Chapter Text
Yuuri was warm, completely ensconced in large, fluffy quilts. He smiled into the fabric as he pulled it tighter around him before pausing. His bed sheets didn’t feel like literal clouds like these ones did. This isn’t my bed.
He cracked an eye open.
This isn’t even my room.
He quickly sat up and instantly regretted doing so, so quickly. He had to tightly shut his eyes against the sudden hard thud of a headache in the centre of his skull. He could feel a lurch of nausea in his stomach, too. He stayed still for a few moments before he let out a breath. If he didn’t move too fast and breathed evenly, he would be fine.
His first thought when he opened his eyes was: Where are my glasses? Everything was a blur and he couldn’t pick out the details of the room. God, his morning was worsening by the second.
Nevertheless, he couldn’t hole up in this unfamiliar room and wait for everything to fix itself. He distantly understood that this whole thing was his fault – he knew how he got when he drank alcohol and yet he’d done it anyway. He pushed away the self-scorn for later as he felt around the bed for his black thick-rimmed glasses. They weren’t on the bed so he took a quick glance at the bedside table. He couldn’t make out the objects on it since, without his glasses, they were blurred in his vision – a lamp, a small piece of square paper, a book and a candle? But no glasses. He disregarded the bedside table and stood carefully so as to not re-invite his headache and nausea in full force.
It was then, when he looked down at himself, that he realised that he was dressed in nothing else but his boxer briefs. Oh my god, he thought miserably. He paused, gulping, before turning to the bed slowly.
Is there anyone in it?
He felt a wave of relief crash down on him when no, there wasn’t.
He regarded how his body felt. It surely didn’t feel like he’d done anything sex-related, but he had weird flashing memories of a specific person – but who? He hadn’t been wearing his glasses since pretty much the minute he’d gotten drunk. He hated himself – why did he have to get intoxicated and why did he have to take his glasses off to make things that much worse?
But he could worry about these things later and about that mysterious guy in his forgotten memories. He assumed that he was still in JJ’s house but he needed to find one of his friends. For starters, they’d help him find his clothes.
He bit his lip, slowly looking around and exhaled in pure relief when he found his phone on the other bedside table.
He picked it up and immediately called Phichit, who he knew wouldn’t have left JJ’s without him, regardless of the fact that they had carpooled together.
“Rise ‘n shine,” Phichit cooed when he picked up. “Where even are you? Mila and I are having breakfast in JJ’s kitchen. Everyone else has either left or they’re still dead asleep. So, back to the question – where the hell are you?”
“Um, I, I think I might be upstairs?” Phichit gasped scandalously as Yuuri looked around. Out the window, it definitely looked like he was upstairs. “Okay no, I’m definitely upstairs – ”
“Holy fuck, who’s with you?”
“Uh, no one?”
“Wait, what?”
“I’m the only one here in the room but uh, I don’t have my clothes?”
Phichit started laughing and Yuuri’s face coloured, “Phichit please, can you just find my clothes? I’m horrified enough as it is!”
“Okay okay,” Phichit said but Yuuri could still hear him snickering.
They went out for brunch directly afterwards once Yuuri was dressed and he’d gotten over the initial overwhelming embarrassment of having to wake up practically naked and alone in a bed at one of JJ’s parties, where pretty much everyone hooked up. He’d said a quick hello to Mila and had then resolutely turned and left the house when she had given him an amused look. He had no idea what that meant but he could only assume that Phichit had told her of his situation. Phichit could only exclaim out a rushed parting of farewell to her without room for other words as he jogged after Yuuri. Yuuri had no idea what to think about his situation but Phichit just found it funny.
“Didn’t you see who I was with last night? I feel like I stuck around one guy for a really long time.”
“You know how I get with alcohol – I don’t get any hangovers but I forget everything when I reach a certain stage of drunk.” Phichit grinned and Yuuri groaned, jealous that Phichit could be so carefree about that. Phichit took a sip of his caramel coffee, “Whoever this guy is could have just left early for a reason or whatever. Why not just ask someone else that was there if you went upstairs with someone?”
