Chapter Text
I wish I could be with my husband longer.
“Stupid couple… Both of them are idiots! Must he word it like that?!” Yuri says, staring down at the resting form on the bed. A few months and a plane ride towards Japan and here they are.
Yuri looks around the Japanese household, almost remembering a beady eyed little dog, and he tries to will the shiver down his spine away. For the second time that day, he had to tell himself that it wasn’t real.
It wasn’t real.
“It doesn’t seem that confusing, though.”
“Are you kidding me? Anyone else would be confused! He’s not even fucking married! And he had the right to say something about ‘intuition’ and ‘professionalism’.”
“Well, he did ask for us personally.” Otabek said coolly, and Yuri just groaned into his hand.
Viktor was there.
Well… Viktor was always there, someway, somehow. Always plaguing Yuuri’s mind, a ghost on his finger, a chaste kiss on his forehead. Viktor was always there, just not in the way Yuuri wanted.
But he was. He’s here.
Same smile, same worry tinted blue eyes, and Yuuri knew he had to make it count, he had to say something. But it’s just too much. Sandpaper suddenly replaces his tonsils and they scratch and bristle, no words coming out.
Suddenly he felt like twenty again, waking up from a seventy year long nightmare, chest heaving and eyes brimming with tears. He looks around. There is no piano.
But there’s Viktor. Viktor’s here.
Back then, Viktor would hug him silently, letting him play the two notes as he sorted himself out, Vicchan and Makacchin whining on their feet. The night would end in two ways: Viktor makes him some hot chocolate and they watch some late night soap opera on the coach or Viktor carries him back to bed, holding him close, whispering sweet nothing into his ear and yes, I love you.
Yuuri had no doubt that if he could, Viktor would sit up too and pull him to his chest, just like that time when they were living together.
That time when they were home.
“… let me… tell you a secret.”
Viktor’s voice was weak and hollow, like knocking in a hollow drum. It echoes, hoarse and barely hanging onto his voice box but it echoes in Yuuri’s mind, through Yuuri’s very heart. Yuuri tries not to shatter, but he does.
“I-I had a night… n-nightmare… too.”
“I… I dreamt I… I-I forgot about you.”
“I saw you… and… I… forgot.”
“Even though you said… to not forget…”
Viktor lets out a weak cough, sounding painstakingly coarse and pained. Yuuri could feel the tears running a hot stream down his flesh, he’s hoping that Viktor’s vision would be too shitty to see him break.
Oh Viktor… You did. You did forget.
“I’m sorry… Yuuri.”
If Yuuri had doubt before that Viktor was mistaking him for someone else, it disappeared the moment he heard his name from his love’s lips. Broken and trembling, his blue eyes almost vacant. But they held the universe, shining like the time they made a lifelong promise in front of a Barcelona Church.
“… I’m sorry, love.”
Viktor wheezed. The monitors started to beep irregularly.
“A… aah…”
“D-Don’t… worry.”
“No… no…! I…”
“I’m here… I’ll always…”
With that small smile still plastered on his face, Viktor Nikiforov closed his eyes, as if he’s just dozed off. But he seemed happy, at peace, no longer stuck in a nightmare.
Viktor Nikiforov finally finds his sweet dream.
It’s hard watching… all that from sidelines.
Mila steps in when she’s certain that she hears the flat lines. Oh, how thin the walls of this manor had. Even the very depths of despair echoed throughout, even if it was just a single pebble dropped in a lake. It echoed, thunderous, and Mila wondered how these two men managed to live on.
“Another bad trait of him, dear. He’s a sleepyhead.” The old man said with hysterical laugh.
“… let’s not bother him anymore, shall we?”
The monitors had shown flat lines for a while now.
“So we’re going with this scenario?”
“The pig said ‘longer’ right? I’ll take it that he didn’t want to change what happened before. Or what? You disagree?” Otabek just raises an eyebrow, amused little smirk on his face, but shook his head nevertheless.
“Well, let’s just see how it goes.”
Yuuri Katsuki was twenty eight and could only hear ringing in his ears.
“Viktor…”
“Huh?”
“Viktor, it’s me.”
It’s like a nightmare.
It… It was a night mare.
Yuuri wanted to wake up.
It didn’t take long for Yakov to find out, of course. It also didn’t take long for him to break and contact Yuuri with a despaired look on his face.
The love of his life was sitting next to him, eyes narrowed and jaw clenched, as he listened to the explanation from his coach, rinkmates, lawyer and doctors. Apologies, excuses, and possible solutions, but Yuuri was just too shocked to listen to them all.
Well, at least someone was listening.
Yuuri kept his eyes down, his hands folded in fists on his lap. He used to caress it, back when he woke up from a who-knows-what long coma, and it gave him relief, knowing that Viktor was waiting for him somewhere.
So he caresses it, thumb brushing over the metal, golden ring glinting under the light, and it brought tears to his eyes when he noticed that Viktor was also wearing its pair.
“… I’m sure it’s hard to take in, Mr. Nikiforov, but-“
“No.”
Yuuri’s breathing hitched in his throat.
His anxiety flared up in full force, choking him.
No. I don’t want him. He’s ugly and stupid and he hurt himself badly over some jump. No. I don’t want him. He’s my rival and he’ll never amount to who I am. No. I don’t want him-
It’s not the first time beta blockers were used illegally. Yuuri had heard several times in the news, of how criminals gave the memory blocking medicine to their victims. That’s why there’s hope. It’s not exactly irreversible, however, but with Sigmund Corp’s cooperation, the risk of brain damage would be considerably lower too.
It’s not unheard of.
But it’s not unheard too for the victims to choose to not remember. To deny everything that had happened.
Yuuri bit his lower lip and screwed his eyes shut, and he prepared to get shattered.
“It explained everything.”
It started slow, at first.
It was understandable for the least. Skittish glances, blushing, overly courteous deeds. You go first, no you go first, I really don’t mind I can hold open the door-
They were both going to go insane. With the distance, with the shyness, with each other's presence-
But eventually, eventually, they molded back into each other.
It doesn’t take long, at least.
It all starts when Yuuri sucks it up and gently, gently, slides his hand in Viktor’s.
Viktor smiles and squeezes back, their golden rings glinting.