I saw that you are interested to see Otabek/Mila, and thought maybe it’ll be a good opportunity for me to draw someone other that our lovely Viktuuri. I hope you’ll like it! Happy Holidays!
Here we go again! @tbiris suggested “playtime” @terrierlee wanted “Zombie Viktor the game” and @ven-tsu wanted Anita Addams so have some happy fun times with Best Cousin Viktor! Also Viktor’s Nanna.
Set during the summer leading up to Saltwater Melodies (OH VITYA HONEY YOU GOT A STORM COMIN’)
Viktor’s dad pulled the rental car up to the curb outside Nanna’s home outside Detroit, and Viktor noted the lack of cars in the street. “Nobody’s here yet?”
“Tom and Gail are still on the road,” Mom said, checking her phone. “Everyone else is leaving now. They’ll be trickling in after maybe an hour.”
“Mmmkay,” Viktor said, as Makkachin excitedly twirled next to him in the backseat. “So it’s the calm before the storm.”
“Pretty much,” Dad agreed, chuckling. He turned off the engine and unlocked the door so they all could pile out of the car.
Mom popped the trunk open so they could grab their luggage, and Viktor clipped Makkachin’s leash to her collar before they trooped into the old house.
Before they could even get up to the porch, the front door slammed open, and Makkachin yipped in excitement.
“What’re you doing out there on the lawn?” Nanna yelled, poking her head out onto the porch. “I cleaned the house for you! Get in here, you’re letting the heat in!”
“Ma!” Mom shouted back. “Close the damn door!”
“I’mma lock you out with it,” Nanna grumbled, shuffling back into the house.
Viktor bit back a laugh and hefted his duffel bag, keeping his grip on Makkachin’s leash. Dad locked up the car and they all made their way up the driveway, Viktor holding Makkachin back before the poodle could bowl over his seventy-year-old grandmother.
“Good Lord in Heaven,” Nanna said as she let them into the air-conditioned house. “Have you gotten taller? Do you ever stop growing? Get down here.” She tugged Viktor into a hug and smacked a big kiss on his forehead. “Stop growing, baby. I’m not gonna be able to do that no more if you keep that up.”
“I’ll stop just for you, Nanna,” Viktor agreed.
“Good boy. Oh! You brought the sweetie!” Nanna immediately switched her attention to Makkachin, who was waiting patiently at Viktor’s feet for her turn. “Hello, puppy dog! Hello~!”
Makkachin was overjoyed and happily accepted all of the cooing and babytalk, her tail whacking Viktor’s shins as he kept her from jumping up and knocking Nanna back.
“Oh, yeah, forget about your daughter right here,” Mom grumbled, but then Nanna grabbed her and Dad into another hug. “How you doing, Ma?”
“Better, now that you’re all here,” Nanna said. “Go ahead and take your stuff upstairs to your rooms, I need help with setting the picnic tables outside.”
“Makka, upstairs,” Viktor sent the poodle up to the second floor before he took his mother’s bags from her. “You’re going in the rose room, right?”
“Thanks, sweetheart,” Mom smiled at him before chivvying Nanna back into the kitchen. “C’mon, Ma, what do you need?”
“Looks like we’re already working,” Dad sighed as he followed Viktor upstairs, heaving the suitcase. “A working vacation. Good grief.”
“I hope Uncle Tony cooks the brats,” Viktor muttered, and Dad groaned.
“Quick. We gotta keep your mother away from the grill.”
Nanna’s backyard was thankfully fenced in, and Viktor let Makkachin loose while he and his parents cleared off the patio furniture and dragged the collapsible tables from the garage. They’d barely managed to get the plastic tablecloths down and snacks set out before the gate at the side of the house opened and they heard squeals of joy.
“Ah, the little Anya,” Dad said as Viktor’s three-year-old cousin rounded the side of the house, screaming elatedly. “I guess they were closer than we’d thought.”
“WITYA!!”
“Annie-banannie!” Viktor caught Anita and hoisted her up into the air, making her squeal. “Gah, you got bigger!”
“Up!” she giggled. “Up, up!”
“You are up, missy,” Viktor said, settling Anita on his hip. “Where’s your brother?”
And then Ty ran past, pants already discarded and his mother chasing him in exasperation. “Hi, Viktor!” Aunt Iesha yelled before she attempted to tackle her son, who was trying to open the other gate and run out into the front yard.
“Wow,” Dad said, and Viktor echoed him. “He hasn’t changed at all.”
“Ani, I hope you keep your clothes on for me today,” Viktor told the three-year-old in his arms, and Anita giggled again. “You will, you’re a good squash.”
“Imma banana!” Anita protested.
“Squash~!” Viktor sang out, swinging her around. “A banana-squash!”
“Wityaaaaaaaaa!”
“Hey, Viktor, buddy,” Uncle Tony raised a hand for Viktor to high-five. “How’s it going?”
“Nothing’s on fire yet,” Viktor said.
“Oh, excellent. C’mon, Nita, let’s go say hi to Nanna.”
“Witya,” Anita whined, but when Viktor set her down on the grass she went willingly with her dad into the house.
“You know,” Mom said from the porch swing, her lips curling into an amused smile. “You know what’s coming.”
Viktor sighed. “I now.”
“Zombie Viktor.”
“Yep.”
“Oh boy,” said Aunt Iesha, who was still trying to wrangle Ty back into his shorts. “Viktor, you don’t have to--”
“But I do,” Viktor said, planting his hands on his hips. “How much longer will they all be this little?”
Aunt Iesha looked down at her squirming son and deadpanned, “too much longer.”
Dad snorted and collapsed onto the swing next to Mom. “Enjoy them while they’re young, Iesha. This one here doesn’t visit us anymore.”
