CHAPTER SIX HUNDRED TWENTY TWO
Video of the pack rushing around their posh winter wonderland earned a stream of comments and likes faster than anything Yuri had ever posted of himself. It blew him away how excited the fans were about their pups. It probably helped that Skating Heartthrob and definitely-not-sick Viktor Nikiforov was in the shot, throwing snowballs, which all three canines chased eagerly. Yuri could only manage to toss a few before his arms were too tired to keep going, and he resigned to his seat on the stoop. He whined theatrically as he sat back, but he couldn't help laughing at his situation anyway, "This is such a tragedy...!"
Viktor threw one last snowball before he turned and smiled, then stepped through the crunchy frost to get closer to his beloved. He crouched down in front of the man, knees parted onto the step on either side of his partner's legs, pressed his chest to Yuri's shins, and found his hands, "You're a phoenix. You'll be reborn from these ashes of defeat, more radiant than ever."
"Oof, dramatic much?" Yuri laughed.
"I believe it." The Russian retorted, and kissed the tip of his husband's red-tinted nose, "Come on though; let's get back inside. I want to warm you up again. You're half a popsicle now."
"If we must..."
"Cooooooome on." Viktor mused, and hefted his partner up to his feet. With one arm around the man's back, he turned to the fields and whistled for the pack to follow. Makkachin came immediately, then Jiro and Ghost. As usual, their nubbins were dried off in the entryway before they were cut loose, and they rushed into the huge mansion on their next adventure as soon as they were free. The duo then made their quiet escape through the kitchen, and up the wooden stairs through the back of the wing.
The huge white tub was set with steaming hot water and bubbles as Viktor helped his partner out of his clothes. Peeled out like a ripe fruit, Viktor couldn't help but take a taste of every bit as it became exposed to his eyes. Ear, neck, shoulder, then to the back of each of them. Shirt and undershirt were set on the white vanity, and Viktor turned his beloved around where they stood, then backed him up to the edge of the curved lip of the tub.
"You going to come in, too?" Yuri wondered, and slid his hands down the thinly covered front of his partner's chest, "It's big enough."
"I could soak." Viktor agreed, much to his spouse's delight. His sweater was pulled off, and the t-shirt under it, and each were added to the pile on the counter. Jeans dropped to the floor, followed by underpants. The last to come off was their socks, and as each foot came out of one, it dipped into the water right after.
With a relaxed sigh, they both sat amidst the bubbles and stretched out their legs under the water. Heat purged the cold from their muscles. Yuri slid down his partner's front, until his shoulders vanished under the suds, and just his head stayed above the surface, "Ahhhh this is just what I needed."
"We should ask for some hot chocolate later."
"Hmmmm yesss..."
.
Viktoria pressed her ear to the door and listened for a few seconds. Yurio stood nearby, arms crossed and a sour look on his face. When the silver leaned back, she shook her head, "I don't hear anything. I guess she cried herself to sleep."
"...That's just great." The Tiger grumbled, "So what do we do? Ask the staff to lock-pick the door open?"
"That'll just piss her off even more, if that's even possible at this point." Viktoria said, and perched her hands on her hips, "I've never seen her this upset about anything."
"Nothing like this has ever happened before," Yurio pointed out, and turned away to head for the spiral stairs just across from the door.
"You've literally only known either of us for two months. How can you say that with any confidence?"
"Because I have only known you guys for two months." He retorted, and paused on the first step, "I know exactly what it's like to lose the life you had before and get transplanted halfway around the world to start new with people you don't really know. She didn't seem too broken-up about leaving her friends behind, so I'm going to bet that she didn't have any really serious connections back in Banff to mourn."
Viktoria quirked a brow and followed, "She was friends with practically the whole school. She was everyone's little sister. Half the guys wanted to be with her...half the girls, too, probably."
Yurio couldn't stop his cheeks turning red at the thought of it, "So then why didn't anyone make a move?"
