Yay for three-day weekends that give me time to write!

Chapter 4 - We Were Born to Ship Victuuri!


Yurio sighed as he typed away on his phone. It would've been easier to use the computer Phichit had stashed away in one of the duffel-bags, but if Yurio used a computer, someone would inevitably notice the Victuuri post he was working on for his Facebook, which was basically a worse case scenario type of situation. Phichit and Otabek weren't so anxious to hide their online activities, though, so they were both typing with their computers out in the open. Otabek didn't really show his face online that often, and photos of his face relating to his theorist account and website were hard to come by, even allusive. However, Otabek didn't seem the least bit embarrassed by his tendency to ship people, and for that, Yurio was secretly jealous, just like he was with Phichit.

Yurio didn't have too much time to focus on his jealousy or his embarrassment over what he did in his free-time, though. Currently, they were in some random internet cafe trying to track down where Yuuri and Victor were. The manager of the cafe had threatened them a few times that if they didn't put away all the equipment they were using and order something off the damn menu, they'd get kicked out. Phichit was noticeably terrified of the manager, but one glare from Yurio, even one from behind those large, thick, ridiculous-looking sunglasses, quickly silenced her. He didn't want to give her such a terrifying, nightmare-fueling look, but she was trying to shoo them away with a broom as if they were mice, so Yurio figured that his glare was justified.

Phichit swiped through the iPad he was holding, desperately trying to find a camera that had footage of Victor and Yuuri, but he had no luck. Otabek was doing a little bit better and was working on his Divorce Meter post, though he had warned Yurio and Phichit that he wouldn't be able to get very far without more information on the state of Yuuri and Victor's relationship.

Yurio didn't really know what to post, but he, Phichit, and Otabek knew one thing: if you go too long without posting, the internet thinks you're dead. That was the main reason why they had stopped at the internet cafe, really. Sure, they wanted to check and see if Victor and Yuuri were around, but they needed to post some sort of message to prevent their funeral proceedings from blowing up on social media. Plus, Phichit had been using his 4G so heavily for the past few days that it had run out for the month.

Phichit and Otabek had already made their posts that confirmed they weren't dead, but Yurio had a bit of trouble coming up with something. His fingers were rapidly tapping on the screen as he worked on his Victuuri post, unsure of what he should post as a status update. Whenever he logged onto his DoubleYourDailyDoseOfShips account, he always had to think these things through. His shipping account could have no association with his in real life self, so Yurio always had to be careful about what he posted on there.

Yurio had nearly gotten himself exposed a few times, too, like when he almost accidentally posted something meant for his shipping account on his regular account or when he nearly sent out an angry status update that was meant for his regular account on his shipping account .

It was a dangerous business to secretly be a shipper, if he did say so himself.

Finally, Yurio decided to post a Victuuri-fanboy status on his shipping account, ensuring his followers that he was alive and well.

"You done with your status update yet?" Phichit asked as he closed his computer. Yurio nodded.

"We should probably get out before the manager calls the police on us, too," Otabek added, and he used his thumb to point towards the fuming manager, who was giving them a death-stare over her shoulder.

Both Yurio and Phichit nodded, and from Yurio's point of view, Phichit looked like he was about to faint from the manager's incessant, beady eyes. Before you could blink, Phichit threw all the surveillance equipment into the duffel-bags, and all three of them snaked out just as the manager pulled out her phone. They practically parkour-ed their way onto the rented motorcycle that they had parked outside, not even bothering to put on their helmets until after the motorbike was up and running.

The manager screaming behind them that they were banned from the cafe for life while Phichit, jammed in the sidecar of the motorcycle, took out a list labeled "List of Internet Cafes We Can go to" and struck one of the names out, saying, "Well, I guess that's another location where I'm banned for life."

"You've been banned for life from other places before?" Yurio couldn't see Otabek's facial expression, but based on what he had said and his tone of voice, Otabek likely would've been face-palming if he wasn't steering the motorcycle.

"Well, the thing is..." Phichit sheepishly chuckled, his head tilted down in shame.


