In which Victor learns

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Victor gasped, his breathing frantic and exhales short. He bent over, pressing his hands against his knees, closing his eyes as he attempted to regain control over his breath. Next to him, Yuuri bolted up the last step and stretched casually.

"H-how…are…you...n-not tired?" Victor managed to spit out between breaths. He sat down on a rickety old bench, impatiently pushing his fringe out of his eyes.

Victor had decided that before Yuuri could get on the ice again, he desperately needed to lose weight. Fortunately, Yuuri both lost and put on weight well, and through the program Victor had prepared for him, he would be able to near his previous weight by the end of a month more.

It was the first day, and Victor had learned three very important things so far: firstly, Yuuri needed motivation in order to accomplish his goals. The motivation could be as simple as Victor yelling encouragements, or Maccachin leaping alongside him as they ran up the stairs to the castle.

Secondly, although Yuuri was overweight (and leaning rather close to obesity), he was still rather fit. Of course, Victor should have gathered that from how he executed Stay Close to Me, but he was oblivious at times.

Thirdly, Yuuri had a ridiculous amount of stamina. After two runs up and down the stairs, Victor was absolutely tuckered out. Yuuri, although panting a bit, didn't seem to be nearly as tired as the older man.

Yuuri shrugged in response to Victor's original question. "I was just blessed with it, I suppose."

"No, no one has that much stamina naturally."

Was that a blush?

"I was…ah, I did ballet for a while. Even before skating. Minako-sensei was rather strict about us staying in shape. We ran a lot."

"Minako is the woman with the long brown hair?"

"Yes."

Victor nodded. His breathing was more controlled, but that was more due to the fact that Victor didn't want to look completely weak in front of Yuuri. He stretched his arms over his head. "Don't feel bad about being a ballerina, by the way. Quite a few skaters are. I did a lot of ballet practice, as well."

"I-I didn't mean it in that way. I'm sorry"

Victor paused. A fourth thing: Yuuri tended to overanalyze things, always too worried about offending someone. This was one emotional situation he actually knew how to handle – it wasn't good to tell someone that they shouldn't apologize. "It's alright, don't worry. Ballet Is good practice." He smiled.

"I…okay," Yuuri murmured. He bent down, patting Maccachin on the head as the poodle trotted up the stairs. The pooch affectionately rubbed his head against Yuuri's legs. Sometimes Maccachin reminded Victor more of a cat than a dog.

"Ballet can be rather helpful, really. You don't do it anymore?"

"I mean…not since Vancouver, but before, even when skating, I would go to Minako-sensei's studio at least four times a week."

Victor nodded. "Is that why she's so close in the family?"

"No, the reason I went so often is because she's close to the family. Mama and her were friends in school."

"And they're still friends?"

"Yes."

"That's nice. So, shall we move on to the next exercise?"

Yuuri nodded.

"We'll just walk down the stairs, and then we can go to the exercise room."

Maccachin led the way, Yuuri right behind the pooch. Victor drifted a bit back, taking his time heading down the stairs.

There was a part of him that wanted to rush into things, to just tell Yuuri that they were soulmates. But Yuuri wasn't emotionally stable, in a way. Pushing so much onto him would put too much pressure on him. He had already panicked that day when Victor had nearly kissed him, bolting out of the room and locking himself in his own bedroom. Even now, Victor was reprimanding himself for moving so quickly.

As of now, all Victor wanted to do was build their friendship from the beginning. Once that was strong enough, perhaps after the Grand Prix, Victor could show Yuuri his wrist. Until then, he wore an array of bracelets along his wrist.

"Victor? Are you coming?" Yuuri called. Victor frowned, glancing up. He realized that he had stopped in the middle of a step.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something." Victor ran down to catch up with Yuuri, who was already on the path.

"About what?"

Victor bit his tongue. "Nothing."

"That's rather contradictory."

"Um…RACE YOU TO THE RINK!" Victor yelped suddenly, sprinting off towards Ice Castle Hasetsu.

"Seriously?! Avoiding the conversation?!"

Maccachin won.

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Fifth: Yuuri always wore long sleeves.

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I ground out this chapter during Chem. It was suffering.

Chemistry, of course, not the writing.

Just trying to get some more character development done again! :3

Thank you for all the reviews, favorites, and follows.

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