CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY

The sight that Minako and the others walked in on was strange, to say the least. At the far end of the rink, where the massive Christmas tree had been erected on the square, frozen-over platform at the center of the Campus Martius Park fountain, Yurio was getting his hair done. Sitting sideways against the fountain's outer ledge with Nikkita propped up on one knee to get a bit higher than himself, the blonde was practically lounging in his wintery-cold pampering. Even more strangely, while Nikki was busy with her elaborate braiding technique, Otabek was looking over her shoulder with keen interest, learning the method from her.

"And what's this one called?" He asked.

"The ones like this, where you do 'knots' around the side in multiple strands and let them hang down, are waterfall types." She explained, pointing a finger around the side of the teen's head where she'd done so, "But this one, where I braid all the horizontal knots together and then turn the last strands into a braid of its own at the back...that's a Waterfall Dutch Braid Crown."

"...What on earth did you do to his head...?" Minako asked skeptically.

Yurio cracked one eye open to gawk at her, but then simply closed it again.

"Oh, Minako! Papa! Mari! Viktoria!" Nikki waved, "We were taking a break from the ice." She looked behind herself to the crowd of on-looking teen girls, many of whom were wearing cat-ear headbands across their heads and holding to their signs protectively, "Watch this." The teen gave a knowing look to the adults and slightly-older-teen ahead of herself. She abandoned the braid suddenly and slid both arms over the blonde's shoulders, literally clinging to his back and nuzzling his hair.

The fanclub's collective eyes went wide open, some of them dropping their signs and running away while the others were too stunned to do anything but weep where they stood.

After a few tortured seconds, Nikki finally pulled back, and all three teens glanced back to see who was left; maybe half. Nikki and Yurio burst out laughing at it, though Otabek was more reserved...internally, he still thought it was funny though.

"Be careful that they don't find you alone somewhere." Viktoria huffed, rubbing her arms where she was still getting used to the cold again, "Fangirls be crazy."

"I'm just teasing." Nikki said, quietly cackling as she sat back down normally on the edge of the fountain, "It was easier than trying to run away."

"...Run away?" The four echoed.

"They chased me around in Barcelona last year." Yurio explained, "If Otabek hadn't shown up when he did, who knows what would've happened. They had me cornered in an alley. I think the only reason they didn't mind him running off with me was cuz he's a guy."

"That didn't stop you from putting your fingers in his mouth for your Exhibition that time." Minako gave him a skeptical look, pointing at the both of them with two fingers, "It was quite exhibitionist of you."

"I put that show together the night before the Gala." Yurio shrugged, "The whole point of it was supposed to be raw sex appeal for the audience. It was a performance. The more scandalous, the better, so why not? I chucked my sunglasses at the crowd, too. Not sure if I hit anyone..."

"You put his fingers in your mouth...?" Nikki echoed, looking at the Kazakh, "...Why?"

"To take one of his gloves off." Otabek explained, "His idea. I thought it was kinda weird. He met me half way at least by letting me grab the other one with my hand rather than my teeth again."

"Kinda weird?" The silver teen repeated, "If you guys had just become friends at that event, you must've barely known each other for a couple day before the Gala, right?"

"Yeah, why?" They both answered.

"Did you at least buy him a drink first...?"

Mikhail was the only one who thought it was funny, and the three ladies just stared at him until he quit chuckling.

"Don't even get me started." The Russian Tiger pushed up to stand on his blade guards, stuffing his hands into his coat pockets, "I found out he DJ's rock music and tried to listen to one of his shows, but because I'm..." He pulled his hands out again only long enough to air-quote the older skater, "...'Underage'...he wouldn't let me come. So I had to sneak in."

"When you're 18 you can come." Otabek shrugged, "House rules more so than mine."

"It's ridiculous." The blonde lamented, mostly to himself, "They're not going to give me alcohol until I'm 21 anyway, so why be stingy about the age of admission?"

"Cuz people do inappropriate things in clubs." Minako explained, stepping closer to better inspect the braids, "And lots of people smoke. Gotta save you kids from yourselves sometimes."

"Your birthday is right around Worlds. I'll DJ if you have a party there or something."

"Really!?" The teen was practically on his toe-picks with excitement, "You'd do that!?"

