CHAPTER THREE HUNDRED EIGHTY NINE

Being sidelined had never been a particularly contentious issue for Viktor while he was playing around in coach-mode, but since his return to figure skating, the idea of sitting out for any reason had been hard to fathom. But, every time the silver Russian tried to twist on his heel to turn or walk, and that deep, bruise-like pain jabbed him with a reminder of his injury, it became more and more apparent that being sidelined was bruising his ego, too.

The hallway on the upper floor of the building that lead to the swimming pool was fairly empty, making it as good a spot as any for teaching the basic program elements of the Exhibition's Opening Ceremonies. Asahi had even found a dry-erase marker to use on the white-boards wrapped around the support pillars, and he drew a play-by-play of all the major components of the show.

"This part of the rink is being set up for those Taiko drummers from the Opening Ceremonies on Friday," The skater explained, skates having been taken off by then and set against a wall, leaving him with just his socks on the tile floor. He pointed the dry-erase marker at a rough outline of a skating rink, and a big circle he'd drawn in the middle of one half, "There'll be a carpet where you can't skate, and...uhh...Christmas lights? The white ones...all around the edge like the concert stage, so you don't miss it in the dark."

Yuri stood a few paces back, left arm wrapped around himself to support his elbow on the right, where he kept a finger curled over his chin, knuckle barely brushing his lower lip. Behind him, sitting on a hemi-circular couch that had been dragged closer for better viewing, was Viktor and Minako. Jiro stayed tethered to the Russian's wrist by his leash and harness, and busied himself with all the new smells around the area.

"For the first half of the show, it's just the drummers and the local skaters doing their routine...the rest of us then come out from these two back corners, just like when Senpai called us out before."

Yuri chortled a laugh under his breath, moving his hand up to cover his mouth as he looked down a little.

Asahi stopped and deadpanned him, "What?"

"Eh?" The younger figure looked up again, but then shrugged his arms out to the sides, "Oh...well, I mean, you used to give me dirty looks every time I mentioned Viktor, and now you're calling him Senpai? I don't know if it's funny or ironic or...something else."

The deadpan continued, "...Are you making fun of me?"

Oh crap...! Yuri flailed his hands around defensively, "N-no way! I don't mean it like that at all!" He twisted around to plead for backup, "...V-Viktor!"

"Don't call me Senpai." He answered simply.

"Sensei then." Asahi suggested.

"No way."

"Shishou."

"I don't even know what that means."

"It means 'teacher' but it's more like...a master?" Yuri explained.

"Then absolutely not." Viktor harped.

"Shidouin."

Viktor narrowed one eye, but again looked to his partner for an explanation.

"Also teacher, but in guidance counselor sense."

"No...no, no...no, none of it. Just Viktor."

"Hai, Senpai."

Minako snickered behind her hand and watched the Russian collapse back against the couch with a sigh, "I think it suits you."

"I'm not teaching him anything though." Viktor argued quietly, "How did it come to this?" He whined and slid down the back-rest until he was flat against one shoulder. It didn't take long for a curious Akita snoot to come up in front of him, along with two small paws and those dark eyes, "Jiro, you're smart...how did this happen?"

The puppy just tilted his head and wagged his curly fluff of a tail.

"You're always right..." Viktor sighed again and reached his arm over the edge, curling his hand under the puppy's back-end to hoist him up.

Minako shook her head and laughed under her breath, leaning back against the cushion behind herself, "You're a good motivator. I'm kind of surprise Yuri never went through the Senpai phase."

"That's cuz he never technically taught me anything." Yuri quipped, distracted from the explanation by the chatter behind him, "I mean, when he came to Hasetsu, it was after he saw me do a quad Flip and Lutz already. He knew I could do them...just not in competition. He taught me less about how to skate than he did about how to feel more confident about myself." He turned back to face forward again, nodding his head down in apology, "Sorry...their voices carry in this hall...I couldn't help hear them."

Asahi hesitated, eyes moving from Yuri to the man further down the corridor, "...Is that really all it was?"

"Eh?"

"The coaching thing." The man repeated, "You...said before...that part of what he helped you with was learning to like yourself... So he wasn't really a traditional coach then..."

"Well..." Yuri fidgeted a little where he stood, eyes going towards the tiles under the older skater's socks, "He technically was still a traditional coach. It was just an all-encompassing sort of thing, with the choreography thrown in, too. He coached me skating as much as he did in life...it's just that the life-coaching thing happened to help me more than anything else." He glanced up from the floor, and saw the focused look on Asahi's face, "You don't really seem to have any problems with letting your life circumstances follow you onto the ice though. You still won Silver in spite of everything that was going on."

