"Father, I refuse."
"You can't - this is your punishment, or I will..."
"Do what you want, but I won't do this!" Ayato yelled at his father. Echo of his voice made it seem even more threatening than ever before.
"Ayato, don't be a brat or you will make a bad first impression to my friend." With these words, heavy doors to the arena were opened to reveal two males. One was tall, with short gray hair and another one seemed to be in his teens.
"Tougo, my friend, good to see you!"
"Same thing, Victor, same thing!" Males cheerfully shook hands. Victor tried to go for a hug, but Karlheinz skillfully dodged it. It was obvious that both males were used to this sort of greeting. Blond teenager just clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"We'll talk later, because I have a request for you right now."
"Any time! What is it?"
"My son, Ayato, really wants to learn figure skating."
"Like hell I do!" Vampire teen screamed out in rage, his eyes starting to get red.
"Don't mind him - he's just shy." Victor didn't mind at all. With smile on his face he turned to look at the blond boy.
"Your son reminds me of Yuri."
"Like hell I do!" Screamed blond teenager. Victor chuckled, giving Tougo the 'told you' look.
"Since we talked about everything on the phone earlier, I'd like to know only one thing: why do you need him to skate?" Victor asked curiously.
"It's his punishment. A really sweet and innocent girl got her heart broken by him. I want to teach Ayato how to be gallant with women. And dancing on ice might teach him how to be strong and delicate at the same time."
"You are the last person to have the right to say this." Ayato hissed out through gritted teeth without making any attempt to hide his fangs.
"What a coincidence! This Kitten needs to learn the same thing! It's just he has to learn about comunication with entire human kind." Victor frowned. He was obviously still angry at Yuri for some reason. "Boy doesn't know how to behave around my fiancé or anyone who's not his grandpa."
"You're engaged?"
"Yeah, even though I was planning to propose, but he beat me to that and was the first one to give me a ring." Victor smiled warmly, precious memory filling his chest with warmth.
"How could you?" Tougo frowned in disapproval. "I thought you were better than that. To think that my friend lacked courage to be the first one to propose. And on top of that, you didn't invite me to your wedding."
"The thing is..."
"Will you shut up already?!" Yuri couldn't handle this conversation any more. "We have to practice and you're wasting our time talking about nothing!"
"Good thing you brought it up," Smiled Victor. "Yuri, meet your new partner." Teenage boys stood there in shock.
"You two will have to learn a program for couples." Smirked Tougo. "And if you refuse, say goodbye to your little Ayato." Tougo's eyes gave Ayato a look that made vampire gulp in fear.
"And if you refuse - say goodbye to my programs." Yuri cursed under his breath.
"We'll leave you for a few minutes to introduce yourselves to each other. And decide who's going to do the girl's part while you're at it." Both males left, leaving livid boys sneering at each other.
"I am not skating with you."
"The feeling is mutual." They stood there, staring at each other, almost growling in anger. The first one to break this contest of intimidation was Ayato.
"Enough with this. We have to decide what to do about our situation." Ayato walked towards the bench where his skates were left.
"You will take the girl's part," Answered Yuri, following Ayato that turned around to face the blond teen.
"Listen here, you pipsqueak, I am taller that you, stronger than you and better than you, so why don't you go and find a frilly skirt to skate in because you'll need one!" Ayato was poking Yuri's shoulder with each word. But Yuri stood his ground and kicked Ayato right into the side of his head, sending surprised vampire flying to the ground. Ayato sat up on the ground, using the bench to support his back.
Yuri walked towards the vampire and pressed his foot on Ayato's shoulder.
"Now listen here, you spoiled newbie, I wouldn't trust you with bringing me a tissue, much less catching me on ice since, let me guess, you can barely stand on the skates. So go get that skirt yourself, because I'm doing the male's part!" At this point Victor came back with a nice, you guessed it, frilly skirt.
"Now now, boys, smooch each other and make up. We have lots of work to do." Victor walked past the two furious boys, throwing the skirt on Yuri's head.
"Bwahahahaha, so who's the girl now, Yuri-chan?" If murder was legal, Ayato would be dead countless times. Yes, even though he was a vampire.
