SkyGem's Retirement AU Inspired Verse

A Collection of Connected Yuri On Ice Fics

[elspethhaleretiremenau]

It’s Always the Quiet Ones

The only saving grace about his Japanese 101 class was the fact that he wasn’t the only one suffering due to the early hour.  Whatever sick mind had scheduled the class at 8:15 in the morning clearly had no idea how college students worked.  Still, it definitely wasn’t going to be Luke’s favorite class due to the time slot, even if he was excited to be finally able to take Japanese.

He couldn’t help his eyes glazing over as their professor went over the syllabus.  It wasn’t like he hadn’t heard this sort of thing a dozen times before.  Though his ears did perk up when he heard:

“This year we’re lucky enough to have two TAs for the class so we’ll be splitting you up into two groups for tutoring.”  Professor Yukimura waved a hand at to people sitting in the front row.

The first was a woman in a bright yellow jumper dress and a brown shirt hopped to her feet with a big smile.  “Ohayo!  I’m Yasuko Ishikawa.  Please call me Yasuko-sensei.  I’m looking forward to working with all.”

The man sitting next to her was much more subdued.  Dressed in jeans, an oversized sweater, and glasses, he was also the textbook definition of adorkable.  Luke could already hear some of his classmates cooing over the man.

“My name is Yuri Katsuki.  You can call me Katsuki-sensei.” He smiled, and Luke had to admit that the man was more than a little charming.  “I hope you will work hard and enjoy learning Japanese.”

There were identical sighs from either side of Luke.  The woman two seats down from him rolled her eyes.

“You’ll get your assignments of what study groups you’re in at the end of class today.” Professor Yukimura announced.  “For now, please get into groups of four and practice the introduction dialogue in chapter one of your textbook.  The TAs and I will be coming around to give you a hand.”

Luke found himself in a group with the eye roller who introduced herself as Astin as well as two of the sighers, Mia and Rene.  It was a little awkward actually getting to work because all Mia and Rene wanted to do it seemed was gush about Katsuki-sensei.

“You do realize that he’s wearing a ring,” Astin pointed out as she read over their assignment.

“But it’s on his right hand.  It’s probably just a fashion thing,” Mia pointed out.

Astin rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Luke.  “Please tell me that you at least are willing to pretend to pay attention to what we’re actually supposed to be doing.”

So the two of them worked their way through Chapter One’s scripts, stumbling a little over some of the pronunciation.  On occasions, Mia and Rene joined them, but it quickly became clear to Luke that he and Astin were far more serious about actually studying than their compatriots.  And then Katsuki-sensei wandered over to their group.

He frowned a little when he noticed that it was Astin and Luke that were doing most of the studying.  He gave Rene and Mia a disappointed look that honestly made Luke feel a little bad for not doing more to make them actually study.

“Are you having trouble with the material?”

Both Rene and Mia looked at him with wide eyes then shook their heads.  Katsuki-sensei nodded.

“Then you should get to work.  We’re going to be moving pretty quickly through the material, and while I’ll do my best to help students, I expect them to put in equal effort.”

He wandered off, and Luke and Astin shared a look even as both Mia and Rene scrambled for their textbooks.  It was going to be an interesting term.

[elspethhaleretiremenau]

How to Mentor an Angry Kitten

Astin had a dozen things to do before classes started next week, and she was looking forward to crossing this one off her list.  Mentoring a first year architecture student sounded good on paper, but Astin had a full course load and was competing for an internship amongst other things.  Plus, she knew the only reason she’d been assigned her student was because they were both international students.  Other than that she didn’t know if they had anything in common besides being architecture students.

Glancing around the coffee shop, Astin wasn’t even sure what to be looking for. Yuri Plisetsky was a Russian first year architecture major at UW.  The profile that Astin had been provided with didn’t have much more information than that.  The response she had gotten to her email about setting up their first meeting had just been a suggestion of a time and a place.  With a sigh, she made her way towards the counter.  Caffeine first, then she would find her wayward mentee.

It didn’t take long for her tea latte to be ready.  And when her named was called out, a blond man at one of the tables started looking around.  Figuring that that must be her mentee, Astin headed on over.  Yuri Plisetsky was not at all what she had pictured.  Tall and slender, he had masses of blond hair pulled into elaborate braids and a scowl on his face.

