#eroseroseros

**** The Snow Fell in St. Petersburg like a whispered promise, each flake catching the amber glow of streetlamps before surrendering to the frozen ground. The Yubileyny Sports Palace stood silent against the winter evening, its doors locked, its audience seats empty, but on the ice, two figures traced silver lines across the pristine surface, their breath forming clouds in the frigid air.

Victor Nikiforov's silver hair gleamed beneath the overhead lights, those familiar golden beams that had witnessed a thousand performances, ten thousand hours of practice. But tonight, there was no music save for the whisper of blades against ice, no audience except the falling snow beyond the windows. His hand was warm in Yuri's, their fingers interlaced as they glided in lazy circles, carving patterns that meant nothing to judges but everything to them.

"You're holding back," Victor said, his accent softening the words into something almost musical. His blue eyes caught the light as he turned to face his partner, skating backward with the effortless grace that had made him a legend. "I can feel it in your grip."

Yuri Katsuki felt heat rise to his cheeks despite the cold. Even after all this time, Victor could read him like music, every hesitation, every surge of confidence, every moment of doubt translated through the simple press of palm against palm.

"I'm not holding back," Yuri protested, though his voice lacked conviction. "I'm just... being careful. The ice is different when it's this cold."

"Liar." But Victor smiled as he said it, that brilliant, devastating smile that had adorned magazine covers and melted hearts across continents. He spun them both suddenly, and Yuri gasped as they picked up speed, the rink blurring around them. "You're thinking too much again. Stop thinking. Just feel."

They separated, hands slipping apart, and suddenly they were performing, not a choreographed routine, but something spontaneous and genuine. Victor launched into a triple axel, landing with barely a sound, and Yuri answered with a combination spin that sent his dark hair flying. They moved around each other like binary stars, orbiting, attracting, occasionally colliding in ways that were more embrace than impact.

"Show off," Yuri called across the ice, but he was laughing, the sound echoing in the empty arena.

"Says the man who just landed a quad Salchow without even warming up properly." Victor skated closer, slowing until they were gliding side by side. "You've gotten stronger, Yuri. Not just technically, I mean here as well." He touched Yuri's chest, "You skate like you believe it now."

Yuri caught Victor's hand, holding it against his chest. Through his jacket, through his shirt, he could feel his own heartbeat racing, from exertion, from proximity, from the simple overwhelming fact that this was real, that Victor was here, that this wasn't a dream he'd wake from in his family's inn in Hasetsu.

"I believe it because you're here," Yuri said quietly. "You make me believe in impossible things."

Victor's expression softened into something vulnerable, something he rarely showed cameras or crowds. "Yuri..."

"Wait." Yuri released Victor's hand and skated toward the boards where they'd left their bags. "Before I lose my nerve. I have something for you."

He fumbled with his bag, somehow even simple zippers became complicated when Victor was watching with those impossibly blue eyes, and finally extracted a small package. The wrapping paper was slightly crumpled, the bow askew, evidence of Yuri's well-intentioned but ultimately clumsy attempts at presentation. He'd rewrapped it three times before accepting that perfection was beyond his reach.

"It's not much," Yuri said as he skated back, holding the gift like it might explode. "And the wrapping is terrible, I know, but—"

Victor took the package carefully like it was something that could break easily. He did this even though the package was wrapped in the paper one can buy at the convenience store. "The package is perfect the way it is, " Victor said.

"You haven't even opened it."

"The fact that you wrapped it yourself makes it perfect. Look—" Victor pointed to a spot where the tape had torn slightly, where Yuri's fingerprint was visible in the condensation that had formed and frozen. "—you can see exactly where you touched it. That's more valuable than any professional wrapping could be."

Yuri ducked his head, embarrassed, but Victor was already carefully peeling away the paper, preserving each piece as if he intended to save them. Inside was a simple box, and inside that, nestled in tissue paper, was a silver pendant on a delicate chain.

Victor lifted it into the light. The pendant was shaped like a single ice crystal, intricate and geometric, with a tiny stone at its center that caught the light and threw rainbows across the ice.

“It’s aquamarine,” Yuri said, stumbling over his words. “I read that it stands for courage and clarity. And, well, the jeweler claimed it matches your eyes, though honestly, that’s probably just their way of making a sale. Still, I hoped it’d remind you of me, you know? Even if you’re off traveling, or I’m competing somewhere far from you.”

