Archive of Our Own

In the few months of their engagement, Yuuri believed he’d seen every face Viktor Nikiforov could make. He’d seen him angry at Soap Opera Characters, he’d seen him crying because he’d come home one day to see Makkachin wearing a fairy costume. Yuuri believed he’d seen it all, that was until the two of them were cuddling on the sofa, and Viktor’s phone rang. The Russian groaned, leaning over his fiance to reach it before it rang out, but when he saw the caller ID and the answer button vanish...he went pale.

“Vitya?” The Japanese man looked up at him in concern.

“Oh god…”

Never, in all his life, had he seen Viktor look so terrified, and he couldn’t imagine what was causing the Russian to look as if he was being held at gunpoint. Then the phone rang again, and with shaking fingers Viktor answered the phone.

“... Hello …?”

“ Viktor Matvey Nikiforov, did you just ignore me ?!” Yuuri heard a woman screech through the phone, even though it wasn’t on speaker.

“ Mama, Mama please. Calm down !” Viktor sighed, leaving Yuuri on the sofa with an apologetic smile.

The Japanese man let him go, wondering who that woman was and translating as much of the Russian he could remember. Obviously, he was learning Russian since he was now living there, however, it was still very broken and obvious he was Japanese. Viktor’s name was one thing he recognized, then the word Mama…

“Oooh…” Yuuri whispered as it clicked that Viktor was speaking to his mother.

It was a little amusing, to see the great Viktor Nikiforov pailing at the idea of missing a call from his mother like a teenager, but he couldn’t help but wonder what Viktor’s parents were like. He hadn’t really paid attention to photos around the apartment, too wrapped up in living with the living legend himself to really spend a lot of time looking. So while Viktor was on the phone, he looked around at some of the photos. 

Most of them contained Viktor, of various ages and hair lengths, with two women he didn’t recognize. They both looked like him, so maybe they were his sisters? There were also a few that had the two women and a man, so maybe one was his mother? The thing about Viktor is that he was totally silent about his family when it came to the press. Oh sure, people had asked, but they never got anything more than that they were loving and supportive. 

After a while, Viktor came back out saying what sounded like a goodbye to the woman on the other end of the phone, sighing with relief as he hung up. Yuuri smiled at him gently, coming over to press kisses to his cheek.

“Mm~ sorry about that my love.” He mumbled, nuzzling his face into his fiance’s neck.

“Wanna tell me what’s wrong?” 

“That was my mother, she uh...she wants to meet you…” He sighed, sitting them back on the sofa.

“Why do you make that sound like a bad thing?” 

“My family...is very interesting. I love them all, but they’re interesting.” Viktor hummed, trying to think of the best way to explain.  

“We’re the largest, if not the only, queer family in Russia but no one can really say anything cause no one can prove it. There’s a massive estate that most of the family lives on in Moscow...I only moved here for training. We literally have a whole branch of Nikiforovs that is Surrogate mothers and fathers. During the off-season, because they know how important skating is to me, we have a whole reunion where anyone not living on the estate comes to see those who are. We’re...there are a lot of Nikiforov’s, even if they use a different name for famous ones.”

“So...what you’re saying is…”

“I’m part of the new generation of the gayest family in Russia.” 

A small smirk played on Viktor’s lips, and Yuuri couldn’t help but smile as well. He was relieved that Viktor had a good relationship with his family, a part of him had worried that he was estranged from the for being bisexual, especially when he was younger, but it turns out the truth was much more relieving.

“Now...I mention the Family reunion for a reason.” Viktor continued. 

“Alright…?”

“It’s...um...it’s coming up...this weekend. Friday to Monday.”

“And you want me to come with you?” Yuuri smirked a little, shifting so he could sit on Viktor’s lap.

“I do want that, Yuuri. But...my mother said that if I come without you she’ll keep me in Moscow until you come and get me.” 

“She sounds delightful. I’d love to meet your family!” Yuuri chuckled.

“Are you sure Yuuri? They’re...well they’re worse than me, especially my mothers.” He sighed.

“So the two women in the photos…?” 

