Epilogue :) - Please check out my other stories if you liked this one!

2 hours later

Celestino and Yakov had said their goodbyes in the recovery room, promising to check up on Yuuri during his stay in the hospital. The way Celestino had patted Yuuri's knee and suggested they sit down to talk once Yuuri was better made his stomach curl in potentially unnecessary knots. If Celestino wanted to lecture him, he would have already done so, which left Yuuri with a stammering sense of unease despite Celestino's calm smile.

Victor had fussed endlessly once Yuuri was wheeled into the room which would be his home for the next four days. There was a sleeper chair next to Yuuri's bed and Victor promptly declared he would be camping out for the duration of Yuuri's hospital stay. Even feeling groggy and distinctly gross post-surgery, Yuuri pulled Victor into another grateful hug. He had sustained a number of injuries in his life, but had never spent the night in the hospital. Having Victor willing to stay with him made Yuuri relax even in the unfamiliar situation.

A commotion outside of his door had him immediately tensing again.

"Look, Chris, I don't care if they are lick-a-dick partners, Yuuri is my best friend, and I am going in there!" The partially-closed curtain flung fully open, revealing a determined Phichit and an apologetic Chris. "Katsuki, am I really so bad that you would rather die than let me play?"

Phichit's wry smile was an obvious sign of his true displeasure with Yuuri's decisions. Clearing his throat, Yuuri reached over to tug Victor's sleeve. "Do you think that you could pack a bag for me? I don't have any things here. My phone… clothes… nothing. Underwear would be nice." His throat still felt on the wrong side of raw making Yuuri wince with every word. Victor's hesitation was apparent, but Yuuri held his gaze trying to silently convey his reasoning.

"Come on," Chris let go of Phichit's hand and crossed the room to put an arm around Victor's shoulders. "Let's get you a shower and pack bags for you both. I'm sure you are placing yourself in the role of Yuuri's personal bedside nurse. Can't have someone else giving him sponge baths." Without letting Victor have a last kiss, Chris dragged him from the room whispering "good luck" in Yuuri's direction.

"Seat?" Yuuri waved a tentative hand toward the chairs around his bed, taking it as a good sign when Phichit chose to sit on the bed instead. "Are you mad at me Yuuri or other Yuuri?" He looked down at his hands as Phichit huffed. Other Yuuri usually showed up during high stress times, but mostly he reared his ugly, oblivious head in the middle of heated games, especially if those games came with painful emotional undertones.

"Both… neither… I'm not even mad."

There was a hitch in Phichit's sentence which drew Yuuri's attention from his fiddling fingers. He found tears hinting at the corners of Phichit's eyes and felt his stomach twist itself back into familiar knots.

"You're such a dumbass," Phichit threw himself forward, grabbing Yuuri's shoulders and squeezing him into a hug. "I mean, really, we already beat those guys once and you knew I would be okay. It isn't always up to you… not just you anyway."

A foggy memory of standing on the sideline, glaring at Yakov and Victor, speaking regrettable words about the game being his floated back into Yuuri's mind. Phichit was right, he was constantly taking the burden of winning and losing on himself, forgetting that he didn't have to shoulder it alone. Wrapping his left arm around Phichit's shoulders, Yuuri buried his forehead against his best friend's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I am sure you were incredible. I just… it was my last game… I will never put on that uniform again. The thought of not finishing it…. I don't know… it took over every part of my brain."

"What little brain you have," Phichit retorted without any malicious heat behind the statement. "Yuuri, I love you."

"I love you, too. And I'm sorry," Yuuri squeezed Phichit again, his chest constricting as he realized that this I love you wasn't a joke. He loved Victor in every way possible, but he loved Phichit too and that was just as important. Feeling himself becoming overwhelmed, a mixture of the dreariness still plaguing his body after surgery and the hurricane of emotions building inside of him, Yuuri decided a change of subject would be best for his sanity. "You know…" gently pushing Phichit back, Yuuri cocked his head to the side. "If you really love me, you'll tell me who won the game. No one else would!"

"I threatened them," Phichit shrugged, grinning when Yuuri wheezed out a laugh. "Death by social media massacre." His eyebrows wiggled as he rearranged himself on the bed at Yuuri's feet. "And how could you even doubt that we won? I, personally, was amazing…"

Laying back against his pillows, Yuuri couldn't help his face-splitting grin as Phichit began to excitedly retell every second of the last quarter of the game. With every detail and every exaggerated action noise, Yuuri let his sadness about not finishing his last game fade into the background. His time as the team's backbone had come to an end, leading the way to a time when Phichit would shine.

