Chapter Text
“Happy Birthday Viktor!”
They all yelled and laughed at the same time, clapping happily. The little boy beamed, eying the cake placed in front of him with wide and shining eyes, surely thinking about how he was going to devour the whole thing.
He wiggled on his seat, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and was completely unable to contain his excitement at being showered with attention.
A tall woman standing behind him laughed upon noticing the look displayed on his face.
“Alright, let’s cut this cake! Who wants a slice?”
All the children screamed loud yeses, launching their arms in the air, and some even half falling off their chairs. The creamy chocolate cake was taken away from Viktor to allow his mother to cut it more easily, and the boy barely noticed since his surrounding classmates and friends had already reclaimed his attention.
“When are you gonna open your presents?” a little boy with curly blond hair and dark green eyes asked, leaning toward Viktor and half bent on the table.
Viktor’s features morphed into an exaggerated serious expression, eyes shut and eyebrows shot up.
“Oh I think we should eat the cake properly first, the presents should only be opened afterwards, this is a serious matter, Christophe you know,” he declared, his tone edging on lofty.
The boy stayed mute for a second, but then Viktor opened one eye, looking at him as a mischievous grin started creeping in on his face, and Christophe immediately relaxed bursting into laughter in the process.
The quieter dark-haired boy sitting to Viktor’s right smiled at the antics, and playfully nudged his neighbor with his arm, successfully shattering his composure and the silver-head joined in the laughter.
“But I do agree that eating cake comes first!” a loud voice boomed from the other side of the table, where a dark-haired and imposing boy was sitting on his knees propped up on the chair, and both his hands supporting his weight on the table.
“One point to Takeshi, I want to eat the cake too!” a red-head chimed in, one arm wrapped around herself on her chest, and the other pointing toward the boy sitting next to her.
Viktor rolled his eyes. “I was joking you dummies!”
The word had barely left his mouth that he received a little tap on his head, making him wince more in surprise than real pain, and looked up at his unimpressed mother. She was looking down at him, her lips thinned, a raised eyebrow that was clearly daring her son to retort.
“Language,” she finally said as she was satisfied with Viktor looking at least a little sorry.
She replaced the plate with the now cut cake in the center of the table, and looking at how dirty the looney tunes themed tablecloth was, she refrained from exhaling in relief at having put it on. She didn’t dare think in what state she would have found the glass table underneath if it wasn’t for the paper tablecloth protecting it now.
“Give me your plate kids,” she said and flinched when a dozen of paper plate surged up in front of her. “Right, let me try this again: one at a time please. Yuuri, sweetheart give me your plate,” she added, turning to the only child who hadn’t thrown his plate up.
He didn’t hide his eagerness however, and his face lit up when she handed him back the plate heavy with a generous portion. Next to him Viktor had narrowed his eyes, a pouting smirk on his face as he looked intently at Yuuri’s serving.
The boy returned the grin, and pulled his tongue out in Viktor’s direction, and they both laughed.
Soon enough, all of the kids had been served, and some had even finished their first slice, and already demanded another one.
Viktor was getting impatient though. Now that they had eaten the cake, his mind had embarked in a one-track though process. He was focused on one thing, and one thing only.
He set down his plastic fork in his now empty plate, a little louder than necessary, and shot up.
“Ok! Presents now!” he exclaimed, and the children all instinctively imitated him, screaming their approbation and rushing to get their own package wrapped in colorful glossy paper.
“Mine first Viktor!”
“Hey no, I was there first!”
“No you weren’t you liar!”
The little boy basked under the spotlight, and even if it hadn’t been his intention, he was doing a poor job at hiding it. He was beaming, and grinning so widely it almost seemed like his face would split in two. His friends were all around him, pushing their gifts towards him, forcing him to take hold of one or another, and fighting over who would be the first to give it to him.
His silver ponytail was swinging all around his head as he turned to look one side or the other, chuckling.
Leaning on the partition wall between the bright kitchen and the immense living room with her arms folded over her stomach, Viktor’s mother was observing the bouncy kids with a fond critical look. With all the playing and running around during an entire afternoon, she was amazed that they still had this much energy. At least they would sleep well tonight, and with a little luck, they’ll fall fast.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell ringing, and she peeled herself off the wall. She passed by the children still completely enwrapped in the “opening-gift” session, and went to open the door.
Behind it, was standing a smaller and chubbier woman with chestnut brown hair up in a messy bun and chocolate eyes sparkling behind thick framed glasses.
