CHAPTER THREE HUNDRED EIGHTY FOUR
Waking up in Hasetsu without a care in the world was like a dream. The coolness of the bedroom air, the sound of a small seaside town outside the walls, the sunlight that barely cracked through drawn curtains and wooden blinds...and the contrast to the dark, and warmth of blankets and bare skin.
Yuri was the first to rise, though it only lasted for the half a minute it took to reposition himself over his husband's back, and fell asleep again for another half hour. By the time consciousness poked at him again, he was on his side next to the Russian, one arm rather insistently wedged under the man's chest, the other draped over his pale back, and one leg curled over the back of his thighs. At some point Viktor had turned towards him as well, and Yuri thusly had his face mashed right up against the side of his spouse's chest. When his eyes finally opened, refusing to let him sleep for a minute longer, Yuri stretched his arms out and splayed his fingers before bringing them in for a tight cat-like hug around the larger body next to him. Fingers grazed the fluff of a third body just out of sight, and he made a meager attempt to scritch at the brown poodle, able to tell which pooch it was by just the texture of their fur. A moment later, he was aware of the much smaller bundle of fluff that had nestled above the blankets between Viktor's legs. That pup, he was able to reach for easily. He gently wiggled out from under his partner's arm to rest his head against the man's back, before lifting his hand forward to find the Akita's ears.
Jiro was awake immediately after that, lifting his head up suddenly and yelping in his meager surprised-puppy-whiney way, eyes barely open as he looked around. Once he realized the nudge that had woken him up was a friendly hand, he got up and lazily scrambled over the silver legend's thigh until he could drop down in the small gap made between the man's hip and Yuri's stomach. Despite the graceless flop, the puppy was content to go back to sleep there, and Yuri was happy to offer more body-rubs to ease him into slumber.
"...I wonder if we could get away with bringing you to Osaka?" He wondered quietly, barely breathing the sound of his words, "It'd be hard to smuggle Makkachin in, but you're still so tiny...plus, you were given to me by the JSF...I'm sure they'd be happy to see you again."
Viktor was barely awake by then, eyes only half-open where he was looking down at the top of his partner's head. He stayed quiet for a little while, content to just watch and listen, but the feeling of being watched eventually attracted those cherry-tinted brown eyes.
"...How long have you been awake...?" Yuri wondered with one of those easy 'good morning' smiles. He slid back up the sheets a little bit to look at his spouse evenly, curling his fingers around the man's shoulder, and he kissed lightly at the closest edge before settling down again, "Did I wake you up when I moved?"
Viktor closed his eyes and lightly turned his head back and forth, "No," He managed, twisting his frame just enough to lift his arm and reach it forward, draping it over the younger man's form to pull him closer and squish their faces together, "I think it was just getting to be that time."
"Mhmmm..." Yuri agreed, tilting his head just enough to turn the squish into a kiss. Given his much smaller stature, it was easy for him to get pinned under his husband's chest and arm as the man looked down at him from above, but there was a certain comfort to take from that. Viktor curled that same arm around and toyed with his raven hair, idly brushing a few of the ever-growing strands from his eyes, "I was thinking just now...about bringing Jiro with us back to Osaka today."
"Yeah?"
"Given what we're going back to, I considered that maybe it'd be a good way to check if the 'therapy dog' idea is even worth the trouble, or if Jiro's cut out for it. He was calm enough in the crowd when the JSF gave him to me, so..."
The Russian waited a moment, looking on with those half-sleepy blue eyes, but then nodded once, silver hair lowering enough to tease his partner's skin, "One of us will have to carry him practically everywhere, but...if that's what you want."
"You're not actually jealous, are you...?" Yuri wondered nervously, trying to soothe the man's potential nerves by stroking his thumb back and forth where he had his hand perched on the edge of the shoulder just above himself, "I don't mean it to be like that..."
Viktor shook his head, kissing the younger man's brow, "There's a teeny tiny part of me that feels like I failed a little bit, since you're considering adding this one thing to your defense arsenal...but I remind myself that Jiro is a puppy, and there are just some things that dogs do for us that people can't, so I understand. Makkachin was always the same for me. He was there by my side during some pretty lonely years."
"Yeah..." Yuri nodded, "He's an add-on, not a replacement or substitution. Besides, you'll always be the first one I go to when I'm feeling anxious." He added, lifting his head up just enough to nose at the Russian's cheek and ear, "Now we just have to worry about Makkachin being jealous."
