CHAPTER SEVENTY FOUR

A few days had passed, and not once had Yuri or Viktor been allowed to set foot within the Ice Castle.

The first time they'd tried, Yuri went up the stairs alone while Viktor had meant to put their bikes away, only to find a sign on the doors saying they were closed for the week. Yuri had even tried to call Yuuko and Takeshi to find out whether they could go inside anyway, but both had effectively shut down notions of that rather quickly.

The second time, the pair had spotted people going into the arena through a delivery truck door at the back, and tried to sneak in alongside them, only to be spotted by Takeshi and promptly kicked out again like stray cats.

The third time, Viktor had spotted Yuuko on the road below the stairway heading to the main doors, and both he and Yuri latched themselves to her legs as she tried to go in, begging and pleading to be allowed to skate. She dragged them up half the stairs before finally, comically, knocking them both in the head, and rushing up the rest of the way while they laid there in painful confusion.

"We're skaters, Yuu-chan! We need to skate!" Yuri called after her, seeing her disappearing through the inner doors once they'd finally made their way to the top, only to find that the outer doors were already locked. He hung around on the glass like a sucker fish for a few minutes before Viktor convinced him to give up.

They sat at the top of the concrete steps and sighed in unison, chins on their hands and elbows on their knees. Makkachin panted quietly next to his human.

"I know they're making plans for us, but..." Yuri whined, "Couldn't they just cordon off the area they don't want us to see?"

"Maybe they're doing up the whole place."

"But that would take so much time..."

"They've had a few weeks to think about it, Yuri." Viktor pointed out, "Remember? They called within minutes of us posting the pic of our marriage certificate online, and they've been working on it ever since."

"Have they told you anything about what they're doing?"

"Not really."

"Have you asked?"

"Even I like to be surprised once in a while." Viktor pointed out, "Being the surpriser all the time gets kind of dull."

"So what should we do?"

"...We could go hang out with Yurio, I guess."

"We...huh?" Yuri was about to question it, but then saw what Viktor saw. His eyes lit up and he was up on his feet, bounding down the steps several at a time until he got to (and nearly lost his footing on) the bottom, "Yuri!"

"Thought I'd find you two here." The Russian Tiger answered, watching his Japanese counterpart coming around the railing.

"You got here sooner than we thought!" Yuri exclaimed, forgetting for a moment that he was supposed to challenge the youth to come to him with the hug by practically throwing himself on the teen excitedly, "How was your flight?"

Yurio had pulled one hand out of his jacket to return the unexpectedly fond embrace, but then replaced it again once Yuri pulled off of him, "Not as bad as it could've been. We were diverted straight to Fukuoka by a snowstorm that shut down the airport in Tokyo, so it worked out."

"That's great! Not for Tokyo, but..."

"Where's my uncle?" Viktor asked, finally coming down the stairs as well, slowly as usual, "Weren't you coming together?"

"He's back at Yu-Topia." Yurio answered with a shrug, "So why are you guys outside like this?"

Yuri sighed, "Yuu-chan won't let us in. We haven't been able to skate at all since we got back."

The Russian quirked a brow, then whipped his phone out and pulled up his contact list, thumbing in a few keys and sending the message, "...Wait for it."

"Heh! This sounds familiar..." Yuri smiled back at where Viktor was standing behind him.

A few quiet seconds passed...and then...

"YURATCHKA!" Yuuko's shrill voice could be heard from the top of the stairs, "What are you doing back in Hasetsu!? Wait, don't answer that! Welcome back!" She was waving from the railing excitedly.

Yurio strut up the steps, rather proud of himself, with the other two following after him, wondering if, somehow, he could manage to get them all inside the arena where their own attempts had failed. Viktor was eyeballing the automatic doors as Yuuko gushed over the blond, and he even tried to sneak around behind them while the woman was surprised by Yurio giving her an unexpected hug.

"...Your face is leaking fluids again." Yurio said nervously, "...Sorry?"

"It's fine! I'm fine!" Yuuko insisted, spinning her head around and pointing at the older Russian, "DON'T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT IT."

Viktor was stiff as a board, stopping in his tracks within mere inches of the doorway...but his foot set off the motion sensor with the last step. The doors parted in front of him like the Red Sea.

"NO, VIKTOR, BACK." Yuuko insisted, seeing the temptation in his eyes.

Viktor could only really see the reception area, but he noted that the doors that lead into the actual skating rink were blocked with black paper on the inside. He snapped back to it when the doors started to close again, and resolved to make a break for it.

"VIKTORRRRR!" The woman cried out.

