Chapter Text
Victor knew immediately upon feeling Yuuri shift in his sleep and hearing his discomfited groan, that something was definitely not right with his husband. He opened his eyes and squinted in the darkness at Yuuri’s flushed and sweating face. He touched his cheek to his unhappy spouse’s, then drew back, sighing with worry.
“Are you all right, solnyshko?” he asked, “You look like you might have a little fever. Don’t you worry about a thing, my cute little pork cutlet bowl. I will take care of you.”
“M’okay…you don’t have to,” Yuuri mumbled sleepily in objection.
Victor placed a hand on Yuuri’s soft, pink cheek.
“You do feel like you have a temperature,” Victor insisted, “I’ll go get a thermometer to check how high it is.”
Yuuri moaned another objection as his Russian lover tried to pull free of him. Victor laughed as Yuuri’s stubbornly persistent hands yanked him in closer, and his husband’s hot, dry lips brushed against his softer, cooler ones.
“That’s so sweet, Yuuri,” Victor cooed, nuzzling his cheek, “but how am I supposed to take care of you if you won’t let me get out of bed? Come now, if it was me who was sick, you would be spoiling me silly. I’ll do no less for my solnyshko.”
He finally managed to escape the bed, and he chuckled as Yuuri’s hands grasped at the air and the Japanese man continued to mumble his name lovingly, his voice sounding similar to how it sounded when he was drunk.
“I’m coming right back,” Victor called out to him as he hurried into the bathroom and rifled through the medicine cabinet.
He found a digital thermometer and dampened a washcloth, then he filled a small glass with cool water and returned to the bed. He ran his fingers gently through his husband’s tumbled hair and Yuuri’s brown eyes cracked open and looked up at him dazedly.
“Viiiiiictor,” he moaned softly.
“I’m right here,” Victor assured him, squeezing his hand, “I’ll be your doctor tonight. Open.”
He slipped the thermometer into Yuuri’s mouth and waited a few seconds until the device beeped to say it was finished.
“Goodness, that is quite a fever,” Victor said, looking impressed, “When you do something, you do it right, da? Well, I’ve got the cure for you. I’ll take care of you and you’ll be better in no time. Here now, have a sip of water. You need to stay hydrated, just like when you’re competing. Oh, that’s so good, Yuuri.”
He chuckled as Yuuri moaned and grabbed the water glass, then he hurriedly swallowed.
“M’so thirsty.”
“I know, baby,” Victor said sympathetically, “That fever of yours sucks the moisture right up, doesn’t it? It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
He fed his sick husband a few more sips, then bent over him to kiss the droplets from his dry lips.
“D’don’t!” Yuuri objected, his teeth chattering, “You’ll g-get s-sick t-too!”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Victor chuckled off-handedly, “Haven’t you ever heard of the Florence Nightingale effect? I’m taking care of you, so I’m protected, da?”
“Y-you c-can’t m-make that ass-ssumption,” Yuuri stammered weakly.
“Will you please quiet down and let me spoil you in peace, little piggy?” Victor giggled, using the damp washcloth to soothe the sweat from his lover’s flushed face, “Now, I am going to make you some hot soup and tea, and you are going to be a good little piggy and sleep. Got it?”
“Mmmmnnn,” Yuuri mumbled incoherently as he began to drift off.
“Sleep now, solnyshko,” Victor whispered, kissing him tenderly on the forehead, “I’ll be right here.”
Victor’s gentle, loving words echoed strangely in Yuuri’s muddled head as he drifted off and dropped slowly into a deep slumber. Victor held him close as Yuuri’s sleeping mind wandered, dipping him into a swirl of bright colors and odd shapes that gradually resolved into a tranquil, watery scene.
Yuuri’s brown eyes opened and blinked in surprise as he found himself naked and floating aimlessly, far beneath the surface of what he was sure was a vast ocean. He started to draw in a shocked breath, then hastily stopped himself, fully expecting to choke on the water he took in. But strangely, the water flowed in and felt as easy to breathe as air. And when he exhaled, he felt an odd sensation on the sides of his neck. He reached up and felt with his fingers, then made a garbled sound of surprise at finding a pair of gills. His surprised howl sounded haunting beneath the surface and his heart pounded wildly as he tried to comprehend his situation. He stretched out his legs to touch the bottom of the area he was in, but that, too, felt strange. Looking down, another helpless sound of surprise and fear escaped him.
What is this? How did I get here? Where am I? Where is Victor?
He looked around wildly for his missing husband, but Victor was nowhere to be found. All around him, waves made dizzying swirls in the water and pretty, green seaweed danced and waved at him.
What’s going on? This is all so strange!
He forced his breathing to slow, giving him time to get more used to the feel of his gills. He looked down at his naked body that now end in a fishlike lower half.
I have to be dreaming, he realized, This isn’t real.
But, as much as he blinked his eyes and pinched himself…
“OW!”
He couldn’t make the image of the deep, blue sea in front of him disappear and his own home come back to him.
I need to find Victor. He’ll know what to do.
