Chapter Text
Victor felt as though he might vibrate out of his skin, or self-combust, or just in general explode, from all the feeling racing through his body. It didn’t feel like it could be real. It was such a low chance for it to be real. Yet right by his side walked the most beautiful man Victor had ever seen, with raven black hair, dark brown eyes and soft pink lips. Lips that Victor had kissed after having just exchanged a few sentences with him.
Yuuri.
Victor held back a squeal. He couldn't believe that the Yuuri he had been waiting for, for so long, was finally here beside him. He felt beyond fortunate that he had sought him out, and taken a chance on that scribbled down brunch appointment. He was even happier that Yuuri had written someone on his arm in there, so that Victor could notice it and chase after him. It made a chill race down his spine at the thought of him not having noticed, or seen it. They could have passed each other by so easily, and yet they hadn’t.
Victor had noticed Yuuri as soon as he had sat down at the table, their eyes meeting for just a moment. Something had swirled in Victor's stomach, warm and pleasant, as if trying to guide him to his destined destination. After that, he had a hard time not glancing towards the handsome stranger. Then, the man had picked up a pen to write along his wrist, and Victor had looked down at his own as if on impulse, and saw letters bloom up on his skin. Everything seemed to pause. For a moment, it felt like Victor couldn’t breathe or think as he stared down at the ‘ 22nd, birthday party for mom ’ which now decorated his skin. When he had come back to himself he had looked up, only to see the man and the woman he was with leaving. He had rushed out without a word, desperation racing in his chest.
Seeing the same lettering on Yuuri’s arms had made it feel like the entire world fell into place, and even if it was impulsive and a little stupid to kiss him, Victor had not been able to hold back. Yuuri’s lips had been perfectly sweet against his own, and butterflies had exploded in Victor’s stomach as he cupped his face, unwilling to let go. He had to however, because apparently Yuuri’s sister wanted to give him a shovel talk, and his own mothers wanted to tell Yuuri embarrassing stories about him. Victor couldn’t find it in himself to mind. He had found him.
He had finally found him.
Yuuri.
His fingers twitched in Yuuri’s hand, the familiar impulse to reach out and touch the mark he so much related to his soulmate vibrating through his body. Yuuri seemed to notice, and squeezed his hand once. Victor squeezed back, and felt heat rush to his cheeks. He was so happy he thought he might burst.
“Here we are,” Yuuri said, and Victor looked up at the sign over the door. Katsuki & Chulanont’s Fantasy Bookshop . It was in one of the old alleys in the old part of town, with greenery growing between the buildings, crooked walk paths and uneven cobblestones. Victor had passed by here at least bi-weekly for years, walking from his apartment to his favorite coffee shop on days off.
He had never been inside. How foolish it felt now.
“This is yours?” he asked, and Yuuri nodded, looking excited and nervous all at once. “I’ve never been.”
“It’s been ours, mine and Phichit’s for four years now,” Yuuri said as he reached for the door handle. “It’s hard work, but it’s a nice place.”
“You want to show me?” Victor asked, and Yuuri nodded again, his hand pressing down the handle. A thrill of excitement rushed up Victor's spine. He wanted to know everything about Yuuri, and this seemed to be important. He hoped he wouldn’t screw it up. He couldn’t screw it up.
The door opened up to a small shop with light walls, but dark floors and decorations, well-kept and in order. They paused just inside the door, and Victor looked around in awe. It was perfect, everything he thought a space like this should be. The walls were lined with bookshelves and cases, where books, games and merchandise was displayed. The middle of it had lover cases of comic books, magazines and other goods, neatly in order. The walls not covered in shelves had large art pieces, some which had characters and landscapes Victor recognized, some that he didn’t know.
Further into the shop, to the right, there was a hole in the wall into the shop space next door, only it didn't look like a shop. More like a cafe or something. Victor saw rows of board games lined up, and large posters decorated the wall which explained the rules of different games. Instrumental music flowed through the joined space, which was currently hosting several customers. None of them paid them any mind however, looking at books and merchandise displayed in the shop.