“You’re Astin?  Look, I don’t really have time for this mentor thing.  I only signed up because the old man thought it was a good idea, and--”

“Great.” Astin cut him off as she slid into the seat across from him.  “I don’t really have time for this either.  I’ve got a crazy course load this term and an internship to win.  So, we’re required to meet once a month, but that’s it.  Does that work for you?”

He snapped his mouth shut, and Astin bit back a grin.  It seems like her mentee was expecting an argument.

“That will work.”

“Good.  Did you bring your schedule?”

He handed it over.  A quick scan made her eyes widen.

“I’d say you’re crazy with this course load, but then mine’s not better.  Still, you managed to avoid most of the pitfalls.  Drake’s a good intro teacher.  Never take anything from Dr. Horner if you can help it.  He’s the worst.  What’s with all the dance classes?”

“Double major.”

Astin shrugged.  “Your funeral.  You won’t have much free time.”

“I’m used to that.”

The conversation turner to the various professors in the department, and Yuri seemed to gradually relax.  He reminded her of one of her Dad’s cats to be honest.  Puffing up in anger one moment only to be purring the next.  And at least Yuri was intelligent.  She’d been worried she’d get stuck with an idiot.  Yuri certainly wasn’t that.  He was sarcastic and abrasive, but Astin was that herself at times. 

“Let me know if anyone in the program gives you a hard time.  We’ve spent a lot of time and effort to try and curb any sort of student culture that leads to harassment.  However, idiots are still admitted to the school at times.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“I’m sure you can.  I just want to be able to throw the official weight of the student organization behind you if need be.”

“Fine.”

“I’ll let you find your own study spots, but if you ever need a quiet place to study, let me know, and I’ll try and hook you up.  I assume you’re in the dorms this year and roommates can be the worst.”

“I’ve barely seen mine so far, so we’ll see.”

Astin nodded.  “What kind of dance do you specialize in?”

“Ballet.”  

There was a challenge in her reply that she ignored.  “There’s a class focusing on athletics architecture that you might want to take when you get to the upper level courses.  I bet you could bring some interesting perspectives to it.  I think the research is a little too focused on giant arenas and certain types of sports.”

Yuri grinned at her, and she smiled back.  This might work out after all.

[elspethhaleretiremenau]

How to Choose a Home

Victor wasn’t exactly thrilled to be doing this on his own.  He’d much rather have both the Yuris with him to pick out their new home, but his husband was still in Russian working on sorting out all of the younger Yuri’s paperwork for the move to America.  So that left Victor on his own.  And he wasn’t doing too well.

The realtor had shown him four houses so far, and none of them had seemed like a good place to settle.  The three of them would be in Seattle for at least two or three years, and Victor wanted a place that all three of them would like.  Even if Yura would be living in the dorms most of the time, Victor was pretty certain that he’d be over on weekends at the very least.  Besides, they had promised he could get a kitten once he’d arrived in the States.

Biting back a sigh, Victor followed the realtor as she led the way to the next house.  While she had come highly recommended, the woman was a bit aggressive, and their nonstop pace made it hard for Victor to keep the various houses straight at times.  They were in a new neighborhood for this one, closer to the university this time but farther from the rink that they would be using.  Still, Victor had liked the park that he’d spotted nearby, and they were near several bus routes.  The house itself was set back in a cul de sac, and it had some yard around it which was good.

“As you can see, Mr. Nikiforov, this house has much more of a yard than the others.  I know that was one of your concerns.  It also has a detached addition in the back that can be used as a fourth bedroom or converted into some sort of studio.”

Now that could be nice.  Both his Yuris would enjoy having a private dance studio, especially since they wouldn’t have the rink to themselves here.  And so far, Victor did like the house.  It would need to be redecorated, but it might work. He snapped a few pictures of the interior to send to Yuri and Yura.  There were three bedrooms, the kitchen looked nice and modern, and there was even a fireplace.  

He got a text back from Yuri almost immediately.  Yurio thinks this one at least makes sense but wants to know why there are wine bottles in the laundry room.

Victor bit back a laugh.  “Can I see the addition?”

The realtor smiled.  

“Of course!” she chirped.

The addition had potential.  It was actually two stories and currently done up like a mother-in-law apartment, but it wouldn’t take too much work to turn it into a dance studio.  The house wasn’t perfect, but it was better than anything else Victor had seen all day.  To be honest, at this point all he really wanted to do was to get arrangements made, so he could go back home.  Not that St. Petersburg would be home for much longer, but at this point, home was wherever Victor’s husband and his dog were.

