CHAPTER SIX HUNDRED TWENTY SEVEN

Without the burden of having to worry about warming up or keeping track of time, Yuri did what Yuri did best...over-think, worry, and consider all options. To his credit though – for once – his thoughts weren't for his own problems.

Teenager drama is so much easier than the stuff Viktor and I have gone through lately… He thought, and wiggled a little bit to get the blanket more comfortably over his free shoulder, cheek set against his husband's occupied shoulder. Even though Otabek isn't exactly a teenager… Technically he still was one back in October...that counts for something, right?

The warm-up period came and went, and so did the first handful of performances. The leader-board was all over the place as new and old masters took to the ice to stake their claims.

"You know...in a lot of ways, this reminds me of NHK." Yuri commented idly before he reached to pull a few tissues from the Makkachin plush-toy beside Jiro, "That was the last competition where I was there just as a spectator. You're all dressed-up, waiting for your turn… Phichit-kun and Otabek are under the arena, getting ready to start their own. Yurio is here, but he's actually up in the audience, rather than down here in the skaters' box…"

"I defer to my esteemed colleague." Viktor replied, with a bit of snark in his tone, "NHK was a completely different experience for me."

"I guess that's true." Yuri nodded, cheek squished against that shoulder, glasses off-center a little because of it, "I don't think I ever saw you look back on your SP from then, just to see what it looked like."

"Oh, it was bad. I know that much." He puffed, "It's been a really long time since I scored less than 100 for a Short Program. Honestly, I'm not even sure how I scored as high as I did. To my eyes, I hardly skated at all that whole time. It was just a total nightmare."

"Maybe you're part dolphin, and half your brain sleeps at a time...so while you were skating, you were only aware of the dreaming half." Yuri supposed, and turned to look at his partner's face, but the look of 'what in the world' he got back from it just made him snort a laugh, "Okay okay, it was a bad analogy… You did go totally into autopilot though. I guess you could say...your nightmare took you back to when you were first getting into competition...and your brain decided that's all it could do for real at the time. So, you skated as well as you did when you were sixteen or so."

"Hmph..."

"And yesterday, I skated like I was sixteen all over again, too." Yuri added, "Truly."

"You skated like a sick person who should've been in bed resting, but for his pushover husband-slash-coach who can't tell him no." Viktor retorted, and squished down the Ravenclaw beanie over his beloved's eyes, "This time, and all for the better, it's out of my hands."

Yuri thumbed at the rim of his noggin-cover and lifted it back off one eye, but he smiled anyway, "You didn't even suggest that I drop out though."

"That's because I had Detroit flashing before my eyes every time I even considered it, so the thought vanished as quickly as it came on," Viktor explained, "It came and went in the blink of an eye."

Yuri just made a face as he finished resetting his beanie across his brow, "Detroit was a special circumstance. This is...dare I say it, just Four Continents. It doesn't hold any particular sentimental value to me… At least, not like that."

"You know I can't ever go back there again, right?"

"Eh? Why? What if you get assigned there?"

"Because every minute of every day that I'd be there would be nothing but a flashback to then." He answered, "I can't go through that again. My heart couldn't take it."

"...What about Vienna then?"

"You didn't nearly die in Vienna."

"You thought I was giving my ring back."

Viktor shook his head, "That was my mistake, and once my severe misunderstanding was laid bare, I could forget about it. Learn from it, but forget about it."

"I see."

"And once we fix the big misunderstanding here, maybe everyone can learn and forget like I did."

"One step at a time..." Yuri pointed out, and retook his perch with his cheek pressed to his husband's shoulder, "Yurio wants to let him do his show first."

"And you agree with that timing?" Viktor wondered, "You don't think it would be better to do it before?"

"My gut tells me this is the best way forward," Yuri answered, and moved his hands out from under his plush blanket to take his partner's arm in them, "Right now, in Otabek's head, things are stable. They're awkward, sure, and he has every reason to believe that Nikki's mad at him, or mad in general right now. But, he can live with it, because it's the decision he made. If we ambush him before he skates, and he takes it even half as bad...or as well?...as I would in that same situation, he'd be an emotional cluster on the ice, and it would mess him up. So...yeah, in his case, leave it until after he's done his show."

"Alright."

.

