The first thing Yuri did upon returning to Russia was going to the love couple's apartment. The likelihood of them being home at this time was small, which was perfect for Yuri. He wasn't visiting for them, but for Potya who had been with them while he had been in Detroit. Without Yuri, Potya would be bored and lonely, but his feline companion was very fond of Makkachin, so Yuuri and Viktor had agreed to take care of him. They had gotten used to his company anyway, and Yuri knew that they were both great friends to all animals.

With the amount of time Yuri spent at their apartment, he obviously had a key and was quickly inside, dropping suitcases, bags, his jacket and shoes in the hallway to search for Potya. He quickly found him napping on Yuri's bed with Makkachin, and Yuri sat down on the edge of the bed, careful not to disturb them and ran his fingers through Potya's fur. If Makkachin was home, then it probably wouldn't be long before someone else got home too, but Yuri wasn't in a hurry to leave - rather, after his long flight he was getting a little tired. Yuri snuggled into the bed with them for a short nap.

"Yurio. Yurio~"

Yuri slowly opened his eyes to find Yuuri hovering over him.

"Huh?" He answered groggily and slowly oriented himself, finding that although Makkachin had left the room, Potya was still snuggled up to him even if he had woken before Yuri.

"You shouldn't be sleeping this late," Katsudon nagged and Yurio fumbled around looking for his phone to check the time. Turned out he had slept for almost four hours. "Help out with dinner," Katsudon demanded as he left the room, leaving Yuri no time to argue, as he stumbled out of bed, trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes.

Yuri would easily admit to having missed Yuuri's cooking while in Detroit. It was warm and familiar, and it made Yuri feel at home in a city he had always viewed as temporary. Yuri wouldn't say that Yuuri's cooking was the only thing that made him visit so often, and stay for as long as he usually did, but it certainly was a huge factor in why he loved visiting. And Yuuri knew that too, seeing as he always made Yuri's favorite meals when he was having a rough day, or, like now, was returning from some place that did not have Yuuri's cooking readily available.

"Where's Phichit?" Yuri asked after a while, being more awake now that his hands were moving. He had expected the two of them to be joined by the hip while Phichit was visiting.

"He's still at the rink training with Yakov. He'll probably arrive with the others," Yuuri said nonchalantly, but Yuri pondered that statement for a second.

"Others?" He questioned. Were they inviting more of Team Yakov? It seemed unlikely.

"Viktor and Chris."

"Chris is here?" Yuri asked perplexed, feeling like he had either missed something, or someone, probably Viktor, had forgotten to inform him.

"We didn't mention?" Yuuri asked with a small laugh in his voice, "He'll be leaving soon though, to attend an ice show in Japan."

"And yet, you're staying here?" Yuri teased as Yuuri had turned down many offers to attend shows in Japan in favor of training here in St. Petersburg.

"Just for three weeks," Yuuri shrugged, apparently having made plans to actually go to Japan, while Yuri hadn't been here.

"Let me invite Otabek," Yuri said, changing the topic slightly. If they were having lots of people over, there was no harm in inviting one more person, whom Yuri wouldn't find a chore to talk to.

"Sure," Yuuri nodded, "Go ahead."

Yuri was off to practice before even Viktor got the chance to leave, and he arrived at the rink before almost everyone else. Yakov's training camp was officially beginning in an hour, and Yuri wanted to take advantage of the mostly empty rink before that. He would of course stay when they arrived, wanting to have the chance to practice with Phichit and Yuuri both, as well as Otabek. Celestino's training methods had taught him the importance of the people around him, and while the rink was brimming with talent of all sorts, it was the perfect chance for Yuri to expand and polish his skills.

"It's unusual for you to be here so early," Yakov said from the rinkside. Yuri didn't answer him as he went through his warm-up, "You're rushing less." He commented after a while, "It was the right decision to send you to Celestino." Yuri still kept his mouth shut, though he obviously agreed. He had never imagined that he could work well with a coach that wasn't Yakov, someone who wasn't tough and stern, and while he couldn't see himself leaving for another coach, he was glad to know that he had options, and people to go to when he needed a change, even if only for a while. Of course, he had been working with Viktor a lot lately, but it was mostly as a choreographer, and Viktor still had a long way to go before he could call himself a proper coach. Yuri could tell that much by himself. Though perhaps, someday, Viktor could become someone Yuri could learn from as more than just a skater. It was a fun thought to entertain.