“No!” Yuuri exclaimed before colouring, “God that would be so embarrassing, to have gone upstairs with someone but not remember at all and to have to ask who it was? Oh my god, no, I can’t.” He laid his head in his hands and groaned.
Phichit took a bite out of his bagel, “I’m sure mysterious guy will show himself soon – maybe he’ll help you get over your big, fat crush on Vik – ”
“Phichit!”
Phichit smiled, rolling his eyes, “Don’t worry, no one can hear us.” They were seated outside the café and all the other tables were empty since it was after lunch and nearly closing time.
“It’s still embarrassing.”
“A crush is a crush, Yuuri. And it’s fine – like half the campus has a crush on Viktor.”
“But he doesn’t even know me, god, it’s just – ugh, it’s embarrassing. I feel so creepy just watching from the distance.”
“You’re not creepy. And trust me, you’re not his worst admirer. The guy’s gotta have some half-manic fans with how perfect his hair swoops.”
Yuuri made a grumbling sound in response as he took a big bite out of his own bagel and a small sip of his coffee.
“But let’s stop thinking about our campus king for a few moments – mysterious guy could be good for you! You just need to find him. And if he can put up with you drunk? Then he’s a keeper.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Yuuri said doubtfully. He’d tried getting rid of his stupid crush on Viktor (which, he had reasoned many times, didn’t make any sense because they’d never even talked before) but nothing had worked (okay so maybe he didn’t try hard enough, but still).
“He’ll show up, don’t worry.”
The thing is, mysterious guy didn’t show up.
For weeks. It was worse that practically everyone had gone to their own homes for college holidays, including Yuuri. The end of those holidays, though, was dawning on them and Yuuri still had no idea just who it was that he’d spent that night with. He was starting to think that he’d made the whole thing up – that there really was no guy and that he’d wondered upstairs, alone, to escape the crowd.
But it still bothered him, no matter how much he tried to tell himself that it was done and in the past.
And so, the day came for him to return to campus dorms, still stuck on who and not knowing anything. It was a week before college officially started for the new year and there were already some first years bringing in their luggage. Campus wasn’t too busy but it was starting to wake up from its nap.
Yuuri was taking a stroll around to take in the familiar scenery of the campus as a way to kill time and maybe try and scope out another good and quiet reading place, when he crossed paths with Yuri Plisetsky, who was in his second year this year.
Yuuri was a third year but he still felt intimidated by Yuri. Especially since he had quickly become popular just like Viktor had in his freshman days. Rather than campus king (as Viktor was named), he was being called the campus fairy, for being so elegantly pretty.
Despite all that, Yuuri knew that Yuri was a fiery force underneath the porcelain surface.
He averted his gaze so that he wouldn’t make eye-contact with Yuri as they walked past one another. But as he did so, his eyes landed on the large, fluffy dog that Yuri was walking on a leash.
Makkachin! Viktor’s poodle!
Despite Yuuri wanting to melt at the sight of Makkachin and reward him with pats for no reason, he was adamant about not meeting eyes with Yuri. Yuri wouldn’t know him anyway but still –
“Oi, pig.”
Yuuri blinked at Yuri calling out.
Nevertheless, he kept his head down and continued walking past.
“Pig, you’re not fucking ignoring me, are you?”
Yuuri felt his heart start racing in panic. He’s not talking to me, is he? He glanced around and there wasn’t anyone in their nearby vicinity. He is…?
“Yes, I’m talking to you, fuck, you’re an idiot. Here. Take Makkachin for a walk or something.”
“Wh-Wha?” Yuuri stammered as Yuri shoved the lead into Yuuri’s hands.
“Meet me here again in two hours to give him back. I’m busy, Otabek wants to meet up. Fuck off.” Then, as eloquent as that, he stalked off, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.
Yuuri was so confused, blinking and stammering, flustered on the spot, holding the leash to Viktor’s dog.
What just happened?
He looked down at Makkachin with a confused face but Makkachin just yipped up at him happily before staring expectantly.
