A/N Sorry for such a long wait but here is a 2000 word chapter to make up for it. Warning, this drags on for a while because I didn't know how to transition between the scenes that happen but I hope you enjoy! 

The next day, they tried again. Lily was, gladly, out of sight and the both of them were excited to give it their first real shot, their last chance stripped away. Well, no, that wasn't exactly correct. Viktor was plenty excited.

Yuuri couldn't be more terrified.

The lunch bell had rang loudly, deafening his shocked ears. For the first time in his school career, he hesitated to leave his maths class- almost opting to stay behind and do homework, he was sure the teacher wouldn't mind. But, he couldn't avoid it. He and Viktor agreed to meet at the usual place, Viktor's classroom, for a practice session before lunch.

Yuuri had agreed easily, his chocolate brown eyes wide with fear but his mouth speaking off his own accord. Something inside of him knew that this was not what he wanted to spend his time doing. Or his lunch. Or his life. He never thought there would be a day where he wished to be powerless again.

Yet, the wish to be normal still overpowered it all.

'Yuuri!' A shrill voice called out, the Russian accent weaker than it had ever been before. America, although only after years of living there, was finally starting to wear at Viktor's accent. It had never succeeded in wearing down his excitement, though. Much to Yuuri's current disappointment.

'Hey, Viktor.' He sighed, rubbing his palm down the side of his face, the tiredness causing his fingers to drop- his eyelids the same. Viktor's once juvenile smile turned to a frown, his usual features creased into a tight ball.

'You haven't been sleeping have you?' His face turned grave and Yuuri was almost sent reeling. Viktor's mood shifts were something to adjust to. Viktor's 'serious' face something that seemed impossible to adjust to at all. His light features, pale skin and blue eyes- with the additional 'platinum' hair- gave him a look of a stereotypical ethereal being. Graveness didn't suit him. He suited calm, not that that was common either.

His looks were a juxtaposition to his looks but it didn't matter, Yuuri was off topic and somewhere in his chain of thoughts, he had forgotten what Viktor had asked at all. 'Huh?' His eyes lifted, his eyelids peeling back slowly, to reveal a frowning Viktor.

Oh, the thoughts made a lot more sense now.

'Yuuri, you said you had been! Why didn't you say you were having trouble sleeping again!' Viktor complained, that sudden graveness covered by that common look he had when he was whining. Yuuri was glad for the lack of seriousness but he knew if he didn't answer right now, he was going to be reprimanded and their progress for today would be lost- just as it had been every other day.

'I. It was just last night.' Yuuri whispered, the lie feeling thick on his tongue but with Yuuri's forever introverted mood, Viktor saw nothing in it and nodded, a smile gracing his face.

'Good, good. But, don't wear yourself out too much. I know this must be hard.' His smile was caring and small, enough to let Yuuri relax. The constant happy atmosphere could often feel oppressing and the slight slither of calm was something to revel in, especially when Viktor's mood changed so quickly. 'Okay, then, let's get to work.' His bright smile returned but timidness laced the edges. From the beginning, both of them had been overtly afraid of the danger that could come with this all but neither had made a move to stop.

Yuuri was special and if this was what it took for him to see that, Viktor would continue for forever. Yuuri, on the other hand, just wanted to be in control again. The chaos that had ensued in the last few weeks had been too much and now, he just needed to take back the reigns on his life.

Yuuri's eyebrows furrowed and his mind concentrated, any blur of insecurity vanquished for the objective. 'Take me through the steps again.' He whispered, a plea for reassurance as the images fail to flash in his mind. He went through it again and again, at home and with Viktor. He always came out with nothing. His mind was always blank. More blank than it had ever been before. Those swirling thoughts that refused to leave, vanished if only so that his power didn't work. His own mind had always been against him, he shouldn't have been surprised.

'Okay, deep breath firsts, Yuuri. Panicking won't help.' Yuuri smiled gently, it was always amusing to hear Viktor in what he called 'parent mode'. It suited him in some respects. In others, Viktor's responsibility just didn't sit well with Yuuri. He was too impulsive for that.

Yuuri took a breath in, counting the seconds that passed before breathing out again. And again, each action the same as the last. 'Now, concentrate your mind on the goal and only that. Any distractions will cause confusion. I'm going to stop speaking. Motion if you need more.' The silence was comforting and imposing all at once. Yuuri felt conflicted. His thoughts quickly drifted from the aim but whenever he found his way back on track, the room didn't feel as stuffy as it had before.

Still, no images. No thoughts of what's to come. Nothing.

'Anything?' Viktor whispered as Yuuri's eyes peeked open, the glint in his eye dead.

A sigh came before the shake of his head. Viktor's stomach dropped. Something should have happened by now. But, they should have known, they were holding out to much hope. Yuuri hadn't been able to use this for years now. So, why would it work at this very moment?

Yuuri shut his eyes again, rubbing the heel of his palms into his eyes, rubbing the sleep away- caused by the lack of a weeks sleep. And then, the magic happened. With no thoughts in his mind, the image flashed again. The syringe. Yuuri smiled and in that moment, he had never felt better.

A scream ensued.

Only did Yuuri know that when the blackness hit, that was his scream that had echoed off the walls of the room. That painful ringing in his ears was caused by him and the panicked hands clutching his shirt was Viktor's frail, almost white, fingers.

The headache ripped through Yuuri's skull and with another scream, his body fell limp and his body went to sleep. The last thing he remembered was the pleads of Viktor, asking him to wake up.

-

Viktor had never had a panic attack before but he couldn't help but doubt that what he was going through right now was exactly that. His breathing came panicked and his vision was no more than a hazy blur of colours. His mind couldn't comprehend the situation and all he could hear was the whisperings in the back of his mind to snap out of it, followed by the echoes of the voices that told him he deserved it. The dark voices whispering everyone's worst nightmare. The dark thoughts that everyone has.

