Chapter Text
They got lost for a while in the feeling of their lips on each other, soft touches and deep kisses expressing all that they didn‘t have the words to say.
By the time they broke apart they were both breathless but smiling helplessly as Yuuri leaned his forehead against Victor‘s.
For a few long moments, they just breathed each other in, their quiet pants and thrumming heartbeats the only noise in the room, before Victor reached up to gently card his fingers through Yuuri‘s hair.
„Yuuri…“, he whispered, and his voice felt so fragile, so brittle in his throat, „My Yuuri… I love you.“
Yuuri‘s hands on Victor‘s shoulders tightened as Yuuri drew in a sharp breath, and he pulled back just enough that they could properly look at each other.
Yuuri‘s eyes, when he met Victor‘s gaze, were something so bright and clear, something hard and honey-sweet at once. „I love you, Vitya“, he whispered, and Victor couldn‘t help the smile that spread on his face hearing those words, wide and warm and so real that it hurt his cheeks.
Yuuri smiled too, Victor could feel it against his lips as he leaned in to kiss him again, quick and chaste.
When they pulled back, Yuuri was still smiling, eyes downcast and shaking his head, like he couldn‘t quite believe what was happening. Before Victor could open his mouth to reassure him, however, Yuuri stilled.
One hand sliding down from Victor‘s shoulder, his fingertips came to rest on the Soulwords under Victor‘s collarbone. Victor could see him silently mouthing the words as he traced his fingers along them, a small crease appearing between his eyebrows that Victor wanted to smooth out with his lips.
„V-Victor…“, Yuuri said, looking up at him, wide-eyed, the crease sharpening, something like fear in his gaze. He let both hands fall by his sides and Victor felt suddenly bereft without his touch. „I didn‘t—how did… when…“
„Ah“, Victor said with a nervous laugh, „Well, yes, I guess it‘s… it seems a bit quick, doesn‘t it? But I could never guard my heart against you. I… couldn‘t stop thinking about you after that.“
„No, Victor, no“, Yuuri said, sounding panicked, drawing away further from him so that Victor‘s hand still resting in his neck fell away, and something heavy and burning sunk in Victor‘s stomach. Was it too much, too soon? He always knew he‘d fallen in love with Yuuri very quickly, and, as it turned out, without knowing him very well at all, but… „I never said this to you“, Yuuri continued, a pained half-whisper, disrupting Victor‘s train of thought.
„What—Yuuri! Of course you did!“
Yuuri shook his head, and when he spoke his voice sounded choked. „Why would you lie about this?“
„Why indeed—Yuuri, you know that‘s impossible! The word on your wrist is my word, yes? You know this. The only other people you‘ve spoken to in the last twelve hours are your family. And you love me, yes?“
Yuuri swallowed, and there were definitely tears swimming in his eyes now. „Yes“, he whispered.
„Then you know that the words on my skin are yours. They couldn‘t be anyone else‘s. There‘s no such thing.“
Yuuri gave a bitter-sounding huff, though half-hearted.
„You mean there‘s never been such a thing before.“
„Yuuri!“, Victor cupped his face in both his hands and was relieved when Yuuri did not pull back, though he carefully avoided Victor‘s eyes, „Do you really not remember?“
The downward turn of Yuuri‘s lips was answer enough.
„I love you, Yuuri. These words meant everything to me. They‘re the whole reason I came to Hasetsu in the first place.“
Now Yuuri looked up, and the hurt in his expression was replaced with confusion, which Victor supposed was an improvement at least.
„Wait—before you came to Hasetsu? That‘s… now I know you‘re lying. I never said a word to you before you came to Hasetsu.“
„Oh.“ Now it was Victor‘s turn to stare slack-jawed, letting his hands fall. „You don‘t… remember the banquet?“
„The banquet?“ Yuuri gasped. „You mean… in Sochi?“
Yuuri answered Victor‘s nod with a shake of his head. „I… I don‘t. I talked to you there? I asked you to be my coach?“
Victor swallowed and nodded again, trying to wrap his head around this new information. He had known that Yuuri was drunk at the banquet, of course, but he didn‘t think he was that drunk.