Almost as expected, Phichit and Minami put themselves fairly high on the scoreboard by the end of Group 1. Phichit himself lead the whole pack with his first place ranking, and Minami fawned over it the whole way back into the audience. The Selfie Squad was broiling with excitement and energy before GuangHong and Leo both had to swap spots and go down for their turns in Group 2. Yuri did his best to join in with them, but their energy level was exhausting to his ragged frame, and he had to take the wall-flower approach. He redoubled his attention though once the second set of eight skaters came out for their warm-up period, and he spotted Otabek there with the rest.

He looks as serious and stoic as always, Yuri thought, I wish I could tell what he's thinking. He's probably hyper-focused on his skating right now… That would make the most sense.

Viktor had his eyes slightly higher though, and he squinted slightly in an effort to see better from so far away. He shook his head as he looked on though, "I don't know what to do with this feeling I have." He commented quietly, drawing up his partner's interest, "Being this concerned about something that has nearly nothing to do with me."

Yuri quirked a brow, "What do you mean? Feeling bad for Nikki?"

"I've felt bad for others before...don't get me wrong, I'm not apathetic. But this situation...it feels different somehow." He explained, perhaps poorly, "I'm invested in it, in a way I'm normally not."

"Well, you did kind of kick things off..."

Viktor huffed a sighed breath and waved out across the ice with his free hand dismissively, "I don't mean that. I mean, I would've never talked to him if I didn't have this feeling. It wouldn't have mattered to me."

"...Oohhhh..." Yuri realized, and then sat forward in his seat to lean across and look at his partner head-on, "You know what this means, right?"

"No. That's the problem."

"It means you're finally starting to know what it's like to have a faaaamillyyyyyy!" Yuri teased gleefully, "This is what I always wanted you to have!"

"This is weird!"

"It's a whole other alien thing, that's for sure..." Yuri agreed, and sat back normally again, "The way you think about people changes when you recognize them as part of yourself...part of your extended self. Not like a lover or a friend, but someone that you're connected to by generations of history and chance encounters. You may still have chosen your family, but real blood-kin...the relationship feels different. It's more permanent. Somehow, in a way that transcends everything else...barring murder, death, or betrayal...those people will always be there."

"...You make it sound like blood is more binding than love." Viktor pouted slightly, "I don't know why that hurts as much as it does."

"The way the world has organized itself, family is always the foundation." Yuri attempted, "It's the bedrock of everything that comes later. It's where you come from, who made you, who raised you...who let you go to find your own way as an adult. The foundation you build...it's on top of the one that came before. It's the part of you that'll never change, no matter how far you go or how much you want to forget."

"That would be easier to accept if my foundations weren't build in sand, my love." Viktor pointed out, and lifted one of his partner's hands to kiss the knuckles, "Right now, the way things are with Papa Mimi, it's like I've finally found a sturdy rock in my sand-pit...but it still wiggles and wobbles, unsteady, and ready to come loose at a moment's notice."

"That's you being unsure."

"Maybe."

"Mikhail's done running away," Yuri said, and rubbed his thumb on the hand that still held to his, "He's here to stay now. If not for you, then for Minako-sensei, and their family. She'll kill him before he can do anything stupid."

"...Isn't that the truth?" Viktor huffed a nervous laugh, "If anyone could ever make sure he does what he's supposed to, it's her."

"You make a strong case for yourself, too, you know."

"Yeah, but he's walked out on me before."

"It wasn't just you he left behind," Yuri reminded, "He's finally starting to deal with all that now. Let's support him."

"Group 2, your warm-up period has ended. Please make your way off the ice." The announcer called, and Yuri slumped back in his seat. Jiro clumsily went over the arm-rest to climb into his human's lap, and made a nest out of his blanket-covered lap. Yuri kept one hand on the pup, but both eyes on the ice; Otabek was stepping out of the rink, so it was immediately clear that he wouldn't be skating first, at least.

"This is the part where I start to get nervous," Yuri commented idly, "It's like the official count-down has begun."

"Count-down to what?" Phichit wondered, "Something's going to happen?"

"Family stuff." He answered, "Viktor's uncle is going to talk to Otabek."

"Ooohhhh...so that's why Otabek was all sketchy down there."