“Hi Elena!” she exclaimed with a bright smile. “Happy to see the house is still standing! I thought I would just relieve you of the burden of caring for a dozen of little monsters disguised as angels alone” she added with a cheeky tone.
Elena laughed, hugging the newcomer and stepped aside to allow her to come in.
“I must say, they’ve drained my energy! Good thing they’re all focused on gift time right now, gives me a breather,” she said with an easy smile.
Hiroko chuckled and followed Elena toward the kitchen. When they emerged in the living room, a few of the kids lifted their heads up to the two women, including Yuuri whose face immediately fell.
“Mom! What are you doing here this early?” he exclaimed in shock, his tone bordering distress.
His mother made an amused face at that, both because her son looked as if she was going to drag him to the last circle of hell, and because 6pm after spending five hours at the Nikiforov’s wasn’t exactly her definition of early in absolute terms.
“Nothing Yuu-chan, you have fun,” she waved his alarmed expression off. The little boy followed his mother with a skeptical gaze and his lips glued together in a grimace. He really didn’t want to leave now, Viktor hadn’t even opened his present yet.
Speaking of which, the silver-head had watched intently the exchange, and wasn’t exactly thrilled at the perspective of having Yuuri leave either. He threw a side-eye glance toward the boy next to him, whose hands were clenched around an awkwardly shaped red envelope adorned with a huge golden flower ribbon.
He felt curiosity bubble in the pit of his stomach at seeing Yuuri’s hands wrinkling the envelope further, and his eyes darted between the gift and Yuuri’s face.
He straightened his back a little, and took in a deep breath, knowing he’d have to speak a little loud to be heard.
“Ok! I want to open Yuuri’s present now!” he said almost petulantly.
Maybe that wasn’t the best move. Finishing with Yuuri’s present last would have made more sense to ensure Yuuri stayed as long as possible, but he couldn’t help the simmering excitement he was feeling, nor the fact that he wanted to settle Yuuri’s deflated face.
The boy’s head snapped back at his friend with a start, and blinked a couple of times, as if he couldn’t register the words. He stared at Viktor for a few moments, completely still while Viktor’s hand had extended out in his direction, and his face harbored an expectant smile.
Suddenly he seemed to realize what exactly was expected of him, and he shook his head to clear his thoughts.
“Oh,” he said quietly, clenching the envelope tighter. Viktor cocked his head to the side, unmoving his hand, and locked his eyes with Yuuri who seemed tortured between the same contradictory thoughts as Viktor: excitement and pride at seeing Viktor open his gift, and not wanting to provide his mother with a reason to leave early.
Short seconds after however, he took in a sharp breath and gulped resolutely. “Yes, sure. Here,” he said gently placing the envelope in Viktor’s hands and smiled at him. “Happy Birthday Viktor.”
The silver-head was glowing now, and his smile only grew wider – if that was possible – nodding happily before he turned the envelope around in his hands feeling something inside, and proceeded to open it.
Yuuri’s gaze was playing yo-yo between Viktor’s face and the envelope, fidgeting his nerves away by tugging on his shirt. He was very excited to see what Viktor would think about that. His gift didn’t look as big, or as dashing as many of the other packages surrounding the boy, but he couldn’t shush the voice that was whispering that his gift would be the best of all.
Because how could it not? They had been talking about it for forever !
Viktor had opened the envelope by now, slightly ripping off bits and pieces along the way, and he didn’t resist the urge of shaking it a little to try and make out what exactly had been giving the envelope the weird shape.
He must have shaken it a little too fast though, because something went flying out of it, surprising all the curious children in the room, some even screaming and giggling at the stunt.
Viktor looked utterly surprised, and his features morphed into an expression of bantering apology.
“Oops,” he said, wincing, and turned to Yuuri who was containing his laughter. Feeling reassured by the lack of anger on Yuuri’s face, a shyer smile tugged on his lips. When it looked like Yuuko had jumped at the opportunity of getting whatever had flown out, he riveted his gaze back to the envelope, and took a small rectangular card out of it.
Viktor froze. His mouth gaped open, and his eyes widened.
Yuuri couldn’t suppress the proud grin that made his lips upon seeing the reaction, and noticing Yuuko coming back, he extended his hands toward her in invitation for her to give back what she was holding.
The look on her face obviously indicated that she had figured out what the gift was and she gave Yuuri back his gift, with a grin of her own on her face.
