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No one you love is really gone until you’ve forgotten them. Phichit had heard this phrase before, and he was absolutely positive it was right. It was just, it wasn’t exactly hard to forget someone whose face was plastered almost everywhere you went. From TV ads, to billboards, to that one freaking bobblehead in his closet he’d bought as a joke, Yuuri Katsuki’s face seemed to be everywhere he turned. Back when Yuuri had been around, this had been absolutely hilarious. He could make fun of him daily and send him stupid pictures where he’d poorly drawn on an oversized moustache, and a little top hat, and...Well. It didn’t matter. That was the past. Now he just had to deal with the ads until the world grew bored of the sporting legend that was Yuuri Katsuki. It was October now though, and it’d been seven months since he’d been gone. Somehow he didn’t think he was going to get a break anytime soon.
“It’s like, how come none of you guys ever do these dumb ads too? You’d think they’d wanna stop using his image after nearly half a year or whatever.” He pointed out as he shoved a fry in his mouth. He probably should have ordered something different. He’d skipped going to the gym today, but he was at some overpriced sports bar downtown that normally catered to people drunk out of their mind craving greasy burgers, so it’s not like he had many other options. “It’s kinda disrespectful, I think.”
“It’s not like we don’t. I promise, I’ve done more embarrassing stuff than that ad. For sponsors, I mean. It’s just none of us ever get nearly as many sponsors or adverts as Yuuri did.” Chris replied and stole one of his fries, even though he had insisted he didn’t want his own order. ( Oh no, I couldn’t possibly. I still have this next season to worry about. No, I think I’ll just get a couple wings or something. I’m not really that hungry. Besides, I know I’m charming enough to get someone to share with me.~) By someone, he’d meant Phichit. It was fine. He’d expected it. His friend had been like this for as long as he could remember. Ever since he’d first run into him stone-cold sober as ever stripping on some pole at an Olympics after party almost three years ago. “Don’t know what his secret was, but if you have any advice, I’m all ears.”
He had no advice. No one knew how to play the media like Yuuri had. He messed with his phone and stared at the picture he’d taken of the shampoo ad that had come on TV moments ago. Yuuri looked so stupid in it. He was smiling, but it was obviously fake, and no one had noticed he’d been holding the bottle backwards the entire time. He opened an app and doodled a mustache and top hat on Yuuri, then he added a hamster in the corner for good measure. Okay, it was supposed to be a hamster, but it looked like a cloud with a face drawn by a three year old on a sugar high. He scrolled through his contacts and sent the finished doodle to Yuuri’s old phone number. He wasn’t sure if it had been shut off yet, but it didn’t really matter. No one was going to see it anyway. He blew a puff of air out as he sat his chin on his wrist. He didn’t want to talk about Yuuri anymore, so he switched topics.
“Where’d you get assigned to this season? Besides Skate America, I mean.” He knew Chris had been at Skate America. That was the whole reason the two of them were able to hang out now, and he’d even come in first there too.
“Trophée de France. So I have about a month.” Chris sung and stole yet another fry. Phichit gave up and just slid the entire basket his way. “I might actually need to practice more though. I thought I’d have it easier this year with Plisetsky reportedly skating coachless and all, but he’s somehow gotten better than he ever was before. I’ve yet to run into him though. I’ll have to ask him his secret one of these days. I think he’s going to be in France too? Maybe it’s the same secret as Katsuki’s. He had that whole ‘coachless’ thing going for a while too, you know. Ugh. I’m sick of always losing to a Yuri.” Chris gave a pout and looked into the distance, making sure to bat his eyelashes longingly for good measure. Phichit chuckled, shoved him, and told him to shut up. He knew his friend wasn’t actually upset.
He wondered if he could find out what Yurio’s secret was. He supposed he could ask, but they didn’t text too much and had only spoken in person once or twice. He really only had his number from Yuuri, and he wasn’t quite sure the etiquette on texting your late best friend's cousin. He offered Chris nothing as his phone buzzed.
