Chapter Text
The first time Victor met Yuuri was at a festival. His parents had brought him all the way to Japan during his school break. They said it was to expose him to the culture, given that there was a possibility of them moving there. They took him to a local fair, his mother entrusting him with some pocket money for whatever he wanted to buy. This much power entrusted in a nine year old boy was most likely a mistake as he spent all his money on games with no prizes to show for it.
Downtrodden and defeated, he walked around the fair to find something to cheer him up. That something happened to come in the form of a red balloon, stark against all the other balloons in the young boy's eyes. He approached the stand with determination and pointed at the red balloon.
“Give!” he said, not knowing a word of Japanese and hoping one of the few English words he knew would suffice. He showed the vendor the little bit of money he had left and was met with a sad smile.
“Sorry,” he said, pointing at the sign that said ¥120. His mother dug through her purse for some more coins while Victor kept his eye trained on the balloon. He turned for a moment to look if his mum had found any coins, only to see someone else being handed his balloon. He pouted and stomped over, taking a deep breath so he could tell the boy off. That is until the boy practically shoved the helium balloon in his face.
Victor reeled for a second, processing what was happening. He tilted his head to the side then pointed at himself. “For me?” he asked. The little boy nodded, a nervous smile on his face.
Victor beamed at him, throwing his arms around the little boy to hug him in thanks. Only that made him accidentally let go of the balloon. Thankfully his mother was quick enough to catch it and tie it to Victor’s hand.
Thanks were exchanged: from Victor’s mum to the small boy, from Victor to his mum and from Victor to the boy. The latter was flustered at all the attention but bowed slightly nonetheless.
“I’m Victor!” he said, pointing to himself as he said his name then putting a hand out for Yuuri to shake. He had seen grown-ups do this so he can’t be wrong. “And you?” he asked, a friendly smile on his face.
Yuuri looked panicked for a second. At his age, he hasn’t learned a word of any other language besides his mother tongue. The unfamiliar gesture and the question in an alien language was too much for him. He looked around for his mum, scared he did something wrong.
His sister found him amongst the crowd and made her way to his side. Mari glanced at the foreigner before turning to Yuuri. She tried to ask him what was happening, but the shy boy just hugged her and refused to speak.
“I’m sorry,” she told the foreigner, “Did my brother do something?”
Victor nodded, smiling at her. He pointed to the balloon, “He got me that!! I thank him and ask for name but he…” Victor trailed off, uncertain of the right word.
Mari smiled and kneeled so he was eye to eye with Yuuri. She carefully and calmly explained what was happening to him.
As soon as Yuuri understood that Victor only wanted to be friends, he perked up and turned to him once more.
“私の名前は勝生勇利です!” he proclaimed proudly.
Victor was the one to be dumbfounded this time. He stared at Mari, confusion evident in the nine year old’s eyes. Mari smiled fondly at Yuuri, who was still smiling and waiting for Victor’s reply.
“He says his name is Yuuri,” she told him.
Victor smiled. “Yuuri!” he hugged him again briefly. “Let’s be friends Yuu~ri!” he said excitedly, stretching the “u” in his new friend’s name. Mari translated once more. Yuuri nodded, a small but firm gesture. Victor took his hand and led him to around the carnival for the rest of the day with Mari and his mother to watch over them.