Chapter Text
Yuuri sat by himself high up in the bleachers clutching his phone so tightly his knuckles were white. A fresh batch of tears were welling in his brown eyes and trickling down his cheeks making the words on the screen blur and dance before him.
He was sure that it wasn’t right to feel like this, to be so scared of someone that you couldn’t move, couldn’t think. Life, for as long as he could remember, had been a continual dance of appeasing his husband and walking on eggshells trying not to do anything that would upset the blonde haired, grey eyed man.
Zachary had been so wonderful, attentive and perfect in the beginning. Where and when had it started to go so wrong ? Maybe the signs had been there all along, but at the moment the Japanese man just couldn’t see them.
Perhaps everything Zach said was true. Maybe it was all his fault. Maybe he was the only one to blame. Maybe he should just give up everything he loved and dedicate himself to improving his behaviour so that he wouldn’t get shouted at anymore.
But Yuuri didn’t want to give up skating. It was his only source of unsupervised visits with his friends and his only outlet to be himself. He wanted to stay in competition. He wanted to win and show that he was worth more. If to nobody else, but himself. He wanted to stand on top of that podium and listen to his anthem. He wanted his family and his country to be proud of him.
He knew that he would never get this from his husband. Zachary always thought that figure skating was a waste of time, even though it brought in all the sponsorship money to finance their very comfortable way of life. This thought caused a small smile on Yuuri’s face, but as soon as he realised it, he threw a hand over his mouth and looked around to make sure nobody had seen his slip.
Zach was definitely happiest when everything was going his way. All his bills paid for by Yuuri, the freedom to not work as hard as he should and the young Asian man there at his beck and call; worshipping at the foot of the pedestal he had made Yuuri put his husband on.
In the beginning he had been so happy…
-
He’d not expected to fall in love so quickly. Or for the man who everyone said was ‘the most perfect man ever’, to be interested in him, of all people. Yuuri was just Yuuri, plain and average maybe, but nothing special. So he was surprised and happy to know that a gorgeous man like Zachary would even consider picking him as a possible love interest.
Yuuri had been busy living his own life, having fun with his friends, quite content to be on his own, hooking up with someone if he felt the need for physical love, but on the whole happy as a single man. He loved sharing a house with his best friend and their pets, skating and working as a ballet teacher at a studio close to the rink.
Zachary had been at a local competition in Detroit with a group of friends and had, by chance, seen Yuuri perform. Hanging around afterwards he had made sure that he was introduced to Yuuri, buying him drinks at a nearby bar and generally flirting with him.
They had parted with a brief kiss, a blushing Yuuri promising to go and watch him in his latest show at the Detroit Public Theater the following day. Zachary was certainly a self assured man, Yuuri felt a little in awe of him and his ego. The Japanese man wished he could be as confident as the American actor was, it would possibly make his competitions run a little better.
Backstage after the performance, Zachary had invited Yuuri out for a meal to which the young man had eagerly agreed. So flattered that amongst all the hangers on, he was the one that Zach was clearly interested in…
-
“Yuuri, oi, you coming?”
Yurio was calling out to him from center ice.
Wiping his eyes on the sleeve of his jacket and replacing his glasses, the Japanese man walked back down to the side of the rink and removed his skate guards, it was time to continue his practise session.
Yurio glanced at him with worry in his eyes. Yuuri had obviously cried, again… He would never admit it out loud, but he was just as worried about Yuuri as all the other skaters at the rink were. Everyone knew that Yuuri wasn't happy in his marriage, but it didn't look like he would or could do anything about it. He sighed and watched Yuuri carefully, wondering if there was anything he could do to help.
Yuuri swiftly sent a quick text to his husband before tucking his phone back into his bag, hopefully placating the already angry man; he was sure he had told him what time he would be home, but apparently he hadn’t.
The ‘where are you?’ texts had started only an hour or so after he had arrived at the arena.
The trouble was, while he was practising he couldn’t keep stopping to look at his phone and that was one of the things that made Zachary so mad. It made him accuse Yuuri of ignoring him and being unfaithful to him. This in turn then fed the continual nervous feeling in his stomach and made him dread returning home at the end of his rink time.
