DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN (YURI ON ICE) CHAPTER 3: THE KISS AND THE GALLANT REFLEX
BY THE BINARY ALCHEMIST 2017 (mature audiences)
I hate getting stiff like this—ohhh, don't look at me like that! I wasn't referring to sex…for once. I meant feeling all tied up and cramped like you can't really move a muscle. My knees are killing me—why yes…another shot of vodka would probably help, so…spasiba, spasiba.
Now where was I?
Let's fast forward to the days following the Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu Championship-which my Yuuri won by a nose-a broken nose, that is. Nobody clocked the speed he was going when he smashed face first into the rink wall, but no doubt it was impressive. I hated not hugging him afterwards…but Armani is Armani, da? The Kiss and Cry looked like a crime scene from all the blood and the dry cleaning bills for his costume were ridiculous, but thankfully that beautiful face of his was only purple for a few days. A bit of borrowed concealer and he looked fine on the podium, although between the lip balm and cover up I probably should have paid royalties to Channel.
When I half-joked in front of his mother that I would have to kiss his poor battered nose until it got better, Yuuri didn't get upset and flustered. "That will take an awful lot of kisses," Hiroko-chan giggled and her son simply blushed and smiled quietly into the post-victory katsudon we were sharing. "You must take care of him, Vicchan," she added. There was something about how Mrs. Katsuki was beaming at me that did not escape Yuuri's notice and in spite of the pain of his bruised face he was laughing harder and smiling more after that night than he had since I'd first come to Hatsetsu.
Something else was changing. We were touching now.
Incredible, isn't it? The night of the banquet he had his arms and legs wrapped around me, rutting against my groin and sticking his tongue down my throat. Now just the clasp of his hand on my shoulder or having him unconsciously lean against me when we were watching TV downstairs was enough to set my pulse racing. Anyone else would have thought me a fool to be so content with so little…but this was Yuuri. I was so absurdly in love that I was grateful for whatever small attention he offered me.
Pathetic? You think so? Then you've never been in love.
So-sunset on the beach at Hatsetsu. A picnic of grilled onigiri, cold fruit tea and some strawberry Pocky—Yuuri's favorite. I glanced at him in profile as he was enjoying his dessert, remembering all the clichés you hear in Japan about 'Pocky kisses". That's where one partner holds a Pocky between his lips and his boyfriend nibbles on it until their lips touch. That sounded like a perfectly wonderful idea to me but as touchy and awkward as Yuuri could be at times, I wasn't sure the suggestion wouldn't make him feel embarrassed. We were making progress from the first days when I would touch him and he would leap half a kilometer in the opposite direction. I had spent too many nights hugging Makkachin on the futon and crying myself to sleep to want to risk this fragile bond of affection that was growing between us off the ice.
Absently, he rubbed the bridge of his nose, grimacing a little. "Still tender?"
He frowned. "A little. I was hoping it would heal faster."
It was pure impulse, I convinced myself later, when I told him, "Hold still", took his face between my hands and kissed him softly right where his nose had smashed against the wall. His eyes widened. "I gave my word to your mother, didn't I? I want to help you recover." I kissed it again, starting at the tip and then lightly up the bridge and letting my lips come to rest between his eyebrows, having lifted his glasses out of the way.
He didn't pull back. In fact, I saw a sparkle of amusement in his eyes as the corners of his mouth began to turn up. "Let's see…" I studied his face, assuming a very serious expression. "There's still some bruising on your forehead—'smack'! '—your cheekbones—'smack' –even on your chin—'smack!' I was smiling and peppering soft kisses every place that had turned purple in the hours that followed his collision. "Anything I missed? I need to make sure you heal up properly."
"I bit my lip."
Bohze- moi! The voice may have been Yuuri Katsuki's…but I swear by all that is holy it sounded for an instant like Eros. I caught my breath, completely off guard. "I can't imagine how much that must hurt…let me take care of that for you."
And yes…it really was that simple. And as electrifying as those devouring kisses were in the stairwell at the banquet…I would trade the memory of every last taste for that first gentle caress of my mouth against his with my Yuuri awake, alert, sober…and, thank the saints, welcoming my kisses.
Lingering sun warming our faces. The rich scent of ocean brine. The cries of gulls and the soft sound of surprise we both made when we recognized at the same time how good this was…and that we both wanted more.
I had to be so very careful not to bump his tender nose, but we managed. I let him take the lead-I needed him to recognize that there was no pressure-nothing to be anxious about. When the tip of his tongue brushed delicately over my lower lip, I welcomed him in, my own tongue curling around his as the kiss deepened as it had that night in Sochi.
At that point, without a word, we both concluded not the time, not the place, and he drew back, smiling, and leaned back against my chest, my arms around him, my face buried in his soft black hair.
"Feel better?" I teased gently. "How's your nose?"
"What nose?"
A kiss here and there. A touch in passing. Eyes meeting over the table-gazes held and a faint flush of color rising in his cheeks. A cherished embrace in the shadows. I noticed that whenever he said my name now, there was a huskiness that hadn't been there before, as if calling my name was bringing our touches and caresses to mind and it was quickening some fire that he was trying to conceal.
And it was, in the end, the issue of concealing things that finally brought matters to a head...so to speak.
