Chapter Text
CHAPTER FOUR HUNDRED SEVENTY FOUR
Brow to brow and panting heavily, the spent duo collapsed into one another. Victor couldn't help but laugh at the whole thing, "...Well, it...wasn't the most romantic thing we've ever done...but..."
"...You got your mark for the...Mile Long Club...after all..." Yuri huffed in answer, rubbing his palms up and down against his partner's bare chest. He tilted his head back into the pillows to get a better look at the man's face, "But I'm...mostly glad you...feel better."
Victor nuzzled down and slid his arms down under his husband's back, hugging tight, and pressed his face to the crook of neck and shoulder, "...I won't be a dud for much longer...I promise..."
"You're not a dud," Yuri insisted, rubbing the Russian's back, "You're perfect."
Victor nibbled his partner's skin a bit, and moved up to just under one ear before he came up again, nosing the man adoringly, "Not as perfect as you, but I do aspire." He teased, then pushed further up onto his hands to sit back. Slowly and carefully, he withdrew from his partner's heat, then scooted back to make room and offered his hands to pull the younger man up, "I do feel better though, and not just because I could finally rise to the occasion."
Yuri took the Russian's fingers and let himself be hoisted him, but instead of just sitting, he wiggled his knees around to sit up and continued his forward momentum, right into his husband's chest, knocking him down to his back. He followed after and went gently down on top of the man, putting them nose-to-nose again, "You're learning to relax again. Pretty soon, you'll be back to your silly air-headed ways, and all your creativity and inspiration will get unstuck in your head." He whispered, offering a light kiss between every few words, "It's probably one of the things I see as a silver lining to your darker moods...I get to watch you bloom again."
"...That's...an interesting way of putting it." Victor huffed, making the most of their new position, and slid his hands up and down his husband's soft, warm back, then down over the round of that ample SkaterBum, "But I guess I can see why you'd frame it like that."
Yuri just looked on adoringly, and shifted his weight slightly to free an arm, moving it forward to play with a few strands of his partner's silver hair, "I could never tell before, if you were in a mood or not...you always hid it so well..." He started, "It's taken a while to really tune-in to your 'hidden language.'"
"My hidden language." The Russian echoed, curious.
"Mhm." He nodded, "All the years before you came to Hasetsu, I was convinced that you were always happy...it just seemed surreal, but I thought...well, you're Victor Nikiforov, so of course you're happy. But then you came to me, and I started to learn how to read you...so I can go back on those years, and I can see the subtle tells when something was starting to get you down. Now..." He paused, offering a longer kiss, and pressed down to squish their brows together again, "...I think I'm nearly fluent in you. It bothers me when things drag on you...but I get to watch it all melt away again, too...and see you turn back into the happy person I know you are. I get to see something no one else really does...not even people who've known you much longer than I have."
"Well, hopefully this phase won't last much longer... I'm ready for the good times again."
"You won't catch me disagreeing."
Victor hummed his approval, and lifted his head up again for one more kiss, "We should go clean up." He mused, "Maybe get out of the cabin for a bit...give the pups a moment to unsee what they just saw."
Yuri couldn't help but laugh at that, "We really are insufferable."
.
With a mutual shower, clean clothes, and the room reset to its daytime arrangement, the duo set the pups up with lunch and fresh water. They left their little section of the train car and wandered, making a pit-stop at the end with the bar, and a few hours later, to the restaurant car.
By the end of dinner, they were close to the border to the Czech Republic, and excitement was starting to creep in.
"Ostrava is where Euros was last year." Victor reminded, collapsing onto the once-bed-now-couch in their room. Makkachin hopped up with him and squished against his human's side for some well-deserved pets. Yuri moved in to the opposite side, hoisting Jiro up as well, "It's crazy to think about how much has happened just since then..."
Yuri reached for the remote control and clicked the television on for some background noise, "Just before Euros is when I said I loved you out loud for the first time." He pointed out, looking aside, "Even though I only managed to say it over the phone."
