A/N: Being bilingual messes with your head sometimes XD. Poor Yuuri. (And Viktor and Yurio I suppose, but Yuuri in this chapter).

My sister would like me to let you all know that the tag for this story on Tumblr is yoi:home. I have no idea what any of that means, but have fun with it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yuri on Ice! (or My Neighbor Totoro for that matter)

"You need to give her space," Yuuri said the next day, as he stood at the kitchen counter placing food into three separate bento boxes. "Don't push her. Let her come to you. She'll come around eventually."

Viktor let out a heavy sigh from where he was slumped over the kitchen table, a half-empty mug of coffee beside him. "I know," he said.

As if on cue, a small figure stepped into the boundary between the hallway and the kitchen, one of her hands resting on the archway as she looked hesitantly into the kitchen. Viktor sat straight upright, hands gripping the sides of his chair as if he was trying to keep himself in it. Yuuri glanced over at him and sighed inwardly. Viktor looked like Makkachin after being told not to touch someone.

"Um…" Sonia said, giving Viktor an uncertain glance before padding her way up to the table. "Is there breakfast? I can have cereal…"

"We have cereal if you'd like that," Yuuri said, wiping his hands off on the kitchen towel. "We also have fruit and oatmeal, and we can make eggs if you want. What would you like, Sonia-chan?"

"Um…oatmeal is fine."

"Sure," said Yuuri, grabbing a bowl from one of the cupboards. "Fruit? We have strawberries."

"Strawberries are fine." Sonia eyed the chair across from Viktor nervously, making no move to sit in it. Yuuri sighed, grabbing the oatmeal out of another cabinet.

"Actually, Viktor, can you make sure Clara gets ready for school?" he asked.

Viktor sprang out of his seat immediately, as if glad to be given any task at all. Sonia watched as he disappeared down the hallway, and only then did she exhale, pulling out the chair and sliding into it. Yuuri noted that she'd gotten ready for school without being told, putting on a faded pink shirt and a pair of pants that were starting to get a little too short (he made a mental note to take them clothes shopping, but maybe when Viktor wasn't around so that they didn't accidentally buy up the entire mall). He also noticed that no one had had to tell her to leave her shoes off at the door.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked, placing the bowl of oatmeal in the microwave.

"I slept okay," said Sonia. She didn't look at him when she spoke, keeping her eyes on the far wall.

"The room isn't too cold, is it?" Yuuri asked.

Sonia shook her head. "No," she said. "It's fine."

"Do you need anything?" Yuuri asked.

"Not really."

Sonia watched as he set breakfast in front of her, picking up a spoon and starting to eat. The movements were mechanical, well-practiced. Yuuri wondered if she even tasted what she was eating. He went back to preparing lunch, having given up the conversation for lost when Sonia spoke up.

"Um…Yuuri? What are you doing?"

Yuuri let out a breath of relief, looking over his shoulder at her. "I'm making bento," he said. "Lunch boxes. For you and Clara."

"Ah." Sonia took a spoonful of oatmeal and chewed it slowly, considering. "Why?"

"Uh…" 'Why' wasn't exactly a question he had been prepared to answer about bento. Yuuri thought about it for a second. "…So you can have something good to eat for lunch."

"Schools have lunches, though," said Sonia.

"I know they do," said Yuuri. "But—uh—where I come from, this is what we do." And American school lunches were horrible, from what he remembered of Phichit complaining about them.

Sonia frowned, considering his explanation. Then, she nodded, digging her spoon back into the bowl of oatmeal. "Okay."

Yuuri turned back to his task, weirdly relieved to have gotten through that conversation in one piece. He started placing the lids on the bento boxes—the first a pink one with flowers that he had picked up at the Asian market for Sonia, the second a blue one with a cartoon bear on it for Clara. He had just started putting the lid on a third—a nondescript white one—when footsteps pounded up the stairs from the basement.

"I'm leaving," Yurio said, stomping down the hall outside the kitchen with a backpack slung over one shoulder and an earbud in one ear.

"Ah—Yurio, wait!" Yuuri grabbed the white bento box off of the countertop, running over to him. "Here!" he said, holding it out to him.

