Disclaimer: I do not own YOI, just this fanfic.

Omigosh, I'm so so sooooo sorry about this wait, everyone! I knew that I said chapters would be coming out later but how long has it been? More than a month? I'm soooo sorry! :(

It's just that this month has been so stressful—and I do mean STRESSFUL—for me. These marks really count since they're going to be placeholders for university applications for me next year. Gotta get my priorities straight! Not to mention piano's been really bothering me lately, it's almost like no one in my household is truly on my side. But things are sort of better now.

Anyways, exams are coming up for me next week and you know what that means: SSSSTTTTRRRRREEEEESSSSS! (My favorite...NOT!)

I've been working on this chapter a little bit every few weeks and sometimes a lot on weekends when I don't get any work or stuff to review for a quiz or test the following week. I managed to finish it all today! YES!

Thanks guys for reading! Please don't give up on this fanfic! :D

Ch. 17: The 2014 Olympic Team (Con't)

Detroit, USA.

Phichit's practice has ended about half an hour ago, and he is now heading back downtown towards the large shopping center. It was super crowded and busy, but that's to be expected. New Year's Eve is coming up soon after all.

Making his way through the sea of bustling shoppers, Phichit checks his phone for any new text messages from Ketty—er, Holly.

Holly: I'm at the food court. Where r u?

Phichit: what r u wearing? There're too many people, can't tell who's who

Holly: red jacket. Look for the person with the giant purple suitcase

Phichit's eyes immediately scanned across the area for any sign of a red jacket in close proximity to a giant purple rolling backpack. Here...there...up...down...and yet, nowhere to be found. His head began spinning the more he looked.

Just before his balance was completely lost, a light tap was suddenly felt on his shoulder. That nearly caused Phichit to jump straight up and out of the rooftop of the mall.

"Phichit." The female's voice from behind said.

He turns and pulls himself together before putting on a friendly smile. "Hey, Ketty. Thanks for—"

The red-jacketed woman immediately turns around, walking with her back turned to Phichit, pulling her purple rolling backpack away with her.

"Sorry. I'm afraid you got the wrong person. I do not talk to strangers." She replied calmly.

"No, wait!" Phichit cried, now realizing his mistake. "Holly! Holly! There! I got it! Holly, thanks for—"

Just like that, Holly turns around. A sweet smile on her face. "That's better. Hey, Phichit. I haven't seen you since the beginning of your competitive season. I look forward to seeing you in the Four Continents soon. But I'm pretty sure you didn't call me here to talk about that. What do you need?"

"First of all, before we talk. Why don't we find a place to sit down?" Phichit suggested.

"Sure, I don't mind."

A few minutes later, the two managed to find a vacant table at the edge of the loud food court. It was difficult moving around with Holly's giant rolling backpack and even more so with Phichit's inability to keep a low profile while wearing a hoodless jacket. But they did it in the end.

Sitting down at the wooden table, Phichit mentally ran over what he is planning to ask Holly about today. She gave him her earnest attention, nodding for him to begin.

"Holly. Remember my friend, Yuri Katsuki?"

"Oh, yeah! Him! I saw him win silver at the 2015 Barcelona Grand Prix Final with the song I made for him! Just wait 'til my future employers hear about this! I'll land a job in the music industry in no time!"

Phichit reels her back into topic. "Yeah! That's kind of what I wanted to talk about with you. That song you made him? How did you make it?"

"What do you mean 'how?' There are many different steps in creating music. First, there's the planning, then the note-writing, then the inspiration, then time…" Holly listed.

"The...you know...the, uh...making the 'actual song process…?'" Phichit asked awkwardly, trying to make Holly understand what he means.

Holly understands. "Ohhhhhh. Well, the first version of Yuri On Ice I created was basically an improvisation I made in my spare time. I didn't work too hard to refine it, but I let Yuri keep it anyways."

Phichit nodded. "Oh, ok. What about the revised version? The one that Yuri actually used during his competitions that season?"

