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“Yuuri, I can’t wait!”
Yuuri lets out a groan as he buried his face into his pillow. His roommate was far too chipper at 8 am with no caffeine in his system. Yuuri wonders how Phichit manages to be walking sunshine considering it was an early Monday morning. Yuuri, on the other hand, wanted nothing more than to savor just a few more quiet bonding moments with his bed and his very much beloved pillow.
‘It’s too early for this.’ Yuuri willed himself to sleep while Phichit rambled on about the coming day with utmost enthusiasm.
Yuuri and Phichit had just returned from their annual break, coming back as 3rd year English Majors at the local university, both having just returned from spending their break at their respective hometowns, Phichit in Bangkok and Yuuri in Hasetsu. While they definitely kept in touch with each other through video calls, nothing really beats the feeling of spending time together in the flesh again. Not to mention the amount of pictures Phichit can take of Yuuri because he loves nothing more than snapping photos of people and things dear to him, as well as scandalous pictures and videos of Yuuri when he blacks out during the occasional college party.
“I thought you deleted them!”
“Haha, Yuuri, you know I can’t help myself. It’s only for memories…just for the memories.”
“I still can’t believe it. We’ve finally, FINALLY got the same sched. After 2 years of never being in the same class…Yuuri, I’m pretty sure the gods are smiling down on us this semester.”
“Mm.” Yuuri snuggled deeper into his blanket cocoon, not really listening to his best friend’s chatter.
“What was that, Yuuri?” Phichit smiled knowingly at his friend. Yuuri was never a morning person, and if anything, forcing to get Yuuri up on lazy days was a Herculean effort in itself. He walks toward the lumpy bundle on the other side of the room, his shadow looming over Yuuri who had just proceeded to snore back into sleep.
“Yuuuurriiiii. Get up already.” Phichit whines as he shamelessly slaps his hand over burrito-Yuuri’s blanketed lump of a butt. Yuuri peers up at Phichit with the hardest glare he can muster in all his scruffy, grouchy glory, glasses skewed and hair a mess. He starts to pull on the blanket that Yuuri had wrapped tightly around himself, trying to haul his best friend out of bed.
“Phichiiiit, our class is in two hours.” Yuuri mumbled as he clutched onto his cocoon even tighter.
“Come on, Yuuri. I’ve missed my best friend so much over the break.” Phichit whined as he continued to ease Yuuri up into a sitting position. “We were going to go grab breakfast at that café right around campus, remember?”
“Just 30 more minutes, Phichit.” Yuuri was stubborn when he was in a state of battling jetlag. Unlike Phichit, Yuuri had only arrived the day before, having stayed in Japan for his sister’s birthday. Knowing Yuuri, Phichit appoints himself – to which Yuuri agreed to in the end – as professional Yuuri-hauler to force his friend out of the bed. (He had enough time to sleep off the jet lag yesterday anyway.)
“But Yuuri…once we get there then, there won’t be any more seats left.” Phichit successfully pulls Yuuri out of his cocoon, sitting beside his friend as he spoke.
Yuuri rubbed his eyes under his glasses. Thankfully, he had probably gotten enough sleep to function (and not act like a perpetually tired pidgeon) for the day along with having slept the whole day yesterday. He blinks blearily at his friend who fixed the skewed glasses on his face. Smiling thankfully for his friend’s action, Yuuri stood up, stretching out his sleepy aching muscles.
“Alright, I’m up.” Yuuri moves to the bathroom and proceeds to freshen up before going out to eat.
“Thanks for getting me up, Phichit.”
“Anytime, Yuuri.”
Phichit sneaks in a snap of his friend brushing his teeth, camera snap sounding throughout the bathroom.
“Phichit…”
“Cut me some slack, Yuuri. It’s not like I do it all the time.” Phichit’s eyes were focused on the screen of his phone. If Yuuri looked closer, he’d see Phichit scrolling through his collection of Yuuri’s least flattering moments complete with his drunk self stripping and doing whatever he can to embarrass sober Yuuri. Yuuri is fairly convinced drunk Yuuri has his own persona separate from himself. “And besides, for memories remember?”
“Okay, okay…but if I find out you showed them to anyone else…”
“Yuuri, I am a grown man. I have enough self-control not to be embarrass my best friend. Swear!”
‘Liar.’
Yuuri lets out a tired sigh, hoping that Phichit would hold himself back whenever people asked him to show his gallery. After all, no one needed to know his dark past-err present.
Despite being an English major, Phichit has always been immensely faithful to his longtime hobby. Despite being armed with only a smartphone, Phichit still manages to take some magnificent shots. If anyone didn’t know any better, Phichit would have come off as a Photography major rather than someone studying the art of letters. When Yuuri had asked why Phichit decided to major in English, he’d tell him that he’d open a magazine spread featuring his pictures along with self-written articles or even write a children’s book in which numerous tasteful pictures would grab the attention of his readers.
