Tainted Flesh
Where the heart is real
Where the mark is left
In my soul I feel
I am long bereft
He'd been having that dream again. The one with the Japanese man…who called his name with such a sad voice, it broke his heart.
"Viktor…Viktor…Viktor!"
I'm here. I'm right here!
"I'm so sorry! I'm so so so sorry! It's all my fault!"
No it isn't. It's mine. I promise you, it's mine.
"I didn't mean to, it was an accident…please come back! Come back to me!"
YURI!
"AH!"
Viktor had awakened with a cry, his hand outstretched towards the ceiling of his apartment bedroom.
"Dammit…not again…"
Viktor groaned and rolled over onto his side, turning into the pool of moonlight streaming in through the partially opened curtains of his window.
It was another cold night.
He didn't like waking up to the emptiness.
There was always something missing. Something that should be there but wasn't. And he couldn't for the life of him think what it was.
His skin felt alive with current zinging through it, and in his mind's eye, he saw black hair, framing a precious face with beautiful brown eyes.
It was enough to drive him mad with longing.
Always after waking from those dreams, Viktor found himself unreasonably frustrated and near to the point of arousal.
It didn't make sense, because the dreams were never sexual exactly. They were always of this unknown person…this Yuri…who kept calling his name with such desperation it made him think of a lover in need.
The more he heard that voice and his name, the deeper the need grew in him.
Until finally, he was compelled from the warmth of his bed, to the bathroom, beneath a spray of hot, hot water.
It helped to ease his nerves.
And he generally relieved himself in the shower with the thought of soft thighs, tender kisses, dark hair and brown, brown eyes circulating within his head.
It was an unsatisfactory, lonesome affair.
But he couldn't help his ache.
He was just a regular salaryman with a likeness to a famous (presumably dead) Russian ice skater whose namesake he just so happened to bear: Viktor Nikiforov.
That was about the only interesting thing about him, he would say—if ever asked.
Nevermind the fact that his nights were full of dreams of a person he'd never met physically, and his actual reality was a tragical hodgepodge of circumstances.
He'd grown up in an orphanage in Russia. His parents were unknown. He went to school at a government run facility. He graduated top of his class with honors.
After school he went straight into the workforce, where he became a salaried man working in an office cubicle on a 9 to 5 basis with weekends and holidays off.
He stayed solidly fit by utilizing a gym membership for the only one in his area. He avoided colleagues like the plague by doing his job better than anybody else, and maintaining a strictly professional veneer whenever any of them got too close.
He was a lone wolf through and through.
Which made it all the more perplexing when he found himself tempted to sleep at random intervals throughout the day, just for the sake of having another dream of his mystery man, whose name was—
"Yuri…" Viktor breathed, a wistful note inflecting his voice.
He was surely going insane.
But with each and every dream, he felt like he was getting closer to something monumental. Something of tantamount importance to his very existence.
And wasn't that just the cheesiest thing ever?
"I'm not crazy!"
"We know you aren't darling, but this has to stop." Hiroko watched her only son with weary eyes and a brittle heart, as he sat clutching Viktor's mangled doll in hand with gorilla glue and an assortment of repair tools laid out on the kitchen table in front of him.
He'd been attempting to repair the thing for months now.
But as delicate as the workmanship was, no amount of DIY servicing was helping the case.
And he was practically obsessed with the thing.
"I know it reminds you of…him…but you can't keep torturing yourself like this. You need to let it go." Hiroko gently urged, with an edge of desperation to her voice.
Yuri swallowed thickly and whispered, "You don't understand. None of you. It's my fault that this happened. If I had only been a bit more careful…and Viktor did not leave, I told you! He had urgent business which took him away!"
"What kind of business was so urgent he had to disappear on the same day we first met him, without saying so much as a goodbye?!" Mari stepped into the kitchen with a mildly outraged look on her face.
Yuri's mouth tightened into a thin line.
He fingered the doll's face, still blessedly intact, and jumped again to Viktor's immediate defense.
"Something beyond your comprehension. He promised me he'd come back. And he will. Soon..." Yuri declared, his voice cracking at the end as tears sprung unbidden to his eyes.
In all probability, he would never see Viktor in the flesh again.
But if he could just fix the doll…
There had to be a way!
Viktor awoke again the next night, tired and confused.
That had been one of his longer, more informative dreams.
But what was all this nonsense about a doll? And what was Yuri talking about when he said what he'd said about Viktor being taken away?
It didn't sound like a lie per se, but it couldn't be the whole truth.
Viktor was right here.
Viktor had always been right here.
There was no doubt in his mind about that.
But what about the empty spaces?
There were holes in his memory, for sure. Weird gaps all throughout the past year of his adult life, but he was 28 now, so that was only to be expected right? Nobody remembered all the finer details for that long.
But nothing that would account for having met and left someone as special as Yuri stood out in his mind.
In the first place, he'd only learned Japanese as a second language in high school, but he'd never actually travelled to Japan at any point in his life. It wasn't that he hadn't thought about it or hadn't had the means, it just never really occurred to him to do so.
There was nothing for him in Japan.
Just like there was nothing for him in Russia—except the mundanity of a day to day life lived out alone.
It wouldn't make sense for him to up and travel to Japan for no particular reason…no particular reason…other than—
"Yuri…" Viktor mumbled, tasting the name on his tongue, feeling it reverberate in his throat as he stared up at the shadowy ceiling.
He wanted to go.
He wanted to find him.
He needed to find him.
It was just like that time he'd been drunk in the bar for the first time in ages.
It had nearly been a year to the day.
He'd had a horrible day.
Work had been long and frustrating. The weather was all wrong. His hair didn't feel right. His night had been awful…full of dreams of a crying Japanese man, whose name was by now ingrained in his psyche, Yuri….who just wouldn't stop calling out to him.
And people just wouldn't leave him alone!
He couldn't get a moment's peace anywhere it felt like.
So as soon as he was able, he'd run away to an obscure corner of the city to drown himself in the rich depths of cognac.
A finer beverage he turned to whenever life got to be too much of a hassle for him.
