Chapter Text
“this is Nick and Jade, and you’re listening to 99.8, Detroit Hits”
“that last song was from 3 years ago, by a personal favorite of mine, Katsuki Yuuri, I miss his face, and his voice, isn’t he sooo cute, Nick?”
“Yeah, you’re right, he’s got the whole ‘girl next door’ thing down, he looks like the type of guy you could bring home to your mom. In other news, Victor Nikiforov, 5 time academy awards winner, is opening auditions for his up and coming romantic comedy- a musical, he’s searching for a co-star, no gender restrictions.”
“Yes! Very exciting- and that’s his thing, right? Always surprising his fans! Anyway, you can submit a video of your singing performance on YouTube, or directly to his website, where Victor himself will select a winner”
“we’ll give you more details after this next song-”
With a groan, Yuuri slams the off button of his radio alarm clock and pulls his covers over his head. The sun was way too bright this morning and his head was pounding. He probably shouldn’t have drank so much last night, and now his entire body is paying for his lack of self-control. He just wants to closes his eyes for another hour or so, but it seems the world would not have it.
The sound of Yuuri’s cell phone rang loudly throughout the room. He groans, being jolted awaken by another intruding sound. He barely manages to open his eyes. His whole body was heavy, but his covers were so soft and warm, he felt safe and comfortable beneath them.
There’s now a voicemail on his phone from Phichit, charging beside his bed, because he just couldn’t pick it up in the duration of the five rings. He presses the ‘play button’ and mentally congratulates himself for trying:
“holy shit, you better answer your phone- I swear to god- actually, never mind, you’re probably hungover, but when you feel better, listen to your voice mail! You’re gonna hate yourself if you don’t. Uh, anyways, I’m gonna get breakfast for us, and since you didn’t answer, I’ll get you a McMuffin, bye!”
Yeah, he didn’t understand half of that.
Yuuri’s room is a mess after last night, blankets and pillows on the floor, piled together like a fort, his laptop and his expensive headphones is somewhere in a pile of dirty laundry and empty water bottles. The curtains are half open- letting in a horribly bright ray of sun light.
Using all of his strength, Yuuri gets up makes his way to the bathroom- the conjoint one he shared with his roommate and best friend, professional DJ Phichit Chulanont.
He steps in the shower, and wow, that was a good decision. The water was warm and steamy, it made him want to throw up a little less. In the warmth, Yuuri found his mind drifting, thinking about the voicemail. He was lucky to have a friend like Phichit, always thinking about him, buying him much needed breakfast that he knew he wouldn’t have the strength to make on his own. And reminding him to check his voicemail, for some reason, it’s odd, but he’s sure Phichit had good intentions.
Regretfully, Yuuri turns the nozzle off, he’s been in the shower for long enough. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he walks over to the sink.
Wiping the steam off his mirror, Yuuri winced at his own reflection as he brushed his teeth- he looked like someone had driven a truck over his face. If the world still cared about him, he would have gotten slammed all over social media for his appearance right now.
Thankfully, he hasn’t been doing anything about his music career since he was 19.
Now, he’s just an ill adjusted 21 year old- on a long, undeserving break after his first album (3 hits in total and 4 grammy nominations, zero won). After all the concerts, interviews, morning shows and so, so much attention. His anxiety got to him, and after his fifth breakdown, he decided to drop everything and hide in his apartment
Yuuri considers brushing his hair, but there was no point. No boyfriend, no dates, and no one to impress. Not that he’s looking. After all, who’d want to date some burnt out pop singer who doesn’t even have a handle on his own life.
He goes back to his room to pick up some clothes that don’t smell completely horrible and puts them on. A black tee-shirt and unintentionally faded jeans combo, and heads towards the kitchen.
There are some random posters in his hallway, mostly Phichit’s favourite DJs, a ripped one of him and his own Victor Nikiforov poster from Vogue magazine. It used to be nice and shiny, but he doesn’t remember how the thumbtack got on his face.
