Chapter Text
---
'But I'm still wearing your ring,
And I'm still telling you my thoughts though you're not listening,
I'm still holding on'
Holes In My Jacket, Kate Walsh
---
It hadn't been difficult to persuade Victor. On the contrary; he'd instantly mumbled a silent 'okay' at the suggestion, and from there on Yuuri didn't remember much other than Victor helping him in and out of a car, and leading him into one of the few better hotels that Hasetsu had to offer.
"There we are," Victor said, his tone light as he lead Yuuri into a hotel suite on the top floor.
Yuuri gaped, taking in his surroundings. The room was spacious, tastefully decorated, and oh wow, the view... Large windows, and a door leading to a balcony was slightly opened, letting in the salty air of the sea. He could see the ocean from a whole different angle here, and there was something undeniably mesmerizing about it. Or perhaps it was simply because Victor was the one taking him here.
Turning away from the scenery, Yuuri found that Victor was still standing in the middle of the room, seeming tense, clearly waiting for Yuuri to say or do something first.
"T-thank you for this," Yuuri breathed, slowly blinking at Victor.
Victor dismissively held up a hand at that, fondly shaking his head. "Ah, no need to thank me, I told you I'm here for you. Are you feeling a little better?"
The fact that Victor wasn't pushing him to elaborate as to what had triggered him, was a major relief. Yuuri didn't feel like talking about what he'd found out just yet, and he was grateful that Victor wasn't forcing him to.
Cautiously taking a few steps to get closer to Victor, Yuuri nodded. "I think so, yes."
Victor hummed, approving, and Yuuri watched how his pretty lips lifted up into what could easily become a smile, blue eyes more focused as the edge of worry slipped away.
Like this, Victor was so real. And heartbreakingly beautiful. And so much more than what Yuuri ever could've dreamed up back when he'd worshipped Victor from afar.
There was hardly any distance between them now, and Yuuri instinctively reached out for him, until he paused and caught himself in the middle of his mistake, right as his fingertips were about to graze Victor's pale cheek.
"Sorry- a-about that," he stuttered. "I should've asked first, I mean... Can I touch you?"
Victor's shoulders gradually relaxed, and he for some reason looked relieved.
"Oh solnyshko... You don't ever have to ask for permission to touch me, don't worry about it," he replied, chuckling quietly.
And yes, technically speaking Yuuri knew, now. Given their history, surely he was allowed to touch Victor. Even kiss him, whenever he was feeling like it. And wasn't that the most bizarre yet remarkable thing? Experimentally, Yuuri brushed the back of his unsteady fingers against Victor's cheekbone, like he'd done the other night when Victor hadn't been awake.
Victor leaned into his touch without hesitation, smiling at Yuuri to encourage him, at which Yuuri flipped his wrist so that his palm could properly cradle Victor's jaw. Victor's skin was so soft and smooth, downright exquisite, like the rest of him.
His hand was quivering again, but this time, Yuuri realized that nerves weren't to blame. His wet clothes were still sticking to him like a second skin, resulting in a full body shudder not much later.
Victor disapprovingly clicked his tongue, abruptly ending the moment of shared intimacy.
"We can do more of that later, if you feel like it," he promised, a teasing lilt to his voice now that Yuuri was doing better. "Shower first, I'll get you some dry clothes to wear."
Yuuri obeyed, letting himself be steered towards the bathroom as Victor handed him a dry shirt and some sweatpants.
"Take your time, I'm not going anywhere," Victor assured him with a wink. "I'll text your sister so that your family will know that you're safe."
After mumbling a genuine 'thank you', Yuuri closed the door behind him.
He did take his time, like Victor had suggested. The warm water was a blessing, warming him up while simultaneously easing the ache in his sore muscles.
But despite the relaxing environment, Yuuri's thoughts were spinning out of control still. They kept flickering back and forth, going from 'what if I can do this after all?' to 'what if I can't do this after all?'
