I misread Skygem's Retirement AU post at first glance. This… grew out of it.

I hope you like it.

If you had asked Mariana if this was what she had expected out of her introductory level Japanese class, she would have told you no. Who expects a real life cinnamon roll in the form of a cute Japanese teacher?

Yuuri Katsuki was a precious gift from god. Apparently, he wasn't really a professor. He was a graduate student seeking his master degree or was it another bachelor degree? No one really knew. It was just Yuuri Katsuki was too young to be teaching at the college level but here he was teaching Japanese 101. It probably had to do with the fact that he was a native Japanese speaker and the fact that previous teacher either had a sudden mental breakdown or a car accident. (Again, no one was sure and felt too guilty to actually probe, but the sudden change gave them Yuuri Katsuki so no one was complaining.)

So, exhibit A: Mister Yuuri Katsuki, teacher of Japanese 101 class. Also known as a precious cinnamon roll who, according to the entire class, needed to be protected at all cost. He spent the entire first lesson charming everyone, blushing and stuttering as he introduced himself.

"I am so happy I picked Japanese as my language requirement," the guy sitting in front of Mariana, Jai said.

Privately, Mariana agreed. Japanese wasn't a popular language class and previous teacher was apparently really strict. Most people ended up in the European Languages like French, Italian and Spanish. Mariana had picked Japanese on a whim, curious about the language that her little brother insisted teaching himself with cartoons.

She hadn't regret it since. Two weeks into the class and Mariana loved it. Katsuki-sensei turned out to be a passionate teacher, their personal cheerleader as he encouraged them to ask questions, patiently corrected their pronunciations and even offered extra writing lessons for those having trouble with hiragana on top of what was probably an already busy schedule.

It was during one of those extra writing lessons that Mariana (and by extension the rest of the class) discovered the most important thing about their teacher.

"It's like a normal class," Mariana joked, sliding into the seat next to her friend, John. Over 70 percent of original class turned out for the tutoring lesson. Given the original class had over 50 students, it spoke well of Katsuki-sensei's teaching skills.

"Like you aren't one of the many who have a crush on him," John teased her.

Mariana rolled her eyes. Okay, so maybe Katsuki-sensei was really cute, but she wasn't looking for romance right now. Surviving her college classes was a bit more important.

The door near Mariana's desk opened and in the doorway stood Katsuki-sensei. The entire room grew quiet in shock at the look on their teacher's face. It was a fuzzy, daze expression, full of love and tender looking.

"Got a date, Katsuki-sensei?" Mariana lightly joked.

That burst Katsuki-sensei's bubble, causing him to blush a bright red. "Aha, something like that," he said, waving his hands. "Our wedding anniversary is this weekend."

It grew so quiet that if a pin dropped it could be heard. Instantly, everyone's eyes zeroed in on their teacher's hand, noticing for the first time since the semester started the gold ring around his finger.

"You're married?!" the entire class screeched.

Their teacher blinked at them; his glasses making his eyes even more rounder looking. "Yes?"

Hearts were broken and crushed, while the remainder of the class could only wonder who was lucky enough to get their teacher to agree to marry him. Mariana on the other hand, wondered what kind of person Katsuki-sensei was married to in order to put such a lovesick expression on his face.

Predictably, Katsuki-sensei had no idea what exactly caused their downward, seemingly depressed, atmosphere for the rest of the tutoring lesson.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Now that they had seen it, the entire class could now see that fond and loving look on their teacher's face all the time. Sometimes they caught it as he walked into the classroom. Other times, he would be writing on the board when the sunlight would hit his ring, sparkling and Katsuki-sensei would just pause briefly, a smile spreading across his face before he continued on writing. There was one time after he had dismissed them, those who lingered behind saw Katsuki-sensei pulled out his phone to check his messages, only to glow at whatever was written.

"Man, Katsuki-sensei's wife must be amazing if he's that much in love with her," John said.

"Yeah," Mariana agreed.

