Phichit and Yuuri both lay on the bed in the middle of the night, tired but not quite tired enough to go to sleep. The world outside the dorm window was dark. Neither of them were sure what time it was - late, definitely. Phones charged across the room with dully glowing screens but neither of them had the will to move enough to check them. Instead they just lay there in the timeless darkness still in their skinny jeans, shirts ruffled half way up their torsos from until they'd decided that undressing was too much effort.
"Hey, Yuuri… what's it like?"
Yuuri blinked drowsily at the ceiling, feeling the warm skin of Phichit's forearm pressed against his. "What's what like?"
"Kissing."
Yuuri choked on air; suddenly he didn't feel tired anymore. "I don't know," he finally mumbled back. "I-I've never …" he couldn't say it out loud. It would sound so lame if he said it out loud.
The fact that he'd never been kissed wasn't exactly something he was proud of.
Suddenly, he was glad of the darkness - at least Phichit couldn't see the way his cheeks burned with embarrassment. He shifted awkwardly on the bed, rolling his spine and shoulders stiffly into the mattress. Pins and needles twitched through his fingertips, pressing them together to his thumbs in an effort to take his mind of the steady pick up of his heartbeat, the way his breaths came just that tiniest bit quicker.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Phichit lift his head off the bed and turn to look at him through the darkness, sheets shifting slightly beneath them. "Oh, really? The way I saw you making out with Victor's posters the other day, I thought-"
"What?!"
Yuuri bolted up on his elbows, face so aflame it was a wonder he didn't glow like a firefly. He could just about make out the playful sparkle in his best friend's grey eyes and the amused curve of his smirk.
White teeth flashed in a grin. "Don't worry, Yuuri. It's me, I don't mind."
Even if he couldn't see Yuuri's blush, he bet Phichit could feel the heat rolling off his cheeks in humiliated waves. Hands slapped over his face, the skin of his palms cool against his red cheeks. A groan slipped softly through his fingers.
"Have you…have ever thought about it?"
Yuuri's round brown eyes stared mortified up at the ceiling over his fingertips. "Of course, I've thought about it." The posters, after all…
"Only with Victor?"
A frown nudged at Yuuri's brow. "What do you mean?"
"I just mean… have you ever wanted to kiss someone else other than Victor? Someone… someone like me, for instance?"
The muscles in the side of Yuuri's neck relaxed so his face flopped to the side, fingers melting away from over his cheeks. There was nothing teasing in Phichit's eyes now, charcoal and serious. Yuuri gulped at the intensity there, tongue darting out to wet his suddenly dry lips. "You…"
His gaze dipped down to Phichit's mouth before could help it, trailing along the full curve of his tan lips. They sparkled with lip balm. When had Phichit put lip balm on? He wondered what flavour it was. It wasn't something he'd noticed until now. And Phichit noticed him noticing; the corners of his lips twitched in a smile and Yuuri bolted his eyes back up to Phichit's, his own a fraction wider than before at being caught.
His best friend inched ever so slightly closer on the bed, shoulders meeting and fingers curling tenderly around Yuuri's. The breath hitched quietly in the Japanese boy's lungs.
Had he thought about it? About Phichit?
Yes.
Too many times, yes.
It may be Victor Nikiforov's face that plastered his walls and spurred him on while he skated, but often - in the dead of night, listening to Phichit's sleepy breaths across the room - it was his best friend he thought about most, not the Russian. Victor Nikiforov was far away, perfect but untouchable. Phichit was real. Yuuri could watch his smile without it being through a reporter's camera lens, hear the intimate sigh of his breath when he rolled awake in the morning, and feel the warmth of his body as they curled up late into the night playing Overwatch together. Phichit was real, and made Yuuri feel very real things in turn.
Their eyes locked through the darkness, sparkle in their gazes glinting in the starlight. Phichit sucked in a shallow breath. "Then when you meet Victor at least you'd have had practise."
"Oh…"
Yuuri was breathless at the idea.