“Oh, that reminds me. I know you’re busy and all with your super important corporate job stuff, but you should come watch me in France.” Chris turned back to him apparently done with the melodramatics and finished with the basket of fries. “We can go out afterward, and there’s this after party I know is going down that’s going to be insane. I know the host. You’ve got to be there. I can pay for your plane ticket if that’s an issue.”
He was only half listening now. It wasn’t that he wanted to ignore his friend, it was just his phone had buzzed. Which, okay, that was fairly normal. It buzzed all the time. His Instagram alone had thousands of followers (he was an amazing photographer even in his free time, thank you very much), but this had been a text. A text in response to the photo he’d sent Yuuri’s phone moments ago.
Yuuri: Lol hated doing that ad. Nice drawing skills though
He stared at it. Who the heck had Yuuri’s phone number now? He’d thought it would be shut off not given out to some other random person. He immediately tried texting back.
Phichit: Who is this?
Phichit: Could you please delete that picture. It was kind of a personal joke.
Phichit: Hello?
All of the messages showed a read reciept, but he received no response.
“Who are you texting? They certainly can’t be prettier than me.~” Chris put a hand on his arm and shook him out if his focus.
“What? No. No, it’s fine.” He remembered they’d been in the middle of a conversation. “I can buy my own ticket. Money’s not an issue. I just, I think I have to go now. Work and all tomorrow. I’ll text you.” He tossed money on the table and was out the door before Chris could protest. He felt bad. He’d stopped by just so they could talk, and they were rarely in the same country together like this, but this couldn’t wait a second longer.
Yuuri’s old phone number had been shut off since that text two weeks ago. He knew it had. He’d double checked whoever it was hadn’t just blocked his number instead by attempting to call it with a different phone. Which he’d admit was weird and semi-stalkerish, yes, but he was desperate. Who the heck had had Yuuri’s old phone, and why wouldn’t they just say ‘sorry wrong number’ like a normal human being. He groaned and tossed his own phone aside. He should just accept this mystery wasn’t ever going to be solved. Besides, he had other things to do like figure out where the frick his favorite blue notebook had gone to.
He swore he’d left it in his old backpack, but there was nothing in there now except a chewed on pen and an older model selfie stick that didn't work with his new phone. He really hoped he hadn’t dropped it in the grocery store last Monday. He thought about that possibility before turning it down. He’d just used it last night to sketch a portrait of his three hamsters. It’d turned out terribly because he could not doodle to save his life, he was a photographer not a drawer, but he’d used it recently nonetheless.
Gold, Silver, and Bronze were squeaking to have their water bottle refilled, which he happily used as an excuse to scratch behind their cute little ears before taking out the bottle and making his way into the kitchen. He let the sink run for a few seconds before twisting open the cap and filling the bottle back up. He nearly tripped over his own two feet before he realized he’d forgotten to turn the lights on in here. As he did so, he spotted his missing notepad sitting on the counter next to a lonesome black glove. Sweet. That was one mystery solved. Except, that wasn’t his glove. He lived alone, save for his hamsters, and there was some random glove on his kitchen counter. Another mystery opened. I guess? He set down the water bottle next to the sink and went to check it out. Upon closer inspection, he noted that the glove wasn’t even his size either. Okay.
As he reached out to take it, he felt his hand brush against someone else. Okay, he was not crazy, and despite staying up all of last night to challenge various friends in a couple online games, he wasn’t that tired. Yet as he reached for the glove, he swore he saw Yuuri Katsuki, pen in hand, writing something down on his no longer missing notepad. He looked to be deep in thought as his free hand sat on the counter touching Phichit’s. He watched him for a second as he chewed on the pen before crossing something out on the notepad and starting over. This was...different. He decided he should say something. Hey, if this were some weird lucid dream, he should at least make it fun. This was just boring and weird.
“Uhm. Yuuri?” He asked his dream created friend.
