Winter Holiday left me without energy. What about you?
This chapter is a bit late, but I wanted to deliver a longer one than usual and that takes time.
Boy, Yuri might end up following Viktor's footsteps and turning grey before he gets back to Russia with Sophia around. I think that skating legend is not the only one who will have to deal with a thinning hairline as the story progresses.
But don't worry. I love Yuri's hair way too much to do something drastic. Plus, Sophia's personality had more than just one side. And Yuri will have to learn it.
But, yeah, since he'll be staying in Yu-topia until 'Hot Springs on Ice' there will be plenty of opportunities to include cute and meaningfull moments between the two!
Disclaimer: I only own mah girl, Sophia.
"One week from now, the "Hot Springs on Ice" show will premiere at Ice Castle Hasetsu. Please come to the event."
I sighed, cleaning a table with wet piece of cloth. A breaking news, even though announced in Japanese didn't take too long to break the Internet and press media. Even though unable to speak the language I could understand it immediately - and to no surprise, since that was all I heard all the day, every day.
A loud voice reached my ears as I washed a cloth in a sink before wringing water out of it and hanging it to dry.
"I guess they're back." I glanced at Toshiya, who was busy chopping vegetables for dinner, as if asking permission and he nodded with a reassuring smile.
"Go ahead, dear. You might need to check a new guest in or take an order."
After sending older man a grateful look I dried off my hands and took of an apron. Leaving it on a hanger in the corner of the kitchen, I decided to find the guys simply following noise that was undoubtfully being emitted by a young obnoxious blond skater.
Shouts were getting clearer and clearer as I walked down the hall into a room which had doors open.
"Welcome back." I greeted everyone present like a well-mannered lady my parents raised me to be and took in the sight in front of me. I saw Viktor sitting on a white sofa with sleeping Makkachin in his lap so naturally, that's where I headed first. Yuuri stood not that far away and Yuri was busy looking around, taking his new surroundings in.
"Talk about a hovel." I heard heard him say as I sat down on an armrest of a sofa where Viktor was lazily stroking poodle's furry head, a calm and content smile on his face. But this little comment made my own head snap towards Yuri, my eyes narrowed and lips curled up in a smirk, though what I really wanted to do at that moment was snarl.
"You can always sleep on the streets, you know. There's plenty of room there and conveniently, nights are quite warm too." I wasn't sure what had rubbed me off the wrong way. Usually, I'm quiet and polite with people I barely know, shy even. But this guy...
This guy wasn't oblivious to my snarky words or my mocking, sarcastic tone because he whipped around sharply, trying to pin me to a wall with nothing but a glare, cold and chilling like Siberian winter. That futile attempt to indimidate me alone was enough for mirth to bubble in my chest. You have a long way to go, boy.
"Shut up, hag! No one asked you!" Yuri growled angrily, but I only laughed.
"'Hag' again? Getting a bit repetitive here, huh? You'll have to be a bit more creative with your insults if you want to even stand a chance against me." I put on my best lopsided grin and saw him gritting his teeth in frustration.
"I don't have a time to deal with some maid of a run-down hovel!"
I smiled acidly, knowing, that one day he'll choke on his words. "Why not? This is not a five star hotel, you're right, but outside, you would get unique opportunity to experience the joys of staying in a trillions' stars hotel!" I shugged my shoulders lightly, trying to sound chipper and upbeat.
The best part was that I could actually sense all the emotions, swirling inside of that room. Viktor's amusement, rolling off of him in waves, strong enough to rival my own. Yuuri's panicked alarm signals to drop everything and abort mission, because apparently he got freaked out by my suicidal tendencies to casually wander around on a minefield. Shortie's fury, prickling at my skin like needless, because my strange craving to get a load of inner satisfaction while angering others and marveling at their reactions made itself known and easily got the better of me. But surprisingly enough, I found myself not giving a damn about a noose that, based on a malicious aura Yuri gave off, hung loosely above my head, casting down a long shadow on my future.
However, I kept on smiling like everything was perfectly fine and a short teen with even shorter temper didn't look at me as if planning how to run me over with a bus.
"Looks like we found someone who is not afraid to unsheath her claws in front of you, Yuri." Viktor spoke up sudenly, wearing a smile I couldn't quite place and a look I failed to understand fully.
"Tsk!" Was the only answer he was graced with and I knew that though a storm may had blown over for now, but many more clouds are to come. "Where's my room?"
"You're staying here?!" Yuuri jumped in something between shock and fright and I snickered. How forgetfull of you, Yuuri! I'm sure we already established his staying arrangements!
"If you get Viktor to yourself all the time, it won't be a fair match! I'll stay here, too! All right?" His quick and somewhat urgent response made me whistle.
"You sure you're after forgotten promise and not runaway lover?" I asked with a narrowed eyes, half joking and half serious. " 'Cause that's how it sounds to me."
