"Are you... um, I'm sorry, this is probably rude to ask, but are you–"
There it is, Victor thinks as he swallows a disappointed sigh. He's heard this question so many times that he doesn't even need to hear the rest of it to know what's coming.
There's a moment of silence that usually follows the reveal, tense and awkward. It's the only fun Victor gets to have with his condition anyway, so he's learned to bask in it. Somehow, though, it ends sooner that he anticipates.
"Oh," the man says and he doesn't sound ashamed or chided, or awkward, or struggling, and Victor's honestly surprised. "No, I meant to ask... Are you Victor Nikiforov?"
Through the surprise that makes his heart thump a single beat out of alignment, Victor fixes on a smile.
Victor can hear the grin in the man's bright voice and his own smile eases into something more natural, more genuine. After all, who is he to begrudge someone their joy, even if he himself does no longer find any in his music?
"I was only a kid when I saw it for the first time, but your Lilac Fairy program is still one of my most vivid memories of figure skating," the man says, and once again Victor finds himself surprised out of his bitterness.
He didn't think... didn't consider...
"You're a fan of my skating?" he asks before he can think to stop the words from leaving his mouth.
"I'm so sorry," the man replies. "I know you're composing now – and you're amazing at it, too, don't get me wrong! – but your skating was... it–" He pauses then, lets his breath go as if he's embarrassed of how flustered he got. "It changed my life. I wouldn't be who I am now, if it wasn't for your skating. So, I guess what I'm so awkwardly trying to say is, um, thank you? For skating."
The glove is light in Victor's hand, smooth, but an unspoken weight at the same time. Victor doesn't know he stopped breathing until his lungs start to burn, and when he speaks his voice sounds hoarse, raw even to his own ears.
"What's your name?" he asks of the man who he can't know, but somehow feels connected to in a way he hasn't felt connected to anyone before.
"Ah, I'm sorry, I should've started with that. Where are my manners... I'm Yuuri," the man introduces himself. "Yuuri Katsuki."
And suddenly Victor remembers – the boy, the skater, the Junior World Champion, and the clip of the blades on the ice that took his first creation to the level of perfection.
"Yuuri," Victor breathes.