With a sigh, Victor held his phone away from his ear as he was assaulted by the yelling coming from the phone. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, it was so loud and it wasn't even on speakerphone. Just another thing to ruin the nice moment he had created with Yuuri, even though he himself was the first one to ruin it. That wasn't the point.

"OI, IDIOT, YOU DROPPED YOUR ENTIRE CAREER AND FLEW TO JAPAN?! FOR WHAT?! THAT PIG OF A SKATER?!" The slew of angry Russian bombarded Victor while Yuuri stood looking very confused. Victor was beyond happy that Yuuri couldn't understand what was being said, he didn't need the unwarranted insults.

"I DIDN'T THINK YOU WERE THIS STUP-"

Victor cut him off as he talked in his native tongue, "That's no way to start a conversation. And I do not appreciate it, Yuri."

Yuuri glanced back up from the ground to Victor at the mention of his name. Victor quickly clarified in English to his Yuuri after pulling the phone away from his face, "Sorry, not you, Yuuri." Yuuri simply hummed as he went back to staring at the ground and kicking the pebbles that laid there.

"Also, can you please stop yelling? I already have a headache thanks to you," Victor explained in Russian with a sigh.

"Of course you do, old man," Yuri replied, clearly sassing Victor. He always seemed to speak like that.

"Yuri," Victor noticed Yuuri move at the sound of his name, "that is no way to treat your elders-"

"Screw that!"

Victor groaned and rubbed his temples, this was trying, as were most of the calls from the usually angry young Russian. It got really, really annoying. Luckily, Yuri barely called and Victor never called him. He much preferred texting, all caps were much better than yelling in his ear. "So what did you call for? You have to have some reason to yell in my ear and interrupt this nice time I was having with my soulmate."

"Ugh, are you telling me that pig is your soulmate?!" Yuri asked, voice full of malice. Victor could start to feel the anger build up inside of him. How dare Yuri insult his beautiful, stunning, amazing, Yuuri. No, that was not allowed.

"Do. Not. Call. Him. That," Victor said through gritted teeth, he noticed Yuuri glance up at him as his tone of voice changed. No matter what language he was speaking, he had no doubt the anger could be heard in his voice.

"What are you going to do about it? Huh?!"

"I would beat up your punk ass, but you're not here right now."

"Hah fight me old man."

"I WILL. YOU DO NOT DISRESPECT MY YUURI," Victor yelled into the phone as he attempted to calm himself down when he noticed Yuuri staring up at him, wide eyed. He explained in English that everything was okay and Yuuri stepped forward to quickly give Victor a hug before stepping back to his previous distance. Even with the distance, Victor appreciated the gesture. He flashed Yuuri a bright smile which was returned with a much more shy and soft one.

"GOOD, I'M FLYING TO JAPAN THIS WEEK ANYWAY," Yuri yelled back, matching Victor's volume. He paused before he realized the rest of what Victor had said. "OH HE'S YOUR YUURI. I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU SEE IN THAT PIG."

"Stop it right now, Yuri. You're out of line. Why are you even coming to Japan?"

"To prove I'm better than that pig," Yuri emphasized the word, causing Victor to get angry once again. He kept telling himself that he had to maintain his composure. "With or without your help," Yuri finished.

"Fine. Whatever. I'm done." Victor finished as he hit the end call button. Oh, he wished that the old phones were around so he could slam the receiver down. Just hitting a button didn't have the same effect. After shoving his phone in his pocket, Victor groaned and rubbed his temples again.

"Umm.. Victor? What was- who was that?" Yuuri asked as he took a step towards Victor as he ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back. Victor had to admit that it was very attractive with the way that the rain in it was keeping it pushed back, minus a few strands that decided to fall back onto his forehead.

"That was Yuri." After a moment's hesitation Victor added on, "Yuri Plisetsky."

"Oh-" Yuuri's breath hitched before he spoke again. "I ran into him at the Grand Prix and he was, um, less than pleasant," he finished, looking more than a little uncomfortable. Victor could understand why. Yuri did come off as brash and Yuuri was fairly sensitive. Together, that did not seem like a good combination.

"Yeah, Yuri is a little uh, how do you say? He's a bit of an asshole."

"Oh… Well then…" Yuuri trailed off as he shifted on his feet and began to glance around. "What were you guys saying?" He asked quietly, not daring to look back at Victor.

Victor knew that he had to answer, and that there were certain things that he definitely had to leave out. The insults were one of them. Yuuri did not need to hear those, and Victor decided that he would get Yuri back for them.

With a sigh, Victor began his abbreviated version of the previous conversation. "So, apparently he's coming to Japan."

"WHY?!" Yuuri loudly burst out, his eyes wide and his fists slightly balled at his side.