After half an hour of ice time, Yakov put on Yuri's short program music, and Yuri barely had time to shake his head before his body moved on instinct, beginning a full run-through of his program. Yakov's response as Yuri finished up was not exactly a standing ovation, but at least he wasn't frowning.

"I see," he said, "Well, we still need to do something about the jumping passes. With those transitions you won't be getting scores that can compete with Vitya or Katsuki."

Yuri nodded in agreement, but remembered how Viktor had more or less glossed over the jumps as he had taught him the choreography.

"I think Viktor wants to rearrange the jumps," he said, "It doesn't feel like this is the final layout, or at least, Viktor made it sound that way."

Yakov looked in thought for a moment, "Well, it is peculiar," he said, "It doesn't exactly make sense for your combination to be the second jumping pass, when it's not in the second half, but the axel is. It would make more sense to have the axel first and then put the quad toe in the second half, both for points and to have an insurance for the combination."

Yuri had had the same thought. It made sense to put the salchow in combination as it was stronger of his two quads, but it was a quad combination nonetheless, and unless Yuri was putting the whole combination in the second half, it wouldn't make much sense to have it after the toe. It seemed illogical, and Yuri found it hard to see how it would interfere with the composition of the program if they were to change it. Especially since Viktor hadn't put any effort into really incorporate the jumps into the programs as he was usually very strict about doing. He only had a little over a month left until the Russian test skates and after that the season would really begin. If he were to prepare properly for the Olympics, he needed Viktor to help him finish up the rest of the program.

Slowly, other skaters began filling the rink, and Yuri tuned his own training down a little to observe the others. He was especially focused on Yuuri, whom he had never paid that close attention to in practice (always trying to one up him rather than learn from him) and looked at the way he skated, the way he generated speed and power from simply movements and the ease with which he performed difficult steps and turns. Yuri had always thought that Yuuri had just been talented, but perhaps his skills came from the foundation which Celestino had taught him. Slowly, however, Yuri's eyes moved to center ice where Chris was going through some spins. Yuri was still unsure of why he was here and whether he was participating in the training camp, but it seemed like he was merely using the rink to practice rather than being here for Yakov's tutelage.

It didn't take long for Chris to notice his staring.

"See anything you like?" He asked slyly and Yuri automatically made a face of disgust.

"Fuck off," he said, but then quickly reconsidered, "Can you teach me that?"

"The spin?"

"I don't understand how you accelerate that much mid-spin," Yuri admitted, knowing that if there was anyone who could teach him more about spins, it would be Chris. Yuri was flexible and had an excellent control over his body which helped him in staying centered and never losing speed, but Chris could do things he couldn't, and Yuri wanted to learn.

"Hm~" Chris pretended to consider the request, but then smiled at him, "As a fellow cat lover, I will help you."

The whole process was a lot harder than Yuri had first anticipated, and when it came time to end the practice session, he didn't feel like he had made much progress at all. However, Chris, and Viktor who had quickly made himself involved with the whole thing, had encouraged him to continue practicing it. But Yuri had an agenda before the training session ended, and it turned out that he didn't even need to ask anyone, because he quickly found Yuuri and Phichit skating in perfect synchronicity, and Yuri didn't ask them before he quickly joined them in their exercises. The pair never commented on his presence.

"Will you sleep over?" Viktor asked as they all finally began leaving the ice, and Yuri shook his head.

"No," he said, a little disappointed as he knew there were still plenty of leftovers from yesterday's dinner, "Lilia wants to go over the free skate, so I'll have to go home. I'll come tomorrow."

"Tomorrow," Viktor repeated and Yuri looked at him in question, "Come to the rink two hours early."

