Viktor's heart stopped the moment he stepped in the door.
He didn't know if it was his Alpha biology at work, or just Yuuri being Yuuri that made his heart stutter and his throat swell with desire and love.
Both. It was both.
Yuuri was stretched out on the floor, all four fans they owned centered on him in a holy circle. He was dressed only in his boxer briefs, his hair brushed back from his face and damp with sweat. Viktor could see the swell of his stomach in all the glory. With the news of a second baby, everything had changed. Sponsors moved up photoshoot dates, milestones moved up and Yuuri's clothes grew too tight too soon. Theres was no mistaking Yuuri's belly for off-season chub now. Even when he tried to hide behind sweatpants and oversized sweaters.
"Yuuri, what's wrong?" Viktor dropped his coat on the floor at the doorway, kicking his shoes off in time to fall onto his knees next to his husband.
"Hot." Yuuri groaned. He could no longer sleep on his back, and the apartment now contained twice as many pillows of varying shapes and sizes to accommodate this. A second nest was growing in their living room.
Viktor pressed his hand against Yuuri's forehead. It was spring in St. Petersburg, and it had only recently just crept above freezing temperatures.
"We should go to a doctor," Viktor pressed the back of his hand against Yuuri's cheek. His eyes were still closed, and he was burning hot.
"Hot flash. Googled it." Yuuri mumbled, nuzzling into Viktor's touch. Yuuri was surrounded by half-thawed bags of frozen vegetables and an empty box of Dadu ice cream.
"A flash is quick, Yuuri," Viktor couldn't keep the whine out of his tone, smoothing his hand over the round swell of Yuuri's stomach. Morning sickness had finally passed, but he had still left Yuuri at home when he had struggled to get out of bed that morning. It was a grave mistake Viktor hated himself for already. "Let's go." He pulled at Yuuri's side, and he squirmed.
"Not when I'm naked!" He cried, sitting up with some help from Viktor. His skin was slick with sweat, and his balance was off from the growing weight in his core.
"Let me help." Viktor scrambled back onto his feet, reaching the bedroom before Yuuri managed to waddle there. He grabbed a grey tshirt- probably his, but who knew anymore- and a pair of pregnancy sweatpants gifted by Mizuno.
"Right foot." Viktor hummed. Yuuri lifted his foot, but wobbled as Viktor wrestled the fabric onto it. Yuuri couldn't see his feet anymore, and he seemed more interesting in smoothing his fingers over the whorl on the back of Viktor's head.
"You're going to make me bald with worry, starlight," Viktor sighed, pulling the sweatpants over Yuuri's waist- or what was left of it.
Yuuri only hummed instead of his usual response- harried comfort if he was feeling sorry, or a simple You don't need any help if they were being sassy.
"Yuuri…" Viktor cupped his cheek, staring into Yuuri's dreamy gaze. His cheeks were permanently flushed- he only liked seeing it when he caused it. "What have you eaten today?"
"...ice cream." Yuuri said after some thought. He already looked uncomfortable just at the addition of jogging sweats. Viktor regretted pulling the cotton over Yuuri's head and over his stomach, even if there was no hiding it.
"Anything else?"
Yuuri blinked, before swaying forward to rest his head against Viktor's collar bone.
"Yuuri, you're eating for three!" Viktor was about to go into one of his coach-like tirades before Yuuri shook his head.
"I did… I just… English?" The annoyance was quelled with an overwhelming deluge of dread.
"Yuuri, you're definitely sick. Why didn't you tell me?"
"I feel bad all the time." He mumbled. He nuzzled Viktor's chest, hitting a sensitive spot that made Viktor's nerves sing and his stomach twist at the battling sensations.
He couldn't be mad. He wouldn't dare say what about the babies. Because he suddenly wasn't worried about them. As worried. Not as much as he was for Yuuri- who had been feeling this way for months, silently, always meeting Viktor with a smile
This was all his fault.
"This is no good, Yuuri. We'll have to cancel our trips." Despite their sudden retirement, each of them had been invited to commentate at their respective National championships as well as the Olympics.
"No! No, we can't!" Yuuri's voice dropped from the panicked squeak. "Can we just go to the doctor first? Please?"