"Alright, let's see," Phichit was standing in front of one of those huge public maps that you could find at bus-stops, and Yurio and Otabek were behind him. Otabek had his face behind a map while Yurio was busy trying to hide his own face. Yurio was getting increasingly paranoid as the morning progressed, and the fact that Phichit and Otabek were two world-famous skaters, which was bound to attract the paparazzi, didn't help.

Otabek had kept a careful eye out for anyone sneaking around and taking photos of him, Yurio, and Phichit, and Yurio, against his better judgement, thanked him multiple times for that. For the several times Otabek did catch someone following them, he gently ushered Yurio behind something that would block any view the paparazzi had of him, such as a building or flower-cart.

"So Victor and Yuuri have allegedly been seen here, here, here, here," Phichit continued saying 'here' every time he put a small piece of masking tape on the plastic map in front of him. He reassured Otabek and Yurio that he'd take the pieces of tape off before they left, but when he said that, Yurio and Otabek shot each other glances that said, "You think he's gonna remember to do that?"

"Huh, look at this, sightings of the two lovebirds cluster around here," Phichit pointed to a location on the map where there was a large, circular cluster of tape pieces, but the middle of the circle didn't have any tape.

"But why would they be there?" Yurio asked. It looked like their hiding spot had worked, too, because nobody saw them in the location that was at the center of the tape cluster.

Otabek turned on his 4G and searched up the location Phichit had pointed out on the map, "Well, it says here that there aren't many people there, and it looks like their target demographic, judging from their website, is older people who probably haven't heard of Victuuri or even Victor and Yuuri in general, so it'd make sense that while there're plenty of Victor and Yuuri sightings around the area, nobody notices them when they're actually at the location Phichit pointed out."

They nodded and jumped back onto the motorbike after putting on their awesome-looking helmets, scarves, and goggles, and Otabek drove them off to their desired location.

"Yup, he forgot to take the tape pieces off," Yurio thought to himself.


"Huh, we should go to the nail salon together more often," Phichit hummed. He was sitting down at a table with his palms parallel to its surface. A nail technician sat across from him and was holding his right hand up, and Yurio and Otabek were to Phichit's left, also getting their nails done.

"So this is the place the piggy and bumbling idiot go to in order to hide from the paparazzi?" Yurio thought out loud and turned his head towards Phichit.

"If I plotted out the locations on the map correctly, then apparently so," Phichit shrugged.

"What do we do now, though?" Yurio questioned.

"Guess we just wait, they should show up sooner or later," Phichit turned his neck as far as he could without disrupting the job that was being done on his nails and looked at the door, where there was no sign of Victor or Yuuri.

The nail salon they were at was actually kind of nice, too, but Yurio was still kind of surprised that Victor and Yuuri had chosen this as a hide-out location, even with its calming interior. The walls were a comforting brown, the floor was made up of perfectly polished tile, and there were bamboo plants and sweet-smelling flowers hanging all over the place. The front desk even had a small, frog-shaped fountain with a bamboo shoot growing out of its mouth sitting on it. Soft forest sounds and bird-chirps played in the background, and while those sounds were barely detectable, it definitely made Yurio let go of any anxiety that had been festering during the morning.

Yurio had always wanted to go to a nail salon, but his pride always prevented him. Now that he was technically on a vacation of some sort, though, he didn't feel quite as embarrassed. He was getting a leopard print design painted on his nails, and the friendly, seemingly nonjudgmental nail technician even agreed to paint a tiny chibi tiger head on his left thumbnail. Yurio was absolutely ecstatic about the tiger.

Next to him, Phichit was getting hot pink out of all colors painted on his nails, and, surprisingly, even Otabek was having his nails painted midnight blue with an ombré effect. And, unlike the internet cafe fiasco that had happened earlier, the nail salon people agreed to let the three of them stay for the day. One of the employees said that they didn't get a lot of customers, anyway, and the owner, who was a nice, gray-haired woman who wore a pale pink sweater with stitched flowers, said that she enjoyed the company.