Every part of his heart knew that no matter what bittersweetness came with saying goodbye, it was worth it if Phichit was finally given his time in the spotlight. Smiling fondly as Phichit continued to give him the blow-by-blow of the game, Yuuri knew there was no one better than his best friend to take his place.

4 days later

The darkness was back, keeping Yuuri unstable and completely unaware of his surroundings. Sturdy hands on his shoulders were guiding him forward, steadying him every time he stumbled. Next to him, he felt Victor struggling in a similar fashion and reached down to blindly grope for Victor's hand.

"Why exactly are we blindfolded?" Yuuri asked. He had posed the question no less than five times since he had stood from his wheelchair in front of the hospital and eased himself into the back seat of Chris's car. The ache in his side was still a prevalent reminder of his own poor decisions, but he felt more human than he had in days.

"Because it is a surprise," Phichit responded, completely exasperated with Yuuri's refusal to simply play along. "Come on, a few more steps."

Yuuri let Phichit keep pushing him, smiling as he heard Victor leveling his own complaints in Chris's direction. Although he instinctually worried about Phichit's idea of a surprise, he recognized trusting Phichit had always been like a second nature.

"Alright! We're here!"

Chris's grand declaration interrupted Yuuri's thoughts and he blinked into the bright light of the hallway when his blindfold was torn from his eyes. "Our front door! It's what I always wanted!" Yuuri squealed sarcastically, slapping both of his hands to his cheeks and wincing at the slight pull of his stitches. He laughed when Phichit swatted his shoulder. "Hey, no harming the invalid," Yuuri said, nudging Phichit with his elbow.

"If we are all done with the snarky portion of our evening," sticking his tongue out at Yuuri, Phichit unlocked the front door and threw it open.

Victor and Yuuri exchanged dubious glances. "I don't get it," Victor deadpanned, looking over his shoulder to Chris for an explanation.

"Perhaps, my darling," Chris said with a crooked smile, "we should have kept their blindfolds on until we were inside." Shoving Victor's shoulder, Chris reached back to grab Yuuri gently by the wrist. "Go to Yuuri's bedroom, I'm sure you know the way." With a wink, Chris pushed Victor again, laughing when Victor reached back to pinch him.

Cautiously pushing open the door to his room, Yuuri immediately noticed two things. The first being that his desk was missing and the second being his jersey was hanging from the top of his closet door covered in the signatures of his teammates. Moving forward, Yuuri brushed his fingers on the ink names on the fabric, feeling tears beginning to prickle his eyes.

"They are retiring your number," Phichit said, throwing an arm over Yuuri's shoulders. "We thought you could have one signed jersey to save and your other jersey for… other activities." Yuuri's face flushed bright red as Phichit laughed in his ear.

"This is my bed," Victor remarked, his hand scratching his head as the other hung loosely at his side. "Why is my bed in Yuuri's room?"

"Because it isn't just Yuuri's anymore!" Phichit exclaimed, stepping away from Yuuri before throwing his arms wide. "Although your clothes aren't in here. I gave you my old closet, because damn man, for someone with a limited social life, you sure do have a lot of clothes."

Phichit stopped talking when Chris clamped a hand over his mouth. "Alright, let's show them the other room shall we?" Dragging a protesting Phichit backwards, Chris grinned back at them with a slightly manic smile. Shrugging at Victor, Yuuri took his hand and followed them.

"Welcome to…" Phichit performed a drumroll on the door, having wiggled out of Chris's grasp by biting his fingers. "Your new office!" Throwing open the second door, Phichit spun into the room. "Ta da!"

Yuuri's desk and Victor's desk sat against opposite walls, both of their computers clean and perfectly assembled in their new homes. Victor's thesis board hung on another wall, and underneath it ran a perfectly stacked book shelf complete with a plush cushion on top of it. It extended from one end of the room to the other, and was decorated with soft looking pillows.

"The book shelf was Chris's idea." Phichit plopped down on it, wiggling into the cushion. "And he built it. How hot is that?" He laughed when Chris smacked him in the face with a pillow.

"I'm confused," Yuuri thought out loud, spinning in a slow circle in the room. The living room had looked exactly the same, but the bedroom and this new office were clearly a merge of all his and Victor's things. There was not a hint of Phichit's existence left in their previously shared space.

