Victor usually liked to rise as late as possible in the mornings to eke out every last bit of sleep that he could. It was therefore disconcerting when Yuuri woke up one morning shortly before Worlds to find his husband gone from their bed.
He patted Victor's spot with a questing hand, and only found an empty sheet. He sat up, puzzled, and looked around the room. Still no luck. Getting up, he padded out of their bedroom, listening for signs of his partner. He heard noise from the opposite side of the apartment, and followed it into the dining room.
He had been wholly unprepared for the scene that lay before him. Victor was seated at the table, surrounded by what looked like a veritable mountain of craft supplies. At least, he was pretty sure they were craft supplies. Some of them had purposes that he could only guess at. Yuuri paused, then said cautiously, "Vitya. Anata. What are you doing?"
His husband looked up with the light in his eyes that he always saved for Yuuri. "Rodnoy, ohayo! You really should give me some warning before you come in looking all cute like that."
Yuuri looked down at his gray pajamas, and then back at the other man. "Uhh…sorry?"
"Well, as long as you understand." Victor beamed happily at his husband.
"So, what is all this?"
Victor looked at the supplies around him and chuckled. "I'm sorry I made a mess. I just thought it would be fun to make some decorations for the baby's room."
For once, Victor wasn't an endless fountain of words. Yuuri scrutinized his face. He appeared very serious about this endeavor. And after all the effort he had put into the adoption process for the past few months, Yuuri was inclined to turn a blind eye to the disaster that had become his dining room. Finally, he nodded and said, "Please just clean up when you're done. I'll go make some breakfast."
As he turned to go to the kitchen, he heard his husband's voice, stroking him with love. "Thank you, lapochka."
Without turning around, Yuuri raised a hand. "Hai, hai. I'll call you when food is ready."
He made them both a quick, simple breakfast. Anything else was, quite frankly, beyond his current energy level. They'd had a whirlwind of life the past few months. Ever since they had decided to adopt a baby, they had been overwhelmed by all the tasks that went with such a major life choice. Luckily, Victor had been keeping a lawyer on retainer for just such an occasion, and a lot of the leg work had already been done for the actual adoption process. However, there was still the consideration of their careers and how that would balance with a child. After some discussion, they had decided that they both would be retiring officially after Worlds. That alone had kept both of them busy, but then out of nowhere they had received word that they had been matched with a potential child. She was only a few weeks old, and didn't even have a name yet. The agency had sent pictures which Victor promptly sent out to order for printing. The paperwork was still being processed, but they felt confident enough to pick out a name. Last night, they had stayed up late discussing options, and had narrowed their choices down to one. As Yuuri poured tea for both of them, he whispered it softly into the quiet of the morning air..
"Akilina."
A smile bloomed across his face. He was cautiously optimistic. The lawyer had assured them that they should be clear to bring her home soon. Still, it all felt like a dream that he never wanted to wake up from.
He knew that his husband shared the same anxious anticipation. The only unfortunate thing was that the dining room had become a casualty in the situation. He shook his head, and called for Victor to come to breakfast.
Makkachin came and joined them in the kitchen as they ate, leaning against Yuuri's leg. Victor seemed determined to gulp down his food as quickly as possible. He bolted upright as soon as he was finished, saying, "I'm planning to spend today making stuff for the baby's room. Let me know if you need me for anything. Thanks for breakfast!" He bent over and gave his spouse a quick kiss, then scurried out of the room. Yuuri sighed, and with a fond smile finished his own breakfast at a more leisurely pace.
After the dishes had been dealt with, he decided that he would go for a run. He detoured to the dining room first to see how his husband was faring. Although he had been half-expecting it, the mess that he saw was still a little shocking. Victor was surrounded by a halo of cut scrap papers and bits of string. Yuuri couldn't keep back a snort of laughter at the sight.
His spouse looked up at the sound, frowning. "What?"
"Sorry, Vitya. It's just…you look so much like a mama bird." He began to laugh. "I didn't realize you were nesting."
The older man didn't seem to share his humor for once. He wailed, "It's not funny, milyy. I can't make this stupid mobile do what I want!" He held up a hoop with some sad green pieces of paper hanging lopsidedly from it.