Victor rarely, if ever could say no to Yuuri, especially when he was rubbing up against him. (It was some sort of magic). They drove to the closest emergency care, spending a short thirty minutes in the waiting room together. Viktor barely had time to fan Yuuri with a fan folded out of a safe-sex pamphlet stolen from the pharmacy before they were called in.
"Is he going to be okay? What about the babies?" Viktor wrung his hands when the doctor came in- he only showed his face for a total of three minutes out of the hours long visit.
"Mr Katsuki will be fine,"
"Nikiforov." Viktor interrupted.
"Sorry?"
"Katsuki-Nikiforov. " Viktor tapped Yuuri's medical notes impatiently. "What about the babies?"
"They should be fine, too." The doctor continued slowly. "You're well past the first trimester, which where the most risk is. Luckily, it seems to be a viral infection. You'll just need to take paracetamol and make sure to stay hydrated."
Viktor let out a sigh he didn't know he had been holding. He let Yuuri doze on the way home, his flushed cheek pressed against the window of their car. He stopped, only to pick up a case of sports drinks, ice cream and another few packs of sweets. Yuuri's tastes had veered solely into highly-processed carbohydrate category. His favorite being the cheap sticky buns sold by the box most commonly in petrol stations.
Viktor could be worried, but he was only charmed- remembering that it was the same guilty treat he had snuck during his teen years between tutoring and training.
"What do you want for dinner, starlight?" Viktor cooed, wrapping his arms around Yuuri as he stood in the kitchen, trying to down half a bottle of a brightly colored drink. He had abandoned the sweats yet again, but kept Viktor's tshirt on as a compromise, even if it didn't cover him completely.
"Probably some vegetables," He sighed, poking at the pile of cakes still sitting on the table.
"I could make…" Viktor struggled for the words "Yasei-don?" It worked. Yuuri laughed, his nose wrinkling cutely.
"Yasai-don, if that's even a thing. Do we have any chicken?"
"If we dont, I could certainly get some." Viktor kissed Yuuri's cheek, nearly getting smacked by the bottle preoccupying Yuuri's lips.
"No," Yuuri said so softly it made Viktor ache. "Please don't leave."
"I won't. Ever. Not when you say it like that, my Yuuri." Viktor squeezed his husband tightly, and Yuuri melted into him.
"Vitya?" Yuuri said after a long moment of comfortable silence.
"Anything for you, Yuuri,"
"I'm scared," His voice dropped in volume. If Viktor wasn't so close to him, he might not have heard.
"The doctor and two other nurses said the babies will be fine. You just need to get better." Viktor hugged Yuuri tightly.
"What happens when I can't protect them anymore?" Yuuri's voice was small.
"Well, that will be when they are adults, and we're a long way away from that." Viktor chirped. Normal anxious Yuuri. Better than unconscious fevered Yuuri.
"No. When they're born." Yuuri played with the lip of the bottle in his hands. "Right now they're safe. We're all together…"
"It feels nice," Viktor closed his eyes, moving to press his palms against Yuuri's belly.
"What happens when they get sick? What happens when they're born and they get too big and I drop one?"
"Yuuri, you're not going to drop them. If you do, children are very solid. They fall over all the time." Viktor couldn't knock the frustration in his tone. Next, Yuuri would be worried about giving the babies smallpox or something else inconceivable.
"They could hate me."
"Don't be ridiculous, Yuuri! They can't! Everyone loves you, and they're part me.. So they're going to love you more than anything."
"I'm not ready to share you." Yuuri said, his tone short and heavy with anxiety.
"Shhh," Viktor cupped Yuuri's face in his hands. "We can do this. I know we can."
Yuuri opened his mouth to protest, Viktor pre-empting it with a kiss.
"When you're better, I want you to meet someone very important to me."
"O...okay." Yuuri's gaze flickered downward.
"I love you." Viktor pressed another kiss to Yuuri's lips. Yuuri's eyes flickered up to meet Viktor's with a smile.
"I love you too."
When Viktor woke up, the bed beside him was empty.
When they first married- no, since they first started sharing a room, Viktor had always been the first one to wake up. Yuuri was the night owl, up past the witching hour and struggling to get out of bed in time for their morning run. On their rest days, Yuuri would sleep into noon, and then still wouldn't be fully awake for another hour.