It was a cozy space, and the shop smelled like one of those old bookshops that Victor liked to visit when he was out traveling for competition. To the right was a large dark wooden counter for the register, with more merch as well as snacks displayed. Behind it stood a dark haired tan man who was assisting a customer. He smiled at them, and made some joke just as the purchase was done. Then his eyes drifted to them and his smile became even wider.
“Yuuri!” he exclaimed loudly, and beside him Victor felt Yuuri startle. “Already back? How was brunch….” the man seemed to notice their joined hands and his voice trailed off. His eyes grew wide as he took them both in, almost comically large. His face snapped up then, and his mouth hung open wide as he blinked.
“Phichit,” Yuuri said beside Victor, putting up his free hand as if to calm the other man, who’s gaze flickered between them rapidly.
“Oh god,” Phichit whispered, and Victor felt Yuuri squeeze his hand tighter.
“This is-” Yuuri started, but it seemed Phichit wasn’t listening or perhaps he was too worked up to pause because he simply continued, the volume of his voice increasing with each word.
“Oh god, oh god,” Phichit said, and Victor blinked in surprise, not really sure what to make out of this.
“My soulmate,” Yuuri continued, and Victor’s heart filled with warmth at the sound of Yuuri calling him his soulmate for the first time. Victor had said it, when he presented Yuuri to his mothers, but this was the first time the word had passed between Yuuri’s lips about him .
“Oh my goooooooooood!” Phichit screamed, startling the customers in the shop, who all looked at him with wide eyes, and then at Victor and Yuuri.
“Victor,” Yuuri then introduced, but Phichit was already jumping over the counter and flung himself at Yuuri, who had to let go of Victor’s hand to capture him. Victor feared they might have tumbled to the floor if he hadn’t. Still, his hand suddenly felt very cold. How silly.
“Yuuri!” Phichit exclaimed joyously, at the same time as Yuuri let out an oof from being collided with. “Oh my god I can’t believe it! I told you! I told you, and you did go to that bruch and aaaaah!” Phichit cheered, and then pried himself from Yuuri to look at Victor. He was beaming, his grey eyes glittering with joy.
“Hi,” Victor said, waving his hand. Phichit reached out and took it instead, shaking once, a little too forceful, as he started bouncing on his heels. “I’m Victor.
“Hello Victor,” Phichit said, looking at Yuuri again before looking at Victor once more. “I’m Phichit, I’m Yuuri’s best friend and business partner.”
“Nice to meet you,” Victor said with a laugh, as Phichit let out a happy squeal. Victor looked over at Yuuri, who’s cheeks were deep red. He looked nervous, and Victor reached out for him again. Like a magnet who longed to be pressed together. Yuuri looked at his hand for a moment, and then took it to lace their fingers together. His fingers trembled a little, and Victor ran his thumb over the back of his hand, hoping to soothe him. He wasn’t sure it was working. Victor had never been particularly good at helping people deal with their emotions, and he was dreadful dealing with his own, but he really wanted to be there for Yuuri. To be good for him. Anything else seemed far too painful to bear.
“How did you know?” Phichit asked with wide eyes, still bouncing. “Did you just look at each other and know ?”
“I wrote something on my arm and it appeared on his,” Yuuri answered, and Victor glanced down at his arm where the writing was peeking out under his sleeve. He looked up, and found Yuuri’s eyes turned down too. “We were both sitting in the restaurant, and Victor noticed.” Yuuri continued, before he looked up again. Victor felt his stomach swoop when their gazes met. He couldn’t help but smile, and Yuuri smiled back even if his cheeks were still dark with flush and his hand still slightly trembling in his grip.
“Sounds like a rom-com in the making, sell me the rights and I’ll write it into a bestseller,” Phichit said, and Victor looked at him with a frown, but heard Yuuri chuckle to his side.
