Okay this passage from the litmag piece: [“I’ve wanted to do this ever since I saw you at the bar,”] to [Oh, he thinks. This is the way—]
Source: Not With a Whimper, But--
Hoo, boy, where to even start with my apocalypse child? This passage was one of the first things I thought of, and it remained in the fic throughout a few really big draft changes, because it’s such a gorgeous and heartstopping moment of what if. As a person with anxiety, I am perpetually haunted by the idea that the one time I stop being vigilant about a thing will be the one time when the crisis actually strikes. Yuuri doesn’t go quite that far; they take off their gloves, because in this universe it would have been ingrained into them to check (in an early draft I actually mentioned that it was something they would have learned in sex ed, basically akin to condoms). But, of course, the one time he thinks it won’t happen is the one time it totally does.
The pacing and buildup of this scene was crucial. That transformation moment, the point when it all goes sideways, it’s never an instantaneous realization; there’s always that part when your brain tries to fit the new and baffling information into the paradigm it already knows, often incorrectly. People hear gunshots and think a car must be backfiring, stuff like that. The motif of this is the way the world ends runs through this piece, but the interrupted versions are just as important as the full renditions, and the “this is the way--” was settled on very early, and I honestly can’t tell you exactly why I cut it off right there, except that the cadence and rhythm worked so well. Yuuri is someone who I imagine would react to this situation with preternatural calm; when you spend all your time ready for crisis mode, you end up very ready to deal when it actually descends. I loved this idea of oh. Not oh no, not oh god, just....oh.
(Send me 500 words of anything I’ve written and I’ll do a director’s commentary!)
okay i have a thought. what if. viktor and yuuri both had tentacles. but one of them is a octopus and one of them is a squid and there's cephalopod Discourse.
*pushes up glasses after falling into a google pit about octopi and squids* um;;; only squids have tentacles, octopi have arms. #CephalopodDiscourse
also octopi are cute but squids sort of look like sea demons #CephalopodDiscourse
now for some fic bc i can’t deny writing this:
Viktor had been alone before he met Yuuri. His mother haddisappeared shortly after he left, which was normal for his species. What wasn’t normal was the loneliness thatViktor felt, drifting across the sea floor completely alone, hunting and thendisappearing back into his den for the night, and for another day of the samething.
Maybe it wasn’t normal for his species, but when he’d seenthe injured squid drift down to the ocean floor, near Viktor, he hadimmediately jumped to action, introducing himself and bringing Yuuri in withhim. It was a learning curve, of course, getting to live with a squid. His bodywas much firmer than Viktor’s which meant that his den was much too small forboth of them, and he had to find somewhere else to stay when he was with Yuuri.But there were so many perks.
It was, after all, easy to fall in love with Yuuri Katsuki.Viktor was pretty sure that he’d fallen in love before Yuuri was even awake,watching the squid sleep soundly, the pained look on his face decreasing by thesecond as Viktor worked to make sure he was as comfortable as he could be. Hisface was tinged with a pained blue blush, which adorably matched his eight deepblue arms which laid motionless around him as he slept. His tentacles weredifferent, a darker purple color, almost red near the bottom of them. His hairwas long and tangled around his head, fluttering slightly with his blue fins inthe water.
He was the most beautiful thing that Viktor had ever seen.
Maybe it was because he was mating age, but he had neverseen someone so beautiful. Octopi and squid knew of eachother’s existence, of course, but Viktor had never actually seen one up close. He’d heard rumors from a fewof the other octopi that he’d met that they knew of their own kind mating withsquids, and they’d talked down about it, since that meant joining up with theirfamilies, and not having the safe solidarity of their own den any more.
It didn’t sound so bad, and it sounded even better now thathe had this gorgeous squid in his den.
Yuuri slept for a few days, with Viktor keeping carefulwatch, disappearing only to fed himself and try to catch food good enough forhim – not entirely sure what to get him. He doubted he’d appreciate the crabshe’d caught, and he didn’t know how to feed him when he was asleep anyway. Viktormade sure to continue to change the kelp bandage, watching more and moreworriedly as days went on and the squid hadn’t woken up.