Yuuri, on the other hand, decided on the same major due to his love of literature. He had dreamed to become a famous writer since he was a child, hoping that he can stand to be just as revered as many renowned novelists.
“Let’s go Phichit.” Setting down his toothbrush, Yuuri moves ahead of Phichit as they went out the door, hoping to try that fabled heavenly eggs benedict with a side of bagel and cream cheese.
10 minutes before class, the students have already filled the inside of the room, each settling down around their friends as everyone waited for their Professor to come in. The murmurs of the students comprised of past semester woes, the possibility of Celestino being a gift from heaven, introductions, and the availability of a certain hot TA.
“We’ll be totally fine. It’s Professor Cialdini anyway.” Phichit leaned back in his chair. Phichit and Yuuri already had Ciao Ciao as their professor in the past but this would be the first time Celestino would teach this subject. Needless to say, both of them expect smooth sailing for this class in comparison to the hell their other professors seemed to highkey torture them with.
As soon as Celestino enters the room, everyone turns silent, waiting for the Professor to start with the introductions.
“Hello students and welcome to Creative Writing 300.” Despite the fact that Celestino has lived at least 10 years in America by now, his accent still came out thick. Though some of his students mocked him, he took pride in his accent, happy to have a simple link to his roots.
“As you may already know, I will be your lecturer for this semester, Assoc. Professor Celestino Cialdini.”
Phichit and Yuuri share a glance with each other, trying to keep their grins in check. As much as they like Celestino as their professor, they equally enjoyed poking fun with him, especially Phichit whenever he approaches him for thesis critique.
“This course will not be an easy ride. I will be critiquing the very foundation by which you all write. So I expect you all to steel yourselves, and work hard to pass this course.”
“Looks like Ciao Ciao wasn’t kidding when he said he’ll teach differently here.” Phichit whispered lowly as Yuuri nodded in agreement.
“Same routine as last time, then?” Yuuri asks in a hushed tone. They made it a point to help each other in polishing their work whenever they can, encircling and underlining things that could be further improved and writing short notes of various suggestions.
“Yup.” Phichit agrees, popping the p in his reply. They return their attention to Celestino, their professor’s words were now but a blur in their mind as they tuned back in.
“And since I may have taken up a few more classes than I could handle, I also would like to introduce you all to my teaching assistant, Mr. Viktor Nikiforov.”
The door to the room opens, careful steps sounding through the silence of the room.
In came the most beautiful man Yuuri had ever seen. Silver hair styled in such a way that it covers one of his hypnotizing blue eyes. The striking bright blue hues were magnetic, beckoning anyone to allow themselves to get lost in them. Broad shoulders and long legs were built in a strong frame. Tempting lips were sewn into a smooth smile.
All in all, he was Yuuri’s — and anyone’s for that matter— ideal man. Now that he realized that a man like that could even exist at least.
The whole room was then shrouded with murmurs and held back squeals. Yuuri could almost imagine everyone’s eyes shaping themselves into sparkling hearts. Yuuri couldn’t deny that the same could probably said about his eyes as well. He finds himself drawn to the man, Viktor’s aura, his stare focused on the magnificent being before him.
A poke at his side breaks Yuuri out of his trance, Phichit’s smirking face comes into Yuuri’s view.
“I see that you’re liking what you’re seeing, Yuuri.” Phichit’s teasing words sent Yuuri’s cheeks into a deep flush. “And I just have to say: he’s hot.”
“Phichit…” Yuuri fought to keep his blush’s intensity to a minimum. He didn’t want any one and especially a certain someone to notice the bright red painting his cheeks in infatuation and embarrassment.
“Well my dearest, squishiest Yuuri, I too know a good specimen when I see one.” His best friend slings an arm over his shoulders. “Looks like we’ll be having fun this semester, don’t you agree?”
“I’m not going to let myself be distracted, Phichit.” Yuuri says almost as if it was a promise he was making for himself. “I really want to focus and learn a lot from this class.”
Before Phichit could retort, Viktor’s smile grew wider, catching the attention of the whole class before he spoke.
“Nice to meet you all, I hope I’ll be able to help you all throughout this semester.” Numerous squeals and breathy sighs sounded as soon as everyone heard his voice, low and alluring. “And please, just call me Viktor.”
Yuuri could’ve sworn he heard one of his classmates mutter ‘He’s too perfect. I’m saved.’ Yuuri secretly and wholeheartedly sympathizes with said classmate. Yuuri turns his attention back to his friend.
“Of course we’re going to work hard either way but we’re still going to have a lot of fun in this.” Phichit winks at Yuuri as he pumped up his fist in enthusiasm. “We’re going to ace this course and enjoy it along the way, Yuuri.”