Even under the influence of the drink however, his mind kept straying back to Yuri.
And eventually, he was having auditory hallucinations.
"Hey you, yes you, you pitiful excuse of a human."
Viktor frowned and stared silently down at his drink.
"Even if you want to you can't ignore me."
"You're not real."
"Says who? The loser who can't take a hint and go find himself already?"
"I don't need to be found. I'm right here."
"No, you're not. You're out there. Somewhere far faaar away. In Japan."
"Yuri's in Japan. Not me."
"And now we get to the crux of it."
Viktor drunkenly asked for a refill.
"I'm only gonna say this once, so you better listen up."
"Go on…"
"You're not dead. Your name is Viktor Nikiforov. It always has been, and always will be. Your heart is real now. But your flesh is tainted, and you need purifying."
"What do you…mean…tainted?"
"Contaminated, polluted, dirty, unclean, filthy…get the picture?"
"Hmmm...no…"
"The only way to cleanse your flesh would be to meet your soul's match; the one person who can take your taint inside themselves and clean your spirit of all noxious energy. In other words, be the yin to your metaphorical yang."
"Such a person does not exist…"
"But he does."
"He…?"
"Don't be daft. Of course it's a he."
Viktor snorts in eternal amusement. He'd never bothered to clarify himself to anyone sexually before.
He always just took whatever was on offer, whatever looked good.
But in all honesty…
"It would be a he."
"Yes. It would be. Now shut-up and listen."
Viktor took a long sip from his drink and stared dazedly ahead as the world blurred around him.
"You don't have forever to get this right. There is a time limit to how long you can go on in this body, on this plane of existence without being purified."
Viktor blinked slowly as a full moon appeared to be rising before him. The bar had melted out of sight.
"By this time next year, you will be expected to have made the proper connection. If you haven't by then, you will cease to be. Your clock will run out…and there will be no more remnants of you left in this world."
Viktor dazedly nodded his head.
It was a beautiful moon.
He was 27.
That meant he had until he was 28 to get it right.
But who…?
"YURI! You IMBECILE! YURI!"
"Ah…the Japanese man…"
"Ugh…why do I even bother?"
"Customer, customer, you really have to go now. The shop is closing."
A tall, handsome, silver haired man opened his eyes in a bar in Russia. He was bleary-eyed and so drunk he was seeing triplets.
But one word kept resonating in his head.
"…Yuuuuri…" He groaned. "I need to find Yuuuri..."
Viktor sat up from his bed slowly, and he stared out of his window at the night sky. The moon would be full in a matter of days.
He needed to make preparations.
And fast.
"Hold on Yuri…I'm coming." Viktor whispered, right before getting up, going to his desktop computer and booking the first flight out to Japan.
"But where in Japan…," he wondered softly aloud.
"Hasetsu."
The answer came to him almost immediately in the form of a subconscious whisper. And Viktor, biting his lip hard, made arrangements to land in Kyushu International Airport (KIA), the closest drop-off point to Hasetsu.
And from there he booked a stay at the Yu-Topia Onsen Resort in Hasetsu.
His eyes widening just so as he took in the owner's name, "Katsuki Toshiya."
"Father…?" He murmured, feeling all sorts of anxious now for reasons he could not comprehend.
"Fool."
Viktor's nose reddened slightly and he leaned back in his desk chair, staring unseeingly at the computer screen.
His heart was racing a mile a minute and he was hearing voices…again.
"About time you started listening."
Viktor gasped.
Elsewhere that Night
Mari stared at the guest database with wide eyes and an open mouth.
A certain name had just popped up as registered with their Onsen Resort.
She couldn't believe her eyes.
The nerve…!
"MOM! DAD!"
Yuri startled out of his dazed staring at Viktor's poorly patched doll standing on his dresser once more, and he looked towards his room door with a feeling of massive trepidation growing in his chest.
Mari was yelling again.
This couldn't be good.
Early the Next Morning
Viktor stood in front of a waiting taxi, with his (rather large) suitcase and carry-on bag in hand.
He was about to leave Russia for the first time ever…to go to Japan…and meet his…his…
"Yuri…" Viktor breathed, and proceeded to put his suitcase in the back of the taxi and climb into the transport.
"Going on a long trip?"
"The longest." Viktor replied, with a small smile at the driver who saluted him in the rearview mirror as they drove off towards the airport.
He was doing this.
He was really doing this.
Elsewhere
Yuri's stomach was tying itself in horrible knots over breakfast.
His sister and father were trading pointed barbs over the registration of a foreigner with the same name as Viktor, Yuri's Viktor, and Viktor's doll at their Onsen Resort, scheduled for arrival late the next day's evening.
Yuri ate, but could barely even taste the food.
It was like waking up in the twilight zone.
This just couldn't be happening. It just couldn't be true. What on earth were the odds of somebody having that same name appearing in Yuri's life all over again like a cosmic joke?
His family was convinced this Viktor and that Viktor were one in the same.
Yuri knew better.
But he couldn't help the dreadful sense of anticipation coiling around his neck.
Viktor was magic. Viktor was real. Viktor was something straight out of a storybook. Viktor was gone.
Viktor's doll was magic. Viktor's doll was broken. Viktor's doll was the only link to Viktor he still had.
He needed to see Viktor. He needed to see Viktor's doll right now!
Yuri left the remains of his breakfast on his plate, and silently pushed away from the noisy breakfast table, excusing himself back to his room, much to the concern and consternation of his family.
He didn't have it in him to care at this point.
Stepping into his bedroom, he half expected the doll to be gone again.
But there it was, in the same spot he'd left it, looking the same as ever.
Yuri sighed.
But whether in relief or acute disappointment he could not tell.
He missed Viktor.
He missed him so much.
Yuri walked over to Viktor's doll and gently ran a finger over its hair before kissing it on the forehead once more for old time's sake.
"I know you can't hear me, and I'm probably sounding like a crazy person right now, but I really want you to come back. It's just not the same anymore without you. I don't know when or why it happened this way, but it's like you're the only thing in my head anymore. And it sucks…because now, I miss you even more. Please…Viktor…I need you back…"
"I'm coming…Yuri…I'm coming."
