Chapter 6: The Word
A few days later Yuuri lay in bed with Victor.
"It was a good night for Seva," said Victor, kissing Yuuri on the cheek.
"Yeah," Yuuri agreed, keeping his eyes closed, "he only woke up from a nightmare once."
"He was shaking like a leaf," Victor recalled, "but you were so good, rocking him to sleep like you did. You're so good with him. I think you're helping him."
"I'm doing my best."
Victor sighed, holding Yuuri's body close in his arms so that the two were pressed against each other. Victor kissed his husband's neck letting his hands slide over Yuuri's body gently. He was so lost in his husband, he didn't realize something was missing from their bed until he heard Yuuri moan for him to stop. Victor released his husband and gave him a questioning look.
"Sorry, Yuuri, is something wrong?" he asked, feeling slightly guilty at leaving his husband so flustered.
"Seva," Yuuri reminded him.
Victor's breath caught and he looked around anxiously.
"Oh my god, you're right! Where is he?"
It was not that he had forgotten about Seva, but it had only been a few days and he was still used to waking Yuuri up with sex or some other intimacy. Victor looked around wildly not seeing the boy. He rolled out of bed, wearing loose, thin sweats that hung low on his body since he could not sleep naked with Seva sleeping in the bed with them. They had gotten a bigger bed to accommodate all of them the bed took up most of Yuuri's room.
"Where's Seva?" Victor asked again in a slightly panicked tone.
"I don't know. I don't know when he left!" Yuuri exclaimed.
"Come on! We need to find him!" Victor said urgently.
Suddenly, they heard running footsteps in the hall, followed by excited barks. Yuuri and Victor opened the door, only to have Seva tumble head over heels into the room. Makkachin licked all over Seva's face, making the boy smile widely and pat him. Seva threw the ball he held down the hall, chasing after the dog and continuing to smile his shy smile. Soon, the poodle had Seva pinned on the floor and was standing over the little boy, who hugged his neck as Makkachin licked his face again. The boy was all smiles, not even trying to push the dog off him.
Yuuri came up behind Victor, hugging his husband happily at seeing Seva so content and playing.
"Should we let Makkachin lick him like that and jump on him?" Yuuri asked, "Not that we could stop him if we tried, since you have spoiled your dog."
I remember when Victor first arrived in Hasetsu, Yuuri recalled, Makkachin jumped on me and knocked me down, and licked my face, just like that.
Yuuri observed as Victor watched Seva with soft eyes. It was heartwarming to see the boy with the dog. But it was even more so to watch his husband looking at them with such happy eyes.
"We should go eat breakfast," Yuuri suggested, "then we can figure out what to do until the appointment this afternoon." Yuuri said, taking Seva by the hand, "We will meet you downstairs, Victor," he said, leading Seva down to the dining room.
Victor was left alone with his thoughts.
Yuuri is so good with Seva…so kind to him! I've never loved anyone like I love Yuuri. Still, I did love Antiko. Our love may have changed over the years, but it still lives on. Antiko is still very important to me.
Victor let out a sigh as he let his mind drift to the past.
Victor felt a pair of warm hands cover his eyes and he grinned and leaned back against the perpetrator.
"Guess who?"
"Well, I'm sure it isn't Yakov," Victor laughed.
"No, it isn't."
Victor turned and hugged Antiko tightly, kissing him on the cheek.
"What are you doing here? How did you know I was in this store, even?"
"I have my ways," his friend said cryptically, "I had to come. I wanted to ask how your honeymoon was."
"Our honeymoon?" Victor repeated, "It was great. We did a European tour that was fantastic! You wouldn't believe the dancing and the amazing food! We barely slept the whole time, we were having so much fun!"
"That's good," Antiko said, squeezing his old flame's hand, "I'm glad that you and Yuuri are so happy. You really do deserve to be, you know."
"And what about you? Are you doing well? How is Seva?"
"Oh, Seva? He is doing fine. He wants to come to one of your performances, so don't be surprised if we show up unexpectedly."
"I'd love to see you there," Victor laughed, "Come any time."
"We will."
Victor sighed and tears came to his eyes and began to overflow.
That was the last time I saw him. He never came to see me after that.