Yurio frowned down at it suspiciously. "What is this?" he asked.

"A bento box," said Yuuri. "I made extra."

Yurio's eyes moved from Yuuri to the bento boxes on the counter behind him to Sonia, watching the scene from her seat on the table. He scowled, grabbing the bento box out of Yuuri's hands and rushing for the door. At around the same time, Viktor emerged out of the living room, stepping into Yurio's path.

"The little princess is in the shower and will be out in a few minutes," he was saying. "She requests strawberries and—."

He blinked as Yurio leaped to the side to avoid running right into him, yanking open the front door and stepping into his sneakers in two quick movements.

Viktor frowned at him in confusion. "Yurio, you're leaving now? It's early!"

"I'm taking the bus," Yurio snapped on his way out the door. The front door shut with a sharp crack behind him, and Viktor made his way into the kitchen, looking perplexed.

"Why is Yurio taking the bus?" he asked Yuuri. "What's wrong with his car?"

"Nothing's wrong with his car," said Yuuri. "He's lending it to us so we can take the girls to school."

Viktor tilted his head to the side, still looking confused. Yuuri sighed, turning to face him.

"We need to file some paperwork at the schools so that they know who we are, remember?" he said. "It might take a little bit of time. Since Sonia's going to the elementary school and Clara's still in kindergarten, it's probably easier if we take them to school separately. That way, we're sure that neither of them gets there late."

"Ah, right," said Viktor. His eyes moved over the table and landed on Sonia, who had stopped eating and was watching him carefully. He looked back at Yuuri, looking resigned. "I'll…take Clara in Yurio's car."

"Thank you," Yuuri said, smiling at him.

The days that followed settled into a sort of rhythm. Sonia continued to remain distant and stand-offish, and would freeze whenever Viktor entered the room, much to Viktor's disappointment. She spoke more to Yuuri, but even then conversations were sparing, and mostly involved Sonia asking where things were or what it was okay for her to do. She rarely opened up about personal topics, and preferred to stay in her room, in the kitchen, or wherever in the house had the fewest number of people. She avoided Yurio's basement like the plague. Yuuri put it down to shyness and discomfort and hoped that she would open up in time.

Clara, however, was a completely different story. The younger girl had latched onto them almost as soon as she arrived in the house, which helped Viktor's mood somewhat. The two of them were sitting on the couch now, Viktor smiling as Clara told him something about her day while they waited to watch a movie Yuuri remembered from his childhood. Yuuri smiled as he walked past them, stepping around a sleeping Makkachin and walking into the kitchen.

Sonia looked up as he entered, her shoulders tensing. She was seated at the kitchen table, working on her homework. He gave her a smile to try to put her at ease and she exhaled, looking back at the page in front of her.

"Do you want to watch a movie with us?" Yuuri asked, reaching for a bowl to put popcorn in. "We're watching Totoro."

Sonia's eyes moved towards the living room, taking in the sight of Viktor sitting on the couch in front of the TV. She looked back at her homework quickly. "No thank you."

"Alright," Yuuri said. "Let me know if you need any help."

As an afterthought, he placed a cup of milk in the microwave and heated it until it was warm, then placed it on a coaster in front of her. Sonia didn't react except to lower her eyes to her lap, but when he had walked past her into the living room, he thought he saw her reach out, her fingers ghosting across the rim of the cup as if in wonder.

He smiled.

Clara laughed as the movie played, clapping her hands together and singing along to the theme song. Yuuri found that he couldn't enjoy it as much as she seemed to. He frowned at the screen, arms folded as he leaned in towards it and tried to figure out exactly what was wrong.

Viktor looked over at him, confused.

"Yuuri?" he asked. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't know," Yuuri said, squinting at the screen. "This doesn't feel right, somehow. It's not the movie I remember…"

"Hmm…" Viktor frowned as he thought, one of his hands lazily petting Makkachin, who had abandoned his comfortable spot on the carpet to curl up on the couch with them. He looked back at the movie. "Could it be because it's in English?"

"It is?!" Yuuri asked, startled.

