CHAPTER THREE HUNDRED TEN

Finding her way through the darkness and the crowd was a feat, but Nikki eventually found the final guard-rail that separated the audience from the rink-side holding area where event staffers and a few competitors were waiting. She squinted her eyes through the dark, hoping to recognize someone's silhouette against what dim light was coming out from the Players' Club, but that seemed unlikely. There were too many people. Her fingers clasped the bar in front of her, and she looked past it, thinking she could just hop down...but found herself balking at that idea, as the space below the ledge was pitch black and she couldn't tell how far down it went.

Attention was already focusing on the pair of Ice Dancers that had gone into the rink, spotlights shining all around, but never quite coming off the frost. It was an incredible tease, for light to be so close, yet so far away.

"Nikki?"

She blinked in surprise and cast her eyes in the direction of the voice, seeing a figure coming towards her, but not knowing who it was.

"Your dad's gonna be worried if he finds out you're running around the stadium in the dark by yourself." The voice went on.

"Who's there? I can't tell over the crowd..."

No answer came immediately, but within a few moments, a bright light suddenly shot on, tiny at its source bit as luminescent as the sun itself, for one whose eyes had acclimated to the dark. The light angled to the floor quickly though.

"Whoops, sorry, should've thought to lower it first."

"Who are you talking to?" Another voice asked, "Yurio's waiting."

"My youngest cousin decided to come this way." Viktor answered, turning his phone up to shine the light towards himself from below, "Fourteen is a bit young to be running around alone."

"Oh! Cousin Viktor!" Nikki suddenly realized, "I couldn't recognize your voice! Sorry!"

"It's fine. It's pretty loud in here." He answered, stepping closer, even as nearby fans heard the teen and were starting to gawk, trying to get a look at the legendary skater, "I guess you want over the railing or something."

"That was the idea...I'm stuck though." Nikki admitted nervously, fingers still clinging to the metal bar.

"Stuck?"

"I can't tell how high the level is compared to the floor you're on."

"About three feet."

Silence answered.

"What's the problem? You need a hand?"

"Y...Yeah..." She answered meekly, managing to get over the railing easily enough on her own, but not getting much farther than that, "...Otabek caught me last time, but I could at least see how far the fall was before I let go of the bar."

Viktor stepped the last few paces between himself and the girl, using the flashlight on his phone to find her waist and snuck his arm behind it, pulling her off the wall by leaning the teen against himself and set her down, "Sounds like you're scared of heights...or heights in the dark."

"Both." Nikki answered quickly, clinging to the much taller figure, "Anything higher than my knees is too high, especially when I can't see where I'm going."

"Wow~" The Russian laughed, "You would've hated the Calgary Tower then."

"I did." The younger figure stated nervously, following along as Viktor turned where he stood and started walking towards the Lounge entrance, both of her arms still clinging around his waist, "A thousand wild horses couldn't get me out of the elevator once we got to the top. Just seeing the cityscape from that high up...oh I'm getting dizzy thinking about it..." She turned her face against the man's hip, forcing him to stop for a moment, and clenched her eyes shut.

Yuri quirked a brow, but stepped to their other side, "That was a big surprise to see you get to be part of Yuri's exhibition earlier." He said, trying to get the girl's mind off her nausea, "How long have you guys been planning that?"

"Ahhh..." She started, lifting her grey-green eyes, and seeing that they were right next to the curtained entrance, "Since yesterday? I complained about papa wanting to call it an early night, and Yura tried to cheer me up by telling me what his song was. It was really late before he got the idea to have me sit in at the end though. He said that he had Otabek do the same thing last year, where Otabek kind of stood at the edge of the rink for a bit role in that show. I don't even have skates here though, so..."

Viktor pushed the curtain aside, and the trio slipped within, leaving the rink and the chill behind them. Scanning the area, they spotted the Russian Tiger not too far away, putting blade-guards onto his skates, and started heading for him. Yakov was nearby as well, and caught sight of them approaching.

"Where'd you find time to get a hat just like his though?" Yuri wondered, "Did you just happen to find one?"

The teen girl shook her head, the long tails of her purple and black jester's hat waggling behind her, "Nope! I made it!"

"...Eh?"

"Papa rented a limo for the day, so after I sorted him and Minako out, I told the driver to take us to a craft store. This thing took maybe an hour to throw together." She pulled it off her head, despite her hair getting messed up in the process, and turned it inside-out, pointing to the hand-stitched seams, "See?"

