Chapter Text
Yuri’s eyes glossed over the man sitting across from him. He was wearing a fitting light gray suit with a blue striped tie, he was staring at Yuri, his stare was critical and sharp, he was saying something in a stern voice but Yuri didn’t need to listen fully he already knew what the outcome of all of this would be. He’d been sent to the principal's office a few other times but he had never gotten into an actual fight until today, there were never fights at his school or at least none that he’d ever seen.
His eyes traveled down to the bruises starting to form on his arms, he felt a little shaky from all the adrenaline still rushing through his system. He knew this was going to be the last straw for the school and he would probably be forced back to Russia by the end of the week.
Yuri went to an elite private school in Switzerland. The school was known for “harboring the talent” of the children of rich families. It wasn’t uncommon for his classmates to be the children of powerful political figures or even royalty from their respective countries. Yuri’s family was wealthy with oil money and were well known throughout Russia as philanthropists who donated to the sciences and arts whenever they could.
“Yuri, I know you’re not a bad kid” the man started, using a voice that sounded so fakely sympathetic that it made Yuri want to rip his hair out. “But... this kind of behavior is unacceptable in our school. We have a zero tolerance policy for fighting of any kind. I’m going to have to ask you to refrain from going to classes for the next few days and focus on packing up the things from your dorm.” When the principal stopped talking he stared at Yuri, waiting for a usual Yuri response but Yuri refrained from saying anything. “I’ll be contacting your grandparents soon to schedule your departure, you should probably go back to your dorm until dinner.”
“Alright.” He usually would have said something cutting or something mean to his principal. He really wanted to tell him that the fight wasn’t his fault or that the other kid deserved to be kicked out too. He wanted to yell or even throw a punch at the principal, he wanted to do something, anything, but he just got up from his chair, opened the door and walked through the empty hallway to his dorm.
He didn’t want to think about the conversation he was about to have with his grandparents once they found out what happened he didn’t want to defend himself he just wanted all of this to be over.
He was so worn out and his body felt heavy and hot. Once he got to his room he immediately feel asleep.
---
Yuri woke up to four missed calls, all of them were from his grandmother. He didn’t want to listen to the voicemails that were left on his phone, he knew they weren’t gonna be good. He needed to get all of this over with. He dialed his Grandmother's number and the phone rang for what felt like years before she finally answered.
“Yuri…” She was upset, he had heard his grandmother upset before but that was mostly in screaming or shouting but this was different it was quiet. She said his name softly as if she could barely get it out.
“I’m... sorry grandma”
“Y-Yuri…”
“I’m sorry”
“Why did you do this… you know how this is going to look to everyone.”
“I do, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to.”
“You know what you’re doing.” she said in a flat voice.
“What?”
“ you know what you’re doing… Yuri, you know me and your grandfather have had to deal with your father misbehaving at school and now… you’re acting just like him.”
Him. Yuri’s father. Viktor Nikiforov. The “eccentric international playboy”
Yuri and his dad weren’t close.
Yuri was born while Viktor was still in high school. Yuri’s grandparents didn’t want to think about or deal with their son they were worried about their own reputation more than their son and forced him to marry Yuri’s mother while she was still pregnant. A few months later after Viktor had graduated high school he told his parents that he couldn’t live in Russia with them anymore.
Viktor divorced Yuri’s mother and completely left the country. A few months after that Yuri’s mother decided she wanted to focus on her studies and decided to give up custody of her son left Yuri with his grandparents.
Yuri was too young to remember any of these things actually happening but his grandparents retold the stories so many times that they were forever ingrained into his memory. He could barely think about his father or his mother without thinking about how they both decided to leave him, when he was still a baby but even though Yuri lived with his grandparents his entire childhood he rarely saw them, he was raised almost exclusively by nannies. He rarely saw his grandparents on normal days.
Yuri’s 5th birthday was when his dad ever contacted him again. He sent a huge box filled with 15 different big cat stuffed animals and a letter. After that day he would get letters and boxes from his dad for most holidays. Yuri talked to his dad on the phone every few days or every few weeks but they never really got into deep conversations.
As Yuri grew older and Viktor still remained away his grandparents began to adamantly speak poorly of their son and the way he lived constantly saying things about how he “abandoned his son” or “was probably getting girls pregnant all over the globe”.
Once Yuri moved to Switzerland in middle school he started talking to his dad less, he spoke less to his grandparents too. Whenever his grandparents or his dad would call he would usually ignore it and eventually they all started to call less. When he came back for the summers he usually just kept to himself in his room. He stayed away from most of his family and he was doing well, he was happy (most of the time). He still talked to his dad every few months but their conversations didn’t mean anything, they still didn’t know each other and they probably never would.
He was disappointing his grandparents right now just like how his dad had disappointed them when Yuri was a baby.
“I am sorry.” There was no point in arguing, there was nothing he could say to make this situation better.
“Think about what you’ve done Yuri. You know how much pain your father has caused and it’s like you’re trying to emulate him, we raised you to be your own person yet you do this and act just like him”
“I’m… not acting like him.”
“Yuri! Listen to yourself you got in a fight at school, you kicked and punched him until the teacher had to pull you away from the other boy.”
“Y-You don’t understand h-he was-”
“It doesn’t matter what he was doing Yuri there will always be people in this life that you dislike, do you think that me or your grandfather beat up everyone we dislike, NO. That isn’t how civilized people behave Yuri.”
“But grandm-”
“I take back what i said. You aren’t acting like your father, your father had the good sense to leave. You hurt that boy even your father didn’t ever physically hurt anyone that badly. The other boy needs stitches Yuri. You know better than this, we raised you better than this.”
Yuri was so angry he could barely breathe. He was trying to protect himself and his grandmother was saying that he was worse than his dad, the person that Yuri knew his grandmother hated.
“I don’t know what we’re supposed to do with you Yuri, do you think another school would accept you after what you’ve done we’ll be lucky if we can even get you into another boarding school in Switzerland especially this late in the year. You’re just like him. We didn’t raise you this way Yuri. You know better, you really do. What are we supposed to say to people.”
“Stop, please”
“What did you dare say to me Yuri! I don’t think you are understanding the gravity of this situation, the boy's parents were this close to pressing charges, do you know what would have happened if that happened Yuri.”
“I already said I’m sorry grandma I just really don’t want to think about it.”
“Do you think I really want to think about it Yuri? You’re just like him you’re so selfish just like your father.”
Yuri couldn’t say anything his anger was building he knew he was going to say something he regretted if this conversation went on any longer.
“Yuri just think about what you’ve done. You don’t need to be going down the same road as him.”
“If you hate me so much I’m going to fucking live with him.” Yuri said without thinking.
“What are you saying Yuri”
“I’m going to live with fucking Viktor, my dad I’m going to wherever he lives I can't do this anymore.” He hung up the phone. What did he just do? Did he really just yell at his grandma, did he really just say he wanted to live with his dad that he doesn’t even know. Did he really just end the phone call like that?
He had to call his dad he had to apologize to his grandma. How could this day really go so badly.