"I believe…" Victor moved next to Yuuri and pulled him closer by the waist. "That we are now roommates."

"Oh my GOD! They are roommates!" Phichit feigned shock, giving Chris wide eyes as he dodged another strike by the pillow.

"Are you okay with this?" Victor asked, brushing Yuuri's bangs back from his forehead. "We can make them change it back if you aren't. Even with your injury, I think we can take them."

Yuuri's face broke into a brilliant smile, his laughter filling the room as he threw his arms over Victor's shoulders. "I'm okay with it as long as you are. I want nothing more than spending every night sleeping with you," he rolled his eyes when Chris whistled. "And waking up next to you every day sounds perfect to me."

"Plus it will prevent Victor from apparating into our apartment every two minutes to make sure I haven't let you die," Phichit commented from his place across the room. He snorted when Chris blew a loud raspberry against his cheek.

"Guess you're stuck with me now, huh?" Yuuri laughed, hugging Victor a little tighter.

"That is exactly where I want to be," Victor retorted, bending down to kiss Yuuri. Breaking the kiss, Victor leaned into Yuuri's ear and whispered, "Now I am going to go pummel them with pillows."

With Yuuri's happy laughter spurring him on, Victor leapt onto the bench next to Chris and proceeded to beat both of their best friends with one of their hand-chosen decorative pillows.

Nine days later

Suit perfectly pressed, presentation queued and ready to begin, note cards carefully cradled in his hand, Victor was ready for the defining moment of the last three years of his life. Every hour of fun sacrificed, every cup of coffee drank, every minute of sleep he didn't get had led him to this moment. Taking the tiny remote in his hand, Victor stepped away from his laptop, centering his attention on the people sitting in front of him.

When he had begun this entire process, the people he researched and the biology he studied was all two-dimensional. Every study, every filled notebook, and every piece of data had a purpose. At some point it had all become theories on a page, the element of the people who could benefit from his ideas vanishing as he became lost in the details.

Then Yuuri had appeared in his world. Yuuri and his love of dogs. Yuuri and his alarming addiction to all things fried potato. Yuuri and his determination to keep playing, even when his body wanted to fail.

It was through Yuuri that Victor remembered that he wasn't working with muscle groups and injured limbs. He was working with the captain of the field hockey team who was determined to be able to kneel to properly propose to her unsuspecting girlfriend. He was working with the wrestler whose back spasms were preventing him from sleeping and therefore risking his academic success. Yuuri had let Victor experiment on him, and he had also reminded Victor that he wasn't studying sports medicine, he was studying people and how to improve their quality of life.

His defense passed in a well-timed, strategic manner, of which Victor couldn't recall a single detail. Sitting in the hallway, the wooden bench hard underneath him and Yuuri warm next to him, Victor pressed his palms flat together and squeezed them with his knees. Telling himself to calm down, Victor felt his neck protest when he snapped it toward the opening door.

"Doctor," Yakov greeted him, his smile unable to be contained despite what appeared to be an uncomfortable attempt to do so.

Blanking, Victor stared at him, turning to blink at Yuuri when he began to shake Victor's shoulders. "Doctor," Yuuri whisper screamed, "Victor, you did it!"

He had an armful of Yuuri before the reality sank into his brain. Looking back at Yakov, Victor could feel his face shaping into something reluctantly hopeful.

"Doctor Nikiforov," Yakov repeated, smile finally breaking as he opened his arms. Victor felt Yuuri let him go, his body floating to where his mentor stood and happily accepting the offered hug.

Victor returned to the hallway once all the formalities were finished, scooping Yuuri into his arms and spinning him around. He kissed Yuuri as soon as his feet were back on the ground, feeling a swelling in his chest that he couldn't describe.

"Let's celebrate," Yuuri said, breathless from Victor's vigorous kisses. "You're already dressed up and it will only take me a few minutes to change. I'll take you to that sushi place you like." Laughing, Yuuri leaned back as Victor smushed their lips together again. "So, yes?" Yuuri asked, grinning as Victor excitedly nodded his head and came in for another kiss.

Nine days and six hours later

"Yuuri," Victor whispered, his nose smashed against Yuuri's face, the smell of alcohol leaking from every one of Victor's pores. "Yuuri, guess what…" Nuzzling into Yuuri's neck, Victor didn't resist his urge to nibble at the soft skin he found there.

