"To be a muse is to be a wonder in someone else's eyes, flaws and all."
― L.H. Cosway, Still Life with Strings
"Fine, one more glass of champagne should be fine."
Yuuri brought the glass to his lips and scanned the room again for Victor. He'd seen him a couple of times, talking with groups of students and other faculty members, but now he was gone. Yuuri had been hoping to get Victor alone at some point, but now he was worried he missed his opportunity. The champagne was a little warm, but Yuuri took a couple of sips to appease Chris.
"So, who invited you here tonight?" Phichit asked, "I thought the event was only open to the art department and faculty."
"My roommate did. I should probably call him and see where he is." Chris took out his phone but looked up a moment later. "Do either of you have cell service down here?"
Yuuri took out his phone and noticed his screen was black. "I think my phones dead."
"I told you to charge it while we were at practice." Phichit poked Yuuri's arm as he said each word and Yuuri ignored him. "Service sucks down here. If you want to try and call your friend, you might have to go upstairs, but if he's down here, you probably won't be able to reach him. You could try connecting to the wifi and call him that way?"
"I had a hard enough time getting down here in the first place. This building is totally confusing." Chris scanned the room again before pocketing his phone. "He has to be around here somewhere, unless he left with his boyfriend already."
"What about you, are you single?" Yuuri couldn't help but stare at Phichit. He knew his friend was a long-time fan of Chris' yet here he was casually attempting to flirt with his idol as if it was nothing. Yuuri wasn't sure if he should be impressed or try to drag his friend away from the situation. If the tables were turned, Yuuri would hope someone would stop him before he embarrassed himself.
Chris looked amused, "I'm happily single. What about you two?"
"I'm painfully single, but Yuuri here's bagged a hottie." Phichit giggled, and Yuuri had to refrain from nudging him in the gut. That's supposed to be a secret Phichit.
"Oh really, where is this hottie then? I'd love to meet the man that was able to snag a date with Yuuri." Chris winked and turned to Phichit. "You know I tried to flirt with your friend throughout the Grand Prix series, and he was totally oblivious."
"What?!" Yuuri thought back to the few interactions he had with Chris. The first was at Skate Canada where Chris invited him out for drinks. He declined since he had a rule about not drinking during a competition.
After the medal ceremony, Yuuri had to rush to the airport to catch his flight, so he had to decline Chris' invitation to go out after the competition was done.
Then in the final when he asked him out to dinner, Chris seemed fine when he suggested they invite all the skaters out for a friendly meal.
"Oh no chéri, I only agreed to go out to dinner with the others because I didn't have the heart to tell you otherwise. You seemed so excited to go out with everyone, so I played along."
Phichit began to laugh, and Yuuri felt his cheeks heat. "You should have said something!"
Chris raised an eyebrow, "Would that have made a difference?"
"Probably not," Phichit spoke for him. Yuuri couldn't believe they were having this conversation.
"It's fine Yuuri, don't look so upset. There's plenty of fish in the sea." Chris scanned the room again, "I shouldn't intrude on your night much longer. I should probably try and find my friend."
"You don't have to!" Phichit stepped in front of Chris as if to block his path, "Hangout with us until you find your friend!"
Victor finally found a moment to slip away to call Nadine. He had been so busy with setting up the gallery he didn't have time to go home and feed Makkachin.
"Hello?"
"Hi Nadine, it's Victor. Sorry to call so late!"
"It's fine; you know you can call at any time. Did you guys need to schedule another early cleaning?"
"No, it's Makkachin. I won't be home for a few more hours, and I was wondering if you could stop by and feed him for me if you're home?"
"Sorry Victor, I would, but I'm at my sisters in Toledo for the weekend."
"Oh okay, sorry to bother you!"
"It's no bother! Have a good night!"
Victor hung up the phone and contemplated what to do. If he went back inside, he'd only be bombarded again, and it would be difficult to slip away. But he hadn't seen Yuuri yet, and that was the whole reason he was here in the first place. Sure, he may have helped set up the event, but he was so tired, and he really just wanted to go to bed.
