(Two chapters were posted in this sitting, so if you missed Ch90, don't go on until you've read it! There's been changes since the time-skip that was originally posted at the end of Ch89!)

CHAPTER NINETY ONE

The pair finally went into the main atrium and greeted the woman behind the counter, seeing through the next set of doors that there was still a class of young teens on the ice. Even a month later, most of the wedding party decorations in the arena were still up, though the smaller hanging tapestries featuring more personal shots of Viktor and Yuri as a couple had been furled up, leaving the ones specific to skating as inspiration to those just starting to learn how.

"It'll only be about half an hour before they're done, if you want the ice to yourselves." Yuuko explained, "But I doubt anyone will tell you that you can't skate until they leave."

"It's fine, we'll just do laps for a while or something." Viktor said, stepping away to kick his shoes off by the benches just in front of the doors.

"Yuu-chan...take a look!" Yuri continued, pulling his backpack off to set it on the counter and show off its contents, "Viktor just gave these to me!"

"Wooooooow~!" She swooned, "They have gold-plated blades! That's SO COOL!"

"Mh!"

"We should post a picture!" Yuuko went on, hopping across the counter to shove Yuri and his things over to where Viktor was already tying the laces on one of his skates, "Go on! Put them on! GIRLS!"

Yuri's cheeks were pink, but he nodded and went to do just that, having his new skates on just moments after his husband. The triplets were in there soon after, and when they spotted the gleaming yellow-orange metal, they immediately started getting out their gear in an excited fangirl blur.

Viktor watched them happily, but then twisted on the bench to lift one leg over it and set it on the floor on the other side, then reaching for his left skate to pull the guard off, "Yuri, copy me."

The younger man watched him to figure out what he meant, but then nodded and did so, then slipping in close to spoon against his husband's back where they sat on the bench together. His arms went around Viktor's sides and clasped over his stomach, and he hugged him tightly, "Thank you, thank you!"

"You're a World Champion gold medalist, so your blades should show it to everyone." Viktor explained, leaning back into him as he lifted his leg up to rest the display-blade on the bench in front of him.

Yuri lifted his own skate as well, setting the heel-blade just below his husband's knee on the bench, turning to face the triplets' cameras. For once, he was actually excited to have pictures taken, practically beaming with pride over his new skates.

viktuuri
[photo]
viktuuri Check out the new Nikiforov bling!
#newskates #weddinggifts #SkateHusbands #GoldMedalsGoldBlades #WorldChampions #IceCastleHasetsu #v-nikiforov #y-nikiforov

They quickly put their guards back on and went to look at the new post as they headed to rink-side, already seeing hundreds of likes and dozens of comments even just those few seconds later.

"Sheesh, you'd think some of these people never get away from their phones when they respond this fast." Yuri commented, thunking his way through the open glass doors.

"That's just the people who happened to be on Instagram at the time. People will be filtering in for hours afterward." Viktor said, stating the obvious.

People on the ice looked up quickly when they heard the familiar voices, and many of them stopped what they were doing to wave or holler at the pair, getting all the more excited as Viktor acknowledged them happily. Yuri was still looking down at his phone, only to suddenly feel a light whop against his stomach, and he quickly waved at the other skaters so it wouldn't happen again.

"...I was going to say hi to them, I swear..." Yuri pleaded quietly, putting his phone away as they got to the rink door, his free hand on the spot where Viktor had thumped him.

"I'm going to have you ready for the attention by the start of the GP Series, Yuri." His husband explained with a wink, "I fully expect that I'm going to get to be jealous sometimes after you learn to love your fans."

"Why would you wish that on yourself?" Yuri wondered dubiously, "Being jealous is awful."

"You have to learn to be flattered by it, too." The Russian explained, pulling off the blade guards and setting them onto the rink wall, "After all, whatever attention you give and receive in public is nothing like what happens when it's just us."

"So you see me as a carrot on a stick when it comes to the crowds?"

