Victor Nikiforov had never been out to sea, nor had he been stranded on an island, but he reckons that it might not be that different from being lost in the middle of nowhere in – Where was I again? Ah, right. – Hasetsu. It wasn't that he was hopeless with directions – he was – or that he was bad with remembering stuff – ditto – it was just that he had a bad habit of being easily distracted by things that caught his attention, because if he had just followed the map Yuuko had sent him, then he would have already arrived at the Ice Castle hours ago, and his dog wouldn't have made the rather selfish decision to stop moving because Makkachin was dead tired from the flight and the train ride.
But the castle he'd spied off in the distance just looked So great! So noble! and all sorts of inspiring that Victor just had to take a quick look. On the 'rare' chance that he might get lost, he had his smartphone on him anyway and he can just call Yuuko to help him out.
And well.
Well.
His phone ran out of battery from Facetiming his friends in Russia to show off the castle in the background, and taking tons of selfies, on top of the games he played on the train.
Victor's only argument is that it was a moment of weakness, because Japanese castles were his weakness, temporarily replacing high-speed trains, soup vending machines and conveyor belt sushi chains from the roster. It wasn't his fault that he was helpless in the face of Eastern architecture.
Makkachin whimpers at his feet, his big brown eyes imploring Victor to stop reveling in their current state of helplessness, and do something, anything about it. While Victor's go-to fantastic back-up plan in times like these was just to flag down a cab ("A waste of money!" he'd bawl) and show the driver the address – because he was as equally fantastic about butchering the pronunciation of wherever he was going – the one, great flaw to his back-up plan was that he was currently stuck in a forest.
A forest he had, in a stroke of brilliance, dragged Makkachin into because he was convinced that Yuuko's map said something about forests – despite it being almost entirely in Japanese, save for the very places he was supposed to look out for on the map that were very much in English – because forests were natural, and ice was natural, and the Castle flanked the forest, and so the Ice Castle had to be close by.
Naturally.
Anyway, weren't there supposed to be people in the forest? This forest was great; the air was cool and supposedly full of negative ions, so at least while they were lost – Victor supposes they're lost, but they were most likely just misplaced because lost largely implied that they could never be found – they were breathing in good, healthy air, and—
Tinkle, tinkle.
"Tinkle, tinkle?" Victor mutters, looking around for the possible source of the sound when his eyes land on a-
Wait.
Was – was that a policebox?
"Makkachin, it's a policebox!" Victor trills as he makes a mad dash for the unsuspecting police box, dog at his heels, dust bouncing off his suitcase. He had watched a fascinating documentary about them before back in his apartment in St. Petersburg on a rare day off, remembering how different each policebox looked from the other, especially when they were located in areas that exuded particular characters.
Hasetsu's policebox looked like a charming little wooden birdhouse, and were it not for the windchimes that someone had placed on the ceiling of the tiny entrance, Victor would have missed it entirely. It blended in with its natural surroundings and looked so peaceful and quaint he wouldn't be surprised if the officer on duty was a cuddly old grandmother who'd greet anyone who walked in with a fresh batch of cookies and hot tea, on the assumption that traditional grandmothers in the rural country baked Western cookies, of course, but that was an entirely different thing. The officer-in-charge could be a grumpy old coot and refuse to talk to tragically misplaced silver-haired Russian men and still, Victor would think he was heaven-sent.
The officer on duty, however, was neither of these things. He was a young, Japanese man, sitting neatly behind his desk, working on some paperwork. When Makkachin lets out an excited Ruff! as soon as he comes in, the officer looks up, his brown eyes round and innocent, reminding Victor of his childhood.
When Victor was a twee little Russian boy, one of his favorite ways to pass the time was to watch Disney movies. Oh, he'd sing about one day being a mighty king, and painting all the colors with the wind, and he'd scream and laugh at all the right places, but they all paled in comparison to his fascination with a certain little deer with sparkly eyes and long, lithe legs.
"K-konnichiwa," he stutters as he hurries to get up, his tie catching on his desk in the process, making him double up as a slash of pink smears across his cheeks, "O-oh. E-English?"
And his name was Bambi, Victor cooes in his mind.
He tries to tamp down a goofy smile that he was sure was curling around his lips, "Hello."
"H-hi."
"Can you speak English?" Victor asks, twirling the ends of his scarf. Calm down, Vitya, he reminds himself, let us not scare little Bambi away. First, he needed to get to the Ice Castle, then settle in his apartment, then get on with being Hasetsu's newest skate instructor.
Then he'd give himself permission to come back and flirt unabashedly with this little cutie.
"Y-yes," the officer smiles bashfully, and Victor tries hard to remember the promise he's just made to himself, squelching the inner urge to ask if he came in a box because he'd love to take him home, "How may I help you?"
You may help me by getting your things and moving into my apartment with me.
"Great, I've been wandering around the area for a while now, and I was wondering if you can point me in the direction of the Ice Castle?"
And possibly, in the direction of your heart if it's on the way?
