Summary: Struggling to keep a semblance of a normalcy he cannot begin to understand in his life is hard enough for Yuuri, who had taken it upon himself to solve the various problems and chores people shove his way. It's as much of a job as any, he supposes, but then a problem refuses to be solved and that's still the least of his problems. Because how can you tell the very human guy you just met that his spirit guardian of a dog had somehow ended up appointing him his magical bodyguard, without actually telling him you're, well, kind of a witch?

Chapter One

He had always admired the ice. Cold, strong, fierce. Yet beautiful, mesmerizing- even… mysterious. A frozen lake, with all its life stilted, trapped beneath. A temptation that could kill you in a single mistake or a moment of weakness not your own. He loved the ice that formed in his hometown, would always reach out with delicate movements to brush its surface, the chill comforting in a way that warmed his heart, ironic though it may have seemed. A small smile would grace his features, taking in the white of the snow, the translucence of the frost.

There was a lake in this town. It would stay frozen for nine months every year, then come back to life, without fail, for the summer. The timing, too perfect, too calculated to be natural, baffled scientists everywhere. He had originally wandered into town to look into that odd phenomenon, found himself unwilling to leave. The city itself was big and bustling and so so loud, but there were parts of it that held an almost eerie quiet, blessed in the chaos of the big city. In that remarkable difference he had found beauty, so he had chosen to stay.

Besides, the greater the chaos, the easier he could find a job. But that was a whole other story.

The sound of the pen clicking could be annoying at least three tables seated in the coffee shop, except for the person responsible for it. It barely registered to his ears, as his eyes scanned the odd script on the pages of his notebook, crumbled from use, his mind trying to figure out what was missing, what was causing him to fail.

He was dragged out of his headache-inducing problem by the sound of the chair across from him scraping against the ground.

"One of these days, I'll get curious and ask how many languages you know and ultimately freak myself out," Phichit pointed out, eyeing the letters on his friend's notebook. "I wanna say… Greek?"

Yuuri hummed in agreement. "Greek and Latin are good for spells."

"Because they're super old?"

"Because they're super old," he laughed. "But age is not helping me solve this, unfortunately." A small smile lingered on his lips, even when he returned his gaze to the pages, sneaking glances at his friend, who was starting to lean forward to examine the words himself. With the language unknown to him however, after a few seconds of staring, Phichit wrinkled his nose, looking enough like one of his beloved hamsters to have Yuuri holding back giggles.

"So, what are you working on?" he eventually gave up and asked, all attempts to decipher it himself turning out futile. "Wait- did you get up to order?" He added, once the waitress who had stopped by with two steaming cups of fresh coffee walked away, looking slightly perplexed. At Yuuri's smile and that inconspicuous little shrug, he decided, like most things when it came to Yuuri, that he was better off knowing less than more.

Even though he was itching with curiosity and would, without a doubt, resume that conversation as soon as the other finished answering his previous question.

"I'm not sure, to be honest. I mean- I thought it was a simple case of a haunted area- there's been trouble at the outskirts, near that ice cream place you like so much, did you hear?- but I didn't see a spirit there… which okay, it happens, but none of the counterspells or charms that I've tried have seemed to work so far…" Yuuri trailed off, a full frown hardening his normally soft features. He didn't like failing, Phichit was made aware of that a week into living together, but this was more than that. This was- this was upset. Upset needed a more definite reason than a couple wasted charms.

"Well… what else could it be?" Phichit dared ask, concern hidden from his voice in the place of curiosity, yet there was a crease just between his brows to betray it.

Yuuri's frown only deepened. "A hex?"

He had listened to his roommate explain the basics of different kinds of magic enough times to understand his distress. "Don't you need a Caster for a hex?"

"One with a good reason, yes," Yuuri nodded. Annoyance flashed in his eyes, before he waved off the whole thing. "No, it's probably just me being incompetent. I'll get it right soon enough." Phichit began to protest, though he was immediately cut off. "Thank you, but it's more likely that I'm doing something wrong here, than there being a person casting hexes of all things, in a place as desolate as this. Besides-"

His attention was directed elsewhere by accident, once brown eyes caught sight of a greying mop of brown curls, bouncing excitedly up and down at the entrance to the shop. The sight of the creature staring lovingly at the human they were accompanying filled his chest with warmth until a smile tugged helplessly at his lips.

"Cute dog," Phichit cooed, having turned to see what had taken over his attention. "Not cute like my hamsters, but still- Hey, she kind of looks like a bigger version of Vicchan, doesn't she?"