"Of course!" Viktor purred, "I get to dangle you in front of everyone, and give them a taste, only to yank you back and get to keep you all to myself...and sometimes..." He turned back as Yuri followed him onto the edge of the ice, slipping one gold-plated skate blade between the others and getting close, putting his thumb against his husband's lower lip, "...I even like to be jealous, because it just makes me want you more later."

"It's a little different to get attention from fans than it is to get attention from you though." Yuri said quietly, setting his hands flat against his partner's lithe frame where they stood so close together, "Mikhail made a point about it the day before he went back to Russia."

"Oh?"

"Mh." Yuri nodded, "Loving a celebrity is nothing like loving someone you actually know. I don't ever really feel jealous when the fans throw themselves at you, not like that anywy."

"Even after I told you one of my past girlfriends was a fan to begin with?"

"Yeah."

Viktor just laughed hard at that, just like back when he laughed at Yurio in the past, "That's a lie! You get super jealous! Remember that ticket agent in Helsinki!?"

Yuri gawked, his cheeks a little pink as he watched Viktor starting to skate backward from him, though still staying close, "...That was only because her antics were holding up the line and I didn't want people to hate us for delaying things."

"Pfft." The Russian scoffed, "You're too comfortable in knowing I'm faithful."

"...Are you saying you think I'm not?" Yuri raised a skeptical eyebrow.

Viktor immediately had his hands up and waving around defensively, "No no no no!" He quickly skated close and put his arms around Yuri's head, stroking his hair affectionately, "You're so loyal, I have a hard time even imagining you pining after someone else. You waited for me for half you life, why would you suddenly cast me aside for someone else?" Yuri was still side-eyeing him, "My point was that sometimes envy can be fun, just like when you won gold at Worlds and I had to look up at you from the silver podium. It might've stung a little, but it was so much more rewarding to see you on top of the world that I actually kind of liked the burn."

"...And if Yurio had won gold instead of me?"

"Oh, I would've thrown him off the podium and put you in his place." Viktor said immediately.

Yuri just laughed at the mental image of it, "I can see that."

The Russian nodded happily, then took his husband's hand to start skating the slow laps they'd spoken of earlier, "Mh. As soon as this class is off the ice, let's do your Short Program from the top. We've settled things with Yurio, but we're still going to beat him."

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By the end of May, a month after the realtor had been hired, the perfect small house had finally been found, located only about twice as far away from the Ice Castle as Yu-Topia had already been. The process of closing the sale had finally force the pair to merge their bank accounts, since it bothered Yuri to no end to think that Viktor was paying for the whole thing himself, even if, at the time, it was only a withdrawal from the money that had already been earmarked from the check Mikhail had given them for the old house.

"At least let me think I'm sort of helping to pay for it." Yuri had said, "I don't want you to feel like I'm riding the coat-tails of all the money that keeps falling on you."

"I would never think that, but I guess this is as good an excuse as any to pool our resources like a normal married couple."

"We are a normal married couple."

"Exactly! So stop worrying."

"...We're still merging our assets, right?"

"Of course!"

Mikhail had initially returned to St. Petersburg after the wedding party to empty out the former Nikiforov household, shipping it all swiftly to Japan once given the all-clear that there was somewhere for it to get shipped to. It was what precipitated his first return trip to Hasetsu with the blond teen.

"This is actually a nice little place you guys found." He'd commented, arriving with the freight. The house had a decent view of the sea on its north face, with a balcony on the second floor to make good use of it, "Pity there's not really a yard though."

"There's a park nearby." Yuri explained, "Makkachin will be fine."

"Do you have enough furniture to fill this place, nephew?"

Viktor shrugged, "If I don't, we can get more stuff. I haven't had a second floor before though so I'm sure we'll bring in some new things."

"You actually have a guest room now, too." Yurio pointed out, "Don't fill it with all your crap if you want to use it for what it's meant for."

"We won't!" Yuri insisted, "We're going to keep all our current skating junk upstairs, but my family is letting us keep the excess in the banquet hall at Yu-Topia."

"I'm staying here tonight." Yurio said simply.

"Nope, you're staying at the resort." Viktor answered, patting the teen on the head affectionately.

"What? Why? You guys aren't even going to be there so it'll be boring."

