Chapter Text
Thinking back, when Minako-sensei had told Yuuri to stay close to her, maybe Yuuri should have been more vigilant on doing so.
But the skaters on the ice were so pretty, and the ten-year-old couldn’t help but be drawn into the entrancing movements that the older skaters displayed on the ice.
So can you really blame Yuuri for losing track of Minako-sensei sometime during a performance and not noticing until after it was over?
Probably a small, wiser voice in his young head whispers. Yuuri shakes his head and continues walking through the halls of the large stadium in an attempt to find her.
If he was going to be completely honest with himself, maybe he also should have paid more attention to her when she was explaining what to do if they ever got separated. But he was so excited that most of what she said had simply flown through his head. The memory comes miserably to him as he continues walking, looking for Minako.
And now here he is, completely lost in a large rink stadium in Tokyo without his mentor and with panic steadily growing in his chest with every passing second.
Borderline frantic, he's calling out loudly for Minako when he suddenly walks right into a solid force and his cries are replaced with a gasp as bright blue eyes look down to make surprised contact with his own.
Right there, towering a good half meter over him -and holding a small toddler who’s sucking on a cat binkie- is one of the prettiest people Yuuri’s ever seen. Long silver hair is braided behind their back and bright blue eyes seem to shine as the surprise leaves them. Slowly, a small smile starts to form on their face.
Yuuri’s voice is caught in his throat and suddenly his cheeks are feeling very warm.
“Hello there!” the person says, his voice joyful and friendly. He speaks with a strange accent but Yuuri can still make out what he’s saying.
They stare at each other for about two seconds before Yuuri remembers his manners and quickly bows.
“I-I’m so sorry” he stutters out, desperately trying to keep the words from shaking. “I-I didn’t see you.”
The boy smiles at him and cocks his head to the side. “English?” he tries.
Oh. Well Yuuri isn’t very good at that language yet. He can somewhat understand it, but his speaking is only okay at best. On the other hand, he has to find his mentor and this pretty guy looks like he might help.
“Um…” Yuuri pauses for a second, racking his head trying to find the right word. “Yes. English is okay. But I am not very good” The words feel odd on his tongue, and for a long second Yuuri wonders if he said it right.
Luckily, the pretty boy just smiles understandingly and adjusts the toddler in his arms. Distantly, Yuuri can’t help but find the little cat eared hat on the his blonde head adorable.
Of course, it would be cuter if Yuuri wasn’t sure that he’s on the receiving end of what would be a harsh glare had it been on something other than on a two-year-old.
“Are you lost?” the older boys voice snaps his attention away from the glaring child.
Yuuri can only recognize the first two words, but he nods, nonetheless. The pretty boy crouches down to his eye level, looking concerned.
“Do you know where your mother might be?”
Umm…? Yuuri’s mind pulls a blank as he stares at the other boy dumbly.
After a few seconds, the boy sighs, “You did not understand that, did you?”
Only pulling out a few words from that sentence, Yuuri continues to stare, feeling a little foolish but not knowing what else to do. Finally, pulling together what little English is in his brain:
“Minako-sensei.” He says.
The pretty boy cocks his head towards him. “Is that your name?” he asks.
Finally, something he understands. “No.” he says, shaking his head. “Minako-sensei. My…” Yuuri pauses again, searching for the word. “Teacher!” he says triumphantly.
The pretty boys mouth makes a small “o” and Yuuri feels a rare swell of pride in himself.
And then the pretty boy turns his head over to an older man and yells out something that is decidedly not English. The older man, who seems to be paying more attention to an older skater, says something else and the pretty boy smiles victoriously.
“Come.” He says, gesturing his hand in a ‘come along’ motion “we will help you”.
Only understanding half of what the pretty boy is saying, Yuuri nods and runs to keep pace with him.
After a few minutes of walking, they are back to the doors that lead to the rink stands. When Yuuri curiously looks up at the pretty boy, he simply says; “It’s a short cut” then proceeds to adjust the toddler so now he’s riding on his back.
