#but booy am I glad this fic is happening

[katzuyas]

dazzle me with gold

from the start | ao3 | previous part

"Are you quite alright?" Victor asks once he's calmed down.

Yuuri, who sits in the water like the fool he is, stares at the man who has irrevocably changed his life. He's smitten, he realizes, far more than he ever was with anything before. Yuuri's heart trembles in his chest with affection so stifling that he thinks it'll flow out of his mouth when he opens it to breathe.

"That was improper of me, I apologize," Victor says, but the glint of amusement in his eye is a clear contradiction to his words.

"Didn't we already establish that you lack any and all propriety around me, my lord?"

Yuuri pushes his wet hand through his hair, frantic to regain control of his stuttering heartbeat. The strands stick to his scalp while droplets of water fall onto his flushed cheeks and roll down his skin almost like tears. Victor's gaze follows one of them until it dips behind the collar of Yuuri's robe and the interest on his face is hardly deniable. He must notice Yuuri watching him, because he gives a slightly sheepish smile and offers Yuuri a hand in standing up.

"Truly," Yuuri says, amused, even as he accepts the hand. He doesn't get up, but holds it lightly instead. "You don't need to pretend to be a noble with impeccable manners around me. Don't be a lord. Don't be a Nikiforov."

"Just your Vitya," Victor ends for him with a small, genuine smile, "right?"

"Just my Vitya," Yuuri confirms.

And then he pulls on Victor's hand hard enough to make him lose his balance.

With another splash, Victor lands in the water face first. To Yuuri's childish satisfaction he flails around the shallow waters as if he was drowning in a deep sea. It's Victor's sputtering – once he rises up on his hands, that is – that has Yuuri laugh, though. Victor's hair is damp and hangs at the sides of his face in strands that look like clumped together dust bunnies.

Yuuri can't help but think it's fetching.

"You tricked me!" Victor accuses him once he spits all the water that must have gotten into his mouth during his unexpected swim.

"Did I?" Yuuri cocks his head to the side, smirk on his lips. "Yes, I believe I might have."

Victor's mouth opens at Yuuri's audacity, but then he laughs. And Yuuri joins him, because Victor's laughter calls to him in ways that he can't resist. He slumps into Victor's side and when Victor turns to wrap an arm around Yuuri, he uses that chance to press a kiss to Victor's grinning, wet lips.

"Since our clothes are already soaked, I think it calls for a swim," Victor says once they part.

His blue eyes shine like the water they are sitting in, drawing Yuuri further into his charm. How can he say no to that? To him? It seems impossible and Yuuri has no will to even try fighting it.

Golden outer robes they spread across the white sand and shuck the rest of their clothes with no shame. Yuuri purposefully does not look Victor's way until he's waist deep in the lake. They have seen each other naked, that much is true, but in broad daylight it still feels fresh. Tender. Yuuri can tell his face is tinted red from the shyness that overtakes him, but there is little he can do against this feeling.

He dives into the lake to cool his head.

"I have never done this before," Victor admits while they swim around.

There is a youthful gleam in his eye, something new and all the more precious for it. Yuuri wants to wrap it in his hands and protect it from the world that is bound to tarnish it, like he has done to Victor before.

"Never swam around naked? My lord, you have not lived then," Yuuri says, finding it in himself to give cheek, and Victor laughs. "Here, let me show you how it's truly done where I come from..."

Yuuri dives underwater and makes his way to an unsuspecting Victor. Once there, he lets his fingers ghost across Victor's calf, quickly snatching his hand away when Victor's leg jumps. He tries it again, on the thigh. And again on Victor's lower back. Above the surface of the water he can hear the surprised noises Victor makes and it makes Yuuri laugh silently. Finally, as he runs out of breath, Yuuri pulls on both of Victor's legs and tugs him underwater.

With a bubbling laugh, Yuuri breaks the surface and ends up laughing even harder at the flustered look on Victor's face as he resurfaces not long after him.

"And you dare claim I play a tease," Victor makes a face that gives him a look of a pouting child, which must be the silliest Yuuri has seen him, yet at the same time so fitting.

"I'm sorry," Yuuri replies, suddenly worried. His hands brush against Victor's while they're both trying to stay afloat and it's a little comfort that has him speak his thoughts: "If you wish me to cease, just say the word. I know I'm stepping out of line every time, so if you think something to be too much, don't hesitate to tell me."

Victor shakes his head. His wet hair slaps his cheeks, but his eyes are warm. As is his smile.

"Not many have dared to do it before," he says. "Yet, I find it irresistibly charming, my Yuuri. Please, never stop. I enjoy it awfully much if it's coming from you."

Yuuri stares at him for a moment too long and Victor's smile falters under his gaze. A flush takes over Victor's face, bright on his pale cheeks.

"I mean, only if you wish to," Victor corrects himself. "I wouldn't want to ask for something you are not willing to give."

Yuuri shakes his head, bewildered. "You are a strange noble, Victor Nikiforov."

"Is that... a bad thing?"

"No." Yuuri smiles. "It's a you thing. And I think it's charming."

The sweet smile that Victor presses against Yuuri's lips tastes like lake water and salt, but Yuuri enjoys it more than he probably should. Later, they trade soft kisses as they lie in the white sand of the lakeside, basking in the warmth of the sun and each other. It's only when their clothes fully dry that they decide to ride along their way.

There is a lingering caress of warmth in Yuuri's body as he gives one final look at the lake and it only strengthens at the tender, adoring gaze Victor sends him from atop Tristan. Yuuri jumps onto Lamorak's back, takes reins in hand and smiles.

"What do you say, my lord?" he asks. "Shall we see which one of us is a better rider?"

His challenge is answered with one of Victor's brilliant grins, before both of them leap into gallop.