Victor

Silence.

Complete and utter silence.

After I awkwardly sit down across from Yuri, it doesn't take long for the both of us to fall into this awkward and uncomfortable silence.

The awkward and uncomfortable silence that's been going on for a few minutes now. Somehow, though, I'm convinced this awkward and uncomfortable silence would be better than actually having to talk to each other.

Because now Yuri can't run away. He's obligated to sit and interact with me for an hour or two. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon.

I've finally gotten Yuri to stop avoiding and running away from me, but not in a way I expected.

I certainly didn't expect I'd get him to talk to me by being my tutor.

Yet here we are.

"So," I mumble, breaking the awkward silence, "should we get started, or...?" My voice trails off as I run out of things to say. What am I supposed to say to him? I can't exactly ask him if we should friends right now; he's supposed to be tutoring me. What I need to do is coax him into having a talk with me. A nice, long talk where I explain I will no longer make his life a living hell and that I'm sorry that I ever did.

If I can get him to come out of his shell, even only slightly, then I can convince him to have a talk with me and once he realizes that I'm telling the truth and that this isn't a prank, we'll... become friends, I guess.

Can it really be that easy? I sure hope so.

My eyes drift up to Yuri from where they'd been staring at the floor. Yuri had just said something and I completely missed it.

I clear my throat. "Sorry?"

Yuri seems to swallow meekly, nervously, before he repeats himself. "I-I said yeah, we should get started," He grabs one of the textbooks and begins flipping through pages. "The, um, principal gave me your schedule which states your first class is, uh, science... so should we just start there...?" His voice is a mere whisper. Clearly he's still scared to be talking to me. Like my friends could jump up out of nowhere and attack him if he says something wrong.

I nod, seeing no reason why we shouldn't start there. "Sure," I says in response, trying to seem as little intimidating as I can. If this is going to work and Yuri and I are going to be friends, I can't have him afraid of me.

Yuri nods back. "O-Okay then...," He keeps flipping pages until he suddenly stops. "Here's what we've been working on lately... I guess just look through it and tell me if, uh, you get confused."

I take one look at the textbook and immediately don't understand a word it's saying.

Not wanting to annoy Yuri or look like an idiot in front of him, I continue to stare at the page, mentally willing it to suddenly start to make sense to me. Of course, that doesn't happen, so I eventually stop and give Yuri a look.

Yuri frowns. "You don't get it?"

"No. Not at all."

Yuri uses his pointer finger to push his glasses into place on the ridge of his nose before he takes the book from me. "W-Well, let me explain it to you..."

However, as Yuri explains the lesson to me, I spend the entire time zoning out and just staring at him. I never noticed this before, but Yuri has these intense, deep brown eyes that make him look striking. Nothing at all like the shy and awkward vibe he seems to always be putting off. Yuri also has this messy black hair that seems to fall in his eyes every so often. His black hair compliments his skin tone and his eyes, which compliment his hair right back. I've never been this close to him before, so I guess that's why I never noticed any of this.

Yuri's actually a pretty attractive guy. With his looks, I'm actually kind of surprised he isn't dating anyone. If he was, my friends and I would know about it, seeing as we practically stalked him everyday at school as we were attempting to hunt him down and mess with him.

And just like that, I'm wondering yet again why I ever bullied Yuri and allowed my friends to do it. What did he ever do to us? The only reasons he was ever picked on is because he's gay and... well... because he isn't like us. He's different, and all different people don't fit in. And if someone doesn't fit in, they get made fun of. It's that simple.

And I never questioned it. I never questioned it because it was easy and expected and what was done. It was how the social pyramid worked—everyone seemed to accept that. It was good for me and my friends, so I never once considered that it might be wrong. I never once considered Yuri's feelings on how the social pyramid worked. It benefitted my friends and me, so why question it? There's no reason to, right?

Except there is. There always has been, but I was too wrapped up in my own perfect life to notice.

And Yuri paid the price for it.

"... so, I guess that's all there is to it."

I snap out of my train of thought and refocus on what Yuri is saying. I completely zoned out on everything he just said. "Um... yeah," I reply awkwardly, trying to make it seem like I hadn't ignored what he was saying the entire time he was saying it.

"Get it now?" Yuri questions, and if he knows I hadn't been paying attention, he ignored it. He doesn't even seem irritated. Still a little freaked out that I'm the student he's tutoring, but not irritated. And he's actually kind of calm now.

So I just nod and say, "Yeah."

Yuri sits there for a moment, looking into my eyes. Then he sighs. "You don't get it, do you?"