He straightened up and listened to the words, surprised to find that Viktor was right. How could he possibly have missed that? He was still thinking about how used he had gotten to hearing and speaking English when Viktor's phone rang suddenly, the shrill sound of it cutting through the sound of the movie. Yuuri fumbled with the remote as Viktor reached for his phone, managing to pause it just in time. Clara looked at both of them in disappointment as Viktor checked the name on his caller ID.

"Sorry, Klaroshka," Viktor said, holding up a hand. "Just a minute. I have to take this."

He stood up, pressing the phone to his ear. Yuuri frowned, looking over the back of the couch as Viktor walked away. He was speaking softly enough that Yuuri had trouble hearing him, but he was definitely speaking in English, not Russian. Who would be calling them at this time of night?

"Well," Yuuri said, glancing back at Clara, who was watching them with a look of expectation. "It can't be helped, I guess. Bathroom break?"

"Okay!" said Clara brightly, leaping to her feet.

"Totoro, totoro~" Clara sang as she walked back to the living room from the bathroom. "Totoro, totoro~ Totoro—"

She came to a sudden stop as she walked past the door that led into the basement, frowning down at it. The stairs were dark, but a light was on at the very bottom, a bright white light as if it was coming from a screen. She looked around, but neither Viktor nor Yuuri were anywhere to be seen, and nobody was calling her yet.

Making her decision, she drew in a breath and began to climb down the stairs.

Yuri Plisetsky was watching TV.

The nice thing about having the basement room, Yuri thought, was that he was pretty much isolated from the rest of the house. He had his own bedroom and bathroom, and a little living space with his own TV, and aside from meals, he didn't actually have to be involved in the sickening family drama that was going on upstairs. He could just sit here, alone and unbothered, with his cat and his cellphone and his computer. It was definitely not a lonely existence, and even if it did start to feel that way, he could always go upstairs.

He was lying on the couch now, the hood of his jacket up and his cat resting on his chest, blissfully ignoring the rest of the house as people walked around upstairs.

That was, at least, until a small head popped up from somewhere around the vicinity of his right knee.

Yuri shouted in surprise and scooted back suddenly, which only startled his cat. The animal dug its claws into the fabric of his shirt painfully, and Yuri hissed as it leaped away, jumping over the back of his couch with an affronted yowl. He rubbed at his chest, wincing at the pain, and glared down at the five-year-old girl that had started all of this.

"Hello," Clara said, blinking at Yuri.

Yuri drew in a deep breath and tried to remember that she was only five.

"Hello," he said, somewhat stiffly.

"You're Yurio, right?" asked Clara.

Yuri scowled in annoyance. "My name isn't Yurio!" he said.

"Really?" Clara asked, tilting her head to the side. "But everyone calls you that."

"Yes, they do, but it's not my name!"

"What is your name then?" Clara asked.

"Yuri."

Clara's face wrinkled up at his answer. "But Dad is Yuuri, right? So that's really confusing!"

Yuri looked back at the screen, slumping forward in his seat. "Well, I guess, if you really need to call me something, you can call me 'Yura'. Just not Yurio, okay? That's weird."

"Hmm…" Clara frowned, considering that for a moment, before her expression brightened. "Okay, Yura! What are you watching?"

"Some movie," Yuri said, which was true, because he had only half been paying attention to it. He had been on his phone for most of the first act and now had no idea what it was about, except that a lot of people with guns wanted to kill the main character. Clara blinked at the screen and looked back at him.

"Do you want to come up with me?" she asked. "We're watching Totoro!"

"No way in—." Yuri caught himself from saying hell, but just barely. "—Uh—I mean, not really interested."

"But Papa said it was a family movie night," Clara said.

"Yeah, well I'm not part of that family, okay, kid?" Yuri said, picking up the remote and idly flipping through channels. "I have my own family."

Clara looked up at him with wide eyes. "You have a real family?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Yuri absently. "I have a grandfather back in Russia."

"That's nice," said Clara. "Sonia said we used to have a real family too, but we don't anymore, so now we stay with other people's families."

Yuri went tense, nearly dropping the remote.