“I have another few houses I can show you as well that I think will suit your needs a little bit better.  I only showed the others since they were in the area you said you wanted to live in, but I’m sure you can tell you’d be better off--”

Victor bit his lip as he tuned her out.  Another few hours with this woman, and he was going to go crazy.  Really,when all was said and done it was just a house.  Beyond their basic requirements, all he and Yuri really needed was each other and their dog.  What would make it perfect was the people he was sharing the space with.

“Actually, I think I’ll take this one.  It should do nicely.”

Besides, Yura would complain no matter what house Victor picked out.  This one would be just fine.

[elspethhaleretiremenau]

Of Kittens and Bikers

Nora wasn’t expecting much in the way of work for this shift.  But working at a high end cat store paid for all her textbooks, and there were always kittens to play with.  There were worse college jobs.   Weekdays mid-mornings were almost always dead, which meant that she got to study while on shift.  Not that a speciality cat boutique ever got extremely busy.  So she definitely wasn’t expecting a motorcycle to park itself right in front of the pet shop or for the two leather clad bikers to wander inside the shop.  Still, a customer was a customer, even if they were odd ones.

The pair quietly made their way around the shop, looking at the various cats and giving Nora a chance to size them up.  The taller one was more of what she expected from a biker: tallish, sturdily built, with dark hair in an undercut.  The other one was nearly the same height, though he was much more slender.  His long hair was done up in some intricate braids which Nora could only envy.  She was lucky if her basic braid came together. He was dressed in leopard print under his leather jacket and seemed completely enamored by the fluffy Ragdoll kittens.

Nora sat up a little straighter as the first man approached the counter.  “How can I help you today?”

“We’re looking at adopting a kitten.  Probably one of the fluffy ones that Yura’s cooing over.”

Nora nodded.  “Right.   I’m assuming that you’re looking for just a pet since we specialize in kittens that are for some reason not show quality.  So, all of that litter has been both spayed or neutered, and they’ve had their shots.  They’ve also all been micro-chipped.  Have you had a cat before?”

The man nodded.  “Yura has.  His previous cat was also a long hair, so he knows how to brush them and all that.”

“Good.  So, we do require a down-payment which is half of the total cost and a twenty-four hour waiting period before you take a kitten home.  There also a fair amount of paperwork to fill out.  Would you like to get started with that?”

“Yes, please.”

By the time that she had hunted up the adoption paperwork, the blond had joined the other man, and they were speaking softly in a language that Nora didn’t recognized.  The smallest of the ragdoll kittens was cradled in the blond’s arms, looking supremely content with the petting she was getting.

“Have you made your choice then?”

The blond nodded not even taking his eyes off the cat in his arms.  Nora smiled.

“So, I’ll need to borrow her for a moment to get the microchip information.  If you want, you can pick a collar and a tag for her.  We can engrave it with her name if you have one picked out, and she’ll be all ready to go tomorrow.”

“Sasha.  Her name is Sasha.”  And he dropped a kiss on her furry head before handing her over.

Nora nodded.  “Sasha it is.  I’ll make sure that gets on the paperwork.”

Despite the fact that Sasha was a rather squirmy kitten, Nora managed to scan her microchip and get all the relevant information recorded by the time that the blond had picked out a dark red collar and a heart shaped gold tag.  Nora quickly got the collar on the kitten before passing her back to the young man.

“All right.  That just leaves signing the paperwork and the down-payment, and then you two are good to go.  You’ll be able to take Sasha home tomorrow afternoon.  Who’s paying?”

“I am.” Both of them said at once.

Nora bit her lip as the blond glared at his boyfriend.  At least she was assuming they were boyfriends.  The two of them exploded into a heated exchange in a language she couldn’t follow.  Finally, the dark haired one pulled out his wallet while the blond pouted.  She ran the credit card quickly and handed it back with a smile.

“You’re all set.  Sasha will be ready to go tomorrow afternoon.  Do you have any questions?”

The two shared a look, but the dark haired one shook his head.

“I think we’re good.  Thanks for your help.”

The blond spent close to five minutes petting Sasha and saying goodbye to the kitten before he finally let his boyfriend drag him out of the store.  Nora just smiled and shook her head as she returned Sasha to the rest of her littermates.  Her roommate was not going to believe this.  Biker boyfriends adopting kittens.  At least she could say that work today wasn’t boring.