The young man knew that he was going to receive yet another ‘talking to’ about how he was upsetting his husband and another evening would begin of Yuuri having to sit next to Zach, paying attention to him and obeying his every command...
-
Viktor watched from the other side of the rink, noticing the worried expression on the pretty face of the Japanese skater. They hadn’t been training at the same rink for very long, but he had the distinct impression that something wasn’t right. Yuuri was jumpy and withdrawn most of the time. Occasionally he could see the confidence shining through, whereas on other days Yuuri was sad and only looking down at the floor, barely speaking to anyone. Those practise days usually didn’t go so well for the handsome man.
He knew that the young man was married to a professional actor, however he couldn’t shake the feeling that the dark haired skater was hiding something.
-
“If you loved me, you would do as I ask. Why do you always make all these promises to change and then carry on behaving as you have always done?”
Yuuri hung his head, trying not to let Zach see that he was crying. Again. That would only lead to more shouting about how he was always in tears and that it made his husband mad as he hated it when the dark haired man cried.
He tried so hard to be good, to change, to act as he had been asked to do so, but somehow it was never enough. There was always something that he was doing that could have a fault found in it.
Apparently, virtually everything he did was wrong, from the way he cooked, to the way he styled his hair, anything. Zachary always knew the best way to do something and that was the way that Yuuri was supposed to do it. Repeatedly showing him whenever he caught the young man performing tasks in his own way. It was clear that Yuuri’s way was never good enough. Only Zach knew the best ways of doing any kind of task the correct way.
Yuuri had lost count of the number of nights he had spent apologising for something he had supposedly done. Trying to placate the angry man, persuading him not to leave him and come back to bed. Knowing that he would be expected to tend to his husbands ‘needs’ to try and make things better. However, Yuuri was not allowed to enjoy himself, unless he had permission to do so from Zachary, which surprisingly was hardly ever given to him.
Another one of the main ‘rules’ of their relationship that had been introduced very early on was that Yuuri was not to talk to anyone about their home life. About how Zachary behaved towards him when they were alone or about the rules Zachary had set in place. Just like the one that Yuuri always had to let Zach know where he was going when he left the house and when he would be back.
It was the rule about not talking about his home life that was the one which was the hardest to follow for Yuuri. After a few years he began to hate the way that Zachary made him feel, so when it got too bad he would talk to his friends, making them promise not to say anything to anyone.
After these sessions he would spend the following weeks worrying whether or not that they would keep his secrets. Knowing that Zach would probably find out anyway, he had a knack for gathering information about anything that Yuuri did or said. No matter where in the world Yuuri was, Zachary seemed to know exactly what he had done.
What Yuuri didn’t realise was that whenever his friends tried to tell him that he should leave Zachary, that their relationship wasn’t healthy, he would end up defending his partner. Saying that it wasn’t Zach’s fault, that he was the one to blame. He was totally unaware that his husband was training him, controlling him and his life, feeding off him emotionally and, not long after, financially.
~
Picking up his bag at the end of practise, the young Asian man heard his husband’s ring tone and rapidly dug through the bag’s side pocket, trying to find his phone, hoping to answer it before it went to voicemail. Grabbing it, he tentatively answered it and stood quiet and still as he listened to the shouting from the other end, holding the phone away from his ear, but still being able to hear every word. He felt all the euphoria from a skating practise well done ebbing away and being replaced by the tight feeling in his throat and the nervous butterflies in his stomach. Yuuri didn’t realise that his form was getting smaller and smaller showing defeat and resignation in every fibre of his being while listening to Zachary going on and on about him not answering messages while being at practise.
“I’m so sorry, I-I thought I had told you that we were working later today. Y-yes, of course I’m at the rink, where else would I be…?”
Viktor paused as he walked behind the younger man, accidentally overhearing part of his conversation. He studied the form of the Asian man and noted the downward slope of his shoulders and defeated look on his face. Yes, there was something definitely not right here. Whoever he was talking to was not being kind and this angered the Russian man. Yuuri looked like he was about to cry.
Loitering by pretending to look for something in his bag, he waited until the now silent man pocketed his phone and trudged dejectedly towards the door.
“Yuuri! Wait!”