He wasn't jolted from his mind when hands came into contact with his shoulders. He didn't notice, even. His eyes were trained on Yuuri, his nerves set in saving him. But what good could he do in this state? He hadn't thought it through.

Then again, who thought through a panic attack?

'Viktor, stop! Calm down, please!' An American accent, feminine, quite high. Lily, probably. Viktor, even with the revelation, didn't move and continued to shake. It was almost as if he was willing himself into this state now.

Then again, who wills themselves pain?

'Viktor, don't you dare do this to me.' An angry voice, still high but undoubtedly a boy's. The Russian was easily identifiable, Yuri. Viktor didn't listen; he didn't want to listen. And, if Viktor didn't want to do something- he wouldn't. His motto was do what you love or don't do anything at all.

Then again, since when had he loved what he had done in the last few weeks.

His motto, now, was nothing more than a hypocritical statement of optimism, created by his own mind in hopes of collecting enough denial to forget about it all.

'Can you just listen to me, bastard!' The shout was enough for his eyes to move. In his peripheral vision, Yuuri still lay- strewn messily across the floor- but within clear sight was now Yuri, whose face displayed nothing but panic. He hadn't seen that face in a long time.

It...it scared him.

'What's going on?' Viktor whispered, looking around as if waking up from a dream. This wasn't a dream. Yuuri was passed out by his knees, the agonising scream still so clear in his hearing. And Yuri, panicked and scared. Not for Yuuri, but for him.

'We don't know but you have to tell us what happened.' Lily spoke, gentle and calm. It didn't do anything to reassure Viktor.

'How did you get in here?' The much more important question in Viktor's mind.

'We got a key from the headmaster, okay? Now can you answer our question?' Yuri ordered, his arms folded protectively over his chest.

Viktor shuffled over to Yuuri, still on his knees and pressed his fingers to Yuuri's neck. The small amount of first aid he did at least told him that Yuuri was alive and breathing. 'Yuuri was practising something, he passed out because of it.' Viktor whispered gravely, being careful with his word. Yuri was still blind to the scenario and although they would tell him sooner or later, now was not the time to tell.

'We need a doctor.' Lily spoke from behind Yuri, already on her phone most likely to inform the school nurse of the issue. So, when silence fell, no one made it an aim to fix it. Viktor stared demurely at the body beside him as Yuri tapped his foot repetitively against the floor, the sound echoing like it was the heartbeat of the room. Lily remained impassive to the situation, staring dully at Yuuri's body as if she didn't care. She did care.

She cared a lot. But, watching Viktor by Yuuri's body was already causing her conflicting. Their relationship was toxic, anyone knew that but seeing them like this, it made her want to urge them on.

Viktor already looked lost without Yuuri there to reassure him. He looked worse than ever because Yuuri was the victim. Lily wanted to fix that; she knew she couldn't. Despite her little, inconvenient crush on Viktor, she knew that he didn't like her. She had accepted that. She was moving on albeit rather slowly.

Lily was starting to regret her promise. She never took it back, though.

The nurse arrived hastily and was soon examining Yuuri and bringing him to the infirmary and after an hour of treatment, he was sent home- he was still asleep but it seemed that he would be too tired to wake up anytime soon and the nurse was busy with a boy who had broken his leg whilst his parents were away meaning he had to stay in the single bed there was at school.

-

When Yuuri woke up, he was in his own bed. Nothing seemed off. But, as his eyes opened groggily, he realised, something was definitely wrong. By his bed were his parents. Okay, not too odd, he thought. But, as he turned around and was met by the man that he so often dreamt of, he knew something very weird was going on here.

'What happened?' Yuuri asked, his voice strained.

'You passed out whilst...' Viktor's sentence trailed off as his eyes caught that of his parents. They didn't know yet, Viktor knew that. He wouldn't breach Yuuri's trust and tell them now. Yuuri nodded to let him know he understood and returned to examining his room.

Just as his eyes found the door, it opened and in came a man- who he had never seen before. 'This is your doctor, Yuuri. We were worried so we brought him here.' His mother spoke, motioning to the doctor. Yuuri nodded again, not trusting his vocal chords to make any coherent sounds.

The doctor gave his name, which Yuuri immediately forgot, and took a few tests. He soon left the house giving Yuuri's mother his card so she knew the number when the test results came from. They wanted to know the cause.

They wouldn't find it.

And, Viktor and Yuuri weren't going to tell anyone.

His parent's left too, telling Viktor that he could talk to Yuuri about what happened. It seemed that Viktor had scared his parents too. No wonder, Viktor looked a mess. The bags under his eyes were large, his hair poking out awkwardly and his skin raw from obvious scratching.

Yuuri hoped his parents weren't suspicious. It wasn't any teacher that would be this worried for their student.

'Why are you here?' Yuuri croaked, turning his face to see Viktor from his position on the bed.

'I was worried. I originally came as a witness to recall to the doctor what happened. And don't worry, I said I didn't know why. I then asked to stay until you woke up so I could talk to you about something.' Viktor smiled down at Yuuri, tilting his head slightly. His mind urged him to move his hand to Yuuri's hair but he didn't. He remained deadly still, scarily still.

'Viktor are you alright?' Yuuri asked.

'Yeah, don't worry about me... You know, I like your room.' Viktor winked and Yuuri couldn't help but blush drawing an abrasive laugh from Viktor. Yuuri soon joined in and once again, the both of them were stuck in a fit of giggles.

Yuuri loved it. It was moments like these where he forgot everything and was just happy. He was happy. Viktor was happy. And his parents, who had been spying just outside his room, had never been happier- even if they were a little suspicious.

word count: 2280

published: 25.06.17