Yuuri blinked, still confused out of his mind, but then he took slow, shaky steps forward. “We’ll just… Okay, we can – we can find a good reading place.” He said this to Makkachin.
At being talked to, Makkachin perked up and wagged his tail.
Yuuri paused and had a startling realisation that this was his chance. He’d always wanted to hug Makkachin and this was his opportunity to finally do so, no matter how weird and confusing it was that Yuri had left him with him. When he saw that Makkachin’s tail was wagging, he felt a smile grace his face.
He ended up taking Makkachin to one of the university lawns. He was completely delighted when he ordered Makkachin to sit and he did so – from there, he tried a couple of different tricks and laughed happily when Makkachin rolled over before wagging his tail furiously when Yuuri rewarded him with a murmur of, ‘Good boy’ and a loving pat on his head.
He spent a lot of his time cuddling and petting Makkachin. He ran around and giggled when Makkachin chased after him. He even spoke to Makkachin, letting the dog in on his secret crush on his owner, how lazy he’d been in the holidays, how weirdly excited he was for college to start up again (Makkachin was wonderfully attentive as a listener).
Makkachin seemed to like him too and Yuuri was happy about that. After endless running around, he’d lain down on his back to look up at the sky when Makkachin’s face popped up into his vision, tongue sticking out. After that, he’d practically coerced Yuuri into standing and playing with him once more.
Soon enough, two hours had passed. He regretfully brought Makkachin back to where Yuri had told him to meet up again. This time, Otabek was standing next to Yuri and they were casually conversing. Otabek was nice but the combination of the two were still intimidating.
When Yuuri approached, Yuri’s soft expression that had been angled to Otabek had turned sour.
“Finally, you thought you’d make us wait, huh?”
“We’ve been here for less than 5 minutes.” Otabek said. He ignored the way that Yuri’s face moved to shoot him a sour look without any real malice before he crossed his arms and huffed.
Otabek looked to Yuri with a fond smile before he received Makkachin’s leash. “Thank you for looking after him.”
They were about to turn to leave but Yuuri cleared his throat, “U-Um, if you don’t mind, I could look after him again?” He told himself that he shouldn’t have offered but when Makkachin turned to look at him too, with big brown eyes, Yuuri was glad that he did.
Yuri paused, surveying Yuuri before shrugging. “Sure. Same time tomorrow then.”
Then they walked off and Yuuri was standing by himself, giddy that he could spend more time with Makkachin tomorrow.
For the rest of the week before college started again, he looked after Makkachin four more times.
The fourth time, after he and Makkachin had gone for a lovely walk around the campus, Yuri had told him that it would be the last time that he’d be handing over Makkachin duty to him.
“Viktor’s coming back on Sunday so he won’t need anyone to look after him anymore.”
Yuuri bit his lip, knowing already that this had been coming. He looked forlornly at Makkachin who looked up at him with his cute fluffy face.
“Why are you looking so sad? Aren’t you glad that Viktor is coming back?”
Yuuri was confused. He felt his heart stop. Did Yuri know about his stupid crush on Viktor? At the idea that someone might know about his crush, his face flushed – both from embarrassment and shame.
Yuri blanched at him, “You’re an idiot. Don’t fucking blush about it. Gross.”
Then Yuri walked away with Makkachin and Yuuri was standing there, feelings mixed and negative in the pit of his stomach.
And then it came.
The return of Viktor Nikiforov.
Everyone knew he was back. Yuuri had heard from Phichit earlier that he’d been on a tour which explored the world’s most iconic trekking tracks. Phichit had showed him the photos on Facebook that Viktor had just recently uploaded.
Yuuri marvelled at each and every one of them. Viktor looked amazing (as usual), standing atop mountains and walking along tracks. He seemed to be surrounded by all of the people on the tour at all times but Yuuri loved the ones where Viktor wasn’t even looking at the camera, his gaze instead faced towards the view.
Viktor had come back to the college dorms on Sunday. Yuuri stayed in his room all day, sweating and worrying; he didn’t want to chance bumping into Viktor, especially while Makkachin was with him. Makkachin was a force of nature – when he saw people he liked, he would bound over with his tail wagging enthusiastically.
