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Chapter Text

It’s the middle of Yuuri’s time on the ice, when he gets a text from his sister Mari telling him to call as soon as possible. Their parents want to speak with him about something important. Worried that something bad has happened, Yuuri calls out to Celestino that he’s going to take a quick break to call his parents. Once he’s sitting on the bench, he hits the call button.

“Mari, what’s going on? Did something happen? What’s-” Yuuri begins to ask a bit panicked. 

“Hold on, chill for a moment-” Mari cuts him off nonchalantly, calling for their parents in the background. “Okay they’re here, let me put you on speaker phone.”

“Hello, Yuuri dear, how are you?” His mother greets him cheerfully.

“I’m fine, is everything alright? You guys never call me like this.” Yuuri begins to question them now.

“Everything is fine, you worry too much about us honey.” His mother starts off not actually explaining anything because as much as Yuuri loves her, his mother tends to meander a bit when explaining important things.

“Then why did Mari say it was urgent that I call?” Yuuri asks again.

“Oh, yes! Your uncle is coming to discuss something important with us and we need you to come home for a little bit while he’s here.” That explanation doesn’t actually clear things up for Yuuri.

“Kaa-san, I can’t come home right now, I’m training and the next season will be starting soon. I don’t understand why I have to come home if Tao-ojisan is coming, can’t we just video chat when he comes. It’d be a huge expense to fly home right now, and I need to work with my coach and I’m not his only student.” He’s told them this before, it’s difficult with college, training, and competing. Yuuri knows that his goals are expensive and he doesn’t want to burden them with it so instead he budgets meticulously and sacrifices a lot, including going home.

“Ah, Yuuri it’s not Tao-ojisan that’s coming.” His father speaks for the first time.

“What do you mean, who else would it-” And then it clicks.

Yuuri had grown up with a modest and simple life, in the small island tourist town called Hasetsu. His immediate family consisted of him, his parents, and older sister. On his mother’s side he had one uncle, and his maternal grandparents had been deceased for some time now. That was the extent of his maternal lineage. But there was his father’s side of the family, which was rarely spoken of. And there was a good reason for it.

See, once upon a time his father had been second in line as the youngest prince of Japan.

Yuuri had known this since he was little, but never thought much of it because he was not royalty. His mother was not an ‘acceptable’ choice as a bride and his paternal grandfather, emperor at the time, had told his father that he was not allowed to marry her. Yuuri’s father had subsequently renounced his claim for the throne and disappeared to their small town to marry the love of his life. Together they began an onsen and two children. End of story.

His paternal grandfather had passed eventually and his uncle had taken the throne as emperor. They rarely interacted with him because of such, even though the brothers were still close. So it was shocking to hear that he would be visiting. It explained why his parents insisted that he come home.

“What? Why?” Yuuri asks again.

“He didn’t specify, he just asked that you be here as well when he comes.” Yuuri sighs and he doesn’t know what to do.

At this moment Phichit calls out to him from the edge of the rink.

“Uh, hey, Yuuri? Did you arrange a trip for us to go to Japan?” He turns his phone screen to face Yuuri so that he can see a confirmation email for a flight to Japan. 

Yuuri quickly pulls his own email up on his phone and sees that he has the same email addressed to him. 

“Did you guys buy the tickets already?” He quickly asks his parents, getting back on the phone with them.

“Huh? We didn’t purchase any tickets.” Yuuri’s mother responds, just as confused as him.

“Well who else would know to buy plane tickets, for my coach and rinkmate, while having their emails.” He could never ask anyone to do that for him, one ticket alone was expensive.

“Oh, that was probably ojisan, he asked about why you hadn’t come home and who your coach was.” Mari chimes in with the answer.

It seemed that his uncle was really adamant that he was to be home when he came to visit. Normally someone would question how he set this all up, but his uncle was the emperor of Japan. He has the power and the money to throw around to find out the information he needs and spend the money on the tickets. It’s not like Yuuri can call up his uncle and decline either, it would be extremely rude to do so to the emperor. He sighs.

“I guess I’m coming home then.” Yuuri finally responds.