"What," Yuuri giggled, only partially sober himself but not nearly as far gone as the newly minted doctor. He managed to get his key successfully into the lock and the door opened, dragging Victor in with him.

"We're going to be Dr. and Mr. Katsuki-Nikiforov someday, you know," Victor tried to wink, but most of the left side of his face was involved in the process. Throwing his jacket over the back of the couch, Victor almost fell when he turned around to attempt to dance while unbuttoning his shirt. "Come play doctor with me, Yuuri," Victor flirted, getting his tie stuck on his head as he stumbled backward toward the bedroom.

Shaking his head, Yuuri locked their front door and then followed the path of Victor's discarded clothes, feeling exceptionally glad that they had nowhere to be for the next several days. Victor had been genuinely surprised when they had arrived at the restaurant and Chris and Phichit had immediately thrown confetti in his face. JJ and Isabella came too, along with Mila, Georgi, and even Celestino. Yakov arrived long enough to slam down an alarming amount of vodka before declaring he was too old for this and leaving with a ridiculously drunk Celestino. Overall, it had been a perfect way to celebrate Victor's success, but Yuuri was looking forward to a little bit of private celebration as well.

Stepping into the bedroom, he discovered Victor lying like a starfish over their bed, his pants hanging from one ankle and both of his shoes still on. Soft snores were escaping from where Victor's face was jammed into their comforter. Biting his bottom lip so he wouldn't wake his sleeping beauty, Yuuri set about finishing the job Victor started and encouraging him to roll onto his own pillow.

They made sure to celebrate, in a number of creative ways, once Victor's hangover finally released him from its torturous grasp.

Six years later

"Coach!"

Yuuri turned to look over his shoulder, smiling as his favorite person walked across the field. "Doctor," he replied, tipping his chin up to receive a kiss from his husband.

"How are your recruits looking?" Victor placed a hand on Yuuri's waist, bumping their hips together and turning his attention to the field. One player stood out above the others, his passionate play and graceful moves reminding Victor very much of the man standing next to him. "Who is…" Victor stopped talking when a stream of curse words erupted from the young man, his eyes going wide as he glanced toward Yuuri. "Spirited," he commented, both eyebrows raised.

"His name is also Yuri," laughing, Yuuri looped his arm around Victor's waist and watched as Yuri chased Minami down the field, screeching as Minami continued to throw playful insults over his shoulder. "Wait until you see Minami's new hair," he said nodding toward his junior attackman as he dodged Yuri's swinging stick, "it is something straight out of Celestino's worst nightmares." He flinched when Yuri finally caught up to Minami, leveling a hit against his teammate that wouldn't be considered legal by even the blindest of refs.

Two young men dressed in the familiar polos worn by the trainers attempted to intervene when Yuri threw his helmet off and went to dive at Minami. On the field, Yuri froze, face inches away from the dark-haired boy who was holding him back. They separated suddenly, Yuri stumbling backwards over his own stick and the other boy stumbling seemingly over nothing.

"Hm," Victor pondered, bringing a finger to his lips. "It seems my newest intern may have just taken a liking to your firecracker. Perhaps we are seeing the birth of victuuri two point oh." He grinned when Yuuri elbowed him in the side.

"Celestino and Yakov would consider that sweet revenge," Yuuri smiled, thinking about his old coach. Celestino had been the one to give Yuuri the assistant coach's position and then happily recommended Yuuri to take over as head coach when he retired. Celestino had trusted him with his legacy and with his winning record and Yuuri had no plans to let him down.

Standing on the edge of the field where they had shared their first date, Yuuri let his head rest on Victor's shoulder, ignoring the quizzical looks they were receiving from his rookies. They would learn soon enough that there was a reason that their university held the bragging rights to highest winning average in collegiate lacrosse history. They would also learn to put up with the copious amounts of public affection enjoyed by the two men who made it possible.

Smiling when Victor pressed a kiss to his head, Yuuri sighed. Happiness was doing what he loved, with the man he loved, all possible because of the night that he wanted to pet a dog at a party. "We should take Rufus a steak," Yuuri said out loud, laughing along with Victor who kissed him again.

"Rufus the matchmaker," Victor chuckled, "we should definitely take him another steak."

With smiles on their faces, Victor and Yuuri stood on the sidelines, ready for another year and another chance to make history.

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