I'm salty, oh so salty, because I stayed awake until now (0417 am!) in Japan and I still haven't watched ep 9 and I'm so mad because I've seen every spoiler possible and I can't find a damn stream and I lost the remote to my TV so I couldn't find it on the Japanese Networks and I'm sleep deprived but I don't want to go to bed because the simulcast is released in 30 mins...

Anyhow, here's this fic because it's the only thing I could do to keep myself awake for so long.

Blue eyes scan the place and he find himself being thankful that he decided to wake up at such ungodly hours to practice. The ice rink was empty, the cold in there was merciless, piercing you through the bone, nothing to see other than the steam of your own breath and the endless scars left on the ice by other skaters while they were practicing.

Viktor took a deep breath, it's been a while since he last touched the ice for any reason other than teaching Yuuri how to land his quads properly or practice one of his routines, in other words, he hasn't touched the ice as a skater in a while.

The lights are still somewhat dim, most of them still off because Viktor doesn't need people to know he's here, he likes this little privacy, a little time to dedicate to himself. He looks down and takes the skate guards off, placing a careful step on the ice and gliding along the smooth surface, the slashing sound of his skates scraping against the ice sending discordant melody of flat tones that soothed him, as he glided from side to side, his feet moving softly, like waves, fluidity being the definition of his every step on ice, his waist shifting his center of gravity and dictating every direction he'd be moving in, and just like that he twirls and his eyes close, and he keeps going, relaxed, his strides long, his twirls and spins perfect, and this time he executes a perfect double Salchow landing and immediately going into a sit spin picking up speed as he transitioned into a layback spin and finished it with a Biellman spin.

He freed his leg and continued skating, his feet guiding him and marking his way through the ice, and he skips, landing on a rotation as his arms shoot up, coming down and flaring them to his side and he performs a quadruple Salchow, landing and moving about as the song in his head reached its crescendo Viktor jumps into a death drop and combines it with a broken leg spin, transitions into a donut spin and finishes with a corkcrew spin, stopping suddenly as he hears someone clapping.

In his skating induced high he hadn't noticed that somewhere in between the warm up and all his figure skating the lights had been turned on.

Pink settles on his cheeks and he puffs, running a hand through silver locks as sapphire colored eyes scan the dome, following the sounds of the clapping until they settled on emerald orbs.

"Vitya," he heard his nickname raise from the lips of his beloved coach.

"Yakov!" Viktor said in between gasps, rushing to the entrance of the rink and holding on to the boards.

"Have you given any more thoughts to making a comeback?" The older man asked as he took the covers off his skates, receiving nothing than a smile from his pupil. "Seriously, Vitya, what am I to do with you?" he said, or rather grumbled, as he took a step into the ice.

"Viktor!" He heard the voice of Yuuri coming from the entrance and his head whipped around.

"Yuuri," He pretty much sing sung as he threw his hands up and wrapped them around the body of the slender figure skater, "Good morning," he mused by his ear.

"Oi! Oi! We came here to practice, not to witness PDA." Yurio chimed from the center of the rink.

"Ah – Yurio! Dobroye utro," Viktor chirped, "Follow suit, Yuuri." Viktor said as he kissed Yuuri's forehead, the younger man nodding and proceeding to join Yurio as they went to talk about their programs and how to land certain spins.

Yakov just eyed Viktor, as the taller man dreamily stared at his protégé gliding across the ice and every now and then he would cheer, at other times correcting him when he wasn't straight enough or when he would fail to land a quad.

"Have you ever been in love?" Yakov asked, his eyes never leaving Viktor's face.

Viktor looked at his coach perplexed, rising a questioning eyebrow.

"Have you ever been in love, Vitya?" There it was again, the use of that nickname that he wasn't quite sure he remembered where it came from.

"Hmm… I guess I could say yes." Viktor said as he pondered, bringing a hand to the bridge of his nose, as if thinking about it was about to cause him an aneurysm.

Yakov's eyes left Viktor's face and fell on Yuuri, who was currently performing his free skate program and he just couldn't understand how such a plain and simple boy could've made Viktor stray from ice skating. "What do you feel when you see him?" The trainer asked and Viktor looked at him.

"Who? Yurio?" The older man shakes his head, his eyes not moving from the target of the question, so Viktor decides to follow his gaze, "Ah, Yuuri?" A nod.

Viktor takes a deep breath and thinks about what he feels towards Yuuri, "Well, I'm his coach, so I'm very proud of him and how far he's come in the months we've been training together. He's inspirational, his growth is outstanding and the way he skates is just superb… He's perfect, if you ask me." He finished with a chuckle as Yakov looked back at him.

"Vitya, I asked you about how you felt… not what you thought of him," Yakov said, moving his leg and starting to trace figures around Viktor, "I've seen the way you look at him, the way you hold him. That's not the way you treat a protégé. That's not the way you look at a pupil, not the way you hold a teammate." Yakov twirls once and Viktor can't seem to comprehend just what his point is, so he starts mimicking his movements, skating next to his coach in silence, just like when he was a kid.

"What do you mean, Yakov?" Viktor asked with sheer innocence.

"I mean that you're not Yuuri's coach… I mean, to a certain extent you are, but you don't see him just as someone that needs your training." Yakov says as he stops, and with him so does Viktor, both of them look at Yuuri, and Viktor finds himself smiling as the young Japanese skater lands a quadruple Salchow.

"You still haven't figured it out, have you Vitya?" He asked and Viktor's eyes are back on him, "Why your blood rushes the way it does when he's around? Why every time he speaks your name you can hear your heartbeat in your ears? How your hands get sweaty and how you can't stop looking at him even when the whole world around you seems to try and swallow you whole? The need to protect him and keep him all to yourself…"

Viktor lets out a hearty laugh and pats Yakov's back, almost throwing him off balance, "Yakov, what are you talking about?"

Yakov regains his composure and looks at Viktor, "For a twenty seven year old, gold medalist, living legend and the world's top skater you sure are dense… but then again, the only love you've ever felt in your life was the love for ice skating…"

Viktor, still not sure of what his coach is talking about looks at the pair in front of him and smiles, taking off to try to teach them a new routine, leaving Yakov by himself.

The rink is still big, cold and for the most part empty, Yakov noticed when he first saw Viktor this morning. His movements were slow but precise, languid and shy, but the moment Yuuri showed up this morning Viktor's semblance changed completely, he lit up, his eyes shinning in a different color, a color Yakov was unfamiliar to, and his voice became sweeter, warmer, his face bright and Yakov knew, and he was sure the whole world knew… The whole world but this dull knucklehead of a trainee of his…

"Vitya, you're in love." Yakov said.

"And he's the only idiot that doesn't know it," Yurio said as he came to a halt next to Yakov, taking his cellphone out of his pocket.

"And who told you that you were allowed to bring that into the ice rink?!" The coach yelled at his youngest talent as the blonde rebel took a picture of the pair skating around the rink holding hands.

It seems like Viktor had a long way to go, but lucky for him Yuuri Katsuki is nothing but patient.