Once he gets off the phone with his family he finds Phichit still looking at him expectantly for an answer.

“Apparently, my uncle bought us all tickets so that I can be home when he visits.” Yuuri explains, still weirded out by the whole thing.

“Oh my god! We’re finally getting to your origin story!” Phichit yells excitedly. Yuuri can only give his best friend a disappointed look. “Celestino! We’re going to visit Yuuri’s home in Japan!”

Celestino, who’d been busy talking with another coach, looks over to his skaters, neither of whom are skating like they’re supposed to be.

“Phichit, what are you talking about? Get back to skating! Both of you!” He yells back at them.

Yuuri finds that Phichit is more excited than he is about boarding the plane to his hometown, all he feels is apprehension and nerves. It also doesn’t help that his uncle sprung for all the extra amenities for their flight; like the car service who picked them up and took care of their luggage, the private lounge, and first class seats. Both him and Celestino seem to suspect that something is up but Yuuri is choosing not to deal with that right now.

At least Phichit is enjoying the social media advantage he has right now, he’s just stressing about why his uncle wants to see him.

They take the train from the airport which relaxes Yuuri a bit. He enjoys watching the familiar scenic route for their hour long trip, when they arrive at their stop the group is greeted by a familiar face.

“Yo.” Mari catches his attention easily, casually leaning against a pillar seeming slightly amused.

It takes all of about five seconds for it to become clear as to why she’s amused because of Phichit’s following outburst.

“Oh my god! Look at all the posters!” Yuuri stops at the exclamation and looks around the station and to his utter horror discovers the walls plastered with posters of him everywhere. He covers his face in embarrassment.

There’s a sound of rapid clicks that he immediately recognizes as Phichit taking pictures but he’s too late to stop his intentions.

“Phichit, don’t-”

“Already did!” Phichit calls back.

He glares half heartedly at Phichit because at this point Yuuri should really know better when it comes to his best friend. He sighs, knowing his notifications will be blowing up for a little while because the skating community treats his social media involvement like cryptid sightings because he rarely posts himself, most of his content is actually Phichit’s really.

With all the stress and anxiety of the trip, Yuuri did forget about some of the good aspects of coming home. One in particular flies out the door in a blur of brown fur upon their arrival at Yuu-topia.

“Vicchan!” Yuuri quickly kneels down to let himself be attacked with a flurry of wet tongued poodle kisses. Phichit is quick to capture this reunion on camera as well.

“He’s missed you a lot.” Yuuri’s mother, Hiroko, appears to greet them.

Seeing his mother, he quickly stands to greet her while holding the squirming Vicchan at the same time. Yuuri also follows up by introducing Phichit as this was their first time meeting in person.

“Thank you for taking care of my son. Is there anything you’d like to eat, I’m sure you’re all tired from traveling.” Hiroko asks once they all get inside.

“Oh! Yes! I want to try Katsuki Mama’s famous Katsudon.” Phichit declares immediately.

“Of course, I’ll make some for everyone. Why don’t you get settled in, in the meantime?” Hiroko suggests.

Yuuri helps bring the luggage to their rooms and then rounds back to the kitchens so that he can talk with his mother in private.

“Kaa-san? Where’s Tou-san? And is oji-sama not here yet?” He inquires.

“Ah, your father is out running errands at the moment, he should be back before dinner. Your uncle will be arriving tomorrow at noon. He wanted you to have some time to rest before he came to visit, you did travel all day.” Hiroko explains as she grabs out the proper pots and pans to go about making his favorite dish.

“Is there something troubling you?” She pauses to look at Yuuri. His mother always knew when something was bothering him.

“It’s just that, Oji-sama doesn’t visit often and I’m surprised that he insisted that I come home. He didn’t last time. It’s just kind of odd, don’t you think?” Yuuri points out to his mother.

“I don’t think so at all. He’s always been very fond of you Yuuri, and you’ve been away from home for a long time. I’m sure that he was just worried that you weren’t giving yourself a break, as much as you love to skate.” Hiroko assures her son and Yuuri knows that she has a point.

“Now, shoo, get out of the kitchen and go rest. I want to make my son and his friends a nice welcoming meal.” 