Dream Yuuri looked up at him, looked down at their hands, went wide eyed, looked back at him, and then yelped out in fright before he pulled himself away and disappeared. Phichit blinked once before slapping himself in the face. Ow. Nope, he was awake. Coming to his senses, he looked down at the notepad. It was mostly crossed out illegible words and scribbles, but what was legible was unmistakably in Yuuri’s penmanship and read:
Phichit,
I’m sorry I haven’t. How have you. I’m going to tell you
It ended there. This was apparently where Dream Yuuri had screamed and disappeared. Except this wasn’t a dream, his stinging face reminded him. Which only meant one thing. He’d just seen and interacted with the ghost of his best friend. That was...so very freaking cool! Oh my gosh. I have to tell everyone! Literally everyone. Who can I even tell. He thought about it. None of his friends from work had ever known Yuuri personally, so they likely wouldn’t care. Chris knew of Yuuri, they’d been in so many competitions together, but had they ever really talked? No, they hadn’t. Not that he knew of anyway. He ran to grab his phone and scrolled through his contact list when it hit him. Yurio. It was perfect. Since they were reportedly cousins and all, surely Ghost Yuuri had visited him too by now, right? He didn’t care what time it was in Russia or wherever the eighteen year old lived at. He was calling him now. It rang, and it rang. It rang some more. He tapped his fingers on the counter as it rang once again. He was certain it was about to go to voicemail when he finally heard it picked up.
“Shut the hell up. Give me that! I’m answering it. Don’t tell me what to do. It’s not my fault you turned off your own damn phone while in some panic mode. God, you two are annoying as hell. Yeah? What do you want?” Yurio called from the other end of the line.
He didn’t let it phase him.
“Yurio? It’s Phichit, Yuuri’s friend. Hey, so like I know we never talk, but I gotta ask you something really important. This is gonna sound weird, but it’s actually really cool. So, do you believe in ghosts? Well that’s irrelevant to what I’m saying, but it would help if you did. Anyway, so I was in my kitchen a little bit ago because I had to get water for my hamsters. Oh, I still have to do that. I will after I’m done. They’re probably thirsty. But yeah, I was in the kitchen, and I spotted a blue notepad, which was weird because I didn’t put it there and…”
“Shut the fuck up.” Yurio stopped him. “I don’t have all day. Unlike you, some of us actually have things to do.”
“Oh, uhm. Sorry.” He forced himself to slow down. “The point is I think I saw Yuuri’s ghost in my kitchen. Like Katsuki Yuuri. Your cousin.”
“He’s not my fucking...wait.” The line was nothing but silence as he paused. “You saw him?”
“Yeah!” He could feel himself getting giddy again. ”Like, he screamed in shock and disappeared after a couple seconds, but he left a note! Kind of. Anyway, I wanted to ask if you-”
“Goddamn it.” Yurio’s voice sounded farther away now. “I’m going to punch you, Katsudon. Oi, is this why you didn’t want me to pick up?”
“What?” He’d thought Yurio would be as thrilled about this as he was, or at the very least he thought he wouldn’t be mad about it.
“Yeah. I’m not doing this over the fucking phone. Bye.”
With that, he’d hung up. Phichit looked at the phone again to make sure his battery hadn’t died. It hadn’t. He accepted it and picked up the discarded water bottle instead. It wasn’t like Yurio had been known for being talkative, but Yuuri had always spoken higher of him than this. They must have just been closer. He turned and eyed the suspicious glove that was still on the counter before pocketing that too. He guessed no one was as excited about this revelation as he was.
The bowl of buttered popcorn he’d left out on the counter was empty now. He ran his fingers through his hair and reached in the cabinet to refill it. He set the microwave for two minutes and tossed the bag in. For a dead person, Ghost Yuuri certainly did eat a lot, and he never even said ‘thank you!’ He wasn’t mad though; he wasn’t. It was just, he’d been leaving Yuuri’s favorite snack out daily hoping he would show himself again, but it had yet to happen. He just kept eating all his freaking popcorn and leaving. He’d have to restock soon. At least, he hoped it was Ghost Yuuri. If any of the hamsters were sneaking out to eat all this popcorn he was going to have a fit. They were chubby enough as it was. Ghost Yuuri was probably judging him for how big their waistline had gotten. They were so old now too, and he should be watching their diet closer. Maybe Ghost Yuuri was mad at him about that, and that’s why he wouldn’t leave anymore notes. He’d left the same notepad out daily now, right next to the popcorn bowl. He even added his own sticky note saying, ‘hey, maybe you should finish this?’ The sticky note was gone now, but the blue notepad remained untouched, and the popcorn still vanished.