"Sure. Why not? If it's your show then there's no age restriction."

"Badass!" Yurio whipped his head around towards the elder Russian, "We can do that, right!?"

"Where is Worlds being held this year?" Mikhail wondered.

"Milan!"

"Ehh...I don't have any connections in Italy. I'll have to think about it."

"...Why do you need connections? It's just a birthday party." The teen deadpanned him.

"Looks like the fans have dispersed." Nikki said suddenly, getting their attention again, "I think we can get back on the ice without having them screaming and chasing after you."

Yurio tilted to look back and see for himself, but then reached for his phone, pulling open the camera and handing it to the silver teen, "Here, take a pic of your handiwork before the wind messes it all up. I want to see what it looks like."

"Oh...sure." She answered, holding her mittens out to take the device, and pulling one off with her teeth quickly. She looked then to Otabek, "Help me up?"

The older skater looked to see that the girl had no guards on her rented skates, and seemed to be wanting to step up onto the edge of the fountain...and it's icy, polished marble ledge. He gave a nervous look before shaking his head, "Better not." He reached down instead to hoist the tiny teen up with one arm, letting her hold to his shoulder with one hand while the other snapped the picture, then set her down again, "Got it?"

She examined the screen for a moment, but then nodded, giving a satisfied smile before handing the phone back to its owner, "I think it'll do. What say you, good sir?"

"We're going to go get our rental skates then." Minako said, patting her two 'step-kids' shoulders as she and the rest of the 'grown ups' moved past, "Try not to break anymore hearts while we're gone."

Yurio was too busy looking at the photo to give a concerted answer, but waved a hand and made a noise to acknowledge he heard her. He pulled that hand back then and set a finger against his chin, "...This is actually pretty good. It's a shame my Free Skate is all rough-and-tumble this year."

"Oh, you'd want me to braid it for that, too?" She clapped her hands together excitedly, "That'd be neat!"

"...Yeah, but my ensemble doesn't really lend to braided hair making any thematic sense. Maybe for an Exhibition."

"Pssht, I bet I could think of something manly enough for anything." Nikki taunted, "Try me. What's the song?"

Green eyes glanced to brown, but the Russian Tiger relented and dug up his phone's Music app, scrolling through it a bit before finding the song in question. He pulled his ear-bud cables out after that and clicked them together, offering it to her, "There's an intro...wait till the actual music starts."

"Okay." She answered, making a face as she waited. When it finally started, she nodded her head along with the intro's beat; the sound of violins and a speech. However, at the end of it, she heard a sudden heavy drumbeat, and a choir took over for a few seconds before another set of drums came in, and finally, the electric guitar and bass, "Oh...this is pretty good. I like it! How come you picked this?"

"Back last year, I had a falling out with my team and got kicked off for it. The other Yuri helped me get back into things by asking your dad if he'd sponsor me, until I could get back on my feet, and hopefully, back onto Team Russia. This song kind of reminded me of that journey, so..."

"Aww!" The silver teen fawned, "That's adorable! Has he seen you skate this yet?"

"...No." Yurio said stiffly, turning his eyes a bit as he tried desperately not to look like he was pouting over it.

"Whaaaat? How come? Does he know that's what this show is for?"

"...Also no. He was...busy."

"What, with Cousin Viktor?" Nikki made a face like she thought that would've been...excessive.

"He was on his phone the first time. The second time, he got stuck babysitting Viktor during some interview."

"Oh...well, he should see it! You should tell him to watch you!"

"We..." Yurio paused and drew a breath, but then shook his head and huffed a disgruntled sigh, "We got into an argument about it last time he missed it, in France. He promised he'd watch it this time. We'll see."

"I'm sure he will. I'd bet on it." She smiled brightly, and then turned about-face where she stood, grabbing both skaters by the elbows and started dragging them back towards the nearest rink entrance, "Let's get back on the ice! I'm having too much fun out here!"

Mila and Sara watched inconspicuously from a small distance, practically hiding behind the rink wall to avoid being seen. The red-head sighed, "...The girl got closer to Otabek in like 10 seconds than I have since last year..."

"Have you ever actually tried talking to him...?" The Italian wondered.

"I told Yuri he should introduce us."

"That's like asking him to milk a cow for you."

"...I thought it was worth a shot. What about you and Seung-gil?"

