Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Alex! Matthew!”

Matthew looked up. “Claire!” A smile spread over his face. “It's so good do see you again, How was China?”

“Way too hot, boring relatives and I couldn’t read anything” Claire complained half-heartedly. “The food was amazing though. How was your August?”

“You know same old same old.” Matthew grinned. None of them would admit it but it was nice to have all 3 of them together again. It didn’t feel the same when it was just him and Alex.

“Have you picked up your timetable yet?” Alex asked.

“Yeah have you two?”

Matthew nodded.

Claire took out a pink slip of paper and looked it over. Her curious expression turned into a frown. “Who the hell’s Y. Katsuki? What happened to Hidaka? I thought she was the only one to teach Japanese?”

“Katsuki… I think she’s a transfer from Don Mills.” Matthew said. “Hidaka’s pregnant, isn’t she?”

“Look Y. Katsuki teaching English too.” Alex pointed to Matthew’s schedule.

“Think she’ll also take over the Culture Exchange Club?” Claire wondered

“Geez, I hope it doesn’t get canceled because we don’t have a teacher”

A pang of disappointment crossed over Claire’s face. She loved Hidaka and had been looking forward to finally taking a class with her. Now she was stuck with this new teacher for two classes.

Turns out Katsuki wasn’t a she but a pudgy bespectacled man with slightly unkempt black hair and a constant soft smile on his face.

“Hello everyone! I’m Mr. Katsuki. Now please pass along these course notes while I take attendance”

“Why does our English teacher have a Japanese accent?” Claire whispered to Matthew who shrugged and shushed her.

“Matthew Boudreaux”

“Present”

Matthew drowned out the call and response of Katsuki and his fellow students as he turned his attention to the course notes.

Reading List for ENG301 Section 4
Hamlet - Shakespeare
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austin
The Natural - Bernard Malamud
The Windup Bird - Haruki Murakami
Various Poems

“Claire Wu?”

“Here!”

“Great. Everyone’s here. Now then, we have four literary works to study. Two of which you will probably have heard of and two of which you probably haven’t.”

As the class wrapped up, Matthew started to pack up his stuff when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“You’re Matthew, right? President of the Cultural Exchange club?”

He looked up to see his new English teacher standing next to him.

“Ah, yes that’s me.”

“Well, Ms. Hidaka mentioned you. She said you were an excellent student and to ask you if I needed any help. Anyways, I’d be happy to serve as the teacher chaperone. When’s the first meeting?”

“Next week but the execs are holding a meeting tomorrow at lunch in room 135.”

“Great, I’ll see you there.”

“I can’t believe I have math with Wang, he’s going to kill me” Alex leaned back onto his bed. It was after school and usually, they’d be doing homework, but the first day of school didn’t provide much for them to do.

“Wang’s amazing! I’m so happy I got him again” Claire grinned “He’s like a giant teddy bear. No way he’s going to kill you.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re actually good at math.” Alex grumbled, rolling over. “Class average is a 64.”

“I learn so much more in his class than any others. I don’t care about grades”

“Well I do! Especially when I’m not passing! Easy for you to say Little Miss Math Genius.”

“Katsuki was interesting” Matthew noted. He seemed to be thinking deeply. Maybe it was because it irked him that for once he was out of the loop. He knew each of the school's teachers inside and out, even the ones he didn't have class with.

“Really? Seems super vanilla to me. How does he rate? Look him up.”

“Let’s see,” Matthew typed in Katsuki in RateMyTeacher.com.

“What’s with the last one?” Alex looked over his shoulder.

Matthew shrugged. “Dunno. You know you can’t trust Don Mills”

“See? He’s just a run of the mill teacher. There's nothing interesting about him. Wanna play Halo?” Claire asked.

“Sure!” And all thoughts of the new teacher vanished from their heads.

“So what do we do here exactly?” Katsuki looked around the room.

“Umm… we generally organize events to raise awareness around different cultural holidays” Claire explained. “Like last year we folded paper cranes in remembrance of World War Two and did henna during Diwali, stuff like that. We often go out during lunch to different restaurants. Once a week after school we host a language exchange but it’s a mostly people asking for help with French homework.”

“Sounds like my kind of club!” Katsuki smiled warmly.

“In the past, Miss Hidaka and the seniors drove us to places” Matthew mused. “so I dunno if we can still eat out now they’ve all left”

“How many members do you have?” Katsuki wondered

“Around a dozen or so, Alex and I have a car. I think Rosina has one as well?”

“Well perfect! I have a van so with 3 cars we should all be covered.”

