The bright winter sun slatting in through the curtains woke Yuuri gently. He yawned, reaching automatically for his husband's sleeping form next to him. He frowned as he realized the spot was empty. The bed was cold, indicating that Victor had awoken some time ago. Yuuri smirked as he remembered what day it was. April Fools' Day, a rather dubious holiday in the Katsuki-Nikiforov household. Usually, Yuuri and Nikolai, the youngest in the family, were the butt of multiple practical jokes set by Victor and their teenage daughter, Aki. Last year, however, Yuuri had managed to pull off pranks on both of them, although Nikolai had been gone at hockey camp and hadn't witnessed his triumph. Yuuri was hopeful that this meant his husband and daughter had learned their lesson, and he and Nikolai would have a smooth day today. He optimistically assumed that his husband's early departure from their bed had something to do with a healthy fear of the holiday from last year's antics.
He pushed the blanket off and swung his feet over to the floor, putting on his glasses and exiting the bedroom. Experience from long years had him opening the door gingerly as he checked the handle. He was fairly certain he was in the clear, and cautiously propped his door open. He grinned as it swung open further, and he saw his son doing the same check from his room on the other side of the hall.
"Ohayou, Nika," he said, trying not to raise his voice too much for fear of attracting the attention of his other family members.
The boy fixed his blue eyes on his otousan, and Yuuri saw the familiar glint of fearful wariness that he was sure was reflected by his own gaze. Nikolai flicked his head back and forth down the hall before he returned his otousan's greeting. "Ohayou. Any sign of Papa or Aki yet?"
"Not yet. Should we go to the kitchen together?" He smiled at his son with a confidence that he didn't feel.
Nikolai nodded silently, a single sharp gesture that bespoke of soldier-like camaraderie. The two of them slowly walked to the kitchen. As they went, the smell of cooking food grew stronger. On a normal day, this would be a welcome sign that Yuuri didn't have to worry about breakfast. On April first, however, there was definitely something to worry about.
Instinctively, Yuuri pushed Nikolai slightly behind his body as they entered the kitchen, scanning his eyes around for potential traps. But all that met his eyes were his daughter setting the kitchen table and his husband standing over the stove.
Aki saw them first and smiled her signature grin, one that made you think she was highly amused by the world and wanted you to share in her amusement. "Otousan, Nika, ohayou!"
At her greeting, Victor turned around. His eyes locked on his spouse, and lit up as they always did when they fixed on Yuuri. "Milyy, Nika, there you are! I thought you were going to sleep all morning! Sit down and have some breakfast, I have to take you and your sister to school soon, Nika." He turned back around and busied himself with preparing food.
Yuuri, however, didn't budge. He slitted his eyes at his daughter. "And what makes you think that we want to sit down and eat anything you've made?"
Aki turned her dark eyes upon her otousan, opening them wide as she did when she wanted to convey her innocence. "Why, Otousan, whatever do you mean? Papa and I just thought it would be nice if we took care of breakfast today. Do you not want to try what we made? I worked really hard on the tamagoyaki. I did my best to remember how Obaachan showed me how to make it. Won't you even try a little bit?" Her eyes glistened with the unmistakable hint of mischief that she so often wore, but Yuuri found that he couldn't bring himself to deny his daughter outright when she appealed to him like that.
With a heavy sigh, he mentalliy resigned himself to a horrible breakfast, and sat down in his seat at the kitchen table. Nikolai hesitated for a moment, then sat down slowly, glaring openly at his sister. She tutted at him and said, "Kolya, why are you looking at your oneesan like that? And after Papa and I made you such a nice breakfast, too."
His glare intensified, and he spat, "Don't call me Kolya!" Aki simply laughed in response and ruffled his already mussed blond hair as she passed him to the stove. "Akiii!" he wailed, looking to his otousan in appeal.
"Aki, you know your brother doesn't like that name. It is basic respect to call someone the name they want." He spoke almost automatically, his attention focused on the dishes that were starting to come to the table.