"It's just for one night, so it should be okay."
.
The water in the shower-room was running at full-tilt as Yuri, clad in a thin bathrobe, descended th stairs with his pup to get to the main floor. Makkachin barreled down quickly and had his tail wagging as fast as a propeller blade, waiting by the food bowls. Yuri quickly fed the two famished dogs before sauntering down the hall to their 'Skating Memorabilia and Trophy Room,' and nudged the door open to spot the dress-forms within; some with costumes hung on them, others bare where the outfits were in Osaka. The room glimmered with gold and silver, plus the odd bronze here and there, with larger trophies on stands and shelves, including one of his own historical All Japan Championship cups, and two of Viktor's multitude of NHK Trophies.
We'll have to make room for the monster he just won last night...
His hand went out for the knob to the closet, and Yuri flicked the light-switch on to illuminate the small room, full with all of their historical costumes. He slid the coat-hangers around as he looked for the Exhibition garb he meant to wear later in the night, and started pulling a few out just for the sake of looking at them. He came upon one in particular that caught his interest, and brought one hand up to his chin in thought.
...I wonder if I could get away with it...?
Jiro started howling in the kitchen, or tried to anyway, and it caught Yuri's attention rather quickly. He rushed to pull the two costumes from the rack and departed the closet, and headed back to the main part of the house to find out what his pup was crying over. When he arrived, he found Jiro chest-down and looking under the fridge, about to back up to try another howl, only to spot his person coming up from the side, and abandoned the entire effort, wagging his tail and clumsily rushing towards him.
"Is there a bug under there?" Yuri wondered, rolling the two garment bags together before setting them aside on a nearby counter, "Or did a bit of kibble roll away?" The puppy grumble-whined at him, and he bent down to pick him up, "You want a treat instead?" Ears perked and Jiro tilted his head, making the man laugh quietly, "That's what I thought. Hang out and I'll make you something."
While Yuri arranged to make breakfast, Viktor finished cleaning-up on the second floor, rinsing and drying and getting himself dressed. It was a bit of a challenge though, and he hobbled slightly on the sore right ankle. For a moment, after sitting on the edge of the bed and bringing that foot up to rest on the opposite knee, he just rubbed the deep, angry feeling with his fingers.
It's not the same sharp pain from yesterday... It's more like a really deep bruise now. Still hurts though.
He sighed and dropped onto his back against the blankets, staring up at the ceiling.
I guess it's for the best that Yuri benched me after all. If I tried to jump on this, or even just bear all my weight on it, it'd be a train-wreck.
Makkachin suddenly appeared in the doorway, panting quietly and wagging his tail, looking on at his human before finally coming in to nose one hand.
The Russian lifted his head towards the poodle, and rolled onto his side, reaching forward to bring the dog closer into a hug at the edge of the bed, "You're going to be the man of the house at Yu-Topia like before." He explained, "But remember...no rice-buns."
The quiet pant and tail-wagging continued.
Viktor pushed back up to sitting normally and reached for the ankle brace, pulling it over his sock with a sigh and a shake of his head.
By the time he'd made it carefully downstairs, the lower floor was full with the smell of coffee, grilled fish, rice, miso, and fried eggs. He watched from the stairs for a moment as his husband worked a spatula gently around the edge of a pan, and folded the circular egg-sheet over itself. He couldn't help but feel the urge to document the moment for posterity's sake, and quickly withdrew his phone, loading up Instagram in preparation of taking a picture.
Though Yuri heard him coming and turned to spot him, Viktor continued his casual stride over, kissing his husband's neck as his free arm went around him, the other raised high with the phone, "Itadakimaaaaasu~!" (Let's eat! / Thanks for the food!)
Yuri lifted his face to the camera, and smiled as well as he could given the surprise, one hand still on the frying pan handle, the other on the spatula.
Kli-kash!
"This'll be great." Viktor mused, pulling back just enough to type his comments and post the image, "Plus it'll make it real easy to explain why you aren't at Exhibition practice right now."
"That's true." The younger figure agreed, turning his attention to the omelet briefly before giving it back to his spouse, "Hey."
"Hm?" The Russian lifted his eyes from his phone, but just found the man leaning towards him with a half-smirk. He quickly caught on and returned the gesture, holding in that kiss for a few moments before pulling back to nuzzle the man's nose, "Mh...vkusno."
