"Come on, Yuuurriiiii, this spot is perfect!"
After class had finished, I had immediately seized the opportunity and taken him on that picnic. It was surprisingly pleasant given the time of year and that St. Petersburg was rarely warm outside of the summer. It made me smile in contentment as I glanced back behind me to where Yuuri was climbing the grassy slope. While it was only a gradual incline, I had grown to love running back and forth, up and down it, and it had played a major part in my childhood training.
I could remember the many hours I'd spent playing tag with my sister whenever she came home from boarding school, and how Klara would join us whenever little Nastya dragged her over too.
The thought of Nastya - I'm sorry, Anya - and Klara made me slightly melancholy. They would make such a sweet couple, if my sister would just come to her senses. There was no one more perfect for her than Klara. It was one of the many reasons I hoped she wouldn't want my Yuuri; if not for my selfish sake, then for her own.
I was going to have to tell Yuuri, and soon, or it would only keep weighing upon my mind.
And if he didn't feel that way about me, then I'd have to be fine with that. Sure, I'd probably cry constantly for about six months straight, but I wouldn't let it ruin what I had with him already.
Yeah, that sounded like a good plan.
As I reached the tree grove at the top of the slope, I unfurled the blanket that I'd brought and flung myself onto it. I heard a small chuckle behind me and grinned to myself as I felt a second body land beside me.
"Victor, how often do you run up this hill? I can hardly keep up!" Yuuri sounded out of breath, and honestly I couldn't blame him.
"I like to think that I have very impressive speed!" I winked at him.
"Well, that may be so, but I've heard that the same can't be said for your stamina."
...
Holy sprinkles on a birthday cake.
Did he just?
He did.
"... Did Chris tell you that? 'Cause I guarantee he's not the best judge on that front," I questioned after a moment of reluctance.
His face turned white as a sheet and then redder than my Olympic jacket in a matter of moments. His hand shot up to his mouth as I watched his eyes opened wider than I'd ever seen them before.
"I-I'm sorry; I didn't mean to bring that up! Oh God, I'm so sorry; I know that's private," he groaned, completely covering his eyes with his hands and trying to wrap himself into his end of picnic blanket.
For a moment I was stuck; I'm awful at coping with distressed people. I was almost rendered completely useless as I watched him attempt to smother himself into nonexistence. I took a moment to unzip the bag and find my convenient bargaining tool.
"Yuuri," I began. "Here, have some chocolate raisins."
His face appeared out from underneath the fabric at the mention of the treat.
"Listen, Yuuri, I couldn't care less about you knowing about that, heck, if it makes you feel any better, Chris was blabbing to me about you."
He sighed in what sounded like relief and came out from his hiding space to take a handful of the raisins.
"I want to hear more about you, Yuuri. How did you meet Chris and Klara? How did you meet my sister?"
As much as I would've loved to continue talking about our sex lives, I could see that a change in conversational topic was needed. I was also desperate for some answers.
I also needed to test the waters on how he felt about my sister.
"Well," he flushed as he began. "I first met Chris when I came over from Japan. Since my classes are targeted towards foreigners, and Chris prefers English over Russian, he was actually my first student.
"I was so surprised when he walked in the first time. I've been following his career, much like I have yours, since I was a teenager, and I didn't even know he was training in Russia!
"As for Klara, we met probably the second or third time Chris took me to that restaurant and got me drunk. Apparently, I slipped a business card behind her ear whilst hanging upside down on the pole, but I can't verify that as I can't remember it for the life of me.
"Anya showed up a couple of months into Klara's lessons. She was basically her chauffeur, since Klara is a self-described human disaster and can't drive to save her life. Mind you, I wouldn't know... I've never actually seen her drive..."
It was true, Klara was a disastrous driver.
"But what about you, Yuuurriiii!" I pressed on. "I want to know more about you."
"There isn't much to know about me, I mean look at me."
"I am."
It took a moment to realise what we'd just done.
We'd just quoted the most famous erotic novel of the century.
"Did you just?" I spluttered.
He laughed nervously at the question but smirked anyway.
Damn...
He was hot when he smirked.
"I guess..." He paused and took another handful of raisins. "I was raised in a small town named Hatsetsu, by my parents and older sister. I got a toy poodle in my preteens, and he's still living with them right now, although he's getting quite old.
"My first love was ballet, and skating was my second; pole dancing is actually fairly recent on my list in comparison.
"My favourite colour is blue.
"And, because I know you're wondering, no, I have not slept with your sister."
Oh.
He thought I thought that?
"Why would I be bothered if you had, Yuuri? After all, we've both slept with Chris."
I won't lie, I was happy to hear him confirm that nothing was going on between them (yet) but that was only me being selfish.