“Great, that’s settled. Now then”

“I really miss your stories. They were so interesting.” Matthew lamented to his former English teacher as they walked through the hallways, carrying boxes containing annotated copies of Richard III. “Mr. Katsuki’s just kinda boring. Not that he’s bad at all or anything. But...” Matthew let his voice trail off

Vidrih’s eyes twinkled behind his glasses as he smiled mysteriously. “Really? I would think Katsuki’s the most interesting out of all of us.” He stopped at a table. “Over here’ll do fine.”

“What do you mean?” Matthew asked, setting down his box.

“Well… It wouldn’t be as interesting if I just told you, would it? But he has a pretty big secret he doesn’t like others finding out.” Vidrih said matter of factly, but Matthew could detect a bit of mischif in his voice. “Thank you for helping me. Best run off to class now or you’ll be late.”

Matthew stood mouth agape at this new revelation as his former teacher left for his own class. Gears in his head started turning. He couldn’t wait to tell Claire and Alex.

“It’d be a shame not to put you on the ice. I’m sure you can help the technique of our players.” The coach, Larratt Smith said. A group of around 18 teenagers walked down the road towards the hockey arena. The Girls and Boys hockey teams often trained together and practiced against each other.

Alex jerked his head to the back. “Is that Katsuki-sensei?” he whispered.

Matthew started turning his head.

“Don’t look! He’ll notice!”

“Huh it is.”

They arrived at their destination.

“Ahh, I don’t know how much help I’ll be, but it’ll be an honour to learn more about the nation’s pastime. Maybe I should watch them play a game first?”

“Sounds good!”

Matthew noticed Katsuki wincing every time a player smashed into another but also caught him looking at the players's skates with an curious look and a deep frown on his face. Like he was analyzing their every move.

“You guys don’t really know how to skate do you?” He crossed his arms. Matthew recognized the pose from the first lesson when he realized nobody had heard of the Haruki Murakami.

“Are you sure he didn’t coach at Don Mills?” Claire asked after school.

“Yeah. I asked David, your ex-boyfriend from Don Mills?” Matthew said, a hint of bitterness in his voice. Claire winced. She obviously didn’t want to be reminded of that particular fling. “Not to mention Wang was very tight lipped about Katsuki as well.” Their math teacher also used to teach at their rival school.

“I still can’t believe you dated someone from Don Mills” Alex mumbled.

“David’s a social dunderhead.” Claire complained “He’s not going to know anything. But Wang’s usually talkative. So if he’s not saying anything...” Her voice trailed off

“David’s on their hockey team.” Alex pointed out. He would know if Katsuki was a coach or not. Then again, they have a better hockey team than us and plenty of teachers wanting to coach.”

Matthew shrugged. “To be fair, it was pretty obvious I was fishing for info.”

Lunches at restaurants were much more relaxed than their club meetings. This time, they'd drawn straws to pick a restaurant, and Claire had been delighted to win the first round. She picked, in honour of their new supervising teacher, a Japanese restaurant. It was rustic and homey, with decently priced food, and posters of 90s anime on the walls

“Sensei, what do you recommend?” Claire eagerly asked their chaperone.

Katsuki flipped through the menu. “I’m not sure, I’ve never been here. Although I always order the pork cutlet bowl if they have it. Just to see how it compares to my mother’s. I grew up at an Onsen and there was a restaurant attached. Katsudon was our specialty. It's my favourite food”

“Well I’m going to try it.” She declared.

Alex ordered sushi while Matthew tried the salmon teriyaki.

“How is it?” Matthew asked when they got their food.

“It's delicious!” Claire said. Matthew had no doubt it was, but he couldn’t tell if her enthusiasm was because she was trying to suck up to her teacher or not.

“It's good” Katsuki agreed. “But not as good as my mother’s”

“To be or not to be. That is the question. Whether t’is nobler of mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles.”

Matthew noticed that despite his baggy sweater and mom jeans, Katsuki carried himself with a sort of grace, as he paced around the front of the room. He had patience and kindness that wouldn’t seem out of place at an elementary school. Still, Katsuki didn’t mollycoddle or talk down to them. It reminded him of Miss Honey from Matilda or Miss Stacey from Anne of Green Gables. If anything, Katsuki had perfected the hidden-wallflower look. He could see why Claire had a crush.

“I’m sure you’ve heard of this line. It’s probably Shakespeare’s most famous. What is Hamlet contemplating in this soliloquy? Frank?”

“Suicide.” The student replied. “He thinks life is unfair and he’s all alone.”

“Exactly. But, there’s more. Matthew?”

“He thinks he’s alone but he’s not. Ophelia is there for him, and his friends are too. He’s also a prince, has food on his table and is fairly rich. Life could be much worse.”

Matthew swore he saw a wave of nostalgia hit Katsuki as his features softened.

