Work Text:
I love skating
Victor smiled as he looked down at the soulmark appearing on his skin, the words decorating his left arm. He ran his fingers over them, the Russian known to him. It was his soulmate’s most prominent thought of the day. The one that had been thought the most, or had the biggest emotional impact. Every evening Victor got a message sent from his soulmate’s mind, and he cherished it more than most other things. He had gotten them ever since he was five, but they meant even more now about a decade later, when Victor had moved into the skating dorms of the Russian national team, far from home and with the pressure of the world resting on his shoulders. It felt like a comfort, to know there was someone out there, connected to him.
His soulmate often thought about skating, and it made Victor so happy to know they had that in common. The words appearing on his skin often revoked around skating, or dance, or was something Victor couldn’t fully make sense of. Sometimes they were really dark too, and in those times he wished so that he could reach out and hold them, and tell them anything at all to make them feel better. The letters were always in Russian, but didn’t mean Victor’s soulmate was. It just manifested in a language he could understand.
He laid down in his lumpy dorm bed, and ran his thumb over the words, hoping he had sent something positive to his soulmate today.
I’ll never be good enough
Victor’s eyes prickled with tears, and caressed over the words again. He couldn’t look away from them, and a part of his wanted to scrub them away from his skin. He hated that his soulmate thought like this from time to time, sometimes several days in a row. He was sure they were enough, and he would have to tell them as he met them… to try to make sure they knew that they were good enough for him. He sighed and rolled to the side in the hotel bed, swallowing thickly. Tomorrow was the Junior Worlds, and Victor really wanted to do well.
He looked at the words on his arm, and remembered all the times his soulmate had thought about skating. Determination flooded Victor’s mind. He would have to skate his heart out tomorrow. His soulmate might not know who he was, but maybe they would be watching. Maybe Victor could inspire them.
He pressed his lips to the skin of his arm, and then laid down in bed, his mind on the top of the podium.
I want to skate on the same ice as him
Victor smiled widely as he looked down at the mark on his arm, feeling his heart flutter in his chest. He was between interviews, and had just glanced down and spotted it. He couldn’t know if it was about him. It could be about anyone really, any skater, both in the world championship or about anyone really. Still, it made him hope. New energy filled him, and he felt a smile spread on his lips as he stepped up to the next journalist.
I want to skate on the same ice as Victor Nikiforov
Victor felt his heart pause in his chest, his eyes wide as he stared down at the letters staining his arm. It felt so strange to see his own name there, having been thought by his soulmate with such force it ended up on Victor’s skin.
He put his phone down, and then just sat and stared at it. His heart beat too roughly against his chest, and he tried to catch his breath.
His soulmate knew him.
They knew him and they wanted to skate with Victor. Not against him, with him. Victor let out a long slow breath, and then stood from the couch. The rink was closed now, but Victor could still do his best to be better, to make sure he lived up to his soulmate’s expectations. Be pulled on his running shoes, and was soon out the door. He needed to be the best.
Victor wanted to skate with them too.
He hoped it wouldn’t be too long.
Victor was beautiful on the ice today
Victor grinned proudly down at the text, feeling ten times prouder over it than the gold medal around his neck. He had fought like possessed for his olympic gold, and he was insanely proud of it. Still, nothing beat the sensation of knowing his soulmate was proud over him. He didn’t know if they knew they were soulmate’s, but Victor was very happy regardless. He had made his soulmate proud today. He knew they still skated, and that they still thought so very often about wanting to skate with Victor. He couldn’t help but hope they would someday meet through skating. At a competition or ice show.
Somehow they needed to.
Victor couldn’t stand the idea of going through his entire life without knowing them. They had given him so much, even if they didn’t know it. Victor was desperate to return the favour.
I’ll never reach him
Tears pooled in Victor’s eyes, and he sucked in a breath. It was terribly unfair, that he couldn’t see them, or talk to them, or send any type of message. Victor didn’t want them to give up. He hadn’t given up. Please not yet, he wanted to pray, beg or plead. Please hold on for a little while longer. Let me find you.
It’s better if I just stop
Was it possible to scream over the entire planet and get someone to hear you? Victor wanted desperately to. He wanted to scream and shout and beg for his soulmate not to stop, not to give up. They had been of a very dark mind lately, and it broke Victor’s heart that he couldn’t even be there for them through it. He knew he might not be able to fix it, but he wanted to be there to do something. It was terrible to be parted this way and only see his soulmate’s agony. Victor felt like his chest was bleeding in his chest from it, the pain so clear in his entire being. He laid in bed with his hand over his heart, and let the tears spill down his face.
What if he had lost the chance to meet them for good now?
I want to skate on the same ice as Victor Nikiforov
A stuttering breath left Victor’s lips, and he caressed over the letters. It was such a common phrase that Victor had grown accustomed to it now, in the seven years he had gotten to see it. He was turning twenty three this year, and he was just approaching the Grand Prix circuit again. He hoped his soulmate would be there this year. He didn’t think they had been before. At least Victor didn’t think he had met them. They said that most knew when they met their soulmate, that there was this pull towards them.
Then again, Georgi had claimed to have felt it like ten times so Victor wasn’t sure he trusted that fully.
He smiled as he looked down at the words, caressing his thumb over them again.
He had to do well this year. He had to continue pushing himself. It was all he could do really.
Katuski Yuuri, why can’t you get anything right?