„It‘s—I—we—“, Victor took a deep breath and licked his lips, trying to make his mouth form words, „You did so much more than that“, he finally said, his voice a little hoarse, „You danced with me all night. Well, and with some other people too, Yurio is still bitter you beat him in that dance battle. You pole-danced, too“—here Yuuri gave a little gasp, covering his mouth with both hands, but Victor continued undeterred—„with Chris, and on your own, and you were so… so beautiful. Not just—I mean. Just, in the way you moved. In the way you made the music your own, and felt everything so deeply.“
Forcing himself to look up at Yuuri again, Victor saw that the little crease had returned to his forehead, but he was still listening intently.
„You kept returning to me throughout the night“, Victor went on, „and we danced. Tango and Flamenco and oh, I don‘t know what else. We talked, too, not about anything in particular, I guess, just… chatter. You were… radiant. And at the end of the night, you asked me to be your coach and I… well, I was done for.“
There was silence for a long while, as Yuuri processed and Victor waited breathlessly for a reaction. Finally Yuuri lowered his hands, fidgeting, and took a deep breath.
„You… you came here because you were already in love with me? Because you knew I was your soulmate?“
Victor winced. „Well… yes, but also because I really wanted to coach you. You are a wonderful skater, Yuuri, and you deserve a coach that really supports you to your full potential.“
Yuuri waved his words away, gaze still serious as it was fixed on Victor‘s face. „Why didn‘t you tell me?“
Victor shrugged, helpless. „I guess I just… I wanted you to find out on your own? I, uh… I didn‘t think it would take this long? This is gonna sound really vain but… after the banquet I was quite sure you had a rather high opinion of me.“
Yuuri grimaced a little. „I did. I do. I just… I‘ve been… I suppose at this point it won‘t surprise you when I say that I‘ve, uh, rather admired you for a long time. But that was… that was just Victor Nikiforov, the skater and… when you came here…“, Yuuri shrugged, „you were just very different from what I expected.“
„We’re you disappointed?“, Victor asked, flicking his eyes away, trying to make the words sound light-hearted.
„Vitya, no!“, Yuuri said, stumbling over the syllables in his haste, „Never!“ He paused. „It was just… so much. When you first came here. I was so overwhelmed to have all your attention on me all the time, when I didn‘t know what I had done to deserve it.“
Victor gave a little groan, pinching the bridge of his nose.
„I suppose from your perspective I did come on a little strong, didn‘t I? I just… I felt like we already knew each other. I did wonder why you were so…“
„Scared shitless?“, Yuuri supplied with a wry grin, making Victor chuckle.
„Reticent, is what I was going to say.“
Yuuri shook his head again, staring down at both of their hands before reaching out hesitantly and clasping Victor‘s hands firmly in his own.
„So… it‘s really true?“, he whispered, „You‘re my soulmate?“
Victor felt a small smile tug on his lips and ran his thumbs over Yuuri‘s knuckles.
„I‘m all yours, zolotse. Have been for a long time.“
When Yuuri looked up this time, his eyes were burning, and he surged forward into another kiss, guiding Victor‘s arms around his waist before wrapping his own around Victor‘s neck.
„Yuuri“, Victor murmured against his lips, „Yuuri, Yuuri, Yuuri“, until Yuuri gently shushed him, swiping his tongue into the opening of his mouth and deepening their kiss. Victor shivered unter Yuuri‘s attention, his mouth so hot, his skin so soft against Victor‘s, his fingers so gentle and yet unmistakably possessive, scratching at the short hair at the back of Victor‘s head.
Another short eternity was lost in the scant space between them, everything beyond this room, beyond this bed, beyond the realities of their skin, their bodies falling away.
When they broke apart once more, emotion was sitting heavily at the bottom of Victor‘s throat, and brimming in Yuuri‘s eyes as well.
