victor allowed himself to spend two more nights camped at chris's penthouse, before he drove back to his own house he had bought in japan, "just for the hell of it."
he pulled up outside on the saturday morning, with nothing with him except his black jacket over his arm, house keys in his hand and a pack of chris's cigarettes in his trouser pocket along with his iphone.
once inside, victor tossed his keys onto the table in the hall and threw his jacket over a chair in the kitchen, and rummaged about the cupboards to find something that would take his mind off of nothingness.
vodka was the first thing that came to hand.
he sat down on the sofa, staring at the blank tv screen and unscrewing the cap. he was sure that he could quite easily drink himself to death, but he wasn't in the mood.
it took victor a few seconds to realise that the phone was ringing, and a few seconds to manage standing on his own two feet and using them.
"hello?"
the smell of vodka on his breath made him wrinkle his nose and sniff yet again.
"vitya?"
"mama?"
victor put his hearing things down to alcohol, but was taken aback when his mother spoke again.
"how are you doing? you don't call us often, vitenka. mama misses you, you know that. and so does papa."
victor noticed the little pause before she added that note about his father, and victor sighed heavily.
"mama, i'm visiting in a few weeks. and you're coming to barcelona, aren't you? i'll see you there. and papa. you'll be watching me skate."
"it's not the same watching my baby boy without his long hair," his mother said lovingly down the phone, her accent strong and familiar to victor, who swallowed back the small, unwanted lump growing in his throat.
"he looks like a fucking girl."
"mama, i have to go," victor announced, after the silence had gone on for far too long.
"oh. ok, vitya."
he shook his head and gripped the phone a little tighter.
"bye."
he hung up quickly, as he always did when she called, and ran a hand through his hair, pulling at the short roots in frustration.
"idiot," he muttered out loud, and leant his head back against the wall.
victor hadn't seen his parents in the flesh for nearly two years, but that was no surprise. he had nothing to say to his father, and had no idea how to act around his mother. because fame at such a young age had left no time for cuddles or kisses, just practice and smaller meals and scissors to cut short his long silver hair.
of course, he couldn't handle it on his own, as his mother and chris and jj were all aware of. he had all the money he needed, which was why he went against the contract his parents had signed for him and retired early, resigning himself to large, empty houses, moving about the different countries and snorting coke at parties with other celebrities.
because victor was still loved by the public for his good looks, which he knew would disintegrate along with his health as the lonely years went. that pretty russian face with the silver hair and turquoise eyes was still seen in adverts for calvin klein and printed on the front of glossy magazines, but his agent had managed to disclose his frequent drug use from the media.
it was chris who had managed to persuade victor to start up his career again, starting in barcelona that year, but victor hadn't bothered to train as vigorously as he would have done all those years ago, but was sitting on his sofa drinking vodka in he morning. because chris was worried about victor, and the drugs. and how lonely he had become, and careless as a result.
but victor would never dare say a thing, because that wasn't what he was like. he found it hard to say what he was feeling, even to chris, and found that alcohol would take the weight off his mind for a while.
and at least he forgot about his empty houses and the scissors in his father's hands when he was soaring up toward the sky on a sofa in an apartment full of drunken celebrities and rolled up fifties and twenties.
-----
"this is a perfect fit for you, mr nikiforov. really, it is."
victor rolled his eyes as the girl crouched down, measuring the length of his new suit trousers.
"just give me the most expensive one that you have," he said in a dull voice, flicking through apps on his phone.
"yuri. yuri katsuki."
victor hesitated, before opening up safari and typing away with one hand as the girl pulled out the tape measure.
yuri katsuki figure skater
he clicked on the first webpage that his blue eyes fell upon.
the competition was a disaster for young yuri katsuki, as he flubbed his final jump in front of a ruthless audience. his coach has informed us that mr katsuki has expressed the wish to retire so early, and yakov's new apprentice is one mr phitchit chunalot.
"you nearly done?"
"one moment please, mr nikiforov."
yuri katsuki instagram
victor scrolled and clicked.
no posts yet
he rolled his eyes as the girl tugged at his trousers a little to hard.
yuri katsuki snapchat
victor had no idea what he was doing, but he was bored as hell standing in the tailor's shop in an expensive suit he had no need to buy at all.
120th post
phit_chit_bby
add @ katsudon on sc to talk with my favourite lil pork cutlet bowl :)
victor raised an eyebrow, before opening up snapchat on his phone.
"almost done, sir."
add friends
victor paused, before typing into his search bar:
katsudon
he clicked to request quickly, before he swiped to shut down snapchat and slipped his phone into his back pocket.
"right. that'll do, thank you. i'll take it."
the bell tinkled behind him as he stepped outside into the cold air, and slid his hands into his back pockets.
he didn't want to go back to his huge, bare house, and didn't feel like calling up chris or jj, so he just started walking down the sidewalk, towards the well-known stores and rich upper class showing off their wealth in prada handbags and designer heels.
"i won't have my son looking like a fucking girl. it isn't natural, anya."
"it was good for his character back when he was sixteen - his agent agreed with him when we didn't. but it's weird now; it's gay. you want are son to be known as that? do you? you want that to be printed all over the newspapers?"
victor paused outside gucci, as the phone between under fingers in his back pocket vibrated.
he looked down and smirked.
snap from katsudon