CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED NINE
Yurio was staring down at the table in front of him rather intently, a hand over his mouth in thought.
"...Well?" Mikhail asked, sitting opposite him.
"...Hit me." The teen finally answered, "This is going to be my Street of Death." He reached down to pull the bits of colorful fake money out from the piles in front of him, and was awarded a small card in exchange for it.
"Better hope you get Boardwalk on your next go 'round." Mikhail taunted.
"I already own Penn Avenue and Pacific Avenue. Even if someone else gets Boardwalk, I'm still going to own this side of the board." The blond warned back, already seeing fake dollar-signs in his eyes. Two turns later, the Russian Kitten rolled a 2 and landed squarely on the last blue tile before the corner. He laughed almost maniacally as he grabbed the handful of fake money to get his card, "EAT IT."
"Don't get too excited. You have almost no money left." Minako pointed to his $5s and $20s, "If you land on anything, you might have to give it up."
"I'm about to round the corner and collect $200. No one has houses yet, and I'm not going to be ruined by a $20 rent fee." He pointed across the table tauntingly at the woman's small collection of light blue 'cheap properties.'
Minako gave him a look, then glanced down at her cards as she jiggled the dice in her hand. Eyes turned up at their banker and she smirked, "$250 for a hotel on each one..."
"You sure?" Mikhail had a hand over the box of pieces.
The woman turned her eyes back over to the teen and grinned, "Hit me." Two seconds later, three little red plastic hotels were perched on all three of her properties, "I dare you to land on one." She then rolled the dice, and moved her little metal car from St. Charles Place to St. James Place. No one owned it, but she passed the turn on to Mikhail without buying it for herself.
He rolled an 11...and landed on Boardwalk.
Yurio cackled and held his hand out, "$100, sir." He waggled his fingers to make the man hurry up.
The older Russian just lamented to the ceiling, "Curse you and your inevitable betrayal!"
Just as the teen got his payment and sat back in his seat to count it out, his phone started to go off where he'd left it charging on the nightstand. Oddly, Mikhail's went off almost immediately after that, so the both of them left the table to go see who was calling.
Looking at the caller IDs, they glanced at each other.
"You?"
"Your doppelganger. You?"
"Your master."
They turned from each other and answered, though Mikhail went to step out of the room entirely and speak in the hall, "Zdravstvujte, čem ja mogu pomoč'?"
"Allo." Yurio said simply, sitting on his bed and pinning the smartphone between his ear and shoulder. He waited a moment while Viktor spoke, then collapsed down onto his back dramatically, "...You idiots should've tagged me then."
"Eh?" Viktor was confused, "I forgot to tag you?" He looked over at Yuri, "Did I forget to tag him?"
The younger skater pulled up Instagram on his own phone to check.
"Either way, it sounds like you know about the video. So...?" Viktor went on.
"I don't want to give up my own Exhibition for it."
Viktor huffed, "You wouldn't be; this would be extra."
"...I'll have to think about it." Yurio closed his eyes.
"Okay..." The older Russian seemed a little disappointed to realize he was right, "Well, let us know. We're going to be really busy with the last few events once Bordeaux is done, so we may not have a lot of time to work out the details if we don't start soon."
"...Ja ponimaju. Do svidanija." The teen looked at the phone's face and clicked out of the call, then dropped the device next to his head on the comforter.
Minako looked at him curiously, "I can practically see the sad look on his face." She said, "Even after everything we've mentioned, you're still not sure about it?"
He crossed his arms over himself and raised one ankle to cross over the opposite knee, "I just want Viktor to squirm for now."
"...Ah, naruhodo. So you've agreed to do it then, in your head." The ballerina smiled, "How long are you going to make him wait before you tell him?"
"Long enough."
.
Yuri nodded and held his phone up with a dry look on his face, "Yeah, you forgot to tag him. Someone else must've told him about it."
"...Oh, whoops." The Russian laughed, "Ah well, he knows. We should start doing our part tomorrow in expectation that he'll be there in the end. It's easy for him to pick something up if he sees someone else doing it first."
"...Yeah, I remember how he memorized Agape just from watching you do it once."
"His brain is good that way. He choreographed his 'Welcome to the Madness' Exhibition the night before he performed it, too. He should be fine even if he waits till the last second to tell us about it. Anyway...let's head back. I want to hit up the pool before the night's over."
.
.
.
More sightseeing and more skating took place over the course of the remainder of the week. By Friday, Viktor had checked off all the important places he wanted to see in the north end of Paris on a map; touristy locations were circled in purple, interesting locally-known gems were in green, restaurants he wanted to go to were in red, and finally, all the skating rinks in blue.
"Haven't you already been to most of these places before?" Yuri wondered, snapping a few photos of the glass pyramid in front of the Louvre Museum.