In the meantime, Viktor seemed to have regained his ability to move, because now he was blinking madly, opening and closing his mouth every two seconds.
Yuuri chuckled, bringing the silver-head back on earth, and he looked back to Yuuri’s face with nothing but utter shock pasted on.
“You…that’s…how…” he stuttered. The words really didn’t make sense, but Yuuri understood nonetheless and he didn’t even think about repressing his very satisfied but gentle smile anymore.
“Yup,” he said, popping the ‘p’ and agitating his hand holding the precious object that had escaped earlier.
Viktor’s eyes flickered in the direction, and upon realizing what it was Yuuri was showing him, he gawked once more.
He swallowed heavily, and let go of a sharp breath. His brain wasn’t cooperating, and he had no idea what to say. He couldn’t believe it. Did Yuuri really get him what he was starting to comprehend he had gotten him? Objectively it shouldn’t have been too complicated to figure out, but Viktor was awestruck by what the little card was showing him, and by what Yuuri was holding.
“Yuuri, how did you…?” he finally settled on, looking back to Yuuri’s face. His friend was beaming at him, and there was no doubt anymore. He yelped in excitement, dropping the card and tackled Yuuri with a crashing hug.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!” he screamed, his earlier frozen stance completely evaporating in favor of an erupting energy. Yuuri let out a plaintive yelp.
“Ah! Viktor you’re crushing me!” he complained, although with a smile.
Viktor let go, but kept his hands on Yuuri’s shoulder his eyes riveted on the boy’s face. “Thank you so much! This is amazing Yuuri!”
Yuuri felt his face heating up, but didn’t look away. He pushed Viktor back gently, allowing both of them to sit back properly. He took his hand and put the object, a golden round pendant attached to a red collar, in is palm.
“Her name is Makkachin, and you can get her at the kennel whenever you want.”
Viktor looked like he was going to explode with excitement, and he crushed Yuuri into another hug, to which Yuuri didn’t protest this time, simply wrapping his arms around his friend’s back.
“You’re amazing Yuuri, thank you so much! You’re the best friend ever!” Yuuri’s cheeks flushed again, all the way to the point of his ears, and he was very glad Viktor couldn’t see it this time. He smiled anyway, happy that his gift had had the hoped reaction, and feeling all tingly and bubbly at the praise.
“Always,” he whispered and felt Viktor hold tighter.
***
Yuuri opened his eyes with a start, heart hammering in his chest. The deafening beeping of his alarm clock echoing in the small room was definitely not his favorite way to wake up. Yet the only effective one.
His hand groped to his bedside table, looking for the source of the obnoxious ripping sound and as soon as he found it, it was all he could do to not indulge in the urge to slam the damn thing down to the floor.
He let himself fall back on the plush pillows, all his limbs heavy with sleep, and his hand went cupping his forehead. The dream had given him a headache and he seriously felt like someone had been knocking his head with a frying pan.
What in the hell was that?
He hadn’t been thinking about that birthday party in such a long time, he really didn’t understand why in the world it would resurface now. Yuuri exhaled all the air out of his lungs in annoyance. Of all the things he could have wished to dream about, this was definitely not on the list.
He sat up in his bed, the comforter slipping off his chest to rest on his laps, and reached out for his glasses next to him. He took in the sight of his indescribably messy room with a flat look, lingering on the duffle bag he had abandoned the night before, after his mother and he had come back late from the other side of the country where he just had an interview to get into University. Seriously considering going back to sleep, his attention was pulled away to a moving figure skipping inside the room that immediately cheered him up.
“Oh hello Vicchan!”
He hopped off the bed in an instant, and squatted next to the poodle that was excitedly waving its tail, panting with his tongue out. Yuuri’s face relaxed in a smile when the dog leaned into the touch as he scratched behind its ears.
“Good boy! Who’s the best? Who’s the best?” he cooed, before getting back up.
Yuuri stretched a little, trying to pry the sleepiness away and cursing the school counselor without much conviction. But at least, seeing his dog as soon as he’d woken up was exactly the cure he needed to both the dream and to start the surely spectacularly tedious day in something other than an atrocious mood.
The only reason why he had to wake up this early was because the school counselor had requested to see him before class. Many students would probably have felt anxious to be summoned like that, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. It wasn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last.
“Hello Yuu-chan,” his mother welcomed him when he emerged in the kitchen after getting dressed.
