Chapter Text
After the Grand Prix Final in Barcelona, Victor and Yuuri return to Japan. As the Japanese and Russian national championships are approaching, Yuuri and Victor decide to only return to Hasetsu after the championships. When Yuuri warns his mother about this, she starts laughing.
“ We understand, Yuu-chan. We’ll be rooting for you, okay? ” She says to him. “ By the way, why don’t you take advantage and take a day to visit Yuusaku-san, Yuriko-san and Shin-chan? ”
"That’s true. It's been a few years since I met Uncle Yuusaku, Aunt Yuriko and Shinichi-kun.” Yuuri comments, frowning immediately afterwards. “But aren’t uncle and aunt outside of Japan? I remember Uncle Yuusaku was traveling around the world to promote his new book.”
" Yes. It's a shame that you weren't able to meet him and Yuriko-san during your recent competitions. ” Hiroko comments, and Yuuri notices that she is worried about something by the tone of her voice.
“Kaa-san, are you worried about Shinichi-kun?” Yuuri asks her, in a serious voice.
“ Yuu-chan, when your father married me, he abandoned the name Kudou, and the weight it carries. But Yuusaku-san and his family are different. I'm worried because it's been over a year since I heard about Shin-chan, and when I try to talk to Yuriko-san about it, she just says that he's fine and that he's busy being a detective. ”
“I understand, Kaa-san. Don’t worry, I’ll pay a visit to his house and take the opportunity to introduce Victor to him.” Yuuri says, smiling when he sees Victor approaching with their bags. “Victor is here, do you want to talk to him?”
" It is not necessary. Send him my hug and tell him we'll be rooting for him too. Oyasumi, Yuu-chan. ”
"Ok. Oyasumi, Kaa-san.” Yuuri says, turning off his cell phone and looking at Victor. “Mom sent a hug and said that she and the Hasetsu people will be rooting for us at Nationals.”
“Wow, I will definitely do my best.” Victor says, getting quite excited.
With their luggage in hand, Yuuri and Victor head to the airport arrivals area, where several fans and reporters start shouting and taking photos. After almost an hour and a half of taking photos and signing autographs and interviews, the two finally make their way to the food and leisure section, where they buy some souvenirs, before finally leaving the airport.
“By the way, Vitya. Do you want to go tomorrow and meet a cousin of mine who lives nearby?” Yuuri asks Victor, who looks at him in surprise.
"Cousin?" Victor asks, surprised.
"Yes. His father, Kudou Yuusaku, is my father's younger brother.” Yuuri reveals it to him, who suddenly trips over something and almost falls flat on his face. “Vitya, are you okay?”
“Yuuri~! Did you just say the name Kudou Yuusaku? Famous best selling mystery author Kudou Yuusaku? Is he your uncle?"
"Yes." Yuuri says, looking at Victor with an innocent expression on his face.
“Yuuri, I can’t believe you hid something so big from me, your beloved fiancé!” Victor exclaims, surprising people passing by.
“Not so loud, Vitya!” Yuuri frowns, looking around. “Dad doesn’t like to talk about it much, so we don’t talk about it much either. Originally, our surname was supposed to be Kudou as well, but Father decided to abandon the Kudou family and adopted Mother's surname, Katsuki.”
"What do you mean by that?" Victor looks at Yuuri seriously, not understanding what he means by that.
"Let's go to a hotel. I’ll explain it better there.” Yuuri says, after letting out a long sigh.
They approach a taxi, where they place their luggage in the trunk and then get into the back seat. Yuuri informs the driver about the hotel where they will spend the night. It doesn't take long when the taxi's radio starts talking about news.
“ Mouri Kogorou, the famous Sleepy Kogorou, manages to solve the case once again. With perfect deductions proven by the evidence collected by the police, the detective cracked the case in just a few hours after the crime happened… ”
“Ehh, I didn’t know Mouri-san was so famous.” Yuuri comments, with surprise.
“What are you talking about, sir? Mouri Kogorou-san became famous a while ago and is one of Japan’s pride.” The taxi driver says, laughing loudly. “And I can say the same about our Ace from Japan, Katsuki Yuuri-san, who miraculously won a silver medal in a figure skating competition recently. My son and I are his fans.”
