so here it is, my friends, the collab with the amazing @ichiiichka for @viktuurifluffbang! make sure to check out the fic AND the art, and spread the love! ❤️
He arrives in a barrage of rose petals that whip around the wings of the dragon that span overhead much like rose petals themselves: rounded and layered, and rose hued. Victor has to close his eyes and lift his arms to protect his face from the slashing attack of what’s supposed to be a symbol of love, and almost falls on his butt when the ground trembles as the dragon lands heavily a little ways from him.
Only when the shaking stops and the blizzard of petals slows down to gentle caress against his skin, does he look up into an unfamiliar face: that of an adult Stoneheart Dragon, who looks at him like he’s a far more curious thing than the new surroundings must be. Victor, a lover of all breeds, looks back without fear, since he knows that however imposing Aura dragons might look, they will never harm another being. There are dragons who could pose danger to humans even now when they have learned to live together, but Aura dragons are farthest of such disposition. They are sweet, loving and the most friendly of the dragons known to wizard folk. Even the Stoneheart, Ire, and Scorn dragons, whose names bring nothing but negative impressions, in truth are just as lovely as the rest of them.
So, content in his safety, Victor rakes his appreciative gaze over the beautiful snout of the dragon, before taking him in wholly: it’s long, bent horns, the massive body touched by stonescale, and finally the short, supple tail, which languidly swings here and fro, bringing red with it wherever it lingers. It truly is a magnificent beast, Victor has to admit.
Amidst it all, though, one thing catches him off guard. The red of the fire pouches at the sides of the dragon’s jaws and over its chest is so vivid that Victor needs to blink for a moment to get used to the colour. In fact, all the red on the dragon’s body is that same vibrant red: possibly the red from the potions that the old wizard Mort accidentally fed to the first dragon of this kind. The colour is bright, almost blinding in a way, but the true beauty hides within those cheeks: red, flaming, so ready to burst with fire. They look like rubies under direct sunlight, and they’re stunning.
Victor’s hand itches to touch one of them, and he is sure they’ll be warm. Hot even, maybe. Yet the glare of the dragon’s eyes stays on him so attentively that he hesitates to move. Before he can decide on whether or not to approach it, he becomes distracted again. This time not by any dragon, which is unusual in and of itself, but by Katsuki Yuri, who effortlessly slides off the back of his Stoneheart and hops down the powerful leg all the way to the ground.
They should look silly and clumsy, those little hops he takes, but there is something in the way Katsuki Yuri moves that instantly captures Victor’s attention. It demands it, in truth. And Victor, Victor gives it before he even truly knows it.
Now, Victor has never been too interested in people. He has long since preferred dragons over those of his own kind, but within seconds of catching a glimpse of Katsuki Yuri, he’s unequivocally charmed by him. Even more so, when he finally sees the face of the man who seems to possess more grace in his body than the whole of Yubileyny put together – and oh, what a face it is!
“Hello,” Katsuki Yuri says on an exhale that makes his cheeks delightfully puffy. There are rose petals in his dark hair, too, Victor takes notice, and his heart does as well: it trembles oddly in his chest as he stands there, mute. “My name is Yuuri, Yuuri Katsuki. Mrs. Baranovskaya should be expecting us? We’re here for a co-op breeding for this event?”
It is hard to look away from the lips that speak these words, but Victor does. And then he ends up staring again, because above them are those soft, plush cheeks touched by a blush from the harsh winds of the ride, and further above those – once Victor startles himself out of his reverence – are the loveliest eyes Victor has ever seen: brown and warm, and bewitching him with sweetness.
It’s as he gets lost in them that Victor absolutely gives up all pretence of normalcy.
“Hello, Yuuri!” he greets with a smile, mindful to pronounce the name exactly the way Yuuri did.
Even if his heart is beating out of his chest at his own boldness, he reaches for Yuuri’s hand and bows over it to leave a fleeting kiss to his knuckles. The blush that has been adoring Yuuri’s face is far darker once Victor looks up and, truly, Victor can tell that his own face must also be stained with his excitement. But that, that matters little as long as he gets to bask in Yuuri’s beauty.