The microwave ‘dinged,’ and he went to take the bag out. Maybe Ghost Yuuri was mad he’d stolen his glove? He’d thought about leaving that out as an offering as well, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Yurio wouldn’t answer his phone anymore. He’d just texted him, ‘we’ll talk if you’re in France,’ before blocking his number. He blocked him on Instagram and Twitter too, Phichit had checked. The glove was some of the only evidence he had now that Ghost Yuuri had really been here. The popcorn bag looked burnt on the bottom. Maybe popcorn wasn’t good enough. Should he leave Katsudon out instead? Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. He didn’t know how to make Katsudon. He sighed and wondered if he could call and see what Chris was up to.
The Trophée de France wouldn’t officially begin for another day, but that didn’t make the atmosphere any less exciting. He hadn’t been to France before, but Chris had. Which was great because having a tour guide who knew all the hottest spots and actually spoke the language was always the best part of any trip. Alright, no. The world renowned parties were always the highlight of his trips, but that was a given. Sightseeing was nice too. They’d just gotten back from a boutique where he had bought the most extravagant hat, phone case, postcard, slippers, swim trunks, shirt, sunglasses, and a lanyard that he definitely hadn’t needed. It was okay though, Chris had bought a matching one of each too. Everyone was surely jealous of how on point the two friends looked together. He stared at the selfie they’d taken moments ago. Their hats were twice the size of their heads, and their sunglasses were bright orange. They needed help.
Phichit was back in his hotel room alone now, and he tossed the hat aside as he flopped onto the bed. It’d been a long day. Nice, but long. He took a photo of the sunset and posted it before plugging his phone in and closing his eyes. He was going to make sure to get to bed early-ish tonight so he could use all his energy to cheer on Chris tomorrow. Maybe Yurio too, although he didn’t think he liked him too much. He still wouldn’t even return any of his calls. In addition, he’d blocked him on Facebook now as well.
Bang. Bang. Bang. He groaned and rolled onto the floor as someone pounded (knocked?) on the door. He groaned some more and moved to switch a lamp on. The pounding intensified. He was glad he always slept in pajamas, he guessed. Whoever this was certainly wouldn’t have been patient enough to wait for him to get dressed.
“Ugh, I’m coming.” He called out as the knocking continued uninterrupted and in full force. Wait, am I about to be murdered? He figured he should probably at least check who this was. He looked through the peephole to check only to see Yurio of all people scowling and tapping his foot angrily, loose hoodie pulled up over his head.
“I don’t have all night, and Katsudon’s going to chicken out if you don’t open this within three seconds.” Yurio called either unaware or not caring that it was almost midnight, and normal people were trying to sleep.
He unlocked the door and opened it. Yurio didn’t hesitate and stomped into the room looking like he was dragging someone behind him, only he was alone. He would have laughed at the sight had he not wanted to set the teen off more. Yurio looked so stupid right now. He laughed at him anyway and shut the door.
“Could I, uh, help you?” He smiled and turned on the rest of the lights.
“No.” Yurio pulled at his invisible hull again and didn’t so much as glance at him. “You can’t do shit.”
They stared at each other. Well, he stared at Yurio. Yurio glared to his right at whatever he was clinging onto.
“So, um. How’s it going? And um. How’d you find my room number?” He tried to start a friendly conversation. What else was he supposed to do in this situation? Ask him to unblock him on social media? Well actually...
“Oh, for fucks sake.” Yurio had had enough of whatever he was doing and forcefully grabbed Phichit to try and link him to whatever he was holding, but it didn’t work. Phichit allowed it, but Yurio was now actively fighting with some unseen force and had to drop his hand to use his full strength.