That struck a strange chord, and Asahi reached up to press against it with a few fingers.

"What is it...?" Yuri wondered, voice almost echoing in the lonely hall.

"...My life does follow me onto the ice." Asahi admitted quietly, "Every time I've set a blade down inside the walls of a rink, I'm...rebelling."

"...Rebelling?"

Viktor, despite being flat on his back on the couch, had his head turned toward the pair, watching and listening quietly while Jiro chewed on his sharp little puppy-nubbins . The Russian kept his arm around the pup, keeping him pressed to the side of his frame.

"Yeah..." Asahi went on, not noticing him, "I've often been asked why my shows are so loud, boisterous, and expressive...when off the ice, I'm just...kind of a lump. I mean, who consistently picks the most popular music to skate to, only to vanish again after an event? It just seems so hypocritical. I guess it was just this desperate cry for attention...I wanted people to look even if I didn't want anyone to see. Does that...make any sense at all...? I have no idea what I'm saying."

"I guess so...it's kind of like Ice Kabuki." Yuri offered, "When you get out there, you're pretending to be someone else. Right?"

It took a moment, but the older figure nodded, "...Ice Kabuki..."

.

With the family fun time on the ice over, the rink was cleared. Two of the three skaters were getting their blades on as Minako returned from the skate-rental kiosk, approaching where they sat on one of the many benches between it and the rink wall, "They said we have 45 minutes, then they have to redo the ice."

"How did you even manage to get the ice for us on such short notice...?" Yuri wondered dubiously, "We had to share it in Sapporo."

"The group that normally practices at this hour is taking a field-trip to watch the Free Dance." The ballerina answered, "So there's a gap in the schedule before a kids' hockey thing later."

"Oh...lucky us." Yuri said, turning his attention back to his boots, lacing up the last of the left side.

Asahi pulled the edge of his runner-pants down over the top of his own boots, and waited a moment, looking aside at the gold that caught his eye, "Oh..."

"Huh?" Yuri lifted his head, pausing where he was, "What?"

"I don't think I noticed before that you have gold blades now. ...When...did you switch?"

Hazel eyes went from the older skater to the skates in question, but Yuri felt a flutter of pride to be able to explain it, and stuck both his legs out straight to hold the boots up, "Viktor got them for me as a wedding present last spring. Since I won Gold at Worlds, he said that I should wear gold."

"...You won Gold at Worlds?" Asahi repeated in surprise, only to turn slightly as it percolated through his head, "...Well, I guess that's not surprising...if you have Senpai as your coach and choreographer, and he always puts together really difficult programs...'Aria' was one of the hardest, and you replicated that one easily..."

Yuri leaned forward and got a smug look on his face, feet going back down to the floor again, "I beat Viktor for it."

The Russian lifted up slightly where he was sitting by his partner's side...right in the middle of the two, though Asahi kept slightly towards the edge on his end.

"He was skating at that one...!?"

"Yeah!" Yuri smiled more innocently then, twisting aside and planting both hands on his husband's thigh, breaking out his Captain Fanboy hat for the first time in ages, "It was the only event he skated at all last year. He did his Free Skate right before me, and I went out last...so when the announcer read my numbers, there was a minute where neither of us could even believe it. I mean, Plisetsky and I broke his Short and Free World Records at the GPF before then, so Viktor went out of his way to reclaim his accolades at his big debut back to competition...and he did. But then I went out and stole the Free and Total score records right back from him 5 minutes later...and the Gold medal."

Viktor just crossed his arms as he wore an exaggerated frown, shadows under his eyes concealing the look within them.

"I still owe him another four World Championship Golds though, so I have my work cut out for me." Yuri went on, sighing nervously, "That's how I have to pay him back for being my coach all this time. I'd never be able to afford him otherwise."

"...But you're married to him."

"Damn right he is." Viktor chimed in finally, arms unclenching from his chest to reach around and clamp down on the younger man before him instead, drawing him tightly close, "But that was an agreement we made beforehand."

Yuri squeaked out a response as well as he could, given how he was being squeezed, "HesaidIcouldpayhimbackafterIwonGoldattheGrandPrixFinal...butIwonSilver..."

"You won Gold this time." The Russian corrected, not budging.

"Technically." The younger man managed, wiggling out of his partner's grasp well enough to squash his forehead to the Russian's cheek, "Now it's just going to be a running joke that I never win it on my own."

"...I don't know what you guys are talking about." Asahi said quietly, not specifically trying to interrupt, but confused anyway.

Yuri blinked back at him, "Oh...right, you weren't following anything..."

