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Yuri was an exceptionally talented witch
This was something that Viktor had discovered about him the moment they met, when he first saw that beautifull little sparkle in his eyes, when he first saw the light air of enchantment glistening around him as he dragged Viktor out onto the dance floor
Watching Yuri dance was like watching him make magic with his body, and Viktor was almost instantly in love
So it was no surprise to find out later that Yuri was a witch
He wasn't very confident in his magic, but, just like his skating, Viktor had found that all he really needed to come out of his shell was a bit of help and a coach who knew how to push him in the right direction
By the time a year had passed, Yuri had gone from letting his magic seep out only when his inhibitions were lowered to being able to perform mid-level spells with relative ease whenever he wanted
It was a joy for Viktor to watch him bloom and evolve, to become something more, to become all he could be, it absolutely delighted his coach-turned-fiance
And admittedly, it was a nice help to have magic around
Viktor himself had always secretly been a bit envious of the magical folk, being a vampire brought little joy to his life, instead often inducing more headaches than it was worth, but magical folk? They had the life, in his opinion
The world was their oyster
And Yuri always made it look so easy and effortless, sometimes it was hard for Viktor to remember that magic was a very carefully honed skill that took an extraordinary amount of time to master even the basics of
For the last few months, Yuri had seemed happy with his magic and all the progress he'd made with it, had been excited to show off every little thing, from each new spell to the occasionally mastered potion, and Viktor had exuberantly supported him the entire time
But....
There was something missing
The last week or so, Yuri had barely been performing any magic at all, and had seemed to be getting increasingly depressed as the days dragged on
Viktor wasn't sure what the reasoning was, he had tried to gently prod an answer out of his husband-to-be, but was only brushed aside
They were now entering the seventh day of this cycle and Viktor had finally come to his wit's end
He was going to find out what was upsetting Yuri come hell or high water
"What do you think my love? The ghost or the skeleton?"
With both of them ending up at Skate America for their first competition of the season and then being assigned to NHK for Yuri and Internationaux de France for Viktor, the week of Halloween had been left surprisingly clear for them to spend a moment of breathing room at Yu-topia, so they decided to put out a few decorations to have some sembalance of a celebration, wich was better than either of them had had in quite some time- better than Viktor had ever had considering that Halloween was still a largely frowned upon holiday in Russia
It was fun, a nice break from the stress, or atleast it was supposed to be, but Yuri just kept looking sadder and sadder...
"Huh? Oh um..... the ghost is cuter," Yuri replied distractedly, glancing over his shoulder for what must have been the third or fourth time already that evening
Viktor pursed his lips, nose wrinkling just slightly and head tilting as he followed Yuri's gaze
There was a young mother looking through some little painted pumpkins a few aisles away, holding a newborn who had fallen asleep on her shoulder
Viktor couldn't understand why that had Yuri's crestfallen attention, until he took a closer look at his fiance's face and came to a much different conclusion- Yuri wasn't sad, he was longing
.....Oh.......
"You want one, hm?" Viktor noted, suppressing a laugh as Yuri jumped- startled- beside him, the shock apparently setting off his magic as a little spark of electricty made it's way up a nearby scarecrow and set the head of it on fire
Yuri looked panicked for a moment, probably forgetting in the adrenaline-packed instance how to produce a water charm, but Viktor had him covered, reaching into a drink cooler beside them and grabbing a bottle of water to douse the fire with
No one seemed to have noticed, thankfully....
"You know, you could have just told me that instead of moping around like you've lost your best freind, it would have saved us both alot of agony, I was afraid this mood of your's was going to continue into next week and hurt your performance," Viktor noted casually, putting the cap back on the bottle of water and setting it in their shopping cart before giving Yuri his full attention, reaching out to gently cup his lover's face
"I do too, we can start looking at adoption any time you want, you know, it's a bit of a long process so I'm sure we won't need to retire right away, although you might want to consider getting married first, the wedding is only a few more months-"
"It's ok," Yuri interrupted quickly, his face screwed up in what looked like anguish, but for the life of him, Viktor couldn't figure out why
"It's not.... it's not that big of a deal...."
"Well it clearly is, you've been so sullen these past several days-"
"My cousin just had a baby," Yuri interrupted, averting his gaze
And again, leaving Viktor to try to peice together why that sounded like bad news
"She and her wife had been trying to figure out how to hack it for almost a year before she finally got pregnant,"
"Alright..." Viktor said slowly, tilting his head in confusion
"Forgive me, but I'm not following-"
"She got pregnant from her wife," Yuri repeated a little more clearly, leveling a look at Viktor that seemed to press for "Now do you get it?"