However, since finding out about the babies, everything about Yuuri had been off the table. He had fallen asleep as soon as the sun thought of setting, and often spent mornings in the bathroom leaning over the toilet. No matter how often it happened, it still sent a spike of anxiety up Viktor's spine.
"Yuuri?" Viktor called, slipping out of the comforter and stepping onto the bedroom floor. He loved Hasetsu, but never as much as St. Petersburg and their ubiquitous heated flooring.
Makkachin barked, a short acknowledgement from the kitchen.
"Yuuri, what are you doing?" Viktor yawned. The kitchen was several degrees cooler than the bedroom, but still warmer than anywhere in Japan.
"I'm hungry." Yuuri was still in his pajamas, covered in flour. Even makkachin was coated in fine dusting, making her look a little ghost-like.
"We have leftovers from dinner." Viktor folded his arms, trying to not to laugh. "What were you trying to do?"
"I'm craving those tiny pancakes."
"Blini?" Viktor's smile brightened into a wide grin. "By God, those are my children!" He sang, leaning down to kiss Yuuri's stomach. "I'll make some. Go and relax."
"I can totally do it-"
"Can you? Or was Makkachin doing it for you?" Viktor laughed, Yuuri's mouth twisting into adorable indignation.
"Makka wanted to help by jumping on me, yeah." Yuuri brushed the flour out of his hair, watching Viktor pull out a canister of cinnamon from the cabinet.
"Let me take care of my family. Go sit." Viktor pushed Yuuri gently on the small of his back. He waddled to the living room, sinking into the couch. Makkachin followed close behind, jumping on and curling on top of his legs.
"Makka, you're too big." Viktor sang sweetly.
"Every dog is a lap dog." Yuuri mumbled, playing with the poodle's ears.
Viktor hummed as he mixed the thin batter. He shook his hips to his made up melody as he pulled sour cream and fruit preserves from the fridge and set them on the counter. He plugged in the samovar next, pulling his two favorite mugs to brew tea in.
"I should be pregnant more often." Yuuri hummed in pleasure, cupping the warm mug in his hands, his lips curling into a smile at the plate set in front of him. Each blini pancake was rolled and arranged above two puddles of jam on the plate like a ray of sunshine, a drizzle of cinnamon syrup striping the soft rolls.
"I wouldn't complain. It's been pretty fun for me."
It had been years since Viktor had set foot on the campus. It had been his last taste of normal, before Yakov had set him up with tutors...and he had good reason not to face what the grounds held for him.
He may have grown up in the halls of the catholic school, but his mother lay buried behind the church. That was enough to keep him away for more than ten years.
But now he had Yuuri, and now he had two of Viktor-and-Yuuri's coming, and he couldn't ignore it any longer.
"It looks like Harry Potter." Yuuri murmured. It was still cold outside- Yuuri wrapped in the only wool coat in St. Petersburg big enough to button over his belly- but there was the promise of spring in the air.
"I guess it does. It was just school for me." Viktor laughed, his hand twisted around Yuuri's.
"It's kind of early to think about school." Yuuri's other hand rested on his stomach. He was so big and round that neighbors had begun sending over booties and gifts as if the babies would be born any minute. But they still had until July, and if Yuuri had any say in it, that is how long it would take. Even if it meant he could only walk half as fast and only sleep on his side in a nest of pillows.
"I wasn't thinking of that. I wanted you to meet someone."
"Your old math teacher?" It was between a joke and a genuine question. Viktor didn't have enough time to explain.
"Viktor Andreyevich! Look at you!" the oldest of the nuns cooed, a train of seven of them behind her. Viktor could recall three of them, their faces softened by age. He was sure they all knew him in some way- his father attended the same school, and had shared at least one teacher with his son.
Yuuri's eyes searched Viktor's, asking for an explanation. Yuuri could order a coffee and exchange pleasantries with the neighbors, but the nun's thick Russian was beyond him.
"Happy and healthy, sisters." Viktor smiled his brilliant Russian smile. "This is my husband, Yuuri Katsuki-Nikiforov." He pressed his hand to the small of Yuuri's back.
