CHAPTER THREE HUNDRED THIRTY FIVE
"Grab my outfit while you're in there, would you?" Viktor hollered, leaning back from where he was putting things into a suitcase, which was spread wide open on the bed. He could barely see out through the bedroom door, and his line of sight barely skimmed the top of his husband's slicked-back black hair as Yuri was heading down the stairs.
"I will."
Slate eyes turned back to the suitcase then, spotting Jiro trying to climb into a wedge of empty space near one corner. Viktor smiled and reached to pick the puppy up, "I know I said we were only taking the essentials, but that doesn't mean we can take you, munchkin." He nosed the pup's head and set him down on the floor, "But we would if we could. We won't be gone long. Just until Sunday night. We'll come back right after the Exhibition."
The smol woofer just sneezed at him in response.
Yuri pushed the door open to the spare bedroom with all their trophies, medals, and costumes, spotting the garment bags with their recently-dry-cleaned ensemble hanging from a hook on the front of the closet door. Grabbing the four of them, he moved them over to the main door to the room and hung them from the doorknob, then went back to go into the closet itself. It took a minute to find them, but when Yuri spotted the mummy-like wraps of Viktor's layered white costume shirt, with the sleeves that ended in a pair of deep crimson gloves, he knew he'd found their 'Ghost' section. He pulled the two costumes from the rack and checked to make sure everything was in each garment bag, along with the accessories to his own, and set them over his arm before stepping out again. By the time he'd made it back upstairs with all 6 costumes, Viktor had moved off somewhere.
Hazel eyes glanced around, but just as Yuri stepped into the bedroom, he heard the Russian lamenting about something, and turned his head.
"Jiro! Ryžij cvet očenʹ pojdët k tvoim glazam!?" (What are you eating that garbage for!?) Viktor whined, trying to get something out of the pup's mouth where he'd knocked over the bathroom trash can, "Nyet! Otkrojte, požalujsta, rot!" (No! Please open your mouth!)
"Uh oh...what'd he get into?" Yuri dared to wonder.
"Your empty bottle of hair gel." The silver legend sighed, "Which had a bunch of my stray hairs from my brush stuck in it."
"Hm...crusty old hair gel and hair... Breakfast of Champions."
"Ahhhh and it's all in his mouth and in his fur! Gross!"
Yuri laughed and shook his head, turning back to the open suitcase. He reached a hand in and started moving things aside to make room for the first round of costumes...and stumbled onto a particular opaque plastic tube with a white-silver cap screwed onto the end. It didn't take more than a second for Yuri to realize what it was, and his cheeks got bright red like the night before.
...Viktor really had a lot of fun with that thing...mostly at my expense...but I think I'd die on the spot if we got stopped for a bag search and someone found it...
A bead of nervous sweat rolled down his neck, and without even thinking, he leaned down to roll the canister under the bed before the Russian saw him do it. He fanned himself to try and get the blush to fade, and went back to rearranging things to make a wide, flat spot for the garment bags. He finished, and was able to fit 3 outfits inside, before pulling the suitcase lid over, and heard Viktor finally 'winning' the battle with their Akita.
"Ahhhh so gross! So gross!" He whined again, trying to pull the bits of hair off his fingers where the gel had gotten stuck to him as well. Finding it just sticking to other fingers in the attempt, he pulled the faucet on with the side of one wrist and washed the mess away instead.
"Funny how it's exactly the same stuff as it was 30 minutes ago, but once it goes into the basket, it's the nastiest thing ever." Yuri commented, zipping the bag up and heaving it off the bed. He set it by the door and grabbed the second suitcase; his own travel carrier from years past, covered in airport stickers and Hasetsu decals.
"Once it passes the edge of the trash-can's lid, it becomes untouchable." The Russian commented, flexing his fingers and making a face at how several strands of his own hair were still stuck to him.
"Even the stuff you grew out of your own head?"
"Especially that." Viktor exclaimed, turning his head and giving a look for good measure, "If it's not attached to me anymore, my body has deemed it unworthy."
"What if it's all of them and you end up bald?"
His brow furrowed in horror, and Viktor stared out from the bathroom, hands paralyzed under the running water as a leak threatened to spring from his eyes, "...Why would you say that...?"
Yuri just gave a wink, "Speak nicely about your hair, lest it takes offense and abandons you."
