Chapter Text
He stood in front of the mirror fixing his hair while also checking out the scenery behind him. He noticed Yuri taking a break from the ice while swiping away at something on his phone attempting to hide a huge grin on his face. He chuckled, then slid over to where he was.
“Looking at photos of Viktor again, Yuri?” Phichit said with a whole hearted smile.
“Oh, uh, haha yeah” Yuri replied, slightly ashamed of his guilty pleasure.
Sure, everyone training in Detroit admired The One and Only Viktor Nikiforov, but Yuri took it to another level. Every time he and Phichit talked about anything relating to professional figure skaters, Russia, or good looking people, the topic always switched to Viktor Nikiforov. Phichit didn’t care of course. Yuri was his best friend! When Yuri was happy, he was happy.
“I just wish I had enough money to try to visit him in Russia.” Yuri continued while double tapping his phone.
Phichit adjusted himself to see what Yuri was looking at. He was on Viktor’s Instagram page searching through the photos he hadn't already liked.
“Dude, I also need a little extra money,” Phichit groaned while pulling out his phone opening up the camera app,“I really wanna go shopping, but my allowance is just not cutting it.”
Phichit then takes a selfie of himself, including an off-guard of Yuri in the background, looking as average as ever.
“How about after practice we go job hunting?”
Yuri looked up from his phone giving Phichit another chance to snap a selfie, this time with him paying attention.
“There’s no way we could get a job, Phichit. Our schedules are too packed”, he said while scratching his head. “The time we’d be available to work is at night, but during that time I plan on getting rest and studying for classes”
“Blehh, I guess so, Yuri” Phichit responded while sticking his tongue out and placing his phone back into his pocket, “I think we should still check though. We can make it an adventure~!”
Yuri enjoyed Phichit’s enthusiasm and decided to give it a try. After chatting a bit longer they both resumed practice, then began to do their cool downs.
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“So where do you want to check first?” Phichit asked while scrolling on his phone, “I was thinking we could try WcDonalds because they’re 24 hours. Or we could try this waiting job at this diner just four blocks away if you’re not into fast food.”
Yuri could tell that Phichit was very excited about job hunting so he decided to try to match his enthusiasm.
“I was thinking we could work at a relaxation place of some sort. It would be pretty easy because I have experience helping my parents run the hot spring back at home.”
“Ou yes! That would be fun! Do you think it would fit into our schedules?” Phichit asked still looking at his phone for jobs in walking distance.
Neither of them had a car, and their only means of transportation was the city subway, which was sometimes unreliable on the several accounts of them being late to both class and practice. The part of Detroit that they lived in wasn’t exactly the best, but it wasn’t the worst either. It was the type of area where you could be safe walking around at night, but only if you knew where you were going. And if you didn’t make eye contact with anybody. It was safe to assume that if you would mind your own business you wouldn’t be bothered. When asked why they were living in such a place, Phichit’s question was answered by Ciao-ciao saying “This neighborhood will inspire you to work hard while also remembering to stay humble”. Which was a good enough excuse for Phichit, as long as he was able to get a nice coffee now and then.
As they were walking down the street, Phichit was too busy on his phone to realize that Yuri stopped walking several seconds ago. After looking up he noticed his friend several meters away.
“Ah! Yuri!” he shouted while trotting back to his friend, “Why’d you stop?”
Yuri didn’t answer him immediately, but instead began to smirk. His smirking then turned to a laugh as he started to chuckle while pointing at a building. This was a building that you would never notice while passing by in a vehicle. However, Yuri immediately recognized what it was despite its condition.
“Hey, Phichit, what do you think about working here” Yuri said while pointing to a sign that said “DANCERS WANTED. NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED”. Phichit, however, had no clue what was going on until he looked up and saw the name: [PUZZLES].
Phichit was shocked! No. Phichit was SHOOK. A strip club?? Of all places to suggest Yuri mentions a strip club?
“Yuri we can’t work at a strip club! We’d get in so much trouble by Ciao-Ciao!”
Yuri chuckles then brushes off the idea. “Haha yeah you’re right...but like...what if?”
Phichit could tell that Yuri was serious, but not too serious. The kind of serious where you’re 13 and you’re home alone with your friend and they want to drink from their parent’s liquor stash, but you don’t want to do it because you’ll get in trouble, but at the same time if they’re down you’re down. Like you both know you would get into deep trouble if you do it but you want to try anyways because everyone needs to be a bit rebellious in their life.
After a few seconds of nonverbal communication (which included a few eyebrow wiggles, nervous glances, and pats of reassurance), the two decided that they would give it a try.
“You know Yuri, I’m a bit nervous. I mean, I’ve never actually STRIPPED in front of people let alone expose most of myself.” Phichit whispered as they walked into the shop. The building was actually different from the way it looked on the outside. The windows were tinted so you couldn’t see all of the white lights and tables inside. There were a few booths and a couple of stages. There were also a couple of beefy guys doing some heavy lifting, moving items from one side of the room to the other.
“It’s okay Phichit, as long as we have each other’s back we’ll be fine.” Yuri comforted him while placing a hand on Phichit’s shoulder.
They walked further into the building and noticed a few more people inside. Some were sitting in chairs at tables, others were standing around.
“Hey. Are you guys here for the job opening?”
“Um haha yeah. We noticed the sign outside and we’re interested.”
“Alright. You two fellas follow me.”
Phichit and Yuri looked at each other with anxious yet excited eyes and began to follow this person who seemed to be the hiring manager. The two boys rounded the corner and found the manager sitting in an isolated booth with a couple of papers in their hands. They gave the two boys a glance up and down and wrote down a few notes.
“So, my name is Alex, nice to meet you. First off I would like to ask if you have any experience in dancing? I know the sign says you don’t need any but I’m just trying to see what we’re working with.”
“Well,” Phichit started off, “We’re both currently enrolled in a joint class for figure skating” The manager then raised an eyebrow and quickly scribbled something down.
“And,” Yuri added, “Along with the ice skating classes, we’ve also taken ballet to make sure we’re light on the ice when performing.”
These two boys loved performing, however Phichit enjoyed it more than Yuri.
“I see”, responded Alex “You two seem perfect for the job actually. Congratulations!”