CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED THIRTY ONE

The more Yurio looked at the Siberian Tiger, the more his heart raced. When he realized that the creature had a rudimentary skeleton and could be posed in different ways, he was practically sobbing with excitement. There was even a discrete stand that came with it, so the creature could be posed in a more dynamic upright position, and even its jaws could be articulated.

Like the dutiful Emissary of Instagram that he was, Phichit was recording the entire spectacle on his phone. He and the two older skaters had taken to watching the teen like he was his own form of entertainment, though all three were mystified and enthralled, quietly watching him as he posed and reposed the tiger in all manner of menacing or cool stances. Makkachin snoozed quietly on the side, his fluffy head perched on his human's knee where he sat cross-legged.

Yuri leaned towards Viktor, hand coming up to hide his voice a little, "I think Mikhail hit a landmine with this one. I've never seen Yurio so excited before."

"Right?" The Russian agreed, "He wasn't even this crazy when he swiped the Grand Prix gold from you last year."

The younger skater felt somewhat deflated, "...Don't remind me!"

Phichit leaned in after that with a smug look on his face, "It's like how you used to be."

"Eh?"

Viktor looked over, "Do tell."

"Quit whispering, jackasses." Yurio suddenly interjected, staring at them from the front of the tiger, "I can hear you."

"Language." Yuri grimaced, sulking a bit still from Phichit's 'threat.'

The Thai skater just took it in stride, "Don't you remember?" He asked in a normal voice, sitting upright again for lack of needing to whisper, halting the recording for a bit and setting his phone-arm down, "You were bouncing off the walls that time you came back from Skate Canada, before Sochi."

.

"PHICHITO-KUUUUUNNNN!" Yuri practically screamed, hyperventilating as he came running through the big halls of Detroit Metropolitan Airport, arms flailing in the air above himself.

The aforementioned then-teen lifted his head, waiting with other members of their Skate Club, "Yuri!?"

"HE TOUCHED ME." The older skater huffed, running right up to his friend and grabbing him by the head with a hand desperately clinging to each side of it, "VIKTOR NIKIFOROV SHOOK MY HAND AND TALKED TO ME."

"I saw it on tv!" Phichit answered, "Did you say anything back!?"

"...NO." Yuri practically burst into tears on the spot, "I mean, n-not really!"

"What did he tell you!? WHAT DID YOU SAY BACK?"

The anxious skater took in a deep breath, the words coming out like a speeding vortex, "He said my name but thought he forgot what it was cuz it's hard to hear over the crowds when the announcers are talking so fast over the intercom and he apologized but HE SAID MY NAME and then he shook my hand and said 'see you at the final, good luck' and then he skated away it was so perfect." He still had tears running down his face from the excitement, "I WILL NEVER WASH THIS HAND AGAIN."

"BUT WHAT DID YOU SAY BACK!?" Phichit demanded, hands on his friend's shoulders, "I NEED DETAILS, YURI. DETAILS."

Celestino was barely picking up the rear by then, seeing where Yuri was still dying from the retelling.

"I said thank you!" The skater answered finally, "But then I went back to being too scared to say anything again!" He ruffled his hair frantically, "He was there the whole time at the Banquet too and I didn't say anything to him!" Yuri practically sunk down to the floor, dropping slowly to his knees as he truly realized his lost opportunity, grabbing at the sides of Phichit's khakis before finally landing his hands on the polished floor, "...He even waved at me to be nice and I just freaked out and ran away...!"

"Aw! Yuri!" Phichit knelt down and pat his back reassuringly, "You'll get another chance when you meet him on his own turf in Russia in 2 weeks! I'm sure you'll be able to recover!"

The coach raised a brow at his panicked student, and then waved dismissively at the other three figures that had gathered to meet them at the airport, "Don't mind Yuri. He's a bit star-struck right now."

They each just glanced at one another and laughed nervously.

.

Viktor leaned on his partner heavily, "So how long did you go before you washed your hand?" He laughed.

"...Like 3 minutes..." The younger sighed, "Celestino made me wash up because I touched the floor... It was traumatizing..."

