Chapter Text
He’d regret asking. He didn’t need to ask to know that he’d regret asking. He did it anyway, because he always did. After the quad flip where Viktor Nikiforov fell on his ass, Yakov signaled him over to the side of the rink and made him take a seat in the bleachers. “You’re just going to hurt yourself if you keep trying when your mind is somewhere else. What’s on your mind?”
“Yuuri.” Viktor was already reaching for his phone.
That… was not at all what Yakov had expected. Viktor rarely showed concern for any skaters but himself, although he had taken something of an interest in the skater Yakov felt was likely to take Viktor’s place as figure skating’s living legend. “Trying to figure out a way to remind him that he’s not going to get by on being better than everyone else once he gets into seniors?”
Viktor looked up. “I didn’t mean Yuri Plisetsky. Plisetsky is easy. Next year he has to compete against me, and I’m going to destroy him. Or Chris will, or that Canadian guy whose name I can’t ever remember. The first time that happens, it’ll be a wakeup call for him and he’ll get back to the top the next season. I meant Katsuki.”
“The Japanese skater? Why?” This was definitely something new from Viktor. Somewhat frightening.
Viktor turned his phone so Yakov could see what he was watching. Katsuki, probably from a couple years ago. “How did we overlook this guy all this time? If he could just land his jumps…”
Yakov watched the video. He’d never paid much attention to Katsuki. Good dancer, wildly inconsistent in his jumps, he’d been having a good year this year but had apparently saved all his bad luck for his Grand Prix Finals free skate. Now, watching to try to see what Viktor saw… there was something there, but he didn’t understand why that was distracting Viktor to the point of screwing up jumps himself. “Presentation can only cover so much. He’s better than I’ve been giving him credit for, it wasn’t just a fluke that he made the Finals, but he needs to do something about those jumps.”
“He asked me to be his coach.”
Oh. Shit. That was exactly the kind of wild idea that Viktor would pounce on given an ounce of encouragement. Best if Yakov could nip it in the bud. “You? Coaching? How’s that supposed to work when you’re still skating?”
“I have no idea. He’s got Cialdini already, so I don’t know that he meant it too seriously – not to mention that he was drunk.”
Yakov scoffed. At least Viktor wasn’t seriously considering it. He could just see Viktor getting some wild notion about coaching his own competition, or worse, quitting skating to go coach this guy. He was worried about Viktor quitting skating anyway, but ending his career because his heart was no longer in it was very different from ending his career because he’d gotten some harebrained idea. “And that’s got you distracted enough to be falling on your ass. Or are you trying to figure out how he manages it?”
Viktor smiled briefly. “That was distraction. Everyone falls from time to time. It’s not that he can’t do the jumps. Watch this!” He found an exhibition skate, where Yuuri did a perfect quad Salchow and a halfway decent quad Lutz. “If he could do those in the skates that count, he’d be challenging Chris and Bin regularly, possibly even challenging me.”
Viktor needed a challenger if he was going to stay on the ice much longer. Plisetsky could do it, but it would take a while for him to sort out his laziness and overconfidence. If Viktor could help Katsuki, even just the project of trying could bridge the time. “So what are you planning on doing?”
Viktor groaned and put his phone away. “Nothing.”
“Hmm?” There was plenty Viktor could do without actually becoming Katsuki’s coach, and now that he’d seen what Katsuki was capable of, he could see why Viktor would even consider the idea. Viktor just sitting around distracted and moping did nobody any good.
“I can’t do anything, because I am an idiot.”
Yakov rolled his eyes. “You’ll have to be more specific.”
That got a spark out of Viktor as the skater stuck his tongue out at Yakov. “I told him we’d talk in the morning, programmed my number into his phone so that he could call me when he was awake enough to talk, walked him to his room to make sure he got there all right…”
“Vitya, tell me you didn’t…”
“I am wounded!” Viktor’s feigned outrage didn’t last long. “He asked, and if he’d been sober I would have in a heartbeat, but he was too drunk for me to consider the idea. I told him that, wished him a good night… and haven’t heard from him since. Chris said he’d left to fly home before I thought to go looking for him, and that’s it. I don’t even know exactly where home is for him.”
“And that makes you an idiot because…”
“Because I didn’t make sure to get his number so I could call him if I didn’t hear from him! He was drunk when we were actually talking. Remember how he just walked away when I asked him for a commemorative photo? I know he’s a fan. Maybe he’s just shy when he’s sober.” Yakov held back the scathing comment about of course he walked away, he thought Viktor didn’t recognize him. Obviously he’d gotten over that at the banquet. “What if he’s mad at me for not staying? It was the right thing to do, but maybe I wasn’t clear enough that the only reason I was leaving was because he was drunk.”
This was new. Viktor turning down a one-night stand wasn’t. Viktor considering it wasn’t new either. Viktor talking like… “Do you want to date him? Have an actual relationship?”
Viktor looked at Yakov, eyes wide, an actual huge smile lighting up his face. Yakov tried to think when the last time he’d seen Viktor smile like this, and he couldn’t remember. It must have been years. “I do! I didn’t think… but yes, now that you say it… that’s exactly what I want!” The smiled vanished all too suddenly. “Not that it helps if he won’t call me and I can’t contact him.”
“Maybe you can catch him at Worlds…?”
Viktor shook his head. “He did even worse at his Nationals than he did at the Finals. Chris doesn’t know how to get hold of him, and because I’d overlooked him before, I have no idea what other skaters would.”
“All right. Get your head on the ice, Viktor.” Yakov had no idea what other advice to give. Maybe at Worlds, he could have a chat with Cialdini…