Oh my god… why did I have to say all those things to him? I just wanted to have a calm, normal victory lap before I graduate…

The rest of the week had been normal, no other strange occurrences for Yuri. Somehow he managed to never run into his hot TA, Victor, again. But 2:00 PM Monday approached much too quickly, and yet again he found himself waiting in a tiny classroom in the math building. Waiting for the star of his dreams for the past week.

Yuri scrolled through his Instagram feed, mind already numb to the vast amount of engagement photos, family photos, new house photos…

"Good afternoon class! I hope everyone found the lectures to be informative!" Victor waltzed into the classroom, a few minutes late, again. A wide smile painted his face three thousand shades of gorgeous. "Does anyone have any topics they'd like to discuss?"

A few students raised their hands and mentioned a few points from class. Victor noted all of them on the board, in the upper left corner. Yuri zoned out, heart pounding harshly, his blood rushing loudly in his ears. He felt his face heat up at the thought of what happened on the bench under his favorite tree last week.

There's no way Victor is the same person… there's no way.

Yuri logged back onto to WattPad as soon as he got home that evening, only struggling for a few minutes to remember his username and password. He re-read every one of VN_IceKing's stories and had fallen in love again. He was ashamed. How could he react this way, after all these years? He'd never felt love or any other sort of emotion other than friendship toward anyone in his life.

"What about you, Yuri? Did you find anything confusing about first degree derivatives?" Victor's soft voice knocked him from his thoughts. Yuri looked up at him, still dazed from his romantic daydreams. The TA's face was not angry or even stern, but a gentle smile graced his lips and his eyes looked legitimately concerned.

Yuri's breath caught in his throat for a moment. He'd almost forgotten how beautiful Victor was-no, he hadn't "almost forgotten," he'd simply convinced himself that his mental image of Victor couldn't be a real possibility, couldn't be human. Shaking his head, Yuri whispered "Ah, no."

Victor nodded slightly in response. "Well then, let's look at problem 32, page 105 in your textbooks, shall we?"


50 minutes of awkwardly avoiding eye contact later, Yuri couldn't wait to bolt from the classroom and get away from he who makes his heart and mouth stutter. When Victor signaled the end of class, Yuri had already packed up all of his things and was halfway to his freedom-

"Yuri? Can I speak to you for a moment?"

Fuck fuck fuck fuck this can't be happening!

Yuri's heart skipped a beat at Victor's mention of his name. Hearing that husky, sensual voice speak his name sent shivers down his spine, all the way to his toes. Every night for the past week, Yuri dreamt up all sorts of wild scenarios involving himself, Victor, and very little clothing. In all of the dreams, Victor spoke his name often, so clearly, so lovingly

"Yuri? Is everything alright? You seemed distracted all through class." Victor was suddenly standing beside him and reached out a hand to rest on Yuri's shoulder. Only then did Yuri realize how much taller Victor was; he stood at least a head taller than Yuri.

"Um, I'm very sorry! I-I just have a lot on my mind!" Yuri immediately felt a wave of guilt wash over him. He'd spent all week thinking about this beautiful man, but couldn't even pay attention to him for less than an hour? It became obvious to Yuri that the feelings he harbored for Victor couldn't be anything more than physical attraction if he couldn't so much as give him an hour of his time.

Who am I? What am I doing?

Victor squeezed Yuri's shoulder briefly before allowing his arm to rest at his side. "I see. If you ever need to talk to someone, I'm here to help." Again with the dazzling smile. His face lit up, as if he'd had a lightbulb moment. Quickly, Victor pulled a notebook out of his bag and tore out a small piece of paper. He scribbled something down with a dry erase marker and held out the scrap to Yuri. "Here's my phone number. I'm all ears."

Yuri stared at the piece of paper in Victor's hand. Never in any of his wildest dreams did Yuri imagine Victor would be willing to talk to him on a regular enough basis that there would be phone numbers involved. Without thinking, he reached out and grabbed the paper from Victor's (long, probably dexterous) fingers. Their fingers brushed ever so slightly, and Yuri's heart began racing all over again. Victor smiled down at him, looking so innocent and genuinely happy that Yuri couldn't help but offer a small smile back.

Victor's eyes widened slightly. "That's the first time I've seen you smile." Yuri felt the tips of his ears heat up. "It looks good on you, you should do it more often."

Body sufficiently numb, Yuri nodded curtly, pivoted on his heel, and walked briskly out of the classroom. He could hear nothing, feel nothing. It was as if he had tunnel vision. He made a beeline to the nearest bathroom, not caring that he'd surely be late to his next class.

Taking a seat in the nearest open stall, Yuri dropped his bag onto the ground and clutched the small piece of notebook paper in his hands. For a reason unbeknownst to him, tears welled up in his eyes, and before long, small droplets dotted the tiny, ripped afterthought of a note.

What was Victor doing to him? First, he'd had Yuri experience all of these new feelings he'd only ever read about, and now he's-he's-

He's just being friendly, you idiot! He probably feels sorry for you.

A strangled cry escaped Yuri's lips. He dropped the note and covered his mouth with his hands as he continued to cry (Why am I crying?). If Victor really is VN_IceKing… there was no coming back from the sheer embarrassment Yuri felt over commenting on every single one of his stories. Victor probably thought he was some crazy stalker fangirl in love with him.

The sad part was, three out of four of those things were absolutely true about Yuri. Was it too early to call it love? Yuri thought so. He'd just come to understand that his feelings had to be purely sexual. Lust, not love.

