I can't believe I'm still here.

Yuri held the door open for a few of his classmates as he exited his first class… of his fifth year at university. Due to having to work fulltime for his family's restaurant and hot spring, Yuri could take only a few classes each semester, and as such quickly fell behind on his four-year plan. His parents assured him that it was no big deal, that many students finished or even started late, if they went to uni at all. Still, Yuri felt like an incompetent loser. He had no friends here because they'd all graduated, and there was no way his 22-almost-23-year-old ass was going to make friends with a bunch of 18 year-olds.

A huge sigh escaped his lips as he made his way to his next class; it wasn't even a true class, but a tutorial for one of his more difficult math classes (Why did I wait this long to fulfill my math credit?). The last thing he needed was to face a TA who started at uni the same year as he, but had already moved on to bigger and better things.

When Yuri arrived to his next class, there were only 6 or 7 other students already at desks, and absolutely no sign of his TA. Yuri looked down at his schedule on his phone.

Victor… Nikiforov? Great, a Russian hardass who is sure to expect too much from students…

Yuri took a seat at the edge of the second row. Just close enough to see and hear everything, but not so close that I'll be expected to answer questions. While he scrolled through his Instagram feed-all of his friends posted pictures of happy faces as they received job offer after job offer, a few had sparkly engagement rings, some a new pet to warm up their new homes-more students trickled in, no more than 10. Taking a glance around the room, Yuri noticed no more than 20 students present when the clock struck 2:00, signalling the beginning of class.

Whoever this Russian guy is, he sure is running a bit-

"Hello class! Sorry I'm late! First day of a new year and all, hehe…"

Yuri looked up from his cell phone and immediately froze. This was no Russian hardass, surely. This man was… young and so, so beautiful. There was a slight Russian accent in his voice, but was barely detectable. Yuri was sure his own Japanese accent was much thicker, even after living in Detroit all these years.

Gulping thickly as the TA scrambled to organize his book bag and dry erase markers at the front of the room, Yuri took the time to fully appreciate his physique.

He was slim, but so very tall. HIs hair was a silvery blonde color, obviously not due to age. His jaw was strong, nose narrow and pointed high in the air. The pinkest, plumpest set of lips Yuri had ever laid eyes on stretched widely across his mouth as he smiled jovially. His cheekbones were high and prominent, adding to the androgynous quality of his handsome/beautiful face. But most of all, his eyes were absolutely brilliant. Yuri had never seen eyes as crisp and clear as this man's. They were a striking icy blue, so gorgeous one couldn't help but be drawn to them.

Yuri's heart seemed to stop beating for an entire 30 seconds as he continued to stare at the most enchanting person he'd ever seen.

Yuri was not the most attractive person in the world, he was well aware. All through grade school, his weight fluctuated greatly. He was as simple as they come: pale, not-too-skinny to be skinny but not-too-fat to be fat, dull black hair that hung just above his ears, shit brown eyes, and perhaps the nerdiest glasses of the century-and not the chic, hipster nerd kind of way. On top of all of that, he was socially awkward and held interests which most people did not, most of them based in classical literature. Sure, he'd gone on a few dates (mostly those of the blind persuasion), but none of them were successful enough to warrant a second, let alone an entire relationship. Yuri wasn't sure he'd ever felt any sort of attraction to anyone, physical or otherwise.

Until today.

Yuri could only imagine how red his face was at this point. Thankfully, there were enough students in the room that the TA should not notice.

"Anyway, class," began the man at the front of the room. "Obviously today we won't be going over any topics from lecture, since there has not been one yet, so I thought I could start off by telling you all a bit about myself!" He smiled brightly, walking around to the front of the desk by the whiteboard. He leaned back against the desk, resting his palms flat on the beige surface. "My name is Victor Nikiforov, but you can call me Victor! I'm currently a graduate student here, where I also studied for my undergraduate degree. I hope to have a great semester helping you all learn about the great wonders of math! I know it can be daunting at first, but with a little one-on-one help, I'm sure you'll all do just fantastic!"

Yuri shifted uncomfortably in his seat as Victor's eyes scanned the room, making sure to establish eye contact with everyone he could.

"I've written my email address on the board. Don't hesitate to send a question about any topic my way, I'll try to work it out as fast as I can." He gestured to the board behind him. "Well, that's about all I have to say… if anyone has any questions, feel free to speak up." Victor continued to smile brightly, reaching a hand to the back of his neck awkwardly.

Yuri began to pack up his things, when he heard a girl's voice ask loudly, "Do you have a girlfriend?" Several other girls giggled. Yuri's head whipped around in shock.

