Ryuugazaki: In a perfect world, this fanfic would be ending in this chapter.
Also, I finished Ponyo and I started crying. What the hell is my life, man.
Chapter Thirty-Six
(Sunday, 8 November 2015 – 10:40am, Detroit, Michigan)
Yuri, Khoudia, and Phichit decided to go out for breakfast. They decided on a tea house-café in downtown Detroit. Yuri was bringing his bag and Khoudia had asked if she can keep her meter and medicine in there. Yuri made no objections.
"You still haven't shown me the picture of the guy you're dating," she said as she opened the door to the tea house.
"We're not dating. He's just a friend."
"Okay, the guy you're talking to, then," she said. Phichit directed them to the back of the tea house and they sat at a table. Someone came out to give them menus.
"We don't even talk."
"Yes you do," Phichit said. "A few days ago you told me about your Oscar Wilde conversation."
"I doubt that we were talking about Oscar Wilde that day," Yuri said. "Khoudia, back me up here." Khoudia didn't hear what Yuri said. She was looking at her menu.
"Khoudia, ignore him," Phichit said.
"Ignore what?" She said as she turned the page. "I'm trying to figure out what tea I want. So far, I'm torn between pearl jasmine and apple cinnamon. What do y'all think?"
"I'd pick jasmine," Yuri said.
"Yeah, same," Phichit said. "I'm getting sencha. What about you?"
"Either matcha or hot cinnamon spice," Yuri said as he turned the page of his menu. "I'm getting scones. Khoudia, get scones."
"What if I don't want scones?"
"Don't care. Get scones." Khoudia rolled her eyes.
"Are you going to make Phichit get scones?" Yuri shook his head. Then he looked at Khoudia. He was smiling now. "Phichit, are you going to let him tell me to get scones?"
"Khoudia, just get the scones." She made a face that made Yuri laugh.
"Fine. I'll get them. Now, about this boy," she said.
"Nothing about him." Yuri closed his menu. "I've decided on matcha." He put his hands in his lap.
"I kind of want macarons," Phichit said. "Yeah, I'm getting macarons." He was thinking out loud. "Yuri, what kind should I get?"
"I suggest rose lychee. It tastes like roses." Khoudia looked at Yuri strange after he said that. Phichit wasn't bothered in the slightest.
"Mon poussin, why do you know what roses taste like?"
"Why don't you?" Yuri retorted. A waitress came out and took their orders and they made conversation as they waited for their tea.
#
(Sunday, 8 November 2015 – 6:50pm, Detroit, Michigan)
"Has your partner texted you today?" Khoudia asked. She was sitting on the extreme right end of the sofa. Yuri was on the left. Phichit was in between them.
"He's not— never mind," Yuri said. "And I don't know. I don't check my phone when I'm with you two."
"Check!" Khoudia was beaming. Yuri grabbed his phone and checked it. No texts. He put his phone back down. "Anything new?"
Victor: I miss yoouuu
: We saw each other literally hours ago
Victor: I know, but still.
"Nothing," he said. "It's no big deal." He shrugged and stretched his legs.
"What was his last message?" Phichit asked. He placed his head in Khoudia's lap and his legs in Yuri's.
"'I know, but still.'" Yuri yawned. Khoudia was putting her hair into a puff.
"Reply to him," Phichit said.
"There's nothing for me to reply to."
"Then start a new conversation," Khoudia said as she was gathering her hair together. Khoudia has a lot of hair and Yuri never took the time to actually notice that.
"Why are we even friends? Why am I with you nerds?" Yuri chuckled.
"Well, we're friends because you called me cute and wanted to get away from your dorm mates," Phichit said. "You and Khoudia are friends because you accidentally knocked her over on her first day at Wayne and offered to buy her a coffee."
"By the way, what were you running from when we first met?" Khoudia asked.
"I was trying to avoid someone." Yuri grabbed his phone. "I saw them and I took off running." Khoudia chuckled. "Are you still mad at me for knocking you over?"
"Not anymore," she said. She reached over and touched Yuri's bicep and laughed. "It's kind of a funny story when you think about it." Khoudia chuckled. "And then, like days later, we encountered each other at the rink and you proceeded to kind of ignore me."
"If you think he was ignoring you, he probably wasn't ignoring you intentionally," Phichit said. "He just sucks at talking to people and it takes him a while to warm up to you."
"Yuri warmed up to you rather quickly, though," Khoudia pointed out.
"Not true," Phichit stated. "He didn't say much to me for months after we became roommates. Which is weird because we share a room. You would think that he would be a lot more open with me considering that we share a room." Yuri looked at Phichit; he was staring up at the ceiling. "I was floored the first time he spoke more than five words to me."
"Ah, but he was very protective over you during practice."
"Khoudia, I think we're talking about two different people right now."
"Let's see. We're talking about Yuri Katsuki, the autistic art major who doesn't talk much unless it's about art, right?" Phichit nodded. "We're discussing the same person."
"Maybe I just don't understand how you see 'doesn't talk much and protective' while I see 'ignores my entire existence' in Yuri's actions."
