borschtkot | For Agalio

For Agalio

Continued from Here
Continued from Here--> Otabek

For a little while after coming home to Russia Yuri was able to celebrate having won gold. He let himself get lost in the excitement, spending quite a bit of time with his grandfather and the few friends he had from the rink before the excitement died down. Then it was time to get back to work.

And back to work meant time to think.

Think about things Otabek said in text messages. Think about things that happened in hotel rooms that shouldn't have happened but Yuri was stubborn. Because when JJ put out a challenge he couldn't seem to bring himself to back down because it was JJ.

Was that something you were supposed to tell other people about if you were going to date them? Otabek had been so ... polite. And Yuri had turned him down because he didn't know. He didn't know if he was supposed to say anything or if it was what he wanted at all or even if he was good enough to be doing that.

Dating. After a hotel room blow job out of spite. Y e a h . . .

He was in his home rink, stretching before taking to the ice. He wasn't sure if and when Otabek would be arriving, like he'd implied he would. It'd be nice to have an actual friend around... He stretches his arms above his head, tiling his head back a moment before laying forward. Splits were easy at least. He could focus on the dull pull of muscles he'd neglected a little instead of how stupid he was.

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"I'll make you wish you had, when I destroy you on the ice. You'll finally break that stoicism to weep!" He's grinning, clearly not serious. He wanted Otabek to do well, of course. If someone was going to win gold he'd rather it be someone he liked.

Even if he'd resent them forever.

"Yeah, well, I don't intend on getting taller. So I'll just perfect everything, and you all can be tall and gangly without knowing where to put your limbs."

"It'd be nice if we could stop it," Otabek still wasn't graceful when he was smaller. Growing up been pretty kind to him, too. He grew into his taller form easily, and got even stronger as a skater than he had been when he was young. It worked. He hoped that even as Yuri grew, the same would go for him.

"But... I got better the bigger I became. The same could happen for you, too."

"Well, I intend on only getting better. Eventually no one will be able to catch up and I'll be on the history books for decades"

That was his intention anyway. He needed to start by breaking Katsuki's free skate record, then upping his short program record. He had ideas on what to do, and he could do more and more as he got older too.

Otabek smiled, leaning into his hand. "You're going to keep setting records." He wanted, so badly to bring the gold back home, but he also was glad to see his friend set records. He wanted to see how far this soldier he remembered from when he was younger progressed.

He finished his coffee, and worked on another of the cookies. They were dwindling down, as well. The girl returned and poured him another cup almost immediately.

"I am happy with my choice to train here. I don't know if I could have continued improving where I was."

"I'm happy you're here too. Its good to have a friend around that isn't just.. busy with everyone else."

Maybe he was a little possessive of Otabek. Everyone should have a friend that focused on them, that's just what Yuri thought. Victor had Yuuri, Mila had her friends. Yuri was the only one who hadn't had anyone.

Until Otabek came. He brought out a softer side of Yuri.

"Are you going to be okay away from your family for a long time?"

Otabek hadn't really ever had a friend before. Certainly, it wasn't because he was unfriendly, but he wasn't the most approachable person. Sometimes, people found his forwardness off-putting.

"Yes," Otabek promised when Yuri asked. "They're used to me being away for long periods of time." It was what his career choice demanded of him, and he was always glad to do it.

"I think I'm only ever away from my family when its competition time... It makes for a lot of jet lag but.. I'd rather be as close as possible.." His grandfather was getting older. If anything happened to him while Yuri was away he'd be crushed.

He's breaking a cookie into manageable chunks, watching his hands in a brief silence.

"...Do you have a lot of friends?"

Otabek understood the desire to be near family, and at times - he really did miss them. But he knew the only way he could bring the gold back to Almaty - was by not staying there. He couldn't get the training he needed there anymore.

And Russia produced champions.

"No," he answered, a rather blunt and straightforward response. "It's pretty much just you." Remember, Yuri, he doesn't have an approachable face?

Yuri knew their previous discussion but part of him had thought maybe back in Almaty he had friends.. but he guessed not. Yuri could understand that type of loneliness.

"...Yeah, me too. I only really am friends with you.. Katsuki says he's my friend and Victor too but they're more like. ... Older.. siblings.. That are annoying."

Yeah, he didn't so much consider them 'friends' as 'annoying rivals that were civil with one another for the most part'.

Of course, people were more willing to talk to him back at home, because of the fact that he was looked to as icon in Almaty. Still, his forwardness was off-putting for many.

So Yuri accepting his hand in friendship meant a lot to him. Probably more than the other would completely understand. It was why Otabek completely devoted himself to the friendship.

"Same," Otabek said. "They seem nice when I've seen them." Which wasn't much, to be honest.

"They're nice, I guess. They do that weird obsessed with each other in love shit that's annoying." He made a face, sticking out his tongue briefly. "Its like they started dating and became fused at the hip."

Which meant less time actually getting to talk to Victor, who had been Yuri's teammate first and Victor had promised him things first and--

Okay, no reason to dredge that up.

Yuri pulls out his phone, shifting around a bit. He puts up a peace sign for the selfie he was going to take.

"Lets make my fanclub jealous."

