#If I had a knee: literally viktor. “ I wasn't always this way / I had a life-shattering experience”

[catlady5001]

the niche is too small for anyone to get this but an “in the green” AU of TUA where Klaus is Jutta and Viktor is Hildegarde makes so much sense to me

[tempportal]

"Well, I wasn't exactly flush with a whole bunch of spare time or anything, kiddo," Five rolls his eyes at her. "As soon as I got through the last mission, they'd send me off on another one. I think the longest time I ever had to wait between orders was... three hours? Yeah, three hours. I didn't really have the chance to stick around for things like funeral rites."

Truthfully, he can't exactly blame her for the misconception — he hasn't ever bothered to really explain all the various ins and outs of the Commission to her before, mostly because he'd prefer to keep her in the dark, out of the loop, away from the brutal reality of that godforsaken organization for as long as he possibly can. Logically, he knows there is no rational basis for that — she's seen more than enough human depravity with her own eyes, and she's proven she can handle it perfectly well — but it's a knee-jerk instinct, always gnawing in the pit of his stomach whenever their conversations stray even a hair too close to that place.

But he doesn't have much longer to get lost in his own head (and thank Christ, because thinking about the Commission usually ends in waking up to find he's just spent the last fourteen hours staring blankly at his bedroom wall with absolutely no reason or explanation for this behavior or, occasionally, waking up to find he's just spent the last two hours repetitively scrubbing his entire body under the ice-cold shower spray) before Udyati's insistence that this affair will not be "wet" or "Bollywood" in any way finally hits him, and an actual laugh spills out of his mouth, full and real and completely unexpected.

"No, no, a dry wedding isn't literally dry," he tries to explain once he's gotten himself back under control. "It just means there's no alcohol. That's all." He clears his throat, and clears his face of whatever amusement might still be lingering in the corners of his lip, but he doesn't bother to dispel the crooked, fond half-smile. Even with the age-old reflex to scrupulously guard every positive emotion, he knows it's pointless to try and hide his affection for Udyati — she softens him in a way no one else, aside from Viktor, has ever been able to. "Now that I think about it, I'll probably have to bring my own, anyway. I doubt they'd let me near the bar with this—" godawful "—face."

"For your information, I've already had the opportunity to attend an Indian wedding, actually," Five leans back against the wall behind him, arms folded firmly over his chest and head tipped up to stare at the ceiling so he can avoid Udyati's pleading eyes for as long as humanly possible. "November 29, 1982, Sri Lanka. Beautiful ceremony. Remarkable shahi paneer. The bride and the groom were really wonderful people. I shot them through the head that night."

He's pretty sure that cheerful little anecdote from his days in the Commission will scare Udyati off — funnily enough, most people don't typically want a former assassin too close to their family — but he has to admit, she's actually piquing his interest a bit with all this talk. And Five is rather fond of Ankita Rao, though he's certainly under no illusion that the feeling is mutual. He's dragged her daughter into more trouble than he can even remember, and he knows he wouldn't want his hypothetical children to have a bad influence like that in their lives.

The fact that Ud just casually puts him under her umbrella of friends and family without so much as a second of hesitation also isn't hurting her chances — though that's probably the point, isn't it? She's probably pulling out the big guns like that on purpose.

Five can respect some healthy manipulation from his favorite granddaughter every now and again.

"All right," he huffs out a heavy sigh and pushes off the wall to stand up straight, waving her off with a flick of a hand. "All right, I'll be there. What time do the guests need to arrive?" And then a far more pressing thought occurs to him — he's not going to get properly drunk, or anything like that, but he's certainly not going to spend a couple of hours stone-cold sober in a room full of total strangers, either. Large crowds and no alcohol to take the edge off is one of his stupid hyperventilating in the bathroom episodes just waiting to happen. "Wait, hang on, is it a dry wedding? Do I need to bring my own tequila?"

@dvarapala l continued from here

[mysticmousecat]

Reader tells Viktor she likes his accent and continues to tease him till he can’t deal anymore 😩

Okay obviously because It's me writing this, it's going to get a little spicy, so you have been warned. Also, you guys should know by now I literally can't write Viktor without making him a massive tease so there's some of that in here but it's mostly y/n trying to get Viktor to lose his composure, to which they are very successful. 😏

- The first time you'd heard Viktor speak you had been hooked. You could listen to him talk for hours, no matter what he was talking about, whether it was thermal dynamics or just whatever random thoughts popped into his head in one of his sleep deprived delirious states, you were obsessed.

- While you and Viktor would have considered yourselves friends pretty early in the beginning, you were nowhere near comfortable confessing just how much you liked his accent. But you were so curious, what part of Zaun was he from that gave him such an enticing accent, and good lord were you thankful he was born there because of it.

- When you and Viktor started getting a little closer, branching into the zone of 'We both definitely want to be more than friends but I'm not going to be the one to do something about it' you started to open up more to him.

- Eventually you guys fell into a flirty banter, starting to push the line of just what counted as teasing and what was just desperate pining.

- At some point you'd said something along the lines of 'If I had an accent half as hot as yours is I'd be talking nonstop'. The reaction he had to that statement was almost instantaneous and you loved the way he looked with a blush gracing his high cheekbones. This was going to be very fun.

- You started trying to goad him into talking more, asking useless questions, asking him to describe to you things you knew he was absolutely aware you already knew about, always throwing the lilt into your voice that said, 'I know exactly what this is but I'm still gonna ask you about it explicitly for the purpose of listening to you talk'.

- You loved the way he rolled his R's sometimes, sometimes you'd just ask him to say words that ended in R's just to hear it. You were beginning to cross that delicate line in the sand you two had silently agreed to, but you really didn't care if it meant you got to see him so flustered over you.

- You always knew he'd find a way to get you back, you just hadn't expected him to be so bold. The first time he gave you an order, you could have sworn his accent got thicker and god did it have your knees week. It didn't take him long to find his new favorite game. If you liked his accent so much, well then, he was going to put you through some of the most pleasurable torture with it.

- It wasn't long before blushing Viktor disappeared and dominant Viktor showed up. He took every opportunity to tease you with his voice, whispering in your ear exactly what you were going to, even if it was something totally mundane, like 'Sit here and go through the research notes', accentuating every syllable as it left his lips. Of course, you were stubborn though, if he wanted to play this game, then oh boy were you going to play.