Yuuri regarded it for a moment, then turned his attention to his husband. Upon seeing the distress in the cool blue eyes, he felt a pang of sympathy and stepped forward. "Are you going for a leaf design?"
Victor nodded.
Scrutinizing the mobile more carefully, Yuuri said, "That's easy enough to fix. You're trying to make your leaf shape too complex. Here, try something like this." He grabbed a scrap of discarded paper and a pen and drew a quick leaf made of two curved lines. He showed his husband, adding, "And you probably should have more than one hanging on each string. If it looks fuller, you won't notice any mistakes."
Those startling eyes looked up at him in almost worshipful thanks. "Yuuri, muzh moy, are you a genius?"
Embarrassed, he shrugged off the praise. "Hai, hai. I'm taking Makkachin out for a run now. We'll be back in a little while."
Hardly seeming to hear the words, Victor bowed his head over his project, waving his hand absently in acknowledgement. Yuuri spared a second to give him a loving glance before heading to the living room to leash up Makkachin for a run.
Once they were out in the brisk evening air, Yuuri tried to make himself relax and enjoy the repetitive motion of running. Makkachin, as always, ran with wild abandonment and exuberance. Yuuri attempted to match his erratic pace as best he could. When the dog showed signs of being tired, Yuuri slowed them both to a walk and turned their path back towards home. He enforced a more leisurely pace on the return trip so that both of their breathing had evened out by the time they reentered the apartment.
Makkachin immediately went to his water bowl. Yuuri turned his steps towards the dining room, wondering how far his husband had gotten on the mobile. He paused in the door frame, trying not to laugh out loud. Victor was now surrounded by a wreath of fake flower stems with the blooms removed. He looked more than ever like he was building a nest.
Hearing his spouse, Victor looked up and smiled. "Ah, serdtse moya, you're back! Thanks to you, I finished the mobile! I hung it from the chair over there." With his chin he indicated a chair at the end of the table.
Yuuri leaned around the other man so he could examine it. "Wow, it actually turned out pretty well."
"I know, right!" The Russian man beamed in delight. "So now I'm working on these floral wall hangings. I'm not really sure how many I should make, so I've just been doing as many as I have materials for."
Yuuri turned his attention to the current project. His heart slipped as he saw that Victor appeared to be hot gluing leaves and flowers onto fishing line placed directly on the dining room table. He gathered himself up and then said as calmly as he could, "Anata, why are you gluing things to the table?"
"Oh, I'm not. I mean, I guess I sort of am, but it comes right off. See?" Victor lifted the finished half of the line in progress, demonstrating that the glue did indeed pull cleanly off the surface.
Yuuri sighed in relief. "All right, that's good. I don't have to hurt you, then."
His spouse's eyes sparkled with interest. "You were thinking about hurting me? I'm intrigued, muzh moy. What exactly did you plan to do?"
He felt his stomach flop at the sultry tone. Upset at himself for the reaction, he replied sulkily, "Not anything you would have liked."
"I'm sure that's not true. I like everything you do to me."
Ignoring the flutter that seemed to go straight to his crotch, Yuuri flicked his eyes away from his husband, over to one side of the room. His mouth dropped open as he saw line after line of flowers and leaves. "Vitya…what are all of those? Why are there so many?"
"I already told you, zolotse, I made as many as I could. And you know that I'm good with my hands." He winked.
"Still, you made this many just while I was out running?'
"You were out longer than you think you were. After all, you do have a lot of stamina." As he spoke, Victor smiled softly, but his eyes sparked.
The spark traveled through Yuuri's spine and settled in his gut. He sighed heavily. "All right. Bedroom. Now."
The other man blinked. "What?"
"You've made more than enough of these things, so you should be done for the night. And you keep…provoking me, and we don't have any lube in here. So get into the bedroom."
Victor rose from his seat with a wicked smile. "I think there's still some in the bathroom if we don't make it that far."
Yuuri found himself staring at his husband's ass and murmured, "We'll see."
The next morning, Yuuri awoke to the smell of something burning.
He found himself bolting upright in bed before he was even fully cognisant of his surroundings. He quickly identified the reason for his awakening and scrambled out of bed, throwing the covers aside in a cascade as he rushed from the bedroom to find whatever was on fire.