"Eh?" Yuri laughed in his confusion, turning to flip the eggs over, "I'm tasty this morning? I haven't brushed my teeth yet or anything..."
"The miso, my love."
"Oh right..." He blanched, looking at the chopsticks he'd used earlier to stir the thin broth.
"Did you find your outfit?" Viktor wondered as he moved off again.
"Mh."
"And you sent your music?"
"About 10 minutes ago, Viktor-kōchi."
The silver legend lifted his head as he sat at their small table, smiling, "Yoku yatta ne." (Good job.)
.
The return to Yu-Topia was made in haste, with neither skaters removing their shoes as they stood in the entrance hall. Viktor quickly tried to dust and wipe his poodle off so Makkachin could run freely inside while Yuri called out.
"Moooom! We're here but we gotta goooo!"
"Yuuuri!" Hiroko called back, trotting out as quickly as she could from the common area, stopping just shy of the ledge to the lower shoes-allowed section of the doorway, "Vik-chan!" She noticed that her son was still holding Jiro inside his jacket, head poking out from the nearly-closed neck hole, "Isn't he staying?"
"We decided to smuggle him." Yuri answered with a childish grin, "It's just for tonight though. It'll be fine."
The short-statured woman tilted aside to gape at her silver in-law, noting rather easily that he was favoring one leg, "Vik-chan...what did you do?"
"Hah?" The Russian answered with an eye-twitch, lifting his head up from the dog in front of him. Makkachin was quick to wiggle away from him and scampered off into the resort, leaving Viktor to stand back up to his full height and make light of the situation, "It's nothing. It slipped out from under me. I'm fine."
"You're not even standing on it though!" She explained, "...Do you want a cane?"
Yuri nearly choked.
...Do you want a cane?...
...want a cane?...
...cane...?...
"...I can't deal with this..." Viktor whined, descending to the floor.
.
Though much larger than Hasetsu, Osaka was similar in its sea-side position. There were no gulls to speak of in the dead of winter, but the usual noises of a busy port were floating through the air.
It wasn't the most awkward wake-up in history, but between the restless Asahi and the anxious Minako, there wasn't much to be said as they roused. Each of them took their turns in the bathroom getting ready, and departed the room without a word spoken. The skater wasn't sure if Minako was silent because she'd overheard him the night before, and wasn't about to ask. Minako herself was unsure how to respond to the fact that she had.
Asahi bundled up like he had when he'd first arrived, ski-goggles and scarf hiding everything that his hood didn't. They made it unnoticed into the lobby before the young man paused suddenly and turned around.
Minako blinked at him, but waited.
"Thanks..." He said hesitantly, then bowed towards her politely, "For letting me stay here overnight. It...helped."
The ballerina was skeptical, but nodded anyway, "I hope you got what you needed. You have my cell if you want to reach out."
Asahi nodded as well and rose back up, about to turn to leave...but paused again. He looked down in thought for a moment, but then shook it out, "Please don't tell anyone about the...stuff I said." He asked, "I'm sure I'll hear enough about what was said on SMS to last a lifetime...but I don't need or want people feeling sorry for me. What's in my head is my business. The only way others should know about it is if I tell them myself."
Minako bowed her head, "I understand." She raised it up again just as Asahi was starting to turn away, "Promise me something though."
"...Hn?"
"If I can convince Yuri and Viktor to come to the table...you'll come too?"
The athlete hesitated, mouth open and ready to give some generic excuse to avoid answering one way or another, but the hazy memory of the night before came to mind.
...We were going to start telling people about us! We were two hours from that moment! You've extended it out long enough now, don't you think...?
Asahi gripped at the straps of his backpack, but then nodded at the woman, "...Try not to make it feel like an ambush, at least."
"It won't be an ambush."
"Then... I'll come."
Minako watched as the skater turned on his heel and finally took his leave, departing into the cold morning and quickly jogging out of her line of sight. She couldn't help but feel uneasy though.
That weird conversation he had with himself last night... He said before that he saw Riku on the ice after his Free Skate...is he imagining it on purpose to torment himself, or is his guilty conscience causing him to hallucinate? This kid's put such a big monkey on his own shoulders...and he's built up such high walls. He barely let me get a peek inside before he shut the doors on me again.
She sighed and pulled her purse-strap up a bit higher, heading for the doors as well.
He's so terrified of letting people in because he's worried of all the myriad ways he could be hurt. I mean...he let Riku in and Riku died...so I can understand. Hmph...and Yuri thought he was alone...