People have always been easy for Victor Nikiforov. Figuring out what makes them tick or what makes them shut down has never never taken much effort. He knows when to smile and when to wave and when to offer a word of encouragement.

Victor is good at casual conversations, at making strangers love him, at making them want him in every way.

But this isn’t like any of that.

This isn’t casual, this isn’t distant, this isn’t fake.

This is Yuuri laughing with him when they see stupid pictures of Yuri on instagram.

This is Yuuri falling asleep against his shoulder at dinner with his family.

This is Yuuri practicing in the rink until his breath is ragged and his feet are bruised.

This is Yuuri staying up with him and watching stupid movies until dawn is peeking over the horizon.

This is Yuuri surpassing every expectation Victor’s ever had.

This is Yuuri smiling at him like Victor’s the only person he wants to see.

This is something entirely new.

Victor isn’t good at this.

Caring about someone like this, having someone care about him like this...he doesn’t know what to do with it.

He can’t stop thinking about the way that Yuuri looked when he was crying. He can’t stop thinking about how it was his fault.

He can’t stop thinking about how Yuuri looked right after he had done the quadruple flip. He can’t stop thinking about how, maybe, that was because of him too.

He can’t stop thinking about what happened right afterwards.

Victor has wanted to kiss Yuuri for a long time, for months now. He’s been attracted to Yuuri since he first saw him on video all those months ago. It was a rush of interest in the way he looked, in the way he skated. And it just grew from there, like nothing he had ever felt.

At first, he looked at Yuuri and he just wanted.

But then he started looking at Yuuri and wanting to protect him, to make him happy.

Now he looks at Yuuri and he wants everything with him.

It’s terrifying.

Before, when he wanted someone it was easy and fast and fleeting. But with Yuuri he’s always been careful to go slow, not to rush. Yuuri is so important and Victor doesn’t want to mess it by going too fast this time, like he almost did at the beginning.

But the dam broke. After all this time, the dam broke and Victor couldn’t hold back anymore.

He had hoped desperately that it wouldn’t ruin everything. Judging from the way Yuuri smiled afterwards and the way he’s still smiling now, it didn’t.

They’re sitting in a cab on the to the airport now, a seat between them as they both watch China roll by outside the windows. Victor never did get to go see the Great Wall. Ah, well. He can come back someday.

He glances sidelong at Yuuri gazing out the other window. Maybe Yuuri will come with him. They could go after the season was over, make a vacation out of it

But, no. He’s going too fast again. He takes a deep breath. Slow down, slow down.

Outside the sun is setting and the cab continues on through the gathering dark.

“Yuuri?” Victor says.

“Hmmm?” Yuuri looks over at him. There are circles, dark and smudgy like smeared mascara, under his eyes. Victor doubts that he’s slept much in the past two days.

“I…” He doesn’t know what he was going to say. Mostly, he just wanted Yuuri’s attention. He wants Yuuri’s attention all of the time. It's become rather distracting. “You did well today.”

Yuuri’s lips twitch into a smile. “Yeah.” He agrees and he looks satisfied and confident. “I did, didn’t I?” That look is Victor’s favorite on Yuuri’s face.

“You’ll have to practice the quadruple flip more, though.” He says and he can’t help the way he smiles when he says it. He never thought that Yuuri would do something like that, something like take his signature move and perform it back for him. It makes his heart beat hard just thinking about it.

“Okay.” Yuuri agrees, still looking tired and satisfied. That expression...Victor bites his lip and looks away. Too fast, always too fast…

“We’ll be there soon.” The driver calls back in accented English. “Three minutes.”

“Thank you!” Victor says.

“I can’t wait to go home.” Yuuri sighs. “My own bed and kastudon…”

“I, for one, am looking forward to the onsen.” Victor says. Onsens are probably in his top three favorite things about Japan. The other two are probably the fact that random people stop him to take pictures and, of course, Yuuri himself.

Yuuri laughs. “One day you’re going to melt. Or just grow gills.”

Victor gasps. “Me with gills. Can you imagine?” He examines his reflection in the window. “Do you think I’d still be beautiful?”

Yuuri rolls his eyes. “Yes, yes Victor.” He says. “You’d be the king of the fish people.”

Victor is still laughing as the cab comes to a stop.

He insists on paying the driver himself and getting their luggage from the trunk. “It’s a coach’s job to take care of their skater.” He says, shouldering Yuuri aside when he tries to grab his own bag.

“Victor…” Yuuri huffs.

Victor strides off, still carrying both bags. He may, just a little tiny bit, still be feeling guilty about making Yuuri cry.

“C’mon.” Victor shifts both of the bags to his far hand so he can wrap an arm around Yuuri’s shoulders and pull him in close. “We’re this way.”

“You’ve been here before?” Yuuri says, raising his eyebrows. “Other than when we got in, I mean.”

“Mmmm, probably.” Victor shrugs. “Most airports look the same, though, so I can’t be sure.”

“You’ve gone just about everywhere, haven’t you?” Yuuri says with a small laugh.

“You will have too once I’m done with you.” Victor says, steering him through the crowd.

