This can't be happening, Yuuri thought to himself. I haven't even been eating nearly as much as I did last year when I was binge-eating like crazy.

Unfortunately for the Japanese ice skater, the scale didn't lie. Yuuri had gained a whopping 10 pounds since the last time he weighed himself. He had no idea how it had happened, but he knew one thing for certain: Victor could not find out about this.

Just at the mere thought of Victor discovering the extra chubbiness on his tummy, Yuuri felt himself beginning to hyperventilate. The comments Victor had made about Yuuri's weight back when they first began their coach-student relationship were still haunting him:

"With that pig's body of yours, lessons would be meaningless."

"The little piggy can't enter the rink until he drops some weight!"

And now that he had gained weight yet again, those comments took on a much darker tone than before. Perhaps they weren't intended to be so malicious to begin with, but the more Yuuri thought about it the more those same comments kept coming back in a menacing way.

Yuuri decided to risk a glance down at his abdomen, regretting it at once. A slight bulge was there, no denying it. He couldn't begin to imagine how disgusting it looked underneath his shirt. Tears of frustration began rolling down his cheeks. He needed to lose this weight fast, and the first thing to do would be-

"Yuuri?" A smooth, gentle voice called out. Yuuri lost track of his thoughts at the all-too-familiar sound of his fiancée.

"Y-yes? D-do you, uh, need something, Victor?" Yuuri sniffled and wiped away his tears. He couldn't let Victor see him in such a messy state.

"I have a surprise for you! Come into the kitchen, my little piglet!"

All of a sudden, the sweet sound of Victor's voice took on a sinister, sneering tone. Victor hadn't called him "piglet" in more than a month. Was it in reference to Yuuri's weight? Had he noticed the extra tummy fat before Yuuri himself had noticed it? And if so, what else would Victor be doing in the kitchen besides starting to dispose of all the junk food in the pantry? Victor's "surprise" might be nothing else than a grand pile of Yuuri's favorite treats stuffed into a black garbage bag.

"Don't you want to see the surprise? It'll be ruined if you don't get here quick!"

"Um, yeah, of course! I'm in the bathroom right now—give me a minute."

In reality? No, he did not want to see whatever surprise it was; all he wanted to do was get out of the house and go for a run. A run would help to clear his head, and there was no time to waste if he wanted to start getting back into shape.

"Aww, hurry up then. You know I hate waiting!" Victor's voice sounded unusually childlike. Under normal circumstances Yuuri would have thought it endearing, but today it just sounded like it was mocking him.

"O-okay. Be right there." Yuuri knew he couldn't keep ignoring his fiancée forever. He took a couple deep breaths and then sucked his stomach in as much as he could to hide his weight gain.

Might as well get this over with already, he thought to himself, opening the bathroom door with a tentative push. As Yuuri had expected, Victor was standing right outside with a bright-eyed expression lighting up his face. He grasped Yuuri's hand and led him down the hallway, enthusiasm bursting through every step.

"Tada!" Victor let go of Yuuri at the entrance of the kitchen and retrieved a large, steaming bowl which he proudly held in front of Yuuri's face. Yuuri couldn't believe his eyes.

"A…pork cutlet bowl? Wow, it looks amazing! Victor, did you make this yourself?"

"Yes, and yes! Go on and try it, my little piglet!"

Before Yuuri could even begin to process the enticing aromas wafting out of the bowl, however, he felt his appetite slipping away. The repetition of the incriminating nickname was enough to bring back his fear from earlier that Victor had already found out about his extra 10 pounds.

In that case, why would Victor make him a pork cutlet bowl? Was it some sort of sick joke or something? Gosh, that had to be it. Victor was always known for surprising people, and perhaps this was his unique way of punishing Yuuri. He could picture it in his head: him holding the first bite right in front of his mouth only to have Victor snatch the entire bowl and dump it in the garbage.

But he couldn't let Victor find out that he was thinking these things. He had to play it cool for now and just be a good, supportive fiancée.

"Victor, I…thank you so much for making this. I really appreciate it—"

"Oh, enough with the pleasantries! Stop holding yourself back. I know you can't wait to dig in!"

"—but the truth is, I'm not that hungry right now."

Yuuri saw Victor's excited expression falter a bit, and then meld into one of concern.

"Yuuri, you haven't been binge-eating again, have you?"

"No! Why would you think that?!" He hoped that didn't come across as too suspicious.

Victor paused to study Yuuri's flustered expression. "Well, if you say so. I'm guessing you've already eaten breakfast then?"

Yuuri almost pounced on the excuse Victor had suggested, ignoring the unsettling feeling he was getting from lying. "Yeah, that's it. I already had breakfast…I'm so sorry, Victor. "

"No, don't be. It's not your fault, my piggy—" Victor stopped himself when he saw his love trembling, his face painting a picture of discomfort.

"Is something wrong, Yuuri?"

"N-no." Yuuri knew his words didn't match up with his body language, but he couldn't help it. He started backing away from the kitchen entrance, aware that Victor was watching him.

It should have been obvious that Victor wasn't going to buy that feeble denial. He set down the pork cutlet bowl and began stepping toward Yuuri. "You don't have to hide anything from me, Yuuri. What is it? Is it something I said or did?"

"Not that, it's just—"Yuuri noticed Victor drawing near to him; almost immediately his breathing and heart rates spiked up. "W-wait, don't come any closer!"

Victor stopped in his tracks. His face looked startled and confused, resembling the one he had made when Yuuri had started crying back at the Cup of China. "Yuuri, you're being weird. Tell me, what's going on?"