Phichit just laughed as well, leaning back on his hands, "You managed to nail down the quad Loop in practice in those two weeks though. I don't think I ever saw someone do so many quads in such a short period of time before then."

"Yeah, he's a quad monster, this one." The silver Russian agreed, pawing at the man's hair affectionately, "If there weren't such strict rules about repeating jumps more than once, I bet he could do nothing but quads!"

"Pfft." Yuri huffed, "It's different doing them in practice. Jumping for points takes way more energy than just jumping to refine technique or whatever."

"I know." Viktor mused, "I was just saying. Doing nothing but quads would be boring anyway."

"Remember how I passed out at Worlds just for doing five of them?"

"You were dehydrated." The elder skater pointed out, "That's why you had such a raging migraine coming off the ice at the end."

"...And my amnesia."

The Russian just gently took his husband's face in his hands and turned it directly towards himself, "We will never speak of that moment again." He said eerily, the smile on his face making it even more weird.

"...S-Sumimasen..." Yuri answered anxiously.

Viktor just kept up the smile, moving only to tilt his face forward and give his husband a quick peck on the lips before letting him go again, "We should go to the Ice Castle. We've been loitering around Yu-Topia way longer than we meant to."

Phichit gasped, "You three should show me that Team Skate thing you were talking to each other about online during Trophée de France!"

Yurio glanced back at the mention of it, but turned his attention to the tiger again when he heard his Asian counterpart nixing it.

"No way." Yuri said, crossing his wrists in front of himself for emphasis, "It'll ruin the surprise if it gets online!"

"I'll be good!"

Viktor had his own phone in his hand by then, looking at Phichit's account like he knew to check, and held it out for the others to see, "He already posted Yuri's tiger-toy freakout."

"WHAT?" Yurio barked, shocked and horrified all at once.

The Thai skater waved his hands around nervously, "I couldn't help it!" He defended to the Russian Punk, finding the teen standing and looming over him suddenly.

"Take it down." Yurio demanded darkly, his voice eerily calm despite his eyes being hidden in shadow.

Viktor just gave an innocent smile, "It's already been Liked over 50 times. Cat's out of the bag now...literally." He laughed again, pointing at the teen, "Get it? Cat?" Then at the stuffed tiger, "Out of the bag? Cuz it was wrapped in plastic...?"

"...Yeah, sure, you're absolutely hysterical." Yurio deadpanned him, then turned back to Phichit, only to stare daggers for a few seconds before turning on his heel to go back to his faux feline, "If we're going to the Ice Castle then let's just go." He hugged his arms around the tiger's shoulders.

"...Are you planning on bringing that thing with you?" Yuri wondered, giving the teen a look like it was unbelievable.

"Of course not. Help me move it to my room."

"Oh...sure." The older skater agreed, rising up to his feet as the other two did so as well, "I guess we'll meet you out front."

"Okay~." Another quick kiss, and the oldest member of the group moved to take his leave, heading back down to the onsen locker-room where he'd left his things. Phichit was soon after him, hopping gingerly to get out of the Russian Punk's crosshairs as quickly as he could, fearing the appearance of a red laser-dot on his back.

Yuri stepped over to help unhook the heavy plush from its mount, watching the teen heft it over his back as well as he could before starting to drag it out of the room as well, but heading the opposite direction that Viktor and Phichit had gone. Yuri stepped in close behind with the metal stand, following quietly to the teen's room. When they got to the small space, the same room Yurio had used during his previous brief stays, the tiger was heaved onto the bed. The older figure simply looked for a place that was out of the way to set the mount down, hoping no one would trip on it later. The walls of Yu-Topia Katsuki were paper-thin, after all, and he didn't doubt that the whole resort would hear about it if the Russian Tiger stubbed his toe.

"Did you put him up to this?"

"Huh?" Yuri turned back from where he'd started heading towards the door, "...Put who up to what?"

"The old man. Did you tell him to get this for me?" The blonde clarified stiffly, keeping his sights on the plush, back towards the door.

Cherry-hazel eyes just blinked at the younger figure, "...I don't tell Mikhail to do anything."

"...Then why did he get it?"

