Note: This story was originally written after episode 1

A leap off the ice into the air with one spin; two spins; three spins. Perfect, alright now for the landing and...- the blond loses his balance, crashing back to the ground with a hard fall. Fuck. No, it's alright. The routine had just started, he could fix this small mistake. He probably was just nervous. Yeah, even prodigies were allowed to be nervous. Picking himself back up, he continued his routine. That's it, a graceful move here, a spin there. Great, his performance was improving for the unfortunate beginning.

Now time to attempt another triple lutz. Another leap. Another fall. Damn it! Today was not his day was it?

"Oh what's this? It seems like the Russian Fairy is having some trouble. Maybe it was too soon for him to enter the senior division after all."

This wasn't the only time he's heard this either. His coaches wondered if the stress from his primary coach leaving combined with the stress with being one of the best skaters in Russia and his over all bad attitude would be too much for him. They tried time and time again to convince him to stay in the junior division, at least for another year. But what was the point in that? He was better than them and he could beat those kids any day. No, what he wanted, needed, was a challenge. So he insisted. It didn't matter that Victor left to teach that second-rate Yuuri. It didn't matter that this was his senior debut. And it certainly didn't matter that he had the hopes of his family riding on his shoulders. All of this couldn't get to him, he wouldn't let it get to him. He was going to make everybody proud that day. After all he had a duty to his country to be great at the sport.

Or at least that was his intention before all that went out the window. He picked himself up once again, no way in hell this was how he was going to let his senior debut go. But what could he do now? His performance was almost done anyway. There wasn't anything he could do about it. If only that jackass didn't up and leave without a second's notice. The promise Victor had made about helping him through his first years and helping him to next year's grand prix was already screwed over thanks to the Yuuri who didn't retire when he had the fucking chance. It was both of their faults that he was crashing and burning today.

He ended his, admittedly awful, performance on a relatively positive note being able to finally land a double a moment before the end. But that wasn't going to be anywhere near enough to even get a positive score. Hell, he'd be lucky to even place this time around.

He was positively seething afterwards in the hall of the arena. He was right, his scores were low as hell. This was an absolute disaster. He fucked up a very important performance for his career. His debut into the senior bracket was just thrown in the fire. Who knows if this could possibly even be fixed. But everyone had bad days right? It wasnt like this was going to be stapled to his back forever. Although that's what it felt like. He wasn't allowed to have bad days.

"Hey isn't that Yuri Plisetsky? The Russian Fairy?"

"Yeah, today was his senior debut today. But it was pretty disappointing, nothing that I would have expected from him."

"I know what you mean, but I heard that Victor Nikiforov abandoned him to teach another-"

"Shut up!" The loud roar came from no other than the skater in question himself. He now had attention all on him for a second time today. The hall felt much too small now. Everyone was staring, it was almost as if their hushed whispers were growing louder by the second. This is not something he wanted to deal with right now.

The annoyed teen simply shook his head and went in another direction toward the bathrooms. If he could avoid any other form of embarrassment or whispers and rumors then this would be the best place.

Almost as soon as got in the restrooms his first line of action was taking out his anger on the unsuspecting wall, kicking it as hard as he could. If only he didn't fuck up today. A kick. If only he was able to keep his coach. Another kick. If only his stupid coach understood the meaning behind the words, 'I promise'. Another. Another. Another. Another.

"You're going to hurt yourself if you keep attacking that wall." Speak of the devil.

"Why the hell do you care?!" The teen whipped his head back at the the man standing against the wall. "You don't have to advise me against anything, in case you forgot, you're not my teacher!"

Victor simply sighed and shook his head. "Yura(1)... I'm sorry alright, it's just that Yuuri has so much potential and needs-"

"I don't want to hear it!" If anything the last thing he wanted to hear was anyone else's needs, especially his. "You were supposed to be helping me, not fucking leaving without warning! You can't just up and leave when you already said you'd help me."

Victor opened his mouth to speak, but Yuri wasn't about to have it. He wasted more than enough time listening to excuses. "I already went through 3 coaches before you because of my so called bad attitude. You'd think id be used to broken promises. Go ahead, teach the second-rate"

"Yura-"

"I already said I don't want to hear it"

With that he left the room. He had to win his next competition. He had to. To prove that he didn't need Victor. That he was better, so much better, than the second-rate Yuuri. Next time he was going to show them all, show himself, that he could do it.

But after all he was one of the best, right?

Notes:

Yura is the short form of Yuri in Russian

This story was also cross-posted on tumblr Wannaberichgirl and on AO3 CreativeGirl98