alwaysthequietones | (no subject)

(no subject)

It's different, he learns, actually being friends with someone on the ice.

It's not just Yuri, either-- Viktor's friendship kind of ends up being this weird package deal with that that he wasn't expecting and Yuuri's follows and Yuuri seems like one of those people everyone just likes for some reason and so everyone else seems to follow suit. He's not really much of a people person-- people tend to find him too quiet and get bored and he finds small talk pretty exhausting, himself-- so "friendship" in this case might be too strong a word for what any of them feel towards him, but he's invested now, enough that every now and again, he'll even post something on Instagram or like a few scattered posts here and there.

He and Yuri talk more often than that, but it's still just a smattering of texts here and there and he's no better at pleasantries on the internet than he is in person, but Yuri really doesn't seem to care, so it works out okay. It's... nice. Having someone to talk to. He's spent most of his skating career not being very good at... well, most of the things other skaters were good at. Dance, talking, smiling for the camera. He's not unaware of how sullen he looks next to Viktor and Chris in some of those pictures when it was the three of them on the podium. He's just not really someone to smile and play nice with a bunch of reporters. He prefers to mean it, when he smiles.

He doesn't smile a lot.

But that's okay, too. He's an athlete. He's good at what he does. It's enough. ... Except now he's getting out there, competition after competition and skating against people he knows and one person he knows in particular and it's... different, now. He feels things more. He's still a solid skater, does the same things he's always done, just better. He's getting silver suddenly, more than bronze, though the fight to land on the podium at all is getting rougher and he misses it more than once.

And then, on the first competition to the Grand Prix Finals, suddenly he's standing higher than everyone else, and it's just qualifier, but it matters, because it's Yuri with the silver around his neck.

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Otabek's never really considered himself a particularly harsh or tender person. He likes animals and children and he's had to pull himself up from literally nothing through a complete lack of support. Not that he hasn't had people backing him and caring for him, but there are no famous rinkmates, no world-class facilities, no reason for people to have their eyes on someone like him like a Russian prodigy. Things have gotten a lot better since he started winning, but he's had to do most of all of this by beating it into submission.

But he's almost shaking, finding this quiet moment between things. Yuri feels delicate in his arms but the way that turns his touch soft has nothing to do with not wanting to hurt him and everything to do with wanting to be able to touch something softly. Maybe Yuri can feel the difference and that's why he allows it. He doesn't think very hard about it, because it's nicer not to.

They sleep tangled up in each other (mostly Yuri tangled up in him, but he's definitely not helping) and the morning is all lazy kisses and the slide of their skin, which is all building quickly to a round of really fantastic morning sex, right up until one of them sees the clock for the first time and realizes how late they've overslept.

It's a hurricane of swearing, packing, and searching for phones. Yuri ends up in one of Beka's shirts. Which is going to be obvious even without the hickeys dotting his neck. There just isn't time to worry about it.

It's not until he's tumbled into a cab Yuri realizes they haven't even said goodbye. Shit.

hey

last night was good

Not exactly poetry, but Beka will understand.

Most of Otabek's "injuries" are hidden, but that just means a lot of well meaning clapping him on the back that makes him wince each time, while he's trying to finish packing his own things (Yuri's left his shirt, but that just means it's something that smells like him, which he absolutely indulges himself in for a moment while he packs) and get downstairs to his own cab (the bike was a rental, of course. He's nowhere near as rushed, having a later flight, but that just gives him more time to think about things.

So the text is a welcome relief.

Yeah, it was.

And then, because he doesn't know if Yuri's alone or not, so he has to be at least somewhat vague.

Looking forward to switching spots, next time.

Not that anyone who could see the mess of Yuri's neck wouldn't know what they were talking about, but they could at least pretend.

(Yes. Pretend. Like pretend Katsudon is insisting on a scarf because it's cold and for No Other Reason. Yuri finally takes it so he'll shut UP.)

sounds good

It really, really does. Even though Yuri's already shifting in the cab seat. Having some trouble finding a comfortable way to sit. He hasn't been so aware of his glutes since he began triples.

if i cant sleep on this flight its your fault

just so you know

He's smiling though. Too caught up in the phone to notice the dark clouds seething overhead, the flurry of snow beginning to pelt the windshield. How Viktor and Yuuri's voices have turned worried.

I'd apologize, but we both know you wouldn't have let me do differently.

There's a smiley to go with that and a party hat just because he's an asshole a little bit.

He does notice the clouds because he sees them as he's just getting into the cab, the snow already starting to come down more heavily, but he doesn't think anything of it, really. He hasn't looked at the forecast and they know how to handle snow here, surely.

