Chapter Text
“Say, Yuuri… earlier today at the rink, was that your first kiss?”
Yuuri’s eyes crack open and sneak a glance at his and Viktor’s intertwined fingers. He had been falling asleep leading up to that moment. But after such a question, he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep his eyes closed for a while.
“Yuuri? I saw you open your eyes; I know you’re awake,” Viktor chuckles, pushing apart the blankets between them to stroke his new lover’s arm.
With a sigh, Yuuri obliged his question. “No… I had a kiss before that one. A few, actually.” Yuuri’s eyes dart to the ceiling in recollection.
“Oh, is that so?” A mischievous smile graces Viktor’s sleepy face. “Please, do tell me about this past lover of yours.”
“No, no! Not a past lover,” Yuuri laughs, finally allowing his eyes to connect with Viktor’s. He gazes into them, the swirling blues and greens melding in a way that is distinctly his. In the back of his mind, he remembers eyes that are almond shaped and the color of coffee beans.
After a moment of contemplation, he continues, “I’d tell you more, but… well, what happens in Detroit, stays in Detroit.”
Viktor hums in contentment, deciding to respect Yuuri’s wishes for once. Perhaps he was doing so because he didn’t want to divulge his own quests of sexual conquest, or maybe he was too tired to press further. Either way, Yuuri was grateful.
As conversation between them faded, the new happy couple soon eased into sleep, fingers and hearts intertwined.
Detroit
With a heavy sigh and the slam of a door, Yuuri collapsed onto the floor in the hallway of his apartment. He was surrounded by snow that he tracked in from outside and his muscles ached to the core from practicing later than any other figure skater in the Detroit Skating Club. Finally, he could get some peace and quiet away from screeching coaches and blaring program music.
Clang! Bang!
The noise of something being dropped rang out from the direction of the kitchen, and Yuuri couldn’t help but heave another sigh. If his roommate was home, there was little to no chance of him achieving peace any time soon.
“Yuuri, is that you?” An accented, tenor voice called from what Yuuri still assumed was the kitchen. He breathed a third sigh.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like his new roommate- don’t get him wrong. He was just… a lot. All of the time. Always cheerful, bright, spontaneous- all qualities Yuuri could handle in small quantities, but took some getting used to living with on a daily basis. It had only been a week, and this whole living outside of Japan thing was taking a toll on him. He had figured that living with a roommate from his own side of the planet might’ve made the experience a little more bearable, but alas, he seemed to have been mistaken thus far.
“Yuuri?” This time, the voice was a little more insistent, like a finger prodding his side.
“Yes, it’s me,” Yuuri felt a bit guilty for letting a hint of irritability seep into his tone, “I’ll be over in a moment.”
After dragging himself off of the snow-soaked carpet, Yuuri trudged down the narrow hallway to the kitchen where he was met with the exuberant smile of his roommate, somehow unfazed by his own long day of training.
“Phichit,” Yuuri began, looking over him from head to toe, “you’re covered in sauce.” His lips quirked up at the corners.
“Thanks for the memo, captain obvious,” he said, meanwhile thumbing at the liquid dripping from his chin.
His earlier fatigue and slight contempt for his roommate forgotten in the moment, Yuuri asked, “So, what occasion called for a sauce-covered Phichit?”
“I was trying to cook us some Pad Thai for dinner, actually,” Phichit continued, wiping at the sauce from his face with a grimace, “being that it’s Friday and you stayed at the rink late, I figured I’d whip up something nice for the both of us.”
Oh. Yuuri felt an uncomfortable heat in his chest as he remembered back to the harsh tone he’d used with Phichit upon arrival.
“T-thank you, then.” His shoulders stiffened as Phichit inched closer to him with a saucepan full of, well, sauce. Except the sauce wasn’t just contained in the pan, as formerly mentioned, but rather covering Phichit. And Yuuri didn’t want it anywhere near, or god forbid on him. “I’m sorry for coming ho- um, back to the apartment so late. Is there anything I can do to help?”
Yuuri cursed silently, chastising himself for almost calling this cramped apartment home. Home was back in Hasetsu; he was only here to further his skating skills and studies… nothing more.
“Well, since you offered,” a cheshire grin formed on Phichit’s face, “as you can see, I’ve gotten this fish sauce all over the kitchen. Would you mind cleaning it up, please?”
“I suppose it’s the least that I can do,” Yuuri sighed, not ecstatic to be touching the sauce that he just cringed away from moments ago. “I doubt I’ll be able to cook whatever it is you’re making, so that’ll have to do.”
“Pad Thai.”