Maybe one day she would be so lucky to find someone that looked at her as if she was hung from the stars.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The fourth week of semester brought the first change of routine. It came in the form a blond-haired teenager, easily the same age as them, storming into their classroom in the middle of lesson, shouting in Russian of all things.

The cherry on top was that Katsuki-sensei clearly understood every single word.

"Since when does Katsuki-sensei understand Russian?" Mariana asked, dumbfounded.

The girl sitting next to her, Chi was equally wide eyed. "And who is that?" she asked.

Everyone watched as Katsuki-sensei guided the angry teenager into a chair. "Class," Katsuki-sensei said, "I'm going to have to end the lesson early. Please do the homework at the end of the lesson and don't forget your conversation quiz is due this week."

He didn't let anyone linger behind today.

"Maybe a friend?" Jai muttered as they filed out of the classroom.

Add one more to the growing mystery of Katsuki-sensei.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The fifth week of class was interrupted by a delivery of a dozen red roses and heart balloons. "Delivery for Yuuri Katsuki?" the delivery man asked.

Mariana winced at his butchering of their teacher's name. Katsuki-sensei spent the last five weeks correcting everyone on the proper pronunciation of his last name. Still, who was sending Katsuki-sensei roses and balloons? His wife?

Katsuki-sensei gave the delivery man an exasperated look. "Oh Victor," he said as he accepted the flowers and balloons.

As he set them down on his desk, Mariana had a burst of courage. "Who is Victor, sensei?" she asked.

"My husband," Katsuki-sensei said plainly.

Silent.

"WHAT?!" the entire class screeched.

"Katsuki-sensei is gay," Chi said faintly.

"I actually stood a chance," John said. "I mean he's married, but if he wasn't married… DAMNIT. THIS ISN'T FAIR."

"Why… is he sending you flowers and balloons?" Mariana asked, eyeing the floating balloons.

Katsuki-sensei flushed red and buried his head in his hands. He mumbled something.

"We can't hear you, sensei," Jai said.

Katsuki-sensei coughed and didn't look the entire class in the eye. "He didn't do the dishes last night and I got angry at him this morning. The flowers and balloons are his apology."

Mariana blinked owlishly, feeling the rest of the class in sync with her stunned feelings. But… why flowers and balloons for something as simple as forgetting to do the dishes? Was a verbal apology not enough? Before she could ask, another delivery man showed up at the door.

"One Katsudon delivery for Yuuri Katsuki?" the delivery man said.

"Did someone order a fruit bouquet?" a delivery woman showed up.

Katsuki-sensei groaned. "Oh no. Class is dismissed for today. The deliveries aren't going to stop. Remember your midterms are coming up."

Wait. Did that mean Katsuki-sensei was expecting even more deliveries? This was over a fight about not washing dishes. … Just who exactly did Katsuki-sensei marry?!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Everything came to a boiling point right after midterms. The entire class was grimly waiting on a bated breath for Katsuki-sensei to hand back their grades when once again the blond-haired teen from before came running into classroom.

"Distract them!" the teen shouted, before jumping into the rows of seats. He grabbed Mariana's jacket, putting the pink jacket over his black one. John's baseball hat was snatched off his head and Jai's sunglasses was stolen before he sat down in empty seat behind Chi.

"Hey!" Mariana said.

"Shh!" the blond said. "Don't give me away!"

Before Mariana could ask what he was hiding from, there was a rumble. The sound of thundering feet echoed down the hallway outside of their classroom. The windows seemed to tremble from the approaching stampede.

"What is that?" Jai asked.

The door burst opened and there was an entire group of girls wearing cat ears of all things who flooded the room. Fangirls. Real life fangirls. They were chattering, eyes searching undoubtedly for the teenager who had ran in earlier.

"You're Yuuri Katsuki!" the woman at the front of the pack stopped and looked at their teacher.

The classroom fell silent, bracing itself. Then, Katsuki-sensei smiled. It was not his friendly cheerful smile that he often greeted them with every day. No, it was smothering and sexy. A few fangirls fainted on the spot.

"Oh my god," John said faintly.