“Alrighty then. I think, I’m just going to go now. You can stay in here, I guess? I’ll come back some other time. Maybe.” He decided the best way out of this now was to finger gun backward toward the door and hope no one said anything to him. No one said anything to him, but he was stopped by someone who sure wasn’t Yurio grabbing onto his bare wrist. He had never seen this man before in his life. He was tall and had short silver hair. He was pretty good looking too, he guessed, but when the heck had he gotten in his room. Hadn’t the door been closed behind Yurio?
“Hi!” His smile formed a heart as he spoke. “I’m Victor soon to be Katsuki! It’s nice to meet you. Yuuri’s told me so much about you!” The man, apparently Victor soon to be Katsuki, waved at him with his other arm.
He stared at their now linked hands . Yurio had stopped fighting with whatever force was battling him now. “That’s really. Neat. I guess. Hah. Um. Yurio, who is this?” He asked over as Victor shook his hand with far more enthusiasm than was needed. He tried to pull away. He didn’t really want to be holding hands with Victor. The man was kind of weird, and he still wasn’t sure where he’d come from, but it only made the other’s grip tighten.
“I told you, my name’s Victor soon to be Katsuki. I’m Yuuri’s fiancé of course! Didn’t he ever mention me?” He answered when Yurio said nothing.
Phichit wondered if he should slap himself again to make sure he was awake. He really hoped this man wasn’t Yurio’s fiancé. Sure, the kid was eighteen now so it wasn’t technically illegal, but it was still weird as hell. And why was he telling him this at midnight before a major competition anyway. They weren’t even really friends.
“Yurio um. I guess, I mean what is this?” He asked as Yurio kicked toward the ground.
“I swear to god, you idiots are the absolute worst.” Yurio ‘tsked’ at him and returned to pushing at some invisible force to his right. “That’s fucking Death. Like a damn grim reaper.” He said voice strained as if he was actually exerting effort and not pushing at empty air. “But don’t start crying or some shit like a piss baby. He’s not here to kill you though.” He paused. “Yet.”
“Yuuri never told you about me?” Victor’s face fell, and he turned towards Yurio. “Yuuuuri.~ Why’d you never mention me to your friends? What do you mean you tried? Well, you didn’t try hard enough then.” Phichit attempted once more to free himself from Victor’s death grip. Maybe if he asked nice enough the receptionist would let him sleep in the lobby? Hi, yes. There's some random guy in my hotel room, and one of the competitors for tomorrow keeps arguing with him then yelling at me. Yeah, I don’t know either. I just let them have the room. Victor turned his attention back to him. “Oh, no. We have to stay linked like this. Otherwise you won’t be able to see me like Yurio can. It takes a lot of energy though, which is usually why I wear gloves. Yuuri here is supposed to wear gloves too, but you know, he forgets them more often than not.”
He kept drawing out the ‘U’ in Yurio’s name far too long. Only Yuuri’s name was supposed to sound like that. Phichit tuned him out. He was confused, but he thought he might be able to put the pieces together if only… Yurio was still fighting with someone next to him that he couldn’t see. He had an idea though. He reached out with his free arm as inconspicuous as possible. He didn’t have to try too hard though since both Yurio and Victor weren’t really paying that much attention to him. He felt himself make contact, and everything made sense now. Ghost Yuuri was finally back again, and Phichit had his face in his hand.
“Hi, Phichit.” Yuuri’s voice was muffled as he tried to give a soft smile, but he looked far too defeated and also had a hand covering his face which probably wasn’t helping him much. Phichit was practically dancing from excitement now. He immediately broke free of Victor’s grasp and threw his arms around Ghost Yuuri. He tried to squeeze him as hard as humanly possible. Only, Yuuri was gone now. As was Victor. Yurio rolled his eyes at him as he flopped down onto his hotel room bed.
“Don’t you listen, stupid?” He called over to him as he pulled out his phone apathetic to any of the ongoings in the room. “If you don’t have skin on skin contact with them you can’t interact. Fucking pay attention.”
“Oh. Sorry. Sorry. Yuuri. Ghost Yuuri. Come back. I’m sorry I scared you!” Phichit was waving frantically around. He managed to make contact once more, and Yuuri reappeared. He looked calmer now. He locked his fingers with Phichit’s, and it felt warm.
