Now that he's faced the world its time to get back to business...or at least think about it. First, Celestino, does Victor really have his medal or was it a lie for twitter?

"Mom, how much do I owe you for the ticket?" he finally asked, worried but needing to know all the same.

She smiled at him, "Don't worry about it."

"Mom! I can't not pay you back for it, you're already paying for Vicchan's time at the vet." he shook his head, "I have to pay you back."

"Yuuri, seeing you win bronze was good enough for me, but don't worry, we got an anonymous tip that more than covered it 'for the man with the dog,' so there's nothing to worry about."

He froze, remembering that day in the bathroom and burying his face. They had actually done it? Paid back his plane ticket? And then some? He'd completely forgotten it, so wrapped up in Vicchan and then the world thinking, still, that he'd been kidnapped.

"What are you going to do honey? You need to get back to training for the next competition right?" she prompted. "You can't let the momentum from your win go."

He sighed, "I don't know...I'm worried to leave Vicchan." he admitted out loud.

She looked him over, "How about you call your coach finally, and finish the season before you make any other decisions okay? Vicchan will be fine, it's nothing that's going to come back and even if it does we'll be taking care of him."

Fiddling with his phone in his pocket, he returned to his room, knowing he should at least call Celestino. So, dog in lap, he finally did so.

"Yuuri! You finally called." he heard him sigh. "I know Phichit said he'd been talking to you but I was still worried."

"I'm sorry." he said, running a hand through the fur. "I didn't mean-"

"No, no don't worry, I know you were busy. I'm sorry I didn't manage to completely get rid of the kidnapping rumors before you were ready to face the world."

"You did your best Celestino." he shook his head. "At least it's pretty much over now."

"It'll be over for good when you get back here and people see that you're truly fine." he could almost see the man smiling at him. "I still have my notes from the competition." he added.

"Celestino…" he trailed off, unsure what to say.

"Don't you dare say you're not coming back," his voice got rough. "I understand it's scary to go through that, but you can't give up, you worked hard to get to this point and I'm not letting you throw it away. I doubt your parents would want that either."

"They don't." he admitted, tracing figures in the sheets. "I just...worry."

"I'm sure we could schedule time to go back to Japan and see your dog." he offered.

"Mmmm." he didn't comment. "Does Victor really have my medal?" he hoped Celestino didn't notice the crack on his name.

He laughed slightly, "Yes, he does. He argued long and hard with me and any number of officials. His coach looked ready to set him on fire."

"What?!" he gasped, pulling the phone away from his face and staring at it in shock for a moment. "He really has it? He argued with people so he could have it? Why?!"

"I can't tell you that, you have to ask him himself, he was very clear about that."

He made a strangled noise in the back of his throat. "Celestino! Why?"

"Well, after you missed your chance to stand on the ice with him, I figured you'd be happy to have an excuse to talk to him." he had that teasing note in his voice, like so many other people when it came to Victor.

Groaning, he pulled Vicchan up to his face and burried his face in his dog. "Ciao ciao!" he whined.

"Yuuri, you're allowed to talk to him." he could almost see the sparkle in his eye. "You've looked up to him forever, now it's time to know him."

"I can't believe he has my medal." he mumbled again, "Fine, fine, I'll get in contact with V-Victor. And...I'll get back to you about coming back."

"Don't wait much longer, there is a time limit you know." he said before he hung up.

He sighed, dropping his phone on the bed and picking Vicchan up to look at his face. "Can you believe this Vicchan?"

Vicchan softly bit his nose.

He laughed, putting him back in his lap. "I suppose I'm not dreaming after all."

He sighed and grabbed his phone, might as well talk to Victor now rather than later. He scrolled quickly to Victor and with determination pressed the direct message icon. Then froze, what on earth was he supposed to say? "My coach just told me you really did have my medal and I don't know what to do about this?"

Firmly, he typed out the message before he could spook himself into not saying anything again.

He then turned his phone to silent and put it on the bed two feet from him and turned his full attention to his dog.

After 15 minutes he couldn't resist reaching over and checking his phone, face on fire and sure he sounded like an idiot.

"Yep sure do!" attached was a picture of Victor posing with both his own gold and Yuuri's bronze, with his dog laid out on the bed behind him.

He blushed brightly. "What were you planning to do with it? He said you were very insistent on having it."

"I'm not planning on doing anything with it :("

"I didn't mean it like that!" he panicked, sending it before he even thought it through.

"I know, I know, I just wanted an excuse to get you to talk to me after you walked off like that :( and now that I've seen your cute dog now I really want to come see both of you! :)"

"What-come to Japan?!"

"If that's where Vicchan is~"

"Victor you can't just come to Japan you have skating to do!"

"Didn't stop you." he pointed out, then quickly followed up, "Sorry, I know it was a family emergency." also quickly followed by, "But you should really get back to your coach! It's over now if you're chatting easily with Phichit, right?"

Now Victor was getting on him to get back to skating? "Why do you care so much?" that was rude, "I mean, I'm just another competitor."

"If you can skate that well with an emergency going on, you stand a good chance of beating me, it's been awhile without a shakeup at the top." a pause and then, "Plus, I want to actually stand on the podium with you!"

"Beating you? No way!" he shook his head, "I got lucky is all." he paused, "Thank you though."

"Its decided, I'm not giving you this until I see you on another podium." Victor said.

"And what if I try and fail?"

"You won't."

"But if I do you'll just hold it hostage?"

"Point taken, it is yours after all. Just show up and do your best and you'll get it."

Neither of them said anything for a little while.

"Victor…" he wasn't sure where he was leading with this.

"Yes?" came the quick reply.

"Throw in a selfie with you and Makkachin and we have a deal." he couldn't believe he just sent that to Victor.

"You drive a hard bargain." he was sure he was being teased. "Include your adorable Vicchan and I'll throw in some skating tips." "Personalized." was added at his hesitation.

"Deal." he finally said.

"Great! Can't wait to see you again! I better hear about you getting back out there soon!" "It's a date!"

The phone fell from his hand. A date?!

There was no way he just had that conversation, no way. He picked up his phone and it was all still there, including the smiling picture of Victor with both of their medals.

Just for him.

He laid back down on the bed, petting Vicchan nervously, mind still spinning.

I'll be back in two weeks with the next chapter which will take us through the rest of the skating season and finally, finally, we'll have the dogs together at last. Hope they play nice...

Thanks so much for the reviews, please keep them coming to keep me motivated :)