He tried to call Chris, but it went straight to voicemail which meant he was probably downstairs already. Not seeing another option, Victor decided to send a text to Chris and Yuuri explaining that he had to go home, and he'd try to make it back before the gallery closed.
As the night carried on, there was still no sign of Victor. Yuuri tried to hide his disappointment by pretending to admire the rest of the gallery and by enjoying free drinks with Chris and Phichit but it wasn't working.
Eventually, many of the guests began to trickle out or petered off to the tables to sit and chat. The three skaters were occupying the table closet to Phichit's statue, but Yuuri was only half listening to the conversation.
"So Yuuri, tell me about this man of yours."
"There's not much to tell really." This was the fourth time Chris brought up the subject, and Yuuri was running out of ways to avoid his questions.
"Is he American? Tall? Details Yuuri!"
Sighing, Yuuri tried to think of a way to describe Victor. There was no way Chris knew Victor, but he was a popular professor, and he didn't want to take any chances. "He's nice."
Chris snorted, "The colour red is nice. Your boyfriend should be more than nice."
"He's European." Phichit offered. Not too tall, but taller than Yuuri I think. Am I right?"
Yuuri glared at Phichit but kept his mouth shut.
"Okay, that's a start. What else?"
"I don't know what you want me to say. We're still getting to know each other, and everything's really new still, but I think it could work out you know?" Yuuri was never good at expressing his feelings, let alone voicing them. He didn't know why he was humoring Chris, so he blamed the alcohol.
"And he's hot. Like really hot." Phichit laughed, and Yuuri refrained from rolling his eyes.
"He sounds perfect."
"No one's perfect." The response was a reflex. Yuuri strived for perfection all his life, and his therapist insisted he repeats the words every time his mind picked apart his shortcomings.
"My roommate would disagree. He totally thinks he found the perfect man."
Phichit shrugged, "I like to think there's a perfect person out there for everyone. Not perfect, but perfect for them."
"Well if that's true I haven't found Mr. Perfect yet." Chris took another sip from his glass, draining the contents.
Yuuri stared at his empty glass. "I think it's time for a refill, don't you think?" Standing, Yuuri could feel the buzz of alcohol thrumming through his body. "On second thought, maybe we should switch to water."
The last hour had been a total disaster. When he got home, it was Chris' cat Gigi that met him at the door instead of Makkachin. Victor could hear her meows from the driveway, making him run the rest of the way to the door. When he got inside the Persian looked up at him expectantly before running down the hall, only stopping halfway to look back at Victor as if to say, 'follow me.' When he got into the kitchen, Gigi was sitting next to her automatic feeder expectantly, and Makkachin was asleep on the tile floor.
After a few more steps into the kitchen, Victor could smell something was off. Not only had Makkachin peed in the house, but it seemed like he ate the one thing that made him sick without fail, Gigi's cat food.
Immediately, Victor went to dispense more food from the feeder for Gigi, and she happily began to mow down on dinner, only further proving Victors hypothesis. Chris' cat was very particular about her food and ate religiously at the same time every day. She was on a schedule, and she would refuse to eat any earlier. Victor had to make sure to feed Makka before Gigi's scheduled feeding or else he'd beat her to it.
After cleaning up the mess in the kitchen, Victor checked on Makkachain to see that he was fine but obviously unwell from eating the cat food. He tried to get the poodle to drink some water and to feed her his dinner, but Makka refused to move from her spot in the kitchen. Victor felt awful, and there was no way he was going to leave Makkachin unwell.
Again, Victor took out his phone to text Chris and Yuuri. His text to Yuuri was short saying the Makka was sick and he wouldn't be able to make it back to the gallery but to call him or text him when he got home. The text to Chris was similar but in more detail about what happened and asked when he planned to come home.
When they announced last call, Chris invited them back to his house to continue the celebration.
