Yuuri and Viktor were introduced to Yurio's grandfather, Nikolai, when the kid tried to explain to him what had happened at the school. The older man listened attentively to everything what the child babbled with shyness. Nikolai knew the version that the school principal had told him by phone, he just needed to know his grandson's version.
"Are you going to punish me?" Yurio asked with his eyes downcast and trembling. The fear wasn't so much about the reprimand; he feared that his grandfather, his only family, would be angry with him.
"I have to do it." Nikolai said, however, with a smile and patted his head. "You're a good boy, Yurochka. I know you just were trying to help that poor boy, in spite of the fact that it wasn't the right way to do it. Go wash yourself and change your clothes. We'll talk later."
The blond kid, deeply relieved, nodded. And before retiring to his room, he gave his friends a small smile.
"Yuuri, thank you for bringing him home. I was so worried when Yurochka wasn't coming home from school, and then I received that call from the principal." Nikolai said. "And you, young man, I guess you are Yuuri's boyfriend." He commented addressing the silver-haired man. However, after the astonished reaction of the two of them, the man wanted to rectify. "Am I wrong?"
"N-no! You're right. Viktor is my boyfriend." Yuuri confirmed right away, and for some reason, he felt good about saying it out loud. Viktor couldn't help but blush and smile. "I just don't understand how..."
"Oh, Yurochka told me and gave me a description of Viktor." He replied still smiling, and Yuuri sighed with relief. Apparently, Yurio's family was also tolerant. Now, the question was how it was that the kid had noticed their relationship if he had told him that they were 'friends'...
"About the punishment..." Yuuri said to return to the previous conversation. "Yurio said he was afraid you wouldn't let him skate for a while."
"Oh. No. Of course no!" He said, surprised by such a suggestion. "I can deprive him of many things, but never of skating. Skate it's what he loves the most. I assure you today you will see him in rink ... And, Yuuri, I'm glad you're such a good friend to my grandson. Yurochka likes you a lot. He is always talking about you. I think he sees you as an older brother." He laughed and the dark-haired boy blushed.
"Ah... Well. I guess, for me, Yurio is like a little brother." He admitted shyly.
Yuuri had already noticed that Yurio was always trying to monopolize his attention during trainings. The kid even paid more attention to him than to instructor Yuuko; and Yuuri was sure that the reason it was because he had the patience and the desire to deal with his rude attitude; Yuuri knew that the blond kid was a lonely child who was looking for the affection that he couldn't receive from his deceased parents. Therefore, the dark-haired boy always tried to helped him in everything possible way he could, reaching the point to treating him like a pampered little brother.
On that same afternoon, at the rink, Yurio thanked him for walked him home. Of course the kid didn't used words, but approached Yuuri shyly and gave him a little bag of cookies that he and his grandfather had baked, without forgetting to tell him to share them with Viktor. Yuuri accepted them gladly, and knelt down and hugged him. Yurio responded in the same way.
Two days later. Yuuri and their classmates received the pleasant news that they would have an hour off due to a teachers' meeting, so the dark-haired man sent a message to his boyfriend to ask him if his class was among the lucky ones, so they could spend that time together. And, although the answer was positive, the silver-haired man asked him to wait for a few minutes, since he was arguing with his classmates about another project.
"I'll wait for you outside your classroom, then." Yuuri replied, not pleased with the idea that Viktor was still so friendly with the girls who gathered around him like pigeons fighting for bread crumbs. It wasn't that Yuuri was jealous, but rather he knew that people used to go after Viktor's beauty and nothing else, which was something sad and unfair to Viktor's good faith, who always tried to be nice to everyone.
He quickly received an avalanche of hearts in response, which made him realize that it would be the first time he would go looking for him. Normally it was the silver-haired man who went to his classroom or they met on some spot in the school.