And Yuuri was not ready to have Makkachin bound up to him with Viktor following after – perfect Viktor with his perfect hair and golden smile.
But the Monday after was inevitable. It was the first day of college classes and lectures and Yuuri couldn’t avoid the campus forever.
He had just met up with Phichit to have lunch in the campus’ general cafeteria. He’d ordered himself a pork cutlet bowl and when it came, he was delighted as he always was. Even though his mom’s pork cutlet bowls were better, this one was still just as good. It had been a loyal friend during exams.
Phichit laughed at him and how giddy he was to be eating and Yuuri laughed back.
After they’d finished eating, he and Phichit stood to put their trays away. Yuuri felt weirdly self-conscious. He had an odd sensation that someone was watching him. He put his tray away nervously and as he turned, took a quick look around the cafeteria – had Yuri told everyone about his stupid crush on Viktor?
Yuuri jolted when he met Viktor’s gaze.
Viktor’s smile widened, elated, and he lifted his hand in a… a wave. He started to stand, too. Yuuri entertained the idea that Viktor was actually standing to come over to him but he immediately squashed it because no way.
Yuuri looked away, his face going red. That wave was definitely not meant for him, anyway. He’d done it once before – accidentally waving at someone who he didn’t know that well who he’d thought had been waving at him.
So he didn’t look back at Viktor and quickly escaped the cafeteria.
The problem after that was that Viktor was everywhere. Luckily it was easy to pick him out since he was always with other people and in general, garnered attention from other students. Whenever Yuuri saw any sign that Viktor was around, he immediately turned around and walked the other way. Yuri had probably told him about his crush or maybe it had somehow come out on the night of JJ’s party. He felt his face flare with shame at all of the embarrassing possibilities plaguing his mind.
Even more, he had received a Facebook friend request, too. From Viktor. When he’d seen the notification on his phone, he had stopped in his tracks. He had curled in on himself so that he was squatting, his face in his hands, regardless of those around him.
He had stared at it, at Viktor’s perfect profile photo before he’d just let it sit. He didn’t deny or accept the request. He just let it be. He hadn’t told Phichit about it either – he knew that Phichit would tell him to accept it, to maybe try striking up a conversation with Viktor online. So Yuuri didn’t tell him – Phichit was more outgoing and optimistic than he was and was more easily able to stand back up after being knocked down. Yuuri, however, took negativity as brutal punches to his self-confidence. Trying to strike up a conversation with Viktor and being disregarded? Yuuri would feel that shame for the rest of his life so he didn’t do anything with the friend request.
However, college – no matter how big it was – did not promise an immortal avoidance of Viktor.
Despite his desperate efforts – of steering clear from the cafeteria, of always heading down into the labyrinthine library to study, of hesitantly glancing around himself as he walked across campus – Yuuri learnt this soon enough.
It was a Saturday. Yuuri was walking across the lawns at 8:30AM, still feeling sleepy. He wanted this year to be different, especially since he’d failed a course last year. He’d vowed to work as hard as he could to redeem himself, especially since he was doing an overload of courses.
Just as he was deciding which nearby café he should go to grab a coffee, he heard a distant ‘Arf!’
He stopped in his tracks. That bark had sounded a lot like Makkachin. Yuuri hesitantly turned to where the sound had come from as the bark sounded again before he froze. Though he felt elated at seeing Makkachin, that was quickly overtaken by complete dread when he saw Viktor with him – all the way across the other side of the lawns.
I could run, Yuuri distantly thought before quickly reprimanding himself. That’s stupid, you idiot, why would you run… I could though, right? Crap crap crap.
His possible plans for escape were foiled when he realised that Makkachin was bounding over to him, tail wagging viciously, completely elated to see him.
I can’t escape now, Yuuri groaned inwardly. His dread was only partly soothed over when he knelt down and Makkachin reached him, jumping all over him and giving small yips of happiness. Yuuri, despite the dread of Viktor approaching, felt his lips tilt up into a wobbly smile.