"We probably should head home, don't you think Phichit?" All Yuuri wanted to do was find a charger and get in touch with Victor. Something must have happened to make him leave the party early, and Yuuri really wanted to see him before they left for Japan. He'd only stayed this long for Phichit's sake.
Phichit eyes went wide, "Come on Yuuri! It's not that late." Yuuri could tell Phichit was slowly starting to sober up, and any excuse to continue the party would be appealing to his friend. Tonight, they happened to run into Chris, and he knew Phichit wouldn't miss an opportunity to hang out with one of his skating idols.
"If you're a pet person I have an adorable persian and poodle at home that loves cuddles. Plus, I have a fully stocked bar and a killer entertainment system in the basement." Chris offered suggestively.
"Please!" Phichit looked like he'd be crushed if Yuuri declined.
"Fine, but can I borrow a charger?" There was still all-day Saturday for Yuuri to see Victor, and the sooner he got his phone charged the sooner he could try to make plans.
"Still trying to get in touch with your boyfriend?" Chris asked as they stood to leave.
"Um he's not really my boyfriend, we've just been on one date."
"That's not true!" Phichit handed his coat check ticket to the hostess at the exit. "You have lunch with him all the time, and he's asked you out a few other times, but you've been too busy."
"Sounds like he really likes you." Chris winked and put on his jacket.
"We haven't even kissed yet!" Yuuri quickly covered his mouth and wished he could take back his words.
Chris laughed, "Don't you sound smitten kitten. Maybe you need to make the first move then."
"We were trying to get Yuuri laid tonight, but that didn't really work out."
"Phichit!"
"Speaking of getting laid, I should probably check in with my roommate before we head over." Chris took out his phone as they made their way down the hall towards the stairwell. As they got halfway up the staircase Chris phone buzzed and he stopped to read the messages that popped up on his screen. "Damn, do you guys mind calling a cab while I make a quick call?
Yuuri asked, "Is everything okay?"
"Of course, just give me a minute."
Not wanting to stray far from the kitchen, Victor got himself situated on the couch so he could keep an eye on Makkachin. Victor tried to distract himself with social media while he waited for Chris or Yuuri to get back to him but after a while, he started to get worried.
He wasn't worried about abandoning Chris at the gallery. If anything, Chris would find a way to make the most of it and have a great time without him.
What worried him was Yuuri hadn't bothered to text him back.
He knew Yuuri was at the event because Victor kept trying to make his way over to him without anyone noticing. Victors plan was to wait for the excitement of the night to die down before he would be able to make his way over to Yuuri where he planned on staying for the rest of the night. When he didn't go back in to tell Yuuri he was leaving; Victor hoped he would have noticed Victor had left and gone upstairs to check his phone or tried to get in contact with him.
Victor tried not to take it personally, especially since he knew Yuuri was with Phichit, but he couldn't help but feel a little hurt. Yuuri would be leaving for Japan soon, and he was really looking forward to spending time with him before he left.
After another thirty minutes had passed, Victor began to get anxious. He knew the event would be winding down and most of the people would be leaving soon if they hadn't already. A sickening thought began to nag at the back of Victor's mind. All week Yuuri had seemed a little off, and Victor just assumed it was because he was busy preparing for his upcoming competition. Now he was beginning to worry Yuuri was losing interest in him, and he just didn't have the heart to admit it to Victor yet.
Before he could second-guess himself, Victor texted Chris.
ME: Remember how I was going to introduce you to my mystery man?
Well now mystery man isn't getting back to me, and I'm worried he's mad at me for leaving without saying bye.
Am I overreacting?
Unable to sit any longer, Victor got up and began to pace the room. Some small part of the back of his mind told him he was overreacting and that everything was going to be fine. The other louder part of his brain was coming up with a million different reasons why Yuuri wouldn't be interested in him, and that rejection was imminent.
Every minute of waiting was torture.
He started a million text to Yuuri in an attempt to explain himself further, but he deleted them all.
Finally, when he was just about ready to throw his phone across the room, Chris' name lit up his screen.
"Chris! Did you get my text?"
