"Oh, Yuri! You're here!" Yuri's mother called out in happiness, rushing through the crowd excitedly and making her way over to her son and grandson. She bumped against person after person, and soon enough, people realized that they should just make a patch for her to greet her family.
The first thing she saw was Yuri sitting next to his son, holding him up in the air for the crowd to see as the cheering rose. Yalenchka was smiling so brightly that, for a moment, Hiroko thought she could feel the warmth he brought out as the sun.
Yuri looked over to his mother when he noticed her, smiling brightly her way and setting down his son. He whispered something into Yalenchka's ears, pointing over to his mother. Yalenchka's eyes brightened considerably as he stared at Hiroko, bouncing on his feet and waiting for his own mother to finish speaking to him. When his mother was no longer speaking to him and patted his back to move him towards his grandmother, the anticipation that had grown quickly inside of the boy suddenly burst and he took off towards Hiroko, arms spread out wide beside him.
"Jiji!" Yalenchka shouted in glee, spreading his arms out wide as he dove for a hug from his grandmother.
Hiroko caught him and brought the boy into a tight embrace, the small arms of her grandson wrapping tightly around her neck. He giggled as she swung him around happily, burying her face into his black locks of hair and breathing in the scent of red honeysuckle with a hint of nectar. The smell reminded her of the mountains when she had last visited with Toshio before she found that she was pregnant with Yuri. The scent was calming and she couldn't help the content sight that had escaped her lips. It felt great to hold a small child once again in her arms.
"Hello YinYIn! It's finally nice to meet you! How have you been? I see that you and your mother were just having the most fun out here! What were you doing?" she asked, turning to head inside of the inn and motioning for Yuri to follow her inside.
"I'm so happy that I get to meet you in person!" Yalenchka cheerily told her, his face glowing brightly. "Mama and I were just playing Prince and Knight! After defeating our enemy and the dragon, we saved the kingdom and Castle Yutopia in Hasetsu kingdom is once again safe from the evils of the other kingdoms!"
Yuri watched with a warm smile as his son went on and talked his little heart out to his grandmother. He followed the two inside, taking his shoes off at the door and taking in the familiar scents of the hot springs. He could smell the hot waters drifting into the main hall of the inn, and he could faintly detect the use of Epsom salt in one of the baths. The thing that caught his nose the most, though, was the smell that was drifting into his nose all the way form the kitchens.
The smell of pork and spices brewed in a warm pot with egg immediately caused his mouth to water. He hadn't had a decent pork cutlet bowl in about ten years and it was killing him, knowing that it was currently being made and he didn't know just when it would be finished.
He looked over to where he heard the excited giggles of his son and saw that his mother was blowing childishly onto the boy's stomach, causing the light laughter to fill the room. Yalenchka's eyes were tightly closed and his mouth was open wide. His feet were kicking out, trying to escape the trap that Hiroko had set. He was weakly pushing on top of Hiroko's head, his face turning red from the excitement.
When Yuri's father entered the room, Yuri turned towards him and greeted the man with a warm smile.
"Welcome home, Yuri," his father greeted him with a half bow. Yuri bowed his way before standing and nodding his way.
"It's good to be home," he replied in earnest, his gaze once again traveling towards his son as the boy ran around, laughing loudly as Hiroko chased after him with a sock puppet over her hand.
Toshio followed his son's gaze, smiling warmly at the scene of his wife playing with their grandson. When Yalenchka stopped in a corner and threw his hands out with a giggle to shield himself from the wrath of the sock puppet, Toshio took notice of the boy's hand. Without looking away from the scene, he addressed his son about the subject.
"He really is a special thing, isn't he?" he stated with an uplifting tone to his voice.
Yuri looked at him quizzically before catching on to what his father was referring to and nodding his head in agreement.
"He's been a special thing very dear to me since the day he was conceived. The night that everything happened to cause his existence was also very special to me. Mom told you about what I told her, right?"
Toshio nodded his head, placing a hand on his son's shoulder and giving the boy a reassuring squeeze. He let his hand slide slowly off of his son's shoulder before turning from the merry scene set out before him to give his son his full attention.
"From what your mother told me, it seems that what Viktor Nikiforov did to you was a pretty traumatic thing. It was against your will, wasn't it?" Toshio asked, his eyes hardening at the thought. "I bet he didn't even ask for your permission before he went right on and harmed you."
"No, No! It was nothing like that dad, I promise!" Yuri protested, gazing distantly at his son's electric blue eyes. "I wouldn't have said that night was a special one to me had I not actually enjoyed it." Yuri stated truthfully, turning his gaze back to his father's surprised one. "I mean it, dad. It may have started out in a way that had frightened me to my very core, but somewhere before things got really personal, I found that I was enjoying myself quite immensely. I did end up freaking out quite a bit afterwards and it caused me to flunk quite greatly during competitions, but I couldn't have asked for a better outcome from it."
Yuri gazed lovingly at his son, waving at the boy when Yalenchka noticed him and smiled brightly and waved at him.
Toshio smiled and patted his son's back. "Well, as long as you're okay, I'm okay too."