Yuuri had never gone to the upper floors, and he would lie if he said that he didn't feel nervous to know that while he passed by he would be the center of envious glances from the other students who were also 'in love' with Viktor. So he asked Phichit to accompany him. It wasn't difficult to convince him, because, if something was missing on Phichit, it was his sense of shame.
"Of course! Anything for reunite you with your Prince charming!" Phichit answered as he took Yuuri by the arm and led him to the stairs.
They soon realized that Yuuri's fears weren't ill-founded. Resentment glances loomed over him and he almost paralyzed after perceiving them. He couldn't explain how so many eyes on him scared him, while, when he was skating, it was just the opposite. Nonetheless, Phichit grabbed him tighter, reaffirming his presence, and made Yuuri continue. His best friend even showed his tongue to anyone who made a face on them. Surprisingly, there were also girls who greeted him and giggled, and Yuuri didn't felt hostility from them.
"Phichit, that was scary!" Yuuri said when they reached the top floor. He felt like he was about to suffer a panic attack, and rested his forehead against the shoulder of his friend while breathing agitated.
"Yes, I know." Phichit said while patting his back while laughing. "They really hated you. But I know your love with Viktor can defeat any barrier!"
"It's easy for you to say... You're not the one who has to put up with this every day." He muttered sarcastically after a tired sigh. "But thanks for joining me. You're a great friend."
"Oh, I already know that. You don't have to repeat it to me. I know you love me." He smiled and hugged him. But when he did it, he felt a chill run down his back. Phichit immediately turned his head towards where he perceived the bad vibes and saw how an annoying looking Viktor were approached them. Phichit's eyes glowed as if he had just witnessed something really adorable. Viktor was jealous! "Oh, Yuuri. Your boyfriend is here!" He said as he let him go.
"Viktor, is something wrong?" Yuuri asked worried when he saw him frown. The silver-haired man, surprised by his own behavior, shook his head and smiled with embarrassment.
"N-no, nothing." He looked at Phichit with guilt, but the latter held up a thumb as a sign that everything was fine, which made him felt relieve. "Yuuri!" Now he was he who hugged his boyfriend, rubbing their cheeks against each other. "Since you're already here, let's go to the roof."
"In that case I will leave you alone, lovebirds! I'll see you later." Phichit announced and said goodbye waving his hands. He was dying to tell Sara what had just happened.
"Can we go with you, Vitya?" A girl suddenly asked, who made exaggeratedly feminine gestures and feigning an innocent face, as did the others two who were with her.
"I'm sorry. But Yuuri and I want to be alone." Because of the familiar way in which Viktor answered her, the dark-haired boy could deduce those girls were his classmates.
"But we also want to be with you, Vitya." Said another, accentuating the nickname with a too sweet voice, which made Yuuri raised an eyebrow in disbelief. Despite being so pretty, those girls had a horrible personality.
At that moment Yuuri didn't feel with enough patience to let that pass up. So, he cupped his boyfriend's cheeks to force him to look at him. Only him. And before Viktor could reacted, Yuuri joined their lips together to give him a kiss longer than usual. Yuuri could hear the cry of protest from the girls and felt triumphant, especially when he saw Viktor blushed face. Then he took him by the hand and pulled him away from those girls.
"Yuuri. You... You were you jealous, right?" Viktor dared to ask after they reaching the roof, feeling very hopeful that it would be the case. He knew that Yuuri used to avoid showing affection in public, more for education than embarrassment, so it seemed strange (and sensual) that he suddenly behaved so territorially.
"A-ah... Well... I..." Yuuri had acted rather on impulse after seeing how those girls tried to ignore his existence at their convenience. He was aware that he couldn't stop people from flirting with his boyfriend, but... that fact that they did it in front of him, who was his partner... that was really annoying enough. "A little." He admitted embarrassed.
"Oh, Yuuri! You don't have to be." He wrapped his boyfriend's waist before gather their foreheads together and kissing him again. "My heart is all yours and no one else's. You are the most important person in my life. I would never think of doing something that would hurt you..." He said in a voice that sounded rather cheerful, but Yuuri could already distinguish the nostalgia that sometimes appeared in it.