The Russian just gasped loudly, and looked at himself in the mirror rather dramatically before gazing up at his bangs, "No! Don't leave me! I'll never cut you again if it means you stay where you are!" He made the mistake of reaching up with his still-wet and gel-stained hands, getting it all over his immaculately-styled hair...and suddenly went deathly quiet.
Curious, Yuri looked over, seeing his partner's absolutely mortified expression, "...Oops."
"...I...I guess I'm showering twice today." Viktor sighed, looking aside to where he'd plopped Jiro in the bathtub for the moment, "...You win this round."
The pup just barked at him adorably.
.
"There you two are!" Minako harped, coming into the main entryway after hearing the doors to YuTopia sliding open, "Was starting to think I'd have to go get you myself!"
"Sumimasen," Yuri said, watching her approach as he set Jiro down on the cow-hide rug under his feet, "Viktor had an accident."
"Uh oh..." She gaped at the Russian, "Are you hurt?"
"Only my pride." He huffed in answer, taking a knee to wipe down Makkachin's paws before letting the poodle have run of the resort, "Jiro got in the trash, and then the trash got in my hair."
"Well," The ballerina gave a smirk, "That is a disaster."
"Right?"
"So...Vik-chan, are you actually skating this weekend...?" Hiroko wondered, watching the pair as she closed the doors behind them.
"Hai!" He answered happily, "As a competitor, too, not just at the Exhibition like last year. I'm super excited!"
"I bet the rest of the competitors are gonna be real impressed by that." Minako teased, "They can all kiss the top two tiers of the podium goodbye."
"Minako-sensei..." Yuri chided.
"It's kind of funny though, don't you think?" She went on, like she didn't hear him, "The best two skaters in the Japanese Skating Federation are surnamed Nikiforov. Not very Japanese-sounding at all."
"I'm Japanese." Yuri added...but was again ignored.
Viktor gave a nervous smile, "I suppose. But there are plenty of athletes who compete for countries they're obviously not native to...plus, Yuri's still Japanese, even though he took my name." He reached an arm over his partner's shoulders to pull him close, though the man still looked a bit salty from being left out.
"That's just cuz he's a fanboy." Minako teased, glancing from the shorter to the taller skater, "Though I wonder...would you have taken the Katsuki name?"
"...That's unfair to ask..." Yuri sulked defensively.
Viktor blinked at her, but then turned to his partner, as though unsure what to say, then looked back at the older woman in front of them, "...I... Er...well, Yuri put the idea forward so quickly to take my name that I never really had a chance to think about it. I mean...I would...but... It's been almost a year now. It would feel weird to put things the other way."
"I was just curious. Viktor Katsuki does sound strange, putting it in that context." Minako nodded, then moved past the pair towards the door, and pulled her knee-boots on to get ready for the snow, "So...are you ready? It's going to be a five hour ride." She asked, shoving the door aside as she glanced back.
"Uh...y-yeah, of course." Yuri answered, feeling rather awkward suddenly.
"Yoshaaa~! Let's get going then!" The ballerina announced, spinning dramatically on one toe before vaulting outside.
The skating duo watched her go, but then turned to Hiroko, who had been nervously listening the last interaction from the side. She pulled her hands up to her cheeks and smiled, though she still looked a bit intimidated, "Sorry about Minako-senpai...she's been...weird all morning."
"...Weird?" They echoed, "Weird how?"
"I don't know...just...more direct? She seems really restless and apprehensive. Like things aren't happening fast enough. It seemed like she was looking at her watch every 10 seconds, even though she got here absurdly early."
"Are you guys coming!?" They could hear Minako hollering from the snowy courtyard.
"We're just saying goodbye to the dogs!" Viktor called back at her, "Give us just a minute!"
"You said you were ready though!"
Yuri sighed quietly to himself, "I hope this passes... Five hours on a train to Osaka with her is going to be miserable if she's this jittery the whole way."
Viktor just stared out the door, distracted by the woman spinning impatiently in the snowdrift.
"Well, good luck, boys, and have fun this time. No more injuries, okay?" Hiroko finished, reaching one hand forward to cup her palm around her son's head, gently thumbing the last remnants of those two pink lines escaping into his hairline, "I won't keep you here any longer. I'll take good care of Jiro and Makkachin."
"Thanks mom." The two skaters said in tandem, each reaching an arm around the short-statured woman to give her a hug before they turned to wave at the pups.
