Celestino insisted on carrying the majority of Yuuri and Phichit's luggage up the stairs to their apartment. "You've earned it, boys," he told them. "I'm so proud of you both."
Yuuri frowned. He didn't want to directly contradict his coach, and it was always awkward feeling bad about his own performance when Phichit hadn't even made it past the short program, but fifteenth place was not what he'd worked so hard for all season.
Celestino was having none of it. "Did you skate your best?" he demanded. Yuuri muttered a grudging affirmative.
"What was that, Yuuri? I didn't quite catch what you said." Yuuri had hoped that Phichit would be fully engrossed with his hamsters by now, having made a beeline for their habitat the instant the door was unlocked. Apparently the universe wasn't about to let him get that lucky.
He sighed heavily. "Yeah. I skated my best." Maybe if he played along, they'd drop the subject. There was nothing else to do if they were determined to gang up on him, anyway.
"And did you improve on last year's performance?"
"Yes." Last year it had been Yuuri who had missed being in the top twenty-five. Phichit hadn't even qualified for Worlds in 2012, ending his own season after a disappointing 4CC.
Celestino beamed as though that made it all better. "And that is why I am proud of you, and why you should be proud of yourself. Keep training as hard as you have been, and next season you'll be in the top ten for sure."
"And in the meantime," Phichit added, "It's time to start the post-season off right with the ritual Eating of the Carbs. I'm thinking Pizza Papalis?"
Yuuri shot him a halfhearted glare. "Your Nationals are still coming up," he pointed out, but there was little actual heat in his voice. It wasn't Phichit's fault that his 'freshman fifteen' had been the opposite of most students', resulting in a good third of his class plying their 'precious hamster son' with varying foodstuffs to 'keep his strength up'.
"I'll be good after tonight!"
"You could at least blush when you lie through your teeth like that." Yuuri rolled his eyes. "Fine. Spinach and mushroom, extra garlic, you're paying, and you're handling all of the human interaction."
Celestino laughed. "I am not hearing any of this. Celebrate well, boys. Ciao ciao!" He let himself out amid Phichit's whoop of joy and subsequent call to the pizza place.
Yuuri curled up on the couch and opened his laptop. For once he wasn't jetlagged after a competition, this year's championship having been held a bare two hours' drive away, in Ontario. He was still tired – a week's worth of too little sleep while dealing with far too many strangers was stressful enough even without the pressure of competition – but he wasn't sleepy. It was an odd, but not unwelcome, feeling.
*Bad channel key for #therapycouchfort
He blinked. He'd opened the chat client on autopilot, not really intending to socialize even to the extent of text on a screen, but this was an error message he'd never seen before.
/msg SockPuppet what's a channel key and why is it bad?
*SockPuppet: no such nick/channel
/msg KingElsa hey do you know what's going on with the chat
KingElsa Mess! 3 3 3
KingElsa They had to password-lock the channel. I guess there was an invasion of trolls?
KingElsa Password is "nuclearoption" with no quotes.
/join #therapycouchfort nuclearoption
* Joined channel #therapycouchfort
* Topic is 'If you haven't gotten the new channel password from one of the mods, msg us asap. Lockdown goes into effect Thursday night. Thanks for your patience in the meantime.'
* Set by StevenMultiverse on Mar 12 12:04:17 2013
lukewarm_mess: i can't leave you guys for five minutes, can i
lukewarm_mess: thanks for the pw king
KingElsa: ＼()／
mercyslovechild: nope u go away and evrything goes to shit
suicideflirtsback: wait does that mean mess is the reason we can't have nice things?
mercyslovechild: pls dont abandon us again
StandardDeviation: you wish flirt
StandardDeviation: wb mess how was the business conf
lukewarm_mess: very business much industry so productivity wow
suicideflirtsback: have you leveled up your synergy or whatever?
lukewarm_mess: my boss seems to think so but..
KingElsa: Your boss is obviously full of wisdom and good judgment and you should listen to them.
lukewarm_mess: my boss let Peaches eat himself sick on maple candy that we can totally get at home but apparently it's different because it's travel candy, whatever that means
mercyslovechild: i thouht peaches was a babby
mercyslovechild: babbies get to travel for work?
lukewarm_mess: he's an intern so i guess? idk
"I'm a what?" Phichit shrieked from directly behind Yuuri, who winced at the sound.
"Quit reading over my shoulder; that's why I made you get your own account. Oh, there's a password to get in now. Nuclear option, one word, all lower case."