Victor smiled all the same, "You should've seen the look on my face when I heard it. I thought I'd cry right there in the ER waiting room."
"I can see your face right now though."
The Russian turned and gave a sly grin, "You can."
"I love you."
That earned an affectionate head-rub with Victor's cheek, "I love you, too." He answered easily, and slipped his arm over his husband's shoulders to draw him closer, "Only a few hours left till we get off this tin can."
"I thought you were really looking forward to this part of the trip?" Yuri wondered, wrapping his remote-holding arm around Jiro where the pup was leaned up against his leg, and set his other hand on his spouse's thigh.
"I was...but it feels a bit spoiled now." He sighed in answer, watching each channel click through as Yuri surfed, "I spent the first half of the trip worried someone would break the door down and drag us both out."
"Never again." Yuri pointed out, turning his head to kiss his partner's cheek, "We'll do everything we can to never go back to Russia or its territories ever again."
"...That's kind of sad..." Victor said quietly, "I know it has to be done, but...still."
"It's the place you grew up...but as much as you've suffered there, I'd hedge a bet that it never really felt like home for you."
"...Ehh..."
"Home is where your loved ones are." Yuri explained, sliding his hand down the length of his spouse's leg, then slowly back up again, "All the time I spent in Detroit, even with Phichit-kun sharing an apartment with me, it never felt like home. It was just a place I liked being at the time...my first real taste of freedom and independence. But when I went back to Hasetsu, even though it was at a really low-point for me, being around my parents and sister, and even being back at the Ice Castle...it made getting over it easier. I felt safe and happy, protected and cared for, you know? I could stop worrying about a lot of things because I knew the basics would be dealt with by someone else for a while. I want you to be able to feel that way."
"Well..." Victor started, watching the channel-changing stop as Yuri suspended the search, and it stayed on a news channel with the local weather, "I do follow on the 'home is where your family is' part..."
"I sense a 'but' in there."
"But Russia is where I'm from...it's where my ancestors lived, where my roots are. I may get Japanese citizenship and all that, but...I'll never be Japanese."
"You don't have to be ethnically Japanese to be at home in Japan." Yuri explained, and felt where Victor wiggled a bit in his seat to get more comfortable leaning against him, "You don't still feel like a visitor in Hasetsu, do you?"
"...Not as a visitor, no." The silver confirmed, leaning his face forward to nose at the younger man's ear, and breathed in the scent of his hair, "Other than the few months we spent in St. Petersburg last spring, I've lived in Hasetsu for nearly two years. The locals don't treat me like I'm a celebrity anymore; I'm just another guy they know now. The JSF isn't breaking the doors down to see me anymore either. Mostly, I guess I'm just...still getting used to how different the culture is compared to back in Russia. Japan is so reserved and private...or, it goes to the extreme, to an almost ludicrous degree. Plus, the language barrier makes it harder to re-establish myself they way I was before."
"Well, you only just officially got brought into the fold. Japanese groups couldn't exactly set-up shop with you before because you were still owned and operated by the Russian Skating Federation." Yuri pointed out, "But now that you're with us, it's only a matter of time. I'd almost say to prepare yourself, even... They've given you space to adjust to these changes, so once we get back home, they may even be waiting for us. They'll all know we're at Euros as soon as we set foot into daylight in Vienna. So, they'll know when we're coming back."
"...And with Saito being in Hasetsu, too."
"Oh yeah, that's true." Yuri smiled nervously, "Him too. All three Men's Singles on the Olympic team will be gathered in one place. We may have more press at the Ice Castle than normal, where everyone's trying to see how we're getting ready."
Victor pulled his arm down from the back of the couch and slid both around his partner's smaller frame, chin down on Yuri's shoulder, "I could feel the chill go through you when I mentioned his name, my love."
Yuri sighed and leaned into the hug, "It’ll probably take a little while for that to completely go away. Forgiving him and moving on doesn’t take away the fact that the thing still happened."
"Mhm. All the better that we don't live at Yu-Topia anymore."
