Victor had somehow managed to secure a private flight to Saga, and they made what the pilot had told him was record time. Still, every hour that they flew grated on him like a thousand knives, and by the time they landed, he was a nervous wreck. He managed to get a taxi to Hasetsu, but by the time he burst through the doors of Yu-Topia, his mother-in-law informed him that Yuuri had left hours ago, accompanied by Minami. He ground his teeth together at this information, but managed to get out of her what their plans had been for the day. He decided that it wasn't worthwhile trying to find them wandering around town. He knew they were planning to go to the Ice Castle at some point. If they weren't there now, he would simply wait for them to arrive, and then get Yuuri alone.

After giving Aki a short snuggle and leaving Makkachin behind at the inn, he hurried to the ice rink, bursting through the doors to the surprise of Yuuko. She told him that Yuuri and Minami had arrived a while ago and were skating. Thanking her, Victor hurried inside the rink, opening the doors just as Minami caught Yuuri's hand in his. Victor's blood boiled with rage as the younger man leaned towards a petrified-looking Yuuri, and his mouth opened of its own accord.

"Get away from my husband."

Yuuri whirled to look at him, and his eyes looked as wide as saucers. Despite the terror in them, Victor couldn't help but admire how beautiful they were. But he had more pressing things to tend to. He strode over to the rink's barrier, swinging his legs over with the ease of practice. As he approached the two men on the ice, Minami backed up, dropping Yuuri's hand.

When he got within a few feet of them, Victor locked his eyes on Minami and growled, "What do you think you were doing?"

"I...I was…"

Yuuri interrupted. "Minami-kun, thank you for what you said. However, I'm afraid I can't respond to your feelings." He gave a small bow at the waist and straightened up.

Minami's eyes filled with tears, and he nodded with a shaky smile. "I see. Thank you for listening to me, Yuuri-kun." He turned to Victor, and his expression hardened. He skated slowly past the Russian. Victor watched him go, stone-faced, until the door to the rink closed behind him. Then he turned back to Yuuri.

His husband stood on the ice, staring at his feet. Victor's heart broke at the dejected figure he made, but there was still rage flowing through his veins too. In a dangerously quiet voice he asked, "What was all of that?"

"Vi...well...Minami-kun just happened to be at the inn when I arrived, so we decided to walk around together today, and then came here. I didn't know that was going to happen."

Victor clenched his teeth, not missing the fact that his husband had avoided using his name. "You should have been on your guard more. You know that Minami has always liked you. Or maybe that was your intention in spending time with him. You wanted to move on from me as quickly as possible, so you chose someone that you knew would easily accept you." As the venom spilled from his mouth, Victor was horrified at his own coldness, but he couldn't stop it.

Drops of liquid fell from Yuuri's head to the ice, absorbing softly into the cold surface. "That's not fair, and you know it. You know why I came here."

"No, actually, I don't! You disappeared without a call, without a text, without even a note! I had to call Mari to find where you went! What were you planning to do, just disappear from my life without a word?"

The tears were falling faster now. "You don't understand. I did this for you."

The frustration was unbearable. In a strained voice, Victor said, "Yuuri, can you please look at me."

Slowly, the dark head raised up to meet his eyes with a tearful gaze. Victor felt an ache deep inside of his chest at the expression on his husband's face. He wanted nothing more than to sweep the other man up in his arms and hold him until the hurt bled out. But, despite his determination to bring Yuuri back home at all costs, he knew that he couldn't force him. If Yuuri was truly happier without him, then he would do his best to accept that and figure out how to move on. As he stared at those beautiful eyes, his gaze wandered down to the exquisitely quivering lips, and suddenly wondered if he'd ever be allowed to kiss those lips again. The thought was more than he could bear, and he felt like his body was rending apart as tears pricked at his own eyes. They began dripping out as he gritted his teeth and said, "Please explain to me how my family disappearing without a word is good for me."