The Japanese man jumped and turned around, a frown creasing his brow as he saw Viktor hurrying towards him. Why was the Russian competitor calling to him? Viktor was a world class champion, there was no reason for him to want to speak to a dime a dozen skater from Japan. They weren’t even close, acknowledging each other in the way that all the professional skaters did, but they had never actually spoken.
The silver haired man blushed as he approached. Yep, he had rushed into something without actually thinking about what he was doing and how he was going to do it once again.
“Y-Yuuri, hi!” he stammered, smiling his trademark heart shaped grin, “I, erm, I wondered if you were ok? Y-You looked a little sad after you finished your call…”
A pretty pink tint covered the smaller man’s cheeks as he nodded, automatically going into defensive mode, waving his arms in a dismissive way in front of him “Y-Yes, I’m fine, thank you, I was just speaking to my h-husband, he was wondering where I was…”
Viktor instantly knew that he couldn’t say what he wanted to say right now. He recognised the look of fear in the chocolate brown eyes staring intently at him and it saddened him immensely.
“Oh, ok, I was just checking. Us skaters have to stick together, you know!” he chuckled, the laugh sounding false even to his own ears.
“We haven’t really spoken much, have we?” the Russian continued, wanting to at least let Yuuri know that he would be there for him, “Fancy a coffee before we go our separate ways?”
Viktor had been watching the young Asian skater since he had arrived at the rink, envious of the way the dark haired man could make music with his body, but so sad for the anxiety that was clearly apparent. Nerves that made him flub jumps in competition that he easily nailed in practise when he thought there was no one watching him.
It was very clear that something was playing on his mind and this saddened the Russian. Yuuri was so very kind and handsome and, had he not been married, he was exactly the person that the silver haired man would definitely have tried to woo and date at the rink.
Watching closely he saw the flicker of suspicion and curiosity cross the otherwise tense features of the man he was talking to, followed rapidly by a look of resignation and a shake of his head.
“N-No, sorry, I’m already late and Z-Zachary doesn’t like to be kept waiting…”
A look of terror flashed on the Japanese man’s face as though he had spoken out of line, “Please don’t tell him I said that…” he begged as he turned and ran towards the double doors.
Following his departing figure across the arena floor with his eyes, Viktor saw the imposing form of a blonde haired man waiting at the door, his look as Yuuri approached him was one of disgust and arrogance. Looking up and noticing Viktor staring at him, the man’s expression immediately changed to one of fake happiness, placing a kiss on Yuuri’s cheek as he reached him. The tiny sound of surprise from the smaller man just audible to the Russian’s ears made him frown. The blonde man placed a hand posessively on the small of his husbands back and pushed him through the doors.
‘Hmmm…’ thought the silver haired man, ‘I think I might know what is going on here…’
Moving his bag from one hand to the other, he fished his phone out of his pocket and pressed speed dial.
“Chris, you with Phichit? Good, I’m coming to talk you…”
-
Viktor had always made it his mission to help people, whenever, wherever and however he could help to make someone else’s life better.
Growing up without his parents he had refused to let this make him bitter and resentful towards people with happy home lives, instead he had resolved, at an early age, to take care of his friends as they had taken care of him when he needed them most.
He wasn’t sure how he would have coped without the love and support of the people around him after the horrific accident. His younger self had been at his best friend Yelena’s house only days before his birthday when his parent’s car had hit a patch of black ice, spun off the road and slammed into a tree, killing them both instantly. Memories from that time were still hazy, too painful to revisit completely even now, so many years later.
However, he could still feel and remember the love of Yelena’s parents, his Godparents, during his grief. He considered them to be his aunt and uncle as they had raised the broken boy, and later on, as he started skating, Yakov and Lilia became his role models as well.
Yelena's parents had introduced the kids to skating, but only Viktor fell in love with the ice. He was discovered by Yakov not long after when he spotted the silver haired boy at a local rink and noticed his natural talent. Viktor soon moved in with his coach and Lilia to continue his training with the blessing of the Volkov family who granted the couple guardianship of the orphaned boy.
Viktor knew that he was very fortunate that his parents had left him very well provided for, although the money could not replace his longing for a relationship of his own, a need to create his own family.
Maybe, considering all the money and resources he had at his disposal, he could do something to help the Japanese skater?