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“Victor?” Yuuri asked, peeking into Victor’s room. His hair was fluffy and looked so soft, towel dried from after their dip in the hot springs. How someone could look so effortlessly gorgeous by simply being, Victor would never know. He himself required so much effort to look good, with the creams and the styling and the constant knowing of his angles and how he looked from each side. It was exhausting. Yuuri had a sense of carefree beauty that Victor could never hope to accomplish. “You said you wanted me to come by?”
“I did,” Victor confirmed, and put down his book and pushed off the couch. Yuuri shuffled in the entrance, and Victor had to fight the urge to smile at how absolutely cute he was. “Step inside Yuuri.”
“Okay,” Yuuri agreed, and took a step inside before he turned to pull the door closed behind him before he walked carefully forward. Victor stepped over to one of his shelves as Yuuri did, glancing towards the other man from the corner of his eye.
So much had shifted since Victor had first come here. He had partly expected Yuuri to be that same person as he was at the banquet, the one that swept him firmly off his feet. Part of him had known that it wasn’t the full truth. Since parting in Sochi Victor had researched Yuuri a lot, and gotten information about him from other skaters, interviews, social media and from skating forums on the internet. It had become evident fairly quickly that the Yuuri that Victor had met during the Grand Prix Final banquet was just partly who he was. There was so much more to Yuuri than the playboy that had come to seduce the entire room of guests, steal Victor’s heart and light dreams Victor didn’t know he had, only to disappear into the night.
Yuuri was stubborn, and impulsive, but tentative in letting others in. He doubted, but mostly himself. It had been an adjustment, but Victor had to admit that now that they had become closer, after Yuri had left and Yuuri had started opening up more, that Victor liked it much better this way.
Yuuri had so many layers, and some of them were flawed just like Victor himself was. Yuuri wasn’t a fantasy. He was a person who continuously kept surprising Victor over and over. It was exhilarating getting to know Yuuri. Victor was extremely good at judging people in terms of what they wanted from him and how he should act to gain what he wanted from them. However, with Yuuri he was often at a loss. When Victor was sure Yuuri was going to steer right he shifted left, and when Victor thought he would pull back because of the pressure, Yuuri pushed forward with more force instead. When Victor thought he would retreat from his advances, he answered them instead.
Victor had no idea where this would all lead them. He knew what he hoped for. The more time he spent with Yuuri the more sure he was. He had never felt as much himself then by Yuuri’s side, and Yuuri seemed to like him that way. He loved sharing his days skating with Yuuri, seeing him grow and evolve. He loved spending his evenings with Yuuri, learning about him as a person or sitting in comfortable silence. He only hoped they would be spending their nights together at some point as well.
Victor smiled at the thought, that tentative feeling of something growing between them stirring in his chest, that hope that they would become something long lasting.
God Victor really hoped it would.
“Could you stand in the middle of the floor, by the bed?” he asked, pulling his measuring tape out from his sewing box. Yuuri’s eyebrows rose in surprise as his eyes fell on the item in Victor's hands, before he frowned.
“What’s that for?” he asked, and Victor stepped away from the shelves to walk closer, picking up his notepad from the coffee table as he did.
“I need to take your measurements to send to the seamstress,” Victor explained, which really was true. They were going to hand in the Eros costume for some minor alterations for one, because even if it fit Yuuri fairly well, it could still fit even better. Nothing but perfection would do for Victor’s skater after all.
“Oh, for the new costume?” Yuuri asked, his eyes sparkling a little as he asked. Victor smiled and nodded, throwing the notebook with a pen onto the bed next to them. That was the main reason after all.
“Yeah, I would like for her to get started on it, so we know it’ll be done in time. I want to be able to have time to send it for alterations after you’ve tried it on, and after skating in it if possible,” Victor admitted. Yuuri grinned widely and nodded, shuffling on his feet.
“That sounds like a good plan, how do you need me?” he asked, and Victor had to bite his tongue so not to follow the impulse of saying ‘ every way ’.
“Like that is fine, arms up,” Victor directed and Yuuri followed. Victor fought a smirk, but clearly he didn’t do a good enough job.
“What was that face for?” Yuuri asked, playfulness in his voice. They had a discussion yesterday about Yuuri’s stubbornness and his way of doing things impulsively and not listening to Victor’s direction. Clearly the conversation had crossed both of their minds just now.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Victor said, letting his grin spread on his face unbidden. He took the measuring tape and wound it around Yuuri’s chest, before pushing away to scribble down the numbers. “It’s just nice that you listen to me.”
“I listen,” Yuuri said, and Victor looked back, catching Yuuri’s gleaming gaze. “If I follow is another thing.”