- You started asking him what he'd like you to do. What were the tasks he wanted you to complete, just waiting for him to get that authoritative tone with you. You got particularly bold one day and leaned down to whisper to him just how much you liked it when he told you what to do, to which immediately afterward the dam finally broke.

- He had you against the wall almost faster than you could register what was happening, his lips on yours, his hips rolling against yours in a desperate attempt to get closer.

- Let's just say you guys added a new component to your favorite game that day.

[hetalia-reacts]

So it's been 2 weeks has passed and the darling hasn't reacted to the punishments the Allies has been giving them, and if anything has been ignoring them ( basically any punishment the boys throw at them has no effect ). Another 2 weeks has passed, but to the boys surprise this seems to get a new reaction out of the darling. With every passing day the boys goes out an kills innocent people( y'know to pile more work on the darling ); and the more people they kill the more panicky, agitated, worried, and scared the darling becomes. The darling keeps pleading them to stop and let them do their job, warning them if they don't stop they'll regret it. The boys doesn't listen, if anything they'll relish in the feeling. One of world most powerful creature is finally submitting to them. How delicious, yet pathetic. It's been 4 days since then, and darling still pleads and begs them to stop and let them go. Around this time the boys are just getting home and is about to go check on their darling. But then they stop when they heard some muffled voices in the darling's room. Did the darling somehow contact someone to help her escape!!! And to think they was about to let her off of punishment! Well I guess that won't be happening any time soon. When to boys got to the room; the darling was on their knees and it looked like they were praying, and on in the center of the room was a very bright light and. The boys couldn't believe it, it was.... God. The darling was constantly apologizing about how they could let all of this happen and how the regretting meeting the boys in the first place. God has forgiven the darling and said it wasn't their fault. God has broken their remaining bounds the darling had around their hands and feet. The darling wasted no time running out of the room and unleashing their beautiful black and white wings. But before they full ran out of the room, the darling gives them a pity yet angry glance. " I tried to warn you. I just hope when Grimmy ( it's the nickname for the grim reaper. The darling works very close with them and is extremely close with them ) get here, they'll go easy on you. " Then the darling flies away. Now that's left in room was the boys and God. God tells them what they did was unacceptable and that it doesn't matter that they love the darling to much, and that they darling plays a huge role between life, death, and the afterlife; and that they could of messed up something. And all the lives they took and the sins they've committed, He'll have to punish them. After when God said that, the boys help a uncomfortable chill ran down their spine. Then the room has gotten darker all of a sudden. Out of the corner of the boys eye they saw a skeleton hand reach into the corner of the door. Then the light flickered off for a second. The hand wasn't there anymore. But then the boys felt a presence behind them. Turning around they saw a 9 foot ( almost 10 foot ) tall skeleton looming over them, they were wearing a pitch black cloak in. It was the.Grim.Reaper. After that nothing can prepare them for what they boys went through, it was worse than literal hell. Let's just say the boys regret killing all those people and they did to the darling. ( This part 2 the Angle of Death ask ) Also this is what the darling looks like.

This is my OC. So minus the hair, eyes, face, body. I'll just leave it to the other readers imagination

I was unsure if this was an ask, like a part two for me to write, or simply just you explaining what happens next and what the reader is supposed to look like. So I'll do their reactions to getting punished and what their punishments are. Also, I summed up what you wrote in a more story-like format instead, I hope you don't mind! If you do let me know either through messages or through another ask and I'll delete what I wrote and simply leave your ask posted! Everything is below the cut due to length~

2 entire weeks have passed since the initial punishment. 2 weeks of no souls being taken care of. But that's okay, it doesn't affect you yet. You can handle this, you won't give them what they want: a reaction. They come down every day, bloodied with an innocent person's blood, but you won't say anything, won't react. This angers them. Another agonizing 2 weeks pass. They were getting tired of you not doing anything other than taking the food and water they gave to you. Today is different though. You're fidgety, feisty, and overall look terrified. They assume the punishment is working. They can't help but feel pride at watching you beg and cry for them to stop killing people, to let you at the very least reap their souls and come back. It's exhilarating, delectable. The power they feel bringing you, an Angel of Death, to such a state is a rush they could get addicted to. Your pathetic attempts to threaten them saying "something bad will happen if you don't stop this," were enjoyable to some degree as well. How sad their little caged Angel had become. 4 days later they come home, your voice seems to echo from where they left them. What happened? Who were you talking to? How did you contact someone? Regrettable that this happened, you were acting so good before this and he was honestly considering letting you out early for good behavior. He barges into the room where his darling is. You were praying to a bright light, a bright light that was near the center of the room. It appeared to be some entity. No, it wasn't just some entity, it was God himself. His darling was apologizing to him, saying you didn't mean to let this happen, sorry for not being strong enough to stop him, and the biggest stab to his heart, you were apologizing for even getting to know them in the first place. He watched as the chains released their holds on your ankles and wrists and you wasted no time in stretching out your gorgeous wings and walking towards an exit to the outside. You only turned to look at them for a second, deep sorrow and intense anger in your eyes. "I tried to warn you (___). I just hope Grimmy is able to show you some mercy when he gets here." You then flew away after that, leaving him alone with God. He looks disappointed, explaining that love won't be a good enough excuse to save him from his very own punishment. He had disrupted the work of Heaven and Hell, killed innocents simply out of spite, and he must atone for those crimes. God leaves in a flash of bright white, leaving him in a now dark room, a chill traveling up his spine as he soon feels a presence in the room. He catches the boney hand of something out of the corner of his eye. As he turns to see it clearly, he sees a giant skeleton draped in a black robe reach out a boney hand to take him. He has never been through a worse hell than this.

2p America (Allen)

Allen is regretful while he is taken to his punishment. He knows he deserves it, he went a little crazy from the power he had over you. And now that your gone, never to return to him, he feels like this is a just end to his empty life. His punishment is among the worst. The Grim Reaper makes Allen live out what he did to those innocent souls as well as suffer the same punishments he had ever given to you. He will eventually go mad, and if you were to spare him and see him, it would simply make him go deeper into insanity and depression.