He let the tears fall for awhile, trying to remember the sound of his friend's voice, the sound of his laughter.
"Antiko, what happened?" he whispered, "Why would someone hurt you?"
After a while, Victor wiped tears from his eyes and dressed for the day. He needed to be casual, so he dressed in a way that wasn't too showy, but was more for comfort and moving easily. He made his way downstairs to sit with his little family. He watched the boy politely eating and felt a small nagging at himself.
Seva seems to like the food that Toshiya made, but I wish that he could tell us what are his favorite things. I know he can't do that right now, but if we work with him, if we help him, I hope he will soon.
"So, my little one, once we are done eating, we will go for a walk before we go see Minako's friend who wants to try to help you. Does that sound ok?" Victor asked as their family ate breakfast.
Seva kept eating, but he gave his father a little nod.
Yuuri studied his husband with affectionate eyes. He thought the way Victor called Seva his little one was very cute. Over the last few days Seva had gotten pretty good at the basics of skating. Victor had ordered some special made skates for the boy. Seva had also started ballet with Minako, who still helped Yuuri train. Even Victor danced with them. Seva would often stare at this fathers' movements, enthralled.
After a long walk the little family of three was at the office of the therapist the boy would be talking to. Seva slowed his steps and held tightly to Yuuri and Victor's hands as they entered the office building and stopped at the front desk.
"We're here to see Doctor Watari," Yuuri informed the desk clerk.
The young woman looked at the list of appointments and smiled.
"Nikiforov?" she asked.
"Yes," Victor affirmed.
Have a seat for just a moment. Doctor Watari will be right with you."
Victor and Yuuri led Seva to a row of seats and sat down with the boy in between them. Noticing the unhappy look on the boy's face, Yuuri squeezed Seva's hand encouragingly.
"Don't worry about a thing," he said in a soothing voice, "This isn't like a regular doctor. Doctor Watari helps people when they have problems that make them feel bad inside. He'll just ask some questions, then he's going to let you play with toys in his office. How does that sound?"
Seva managed a little smile, but he stuck close to Yuuri's side as the three were called into the doctor's office and Doctor Watari, an elderly man with white hair and kind violet eyes greeted them.
"Hello, Victor, Yuuri…and is this your Seva?" he asked, smiling at the boy and kneeling in front of him, "I am Doctor Watari. I'm pleased to meet you."
Seva managed a shy smile and a nod. He remained quiet as the doctor asked a number of questions and recorded the answers on a notepad computer. When he was done with the introductory questions, he led Seva to an area of the room where some toys had been laid out.
"Seva," he said gently, "your parents are going to leave the room for just a little while, but you and I are going to stay here and I'll let you play with any of those toys you want to, okay?"
Seva gave the doctor a terrified look and ran to Yuuri and Victor, then he grabbed onto Victor's arm, shivering and whimpering.
"Oh, I see," the doctor said, smiling kindly at him, "you don't feel comfortable with that yet. Well, that's all right. For today, why don't we have Victor and Yuuri sit at my desk to have some tea and you and I will be on this side of the room. Is that better?"
Seva shivered, but he gave the doctor a little nod and let go of his fathers. He walked in slow steps to the toys while Doctor Watari spoke briefly to Victor and Yuuri.
"I am going to have you stay in the room as Seva and I get to know each other, but even when I begin to meet individually with him, you will be able to sit in a room that looks into this one. We will talk after each session to discuss strategies for trying to support Seva as he recovers from the loss of his father."
"Doctor Watari," Yuuri said, frowning, "I don't know if it's related to Seva's situation or not, but he seems to have a problem with dark-haired men."
The doctor's head tilted and he looked at Yuuri curiously.
"And how does this manifest? What do you see that tells you this?" he asked.
"Well, we introduced him to my friend's husband, who has dark hair. Seva got quiet and he backed away from him. He's done this other times, with other dark-haired men."
"But, he doesn't have this reaction to you, Yuuri?" the doctor inquired.
"No," Yuuri answered.
"But, Yuuri went to a lot of effort right away to make Seva feel comfortable with him. They are already close."
"Ah, I see."