“Yeah.” Yuuri smiled in agreement. Phichit’s energy would always be contagious. It was almost as if Yuuri could get himself fired up just from being around his dorm mate.
“Even with the hot and oh so very distracting TA.” Phihit waggles his eyebrows at Yuuri with his phone in his hand recording Yuuri’s reactions, ready to upload the video into his twitter.
The red on Yuuri’s cheeks deepened at Phichit’s teasing.
Placing his attention back to his professor, Yuuri heaves a sigh, mentally preparing himself for this rollercoaster of a semester.
It was in the middle of the semester where Celestino decided to give them additional work, or rather a chance to gain extra points to pull up their not so stellar grades which, even with Viktor’s enthusiastic help, were just barely hanging on. Celestino is definitely a gift from heaven.
“Ok, the only mechanics of this activity would be for all of you to post a poem, any type of poem to this bulletin board. As long as you post one, you will get extra points which will be added to one of the components of your grades which I see fit. Any questions?”
Poetry.
It has been quite a while since Yuuri even wrote something that is outside the field of prose. He’s thankful that wouldn’t it be seriously graded though. After all, he also has to focus on other requirements which need his utmost attention and effort. Being in one of Dean Baranovskaya’s classes is already a war in itself.
One student raises his hand immediately, his blank face indicating serious business.
“Mr. Lee?” Celestino calls out.
“Is there a specific topic for this activity?” Lee Seunggil asks. “And how many points do we get for a poem?”
“The poem can be about anything, and regardless of the content, you will get points but at least make it decent.” Celestino pointingly says to one of their classmates to which a few chuckles were made with several eyes shifting to Christophe Giaccometti who merely gives a wink in reply. “One poem is equal to two points. Anything else?”
Another student raises a question.
“How often do we have to post one?”
“I expect 2 poems every week, one on our first meeting of the week and another on the last. This will start this week and I hope that all of you would comply with this activity, for your sakes at least.” Celestino answers. “Although, this is a prose writing class, I’m sure that this will help you all in getting your creativity going for your final requirement.”
The whole class fell into a series of murmurs. Some students taking jabs at each other’s writing and others needlessly fretting over this whole activity. Some even thanking the writing deities for this blessing.
“I will be participating too, by the way.” Viktor pipes up, spurring everyone into anticipation and curiosity.
Phichit once again pokes his friend’s side to catch his attention, Yuuri already trying to think of something simple to write for this week’s poem quota.
“Hey Yuuri, do you think he writes as hot as he looks?” Phichit never fails to pin the conversation on Yuuri’s very obvious crush.
“He is a grad student right? Didn’t he say Prof. Feltsman was his official mentor?” Yuuri answers, trying to revert his focus to their professor once again. To Yuuri, he shouldn’t be dwelling on his adoration— crush on Viktor. If he wanted to reach his dreams, the best he can do is to gain everything he can from all his subjects. . After all, it is highly impossible that Viktor would actually like him back anyway. He was going to become a renowned novelist, that’s what matters most.
“He’s quite famous with the upperclassmen too. They say he write amazingly but I’ll guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” Phichit muses before turning to look at his friend. “Want to write the thing during lunch?”
“Sure. The sooner we get it done, the more time we have for other things.” Yuuri nods in agreement. It was time to pull himself up from the grade safety line and work on it.
“Yes.” Phichit smiles as he starts packing up his things.
“If there will be no more questions, you’re all dismissed.” Celestino ends the class with a smile before leaving the room with Viktor on tow.
As Yuuri and Phichit left the room, Phichit places one hand on Yuuri’s shoulder, his eyes gleaming as a grin plastered itself on his face.
“Hey Yuuri, I just realized…” Yuuri could see the mischievous and excited glint in Phichit’s eyes. “It’s the perfect opportunity for you to impress Viktor!”
“What!?” Yuuri stopped in his steps, the red flush on his cheeks threatening to darken. “Phichit, no.”
“But Yuuuri, even I can tell Viktor has a thing for you.” Phichit whines to his friend. “He always touches your shoulder, goes to you first when inspecting our work, stares at you like you invented sliced bread—“
“Phichit, none of that proves that he has a thing for me.” Yuuri sighs in exasperation.
“B-but you guys are like my OTP.”
“I’m afraid it’s not gonna happen, Phichit.” Yuuri says with disdain. A part of Yuuri hopes that what Phichit was saying was true but he knew that Viktor would probably be interested in someone that is far from Yuuri’s standards. Someone equally attractive and amazing as him. With that thought in mind, Yuuri had long resigned himself to his one-sided attraction, bearing with it until he manages to forget about Viktor’s existence after this semester. “It’s too farfetched to say that. The possibility is just pretty low.”