Yuri looked at me increadulously, revolted by an idea itself. "What?! Me and this old geezer? (AN. Look, I know it's supposed to be 'old geezer and I' but I'm writing it this way on purpose so don't be a Grammar Nazi.) Are you out of your mind?"
"Hey, I'm open to any possibilities. There are a lot of couples with over fifteen years age gap nowadays, so my question shouldn't even be surprising." I shrugged nonchalantly before pointing out. "Plus, I wanna make sure, just in case, so I could save my friend from a possible heartbreak if needed."
"Huh?" Yuri raised one eyebrow, confused and not quite grasping my implications.
"Forget about it." I waved my hand dismissively before turning to a matters at hand. "You wanna rent a room, right? I don't think there will be any problems with that. What do you say, Yuuri?"
"It's not like he cares what I think." Pulled into a conversation, Yuuri only shrugged his shoulders with a pleasant smile. What's up with everyone shrugging today?
"The hot spring is great." Viktor threw in his two cents but that seemed to tick angsty teenager even more.
"I can't take a bath with other people!" He shouted and I rolled my eyes.
"There are private springs too. Geez, you're such a diva!"
Yuri scowled at me and grabbed a doorknob, half way exiting a room. "I'm going to sleep!"
A door got slammed with a bang and all the tension seemed to be getting out, chasing after teen. I rubbed my temples gently, enjoying silence but even that wasn't destined to last because a loud rumbling noise filled a space and I looked up, confused.
"Was that a...thunder?"
Doors opened up in a swift and furious motion. A blond head, covered with a black hood peaked in and I knew that silence was too good to be true.
"Give me food! And a bath!"
"How about you start using an indoors voice and I'll take care of that?" I glared at green-eyed trouble personified and stood up, eager to get it done with. Before he could say anything, I made my way towards him and motioned to step aside. "That's what I was sent here for, anyway."
Surprisingly enough, Yuri chose to keep his mouth shut (a very appreciated change, if you'd ask me) and wordlessly agreed to collaborate, just this once. If I had to say, getting all the way here and looking around for Viktor must have taken it's toll on him. Now that Yuri followed me to reception room were I checked him in and showed were he could bathe privately, I could see fatigue and exhaustion creeping up his face. After mandatory question 'Do you need something else?' he only shook his head and I took that as a cue to leave him be, figuring that he'll be able to get around on his own.
Instead, I walked slowly to the kitchen and saw Toshiya finishing his preparations for dinner. I put on my apron and leaned against counter, watching as a man skilfully moved moved around, waiting for any command or order.
"Oh, you're already back!" Toshiya greeted me with a smile, and I nodded, answering with one of my own. "Should I prepare an extra portion for our new guest?"
"Yes, he's taking a bath right now, but will definitely want to eat afterwards." I said casually, thinking about how Hiroko wasn't the only one with supernatural intuition when it came to their guests. Her husband had a strong sixth sense too.
"Well, your work for today is over so you can go and clean up or rest before dinner too." He took out a bowl for an extra-sized pork cutlet and a fond smile made it's way on my lips. Yuri will experience his first time eating inn's signature dish and I could already envision his reaction.
"You sure you won't need my help with anything?" I checked, just to be sure and he laughed good-naturately.
"I'm sure, I'm sure. Now shoo!"
I pulled my hair out of bun and searched in a drawer for hairbrush. I got so caught up in reading manga, I swore to stop and get ready for dinner as soon as I'll finish chapter. Needless to say, a chapter soon turned into a volume, another one following closely behind. Time evaded me and I it. Right now I was digging around in my belongings hastily, feeling frustration grow with every passing second. Funny thing I noticed about time - it has ability to smell fear and just about any other negative emotion that torments human's soul. It makes time grow up legs and run faster, proving existence's inevitable and so comically ironical dependence on Murphy's Law.
Did I mention that all inanimate objects I needed at a times and fast loved playing hide-and-seek with me?
Luckily, some unknown cosmic forces took pity on me because soon enough I spotted my hairbrush and after letting out a little victorious 'Aha!' tried to tame a wild waterfall of light brown hair that, in my eyes, screamed for an urgent appointment to a hairdresser.
Pulling them back in a high ponytail, I looked myself up and down before glancing at a mirror. My reflection stared at me as I passed down a judgment on myself, deeming my appearance to be worth about 6/10.
"Will do." I breathed out and hurried to a ground floor which buzzed with talks and living.
"Sorry for being late!" I plopped myself down on a mat with a thin pillow by a table where I usually dinned with guys.
"No problem." Yuuri smiled at me reassuringly and I let out a sigh of relief. I was natural punctual and tried to avoid being late as much as possible but alas. The universe hates me.