"No one wanted to ask. They all knew who had interest, and they all knew that if one of them started, the rest would ask her out, too, and then they'd have to sit back and wait for her to pick one of them. No one wanted to be in the rejected camp, so they all just stayed back."
"That's stupid."
"It's a really small town. We didn't just go to the same school. We were all practically neighbors, too." Viktoria explained.
"I guess that just explains it even better then," Yurio shrugged and trotted down the winding way, "After spending so long with the same people, meeting someone new was..." He said, though his words trailed and he shook his head to make the thought go away.
"A unique opportunity," Viktoria finished instead, still following after him, "It's her curse. She wants to be friends with everyone."
"You're the complete opposite." The Tiger pointed out, and paused on the last step to turn and face the older teen side-face, "You practically don't want to be friends with anyone."
"I got all the introvert genes. That left Nikki with only the extrovert supply."
"And Sergio?"
"Oh he took all the narcissistic asshole genes right off the top." She puffed, and rolled her eyes at the thought of him, "It all came in the 'momma's boy' starter-pack."
Yurio couldn't help but laugh at that, even if it was in a mocking tone, "That sounds about right." He cursed, and turned away again to step onto the first floor landing, "That guy was such a tool."
"That's Pipaw's fault," Viktoria corrected, "I never would've known if things hadn't gone south like they did...but now that they have, and I do, it's pretty obvious."
"What's that?"
"Pipaw wanted Viktor all along." She answered, and passed the blonde to head for the kitchen, "I know he wanted to name Sergio Viktor instead, but mom wouldn't let him. Maybe she knew what he was doing. Sergio turned out to be absolutely nothing like the Viktor that's here now... Maybe Pipaw reacted badly to it, so that's why Sergio got attached to mom instead, and why he's so combative with Pipaw now."
"Then he named you after Viktor instead." Yurio pointed out, "That must've caused problems."
"Looking back on it...yeah, I think so." Viktoria affirmed. She watched the younger teen find a cup, then held it up to her. She raised her hand and shook her head, and he went on to get some juice on his own, "It was all pretty obvious all along...it's hard to believe I missed it all until now."
"Hindsight is always 20/20." Yurio puffed, and moved with the jug of OJ to a nearby counter to pour his drink.
"No wonder Pipaw nearly stroked-out when Viktor called him Papa before. It's practically all he's ever wanted."
The Tiger paused pouring when the glass was half full, and reconsidered his options. The juice went back in the fridge, and a can of 7-Up came out after. It hissed as he clicked it open, and he filled the rest of his cup with the new mixture, "You don't hold it against him, do you?"
"What difference does it make?"
"Tons." He said quickly, and took a sip of the bubbly concoction, "Things may have changed a lot for you and Nikki, but they've changed a lot for him, too."
"You're defending him?"
Yurio sputtered slightly, and wiped his mouth on a sleeve, "I spent months hanging around him and Okukawa." He explained dubiously, "With just him and Okukawa. He had time to think about a lot of things back then...now, it's just a constant stream of issues. He went from no kids, to having four, five if you count Viktor now...and seven if you count Okukawa's brood."
"Twins." Viktoria narrowed her eyes at him.
"Nine if you let him consider Katusdon and Saito in the ranks. He's made himself the dad of everyone around." Yurio went on anyway, "And in his defense, it seemed like he was already stretched a bit thin even back then. I heard he was staying up late to Skype with you guys so maybe that was part of it...but he never complained. He never said a word about it. He just did it."
"What's your point?" Viktoria asked irritably, and shifted her weight from one leg to the other.
Yurio held the cup against his lip for a second and grumbled, but then took another sip and tapped the glass to the counter, "I guess I was trying to bring it back around to how he's handling the thing with Nikki now. He doesn't seem to care that she's upset about this whole thing, and is just glad the 'problem' is solved even if it's just created a new one."
"That's just how he's always been," Viktoria pointed out, "He's a dumb engineer business guy. Shit either fits together or it doesn't. He's great when nothing is wrong but fuck's sake when there is..."