Victor stared down at the name on his arm with wide eyes. Other names than his own were very rare in his soulmate’s most prominent thought, and Victor couldn’t remember the last time it had happened. This was oddly phrased for being about someone else. Plus, his soulmate had never had a malice thought about someone else. They had a lot of malice thoughts about themselves though, and after knowing them, or at least part of them, for eighteen years, Victor knew.
Who was Katsuki Yuuri?
_________________________________________
Katsuki Yuuri has the best step sequences in the circuit
Yuuri looked down at his hand with wide eyes, reaching out to poke at his skin to see if it was really real. He brought his hand up to rub at his eyes under his glasses, before he looked down at it again.
That was his name.
That was his name with his soulmate’s words on his hand and Yuuri felt like he couldn’t breathe. He knew his soulmate was a skater. He knew they thought mostly about skating, and their dog, and about him - their soulmate. Never before had it been this concrete though. Did they know?
A blush seeped into Yuuri’s cheeks, and he couldn’t help but smile. He knew he didn’t have the best jumps, or the best nerves, and that he could work on his performance… but he did know he had good step sequences.
He couldn’t believe his soulmate had noticed him at all really, but to have noticed that too. Yuuri hid his face in his hands, and let out a happy squeal.
Katsuki Yuuri’s thighs are to die for
Yuuri’s cheeks went instantly red as he stared down at the words, and then clamped his other hand over the words as if that could silence the way they were screaming in his mind. Had he really just read what he thought he had read?
He pulled his hand away slowly, and then looked down at the words again. Yep. They were still there, praising Yuuri’s thighs. He felt his cheeks heat even more, and had no idea how to cope with all this. He would have to wear gloves if he were to step out from his room to the living room of the dorm, because Phichit would never let him hear the end of this.
This was the seventh day in a row his soulmate had thought of him, and Yuuri had no idea how to process it. It was just so much, and so lovely, and so terrifying. He had no clue what had prompted this interest in him, and he wasn’t sure if he was grateful or terrified because of it.
He just didn’t want to let them down.
Yuuri looks like he gives the best hugs
Yuuri smiled, and his heart rushed in his chest. Warmth exploded inside his body, and he let out a long slow breath. He would hug the hell out of his soulmate. They seemed so good, and Yuuri had carried them with him since he was so young. He couldn't even remember a time when he hadn’t had their words on his skin. He had thought so many times about hugging them, when they were sad or struggling, or were angry. It was so odd to carry someone with you for your entire life, and only get fragments of them.
Yuuri wanted to be enough for them.
He wanted to be there for them.
He wanted to meet them.
I can’t wait to see Yuuri at Skate America
Yuuri stared down at the words, his heart stopping in his chest.
Oh.
Oh no.
“Yuuri,” Victor Nikiforov called, looking straight at Yuuri with the biggest grin on his face. Victor Nikiforov, who Yuuri had pushed himself to catch up to, who he had skated for, been inspired and been surprised by. Why was he calling Yuuri’s name?
He was giving Yuuri the surprise of his life tonight.
Victor was walking towards him, and Yuuri’s heart raced. He was so beautiful, even this close, even in real life. Yuuri had only seen him for real once before, and it had been from the stands of a competition. This was different, so very different.
“Victor,” Yuuri said, and Victor’s smile widened. He stopped just before Yuuri, and Yuuri met his incredibly blue gaze, and felt something tug in his chest.
What on earth was that?
“I’m so happy to finally meet you,” Victor said, and then reached out. His hand cupped Yuuri’s cheek, and Yuuri let out a surprised gasp as his fingers caressed over his skin. This was so odd, so very odd and yet.. It felt so right.
“Why?” Yuuri asked in a whisper, and Victor’s smile turned tender. There was something so real about it, so heart tugging, and Yuuri leaned into his touch.
“Yuuri, how many times would you say you’ve thought about skating on the same ice as me?” Victor asked, and Yuuri’s mind came to a screeching halt.
What?
“I-” Yuuri stuttered before cutting himself off, and Victor’s thumb caressed slowly over his cheekbone as Yuuri gaped. He let his hand slide from Yuuri’s face, and then he pulled his sleeve up. Yuuri watched, and then his eyes grew even wider as he saw the words written there, the mantra he had been playing in his mind all day yesterday inked into Victor’s skin.
Tomorrow, I get to skate on the same ice as Victor
Yuuri snapped his face up, and saw Victor’s cheeks were dusted pink. He looked back at Yuuri, even as he fidgeted with nerves. Yuuri couldn’t even remember seeing him nervous before.
“Surprise?” he said softly, and Yuuri let out a startled breath.
Something warm and bright exploded in Yuuri’s chest, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world to wrap his arms around Victor’s shoulers and pull him into a hug.
“Hi,” Yuuri breathed, and Victor held him so hard. Yuuri wasn’t much better, his heart rushing in his chest as he tried to make sense of this new reality.
Was this really happening?
_________________________
Yuuri
Victor smiled proudly down at the word on his soulmate’s hand, caressing his thumb over it. It was almost as if imprinted on it. Victor couldn’t even remember the last time it was something else. He snuffled, and then brought the hand up to his mouth and pressed a tended kiss to the soulmark. Yuuri stirred, and Victor pressed closer, putting Yuuri’s arm back around him as he pressed a kiss to Yuuri’s jaw.
“Morning,” he whispered, and Yuuri hummed, not fully awake yet. He still searched out Victor’s mouth, and places a long sweet kiss on his lips. It left Victor breathless and overwhelmingly happy.
“I love you,” he said once Yuuri pulled back, and even though Yuuri still hadn’t opened his eyes, he grinned widely.
“I love you more,” he said, and Victor gasped, incredibly offended.
“Take it back!”