"Now now, Ayato, here's one for you too." Victor threw a pink skirt towards the surprised vampire. "Now put these on and lets get started.
"I'm not wearing this!"
"Since you couldn't decide, you'll keep on switching the parts."
"Victor, wait..."
"Listen here," Victor's kind-hearted smile disappeared to reveal irritated frown.
"From the things I've heard and saw, both of you need to change your behavior for better. Ayato is a bully and so are you, so if you don't change for better good - say goodbye to my programs." Yuri clicked his tongue.
"Now then," Victor's face was back to normal. "Ayato, put on your skates and let's get started!" Yuri was fast on ice and so was Victor. Only Ayato was struggling to put his skates on.
"Yuri, show him how to do it." Yuri was about to protest, but one stern look from Victor made teenager obey. Yuri sat down on the bench next to struggling Ayato, untied his own skate and slowly laced it up once again.
"See how I did mine, now tie up yours."
"Don't tell me what to do." But with his partner's guidance, Ayato was standing on the ice. A little bit too stiff, a little bit too unstable, but he was standing...
Not for long though. Ayato tried to take his first step, but fell down right on his butt. He struggled to stand up, but couldn't keep himself up for more that five seconds.
Russian skaters stood there dumbfounded. The first one to snap out of his daze was Yuri.
"Do you really think we can work with that?"
"We have to." Victor sighed and went yo help a cursing vampire.
"Ayato, go there and take that penguin."
"Why?"
"It's a skating aid."
"I don't need one!" He furiously stood up, but fell down, hitting his head on the ice. Ayato stayed there for a while, groaning in pain.
"Yuri, you do your warm-up, it's going to take a while here."
"I used to skate when I was a child! I must've forgotten how." Ayato was on all four, his frilly skirt fallen in a really awkward possition, revealing Ayato's bottom. (Please note that he was also wearing his pants.)
"Ayato, don't push yourself. Here, take this penguin and try to move around."
While Yuri was warming up with his lutzes and tripple axels, Ayato was wobbly making his way around the skating rink, barely able to keep himself standing.
Victor was explaining how to move forward, how to turn around and stop. Surprisingly, Ayato was a fast learner and at the end of the first practice, he could move around without his penguin.
The next day Victor announced that Ayato has to know how to properly fall down.
"Ore-sama will not fall down ever again!"
"Even professionals fall and you just recently got a grip on how to skate without aids."
"I don't need to know how to..." Ayato's words were interrupted by Yuri, who hit Ayato with his shoulder while passing by. Poor vampire painfully fell down.
"Suck it up and learn what you need to know."
"Suck it up? Oh I will suck it up so hard that you won't be able to move." Ayato's eyes were starting to get crimson red, but Victor pulled him back on his skates, making Ayato lose his blood lust... And his balance once again.
"Now do you see that you have to learn this stuff." Ayato growled in response. Victor helped him up once again. "If you feel like you're about to fall, squat down so that when you land, your bottom or sides absorb the shock of the fall instead of something that can break or be seriously injured. Do not land with your hands out. Doing this can cause damage to your wrist, as well as let an unaware skater skate over your fingers."
"You wouldn't want for something to be cut off, right?" Smirked Yuri.
Once again, Yuri was practicing on his own while Ayato was purposely falling down on his butt. Thankfully he was a vampire, so his red knees and already bluish thighs healed really fast.
Third practice was not on the ice, but in the dance studio.
"Now, boys, to skate like a couple you need to dance like one. For this special lesson we have a guest! Yuuri, come out!" A shy, dark haired man entered the room.
"Hi, nice to meet you, my name is..."
"We already know that!" Growled Ayato. Yuuri stood there with his mouth slightly agape and eyes wide open.
"Yurio, you'll be the lead today."
"No way he's going to lead! No one leads Ore-sama!"
"From no on Yurio does."
"And Yurio? I thought this shortie was named Yuri."
"I am, you ginger brat!" If eyes were able to shoot stars, we'd have to blame Yuri and Ayato for bringing us to the same end as dinosaurs.
"Do you want me to call your supervisors? I can bet your mother would be really upset about you." Victor threatened the vampire boy.
