CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY SIX

Yuri lay awake all night, it seemed, clutching his phone to his chest like he thought he'd lose it if he didn't. Tuesday night drifted into Wednesday morning as slowly as any midnight ever had, that he could recall, and it made him envious beyond all reason that his roommate had been able to fall asleep so easily.

But Yuri was expecting a phone call, and he had been since the day before. It was making him nervous that Viktor still hadn't done so.

They either stayed overnight out there, or something happened... Or maybe they stayed overnight because something happened...

His heart pounded more and more as the night wore on. Unable to sleep, Yuri gently pulled the cover off of a pillow, and set the light material over Yurio's head so the light of the television wouldn't wake him up. At least, in Japan, he could watch whatever was playing and not have to worry about the language barrier, or the sad attempt at Close Captioning that had been provided in English to bridge the gap in other countries.

He sighed and looked at his phone yet again, the knots in his stomach tightening even more.

It's nearly 8pm in that part of Russia right now...what in the world is taking so long? Their flight leaves in 3 hours, and it takes 2 just to get to St. Petersburg from that little t-

VRRRRRRRRRrrr

Yuri nearly jumped out of his skin when his phone vibrated, and nearly lost said phone in the surprise. He reached for it in mid-air, only for it to bounce off his hand each time, eventually landing on the floor, and forcing the young skater to dive over the side of the bed just to reach it. With legs and feet still on the sheets, elbows on the carpet, and arse in the air, Yuri finally managed to get hold of his phone and saw the urgently-wanted Caller ID and custom background that he'd practically been begging for since he woke up the day before, "VIKTOR!"

Green eyes opened suddenly.

"Yuri!" The silver Russian called back, "I'm so sorry it took so long to finally call you! We're about 20 minutes outside St. Petersburg right now."

Relieved, Yuri let the rest of himself slide down off the edge of the bed, and flipped over, resting his feet just over the ledge, splaying one arm out to the side as the other held the phone to his ear, "You really had me worried. What happened? I was scared you guys had gotten into an accident or something and no one was going to be able to find or call you."

"I can't apologize for that enough. Everything's okay though, I promise." Viktor answered, the snowy Russian countryside passing by quickly, "We ended up staying the night out here, and then spent most of today touring around the area. I wanted to try and find all the places I knew from when I was growing up, so I could take pictures for you. Almost everything has fallen into ruin, but there's a handful of places that are still standing. My first real skating rink apparently burned to the ground a few years ago, but they rebuilt it. It was one of the few things that people wanted to preserve, I guess."

"Sounds crazy." Yuri agreed, "I can't wait. Are you going to make it to the airport in time? You'll have to go all the way through customs and stuff again, never mind the fact that it's on the south end of the city.."

"Yeah, it'll be fine. Pulkovo Airport isn't as big as the international hubs, so it shouldn't take as long as Sheremetyevo. This late at night, there isn't that much traffic either." The older skater explained, "I'm really interested in that Beer museum you mentioned. I didn't think you'd want to go."

"It's probably the only thing in Sapporo worth checking out." Yuri answered quietly, staring up at the popcorn-textured ceiling, "Minako-sensei said she wanted to look at it, too, but she hasn't tried to drag me there yet. I guess she's waiting for Mikhail to get back."

"Speaking of when people get there... When is your Thai friend showing up?"

"Huh? Phichit-kun?" He echoed, "Thursday afternoon. Why?"

Viktor paused a moment, looking around the car from where he'd settled in the back driver's-side passenger seat like before, then looking back out the window again, "No reason. Curiosity. Even though we've been to half of all the Grand Prix events, you haven't gotten to see him at all this season so far, so I imagine you'll want to hang out with him as soon as he arrives."

"...Well, sure, but it's not like I'm going to do that without you. After the last few days, people are going to wonder if I got myself super-glued to you by accident or something."

The Russian just laughed at that, leaning his head back against the head-rest and closing his eyes as he savored the thought.

"Besides, we were texting earlier and he subtly suggested I should ask you to give him quad pointers." Yuri went on, stretching a little now that his worries were melting away, "He's hoping some of that Nikiforov Skating Genius will rub off on him before the competition so he stands a chance of getting to the Final with us."

"How many quads does he have this year? He only had one last year."

"He has two now...Toe-loop and Salchow, but he's having trouble landing a Loop." The young skater explained, pausing a little, "...Yura mentioned that him and Chris would be fighting for the 6th spot at the Final. I'll be glad for whoever takes it, but Chris has gone a bunch of times already, so I'm kind of hoping Phichit-kun snags it. Will you help him?"

