When Lilia walks in to tell him that dinner is ready, she accompanies the words with a very pointed look towards Victor's bag, which is empty despite the fact that he's supposed to go home tomorrow morning. He's been able to whine or beg his way out of trips home before, but not this one; it's his mother's birthday and she wants him to be there. He doesn't have the excuse of a competition this time.
Victor loves his parents; he loves his mother's long hair and the many pins she uses to decorate it, and he loves his mom's cooking, and he loves the way there are always flowers everywhere. But he doesn't miss them all that often.
Lilia may not wear pins in her hair every day, and Yakov may not be the kind of person to buy flowers all the time, and the food they cook for him is different. But Lilia's never thrown a glass plate at Yakov, either.
(They'd made up, afterward, and cleaned up all the glass shards together. But that's not the part that Victor remembers best; it's their voices, raising and raising, and then the sharp, sudden sound of glass exploding against the wall, the way it glinted all over their nice kitchen floor, the harshness of their breathing in the silence after.)
And Yakov and Lilia do fight. Sort of. It's so gentle and short compared to his own parents that Victor can hardly use the same word. Sometimes they stare grumpily at each other for a few moments before one of them gives in. Small misunderstandings get worked out rather than escalating. The closest they've gotten so far was a disagreement that had Lilia leaving for the day with pursed lips; Victor had been tense when he'd returned, and his stomach had twisted on hearing her footsteps coming in. But then nothing had happened that he could hear, no shouting, no whispered arguments that carried through the walls, and at dinner it had been like any other night.
He wishes his parents could be like that. He doesn't understand why they're not. They don't shout at him; he's been mildly scolded for not doing his homework on time, and that's it. Even when he broke a teacup by accident, or bugged them while they were watching the TV because he wanted to watch a Grand Prix competition.
But he has to see them. So he goes. And it's nice, and they ask him about his skating even though they don't really understand why he's so good at it or why he loves it so much, and his mom cooks the food they like best. It's still kind of a relief when he's back with Lilia and Yakov, where he knows there won't be screaming because one of them bought the wrong kind of coffee.
The next time is when they take a summer trip and they want him to come along – of course they do, and Victor should be excited. He loves traveling. But maybe Yakov notices the way he doesn't find a way to fill the air with constant chatter about it, the way he does before competitions, because suddenly he decides that Victor could help with the summer training camp at the rink. His parents seem disappointed, but they agree that he can stay, and now he doesn't have to worry about being stuck with them for a week, without even his room to retreat to if they start glaring at each other.
It's not the first time one of them pretty much hands him an excuse, though as the years go by, they need to do so less often.
Victor still takes calls from his parents sometimes, or goes back for an afternoon here and there. But home becomes Yakov and Lilia's apartment. They're the ones who bring him tea when he's sick, who help him work out his training schedule with the school. A couple of years after the trip he misses out on, they take him to Moscow to watch the ballet. The year after, it's Paris, all shiny and beautiful.
Lilia teaches him dance and his choreography, but also how to make the perfect cup of tea and how to say mean things to people he doesn't like while looking polite. Yakov coaches him and yells at him when he does stupid things and teaches him to cook without hurting himself. They help him decide what to do for university and they go with him when he starts looking for an apartment of his own. Victor doesn't remember to tell his parents that he's moved for nearly a year.
When Yakov tells him one evening, quiet, his voice heavy and slow, that they're getting a divorce, Victor almost cries. He doesn't understand why. They've never had a real fight over anything.
He should probably be ashamed that he wishes that it was his parents, instead, but he's not.
~!~
Victor has always liked Japan, but he loves Hasetsu from the moment he steps off the train and sees the posters of Yuuri everywhere. It's a picturesque town on the sea, not a village, but not Osaka or Tokyo, either.
He likes Yuutopia even more. The Katsukis have a cozy, friendly house, full of interesting decorations wherever Victor looks. Toshiya and Hiroko don't speak English, and when Victor arrives he knows about ten phrases in Japanese (only half of which are suitable to say to them), but they do their best to communicate. Mari helps, sometimes, when Yuuri isn't around.
If he gets up early enough in the mornings, sometimes he can help Toshiya prepare breakfast, cutting vegetables he doesn't know how to name or babysitting soup. When Yuuri is working out or in the studio with Minako, sometimes he helps Hiroko go shopping, learning new words and helping her carry the bags. When the summer turns hot and there's nothing to do but sit around complaining sometimes, he starts to sit around with Mari – at first, hoping that she'll tell him more about Yuuri's past. She doesn't, not really, but they develop their own in-jokes and trade music with each other.