Victor pulled him close, silencing him with a kiss that tasted of cold air and chapstick and something indefinably Victor. When they separated, Victor was smiling against his lips.

"Can you help me put it on?" Victor asked, tilting his head to clear the way for Yuri’s shaking hands.

Yuri’s fingers felt clumsy and frozen as he fumbled with the tiny silver clasp, but he eventually managed to click it into place. The pendant settled against the hollow of Victor’s throat, landing perfectly. It flashed beneath the rink lights, cold and bright, looking like a captured piece of the very winter that surrounded them.

"Your turn," Victor said softly.

Before Yuri could even blink, Victor was holding a box in his hand, a bit of theatrical magic that left Yuri wondering where he had been hiding it. The wrapping was immaculate and flawless, far beyond anything Yuri could have achieved with his own nervous hands. Victor treated every gift like a world-class performance where every detail mattered. The paper was a deep, midnight blue with silver filigree curling along the edges, and the bow was tied with such precision it looked almost too perfect to untie.

Yuri took it carefully because he did not want to mess up something that was so perfect. "Victor, you did not have to do this—"

"Open it,"

Inside was a watch, simple, elegant, with a silver band and a face that showed not just the time but phases of the moon. Engraved on the back, in Cyrillic script so fine Yuri had to squint to read it: Каждый момент с тобой драгоценен.

“Every moment with you matters to me,” Victor said quietly, eyes fixed on Yuri. “I had this made in Moscow. The watchmaker promised it’ll run perfectly for fifty years. That felt right, since I’m planning on keeping you around at least for that long. Longer, if you’ll let me.”

Yuri’s eyes stung, the silver light of the rink fracturing into a thousand shimmering pieces as tears finally spilled over.

"Hey," Victor murmured, reaching out to wipe the drop away with his thumb; his own voice was far from steady. "No crying on the ice, Yuri. You’ll mess up the surface, and we still have patterns to carve.

Yuri let out a shaky, watery laugh, the sound echoing against the high rafters of the empty arena. “That’s not how ice works, Victor.”

Victor’s smile widened, that familiar, mischievous glint returning to his eyes. “Isn’t it? I’m almost certain I read a scientific paper once about saltwater, specifically tears, compromising the molecular integrity of a pristine surface.”

Yuri just shook his head, a genuine smile finally breaking through his tears. “You one hundred percent did not read that anywhere. You’re making it up as you go.

“Are you calling me a liar?” Victor’s eyes lit up, the mischievous sparkle softening into a look of pure, unadulterated affection. “And on the most romantic night of the year, no less?”.

Yuri shook his head, a small, knowing smile tugging at his lips. “It isn't even New Year’s yet, Victor. We still have two hours to go”.

“Exactly,” Victor grinned, the expression bright enough to rival the rink lights. “Which is just enough time to get home. We have traditions to uphold: tea, fireworks, all of it”. He reached out and laced his fingers through Yuri’s, their palms meeting in a familiar, grounding warmth.

This time, as they began to move, the world seemed to fall away. There was no hesitation, no conscious thought; every glide and turn just clicked. They moved as a single entity, their rhythms so perfectly aligned that no effort was needed to stay in sync.

Victor glanced over, his silver hair catching the light as he slowed their pace. “Or,” he added softly, his eyes searching Yuri’s, “do you want to stay? We could keep this ice all to ourselves and skate right up until the clock strikes midnight”

Yuri paused, his blades coming to a soft halt as he glanced around the cavernous arena. The rink felt magical in its solitude, hushed, empty, and glowing under the lights, a world that belonged solely to them for a few more stolen minutes. Yet, as much as he loved the ice, he found his thoughts drifting toward their apartment.

It was tiny by Victor’s standards, but to Yuri, it was perfect: warm, inviting, and filled with the scent of pine. He could almost see their little Christmas tree, its branches a chaotic but beautiful bridge between two worlds, draped in ornaments from both Russia and Japan. He thought of the tea waiting in the kitchen and the wide windows that looked out over the St. Petersburg skyline, poised and ready for the midnight fireworks to ignite the sky.