He tried walking along the bottom of the sea, but he couldn’t manage more than bouncing, and his fishlike body wanted to float anyway, so his feet, erm fins kept coming up off the bottom anyway. It took him several tries, but he finally managed to get himself floating upright in the water, then he wiggled his body until he found a rhythm that would allow him to push himself forward. His hands and arms helped as he wobbled and flopped his way forward.
The water is shallow here, he realized, I should be able to look around up there at the top. Maybe I can tell where I am.
He flopped around some more, trying to ignore the little giggling fish that swam by. It was a struggle and he was out of breath by the time his head broke through the surface. It felt less comfortable to try to breathe air, now that he had gills, but he managed well enough so that he could look around and take stock. A sudden wave picked him up and Yuuri let out a scared wail, then a loud “OOF!” as he was thrown down and his face smacked into the sand.
He sat up, spitting out the sand and coughing and he wiped a slender hand over his face. He groaned at finding himself stranded out of the water, but a soft moan distracted him, and he turned his head to find the source.
It was then that Yuuri realized that he had come ashore into the middle of a broken wreck of a ship. Shredded sails and shattered beams littered the sand around him. And tucked into the middle of all of the wreckage, a man’s shapely bottom stuck up into the air. The rest of the man appeared to be stuck in a pile of debris. Yuuri blinked and looked at the lovely derriere, knowing beyond doubt who it belonged to.
“Victor!” he cried out.
But out of the water, his voice was only a loud squeal, and the sound made the man’s butt wiggle, and made the man struggle, trying to get himself turned around to see what foul demon was making such a racket.
“Show yourself, monster!” Victor shouted, his voice shaking oddly, “How dare you sneak up behind…erm…my behind!”
“Sorry,” Yuuri squealed, then he clapped a hand over his mouth, and instead flopped haphazardly across the sand on his belly.
He reached the man, but was left with little recourse as to how he might be freed. He couldn’t lift himself well yet, although he was sure there was a way to do it. He took hold of a piece of the wreckage with his shaky hands, then emitted a loud, frightened squeal as the wreckage suddenly shifted, freeing the trapped man and dropping them both roughly on the sand, face to face. For a long moment, the man’s lovely blue-green eyes stared raptly into his widened brown ones. Then, their mouths opened wide and the man screamed and scrabbled away as Yuuri squealed, “It’s okay! I’m not gonna hurt you! Please, calm down.”
“Get back!” the man shouted, searching around in the sand with frantic hands, “Don’t come near me!”
The man’s hand found a piece of driftwood, and he picked it up and brandished it in front of him. He climbed to his feet, pressing forward as Yuuri’s eyes filled with tears and he tried to flop back towards the water.
The man looks like Victor, but he obviously doesn’t recognize me, and I can’t tell him who I am! If he hits me with…OW!
Stars exploded in front of Yuuri’s eyes as something struck him on the head.
“I told you to get back,” the man snapped, “foul monster!”
Yuuri cowered, holding a hand to his head and crying in long, shuddering squeals. Tears rolled down his cheeks and he quivered as the man lowered the driftwood and stared at him curiously.
“Why, you’re not very scary at all,” the man said, looking down at him.
Yuuri sniffed and turned away to hide his red, embarrassed face.
“As a matter of fact,” the man went on, “you seem quite gentle, when you’re not shattering my eardrums with your squealing. What’s up with that, anyway? Can you be a little quieter? Maybe if you tone it down a little, I can understand you.”
Yuuri stole a glance at the man through his slightly parted fingers.
“My name is Victor Nikiforov,” the man announced, tilting his head slightly so that the sun caught the pretty silvery strands of his hair, “I was trying to get to Japan and…”
He looked around and frowned.
“Although the better way would definitely have been to take a plane,” he muttered, half to himself, “but, whatever. I want to get to Japan. I have heard of a skater there who I want to meet.”
“Victor!” Yuuri squealed, making Victor cover his ears and wince.
“Stop that!” Victor snapped.
Terrified by his yelling, Yuuri scrambled away, flipping and flopping towards the water clumsily as Victor chased after him, calling for him to stop.
“Now, don’t get all offended,” Victor complained, grabbing Yuuri by his fishy tail and holding him away from the edge of the water, “You can see that I’m stuck on this island, and I don’t have any food or…”
Yuuri heard the word food and began to thrash about wildly, screeching until Victor had to cover his ears again and couldn’t hold on. He let go of Yuuri’s tail, and the cute merman slipped back into the water.
“No, wait!” Victor pleaded, waving his arms, “How am I going to survive? I need…!”
He gave the merman an exasperated look as Yuuri ducked below the surface and quickly swam away.
At least I’m better at swimming, he mused, moving off a safe distance from the little island. He positioned himself behind a rock, watching as Victor looked sadly in the direction he had gone, then turned back and started to go through the mess on the shore.
“I have to have had some food in here somewhere,” Victor complained loudly, “Damn it! I didn’t mean to scare that boy…monster…mermaid-man away. He could have at least helped me find some fish to eat…although, that fish could be a cousin. Hmm…seaweed? Ugh. I may have to resort to something unsavory if I find nothing else. And I won’t survive without water, that’s for sure.”