“Maybe he’s the long-lost prince of Japan.” Claire muttered.

For all his gentle patience in class, Matthew thought, Katsuki was a surprisingly tough coach.

“You have to do better than that if you want to win against York Mills.” Katsuki had a frown on his face. He took his hands out of his pockets and crossed his arms. “Faster.”

Matthew grit his teeth and tried speeding up. He saw Claire trip over her own feet and face plant into the ice.

“Get up Wu, you can do better.”

Claire grit her teeth and pushed herself up with her arms. Shakily, she got back on her feet and tried again.

“Well he’s right.” Alex pointed out in the locker room. “We haven’t gotten the basics down.”

“Don’t try to include yourself.” Matthew muttered, collapsing onto the bench. His legs and feet ached from practice. “You can skate all his routines with ease.”

“Because I play at a different level with the Rangers.” Alex said. He played for the local Junior Hockey Team, the North York Rangers. “He’s trying to get us there. If we improve our speed, dexterity, and footwork, then we can outmaneuver the other team. How many of us could even do backwards crossovers effectively?”

Matthew grumbled. He’d made his choice when he stayed home while his brother went to play hockey and later to the gym and while the younger twin studied and joined clubs. “Katsuki’s a totally different beast in the arena than in the classroom”

Matthew swallowed his words as soon as they got their Pride and Prejudice essays back.

“A 70? I can’t get a 70!” Claire ranted afterschool. So much for Little Miss I-don’t-care-about-grades.

Matthew looked at the 82 emblazoned on his own paper along with a “Good Job!”. Apparently, it was the highest mark in class. The average was closer to 65. Katsuki was giving Wang a run for his money for nicest Asian teacher who hated his student’s guts.

“Maybe if you spent less time on your computer in class” Alex teased.

Claire glared at him. “I NEED a mid 90s average to get into U of T or Waterloo for Engineering. Even if I somehow got perfect in everything else, I still wouldn’t make the cut-off with a 70”

“Relax. Universities don’t look at your Grade 11 grades.” Matthew said “Not to mention Hockey and being Treasurer for our club will bump you up. Just… don’t have Katsuki next term.”

Claire muttered something about liking Katsuki and his teaching style. Still, it was a bit satisfying to see Claire unable to game the system. Her previous teacher would just dole out high 80s for agreeing with her. Now, Claire's eyes held a fierce look, determined to prove her new teacher wrong.

“Does a trip to the Christmas Market in December sound good to everyone?”

There were smatterings of agreement around the room.

“Great! Our last order for today is to discuss the Language Exchange.” Matthew announced. “Signups are over here. Please list all the languages you can teach as well as the ones you’d like to learn. We’ll put up posters later over the school. Miya, you’re designing them right?”

“Right”

The sound of scraping chairs against the floor reverberated across the room as children scrambled to either get to their lockers or the sign up sheet.

“Did Ms Hidaka sign up to teach?” Their teacher walked over to Matthew to ask.

“No she didn’t.” Matthew said, punching holes into copies of today's handouts before neatly tucking them into the binder he designated for club activities. “But you’re welcome to. I don’t see a reason why not.”

He waved at Rosina who handed over the sign up sheet before Matthew gave it to Katsuki. The Asian man took the paper and scribbled something down before handing it back.

“Well, what did he write?” Claire demanded, snatching the piece of paper from Matthew’s hands. “Russian?”

“How does he know Russian?” Alex wondered.

They got their answer at the game against York Mills next week.

“Boudreaux, Matthew, switch out with Zhang” Katsuki called. Matthew returned to the bench and sat down. He gave Frank a high five as the latter got on the ice.

“You’ve gotten a lot better. You all have” Katsuki noted, still watching the game. He winced when Alex checked a York Mills player into the boards. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, as if he himself had been the recipient of a bodyslam.

“Those drills at the beginning of the class have done wonders” Matthew agreed. “We’re a lot better at weaving through the crowd”

They watched as Alex expertly passed the puck to Frank who shot past the goalie into the net.

The bench erupted into cheers as the players on ice moved to congratulate Frank

“Moshi, Moshi, Vitya?”

Matthew stopped and turned to see Katsuki holding his phone to his ear. It had a light blue case with silhouettes of dogs and had a strap with a small brown poodle attached. Cute.

“Look Vitya, I’m sorry I can’t make the Grand Prix you know I don’t have vacation days. Ehhhhhh? I can’t just pretend to be sick. Next year, I’ll promise. Alright. Love you too. Bye” He hung up.

The trio regrouped at Alex and Matthew’s house.

“He doesn’t seem old enough to have a kid who’s a racecar driver so probably his girlfriend? Or wife?”

