((AUTHOR NOTE: Chapter 1-3 have been updated/edited. Ch2 is REALLY different, almost like a complete re-write. Please feel free to check back on older chapters periodically if you're curious on what differences there are. I'm sure I'll add or change whole scenes as I go since I tend to think of new and better ideas once I've had time to stew on them for a while.))
CHAPTER SEVENTY THREE
It was already sunset when the pair was finally able to get away from all the adulation. Leaving the airport had taken 3 hours, not including getting Makkachin and their luggage, followed by the hour-long train ride, only to be greeted again by even more people at the station in Hasetsu. Every gathering was greeted by less and less enthusiasm, until at last, the group was finally standing under the arch to Yu-Topia Katsuki.
"We're finally back..." Yuri said, heaving a sigh of relief.
"Would I be a horrible person if I said that I just wanted to go to bed?" Viktor wondered, his voice practically flat from exhaustion.
"Maybe, but..." The younger skater tilted his head to look at the man, "We'll just have to go be horrible together then."
Viktor smiled at that. Unfortunately...just as it seemed like they would finally get to rest, Yuri's family noticed they were there and came rushing out to greet them. Yuri nearly dropped on his feet, but found the energy to at least lean forward instead of back, so his slumping over looked at least half-way like a bow.
"Yuri! Everyone!" His mother called out, waving emphatically from the doorway, "Come inside, it's cold out there!"
The rest of the group took as much of the luggage as they could to allow the skaters to walk freely, and as the pair stepped up into the resort, Hiroko busied herself with chatting about the same stuff they'd been hearing from everyone else since leaving Helsinki. Yuri couldn't even hear the words anymore. He looked back over to Viktor, who had the same exhausted expression on his face.
"...Mom..." The younger skater managed, getting the woman's attention from the middle of her congratulations, "...We're going to go to bed..."
"Oh." She was a little surprised, "Don't you want some katsudon first? Or a soak in the spring?"
"I do, but..."
"...We've been awake for over 24 hours..." Viktor finished, trying to sound pleasant despite how tired he was, "...Sleep first, then food, then soak..."
They both hobbled off like zombies after that, slowly making their way up to the banquet room where Viktor had once been allowed to stay. They slid the door aside to step in, and realized...or maybe just remembered...that they had fully moved everything out when they'd left Hasetsu to go to St. Petersburg. All the lamps were gone, the CedEx boxes, the Roman-style bust, the pictures Viktor had set up around the room, even the set of nesting dolls...the room was a hollow shell of what it once was.
The huge king-sized bed was still there though, and it had been made ready since the family knew they were coming, but it didn't have the same feel as when Viktor had actually made the place his home away from home.
They stepped in like they were being let off on another planet, and Yuri quietly closed the door and latched it as Viktor moved further in to take his heavy coat and scarf off. They hadn't even bothered turning the overhead light on, or changing out of any of the rest of their clothes, before kicking their shoes off lazily and piling in under the blankets. Once fully, and finally, tangled into one another, they each let out a sigh of relief...the final one.
"I didn't know winning Worlds would be so exhausting..." Yuri muttered quietly against where Viktor held his head to his chest.
The Russian had already fallen asleep.
.
.
.
It was still pitch black outside when Yuri woke up again, stirred by the buzz in his back pocket where he'd forgotten to turn off his phone.
...No...I'm sure I turned it off... What in the world could this...?
[Alarm APRIL 11 - REMINDER: One year ago today, Viktor Nikiforov showed up at Yu-Topia to be my coach. Good or bad...what happened?]
The words were stark...a message from himself on that same day last year. He'd created it just after Viktor had finished his first dinner at the resort and had fallen asleep on the floor.
It was midnight by then, and Yuri had entirely forgotten about setting the reminder at all. He realized that the light from his screen was starting to wake Viktor up though and quickly moved to turn it off, hoping the Russian would be lulled back to sleep by the dark.
"...Mnh...what was that?" He asked instead, not going back to sleep at all, rolling onto his back and stretching as far as he could before relaxing again, "...I thought you turned your phone off."
"I set it to silent, that's all." Yuri nodded, realizing there was no point in hiding the light then and clicked the phone back on again, "But this wasn't a text or a call...it was a blast from the past."
"Hm?"
Even with the light settings on the device set to get dimmer depending on the ambient lighting around it, Viktor still squinted against the brightness as he put his hand around his husband's to hold the phone steady.
He dropped back down to the pillow with a smile, "Well? What are you going to tell yourself from a year ago, Yuri?"
The younger skater thought on it a moment, staring up at the ceiling as everything from the last year came flooding back into the forefront of his mind. He rose his right hand up and looked at the ring on his finger, dimly glinting in the blue-white glow of his phone before it finally timed out and shut off again.
"Well?"
"...If I could tell the me from a year ago about what's happened...I wouldn't even know where to begin. It's a story he wouldn't even let me finish, never mind believe it." Yuri answered, pulling his arm back down to clasp with the other over his chest, "...What would you tell him?"