Yurio was on him like a police dog, kicking him in the back and sending him sprawling into the check-in desk in an oddly familiar way. Yuuko chased after him as well, the both of them getting onto his back in a hurry while he was on the floor, even as the Russian was still trying to scramble for the last set of sliding doors. Yuuko was too light to stop him though, and Viktor nearly bucked her off like a mad horse, only for the three of them to see Yuri trying to run by desperately while they were distracted.

Again, Yurio was on top of it, sticking his leg out just far enough to trip the Asian and send him face-first into the glass door...which didn't open as he slid down to the floor in a daze.

Takeshi and the girls were just inside, and heard the awkward thump and slide outside, wondering what the heck was going on.

The pair was dragged back out by their feet and left there as Yuuko moved to close the outer doors.

"I'm really sorry, you two! But you really can't come in yet!"

The both of them just looked up at her with the saddest eyes, "Yuu-chan, pleeaaaasseeee!" Yuri begged, "You're letting him stay inside!" He gestured both hands at the blond, who only grinned in return.

"He's not the one that just got married!" She pointed out, "It's only for two more days! Please be patient!"

Yurio smirked at them devilishly, "Heh! Bye!"

The outer doors were closed and locked, and the younger Russian turned his back on them to go inside with Yuri's childhood friend. Yuri and Viktor had their faces to the glass, trying to see anything they could, but even with the windows blacked out on the rink-side doors, they saw nothing but more black as they opened to let the pair in.

"...They have a hemi-circular curtain in there..." The Asian skater whined.

"These guys are really going out of their way to make sure we don't see anything." Viktor agreed, his tone the same.

And, once again, they were sitting with Makkachin on the top-most set of concrete stairs.

"...So..." Yuri started up, taking them right back to the original question, "...What should we do?"

"I guess we could go back to the onsen." The Russian suggested, moving to stand up and offer his hand, "I don't know that my uncle's ever experienced a Japanese hot-spring resort before. I doubt we'll have any luck getting into the Ice Castle until they let us."

"Yeah..." The younger man agreed, taking his husband's hand to let him pull him back to standing. They started walking down the steps together, the poodle trotting along beside them, when Yuri looked up ahead of them and smiled, "...I guess it's kind of nice that people are fussing over us like this."

"Mh." Viktor agreed, pausing where he was to pull Yuri back around and taking his other hand into his own, "It's the complete opposite of how things were in Russia, that's for sure."

"You make it sound like the whole time we were out there was a complete waste." The shorter figure said, still happy but his tone a little quieter compared to before, "I really liked St. Petersburg though."

"It had its moments...but I like the ones we've had in Hasetsu better." The Russian explained, slate blue eyes looking down into happy hazel ones before the man leaned down to kiss his partner fondly, "...I would never have felt safe doing that back home."

Yuri realized all too harshly how true the statement was, but instead of getting dour about it, he decided to capitalize on their better situation and pulled his hands up so he could wrap his arms around Viktor's larger frame, and pulled him down slightly so he could kiss him back more easily, "You're right."

Viktor quickly returned the hug before they turned off to start walking back across the bridge to the main part of the city. It didn't take long for them to get back to the resort, and Yuri's father was there just inside the entrance when they walked in.

"Hey! You'll never believe it!" Toshiya started, "We just had another good-looking foreigner show up! No dog though, just that cranky blond kid from last year. Did you see him?"

"Yurio? Yeah, we ran into him outside the Ice Castle."

"The foreigner didn't tell you who he was?" Viktor wondered, "He didn't brag or anything?"

"Why would he?"

"That's my uncle."

"Oh!" The elder Katsuki laughed cheerfully, "That explains a lot! He looked familiar but I didn't realize that was why!"

"Where's he now?" Yuri wondered.

"He took his things up to his room, but I didn't see if he came back downstairs or not."

Makkachin snuffled around the floor as Yuri turned back to close the door behind them, and eventually barked as the man in question reemerged from a side-hall.

"Hey! There you guys are." Mikhail said warmly, dressed down to probably the least amount of clothing that either Yuri or Viktor had ever seen; while usually clad heavily in a winter long-coat, scarf, and hat over top of everything else, Mikhail now just had slacks, a charcoal grey button-down, and a vest overtop, "This is one heck of a place you live in, Yuri."

"You like it?"

"Hiiiii~!"

"Hey kid! But...yeah!" He came up to them while rubbing his left shoulder, "You'll have to educate me though. I don't know anything about...what's the name? An 'onsen'?"