Yuri could hardly believe he'd heard the words, watching as the younger figure just silently stared at the tiger plush, massive as it was. He drew in a breath and leaned against the edge of the doorframe, "The thing with Mikhail sponsoring you might've started out as a favor, but he does actually care about you now, you know? He was really worried about why you weren't answering the phone."

"So you did talk to him."

"Sure." The older skater answered quietly, realizing the admission was inescapable, "I called him after Viktor and I got home. He said you wouldn't take his calls anymore, but I thought that might be because you went to sit in the onsen. ...Will you talk to him now?"

"What's there to talk about? He can't bribe me."

"I don't think he's trying to bribe you. He bought you something that he knew you'd like, because he pays attention to you and knows what you're about. If he didn't actually care about you, how would he know you have a thing for big cats? He and Minako-sensei took you to that zoo in France, too." Yuri pointed out, "He was actually worried about how you've been treating him lately, like you don't want him around anymore."

"He needlessly stirred the shit-pot this weekend." The blonde admitted bitterly, "You were the first person to offer an olive-branch to me after things really went bad, even before Viktor... As soon as I saw Viktor's father though, I knew thing were going to go to Hell. I hated Mikhail for doing that... NHK was supposed to be fun. Unlike all these other events we've been to so far."

"Yeah, and he paid a high price for it. He got chewed out by Yakov, he got the cold shoulder from Minako-sensei, and from you...he was convinced that he was going to be sent away for it. In a backwards sort of way, you guys are really similar."

"The Hell is that supposed to mean?" Yurio grumbled, turning his head slightly.

"Mikhail's worst fear is being exiled...yours is being abandoned. He's gotten kind of attached to you, and doesn't want to lose that." Yuri explained, pushing off the wall to step into the hallway beyond it, "I know you hate admitting when you care about people, other than your grandpa, but I really think you should talk to him. He can be something for you that Viktor and I could never be, and that even your own family never was." He watched the younger figure carefully for any sign of reaction, but Yurio was putting on a brave face and stood stoically, giving nothing away about what he was thinking, "In a way, I think he already is that person for you, and this whole thing with his kids back in Canada just made you realize it, because you feel like he might stop. But they were there long before you, and that didn't stop him from caring about you anyway...so what's happening now doesn't change anything. Cut him a bit of slack...a lot of people are depending on him all at once suddenly, and he's stretched pretty thin. ...But that doesn't mean he cares about you any less. Don't punish him by making him think he failed."

The teen remained where he was, hands in his hoodie's pockets, staring at the life-like tiger with down-cast eyes. It was a moment before he turned, realizing he'd caught his older counterpart just as he was about to start heading down the hall, "Katsudon..."

"...Huh?"

"...Yuri..." The Russian Punk corrected, raising his eyes up.

The older skater knew it was serious if Yurio was using his real name, so he gave his undivided attention, stepping back within the doorway.

No words came though, at least not immediately. The teen grit his teeth, looking aside, "...Never mind..."

"Come with us to the Ice Castle." Yuri offered, "Skating always helped me when I was feeling anxious about stuff. It's going to be pretty casual."

"...I'll catch up later or something." Yurio shook his head, "I'm going to stay here."

"...Oh. Okay." The older figure couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, his brow furrowed. He only felt reassured again when the teen took a few steps forward to close the gap between them and gave their customary departure hug. It was a bit surprising to note how long the blonde held on for though, but Yuri knew better than to call him out on it, or even mention that it had happened that way to begin with. He just returned the hug and held on for as long as the teen did, letting go only when he felt Yurio pulling away again. Wordlessly, Yuri simply nodded, and took his leave.

The Russian Tiger waited for a minute before moving to sit on the edge of his bed, leaning back against the ribs of the plush tiger behind him. The 'beast' took up the entire length of the mattress, not even including its tail, which hung off the end. It felt protective, in a strange way...this life-sized replica of one of the planet's most elegant killing machines. To Yurio though, in that moment, it felt like his guardian, watching with unblinking eyes to keep him safe.

With that, he pulled his phone out of his hoodie, and dialed a number.