“I’m not a ghost.” He stated. “At least, I don’t think I am. Victor, am I a ghost?”
He felt someone else grab his other arm.
“No you’re not.” Victor soon to be Katsuki was back. “Ghosts aren’t real.”
Phichit was going to explode now. He couldn’t stop bouncing on his knees and smiling. Ghost Yuuri was back! He was back! Except he wasn’t a ghost apparently, but he was here, and he had brought new friends. One of which was Death? Who he couldn’t see all the time but Yurio could?
Oh right, Yurio was still here. “So are you ever going to tell me what’s going on?” He yelled over to the bed not caring about any potential noise complaints. Yurio shuffled around and pulled the blanket over his head but gave no response. He could see the dim light of a phone under the covers.
“Oh. Phichit, this is Victor.” Yuuri offered staring down at their locked hands to avoid eye contact. “He’s my fiancé.”
“Wait. What?” He stopped bouncing. “Hold on. I was talking about the fact that you’re not dead...kind of. What are you talking about?”
“Oh, don’t worry! You’re invited to the wedding.” Victor assured him and adjusted his grip on his upper arm. “That’s why wonderful Yurio over there helped me bring Yuuri in. We’d been telling him he should talk to you for a while, he already talked to Mari. But he’d said she had Minako to explain things so it was different, and then time went on and he got more anxious that you’d hate him, you know how beautiful Yuuri is. Then he cancelled his phone plan because he accidently texted you back, and Yurio had to get us a new one. I don’t even know if we could have convinced him to ever talk to you if you hadn’t bumped into him the other month. Good thing Yuuri always loses his gloves!”
Yuuri frowned and started berating Victor. The two began to bicker about who actually lost gloves more often, but Phichit ignored whatever they were saying. It wasn’t important. The two were leaning rather close, and oh, were they still arguing or was this flirting now? He took about four seconds to process all of this before it clicked. He would have gasped in shock for dramatic effect, but both his hands were currently occupied. Instead he beamed and squinted knowingly at Yuuri.
“This is the best!” He exclaimed as his bouncing returned. “Everything all makes so much more sense now.”
“What?” The two stopped bickering and turned to him in unison. Yurio turned over in the bed and readjusted the blanket back over his head.
“I mean, Yuuri. You’ve never exactly been subtle before. When we lived together, you had bushels of flowers sent to our apartment like at one point almost weekly. Then there were random letters that you refused to talk about that were all signed “V,” and I think you thought you were being clever when you’d toss them out, but dude. I was always the one to take out the trash because you never wanted to put shoes on, and I could see all the letters through the cheap trash bags we bought. Also, you talk in your sleep. Loudly.”
“I’m going to die.” Yuuri cut in. He tried to cover his face before remembering he couldn’t let go. Phichit laughed.
“Honestly, I just thought at first you didn’t wanna come out to me, and that was cool, I guess. I was gonna let you take your time, but then we made out at that party, so I knew that wasn’t it. After that, you kept skating to weird themes about romantic love when you’d claimed you’d never dated anyone so. Yeah. Also, I’m going to take a wild guess that Yurio’s not really your cousin. Which if I’d realized this before, it would have saved me many sleepless nights wondering why the heck your ‘adopted cousin’ lived in Russia alone as a minor when all of your family lived over in Japan.”
“I fucking told you you were being too obvious dedicating your shit to him.” Yurio’s muffled voice rang out from beneath the covers.
He ignored him. “But that doesn’t matter now! Dude, you’re alive. Kind of. I think. And you’re getting married!”
“Next month!” Victor chimed in. “Right before our Yurio wins the Grand Prix Final.”
“Our Yurio?” Phichit and Yuuri both questioned. Victor simply nodded.
“They’re just my fucking coaches. Don’t listen to him.” The blanket was pulled up higher as Yurio curled into a ball.
Coaches? But Yurio had been reported to be going coachless this year... “Wait, so that’s your secret! I’ve gotta tell Chris. He’d flip. Wait, I can’t tell him. There’s gotta be like some super secret vampire society law right? Except you’re not vampires. So does it count?”