"He never answered my calls. I gave up ages ago."

"That Czech guy seems interested in you." Mila offered, pushing to stand upright then, and dragging her lady-friend off the wall with her, "What's his name...?"

"Emil." Sara sighed, "I think he pretends to like me because he likes getting a rise out of Micky."

"It's better than being a stiff like Seung-gil at least. He's never been nice to you. I don't know what you see in him."

"...His dog is cute...?" The brunette said curiously, "I like dogs."

"...You wouldn't be dating his dog."

"Dog-people are usually so outgoing though!"

"You still have my phone!" They suddenly heard Yurio yelling, turning just in time to see a certain silver teen come flying their way and skate past. The blonde was still struggling to get his skate-guards off and chase after her, tossing them at Otabek before flying out on black blades, "Nikki!"

"The song isn't done yet!" She hollered back, swiftly twisting on one skate to turn around and slide backwards, watching him trying to catch up.

Half a second before Yurio was about to barrel by, Mila felt instinct take over...and just as he got close, she lowered her arms and caught him. Another half second, and the teen was up in the air, calm and motionless but for his confusion at the change in perspective, "Wh-..."

The Kazakh skater finally managed to get nearby, pausing behind the trio and looking up, "...I feel like I've seen this before."

"Baba, put me down!" The Russian Kitten started flailing.

"Oh...h-hi, Otabek." Mila said nervously, suddenly losing all track of Yurio above herself, even as he kept thrashing his arms and legs around.

"Hey." The Kazakh said stoically, eyes trained ahead, but he pointed upward, "...Can you put him down, please?"

"Put him down?" She repeated nervously, looking above herself to see the angry bean up there looking back down at her, "Oh! Yuri! When did you get there?"

"BABA YAGA, PUT ME DOWN."

"Wow~ I'm so full...!" Viktor said happily, the group of them coming out of the tent-restaurant with their hungers sated, "I don't even know if I can skate right now...!"

"What in the world...?" Yuri paused where they walked, looking out at the rink curiously, and the unusual situation taking place thereupon, "...Why is Yurio in the air again?"

"It's a thing Mila does." The silver Russian mused, "Come on, let's get our skates on."

"You just said you were too full though..."

Minako looked at the handiwork of her lace-tying nervously, but stood up and started making her shaky-way over towards the outer side of the rink-wall.

Mari was already in the doorway, and glanced back to see the older woman coming, "...How are you gonna be Yurio's coach if you can't skate?"

"...One thing about being a teacher is that I can get away with telling people to do as I say, not as I do." She answered, reaching for the elder Katsuki's arm for balance, "So I can tell Yurio what to do all day long. I don't have to follow him around on the ice to make him do it."

"I guess so. What about your ballet studio?"

Minako drew in a breath and tried to stand up straighter, "What about it?"

"Will you have time for it...?"

"Sure. Yurio won't take up all my time...plus, he'll be in the studio sometimes, too." She answered, following carefully as Mari started to toe-pick onto the frost, "...Maybe I should learn to skate though..."

"Yeah...I mean, not all skating coaches were ever good enough to be in the Grand Prix back in their heyday, but most can at least hold their own on the ice." Mari suggested, turning around slightly to watch the ballerina, holding onto the woman's arms to hold her steady, "Just get used to how the ice feels. Worry about moving on it later."

"How ironic...a skating coach who needs a skating coach..." Minako laughed nervously at the irony, but let herself get pulled along, slowly passing the antics of more professional athletes as they went.

Yurio was at least lowered to Mila's shoulder by then, but she got nervous again and kept him there, so the flustered teen could do little more than wait there until she finished putting him down again. When he spotted Mari and Minako scuttling past at a glacial pace though, he pushed up against the red-head's lower back and reached a hand out to them, "Minako! Save me!"

"Isn't that Otabek or Nikki's job?" She asked back, blades slipping under her, forcing her to reach out and grab for leverage, only to take the Katsuki daughter down with her.

Yurio slapped a hand against his face, fingers pulling a bit on his lower eyelids, "...Oh boy..."

"Who's that?" Mila wondered suddenly, turning entirely where she stood, and twisting the Russian Punk's vantage away from the cluster he'd been looking at, able to see the Kazakh instead.