That was how, after paying for their manicures, Yurio, Phichit, and Otabek found themselves and their electronic equipment sprawled out on the tile floor as they monitored the area for any signs of Yuuri and Victor. There weren't a lot of customers, and although a few of the occasional customers that passed by gave them odd looks (Yurio wasn't sure if it was because of their nails, the surveillance equipment, or both), they were mostly ignored. The old lady that owned the salon even offered them some mini teacakes, and after a breakfast-less morning since they were so eager to begin their shipping quest ASAP, they were more than happy to accept a plate full of steaming, frosted sweets. The teacakes were either red velvet, lemon, or chocolate flavored, and they had candied flowers on top of them. He'd kill if anyone found out, but Yurio thought that the candied flowers were adorable.

As Yurio stuffed a cake into his mouth, the crumbs somehow ending up in his hair and the headset he was wearing, he kept his face close to his screen. Yurio was able to take his uncomfortable hat and sunglasses off, too, since there was virtually no chance of anyone recognizing him due to the secluded location and older clientele that weren't up to date with the media's fixation on the Russian skater.

That was when Otabek, who was sitting next to Yurio, smiled as he bit into his teacake, "You know, you look kind of cute with that tiger painted on your thumb."

A smile subconsciously drifted its way onto Yurio's lips, and his face turned red (again). Yurio knew he must've looked like an idiot, but he couldn't help it. He didn't know what Otabek was doing to him! His face still the color of a cherry, Yurio let his mouth hang a bit, unsure of what to say.

Otabek cutely tapped Yurio on the nose, making a 'booping' sound as he did so, and he tucked a stray stand of hair behind Yurio's ear. He then went back to monitoring his screen, not realizing Yurio's inner turmoil because the Russian had grown so good at hiding these things, and Yurio could only sit there, speechless and with everyone oblivious to what was racing through his head.

Yurio looked at Phichit for help, but he was just fanboying and melting into a puddle of excited squeals. That was to be expected, though. Phichit always fanboyed when two people that were part of a ship flirted with each other, and Yurio and Otabek's ship had been plastered all over the internet.

Wait... wait... that was when Yurio came to the realization. Was Otabek flirting with him? Flirting? Otabek? FLIRTING?! OTABEK?! FLIRTING?! OTABEK?! FLIRTING?! OTABEK?! FLIRTING?! OTABEK?! No matter how many times Yurio repeated the two words in his head, they just didn't seem to click together. It was so unlike Otabek to flirt. Yurio thought that Otabek out of all people would be the least likely to flirt...

Wait... wait, wait, wait. That was when Yurio registered that this behavior wasn't usual for Otabek at all. In the past, Yurio had just brushed them off as friendly gestures, but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed like Otabek had actually been flirting with him.

There was this one time at the Grand Prix Final in Barcelona, Spain, where after the competition, after Yurio's senior debut, and after his subsequent victory and record-breaking technical score, he and Otabek were spending their last day in Spain. They had decided to skip the after-party out of the fear that Yuuri would get drunk again and challenge Yurio to a humiliating dance-off. Lucky, though, they heard via social media that Yuuri had avoided the champagne and danced with Victor instead.

Still, it was best if they avoided the party, anyway, since the both of them weren't big fans of the banquet that was thrown after the Grand Prix, and with the competition results still fresh on their minds, they had decided to take a late-night motorcycle ride.

Otabek was doing that same nose-tapping he had done in the nail salon, and he had been holding Yurio's hand or elbow the entire time. While watching the sunset from atop some random building, they were exchanging cute nicknames, and Otabek had his arm wrapped around Yurio's shoulder with Yurio leaning on him. Otabek commented on how the scene was not unlike one you would find in a cheesy romance movie, and they laughed at the joke.

Then there was also this other time when they were texting each other. It was during the off season and had happened late at night, or at least it was late at night in Russia. Yurio wasn't so sure what time it was in Kazakhstan, though. Over text, they told each other jokes, bragged about their video-game high-scores, and sent each other a lot of kissing and heart emojis.

Yurio didn't think much of it at the time, but when he looked back on it now, he internally chastised himself for not picking up on it sooner.

And then there were Otabek's gentle touches throughout the trip, the concern he had showed Yurio during his mini-crisis after he was caught on his shipping account, and his pleasant smiles directed towards him.