"Yeah, I just feel a little bad about it... Asahi-kun has practically reinvented himself at this point. The least I can do is not feel like I have to brace myself to be in his presence, least of all at my own family’s home." He explained, slouching a little where he sat, "Mostly I’m just walking that fine line of being nice to him, like I would to anyone else, while not wanting to contribute to a relapse. I know he’s hurting a lot these days, and I know how easy it is to seek out safe comforts even if they’re a bad idea."
"The fact that you exist encourages a relapse, and we already saw him ‘seek out safe comforts’ from dangerous places." Victor pointed out, sliding one hand down to wedge his fingers between his spouse's legs, and gave the thigh under his palm a gentle squeeze, "We can only act natural around him and hope he comes to grips with things in his own time. I’ve done enough self-censorship lately. I won’t do it around him, too."
"...I don’t want to self-censor either, I just..." Yuri whined, "I’ve been where he is, watching someone I’ve got a thing for being flirty or intimate with someone else. I don’t want him to get over me by way of resenting me instead."
"I get it."
“…And a big chunk of why I busy myself with these worries, is because...we're going to be sharing a dorm bloc with the entire Japanese team when we’re at the Games."
Victor shrugged and offered a smile, "Yuri, my truest and dearest love...I know all the secrets of the Games. We could go the whole time without ever seeing him, except when we know we'll see him."
"...Wouldn't it be obvious that we're avoiding him then...?"
"Would we be though? Or are we just enjoying the event on our own terms, and it just happens that we’re enjoying it in a different place than where he is?" The Russian teased, nosing into his partner's raven hair, "The grounds are enormous. You've seen them already yourself, even though they were under construction before...it's practically a whole city unto itself. Other than for the events we're competing in, and the opening and closing ceremonies, and Exhibition...we can go wherever we want, and so can he...somewhere else."
Yuri just made a face and tried to laugh, "...Ahhh... I guess you're right... I'm over-thinking it all."
"You're a gentle soul," Victor reassured, "It's part of what makes you you, and I wouldn't have you any other way."
.
It was nearly 11pm when the train finally pulled into Hauptbahnhof Wien. Pups were readied, luggage grabbed, and both skaters stood at attention for the swift deboarding. The platform area practically looked like it was all indoors, given its modern swanky design and clean upkeep. The big train came to a gradual stop, and Yuri hit the door button for the manual override, forcing the panels open where they normally wouldn't, given how that wasn't the train's final destination. The frame parted though, and the cold Austrian air poured over them.
"We're finally here!" Yuri cheered as they all hopped out. He let go of the suitcase handles he had and spun around; Jiro was securely tied to one suitcase handle by his leash and harness, rather than strapped to Yuri's chest, "This is amazing. It's like the air itself feels free."
Victor looked up and around; the station was sparsely populated at that hour, but even he could sense the change in the atmosphere. All the signs were written in familiar German; blue backgrounds and back-lit to make the white text easy to read from a distance, the architecture was geometric and precise, and with as many platforms as there were, the passenger escape route went underground. He scanned the entire area, looking at everything, until he eventually settled onto his husband's antics next to him, "...It does feel different." He agreed easily, feeling the relief pour into him. Like Yuri, he let go of the suitcases he'd been pulling, but instead of just dancing around, he spun once and then threw his arms around his husband's shoulders, "We're finally here."
Yuri gladly let himself be squished into the hug, and returned it just as tightly. They swayed each other back and forth a few times and laughed excitedly, but eventually Yuri paused and reached up to cup both hands on his partner's face, and pulled him in again.
Without the anxiety of being called-out for wearing matching rings, neither of them wore their gloves, and the warmth of skin brought everything home. Pale fingers on paler cheeks, Victor lifted his own to press his palms to the back of Yuri's hands, and let himself melt into the warmth of the long celebratory kiss he found himself in. The train even started pulling out of the station again before they finished, and as they parted, they waved it goodbye.
"I don't mean to say good riddance as though it was a bad trip...but..." Victor started, hugging with one arm as the other kept waving, "...I'm not sad to be off that train."
