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Everyone was looking at them, and Yuri was so used to it that he didn't even think about it until later. Maybe some of them knew who they were, but most of the people there must've had no idea who these two touch-starved boys were. That could've been dangerous, but they made sure not to kiss, talking discretely between themselves so nobody else would hear. They weren't sure if that worked.
Makkachin was at their feet the whole time, wagging his tail happily like he knew what was going on. He was happy to see Yuri, of course, but he seemed as glad as Victor and Yuri were to be reunited.
"I watched your performance on my phone on the way here," Victor said when they walked out of the airport. It was the middle of the night, and they'd already been delayed enough with their reunion and the forgotten luggage so they decided to drive back home right away.
Yuri smiled shyly in his scarf, reaching underneath Victor's sleeve to grab his wrist. He could just hold his hand, but they were outside in a place where people could show up all the time, so he didn't take the chance. "What did you think?"
Victor hummed a small, amused noise. "I thought a lot of things, Yuri. First of all, you normally ace that first jump so I wasn't sure what was going on, but then you stopped over thinking and it showed. The second part of your routine was basically flawless save for the last quad, but you've always had trouble with this one even though I know you can do it. Regardless, your emotion was good throughout, and I think that's what saved your score."
Yuri was looking up at Victor, smiling softly with his lips shut and his cheeks rosy from the cold. He'd known everything that Victor was going to say, it was everything that he held against himself as well. They were on the same track most of the time now, and Victor very rarely hurt Yuri with his honesty anymore. "Thank you, that looks a lot like what Yakov said too," Yuri replied, beaming at Victor.
“Does it?” Victor laughed, apparently unsurprised to know that. “It probably wasn’t as gentle.”
Yuri giggled a little, letting his fingers drum against the inside of Victor’s wrist. “No, it definitely wasn’t the same,” he said sweetly, smiling to himself as they walked to the parking lot with Makkachin walking behind them. It was amazing how that dog would just follow Victor anywhere without needing a leash.
Yuri had a warm feeling at the pit of his stomach when he saw his parent’s old van in the parking lot, because that meant that Victor had driven it all the way from the house all alone, and on a side of the road he wasn’t used to, at that. He helped Makkachin in the car before he sat in the passenger seat next to Victor who just sat there, unmoving and looking at the key in his hand like he didn’t understand what to do with it.
“Yuri,” he said suddenly, making Yuri lift his head up to look at him, “I’m exhausted, it’s late, but I don’t want to go home.”
Yuri felt like his brain had to reboot for a moment, as if a computer error had popped up. There was many things he wanted to ask, but he figured that the matter at hand was what Victor wanted to do if he didn’t want to go home right now. Yuri would need to ask him if the onsen had really became Victor’s home later. “Where do you want to go, then?”
Victor chuckled, probably thinking that he was acting either spoilt or insane. “Is there a way that we could get inside the ice rink at this hour?”
Yuri grinned widely and maybe just a little naughtily.
*
It had been so long since Yuri had done this, but he still remembered exactly what to do to make the door budge and he had the code for the alarm system in mind. He might’ve went out at the same time as Yuko once, and he might’ve looked while she set it so he could come back when she’d drive away and practice some more. He wasn’t necessarily proud to know how to break into the ice rink, but it was useful knowledge at the moment.
Once they’d locked the door behind themselves and entered the code to make sure they wouldn’t be busted, they moved to the bench next to the ice to change into their skates. Victor had brought his pair in the car, that had been his plan since the beginning. Yuri couldn’t help but smile at him anytime he’d look his way, feeling his cheeks get warmer and warmer the more Victor’s gaze lingered on his face.
As soon as they walked on the ice, Makkachin put his paws on the boards and watched them as they skated slowly, holding each other’s hands and drifting little by little, Victor going backwards and Yuri, forward. They were staring at each other almost timidly, flashing a small smile once in a while.
When Victor started skating faster, pulling Yuri with him all the way, they both broke into a nervous chuckle. Quickly enough, they settled to the same speed as they skated in circles, never unlinking their hands. Victor had a playful smile on his lips, and Yuri was trying to hold back a noisy laugh at this point. He felt all the pressure and the stress leaving him like vapor out of a kettle, and that was making him half-jumpy, half-relaxed.
Victor brought them to the center of the ice with a look on his face that was just as handsome as it was a bad omen. Yuri braced for the unpredictable, glaring at Victor with wide eyes when he pulled on his hands to make him skate closer against his will. They were still skating in circles, in the same square meter as if they were still learning how to keep their balance on the ice. Victor gave a vigorous push with his leg, and then another one with his other leg, making them pick up speed. Yuri finally let himself laugh, leaving Victor’s hands to hold him around the neck instead.
Victor wrapped his arms around Yuri’s waist and lifted him, keeping him close to his body and only a foot over the ice. Yuri yelped when he was picked up, staring down incredulously at Victor who raised his chin up and begged for a kiss with his eyes.
Yuri sighed happily right before he gave his boyfriend what he’d been asking for. Their momentum wasn’t strong enough to keep them spinning around much longer, so Victor was still holding Yuri up when they stopped moving. They kept kissing a little longer, holding each other in the middle of the ice with nothing but silence surrounding them, until Makkachin barked and distracted them. Yuri moved away like he was fighting against a magnetic force that kept pulling him back, and Victor laughed softly at how hard he was trying to stop kissing him.
