Chapter Text
Yuuri had never been a particularly driven child. Stubborn? Determined? Able to focus and keep working on something almost mindlessly for hours? Oh yes, all those descriptors would work fine. But not driven, per se. He hadn't felt any particular desire to search out that one career or calling, and his family hadn't had any hint that he might do something other than fall into the family business like Mari had.
But, after seeing that young boy in the town square, ribbons of light swirling around him and his gangly-legged young poodle familiar, a switch had flipped. Every spare hour of the day was devoted to daydreaming, to wondering, to studying just how that Viktor had gotten to be like that. How did he move? How did he cast spells? Which areas of magic were his strongest and most beautiful?
It should have been no surprise when, three years later at the Familiar Coalescence Ceremony, Yuuri opened his eyes to meet the gaze of a tiny brown poodle of his very own.
In a move that was surprising to exactly no one, Yuuri named his little poodle Vicchan, after the boy that had inspired him to learn as much as he could about magic. And Vicchan was the best familiar. As all familiars did, he had an instinctive sense of Yuuri’s soul — which meant that he knew when Yuuri needed his support, magical or otherwise.
Vicchan was an amazing familiar for Yuuri, and with his help Yuuri’s magic blossomed and grew. And, with each passing day, with each spell he learned and enchantment he cast, so bloomed Yuuri’s dream of performing magic alongside Viktor and his familiar.
___
Viktor was a little late to the familiar day care, one Wednesday evening. He desperately hoped that Makka wouldn’t mind — it had taken him far longer to clean up the mess of a rogue wizard one county over without the help of his familiar’s support and stability. But Makkachin had really needed to recharge after the job they had done the day before. Hopefully the extra few minutes had helped, rather than harmed.
Viktor rushed into the daycare and impatiently got at the end of the short line at reception. When it reached his turn he smiled tightly at the receptionist and said, “Viktor Nikiforov. I’m here to pick up Makkachin.”
The receptionist frowned down at her tablet. “Are you sure?” she said. “Our monitors say that her magic isn’t completely recharged.”
Viktor’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?” he said softly. “She’s been here all day.” He waited, his heart in his throat, pushing away the thought that older familiars were more likely to grow weak as they aged, to lose magic quicker and recharge slower.
The receptionist suddenly smiled. “Oh, that’s probably why,” she said. “Her little friend wasn’t checked in today.”
Viktor’s brow furrowed. “Her little friend?”
“Yes, yes,” the receptionist said with a nod and a fond smile. She turned her tablet so that Viktor could see a slightly grainy projection of Makkachin playing with a tiny, fuzzy poodle. “He’s another familiar,” the receptionist said as Viktor watched the projection of the other dog playfully wrestle with Makkachin. “They always recharge much quicker when they’re playing together.”
“Oh,” Viktor breathed, his eyes wide. He swallowed hard, his eyes on the other poodle familiar. He had never seen another poodle familiar before, not even after nearly fifteen years of being in the ‘business’. It made him wonder if maybe…
“Who does that other familiar belong to?” he asked a little abruptly.
The receptionist pressed her lips together. “I’m sorry, sir,” she said. “That would be a breach of our confidentiality policy.”
Viktor frowned. “I suppose I understand.” He tapped his fingers on the counter, thinking. “Is this familiar always here when I drop Makkachin off?”
The receptionist hesitated. “Not always, of course,” she said. “But he’s here more often than not.”
Viktor nodded slowly. “Alright, thank you,” he said. “I’ll check Makkachin out, if that’s OK. It’s fine if she’s not at full capacity, we don’t have anything huge planned for the next few days.”
“Of course,” the receptionist said with a gracious smile, and left the desk to go get Viktor’s familiar while Viktor quickly filled out the paperwork to release her.
Viktor dropped to his knees with a wide smile when his beloved poodle came trotting out of the back of the daycare, opening his arms as she bounded towards him. He could tell, as he cuddled her close, that her magical reserves weren’t completely recharged. But that didn’t matter to him in the slightest as his poodle happily licked him on the cheek and boofed like a much younger dog.
“Thanks!” Viktor called to the receptionist, waving and smiling charmingly at the substantial line that had built up while Viktor was being helped, and then left the daycare with his familiar by his side.
“So, Makka,” Viktor said cheerfully as they made their way down the dusky street, the streetlights just coming on. “I heard you have a new friend.” He reached his hand down, and Makkachin affectionately nuzzled against him. Viktor smiled fondly down at her, his eyes pensive. “I’d like to meet this friend,” he murmured. “And, by extension, perhaps their owner.”
___
Yuuri was perhaps a bit late to pick up Vicchan from the familiar daycare, but, in his defense, it had been a very long day.
He should have known better than to agree to Phichit’s ridiculous request for help with that wedding party, especially knowing that he wouldn’t have his familiar to help support him. It was so hard to hold water molecules in the exact right place for an enormous rainbow over the reception while also doing a million other things, and by the end of the day his hands were shaking and he was having a hard time thinking straight.
So Yuuri was late. And he knew that Vicchan wouldn’t in any way begrudge him that fact (he never had, he’d never held anything against Yuuri), but that didn’t stop the guilt from welling in Yuuri’s chest anyway.