The audacity of this girl! You don't just ask a TA such a personal question! She must be a freshman…

Yuri saw that a group of 6 or 7 girls, all cute and dolled up for their first day of classes, sitting together, a few of them blushing, all of them staring right at Victor at the front of the room.

Victor chuckled lightly, seemingly unbothered by her absurdly personal inquiry. "I'm afraid not… uh, what's your name?"

The girl lit up possibly 100 shades of red. "Melinda."

"Melinda," he echoed, smile growing ever larger.

Oh great, just another womanizing TA hoping to take advantage of young vulnerable girls…

Yuri couldn't help but frown a little as he realized what kind of man this "Victor" must be if he is shamelessly flirting on the first day of class. He also couldn't help the sudden ache in his chest at the realization that he would never have a chance with his hot TA.

Wait, what? No, of course not…

There was no way Yuri expected anything to come of what was obviously a crush at first sight. He had come to terms with the fact that he didn't experience sexual attraction to women in his first year of high school. He later came to terms with the fact that he didn't experience sexual attraction to men, either. He later came to terms with the fact that he'd never experience sexual attraction to anyone. Around the same time, he realized that no one would ever feel sexual attraction to him, either.

But this man… was he the one to awaken those desires within him?

Yuri shook his head to rid his brain of these idle thoughts. He obviously wasn't Viktor's type, since he had not breasts, nor short skirts.

Victor cleared his throat as the girls continued to giggle and shriek over the fact that he'd said Melinda's name. "Well, if there are no further questions… we'll continue this next week!" To emphasize his-albeit over enthusiastic-words, he clapped his hands together and grinned widely.

Yuri picked up his bag and cell phone, still distracted by thoughts of his TA naked-oh my god I can't seriously be thinking these things right now-and darted out the door, not looking back.

He knew we was supposed to be home by this hour, but Yuri couldn't muster the motivation to head back to his family's home just yet. Instead, he picked up a salad from a convenience store on campus and found an empty bench under his favorite tree on campus.

It was a huge maple tree. He had never seen anything like it before arriving to university. Its leaves were much larger than his hand, even when he spread his fingers as far apart as they could go. At this time of the year, the foliage was still a bright lime green without a sign of the impending golds, oranges, and reds that would soon dot the tree's branches. Yuri sighed deeply for what must have been the millionth time that day. He leaned his back against the thick trunk behind him, grateful for the shade on this warm August afternoon.

He popped open the plastic lid of his lunch. "Itadakimasu," he muttered quietly before digging into the overpriced shreds of lettuce.

As he chewed, Yuri thought back to the tutorial with the inhumanly hot TA. All through the rest of Yuri's classes, he couldn't forget Viktor's smiling face, how handsome he looked up there at the front of the classroom.

Ugh, what are you, 16? Snap out of it, Katsuki. This isn't like you.

"You must be thinking about something pretty hard, huh?"

A husky, somehow very familiar voice cut him out of his ridiculous thoughts. Yuri snapped his head up from his food and nearly choked.

There he was, the hot TA he'd just been day dreaming about.

Yuri blushed brightly. He fumbled with the salad in his hands, nearly dropping his fork on the ground. "I, uh- I-I, um…" Yuri sputtered.

Viktor looked down on him, chuckling lightly. "I believe you're one of the students in my tutorial, right?"

Yuri could not find the words, so he simply nodded.

Viktor was quiet for a moment, but kept looking at Yuri's face expectantly. "Do you mind if I sit here?" He pointed to the empty spot next to Yuri.

Again, Yuri could say nothing, so he nodded. He scooted over a smidge as Victor sat down.

Victor set his bag by his feet and stretched his arms above his head, letting out a sound somewhere between a sigh and a satisfied moan. The sweet scent of vanilla and something else, something slightly musky, wafted toward Yuri, and he flushed an even deeper shade of red-if that was even possible. Yuri quickly realized he had been staring at Victor as he set about gathering his own food and looked back down at his salad. He shoved a forkful of leafy greens in his mouth as Victor said, "You seem to be a bit older than the other students I saw today."

Yuri nearly choked for the second time in two minutes. Carefully chewing and swallowing, he took a sip of his water and sighed. "Um, well, yeah, I kinda waited until the last minute to, uh, fill my, uh, math credit…" Damn it, Katsuki, what the hell is this? Now there's definitely no way Victor will want anything to do with me!

