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The thing is—Yuuri's faced with a problem.
And it's not the if-I-call-Phichit-he-might-know-how-to-solve-it kind of problem. It's the my-marriage-might-be-destroyed-because-of-this sort of problem and, honestly, Yuuri felt almost guilty for snorting out a teensy laughter.
Viktor, in all his deranged sobbing glory, shot a glare at Yuuri. "Yuuri, it's not funny!"
But Yuuri just stuffed his hands into his mouth and prayed he didn't look too amused, like how his heart wanted him to be. Somewhere at the back of his skull, Yuuri's brain went, 'You're in deep trouble.' Yuuri asked reluctantly anyway, "What's wrong, Viktor?"
Viktor sat down—actually sat—and Yuuri knew he's in for the longest story in mankind history.
It started off in the morning, as early as 10. Viktor had been in the middle of snoozing through his roaring alarm when he had instinctively reached out to his side, only to grasp against a blank space where a body should've been. Blinking, the Russian drawled out a, "Yuuri?"
Yuuri hadn't responded.
In that instant, Viktor was flooded with the images from last night. The starlight sky that sparkled above the restaurant, the white balcony that expanded into the sights of St. Petersburg...
The vision of Yuuri down on one knee, his hands holding a velvet box, and his smile so pretty.
'I wanted to do a proper proposal, Vitya,' Yuuri had whispered. 'Show you my love.'
Viktor pressed his face into his hands and choked out a happy laughter. That's right... he's engaged. Engaged! To the love of his life! And Viktor hadn't even had a chance to call his family about it, nor did he managed to tell it to all his rinkmates. Oh, they must all be so worried! All these people who were probably confused as to why the Viktor Nikiforov practically disappeared from Instagram for a whole night.
Instantly, Viktor reached out for his phone as he felt his heart flutter in his chest. He's going to tell his Mama first—god, she'd be so proud!—then he'd tell Yakov! After that, maybe Yurio. Yurio would be happy, wouldn't he? And then... and then...
That's when Viktor noticed.
His hand was naked.
It made the Russian freeze for a few minutes while his mouth opened and closed like a fish. No, no... he must be hallucinating. He remembered clearly that Yuuri had placed the golden band onto his ring finger last night, sealing it with a kiss. Viktor could describe the entire sensation of it. Unless... Viktor furrowed his brows.
"Maybe I left it on the table?" the Russian glanced over his phone.
Nope, no ring. The tables were smack clean. Dread started to pour into Viktor's ribs.
His ring was lost. Lost. The ring he got just yesterday. And Viktor had sworn upon Yuuri's lips that he'd never lose it no matter what time of the day it is. His engagement ring.
Viktor screamed.
Yurio didn't know why he was here, and he couldn't care less. Viktor often called him for pointless things, ranging from needing a dog sitter to 'you need to try Yuuri's new cooking!' But when he saw Chris appearing just moments later, and then Mila, and then Yakov, and basically everyone who was in the goddamn Russian continent, the boy slammed his hands against Viktor's hotel door.
"Viktor!" Yurio rapped the door sharply. "You better have a good damn reason why you called all of us!"
When the hotel room opened, Yurio was prepared to give his best back kick of all time. Maybe added with a good slap, too. But when Viktor's face finally, finally, came into his line of sight, Yurio stopped.
Viktor looked wrecked. There were splotches of tears slipping down his cheeks, along with eyebags that Yurio was pretty sure were once non-existent on the glorious face of Viktor Nikiforov. It looked almost as if he'd gone through war at one point of his life, or maybe suffering the worst break up in history—
Wait.
Viktor not coming online on Instagram last night... Viktor crying in his hotel room... Now that Yurio's realized, even damn Katsuki wasn't popping up from behind Viktor's shoulders. And Katsuki was always the one who answered the doors!
"Viktor," someone—Yurio's not sure who—swallowed. "Did- Did Yuuri break up with you?"
Yurio always prided himself on never exaggerating anything in this world. So when Yurio said that Viktor 'crumbled onto the ground as if he'd been stabbed', Yurio really meant every word he's just spouted out.
In fact, it's almost alien watching the always-happy Nikiforov bawling at everyone's knees while choking up a, "I think he will."
Holy shit.
Holy. Shit.
Yuuri Katsuki and Viktor Nikiforov divorced? Yuuri and Viktor? The two biggest lovebirds in the whole of Asia and, fuck it, the galaxy?
"What the fuck," Yurio spat out and Viktor cried harder. "What the fuck."
Mila poked on Yurio's shoulders. "Look," she whispered. "His ring finger."
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
So now not only did Katsuki had the audacity to maybe want to break up with Viktor, but had taken away his ring, too? How serious was this situation? What kind of bomb defuser did Yurio need now? These two old bastards were his coaches, dammit, and he didn't need them breaking up mid-season!
Yurio crouched to where Viktor laid in a heap, hesitating as he touched the older man's shoulder.
"Viktor," he uttered and everyone around him remained alert. "Viktor, what do we have to do?"
Everyone expected only one line. Just one line: 'Kill Katsuki' and they'd do it. Chris has the fastest car and Yakov has ties with the government. They could be excused, especially when they have Russia's greatest hero at the verge of dehydration from crying his eyes out.
But instead, Viktor mumbled out a, "My ring."
Yurio narrowed his eyes. "What?"
"I need you all to find my ring."
Silence bubbled to the surface.
After a good hour of explaining, feeding Viktor water, more explaining and more water, everyone's gotten the big picture.
Viktor had lost his engagement ring and he's on the verge of a possible death if he never finds it again. Everyone argued on the fact that 'there's no way Yuuri would be angry at you, Viktor', but then Viktor said:
"I just got it yesterday."
Yurio was ready to fling his cellphone out the windows.