The pair had sat close by, right next to each other, and it suddenly dawned on Jiro that something weird was happening. He whined and started walking towards the single-step ledge that lead to the walk-in area, pawing at the air until Yuri leaned down to pick him up.
"We'll be back, late Sunday night. It's only four days." He reassured, ruffling the pup's head before setting him down again, and looked to the older of their furry wards, "Watch out for your baby brother."
The poodle barked once at him, tail wagging happily, though experience told Makkachin exactly what was going on, so while he was in a good mood, his tail wagged slower than normal.
The two skaters waved one last time, and headed out, spotting Toshiya and Mari mere seconds before the doors closed behind them. They made their way towards Viktor's bright-red Audi, and piled in, though Minako felt a bit squished in the back seat.
Oddly, for as vocal as she'd been in the minutes prior, she'd suddenly gone deathly silent. Even after they were half-way through the trip to Osaka, she hadn't said much more than was necessary to get through the different connecting stations.
Yuri was dozing by then, rocked to sleep by the easy hum of the train, leaning against Viktor's right shoulder. When the Russian felt the cold wet spot just under the man's mouth, he knew Yuri was out cold, and set eyes straight to the ballerina, who was sitting in a rear-facing seat just opposite them.
"What is it?" He asked, in a tone as though he already knew the answer and was dreading to hear it, but knew he had to let the words be spoken anyway.
"Huh?" She glanced back from where she'd been looking out the window, "What?"
"You're being weird. Out with it." He said, that time a bit more firmly.
Minako just made a face at him, "I'm not being weird! I'm just getting used to the fact that you're coming! I got so worked up over the idea that Yuri would be going alone that I made a huge scene in Detroit about it! Now it's all changed, so..."
Viktor gave a skeptical look, one eye brow slightly quirked, "I would think it would feel weirder if I wasn't here."
"Well...sure..." She nodded, but then turned to look back out the window again, "But in a way...I was kind of looking forward to the nostalgia of the old days, when it was just Yuri and I."
The Russian wasn't sure what to make of that answer. One the one hand, he understood, but on the other, he had the odd feeling like he was suddenly intruding. He turned his face and brushed his nose against his husband's gelled hair, "Sorry."
Minako's eyes widened a little bit, only for her to turn back to face him and wave her hands defensively, "It's not you, I promise! I like that you're here!"
"Then what's the problem? I don't want to have to dig it out of you. Just get it into the open."
The ballerina sunk into her seat, "I don't want to make you even more upset than you are now over stuff you clearly don't want to hear about."
"What...is it something to do with my uncle?"
She nodded hesitantly.
Viktor sighed to himself and felt a weight creep down on him, but he closed his eyes and gestured with his free hand, "Just...out with it."
Minako folded her fingers together in her lap, "It's about 6 hours behind, where they are in Russia, compared to us...so it's pretty early in the morning for them. But...Mikhail messaged me about how they'd just gotten done getting Yura's things from his place, but...they ran into his mother there. Apparently she tried to hit Mikhail and was making a big scene after Yura told her he was leaving." She started to explain, her eyes slowly leaving the sight of the silver Russian in front of her, down to the floor, "He was pretty upset with the whole thing, and getting Potya back has only partly helped get his spirits back up again. They're on their way to the train station now, to start to trek to Moscow. Mikhail's hoping they can see Yura's grandpa as soon as they arrive."
"That's still a four hour trip, after they get on the train."
"So they won't get there until even after we've arrived in Osaka...and I feel bad, because I want to call, but I don't think Yura would want to talk about it, least not in front of a bunch of people...maybe not even to me..." She sighed and pulled her hands up a little, "More than that though, I feel like...maybe I could've done something if I was there."
"Not likely." Viktor shrugged his left shoulder, "My uncle's kids were probably there, and she was still willing to put on a show even in front of them. I don't know what you could've done to change what happened." He offered, watching the woman closely for signs of a reaction. She still looked the same though, "When did he tell you this?"
"Huh?" She looked back at him, "Oh, while I was outside YuTopia waiting for you two."
So that's why she got quiet suddenly...but it doesn't explain why she was weird before we showed up, like Yuri's mom described, Viktor thought, "Is anything else going on?"
The ballerina's eyes shifted, but she smiled and tried to reassure him, "...I hope not."
The Russian was skeptical, but for the moment, let the issue go.