"That? I made the revised version by asking an old friend of mine to help out. She used to skate competitively too, but not anymore. Anyways, we got together and I asked for her help in making Yuri's song. That's about it." Holly explained.

"You had a friend that was a competitive skater?" Phichit asked. "Why'd she stop?"

Holly's face turns slightly dark. She maintains her smile nonetheless, but Phichit could feel the change in the air around them.

He regrets that question. "Sorry. I didn't mean to pry. That's none of my business."

"Thanks for understanding," Holly says in a quiet voice.

More shoppers pass by them, all of them scurrying along with their large carts full of decorations, food, and gifts, and their arms strung with giant shopping bags. All the while, Phichit tries to decide whether or not to end this conversation right now or to continue talking.

But in the end, he didn't have to say anything. Holly made the final decision.

"Well, it was nice seeing you, Phichit." She stands up and picks up the handle of her backpack. "But I got to go, I have things to do before the big family dinner for New Years. I'm sure you have things to do too."

"Uh, yeah! Sure, you go on ahead. Thanks for coming out here. Have a good New Year's!" Phichit waves farewell.

As soon as Holly is out of sight, Phichit takes out his phone and scrolls down to Yuri's name in his contacts list. He begins debating whether or not to tell him the news. The last thing he wants to give Yuri is false information. But…

"Ah whatever," Phichit's fingers typed across the tiny keyboard on his phone's screen. "What can I say? I can't leave him hanging."

Phichit: hey brave guy, remember what you were saying about Holly's friend helping her make your free skate song? Well, I asked her about it and she confirms that her friend was a skater! Yuri, I'm not trying to make you do anything stupid, but if you think the time is right, just ask what happened to her alright? Do your mom proud!

St. Petersburg, Russia. Outdoor streets.

Yuri: that's what I'm trying to do right now! But thanks for the info anyways, mom. Just don't rush me, this fixing process is something very delicate, and cannot be rushed. ;)

"Who are you texting?" Victor leaned his head over.

"Ah!" Yuri's phone nearly went flying into the road, but thankfully it did not. "Ahem. Why don't you take a guess?"

"Your mom."

Yuri smiles. "Eh. Close enough. My other mom, you know? The one who lived right next to my side the whole four years of college?"

Victor understood. "Ohhhh. That mom. What was she telling you?"

"She was telling me to hurry up and go home to spend New Years with my family. And to be honest, Victor. I am overstaying my stay. I should be heading back soon." Yuri confesses.

Victor rushes in front of Yuri, stopping him. "It's fine. I'll go back with you. I may have settled things with you, but I still owe apologies to the rest of your family and friends. They were probably hurting as much as you were when I...never mind. Look, if you're going to leave, I'm not letting you leave alone."

Yuri felt his head soar into the clouds, but he couldn't let himself stay in dreamland forever and snaps back to reality. "What about your folks? Won't they be disappointed if you're not there for New Year's?"

"They'll understand. Besides, I've never missed a single New Year's with them since I moved out. I'm sure this one time won't bother them too much." Victor assures.

"But still. It's family. I can't let you do this. Oh, wait! Why don't you invite them over to my place? My parents certainly won't mind!" Yuri suggests enthusiastically.

"Oh, but I'll certainly do mind!" Victor cries in a horrified tone. "Trust me. If your folks had a hard enough time dealing with me and Yurio's presence last time, then they'll be swept out of the country with my parents being there...more specifically...my mom…"

That only got Yuri more interested instead of discouraged. "Why? I'm sure she's not that bad, besides the more enthusiasm we have under the roof, the better! How bad could she be?"

"Imagine the most dramatic middle aged woman you can think of and multiply that by ten! Honestly, if you thought I was dramatic, just you wait!"

Yuri holds back a snort. "Like mother, like son...she sounds like a wonderful woman, I can't wait to meet her!" He steps aside from Victor and continues walking down the street.

"No! I promise you, you don't!"

"I do."

"No, you don't!"

"Oh, but I do."

