Your gateway to endless inspiration
1) Weed
As you might imagine, Yuuri is extremely, extremely anxious about it, and looks up countless Reddit threads on the do's and don'ts for first-timers. They end up cutting a raspberry-flavored edible into eighths, and despite Viktor whining after a half hour that he "doesn't feel anything", Yuuri doesn't allow him to have another helping (not yet, at least).
His cautiousness ends up being a good idea because only 5 minutes after Viktor's sulk-fest over being denied, his azure eyes go vacant and he scoots right to the edge of the couch. Just as Yuuri makes to ask if he's alright, Viktor whips his head around, eyeing the side of his face with unnerving focus.
Yuuri pokes his cheek and his fiance gives a slow, delayed giggle, before, inexplicably, placing both hands on Yuuri's jaw and leaning over to peer directly into his ear.
"Vitya?!" Yuuri squawks, pawing at him a bit.
"Yuuuuuuuuri, why didn't you tell me that your ears made such fantastical, seductive music?!" Viktor demands in a purr, with a hint of outrage. "I always knew you made musicality with your body, but this....THIS..."
Yuuri never finds out what he means because Viktor trails off and stands up, abruptly, and then begins marching in the direction of the kitchen (where they'd laid out a variety of snacks, in case he got the munchies). Or he tries to march, rather, because every lift of his foot takes four times as long as it normally would, and Yuuri bursts into giggles and records a video of him trying to traipse across the room, clumsily.
An hour later, he's petting Viktor's bangs while his fiance throws up, having gorged himself on too many snacks at once. Loyal Makka is on his other side, cocking her head at his nonsensical babbling. Despite his stomach upset, Viktor seems elated, already talking about "a take two, except this time, I can try to quad flip while high!"
2) (Gourmet) Baking
It's not that Viktor had never baked pre-retirement, but the things he'd tried making were pretty simple, at least by his standards: cookies, brownies, and one time, matcha-flavored cupcakes that the two of them had demolished in one sitting.
But he'd never attempted the formidable challenge of French pastry making. Specifically: Kouign-amann, an endeavor that nearly shatters all of Viktor’s confidence and leads to more than a few teary meltdowns over how many turns of butter-folding, exactly, were required to achieve that elusive texture.
(On his seventh failed attempt, Yuuri tells him that it seems as perfect as one could possibly hope to achieve and a sense of dawning comprehension befalls Viktor, who is floored to realize that his fiance might, in fact, be an unabashed liar.)
As with everything good in the world, he ends up turning to YouTube for visual help, and thanks to the comments section of one particular video, Viktor ends up making a version that he, Yuuri, Yurio, Georgi, and Mila finish over the course of just two hours.
Viktor happily rubs his stomach, reveling in the fact that he can now eat whatever the hell he wants, AND that he now has the freedom to make his fiance all kinds of indulgent treats that he'd never had the time to learn how to make, beforehand.
"I mean, it turned out alright, don't look so pleased with yourself, geezer," Yurio grumbles.
Both of his cheeks are bulging, and he's already reaching for a third slice.
3) Video Games
This endeavor is one, admittedly, that Viktor is not exactly enthused about, but he is still committed to it. Because learning how to play even one video game decently well means that he's not totally excluded from Yuuri and Yurio's fierce face-offs (which are usually also marked by virtual appearances from Phichit, Otabek, Leo, Mila, and Sara).
After much back-and-forth (and lots of ranting from Yurio, who is less than pleased that "the geezer's gonna be purposefully bad at it, all so you can cuddle his pouting away, Katsudon!” *retching noises*), they decide on Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.
Try as he might, Viktor just does not have the patience to sit through all of Yuuri's thorough explanations around the gameplay objective and world-building elements.
And it's not to say that Yuuri is a bad "coach"; his fiance is incredibly patient with him, not showing even the slightest hint of frustration when Viktor asks, for the tenth time, what the goal of this particular quest is, again.
By this point, even kind, sweet Sara looks liable to kill somebody, and after a good hour-and-a-half of his best efforts, Viktor decides to have mercy on Yuuri, sheepishly admitting that "maybe Viktor Nikiforov and video games just don't go together".
A collective sigh of relief is exhaled.
"It's Viktor Katsuki-Nikiforov", Yuuri then smugly reminds him, and he beams in response, ecstatic that his fiance is already so eager to address him as such when their wedding is still several months away.
Viktor rests his head on Yuuri's shoulder, suddenly not feeling that bad about letting "the experts" resume their gameplay. Maybe not everything he tries in retirement needs to be a wild success; Yuuri will still be there, regardless.
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"Turn this into a fic" my brain whispers, as I quietly sob about the number of WIPs I already have in rotation.
If you have headcanons about things Viktor might try in retirement, feel free to let me know!! I ADORE the idea of him truly allowing himself to grab life by the horns, with Yuuri at his side (and the pressures of his career behind him) 💓