“I’d love to be able to lift you higher than this, but I’ve never skated in pairs so it would probably end horribly bad,” Victor explained apologetically, giving Yuri a little side smile at the end that must’ve been supposed to make up for it.
Yuri giggled, feeling his skates touch the ice again as Victor let him down. He brought his forehead to Victor’s shoulder and closed his eyes. “Don’t worry about it, I wouldn’t let you do it even if you swore that you were able to,” he replied, smiling softly when he felt Victor’s offended glare glued to the top of his head.
*
They walked in the house around 4 am, shushing Makkachin even though they knew that he wouldn’t understand and he’d still be noisy if he damn well wanted to. They made it to Victor’s room without waking anyone up and Yuri made sure to slide his door shut as silently as possible. Once he turned around to walk into the room and get ready for bed, Victor was just standing there, staring at him intensely.
“What?” Yuri asked in a whisper.
Victor walked to him in one long step, bringing his hands to Yuri’s face and rubbing his cheeks soothingly. “I can’t believe how much I’ve missed you in only one day,” Victor admitted with something close to hurt in his voice, like he couldn’t believe he was being betrayed by his emotions like this.
Yuri smiled sadly at him, lifting his hands to press his palms on Victor’s stomach. “I’ve missed you like crazy too,” Yuri confessed as well before he closed his eyes and let Victor cradle his face in his hands. He felt something spark inside of him and suddenly, he was restless, he wanted to touch Victor more, to hug him closer. He still hadn’t had enough, and he probably never would.
He opened his eyes and stared straight into Victor’s own, standing on his tip toes so he’d be even closer to Victor’s face. “Pick me up again,” Yuri requested, and Victor complied instantly, taking his hands away from Yuri’s face and bringing them to the back of his thighs. Victor lifted him swiftly, letting him wrap his legs around Victor’s hips easily. Yuri’s hands slid up to Victor’s shoulders and he held them to catch his balance and make sure not to burden Victor with all his weight.
Victor was staring at his lips again, biting his own lower lip in expectation. “Yuri, I was serious before, I really want to stay with you as long as you’ll let me.”
Yuri gasped in a sharp breath that almost had him choking on air. “I want you to stay, that’s all I want,” he replied, struggling to make the words come out. He punctuated his sentence with a deep, abrupt kiss, but Victor went along with it quickly, kissing back with the same eagerness.
Victor made his way to the bed, slowly, carefully, making sure he wasn’t running into some furniture in his hurry. Once he was close enough to kneel on the bed, he leaned forward until Yuri’s back would touch the mattress, kissing him the whole time he moved on top of him. When they broke the kiss and shared a soulful gaze, Victor felt his chest swell up with the emotion he wasn’t letting out. He figured that this was as good a time as any.
Yuri looked very peaceful and soft in Victor’s bed, with a discreet smile on his lips and a blush high on his cheeks. Victor inhaled slowly, taking the air in as a way to calm himself down. It wasn’t the first time he would say it, but it still felt special at this point in their relationship.
“I love you, Yuri,” Victor said as he watched the smile on Yuri’s face bloom into something even softer. He was all smitten and he didn’t even take the time to feel embarrassed about it. If there was something that Victor loved about Yuri above everything else, it was how confident he’d gotten in their short time together.
It was Yuri’s turn to grab Victor’s face lovingly, letting out a short and adorable laugh before he composed himself. “I love you too, Victor,” he answered, and every time he said it, he felt like he meant it more. Victor’s face was warm in his hands, and he felt the shifting of the muscles underneath Victor’s cheeks when he smiled back at Yuri.
They resumed their kissing tenderly, hugging each other close enough to cut the air out of their lungs. They broke apart to breathe after a couple of minutes, chuckling quietly at how desperate they were acting. Makkachin seemed to be interested in these little laughs, because his paws were on the bed seconds later, looking expectantly at the two men who were still gazing at each other like they were seeing their soulmate for the first time in their lives.
Victor brought his attention to the dog, chuckling some more when he saw how much the poor thing wanted to hop on and join them. “Come on,” he said, and the dog was on the bed so fast that it knocked off their balance and Victor fell on his side next to Yuri.
They had to keep quiet, but they were both so happy to be back where they belonged with an healthy dog and a supportive family that they couldn’t keep in a couple of louder giggles. Victor took his clothes off unceremoniously like he always did, talking in a baby voice to his enthusiastic dog as he did so. Yuri watched it all go down as a fuzzy feeling grew in his stomach and he felt tears prickling the corner of his eyes.
Yuri quickly wiped the tears away and sat up in bed to take his clothes off as well, changing into something more comfortable for sleep. Victor stayed in bed and played with Makkachin while Yuri changed, apparently not planning on wearing anything new over his underwear. Yuri shrugged, he really, really did not care.
When he got back in the bed, Victor pulled him into the dog vs. owner fight and Makkachin put one paw in the middle of Yuri’s chest, knocking the air out of him. Victor laughed, grabbing Makkachin’s paw and putting it aside on the bed next to Yuri. The dog slumped down, licking Victor’s face like there was no tomorrow. Victor sent a plea for help via panicked eyes, but Yuri chose to laugh at him, pushing on Makkachin’s fur to get him closer to Victor and make the poor man’s life even harder. Victor had to pet the dog’s tummy aggressively until he rolled on his back and asked for more tummy rubs. Victor and Yuri petted the dog leisurely until they fell asleep, holding each other’s hand over a sleeping Makkachin.