CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED TWENTY NINE

Makkachin barked and jumped through the snow piles heaved up on the side of the entranceway, leaving poodle-sized sinkholes in the deep drift. Of course, for every leap through the cold white fluff, there was a bunch that trailed off the dog's fur when he jumped back out again, leaving frayed streaks of crystalline frost jutting inward from the two neatly-shoveled rows.

"Makkachin!" Viktor called, chasing after the woofer, though only adding to the dog's excitement and driving him even further into the piles. Almost as soon as the man had tried to corral the big brown poof though, he lost sight of the point of his task and started jumping into the ice-fluff as well, laughing and tossing snowballs across the Yu-Topia front patio area for the dog to chase after.

Yuri watched in amazement, turning his head as each little white ball went soaring, and the poodle tried jumping up to catch them in his mouth, only to fall into the hoarfrost and jump again at the next one.

"What the Hell is all the racket out here?" Came the voice of a particularly grumpy teenager, shoving the sliding doors aside to investigate.

Viktor had stopped in the middle of another snowball toss, blinking wide, surprised blue eyes at the young Russian.

Makkachin had frozen in place as well, only turning his head towards the door; he started panting softly, that big pink tongue waggling about under his nose.

"Oh. It's you people."

BARK!

"Hey Yuri." The singular Asian said, raising a hand and waving from neutral territory close to the archway, "You sleep okay?"

"...Sure?" Yurio glanced down at the two small bags and one bigger suitcase set next to the man, "...You going somewhere?"

"Huh?" Yuri looked at the items at his sides, "Oh, no, these are for Phichit-kun. We freighted his stuff with ours so it wouldn't get lost. Everything came this morning so we're just bringing it to him since we're here anyway. Where is he?"

The teen thumbed inside, "I thought I saw him heading to the onsen earlier."

"Ah, that actually sounds like a good idea." Viktor interjected, tossing the last snowball as he rose back to standing, "We didn't get to soak yesterday. Why not loosen up before heading to the Ice Castle?"

"You won't catch me arguing." Yuri nodded, reaching for the bags again to pick them up and start heading inside.

Yurio stiffly moved out of the way as the poodle came barreling in first, shaking off the excess snow all over the teen before trotting off like he owned the place, nails clicking on the hardwood floor. Aghast, the Russian Kitten just looked ahead dead-faced in surprise, arms hanging out to the side like he might as well have just been caught in a puddle splashed up by a passing car. Viktor rushed in after the pooch, pausing only long enough to kick his shoes off before vanishing through the door to the common area, begging the animal to come back so he could dry the creature off.

Yuri shook his head and huffed a quiet laugh to himself as he followed in last, hoisting the rolling suitcase and two other bags in over the landing and set them all down near the shoe-racks. He turned to close the sliding doors, but found that the teen was way ahead of him, hearing the shuffle of wood along the floor as the frames were moved into place. With a clack, the entrance-way was closed again, and the cool air from outside was blocked, replaced with the warm air from inside the resort.

The Russian Tiger was about to step off, returning to his silent prowl around the building like he'd been doing for most of the morning already, but was stopped by the feeling of a hand around his forearm. Green eyes turned to glance back, but nothing else, "What?"

Wordlessly, Yuri pulled the unusually-quiet teen into their customary greeting-hug, arms over blonde's shoulders where he was still slightly taller. He held there for a little while, feeling only one hand come up against his ribs to return the gesture. To that, Yuri hugged a bit tighter, refusing to let go until Yurio caught the hint and gave a proper hug back, but even then, he stayed put for a few more seconds.

They could hear Viktor calling out success for having captured his dog, hefting the wiggly flufferbutt back into the common room, and Yuri finally allowed the teen his freedom again. Yurio turned his eyes up at the older skater for a moment, but couldn't think of anything to say, so he just nodded and turned to walk away as he'd originally intended.

Hazel eyes watched him go, hoping the teen had gotten something out of it. With a quiet sigh, Yuri shuffled to kick his shoes off and put his things away before moseying off to find his distracted spouse. When he got into the common room, he found the silver Russian trying to pat down the wiggly poodle; one towel over Makkachin's back, another over his head, and the man sitting on his knees in front of the creature with a third towel, holding up both of those wet front paws within it.