"Mh." The young skater confirmed, "There's not much to learn...did you want to soak for a while? Viktor and I usually try to after a flight, but we know how tiring the trip from St. Petersburg can be. Yurio told us you'd at least gotten to skip the third layover."

"Ah so you did run into him, that's good." Mikhail nodded, "For now I think I just need a drink. Warm the belly before I warm the rest of me, right?"

Yuri smiled and pointed over towards the common area, "We'll meet you over there."

The elder Russian nodded and headed in the gestured direction while the couple stayed behind to get their shoes and outer-wear off, putting it all into the lockers to the right of the entrance for safe keeping until they went back to their banquet-hall room. They'd found Mikhail at one of the short tables when they caught up, watching soccer where one of the other patrons had changed the channel, sitting cross-legged and leaning over the table casually.

"What's your pleasure tonight, uncle?" Viktor wondered, staying on his feet while Yuri got comfortable on the floor, "You want something familiar or something exotic?"

"You have hot wine?"

Viktor put a hand on his hip, "You'll have to be more specific."

"Japan has hot wine? I didn't even think they had grapes."

"Hot rice wine...Sake...you've never had it?" Yuri was surprised, "Someone your age...?"

Mikhail gave the youth a 'don't just me' kind of sarcastic look, "I've seen, done, and experienced a lot of things in my antiquity...but my liquor has always been domestic."

"Coming right up then." The younger Russian turned on his heel and headed back for the store room.

"So how've things been so far?" Mikhail asked, leaning forward on his elbows, "Better than back in stuffy Russia, right?"

"It's always nice to be home after so long away." Yuri nodded, relaxing a little, "But...yeah, having the hot spring right here has been great. It'd be better if my friends would let me in the ice rink, but..."

Mikhail clapped and laughed at that, "They locked you out? You? How many other professional skaters are around here besides Viktor?"

"...And Yurio, none." The younger man shrugged, "The whole wedding party thing is being set up there though, so they don't want Viktor or me to see."

"I've heard people call it the Ice Castle...is it really that big thing on the hill?"

"Oh, no, that's just a tourist trap. The Ice Castle is just a name...the rink is at the base of the hill, just on the other side of the bridge from here. That's where we saw Yurio. How'd he been anyway? Did he do as you asked?" Yuri wondered, leaning over the table on his elbows much like the older Russian.

"He's started, yes." Mikhail confirmed, "But the majority of his attitude adjustment seems to have come from whatever you knocked into his head. What'd you do to him? Put a knife to his throat?"

Yuri nearly choked on himself at that, "Nooooo...!" He coughed, patting himself on the chest with the side of his fist until he caught the wind in his lungs again, "...No...ahem. No. If I did anything to him, it was just...hold him." He put his hand on the back of his neck shyly, "I used to have really bad anxiety. One of the first things Viktor did to help me get over it was hold me. Well...hug me, but, you get the idea. Even just feeling his hand on my back or on my arm was enough to ground me. I could think more clearly when I didn't feel like the gentlest breeze would knock me over. So I thought, if that was so helpful, maybe the same thing would help Yurio. I guess it worked better than I thought."

"You're telling me." Mikhail huffed, leaning back onto one hand as he saw Viktor returning out the corner of his eye, "He's even hugged me once or twice. Kinda freaked me out."

"Wow, really?" Viktor mused, setting the drinks down on the table before sitting around the corner of the table, next to his husband, "That's...peculiar for him."

"No kidding." Yuri agreed, "Maybe he had an epiphany or something. Sometimes it doesn't take much."

"Whatever it is, a lot of people have noticed a shift." The elder continued, "The councilor he eventually saw for his initial eval wasn't even sure he'd been put on the books for the right thing. She said he seemed really well adjusted, right up until she hit a certain button, and then...well, the rest made sense after that."

"We all have our buttons." Viktor agreed, pouring some of the Sake from the large white bottle into only one of the two small thimble-cups on his side of the table, watching as his uncle sipped at the hot mulled wine carefully, "Some are just easier to find than others."

"His might as well have been a giant red one on the top of his head." Mikhail pointed out, holding the wine glass carefully in front of himself, smelling the spices while it cooled enough to drink, "I imagine your buttons are pretty small and hard to find these days, Viktor." He noticed that Yuri took the choko cup that had been poured for himself, but that his nephew wouldn't take one until Yuri had poured it for him.

"Oh there's still a few, but it takes a lot of effort to find them." Viktor answered as he sipped at the small cup once it was filled, "I'm not about to ask anyone to go looking though. I'm pretty content."

"You look like it." Mikhail mused, "Pouring each other's drinks like that."