"Thailand's Prince, the Jewel of Bangkok, an intern? Yuuri, how could you?" He flopped dramatically over the back of the couch.
"Shut up, I panicked."
lukewarm_mess: anyway why the lockdown?
lukewarm_mess: king you said something about trolls?
*Peaches_and_Dream has joined #therapycouchfort
KingElsa: I wasn't here either, actually, but that's what I heard. Hi Mess' roommate.
suicideflirtsback: we were invaded by scientologists
Peaches_and_Dream: Hello mess' self-friendzoning internet boyfriend
mercyslovechild: woa
StandardDeviation: or at least people claiming to be scientologists
lukewarm_mess: PEACH
KingElsa: GASP
StandardDeviation: like two dozen of them flooding the channel at once
Peaches_and_Dream: I notice you're not denying it ヽ(*'､^*)chu
"Shut it, Intern Boy."
StandardDeviation: all telling us to stop taking our brainwashing pills and read dianetics
suicideflirtsback: p sure they were on vpns because even with the mods ip banning them they just kept coming back
"Still waiting for a denial, Yuu-chan! Other than the one you're in, I mean."
Peaches_and_Dream: Sounds more like bored channers to me
mercyslovechild: whatevs it was annoying
suicideflirtsback: you mean EPIC
suicideflirtsback: socks just about developed superpowers out of sheer rage
StandardDeviation: after two days the mods decided to make the channel private, and we've been lockedin our fallout shelter eating k-rations ever since
KingElsa: Sounds like it was an exciting week!
StevenMultiverse: It's not a perfect solution because it means new people who might actually want to join the chat can't, but there's not much else we can do at the moment.
mercyslovechild: where where you king?
StevenMultiverse: In a month or two we'll try and reopen the channel. Hopefully they'll have gone away by then.
lukewarm_mess: sounds good to me, glad you found a solution
KingElsa: I went to a family reunion.
suicideflirtsback: good times?
KingElsa: I suppose. It was… typical.
lukewarm_mess: how so
KingElsa: I don't know. The same faces, the same stories, never any surprises. Lousy food at the big dinner party.
mercyslovechild: potluck :P
KingElsa: Catered. But still not good.
suicideflirtsback: did you have to be nice to Racist Uncle Tony?
KingElsa: (°ロ°) ! How did you know?! I mean, he was neither a Tony nor my uncle, but….
suicideflirtsback: EVERYONE has a Racist Uncle Tony
*Deltatangofoxtrot has joined #therapycouchfort
KingElsa: "I'm just concerned about the way your *lifestyle*" – he actually made air quotes with his fingers! – "reflects on us…"
Peaches_and_Dream: Ugh, sorry King.
lukewarm_mess: ((﹏))
mercyslovechild: homophobic uncle tony
suicideflirtsback: always the highlight of fam functions
suicideflirtsback: hey fox
StevenMultiverse: hi fox
Peaches_and_Dream: Hi Tango
KingElsa: Hello, DTF.
StandardDeviation: Did you just
StandardDeviation: *facepalms*
Deltatangofoxtrot: RDY ANYTIME BAE ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
mercyslovechild: passes out protection
Peaches_and_Dream: Why sir, I hardly know you! *flutters fan*
KingElsa: …
suicideflirtsback: *is ace*
StevenMultiverse: *is married*
KingElsa: …
lukewarm_mess: at least take me out to dinner first
KingElsa: !
KingElsa: Et tu, Mess?
lukewarm_mess: you've been here how long and you still walked into that?
lukewarm_mess: sorry no sympathy, you deserved it
KingElsa: 。゜゜(´Ｏ`) ゜゜。
KingElsa: I'm ESL?
lukewarm_mess: no excuse, so am i
lukewarm_mess: it has to be somewhere nice, too. i don't put out for qdoba
StandardDeviation: Besides, that's not english, it's internet
StandardDeviation: *is helping*
KingElsa: Don't help. .
Headlights flashed through the window as a car pulled into the parking lot. Yuuri glanced outside and saw the glowing pizza sign on the roof. His shoulders hunched involuntarily.
"Go hide," Phichit told him. "I'll bribe them to go away, that usually works."
Yuuri smiled sheepishly before heading for their shared bedroom. "Sorry," he said. "It's just—"
"—No more strangers for a while. I know. I'll say our goodbyes in chat, too. It's BFF bonding time."