Chapter Text
Present
Katsuki Yuuri stood nervously on the side of the rink; his camera ready in his hand to take another picture of the handsome silver haired male, who was currently doing his warm up lap across the ice. Yuuri blushed when the said male turned to him and smiled warmly, even going far enough to blow a kiss at him and made a heart gesture with his hands. Yuuri hid his face behind his camera as he saw his face appear on the large screen, and vaguely, he could hear the commentators saying something about him. Yuuri was ready to let the ground swallow him whole now. Trust Viktor Nikiforov to embarrass him like this.
“And there we see Viktor Nikiforov blow a kiss to his fiancé…”
Please stop.
“Katsuki Yuuri-sensei looks pretty embarrassed now! His latest volume of ‘On ICE!!!’ is selling pretty well, and according to fans, his works have made figure skating pretty popular right now…”
Yuuri begged the commentators to talk about something else. Nishigori Takeshi, his editor, grinned maniacally and even gave him two thumbs up. Just like Yuuri, Nishigori was holding a camera and was ready to take some pictures as well for reference. Yuuri smiled lightly as he looked at the ice again, where Viktor was done with his warm up and returned to his coach, Yakov Feltsman. Yuuri chuckled softly when he saw Yakov saying something, probably scolding Viktor, as usual.
How many years had passed now, since he had met Viktor? It was unexpected. Had it really been three years since his debut started? It had been about six months after he finally got engaged to Viktor. Yuuri smiled as he looked at the simple silver band around his ring finger. From his camera, Yuuri could see the matching silver band on Viktor’s ring finger as well.
It had all started a little bit over three years ago.
Three years ago.
“Why figure skating?” Nishigori Takeshi asked the man in front of him. Katsuki Yuuri looked beaten up, as he delivered his manuscript to Shueisha, a Japanese publishing company. From the look of it, the younger man in front of him had pulled an all-nighter to finish this one, and Nishigori had to admit, after Yuuri’s third attempt to send a manuscript, this one by far was the best.
Yuuri looked at Nishigori, slightly nervous. “Ah, well… I used to be a figure skater when I was in high school, but I got injured back then, so I turned to drawing manga,” he answered honestly. “And I thought… well, because I have an experience in that field, why not making a figure skating manga? I mean, there aren’t a lot of them around.”
“Mostly because they might not be suitable for Shounen JUMP,” Nishigori nodded. “But I like the idea. It’s fresh, your art is good, and the story is good too. I’ll put it up for consideration on Akamaru JUMP as a one-shot first, and we can see if it will be up for serialization. But for now, let’s talk about some improvements for this manuscript. Now, the first page…”
Nishigori and Yuuri talked for hours, editing each page of the manga, with Nishogori giving him some ideas and improvements to make the manga more JUMP-like. Yuuri absorbed everything like sponge, putting the suggestions in his notes and throwing in a few more ideas to be considered by Nishigori.
“I think your story will stand out more than the usual lineup for JUMP,” Nishigori grinned. “Let’s do our best together!”
And for the next three months, Yuuri was pouring his heart and soul into his work. He watched hundreds of figure skating videos, he went to exhibition shows, and drew like crazy, making name after name to be shown to Nishigori and approved. And whenever he felt like his arms would fall off after drawing so much, he would put on his private collection of his favorite figure skater. The one and only Viktor Nikiforov.
Yuuri sighed happily as he began watching the performance of Viktor in his Junior Grand Prix final. It was part of his work anyway, Yuuri nodded happily. Without thinking, he took a piece of paper and started to sketch Viktor just for the fun of it. And thus, Yuuri’s days filled with drawing, deadlines, and figure skating.
Until finally, Nishigori called him, Yuuri was currently bundled up on his couch, watching the latest video of Viktor winning his second consecutive gold medal in GPF. Until he heard that his manga will be serialized on JUMP. Yuuri screamed in excitement at the news. He quickly called his parents, telling them that his moving to Tokyo would be permanent now. He was glad he had already rented an apartment studio in Tokyo to make it easier for his serialization. Next thing he knew, he already had three assistants. Nishigori Yuko, his editor’s wife, Okukawa Minako, and an art student from Thailand, Phichit Chulanont.
“Another Viktor video?” Minako asked Yuuri who was currently laying down on the couch, watching figure skating videos as usual. Yuuri only blushed at the question. He had finished inking all the manuscripts and left the rest for his assistants. Phichit was doing the background and effects while Yuko and Minako put on the beta and screentone.
“Sensei, we told you we’ll handle the rest, so you can sleep before Nishigori-san comes,” Phichit sighed at the sight of the mangaka who was curling up like a baby while watching the televison.