Victor runs in front of Yuri once again, with his arms flinging about. "No, you really don't! What will it take?"

"How about you tell me what came in between you and Liv that cleaved you two's relationship right here, right now?" Yuri suggests.

"She found the love of her life in Studio Ghibli, got married, quit skating, and now has three kids of her own, named Eren, Armin, and Mikasa. Happy?"

Yuri's jaw detaches itself from his face and falls to the ground. "Wait really!?"

Five seconds passed. Ten seconds. Fifteen seconds—"No." Victor answers with a face as blank as a white piece of paper. "Haha! Did you actually believe that—"

Yank! Victor's scarf was suddenly tugged by a force so strong, the top arm wrestler in the world wouldn't have been able to free him from this iron grip. The scarf was tightened around his neck until he was gasping for air.

"...Yu—ri…I'm...sor—ry…" Victor wheezes.

Yuri's face is as dark as night. He loosens his grip on Victor's scarf only a tiny bit, enough for him to not die of suffocation.

"Well, I don't accept that apology. I've been more than gracious to you, ever since I arrived here, I've been more than tolerating with your attitude and sensitivity regarding Liv. Can you please just tell me what happened?" Yuri demands.

Victor's hands tightened around Yuri's grip on his scarf. "If I do tell you right here, right now, will you look at me the same way?"

Yuri's grip loosens even more. "What do you mean?"

"You always looked up to me before we even got together. Saw me as some kind of hero, idol, father, brother, friend, boyf—"

"Ok! I get it!"

"That's what you say now, it's what you might say after that frightens me." Victor gently yanks Yuri's hands away from his scarf and catches his breath.

Yuri offers Victor some of his bottled water, which he immediately accepts. Yuri sighs. "But I know that Liv made it into the Sochi Olympics, back at the NHK Trophy, Yurio and I found out from one of your rinkmates that you've already mentioned—"

"Who?" Victor jerks his head back to Yuri.

"Laurel Kopeykin."

Victor nods. "Right. Of course. Laurel, she's nicknamed the natural performer. Was selected for the Sochi Olympics, but sustained a grave knee injury about a month before the events. An accident involving a crash and a harness with Georgi. I saw the entire event play before my eyes that day. It was...awful."

Yuri cringes at the sound of that, remembering his own not too recent hip injury. "How did Georgi get away unscathed while Laurel was pulled from the ladies singles?"

"He only sustained a small flesh wound. Besides, it wasn't exactly a crash, more like a slight bump, but that was enough to send Laurel flying off balance and fracture her knee."

"I see...so Liv was chosen as the alternate to replace Laurel right?"

Victor nods. "Uh huh. She was ready to leave for the US when Yakov and I revealed the news to her. The Union couldn't get in touch with her, so we went. Managed to get her to stay and join the Olympic team."

Jan. 2014.

"Why don't they send Mila instead? I'm pretty sure they all wanted to send her as an alternate if you never negotiated with them. They probably only chose me out of guilt, feeling like they owe you or something." Liv gestures to Yakov.

"You're on the team now, Liv! That's not something you should just give away!" Yakov presses.

"You deserve this, you placed first!" Victor adds.

Liv isn't convinced. "No. I didn't. You placed first, Victor. My gold medal was a fake, I failed to uphold my end. Nobody in this country thinks I deserve that gold."

"All the more reason for you to stay here!" Victor yanks the giant suitcase Liv was holding in her hand. "The Olympics, Liv! The biggest international event of the year! You won't be against only your teammates, but other competitors worldwide! Make them think the gold you won is not rigged."

Liv gingerly rubs her hand from Victor's yank and sighs. She remains silent for a minute or so. "The Olympics...every athlete's dream since they were little, mine included. Sigh. How do you want to schedule practice dates?"

"As soon as you unpack all of these suitcases and cancel your flight." Victor puts the suitcase back down in front of her.

Yakov steps forward. "Are you still using that outdoor rink, Liv?"

"Yeah."