“Stop being silly,” Yuuri said, and then smiled softly as he looked back to Victor. “Don’t mind him. He’s just excited.”
“I am excited,” Phichit said with a wide grin, but then seemed to calm a little. “I’m really happy too.” He looked back at Victor, a tender expression on his face. “Yuuri’s a wonderful person, stubborn and strong, who's too hard on himself. He’s also considerate and thoughtful, and always tries his best. You’re a very lucky person.”
“Phichit,” Yuuri groaned, and when Victor looked back at him he had covered his face with his free hand. Phichit tutted, and Victor bit into his lower lip, because his soulmate was so cute.
“I’m only speaking the truth,” Phichit said confidently, then he looked back at Victor with a sterner expression. “Did you meet Mari?”
“I did,” Victor confirmed, Phichit hummed. Yuuri’s sister had been an experience, and Victor had to hide his excitement of having Yuuri right there as she threatened to end his life. It might have been good that his mothers didn’t hear that, because he did not want to start this off with a family feud. As romantic as Romeo and Juliet was, Victor wanted only happy endings.
“Did she threaten you with indescribable torture if you did anything reprehensible?” Phichit asked, and Victor nodded gravely, even if he was once again fighting laughter.
“Yes, no one would find the body and so on and so forth,” Victor retold, and Phichit nodded in understanding before he broke into a wide smile again.
“Great,” he said, throwing his arms out before he let out what sounded like a relieved sigh. “Nothing I can say will be as terrifying as Mari, so now I don’t have to.”
“You’re both terrible,” Yuuri sighed, but Victor let out a giggle. He was learning so much about his soulmate already! It was wonderful. Through the years, he hadn’t received many written messages, even if he constantly kept a lookout on his arms and hands especially, so it was wonderful to get to know him now. “Victor, do you want to go up to the apartment so we can be alone?”
“Oooh,” Phichit teased, and Yuuri lunched out at him, making Phichit squeal and jump back. “Fine, fine I give!”
“Yes, that sounds great,” Victor agreed, because he had so much he wanted to know and so much he wanted to ask, and while Phichit seemed lively and fun he really longed to spend some time with this man who he had waited for for so long.
“Okay you kids get out of here,” Phichit said with a wink, and Yuuri let out a sigh as he tugged lightly on Victor’s hand to lead him through the store. Several eyes followed them, and Victor winked at them when he noticed. They scrambled back to look at the displays then, and Victor held back a giggle. Were they perhaps regulars who knew Yuuri?
“He’s two years younger than me but he says things like that all the time,” Yuuri said with a shake of his head, pushing open a door in the back. Then he turned and paused, and Victor almost walked into him. Yuuri blinked up at him, furrowing his brows before he spoke again. “How- how old are you?”
“Oh!” Victor exclaimed, realizing why Yuuri had been a bit pensive. That could be a sensitive question. Victor was a bit self-conscious about his age, but it wasn’t that odd in his previous line of profession. He had retired from figure skating just the year before, still at the top of his career, just because it didn’t give him any joy anymore. Still, he wanted to share things with Yuuri. He knew that his age was nothing in the real world, even if he felt ancient in the competitive figure skating circuit. “I’m thirty-one.”
“I’m twenty-eight,” Yuuri said with a soft smile. Victor smiled back, and squeezed his hand before he walked them further into what seemed to be a storage room. “I’m sorry about Phichit, he’s just a very good friend but very excitable.”
“He seemed very nice,” Victor said, because he did. Yuuri seemed to have people who cared about him in his life, and that made Victor very happy to know. “We went to college together, and then we really felt like there wasn’t a place like this here, so we decided to start one.”
“That’s amazing,” Victor said, as Yuuri guided them up a narrow staircase. It creaked with each step they took. Yuuri shook his head and laughed.
