The cameras make a habit of getting a LIL TOO CLOSE to Viktor and Yuuri because the mics sometimes pick up what they say to each other before skating or in the Kiss & Cry, and audiences eat that shit up. There are people who watch ISU events like itâs the Viktor&Yuuri Show, and the sports channels know it
TUNE IN FOR THE NIKIFOROV-KATSUKI VARIETY HOUR, the advertisements practically blare.
Viktor can often be heard composing what sounds like literal on-the-spot poetry. (âYou are my sun and stars and I will love you until Iâm in the groundââ) Much of this is to calm Yuuri down before he skates. Most viewers assume that he writes this shit down somewhere but people who know Viktor understand it to be just the shit that literally is always coming out of Viktorâs mouth.
âOh,â Yuuri says while theyâre waiting for Viktorâs scores one time. He hasnât put his glasses back on yet and is kind of just staring, unfocused, into the nebulous distance. âI forgot to call Minako and wish her a happy birthday.â
(âYEAH YOU DID,â Minako growls at the television back in Hasetsu. Hiroko pats her back. She just turned fifty. Sheâs sensitive.)
âWell, youâre dead now,â Viktor says, picking fuzz off his costume. âIt was nice knowing you. Iâll never forget you.â
âWill you move on from me?â Yuuri asks. All of this is completely deadpan as they squint at the scoreboard. Yakov is on Viktorâs other side, rolling his eyes.
âNo. Iâll roam the halls of our empty home, wailing for my lost love. When I die, Iâll continue to haunt the place where I was once happy. They will call me the Silver Spectre. Once or twice a year, Americans will come and try to film me. Iâll scream into their camera equipment and carve the words triple axel into the hardwood.â
âPlease not the hardwood, Vitya.â
They find out that most ISU programming isnât actually put on a delay during the 2018 Worlds, when Viktor and Yuuri are congratulating each other on winning gold and silver and the cameras pick up Viktor saying, âWhen we get home, Iâm going to bend you over the table andââ
âLOVING WORDS FROM VIKTOR NIKIFOROV-KATSUKI TO HIS HUSBAND,â screams the commentator, whose producer is currently bellowing abort abort into his left ear. âLETâS GO TO PAULA WHOâS TALKING TO BRONZE MEDALIST YURI PLISâOKAY, NEVER MIND. HAHA, TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES! WEâRE CUTTING TO COMMERCIAL.â
âTechnical difficultiesâ is Yuri punting a tiger plush so hard towards Viktor that it knocks him backwards and into the backdrop for the Kiss & Cry.
âThis used to be an ELEGANT SPORT,â Yakov growls. He looks to Lilia, whose expression is suspiciously toothy. âAre you laughing at this, Lilya?â
âHow dare you accuse me of such a thing,â Lilia replies.