"How did you know about Yuri's 'Aria' then?" Viktor wondered, eyes going back to his partner as Yuri twisted to half-sit on his lap, facing towards him with his left leg folded between them, while still looking at the man beside them both.

"Cuz of me." Minako explained, picking Jiro up to rest the tired pup against her shoulder, "I showed Yuri's viral 'Aria,' the old Cup of China 'Yuri on Ice' program, and the Onsen on Ice 'Eros' Exhibition." She turned towards the confused athlete, "I still think you should go watch Yuri's other shows from last year. His Worlds Free Skate and all their Exhibitions from this season."

"Oh...okay..." Asahi nodded, "But about that other thing...?"

"I got hurt before the Final," Yuri started, "Viktor nearly pulled me, but I got to compete anyway...in the end, I won Silver on my own, and Viktor won Gold, but he stepped down during the medaling ceremony and bumped everyone behind him up a notch. So, even though he won the Gold, I was the one who walked out with it...Otabek got Silver, and Yuri Plisetsky won Bronze."

"...Otabek...?" Asahi echoed, "...Not Chris?" There was a slightly dubious tone in his voice.

"Chris came in last, actually." Yuri explained, hands idly moving up and down the front of his partner's jacket, almost like he didn't even notice he was doing it, "It burned him pretty bad, because not only was he 6th, but he was the only skater in the group that didn't break 300 for their totals." He finished, watching the older figure for a response.

"Would it be mean of me to think that's what he gets?" Asahi finally asked aloud, hesitantly turning his eyes to the side to look at the pair beside him.

Yuri just smiled nervously and slid his hands all the way up to cover his husband's mouth, "I'm not sure it counts, since you weren't there." He pointed out, "We all kind of chalked it up to irony, because Chris actually beat out my Detroit friend, Phichit-kun, to get the 6th spot, but JJ Leroy lost his spot and Phichit-kun was allowed to fill it...and then he scored higher than Chris did."

"Why did JJ lose his spot?"

"I got hurt because JJ and I collided during practice that Thursday. I banged my head and JJ cut his Achilles. He'll be out until next season, at least."

"Oh...wow... Sucks to be him, I guess."

Viktor chortled a laugh under his husband's hands.

"Senpai, you don't like JJ either?" Asahi wondered.

The Russian brought his own hands up from where they'd been perched on his partner's waist, and gently nudged a finger at each of the younger man's wrists, "Before the accident, Leroy was beneath my notice. I didn't think he was interesting at all. His cocky attitude got under my skin, but up until the Final, I thought it was annoyingly harmless, so I basically ignored him. But...he was trying to hog the practice rink while Yuri and Otabek were trying to get a few minutes on the ice, and did a jump right into Yuri while he was doing a spin."

"...If I had slept after we landed, I would've known not to skate right where I was." Yuri pointed out, "I wasn't thinking clearly. My head was swimming that whole time."

"Yuri, you need to stop that..." Viktor half-argued.

"Stop what?"

"Trying to take partial responsibility for the stupid things other people to do you that make me mad." The Russian answered, making Asahi a bit nervous, "It doesn't matter if you were jet-lagged. That idiot still had to line up where he was going to jump from and land...and he chose to get dangerously close to where you were. If anyone around here got what they deserved, it was him."

"...I guess so." Yuri said, looking aside.

"Uhm...Senpai..." Asahi interjected quietly, "I should probably start to show Yuri the choreography...we don't have a lot of time..."

.

Yuri stood in the 'forbidden' zone at one end of the rink, between two big end-zone face-off circles in the ice meant for the hockey group. He watched and listened carefully as Asahi explained and then demonstrated the choreography described in the hallway earlier.

Sitting in the seating area above the skate-rental kiosk again, but more in the middle than to the side where they'd had their big 'group talk,' Viktor watched with Minako. Jiro snoozed on his lap, hands gently around his tiny body to keep him from sliding away, but the Russian's slate eyes stayed keenly on the ice.

"...You're handling this a lot better than I thought you would." Minako commented idly, nudging the man with one elbow.

"You're learning an awful lot of bad habits from my uncle." Viktor warned dryly, eyes unmoving.

The ballerina felt her hackles raise, but she was undaunted, "Is that the subtle accusation of meddling, I hear?"

"Yes."

"I wasn't meddling." She pointed out, "I was helping Asahi for his own sake. It had nothing to do with you two."

"And yet, here we are."

"By your choice."

Viktor grit his teeth.