"And," Victor added, "we aren't sure from what we know about Seva's father's death, if maybe Seva saw something, maybe the person who did it. We know that he was found with his father's body."
"The poor child," Doctor Watari said sympathetically, "I will do my best to make him comfortable and to encourage him to reveal what he might have seen."
The three heard Seva whimper and they looked over to find that he had selected two dark-haired male dolls from the group of dolls, and had them standing beside a blonde male doll that laid, face down on the floor. The boy had hidden a small child doll behind several toy plants. Looking down at the hidden boy doll, he covered his mouth, whimpering almost inaudibly under his hand. He shut his eyes tightly and shivered.
Yuuri and Victor's faces went pale as they watched Seva cower and start to cry silently.
"He did see something, didn't he?" Yuuri whispered, "No wonder he won't talk to us. He's been carrying that horrible memory all by himself."
Yuuri and Victor stood and moved to join the now sobbing boy. They knelt in front of him and both held him comfortingly.
"It's going to be all right, my little one," Victor said, kissing the boy on top of the head and hugging him.
"We understand," Yuuri told him, "We'll keep you safe. Victor and I promise we will."
Seva nodded and clenched at them as he slowly calmed. Doctor Watari sat down on a low chair, facing them, and he gently took Seva's hand in his. Seva looked back at him through still scared eyes.
"I know it's scary," the doctor acknowledged, "I know you are afraid of what you showed us. It's important for you do know that you are safe now, Seva. Victor, Yuuri and I are all going to help keep you safe. Will you trust us?"
Seva took a shuddering breath and nodded, then he sagged in Victor's arms until Victor simply lifted him to carry him home. He carried the boy outside as Doctor Watari offered Yuuri a last bit of advice.
"Yuuri, you and Victor need to inform the Russian police what Seva showed us, but you need to keep it quiet. If the boy saw the killers, then he is going to be in danger. You will have to keep him safe."
"We will," Yuuri promised. "We're not going to let anything else happen to him."
"Very well. Here is a card for Seva's next appointment. Please let me know how the conversation with the police goes. It could affect his treatment needs as this moves forward."
"Thank you, Doctor Watari," Yuuri said gratefully, "I'll make sure that Victor knows."
Hours later after they had gotten back home Victor left Seva with Yuuri to go call Yakov who he knew would be able to offer some advice, and would also probably be mad they had not been in contact with him since Seva had become a part of their lives.
"Vitya, is that you?" Yakov growled, "Why the hell haven't you kept in touch. You know that you should be training."
"It's complicated," Victor explained, "Yakov, you remember Antiko?"
"Antiko?" Yakov repeated, "Of course I remember him. I heard on the news about him dying."
"That's right," Victor said sadly, "He has died, and when he died, he left custody of his boy, Seva to me."
"What?" Yakov shouted.
"I know, right?" Victor mused, "That's why I haven't called. Yuuri and I have been helping Seva settle in here, and we have been working to get him some treatment, because when he arrived, he was so traumatized by his father's death, that he can't talk to us. We went to a child psychologist today, and it looks like Seva may have seen someone hurt or kill Antiko!"
"You called the police, didn't you?" Yakov asked.
"I am going to, but I thought that I would call you first, because…well, Yakov, I don't know, but I think Antiko might have been involved with dangerous people. And if he was, then it might have something to do with his death. The problem is, the people who are involved could have some friends in the police department or something. You know sometimes criminal groups do."
"Yes, you're right about that," the old coach agreed, "Fine, call the police, but be careful. You want then to be alerted, but you don't want to bring trouble for your family, Vitya. Be very careful. You will hear from me soon."
"Thank you, Yakov."
XXXXXXXXXX
Yuuri sat on the edge of the bed watching a tired Seva sleep. Suddenly, the boy started to cry in his sleep. The sobs turned to whimpers and the whimpers turned to wordless screams, just high pitched squealing noises. His eyes flew open and he tackled Yuuri who barely caught the boy in time.
Victor walked into the room still on his phone with Yakov. But the phone fell out of his hand at what happened next. He watched Seva cling to Yuuri that was when he heard it and dropped his phone.
Seva hugged Yuuri tight opened his mouth and whispered a single word.
"Daddy."