STILL YOUR FAULT

Oh the emoji game is on. See how Otabek handles getting sent every cat face Yuri can find. Even the puma. It keeps him amused through the line as he automatically produces his passport, kicks off his shoes for the belt. Before he knows it he's through - and facing a departure board full of huge, glaring "DELAYED" notices. A wall of white pressing against the terminal windows.

He snarls, words automatically going through his fingers.

oh FUCK ME

Clearly he does not mean this in the fun way.

He sends back every ridiculous heart emoji he can find and sneaks in an eggplant one just because he can.

And then after that flurry, there's the next text and there's a moment of those little dancing dots, because he's started to write something sexy back, but he's also more aware of his surroundings and is watching how fast the snow is sticking.

Oh shit.

no kidding oh shit

At first, the hope is that it will pass quickly. This is Chicago, after all, and they should be able to handle this fuckery. Until the ice starts falling. Yuri glares as the departure times crawl up. As if each number has personally Wronged him. He nearly had a heart attack running from the hotel for this?!

we should just fucking SKATE home

It might be faster.

He's made it through the airport now, but not yet through security. Still the boards (and the panicked travelers) are everywhere.

There's no way we're getting out in this if it's already this much of a mess.

And then, a few minutes later:

Once I get through security, do you need some rescuing from the the lovebirds? He sends a princess crown and an onigiri.

That gets a snort of amusement. Then a long line of alternating laughing and disgusted smileys.

you can rescue me any time

just saying

UGH katsudon keeps trying to TALK to me

fuck knows why

Does he not realize Yuri's giant headphones mean GO AWAY. That includes concerned Not-Dads who have Definitely Noticed the hickeys. Cranking the music up does not help. Now Viktor's getting into it. Probably saying something about Yuri losing his hearing.

Good. Then he won't have to listen to this.

(Yakov has fallen asleep. If his troublemakers want to argue, fine. At least it means they aren't fighting with him.)

He's probably worried about you. You do look a little like we got into a arguement and you lost. The smiley there is definitely because he's an asshole.

Probably, he shouldn't tease someone he cares about like that after their first time. But also probably he kind of wants Yuri a little riled up by the time he gets to him and the thought of him marching back down to security to scream at him sustains him through the process.

What gate are you at? I'm through security.

FUCK

YOU

Don't think Yuri isn't tempted but he really does not want to be arrested by TSA or some shit. It would just be one more headache. Instead he works on extracting himself from the fretting.

C26 im coming

youre buying me breakfast

Didn't I already say that?

And then:

Deal. I'm on my way.

Because he can tease all he wants to at being a jerk and rile Yuri up, which is just about his new favorite hobby, but unlike some people, he does actually know he's doing it. With most people, he just doesn't bother caring if he's being something of a jerk, not because he likes being a jerk, but because they're not really worth the effort when everything is as much of an effort as it is. He just doesn't have the time.

For Yuri, he makes the time. And that was true even before they left each other a mess.

Finally free of his babysitters, Yuri stomps off. Dodging strollers luggage, and especially groups of girls his age. Last thing he needs is the Yuri Angels swooping down. He's pretty sure he spots some snapping pictures, but he's too fast, the crowds too thick. Without the Russia jacket, they won't be sure.

screw the diet i want cinnamon rolls

Despite all the annoyance, Yuri can't help the quick smile when he feels the phone buzz. Even if it's just Beka being an ass. Beka's allowed. In a way no one else on the planet is. There is exactly one good thing about this storm - they get more time.

Though Yuri would really have rather spent it in bed. Eating other things, maybe...

He saves the response to that until they actually run into each other, because he wants to see the look on Yuri's face when his response is,

"I think you've burned off enough calories," with a little smirk. He feels like he can push things like that a little-- he's carrying Yuri's marks too, and he's already all but said he's looking forward to Yuri taking him apart. "Do you have a place in mind?"

Otabek looks unfairly good for someone who hasn't slept anymore than Yuri has, but then, he's always kind of got a bit more of an understated style to him. It makes sense that he could roll out of bed into it and still look more or less the same.

The look on Yuri's face is already pretty good. It's been less then two hours but somehow Otabek still makes his stomach go funny. He splutters at the comment. Other couples may have run in for the hug, but they are in public. This is all still too new for Yuri to decide if he cares about that or not.

Instead he smirks. Rams a shoulder into Otabek's side instead, gently. Well, gently for Yuri.

"Cinnabon. Then breakfast."

A yawn follows his demands. And okay, Yuri can't pull off "Hot With Minimal ZZZs" but "Sleepy Kitten?" Absolutely.

If it's any consolation, Otabek doesn't go for the hug, either, but does kind of jostle back a little, hands still in his pockets. It's clearly affectionate, but it might easily be mistaken as fraternal. He doesn't have many dramatic facial expressions, but Yuri knows enough about his microexpressions at this point to see how his face softens when he sees him.