Viktor stared up through the window for a moment, snow falling in a dazzling display, caking everything in white, "Chris left a message on my phone while I was here, saying he can't wait to meet back up again at the Final, since he was late to seeing the video of me freaking out on top of the Ritz-Carlton." He said, quieter than before, his tone almost serious, "I think I'd feel bad if I worked to help someone else get into the 6th spot, knowing he was in the running for it."

"Oh..." Yuri turned his eyes back the other way, feeling a bit dejected.

"But since you asked me to, I'll help your friend."

Cherry-hazel eyes went back up to the ceiling, "...Really?"

"Mh." Viktor answered, nodding as well, "I'll do anything you want me to; you need only ask. So I'll help Phichit learn to land a quad Loop before he skates his Short Program on Friday."

"Arigatougozaimasu, Viktor-kouchi."

"Dou itashimashite." The Russian answered fondly, "Anyway though, how's your hip?"

Yuri switched phone-hands and reached with the right to where his sleep-trunks were covering the bruise, pulling up on the bottom until he could see the mark, "...It's gotten to that sickly green-yellow phase. It should be gone by the end of NHK."

"Does it still hurt?"

"Only if I mash it against something."

"Hm..." Viktor set a finger from his free hand over his lip, "I never did kiss it better before I left. I'll have to do that when I get there." He said, smiling to himself.

"I expect nothing less."

"Mh." The older skater hummed, seeing the lights of the city starting to glow in the distance, even through the snow, "Well, it's probably absurdly late for you right now. Sorry to have kept you up all night waiting. I'll let you go to sleep."

"Okay..."

"Less than 24 hours until we're together again."

Yuri huffed a laugh, somber as it was, "This is going to be the longest 16 hours of my life."

"Sleep as late as you can then. I'll be keeping you up all night again anyway."

The young skater's cheeks flushed, "Tanoshimi. Aishiteru yo."

"Ja tebja ljublju. Do skorogo."

"Mata ne."

When the call finally ended, and the screen went dark, Yuri kept his eyes on it for a moment and then set it face-down on his chest, keeping his fingers wrapped around it all the while. With a deep breath, be pulled his legs off the edge of the bed and twisted to get back up onto his feet again, sitting on that same edge only long enough to reach for the remote control and turn the television off. The room plunged into darkness; Yuri pushed back along his edge of the bed until he felt the edge of the blankets and started pulling them over himself. A quick search on the nightstand next to him, and he plugged in his phone to charge, and finally let himself settle in, setting his head down on the pillow and kissing his ring...

...and then found himself right back on the floor again.

The kick to his back had come quickly, silent as death. He didn't even hear it coming.

Blinking in confusion, Yuri pushed up from where his eyes were still swirling after landing, looking back up onto the bed and seeing glowing cat-like eyes glaring back at him from under the pillowcase, "...What was that for!?"

"You're being too loud."

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.

.

Despite his best efforts, Yuri was still awake way earlier than he wanted to be. His 12pm alarm went off a full 5 hours after he'd already risen for the day. He barely managed to eat a few crumbs for breakfast, and every plane that he spotted flying overhead was the one Viktor was on...until Yuri checked his phone for the time again and realized that plane was still over Siberia somewhere.

"Your face is going to get stuck like that, Yuri." Minako mused, poking his cheek with her finger.

Yuri glanced up briefly, seeing his reflection in the pane of glass in front of him, separating him from the strange artwork on the other side. The woman's finger finally came back, and the skater rubbed the spot she'd poked, "...Sorry."

"He's not going to get here any faster if you sulk enough or check your phone so many times." She teased, "It'll be dark when the plane lands."

"Only because it's winter." The skater sighed in frustration, "It was just weird, hearing him talk about what he was doing."

"Why?"

Yuri paused a moment, not sure how much sense he'd make given how little he thought the ballerina knew about what had gone on in the last year, "Viktor had always been anxious about going back to his hometown. To hear him talking about taking pictures and sight-seeing there suddenly...I didn't think he would even consider doing something like that, especially when he said that most of the area is in ruins. And staying overnight? He was practically crawling out of his own skin when I was there with him before. Where did he sleep? Was it even his idea? He said he wanted to avoid his father like the plague...and yet, he didn't mention Konstantin at all."

"Maybe they didn't see him." Minako offered, moving down the hall to the next 'art' display under the glass. They were meandering through the 500m Underground Walkway Gallery, trying to pass the time. Yurio had gone off on his own hours earlier, "I can't imagine they spent a lot of time outdoors though. It would've taken them most of the day just to get there from Moscow, given what Mikhail's told me about where this place is."

