This one-shot fits into my Domestic Life series (which is easier to read on Ao3 as nerdlife4eva because I do not know how to create series here on FF). This is a FLASH FORWARD in the timeline, where Yuuri and Victor are preparing for their twins' first birthday. The twins were first introduced in "Happy Father's Day, Vitya!" which you can find on here and Ao3.
This entire fic was inspired by the art of my amazing friend magical-mistral (on Tumblr) and you can also find here on IG at magical_mistral. If you need a reason to smile, you will ALWAYS find one with Mistral's art, plus she takes requests :) There is a Dino Hoodie Yuuri and a Dino Victor post that goes along with this story :) You can also find these on my Tumblr: n3rdlif343va. Please go show this amazing artist some love!
(I am a huge fan of art prompts, so if you ever see art posted that you would like a drabble for, send it my way and I will make it happen! I'm working through all of my requests and prompts, so if you have sent me something, postings should start throughout this week!)
Without further delay, here is another installment of pure fluffy mayhem to make your weekend bright!
Throughout their lives together, Yuuri had experienced so many moments where he thought "I can't believe this is my life."
There was their first season together as competitors and skater/coach, in which they had stormed down the barriers of the skating world, taking golds and silvers in rapid succession while pair skating together at every opportunity.
Then there was the first season after Victor's retirement, when Yuuri had been called "the one to beat" and for the first time, hadn't been terrified by the weight of the title.
Other times, like when Yuuri had to bail Yuri and Victor out of jail in Detroit after a misunderstanding with a clown, he pondered the phrase with a shake of his head and a roll of his eyes.
Mostly though, the thought came with a sense of awe, a contemplative thought of how spectacular life had ended up.
Currently, sitting next to his childhood best friend, with the coos and giggles of his babies floating from the playpen to his right, Yuuri felt the words singing straight from his heart.
Plastic dinosaurs scattered the entire span of the dining room table, piles in varieties of colors and species. Yuuko hummed happily to his left, plucking dinosaurs from the pile and tying a tag around each tiny neck. Every time a dinosaur came into the twins' views, they squealed with their tiny arms begging to be filled with the plastic wonders. Chuckling, Yuuri plucked two T-rexes from the pile and placed them gently in his babies' hands.
A blue tail disappeared in his daughter's mouth as Yuuri watched over his children. Ari was a ball of delightful energy, laughing from the moment she woke up until the moment her light eyelashes fell over her sleepy cheeks. It was Yuuri's brown eyes that peered from the chubby face, but they held the undeniable sparkle inherited directly from Victor. She also sported her papa's uniquely colored hair, with a dash of darker highlights as a gift from the Katsuki family line. Her laughter and coordination made her Victor's, her curious nature and constant blush made her Yuuri's.
Giggles erupted from the protected square of cloth and mesh when Feliks lifted his dinosaur into the air, releasing a loud baby-voiced "RAWR!" Ari rolled over onto her back as Feliks laid across his sister's tummy, dancing the dinosaur on her head. Reaching into the playpen, Yuuri smiled, pulling them apart and gently reminding Feliks to be gentle with his sister.
The dark black hair, prone to static always sticking out in different directions, in combination with Victor's bright blue eyes, made Feliks the type of child that caused strangers to stop and stare. Unlike his sister, who would giggle and wave at any person who paid her attention, Feliks could often be found hiding in Yuuri's neck, clinging with his tiny arms blocking his face. Victor fondly called their son "tiny Daddy" and Yuuri's face flushed red every single time.
Their babies, Yuuri thought, smiling as he leaned over the side of the playpen to kiss both sets of chubby cheeks. Tiny choruses of ill-pronounced "daddy!" danced around him as little hands grabbed at his ears and glasses. Both twins could call for their dads, and had a semi-grasp of how to call for their grandparents. Their cutest words were all centered around their favorite human, Uncle Yurio, who had quickly become "Yu-o!" to the excitable bundles currently wrestling in their play space.