“Yuurio.~” Victor let go of him and disappeared, presumably going to complain to him on the other side of the room.
“Uhm. Please don’t tell anyone about this.” Yuuri spoke up. “Although, you’re taking this a lot better than I expected.” Phichit continued grinning at him and squeezed their hands tighter.
“I’m just happy to see you again! I don’t care if you’re a not-ghost.” Yuuri gave a knowing look, but Phichit continued smiling. “Really! I just wish you’d told me sooner. How long have you been like this?”
“Uhm. Since the end of February.” He admitted.
“Since...the end of, Yuuri!” His face dropped for the first time.
Yuuri began to shrink in on himself. Victor reappeared briefly as he bumped into him while wrapping his arms around his fiancé. Phichit squeezed at Yuuri once more. “It’s fine. Really. It is. I guess I’m kind of irked, you own me like thirteen bags of popcorn, but I’ll get over it. I’m actually super stoked you decided to share this secret with me! It’s like, I’m the only one to know this. I have to keep it well guarded. Ha, I feel like a secret agent or something or maybe a cult leader.”
He could see what was presumably Victor playing with Yuuri’s hair as strands of it were tossed around. “Well, I mean. Yurio can see us all the time. So it’s not that secret.” Yuuri muttered.
“Shh.” His smile returned. “He doesn’t count. I’m the only other one.”
“My friend Minako can see us too.” Victor came back into view as he decided to hold onto both him and Yuuri now. He began humming and swaying their arms back and forth together.
“She’s not here right now, so she doesn’t count either. I’m the only one. Here.” He stated. Victor stopped swinging their arms.
“Eh, not really.” He admitted. “Christophe Giacometti, the Swiss skater. He can see me too.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” He almost dropped both his arms then and there before remembering it would make the two disappear. “Why didn’t he ever tell me anything?” He thought he might strangle him.
“Since when are you friends with Chris?” Yuuri turned toward him and pulled at their still linked hands to get his attention, but as he did his eyes went wide, and he looked back to Victor. “Wait, he can see you? Oh my god. You mean all those times I flirted with you at competitions, he could see you? Even that time at the Rostelecom cup? Oh my god. Oh my god.”
“I liked the Rostelecom cup! Eros is still one of my all-time favorite routines of yours.~” Yuuri turned bright red as Victor sighed wistfully. “Yeah, but with the Swiss skater it doesn’t even matter. He doesn’t really like me that much.” Victor said deflated and leaned a head on Yuuri’s shoulder. “I think he’s scared of me, the usual fear of Death and all. He just shows it by being overly flirtatious, but it’s always weird ‘cause I can tell he doesn’t really want me there.” Phichit didn’t know how true that was. He debated whether or not he should mention Chris was overly flirtatious with everyone.
“Why do you care if he doesn’t want you there! That never stops you from barging into my fucking house.” Yurio calls from over on the bed now out from under the covers.
“Yeah, but you're not scared of me so it’s different!” Victor whined like a child and was pouting now. Phichit questioned whether or not this man was actually Death or a grim reaper or whatever Yurio had called him. He was far too human. “Too many people are scared of me.”
“Hey, I can talk to him, I guess.” Yuuri offered rubbing gently at his fiancé’s palm. “We kind of knew each other when I was...you know. Maybe I could get him to be less scared of you… or us?” Phichit wondered if the two remembered he was still in the room. His hotel room. Holding onto them. Wanting to sleep at what was now quarter past midnight. Apparently not.
“Oh, Yuuri! You’d do that for me?” Victor disappeared from view again as he launched himself at his fiancé. Yuuri too disappeared from view as he toppled over onto the floor. Phichit let him go, he didn’t want to be dragged down there as well. He looked over to Yurio who sat on his phone completely unfazed by and ignoring anything that had just occurred. He wondered if this was daily life for the teen. He wondered if this would be daily life for him now too. He decided he liked it.