Yuri startled badly at the sound of Viktor's voice in his ear.
And he fell to his knees in front of the dresser, clutching desperately at his ear in a vain attempt to hold onto the sound.
What was that?! That had never happened to him before!
"Viktor!" Yuri gasped, "Is that you, Viktor?! Can you hear me?!"
Yuri began to cry softly as no answer was forthcoming again.
And he sat quietly on his knees, waiting and waiting for that voice to come to him again.
"Wait for me, please. Just…wait…for…me—"
Yuri covered his mouth with both hands and trembled with the force of his elation.
Viktor….he could hear him. Like a cellphone with bad reception…he could hear him, breaking in and out.
Viktor—he was coming. He really was coming!
Yuri closed his eyes and sent a thankful prayer up to any god that was listening.
He would see Viktor again, soon…
Up in the Air
"I know you can't hear me, and I'm probably sounding like a crazy person right now, but I really want you to come back. It's just not the same anymore without you. I don't know when or why it happened this way, but it's like you're the only thing in my head anymore. And it sucks…because now, I miss you even more. Please…Viktor…I need you back…"
Viktor frowned in his sleep and muttered in response to Yuri's fervent plea, "I'm coming…Yuri…I'm coming."
"Viktor!" Yuri gasped, "Is that you, Viktor?! Can you hear me?!"
"Wait for me, please. Just…wait…for…me—" Viktor's eyes flew open as he mumbled his last words, and Yuri's voice faded into the background of the plane's engine humming all around him.
He stared out the window at a vista of clouds and he smiled softly.
His Yuri missed him.
He didn't know how, but his Yuri missed him, even though they'd never properly met.
Viktor's heart did a funny leap in his chest.
Maybe this wasn't so crazy after all.
Maybe he was going right where he was supposed to be.
Maybe he'd be welcomed with open arms.
Later That Night
Yuri lay wide awake in bed.
His shirt was off, and he was sleeping only in a pair of boxers.
His hands roamed his bare chest, tweaking his nipples as they went…and he caressed his sides with his eyes closed, just as he imagined Viktor would do if he were there.
Yuri breathed out a soft sigh and his legs fell open of their own accord as his hands traveled down the softness of his thighs, into the valley in between.
He palmed the outline of his growing erection and flushed darkly as the image of a naked Viktor came unbidden to forefront of his mind.
That body…he missed that body beside him.
Yuri reached into his underwear and extracted his member from the confines of the cloth.
He stroked it slowly up and down, thinking all the while of Viktor's mouth and what it would feel like wrapped around him.
Viktor would take him in all the way, and lick it from tip to base, while fondling his balls.
Yuri panted as his own hands mimicked his thoughts, fingers sliding from the tip to the base of his cock, and he gently rolled his balls in his other hand.
"Viktor…" He moaned, stroking himself up and down with his hand, feeling the precum leaking from the tip of his engorged sex.
Yuri whimpered lightly and arched into his fist.
He could feel the pressure building slowly down below. But it wasn't enough to bring on his release.
Yuri bit his lip and stroked faster.
His mind was fraying images of Viktor between his legs. And he could nearly hear the man's voice in his ear again, whispering all manner of filthy things as he canted his hips repeatedly the air, thrusting into his hand.
"F-fuck…Viktor…" Yuri mumbled, his eyes hazy as he stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom and thumbed the leaking slit of his member repeatedly, imagining Viktor's tongue bringing him closer and closer to the edge.
Finally, when all seemed to be lost, Yuri stiffened and his stomach clenched as a wave of euphoria washed over him.
Now dizzy and somewhat embarrassed, Yuri came down off his high with a sticky hand and damp sheets.
He had made quite a mess.
"What are you doing to me, Viktor?" Yuri asked aloud, panting softly as he relaxed into the bed and shut his eyes.
He was so sleepy…
Elsewhere the Next Morning
Viktor gathered his bags from the luggage claim and walked out of Kyushu International Airport directly to a waiting taxi.
"I'm going to Hasetsu."
"That's a pretty far off destination. Six hours at least. You paying?" The driver asked gruffly.
Viktor nodded his head and paid the driver upfront in big bills he'd had converted to the nation's currency at some point or another.
With greedy eyes, the driver took the wad of cash and stepped on the gas.
The meter quickly began to fill up.
Viktor stared out the window at the rolling hills of countryside and towns passing by.
He felt that much closer to Yuri now.
"Just a little while longer…" Viktor murmured in his native Russian tongue.
The driver raised an eyebrow and said nothing.
So long as he was getting paid, the foreigner could be a hitman for all he cared.
Later on that Afternoon
Yu-topia's Onsen Resort was the picture of tranquility.
The regular guests were happily ensconced in the hot springs, or enjoying Hiroko's cooking while relaxing and watching the game on television in the public dining area.
Katsuki Yuri, however, was the very picture of disarray.
His hair was wildly unkempt.
His clothes were plain and baggy on his diminutive figure.
And there were huge bags underneath his eyes from having slept hardly a wink the night before.
Even after his masturbatory exploits, there was very little rest to be had.
His dreams had been full of Viktor, Viktor, and more Viktor.
It wasn't healthy for him to be so fixated on a person that really shouldn't even exist.
Not outside of the confines of his imagination, and certainly not in any form of reality.
"But he does exist." Yuri murmured aloud, nodding vaguely to himself.
"And he's coming…he's really coming…" Yuri felt a slow panic beginning to build within his chest.
"Oh my god…"
He needed to get out of here. Fast.
Yuri went to put on his sneakers and go out for a long walk around the town. Hopefully this way he could burn off some of that excessive nervous energy that was now welling beneath the surface.
He didn't know where this urge to run away was coming from, but he couldn't stay in one place all day any longer.
At the very least, he would take Viktor's doll with him and see the area for old time's sake.
He had been out for a good three hours when it happened.
Viktor's doll began to vibrate ominously in his hand, and a loud ringing filled his ears.
Yuri flinched and pressed a hand to his forehead, bending over double on the side of the road leading back to Yu-topia's Onsen Resort.