"Blessed to meet you, Yuuri Katsuki." one of the youngers sisters said. One woman, who Viktor vaguely remembered as his theology teacher pressed her hand to Yuuri's stomach. Sister after sister joined her, soft and wrinkled hands laid on Yuuri's ridiculously large stomach. A few said prayers, others cooed sweetly to the unborn.
Viktor laughed as a younger sister asked about their enrollment process.
It felt familiar, even if it had been a decade since Viktor had set foot inside a church.
They take another twenty minutes to say their goodbyes, a few of the older and looser ladies pulling Viktor into a hug.
When they're alone, Yuuri is too quiet.
"That was nice." Viktor said, his eyes turning to the corner of the grounds where his mother is buried.
Yuuri's breath comes too fast, and his voice doesn't come at all.
"Yuuri?" Viktor's heart fell into his stomach as he moved to stand in front of his husband.
The nostalgic buzz of the chance meeting is completely erased at the sight of Yuuri's wet eyes, of Yuuri shrinking away from him.
"We'll come back tomorrow." Viktor moved to take Yuuri's hand. Bringing him to a graveyard would be too heavy, especially with Yuuri on the thin edge of anxiety.
"No. I want to know why we're here."
"You're anxious, Yuuri, it's not the right time."
"I'm fine!" Yuuri's voice breaks on the last syllable.
"We'll come back another day, Yuuri."
"I'm fine, Viktor! It was.. It was just a lot of touching, and pressing, and I didn't know what the were saying."
"It was just some blessings for the babies. It's no big deal." Viktor regrets the words the moment he said them. The tears threatening to spill over streamed down Yuuri's face, gravel crunching underfoot. Yuuri's steps are heavy stomps as he walked back to the car.
"Yuuri! I'm sorry, I shouldn't say it was a big deal. It's not my place." Viktor's breath feels painful. Yuuri still won't look at him, even as his coat catches the tears dripping off his cheeks.
"I know you don't like being touched. I should've said something."
"My body is for me.. And you alone.." The words come out sounding angrier than Yuuri means them. "Why does everyone think they can come up and grab me?"
"Oh, Yuuri.."
Yuuri winced, his hand sliding from the front of his stomach to the side. "Katya doesn't like it. She won't stop kicking." Yuuri's mouth stretched into a grimace with the words.
"How….?"
"Ekaterina is here…" Yuuri's right hand flattens against the side of his stomach , the fabric moving nearly imperceptible. "And… Nikolai is on the left.." His left hand slides into a lower position. "That's what the doctor said."
"Katya… be nice to your daddy. He is working so hard." Viktor voice comes out in a soft coo. He wants nothing more to hold Yuuri, to comfort him and to feel the pressure of their child against his hand. But Yuuri needs space, however painful it is to give it to him.
"Share the space with Kolya," Yuuri said with a grunt, arching his back to stretch.
"I love it when you speak russian." Viktor hums. "It's incredibly sexy."
"Vitya, we're ten meters from a church and your old teachers."
"It's blasphemy not to tell you when you turn me on." Viktor turned on his best charming smile.
"What's the russian for 'stop being such an embarrassing dork'" Yuuri huffed, before giving Viktor a private smile.
"What's the Japanese for 'Never'" Viktor couldn't resist him anymore, wrapping his arms around his husband and resting it on top of his round belly.
"You know how to say that, it was in your vows." Yuuri let Viktor touch him. He leaned into Viktor's chest, taking one of Viktor's hand and sliding it to the side.
"Wow, my Katya, what a strong girl." Viktor cooed at the pressure against his palm.
"Too strong," Yuuri arched his back again, lifting his chin to look up at his husband. "It's not fair. You should feel what this is like."
"I would take the pain if I could, Yuuri."
"Yeah?" He didn't seem to believe him. "What, you'd want to be an omega?"
Viktor looked deep in thought. "Well, it would have made my teenage years a little easier. But I'm happy with who I am now. With you."
"What if I was an alpha?"
"Then I would've fallen for you just as hard." Viktor pressed a kiss to Yuuri's forehead. "I think your anxiety is talking, love." "Maybe I like hearing you talk." a soft blush graced his cheeks. "Weren't we supposed to meet someone?"
"Yeah, but there's no time limit. We can come back later."