"It's not even open then," Yuri deadpanned, but Viktor simply winked at him before he left to catch up with Yuuri.

"Make sure to be on time," he simply called and Yuri decided not to think about it until tomorrow.

O: He probably wants to go over the sp

Y: He could do that at anytime though? Why do I have to get up at five for that?

O: -_-

Y: Good answer

"Um..." Yuri looked around the rink only to find that they were truly alone. Yuri wasn't even sure how Viktor had gotten in, but he had decided to not question that part. It did feel a little weird to have the rink to themselves, a silence falling when neither of them spoke, not even the sound of blades on ice filling the empty space.

"You probably wondered why I brought you here," Viktor began, making it seem like he was quoting some movie.

"For training, I hope," Yuri answered, not wanting to amuse Viktor in the slightest by playing along.

"Not just training," Viktor said and glided a little closer, his index finger pointing up as if he was giving a lecture, "Jump training."

Yuri's face fell a little. There were other things he'd rather have Viktor teach him. Jumps he could learn from Yakov who had both experience and credentials to his name.

"I'm not interested in a quad flip, old man," he said bluntly and Viktor smirked before he began wagging his finger back and forth in denial.

"You are still some years away from a quad flip, me dear student," Viktor said and began skating, "But what I want to teach you is this," Viktor sped up and then, right in front of Yuri, landed a quad loop.

"Yakov already said no, though," Yuri reminded him, because he was not as dumb as to think that he could add it without Yakov's approval and guidance.

"Which is why we will practice it in secret," Viktor explained casually, "Your quad loop is stable enough for you to do it safely out of harness, so we'll just be doing the fine-tuning."

"Are you crazy?"

"Probably."

Yuri sighed, "Okay, then," He didn't necessarily trust Viktor in this, but he did trust in himself to be able to master the jump, and if he could have it very stable by the Olympics, then it was worth the risk, "Do we have a deadline?" It was always important that have a goal, because if it was still very unreliable, perhaps around the time the Finals came about, then that's when they would need to start thinking about other layouts of the program. Of course, Yuri would need to put the loop into his free skate as well if he really wanted a shot at the higher scores, but that was all in due time. For now, he just needed to get the jump under control.

"By the end of August, your success rate should be at least fifty percent."

"Fifty?!" Yuri exclaimed. Right now, Yuri could land roughly one in fifty attempts, and in one month he would need that number to jump up to twenty-five. At least. That was ridiculous.

"If you don't think you can do it, then we won't try at all."

"I can do it!" Yuri said without hesitation, although his mind was racing. Viktor had been practicing the quad loop for almost four years, and hadn't even shown it publically until about two years into training it. Even his stupid quad flip had taken him two years to master - three years if one were to count the ups and downs of Viktor's first season attempting it. And Yuri didn't even have a trial season to get this jump under control. He had one year of trying it out a couple of times when he was in good condition, and half a season of trial and error before the Olympics which were less than a year away. This was all levels of crazy, but he had to do it. Yuri knew that if he were to ever catch up to Yuuri, then this was the only way to do it. He knew it would take years and years of training to reach the pure skating skills Yuuri possessed and therefore, the only way for him to improve in a rapid pace would be the technical content. He didn't have a choice.

"Very well," Viktor said, completely in coach mode at this point, and he skated to the barrier to grab a notebook which he handed to Yuri, "This will be your short program layout."

Yuri quickly skimmed through it, looking for the jump order. 4Lo / 4S+3Lo / 3A.

"Quad sal-triple loop?" Yuri questioned. It wasn't just the solo quad they were changing?

"You've done loop combinations before," Viktor reasoned, but Yuri shook his head.

"Never after a quad."

"Of course not," Viktor smiled devilishly, "No one has. That's why you will be the first."

"Do you want to lose or something?" Yuri asked perplexed, because this layout would put his base value above Viktor's, and based on last season, Yuri was beginning to become the more consistent of the two.

"Don't get arrogant," Viktor chimed, "If you can't do at least this much, you won't be able to beat me."

"Keep telling yourself that and teach me."

