CHAPTER THREE HUNDRED SEVENTY EIGHT

One carry-bag was quickly packed with a few necessities for an overnight trip, but everything else was left behind. Yuri, with his hair re-styled from the mess he'd made of it, slung the bag over his shoulder as he dialed for home with the other hand. Viktor switched out of the sneakers he wore back from the arena into more winter-appropriate boots, the brace around his ankle making it snug and rigid. He stepped a little bit around the hotel room before giving his partner a nod and they headed for the door.

"Oh, hey mom, sorry to bother this late at night." Yuri started, holding the door as the Russian went through, limping slightly but otherwise able to hold his own, "No, everything's fine. ...I won Bronze. ...Viktor did." He explained, watching the door click shut before stepping up to his partner. He reached his free hand for the one angled towards him, and let the fingers lace together, drawn into the silver man's jacket pocket for safe keeping as they started walking to the elevators, "Someone you don't know. No, I messed up. That's why I'm calling. Viktor and I are coming home tonight to take a break and pick something up, and I was wanting to ask if someone could take the dogs back to our house, so we don't bother you when we get into town. We're still in Osaka right now."

Viktor reached to click the Down button, and they waited quietly in the hall.

"Yeah, right? We'll practically be the last train into town tonight." Yuri added with a nervous laugh, "Hopefully we make it. ...You will? That's great, thanks so much. Have they been good?" He waited while his mother answered, but then smiled, "You sound like you're fawning over kids of ours. ...Grandpuppies!? That's great, actually...Viktor would love that. Okay, well, I'll let you go back to what you were doing...thanks again. We'll swing by in the morning to drop the kids off before we head north again." He said, then waiting again before holding the phone out to his partner, "Mom says hi."

"Hiiii~!"

Smiling wide at that, cheeks a bit pink, Yuri pulled his phone back and set it to his ear once more, "Hey, me again... Hai, domo." (Yes, thanks.) His phone went down to his pocket after that, and he drew in a little closer, just as the elevator beeped and the doors started opening, "What a relief. It already feels like things are turning up and we haven't even left yet."

"I'm really looking forward to seeing the boys." Viktor added, "Mama Hiroko's grandpuppies!" He laughed.

"I can already feel the cuddle-pile when we get back..."

"Same. You and I barely get to cuddle when we're at competition as it is, but this will be the first time we've left Jiro behind, so he'll be freaking out when we get back." The Russian thought fondly on the puppy, "He's going to weigh more than Yurio before we can blink, so we should enjoy it while we can."

"He's going to weigh more than Makkachin."

"Yeah? By how much? I thought they were going to be about the same size."

"Nearly double."

"Wow~!"

"Yeah they only look the same size because of how tall and fluffy they are, but Akitas are big and brawny. Makkachin is pretty dainty by comparison."

Viktor nodded and sighed, "He's turning into an old man, too... Soon he's going to start getting grey on his face."

"But not yet."

"No..." The Russian agreed, turning his face to nose at the fluff of his husband's hair behind one ear, "Not yet."

.

Minako sat up on her bed, channel surfing through a dozen or more things that couldn't hold her interest. Before long, she dropped her remote-hand to the blankets and glared at her phone, squinting her eyes.

They haven't called me. They didn't come looking for me. They didn't even really wave at me during the victory lap. Either they're really pissed at me, or they're so busy doing other things that they've completely forgotten about me.

The remote came back up again and she tapped the tip to her chin.

Maybe I should try calling Yuri? Or should I just let it sit until tomorrow...?

She flopped down to one side, crossing her arms indignantly as she growled at nothing in particular.

This is dumb. I hate not knowing what they're thinking, especially when they're probably thinking the worst! I just want to explain what I was doing!

Eyes sought for her phone, lost somewhere in the blankets from the new vantage she looked around from, but eventually found it and pulled it up in front of her face. She perched up onto an elbow to prevent the screen from turning, and checked the messages she'd sent to Asahi. She was greeted by nothing though, just a window full of video links she'd sent to what the skater claimed was his number. Hesitating a moment, she shrugged and started typing.

It can't get much worse than it already is, so while those boys are off being mad at me, maybe I can sort this one out.

[Hey Asahi, congrats on silver. How are you holding up?] She sent, not even sure the athlete would message her back. She blinked at the green word-bubbles that her message appeared in though.

Oh...he's not even using an iPhone. Android maybe? I can't tell if he's received or read my other messages...

To her shock and surprise, her phone made its usual bweeop noise when a new message turned up, and she sat immediately upright and crossed her legs to take it seriously.

[Thanks]

That's it? Thanks...?