A few cars passed him by quickly but he paid them no mind, too focused on the painfully high pitched ringing.
It sounded to him like an alarm going off somewhere.
But he knew it was all in his head.
Yuri scrunched up his face and stared hard at Viktor's doll.
Its mouth was open in parody of a scream, and Yuri's eyes widened dramatically in their sockets as the doll's own ocean blue eyes began to glow.
Well, if that wasn't creepy he didn't know what qualified.
Yuri's hand shook, and he pitched forward on his knees now, still clutching the poorly patched doll.
All of a sudden the ringing stopped, and he heard a familiar voice say, "Excuse me, but are you alright?"
And he turned around to see something that simultaneously stopped and started his heart.
"V-V-Viktor?"
Yuri gaped.
Viktor stared down at him with a bewildered, awestruck look on his face.
"Yuri…" he whispered.
Yuri felt the doll fall out of his hand and onto the ground as he launched himself forward into Viktor's open arms.
A few minutes prior
"We're almost there, only about 10 minutes out now."
Viktor gave a noncommittal grunt as the driver called back to him.
Viktor's eyes remained on the side of the road, staring off into so much empty space.
All of a sudden a loud ringing filled his ears, and he frowned and winced at the sound.
Apparently he was the only one hearing it, since the driver hadn't faltered in the slightest.
Viktor's eyes narrowed as he spied up ahead the sight of someone kneeling on the ground on the side of the road, clutching their head, looking to be in pain.
"Stop the car!" Viktor yelled; his voice too loud over the ear-splitting noise.
The driver pulled the car over on the side of the road, and Viktor immediately spilled out of the backseat with a wild look about himself.
The person he'd seen was about 12 feet up ahead of them with their backs to the procession.
Viktor thought the noise was getting louder the closer he got to the person.
He walked determinedly ahead and opened his mouth to speak, not yelling this time, "Excuse me, but are you alright?"
All of a sudden the noise ceased.
And Viktor's breath caught in his throat as his heart did a huge summersault in his chest.
"V-V-Viktor?" That sweet voice from his dreams stammered his name out so familiarly.
Viktor couldn't help but stare in blatant awe down at the face of the man he knew so well from his dreams.
"Yuri…" He whispered, feeling the world tilt on its axis.
Viktor spread his arms out impulsively and nearly laughed with glee as he caught an altogether enthusiastic armful of Yuri.
"Where'd you go?! How'd you get here?! Is that a taxi—…?" Yuri questioned him breathlessly, tilting his head back with tears streaming down his face as Viktor stared warmly down at him.
Viktor placed his hand on the side of Yuri's face, tilting it sideways, right before capturing Yuri's mouth in a firm kiss and swallowing any extra inquiries.
He pulled away from the kiss slowly, and Yuri stared up at him through dazed brown eyes.
"I'm here now. Isn't that all that matters?"
Yuri held onto Viktor's shoulders and nodded his head hesitantly.
"I still can't believe it's you. I mean…after I broke it…your doll…I thought I'd never see you again."
Viktor raised an eyebrow and asked, "What's all this about a doll?"
Yuri frowned. "You don't remember?"
Viktor shook his head, "I only remember bits and pieces of things, you most importantly. But anything about a doll escapes me…"
Yuri blinked and backed away slightly. "But that's…that's like everything. It's how we met."
Viktor smiled softly and replied. "No. This is how we met."
Yuri turned away from Viktor and looked around for Viktor's doll, but it was nowhere in sight.
Yuri felt a tension growing in his chest.
Maybe…this wasn't Viktor after all.
"How do you know me if you don't remember?" Yuri asked, afraid of the answer.
Viktor blinked twice and nervously ran a hand through his hair.
"I've dreamt of you more times than I can count."
Yuri shook his head and back away further. "What do you mean you've dreamt of me? That doesn't make any sense!"
Viktor frowned and stepped forward, defending himself fervently, "It makes about as much sense as you knowing my name and throwing yourself into my arms at first sight."
"You can't tell me that didn't feel right to you." Viktor went on, reentering Yuri's personal space and grabbing the younger man by the shoulders.
"I may not be the one you remember, but I am still me. Don't you still want me?" Viktor asked, feeling suddenly vulnerable.
Yuri's breathing shallowed and he felt his head beginning to spin.
What was this? What kind of cruel joke was this?
Viktor didn't remember anything about them…about him really…and yet here he was. Here he was…!
"Of course I still want you! Dumbass! I just don't know how to be around you right now…and I'm confused…and I don't know what I'm feeling anymore!"
Yuri panted and stared up into Viktor's surprised blue eyes, which crinkled fondly as he laughed slightly and murmured.
"That makes two of us then."
"Umm, excuse me sir, but the meter is still running. If you wanna keep sitting here you'll have to pay me extra."
Viktor gave a start and grabbed Yuri by the hand suddenly.
"We'll both be going in the same direction." Viktor pronounced.
Yuri blushed and nodded his head.
The taxi driver rolled his eye and yelled, "Well, get in! Time's wasting."
Viktor allowed Yuri to climb into the backseat first, and he slid in after him. Staring at the young man with wonder shining in his eyes, and holding onto his hand like the other would disappear any minute.
Yuri squeezed his hand back and said, "There might be trouble once we get home."
"Home…I like the sound of that." Viktor smiled. Yuri rolled his eyes good naturedly, "My father's gonna try and kill you probably. And my sister might help."
"Mom's the only one I really can't predict."
Viktor winced. "Do I really have such a bad reputation now?"
Yuri smiled apologetically, "It's really my fault. But don't worry, I'm sure we can clear the air once and for all. Just when anybody asks, you had urgent, urgent business to attend to and are terribly sorry you had to go away."
"Something like brain surgery?"
"Maybe. That could work actually…" Yuri laughed.
Viktor shook his head with a smile. He'd never had such easy relations with anybody before. It was a novel experience.
Yuri was truly a wonder. Being this way with a virtual stranger…
Viktor's eyes darkened.
He was definitely being compared to somebody else—somebody else who was just like him, but had a history with Yuri that he envied.
