Steps

"I've never been so humiliated in my life."

Yuri had never been so red in the face either. He woke up, saw the girls, and was now scrambling to cover himself with the coat he had slept in.

"Aw~," a certain female in yellow empathized, "I think it's cute you two are getting along now."

"We are not getting along and we sure as hell ain't together!" Yuri yelled.

"You are of all places, no?" Loop asked, confused by Yuri's claim.

"He sent you three up here didn't he?" Yuri growled. "That fricken-!"

"Watch it, Newbie," Lutz warned while folding up some clothes in the corner. "And no. It's laundry day."

"Well, I still think it's cute," Axel insisted.

"How the fu- you find this cute?!" Yuri bristled. "You don't know why I'm here!"

Ms. Purple slapped her hands together and did a fan-girly spin on one foot. "No matter who, romances are the best," she gushed with a sigh.

Her sisters nodded and Lutz even sighed as well.

'Dear God,' Yuri deadpanned as he studied the trio. 'I practically see hearts and stars in your eyes.'

"Teehee, there are a number of such romances gossiped among the nobility and we girls can't help it," Loop giggled.

"What, you can't help, but be girls? What a surprise," Yuri mocked flatly, rolling his eyes.

"Say what you want." Axel pointed at the man. "Just know you have our support. She gushed again. "Though its highly discouraged, couples are the sweetest thing~! Oo~h!"

Loop struck a dynamic pose with her hand on her forehead. "The high drama between races thus quelled…" she popped back up with a peace sigh a dopey smile, "blossoming romance is the best, no?"

Yuri tugged the coat around him. "S-Support?! I don't need support!"

Axel and Loop raised their hands, shrugged, shook their heads as if they were giving up and sighed, "that's what they all say," the two chorused.

"That's what they all say," Lutz repeated in monotone with a short nod.

"Oh stop! W-Why don't you take it from my p-point of view?

"Eh, why else did you stay the night then?" Lutz asked.

The perfectly reasonable question was one Yuri couldn't answer.

'It would hurt them if they knew…'

"That's right," Ms. Purple added, placing her hands on her hips. "When Master Nikiforov was asleep you could have left, right?"

"He told us you brought him up here yourself," Ms. Pink added innocently.

The man's ears burned. "I…he wanted me to stay…"

The girls had stars in their eyes again. "Aw~!"

"Shut up! It's not what you think, okay?"

The girls giggled.

"Plus, we don't have rights in the present society." Lutz stepped forward. "Do you honestly think we have freewill?"

"Of course you do!" Yuri blurted, waving his hands. "Hello, we aren't animals?! We have an IQ, morals, the ability to decide for ourselves what we want. Haven't you ever thought of anything for yourselves? No one has the right to make you work for them if you don't want to."

"That's just it, Yuri," Axel replied with a small smile, "we do want to. I know it hasn't been easy for you to understand, but we do respect Master Nikiforov and, no, it isn't a trick or are we under some spell. We value our Master and you will be surprised to know, many humans value theirs. Whatever tales you have been hearing…" she sighed. "Have you not been fed, dressed, and protected?"

With that simple case, Yuri fell to a state of disbelief and shock. He didn't know what to do other than plop himself on the edge of the bed dumbfounded.

"What...the hell?" Yuri felt his whole self just sink.

'So…it just is what it is?'

"Master Nikiforov saved us," Ms. Purple reminded him. "All peoples have monsters, Yuri, while the rest have flaws. We were found neglected and abused and he took us all in. He didn't separate us and had been fair to us ever since. The Moon? There are more politics behind that I'm sure, but we are servants, not detectives, only bound to the word 'slavery' in the barest of definitions."

'You got last part that from him, I can tell…but it's not wrong.' Yuri admitted.

"He didn't separate you, but he took me from my family," Yuri retorted. "Remember Yuuko, Axel? She is an Unwanted and was sick at the time. We were raised like family by her parents who were killed. I cared for her and..."

"Ah…so that's why," Lutz nodded. "That's how the hate started…"

He wrung his hands. "Just for walking down the dirt road. I saw it happen years ago."

"He couldn't take a sick girl with him because there's such strained hostility between the Unwanted and the Colbrans," Loop pointed out. "Its so bad these days, he could've lost his title."

"Um, hello, they blew up Earth? How much more hostile-"

"According to who?" Axel folded her arms.

"I read, remember?"

"And I cook. If I just blindly followed whatever recipe I was given and didn't think I might as well slip poison in my bread."

He gritted his teeth. "You heard him mentioned the Under-Swell the second night I was here! That event alone killed thousands!"