"Wow!" Yuri said excitedly, reaching for the hat to get a better look, "This is really good for such short notice. Viktor said we should get a dragon-tail hat for your dad. Maybe you could make one."

"Why a dragon-tail?" Nikki wondered, putting the hat back into place, pulling it down to just above her ears.

"Viktor already has one. We joked at NHK that him and Mikhail are like dragons...Viktor hoarding gold medals, and your dad hoarding cash."

The teen girl's eyes lit up excitedly, "That's a great idea! I could make a whole bunch and sell them on Etsy!"

"...How much would you charge for something like that?" Yuri wondered.

"...Maybe $35...?"

"If I wanted one, do I get a family discount?"

Nikki just gawked at the skater, fingers still holding to the rim of the felt hat.

Yuri was too deep in thought suddenly to notice, "...What am I to you anyway...? Cousin-in-law...?" He put a finger on his chin as he wondered on...and felt a tight, albeit wet hug wrap around him. Blinking in confusion, he looked aside to see the silver-haired teen latched to him, "...Nikki...? Why are you crying...?"

"Ialwayswantedabigfamilythisisthegreatestdayofmylife."

"He's turning blue." Yurio commented, pulling the feather-tipped golden mask from his face, "He can't breathe."

"What?" Nikki asked, whipping her head around to look at him, oblivious to what he'd said as comical tears ran down her face like rivers from her eyes.

"Ican'tbreeve-" Yuri stuttered, "V-Vik-..."

The elder Russian had a devious look on his face as he leaned closer, fingers primed and ready to-

Mikhail sat upright in his seat, looking left and right, and feeling at the back of his jacket, "...That was weird..."

"What was weird?" Minako wondered. Mari and Viktoria leaned forward to gape at him in confusion.

"Did something bite you, pipaw?" The silver teen wondered, pulling a blue sucker-pop out of her mouth long enough to look the man over.

"I felt a prickle down my spine just now. Like a million voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced." He answered.

"Uh oh..."

"What?" Minako twisted around to look back at the girl, "What happened? That sounds like a movie quote."

"It is. It's also his 'dad radar' going off." Viktoria answered, "Like when you sneeze if someone is talking about you behind your back. Something happened to Nikki. I'll text the skater boys."

"...S-Skater boys?" Minako and Mari repeated in tandem, turning to look at one another at the absurdity of it.

"Yeah." Viktoria mused to herself, pulling her phone out, "They all skate and they're guys. So...they're all skater boys...we said cya later boys." She said in a sing-song voice, laughing at her genius.

In the Comerica Lounge, Viktor and Yuri were on their arses on the floor, looking up in stunned horror. Before them, Yurio was trying to calm a red-faced Nikki down. Her big green eyes were watery from the tears.

"Good lord, what'd you do to her?" Yurio wondered skeptically, "The way she screamed, you might as well have gotten her in both kidneys."

"I just tickled her." Viktor answered nervously, "Maybe that was the wrong thing to do?"

"My ears are ringing..." Yuri said quietly, mostly to himself.

"I'msosorryI'msosorryyy!" The silver teen lamented, practically crawling all over the two downed skaters, patting one of their heads before slithering off to do the same thing to the other, "I'mreallyultraticklish!"

"I've learned that." Viktor huffed, looking at where the teen had draped herself like a wet rag across his back and shoulders. Just as he was about to say something else though, he caught sight of a flash out the corner of his eyes, and turned to spot Yurio having taken a picture of them, "...What was that for...?" He wondered nervously.

"The peanut gallery is wondering if Nikki is okay. Apparently the old man's got a sense about her being in trouble." The blonde answered, the whole of his normally intimidating aura being squelched by the fact that he was still in his jester-like gala costume, sans the mask, "I was just gonna send a pic showing the devastation you've wroght."

"She kinda reminds me of Makkachin." Yuri commented idly, pointing at the girl, "The way she's leaning over your back like how he does sometimes."

"...Who's Makkachin...?" Nikki wondered, straightening out a bit, but staying where she was with her small arms clinging over the Russian's shoulders.

Viktor's eyes lit up, and suddenly he had his phone out, "Who's Makkachin!? That's a great question! He's only the goodest boy in the whole world!"

"Would all of you get off the floor already?" Yakov grumbled.

