Pagophobia [Viktor x Reader]

Brave?

"Do you know anything about the hand imprint of Viktor's face, [Name]?" Yuuri asked in the morning.

"Only that he deserved it," you shrug innocently before declaring, "I'm going sightseeing today."

"Do you want me to come too?" he offered.

"No, you need to focus on practicing for this season. I'm perfectly capable of sightseeing by myself." As you get up, you pass Viktor. It gives you a small sense of satisfaction to just be able to see a lingering handprint, though you did consider it was just your imagination.

"Good morning," you mutter, your voice neutral as you try not to be rude. A small part of you felt bad that you still hadn't thanked him for getting you on the ice again but that part was shortly ruined.

"Good morning. At least your eyes aren't red anymore," he responded, barely looking at you as you pass each other. Your anger rose as you whirl to look at him. He looked back, winking. You nearly growl before stomping out the door.

It was only as you were sure that Yuuri and Viktor were done with the ice rink that you finally went there, skates in hand. You weren't lying when you said to Chris that you slowly wanted to work your way back up to your routines but somehow you knew that you wouldn't be able to resist just trying to get them sooner rather than later. Standing at the edge of the rink, you hesitate again, old fears coming back, but this time, you know it's different. You know you can do it. You know you can be brave. You know that it wasn't the ice you needed to be scared of.

"Do you need another push?" a voice said from behind you.

"I thought you left already," you say, annoyance in your voice.

"I did. But I had a feeling you'd be here again," Viktor shrugged.

"So why did you come?"

"I want to see you skate."

"And if I don't want an audience?"

"Then it should be okay if I skate with you."

"Has anyone told you you're annoyingly stubborn?"

"Yakov says that all the time," he smiled, his mouth heart shaped. You shook your head at him, before gliding onto the ice. He followed shortly, doing his own thing.

Start small, you remind yourself, as you begin to circle the ring, getting used to the feeling of ice beneath your blades again. It's only after you've gone around a few times that you attempt one of your step sequences. While it's a bit shaky, something to be expected since you haven't done it in a year and a half, you know that it'll be back in working order in no time. You smile as you remember the sequence ends in a layout spin – one of your favourite spins. You gather speed, before twirling, lifting one leg as you leant back, stretching your arms above you as you spun, faster and faster before you leant back up, throwing your leg out as you slowed down. It was only then that you begin to feel the dizziness, your head spinning as you stood in the centre of the rink. You began to skate to the edge but you felt the fall coming before you could. Almost instantly, there was a warm hand supporting your elbow, keeping you upright. You look at Viktor in surprise at the thoughtful gesture.

"How-" you begin before trailing off.

"Simple. I watched. You spun for quite a long time," he smiled, leading you by the elbow over the edge of the rink, where you sat down on one of the chairs.

"So now you decide to act gentlemanly," you scoff.

"I want you to have a good impression of me."