"You have no idea how upset she was with me for the past few decades, but I wasn't the only one that left numbers of scars all over her. My brother Laito let her down so hard that even Kanato's warmth didn't bring her back to her previous self. And on top of that - my uncle took her heart away and vanished for years."
"That's..."
"It's fine, recently, my uncle came back and took my mother away to another Kingdom."
"To Britain?"
"Yes," Ayato answered sarcastically "To Britain."
"Well... That's..."
"Tougo never told me about this..."
"Because he's too busy screwing around with bi..."
"Beautiful ladies!" Victor cut Ayato off just in time.
"Now, let's get back to business. Ayato, Yurio, please watch us closely and try to memorize the steps." after saying that, Victor turned on the music, took Yuuri's hand and started dancing to the music of tango.
At first, Victor was pointing out the more challenging parts of the dance so Ayato and Yuri would understand them, but after a while, two dancing males found themselves lost in the rhythm of the music. Their eyes never lost the sight of their partner, their minds never swayed away from their special someone.
"Get a room already," Ayato grimaced.
"I agree with this moron for once."
"Oh, let's end it here for now. Yurio, ask your partner for a dance and let's get started." Yuri didn't move. Not a single step was taken towards Ayato. Instead, blond teenager put his hands into the pockets of his hoodie with enough force to rip open the weaker stitches. Good thing that Yuri wore clothes made under special orders - more indestructible, so his hoodie was fine.
Ayato had even bigger frown.
"If that thing stretches his hand towards me, he will no longer have that limb attached to the rest of his body. This dance is stupid, you're all stupid and this punishment is stupid! It's not something a man would be doing." Vampire boy hissed out.
"Oh, so you doubt our manhood, huh? You think you're more manly because you don't know how to dance?"
"I can dance, I'm an aristocrat after all. It's just I don't dance with pansies."
"Oh, pansies you say," Victor smirked. Yurio recognized this look on his face and slowly walked away from Ayato, leaving a clear road for Victor.
"Let me tell you this, you spoiled brat," Victo walked right in front of Ayato, peering down into his soul.
"Things we do require not only strength, balance and grace, but also lots of confidence and guts. These are the things that a decent male is made out of. You can't call yourself a real man if the only thing you can do is use violence against someone who's weaker than you."
"Listen here!"
"No, you listen." Victor poked Ayato's shoulder. "You only need to be an asshole to treat people this way. Only cowards are assholes like you." Ayato's eyes turned red, but Victor wasn't finished, not yet.
"If you want to see, who's more of a man between us, let's compete."
"Let me guess, we will compete on who can raise their leg higher?"
"Boy, ever heard of vodka?" Victor had an evil smirk and so did Ayato. Vampire teen knew that if their competition is going to be drinking, he will definitely win.
"Bring it on, oldman."
"Yurio, open up Yakov's secret stash."
"On it."
How did this happen? Don't ask me - I'm just a narrative voice of Morgan Freeman. The better question is how will it end. A mere human against an immortal vampire. A twenty eight years old guy versus hella old teenager. Healthy masculinity vs poisonous egoism. Gray hair against red. Fullbuster vs Dragneel. But why am I waisting your time? You will see the results eventually. They have already been drinking for about an hour. For this competition they chose a nice quiet room in Yuuri's house.
"Come on, anozer wone."
"I can go forr DAYZ! And you aleady look drrunk, hehe." Yuuri couldn't sit still - he was walking back and forth with water and food, but neither of the drunk males took anything besides bottles of alcohol.
"I'm surrprised you arre lastingg so longg." Victor was temporary talking a new language - a language of drunkards. Ayato, being intoxicated himself, understood every single word.
"Ha! ORRE-SAMA AIN'T A MERE HIUUMANN! I'm surrrprised you managaged to gett me drunk in the firrst place." Ayato's eyes were wide as two moons. Even though he tried to ignore the thought, but a feeling of respect towards Victor was slowly growing stronger.
"To get me drrrunk iz as eazy as to touch the sssun," Giggled Victor.
"A newww challenge I see." Ayato opened yet another bottle.