This would not do. This would not do at all.
The ride back to Yu-Topia's Onsen Resort was a quiet one, full of companionable silence and nervous energy.
Yuri kept stealing glances at Viktor, as though he would vanish into thin air if he stopped looking.
And Viktor, well…he was beginning to feel strangely despondent.
Here he was, beside the literal man of his dreams, and all he could think about was the figment of Yuri's imagination that seemed to have captured the young man's heart long before they'd ever met.
That same figment which was the reason he had been welcomed so quickly but might still be turned away.
How do you compete with…that?
Viktor cleared his throat and Yuri jumped before averting his eyes quickly to outside the window.
How cute…
Viktor sighed and placed a strong, reassuring hand on Yuri's thigh, squeezing it gently. "I should be the one nervous, Yuri."
"Y-y-you shouldn't have to be! I mean…like I said, it was my fault. I know you don't remember and all but you did warn me. I should have been more vigilant."
Viktor frowned a bit, laughed shortly, and said nothing.
There it was again, that random pang.
He hated feeling this way. It was making him angry.
"Here we are folks!" The driver piped up, pulling into the Onsen parking lot.
Yuri swallowed thickly and Viktor grabbed his hand, before getting out and pulling Yuri along with him.
Viktor abandoned Yuri's hand reluctantly to procure his luggage from the back of the vehicle, and Yuri stood looking aimless and small as Viktor shut the trunk again, now holding a huge suitcase.
"Do you need help with that?" Yuri asked, eyeing the monstrosity dubiously. He could maybe push it inside.
Viktor grinned teasingly, "I'm strong enough to handle it. But thank you."
Yuri nodded with a red face and turned to the Resort entrance, holding the door open for Viktor and his house.
Viktor made a show of hefting the bag onto one shoulder, then the other, and tossing it up into the air, before catching it one handed by the handle.
Yuri couldn't help but start clapping with an open mouth.
Viktor was—built.
Not like he didn't know…but he was solid, as in really sturdy—unbreakable even.
Yuri bit his lip as thoughts of what Viktor could do with all that strength to him started circulating through his mind.
He was turning into a dirty bastard.
Viktor passed him with a weirdly knowing wink and smile, sauntering into the building.
Yuri flushed hard and followed behind him.
"Welcome to—it's YOU!"
Yuri frantically waved his hands at Mari sitting at the front desk, hoping she would quiet down and give them both a second to catch their breaths before alerting the media.
"Hello, I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage." Viktor smiled charmingly, setting his suitcase down beside himself and attracting all sorts of attention from the guests strewn about the area.
Yuri slapped a hand over his face, knocking his glasses slightly askew, and he stepped in between Viktor and his gaping sister with a resigned look.
Mari was turning a rather violent looking shade of purplish red as she stood abruptly from her seat and rounded the counter.
Viktor blinked innocently and warily stepped backwards as her nostrils flared and she pushed her sleeve up, balling her hand into a painful looking fist.
Yuri jumped at her just as she launched herself in Viktor's general direction, and he just barely held her back from punching the man in the face.
"I take it this is your lovely sister." Viktor's mouth twitched in amusement, and Yuri yelled at him. "Don't just stand there! Run!"
Viktor stood his ground, "I will not. I haven't done anything to be on the run for."
Mari's rage was by now a visible burning flame, "You've done EVERYTHING! You villain! Demon! Fucking Jackass of the Year! Wait 'till I get my HANDS ON YOU!"
"What is the meaning of all this commotion!"
Yuri's father showed up out of nowhere, and stopped short as he witnessed the scene of his daughter being held back from beating the veritable BANE of his EXISTENCE by his only precious son, who seemed to hold delusions of propriety.
"How dare you show your face here again, you fiend!"
"Katsuki…Toshiya." Viktor mumbled in stunned recognition.
He'd never seen the man before in his life, but the title father seemed to scream at him.
Yuri vacillated between holding Mari back and placating his father before Viktor got thrown out on his ass.
"Dad, I told you already, he had a good reason! And right now, you and Mari are both upsetting the guests. Viktor is a paying customer! Show some decorum!"
Toshiya reigned in his temper and snapped at Mari.
"Enough. We'll continue this in private. You—follow me now!" Viktor straightened his shoulders as Toshiya pointed directly at him and jerked his thumb in the direction of the off-limits section of the house, otherwise known as the private residence.
Viktor nodded and Yuri sighed heavily as Mari finally stopped struggling and watched Viktor's progress with daggers shooting from her glaring eyes.
Yuri felt like this was going to be the biggest bullshitting session of his life.
"Excuse me, but I need to make sure Dad doesn't do something illegal. Shouldn't you be manning the front desk?"
Mari snapped at him, "How can you be so calm about this? He practically dumped you after declaring how much in love the two of you were and his lifelong intentions!"
"Not to mention you let him hit that all over the place before he up and left! Don't think I didn't hear you! The whole WORLD did!"
Yuri had never been so embarrassed before in his entire life.
But he vehemently said, "If I'm okay with it, then what right do you have to be up in arms? I told you already, there are circumstances. And my s-sex life is my own! Don't even go there!"
Mari flared her nostrils before turning away from Yuri in so much disgust.
"I thought you'd have a little more pride than this Yuri. I mean damn, little brother."
Yuri frowned and bit his lip hard before saying, "I can't help what you think of me, but Viktor is special. He just is. Now I've gotta go make sure he's alright."
Mari rolled her eyes. "No spine. No spine at all."
Yuri smirked, feeling rather malicious, "I guess he broke it somewhere back there when the world was listening."
Mari flushed hard and said nothing else.
Yuri went in pursuit of Viktor and his father with a fluttering heart.
Why should he care what she thought? Only he knew the truth about what happened. And the truth was even stranger than fiction.
Viktor and Yuri's father sat at the family dining table staring at each other silently, each one daring the other to blink first.
"So, you've returned. After months of no word and leaving Yuri in a pitiful state, after declaring your dishonest intentions and making us all think you could be worth something."