"You know you're not supposed to run through the resort when you're soaking wet." The Russian was lecturing calmly, dabbing the melted snow from the brown poof's fur, "Or shake inside. How do you plead?"

BORK.

"Mhm, mhm...guilty. That's what I thought." Viktor set the paws down, damp but no longer cold or soaking wet, and reached both hands forward to squish the dog's cheeks, "Are you sorry?"

BORFF-mrrph.

"...Okay, I forgive you. This time." The Russian held up a finger and pointed it at the critter's nose for emphasis, only for the poodle to bypass it entirely and drag that big, slobbery pink tongue across his human's face, knocking the man onto his back in the process. Viktor flailed and protested, but ended up laughing anyway, and the dog's tail was a blur of wags.

Yuri smiled, clapping his hands to get the pupper's attention, "Makkachin! To me!"

Dark beady eyes lifted up, and the excitable canine came trotting over to his other human for new attention, leaning against the man's legs and twisting happily as Yuri bent forward to scratch at the dog's side. The skater knelt down and got a few licks of his own before the poodle went down onto his back, begging for some belly-rubs, and being all too happy for it when he got them.

Viktor rubbed his face on one of the drier towels, and sat cross-legged for a moment, propping his elbow onto one of the low tables and watching. It didn't take long for the pup to get the upper hand when Yuri knelt down, rolling back onto his paws and hopping over the man's back while he was down on the ground, landing perpendicular across him. The Russian just laughed, "He's too smart for his own good, that one."

"...And much heavier than Vik-chan ever was..." Yuri huffed, trying to get out from under the lazy animal's weight, but only managed to get a slobbery-wet ear where Makkachin had turned to love on him again. Yuri just flailed, and the dog barked and jumped off, sitting innocently behind him instead and quietly panting.

"I guess it's a good thing we decided to sit in the onsen for a bit." Viktor mused, scooting forward along the floor with the mostly-dry towel to get the worst of the drool off his husband's face, "Shall we?"

.

The steamy, hot pool was like a small chunk of Heaven, melting away stress and stiffness like nothing else could. Just as Yurio had surmised, Phichit was already there, but was sitting on the ledge with just his legs dangling into the warm mineral-water. His ears perked up when he heard the sound of the changing-room doors opening, and waved when he saw the two older skaters stepping through.

"Oh hey, so you did come here." Yuri said, waving as well, "Yurio said you might be back here."

"For sure!" The Thai skater nodded happily, "No sense staying at a hot-spring resort if you don't use the hot-spring, right? Besides, it's been forever since your wedding party, so I've been dying to get back into here since the day you suggested I tag along after NHK!"

Viktor wasted no time, stepping gingerly into the water and moving off with the heat rising half-way up his thighs, while Yuri waited and sat on the edge for a while, towel across his lap like Phichit had done already. The Thai figure's eyes caught a glimpse of something unusual on the Russian's back as he passed though, and turned briefly to watch him moving over to his usual spot on the opposite side of the mid-pool fountain. As obvious as blood on milk, four long lines ran from each shoulder-blade down to his sides. The cogs in the skater's mind were working in overdrive suddenly as the reason for the marks slowly percolated through him. Brown eyes turned to meet hazel next to him, and Phichit whispered behind a hand, "...Is your house haunted?"

"...Haunted?" Yuri repeated, thoroughly confused, "Where did you get that idea?"

Viktor had already sunk to his normal place, but slouched down to just above his shoulders, smiling contentedly and closing his eyes, ignoring the banter on the other side of the deck.

"Those marks on Viktor's back! I've seen those American ghost shows! It's a sign of an angry spirit if you get scratches or bite-marks without a known reason, and I didn't see them at the Banquet!"

"Wouldn't those be American ghosts? How did they get all the way to Japan?" Yuri deadpanned him, trying to hide the red flush growing on his cheeks by sinking into the water in front of where he'd sat on the deck, "Anyway, we brought your stuff with us when we got here. I left it with my mom. She said she'd take it up to your room."