“I’ll sleep after Nishigori-san leaves…” Yuuri mumbled. His eyes sparkled when he saw Viktor in the video do a quad flip smoothly.
“Yuuri is really a big fan of Viktor,” Yuko laughed softly.
“Big fan? His room is practically a shrine!” Minako sighed in exasperation. “How can you even sleep with so many Viktor Nikiforov posters on your wall?”
“The posters make me sleep better,” Yuuri mumbled.
“But the manga is getting really popular lately,” Phichit said as he finished drawing the background for the cover of ‘On ICE!!!’. “I heard some girls talking about it on the train while my way home yesterday. Girls love your ‘Alexei Romanov’ character. Clearly you based him on Viktor Nikiforov?”
Yuuri blushed and nodded. Minako snickered and patted Yuuri’s hair gently.
“But I wonder who the base of the main character is though?” Yuko smiled as she finished putting on the screen tone for ‘Himuro Rin’, the main character’s skating costume. “I heard from Takeshi the third volume of the manga will be published next month…”
“Yes… I’ve drawn the cover art for it,” Yuuri yawned, finally feeling sleepy. “I think I’m gonna sleep. Wake me up when Nishigori-san comes to pick up the manuscript…”
“Have a good rest, Yuuri!” Minako said and turned off the TV, while Yuuri walked to his room to sleep.
The three assistants continued their work until Nishigori came to pick up the manuscript. No one had the heart to wake Yuuri from sleep since they knew Yuuri had been working hard these past three days for the deadline. In the end, Yuuri was asleep for the next 24 hours.
Viktor Nikiforov never thought he would have this much free time when he arrived in Japan for Grand Prix Series. The first thing he did was ditch Yakov and Yuri Plisetsky, his junior rinkmate, before he heading out for his culinary adventure. It had been a while since the last time he was in Tokyo, and Minami Kenjirou, the Japan representative for GPF was kind enough to be his tour guide, and before he knew it, Christophe Giacometti had joined him as well.
The three of them headed out from the hotel, with Minami Kenjirou leading the trio through the streets of Tokyo.
“I want to try it… Katsudon!” Viktor said in excitement. “I’ve never tried it before, but I heard it’s good…!”
Minami laughed softly and nodded. “It is very good. I know a good restaurant further down the road,” Minami said. “It’s only a fifteen-minute walk.”
Both foreign men nodded and followed Minami along the street, taking in the view. Viktor and Chris insisted on buying takoyaki when they walked passed a takoyaki stand in the park, despite being on their way to the restaurant.
“This is good,” Chris said as he chewed on the takoyaki happily.
“Vkusno!!” Viktor cheered in an excited tone.
They continued to walk until their takoyaki was finished. This time, Viktor’s eyes wandered to a bookstore nearby. “Kenjirou, can we go to the bookstore next? I want to buy manga!”
“You read manga?” Chris raised an eyebrow at Viktor.
“I read comics, but in Japan, you should read manga, right?” Viktor grinned. “Come on!” he dragged both skaters into the bookstore and started to look around. Chris walked into one section that contained adult books while Viktor excitedly browsed through real Japanese manga. He frowned when he realized something astonishing to him.
”Kenjirou, all of these are in Japanese..!” he pouted.
“Of course they are,” Minami said as if it were the most obvious thing.
“But I can’t speak or read in Japanese!” Viktor whined. He wanted to buy at least one manga, but even if he bought it he couldn’t read it. So pouting, he just looked at the covers, promising himself he would learn Japanese so he could read the original Japanese manga. His eyes wandered to the new manga display, that was until something caught his eyes. A manga just like any other, but what caught his eye was the character on the cover, who wore a sparkling costume with skates on. He was posing as if he was doing an Ina Bauer.
“Oh? Is that the new volume of ‘On ICE!!!’?” Minami asked curiously as he saw the manga Viktor was holding.
Viktor blinked and saw the title that happened to be in English. It did say ‘On ICE!!!’ on the cover.
“It’s a very popular manga about figure skating,” Minami explained. “It’s still new, but it’s very good. The art and story are top notch, and since it’s about figure skating, I really like it…”
Viktor’s eyes sparkled at the mention of manga about figure skating. He looked at it again and smiled brightly. “I want to buy this! But this one says volume 2… Where is volume 1?” he questioned as he looked around. Minami helped him find the first volume. This one had different character doing something that looked like a flip, with dramatic scene behind him. Viktor ended up buying the first and second volume of ‘On ICE!!!’.
“But it’s in Japanese,” Chris said once they were out of the bookstore. Chris bought a city guidebook that was luckily in English.