"I got them," Chris was speaking in French, and it only took Victor a moment register the translation in his head.
"Why are you talking in French?" Victor responded in English hoping his friend would switch back to the language they were both most comfortable conversing with each other.
"I'm with people, and I'm pretty sure neither of them can understand me so I can speak freely without stepping away." Chris' French was much better than Victors, but he could make the switch easy enough.
"Fine," It had been a while since Victor spoke French, but the words tumbled out easily. "Sorry I had to leave and not come back. I didn't want to leave Makkachin."
"Don't worry about it. I'm not calling about that, have you heard from mystery boy?"
"Not yet, so I'm assuming he's still in the gallery. Is there still a lot of people there?"
Chris paused for a second too long making Victors' heart sink, "There's still some people there, but a lot of people have left."
Victor swore.
"Don't fret chéri. Listen, I ran into a friend at this event, and I invited them back to our place, but if you're not up for guests, I can call it off."
"No, it's fine. I just hope to hear from Yu-mystery boy soon."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive!" Victor wasn't sure if his tone was convincing enough, but Chris seemed to let it go, and they hung up.
"Are you sure it's okay for us to come over?" Chris was all smiles when he was on the phone, but Yuuri thought it looked forced.
"Totally fine!" Chris said as he pocketed his phone. "My roommates just in a bit of a funk and I wanted to check in with him before we showed up. Guess you were right Yuuri, no one's perfect after all."
"Is he okay?"
"Yeah, it seems like his boyfriends giving him the cold shoulder, and he's freaking out."
"Really?" Yuuri spotted the cab Phichit called and waved trying to flag it down. "That sucks." The faster they got to Chris' the faster Yuuri could charge his phone.
"Honestly I've never seen my roommate this hung up on a guy before. I probably shouldn't be telling you all this, but I'm kind of jealous..." Chris continued to speak, but Yuuri didn't hear the rest of it as he got into the cab. Phichit slid in beside Yuuri, and Chris sat up front.
Yuuri barely registered the address Chris gave as the car began to head towards the main road that leads out of campus. Phichit and Chris continued to talk about Chris' roommate, but Yuuri wasn't really paying attention anymore. His mind was focused on getting in touch with Victor to make sure everything was okay.
When they drove past Yuuri and Phichit's dorm, Yuuri was tempted to ask to be dropped off, but he didn't want to sound rude.
After driving for a few more blocks, Chris instructed the driver to turn on a quiet street that Yuuri thought looked familiar. When they pulled in front of the largest house on the street, Yuuri had to rub his eyes to make sure his contacts weren't playing tricks on him.
"Um Chris, is this your house?" Yuuri asked pointing to the house next to Victors. The cab stopped in between the two houses, and there was no way Chris was Victor's roommate.
"No, this one's mine." Chris pointed to Victor's house as he took out his wallet to pay for the cab.
"Your house is huge!" Phichit's nose was pressed up window, his breath causing the glass to fog.
Yuuri reached for the car door and yanked it open, practically falling out of the car. Chris and Phichit got out a second later both looking at Yuuri with concerned expressions. "You okay chéri? You look like you've seen a ghost!"
"This is Victor's house," Yuuri said when he found his voice meekly pointing towards the home.
"You know Victor? Wow! Tonight's full of surprises!" Chris began to walk up the driveway, but Phichit was rooted to the spot lost in thought. When Yuuri met Phichit's gaze, he saw the moment Phichit put two and two together.
"OH, MY, GOD!" Phichit screamed and doubled over laughing, causing Chris to turn around.
Chris looked from Yuuri to Phichit and back again. "What's so funny."
Phichit looked up at Yuuri and pointed towards Chris. "He doesn't know?"
Yuuri couldn't help but pinch himself to make sure this wasn't some kind of nightmare.
"What do I not know?" Chris seemed totally lost, and just Yuuri wanted to disappear. This wasn't happening.
Before Yuuri could stop him, Phichit said, "That my roommates dating yours!"