“Hi Mom,” he answered with a smile as he watched her set a pan full of scrambled eggs on the table.
Yuuri hummed appreciatively when the smell wafted around in the open plan room, and went over the table to climb up on a stool.
“Oh hi Dad,” he added as he noticed a figure emerging from the hallway. But as his gaze fell on his father’s form he half-froze in his attempt to sit. He looked at from head to toe, gaze suddenly alight with mirth as he tried to keep a straight face.
His father looked like a mess. Like, not having slept nor showered for three days mess. But it was surprisingly comical. His dad always did look perfectly put together, and now he was drooping on himself, his hair spiking in all directions, his glasses were askew and he was wearing a sleep robe that must have been at least a century old.
Yuuri was already proud of himself to have managed to hold it as long as he did, but when his dad yawned with all his might, he couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight.
“Did you pull an all-nighter?”
His smirking tone made his dad wince, and he threw a glare at his son.
“Can you please respect your old dad and not make fun of him the first chance you got?”
Yuuri shook his head vigorously. “Never, it’s far too tempting! Besides, I’m sure you missed it in the three days we were gone!” he cheekily replied, sharing a look with his smiling mom.
The man huffed in a silent protest and sat next to him. Yuuri eyed his father, who was now supporting his head in his hand like it was the heaviest thing on earth, and picking at his food absentmindedly. He shared another amused glance with his mother, still smiling fondly at her husband’s appearance as she picked up the remove of the TV to increase the volume.
Yuuri briefly wondered why she bothered at all, it was nothing new: minor gang rivalries and vendettas on the one hand, frivolous billionaires’ scandals and businessmen’s greed. He kept on enjoying his breakfast without really paying attention, when he realized that his father had stopped picking at his food, and in fact had his eyes riveted to the small screen they had in their kitchen.
Yuuri turned his attention to what was playing out on the screen more out of habit than real curiosity, but frowned in confusion at the sight. The commentator was announcing the arrival of one of the richest businessmen in town, Andrei Dvornikov, while images of a seemingly very smart man leaving the airport were displayed.
“I didn’t know he had any plans of coming back,” his mother said, she too, watching the TV.
“Is that a big deal? Why would he announce his business travels?” Yuuri asked mildly surprised over the importance given to the news and his mother’s comment. She usually never paid much attention to the program either.
“Well, it’s simply surprising since he hadn’t been back in town for the last five years or so,” she explained before sipping her tea.
“Oh,” he eloquently said.
He knew Dvornikov was the father of one of his classmate and due to her constant rambling that the man was incredibly busy, but that was about it. He really hadn’t realized Anya’s father had been absent that long. Well to be fair, he didn’t exactly like Anya, so any chance he had to avoid her and her rambling about how amazing her father was, he took.
Without really thinking much more of it, he brought his fork to his mouth when a detail caught his attention. His father’s hand was clenched around his own fork, and he suddenly seemed vaguely more alert. As soon as the commentator moved on to the next uninteresting topic of the day, he went back to his eggs, dropping again, as if he suddenly remembered how tired he was.
Yuuri narrowed his eyes in suspicion, glance going between the TV and his father.
He had no idea why that particular piece of information had intrigued his dad, but regardless, it was strange.
And now that Yuuri thought about it, his current appearance was more than a giveaway that something was bothering him. If there was one thing he was sure of, it was that his dad hated missing out on sleep just as much as Yuuri did. And by the looks of him, it was more than obvious he hadn’t slept much, if at all.
With that in mind, Yuuri would be damned if he didn’t try and find out why. He felt curiosity lacing up his spine as he remembered something and he voiced his suspicion without preamble.
“Were you working on the Sulliman case?”
Working on a case was the one single thing that could prompt his dad into not sleeping, and looking like… Yuuri grimaced at the thought. Well let’s just say like that, his mind supplied.
This particular one was a tough nut to crack ever since it landed on his father’s desk, and Yuuri wouldn’t have been surprised if that was what kept his dad up all night.
His father’s face instantly fell in tired exasperation and he stared at Yuuri with a flat look. “Yuuri, please…” he sighed.
He would lie if he pretended not having expected that exact reaction since it was the exact same he received ever since Yuuri had started helping his dad out and found every occasion imaginable to put his nose where his father considered it didn’t belong.
“Come on, dad! It’s a huge case! You’ve been working on it since like last year. I wanna know how it’s going that’s all!” he pleaded, leaning slightly over the table.