Aki smiled apologetically. "All right, Otousan. I'm sorry, Nika. Now here, have some food!" She pushed a plate towards her younger brother as Victor brought the last dish to the table and sat down. He smiled around at his family, a smile that was just a little too wide for Yuuri's comfort. Surreptitiously, he cast a glance over the dishes that had been presented, trying to see if there was anything obviously off about them. Visually, they passed inspection, but Yuuri had long ago learned that trusting his senses on April Fools' Day was a bad idea. Nevertheless, he decided to give in to the mischievous pleading in his daughter's eyes, and reluctantly spooned a small amount of each dish onto his plate. Picking up his chopsticks, he gingerly brought the bite of tamagoyaki to his mouth. Just as he was about to eat it, he heard a clatter, and looked over in surprise to see that Nikolai had jumped out of his seat.
"You did something to it! I know you did!" He was glaring accusingly at his sister, holding a piece of toast by his thumb and forefinger.
She simply smiled back and said mildly, "Why, my dear otouto, I am hurt–no, wounded–by your words. I can't imagine why you would accuse me of such a thing."
"You know exactly why! Don't pretend like you're innocent, I know what you guys did to Otousan last year!"
Victor snorted. "You mean what he did to us."
Yuuri raised an eyebrow at his spouse. "Are you trying to suggest it wasn't deserved?"
Instantly, Victor turned fawning eyes on his husband. "No, of course not, dusha moya! I mean, it was perhaps a little harsh, but that doesn't mean that we're looking for revenge…" He averted his eyes as he trailed off.
Yuuri fixed the Russian with a suspicious stare for a moment, then said, "Either way, I don't have time for this. Nika, let's hurry up and eat. You and your sister still have to get to school." Definitively, he popped the tamagoyaki into his mouth and chewed resolutely. Surprisingly, he found that it wasn't tampered with at all. Encouraged, he tried the rest of his meal, and also found it edible. He nodded at Nikolai, who gave his sister one last glare before tucking voraciously into his own breakfast.
Although Yuuri expected to be met with something unpleasant at any bite, both he and Nikolai somehow made it through the meal without anything happening. Which either meant that Victor and Aki hadn't tampered with the food, or they had done it lottery-style, and one of them had gotten the bad pieces and pretended they hadn't in order to lower the others' guard. He decided to let it go for now, since they really did have to get the kids to school.
As Yuuri was cleaning up some of the dishes, he checked the kitchen clock. Victor saw his gaze and said, "I have to go into the federation this morning for a quick meeting, do you want me to take the kids to school?"
Yuuri smiled lovingly at his spouse. "That would be wonderful." His smile quickly faded as he remembered the looming holiday. He looked sideways at Victor and said, in a much less loving voice, "You wouldn't think of pulling any pranks on the way to school, would you? We wouldn't want to make the children late."
"No, of course not, lapochka! I wouldn't dream of it!" Victor's answer was just a bit too hasty, but he punctuated it with a kiss, and Yuuri found himself giving in. Besides, he really did have to get going to work.
As he finished the dishes, the kids went to gather their school things, and Victor also disappeared from the kitchen. Yuuri was left alone for a couple minutes of brief, blessed peace, without having to worry about his husband or daughter. His peace was short-lived, though. Just as he was finishing putting the last plate in the dishwasher, his husband came into the kitchen with a smile that instantly put Yuuri's guard up.
"Lyubimiy, I have your shoes for you! Why don't you sit down and I'll help you put them on."
Yuuri stared in open suspicion. "And why do you think I would let you do that to me today?"
Victor grinned. "Because I have your shoes, and you need them if you want to go to work."
Yuuri paused, then answered, "I could just wear my skates to work. I don't need those shoes once I get there, anyway."
"Come on, zolotse, we're wasting time. Just let me put the shoes on." Victor pulled out a chair from the table and knelt in front of it, looking up expectantly.
For a few seconds, Yuuri stood and contemplated his husband. Then he sighed and sat down. He knew from long experience that his crazy man wouldn't give up once he got something into his head like this, and the fastest way to move on was just to appease him and hope that there wasn't a tarantula hidden inside one of his shoes.
He gritted his teeth as his spouse dipped his head down. It made him uneasy that he could no longer see the icy blue eyes, so he had no idea what intention was held in them. Instead, he made an effort to read the lines of his husband's body as he tenderly unlaced his shoes, putting on each separately before tying them up, making sure to put just the right amount of pressure in the laces. When he was finished, he lifted his head and smiled happily up at Yuuri. "There, all done!" He capped off his performance with a kiss to Yuuri's knee before standing up and holding out a hand to his husband. Warily, Yuuri accepted it and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet, where he instantly found his lips to be Victor's next target.