"I-I can't. Just…just leave me alone for a bit." Yuuri couldn't believe the words tumbling out of his mouth. In his distress he fled the scene and dashed into the bathroom. Only after securing the lock on the door did his breathing start to settle. His heart was still pounding in his chest as tears of both anguish and relief began streaming down his face.

His relief was short-lived, however. Even before he heard the knocking on the door, Yuuri could sense his fiancée's presence looming on the other side of it.

"Yuuri, if there's something you need to tell me, I'm right here. I promise I won't judge you, whatever it is."

Yuuri remained silent, unsure of what to say. He didn't want to risk their relationship over discomfort about his physical appearance. But still, what would Victor say if he told the truth about why he didn't want that pork cutlet bowl? Would he, no, could he still love Yuuri with 10 extra pounds on his body?

"Please stop hiding from me, Yuuri. If it was my fault, I want to know so I can try to fix things."

Well, technically it wasn't you, Yuuri thought to himself. I'm the one who was stupid enough to gain the weight in the first place.

"No, it has nothing to do with you, Victor." Yuuri replied after a few seconds. "I-it's all my own fault."

Another awkward silence fell between the two of them. Victor broke it after about a minute. "What is it, Yuuri? You can tell me the truth."

He was backed into a corner at this point, literally and figuratively. With Victor standing right outside the door, there was no escape.

"I…I don't know if I can tell you, Victor."

"Why not?"

"Well…you couldn't possibly love a fat pig, could you?"

"What are you trying to get at, Yuuri?"

"Victor, you keep calling me nicknames like 'piglet' and 'piggy', but what if I became one like I was before?"

"Yuuri, I don't get what you're trying to say."

"What if I…g-gained some weight? Would you s-still want to be with a pig like me?"

The truth was starting to reveal itself. Yuuri could feel himself shaking with worry.

"Way back when you first took interest in coaching me, you said lessons would be useless with a pig's body like mine. You wouldn't even let me on the ice until I dropped some weight."

"Well, that's true, but—"

Yuuri wasn't finished yet. "A-and now…I've gone and done it again. I don't know what happened, but I-I gained 10 whole pounds, Victor. There, I said it. It's horrible—you would be grossed out just by looking at me."

"Yuuri, I wouldn't be grossed out by you—"

"How can you be so sure? You almost didn't want to be my coach when you first saw how much of a pig I'd become since the Grand Prix two years ago. If I hadn't lost the weight fast enough, you would've given up on me and just gone back to Russia. I-I'm so pathetic, Victor—"

"Yuuri, that's enough." Victor's authoritative tone snapped Yuuri out of his nervous rambling. "I don't know where you got those ideas from, but I can confirm that I never thought any of those things."

"…What?"

"Yuuri, when I call you 'piglet' and 'piggy' I'm not implying that you're always overweight or anything like that. If you're uncomfortable with those words then I can stop using them, no big deal. When I first had you lose weight…well, that was just part of your training to get you ready to take on the Grand Prix again. And…I'm sorry if my comments back then came across in such a harsh way. I never meant to hurt you like that.

"Yuuri, I love you. Nothing's going to change that, especially not something as small as a little weight gain. And as your coach… what makes you think I would ever want to give up on you? I never once thought about actually quitting or going back to Russia at any point last year. You're a talented skater, and all you needed was a little push to bring out your true potential. Plus, you taught me the meaning of 'life' and 'love.' Nobody else could have made me realize how important those things were until I met you."

Yuuri unlocked the door and opened it to meet Victor's gaze. "For real? You're not just…saying that?"

Victor's gaze softened. "Of course. And besides, so what if you've gained 10 pounds? We'll just have to work it off, you and me together." He stepped forward and wrapped his fiancée in a warm embrace. Yuuri shyly wrapped his arms around Victor in return, burying his head in the Russian's broad chest. His cheeks were glowing red; the scene reminded him of the time they reunited at the airport after the Rostelecom Cup.

"You're not…mad?"

"No, Yuuri, I don't have any reason to be."

Yuuri couldn't believe what he had just heard. Victor didn't care about his weight gain? It was too good to be true.

"Yuuri, it's okay. Honestly. And for the record, I won't be mad if you go ahead and eat the pork cutlet bowl either; it'd be a shame to waste such good food now, wouldn't it?"

"I'm fine, Victor. I don't need to gain any more weight than I already have…"

"Why don't we split it between the two of us then? Come on, I worked so hard to make it for you, little pig-I mean, little…katsudon. Is that a better nickname for you?"

Yuuri couldn't help but smile at Victor's embarrassed correction. It was nice to see him trying so hard to amend what shouldn't have been much of an issue in the first place.

"You know, you can keep calling me 'piglet' if you want," Yuuri remarked, looking Victor straight in the eye. "It is just a word, after all."

"No, if it makes you feel uncomfortable—"

"It doesn't. Well, not anymore at least."

"Are you sure?" Yuuri nodded his head. "Well then, little piglet, as your coach I demand that you try my pork cutlet bowl! You don't have to eat the whole thing if you don't want to."

"O-okay. Sure, I'll have some." Yuuri couldn't resist Victor when he did those signature puppy-dog eyes of his.

"Yay! I promise I won't give you any more than half. It's healthier for you anyway."

As Victor pulled himself away from Yuuri and skipped into the kitchen to prepare the food, Yuuri felt his body start to relax.

This can't be happening, Yuuri thought to himself. Victor is demanding that I eat a pork cutlet bowl, even knowing that I've gained weight. He really does love me, huh?

He felt tears streaming down his face yet again, but they were for a different reason this time. Yuuri was crying tears of joy.