Not knowing what else to do, Yuuri follows.
For a few more minutes, Yuuri simply follows the pretty boy. He almost has to run to keep up with his pace, but luckily the pretty boys long silver hair (despite being partially covered by the toddler) makes him easy to keep an eye on.
And then the currently performing skater does what Yuuri is certain is a triple axel and suddenly Yuuri’s eyes are glued onto him. Sooner than Yuuri would have liked, the show ends and the Skater goes to get his scores.
Holding his breath with the skater, Yuuri cheers with him when he gets a 104.54 on his Short Program, putting him in first place.
Suddenly, there’s a larger hand on his shoulder and alarmed, Yuuri whips his head only to relax when it just turns out the be the pretty boy. He quickly stiffens up though, when he sees the concerned and slightly frazzled look on the others face. It's not a good look on him.
“There you are!” the pretty boy exclaims, “Have you been here entire time?”
Uhhh…? Yuuri looks at him blankly.
The pretty boy sighs. “Oh right.” He mutters. Lifting up one hand, he points to Yuuri. Then using two fingers he points to his eyes and then to the cheering skater.
Ooh. Yuuri nods, “Yes.” he says. “He is very good.”
Sighing, the pretty boy smiles at him in a way Yuuri can’t tell is tired or amused. “Well now I have a good idea on why you got lost,” he says in a teasing tone. (Well, at least it sounds like that)
Yuuri blinks up at him. The pretty boy sighs again. “Never mind.”
At that moment, the music for the next skater has started and Yuuri’s attention shifts back to the rink.
“He’s really good, isn’t he?” the pretty boys voice asks after a few minutes, “I have to admit that, even if he is a complete pridurok.” Yuuri looks up at him, but the boy still has his eyes focused on the rink. Suddenly, the crowd goes wild and Yuuri turns back to the rink right on time to see the skater make a perfect jump landing.
“That’s going to be me next year.” The pretty boy continues, stealing back Yuuri's attention, “But for my senor debut, I am going to get gold.” He stares at the skater mid jump, his eyes narrowing in unmistakable determination, “that will show him.”
Yuuri can only recognize the words ‘me’, ‘my’, ‘next year’, "I am" and ‘gold’, but it’s enough for him to guess what the boy is saying. Examining the boy’s face, Yuuri catches a hint of what is (maybe) uncertainty when the skater does (what looks like to Yuuri) a quadruple loop.
The uncertainty increases on the boy’s face when the skater on ice lands it perfectly.
Yuuri decides he doesn’t like it and wants to make the pretty boy feel better.
“You” he says, recalling an English statement of encouragement he’d learned from Minako earlier “will be great” the words come out wobbly and Yuuri knows his pronunciation is far from perfect, but when the pretty boy turns to look at him -eyes wide in evident surprise- Yuuri knows the message got through.
Slowly, a beam makes its way across the pretty boy’s face and Yuuri doesn't remember the last time he's felt this proud of himself.
Reaching a hand out, the pretty boy ruffles Yuuri’s dark hair causing the younger kid to blush.
“Thank you” he says, a fond smile across his face, “You will watch me?”
Yuuri doesn’t really understand the second part, but since it’s obviously a question he nods anyway.
The bright grin from the pretty boy almost makes Yuuri feel bad that he doesn’t know what he said yes to.
He doesn’t have much time to ponder over it however, because the grin on the boy’s face quickly shifts into a wince when the toddler (who Yuuri had momentarily forgotten about) decides the long shiny braid looks like it would be fun to pull (and very roughly at that).
“AH!” the pretty boy yelps, his head craning back briefly at the force. His eyes squint at the now laughing toddler before he uses his free hand to pull his hair out of the little ones grip.
He then proceeds to scold (or at least Yuuri thinks it’s scolding) the toddler in another rapid language, one Yuuri doesn’t understand.