“Wife. He’s wearing a ring isn’t he?” Alex pointed out.

“On the wrong hand” Claire muttered

Matthew shook his head. “In some countries, engagement rings are worn on the right hand. Maybe Japan is one of them? Or Russia? Probably why he knows Russian now that I think of it. If he has a Russian Wife”

Claire sighed dramatically “Why must you break my heart?”

“He’s double your age and your teacher.” Matthew pointed out, a tiny bit of resentment in his voice.

“It doesn’t hurt to dream.” Claire grumbled.

Her spirits were slightly lifted in that there were no search results for “NASCAR Vitya Katsuki”

“Yeah, Mum forgot her dossier for her presentation. I have to go downtown and give it to her.” Matthew explained to Claire. They were just finishing up a Language exchange session, “Sorry we can't work on our essays together”

She frowned. “That sucks. How are you going to get there?”

“Bus, I guess” Matthew shrugged “Then subway. Al already took the car for hockey practice.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t help overhearing. If you need a lift to the subway station, I would be happy to oblige”

The two of them turned to see Mr. Katsuki, who had snuck behind them like some sort of ninja. How did he do that? In fact, now that Matthew thought about it, he never heard Katsuki’s shoes clanging or squeaking against the tiled hallways.

“But I do have to pick up a student from home on the way.” Katsuki continued, "So it wouldn't be direct. It would probably still be faster than the bus though,"

“Really?" Matthew said as he grinned "Thanks, a lot!”

Matthew had seen Katsuki’s car before. It was a shiny grey SUV he generally associated with Soccer Moms. It wasn’t until now he noticed the Mercedes-Benz logo and pristine black leather seats. He hesitated before getting into the backseat, feeling distinctly out of place. Alex, Claire and him were a rambunctious lot, always bantering, leaning over the middle seat to get a closer look at the other's phone and spilling coffee or leaving crumbs all over the worn felt seats of the twin's old Toyota. Now, Matthew didn't even want to touch anything, for fear of leaving his fingerprints on this expensive car.

Matthew tapped absent-mindedly through his phone for a while before glancing out the window. He recognized this area and his jaw dropped.

“You live on the Bridal Path?” Matthew gaped. The bridal path was by far the most affluent neighbourhood in the city. Matthew heard that a house there had sold for 30 million dollars last year.

“No no no.” his teacher laughed. “These homes are too big for my taste. This is a shortcut. I live beyond this area.”

He turned onto the main road and again onto a smaller residential one, finally pulling to stop.

It was still a big house and in a very good neighbourhood. There’s no way he could afford that on a teacher’s salary. Obviously, his wife was very wealthy. A tall man in his early twenties stood in the driveway with his arms folded across his chest and a scowl on his face. Blonde tufts of hair peeked out from behind his hood. Man, he looked like someone Matthew did not want to tick off.

“Katsudon, you’re late!” He yelled. His Russian accent made everything sound angrier.

Katsuki laughed. “Sorry, Yurio.”

To Matthew’s surprise, the man, Yurio, got into the back seat next to Matthew.

“Aren’t you going to sit at the front?” Matthew wondered.

Yurio snorted “That’s his precious Vitya’s seat. Like hell I’d sit there.” He turned back to Katsuki. “My name’s not Yurio, dumbass. Only you and your family still call me that.”

Katsuki just laughed fondly, like his student hadn't just insulted him.

“Yurio’s name is also Yuri” Katsuki explained for Matthew. “My sister gave him that nickname so it would be less confusing. Anyways we’re here. Have a safe trip downtown”

Matthew thanked his teacher again and got out of the car, watching the van pull out of the drop off area and disappear.

“His bat, Wonderboy finally breaks when he misuses it to throw the game and hits Iris. In the end, Roy is struck out by a younger, fitter athlete.” Claire summarized. Katsuki looked proud. She’d really stepped up her game after that bad grade. Gone were the days when she only read the sparknotes summary before class.

“Correct. The careers of athletes are short and youth is fleeting. Roy’s immaturity was his downfall. When he finally tries to grow up, he does it the wrong way and loses, shattering his career and his life with Iris. He never achieves his Holy Grail, the World Series, and he will never bring prosperity back to the baseball pit.”

Katsuki stopped pacing.

“Now that we’ve finished The Natural, we need to look forward to the Culminating Activity. It will be based on this book. You will all write a short story, more than 1,500 words, about an athlete’s struggles in their sport. Then you will write an analysis of your short story.”

The class erupted into murmurs. Katsuki coughed.

“To prevent everyone writing about hockey, we have randomly assigned topics.” The class groaned “None of you have been assigned baseball, for obvious reasons.”

