A/N: Would eating disorders warrant a trigger warning? If so, here it is. This is a heavy chapter, guys. Hang in there, kids. It'll be ok.

It's getting down to the wire. We had our first competition coming up soon. If I remember correctly, competitions made Yakov cranky. Or maybe it wasn't the competition. Just his competitor. Victor had a habit of making Yakov's ulcers flare. And I don't think he realizes it. I guess I could chalk that one up as one of Victor's many adorable quirks.

"Welcome back, Violet," Yakov greeted me as Yurio and I walked into the rink, "You're not still sick, are you?"

"No," I assured, "Perfectly healthy."

"Good," he sat down, "I wasn't sure how much more of your husband I could take."

"There's nothing wrong with my husband," I jumped on the defensive right away.

"Other than he never listened to me in the ten years we worked together," Yakov grumbled, "One man's flaw is another woman's attraction, I guess."

"So," I tied Yurio's skates for him, "What did I miss?"

"Show her, Yuri," Yakov gave him a nudge. And as soon as I had his other skate tied, he practically ran out to the ice. It almost made me nostalgic for the first time I brought him here. I'm just glad he didn't have a nosebleed after that. Yurio and blood never really mixed.

Once Yakov turned his music on, Yurio began. Some sort of classical piece with a lot of energy. Instantly, Yurio's energy matched. I've never seen something like this out of him. His splits were cleaner. He stuck all of his jumps. He's landing his triples. I couldn't be prouder. It's like watching Victor before he retired.

"You know, Violet," Yakov scoffed, "Maybe you can talk some sense into him. Yuri's almost worse than Victor."

"Worse?" I gave him a look, "Yuri's on the same level, if not better than Victor. And he's still so young."

"I'm not talking about his skill," he clarified, "I'm talking his attitude. The only difference is Victor was more pleasant to deal with."

"Mama," Yurio skated over to the railing, "Did you see?"

"I did," I praised, "And you've come a long way from eating the ice, baby. I'm proud of you."

"I want to learn your Lady Marmalade routine," he picked, "Teach it to me."

"No," I shook my head, "Not happening."

"That's what I want to do for competition," Yurio demanded, the fire in his eyes burning brighter.

"I never did Lady Marmalade on ice, Yuri," I explained, "It was my burlesque routine. You're way too young to do something like that."

"I can handle it."

"You're. Too. Young," I put my foot down. There was no way my baby would ever do one of my burlesque routines. Either one of them. Although, I never see Yuri doing anything risqué. Yurio on the other hand?

"Can I at least see it?" he asked.

"God, no!" I squeaked, "Not from me anyway. And not until you're much older."

"Why not?" Yurio pouted.

"Because," I thought of a way to word this without having to give him the talk, "I don't want to have to put you through years of extensive therapy. We're done with this."

"Violet," Yakov broke us up, "Do you know where his costume for competition is coming from?"

"I do," I nodded, "I've already started sketches on it. Yuri, what's your next choice after my Lady Marmalade routine?"

"The Tale of the Dragonborn," Yurio skated lazily around the rink.

"What's that?" Yakov asked.

"One of my old routines that Yuri's tweaked over the last few months," I filled him in, "I told him I'd choreograph for him, but he's done a better job at it than I did."

"Really?" Yurio perked up.

"That's right, baby," I promised, "Come on. I need to take measurements and we need to stop by the fabric store on the way home."

"So, where is his costume coming from?" Yakov wondered.

"I did all of my costumes when I was competing," I took out a measuring tape, "I can do Yuri's, too."

"We can't have a professional do them?" he dug his heels in.

"I am a professional," I assured, "I can do things, too, Yakov. Dovahkiin, come here!"

Yurio kicked his skates off and stood in front of me. So nice when he listens. Maybe he's just not listening to Yakov because Yakov's a bitter son of a bitch. Or he just loves me more. That's probably the reason, "I'd still rather him going through an actual designer."

"I'm his coach just as much as you are," I reminded, wrapping my measuring tape around his waist. Strange. Last time I took the kids' measurements, Yurio had a twenty-four-inch waist. Now, it's twenty-two, "Yuri, when did you lose weight?"

"I don't know," he shrugged.

"You must be in the middle of a growth spurt," I figured, "I guess I'll have to bring my sewing kit when we start traveling."

"Sure," Yurio seemed off. There was something not right with him. He usually got pretty moody and distant when he was about to hit a growth spurt, though, so that's to be expected. The two of us took a quick stroll through the fabric store and headed home. He didn't fall asleep in the car on the way either.