Chris looked at Yuuri with wide, shocked eyes. "You're mystery boy?!"
"Mystery boy!" Phichit echoed and proceeded to laugh to the point of tears.
"Shit, Victors, going to kill me." Chris looked at the house then back at Yuuri. "Let's pretend you never heard a thing I said about him tonight, okay?"
Chris kept talking, but Yuuri wasn't paying attention anymore. All night Chris had been talking about Victor without Yuuri realizing.
As he slowly began to piece together his conversations with Chris throughout the night, one thought kept bursting forth above all others.
Victor thinks I'm perfect?
After getting off the phone with Chris, Victor decided it was best for him to move with Makkachin upstairs to the loft.
The third floor of the house doubled as Victors studio and bedroom. Initially, the loft was built by the previous owners to act as a rental apartment equipped with a private entrance and washroom.
When Chris bought the house, he left the loft empty and planned to use it as an attic if he ever needed extra storage. Although Chris offered Victor one of the guest bedrooms to use as his own, Victor preferred to work where he slept in case inspiration hit in the middle of the night and the loft was perfect for both.
It took more effort than usual to get Makka to bed, but eventually Victor got the poodle rest comfortably in his room. On any other night, Victor would have been thrilled by the idea of entertaining guests since it was rare that either of them invited anyone over. Tonight, however, Victor just wanted to curl up in bed and hope that tomorrow was a brighter day.
After changing into sweats and a loose t-shirt, Victor made his way to the bathroom to get ready for bed. Staring at his reflection in the mirror, Victor was appalled at how dry his skin was. The winter weather always dried out his face, forcing him to add an extra hydrating mask to his already extensive facial regiment. He had just finished applying the blue mud mask when he heard the front door open.
Poking his head out of the bathroom Victor could see that he had, in fact, closed his door. He heard Chris call his name and muffled voices, but Victor chose to ignore them. Chris knew him well enough to know that if he wasn't there to greet their guest, it meant he wouldn't be joining them in whatever their plans were.
Victor checked his phone for the millionth time and slumped down on the bed when he saw that there were no new messages from Yuuri. With nothing else to occupy his time, Victor opened the music app on his phone and hit shuffle on his favourite 90's playlist.
When R.E.M's Everybody Hurts began to play, Victor was sure the universe was mocking him. He wasn't sure if he should laugh or throw his phone across the room. Instead, Victor turned, so he was lying on his back and plopped his phone on his chest. He knew he was wallowing, but it wasn't like there was anyone there to see him.
Victor was so lost in his melancholy thoughts he didn't hear the soft knocking at first. When the knocking persisted, he assumed it was just Chris coming to check on him. He didn't bother to open his eyes as he told Chris to come in. The door opened and closed, but Chris still hadn't said a word.
"I'm fine Chris, don't mind me. I may have just ruined my shot with the most amazing man I've ever met, but that doesn't mean you should be up here while you have friends over. Go, I'll be okay. I think." Victor was expecting Chris to laugh at his pitiful display or at least to come up with a witty comment to make him laugh. When the silence stretched on Victor tilted his head towards the door and opened one eye slowly.
The last person Victor expected to see was Yuuri nervously fiddling with his hands. Victor shot up so fast that his phone went flying and landed with a thunk somewhere on the floor.
"Yuuri! How did… why are you… um." Words. Victor brain short-circuited but his mouth still tried to speak.
"Can we talk?" Victor felt the blood drain from his upper body and his heart sink. Those three dreaded words were always bad. They often meant yelling, apologies, and groveling. Before Victor could get a word out Yuuri started rambling.
"I am so sorry! My phone died, and I wanted to find you or text you, but I couldn't, and then we ran into Chris and Phichit loves Chris. Not love love but like loves his skating like a lot. We have posters in our dorm of him, and I couldn't find you, and I knew I should have tried, but I didn't, and Chris talked about you all night without any of us realizing he was talking about you or me and he told me not to tell you, but I just did, and he also said Makkachin was sick and that I was ignoring you, but I wasn't, I just, my phone died, and I'm sorry!
