A Heart Beats At Night

Chapter 21

"This is a terrible idea." Chris's voice was muffled by the glossy white plastic of the restaurant's cheap table pressing against his cheek. It was unclear whether the dark circles under his eyes were due to the remnants of a hangover or rapidly dawning horror.

"Christophe," Viktor said, beaming at him, "This is genius. You need to give yourself more credit."

"The problem here is not confidence," groaned Chris. "The problem is that this involves pretending to be a vampire when I am physically incapable of lying and, on a related note, not a vampire."

"People see what they want to see." Viktor flapped a hand dismissively, flicking through the menu out of idle curiosity. Chris had demanded breakfast, and though the options were rather limited in the evening, he seemed satisfied with the American-style diner.

"You usually say that they see what's expected."

"It's the same thing, yes?"

"I want to see my boyfriend walk through that door wearing thigh high socks and nothing else." Chris smirked as he lifted his head from the table, the effect slightly ruined when his cheek stuck momentarily to the plastic surface. "And yet, my eyes are failing me."

Viktor laughed at the dreamy look in Chris's eyes before sobering. "You know what I mean. It's why Yuuri hasn't guessed I'm a vampire – he doesn't want me to be. It's why Yurio is convincing himself that Yuuri and Phichit can't really be hunters."

"That," said Christophe, "Sounds like hope, and we both know that Yuri hasn't been optimistic once in his entire life. Maybe you should listen to what he's saying."

"Yurio's different since Otabek showed up," replied Viktor. "He's... softer. And Yura sees the world in black and white – I think he's looking on the bright side for once, which isn't always such a good thing. That's part of why I don't want him involved in this."

"Have you considered that you might be too good at seeing things in shades of grey?"

They paused for a moment to thank the waiter who brought Chris's food to the table and refilled his cup of coffee, waiting until he was several meters away to resume their conversation. It was unlikely that he would either care enough to listen or be able to follow their rapid French, but Viktor preferred not to take unnecessary risks.

"You were right about Yuri. There's more to him than I thought," continued Chris between bites, "But you do this every time. That first hunter you met – they would have killed you without batting an eye if you hadn't done everything exactly right, and you talk about them like they're some sort of dark hero."

"If they hadn't wanted to give me a chance, nothing I could have done would have mattered," said Viktor quietly. "Are you saying you think Yuuri is..."

"We'll see." Chris's mood had begun to lighten after the delivery of pancakes, but the serious undertone in his voice remained. "I'll do your damage control, see if he seems sympathetic, feed him some false information if it's pertinent. I need to see if he's as cute as you say, after all."

"I appreciate it."

"I don't exactly have a choice," said Chris, rolling his eyes. "You and your bets were more fun before. Besides, you're paying for my food."

:: :: ::

Beka: good morning

Yuri reread the text as he combed out his wet hair, taking a moment to relish the flutter in his chest at the sight of the once-again-familiar name on the screen. In the week since he'd given Otabek his new phone number, Yuri had woken to a message waiting for him. Even on those two or three days that Otabek had crept upstairs with a cat and a murmured question that was never and always can I stay here, Yuri would open his eyes to find his phone displaying a new message.