As soon as he sat down, the door to the apartment opens, and it literally feels like a machine gun was being shot at his direction,
“Sorry, Yuuri!” Phichit winces, and gives him a bag, “here’s food though,”
“thanks,” Yuuri muttered, taking out a breakfast sandwhich, “what’s the voicemail thing you’re talking about?”
“oh my god!” it sounded like Phichit was screeching, Yuuri covered his ears and groaned, “sorry, but, yeah, I can’t even- you gotta listen to it right now, your video went viral last night!”
“what video?” Yuuri doesn’t remember posting a video- he wasn’t even sure if he was coherent enough to post one last night, but still, he felt panic rising in his chest-
“breathe, Yuuri, I- um, posted it. It doesn’t matter, just, listen to your voicemails!”
“fine,” Yuuri groaned, and picked up his phone.
Huh, 10 missed calls, five new voicemails. He pressed play,
“oh my god Yuuri, what was that? What is- hush, Minako- Yuuri! It’s Mari- pfft, haha, you sound great, don’t listen to her-hey!”
“Yuuri, are you drunk? This is Yuuko, by the way. I’m a bit worried, but, um, nice singing? I guess? Call me back!”
“Yuuri, this is your agent, Celestino. Don’t panic, don’t make any decisions right now- come down to the studio, we’ll do it together”
“Hi! I’m Ashley from Detroit Duct cleaning services and-” probably not what Phichit was talking about.
“Hello Yuuri!! What a wonderful performance!”The voice was suspiciously familiar. “this is Victor Nikiforov and-” What? “You sounded amazing in that video! Also, your dancing was incredibly sexy, and I’m sure you’ll make a wonderful addition in my movie! I know this is late, but have your agent contact me as soon as you can if you’re interested, bye!”
Yuuri doesn’t think he could breathe right now, because, well, he doesn’t know what’s going on, but Victor Nikiforov just gave him a job offer, over a phone call he didn’t pick up and a video that he doesn’t know about.
“P-Phichit” Yuuri’s voice was barely audible, “what?”
“Right,” his best friend chuckled nervously, “um, it would be easier if I showed you?”
Phichit takes the phone out of his hand and opens up the YouTube app, types something in and hands it back to Yuuri.
And there was some guy, rapping very badly beside him, his face flushed and there was eyeliner smeared on his cheek. And what was he wearing?! Or, um, not wearing.
With a pout and a hip roll, the Yuuri he doesn’t even know existed starts singing , in some oddly seductive tone that he really didn’t like,
“Baaby seems we never, ever agree, you like the movies, and I like T.V.”
It gets worse, because of course it does. The asshole who threw the party had a stripper pole his living room, and Yuuri (if it really is Yuuri) starts dancing in on it, all while singing the part of Paula Abdul drunkenly, not missing a single beat.
And the people around him were even worse, they cheered him on instead of, well, taking him aside and giving him some water. So really, this wasn’t his fault, but-
“my life is over,” Yuuri moans dramatically, letting his uneaten McMuffin fall to the floor, “I-I’m a joke to the whole world, or, the, um, 700,000 viewers ”
“you,” Phichit says, holding his shoulders back up, “just made THE Victor Nikiforov offer you a movie deal,”
Right. He forgot about that. Victor Nikiforov. Movie. Musical.
“so, what I am supposed to say to that?” he asks- feeling very confused and very helpless,
“you’re going to call Celestino, meet Victor, and tell him you’d love to have the opportunity to work with him” Phichit decides, there was a determined look in his eyes that Yuuri didn’t like, at all.
“What if he changes his mind? Or what if this is just some joke? Can I even act? Should I-”
“You know what, I’ll call Celestino for you”
“Hey, what? Phichit! Give me my phone back!"
Victor is having a good, scratch that, great morning. After weeks of watching horrible (he’s sure everyone tried their very best!) audition videos, one magical and stunningly beautiful internet trend has solved his problems.