"This is our new house. We're breaking it in tonight. Loudly, and in every room."

Both Yuris' faces were bright red.

"...E-Every room?"

"Gross, Viktor...gross."

Mikhail laughed hysterically at the sight of them, "Wow, that was subtle." He reached up to wipe a tear away.

Two weeks after that, Yurio had finally been allowed back onto the Russian team, and one more week later, the end of June, Lilia had even agreed to come back as his choreographer. She'd learned he'd been helping teach younger kids how to skate during down-time, something he couldn't have been bothered with before. The mandated therapy that Yurio's 'sponsor' had required had also started to have its desired effect, and the teen's parents' complete disinterest in his skating had finally stopped being so much of a focus for him. Their absence was noted, but Yurio divorced himself from the need for their acknowledgement, and went on to accept it from others instead. He'd even made a second trip to Hasetsu at the end of the first week of July with Mikhail to get the SkateHusbands' input on his Short Program.

"Three of my old sponsors even came back once they heard Yakov let me back on the team." Yurio explained during one of his breaks, "I'm sure the rest will come back, too, once the GP Series starts up and I'm back in top form. I'm sure I'll medal even if all three of us are in the same event before the Final."

Yuri happily rested his arm on the teen's shoulder where they waited against the rink wall, "It's really going to be great to see you back to your old self. The start of the New Year was really unkind to you, but things are finally starting to settle down."

"Mh." Yurio nodded, "Lilia even had me move back in with her, so my grandpa could go back to Moscow again. I feel better about it all now that I know he isn't going to be alone when I'm at competition."

The third visit to Japan had been in late July, but it had mostly been for Mikhail's sake, with Yurio as something of an (insistent) tag-along. It had only been for a weekend, but when they were about to leave for Russia again, there was an unexpected guest going back with them. Unexpected, at least, for the Russian Tiger.

"What is it with you two anyway?" Yurio grumbled, gawking at the pair while waiting at the airport in Fukuoka, "It's weird."

"Weird?" Minako replied, sitting sideways so she could casually rest one arm over the older man's shoulder, "What's weird about it?"

"Are you a couple or not? Make up your minds. Goddamn."

Mikhail huffed at him teasingly, "Maybe it's more fun to make you wonder."

"It's annoying!"

"Why?"

"Because if you are then it changes things!"

"...Not really." Mikhail shrugged, shifting in his seat a little, "I'm your sponsor, not your dad."

"The way you hang around, you might as well be! Christ!"

"Calm down." The elder held his hands out to gesture the idea, "Or is that your subtle way of saying you want me to adopt you, too?"

"I never said that!"

"Oh, you like Viktor and Yuri being your SkateDads more, huh?"

"I NEVER SAID THAT." Yurio was getting visibly uncomfortable, much to the pair's entertainment, "This trip to Moscow is gonna be so damn weird because of you guys, ugh. How long are you going to be there anyway?" He turned green eyes to the woman.

Minako blinked at him, "...I dunno, a few weeks? Other than going for Yuri's competitions, I haven't been out of Hasetsu in years. Might as well make the most of it if I'm leaving at all, right?"

"And where are you staying?"

"At Mikhail's condo? Where else would I stay when I don't speak or read Russian?"

"YOU GUYS ARE SO CONFUSING."

"You'll live."

No one was really sure what it meant, since neither Mikhail nor Minako was willing to clearly define it. A few days into their stay in the capital, Yurio ended up fleeing back to St. Petersburg alone just to get away from it, throwing himself into his skating so as to stop being the super-awkward third wheel all the time.

In mid August, when Minako had returned to Japan, Mikhail had lasted maybe a week before he packed up the teen and was right back in Hasetsu again.

"...You don't have to come with me, you know." The Russian elder said, standing outside Lilia's expansive household where Yurio was struggling with his bags.

"If you go to Hasetsu, I go to Hasetsu. I don't care why you're going." The teen answered.

"Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it then."

"Yeah, and the first time I see Viktor or Yuri post a pic with you in it, I'll know you're there without me and-"

"I know, I know...if I go, you go, I get it."