“I still can see the pictures!” Viktor said happily. They chatted until they finally got to the restaurant. It was small but cozy. There weren’t that many visitors at this hour. They got a seat and ordered food from the menu. Viktor opened his manga while waiting, asking Minami to translate the words for him. Chris joined him reading the manga. Apparently, the story was about a young Japanese skater who was struggling with his career, and planned to retire early until he met a famous skater, who offered to be his coach after seeing the Japanese skater’s video on him trying to do the famous skater’s routine.
“This ‘Alexei’ guy… Is kinda like you, isn’t he?” Chris frowned.
“Really?” Viktor tilted his head curiously.
“I mean, come on, skating prodigy, Russian, world champion?” Chris smiled.
“Now come to think about it, it is!” Minami agreed.
Viktor laughed happily. “Well, I’m glad that I’m the inspiration for the character!” he explained. “But this manga is really good…” Viktor smiled happily as he studied the art. It really captured the beauty and intensity of figure skating, yet it wasn’t exaggerating like other sports manga Viktor had read before (in English or Russian, of course). “Is this manga still ongoing?” Viktor asked Minami.
“It is,” Minami nodded. “I think the third volume will be released next month.”
“Kenjirou, you should send me the new volume once it’s released then!” Viktor said quickly. It was truly an amazing manga, and Viktor found himself hooked immediately, even though he couldn’t understand what the character was saying. “Maybe I should send a fan letter to the author… what's their name..?” Viktor frowned when he saw the name in kanji. “How do you read these?”
“Hm? Oh, it’s Katsuki Yuuri,” Minami nodded. “He is the author of ‘On ICE!!!’.”
Viktor nodded and started to ask Minami about how he was supposed to send a fan letter to a mangaka. Minami explained it to him as Viktor took note. The night went on.
Present
“Perfect, ladies and gentlemen! It was a perfect performance of Viktor Nikiforov! Now the points for his short program…”
Yuuri smiled as the commentators announced Viktor’s scores for his short program.
Viktor smiled brightly as he saw that he had gotten first place. His eyes quickly looking for Yuuri, before giving him a bright smile and V-sign. Yuuri returned the smile and gave a V-sign as well to Viktor. Yuuri couldn’t be more proud of him. He knew Viktor had been working hard on the choreography for his short and free program, and he smiled when he remembered even after the hard practice, Viktor still spent time staying with Yuuri whenever he was in Japan, while the young mangaka pulled another all-nighter to catch up with the deadline.
Viktor had told Yuuri about his retirement plan now. Yakov tried to push for another season, but Viktor was stubborn about his decision. Besides, he wanted to spend as much time with Yuuri now in Japan rather than their long distance relationship. He knew how hard Yuuri had to work so he could have several days off to come to Viktor’s competition. Sometimes Yuuri would come, looking paler and more tired than usual with dark bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, with cold compresses on his forehead and neck. At times like those, Viktor would do his best to take care of his Yuuri and made sure he was well rested.
Who knew a job as a mangaka could be that demanding. It wasn’t a new thing, now that Yuuri would at least lose ten kilograms or more after Grand Prix Series. He lost more weight than the athletes that competed in it. Especially now that the manga had an anime adaptation, Yuuri’s workload had become more and more, because he insisted to be included on every decision made of the anime.
After a brief interview, Viktor quickly showered and changed out of his costume, before walking out to find Yuuri who was already waiting for him. Viktor smiled when he saw Yuuri looking well-rested today.
“Yuuri!” Viktor called and hugged the younger male happily.
“V-Viktor!” Yuuri smiled and blushed slightly since now, all eyes were turned to them, and he swore several reporters and paparazzi were taking pictures of them. Nishigori just took off when he saw Viktor was coming.
“It’s ‘Vitya’, Yuuri!” Viktor kissed his cheek. Yuuri chuckled softly, and patted Viktor’s head gently.
“You did great today,” Yuuri smiled. “I’m so proud of you! I know how hard you have been practicing ‘Eros’.”
“I was thinking about you all that time!” Viktor smiled. “I was the playboy trying to seduce the most beautiful man in town~” Viktor nuzzled Yuuri happily. “I was seducing Yuuri in my ‘Eros’ routine…”
“Oh? And were you planning on leaving me after you made me fall for you, like the playboy in your story?” Yuuri asked, as he remembered the first time Viktor described the story to him.
“I changed it! The playboy ended up falling in love with the most beautiful man, and decided to stay with him forever, so they can make hot passionate love to each other every single night…” Viktor whispered softly into Yuuri’s ear.
Yuuri blushed bright red before he regained control of his expression again.
“W-well… if you don’t have anywhere else to be right now, let’s go home…” he said, before taking Viktor’s hand in his and pulled him out into the cold to find a taxi.