A singer named Katsuki Yuuri sang an amazing cover of Opposites Attract, which was the name of his new movie, coincidentally.
Sure, it was a really cheesy 80’s song- but it was fun, it’s felt like a karaoke night with friends, or belting out tunes in the car with the radio on, very fitting for the character of the romantic lead.
And, Victor couldn’t say this enough but, wow, he was perfect. He was everything Victor wanted in the unfilled role. He was attractive, fun, and alluring, backed by the voice of an angel that would make everyone overlook his own lack of singing talent.
He was probably a real life Charlie (a genderless name, because the romantic lead didn’t have to be a girl and a guy all the time), the fun, exciting bar singer to his uptight, lonely, work obsessed CEO who doesn’t understand what love is.
Of course, Victor wasn’t anything like his character, in real life. Despite what his so called ‘friends’ Mila, Georgi, Christophe and everyone he knew, said. They might have been referring to how he didn’t have a boyfriend/girlfriend, spent the last five years doing movie after movie, and sharing a home with only his dog- but at least he wasn’t uptight, or a CEO.
His awful friends aside, after a long, 2 days wait, he finally gets to meet the singer in the video. He hasn’t felt this kind of excitement for anything in a long time. It’s good, though, that he could be happy the last movie he’d ever make.
The truth was, he was tired. The cameras, bright lights and a professional smile- all too familiar yet still made Victor feel irritable.
He has pretended to happy all this time, years in limelight has turned him into an image- statistics, awards and articles from the critics. He doesn’t feel like a real person, just numb- plastered with a charming smile and designer clothing. There’s no feeling of passion, inspiration or love for his acting like when he first began, and he doesn’t feel like he’s living anymore.
So, this would be the last movie he’d ever do- then he’d disappear, and try to live his life for himself.
This singer, Katsuki Yuuri was just as cute in real life, was Victor’s first thought, despite looking drastically different from his video. He had all his clothes on, for one. He also had glasses and his bangs down, covering his beautiful brown, ruby tinted eyes. It’s not really the seductive singer in the video, but still, he was very pretty to look at.
“um, hi?” he greets shyly- sounding as if was unsure if he was supposed to be here, the building is pretty big, Victor wondered if he got lost at some point
“hello!” Victor smiles happily, “you must be Yuuri!”
“yes?” his cheeks were flushed. Adorable. “ It’s nice to meet you, um, w-what should I do, I-”
“while your agent is talking to Yakov, the director, I suppose we can just quickly read over a scene together, by the way, have you done any acting before? It’s ok if you haven’t”
“I’ve done theatre,” he answers, and bites his lip “and ballet- but not for movies or anything,”
“Perfect!” Victor exclaims- this was good, then they wouldn’t have to waste time with acting lessons. “ok, so, here’s a page of the script we can read through, just so I can get a sense of your skill level, and we can see if we have any chemistry, your character is Charlie, I’m Ray, now, be sexy for this scene!”
“o-oh!” Yuuri stuttered, looking at Victor nervously, “um, sexy?”
“do you have a problem with that?” Victor raised a brow, surely Yuuri mastered sexy at this point, he could pole dance, for heaven’s sake.
“n-no,” Yuuri says quickly, then takes a deep breath, and composes himself.
And suddenly, everything changes.
It’s wasn’t like Yuuri took off all his clothes or anything, he didn’t change a single aspect of his appearance. He just- had a different look on his face, and a new posture.
“Raymond, right?” his eyelashes flutter- oh, were they doing that now? “what’s a guy like you doing in a place like this?”
Time to stop staring, and be a professional, Victor thought- and clears his throat.
“I-I wanted to see you, uh, you didn’t give me your name, or your number”
“I’m Charlie,” a smooth, alluring laugh, “I didn’t know you wanted my number”
“I didn’t know I wanted it either- but, I just, couldn’t stop thinking about you,”
“let me guess, I charmed you with my drunken dance number,”
“ha, well, yeah- and I was wondering if-“
“yes, you can buy me a drink,” Yuuri winked.
