The Truth About Yuuri Katsuki

Three

It was Friday, so Victor didn't feel bad about skipping school. His parents were okay with it too since he was generally such a good student. Victor just couldn't handle going back. He'd rather have a long weekend then go and see Yuuri again. Victor realized that he wasn't exactly being fair but he couldn't help it. This was the best way he knew how to handle this situation. He knew that Yuuri was too out of his league, so what else was he supposed to do? Just continue falling for the guy? That would only lead to more pain. 

Victor stood in the mall staring at a rack of clothes. He looked at his phone and realized that the school day ended about an hour ago. He wondered how long it would be until his mom was done food shopping. How much longer would he have to wait, staring at this same rack of clothes, before he finally got that text saying she was here to pick him up? He'd already walked around the mall five or six times. 

An individual bumped into him from behind. Victor turned around, as did the individual, and the two both stared at each other in shock. "V-Victor?" Yuuri stuttered. He didn't look anything like he did in school. Yuuri was wearing glasses, sweatpants, an over-sized hoodie, and a beanie. He looked like he was about to pass out from the shock of bumping into someone he knew. This wasn't anything like the cool, confident, Yuuri that Victor was used to seeing. Maybe this was a secret twin? Or did he actually have a split personality? Or, or, maybe Yuuri had a curse placed on him that he could only be the cool-sexy-type at the high school.

"Yuuri? Is that you?" Victor squinted. He was still trying to determine if this was actually Yuuri or not.

"Y-Yes, it's me," Yuuri avoided eye contact and his face flushed. He was embarrassed. Victor immediately felt bad. He shouldn't have acted so shocked, (even if it was a shock).

"I'm surprised to see you here," Victor smiled and changed the subject, "I didn't realize anyone still went to this mall."

"I like this place. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere and not too many people from our school show up here," Yuuri said. He was clearly nervous. Victor just felt worse. He didn't know how to make Yuuri more comfortable. But also, this was a completely different Yuuri than what he was used to seeing. It was like he'd just met a stranger!

"Am I bothering you?" Victor asked. He was starting to wonder if he should just leave Yuuri alone. Maybe he didn't want Victor around. They'd met each other in this place by chance. The two barely knew each other! Victor should just leave him alone...

"N-No! You're not bothering me! I just wasn't expecting to see you here, that's all. Actually, I have a favor to ask you," Yuuri looked at his hands. He folded and unfolded them as he waited for Victor to answer.

"What do you need?" Victor asked. "I'd be happy to help you in any way I can."

"I want to buy this shirt," Yuuri turned around and grabbed the shirt off of the rack, "but buying things at the register always stresses me out. If I give you the money, can you get it for me?" he asked. Victor wasn't sure what to rate Yuuri on the scale of Cute to Flippin' Adorable. He thought maybe Super Kawaii was suitable. 

"Why don't I just buy the shirt for you? You don't have to pay me back. I still owe you for that time you lent me money for the vending machine," Victor took the shirt and went to go buy it. Yuuri didn't have time to object. Victor returned with a shopping bag in hand and gave it to Yuuri. 

"This is a lot more than just $2," Yuuri said.

"It's fine," Victor smiled. "Is there anything else you wanted?" Yuuri nodded. The two then traveled the mall searching for the things that Yuuri had been staring at for months but wasn't able to buy because he didn't want to talk to the person at the register. Victor happily traversed the mall with him. Partially because he thought this version of Yuuri was adorable and partially because he could finally spend time with Yuuri without worrying if someone would poison his food for it. 

After Yuuri spent a bucket load of cash on clothes, the two went to the food court and got some smoothies. Yuuri sipped his smoothie carefully and kept glancing from the smoothie back to Victor.

"I noticed that you weren't in school today," he began, "did something happen?" Victor wondered how long Yuuri had been trying to ask that question. He was too pure for this world. Didn't he know he could just ask Victor that sort of thing? No, probably not, the two weren't even 'friend' status yet.

"No, nothing happened," Victor replied. He didn't have a reasonable excuse and he couldn't exactly tell Yuuri that he was head over heels for him and was too depressed to go to school because he knew it would never work out. That would just be rude. 

"You're lying," Yuuri said, "whenever you lie the edges of your mouth always tilt upward and you give a kind of half-hearted smile."

"What?" How did Yuuri know that? He wouldn't have known that unless he'd been observing Victor for quite some time. Victor didn't have any friends, so he couldn't have lied in school to someone. No, that wasn't true, he lied to teachers all the time. Yuuri and Victor didn't share that many classes. How would he have known? Unless, they had shared classes freshman and sophomore year, because that would've been before Victor started crushing on him. Did that mean that Yuuri had a crush on Victor? No, that couldn't be right. Yuuri was probably just observant. Yes, that's it. 

"Oh, God, I sound like a creeper," Yuuri held his head in his hands and sighed. He blushed so hard that his ears turned red too. "I wasn't stalking you or anything, I promise. I'm just really observant, I swear."

Victor's phone vibrated in his pocket. That must be his mother telling him she was here. He sighed and checked. Yep, it was. His blissful time with Yuuri Katsuki had ended. "I have to go," Victor grabbed a napkin and wrote down his phone number on it before handing it to Yuuri, "If you ever need someone to buy stuff for you again, feel free to ask!" Victor smiled and left. He waved and rushed out of the nearest exit. He only hoped that it was the right one, or he'd have to walk all the way around the outside of the mall trying to find his mother's car. 

Finding his mom was relatively easy, (surprisingly). Victor jumped in the car and closed the door. His phone vibrated in his pocket. Did Yuuri text him this soon? If this was how it was going to be between them, maybe school on Monday wouldn't be so bad. So much for trying to forget his crush.

Unknown Number: Thank you for today! I'll be sure to treat that one shirt you bought me with care! :D Hope to see you soon. <3

Victor grinned at his phone. Maybe the heart meant something, maybe it didn't. At this point, Victor wasn't sure he had to care about the details anymore. He was getting closer to Yuuri. That's all he cared about at the moment.