They only managed to get a brief kiss in before Nikolai burst into the kitchen. "Eeew, guys, stop that! Papa, we have to get going to school! Come on, we don't want to be late!" Almost as if he was fleeing from his parents' affection, he then ran out of the kitchen. His timing was so spot-on that if it had been Aki who had interrupted them, Yuuri would have suspected it of being a coordinated prank.
Victor laughed and placed a last peck on his husband's mouth. "You heard him. Gotta get going. I'll see you later, zvezda moya." With one last smile, Victor left, dragging both kids out the door behind him.
Yuuri sighed gratefully into the empty apartment. He was thankful that it was a work day today, since he would be able to relax until he got home later that day. He felt a small pang of sympathy for Nikolai. Although he and Aki were in different buildings, they still attended the same school, which could potentially put him in harm's way today. It would be difficult but not impossible for her to set up a prank for her brother on the school campus. Yuuri particularly distrusted Aki after she had missed the chance to prank her brother the year before. He resigned himself, knowing that realistically there was no way for him to protect his son during the school day. Instead, he busied himself with getting ready for his own day, and headed out the door soon after.
Once he reached the skating rink, Yuuri allowed himself to be soothed by the presence of the children he coached. He spent the rest of the morning simply relaxing in the presence of people who held no ill will towards him.
But his paradise was shattered at lunch time. As he was seeing off the last student of the session, he looked up at the door to the skating arena and saw his husband standing there with a dubious grin.
Instantly his guard went up. He stared at Victor, not moving as his husband approached. He steeled his emotions as Victor's smile melted into that ridiculous heart-shape that he usually wore when he looked at Yuuri. But it became easier once Victor got close enough to open his mouth.
"Yuuri, schastye moy, light of my life, air in my lungs, zhizn moya, how is your day going? I hope it is as fabulous as you are."
Yuuri stared at him in open suspicion as Victor planted a kiss on his cheek. "What do you want?"
Instantly, a wounded expression pasted itself across his spouse's features. "Why, radost' moya, how could you treat me so coldly when I simply came to give you lunch, muzh moy?" He held up a box.
The more endearments Victor used, the more Yuuri's alarm bells went off. He looked from the box back to his husband's face, then said coldly, "And why should I take that?"
"But…but lyubimiy, I spent a long time making this for you! Won't you at least take it for me, luchik?"
The expression his husband was giving him was just a little too wide-eyed for Yuuri's comfort. He snatched the box, plunked himself down on the nearest bench, and pulled Victor down next to him. Opening the bento, he pulled out the first item of food he touched and held it out. "Here, you eat it."
Instantly, the blue eyes looking at him became guarded. "Now, lapochka, I made that for you. I don't want to eat your lunch." Victor leaned away, lips dancing with a look that was getting too close to his podium smile for Yuuri's comfort.
"Then I suppose there's no reason for me to eat it, either." Placing the food back into the box, Yuuri shut the lid with a snap, pushing it back into Victor's hands.
"No, wait! Milyy, won't you eat just a little? I know you were planning to go out for lunch today, so I just wanted to surprise you. Don't you like my surprise?"
Despite his best efforts, Yuuri found himself wavering under the pleading gaze of his spouse. He closed his eyes for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose under his glasses. Then he held his hand out wordlessly.
And, in the moment that light shot through those brilliant blue eyes he loved so much, Yuuri thought that whatever horror his tongue was in for might be worth it.
He opened the box resolutely and looked down at it. Other than the general questionable air that surrounded any food Victor made, it didn't look all that bad. At the very least, there wasn't anything glaringly obvious about it. Steeling himself, Yuuri picked up the piece of omelet he had tried to feed Victor earlier, putting it tentatively into his own mouth.
For a moment, he simply waited for the inevitable horror; spice, something slimy, he wasn't really sure what. But the food that met his tongue was just…normal. Cautiously, he chewed, and the taste didn't get any worse. He looked suspiciously at Victor, then picked up a cookie, taking a small bite. Despite its haphazard shape, and the fact that it somehow managed to be a bit raw in the middle despite being burnt on the bottom, it was simply normal for Victor's cooking.
He plunked the bento box down on his lap, startling his husband into a jump. He demanded, "Vitya, what is this?"
"What do you mean, lyubov moya? I told you, I made you lunch."
