Chapter Text
Work harder....Skate better.
Work harder. Skate better.
Work. Harder. Skate. Better.
Work harder, skate better.
WorkHarderSkateBetter!
That's what Yuuri told himself as he worked to perfect his routine. He needed to be better! Victor wouldn't coach a failure! He has to be worthy of Victor!
He quickly grew obsessive. He'd wake up early, practice until the late hours of the night, and he barely stopped to eat.
Victor grew worried as he started seeing Yuuri less and less outside of practice.
"Okay, Yuuri. That's enough for tonight! Let's get something to eat!" He said after seeing that it was well past the end of their regular practice.
Yurri didn't move from his spot on the ice. "You go on ahead, I'm going to practice this turn a little more."
"Yuuri, come on! We've been practicing all day. You haven't eaten since this morning!"
Yuuri huffed. "I'll catch up just give me a few more minutes to perfect this turn."
Victor sighed and began packing up his things. As he was about to leave he placed a quick snack pack on Yuuri's equipment. Hopefully, tomorrow he would see the empty container in the trash tomorrow.
Yuuri returned late that night when everyone was supposed to be asleep.
The next day, Victor saw the snack pack was in the trash but was unopened.
When he refused to let Yuuri leave without eating, the Japanese boy angrily choked down breakfast before racing over to the ice rink.
This continued for days and days and Victor was growing more worried.
One night, it was late and Yuuri still hadn't returned. Yuuko has said he already left the rink. His family had never seen him act like this before.
Thinking there might be something in Yuuri's things that would tell Victor where he would go, so, with a heavy heart, Victor searched his room.
The answer came in the shape of a journal under Yuuri's pillow. As much as he hated invading Yuuri's privacy, he was also so worried for the boy that he was willing to step over a few boundaries to make sure he was safe.
So, Victor took the journal and started from one of the latest entries. It didn't say much (something about a certain spin and how it could improve), so Victor slowly worked his way back. Until he came to an entry from when he first arrived.
"Oh god! I can't believe Victor Nikiforov is here! He's in my house! I can't believe this is happening. But, to become my coach? Why? He could do so much better! He could teach plenty of more skilled skaters, why would he coach an overweight failure like me?"
Víctor felt his heart throb. There was no way the boy actually thought that right? But as he read more and more, he knew it was true. The journal was filled to the brim with self deprecating comments. There were also so many praises to Victor it made him to be like a god amongst men! Which was completely ridiculous!
Victor was just as flawed as anyone else!
But that was neither here nor there. The Russian slowly grew more worried as he read on. There was a clear shift from Yuuri's personal thoughts to Yuuri completely throwing himself into skating. Not even a single bit of anything else.
Victor decided to confront the boy about it in the morning. Just as he was about to put the journal back as if he never touched it, his eye caught something specific on a page.
"I did it! I finally did it. God I was so nervous that someone I knew would see me but no one did! I bought it! I've cleaned it off and now I'm going to use it."
There's a gap in the writing but he hasn't started a new entry. The shaky handwriting suddenly turns smooth again.
"Oh god. It's even better than I imagined! It makes it hard to be anxious. I feel the tension leave my body when I'm using it. I'm fact, I'm getting a little sleepy. I'm going to take a nap...Just for a few minutes."
By the time the entry ends, Victor is more confused than when he started! Deciding to look in earlier entries, the Russian sat down and began flipping.
"After all that research, I finally figured out what it is I like. Age regression. There are many categories to this topic and I'm to confused to decipher them all, but I think I might be one of these regressors! And there's hundreds of people like me! Thousands even!
I messaged with another regressor! He was so nice when he explained things to me! He even encouraged me to go out and buy a little something! A pacifier maybe. It would be small enough to hide and something to relax with after a tough day!"
Oh...So that's what Yuuri was talking about. Victor wouldn't be lying if he said he was confused. But a larger part of his mind was intrigued. This was relaxing to Yuuri.
Victor read and read for another hour and even though he was still mostly ignorant to the subject, he felt like he knew a little more about what made Yuuri happy.
Thanks to an entry, Victor located a large box pushed in the corner of Yuuri's closet. He didn't want to touch any of the contents in case Yuuri realized it was moved but got plenty to look at when he opened it.
A light blue pacifier laid on top of several outfits, a few coloring books, and a teddy bear sat on the side.
Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. Before he had a chance to put it in motion, he heard the front door open and shut.
With more speed than a road runner, Victor had everything put away and was now in his own room.
There was a few bumps and groans before Victor knew Yuuri was in bed. When he was sure, he got on his phone and started researching all he could about age regression.
He had a plan.