The Russian stood, grabbing Yuuri’s ass (totally not on purpose), and lifted Yuuri to go and look at one photo in particular. With strength that the Japanese man knew he had since their exhibition, Viktor held his fiance with one arm and picked up the photo with his free hand. 

“Those are my parents, Svetlana and Zinovia Nikiforov, and the man is my biological father, Sashenka. It was by pure chance that he and Zinovia look alike, and I got my eyes from Svetlana.” 

“Is Svetlana the one who called you?” 

“Yep. Mama always did worry a little too much.” He chuckled, putting the photo down and opening a draw. “I think I have a picture of the whole clan in here somewhere.”

“There’s not like...a thousand of them right?” Yuuri asked as they sat down again.

“Not a thousand no!” The Russian laughed as he found the photo.

The Japanese man’s jaw dropped. In front of his eyes were hundreds of men, women and children, even some elderly people, all laughing and smiling like one massive family. It made him feel...really happy.

“All 100 Nikiforovs. When we took this we had a joke, the couples would wear pink, the kids would wear blue, and the surrogates would wear purple. The photographer just thought we were super coordinated.”

“And...everyone here is gonna be there this weekend?”

“Everyone except the grandparents. They all died a while ago, so it’s just my mother’s generation now.”

“Viktor...I’m so sorry.” Yuuri whispered.

“No, don’t be! They’re at peace and had massive rainbow funerals. They would have been happy. You’ll like my Aunt Kira, her surrogate mother was from Japan and she really embraces the culture.”

“I see...Wait, isn’t that Yurio?! He’s not a Nikiforov is he?!”

“Technically! You know he lives with his grandfather.” Yuuri nodded. “Well when his mother left him, my...Aunt, Arisha, and her wife adopted him. So he goes by his grandfather’s name and lives with him, but legally he’s a Nikiforov.”

“So Yuri Plisetsky, the kid who threatened to cut you with his knife shoes, is your cousin?!”

“Believe it or not, yeah. He hates to admit it, but he loves us all. Especially Svetlana.”

“Does he know I’m coming?”

“Well...no...but I doubt he thinks I’d come without you.” The Russian pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Mmm...It’ll be fine I’m sure.” He shrugged, knowing full well that this was going to be a challenge.

“Great! But first we have to buy you new clothes!” Viktor jumped up and carried his fiance to the bedroom.

“What? Why, what’s wrong with my clothes?”

“Nothing! I just want my fiance to look as fabulous as I do. Plus Mama would faint if you showed up in that awful suit you wore all last year.”

“Viktor!” Yuuri whined, as the Russian pinned him to the door and kissed his neck.

***

As Yuuri sat in first class on a plane to Moscow, it suddenly dawned on him how absurd this whole situation was. He was meeting Viktor’s parents, his entire family, for the first time...not gradually, but all at once. The Japanese man could feel his chest tightening a little, and now more than ever he wished he had Makka to cuddle, so he took a deep breath and undid his seatbelt, muttering something to Viktor about going to the bathroom.

“Oh ok. Are you alright?” He frowned.

“Yeah, I just need the bathroom.” Yuuri smiled, trying to convince his fiance.

“Yuuri...sit down.” Viktor sighed, holding the other man’s wrist.

The Japanese man knew, as soon as he’d spoken, that Viktor wouldn’t just let him go to the bathroom to ride out his anxieties. To his credit, a while ago Yuuri had made him promise not to let him try and do it on his own. It was harder and more taxing on his emotions, so he’d asked Viktor to talk him through things, even if he tried to do it himself. He sighed and sat down, allowing Viktor to play with his fingers.

“Talk to me darling. What’s going through that beautiful head of yours.” 

“I just...what if your family don’t like me...there’s so many of them...and all at once...what if they saw me skate at the Grand Prix before you came to coach me…”

“Yuuri…” He sighed. “You don’t need to worry about that. They’ll all love you, I promise.”

“How can you know that? They’ve never met me!”

“No...but I love you. So there’s no way they wouldn’t.”

Yuuri snuggled up to his fiance, listening to the Russian hum quietly until he drifted off to sleep. 

