Chapter Text
Snap! Snap!
“Alright! That looks good for now! Sorry, Yuri!” called Phichit as he ran up to his friend and roommate who was patiently waiting. He quickly placed the camera back in its bag while Yuri readjusted his own bag on his shoulder.
“It’s okay. I know the deadline for your project is coming soon. We have time before the party starts anyway.”
The two smiled at each other and continued heading towards the art building while discussing their days. Although they lived with each other, with the end of the semester nearing, both were drowning in work and communication between the two was minimal at best. They were fine with focusing on what they had to do, but sometimes, you just need to spend some time with your best friend.
“So what do you think they’ll have there, Yuri? I hope there’s a lot of chocolate! I’ve been craving something chocolatey,” exclaimed Phichit with a smile and a skip in his step.
“You’re always craving chocolate,” chuckled Yuri in response.
At the end of each semester, the art department holds a small party for all of the graduating students. There weren’t as many students graduating at the end of the fall semester, but that didn’t mean the event would lack in guests. While it’s meant to be a small send-off for the upcoming graduates, the party was open to all of the art majors and minors for it served as a nice break from the chaos that comes with the end of a semester and was a good way for students to meet and talk to professors in a casual setting.
When they arrived at the lounge on the third floor, a good number of students and professors were already milling about and grabbing goods. The two friends decided to set their belongings down before heading over to the tables to get their share of treats.
Phichit immediately stuffed a chocolate chip scone into his mouth and proceeded to place another onto his plate causing Yuri to laugh. Yuri, however, gravitated towards the small cups of pudding near the end of the table instead.
With food in hand, the two conversed amicably with some other students. Yuri noticed Yuri Plisetsky talking to Professor Feltsman in the corner. He couldn’t help but stare in awe at the younger student who was believed to have gotten to university on a full scholarship. His eyes moved over to focus on others around the room as well. He smiled at Chris and JJ animatedly discussing something. Guang-Hong and Leo were having a much quieter conversation on one of the couches.
It was then that Yuri noticed a man with silver hair who was unknown to Yuri. He overheard someone call him professor and Yuri made a confused face at this. The art department wasn’t all that big and Yuri took pride in the fact that he was able to recognize the professors even if he hadn’t had the chance to speak with them personally. He wondered if any professors had left or if there was a course that needed an extra professor to maybe come up with a name he might have heard in passing. Yuri could see that the man was clearly young and attractive from his place across the room and the group of students who seemed to be hanging onto his every word added to that idea. The man he was looking at laughed at something while Yuri continued to ponder who he might be.
“Hey Yuri! How are you?”
Yuri was shaken from his thoughts by a familiar voice. He turned and smiled to his instructor for the last couple of years, Professor Okukawa.
“Oh! Professor! Sorry. I got distracted there for a moment,” said Yuri sheepishly.
“Pft! It’s alright. Everyone’s been distracted. It’s the end of the semester and we’ve all got finals and projects to be focusing on. Which brings up my next question, have you decided on submitting anything for the student exhibit in spring?”
Yuri looked at his feet and his hands unconsciously grabbed at the hem of his shirt. He gave a shrug before answering.
“Maybe? I, uh, I don’t know yet.”
“Come on, Yuri! You should submit something! Your work is good! I’m sure it’ll get accepted!”
“Yeah. I know. It’s just, um, I don’t have any pieces I’d care to submit just yet, ya know?”
Professor Okukawa gave a sigh before responding to her reluctant former student.
“Alright. I understand, but remember that the deadline is in March. That might seem far, but it’ll go by in a wink, if you’re not paying attention.”
“Thanks, professor. I’ll keep that in mind.” responded Yuri with a small smile. Professor Okukawa smiled back and patted his shoulder before going to talk to another student.
Feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything, Yuri figured now would be a good time for him and Phichit to leave. Both of them had plenty of work that they needed to finish anyway. With a quick nod to each other, the two got their things and heading towards the lift. As they waited, Yuri noticed Phichit with another chocolate chip scone and decided to head back and grab an extra cup of pudding since they were still waiting. However, Yuri seemed to have run into a minor problem.