He followed the smell into the dining room, and was once again met with the sight of his husband bent over the table. In his half-asleep daze all he saw was smoke rising up near Victor's head.
Frantically, he yanked his husband backwards and nearly screamed, "Vitya, are you all right?"
"Whoa! Careful there!" Victor threw his arms away from his body, drawing attention to the tool held in one hand.
"Are you on fire? What happened?" Yuuri was feeling more awake now from the rush of adrenaline, but still muddled.
"Shh, shh, zhizn moya, I'm fine. It's just woodburning, see? Nothing's on fire, everything is fine." As he spoke, Victor smoothed his hand up and down Yuuri's arm. The pounding in his heart began to subside as Yuuri was comforted by part of his husband's self-proclaimed De-Anxietize My Yuuri program. This arm rub was one of several tactics that the Russian had found to be effective over the years.
When he felt like he could breathe normally, Yuuri looked at his spouse's face and said, "What in the world are you doing here?"
"I was trying to woodburn a sign for the baby's room. I guess I didn't have my pressure right on the tool. There was a lot of smoke, huh?" Victor managed to look both adorable and apologetic, a dangerous combination.
Yuuri tried to ignore it as he snapped, "Yeah, it was a lot! I thought the house was on fire!" He took a deep breath in an effort to calm himself down. "That's enough of this project. Why don't we go pick out a color for the baby's room and paint the walls instead?"
Immediately, Victor catapulted out of his chair. "Really? You mean it? I really wanted to paint her room, but I didn't want to put too much pressure on you. I know we're both still finishing up the season, so I didn't think that you would want to take on a big project like that."
Shrugging, the Japanese man commented, "What's so big about it? With the two of us, we can get it done in a couple days. Or we can always see if Yuri is free to help or something."
His husband gave a loving heart-shaped smile. "Da, that's true! Come on, rodnoy, let's go to the store! I was thinking maybe a nice pastel green would go well with the flowery nature decor." Still babbling happily, Victor grabbed his spouse by the hand and tugged him impatiently towards the door. He barely had time to even put on his shoes, let alone change out of the sweatshirt he had worn to bed.
Yuuri was dragged along on a whirlwind shopping trip in which his husband bought more painting supplies than he had known existed. By the time they were heading home laden with their purchases it was well past lunch. They stopped at a café for a quick bite to eat before continuing to their destination. Somehow they managed to stagger home under the weight of their paint supplies, and even got everything safely deposited in the guest room they were converting to a baby room. After that whole ordeal Yuuri even managed to summon up enough energy so they could get a coat of primer on the walls before dinner time.
They were both too tired for a proper meal, so they heated up leftovers and ate mostly in silence. When they were done, Victor stood and grabbed both of their plates, saying, "I have a few things to do, but why don't you go ahead and head to bed? I know you're tired from today."
Smiling affectionately at his spouse, Yuuri nodded and rose to do as his husband suggested. He crawled into their bed and settled himself down with a book. He must have been more worn out than he realized and slipped off to sleep.
He awoke some time later, blinking into the blackness of the bedroom. He patted the bed beside him and realized that Victor's side of the bed hadn't even been disturbed yet. Rising, Yuuri fumbled his way out of the room to seek his lost spouse.
His quest was fulfilled upon entering the dining room. There was Victor, fast asleep at the table with his lovely silver hair cascading over his folded arms. Yuuri tsked softly and approached, then stopped in his tracks when he noticed that project that was laid out on the table.
There were several large wooden block letters, painted a soft white and arranged to spell AKILINA. Strands of whimsical vines were wrapped around the first A and the K, but it appeared that Victor had fallen asleep before finishing the rest of the name. Yuuri's heart felt like it was being squeezed gently, and he coughed softly in an attempt to clear the lump that had suddenly risen in his throat. Gently, he bent down and scooped his husband up into his arms. Victor murmured a little, then nuzzled into Yuuri's chest. Yuuri couldn't resist a small kiss on the balding spot at the back of the silver hair. He looked one last time at the table as he began carrying his wayward lover back to their bed. He supposed that he could live with this one last project.
