Chapter Text
Tuesday, November 8th, 3:54 AM
JJ pulls into the driveway of Dr. K’s place, careful not to park Yuri in. He grabs his bags, locks the car doors, and makes his way into the apartment building. It’s a good morning- he knocked out a six-mile jog before work and he’s feeling refreshed and ready to hit the day.
Yuri Plistesky, not surprisingly, is unimpressed.
“Welcome back, loser,” he mutters as JJ enters the apartment. “You look like a beaver snorted crack cocaine.”
JJ just laughs. “Good morning to you too, Yuri. You’re radiant as ever.”
Yuri rolls his eyes. “Don’t fucking talk to me. There’s a Monster in the fridge for you. I’m going home.”
JJ just smiles.
He never drinks the energy drinks, of course. He suspects Emil does, considering they always disappear. But there’s something endearing about the way Yuri brings them in without fail. It reminds JJ that despite all the swearing and the insults, they’re actually friends.
Yuri leaves, as he always does, and JJ goes about his morning routine. It’s uneventful- he straightens up the apartment, opens the windows, and starts a grocery list for Emil. He pulls out the Doctor’s medication for the morning, and when the time comes, he makes the coffee. At seven, the music starts to play from Dr. Katsuki’s bedroom, and the man himself emerges a few long moments later.
JJ is armed and ready with coffee.
“Good morning,” JJ says brightly. “How are you feeling.”
The Doctor hesitates for a moment, almost like he’s contemplating how much to say.
He decides on a singular “fine”.
It’s not right.
The Doctor is never just “fine” in the mornings. He’s usually “tired”, “bitterly regretting being born”, or “wondering why they keep insisting on having meetings at ten in the morning”. And no matter how the Doctor is in the morning, he’ll usually turn it back on JJ. He’ll ask how the morning jog was, how Bella is doing, or how last weekend’s church service was.
But no, today the Doctor is simply “fine,” and it’s unnerving.
He sips his coffee in silence, and JJ works on getting breakfast on a plate.
“What’s roundtable about today?” he asks as he hands the Doctor his toast and a small cup of medication.
“Don’t know,” Dr. Katsuki replies. “I’m sure Otabek will have a file on it.”
After that, the kitchen is quiet. The Doctor eats. JJ makes himself a piece of toast. He stares at the refrigerator to avoid eye contact, looking at all of the little post-it notes that Emil leaves there.
Most of them are simple affirmations- “Today is a great day!” or “You’re doing amazing!”. A few others are the notes Emil leaves to himself- “Almond milk!” or “Find a better recipe for chocolate lava cake!” or “Call Lisa from the Asian Market!”. They all have exclamation points, most have a smile.
While JJ never really runs into Emil, he does appreciate the post-its.
The Doctor finishes his breakfast and disappears back towards the bathroom for his morning shower.
JJ texts Leo.
Something’s wrong with the Dr.
It doesn’t take Leo long to reply.
Check the date.
JJ checks it.
November eighth.
It takes him a minute to remember.
But he remembers.
Tuesday, November 8th, 9:30 AM
“Good morning, Miss Babicheva,” the cute receptionist says as Mila walks in. “How was your commute?”
“Fairly uneventful, as usual,” Mila responds. “How’s the office been this morning?”
The cute receptionist shrugs. “Fine, I guess. Otabek ran into the glass door on his way in this morning. If you come down on your lunch break I’m sure I can pull up the security footage.”
Mila laughs a little as she picks up the hefty stack of files waiting for her at the reception desk.
“I’ll definitely keep that in mind,” she says.
She’ll do more than keep it in mind. She’ll be down here the minute her lunch break starts, ready to sit and eat her turkey wrap with the cute receptionist. And talking to the cute receptionist, of course. Laughing will also be part of the plan. She’ll spend a good portion of her lunch break staring at the receptionist’s eyes, for that matter.
And she’ll get to laugh at Otabek running into a glass door, which was always a mood booster.
“I don’t know what you drink,” the cute receptionist says. “But whenever you come in, it smells amazing.”
She smiles, and Mila feels her heart melt a little in her chest.
“Well, it’s always tea,” she says. “Today’s is earl gray with blackberry and sage- there’s a great little shop on my way in. I’ll have to bring you something sometime.”
The cute receptionist just laughs. “Oh, don’t worry about it I couldn’t. You shouldn’t.”
You could , Mila’s brain echoes. I should .
“I will,” Mila says with a smile and a wink as she heads towards her office.