Holy shit. Otabek was flirting with him.

Yurio didn't know what to say. He kind of liked Otabek, too, but he wasn't sure if he was ready for a relationship. He was still a moody, angsty teen, and it felt as if his moodiness would last forever. There was also figure-skating and the fact that he and Otabek lived in different countries and how unstable Yurio was-

Suddenly, Phichit interrupted Yurio's tense mood with a, "Guys! Guys! Look! It's them, it's them!" Phichit pointed at the screen, got up from his position on the floor, and grinned so widely that it almost resembled Victor's heart-shaped smile. Speaking of which...

"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap! They're here! I can't believe it! We were actually right!" Phichit had tears of joy flowing down his face. Then, his grin dropped, "Wait, holy crap, they're gonna find us out if they see all this stuff AND Yurio. Hey, Yurio, didn't you say something about how if anyone finds out that you're here, Yakov'll come and drag you back kicking and screaming?"

"SHIT!" Yurio screamed as he watched the live recording of Victor and Yuuri approaching the salon. "Where're the hat and sunglasses?! They're gonna find out that I'm here, Yakov's gonna know, and my life'll be over!"

"Here!" Phichit threw the sunglasses, jacket, and sunhat in Yurio's direction. As Yurio hurriedly put on the disguise, Phichit scrambled around. He put the equipment away at such a frantic pace that any onlookers would've been convinced that if Phichit didn't pack all the equipment away by the time Victor and Yuuri arrived, everyone in a ten-mile radius would die or something equally as horrible. The owner just looked on, a confused and slightly worried expression on her face, and she awkwardly shuffled away as Otabek shot her an apologetic look.

Yurio thought that perhaps he could run to the back really quickly to avoid Victor and Yuuri seeing him altogether, but it was too late. With a ring of the bell attached to the door, Victor and Yuuri entered the building. Like Yurio, they were wearing facial-obscuring clothing, which included two pairs of matching sunglasses, a baseball cap to hide Victor's silver hair, and a large, blue coat for Yuuri and an Iron Man jacket for Victor.

Yurio, Phichit, and Otabek knew Yuuri and Victor well enough to recognize them immediately, though, and for once in his life, Yurio hoped that Victor's terrible memory and abysmal facial recognition skills applied to this situation, or so god help him since the universe just loved to troll him so much.

"Victor! Yuuri!" Phichit waved while Yurio hunched his back over. Yurio turned away from Victor and Yuuri, but he didn't turn away so much that the turn looked unnatural. Yurio was shaking as if the temperature of the room had suddenly dropped. He partially hid himself behind Otabek, and because he was avoiding eye-contact with Victor and Yuuri, he couldn't really see the situation that was unfolding in front of him.

However, he did notice a shaky nervousness to Phichit and Otabek's voices.

"Otabek! Phichit! We didn't expect to see you here," Victor approached them, completely oblivious that his former rink-mate was standing right in front of him.

"How are you two?" Otabek asked in his usual deadpan, but his words were trembling.

"Pretty good, actually, it's just that fans have been following us everywhere, so we usually come here to hide out," Yuuri replied.

"So how's your marriage?" Yurio could hear Phichit say, and if he wasn't trying to remain discrete, he would've yelled at Phichit for being such an idiot. They were only a few steps away from stalking Victor and Yuuri for more Victuuri content to post on the internet, so bringing up their engagement wasn't going to do their epic shipping quest any favors. Plus, Victor and Yuuri would probably avoid the three of them for a while if they discovered how stalker-y they actually were with their epic shipping quest, and if that happened, not only would Yurio's life be over, but Yuuri and Victor avoiding him meant that he wouldn't get the full range of satisfaction from kicking both of their asses at the next Grand Prix Final.

"Still engaged," Victor held up his ring. He then sighed, a sad undertone to his normally cheery voice, "Unfortunately, Russia still doesn't allow same-sex marriage, and it's very limited in Japan, remember? So, unfortunately, we're not legally recognized as a married couple. Yet. But... saying that..." Victor's famous heart-shaped grin appeared on his face, and he wrapped an arm around Yuuri's shoulders and kissed him on the cheek, "I'm willing to wait an eternity for mine and Yuuri's wedding if necessary! Granted, it'd be great if we could get married tomorrow, but I guess a lot of the world still needs to get used to the concept."