Despite knowing next to nothing about it, he had heard enough bits and bouts of conversation or passing comments over the year to realize how complicated and extensive it must be.
“It’s none of your business- ”
Yuuri almost choked on his eggs and didn’t lose time interrupting.
“Really dad?” He leveled an appalled gaze at his father, who seemed a little taken aback by the outburst. He recovered quickly however.
“Yuuri, you’re a high-schooler-”
“A high-schooler whose part-time job is helping his private investigator dad in solving cases!” Yuuri countered, before adding more softly: “Please not that excuse again! It may have worked when I was a freshman, but not anymore.”
As true as that statement was, Yuuri was aware he was pushing it. This case had been among the off-limits pile for him ever since his father had started working on it. He rarely crossed his father over that particular rule, accepting it as a package deal for him being able to work with his dad on his PI business, but he had to admit that this case was more than a little intriguing. Especially because his father had been even more protective around it than with any other case he’d worked on before. If Yuuri was perceptive enough to pick up on even the tiniest details in investigations his father even missed out on sometimes, he could figure that one out.
He resolutely kept his eyes straight to his father’s face, waiting for an answer that didn’t seem to come. Yuuri set his fork down, and deflated a little in frustration.
“Dad?”
His father straightened back up a little, and he lifted his head up to meet his son’s gaze. Yuuri couldn’t help the subtle frown that crossed his face, at the intensity of the determination he read in his father’s eyes.
“Alright then.”
Yuuri’s eyebrow shot up, obviously not having expected that. He was more waiting for something along the lines of “I don’t want you to work with me anymore” and even if the actual answer was infinitely better than his own bleak prediction, the reason as to why that came to be, completely escaped him.
“Alright, as in you’ll tell me all I want to know?” he said, his voice twitching between hope and wary caution.
His father exhaled slowly, and Yuuri noted how he had refrained from outright rolling his eyes.
“Alright, as in, I’ll tell you more about the case after school, when you come by the office,” he started and Yuuri couldn’t refrain the triumphant smirk that creeped up on his face, making his father pause instantly.
He tilted his head down, while still his eyes still riveted on his son’s in warning. “But Yuuri, that’s it. I don’t want you mixed up with this investigation more than you need to, am I clear?”
“Crystal,” the teenager quickly replied, raising his hands in the air in surrender, trying his best not to show how his curiosity had skyrocketed at his father’s words.
The older man seemed to have picked up on it anyway, and he let out an exhausted breath.
Yuuri bit his lips, more than aware of and only a little sorry at how his stubbornness was taking its toll on his father’s patience. He seemed to relax a little quicker however, as soon as he started eating, and Yuuri took it as its assurance that he wouldn’t backtrack on his promise.
He’d wait for the full story before making assumptions as to why his father didn’t want him near that case. Agreed, his father agreeing to tell him more was just his attempt to get Yuuri off his back for the time being, but he’ll take it. Considering the obvious sleep deprivation, the teenager really couldn’t blame him.
He focused back on his eggs, humming in pleasure at how fondant they tasted. He almost jolted in surprise when his father spoke again.
“By the way, why are you awake this early?”
He took a minute to swallow properly. “Oh, I have to get to school early, the counselor wants to see me,” he explained evasively.
His father’s eyebrows knitted together not so much in surprise but more out of curiosity, in a rather comical expression, but his words distracted Yuuri again. “About what?”
Yuuri shrugged, making a face. “Hum, my schedule and my attitude. Not necessarily in that order. Her words,” he added upon seeing the gaze he was graced with.
Next to him, his mother chuckled. “What did you do this time?”
“Nothing, really. The usual.” he said flatly.
“Yes, ok I don’t wanna know,” his father’s intervened flatly, focusing back on his eggs.
Yuuri smiled, their previous disagreement all forgotten. Waking up earlier was still not his favorite thing, but maybe there were advantages to it too. It was nice to spend time with both his parents like that, considering how rare it seemed to happen these days. Even if they normally made a point of sharing at least one meal per day as a family, the last few weeks had been hectic, and they had not been able to do so nearly as much as they wished.
His mother was working with her parents in their Inn every day, and even harder now since they were aging and that his sister wasn’t there to help occasionally anymore. Even if the energy his grandmother still possessed was about the most amazing and terrifying thing Yuuri had ever seen, it often wasn’t enough. Since Mari had left for University, they had been a little short on staff, being able to afford only part-time helper to replace her and that meant a heavier workload on everyone else.
