Ryuugazaki: We are on Chapter 50 and I am so done with myself.
Chapter Fifty
(Wednesday, 18 November 2015 – 5:25pm, Detroit, Michigan)
Yuri started his essay after his shower. Phichit had stopped paying attention to his books and was looking at Yuri. "So?" Phichit said. Yuri was typing away at the introductory paragraph as he read Pietà. "Yuri!"
"What?"
"So?" Phichit was fishing for information. "How did this happen? I need details!"
"Okay, so, you know how we had another date, right?"
"That was today?" Phichit asked. He didn't wait for a response; instead, he said, "Doesn't sound right, but continue."
"We went to the tea house after art history and we had tea." Phichit nodded. "We talked, got stares from this old woman who wasn't comfortable with our presence, and we talked." Phichit nodded again. "Victor asked if it was necessary for us to go to the bookstore and I told him that we didn't have to. So he said that he was going to take me back to his place. And after we finished having tea, we went back to his place." Phichit was attentive.
"What prompted him to ask if it was necessary to go to the bookstore?"
"Earlier in the day he asked me what my heart wanted and I told him what I wanted. He was smitten by my answer and decided that he wanted to mess around."
"And you…" Phichit steepled his hands and looked at them. "You two messed around."
"It was less of messing around and more of, well, this and that," Yuri said. Phichit was silent.
"Are you going to continue seeing him?" Phichit asked.
"I am. I want him." Yuri took a deep breath and put his head in his hands. "His existence seeps into everything I do and I need him."
"I already knew this," Phichit said. "I approve. Just make sure that you don't sabotage it somehow." Yuri nodded. "I'm being serious. You tend to retreat into yourself when overwhelmed. I'm used to it, but Victor isn't."
"I told him that he wouldn't like me when I'm messy, but he said that he can take it," Yuri said and shrugged. Phichit was stunned. "I doubt it."
"He's going to be exposed to the things you've been trying to keep from him eventually." Phichit leaned on the arm of the chair and put his feet in Yuri's lap. "Speaking of exposure, have you told him yet?"
"About what?" Yuri asked. Phichit flicked Yuri's cheek. "Ah!"
"Your skating career, numpty," Phichit said. Yuri shook his head. "Why?" He whined. "If Khoudia finds out she's going to lecture you. Meaning that she's also going to lecture me. And I don't want to be lectured." Yuri shrugged.
"I still haven't figured out how I'm going to tell him."
"Yuri, this advice is going to be easier said than done, but I'm going to need you to keep an open mind here."
"Okay."
"Fucking tell him," Phichit said. Yuri looked at Phichit; his mouth was pressed in a line. "You can't keep avoiding this."
"I know," Yuri said, moving Phichit's feet out of his lap and placing his laptop over Phichit's feet. "How's studying going?" Yuri asked. He wants to stop this "pining over Victor/avoidance" conversation as soon as possible.
"Well, I have no clue what moles are and I don't understand the formula for it at all," he said. "And I don't care about American history at all."
"And your religions course?"
"I have radically accepted that I am going to fail." Yuri rolled his eyes. "I'm not even going to bother studying for that anymore." Yuri tut-tutted Phichit and looked over his paper. He's three pages in.
"You don't need to study for American History. Just listen to the Hamilton soundtrack." Phichit laughed furiously. "Aren't you still on the American Revolution?"
"And the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution," Phichit added.
"Yeah, just listen to the Hamilton soundtrack." Yuri looked at his fingers. "Also, listen to the Preamble of the Constitution. We the people, in order to form a more perfect union…" Yuri crooned.
"I forgot that you know the Preamble of the Constitution."
"I'll send you the song," Yuri said. He found the link and texted it to Phichit. "There you go."
"And what do I do about my chemistry class?"
"Khan Academy," Yuri said.
"And religion?"
"The Great Courses Plus, iTunes U, and Simple Wikipedia." Yuri didn't even blink at what he said. He just continued to write his essay. "You can use my Great Courses Plus account." Yuri stopped typing. "Also, you can use The Great Courses to learn about the Founding Fathers. I highly doubt your exam will have questions directly relating to the relationship between Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens, but it might help to know about it."
"Yuri, you are a life saver!" Phichit removed his feet from Yuri's lap and threw his arms around Yuri's neck. He kissed his face all over and clung to him. "Thank you, baby!" Yuri placed his laptop on the free space on the sofa and wrapped his arm around Phichit's waist.
"It's no problem." Phichit pulled himself off of Yuri and partially sat on Yuri's lap. "I'd get to work on studying, though. Like, right now."