Yuuri smiles fondly at his mother and abides by her wishes, leaving her to do as she pleased.

Later on when the Katsudon is ready to eat, and they’re sitting down at the table, Phichit lets out a gasp followed by a shriek. He quickly reached across the table to swat at Yuuri’s arm to redirect his attention towards his phone.

“Yuuri! Yuuri! Victor Nikiforov commented on my post!” Phichit yells, shoving his phone in Yuuri’s face, nearly smacking him in the process.

‘What?” He asks, moving Phichit’s arm so that the phone isn’t so close that he can’t read it.

Phichit had posted the video of Vicchan greeting him earlier when they first arrived at Hasetsu and highlighted was a comment from Victor’s verified account below the video. It read: “AW! Such a happy reunion! Tell your friend to give his poodle extra belly rubs and pets from me.”

“I can’t believe you posted that! I can’t believe he commented!” Yuuri responds overwhelmed. 

“Of course he did! How could you doubt my social media prowess. And you’re undermining Vicchan’s cuteness as well!” Phichit accuses dramatically, then bends down to talk to the poodle curled up in Yuuri’s lap.

“Yuuri is just being silly Vicchan, he’s been away from home too long, he’s just forgotten the power of your cuteness.” He reassures him.

Yuuri just rolls his eyes at him. As he does, he notices that his father is finally back from running errands earlier and is now going about doing tasks around the onsen.

“Ah, Tou-san!” He waves a little to catch his attention. His father stops what he’s doing and comes over to greet and welcome him home. Yuuri stands to hug him briefly.

“Kaa-san said that you were out earlier when we arrived.” Yuuri mentions once they’re finished.

“Ah, yes, I was picking up some ingredients we didn’t have for your uncle’s favorite food. He said that we didn’t need to go out of our way but he’s my brother and I would feel like a bad host if we didn’t make him feel welcome.” Toshiya explains to his son.

“Of course, he’s family after all. I was just wondering if he’d mentioned to you why he decided to visit and request that I come home?” Yuuri asks, despite what everyone else keeps saying he doesn’t feel like this is just a visit.

“Nothing in particular, just that he wanted to see everyone. Is there anything else you wanted to ask before I finish helping your mother?” Yuuri shakes his head at his father’s question and decides to continue on with his meal and admittedly being flustered over the fact that Victor had commented on Phichit’s video.

Yuuri crashes from jet lag soon after their meal and as a result wakes up rather early the next morning. Knowing that everyone else was still asleep he opted to go for a run, hoping to shake the weird feeling that he’d been having. It was nice to run his old route and enjoy the ocean breeze. Maybe he had been away too long.

When he makes it back to the onsen, Vicchan is waiting for him like usual but someone is waiting with him, petting him on the head. Once Yuuri is close enough, he’s surprised to see that his uncle has arrived earlier than expected.

“Oji-sama?” He calls out a few feet away.

“Ah, Yuuri, I figured that you’d be out on your morning run. Never one to deviate from your usual routine.” His uncle remarks looking up from where he’d bent down to pet Vicchan.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to be here until later and I don’t think anyone else is awake at the moment.” Yuuri finds himself confused.

“That’s fine, I didn’t want to disturb them because I wanted to have a chance to talk with you in private.” It’s at that moment that Yuuri knew that his gut feeling was right that something was up with his uncle visiting.

“Of course. Where do you want to?” He starts to ask.

“Why don’t we just take a short walk, I’m sure Vicchan would enjoy it and you can cool down from your run.” His uncle suggests.

Yuuri grabs Vicchan’s leash quickly and then the two of them start walking along the quiet path towards the beach. Things are silent for a while as Yuuri allows his uncle to gather his thoughts before speaking.

“I’ve spent a lot of time watching you grow up into a great young man Yuuri, and I’m so proud of how hard you worked. I’ve seen how much you’ve persevered even when you might not have believed in yourself. You have traits that I would’ve wished my own children to have if I had been able to have them.” His uncle pauses.

“And I know how much you love ice skating and how much you’ve sacrificed in order to get as far as you have. You’re considered the best in Japan, our ace, as much as I know you tend to be bashful about it, you are.”