“Fine.” Phichit sighs in defeat. “But if something does happen, you owe me bubbletea for a week.”
“Of course.” Yuuri agrees, knowing that he had already won this bet.
‘There is but one thing
I’ve wanted to do for so long
That is to give you a ring
So I can give you my dong.’
“This has Chris written all over it.”
“Pfft, you and I know he’s practically Eroticism in human form.”
It was already the second time they had to post their poems. Needless to say, even without their names scribbled on the bottom of the papers, they could fairly figure out who wrote what just from the content.
“So as expected, Chris would fill his with innuendos and Seunggil would write about his dog.” Yuuri notes the lilt in tone Phichit had when he said Seunggil’s name. He kept his smile to himself, tucking away that slip of tongue into his mind. “What else haven’t we read?”
“Hmm…I think it’s this one. It’s a bit longer than the others’ though.” Yuuri lets his hand trace gently over the paper as he read the poem written in neat penmanship.
‘You move
In the motions
Of a symphony
A subtle
Yet enthralling
Movement
Spilling forth
In each casual glance
In each mundane deed
I can only be entranced.’
“This is so pretty…”
“It sounds…beautiful.”
“Oh, it looks like your hypothetical boyfriend wrote it.”
“What!?” Yuuri’s hastily looks to the bottom of the paper, finding ‘Viktor Nikiforov’ scribbled neatly right below the poem. “O-oh…”
“He’s really good. The upperclassmen weren’t kidding.” Phichit gushes to Yuuri, taking out his phone to take a snapshot of Viktor’s poem. “I want to write like him someday. It’s as if he really wrote this about someone he likes. As if the feelings were real.”
“Yeah. It’s like the emotions are dripping right out of the poem. I...” Yuuri was at a loss for words. It felt as if the poem spoke to him. That was how powerful Viktor’s words were to him.
“What if the poem is about you, Yu-u-ri?” Phichit slides right back into his teasing demeanor.
Ever since Viktor’s entry into their semester, Phichit never failed to bring him up whenever he can. Don’t get Yuuri wrong, he loves his best friend and he can attest to the fact that Phichit Chulanont was sunshine walking on two feet but whenever Yuuri had so much showed or admitted that he liked someone, his friend would immediately jump on the boat, surveying Yuuri’s crush and searching for the other half of his inevitable OTP.
“Haha, no. If Viktor really did write this about someone it would be someone he’s close with, not me Phichit.” Yuuri deflects Phichit’s teasing with a wave of his hand. “And besides, he could just imagine it right?”
“Yeah, I guess…” Phichit agrees with a hint of disappointment. “But Yuuri, those words really sound like they come from the heart, you know?”
“Well, I guess we can only assume things now.” Yuuri shrugs, trying not to let Phichit’s earlier implications sink into his mind (no matter how downright tempting it was). “Only Viktor would know.”
“Let’s ask him then!”
“Phichit…”
“Aw, Yuuri but what if it’s true?”
“No, it can only be true if it was in my dreams.”
“Ah, so you admit you did dream about him! Yuuri, you must really like him!” At Phichit’s words, the flush on Yuuri’s cheek immediately spread to the tips of his ears.
“Nooo. Please, stop talking about it Phichit.”
As expected, Phichit’s teasing continued all the way back to their dorm.
“Hm, that transition needs a bit more work, Yuuri.”
Yuuri almost fell out of his seat. Luckily, Viktor had grabbed onto his arm before he could really fall to the floor. Viktor always surprised him out of nowhere. Yuuri can’t tell whether it was because he was too focused on his writing or Viktor’s mere presence makes him jumpier than usual.
With his pride, he likes to think it’s the former. If Yuuri was being honest though, he would say both.
“V-viktor!” Viktor’s hand still held on to his arm tightly as he regained his position in his seat. Yuuri could feel the warmth of Viktor’s palm seep through his sleeve.
“Sorry, about that.” Viktor smiles in apology. “But I can’t help but help you out with this transition right here. Surely, you could think of something more fitting to keep with the flow and mood of your writing.”
Celestino had a department meeting to attend to so they were left with class work to make up for his absence with Viktor, of course, watching over them as they worked on writing a simple short story.
“I see…which part exactly?” Viktor points right at the middle of his story. Even Yuuri could feel the cut from the word flow just from looking at it. “I’ve been trying to work around it though…”
Yuuri only expected Viktor to point out his mistakes not a full on one-on-one in-depth lecture about his writing, complete with compliments about his style here and there, gushes over his plot along with several blunt criticisms on his word choice and so on.
For a while, Yuuri lost track of how long Viktor hovered over him at his desk. Yuuri did his best to listen to every word Viktor said, trying to keep in mind his suggestions and whatnot but he can’t help but get distracted by how close he was, the way he smelt, and the way his eyes were different shades of blue all at the same time.