Otabek blinked a few times and looked at Yuri. He didn't think think the love was quite as annoying, either. He didn't say so, though. Then, when he mentioned making his fan's jealous, he tilted his head to the side and watched Yuri for a moment.

"Alright," he said. He looked confused and had a straight face the entire time. He was having fun with Yuri, but smiles were uncommon. He'd prefer to reserve them for one on one moments, too.

Yuri shifts so he's sitting next to Otabek now, showing him the picture as he is overcome with laughter.

"You look so serious! Its like you didn't even mean to be here with me! I know, wait wait, I know how to caption this." He taps away then posts it up with an even louder snicker.

[I found my favorite skater and he let me take a photo with him! #fanboy #gokazakhstan #theotabae ]

Maybe he was having a little too much fun.

"Sorry," Otabek said immediately when he realized he had a straight face through the entire thing. He was quite happy to be there, but the whole selfie thing threw him. He wasn't huge on using everything, but he did get a notification when Yuri tagged him in that.

It was weird, his lack of interaction there meant lack of notifications (tough he did sometimes get them when news and media sites from Kazakhstan decided to tag him).

He turned his head there, looking at Yuri for a moment.

"I don't normally take selfies," he said. Of course, Yuri could probably tell.

"I know, its difficult to find pictures of you when you don't take selfies. All I have are different pictures from the news."

Yuri stares at his phone for a long moment and his face was getting redder by the second. He realized what he had said obviously and it was not something he really should have said out loud.

"...I mean. Not that I look for pictures of you. You're right here so I don't need pictures of you.. Obviously."

Though, he'd like one of Otabek smiling. Getting one of those would be hard...

Don't say that outloud, Yuri.

"I'll try to take them more often," he offered. If Yuri asked, he probably would keep up with Social Media more often. It'd be weird, but he'd do it. He probably should anyway.

Though he couldn't promise that he'd be smiling. He couldn't help it, he just often looked bored in pictures, even when he was happy. Seeing Yuri's face turn red, Otabek made a bold move.

"Yura," he said. He would wait for the other to turn his attention towards him, and when he did, he would give him a kiss - right then in there. No cares at all if they were in a cafe in a public space.

Yuri turned his head only because Otabek used that nickname. He liked that Otabek had given him a nickname, it made them feel closer. Though not quite as close as this kiss was making him feel. His eyes were wide when the kiss broke and even his ears were red at this point.

He blinks a few times in surprise, fishmouthed a bit then looks around as if he were looking for someone to help him.

He hadn't expected that. What was he supposed to do in response to that. He looks back down at his phone, blinking a few more times, face feeling so overheated.

Then he turns and meets Otabek's lips again, briefly before pulling back, turning his head away because he was so flustered.

Otabek's face was warm, he was sure that it was red. He wasn't sure what he was expecting when he had decided he would take that initiate, but he certainly didn't expect Yuri's face to turn such a shade of red.

He was about to say something when Yuri turned and gave him another quick kiss. His heart was racing, and he was sure now that he couldn't fight off the inevitable blush. He tried to find words, but for someone who spoke so little, it was so hard. He had been surprised by Yuri.

"Yura," he said, finally. It was the only thing that he could manage to say. He stared, blankly.

Yuri didn't want to look back, his hand over his mouth as he looks around the cafe as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. What was he doing that for? He was still trying to figure other things out, to get shit handled and now he was dragging Otabek into the mess...

But he hears the nickname and he forces himself to turn his head back, reaching across quickly to snatch up the last cookie.

"Stop staring at me, its weird." His face was still red. "Here, eat half of this so I dont' feel like a total fatass."

Otabek very pointedly turned his head away, holding out his hand towards Yuri to accept the cookie. "Sorry," he says. He hadn't fully realized he was doing it, and he was embarrassed that he was staring.

It was rude. Incredibly rude to stare.

He didn't really know if what he had done was the right thing. Sure, Yuri had reciprocated the action, but that didn't mean anything, did it? Ever forward, he says it, too.

"You returned the kiss."

Probably making everything just a little more awkward.

Yuri really had no idea what he was supposed to be doing right now. Otabek kissed him. He kissed back. The sequence of events had occurred and now things were weirdly quiet. Did lips touching really change things that much? Maybe he should lay out some guidelines here. Expectations. Demands.

No, wait, this wasn't some weird emotional hostage situation. He couldn't just make demands of Otabek or tell him this or that. It was a mutual thing. Isn't that what Yuuri and Victor always said? Mutual, mutual...

Yuri startles a little at Otabek's voice, glancing at him a little stiffly.

"Uh. ... Yeah, why not? I liked it when you did it, so I thought.. Did you not want me to?"

"I hoped you would," Otabek said. He finally felt able to look back at Yuri without feeling awkward. Everything felt a bit weird now. Had his doing that messed up something? But Yuri said he liked it... so it couldn't have been completely wrong.

"I just didn't know that you would. I'm -- " he's grasping for words, but decides to keep it simple for now, "glad." Really, that was all there was to it.

Otabek had remained delightfully uninvolved with others when it came to most things, so this was new territory. He approached it like he did everything else, though.

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