When we walked in the front door, Makkachin attempted to lick me to death as per usual. At least one thing was going the way it should, "Go lay down, Yuri."

"Ok, Mama," Yurio shuffled into his bedroom for his usual morning nap.

"It's good to see Yurio's feeling better," Yuri chimed in, getting a juice box out of the fridge.

"What do you mean, Yuri?" I wondered.

"I think he caught what you had, Mama," he assumed, "I heard him throwing up in the bathroom after breakfast."

In those few words from my baby's mouth, I thought I was going to throw up. My stomach turned and my heart ached as my worst fear had been confirmed. I picked Yuri up and hugged him tight, "You just did a very good thing, Yuri. You may not even realize it, but you did a very good thing."

"What did I do?" he asked so innocently.

"Go to your room," I put him back down, "I need to talk to Daddy for a minute."

"Ok," Yuri and Makkachin went into Yuri's room and I went into Victor's office.

"We need to talk," I sat down, hardly able to stand anymore.

"What's the matter, Violet?" Victor joined me on his futon, holding me against his chest, "Is everything ok?"

"Victor," my voice shook, "We need to have the talk with Yurio."

"Um," he blushed a little, "Isn't Yurio too young for the talk? Chris and I went over that the last time he was here and even he said it was too soon."

"Not that talk, you moron," I glared a hole through my idiot husband, "Do you remember why I got out of skating?"

"To raise the boys."

"And?"

"And because you developed an..." All of a sudden, everything clicked in Victor's head and he understood the gravity of the situation, "Oh...No...Not Yurio..."

"I think so," I choked out, "Yuri told me he heard him throwing up this morning before we left."

"Maybe he's just not feeling good," Victor settled me.

"No," I shook my head, "Because he would've shown that on the ice. I've never seen that kid crank out such a flawless routine than what I did at practice today."

"Where is Yurio now?" he worried.

"He's taking a nap," I told, "Yurio's skipping lessons today and we're going to let him sleep."

"Ok," Victor cradled me, "But Yurio, though? Honestly, my money would've been on Yuri having this problem before Yurio."

"Victor," I felt a few tears escape my eyes, "I'm having some really bad war flashbacks."

"It's alright, Vi," he comforted, "You don't need to worry. We'll get through this just like we did back then."

I hoped to God that when those boys decided to take up skating that we'd never ever have to have this talk. My worst nightmare was coming to life with one of my favorite little boys in the whole world. Not my Yurio. Not my little warrior. He's too strong for this. To succumb to that kind of a weakness. A few hours later, Victor and I went into Yurio's room and as per usual, I sat on the edge of his bed.

"Yuri," I whispered softly, trying not to cry again, "Wake up, baby."

"Mama," Yurio nuzzled into me, catching a glimpse of Victor in his peripherals, "Why is he here, too?"

"Are you feeling ok?" I worried, putting my hand to his forehead, hoping I was just overreacting.

"I'm fine," he looked over my shoulder at the clock on his wall, "I'm late for lessons!"

"No, you're not," I stopped him, "We're not doing lessons today."

"But I have to," Yurio struggled to get out of my arms, "Yakov said I had to do lessons every day to keep the muscle up."

"Yuri, listen," I held him tighter, "I need to tell you a story. It's not going to be an easy story to tell, but you need to hear it."

"Fine," he caved, "What is it?"

"There was a girl," Victor began, "She was an excellent dancer and an even better skater."

"That's right," I continued, "Although, she started eating only to keep up appearances. When she did eat and everyone else had gone, she'd either do an extremely rigorous workout or she'd go force herself to throw everything up before it had a chance to hit her stomach."

"Why?" Yurio started to look a little nervous.

"Just so she wouldn't gain any weight," I went on, "Because if she gained any weight, it'd throw off her balance."

"And what happened...?"

"She'd get dizzy at practice," I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from crying, "Her energy was virtually nonexistent. She might as well have been dying. But that was a long time ago."

"And now?" he asked.

"Well..." This may not have been an easy story to tell, but this part was my favorite, "She started eating a little better. Her boyfriend at the time taught her how to cook more from his home country. And she married him. And they adopted two little boys together."

"That was you?" Yurio's eyes doubled in size.

"It was," I confirmed, "Now, is there anything you'd like to tell me?"

"Well," he let out a little sigh, "Yakov told me I needed to lose weight before competition started."

"Did he now?" my worry turned into anger really quick. Yakov's been telling Yurio to do a lot of things lately. Amazing what happens when I turn my back for three days, "Well, Yuri, you don't have to worry about Yakov being your coach anymore. It's just you and me again."

