August 14th, 2025- 26 Weeks- Two Weeks Later

Yuuri's POV 1st Person

"Can I do it? Can I do it?" I laugh as my daughter's excited shining face peeks at me from the back seat. Victor looks at me and grins, finding, as I do, Maria's excitement adorable. 

"Yes, you can," He reaches back and ruffles her hair, earning him an offended huff as she flattens it once again. 

"I'm too old for that Dad," She looks at him reprovingly with her arms crossed.

"You should have known better," I mock scold my husband who gasps melodramatically, 

"You're ganging up on me! This isn't fair!" We laugh at his indignant face as we pull into the driveway. Victor's about to say something else but is cut off by Maria, far too excited to pay any attention to her father.

"We're here!" She squeals as we get out of the car, carefully selecting the right envelope from her pile and racing to the door.

"Now remember what we did last time okay?" I tell her and she nods with a happy little smile on her face as she rings the doorbell. We've been going door to door inviting people to her birthday party tomorrow, and she's really enjoying doing so. While I asked everyone two weeks ago to be sure they could come, we've decided to keep this fact from Maria, not wanting to spoil her fun.

The excited little girl dances before the door, impatiently waiting for it to be opened with the card in her hand. Victor and I stand just behind her, previously having been told off for micromanaging her, or in her words 'treating her like a baby.'

At last, the door opens, revealing Yurio behind it, who looks surprised to see the little girl. He also looks, well, big. "Do you wanna come to my birthday party!" Maria asks him, thrusting the invitation up so he can take it. He laughs and accepts the card, Otabek appearing behind him,

"We'd love to," He says and gives her a one-armed hug, opening the card with the other hand. He seems amused when he reads its contents, for, written inside in pink glitter pen is; 

You are Invited to Maria's 7th Birthday Party! 

Today at 3:00

The Ice Rink

Accompanied by about 10,000 stickers and a few drawings. Maria insisted in hand-copying each invitation, practicing her handwriting before carefully printing the text and signing her name,

Maria,

At the bottom.

"So you'll come?" Maria asks him, practically bouncing up and down in excitement, a quality she got from Victor. Yurio nods, "Skates and all?" She actually leaves the ground, 

"Skates and all," Yurio confirms mock seriously, giving her another hug. "See you then!"

"Bye!" She says and scampers away, excited to deliver the rest of the invitations. I give them a short wave, which they return before shutting the door. We follow our excited seven-year-old to the car. God, where has time gone?

Yurio's POV 1st Person (A few seconds later)

I close the door and turn to my husband, laughing. "This is so cute, look at the stickers," I point to one of a puppy wearing sunglasses and a party hat, "I can't believe she's seven already,"

"Me neither," He agrees, "It's like just yesterday she was three and following Makkachin around. But Yuri-" he hesitates slightly, "The party's skating," 

"So?" I ask him, momentarily missing the point, "Oh." I consider for a second, "I did promise her, that I'd skate" Looking down at the issue at hand, I place one on it, "I think it'll be fine, I won't actually be doing anything," Otabek nods but looks slightly worried even so. 

***

I walk into the rink carrying Maria's present and pulling my skate bag along the ground. It's weird to be back, de ja vu even. It feels so perfectly normal, the rink is my home after all, but it also seems off, like putting the wrong shoe on the wrong foot. We weave through the mingling children and parents all in the various stages of putting on rented skates. Victor and Yuuri were determined not to force Maria into skating, waiting for her to suggest it o her own and being careful not to seem too excited when she loved it. She's been taking lessons at the rink and is the best in her class, already nailing three of the harder jumps. She even says she wants to go competitive, but her parents are hesitant, making her wait another year so she's sure, although she insists she is. 

We drop the gift bag on the table set up in the entrance and head to the locker rooms, then stop. "Are we supposed to go in there?" I ask Otabek, "We're not exactly stretching or anything," We make do with the benches in the hall and sit down to put on our skates. I pause in the middle of tightening mine, getting the weird de ja vu feeling again. I don't really need to tighten them and undo what I've just done, making them sufficiently tight but not crushing the way I normally would. 

"Let's go!" I hear Maria's excited squeal and look up to find the seven-year-old standing in front of us, "Come on!" She grabs Otabek's hand and starts leading him out onto the ice. I trail behind and try not to laugh as he's pulled, bent double, and almost running, after his overzealous captor. 

We wait until everyone else gets on the ice before we go on, removing our guards and dodging the people struggling around on their blades. Mila, Chris, and Georgi stand on the other side of the rink and we make our way towards them. We join them at the wall and are greeted enthusiastically by Mila. She's always seen herself as my older sister, much as Victor and Yuuri see themselves as my parents, and never fails to annoy me by doing so.