"Don't dawdle too long, Yuri Plisetsky." Lilia said behind him, arms crossed as she watched him heave his things into the back of Mikhail's rental car, "Viktor Nikiforov's input on your programs isn't going to help you win the Grand Prix...only hard work will."

"Y-Yes ma'am." The teen shrunk a little, "I don't intend to show them the Free Skate you've created until I'm using it against them in competition."

And finally...Viktor had eventually, after many weeks of effort, a lot of frustration, many failed attempts and even nearly giving up, trained his younger husband to enjoy the 'taking.'

"I can still do all the moving if it's easier for you." He offered, lying next to his husband. He could see Yuri's face getting red though, but the younger man shook his head. Viktor was confused, "What do you mean?"

"...I...don't want you to have to do anything." Yuri answered, "I'm just nervous..."

"Why? I've been hounding you for weeks about this."

"And I know from personal experience that the process is uncomfortable for a long time."

"So enlighten me as to why you let me do it?"

Yuri sat up, even though his husband still had him in his hand, "...Because...I knew you liked it...and I didn't know how else to please you."

"Don't you remember what I said about how I wanted to know what it felt like to experience this the same way you do?" Viktor pointed out, finally withdrawing his hand since it was difficult to reach from his angle.

"...Of course I do..."

"So why do you deny me?"

Yuri sighed, "I just don't know if I can do it as well as you can."

"...Because I would know what it feels like to take myself from behind." Viktor teased, tapping his husband's back with his fingers with a huff of a laugh, "C'mon, Yuri...I know you liked it a little bit when you did it before...even if you had to clench your eyes shut."

The younger man quickly turned back to gawk at him, "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean...to upset you..."

"What?" Blue eyes blinked at him, "...I know you're not imagining someone else, so what's the problem?"

Yuri had no words. He was just stalling for nerves at that point.

Viktor could tell, and so he rose up from where he'd been lying down and reached over for the warming liquid on the nightstand, got some in his palm, and then leaned onto his husband's back to retake him in his hand again, "If you're worried I'm just going to fake it to make you feel better...I swear that I won't. But I want you to feel as good as I do, and when you don't want to take me, it makes me feel like I'm derelict in my duties as a spouse. Remember what I said in Barcelona? You're the only person in this world that I enjoy being under. Let me show my love for you in this way, Yuri."

The younger man was losing himself in his husband's handling, but his words still pierced their way through. He drew in a deep breath and then lifted his head where it had drooped a little, and turned to where the Russian had perched his chin on his right shoulder, "...All right..."

Viktor's eyes closed as he smiled, and pulled off his partner's back to reach for a pillow and lay on his stomach with his arms around it, watching excitedly as Yuri started to move behind him. He waited for some signal to position himself differently, keeping his sights on the younger man out the corner of his eye, past his own shoulder, but realized that maybe it would be better to just let Yuri figure it out for himself, and stayed quiet.

Yuri was debating how to proceed, sitting on his knees between where the Russian's legs curled up on either side of him. He reached his hand over to touch the back of Viktor's thigh, and started inching his way forward, eventually putting both of his hands knuckles-down into the bed-sheets on either side of the man's hips. Viktor continued to watch and wait. He felt Yuri kissing the back of his shoulders before anything else, his hair tickling his skin as he moved down a little bit, then at least finally pressing his hips against him. As he felt Yuri sliding up slowly and then down again, trying to get his courage, Viktor pressed back into him to encourage it wordlessly. A few hesitant moments later, Yuri gently eased inside him, pressing himself flat against Viktor's back like it would somehow distract from what else he was doing.

"Mnh..." The Russian breathed into the pillow he'd grasped.

Yuri was gone again.

"YURI." He craned his head around, "You've done this before!"

"But you just-"

"I make noises! Lots of them! Frequently!"

"But-"

"YES. THAT. NOW." He pushed himself back again, this time crossing his ankles behind Yuri and shoving him forward to make his point, and keeping him there firmly, awkward an angle as it was.