Over the next week, Yuri kept meeting Viktor for secret practice in the early hours of the morning, and then proceeded to train with whoever was at the rink. He trained spins with Chris until he eventually had to go to Japan. He did jump practice with Otabek, and skating exercises with the Detroit duo. It was all very exhausting and Yuri sometimes envied Viktor who could afford to rest in between practice sessions to coach Yuuri, but it was also extremely rewarding. On the last day of Yakov's training camp, both Viktor and Yakov allowed Yuri to take the day off to hang out with Otabek before he went home to Kazakhstan.

"It doesn't seem like a good idea to practice a new quad without Yakov knowing," Otabek mentioned over lunch and Yuri scowled.

"I know, but Yakov would never agree to it. If I can show him that the loop is a reliable jump before the test skates, then perhaps he'll let me use it. At least that's what Viktor is betting on."

"Well, if anyone can do it, it's you," Otabek said with confidence, and Yuri smiled.

It was two weeks before the test skates that when Yuri arrived at the rink for his secret quad loop practice, he was met with Yakov and not Viktor. It wasn't that Viktor wasn't there, but he looked like he had just received the lecture of his life, and Yuri didn't need to think twice before knowing that they had been caught.

"How did you even find out?!" Yuri question bewildered. Even if Yakov knew they had been training, there had been no way of knowing that they were doing loop practice. For all he knew, Viktor could have been polishing the short program with him.

"Katsuki told me."

"Huh?!" Yuri growled and turned to Viktor in anger, "This is your fault! Katsudon can't keep secrets!"

"I didn't tell him," Viktor protested immediately, but then added in a whisper, "At first."

"Ugh," Yuri groaned and left the rink to find that traitorous tattletale.

"I can't believe you sold us out!" Yuri slammed the apartment door open, making Makkachin jump, while Yuuri continued to calmly drink his tea.

"You would have gotten hurt," Yuuri replied calmly, eyeing Yuri with a slight look of disapproval, but seeming otherwise removed and indifferent to the situation.

"We had it under control," Viktor chimed in, coming through the door behind Yuri, but Yuuri just shot him the I-know-better look and shut them both up.

"Listen," he said, still very calm, which freaked Yuri out slightly, "I support you learning the loop, but Viktor is no jump coach."

"Hey!"

"It's true, gorgeous, and you know it. Yakov has agreed to allow you to continue practice under his guidance, and you can put it in your programs, if, and only if, you land it at the test skates. Those are the conditions," Yuuri said diplomatically, and Yuri considered for a short while, trying to figure out if there was a catch anywhere in those conditions.

"Short and free?" He asked, wanting to make absolutely certain.

"Yes."

Okay, Yuri thought, it didn't change too much. Of course, Viktor's condition had been easier to clear, since he had only asked for a fifty percent success rate which would have meant that he would only have needed to land one of the two jump. Now he needed to land both of them. It put a little more pressure on him, but he had been making a lot of progress. Although Yuri could agree that Viktor was not the best at teaching jumps, he was quite reliable when it came to the finer details, and Yuri had gone from popping basically all of his attempts to actually getting the rotations, but then either falling or otherwise messing up the landing. Currently, his success rate was at roughly ten percent. Fifteen on a good day. It seemed unrealistic to meet Yakov's conditions, but Yuri had no choice but to go for it.

"How come you don't have any conditions like that for the lutz?" Yuri asked, still upset with Yuuri, although it seemed to maybe have worked out. Perhaps Yuuri was the one to have persuaded Yakov to let him continue training it.

"Because I've been practicing the quad lutz since you began skating in juniors," Yuuri said calmly, going back to drinking his tea.

"Tch, unfair."

"Not at all."

"I hate to admit that you did a good job," Yakov told Viktor the next day, when Yuri began drilling quad loops so that Yakov could get an idea of his consistency.

"Told you," Viktor pouted, clearly offended that Yakov didn't trust in his coaching abilities more, although Yuri was kind of on Yakov's side in this. If Yuri hadn't been as good as he was, Viktor wouldn't have gotten anywhere.

"Let's do a run-through," Yakov said, "I assume you've been working on the program as well?"