Victor looked Yuuri up and down. His hair looked like it had been slicked back, but chunks of hair were now falling into his face. His cheeks were red and blotchy, and his eyes were glassy. Victor usually hated the colour black since it reminded him of funerals, but the tight dress pants and lace sleeved top outlined Yuuri's curves wonderfully. There was too much space between them. Relief and joy and a million other emotions ran through Victor all at once as he closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to Yuuri's.
Somewhere in the room, his phone was playing Wonderwall as Yuuri wrapped his arms around Victor's neck and pulled him closer.
Victor had thought about kissing Yuuri a thousand times. He wanted their first kiss to be soft and sweet and memorable after a romantic date. Not desperate and sloppy in his mess of a bedroom while he had a mud mask on. Shit the mask!
Reluctantly Victor pulled away ready to apologize for getting flecks of the blue mud on Yuuri's chin and upper lip. Before he could open his mouth to speak Yuuri's eyes fluttered open sparkling with mirth, and again the words got stuck in his throat. Yuuri stood on his tiptoes to reach Victor's lips again. The kiss was soft, but firm and Victor felt his limbs go limp as he leaned into the kiss. The stress of the past few hours drained away and was replaced with nothing but complete and total bliss.
Yuuri was in heaven, floating on a cloud.
He was tempted to pinch himself to make sure this wasn't a dream for the umpteenth time that night, but he couldn't bother to detangle his fingers from around Victor's neck. When they finally broke from the most passionate kiss of his life, Yuuri couldn't help himself when he reached up for more.
Kissing Victor felt right, as if his lips were made for his. Yuuri took a step closer and felt Victor's arms wrap around his hips as he pulled them closer together. Not wanting to be left out, Makkachin attempted to wiggle his way between the two of them forcing them to take a step back or trip. Victor scolded his pooch for the intrusion, but Yuuri couldn't help but laugh.
"What's on your face?" Victor's expression made Yuuri laugh even harder.
"Um," Victor's fingers brushed his chin and lips. As blue flecks fell to the floor Yuuri giggled. "Just give me a second to wash this stuff off. Sit or uh stand here?" Yuuri bit his lip to prevent another laugh from escaping his lips and nodded. Victor grabbed his phone from the floor, turned off the music, and closed the door to the bathroom.
The room was huge. The only places to sit in Victors bedroom was on the bed, on the leather couch that looked similar to the bench in the studio, or the desk chair. Since it looked like the least suggestive options, Yuuri made his way over to Victor's desk. The oak table was littered with scraps of paper, brushes, and charcoal. Unable to stop himself, Yuuri sifted through the sketches and was delighted to find most of them resembled him.
It never ceased to amaze Yuuri of how talented Victor was. He assumed Victor had sketched these from scratch since he never posed in any of the positions the Yuuri in the drawings were sporting. Yuuri wasn't sure how Victor was able to work at the desk with so many papers littering the surface, but he did his best not to disturb the positioning of the sketches. He almost succeeded until he found a drawing of a woman that looked a lot like the woman from Victor's paintings. Curiosity getting the better of him, Yuuri slipped the paper from the mess and examined it closely.
This sketch was done with so much more detail than the rest on the desk and Yuuri couldn't help the pang of jealousy that ran through him. When Victor emerged from the bathroom he was wearing the most dazzling heart shape smile, Yuuri had to remind himself to breathe.
"Sorry, if I would have known you were coming I would have made myself more presentable." Victors glance focused on the paper in Yuuri's hand, and he froze. "Oh my god, please don't look at those! I swear I'm not some obsessive freak! You've just inspired me lately, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't sketch you right without having you here!"
"I told you, you can sketch me whenever you want. I love that I inspire you." For the first time, Yuuri was thankful for the alcohol coursing through his veins. He felt relaxed and unashamed to speak his mind.
"Which one do you got there." Victor pointed to the paper in Yuuri's hand. "If you like it you can keep it."
Yuuri stood and hid the paper behind his back, "No, it's okay."