As chair scraped against the floor, Matthew approached his teacher. He noticed Claire was taking her sweet time packing up, carefully clipping in the papers in her binder one by one.

“Umm… so I’m looking at universities and I was wondering … wondering what you thought of the universities here?”

“You’re applying already?” Katsuki frowned.

“Well… it's not too early to start considering.” Truthfully Matthew had no clue what he wanted. Claire and Alex had pushed him to do this in an attempt to fish for information and obviously Claire wasn't going into English. “I wanna become an English teacher too. Maybe you can tell me about your experience?”

Katsuki thought about it carefully. “I went to the University of Michigan for English Lit.”

“How do you end up in Michigan for English Literature from Japan?” Matthew blurted out. Then realizing his mistake, he quickly backtracked. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt”

“Ahh its ok. I didn’t exactly go there for English.” Katsuki shrugged. “But are you sure you want to do English? Its hard to get a job in.”

Matthew hesitated and looked downcast “I know. But I’m not a computer wiz like Claire or an amazing athlete like Alex. Languages seems to be the only thing I’m good at. And I love helping others learn.”

Katsuki seemed to think for a minute. “I don’t want to tell you not to follow your passion but you’ve always struck me as someone who loves helping others more than the subject itself. If English is something you really want to do, then go for it. Tell you what. You’re French-Canadian, right? Miss Slader is always bugging me to hand these out.” Katsuki dug around his bag until he brought out a brochure.

Matthew took it.

Glendon College: York University.
Glendon College is dedicated to providing future generations with the language skills needed for the international workforce. Set in a small idyllic campus at the heart of Toronto, we boast an average class size of 26.
BEd for Future FSL Teachers
York University’s Faculty of Education at Glendon offers a Bachelor of Education for future French as a Second Language teachers in a concurrent degree program, designed to prepare future French Language Educators.

“There’s a need for French teachers in Ontario and its close by. I hear it’s a great program.”

“Bullshit the selection process was random.” Claire complained later as the three of them huddled around the Boudreaux kitchen table. “There’s no way YOU got hockey by chance.” She glared at Alex who wore a smug grin on his face. Claire was decidedly unhappy about her own topic of swimming.

“It’s a relatively easy topic.” Matthew muttered. “You can write so much about drowning. Or, water as a metaphor for life.”

“It's better than figure skating, amiright, Mattie?” Alex elbowed his brother in the chest, still euphoric from getting his topic of choice. He glanced over at Matthew’s notebook. “Whatcha working on?”

Things we know about Mr Katsuki
- Married a race car driver named Vitya
- Wife is loaded
- Studied English Lit in Michigan.
- Former student with same name staying at his house
- Knows Russian.
- Born in Japan, parents own an Onsen
- Well traveled

“I mean… he’s interesting… but I’m sure there’s more than that” Alex said. “Are you sure Vidrih wasn’t just trolling you?”

He was, with the topic selections at least. Vidrih later confided in Matthew that he might have been slightly fudged the results to give Alex a break without Katsuki’s knowledge.

Matthew met Alex and the rest of the players in the foyer as always but today something was wrong. Instead of setting off, nobody seemed to get going. Murmurs fluttered amongst the group.

Matthew pushed his way to the front.

“Why can’t we train at the arena like we usually do?” Katsuki wondered.

Their other coach sighed. “Kids 4 Kids booked it from 3:30 to 5 before I could. Teaching disadvantaged kids to skate. I thought that every Thursday we could skate at the Community Center instead but it seems like it's too warm for an outdoor rink today.”

Katsuki seemed to ponder this new information. He pulled out his phone.

“Ah, hello. Helen? It’s me Yuuri. Is the rink booked for Thursdays, 3:30 to 5? It's not? Great! I was wondering if I could book the rink for someone. No, they’re not members.”

The figure on the other side prattled on as Katsuki’s frown deepened.

“Really? It's for charity though! Well, you tell your boss that we’ll move to another club if you won’t book. I’ll take full responsibility if you’re fired.” His eyes twinkled and he smiled deviously.

“Great!” He hung up and looked at the players. “Well, I suppose you’re dismissed for today. But we’ll have Fenside Arena back next week.”

He turned to Larratt-Smith. “Well, I suppose I’d still need to head to the rink to tell them the good news.”

“Whatcha watchin’” Alex lay down beside his brother. Matthew had his tablet propped up on his pillow.

“Figure skating.” Matthew muttered. “I wish I could move like that.” He watched a man launch the lady into the air. “I’m thinking a romance about a boy and a girl going to the Olympics. Maybe he drops her. Maybe she’s in love with him but he’s dating someone else. I dunno.”