“Viktor! Can you help me too?” A classmate’s request broke him out of his trance.
“Yeah, me too, Viktor!”
“Pleeeaase, Viktor.”
“I’m having a hard time too.”
“Haha, wait a moment, I’m not yet done with Yuuri.” Viktor chuckles over the class’ requests.
Yuuri felt a bit guilty over consuming Viktor’s time. It was high time for Viktor to critique his other classmates’ work after all. Though, a tiny voice in Yuuri really wants Viktor to stay.
“It’s fine, Viktor.” Yuuri smiles in gratitude, his heart beating wildly in his chest. “I think I know better now on how to improve this piece, so thank you.”
“Anytime, Yuuri.”
That wouldn’t be the last time Viktor would do something for Yuuri.
“Phichit! They might think we’re dating or something.”
Phichit had just shown him a picture of the day’s earlier events or in Phichit’s words: Yuuri’s highlight of the day. In the picture, Viktor was smiling brightly at Yuuri, a hand on his shoulder as he gazed down at Yuuri’s face while explaining. Even at this angle, anyone could clearly see the smile etched on Yuuri’s face as he looked back.
This wasn’t the only picture Phichit had of Viktor or them together.
Yuuri is between half wanting Phichit to delete them and asking Phichit to give him copies of the photos.
All Yuuri can say about himself is that he’s in deep.
“But Yuuuri, I got more than a thousand retweets! And it’s just a harmless cute photo of you and Viktor anyway.” Phichit says waving around his screen in Yuuri’s face to prove his point. It seems like the retweets on that tweet will never stop increasing.
“Still. I don’t want them to think I’m fooling around with Viktor or something.” Yuuri reasons as he tries to focus back on his book and not on how Viktor looked at him in the photo. Yuuri doesn’t want to hope for something that was never going to happen.
And he most definitely doesn’t want anyone assuming things are going on between, leading him to get cornered by who knows who for some form of interrogation.
He’d rather save his senses for any interrogation involving his thesis instead.
“Ok, ok, I’ll tone it down but a few pictures are okay right?” It was just like Phichit to bargain about something like this. Yuuri couldn’t help but let his lips quirk up in amusement.
“As long as you show them to me first.”
“Gotcha.”
‘Not even a thousand sonnets
Would be able to capture
The beauty of your assets’
“Chris sure has an unlimited amount of lewdness in him, don’t you think?” Phichit said after they’ve read Chris’ piece. To their surprise, Chris alternated his poems from lewd and romantic. Both of which Chris did justice to. “I’m almost envious at the amount of Eros he has.”
It has already been a few weeks since the activity started. Slowly, the poems had already become part of everyone’s routine. Everyone was eager to pull their GPA up as much as possible. All had certainly become entertained with all the poems written by the class. It was amusing to read what their classmates could come up with.
“Would you like me to help you with that, mon cherie?” Chris’ sultry voice greeted the two friends. “Anyone you would like to impress?”
“No, not really Chris.” Yuuri replied. Yuuri wanted to slap himself for allowing his cheeks to redden once again.
“Not anyone in particular?” Chris winks at Yuuri knowingly. “You are quite obvious type, Katsuki Yuuri, but to be honest almost the whole class has at least a thing for him.”
“No lie about that.” Phichit lets out a chuckle, it seemed like most of their classmates had tried to vie for his attention at least once so far in this semester. “He stands out in a crowd, that’s for sure. Even his writing stands out.”
“Haha, I think Chris’ poems stand out more in this case. We can tell it’s you from a mile away.” Yuuri shifts the conversation to Chris, slightly desperate to switch the topic away from the object of affections. Yuuri needed to find a way out of this conversation now.
Yuuri gives a friendly smile to Chris to which Chris answers with a hearty laugh.
“Thank you, Yuuri.”
“Especially since the wonders of the human body seems to be your niche topic anyway.”
“But Yuuri, I know for a fact that it’s not only me who sings praises about the beauty of the human body.” Chris punctuates his point with a good slap on Yuuri’s butt, Yuuri yelping in surprise before he points to one of the poems with a flourish.
I’ve never seen a figure
Beautiful enough
To steal all my words
In just one look
That is
Until a day had come
Where one innocent glimpse
Made me a slave to your gaze
A celebrant of your thighs
And a disciple to your touch
On that fated day
I understood,
Fathomed,
And realized:
I was converted to the religion of you
And that there were no holds barred
When I transcended to a heaven filled with you
And only you.
“Well that was…” Phichit was still trying to absorb what was written.
“Looks like a certain someone is into body worship.” Chris quips amusedly.
“I guess it’s only to be expected since Viktor falls in two extremes, numerous compliments or copious amounts of blunt critique.” Phichit muses. “At this point, we can all call him the Pablo Neruda of pining.”