It was one matter to like Victor Nikiforov as a fan, from a safe distance. An entirely different matter to be his lover in real life and having to satisfy him. No, not even that, to even be worthy of him. Because hadn't Yuuri been the most terrible fiance these past couple of weeks? He'd mostly hurt Victor, albeit unintended, repeatedly asking for Victor's comfort even though Victor must have been the one heartbroken inside.
Yuuri tiredly forced his mind to shut up as he turned off the warm water, reaching for a towel. He got dressed in clothes that were a tad too big on him, but comfortable all the same.
When he tiptoed back into the room, he saw that Victor was already softly snoring on the left side of the bed. Yuuri couldn't blame him; they'd both had a long week, and Victor had kept his promise to not go anywhere. Not wanting to wake him up, Yuuri turned off the lights, carefully sliding under the covers on the other side. Sharing a bed was hardly anything new, even though Yuuri only remembered that one time last night. At least compared to Yuuri's tiny bed, there was plenty of space here.
He shifted onto his side, making sure that his back was towards Victor, so that he wouldn't be tempted to stare or touch this time. Luckily, he was tired enough to slip into a restless sleep without too much effort.
~~~
It was still dark when Yuuri woke up. He couldn't have slept for more than a few hours. Grumbling, he rubbed his eyes, slowly sitting up but nearly jumping up from the hotel bed when he noticed a figure casually sitting cross-legged on the edge of it, somewhere near Yuuri's feet.
Yuuri blindly reached for his glasses on the nightstand as he heard a melodic laugh, coming from that same direction.
He suppressed a screech when the light of the moon streaming in through the windows provided him with just enough light to see who it was.
"Boo!"
A highly amused Victor Nikiforov that couldn't be much older than seventeen observed him with a certain fascination, resting his chin in both his hands, elbows resting on his knees. His nails were painted -something purple and glittery-, and long strands of silvery hair were cascading down his back and over his shoulders, forming a curtain around his grinning face. Startled, Yuuri tried to crawl back, only to immediately be blocked by the headboard.
"Aaah, Yuuri~! I thought we were past this, aren't we? You being scared to be close to me?" young Victor chided cheerfully, his accent thick, like Yuuri remembered it being from his early interviews.
"You-you startled me," Yuuri shot back defensively. "You can't just sneak up on people like that! Or watch them sleep, for that matter. It's... creepy."
Victor shrugged, daringly tilting his head, as if to call bullshit. "You watch me sleep sometimes. Older me, anyway."
Yuuri groaned as his cheeks flushed, his mind already feverishly searching for a way to change the subject.
"Why are you... why are you here, Victor?"
Another shrug, and a loud huff as young Victor brushed his hair out of his face, then lazily toyed with one of the longer strands. "Because I'm bored, obviously. And lonely, I needed some company."
Yuuri considered that. "Why aren't you hanging out with your friends then ?"
Victor laughed without humor. "I guess that this question would be a lot less offensive if I had any."
Finding that hard to believe, Yuuri frowned at him, not hiding his skepticism. "You? No friends? I think plenty of teenagers are dying to be your friend."
There were no signs of annoyance or anger when Victor shook his head in defeat, he merely pouted, his blue eyes sad. "No time to make any. Yakov says that I can have a social life once I retire, not now, which sounds like an awfully long time to me. I used to be friends with some of the other skaters though, but they didn't like me as much anymore when I started winning all the medals all the time."
"Oh..." was Yuuri's not-so-intelligent comeback.
Yuuri's gaze dropped to where Victor's slender fingers were still absently playing with a silky strand of platinum colored hair. Victor bit his lower lip when their eyes met again.
"You like my hair, don't you, Yuuri? You can braid it, if you want!" he offered, his face suddenly clearing up, his lips twitching into a hopeful smile. "It'll be like a slumber party! I've always wanted to have one of those, but it's a bit of a problem when you don't have friends."
In no universe would Yuuri be able to resists those eyes, or that pleading face.
"Sure," he muttered way too easily. "Turn around then."