“It was foolish, but we’ve had a lot of fun,” he said as they passed one door on the second floor, but continued further up. “That’s Phichit’s apartment,” Yuuri said. “Had I known how much sleep I would lose over this place I probably wouldn’t have done it, but it’s also been really great.”
“Some of the best things are very foolish to begin with,” Victor proclaimed, and Yuuri agreed. They had come to the top of the stairs then, and Yuuri opened the door to let Victor in.
“This is my place,” Yuuri said with a smile. “We actually bought this entire building, which was the first foolish thing we did, since it was far too expensive, but it worked out since we started living here too. Phichit has an apartment that looks almost like this, only you know styled as he likes it.”
The apartment was small, but beautiful. There was a tiny hallway to hang a couple of coats and put a couple of pairs of shoes, and that was about it. They toed off their shoes, and hung up their jacket, bumping into each other as they did. Yuuri flushed very prettily, and Victor was sure the bridge of his nose was tinted pink too. Once they had ridden themselves of the outerwear, Yuuri showed Victor further inside. The door out of the hallway led into a space which held a kitchen counter running along one wall, with a small two person kitchen table to the side. In the middle of the room stood a couch which took up most of the space, which looked out over a big TV-set up. To the side were three large windows with deep bays, where blankets and pillows laid. There was even an open comic book laying in one of them, as if Yuuri had been sitting there reading and then stepped away. To the right was a door which Yuuri explained led to the bathroom, and to the left was a set of glass doors which lead to Yuuri’s bedroom. Victor peered through the glass door which was open, spotting a queen size bed and walls decorated in dark blue.
“It’s beautiful Yuuri,” Victor said in awe. It was so different from his own modern open plan apartment with too much space and too little soul. This felt like a home, with trinkets and photos and warm colors. He really liked it.
“The building does most of the work,” Yuuri said, even if he did look like agreed. Victor smiled. He was just so pretty, it was impossible not to. “Do you want to sit? I have uhm… tea? Or maybe coffee? I also have water?”
“Tea would be great,” Victor said, sitting down on the couch and watching as Yuuri walked over to the kitchen while talking about the apartment. He started the kettle, and then took down two cups from the cabinet as well as tea. Victor couldn’t look away from him.
When all was done but the water Yuuri turned to rest against the counter, looking over at him. For a moment neither of them said anything, only smiling shyly as their cheeks colored. Victor found himself at a loss for words. There was so much he wanted to know, but he didn’t want to just come out and ask them. He knew he could be too straight forward, and he wanted to do this right.
“Hi,” Yuuri said after a moment of them staring at each other, and Victor smiled, feeling some of the tension release as they both giggled. There was still a tingling sensation in his chest however, bubbling like champagne.
“Hi,” Victor answered, and just then the kettle turned off. Yuuri turned to pour hot water into the cups, and then brought them as well as tea with him over to the table. He placed a cup before Victor, who looked at the steam before he looked over at Yuuri. He had settled on the couch opposite him, curled up a little.
“Sorry I-” Yuuri said, and then let out a sigh. “I’m not very good at being social and I- I don’t know where to start.”
Victor felt some tension release in his chest, and he settled back too, pulling one leg up to rest his knee on the couch. “Yes I just… I want to know so much but I don’t want to come on too strong or be too much.”
“Mmh,” Yuuri said, nodding slowly. “Maybe we can play a game or something?”
Oh, that was an excellent idea!
“Like twenty questions?” Victor suggested, and Yuuri perked up, and nodded.
“Oh!” he said, reaching for his cup while keeping curled up on the couch. “That’s a good idea! Do you want to start?”
“Okay,” Victor said with a nod, considering for a moment. “Who would you say are your family?”
“My parents and my sister,” Yuuri said with a nod. “My mother’s name is Hiroko, and my father’s Toshiya, and you already met Mari.... I guess Mari’s wife too, Sara. They’re soulmates as well.”
“Okay, good then I’ve already met twenty five percent of them,” Victor said and Yuuri laughed and took a sip of his tea. “Now you go.”