"Sure." The Russian nodded, "Well, half of them, I guess... But, it's still nice to go back. You don't notice everything the first time." When he saw Yuri looking back at his phone, scrolling through the pictures he'd taken, he pulled the slim iPhone-holding tripod out of his carry-bag. As had been the custom since arriving in Paris, Viktor finagled with the phone's settings until he got the frame he wanted, set a timer, then pulled Yuri close and snapped his own set of pictures, "This place looks even better when it's dark and all the mood lighting is on. We should come back again later tonight."
"You don't want to watch the Rostelecom Short Program?"
"I'm not really friends with anyone competing in it. You?"
"...I was just thinking we could see what the competition is up to. This'll be when we start to see who's guaranteed to be at the Final. JJ's going to be there; it's his last event."
Viktor practically 'haroomph'd at that, "...I never particularly cared for him. If he's at the Final, then...well, he's at the Final." He moved back over to the camera set-up to take it down.
Yuri thought back on all the times he'd seen Viktor and JJ interacting the previous year. Given the look on Viktor's face at the time, he might as well have been watching ice melt.
"Did you hear that? Emil landed a quadruple loop, too." JJ had said as the Czech skater's music played overhead, "Applause!"
Yuri pulled out his ear-plugs, "Oh, sorry...? I didn't catch that." He said innocently.
His coach was just icy, standing behind him with nothing to say. JJ came right up to him though, getting in Viktor's face where he leaned against the wall. With his skates on, the 5'10" competitor gained 2 inches on the Russian, and used the opportunity to look down on Viktor for once.
"Viktor did the same jump at last year's Exhibition." The Canadian's voice was dripping with passive-aggressive kindness, "I want to see that again!"
"I don't recall." The skater-turned-coach said flatly, not even bothering to turn his eyes to glance at the man talking to him.
"Ehhh!"
.
"WAIT A SECOND!" JJ barked unexpectedly, showing up with his fiancé suddenly where all the other skaters had gathered around Yurio and Otabek in Barcelona, "I'll be the one who wins gold and gets married, of course!"
"That's right!" The slight woman added, clinging to him, "It'll definitely be JJ."
The temperature in the pavilion dropped 50 degrees by the looks on everyone's faces, even Mari and Minako's.
"Sorry we can't congratulate you on that future marriage." JJ finished.
Viktor abruptly stood up and started leading Yuri away, carrying some of their bags and walking by like the Canadian wasn't even there, "Well, tomorrow's an early start. Better call it a night."
"Huh? What?" JJ watched them go, confused, "Hey! Wait a second! I WAS JUST KIDDING!"
Yuri hadn't even seen the way Viktor and JJ reacted to one another when JJ realized the costume Viktor was wearing under his coat at Four Continents. That was probably for the best, though.
"I guess we don't have to watch it..." Yuri said, looking around again briefly before pulling out the map Viktor had made, "It's a shame we aren't here next month. All of the city's Winter Skating venues open only in December. There's even one at the bottom of the Eifel Tower."
"Why don't we have our own Rostelecom Cup?" Viktor suggested abruptly, forcing Yuri to look up over the map at him, "Let's go down to Bordeaux tomorrow and see Yurio. He'll be hard-pressed to avoid giving us an answer about our Team Skate if we're standing in front of him, plus we can show him what we've already practiced."
"Should we warn him we're coming?" Yuri wondered, getting a bit excited about the idea.
Viktor thought a moment, but then shook his head, "Nah, let's surprise him. We'll get there early. He's been staying with my uncle all week and I know what hotel they're in, so we can just show up."
.
They skipped the skating 'event' that day with an obvious apology online for it, and decided to turn in early. Viktor had wanted to catch the first train out of Paris to make the most of the day, but it meant getting up at 4:30am. Even with a decaf Irish coffee as a night-cap though, Yuri found it difficult to sleep.
His eyes moved up from where he had his head on a pillow and saw 21:25 on the alarm clock on the nightstand. He sighed to himself, not feeling tired at all. Viktor was on his back behind him, out cold...but almost as soon as Yuri had made a note of him there and was about to turn around, the Russian unconsciously moved to latch onto his back, as was his habit. Arms went around his torso, pulled him to his chest, and pressed his forehead against the nape of Yuri's neck.
Effectively pinned down, all Yuri could do was stay where he was. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep again, but his brain just wouldn't shut down. Giving up the attempt, he reached over for where his phone was charging on the nightstand ahead of him, and clicked it on as close to the mattress as possible so Viktor wouldn't be woken up by the light. A few quick clicks and a little typing later, and Yuri was looking at the scores for the previous Grand Prix Series events.
Chris, JJ, and Phichit had all medaled at Skate America, but with Phichit only taking Bronze, it put him at risk of not making it into the Final Six.
...He's probably sweating bullets over the NHK Trophy at this point.