Yuuri continues to remain quiet, wondering where this is all leading.

“And at the same time, I know that I’m about to put you in a difficult position. One where I’m probably asking you to sacrifice all that you love about skating and all you’ve sacrificed for it.”

Yuuri freezes at those words.

“Oji-sama, what are you talking about?” He asks, fear gripping him.

His uncle turns and faces him directly as they stop abruptly on their walk.

“Yuuri, I’m getting on in my old age and as you know I have no children and as a result Japan has no heir to succeed me when I eventually pass. My advisors are pushing me to declare one in the very near future as well. Right now as it stands you are the last of the current dynasty and with the current political strife plaguing us, a change in power would lead to a great disruption among our people. It’s why you are my only option as heir to be future emperor.”

Yuuri cannot help but be stunned by this abrupt news.

“What? How can I be the only possible choice? Tou-san gave up his title years ago, I’m technically not even eligible as royalty because of my parents marriage.” It’s too much to even think about, Yuuri can’t imagine being what, a prince?

“Actually, as of six years ago the laws that prevented your father from marrying your mother while being a heir to the throne have been abolished. And seeing as he willingly renounced his title, his children are therefore valid heirs to the throne.” His uncle explains plainly.

Yuuri can only gape at his uncle as the weight of this news hits him.

Chapter Text

“This is just like the Princess Diaries!” Phichit exclaims after Yuuri had fully filled him in on his discussion with his uncle asking him to become his heir.

“Phichit, this is completely different from the Princess Diaries, can you please be a little more serious right now.” Yuuri sighs at his best friend.

“Yuuri, how is this not like the movie? Your uncle suddenly told you’re the potential heir to the throne!” Phichit argues back exasperatedly.

“I feel like you didn’t pay attention when we watched the Princess Diaries, I’ve always known my dad used to be a prince and that my uncle was emperor. Mia never knew any of that and she also didn’t have to choose between that and a career as a figure skater.” Yuuri argues back. 

“Wait, why are we arguing about this, this has nothing to do with my issue. Stop distracting me.”

“Yuuri, you’re too stuck on the minor details of things. And this is totally like the Princess Diaries by the way-” Phichit starts off, reigniting the argument.

“Phichit-” Yuuri tries to interrupt him but Phichit is quick to cut him off.

“-anyway the real issue at hand here is that you don’t want to become his heir if it means that you have to give up ice skating correct?” He confirms.

“Yes?” Yuuri answers not really sure where Phichit is planning on going with this.

“So if there’s anything that movies has taught me it’s that usually there’s a compromise that works better than just choosing to sacrifice something you care about.”

Yuuri sits up from his spot on the floor.

“How is there any compromise in this situation?” He asks bluntly.

“Well, you could just do both.” Phichit finally suggests.

“What?” Yuuri looks at him ridiculously. “How could I possibly do both? I’d have royal duties and it’d be a hassle to compete if everyone knew that I was a prince, and possibly a thousand other issues that could come up.”

“Well, what if they just kept it a secret until you’ve finished competing? I mean ice skating isn’t a life long career, most skaters retire by what? Thirty? And your uncle is in his fifties, he’s got a good twenty or thirty year minimum, I mean royalty tends to live a long ass time anyway. So like all you need is seven years.” Phichit concludes.

Yuuri stares at him for a moment, because normally this would be one of his dumb plans but he’s actually considering it. He’s not sure if it’s because he’s desperate and Yuuri doesn’t realistically have much of a choice in this matter, his uncle had disclosed to him that when he’d come up as a viable option to be heir that other officials had indicated would force Yuuri to be declared as heir regardless.

“Maybe I can talk with my uncle about it. I don’t know if he’d even consider it.” He hesitates to even think about it as an option.

Yuuri is not even sure how to approach his uncle with Phichit’s suggestion and so he does what he usually does when faced with a difficult situation. He sneaks out of the onsen and goes down to the ice castle to skate.

He hadn’t even stopped by to see Yuuko since he’d gotten back yesterday. It’s not like he’d had a lot of time before all of this had gotten dropped on him. She’s surprised but happy to see him and immediately knows that something’s up but gives him the space he needs.

