emberossing | for wauuu

It's a good look, this hesitant confession thing Yuuri has going on. Victor is pretty into it, leaning in just subtly with curious eyes. Yuuri clearly ended up putting a lot of time and effort into being a professional skater, he wouldn't make it to the Grand Prix in the first place if he hadn't taken it more seriously than a kids hobby.

Where Victor missteps is not thinking this is a story about him and Yuuri discovering him, but thinking it's about some girl he loves. Maybe he was the "gay when drunk" type, Victor really isn't sure what to expect.

"You both liked that performance, I assume. Did she become a figure skater, too?"

"She did. I think she's probably one of your biggest fans, honestly. That's why she got the tape. She's really good," it's pretty obvious that he's fond of her, at least. The smile is pretty, it's probably the most relaxed Victor's seen him, talking about her. "She's actually the one that taught me all of the basics-- she used to be miles ahead of me. She's always been so pretty on the ice. But, like I said. It was a hobby. It wasn't like any of us really wanted more than that. Except..." he trails off fiddling with his cup again, "I don't know. After that, it was... different, for me."

It's the closest he can come sober to admitting it, but in the flush, there are echoes of last night, the way that he'd talked, eyes over-bright, about sharing the same ice as Victor, specifically.

"What made it different? There's a lot of dedication to go professional, I know that very well. Nobody gets good as you are without a strong drive." Victor is hoping to draw more from Yuuri, if he was feeling so inclined to open up. There's an excitement to the duality of what he learned from the night prior and what he's finding out, now.

"Now I can't tell if you're just making fun of me or not," Yuuri says, quietly, looking down into his tea, "I don't want to think you are but..." he trails off for a moment, doesn't look up this time-- he's using up the last of whatever courage he found just to keep saying this, since apparently Victor's not getting it, and the only thing worse than the rejection of a confession is to have it misunderstood.

"I'd never seen anyone skate like that. Not at Ice Castle, not even on TV. You skated like everything else melted away. It was everything I wasn't..." he sinks his head into his hands all of a sudden, "Ugh, why am I even telling you this. You make me an omelette and I run my mouth at you in your kitchen about you being my idol. What's wrong with me."

He really would like to know the answer to that. He's really chatty. But there's just... something honest about Victor and it keeps disarming him. Ooooor... maybe his mouth just keeps running to try to save things and it just keeps getting worse, since he can't really physically run away, considering he's wearing borrowed clothing.

"I'm making fun of you, but only a little bit," Victor chuckles, light and breezy. He doesn't want Yuuri to find him cruel, but he definitely did like to tease.

He is painfully sincere to go on, "You're a very enchanting skater, if I inspired you, that's no small compliment!"

He should just take the compliment, most people would, but, oddly, it's more his pride that won't let him than his anxiety. It doesn't make itself known often, not explicitly, but it rears up at strange times.

"How would you know? You've only ever seen me eat ice," it's not quite mean, he's not really capable, but it's definitely a little sharper. "Yesterday was probably one of the worst skating disasters of my entire career. It wasn't anything to be proud of or enchanted by."

"You failed your jumps, sure, but your performance score was respectable," Victor sounds more analytical this time, considering what he saw through the lens of a fellow skater. "You have a real strength for high difficulty step sequences. Your body moves to the music with an unmistakable elegance. If I was your coach, I would focus on maximizing what you could get out of that side and let your jumps play second fiddle."

"The jumps aren't Celestino's fault," he's trying to ignore that little voice that reminds him that Victor has actually mentioned being his coach before in this conversation and wonder what any of that means. He needs a second to think about that, to properly freak out, to figure out how to run away from it because it makes his heart hurt a little with how much he wants and had never even considered that. "I'm consistent in practice." He puts his head down on his arms next to the tea, "I just choke at competitions all the time. This time it was just the worst because I..."

Maybe Victor recognizes the difference in his voice, maybe he doesn't, but this doesn't sound like hesitance from before. This actually sounds like he's actively trying not to cry.

The quiver in Yuuri's voice is unmistakable. Victor just sort of blurts out what comes to mind,

"I'm really awful around crying," he's apologetic to say this, a little frantic to be gracious, "but Makkachin isn't! If you like dogs, you could bury your face in him and let it out. He's in my room, I've probably cried on him a thousand times." The dog was in Victor's bedroom, occasionally pawing the at door with a dull thud. Victor wasn't sure if Yuuri liked dogs, so the poodle was locked away for now.