Otabek finally came back by then, sipping at a straw sitting in the mouthpiece of a 7-Up can, with another one in his other hand, "...I feel like I missed something..."

"You didn't hear the shriek?" Yurio wondered, idly looking over a shoulder at the older skater and quickly swiping the second soda, "It was loud enough to wake the dead."

"I really missed something. Who shrieked and why?"

"She did." The teen pointed at his younger 'sister,' "Viktor tried to tickle her so she'd stop squeezing the life out of Katsudon."

Otabek knew there was more to the story, but he just shook his head, "You've gotten yourself all wrapped up in a weird family."

"I know." Yurio answered...pausing...and then smirking, "Innit great?" He laughed, "Hasetsu is going to be way more fun now that it's not just those two old farts floating around."

"...Old farts...!?" Yuri and Viktor both said in disbelief, "Who're you calling old!?"

"You two, obviously."

"Wait..." Viktor paused, putting a finger on his lip, holding himself up on his knees and free elbow where he'd eventually found his way to a nearby couch. Nikki was behind him, wedged in the far corner, and Yuri was...well, beneath him, squished down in the other corner, but with Viktor looming overhead. The Russian's voice got quieter then, and he cupped his hand over his mouth, peeking back at Yakov over his fingers, "If you're talking about that openly...does that mean Yakov already knows about your plans?"

"Da." Yurio nodded, "He found out when we were all at the outdoor ice rink."

"You're all terrible at keeping secrets." Yakov said, coughing slightly to remind the skaters that he was still standing there, "You should all know by now that I eventually find out everything."

Viktor suddenly looked a bit sheepish, "...Everything...?"

"Everything." The elder coach nodded.

"V-Viktor..." Yuri huffed from where he was still squished down into the corner of the couch, his partner pressing him down even further into it.

"I dunno... I think I can keep a secret pretty well if I want to." The Russian went on, taunting his former coach to try him out.

"When you were 17, you once tried to change the part in your hair so your right eye would be covered instead of your left." The older man started.

Viktor was unconvinced, "My hair isn't really a secret."

"No, but the fact that you ran your face into a door and gave yourself a black eye, so you tried for a week to cover it with your hair, was."

The skater's eyes got small and white in horror, "H-How did you know that!? No one knew that!"

"And you gave Katsudon such a hard time after he collided with the rink wall before." Yurio huffed, sipping at his can of soda loudly.

Blue eyes shot up at him, "That was different!"

The teen just pointed at him with a finger extending away from the can, "For a guy who ran to Japan like his ass was on fire, you wouldn't even hug him after it happened. Even I've seen the pictures of him jumping at you."

.

Despite the blood trickling down Yuri's face, seeing his coach's arms extended towards him was an even bigger reward than whatever score he might've gotten. Silver blades scratched across the ice as he tried to get to the man as quickly as skates could carry him, and he lunged, "Viktooooorrrr!"

"Oh! Watch the nose-bleed!" The silver legend was out of the way in a blur, leaving nothing but open air where he once stood.

Unable to stop in time, Yuri crashed face-first to the floor, feet in the air as people gawked and gaped at his folly.

.

"Oh...I remember." Viktor mused, smiling innocently, and not noticing where his partner's legs were kicking and flailing.

"You forgot." Yurio pressed his free hand to his face in dismay. He peeked between his fingers to where Otabek was just quietly watching, "Aren't you up next?"

"After Sara." The Kazakh answered, leaning back to see on the televisions who was on the ice at that moment, "She's up after these Pair Skaters."

The younger skater nodded and went to reach for where his team jacket had been slung against the back of the nearby couch, pulling it up from where Viktor had halfway been leaning against it, "Let's go then. I want a decent seat."

"Oh! I wanna come!" Nikki hollered, raising a hand before clambering over the pile of skaters to get off the couch and follow.

"...But I was gonna show you pictures of Makkachin!" Viktor lamented, looking halfway heartbroken where he peeked over the armrest, hiding behind the fingers of one hand as the other held his phone up.

"You can show me later! I think you need to let Yuri come up for air for now though!" She laughed, pointing back at him and going with the two younger skaters through the curtain.

"...Eh? Yuri?" The Russian repeated, lifting himself up a bit, and looking down to spot his breathless husband squashed into the corner of the seat with a rather comical, albeit unimpressed look on that pale face, "Yuri! How long have you been there?"

"I-I...t-trusted you..."

Viktor smiled sweetly, "I love you."

Yuri just grumbled.