"I feel like Viktor would've told me one way or another if they saw him. I was just so happy to hear from him though that I didn't think about it until after...he sounded eerily relaxed. I thought he'd either be grumpy or somber. I forgot to even ask about whether he got what he needed out there." He ruffled his hair a little bit, "I just asked if he'd be willing to help Phichit-kun when he gets here tomorrow."

"Ah."

"Ah?" Yuri echoed, looking at the woman curiously.

"You and he have had such bad experiences out there that I'm not surprised neither of you really wanted to talk about it. Going back to things that are familiar to you, stuff that you both like, is a good way to avoid talking about things that make you uncomfortable." She explained, peering through the glass at what looked like a long display of stalagmites...or termite mounds...she wasn't sure, "You knew absolutely nothing about his past before the skating, even though you practically could've recited everything else about him, given how closely you followed his career before. Honestly though, I'm not surprised he had it so rough."

"...Why's that?"

"All things considered, he was one of the lucky ones."

"You call what happened to him lucky?" Yuri asked, aghast at her.

"Considering what happened to other people? Yeah." She said, shrugging, "Viktor would've still been a kid when Russia fell apart. Wars raged across the whole country as smaller regions vied for independence, and tens of thousands of people died, civilians included. Places that used to be safe, where kids could roam the streets at all hours and families would know they'd be fine, suddenly had to bolt the doors shut after dark for fear of raids. People would go to work, not being paid for months at a time, and when they did, it wasn't even enough to buy bread. I can't imagine how many people probably starved to death out there."

Yuri was gawking at her, feeling a mix of confusion and horror.

The ballerina turned towards him though, smiling awkwardly, "If the worst thing Viktor ever worried about was whether his father found out about him skating...then he escaped with hardly a scratch."

"You make it sound like you think he didn't go through much at all."

"Not at all." Minako shook her head, "From what I've been told, he had it bad, in his own way. It just could've been a lot worse, too. I imagine a lot of really talented people, smart people, were lost to the annals of time because they were born in the wrong year and suffered the fall-out in their prime. Yura and his friend Otabek...they have no idea how good they had it, because both of them were born long after things had finally settled down again."

"...How is it that you know all this stuff?" Yuri wondered, "Seems like it would be way beyond the realm of things you'd be interested in."

"Mikhail tells me stories." She said, moving down the length of the hall, the stalagmite/termite mound display going on for some 100ft, "He's strange that way."

"What do you mean...?" Yuri caught up and walked next to her.

The woman's expression changed a little as she tried to figure out how to explain herself, rubbing her chin with her thumb, "It started last spring, right before yours and Viktor's wedding party...in the snowstorm... We took shelter at my Snack Bar."

"Oh, that." Yuri huffed a nervous laugh, "He told me."

Minako's face went red immediately, "He did!? How much did he say!?"

"Just the facts." The skater teased.

"Shimatta..."

"Anyway though."

"Yeah." The woman cleared her throat nervously, looking away from the man as she started speaking again, "Anyway... That happened, and then he acted like it hadn't. He slowly started warming up to me again after that, inviting me back to Russia now and then, but nothing ever really happened. It's like he thought about getting serious, and then he'd back off. Whenever he was about to go into full-retreat, he'd start telling stories about Russia's history, as though trying to sabotage himself by talking about things that were really...unattractive."

"...That's weird."

"Right?" She mused, finally turning back to him again as they continued their slow stroll forward, "Back in Bordeaux, when we picked up Yura, he called us out on the whole thing, and Mikhail actually pretended for a little while like we were going steady...but with Yura always around, nothing more came of it, again."

"What about when we came to pick him up and you guys threw all his stuff into the hall like you couldn't get rid of him fast enough? You had all that time to yourselves afterwards." Yuri wondered.

"After spending a week with him? All we did was sleep." She laughed, thinking on the whole situation like it was some farce, "He didn't go off on his own until the rest of the Russian Team showed up, and by then, I think it was just because he wanted a change of scenery. Mikhail went back to basics after that, but then everything went south between Yura and Viktor, so he wasn't in the mood for much. He flipped a switch, as though going from bachelor-mode to dad-mode, trying to sort those boys out before they killed each other."

"Oh."

"Then we went back to Russia for a bit, but then Mikhail fell off that stupid roof and hurt himself, like an idiot..."

Yuri smiled nervously, but made no comment.