"Autographs?" Katsuki-sensei said.

The entire group of fangirls surged forward. "Yes please!" they chorused.

"What the hell," Jai said, bewildered by their actions.

Mariana could nod in agreement. What was going on? Why did they want autographs from Katsuki-sensei?

"Did Yuratchka come this way?" the first woman asked, clutching her newly autographed paper.

"No," Katsuki-sensei said, apologetic. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave soon. You're disrupting my lesson."

"Of course, I'm sorry. Girls! We have to go!" The fangirls groaned and began to shuffle out the door.

"Please let Victor know we're looking forward to Yuratchka's upcoming season," the woman said as she shut the door.

Katsuki-sensei merely sighed and looked back at his students. His students stared back at him, in stunned silence.

"What is going on, Katsuki-sensei?" Mariana asked, once they were gone. "Why did they want your autograph?"

Katsuki-sensei blushed. "I'm…uh…. a retired competitive figure skater?" he squeaked, voice pitching higher in embarrassment.

"What?!" the entire class screeched.

"Two golds in Grand Prix, two golds at World, and a small handful of silvers?" Katsuki-sensei stammered.

"WHAT?!" the entire class screeched.

"Plus six bronze medals. Let's not forget the silver at the Olympics," the blond teenager finished up.

"WHAT?!" the entire class screeched.

Katsuki-sensei's face was a bright red and looked as if he was ready for the ground to swallow him whole. The entire class shared looks of stunned disbelief, still not comprehending that their beloved teacher, their precious adorable teacher was a retired competitive figure skater?!

"Wait, wait!" Mariana shouted, twirling to look at the blond. There was still something missing from this puzzle. "Who are you?"

"Tch, I'm Yuri Plisetsky," Yuri said. "I'm that idiot's former rival since he retired."

"Yuratchka has won even more medals than I have at this point," Katsuki-sensei said, voice fond and proud.

Mariana watched as Yuri ducked his head in the praise. Rivals, right. Friends seems to be more accurate, considering Katsuki-sensei was beaming like a proud parent.

"Not as many as Victor yet," Yuri said.

"What does Victor have to do with anything?" Mariana asked. How did Katsuki-sensei's husband fit into this picture?

She froze as both Yuri and Katsuki-sensei stared at her. Then Yuri burst out laughing. "She doesn't know! Wait until I tell him!" he said, cackling.

Katsuki-sensei smiled at her, chuckling. "Mariana-san, Victor is the most decorated athlete in skating history. He is currently coaching Yuratchka."

In hindsight, Mariana probably should have seen that coming. "So… you're a retired competitive pro skater with multiple medals with a rival with just as many medals and you're married to the most decorated athlete in skating history?" Mariana asked, dizzily.

Katsuki-sensei let out a nervous laugh. "Yes?"

"You should hear how they got together," Yuri said with a wicked grin.

"Tell us!" the entire class demanded.

"No, no, no," Katsuki-sensei said, waving his arms. "They don't need to know!"

"Pole dancing," Yuri said offhandedly.

Mariana blinked. What did pole dancing have to do with this story? She looked over at Katsuki-sensei's horrified expression. Wait… "Katsuki-sensei do you pole dance?" she asked, eyes wide. She didn't think someone like Katsuki-sensei even knew what pole dancing was.

"He and Christophe Giacometti, another retired competitive pro skater occasionally do shows together," Yuri said.

There was a thud as John passed out, falling out of his seat. Katsuki-sensei grabbed Yuri, covering his mouth before the blond could say anything more.

"Class is dismissed. See you on Monday. Yuratchka, let's go eat some katsudon," Katsuki-sensei said quickly, dragging out Yuri and leaving behind his stunned students.

Mariana's head swam, trying to wrap her head around the new information they had just learned about Katsuki-sensei. She really wanted to hear how Katsuki-sensei and his husband met, it sounded like a really interesting story.

"I can't wait until Monday's class," she said. Maybe Yuri would show up and they would be able to hear that story.

Or even better, maybe Victor will show up.

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