Chapter Text
Yuuri finished explaining his practice schedule and took a sip of water. The reporter nodded and noted something in her pad. Then she leaned into Yuuri and said in a confidential tone:
"Let me ask you about your private life now. Everyone is curious how long have the two of you been together."
"What?"
"When did your relationship start?"
Yuuri seemed genuinely confused. Maybe he didn't know the news got out already, the reporter thought.
"Whose?"
"Yours and Viktor Nikiforov's of course."
The reporter gave Yuuri a sly smile. She had expected the ice skater would deny the rumours, but she wasn't going to give up easily. She intended to squeeze all the spicy details out of him.
"We are not in a relationship," Yuuri answered, just like the reporter had predicted.
"So you weren't dating during the Cup of China? When Viktor jumped on you after your free skate and kissed you?"
Yuuri blushed, so the reporter grinned with satisfaction. There was no way he was going to squirrel out of it.
"He was just encouraging me as my coach. It was a feedback for my performance."
"Yeah, sure." She smirked.
Yuuri squirmed in his chair, staring at his hands. He was playing with his ring, he kept turning it on his finger. The reporter grabbed his hand suddenly and he got a scare.
"Tell me about your couple rings then. I see you're wearing yours right now." She tapped on the ring with her fingernail, but Yuuri yanked his hand out.
"It's not a couple ring..."
"Did you get it from Viktor?"
"Yes..." the man said shakily.
"Did you give Viktor another ring matching with this one?"
"Yes... But that was just a thank you gift. And I got that one as a good luck charm."
The reporter shook her head.
"Your theme at this year's Grand Prix was LOVE and you said you learned its meaning after you met Viktor," she said, but weirdly she was getting less and less confident about it.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean we are dating."
The reporter was confused. Yuuri's story didn't add up at all, but she usually knew when people lied to her, and the ice skater seemed to be telling the truth.
"So... Is that an unrequited love?" she guessed. "But it has always seemed to me that Viktor Nikiforov was just as enamoured with you as you are with him."
"Really?!" Yuuri blurted out with big eyes, but he immediately covered his mouth with his hands. "I mean, no, it's not like that," he corrected quickly.
The reporter leaned back in her chair with a satisfied look on her face. She played with her pen.
"It looks like you haven't figured out your feelings yet. Funny. The whole world already knows you two are going to get married, and you yourself haven't noticed."
Yuuri was as red as beetroot and he was sweating heavily.
"Could you maybe... Not include that in your article?" he pleaded.
The reporter just laughed.
"Hell no. It's the best content I've gotten for a while."