This AU is also going to continue for the long haul! I'm sorry for everyone wondering if there would be an update, I have been struggling with uploading on this site for weeks! So much content to be added today!
The commotion of closing down an adoption event always left Yuuri a little winded. Table cloths were piled into the small washing machine in Yuuri's office, tables were folded and returned to the storage room, and furry pets of all sizes ran in between their feet as bowls and crates were collected. Twice, Yuuri nearly landed on his face when Makkachin weaved directly between his legs. He recognized the hesitation on her face, bending to reassure her that he wasn't mad. The resulting licks and cuddles made every ounce of his patience worth it.
For the remaining hours of the day, Makkachin had never been more than a foot away from Yuuri's legs. She was friendly with all of the other dogs and charmed every customer that arrived in the shop. No longer was her face dropped toward the ground in a defeated hang of heartache. It had been amazing to watch her come out of her shell, and Yuuri felt his own pride blossoming over the way Makkachin was opening up. There was a sense of comfort in having Makkachin's cheerful presence by his side, and Yuuri had to push away the mix of sadness and nostalgia that crept into his heart.
As pets were loaded into carriers and the foster dads gathered their personal supplies, Yuuri leaned against his front counter observing the organized chaos. The store had locked its doors thirty minutes prior, but his friends were still clamoring around the entrance getting themselves organized for the week ahead.
"Yuuri!" The sound of his name had Yuuri snapping his head up, smiling as Minami hopped up to sit on the counter. "The puppies were born last night! They are super tiny, I think Yorkie and maybe Pomeranian. Want to help me take some pictures after work tomorrow?"
Minami's energy was always infectious. He was in charge of photography for the rescue group and did a remarkable job of bringing out each dog's personalities. Yuuri often found himself dragged into helping with photoshoots, supplying props and an extra set of hands. This was especially necessary with puppies. In addition to his photography skills, Minami had converted the entire lower floor of his townhouse to a doggy haven with separated rooms blocked by half doors where pregnant and new dog moms could comfortably rest with their litters. Six months prior Phichit and Yuuri had commissioned Yuuri's father to make a sign that read "Minami's Nursery," which now proudly hung on the wall of Minami's home.
Glancing down at Makkachin, Yuuri grinned while stroking her head. "What do you think, girl? Want to visit some puppies?" He received a happy bark as a response and laughed with the joy of it. Makkachin was responsive and loving and with each passing moment, Yuuri felt more heartbroken that she wouldn't be his. "I think that's a yes!" Yuuri put an uplifted syllable on the end of his statement, trying to mask his own flitting emotions.
"Sweet!" Minami jumped from the counter and kneeled to say goodbye to Makkachin. "Head over after you close up!" Slapping an unneeded high five against Yuuri's hand which had been waving to Yurio, Minami spun away toward the front door.
As the other members of the rescue finally vacated the shop, Phichit waved to them as well before locking the door behind him. Turning on Yuuri, a sly smile planted over his face, Phichit winked, "so what are you wearing tonight?"
Looking down at his phone, Yuuri smiled at the texts coming in rapid fire from Victor. Apparently Makkachin's daddy-to-be was finally home from the grocery store and letting him know they could come at any time. Pushing his phone toward Phichit, Yuuri watched as his best friend read the messages. "Um, I guess… this?" Yuuri looked down at his rolled jeans and t-shirt, which were covered with an alarming amount of brown fur. Somehow he didn't think Victor would mind.
"He's really into you," Phichit commented, thumb sweeping over Yuuri's phone, "how did you get any work done with all of these messages flying back and forth?" Grinning, Phichit laid Yuuri's phone on the counter, scowl immediately replacing the smile. "You bum! You are not wearing that!" Grabbing Yuuri by the shoulders, Phichit shoved his best friend toward the staircase which led to the loft apartment.
Makkachin ran in circles around them as Phichit man-handled Yuuri through the store. "Wait! Wait! P!" Yuuri flailed backwards, knocking Phichit from his back and onto the floor. A leg hooked behind Yuuri's knee, bringing him down onto the tile next to Phichit. Joining the game, Makkachin threw herself over both bodies. Yuuri had spent more time on the floor of his own shop in the last few hours than he ever had before. "I need to trim Makkachin's bangs," Yuuri stuttered between laughs, latching his arms around the furry brown body wiggling over him.