"Home," Yuri decided. "Let's go home.” 

They changed out of their skates, not saying much. They didn’t need to. Victor started humming, soft, familiar. Stammi Vicino. Yuri recognized it right away. The song that had pulled them together, turned the world upside down.

Outside, the snow kept falling, heavy and silent, covering everything in a thick, quiet blanket. They walked side by side, pressed close enough that their shoulders touched. Their breath mixed in the chill air, warm, fleeting, almost like a secret between them. St. Petersburg winters usually hit hard, no mercy, but tonight the city seemed softer, like it wanted to protect them for a change. 

The apartment building rose before them like a sentinel of another era, old and stubborn against the biting wind. Its heavy stone facade had weathered a century of endless Russian winters, each one leaving a faint mark on the architecture that only added to its stoic character. Inside, the air smelled of floor wax and the lingering scent of distant cooking, a sharp contrast to the biting clarity of the rink.

*** The elevator cage groaned and rattled as it began its slow, rhythmic climb. In the cramped, dimly lit space, Yuri leaned his weight into Victor, the exhaustion finally catching up to him. It wasn't just the physical toll of hours spent tracing silver lines across the ice. It was the profound, quiet fatigue that follows a spiritual baring, the weight of opening his heart, handing over the most fragile parts of his soul, and the terrifying, beautiful relief of knowing Victor would hold them with absolute care.

"Tired?" Victor's voice rumbled through his chest, vibrating against Yuri's ear.

"Mmm. Good tired, though,"

"The best kind,"

The apartment welcomed them with warmth and the mingled scents of pine and cinnamon. They'd put up the tree together three weeks ago, Victor insisting on perfection while Yuri argued for a more organic, slightly chaotic approach. The result was somewhere in between, the branches heavy with hand-painted Russian glass and small paper cranes Yuri had folded, beautiful but lived-in, like their relationship.

Victor went immediately to the kitchen, compact but efficient, like everything in Russian apartments, and began preparing tea. Yuri watched him move, still marveling at how someone so elegant on ice could be so charmingly domestic off it. Victor hummed as he worked, measuring loose-leaf tea with the same precision he brought to triple axels, heating water to exactly the right temperature. There was a quiet grace in the way his long fingers handled the ceramic pot, a stark contrast to the power he wielded in an arena. Here, in the soft amber light of the kitchen, he wasn't a legend; he was just a man making tea for the person he loved.

"Go put on something comfortable," Victor called over his shoulder. "And grab the blanket from the bedroom. The thick one."

Yuri obeyed, shedding his coat and scarf, changing into soft loungewear that had been a gift from his mother, she'd sent a care package from Japan, filled with warm things and snacks and a letter reminding him to eat properly and dress warmly. He found the blanket Victor meant, a massive thing of wool and down that they'd bought together at a Christmas market, too expensive but impossible to resist.

When he returned to the living room, Victor had arranged everything on the low table, two cups of tea, steam rising in delicate curls; a plate of pryaniki, those Russian honey cookies Victor loved; some mochi that Yuri's mother had sent. The lights were dimmed, and through the window, the city sparkled with holiday lights and the promise of celebration.

They settled together on the couch, the blanket draped over both of them, their bodies fitting together like puzzle pieces that had finally found their match. Victor's arm came around Yuri's shoulders, and Yuri let himself melt into the embrace, his head finding that perfect spot against Victor's collarbone.

"We should make a toast," Victor said, lifting his tea cup. "To the new year?"

"To us," Yuri countered, raising his own cup. "To survive another year of your crazy training regimens."

"They're not crazy, they're innovative. There's a difference." But Victor was smiling as he touched his cup to Yuri's, the gentle clink barely audible. "To us, then. To every moment, precious or otherwise."

The tea was perfect, black tea with bergamot, Victor's favorite, sweet enough to satisfy but not cloying. They sipped in comfortable silence, watching the snow continue its endless fall beyond the window.

"Do you ever think about it?" Yuri asked after a while. "About how we got here?"

"All the time." Victor's fingers traced absent patterns on Yuri's shoulder. "I think about a viral video of a Japanese skater performing my routine. I think about being bored and reckless and flying halfway around the world on a whim. I think about a banquet I barely remember but that changed everything." He pressed a kiss to Yuri's temple. "I think about how close I came to missing this. Missing you."