Every now and then, you get something just perfect with another human being, and it's clear that's exactly what Victor's just done. Yuuri holds himself together pretty admirably actually, doesn't just dissolve into tears at the reminder that Makkachin exists, which he really ought to be given a medal for, alone. It's probably for the best that he hasn't been reminded earlier.

He looks up and his eyes have gone all kind of sparkly between the tears and the gratefulness. It's a surprisingly good look for him, like Victor has literally just handed him the moon. He manages a little shaky nod, because he's not sure he trusts his voice, but then Victor off-handedly mentions that he's cried on Makkachin before, a lot, and somehow, that's enough of a slice of humanity to break through the feeling like he'll cry if he speaks,

"I'll explain later but... yes, I think that would really help. Thank you," it's overly polite, but it's clear he's more like that because he's just trying to get from this point to that one without falling apart.

"Go right ahead, long as you need," Victor points to his bedroom, which Makkachin is clearly pacing behind based on the shadow on the bottom crack of the door. Yuuri had a devastating defeat, was thinking he should quit, woke up confused and forgot the night prior-- Victor's fine accomodating for him. Yuuri can have a private breakdown cuddled up with a warm and attentive friend like Makkachin, free of feeling judged by his idol.

Victor would much rather pass it off on the dog to deal with. He feels like if Yuuri cried in front of him, the man will just end up more humiliated and upset. Part of him really does hope to salvage their meeting into something positive, maybe even romantic, but Yuuri clearly needed some time and space before that would be possible. The older man will busy himself with cleaning the dishes and doing some laundry until Yuuri is feeling better.

Yuuri head off that way gratefully and, though he at least tries to keep it quiet, he cries for a good long time, buried in the dog's fur.

It's probably longer than Victor is expecting, if only because Yuuri actually ends up dozing off a little afterwards, cuddled up with the poodle. Look, he's had a long day already.

Makkachin is a good and sweet dog, he is SO EXCITED to see Yuuri enter the room. He spins and hops in circles before jumping up into the man's arms and likely knocking him over. Once Yuuri actually breaks down to cry, Makkachin seems to know exactly what's up, cuddling in close. He doesn't need to say anything, Yuuri won't need to feel any obligation to give him the reason for his tears.

Victor gets it. He'll put around the apartment in the meanwhile, cleaning up and doing chores until there's a loud bang on the front door. It's easily loud enough for Yuuri to hear, it was very forceful. Victor wasn't expecting anybody and is pretty shocked himself to see two police officers. They have some questions, it seems. There's a lot of Russian being spoken all of a sudden.

Yuuri goes from a light doze to a deep sleep very quickly once there are doggie cuddles in the mix, but the door has him bolting upright and startling Makkachin. He speaks a little bit of a few different languages besides English and Japanese, but it's mostly Thai and Italian. He's poked at Russian on DuoLingo before, for a week or two, to get some basics, but that's about it, so he's got no idea what's going on other than it sounds angry.

It's actually not an awful thing to happen, all told-- at least not yet. It gives him something else to focus on besides either the loss of his dog, or anything and everything that's happened in the last 24 hours or so.

He creeps to the doorway, trying to peer out without being obvious about it.

Some of exchange sounds angry, perhaps, but it's more of surprise than that. The cops are calm, they're not poking around or barging in. Victor is in the doorway, getting something explained to him. He says something and the cops end up both laughing, so it's clearly not life or death... probably. He invites them in, which they accept, but stand in the breezeway still. Victor will be going to his room, glad to see Yuuri poking out. He'll be sure he's speaking English to the man to understand.

"Yuuri! There's been a bit of a misunderstanding and an incident happened at your hotel. It seems a few rooms were robbed last night, yours included. Nobody was hurt, but your things were mostly stolen. I'm sorry, uh," Victor will motion to the cops, "I know that's the last thing you want to hear, but... can you clear my name? Your coach filed a missing person report, I need you to tell them you aren't kidnapped, please."

Yuuri... looks pretty darn kidnapped, actually. He's shuffling out of the bedroom, legs still sore from yesterday a bit and bleary eyed from crying, the area around his eyes still red. Oh and he's wearing Victor's clothes.

"Are you sure I'm not?" it's a bit watery, still, but it's got more in common with Yuuri last night than Yuuri most of this morning, almost teasing. He takes a deep breath and wipes at his eyes. There's a lot to process with all of this new information and he's still not fully dealt with the rest of the information he's gotten today, not the least of which being that he's here at all. "Was my cell phone with me?" is the first thing he asks, as they head out towards the entryway, "If Celestino is that worried about me, I should call him," he looks over at Victor in an almost-side eye, "I presumed that he knew where I was."