Victor smiled warmly and opened his container of food, also a salad. "I did the same. My final year, I decided to take my required math course, only to find out that I really enjoyed the subject." He looked up at the tree branches above them. "It was truly a shame. I'd already wasted three years on a literature degree, and here I was, falling in love with math." Victor chuckled lightly. "I hope the same doesn't happen to you, as great as I think math is."

I'm definitely falling in love with something…

Yuri's eyes widened at the thought.

"Though, it all worked out in the end, I suppose. I'm right where I want to be." Victor made eye contact with Yuri and winked. He took a bite of his food, staring into the distance. Yuri watched as his jaw muscles worked around the food, watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed.

Victor looked in his direction, having realized Yuri was staring. "What is your major?"

Yuri rested his fork on the edge of the salad container. "Um, l-literature."

Victor's eyes widened. "Really? What a coincidence!" His whole face lit up. "I did end up graduating with my literature degree, you know. What first got you interested in studying literature?"

"Um…" This was a question Yuri had been asked many times, by family and strangers alike. He often got a lot of weird, disapproving looks when he said he was a literature student. Yuri thought back to middle school, when he discovered the wonders of WattPad. He learned that the written word was not something inaccessible, as he had presumed by his near-failing English grades all through elementary. Amidst the angsty pre-teen short stories posted to the website, Yuri had found a writer who seemed to understand his very soul, his every thought. This writer had taken the English language and crafted such vivid stories, always crediting his inspiration-from Hemingway to Steinbeck to Carroll to Rice. Yuri not only read this writer's stories, but every book the writer mentioned as inspiration. He would check the writer's page on WattPad every night when he got home from school to see if there was anything new. Yuri knew nothing about the writer himself-his screenname was VN_IceKing, not much to go off of. "It's actually pretty silly…"

Victor tilted his head and his brow furrowed slightly. "Inspiration can strike at any moment, never is it silly," he spoke clearly, seriously.

"Ah.. well…" Yuri debated whether he should spout the truth or fabricate some silly lie, something about reading a certain book in high school and connecting with it or something. He didn't want his TA to think he's some immature, silly boy on the first day of the semester, when Yuri was sure to have to talk to him at some point soon-it's not like math was Yuri's best subject. He quickly decided he was going to say he really liked Heart of Darkness in high school and it changed his life, but his mouth betrayed him. "Well, uh, therewasthiswriterIreallylikedonWattPadanditgotmeinterestedinliterature." It rushed out of him all in one breath. He hadn't a moment to think about what he'd just said.

Oh my god, I can't believe I said that. He must think I'm some kind of fangirl freak.

Victor stared at him for some time, his expression unreadable. After a few beats, he finally spoke, "WattPad, you said?"

Yuri had been staring into his salad bowl during the whole ordeal, his hands twisting together in nervousness. He nodded slightly.

"Wow, another coincidence, huh? I used to write on WattPad in grade school! I remember checking my view count every night, wishing I had more popular stories. I wanted to be a great, like Hemingway or Steinbeck… or Carroll or Rice." Victor continued to lazily take a few bites out of his salad, again looking at something in the distance.

Yuri's eyes widened and again he almost dropped his entire bowl of food. Could he..? No, absolutely not. Those are all extremely famous writers, I'm sure he just now thought of them…

The blonde chuckled again, setting his salad next to him on the bench. "I remember my username was something silly, something about royalty and ice. It sure was cold in Russia at the time, and I had a huge ego."

His ears began to ring, his hands began to shake. No way. This can't be… Yuri's breath faltered as he remembered how he left comments on every single work form VN_IceKing.

VN… Victor… Nikiforov…

Again, Victor laughed lightly. "I remember that even though none of my stories were very popular, there was one person who always commented on my stories, encouraging me to keep writing, never once giving me criticism."

Yuri made a strangled yelp, actually spilling the contents of the disposable plastic container in his lap.

"Oh my, are you alright?" Victor looked at Yuri, eyes shining.

"I- um- I just remembered! I have- um, an assignment due in five minutes! I have to go! Um, bye!" Yuri picked up the now empty plastic bowl, as well as his bag, and nearly sprinted away from Victor.

This can't be. There's no way. This is impossible. I'm being stupid right now.

"A… Assignment? It's the first day of class…" Victor mumbled under his breath as he watched his student flee. He rested his chin in his hand and cracked a small smile. This boy… is certainly fascinating.

A/N: Well, it's been… 6 or so years since I've written anything. I recently watched Yuri on Ice (what's out, anyway), and found a sufficient lack of fanfics to hold me over until the next episode. So, here we are. The first(?) chapter. I'd really like to continue this, so please provide feedback! :)