"No, we're already here. Who are we meeting?" Yuuri turned in Viktor's arms until they were chest to chest, his brow furrowed. Yuuri could be stubborn.
"My mother." Viktor sighed, watching Yuuri's expression soften.
Yuuri had never pressed for details about his family, and he still didn't. He simply reached for Viktor's hand, holding it tightly in his. "Let's go?"
Viktor led him to the corner of the grounds where the cemetery was located. His great-grandmother and father lay a few plots over from his mother, who had one of the newer headstones in the row. The ground to the right of the plot lay empty and untouched, marked for his father and eventually, Viktor.
(Viktor would have to contact the church once he had a good explanation for getting rid of the plot beside I'd rather risk hell and be laid to rest in a buddhist ceremony with my husband)
They stood together at the foot of her grave in a moment of awkward silence.
"Um, mother. This is Yuuri, the love of my life. We got married last year." Viktor spoke to the chilly air. Yuuri watched him, before his eyes flickered back to the headstone.
"Nice to...meet you, Mrs. Nikiforov." Yuuri squinted at the cyrillic epitaph.
"Ekaterina."
"Oh." Yuuri's hand touched his stomach, his eyes widening at the revelation.
"I should have come earlier.. I'm sorry. I thought you'd understand… and know how happy I am." Viktor continued, training his eyes on the headstone. "Before, I was too scared to visit. But Yuuri makes me so happy, I'm not scared anymore."
Viktor moved forward, brushing dry leaves and moss from the top of the stone. He froze, looking back when he heard Yuuri sniffle.
"Oh, Yuuri, what's wrong?" Viktor stood up, his stomach twisting with worry. Was this too much?
"You a-always go on how happy I make you, but you're the one who makes me happy." Yuuri hiccuped.
Viktor's laugh burst out in a cloud into the cold air. "I'll say it until my dying day, Yuuri. Even when it's obvious." He took his place next to Yuuri, hugging him close.
"Mama… Yuuri's carrying your grandchildren. Two, at once. He's so good. I'll bring them when they're old enough. August, most likely, God be willing they stay inside that long."
Yuuri let Viktor talk for most of the visit, pausing to press his palms together in a silent prayer before they walked back to the car.
The visit would be coming sooner than anyone of them wished for.
Makkachin woke him up with the loudest bark he'd heard since the first day she had seen the window washers clean their windows. She was well trained- for being brought up by Viktor, anyway- and never barked out of the blue.
Until today, where it was two in the morning, and Viktor was alone in the bedroom yet again.
"What is it, girl?" Viktor yawned, reaching out to stroke her curly head. Makkachin barked again, pawing at his hand with a fervor greater than I need a walk.
"Yuuri?" Viktor sat up with a panic when he reached out to pat the other side of the bed, only to find it empty. He stumbled out of bed, his feet heavy on the hardwood floor as he stomped to the bathroom. It was dark, and Viktor found himself running to the living room. Yuuri was perched on the couch, one of the cushions from the loveseat pressed into the small of his back and his legs folded underneath him.
"Yuuri!" Viktor gasped, a visceral reaction to the pained noise that escaped from Yuuri's lips. His knees burned with pain as he dropped onto them with enough force for bruises to bloom instantly.
"Morning…" Yuuri gasped once the pain had passed.
"Yuuri, are you in labor?" They had already attended childbirth classes, preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. They still had another month until Nikolai wouldn't be considered premature.. But the doctor had told him that multiple pregnancies were harder, and it was likely the babies would be admitted to the intensive care unit no matter what.
"Kind of?" Yuuri grimaced. "D-don't look at me like that. I timed it. It's not enough to go to the hospital yet."
"We should go. Maybe they can give you something to delay it."
"Or not. It's just keeping me awake. We don't have to go to the hospital yet, Vitya."
Viktor frowned. He trusted Yuuri, but his immediate instinct was to go where it was safest. And safe meant hospital.
"Should I call your parents?" Viktor fussed, smoothing Yuuri's hair back and adjusting the small nest of pillows on the couch. Yuuri had dragged a few of the blankets Viktor had bought him with him into the living room.
Yuuri shrugged. "They're probably busy."
"They'd want to know."
