Shining Steel (Victuuri)

Second To None

My heart stopped in my chest as the confession left Klara's mouth. How had I been so blind? The girl had never done anything that even suggested that she like Yuuri, but everything she'd ever done in the past ten years suggested that she liked Anya (and this seemed to be more than just like).

The aforementioned woman was now switching out her insane laughter (which was on the verge of becoming cackles) for heart-wrenching bawling. Phichit had moved sides of the table to comfort her and attempt to calm her down; it wasn't working.

"Victor, y-you ha-ve no i-dea what it's l-like to b-be so-meone's emo-tion-al bl-anket but hurt th-this ba-d be-cau-se o-of it."

Almost forgetting the bright lights and loud music for a moment, I forced myself to focus my attention on something other than Yuuri and Chris and found myself moving to the other side of the table to collect her into a hug.

I managed to lift her up slightly before sitting down in her chair and placing her on my lap as I had done maybe seventeen years ago when I had been just nine and she was but a mere six-year-old. Almost as if by instinct and a long-forgotten habit, she responded by huddling herself into my chest and wrapping her arms around my shoulders.

We just sat there like that for what seemed like hours. Just her, Yuuri and Chris' background dancing, Phichit's reassuring hand running through her hair, and me.

The truth was hitting me hard and rough and it was driving its way into the deepest depths of my soul; she'd done nothing but help my sister recover from relationships for years now, even though it was tearing her apart from the inside out.

It felt like a weird place to be having such epiphany. We were, may I remind you, still in a restaurant full of excited, screaming, rich people after all.

"He-y, Victor?"

I glanced down at the lady in my lap and nodded with a gentle smile adorning my lips.

"Can y-you call Nastya? I-I wan-t to g-o home..."

With another nod I brought her in closer and began rubbing her back comfortingly. I carefully untangled one of my hands to reach into my pocket and retrieve my phone.

"That's fine," I replied softly, "But please make sure you call her Anya when she arrives."

She sniffled a little before letting out a shaky answer in agreement.

"S-sure, anything f-or my darling Anya..."

I typed out a quick text and sent it to my sister before then proceeding to use my phone camera to take pictures of my best friend and crush, both of which were still twirling around the pole.

Klara seemed to be beginning to relax a little as I actually had to forcefully stop her from reaching for another glass.

As the music changed again, I almost choked on my own breath as I recognised the song that was blasting through the speakers.

Second To None, Chris Crocker.

I can't even begin to tell you how many times I'd sung that song in the shower.

How was it even allowed to be played in the restaurant?

As soon as the song began the pair's movement changed and became an, obviously rehearsed, routine; they had definitely been practicing this. They also made better use of the rest of the performance space this time to incorporate an overwhelmingly seductive dance into their choreography.