Chapter Text
Class is ending, and Yuuri is counting down the minutes with anticipation. He hasn’t been this eager to get out of class since his undergrad days, when he and Phichit would play video games for hours after class when they should have been studying or skating.
Finally, the time comes: class ends, and he hurriedly packs his books into his bag. The rest of his classmates file out of the room, but Hayri, Eda, and Sadia wait for him by the door.
“Ready for trivia?” Sadia asks, a huge smile on her face. Yuuri returns the smile and nods, but now he finds his words have turned to sand in his mouth. He had been looking forward to this all day, but now that the moment has come, his anxiety has decided to show its head.
His friends are going to meet his husband. What if they don’t like Victor? What if Victor doesn’t like them? What if they ask too many questions and Victor gets annoyed? Or what if they’re too intimidated by Victor, the way Yuuri himself was at first? What if Victor says something embarrassing about Yuuri and they never want to hang out with him again? What if, what if, what if….
Yuuri takes a deep breath to steady himself. He tells himself that everything will be fine. Victor is much better at meeting new people than he is. Plus, Victor has been even more excited about meeting Yuuri’s friends than Yuuri has been. Everything will be fine. He tells himself all this, but the anxiety makes it hard to believe.
In the week since the last trivia night, when his friends had first learned about Yuuri’s personal life - his husband, his former career, his medals - it’s basically all they’ve wanted to talk about. Of course they've asked Yuuri more questions about his skating career, but now that they know about it, it's like a band-aid has been pulled off. Yuuri really doesn’t mind answering their questions, now. He even likes it when then ask to see videos of Victor skating, (though he tells them they'll have to watch videos of him skating on their own, it embarasses him too much to watch himself). They've unanimously decided that Victor and Yuuri’s pair skate to Stammi Vicino was the best, and Yuuri can’t help but agree.
But aside from talking about Yuuri’s skating, they've also asked about Victor coming to trivia night at least once a day. Even after Yuuri confirms that Victor will be there, they still ask about it every day, making sure Yuuri won’t forget. Logically, Yuuri knows that his friends are excited to meet Victor, but his anxiety still makes him doubt anyway.
Yuuri follows his friends out of the classroom as they make their way across campus. Eda and Hayri walk in front, engrossed in their own conversation. Yuuri stares at the ground as he walks, trying to keep his worries at bay. Sadia walks next to him, and seems to notice that something is on his mind.
“Hey, Yuuri, are you okay? You seem nervous,” she asks quietly.
Yuuri doesn’t look up, but he answers slowly, “Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I just want this to go well. Victor can be... a lot. He's over-the-top and dramatic, but he's also sweet and gentle. I'm just nervous about how he'll be around you. I don't want him to scare you all away."
Sadia’s smile softens when she hears this. “Don't worry, it takes a lot to scare us away. I mean, have you met Hayri?" she giggles, before continuing, "I’m sure we’ll like Victor. From what you’ve told us about him, he sounds amazing. And we’ve all been so eager to meet him. Try not to worry, Yuuri. You’re our friend, and we just want to meet the guy who makes you blush so much!”
Yuuri’s cheeks turn red involuntarily at the last comment, but Sadia’s words help to calm him down a little bit. He hasn’t known them for very long, but his friends are some of the most supportive people he knows. And they’re just as eager to meet Victor, as Victor is to meet them.
“Thanks, Sadia,” Yuuri says, eyes still cast down at the ground. She lays a gentle hand on his arm, and Yuuri feels a new wave of calm just knowing that his friend is there to support him.
Suddenly their quiet moment is broken by Hayri’s voice, shouting, “Hey, c’mon you two! We don’t wanna be late!” Yuuri looks up to see that they’ve stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. In his anxiety-ridden state, he hadn’t even noticed. Hayri and Eda are at the end of the path in front of them, waiting to cross the street. Yuuri and Sadia rush to catch up.
“Sorry about that,” Yuuri says, but doesn’t give an explanation. Neither Hayri nor Eda push the subject, and Yuuri is silently thankful. How did he manage to make such understanding friends?
