Idol | Yuri Plisetsky x Reader

    All throughout your life, the ice was the one thing you loved most. It was to you like a book is for most people; a form of an escape from the real world. All your qualms would be washed away the moment you stepped foot in the rink. It never failed to free you from the weight the world always seemed to manage to put on you.

    
    Your love for skating was what drove you to become a pro and soon, you found yourself training for it in Russia under the highly pronounced Yakov Feltsman who trained several famous ice skaters such as the young Yuri Plisetsky. He had always been a huge inspiration to you being that he was such a young boy with such a talent for ice skating - but he was also such a pain in your ass.

    
    Ice skating looked unbelievingly easy, especially when Yuri was the skater, but you learned early on in your ice skating career that there was nothing easy about it. Even now, you still struggled to perfect your moves. The most daunting jump for any ice skater was the quadruple salchow - Yuri’s specialty.

    
    Day by day you continued to practice it. On some tries, you were able to land it flawlessly while on others, you still ended up tumbling onto the ice. You were far from being an amateur at it, but nor did you manage to perfect it.

    
    After today’s lessons were over and Yakov had already left, you grabbed your skates and stepped back onto the ice rink once again. You had made so much more progress that lesson than you usually would have; you just had to continue practicing.

    
    Your feet glided over the ice so easily. You couldn’t help but smile as you successfully managed to land every small jump you attempted. It was only a small feat, though. As you started picking up speed to attempt the quadruple salchow once again, you couldn’t help but think something great would come out of this jump.

    
    As you continued to skate at full speed towards the center of the rink, you finally made your jump. For the split second you were in the air, you felt weightless. It was a feeling you loved and always longed for - up until you went crashing down onto the ice. Your body skidded across the ice leaving your backside (which took most of the impact) bruised and battered. Once again, that infamous triple axel escaped your grasp.

    
    “That was completely awful,” someone commented from the distance. Your heart nearly jumped out of your chest in fright. Someone was watching you this whole time? More important, they witnessed that failure of a quadruple salchow you pulled off?

    
    You couldn’t help but gulp nervously as the person took a step out of the shadows that covered him completely. Your eyes grew wide and you nearly forgot how to breathe when you recognized the face of the boy who stood outside the rink; Yuri Plisetsky.

    
    “How the hell do you expect to win the Grand Prix if you can’t even manage that jump? So pathetic,” he spat with his arms crossed.

    
    Tears prickled in your eyes at his harsh words and you had to purse your lips together to keep them from trembling. How could the boy you looked up to, your idol, turn out to be such an asshole…?

    
    “H-hey, I can get better!” you stammered.

    
    He scoffed. “Good luck with that one.”

    
    Never in your wildest dreams could you have managed that your idol would one day become your rival.

    
    Despite his poor attitude, you couldn’t help but continue to admire him. It was hard not to. But his rude comment became worse and worse as he seemingly started to take an interest in you. Day after day, he would insist on sitting in on your lessons with Yakov and criticize the way you skated each time.

    
    His comments were rude, cold, and mostly unnecessary, but were they useless? Not at all. In fact, it was his rude comments that drove you to improve. It was the thought of finally proving Yuri wrong that made you continue practicing.

    
    As much of a pain he was to you during those days, you still couldn’t stop yourself from sneaking into his practices and watching him skate. Never before would you have dared to do this, but you felt as if he at least owed this to you for how much pressure he was placing on your shoulders.

    
    There was no surprise why Yuri was famous for his jumps. He could land the most difficult jump easily, even being able to jump higher than most during it. But it was obvious during his practice session that this stunning skater was far from perfect.

    
    At first, you thought you were the only one who noticed his overwhelming speed and dark face, but even Yakov kept making comments about it. He looked far from graceful as he skated a dance that looked like vengeance. His mind was far from being in the right place as he continued to skate to the song being played.

    
    Nearly the whole session consisted of Yakov criticizing Yuri’s movements. Before long, the eye-opening practice session was over and Yakov left the rink. You were half expecting Yuri to leave as well, but he stayed and continued to practice.  Even in his past performances, it was obvious he rushed his performances too much, but never like this before. Skating was a great way to express people’s emotions even if they don’t realize it themselves. It was evident from his performance that he was aggravated about something.

    
    As the song came to an end, he skated towards the wall and slammed his fists against it as he let out a frustrated scream. He then began muttering hateful comments towards something that sounded like… Pork cutlet bowls?

    
    “How do you expect to win the Grand Prix if you can’t even control your emotions while skating?” you asked, mocking the same comment he said to you.

    
    His head whipped towards you faster than you expected nearly causing you to flinch back. “Why the hell are you here?” he growled intimidatingly as he slowly started to skate towards you.

    
    Resisting the urge to run away, you balled your hands into fists and said, “Help me with my jumps and I’ll help you to control your emotions.”

    
    “Why would I ever want your help?”

    
    “Because at least I can control my emotions better than you can.”

    
    He opened his mouth to make a snappy remark, but he quickly shut it. He hesitated for a few moments and you feared he would start screaming again, but instead, he stepped off the rink and started heading towards the door. You couldn’t help but feel disappointed as you watched him walk away.

    
    As he opened the door, he stopped before he walked out and said, “We start tomorrow. You better not be late.”

******

    Training with Yuri was absolute hell most days. Helpful? Of course. But it took a lot of your strength to put up with the screaming and cursing that came with training with Yuri. It didn’t take long for better results in your skating to start appearing. There was no jump you could you couldn’t manage any more. Yuri allowed you to take one more giant step into the path of becoming a winner.

    
    His situation wasn’t as difficult as yours, though. It took time, but Yuri was slowly getting better at keeping his emotions at bay while on the rink. Graceful was the only word to describe him while skating and that was the last thing he needed. All that was left was for him to win the Grand Prix.

    
    You watched anxiously from the back as the Grand Prix winner was finally announced. Tears of pure joy slid down your cheeks as Yuri was announced the winner. This boy finally won the biggest contest for figure skaters. You were proud to call him your idol - no, your friend.

    
    As all the skaters made their way into the back, you waited around for Yuri. He was taking longer than the others; no doubt being swarmed by fans. But as that blonde-haired boy you adored so much finally stepped past the curtains, you couldn’t help but beam widely at him.

    
    That smile of yours soon faded as he started making his way towards you with a straight face. No emotion covered it which was strange for him. For a split second, you feared you had done something wrong. That was until he finally reached you.

    
    Cupping your face with his hands, he suddenly pressed his lips against yours, pulling you into an icy cold kiss. It didn’t last long, but your heart was beating rapidly in your chest nonetheless. You quickly wrapped your arms around his body and buried your face into his shoulder. You never wanted this moment to end.

    
    He placed a soft kiss on your temple before saying, “Now it’s your turn to win.”