It happens every time he sees him, even if he's just looked away for a moment.

But then, even though Otabek is very matter of fact about everything and isn't feeling a whole lot of pressure from within to sort through his emotional state, or even have very much of an emotional state, he's also not unaware that he's just had sex with someone he's spent the better part of his life admiring from a distance. It's less like Yuuri's suddenly in a relationship with my childhood idol and a lot more like there's an art piece that's always been his favorite and he's suddenly woken up with it in his house, his, and he's not used to it yet.

"Cinnabon," he agrees and the shift from him being all gruffly teasing and him looking like maybe he would buy Yuri all the cinnamon rolls in the world is so graceful and without comment that it's almost magic.

As for Yuri, he keeps waiting for this to feel strange. He knows what Beka looks like, under his clothes. Is still aching from riding his dick.

But it just... doesn't. It was weirder when they met. (Re-met?) Otabek demanding to know if he was going to be allowed in Yuri's life or not. Changing the entire routine. This - kissing, even the sex - just feels like adding more steps, jumps. Building it out to a final result. Not that it's simple. It's huge.

Just not weird.

Then the smell of cinnamon hits Yuri. And until he gets his first bite of pastry nothing else matters. The roll is a mess, and he makes absolutely no effort to keep the icing off his fingers. Or to keep back some pretty indecent noises.

Otabek buys them the rolls and finds them a table. He eats his own with a fork and knife, a flawless kind of automatic politeness that probably means he was scolded at some point for not eating properly. He doesn't usually eat sweets, but the roll is the kind of warm and gooey that has been in his head all morning on the backburner and he's not even really surprised when Yuri then further links the two with the little noises he's making.

Physically, Otabek is pretty dispassionate about the display, but there's a softness to his face still, and then an anticipatory keenness, the messier Yuri is about things.

He is definitely not unaware of Yuri being covered in icing and moaning a little. He does, however, wait until he's gotten to enjoy it properly before he smirks,

"Should I leave you two alone for a moment?"

It takes Yuri a second to come out of his icing-induced haze. Connect the dots. Then there is a sly grin. He places two fingers in his mouth this time, drags them out. Deliberately.

"Why? Jealous?"

If he does much of this, he's going to be tormenting himself as much as Otabek. But it's fun!

"More of your fingers than the cinnamon roll," his tone is almost casual, because if they are going to play, he's going to play. He doesn't know any other way to go about things than to try to win.

He takes another bite of his roll, still polite as ever about eating it. It's a tease of it's own-- he's tidy in all ways he wasn't last night, all straight-laced and unaffected in precisely the way he knows will get under Yuri's skin.

He knows Yuri will know, too. It's all he can do to keep his expression neutral instead of smirking and anticipatory.

Yuri arches an eyebrow - Did Beka just - yup, it is on now!

Since there is no kill like overkill, each cinnamon roll has come with an extra cup of icing. Yuri cracks his open. Forgoing the pastry and dipping his fingers right in. This time he is even more deliberate with the cleanup. Letting his tongue drag out, somehow brighter in the sterile airport lights.

See how Beka's ice-queen thing holds out against that.

Anyone watching Otabek from a distance, anyone who doesn't know him very well (so, everyone, except for the person he's at the table with) would look at this at this point and see Yuri deliberately being ridiculously, over the top sexual about the icing, not even bothering to hide it, and Otabek looking at him impassively, maybe with a bit of the suggestion of an incredulous eyebrow.

Yuri on the other hand, can see the way his eyes sharpen their focus on him, follow the path of his fingers into his mouth, the curl of his tongue and feel the tension in him across the table. It's not a warning kind of tension or like he's upset, it's the kind of tension that speaks for how much he is not closing the distance between them, how his tongue isn't lapping the icing from his fingers or he's not drawing them into his mouth.

"Yuri..." he says and anyone else would think it was a warning, a reminder to behave. Across the table between them it is more obviously a call for privacy, preferably right now, which is exactly something they can't really have.

There is a crease between Yuri's eyebrows. A brief curl of his fingers into a fist, as though annoyed.

Which he is. But not with Beka.

"Fuck," he grumbles. Dropping his head to the table. Suddenly losing patience with the game. It hits how uncomfortable his pants have gotten, and how little he can actually do about it. "I wish it started snowing before we left..."

"Me too," it's impassive but they both know he's anything but. But where can they go? There's no place with privacy at an airport. Maybe... if they found one of those single person restroom stalls? Did they even have those here? He hadn't noticed. It's the only idea his mind seizes on though. Maybe Yuri has some better ones?

"There has to be somewhere..." maybe somehow Yuri can scream one into existence-- that seems to be a thing he does.

It's a funny thought, but he doesn't need to be thinking about Yuri screaming right now.