[I'm ok]

She heaved and flopped backward, landing on an array of piled-up pillows before typing another message, [That's good. I was worried how things would go during the medaling ceremony because of how prickly things are between you three, but at least from the audience, it wasn't easy to tell if anything was going on.]
[At most, people might've thought it weird that none of you shook each others' hands, but considering Victor's big trophy and Yuri helping him around so he doesn't fall, I'm sure people dismissed it easily enough]

[That's good]

Minako made a face, He's really not much of a conversationalist, is he? Argh, how frustrating...no wonder Yuri had a hard time getting to know him. He's barely engaging.

[Is Yuri mad at me?]

That made her blink in confusion, both for the question and for the fact that it was a statement more than 2 words long.

[If he is, I don't know. I haven't spoken to him or Victor since they came into the audience and scared you away.]
[I don't imagine Yuri would be mad at you for winning silver though...that's not his way. If he's mad about the line-up, it's because he thinks he should've done better than you, not because he thinks you should've done worse than him.]

[I see]

Minako rubbed her chin as she looked on at that last reply, but then shrugged and sat up again, [You busy?]

[no]

[You want to get something to drink?]

[I don't want to risk running into Victor. He death-glared at me when he got called out, like he'd murder me in my sleep if I so much as looked at Yuri while he was away in the rink. I'd really rather not cause any more problems than I already have.]

The ballerina smiled sadly at that, That's the most he's said at one time since I met him. Progress, I guess? Even if it's painful progress. Her thumbs wrote the next reply, [If you see either of those two, it'll be before we meet, because I'm suggesting you come to the spectator hotel for this. They won't show up here out of the blue. You'll be safe.]

It felt like nearly 10 minutes went by before she finally got her answer.

[Which one is the spectator hotel?]

.

Universal City Station; Yumesaki Line, merge onto Osaka Loop Line. Transfer trains at Osaka Station; go north on Tokaido Main Line. Last stop, Shin-Osaka Station...then three hours and thirty minutes to Hakata Station in Fukuoka.

So late at night and on a Saturday, the trains were sparsely populated, filled mainly by people trying to get around Osaka itself. By the time the pair of skaters settled into their seats on the bullet train back to Kyushu, it was even more of a skeleton-crew.

That didn't bother them at all though, and it gave them a bit of peace and quiet. The tradition of Japanese politeness and keeping mostly-silent on public transport made it easy to relax, drifting into the whoosh sound of the maglev. It was louder than a table-fan, but it wasn't so loud that it was distracting.

Yuri sat sideways in his seat, back against the wall and window, left shoulder pressed into the corner of the wall and his back-rest.

Viktor pulled his spouse's legs over his own, and twisted to sit sideways as well, spanning over both of their seats as he leaned to wedge his right shoulder between Yuri's side and the back of the chair, squeezing that arm under his partner's back, the left settling a hand on the man's chest. By the time all was said and done, and the Russian settled his long-coat over himself and his partner's legs, he set his head down onto the front of his husband's shoulder, nuzzling his forehead against either a cheek, the edge of a jaw, or the side of his partner's neck, whichever was open to him at any given time. Yuri's arms settled around him, fingers laced together around the outside of his left shoulder, and he closed his eyes to relax a little.

He enjoyed maybe an hour of quiet before he felt Yuri move, curling his legs up a little but against his waist and side as he turned slightly towards him, one hand coming up to clasp around his head as the other held tighter to his shoulder. When fingers went combing through his hair, and he felt Yuri press his nose into it as well, Viktor opened his eyes, looking up without moving, "Something the matter?"

"I feel bad blowing off Minako-sensei." Yuri answered quietly, turning his head to press his cheek down against that fluff of silver hair where his nose had been a moment before, "She ditched Mikhail and his girls to stick with me at Nationals, and then we just ditch her instead...and after everything we made her do before..."

"Made her do? I don't recall making her do anything."

"We made her do half a dozen pregnancy tests."

"Oh...right."

Yuri sighed, "I know you don't like thinking about it. Sorry."

"The idea of my uncle having sex with your ballet teacher does inherently bother me, yes."

Yuri lifted his head and made a face, "Well, when you put it that way...yeesh."

Viktor managed to laugh at that, "Suffer with me."

"I am!"

"Shh!" The Russian teased through a quiet chuckle, turning his head up as well and reaching his free hand forward to put a finger on his husband's lips, "Don't want to bother people." He set the hand back down on his partner's chest and returned to where he'd been resting, "I know what you mean though."

"Should we call her...?"

"I'd rather not open that can of worms right now." Viktor answered, shrugging lightly as he reached slightly to pull the edge of his coat over his shoulder again, "Let her simmer on it tonight. We'll call her on our way back instead. Maybe she can tell that we're not super happy with her right now and she'll think harder on her great ideas next time."

"We're not even sure what she was doing it for."

"I don't care what she was doing it for. Not right now, anyway."

