CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY THREE

Yuri's arm flopped over the edge of the bed, dangling to within a few inches of the floor. He grumbled as the pillow he'd put over his head started to creep up, no longer pinned by the arm that had slipped, and he looked out unwillingly into the dark of the room...tired, and yet wide awake. Grudgingly, he temporarily gave up his attempts at sleeping, and pushed up quietly to sit on the edge of the bed, reaching for where his phone was charging on the night-stand. He rubbed his eyes with one hand as the other clicked the phone on, trying to block the bright light of the screen from getting around him and bothering Yurio, who was sleeping under a different set of blankets on his own half of the solitary bed.

3:43am... 9:43pm in Moscow... I wonder what Viktor's doing now...?

He clicked over into the text message window and read over the last few messages he'd swapped with his partner, right as Viktor had been leaving the city limits of St. Petersburg.

[I got a little sleep on the train...some folks recognized me when Mimi and I got on board, so I spent half the trip buried under my scarf and coat, hoping no one else would]

[Yeah, sorry to wake you up...]
[Are you sure you're going to make it back in time to catch your flight? It's going to take you most of the day just to get out to that place...]

[I'm sure it'll be fine]
[We decided to just skip the Moscow flight since there would be a layover in St. P's anyway, so we'll catch it from there. We should be in Sapporo by dinner-time on Wednesday. I sent you the itinerary right?]

[Yeah]

[Will you be coming to the airport?]

[Of course I will, we'll all be there]
[Yurio says he feels like a kid being swapped between a divorced couple lol]
[I guess it kinda works out like that...you and Mikhail being family, and me and Minako-sensei being similar enough to it...but now it's them as a pair, and us.]
[I can't wait for you guys to be back. Place feels weird without you.]

[True story]
[It's going to be hard to do this again for Nationals in a few weeks]
[Hopefully going to my hometown won't be a total cluster though]
[I'm already going to be annoyingly clingy when I get back to you]

[Annoyingly clingy? Never. You're the perfect kind of clingy.]
[It kinda freaks me out when you're NOT clingy]

[Really?]

[Yeah! You've been pretty touchy-feely since you first came to Hasetsu. I got so used to it that I practically feel naked now that you're away]

[brb crying]

[Aww!]
[Viktor?]

[Sorry I needed a minute]
[That was really sweet]
[Considering how you backed off so fast at first]
[I still sometimes can't believe where we are now]

[Me too]

[I think we just passed the last cell tower. I'm going to lose the signal soon.]

[Ok...]
[Try not to let your father get under your skin]

[I'm honestly hoping we don't even run into him, but if we do...we'll see. We have a tenuous truce over my skating, but if he rails against you/us again like before...well, I don't have a lot of patience with that]

[There's some people you just can't reach. Just walk away if he starts taking shots. Better to have a wounded pride than get into a fight with him over it.]

[I'll try...]

The conversation went on a little further after that, but it was just the usual long goodbye, fading out until Viktor stopped answering. Yuri sighed as he got to the bottom of the text window, then turned back to see Yurio fidgeting a little under the blankets in his sleep. The older skater just turned back, grabbed his spouse's team jacket where it had slipped off his shoulders before, and moved off to the bathroom, clicking on the light only after closing the door.

He leaned against the vanity and called his partner's phone, knowing full well that it would go unanswered, and unseen, until he was back in the city again. The dial-tone rang several times anyway, before finally clicking into the voicemail message.

"Allo! Èto Viktor Nikiforov~! Izvini, ja propustil tvoj zvonok. Ostavit' soobŝenie~! Byebyeee~!"

Beeeeeeeep

"Hey." Yuri started, feeling a bit somber, "Don't mind me...I just wanted to hear your voice. I know you don't want me to worry, but I can't help it. I hope everything's turning out okay. Call or text me whenever you're done, day or night, and let me know how you're doing. We should go to the Beer Museum when you get here. I'll make sure Minako-sensei doesn't drag me there before then and spoil it." He paused a moment, looking down at the white tile floor, "...Love you. Miss you. See you soon. ...Bye."

Yuri closed the conversation and let his phone-hand sag where he crossed his arms, feeling the tingle in his gut where his worrying was starting to creep up again. After a moment, he turned around to splash some water on his face, clicked off the light, and stepped back out into the dark of the room. He crept along the wall, feeling his way around, his eyes no longer adjusted to the lack of light, but eventually he found his way back to the bed and sat back down again.

"What was that for?"

