Yuuri licked the metallic spoon clean of the remaining wisps of vanilla ice cream. he had grown to love American ice cream. the yogurt that other countries was not even close to the rich pillows of sugar and milk that melted in his mouth. Sure, it was more calories than he needed, but he was not worried as much about his weight being retired. He sat on a bench in front of the Detroit River, he looked out at a red ferry chugging through the choppy waves. The wind was calmer than it was yesterday, and the sun was high up in the baby blue sky.

Victor plunked himself next to Yuuri and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. These were always the most comforting moments for Yuuri. They were sheltered by the seawall from the frigid waters and the trees hovered behind them like giant castle walls blocking the breeze. The stress from the apartment or the ice rink evaporated into the thick air.

When Yuri was at school, the young couple went sightseeing. They had only been there about a year before Yuri showed up, so the city was still new to them.

Victor's soft breathing warmed Yuuri's neck. He looked down at the straight grey hair scratching his shaven chin. Victor had his eyes closed.

"Are we going to NHK this year?" Victor asked, his eyes still closed.

Yuuri paused. "Yes. The assignments have been on the fridge for the past month."

"Sometimes I forget," Victor said.

Yuuri looked up at the sky. He still felt awkward talking to Victor when it was just the two of them. He was jealous of Victor. He always seemed so relaxed around anybody. For Yuuri, he was never relaxed.

"Do you feel tense, Yuuri?"

Victor shifted himself to sit up straight next to Yuuri and wrapped his arm tighter around him. In his big yellow jacket, Yuuri was bundled up like a hot dog. Victor wore a tight white jacket with a red sweater on top of black pleather pants. He always cared more about his appearance than Yuuri.

Yuuri sighed. "It's normal."

"What are you nervous about? Maybe I can help."

Yuuri rubbed his forehead. He adjusted his thin-rimmed glasses and licked his chapped lips. "I...I guess I'm..."

"It's Yurio, isn't it?"

Yuuri ran a hand through his thick black hair. "Part of it. It's just so weird. I was against him two years ago, and now I'm supposed to get him through the Grand Prix. Not only that, but he hates me."

Victor chuckled. "Yurio doesn't hate anybody. He just shows affection in a different way."

"He calls us names."

"I call you names."

Yuuri felt blood rush to his cheeks. "You know what I mean. Ever since we got him to come from Russia, he's been bitter with everyone. He doesn't want to eat. He doesn't want to talk. He doesn't want to be in the same room as us. He's doing bad in school, and he barely posts on Twitter or Instagram. His fans think he's dead."

Yuuri hid his face in his hands as he hunched over. "I feel like we're raising a kid, Victor. If we suck this badly now, what happens if we..."

Victor rubbed his hand in a circle on Yuuri's back. "If we what? Adopt?"

Yuuri nodded.

"Yuuri, we're a long way from that. We haven't even gotten citizenship here. Besides," Victor said as he leaned in with a smirk. "Yurio isn't really a kid. He'll be an adult in a year, won't he?"

"In a way he is," Yuuri said in a muffled voice.

Victor kept massaging Yuuri's back. It was very calming to him. "Yurio is annoying, but he is a good person. He's an amazing skater, and we can make something really special if we stick with him this time. I don't know how to make him happier, but do you think you can live through it till the end of the Grand Prix?"

Yuuri turned towards Victor, his eyes slightly reddened from saline. "I just want us to be happy, Victor. I don't want you to become unhappy because of me or Yurio or any-."

"Don't ever say that again."

Yuuri was taken aback as Victor grabbed his chin and pulled him closer to his face. "You never say that shit again, Yuuri. You hear me?"

Yuuri winced at the sound of Victor's pleasant lips cursing. "Victor?"

Victor shook him slightly. "Don't you know how long I had wanted you before I first spoke to you? Do you remember that? When we first met?"

"I thought I already said I di-."

"Do you know how long I sat up at night," Victor continued in a rushed voice. "Just thinking about ways I could get you in my life? I couldn't sleep for months because I wanted everything to be perfect for you. Even if I had to drain out every penny or every ounce of energy I had, I did it and I'll keep doing it for as long as I live. I don't just disappear on people, Yuuri. Someway or another, I come back and make things right. You are the thing I live for. Not skating, not medals, not winning. You."

Victor let go of Yuuri and sat upright next to him on the bench. Yuuri looked down at his feet and felt a tear threatening to leak out of his eyes. Yuuri had felt so unconfident in himself that he never fathomed that a person would work to be with him, let alone try to get married to him. He never thought he was worth that trouble, but Victor seemed headstrong in his ways.

A lightbulb popped up in his head.

"Is that why you wanted to coach Yurio? Because you left him the first time?"