2p Canada (Matt)

Out of all of them, he feels like he is the least deserving of this. He hadn't made you suffer, or kept you locked away. He may not have let you go far without him, but he didn't completely stop you from doing your job. I can see Matt being regretful, but not for long. Only for as long as he feels he really deserved. His punishment is by far the least painful. The Grim Reaper makes him suffer in a more creative way, he was to watch what could've been. As someone who was usually always gentle with you, it pains him to watch what his life could've been if he had just stayed patient and lenient.

2p England (Oliver)

Oliver is a tough one to crack in this case. He's already insane for the most part so nothing really scares him while he is being taken to his punishment. Oliver also really can't see what he's done wrong. He isn't regretful for what he did, at least not to those people. His punishment is hard to decide. In the end, Oliver is tortured by leaving him alone. He will wait for eternity alone, no one to speak to, nothing to do, he will rot away forever until even his facade of sanity is no longer there to keep him company.

2p France (Francois)

Francois has no complaints. He figures this is just another bad thing to add to his miserable existence. He's partially regretful for what he did to you. He knows he shouldn't have snapped at the end of the day and that getting a power trip wasn't like him and he should've caved sooner. However, in the end, he's still selfish and he figures you should've been careful, he did warn you about his dislikes after all. Francois's punishment is to take away his peace. He will be driven insane by noise. He's the only one to be let back out into the human world again. Francois is now constantly plagued by noise, and any vice or sin he commits (drinking, smoking, killing) the noise will only get louder.

2p Russia (Viktor)

Viktor is not at all regretful. He doesn't care at all. Viktor is one that would actively try to fight against The Grim Reaper. Of course, he fails at this. Viktor's punishment is similar to what he did to you. He is left alone with other punished souls in a type of confinement. Viktor will be subjected to years of push and pull tactics. He will come to fully rely on The Grim Reaper or whoever is watching over the souls, flushing his pride and intelligent mind down the drain.

2p China (Zao)

Zao is deeply regretful to some degree. He feels he disrespected you, your job, and your boss. This is something he never wanted to do as he honors respect deeply. On the other hand, he isn't regretful for punishing you, he still believes wholeheartedly that you deserved it, just maybe not to the degree he took it. Zao's punishment is similar to Viktor's. Zao has a deep sense of honor, of pride, and he is punished by spending eternity being taunted, teased, beaten, and spit on. This is another one where he would go absolutely insane and become a whole other person. If you ever took the time to see him you would not recognize the man in front of you, and he wouldn't recognize you either.

[winglesscrows]

Power to Perform ch. 2

Chapter 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5

Yuri!!! on ICE I T I Yuri P. & Victor & Yuuri I 17k WIP

"Yuri could have cried at the music choice. He could have cried tears of actual joy. Unless Viktor was playing an evil prank on him (which was unlike at best), Yuri would be skating his short program to his favorite rock song by his favorite artist. Viktor’s smug smile at Yuri’s expression (which he himself couldn’t quite tell what was, as he was both surprised, happy, in disbelief and actually floating on a cloud at the same time) told Yuri that this was definitely his music, and when Viktor stopped the song, he honestly had to stop himself from just dropping to his knees and thanking him for the wonderful music choice."

In the summer before the Olympic season, Viktor presents to Yuri a short program which end up being the cause of drama, fights, blood, sweat and tears - and that is all quite literal.

Read on AO3 I Patreon I FF.net or under cut

2. skating skills

Yuri sank into his seat and looked out of the small plane window. Even though Celestino mainly coached in Thailand these days, the training camp took place in Detroit - at Yuuri’s old training facilities. Yuuri had made sure to give Yuri a list of all the best restaurants, while Phichit had provided a list of the best entertainment places - all suited towards minors of course. Yuri hated that he couldn’t fault Phichit for that, as he had (by American law) been a minor all the years he had lived there. A quick scan of the list told Yuri that he wouldn’t be going to any of the places, and if Phichit or anyone else tried to invite him, he would fight his way out of it.

Spending two weeks in America was not the worst thing Yuri could think of - but it wasn’t the best either. Skating aside, he had to endure Phichit for a full week. Yuri could honestly say that he had all the respect in the world for Yuuri, because if Yuri thought a week was hard, then how on earth had Yuuri lived with him for two years? It truly was a mystery to him as to how they got along so well. At least when Yuuri was sober. He imagined that Phichit and drunk Yuuri were quite the duo.

But even Phichit was preferable, hell, even desirable, in contrast to the other evil. JJ. And he would be there throughout the entire camp. Yuri sank a little further down in his seat. Both Leo and Guang-Hong were attending the training camp as well - according to Yuuri they always did - and Yuri quite liked Guang-Hong. They’d met quite often in junior competitions, and had turned senior the same year. They rarely spoke, but they tended to drift towards each other, especially when they had both first turned junior and their English had been rocky at best. It had been comfortable to have someone close who was just as confused as yourself.

Another horrible thing about this training camp was that Yuri would miss the first couple of days of Yakov’s summer camp. The camp itself was irrelevant, but Otabek - the one skater (other than Yuuri) that he actually liked talking to - was attending, and Yuri would be stuck in America with fucking JJ. It truly was unfair. Of course, when Yuri had told Otabek that he’d be in America, Otabek had tried to convince him that JJ wasn't’ that bad. Yuri had promptly blocked him for the remainder of the day for such insolence.

Yuuri put on the music for his short program as the plane took off. If he had to attend this training camp, he might as well make the most of it, and as he listened to his music over and over again, never once tiring of hearing it, he began thinking about the small details he could incorporate into it to make this song his own. It was the challenge Viktor had set him, and Yuri wasn’t done growing.

Yuri had been very careful to not let Phichit figure out when he was landing, because he did not need to be picked up by him. If Phichit was only giving him a ride to the hotel he would be staying at, then it would have been fine as it would have saved him the money of a cab ride, but Yuri knew Phichit. Before going to the hotel, Phichit would drag him somewhere, and then they’d run into some fans - and most of Yuri’s fans were actually crazy - which they wouldn’t be able to get out of ever, and Yuri just wasn’t in the mood for any of that (and honestly he never was). So Yuri carefully navigated the airport by himself, making sure to keep his hood up, whenever it didn’t seem suspicious, and generally avoiding getting recognized.