“Do you plan on being done with me anytime soon?” Yuuri asks, voice low.

A pleasant thrill goes up Victor’s spine and he leans in closer. “Mmmm, never.” He murmurs in Yuuri’s ear and is pleased to hear his breath hitch.

Ah, he wants to do so many things with Yuuri. But...not yet, not too fast. He doesn’t think Yuuri has had sex before. In fact, he’s almost sure of it. They’ll have to work up to it.

He lets his lips brush Yuuri’s ear and smiles at the way he shivers. He’s going to enjoy working up to it. Once Yuuri is ready, of course.

“Come on~” Victor sings softly. “We’ll miss our flight.”

“Ah-ha, okay.” Yuuri is blushing and Victor takes pity on him, dropping his arm and grabbing Yuuri’s hand instead.

They have to run a bit to make their flight on time and it takes some very intense smiling and flirting from Victor for the lady at the desk to make her let them onto the plane.

“You’re good at that.” Yuuri says as they hurry inside and take their seats.

“Hmmm?” Victor settles into his and looks over at Yuuri. “I’m good at most things. You’ll have to specify what you mean.”

“Oh, hush.” Yuuri shoves him. “You know what I mean. You’re good at getting people to do what you want.”

“Oh, that.” Victor says dismissively. “Well, most people are easy to read.”

“Am I,” Yuuri asks, “Easy to read?”

Victor taps his chin and pretends to think. “Well…” He says, “I thought so at first, but lately…” He looks over at Yuuri through half-lidded eyes, “I find you to be a constant surprise.”

Yuuri bites his lip. “Oh, really?”

Victor’s eyes flick down to his lips and up again. “Yes.” He says softly. “Really.”

Yuuri leans in a bit and Victor is going to do it, he’s going to kiss him again in the middle of an airplane full of bored businessmen and yawning families, but the speaker crackles to life announcing something that Victor doesn’t understand in Chinese and the something in Japanese that Victor understands two or three words of.

“The flight should be about three hours.” Yuuri translates for him, leaning back with a rueful smile.

“I understood the word three.” Victor says. “And hello.”

“I’m so proud.” Yuuri says with a smile.

Victor shakes his head, but he’s smiling too. He tried, without a lot of success, to learn Japanese. He know from some frustrated-looking scribbles he saw on Yuuri’s desk the other day that Yuuri has been trying to learn Russian. But, for now, English is the language they connect in.

They both watch out the window as the plane taxis down the runway and finally takes off. Yuuri clings to his hand as the plane whirs and soars higher and higher off the ground. After so many competitions, Victor isn’t phased by planes anymore. But Yuuri still gets pale when they take off and touch down. It’s cute.

“I hate that.” Yuuri sighs once they’re high in the air and the fasten seatbelt light has clicked off.

“I like it.”

“Yeah?”

“Mmmhmm.” Victor nods and smiles. “It means I get to hold you hand.”

Once, Yuuri would have blushed violently and spluttered. Now, he looks away and smiles, like he’s trying to hide it from Victor. “You can hold my hand whenever you want.” He says, soft but there.

“Oh?” Victor tries not to let his surprise or his delight show. “Really? Whenever I want?”

“Well, not all the time!” Yuuri stammers a bit. “N-not when it would be inconvenient or when I’m skating obviously, but…”

“Yuuri…” Victor hums, taking Yuuri’s hand in his. “Relax.”

“O-okay.” Yuuri looks at their clasped hands. “Okay.”

They laspe into comfortable silence, occasionally remarking on the fading light outside the windows or on the other passengers. Soon the in-flight movie clicks on and Victor frowns at it. It’s in Chinese again.

Yuuri laughs at him. “Here.” He leans forward and taps a button with the hand not still clasped in Victor’s. English subtitles appear at the bottom on the screen.

“Oh, thank you.” Victor says.

“Sure.” Yuuri yawns.

“You can sleep, you know.” Victor offers. “I’ll wake you when we get there.”

“It’s okay.” Yuuri says. “I can sleep when we get back.”

“Yuuri.” Victor taps his nose with a finger. “You know that your parents and your sister and Minako and Yuko and Nishigori and the triplets will all be waiting up for you. It’s okay,” He says with a smile. “Get some rest.”

“Ah, I suppose you’re right.” Yuuri says ruefully. “They’ll want to hear everything.”

“Don’t pretend like you’re not excited to tell them.”

“Right now, I’m more excited about sleeping in my own bed.” Yuuri says, but he leans back against his seat and closes his eyes. His glasses are packed away so he doesn’t need to worry about the breaking or getting lost.

“Mmmm.” Victor hums and leans back in his seat. His own bed...he hasn’t been back to his apartment in Russia in a long time. All of his partially-plants are definitely completely dead by now. Still, he thinks he prefers the cozy spare room in Yuuri’s parent’s house to the empty, high-ceilinged place where he had only Makachin and a couple of dying plants for company.

Yuuri falls asleep quickly, mouth hanging just a little open. Victor smiles and pushes the hair out of his eyes. “You did so well.” He says softly. “I’m so proud.”

Yuuri snores softly in response and Victor smiles.