His dad on the other hand, had his own Private investigation practice and Yuuri had been nothing short of ecstatic when his father had finally relented and let him sign a contract as a part time job during sophomore year.
Yuuri knew for a fact that one of the reasons that this came to be, was his apparently insufferable tendency to butt in into his father’s cases ever since the end of freshman year. It seemed that signing a contract meant it would be easier to at least keep an eye on what information Yuuri had access to. To this day, Yuuri still doubted that was the main motivation, but he hadn’t contested it, too happy to have obtained what he wanted to risk it.
“Ok, gotta run,” he said as soon as he’d swallowed the last scraps of eggs off his plate, and jumped down the stool.
He kissed his mother on the cheek, and touched his dad’s shoulder before grabbing his bag.
“I’ll see you tonight!”
He waved goodbye, and left hastily. Even if he had no desire to go see the counselor whatsoever, he really didn’t want to end up with a free ticket for another appointment because she would obviously think he would need extra attention.
He parked his old LeBaron in the first empty spot he found, which objectively wasn’t hard considering the only students already present at school were those crazy enough to think that being part of the swimming team was worth waking up at 5am every morning.
The appointment went by quickly enough, and before long Yuuri found himself breathing in relief at being released away from the prying eyes of the counselor. The way her face scrunched up in concentration whenever she scrutinized his expression as if she hoped to be able to read whatever the causes of his obvious existential malaise was, almost too frightening to even be considered funny.
By then, the hallways had filled up with hollering students and as much as he usually hated it, this time he couldn’t help but relax at the familiarity of the scene. Or at least, not cringe too overtly at it. He proceeded into putting his earphones back on, when he heard a loud squealing behind him.
“Yuuri!”
He couldn’t even turn back to see where it had come from before he had the weight of someone half jumping on his back, and was tackled by one arm wrapping around his neck, while the other one went cupping his shoulder.
Turning his head, he noticed the smiling face of Phichit, unsurprisingly as bright as sunshine even this early in the morning.
“How are you so enthusiastic this early Phich?” he chuckled as his friend released his grip around his shoulders.
“Come on, it’s high school! What is there not to be enthusiastic about?”
Despite the clearly mocking tone, Yuuri snorted absolutely not impressed, to Phichit’s great amusement.
“I’m an early riser, why are you so surprised?” and to that Yuuri hummed noncommittally. “How was Philly?”
Yuuri smiled. “Nice actually. It was super tiring, between the flights, the tour and the interview, but the city’s great and the campus looks great too. I would still go, regardless what the city looks like though, since it’s still one of the best program in criminal justice of the country,” he added with a knowing look to Phichit, who smiled in return. “I just wished I could have slept a little more this morning.”
“Yeah actually, why are you already here?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow.
Yuuri twisted around to face him better. “I didn’t tell you? I thought I did.” Phichit threw him a quizzical glance, prompting him to continue. “I got ‘summoned’ by our delightful counselor,” he said with an exaggerated solemn tone
“Oh boy,” Phichit rolled his eyes. “What about this time?”
Yuuri deflated. “Seriously? You had the same reaction as my mom! Careful Phich you’re turning into a forty-year old mother!”
He received Phichit’s elbow in his ribs, erasing the smirk off his face and he grunted the air out of his lungs.
“Let me guess, you slept again in class?” Phichit mused, his tone laced with playful mockery.
“Could have,” Yuuri said very seriously thinking back on all the times he had indeed fell asleep, “but no, not this time. I apparently kept being a smart-ass in class, and I think I drained Mister Philip’s patience."
Phichit huffed, his face clearly screaming that it wasn’t a too complicated deed to accomplish. Mister Philip wasn’t known for being the most patient human being that ever walked this earth, and Yuuri knew what buttons to push. It didn’t hurt either that he enjoyed doing so.
The first bell shrilled through the hallway, indicating the beginning of the daily torture.
“Woop, gotta go!” Phichit exclaimed, releasing his friend. “I’ll see you second period!” was all he said before he was running to his first class without so much of a look back.
Yuuri chortled, shaking his head and started his music to go down to his study room. He had barely taken three steps that a small group of boys turned in the hallway, walking in the opposite direction.
“Oh perfect,” he muttered under his breath, while a new song started playing.