"But that is history. Wrong, but history, no?" Loop tilted her head. "Didn't we kill among ourselves?"

'Not helpful.' Yuri almost scoffed.

"Neh, Newbie," Lutz chimed in, "point is, if Master Nikiforov was truly despicable do you think he would have ever given you the option? I recall the day you arrived…he had left the mansion with Sir Chris, so Master had to keep face and gave you an option."

Yuri balled his hands into fists. He didn't know what to think anymore.

"With that aside for a moment," Axel spoke in turn, softly placing a hand on his knee, prompting Yuri to look up, "the fact remains, the Master protected you, didn't he?"

"Urk...yes I suppose that is true," Yuri calmly admitted with slight hesitation.

'Twice in fact, the first time in the parlor room,' Yuri reflected inwardly.

"But, wait how do you know he did this?" Yuri questioned.

"Master Nikiforov was holding his side this morning, he explained he was still tender and told us how he got injured last night," Loop informed before her sister could reply.

"Oh! So that's why you stayed the night then," Axel exclaimed as though she made a connection. "you were performing bedside manners weren't you?"

Yuri felt his ears would whistle steam.

'No…not exactly…'

"Yuri, your face," Loop pointed out.

The young man waved a hand of dismissal. "Ah, no, no, no, I'm fine, just feeling hot is all," Yuri hurriedly spoke to distract the fact and drop the conversation. "So…our Master sent you up here to do my work or something? What can I do to help? We have a busy day don't we?"

"Yes, yes we do," Loop cheered, happy to see Yuri's energy spike from being in the dumps. "I'm glad we had this talk too!"

Yuri nodded. "Hmhmm."

"You too, Yuri," Axel added, "thank you for taking care of the Master's wound."

While Yuri was still far from even being on the fence about how he felt towards Victor, Yuri knew, whether he liked it or not, the situation had changed, for better or for worse.

'Probably for the worse…' he shook his head and carried on.

The bedroom was clean after an hour between all four of them and when they were done Yuri was in for another surprise.

"Th-This room...is mine?" Yuri stuttered in disbelief.

'This is the same gray room I was in when I told Nikiforov off…'

"It's close to the master bedroom and, because you are a boy, Master Nikiforov ordered you have a separate room. Across the hall is the bathroom and shower," Lutz informed.

"B-But this is far more what you three have downstairs. I-I'm sorry but this is really unfair." Yuri stuttered.

The sisters grinned, even the stoic Lutz smirked, and simultaneously all three folded their arms. "We're good," the trio chorused.

Yuri broke out into a cold sweat. 'Damn fan girls. Screw the hearts and stars I see horns on their heads! I'm doomed!'

Axel put her hands on her hips. "Ah, we ladies need to put on lunch. Master Nikiforov ordered that after showing you your new room to-"

"His study I bet," Yuri predicted in a flat tone.

"Yep!" Axel smiled and gave a peace sign.

Yuri's head drooped and he sighed, "of course."

"See ya!" Axel waved.

"Bye-bye!" Loop bounded off.

"Ja, Newbie." Lutz peaced out.

When Yuri shut the door to his new room, Yuri went about letting himself fall backwards onto the bed and sighed.

'Fucking hell...'

Yuri grabbed and buried his face into a pillow so he could scream.

'Why~!' Yuri took his frustration on the pillow, throwing it across the room, not caring where it went as he covered his eyes with his arm, falling back onto the bed.

"You know...if you're going to throw stuff at me a pillow won't do much."

Yuri flipped the bird without looking.

'No more fucks to give…'

"Of all the rooms," Yuri groaned, not bothering to move.

"I chose this one…yeah, I'm a bastard, I get it."

Yuri withdrew his offensive gesture, letting his hand fall onto his chest while he felt someone sit as the bed frame creaked.

"Let's see," Yuri mumbled, "first the girls find me in your room. Second, I find the girls are officially think we are somehow friends with benefits, or some shit like that. And thirdly you give me this room…or maybe the girls found you were in here and set us up? I don't freaking know…" Yuri scooted until his back rested against the headboard all the while not bothering to look up. "I thought I had to meet you in your study. Don't you have a meeting or some crap to deal with?"

Victor appeared to think and then shrugged. "Hmm, not today. I was doing research really early this morning, unable to sleep, and needed a break."

Yuri looked up at the ceiling, "I'm not even going to ask why."

His Master pursed his lips. "Wo~w~" he rolled his eyes. "Your mind went gutter ball quickly. I'm not that much of a monster to null everything said from last night."

Yuri immediately blushed. "Shut up. I wasn't even going there!"

Victor grinned. "Heh, there it is. You always get so easily stoked."