The minute she’s behind closed doors, she makes the note in her phone. She’ll have to ask Otabek if he knows what the cute receptionist drinks in the mornings. He usually gets into the office early, he could know or at least find out.
But tomorrow’s tea is tomorrow’s problem, and for now, Mila has a stack of files to sort through.
She sinks into her desk chair, opens the first manila folder, and powers up her computer.
The first file is a copy of a law that somebody is trying to pass. Mila doesn’t look at it any closer, Dr. Katsuki probably has a meeting about it later in the afternoon. The second folder is Emil’s grocery receipts for Mila to digitize.
Mila is not particularly fond of digitizing receipts, so she turns to her computer and opens up her email.
She has a follow-up note from Yale informing her that they think the meeting went wonderfully and will look forward to communicating more in the future.
She chuckles a bit at that one.
There are a few more emails from senators, and the daily email from Mila’s automated calendar reminding her exactly what meetings Dr. Katsuki has this afternoon. But aside from the normal emails, there’s a new one from Upstairs sitting at the top of her inbox.
November 8 Update , the subject line reads.
Mila knows what it is before she opens it. After all, it’s the eighth of November, and the same email comes every year.
The email itself is fairly basic- strikingly similar to the one the office got last year. It reminds them of the date’s significance and respectfully asks the staff not to mention it. It also says that Dr. Katsuki probably won’t mention it, however, on the condition that he does, staff are to fill out the corresponding form to be sent to the Handlers.
Mila shrugs it off- after all, Dr. Katsuki typically isn’t one to discuss his personal life in the office unless it involves a cute dog he saw on his way into the office. She’s never had to send a report to the Handlers, and she doubts this year will be any different.
So rather than focussing on the email, Mila turns her attention to Emil’s receipts and starts her favorite mundane task.
Her phone dings on her desk.
Leo’s texting the group chat.
Taco night @7?
Mila smiles and types a quick reply. It’s not really needed- she’d never miss a taco night and Leo knows that.
She glances at the time.
10:17
Just under an hour to deal with Emil’s grocery receipts and meet Dr. Katsuki outside of the conference room. It’s more than enough time to get everything scanned and processed, though Mila spends most of it wondering where Emil Nekola of all people actually learned how to cook.
Tuesday, November 8th, 6:02 PM
Emil isn’t too shaken up about missing taco night at Leo’s- after all, he planned out quite the evening for Dr. K. Lisa from the Asian market had come through and gotten him a reliable recipe for a pork cutlet bowl, and he’d been able to get the kitchen fully stocked in time for diner.
Emil enjoys lots of his nights with Dr. K, but he loves cooking with him most.
They don’t do it often- after all, the Doctor works long days and Emil usually likes having dinner planned out and ready to go when needed. But every so often they’ll have a cooking night, usually involving recipes from Lisa and small amounts of wine.
Dr. K. isn’t a heavy drinker by any means, but every once in a while he’ll get slightly tipsy and tell stories about his childhood, about going to college, about stupid things Phichit Chulanont did back when they were living in the dorms together.
Dr. K. misses Phichit Chulanont, oddly enough. He talks about him often, usually with fondness and sometimes with exasperation. He tells stories about them, uses some of Phichit’s jokes, talks about their adventures together.
It’s strange, Emil thinks, how he misses Phichit Chulanont but doesn’t remember his own fiancee.
But regardless of how strange, Emil likes listening to the stories.
They make the Doctor seem more human, more like a friend and less like a client.
Tonight, tipsy Dr. K talks about almost failing his British Literature course in college.
“Chaucer,” he says, the name full of spite and disdain. “Why did it have to be Chaucer? ”
No, Emil isn’t shaken up about missing taco night at Leo’s at all. Listening to Dr. K. talk passionately about The Canterbury Tales is much more enjoyable.
Tuesday, November 8th, 6:55 PM
Leo waits.
He waits, staring at the apartment door, fighting the urge to pace.
He waits, taping his toes instead, trying to forget about the dead man sitting in the back bedroom.
Leo waits.
JJ arrives first, as usual, armed with a case of alcohol and a giant bear hug.
Mila’s next. She’s not wearing her typical office power suits anymore. Instead, she’s switched to leggings and an off-shoulder top that makes her look oddly approachable for the type of businesswoman Leo knows she is.
Otabek is the last to arrive, wearing his typical leather jacket, headphones around his neck.
While technically they’re all friends, Leo can’t shake the ominous dread from the back of his throat. It feels like three of the four horsemen have arrived at his tiny apartment, and Death himself is sitting in the back bedroom.