"Yuuri," Yuuko playfully scowled, "if you don't concentrate, we are never going to get these finished. The party is only two days away, you know!" The knowing smile on Yuuko's face had Yuuri blushing into his pile of dinosaurs. She had been a great resource, from everything to diaper changes and bottle feedings to birthday celebrations and party planning. There wasn't a day that Yuuri wasn't grateful for her existence, which wasn't a big change considering how much she had always influenced his life. Smiling harder, Yuuri restarted his efforts on attaching tags to the stack of dinosaur party favors.
Everything was set and this project was the last in line for the twins' first birthday party, aside from the food preparation. They would turn one during the very early hours of Sunday morning, and their party would span the entire afternoon and evening of that day, including time at the Ice Palace and at the onsen. Yuuko had been a life saver in the planning process and Yuuri's parents' had happily taken over the job of cooking the food for the whole celebration. It had been Victor's insistence that he hand-make the birthday cake, a proposal that made Yuuri hesitate, but in the end his husband's excitement had won out. Yuuri would be responsible for the creation of the mochi, which his twins would have to carry on their backs for a few wobbly steps.
It had been interesting trying to combine the traditions of their two countries. Somewhere between discussions about ear pulling and mochi carrying, they had settled on a compromise of all the most important traditions. Victor had suggested the dinosaur theme, making Yuuri laugh at the American idea of character themed birthday parties. Once again, though, Victor's enthusiasm had won out. He had spent hours online ordering everything from dinosaur paper plates to life-size dinosaur balloons, both twins crawling in and out of his lap to point to their own choices. It was hard to tell who was more ecstatic about the prehistoric invasion in their house, his husband or his babies.
Keys in the door had the adults looking toward the front hallway while Ari and Feliks happily shouted "papa!" from their place amongst their toys. Both faces appeared over the cloth protected side, as they pulled themselves up to wait for their papa to appear.
Yuuri's brow furrowed at the sound of commotion from the foyer, but before he could stand Victor was bounding into the room looking disheveled but excited. "My loves!" Victor threw open his arms, first dipping Yuuri low and kissing him making their children laugh. Releasing his husband, Victor rounded on the playpen, lifting both of his children from their safety square.
More high-pitched giggles filled the room as Victor took turns planting noisy raspberries kisses on both Ari and Feliks. Ari grabbed his slim face with her chubby fingers and planted a kiss directly on her papa's lips. The identical set of heart smiles on his husband's and daughter's faces made Yuuri swoon. It always made Yuuri swoon, no matter how many times those smiles appeared in tandem.
Turning his attention to Feliks, Victor tucked the smaller boy into the crook of his arm and made silly faces until his son laughed and clapped. Bending gently, Victor placed a kiss on his son's forehead, chuckling when Feliks latched his tiny hand around Victor's ear and tugged.
"Ai, little one, it is your ears that shall be pulled soon enough!" Victor let his son tug repeatedly on his ear, twisting to smile at Yuuri.
If happiness could be personified, it would be Victor in that moment. Yuuri had seen his husband happy, on the day of their engagement, on the day of Yuuri's first gold medal, on their wedding day, but nothing ever compared to the sparkling aura of happiness that danced around Victor every time he held their children. The first time, in the hospital almost a year ago, Yuuri had been convinced that his heart would burst watching Victor cry over the tiny bundles of blue and pink. The first year had been full of uncertainty and missteps, but the happiness and feeling of unconditional love had carried them through every clumsy hour.
"While they are occupied," Yuuri winked at Yuuko who grinned back at him. "I have a surprise." Walking out of the room, Yuuri could hear Victor jokingly questioning their children about what their daddy was up to. His face ached from smiling as Yuuri pulled the bag from deep inside of their walk-in closet.
The fabric was thick and soft as Yuuri pulled the hoodie over his head, carefully folding the other three over his arm. Blue for him, purple for Victor, green for Feliks, and yellow mixed with pink for Ari. A family of dinosaur hoodies.