He managed to make it all the way to the taxi stand having only signed one autograph for a cashier who had recognized him as he was buying a cute cool tiger keychain that had caught his eye, and relaxed as soon as he was on his way to the hotel.

With half an hour to kill, he opened his phone and looked through the barrage of messages, he received as he disabled flight mode. There was one from Yakov, asking if he’d landed in Detroit yet, and Yurio send a cat emoji as a confirmation (Yakov didn’t have emojis on his phone, so the square box that would appear instead was sure to confuse him). There was also a message from Yuuri asking the same question, and for him Yuri send a short video of the fading airport. He also promised to say hi to Phichit for him. From Otabek there was a cat video with the message: for when you land in Detroit, because Otabek knew how little Yurio was looking forward to it. And then there was Mila who had sent him a picture of a special brand of chocolate which she wanted him to buy for her. Yuri put in his notes that he should get her a rip-off brand, because when she had last gone to Canada, she hadn’t bought the candy that Yuri had requested she get for him, and Yuri was nothing if not petty and full of spite.

As it turned out, the only bliss to be found was the taxi ride, because as Yuri set foot in the hotel’s lobby, the first person he saw was JJ’s fiancée, Isabella.

“Yuri!” She greeted, and Yuri didn’t hide his frown, “I didn’t know you would be here as well!” She was always super cheerful and sociable, and with her good looks and sweet personality, Yuri would never understand why she had chosen to marry someone like JJ. She could have chosen probably anyone, and yet here she was, having made the worst mistake of her life.

“Well, I am,” Yuri said and trotted past her to check in. If she was in the lobby by herself, then JJ was soon to come and if he could avoid JJ, then he would. Unfortunately, he wasn’t so lucky.

“If it isn’t Yuri!” JJ’s voice boomed from the other end of the lobby, and Yuri had fight to not yell something at him as he was giving the receptionist his information, “Want to come to lunch with us?”

“No,” Yuri growled, and then quickly thanked the startled receptionist as he got the keys.

“Well, we’re going to spend the whole training camp together, so we should get to know each other better,” JJ reasoned, and Yuri turned around to face him.

“I already know enough about you, thanks,” he said with fake politeness in his voice, and then promptly turned around, got on an elevator, leaving behind the engaged couple.

The skaters attending the training camp were supposed to meet up at the rink at ten in the morning, and Yuri hoped that he could avoid people until then. By now he should have known better.

“Yurio!” Phichit sang as he pulled Yuri into a hug. He had barely stepped foot outside of his hotel room, so Yuri could only assume that Phichit had been waiting to ambush him.

“That’s not my name,” Yuri said in response, already having accepted that Phichit would keep on calling him Yurio, but it was worth a try.

“Eh? But that’s so confusing,” Phichit whined, “And Yurio suits you.”

Yuri rolled his eyes, and wanted to retort, but Phichit took him by the wrist and dragged him along. Yuri hoped they were going to breakfast because if he was busy stuffing his face, then less conversation was required.

Phichit did drag him to breakfast and Yuri was quite happy to see that they would be eating with Leo and Guang-Hong (possibly the only sane people attending this training camp), and while Yuri was somehow forced to sit beside Phichit at their four-man table, he still only made conversation with the Chinese skater, who had always been easy to talk to.

“Do you know what we’re gonna do today?” Yuri asked Guang-Hong half-way through breakfast, seeing as Yuri was the only one around the table who had never once attended Celestino’s training camp.

“Oh, you don’t know?” Phichit joined in and Yuri rolled his eyes.

“I didn’t ask you,” he said not quite as angrily as he would have had Guang-Hong not been there. The Chinese skater had a way of always soothing Yuri’s temper. Perhaps that was why he liked him.

“Anyway,” Guang-Hong said, answering Yuri’s question, “Usually on the first day we’ll do run-throughs of our programs. It doesn’t have to be our new programs, but that is most beneficial if you have gotten your programs for next season. You will then discuss a goal, either with Coach Celestino or Satsuki, which you will try to reach by the end of the camp.”

“He expects results within two weeks?”

“It’s not like the goal will be learning a quint or something,” Leo explained with a carefree laugh, “But it definitely won’t be easy.”

Yuri smiled a little. He liked a good challenge: “Sounds fun.”

As they all gathered in the rink for their run-throughs, and were lacing up their skates, Yuri rummaged through his skatebag only to learn that he had left his gloves back in the hotel room. He turned to Guang-Hong, who was lacing up his skates beside him.

“Hey,” he said softly to grab his attention, but not have too many people overhear of the small mistake he made, “Do you have an extra pair of gloves. I forgot mine at the hotel.”

Guang-Hong looked through his bag, but came up empty handed. “Sorry,” he whispered softly, but Yuri assured him that it was okay. He’d just skate without gloves. It wasn’t a problem.

Celestino grabbed their attention as the skaters were still sat at the benches, the assistant coach, Satsuki, standing by his side with a notepad in hand.

“Good morning,” Celestino greeted them, “As some of you know, we’ll start the camp with a run-through of a program of your choice. After everyone has skated, there’ll be free practice until one o’clock, where Satsuki and I will discuss with you individually what you should focus on during this training camp. After two weeks, we’ll have another set of run-throughs to see if you have improved. Who would like to skate their short program?”

Phichit, Leo and Yuri all raised their hand and Celestino nodded, “Okay, then Phichit you will go first, since you’re not technically taking part in the training camp, Leo will be second and Yuri third. Then for the free skates it will be JJ and then Guang-Hong. We’ll give you a six minute warm-up before we start.”

There was a muffled sound of acknowledgement from the group before they all took to the ice. There were already a couple of people on the ice as the five of them began their warm-up, so of course the pretend competition set-up wasn’t super authentic, but it wasn’t so crowded that they would have to be very cautious of colliding with other skaters. Yuri quickly made note of the people skating and they all seemed to fairly routined, so Yuuri assumed that they were all juniors, or maybe even novice skaters. Perhaps some of Celestino’s? Regardless, Yuri decided to treat this run-through like a competition, wanting to show the best version of his short program so that he had the best chance of improving it by the end of the camp.

