Viktor Redwood opened the door of his home with a sigh. He didn't bother locking it when he entered, as he knew his mother would be up for at least another hour. When he was younger Viktor would always leave without thinking twice and come back hours later with his pockets stuffed full of food but now his mother told him that he must never go anywhere without taking his car keys or money. She would never let her son starve. He could only blame himself for getting into this mess in the first place. Now his mother had to worry about his well being every moment she had to watch over him. He wasn't like some people whose mom would worry if their friends or boyfriend cheated on them. He wouldn't do something like that to his family. His mom deserved better than that. Viktor shook his head slightly to clear his thoughts and continued walking upstairs to his room. He walked past the kitchen. As usual, his mother sat at the table with a cup of tea and two slices of bread in front of her. There were three plates set down next to each other with the empty one on the left side and one on the right. She looked up when Viktor entered the room and smiled. It was a smile which meant "I love you". Viktor smiled back at his mom.
"How was work?" She asked.
"It went fine. I met a new guy today."
His mom nodded as she took another sip of her tea. The silence between them lasted for almost 5 seconds before his mom spoke again, "What did you get yourself into again?"
"Nothing much. A girl approached me today in class. She just wanted to know if there was anything I needed help with so I said yes. She gave me her number and then we kept talking after class and-"
He stopped as his mother raised her hand and shushed him. His mother had always been extremely good at interrupting him during the beginning of his rambling rant. After finishing telling the story of what had happened between him and the girl, his mom sighed and said, "This is why you can't date girls. You'll end up hurt or worse."
Viktor nodded in response. He really wished his mother agreed more often instead of trying to stop him from having relationships. They both fell silent again. Viktor turned his attention towards the clock hanging in his bedroom doorway. 3:15pm. If he hurried he could still make it to school on time and then meet Yuri outside of school. His brother was sitting at a table near the entrance, reading a textbook. He glanced up when Viktor approached.
"What are you doing here?" Viktor asked his little brother as he walked closer.
Yuri shrugged and then pointed at his book which contained some math problems.
Viktor snorted, "You think you're going to get better studying when you already know how to calculate the circumference of a circle?"
Yuri rolled his eyes, "At least I have to try before giving up completely. Just because my parents won't support me anymore doesn't mean I'm weak."
"Your parents supported me until I got myself involved with girls!" Viktor shot back.
The conversation ended quickly after that. Neither boy was happy by the previous argument and decided to keep quiet and carry on studying their own things. In addition, there were more important matters to attend to. First, the fact that the rest of the VKR members would be coming over that night for dinner. Second, Yakov had told him that if he wanted to become competitive with others, he needed to improve his technique. Third, Victor could feel his muscles screaming in pain due to his training routine that day. Fourth, there was no way in hell he was going to miss a lecture from Yakov. And lastly, there were more important matters to attend to.
After eating and putting everything away in his closet, Viktor returned downstairs. His mother stood in the kitchen waiting for him. She handed him an apple which had been cut into slices for his lunch and Viktor took it graciously. As he made his way to the door, his mother called out to him once more.
"Remember, you've got a competition tomorrow! Make sure you show those boys that you're just as great as anyone else and don't lose your cool!"
Viktor nodded.
His mother kissed the top of his head before he walked out the door. Once he reached his car, he unlocked it and slipped inside. He pressed the button on the dashboard allowing the window to roll down. Before his mother could say anything, he started the engine and drove off. At the same time he pulled up the music system and switched to a pop song. He liked to listen to classical songs when he thought about his future career. Not many people bothered listening to music, unless they had an interest in ballet, or even sports. However, Viktor found the piano pieces and dance routines to be rather relaxing. Although most people assumed he was gay, Viktor had no problem admitting to himself that he loved music and danced. Even though he wasn't particularly good at dancing, he tried his best. It didn't matter how hard he tried, he couldn't quite bring himself to give up. That was what made him so perfect to skate for his family. That's where he learned to take risks, he didn't want to rely on skating as a means to prove himself. Instead he wanted to be a good competitor, to make sure everyone in the audience saw his abilities. To put himself above everybody else. For Viktor, that was far more important than making a name for himself on the ice.