Yuri shifted, turning so he could see Victor's face. "You're not allowed to get sentimental. You'll make me cry again, and I've used up my crying quota for the day."

"There's a quota?"

"Apparently. I just made it up. Two cry sessions per day maximum, and I've already hit it."

Victor laughed, the sound warm and genuine, the laugh he saved for private moments. "Then I'll try to restrain myself. Though you make it difficult."

"How so?"

"You exist. That's fairly overwhelming on its own." Victor's expression grew serious, thoughtful. "Do you know what you've given me, Yuri?"

Yuri shook his head, not trusting his voice.

"Purpose. Joy. A reason to keep skating that has nothing to do with medals or records or living up to impossible expectations." Victor's hand came up to cup Yuri's cheek, thumb brushing across his cheekbone. "You gave me myself back. The version of me that skates because he loves it, not because he's afraid of what happens if he stops."

"Victor—"

"Let me finish. Please." Victor took a breath, and Yuri could see him gathering his thoughts, arranging words with the same care he brought to choreography. "I spent so many years being Victor Nikiforov, living legend, Russian fairy, whatever they wanted to call me. And somewhere in all of that, I forgot who I was beneath the titles. But you..." He smiled, soft and vulnerable. "...you see me. Not the legend. Just Victor. The man who burns toast and sleeps too late and gets ridiculously competitive about board games. You love that Victor. And that's the most precious gift anyone has ever given me."

Yuri's vision blurred again, and he cursed his emotional vulnerability, his inability to hear these words without tears. "Damn it. I said no more crying."

"I'll allow an exception. For exceptional circumstances."

"You're impossible."

"Says the man who told me I should be his coach via drunken pole dancing."

Yuri groaned, hiding his face against Victor's chest. "I was hoping we could just never mention that again. Ever. For the rest of our lives."

"Are you kidding? That's my favorite story. I'll tell everyone."

"You do not."

"I absolutely do. Ask Yakov. Ask Mila. I have photographic evidence saved on three different devices in case something happens to one of them."

"I hate you."

"No, you don't." Victor's voice was smug, certain. "You love me. You gave me a necklace with stones that match my eyes."

"I take it back. The necklace is mine now."

"Too late. I've already formed an emotional attachment. It's part of me now. You'll have to surgically remove it."

They dissolved into laughter, the kind that made your stomach hurt, that cleared away tension and left only warmth. Outside, the first fireworks began, early celebrants who couldn't wait for midnight. Colors bloomed against the dark sky: gold, silver, red, blue. Each explosion was muffled by the snow and distance, reaching them as gentle booms that rattled the windows.

"It's almost time," Victor observed, checking the new watch on his wrist. "Ten minutes until the new year."

Yuri sat up slightly, pulling the blanket closer around them. "Do you have resolutions?"

"Do you?"

"I asked first."

Victor considered, his gaze distant. "I want to choreograph something new. Not for competition, just for us. Something that tells our story, the real one, not the sanitized version for audiences."

"That's a good resolution."

"And you?"

Yuri thought about it, about the year behind them and the uncertain future ahead. About competitions and expectations and the constant pressure to improve, to evolve, to be better than yesterday.

"I want to stop being afraid," he said finally. "Not all at once, that's probably impossible. But incrementally. I want to trust myself the way you trust me. I want to skate like I have nothing to prove because I've already proven everything that matters."

Victor's eyes shone with something that might have been pride, might have been love, might have been both. "That's a beautiful resolution. Though for the record, you already skate like that. You just don't realize it yet."

"Liar."

"It's not lying if I believe it."

The fireworks were intensifying now, building toward midnight. They could hear their neighbors celebrating, music and laughter filtering through the walls, the sounds of life and joy and people marking time's passage in the most human way possible: together.

"Five minutes," Victor announced. He shifted, reaching for something beside the couch. When he turned back, he held two glasses of champagne, bubbles rising in golden spirals. "I hid these earlier. For the toast."

"Sneaky."

"Strategic. There's a difference."

They held the glasses carefully, watching the bubbles, waiting for the moment that would mark before and after. Yuri felt the weight of the year settling on his shoulders, all the competitions won and lost, the injuries endured and healed, the moments of doubt and the moments of perfect, crystalline clarity when everything aligned and skating felt like flying.