"Hello, 119? Yes, we have two idiots right here so you better prepare two cars. No, I don't think that they'll need ambulance. Prepare a hearse or two, yes, thank you, bye." Yuri put his phone back into his pocket.
"Who did you call?" Yuuri asked with worry.
"Something they'll need pretty fast."
"Dude, I love thiz guy so much! So much!" Yuuri wasn't fast enough to escape from Victor's arms and lap.
"I knowww right! You look so cute togetherz, so cute! I wish my girl wasn't out on the ninja mission." Ayato sighed.
"She's a ninja? Tell me mooorre!" Victor poured another shot.
"Yurio, help!" Poor Yuuri was begging for mercy.
"What a headache, fine." Yuri took out his phone once again.
"Hello, asylum? We have two folks out here that really need your help."
"Not like that! Victor, please stop drinking or you will really need a visit to the hospital."
"It's fineee, trusst me." Victor's smile was reassuring, but not calming enough for Yuuri.
"But..."
"Shhh and watch," Winked Victor.
And sure enough, Ayato was slowly falling down on the floor.
"See, I win." Victor smirked. Surprisingly, his eyes weren't as glazed over as they were a few moments ago.
"Yurio, take out your phone - we need some videos."
Ayato's head was splitting in half. This enormous amount of pain woke the poor guy up.
"Good morning!" Victor greeted his new student cheerfully.
"Ohhh, not so loud." Ayato groaned in pain.
"Someone's having a hangover."
"Why are you not in pain? Did I win?"
"You blacked out pretty fast, here are the pictures and some videos."
"Oh shit. But how?"
"A little advice: don't ever try to outdrink a Russian male."
But there was a secret behind Victor's victory and it wasn't his Russian blood. No. Karlheinz had left a bottle of Vampire juice before leaving. Of course, Victor knew that the drink from that bottle was not something for him, but he didn't know why. When Ayato was distracted enough, Victor poured him from the special bottle, making Ayato drunk enough to pass out.
"I proved my worth now you prove your own. Man up and finish your task."
"Fine."
Two months have passed and all of the Sakamaki brothers were sitting in front of the TV. All except for one.
"Nfu~ only three days after my return and Ayato's already on the TV?"
"Subaru. Did you get the thing?"
"Yes, I did."
"Good boy."
"Shut up!"
"What did your therapist tell you?"
"She told you to SHUT THE HELL UP."
"If you don't shut up and watch this moron humiliate himself, I will set you all on fire."
"Okay, fine. Look, he's already about to perform. Turn on the thing," Ordered Shuu.
"That's a tape recorder and all of you are so behind the times."
"Shut up."
"Look look! He's wearing a skirt!"
"Even though it's pretty normal for the figure skaters, it's still hilarious."
"Shhh, it's getting started."
"Look at this idiot... He's so... Wow..."
"I have never thought that Ayato, of all people, would be able to look so gracious."
"He's..."
"How is he even able to do that?"
"Nfu~ It's called practice. You should try that sometimes."
Boys stared at the screen in awe. They never thought that their brother would be able to dance so graciously and yet so aggressively. They could only dream about this beauty they were witnessing. They shared the same feeling of respect, the same feeling of pride...
"NAHHHHH."
The moment Ayato stepped inside the mansion, buckets of white glitter were thrown at him.
"The fuck?!"
"Nfu~ Welcome back, Miss Ice queen."
"Like you're the one to talk, Chinese nun!"
"That was traumatizing, you know!"
"The same was here!"
"And that was the purpose of these punishments." Suddenly, Karlheinz showed up to reveal his smirking face.
"Father, I see all of the idiots were punished."
"Not all, Reiji, not all."
"But the only one left is me..."
"Exactly. Prepare yourself."
Reiji's punishment is going to be worse than any nightmare he has ever had.
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This is a punishment chapter you may ask? But today is not Ayato's birthday you may add? So what the hell is going on you may ask? Well no worries, because...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MirajaneMalphas!
Without you this story wouldn't even exist!
If something about skating or YOI was off - please forgive me! I'm no expert in these two (^^ゞ.
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! To read more, stay tuned for the fang-gang!