Yuuri shifted his eyes from the subject of his affections, solely to grant Phichit a knowing look. "Exactly like a bigger version of Vicchan." And all that that entailed.

At first, it was clear he hadn't understood, frowning a little at the overly implying tone being used. Not too long after however, Phichit gaped, head snapping back -entirely indiscreetly too- to take another good look. "Are you saying that's not just a dog?" Yuuri laughed softly. "A Guardian. How can you even tell?"

"I can tell."

Often Guardian Spirits would take the form of pets. Both for convenience but also when they wished to help people with no connection to magic- or at least one that they were aware of. It was a friend gained from affection, either as a gift from a person with enough knowledge of magic to wish to protect you with one -as was the case with Vicchan, courtesy of his mother-, or it was said that when a loved one passed away, if they loved you so much they would send a Guardian down to watch over you, since they couldn't do it themselves anymore.

Yuuri gazed at the poodle and wondered how he had gotten attached to the human, who…

Oh.

Who was looking right at him.

Mostly because said Guardian was also looking right at him.

Witches could sense Guardians. As was fair, Guardians could also sense witches.

Shit.

With a resounding woof as though to announce the upcoming inspection, the poodle ran over to their table, large curious eyes glued to Yuuri alone.

He made sure to return the gesture fully, his gaze open, sincere, to reassure her he meant no harm. The dog tilted her head for a second, taking him in, before a happy bark preceded her vicious, absolutely merciless attack of slobber in form of happy dog kisses on his face.

Phichit was openly laughing at his expense, while Yuuri all but giggled, mindful enough to remove his glasses, so at least something would be salvaged from this fight he was so hopelessly losing. Guardians could easily turn aggressive against people of magic they didn't trust, but pass their judgment and they would love you.

"Makkachin!" Her human scolded, though laughter bubbled in his voice. "I'm sorry- she's very friendly, but this is a little new, even for her."

Yuuri waved him off, still smiling. "It's fine really, she's no-" The words died on the tip of his tongue once he finally took a proper look at the human she was guarding. Well, damn. He'd protect him too, if he needed an extra dose of magical shielding. Or anything else, really.

"It's probably kinship," Phichit chose that time to joke, resulting in one very confused, very attractive stranger, looking at the both of them like he wasn't sure if he should be waiting for a punch line or not.

Yuuri snuck a glare at his friend to reward his assistance. "Be-because I'm a dog person. That's what he means. Nothing else."

"Nope," Phichit grinned, unfazed by the unfriendly sentiments directed his way. "Nothing at all."

The man seemed to ignore their odd behavior. He must have latched on to something from their conversation, because his expression brightened into an excited smile, lips parting to say something, only to be interrupted.

"Sorry, we- we really need to go!" Yuuri blurted out, all but jumping from his spot. His chair screeched painfully loud against the tile floor, bringing a wince to all three of them. Half-finished coffees were left forgotten as he grabbed his friend's jacked and pulled, dragging them both out of the shop, despite the protests. He tried not to look back at the stranger's expression as they left, though his heart ached at the pitiful whine the poodle made at his abrupt departure.

Only when they were a good ways away from the coffee place did Yuuri round up on his roommate, who looked decidedly less guilty than he should be.

"Phichit, that wasn't funny!"

Phichit raised his hands in defense. "I beg to differ, but still- why did we leave like that? He was being friendly."

Why did he leave like that? Something had felt alarmingly off at the moment, an instinct screaming wrong wrong wrong at him that he couldn't place. Frustration built up in his chest- was it just a case of bad anxiety, or had something been truly wrong? His inability to separate the two could prove to be dangerous. For himself, as well as that stranger. Wouldn't the Guardian have picked it up, however, if there was a danger to look out for?

"Yuuri?" Phichit called, brows scrunched up in concern. "What is it?"

"Something felt off…" he admitted, gaze cast down.

"You mean other than the fact that a guardian spirit tried to play matchmaker between a witch and a super hot dude?"

"Phichit!"

"And hey, kinship comment or not, it's not like his first thought would be witch, even if he knows his dog is magic."

"You're right," Yuuri conceded. "With my luck, he'll think I'm a werewolf."

Yuuri met Phichit on his first day of college, having been assigned as his roommate. A roommate he had apparently skipped the memo he was going to have, because by the time Phichit had stepped inside his new college dorm room, he found his supposed new roommate reading out loud from an intimidating, thick textbook, while a pen kept notes nearby. No, not Yuuri. The pen kept the notes, as he dutifully read to it.

