I asked for requests to fight my author's block and Kutzi Shiro asked for a fic with Yuuri and Yurio; "Yuuri tries to get along with Yurio treating him like a cat" and so this was born.
I hope you like it. English is not my native language and I have no beta, so please if you spot any mistake, let me know!
"Victor?"
"Mh?"
"Why did you left everything you had back in Russia just to follow the Japanese Piglet?" Victor ignored the TV show he was watching and turned his attention towards Yurio. The boy had been in Hasetsu for 3 days and he hadn't stopped complaining about Katsuki and fighting him to get Victor's attention… which was stupid since Yurio and Victor had been training together in Russia for years under the same coach and even when they were practically brothers, Yurio almost never talked to Victor.
"He's a talented skater, just need the proper training and reassurance" Victor took a sip of his cherry liquor, that was his fourth glass of the night and he didn't think it would be the last. "No offense to Celestino, but I think he didn't really exploit Yuuri's full potential. I just hope I won't make the same mistakes as him."
"Still… He's a weirdo" said the younger boy and ate another of those little bread sticks with chocolate… pokis? pockis?
"You're just as weird kiddo… You managed to get a fake permit to get in the flight without an adult just to come all the way to this country to harass the townsfolk" Victor dodged the breadstick that was thrown in his direction and resumed his drinking.
"I didn't want to bother the people here, what I wanted was to harass you!" said Yurio making a childish pout. Victor smiled; sometimes it was really hard to remember that Yurio was just 15 years old. "But seriously, Victor… That Pork Cutlet is really weird" It was very uncommon to hear Yurio talking about his concerns like this, so Victor left aside his drinking to listen the boy.
"What did he do? Did he hurt you?" Yuuri didn't seem to be someone who could be rude… What was Yurio talking about?
"No… Not really... I mean, my eyes bleed seeing him skating but you already know that" Yurio ignored Victor's groan. "It's just that… I thought that by this time he would be pissed and angry at me and would just shout at me…" the promising young skater wasn't easy to get along with and was used to be yelled at in response of his shenanigans. "It doesn't matter how bad I treat him, he just smiles… He's so different from when I found him crying in the restroom after the GPF last year…"
"Do you really despise him?"
"No… No, for fuck's sake!" Yurio's face turned red and Victor tried to found out if it was due his anger or shame… or maybe both. "It's just… Agh! He's so quiet!"
"Do you want him to lose his temper and throw a tantrum at you just like Yakov would?"
"Do you want me to shave your dog again?"
"Yurio I swear to God, if you touch my dog…"
"Ok, ok; I'll not mess with the dog but… yesterday Katsuki left a couple of pots of lavender in my room and that's weird"
"Maybe it's a very subtle way to tell you that you smell and you should use more deodorant. You know, when the kids reach their puberty the body changes. You'll grow hair in places where you didn't have had any; you'll smell worse than ever…"
"Goddammit Victor! Don't be gross! I DO use deodorant… AND I DON'T HAVE HAIR IN WEIRD PLACES!"
"That's… just more than I would like to know, Yurio…" Victor laughed; it had been several months since the last time he talked with Yurio like that. Whatever was going to happen at the Onsen challenge, at least they were having fun just like the old days. "Are you allergic to lavender? Does the smell bother you?" Yurio was about to start yelling again but stopped to think a little before answering.
"No, I'm not allergic… and actually the smell is pretty relaxing. I found it weird to have the pots in my room, but after the training session the smell helped me to sleep better"
"Then maybe that was what Yuuri intended, some kind of aromatherapy. Maybe he thought that if he offered you a soap bar or a lotion, you'd make him eat it or something…" Yurio looked ashamed but only for a few seconds; still Victor could see a faint blushing in his face. "Anything else my lovely Piglet did to bother you?" Yurio seemed angry again and kept silent for a while, frowning and biting his lip. Victor thought the conversation was over and filled another glass of his liquor to accompany a serving of dried fish he stole from the Katsuki's kitchen.
"Yuuri… I mean, the Pork Cutlet… helped me to braid my hair this morning…"
"I don't remember seeing you with braids during the training sessions" Victor turned towards the younger man, who was anxiously scratching his head.
"He just took the comb and started to brush my hair. I usually wake up with a bad case of bed hair but Kats… That Piggy just got rid of it… I think I snoozed a little while he was doing that…"
"Could you please stop calling him "Piglet" or "Piggy"?"
"Nope. He's fat, so he's a Piggy"
"Sometimes I forget that I'm almost twice as old as you…"
"You know what? Just forget it! Forget everything I just said, forget that I was here, forget the hair in weird places… I'll go to sleep already!" Yurio suddenly stood up and marched towards his room.
"Don't forget to water your plants!" yelled Victor, getting some colorful words from Yurio. Oh! The days until Onsen on Ice were going to be soooo much fun…
Victor distracted himself for a couple of hours with his phone, checking the comments he got from his pictures. Yuuri came back home from some shopping, carrying paper bags with groceries and vegetables.
"Victor! Were you drinking all this time?"
"Just a couple of bottles. Remind me to send Yakov some boxes of that cherry liquor, he'll need them when his favorite kiddo comes back to his rink" said Victor; his poor coach didn't deserve the shenanigans from his students, including him.
"Speaking about Yurio…" Yuuri searched in his pockets and drew what seemed to be a small silver chain with some tiny bells hanging from the links. "Do you think he'd like this? I saw it in a store and… uhm… I don't know, seemed like a nice gift for him" Victor took the chain in his hands to study it, provoking the little bells to rattle.
"Is this a cat collar? I know Yurio has a cat in his house in St. Petersburg, but I think collars with bells are bad for pets, especially cats…" Yuuri blushed a little bit.
"Uhm… It's a bracelet…" said Yuuri, scratching his neck. "Maybe it's not a good gift…" the sliding door opened and Yurio appeared, looking at the bracelet with greed.
"Are those… silver bells?" asked the younger skater. Victor raised a brow and rattled the chain to make the bells chime. Yurio didn't take his eyes off the bracelet, mesmerized by its' sound.
"Yuuri bought it for you… Isn't he nice?" crooned Victor, moving the bracelet as a pendulum. Yurio looked at Yuuri, who only managed to wave shyly his hand. The teenager came into the room and snatched the bracelet from Victor's hand before running towards the hallway. He stopped in front of Katsuki, kissed both of his cheeks and mumbled something that sounded like spasibo and went back to his room, leaving the older men speechless for a moment.
"W-what the hell did just happened, Victor?" Yuuri was a little too shocked. Victor, maybe a little bit more in shock than Yuuri, offered him his bottle of liquor.
"Dear Yuuri… I think you're now the brand-new owner of an angry Russian kitten…"