***

Waking up was not a pleasant experience for Yuuri, as Viktor had decided to jab him in the side of his ribs in order for him to be awake during their descent. Which would have been fine, had they even begun to drop when he did it. Getting off of the plane was even worse, as people decided to take their sweetass time getting their bags and various other objects, and Yuuri had to be very careful at one point not to stand on a child.

“Are you alright?” Viktor asked him, squeezing his hand.

“I’m ok...just...trying to wake up.”

“You were only out for an hour!”

“And yet, I was forcefully awoken by an elbow in the ribs!” 

Viktor winced, but he knew Yuuri wasn’t seriously mad or anything, if he was mad Yuuri wouldn’t be talking to him. The two of them waited for a week’s worth of luggage to come through on the conveyor belt, as well as waiting for Makka to be brought to them, and it was only then that Yuuri realised how badly Viktor had over packed, not just for himself, but also for Yuuri. They didn’t need this much stuff, he knew that, but he was travelling with Viktor Nikiforov...so. 

Making their way out of the airport, Yuuri expected Viktor to have a taxi waiting, or at least he would be planning to just get one. But no, there was a man, with a card, with the word ‘Nikiforov’ printed on it in cyrillic lettering. The only reason Yuuri knew that, was because he’d seen it so often on Viktor’s skating profile.

“Did you…?” He asked vaguely. 

“It was probably Маmа making sure we get there safely. It’s quite a way out of Moscow.” Viktor explained. 

“How far...?” Yuuri whined. “Vitya...I’m really tired.” 

“You can’t be jet lagged ! We haven’t left Russia, we haven’t even changed time zone!” The Russian laughed, pulling his fiance close once they were sat in the car.

“I know, but I was awake at 4 in the morning...because someone insisted on leaving the packing until the last minute.” 

Viktor didn’t respond to that, only laughed, refusing to admit that Yuuri was right as usual. The Japanese man cuddled Makka close, feeling a sense of calm wash over him for the first time since getting on the plane. Yuuri felt himself starting to doze off again, running his fingers through Makka’s fur while Viktor ran his own fingers through his fiance’s hair. 

“So tell me Vitya, what am I in for?” The Japanese man asked in an attempt to keep himself awake and his anxiety down.

“Well, Svetlana is a Prima Ballerina, she trained under Lilia so she’s amazing, my father is a choreographer at the same Ballet company, and Zinovia is a fashion designer, one of the most well known in Russia. We’re the first to arrive, so you won’t have them all jumping on you at once. Most will come tomorrow, so we have one night with Mama, mother nad Papa on their own.” He explained.

“Ok...that doesn’t sound so bad. One step at a time right?” Yuuri sighed, leaning into Viktor as they reached a large gate bordered by walls.

“First step, getting through the gates.” Viktor chuckled, opening his window to reach for the buzzer.

“ Hello ?” A severe female voice came through the door..

“ Mother? It’s Viktor, I’ve got Yuuri with me, so would you mind speaking English? His Russian isn’t too strong yet. ”

“I know what language to use Viktor, don’t patronize me..” She cleared her throat before speaking again. “Yuuri, don’t be afraid, everyone in our family knows English, you’ll be fine.” 

“Ah, thank you very much ma’am!” The Japanese man leaned over his fiance to speak.

“So polite! Come on through boys!” 

The gate swung open, and Yuuri gasped as he saw...what was pretty much a forest with several log cabins scattered among them. Was this the Nikiforov estate!? It was huge! Yuuri hadn’t even seen either end of the wall from the outside and he couldn’t see it now! Everything was so unbelievably overwhelming and he didn’t know what to do with himself, except holding Viktor’s hand. The drive up to what Yuuri assumed was the main house was insanely long, and kind of reminded him of some of the gated communities he’d seen in Japan that Mari had teased him hid the Yakuza. 

“You grew up here?” He whispered. 

“Yep. Well, there.” Viktor pointed ahead.