"Vi...Victor, I...I just feel like lately, you've been getting more and more involved with work, and so I started thinking about what you're doing with me...Victor, you're an Olympic gold medalist, and maybe you're not skating anymore, but you still have a lot of potential left in you. You're beautiful and talented and still young enough that if you weren't chained down by a family, you could...could start again…" His hands moved up to clench in his hair, but despite the despair painting itself clearly across his face, he kept talking. "And then Oleg came, and he said the same things...said that I wasn't any good for you...and I thought, if other people can see it too, then it must be true, and I've just been selfishly weighing you down all this time without stopping to think about what's best for you…" His voice finally gave way to a sob.

Victor felt like his chest was full of lead. He couldn't stand the sight of his heart standing there, sobbing, hurting because of him. He slid closer and said in the gentlest voice he could summon, "Yuuri, please tell me one thing. Do you still love me?"

"V-Victor, that isn't fair—"

"I don't care about what's fair. Just answer the question." His voice came out more harshly than he had intended, but it seemed to do the trick.

Yuuri stammered, "I...I do love you…"

Unable to hold back anymore, Victor took the last step forward to close the distance between them, sweeping Yuuri firmly into his arms. The other man struggled, but Victor just tightened his hold, burying his head in Yuuri's shoulder and whispering fiercely, "Don't pull away from me. I can't take it."

After a second, he felt Yuuri's body relax into him, then after another second his arms went around Victor's body, clinging tightly onto him as his hands fisted into Victor's shirt. His body began to heave violently, and hiccupping cries rose from Victor's shoulder as Yuuri poured his emotions out onto his husband.

Stroking the back of Yuuri's head gently with one hand, Victor breathed quietly into his ear, "Zhizn moya, please listen to me. I love you. I love you so, so much. I am so sorry that I made you feel inadequate. I should never have allowed work to get so out of control to the point that you felt like I didn't need you anymore, and I should have noticed how you were feeling before it became a problem. I will always need you, no matter how old we get, or how many children we have, or where I work. You are the one thing in my life that I have always needed, and now that includes Aki, too. Please, please don't take that away from me. Please don't leave me for someone else. I promise I can do better, if you just stand by me." He stopped, as he felt his own tears start to flow again, and clutched his husband to him even tighter.

Yuuri hiccuped loudly, and said in a quavering voice, "Vitya, I love you too. I love you, so much. Aishiteru. Vitya, I don't want to leave. I want to be with you. I just wanted to do what was best for you, and to see you happy."

"You and Aki make me happy. Only you."

Another sob sounded next to Victor's ear. "I'm so sorry I didn't talk to you about this. I was just certain that it was what was best for you, and that Oleg...well, that he would be a better fit for you."

At the name, Victor's lip curled up inadvertently. "That slimy bastard really got into your head, didn't he? He even had the audacity to say to my face that you weren't good enough. Don't worry, I'll make sure neither of us ever see him again. I'll either destroy his career at the federation or move to a different department. And I'll make sure that they drop my hours and let me work from home more, too. This can't keep going on like this. You're the most important thing, and you need me around."

"Can you really do that, Vitya?"

Victor smiled unpleasantly, and was glad that his husband couldn't see. "Yes, of course. I'm Victor Katsuki-Nikiforov." With a herculean effort, he pried his husband off his shoulder so they could look at each other, cupping Yuuri's face in his hands. "So please, lyubov moya, please come home to me."

Yuuri looked back at him for one breathless moment and nodded, his face crumpling once more into tears, but this time tinged with a smile. "Yes, Vitya. If that's what you really want, of course."

Fiercely, Victor pulled his face forward and gave him a harsh kiss. Breaking it off just as suddenly, he withdrew only far enough to look into his husband's eyes and growl, "Didn't you hear what I just said? Of course it's what I want. It's what I've always wanted, and that will never change, no matter what anyone says." Bringing his mouth back to Yuuri's, he reveled in the feeling of being able to kiss those beautiful lips again, but also felt the overwhelming need to express his love. He settled on alternately pressing hard kisses to his husband and breaking off to pepper in one word at a time, forming a broken "I...love...you…so…" At that point he gave up and lost himself to Yuuri's lips, driving his tongue deep inside his husband's mouth. He felt Yuuri melt into his arms, a low groan coming from the back of his throat as Victor probed his mouth.