“Good boy,” he murmured, “how are you, huh?” He hadn’t seen the toy poodle in a week and he’d actually missed the personal alone time that they’d had together, with him divulging his worries and secrets. Makkachin was a living cure for anything, Yuuri was convinced.
He was carding his fingers through Makkachin’s curled fur when he heard footsteps approaching. He didn’t want to look up, uselessly hoping that it wasn’t Viktor even though he had already seen him across the lawns.
Despite knowing that it was him, his heart nearly jolted right into his throat when he glanced up and saw him strolling over. He was dressed in a sweater and jeans and yet he still managed to look perfect. Yuuri instantly felt sub-par in his hoodie and worn sports shoes.
Viktor was smiling, looking… pleased?
“Yuuri,” he said in greeting and Yuuri’s face went completely red. He knew his name? Had Viktor always sounded like that? The way he’d said it was more like a breath rather than a word.
“H-Hi,” Yuuri stammered, standing from Makkachin despite the poodle’s fervent attempts for further attention.
“Yurio told me you looked after Makkachin for a bit last week. He really likes you.” Viktor said and he kept smiling, looking pleased and Yuuri didn’t know what was happening. Also, Yurio? He imagined that Yuri wouldn’t like that at all.
“Well, he’s really fun to be around.” Yuuri replied, cringing at his words. He knew he was going to regret everything he was saying – no matter how normal or cool his words were (even though they weren’t). He cleared his throat, feeling dazed that they were talking, “Uh, you went on a trip, right? How was it?”
“It was amazing! All of the treks were so fun, though I did miss campus and… people.” If Yuuri had been paying more attention and not focusing all of his thoughts on the fact that Viktor was talking to him, he would have noticed that Viktor had said those words hesitantly, looking at Yuuri with uncertainty in his eyes, a physical expression of, ‘Was that okay?’
Alas, Yuuri didn’t notice this at all. All he thought of was that those words probably weren’t meant for him despite feeling his heart thud hard in his chest. To him, it had almost sounded like they had been meant for him but he pushed that impossible notion out of his head as soon as it was formed.
He didn’t reply, looking awkwardly away, not knowing what to say.
“Were you going for coffee?” Viktor asked suddenly.
Yuuri sharply glanced up.
“I was, so if you want, maybe we could – ”
“N-No,” Yuuri half-exclaimed. He felt shame strike him – at both interrupting Viktor with a horrified exclamation of getting coffee with him and at the fact that he’d just lied to him. “I…” He didn’t look up and put his hands in his pockets, clenching them into fists. “I already had coffee…”
“Oh.” Viktor said and he sounded a little bit disappointed.
Yuuri couldn’t really take this anymore. Why is he even talking to me?
“In that case, we could get coffee another morning? Next week?” Viktor asked, sounding hopeful. He took his phone out from the back pocket of his jeans before Yuuri could react. He held it out after swiping his fingers on it. Yuuri glanced down at it and his heart froze.
The screen displayed was opened up onto a new contact, blank where information could be added.
“I’ll text you to find out when we’re both free.” Viktor said like it was that simple. He smiled too and Yuuri didn’t know what to do.
Wordlessly, nerves escalating to bursting point, he took Viktor’s phone in his hand, trembling a little.
He shakily typed in his number and handed it back, dazed.
Viktor was smiling at him, looking completely pleased.
Yuuri blurted out a, “Okay, bye,” before he pointedly turned and left.
He’d taken a few steps away, his heart beating frantically when his phone buzzed. He half-consciously took it from his hoodie pocket. It was a message from an unknown number.
Unknown: This is Viktor! Also, can I have Makkachin back?? :P ahaha
Yuuri was confused and he realised what the message meant when he turned back around to look at Viktor but then found Makkachin right at his heels, still wagging his tail and looking up at him expectantly.
Yuuri felt a small, surprised laugh escape him. He reached a hand down to pet Makkachin. When he looked up, Viktor was grinning at him.
He felt another wave of embarrassment before he murmured to the poodle, “Okay, you should go back to Viktor.”