Victor's lived alone for so long, he realizes that he was starting to forget what it was like to live with other people. Inconvenient at times, yes, when there's noise or someone holds up the bathroom. But he has someone to sit and drink tea with again. People to eat dinner with again. People to give Makkachin attention when he's not around again. Not just Yuri or Yakov as the occasional visitor to his apartment, but every day.
And they're all so nice. Mari teases Yuuri in a way that makes him wonder what life would be like if he wasn't an only child, and sometimes Yuuri comes up with a remark to get her back. Hiroko and Toshiya never fight at all, and when the summer heat starts to wear, Hiroko appears with chopped watermelon, or Toshiya introduces him to a new kind of tea, chilled.
Yuuri is very lucky to have a family like this. He might not have had the funding Victor is used to – he didn't realize how little the Japanese federation provides for its athletes, while in Russia, now, the clubs pay for their training and ice time and there's better stipends. And he might not have had the best coach in the world helping him fix every mistake since he was ten. But Yuuri has childhood friends who still talk to him, and he has a kind family who support him all the way and don't scream at each other.
And now he has Victor, too.
Summer passes, and then Yuuri's first competition of the season. The Katsukis have a party for him afterward, even though it was just a regional qualifier for Nationals. Everyone is so proud of him, and it makes Victor feel off for only thinking of how Yuuri could have done better at the competition, when everyone else is just happy to have seen him skate the way he did. Yakov and Lilia were always focused on improvement. But then again, they let him have chocolates after competing, or took him sightseeing before the flight home, no matter what his scores were.
He misses them, all of a sudden. That night, he texts Yakov, and doesn't get a reply. Must still be mad about him ditching Russia for Yuuri. Oh well. They'll see each other in China soon enough.
Victor wants to be happy with Yuuri. Like Hiroko and Toshiya. Like he thought Yakov and Lilia were. So he tries to keep disagreements at the rink over Yuuri's training, or little arguments about who should pay for what, from turning into real fights. It works. Not everything is smooth, but they get along better and better, and Victor can't remember the last time he felt so light every day. Nothing is choking him any more.
Not until their fight in Barcelona.
Victor can't sleep for hours. He can feel Yuuri next to him in their bed, too tense, even though he needs to sleep more than Victor does. He doesn't understand what went wrong. Why Yuuri doesn't seem to understand why Victor is so upset at him being so selfish. What do they do next? How are they going to fix this? It can't be the end, can it? It can't. It won't. So Victor believes, but worry makes his stomach cramp anyway.
The next day, he thinks, thinks, thinks, through their awkward breakfast and the backstage waiting and the warm-up. About Yuuri and what he said. About skating. About Hasetsu and St. Petersburg. When he sees the way Yuuri skates, brilliant and record-breaking, he decides. And then they're not fighting anymore, they're laughing and joking and hugging, and maybe crying a little, too.
In Hasetsu, Makkachin welcomes them back by knocking Yuuri over. The Katsukis and all their friends welcome them back with food and drink, and a cake for Victor's birthday even though it's too early. He tears up on seeing it, even if he feels silly for doing so.
When they finally make it to bed, Yuuri falls asleep instantly. Victor lingers for a while longer, holding up his right hand to see the ring in the dim light. It's a memento, and a promise, and a reminder.
Victor Katsuki, he thinks. He can keep Nikiforov as a public name, maybe. He doesn't know when was the last time he talked to his parents. Yuuri is the one who has made his life a joy again, and his family are the ones who have welcomed them back, who, Victor knows, will always welcome them back with smiles and gentle teasing and good food.
He's not entirely sure he wants to leave them again for St. Petersburg. But at least Yakov will be there. Victor can't wait to see his face when he asks him for help with planning a proper wedding. Maybe he can invite Lilia, too, now that she's around again. She'll like Yuuri.
Victor lowers his hand and tucks it around Yuuri's shoulder, and while he waits for sleep, enjoys the quiet feeling of being back home.
A/N: First part originally written for the prompt 'adopted families' a while back. Meant to continue it, and the movie announcement (!) this morning gave me the push to do so before it gets jossed :)