AN: Hey my little lights, I have to say that I am quite sorry about missing the opportunity to post this on Victor's birthday. However I seem to be updating at LEAST once a month which is better than I usually do when it comes to long multi-chaptered stories like this. I would like to wish everyone a belated happy holidays and, as I in all likelihood will not be updating or posting anything on the 1st of January, a happy new year. I am once again happy to see all the new favorites and follows this story has received since the last update. Anyway this chapter is 1,234 words long minus the a/ns and was posted on December 29, 2019. All reviews are good reviews so please leave one if you can possibly spare the time. Anyway enjoy.

Eighth Skate:

What a Trip!

Yuuri's POV

The day after the wedding I was beat, but, with a flight to Detroit in the morning, I had plenty of time to sleep. The entire trip was a bit of a blur. I remember us going to the airport, getting on the plane, falling asleep during the flight, waking up, landing, going to the hotel, and falling asleep again because of time zone differences. It was the 16th of February by the time we actually got to do anything.

I had fun showing Victor around. We visited my Alma Matter, Wayne State, and got a chance to skate at the ice rink I trained at with Coach Celestino. We visited Belle Isle, Fort Wayne, Greenfield Village, and Pewabic Pottery. Victor even dragged me antique shopping before we had to hop on a plane again to head to Russia. It was time to get the family together.

Vitor showed me a few of his favorite places in St. Petersburg that I haven't seen yet, such as a small, nearly rundown park with a large pond where he first learned to skate. The last stop on the two hour tour was the ice rink where Yurio had texted he would be about half an hour ago. When we got there, Mila got of the ice and told us hi while we watched Yurio practice for his next competition. As we waited for him to finish, a tall, burly man with strong features and graying, light brown hair came up to us.

"I assume you must be Yuri Katsuki and Victor Nikiforov?" The man had a deep baritone and I could only nod at the authority that the man projected.

"Yes," I replied when I trusted my voice enough to speak again, "I'm Yuri Katsuki. Are you the social worker we needed to talk too?" The man looked mildly stunned but his it well.

"I am," he responded, "I simply had a few questions to ask one or both of you could answer."

I nod again. "That's fine," I glance at Victor and see that he was fully devoted to watching Yurio skate and thereby wasn't paying attention to the conversation, "we probably won't be able to pry Victor away from the rink at the moment." The man seemed to nod in understanding.

"Your answers only would be fine. My name is Lavro Blatov."

"Pleasure to meet you, Blatov-san." The man nodded and the Q&A started.

"Now I know a lot of these questions you've answered already, but I don't trust paper as much as I do face to face consultations." I nod, it's easier to lie on paper than when placed face to face with someone after all. I understood the feeling. "Now you are from Japan while your husband is from Russia correct?"

"Yes," the answer was short but Blatov-San doesn't seem like the type who'd like unnecessarily long, drawn out answers.

He nodded. "How did you and your husband meet?" That gave me pause for I had to figure out where to begin.

"Well, we're both competitive figure skaters and we met at the Grand Prix Final afterparty banquet, but I don't really remember it all that well because my dog died that same weekend and I pretty much lost control of myself and drank a little more than was probably healthy and fell into a bit of a depression for a while. It wasn't until my goddaughters, Axel, Loop, and Lutz, posted a secret video they made that me and Victor saw each other again. He traveled all the way from Russia to my home town of Hasetsu, Japan and offered to be my coach. It eventually became something more and now, well here we are," I gestured to Victor who was currently hugging a very reluctant Yurio tightly. Blatov-san's lips quirked up a bit at the corners while he nodded.

He looked at Yurio. "We had to make special arrangements for Yuri Plisetsky do to his high public profile and extensive skating career. Most just assume that because you, yourself, are a skater that you'll allow Plisetsky to continue in the sport. I like making sure my assumptions are true before agreeing to anything." He posed it as a statement, but I could tell there was a question hidden in it.

"I don't see why he wouldn't be allowed," I sheepishly rub the back of my neck. "Maybe if he gets injured to badly or he gets sick or something, but I really can't see him giving up his, quote unquote, 'knife shoes' for anything. Besides, it's not like my husband and I don't understand the feeling of the draw to the ice," I gave a small smile, "and Victor is a celebrity in his own right and I know I have a couple of fans myself so dealing with any Yuri has shouldn't be too hard." Blatov-san chuckled a bit.

"You know what, you seem alright. You're honest and modest and with the way your husband seems to be attached to Plisetsky so much, I can't find a reason to not let this adoption go through. Here are the papers for you. Have a good day Mr. Katsuki." He handed me a file with Yurio's name at the top and tipped his black bowler hat to me on his way to the side of the rink. I followed to meet up with Victor and greet him while Blatov-san informed Yurio that he was going to be going with us. He then left out the door of the rink not saying another word.

"So," Yurio said, "I guess that's that. You're my guardians now." His scowl didn't seem to be as severe as it once was, but I can't tell if that was a good thing or a bad one. Yurio grabbed his bag and a suitcase he brought with him for this situation. "Let's go." I nod while Victor voices his agreement.

It felt like no time at all Victor and I were back on a plane with the only differences being the presence of Yurio and the destination being Beijing, China.

The first thing we did upon arrival was check in to the hotel and take a good rest. The second stop/first stop of the day, as it was now February 20th, was the tall orphanage that Guang Hong Ji was staying at until now. He said quick goodbyes to a few people and then we were on our way. We dropped his stuff off at the hotel before allowing him to guide us through the city. We saw places like the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and even the Great Wall of China. The second day was spent at an ice rink skating, a market getting souvenirs, and generally getting accustomed to one another. On the morning of the 23, we all woke up early and booked it to the airport to catch our early flight to Japan.

It didn't take too long for us to reach Tokyo and we stopped to grab some breakfast before we got on the 12 o'clock train heading to Hasetsu. It was around 6 PM by the time we got there and all of us were beat. By the time we got to my family's hot springs we were almost dead to the world and fell asleep the second our heads reached the pillows. Overall it was quite a trip.

AN2: I hope that this has brightened up your day in some small way. Thanks for reading and keeping writing and following the ideas you have ~lumigo

P.S. the total word count for this update is 1,462 words.