It didn’t last, though, and the squid started to move moreoften after a few days of an eerie lack of movement. When he finally woke up,his injured arm wrapped carefully in kelp against his chest, he had panicked,thrashing against Viktor’s bed. Viktor came up to him, using all of his suckeredarms to hold him down, bringing his hands up to cup his face. “You’re safe. You’resafe, calm down,” he whispered.
The squid’s fins fluttered, pushing him off of the bed inhis panic, and Viktor grabbed onto his shoulders, tangling their suckered armstogether. The squid’s tentacles continued to shove against him, but Viktor didwhat he could to hold him down. “Who are you? Where am I?”
“My name is Viktor,” he answered, letting him go when itseemed like the squid had stopped struggling. He pulled off of him, untanglingall of their suckered arms and scurrying to the other side of the room. “Ifound you, hurt, and I brought you to my den.”
“You’re an octopus?” The squid sat on the edge of Viktor’sbed, using his tentacles and good arm to pull himself off of the bed, hissuckered arms flowing below him. “I’m… Yuuri,” he added after a moment, hisbreathing incredibly uneven.
“I am. You’ve been here for a few days, and I didn’t knowwhat you might want to eat, so you haven’t, and I’m – “
Yuuri cut him off. “You were going to feed me?” he asked,and Viktor realized where the fear came from. Some subspecies of his own kindate squid, Yuuri must have thought he was going to become a meal. “I… if youhave fish, that’s good.” Yuuri sat back onto the bed, his eyes scanning overViktor’s den uncomfortably.
“You don’t have to stay,” Viktor promised, digging throughhis food chest until he found some fish. It was a day old, but it was betterthan nothing. They were still alive, so Viktor guided them toward Yuuri, whoreached out effortlessly with his tentacles, tearing them apart and eating themquickly.
“Was my family with me when you found me?” Yuuri askednervously as he tore apart the fish. “I was hunting, so they wouldn’t have beenfar. Did you see them?”
“I don’t think so.” Viktor hadn’t been looking for other squids at least, more focused on getting Yuuriout of the open ocean as quickly as he could. A squid that injured, he wouldhave been easy prey for anyone swimming fast.
“I need to find them, I’m sorry, thank you for your help.”Yuuri got back up, scurrying to the front of Viktor’s den and Viktor reachedout with his suckered arms, wrapping them around Yuuri, his eyes wide.
“Let me come with you? I want to meet them,” he whispered.He didn’t want to see Yuuri go yet, not when he’d barely gotten to meet him.
Meeting Yuuri’s family turned into staying with them for afew weeks, which turned into mating with Yuuri and staying with them for life.
He woke up every morning with the most beautiful squid he’dever met by his side. They woke up with all of their suckered arms tangledtogether, Viktor’s arms wrapped around Yuuri’s body, and Yuuri’s tentacleswrapped around Viktor.
He never got over the fact that Yuuri could do that andstill have free hands to thread through Viktor’s long hair as he pulled himinto a deep good morning kiss.
Fighting the evils of gainful employment by daylight, writing wild and crazy fanfics by night. I love romantic misunderstandings, identity porn, period pieces, raw tomatoes, socks sold in bulk, and of course: Yuri!!! on Ice.
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Yuuri is in some slight denial but Victor was his sexual awakening in addition to his skating aspiration.
Headcanon B: while it may not be realistic it is hilarious
Yuuri is incredibly afraid of bees.
Headcanon C: heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends
The reason why Vicchan’s passing shook Yuuri up so badly is not that he died, but that he believes Vicchan died thinking Yuuri no longer loved him since he had been gone for so long and wasn’t there at the end.
Headcanon D: unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own.
Yuuri doesn’t actually have a real issue with binge eating except with extreme cases like his first GPF plus Vicchan’s death --- his relationship with food is actually not that bad, he’s just aware if he’s not careful he can get out of skating weight. While he doesn’t constantly consume junk, he understands it’s better to not fight cravings completely so he’ll do things like buy a really good chocolate bar and savor it a piece at a time for those kind of days, etc.