"Oh." Phichit gave a look, thrown off his previous train of thought like the rider from the back of an angry bull, "...Thanks."

"We're heading over to the Ice Castle after this if you want to come." Yuri went on, turning on the submerged platform to rest an elbow on the deck and face the other skater, "Viktor and I have to get our blades sharpened, so it won't be a formal practice or anything, but it'll be fun anyway. There might actually be a regular class up there too by the time we get there. The locals always go crazy when we show up in the middle of things."

"Well, it's only because of you that skating's gotten so popular again, right?" Phichit pointed out.

"That's true." The older skater nodded, "Back when it first got out that Viktor had come to coach me, the Ice Castle was practically overrun with people wanting to take skating lessons or shoot documentary programs."

"I never saw any."

"That's because we wouldn't let them." Yuri laughed nervously, gawking across the water at his partner, "Though by 'we' I meant Nishigori and myself...the girls and Viktor were all for it."

"You let them have their fun with the Hot-Springs on Ice event, at any rate."

"Yeah...that's true." The older skater agreed, casually turning to rest his chin on the crook of his arm, "So what should we do when we get back to Detroit? You said it got boring after I left, but..."

"Well," Phichit turned his head up, "After you told Ciao Ciao that you were going to go back home, I was his only athlete. There was plenty to keep me busy, but skating on my own was kind of lonely."

"Did everyone else leave or something?"

Viktor peeked one eye open as he heard a few keywords in the conversation.

"Not since last I checked, but it's been a while. I'm pretty sure Ketty never left, an-"

"Ketty?" The Russian interrupted, giving something of a glare from the other side of the spring, "Who's that?"

Yuri turned his head to look back, "Ketty Abelashvili. She's the Conservatory student who did my Free Skate music last year."

Slate eyes looked on without blinking for a while, but the rising compulsive defensiveness soon faded again, and the Russian went back to soaking in peaceful quiet, "Mh."

Phichit leaned down and whispered behind his hand again, "...He's super jealous lately. What happened?"

"Nothing more than what you saw yesterday." Yuri answered back, also behind his hand. Just as he was about to pull back though, it dawned on him what the problem might've been, "Oh! I know!"

"What what!?"

"Remember when you got hurt that time and had to go to the hospital?"

"...Obviously." Phichit raised a brow at him, "I was the one who went."

"Ciao Ciao, me, and a bunch of other people from the rink followed after the ambulance and waited around until we were told you'd be fine. But you remember that one girl that was really pushy with me before that?"

"Sure. Celeste. She had a huge crush on you but you never gave her the time of day." Phichit teased, "I noticed that things got weird between you guys after that, but...since it was my accident, I didn't want to assume it was my fault something happened between you guys, too."

"No, it wasn't because of you." Yuri assured, keeping his voice down and his hand up, "She tried hugging me an-"

"WHAT!?" The Thai skater practically jumped off the edge of the deck, "She tried hugging you!? I'm surprised she didn't end up in the emergency room alongside me!" He was practically laughing at that point, "You never let anyone touch you in those days! It was hard enough getting you to take silly pictures with me!"

Yuri was practically blown over by the sudden outburst, but managed to cling to the edge of the deck, "Keep it down!"

"Who are you talking about now?" Viktor's voice came unexpectedly from behind, and Yuri once again nearly vacated the water in shock. The Russian simply asked again, "Who tried hugging you? What Emergency room? Yuri."

The panicked skater tried to catch his breath, his heart pounding away from the sudden scare, "H-How did you even get behind me like that!?"

"Kotaero."

The tone made Yuri back up against Phichit's knees, waving his hands around defensively, "N-No one! Not lately! Other than Mila, anyway!" He insisted, "We were talking about the Detroit days! The girl who tried hugging me back when, and I shoved her off! I told you about this like a month after you came to Hasetsu!"

"You shoved her off?" Phichit echoed, "Wow, no wonder things got weird! You crushed her!"