“What do you work with?” Yuuri asked, and in that fashion they continued trading trivia and stories. They didn’t keep strictly to the rules, asking and answering follow up questions without a second thought. This was about getting to know each other after all. Victor learned Yuuri’s favorite type of travel, his favorite dish, if he was a cat or dog person - dog, thankfully. Victor wasn’t sure how he would have handled it if Yuuri wouldn't like Makka. The sun had set, and a delivery pizza rested on the table when they were starting to run out of questions or perhaps energy. Victor had just learned that Yuuri could juggle, and was resting back chewing on the final slice of pizza, waiting for him to ask the next question.
“Uuugh, my mind is getting empty. I don’t know what to ask,” Yuuri said, his head resting against the backrest but with his face turned towards Victor.
“Take your time,” Victor said. His mothers had gone to pick up Makka at the apartment so he didn’t have to worry, so he was in no hurry to leave. He was having far too good of a time anyway. Yuuri was funny and smart, and Victor was now so in love with him.
“Do you have any tattoos or piercings?” Yuuri asked finally, and Victor felt nerves climb up his chest for the first time in hours. He cleared his throat, and looked down on his still covered sleeves.
“Ah, I do actually,” he admitted, and then looked up to meet Yuuri’s eyes. Yuuri looked intrigued, and Victor let out a slow breath. He would have to show him sometime. “Do you… do you want to see?”
“Yeah,” Yuuri agreed, sitting up a little straighter. “If you want to of course. No pressure.” Victor nodded, and then reached to pull the left sleeve one up. His lower arm was dotted with scribbles, lines of text which had nothing to do with each other. A tiny heart here, an X there as well as there, but sentences too; Have fun, Be safe, Take Care, I wish I was with you. All of Yuuri’s messages had been so tender. All of them seemed to be answers to his own as well. There was the newest one too, the black starker than the others; Good luck, I wish I could hold your hand for it. It had appeared under Victor’s note about a dentist appointment, and it had made Victor’s heart soar. Then there was the most significant one, in purple instead. Right at the bend of his elbow stood the information he had carried with him as his most important treasure; My name is Yuuri.
Victor looked at Yuuri’s face, which went from intrigued to shocked. He looked over the lines in his own writing, and Victor’s heart pounded as he watched him read. Yuuri reached out slowly, but his fingers paused just before they touched the purple tattoo.
“That’s my name,” Yuuri said, his voice nothing but a whisper. “In my writing.”
“Yes,” Victor agreed with a nod, his heart hammering in his chest.
“Victor,” Yuuri said, his voice sounding filled with awe and it made Victor’s heart ache wonderfully. “Are these…”
“Yeah,” he answered as it seemed Yuuri wasn’t going to continue, his fingers still hovering over the tattoo but with his face turned up to meet Victor’s gaze. “Well, the ones I’ve gotten since I turned eighteen. My mothers wouldn’t let me before then.”
“Victor,” Yuuri said, sounding so breathless. Victor looked into his eyes, and then laid his right hand over Yuuri’s, to press it down on his own arm, and all the marks Yuuri had left there, that Victor had filled in with ink.
“There weren't that many,” Victor admitted, because there hadn’t been. “I don’t know how much you wrote but I just… I didn’t want to lose them.”
“Victor,” Yuuri said again, and now he pushed forward slowly. His free hand came to cup Victor’s cheek, and Victor leaned into him, so easily giving his lips up to kiss. It was soft and sweet, and Victor felt his whole chest burn with it. Yuuri pulled back, and his eyes were gleaming in a way victor could barely handle. He curled his fingers a little tighter around Yuuri’s hand, which was still laid on his arm.
“You don’t think it’s a little too much?” Victor asked, beside himself, before he was so frightened. Yuuri let out a breathless little laugh.
“No,” he whispered, shaking his head. “I think it’s beautiful.”
“Okay,” Victor said, and then he kissed him again, and hoped never to stop.