CHAPTER SIX HUNDRED EIGHT

Though thoroughly relaxed amidst a second day of pampering at the Broadmoor spa, Viktor managed to make it through to the end without passing out. He came close only during the facial and pedicure, head tilted back against the plush head-rest with attention focused on this heels.

Between Yuri and Phichit though, it became something of a spectator sport, watching to see whether or not the Russian was still awake. Like most things though, their game ended mostly with stifled laughter, trying not to be too terribly obnoxious to other people in the establishment. When they were finally done though, a little while in the large indoor pool was absolutely necessary. Phichit dove straight in like a pro, and paddled halfway towards the middle of the Olympic-size expanse, and splashed up above the water to check how far behind his friend was. He just deadpanned at what he saw though; Yuri was just sitting on the edge, slowly shimmying down into the water an inch at a time.

"What are you doing?" He asked incredulously, "And if you say you're the son of a hot-sp-"

"I'm the son of a hot-spring resort." Yuri said anyway, much to Phichit's chagrin, "You know I've been taught since birth to not splash or dunk my head under the water."

"At a hot-spring. This is a pool."

"Since birth." He reiterated, but by the time he finished, he had to let go of the ledge and slid with a small splash into the deep water, coming up to his chin even while standing on his toes, "Brr, it's cold."

"I think it feels great!" Phichit countered, paddling closer, "I try to swim as much as I can back home. It's much better for you than running. Less impact on your knees and hips."

"Yeah... I used to swim more when I was still in Juniors." Yuri agreed, "Everything was all in the same place at the big sports complex."

"Isn't there a pool close to you now?"

"Yeah but it's a public pool and it's always really busy. I gave up checking a long time ago."

Phichit gave him a look, "Have you checked since getting back to Hasetsu last year?"

Yuri made the same face, "...No."

"You should check." The Thai skater insisted, nudging Yuri under the water with two fingers to the chest, "Skater's Bane is messing up our knees and backs too quickly. Do your knees a favor and give them some help. If not for while you're still competing, then for the sake of not needing a knee replacement in your 40s."

"Alright alright, I'll check."

"Make Viktor do it, too."

"Make me do what?" The silver asked suddenly, coming up towards the edge of the deck, towel across his shoulders and flip-flops on his feet, "What I miss?"

"Phichit-kun says we should try swimming more instead of running." Yuri answered with a shrug under the water, "There's only one indoor pool open all year in Hasetsu though so I'm skeptical that it's worth checking."

"Something to think about when we get home again then." Viktor said simply, and set his towel aside on one of the nearby deck-chairs. Flip-flops were nudged off, and the silver made a dramatic dive off to one side, coming up again only a few feet away, "Oh, it's colder than I expected!"

.

With massages done, the driver took their SUV back to the Antlers to drop Phichit off, and then made its way back to the Estate House. With it still being relatively early though, and with the Rozovsky clan out on their own adventure, the castle-like mansion felt oddly empty, but for the dogs that came running.

"Let's take them for a walk or something before we go to the arena." Viktor suggested suddenly.

"Official practice time doesn't last all day..." Yuri pointed out reluctantly, "Do we really want to take so much time?"

"We'll be sure to spend the entire time allowed tomorrow. Right now I think we should spend time with the kids."

Lacking the energy to argue it, Yuri nodded and went along with it. He followed as Viktor went through the mansion to go back out through the rear doors, and out on the covered veranda before descending the short flight of stairs to the snow-covered croquet-lawns. Ghost and Makkachin were out like rockets, racing across the huge white expanse like it was their last chance. Jiro did his best to keep up, but his puppy-legs couldn't quite get him up to adult-zoomie speed. A pack of new tennis balls had been given to them by the Broadmoor staff, and Yuri wasted no time cracking it open to find one and toss it for the wee Akita. Both Ghost and Makkachin took notice rather quickly, and came running back for their own turns. Jiro kept the ball he caught though and wouldn't give it back, trotting off dramatically.

The SkateHusbands gave one look to one another though, and each of them grabbed a new ball from the tube. Without a word, both tennis balls were chucked as far as they could go, and the two grown dogs were off like a shot, kicking up snow in their wakes. The little yellow-green fuzz-orbs disappeared into the drift with a chuff noise, and the two canines dove after them like foxes.