"It felt a bit claustrophobic after a while." Yuri agreed easily, and pulled the man's attention back to himself again for another few kisses just for good measure. Once he was satisfied, he leaned back again, "Let's go find a taxi. We'll check in at the hotel, have a nice tea or something, get some real sleep in a real big bed...and then tomorrow, we're off."
"You look particularly excited about that." Victor mused, and reached for the handles of the suitcases again as Yuri did much the same, "You've put a lot of thought into it."
"I had a lot of fun when you took me sight-seeing around Barcelona last year." He explained, clicking at the Akita pup as they all started the walk to the underground stairs, "And I have to make the most of the time we have here before Yurio and the rest pop up, because it's going to go haywire once they're all here."
"Ah, yeah, that's true."
"Not that it's a bad thing, but...well, it's always different when you're around people you know." He went on, stepping carefully onto the first step, and looked back to make sure Jiro did so without trouble, "I'm actually looking forward to them getting here anyway...but I'm still excited to do some stuff here just with you."
"Well, we have all day tomorrow to ourselves. This city will be crawling with skaters by Thursday though." Victor added, going down slowly to give the short-legged puppy the time he needed to get down each step without stumbling, "I'm sure most of them aren't expecting me, never mind us."
"I know!" Yuri laughed, "I can't wait to start seeing their double-takes."
"The fans are going to go crazy, too." The Russian continued, stepping off the last step, and looked around for the exit to the street. Makkachin stayed close by his side, and followed quickly as they moved forward, "It's going to be weird to go into an event through the spectator doors for once."
"Yeah, it'll be different, that's for sure."
The short hall dispensed into a major corridor, with multiple levels of the building visible through railed cut-outs in the floor. The ground was tiled in dark-grey stone squares, polished and waxed. Each pair of platforms was marked with more blue signs above the hall that they lead to, and between each hall was the entrance to the closed-for-the-night escalators and a few small store-fronts. In the main corridor itself - between each big decorative hole in the floor - were sets of glass-walled elevators, and hanging freely between them were elaborate displays of hanging white lights. On the floor below, it looked as though there was a whole shopping mall, as well as signs for Platforms 1 and 2, which lead to Linz and Salzburg. Platforms 3-12 were on the upper floor, and connected to everywhere else.
They headed left once they arrived into that main corridor, and made their way all the way down to the biggest part of the building, and turned around only to look at the massive blue digital display-board with all the trains and their arrival & departure times. They looked around for their own train's listing, and chuckled quietly to themselves as they turned away from it again. More closed store-fronts greeted them, as well as the Infopoint and map kiosk where several partial-walls - with display boards above them - notated all the train routs and points of interest in the nearby city. Another left-turn from there though and they passed the last opening in the floor with the big access-stairs that lead to the lower floor...and finally, the exit.
The outside of the building was just as big as the inside, but with an easy, unobstructed view of the dark sky. The glass-front of the train station was alight with a wall of the same hanging string-lights that decorated the open gaps in the terminal, giving it a Christmasy look.
Victor nudged his head towards the taxi area, "There should still be someone waiting...but it shouldn't be hard to call for a cab if they're all gone for some reason."
"I think I can see some yellow cars," Yuri pointed out, squinting a bit through his blue frames. True to his suspicion, the cars turned out to be taxis, and they were quickly able to find one that would accept their pups. The trip to the ARCOTEL Kaiserwasser was an easy 15 minutes that late at night, and they were already up in their room before either of them realized it.
Jiro ran around like his fur was on fire as soon as he was cut loose from his harness, letting off his untapped puppy-energy in spades. Makkachin went after him, chasing the pup under the bed and running around the sides of it where he couldn't fit his bigger poodle-body underneath. Yuri laughed at their antics, but relaxed when he felt Victor's arms wrap around his frame from behind.
"You think we can try another bath bomb?" The Russian wondered quietly, "I might even remember it this time."
"That actually sounds pretty great right now."