"Of course," Viktor said, still pouting, and he went to put on the music, while Yuri mentally prepared himself for yet another run-through of his short program. All the run-throughs were starting to wear him down, especially with all the things Viktor had begun to add to the short program. Yuri had thought that all that was left were the jumps and the transitions into and out of those jumps, but of course Viktor Nikiforov didn't stop there. At this point, his short program was more taxing than his free skate, though it was only a matter of time before Lilia also began adding things to that.

Yuri's goal for the run-through was to not pop the loop. If he popped it, Yakov would probably give up on him before they had even begun practicing properly. So, when the jump came up, Yuri willed all his power into getting the rotations, but ended up having to step out of the landing. Still. He got round. And with that off his back, he could safely continue on with the program. Though he felt a little tired, he went for the combination with as much power as usual, and landed the quad salchow-triple loop that Viktor had also drilled into him. And just as Yuri was about to enter his first spin, someone cut the music.

"What the hell! Was that?!" Yakov roared from the rinkside, and Yuri looked to him, and then to Viktor, who looked just as taken aback as he felt.

"What?" Viktor said dumbfounded, and Yakov took a step closer to him, while Viktor quickly began backing away.

"That combination!" Yakov hissed, and it suddenly occurred to Yuri that, no, this had never been a point of discussion, and maybe someone should have filled Yakov in.

"Why are you complaining?" Viktor suddenly snapped, and stopped backing away from Yakov, "It's new, groundbreaking and incredibly consistent! Even if he popped the loop in the beginning, he can always change it to a triple toe instead! I've thought this through!"

"Have you? Truly?! Because you of all people should know that edge jumps are more prone to being popped than toe jumps, and in the short program, popping a jump could mean the difference between first and tenth place!"

"But Yurio's edge jumps are amazing, and by the Olympics he'll have a great shot at the podium. He needs the extra points from the loop to catch up the more experienced skaters!"

"You're adding too much at once! You can't force progress!"

"He's ready for it!"

"The season starts in less than a month, and his success rate with the loop isn't anywhere near fifty percent! He should focus on one thing at once!"

Yuri contemplated jumping in, but until it seemed like Viktor would give in, which would probably take a couple of days, he didn't want to waste his energy. He decided to go to Lilia's studio to work on his free skate instead.

O: Are they still fighting?

Y: Yup.

O: It's been three days.

Y: Yeah, well, they've been fighting longer before.

O: -_-

"Can't you do something?"

"Convincing Yakov to let you continue doing the quad loop was hard enough. I don't really want to get more involved," Yuuri shrugged and folded another shirt to neatly put in his suitcase, packing for his flight tomorrow, "Have you tried to convince Lilia?"

"Why would I do that?" Yuri scoffed, "She choreographs. She doesn't exactly coach."

"True," Yuuri agreed, "But she's also happens to be the only one who can make Yakov bend to her will."

"That's a good point."

Turned out that convincing Lilia to let him do crazy jumps was very easy, because difficult things were, as she said, beautiful, and she too would like for him to put a quad loop in the free skate.

"Why are you against it?" Lilia asked Yakov that evening at dinner, and Yuri ate his food slowly to observe the battle that was about to occur.

"Because it will do more bad than good."

"It sounds to me like you are underestimating your student. He is the Grand Prix Final champion, is he not?"

"Yes, but-"

"And a world record holder?"

"Yes, however-"

"So why are you holding him back?"

"I am not-"

"If you won't let him challenge himself and evolve, he'll never get anywhere. Isn't that why you let Vitya learn the flip? To push the sport even though he could win without it?"

Yuri looked at Yakov, who was struggling to find the words, and slowly giving into Lilia's argument and her stubborn will. Yuri made a note to go to her more often when he disagreed with Yakov.

"Fine," Yakov gave up and threw his hands in the air, "But the condition stands. You have to land the jumps at the test skates. The combination included. If you fail anyone of the jump passes, we'll discuss which to focus on for the Games."

"Don't worry about that," Yuri said confidently, "I'll land them."