Makkachin’s tail slowed in its wagging, understanding that he was being gently dismissed.
Yuuri huffed an amused breath, “I’ll see you another time okay, Makkachin? You should walk with Viktor.”
Makkachin looked pouty before he turned and bounded over to Viktor.
And with that, Yuuri turned, heart beating viciously in his chest as he speed-walked away.
Yuuri felt like his heart was about to beat out of his chest.
He was seated across from Viktor in the small on-campus café. All of the students that were in the café were glancing over at them, whispering, looking confused.
Viktor had bought his coffee, even though Yuuri had insisted that he could pay for his own – pay for them both. Viktor had smiled, gentle and gorgeous and had told him that he wanted to pay for him. This… Yuuri had the odd feeling that this was really date-like but he couldn’t let that idea seep into his mind and stir. That would only end in embarrassment for him because of course Viktor wouldn’t like him, they hardly knew one another, this whole thing was super spontaneous and random, he was probably being pranked, oh god, he probably was wasn’t he.
“Yuuri?”
Yuuri jolted a little and looked up, wide-eyed.
Viktor was smiling at him.
“Y-Yes?”
“I just asked how your college work was going, if you’re coping.”
Yuuri swallowed nervously and nodded his head, “Um, yeah, it’s going good. A little hard, but I think I’ll be fine.”
“You can always ask me for help if you need it. I’d be happy to study with you – even if you don’t need help with anything.”
Study together?
“Also, Makkachin misses you. We should go on walks together.”
Walking together?
“Plus, there’s a really nice hiking track nearby. I’ll tell you the next time I go if you want to come along.”
Hiking together?
There was too much of the notion of ‘together with Viktor Nikiforov’ going on and Yuuri had no idea how to deal with it.
“S-Sounds good.” Yuuri managed to get out. He had no idea why but he wanted to punch his own face when Viktor brightened at his words, looking completely pleased like he’d been given a gift.
It wasn’t just quick coffee meet-ups in the early morning. Viktor would park himself at a seat right beside Yuuri in the library and smile at him, perfectly handsome.
He would wave and look ecstatic when he saw him.
He would buy him treats here and there or hand him a coffee as he passed him on his way to his own classes and lectures.
Yuuri had no idea what was going on (or, he did have an idea – that Viktor might actually be trying to… to woo? court? him? – but that idea was stupidly hopeful). All he knew was that he was slowly becoming more comfortable with Viktor.
He was still as legendary to Yuuri as he was before but he was becoming startlingly more real. They were starting to become friends. They snapchatted often – usually, Yuuri would take photos of his whereabouts and Viktor would then reply with a selfie or a photo of his friends and Makkachin.
Yuuri’s idolised vision of Viktor was slowly crumbling to give way to something more human and… attainable.
His stupid puppy-like crush was becoming more genuine, too.
He knew that Viktor’s hair was a mess when he woke up (sometimes, there’d even be a strand here and there that would be a little out of order in comparison to the rest in the early morning), that he could ice-skate like a champion, that he was proud of his mother’s borscht recipe, that he loved annoying Yurio to no end, that he was fiercely protective of his friends, that he hated wearing socks in bed, that he and Chris were stupidly competitive with one another (even though Viktor always won, no matter the competition) and that he thought he had a bald spot (Yuuri thought this was stupid – he had perfect hair).
The one thing that Yuuri didn’t know was why this had all started, why Viktor had started to become his friend.
He entertained the idea that maybe they’d interacted at JJ’s (it was the only time he could think of that would warrant their friendship). Yuuri had a heart-stopping moment when he dared to think that mysterious guy (if he even existed) was Viktor but immediately wiped that thought away. A weird one-night-stand/not-one-night-stand wouldn’t warrant a friendship. After all, Yuuri knew that he had been a mess. He had no idea what had happened that night but he knew how he got when he’d had too much to drink – his mom had told him that he acted exactly like his dad did when he was drunk. And Yuuri had seen his dad drunk. It wasn’t pretty.
So Yuuri just accepted their weird friendship, fearing that it could end at any moment.