It was a weekday evening and most of the guests were inside, watching a soccer match down in the bar. The bathing areas were completely vacant, Mari had mentioned after cleaning up. Across the table, I caught Yuuri's eye. "Full moon on a summer evening. I don't know about you, but that's a perfectly good reason for a nice soak before bed."
He nodded. "My calves are pretty sore after working on that quad salchow all afternoon. Sounds like a good idea to me, too."
You know about how a hot springs onsen works, right? There are baths inside and natural spring fed rock pools outside that are strictly segregated by gender. Since the waters are shared inside and out, you have to wash yourself very well before going into the tubs or the springs. There are low benches on the floor in a shower area and you are expected to scrub and soap yourself thoroughly and then rinse well to remove every trace of soap before going for a soak. Everybody sits side by side and takes little or no notice of one another's nudity. Yuuri and I had washed ourselves together and soaked almost since the day I arrived at Yu-Topia. He got flustered a time or two but it was more often because I was showing off my body—oh, did I admit that?—I mean, I was doing stretches in the nude out of the water. All right…all right. Yes, I wanted him to look at me. I wanted him to notice me then…but the night of the full moon I wasn't trying to flaunt my body in front of him. We were making progress in our relationship and I would not have risked making him anxious for the entire world, especially where we were concerned.
But while we were rinsing off the soap, I noticed he was stammering and looking anywhere but at me while we chatted. I also noticed he was keeping his towel over his lap, even though I had seen him naked countless times. The towel was sopping wet and useless, so I held out my hand. "Let me get you a dry towel. I'll put that one away for you."
"No!" He turned as red as a bowl of borsht and clutched it firmly to his lap. "It's…ah…um…fine. It's good."
"It's soaked."
"I like my towels like that…ah…haahaahaa….really. I'm great. Perfect. Fine and dandy. Don't you worry about it, Viktor. You just….ummm…go on ahead. I'll…uh…be out…y'know…in a little bit." His fingers tightened in a death grip around the towel and wet as he was from the shower, he appeared to be sweating.
"Come on, let's go!" I invited. "It's beautiful outside tonight."
"Ahhhh….ah….I..have a leg cramp. Yeah…that's it. I'll…just…you know. Massage it down here…be out later, okay?"
"Leg cramp?" I frowned. "Let me see." I turned, knelt down at his feet and reached for his left calf. The towel slipped. Yuuri let out a yelp and clapped both hands over his groin…which might have been adequate if he hadn't been so aroused. As it was, kneeling at his feet with his left leg in my hands, I had an up close and personal view of what he'd been trying to hide under that wet towel and it was all I could do not to greet it in the traditional Russian way-with a kiss.
"Ohhh…god!" Never mind the face—he was flushed with embarrassment all the way to his toes and if he hadn't been stark naked and fully aroused he would have run out of the shower room as fast as a cat with its tail on fire. Before he could bolt away and lock himself in the men's room, I removed my own towel and handed it to him.
"Yuuri…listen to me." I sat back on my heels and made sure he was looking me in the eyes. "That is the one thing you should never be ashamed of. Cover up if you need to…but if your body is responding because we're here together, then…that's an honor, as far as I'm concerned. "He lowered his eyes, but I reached out and brushed my fingers along his cheek. "You are beautiful to me, Yuuri. Not just when you're on the ice, but even in the most ordinary of moments. I love you—and while I feel that love here—"I laid my hand over my heart, "—and here—"I tapped my forehead, "I also feel that love in my body as well. You're not the only one who feels Eros."
"Really?" He gave me an odd look. It was not directed towards my eyes but a good deal lower.
I looked down my body and then smiled at him. "Do you know how hard it is to constantly have to keep imagining the snows of Siberia to keep from getting excited around you? Because the only parts of your body that get hard in Siberia are the ones that have frozen and are about to fall off!"
He lost it.
I mean fell-off-the-stool-and-landed-on-his-bare-ass-on-the-cold-tile-floor lost it. He laughed so hard I was afraid he'd ruptured something. Whereupon I lost it too…my composure and my erection, which was a good thing, because roughly about that time all the men who had been in the bar watching the soccer match had begun to pour through the door, ready to soak in the hot spring.
We tried to sneak up to my room but Hiroko-san called out that Takeshi had stopped by with Yuko and the triplets and everybody was wide awake and lively—a little too lively. The triplets were ricocheting off the walls. Finally, I suggested we all move upstairs to my room. "I've got my Chromecast hooked to my TV. We could stream a Disney movie and they might settle down.
Which worked a little too well, because not only did the triplets nod off so did my Yuuri. "Sleeping Beauty," I chuckled, tucking a pillow under his head and removing his glasses, waving goodnight to the Nishigori family. "I'll just put a blanket over him and let him rest."
Once they were gone, I kissed him on the cheek. He was dead to the world, snoring softly and drooling a little. "Yuuri? You're going to get a crick in your neck from sleeping on the floor." He made some incoherent mumble and burrowed his face deeper in the pillow. "Look, my bed is less than two meters away. You can make it that far, can't you?"
It took some doing but I got him coherent enough to stumble halfway across the room and drop heavily onto the mattress. I heard him mutter something that sounded almost like my name, but seconds later the soft snoring began again.
At least we get to sleep together in the same bed tonight. That's wonderful…although I'm not sure exactly how well I will sleep with you lying next to me…and my body reminding me of what could have been tonight under the stars if we'd been lucky….damn it.
…..TO BE CONTINUED…..