He turns to the movie after watching Yuuri sleep for a minute or so. It’s a generic love story between an office worker and her boss, who she starts off hating. It’s overdone and terribly cliche and Victor lets himself get invested anyway.

He’s scoffing loudly by the end because why would the main character want to date her boss when she clearly has such amazing chemistry with her best friend character? Some of the other people on the plane are giving him odd looks and one older woman even has the audacity to shush him.

When they angle down for a descent a half-hour later, Victor is incredibly relieved. This place ride has been such a waste. The movie was bad, the peanuts the stewardess gave out were stale and Yuuri fell asleep leaning against the window and not on Victor’s perfectly available shoulder.

Yuuri wakes up by himself during the descent so Victor is robbed of the joy of waking Yuuri up. Truly, this plane ride has been a disaster. He sighs heavily and Yuuri shoots him a look.

“How was the movie?” He asks, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

“A terrible waste.” Victor says immediately. “Anyone could see that the main character had more chemistry with her best friend than with her boss.”

“Um.” Yuuri blinks. “Okay.”

“The boss character was such a jerk too.” He complains. “She only liked him because he had money.” He looks over at Yuuri. “You don’t like me for my money, do you?”

“Well,” Yuuri says with a yawn, “Not just for your money.”

“Hey!”

Yuuri laughs and touches Victor’s shoulder in silent apology before he glances out the window. “It’s dark.” He says.

“That happens at night, Yuuri.”

Yuuri shoots him an annoyed glance. Victor laughs and pokes his cheek.

“You’re cute.” He says.

“You’re dumb.” Yuuri says, but he’s blushing.

“Well, that’s rude.”

“You’re rude.”

“No, I’m fantastic.”

“Fantastically rude.”

“Fantastically fantastic.”

“Is that even a thing?”

“As someone who is fantastically fantastic, I can say it is.”

Yuuri bursts out laughing and leans against Victor. “Oh really?”

“Yes really.” Victor says and brushes Yuuri’s hair away from his eyes. “Now come on.” He holds out a hand. “We’re landing.”

Yuuri takes the hand and grasps it. “You might be a bit fantastic.” Yuuri says. “But just a bit.”

“I’ll take it.” Victor laughs and squeezes Yuuri’s hand. It’s warm.

The plane touches down and, after waiting what feels like forever because this plane is terrible, Yuuri and Victor get up from their seats, grab their bags and make their way out out of the plane, through the airport and out into the refreshing night air.

They take another cab back to Yuuri’s house. Yuuri dozes and Victor watches as the lights outside the window grow slowly dimmer and farther apart as they leave the city. When they finally pull up to Yuuri’s house, things are dark and quiet. Victor pays the driver himself again before Yuuri can argue, but Yuuri beats him to the luggage and grabs both bags before Victor can.

Victor calls him some rude names in Russian and Yuuri grins at him.

Victor wants to kiss that grin right off his face.

They walk side-by-side up to the inn after Victor admits defeat and lets Yuuri carry their bags. It’s not like he lost...he’s just being patient. He’ll totally get the bags when they go to Russia. He’s got the homefield advantage there.

“Ah, it’s so good to be home!” Yuuri sighs happily. He goes to open the door and step inside, but Victor, knowing the whole family and probably a good part of the town will be up and waiting for them, stops him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey. Wait a moment.”

“Victor?” Yuuri turns to look at him. “What is it?”

“What happened on the rink...after your free skate…” He swallows.

“Yeah?” Yuuri tilts his head to the side. “What about it?”

“Was that okay?” Victor blurts the question because it has been trapped just behind his teeth since the moment it happened.

“You kissing me?” Yuuri turns a little pink saying it, but holds Victor’s gaze.

“Yeah.” Victor says. “Me kissing you. Was that okay?”

Yuuri takes one very deliberate step towards Victor, face confident and resolute. That expression makes Victor’s breath hitch. “Victor.” He says, very clearly. “Listen to me.” He reaches up and puts a hand on Victor’s cheek. “That was very, very okay.”

“Oh?” Victor tries not to let his relief show, but he’s pretty sure it does anyway. “You wouldn’t be opposed to it happening again, then?”

Yuuri leans up and, this time, he’s the one who kisses Victor. His lips are soft and a bit shy, but Victor reaches out and pulls him closer, kisses him deeper almost instantly. He tastes like chapstick and Victor wants to kiss him senseless, wants to pin him to the wall and…

He pulls back and smiles, reaching out to run a thumb along Yuuri’s lower lip.

Slow down. Slow down.

“Does that answer your question?” Yuuri’s breath is quick and hot against Victor’s lips.

“Maybe.” Victor hums. “We might have to do it again to be sure.”

Yuuri laughs and Victor leans in to kiss him, quick and sure. It feels good, so good. He wants to do it a hundred more times, a thousand, but Yuuri’s friends and family are waiting just a door away.

Victor smiles and touches Yuuri’s lips with fingers that he refuses to admit are shaking. “They’re all waiting for you.” He says softly. “Better get in there.”

Yuuri takes his hand. “They’re waiting for us, Victor.” He says with a smile.

Yuuri opens the door wide and he pulls them both through.