The warm-up was quickly over and the four of them left the ice as Phichit got ready for his run-through. Yuri wasn’t entirely sure why Phichit had to go through this with them, since he was leaving in a week, but perhaps he was just here to set the tone, or have something to work on as he went to Russia. It occured to Yuri then that Phichit might be taking part in Yakov’s training camp as he arrived just as it began, which meant that even if he didn’t have to spent two weeks with Phichit here in Detroit, he would still see him when he got back to Russia. Great. At least he would be occupied with spending time with Yuuri, and if Yuri just spend his time with Otabek, well, it might work out after all.

Whatever the reason for Phichit skating, Yuri was secretly grateful for the opportunity to watch him in person. Yuri had only attended two competitions with Phichit, and during none of them had he watched the Thai skater live and in person, having been too focused on himself as his skate had still been coming up. But after hours and hours upon watching and learning from Phichit through videos, Yuri needed to see him skate in person to learn more about what made Phichit the performer he was.

Yuri stood next to Guang-Hong, who was already in awe at the presence Phichit had on the ice (he was a fan after all), and rested his arms on the boards, his head resting on his hands and watched intensely as Phichit began to skate. It came to no one’s surprise that Phichit was re-using his The King & The Skater program for the Olympics. Yuuri had mentioned many times what this program meant to the Thai skater, and since Phichit was already very comfortable with the familiar program, the presentation of it was already guaranteed to be of the highest quality.

Despite the warhorse program, Yuri felt himself drawn in by Phichit from the very first movement. The charisma Phichit usually emitted somehow exploded into a cloud of confidence and showmanship of which Yuri now knew could hardly be rivalled by anyone. Yuri knew without even feeling bitter about it that he himself could never reach that level of atmospheric control that Phichit owned as he skated. Phichit easily made eye-contact with the small audience he had watching him, making sure that they were all part of the experience, almost making Yuri forget that this was a pretend competition where they were using real competitive programs until Phichit flew into the triple axel that opened the program, as if Yuri didn’t feel that Phichit had enchanted him long ago, when really it had only been fifteen seconds.

The flow between the jumps, the spins, the steps and the choreographic highlights was something that Yuri could recognize and immediately remembered the short program Yuuri had skated just before Yuri had left for Detroit. Yuri didn’t know if this was a trait of Celestino’s students or if he had just been lucky to find such natural performers to train under him, but the fluid skating of both Phichit and Yuuri, and the way they delivered a program in such a touching way could hardly be contributed to coincidence alone. Despite Phichit’s loud and sometimes annoying personality, Yuri felt himself slowly becoming a fan in the same way he had quickly fallen for Yuuri’s skating during his disastrous first Grand Prix Final. Perhaps Yuri should make it a tradition to always attend this training camp, because as good of a coach as Yakov was, Celestino clearly had something in his training regime that he didn’t, and Yuri wanted it too.

As enchanted as Yuri felt during Phichit’s performance, he did pick up on the fact that the layout of the program has been altered slightly, making the quad in the second half part of the combination, raising the technical base value of the program to make it more competitive as he only has one quad in his repertoire. Because despite being a natural performer, Phichit was also a competitive person who knew that his chances of medaling at any competition were high, and with a higher technical ceiling, he became a bigger threat than during the previous season. It made Yuri excited to improve himself.  

Yuri seemed to go through the same experience he had had with Phichit when Leo took to the ice and began his short program. Though not as skilled technically as Phichit, Leo was a different kind of beast when it came to program component scores. As Leo’s program was also musical based, it would be interesting to see Leo and Phichit’s battles throughout the season as their strengths and styles were both similar and distinctly different. Phichit was the more charismatic of the two, but Leo was good at highlighting the music he skated to, while giving his own unique interpretation of a well-known piece of music. Though the program was very distinctive to Leo, Yuri saw a hint of the influence Viktor had obviously had on the American. Yuri wondered briefly if it was because he had spend so many years watching Viktor skate himself that he could point it out, but though the influence was there, nothing about it looked like a Nikiforov program. Yuri quickly came to understand why both Viktor and Yuuri were such huge fans of Leo’s skating.

As it became Yuri’s turn to skate, he smiled confidently and got ready. He felt fully awake and energized, and since JJ was skating after him, he wanted to skate lights out and blow the audience away so that no matter what JJ did and how he skated, he simply couldn’t compare to Yuri. There were gasps of surprise from the sidelines as the music began, the few spectators clearly not having anticipated this style of music, all of them likely remembering the controversy of his last exhibition piece. The high energy of the program was feeding off of Yuri’s energy, but he didn’t tire and the opening quad toe was almost too easy. He knew the instant he landed the jump that this might become his best showing of this program yet, and the realization only made him more pumped and he felt refreshed anew as he moved further into the program. The energy he was feeling even after the combination and the spins was very refreshing, and even as he went into the second half, he didn’t feel exhausted.

Of course, the added energy made him mess up on his timing and speed for the triple axel, and he hand to put down his hand to keep from falling as he badly overrotatoed the jump. As his bare, ungloved hands touched down, he felt a sting from the cold ice for just a second until he was back on his feet. That’s what he got for forgetting his gloves.

He finished his program, paying no attention to his hand and got a small applause from the skaters at the rinkside. He bowed respectfully out of habit before moving towards them. As he glided towards the barrier, he examined his hand that was now beginning to sting. The cut wasn’t deep, but he had still managed to draw blood, and watched, unbothered, as a drop of blood trailed from the cut and down his palm towards his wrist. There were many specs of blood all over his hand - and even a few on his wrist - from the many times he had closed his fist, but Yuri didn’t think too much of it. He had cut himself on the ice before, but found himself happy to be in Detroit instead of St. Petersburg, because, unlike Yakov or even Lilia, he was certain that Celestino wouldn’t yell at him for getting injured. Even if it was just a small cut.

Yuri was quite right about Celestino as the coach upon meeting him at the barrier immediately took his hand to examine it.

“Not too bad...” he muttered, “We’ll discuss your program after you’ve been cleaned up. Satsuki,” he called for the other coach, “Can you take care of Yuri?”

