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Forget Almaty! And forget about everything Yuri Plisetsky thought made Almaty the best place in the world, because he said that before he came to Antalya. Because, sure, Almaty is nice and romantic and it’s the place Otabek calls home, but does Almaty have Otabek shirtless for four days? Antalya has and Yuri doesn’t know if he will survive it.
They arrive on a thursday and it’s hot. Of course Yuri expected that much, he’s Russian, basically every place in the world is hot compared to what he’s used to. But in Antalya it’s so ridiculously hot that he feels like his brain melts as soon as he gets off the plane.
Otabek waits for him in the lobby - his plane arrived a few hours earlier. He looks absurdly refreshed, so Yuri suspects he spent the time waiting for him in one of the freezers of the Starbucks in the lobby. His black hair looks as purposely tousled as ever, his smile is barely there and still so honest it makes Yuri’s heart beat faster. His toned shoulders look fucking sexy in the black sleeveless shirt, especially up close when he hugs Yuri as a greeting. Pretty sure the only thing hotter on this late summer thursday than Antalya is Otabek Altin. So what Yuri thought his brain was melting, his heart is melting now too.
They take the taxi to the hotel and it’s so hot Yuri’s hair sticks to his forehead. He didn’t bring any hair elastics, because maybe his brain hasn’t worked properly for some time now. When Otabek smiled his vague smile into the webcam on skype a few weeks ago and asked him if he wanted to spend a weekend with him, the damage was done. The short-circuit left his synapses a burnt-out ruin, well, at least those that had survived the sugar-sweet “Hey, I missed you. You look pretty.” when he had just picked up the call. Having Lilia sign the documents for the ministry felt like a dejá-vû, but maybe it’s because she smiled in the same weird way she did when she signed it for his trip to Almaty already.
Some things are different than they were back then. First and most important: Yuri has admittedly the hardest crush on Otabek that anyone ever had. EVER! He hasn’t talked to anyone about it of course, he just knows. His heart beats so fast, no matter what his best friend does. Otabek hugs him and Yuri wants to die. Otabek sits next to him in the taxi looking out of the window and Yuri tries hard not to stare at him (he only partially succeeds). Otabek holds the door of the hotel open for him and Yuri feels like he’s about to burst into tears. Otabek sets his bag down on one of the beds and- What the fuck, why are there two separate beds?!! Because that’s the second most important thing that’s different from when he went to Almaty. Yuri stares at the unoccupied single bed, the one that’s closer to the window because Otabek is a fucking angel who of course would give him the better bed without even asking. The sheets are baby blue (a color that compliments Otabek’s skin tone but then again which color doesn’t?), just like the curtain that makes the room look cleaner than it probably is. Yuri drops his leopard print suitcase next to the bed and falls onto the sheets looking over to Otabek.
“I’m done for”, he moans, pushing - no, wiping! - the strands of blonde from his face. “This heat isn’t for me.”
Otabek smiles his almost-smile. “Wanna go check out the beach and cool down a bit?”
He nods and smiles a little. Taking a dip might just be the right thing to do.
It doesn’t take more than a 10 minute walk to the beach but Yuri is positively soaked when they arrive. The sun is burning down on them with a bazillion degrees, there are masses of people who are noisy and annoying, the sand is so hot when he takes of his sneakers that it feels like he is walking on molten iron and people are staring at him because, fuck yes, he has long blonde hair although he’s a guy, fucking deal with it! He gets more annoyed by the millisecond and the only thing that can stop his escalating bad mood is Otabek who places the beach mat he brought on the sand, smiles at Yuri and then takes his shirt off. Right that instant the heat and the people and the sand and the entire goddamn world is forgotten and Yuri hears the angels sing. He bites back a “Oh my fucking God” as he stares at Otabek who bents down and takes a bottle of sun lotion out of the bag.
“I can lotion your back”, he says. “I can lotion your back.” He only says it once actually but it echoes in Yuri’s head. He stares at Otabek for what feels like a year. Otabek who looks at him with those super dark, super tender eyes and his extremely hot toned shoulders and his mouthwatering chest and that sixpack that looks like its milled in almond or bronze or something and that trail of dark hair leading his eyes all the way down from his navel, passing by the appendix scar until it disappears into-
“Do you want me to?”
Yuri nods. The feeble “Yes” that follows sounds indeed like his brain has suffered severe damage due to the heat. He’s kind of glad though that he manages to bring a word out at all and doesn’t only drool at the sight of those collarbones and the slender waist and the wonderful undercut that got a little out of order when Otabek stripped the shirt over his head. What kind of question is that anyway, ‘Do you want me to?’, like there’s anything that Yuri wouldn’t want Otabek to do with/to him.