Victor did so in a flash, now sitting with his back to Yuuri, giving Yuuri easy access. Yuuri was glad that Yuuko had insisted on teaching him how to braid her hair when they were younger, because it came in handy now.
As Yuuri went to work, combing his fingers through Victor's locks and parting them, Victor hummed happily. They were both silent while Yuuri was braiding, the faint smell of magnolia from Victor's shampoo hanging in the air.
"Hmm, this is nice," Victor commented after a while, leaning more into Yuuri's touch.
"Almost done," Yuuri updated him, not knowing what else to say.
At that declaration, Victor handed him a rubber band out of nowhere.
"There you go," Yuuri softly told him not much later when he was finished.
Victor glanced at Yuuri over his shoulder, shooting him another one of those blinding smiles. "Thank you, Yuuri~! How do I look?"
Yuuri held back a laugh, playfully tugging at Victor's hair. "Like you're about to go to a cool party, like most teenagers do. Or... or on a date."
Young Victor wrinkled his nose, the same way Yuuri saw his Victor do whenever he was thinking about something unpleasant.
"I went on a date once," Victor confessed bleakly as he turned around to face Yuuri again, yet strategically averting his eyes. "The guy hated dogs, and told me that my figure skating was a waste of time. He ordered pineapple on his pizza, can you believe it? Turns out we weren't a great match, when he dropped me off at home he even admitted that I wasn't his type at all, and that he'd only asked me out because he thought I was pretty."
Yuuri's heart might have shattered, right there on the spot. There was a brief silence, and then he gently reached out to cup Victor's face.
"Well that makes him a jerk then, there's so much more than that, Vitya. You're beautiful here, too," Yuuri tried to console him, lightly resting the palm of his free hand on Victor's chest, right over his heart. "One day, someone will come along and see you the way you deserve to be seen."
Victor's eyes darted up at Yuuri, and his watery smile was worth every sappy word that had fallen from Yuuri's mouth just now.
"Actually, I kind of know that... I'll have you! But, Yuuri?" he mumbled after another moment of silence. "You do also think that I'm pretty on the outside, da?"
Rolling his eyes at the ridiculous question, Yuuri honestly answered him anyway. "Yes. The prettiest."
For his effort, Yuuri was pulled into a crushing embrace. However when Victor pulled out of the hug, he placed a hand on Yuuri's cheek to force him to look at the other side of the king-sized bed for the first time since Yuuri had opened his eyes. Until now, Yuuri hadn't paid the rest of the room any mind whatsoever; dreams were funny that way.
He inhaled sharply when he spotted a sleeping Victor Nikiforov, his Victor Nikiforov, on the other side of the bed. He was restlessly tossing onto his other side, his bangs falling into his face in the process. Yuuri lifted a shaky hand, brushing them away in a motion all too familiar to him.
"He's afraid," young Victor whispered as they both watched the sleeping figure beside them. "He finally got what he wanted only to have it taken away from him in the blink of an eye, and he's so scared to be alone again. Promise me that you'll take care of him, please, Yuuri."
Yuuri swallowed thickly as he brushed his fingers along his Victor's forehead, but his tone was fierce and determined when he replied.
"Of course.... I promise."
~~~
Waking up with a gasp, Yuuri's fingers firmly grasped the pillow as he squinted at the unfamiliar hotel room wall, trying to ground himself. After taking a few breaths to calm his pounding heart, he gathered the courage to slowly turn onto his other side, for a moment fearing that he might still be dreaming.
But even in the dark, he could see that Victor was very much beside him, and hadn't bothered to turn away from him at all. In fact, he was facing Yuuri's side of the bed, his eyes closed, but eyelids fluttering restlessly. His lips were pressed into a tight line, his features tense, even in his sleep. And then he whimpered helplessly, as if in pain, and because of that one simple noise, Yuuri felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach. Victor was obviously having a nightmare, and Yuuri didn't like that idea one bit.
'Promise me that you'll take care of him, please, Yuuri.'