The officer blinks, "Can you talk slowly please? It's been quite a while since I used my English." He reaches down to pet Makkachin, who had been sniffing around him and furiously wagging his tail, as if in complete and total agreement with Victor's assessment that Yes, this is a nice human, and I will be very pleased to have him as my master as well. As Victor repeats his question, his eyes remain fixed on the satisfied look on his poodle's face as Officer Bambi runs his hand through his brown curls.
Makkachin's.
In all the years that he'd been born with silver hair, never had Victor wished more than in that instant that his hair was brown and curly as well.
"The Ice Castle, huh?" Officer Bambi is amused as he gently takes Victor's map. He points to the cluster of greenery on the map, "This is where we are now, and here," He taps the Ice Castle, not too far from their current place, "This is the Ice Castle. You just need to cross the intersection here and go straight."
So he was right.
"Yes, almost." Officer Bambi hands him back the map, startling Victor who didn't know that he had actually said what he was thinking out loud. Victor grips the map, his mind running, hoping he could say anything that'll lengthen the conversation, anything—
"I could take you guys there, if you'd like." Officer Bambi offers, already putting on his jacket. Victor remembers that it was indeed quite cold outside, but he just knew that his cheeks were kind of on fire right now, and all sorts of raging.
As to what else was raging, he didn't want to think about.
"O-oh, is that allowed?" Victor gulps as Officer Bambi zips up his navy blue coat, the zipping sound the only thing echoing around the tiny room.
He's zipping it up, Victor. God, get a grip. He could practically hear one of his fellow instructors, Yuri Plisetsky, say it.
"Sure, it's one of my responsibilities as the officer on duty," Officer Bambi says as he fishes out a key from his pocket, and proceeds to twist the lock on the policebox.
"So," Victor licks his lips, unable to help himself anymore, "Am I one of your responsibilities now?"
There, he'd gone and done it. If Officer Bambi decides to freak out and run away, Victor was more than glad that he had pointed out the Ice Castle on the map so they wouldn't be as doomed as they were hours before.
But Officer Bambi only shrugs, "I help out when I can."
Okay, he was dense. Victor can definitely work with that.
The air was crisp, definitely cooler than the time Victor had sought shelter in the policebox, and the streets were silent, save for the whirr of the suitcase wheels and the sound of their boots clicking on the pavement. Victor tries his damnedest to wrack his brain to get Officer Bambi to talk more, but at the same time, he savors the comfortable silence that settles around them. Makkachin walks ahead of them, occasionally looking back as if to ask Officer Bambi whether he was headed in the correct direction, making Officer Bambi flash yet another cute, bashful smile.
"Cute dog," he murmurs, his breath coming out in white puffs, "What's his name?"
"Makkachin."
"Makkachin, huh? I had a poodle too, once," Officer Bambi's eyes look faraway, "Vicchan."
Victor's heart thuds loudly in his ears. Vicchan?
"That was his name," Officer Bambi clarifies, mistaking Victor's silence for confusion, which was somehow right on the money because Victor had thought that Officer Bambi had just given him a nickname in the same way that Victor had already dubbed him Officer Bambi. "He passed away just this summer."
"Sorry for your loss," Victor mumbles, knowing all too well the pain of a pet leaving its master. He'd had a few poodles before, but none as surprising and as vivacious as Makkachin.
"Hmm." Was all Officer Bambi says, and they continue walking in silence again. The colors of the sky bleed into a sweet pink, and Victor lets out a little sigh.
Officer Bambi, however, suddenly stops in his tracks, panicking as he checks his watch, "Wait, I think the Ice Castle's now closed. Were you going in to skate?"
Oh, right.
"Ah, actually, I'm the new instructor."
"Oh, they must have been waiting for you then. Hold on, let me just call Yuuko. …Yuuko?" Officer Bambi starts speaking in rapid fire Japanese, and for some reason, Victor feels strangely discomfited at how close they seemed. Which is obviously all sorts of great. He was barely a day in Hatsu – Hasetsu, he reminds himself – and he already has a major boner for the deer – boy – next door, who may or may not be in a relationship with the manager of the Ice Castle where he was slated to work on for the next few months. And while it's not something new, nor something that may or may not have happened before, he had never felt this irked at this kind of situation before.
And it feels terrible. Like no he was wrong about the Ice Castle being near the forest because ice and forest were nature and that he was actually lost and not misplaced good lord terrible. Flip and toss around the Victor Nikiforov philosophy terrible because he hated being wrong terrible.
"She says that she's still at the rink," Officer Bambi sighs in relief as he puts away his phone. Victor begrudgingly takes note of how much his expression had brightened when he was talking with Yuuko.
And will Jealous Victor Nikiforov just shut it and go away already?
"You sounded friendly over the phone. Known each other long?" Victor grits out. He blames it on the cold, but it was actually the ice that had formed crystals around his heart, which was completely and utterly ridiculous given that he had only known of Officer Bambi's existence in a span of about twenty minutes – the fact that he was still calling him Officer Bambi could attest to their familiarity – and he was already making fan fiction in his brain about their impending domestic life.