Yuuri’s eyes only grew wider, his jaw-dropping further, as they pulled up to what was probably the biggest house on the estate, so he figured it was probably the main one. It could probably fit two of the Onsen inside it, it was that big and Yuuri couldn’t even begin to handle it. As the driver slowed to a stop in front of the steps to the main house, Yuuri spotted two women and a man waiting in front of the door, and he could pinpoint the second his heart dropped into his stomach as he realised that he was about to meet Viktor’s parents.

“ Mother! Mama! Papa! ” Viktor gasped, he and Makkachin scrambling to get out of the car.

Yuuri was a little more hesitant as he watched the two of them run into their parent's arms. It was heartwarming to see them embrace their baby boy; it almost reminded him of the way his own mother had rushed to greet him after 5 years. They all spoke in fast Russian, too fast for Yuuri to pick up and using slang that he’d never even heard of...oh god this was gonna be a hard weekend!

“Oh! Oh Vitenka, is that him!?” The silver-haired woman gasped, suddenly pushing her son to the side. She looked...familiar.

“Mama...don’t crowd him!” Viktor sighed, noticing Yuuri’s expression of shock.

“Oh hush my boy! Yuuri, yes?” She rolled her eyes, turning to address him.

“U-uuh! Ye-es ma’am!” Yuuri managed to stammer out, standing up perfectly straight and bowing. “Thank you so much for inviting me to your home!”

“My my Viktor, he’s very polite! No need for formalities, come up here! You’re one of us now!” The woman with piercing blue eyes smiled at him, with surprising warmth.

Before he could protest that this was just how people spoke to those older than them in Japan, Viktor had grabbed him and pulled him for a hug with Svetlana, Zinovia and the man who had a similar eye colour to Viktor...he must have been his surrogate father. In all honesty, Yuuri had lost count of all the times he’d said ‘oh my god’ in his head.

“Yuuri Katsuki yes? Welcome to our home, Vitenka has spoken so much about you since you tumbled his life. I am Zinovia Nikiforova, this is my wife, Svetlana, and Viktor’s father, Matvey.” 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, young man.” Viktor’s father shook Yuuri’s hand, good lord he was strong. 

The two of them were guided into the big house and, for Yuuri’s benefit rather than Viktor’s, Svetlana pointed out the sitting room, the kitchen, the dining room, one of several bathrooms on their way to the room Viktor and Yuuri would be staying in. 

“So this is your room here, feel free to unpack and explore the manor. Just a quick warning, someone is already here-”

“Wait, Mama” Even Viktor seemed shocked. “Who else is here? I thought Yuuri and I were the first ones coming?”

“Little Yurachka and his boyfriend got here an hour before you. They were visiting Nikolai in Moscow and came straight here.” The silver haired woman shrugged. 

“I...I see…”

“We’ll call you when lunch is ready!” 

The two of them watched Svetlana sweep away, her long skirt brushing the floor as if she hadn’t just dropped a bombshell on her son. Viktor stared after his mother with wide eyes, before turning to his fiance, then to the door. He really did look confused.

“So uh...shall we go in?” Yuuri opened the door to their room, trying to provoke a reaction.

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry about that, I wasn’t prepared-”

“For Yuri to be here? You knew he’d be coming, so what that’s it’s a little early?”

“No it’s not that...the fact that Little Yurachka has a boyfriend...and didn’t tell us…” Viktor sighed, sitting down on their bed.

“We aren’t his parents, Vitya. You may be his cousin, but he doesn’t have to tell us everything about himself.” Deciding against telling his fiance that Yurio had told him months ago.

Yuuri pressed his lips to his fiance’s, and would have been happy to keep kissing him until a knock from the door disrupted them, followed by Svetlana’s voice. 

“Viten’ka? Yuuri? Lunch is ready!” 

“Dammit…” Viktor sighed, chuckling. “Be right there Мama!” 

“Is she always like this?”

“A massive cockblock? Yeah, yeah she is. But if we don’t go now she’ll only come back and bust the door down.” He chuckled, taking Yuuri’s hand and guiding him back towards the dining room.