“Why are you working on it so early, it's due at the end of January,” Claire asked.

Matthew stayed silent. Instead, he switched tabs.

“I looked up Katsuki on the Ontario College of Teachers website. Look at this”

Degrees

Bachelors of Arts, University of Michigan, USA (2016)
Masters of Arts, Saint Petersburg State University, Russia (2020)
Bachelors of Education, York University, Canada (2024)

“That explains the Russian wife and why he knows Russian.” Matthew pointed out.

“Oh phew. I was wondering if maybe he ordered one by mail or something.” Alex said.

“With an adorable face and personality like that? He doesn’t have to.” Claire pointed out. “Half the class has a crush on him. The other half is male.”

“Even some male students do.” Matthew said.

“I know, right? Did you see Thomas Henderson?” Claire giggled “I think he nearly fainted when Katsuki tried to help him.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “Think that’s it? His big secret? That he studied in Russia?”

“Doubt it. I mean… it's interesting but…” Claire's voice trailed off.

“Not secret-I-don’t-want-anyone-to-know interesting” Matthew agreed.

The room lapsed back into silence as everyone returned to their homework. A few minutes later, Matthew spoke up. “It took him 4 years to finish his Masters and then another 4 years to do a teacher’s college. Didn’t he?”

“Maybe Katsuki was a bad student? I mean, there’s nothing wrong with taking a bit of extra time to do your degree. I probably will have to.” Alex muttered, his eyes downcast.

Claire nodded. Everyone learned at different paces. Not to mention Alex would probably play sports in college. She frowned. It gave her a thought. “Maybe I wasn’t that far off when I joked he was a baseball player in Japan.”

“He’d be coaching whatever he played, wouldn’t he?” Alex pointed out. “It's more likely he was just taking his time.”

Matthew closed his eyes. He tried to picture pudgy Mr. Katsuki at the bat hitting home runs against burly Russian men. “I don’t see it. But the long graduation time must be related to whatever Vidrih was talking about.”

Claire frowned again. “Hold on a second. That guy you mentioned. The student he picked up at his house. If he only got his teaching degree a couple of years ago, he’s too old to be Katsuki-sensei’s student.”

“Maybe Katsuki was a TA or something in Russia and Yurio was his student there?”

“Maybe…” The room lapsed back into silence

“I can hack into his school account if you want?” Claire suggested “Xie gave me the admin password to root out the system wide virus a month ago. Turns out, you can access other people's accounts with it.”

“Claire!” Matthew sounded horrified. “You can’t do that! That’s invasion of privacy, not to mention against the rules. You could be suspended or expelled!”

Claire snorted “It’s the school’s fault for having lax security practices and giving a student universal access.”

“Don’t.” Matthew scowled. "Let's do homework. We've wasted enough time already and Mom won't let you stay after dinner"

"Spoilsport" Claire muttered, but nevertheless pulled out her math textbook.

“So in the end, Alex and I did check his account” Claire said. Matthew shot them a disapproving look but nevertheless his silence told her to go on.

“Turns out Katsuki uses it just as much as any other person does. A.K.A. he doesn’t.”

“Back to square one” Matthew muttered as Alex pulled to a stop in the parking lot. He got out of the car and they waited for the others.

Despite it being only 4:30 it seemed like the sun was already setting.

“Did we really need field trip forms for this?” Claire muttered. “Its outside of school hours.”

“Better safe than sorry.” Katsuki said lightly. “Now then, before I let-”

“Yuuri~”

A silver-haired figure slammed into their teacher, wrapping its arms around the Japanese man.

“Vitya! What, what are you doing here?” Katsuki seemed flustered but strangely didn’t try to pry the stranger off. “Don’t you have a class?”

“Mila and Yurio will handle everything.” The man trilled. “And I can’t resist meeting your cute little students.”

“Vitya!?!” Alex asked shocked.

“Oh. Right everyone. Umm… I guess this is our second chaperone?” Katsuki said slowly. “This is my husband Victor.”

“Vitya’s a guy?” Matthew thought he could hear Claire’s heart shatter just a tiny little bit.

“But you don’t look gay!” Alex blurted out.

Matthew punched him in the arm. For his part, Alex looked sorry and embarrassed but Katsuki just smiled reassuringly while the silver-haired man glared at the hockey player.

“Alright then. Please meet back here by 8. You all have mine or Matthew’s number right? Please don’t leave the Market and don’t wander off on your own. The principal will kill me if I don’t bring you back.”

Katsuki laced his hands into Victor’s and the two started off down the road.

Claire tapped Matthew on the shoulder, “Let’s follow them.”