Officer Bambi snorts, however, the first non-smiley expression he's had on his face in the twenty minutes he knows him, "We grew up together. Tiny town like this, hard not to."
Oh.
"So what's she like?"
"Yuuko's nice, don't worry about it," Officer Bambi's voice dips low at the next words, the timbre sending a thrill through Victor's bones, "It's her children you should look out for."
Zzing!
Victor laughs. He laughs hard and loud, startling Makkachin and Officer Bambi, and for what reason exactly, he couldn't quite pinpoint. Maybe he laughs because of the incredible situation he'd landed himself and Makkachin in, thousands of miles away in a tiny town in Japan. Maybe it's because of the timing that they arrive at Ice Castle and Yuuko and her triplets met them just in time before they decided to call it a day.
"It's Yuuri!" The girls cheer as soon as they spot Officer Bambi, making Victor's ears perk up. Was he correct in assuming, this time, that Officer Bambi's name was Yuuri? It was kind of shocking to hear that such a nice, gentle man shared a name with a particularly rough and crude colleague back at St. Petersburg.
Yuuri. Officer Yuuri. Officer Bambi.
Not bad.
"Hi, I'm Victor Nikiforov," Victor says, loudly enough for Yuuko and her litter of children to hear, but especially loud enough for a certain police officer who works at a charming policebox on the edge of a forest to hear.
"Yuuko Nishigori," Yuuko takes Victor's outstretched hand and pumps it excitedly, "These are my girls, Axel, Lutz, and Loop." The girls cheekily wave at Victor, laughing all the while as Makkachin sniffs them and gives Axel a lick on the cheek.
"I'll give you a quick look around inside. Girls, come help me switch the lights on again. " Yuuko and the girls file in the Ice Castle after the exchange, Makkachin tailing closely behind them, tempted by the tantalizing promise of warmth.
Victor rocks on his heels, tongue in his cheek, not knowing how to say what he wanted to say, which were ranging from the grateful Thank you for saving me and Makkachin from being bear food, to the very polite and very bland Thank you for helping us, and to the flirty Thank you for walking me back, but you could have kept me.
He does not count on Officer Bambi – Yuuri, he corrects himself – to break the ice, so to speak, "Looks like my duties are over."
"Yeah."
…YEAH?! What happened to all those lines he had lined up in his head? What did he mean by yeah? Yeahs were for strangers, friends; people he didn't want to see nak-
"Hope you have a great stay here," He touches his cap and turns to go, but faster than Victor can comprehend what the actual h-e-double hockey sticks he was doing, he had fingers clamped around the smooth material of Yuuri's – Ahhh! He used his name! In his head, but still – jacket.
Bambi's eyes are big and brown and Victor would gladly, willingly crawl into them and never look back, except maybe to take his dog with him.
"Um."
"…Yes?"
"I heard earlier. Y-Your name is Yuuri?" Victor whispers.
It was Yuuri's turn to stutter, "Y-yes?"
"I like… your name."
I like you.
"My name is Yuuri Katsuki."
I like your name so much I want it to be my new last name.
Victor gulps at all these words that dance around his head, "I'm Victor Nikiforov."
"I-I heard."
He heard!
"C-can I see you again? Sometime?" Victor asks, heart in his throat, "Maybe in your policebox?"
"…Koban."
Victor blinks, the spell broken. Was Yuuri already refusing him, and had forgotten that Victor was not Japanese, nor could understand the language? Was this polite speak for never talk to me again good riddance?
"It's the Japanese word for policebox. Koban."
Ohh.
"Koban," Victor tests it out, the word surprisingly not mangled into undecipherable garbage on his tongue.
"You seriously don't know any Japanese?" Yuuri shyly asks. What there was to be shy about, Victor wasn't sure but he definitely wanted to know.
"No."
"I'll teach you another one. Konbanwa." Yuuri says, pronouncing the words slowly and Victor takes the opportunity to stare all he wants at Yuuri's lips ("For my education!" He insists), which once again reddens Yuuri's cheeks.
"Konbanwa." Victor repeats, once again surprised at how easy the words are to him, before asking, "What does it mean?"
"It means good night." Yuuri touches the brim of his cap again, "Konbanwa, Victor."
"Konbanwa, Yuuri. See you again in your koban."
"Victor, we're ready for you," Lutz pokes her head out just as Victor watches Yuuri fade into the night, and inquires, "What were you staring at?"
Victor Nikiforov thinks that despite the fact that he'd never having been at sea, nor had he ever been stranded on an island, he claims himself an idiot for earlier likening it to getting lost in the middle of nowhere, in a forest, of all places.
This was lost.
And by God, he never wanted to be found.
He savors the floaty feeling, the gentle rocking motion of his heart as it thuds in his chest, and breathes, "The sea. I was staring at the sea."
Hello, hello! :) Thank you for reading Chapter One of Lost and Found~ This story is actually also up and running at another website.
If you have any positive or negative reactions to this fic, I'd love it if you left comments/reviews for this fic~