"I didn't mean to!" Yuri insisted, turning back to look up at the Thai figure looming overhead, "She spooked me! I wasn't into her an-"

"Is she in Detroit right now?" Viktor asked, his voice almost monotone.

"I have no idea; I swear! If she is, it'd be no different than when Sophia popped up suddenly!"

The Russian's eyes twitched at the reminder, and he seemed to calm a little, sitting normally against the under-water bench where previously he'd been sitting sideways to face his partner, "...Fair enough."

"Oh! I read about her!" Phichit laughed, "There were all kinds of posts about it on Instagram, about how she was at Trophée de France as a newscaster for some station in Bordea-"

Both older skaters gave him a look, and the younger figure went silent, a look on his face like his laughter was turning to comical fear.

Yuri turned 180 on the stone seat and set a hand against his partner's leg under the water, "You don't have to be jealous. There's no one in this whole wide world who could ever stand a hope of replacing you."

"I'm not worried about that." Viktor answered sullenly.

"What then?"

The Russian remained silent for a moment, drawing in a breath where he stared at the surface of the water. He pushed off the submerged bench and scuttled around on his knees to face his partner, hands settling on either side of his legs. Slate eyes looked down still, but then slowly climbed up, bringing the right hand up as well to touch gently under the younger man's chin, thumbing his lip, "I don't want anyone to think they can try anyway. You've accomplished so much in the last year already, and a lot more people know you now. That one fan that managed to kiss you yesterday somehow...if I had seen it happen with my own eyes... Chernobyl would've looked like a sandcastle being kicked over by a kid on a beach somewhere by comparison."

Yuri blinked at the man in confusion, "...It's not like I wanted that to happen. It just got so hectic all of a sudden. I didn't even realize it had happened until after I could taste the mint flavor. There were so many people... I'm sure someone only meant to get my cheek or something and missed..."

Viktor still didn't seem satisfied. The very idea of it was making the hair on the back of his neck bristle like boar's quills.

The younger figure made an unsure face, but then leaned in and gave his husband a light, reassuring kiss, pushing him out from the edge of the deck and closer to the center of the pool, letting the water carry them along. In the stillness, with nothing but the sound of the fountain trickling resonating in the air, they floated quietly in front of each other. Yuri tilted forward on his knees as well as he could, sliding his hands under the silver Russian's arms and holding around his back, mooring close to the man's chest to hug him, "Even if she's there, what's she going to do? Phichit-kun wasn't the only one who knew what a huge fanboy of yours I was. Back when I was still getting ready for Sochi, practically the only thing I talked about was how I didn't want to mess up while you were there watching. I vowed that I would actually have the courage to talk to you after I froze up at that qualifying competition beforehand." He said quietly, "But I went back to Detroit completely crushed. My dog died, I'd gained a bunch of weight from binge-eating, my anxiety was through the roof...I'd finally met my idol on the ice in the Final Six of the Grand Prix, and then completely fell apart when it meant the most. Everything I'd worked so hard to avoid came true and I went back to that Skate Club utterly devastated."

Viktor listened quietly.

"Celeste wasn't even a fellow skater. She was a student going to the same school as me, and recognized me on the ice when she worked part time at the rink, using that as an excuse to spend time with or near me. I doubt she's even followed the competitions...so I can only imagine the look on her face when she learns how things turned out. I mean, how many nobodies get married to their heroes, right?"

"You were never a nobody." The Russian said simply. By then, the simple wading had rotated the pair slightly, and Viktor's back was again facing the curious Thai skater still sitting on the ledge.

Phichit's eyes went wide, seeing where Yuri's hands clung gently to that red-marked pale skin. The gears in his head were turning again, and he realized something. The four fingers on each hand, not counting thumbs...the four red streaks going down each side of the silver skater's back...and he pointed a shaky hand straight at the couple, "Y-Yuri! YOU'RE the ghost!"

Brown eyes went wide with surprise, "...Eh!?"

"Ghost?" Viktor echoed.

The Thai skater was already down, blood spurting from his nose where he'd fallen back on the deck, "...W-where's...my...phone...!?"

"P-PHICHITO-KUN."