The Japanese man figured he would never get used to seeing how big this house was, and the fact that Viktor grew up in it. He would have brought school friends home, he would have learned to walk, Svetlana would have braided his hair...he would have had his whole childhood here. As they entered the dining room, Zinovia and Matvey were both absent, probably in the kitchen, while Svetlana was talking to Yurio and…

“Altin?!” Viktor choked on his tongue.

“Stop shouting idiot!” Yurio hissed, scowling from across the table.

“It’s nice to see you again Otabek.” Yuuri ignored the other two, noticing the Kazakh boy’s discomfort.

“Ah...you too Mr Katsuki.” He smiled warmly. 

“Now now Viten’ka, indoor voice please. Yuuri, sit down. Zin and Matvey should be through shortly with lunch. You and Otabek are very alike, he is also very stiff and overly polite.”

“Маma please…” Viktor whined, sitting down across from Yuri.

“Stupid old man.” The teenager mumbled, crossing his arms.

Zinovia soon disrupted the argument by bringing out lunch with Matvey, some sort of soup Yuuri didn’t actually recognise. He knew it was soup, but Viktor never really told him the names of Russian food, just what was in it. Noticing his confusion, Zinovia smiled softly and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s called Solyanka. Beef, Cabbage, Celery, Carrots, Kabanosy Sausage...those are the main things yes, Matvey?”

“Yep.” The man nodded, sitting down on one side of Svetlana.

Once Zinovia sat down on her wife’s other side, the seven of them started to eat, the older trio discussed who was coming and at what time they were arriving. The Japanese man heard a lot of names, but he got so overwhelmed by the number of them that he tuned out and tried to focus on Viktor’s conversation, but his fiance wasn’t speaking. Just staring at the teenager across from him. 

“Viktor?” Yuuri poked him, knowing Viktor wanted to talk to the blonde. “You’re staring.” 

“I just...Otabek’s turning 19 soon, and Yura’s barely 16. Isn’t it a bit of an age gap?” He sighed, earning a deep scowl from the blonde.

“It’s less than three years. There’s four between you and Katsudon, so don’t start that shit with me.” He growled.

Yuuri was vaguely aware of Svetlana telling him to watch his language, but the poor woman was effectively ignored by both her son and her nephew. The conversation seemed to go in circles, even Otabek who’d tried to interject a couple of times fell silent. Eventually though...it seemed Svetlana had enough.

“Both of you shut up now! Viktor, Yuri’s relationship isn’t your concern, he knows what he’s doing. Yura, don’t antagonize Viktor, you know he just cares about you.” The woman shouted, standing up and commanding the room.

Otabek opened his mouth to say something, but must have thought better of it. Instead he rested his hand on top of his boyfriend’s, tracing circles into his skin. It obviously calmed the teenager, and he relaxed back into his chair. Sure there was quite a gap in age, but Yuuri could tell the Kazakh boy cared far too much about his boyfriend to take advantage of him.

“Well, now that the children have calmed down, Yuuri, would you like to see some baby pictures of our little Viten’ka?” Zinovia smiled, happy that her wife had de-escalated the situation.

Despite Viktor’s persistent whining, Viktor’s parents took the Japanese man and led him into the sitting room, and they spent the rest of the evening making him feel very much like a part of the family. Yuuri was starting to really feel comfortable among the Nikiforov’s, even Yuri was taking part (mainly to tease Viktor) by telling stories from when they were younger. 

They went to bed that night, feeling happier than he had that morning. Viktor would have apparently loved to do anything and everything to him that night, but their room was unfortunately placed directly between Yuri’s and his parents so...there was no love-making that night. And yet...Yuuri found himself not minding, he was happy to just fall asleep in his fiance’s arms.

***

Watching all of Viktor’s family members file into the house was...unbelievably overwhelming. There were men, women, children, Yuuri was 99% certain a Drag Queen came up to him and gave him a rib crushing hug. Once the lady moved away, Viktor rested a hand on his fiance’s shoulder.

“Ah. Aunt Margarita...a bit intense isn’t she? It comes with being an entertainer I think. She doesn’t usually come in Drag though.”

“She’d get on well with Minako.” The Japanese man chuckled, noticing how she immediately started drinking.