"Well, it seems that he has a grudge against both of us?" Victor's statement came out more of a question than he had intended while Yuuri stared at him wide eyed. That was the moment he realized that he made a mistake and attempt to correct himself. "Actually, more towards me. He seems to think that I am an idiot for coming here for you. Although, I personally don't know why my actions affect him so much. But, anyway, that aside, he apparently wants to prove to, God, I don't even know who, that he's better than you with or without me," Victor finished as he ran his hand through his bangs, tired from the past 15 or so minutes. His eyes flicked back up to Yuuri who looked extremely worried.

"Why.. But, why me? I'm nothing special," Yuuri sighed as he leaned against the wall behind him.

Victor's mind was racing, he was torn. Part of him wanted to immediately build Yuuri up, tell him that he was wonderful, amazing, absolutely perfect. Assure him that he was an amazing skater, minus his crushing loss at his last competition. Simultaneously, Victor's mind was saying that he did need to answer Yuuri's question. But, he wanted, needed, to tell Yuuri how amazing he was.

"But you are special. To both Yuri and me, although for very different reasons, I assure you. To him you're special because you made me drop basically everything and fly over here in what he assumes was a snap decision. He needs to prove to himself that he's better than you without my help. Trust me, I don't overly understand his reasoning, but he's going to do what he wants and we can't do anything to change that." Victor explained, he wasn't quite sure how Yuuri took it as he was looking at the ground again, his arms squished between his back and the wall as he leaned against it.

"Oh… I see," Yuuri mumbled, his voice quiet against the rain that continued to fall heavier and heavier, "Why am I special..? I mean, to you?"

Standing still, Victor for once in his life was speechless. That was surely unexpected. It didn't help that it was a question he didn't have the best answer to. But, he had to answer it anyway and he'd figure it out along the way.

"Well, Yuuri, it's kind of hard to explain," Victor started off, not overly confident in himself.

"Explain it to me." There was an edge in Yuuri's voice that Victor hadn't heard before. It made the statement seem like a demand, only softened by Yuuri's addition. "Please."

"I can try, but it's hard for me to get this type of thing into words. It's more of a feeling," Victor explained, becoming more and more confident in himself as he ran his hand through his bangs again. "I could start off by saying that you're my soulmate and that already makes you special. But I feel like you'd shut me down," Yuuri huffed in agreement. "So I won't. Let me think of a place to start.." Victor began to hum after he trailed off and began to tap a finger on his chin.

"Your skating first of all," Yuuri opened his mouth, most likely to protest, but Victor held up his hand before continuing, "it's absolutely beautiful. Whether you believe it or not. You can skate with absolutely no music behind it but it's as though there's an entire symphony. You create the music with your body. And personally, I think that's pretty awesome." Victor smiled and Yuuri returned it with a smaller one, his eyes sparkling. "You capture people and draw them in. The video of you skating my routine, you know that one, right?" Yuuri nodded shyly. "Good. That's the video that got me to fly all the way over here. You ensnared me. I had to come. I was drawn to you."

"Really?" Yuuri mumbled as he stepped from the wall and took a step towards Victor.

"Mmhm!" Victor hummed in response, as a large smile spread across his face, "But that's not it, Yuuri."

"What do you mean?" Yuuri questioned and tilted his head to the side slightly. The rain was noticeably letting up, it had began to pour for a couple minutes but it was back to the drizzle it was earlier. Thankfully the wind was dying down, so none of the rain was blowing under the awning to ruin the right moment that Victor was desperately trying to rebuild from the tatters.

"You're you, Yuuri." The younger man's mouth opened his mouth slightly, Victor noticed this was something that he did often. Apparently he liked to protest the nice things Victor had to say to him. "Shush, don't say anything."

"Fine," Yuuri mumbled, eyes darting to the ground as he tilted his head down as well. Victor gently placed his hand under his chin and tilted it back up towards him. He greeted Yuuri with a gentle smile.

"I know I'm going to sound really cliche with this but it's true. Believe me. You're extremely sweet and kind and caring. You could have kicked me out the moment you saw me, I've given you so many opportunities to just tell me to go back to Russia. But you didn't. And I'm hoping that's because you're willing to give me a chance. A chance to coach you, a chance to prove myself. And I'm trying, I really am." Victor moved his hand to the side of Yuuri's face as he gently ran a thumb over his cheek, Yuuri leaning into the warmth which was a stark contrast to the now cold wind.

"You're real," Yuuri mumbled, barely above a whisper as he raised his hand to rest it on Victor's.

Taking a minute to regain himself from the seemingly off-topic comment, Victor chuckled before responding. "Of course I'm real, Yuuri. I'm right here."