“that was amazing!” Victor says when they reached the end of the page, and sees Yuuri’s should slump in relief,
“glad I wasn’t that horrible,” he gives Victor a small smile,
“of course not! I’ll help you with any problems you have, if you take the part, that is”
“oh, well, if you’ll have me, I’d love to,” Yuuri’s face flushes again- reverting back to what Victor thinks is his normal demeanour, which was very endearing, in Victor’s opinion.
And that was when Celestino came out to retrieve his singer- who immediately slammed a stack of paper in his hands.
“time for your signature, Yuuri,” he hands him a pen, and with shaky hands, Yuuri takes it.
Great! This was actually happening, Victor thought excitedly as Yuuri scribbled his signature on the bottom page.
“I’m looking forward to working with you, Yuuri!” Victor says warmly, then returns the wink Yuuri gave him from the line reading earlier, which brings more pink to his cheeks.
He really is gorgeous, Victor thought dreamily- and, oh no.
Victor Nikiforov has a crush
“Aren’t you excited!” Phichit nearly jumps- and claps Yuuri hard on the back, “you’re gonna be in a movie!”
Yuuri is a bit disoriented, he just got home with his coffee, usually, Phichit would be in bed- it’s Sunday morning and he definitely had a show last night.
Right now, Phichit is searching his face for any indication on how everything went, and Yuuri has to admit, he has some pretty intense pent up feelings right now.
“I messed up!” Yuuri groaned, hiding his face in his hands, “Victor Nikiforov made me read lines with him, and I messed up”
“what?! No you didn’t!” Phichit protested, “why would you say that?”
“because, he kept staring at me,” Yuuri says glumly, eyes glued to the ground, ‘he’s probably thinking of the best way to tell me that I suck,”
“maybe he thinks you’re hot,” Phichit suggested, “that’s a good reason for staring, I do it to people,”
Yuuri just gives him an incredulous look, because honestly- that’s ridiculous, even for him.
“You should be an author, your imagination is out of this world,” dodging a smack from Phichit, Yuuri continues, “there is no way, that Victor Nikiforov, five time academy award winner thinks I’m hot”
“but you are, that’s why there’s a sexy vampire novel based on you,” Phichit pointed out, “it was good too, I like the part where you were seduced by-”
“Ok!” Yuuri cuts in, because he too, has read that novel, and the part Phichit was about to bring up was pretty much slander- he has never done that thing with his- just, ugh,
“you know they exaggerated my appearance- I mean like, since when do I have ‘marble smooth alabaster skin,’ I mean, if I was that pale, I should be going to the hospital”
“you do have nice skin,” Phichit says- and Yuuri was sure that at this point he just wanted to fight Yuuri over something, “I see the ‘marble smooth’ part”
Yuuri glares, and Phichit just laughs, throwing his hands up,
“ok, I’ll stop, but you have to tell me, what was Victor Nikiforov like?”
“really, really handsome,” Yuuri answers dreamily, his face reddens- he probably sounds like a rabid fan, but some things, he just can’t hold back, “his eyes were so blue, I think he’s withholding earth’s water supply,”
“Ha, you have a crush!” Phichit points out excitedly, and before Yuuri could deny it, Phichit lays down the evidence, “you always use stupid metaphors when you have a crush! Admit it, you like Mr. Water Supply”
“he’s a very famous actor,” Yuuri rolls his eyes, “everyone has a crush on him”
“but you’ll get to kiss him,”
oh god. He does have to kiss him at some point. On the lips too.
“shit,” Yuuri’s eyes widen, and he groans, “I’m screwed.”
“isn’t that supposed to be a good thing?” Phichit raises his brow, probably questioning Yuuri's line of thinking,
So insensitive.
“No!” Yuuri slumps, “I’ll probably pass out, and look super unprofessional, and I’ll be a joke to the entire world for the rest of my life”
“whatever, just invite me to the wedding”