„I‘m sorry I doubted you“, Yuuri whispered, once again tracing his fingers over Victor‘s Soulwords.
„You‘re forgiven“, Victor murmured back. „If I had known that you didn‘t remember… well. It doesn‘t matter now.“
Yuuri gave him a wobbly smile and Victor‘s heart nearly stopped when he bent down to press his lips to Victor‘s name imprinted on his skin.
He reached up for Yuuri’s right hand and pulled it to his front, cradling it gently in his own and mirroring Yuuri’s gesture with a soft kiss of his own, before running his thumb along the Soulword on Yuuri’s wrist, which had already darkened a few shades since Victor had first looked at it. It stood out a little more clearly now on the pale skin on the inside of Yuuri’s arm.
Victor ran his nail carefully along the slightly raised edge of the letters. “Do you remember?”, he asked, “when…?”
Yuuri gave him a soft, crooked smile. “Do you?”
Victor pulled his shoulders up with a small grin. “I don’t know, Yuuri, I feel like I’ve been pleading with you quite a lot lately.”
Yuuri huffed a quick laugh, but his expression turned serious.
“It’s easier, you know.”
Victor raised his eyebrows, a question.
“When you ask for what you actually want”, Yuuri clarified. “I’m… not very good at reading you. What you want from me? Maybe not yet, maybe… maybe I’ll learn. I’ll try. But…”, he twisted his hand around in Victor’s grip in order to lace their fingers together. “I’m scared of doing the wrong thing. So it’s easier, when you ask.”
“I’ll try”, Victor said, squeezing Yuuri’s fingers lightly. “I’ll do my best to let your Word be a reminder to me. Although I have to say, you are not exactly Mr. Forthcoming yourself.”
Yuuri pulled a wry grimace.
“I know”, he mumbled, “I know. I’ll… I’ll try, too. I want... “, he paused, licking his lips and squaring his shoulders like he was steeling himself, before meeting Victor’s eyes head-on. “I want this to work. I want you.”
“What a happy coincidence”, Victor whispered, though he couldn’t keep the grin off his face, “because I want you, too.”
For a few long moments their gaze held, and Victor hoped that his words had gotten through to Yuuri, that his eyes had held the intensity of his feeling, because he never wanted Yuuri to doubt this.
In the end, it was Yuuri who looked away first, if only for his eyes to flicker down to Victor’s lips, the rest of him soon following as he leaned close and kissed Victor again, briefly, sweetly.
“I suppose we should go to sleep soon”, he murmured, “It’s late, and I really shouldn’t miss another day of practice tomorrow.”
Victor nodded reluctantly. “You’re right, I suppose. We can still… talk about this more in the morning. Or throughout the day?” It wasn’t his intention, but he couldn’t quite keep the words from coming out as a question.
“Of course”, Yuuri said, “We… we’ve got time.”
Victor smiled at that. “We do.” He toyed idly with Yuuri’s fingers. “Will you stay with me… tonight?”
“If you’ll have me.”
Victor looked up at him, something warm curling into the corners of his lips. “Please”, he said.
Yuuri nodded with a smile of his own. “I… was going to take a shower, you know, before I came in here. I guess it’s too late now, I’ll do it in the morning. So, uhm… sorry if I’m a little gross.”
“Yuuri”, Victor said with a hint of admonishment in his voice, “if you’re gross then so am I. You should have thought of that before you extensively made out with me. Now come here already!” He scooched over a little on the bed and lifted up a corner of the sheet for Yuuri to slip under it.
Yuuri cuddled up next to him, his body so, so warm next to Victor’s, much warmer than Victor would have liked on a summer night such as this. But Victor wanted Yuuri right here next to him tonight, heat be damned.
Yuuri snuggled deeper into the pillows with the most adorable wiggling motion as Victor turned off the lights, and then they curled into each other, trading chaste kisses under the cover of darkness.
It wasn’t long before Victor fell asleep, Yuuri’s breath warm against the skin of his chest, just underneath the collarbone.