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"You're totally dating him."
"What are you talking about?"
Phichit gives him a Look and Yuuri rolls his eyes.
"You know who I'm talking about."
Yuuri ignores him, trying to focus on his homework.
"Yuuri, come on."
"I'm not dating him."
"So, you know who I'm talking about?"
Yuuri doesn't have to look up to hear the grin in the other's voice. He sighs miserably because his best friend is being annoying and he's just trying to study.
"I'm not dating anybody so… naturally, I'm not dating whoever you're talking about."
"Yuuri, you can't be s—"
Yuuri stops listening when he hears his phone go off. His hands rush to pick it up. It's Victor. Yuuri smiles down at it.
He types out a quick reply to Victor's message, adding some heart emojis at the end.
Phichit is leaning over his shoulder and scoffs.
"I can't believe this."
"Victor is picking me up, you don't need to take me home," is all Yuuri says in response.
"I hate you."
"Also, I'm going to ask Victor, but do you want to eat with us tomorrow?"
"You. Are. Dating. Him."
Yuuri ignores him, blushing when he sees that Victor texted him again.
Phichit groans.
He met Victor just this year. It was a casual greeting. He's the friend of Yuuri's friend and happened to tag along to Yuuri's club meeting. Yuuri had perked up at the prospect of having a new member and secretly, although he would never tell anybody this, he thought the other was cute and he most definitely wanted to know more about him.
Unfortunately, Victor told him that he had reached his club limit. Yuuri had been disappointed, but it wasn’t like he'd try and force Victor.
Fortunately, the next week, Victor came into the next meeting and said he dropped out of the other club and wanted to join Yuuri's.
Yuuri still doesn't know why or what happened, but he didn't want to pry at the time and doesn't see the use of bringing it up now.
Their friendship started off gentle and yet still somehow so loud. There were quick, fast-paced conversations and there was the slow humming of their favorite songs on nights so dark.
Yuuri had never connected with somebody like he had with Victor and when Victor admitted the same to him just a few days later, Yuuri wondered if he had found his soulmate.
Platonic soulmate. Of course.
(He always ignores the surge of disappointment that he feels when he remembers that word. Platonic. Always platonic.)
But Victor never asked for anything more and Yuuri was too terrified of losing his friendship with him to say anything else.
But it was nice. It was nice when they would hold hands when watching a movie or purposefully seek out the other to lean his head on the other's shoulder. It was nice. Being around Victor and hearing Victor's laugh and seeing Victor's smile and knowing that he caused that and it was so so so nice.
"What do you want to watch?"
Yuuri buries his face in Victor's side. They're laid out on Yuuri's couch and Yuuri is sleepy, but he doesn't want Victor to go home and he's too afraid to ask him to stay.
"Whatever you want," he finally replies.
Victor's hand comes up to rest in his hair and his laugh is loud and makes Yuuri's body shake along with him.
"I don't know what to watch though. It's why I asked you."
Yuuri hears the pout in Victor's tone and smiles against his chest. He finally pulls back and sighs.
"You're so dramatic," he sighs, ignoring Victor's gasp. "Just put on any movie."
Victor laughs again, but he listens to Yuuri anyway.
Yuuri doesn't even look at the screen.
Victor isn't looking at the screen either.
"We're not even watching the movie," Victor finally whispers a minute later, making Yuuri giggle.
"Who cares. Now cuddle me."
"Of course, Your Highness."
Unfortunately, when Yuuri brought Victor home to meet his parents for the first time all those months ago, they had thought they were dating.
"Oh, is this the Victor that's stolen our Yuuri's heart?!" was the first thing out of his mother's mouth, leaving Yuuri absolutely mortified.
Victor had looked endlessly amused and to Yuuri's mortal horror, he joked that he was, but tacking on a "but platonically" at the end of it.
The night had been sweet, soft touches every now and then because Yuuri liked knowing, liked reminding the dumb part of his brain that Victor was right here with him. Victor loved it just as much as Yuuri did.
Finally, when the dinner had finished and the long two-hour discussion had ended, Victor left with a bright smile.
Even more unfortunately, however, was after Victor had left, they thought that Yuuri and Victor were completely in love with each other and were "bound to start dating sooner or later."
That teasing still hasn't stopped.
Even all these months later.
One day, Yuuri accidentally cuts his knee when he chases after Victor in Victor's backyard. His fall had been embarrassing and Yuuri half-expected Victor to laugh at him, but when he looked up, he realized that Victor was right there right there right there and so close, looking absolutely horrified and completely concerned.
"You're bleeding," is all Victor says before reaching down and picking Yuuri up to take him back inside.
Yuuri makes a fuss of course because what, "you're overreacting," but Victor doesn't say a word and Yuuri watches as his lips purse together.
Victor sets him down on a kitchen chair before bounding off and coming back not even thirty seconds later with the medical supplies.