I shake my head. "Not at all," I answer honestly.

Yuri sighs once again before he picks up a pencil and a piece of paper. He then slides them across the table towards me. I silently take them and stare at them.

"Um," I say, still looking at what he gave me, "what's this for?"

Yuri gives me a look. "What do you think? They're for taking notes, of course. Since you don't get it, it'd be smart to take notes about it. Notes always helped me when I struggled—" Yuri struggled? "—and I'm inclined to believe they'll help you too. Notes make everything easier. Well, they did for me, anyway," he explains, and my eyes widen because I think that's the most Yuri Katsuki's ever shared with me about himself. Actually, that's all he ever shared with me about himself. Even though it's nowhere near significant, it's something; Yuri opened up to me about himself just a little bit, and I don't think he even noticed.

Considering the fact that not long ago he was running away from me in fear whenever I tried to interact with him, I'd say this is progress.

I give him a warm smile. "Thanks, Yuri. This will really help me," I tell him, making sure there's sincerity in my tone.

Instead of the desired effect, my niceness only causes Yuri to shrink back into his shell. "Oh, uh, you're w-welcome..." he mumbles, seeming even more uncomfortable.

Well, I can't exactly blame him; Yuri Katsuki's never had the experience of me being nice to him before today.

He better get used to it, though, because if I'm going to save him I've got to become his friend (i.e., another reason for him to want to stay alive), and if I'm going to become his friend I need to be nice to him. Friends are nice to each other. It's part of the reason why they're, well, friends.

What else do friends do? If Yuri and I are going to be friends, we'll need to do... um... friend things.

What else do friends do?

Well... I've already established that they're nice to each other...

They... they hang out together... They help each other out... They make fun of each other (but I'm not sure that's where I should start with Yuri)... They... they...

What do they do? What do people that are just starting a friendship do...? How would I know? My friends practically threw themselves at me; there was no need to get to know each other or anything like that. We ended up unconsciously establishing a friendship. So, how would I know what people trying to start a friendship would do? What on earth would they do?

I go back over the list in my head.

Wait a second.

I blink.

They hang out together.

My eyes widen and I feel a smile form on my face. That's it!

"Uh... V-Victor...?" Yuri speaks up cautiously, as if he's scared to say my name. "What is it? Why are you making that face...?"

I clear my throat and stop smiling, giving Yuri the most casual look I can muster. I make sure the next smile I give is charming, but not overly charming. Coming on too strong is the last thing I should do (it's already been proven Yuri's easily spooked).

Then I look into his eyes and cock my head slightly to the side. "Say, Yuri, you know that coffee shop about two miles from here? Near the mall?"

Yuri frowns, curiosity shining in his eyes at why I'm suddenly bringing up the coffee shop. He knows the place I'm talking about—everyone knows that coffee shop. It's one of the main hangouts.

"Yeah..." Yuri answers, giving me an odd look.

I clasp my hands together, continuing to give him my innocent smile. "Well, I was thinking, after we're done with today's session, that it'd be nice to go get some coffee and maybe a snack. They've got good food there, as you probably already know. We could go there and get some, you know, food and coffee. Together. If that's something you'd be interested in, as far as food and coffee go," I tell him, keeping my voice natural and confident as well as gentle and slightly coaxing.

Yuri sits back in his chair, blinking at me. "You... you want to go get coffee with me...?" he questions, clearly caught off guard by my suggestion.

I nod, as if this is the most normal thing in the world. "Yeah. I just thought it'd be nice to have a nice cup of coffee after a tiring hour of studying," I tell him, and his eyes widen slightly which causes me to add, "But we don't have to do that if you don't want to! I just... I just thought it'd be something enjoyable to do."

When I finishes speaking, Yuri merely sits there, his lips pressed together like he's thinking about it.

I try to seem like I'm not watching him as seriously as I am. Come on. Say you'd like to.

If you did, it'd make this easier for me.

Plus, I'm trying to save your life, so you kinda owe this to me.

Not that you know that. But still.

Yuri looks away from me and seems to ponder this decision, and all I can do is stare at him and silently plead him with my thoughts to say yes.

It seemed like years have gone by when Yuri's eyes meet my own and he says, "Y-Yeah... I guess that's okay..."

On the inside I let out a huge sigh of relief. Now that Yuri agreed to spending time with me of his own free will, we'll be able to get to know each other and become friends that much faster! Which makes things way easier for me.

On the outside, however, I give Yuri a hopefully-natural-looking nod. "Okay then."