Soon Viktor decided that everyone who was coming was here; shutting the door as Yuuri sighed with relief. There weren’t as many people as the picture Viktor had showed, but still enough to leave him breathless.

“You did well, love. I told you they’d all love you! They loved watching you ska-” The Russian cut himself off, eyes widening.

“They WHAT!?” 

“My...my entire family may have gotten together for the Grand Prix...and every other event we were in…”

“Oh my god, Viktor!”

“You’ve just seen what they were like!”

Yuuri sighed and rolled his eyes, pressing a gentle kiss to his pale cheek. The two of them made their way into the living room, the sofas and coffee tables had been pushed to the wall as Svetlana, Zinovia and Matvey called everyone’s attention. The three of them were definitely the leaders of the Nikiforov clan.

“Welcome all of you, thank you for once again taking time out of your busy schedules to be here with us.” Matvey started.

“You may have noticed the three of us, Viktor, and little Yurachka have been speaking in English, well we’d appreciate it if you all tried your best to do the same. This is because Viktor is accompanied by his Japanese fiance, Yuuri, who is still learning.” Zinovia sent a small smile his way.

“That being said, please enjoy the weekend, catch up with everyone and relax. Dinner will be ready in 2 hours!” Svetlana ended the speech, smiling at her family.

Yuuri, and he was pretty sure Otabek, jumped out of his skin, as everyone in the room cheered for the trio in front of them. Once the clapping died down, it properly dawned on Yuuri that he was now facing two hours of meeting Viktor’s family.

“Oh lord…” The dark haired man whispered.

***

An hour passed, and Yuuri had lost not only count of who he’d spoken to, but he’d also lost sight of Viktor. His fiance had promised that he would stay by Yuuri’s side, however the Japanese man had no idea when Viktor had vanished. In the end, he could feel anxiety clawing up his throat, so he found a spot on the wall and stuck to it. Even Yuri and Otabek were nowhere to be seen for some sort of comfort.

“Maybe this was a mistake…” Yuuri mumbled, remembering how he had another day and a half of this.

“Was it really?” A soft but familiar voice suddenly came from next to him.

“Svetlana-san…?” He gasped, slipping into habitual formalities.

“Please, just call me Svetlana. You are part of our family now.” She smiled brightly. “You’re looking a little out of it, are you alright?”

“Just...a little overwhelmed...I um...don’t know if Viktor told you but I-”

“Have anxiety. I know.” The silver haired woman nodded. “No he didn’t, but I worked it out when I saw you. I struggle with it too.” 

“I wouldn’t have guessed. You seem so confident.” Yuuri looked at her with wide eyes.

“I deal with it the same way you do. I dance.” 

In a moment of clarity, Yuuri realised where he had seen Svetlana before. When he was younger, Minako had shown him videos of a sliver haired dancer she really admired, and the Japanese man had been in awe of her grace and beauty. He’d always thought how Viktor looked like the woman when he had long hair, but for some reason he never put two and two together.

“You’re Svetlana Kozlova...Prima at the Mariinsky Ballet! My Ballet teacher, Minako Okukawa, adores you! She always used to show me videos of you to copy!” 

“Oh wow, you’ll have to introduce us! She was also a dancer, yes? The name Okukawa sounds familiar.”

“I think she’d actually start crying if I’m honest.”

The two of them laughed together, and Yuuri finally started to feel comfortable in this room full of people. He and Svetlana talked some more about dancing, how she and Zinovia met, how the two of them and Matvey were actually in a polyamorous relationship a year before Viktor was born, and he felt he knew the family a lot better now. 

At one point, he got to meet Viktor’s Aunt Kira who, upon seeing him, burst into a stream of quick Japanese that even he struggled to understand. A very thick accent, it sounded like she came from Hokkaido but he didn’t get a chance to ask. Once she calmed down and started speaking to him in English, he discovered that she’d been watching and supporting his skating for years, even before Viktor had burst into his life. 

“I loved your program the year before last, I actually started crying when you came 6th. You deserved so much better!” She gripped his hand, and smiled.

“Wow! Thank you so much for your support!” 