The younger man finally resigned himself, and placed himself again as he was told, though no matter what he did, he couldn't finish. Viktor even flipped over again to face his husband with his ankles crossed behind his back, thinking maybe really seeing him would help, but it hardly did a thing. Yuri eventually gave up, exhausted from his effort, and Viktor had to finish them both on his own.

They tried again two nights later, and while Yuri had at least done enough to get his husband over the edge, he himself was unable to despite Viktor's best efforts.

The following three days, Viktor wouldn't even let Yuri attempt it, thinking it would just bruise his ego. He did his best to please this man without expecting anything else in return. He was getting the feeling that his husband was beginning to dread their intimacy, because every time they started, Yuri would get reluctant whenever it seemed like it was about to be 'his turn.' Viktor simply stopped asking. While Yuri's 'Eros' had done his best to learn and won a few meager battles, his 'Philos' had won the war.

It went on like that for half the summer, until finally, when the Russian had already gotten used to the idea that it would be that way forever...Yuri took him of his own free will, and somehow enjoyed it enough to finish them both himself. It was the turning-point Viktor had been waiting for, and things only got better from there. A few weeks later, Yuri had even managed to beat his 'Philos' into submission, and was able to look his husband in the eyes even while inside him. By then, the process had even stopped being uncomfortable for the Russian, and they were each able to enjoy the other fully and equally.

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The end of August had finally rolled around, and the Grand Prix Series assignments had finally been posted. Viktor and Yuri had promised not to look so the triplets could do their great unveiling like they had the previous year, and they did their best to remain ignorant. Viktor had even gone so far as to temporarily uninstall the Instagram app from his phone so he wouldn't run the risk of accidentally finding out while looking at other peoples' posts.

"Okay!" Axel started, her sisters ready behind her with the massive illustration boards, "Time to unveil the events!"

"Starting with the first skaters and the first event...Yuri and Yuri! You're both going to Skate Canada at the end of October! It's going to be in Calgary, Alberta!" Loop added.

Lutz revealed the cards and their crayon drawings upon them, colorizing the reveal with Calgary Stampede and hockey imagery.

"Mmhh...Skate Canada again...that fucker JJ be-" Yurio started.

"Language." Yuri and Yuuko cut him off with a look, reminding the teen that there were kids in the room.

"...That particularly annoying Canadian guy, JJ, better not be there..."

Yuuko nodded approvingly.

"Not to worry, Yuri." Loop said, "He'll be at Skate America and the Rostelecom Cup."

"And none of these guys will be?" Mikhail wondered, sipping at some plum Sake that Viktor had gotten him to try.

"You'll see!" The triplets said together.

"Next is Viktor!" Axel continued, "Mid November, you're going to Trophée de France! You'll be facing Plisetsky here as well! This event is being held in Bordeaux!"

The illustration cards featured the Eiffel Tower and various other French imagery, like mimes and bread and wine.

"Ohh...not even Paris this time? Wow~!" Viktor mused, "We'll have to go sightseeing after it's over. Paris is too much fun to miss." He said, leaning onto Yuri's back casually where they sat by one another in the common room.

"You won't have much time, since Yuri's next event is five days later at the Cup of China in Shanghai!" Axel warned, "You don't want to be jetlagged, so fly as soon as you can!"

"I'll be jet-lagged anyway, flying from here to France... Those events are going to be rough, back to back like that." Yuri whined comically.

"We could go to France early then." Viktor suggested, "Go there right from Calgary so we can be tourists beforehand, like how we went to Barcelona before Worlds."

"Ah! Yeah, that sounds great!" Yuri was excited about it, then turned back to the triplets, "But chronologically, that leaves only the NHK Trophy for Viktor, before the Final."

"Correct!" Lutz explained, "That one will be in Sapporo, Japan!"

"Where's the Final this year?" Viktor wondered.

The triplets all grinned at each other, and pulled the last card off to reveal the location, "DETROIT!"

Yuri's eyes lit up, and he turned his head excitedly to exchange happy glances with his husband, then turning to the girls again with a determined look on his face, "...I'm going to win gold in my old stomping grounds."

Viktor hugged him and nuzzled his cheek with his own, "Yes~!"

Yurio just gawked at them.