6 characters prompt: yuri on ice, yuuri, yurio, phichit, chris. setting: shopping mall. trope: lost person in a crowded space (is this even classified as a trope? lmao, i tried)
[I'm doing 4 characters, 1 trope, 1 universe prompts.]
The problem with Yuuri going on a mall shopping trip, accompanied by the half of his future groomsmen who happened to be invited to the Detroit show, is that none of those groomsmen are focused. Yuuri wants to exit this mall immediately.
“There’s a trampoline!” Phichit is saying. “Indoors! And lights! Why are there lights? Is that a climbing wall? Is that a merry-go-round?”
“Gamestop is on the west end,” Plisetsky says, without looking up from his phone.
“But that tacky lingerie shop and Spencer’s are on the east end,” Chris pouts.
“We’re just here to pick up prints from a photography shop?” Yuuri protests.
No one responds but Phichit, who shoots him a darkly cheerful look that says, I love you, but I haven’t forgotten that you Betrayed me. Usually, Phichit is the one taking photos for Yuuri and Viktor in their personal lives.
Back in the ridiculously cute Airbnb Viktor found for them, his fiancé and his dog are probably cuddled up in warm, fuzzy blankets and having a great time. Yuuri, meanwhile, cannot tell which direction screaming children noises are coming from. Or whether the background chatter is amplified by echoing around this two-story monstrosity. There’s a reason Yuuri tended to avoid these places in college.
“We’re on a mission,” Yuuri says, bravely making a fist and hitting it against his palm. “Let’s go straight to—Yurio?”
Only Phichit and Chris blink at him, from where they’ve both stopped to take a selfie with an egregious mannequin in a storefront.
“We lost Yurio?” Chris says, breezily. Like he’s not sure.
“We have to leave immediately,” Yuuri says, just because it’s been on loop in his brain, even though it’s not actually what he thinks is a good idea.
“Yeah, retrace our steps to the door!” Phichit cheers. “Good idea, Yuuri.”
Chris’ lips twist, in a way that might mean he is actually concerned. “Is his sense of direction anything like Viktor’s?” Yuuri shakes his head. No one’s sense of direction is like Viktor’s. Viktor has an internal compass, but instead of pointing due north it can pretty much only take him in Yuuri’s direction. Otherwise, he’s doomed. Yurio, on the other hand, once conducted a manhunt in a foreign country, and managed to locate Viktor through sheer determined screeching at the locals.
So Yurio’s fine. …Probably. Unless he gets in a fight. Or a dance battle. Eh, same thing.
The real concern is that Yurio is the youngest, so even Phichit is willing to set Instagram aside and search for their lost teenager, who is not answering his phone. In Japan, he wouldn’t be worried if Yurio was even just—3 years old? In the USA, he doesn’t quite have the same faith.
They go to Gamestop. They go to a board game store. They go to Hot Topic, and American Eagle, and even Claire’s in case he decided to get some kind of edgy piercing. (They’ve exhausted all their options.)
Yuuri is never going to leave this place. Have there always been so many blonde, short, unfashionable people in USA malls? What life stage do you have to be in, to unironically wear leopard print in public to this degree? Is this why Viktor didn’t come with him? Three people he doesn’t know have touched him on the arm. He latches onto Phichit’s arm for compensation, who pats him gently atop the head and muses, “maybe there’s a pet store?”
They find Yurio on the way to the pet store. He has on a look of determination reminiscent of his competitive face during that fateful GPF. With one distinction: his tongue is out. He’s—he’s kissing three little cloth hearts and carefully slipping one each into a stuffed cat, a stuffed bear, and a stuffed poodle. Yuuri accidentally makes eye contact with him through the window as he begins violently adding cotton fluff. He regrets it. Yuuri really regrets it.
When Yurio stomps out, having chosen the gaudiest possible miniature clothes to give to his Build-A-Bear animals, he shoves the poodle box in Yuuri’s hands and snaps, “you’re welcome! Can we shop now?”
The stuffed poodle fur is very soft. It is wearing a pink dress. Yuuri is possibly already carrying it through the mall, half-tucked into his backpack so its little face peeks out. The crisis is over, and Yuuri has a poodle plushie.
“Climbing wall?” Phichit asks, eyes shining. “Race you to the top?”
“Okay,” says Yuuri, in a way that communicates I love you and I will destroy you.
“Adult novelty shop?” Asks Christophe.
“Yeah,” says Yuuri. Should’ve gone when Yurio was lost, honestly, but even Chris hadn’t suggested it at that point.
“Were you worried or something?” Yurio asks, suspicious but with catlike curiosity.
“Mm,” Yuuri agrees, and quirks a smile at him. “Food court later?”
“Yes,” says Yurio. Malls: maybe not a nightmare.