A few minutes passed by before Viktor realized he had reached school. He parked his car in its designated parking spot and quickly gathered his things together while trying his best to avoid looking in his rear mirror. He didn't want to see the disappointment in his mother's eyes when she realized he was late again.
Once he arrived in school Viktor found his locker and grabbed his books as fast as possible, trying his hardest to ignore the disappointed looks he received from a lot of students. He knew it was his fault that he was late but he was hoping to slip through unnoticed for the entire day. Luckily for him his plan seemed to be working. Most of the time he succeeded. But sometimes he couldn't. Like right now. Because he was walking across campus when he felt someone grab his arm.
"Hey! Wait!" The person shouted. Viktor immediately recognized the voice and knew instantly that Yuri Plisetsky, one of the most popular guys in the school, was standing in front of him. Of course it would be Yuri. Who else would it be?
Viktor turned around. Yuri was wearing black skinny jeans and a black long sleeved shirt. Over his shoulders, he wore a grey hoodie with the word 'FUCK' on it. The hood covered most of his face, making it impossible for Viktor to read his expression. This was one of the reasons Yuri annoyed Viktor so much.
"Hi Yuri," he replied.
"So this morning we talked and you didn't mention that you got into trouble yesterday and skipped school," Yuri began, "But now, since you look perfectly fine to me, why didn't you tell me about your troubles? We could've gone to your house together. I was wondering what happened."
"I don't need to explain myself to you. Besides, it's none of your business." Yuri opened his mouth to reply to Viktor's words, but the sound of someone approaching stopped him. He looked up to find his fellow classmate Alexei walking toward them. Alexei was one of Viktor's only good friends besides Yuri. Both of them came from very rich families but both of them chose not to live with their families when they attended high school. They both had chosen to live independently with their parents. It seemed that both of them preferred independent living to staying close to home. They both shared the same taste in music as well as interests. Alexei was obsessed with classic rock while Yuri was obsessed with pop and modern pop songs. The two of them spent their whole lives being spoiled by their parents because of their money, which led them to believe that they should use theirs. That's also why they weren't in any clubs or societies. They didn't care about what other people thought of them. They never wanted to be the center of attention. When Alexei heard what happened, he offered to pick up Yuri and take him home. Normally, Viktor would decline such a offer, but right now he didn't have any better options. He would be forced to stay at school even longer if he refused. So with all the determination and courage he could muster, he agreed.
"Let's go, Yuri," Alexei said as he held out a hand to Yuri.
Yuri reluctantly grabbed Alexei's hand and let him lead the two of them away from Viktor. He kept his focus focused on keeping himself from turning around and staring at Viktor, who would only make it worse if he did. The moment Yuri and Alexei left his vision, he quickly rushed toward his classroom. Once he entered it he shut the door behind himself and slid down against it. He stared at the ground in front of him wishing for something good to happen to him. A part of him desperately wanted to believe that he could win that competition without losing face. Despite that hope, however, there was always a chance he wouldn't be able to beat his older brother. Viktor could barely handle his own anger and frustrations. There was no way he could manage to do the same thing with Yuri, who was like his little sibling.
Chapter 2
It was around four o'clock in the afternoon when Viktor finally left his house. He decided to go straight to the rink instead of meeting up with his parents first. He figured that he would spend the time practicing, maybe even working off all his frustration with practice before having dinner. Since he knew his mother wouldn't allow him to skip his dinner and would probably ask questions later, Viktor needed to find an excuse to avoid her interrogation. He knew if he told her what happened today, she would definitely be upset.
