Hearts Fragile as Glass

Introduction + Chapter 1

Quick A/N:

Hi, thanks for clicking on the story! You can obviously skip past this part (as that's what I always do.) I'll just say a few things if you want to read them. First, I don't know how long this will be. I probably won't have a schedule, but I'll try to update at least once a week. Hopefully that's okay! Second, character ages will have to change a bit to fit the AU. I hope you don't mind! And lastly, if you like Viktor's name with a 'c', sorry! I don't have a preference actually, but I chose with a 'k' because it's how his name is listed when you choose characters, and the same goes for Yuuri (even though I strongly prefer the double 'u's.). Okay, that's all, I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Yuri! on Ice. You know that.

Introduction

Yuuri sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the wall. He wasn't sure how long he had been staring, but for some reason didn't have the will to check. His mind was somewhere back in Hasetsu, drifting to old memories with Mari, his sister, Yuuko, his best friend, and Vicchan, his precious pet poodle who he already missed, despite it being less than a week since seeing him last.

It was Yuuri's second year at Saint Petersburg, a Russian boarding school he first attended in his sophomore year. Even though he had been through months of life there already, it was always hard to him to get back to life away from his family's Hot Springs bathhouse. Sure, he had a decent amount of friends, but home was still home-

He jolted out of his trance-like state as his roommate threw a pillow at him. He could feel his face heating up already. "Phichit—"

Yuuri was cut off by his roommate's laughter. "You really need to stop staring at the wall. Do you miss your ballet posters being there?" Phichit smiled as he walked over to his embarrassed friend.

"No…! Besides, if I did, there'd be no space because of your totally-not-overdone-amount of hamster photos." He looked over to Phichit's corkscrew board with an insane amount of Polaroid photos tacked up with his pets.

"At least I own up to my obsessions."

Yuuri could feel his face going red again. "It's not -it wasn't- an obsession!"

"Whatever you say." Phichit laughed, before walking into the bathroom. He quickly called out, "Don't fall back into your trances by the time I get out, or I won't wake you up this time!"

Yuuri groaned in response, and began to get ready for the last day before his junior year of school.

Despite the numerous perks that came with having his dorm to himself, Viktor Nikiforov hated the loneliness that came with it. The last time he'd had someone else in his dorm was freshman year, and ended within two months of school starting when his old roommate Christophe got them both incredibly drunk one fateful Saturday night from Chris' secret alcohol collection he brought with him. Chris was suspended, while Viktor was only given a week's detention, thanks to his family's vast contributions to the school dating back generations.

Since then, Viktor was on his own when it came to dorm rooms. At first it seemed like a blessing, considering that he wouldn't have to see Chris naked at 3am singing about god-knows-what, but it soon came to feel like a curse. He often found himself staying in his friend's dorms hours past curfew to not be bored by himself, or just falling asleep at eight to just get the night over with.

It was weird to him, how he was already a senior. It felt as if he was still a freshman, getting used to the halls of the large school with his friends, everything a curiosity waiting to be unfolded. Viktor knew every detail of the school by then, of course, from the amount of dorm rooms down to the statutes lining the lavish hallways of the school, but preferred to think as if he was rediscovering every single marvel the school held.

Little to Viktor's knowledge, there was still a marvel he had yet to go after, and even less did he know that the curiosity would strike him again that very day.

Chapter 1

"Hey, Vikki! Wait up, won't you?" Viktor turned around in surprise to Christophe running after him.

"I don't think I will, Chrissie." He retorted, speeding up his pace. He could hear his friend panting to keep up, and only laughed when Chris finally caught up to him.

"Not fair! You know I have no energy in the mornings."

"Oops." Viktor said, holding out the 's' sound. Chris rolled his eyes.

"So, Vikki-" Chris was cut off by Viktor kicking him on the shins, and corrected himself, "Viktor, where are you headed to? Classes don't start until tomorrow, so there can't possibly be anything that everyone would want to go to at this time of the morning, is there?"

His friend looked at him with annoyance. As they stopped in front of the steps leading to the dormitory common room (which took up half of the bottom floor of the dorms), he only glared at his friend.