In front of the pudding was the silver haired professor and a group of students who were effectively blocking Yuri’s path around the table. The other end of the table was blocked by another group conversing as well. He couldn’t exactly slip behind the unknown professor to reach for a cup since Professor Baranovskaya was behind him. Yuri wasn’t exactly one for confrontation, so he internally debated whether or not the pudding would be worth it. He didn’t actually know Professor Baranovskaya, so he didn’t want to just ask her to move. Besides, he had heard she was one of the stricter professors and he didn’t want to get on her bad side beforehand. Yuri didn’t expect to run into this much trouble over a cup of pudding.
During his brief moment of deliberation, an opportunity arose for Yuri. Professor Baranovskaya took a few steps forward which created a small gap for Yuri to potentially slip into. The space wasn’t that large, but Yuri figured it would be enough for him to reach in, grab a cup, and leave. He quickly shimmied towards the table and reached for the dessert, but realized it was just a bit short. Yuri leaned forward a bit more and that’s when it happened.
Yuri had overestimated how big the gap was and when he reached that extra bit forward, he ended up bumping into the attractive professor. Yuri’s eyes widened and he gave a small squeak at what he had just done.
“Oh!”
The attractive professor turned his head to see who had bumped into him. Yuri couldn’t hide his mortification at the fact that he had just pushed someone out of the way for a cup of pudding.
“Sorry! Am I in your way?” inquired the professor, but Yuri hadn’t heard a single thing since he shouted a quick apology and was already sprinting back towards the lift. His sudden disappearance caused the professor to tilt his head in an inquisitive manner.
To say Phichit was confused was an understatement, especially since his best friend just frantically ran up to him while yelling at him to push the button to the lift already and the proceeded to just shove him inside. Once in the lift, Phichit tentatively asked if Yuri was alright while taking in his frazzled state.
“I...I just…” muttered Yuri worriedly.
“You just what, Yuri?”
“I just shoved a professor out of the way for a cup of pudding…”
His response only made Phichit even more confused.
“What?”
“I just shoved a professor out of the way for a cup of pudding...and then I ran away…”
“Umm…”
“I can never face him again…”
“Yuri…”
“I just shoved a professor for a cup of pudding and then I ran away! What do I do, Phichit?!” yelled Yuri. He began to pace back and forth within the small space.
“Yuri, you’re not making any sense. You need to calm down and tell me exactly what happened.”
Taking a deep breath, Yuri began to quickly explain what happened.
“Okay. So I went back to grab a pudding cup, but I couldn’t reach because there was an unknown professor and Professor Baranovskaya were blocking them. I couldn’t go around because the tables were blocked by two different groups. I didn’t want to ask anyone to move because that’s really awkward since I don’t know who that professor was and honestly, Professor Baranovskaya kind of scares me. Anyway, I thought I got lucky because Professor Baranovskaya moved up a bit and I thought I could reach for a cup from there, but then I came up short and I tried to stretch a bit, but then I accidentally pushed the other professor out of the way. Then I panicked and ran back over there to you. Well, I apologized before running away, but anyway, that’s what happened and I don’t think I can ever face him again.”
Phichit stared at his friend and tried to absorb all of the information that was just dumped on him in that short amount of time. Yuri stared at Phichit in hopes of him having a solution to what he had just done. Their staring contest was broken at the sound of the lift signaling that they were on the ground floor again. As they began their walk home, Yuri’s distressed expression remained until Phichit finally responded to Yuri’s story in the form of a laugh. Yuri turned and gave his friend and unhappy look.
“Phichit! This isn’t funny! I just pushed a professor for a cup of pudding! Oh god. This is so embarrassing. I can’t believe I did that.”
“I’m sorry, Yuri,” said Phichit through his laughter. “I just, I know you’re really worked up about this, but you have to admit it’s kind of funny.”
At the sight of his friend laughing, Yuri thought about it and gave a sigh before responding.
“Yeah. I guess you’re right. It is pretty funny now that I think about it. It’s still really embarrassing though.”
“I know. I know. But I don’t think you need to worry about it. I’m sure whoever it was isn’t too bothered by it either. You said it was an accident and I’m sure they understood. So don’t worry about it, okay?” Phichit gave a bright smile to his friend who returned it.
“Yeah. You’re right. It was an accident. It was just accident. It’ll be okay.”
With that, the roommates began to discuss all of the work they would have to do before finals came. They might have been doing this for a while since they were both in their third year, but that didn’t make it any less stressful, but the conversation easily distracted Yuri from his previous embarrassment.