~
The bar is just across the street, and Yuuri can feel his anticipation building again as they approach. He knows Victor is waiting for them inside – knowing Victor, he’s probably been there for an hour, impatiently and enthusiastically waiting for them to arrive. Despite the distraction on their way there, they actually get to the bar pretty early. There’ll be a lot of time for them to talk before trivia starts, and Yuuri can’t decide if that’s a good thing or not.
Yuuri walks in first, and looks around the bar for his husband. Victor spots him first, from his table in the corner where he’s been watching the door expectantly. As soon as Victor sees Yuuri, he starts waving his arms wildly through the air so Yuuri will spot him. Fortunately for Yuuri – or unfortunately, because it’s a bit embarrassing – Victor is hard to miss. Yuuri smiles and shakes his head at how ridiculous and dramatic his husband is, and leads his friends over to the table.
Victor stands up when they get close, draping his arm around Yuuri’s shoulder and practically bouncing with excitement. Yuuri steps closer and reciprocates the gesture, wrapping his arm around Victor’s waist. Sometimes all it takes for him to feel confident is just being close to Victor.
Yuuri clears his throat before making the introductions. “Everyone, this is my husband, Victor. Victor, this is Eda, Hayri, and Sadia,” he says, gesturing to each of his friends in turn. They each give a little wave as he says their name.
“It’s so nice to finally meet you!” Victor says, beaming with his heart shaped smile. “And thank you for inviting me out with you. I’ve never done trivia before!” Yuuri surveys his friends’ faces for a reaction. Good-natured Hayri just looks excited to have another member of their trivia team. Eda looks a little intimidated – whether it’s because of the piercing blue eyes and thick Russian accent, or the fact that Victor is a world-famous athlete, Yuuri can’t tell. Sadia looks completely overwhelmed. Yuuri wouldn’t be surprised if she asked for Victor’s autograph by the end of the night.
“Yeah, man, we’re excited to have you here!” Hayri says with a chuckle. “Don’t worry, we don’t get too competitive. It’s all for fun.”
"Ah, so I see Yuuri hasn't told you anything about me, then. I'm very competitive," Victor's eyes flash dangerously and his face turns serious. The mood at the table shifts darkly for a moment, until Victor's easy smile returns and he adds brightly, "Of course, we're on the same team, so there's no need for you to worry."
Yuuri rolls his eyes at the drama, and the others take their cue from him and laugh it off. They take their seats at the table, and get ready for the game of trivia. While they wait for the game to start, Yuuri’s friends strike up a conversation.
“So, Victor, how did you first meet Yuuri?” Eda asks. It’s a simple, innocent question. Suddenly Yuuri knows for sure that bringing his husband to meet his friends was a terrible idea. Victor is going to embarrass him, probably without even meaning to. But it’s too late; Victor is already answering the question.
“Hmm. Well, technically the first time we met was at a banquet, but Yuuri was very drunk and doesn’t remember any of it,” Victor says bluntly.
“Don’t bring up the banquet!” Yuuri shudders. “It’s so embarrassing. That was the worst night of my life.”
“Really? It was the best night of my life, aside from our wedding of course,” Victor responds before adding, a little softer, “It’s when I met you.” Yuuri’s face turns red and he hopes his friends didn’t hear that, but when he sees the look on their faces it’s clear they did. At least they all look happy about Victor and Yuuri being romantic. If Yurio were here, he would have shouted about them being disgusting.
“Okay, there’s definitely a story there that we need to hear,” Sadia says, her eyes still sparkling over the cute couple.
Victor starts to speak, but Yuuri clamps his hand over his mouth just in time. “Not right now! It’s embarrassing, really. All you need to know is that I was really drunk and I danced with Victor.”
Victor frowns at not being able to tell the story, but he’ll get his revenge on Yuuri yet. He gently removes Yuuri's hand from his mouth, saying, “If I can’t tell that story, let me at least tell them about our other first meeting, the one you do remember.”