It comes as a natural instinct to slip into one of Victor’s old routines. A favorite of his from a few years ago. Being back in Hasetsu, skating one of Victor’s routines brings a strong sense of nostalgia. Yuuri had made so many strides in accomplishing his career, if the talk with his uncle didn’t work out, he can’t imagine what it would be like to give this all up.

He spends a solid three hours skating before he figures that he should head back to the onsen and finally talk with his uncle. It doesn’t take very long to find him, sitting in the guest room that had been prepared and enjoying a cup of tea.

“Ah, Yuuri. I assume you’ve come to talk about our discussion this morning?” His uncle asks.

“Yes, I have.” Yuuri nods, his nerves striking up making his throat stick as he tries to gather the courage to ask his request.

“And what have you decided?”

It’s now or never, so Yuuri strengthens his resolve.

“If I accept, would you be able to agree to some conditions I have?” He proposes to his uncle.

“It depends on what the conditions are.” His uncle looks at him with interest as to Yuuri’s request.

“Skating means everything to me, and I don’t want to give up everything I’ve worked so hard for when I haven’t even accomplished all my goals yet. If I accept, I want to be able to keep competing, at least for a few more years. I’ll be a prince for the rest of my life, all I’m asking for is the limited time I have before I age out as a skater.”

Yuuri manages to get out all his thoughts and words before he has time to regret any of it. His uncle is silent for a long while, or at least it feels like it takes forever for him to have some sort of response.

“Yuuri.” He looks up at his uncle. “I have supported your love of skating and the career that followed, and I want to keep doing so. If you say you are willing to do both, I will help you achieve that if it’s what you want.”

He’s unexpectedly stunned.

“Wait, you will? But won’t it cause issues if I compete and be a prince at the same time?” Yuuri can’t help but question because it seems too good to be true.

“Well I had a few hours to think about it and speak with some advisors, there should be no problem if I announce that I’ll make my nephew my heir. Your father took on your mother’s surname and has essentially been out of the public eye since they married. I don’t have to specifically mention that my nephew is Katsuki Yuuri. And I can excuse away any immediate appearances due to the fact that you are studying abroad and are taking time to prepare for your princely duties. It also helps that the Imperial family has always been notoriously private with family matters.” His uncle explains his solution.

“But how did you come up with this? Did you expect me to ask to keep skating before I asked?” Yuuri is quite bewildered by the change in events.

His uncle gives him a bemused smile.

“Ah, after you left, your friend Phichit, came and argued in your defense. He had a presentation and everything, I was very impressed. I just wanted to hear from you that this was what you really wanted, so I waited until you came back to tell me.”

Yuuri stares at his uncle for a moment, taking the time to process the words that had just been said.

“Phichit-he did wha- PHICHIT!” He abruptly leaves his uncle behind, opening the door and shouting out his friend’s name and running out and down the hall.

The emperor just chuckled and opted to finish drinking his tea.

Any anger at Phichit quickly dissipated as Yuuri was relieved more than anything else. He was mostly upset that he’d gone about it in such an improper way. You just don’t barge into someone’s guest room, let alone the Emperor of Japan’s, and start a heated debate with the man. 

Phichit’s only defense was him saying “Yuuri I love you, but I also had zero faith. But hey, you proved me wrong!”

Despite that he still introduces him to Yuuko and Takeshi against all reservations, and he admits to the other two as to why he’d actually come back home. They’d known about Yuuri being related to the emperor since they’d been younger but it still bewilders them that he was becoming a prince.

Yuuko does tease him about using his newfound royalty status to woo Victor, which makes him blush and stutter a denial. He couldn’t do that, even if he didn’t think Victor would take advantage of him he would never want to be with him if it was just because he was a prince.

Wow, that was a weird thought. Yuuri shakes it off.

The next few days are hectic and full of meeting several advisors and officials to confirm everything and make plans. It’s dizzying almost. Especially with how they’re all treating him now. His friends and family haven’t changed, his sister annoying him in her usual fashion a little extra to “keep him humble” in her own words.