Satsuki was already ahead of him, ready with a first aid kit, which made the whole thing seem much more serious than Yuri felt it was. She gestured for Yuri to follow her, and they sat down on one of the benches, still close enough to the rink for Yuri to follow the run-throughs. Yuri, of course, didn’t pay much attention to JJ, much preferring to not watch him skate, but he was curious as to what his program was and kept his eyes on the Canadian before giving his attention to Satsuki who was currently cleaning all the blood specks off of his skin.

Yuri felt his soul die a little bit when it turned out that JJ’s new free skate was a Romeo and Juliet program. The familiar music was more than enough for Yuri and he looked at his hand to see that the only blood left was what was coming out of his cut. That also meant that Yuri could now see the full extent of the damage. The cut extended from just below his index finger and diagonally across reaching almost all the way down to the bottom of his palm. It looked worse than it felt.

Satsuki threw the blood stained wipes away and pulled out a small bottle from the first aid kit.

“The disinfection will sting a bit,” she said as if Yuri hadn’t had ice cuts disinfected before, but he simply nodded and let her continue. He hissed a little as the alcohol solution came in contact with his open skin, but she finished quickly, clearly having done this many times before, and was soon bandaging his hand to keep the wound from getting infected. Of course, due to her quick first aid, by the time Yuri was all bandaged up, JJ was still not done skating.

Yuri thanked Satsuki for her help with a light bow like Yuko had taught him a couple of months ago, and returned to his place beside Guang-Hong just as JJ finished.

“How was it?” Yuri asked and Guang-Hong’s face fell a little before answering.

“Unfairly good,” he said and the two sighed together, before Guang-Hong replaced JJ and readied himself to skate his new free skate.

Yuri tried his very best to ignore the fact that JJ came to stand beside him, and he would probably have succeeded had JJ not begun to speak to him halfway through Guang-Hong’s program.

“I have a pair of extra gloves,” he mentioned and Yuri shot him a look as if to say that he wasn’t interested in anything that came from him, but apparently JJ was too much of an idiot to catch up on it and still offered: “You can borrow them if you want. The might be a little big for you, but with the bandage that might be perfect… at least for your right hand.”

“No thanks,” Yuri growled, keeping his eyes fixed on Guang-Hong and clapping lightly when he landed his triple axel.

“Come on,” JJ continued, a hint of teasing in his voice, “We still have a lot of practice left. Might as well make sure you don’t injure yourself more.”

“Huh?” Yuri hissed, growing more irritated and sent JJ another death stare. This time he got it.

“Joking, joking,” JJ said defensively, putting up his hands as if Yuri was going to attack him. It was a tempting action to take. “But seriously, take my gloves. It’s just for today.”

Yuri gritted his teeth, “Fine,” he said at last, mostly hoping it would resolve in JJ shutting the hell up, “lend me your dumb gloves.”

Yuri expected JJ to leave and get them, but instead the asshole pulled them out from his pocket, having known that Yuri would lose the argument, and Yuri pulled them out of his grip with his good hand, not wanting to refuse at this point, because that would be accepting defeat on a whole new level. As it turned out, the gloves fit perfectly over his bandaged right hand, and was a little loose on his left, but not to the point where it was annoying.

It was apparent on JJ’s face that he wasn’t expecting any words of gratitude, which tempted Yuri to just say thank you but before he convinced himself to do so, Guang-Hong finished his program and Celestino concluded the run-throughs, and had everyone get on the ice for practice, calling them one after the other to discuss what to work on during their training camp.

As Yuri waited for his evaluation, he practiced his triple axel, feeling relatively agitated at the fact that it had been the only element of the short program that hadn’t been perfect. He had just completed his tenth axel - to perfection of course - as Celestino called him over.

“How’s your hand?” He asked as Yuri skated up to him by the barrier.

“Fine,” Yuri said, anxious to get something to work on.

“It seems that Viktor made you quite a program,” Celestino mused, going through some notes, which Yuri couldn’t see what were, “I’d say that the most important thing for you to focus on what be your skating skills. Of course, there is only so much you can do in two weeks, so here’s what I’ll suggest. Since your program focuses so much on speed, it is difficult for you to complete all the elements required for your step sequence. In your run-through, you would only have hit level two,” Yuri frowned at this. He usually got a level four - three if he was feeling a little off. “So how about setting your goal for hitting a level three without losing any of the speed?”

“But my content is planned for a level four,” Yuri protested, “Shouldn’t I aim for that instead?”

“I have no doubt that you could easily skate a level four step sequence right now if I asked you to, but your program is not only very complex but is based on the high pace of it. If you focus too much on the technicalities, you will lose sight of the program. Your task is to find a balance.”

Yuri wanted to protest again, but Celestino’s words seemed final, and it wasn’t like the season began when this training camp ended. He would complete Celestino’s task no matter what.

The following hour, Yuri did multiple run-throughs of his step sequence, as well as all those boring skating exercises Yakov loved to make him do, and whenever he got tired of that, he would work on his combination, which was so much more fun.

By the end of the session, Celestino was on the ice, gathering up everyone who was still there, even skaters who weren’t part of the training camp (Yuri assumed that they were juniors skating under Celestino, but he had no way of confirming it, as he wasn’t willing to ask anyone). It seemed that like Yakov, Celestino was fond of skating exercises, and had everyone do them together. The difference between Celestino and Yakov, however, was the level of those exercises. Yuri always felt that he could complete Yakov’s exercises with relative ease, but with Celestino he felt that he could hardly keep up.

Yuri had started in the back of the group, and from his spot, it was clear to see who had been skating with Celestino the longest. Phichit was skating like he could do these exercises in his sleep (and Yuri thought that perhaps he could actually do just that), while Leo and Guang-Hong who had trained with him pretty regularly before were also doing pretty well. While JJ seemed to also have some difficulty with the exercises, it didn’t look like he was struggling like Yuri was, and it made Yuri even more determined to put his all into these, seemingly simply, exercises.