"Yuri! I haven't seen you in forever, how's it going?" She asks me and gives m a hug, which I hastily wriggle out of.

"I'm fine," I say, embarrassed,

"I'm sure," She says smiling and eyeing my bump, though thankfully lets the subject rest and the others have the decency to ignore it. They get distracted and begin talking about the upcoming competitions and I divert my attention, not wanting to seem too interested as I no longer have a first-hand reason to be. I let my gaze wander and follow the small class Yuuri's teaching, finding Maria showing off happily, doing her little toe loop to the ooh's and ah's of her friends. Most of them seem to have never been on the ice before, and the adults aren't doing much better, Victor and Yuuri have their hands full making sure no one wipes out. I even dart out at one point and catch a little girl as she goes careening toward the ice after she trips over her toe pick, catching her just before she lands and restoring her to her feet. She turns bright red at this, 

"Thanks," She says and scurries off, this time remaining upright. I return to the wall and find Maria skating over towards our little cluster, 

"Watch my Flip!" She calls at us and we dutifully turn our attention to the center as she executes the shaky jump. We clap and she bows, looking excited and pleased with herself. "Auntie Mila, will you come do yours?" She asks and Mila obliges, laughing and joining her in the middle. She does a triple Flip and is succeeded by Georgi, doing a triple Salchow. It soon becomes apparent that the skaters are performing for everyone else as we're called up one by one to do our 'fancy jumps.' After Victor touches down from his quad Flip (Maria was amazed to see that, as she knew he was good but failed to notice exactly how good) I'm summoned. "Uncle Yurio, will you do your jump?" She asks me and I start forward, then stop, knowing I can't. 

I shake my head, "Sorry Maria, not today," She looks crestfallen,

"Why?" She asks me and my heart wrenches as she begs, 

"How about I do it instead?" Otabek asks her, intervening and saving me from disappointing her further. She sighs and nods, looking dissatisfied but letting him do his quad Lutz, still watching me imploringly. Victor comes to her side and whispers something in her ear, successfully distracting her with the promise of,

"Cake!" She calls to the rink at large and everyone files off the ice, eagerly heading to the party room where said treat is waiting.

"Thanks," I mutter to my husband as he joins me in the queue.

"No problem," he says and kisses me, eliciting an;

"Aww!" From Mila, who, at my glare, promptly turns away and strikes up a conversation with someone's mom.

We fill the room and cake is distributed, the kids gobbling it down like excited puppies and the adults trying to 'get warm' after being on the ice for so long. Soon, the party's drawing to a close and everyone begins removing their skates. Otabek and I follow suit and return to our previous bench, wiping down our boots and blades and carefully stowing them in our bags. We're just walking out the door after saying goodbye to Maria (who paid us no attention as she was currently opening presents) when Yuuri stops me.

"Hey, Yurio," He says, and Otabek, seeing he isn't needed takes my bag and says he'll meet me in the car. "I'm so sorry Maria said that, she doesn't get it," 

"It's fine," I say, "She doesn't know any better, I'm just sorry I couldn't do my 'fancy jump' for her," I reply with air quotes around 'fancy jump.' He laughs, 

"Yeah, she can't quite remember things' names but I love how much she loves figure skating."

"I hope she does too," I nod and gesture to my bump, for a second not realizing why Yuuri's reacted the way he has.

"She?" He asks excitedly, smiling.

Shit.

"Yeah... She." I feel my face burn. Way to go dumbass, you told him. "We found out yesterday. Look, please don't say anything," I ask him, as close to begging as I'm willing to come, "We were going to wait and-" He nods cutting me off, still looking jubilant. I exit the rink, relieved but still pissed off at myself for slipping up like that. 

I meet Otabek in the car and am greeted with a curious smile, "What was that all about?" He asks me,

"Nothing important," I say and bite my lip, hesitating,

"What is it?" He asks me, looking concerned at once,

"I screwed up," I tell him, "I accidentally told Yuuri it's a she. I'm so sorry," I say quietly, the guilt raining down on me and I drop my head in my hands.

Otabek lifts my face to his, "It's okay," He says and smiles at me reassuringly, "It doesn't change anything, I'm not mad." 

"I'm so sorry," I say again, and he gives me a kiss,

"There's nothing to be sorry about," He tells me firmly and kindly, "I love you," 

"I love you too," I reply and can't help but feel exactly how lucky I am.