The older skater nearly jumped out of his skin to hear the unexpected voice, his phone flying off to hit the wall and land in the dark somewhere. He put his hand on his chest though to keep his heart from exploding right there and then, and flipped around where he sat to stare at where he thought the blonde was, "You nearly killed me!"

"Sorry." Yurio said half-heartedly, leaning his head on his arm where it was propped up on one knee, "Who goes to the bathroom and then doesn't use the bathroom though? You're weird."

"You were listening to me?" Yuri grumbled, getting onto the floor to paw for his phone, "That's gross."

"Not listening specifically, but I could hear some just cuz it's quiet out here."

"What did you hear then?"

"Talking, but I couldn't understand what you said through the walls." The teen shrugged, reaching for the lamp switch on the table nearby and flicking it on, bathing the room in light so Yuri could see, "Who could you possibly be talking to at 3 in the morning though? Not your Thai friend, it's really late for him right now, too."

"No, I didn't call Phichit-kun. I texted him earlier today though, just to find out when he'd be getting here, but that was the last." Yuri answered, finding his phone on the floor under a small desk. Once he was back on the bed, he crossed his legs and clicked into it again, realizing it'd be a while before he'd be trying to sleep again, "I called Viktor, that's all."

"He's not going t-"

"I know." He sighed loudly, "Things were so much simpler when his family wasn't part of things. Sometimes I wish we could go back and forget about it all."

"Some families aren't worth it." Yurio agreed, "Best to just cut them off and move on."

"...Viktor really wants to deal with this though." Yuri went on, clicking into his photo albums to look at some of the most recent pictures, realizing quickly that most of them were from as far back as the Trophée de France already, or at least the 2 weeks leading into it when they were still in Paris, "What about your family? What are they up to lately?"

"My grandpa is taking it easy back in Moscow. He's thinking about going to watch Nationals in person." The teen said simply.

"...And the rest?"

"The rest don't matter."

Yuri was a bit surprised, but then looked back down to his phone, thumbing through a few of the same photos before going back again, "You said once that your mom had thought about showing up for Hot Springs on Ice. She doesn't follow your skating anymore?"

"Not everyone is as supportive or interested as your family." Yurio grumbled, "Most of the rest of us just get by on scraps, if that."

"...Even my family was never all that interested." The older skater said stiffly, "We had to explain the rules and set-up for the Grand Prix Series last year because none of them knew what I was in for...and they only did that much because Viktor came." He huffed and leaned back against the headboard, pillow-fluff easing his way down, "Minako-sensei was the only one who really followed my skating before then. My mom was actually happy that I washed out after Sochi, because I went back home afterwards. ...If it hadn't been for Viktor, I don't know that I would've found a reason to get on the ice again. I'd probably just work at the onsen, and avoid the Ice Castle entirely, so long as they kept the big sign on the roof congratulating me on getting to the Final in the first place."

"Mh..."

"Are you nervous...?"

"...Nervous?" The blonde echoed, green eyes scanning the skater skeptically.

"About getting to Detroit."

Yurio shrugged, "I'll get in before Giacometti does, since I got Silver at both my events, and he got stuck with one Bronze. I'm pretty sure I'll get in. Your Thai friend probably won't make it though."

"What makes you say that already...?"

"Well, he didn't get Gold at his first event, and he's sure not going to get it at NHK. Not with Viktor skating." He said methodically, "So assuming he takes Silver...and I think he got Bronze at his first event, I don't remember for sure...but that would put him at the same rank as Giacometti. Pretty sure his actual scores weren't as high though, and that'd be the deciding factor." The younger skater reached a finger out and poked Yuri in the middle of the forehead with it, "With you, Viktor, me, Otabek, and that fuckwit JJ being the likely Finalists...Phichit and Chris will be fighting for the last spot. My money's on Chris. He has more experience and a bigger repertoire of quads."

"I'm sure Phichit-kun already has all that in mind and has been practicing... He should have more quads this go around, just like you do." Yuri pointed out, "Even Otabek only has 3 quads...and it's not just about the big jumps anyway. Viktor wants to see how far he can go just on artistic merit next year, reducing the difficulty of his programs and focusing on other elements instead."

"He can get away with that though. Your friend...not so much."

"...Maybe. We'll just have to wait and see. Anything can happen this weekend."

.

.

.

"What do you mean, we're spending the night?" Viktor said incredulously, standing close to the bottom of the hill, "That wasn't part of the plan."

"Well, I'm tired." Mikhail said glibly, rubbing the side of his head a little, standing about halfway between the house and the car, "I don't want to drive like this, and you don't have a clue where to go."