"Only trim one eye," Phichit stood, attempting to sound serious through his twitching smile, "she can match your new boyfriend." Yuuri kicked Phichit's legs out from under him, sending his best friend sprawling back on the floor.
It had taken Yuuri fifteen minutes to clip Makkachin's curls from around her face, revealing bright and curious eyes which looked ready to explore the world. It had taken another thirty for Phichit to dress and redress Yuuri before finally approving his dinner outfit, which only revealed the level of Yuuri's nerves. Stalling for time, and trying to breathe through the nervousness, Yuuri allowed Phichit to pose him and Makkachin in front of the store for a picture.
His favorite jeans hung softly against his legs, and a light blue sweater was a comforting presence against his skin. A matching light blue bow was clipped on Makkachin's leash, and Yuuri's cheeks still blazed with Phichit's comments about matching Victor's eyes. Maybe that thought had breached the conscious part of Yuuri's mind, but he was not going to tell Phichit that.
"Yuuri," Phichit nudged him, tipping his phone to show Yuuri the rescue's Instagram account. "Victor already commented on the picture of you!" Firmly pressing the phone into Yuuri's hand, Phichit waggled his eyebrows as Yuuri read Victor's comment.
"Hashtag so cute," Yuuri read, blushing a deep red, "hashtag my new family?!" Yuuri squawked, eyes going wide to stare at Phichit.
"Well, he is adopting Makka, right?" A twitch at the corner of Phichit's lips made Yuuri stop.
Of course Victor was talking about Makkachin. He was not, in fact, talking about Makkachin and Yuuri. Because Makkachin was going to be Victor's dog. She wasn't going to belong to Yuuri and Yuuri wasn't a part of that family.
His jump to a very romantic and domestic conclusion was now embarrassingly dangling between him and Phichit. Refocusing on the ground, Yuuri felt the heat on this face and suppressed his need to groan. How Phichit was refraining from teasing him, Yuuri would never know.
Until Phichit burst into happy laughter, slapping a hand to Yuuri's shoulder. "Come on, you two are adorable already," Phichit shook his head, wiping a hand across his face. Kneeling down, Phichit fluffed the fur on Makkachin's cheeks. "What are we going to do about your daddies, huh girl? Are you going to help them fall in love tonight?" Makkachin barked, tail going wild as she assaulted Phichit's faces with kisses. "Makkachin ships it." Phichit laughed, giving the excited mass of brown fur a final hug.
Yuuri was trying to quiet the butterflies in his stomach, but the more he looked at Victor's hashtags and the little blue hearts that followed them, the more the butterflies took flight. It was as if he had swallowed an entire conga line of the winged bugs and they were determined to dance their way back out. Swallowing hard, Yuuri passed Phichit's phone back to him as Phichit stood.
"You are going to be fine," Phichit patted Yuuri's shoulder gain, "you look great, Makka is the epitome of cuteness and Victor is obviously excited. Go have a good time, you deserve it!"
"Thanks, Phichit," Yuuri shrugged, unable to really tell Phichit how much he appreciated the encouragement due to the butterfly wings beating against his throat. "I will talk to you tomorrow!" Yuuri said, watching Phichit hop from the curb to yank open the driver's side door of the rescue van. With a wink and a wave of his hand, Phichit disappeared inside and backed out to pull away. Glancing down at Makkachin, Yuuri smiled at her goofy doggy grin. "Ready to see your new home?" He ran a hand over her head before gently tugging the leash and setting off down the sidewalk.
The address that Victor had scribbled on an order form for a personalized collar had been plugged into Yuuri's phone for almost two hours. He had nervously reviewed the directions every time he opened his phone and had memorized the walk to Victor's house before the store had even closed. The path was familiar, and Yuuri realized as he made the second right, where is was leading. The small neighborhood, which he jogged through on mornings he felt motivated, was a block over the hill in the road.