Yuuri, who is wearing a face mask so he won't be recognized, feels his face flush because of the taxi driver's words. Next to him, Victor hears the driver say Yuuri's name and looks at him with shining eyes. Although he is also wearing a face mask, Yuuri can certainly tell that he is wearing a heart-shaped smile, and when he feels that he becomes even more embarrassed, he ends up hiding his face with both hands.
“Yuuri, he said he’s your fan!” Victor exclaims, laughing loudly.
“Vitya, stop! Don’t embarrass me further!” Yuuri exclaims, making the driver not understand what is happening.
“Yuuri, you know what you have to do, don’t you?” Victor asks him, suddenly looking serious.
"Yes." Yuuri responds, opening his sports bag and taking out a sketchbook and a blue pen.
Opening the notebook, Yuuri writes something in it and then hands the pen to Victor, who shakes his head.
“He’s YOUR fan, Yuuri. Not mine. So there’s no need for me to sign an autograph as well.” Victor says to him, who nods and tears the page out of the notebook.
Yuuri puts the notebook and pen back in his backpack, holding the sheet of paper with both hands until the taxi arrives at the hotel where they will spend the night. Yuuri then pays for the taxi using his cell phone, and hands the paper to the driver, while lowering the mask from his face.
“Thank you very much for being my fan. I will do my best in the upcoming competitions and bring more pride to Japan.” He says to the driver, who looks at him in shock.
Hiding the mask on his face again, Yuuri leaves the taxi with Victor and, picking up his luggage, follows him to the hotel entrance. Suddenly, they hear the sound of a car horn and then the driver's voice.
“ Yuuri-san, gambatte!”
Yuuri and Victor stop walking and look back, noticing that the taxi is still at the hotel entrance. Furthermore, several people who were there stopped walking and talking when they heard the driver's voice, and observed the two men who had gotten out of the car, something that is possible because it was early in the morning.
The tallest one is wearing a long blue cape, black pants and black shoes. On his head, he wears a black hat and on his face, in addition to a mask, he is wearing blue-rimmed glasses. The other boy is wearing a black jacket, a red t-shirt, jeans, sneakers, a pair of black-rimmed glasses, a face mask and is carrying a blue and black sports backpack on his back.
Yuuri nods to the driver and heads inside the hotel with Victor. At reception, Yuuri checks in and upon receiving their room card key, he asks breakfast to be taken to their room. Discussing with Victor about the national championships, which take place almost at the same time, the two get into the elevator and go to the 18th floor hand in hand.
“Vitya, I still think you should go to Russia before my championship. I know you want to use as a short program the choreography I was creating before using Yuri on Ice as my free program and reusing Stammi Vicino as your free program, but you need to work with the costume and with Coach Feltsman before use it in a competition.”
"I know. I had Minako's help to better interpret her choreography, as she uses something that is quite new to me, but it is still something difficult for me to use in my programs. I was used to dealing with choreographies full of technical elements, ignoring the artistic side of figure skating, something that ended up leaving me stagnant.” Victor says to Yuuri, letting out a long sigh. “It was you, Yuuri, who made me realize that figure skating is more than jumps and repetitive movements. That’s why I not only want to use your choreography for the rest of this season, but I also plan to use your choreography for all three of my shows next season.”
Yuuri widens his eyes, not expecting to hear that from him.
“We can do this together. Our choreographies and no one else’s.” He whispers, laughing.
"Incredible! I can even see the name Victuuri as a choreographer on the competition screens!” Victor exclaims, bright-eyed and quite excited.
“I don’t know if Coach Feltsman will allow our CP name to be used. Furthermore, I believe he will kill you after you are grazed by Yurio's bladed shoes.”
“Yuuri, do you need to remind me of this?!” Victor cries, at the exact moment the elevator reaches the 18th floor.
Laughing, Yuuri leaves the elevator and heads to the room with Victor. After entering, they take a shower and while having dinner, Yuuri notices that Victor is tired and sleepy.
"Let's rest. Tomorrow I’ll tell you more about my father’s past and the Kudou family.” He says, clearing the table and pulling Victor to the bed, where they both fall asleep together.