Yuuri knew it was silly, but he also knew that his husband was going to love every part of it. Stepping back out of the room, Yuuri waited until he had the attention of his little family before giving a quiet "rawr" of his own.
"Look, loveys! It is a daddy dino!" Victor bounced the twins as he crossed the room, a blush over his cheeks and his smile brightening with every step. Relinquishing his hold on the twins as they clamored toward Yuuri, Victor barely caught the pile of cloth as it slid from Yuuri's arm. "What's this?" he remarked, unfolding the pile with his eyes springing wide.
"I bought them for all of us," Yuuri couldn't help but laugh as his little monster darlings climbed over his torso to hang on his neck. Feliks began to roar softly against Yuuri's cheek, pulling at the cloth teeth on Yuuri's hoodie. He failed to hold in his smile as Victor held up each hoodie. "Like them?"
"Oh, my love, these are perfect!" Victor laid them on top of the mounds of toy dinosaurs earning a slight sigh from Yuuko as she attempted to continue to work through their chaos. "I have a surprise of my own!" Skipping from the room, Victor turned briefly to wink at his husband.
"I feel scared," Yuuri whispered to Yuuko who choked on her burst of laughter. When the sounds of his husband's grunting bounced from the doorway, Yuuri paused before looking up.
Standing in the doorway between their foyer and their living room was a very proud Victor holding two very large garment bags. One was suspiciously familiar, bringing back a faint memory of a never completed idea for an elaborate ice show.
Victor couldn't help grinning at his unsuspecting husband. Matching costumes had become a trait that they were known for, but nothing would ever compare to the size or detail of the costumes discreetly tucked into the black garment bags. Victor was positive that Yuuri didn't know that the original costume from Victor's failed proposal of a dinosaur themed ice show had made it all the way to Hasetsu. He was even more positive that Yuuri had no idea that a second costume had been designed, obtained, and made in exactly Yuuri's size.
Hooking one bag to the top of the door, Victor slid the zipper down on his own garment bag. Flipping out the most prominent feature of the costume, a long, wire-supported purplish pink tail, Victor raised his eyes and wiggled his eyebrows at his husband.
"Oh," Yuuri recognized the costume immediately, mental images of an adorable Victor face-planting on the ice dressed as a dinosaur danced through his mind. "Honey… the return of Rexiforov… was…?" Yuuri couldn't find the words he was looking for to describe his thoughts.
"A necessity," Victor said simply, moving his costume behind the other sealed bag. "As was this!" With a flourish, Victor threw open the second bag, dragging out a blue tail.
The color hue was familiar and Yuuri found himself laughing. "Of course," Yuuri was trying to regain himself, when he glanced at Yuuko face down on the table, shoulders vibrating.
When she raised her head, tears were rolling down her cheeks as she belly laughed at the sight of the Stammi Vicino inspired dinosaur costumes. "Only…you…" Yuuko wheezed, holding her stomach, "two would do something like this!" She collapsed back against her chair, still laughing as she grabbed her phone. "Put those babies down and go try on those costumes… right now!"
Kissing the tiny heads of hair, Yuuri placed his children back in the playpen and cautiously approached his husband.
"What is a dinosaur themed birthday party, without dinosaur themed entertainment?" Victor asked the question as if the decision to buy two dinosaur costumes was ordinary and logical.
It really wasn't either of those things, but Yuuri resigned himself to lifting his costume from the bag. "We're going to kill ourselves, you know that, right? Then who is going to raise our babies?" Yuuri stepped his first foot into the costume, stumbling against Victor as the chorus of "Yu-o's!" started from across the room. Peering at Yuuko, who was sitting next to the twins and showing them her phone, Yuuri could only guess that Yurio was joining the fiasco over the power of Skype.
"Maybe Uncle Yu-o can handle the job," Victor pulled his costume over his arms, flopping the dinosaur head onto his back before turning so Yuuri could zip him.
"To hell I will!" Yuri shouted from Yuuko's phone speakers, making Victor chastise him for his language and Yuuri chuckle into his hand. Stepping away from Victor's back, Yuuri twisted to let Victor zip the invisible zipper on the blue plushy costume.
