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Day Seven

"What are you going to do now, Victor?" asked Yuuri. They lay together in the hotel bed, Yuuri's face buried in Victor's chest as the silver-haired man played with Yuuri's soft locks. If Yurio could see them now, Yuuri was sure he'd blanch in horror and then spit in distaste. He smiled at the thought.

"Eh? Oh, I don't know. I haven't really thought about it."

"You never did face me in competition, like you promised. It's the 'ultimate diss as a competitor', isn't it?"

"What, you and Yurio breaking my records multiple times?" Victor let out a disgruntled sound. "Yes, it really is."

Yuuri chuckled. "You're calling him 'Yurio' again?"

"I can't seem to stop. It's just so much more interesting than 'Yura'."

"He hates it."

"I know!" Victor was eternally cheery. Yuuri felt like he was on cloud nine. "Hey, Yuuri, what do you want to do today? We've got all day here in Nagoya before we return to Hasetsu!"

Yuuri twisted out of Victor's grip. "You're going to Hasetsu?"

"Of course! Why not?"

"I mean... I thought you'd go back to Russia or something – you know, to train, or to sort out things with your parents... or something."

"Or something," Victor agreed, putting Yuuri right back into his arms where he wanted him. Yuuri wriggled a bit to get comfortable. "Well, I'll give them a call, of course. But I want to go to Hasetsu! I want to eat katsudon and skate at Ice Castle! I want to go on walks by the beach!"

"We can do all that," Yuuri said, excited at the prospect. "My mom's overjoyed, by the way. You're all over the news, of course, so everyone knows."

"Good!" Victor chirped. "Do they all know how amazing your free skate was, too?"

Yuuri flushed. "Um... I don't know how good it was, really."

"It was amazing. It was perfect. And it was really, really hard." Victor frowned at him. "How did you learn to do all those jumps, anyway?"

"I practiced a lot," was Yuuri's vague answer. (Technically, Yuuri thought, he wasn't lying – he just wasn't telling the whole truth. Most of his practices had been similar to the one Yurio had screamed at him for a few nights ago.) Victor continued to frown at him. Yuuri sighed. "I have been practicing a lot with Celestino and Phichit, and Yurio helped me out whenever we saw each other, too."

"You two really bonded, huh?"

"We bonded over you," Yuuri blurted out before he could stop himself. He gasped when he realized his mistake. Victor tensed. "I-I mean... We were both really, uh, sad, so – "

"I hurt both of you," Victor whispered, hugging Yuuri tight. "I... Your short program looked so broken, I couldn't... I didn't even remember you, and yet..."

"I can't breathe!" Yuuri gasped, and Victor immediately loosened his grip, spitting out apologies. "Anyway, yes, it was because we were both in pain. But you're not supposed to apologize for something you didn't do!"

Victor wasn't done apologizing for good, but he was done for the time being. They eventually got out of bed to go sightseeing. Victor, newly rejuvenated (both literally and figuratively), was interested in everything and finally let Yuuri drag him away from the Buddhist temple to go eat lunch. They returned to the hotel eventually to pack and head for the airport with Yurio.

The teen couldn't stop scowling, for whatever reason. "You two look so happy," he said at some point, to which the other two couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, don't laugh! Stop!"

"Aren't you happy that I'm back?" Victor teased, putting an arm around Yurio's shoulders. The blonde looked away, sulking. "Oh, come on, Yurio! Let's go to Hasetsu and eat some katsudon!"

"Who said I was going to Hasetsu with you?"

"Your plane ticket!" said Victor cheerfully, and Yurio's eyes went wide.

"How did you know about that?!"

"I stole your computer for research – ow! That hurts!"

"Serves you right, old man!"

"I'm only twenty-eight! I'm not that old! I don't know if I can recover from that, my dear Yurio!"

Despite Yurio's sharp words and tone, Victor could clearly see how his green eyes had softened. Perhaps, he thought, with another trace of guilt, it had to do with his amnesia.

When he had lost his memories, the world had lost him – Victor Nikiforov. Surely, thought Victor later as Yuuri's head landed on his shoulder, it was akin to being dead. The two Yuri's had had to suffer through Victor's death.

He didn't even want to imagine either of their deaths. It hurt him just to think about it. He shivered.

"The plane's landing, Yuuri," Victor said quietly, nudging Yuuri gently. The younger man didn't stir. "Yuuuuuri..."

"Just leave him" was Yurio's distasteful answer, but Victor shook his head and shook Yuuri until he awoke. They clambered off the plane together, Yuuri still looking a bit dazed from his nap.

They were warmly welcomed by Yuuri's family, as always, and everyone went around hugging Victor tightly and gushing over him. "Yuuri was so heartbroken!" exclaimed his mom at some point, which caused Yuuri to flush a brilliant red and protest against his mom saying that to Victor's face – it would only make him feel bad – while everyone else nodded in agreement. Victor glanced at Yuuri's protesting figure and said,

"Are you saying you didn't miss me? How cruel."

No no no, that had not been what Yuuri meant! Victor laughed. Cute.

Victor had been following Yuuri Katsuki's journey for much longer than anybody suspected. Ever since he'd Googled himself three months ago, he'd been frantically looking up every single detail on the man, and probably had enough about him memorized to write a short biography.

But even before that, Yurio would mention Yuuri from time to time. Victor noticed that they kept in touch quite regularly, but he didn't realize why until that fateful Google search.

Thank God for Google.

Actually, he thought that night, as he stretched out on Yuuri's bed (Yuuri had insisted on taking the futon, and refused to share the bed with him), thank God for Yuri Plisetsky. The teen was a little annoying shit, but he was helpful in his own way. He'd visited Victor regularly when he was in the hospital, and even afterward, he'd barge into Victor's parents' house at odd times without knocking.

And he'd mentioned Yuuri a lot, actually, now that Victor thought about it. At some point, Victor had even considered Yuuri as a possible boyfriend for Yurio.

Apparently not. They were just good friends.

And thank fucking goodness they were.

"Yuuri," Victor whined, but there was no answer. He was pretty sure Yuuri was just faking sleep, because it had only been five minutes and Yuuri almost never fell asleep that quickly. "Yuuri, stop ignoring me."

There was the sound of blankets shifting. "What?"

"Come up here."

"I won't fit."

"It'll be fun!"

"No, Victor."

"Yuuri..." Victor sounded like a kicked puppy. Yuuri sounded too tired to care. "Fine then, I'll just lie here, alone and sad."

There was a snort, but Victor waited and eventually Yuuri was hesitantly climbing into bed with him, pushing Victor up against the wall because of the limited space on the tiny bed. Victor didn't care and beamed as he rolled over to face Yuuri.

"Hi!"

Yuuri looked irritated. "You need to stop doing that," he said, and Victor suddenly noticed how much he'd changed from last year. He would've been stuttering before. Not anymore, it seemed.

"Doing what?"

"Guilt-tripping me, dammit!"

Victor laughed. Yuuri was adorable, and he told him as much. Amid his protests, Victor reached out and wrapped his arms around the younger man, effectively suffocating him. There was a bit of silence before Victor said, "Your performance really was amazing. You've improved so much since last year."

"That was because of you."

Victor's breath caught. "Me?"

Yuuri gave no answer, and within minutes, he was asleep. Victor felt the slow rise and fall of his chest. His smile slipped off his face. Yuuri kept telling him not to apologize, but...

He'd make it up to them, somehow. He'd do it again and again, and he would keep trying until everything was finally forgotten and buried.

For now, he let himself be content with Yuuri's sleeping figure in his arms as the moonlight seeped in through the window. Beautiful, he thought, smiling.

And all was well with the world.