Yuuri knew there was still a pending issue between them. Something that he assumed it was difficult to address for all the times it had been postponed. He moved his face a few inches away from Viktor's so that he could look into his blue eyes and ask.
"Viktor. What about your parents?" Just seeing how Viktor's eyebrows contracted in a painful grimace he knew that he didn't want to talk about it. However, his face softened just a second later and sighed with resignation.
After making sure they were completely alone on the roof, he and Yuuri took a seat on the floor, both leaning against the wall. It wasn't midday yet, and occasionally the sun were blocked by clouds. The wind was blowing so pleasantly and insistently that his long hair would have gotten tangled up if it wasn't because he was using the hair band that Yurio gave him.
"I don't know where to start..." He said in a low voice. His blue eyes were sweeping the floor as he tried to sort out his ideas. He could feel his boyfriend's hand caressing his and that made him feel more confident to talk. "My parents, they... are good people, just like yours. But it's... it's just that they don't agree with what I am."
"What do you mean?" Yuuri wasn't sure where all this was going, but he thought he had somewhat an idea.
"Yuuri. Since from a young age I realized that I liked men." He said, smiling sadly. "I told my parents, hoping they could give me some advice, but... They didn't react very well. From that moment on my relationship with them became tense and only got worse over the years... And when I turned eighteen, they told me that I had two options; Find me a girlfriend or find another place to live, and... Well. I haven't seen them for years." Yuuri listened with pain as Viktor's voice broke. He moved closer to him and used his sleeves to dry the tears that began to fall from his boyfriend's eyes. "I-I'm sorry. I know you don't like to see me cry. You must think that I'm useless... "
"Viktor, no. I would never think that about you." Yuuri said bitterly after hearing him say that, and used the fingers of his right hand to comb the strands of his silver hair to try to calm him down. "I don't like to see you cry because I prefer to see you smile. But right now crying will make you feel better."
Viktor wanted to smile to please him, but he simply couldn't. His lips trembled at the contrariness of emotions building up in his chest. On one side, the nostalgia of remembering his parents, who preferred to forget him, and on the other; Yuuri, the boy who at first did everything he could to ignore him and even tried to end their relationship, but now he was at his side, acting like a true gentleman and boyfriend to support him in the best way he could. Viktor felt like he had won the lottery.
Yuuri hugged him tightly, letting Viktor lean on his chest while continuing to sob. The dark-haired boy remembered with horror how badly he had treated Viktor during their first week of courtship due to his own complexes. Now he could understood many things about Viktor.
During the time they had been together, Yuuri realized that Viktor wasn't the perfect human being that everyone had acclaimed. Viktor also had his owns weaknesses, such as his low self-confidence and the fact that he tried to please everyone. Which also explained why he was so accommodating and kind even with the girls who harassed him. Girls who for sure, if it weren't for his outer beauty, wouldn't even look in his direction. However, Viktor also had strengths, such as his persistence and honesty, things that Yuuri greatly admired about him. Yuuri decided he should find a way to reward his boyfriend for his past bad behavior.
And then he realized that he had something that no one else could offer to Viktor.
"Viktor... I love you." He whispered in his ear, and he could feel it when Viktor's body tensed up with surprise. His blue eyes quickly rose to meet his brown, and Viktor could finally smile, though still with a few drops sliding down his cheeks.
"I love you too, Yuuri." He replied, and he joined their lips in a gentle and tender kiss, both enjoying the warmth of being so close. "Yuuri... Are you going to sleep over to my house tomorrow, right?" He inquired shyly, his face flushing.
"Uh?" Yuuri didn't understand the sudden change of subject, but his heart was glad to see that Viktor looked more cheerfully. "Of course."