Making a decision without giving it any real thought, Yuuri stretched his arm, cautiously rubbing Victor's shoulder with his hand, his fingertips sliding along the soft grey fabric of his shirt.
"Victor, hey..." he murmured, gently shaking him awake.
Anxious blue eyes flew wide open, and Victor made a noise like he was choking, then breathed in and blinked at Yuuri in shock.
"Yuuri?" he asked, sounding befuddled, a hint of panic in his voice as he uttered Yuuri's name. "Yuuri, is something wrong? Are you alright?"
"What?" Yuuri took a moment to process that question, then quickly shook his head. "No! Nothing's wrong, I'm fine."
A sigh of relief from Victor, and then a curious head tilt as he stretched to turn on the lamp on his nightstand. "Was there something you needed then?"
Again, Yuuri shook his head, but was unable to produce any words to let Victor know what was on his mind.
Trying to find an alternative, Yuuri nervously bit his lip, boldly opening his arms in invitation, hoping that Victor would get the hint. Victor looked surprised at first, but was rather quick to comply as he scooted closer to Yuuri, his eyes wide with wonder as he tentatively rested his head against Yuuri's shoulder. Yuuri carefully wrapped his arms around him, holding Victor close and inhaling deeply as he rested his chin on top of Victor's head.
For a while, neither of them spoke, the two of them silently listening to each other's breathing, Yuuri allowing himself to get used to the feeling of Victor in his arms.
Admittedly, Yuuri rarely felt the urge to talk about personal things unless it was absolutely necessary. Yet tonight, he felt like making an exception, and he spoke up first, words muffled a bit by Victor's hair.
"I remember your last competition in the Junior Division..." Yuuri said conversationally.
Victor hummed to let him know that he was listening, but didn't interrupt.
"You got the gold, no surprise there... Afterwards there was a press conference, and you'd been so absolutely amazing... I think even Yakov smiled when talking to the reporters on your behalf, I don't remember ever seeing him smile in public outside of that."
A quiet chuckle from Victor at the mention of Yakov's trademark sour attitude.
"And then there was you, and you just... They'd given you some kind of sweets, chocolates, I think. And you weren't paying attention to anything but those, chewing without a care in the world while staring at the rest of the bowl like it was the only thing in the room that mattered, and I remember thinking that you were... you were so adorable."
"Oh yes, I remember that! They were so good though," Victor mused as he lightly nuzzled Yuuri's shoulder, and Yuuri could swear that his pale cheeks turned pink at the fleeting compliment that Yuuri accidentally let slip.
"Yeah, I bet they were, with the way you were making eyes at them," Yuuri dared to tease a bit, lightly running a hand through Victor's hair, then lingering at the nape of Victor's neck. "Anyway I... I'd always known that your skating was extraordinary, and everyone with a pair of functioning eyes could see that you were exceptionally pretty but... That was the first time when I caught myself thinking 'I want to know him'. From there on I started to read interviews about you that were more personal. Your likes, your dislikes, what music and movies you preferred, or your favorite food. I was curious about Victor, not the ice skater, but the boy who liked chocolates and poodles. The boy who liked to paint his nails in silly colors."
Even without looking down, Yuuri could feel Victor smiling against his shoulder.
"Do tell what you found out about me, Yuuri," Victor challenged in a playful tone.
Yuuri huffed, ruffling Victor's hair on purpose before slowly smoothing it out again.
"Plenty of interesting stuff," he replied, keeping it vague. "When you were nineteen though, the rumors started going around... About you preferring men, not women. At some point you were being interviewed for some teen magazine, and they actually had the guts to ask you whether or not it was true. And you told them... 'I don't care who I end up marrying, as long as they like dogs, don't mind my figure skating and-'"
"... don't put pineapple on their pizza," Victor cut in to finish the quote, then snorted quietly.
Yuuri laughed too, shaking his head in disbelief.
"In my defense, I was only nineteen," Victor grumbled, pouting a bit when Yuuri glanced down at him.
