Fragile Hearts

Chapter III

Yuuri sighed to himself as he sat at the front desk at the adoption agency. It was a slow day and he was alone. Phichit was still in class and the Nishigori family were taking the day off, Takeshi was taking special care of his wife now that she was pregnant with triplets. Yuuko would sometimes text Yuuri complaining that she felt like she was being mothered by her husband, but Yuuri knew that she loved the affection and concern Takeshi showed.
Yuuri glanced at his phone, it was only eleven o'clock. He sighed and thumped his head down on the desk, he had acted so embarrassingly yesterday, getting all flustered when Victor was close to him. Victor would never like him in that way. Victor was a retired successful athlete with a son and so many accomplishments. Who was Yuuri compared to that? Some sad, average college student with an ok job, decent grades, stomach flab, and a dangerously low self esteem. Victor would never take any interest in him.
Suddenly his phone rang, he checked the caller ID, and to his surprise, saw his sister was calling him. "Hey Mari," he answered, "what's going on?" His sister unknowingly succeeded in distracting him from his dangerous thoughts with amusing tales of the happenings in his home town and filled him in on all the latest gossip. After a lengthy conversation they exchanged goodbyes and hungup. Yuuri smiled slightly, she had cheered him up, even if not conciously. He missed his family back in Japan, and talking to any of them significantly raised his spirits. He checked his phone again and found that it was after twelve, he had been talking to Mari for a long time it seemed.
The front door opened and he turned his attention to the woman and little girl who walked in. He became occupied with helping them through the adoption process of a new bunny, and didn't return to his poisonous thoughts.
By the time the customers had finished up and he had sent off the adorable girl with her new bunny, it was just about one o'clock. He made himself busy replenishing the water and food supplies of the animals while he waited for Victor to arrive.
When the annual time came and the door opened, he turned with a happy smile and a rapidly escalating heartbeat, "Hey Victo-what happened to you?" He took in Victor with wide eyes of shock. Victor's usually pristine outer image seemed to be ruined. Their hair was tangled into impressive knots and surrounded their head like a lion's mane. Their coat hung from one shoulder haphazardly and they had a slightly shell shocked look on their face.
It took a moment for Victor to respond, "I-I have a new student. He is very unexpected...in many ways."
Yuuri frowned in confusion but motioned Victor over, "Let me brush your hair, it's, well, it's a mess. And why don't you tell me about this new student?"
Victor let out a smile and walked over while Yuuri pulled out a hairbrush, sitting down so Yuuri could brush his hair before beginning to speak. "Well, his name is Otabek Altin, and he is from Kazakhstan. He is very strong, very determined, very inspiring actually. He is unexpectedly talented."
Yuuri listened while he ran the brush as gently as possible through Victor's hair, teasing knots undone and returning the hair to its former sleekness, eventually he asked, "Why is his talent so unexpected Victor?"
He only got a shrug in response before Victor leapt to the next subject, "Yuuri, how are you so good at brushing hair? I hardly felt a thing and you've already restored that mess to full beauty!" They turned with a flirtatious laugh, which only grew when Yuuri blushed. "Yuuri, I've been meaning to ask you but I kept forgetting," Victor sighed, "I'm very forgetful, but anyways! Some very good friends of mine are in town to celebrate one couple's marriage anniversary. Would you like to be my plus one to the celebration dinner?" Their hand sliding across Yuuri's was no coincidence as Victor put on every charm possible to try and convince Yuuri to say yes.
Somehow every time Victor visited they managed to turn Yuuri into a tomato colored stuttering mess, and this time was no different. Still, Yuuri managed out a yes, to which Victor let out a squeal and pulled him into another embrace.
This time Yuuri was less surprised, and had more of his senses in order. This time Yuuri noticed the way Victor smelt. This time Yuuri noticed the way Victor's hair felt trapped between their bodies. This time Yuuri noticed the strength of the arms that held him. This time Yuuri noticed the way Victor buried their nose in his hair and shut their eyes like they were at peace.
Suddenly Victor pulled away, eyes sparkling, "I'll text you the full info for the dinner later, right now I have to go, unfortunately," and with that Victor left, before Yuuri could remind them that they hadn't given Yuuri their number yet.

"So I think we are going on a date," Yuuri finished explaining what had happened that afternoon to Phichit.
Phichit clapped one hand over his mouth to muffle a scream, "Oh my god! My OTP are going on a date! This is a dream come true!" Yuuri only flushed in response as Phichit kept rambling, "You two are so adorable I love it so much!"
It was near closing time and they moved around the shop, cleaning and shutting up the place while they talked. Suddenly familiar laughter was heard outside and Yuuri frowned.
"That sounds like Victor-" the rest of his thoughts were interrupted when none other than Victor burst into the shop, pulling someone in tow.
Phichit covered his mouth in astonishment at the state they were in. Victor stood, shirtless and giggling, while the stranger stood behind them, wearing only underwear. Yuuri's eyes were immediately drawn to Victor's chest and a blush grew on his cheeks.
"Phichit! Yuuri!" Victor proclaimed, slurring slightly, "This is my best friend Chris! He is very nice-" He was interrupted by his own uncontrollable giggling and Chris rolled his eyes.
Stepping in front of the giggling Victor, he offered his hand in greeting to Phichit, completely ignoring Yuuri. "Salut beaute," He offered a dazzling smile to Phichit, who slowly shook his hand.
Victor made their way to Yuuri, who did his best to ignore the fact that Victor looked so good shirtless. "Yuuri!" Victor threw their arms around Yuuri and hung off him while slurring, "We don't have each other's phone numbers! I can't believe I'm so forgetful! Let's exchange numbers!" They slipped their phone out of their pants and entered the number that Yuuri stammered out. With quickly tapping fingers they tapped out a text and sent it to Yuuri, "There! Now we have each other's numbers!" Victor giggled and hiccuped.
Suddenly a strangled sound caught Yuuri and Victor's attentions. They looked over to find a bright red Phichit faking a laugh, his body language showing discomfort. From the way Chris was acting, Yuuri would guess he was flirting with Phichit. Just as he was preparing to go over and intervene to take Chris's attention off of Phichit, Victor called over to Chris with a stern voice.
"Christophe Giacometti, what are you doing?" The words immediately got Chris's attention onto Victor and off of Phichit, who visibly relaxed. Chris tried to blink innocently in response, but Victor wasn't phased. Victor strode over to him and pulled him away, "I'm very sorry Phichit. Honestly Chris, what were you thinking?" The rest of their words to Chris were lost as they pushed him out of the store.
After a moment, Phichit looked over to Yuuri, still bright red, "What just happened?"
Yuuri's phone dinged and he glanced down at the text, from Victor, which he read aloud to Phichit.

"I'm very sorry, Chris is going through a rough time, usually he would not be flirting so shamelessly. I can explain in detail a little later. Tell Phichit that I'm sorry please, I know you told me he's aro/ace and if Chris had known he wouldn't have flirted with Phichit. Now I have to go take care of Chris, who is currently crying. Hope to talk soon my lovely Yuuri!"

Phichit sighed, "Well...that's nice of them to apologize...Chris was a little strange...but Yuuri," a sly smile grew on his face, "did you see Victor's abs?"
Yuuri started laughing, leaning over and clutching his stomach. And then Phichit was laughing with him; the two were nearly laying on the floor from laughing so hard. They knew, everything would be okay.