Victor laughed and shook his head, stepping a little closer as he wrapped the tape around Yuuri’s waist. A charming blush rose on Yuuri’s cheeks, and Victor’s smile turned soft. He stepped away again, and wrote down the new set of numbers, before moving over to measure Yuuri’s hips.
He had gorgeous hips.
“I’m excited about the costume,” Yuuri said, and Victor looked up to catch his eye, finding Yuuri smiling back him as their eyes locked. “The design is very beautiful.”
“Yes we did good with that,” Victor agreed, having to measure Yuuri’s hips again only because he had lost the numbers when looking into Yuuri’s eyes. “I’m sure you’ll look mesmerising with it on.”
“You’ve always been so good at designing costumes,” Yuuri said, and Victor felt a blush spread over the bridge of his nose, humming as he wrote Yuuri’s hip measurement down. “I’ve never- before.”
“I think you were a natural, you had great opinions on what will fit the routine and the music and you as a person,” Victor said, meaning every word. Some critique was about to fall from his lips as well, but he stopped himself. Not tonight. It didn’t matter at this moment.
They continued to talk about the Yuuri on Ice routine as Victor moved over Yuuri’s body. He might have gotten a few more measurements then he needed, but he wanted to be thorough. The seamstress lived over three hours away by train, and even if they would go there for a fitting once the piece was starting to come along, they couldn’t go as often as they would if she had been in Hasetsu. Victor didn’t want to do anything that would stall the outfit, because he knew how much stress that was for a skater.
It was for selfish reasons too. It was nice to be this close to Yuuri. It was evident that Yuuri wasn’t used to physical contact, and even if Victor wanted to octopus himself around Yuuri and never let go, he had to hold back. The last thing he wanted was for Yuuri to be uncomfortable. He seemed to be very relaxed now however, so Victor indulged.
He had just measured Yuuri’s wrist on his right hand. Yuuri was talking about Makka and how she had chased seagulls this morning at the beach when they went for a run, and suddenly Victor couldn’t look away from Yuuri’s bare ring finger. Yuuri had such pretty fingers. Long and slim, and would surely fit perfectly between Victor’s own.
How would it look, with a wedding band on that fourth finger? Gold would suit Yuuri, Victor was sure - in more ways than one. His heart hammered in his chest, and then without thinking more about it he wrapped the tape around Yuuri’s finger.
Yuuri paused in his talking, and Victor quickly memorized the number, pulling the measuring tape from Yuuri’s hand to lean down to write it on the note pad.
“What did you need that measurement for?” Yuuri asked, and Victor felt his cheeks heat, before he cleared his throat, catching Yuuri’s hand again before Yuuri lowered it.
“You can’t be too through Yuuri,” he said, hoping to sound airy and aloof. It often worked when he wanted to make people think he was a little dumb, and a little silly. It worked on Yakov all the time. “I need to know all your measurements just in case!”
“Victor,” Yuuri said, and there was a sharpness to his tone, even if it wasn’t harsh. Shit, here Yuuri went again, reading Victor too well. He needed to do something. He hummed, and then measured another finger, and then another, before scribbling the numbers down.
“Okay, take off your glasses,” Victor said, trying to look calm even as his heart raced roughly against his ribcage.
“My glasses?” Yuuri asked, but still reached his hands up to them and started pulling them off. “Why?”
“I need to measure your nose,” Victor said surely, and Yuuri startled, his eyes going crossed as Victor laid the measuring tape over the bridge of his nose.
“Why?” Yuuri said again, but there was laughter in his voice now. Perfect.
“I was thinking maybe your exhibition skate could be Phantom of the Opera,” Victor said, lying through his teeth. Yuuri watched him as he pulled back, and his cheeks pinked again as he pushed his glasses onto his nose.
“Actually,” Yuuri said, and Victor paused in moving towards his notepad. It wasn’t as if he needed Yuuri’s nose measurement anyway. “I was thinking that maybe… maybe I could do Stammi Vicino, as my exhibition?”
Victor’s heart stopped.
There Yuuri went again and flipped Victor’s entire world around.
“I would love that,” he agreed softly, and then had to turn away so Yuuri wouldn’t see how emotional he was getting. The routine had become so deeply connected to Yuuri for him at this point, and for Yuuri to want to carry it into the competitive season meant more than Victor could word at the moment. “It’s perfect too, since you already know it.”
“Yeah,” Yuuri agreed, and once Victor had composed himself enough he turned back. Yuuri was looking at him, and then that insanely attractive determination flooded his expression, and then he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Victor’s shoulders. Something always seemed to slot into place in Victor’s chest when Yuuri was in his arms, and he held him close, his arms wrapping around Yuuri’s waist.
“I’ll do my best to do it justice,” Yuuri said, and Victor held him a little tighter.
“I know you will.”
There was no doubt in Victor’s mind he would.