A prologue of sorts.

"You'll be going undercover," Nishigori told him.

His least four favorite words.

Immediately his handler was moving on, talking quickly before Yuuri could decline. "It's not going to be as bad as you're thinking. In fact, I would bet you'll probably like it."

"I'll never like it, no matter what," Yuuri replied definitively, crossing his arms in defiance.

"You don't even know what you're doing yet."

"Don't care."

"But Victor will be involved…" Nishigori trailed off, grinning when Yuuri froze.

"What?!" he asked nervously, the tips of his ears turning red. There was no doubt who his handler was talking about – Victor Nikiforov, the five-time world champion figure skater and arguably the man of his dreams. Everyone in the agency knew of the crush Yuuri harbored for the man. It had encouraged him to continue pursuing figure skating – recreationally – despite the rigor and demands of his job. Mentioning Victor was a surefire way to catch Yuuri's attention.

New that'd get you," the other man grinned, but then sobered quickly. "I'm sure you're familiar with the name Gruzdev," and hearing this Yuuri frowned, "so I won't give you the backstory, but we've got some new leads on his trafficking ring and long story short it's suspected the rink Victor practices at is involved."

Yuuri's eyes went wide in surprise and he took the packet of information Nishigori was sliding across the desk to him, opening it to flick briefly through as he kept talking. "We're pretty sure it's one of the faculty members they take with the team for events and such, but we haven't been able to narrow it down further than that."

"How do you know?" Yuuri asked, sparing a couple moments to look at the profiles they had come up with on possible suspects.

"We've tracked several movements from the ring that coincide with the events skaters from the team have attended," Nishigori answered.

"And so you need me to go undercover…for what exactly?" Yuuri asked skeptically, looking at his superior. "I don't have the qualifications to work for a skating team in any capacity, even as a skater."

"You won't be skating for them," Nishigori assured him. "Yuuko is putting the finishing touches on your backstory, since she'll be with you in the field." Yuuri quirked an eyebrow asking a silent question. Nishigori grinned. "The triplets are leaving for their first op a couple weeks after you are and I've been asked to supervise them."

"They are your protégés," Yuuri remarked. "You must be proud of their progress." There was a small smile on his face as he recalled the three newest agents in their program. Nishigori and Yuuko had taken them under their wing almost instantly, like their own mini family. Which kind of made him the cool older uncle, Yuuri speculated when he thought about it. They did seem to idolize him.

"Yuuko practically tears up every time she thinks about it," Nishigori replies with a laugh, which draws a chuckle out of Yuuri. "But anyways, you up for it? They want to get started ASAP, so if not let me know now so we can find someone else."

Yuuri raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Is there anyone else who could even remotely pull this off?" he asked disbelievingly. Nishigori grimaced and Yuuri sighed, leaning forward in his chair and pulling off his glasses to rub at his eyes. "Fine, I'll do it. And not because I may get to see Victor!" he added quickly when he saw the smirk growing on his comrade's face.

"Of course."

The smile didn't vanish and Yuuri scowled, standing. "I'm going to find Yuuko," he declared, turning to stomp out of the office.

"Have fun fangirling over Victor with her," Nishigori called out as he departed.

Yuuri grit his teeth and just barely refrained from slamming the door. He made his way to the elevators to head back to his floor and perhaps find Yuuko for more information. She was in her office when he knocked, greeting him with a cheery, "Yuuri!" as she stood to give him a hug. He endured it for a couple of moments before they separated and took their respective seats. "So I take it you just saw Takeshi," she began. He nodded. "So? Are you excited?" she gushed.

He shrugged halfheartedly, trying to seem less enthused than he really was. Yuuko saw right through it easily. "You know how I feel about working undercover," he whined before she could tease him. "Victor being there is not going to change anything," he grumbled.

"Don't be such a pessimist, Yuuri," Yuuko griped at her friend. "Victor is going to make everything better, you'll see."

"I'll still be going undercover," Yuuri pointed out. "You know how bad I am at acting. I get nervous."

"Which I still don't understand," Yuuko remarked, but she brushed it off. "But this will be better, trust me. You're not doing anything crazy. In fact, since you're gonna be skating for most of it you won't have to act like someone else!"

"But I won't be skating for all of it."

"Yuuri," Yuuko said, leaning forward to catch his gaze, "don't worry so much. I've got it all planned out, and I'll be there with you the entire time. You'll be fine."

He still wasn't fully convinced. "But this is really important, Yuuko. I can't afford to make mistakes."

"You won't." One of her hands reached out to gently ease the grip he had on the file Nishigori gave him. "This job is couldn't be more perfect for you if we planned it. And even if it weren't, you're one of our best agents." She gave him a look when he opened his mouth to deny it that had him shutting it with an audible snap. "Don't argue with me on this; I've seen your track record."

"I wasn't going to argue," Yuuri said quickly.

She shot him a suspicious look but then clapped her hands, brightening immediately. "Good! Now, I'm sure we've got plenty to discuss but that can all be done on the flight to Fukuoka. You need to pack."

"What?" Yuuri asked in surprise as Yuuko jumped up and immediately started trying to hustle him out of her office.

"We leave tomorrow morning, and we probably won't be back for a while so don't pack light," she continued. "Flight's at 8 am. Don't be late!"

He stumbled a little ways down the hall after she shoved him out her door and turned to see her waving happily. He managed a half-wave while fixing his glasses that had been knocked askew, wandering idly to his own office further down the hall. He puttered about inside, shuffling some papers around while his mind was still occupied with the information that had been dumped on him earlier that hour.

He glanced briefly at the clock to note the time, but then quickly jumped out of his chair and gathered his things. If he was going to be flying out tomorrow at 8 in the morning he needed to start packing hours ago. As it was, he knew he wasn't going to be getting much rest for the next couple of days.

I'm not sure what the hell I'm thinking starting up another chaptered story when I've got one I haven't updated in weeks, but here this is. I don't know when the next chapter will come out, tho honestly it probably won't be for a while but I'll try not to let it go too long. I still don't even know where I'm gonna go with this exactly.

Let me know what you think, I'd like to hear any feedback or (constructive) criticisms :)