"I love you so much."
"I love you, too, lapinou," Yuri said. Phichit slunk out of Yuri's lap and went to get his laptop. Yuri reached for his laptop and resumed writing. "Mon canard, do I have a blank canvas in the closet?" Yuri shouted.
"Yeah, why?"
"I need to paint." Phichit came back to the living room, laptop in hand, to look at Yuri. "It's for the art history midterm."
"It's for art history. We don't draw in that class."
"I know, but I need to paint."
"Is this part of immersing yourself into Michelangelo's essence?" Yuri nodded. "Yuri, you don't need to paint to write a midterm paper about Michelangelo." Phichit bit his lip. "Wait, didn't you mention needing to sculpt, too?!" Yuri nodded again. "You are not sculpting in this house."
"Even if I sculpt Hokusai?"
"Even if," Phichit said. He walked over and placed his laptop on the sofa. "Plus, you don't know how to sculpt and the marble wouldn't fit through the door."
"But I can learn how to sculpt." Phichit looked at Yuri, deadpan.
"You're not going to learn how to sculpt." Phichit sat down and opened his laptop. "And you're not going to bring a hunk of marble in this house." Yuri shrugged. "How were you going to paint?" Phichit asked.
"I was going to suspend the canvas from the ceiling–"
"Nope!" Phichit said. "You're not doing that either. Not in my house. Paint normally or not at all." Yuri looked at Phichit and sucked his teeth. "And Yuri, when I say 'paint normally,' I mean 'paint normally.' So no drugs and no preparation ritual."
"The 'no drugs' part I'm okay with, but no preparation ritual? How am I supposed to do that?" Yuri has an elaborate preparation ritual for when he would commence a painting. The last time he painted, he let Phichit join in on the ritual. He was not a fan of it.
"I don't know. Figure it out," Phichit said.
"Phichit, it's kind of important for me to engage in my ritual before I paint." Yuri put his laptop on the coffee table. "It sets the mood–"
"For the painting and for myself, I know. I get it," Phichit said.
"So you'll let me do my ritual then?" Yuri asked. Phichit shook his head. Yuri looked back at his essay and saved it. "Figures."
#
(Wednesday, 18 November 2015 – 11:44pm, Detroit, Michigan)
"Yuri," Phichit said as he climbed in bed next to him. Yuri scooched over and threw the comfort over their bodies. "Do you want to go to Supernova on Saturday?"
"We promised Khoudia that we'd go, didn't we?" Yuri yawned and wiped his eyes. Phichit nodded. "So we'll go." Phichit propped himself up and looked at Yuri. He paid special attention to Yuri's neck. "What?"
"I can't believe that this is happening." Yuri yawned and wiped his eyes again. "You have a boyfriend and you're serious about it," Phichit gushed. Yuri remained silent. "You're not even going to fight me when I call Victor your boyfriend now, aren't you?" Yuri shook his head.
"I don't know what exactly we are, but I guess we're something." Yuri rolled on his side to face Phichit. "I had asked him what he wanted and he said 'Isn't it obvious?' I don't understand what he meant by that." Yuri yawned. "But I know that he wants something."
"He wants you, silly," Phichit said. He laid down and cuddled up to Yuri. "He's your boyfriend. Get used to it." Yuri shrugged.
"I guess he's my boyfriend now." Phichit nodded. "Imagine if we interpreted all of this all wrong and Victor's like 'I just wanted a friendship. I'm not gay.'"
"Well, technically speaking, you're not exactly gay either," Phichit pointed out. Yuri is a raging pansexual. "But I don't think we're interpreting any of this wrong. He's been pretty hot for you since you've met. You don't relentlessly pursue someone your sex for two months and not be at least some shade of gay. And he asked you on two dates. And you're calling them dates. Plus, there's all of this penetration going around and people don't usually penetrate your friends." Phichit closed his eyes. "I think we're right about this."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," Phichit said, yawning like a kitten. "My Yuri has a boyfriend."
"I do. I think."
"You do." Phichit yawned again. "Yuri has a boyfriend," he sweetly babbled. "We should all go out to dinner one day. I want to get acquainted with him."
"I haven't even gone on my third date with him and you want to sit down and eat with him," Yuri commented. "You move fast."
"You two move fast." Yuri rolled his eyes and closed them. "Are you going to sleep now?" Yuri nodded. "Okay, I'll try to be quiet and keep my phone dim." Phichit kissed Yuri's nose. "Sleep well, ma poupée," he said.
Ryuugazaki: The way this is going, this might be 100 chapters and I – honest to God – would not blame you if you stopped reading.
