Chapter Text
Phichit was very good at finding out information. He took great pride in his ability to find every scrap of information about a person available on the internet. It was one of his hidden talents, unlike his selfie game, which was a gift to the entire world. And usually he respected people’s online anonymity. But Yuuri’s new friend was a different matter. Because Phichit was president of the Protect Yuri Katsuki Squad, a role he had officially embraced in college. Almost from the first day he met Yuuri, in freshman orientation, when the Japanese boy looked like he expected to be eaten alive. Phichit knew in that moment they were going to be best friends.
“Phichit Chulanont,” Phichit said, thrusting his hand out to Yuuri.
“Yuuri Katsuki,” the other boy answered softly.
“I want to teach chemistry, what about you? I know it’s an ed major of some sort, they lumped all of us in this group because we’re ed majors,” Phichit said.
“English ed,” Yuuri said, voice still barely above a whisper. “I want to teach high school.” Phichit’s eyebrows leapt up into his hair line.
“Aren’t you afraid high schoolers will eat you alive?” he asked bluntly. Yuuri shook his head, and Phichit saw determination burning in his eyes.
“No. They’re just learning how to express themselves, and I can help them do that, I can give them tools to relate to the world,” Yuuri said passionately. Phichit laughed.
“You’re going to do all right, Yuuri Katsuki. And we’re going to be best friends.”
As Yuuri’s best friend, it was Phichit’s sworn duty to look out for him. Hence why he was using all of his creeping skills to dig out information on this ‘Vic’ person. Yuuri didn’t make friends easily, and he didn’t take it lightly. And Yuuri had definitely passed the point of ‘casual internet friendship’ a while back. Yuuri was a Hufflepuff through and through, Phichit thought. And as his Slytherin bestie, it’s my job to make sure no one is taking advantage of that sweet, loyal nature. But the issue remained that he just didn’t have enough information to go off. But Phichit was never one to let a little detail like that stop him. If the sneaky route wasn’t available, he’d just have to be direct.
LordOfTheHamsters:
Hi! I’m Phichit and I’m a friend of Yuri’s! And I think you’re the real Victor Nikiforov.
LordOfTheHamsters:
Don’t worry, I won’t rat you out to Yuri.
LordOfTheHamsters:
He’s such a fan boy, he’d freak!
LordOfTheHamsters:
Just be careful with him, ok?
LordOfTheHamsters:
He invests a lot into friendships.
LordOfTheHamsters:
And this seems like more than just a casual online friendship, from an outside perspective.
LordOfTheHamsters:
Message me back! I’ve been friends with Yuri since college, I have all the dirt!
LordOfTheHamsters:
Oh, and if you really are Victor Nikiforov, let me know when you plan to tell Yuri? Because I’d like to record his reaction. It’s going to be priceless!
Phichit hit enter. It was a pretty stalkerish message, even for him, but if it kept Yuuri from getting hurt, it was totally worth it. And if his hunch was right, and it really was Victor Nikiforov reading fan fiction of his own work and stalking Yuuri’s tumblr… well then, life might get a whole lot more interesting.
***
Victor reread the message for the fifteenth time. Yep, it was still there. He clicked on the user name and skimmed through the blog. Phichit seemed to follow at least twenty-three fandoms, have an obsession with chemistry memes, and no problem sharing several selfies a day and linking to all of his other social media. He seemed harmless enough. But what was he supposed to do about this?
Victor: Are you coming over tonight?
Victor: there’s a bit of a… situation.
Victor: I just got the weirdest tumblr message ever.
Victor: And I don’t know what to do about it.
Chris: From Yuri?
Victor: No.
Victor: From someone called Phichit who says they’re Yuri’s friend… and they know who I am.
Chris: WHAT
Victor: Right?
Victor: I mean, he doesn’t know for sure, he’s just guessing
Victor: But he’s not wrong.
Victor: What do I DO
Chris: Breath, first of all.
Chris: Go get snacks.
Chris: I’ll be over after work, we’ll sort things out from there.
Victor: Thanks, Chris.
Chris: Hey. You got this. I’m just the sounding board.
Victor: <3
Chris started chuckling as soon as he read Phichit’s message.
“Forward, isn’t he?” Pulling out his own laptop, Christophe opened Phichit’s tumblr.
“He has his Hogwarts house in his description… Slytherin… that actually explains a lot.”
“Does it?” Victor asked, not sure where his friend was going with this, or why Chris found his crisis so amusing.
“You did read Harry Potter, right?” Chris asked.
“Aren’t Slytherins the bad guys?” Victor said, frowning. Chris sighed and shook his head.
“I’ve failed you, my friend. The answer is ‘not necessarily’. Being a Slytherin doesn’t make someone inherently bad. More of the villains in the series do happen to be Slytherin, though, because they tend to like power and be driven to get it.”
“I don’t think this is helping,” Victor said. “Should I be scared of Yuuri’s friend?”
“Not necessarily,” Chris answered.
“Not helping,” Victor mumbled. Chris just laughed.
“Look at it this way: he cares about Yuuri enough to message you because of how much you’ve been talking to Yuuri. Is that someone you really want to mess with?” Chris asked.
“Well, no…” Victor said slowly. “But I would never do anything to hurt Yuuri! We’re friends!”