But it’s the advisors and officials referring to him as Katsuki-sama constantly, asking him a million and half questions about what he needs or wants trying to appease him. He’s also being given a dozen or so mini lessons about every political issue he could need to know about immediately. It’s a bit overwhelming.

After a few days of this, Yuuri finds himself surprisingly just by himself with his father for the first time since everything had changed. He was still helping out with the onsen in between everything, because it was a natural thing that he’d always done, and the two of them ended up clearing away the after dinner mess together and washing the dishes in the kitchen.

“I had always worried that you would be forced into this position because of our heritage.” Toshiya says to him after they’d been silently working together.

“Tou-san…” Yuuri isn’t sure how to address his father.

“Yuuri you are my son, and I know that you are stubborn and determined. Now that you’ve made your choice, I don’t expect that you will back out of it. Your mother and I have raised you well, and because of it I do believe you will be an honorable leader for our people.” Toshiya pauses and looks on fondly at his son, reflection in his eyes.

“But I want you to remember that I will be here to guide you, when you need me. I was raised to be a prince, but you were not,  and that puts you at a disadvantage. I want to protect you as much as I can from the harshness that I know your position will put you in.”

With his father’s words, Yuuri feels a sense of relief and comfort.

“Thank you Tou-san, and I love you.” Yuuri tells him

“You’re welcome, I love you too, son.” Toshiya replies.

The two of them quietly return to cleaning up the dishes.

Yuuri is prepared by his uncle and the royal advisors as much as they can before he and Phichit have to return to Detroit for the beginning of the next semester. They also have to return ahead of time due to the fact that they now had to move out of their dorms into more secure accommodations.

Honestly, this was the best part of having to become a prince so far. He and Phichit were going from a shitty one room dorm with an equally terrible and expensive meal plan to a luxury apartment with two separate bedrooms and bathrooms, full kitchen, living room, dining room, and many amenities available to them.

It also accommodated Yuuri’s only other specific request, besides Phichit living with him, and that was that it allowed pets. Being able to have Vicchan with him again really made it worth it in his mind. They also didn’t have the hassle of hiding Phichit’s contraband hamsters in the dorms anymore, which was another matter entirely.

He was still a little overwhelmed by all of the security and the advisor that had been assigned to him personally. Yuuri and Phichit sat watching them handle moving in all the furniture and their belongings, dismissing any attempts to help. Vicchan was snoozing on the floor, basking in the sunlight, tired from all the activity of flying and traveling.

“Katsuki-sama, we’ve arranged all your posters in a similar way to how you had them before. Is it fine the way they are, or would you like them rearranged?” His newly assigned advisor, Aki Yuji, asked.

Yuuri is suddenly very embarrassed, having forgotten in the frenzy of everything that among his belongings being moved was his collection of Victor Nikiforov posters. He glances into his room and sees that they are all carefully arranged on the walls.

“It’s fine, you really didn’t need to do that, I could have done it.” He responds.

“It was no problem Katsuki-sama, we took great care of handling them. I’m well aware of how much you admire Victor Nikiforov and I didn’t want anything to happen to them in the move.” Yuji tells him.

“You’re aware?” Yuuri then asks, because those words seem to have some implication behind them.

“Yes, I’ve worked for the imperial family for a couple of decades now, and as a result of my duties I’ve heard quite a bit about you from your uncle. Speaking of which, he did give me something to give to you.” Yuji disappears for a moment before returning with a flat box in hand.

Yuuri takes it carefully, then proceeds to open it. He’s shocked to find what he recognizes to be a framed limited edition poster from Victor’s summer exhibition that had been auctioned off, and it’s signed.

“I went and procured it for your uncle, it’s unfortunate that you couldn’t go see the exhibition yourself but I can definitely see what’s attracted you to him.” Yuji comments.

Ah fuck, his uncle did tell his advisor about his crush on Victor Nikiforov. If the security detail would let him, he’d be jumping off the balcony right about now. Yuuri regrets everything as he hears Phichit snickering behind him.