Yuri grumbled quietly at that.

"What?"

"I don't like being mad at her. She helped us both with this whole situation." He explained, "There has to be a good reason why she'd hang out with Asahi after it all happened."

Viktor waited a moment, but then stretched his arms straight forward, fingers splaying before bringing everything back in again, and hugged his husband tightly before relaxing, "I'm sure she thinks it's a good reason. What do you think though?"

"I think she means well."

"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions."

Yuri grumbled and sighed again, closing his eyes to pout into that silver hair.

Viktor just pushed onto his elbow, pressing it down into the seat to prop himself up, and turned his face towards his partner. He looked deep into those nervous eyes, and broke up the tension by nudging forward to kiss the man's nose, "I have no doubt that Minako thinks she's helping...but at this exact moment, whether Saito feels better or worse when he leaves this competition than he felt when he got there...doesn't matter to me. I didn't care about JJ when he ran into you and got his heel slashed, and I don't care about Saito after he assaulted you and then ran. I care about you. He messed up your Free Skate and took Silver from you in the process."

"I messed up my Free Skate. He skated hard and scored higher than I did."

"He got into your head. I know the look on your face when your anxiety shoots into the danger zone. You passed out, Yuri! You've never had a panic attack so bad that it knocked you unconscious." Viktor protested, only to then realize he was getting loud, and quieted himself again before continuing, "...I pretended to be a responsible adult long enough to deal with him like a coach would, rather than a really angry husband, but when we're done in Osaka, I'm washing my hands of him."

Yuri sighed to hear it, "This isn't the last time we're going to see him. Even if he doesn't get picked for PyeongChang, he's going to Four Continents, and probably Worlds."

"You sound an awful lot like someone who wants to forgive him." The Russian pointed out warily, lifting his head again to look on dubiously, "Where are you going with this?"

"I told myself during my Free Skate that I was tired of feeling sorry for myself over what happened." He explained, "You did such an amazing job helping me work through it all, and because of you...because of your support and your kind words and that ritual cleansing you did for me, and holding me and never letting me think that I wasn't as good as I was before because I'd felt tainted by it all...I feel so much better now. I didn't have to sit on these bad feelings for weeks or months on my own like I did after messing up in Sochi." Yuri said, looking straight into that one visible blue eye, "Maybe I was just bitter earlier for losing the Silver when I thought I had it in the bag. I blamed Asahi too for my poor performance, and then I vastly underestimated how much better he'd gotten in the last two years. Even if we completely ignore everything that happened to him outside the rink...he still busted his ass to get on that podium, just like Yurio did before Barcelona. I'll do better at 4C and at the Games...and then I'll win another Gold for you at Worlds like I promised... I can live with Bronze coming out of Nationals. But in the end...I still feel like I did right after this whole storm started."

Viktor listened quietly, even if he didn't entirely like what he was hearing.

"As angry as I am for what he did...I can't ignore the obvious fact that Asahi would never have done it in the first place if he wasn't in incredible pain at the time."

"So you want to forgive him."

"Part of me already has..."

Viktor gave him quite the look.

Yuri just shook his head, "The part that felt bad for him when he told me about how he watched his partner die. The part that understands that he's been running away from dealing with all those emotions, the same way he ran away from everything else. He's so scared of how he feels about any given thing that he doesn't know how to deal with it. He made a mistake, a terrible mistake...and after everything he's done to avoid us today, I think it's safe to say that he understands that."

"You're putting me in a weird position." The Russian sighed, turning his face down to put his forehead against his husband's shoulder and neck, "I'm furious at him for how he hurt you, but every time you bring up Itō, it just makes me feel bad. I don't really care what Saito thinks of me, but I can't stand the thought of you seeing me as a hypocrite after all the tears I shed over you in Detroit, and I didn't lose you."

"That's a big reason why I'm having a hard time staying mad at him myself." Yuri added, bringing his hand up to gently comb it through his husband's hair, playing with it idly, "I think about how grateful I am that I'm still here to be able to see how upset and scared you were over me...but then I think about Asahi, and how his partner didn't get that chance. I mean...I almost couldn't be mad at you if you went back to Sophia if something happened to me and I died. People who are that badly hurt by the loss of an intimate partner...I can't blame them for seeking comfort wherever they might find it. It was just my bad luck that Asahi found that in me."

Viktor shook his head lightly where he still had it pressed down, "I don't know that I can walk this path with you. He may feel guilty for hurting you, but I doubt it would ever cross his mind to apologize for how he hurt me in all this."

"What if he did?"

"I'm not in the mood to think about forgiving Saito." Viktor answered simply, voice firm in its conviction.

Yuri nodded, cheek rubbing against his husband's head as he moved, "...Wakarimashita." (I understand.)