"No, that's not what I meant," Yuuri shook his head slightly, his wet hair falling back into its place on his forehead. He pushed it back again and Victor couldn't help but swoon slightly at the sight. "You're a real person. You're not perfect. Far from it actually," Yuuri chuckled, his words cut deep into Victor even though he knew it was true.

Of course he wasn't perfect, that was just the persona that was put on for the public. Everyone saw him as perfect, as someone that could do no wrong. Which, if the previous night was any indication, his list of Everything Victor Nikiforov Has Done Wrong was still highly relevant. He just waited patiently for Yuuri to list every single he's done wrong, but when he didn't, Victor found himself trying to keep his mouth from hanging open.

"But, at the same time, you clearly know that you're not and yet you want to try and make it up to me. I see that. The only issue I have with this is that you've done a lot of damage. Especially to my self esteem. That's not reversible with 10 minutes of dancing in the rain together." Yuuri finished as his eyes flicked back to the ground.

"So… If not that, what can I do?" Victor questioned, hoping with his entire being that Yuuri would give him an actual answer. Not something cryptic like you'll have to find out for yourself.

"If you want me to fall for you, you have to actually let me fall for you."

Well that wasn't completely useless. Victor decided that he could have gotten a lot worse of an answer. So he simply asked another question for clarification. "Huh?" Okay, so it wasn't an amazing question but it still got his idea across.

"Don't force whatever this is," Yuuri gestured to the both of them as he took a step back, dropping his hand to his side as Victor quickly followed suit. "Please? For me."

"Oh-" Victor breathed out as he realized what Yuuri was saying. What he wanted, for Yuuri to fall in love with him the way he was already in love with him, would not be something he could achieve on his own. Well, he couldn't wave the magic wand he absolutely wished he had and Yuuri would be in love with him. Nope, not at all. He'd have to win Yuuri over by being himself. Actually, genuinely himself. Not perfect Victor that the media saw. Not Victor who sleeps around simply because he wanted the affection. But Victor.

Victor who loved Makkachin with all his heart and would show everyone pictures of him, if they would let him. Victor who had the tendency to burst out into random Russian or English phrases in a way he could tell made Yuuri crack a smile. Victor who had lost his passion for skating somewhere along the way but kept going because he felt he needed to, but now had Yuuri who ignited something inside of him. Victor who felt depressed for really no reason for the longest time, but found something, someone, to keep him going. Victor who developed a surprising love of katsudon. Victor who was forgetful to a fault. Victor who had a love of quaint coffee shops and could spend an entire afternoon in one, drinking something, chatting, and just basking in the smell.

Victor who loves dancing in the rain. Victor who put his past mistakes behind to make himself a better person. Victor who loves surprising anyone to make them smile. Victor who would do anything to make Yuuri smile. Victor Nikiforov who is hopelessly in love with Yuuri Katsuki.

"Victor?" Yuuri asked as he waved a hand in front of Victor's face. Victor figured he probably just spaced out for a moment, but he quickly refocused on Yuuri whose face was slightly worried. Yuuri was worried? About him? So, he didn't completely hate him.

Clearly he didn't completely hate him, Victor reasoned with himself. After all, Yuuri had said that there was something between them. His previous words also led Victor to believe that Yuuri quite possibly wanted to fall for him but would it would have to take some time. This was a good sign.

"Yes! Yuuri!" Victor exclaimed as he smiled.

"I just figured you'd probably want to go do some shopping or something. Since we're heading back to Hasetsu soon. I'd also like to get out of the cold, the wind's starting to pick up," Yuuri finished as he clenched his teeth and rubbed his arms as another gust of wind came blowing through under the awning.

"You're cold!" Victor exclaimed, worry overtaking his voice. "We've got to fix that! I insist you let me buy you a sweater or something!" Victor wrapped his arm around Yuuri's shoulder, pulling him closer as to warm him up more and guard him from the wind as they began walking down the street to no store in particular.

"Victor, you really don't have to do that."

"I insist, Yuuri! My treat."

~oO0Oo~

"Mari, we're back!" Yuuri called out through the inn as he pushed open the door, Victor following closely behind him. Victor found himself blinking his eyes repeatedly to adjust to from the night outside to the bright lights of the inn.

"Oh, Yuuri! Victor! I thought you'd be back in another day or so," Mari welcomed them as she rounded the corner and came into sight, twirling an unlit cigarette between her fingers. To say the least, Victor was slightly surprised that Makkachin hadn't come running after her. Almost as though she guessed his confusion, Mari spoke up, "Makkachin's sleeping in your room, Victor. He seemed to really miss you. But how was your trip?" The question seemed to be more directed at Yuuri, who was slipping his shoes off, Victor quickly following suit.