Amidst all this, Yuuri was just speechless. The poem was full adoration but it was also filled with eros to the brim.
“Someone had already asked Viktor about his poems, you know?” Chris breaks Yuuri from his thoughts. Most of the class had been speculating whether or not Vikor was actually dedicating his writing to someone. It looks like someone just couldn’t resist their curiosity.
“Wow, someone had the guts to ask that!?” Phichit was pleasantly surprised with Chris’ news. “What did he say though?”
“He said he was definitely writing it about someone who has caught his eye.”
“Oooh.” Phichit shuffled closer to their friend, wanting in on the gossip as much as possible. “Did he say who?”
“No, but he said the person would know if it was them he wrote about.” Chris stated with a wink.
“The person would know?” Yuuri started to read the poem again, his eyes catching on to three certain consecutive lines. There had been something awfully familiar about them, and Yuuri couldn’t help but recall a certain event from earlier in the day.
“Yuuri, you have a really nice body though? In fact, I’m really jealous of your eyes, hands, and thighs —“
By some stroke of luck, Yuuri had bumped into Viktor on his way to meeting up with Phichit for lunch. From a simple greeting, one question led to another and to another, placing them into a full blown conversation about anything and everything.
Then it came to food and Yuuri ended up talking about his diet, complaining about how no matter how he ate or exercised, some of his chub stubbornly still won’t go away. To his surprise, Viktor was very approving of his chub.
“S-stop! I get it but Viktor, you are already so good-looking?” Yuuri’s own words brought a tinge of deep red to his own cheeks. “I-I mean you have no reason to be jealous of me. I’m just mediocre, that’s all.”
“Mediocre!? Yuuri, you are anything but that. Trust me.” Viktor was aghast at how Yuuri described himself so he proceeded to tell Yuuri exactly how he saw him. “And the same thing goes to your writing. I could say every aspect of you is far from mediocre, Yuuri.”
Yuuri shakes the memory off his thoughts. He was just assuming things after all. It could literally be about anyone depending on Viktor’s preference.
“Is there something up, Yuuri?” Chris taps him on the butt. “Or were you just daydreaming about Viktor?”
“Chris!” Chris only laughed at Yuuri’s indignation.
“Nothing wrong with that.” Chris’ friendly smile did nothing to betray his implications. “Even a man of my level couldn’t resist either.”
Yuuri groans into his hands in embarrassment.
Those rich amber hues,
Tinted red with flecks of gold
Sparks eager to call me forth
It was in your gaze
That I realized
What my existence was for
The short poem was entitled Love and Life, title written in neat handwriting.
“Looks like Viktor really has it bad.” Phichit snaps a photo of the poem, and another of Yuuri just staring blankly into it. “He’s written more than 10 poems about his crush. That, my friend, is what you call dedication.”
It’s been weeks, and each poem Viktor puts up seems more eerily familiar than the last.
“Yuuri, your eyes sparkle when you’re thinking.” Viktor’s lips form into literal hearty smile.
Yuuri tries his best not to think of his encounters with Viktor but it’s proving to be Sisyphean effort especially with how Viktor’s words always seemed to be related or even similar to the stanzas he wrote. He tries to erase those nagging what ifs in his head. However, the more he stops himself from thinking about it, the more he does.
And the more he does think about it, the more he’s starting to really believe that Viktor does like him back.
“Yuuri…” Phichit speaks, tone uncertain and cautious. “What if Viktor really is dedicating all these to you? It really feels like it is about you. I can’t think of anyone else who’d fit Viktor’s descriptions.”
“It can’t be me, Phichit.” Yuuri doesn’t want to hope. No matter how friendly Viktor was with him, there would still be little chance that he did like him back. But that’s just it, chances are slim. Yuuri is totally at disadvantage in their little playing field.
“But Yuuuuri, it could only be you.” Bless Phichit and his unending supply of positivity. Right now though, Yuuri has to shove it away lest he allow himself to be excited at the fact that Viktor-I-am-your-dream-man-Nikiforov might actually like him.
Yuuri will do everything to stop himself from dissolving into a school girl with a crush on the oh-so-hot teacher (or teaching assistant in this case).
“No, Phichit. We’ve been over this.”
Even if he has to block out Phichit’s truer than true words from entering his head.
“If you’ve only seen how much Viktor stares at you and pays attention to you.” Phichit continues, his hands planting themselves on Yuuri’s shoulders, prepared to shake into his best friend the facts.
“He literally hovers over you whenever you work. I don’t think that’s just him doing his job Yuuri.” Too close for comfort Yuuri would like to add. But then, the enticing scent of Viktor’s perfume only serves to draw him in closer towards comfort.