"Come to our rink every morning at five. The Forhan arena isn't used during that time there. You can use it for your own practice. Victor and I can oversee you at around four every afternoon when you finish your classes. How's that?" Yakov suggests.

Liv's former gloomy expression brightens. "Thank you so much. I guess I should start unpacking, again, thanks, guys." The apartment door closes in front of them.

Victor and Yakov walk down the hall to the elevator, then going out to the parking lot. They talk on the way to their individual cars.

"Hey, hey, hey, Yakov. Getting more comfortable around her now, eh?" Victor playfully nudges his coach. "'Come to our rink every morning at five. The Forhan arena is reserved for you at all times! Yours truly, Yakov Feltsman.' Aww!'"

"Don't push me." Yakov rubs the area where Victor nudged him. "I'm just making sure you don't fall behind, my responsibility as your coach. You should know that by now, especially since you're taking a student under your wing. I hope you know what you're doing."

"Honestly, Yakov...I didn't exactly want her to stay because she's on the Olympic team now. I just wanted her...to not leave, I guess?"

Yakov is silent. Victor is not comfortable with that silence. "Haha! Kind of selfish of me, right? Forcing her to—"

"Victor!" Yakov's voice echoes throughout the parking lot. "This is exactly what I was afraid of! I knew that you had ulterior motives when picking up Liv as a student, or should I say a minor infatuation! If she doesn't do well at the Olympics, the fault will be on you! You disappoint me."

Victor is not prepared for Yakov to leave with things like this between them. "That's not entirely true! I only realized these feelings now, never when I first met her. I do know what I'm doing! I want her to do well! Just like you want me to do well!"

Yakov relaxes a bit. "I see. Well then, I see that you're also very oblivious in situations like this."

"What? What am I missing?" Victor leans in.

"Have you recently asked Liv what feelings she harbors? Or is this coach-student thing purely professional?" That is the last question Yakov asks before walking to his car and driving away.

Victor stands there, thinking about what Yakov just said. "'Feelings she harbors…?'Damnit, old man! I know what you mean! Quit being so poetic with me. I'll ask her after...after the Olympics, maybe…"

Present time.

Yuri is sitting on a bench in the large shopping center that Victor dragged him to. Turns out, Victor was slacking on his holiday shopping and needed a New Year's Eve present for his parents.

"Or else 'they'll make me wear that hideous...striped and plaid turtleneck sweater again…,' what's so bad about it?" Yuri wonders aloud. "Nobody's going to see it but your parents, unless you're in a public area."

Victor clenches his fists. "You get it, Yuri! It's not so much that I have to wear that sweater, but the fact that it's my mom who'll make me do it! I love her and all, but she's just...a bit too much to handle sometimes—OI! Look at that beautiful work of art!"

Victor suddenly runs over to a jewelry store's display window. In that display window, the largest, shiniest, and probably most expensive-looking, diamond studded gold necklace Yuri have ever seen, hung on a large black mannequin.

Yuri sits down against the window, dropping the rest of the shopping bags on the ground while wiping some sweat away from his head. Who knew that shopping with Victor would be such as workout?

Victor is still pressed against the glass window of the displayed item, his eyes watering from its sheer lust. "Ohhhhhhh, how much do I have right now? Come on! Yes! More than enough! Let's go in, Yuri!"

Yuri heaves as he struggles to stand up with the heavy shopping bags needling through his arms. "Make this quick."

And so, Victor bought the necklace and then went to several more stores to look for several other items to add to the necklace. A new pair of sunglasses, perfume bottles, makeup kit, and scarves. Poor Yuri is getting more than enough exercise he needs in a single day!

Then, Victor moves on to looking for another category of gift items, more specifically male items this time. From smartwatches to new styluses, USB, and more, Victor has yet to find something to buy.

Yuri pulls on Victor's sleeve from behind, signaling to him for a break. "How do you do this?" Yuri moans. "This spree is twice as long as the one back in Barcelona!"