Except, nobody knows Death is in the back bedroom.
Not yet, that is.
Leo doesn’t know how he’s supposed to tell them that Death is in the back bedroom.
Instead, he waits, and happily eats some tacos with the group. They take their usual seats on barstools around Leo’s front counter and JJ starts passing drinks around. Mila asks Otabek about the office receptionist, who apparently has the most magical eyes. JJ chimes in with pick up lines that apparently worked on Isabella once upon a time. Leo isn’t sure how, and he’s fairly certain they aren’t good enough to work a second time around.
Thankfully, Otabek and Mila seem to agree.
The conversation shifts slowly- Otabek talks about an upcoming DJ gig he’s excited about, JJ talks about his plans to propose. He doesn’t really have a plan yet, he’s considering a flash mob but also isn’t opposed to renting the jumbotron at a sporting event somewhere.
Mila says he should go all out and make a fake movie trailer to show in the theater.
Otabek says he probably shouldn’t be planning proposals while drinking.
Mila looks unimpressed and insists that anything other than a dramatic proposal would be drastically out of character for The Man The Myth The Legend Jean-Jacques Leroy.
“And after all,” she adds. “They do work. Just look at Dr. K.”
“‘Work’ is not the word I’d use in that situation,” Otabek says, “considering Victor Nikiforov is dead and Dr. K seems to have blocked out his entire existence.”
JJ shakes his head. “No, he definitely remembers. I think he just pretends not to. It’s probably easier that way, you know? If I had a dead fiancee, I think I’d try pretty hard to forget.”
Mila laughs. “I’ll tell Bella to keep that in mind if she dies young.”
JJ sighs. “Don’t. Seriously. You know I’m right. It has to hurt like hell remembering that.”
“Fair,” Mila says. “But he has to be getting that grief out somewhere, right? He can’t have just been sitting on that for two years. That’s not healthy.”
“Maybe he’s been talking to Yuri,” Otabek offers. “We’d never know about it.”
“Or Emil,” JJ adds. “Emil seems like the sort of guy you could spill all your secrets to.”
“Emil would have reported it, though, he follows protocol,” Mila says. “Yuri just doesn’t care.”
“It’s bullshit,” Otabek says. “The reporting. Medication and injuries, sure. I get that. But reporting that Dr. Katsuki’s sad because his husband died?”
“Fiancee,” Leo corrects. “And he’s not dead.”
Leo had thought he’d known what silence felt like.
After all, it was a fairly simple concept. Silence. The complete absence of sound. What happens when all your siblings leave for school and you’re the one left home alone. What happens when you move into your first apartment by yourself. Or, what happens when you tell your coworkers that someone famous for dying tragically young in a violent plane crash isn’t, in fact, actually dead.
“Victor Nikiforov, that is,” Leo clarifies nervously. “He’s not dead.”
“Leo de la Iglesia,” Mila says slowly. “What the ever-loving fuck are you on?”
“He’s not dead,” Leo echoes, like a broken record. “He’s in the back bedroom.”
“Bullshit,” Mila says, eyes digging straight into Leo’s forehead. “He’s dead. ”
Leo knows that Mila is a very kind woman. He’s worked with her for long enough, he knows she’d never hurt him.
But at this moment?
In this silence?
Mila looks ready to shred him.
Otabek, on the other hand, just looks slightly puzzled. He stands up slowly, adjusts his leather jacket, and slowly walks down the hallway and towards the back bedroom.
“I swear to god,” Mila whispers aggressively. “If you’re on crack-”
Leo hears the door open.
He swears his heart skips at least three beats.
“Hey,” Otabek’s voice says calmly. “Otabek Altin.”
“Victor Nikiforov.”
“ Shit ,” Mila whispers.
Leo hears the door close, followed by two sets of footsteps coming down the hallway.
Otabek appears first.
And then there’s Victor Nikiforov, Forbidden Fiancee, Living Legend of Journalism, looking very alive and clearly not dead. He looks different, of course. He’s not dressed up to camera levels of perfect, his hair could use a trim. He has a few more wrinkles around his eyes and he isn’t armed with his trademark, paparazzi-ready smile.
But he is very much alive.
He is very much not dead.
For a moment, there’s quiet.
Otabek introduces everyone.
It’s simple, and it’s stiff.
“Mila Babicheva, JJ Leroy, Leo de la Iglesia.”
“Victor Nikiforov,” Victor says. “You all work with Yuuri?”