“Couple that with the fact that in every encounter with him that you’ve told me, his words are downright similar. It’s almost blatantly about you from how I see it.” Phichit shook his friend’s shoulders, eager to get his point across.
“I know, Phichit.” Yuuri admits quietly, his voice almost silent. “I just…”
“You’re not ready for it?” Phichit completes for his friend, an understanding look was etched on his face.
“Something like that. I just can’t wrap my head around it yet?” Yuuri tries to explain. “And besides, there is still the possibility we’re seeing this wrong after all. It’s really starting to get stressful. I feel like I’m dancing around something whenever I’m with Viktor. Sometimes…I just want it to stop and just find out the truth. It’s still scary for me though.”
It may all be just harmless friendliness in the end, and even if the feelings were mutual, they still wouldn’t be allowed to date. That is, as long as Viktor remains to be TA in his class.
“It’ll be okay, Yuuri.” Phichit smiles sadly at his friend. Yuuri knew how much Phichit rooted for him to be Viktor’s crush and seeing him standing by him still warms his heart. “And Yuuri, if you ever decide to confess to Viktor, I’ll be right beside you, whether if it’ll be good or bad.”
“Thanks, Phichit.”
It hadn’t been that good of a day for Yuuri.
For one, he almost skipped his first period class since he had overslept with no Phichit (who was busy doing something for his extra-curriculars) to remind him that ‘Hey, you’re going to miss your test, get your ass out of bed!’
Second, he had bumped into Dean Baranovskaya on the way to his next class, spilling hot tea all over her skirt.
And lastly, he had lost his phone in the midst of the chaos that was this morning.
Yuuri was convinced that he had probably angered the universe by doing who knows what.
It was break time now, and he had to find his phone and Phichit. He hopes to find the former before the break ends.
“Yuuri!”
A familiar voice calls him from the far end of the corridor. Yuuri felt himself smile, knowing who exactly that voice belongs to. His heart fluttered inside his chest in excitement.
‘No, no. Damn you, Yuuri. You should be looking everywhere for your phone not mooning over your schoolgirl crush.’ Yuuri berates himself in his head. His heart betrays him every single time he comes into contact with the attractive TA, and Yuuri can’t help but feel the intense want of hitting himself upside in the head for letting himself wallow in his feelings.
‘Breathe in, breathe out. Act natural and as soon as he’s done talking to you search for your phone!’
Yuuri turns around and is greeted by the sight of Viktor Nikiforov, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, pants as tight as they can be, hair in slight disarray, grinning as soon as Yuuri’s face came into view.
“Viktor, nice to see you.” Yuuri greets politely.
“I was just looking for you.” Viktor smiled. And oh, Yuuri could feel his heart beat loudly in his chest. His heart never failed to remind exactly how Viktor’s mere presence makes him feel. Any miniscule thing Viktor did always managed to makes his heart beat crazy.
“What is it, Viktor?” Yuuri asks, eyes widening in curiosity. As far as Yuuri knows, they didn’t have a class today so running into Viktor on this day was out of the blue.
“Open your hand.” Viktor says simply and Yuuri still manages to feel himself turn giddy.
‘Curse my feelings. Curse myself for falling for Viktor Nikiforov. Curse this thirst.’
“Ok?” Yuuri opens his palm gingerly.
“Now close your eyes.”
“Alright?”
Yuuri hears the rustling of fabric and an adorable ‘A-ha!’ .This man never ceases to surprise Yuuri with how he is. No wonder he finds himself falling for him over and over again.
He suddenly feels a familiar weight settling on his palm along with the subtle brush of Viktor’s fingertips against skin. Yuuri felt his cheeks heat up at the contact. He allows himself to feel the object in his palm, finding it to be smooth and very familiar.
“Now, open your eyes.”
Yuuri opens his eyes and finds that his poodle covered phone is now back in his hands.
“Viktor, how did you—?” Yuuri starts sputtering, grateful and surprised all at the same time.
“It just so happened that my class was right after yours so…” Viktor’s eyes were gleaming, his cheeks tinted with a light shade of pink. “As soon as I saw it, I knew it was yours and I had to make sure it gets back to you safely.”
(Yuuri’s thirsty self doesn’t fail to notice that faint stubble on Viktor’s cheeks.)
Without thinking, Yuuri flings himself to Viktor, wrapping his arms around his waist.
“Thank you so much.”
(Yuuri’s thirsty self takes note of Viktor’s build beneath his clothes, the way warmth radiates through his skin, and the way his arms wrap around Yuuri after a moment of surprise.)
After a few seconds, Yuuri manages to come back to his senses, pushing away from Viktor in self shock, face heating up more than he could have imagined.
“A-ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to— I’m so sorry. You can put a restraining order on me. I’m so sorry. That was out of line for me. I understand if— “ Yuuri starts to talk a mile per second, words blurring against each other as he spoke, hands moving about complementing his words.