"Thank you dad," Yuri replied, smiling down at his father. "If you don't mind watching over Yalenchka with mom, I'd like to pay my respects to Vicchan."
"I understand, Yuri," his father replied, nodding his head in the direction of his son. "You go on ahead and pay your respects, I'll help your mother watch over Yalenchka."
"Thank you," Yuri replied before leaving the room and walking down the hallway towards the room in which he would always play with Vicchan in.
...
Phichit took a selfie in the middle of the airport in St. Petersburg, throwing in a peace sign and a wink. He immediately uploaded it to Instagram, tagging Yuri to the picture so that his best friend would be one of the first people to see it. But, knowing his fans on the internet, he knew it may be a bit before Yuri does see the post.
'Now that I think about it, I haven't heard from Yuri in a few weeks. I wonder what he's up to?' Phichit thought to himself, going to the luggage carrier with Celestino right behind him, picking up his bags. The moment he grabbed them, he went to his contacts in his phone and scrolled down, looking for Yuri's number. Once he came across it, he pressed on the number and put his phone up to his ear, waiting for his friend to answer it.
"Hello?" Yuri's voice came through, sounding tired and worn out, almost as if Phichit had woken his friend from bed.
"Hello Yuri!" Phichit called out excitedly, smiling brightly at the sound of his friends voice. "I didn't wake you up, did I?"
"Oh no. You're fine Phichit," Yuri replied through the receiver, causing Phichit to sigh in relief. "Why do you ask? I thought you had our schedules down to a tee and knew when to call me. Actually," Yuri stated, trailing off for a moment, "you called me pretty late from the normal schedule. Where are you?"
"I'm in Russia for this year's Grand Prix!" Phichit announced excitedly, twirling in the middle of the airport and almost hitting his coach with his flying luggage.
"You made it to the Grand Prix?!" Yuri shouted through the phone in a panicked voice. "I can't believe I missed it! I've watched all of your performances but I don't remember you getting announced. I even forgot to congratulate you on making it! I'm such a terrible friend-"
"Yuri, I didn't make it to the Grand Prix this year," Phichit laughed, cutting off his friend. "I'm just here to watch. There's no need to panic."
Yuri sighed in relief on the other end of the phone.
"That's good. I would have felt terrible had I not known. I promised you that I'd be there in person when you finally made it and I won't break that promise."
"I'll be there next year Yuri, just you see!" Phichit assured. "I bet you'll be there too if you get back into skating for next season. That way, we can both skate on the same ice again as we had back in Detroit."
Yuri was silent on the other side and, for a moment, Phichit had thought his friend had hung up on him. Still walking, he pulled his phone away from his ear and looked to make sure before putting it back to his ear.
"Yuri?"
"I don't think I'm going to skate competitively anymore, Phichit," Yuri replied somberly.
"Eh?! Why not Yuri?! You're such a good skater!" Phichit called out frantically. He dragged his feet to catch up with Celestino, who had already called a cab to take them to their hotel.
"Well, the incident at my first Grand Prix seemed to make it clear that I'm not so great after all," Yuri replied.
Phichit angrily shoved his bags in the trunk of the cab, slamming the lid before sliding into the back seat.
"That was not you being you Yuri, and both of us know that! It wasn't your fault that you ended up performing the way you did. You could have been all the way up on the podium had Viktor not done what he did to you! Don't get me wrong, Yalenchka is a wonderful result of it, but had that not happened, you would definitely not have gotten last as you had!"
"I understand, Phichit. Believe me, I've thought about it so much that I'm almost tired of thinking entirely," Yuri replied truthfully. "It's not that I don't love to skate anymore, it's just that because of what I did, in front of the whole world no less, I've... lost all confidence I had in myself."
Phichit stayed quiet for a moment, lowering his eyes to his hands to allow his friend some time to come to terms with himself. Yuri sounded broken and he didn't quite understand what he can do for his friend.
'Maybe if he lets me tell Viktor where he is, Viktor can bring Yuri back into skating! He has still been searching for Yuri so that he can coach him... maybe Yuri will let me tell him?'
"Phichit," Yuri started in a slightly more uplifting tone, "I'm not in Moriyama anymore."
"You're not?" Phichit asked, surprised. "Where are you then?"
"Well, I contacted my parents a few weeks ago," Yuri began and trailed off, knowing his nest friend would get the gist of what he's saying.
"No way, you're back in Hasetsu?!" Phichit cried out happily, his face beaming into a smile and his eyes shining magnificently. "See? I told you your parents would love you even if you had a one night stand!"
Phichit giggled as Yuri groaned in annoyance. He could practically see the irritated look Yuri had on his face and he knew he was pressing firmly on his friends buttons. He stopped giggling when he heard Yuri sigh again, this time with a distressed tone to it. Immediately getting concerned, Phichit asked Yuri if he was feeling alright.
"I'm fine, Phicht," Yuri replied, almost in a whisper. "I'm just visiting with Vicchan right now."
"Oh," Phichit replied in an understanding tone. "Sorry to bother you then. I'll let you spend some time with him. I'll talk to you later Yuri."
