16

Chapter 3

"Hey, Victor! What happened to your hair!?" Chris shouted as he walked towards him, holding the back of his neck.

"My mom cut it off." Victor replied flatly, glaring up at Chris' stupidly smug grin.

Chris let out a laugh and ruffled Victors hair.

"That sounds rough dude. I hope you don't lose it forever."

"Please stop messing with my hair." Victor growled, swiping Chris' hand away. "Where's Yurio?"

"He's already headed over to the rink. Said that he has training this afternoon." Chris paused momentarily before letting out a small sigh. "Do you guys not train together anymore? Since you two have basically been inseparable lately."

"Well, not all of us can train at night and sleep during the day, can we?" Victor grumbled. "Also we usually train separately anyway."

"Oh, right. That makes sense." Chris said sheepishly.

The two continued walking until they arrived at the rink. While some skaters were warming up Victor spotted Chris walking up to the barrier and yelling to get coach Otabek's attention. Otabek nodded before running toward them.

"Yakov isn't answering your calls anymore either." Victor pointed out.

"Eh, Yakov won't answer if it doesn't matter to him that he'll miss practice." Chris shrugged nonchalantly.

Victor frowned. "Is Yakov going to give me detention again this time?"

Chris snickered. "Probably. It's not like you can avoid him when there's a bunch of skaters trying to take advantage of the extra time. Plus, it'll be fun to see the look on your face when he actually gives you one."

Victor groaned, knowing full well that Chris was absolutely right. "I don't want detention, Chris. Can you just let Yakov have his way with me this once?"

"If he gives me any problems about letting you skip he has to answer to me."

Victor grinned and punched Chris lightly in the arm. 'He knows me too well sometimes,' he thought, feeling a familiar warm feeling spread through his chest when he considered his relationship with the former rink mate. His grin faded quickly as Otabek walked up behind Chris.

"Chris."

"Yura! Hey! How've you been?"

Otabek shook his head in amusement, smiling faintly. "Good. You?"

"Pretty good. Thanks for asking."

"Let's go to lunch. We can chat while waiting for Victor." Otabek suggested, leading them both down the hall.

Chris shrugged and followed, shooting Victor a wink over his shoulder as he disappeared into the crowd. Victor blushed, staring after his retreating form before shaking his head and following after Otabek.

***

Victor sat across from Chris on a bench outside, listening silently as Otabek talked enthusiastically to his friend. He could feel Yuuri sitting down next to him and he stiffened slightly, unsure whether to continue ignoring him or acknowledge him as soon as possible. Yuuri seemed perfectly content to stay where he was and watch the other skaters practicing.

"So Victor," Chris began casually after Otabek had finally left, giving Victor a chance to escape from his awkwardness. "How come you've been so quiet? Usually you'd be shouting insults at everyone."

Yuuri chuckled slightly beside him. "We all know that you would always win every single competition regardless. It's not worth it to yell at them, especially since everyone else gets a free pass anyways."

Victor huffed indignantly. He was most certainly not shouting insults at anyone