But more than that, he felt the weight of Victor beside him, warm and solid and real. This was what mattered. Not the medals or the rankings or the articles analyzing every performance. This, the quiet moments, the shared tea, the terrible gift wrapping and perfect jewelry. The way Victor looked at him like he was something precious. The way Yuri had learned to look at himself through Victor's eyes and see someone worth loving.

"One minute," Victor said softly.

They could hear the countdown starting outside, voices calling out in Russian, in English, in a dozen languages from the international community that made St. Petersburg their temporary home. The fireworks reached a crescendo, the sky ablaze with color and light.

"Thirty seconds."

Yuri set down his glass and turned to Victor, needing both hands free for this. Victor mirrored him, understanding without explanation.

"Ten... nine... eight..."

The city counted down around them, but in their apartment, there was only silence and anticipation and the space between heartbeats.

"Three... two... one..."

The world erupted. Fireworks, cheers, church bells ringing across the city. But Yuri heard none of it because Victor was kissing him, deep and slow and thorough, kissing him like they had all the time in the world because they did, they had years stretching ahead of them, full of promise and potential and infinite moments just like this.

"Happy New Year, Yuri Katsuki."

"Happy New Year, Victor Nikiforov."

They retrieved their champagne glasses and touched them together, the crystal ringing clear and pure in the momentary quiet between fireworks.

"To the new year," Victor said.

"To us," Yuri countered.

"To every moment."

They drank, and the champagne was tasty and perfect, dry and crisp, bubbles dancing on Yuri's tongue. Through the window, the fireworks continued their display, painting the snow-covered city in impossible colors.

Later, much later, after the champagne was gone and the fireworks had faded and the city had settled into the quiet that came after the celebration, they would go to bed. They would lie tangled together under heavy blankets, Victor's arm around Yuri's waist, Yuri's head on Victor's chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.

Victor would murmur something in Russian, words that Yuri was still learning but understood anyway because some things transcended language: love, devotion, the promise of tomorrow and all the tomorrows after that.

And Yuri would answer in Japanese, knowing Victor had learned these particular words just for moments like this: words that meant home, meant safety, meant you are mine and I am yours and that is enough.

But for now, they sat together beneath the blanket, watching the last of the fireworks fade. The tea had gone cold, but neither moved to remedy it. Outside, snow continued its eternal fall, covering the city in white, making everything clean and new and possible.

"Thank you," Yuri said quietly, not sure what exactly he was thanking Victor for, the watch, the evening, the past year, all of it.

Victor seemed to understand anyway. He always did.

"Thank you," he echoed, his hand finding the pendant at his throat, the aquamarine catching the light from the window. "For this. For us. For being exactly who you are, even when you're not sure who that is. For choosing me, every day, even when I'm difficult."

"You're not that difficult."

"I'm extremely difficult. Ask anyone."

"Okay, you're extremely difficult. But you're worth it."

Victor's laugh was soft, almost wondering. "How did I get so lucky?"

"We both got lucky," Yuri corrected. "Somehow, impossibly, we found each other. In all the world, in all the possible timelines and choices and coincidences, we found each other."

"And we're never letting go."

"Never," Yuri agreed.

They sat in the afterglow of celebration, in the quiet space that existed only for them, and made silent promises to the new year: to keep skating, to keep loving, to keep finding each other in every moment, precious and ordinary and everything in between.

Outside, the snow continued to fall on St. Petersburg. On the ice rinks and the palaces, on the churches and the boulevards, on all the places where they had skated and lived and loved. It fell on their future, making it clean and unmarked and full of infinite possibility.

And in their small apartment, wrapped in wool and warmth and each other, Victor and Yuri watched the city sleep and dreamed of all the beautiful things they would create together in the year to come.

The ice beneath the lights had witnessed their love story from the beginning. And it would be there, always, waiting for them to return and trace new patterns across its surface, patterns that spoke of partnership and trust and the kind of love that transformed everything it touched, turning individual skaters into something greater: two hearts beating as one, two lives woven so thoroughly together that the boundary between them became beautiful in its blurring.

This was love. This was home. This was enough. ************************************************************************