"Yeah, I'll talk to you later," Yuri promised.
Before either of them hung up the phone, Phichit gasped out a frantic reply.
"Tell YinYin Uncle Phichit wished him a happy birthday!" Phichit shouted.
The cab driver sent a glare towards the Thai skater, muttering to Phichit to quiet down with broken English. Phichit just smiled sheepishly back at the driver before hearing Yuri on the phone again.
"He'll be quite happy to know that you remembered," Yuri replied in a lighter tone, the faintest hint of a smile breaking into his voice.
"Of course I remembered!" Phichit replied, almost hurt that Yuri would accuse him of not being able to remember the birth of his best friend's child. "I am the one who gave him his nickname for heaven's sake!"
"Oh, I've been meaning to ask, how did you get YinYin from Yalenchka?" Yuri asked, in a curious voice. "I haven't been able to figure it out quite yet."
"That's simple! Yin came from me saying the first part of Yalenchka's name really fast, and then I just added another Yin to make it even cuter because YinYin is the cutest thing ever!" Phichit exclaimed happily, a bright smile on his face.
"Such a Phichit thing for you to do," Yuri laughed, causing Phichit to pout.
"What do you mean by that?" Phichit asked in a worried tone with a childish pout coating it.
"Nothing bad, I promise," Yuri replied in a frantic tone, hoping that he hadn't offended his best friend in any way with his comment.
"Okay!" Phichit immediately brightened up and made a sound of disappointment when the cab stopped in front of the hotel that he and Celestino were staying at. "I'm at the hotel now, so I'll have to let you go."
"That's alright. I'll talk to you later Phichit."
"Bye!" Phichit called out, before Yuri ended the call. He locked phone and put it in his pocked before stepping out of the cab and into the chilly air of Russia. He shivered as it stabbed at his skin and moved to the back of the cab next to Celestino. Once he grabbed his bags, he waited on the curb for his coach
"I'm going to head to the skating rink nearby!" Phichit announced, throwing his bags onto his coach before taking off down the street.
"Phichit! Don't make me carry all of the bags up to the room myself!" Celestino cried hopelessly at his student, but the cries fell on deaf ears as Phichit ran with his skated in hand.
When he rounded the corner of the curb, Phichit slowed and caught his breath. The cold, dry air of Russia burnt his lungs and nipped fiercely at his skin. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat, holding his skates by their laces and causing them to bounce against his leg. His breath escaped him in puffs of smoke, floating and dissipating, only to be replaced by another bout of smoke.
Shivering as the cold started to seep through the openings of his coat and trailed up his arms, he pulled out his phone and opened up the directions to the rink nearby. He paused in his movements when he realized that he wasn't on the right path and turned around.
Cars passed by loudly as he walked. He saw many couples together, all of which were holding each other's hands and walking very close to each other. Every couple was either smiling or talking animatedly to their partner, showing the image of how perfect and beautiful the couples of Russia truly were. But, Phichit noticed, there were no gay couples around. At least not ones that were displaying their love freely for everyone to see.
It made Phichit wonder if such actions were frowned upon in Russia. His eyebrows furrowed in thought and he memorized the last few turns he would have to make before going to the magical realm called the internet and searching up his question. The internet always has an answer.
"They say it's more complicated being gay in Russia than you'd think. They say that even though gays are tolerated, they're still not totally accepted. ~"Russian society is very conservative and being gay is a deviation from the norm. Russian society can't accept anything outside the norm."~" Phichit mumbled to himself, frowning and clicking his tongue.
He locked his phone and shook his head, drawing into himself as he turned to look around. He felt weary around the people of Russia now that he knew that bit of information about their society. He suddenly felt as if the words 'Hey look, I'm GAY!' were branded to his forehead and he didn't quite like the fact he felt that way.
Who cares what the haters thought though? He was his own person and he could walk around parading that he's gay and he's proud and they could do nothing legally to harm him.
With that in his mind, knowing that nobody could do anything to him, he walked with a newfound confidence in himself.
Once he made it to the rink, he brightened considerably and raced into the doors. He rushed to the counter and tapped on the little bell multiple times very quickly until the owner of the rink came out to the counter, grumbling under his breath because of the annoyance. When the man came to the counter, Phichit smiled and held up his skates for the man to see.
"I came to skate here at the rink!" he told the man in English since he didn't know any Russian. "How much do I owe you to be able to skate for a couple of hours?"
"The rink is closed for a last minute private practice with a few members going into the Grand Prix Final," the man replied in a bored tone, glaring at the Thai boy.
Phichit cocked his head to the side in confusion before something clicked in his head. If it was a private practice, then that meant that Viktor was probably here and used this rink on a daily basis when he was in St. Petersburg.
Phichit, thinking quickly, pulled his skating certification out for the man to see, shoving it into the man's face and speaking quickly. "I'm also a certified skater! So you have to let me use the rink too."
"I'm sorry, but I can't-"
Phichit slammed a stack on money onto the counter and looked at the man with pleading eyes. The man stared at the money before pursing his lips and sliding it to his body slowly.
"I guess I can make an exception."