Yurio huffed a laugh, "Yeah, I'll agree with that. You should've seen how bad NHK was because of him."
"...NHK? Another competition?"
"Yeah, the one in Japan right before the Final in Detroit," He affirmed, "In his infinite wisdom he decided to bring Kon there. I think basically everyone shat themselves at the same time when they saw it."
"I've only heard little bits of the problem you guys had with Kon. I didn't see anything bad about him myself."
"That's cuz Viktor and Yuri weren't there rubbing salt in his wounded pride." He retorted, and leaned back against the counter, "Kon was the Grim fucking Reaper around them. If Yuri was a chick, Kon probably would've been Saint Peter though. Dude was a raging homophobe. Half-blinded Viktor for the better part of a week last year."
"And Pipaw decided to bring him to a figure skating competition...?"
"Yep. Pretty smart, right?"
Viktoria rolled her eyes so far, her head had to move a bit, too, "Oh, mon Dieu." She lamented, "He's the dumbest smart person I know, I swear."
"Inn't that the truth."
"So then what do we do with this insight?"
Yurio shrugged, "He won't listen to us. What happened to Nikki isn't a problem anymore, so what more needs to be done?"
"We know that's not true. Nikki's devastated."
"And he thinks she'll get over it."
"She'll get over him dying one day, too, but that doesn't mean we should ignore her while she's hurting." Viktoria retorted firmly, and crossed her arms, "There's gotta be something we can do to get him to back down. I don't like seeing my little sister this upset."
"...There's only one person he'll listen to." Yurio supposed, and rubbed his chin in thought.
"...Viktor?"
"Pfft no." He chortled, "Okukawa."
"He listens to her?" She couldn't help but speak with a bit of a laugh, "Like, legit listens to her?"
"...Why are you making me doubt my plan?" Yurio narrowed his eyes.
"Because Pipaw's the man of the house," She answered, and pointed at the younger teen, "He may listen to everyone but he still has his mind made-up before that, and rarely changes it. It's just the illusion of democracy, meant to keep us peasants appeased."
"I think you're over-simplifying him a bit...?"
"Please. He's my father. I've known him longer than you've been alive."
"And yet, you're Viktoria instead of Sergio." He countered, and the silver took a step back again. Yurio felt the proverbial check-mate, and smirked, "He may not always listen, but he does take things we tell him under advisement, as he'd say. Okukawa may be able to convince him to pull his head out of his arse about this whole thing."
Viktoria gave quite the look, "Considering Pipaw told you to spy on Nikki efore...I'm surprised you'd go out on a limb like this. I thought you'd be happy about how this turned out."
"Otabek isn't himself now." He answered, "And it's weird as Hell knowing why, and being with the reason why, because he knows she's here, too. I thought I'd be happy about it, too, but it really just blows. It was better when I was a third wheel...cuz now it just feels like I'm the nail that popped them all."
"You're not the one who did this though."
"Fine...then I'm the spike-strip that came later. I ruined the fun after the problem started." He said in an exasperated tone, "It doesn't make it any less awkward to talk to him, knowing he's pissed about this, and Nikki's right down the hall from me and I can't do shit."
"So what do you want Minako to do? Ask Pipaw to let Otabek unblock her?"
"Yeah."
"Why don't you just tell him to unblock her? It's not like Pipaw has any control over that."
"You think I haven't told him that already?" Yurio grumbled, "It was the first thing I said."
.
[Unblock her, jackass. You're just grandstanding.]
[Come off it. Everyone thinks I'm some pedo creep now and I didn't even do anything.]
[No one's said that.]
[You're all thinking it. I don't need that kind of trouble right now.]
.
"He won't do it." Yurio shook his head, "I think him and the old man are going to have to have a chat."
Viktoria was understandably skeptical, "You'll have better luck convincing him to burn his hat."
"One step at a time. I haven't even asked Okukawa about it yet."