“And I thought you couldn’t get more obnoxious than Laura and Colin” Claire groaned. “They’re worse than any couple our age”

“I thought I saw them play footsie underneath the table in that café” Alex muttered. It was super disconcerting to see their teacher turn into a puddle of goop at Victor’s side.

“I think they’re cute.” Matthew smiled.

“You know,” Yuuri smiled at Victor. “This kinda reminds me of Barcelona.”

Victor laughed softly. “This is much smaller than Barcelona. And more romantic.”

Indeed, the dimly lit cobblestone streets of the historical district gave the setting a distinctly Victorian feel.

“I still liked Munich’s the most.”

“How unfair! How can you not like the place where solidified we our love the most!”

“No, no, no, no, no!” Yuuri backtracked. “I didn’t mean that! I meant that the Christmas Market itself in Munich was much-”

Laughing, Victor playfully bumped into Yuuri who blushed and bumped him right back.

“They make me want to barf,” Alex deadpanned.

A gaggle of girls approached the happy couple, talking animatedly and holding out notepads for them.

The trio ducked into a chocolate shop, peering out from behind the transparent display window.

“Past students?” Alex wondered, although even he seemed unsure.

“Must be” Claire muttered as Victor said something, flipped his hair and the girls giggled.

Matthew frowned. They seemed a bit old to be high school students and he didn’t recognize a single one of them. Granted, there were many people he didn’t know at Don Mills.

He frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Claire asked him.

“It's just… I know I’ve seen Victor somewhere before.”

A laugh boomed through the arena the following week at practice.

“I didn’t expect to see you here Katsuki. I can’t believe you took up hockey of all things” A tall man with a face splitting grin leaned against the side boards.

Their coach stopped in front of the man. “JJ! I haven’t!” He protested, holding his hands up in front of him. “I’m just helping with technique”

“Sure sure… Got bored of coaching snotty kids at the Club? Or was Yurio too much to deal with?”

Yuuri laughed, knowing it was all in jest. Over the years, Yuri and JJ’s rivalry had evolved from a childish feud to an intense competition as both men mellowed and matured with age. Now that JJ has been retired for a couple of years, it seemed to have mostly gone back to friendly teasing.

“You’re one to talk, Mr. Developmental Economist.”

On the other hand, Yuuri found he had a lot in common with JJ despite their opposing personalities, especially now that he was not insufferable to be around. Not to mention he got along well with his wife. Something about dense, egotistical and overdramatic skating husbands…

“Well, in either case, you’ll come over for dinner next week, right? Isa complains its been too long and I want to talk about taking up my daughter-”

“Oh my god. You’re Jean-Jacques Leroy!” Claire squeaked, pulling to a stop in front of the figure. “You were amazing in Beijing!”

Ah it was true. Matthew recognized his face from all the advertisements they blared during the last Olympics, not to mention the research he had been doing for his paper. JJ took Silver behind Yuri Plisetsky from Russia.

As Claire got off the ice to look for her phone, Matthew’s eyes drifted towards his teacher’s skates. They were different today. He hadn’t noticed it before because they were black but the jagged toe-pick and elongated blade stood out in contrast to his own. Today, Katsuki wore Figure Skates, not Hockey ones. Suddenly it clicked.

“You’re kidding me”

“No no no. See here?”

Matthew showed his friends his tablet, opened to a Wikipedia article.

Yuuri Katsuki (勝生 勇利, Katsuki Yūri, born November 29, 1992) is a Japanese Figure skater, 2018 Olympic Silver Medalist, two-time World Champion (2017, 2019), 2018 Grand Prix Champion, and five-time Japanese National Champion (2012, 2014, 2016-2018).

Katsuki has broken numerous world records and is the only skater to attempt six quads in competition. He holds the current world record for best free skate score and best overall score. His rivalry with Yuri Plisetsky has been dubbed the Battle of the Yuris. Katsuki is married to five-time World Champion, three-time Olympic Medalist, Coach and Choreographer Victor Nikiforov.

Matthew scrolled down and clicked the video entitled “On Love: Eros”.

Claire whistled.

“That man doesn’t look remotely like Coach Katsuki,” Alex exclaimed. Matthew wasn’t as surprised. It was glaringly obvious the man at Katsuki’s house in has been the Russian Yuri. He knew Victor looked familiar. Matthew had seen him as Plisetsky’s coach in Beijing. It was amazing the different images the Yuris projected on and off the ice.

“I can’t believe we didn’t google him,” Claire grumbled. “And I thought I was excited to meet JJ”

“No wonder they insisted he be a coach even if he knows no hockey”

Matthew switched over to the video entitled “Yuuri Katsuki and Victor Nikiforov – 2022 Beijing Olympics – Exhibition (NBC)”

The music clip started off with their teacher in the center.