Yuuri breathed a sigh of relief when he let himself into the daycare, happy to find that there wasn’t a line at the desk of people waiting to pick up their familiars. There was only one person ahead of Yuuri, a tall man with short silver hair and a long brown coat, the style that was very in vogue for advanced magic users.
Yuuri got in line behind the man and shifted his weight from one foot to the other, already daydreaming about going home and collapsing on the couch with Vicchan and a bowl of warmed up leftovers. It would be nice to not think after such a long and tiring day, and Yuuri was sure that Vicchan wouldn’t mind snuggling with him for the night while they both relaxed.
In front of him, the man in line said something in a low voice and then stepped aside, focused on the release form in front of him. Yuuri stared up at the ceiling with a silent, repressed sigh, his fingertips aching.
The receptionist at the desk said without looking, “I can help the next person.” Yuuri stepped forward just as she looked up, and then she broke into a grin. “Yuuri!”
“Hey, Yuuko,” Yuuri said with a small, tired smile, stepping up to the desk without sparing a glance in the direction of he man still filling out his familiar release forms.
“It’s been a couple of weeks,” Yuuko said cheerfully, pulling his records up. “Takeshi said he saw you Monday. How have you been?”
Yuuri shrugged. “Long day, especially without Vicchan.” Yuuko was a long-time friend, but even the idea of catching up did nothing to ease his exhaustion.
Yuuko smiled sympathetically. “Of course,” she said. “I’ll go get Vicchan.”
“And my familiar?” the man beside Yuuri said, pushing his filled out release form across the desk, and Yuuri froze.
Yuuko grabbed the form. “Yes, I’ll get… Makkachin as well,” she said with a smile, and disappeared into the back.
Next to Yuuri, Viktor Nikiforov checked his watch and then offered Yuuri a quick smile. “I’m sure you’re just as eager to get home as I am,” he said.
Yuuri might have choked out a reply, but he was nearly sure that whatever he said wasn’t close to coherent. His heartbeat pounded in his ears, his face burned. Viktor gave Yuuri a slightly puzzled look, and opened his mouth to speak.
Yuuko, the goddess that she was, chose that moment to come back in with two familiars, Vicchan cradled in her arms and another, larger poodle by her side. “Here you are,” she said with a smile, handing Vicchan to Yuuri as the other poodle trotted around the desk to Viktor, who immediately dropped to one knee to greet his familiar.
Yuuri took Vicchan from his friend and hugged his familiar close, his frantic pulse calming a bit. Vicchan yipped in greeting and licked Yuuri’s cheek, and Yuuri couldn’t help but giggle. “I missed you,” he said quietly. “Today was a hard day of magic without you.” Vicchan whined sympathetically, and licked Yuuri’s cheek again.
“Thanks,” Yuuri said to Yuuko with a small smile.
Yuuko grinned back. “Of course,” she said. “Vicchan was an angel, as always. Drop by sometime when I’m around so we can catch up, OK?”
Yuuri nodded. “I’ll see you soon,” he promised, and then turned with a nod to go, Vicchan still cradled in his arms.
And when he turned, he saw that Viktor Nikiforov was staring at him.
Yuuri and Viktor made eye contact for a split second, and then Yuuri took a deep breath before turning away. He had no idea why Viktor might be staring at him, but it couldn’t be good. And there was no way Yuuri wanted to pick a fight with his idol, one of the most powerful mages of their generation.
Yuuri held Vicchan close as he turned his back on Viktor, taking a few steps towards the exit. He thought he heard Viktor step forward, his shoes scuffling on the floor, but paid it no mind.
“Wait! Wait!”
It wasn’t until the second exclamation that Yuuri really, truly considered that Viktor Nikiforov might be calling for him. He paused, one foot already in the daycare’s dedicated teleport circle, and gingerly turned back around towards the brisk incoming footsteps, unconsciously clutching onto Vicchan tighter.
“Would you mind telling me your name? I didn’t catch it back there.”
Yuuri glanced between Viktor’s piercing blue eyes, and Makkachin’s liquid brown ones, brain still stuttering. It was probably his imagination that Viktor’s expression looked somewhat hopeful, but if he wasn’t being recognised by his idol, that completely confirmed all his anxieties that he was nowhere near good enough as a mage yet.
At least there was one silver lining — tonight, he’d get a chance to tell Phichit ‘I told you so’ for a change. “It’s, uh, it’s Yuuri Katsuki.”
“Katsuki.” A nod, and goodness if his hair didn’t look even more like starlight in person. Yuuri would probably be thinking of nothing else other than this conversation for the rest of the evening. “I won’t keep you, since you’re in a hurry, but would you please call me when you have a moment? I’d like to discuss an arrangement with your familiar.”
Yuuri took the outstretched card in front of him with hesitant fingers, half-expecting it to disappear in a puff of prank smoke, then stepped back into the circle completely and thought of home.
When his eyes opened from their next blink, he was in his room, and nothing had changed — except that somehow, miraculously, a thick cream card with a looping golden ‘Viktor Nikiforov’ embossed into it was still in his possession.