He wasn't going to win an Olympic medal in track, but light jogs had to be an effective method in clearing his mind. On the mornings he was motivated, it was this exact little neighborhood that he chose to run through. It was eclectic, unique and full of wonderful homeowners. Not that any of it helped with his physique, Yuuri frowned, poking his own squishy belly as he walked.
His traitor mind immediately skipped two steps to land at the mental image of Victor's long lean body stretching up to pull down leashes from the highest hook. Yuuri had no idea what the man did for a living, but the flex of defined shoulder muscles and the flash of toned abs under the raise of Victor's shirt had caused Yuuri's heart to stutter. It wasn't enough that Victor had those stunning blue eyes and the unique hue of silver hair, he was also built like a marble statute and somehow that seemed ridiculously unfair. It was especially unfair compared to Yuuri's round cheeks and perpetually soft belly.
But Victor hadn't seemed off-put by Yuuri's physical appearance. Even in his constant state of emotional density, Yuuri couldn't even deny the eagerness at which Victor had touched his arm or grabbed his hand. There was definitely no denying the moment when Victor had wrapped a strong arm around Yuuri's waist. For a second, and only a second, Yuuri had thought Victor was going to kiss him. The thought would have scared Yuuri, but for some reason he couldn't stop thinking about how Victor's eyes sparkled, the feeling of Victor's pressing hand on his back, and the graze of fingertips across his cheek.
The fire returned to Yuuri's cheeks as he feet tangled with Makkachin's drooping leash. Stumbling forward, he threw an arm out to steady himself on a mailbox. Chuckling at his own clumsiness he looked down at Makkachin who was licking his fingers. "Your daddy is gorgeous, you know that?" Setting back on course, he continued to talk to Makkachin to calm himself. "I bet he has a beautiful house, with lots of comfy rugs to lay on and a big backyard with lots of room to run." The neighborhood was familiar as Yuuri rounded the corner. Each door was painted a different color and most of the houses had been owned by generations of families. House numbers were sporadic and each front yard looked like a Picasso painting, vivid in color and random in decorative placement. "Look at your neighborhood, Makka! This is my favorite neighborhood in this whole town. You are a lucky girl to live somewhere so beautiful!" He kept the commentary going since it seemed to be calming his nerves.
"There is Ms. Smalls," Yuuri waved a hand at the small woman rocking on a porch swing with an ancient cocker spaniel laying over her lap. "Her dog is named Sassy and Sassy was one of the first dog's Phichit ever rescued." The memory made Yuuri smile, his best friend crying in the arms of Ms. Smalls, both celebrating the adoption of puppy Sassy. They still came in to visit Yuuri at the store when the pair was up to walking. When they weren't, Yuuri delivered food and supplies for both of them directly to the house with a bright orange door.
"Oh Makka, look!" Yuuri pointed to a small wooden face, with a tiny nose poking through the rails. "That's Rocky! He is playful, but young, so you will have to be very patient with him, ok?" He paused, letting Makkachin sniff at Rocky the bulldog's stout nose. The laughter was instantaneous when Makkachin licked a stripe up the front of Rocky's face. As they continued their walk, a stunned Rocky continued to stare at them from the safety of the space in front of his red door.
"Don't tell your daddy, but here's my favorite door," Yuuri said, pulling his phone from his pocket with the intention of checking his GPS. He had stopped paying attention to the few labeled house numbers and needed to reorient himself before he knocked on the wrong door. "Isn't that a pretty blue? I love that color. I wish I lived there, it always looks like there is nobody home and that house deserves someone who wants to be home."
"Yuuri!"
The sound of his name being called had Yuuri raising his head to glance around in panic. When it was called again, his heart stopped. There was no way, he whispered internally, eyes finally settling on the cheerful waving form of Victor, standing on the steps in front of Yuuri's favorite blue door.
Victor had been watching out of his window, daydreaming of Yuuri and Makkachin skipping down the street and mapping out their entire future. First was dinner, which Victor had prepared in three courses, and then the rest of their lives. It was that simple as far as Victor was concerned. Fate had brought him to Katsuki's Pet Needs and there was no way he would be convinced otherwise.