The rest of that day Viktor didn't stop sending him text full of hearts. Yuuri, although he wasn't prone to that kind of flirtatious, he answered in the same way because he could perfectly imagine Viktor's face of happiness when looked at his phone.
When the silver-haired man left Yuuri's house to go to work, Yuuri approached his parents to hold a small talk with them about his relationship with Viktor. As expected, they acted surprised, as if they hadn't suspected anything from before, and congratulated him.
"How boring." Yurio commented as he yawned and stretched his little arms towards the ceiling. "Tomorrow I have to go back to school. More than a suspension, it felt like a vacation... Maybe I should get into fights more often... "
"Definitely not, young man." Yuuri admonished him with half-closed eyes as he finished adjusting his skates. "Your grandfather has faith that you will behave from now on."
"I know that! I was kidding!" He replied, crossed his arms and looked annoyed. It wasn't funny when Yuuri acted as a responsible adult. "Oh! Yuuri, look!" He pulled the jacket of the older boy and pointed out at a kid who had just entered the building. Yuuri was about to warn him about that pointing someone with a finger was rude, but Yurio continued talking. "That's the kid they were bothering at my school. I didn't know he likes to skate."
Yuuri looked at that direction out of curiosity to see the kid that Yurio had helped, and he saw a boy with black hair and brown eyes, who seemed more like a preadolescent than a kid, because his face didn't look as childish as Yurio. He could tell that the boy would be twelve years old at the most.
The boy started walking around the rink, like if he were looking for something.
"You should go to say hello to him." Yuuri suggested for cordially, and got up off the bench to enter the rink.
"Eh!? Why? I don't even know him!" He replied reluctantly, and walking behind him like a duckling following his mother.
Yuuri and Yurio entered the rink, followed by their rink mates. After a few minutes of skating, Phichit placed a hand on Yuuri's shoulder and gestured for him to lend him his ear.
"It seems like our little Yurio has an admirer." He said, trying not to laugh, and pointed with a thumb at the boy Yurio had mentioned earlier. The boy was with his arms supported on the fence, and he didn't take his eyes way from Yurio, who continued rehearsing his routine without let anything from distracting him.
Yuuri end up explained to Phichit who was him, and both laughed. They imagined that, probably, the boy had gone to look for Yurio to thank him for what he did for him, which they found adorable.
When the training ended, the boy rushed to the blond kid to face him, but he didn't dare to speak. Yurio, somewhat impatient because the fatigue of the training, spoke first.
"Oh, it's you. What do you want?" Although his words were harsh, his tone of voice was neutral.
"I... umm... I wanted... to thank you for what you did for me the other day..."
"Ah, that." Yurio was surprised that the boy was so shy, which made a strange contrast to his rebellious appearance. Perhaps that was precisely the reason why his classmates had made him the center of his taunts... "You don't have to thank me. I would have done that for anyone."
"But still... Thank you ... And ..."
"And...?" He urged him to speak as he looked for Yuuri. He wasn't very good at dealing with other people, much less with other children of his age, and now he had to deal with one that was starting to exasperate him.
"I thought... Maybe... we could be... friends."
"Friends?" He repeated, confused. "Just because I helped you?"
"It's not... just for that." He shook his head, and then his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "I think ... you're very strong and brave... And... If we were friends ... maybe I... could be more... like you."
"Mmh... Well, that seems like a good reason to me." He laughed, feeling flattered. He was beginning to like the boy. "It's okay. We can be friends as long as you don't put me in more trouble." He said offering him a hand, as if they were closing a deal. "Ah, wait, what's your name?"
"Otabek..." He said, shaking his hand.
"Otabek, eh? I'm Yuri, but some people calls me Yurio so they wouldn't confuse me with the fool over there." He pointed to the 'dark-haired Yuri' with a thumb, who was looking at the screen of his cellphone with his face as red as a tomato. Surely he was talking to Viktor. "Call me however you want."
"Yuri sounds fine to me..."
Yurio smiled pleased at that response.