Chapter Text

Within a few weeks of being back in Detroit, there’s a formal statement released about Japan’s Emperor declaring his heir and the story spreads, internationally sparking debate. It even becomes a discussion topic in Yuuri’s World History course and he feels weird when his professor asks for his opinion on it. He knows the only reason she’s asking is because he’s from Japan but there’s a paranoid thought in the back of his head that tells him that his name has been leaked already and his skating career is over.

Preparing to be a prince though is kind of weird and not what he was expecting.

His advisor Yuji has been working on a number of things with him including handling his anxiety because it’s important for him to maintain his emotions as a public figure. No one wants their leader to have a nervous breakdown during a major crisis after all.

They start out with figuring out some anxiety meds that work better than the prior ones he has tried and then start teaching him how to use coping mechanisms. Yuuri quickly figures out that the coping mechanisms that they are teaching him are just elaborate ways of using his own anxiety to trick himself into not being anxious. 

After realizing that he concludes that brains are dumb and their way of operating is majorly inconvenient. It’s still going to take time and work to keep managing his anxiety though.

Yuji also gives him ‘assignments’ like posting on his social media at least twice a day. It’s important for him to build his public image and that requires actually participating in the public eye beyond competitions and required interviews. Yuuri picks a comfortable solution to easing into regularly producing content for social media by posting things about Vicchan, which ends up being like ninety percent of his posts at first.

One might also blame that on the fact that Yuuri noticed that Victor regularly likes and comments on anything tagged with poodles. 

He does ease up and allows his advisor to take some videos while he warms up during practice, and posts the ones that he feels comfortable with.

Then of course there’s the extensive knowledge about ice skating that Yuji has. He not only knows the in and outs of the rules, scoring, terms, and competing but it quickly becomes clear as he discusses Yuuri’s training with Celestino that he seems to have first hand experience that suggests that he has the experience of a high level skater in his past.

It piques his and Phichit’s curiosity so they do a little internet sleuthing to see if Yuuri’s advisor happens to have also been a figure skater at some point. The search doesn’t turn up anything though, not that he expected it to because he highly doubted it would be easy to learn information about someone close to the royal family.

Yuuri does figure that it wouldn’t hurt to just ask his advisor. Although he sort of regrets it based on the ominous tone he says it in.

“Ah, well, advisors are always expected to be well educated in order to help serve the royal family.”

Later on Phichit whispers to him about his conspiracy theory that maybe his advisor is an android with knowledge of the future.

“I mean he seems very robotic.” Phichit argued in a hushed tone, looking around their apartment even though they were the only ones there at the moment.

“I think you watch too many movies.”

It’s not that Yuuri thinks that the amount of knowledge Yuji knows, including overly personal knowledge about Yuuri himself, isn’t weird. It’s just he’s very certain from his personal knowledge of how he’s seen the royal staff work that it’s more just about what having the power of the government will get you.

Yuji is also a thousand times pushier about his sponsorships than Celestino has ever been. It’s not like Yuuri even needs the money, especially since the change in his status as a member of the royal family. He felt weird about the whole concept and had always tried to only accept what he felt was necessary for the cost of his skating. The only time he’d caved to accept more was because Phichit had desperately begged him so they could get into the better dorms on campus. They’d honestly been ready to break over sleep deprivation from too many fire alarms going off consecutively.

But this is less about the money and more about getting Yuuri an established presence.

He wants to cry just a little when Yuji plops a thick packet of papers that include a horde of contracts for different sponsorship deals. There’s even a damn cover letter and table of contents for the whole thing. Yuuri’s advisor has a solid two weeks blocked out in his schedule just for him to fly out to Japan and participate in his sponsorship deals, even down to the details of how to accommodate his course work while he’s away.

Freshman orientation had only warned him about being pressured into doing drugs, not sponsorships and shit. Actually, as a professional athlete Yuuri’s surprised no one has tried getting him to do drugs. Not that he’s very good at being a notable athlete hence his lack of commitment towards acting like the professional athlete that he is.

But he sucks it up because it’d be rude to reject the sponsorships once they’ve already sent the contracts that Yuji had pre-negotiated for him. Doesn’t mean that he has to be happy about it.