Phichit leaned in close to Yurio and whispered, his voice barely louder than a pin dropping, "Make up an excuse to leave so that you can take pictures. And record some video, too!"

Yurio tried to make his voice sound more high-pitched and made an attempt at toning down his Russian accent, and he said in a hushed voice, "Um, excuse me, Phichit, I have to use the restroom."

"Oh, who're you?" Victor asked the dreaded question.

Fortunately for Yurio, Phichit and Otabek jumped in to save him.

"H-he- I mean she, is my... cousin's girlfriend!" Phichit's voice didn't sound all that convincing, but it looked like Victor and Yuuri had bought it.

"Yes, she's very shy and doesn't like to talk much, so it's best that you leave her alone," Otabek continued what Phichit had just said. "They've only been dating for a short time, so you probably haven't seen her before. She'd been wanting to visit Japan for a long time, and Phichit and I were travelling to Japan, so..."

"Well, tell her that she's welcome to the hot-spring inn my family runs any time." Yurio mentally cursed Yuuri's niceness.

"Why do you have to be so fucking friendly?!" Yurio internally screamed at Yuuri.

"I-I'll be going off to the bathroom now," Yurio stuttered. Yurio walked to the hallway in the back that had a restroom sign over it, and along the way, he checked his pocket to make sure that he had his phone. When he was in the back and behind the hallway, Yurio pulled out his phone and zoomed in as much as he could.

He took a few pictures, recorded a video of Victor stating that he wanted to stay with Yuuri forever, waited for a little while to make his fake bathroom trip more convincing, and returned just as Phichit and Otabek were explaining that they had to leave to make it in time for a bus.

They led Yurio out, and as they stepped outside, they all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"That was a close one; we really should plan these photo-taking and video-shooting sessions better," Otabek said in hindsight.

"Probably, we'll plan what we do next once we get back to the hotel," Phichit wiped away the sweat that had gathered on his forehead. "Hold on, just let me make a quick call."

Yurio watched Phichit open up his contacts list and press a button that had some name on it that he didn't understand. Phichit then started pacing around and apologizing profusely, mentioning their epic shipping quest and all that stuff, but Yurio let himself relax when Phichit didn't mention his name.

"You think that's his cousin?" Otabek whispered over to Yurio.

Yurio jumped and answered in a hushed voice, "I think so."

When Phichit ended the call after being yelled at for a solid ten minutes, he smiled tiredly and pointed to the motorcycle, "Let's go... sorry about that, I had to apologize to my cousin since he already has a girlfriend, and I didn't want him to be mad at me for causing drama in their relationship."

"I think he got mad at you anyway," Yurio massaged his temples as he felt a headache coming on.

With that, they piled onto the motorcycle, Otabek saying nothing of the flirty exchange they had had earlier. It made Yurio feel weird, and not in a good way. Yurio grunted as the motorbike started gaining speed. He didn't want for the entire trip to be him contemplating Otabek, but at the same time, he felt like he had to sort through all these emotions that were bubbling up. Otabek probably liked him, based on the why he was treating Yurio, but Yurio... was he ready to admit that he liked Otabek back, even to himself? He looked at Otabek, who had been quiet so far, and he sighed, feeling weird with his arms wrapped around Otabek's waist.

Just what the hell was going on?


Like it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? (Well, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, but if you didn't, it's completely fine; everyone has their own preferences) I had a blast writing this chapter, especially the manicure Yurio, Phichit, and Otabek had. I'm not that good at writing relationship drama, though, so tell me if the Yurio/Otabek situation needs a little work. Otabek's flirting with Yurio, but he's just too shy to say anything!

Other than that, have a nice day, and please review, favorite, follow, etc. if you'd like. I'm begging you! I like to know that I'm not just writing to a bunch of ghosts, and I really appreciate it when people drop a review after the work that goes into a chapter!