"...That's my future skating coa-" He stopped mid-sentence, suddenly realizing he shouldn't have said that and flailing again, "She's a ballerina from Katsudon's hometown!" He backtracked, "She runs a ballet studio, that's it!"

"Really? For a second there it sounded like you were about to say that she was going to be your future skating coach." The older woman said sarcastically, side-eyeing him as well as she could given that he was basically behind her, legs kicking out in front.

"Otabek! Get me down!" Yurio reached out desperately.

The dark-horse sighed to himself and pushed forward with a toe-pick against the ice, reaching his hands out to grab the blonde under the arms and roll him off the red-head's shoulder. He just held him up then, like he was examining a puppy, "How is it that you're basically the same height as me but weigh barely more than half of me?"

"...Am I going to have to beg you to put me down now?" Yurio wondered callously, toe-picks scrabbling at the ice.

Otabek just dropped him then, and watched the blonde's skates fly right out from under him, until he was on his arse like the ladies nearby, "...Oops." He said dryly, his expression unchanging.

"What was that for!?"

"I thought you were ready."

Yurio simply fell to his back after that, arms and legs splaying out like he were making a snow-angel on the rink, "...Everyone's an asshole right now..."

Mila just looked down at him, hands on her hips as she gave a disappointed huff in his direction, "Does Yakov know you're leaving?"

"Don't say it so loud, Christ! I was going to tell him after Nationals!" He threw his arms up to get himself to a sitting position, looking back at her over his shoulder then, "I don't want him all mad at me while I'm in Russia for the next two weeks!"

"There's like...a zero-percent chance he won't find out about this by the end of the Final." The red-head scolded, "You should tell him before he finds out from someone else."

"Huh...she can skate, too." Otabek's voice said quietly, his attention entirely not on the Russian conversation.

"Who can what?" Yurio wondered indignantly, the scolding being too true for him to want to acknowledge, and he turned his head to spot Nikki slowly turning through a novice camel-spin, "...Oh."

Mari and Minako finally managed to get themselves back up, though they had to shimmy their way over the ice towards the rink wall before they could do so, and both clung to it to stay upright. They barely had a moment to acknowledge the spin before they could hear the sound of two more sets of skates coming their way, and spotted Mikhail and Viktoria finally getting up to them.

"Having trouble?" The elder wondered, looking at the plight of them, "You're all covered in frost. Did you fall?"

"...I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Minako explained, "...Can't look to the left and skate straight at the same time, apparently. What took you so long?"

"Viktoria's rentals were poorly fit so we had to go back and switch them out. Twice."

"The first one had a nail poking through the heel, pipaw. I'd rather not need a Tetanus shot before bed." The older teen deadpanned him, "And the second pair weren't the same size."

"Yuri just accidentally told everyone I'm going to be his coach." Minako sighed, trying to stand a bit straighter despite her skates sliding around under her. She managed to dig in her toe-picks and got some ground, and then tip-toed over to the silver man standing a few paces away, latching onto one arm before she lost her footing, "It might turn into a cluster."

"...Hm." The Russian lifted his free hand to rub his chin in thought, watching as the aforementioned teen had gone over to his youngest daughter to apparently try and tell her how to spin better...and swipe his phone back finally. Mikhail looked around then, "I don't see Yakov nearby."

"He said he was going to relax tonight." Mila explained, crossing her arms and looking back at the pair, "Something about his ex-wife...I think they might be getting back together or something."

"...Oh?" They both answered.

"Nothing for sure...just my observation. I think I spend more time with them than Yuri does." She turned back to face the teen, then towards Otabek, who was starting to move out again as well, "...Damn..."

"Nice going, Mila." Sara teased, "Nothing quite says 'well hello there, hot stuff,' like overhead-pressing his friend out of nowhere."

The Russian just sighed, "Yuri caught me off guard! I felt like a wind-up toy...he just got in the right spot and boop!...he was above my head."

The last four skaters were finally getting to the rink entrance by then, with Viktor and Yuri stepping out first, followed by Phichit, and finally Chris, joining the dwindling flock of non-professional skaters as they made their slow laps around the ice.

"It's so different skating outside." Yuri commented idly, "I wanted to when we were back in St. Petersburg, but..."