Yuuri tries to complain, but Victor looks so serious and so concerned that he eventually shuts up, letting Victor have this.
Victor cleans him up, muttering something about how he hopes there won't be an infection and how this was all his fault if he "hadn't dared Yuuri to catch him." Finally, after delicately placing a bandage on Yuuri's knee, Victor releases a deep sigh and looks up at Yuuri.
"Are you okay?"
"This isn't your fault, Victor. It's just a dumb cut. It's okay. Please don't blame yourself for something so small."
Victor bites his inner cheek, but nods nonetheless. "Are you okay though?"
Yuuri smiles softly, nodding. "Yes. I'm okay."
Victor's smile is blinding.
Apparently, Victor and Yuuri's orchestra teacher also thought they were dating. They both realize this when, one day, he calls them out for sending silly looks at each other across the room by saying, "I know you two are dating and trust me, we all think you are very cute, but please, for the sake of our performance, pay attention."
Yuuri is so embarrassed he almost drops his violin and for the rest of the lesson he doesn't dare meet Victor's gaze.
There were whispers later on that day that Victor had looked proud, but Yuuri doesn't understand at all why he would be proud of making their orchestra teacher think they were dating so he doesn't believe them.
They're just rumors, of course.
"Do you want to go out with me, Yuuri?" asks Victor, his hushed tone making Yuuri jump.
Yuuri had been in the middle of painting a piece for his art project, but Victor had come in a couple minutes ago and declared that he was there to bother him.
Yuuri doesn't miss a beat though, after getting over the general shock of hearing Victor talk suddenly.
"Of course. Where to?"
He thinks he'll paint the leaves next….
"No." Victor sounds mildly amused, but it's his frustration that makes Yuuri look up, his paintbrush still on the canvas.
Yuuri frowns. "What's wrong?"
Victor gives him a tight smile. "No… I meant… I meant do you want to go out… with me? As in. On a date. Dating. As in, do you want to date me… maybe?"
His paintbrush moves before he can help it and Yuuri gapes at Victor and then at his piece and then back at Victor.
He just ruined his piece, the large green line of paint that's now covering nearly every important aspect of the piece.
"Oh," is what he finally says.
Victor looks pained. "Oh?"
Yuuri blinks at him, looking back, once again, at his ruined art project.
"I just ruined my art project."
Victor's eyes widen and he looks at the canvas too. He looks guilty. "Oh. I'm so sorry."
Yuuri shakes his head, still beyond confused and scared to even think about the possibility of dating Victor.
"It's okay. I can fix it. It's okay."
"Okay."
A silence stretches between the two of them and Victor watches as Yuuri gently places his paintbrush down and goes to sit down next to him.
Finally, Yuuri speaks up.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
Yuuri gulps and looks away. "Why do you want to date me? I thought… I thought we were just friends."
Victor looks heartbroken when Yuuri dares to look back at him and Yuuri vaguely wonders why.
"I… I, well, I… I like you. A lot. Maybe even love. Love you. Yes."
Yuuri gapes at him.
Victor bites his lip but doesn't look away. "I'm guessing my feelings aren't returned? I'm… I'm really sorry, Yuuri. Please… just ignore me. It's okay, I'll—"
"I'm in love with you," Yuuri says before Victor can say more. Victor looks shocked, but happy, so so happy. Yuuri keeps talking. "I've been in love with you for months. I just… I just really really like you so much. I love you so much. You're so… yeah. Yes."
"Yes?"
"Yes, I want to go on a date with you. I want to date you. Let's date."
Victor grins at him, pulling him into a hug so tight and Yuuri just presses his cheek against his chest and sighs.
Before was nice.
But this was even nicer.
"I'm eating dinner with Victor tonight. I'm sorry, Phichit. How about tomorrow?"
Phichit sighs, rolling his eyes. "How much longer?" he bemoans.
Yuuri looks at him, amused.
"How much longer what?"
Phichit doesn't even meet his gaze, focused on his phone suddenly.
"I'm texting Victor right now," Phichit warns. "I'm going to tell him he needs to just ask you out already." He sighs dramatically.
Yuuri suddenly understands what Phichit is referring to and he grins.
"Well, actually—"
Phichit's phone goes off and Phichit reads it, expression transforming as he does. He looks up at Yuuri with wide eyes.
"Um… Yuuri? Why did Victor just text me and say that—"
"I'm dating Victor."
Phichit gapes at him. "Wait, wha—"
Yuuri laughs, checking his watch.
"I have to go. Victor's picking me up."
"Wait, no, wait… wha—"
"Bye, Phichit! Text me about tomorrow!"
Yuuri bounds rushes off quickly, but not before hearing Phichit's loud, "I can't believe this!" echo in the room.
He laughs because Phichit's finally right.
He's totally dating Victor.