ACT 3

i always read bukowski before going to bed

V: i understand…...nothing

Y: Viktor aren't you like on page 14

V: ya

V: But there's like no dialogue! Who even is Winston

Y: 😤 That's why you have to keep reading to find out!

V: Dont yell at me 😥😥😥

Y: Oh shush

A little bit later, Yuuri inquired about the second book on the list; he wanted to know what Viktor thought of it, what he felt, if he liked it.

"It's sad," Viktor said quietly as he gazed solemnly at the novel in his lap. "It's so sad and unfair."

Yuuri nodded and smiled sadly and patted Viktor's arm.

"I just hope nothing bad happens to the dad," Viktor said. "I like him a lot. He's my favourite."

Yuuri nodded.

"It's just not fair."

Yuuri nodded again.

""I'm sorry about the clock," he said'," Viktor quietly read out loud to himself as he half-walked half-jogged down the sidewalk with Caesar, one hand holding the leash and the other holding a dog-eared book. "'My own face had now assumed a deep tropical burn. I couldn't muster up a single commonplace out of the thousand in my head. "It's an old clock," I told them idio—'"

Viktor tripped over his own feet and fell forward onto his face, right into a pile of wet leaves. Caesar jerked to a stop and sat and waited. His face kind of hurt but that didn't impede on his reading for one second. "'—idiotically'," he continued. "'I think we all believed for a moment—'" He paused to brush the damp flora off his knees and rose back to his feet, continuing on his way. "'—that it had smashed in pieces on the floor'."

"It has talking animals," Viktor said to Yuuri. "How bad can it be?"

"It makes me wonder what I would do if I was being forced to burn all of Yukiko's books. I would probably do the same: run away and find a place where nobody could judge me for liking to read. How horrible. Just the thought of burning any book makes me physically sick."

Yuuri smirked.

"Yuuri," Viktor said sternly the following month. "Why did you recommend me a book that has small children murdering each other?"

Yuuri shrugged and smiled easily. It's a good book.

"Children are dying in this book, Yuuri! How is that good even in the slightest?"

Read till the end, Viktor.

"I can't read this anymore," Viktor announced, and he placed the book on the table in front of Yuuri.

What? Why not?

"It's toying with my emotions." Viktor tapped his foot impatiently. "It wants me to think everything's going to end all happy and nice and wonderful, but I can see right through this author."

Yuuri looked amused. Oh, really?

"Yes, Yuuri. After reading that first book with the two talking pigs, I've learned my lesson. I'm never trusting a talking pig ever again, no matter how cute or friendly it may be."

"What!" Viktor screeched at approximately 1:18 AM some morning. "He dies?!"

A bang on the wall—a groggy voice. "Shut up, Viktor!"

"Oh—sorry, Chris! Sorry." Viktor slapped a bookmark in his book and whipped out his phone.

V: HOW COULD HE DIE?! HE'S ONE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS!

V: I'M SO MAD RIGHT NOW OMG

V: I'M GOING TO SPIT

V: YUURI YOURE SO NASTY YOURE MEAN YOURE AWFUL 😡😡😡

Not a minute later:

Y: Hahahahaha

Y: He had to die Viktor. He killed a woman

V: BY ACCIDENT!

Y: Still

"There are no paragraphs," Viktor wailed, jabbing at said blocks of text impatiently. "How can you even read this? The print is tiny, first of all, and secondly—what is even going on?!"

Yuuri giggled and Caesar yawned on the floor beside them. Yuuri took the book from Viktor and flipped back to the first page. If you don't understand, you reread.

"I'm trying! What do you think I've been doing? All I gain by doing that is understanding even less of what's going on!"

Will you just give it a try? For instance, did you know that somebody has been speaking the entire time?

Viktor's face went blank. "What do you mean?"

Yuuri pointed to several quotation marks at the beginning of the very few numbers of paragraphs.

"Ohh," Viktor said after further inspection. "Oh, oh, I see." He studied the page harder. "I did not know that. Well, I stand corrected, because I didn't catch that. That is—wait, I still don't understand..."

Yuuri shook his head in mock disappointment.

"Before I get to the second half of this story, Yuuri," Viktor said. "tell me if anybody's going to die."

Yuuri shrugged as he bent to slip the harness onto Caesar.

"You absolutely know," Viktor whined the second Yuuri stood up. "I'm so close to finishing your list and you can't give me a hint."

The young Japanese man—Viktor came about to learn that Yuuri was Japanese by birth (just like Yukiko!)—nodded and grinned playfully. No hints. Read the book.

"That's so not fair."

Hey, nobody told me how the book was going to end when I read them for the first time.

"Yeah, but I'm not you."

No hints. You're almost done anyways.

Yuuri led Viktor and Caesar to the door, and on his lips was a curious, mischievous smirk. He looked absolutely and utterly pleased with himself. Viktor paused before stepping over the threshold to look pointedly at Yuuri. "What?"

Yuuri shrugged again and folded his arms across his chest.

"Come on."

Yuuri rolled his eyes and sighed, one finger tapping on his bicep. Then: I'll give you a little gift once you finish the book.

Viktor's eyes grew to the size of saucers. "A gift?"

Yes. Now scram.

"Yuuri," Viktor breathed. "You can't just say that and then expect me not to ask what it is!"

Yuuri made a face. I'm not telling you what it is. Now go. I have work to do.

Viktor tilted his head while Caesar nudged his nose impatiently against his calf. "What do you do for work, anyway? You never told me."

Yuuri gave him a blank stare, and abruptly slammed the door on him.

Not more than a week and a half later, at 2:34 AM:

V: i finished it ! ! ! Finally ! ! ! ! ! !

V: If you drop a book in a bag of rice will the book come out dry at some point in time?

Y: Why is the book wet to begin with?

V: My tears😰

Y: Omg lmfao. Seriously?

V: [Attachment: 1 image]

Y: omg. Sure you didn't drop it in the toilet?

V: NO😭😭😭

V: YOU DID THIS TO ME

V: ARGHGHGHGHGHHG

Y: Lol.

Y: Well you finished the list! I'm proud of you! Congrats!

Y: Hope you like your gift when you see it later today. 😏

V: Oouu 😏😏😏

V: yuuri i had no idea you were giving me THAT kind of gift!💕

Y: *😊

Y: Stoppp. Ugh don't get any ideas.

V: Too late 😏😏😏😏😏

Y: GOODBYE

A/N: Yo! How u doin. ;)

I love books lol. Books are great. Please read these books mentioned if you haven't already.

Next chap is gonna be a long one, so the next update will be next Friday again. (Did I just use the word 'next' three times in a seventeen-word long sentence? ffs) I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this so far!

See ya in a week.

Stay classy.