"We had no time." Viktor defended, patting his partner's hand where the younger skater had taken his arm, "Practicing 'Duetto' and everything else..."

"Yeah..." He reluctantly agreed, soon seeing his sister still clinging to the rink wall and making a B-line for her, pulling the Russian alongside, "Mari-nee-san...?"

"Did you fall already?" The silver genius mused, pointing at the frost on her thigh and coat, "I don't think I've ever seen you skate."

"...I'm not horrible, but Minako pulled me down." The forlorn Katsuki explained, realizing she was no longer at risk of the same thing happening again, and pushing off to follow the pair, taking her brother's arm since he was closest, "It's been a few years, so maybe I'm rusty."

"How long has it been?" Viktor wondered, "It comes back, like riding a bike."

"Mari-nee-san and I used to skate at the Ice Castle together, along with Yuu-chan and Nishigori." Yuri said, "She didn't stick with it though."

"I'm 6 years older than you are. Before you ever started oogling Viktor on the television, I was working on highschool entrance exams."

"I guess so." He made a face like that was awkward to recall, and they made their way around the curve of the short side of the rink. He spotted Nikkita trying a second attempt at her camel-spin, with Yurio looking on like he were a coach himself, "Looks like she's got it down though."

"Oh...yeah, apparently Canadians skate a lot." Mari huffed, "At least that one does. Something about how their brother did a lot of hockey growing up, so the girls did figure skating lessons. I'm not surprised that she knows a few tricks. She seems like someone who would."

They passed the small group by, watching as Yurio tried to demonstrate a proper camel spin, pointing out how his leg and torso were level, but then got too far away to hear the rest. By the time they came back around from the second short-end of the rink, they spotted Minako waving to get their attention instead. She let go of Mikhail and shuffled extremely awkwardly along the ice, skates feeling entirely alien to her, but getting scooped up by the younger Russian just before she lost her balance and tumbled down again.

"Whoooaaaa sugoi! Good catch!" She huffed, clinging to the man's arm for dear life, even as they all pulled her along much more quickly than she'd ever gone before, "Wah! I can't turn!"

"Just focus on standing." Viktor mused, pulling his arm free just long enough to snake it around her back instead, "I'll turn for you."

"Ahhh this is terrible! This is terrible!" She lamented, feeling the ice twisting under her skates as they curved...but soon, they were straight again, and the trio slowed down for her, "...This is less terrible..."

"Sorry." Yuri smiled at her nervously, "We won't go so fast."

"Okay, this is good." The ballerina heaved a breath of relief, snaking her own arm behind the Russian's back in turn and starting to poke at the younger skater's shoulder, "This is fine, you can go now."

"...Eh?" All three gawked at her.

"BEAT IT, YURI."

The younger man's eyes were beady and small behind his blue frames, and he looked up at his partner in shock and confusion, "But..."

Viktor just dragged one toe-pick behind himself until the four of them were completely stopped, and looked from the rather-serious expression on Minako's face to the perplexed one on his husband's. He sighed a breath, leaned aside to give his partner a quick kiss, and leaned back, letting him go, "It's fine. I'll catch up with you later."

"Shoo!" Minako waved her free arm at the two Katsukis, "Be gone!"

"Okay okay!" Yuri whined, pushing off and dragging his older sister with him. He looked back helplessly over his shoulder and saw much the same look on his partner's face, but both knew there was little that could be done about it, and he turned back to face forward to watch where he was going.

Mari eventually found her own footing and skated for herself, patting her brother on the back, "It'll be fine. You can survive without him."

"I know that." He blanched, "I'm more worried about why Minako-sensei bullied me off."

"I'm sure it's fine." The elder shrugged, moving out of the flock and towards the more open part of the center of the rink, where Yurio had moved on to watching Nikki try to emulate his previous display.

Yuri followed after, coming to a stop between the teen and Otabek, "Guess I'll hang out with you guys for a bit."

"What's up?" Otabek wondered, arms crossed where he stood observantly.

"You guys are less scary than Minako-sensei right now. She just commandeered Viktor from me."

The group looked over their collective shoulders to confirm that it had indeed happened, and sure enough, the two were sliding along slowly, close to the rink wall, on the other side of the path of skating revelers. Whatever the occasion was, it had forced Viktor to look rather serious for it.