All the pent-up feelings became too much, and he was filled with an overwhelming need to take Yuuri immediately. Despite the muddle that his brain had become, he recognized that the middle of an ice rink was probably not the best place for that. Forcing himself away from his husband, he panted, "Let's get off the ice."

Yuuri looked at him with glazed eyes that should probably be illegal, and nodded hazily. Obediently, he skated to the edge of the arena and exited through one of the small doors. Victor followed behind him more slowly due to his lack of skates, but he still made it off of the ice quickly. Now that some of his fear was past, he was starting to feel his anger more keenly. Anger at Oleg for butting in where he didn't belong, and daring to say such things to his beloved. Anger at Minami, for trying to take advantage of the situation. Anger at Yuuri for not talking to him. And, most of all, anger at himself, for creating this problem in the first place.

He placed his hands on Yuuri's shoulders and pushed him down onto his knees. Yuuri looked up at him hazily, and Victor undid his pants, pulling his dick out. His eyes hardened as he looked down at his husband and brought the tip to Yuuri's lips. "Lick it," he said in a harsh voice.

Without breaking eye contact, Yuuri nodded, and opened his mouth obediently. His tongue snaked out, and the warmth of his saliva against the cold of the arena made Victor shiver. Yuuri quickly took him fully into his mouth, and it didn't take long for Victor to respond to his husband's ministrations. As he grew fully erect, Yuuri made a small, rather pathetic noise in the back of his throat and wrapped his arms around Victor's legs, placing his hands firmly on Victor's ass. And then, to Victor's horror, he saw tears trickling out of those beautiful eyes.

All of the anger drained out of him in an instant, leaving him only with remorse. "Lyubimiy, muzh moy, please, you don't have to. I didn't mean to make you upset, I'm sorry." He put his hands on Yuuri's head, trying to pry him off gently. But Yuuri shook his hands off vehemently and kept sucking, harder and faster now, trying his best to take in the entire length at each stroke.

Victor tried again, this time rather halfheartedly, to push Yuuri off. "Solnyshko, please, you can stop. I don't want to make you sad."

Yuuri withdrew his mouth with a loud squelching noise, and looked up at his husband. The tears continued to fall as he said, "Vitya, I'm not sad. I'm just so relieved that you still want me. Please, let me have you."

He stared down at this gorgeous man, searching for the truth of those words in his face. Finding what he was looking for, he nodded, satisfied. "Then I'll give you all of me. Open up, lyubov moya." Guiding himself back to Yuuri's mouth, he held that stunning face carefully with both hands as he thrust himself inside.

This time Victor took the lead, holding his husband's head in place as he moved his hips. The enticing sight of Yuuri looking up at him adorably as he fucked his mouth soon brought his release. He managed to grunt, "I'm coming," before he was emptying himself between those exquisite lips. When he had finished, he withdrew gently, enjoying the little gasp Yuuri gave as he was released. He quickly zipped his pants up again and leaned down, pulling his husband upright gently. Once they were on the same level again, he tipped his head forward so that their foreheads were touching and whispered, "Please just talk to me the next time I'm fucking something up that badly, ok? I never want to ignore you or make you feel inadequate again. Because you and Aki are everything for me."

Yuuri nodded. "I'm sorry, Vitya. I promise I'll do better at telling you how I feel."

"I'm sorry, too." Victor drew back far enough to give his husband a quick kiss, then wrapped one arm around his shoulders. "Now come on, let's go back to the inn. I barely got to see Aki. And besides," he leaned in towards Yuuri's ear to whisper, "We have to take care of you too." He got maybe a little too much enjoyment out of the way Yuuri shuddered at his words.