"That's one thing that your uncle seems to forget about." Minako went on, "He treats you like he does his underage kids...the way a parent or guardian would, someone is responsible for the outcomes as much as the kids themselves are. I'm sure if he'd gotten to watch you grow up and be part of things all along, he'd know better."

"This isn't about him."

"No..." She shrugged, "But the point I'm trying to make relates in our different methods. He doesn't consider giving his kids much of a choice in things...if he does, it's only because he's already decided on the solutions, and he's letting them pick from a list of options that he's sorted out ahead of time. With me, I just lay the groundwork for opportunity...and give you the power to decide what to do with it. You chose to come, and I'm glad for that, because that's what I wanted...but if you'd decided not to, that's fine too. Whether or not you agreed had nothing to do with what I was doing with Asahi before that though."

"Yuri feels like you sided with Asahi over him." Viktor pointed out, "He won't say it outright, and he's kind of gotten over it at this point, but I could sense it. When you called earlier and said what you'd been up to...I could practically feel Yuri's heart drop through the floor just by the look in his eyes."

Minako's brow furrowed, "I expected that. It's why I didn't say anything before or while I was dealing with it. I already knew that when I told you both about it, it would come across better if I had something to show for it. If Asahi didn't respond, I probably would've never said anything."

"It was inappropriate."

"And again, I didn't plan ahead to do all that...I was just kind of winging it. And because of it, Asahi's gone from thinking you're too good for us peasants, to looking up to you and calling you Senpai, and he's apologized for what he did."

"To me. He still hasn't to Yuri directly."

"I think he's working up to that." Minako laced her fingers together over her lap, "I think he's trying to show Yuri the kind of person he wants to be seen as...helpful, kind, considerate...not the walking-talking wrecking-ball he was on Friday. He has a lot of work to do. He just needs the chance to do it."

Viktor leaned to his left, slightly away from the woman, and set his arm and elbow against the back-rest to prop his knuckles against his cheek, "I guess I just don't understand why you'd go this far out of your way to help that guy. You barely knew he existed before this weekend, and yet after only a couple hours, you're inviting him to sleep in your hotel room? I bet my uncle was thrilled about that."

"Asahi's young enough to be my kid, just like you and Yuri." She retorted, "And he was hurting. If he had been entirely remorseless about what he'd done to Yuri, I would've thought he could screw off. But that's not what the situation was...so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I reached out to him for his sake, so even if it turned out that you and Yuri wanted nothing more to do with him in the end...at least Asahi still got some resolution out of it. Now he can go home and figure out the rest on his own."

"I'm still not comfortable with how you did all this." Viktor answered, lifting his head and turning to look at the woman next to him, "What if something happened? What if he did something to you?"

"I'm a big girl, Viktor. I can handle myself."

"You're not seeing it..." The Russian shook his head, then gestured with his free hand toward the ice, "I showed you the pictures of Yuri's arms...and Yuri's not weak. Saito still managed to pin him down enough to kiss him, and Yuri couldn't get away. Between Saito's history of being in advanced martial arts, and the apparent suicidal ball of emotions he was last night... And we weren't even in Osaka!"

"What would you have been able to do even if you were?" Minako wondered pointedly, "You two are set up in a completely different building from me...and I don't need either of you thinking you're responsible for my wellbeing. You're not my kids, and I'm not yours."

Viktor grumbled and sat roughly back again, forcing Jiro awake suddenly. Tired eyes looked around, but the pup settled his head down again soon after, and tried to go back to sleep.

"...I appreciate that you're worried about me...I really am. But I made a judgment call on this one, and put my trust in him to not repeat his mistake. He did fine."

"I wish you'd asked us first."

"You would've told me not to."

"And we would've had this same conversation about how you're your own woman who makes her own decisions...but at least then we would've been able to voice our concerns about it. It's like I've told Yuri a thousand times..." Viktor explained, gently rubbing his thumb across Jiro's back and shoulders, "If you get hurt, you're not the only person who suffers. I mean...we're family, aren't we?"

Minako was dumbfounded to hear the words.

"And I don't even mean because of this thing you have with my uncle..." The silver legend went on, "I mean us. You and me, and Yuri, and the Katsukis, Yurio too...and of course, my uncle and his kids. When one of us hurts, we all hurt. There's a time and place to go by the idea that it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission...this wasn't one of them."

"That's a big chunk of wisdom coming from you, Mr. Impulsive." The ballerina retorted, moving her hands up to take the man's arm between them, "Did you learn that from Yuri?"

"He is doing his best to train me to think ahead more often. Don't tell him it's working though. I like that he keeps trying."

Minako just shook her head and laughed before resting the side of her jaw against the Russian's shoulder, "Your secret is safe with me."