He never thought his night would go like this. He'd thought they'd play their video game until they both got too tired or too angry at the game to continue, heat up some midnight hot pockets and go to sleep. Never crossed his mind that he'd get his first kiss. With Phichit, no less!
Now that he thought about it though, there wasn't anything wrong with it being Phichit. He was pretty, could draw on winged eyeliner so sharp you could cut yourself on it, was Yuuri's best friend – he'd seen Yuuri make out with Victor Nikiforov's poster for heaven's sake and hadn't put him on some kind of watch list to be sectioned! If he trusted anybody with this, he trusted Phichit.
"You're my best friend." Yuuri said, though he couldn't remember what question he was supposed to be answering.
"You're mine too."
Round grey eyes gleamed across the bed from him, feeling like a million miles away instead of the mere inches they were. Yuuri didn't know what was happening, what they were saying. Was this a 'we're best friends, let's not ruin it' kind of moment or a 'we're best friends, I trust you more than anybody else with this' kind of moment? Yuuri knew what side of the fence he was on, mind made up quickly.
Before either of them decided to move, they shifted ever so slightly closer across the mattress. Fingers curled delicately on the sheets between them, clinging on to each other as they read the decision in the other's eyes.
Yuuri could taste the lingering coffee on Phichit's breath, fingers reaching up to brush his best friend's black bangs away from his pretty eyes. A hand settled at Yuuri's waist, thumb grazing over the bare skin where his shirt had risen up. It was a little softer than he'd like it to be, but he was too lost in the proximity of Phichit's eyes to be embarrassed.
He wasn't sure who leaned in first.
The first thing he noticed was how soft Phichit's lips were. And strawberries - of course Phichit had lip balm on, Yuuri thought with an inward groan, wishing he'd had the same idea.
He fluttered his eyes shut. It felt nice. Their mouths were barely touching - lips ever so slightly grazed - but still it was enough to send Yuuri's heart racing, breath catching in a way that tasted more Phichit than Yuuri. There was no way Phichit couldn't feel the heat rolling off Yuuri's face. Yuuri wondered if he noticed how his lips were a little chapped too.
For a frozen moment, nobody moved. Then Phichit's fingers tensed ever so slightly over Yuuri's waist, Yuuri trying to combat the rush of blood flying to his face making his head swoon. The tip of his nose brushed Phichit's and he felt Phichit smirk against his mouth.
When they slowly pulled apart, Yuuri thought Phichit's cheeks looked a little darker in the dim light of the smog-smothers stars. A shaky breath passed through his lips.
He smiled. He couldn't help it; he'd just had his first kiss! With his best friend, while the posters of his silver haired skating idol grinned and winked down at them from the walls around their room. A tiny chuckle breathed from him, and he was glad when Phichit giggled too.
"That was weird," Phichit said.
"Yeah."
Good weird, or bad weird - Yuuri couldn't tell. He didn't mind either way really. He knew Phichit would never rub it in his face even if he hadn't been the best kiss in the world.
Something glowed in Phichit's gaze that made Yuuri's heart skip a beat and it nearly went into full blown meltdown when the Thai boy snagged his lower lip with his teeth. It morphed into a giggle that Yuuri just couldn't resist, a smile curling over his own mouth almost instantly.
They both rolled apart at the same time. Chests bobbed with soft laughter and arms threw over their faces, heads tipped back lazily into the sheets. Yuuri's cheeks still glowed but he felt far from self conscious about it now - he just couldn't stop laughing! Tears beaded in the corners of his scrunched up eyes and he figured Phichit was having the same problem if the careful swipe of his thumbs under his eyelids was anything to go by.
"I'm - I'm glad that we're friends." The Thai boy finally said, words choking through his snicker.
Yuuri flickered a grin. "Just friends?"
"Just friends."
Agreed, Yuuri couldn't help but think with a smile at the ceiling, even as Phichit tenderly curled their fingers together in the sheets between them. He had the best bestfriend ever.