"I don't know what to say except I am truly sorry for any discomfort I may have caused you and your family—but most especially Yuri. I had never intended to leave like that. And I would not have, had I been a different man at the time."
A shadow came over Viktor's features as he smoothly blended Yuri's lies with his own deeply rooted truth.
If he had been who they were accusing him of being, then he most definitely would never have left.
He would have been the better man—the right man, for Yuri.
"As it stands, I am a different man. And I won't allow Yuri to be hurt ever again by myself or anyone else. You must believe me, Toshiya-san."
"I don't know what to believe or who you are supposed to be anymore. I never liked you to begin with. And now, I like you even less."
Toshiya glared at Viktor and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Give me one good reason I shouldn't toss you out of here right now, and save myself the trouble later."
Yuri chose that moment to step into the room and interject his two cents.
"Because if you do, then I'm leaving with him, Dad."
Viktor's breath hitched in his throat, and he stared over at Yuri dubiously.
The 'You don't even know me', fading off the tip of his tongue as Yuri stared meaningfully into his eyes.
Maybe he was the one that needed to reevaluate.
Yuri seemed damn sure of who he was.
But it just made little to no sense to him…how could Yuri be so…this? Trusting, naïve, beautiful, defensive, alarmingly open, right…just so right…
It was more than he could've ever hoped to find.
Even when chasing his dreams…
"You will do no such thing!" Toshiya snapped.
Yuri's mouth tightened into a thin line and another stare-battle began between father and son.
Toshiya was sweating.
Yuri was not.
Viktor sat in awe of Yuri.
"Fine! He can stay! But I'm warning you, this is the last chance. Or else I'm sending him packing back wherever the hell he came from!" Toshiya declared.
Yuri smiled at last.
"Thank you, Dad."
"Thank you, father." Viktor chorused.
"I'M NOT YOUR FATHER!" Toshiya yelled.
Viktor merely smiled and Yuri rolled his eyes.
It was always good to have family.
That evening, Viktor was settled into one of the guest rooms upstairs, far away from the private residence.
He unpacked his suitcase and sat down on his futon with a relieved sigh.
It seemed he'd been…in so many words, welcomed into the family.
This was good. This was very good.
He didn't particularly want to be sent packing back to Russia just yet.
Even though he would have to go back, eventually…
A knock sounded on his room door, and Viktor got up to answer it.
"Yuri!" He said, surprised to see the other looking so…adorable in fresh clothes, and with a slightly damp head of hair.
"U-um, Mom is cooking dinner in the residence. Would you like to join us?"
Viktor smiled and nodded. "Of course I would. Is this a date?"
Yuri laughed, "How could it be with my parents and sister?"
Viktor smirked and pulled Yuri into the room, "I could make it intimate regardless, if you give me the chance." He spoke directly into the younger man's ear, and Yuri shivered as the door shut behind him.
"You wouldn't happen to not know how to use chopsticks…would you?"
Viktor pressed Yuri against the door and leaned forward until their foreheads were touching.
"Are you offering to feed me?"
Yuri blushed, "It wouldn't be the first time..."
Viktor frowned, again with the memories.
"It would for me." He stated, almost coldly.
Yuri blinked twice and placed a hand on the side of Viktor's clouded face.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't like that you have all these memories of a person I'm not."
Yuri frowned. "But you are him. You are you."
"Then why do I feel like there are three people in this room?"
Yuri shrugged apologetically. "I can't really separate myself from my memories of you. Just like you can't forget your dreams of me, however that works. They're what brought us together."
Viktor sighed.
"I just wish I could have all of you right here and now."
Yuri went bright red. "Don't you think that's a little too fast?" He squeaked.
Viktor raised an eyebrow, and then grinned salaciously.
"My my…your mind is a gutter, Yuri. Are you trying to tell me something?"
"N-No! Of course not! It's just the way you said that sounded like you meant something else and I was just thinking we only just met again and you already wanna—…"
"Kiss you so hard your brains liquefy, throw you down on that futon and ravish your body in broad daylight with your family waiting for us downstairs?
Yuri swallowed audibly and said breathlessly, "All of the above really."
Viktor chuckled.
"I would love to do just that, but I think my reputation wouldn't survive the fallout."
Yuri licked his lips and stared into Viktor's familiar and unfamiliar dancing blue eyes, feeling himself falling faster all over again just being in such close proximity with the man he'd been pining over for the better part of the year.
"I don't think it would survive either."
"So, dinner first?" Viktor smiled.
Yuri nodded, and absentmindedly replied, "Mhm…dinner first."
"Wonderful. Give me a minute to change into something more fitting."
Yuri watched with wide eyes, as Viktor backed away from him and swiftly whipped his shirt off, leaving his impressive abs bare for the world to see and appreciate, and starting in on his pants with a devilish grin as Yuri belatedly slapped a hand over his eyes and fumbled with the doorknob to get out of the room.
"I-I'll be waiting in the hall!" he said, right before slamming the door and leaning up against the wall opposite Viktor's room.
Yuri's face felt hot and he stared up at the ceiling with slightly foggy glasses and a shaky smile on his face.
At least he didn't jump right into bed with him.
"Progress—it's progress." He assured himself, laughing awkwardly all the while.
There were very few things that could get Hiroko riled up to any extent.
Business to do with her family was one of those things.
Therefore, when she was apprised of the situation with Yuri and Viktor—the prodigal son's—return, she had mixed feelings about everything.
And if her hand sipped a few too many times towards the butcher knife drawer the closer it got to dinner time, well, it was only to be expected with her being the proud mama bear of the pack.
When it was time to set the table, it was with great reluctance that she placed Viktor next to Yuri. Across from herself and Mari, and as far as possible away from Toshiya.
She didn't know what to really feel about the reappearance of the man who'd stolen her son's heart and sanity. But it wasn't elation.
Nor was it quite indignation. She felt her feelings fall somewhere between quietly homicidal and wearily acceptant.
After all, you couldn't pick and choose who your children fell in love with. And you most certainly couldn't protect them from any and all heartache.
You could want to all you liked, but the world just didn't work that way.
And sometimes forgiving a slight would go so much farther than bearing a grudge over past events.