"Oh...that's a Japanese thing." Yuri laughed quietly, "If you're with people, you don't usually pour Sake for yourself, at least not the first round. After that it's not so strange anymore, but in more formal settings, you really don't pour for yourself at all."

"Ah."

"So you want to know how the onsen works?"

"Yes!" Mikhail was keen on that, "It looks relaxing!"

"Well..." Yuri started, "The first thing you should know is that people bathe nude in the onsen, but if you're really out on a limb with that, we can get you a private tub with spring water in it. Always bathe before getting into the onsen. There's stations and tubs in the changing room for tha-"

"Wait...wait. Stop. Nude?" Mikhail's interest had been piqued, "So there's...ladies in there?"

Yuri blinked at him, but then realized, "OH!" He shook his head, "No, the onsen is divided. But...even when some resorts that have mixed pools, women don't usually mingle with the men, so it ends up defaulting t-"

"...A big wiener party." Mikhail sighed, "...Got my hopes up. I'd heard so many stories about Japan! You're killing me now, Yuri."

"Sorry." The young skater chuffled a nervous laugh, "...You can't really see anything below the water so it's not like it's all in your face, and everyone gets towels. No photography while in the spring though!"

"Cuz I wanna take a picture of a bunch of naked men." Mikhail winked at him, "Nah, it's fine."

WHAM

Everyone's heads rose up at the sound, gawking back around to see where a door had been slammed back. Therein stood a familiar woman.

"...Oh hey, Minako-sensei!" Yuri waved politely from where they were sitting, "We didn't know you were coming."

She stalked over to them, and loomed over Mikhail like a dreadnaught. She stuck a finger out, as though about to scold him over something...but then just leaned down, stuck the finger through his hair just above his right eye, and parted it from there to dump his bangs over his left eye. He was dumbstruck but said nothing...and the rest of the guests, Yuri and Viktor included, were just as wary of saying anything.

"There, that's better." She mused, quite pleased with herself, "Welcome to Hasetsu. I stopped by the Ice Castle and saw the other Yuri, so I figured you were here."

Viktor and Yuri's eyes went between the two as they listened.

"Yeah...we just arrived. Two days left until the party, right?"

"Yes!" Minako said excitedly, moving to sit at the table with the trio, "It's going to be bigger than the Hot Springs on Ice!"

"Eh...?" Yuri finally piped up, "But I thought..."

"...It's supposed to be a somewhat small thing." Viktor finished, "How'd it get to be a big deal suddenly?"

"Oh! No no, sorry, I don't mean that it's going to be a huge event for the public!" The ballerina waved her hands defensively, "I just mean that there's going to be a lot of skating planned!"

"There...is?" The youngest amongst them was perplexed, "How is there a lot of skating..?"

"Have the girls not given you the program yet?"

"There's a program?"

"Sure!" She pulled out her phone to load up the PDF of the item in question, and presented it to them, "See? A whole day of skating! The triplets are calling it 'The Best of Nikiforov on Ice' but I prefer to call it 'The Journey.'"

Yuri took the phone to zoom in on the timeline of planned events, "Sheesh, this looks like a program schedule for a competition..."

"...No joke." Viktor noted, leaning in on his husband's shoulder as his eyes scanned the list, "Some of these are for people who aren't even here."

"...Firebird, Aria, Soldier, Shall We Skate, Intoxicated, Eros, Winter's Wish..." Yuri shook his head, "I don't even know that third one. What's with this list?"

"Did you really think we'd miss your wedding party?" Came a voice, this time following a simple slide of the door rather than a slam.

When Yuri looked up, he saw Phichit standing there in the doorway, and his eyes went wide. He practically lost his breath when Chris came in after him.

"What...what are you guys...? Phichit-kun...! Chris...! I didn't...we didn't..."

"We were really hoping you'd invite us yourself, but...we figured out a way." Chris said, winking at the young skater, "Hope you didn't miss us too much since Worlds."

Yurio finally wedged himself in through the door and past the two skaters blocking his way, dragging someone unexpected with him...Otabek. Yuuko and the rest followed in soon after.

"Get out of the way!" The blond barked, shoving past them to get into the common room.

Yuri was dumbstruck by all the people that had suddenly piled into Yu-Topia Katsuki, and he leaned back against Viktor to get his bearings, turning his head to whisper, "...Did you know this was going to happen?"

"Nyet." The Russian answered, "...But I'm starting to like it. Don't you think it's better this way?" He whispered in turn, moving to snake an arm around Yuri's back, settling his hand on the man's hip, "It's not much of a wedding party if we don't have any of our friends around."