(For a second, Yuuri could’ve sworn he heard his name from the pretty boy, but that’s impossible. Right?)
Once he’s done, the pretty boy simply drapes his braid over his shoulder and shoots one more halfhearted glare at the toddler, who looks like he could care less.
Right at that moment, the music ends right as the skater takes his final pose and the audience erupts in applause.
“Come on.” The pretty boy says, looking over at him.
Truthfully, Yuuri wants to wait for the scores, but he decides against asking. He’s probably already caused enough trouble and he doesn’t know how to ask in English anyway. So, with one last look towards the bowing skater, he follows the pretty boy through the rink area.
This time, the boy is walking noticeably slower and keeps glancing down at Yuuri every few seconds. It doesn’t bother Yuuri, but it does make him wonder about the strange behavior.
Eventually, they reach another door.
“Almost there.” The pretty boy says cheerfully, adjusting the toddler so he’s sitting higher on his back.
They then walk through a corridor that quickly gets crowded and at some point the pretty boy grabs onto Yuuri’s wrist .
Finally, they make it to a desk and to Yuuri’s delight, his mentor is there, looking very worried as she talks to the lady behind it.
“Minako-sensei!” he calls out, yanking his hand away from the pretty boys as he runs towards her.
Minako’s head snaps up, and relief floods her features.
“Yuuri!” she exclaims, running over to him. Before he can say anything, Yuuri’s shoulders being held in a bone-breaking grip.
“What did I tell you about staying close to me?” Minako scolds, still hanging onto him.
She’s not actually mad, Yuuri can tell. But she was definitely worried, and Yuuri feels ashamed of making her feel so.
“I’m sorry,” he apologizes, “I got sidetracked and then lost track of you.”
Minako sighs, and her grip on his shoulders loosen. “It’s fine. Just make sure to stay close this time.” She says. She then pauses for a second before her eyebrows suddenly furrow in confusion.
“Wait. How did you get here?” she asks.
“Oh! A nice boy with blue eyes and a toddler brought me over here!” Yuuri says, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. “They’re right over-” he turns over to where he last saw the pretty boy…
…only to find that he wasn’t there anymore.
Yuuri scanned the area three more times, but he couldn’t see as much as a flash of silver or a small kitty hat.
Huh.
(Two years later, when the encounter has faded from Yuuri’s memory, he’ll see a beautiful silver haired skater on the Ice Castle television gliding across the ice with unbelievable grace and magnificence.
When this happens, a tug of familiarity will pull at his brain, and Yuuri will wonder if he’s ever seen this skater beforehand.
He’ll quickly shake his head at the thought though. Because there’s no way he could’ve seen or met someone that cool and not remember him. Besides, he’s only okay at skating now. There’s no way someone like this skater would ever notice someone like him.
But that’s okay. Because Yuuri will spend the next few years of his life doing everything he can to become a skater worthy of Victor Nikiforov’s attention.
It’s safe to say, he won't forget about the silver haired skater this time)
…
(A little more than a decade later, Victor will find himself back on the ice after an almost year long hiatus.
When it’s nearly his turn to skate, he’ll look at the rink in complete determination and mentally prepare himself for the performance to come.
“You will be great.” A voice will interrupt his thoughts and he’ll turn around to face his beautiful fiancé, who will be looking up at him with a shy yet endearing smile.
For a brief moment, Victor will feel a flash of familiarity. The feeling won’t be unwelcomed, but it will be strange.
He’ll quickly brush it off though, he’s a forgetful man and if it’s truly important, he’ll figure it out later anyway. Probably.
He will then smile back, and proceed to brush Yuuri’s bangs out of his eyes. The younger man will blush lightly at the contact but won’t move away from it.
“You will watch me?” Victor will ask softly, curling a few strands around his finger.
And this time, Yuuri will lean into the touch as his previously shy smile slowly turns tender.
“Always,” he’ll say.
Needless to say, Viktor will win gold at that competition.)