There was a reason Yuri never drank, when he did, he didn't remember anything. He sighed as he walked up to Yuuko's apartment door. He didn't get the chance to knock. The door was pulled open. Her boyfriend, Takeshi, greeted him. Yuri gave an awkward smile as Takeshi wrapped his beefy arm around the thin neck of his guest. Heartily laughing as he talked loudly of their bet, he dragged the quiet shy male inside.
"Takeshi, take it easy on him!" Yuuko admonished.
Laughing again, Takeshi released his prize. He winked at Yuri. "This is going to be fun!"
He showed Yuri where they had a video camera set up, the bottles of alcohol and mixers they had purchased, as well as a "surprise" box. He wouldn't explain what was in that. He simply winked and stated that Yuri would find out later.
At this time, Phichit arrived. They greeted each other. Yuuko insisted the boys eat a hearty nutritious meal. She had it already prepared. The four friends sat around talking as they ate. Takeshi finding it funny that Phichit was the one who wanted to go to the Yaoi Café.
"I mean, Yuri's been friends with this hot bitch since childhood. He never made a move on her!" He roared laughing as he kissed his girlfriend on the cheek.
"Stop being such a vulgar dick!" Yuuko shoved the man away.
"There is the fact..." Yuri grimaced at his friend.
He sat back as they chatted a bit. He wondered if Yuuko had ever thought about them dating. He knew the idea had never crossed his mind. She was his best friend, like a sister to him! Why would he think about if she was attractive or not? She was pretty, but Yuri never considered if he was attracted to someone like her. He frowned as he took his plate to the sink.
"Stop thinking so much about it." He turned to see Yuuko behind him.
"We're family." She smiled reassuringly at him.
"Yuuko, you know I've never been ..." He stopped when she hugged him.
"I wouldn't care if you figured out you liked guys or if out there, somewhere, is a very special girl for you. Just be you, Yuri. It's all I ever wanted from you." She pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.
"Now, let's get you drunk!" She giggled picking up a bottle of whiskey.
Yuri chuckled. He found it sweet that she didn't care about his sexuality, but he was worried about the drinking. He walked back into the room. They had rearranged it slightly.
The table they had all sat at was now in the center of the room. The camera was set up at one end in order to get the best shot of both contestants. Phichit sat at one end, Takeshi beside him.
In front of Takeshi were several bottles. Yuuko sat at the other end with more bottles. She pointed to the seat beside her. Yuri walked over to sink down into it. Takeshi pressed record on the camera, the bet was on. Phichit would drink a shot, then Yuri. It went back and fourth for over two hours. Neither of them appeared close to blacking out. They were noticeably drunk.
"I'm afraid if they keep going, they are going to end up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning." Yuuko stated.
"We should enact our conditionary clause." Takeshi grinned as he picked up the box that Yuri had seen when he first arrived. Yuuko sighed.
"Yes, I don't see any other choice now." She frowned as Takeshi thrust the box into her hands.
"Yuri, come with me." She took her friends arm. Leading him to the bedroom, Yuri wobbled on his legs.
"What are you going to do with me?" He hiccupped, then giggled.
"Dress you up." Sure enough, she pulled out a slinky blue dress from the box. After assisting Yuri into it, she did his hair and makeup. She removed his glasses knowing he was already too drunk to see properly any way.
Once he was ready she took him out to the living room. Phichit was in a bright red dress. His makeup looked like a man did it. Yuuko went to fix it up a little. Along with Takeshi, they took the boys down to their college.
"Alright, in order to win the bet, you have to get the most numbers." Takeshi said. He was in charge of Phichit.
They headed off in one direction. Yuuko glanced back at Yuri. He stood still in the middle of the sidewalk. Even drunk he wasn't going to... she stopped her thought process when someone came up to the boy dressed as a girl.
"Hey there sweet thing!" The man called out.
Yuri had moves! Who would have known. He saddled up to the man. "Hey, cutie." He purred running a hand down his chest.
Yuuko sat on a bench to watch as Yuri talked, danced, flirted and laughed with many of the guys, and a few girls as they went by. A tall silver haired male walked up to Yuri. He smiled down at him. Tilting his chin up he leaned forward.
"You are far too captivating to be hustling out here for phone numbers." The man cooed.
"Allow me to take you some place, safe." He leaned down to peck a kiss to Yuri's lips. Yuuko rushed over.
"Hey get off of her!" she cried slapping at the man with her hand bag.
Startled the man backed away. He blinked dumbly at Yuuko.
"A of course he would have a friend looking out for him." He pulled a business card from his pocket. He slipped it down the front of Yuri's dress.
"Remind him, my names Viktor." The man called in a strong Russian accent as he sauntered away.
Yuuko's mouth fell open. How had this Viktor known Yuri wasn't a female? She pondered. Her alarm sounded on her phone. The agreed upon time was up. She collected Yuri marching him back to the car. Takeshi was already shoving Phichit back inside.