"........Ah," Viktor nodded, before finally the information actually settled in
"Wait, how does that work?"
"Magic,"
Oh, so that was why Yuri had been off with his spellcraft lately
.............
But wait that still didn't make much sense
"And... this affects you, how, exactly, zolotse?"
"My cousin has always been much better with magic than I have, on top of being a woman, if it was that hard for her then it'll be impossible for me, I've known that for a wile now but now that she's actually had the baby I can't help but wanting-..... and we're so close to the wedding... I'm just... I'm sorry, my feelings are just.... getting ahead of me...."
Finally, everything seemed to click into place, Viktor's eyes widening just a bit in understanding as he took in the tones of red decorating Yuri's complexion
He wasn't just sad or frustrated, he was embarrassed
"....You don't want to adopt," Viktor concluded quietly, his voice soft and sweet, taking great care not to sound judgemental or critical, but simply understanding
Given the shade of red that rose to Yuri's cheeks after, he didn't really have to verbally confirm anything
"After the last several months of us sleeping together, are you really surprised?" Yuri mumbled back, looking away
And no, Viktor wasn't, but he was surprised that Yuri had blurted that out in public, even if no one else was close enough by to hear them
"Is male pregnancy even possible at all?" Viktor asked curiously, following his fiance as Yuri started walking through the rest of the decor section
It was almost odd to be able to have such a casual conversation about something so strange, but Viktor had learned- gleefully so- to accept little things like that with Yuri ages ago
"Yeah, but.... you have to be a really powerfull witch to cast a spell like that,"
"And you don't think you have enough power?"
"I know I don't," Yuri sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose
"Aren't there other people out there who can help with that though? Witches employ all sorts of magic in professional feilds, right?"
"Yeah, there's probably a few underground practitioners somewhere out there, but none I've been able to find and certainly not in Japan,"
Oh, Yuri had already looked into that
Viktor.... shouldn't have been as surprised as he was, actually
"It'll still be some time before we're ready to have a baby though," Viktor pointed out in what he hoped was a helpfull manner
"You have time to get better at your magic, and time for someone who can help you to crop up some way, the world is getting more progressive by the year,"
"Yeah..." Yuri agreed with a quiet sigh, offering a slightly forced smile up at Viktor as he wrapped his hand around his coach's
"You're right, thanks for the pep talk, I'm starting to feel better,"
Viktor nodded, kissed him on the head, and desperately hoped that was true
~+~
For the record, Yuri's mood did seem to lighten after that, but the subject that had been touched upon that day didn't just disappear
It would come up again every few months, and Yuri would feel sad for a time, but get through it some way or another, Viktor was happy for that, but he wished that Yuri didn't have to experience the sadness at all
One thing that he had noticed though, was that from that day on, Yuri practiced his magic more and more
It was no longer a few spells here and there, learning how to levitate dishes or screw the cap back on his water bottle without touching it, from that day on, Yuri had seemed to get more and more serious about his magic
At first, Viktor didn't understand why, he didn't get the full picture for another two years, but that's getting a bit ahead of the story
One thing Viktor hated about being a vampire was how his hunger impacted his stamina
If he was well fed, he could practice until evening broke, but if he was even slightly hungry, he would fizzle out rather quickly
Sure, it was fine during competitions, the ISU organizers always had plenty of blood on hand for that exact reason, but it was a different story during everyday practice when forgetting his blood bottle at home or the deliveries running late and causing him to ration what he had left meant enduring endless lectures from Yakov as he stood tiredly on the ice, wishing in the back of his mind that goblin blood didn't taste so foul, or else he would just bite his coach for a quick pick-me-up
He was tired and irritable and he wished desperately that he could feed on Yuri- just a few sips of his delicious, magic tinged blood would go a long way for satisfying Viktor's thirst- but alas, he couldn't feed on Yuri during practice, he didn't want to cause Yuri any trouble after all...
"Here,"
Blinking in surprise, he turned around, seeing the man on his mind standing behind him, holding out an opaque plastic bottle
"Thank you my love, but I'm afraid it isn't water I thirst for,"
"I know, it's blood, don't worry,"
Blinking in surprise, Viktor took the bottle, sipped it, and found that- to his shock, it was blood, but...
"I thought I left this at home..."
