Shining Steel (Victuuri)

Truth And Tales

"Victor, I'm honestly surprised that you're here today!"

Once Chris had reached my side he'd circled around me a couple of times before coming to a stop with his arm wrapped around my waist. His exclamation confused me slightly; why wouldn't I be at the rink?

Obviously the expression adorning my features at that moment gave away my confusion as he was quick to clarify his impure meaning.

"Sorry," he chuckled, "but I'm surprised you can still move after spending a second night with him, sober this time."

He was smirking now and had proceeded to waggle his eyebrows whilst I took an extended moment to process exactly what he was implying.

!!!

"W-wha? N-no! Nothing like that!"

Chris laughed at me once again.

"Wow, you almost sounded just like him then. Clearly you're rubbing off on each other," he teased, almost seeming to laugh at his own joke.

I instantly gave up trying to pick Chris' mind up out of the gutter and decided to leave him in there to drown.

"Seriously though, Victor." This caught my attention. "A night in his bed is something you'd never forget."

Wait, what?

"You slept with him?" I was gawking. I knew that their friendship wasn't innocent exactly, but I hadn't been expecting this!

The cheeky bugger didn't even respond to me, and instead opted for a sly smirk and a tap on the side of his nose.

"Anyway," I exclaimed loudly, heavily implying that the conversation was over, "isn't he marvellous at skating? I can't believe he never went further than regionals."

Chris took a quick glance over to the benches beside the ice where Yuuri was seated in between Klara and my sister, deep in conversation, with a girl leaning on each shoulder, and let out a lightly amused chuckle.

"Well, you shouldn't be able to believe that in the first place. Is that seriously what he told you?"

I tilted my head to one side in confusion, silently begging him to continue and explain.

He sighed.

"You, Victor, Living Legend amongst figure skaters, have been lied to. Yuuri has done so much more than just regionals. I shared a podium with him on multiple occasions in Juniors actually, and he still practices for at least two hours, five days a week," he stated, before pushing out to skate a few feet in front of me. I sped after him in a state of surprise.

"But why did he stop competing?" I pouted.

Chris hummed to himself and bit his lower lip in thought.

"I don't know for sure," he said finally, "but I know that he always struggled with jumps. His step sequences have always been some of the best I've seen, but flubbing a jump can make an audience lose interest in the blink of an eye. Without the same pressure from the public, judges could be brutally honest when it came to scoring him, without having to worry about protesting fans. It also didn't help that there was this other young Japanese boy a couple of years younger than him coming up the ranks at the same time.

"You know Yuzuru Hanyu don't you? He's given you a run for your money a few times. Well he has always been amazing at his jumps and pretty much everything else.

"Yuuri basically came to be treated like Japan's Georgi; taken for granted and forgotten in the long run."

My heart ached in my chest as Chris drew his phone from his pocket and found a YouTube clip of Yuuri, aged sixteen, skating to Waltz of the Flowers. I was taken aback slightly, as that piece was far more popular among the Ladies Singles, or Ice Dancers, rather than Men's.