Still... it's highly unlikely that Yuuri would remain angry at Viktor, what with how much the Japanese male loves him, but then Yurio recalled a very, very specific memory. Specifically the one where he'd heard from Viktor where Yuuri had been frantic about losing a bag of nuts. Which lead to a solid argument. Which lead to a very, very dangerous possibility of a breakup.
If Yuuri hadn't planned any breakups now, Yurio didn't want to know what would happen if the Japanese male found out about his missing engagement ring.
"We'll search for it!" Yurio barked out at last, silencing the room. "We'll stay until evening, alright? Then we give up."
Viktor's eyes seem to light up like spotlights. "Yurio," he had breathed before flinging himself to hug the younger male. Yurio shrieked.
"Get away from me, old man!" he snarled. "We need to find your ring, alright? Go!"
Everyone went down to business. But it wasn't even three hours later that Yurio realized what a damn mess everyone had become.
Mila had somehow stuck herself underneath a couch. Chris had magically swapped his clothes without anyone noticing. Viktor was still in the middle of weeping, while Yakov, the only sensible one, continued to rack through the carpets. It didn't make the situation any better when Yurio realized he had the guts to check underneath the hotel sheets and was this close to snapping everyone's necks.
That was—until Viktor crawled onto his useless feet and had the will to search by the balcony outside. If anyone heard him sniffling, nobody said a word. So Yurio went back to searching for the ring, even if his countdown to an outburst was ticking very, very quickly.
Hours later and everyone had finally found it—
Found the guts to tell Viktor that it was impossible.
"We tried everywhere, Viktor!" Mila was wailing as she tiredly flopped onto couches. Yakov gave a grunt off affirmation as Chris popped out with another goddamn outfit (how is he doing this?) while shaking his head.
Yurio scrunched his eyes shut and faced Viktor. "Sorry, Viktor. We couldn't find it."
Yurio expected a half-assed smile from Viktor, or a flick of a hand that told them they could leave. But when Yurio cracked his eyes open, he was met with the worst outcome possible:
Viktor was crying. Again. And this time, the tears had no reason to stop.
"He's going to hate me," Viktor bawled and rubbed his palms against his eyes. "He's going to file a lawsuit, and then a divorce! Yuuri won't love me again!"
The door to the hotel room clicked open. "Love who?"
But everyone—except Viktor—was already scampering onto their feet as they hurried out the hotel room. Every single one of them passed the befuddled Yuuri Katsuki and all of them gave him a grim nod and patted his back. Only Yurio dared to stop in front of the Japanese male as he threatened, "If I find Viktor alone at training tomorrow and in absolute shit, you better expect me to have your useless legs broken forever."
The door slammed behind Yuuri.
"Vitya?" Yuuri called out and he heard it again—that sharp inhale of a breath, just at the verge of crying. The last time Yuuri's heard that kind of crying, it had been at Barcelona, when he had told Viktor 'let's end this'. Yuuri braced himself for whatever he's going to face. "Vitya?"
"I'm sorry, Yuuri," Viktor was hovering nearby now, looking almost lost as he looked around the hotel room. "I lost our engagement ring."
Yuuri's blood ran cold.
And that's how Yuuri's at this situation now: trying to coax Viktor out of his dilemma, rubbing soothing circles on his back. In the process, Yuuri found himself murmuring as he swore: 'No, Vitya, I'm not leaving you. I don't have a reason to leave you. I love you.'
Viktor burst out then, "But I lost our ring! It was the happiest moment of our lives, Yuuri! How could you be so relaxed?"
"Uh, because I texted you I was going to take our rings to be engraved?"
Viktor's brain halted.
"What?"
Yuuri gave a slow, confused look.
"I texted you that I was taking our rings to be engraved. And that I was also going to meet a friend for the day," Yuuri emphasized.
"But I didn't get a text! See?"
Viktor pulled out his cellphone then, showing a perfectly blank messaging app. Yuuri furrowed his brows and pulled out his own cellphone.
"That's weird," Yuuri muttered. "I swore I sent it to— oh."
Two seconds. It took two solid seconds before Viktor found out that:
1) Yuuri's message had failed to sent, proven by the red exclamation mark planted by his long text and,
2) His ring was not missing.
Yuuri got onto his knees within a heartbeat. Viktor both laughed and cried when Yuuri pulled out the same damn velvet box which, this time, had two rings instead of one. Each of their golden surfaces were beautifully polished already with small letters—'Stammi Vicino'—curled themselves upon their glowing bodies.
"Sorry," Yuuri had grinned, the crinkles at the edges of his eyes so alluring. "My mistake."
"Why didn't you engrave it before you proposed to me!?" was the first thing that escaped Viktor's mouth as he smacked against Yuuri's shoulders. In return, Yuuri gave a beaming smile while whispering:
"I guess I got so impatient of wanting to make you mine, I gave up waiting."
The answer was a teeth-clacking kiss, along with Yuuri tumbling onto the ground and Viktor above him.
"You're so stupid," Viktor kissed him again.
Yuuri made a grab for the rings as he slipped one onto Viktor's ring finger. "I know," he breathed. His brown eyes shone in the darkness. "I know."
Viktor would be a fool if he didn't tackle Yuuri right there and then.
When Viktor didn't go onto Instagram for the second night for two nights in a row, Yurio slammed the call button and waited anxiously as his cat hopped onto his lap.
"Come on," Yurio hissed. "Pick up the damn phone, old man."
The call went through, but Yurio didn't even have a second's moment to ask before Viktor was rasping, "You're interrupting something very important, Yurio."
The boy didn't get it until there was a gasp in the background, and he immediately threw his phone across the room, shrieking again.
"You're disgusting!" he screeched. But somewhere deep down, he's thanking god that he doesn't have to deal with a post-breakup Viktor.