"I could figure it out. Mama used to drive us all around this area when she'd take me skating in town."

"There are no towns anymore. The roads and villages around here are ruins. Even if you somehow did manage to remember the way there, most of the area has been reclaimed by the woods by now, and I doubt you could find you way back by recent memory alone in the dark." The older man grumbled, "Besides, neither of us has eaten since we got here, and I'm starving. Kon has food. You do not."

"I brought food!" Viktor protested, pointing at the car.

"You brought snacks."

"Snacks are food!"

The two stared at each other, realizing they were at an impasse. However, being the older of the two, and the holder of the keys, Mikhail won easily enough and turned on his heel to go back up the hill, "I'm going inside. It's cold out here."

Viktor grit his teeth, bristling under his layers, "How is it that my father can even stand to have you around after all the things you apparently did when you were younger? By the sound of it, you two should hate each other."

The elder paused where he stepped, hands clenched a little in his coat pockets, "We used to. Then something happened, and he took pity and forgave me...and after a long while, I felt obligated to do the same."

"Why? How?"

"Don't you get it yet?" Mikhail asked sternly, turning slightly to look back over his shoulder, "Everything about this family...there's the time before you, and the time after you. Everything changed when you were born. You probably wouldn't even recognize any of us if you could see how we were before then."

Viktor wasn't sure how to process those words, simply blinking a few times and shaking his head, "That doesn't make any sense. Why would a nothing like me change anything?"

"Kids change people, especially the first one." The older man answered simply, "And even though you weren't mine, you changed me more than anyone else. You were the reason I wasn't chased out of town, and you were the reason I ended up staying as long as I did. ...In that same vein, you were the biggest contributing factor to why Kon and Tat stayed together, and in the end, I guess, why they split apart. Here or there, it doesn't really matter, you shook this place to its roots." He turned back around and started walking again, "Now come on inside before you freeze to death."

The skater held his ground, "...I'm not going in there."

"Now you're just being obstinate."

"I didn't come all the way out here to break bread with a man that basically hates everything I care about. I'm not going to sit around like a target waiting to get hit."

Mikhail rolled his eyes, slowing down his pace but still walking, "If he was going to hit you, it would've been the moment you yelled 'it's not wrong.' But it's like I told you before...Kon was never really the kind of person to do that kind of thing anyway."

"I once thought he was going to kill me."

"Yeah, and apparently he thought the same thing, and he was wracked with guilt over it for a really long time." The elder argued, pausing just in front of the door, gloved fingers on the handle, "Now are you coming inside or not?"

Viktor's eyes were a bit wide, but he narrowed them and just glowered at the man, "I already said I'm not going in there."

"Vivi, it's a thousand degrees below freezing out here. Where else are you going to go?"

"I'll just sit in the car."

"All night? The car won't even be on. You'll just freeze in there."

"Then give me the keys."

Mikhail tilted his head back, "...How do I know you're not just going to drive off?"

"I came all this way to make sure you got to NHK...you think I'm just going to ditch you now? Minako-sensei would break me in half if I showed up alone."

"It crossed my mind." He answered, "You're particularly ornery tonight."

"And I'd rather it not get worse."

The older Russian grit his teeth and drew in a vocal breath, "Vivi...your father doesn't hate Yuri. He hates the fact that you're married to a guy."

"I fail to see a distinction." Viktor pulled his hand out and held it up, "Keys."

Mikhail just glowered at his nephew dubiously, fingers clenching the fob in his pocket. This is all starting to feel like how it was back at the beginning. He shook his head, pulled the door closed again where it had slightly opened, and started walking back down the hill again. Viktor still had his hand out as he approached, and the older figure roughly placed the fob in his nephew's palm, but then abruptly grabbed the hand where he held it, and looked straight into those slate blue eyes, "I'll tell you all you want to know about what happened before if you come inside."

Viktor just pulled his hand back, taking the key fob with it, and went the rest of the way down the hill in silence. The lights on the hybrid flashed as he unlocked the doors, and he plopped down into the driver's seat. A few quick motions, and the vehicle was quietly running. Viktor shut the headlights off and clambered into the back seat, all but out of sight, save the slight glow of his phone behind the front passenger seat. Within another few seconds, the car's music system could be heard, and felt, quietly thumping away as the skater's playlist connected to the Bluetooth stereo.

The older Russian just sighed, "...Alright...be that way... Not sure Yuri would approve of this though."