“Otabek and I work with him in the office,” Mila says softly, still looking shell shocked.
“I’m at his place in the mornings,” JJ says.
“And you’re the driver,” Victor says, turning to Leo. “There are more of you, no?”
Leo nods. “Emil just finished his shift, so he’s not coming. And Yuri’s at the apartment now.”
“There’s always someone with him?” Victor asks.
JJ nods.
Victor sighs dejectedly and takes a seat on a barstool. “He’s a doctor, not a zoo animal.”
“He had an accident,” JJ says defensively. “His leg still isn’t back to normal, there’s medication to be handled, and besides. What if something were to happen to him?”
“Like what?” Victor asks. “Somebody tries to kill him? Like they tried to kill me?”
He’s so calm when he says it, it’s almost unnerving. Mila looks visibly taken aback. But Victor just stares at JJ, face betraying no emotion, daring him to craft a worthy response.
There are not many people Leo considers himself scared of, but Victor Nikiforov is definitely on the list.
“Nobody said anything about killing, Jesus,” JJ says. “And nobody tried to kill you, you died in a plane crash, freak accident. The pilot had a heart attack, nobody could’ve seen it coming.”
For a minute there is quiet as Victor Nikiforov, Forbidden Fiancee, Living Legend of Journalism contemplates. JJ still looks defensive- his arms are crossed and he’s trying to look intimidating. He’s very good at looking intimidating- after all he’s rather tall and works out more than enough to be solidly built. But Leo has a feeling that JJ won’t be winning in this situation.
“Have you ever wondered why nobody seems to remember that plane crash?” Victor asks. “I mean, sure. You know the news story. Pilot had a heart attack. I died. The Great Doctor Yuuri Katsuki was in the hospital. Tragic, I know. But Yuuri never talks about it, I’d assume, and there were no witnesses. Lots of survivors mind you, and yet no witnesses. No investigations as to what caused the heart attack, why the co-pilot didn’t intervene, how every other passenger escaped with minor injuries except for two. If you think, Mr. Leory, you’ll realize it doesn’t make sense.”
Mila looks like she’s seen a ghost.
JJ has no response.
Otabek just looks curiously intrigued.
“Why?”
“We were journalists,” Victor explains. “I was pretty, Yuuri was pretty and smart. People liked us. People listened to us. And when we traveled, talking about global politics and world events, people believed us. People followed our accounts, watched our shows, paid attention to what we had to say. And when what we had to say reflected badly on certain parties, certain parties had to intervene. And what better way to intervene than to kill me and get Dr. Yuuri Katsuki back on their side, spitting their truth.”
“Dr. Katsuki’s a smart man,” Mila says hesitantly. “How hasn’t he put this all together? How has he never questioned, hell, never so much as mentioned you? You’d think he’d at least have an inkling .”
“Wait,” Leo interjects, before Victor gets the chance to answer. “Dr. K’s never mentioned anything to you? Like ever?”
“No,” Mila replies. “Never.”
“He mentioned Victor to me yesterday,” Leo says.
“He definitely wasn’t right this morning,” JJ says. “Like really not right. Which is understandable considering the date but he wasn’t off when he got into the office?”
“Not at all,” Otabek says.
For a minute, there’s quiet.
“I’m calling Emil,” JJ says, pulling his phone out of his back pocket.
He dials, clicks the speaker button, and the phone rings.
And rings.
And rings.
“Hey!” Emil’s eager voice eventually says. “How’s taco night?”
“Good good,” JJ says. “But I’ve got a question for you.”
“Sure, shoot.”
“Was Dr. K weird tonight?” JJ asks. “Like slightly off, strange, weird… did he mention anything? You know considering the date and all?”
“Actually no,” Emil says. “We made dinner, had a bit of wine… he told me all about the Canterbury Tales which was hilarious. I didn’t know it was possible to hate Chaucer that much but apparently Dr. K does and almost failed a lit class because of it.”
Victor chuckles a little.
“Never would’ve guessed,” JJ says. “Thanks though. We were just curious. Worried for him and all.”
“Understandable,” Emil says. “But he’s good.”
“Thanks,” JJ replies. “Talk to you tomorrow?”
“Yeah for sure.”
The phone clicks as it hangs up and once again there is quiet.
Leo can see JJ thinking- his forehead is crinkling up, eyebrows scrunched together. Otabek just looks mildly confused. Victor doesn’t look like he’s feeling anything, but Leo knows that doesn’t mean anything.
Mila looks horrified.
“Jesus, they’re drugging him.”