He looked around and Yuuri ducked back behind the rock.
“Hey,” Victor called, more kindly, “are you out there? Look, I’m sorry. Please come back? I need help finding food and water. And…it’s getting colder. It’ll be night soon.”
He looked around again, listening closely, then after a few minutes, sighed and shook his head.
“I wonder if Yakov will realize something happened to me and send someone.”
He studied the endless seas in all directions and swallowed hard.
“Not likely.”
He turned back and spent the next hour wrangling part of the wood and cloth into a small shelter, then he used several pieces to prepare a fire pit. He proved rather good, Yuuri thought, at making fire, and soon there was a roaring blaze, although there was nothing to cook. Victor sat on the sand, looking into the dancing flames, his expression sad.
“I don’t like this,” he said more softly, making Yuuri slip out from behind the rock he’d spent all afternoon hiding behind, “No food, no water, no company? Will someone find me before I die?”
Yuuri made no move to approach the man, only watching as Victor sat by the fire until he tired and laid down. He turned onto his back, placing his hands behind his head and looking up into the stars.
“Very pretty,” he sighed, “I guess if I’m doomed to die of starvation, then this is…not a completely horrible place. I only wish that little monster-mermaid-man would come back. Damn it! I should have been more polite.”
Victor continued to lie on his back, but he only looked up into the night sky, admiring the stars through those beautiful troubled eyes until he fell asleep on the sand. Yuuri waited, watching until Victor’s chest moved up and down in a steady pattern, then he crept out of the water, and made his way slowly across the sand, practicing his movements until he no longer flopped around, but moved more gracefully and faster. He reached the sleeping man and moved in close to study his comely face in the mix of moonlight and fading firelight.
Victor is such a beautiful man.
He frowned thoughtfully, trying to remember where he had heard that name before.
I remember calling out that name, before I met this man. I was afraid, and I didn’t know where I was. But the longer I am here, the more the sea feels natural to me. I wonder if that means…I will forget where I came from and just stay here.
He leaned towards Victor, breathing in his slightly sweet scent.
He smells good.
The smell seemed to emanate from a place near the juncture of Victor’s muscular shoulder and fine, white throat. Yuuri watched for a minute to make sure that Victor was asleep, then he leaned even closer, breathing in the scent of that place that suddenly seemed familiar to him. He caught a flash vision of himself, not a merman anymore, but a human, like Victor. They laid in a bed together and Yuuri’s face was buried in the wonderful smelling place, breathing in Victor’s delicious scent and smiling. He closed his eyes and breathed in again, unaware that Victor’s eyes had opened and widened in distress at seeing what was sure was the sea beast from before, come to eat him alive.
Victor gasped and Yuuri started to retreat, only to find that the silvery haired man had grabbed onto him and was astride his back and calling for him to calm down and hold still.
“I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to talk!”
Yuuri flipped and flopped wildly, slamming Victor’s clinging body onto the sand several times, then dragging the barely conscious man into the water as he fled. He slowed as he felt Victor’s clenching hand loosen and let go.
Then, he realized.
If he’s unconscious, he can’t swim back to shore!
He turned back in time to see Victor’s pretty eyes closing and his parted lips releasing the last of his breath.
Oh no! I’ve killed him!
Yuuri hurried back and caught Victor’s limp body and dragged him back onto the shore, where he laid the handsome man on his back and tried to rouse him with squeals and pressure on his chest. Water streamed out of the sides of Victor’s mouth and Yuuri squealed more frantically.
With these gills, breathing is different. I can’t…but wait! It seems I am breathing air while up here. I do not lack oxygen, so I must be amphibious! That means I can try to give Victor my breaths!
Yuuri leaned over the unconscious man, swallowing hard as he opened Victor’s mouth with careful fingers. He bent down and placed his own mouth over Victor’s, breathing out slowly, then pulling away as Victor released the breath. He fed Victor another breath and watched as Victor exhaled. Yuuri squealed more softly and Victor’s pretty eyes opened and blinked, looking dazedly up at him. Yuuri started to pull his mouth away from the man’s, but Victor’s arms wrapped around him and Victor’s warm tongue probed his mouth for a few exhilarating moments before sliding out again.
He smiled and started to speak, but them stiffened and started to cough and shiver. Yuuri’s arms wrapped around him, lifting him so that he could expel the last of the water.
“Ack!” Victor coughed, “You’ve killed me, I think, but that was a lovely kiss, you cute sea monster.”
He panted for a moment, stealing a little look at Yuuri’s sweet, flustered face.
“But you also saved me,” he added, giving the anxious merman a little smile, “Thank you.”
The man looked at him more closely.
“You…aren’t going to hurt me, are you?” he asked.
Yuuri shook his head fervently.
“Good,” Victor sighed, “Now, do you think you can help me find some food and water? I’ve managed not to get drowned today. Hopefully, I can manage not to starve to death or die of thirst either.”