"I'd tell him...Yuri...believe in yourself, because you're going to win gold at the next World Championship." The Russian mused.
"Spoilers."
"Wouldn't it all be spoilers?" He rolled back to his side, propping his head up on his hand as the other moved to slide over his partner's abdomen, "I think the gold medal would be easier to believe than the rest of it, much as I'd like to gush about how everything else turned out."
"I'd probably say something like...one-year-ago-me...listen. Listen closely." Yuri started, moving his hands up as though animating the gestures he'd make as he spoke to his younger self, even as he still looked straight up, "It's really happened. Viktor really did come...it's not some screwy dream. You never thought you'd be good enough to skate the same ice as him again, but he's right here at Yu-Topia...dropped everything just to be with you and make you better. Don't be scared by the things he asks of you. Don't be scared of him. Pretty soon...you're going to realize...he means everything to you. Oh and also, don't screw up that one jump during your GPF Short Program cuz you'll only win silver if you do."
"Nothing else?" Viktor laughed at the last line.
"The old me would think I was on drugs if I told him the rest."
"Mmmh...it does sometimes seem like an absinthe dream, doesn't it?"
"Sure..." Yuri agreed, turning his face to look at his husband in what little light the room could provide, "...It'd be like...'Yuri...you're not going to believe this next part. Not only does Viktor coach you to World Championship gold...but by then, you'll be married to him...and on the one year anniversary of him coming to Yu-Topia...'" He twisted onto his own side to face the man, slipping one knee between Viktor's as he lifted his free hand to run his fingers through that silver-grey hair, "'...you and he are going to make out in the old banquet hall.'"
"Are they?" Viktor quipped, "Hmm...yeah, the old you would probably run screaming out of the building at the embarrassment of it..." He leaned in close, "But part of me hopes he'd eventually go back to his room, with all the posters of me still on his walls, and imagine what it might be like if it were true."
"Let's give my old self something to look forward to then."
"Are you sure? You were worried about your family hearing."
"...Are you trying to discourage me? Viktor..."
"What!?" He was up with a start, "No no no no no! Never!" The Russian was sitting in Yuri's lap a split second later, trying to pull off his shirt so fast that he encountered a...problem, "Ah~! It's too dark...I'm stuck."
Yuri practically burst into laughter at that, which gave Viktor pause. He could feel Yuri's hands roaming up the front of his abdomen, touching despite not being able to see much more of him than a dark outline against a slightly-less-dark background, until he'd reached as high up as his arm's length would allow.
"...I don't think I've ever heard you laugh like that." The older skater said, calmer than before, "...Are you making fun of me?"
"How could I?" Yuri wondered, sitting upright and wrapping both arms around his husband, setting his forehead against the man's chest, "I can hardly see how you look right now."
Viktor wiggled and struggled a little bit more after that, but finally managed to find his way out of the labyrinth of his tangled clothes, tossing them to the floor before curling down to hold his partner's head and kiss him deeply. He was about to reach down to start pulling Yuri's shirt off as well when he paused again, "...We have to go downstairs."
"What? Why?"
"We didn't bring any of our stuff up when we got here."
"We should go get it...but we'll have to be sneaky. The floors creak sometimes."
Viktor suddenly got really excited, "WE'LL BE NINJAS~!"
He quickly hopped off his husband's lap and went for the door, feeling around until he found the latch that locked it and unfastened it to slide the doors open. Yuri followed close behind, smiling and shaking his head as he illuminated Viktor's path with the flashlight app on his phone. They'd quickly made their way down the flights of wooden stairs to the last doors that lead to the public area of the resort, and pushed them aside to see if there were any late-night guests in the common room. Finding it quiet, they quietly moved on to the entrance-way antechamber where they knew their things had been left.
Viktor moved around dramatically, skimming along the walls or pretending to sneak by moving forward in wide steps on his toes. Yuri just pulled up the rear normally, still holding his flashlight phone up to light their path and avoid knocking anything over. He looked aside though, seeing the table that brought up a memory of the previous year. He huffed a laugh to himself, catching Viktor's attention.
"Tsst!"
"Huh?"
"Shhhh!" Viktor repeated, whispering at him, "We'll be heard!"
Yuri tilted and then shook his head, amused at the man's antics but curious about reminiscing. He stepped away, taking the light with him, and leaving his partner in even worse pitch-dark than before, given how his eyes had gotten used to the white glow from behind. Viktor was calling after him as the light moved away, but Yuri felt like he was on a mission at that point. He stopped in front of the table, still covered over by the dark blue table-cloth that it always had been, but...the awkward, nude, ceramic babies that once adorned it were long gone.
He touched his hand to the table, finding new appreciation in the way it looked...especially when Viktor came looming over his shoulder from behind.
"...What are you doing? You're not stalling, are you?"
"Pfft." The younger man scoffed, "I was just reminded of how I knocked this whole table over a year ago, after my dad told me that a certain good-looking foreigner had arrived with a big brown poodle. I was in such a hurry to see if it was really you or not... Ahh it took an hour to clean it all up..."