“Huh?” Yuuri glanced back at a saucy Phichit to see him grinning for some god-forsaken reason.
“I said I’m making Pad Thai. After you’re finished cleaning, would you like me to teach you how to make it?” The mischievous glint in his eyes had been replaced with an earnest one.
“Oh, um, s-sure. Thanks, I guess.” Yuuri directed his gaze to the outdated tile floor, a soft smile embracing his features. He still wasn’t used to Phichit’s limitless kindness, or his willingness to teach Yuuri about anything and everything. Not that that was a bad thing, he supposed.
“And Yuuri,” Phichit cut into Yuuri’s introspection, “You can call this place home. We’ll be here for a while, so you might as well, yeah?” With that, Phichit offered a saccharine smile, then turned to fiddle with the temperature knob on the stove.
Moving to grab a sponge and a bottle of soap, Yuuri thought to himself with a smile that maybe getting used to living with Phichit wouldn’t take as much effort as he had originally imagined.
“Well, that was messier than expected,” Phichit chuckled, placing the pan of finished Pad Thai on the dining room table.
“I mean, I’ve never tried cooking Thai food before. And I guess I can be a little clumsy… so I’m not too surprised,” Yuuri said with an amused grin, looking down at his stained practice clothes as he did so. Like his roommate, in the end Yuuri ended up wearing as many of the ingredients in the Pad Thai as Phichit, if not more.
“Ha, I see what you mean by clumsy in the kitchen,” Yuuri replied with a half-hearted huff, rolling his eyes as Phichit went on, “but I don’t think that’s true for what you do on ice. I haven’t known you for long, but whenever I see you skating, I can’t take my eyes off of you, Yuuri.” As he said this, Phichit’s eyes were locked on Yuuri’s. They held a passionate warmth in them, and Yuuri felt his face warming just at the thought of it.
Said skater stumbled and blushed, never one to receive a compliment well. “A-ah, thank you, Phichit…”
“You’re very welcome. Now, shall we eat?” With a nod from Yuuri, Phichit moved to grab a portion of Pad Thai from the pan with a serving spoon.
As Phichit ate, Yuuri clasped his hands together and mumbled a rushed “itadakimasu” before picking up his own spoon to eat.
As Yuuri was about to lift a bite of food to his mouth, he looked up to see that Phichit had stopped eating, his brows scrunched in confusion.
“What was that about?” Phichit asked, genuinely curious.
“Oh… um, it’s a Japanese custom. It’s a way that we give thanks for our food.” Yuuri gave an awkward smile, almost embarrassed that Phichit discovered his habit.
“How did you say it again?”
“Itadakimasu.”
With a mouth full of food and a silly grin, Phichit yelled, “Itadakimasu!” and shoveled food into his mouth at a faster rate than before.
“We usually say it before meals, not halfway through. And you didn’t have to say it just because I did, you know,” Yuuri chuckled before twirling a few noodles around his spoon.
When Phichit’s mouth was no longer full, he responded with an air of seriousness, “I did it because I wanted to. Because I want to teach you about my culture, and I want to learn about yours.”
“Oh, that’s… nice of you.” Yuuri wasn’t quite so sure how to respond. Aside from Yuuko and possibly Takeshi on a good day, he was rather lacking in the friends department. He wasn’t quite sure how to go about befriending anyone, really- but Phichit seemed intent on trying.
“Of course. And that’s why I taught you how to cook Pad Thai, yeah? I mean, that and the fact that we’ve lived together for a week or so and haven’t done anything together yet…”
A wave of guilt washed over Yuuri. Phichit was absolutely right- since he came to America, all he’d done was practice, eat, study, and sleep. He barely acknowledged Phichit beyond greetings and short conversations until now. Had Phichit tried to do anything like this with him before? He couldn’t even remember.
“I’m… sorry,” Yuuri began, hanging his head low, “You’re right, we’ve barely done anything aside from going to the rink together.”
“I’ve got an idea of how we can fix that.”
“Yeah?” Yuuri perked up a bit, ready to do just about anything to cheer up his roommate, who was turning out to be a pretty nice guy now that they were holding a full-fledged conversation.
“How about we do something like this every Friday after practice. You know, something fun… it doesn’t have to be anything big, like tonight- we could cook dinner, or just get takeout and watch a movie. Sound good?”
“I think that sounds perfect.” And honestly, it did seem that way. After a week of studying and practicing, a low key Friday night of good food and movies with a friend sounded like a great way to unwind.
“It’s a deal then!” Phichit grinned, then proceeded to scoop another helping of Pad Thai onto his plate.
Unbeknownst to either man, it was going to be a wild few years of wild Friday nights… in more way than one.