"Oh, I don't know, I wouldn't say it was that bad..." Yuuri started nonchalantly. "Actually, it was after reading that interview that I told my mother 'mom, when I'm older, I'm going to marry Victor Nikiforov'. I was meeting all of your standards, you know."
For a second there, Yuuri was afraid that he'd crossed a line, seeing as he hadn't told Victor yet that he knew about them. That he knew what they were to each other, even though he didn't quite remember.
But whether Victor knew about Yuuri knowing or not, he didn't seem to mind. His sleepy blue eyes were shining when he blinked up at Yuuri. He opened his mouth to say something, but a yawn came out instead.
Yuuri mumbled an apology, because he'd been the one to wake Victor up after all.
"Talk more tomorrow?" Yuuri suggested in a whisper.
Victor nodded against his shoulder, his eyes closing, and Yuuri smiled. He was about to follow Victor's example and close his own eyes, when Victor sleepily muttered his name again.
"Yuuri?"
"Yeah?"
"You said I-" a sleepy sigh "was pretty when I was.... younger." A yawn. "Do you... still think I'm pretty?"
As out of the blue as it might have seemed, Yuuri understood, now more than ever. Even with pieces of the puzzle still missing, he was sure that this was most definitely not the first time that Victor had looked to Yuuri for reassurance, the dream that he'd had earlier telling him as much; memories trying to force their way back into Yuuri's conscious mind.
Victor Nikiforov was only human. Sometimes he was insecure and uncertain, just like Yuuri. Sometimes he needed some advice on his step sequences. Sometimes he needed someone to hold him, or a friend to talk to. Someone to let him know that he wasn't alone. And sometimes, even someone like him needed somebody to reassure him about his looks.
Yuuri swallowed to clear his throat, and answered honestly once more just as Victor's eyes slipped closed one final time.
"Yes. The prettiest."
~~~
Face-timing Phichit was the main thought on Yuuri's mind when he was the one waking up first the next morning. Knowing what he knew now, he desperately needed a no-nonsense friend to rant to.
Although Victor had told him that he was usually an early riser, Yuuri suspected that Victor's month had been both physically and emotionally exhausting after what they'd been through, and he decided to let the man sleep.
He considered going downstairs to the lobby or going outside altogether to make the call, but the last thing he wanted to do after all this was to leave Victor alone; he didn't want Victor to wake up thinking that Yuuri had walked out on him again.
Sliding open the glass door that led to the balcony, Yuuri slipped outside before silently closing it behind him.
The sky was clear today and the sun was already rising steadily, bathing the beach and the waves below in a glow of gold and yellow. Leaning against the railing, Yuuri selected Phichit's name and made the call.
"Yuuri, hey! It's so good to see you!"
Yuuri breathed in relief when Phichit's smiling face appeared on his screen almost immediately.
"Hey, Phichit! I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
"Nah, not at all. Rest day today, which I really deserve if I do say so myself. Ciao Ciao acted like a total slave driver this week!"
Chuckling at his friend's whiny tone, Yuuri's eyes followed the hamster that was currently busy trying to unsuccessfully crawl from Phichit's shoulder to the very top of his head. Phichit was in his room, still in his pajamas, his hair a mess. Rest day, indeed. Yuuri fondly remembered days like these; a much needed opportunity for his feet to heal, back when he was living in Detroit.
"Well, nationals are coming up, so he's probably not entirely wrong," Yuuri responded, half teasing, half serious.
On Yuuri's tiny screen, Phichit gasped dramatically. "Oh jeez, you're siding with him now that you're no longer training with us?"
Yuuri laughed, shaking his head. "No, actually I just want my best friend to do well at the world championships, how cruel of me."
Phichit huffed, but his lips quirked into a smirk.
