An Unexpected Love (A Yuri Plisetsky Fanfiction)

Chapter 14: Sochi

Entering the lobby at Hyatt Regency Sochi, Ayumi pulled her thick maroon coat tighter around her body as she shivered to get rid of the chill. Kamoshita followed close behind with their bags in tow.

Ayumi arrived at Sochi on her own for the finals. Because she had many things to take care of back home, she had no time to return to Saint Petersburg to meet with the rest of her rink mates and fly out together. She did promise them, however, that she would meet them at the hotel and treat them to dinner before tensions increased.

Kamoshita excused himself to check in, while Ayumi scanned the lobby looking for a certain blond boy. When their eyes finally met, Ayumi quickly walked towards him, and they both shared a quick yet tight embrace. The rest got up from the seats behind them and joined in on the hug.

"Ya, get off you heavy asses!" Yuri screamed as he tried to pry off his rink mates' hug.

"You're such a sour puss, Yura. Lighten up a bit!" Ayumi laughed. "God, I missed you guys."

"We missed you too kid," Viktor said in excitement. "We watched your last event, by the way. A quad Sal?! Where did that come from?!"

The girl smirked. "I was just feeling the moment, Vitya. Besides, I've been practicing that for months. It was only fitting to put it in."

They soon headed to the hotel's restaurant, the others giddy as Ayumi promised to pay for everything. The four of them, sans Yakov who was sleeping in his room, sat for hours catching up with each other. Yuri sat beside Ayumi, and when the desserts arrived he slowly held her hand underneath the table.

Ayumi looked at him in surprise, but Yuri only stared back. Even if he didn't say anything, his message was clear: I missed you.

She tightened her hands on his in response.

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Time seemed to fly way too fast at the Grand Prix Final.

It was already the third day of competition—the day for both the Junior Men's free skate and the Senior Men's free skate. The competition ended for the ladies yesterday with Ayumi bagging the Junior gold medal once again. The addition of the quadruple Salchow to her repertoire delighted the spectators and pretty much secured her victory. She was now backstage at the Iceberg Skating Palace, ready to support Viktor and Yuri as they skated their programs.

Yuri entered one of the waiting rooms after the morning's practice session and saw something that made his blood boil in confusion and irritation. At the corner of the room, Ayumi sat on a chair with a phone on her forehead. In front of her sat an 18-year-old male wearing a red Canadian jacket. It was Jean-Jacques Leroy, one of the senior division finalists. It seems that they were engaged in a fun conversation, both laughing without a care in the world.

"She was in Titanic! Jack! Jack!" JJ said enthusiastically.

"Ahh! Kate Winslet!" Ayumi replied. He nodded with a laugh, and she flicked the phone down.

Yuri growled. What the hell is Ayu doing talking to JJ, of all people?!?

"Okay. He's a singer. He's a member of the Beatles," JJ continued.

"Aww. You know I'm not a 60s girl. I have absolutely no clue who the Beatles are."

"Just try guessing, Yumi. He's pretty famous anyway."

"Gosh. Throw me a bone here, JJ." They both laughed as Ayumi looked up in sheer confusion. Yuri, having seen enough, approached the two.

Ayumi gave up and looked at the name on the phone. "Ahh. John Lennon. Can't believe I missed that," she said through their laughter. Suddenly she felt a hand grab her wrist and pull her out of the chair.

"Oh, hey Yura. What are you—woah!" she said in astonishment as Yuri pulled her out of the waiting room. She gave JJ an apologetic smile, while JJ looked at Yuri with a big smirk on his face.

Yuri dragged her to a corner in the hallway. "What was that about? How can you even stand talking to that irritating bastard?!"

The girl gave him a confused look. "Why not? I've known JJ for years. He's a really fun-loving guy, and we were just playing Heads Up a while ago."

"Well, I don't like it when you talk to him okay?!?!"

Ayumi gasped at Yuri's outburst. She knew how much the skating community kept JJ at arm's length, but she never knew just how irritated Yuri was at the Canadian. However, seeing how agitated he was made her realize that the boy was just anxious for his turn on the ice. He was trying to hide it under a layer of arrogance but was miserably failing.

She gently put a hand on his shoulder. "Stop stressing out Yura. You'll do great. You always do."

Yuri held the hand that was on his shoulder and sighed. "Am I that obvious to you now?"

"I think we've gotten past the point of hiding anything from each other, Don't you think?"

The boy gave her a smile. "Yeah. I guess you're right. I just really want to win this."

"And you will. You're an amazing skater. You'll knock their socks off."

Yuri breathed in deeply and pulled her for a comforting hug. Ayumi hugged him back and whispered in his ears. "You got this. I believe in you."

The boy hummed in response.

After a while, Ayumi pulled apart from him. "The Junior Males' free skate starts soon, and I need to head out to the spectator booth. I'll be watching, okay?"

"You'd better," he said with a smirk.

"See you again in a few." With that, she walked down the hall.

The Junior Males' free skate event started a few minutes after that, and Yuri stayed near a column stretching out his legs to prepare for his performance. He was the last competitor to skate as he was ranked first after the short program. When his turn was coming up, Yakov accompanied him as he made his way to the side of the rink.

The screams of the crowd were deafening. He looked around and saw Ayumi sitting in a booth beside Mila and Viktor, and he smiled slightly.

It was his time. Yuri took off his Russia team jacket and entered the ice. Soon, the music began.

Ayumi felt like she was seeing a new Yuri as the boy skated, performing a triple Axel. He has always skated with a powerful force, but the gracefulness of his body has always fascinated her. He has improved greatly in the time they spent apart—his jumps were now clean and perfectly balanced. She knew she missed a lot of this development having no time to watch his qualifying matches on live stream, but she appreciated his growth as a skater more than anyone else at the stadium that day. He soon performed the last jump element in his program, a combination. He landed all his jumps flawlessly. She couldn't help but clap.

Yuri was catching his breath as the song ended. He got a standing ovation for his routine. He skated off the ice and joined Yakov at the kiss and cry, awaiting his score.

The combined score read 240.07. He won.

The crowd roared in applause as he received his medal on the podium. Nothing at that moment could have made him happier. This was where he belonged, on a podium, skating his way to victory.

After the awarding, Yuri stepped off the ice and found himself in someone's arms. Ayumi was hugging him tightly. Emotions overwhelmed him as he hugged back, leaning his body onto hers for support.

"I am so proud of you, Yura!" she said to his ear. They stayed like that for a while, relishing in each other's warmth.