"Are you two going to keep talking about me like I'm not here?" Yuri asked. "I may be autistic, but I can still hear and understand you two very well."
"We know you're here, ma raison d'être. You just didn't say anything," Khoudia said. "Would you care to shed light on what we're discussing? Or should we just continue?"
"I mean, you two can continue if you want."
"Speaking of you and your poor conversational skills," Phichit started, "if you want to maintain his interest, you should probably start acting like you actually want him."
"What?" Yuri was, metaphorically speaking, all ears. What wisdom could Phichit impart tonight?
"If you want Victor to maintain his interest in you, act like you want him," Phichit said.
"What does this have to do with my conversational skills?" Yuri asked. He wasn't seeing the point.
"You need to talk to him, first of all," Khoudia said. "Second of all, ask about him. Guys love talking about themselves." Yuri and Phichit looked at Khoudia. "Okay, maybe you two don't. Or maybe I've just met a lot of egocentric guys." She shrugged. "Also, his name is Victor?" Yuri nodded. "Just like Victor Nikiforov," she said, giggling. Yuri stayed silent. "Imagine if it was Victor Nikiforov you were going out with." Yuri looked away and Phichit turned towards the television.
"I'm going to go to the bathroom," Phichit said and left the living room.
"That was sudden," Khoudia said. Yuri felt his face get warm. "Are you okay?" Khoudia moved closer to Yuri to brush his hair out of his face. "Your forehead is really warm. Kind of weird to be getting all hot under the collar over your celebrity crush."
"It's just… I kind of am talking to my celebrity crush," Yuri muttered. Khoudia stopped stroking Yuri's forehead and didn't move. "Are you okay, Khoudia?"
"So you're really talking to him?" Yuri showed Khoudia the selfie of them that he was supposed to draw. She fell silent.
"That's Victor Nikiforov in the flesh," Yuri muttered. "I see him a few times a week and we go to the museum together."
"And you were with him on Friday?" Yuri nodded. "Hm," Khoudia said. She was absolutely speechless. She removed her hand from Yuri's forehead and was motionless next to him. Phichit came back from the bathroom and sat in front of Khoudia and Yuri.
"Yuri, why does it look like Khoudia just a glass vase thrown in her face?" Phichit stretched his arms.
"Neither of you told me that Yuri was talking to Victor Nikiforov," she muttered. "I was just joking earlier. I didn't know this." She took deep breaths. "Yuri, you know that now you have to work harder to keep him."
"I'm afraid I don't understand," Yuri said.
"You will, in time." Yuri shrugged. "Sate my curiosity and tell me this, how does he make you feel?" Phichit sat at Khoudia's side.
"The words 'vulnerable' and 'bothered' come to mind," Yuri said. "Shouldn't we be watching figure skaters skate?"
"Why should we? No one we care about is there."
"Shouldn't we, you know, scope out the competition? We are competing in events," Yuri pointed out.
"We have the internet for that," Khoudia said. "Now, why does Victor make you feel 'bothered'?" She was kind of back to her normal self – her normal, motherly, goofy self.
"I don't know why. I can't even explain it to Luzia."
"So Luzia knows?" Khoudia asked. Yuri nodded. "I feel like you two intentionally left me out of the loop now."
"Khoudia, ma petite sirène," Yuri said as he threw his arm around her. "I would never intentionally leave you out of something. You're simply too precious to me that I would intentionally try to hurt you. Phichit only knows because he read my texts with him."
"Plus, you use people's full names for their contact name." Yuri pointed at Phichit after he said that. "And I had Yuri describe him to me." Khoudia looked over at Phichit. "But that doesn't change the fact that I was privy to this long before you."
"My feelings are genuinely hurting right now." Yuri gave Khoudia a hug. "I don't know if a hug is going to make this okay." Yuri let go of Khoudia. "Don't let me go though. Keep your hands on me." Yuri spread his arms open and enveloped Khoudia in his embrace. "Thank you."
"Now, let's watch camp figure skating performances," Yuri suggested. And they did just that.
#
(Monday, 9 November 2015 – 4:20am, Detroit, Michigan)
"Yuri," Khoudia said as she gently shook him awake. "Yuri!"
"Yeah?" Yuri turned on his light and rubbed his eyes. Phichit was fast asleep in Yuri's arms. "What happened?"
"I'm getting ready now. You should get ready, too." Yuri nodded. He agreed to take Khoudia home so she can get ready for her classes. Yuri buried his face in the crook of Phichit's neck and tried to go back to sleep. Khoudia shook him again.
"What?"
"Start getting ready. You have to take me home." Yuri nodded. "It'd be nice if you can get out of bed and take your shower." Yuri nodded. "I will drag you out of this bed, so help me, Yuri Katsuki."
"Fine, fine. I'll get up," Yuri muttered. He let go of Phichit and dragged himself out of bed. He gathered his underwear, t-shirt, and slippers and went to the bathroom to shower. He kept thinking of the phrases "the more I disappear" and "As surely as the blade's course is run / Maybe my kingdom's finally come". He didn't have a problem with either of these phrases, but he did wish that they could not bother him when he's trying to take a shower.
Ryuugazaki: Ponyo is such a good movie, man.