"Yes, that's what you said…" Yuuri trailed off, sighing as he stared down at the perfectly ordinary lunch. He decided that further discussion was pointless, and if he wanted to figure out what trick was being played on him, then it was up to him to discover it. He slowly began eating again, periodically feeding bites to his ecstatic spouse. As they ate, he surreptitiously ran his hands along the bottom and sides of the box, trying to figure out if there was some sort of booby trap anywhere on it. But by the time he had finished all the food, he had come to the conclusion that it was, simply, a lunch.
He clicked the lid back on and handed the empty box to Victor, who said cheerfully, "I'm glad you got to eat something, solnyshko. I'll clear out now, since I know you have another class coming in soon. But I'll see you at home later! I'll be picking up the kids from school, so I'll be back later than you."
Yuuri nodded silently, feeling relieved now that the lunch ordeal was over, until his spouse added, "There will be a surprise for you at home tonight, so be ready, lapochka!" With a wink, Victor turned around and left the arena.
Yuuri stared after him in horror, feeling the trepidation swoosh back like a wave. He had known that this peaceful April Fools' Day was too good to be true. It seemed that Victor and Aki had decided to save up all of their mischief for one big prank at the end of the day, instead of scattering several smaller ones around like they normally did. Was this their revenge for his pranks last year? He knew that Aki really hated clowns, but surely she hadn't been that upset by him refitting her bed with clown sheets? And Victor…despite his nerves, he couldn't help letting out a snort of laughter in remembrance of that prank. He supposed Victor had reason to be upset still, as he had switched out a lube bottle with superglue. Every once in a while, Victor still grumbled about how hard he'd had to scrub to get the superglue off of himself.
Yuuri's thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of his next students, and he was thankfully able to lose himself in his teaching for the rest of the day. By the time the professional skaters began arriving in earnest, and he was dismissing his final class, he was once again without distraction, and his mind turned back to worry. The only saving grace on his walk home was that he knew he would be coming home to an empty apartment. But although Victor had gone to the office that morning, the fact that he had been free to bring Yuuri lunch indicated that he had been home at least for some of the day. Who knew what traps he had set up in that time?
It was with mixed feelings that Yuuri opened the apartment door. He pushed on it carefully, waiting for a moment to see if anything was going to happen. The only thing of note, however, was Makkachin's excited bounding over to greet him. Hurriedly, Yuuri stepped into the apartment so the poodle wouldn't escape and greeted the dog. He decided that, although the dog walker had certainly been by within the past couple hours to take him out, it would be a good choice to walk Makkachin rather than staying home to potentially trigger a bunch of pranks. He snagged the leash off the hook by the door, clipped it to Makkachin's collar, and once again left the apartment.
He took his time walking Makkachin, meandering around their neighborhood and through the nearby park where their kids used to play when they were younger. Truthfully, Yuuri would have still liked to bring Nikolai to the park, but with his hockey practices becoming more and more frequent, there was little time in his schedule for play. Yuuri mused that this wasn't all that different from his skating schedule when he had been the same age, and he certainly didn't regret that time spent learning a sport he loved. He supposed the same was true for his son.
Thoughts of Nikolai made him wonder how his son had fared at school that day. He couldn't get rid of the worry that Aki might have pulled a prank on him. He knew that Aki would never do anything to really hurt her brother, but he also remembered having an older sister himself. There were plenty of things a sister could do to her little brother that didn't constitute real harm, but were still unpleasant.
He pulled out his phone to check the time. His family were probably back now. It wouldn't do for him to abandon his son. Despite his reluctance to face the inevitable pranks, Yuuri turned around and headed for home. It was his duty as a father to protect his children, even when it put himself in danger, after all.
This determination didn't help when he arrived home. He carefully opened the door, and allowed Makkachin to bound inside first. When he was sure the coast was clear, he followed, clacking the door shut and kneeling down to unclip Makkachin's leash.
As he was hanging the leash back up, he heard his daughter's voice behind him. "Okaeri, Otousan!"
He jumped, whirling around in shock. Aki was giving him a sweet smile, one that practically dripped with saccharine insincerity. He eyed her up and down before replying, "Tadaima. How was school today?"
"It was fine!" She bounded forward, and Yuuri winced as she wrapped him in a quick, tight hug. She stepped back, smiling broadly. "Papa and I have a surprise for you, Otosan! Come into the kitchen!"