"Fine, fine... Fair enough. I mean, that's what Ciao Ciao keeps saying, too." Phichit paused, pulling a face and using a weird accent in an attempt to imitate his coach. "No slacking off, with Victor Nikiforov back in the game, you're gonna have to give it your all if you want to kick Nikiforov's ass." Another beat of silence, and then Phichit went back to his regular tone, defensively holding up his hands. "By the way, no offense to you about the ass kicking thing, Yuuri. Just a figure of speech."
It took Yuuri a moment to understand why Phichit was apologizing, but then it clicked. To Phichit, speaking ill of Victor, weird as it was, would technically mean speaking ill of Yuuri's boyfriend. Boyfriend. The word still sounded odd to Yuuri, even when he didn't say it out loud.
"N-none taken," Yuuri sputtered before things could get any more awkward.
Phichit shrugged it off then, changing the subject, bless him.
"So what about you, Yuuri? You had me worried for a while there! Everything okay?"
"I'm much better," Yuuri quickly assured him, flashing his friend a smile, a real one. "But actually, I was hoping that maybe we could ehm... talk about something?"
"Oh sure! You know me, always here to listen to your most embarrassing problems." Phichit sounded relieved when he answered; Yuuri knew him well enough to know.
"Wow, thanks Phichit, that's very encouraging."
"Anytime, my friend, anytime. So, shoot!"
After taking a moment to collect his thoughts, Yuuri decided to just get it over with.
"Look, I know that this is weird, but I was just wondering... Victor and I, did we... God, this sounds so silly, but do you feel like we made sense? As-as a couple, I mean?"
Phichit snorted just as he took a sip of his drink, spraying orange juice everywhere.
"What?" Yuuri demanded, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Nothing, nothing," Phichit muttered as he grabbed some tissues to clean up the mess. "It's just kinda funny that you're asking me, of all people."
"How so?"
Throwing the tissues in the general direction of the trash can, Phichit sighed.
"Look, Yuuri... We've had this talk before, sort of."
Yuuri groaned. Of course they had.
"Well then... Don't spare me, Phichit. Tell me what you told me back then."
"I ehm..." Phichit fell silent, but soon enough gathered his wits. "I was skeptical, in the beginning. When you texted me that Victor came to Hasetsu and all that jazz, you know? I wasn't gonna bother you about it, besides you were busy with your idol freaking showing up on your doorstep, but I was curious as to what was going on, so I stalked social media for a bit to dig up some dirt. It kinda was a rash decision on Victor's part after all, even though you absolutely nailed his program in that viral video -don't get me wrong-, but then... The first article I came across was this interview with Victor's coach, Feltsman. The press asked him whether or not the rumors were true, if Victor had really left Russia to coach Katsuki Yuuri from Japan, and Feltsman told them, and I quote 'Victor Nikiforov only cares about himself, he could never be somebody's coach!'"
"Oh..." Yuuri whispered, taken aback.
"Yeah," Phichit muttered. "And hey, I knew that you could take care of yourself, but I did still worry about Victor's intentions, a bit. I mean, Yakov Feltsman has coached Victor for over a decade, if anyone knew what made His Royal Highness tick, it had to be Feltsman, right?"
"I guess so, yeah..." Yuuri chewed his lip, feeling a little uneasy at that revelation. "So what you're saying is that I need to be... careful?"
Phichit laughed, out loud.
"Nah, that's not what I'm saying at all. You might find this hard to believe, but occasionally, I'm wrong about stuff." Phichit's tone was light, almost as if casually bringing up an inside joke. "That was almost a year ago. That was before I actually saw the two of you together, in real life, at the Cup of China where you and I were both competing."
"What do you mean?" Yuuri urged his friend to go on, more confused than anything else.
Phichit smiled fondly, shaking his head. "I could see it in his eyes. The way he looked at you, the way he touched you, how protective he was. If Victor Nikiforov still had any kind of hidden agenda at all at that point, it was his obvious desire to marry and grow old with you, maybe adopt some more dogs."
Yuuri stared at the screen of his phone, speechless. Phichit's expression was as serious as it could get.
