Author's Note: Thanks for checking out my new Yuri! On ICE fanfiction, everyone~ It's told from Viktor's POV. Enjoy!
Friday Morning
Mom and Dad told me that once they found each other, everything started to glow just as if foggy lenses had been cleared up. You generally live your life in black and white until your twenties, when you can be sure of who your love truly is. Those who are lucky find them early, those who aren't… never witness a gorgeous world of color. And I'm afraid I'm the latter. I've never seen so-called "color" before, and I must admit, I'm jealous. Really jealous. I can't tell you how many people I know have found the right person. Constantly being off to the side, living in such a dull world feels awful. As much as I keep wishing to find someone that will complete me and introduce the both of us to a glorious new environment, I haven't met a single person who feels right.
I'm a twenty-eight-year-old Russian teacher who doesn't have any good dating experiences with anyone: girls or boys. Every time I was in a relationship, there were issues; either I was the problem, or they were, or it was one-sided love to start with. Depressing, right? I'm starting to give up now, even when people around me - especially those who live with color now - keep reminding me that there are 'plenty of fish in the sea'. I can't help but have an ugly attitude towards them.
Why is "color" so intriguing? Honestly, there are countless reasons. If you think about it for a moment… just imagine… waking up to see billions of different tones and shades, every one popping out from all sorts of different objects. Instead of everything being based off two tones, there's life to every single piece. The human mind can't quite comprehend the vastness of this concept. And how to fully explain in detail about how color works? Impossible. You just have to experience it for yourself.
I trudge through the heavy snow and overpowering gusts of wind to the cafe near my home, and then comfortably find a place inside to sit down. It's wintertime here in Hasetsu, Japan, and heck, it's freezing. I decide to use some good, old coffee to warm myself.
After ordering at the front desk and thanking the woman there, I wander back to the table with my drink. I pull out my phone from my pocket and begin checking my messages. My fingers were so lifeless and cold that my device couldn't even recognize them. Suddenly, I hear a brrrriiing~, and I glance up to see a smaller-built man wearing boxy glasses, cheeks flushed. His scarf is tightly wrapped around his neck, and the huge parka he had on must've been the only thing that kept him alive through that brutal windstorm outside. Poor guy must've got hit hard. I can't believe he's crazy enough to come here, too.
He breathlessly mutters, "Hey" with a grin that seemed to warm the whole atmosphere around us, and I didn't even get a chance to respond, considering he head straight to the front counter. My mind replays his soft voice over a couple of times, and I feel a deep longing to get to know this man. Whenever it's come to meeting new people, I've always had the urge to be outgoing. But today… I almost feel intimidated by his presence, so I stay put right where I am.
The man grabs his cup of coffee and seems to be heading towards the door again. But once he gets near my table, he stops and takes a seat in the chair across from me. "Awful snowstorm, am I right?!"
"Yeah...!" I reply. Really, Viktor?! That's ALL you can think of to say?!
"How was your trip here?" the guy continues, taking a sip of his drink.
"Oh. Surprisingly, it wasn't too bad." I say. "I missed the worst of the snowstorm, so that's a bonus."
The man smiles. "Lucky, lucky. For ME, the wind was so strong I almost fell over!"
I chuckle, immediately becoming interested in him.
"But that's not all! When I was only about ten feet away from the entrance, I almost killed myself over some black ice!" He laughs and lifts his cup into the air. "And just for some coffee. I'm such an idiot."
I give him my trademark smile. "I'm glad you got here in one piece."
"Yeah." We both sip our coffee at the same time, eyes locked. I get the sudden urge to giggle, and he can tell because he snorts and rushes to place his cup back on the table.
Miraculously, I manage to swallow and then ask, "What's your name?" I hold out a friendly hand for him to shake. He takes it as I say, "I'm Viktor Nikiforov."
"Yuri Katsuki. Nice to meet you."
"You too, Yuri." There's a moment of silence, and we fill it in with looking at something else for a few seconds. But I just can't take the awkward tension. What do I say?! "So, what do you do as a job?" I stutter.
Yuri adjusts his glasses and replies, "I'm a full-time lifeguard, here in Hasetsu."
"Oh, really? How neat!"
"How about you, Viktor? What do you do for a living?"
"I'm a high school teacher."
Yuri grins and leans forward onto the table, his hand supporting his head. He looks super interested. "Oh wowwww~! Is it fun? I remember wanting to become a teacher myself at one point, and here I am, teaching swimming lessons!"
I smile back and answer, "Well, my students can be a bit of a pain sometimes, but generally… yeah. It's pretty fun!"
"What grade do you teach?" Yuri asks.
"Grade 11."
"Cool!"
"And you?" I ask. "What age group do you teach?"
"Oh, I like to teach younger kids, from age 5-12." replies Yuri. "From time to time, they're such a handful, but it's always guaranteed to be a blast!" Suddenly he checks his watch and groans. "Sorry, I gotta run. Here's my number…!" Yuri takes an old receipt from his pocket and jots down his cell. "Talk to you soon, Viktor!" He stands up and runs out the door into the blizzard. The gust of wind carries the small paper along and out the door.
Oh shit…! I run to the door and fling it open, frantically looking at the ground for the paper. It's nowhere to be found. Are you kidding me?! I dig through the snow with my bare hands and scan the sidewalk. No sign of it anywhere. Come on…! I slumber back inside the cafe and sink into the chair where he was sitting. He's already gone. Should I go and try to see which direction he went? Grabbing my coffee cup and bag, I walk out of the cafe and into the wild snowstorm. I desperately look back and forth, trying to find out if he went left, right, or straight. There aren't obvious footprints anywhere on the sidewalk, and even if there were, who knows whose footprints they were.
I groan and speed-walk to the right of the cafe. I'm going to have to hope he went this way. I heavily walk through the snow covering the sidewalk and take a swig of my drink. All of a sudden, I see a person way ahead of me. "H-hey…!" I yell. Unfortunately, they don't seem to hear me through the howling, screaming gusts of wind. "Yuri?! YURI, IS THAT YOU?!" I try to run towards the figure and my coffee spills out onto my hand. Painfully wincing, I throw it onto the ground and keep trudging forward. The wind dies down a little bit, and I take the opportunity to shout, "YURI KATSUKI!"
The person looks back, and there he is. Thank freaking GOODNESS. "Viktor?! What're you doing out here in the cold?" he asks.
"Your number…!" I scream as the wind gets louder again. "I lost it!"
"What?!" Yuri asks. "I can't hear you!"
I yell and motion for him to "Stay there!" as I walk closer to him. Once I'm right next to him, I say, "Your number! I lost your phone number!"
Yuri Katsuki gently laughs into his hand and smiles up at me. "Give me your phone!" I do as he says, and he puts his number into my contacts. "There."
"Thanks." I feel so, incredibly stupid. "Where are you going, Yuri?"
The wind overpowers him when he shouts back.
"WHAT?!" I yell.
He laughs out loud and screams, "THE POOL!"
I smile back. "Can I tag along?!"
"Don't you have work to do?!" he yells.
He's good. "Maybe."
The young man shakes his head with a smirk and waves me off. "Goodbye, Viktor!" He continues to walk forward, and I stand there, watching him leave. Something about him just makes me feel so… happy. Fulfilled. I don't want him to go so soon. I think about walking him to where he needs to work, but then I check my watch for the time. Shit, I need to go to the school to teach! I run in the opposite direction, conveniently against the wind, and I think about the man I just met 10 minutes ago. Yuri Katsuki. I want to know more about him. I need to know more about him.