He’s got a smirk on his face that Yuuri thinks looks positively evil. Yuuri groans in protest, but Victor talks over him, addressing the three eager faces staring at him. “I saw a video of Yuuri recreating one of my own skating programs. His skating was so beautiful. I remembered meeting him at that banquet, and I felt so drawn to him that I flew straight to Japan to be his coach. Our first real conversation took place while I was naked in his family’s hot spring.”
The looks on their faces range from hilarity to intrigue. Eda squeals, "That sounds like it's straight out of a romance novel!"
Hayri is a bit more concerned with Victor's final sentence. “Um, is this some sort of cultural thing that I’m not understanding? Why were you having a conversation while naked?” He asks Yuuri.
“He was the naked one. I was fully clothed” Yuuri clarifies stubbornly.
“Not at the banquet,” Victor quips, and Yuuri elbows him in the ribs, feeling his face get hot again.
He ignores Victor’s comment and finishes his explanation: “For some reason he thought it would be a good idea to soak in the hot springs before coming to talk to me about why he was there. When I found out my skating idol had flown from Russia to Japan to meet me, I had to see for myself. I ran to the hot springs, and sure enough he was there, just relaxing. When he saw me he stood up out of the water, ass naked, and dramatically declared himself my new coach.”
Hearing the last comment, Victor lets out an exaggerated gasp and clutches a hand to his chest. “Yuuri, I’m not dramatic! How could you say a thing like that about your own husband? You wound me.”
Yuuri roles his eyes, though he can’t help but smile and laugh at his husband’s ridiculousness. His friends all laugh at Victor’s feigned drama too, which he takes as a good sign.
“Wait, so you said Victor was your skating idol, Yuuri?” Eda asks, still smiling after Victor’s antics.
Victor jumps in to take the question for Yuuri. “Oh yes, he was my number one fan since he was little! He named his dog after me and had posters of me all over his room! It was adorable!” He practically squeals, his love for Yuuri evident from the huge smile on his face.
It used to embarrass Yuuri a lot when Victor mentioned the posters and Vicchan. But he knows Victor doesn’t bring it up to make Yuuri uncomfortable. Victor finds it truly endearing, which is why he’ll tell anyone who will listen that his husband is his number one fan.
“To be honest, watching Victor skate was what made me want to compete as a skater when I was a kid. I always dreamed of competing on the same ice as him someday. I never dreamed I would actually marry him!” Yuuri says with a little laugh. His friends all have that gleaming look in their eyes again, like they love how adorable Victor and Yuuri’s romance is.
“Wow, Yuuri, that’s actually really inspiring,” Hayri says, adding, “If you can marry your childhood idol, I bet I can become a Power Ranger!” This earns him strange looks from everyone at the table. He shrugs it off, saying, “They were my childhood idols.”
The rest of the table laughs, and the conversation moves on. They spend the rest of the time until trivia starts in easy conversation. Victor gets his chance to ask them questions about themselves and learn more about the people who have so readily accepted his husband into their group.
~
It turns out Victor is hilariously bad at trivia. Yuuri should have known this would happen. Victor is so forgetful as it is, how can he be expected to remember random facts?
Mostly the team just enjoys listening to his suggestions, because more often than not they’re completely out of left field. He does manage to get a few questions right, though. His shining moment comes when he answers a language question.
“What is the Japanese word that means ‘empty orchestra’?” The trivia caller asks, and the eyes of the team turn to Yuuri, expecting him to answer the question about his native language.
Victor jumps in before Yuuri can even open his mouth. “Oh, I know! It’s karaoke!” His teammates look at him with raised eyebrows, impressed that he actually answered the question before Yuuri did. “What? I know Japanese,” he says, indignantly, in Japanese.
Yuuri laughs and responds in Victor’s own language, saying, “But I’m better at Russian than you are at Japanese.” Yuuri sticks his tongue out and Victor huffs at the tease.
“Um,” Eda interrupts their exchange with a sarcastic comment, “unless you’re speaking English or French, I’m afraid I can’t understand you two.”
