek replied "Yeah, but he's not the only reason."

"O-Oh really?" Otabek grinned, knowing that Valentina was blushing right now. He liked how they still had a good relationship to the other, even after what happened between them.

"Yeah, really. I'd like to see you skate again. Can't possibly miss your senior debut, can I?"