Saturday, November 24th

Victor knew Yuuri was nervous, but he couldn't figure out why. Yes, he was another year older, but at twenty five, it wasn't as though he was getting old. The GPF was coming up, but Victor didn't think it was that, either. Yuuri still felt pressure before a competition, but this was somehow different. He wondered if it had anything to do with how they'd spent his last birthday.

Of course, if Victor had known it was his birthday at the time, he would have done more. Taken him to a nice restaurant, gotten him a present, the whole nine yards. But Yuuri hadn't told him of the event until they had already been in bed and in no mood to move. Then again, they hadn't even actually started dating until that very day, so it wasn't as though he'd failed as a boyfriend.

Still, he was determined to make this birthday better. They were staying in Hasetsu between competitions, in the attic – Mari's strong suggestion to spare the other guests from their noise – at the Onsen. Victor had already planned an early family dinner with the Katsuki's, followed by slow dancing under the stars, a full body massage, and a present. Oh and sex, hot sex. But that wouldn't come till after the present.

The whole day, Yuuri seemed on edge. No matter how much Victor pressed him, he wouldn't say what was bothering him. By the time they finished family dinner, Yuuri had barely touched his katsudon, which told Victor something is seriously wrong. He took Yuuri out to where he'd strung up fairy lights and had soft music playing, but instead of pulling him in for a dance, he sat them both down.

"Yuuri, love, please tell me what's on your mind. Don't try and tell me nothing's wrong, because I know you better than that." He raised Yuuri's hand to his lips and kissed the gold band there. "Please, let me in."

"I... I don't know how to explain it, Victor," Yuuri sighed. "I'm afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"Of getting stuck. Of being caught in a loop and never moving forward." He took a deep breath and looked up, the damn bursting now that he'd let a trickle through. "And I know it's a foolish thing to be afraid of, because even if we got stuck here, even if I had to repeat this day over and over for the rest of my life, it would be a blessing that I never could have dreamed for a year ago, but now that I've really got you, I'm greedy for more, for everything, and I want to keep going, keep moving onto new things with you, grow old with you..." He ran out of breath and blinked back the tears that had formed in his eyes.

"Oh, love," Victor pulled Yuuri in close and hugged him. "You don't have to worry about that. We are going to spend the rest of our lives together, but of course we will keep moving forward. We'll keep shocking the skating world, and then we'll retire and we can teach young skaters to awe the audience, or we can travel the world performing ice shows, or we can just grow fat and happy and old together. Our future is wide open. We can do anything we want with it. But the most important thing is that we will have a future together. I can promise you that, Yuuri."

"Can you?"

"Yes. No matter what else, we have that much. Always."

Yuuri searched his eyes, then seemed to come to a resolve. He let himself be rocked in Victor's embrace, let himself be comforted by the man who had come to mean the world to him. Eventually, Victor pulled him to his feet and led him through a slow tango. The music changed and they danced cheek to cheek, swaying to the rhythm. After that, Victor led them up to their room and undressed Yuuri slowly, then rubbed his tense muscles with warm oil. He could practically feel the anxiety leaving Yuuri's body with every press of his fingers.

He'd planned to give Yuuri his gift after the massage, but seeing Yuuri's flawless skin slick with oil, having him stretched out naked on the bed, hearing him moan in pleasure from the massage, all combined to make Victor's plans slip his mind entirely. He couldn't resist pressing himself against Yuuri's pliant, eager body, didn't even try and stop himself from kissing those parted lips, seeking heat and relief and the sweet inferno of release.

Sweat was drying on their skin by the time Victor remembered Yuuri's present. He hopped up from the bed and crossed the room naked to grab the little package. Excitedly, he pushed it into Yuuri's hands and waited for him to open it. Yuuri tore away the paper to reveal a special edition CD of ABBA. He looked up at Victor's grin in shock.

"Do you like it? I remembered that alarm on your phone from the first morning I woke up with you and I just knew you needed this. I looked through all your CDs and didn't see a copy, so I assumed..." he trailed off, wondering if his great idea was not such a great idea after all. "Yuuri?"

"I... I love it, Victor. Of course I love it. But there's just one thing."

"What?"

"If you wake me up tomorrow morning to Dancing Queen, I will shave your head in your sleep so help me god."

Victor let out a horrified gasp. The fact that his exact plan had, indeed, been to wake Yuuri up with that song made the threat seem all the more severe. "How could you!" he cried, clutching his now shoulder length hair.

"I mean it. Promise me you won't."

"With threats like that, you'll be lucky if I ever play ABBA again," Victor pouted. Yuuri shook his head with a small laugh. "Fine," Victor sighed dramatically. "I promise."

"Good. Now come here." Yuuri set aside the CDs and held out his arms for Victor, who went happily into them. They cuddled together on the bed, bodies pressed tightly together both for warmth and for comfort.

Sated and happy, Victor fell asleep almost immediately, but Yuuir stayed awake for a long time watching Victor sleep. He thought of how far they'd come in the last year, and of what all they had ahead of them.

Please, god, he thought as his eyes finally fluttered shut, let me keep having tomorrows with him.

It was still dark when Yuuri's eyes opened again, though a rosy haze of dawn was starting to creep into the sky. His heart was pounding and his hand trembled as he reached for his phone.

"Mm, 're you 'lright?" Victor asked without opening his eyes, still half asleep. Yuuri turned on his phone's screen and pulled up the calendar.

Sunday, November 25th.

He let out a long breath and smiled. "Yeah," he whispered. "Everything is perfect." He curled around Victor again and fell back to sleep.