But really, it was a hard pill to swallow.
She had been worried sick about how her youngest would recover, and now that he seemingly had, it was taking them right back to where it had all started.
"If he plans to leave again, I'll slit his pretty throat." She murmured, with a gentle smile; her hand at last closing around the handle of a sharp edged butcher knife, which gleamed under the fluorescent lights of the kitchen.
Viktor shivered a bit, and felt a cold chill run down his spine.
Yuri glanced at him in askance as they walked down the stairs together, heading for the private residence dining room.
"Are you cold?"
"Mhm…I just felt a bit of a chill." Viktor smiled, "Perhaps someone is plotting against me."
"Don't even joke about that."
Yuri crossed his arms defensively as Viktor flung an arm around his shoulders, pulling him in close to his side.
"Don't worry. I'm sure it was nothing."
"Keep talking. Karma's gonna catch up to you."
"It already has. It gave me you, remember?" Viktor grinned and Yuri poked him in the side fondly.
"You're just a big ball of cheese."
"Only for you. Only for you. "
Walking into dinner was like walking into an execution chamber, Yuri reflected.
For all his mother's smiles and politeness, Viktor was being largely shunned.
Nobody asked him anything. Except maybe pass the salt.
And although Viktor smiled, it was a tight thing, and looked majorly forced.
Yuri froze mid-bite, the second his father cleared his throat and said quite rudely aloud, "I smell something foul and am beginning to lose my appetite."
Yuri flushed an angry shade of red and slammed his hands down on the tabletop.
"I don't know who you think you're doing this for, but it sure as hell isn't me! Viktor is my guest. You need to treat him like a human being. It's sad to see we're back to this again."
Viktor placed his chopsticks down and stared between a fuming Yuri and his displeased father.
Mari sighed and muttered mildly, "If you didn't want him for dinner Dad, you could've said something before. There really is no need to be extra rude."
"Papa, I think you may owe Viktor an apology." Hiroko chirped, sending her husband a meaningful look before staring apologetically at Viktor.
"It's alright Miss Katsuki, Yuri. I'm sure he just caught a whiff of something unpleasant and had to speak up. There's really no need to berate a man in his own house."
Yuri frowned slightly, "But—…" Viktor placed a hand on his knee beneath the table and Yuri shut right up.
The other tilted his head and smiled.
"I'm not so thin skinned as all that." Viktor murmured, for Yuri's ears only.
Yuri sighed in relief and piped up. "This food is delicious Mom. It's a shame Dad can't seem to appreciate it much this evening."
Toshiya rolled his eyes and tsked.
"I always appreciate Hiroko's food. It's the company I find detestable."
"You already said he could stay, Dad." Yuri reminded him.
"I didn't say he could come home with you! At the Resort is one thing. Here is another."
"Well tough luck! As long as I'm here, he'll be welcome in both places!" Yuri boldly declared.
Viktor shook his head with an amused smile and continued eating his food.
It was somewhat nice to hear Yuri defending him. It made him feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.
Or maybe that was all the good food. Hiroko was a marvelous cook.
After dinner, Viktor offered to help clean up, but both Mari and Hiroko immediately declined, and told him to go away with Yuri instead.
Yuri smiled sheepishly and offered to walk him back to his room. Viktor nodded and followed Yuri back upstairs.
They reached Viktor's room with very little fanfare, and Yuri stood blushing in the doorway as he said his goodbyes.
"Um…so yeah…thanks for coming to dinner with me. Even though it was a bit weird…sorry about my Dad, he means well."
Viktor smiled down at him and said, "I know. And it's quite alright. I'm just glad I could be with you. You're quite the champion."
Yuri, flustered, stared down at his feet. "I am not. I just don't like to see you being treated badly. You're too good for that."
Viktor grabbed Yuri by the chin and tilted his head up so Yuri was staring into his eyes.
Yuri's breath hitched at the heat he found there, and Viktor seriously asked, "Won't you come in for a bit, so we can catch up?"
Yuri bit his lip and whispered, "I thought you'd never ask."
Viktor pulled him into the room and shut the door behind them.
Catching up with Viktor entailed a lot of kissing, Yuri surmised—and a lot of groping.
Viktor's hands were all over him, up his shirt, on his neck, through his hair, down his back, squeezing his arse, feeling up the back of his thighs.
Yuri moaned into Viktor's mouth and wound his arms around the man's neck, sliding his fingers into silvery hair, and kissing him openmouthed with their tongues meeting and sliding against each other in an age-old dance with the devil.
Yuri panted as they pulled apart, and Viktor licked at the string of saliva that connected their mouths, before diving back in with a vengeance.
Yuri felt his head getting lighter and lighter as he was pushed back and back until his feet hit the futon, and then he was falling way back, with Viktor coming down on top of him like a big cat, pouncing on top of its prey.
Viktor wedged a knee in between Yuri's legs and rubbed it against Yuri's groin, before breaking the kiss and whipping his top off once more.
Yuri took the time to stare dreamily at Viktor's toned body, and he blushed as the man stared fiercely back at him before grabbing the hem of Yuri's shirt and raising it up.
Yuri lifted his arms and tore off his glasses along the way before they could get caught up in his shirt, and Viktor flung the thing to some distant corner of the room before attacking Yuri's chest with fervor.
The man tongued and tweaked his nipples, sucking red welts into the pale skin and making his way down into the dip of Yuri's navel, where he molested the spot repeatedly with his tongue dipping in and out of that shallow hole before he came to the barricade of Yuri's pants.
Viktor stared up at Yuri meaningfully, and Yuri blushed and raised his hips.
Viktor grinned triumphantly and grabbed the waistband of Yuri's pants and underwear, and in one swift motion, pulled them down and off.
Yuri stared up at the ceiling with a rapidly spreading blush on his countenance.
Viktor could see all of him.
It was like the first time all over again.
Viktor made quick work of his own pants, and stretched out beside Yuri on the futon.
They stared into each other's eyes and Viktor murmured whilst tracing invisible patterns into Yuri's chest, "I've wanted to do this for longer than you can probably imagine."