His heart had flipped over in his chest the moment Yuuri and Makkachin had appeared in his line of vision, walking coincidentally in time to the lyrics of Marry You singing from Victor's phone. It appeared that Yuuri was talking, and the thought that it was to Makkachin made Victor swoon all over again. There had never existed a more irresistible set of beings on the planet and Victor was determined to be the person that completed the triangle.
Throughout his shopping and cooking, Victor had let his imagination run wild, picturing family dates to the Dog Park and vacations to the nearby beach. When Victor traveled, he would return home to the welcoming arms of Yuuri and the sloppy kisses of Makkachin. By the time Victor had impatiently thrown open his front door, Yuuri and him had been married for five years and had adopted seven more dogs.
It wasn't until Victor saw the shy smile, paired with the pink cheeks and pale blue sweater that it hit him how much he really wanted all of those things. He had never considered a real partner, or even a dog, as a necessity. In the course of one afternoon, however, he had erased all his prior misconceptions about the perks of solitude. Now, he wanted it all, every ounce of domesticity and love. And he wanted it with the quiet, caring spirit of Yuuri Katsuki.
"Hi!" Yuuri breathed, barely able to hold his hands still as the nerves danced under his skin. Victor was standing on the doorstep of the house Yuuri had been envisioning owning since he was a small child and it was doing reckless things to Yuuri's heart.
"I'm so happy you are here!" Victor threw his arms around Yuuri in a hug, sighing in relief when Yuuri hugged him back. It was going to be harder than Victor had anticipated to reign in all the fantasies he had concocted over the past few hours. Releasing Yuuri, Victor continued to stand in close proximity, smiling until his cheeks ached. When a bump against his knee registered, Victor turned his smile in Makkachin's direction, quickly dropping to his knees to hug her. "Oh, Makkachin, I am happy you are here too! I hope you will like your new home!"
Something smelled delicious and Yuuri jumped when his stomach growled. Slapping an embarrassed hand over his face, Yuuri blushed into his own palm while wondering if his face would eventually catch fire and be done with it. "Sorry!" he continued to bury his head in his hand when he felt fingers wrap around his wrist. Relinquishing the hold on his own face, Yuuri peered up at Victor from under his bangs. "I don't usually get to eat during the day on Sunday so…" he trailed off, words failing to help him escape the embarrassment.
Victor was screaming internally. Did anyone blush as much as Yuuri did? It was unfair how insanely sweet those pink cheeks were, Victor wanted to kiss them to see if they would grow even redder. Without letting himself think about it, Victor laced his fingers with Yuuri's and tugged him through the doorway. "I'm sorry, I am a bad host! Dinner is this way and then we'll go for a tour!" Dropping Yuuri's hand briefly, Victor closed the door and leaned down to unclip Makkachin's leash. "Makkachin, you get dinner too! Do you like steak, my baby?"
His heart was not going to make it and Yuuri was convinced he was going to collapse out of overdose of cuteness. "You made her steak?" It was ridiculous, but Yuuri couldn't help smiling. "You know, she can't eat like that all the time, it will make her fat." He winced, resisting the urge to glance at his own stomach.
Kneeling, Victor pushed his face into Makkachin's neck. "Chubby means more to cuddle," Victor pulled back, deliberately flicking his smile in Yuuri's direction. In the black t-shirt he wore for work, Yuuri had looked slightly slimmer than he did in the fitted blue sweater. Victor found that he was already desiring to lay his head against the slight poke of a tummy and had to distract himself with Makkachin to keep from staring. "I'm going to love you no matter what, Makka Girl, and I will only feed you steak twice a week if that will make your other daddy happy."
It had slipped. In all of Victor's daydreaming Yuuri had been Makkachin's other daddy and briefly those daydreams had blurred with reality. It was his turn to blush, refusing to look at Yuuri as his embarrassment seeped over him.
There were two choices fluttering in Yuuri's mind. Ignore what he heard or go along with it. His brain screamed at him to ignore it, but his mouth was a traitor. "Her other daddy thinks steak should be for special occasions." It was out before he could stop it and Yuuri stared at Victor, also unable to peel his treacherous eyes away. His stupid body was acting without his control.