He arrived at the rink a little earlier than planned. When he entered the building, a lot of people already lined up in front of the main entrance to enter the skating rink. Viktor waited in line, his eyes wandering around the room until he spotted Chris. Once the other skater noticed him he walked up to Viktor with a grin on his face and hugged him tightly. It surprised Viktor how Chris was usually the first to greet him upon arriving at the rink, despite knowing he would come late. Maybe he really did think that Viktor was just another loser that he didn't have a chance with.
"Good afternoon!" He greeted cheerfully. "You're early! Where've you been?"
"Not answering your question."
Chris rolled his eyes with a sigh before letting Viktor go.
"Where's Yurio?" Viktor asked while glancing around looking for his younger brother.
"With his father," Chris answered.
"What does Mr. Katsuki do?" Viktor inquired.
"Well, actually, he isn't Mr. Katsuki anymore," Chris replied. "He resigned from his job about a week ago. After his wife passed away and before he went to work, he started traveling a lot so that he could provide for his family. Ever since then he has stayed at our place, mainly because he doesn't want to leave his family for too long. I mean if he were to leave us, that would break my mom. You know how she is."
"Yeah, I'm aware that she gets sad whenever he leaves. It's sad to see her like that. She loves her dad so much."
"She does. I guess I can't blame her. Dad was pretty great when I was growing up. I can imagine what it would feel like to lose him. I remember how happy I used to get when he came over after practice. If it wasn't for my mother, I'm not sure he ever would have left. He still talks about her a lot. Apparently when Mom was sick, she called Dad every night just so that he wouldn't forget to call her back. She was really worried and scared. She cried a lot during that period. Sometimes, I swear she could pass out anytime she hears the news that he's leaving. Now that they're not in the picture I wonder how much more she'll cry if he passes."
"How much do you miss your parents?" Viktor questioned.
"Oh God," Chris muttered. "When he passed away I missed him even more. I wish there was some way I could make things better with her and Dad. I would do anything for them...I love them so much…"
At that moment, Viktor felt bad for asking the question. He regretted it the moment it left his lips, knowing how painful it must have been for Chris to talk about his family. He wished he hadn't done that. He wished he hadn't made everything worse for Chris by asking that question.
Luckily Chris recovered from his thoughts almost immediately and changed the subject. Instead of talking about his family he decided to start ranting about the latest episode of his favorite show called 'The Office'. After a few minutes of rambling Viktor managed to convince Chris that watching the series was a good idea. Before they both knew it half an hour had passed. It was starting to get dark outside so Viktor suggested they return to their apartment. As soon as they reached his home Viktor invited his friend inside to join them for some tea. When they arrived in the kitchen, Viktor's sister and Mari were already waiting for them.
Mari was the only child of Chris's parents. Her mother died when she was young, so they adopted her shortly after. Mari lived with the Katsukis ever since then and was practically raised by them. Unlike Viktor, who grew up with a single mother who worked as a secretary in her husband's company, Mari's life was relatively normal. She rarely saw her father or any member of her family and had never once seen her grandfather. Mari didn't mind because her parents had taken her in when she had nothing else, but after she turned seven and her mother couldn't help her anymore, her father became increasingly distant. When her mother lost her job, they decided to adopt Mari as soon as possible. The Katsukis had been planning that day since early morning and finally got the opportunity to take her out.
While Viktor prepared the tea for everyone, Mari and Chris chatted for awhile about their day. Suddenly, Mari remembered that she promised to meet up with her girlfriend. After giving them all a quick goodbye, she hurried toward where Yurio was.
Meanwhile, Yuri and Alexei were sitting alone at one of the tables near one of the window seats. They were playing games on their phones. Alexei was checking Instagram, while Yuri was scrolling through Twitter to find interesting posts, sometimes looking at the comments. Yuri suddenly realized that Alexei wasn't taking any pictures lately; he was only following his social media account.
When he finally found what he was looking for, he showed it to Alexei.
"Did you take a picture of yourself recently?" Yuri asked curiously.
"Uh, yeah I did," Alexei confirmed with a smile.
"Why?" Yuri questioned.