He clicked over to his phone's World Clock and saw that it was 02:26 in Bangkok. Part of him wanted to message his friend, but another was certain Phichit was probably asleep already, like he himself should've been.
"What's it looking like?" Viktor suddenly asked, making Yuri twitch in surprise.
"...Sorry, did my phone wake you up?" He turned his head a little to try and see the man, but he was too far behind him, so he couldn't even see the outline of Viktor's silhouette in the dark.
"No, but you started moving around. So? What's it look like in Moscow?"
"I was actually looking at the Skate America results just now. JJ took Gold, Chris Silver, and Phichit-kun Bronze. ...I haven't even pulled up the SP scores for Rostelecom yet. Like you said, no one we're rooting for is there." Yuri answered, setting the phone face-down next to the pillow. He sighed quietly, "I just can't sleep. I was trying to find something to do until I do get tired."
"It's been said that people who look at their phones in bed will cause their own insomnia." Viktor wondered, pulling his right arm back to rub his eyes a little, "Something on your mind?"
"Until a second ago, not really. I'm worried for Phichit-kun. If he doesn't get Silver or better at NHK, he might not be at the Final, and he has to wait all this time to see how it goes."
"That's in his hands. There's nothing you can do except hope for the best."
"...I know..." Yuri rubbed his arm a little, but then twisted to sit up, pushing back against the headboard, "I was thinking, maybe we should invite him to come back to Hasetsu with us after NHK, and then take him to the Final regardless of whether he competes?"
"After refusing to let Yurio tag along with us after Calgary?"
"Yurio's not going to be at NHK unless he goes as a spectator." Yuri pointed out, "Plus he was asking to tag along on a non-typical kind of flight. Phichit-kun and I trained together in Detroit though...it would only be natural for us both to go back there one day."
Viktor rolled onto his back and crossed his arms behind his head, "...It's up to you. Just keep in mind, if Phichit isn't competing in the Final and you have him come with us anyway, he won't have Ciao Ciao's room to go stay in while we're there. Are you ready for him to stay with us for all that time?"
"Obviously." Yuri quirked a brow at him.
Viktor gave him the same look back though, realizing the man didn't really get it. Or, perhaps he did. The Russian watched quietly as his partner slowly pulled up the covers and slid beneath them until he was perched on his lap, looking down on him.
"Maybe you aren't ready for that though." Yuri mused, leaning down to cross his forearms over his husband's chest.
"...It's a terrible concern." Viktor said half-seriously, "If he stays with us at the house instead of at Yu-Topia, it could be a whole week where I don't get my daily dose."
"As though the potential of someone hearing us has ever bothered you."
"...It's slightly different if I'm trying to be good around your friends."
"Did you forget the score-cards?"
"Those were for you." Viktor laughed, "Chris scored us especially low because he didn't hear me. Besides, it'll be harder to hide it when Phichit's in the same room with us."
"So we'll have Phichit-kun stay at Yu-Topia, then it'll only be 3 days for the Final."
Viktor moved his right arm from where it was folded above him, and set his hand over Yuri's cheek, tracing a finger along his jaw until he got down his neck, "Or maybe I'll just sneak you off in the middle of competition like I did in my younger days."
Yuri just deadpanned him, "...I don't think I want to know how I compare against your old girlfriends."
The Russian just scoffed at him, continuing to move his hand lower, tracing a finger down the center of his partner's chest, "As though you had to hope that you were my favorite." He splayed his fingers out and set his whole palm against Yuri's chest, just to the side, over his heart, "You captured this," He then reached up and ruffled his partner's hair, leaving his fingers to grip lightly around the side of Yuri's head, "...and this." Viktor then pulled his hand back again, and brought the left out from where it was wedged under his own head, "Besides, you have a few things of your own that set you higher up on the bar than the others."
"...Yeah?"
Viktor nodded, then moved to sit up, inadvertently forcing Yuri down onto his back as he rose. He smiled though as the younger man glanced back up at him where he'd ended up amongst the folded blankets and sheets, "...Mh."
"Enlighten me."
The Russian just huffed his usual singular laugh, eyes half-lidded, then started listing things off on his fingers, "...Well, you're not crazy. You aren't controlling, obsessive, petty, jealous, selfish, and you've yet to tell me who I can and can't talk to...it helps that you weren't already with someone else when I came along, too...plus, you've yet to be irreparably damaged by our sport."
"Sheesh, don't jinx me."
Viktor shook his head, "Never." He then shifted his hands forward again, bringing them down the man's front until they got to the rim of his loose-fitting t-shirt, and slipped under it so his fingers felt skin, "I'll just do my best to wear you out so you can sleep."
Yuri exhaled at the feeling of it, closing his eyes and smiling to himself as the Russian's hands went further up, "...I guess that would be all right."