“Welcome to Yubileyny! I’m Victor Nikiforov, and I’ve been tasked with guiding you around. We’re delighted to have you here,” Victor says. He peers over Yuuri at the Stoneheart dragon, to whom he nods as well. “Both of you.”
“Thanks,” Yuuri squeaks and pulls back his hand. Victor mourns the loss, but it seems that Yuuri hasn’t taken any offence in his actions, when he asks: “If it’s no trouble we would like to have a day to settle in before we start breeding. Raths has come a long way, so I think the odds will be against us if we try to force it when he’s tired.”
Victor nods eagerly, because isn’t that just the perfect excuse for him to stay with Yuuri longer?
“Good thinking,” he says. “How about I show you both to the habitat for… Raths, was it? And then I will take you to the inn, so you can rest as well. Travelling on dragonback can’t be too comfortable for such a long time.”
“That would be nice. Thank you.”
Yuuri’s voice is as pleasant to listen to as his face is to look at, and Victor wouldn’t mind hearing more of it. Yuuri, however, doesn’t seem too generous with his words. He falls silent after that, but that is more than alright. Victor suddenly has a lot to say, and so he fills the silence with endless chatter in hopes of eliciting another reply from Yuuri’s sweet lips.
“Your Stoneheart looks really impressive. Lilia really knows how to choose the best, I’ll give her that.” He smiles when Yuuri’s face scrunches up like he wants to protest. “Don’t be modest. You can’t deny your skill when they are as obvious as a level eight Stoneheart dragon in the first week of the event.”
“It was just luck,” Yuuri insists, battling a flush that Victor wishes he could capture and keep close to his heart forever.
“And don’t they say that luck is a part of your skill set for this job?” Victor winks. “I know a great breeder when I see one, Yuuri. Trust me, if you can’t trust yourself.”
Yuuri says nothing to that, but the way his eyes flutter shut at the praise… oh.
Victor doesn’t remember ever feeling this way. Something so strange has happened to him the moment he saw this man, he can’t even explain it. It’s impossible to put in words, and it’s impossible to define in feelings either. It’s just…
Victor has had his fair share of flings here and there, fleeting romances that never lasted longer than a few months. He knows the signs of attraction by now. This, however, is nothing like that at all. This, this feels like… oddly enough, this feels like he’s smitten already, and it’s ridiculous, no? They’ve only just met.
And yet, as Victor leads Yuuri down the pathways of the Aura island and rose petals float around them, he can tell that this meeting and the time they will spend together is special.
“We have a few habitats around here that can take Raths, but do you have any preference?” he asks, just to have something to talk about. “We can put him with other Auras, or we can put him alone, depending on how he behaves with other dragons.”
“I think he’d like to be with others,” Yuuri says, looking back at the dragon, who has been patiently padding behind them. The small, fond smile that lights up Yuuri’s face renders Victor absolutely awed. “We are quite unlike each other in that department.”
“Ah,” Victor clears his throat and offers a smile of his own. “Not a people’s person, are you? I can relate. I’m much more a dragon’s person, if you know what I mean.”
Yuuri laughs, a sweet little sound that makes Victor’s skin tingle all over.
“I do know what you mean, and I agree. Dragons are so much easier to be around.”
Smiling, Victor looks at Yuuri, and finds his eyes already on him. Yuuri’s cheeks colour at having been caught, but after briefly looking away, he turns his gaze back on Victor as if he is just as drawn to him as Victor has found himself charmed in return.
“I have a feeling we’ll get along quite well, don’t you think?” Victor says, heart full of this strange lightness that only warms over further when Yuuri offers a tiny: “I have a feeling you might be right.”
And, truly, Victor doesn’t know what is the name of the thing he feels, but he feels it anyway – and it’s soft like the rose petals he brushes from Yuuri’s hair with a dazzling smile.