As he heard the first verse starting, he almost wanted to laugh dryly at the irony. ‘Fitting’ is the word that came to his mind as the three figures approached, and his gaze unwillingly flickered to the taller of the three.
His jaw clenched and he found very hard to resist the urge of rolling his eyes at the obnoxiously annoying smirk displayed on the lips of the dark-haired boy next to him as he shoved his elbow to his sides and nudged in Yuuri’s direction.
Yuuri quirked an eyebrow at the obvious lack of discretion, but he was used to it and not exactly affected by it all anymore.
“Oi Katsuki, hadn’t even realized you were gone,” he shouted with a sardonic look on his face.
“And I see you’re still as amazing with punchlines,” Yuuri retorted with an acid smiling face. Chris rolled his eyes and shifted his upper body in JJ’s direction while keeping on the walking.
“Really dude?” he berated with a huff of exasperation before turning back to Yuuri, loosening in a genuine smile. “Hi Yuuri, nice to have you back.”
Yuuri let out a breathy sigh and smiled back, nodding briefly. Good thing one piece on the brochette wasn’t rotten.
In the middle, Viktor looked like he wasn’t sure which side he should be taking and settled on piecing Yuuri out from head to toe but oddly enough, without the usual closed off, glaring or smirking expression.
Every single time they would cross paths, Yuuri would notice how exaggerated the smirk was and how Viktor’s blue eyes would shine with a puzzling lackluster spark as if all the mirth that used to be there had been smothered out.
And like every single time, Yuuri wouldn’t even think about bringing it up. Beyond the sarcastic comments occasionally exchanged, they hadn’t shared a conversation longer than three words since seventh grade. He wasn’t about to start now.
Instead, he shrugged and turned towards Chris. “Well, I’ll see you later then.” Chris returned an apologetic smile, very aware of how strained Yuuri and Viktor’s relationship was, and having absolutely no clue as to why that was.
Not that Yuuri knew better. One day they were the best friends in the world, and the next Viktor couldn’t even look at him. One day they were friends, and then the next Viktor disappeared.
Or more accurately, he had been absent for a week due to ‘personal reasons’ that no one saw fit to elaborate on. Most had accepted it for what it was: Viktor was probably sick or something, no big deal. But to Yuuri, it had felt like being stabbed with anguish at being completely clueless as to what was happening. Viktor hadn’t provided him with any type of answer or reassurance. In fact it seemed like he hadn’t bothered saying anything at all, and simply deemed that cutting all forms of communication was perfectly acceptable, and not like feeling a knife being twisted into a fresh wound relentlessly. Nerves had been eating him away and there had been nothing he could do to fix any of it, since the silence he’d received from anyone he had asked what exactly was going on was the only thing he could go on with.
Then Viktor had come back, and rumors of his mother leaving town had sparked through the school faster than wildfire. That was the explanation to Viktor’s absence, and everyone took it at face-value. Including Yuuri. As soon as he had learned that, he’d wanted to rush to his best friend and ask what he could do to help or at least be there for him.
That was when he’d noticed something was different. It had happened slowly at first. It had started with Viktor averting his gaze whenever it would cross with Yuuri’s, walking away as soon as he would see him walking up the hallways. The sharp and hollow off putting feeling nagging at his gut only grew with each passing day.
It was like a switched had been pushed and something had broken.
When he couldn’t bear seeing the pain washing the ordinarily angel-like features, and tainting the nonchalant teasing of his eyes, he went up to confront Viktor with the clear goal of demanding answers.
It didn’t go as planned because next thing he knew, Viktor was shoving him away with such force he’d ended up crashing on the floor. Yuuri would never forget the angry hurt on Viktor’s face that day shredding apart what Yuuri thought they shared, nor the suffocating agony that such a violent rejection had elicited.
Years had gone by and the hurt had dampened down, leaving its way to an occasionally aching scar, with the customary habit of mockeries and sarcasm replacing the hugs and jokes.
He didn’t pay attention to how their voices petered out as he walked away, focusing on his own thoughts and music. He had tried to make it better. And no matter what, Viktor hadn’t budged. He’d never even attempted to meet Yuuri halfway, and Yuuri had grown tired of being affected this much by the attitude of someone who clearly didn’t want anything to do with him.
Viktor’s indifference, if nothing else, had been the catalyst for him to toughen up. He’d stopped caring.
Or more accurately convinced himself he’d stopped, but that was a subtlety Yuuri had been skilled at ignoring so far.