“Yuuri, Yuuri.” Viktor places a hand on Yuuri’s shoulder in an attempt to calm him down and catch his attention. “It’s fine. No harm done.”
“But…”
“You were just really relieved your phone is in one piece.” Viktor reasons for him lightly, trying to console Yuuri as gently as possible. “I assume you’ve been looking for it for hours now. Honestly, I would’ve done the same to anyone who found my phone in such a situation.”
“Viktor…” Yuuri was dumbstruck. Viktor was so kind to him. He just couldn’t believe his luck. Yuuri couldn’t help but let out a relieved smile. “Thank you.”
“Anytime, Yuuri.” Viktor smiles back. “If you need anything, even after this semester, don’t be shy and come to me, alright? I really hope to see you around more, Yuuri.”
Yuuri felt his heart clench at Viktor’s words as if there was a deeper meaning Viktor had purposely implied.
‘There is something, right?’
“I hope to see you too, Viktor.” Yuuri could see Viktor’s eyes sparkle in delight, a heart shaped smile matching the way his eyes glinted under the light.
And with that, Viktor leaves with wave of his hand before heading back to his class.
If Yuuri had looked closely, he would see red spreading from Viktor’s cheeks to the tips of his ears.
It was already the end of finals week, and the last week of Celestino’s assigned activity.
And so Yuuri and Phichit had stayed back in the room, reminiscing everything that had happened the past semester while looking over the last batches of poems posted on the bulletin board.
After reading all his classmates’ work, Yuuri now stood in front of Viktor’s last piece, his heart beating in anticipation and nervousness.
‘I wish to meet with you once more
Even if it is only within my dreams
To feel your warmth against my skin
Even if it is just my mere imagination
To wrap you safely inside my arms
Even if it is only my mind’s act of desperation
Please let me meet you once more
Show you, touch you, love you
Allow me to be with you evermore
‘KY’
By Viktor Nikiforov’
“I hope to see you around more, Yuuri.”
“He…he really meant it.” Yuuri spoke breathless. All the pieces which he had hidden meticulously falling together to form a puzzle, a puzzle Yuuri no longer has to think of from this point on.
“And I guess that would be your ‘go’ signal.” Phichit was grinning ear to ear, ecstatic for his friend.
“Call him out, Yuuri.”
Yuuri proceeds to write in haste.
His words were strung together in beautiful lines
They threaded together and wrapped me in their brilliance
Painting me in colors befitting of his precious muse
I am certain he realizes it
I am positive he knows
All these words had already served their purpose
It was time to end this prose
So let us stop this yearning in poetry
Release this honesty hiding in metaphors
Come together if we so choose
And, even if it is just this once
Let me be your honest muse
Yuuri had written his number at the back of his poem along with a time and place to meet.
Under the trees near the university plaza, Yuuri waited for Viktor, checking the time on his phone repeatedly whilst surveying the area, looking for a striking blob of silver amidst the students walking about.
“Yuuri!”
Yuuri feels a wave of euphoria, relief and excitement all at the same time.
“Viktor!”
For a while, they just stood there staring at each other from a distance. Yuuri could feel the want of holding Viktor close creep inside him, the sensation shouting at him to run over to Viktor and wrap him in his arms.
Yuuri, allows himself to take a hesitant step forward. One step is then followed by another and another until the distance between them had dissipated into a mere few inches.
Up close, Viktor looked just as breathless as Yuuri was. The beautiful tint of pink bloomed prettily on his cheeks. His sea blue eyes stared into Yuuri’s, and Yuuri could almost see different colors reflected from just the shine in Viktor’s eyes. This close, Yuuri could truly appreciate the shape of Viktor’s smile, the endearing heart stretching his lips along with the way his eyes seemed to gleam more just from the way he smiled.
Even that tiny crinkle under his eyes was endearing.
“I-I’m so happy you came.” Yuuri struggled to speak, still in awe (and denial) that all of this happening. He feels as if he was suspended in a dream but with the way Viktor’s warmth spread through him as Viktor’s hand took his hand into his, Yuuri allowed himself to really believe everything was real.
“Me too.” Viktor brings Yuuri’s hand to his lips, pressing a gentle kiss against his knuckles, allowing himself to smile against the soft skin of Yuuri’s hand. “You’re my muse, after all.”
Viktor and Yuuri felt time stop as they gazed into each other’s eyes, smiles adorning their faces along with faint blushes on their cheeks.
“So, will you go out with me?”
“Yes, I’d love to!”
Later that day, after Viktor dropped Yuuri off at the dorm after their impromptu date, Yuuri arrives to his best friend sitting cross-legged and sipping tea.
“So Yuuri…”
“Yes, Phichit?”
“My bubbletea?”