"What the shit?" were the first words they ever exchanged, followed by a high-pitched yelp and a string of apologies and curses, that he still regretted not recording to this day.

It took a while to calm Yuuri down, but as soon as it was obvious that Phichit wasn't bothered by their current situation, just surprised and he wouldn't even think to betray his secret outside of the four walls of their room (which, kinship comments aside, was a promise he had kept without fail), they settled into each other's company with more ease than their first meeting should have granted them. It was surprisingly easy to convince Yuuri of that, though it may have had something to do with the way Phichit looked at his new roommate with enough sparkle in his eyes to beat a child's on Christmas morning.

Adjusting was hard. The little witch, fresh out of the protective walls of his home back in Hasetsu, where it had been safe for him to be who, what he was as much as he wanted to, even if not the entirety of his family had been magic, had to learn to blend in with the normal people. It came as a surprise to them both, how clueless Yuuri could be sometimes as to what was normal and what wasn't. And Phichit, poor, innocent Phichit had to witness -and shockingly enough, survive- a few of his friend's less harmless antics.

He got used to the explosions by the third time around. If he didn't know it was paramount that Yuuri's secret remained just that- a secret, Phichit would have long ago given in to the urge to make daily vlogs. Of the "hi, I'm Phichit and this is Jackass," type.

He had all but forgotten about the adorable guardian dog and her human by the time next week rolled around and his haunting problem remained unresolved. His trip home was canceled for the foreseeable future, because he couldn't leave without finishing this, which meant that until he did that, he wouldn't be able to see his family. Or his own Guardian, as Mari was apparently too busy to come a few towns over to him. He had left Vicchan with her when it had been made clear they wouldn't be able to live as nearby as they would have liked. Although it ached to be away from him, his sister could use the magical protection more than he did.

He would have liked to see him right now though!

As though his wish had been heard, a loud bark caught his attention from the corner of the street. For a moment he could have sworn it was truly Vicchan, until the poodle came close enough for the difference in size to be made obvious. Even so, he knew that Guardian.

"Makkachin?" Yuuri whispered, eyes shot open wide.

She stopped right in front of him, offering a whine at the sound of her name. A few people paused to stare at them, confused as to why the dog who had run here from who knows how far would suddenly stop in front of an equally surprised pedestrian. The sound of her distress tugged at his heart enough however, to focus on her alone.

"What is it, girl?" he asked, kneeling down to her level and reaching with his hand to scratch the back of her ears. "Something wrong?"

Makkachin barked once and sprinted off to where she had come from, pausing only once to signal to Yuuri that he should, indeed, follow her.

Well, then.

The distance wasn't long after all, though Yuuri was surprised to have ended up in the one place that had started it all for him.

The lake.

Frozen still, as it almost always was, with a very distressed human looking around for his friend. The instant relief that visibly washed over him at the sight of his Guardian caused Yuuri's heart to weep once more for his own pup.

"Makka, oh, thank God!" he called out, running over to meet her halfway, before falling to his knees to wrap her in a tight hug. "Don't run off like that again. What got into you- Oh."

Yuuri stood awkwardly off to the side, fidgeting with the hem of his jacket. "H-hi. Sorry to intrude, I… I think she really wanted me to join you."

His worry having dissipated already, the man could laugh it off with ease. "She did go into a lot of trouble to get you there. I'm Viktor."

And Yuuri looked at him then, looked straight at him, trying to figure out what it was that had gone so terribly wrong the last time they had been in close proximity to each other. It wasn't Viktor- there was not a malicious bone in him, nothing intentional, Yuuri could sense at least that much- but that feeling of utter wrongness surrounding him persisted. He had never encountered anything quite so discreet, yet so obviously there at the same time.

His gaze shifted over to Makkachin, who met his gaze with deep, pleading eyes. Why did she have to be a dog? Puppy eyes were the hardest to resist.

There wasn't much choice in the matter. He took a deep, steadying breath, before making a silent vow to Makkachin to fulfill her wish.

I'll protect your human.

I'll protect… Viktor. For you, I'll do it for you.

"I'm Yuuri."

He tried really hard not to think how he was supposed to go about doing that, without Viktor actually figuring out the truth.

A/N: I promised I'd bring something more light-hearted next time.
Well. Light-hearted for now.
Anyhow, please note that the tags will be updated as the story progresses, so do check them regularly if you care about such stuff.
Hope you enjoyed! (Once again, find me on tumblr under .com)