The pristine field was marked by trails of paw-prints as more balls were thrown and brought back, only to be thrown again. Yuri eventually moved back though, and cleared off a step to sit down, and just watched as Viktor kept tossing the tennis balls for their pack. He sat quietly and just took in the sights of it all, and slowly moved his eyes across the whole of the visible property, crisscrossed by the dogs as they chased after one another.

"You've gotten rather quiet, my love." Viktor commented, tossing a ball that Makkachin had brought back. He flicked his fingers a few times from the slobber, and glanced back towards the steps, "You only do that when you're thinking too hard about something."

"Too much stuff to think about. My mind's kind of blank." Yuri answered simply, and shifted his arms a bit where he'd wrapped them around himself to ward off the cold, "Phichit-kun got me thinking about something I didn't want to think about so I'm trying not to."

"Oh?"

"Now you're going to try to get me to think about it, aren't you?"

"I don't even know what the topic is. How could I?" He mused in answer, and looked out to see if his poodle had gotten the toy yet.

"By being curious about what Phichit-kun asked, I suppose."

"Well, if you don't want to get into it, then say no more."

"The absence just makes me think about it anyway." Yuri shook his head with a sigh, "And you're going to get so annoyed with it if I can't get it out of my head."

"Does it start with S and end in O?"

Yuri grumbled a bit, "Probably."

"Ah. I see." Viktor answered, and looked down at his hand, flicking his fingers idly.

"Yeah, there you go, already bothered."

The silver drew in a deep breath, and waited for Makkachin to come running back, chased by Ghost. He rubbed each pup's back as they ran circles around his legs, but then moved on to chase each other again. Jiro returned to his human though, panting heavily from all the running in the elbow-deep - for him - snow. Yuri pulled the pup up onto the step to recover between his knees, and rubbed the Akita's ears idly, waiting for Viktor to say something.

"It's not your fault or your problem that he decided not to come compete." The silver finally pointed out, "His absence here in Colorado should make you feel better, not worse. It's more like normal now without him."

"Forgive my language, but he spent two years getting his shit together to get back into competition, and I kind of ruined it for him in one weekend."

"He did it to himself." Viktor corrected, "He consciously decided to do something profoundly stupid. Be glad that he at least has the self-awareness to feel bad about it, because he certainly doesn't show it otherwise."

"I know...but what about the Olympics? We're all going to be housed so close together, maybe even in the same r-"

"Tsst." Viktor said abruptly, cutting Yuri off, "I can assure you of at least one thing, my love. No matter what happens to anyone else, you and I will be sharing a space. Period. They might not be the most comfortable accommodations, maybe they won't even be finished, but we will be together."

"I've been doing some reading though..."

"Reading is a bad idea sometimes."

Yuri made a face, but then shook his head, "All the chatter about how the Villages have been set-up for the last long while... The dorms are arranged to basically be just the bedrooms attached to big communal living spaces. The only thing I can't find is information about whether that's everyone or just per country."

"It varies."

"They're saying that the communal layout is how all these Olympian hook-ups happen."

"Good, yeah, maybe he can hook-up with someone in another country and stay in their dorm."

Yuri grumbled slightly and sank into himself, cheek squished against the palm of his gloved hand, "You're doing it again. This is why I didn't want to bring it up."

"I am already literally terrified of how things are going to go, for all reasons that don't even include Saito right now. If not for how things will be for me, because people know me from before, but because you're fresh meat that they don't know anything about. I'll be fighting people off who want to hook-up with you all month."

That just made Yuri's face go red, "That's ridiculous. No one has tried to hook-up with me before, anywhere, ever."

Viktor deadpanned, "I did."

"You didn't. If all you were doing was hooking-up then you would've left as soon as you got what you wanted."

"...I guess so." Viktor said quietly, looking aside, but then shook his head, "But that won't be the case in an Olympic Village. Nearly 75% of the athletes who go there hook-up at some point, with another athlete. You'd practically have to be JJ to get overlooked."

"Hrmmm..." Yuri grumbled again, "None of this is even the point of what I was trying to say. I'm not worried about Asahi trying to hook-up with me. I'm worried about us just being in proximity to each other. You and him nearly got into a literal fight the last time we saw each other, and I had a fit afterwards, needing you to save me from my own nightmares again...not even a real problem! Just one in my head." He explained, already exhausted from the thought of it, "I had almost hoped that he'd come to Four Continents, just so I could have something akin to practice being around him after all of it... You, too."