Victor looked over at Yuuri with a watery smile. "I think so," he said with a chuckle. "Actually, he does sort of feel like a son by now. You nagging him about homework. Me driving him everywhere. He's the rebellious teenager."

"At least we have practice for when the real thing happens," Yuuri said.

Victor chuckled and rested his head on Yuuri's shoulder. "I think our little Russian Punk is turning around. That girl he was with asked me a few things about him. She seems interested. But a real interested, you know? It's not just about looks."

Yuuri blinked. "Who is that girl?"

Victor shrugged. "Just a girl at school. She doesn't really know much about the skating world, so I had to inform her of Yurio's infamy. She took it well. Maybe a relationship would be good for Yurio. there's a lot of things in his head that we don't know about. His previous coaches told me the same story."

"Absent parents. No money. Raised by grandfather?"

Victor sighed in content. "He works hard at practice. Maybe he could stand to be a normal kid for once. Remember when you were a teenager?"

"I got sick all the time."

"Bad example," Victor said. "It's a shame. If he was nicer, Yurio could have the world in his hands."

The couple sat on the bench the rest of the time before school ended. The cold air kept Yuuri's ice cream intact for the ants to scramble on as it rested by his feet, forgotten for the time being.

Yuri left school as he normally did. He shoved most of his textbooks in his locker and zipped up his hoodie. Passing the metal detectors in front of the school, he sauntered out of the gates and onto the street. He noticed a group of people whispering and looking in his direction, but he said nothing. He was attracting a lot of attention during his time at school. Some girls tried to talk to him at the beginning, but the cold shoulder and a quick glare scared most of them away. He walked in the hallway alone. He ate his small bento box of katsudon Yuuri made in the dark corner of the cafeteria with white stones jetting out from the sides. When the teacher called on him, he just said he did not know the answer to whatever the question was at the time.

He hated the whole school. The saving grace was that ice skating was not very popular at this school or in Detroit for that matter. Most teenagers did not know about him or Victor or even the other skaters in the circuit.

"Hey, you."

Yuri huffed with frustration before turning around. It was the peppy and slightly crazy blonde again. She bounded over to him and stood at the same height as Yuri. That was another annoying thing about America. Many women were taller than him.

"Listen, Isadora, I do-."

"Isabel."

"Don't care," Yuri snapped. "I don't know who you are, but why are you following me around?"

"I'm not following you around. you just happen to be in places that I go."

"The mall?"

"I had to get wine."

"You're not twenty-one."

"Not according to my fake ID."

Yuri scoffed. "You're crazy, woman. What I'm trying to say is that if you're hitting on me, you're doing a bad job at it. I'm not intere-."

"I'm not hitting on you. I just want to know more about you."

Yuri felt his eye twitch. "Maybe I don't want you to know more about me," he seethed.

Isabel clasped her hands together in front of her. "If it makes you feel better, I am following you this time."

"And why is that?"

"You're taking me to your apartment."

Yuri barked out a laugh. This girl was mental if she thought he was taking her home. Who did she think she was messing with the Russian Tiger? Isabel blushed slightly as Yuri crossed his arms. A group of kids were watching passively on the other side of the school front gate.

"Is that Isabel? Isabel from Eight Mile?"

"Why is she talking to that guy? He's bad news."

"She from Eight Mile. Duh!

"Do they know each other? Isabel and Yuri Plisetsky? The skater guy?"

"Yuri is insanely hot. How the hell is she so lucky?"

Yuri felt his blood boil to the point of evaporation inside his bones as the students began chatting away and texting on their smartphones. The last thing he needed before Skate America were rumors to dog him throughout the competition. No doubt J.J. and Otabek would give him grief when he saw them again if they learned about him being involved with a random girl.

"Why do you I'm taking you home?" Yuri spouted out in a hushed tone.

Isabel adjusted her hair. "That guy you live with? Victor? He said he's your coach, and it's normal for you two to live together since you do competitions and what not. I asked if he could get cooking wine for me because I thought I lost my fake ID. He said he had some at home and said I could come over tonight. After he left, I found my fake ID. I thought it would be rude to blow you all off, though."

"No, please," Yuri said. "Blow us off."

She giggled. "But I don't have Victor's number, and he really wanted me to come for some reason. I could see it in his eyes."

"You're not taking no for an answer, are you?"

Isabel shook her head.

Yuri pinched the bridge of his nose. Throwing his hands up, he shouted. "You know what? Let's just go. I'm sure Victor will have plenty to say. Follow me, but no talking. I don't talk when I'm out on the streets."

The girl practically skipped next to him as they began to walk away from the school. The gaggle of students hummed in surprise as they travelled to Yuri's apartment. Dinner was going to be fun for sure.

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