The following three days were pretty much the same. Celestino mostly made Yuri work on his basic skating, and by the end of the practice session they would all go through the same skating exercises. Yuri had kept JJ’s gloves, because his own didn’t really fit on his bandaged hand. It would heal soon enough though. Yuri had had a moment of thinking he should get gloves like these until he had had a minute to further inspect them - why ask JJ where he had bought them when he could just spend even more time trying to figure it out himself right? It turned out, unfortunately, that the gloves were part of JJ’s own clothing brand, and the signature JJ logo on the inside of them had Yuri doing angry quad salchows for a good ten minutes. Fate sure was cruel to him.

Yuri was allowed to take the bandage off after five days, and with it he gave JJ back the gloves.

“Thanks, or whatever,” Yuri said as he threw them onto JJ’s lap, while the Canadian was lacing up his skates.

“You can keep them if you want,” JJ offered with an annoying smile, but Yuri refused. His own gloves were perfectly fine now that his right hand wasn’t bigger than usual.

Yuri sat down next to JJ - of course still with a considerable amount of distance between them - and began lacing up his skates too.

“You know people will say you’re copying Viktor by skating to Romeo and Juliet?” Yuri said as he tightened his right skate.

“Viktor never skated to Romeo and Juliet,” JJ replied casually.

“I meant the style. You said it’s for your fiancée, right? That’s exactly what Viktor did last season,” Yuri knew the internet. The comparisons would begin as soon as JJ showed his new program. Everyone always compared any skaters programs to Viktor just because, and this was simply too easy of a comparison.

“That’s true, but so did Katsuki, who was my inspiration for the program.”

“Yuuri?” Yuri looked up in question, “You got inspired by Yuuri?”

“Well, just like you, I’m a fan of his. More so than of Viktor.”

“Who the hell said I was a fan of Katsudon?”

“Just assumed,” JJ shrugged and gave no further explanation as he left and went on the ice for his warm-up.

The day before Phichit was to leave for Russia, he invited forced them all out to dinner. Yuri could probably have resisted by locking himself up in his room, but Phichit had promised to pay for the entire meal (likely because during his stay in Russia, he wouldn’t have to pay for a thing, save the flight). Therefore, Yuri met up with the rest of the training camp squad in the lobby of the hotel.

“I can’t believe you make us all go to dinner with you, and you’re just on social media,” Yuri said as he walked towards Phichit and Guang-Hong who were currently the only two who had arrived thus far.

“Just passing the time,” Phichit smiled, “By the way, a lot of your fans are dying to know why your hand was bandaged for the past five days.”

“How do they even know? I was wearing JJ’s stupid gloves the entire time,” Yuri said in a low growl. Honestly, did his fans have nothing better to do than stalk him?

“You may or may not have appeared in the background of a couple of my photos with said bandaged hand,” Phichit said nonchalantly, “But that’s a minor detail. I’m doing a Q&A and someone asked, wanna share?” Phichit said and stuck the camera right in Yuri’s face, while putting an arm around him so that they were close enough to both fit into the frame. He hadn’t pressed record yet, because he knew if he recorded Yuri without permission, he might lose a limb.

“Fine,” Yuri said, and Phichit instantly pressed record, the footage going directly to instagram.

“So Yurio,” Phichit said, still using the nickname, “What happened to your hand?” Phichit asked dramatically, as if trying to uncover, or maybe just document, a murder mystery, and Yuri eyed him skeptically before answering.

“Didn’t wear gloves, ice is sharp, be careful when skating,” Yuri said in a monotone voice, but Phichit of course made a face of interest as he continued with his documentary voice.

“Yuri Plisetsky, giving some solid advice to any aspiring skaters out there. Wear gloves!” And with that the recording ended and Phichit finally let go of Yuri, going back to Guang-Hong who was also updating his social media.

“I’m surprised to hear you give advice to your fans,” Yuri heard JJ say and turned around to see him and Leo walking towards them.

“I’m just saying it like it is,” Yuri replied, and greeted Leo. With all of them having arrived, the five of them made their way out of the hotel, following Phichit to whatever place he thought was great. From the list of restaurants Yuuri had given him before leaving, Yuri had a pretty good guess as the where they were headed.

“You could have thanked me for lending you my gloves,” JJ teased and Yuri frowned, wondering how he had ended up walking with JJ at the back of the group.

“And plug your dumb brand? Don’t be an idiot.”

“You must have liked them to check the brand. I don’t recall telling you I made them,” JJ said, and Yuri could not believe his luck. How had JJ figured that out?

“What makes you think I didn’t check because I hated them so much that I needed to know what never to buy myself?” Yuri shot back, but JJ just smiled at him. Yuri knew he had lost the moment he had started lying. He should have kept his mouth shut, but that was hard with JJ around.

“Come on, if you really hated them that much, you wouldn’t have used them for more than a day. Maybe I’ll give you a pair for your birthday.”

“Fuck right off, JJ,” Yuri said as he sped up, linking his arms with Guang-Hong to ensure himself some better company. As he looked back, he saw JJ looking amused as Leo fell back into step with him and struck up a conversation about some new song that had just been released.

As expected, the restaurant they were eating at was the one that, according to Yuuri, had been dubbed the best Thai restaurant in Detroit by Phichit. They easily found a table that fit all of them, and Yuri snuck himself in between Guang-Hong and Phichit, sitting as far away from JJ as possible (not that it was that far since they were sitting by a round table, but whatever). It turned out to be quite the pleasant evening.

“So, Yurio-” JJ addressed Yuri for the first time during their dinner, but Yuri quickly interrupted him.

“You have no right to call me that,” he said and gave him a look that gave JJ no room for even arguing or protesting.

“Right, Yuri,” he said, and Yuri reluctantly listened to him, “Why aren’t you practicing the quad loop?”

“Huh?” Yuri snapped. Was JJ mocking him?

“Ah! Don’t take this the wrong way. I just assumed that it would be right up your ally, and with the Olympics coming up-”

“And with the Olympics coming up, Yakov doesn’t want me to try out new jumps,” Yuri growled, more annoyed with Yakov than JJ at this point, “I’ll probably go for it next season.”

“Have you tried it yet?” JJ asked, sincerely curious, and Yuri found himself quite engaged in this conversation, which would be a first with JJ involved.

