Chapter Text
Yuuri had called ahead to let his parents know that they were bringing another person with them.
As soon as they poured into Yu-topia, Yuuri was engulfed in hugs, as though he’d been gone for ages. And moments later, Victor received the same treatment.
“Oh, and you must be Yuri!” Hiroko exclaimed when she set eyes on the newcomer.
She attempted to pronounce his name the way it was supposed to be pronounced in Russian, which was a bit different from the way her son's name sounded; and although it didn’t quite come out right, Yuri appreciated the effort. Like most athletes, he was used to sports commentators and journalists messing up his name as though Internet didn't exist. And it wasn't even a particularly difficult name.
At least Hiroko tried.
“Yes, hello,” he replied. “Nice to meet you.”
He bowed, feeling a bit awkward, but Hiroko smiled brightly at him, doing her best to make him feel comfortable.
“We’ve prepared a room for you,” she said. “You can stay for as long as you need.”
“Thank you.”
Yuri intended to eventually get his own place, but it was nice to not have to worry about where he would stay for the time being. Especially considering that his knowledge of Japanese was virtually non-existent, and it certainly didn’t hurt that he didn’t have to go and try to make his own way around Japan right off the plane.
“Let’s get you settled in,” Hiroko said, leading Yuri to his new room.
Meanwhile Yuuri and Victor remained in the lounge, where Toshiya immediately offered them food and drink, and asked them all about their trip, congratulating Victor once again on his wins at Nationals.
“You’re going international now, Victor?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I remember the first time Yuuri went to an international competition. He was so nervous, my poor boy,” Toshiya said, making Yuuri blush. “Are you nervous, Victor?”
“I...I’m not sure.” Victor laughed, because that was such a strange thing to say, but it was true. He wasn’t sure how he felt. “Right now I’m mostly just excited. I think the nerves will kick in a bit later. There’s certainly a lot of pressure.”
“I’m sure you’ll do great!” Toshiya said cheerfully. “I don’t understand the sport the way you two do, but I can see talent. I think everyone can see yours.”
He poured them more tea, and they chatted for a bit longer. Toshiya would occasionally slip into Japanese when his English failed him, and Victor was glad to realize that he could understand almost everything now. He still wasn’t entirely comfortable speaking the language, but his comprehension was improving drastically.
Eventually, Toshiya had to attend to customers, so Yuuri and Victor left the lounge. They went to Victor’s room, which was essentially their room now, as they always slept in it and most of their things were in it. Yuuri’s room was still Yuuri’s room, and always would be. His parents had told him a long time ago that they would never occupy it, even if he never lived in it again, it would still be his. It gave Yuuri great comfort to know that he had this safe space that was his no matter what.
As they entered Victor’s room, Victor let out a contented sigh.
“I’ve missed this place,” he said, then flopped down on the bed happily.
Yuuri, on the other hand, had a bit of a different reaction to the homecoming.
“It’s tiny,” he said, as thought that somehow hadn’t been obvious before.
It had always been tiny, but after having lived in Victor’s penthouse for a while, the size of this room became all the more apparent. It wasn't that it bothered him all that much, but he suddenly became worried that this was just nowhere near comfortable enough in the long run. Of course, Victor had lived in much worse places than this, but that was exactly why Yuuri thought that he shouldn't have to anymore.
“I like it,” Victor said with a small shrug. “It’s cozy.”
“There’s cozy, and then there’s how-do-you-even-fit-the-bed-in-here.”
Victor chuckled.
“It’s not so bad,” he said, but then he realized that this was the perfect opportunity to bring up something he’d been thinking of for a long time now. “Although, if you want more space, we could...you know...get our own place?”
Yuuri’s turned sharply to meet Victor's eyes.
“You...would want that?”
“I would love that.” He sat up on the bed, took Yuuri’s hands in his and pulled Yuuri closer. “Don’t get me wrong, I love living here. I love seeing your parents every morning. I love being this close to the onsen. And I do actually love this room. But...I think at some point it would make sense for us to get our own home.”
Hope warred with apprehension in Yuuri’s chest.
“I don’t have a lot of money,” he reminded quietly.
“But I do,” Victor reminded back.
“Victor, I’m not going to let you just buy us a house or something.”
“Hmm...” Victor looked up, pretending to think. “How about this? We find a house we like, calculate which percentage of the money I have its price would take up, and then you can pay the same percentage out of your own savings!”
Victor accompanied his convoluted plan with lots of gesticulation. Yuuri rolled his eyes.
“Right. I’d end up paying like 5 yen. Very fair.”
“Actually, it would be fair,” Victor said, sounding more serious than before. “It would be fairer than paying half and half, when it would eat up all your savings, while not even putting a dent in mine.” His eyes lit up with an idea. “Hey, we should get a joint account! Then my money will be yours! Problem solved!”
Yuuri groaned, sitting down on the bed next to Victor.
“We can’t do that.”
“I’ve already told you, I have several accounts, some of which I never touch. We don’t have to share all my money. But we can definitely share some. It makes sense. We’re...a family, aren’t we?”
Yuuri looked at Victor, whose eyes were filled with hope and a hint of insecurity.
“Of course we’re a family,” Yuuri said without hesitation.
He was surprised to realize how easy that was, how smoothly he settled into a realization that he and Victor were now a family unit. It wasn’t even that big of a deal. It felt right, like it had been true for a while, and now it has simply been said out loud.
“Great! We can have a joint account set up tomorrow then! I’ll just write you into the one I use for everyday spending. And then we can start looking at places to live.”
“Okay,” Yuuri said, placing his head on Victor’s shoulder and resigning himself to having a joint account with a multimillionaire. “I guess this means you don’t have to pay me a coaching fee anymore. I was starting to feel really weird about that.”
It was true, Victor was still technically paying Yuuri a coaching fee. Though it was automatic and they never actually talked about it, still, every time that money dropped into Yuuri’s account at the beginning of a month, he felt strange about it. There wasn’t really anything wrong with it – he was being paid for a service he was providing to Victor – but it still felt weird that he was charging his boyfriend for something he would happily do for free.
“I suppose,” Victor said nonchalantly. “I guess I’ll have that fee covered for a while by giving you access to about 7 million dollars.”
Yuuri almost choked on his own breath.