Viktor huffed and crossed his arms, "I don't need practice being around him."

"If not for Mikhail, Asahi would've put you in the hospital." Yuri countered, "I love you, Viktor, but you don't know martial arts. He replaced ballet with it. If I get all weird because of him in PyeongChang, the last thing I need is for you to try and defend my honor again."

"...Well, that's the whole reason we're taking Jiro with us, isn't it?" Viktor asked, pouting slightly, "Since I can't do anything."

Yuri could feel the sting on those words, and winced slightly as he pushed to stand. He stepped carefully over where Jiro had gotten comfortable between his feet, and moved through the crunchy snow towards his partner. Finding the man's hands at his sides, Yuri pulled them both forward and held them firm, "You do plenty for me that Jiro can't, and you know that I don't hold it against you that you can't save me from myself sometimes. You've had Makkachin all these years...you know as well as anyone that dogs can sometimes be there for us in ways other people can't be, and there's no good explanation for it."

"...I know..." He answered sullenly, "It doesn't make me feel better though. It just makes me feel inadequate."

Yuri's brow crinkled, "...Have you felt this way the entire time?"

"A little." Viktor admitted quietly, "...But you seemed better for it, so I didn't want to spoil it. And now I'm worried that I did anyway."

"There's so much else in the world to be worried about...please don't worry about that. I need you. The fact that I'm even here at Four Continents right now is entirely because of you. I only need Jiro to help me with that last hurdle that my anxiety throws at me at the last second... You've already figured out the rest of it."

"I guess I just never wanted to admit that I couldn't fix everything." Viktor sighed, looking down at the snow between their boots.

"Anxiety can't be cured. But you've done just about the best job anyone could in managing it, and plenty have tried." Yuri explained, waiting for those eyes to come up again, though for the moment they stayed down. He gave the hands he held a gentle squeeze, "Celestino could tell you stories...especially after the Sochi Final and my bomb-out at Nationals. Any normal human would've run for the hills from the frustration of it all...but you didn't. You stayed through the worst of it, even when you had doubts that you'd ever get what you wanted back from me. You still stayed. I don't know that I would've done as well if I had to deal with myself."

"I wish you wouldn't depreciate yourself so much... You really weren't as bad as all that."

Yuri deadpanned him, "I literally sent you to bed in tears once."

That finally drew Viktor's sights up, though he had an odd look on his face when he did so, "You wouldn't even let me in your room."

"I had posters of you on every wall. It was embarrassing."

"You wouldn't let me in your room after that either!"

Yuri felt his breath catch in his throat, but that just made him pause and think a moment, "...I wouldn't?"

"No!" Viktor answered, "The first time I got in there was that time you found me after we..." He paused, then huffed a frustrated breath, "After we had that fight before our wedding party."

"...Oh..."

"You always came to my room otherwise."

"...I guess I just felt more at ease in there." Yuri explained, this time his eyes going down, "The room didn't come with any baggage. My room had seen too much over the years."

"You make it sound like you think it would've given everything away if I'd gotten in there sooner."

"...No, but I might've. I already had enough worry that you might pick up and leave. I didn't need to admit how much of a basket-case I was, and help you go." He said quietly, and watched as the gap between them closed. Hands were gently pulled free so arms could go up and around him, and he felt his partner's lips and nose against the side of his neck.

"You are more than the problems you think you have." The silver said simply, and brushed his cheek against one ear, "And you're stronger than you let yourself believe. You don't need Saito here at Four Continents to practice being around him. He doesn't hold any power over you." He explained, rubbing one thumb across his husband's coat where he held him, "You told me once that you just decided to stop being depressed after returning home...and tried to find something else to do with your energy. When you're ready...maybe you can decide to let go of the pain that came out of your reunion with him. You aren't the answer to his problems, and he can't do anything about yours. There's no point letting his situation get to you. It's...a waste of energy."

Yuri nodded against his husband's shoulder, "...Yeah..."

"Let's try to corral the dogs and head inside then." The silver then suggested, pulling back slightly to see his beloved's face, "We'll get some hot cocoa and then head to the arena. See if your bug has worked its way out or if you still need some TLC."