With the end of the China Cup men's free skate, the cameras are tracking the final skater off the rink, over to the kiss-and-cry. Anyone who watches these competitions on a regular basis can expect a predictable assortment of queued-up shots timed by the producers in the control booth: a quick cutaway to the judges, close-up on part of the cheering crowd, perhaps a shot of one of the commentators delivering some preprepared thoughts, all leading up to the cameras returning to focus on the kiss-and-cry as the final scores come up.

But of course the television producers know where the real money is in this segment of the event, and of course they know that their audiences want to see Viktor Nikiforov's reaction to his skater's performance. So the camera stays on Yuuri Katsuki as he picks up speed, riding high on a ecstatic burst of delight as he prepares to celebrate with his coach --

None of the camera operators or control booth producers were expecting to witness a full-on tackle that sends both skater and coach crashing to the ice.



Yuri stares at the television as if he'd just seen the entire rink go up in flames before his eyes.

No. That wasn't. Couldn't be. Can't be what. Viktor didn't just --

(through the sudden rush of blood in his ears)

-- but Katsudon is right there underneath him --

(he thinks he hears Baba let out a squeal)

-- and it's all on live television with a crowd that sounds like it's going to blow out the goddamned television speakers.



'What the actual fuck.' Yuri's voice is almost inaudible.