Work Text:
By Orenji92
Everyone was marked on the day they were born. The Soul Mark belonged only to two people who shared the same soul.
Yuuri was five when he understood the meaning of the picture on his left shoulder. It was small, just a little bit bigger than a 500 yen coin. He thought it was beautiful, a combination of two flowers. The first one was easy to identify, because he saw it every spring. The second one was rather unfamiliar, but beautiful nonetheless. Perhaps it was his soulmate’s favorite?
The boy was thrilled that there was someone out there, who was perfect for him, just for him. So, on depressing and stressful days, he would run his fingers through the mark and felt less alone.
-
“Yuuri, Yuuri!” Yuko’s voice sounded worried, but faraway at the same time. “Yuuri! He’s awake!”
“Don’t shake him!” A masculine voice barked from a distance.
It felt painful everywhere. His back felt numb and he felt rather feverish.
“His wound…”
“We need…”
It was hard for Yuuri to concentrate, but he tried to keep his eyes open. Yuko’s distressed expression filled his sight, she should not be suffering. It was not her fault.
“Hospital…”
Keeping his eyes open was proven to be too tiring. Slowly he felt asleep.
The next time he opened his eyes, he was in a white small room. It was too white and too clean, which was rather unsettling. His mother was beside him and immediately grabbed his hand, as if she was afraid he would be spirited away the moment she let him go. His father’s hand joined his mother’s just a few seconds later. Relief and happiness washed over their face.
“You scared me so much, Yuuri.” His mother said with a shaky smile.
“Sorry…”
His father smiled, though it was not as cheerful as his usual smile. “Silly child…”
Yuuri tried to sit, but he felt stings of pain on his back. He looked at his parents in question. “What happened?”
“How much do you remember?”
“There was a big wave,” Yuuri started as he tried to recall that day, “I tried to swim away, but I couldn’t move forward…” Yuuri paused as he thought for a while. “The water kept pulling me back… then the wave hit me.”
His mother hugged him tightly. “Oh, Yuuri…”
Yuuri just gave her a small smile. “My back hit something very sharp… I don’t remember much after that because it hurt a lot…”
His mother kissed his forehead. “Does it still hurt?”
Yuuri shook his head, not wanting to worry his parents any further. “I’m all better…! Don’t worry!”
His father put his hand gingerly on Yuuri’s. “Of course we will worry. You are our son.”
Yuuri blushed and nodded lamely. “I guess…”
They just smiled at him. “You must be tired. Sleep now, Mari will be back with some food…”
“Katsudon?”
There was a pause before his parents finally broke gentle laughter.
-
The first day he could finally see his back without any bandage was the first day he finally understood the thing called depression. He was 10.
-
There were knockings on his door. They were gentle, so it must be his mother.
“Yuuri?”
“… Yeah?”
“… Are you alright?”
He was a wreck. “Yeah…”
There was a long pause, he almost thought she had went away. “I made Katsudon. Let’s eat together…”
He wanted to cry, he did nothing but made his parents worry. He did not deserve them. “…”
“It’s alright, Yuuri. Everything will be alright.”
He wished it was the truth, but he could not bear to deny her anymore. He had been very selfish, he had wallowed in his self-pity for too long. But he still wanted to cry. It was a sheer miracle that he managed to open his bedroom’s door and croaked a reply. “… Okay.”
His mother hugged him, and for a second he believed that it would be alright.
He let his mother see the scar afterward.
“I don’t even know what to see anymore.” He whispered, afraid that if he spoke louder, his voice would crack and made his mother worry even more.
“Oh… Yuuri…” She held him, fingers tracing the scar. “Whoever that person is, they will know if they would just look at you.”
He kept his silence.
“There are more to your soul than a picture on your skin.” She whispered softly to his ears. “And if that person was really perfect for you, then they will know.”
“But, what if they don’t…”
Her mother did not know what to answer. She could say that they will, they will know, but she could not bear to say it. She did not know what would happen. She could not lie and have Yuuri’s glass heart broke beyond repair when it did not come true. So she hugged him much tighter, to tell him that he would always have a place in their home.
-
“Yuuri, look what I’ve found!” Yuko dragged him to the television, and Yuuri saw a teen not much older than him was skating, no, dancing on the ice. His movements were fluid and graceful, and there was not any wasted movement in his choreography. His long silver-blond hair moved rhythmically with his swift moves. His black costume was shimmering under the spotlight. He was so beautiful, so beautiful it was painful for Yuuri to keep his eyes on the screen, but he refused to look away.