Victor---
Headcanon A: realistic
The reason for Victor’s haircut was he thought when his face finished filling out the long hair made him look less androgynous and more like a guitarist from a Whitesnake cover band who never learned the 80s ended.
Headcanon B: while it may not be realistic it is hilarious
The reason he loves poodles is because of Georgette from Oliver and Company. She’s lavender AND Bette Midler so like...sold.
Headcanon C: heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends
Victor dated a little and maybe had sex on a few occasions before Yuuri, but he always said skating mattered more and things would fizzle. Then when he was at his third consecutive GPF win, he realized he was going home to an empty apartment every time and what a mistake prioritizing his career and nothing else was. By then he felt he was in too deep to try to course correct.
Headcanon D: unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own.
Victor has no issues with his mental health besides the situational depression thing. His family’s also fine, just busy.
The pencil in Yuuri hand crumples into splinters, and he looks at it aghast for a moment.
“Isn’t that the fourth writing tool you’ve broken in the last twenty minutes?” the detention monitor Takeshi asks. “Come on, Yuuri, chill with the super strength a bit and write Victor that love letter so we can not worry about you shattering someone’s hand because you got flustered again.”
Yuuri wants to weep a little a the punishment he’s been assigned. Write a love letter to his crush of too many years to count, Victor? Top hero of their agency, top of the hero popularity polls? “This punishment is sadistic and you know it,” he grouses.
“I think you losing control of your super strength whenever Victor flirts with you is an even worse situation,” Takeshi shoots back.
“But write a love letter?”
“Whatever gets results. Don’t forget to send all the other love letters you wrote for the past few years.”
“How do you know about those- wait, what do you mean I HAVE TO SEND IT!?”
Send me “trick or treat” and I’ll write you ~3 sentence fic!
pencilwalla replied to your post: talk to me and @n-x-northwest about viktor being...
he’s one of Those People with no bad angles. Sneezing? Blinking? 3 am bedhead? Hungover? Still looks fine as hell. And because he never has bad pictures, he assumes no one else does, either, and Yuuri is consistently trying to convince him “That picture of me is ugly, Viktor!” “No! It’s beautiful! I’m posting it!” “Oh my god.” He probably takes great shots of himself but only okay ones with other people in them.
see this is great, though i actually have the opposite idea: i feel like viktor’s very good at being in pictures but has no idea how to take selfies. he’s never had to take selfies. his instagram is quite private, quite professional: hd camera shots, practice videos, pictures with fans. people want to take pictures of viktor, to take pictures with viktor; he’s never had anyone he wanted to take pictures with while he was holding the camera. he’s a model.
YES he sees yuuri as Beautiful, All the Time, and yuuri is constantly overwhelmed by being found BEAUTIFUL ALL THE TIME by the beautiful viktor nikiforov. viktor has very little vanity or discernment re: physical appearances, everyone else looks the same to him all the time, they look fine in all pictures, what’s a bad picture? don’t know her
door replied to your post: talk to me and @n-x-northwest about viktor being...
he’s a monster
hungover bedhead viktor!! sleepy just-woke-up viktor? sweaty post-rink viktor?? viktor tripping over a garbage can drunk?? all gorgeous. absolutely appalling. a rl friend said viktor was made for the phrase ‘pleasantly debauched’ and i am outraged by the accuracy of that statement
talithan replied to your post: talk to me and @n-x-northwest about viktor being...
unfairly photogenic but also so practiced at presenting cameras with his best angles that it happens without conscious effort. yuuri comments on it and victor thinks about it and remembers that isn’t actually a universal life lesson everyone goes through just after puberty
viktor’s puberty phase was not a metamorphosis but the FURTHER ELEVATION of SOMEBODY ALREADY UNFAIRLY ADVANTAGED IN VARIOUS OTHER AREAS and the whole world’s angry about that