He hesitated, and quickly made an excuse. "Ah, I'll be there in a minute. I want to say hello to Nika first. We'll join you after that."
Aki seemed to accept his words, trotting happily into the kitchen with Makkachin trailing behind her. Yuuri watched for a second to make sure she wasn't going to reemerge, then hurried down the hall to his son's room. He knocked softly on the door, whispering loudly as he did so, "Nika, it's me."
Instantly, the door cracked open just far enough for Yuuri to slip in, and then promptly shut behind him. His son leaned against the door, looking up at his otousan with open fear.
"Nika, was everything okay at school today? Did something happen?" Worried at the expression on Nikolai's face, Yuuri reached a hand out to smooth it over his son's unruly hair.
"That's the thing, Otousan. I thought for sure that Aki would do something to me, especially since she didn't have the chance last year. But…there was nothing! No weird bugs in my desk, no sticky stuff in my backpack…absolutely nothing! She didn't even try to do anything in the car on the way home! The only thing I can think of is that they're gearing up for some big prank during dinner. What else could explain it?"
His blue eyes looked up at his otousan, and Yuuri saw his own fear reflected in them. He nodded slowly. "I've been thinking the same thing. Your papa has been way too nice to me today. And at lunch he told me he had a big surprise for tonight. I think the same thing as you. They have to be planning something for dinner."
They stared at each other miserably for a moment, then Nikolai asked, "Should we sneak out and get dinner by ourselves?"
Yuuri considered this suggestion seriously. Then he sighed deeply. "No, we should face them head-on. If they really have done something, then we can leave and get our own food. It won't do us any good to run away from our problems."
His son nodded his head slowly, then sighed and wordlessly turned to open the door. For a fleeting moment, Yuuri felt a surge of regret that he had to be the responsible, example-setting adult in this situation, and wished fervently that he could just tuck Nikolai under his arm and bolt out the front door. He slapped his cheeks lightly to clear the idea out of his head, and followed his son to the kitchen.
When they arrived, Victor was nowhere to be found. Instead, Aki was busying herself at the counter. She looked up as they entered and smiled. "Ah, there you two are! Head into the dining room, dinner will be ready in a minute." She turned back around authoritatively. Nikolai and Yuuri exchanged glances, then obeyed. Victor was just finishing setting the table as they walked in, and gave them the same suspicious smile Aki had used. Yuuri mused to himself that it was easy to see the two of them were parent and child at times like this.
"Nika, muzh moy, there you two are! Right on time. Come have a seat, Aki should be done with dinner soon." He pulled out Yuuri's chair, standing expectantly next to it.
Yuuri swept his eyes over the scene in front of him. Victor had pulled out all the stops, using their best tablecloth that was usually reserved for dinner parties, the china they had received from Victor's parents as a wedding present, and even topping the whole thing off with lit candles glimmering in golden candlesticks. He also noted that there was a sake bottle sitting between his seat and his husband's, waiting to be opened.
After a moment's hesitation where he once again cursed his luck at having to be a mature adult, Yuuri slowly approached his chair and allowed his husband to get him settled in. As Nikolai sat down, Victor crowed, "Well, dorogoi, isn't this a lovely surprise?"
Yuuri allowed his doubt to creep into his voice as he answered, "I suppose so…for now."
"Yuuuuriii! What's that supposed to mean? Don't you like it? Aki and I worked so hard to put this together for you!"
Ignoring the kicked puppy look on Victor's face, Yuuri muttered, "Yeah, I bet you did."
Before his spouse could protest further, Aki entered the dining room and began putting dishes on the table. She looked at her papa and asked, "Could you help me bring in the rest of the plates? There are quite a few." With a last wounded look at his husband, Victor rose to help their daughter, trudging out of the dining room with wounded pride carved into every last line of his body.
Once they had left, Nikolai and Yuuri stood up in unison. In unspoken agreement, they leaned over the food, checking to see if there were any obvious signs of tampering. When the footsteps of their returning family members became audible, they sat back down quickly, trying to look as if they had simply been waiting patiently. As Aki and Victor settled the rest of the food and sat down to start dinner, Yuuri and Nikolai exchanged silent information, both shaking their heads slightly. Neither had noticed anything wrong with the food. Boldly, Yuuri picked up the chopsticks provided for him and began to put food on his plate. He made sure to take a little of everything, so if there was something inedible, he could hopefully at least save his son from his fate.