They eyed each other carefully before bursting out in laughter. Pulling Yuuri by the belly of his oversized costume, Victor leaned into the opening around his husband's face for a kiss.
"There's something you don't see every day," Yuuko laughed, flipping the camera so Yuri could see a screen full of two dinosaurs appearing to suck on each other's faces. The string of curse words had Yuuko covering the speaker with her hand. "Smile you two!" Yuuko aimed Yuuri's phone in their direction as Victor and Yuuri posed in their costumes.
"If you are Rexiforov…" Yuuri started, stumbling as he made his way back toward his children. "What am I?" He laughed with Ari and Feliks as they squealed at their daddy's silly costume. He was proud of them for not being afraid of the oversized dinosaur head that flopped over Yuuri's face.
"Rexiforov is retired," Victor sighed dramatically, reaching in to scoop up Ari. "He was a bachelor, you know, and bachelors often die at the hands of happily ever after."
"You cheesy bastard," Yuri remarked from inside of Yuuko's phone. "You look dumb as hell."
Yuuri saw the barely concealed smile on Yuri's lips and waved at Yuuko's phone. "Maybe we will get you one! Wouldn't you like Uncle Yurio to have a dinosaur costume?" Yuuri tickled Feliks has he lifted his wiggling son into the air.
"No," Yurio deadpanned, making Yuuko snicker.
"Yuuri!" Victor pouted, letting Ari sit on his shoulder, inside of the folds on the dinosaur hood. "You didn't get to hear my new name yet!"
"Your papa is so silly," Yuuri teased, nuzzling into Feliks belly, before snagging the baby-sized hoodies from the table and tossing Ari's to Victor. While wrestling Feliks into his hoodie, Yuuri glanced up at Victor. "Ok, what's your name now?"
Lifting a yellow and pink ball of baby dinosaur into the air, Victor spun Ari around as he happily announced, "I'm dinopapasauras!"
It took Yuuri a full two seconds to process the name. When understanding finally hit him, the laughter rolled with it. Shaking his head, he rested Feliks against his hip, lifting the edge of his blue tail to tickle the underside of Feliks' chin. "So then what's my name?" He hesitated to ask, but knew that Victor had probably put more thought into this than the average person would.
"Daddyraptor, of course," Victor grinned at Yuuri, reaching out to yank his husband back to his side. "How do we look?" His excitement was bubbling over at the perfect coordination of his family of dinosaurs.
"Stupid," Yuri piped up, but there was humor in his critique.
"Ridiculous and adorable," Yuuko added, once again lifting Yuuri's phone. "In fact, you should change your last names to Ridiculous hyphen Adorable instead of Katsuki-Nikiforov."
Giggling, Victor pulled Yuuri closer to pose for a picture. "This worked out perfectly! We look great and the dinosaur costume won't keep gathering dust!"
Yuuri paused with the smack of sudden realization. All of the dinosaur onesies. The nursery covered in multi-colored dinosaurs. Mounds of dinosaur books, plushies, and blankets. "Oh my God, Victor Katsuki-Nikiforov…" Yuuri slowly turned toward his husband, mouth hanging slightly open. "Did you groom our children to love dinosaurs so you could wear that costume again?" It was ridiculous even for Victor… but it was just ridiculous enough to be something Victor would do. Laughter rumbled from deep inside the dropped hood of Victor's costume. Peeking under the oversized cloth, both twins following their daddy's motions, Yuuri found his very red-faced husband. "Victor," Yuuri sighed, the smile of adoration pulling at his lips, "I love your insanity." Ducking under the hood, Yuuri chased his husband into a kiss, laughter separating them as the twins also crawled into the hood to simultaneously kiss their papa's cheeks.
There had been so many times that Yuuri had thought, "I can't believe this is my life," but right then, standing in his own dining room, surrounded by his outrageously dinosaur themed family, he couldn't think of a single time the sentiment had been filled with more love.