The reporters narrated.

“The music is Duetto: Stammi Victino, Non Te Ne Andare. Katsuki and Nikiforov both came out of retirement to represent their countries in the team event, helping win gold and silver for Russia and Japan respectively. They did not, however, take part in the single competitions.”

“Clearly it's near impossible to keep these two giants off the ice, isn’t it Johnny? Now the story behind this routine is very interesting.”

“It certainly is Tara, perhaps one of the most romantic in sports history. Hold on a sec, here comes the Quad Flip Throw” Matthew watched as Yuuri picked up Victor twirling him around in the air before letting go. Victor landed perfectly on his outside edge, arms stretched out towards his husband. “Very nice. The quad flip has been their signature move for years being two of the few skaters who land it consistently. But you’ll remember they did a Quad Axel Throw at Pyongchang and it was Nikforov doing the throwing.”

“Well they are both over thirty and only human but still, there is no ratified Quad Axel Throw in competition and the only person to land a Quad Axel is their student and this year’s gold medalist, Yuri Plisetsky. In men’s, they consistently land jumps considerably more difficult than in women’s.”

Matthew was mesmerized. If only he could move like that.

“But back to the story behind the music. Nikiforov was so taken by Katsuki in a viral video of Katsuki skating Nikiforov’s routine, he took a year off to coach Katsuki which lead to a whirlwind romance with a kiss on international television at the Cup of China, the appearance of rings around their fingers at the Grand Prix Final, in which they debuted this routine without jumps or throws, and culminating in marriage after Worlds. Double Axel, very nice.”

“Well it certainly is fitting that they start and end their journey together here in Beijing. Both men have stated the team event is the last time they will take the ice competitively.”

“Vidrih put you up to this, didn’t he? I knew there was a reason you got figure skating”

Matthew quickly shut off his tablet and tried to hide it but it was obviously too late.

“Katsuki-sensei!” Claire squeaked.

The man sighed. This had obviously happened before. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention it to anyone else. I really don’t want people treating me like some kind of celebrity.” Yuuri explained. “You understand, right?”

“No prob-” Matthew started.

“As long as you get us tickets to the next Olympics!”

Claire punched Alex in the arm.

“Alright then, I don’t expect you to finish “The Windup Bird” over Winter Break but you should get at least two-thirds of the way through.”

“Umm… Mr. Katsuki?”

Yuuri turned towards his student. “Yes, Matthew?”

“I… I saw videos of your routines. You were wonderful! I… I was wondering if you taught classes?”

Yuuri stopped and pondered. “Vitya and I jointly teach an intermediate class on Sundays. and I’d be happy to help you after hockey practice to catch up. You’d have to buy figure skates of course”

A smile spread over Matthew’s face. A month later he turned in his short story about a young hockey player finding his role on the ice as a figure skater after he injures his dominant hand.

10 Years later

“My daughter wants to go into hockey.” Yuuri deadpanned. “I wish Vitya’d be more supportive. He won’t stop cursing your brother’s name. We told her we would support whatever she wanted to do but she’s the daughter of two of the most decorated figure skaters in history.” He pitched his voice higher in mock imitation of his husband. “What will the media say?”

Matthew giggled. “You know Mr. Katsuki, maybe it's your husband’s fault for demanding too much of her?”

“Ha ha ha. How many times have I told you, Monsieur Boudreaux? Call me Yuuri.”

The trio, which had once been so close, had long since gone their separate ways. Alex traded the North in his hockey team name for a New, being drafted into the New York Rangers after attending an American college. Matthew still wondered what it would be like if he’d asked Claire out before graduation but he knew he could never tie her down and she could never convince him to leave. After attending Waterloo, she packed her bags for Silicon Valley four years ago and never looked back.

“Anyways, I gotta go to my next class. I’ll see you after school at the Culture Club”

Matthew waved goodbye to his colleague as he left the Languages office.

“Oh my gosh, can you believe Mr. Katsuki?” He heard a girl complain to her friend.

“He’s soooooo boring. His lectures and tests want to make me die.”

“You know girls, there’s a reason he’s so hard on everyone.” Matthew teased. The girls stopped. One of them looked at Matthew with an expression he recognized as the same one on Claire’s face when she thought Yuuri wasn’t looking. He winced a bit. “If you knew his history…” His voice trailed off.

“Really? Why? What did he do in the past?”

He held up his index finger to his lips “C'est un secret” he winked and walked away, overhearing theories about Yakuza Hitmen and international espionage.

Both Alex and Claire went out to take the world by storm while Matthew had never left their home town. But if he could make a difference in the lives of young teenagers like so many amazing teachers had for him, that would be enough.