"We're still waiting for food so you didn't miss anything." Viktor glanced at me shortly before turning at a TV screen that hung on a wall. I nodded and focused my attention on a newcomer, who occupied a side of a table.
Yuri sat there, wearing inn's robes and looking grumpy and bored out of his mind. He paid no attention to me so I took that as a chance to analyze or, well... check him out, whichever I thought fitting or simply wanted to do.
It was my first time seeing him without a hood on and now I got a good view at his face. Hm... Well... Okay. To be honest, Yuri reminded me a bit of a porcelain doll, which creeped me out because I hate them. It was hard to determine Yuri's age, but based on a soft, almost feminine features he was yet to hit puberty so... 14-16 years old seemed like the best guess. Fair skin set envy on a rampage inside of me. I had a fair complexion too, but my skin was never perfectly clear and I wasn't talking only about zits and beauty marks. Keeping in mind what a clumsy troublemaker I was as a child, my face and body in general got adorned and, in some places, even mauled by scars. But this teen in front of me? Nothing. Not even a scratch. I suppose, that's what creeped me out the most. Yuri looked so perfectly preserved, like he grew up under a dome of glass, untouched by this world. It was...unnatural.
What I noticed next were his eyes. A beautiful and, if I dared to say, even mesmerising light sea green, a viridescent colour that sparkled and glinted like a well polished gem. And not even a greatly disintrested look they held was strong enough to save me from.a powerful pull I felt as I stared (AN. Drooled, more like. Hehe~). Since one of them had been covered by a fringe of long blond hair, I moved my gaze down, taking in other features. High cheekbones, straight nose, delicate line of jaw and strong, characteristic chin. Pink, slightly pouty lips...
I heard about Russian women being naturally beautiful, but seriously, Russian men were just as much of an eye candy too! Viktor's physical perfection allowed me to have my doubts. After all, exceptions exist. It happens. But now Yuri? Seriously, although he looked fairly young, my inner teenager/schoolgirl squealed with delight about being in a presence of such an attractive and even hot guy.
'Whoa, girl, calm yourself. I know you were a bit late to mature, plus, the upcoming period probably got your hormones running wild, but seriously. But a leash on yourself and a short one, too.'
I shook my head, to get rid of all unnecessary thoughts and let out a breath in relief when I saw Hiroko, making her way over to us, a wooden tray with our food in her hands. Finally, something reasonable to help me take my mind off of Yuri.
"Our special dish - pork cutlet bowl!" I silently watched as Hiroko introduced her new guest with inn's signature dish with a smile, my own dinner holding very little interest to me. To be honest, I was too distracted and famished to care; not that I needed. A month I spent here taught me to trust Hiroko and Toshiya when it came to food.
And I wasn't the only one starving. Yuri, too, grabbed his chopsticks and dug in without another thought. His ability to eat at such high speed with chopsticks was impressive, but what really caught my eye was his table manners, or rather, the lack of it.
"Slow down, will ya? No one's going to take food from you." I leaned closer to Viktor, trying to avoid being accidentally nailed in a head withan elbow. "Seriously, you may think of Yuuri as a pig because of his weight, but it"s you who's eating as one."
"I don't know, Sophie." Smirked Viktor, not bothered by teens eating habits. He was probably used to it already. "Pigs tend to chew."
"Good point." I nodded after a moment before digging in my own plate.
"This is great!" Yuri exclaimed between bites, too busy stuffing his stomach to hear a little roast fest we just had.
"The pork cutlet bowl is good, isn't it?" Yuuri smiled, satisfied with teen finding at least one positive thing about this place. (AN. Originally it was Viktor's line, but I decided to give it to Yuuri. Okay, I'll stop bothering you now.)
A door behind Yuri slid open to reveal Mari. I looked up at her and nodded in greeting.
"You have another visitor, Yuuri?"
"Huh?" But it was Yuri who turned around to see a person that dared to interrupt.
Mari screamed like an obsessed fangirl and, I swear, I could see hearts in her eyes.
"No way! He looks just like my idol, The Blond Takao!"
"Who?" I looked around, confused, expecting to hear an explanation just as Hiroko, who faithfully stood by the table, brought one hand to her mouth and whispered to her hyperventilating daughter.
"His name is also Yuri."
"What? That's confusing." Mari whispered back before pointing at a blond boy, who stared at them dumbfounded. "Okay, you're Yurio!"
"What?!" A mixture of shock, anger and displeasure on his face made me choke on a bite. What a priceless expression!
But Mari was oblivious to a fuming blond in front of her because she turned at me.
"I saw that you already checked him in but where will Yurio stay?"
"Well, the only available place for him to sleep is upstairs. That. or a cold and hard floor."
"The storage room?" After receiving an affirmative nod from me Mari grabbed her head in distress. "Oh no! I need to clean it up!" She was about to leave when suddenly stopped mid-way. "Sophia, Yuuri, come help."