"I want you to stay with me." Yuuri relented. Viktor went back into the bedroom, pulling on a pair of pants and a shirt and pausing to make them tea before returning to Yuuri on the couch. He called Yuutopia's main line, setting it on speaker as Makkachin curled up at his feet.
"Yuutopia Katsuki"
"Mama?" Yuuri gasped, flushing at how juvenile he sounded. Viktor rubbed small circles into his back. He felt a lot better surrounded by his husbands scent, but the tenseness and the pain of his muscles moving and pushing without his say was a little bit terrifying.
"Yuuri, what's wrong?" Hiroko sounded as cheerful as ever, but her mother's instincts were strong. The background noise on the phone line dropped.
"I think they're coming. The babies. I mean, I think I'm in labor."
Viktor stared at the floor in front of him. It was harder to decipher Japanese after spending so long in St. Petersburg. Even though it was the easy Saga-ben he had started off learning, they spoke much too fast for Viktor to catch every word.
But the call was for Yuuri, not for him. They talked, and Hiroko told him to do things that Viktor knew Yuuri would obey, if only for his mother. They talked for another hour, before Yuuri was gripped by another contraction.
Yuuri didn't leave the couch for the entire day- the contractions not increasing, but not lessening their grip either.
"We should go." Viktor said, his voice hushed as they reached the twelfth hour. They would've gone earlier, if it weren't for Katya's avid kicking between contractions reassuring Viktor on some level that they were all okay.
Yuuri nodded, letting Viktor carry him down the stairs to the car, his nose buried in Viktor's neck. Makkachin whined, scratching at the door and breaking Viktor's heart.
Yuuri didn't seem to rest any easier with sensors and wired glued to his stomach. Three hearts beat strongly on the monitor as the sun rose yet again.
"Yuuri, they're going to see about getting you a cesarean section." Viktor translated the doctor's latest update, smoothing Yuuri's hair back into the mint-green hospital pillow.
"No thank you." Yuuri mumbled, the pain dulled by the medicine dripping directly into his spine.
"Yuuri, I don't think you get to say no." Viktor bit out, his anxiety spiking. "It's either push, or he pulls the babies out."
Yuuri's eyes shot wide open. "No way, Viktor. They're not coming out until they're ready!"
"The doctor knows what to do, Yuuri." Viktor snapped, immediately regretting it at the look of fear on Yuuri's face.
"They're my babies in my body. " Yuuri tried to sound stubborn, but his voice shook nonetheless.
It's 3pm when Viktor returns the room, paper cup of too-hot tea in his hand. Yuuri's feet, wrapped in mismatched socks are pressing against the metal stirrups connected to the bed. His bangs are plastered to his forehead with sweat, and his gasp for air is returned with a cat-like cry.
Viktor drops the cup of tea.
Part of him should be disgusted- his child is grey-ish, squished and covered with blood. But he only feels in awe, in love and absolutely terrified. He gets to hold his eldest for what feels like only an instant. His chest burns, and he feels like he his holding his breath until the second cry comes twenty minutes later.
Yuuri fell asleep within minutes, as soon as the nurse places the two bundles on his chest. As expected, Katya the big sister is larger and stronger looking than her brother, who is half her size. Though technically not twins ( a fact Yuuri will never let Viktor live down) they share the same wispy cinnamon brown hair and bow-shape mouth that Yuuri prayed for.
"They're perfect, Yuuri. They look just like you." Viktor's heart is so full that it aches. He is thankful that he is too tired to act on the primal urges prickling the back of his brain. He wants to shut everyone out, be alone with only his Yuuri and his Kolya and Katya… but they arrived to early, and Viktor's logic knows they need to take care of them.
"Yuuri," Viktor's voice echoed across the apartment. The sun has just risen, and Katya is already awake and nursing. Nikolai is balanced against Yuuri's other knee.
"I'm busy!" Yuuri called back, rubbing the nipple of the bottle against his sons bottom lip. "If you both would coordinate a little bit, that'd be great." Yuuri hissed.
"Say aaaah." Viktor teased, holding a white pill between his fingers.
"Aaah?" Yuuri blinked, before grimacing and opening his mouth wide.
He almost forgot. Again.
Viktor dropped the heat blocker into Yuuri's mouth, following the bitter taste with a kiss.
Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.
William Shakespeare