“A couple of times, but it’s hard to get the timing right,” Yuri confessed, downplaying slightly how many times he had tried and failed. He had probably tried more than a hundred times, and landed roughly three of them, but JJ still nodded in agreement.

“That’s true. In the beginning you pop most of them.”

“You’re doing it this season?”

“I would be offended that you didn’t watch my free skate during the runthrough if it wasn’t because I knew you hurt yourself, but yes, I can’t very well back down from it now, can I?”

Yuri frowned a little. With the loop, JJ had four different quads, Viktor also had four and was, inexplicably, working on a fifth (also the loop), and Yuuri was planning on putting a quad lutz in his free skate if he could get it consistent enough. And Yuri still only had the toe and the salchow. He was aware from Yakov’s lectures, Viktor’s winning streak and instance, that quads weren’t everything, but Viktor and Yuuri were both strong skaters regardless of how many quads they could land. It had not been due to luck that Viktor had taken silver at Europeans last season with just a single quad in his free skate. But Yuri knew that his natural strength lay in the jumps. If he wanted to contend for that gold medal at PyeongChang, he needed to do something that could boost his score a little more.

“Hey, Yurio!” Phichit said suddenly, pulling Yuri out of his trance, “Who do you like more, Yuuri or Viktor?”

“Come again?”

“Yuuri or Viktor, choose one.”

“Why?”

“For fun! Come on.”

“As a skater or a person?” Yuri questioned, not that his answer was going to be different anyway.

“A skater,” Phichit clarified.

“Then Katsudon.”

“Yes! I vote for Yuuri too, so that’s two votes,” Phichit said enthusiastically, but Leo protested.

“Phichit is biased and his vote shouldn’t count,” he said slyly and Phichit protested until all four of them agreed that if Viktor skated the program of his life and Yuuri took a nap on the ice, then Phichit would still say Yuuri should win and that would be unfair.

“Fine, then,” Phichit said defeated, “What about the rest of you?”

“I’m voting Viktor,” Leo said, and Phichit frowned.

“This is why you didn’t want me to vote, you traitor. I can’t believe you call yourself a friend of Yuuri.”

Leo chuckled, “I’ve always been a fan of Viktor, I mean, who else does their own choreography and makes it look so easy?”

“You say that as if you don’t do the same thing,” Guang-Hong pointed out, “But I’m voting Viktor too.”

“Both of you are traitors,” Phichit hissed, and the duo laughed.

“Well, I’m voting for Yuuri, so that ties it up,” JJ commented, and Yuri smirked. Take that, Viktor!

“So Yuuri wins,” Phichit said, and the Viktor fanclub protested again.

“It’s a tie,” they said in unison, “Besides, does it matter?”

“Not really,” Phichit smiled and instantly forgot about the weird competition the conversation had evolved into, “I was just curious.”

As Yuri had said, it was quite a pleasant evening.

The last week of the training camp went by quickly, but Yuri could feel the improvements as he skated through his step sequence once more the day before they’d do full run-throughs again. Although he knew he still had ways to go before he would have the easy skating Phichit had showcased throughout the first week, he knew he would be repeating Celestino’s exercises when he got back to St. Petersburg, because he had already learned so much. When they all ended the training with the collective skating exercises, Yuri felt more relaxed than he had the first time, and he kept up better than before. It turned out Yakov had been right when he had said that going to Detroit would be beneficial.

“Nervous?” Guang-Hong asked the next day as they got ready for their run-throughs.

“Not really,” Yuri muttered, but he still felt his heart beat a little faster than usual. It was the second time he was doing a run-through of his short program and had something to prove. First it was a fight to keep the program and now it was a fight to show that he had improved in the short span of two weeks. And Yuri knew that he couldn’t just focus on the steps. Everything had to be excellent for him to complete the task set by Celestino.

They skated in the same order as they had at the beginning of the training camp, although in the absence of Phichit, Leo was the first to skate. Yuri had no idea what any of the others had been tasked to do, and wondered how Leo could improve his skating in just two weeks. He had seen Leo attempt a couple of quads over the course of the camp, but nothing that suggested that he would put it into the short program. Yuri was almost certain that Leo’s task had been technical, since he was pretty much perfect in all other areas, so it came to no surprise that the triple axel that had been Leo’s opening element before had been replaced with a triple flip. The triple axel being moved to the second half.

As Leo finished an almost clean short program (there had been a small mistake on the combination), Yuri got ready, wanting to give both a clean performance and show his (hopefully) improved skating skills. There was some cheering at the boards as Yuri took his starting position, and it made him smile as the music began and he got into character.

Yuri knew that the task had been to improve the step sequence, but skating skills were applied all the time, and Yuri was eager to show off everything that he had learned. The deeper edges helped generate speed, and Yuri already felt more comfortable with the fast paced program than he had when he had arrived. The two quads and the spins were as easy as they had been the first time, but Yuri was feeling a little anxious about the triple axel, not wanting to make a mistake like he had last time. He sacrificed a bit of the transitions Viktor had so carefully choreographed for him, making sure that the triple axel would be the best it could and landed it without issue, before moving onto the everso important step sequence.

Yuri knew that he needed to just trust the exercises he had been doing for the last two weeks, because if thought too much about it, then he would inevitable lose some his speed and that would mean failing the task. So Yuri trusted the many hours of pure skating he had done with Celestino, and simply let the flow of the program guide him, as he kept up with the tempo of the music. As the sequence came to an end and he entered his final spin, Yuri honestly had no idea how it had gone, but he sure had felt good while doing it. He finished his program and heard a small round of applause from his fellow skaters, and made a little show out of bowing to them as he left the ice.

Celestino didn’t give them any feedback until the Guang-Hong had finished his run-through, but as it turned out, they had all passed with flying colors. Yuri had still not managed to gain a level four on the step sequence, but he had gotten the level three Celestino had requested without sacrificing the essence of the program, and Yuri called it a victory. He still had until September before his first competition and by that time, he could definitely get to level four without sacrificing any part of his performance.

Although the run-throughs were over, they still had a whole day left of practice and Yuri memorized all the skating exercises they did at the end of the day to take with him back to St. Petersburg. Perhaps he could get Yuuri to skate them with him when they got back.

All in all, Yuri could count the two weeks as successful.