Yurio had told him to arrive at this address, he’d double checked the text enough times now. Maybe he should look once more? Sure, it was a wedding venue, and sure it was set up for a wedding, but most everything was empty. There were chairs, yes. There was an arch covered in blue roses at the end of an aisle, yes. There was even music coming from a pair of speakers, yet it was eerily quiet. A couple with triplets sat toward the back along with two women, one of whom Phichit vaguely recognized as Yuuri’s sister. So, at least he wasn’t completely alone. He made his way to the front next to the only other person here. Yuuri had texted him to bring his camera and take pictures, but what was he supposed to be taking pictures of? Behind the arch, sat two whiteboards which was...not part of any wedding tradition he’d ever heard of.
“Don’t sit there.” Yurio told him as he moved to sit down next to him. He thought he looked different today. Oh, he wasn’t wearing a hoodie.
“Um, okay. I’ll sit on the other side then…” He picked up his camera bag.
“No.” He didn’t even look up at him.
“Yurio, you’re being a brat. Just let me-”
“You’re going to sit on one of Death’s stupid assistants. All these chairs are full.” He finally looked up and pointed sharply to his right. “Go sit in the pink one, Katsudon reserved it for you.”
He picked up his equipment and did as he was told. He found the pink chair about three seats down. He looked around. No one was around him save for Yurio three seats over.
“Excuse me. Thanks. Can I sit there?” He heard as Chris popped down next to him. “Interesting venue, no? I would have thought they’d pick something bigger with how many people they invited.” He wrapped an arm around him as he spoke.
“I didn’t think you were coming today.” He pulled his tripod out of his bag and set it up, although he wasn’t sure what way it should be pointing. “Fear of Death and all.”
“Hm, yeah. I thought so too, but Yuuri convinced me. Also Victor's actually pretty fun once you get past the, you know, guaranteed to kill you someday thing. We’re inviting him to our next outing by the way. I’m serious. You think I’m a fun drunk, wait until you manage to get him wasted. It takes quite a bit, but it can be done. I wonder what would happen if we threw Yuuri in the mix. We should have combined their bachelor parties.” Chris winked. “Speaking of, shouldn’t you be taking pictures of the couple? They’re standing right up there at the front.”
He scanned his face for any sign of a joke and found none. “Are you kidding? Ugh. I told Yuuri this was a bad idea.” He removed Chris’s arm from around his shoulders as he quickly turned on his camera to take as many photos of anywhere that might plausibly be useful. “You have to tell me if they move, okay? I can’t see anything.”
“Mhm.” Chris moved to rest his chin on his palm.
The few people Phichit could hear stopped talking as words started to appear on the whiteboards up front. He didn’t recognize the handwriting, so he assumed it was Victor’s and snapped a few more photos. The written vows filled the entire board and then ran out of room in the end after, ‘In conclusion, I really, really, really love Yuuri Katsuki with all my being and promise to make him happy for the rest of time. He is my life and love.’ was written at the very bottom. The board wobbled a bit, and then the room was still. Someone in the back coughed. “What’s going on now?” He asked debating if he should be capturing this.
“They’re both crying.” Chris whispered back smirking. He took that as a yes he should be capturing this and let the camera go off once more. He waited as the board stopped wobbling, and the other one began to fill with what was unmistakably Yuuri’s penmanship. He took more photos as the vows ended with: ‘In conclusion, I love Victor Katsuki back, and I hope we remain as happy as we are now until the end of time runs out and then some.’ He took a moment to readjust the camera as he heard a grumble of ‘Ugh, that’s fucking disgusting’ from three chairs down. A marker could be seen falling near the front of the room where the two grooms were supposedly standing, and it landed with a loud plop against the tiled floor. Chris laughed next to him and commented how he didn’t know Yuuri had that in him, nor that Victor could lift someone like that.
No one’s really gone until you’ve forgotten them. Phichit had heard this phrase before. As he watched one of the whiteboards topple over, he smiled knowingly and snapped a series of photographs. Chris described the happenings to him in lewd detail, some of which was enough to make him blush. He glanced around the room he knew was packed to the brim with guests and smiled. He was never going to let Yuuri live this down, and he was absolutely positive now that that phrase was wrong.