"...And Yura ended up going to Shanghai with me instead." She said quietly, sounding more disappointed than previously.

"From what Yurio told me, Mikhail was all fixed up and ready to go home before you guys even got on the plane."

"Yeah, but I almost didn't go. We went to go check on him in the hospital. He was really cranky about the whole thing, saying he'd never forgive me if I skipped Cup of China for his sake. He'd really go out of his way to point out that he was old and crippled, but that he could still somehow take care of himself. I finally got him to admit the real reason why he was so cranky, and it wasn't even about his back...well, not exactly."

"Eh?"

Minako paused, holding her elbows as she crossed her arms, "Yura wasn't going to be able to go to China, if not for Mikhail's accident. In the end, I got him to half-admit that he had intended to use the alone-time in China as his golden opportunity to flirt, and he was mad because he couldn't go at all anymore."

"...Oh."

"He actually thought I'd forgotten about the time we got snowed in before your wedding party, and he was really embarrassed to find out I hadn't. Unlike certain people who won't be named, I can hold my liquor without getting amnesia from it." She said, teasingly pointing a finger at the skater.

Yuri just deadpanned her.

"Anyway though, that was the last time I saw him. I asked him why he would keep trying to get close, only to run away again, and repeat this same cycle over and over. He basically said it was because he liked me but that he was also worried about getting burned again, like with his ex-wife."

"Do you like him though?" The skater wondered, not sure anymore.

"I like the idea of him." She said, almost bluntly, looking at the floor, "But I don't want to let myself get attached to someone who doesn't know what he wants."

"...I guess that's fair." Yuri answered...then checked the time on his phone again. To his surprise, a good 15 minutes had passed; steady progress to the destined hour. He put the device away again and nudged the ballerina with his elbow, "I guess we'll see how he reacts when they get here. Maybe he just needed time away to figure things out."

.

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It was nearly 7pm, and the plane still hadn't landed. Yuri neurotically checked the Arrivals/Departures site on his phone, seeing the listing admitting the flight was delayed, but not giving an ETA. It had snowed in the late afternoon, but only lightly, so the runway was wet, but not unsafe for landing. It was causing things to back up though.

The next 30 minutes seemed to take even longer than the eternity of the whole day preceding it...but then the 'DELAYED' tag finally changed to 'ARRIVED.'

Even then, however, it still took forever for passengers to be able to get off the plane, down the ramp, into the airport itself, and then down the escalators to the baggage claim area. Yuri waited impatiently, Yurio and Minako nearby, staring down the wide corridor to where they suspected the two men would finally appear. There were dozens of other people standing around as well, doing much the same thing, or waiting for the busses and taxis outside, so seeing all the detail was difficult.

"YURI!"

The skater lifted his head, having heard his name but not being able to pin down where it had come from.

"YUUURI!"

Cherry-hazel eyes finally spotted that silver-haired head; Viktor was leaning so far over the railing of the escalator that he was like to fall off if he wasn't careful, but it didn't look like the man had spotted him yet. Yuri took off running, trying to weave his way through the crowd. By the time he pushed his way into a slight clearing, he could see Viktor jumping down the last few steps of the moving stairwell and running around in a U-turn to come up the hall the other way, looking around frantically.

"YUUUURRRIIIIII!" He called, more urgently than before; desperately.

"VIKTOR!"

The Russian turned his head and spotted him immediately with eyes that were heavy with stress, anxiety, sleeplessness, impatience, and worry. It all seemed to melt away when their eyes met. There was a slight pause between them as they each realized the other wasn't a hallucination, and then finally ran at full-throttle towards each other, covering the last 50ft between them in a heartbeat. Yuri nearly tripped over his own feet trying to get there, but recovered just in time to throw himself at the man.

Everything seemed like it was going in slow motion after that.

Yuri's arms were up and out, and went over Viktor's shoulders, wrapping around him as they collided. Viktor in turn wrapped his arms around his partner's whole frame, and spun him around twice before finally setting his feet back on the ground and clinging to him hard, face buried against Yuri's shoulder. The younger skater could feel the tears against his skin almost immediately, and held his husband harder as well, only to feel tears forming in his own eyes, too. He snuffled a bit and pulled back to rub his nose on his sleeve, trying to clear it before Viktor could see, but it didn't matter. Their eyes locked, and they set their foreheads together.

"I missed you so much."

The younger man pulled one hand back, reaching up to press his palm to his partner's cheek, brushing one tear away with his thumb before smiling, pushing up onto his toes...and kissed him.