But he also thought back to all of the dreams he'd had involving Victor. True, many were of sexual escapades and euphoric throes of passion, but many were also of the two on dates, having normal conversations, enjoying each other's company without any physical implication.

And yet… in none of them did he and Victor share a kiss.

Yuri brushed it off, thinking it had to do with the fact that he'd never had a kiss to begin with.

What a loser…


Every night. Every night that week Yuri thought of texting Victor. He'd start a text message draft, but delete it before sending. Anything from a simple "Hey! It's Yuri," to "It's Yuri, from your math tutorial. I realized I fell in love with you as soon as I saw you walk in the room, and you are what has been distracting me." Nothing felt right. Nothing seemed to capture what Yuri wanted to say.

It was absolutely ridiculous. Not only was he acting like a schoolgirl, he was a literature major for god's sake! Words were his forte, not his downfall.

When the clock truck 2:00 PM that Monday, Yuri instantly felt ill. His stomach churned, his throat burned, his face felt warm.

His chest ached.

His phone lay face-down on his desk, his hands twisting nervously in his lap. Victor walked in the room, right on cue, and Yuri fell all over again. His breath hitched, the words "Take me" stuck in his throat.

With his bag situated on the desk in front of him, book opened to the first chapter, Victor opened up the class by asking if anyone had any problems to go over. And again, Yuri was lost in his thoughts of his TA-more accurately, of he and his TA participating in activities less than appropriate.

Of all his wild imaginary instances of their encounters, Yuri's favorite had to be how he imagined their first date would go.

Victor would pick him up from his parents' house with something cheesy in tow-probably a single rose. "For the only rose in the world without thorns." Something Victor had written in one of his stories many years ago. That dazzling smile.

They'd drive for 20 minutes to somewhere Yuri had never been, a nice seafood restaurant.

"I thought of taking you to a Russian restaurant, but I have yet to find one good enough for my taste here."

Either way, Yuri would be delighted simply to spend time with Victor, but he can't tell him that.

They'd enjoy a nice meal, making small talk. Victor would tell an enthralling story about his adventures as a graduate student, Yuri would chuckle, take a sip of his wine, tell an-albeit less enthralling-story in response. Victor would chuckle, reach for Yuri's hand over the table and grab his fingers. Victor would rub small circles on Yuri's thumb. They'd continue getting to know each other through small anecdotes and a few questions here and there. Yuri would learn that Victor had a younger brother, whose name was-interestingly enough-Yuri, though Victor called him Yurio. Victor would learn that Yuri worked hard throughout his college career, helping out his family, which is why he's still at uni as an undergraduate. Victor would casually bring up that he couldn't quite place Yuri's accent, and Yuri would respond by telling him that the Katsuki family lived in Japan until he was about 12 before moving to Detroit. The candle on their table would begin to flicker wildly as the wax continued to wane almost into nothing. Both of their wine glasses would be refilled several times, neither of them noticing when the waitress came to their table. They ate merrily their entrees and desserts. Yuri wouldn't be able to count the number of times he got lost in one of Victor's intricately woven tales, or his sweet laughter, or the way he would look at Yuri with such adoration. Those eyes-they would tell Yuri everything he ever wanted to know.

The waitress would come up to their table and kindly let them know that the restaurant had closed half an hour ago.

"Oh, I'm so sorry miss," Victor would say kindly. "It seems we lost track of time. If you could please bring the check, I'll be happy to pay and we'll be out of your hair." That award-winning smile.

"It's quite alright if you'd like to split the bill," Yuri would interject as the waitress walked away.

"Don't be silly. I asked you on this date. I'm more than happy to spoil you tonight." A wink. That would be new to Yuri.

Victor would drive him back to his house. Halfway there, Yuri would realize that this isn't the way back home. After questioning Victor, he would respond that it was a surprise. Eventually, they would pull up to a parking lot with a gazebo overlooking a lake. Lights from nearby buildings would reflect off of the rippling waters. A cool breeze would lightly tousle Victor's hair, and Yuri would gasp as he looked at Victor, standing with his hands in his pockets as he looked down at the waters, soft moonlight bouncing off of his impossibly beautiful face.

"You captured my interest as soon as I walked in that door, Yuri."

"-Yuri? Yuri? Are you alright?" Again, Victor's hand landed on Yuri's shoulder. This time, however, Victor was leaning impossibly close to Yuri, their noses almost touching.

Yuri gasped and tried to back up in his chair, but ended up smacking his forehead right into VIctor's nose with a sickening crunch. "Oh my god I am so sorry Victor! Oh god, do you need a tissue?" Yuri could see a small stream of blood trickle between the cracks of Victor's fingers as he held his nose.

Victor's voice came out nasally. "It's quite alright! But yes, a tissue sounds great."

Yuri handed him the whole box of tissues from the front desk. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes again. How stupid could be possibly make himself look? "I'm so sorry! I-um, oh my god I'm so sorry!"

Victor waved him off nonchalantly, as if his nose wasn't bleeding profusely.

"Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" Yuri asked before he could stop himself.

A slick smile spread across Victor's face as he finished sopping up his bodily fluids. With a final wipe to his slightly swollen nose, he turned to Yuri with a mischievous sparkle in his too-blue eyes. "A date."

He could hear his heartbeat flatline.


A/N: Thank y'all so so so SO much for all of the follows and favorites! It means so much to me! I wanted to post this later, maybe tomorrow or in a few days, but the tenth episode just came out and it is SPECTACULAR so I just had to post now!

Thank you again for all of your support! Until next time 3