If Victor had brain functioning, it wasn't registering. Slowly pulling himself from the ground, Victor searched for words to erase some of the rapidly growing awkwardness. Hands fluttering together, he glanced around. He was somewhere between wanting to throw himself into Yuuri's arms and wanting to throw himself down a flight of stairs. Words tumbling, Victor threw out, "so… food dinner?" Freezing, Victor replayed the last sentence in his head.
The dam of awkwardness broke in a flood of laughter. Yuuri shook with it, knowing that the hilarity was multiplied by their mixed bags of embarrassment. Wheezing slightly, Yuuri pushed his hands under his glasses to wipe at his eyes. "What… exactly…" Yuuri giggled again trying to gather his words, "is food dinner?" He let the laughter shake his body again as Victor leaned against the wall.
"It's eatable!" Victor hiccupped between giggles. When Yuuri started laughing harder, Victor's eyes went wide again. "Edible! I meant edible!" It was hopeless. He was almost positive eatable was a word, but he wasn't going to argue that point. Instead he shoved up from the wall, tucking his hand back into Yuuri's and pulling him from the foyer of the house. "Oh, just let me feed you already!"
His stomach hurt from laughing as Yuuri stepped further into Victor's house, briefly distracted from the sparking sensation where Victor's fingers were squeezing against his own. The awkwardness had passed into insanity, and Yuuri found that despite the slight emotional whiplash, he had enjoyed the ride. Something about Victor's presence made him feel alive, and he was dangerously tipping towards a need for that feeling. Letting himself be dragged through the simple living room, Yuuri felt another layer of shock go through his system as he was stopped in front of a decorated dining room table.
In his determination to make the night special, Victor might have gone slightly overboard. An observation that didn't strike him until Yuuri's little gasp. Trying to see the table through Yuuri's eyes, Victor noted the poodle napkins (which had been a lucky find and definitely not something he had gone to three stores to find), the covered main dishes, the crystal salad bowl and the chocolate cake decorated with a strawberry heart. There was the bottle of wine chilling in a silver bucket, and blue crystal wine glasses. At the foot of the table, arranged to fit between the two catty-cornered place settings, stood Makkachin's new food dishes, with a sizeable pile of tiny bites of steak and plain baked potato. Victor had moved the chairs slightly to make room for her, but not enough that he couldn't reach out and touch Yuuri if he wanted to. Taking in the sight all at once, it was a little…. extra. Apology ready to fall from his lips, Victor twisted to find Yuuri blushing again.
"All of this is for us?" It was a lot to take in, the details quickly trying to burn a place in Yuuri's brain so he could brag to Phichit later. There were first dates, which Yuuri was almost positive this was supposed to be, and then there was the carefully set dining room table hinting of an intimate dinner for three. Swallowing again, he let himself look at Victor. The smile he found on Victor's face was blinding in its brilliance.
"Yes?" Victor said, a little hesitant even as his heart did jumping jacks in his chest and urged him to lean toward Yuuri. A little closer, his deviant mind pushed, trying to fulfill the desire of his cowardly lips. A crashing sound had him jumping back, springing to peer around the table.
Heart thudding in his chest, Yuuri leaned to peer at a very happy Makkachin who had finally joined them after her inspection of the living room. She had happily attacked her dinner, pausing only for a second to throw a goofy dog grin in their direction. "I think she likes it," Yuuri couldn't help the smile that wouldn't leave his face. Makkachin looked at home in Victor's house, and even though there was a bittersweet edge to the thought, Yuuri couldn't help being truly happy for her.
"Time to eat for us humans too," Victor took a chance wrapping an arm around Yuuri's waist and guiding him to sit in a chair. "I hope you like it!" Lifting the dish covers with a flourish, Victor slipped them onto the counter before taking his own seat. As he settled into his food, he couldn't help feeling a lingering sense of perfection.
"Then!" Yuuri howled through his laughter, leaning on the coffee table trying to breathe and finish his story, "Minami looks up, covered in all this goop and goes says no one told me puppies are born wrapped in Jell-O!" He was barely able to get the last word out, his entire body constricting with his laughter. The story of Minami's first set of delivered puppies was still one of the best that Yuuri had experienced with the rescue. Next to him on the floor, Victor was doubled over with laughter, gripping Makkachin as he rolled around in his own amusement.
