Skate With Me (Victor Nikiforov x Reader)

Chapter 87: 540 Meters Above

"Hi, there!" Donik greeted the moment Yuuri hopped in the car. Getting in after him, I carefully shut the door close. "H-hello!" Yuuri stuttered in his response. I preferred sitting at the back seats of the car rather than at the passengers beside Donik. For tonight, it's Yuuri who needs me beside him.

Unsure of what to do, Yuuri glanced at me before looking at Donik who sat in front of him. That short glance was enough to remind me to introduce both men to each other. "Ah right," I said the moment Donik started the engine.

"You've probably heard of each other from me but this is the first time you two met so I'd do some introductions," I leaned a little bit forward to pat Donik's shoulder. "Donik, as you already know, this is Yuuri Katsuki, the next Grand Prix gold medalist," I told him.

I turned to Yuuri and chuckled at his fluttered state because of the description of him I said a while ago. "Yuuri, this is Dominik, my younger brother," I said. "Oh, you're 22 right, Yuuri? Donik here's 22 as well, turning 23 this year! Your ages don't go far."

"Is that so? That's great!" Yuuri chuckled. "Nice to meet you." Donik waved one of his hand dismissively in the air as the other one kept hold of the steering wheel. "Oh no, the pleasure is all mine," he said.

A small sigh left my lips as we carried on our way towards the airport. "Is there anything wrong?" Yuuri asked, afraid that the warmth of the atmosphere inside the car would turn glum by my action.

"Oh, nothing! Nothing's wrong," I said as I sent him one of my sweet smiles. "It's just that my parents wanted to meet you. They even asked me to invite you to dinner later, but knowing that you're flight's less than an hour from now, it won't be possible."

Before Yuuri might get the wrong idea and feel like a disappointment to my parents, I quickly took the lead of the conversation again. "Don't worry! There'll be plenty of times where we could do that," I added.

Not long after the said conversation, Donik pulled to a stop at the entrance of the airport. I immediately got out of the car and helped Yuuri with his belongings. Before closing the door, Donik told me to meet him at the parking lot later. I gave a nod and slammed the door shut. The car eventually drove off.

We were filled with congratulatory greetings as we entered the airport. Tonight, it is quite busy since a lot of people overseas flew to Russia to watch the Rostelecom Cup as well as the majority of the male skaters who wouldn't watch the women's free skate tomorrow is bound to head back to their countries.

Yuuri and I found a comfortable spot by the benches as we wait for Yuuri's flight to be called. It wasn't long after we sat that Yuuri strikes up a conversation. "I'm this close to the peak of my competitive figure skating career," he began. "I really want the gold now. The Grand Prix Final will be my last chance."

His latter statement caught my attention the most. "Last chance?" I asked. Is he thinking of quitting? Or perhaps might he want to take a break from skating after this season? I kept the questions to myself as I don't want to get ahead of what Yuuri plans for himself.

Yuuri kept silent and after a few seconds have passed, I realized that he will most likely not answer my question so I quickly dismissed that topic and thought of a new one. "By the way, Yuuri, it's almost your birthday, right?" I asked not wanting to gloom up the light atmosphere between us. I don't want this to be a sad goodbye. I mean, I don't want Yuuri to fly back to Japan with a heavy heart.

He nodded in return, "Yurio gave me the pirozhkis earlier saying that it's almost my birthday." The fact that Yurio gave him a bag of pirozhkis made my heart happy. Those two boys are indeed rivals but I'm glad that a part of them cares for each other especially Yuri. It's not all the time that he shows his soft spots to someone other than the people in his close circle.

Eventually, Yuuri's flight was called. "Looks like I need to go," he said. He stood up, clutching the handle of his suitcase tightly. I stood as well and smiled at him. I raised my arms, inviting Yuuri into an embrace. He didn't hesitate to see that he immediately made himself comfortable between my arms. His arms wrapped around me as well.

"Take care, Yuuri. I hope you arrive in Japan safely," I said as my arms around him loosened and finally letting go. He mirrored my actions and took a step back. "Call me once you've landed back. Take care of Victor for me."

***

Cheers and laughter filled the air as the restaurant is packed with people tonight. We were lucky enough to occupy a table beside the massive windows that provides a lovely view of the city for us. Located 540 meters above the ground, this structure was marked the highest building in Europe. One look outside provides you the panoramic view of the city.

"What a luxurious place you've picked for tonight, dad," I said as dad poured some wine on the wine glass before me. He chuckled in response as he went on to pour some on the other's glasses as well. "After a long while, we deserve to have a fantastic dinner together," he finally replied.

"And since you're staying here for a while, we might as well have a bunch of this soon before you get going to Spain," he added. He took his wine glass off the table and raised it. "To the Grand Prix!" He cheered. We immediately raised our glasses as well as we clinked it with each other's.

After taking a sip, I raised my glass once again, "To Yuuri!" The family repeated what I said as they went to clink their glasses with mine. We all took a sip once again that was immediately followed by our joyous laughter.

This time, it's mom's turn to cheer. "To the we-" whatever she was gonna cheer for, she was cut off by the waiter's voice. "Miss (y/n) (l/n)?" He asked. I turned around to see the waiter and smiled. "That would only be me," I said.

Noticing that the man wore a different uniform than those of the regular waiters that passed by, he must be the manager of the place. "Sorry to interrupt but your orders are now to be served," he said politely. I waved my hands dismissively, "Oh it's okay, thank you."

The man bowed before standing aside, giving way for the other waiters to serve us the dishes. One after another, they laid the plates of food across the table. As they put down dish after dish, I felt the vibration of my stomach as it grumbled.

"Now this is what I'm talking about!" Donik exclaimed as he clapped his hands together. His eyes never left the table. Once all our orders were on the table, the manager stepped closer. "It is our pleasure to have you tonight," he said before once again bowing and eventually heading off to leave us.

"My that's a lot you've ordered!" mom exclaimed. I gently shook my head as a smile found its way to my lips. "I just want the best for my family," I said and glanced at Sandra. "And best friend." I gently placed my hand over hers.

Remembering what happened before the waiters arrived, I turned to mom again. "Hey, mom, what was that you were going to cheer for a while ago? Let's cheer for it again," I told her. I was about to reach for my wine glass when Sandra gently pulled it away. "Come on, (y/n)! Let's cheer for that later! Let's eat now!" She said enthusiastically.

Mom gave a peal of nervous laughter as she agreed with Sandra. I shrugged my shoulders okay as we began feasting for tonight. I glanced at Donik who was sitting across mom for a second and saw him gave her an unreadable eye gesture. Eventually, he noticed that I was looking so he gave me a closed eye smile and carried on eating.

Since yesterday, I had this feeling that there is something going on that I don't know about. I just brush it off every time since it probably is none of my business and besides, I might just be overthinking it.

In the midst of dinner, I gently moved closer to Sandra. She must've sensed what I was going to do so she moved closer as well and she tilted her head sidewards so that my mouth would be directly over her ears.

"How's the music going?" I whispered. At the mention of it, she eventually turned her head to meet my gaze. There were sparkles in her eyes as she replied, "It's going great! My latest news of it was that it's under finishing touches by now and you'd be able to get your hands on it before Grand Prix."

That is great news to me. Sandra's happiness was so contagious that it passed on to me, and the earlier feeling of doubt was washed away. "How is your program going?" Sandra asked. I smirked in response and answered, "I'll show you tomorrow."