I sighed reluctantly before standing up. Well, at least I was done eating.
I turned to follow after Mari but stopped as soon as I realised, I didn't hear another set of feet, following me. Glancing over my shoulder I saw Yuuri, rooted to a spot and looking at two Russians we left in a room. The expression on his face was hard to read but it bothered me. A laugh that I recognised as Viktor's reached out ears and Yuuri's eyes widened. I wasn't sure why, but I could feel my heart clench painfully.I was about to reach out to him, but Mari came out, a heavy box in her hands, looking for us. As if on cue Yuuri turned around and ran out without saying a word.
"Yuuri? Where are you going?" Mari called out after him, but it fell on deaf ears.
"I think it would be best to leave him alone right now." I said quietly before looking up at Mari. I tried to ignore all questions that shone in her eyes. "Let's go. We have some cleaning to do."
"I think that takes care of it." Mari took in results of our work and gave a satisfied nod. Then she glanced at me. "How about you go down and check on them? I have a few more things to do before calling it a day."
"Sure." I replied passively and made my way out. That's just how our relationship and my work ethic was. Simple, short orders and responses. Blank and monotonious but that didn't mean we were on a bad terms, no. But we were both people of a very few words and preferred actions over chit chat.
As I walked down the stairs, my mind flashed to Yuuri and the way he looked at his new coach interacting with our new guest. That unexplainable expression that crossed his soft, babyish features when he heard Viktor laugh so freely, in such natural, carefree way.
'Oh, Yuuri. Why does it bother me so much? Why do I feel like it's going to be important and in a very near future too?"
I entered the dinning room and stopped abruptly, smirking at a sight.
"Feeling bored or just full?" I looked down at Viktor, who laid flat on his stomach, and Yuri, who was pretty much napping with his head on a table.
"Both." Viktor sighed a little bit before looking up, his eyes immediately searching for something. Or someone. "Huh? Where's Yuuri?"
"Out." I kneeled in front of table and started to pick up empty dishes, mentally scolding myself for not taking a wooden tray with me. "He looked like he had a lot in his mind. And if there's something I learned about Yuuri during my time here, was that at a time like this, he'd be at Minako's place or Ice Castle." I stood up, trying to balance all plates and bowls in my hands. "I suppose you want to go and find him?"
No response came out; it wasn't needed. A soft sigh escaped my lips and I carefully made my way towards kitchen. Somehow, I managed to do that without breaking anything. Shards may represent good luck in Lithuania, but here it was most likely to mean that my arms were growing out of my butt.
I left dirty dishes in Toshiya's trustworthy hands before returning back to dinning room. Just as I expected, there was no sign of Viktor but he wasn't the reason why I returned in the first place. It was a blond teenage guy, who didn't even budge from his slumber in the same peaceful position I left him after my little chat with Viktor.
I made my way towards Yuri, slowly and cautiously, as if he was a sleeping lion that could bite my arm off if woken up suddenly.
"Yuri?" I called out carefully and kneeled by his side but no response came out. "Yuri?" I tried again, stubbornly refusing to call him by a nickname Mari came up with. It's not like there was a need since Yuuri wasn't around.
Still nothing. Realizing just how futile my pathetic and half-hearted attempts were, I placed one hand on boy's shoulder before gently shaking him up.
"Yuri, wake up."
He let out a grunt and opened his eyes groggily. A disorientated and sleepy look was so cute I had to fight down a squeal that threatened to burst through my lips. Instead, I gave Yuri soft smile and whistered.
"Get up, Munchkin. I'll show you were you will be staying."
Yuri stared at me for a moment before dropping his gaze on my hand that was still resting on his shoulder. I pulled my hand to my chest hastily, realizing my mistake.
"Sorry."
Instead of answering, Yuri stood up slowly and looked at me expectantly. I got up and walked out of room, boy following closely behind. We both kept silent and I felt glad that it was a short walk to a storage room that Mari miraculously transformed into a bedroom. Silence, lingering between us wasn't exactly uncomfortable but I still felt weird for some reason.
Finally, after reaching our destination, I motioned to a thin door before sliding it aside and gesturing for Yuri to step inside. Wordlessly, he complied but before closing the door, turned to look at me.
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight." I answered back automatically and without much thought but then it hit me. My eyes widened in surprise just before the door slid shut, leaving me to stare at nothing, my mind blank.
But then a wide smile spread across my face and I felt warmth spreading in my chest. It's increadible what kind of effect a little kindness had on me.
"Have a sweet dreams.
Woohoo! One chapter left and I'll finish Episode 2!
I understand how my previous statement sounds and I want to ask you something. Are you okay with me making things so slow? Maybe I should pick up speed because you're bored to death?
Please, let me know if you're getting impatient with this story!
And don't forget to leave a review. I always appreciate it.
See you in the next chapter!