Victor gently puts a hand on Yuri's warm forehead and releases his arms from the load of shopping bags. "When you're an only child, you're either a 'mom's kid' or a 'dad's kid,' I was the 'mom's kid.' And let's say that she was equivalent to a professional shopper."

"'Was?' How about now?" Yuri asks breathlessly.

Victor waves a hand at him. "Nah. At this day and age? I doubt she could handle half an hour with the load you're carrying Yuri!"

"Aha! I knew you looked familiar!" A middle-aged woman's voice suddenly appears from behind the two men. "Sigh...and you didn't even bother to call me or your father when you came back to St. Petersburg…"

Yuri immediately turns around as soon as he heard that from the woman. Behind them, is a tall silver-haired woman who looked to be about in her late forties, she wore an attire that most women these days would die for, and in her arms strung a load of shopping bags TWICE AS LARGE as Yuri's load!

"Victor~come on, won't even turn around to say 'hi,' to your mom?" She singsongs.

Victor continues to sit with his back turned around, a smile plastered on his face while Yuri attempts to make him stand up. "Victor, that's your mom? Oh, my…"

"Hi...mom…" Victor manages.

Mrs. Nikiforov puts down all of her bags and skips over to Victor, yanking him to his feet. "Oh my goodness! Look at how much you've grown! It's only been, like, a few months, but it felt like five years! I was so worried about you ever since you moved to Japan and—gasp!"

She drops Victor to the ground and diverts all of her attention to the flustered Yuri behind them. Grabbing both of his hands, Mrs. Nikiforov begins speaking a mile a minute again.

"Are you him? Yuri Katsuki? You look even more adorable in real life, I always thought you were cute on tv, but here? It doesn't compare! Victor, why didn't you take me and your father to meet him formally? Oh never mind that, look at you, my dear! Soft hair, gentle eyes, nice smooth skin, a look of innocence hiding the potential for seduction, oh! My boy, you're an angel from heaven!" Mrs. Nikiforov gushes.

Yuri never felt so flustered all his life! His face turns beet red and he is smiling like crazy. "Oh my god, this is amazing...th—thank you, ma'am!"

"Oh, pppfffffftttttt, 'ma'am' makes me sound like an old lady, call me Nicole! Nicole Nikiforov!"

"Of course. Sure." Yuri agrees without hesitation.

Victor jumps in between his mother and fiance. "Mom. Can you please tone down a bit? It's making him very nervous."

"Oh?" Nicole tilts her head. "Making Yuri nervous? Or...you?" She gently touches Victor on the tip of his nose in a teasing fashion.

Yuri begins laughing. It's all so clear now! So that's where Victor gets his overdramaticness from...she really is ten times worse than Victor! Nicole pulls Victor into her arms, squeezing him in a tight choking embrace.

"Ahhh, come here, treasure! I really did miss you! You only come home for holidays and birthdays, but you never update us on your life outside! I had to find out from Yakov that day when you left for Japan! You didn't even wait for me to say goodbye to you at the airport!" Nicole scoffs.

Victor tries to pull away from his mom's hug. "Mmhmm. And there's a clear reason to that! If I told you about why I left for Japan, you're going to try and come along and peep into the details of my reason to go!"

"Is there a problem to that? Seriously, Victor! I already assumed you left because you found a special someone there!" Nicole gestures to Yuri proudly. "And what a special someone! What number is Yuri again? Oh right. Number 17!"

Yuri is confused as to that. "'Number 17…?'"

Nicole nods. "17th person Victor thought to be his soulma—"

"Mmmoooommmm!" Victor's voice barely sounded like his voice at all. He forces himself out of his mom's arms and grabs Yuri's shoulders.

"It's alright, Yuri! Number 17 is very special! You're the longest lasting relationship I've had out of all of my relationships!" Victor assures in a panicked tone.

Yuri sweats. So I'm only number 17? Holy shit...Victor really is experienced. And no different from the way he used to think of him, a real confident person who gets along with nearly everybody, and a bit of a player…

Nicole puts a finger to her chin. "That's right, Yuri really is the longest-lasting one, but what about that previous girl? I really thought that one was going to hit off, I was even beginning to plan the wedding reception—"

"Nay!" Victor quickly runs to his mom and takes her into a nearby store.