"You know what else is going to take an hour?"
"...What?" Yuri looked back at him sheepishly, casting the light from his phone onto the man and giving him a creepy affect.
"...Getting our thiiinnnggssssssss."
"Sorry! Sorry."
"What's all the noise down here!?" Came a woman's voice, slamming open a door not too far away. Lights came on in a hurry after that, followed by the sound of a bark and claws clattering on the ground.
Yuuko was in the doorway, tired and annoyed, as Makkachin clambered into the huge entrance hall, tail wagging enthusiastically.
"There you are!" Viktor said, kneeling down to greet his dog.
Yuuko just looked at him blearily for a moment...realized he was entirely shirtless...and immediately fell backwards with a spray of blood from her nose.
"Mom...?" Another voice, followed by another, and another...all three of the triplets had come out after that, wondering why their parent had suddenly been yelling. They saw her on the floor rather quickly, twitching comically as she tried to keep the blood from spurting out of her face by holding both hands over her nose, and then looked over to what she'd seen to cause her to be in that state.
That's when they saw him...and all three sets of eyes went wide.
"DON'T GO ANYWHERE." They all yelled, disappearing quickly, clambering over their catatonic mom as they scrambled back to their resort room before rushing back.
Pictures galore were taken after that. Viktor had almost forgotten the reason they were even downstairs in the middle of the night, overtaken by the fun of such an impromptu photo-shoot. Between the three girls, they must've gotten well over a hundred glamour shots before Yuuko finally regained her senses and sat back upright. Takeshi finally came out after that, looking even more tired than Yuri and Viktor had when they'd first arrived.
Seeing Viktor half naked though, and Yuuko getting up from a pool of her own nose-bleed, he couldn't help but wonder, "...You tryna seduce my wife?"
Viktor shook his hands defensively, "No no no! This is all a misunderstanding!" He laughed, "We were trying to be quiet! Someone had to stop and go sight-seeing though." He coughed Yuri's name for emphasis before side-eyeing him.
The skater just laughed nervously, scratching his jaw as he turned off the flashlight app on his phone, noting how it wasn't needed anymore with all the regular lights on.
"Why are you guys sneaking around in the middle of the night!?" The girls started asking, hopping around the pair inquisitively, "You live here, Yuri! Why not just turn the lights on!? What are you looking for!?"
"ENOOOOOOOOUGH!" Yuuko called, pounding the floor to get their attention.
"But it's midnight!" Axel pointed out, "Don't you wanna know why Yuri and Uncle Viktor are wandering around like a couple burglars?"
"We aren't burglars..." Yuri deadpanned the girl, "We were trying to get back to our luggage. I got distracted, that's all."
"Half the resort is probably awake now." Takeshi pointed out, hearing some thumps and bumps on the floor above them, "We should probably just help you get your things upstairs so we can all go back to sleep."
Makkachin barked, tail wagging away.
.
.
.
"Yes, yes...thank you...sorry again...thank you...!" Yuri was saying, waving off the family as they went back down the stairs to their own rooms again. The big poodle had followed after them, being ridden like a horse by the triplets.
All the luggage from Barcelona, St. Petersburg, and Helsinki was in the room with them finally. It seemed like a lot more, now that they'd finally gotten it into their room again. Viktor was already looking through their things, trying to find the bag with their fun-time supplies. It took the better part of 10 minutes to go through all the suitcases since he'd forgotten specifically which one housed the items, but when he finally did, he pulled the small bag out proudly...and went dead-silent as he saw Yuri on the bed.
Yuri hadn't actually intended to look like he was presenting himself, since he was just casually lying on his stomach, arms crossed under his chin, watching his husband search through the bags. He had his legs crossed and up behind him, slowly swaying them back and forth. But perhaps the fact that he'd taken his shirt off while waiting was what did it.
The silver-haired man saw that Yuri had the look on his face...the same one from Barcelona, and Sochi before that. The seeking look that made his eyes shine a little. Viktor was spell-bound by them, unable to move for a moment; his cheeks had even flushed a little.
"...You okay?" Yuri wondered, lifting his head a little, "You just stopped."
Viktor had still been crouching down on one knee when he'd found the suitcase he was after, so he was effectively on a level with where Yuri was lying down on the bed, only looking down a little bit to see him. The bag felt a little heavy in his hand after that, and he tossed it onto the bed to be done with it. Yuri's eyes followed it until it was beyond him, feeling it thump against the blanket near his knees, and when he glanced back around, he saw that Viktor had slid closer to him on the wood floor until he was sitting with one knee folded under himself right in front of him.
The Russian leaned in close, quietly, touching his nose and mouth to the other side of Yuri's arms from where he'd settled himself, and then raised both arms to wrap around the man's head.
"...Viktor...?"
"I wonder if there's a limit to how many times I can fall in love with you at a glance." He answered, "I hope I never find out."