The day of:

"Okay, Phichit, that's good. I think we should add a few notes there, though. It seems a little lacking," said Leo, strumming the bass riff on his guitar. They were in the practice space, just the two of them. The performance was less than 4 hours away, and Phichit and Leo were trying to fix one of the riffs they hadn't been clear on the week before. Leo played the riff perfectly, aggravating Phichit. He just couldn't seem to get it. Phichit calmed himself though; Leo was a show off. He'd probably put in extra practice to know both parts. He always did. Phichit didn't know why it bothered him this time.

"Hey, Phichit, come on. We have less than an hour. Yuuri and Guang-Hong want to meet up for lunch." Phichit grimaced; his performance usually got worse when he was rushed. He started to miss even more notes, glowering at the floor. Somehow, Leo didn't even hesitate when he was under time constraints; he was born for the stage. Phichit had to get this down though, because this was Yuuri's band they were talking about.

Phichit remembered when Yuuri brought up the idea of becoming a band in the first place, nearly 7 years ago. They had been out ice-skating, and as Yuuri performed a couple of perfect flips, Phichit saw something change.

Stay Close to Me was blasted through the speakers.

Phichit had always expected Yuuri to go into professional figure skating; he was a natural, so it surprised him when Yuuri brought up the idea to start a band. Phichit always knew he'd been influenced by Stay Close to Me, but he didn't realize it ran that deep. Phichit readily agreed, putting out a flyer for teens who wanted to be in a band. They'd had a couple weirdo's come in, but Guang-Hong had won their hearts immediately. He was younger than they'd expected; he was 10, and Yuuri didn't want to get someone that young into something this big. Phichit told him that he wouldn't have stopped Phichit, who was four years younger than him, from joining, so they allowed Guang-Hong. Leo came as a package deal; he and Guang-Hong had been friends forever, and he wanted to play guitar, so the four of them formed the History Makers.

The History Makers didn't perform many places; Guang-Hong, Leo, and Phichit had all needed to go back home for the next few summers. The three of them were transfer students learning Japanese in Kyushu, Hasetsu, so they couldn't stay the whole year. Phichit remembered Yuuri's face when he figured out that the band would have to go on hold for the entire summer. He figured Yuuri would have given up the idea over the course of the summer, or at least not practiced.

Yuuri's voice when they came back was worth the wait. Phichit remembered hearing Yuuri try to sing before the summer, and his voice was, well… subpar. He'd obviously put in practice, however, because when Phichit, Leo, and Guang-Hong came back, his voice was incredible. He'd heard Yuuri in his room, singing 'Lazy Eye', a song they still played at their performances. Yuuri had been singing to himself in his room, not expecting anybody to come by. Phichit, impressed, had decided to take a video. He'd posted it on social media; he figured Yuuri would appreciate the publicity it could bring, but he didn't expect what would happen.

It received more hits in 20 minutes than Phichit thought possible in a week. It was getting re-tweeted from twitter and his Instagram was flooded with messages. His email was packed with unread emails, most of them from people that he'd never even HEARD of before. Yuuri found the video and didn't talk to Phichit in a week. But then they started getting gigs. People suddenly wanted them to play at their birthday parties, and clubs were willing to let them play in their 21+ areas. The four of them became popular; not just in Kyushu, but all over the country.

Stay Close to Me had actually asked History Makers to open for them a year before. Phichit had wondered what had changed since then. Viktor seemed to have a special hatred to Yuuri, so he'd wondered if something had happened between the two of them.

Yuuri told Phichit about the look Viktor gave him; about how Viktor seemed to be directing the performance towards Yuuri. Phichit had to admit that made sense. Viktor had completely shifted his performance to Yuuri the moment he saw him; Phichit had seen this first hand.

He'd also seen Yuuri walk away.

Most people would probably say that what Yuuri did was rude and conceited, but Phichit knew this wasn't the case. He'd seen Yuuri's face before he walked away. The look of fear. Phichit had a hunch that Yuuri's anxiety had been acting up again, and he had just felt the need to escape. It was a look Phichit had seen often, but Viktor had not. He assumed that Viktor had probably just seen Yuuri walk away and mistaken it for some sort of dislike; that maybe Yuuri didn't actually like his band, and was only opening for them for the popularity. That would explain the way he'd acted around them since then, and why Viktor seemed ready to hurt him every time they saw each other.

"Phichit, come on!" Leo was at the door, holding it open for Phichit. Phichit quickly slipped off his bass, grabbing his backpack as they slipped out the door. Yuuri had suggested a restaurant down by the beach. Phichit and Leo arrived about fifteen minutes late, but Yuuri and Guang-Hong didn't seem to be there. They entered asking about their friends.

Phichit didn't feel reassured when the lady said they'd been in the bathroom for nearly fifteen minutes.

"Yuuri? Guang-Hong?" called Phichit, walking into the bathroom. The sobbing that met his ears made him rush in.

Yuuri sat in the corner of the room, Guang-Hong positioned next to him. He had his arms over Yuuri's shoulder, trying to console him.

"What happened?" asked Phichit.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," muttered Guang-Hong. Yuuri was obviously panicking; the look on his face was one Phichit had become accustomed to. He knelt in front of Yuuri, pulling his hands away from his face.

"Yuuri, please tell me," he lulled. Yuuri shook his head, sobbing harder.

"Please. Whatever it is, we're your best friends. Nothing's going happen."

"He…he scared me, that's all," but that obviously wasn't the reason Yuuri was crying.

"Who, Yuuri?" Phichit put his hands on his shoulders, looking directly at him.

"Viktor."

"Oh, god. Yuuri, why did you see Viktor? You KNOW he hates you."

"I-it wasn't on purpose! They mailed us the wrong mail, so I brought it over to the address that I found. I didn't realize that it was Viktor's practice space." He started crying again, the tears leaking out of his eyes.

"Phichit, he—he looked like he wanted to kill me. He was crying; I saw his band-mates leave moments earlier, but I didn't make the connection until I got inside the door. He stood up and said, 'Yuuri?', but it was menacing. He said it like it was the name of a disease. And the hatred in his eyes. I- I ran as fast as I could. I don't know what I ever did to him!" Yuuri looked completely lost. He didn't understand, but Phichit realized something.

Viktor hated Yuuri, but the year before, he'd been almost infatuated with him.

No. Not almost.

Viktor had liked Yuuri; that was why he wanted History Makers to open for Stay Close to Me. He'd seen Yuuri and had inadvertently directed his performance at him, expecting something from Yuuri, but Yuuri had just walked away. Viktor had been confused; why would Yuuri walk away?

It made so much sense. Phichit put his head in his hands, silently cursing Yuuri's problem with anxiety. He'd been scared; Viktor thought he'd been hateful. Viktor hadn't always hated him. He thought Yuuri did, because…

Phichit looked to Yuuri.

Yuuri didn't know it, but he broke Viktor's heart.