After a long moment of silence, Viktor muttered, "Why do you think?"

"Ah. Club sign ups. Silly me…" He answered, looking off in the distance as if he was an innocent child, before saying, "Funny, that's where I'm headed too!"

With clear annoyance, Viktor said, "Your humor hasn't gotten any better in four years, you know that?" Chris only nodded, slightly smug that he still was able to make his friend annoyed so easily.

By the time that they finally reached the club sign-up meeting, all of the speeches done by the heads of the clubs were finished, and students began to congregate as they roamed around the stations. Viktor wasn't surprised that Chris was already gone amid the crowd of students, and began to look on his own for what he might be interested in.

After being pulled aside by a few other students wanting to talk to him about their summers and what-not, Viktor finally found the clubs he had been instructed to find. He signed up for the Student Council, as he had every year, and also wrote his name down on the School Improvement club. His parents often told him that, as the only Nikiforov to be attending this generation, he needed to go above and beyond to be the star student of Saint Petersburg's. As a Nikiforov, you are to make us proud.

He sighed, ready to return back to his room. None of the other clubs were sophisticated, as his parents wanted him to be. But what was the fun in that? He walked around the stations, looking for something to catch his eye. It wasn't long until he found something.

Ice-Skating Club! The sign read. With a smile, Viktor approached the teacher in charge.

"Hello, Professor Yakov!" He said cheerfully, "I didn't know we had a skating club."

Yuuri glanced around at the clubs being offered, not sure what to choose. As soon as he turned the corner, he felt himself being pulled by the arm to a station nearby. Panicked, he looked up to see none other than his old Ballet teacher.

"Minako-sensei?" He gasped, confused.

"I didn't mean to worry you, Yuuri, but since you didn't sign up last year, I didn't want you to forget this year, either."

Yuuri groaned. He hadn't forgotten, of course, he was just trying to put ballet behind him. "It's embarrassing." He said, quietly.

"Oh, hush. I can tell you're already getting out of shape. At least tell me you signed up for the new Ice-Skating club! I don't want you to completely ignore the beauty of dance." Minako said all at once.

"Ice-skating club? Minako-sensei, I haven't skated since I was 12!"

His old teacher only shook her head before grabbing his arm again and bringing him towards the sign-up sheet. "Sign." His face now a bright shade of pink, Yuuri quickly signed before running away.

For some reason, the idea of getting back on ice kept nagging at him in the back of his brain. He had been fascinated with it as a kid, but his love for the sport seemed to decay during his first year of high school. All of the boys told him ice skating was stupid, and girly. Yuuri didn't want to be stupid and girly.

As he approached the station he had been looking for, he quickly went to the sign-up sheet. Professor Yakov was talking to another student as he walked over, and not wanting to bother him, decided to talk with him later. (Everyone seemed to talk with the teachers when signing up, as it seemed like the polite thing to do. Yuuri had no intention to do otherwise.)

As he reached to write down his name, he felt his hand brush against someone else's who was going to do the same thing. Despite the fact that he felt like pulling his hand away and dashing for the nearest corner, Yuuri found himself unable to move his hand. Neither, it seemed, did the other person there.

He looked up in embarrassment so he could see who it was he had made contact with, and found himself looking eye-to-eye with none other than the most well-known boy in school, Viktor Nikiforov. The senior was staring down back at him with a smile, and his watery-blue eyes and shiny silver hair. Yuuri didn't really realize he was staring at him until the older boy spoke.

"You can sign first, I'll wait." He said, somewhat cheerfully. He moved his hand away and motioned for Yuuri to write his name down.

"Uh, thanks." He said, feeling… weird. His hand felt a bit cold where Viktor's hand had touched his, and it seemed to stay that way for a good few seconds. For some reason he could feel his face burning again, except different from when Minako-sensei dragged him to her station. There was no way he could explain it, was there?

With his name quickly scrawled on the paper, Yuuri dashed away in embarrassment, not even sure what he was doing. He didn't notice Viktor looking back at him as he ran away, with a look of both curiosity and entertainment he hadn't had in years.

"Yuuri Katsuki." He said to himself, quietly. "Yuuri Katsuki."