“I was literally at your house last week helping you mow the lawn,” Viktor groused, rubbing behind Makkachin’s ears as his dog pressed against his leg for attention.
Aunt Iesha finally managed to get the wiggly five-year-old’s pants buttoned and let him loose. Ty immediately threw his arms around Makkachin’s neck and buried his face in her coat. “Makkaaaaaaaaa!”
Makkachin’s tail thumped on the grass as she covered Ty’s face with slobbery kisses. Over to the side, Ty’s mother flopped over onto the grass and groaned.
“Makkaaaaaaa!” Anita screamed, dashing back outside and hugging the poodle.
Viktor left Makkachin to her adoring fans and retreated inside out of the sun for some water.
“Viktor, you ready to be my sous chef today?” Uncle Tony asked, taking the pan full of bratwursts from a stubborn Nanna. “Ma, seriously, we can cook these, you relax.”
“I’m sixty-eight, not dead,” Nanna sniffed. “And Viktor’s on vacation, don’t make him cook.”
“It’s better than having Manda cook,” Tony pointed out, and Viktor stifled a snort in his hand.
Instead, he said, “Nanna, I can help before the other kids get here.”
Nanna sighed. “You better not spend the whole afternoon cooking, got it?” She patted Viktor’s chest and shuffled past him to dig around in the fridge. “None of you ever learned how to stop working on a Sunday, good Lord.”
Uncle Tony actually did snort and squeezed past Viktor to nudge the back door open and disappear outside with the brats.
“And what’s this I hear about you spending all your time at the school instead of out with friends?” Nanna demanded as she pulled a pitcher from the depths of her fridge.
“I was working with students,” Viktor said, humoring her. “Some of their parents make them keep up their lessons over the summer.”
“Lord, what happened to letting kids be kids?” Nanna tutted and set out the pitcher on the countertop. “Same with Leticia, always training and training--”
"Nanna, she’s getting ready for her final season in Juniors,” Viktor pointed out. “Her senior debut is a huge deal.”
“Oh, I know,” Nanna replied, rubbing her forehead. “But she needs more than a few days here and there, how else is she gonna get to grow up?”
Viktor sighed. “I think she’ll probably have a lot to say if she needs to,” he said carefully. “And I know Aunt Gail has been pretty good about scaling down practices when Letty needs them.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Nanna sighed. “Maybe I’m just a worried old lady and I need to stop. But I raised all my kids just fine.”
“Letty’s going to show up here and be a delight, and you’ll wonder why you ever worried,” Viktor said, making Nanna laugh. “Do you need me to take anything else outside?”
“Just yourself, and get yourself something to drink. It’s hot outside, sweetheart.”
Viktor obligingly grabbed a water from the fridge and let himself be shepherded back into the yard.
While he’d been inside, his cousins Toby, Coco, and Freya had arrived with their mother.
“Hey! Viktor’s here!” Toby yelled, and then latched himself around Viktor’s ankle with a roar.
“Oh no,” Viktor said dramatically. “I’ve got an octopus on my leg. Help.” Then Coco jumped at him, and he managed to catch her before anything unfortunate happened. “Okay, you guys, chill out for a second--”
“ZOMBIE VIKTOR!” Freya screamed, running away.
“Too soon,” Viktor tried to say, but Coco and Toby also began to yell and ran away.
“Sorry,” Aunt Mathilda said, wincing. “I tried to talk to them on the way over.”
“Go get them, Zombie Viktor!” Mom called from the swing.
“Zombie Viktor needs to hydrate before he eats any brains,” Viktor shot back, downing half his water bottle in one go. He then spent a good half hour chasing the five kids around the yard in variations of the zombie shuffle while the parents watched with amusement from the patio. Makkachin was of no particular help to either side and eventually flopped down in the shade from the trees next to the fence.
The next cousin to arrive was Leticia, and she was old enough to not really have any interest in playing Zombie Viktor anymore. Viktor gave her a pleading look and she joined the fray anyway, becoming Zombie Letty and evening the odds a little.
“Okay, time for all zombies to take a break!” Aunt Iesha announced, catching Ty before he could take off his pants again. “Give your cousins a breather, kids.”
Viktor found himself facedown in the grass, unwilling to move. “Ugh.”
“Now that’s a zombie mood,” Letty agreed, sitting down next to him with a water bottle. “Hey. Hey. Viktor.”
“No.”
“Viktor.”
“No.”
“Viiiiiiiiktoooooooorrrrr.”
He rolled over and glared at her. “What.”
“When are you going to do my senior debut music?” Letty demanded, grinning.
“When you senior debut,” Viktor answered flatly. “Ugh. I’m gonna die.”
Letty eyed her water bottle.
“Don’t you dare.”
Letty’s eyes twinkled.
Viktor narrowed his own eyes at her. “If you dump that on me, I’m not composing a single song for you ever. Ever.”
“Fine,” Letty giggled. “But don’t die before you do.”
“Ugh, I wish Nanna still had the pool,” Viktor groaned, rolling onto his back. “I can’t believe how hot it gets up here.”
“Pfft, yeah,” Letty sighed, rolling her shoulders. “A pool’d be nice.”
They both looked up as the gate opened again and Makkachin ran to greet the final three cousins to arrive with Uncle Ray. Benjy and Shawn were teenagers and Kaysee was ten, but she still eyed Viktor and smiled wickedly.
“Zombie Viktor?” she asked sweetly, and the younger kids all screamed.
“Oh boy,” Letty said, edging away, and that was all the warning Viktor got before he got dogpiled by five cousins and one actual dog.
“Vacation,” he managed to gasp. “Yep. That’s what this is.”