“Alright everyone! Dinner’s ready!” Matvey called from the hallway. 

Svetlana smiled and guided Yuuri with her, keeping a hand on his arm to make sure he didn’t get lost in the flow of people. It was then that Yuuri understood why the table in the Nikiforov house was so big when there were usually only three people. It was days like today, when the entire family got together. The silver haired woman sat Yuuri down on her left side, where he figured Viktor would usually sit, while the other two parents took the other seats on her right, Zinovia taking her place at the head in the middle. 

There was so much food on the table that Yuuri was convinced that they had some sort of kitchen staff to help them, as there was no way that two or three people could make it all on their own. Even more so, Yuuri noticed there wasn’t just typical Russian floor on the table, but several Japanese dishes including…

“Is that…” He whispered.

“Pork cutlet bowl? Yes! Viktor told us to make it since it was your favourite, I can’t wait to try it!”

Yuuri opened his mouth to thank her, but he suddenly had a weight pressing down on his back that was too familiar to cause a panic. Viktor squeezed him tightly in a hug, a quiet whine escaping his lips when he realised Yuuri had taken his usual place since his mother wanted to keep talking to him. Before the group could start eating however, Matvey called their attention.

“Alright everyone, exchange winnings.” The older man had a small smirk on his face.

“Exchange? Matvey you literally won over eight hundred thousand rubles on your own!” Margarita hissed, handing money to the guy next to her.

“Wait...exchanging money?” Yuuri looked to Viktor, who also seemed confused.

“ Papa? What are you talking about?”

“Your father started a betting pool as to who you’d turn up with. I believe most of them believed you’d bring Chris, someone suggested JJ. I think Matvey was the only one who bet on Yuuri.” 

“Stop betting on my love life! Why don’t you do this with Yuri!” Viktor whined.

Yuuri wasn’t too sure how to feel about this development, but he decided to focus on his food instead, not to getting involved in what was going on around him. Although, he did find it quite funny that Viktor’s family was betting on who he’d bring home, it seemed very fitting for his fiance.

By the end of dinner, people couldn’t get over how amazing the Pork Cutlet Bowl was, and Zinovia even demanded that he get the proper recipe off his mother one day. He knew that if they thought this was good, Yuuri couldn’t wait to see their faces when they tried his mother’s.

***

By the end of the weekend, Yuuri was in dire need of some alone time...maybe Viktor being the only person he really wanted near him. It had been great to get to know his fiance’s family, but there were so many of them, and they were all so loud and extroverted...he really just needed some peace and quiet. 

Svetlana, Zinovia and Matvey had been really understanding about his need for time to himself, letting him sleep in on the sunday till midday, then making sure he had time to recover by himself with various family members checking on him one by one.

“I know, they’re a bit much right?” Yuri sighed, sitting on the bed with him.

“You do this every year?” The older man chuckled dryly.

“Yeah, but that’s because I’m used to it, this is your first time here. The old man’s parents are great about things like this though, so you don’t need to worry.” 

“You and Vitya have a really great family.” Yuuri sighed after a moment of silence.

“Yeah well you’re one of us now, Mr Katuski-Nikiforov.” 

“Oh god, I’m not ready to go by that name yet.” He laughed, watching the way Yuri’s face lit up.

“Well that’s your name now!”

“Do you want me to start calling you Yuri Altin-Plisetsky?” 

“We’re dating! It’s not like we’re even thinking about getting married.”

Before Yuuri could retort to that, Viktor burst into the room whining about having to say goodbye to everyone with his parents, very much like a teenager would. Sometimes it was difficult to remember that Viktor was 27 and Yuri was 16, and Viktor is the adult of the two. 

“Yuri…! How come you didn’t have to say goodbye to everyone~!” The older man whined, flopping down onto the bed.

“Not my fault you’re the son of the matriarch is it?” The blonde poked his cousin.

Yuuri chuckled and watched the two interact, knowing that this was going to be his life in Russia now. Whether that was here at the Nikiforov estate, or at the rink during practice, this was going to become normal. 

And Yuuri was glad for it.