The empty bottle of wine was perched in the middle of the coffee table, along with the half-eaten chocolate cake. They had retired from the kitchen after Yuuri had helped Victor with the dishes and had taken their forks straight to the cake, jokingly feeding each other bites as the wine vanished down their throats. The sofa was comfortable against their backs and their thighs were pressed tightly together as they shared stories, Yuuri about the rescue and Victor about his travels. Yuuri had never considered software sales an entertaining line of work until he had spent thirty minutes listening to all of Victor's horror stories.
Sitting up, Victor let his chuckles dissipate throwing an arm casually across the couch, inches from Yuuri's shoulders. "Oh, but how sweet those little babies must be! I have never seen puppies that small."
Wiggling backwards, Yuuri let his head fall back. Barely catching himself from jumping, Yuuri realized he had rested his head directly on Victor's arm. Calming himself, Yuuri turned his head to look at Victor. "If you want…" he trailed off, courage failing him only briefly, "I am helping Minami take pictures of puppies tomorrow. You could go with me and Makkachin." Studying Victor's face, Yuuri couldn't stop himself from pressing on. "It will be after the store closes, and after your home inspection, so we could have dinner or something afterwards and you could see Makkachin."
The babbling Yuuri was doing only caused Victor to focus on the rapidly moving lips more than he already was. For a third time that day, Victor found himself leaning forward. This time there were no distractions, no audience, and Makkachin seemed content to stay out of the way. A breath away from Yuuri's lips, Victor hesitated. Blue eyes searching brown ones, he asked, "is this okay?"
Without a word, Yuuri slid a hand into that back of Victor's hair and pulled him to close the distance. The reaction was natural, the warm press of two sets of lips, the tightening of individual grips on the other's bodies. Everything else was new. The breathless feeling of Victor scooting closer to press their bodies together. The taste of strawberries, chocolate and sweet wine on Victor's tongue as it moved against Yuuri's own. Even with the amazingly easy rhythm they found together, it wasn't the physical feeling that was making Yuuri feel dizzy. A wave, steadily building and violently crashing, swept his heart away, leaving him with only the feeling of belonging. Kissing Victor felt like finally finding the missing part of Yuuri's soul.
Victor felt his heart burst at the first graze of lips, and with every second the kiss continued he could feel himself falling into Yuuri. A piece of his heart, quite possibly the whole thing, was leaving Victor's body, a gift for the beautiful man who had lit up his world in only a day. It wasn't fireworks and parades, but more a spark of hope, a brilliant gleam of love, and the potential for forever that had Victor sighing into the kiss. Getting lost in Yuuri was far too easy though, and Victor forced himself to slow down before he took steps that he would regret. Breaking the kiss, to lean their foreheads together, Victor whispered, "Yuuri…" There were so many words he wanted to say, but he was drowning in the rich pools of Yuuri's eyes and losing track of all of them.
"I like you," Yuuri blurted, realizing how stupid it sounded considering he had spent the past ten minutes making out with the recipient of this declaration. He saw the light flicker in Victor's eyes and decided that it didn't matter if the statement was stupid, he wanted to see that happiness again. "I like you and I want to…" Words were gone, clamped down by insecurity and Yuuri stared at Victor with pleading eyes.
"I like you," Victor ran a finger over Yuuri's cheek. "And I want to see more of you. Every day, all the days, for as long as you'll have me." It was bold, but Victor wasn't known for subtleties and he wasn't going to hold back when the scale was teetering between happiness and loneliness.
"All days," Yuuri whispered, smile returning as he sat up and leaned back into Victor, "I'll take all the days." This time, Yuuri kissed Victor on the nose. It was a silly gesture, but one he had seen his father do to his mother and it was an urge he couldn't resist.
He kissed my nose, Victor restrained himself from touching his nose as his heart swelled again. Leaning down, he felt Yuuri giggle against his lips as they found their way to each other again. It would be easy to kiss Yuuri forever, but Victor knew that forever was built on more than physical chemistry. This thought had him breaking the kiss again, wrapping his arms around Yuuri's body to hug him close. "I can't wait," Victor whispered into Yuuri's neck, running his nose over the soft skin under Yuuri's ear. "But I can wait." Pulling back, Victor noted the calm understanding on Yuuri's smiling face.