"You did, that one isn't your's, I conjured it,"
Viktor, eyes wide and mouth agape, looked back to his husband to ask a very prompt what the fuck does that mean?, but Yuri was already gone, leaving his bewildered partner behind
~+~
The second time it happened was even stranger and even more impressive
Witches did have some measure of natural healing talent- or perhaps better said, all witches had potential for that talent, they didn't all choose to explore it, however- but what was naturally instilled was low level, a potion to help someone get over a cold faster or a mumbled incantation to heal over a bruise or a scrape, it wasn't like they were all mending broken bones and performing magical surgery whenever the need arose, sure some witches could, but they were specialized in that type of magic- a type of magic Yuri hadn't spent any particularly large amount of time practicing
Yuri was something of a jack of all trades type of witch, no real mastery in any of them but with alot of "odds and ends" sorts of skills
...Until about a year into their marriage...
"Oh Yuri, thank god!! Get the car, quick! Makka hurt herself!"
"What?!"
Viktor understood, it was alot to come home to, one minute you're bringing in groceries and the next you're looking for the nearest emergency vet, he perfectly understood, but he didn't have much time to explain
"She jumped off the bed and fell, I think she broke something!" he shouted, his hands shaking as Makkachin wimpered loudly from the floor, tears already dripping down Viktor's face
"I... I don't.... I don't know what to do!! Help me Yuri!"
Wordlessly, Yuri moved closer, neeling on the floor next to his husband and very carefully placing his hands over their dog
Before Viktor could venture a question as to what Yuri was doing, Makkachin suddenly went quiet, then rolled over and sat up, looking as bright eyed and bushy tailed as ever as she barked in Viktor's direction and jumped on him for some snuggles
"M-Makkachin?!!"
"She's ok," Yuri promised with a warm smile, before getting up and heading back into the kitchen, leaving Viktor as bewildered as he had been about the blood bottle
And the thing was, it wasn't as if Viktor hadn't asked about it- he had interrogated, but apparently Yuri was capable of keeping government secrets because no matter what Viktor said or did he was gently brushed off every single time
It was infuriating
~+~
The third time seemed to be the charm when it came to Viktor Nikiforov figuring out what was going on with his husband
Yuri had steadily been building up his magic, that much was obvious, and the more time passed, the more clear that became to Viktor- and the better Yuri got at everything, from conjuring to healing to all sorts of spells that Viktor didn't even know how to categorize, but Viktor didn't understand why or where- or how- it would end or really anything about it....
Until a seemingly random day in October two years after the initial baby conversation happened, when Viktor was trying to sweep up some spilled glitter from the kitchen
He didn't know what had possessed them to decide to make some DIY Halloween decorations but he wished they had thought better of it
Actually he wished Yuri could bring his magic around and clean this up without the need for a broom, but his husband had mysteriously vanished a few moments after spilling the glitter and Viktor hadn't seen him sense
Though, as if just thinking about Yuri had somehow called him into action, Viktor glanced up and yelped, stumbling back a step when he suddenly caught sight of Yuri barely a few inches away from him and... holding something out to him
It looked like.. a... pregnancy test...
"Are you pregnant?"
The disappointment that flashed breifly across Yuri's face was enough to answer that question for Viktor- no
"No," Yuri affirmed
"I.... I could be though," he added a beat later, the excitement sinking back into his expression, though Viktor was just... confused
"Sorry, I... I don't quite understand...?"
"I completed the spell," Yuri clarified
"I completed the spell to... to make that possible and then I took a fertility test to make sure it worked and.... well.. it did,"
As further proof, Yuri pushed the little pink stick a bit closer, as if encouraging Viktor to look at it
Viktor didn't need to though- Yuri's word was enough for him, something he quickly expressed by scooping his lover up in his arms and showering him with excited kisses
"Yuri, that's amazing!!!! I'm so happy for you!! Does that mean that any time we-?"
"No," Yuri said quickly, shaking his head
"Whenever I want it to happen, I can cast the spell and... from there it's just like straight couples... trying, there are no guarantees, this just opens up the possibil- V-Viktor! Where are you taking me!?"
"To the bedroom," Viktor answered easily
"The spell you cast today is still working isn't it?"
Yuri's lips lifted into a small smile, nodding and letting his head rest against Viktor's
"Then by all means, let's give it a go and see if we can't beat your cousin's track record, how long did it take again?"
"I don't even remember," Yuri chuckled
"I just know that however long it takes... I'm glad that I have you by my side to wait it out with,"