In which he arrives

…o…

Yuri Plisetsky stood at the edge of the rink, stretching, when his phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen, before letting out a disgruntled snort and picking up the device.

He had been getting notifications from Twitter and Instagram all morning – all about the same thing: a video that had gone viral in the figure skating world. Yuri had been skeptical of it since he first heard Yuuri Katsuki was involved.

Mila, one of Yakov's students, had attempted to force him to watch it before, even going as far to lift him above her head and carry him to the break room. Only Yakov's intervention had stopped her and Yuri had immediately sprinted back to the rink, where he was now.

After flicking through the messages from his fans, he decided to finally watch it. Mila would force him to sooner or later, and he'd rather not be decapitated while watching it. He clicked on the link provided in one of the messages, and it took him to YouTube. The video was called "Yuuri Katsuki attempts Victor Nikiforov's Stay Close to Me." That earned another snort.

That pig? Attempting Victor's performance? He had to see this.

He would never admit it to the egotistic man's face, but he greatly admired Victor. They didn't talk much though, even though they were both Yakov's students. It wasn't that Yuri was afraid or anything. It wasn't like he felt bad that the few times he talked to Victor, he usually sassed him.

Of course not.

The video was published by "Ice Castle Hasetsu." The name rang a bell, and Yuri remembered that that was the town that Yuuri was from. He clicked the play button.

The video wasn't very good quality; it seemed as though someone had taken it from a distance and on a phone. The person shooting the video appeared to be sitting on bleachers. In front of them, a short woman with brown hair stood, talking to Yuuri Katsuki.

Yuri made a little 'tch' noise. The piggy had gained a lot of weight. How was he supposed to attempt Victor's performance when it looked like he hadn't skated in months? This was going to be interesting.

Yuuri skated to the middle, looking as stiff as a plank of wood. He stayed still for a good thirty seconds before he finally loosened up and began.

The blond didn't look up until the video was finished.

…o…

Victor yawned loudly, walking into the kitchen in his apartment. Maccachin happily padded after him, his tail swishing from side to side.

Victor usually skipped morning practices. He was a heavy sleeper, and even Yakov's screaming never woke him up. He made up for it with the afternoon, though, when he was entirely dedicated to working on new performances or helping the younger skaters.

A piece of paper stuck on the fridge caught his eye, and he frowned. He usually never stuck things on the fridge unless it was a reminder to himself. He didn't remember writing anything last night, but then again, Victor was forgetful.

He moved the magnet (it looked like Maccachin, and was gift from a fan) and took the neon pink post-it in his right hand. He squinted as he attempted to read it, still barely awake.

Hi, Victor in the morning!

You probably forgot you wrote this. It's kind of late while I'm writing this, though, so I don't blame you.

Three things!

!: Maccachin's running out of food.

2: Your hair looks terrible. Please find the gay within you and comb it before going to practice today. Being laughed at by Yuri was humiliating yesterday. How was I supposed to know it looked like I had a bald spot?

3: Your fans have been tweeting you links to a video. Apparently Yuuri K. (your soulmate!) attempted Stay Close to me! Watch it!

There were several hearts around Yuuri's name, and Victor stopped just short of smacking himself across the face. Since when did he turn into a sixteen-year-old school girl with a crush?

He looked down at Maccachin, who was rubbing his face against Victor's sweatpants. (The habit was one of the reasons he wasn't allowed at the ice rink anymore. Long story.).

"Well, Maccachin, what do you think? Should we go watch the video of Yuuri?"

…o…

"Oi, Yuuri, are you back from the ice rink?"

The man in question dusted some snow off the top of his head as he stepped inside of the inn, before calling out, "Yes, Mari. What is—UF!"

His sentence was cut off as a ball of fur suddenly flew into him, licking his face and preventing him from breathing. Yuuri yelped as his face was assaulted by a tsunami before the ball of fur clambered off of him. It was only then that Yuuri managed to get a good look at it.

"Vi-viichan?!"

No, it couldn't be. The poodle appeared to be the same breed, but it was bigger than Vicchan. Besides, Vicchan hadn't been as excitable. But for some reason, it seemed so familiar…

Just as Yuuri reached out to pet him, Mari stepped in to the front hall, her brown hair drawn up in a bun. A frown covered her features, but it dissipated as she saw Yuuri being assaulted by the poodle.