As he lifted the first dish to his mouth, he noticed his daughter watching him intently. He lowered his chopsticks instantly, trying not to move too fast. He attempted to speak casually to her to mask his nerves. "Aki, is there something I can help you with?"
She grinned widely. "Oh, no, Otousan. I just want to see what you think of the food. I asked Obaachan to send me some new recipes to try out, and this is the first time I've made them! I want to see if you think they're any good."
He felt a pang of guilt at her words. He knew how much Aki loved cooking, and she had even gone so far as asking his mother for recipes to make for him. Although his reason screamed at him that he was falling into her trap, he tamped it down and took a bite.
He chewed slowly, still half-expecting something horrible to happen to him. Instead, he was simply met with the taste of tori katsu. And, he had to admit, it was rather good. He smiled at his daughter and said, "Aki, you did a very good job. It's delicious."
She laughed. "Otousan, you've only tried one thing. You have to eat the rest, too!"
He narrowed his eyes at this statement, but obeyed, expecting with every bite to regret his trust in his daughter. But the regret never came, and they simply had a lovely meal. Yuuri still couldn't shake his feeling of trepidation, even after dinner was over and they were settling in to watch a movie. Aki insisted that he and Nikolai pick something, so they ended up streaming a reality show that Nikolai had been trying to convince them to watch for weeks. Yuuri kept his guard up, even as his husband massaged his feet and the children started to nod off.
Finally, as bedtime drew near, he couldn't take it any longer. He exploded off the couch, demanding, "Vitya, just what the hell is going on here?"
The children both started, fully awake now, as Victor looked up at his husband. "Why, lapochka, whatever do you mean?'
"Don't play stupid with me! You know as well as I do what day it is! Where's the prank? What are you waiting for me to set off? Are you waiting until Nika and I go to sleep to do something to us? Because we can get a hotel room for the night if we have to!"
Aki snorted in laughter, and Yuuri rounded on her. "And don't think that you're free from this, either! I know that you two have been in league all day, I just haven't figured out exactly what you're up to this year!"
Waving her hands in front of her, Aki protested, "Otousan, we really haven't done anything!"
Yuuri looked down his nose at her coldly. "And you expect me to believe that?"
"Lyubimiy, it's true. After last year, we were much too scared to try to do anything to you." Yuuri turned to stare at his spouse incredulously, just in time to catch the wicked gleam in Victor's eye as he added, "Why, were you expecting us to do something to you today? Honestly, we never imagined it would make you so upset to not have a prank pulled on you."
Comprehension slowly dawned over Yuuri. "You…you two planned this on purpose, didn't you? This is the prank! The…the lack of a prank! You knew that Nika and I would be tense all day, waiting for something to happen, and you two just sat back and watched!"
As he spoke, Victor and Aki's grins changed to barely-contained laughter. Nikolai joined his otousan's indignation, pointing a finger at his sister, "I knew you were being too nice to me today! You even offered to help me carry my stuff into school! You never do that!"
Aki lost her personal battle, letting out a bark of laughter. "You…you should have seen your face, Nika! You went through about ten expressions in two seconds!"
Aghast, Nikolai appealed to his otousan with his eyes. Yuuri looked sternly at his spouse, who looked to also be on the verge of outright laughter. As their eyes met, Victor insisted, "Yuuri, dorogoi moy, I assure you that I never had any intention of pranking you today. I learned my lesson from last year, and swore to behave this year!" Although his words sounded sincere, the quirk at the corner of his mouth gave him away.
Yuuri sighed, turning away from the troublemaking duo. "Come on, Nika. We won't get anything else reasonable out of them for tonight. Let's just go to bed."
"Good idea, lapochka. I was getting tired." Victor stretched his arms over his head and started to stand up.
"Is that so? Then you should settle in here and get comfortable for the night. I certainly don't want to share a bed with a liar." Whirling on his heel, Yuuri started stalking down the hallway to their bedroom.
There was a moment of stunned silence behind him. Then he heard his spouse scurrying after him, apologies tumbling from his lips. Yuuri smiled softly to himself. It seemed that his husband would never truly learn his lesson. And though he would never admit it out loud, he liked it this way.