"He loves you, Yuuri. He-"
Their call was abruptly interrupted when the balcony door slid open to reveal a rather flustered looking Victor. Wearing a dark suit and a crisp white shirt. And a blue tie that perfectly matched his eyes. His hair was disheveled, his cheeks pink, as if he'd been in a hurry, but damn, that suit. Yuuri swooned on the spot.
"Sorry to interrupt!" Victor chirped, sounding a tad out of breath. "Please just tell me, do I look like I can be taken seriously?"
Yuuri blinked, tongue-tied as he took in Victor's appearance, because what kind of a question was that?
"You're so extra, you never look like you can be taken seriously, don't bother," Phichit teasingly called back from the phone that Yuuri was still holding up.
Before Yuuri could snap out of it and even begin to hiss a warning at his friend, Victor beat him to the punch.
"Phichit! That's rude!" he whined while sending Phichit a playful pout as he kept trying to fix his tie. "I'm so taking back those skating tips that I sent you last week."
Yuuri tried very hard to not look too shocked at the casual exchange between his best friend and his supposed future husband.
Phichit held up both of his hands in defeat. "Okay I'm shutting up now. And I'll let you guys go because I know an emergency when I see one."
Yuuri quickly thanked Phichit and promised to call again soon, then put down his phone to questioningly tilt his head at Victor, still feeling positively baffled.
"Yakov just called! He set up a meeting for me so that I could talk to some sponsors in the area, you know, make the most of it while I'm here," Victor elaborated, then lowered his head in shame. "It was one of Yakov's conditions if I wanted to go here, but I forgot, and one of them texted Yakov because I wasn't there yet. I was supposed to meet them at the hotel's restaurant for brunch, but I'm already fifteen minutes late. They came all the way here to meet me, he will murder me! He even called me by my full name, Yuuri! My full name! No 'Vitya'. He's going to kill me when he sees me again!"
That wasn't the kind of emergency that Yuuri had counted on, and he sighed in relief.
"Alright, deep breaths, nobody's going to get murdered. Yakov probably talked to them to buy you more time, right?" Yuuri guessed, putting his hands on Victor's shoulders to ground him.
Victor nodded quickly, but was about to open his mouth again.
"Second guessing everything will only make you later, you know," Yuuri reminded him gently. "You look fine, just go, you're not that late, tell them the elevator got stuck or something. And use your charm, it works on everyone anyway."
Blushing deeply at what he'd blurted out, Yuuri hastily pushed Victor back inside the room and towards the door that led to the hallway, hoping to distract him from that statement. Regardless, Victor stubbornly came to a halt in the doorway, turning around to weakly flash Yuuri a smile.
He looked like he was about to say something, but nothing came out. The look in his eyes said it all though, and Yuuri was instantly reminded of what Phichit had told him. 'I could see it in his eyes, the way he looked at you'.
And now that Yuuri was looking, truly looking, he could see it, too. Crazy as it was, this man loved him. Loved him unconditionally. And after last night there wasn't a single doubt in Yuuri's mind that the feeling was mutual, even if he didn't quite remember just yet. Or even if he'd never remember; he was confident that it wouldn't take long before he'd fall in love with Victor all over again.
It shouldn't come as a surprise, because hadn't Yuuri always loved him in some way ever since he'd understood what it even meant to love someone? Even when it was from afar?
He grabbed Victor's hand and squeezed it without thinking.
"When your meeting is done, can we talk?" Yuuri asked quietly. "I ehm... I know stuff about us. I- I Googled. And then I talked to Phichit, as you know."
"Oh... I see," Victor said, eyes widening a little, but he didn't look too shocked, probably having it figured out after last night.
"Yeah... And I know about the ehm, the engagement rings," Yuuri confessed, letting go of Victor's hand now in case it got too overwhelming for either of them. "Victor, I... I want them back."
Yuuri was a mere witness when Victor Nikiforov's face fell at once, his usually bright eyes turning dull and sad without warning. Yuuri was beyond terrified when Victor's tears were the next thing that fell.