There's a cringe to the comment, however teasing it might be, Victor doesn't exactly want Russian Police dragging him out of here over a misplaced joke.

"I didn't see your coach by the time we left," Celestino also got totally wasted, it was half of why Yuuri got away with everything he did, "The police will let him know, they have his number. They also have a bag of what wasn't taken from your room, if you sign for it." Also, you know, confirm this isn't a hostage situation... please.........

"Okay," he does actually perk up for the police a little, is very polite. He has to have Victor translate some, probably, which likely doesn't help the whole hostage thing. But he's pretty calm for someone who's been kidnapped, and when Makkachin comes out to see what's going on, he actually kneels down to rub at his little fluffy ears, which looks a lot more comfortable than he has been.

Truth be told, teasing aside, he's not... actually 100% sure he hasn't been kidnapped. It would actually make a lot more sense than all of the things that Victor has been telling him happened last night. But he's also not sure if he cares. Sometimes, being put in a situation so completely horrible and out of your control has a way of triggering survival tactics in the brain, and right now, he feels weirdly better about everything that seemed overwhelming yesterday.

Also being kidnapped by Victor Nikiforov isn't specifically something he's ever fantasized about, but only for lack of imagination in that department, he's realizing.

So he signs everything and translates back and forth until they're satisfied and then takes the (very small) bag of things. He's got a sneaking and sinking feeling about what he's not going to find in that bag.

Luckily, one of the officers does know English and speaks with Yuuri, doing most of the translating for the report. Victor is more relaxed, glad to get it resolved and on his best behavior. He cracks a joke or two in Russian, or so it seems, since the officers laugh easily and don't seem all that uptight as the paperwork is filed. They're just glad to get it all squared away and so is Victor.

The police soon leave the two men and dog alone again. Victor is curious as he watching Yuuri rummage through the bag. It's just clothes, his wallet and passport gone, any electronics he might have had. Celestino kept the man's skates and costumes, so at least those weren't run off with, not that it matters at the moment.

"Let me get you my laptop, you can contact your banks about fraud." Victor will do as he says, going to get his mac and open it on the counter. "This is a real mess, but at least you weren't passed out during a robbery..."

Well, at least he's got some clean clothes, though that's going to mean he has to give back Victor's and he's realizing that makes him a little sad. Maybe more sad than losing his wallet, honestly, though his phone and his passport are--

Wait. His passport?

"How am I... getting home?" he just kind of blurts out, outloud after a second. "I mean, my flight's this evening sometime. I don't... have any way to prove who I am at all." He's worried about the bank stuff, too, but there's not a lot to steal.

Those clothes should probably go in the laundry, since they've been manhandled by both cops and robbers, at this point. Victor blinks at the idea, right. Yuuri is going to have no ID, no passport, no money... in a country he doesn't speak the language of.

"I don't know," Victor answers rather pitifully, offering Yuuri a seat back at the counter with his computer, "but don't worry about that, yet. Here, email your banks and your family, so they don't panic. That should get done soon as you can. Let me call the American embassy and see what they have to say, they should know what to do." Victor at least knows that Yuuri would have been heading back to Detroit, not Japan. He can speak English so it's actually easier than the latter.

"Okay," says, nodding, then actually reaches out and catches Victor's hand as he turns to walk away, "Um..." he has to force the words out, can't look at him, but it's a huge step just to have gotten to this point, "Thank you. For helping me out." He's turning red a little.

Victor looks from his hand up to Yuuri's expression, glad he's not looking ready to cry again. He's so bad when people get that upset, he has no clue what to say. With no hint of sarcasm or jest he says,

"Sorry I kidnapped you," because he feels genuinely bad that this all seems that way,

"this should have been like... fun and sexy, but instead it's a huge mess. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

"I'm not." He says it genuinely, without thinking, a full stop statement, and then seems to realize what it sounds like and sputters a bit, "I mean... uh... sorry, that was weird. Sorry... Thank you," he drops his hand and almost flinches away, but it's his own awkwardness he's recoiling from, not Victor.

The only thing that keeps him from just running is that he does have to contact all of these people. He can beat his head against a wall later...

That little confirmation puts a smile on Victor's face, swiftly easing his worry. He'll take it as an opprotunity to be a bit more bold. Reach a hand out, ghosting the tips of his fingers along Yuuri's chin.

"No point in us both being sorry, is there? Let's call it even."

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