"He was cute. Could he be my boyfriend?" Yuri slurred his words together as he craned his neck to try to see where the man had gone.
"Lets hope not." Yuuko whispered.
She couldn't figure it out, but she had an odd feeling about Viktor. It wasn't bad, it wasn't good, just odd. She eyed the building she had last seen him walk behind. A frown on her face as she got inside the car, she wondered if they would be seeing him again.
By the time they got home, both males were passed out in the backseat. Takeshi carried them up to her apartment one at a time. He placed Yuri in the recliner and Phichit on the love seat. Then, they dumped out the phone numbers each male had collected in their purse. Takeshi counted Phichit's while Yuuko counted Yuri's.
She was surprised at how many her normal, quite, self couscous friend got. They had only been there for an hour. Yuri had twenty seven numbers, not counting Viktor's. Yuuko hid that one. She wasn't sure why, but something told her it would be for the best.
"Thirty one!" Takeshi cried as he placed the last piece of paper on his stack.
"Yuri has twenty seven." Yuuko said.
"Looks like it is Yaoi time!" Takeshi laughed.
"We can tell them in the morning." Yuuko stood up. She made sure the door was locked as she went through shutting off the lights.
Viktor. He was strikingly handsome. His suave forward manner was the opposite of Yuri. Was she doing the right thing by keeping his number from him? She curled up, her back to Takeshi as she saw the way the handsome man walked away. If she had to guess, she would assume he was a model. The way he held himself. She decided she would try to look him up in the morning. Closing her eyes, she drifted off to sleep.
"WHAT AM I WEARING!" A cry exploded from the living room. Yuuko blinked the sleep from her eyes.
"Yuri?" it took a moment for her to focus. Then the events of the night before came rushing back.
She opened her bedside table to check that the business card was still there. All it said was Viktor Nikiforov, Entertainer. In gold lettering. Under this was etched a phone number and email. She hid the card in the book she was currently reading.
"Yuri!" She called as she came out to the room the boys were in.
"Yuuko, what happened last night?" He looked distraught up at her.
"Where are my glasses?" He asked.
"Here." She held out the glasses to him, he slipped them on.
"Come on, lets clean you up." She helped him out of the dress, waiting outside the bathroom as he showered.
Yuri came out wearing his own clothing. Phichit had awoken and used the bedroom to redress in his own clothing as well. He washed the makeup off in the kitchen sink. They all gathered around the table as Takeshi passed out plates filled with breakfast foods. While they ate, Yuuko explained what had transpired the night before.
"So, neither of us passed out from drinking?" Phichit asked.
"Not right away." Yuuko offered.
"So, we dressed you up as hot chick's and took you to school." Takeshi crowed.
"Please tell me you didn't film that?" Yuri hung his head over his coffee cup.
"No, I didn't think to. Damn we so should have! I mean we had our phones!" Takeshi wailed as he held his head in his hands.
"No we shouldn't have!" Yuuko scolded. She rubbed Yuri's arm.
"You were already drunk, I knew you wouldn't remember. Plus, no one even suspected you were a guy!" she felt a tiny twist in her gut as she thought about Viktor.
What would Yuri do if he knew some random guy had kissed him? Was it Yuri's first kiss? She wasn't sure. There had been the few nights, early in college, where they had gotten drunk and done some stupid stuff together. Afterwards, Yuri never remembered any of it. She had been around to keep an eye on him. As far as she knew, no one had kissed him.
"Well, that's good, I suppose." Yuri agreed.
"Then tell us who won!" Phichit cried. He bounced in his seat.
"Yuri received twenty seven numbers in the one hour time frame we set up." Yuuko announced.
"Twenty seven, that's a lot!" Phichit slowly slumped in his seat. Yuri blinked looking a little hopeful.
"Yeah, but buddy!!!" Takeshi squeezed Phichit's shoulder.
"You got thirty one!" He crowed.
"WHAT?" Phichit perked up, his legendary smile back on his face.
"I won!" He screamed.
Yuri hung his head. He sipped more coffee holding the cup out as Yuuko retrieved the pot. She refilled his drink while her boyfriend cheered with Phichit. It didn't matter that she held Viktor's card back, Yuri still would have lost. She rationalized for herself.
"Ugh, now I need to go to the Yaoi café tonight." Yuri moaned.
"Yes! It is going to be great." Phichit cried.
"Have you decided on which one you want to go to?" Yuuko asked.
Phichit sank back down into his seat. He had a sly smirk on his face as he nodded his head.
"There was a reason I wanted to go." He said.
"About a week ago I saw this boy..." He went on to describe a small boy with yellow hair, but the bangs were dyed red. The way Phichit talked about the encounter had them all smirking. He explained the boy worked at a particular Café downtown.
"We should go to, as support!" Takeshi stated looking at Yuuko.
"Right, that way it won't look as if you guys are on a date!" She agreed.
"Great!" Phichit cried enthusiastically.
"Great." Yuri muttered into his coffee cup.