I knew it. I knew having Yakov coach Yurio was going to be a bad idea. I knew it in the pit of my soul. Fortunately, I had already been through this kind of thing enough to know what to do and we wouldn't have to bring anyone else into this. My integrity as a mother would stay intact and I could take care of my son.

Later that night, I had Yurio help me make dinner just like Victor did with me. The kid could make a killer gravy, I'll give him that. And I watched him closely while he ate. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he had just come out of the woods after a month on his own and found a buffet. And when dinner was done, I kept him on my hip to make sure he wasn't going off to the bathroom.

The next morning, I woke up with all intentions of going down to the rink alone. Yurio needed the sleep and his body needed the rest. As I crawled out of bed, an arm pulled me back in, "Where do you think you're going, young lady?"

"Down to the rink," I tried to get out of Victor's grip, but he was a lot stronger than I was, "I thought I'd get in a good routine by myself."

"Violet," Victor knew better, "Don't do anything rash."

"I'm not going to do anything rash," I assured, keeping a level head, "Besides, I just want to talk to Yakov. I'm sure he's there by now."

"Violet," he saw right through me, "Why do I have the feeling you don't want to just talk?"

"I just want to talk," I peeled his arm off me, "That's it."

"Should I start collecting your bail money now?" Victor teased.

"We're just going to talk," I rolled my eyes, kissing my husband's cheek, "I'll be back in a little while."

"Be sure to stretch first," he advised.

"We're just going to talk."

"I meant with your routine," Victor clarified, "I love you."

"Love you, too."

And with that being said, I grabbed my gym bag, kissed my little angel's forehead, and left for the rink. Sure enough, right where I suspected he'd be, Yakov had shown up probably half an hour before Yurio and I would. However, he probably wasn't expecting just me without the baby.

"Yakov!" I called out.

"Where's Yuri?" Yakov gave me a look.

"He's still in bed," I went into full on, overprotective, tiger mommy mode, "Did you tell Yuri he needed to lose weight before competition?"

"Da," he nodded, "A few weeks ago. If he's going to get more height on his jumps, he's going to need to be lighter. That's just simple physics."

BAM!

I threw a strong, right hook in Yakov's jaw, catching him entirely off guard and knocking him on the floor. And if I didn't have the stellar self-control that I managed to have, I probably could've killed him with my bare hands right then and there. But Yakov wasn't worth going to prison over. Yurio's going to get better and everything's going to be fine.

"What the hell was that for?" he screeched, spitting the blood out of his mouth.

"We're done," I growled, "You're not coaching Yuri anymore."

"Why?"

"Because," I was half tempted to knock him out, "Since his coach told him he needed to lose weight, my son developed an eating disorder and it's all your fault!"

"And who's going to replace me?" Yakov scoffed, "You? The washed-up, has-been, that was once one of the best, but she left to play house with the greatest thing to ever happen to the sport? Pathetic."

I threw one last punch to his face, "It's no wonder Lilia left you! Dasvidaniya, suka*."

And just like that, I was out the door, my knuckles rapidly bruising, but I didn't care. I knew Victor was going to bitch at me when I got home, but it was entirely worth it. Maybe Celestino wasn't up to anything these days and would coach Yurio with me. No. Yurio and I got by just fine without Yakov. We could do it again.

A/N: So, I'm sure the burning question on everyone's mind. Why did I give Yurio the eating disorder? This is why. I want you to go back to the Agape performance and look at how tiny Yurio is. Poor baby looks like he could stand a sandwich or six. Not to mention, in this kind of a situation, it's actually a common problem. But I promise next week is going to be a brighter chapter. I have a terrible habit of putting a little bit of hurt into everything I write. It's a curse.

Now, since I got you here and we are on the topic of my little Yurio, can wE TALK ABOUT WELCOME TO THE MADNESS? SWEET JESUS! THAT WAS INCREDIBLE! I'VE NEVER HAD SUCH AN EYEGASM IN MY LIFE! LIKE HOLY SHIT! THAT BOY IS NO LONGER AGAPE. THAT WAS EROS IF I EVER SAW IT. AND I WAS SO PROUD! AND THEN OTABEK AT THE END?! As far as I'm concerned, the Otayuri ship has sailed off into the sunset. I AM SO HAPPYYYYYY! *nose gushes blood*

See you guys next chapter…If I don't die from nose blood loss…xx

*Translation: Bye, bitch. Essentially the middle finger to Yakov