"I guess…" Yuuri wasn't disappointed. He was relieved. There was a part of him that would have let himself get wrapped into Victor on the first night, but more of him wanted the possibility of something so much more. Their first meeting, their first date, and their first kiss were all ticks on an hour marker of day one. All of the other firsts could wait for another day. Smiling at the promise of the future, Yuuri let himself be dragged from the floor by Victor's helpful hand.
Together they walked to the front door, arms draped around each other, and Makkachin bumping against Victor's legs. Dropping to the floor, Victor let Makkachin cover his face with her own kisses. "I will see you tomorrow, my sweet baby!" Victor hugged her close and planted loud kisses of his own on her fluffy head. "Take care of your other daddy tonight, ok?" There was a hint of disappointment, and Victor knew his home would feel empty once they left, but this was the right way to do things. Pushing from the floor, Victor reached for Yuuri again, determined to ease the growing ache in his heart. They hadn't even walked out of the front door and Victor was already missing them.
Yuuri saw the glint of sadness pass through Victor's eyes and attempted to remedy it by playfully teasing him. Pretending to duck away, Yuuri made a silly scrunched face in Victor's direction, "you think I am going to kiss you after you let Makkachin clean your face?" His giggles erupted when Victor partially tackled him against the door. "Dog slobber is all over your face…" Yuuri whispered, with an exaggerated amount of fear.
With a smirk, Victor dropped his face and rubbed it over the fabric of Yuuri's sweater, "ok well I will clean it off then." He could feel the laughter vibrating in Yuuri's chest and it made his own impossible to contain. There was more happiness in Victor's house than there had ever been, and his entire body felt alive with it. Tipping his face back up Victor tilted his head back and forth, "better?" he inquired raising an eyebrow at Yuuri.
"Now there is fuzz," Yuuri chortled, reaching up to pluck a blue fuzz ball from Victor's cheek. His fingers lingered against the soft skin shaped by the chiseled cheek bone. Eyes returning to Victor's, Yuuri smiled again as Victor brought their lips together.
It was possible that Victor could spend an eternity attached to Yuuri's lips, but Makkachin whined at his feet breaking his attention away from Yuuri. "Are you tired, baby girl?" Victor asked, running his hand through the brown fur. Straightening up, Victor released his hold on Yuuri and unlocked the front door. "Can I call you in the morning?" Suddenly feeling the weight of being left alone, Victor needed the reassurance that this was all real.
"You can call me or text me any time you want," Yuuri lifted Victor's hand to kiss his knuckles, "the store is open from ten to five tomorrow if you want to stop by, and if you want to meet me there at five, I can drive to Minami's." He was babbling again, but this time with purpose. As the smile returned to Victor's face, making it all the way to the brilliant blue eyes, Yuuri knew he had succeeded.
"Coffee?" Victor asked, chuckling again at his lack of words. "Do you drink coffee and can I bring you some?" He flipped Yuuri's hand in his own and returned the knuckle kisses.
"I love coffee," Yuuri smiled, reaching forward to kiss Victor's nose again. The cute reactive scrunch of Victor made Yuuri never want to stop. "I will see you in the morning?" He let the eagerness show, knowing that he needed Victor's reassurance as much as Victor seemingly needed his.
"Tomorrow morning," Victor sealed the plan with another kiss and a crushing hug. Stepping back, Victor let his guests move out of his front door. "Good night Yuuri! Good night Makkachin! Text me to let me you know got home safe!"
A lump caught in Yuuri's throat as he forced out, "will do! Good night, Victor! Thank you for everything!" Turning Yuuri headed down the sidewalk with Makkachin happily bouncing against his legs. "You know," he whispered thoughtfully to Makkachin, whose ears twitched, "my mom always told me to marry a man who made sure I got home safely." He let the words hang in the air, as his heart hummed with happiness of them.
Standing on his doorstep, Victor watched as his future family disappeared from sight, hanging onto his own renewed hope.