The trip is a lot more emotionally taxing than he had prepared for, most likely because he hadn’t accounted for the extra stress of back to back working with sponsors because he’d never done so many engagements in a row. Also he’s not that much of a morning and Yuuri finds himself considering how much trouble he would get in if he just knocked out his advisor and took off. It probably wouldn’t work out because the security guards outnumber him but he still thinks about it as he half listens to their guide explain the details of the commercial he’s supposed to be filming.

“-and we’ll give you both some time to warm up on the ice before hand-“

“Wait, both? I’m sorry I didn’t realize there was more than one skater in the ad?” Yuuri questions when he notices the discrepancy. So far all of his other engagements had been solo projects and he didn’t remember any notes about this in the packet.

“Oh, it must have slipped my mind. I’m sorry about that.” Yuji comments, which is suspicious because Yuuri knows better.

Yuji however, completely ignores the side eye that he gives him and moves on.

It is not until Yuuri is busy lacing up his skates off to the side that he learns why that information had been deliberately kept from him.

“Ah! You’re the skater from Instagram with the toy poodle!”

Yuuri’s head whips up so fast that he hears his neck crack because he immediately recognizes voice as his childhood idol, Victor Nikiforov. 

It takes all his will power to remember that he needs to act like a normal human being and respond so that he doesn’t seem weird and scare Victor off.

“Oh, yeah. Yuuri Katsuki, it’s nice to meet you Victor.” Yuuri instinctively introduces himself, fully defaulting to the etiquette training they’d been ingraining in him over the last few weeks.

It was at least better than panicking he supposes.

“I’m glad to meet you Yuuri!”

Yuuri’s not sure how he’s going to make it through this. Skating on the same ice as Victor just for a commercial, not even a competition, is completely nerve wracking. They didn’t need to do anything specific skating wise, the sponsor just wanted footage of them skating in their sportswear. It’s basically the same as downtime during practice where Celestino let him and Phichit mess around on the ice to try out different things.

But with Victor.

And it’s certainly an experience that he’s never expected. In person and outside of competition Victor seems so much more carefree than his previous appearances showed. It’s also probably because he’s never seen him trip over himself attempting to copy a random set of step sequences that Yuuri was doing.

“Ah, Victor, are you okay?” He immediately stopped to lend Victor a hand up.

“Yeah! I’m fine, I’ve taken worse falls before. But Yuuri! How did you do those step sequences, they’re so fluid. I couldn’t figure them out. Of course you made it look so easy, you’ve always done well with your PCS scores!”

This statement makes Yuuri freeze after he finishes helping Victor up.

“I didn’t realize my step sequences drew that much attention.” Yuuri says.

More importantly, Victor’s attention.

“Of course! One of my younger rinkmates really admires your skating as well!”

Yuuri, of course, can’t help but be surprised by this information.

“Really? I mean, they get to skate on the same ice as you everyday. And you’re Russia’s golden goose.” He blurts out without really meaning to. Yuuri ignores the stares from Yuji as he can probably sense him undervaluing his own skating just talking to Victor.

“Well, I guess if you see me fall enough while practicing and Yakov yelling at me enough, the specialness wears off for my rinkmates.” Victor muses out loud.

They spend another hour and a half, skating different moves for the director. Saying a few different lines that might be used in the commercial. It’s a surprising experience for Yuuri, to just casually interact with his own idol as if they might just be regular rinkmates. Eventually, the shoot wraps up and everybody gets ready to move on to the rest of their schedule.

Before Yuji ushers him out a side door so they can head out for an interview, Yuuri hears Victor call out after them.

“Ah, Yuuri, I wanted to give you my number before you left.” His heart flutters a little as he hears this.

“Yeah, I’d love that.”

They trade phones to input their contact info and Victor gets him to stop and take a self for the contact photo. Yuuri really hopes that the blush isn’t too visible as Victor is pressed close against him.

“I can’t wait to see you again!”

Yuuri agrees as they finally say goodbye. He can’t help but look at the photo on his phone as he and his advisor got into a private car.

“I see you enjoyed yourself today.” Yuji casually commented.

It’s at this point that Yuuri decides to call him out.

“You didn’t tell me on purpose, didn’t you?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”