Crap, he thought, looking back at Clara. That was not where he wanted this conversation to go. The kid didn't seem upset about saying it though, instead treating it like it was just a fact of life. Was it possible that that was even sadder?

Yes, that was definitely possible. And it was also possible that Yuri was starting to panic a little bit.

He never thought he would ever feel so grateful for the arrival of Viktor.

"Klaroshka?" Viktor called from the top of the stairs. "Are you down there? We're going to watch the movie now!"

"Coming!" Clara said, pushing back off the couch and leaping to her feet. "Bye, bye, Yura!"

"You should come up too, Yurio!" Viktor said, as Clara made her way up the steps. "Come watch a movie with us!"

"I don't need to watch some dumb kid's movie!" said Yuri, scowling at Viktor. "If you have time to watch movies, you should be making my program! Or did you forget already?"

"Oh, I didn't forget," said Viktor, and Yuri could hear the smile in his voice. "Don't worry so much, Yurio! Enjoy the off-season for once! Come on, Klaroshka, let's get back to our movie."

"Viktor?" Yuuri asked later that night, his voice still bleary from sleep as he wandered out into the living room.

Viktor was seated at his desk in the living room, his phone in his hand and earphones in his ears as he cycled through music. He had a pad of paper in front of him, and was tapping it with the cap of his pen while he worked. Makkachin was curled up on the floor by his feet.

He looked up as Yuuri walked into the living room and pulled an earbud out of his ear.

"It's one in the morning," Yuuri said, which had never felt late to him once upon a time, but which now felt like an ungodly hour to still be awake at. "Are you coming to bed?"

"Hmm, in a minute," said Viktor, giving him a reassuring smile. "Go back to sleep. I'll be there soon."

Yuuri frowned, skeptical, but nodded, turning around and walking back to bed.

As March bled into April, the three of them started going back out to the rink again, mostly for Yurio to practice his fundamentals and get warmed up before they started seriously discussing a new program. Because Sonia was interested, Sonia and Clara came with them. Yuuri was glad to see that Sonia opened up a little to Viktor on the ice. It wasn't the closeness that Viktor wanted, but she didn't shy away from him there, accepting him as a teacher if not as a parent. Yuuri watched as Yurio leaped and spun away from the rest of them and Viktor helped Sonia with her turns, then looked back at Clara.

The younger girl was sliding out onto the ice with a skeptical expression on her face, one hand on the rink wall. Yuuri considered as he looked at her that she didn't seem to be enjoying herself at all.

"Do you like skating, Clara-chan?" Yuuri asked one day, when they were sitting alone on the floor of her room, Clara idly coloring a blank page of paper. It was early in the afternoon, and both Sonia and Yurio were still at school. Viktor had gone to take Makkachin out for a walk.

Clara frowned as she considered the question, drawing a red crayon across the page. "Not really," she admitted.

"Then why do you keep coming out to the rink with us?" Yuuri asked.

"Because if I don't skate, you two won't love me anymore."

The words were said matter-of-factly, without any sadness or resentment, as if that was simply how things were. And it was not at all the answer that Yuuri was expecting. He stared at her, aware that he should say something to reassure her, that he should reach for her and tell her that that was not true and that they would care about her no matter what she did, but he found himself suddenly unable to find the words. So instead, he stood up, walked out of her room, and closed the door.

Then he started crying. And when he was done with that, he went out into the living room to wait for Viktor so that they could have a serious conversation about how they were coming across to the girls.

Later that night, they did all sit down and have that reassuring conversation about how it didn't matter what Clara did, and that she didn't have to skate to feel valued by them.

The next day, Viktor, Yurio and Sonia went out to the rink. Clara hung up her skates.

Yuuri's Phone

Messages from Viktor

[first message cut off by the top of the screen]

Viktor: v=WstHX1lKHqI

Viktor: Yurio SP?

Yuuri: …he's going to hate you

Viktor: I'm not hearing a no~~~

Yuuri: Do you WANT him to be assaulted?

Viktor: he said he'd skate to anything~

Yuuri: Viktor…

Viktor: What?

Viktor: I hold people to their drunk promises ;)