“Beautiful…” Yuuri whispered in awe.
“Isn’t he? He is Victor, one of the best figure skater! He just made his debut in Senior program!”
Yuuri kept his eyes glued to the beautiful person on the television, seemingly ignoring Yuko’s enthusiastic introduction, but Yuko just smiled even brighter. It was good that Yuuri seemed to be interested in Victor. The boy had been quiet since the last accident and Yuko missed the cheerful smile on Yuuri’s face. At least, his love for figure skating had not disappeared and Yuko was glad. She looked at Yuuri’s face, and it was clear that the boy would not take his eyes off of the screen anytime, so she crept her way out of the room to join Takeshi on the rink.
“Victor…” Yuuri whispered in a hushed voice. It was foreign, the way it rolled awkwardly on his tongue. “Victor…” He tried again, and it still sounded just as awkward, but he decided that he liked it. He repeated the name over and over again, like a prayer, until he could say it smoothly, and it left a comfortable twinge in his chest.
Since that day, he skated more and more fervently, copying Victor’s moves and routine. He spent more time in the rink than his house. His family was just glad that he finally found solace. They did not even question him when he brought home a brown poodle and called him Vicchan.
Slowly, he stopped tracing the mark. There was nothing left to trace after all, and he preferred to skate instead of moping in his bedroom.
Yuuri jumped a Triple Axel and beamed a smile to Yuko and Takeshi.
‘Yeah, I have no time to be depressed.’
-
It was his first time to finally skate on the same rink as Victor, and he blew himself off magnificently. Victor did not even recognize him as a fellow skater, but that made sense. Who would actually recognize a loser? He was such a joke, to delusion that Victor and him were finally on the same level, on the same ground. What a joke.
He wondered if he should continue his career as a figure skater, perhaps he should quit, but he loved the ice rink too much to let go. He would keep wondering, contemplating for his whole miserable life, if a certain someone did not barge in into his life and claim to be his coach from then on.
But the timing was immaculate. Yuuri was starting to get bored of being depressed.
Living with Victor, as it turned out, was rather exhausting. The man did not understand the concept of personal space, had a razor-sharp mouth, and an ego as big as the Jupiter if not bigger. As the cherry on the top, he was forgetful, too.
But somehow, it brought Yuuri a great relief because Victor seemed more human instead of the ethereal image he had in mind. He found that he enjoyed this side of Victor, perhaps even more than ever. Now, if only his coach would stop teasing him with smirks and soft touches until poor Yuuri went red…
-
He accidentally saw Victor’s Soul Mark when they were bathing one time, if stealing a peek on the visible skin every day and suddenly got a reward could be counted as accidental. It just happened that Victor stood up before him and walk without any thought of wrapping himself with a towel. It was rather small, right above his loin. It was beautiful, just like the rest of Victor, and it hurt because Yuuri was suddenly reminded that the man in front of him belonged to someone else, someone who held the same beautiful mark on his body and the breathtaking man in his arm.
And Yuuri hated that unknown person with such passion that he surprised himself. The Russian Yuri noticed his sudden stillness and followed his gaze.
“Don’t worry about it.” He grunted. “Victor doesn’t really cover his mark. He never does. You don’t have to be so surprised or something.”
It seemed the teen misunderstood, but that was alright.
Actually, it was not alright, but it did not matter. Victor belonged to someone else, someone who held a picture of two flowers combined into one.
Yuuri unconsciously touched his own forgotten mark, covered like most people. The gesture was almost foreign, for he had never done it for more than a decade. He wondered why he did it.
The gesture, however, caught Yuri’s eyes. And Yuri, being a teenager, was prone to do whatever pleased him. So he did what he wanted, like usual.
The blonde caught Yuuri’s cover and ripped it open in one swift movement, revealing the ugly scar on his shoulder. Yuri’s eyes widened in astonishment, and he was quiet for the longest time.
“Oh.”
That was the only thing that Yuri said. He must confess that was not what he expected. He thought it would be something silly, like a bowl of steamy Katsudon or a fat pig.
Yuuri was silent, and it was more dreadful than anything. Yuri could handle scolding, yelling, or some rough punching. This silence was rather unnerving. They kept quiet until Yuuri quietly took back his cover and put it back in place. The older one stood up and smiled. “Don’t worry about it.”
He proceeded to leave Yuri alone in the onsen.
“The fuck?”
-
“Yuuri…”Victor knocked his door not long after he put on his clothes. Knowing his coach, he sighed and walked toward the door and opened it.