“Uh huh,” Chris said resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Personally, he thought Yuuri and Victor were something more than friends, though what exactly he couldn’t be sure. Apparently this Phichit thought the same, or he wouldn’t have messaged Victor. But it wouldn’t do any good to tell Victor this. Chris let it slide, and followed Phichit’s links to his other social media.
“Hmm, he’s cute,” Chris mumbled.
“What was that?”
“Uh, the hamsters,” Chris said, turning his laptop to show Victor Phichit’s Instagram. “Hey, I bet this is your Yuuri, unless Phichit knows two…” Chris yelped as Victor practically scrambled into his lap in an attempt to see the picture. It showed a grinning Phichit pulling another dark-haired man with blue glasses and big brown eyes into the frame. He was smiling, even though he was being forced into a selfie.
“Oh,” Victor breathed as his mind attached all of his conversations with Yuuri to this image. Chris nudged him lightly with his shoulder.
“Still breathing there, Vic?”
“Uh, um, yeah, of course, I’m fine.” Victor swallowed hard. “So what do I do? About Phichit knowing, I mean?”
“Well, I don’t see that you have to do anything, though I would advise answering him, he seems persistent,” Chris said.
“I agree with you there. I’m just not sure how much I want to tell him…” Victor mused.
“I mean, there’s not much he could do with the information… even if he leaked it, there’s really no way to connect your tumblr or AO3 back to you, which is assuming anyone would care in the first place, as you do have plenty of social media platforms already,” Chris pointed out.
“That is true…” Victor said thoughtfully. “I think it might be best to be honest with him, and he did say he wouldn’t tell Yuuri…”
“You still don’t know what you want, do you?” Chris asked with a sigh.
“I do too! I just want to be his friend, and I want him to like me for, well, being me, not just because I’m a best-selling author he admires!”
“Uh huh, just keep telling yourself that, sweetie. Are you planning to tell him who you really are, then?” Chris watched a flurry of emotions cross his friend’s face.
“I…I don’t know. Yuuri is… safe right now. Talking to him is…easy. I don’t want to lose that, Chris. Talking to him, I remember why I love to write, what it feels like to be passionate about what I do. I… don’t want to scare him off I guess. But if he knows who I am… he might not want to talk to me anymore,” Victor said sadly.
“If you haven’t scared Yuuri off yet, I’d say you’re pretty safe,” Chris told him gently. “But, I see where you’re coming from. So, what are you going to tell the nosy little hamster lord?”
“The truth, I guess.”
***
vkusno-writing-crush:
Hello, Phichit! I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to respond, your message caught me off guard. To answer your question: You’re not wrong.
vkusno-writing-crush:
I am Victor Nikiforov. But I’d appreciate if you kept that to yourself.
LordOfTheHamsters:
!!!!!! REALLY!!!!! HOW DID YOU END UP READING YURI’S FIC?!?!?!?
vkusno-writing-crush:
I’ve been blocked, and my friend Chris suggested I try reading fan fiction.
vkusno-writing-crush:
He showed me AO3, and that’s where I found Yuri.
vkusno-writing-crush:
Though I would like to ask: How did you figure it out?
LordOfTheHamsters:
Guessing mostly. And Yuri freaked out a bit when v-nikiforov started commenting on his fic, and I started thinking, what if it really was Victor Nikiforov…
LordOfTheHamsters:
And being a good friend, I read all the comments on Yuri’s fics, and you write like Victor Nikiforov.
LordOfTheHamsters:
Being a science guy, I look for patterns.
vkusno-writing-crush:
Does Yuri know?
LordOfTheHamsters:
Of course not. I wouldn’t bring it up unless I knew for sure.
vkusno-writing-crush:
Could you not tell him?
LordOfTheHamsters:
But why?
vkusno-writing-crush:
I want to tell him myself, but not yet.
vkusno-writing-crush:
I don’t want to spook him.
vkusno-writing-crush:
At least not any more than I have already… Chris tells me I come on too strong sometimes.
LordOfTheHamsters:
I could see that. I saw the reblogs. But, I’ve decided I like you, Victor Nikiforov. I’ll keep your secret, as long as it doesn’t interfere with my best friend agreement with Yuri. Because he’s been my bestie since college, and I WILL choose him over you. J
vkusno-writing-crush:
Duly noted. Thank you, Phichit.
LordOfTheHamsters:
Any time! I’m sure this is the start of a beautiful friendship!
***
ice-ice-giacometti:
My turn to give the best friend shovel talk. I’m the ‘Chris’ Victor mentioned. Be nice to him, ok? He’s more invested in things than the interviews make him seem.
LordOfTheHamsters:
Got it! With that out of the way, can we talk about our friends? Because they need help. And I feel like we are ideally positioned to, ah, give them a little push, if you will…?
ice-ice-giacometti:
You really are a Slytherin, aren’t you?
LordOfTheHamsters:
Bahahaha, and you are a total Potterhead if that’s the first thing you go to. I like it. But back to the subject at hand: you down?
ice-ice-giacometti:
I’m down.
LordOfTheHamsters:
This is going to be brilliant!
***
Jonah cradled Aubrielle in his arms. If he lost her too, he might shatter. He couldn’t afford to shatter.
“Don’t leave me,” he whispered desperately, clutching her closer. “You’re the only thing grounding me, even if I don’t deserve it, even though I have nothing to offer in return. I guess… I guess that’s what love is. I love you. Please, please don’t leave me.”