Victor perks up when he hears this, and immediately launches into a stream of French, to which Eda responds enthusiastically in the same language. Yuuri catches a few words, including his own name, but not much more. He thinks he hears the word ‘Canada,’ which would explain why Eda speaks French. Yuuri hadn’t known she was fluent in the language, but he’s glad Victor has something in common with his friend.
Eda and Victor continue their conversation in fluent French, seemingly unaware that they’re in the middle of a trivia game. The other three look at each other, bewildered, before breaking into laughter.
~
The game ends, and the scores are tallied. They don’t do as well as last week, but they manage third place. More importantly, their team had fun talking and joking between the questions.
The friends stay at their table, continuing their conversation for a while after the game ends. Finally, they finish their drinks, and it seems like time for them all to go home; it’s getting late, and it is still a school night for the four students.
“Thanks for joining us, Victor! It was so nice to meet you. I can’t believe Yuuri was keeping you a secret from us for so long!” Sadia says, but she gives a kind smile to Yuuri so he knows she doesn’t mean any harm. Yuuri returns the smile.
“Oh yeah, Victor, by the way, does Yuuri have any other hidden talents that he isn’t telling us?” Hayri asks with a mischievous grin.
“Hmm,” Victor lifts a finger to his lips, pretending to think for a moment. “Yuuri is quite talented. Besides skating, he makes amazing katsudon… he’s fluent in three languages… and he’s an amazing pole dancer.”
Victor says this so matter-of-factly, but Yuuri chokes on the last sip of his drink when he hears it, launching into a coughing fit that he tries desperately to contain. “I told you not to tell them about the banquet!” he says between his coughs.
“Alright, now we really need to hear this banquet story,” Eda demands.
Victor smirks, but he has a feeling he’ll be sleeping on the couch if he says any more, so he says, “That’s a story for another night.” Yuuri is visibly relieved.
They make their way outside the bar and get ready to part ways. Before they separate, Hayri asks Victor if he’ll come again next week, and Victor enthusiastically agrees.
“You don’t have any other family members that Yuuri hasn’t told us about that you could invite, right?”
“Well, there is our son,” Victor deadpans. Hayri’s jaw drops, Sadia’s eyes widen, and Eda furrows her brow.
Victor is going to be the death of Yuuri one day. He waves his arms in front of him frantically in the universal ‘don’t believe that’ gesture. “He’s just kidding, he’s just kidding!” Yuuri practically yells. “He’s talking about our friend Yuri Plisetsky. He’s a lot younger than us, so Victor likes to joke about him being our son. But he lives in Russia, so he won’t be coming to trivia night, sorry.”
The whole group dissolves into hysterics over Victor’s joke. When the laughter finally dies down, Victor says, “We could always bring Makkachin.”
This earns an eye roll from Yuuri, but the sad thing is he knows his husband is serious. “No, Victor. We’re not bringing our dog to a bar.”
“Why not? I think he’d be very good at trivia.” Victor tries to reason. The group shares a final laugh before saying goodnight and going their separate ways.
~
“So, what did you think?” Yuuri asks, a little shyly.
“That was so much fun, Yuuri!” Victor says, taking Yuuri’s hand and curling their fingers together as they walk. “I really like your friends. I’m so glad you met such great people to hang out with.” They walk a few more paces before he adds; “You should invite them over for dinner sometime. We can make katsudon for them!”
Yuuri can hear Victor’s excitement without even seeing his face, a tone he's sure is matched in his own voice. “Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun. I’ll see if they’re interested.”
As he walks, Yuuri feels relieved about how the night turned out. He had been so anxious after class, and yet none of his friends were scared off by his intense Russian husband - in fact, they liked him so much that they invited him back next week. Victor may have embarrassed him a little bit, but that’s always bound to happen with Victor – he’s too dramatic for his own good. Yuuri is glad his friends liked Victor, and more importantly, he’s glad Victor liked his friends. He squeezes Victor’s hand in his own three times, his silent way of saying I love you.