Yuri sucked in a breath and rolled onto his side, shivering as Viktor's hand skated up to his shoulder, and down the line of his body to settle at his hip.
"So…where did you come from?" Yuri asked, softly.
"Russia." Viktor answered, voice thickening with arousal.
Yuri's eyes widened, "That's a long ways off. What if you had been turned out?"
"Then I would've had to kidnap you and take you back with me. I do have some means you know."
Yuri laughed and traced the line of Viktor's mouth with his fingers, "My family would never let you."
"You seem to think I'd need their permission." Viktor replied, leaning in to capture Yuri's lips again in a brief kiss, and then another longer, more drawn out one.
Yuri's chest rose and fell rapidly, and his eyes went half-mast as Viktor's hand slowly skated between his legs and wrapped around his manhood.
Viktor stroked Yuri up and down leisurely as he continued to speak, "I wouldn't have let them keep me away from you indefinitely. I'm too selfish for that."
"I travelled all this way chasing a man in my dreams, like a crazy person, only to find that you do in fact…" Here he thumbed the leaking slit of Yuri's member and sighed as he felt the younger man shudder, "…exist."
Yuri moaned and rolled over onto his back, spreading his legs wider as Viktor came over on top of him, still stroking Yuri with a deft hand.
Yuri panted and tore at the sheets as Viktor's grip tightened, and his pace increased markedly.
He could feel the pressure building quickly down below, and he struggled to keep up with the conversation the man was so adamant on having right now.
"If I had known how alluring you were in reality, I would have made this trip sooner. But like a fool…I waited until the last minute."
Viktor kissed his neck and simultaneously jerked upwards with his hand, causing Yuri's back to arch up off the bed, propelling himself into the man's fist.
Yuri cried out Viktor's name, "V-Viktor!" And he canted his hips once, twice, three times, before cumming in white spurts all over Viktor's hand and his own stomach.
Yuri blushed hard and swallowed thickly as Viktor released his cock, and raised his hand up to his mouth to lick at the semen.
"You taste divine."
Yuri averted his eyes and panted softly as he said, "Stop lying, that's dirty…"
Viktor was suddenly in his face, and kissing him with an open mouth, his tongue diving into Yuri's mouth, and forcing Yuri to taste himself on the man's breath.
Yuri made a face and Viktor smirked into the kiss.
"It's not gourmet by any stretch." Yuri wrinkled his nose and laughed.
Viktor ground his lower half into Yuri's and grinned as the younger man jumped at the feel of his hardness chafing against his own sensitized, flaccid member.
"Whatever are we to do about this?" Viktor asked.
Yuri peered up at him through lowered lashes, and reached down between their bodies to grab hold of Viktor's hot flesh.
"I'm sure we can figure something out." He murmured, right before stroking his hand up the length of Viktor's dick.
Viktor moaned shamelessly and asked, "Do we have any kind of lube? This could get rough pretty fast without it."
Yuri nods his head and says, "There's a bottle of lotion in the bathroom—over the sink, behind the mirror."
Viktor got up quickly from the bed and walked over to the adjoining bathroom to procure the elusive lotion, which in retrospect, he should've had out to begin with.
(He really must've gotten rusty.)
Yuri blushes as he's afforded a full frontal view of Viktor coming back towards him out of the bathroom, clutching a moderately sized bottle of complimentary lotion in his hand.
Viktor sashays over to Yuri and crawls back onto the futon, handing him the bottle.
Yuri squeezes a dollop of lotion into his hand and reaches for Viktor again, laughing as the man gasps due to the cold feeling of the lotion and his hands, and Yuri whispers hotly into his ear, "That's for coming unprepared."
Viktor moans appreciatively at the slick, quickly warming feel of Yuri's hand working on him, and he thrusts his hips in time to Yuri's pulls.
Viktor suddenly bats Yuri's hand away, takes the bottle of lotion off the bed, spreads some in his own hand, and proceeds to slick Yuri's cock up before pressing both their lengths together and letting the friction get them both off again at the same time.
Yuri gasps at the feeling of his oversensitive flesh rapidly hardening once more and Viktor's own dick throbbing against Yuri's.
Yuri wasn't a teenager anymore, but he felt on the verge of cumming again so soon.
Viktor kissed his lips quickly and picked up the pace between their legs. Grabbing Yuri's arse in one hand and running a mischievous damp finger along the crease between his buttocks, as he jerked them both off.
"A-AH! Oh god! Viktor! Viktor! Viktor!"
Yuri arched high up off the bed, their chests meeting as they both pulsed and came together.
Coming down off his euphoria, Yuri sank into the bed, staring up at Viktor with dazed eyes and smiling as the man came down on top of him, at a near collapse.
Viktor panted against him and Yuri stroked a hand through the man's sweaty hair.
"I like talking to you." Viktor mumbled.
Yuri snorted. "Because I'm such an awesome conversationalist."
"Too right." Viktor yawned.
"You falling asleep on me?" Yuri asked, his voice echoing with amusement.
"Of course…not…" Viktor murmured, right before closing his eyes and dozing off on top of Yuri.
It really had been a long trip.
He was beat.
"Sleep tight." Yuri whispered, before clapping his hands twice to get the lights to go out, and following suit.
…To be continued…
A/N: T-T What have I done? I mean what have I DONE?! This was supposed to be the LAST PART! Dammit all! *sniffles repeatedly* I hope somebody has enjoyed this monster of a first shot of a grand finale. I mean, I tried to make it coherent and sensible-like…but crazy got out and I lost control of the wheel. So this is what popped up. *eye twitches* I can only say it sounded rational in my head at 2 and 3'oclock in the morning. Now I'm just pretty sure I've wrecked a bunch of important somethings somewhere along the line.
Ah MOU! Let me stop talking and allow you all your own wonderful (hopefully merciful) opinions. Please REVIEW and tell me what you thought of this piece!It's been a labor of love all this time, and I hope it hasn't been wasted effort. *sheepish laugh*
Until next time,
Dasvidaniya~ C.A.W
Disclaimer: I don't own. You don't SUE!