Yuri can see their figures behind the frosted display windows before Victor and his mom emerges again and walks back to Yuri. Nicole seems to have lost a bit of her enthusiasm from before, but Victor seems to be very relieved.

"I understand everything now," Nicole says in a cool voice. "First of all…"

Nicole puts a hand on Yuri's shoulder and looks at him with sympathetic eyes. "Yuri, I am so sorry for any of the pain my son has caused you."

"Oh no, no, no! It's fine, really! Things are great between us right now! Don't worry about a thing, Nicole!" Yuri assures, but really, he wasn't too sure either.

"Mmm. Alright, second of all…" Nicole turns around back to Victor and yanks him by the hair. Victor winces from the grip. "You! Victor! You'd better call your father as soon as we leave this mall, he's going to want to know about this new boyfriend of yours!"

"Mom! Stop pushing me, alright? I promise I'll call him! Have I ever forgotten about promises before?" Victor challenges.

"You forgot about the promise you made to Yurio that you'd make him a short program for his senior debut." Yuri states matter of factly.

"Whose side are you on?" Victor cries.

"The honest one," Yuri replies.

Nicole agrees. "Mmmmm, it'a very like you to forget promises. I mean look at all 17 of your past ex-soulmates. Didn't you tell every single one of them that you promise to be with him/her forever?"

"Seriously, mom. Stop. It."

"Gasp! Maybe that's why you're losing hair! Yakov divorced from his wife and he's half bald! You broke up 17 times! No wonder you're balding at such a young age!"

"Ughhhh…" Victor flops to the ground in defeat.

Yuri sweats with worry. "I think you went a little far, Nicole."

"No worries, Yuri-dear. He's just being a drama queen. Don't know where he gets that from though...right Yuri?"

Yuri sweats even more. "Ugh, heh, heh...rrriiiiggghhhttt…"

Nicole picks up Victor with both hands, helping him back to his feet. "Well, gentlemen. Do you need a ride home or what? It's snowing pretty hard right now."

"No thanks, we can walk—"

"What a grateful offer! Thanks, Nicole!" Yuri interrupts. "Pssttt. She's your mom, come on." He whispers in Victor's ear.

Victor sighs in defeat. "Only because you're Yuri…"

Nicole happily picks up all their shopping bags single-handedly and begins walking towards the main entrance of the mall. Halfway there, she pulls out her cell phone.

"Hello, Kostner? Guess who I bumped into while on my New Year's spree. That's it! Yeah, so you'd better come back early tonight! He's brought his 'reason for leaving St. Petersburg without a single call' with him! Tonight calls for a celebration!" Nicole exclaims.

Victor hides behind Yuri. "Oh boy…"

"I'm really liking your family so far Victor…" Yuri teases.

"Do me a favor and never bring my mom to Hasetsu, I might end up giving your folks a premature death…"

Writing Victor's mom is really fun! I wasn't planning to insert her at first but after a discussion with my younger sister (my partner in writing), I created the character of Nicole Nikiforov, Victor's mom, from the back of my head. It all started with my sister asking me, "what's Victor's mom like when she saw her son became famous?" And it ended like this.

I've made Victor's mom someone who's supportive and doting of her son, instead of distant, like in so many other fanfics that I read that contained Victor's parents in there. Most of them had his parents being doubtful about his relationship with Yuri and his type of lifestyle, but I want to make them seem more loving and warm here.

Anyways, that's that. No chapters for awhile once again. But the summer's coming soon, so I hope I'll catch up on the writing schedule. Besides, I'm planning on making this fic go all the way to the 2018 Peonychang Olympics! YYEEAAHHHH! I'm rooting for you, Satoko Miyahara! (I'm a big fan of her! :D)

Wish me luck on next week's exams! Peace out! :D