Victor took a step forward, and Yuuri took one back. "What's wrong? If you're worried you've upset me, trust me, you haven't."
"It's not that," Yuuri felt his cheeks heat. "Who is this?"
Yuuri showed Victor the sketch and watched the smile disappear from his lips as he looked at the woman on the page. Victor reached out his hand for the paper, and Yuuri handed it to him. The silence stretched until it got uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry, I should…"
"No, it's fine." Victor tore his gaze from the paper and met Yuuri's eyes with a sad smile. Taking a couple of steps back Victor sat down on the edge of his bed, and Yuuri sat back down on the desk chair. "When I was fifteen I was in a car accident that killed my parents and sister. Vera and I were twins, and she died in my arms."
Yuuri was stunned. "That's awful; I'm so sorry Victor."
Victor continued to speak as if he hadn't heard Yuuri, "People kept telling me that time heals all wounds, but Vera, Vera was everything to me. She annoyed me like no other, but she was my other half. We did everything together and when she died the world became dull. She shined so brightly and when she left me…"
Yuuri stood and made his way to the bed. He sat next to Victor, reached for his hand, and squeezed. "When she left me, a part of me died along with her. It took me a while to sketch her again but when I did it was if she was alive with me again. Memorializing her on paper became an escape and inspired some of my best work."
"When I was researching for my Ph.D. my focus was on artists who used their grief over a deceased loved one to fuel some of the most famous creations to date. It was all very morbid and when I graduated I swore, for my own sanity I'd find my inspiration elsewhere." Victor took a deep breath and rested his head on Yuuri shoulder. "Sorry, when I pictured having you in my room I never imagined this." Victors laugh was watery, making Yuuri grip his hand tighter.
"Don't apologize, I'm sorry for forcing you to talk about it."
Victor raised his head, blue eyes blazing. "I want to talk to you about this. For a while now actually, but it's not really something you just bring up casually. I really like you Yuuri, and if this is to go anywhere, you should know that I come with a lot of baggage. Usually, I try to be all smiles and light-hearted but usually when people get to really know me they, well, I can be a lot to handle sometimes."
"Everyone has something they carry with them. I just want you to be you." Yuuri couldn't fathom why anyone would think Victor was too much. The more he got to know this man the more his heart grew with warmth and affection. He wanted more, everything Victor had to offer, and he wanted to return it all in spades.
Were things progressing too fast? Maybe. But right now, Yuuri didn't care.
Victor opened his mouth as if to speak and closed it again. After repeating this a few times, Yuuri leaned in to kiss Victors' forehead. "It's late. I should probably head home."
"Please stay." Victor looked so vulnerable, and it tore at his heart. "I can sleep on the couch, or you're welcome to one of the guest rooms but please, if you can, just stay."
Yuuri nodded with a small grin. "Have any PJs?"
Victors responding smile was bright and beautiful. "The second drawer, help yourself," He pointed to the dresser beside the bed and Yuuri stood to do just that. "There's extra toothbrushes in the top drawer in the bathroom too if you want. Feel free to use anything in there. The towels are clean too to so if you want to shower feel free too."
Yuuri made his way into the bathroom to change. There was, in fact, a drawer full of unused toothbrushes and Yuuri quickly brushed his teeth and removed his contacts. Since he had planned to possibly not make it home that night, Yuuri had his contact travel kit in his back pocket.
When he made his way into the now dark bedroom, Victor was already under the covers. Without saying a word, Yuuri pulled back the sheets and got into bed.
"Is this okay?" Victor asked as Yuuri cuddled into the warm comforter.
Yuuri grabbed his hand placing a soft kiss to his knuckles, "Its perfect."
A/N: For those of you expecting a wild, sexy night, sorry... If you are waiting for smut though, hang on a bit longer!
The songs referenced in this chapter were Everybody Hurts, by R.E.M. and Wonderwall, by Oasis.
Let me know what you thought by leaving a comment or come say hi on Tumblr - dedicca. :)