“Yes, Victor?”
“How come Yuri gets to see your mark but I, your coach, don’t?”
Yuuri had half-expected this situation, so he just sighed again. “He didn’t get to see it, he forcibly ripped my cover.”
“What?!” Victor exclaimed and swore something in Russian.
“It’s alright, Victor. It’s not like I am truly hiding it. I simply follow the norm.”
“But the fact that you still hide it means you want it to be private, right?”
“No, not really…” Yuuri paused and lowered his head. “It’s not meant to be private, I hide it because I want to forget.”
Victor’s eyes widened in surprise. He always thought Yuuri was the romantic type, who cherished his soul mate, or at least the thought of it. And he really thought he was right, his instinct usually was, so this came as an unpleasant surprise. “Why?”
Yuuri was quiet again. He looked up to see Victor’s eyes and reach for the line of his clothing. “You can see it if you want to. Everyone here already knew about it, so it’s not a secret.”
Victor did not really understand, but Yuuri already peeled his cloth off and tossed it to his bed. He reached for his cover and hesitated for a second, which was enough for Victor to stop his hand. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to show me.”
The younger man let out a choked sound, but he held a steel gaze when he looked at his coach. “I want to. I just need to…”
He did not finish his sentence, and ripped his cover as quickly as Yuri did on the onsen. It almost stung. Victor was quiet, and from the look of his face, he was stunned.
“Victor?”
The broken edge on Yuuri’s voice brought him back to reality. He looked at Yuuri with wet eyes. “Can I look closer?”
Yuuri nodded, not trusting his own voice.
The Russian to a tentative step toward his disciple and took in the sight of Yuuri’s mark, almost gone, buried by the scar. But he really wanted to touch it, trace it. “Can I touch it?” Victor whispered lowly to Yuuri’s ears, and the shorter man had to fight the urge to shiver and lean on his coach. He nodded quickly, barely holding back the sobs on his throat.
Victor’s fingers traced his mark, and the scar that swallowed it, with such tenderness that Yuuri might mistaken for love. This time, he could not contain the choked moan that escaped his lips. It was as if the soft, alluring voice broke the spell. Yuuri slapped his lips with both of his hands, looked up to Victor with an expression of a deer caught in the headlight, and promptly let out a cry as he covered his whole face. “Please forget this ever happened!”
“Why should I, when I finally found my mate?”
The words were not registered to Yuuri’s mind until few seconds later.
“Eh?”
Victor chuckled at his expression. His students could be dense sometimes, it was too endearing. The silver-haired man lifted his own shirt, revealing his mark. “See? Yours and mine are the perfect match.”
Yuuri blinked once, twice. “No, it can’t be!” He took another look at his own mark. “What do you see? There’s nothing to see from this…leftover.”
“Yuuri, enough!” Victor was not angry, but he was pretty close to that emotion. “You shouldn’t say something you don’t mean about your own mark.” He said again, softer this time.
“But, but…” Yuuri sobbed. “I don’t even know what to see anymore.”
“Ssh…” Victor guided the younger man to the nearest mirror. He showed Yuuri’s mark, ugly and covered with old scar. “I can see a cute and adorable Cherry Blossom here,” Victor pointed at the remnant of what used to look like the said flower, “and a sweet and beautiful Snowflake here.” He pointed at what Yuuri thought as a flower for the longest time.
When Yuuri finally realized that, his eyes widened. “No way…”
Victor gave the broad smile of his. “Yes.” He lifted his shirt again. “Look just like mine, right?”
Yuuri’s eyes traveled to Victor’s mark, no, their mark. He traced the picture on the man’s back in trance and disbelief. “No way…” He repeated in daze.
Victor just chuckled at him, but it was touched with open adoration. “Still can’t believe it?”
Yuuri shook his head quickly. “No, yes, no, I mean…” His cheeks were hot and his lips were shaking. What should a Katsuki Yuuri say to his soul mate?
“Yuuri?”
“I just can’t believe that you would look at me and…”
Victor blinked, but he wanted Yuuri to continue. “And?”
“And find me.”
“Ah…”
That was all Victor said, but Yuuri could hear so much more. ‘I know, I understand.’, ‘I thought I am the only one, you are not alone.’, ‘It will be alright, I’ll be by your side’, and ‘I love you, please stay by my side and never leave.’
The raven smiled, and that was all Victor needed to throw his arms around the shorter man and seal their lips.
-
His mother was right. His soul mate would know. Victor knew, because he looked at him and found him.