I heard him sigh deeply.
"I don't know, but most people tend to be a little over-protective of their younger siblings." He turned his face away from me and sunk back down to lie on the blanket. "I don't want you to think I'd mess her, or anyone, around. I'm not like that! I know she wouldn't be able to handle a no-strings thing like Chris and Phichit can - and oh my God I just admitted to sleeping with my best friend didn't I; good job, Yuuri, good job!"
"That's true," I began, weighing up what to say, "but I trust you not to hurt her. So if you want permission to date to date her, then you have my blessing!" I finished with a wink.
I may have sounded fine, but all I could think was 'Please say no, please say no, please say no'.
This could be the moment of truth. Did I even have a chance? After all, Anya, Chris, and now apparently Phichit, were all young, attractive and kind, and would probably make better partners for him than I would.
I found myself staring in anticipation as I waited for his answer. He appeared to be mulling over what to say in his head, meaning that the concept of dating Anya couldn't have been entirely alien to him.
He opened his mouth to reply.
"Anya is lovely, and I won't deny that she is beautiful, but there's someone else that I like even more; much more in fact."
Half of my mind was singing; he didn't want Anya.
But the other half was worried about this 'someone else'. There was, what, a ten percent chance that someone else was me?
If I left it much later, any chance I ever had with Yuuri would be gone completely. I needed to tell him.
Immediately.
"Yuuri, I- I mean, I..."
"Victor, you're the one that I like."
My thought track stopped as I looked at him, my eyes wide and incapable of comprehending what I'd just heard. Were my ears deceiving me?
"I'm sorry, but I just have to say it. I like you so much it hurts to keep it in any longer. I hope this doesn't alter your opinion of me, and if you want we can just go on in classes as normal; we don't even have to talk about it again."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"But, Yuuri, what if I feel the same way?"
He turned to directly face me with a red face.
"Wh-what?"
I smiled warmly.
"I like you, Yuuri, more than my command of the English language allows me to convey. So, I would like to ask, will you be mine?"
A bright smile broke out across his perfect, beautiful face. If this were a manga, I swear I'd be able to see sparkles in his eyes. A single tear dripped down his left cheek before landing on his clothes.
"Of course, Victor; I'd love that."
My heart was singing as he drew his arms around me and settled into a gentle embrace. Everything around us, including the chocolate raisins, disappeared from my mind as we fell over onto the grass and had to stop ourselves from rolling down the slope. Even as we laughed away to each other, myself now straddling him after our tumble, I found myself caring less every second about anything that wasn't the man in my arms.
I leaned down closer towards him and hovered just above his cheek.
"May I?" I whispered softly, wishing for permission from my angel only.
He nodded.
"Please do."
My eyes fluttered closed as I leaned down even closer and planted my lips upon the flesh of his beautiful cheek.
My body felt like it had been through heaven. How could heaven be better than this?
Once I drew back from the chaste kiss I opened my eyes to take in his perfection, only to be drawn back in by Yuuri's own lips. This time, my kiss did not remain innocently on his cheek, but instead reached its ultimate goal.
His lips.
I had never had a kiss so wonderful, never felt so alive or strong.
It was like magic.
And he was the one giving me this magic.
Once we finally did pull apart, I sunk down onto him in content, and laid my head down next to his. While one of my arms remained wrapped around him, the other reached out to interlock fingers with the beautiful man beneath me.
I smiled.
And, to my utter delight, he was smiling back.
It was so perfect. We were just in our own little world, dreaming together in each other's embrace.
We stayed there for a while. I couldn't tell you how long it was; I wasn't really counting.
We were still in our own little world when a familiar voice brought me back to my senses.
"Vitya, what a pleasant surprise seeing you here, honey!"
When I turned around, my vision was immediately filled with a pair of lagoon-blue eyes and a ponytail of silver hair.
"Mama!"
Tatiana Nikiforova had entered the scene.
A/N: *internally screaming*
Well this has been one hell of a year!
They've finally got to this point after 18 chapters and a year of me writing.
The story's far from over, although I can say that we're beginning to finally approach the last legs!
And thank you all, for 22K reads! When I began writing this at the end of 2016, I thought this wouldn't go anywhere, but here we are, a year later.
My school work is beginning to pile up now that I'm on the stretch to my GCSEs, and that really annoys me :/...
My 16th birthday is approaching on the 21st December 2017 and I really can't believe it. How am I allowed to be that old???
I've gone from a small, small child:
To now being a fledgling of an adult about to "blossom" and take flight:
And, hey, I may not be perfect, and I probably never will be, but I'm going to try and make the most of what I have now.
With love,
~ Madie x 💙💎
Chapter Completed: 16.12.17 (00:50AM)