"Oh, you found the dog. It came with some foreign guest a couple hours ago, right when you went to the ice rink."

Something clicked in Yuuri's brain.

"Maccachin?" he asked disbelievingly. The dog looked up from sniffing Mari's feet immediately at the sound of his name, and padded on over to Yuuri. He barked once before sitting down and wagging his tail. Yuuri reached out in disbelief, and began absentmindedly petting him.

"Victor?" he asked, staring at Mari. His older sister frowned.

"You just said his name was Maccachin, didn't you?"

Yuuri shook his head. "No…I mean, what's the name of the guest?"

"Oh, yeah. It's Victor," Mari paused. "Hey, isn't your soulmate's name—"

Mari didn't get the chance to finish her sentence. Yuuri shot upwards and sped past her, Maccachin running next to him. She sighed and called out, "He's in the hot springs!"

…o…

Victor sighed contently, resting his elbows on the edge of the hot springs. He had been hoping that Yuuri would've come back by now, but he wasn't going to complain. These hot springs were better than any jacuzzi he had ever been in.

Yakov hadn't been very happy when Victor booked a rushed ticket to Japan without so much as a warning. The angry man had only caught up with Victor in the airport, practically blowing steam out of his ears.

"If you leave now, you can't come back! How do you not realize this?!" Yakov roared. By this time, they had gained quite a crowd of onlookers. Yakov had entered the airport screaming Victor's name at the top of his lungs, after all.

Victor smiled faintly. "Well, the media has been speculating about my retirement."

"This is about your stupid soulmate, isn't it?" Yakov asked, his eyes narrowing. Victor's smile disappeared.

"He's not stupid."

"You haven't even had a proper conversation with him! And now you're just running to Japan after him?!"

"We're soulmates for a reason. Besides, if things don't work out in that sense, I still want to be his coach."

"Lilia and I were soulmates, too, Vitya! Look how well that turned out! Besides, what do you know about coaching?!"

"You two still keep in touch."

"That's not the point—"

"Listen, Yakov," Victor muttered, taking a step closer to his coach. "You and I both know that I have never been one to listen to what you say. And that will not change today. It will never change. If he doesn't fall in love with me, so be it. I'll still love him. If this is the end of my skating career, so be it. It may be the birth of Yuuri's."

He turned his back on Yakov, and began walking away quickly, pulling his suitcase along behind him. He pushed his way through the crowd, but just as he was about to step into the security line, he paused and turned back to look at the old man.

"This, my dearest coach, is my final surprise."

Victor was torn away from his thoughts as the door into the inn suddenly flew open, and a familiar poodle burst out. Immediately after burst out a certain black-haired man. He fell to his knees, panting heavily, before looking up and meeting Victor's gaze.

Victor's heart burst into a million butterflies.

…o…

Hi hi! Thank you all for the support! This A/N will be back on topic, but thank you for making me feel slightly less embarrassed about the last note haha.

So, in case you didn't realize, we're starting to follow the canon plot a bit more now. I'm going to change some minor and major things, just to fit with the way I want this story to end. And for those of you wondering: this story will not end like the anime, most probably.

Thank you for over 100 reviews, 200 favorites, and 300 follows! Aaaanddd also thank you for a whopping 10,000 views! AHHH!

Also thank you to far2addicted again for betaing!

I haven't really been feeling well these past couple weeks, so I'm planning on taking a week's break. I'd also like to get back on track with my other fanfiction, so I'm not sure how long I'll be gone.

AND TO HOLD YOU OVER IMA RECOMMEND TWO OTHER YOI FICS THAT YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD OF BUT DON'T GET AS MUCH RECOGNITION AS MY FIC AND TBH THAT ISN'T FAIR THESE FICS ARE WAY BETTER:

Separation Anxiety (Victuri)

Catch Me, Capture me (Victuri)

QOTD: How did you find this story? (browsing, friend, another author's favorites, etc.)

AOTD: I wrote this story so I can't answer this. XD

…o…