Victor still answered it as though it was meant for him, "We had a pretty good time. Everything went well except f-" Victor immediately shut his mouth when Yuuri jabbed him in the side as he walked in front of him and over to Mari, speaking up for himself. "Everything went perfectly fine, right Victor?" Yuuri questioned as he shot a glare at Victor which seemed to say if you disagree with me this will not end well for you.

"Mmhm, yeah everything went well. You're right, Yuuri!" Victor attempted to cover up his mistake as he watched Yuuri run off into some other part of the Inn, leaving him alone with Mari. "I'm just going to uh head to my room, y'know to sleep after all the traveling, boy am I tired," Victor said nervously as he attempted to maneuver around Mari. Only to be stopped when she grabbed his upper arm and kept him from going farther.

"Not so fast, Victor. You're going to explain what all that was."

"Whatever do you mean, Mari?" Victor asked innocently as he tilted his head to the side and plastered on a forced smile.

"You know fully well what I mean, Victor," Mari grumbled as she moved closer to Victor after she basically dragged him from in front of the doors to a more secluded spot. Probably so that they wouldn't impede any customers that happened to come in. "What did you do to Yuuri?"

"I didn't do anything," Victor tried to convince her. He didn't want Yuuri's wrath if he found out that Mari knew what happened. But at the same time he didn't want Mari's wrath either.

"Victor, I know something happened. So I'm going to ask you one more time, what happened?" Mari said through gritted teeth. With a glance down, Victor noticed that Mari had squished her cigarette between her fingers. Swallowing, Victor silently wished that she wouldn't treat him the same as that cigarette.

"Well, um, Mari, you see," Victor mumbled as he scratched the back of his neck. He was at a loss for words. Victor Nikiforov was never at a loss for words.

"Tell me," She emphasized every syllable as she leaned closer in towards him.

"Yuurihadabreakdowninanalleyandit'sallmyfault," Victor ran all his words together in an attempt to get them out quickly.

Mari scoffed as she took a step back and leaned against the opposing wall. "Of course it was all your fault. At least you acknowledge it. He's had many breakdowns because of you." Mari finished as she jabbed a finger towards Victor who decided that the conversation was over and took a single step to head towards his room before Mari's voice stopped him. "You're not going anywhere. You're going to listen to me."

"Okay," Victor muttered before moving back to his spot on the wall.

"Let me ask you something," Mari began as she shoved the crushed cigarette into her pocket before pulling out her pack and picking another from it, "How old were you when you first slept with someone?"

That question was completely out of the blue. Or at least it seemed like it to Victor. He hummed for a moment as he pondered it. "16, I believe."

"And here's another, how much older are you than Yuuri?"

"If I'm correct, 4 years?" Victor answered as more of a question. Shit, Victor cursed himself as he realized what she was implying.

"So, if you haven't gotten this already, let me tell you. The first time that you slept with someone, Yuuri was 12. He was 12 when he first had to watch you have sex with someone because if you haven't noticed, that's how this cruel world functions with our dreams. Do you know how hard it is to watch your little brother crawl into your room crying and refusing to go back to sleep because he didn't want to see that anymore."

"I'm sor-"

Mari ignored him before continuing. "Crying that his soulmate didn't love him. That his soulmate didn't care about him. That his soulmate didn't want him," She put emphasis on each word of the last sentence. "After a while he stopped coming into my room and would just sit and cry in his room. And all of it is your fault. Hurt Yuuri any more than you already have and I will hurt you." Mari finished as she left Victor alone in the hallway. Probably headed to go smoke her cigarette.

He slumped against the wall and slid down until he was sitting on the floor with his knees up to his chest and his arms wrapped around his knees. He situated his face between his knees as his silver hair fell in front of his face. Dammit, it was worse than just Yuuri seeing him sleeping with someone else. It was 12 year old Yuuri seeing him sleep with someone else.

He had to put Yuuri through so much. No wonder Yuuri broke down. No wonder his self esteem was basically thrown in the trash. Yuuri, beautiful Yuuri. Victor didn't think about it. He didn't realize. He found there was more of a fire ignited in him to prove himself to Yuuri.

So, overall this story has way more angst than I ever intended. But, I'm pretty happy with how this story is turning out :) I hope you guys like it too!

As always, sandypenguin6 is the wonderful beta of this story! Also, I'm not sure if I'll have an update next week or in two weeks (or more, but I hope it doesn't come to that) But, like I've said before, I'm beginning to work on my Yuri On Ice angel and human au I'm writing. I hope you guys will read that one after this story finishes!

No matter, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Reviews, favorites, and follows are appreciated!

Thank you for reading and I'll see you guys next update!