"Eh? Sketchy how?"

Phichit gave a nervous smile, and scratched his cheek with one finger, "Well, maybe sketchy is the wrong word… Antsy?"

"He doesn't...even know this is coming though."

"Well, he's nervous about something. What happened?"

Viktor looked back into the row behind them, "My cousin his a huge crush on him."

"...Which one?"

"The one that braided his hair at the Final," Yuri answered, "The younger one."

"Oh, the jail-bait one."

"Eeeeyup."

"So what happened then?" Phichit asked, only to find a grin creep across his face, "Is the other Yuri really jealous? Is that why he's staying up in the audience with them instead of down here with you guys?"

Viktor puffed a laugh, "We don't really know what Yurio thinks. But...that's a different issue anyway..."

"That's the thing that Viktor's future potential inflatable T-Rex costume hinges on." Yuri reminded.

"Oh right."

"The trouble is just like you said before that though...Nikki is jail-bait territory. Unfortunately, because Otabek is keenly aware of that fact, he decided to take the leap and blocked Nikki online to avoid any suggestion of impropriety. So, we've convinced her dad to talk to him and set things right again."

Phichit and Minami side-eyed one another, but the older of the two spoke again, "...Getting her dad involved is basically like setting up an approved courtship."

Yuri and Viktor both sunk in their seats slightly and made a face at them, "We know." They both answered, and Viktor continued, "We don't know what else to do though. All we want is for Otabek to know that it's okay to unblock her. So it's more like...giving someone the keys to the car so they can wash it, not drive it around."

"Not taking the proverbial car for a joyride will entirely hinge on trust though." Phichit pointed out, and rubbed his chin in thought, "Depending on the car...that temptation could be hard to resist."

"Which is why Mikhail is getting involved. To put the proverbial fear of God in him. Or...to convince Otabek that taking the car out will result in both of his legs being broken. One or the other." Viktor mused, "But I never actually got a straight answer out of him on that front, so who knows? Maybe he thinks this car is junk and he wouldn't take it out anyway."

Minami gave a sultry look, "Or maybe she's the kind of car that's so expensive, rare, and precious that he'll buy her just to put her on display forever and never actually drive her around at all."

"Alright, alright...that's enough of the 'Nikki is a car' talk." Yuri chimed in, "Suffice it to say...if Yurio still gets to be friends with Otabek then it stands to reason that Nikki should be allowed, too. As far as I can tell, Otabek's a good guy and wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone on purpose. Letting Otabek talk to Nikki online isn't the same as telling him that no one will give him grief if he started dating Nikki tomorrow."

"Which would be weird. Because she's fifteen." Viktor had to point out, "And he's twenty."

Phichit couldn't help but laugh at the whole thing, "Well, Otabek trained with JJ for a while, so this probably isn't even as big a deal to him. This is probably rather tame by comparison."

"...He's got a point." Viktor side-whispered out the corner of his mouth, "Maybe it's only a big deal because we won't shut up about it."

"I'll take whatever I can get," Yuri admitted, both hands up, "When it comes down to the options we've had lately...if I had to pick between existential crisis that upsets my marriage and Nikki got blocked online, I'll take Nikki, hands down."

Viktor laughed and slouched in his seat a little, listening to the music of the Free Skate, "Besides...this whole situation is actually kind of fun to deal with." He teased, "Even though I kinda messed it up earlier."

"Just a little bit."

"Isn't it though?" He asked, tilting his head on the back-rest, "Getting to worry about someone else's problems?"

"We've had our own share."

"But they don't even mean anything." He retorted, "If not for the reminder, I might've entirely forgotten the boos from yesterday. And the weird creeper guys that walked by earlier."

"Creeper guys?" Minami echoed, "Who were they?"

"Just some guys that Ghost growled at for walking too close." Yuri deflected, "I'm trying not to let my anxious brain come up with a whole history of who they were and why they're here to get growled at in the first place. Ghost is just...a very protective dog. It's in her DNA. She would've growled at anyone. Makkachin and Jiro didn't do anything."

"Suffice it to say...there's been stuff, but it hasn't been that important." Viktor summarized, "Otabek's gonna go do his show soon, then I'll go do my warm-up, and by the time I get back, this'll all be sorted out and everything will be right as rain."