Somehow Yuri manages to take off his shirt too. He steps over to the beach mat. He sits down on it. He tries to think of something terrible, root canal treatings or dead seal pups or Victor’s forehead, because he is sure he’ll tent his swim shorts the exact moment Otabek’s hands touch him. Luckily there’s a broken seashell right next to his foot. He presses his heel against the sharp side for the entire duration of Otabek lotioning his back. It hurts like fucking hell. He wouldn’t be surprised if he drew blood. Otabek’s hands feel still much too nice on his skin. Yuri makes it out of the situation without making a perverted fool of himself, but the feeling of those gentle, strong, careful hands on his body haunts him from this day on. That and the sight of Otabek Altin, later, when he emerges from the water once they decide they should head back over to the hotel before the restaurant in the basement closes. Otabek’s wonderful hands. Otabek’s wonderful wet body. And later Otabek’s peaceful expression illuminated by the almost full moon that peeks into their room, the curtain swaying in the soft wind coming through the open window. Yuri sighs. Antalya is officially the best place in the world.
They spend the entire next day at the beach that is even more crowded because it’s a friday but Yuri gives so many fucks he might run out of them by the end of the day. Otabek tanning is heavenly. His gorgeous skin turns a little darker, a little more golden. He smiles as they play in the water, he smiles as they rest on the mat next to each other, he smiles as they eat overpriced fast food from the little food stalls that line the street. His hair is a mess and he is so beautiful Yuri wants the time to stop.
Otabek falls asleep two and a half seconds after his head touches the pillow. He doesn’t wear a shirt because even at night it’s more than warm. Yuri’s exhausted too, but he lies awake and stares over to where Otabek lies like someone from a painting, his lips parted a little and his chest rising and falling with his calm breathing. He’s art, that’s what he is. No one can possibly be so breathtaking by accident. Yuri remembers the way he fell asleep back in Almaty with this gorgeous creature right next to him and he wishes nothing more than cross the distance and lay down next to Otabek, inhale his wonderful scent, feel the soft warmth radiating from his body that’s sinful and pure at the same time. But that’s not what best friends do. Yuri knows that and Yuri hates that knowledge. What would he tell Otabek if he woke up and found Yuri snuggled up close to him like he used to in Almaty. Yuri’s too old to pretend he’s scared in the dark (which of course there’s no doubt he is not at all, he’s Yuri on Darkness after all!) and he’s too gutless to just flat-out tell Otabek that he desperately wants to cuddle with him. So instead he sits up, gets out of bed, ninjas his way over to Otabek and stares at him. The image of himself towering over his sleeping best friend, looking down on him like some creep makes him chuckle. He dares and sits down on the mattress. Otabek utters the cutest little sound that makes Yuri want to press his mouth on Otabek’s and suffocate them both with his first and only kiss. He resists the urge though and instead stares until exhaustion is too much to bear and he crawls back onto his bed and falls asleep smiling.
When Yuri wakes up the next day his head hurts like hell. He barely makes it to the bathroom before he throws up bitter stomach acid that burns in his throat like, well, acid.
“What’s wrong?!!” Otabek sounds so adorable when he’s worried and Yuri notices even when the next load of digestive juice comes partly out of his nose. Otabek rubs his back and it’s really soothing somehow. It’s nice. He could do that forever and Yuri wouldn’t complain.
Turns out the heat is really not for Yuri. Otabek googles and diagnoses a sunstroke. “You got a sunburn too”, he says as he carefully places a wet towel on Yuri’s forehead. “I bought SPF 50+, I thought… with your fair skin…” He sighs and it sounds terribly guilty so Yuri smiles at him.
“Not everyone can have such a gorgeous caramel frappucchino tan like you have.”
Yuri isn’t sure if he’s seeing things or if Otabek blushes the slightest bit.
“I’ll make sure you get well soon. Promise”, he says in the soft voice Yuri is sure only he has ever heard and it makes him very happy despite his head feeling like someone pierced right through it with a rusty knitting needle.
Although Yuri tries to convince Otabek that he doesn’t need to stay with him in the hotel room his best friend refuses to go to the beach without him. He pulls the curtains shut and and changes the wet towel on Yuri’s head. He sits on the edge of the mattress and looks so abashed that Yuri throws half a tantrum because he’s “certainly not a goddamn sissy so don’t fucking act like I’ll be dead in two hours, asshole”, after which Otabek nods, sighs very heavily and turns on the TV, leaning back at the headboard of Yuri’s bed. The fact that he mutes the sound almost makes Yuri snap, but then he decides he kind of likes the calming presence of Otabek in the still too warm room. Downstairs cars pass by and he can hear seagulls and sometimes the wind carries the faint sound of a radio playing turkish folk songs through the window.
When he wakes up the next time Otabek has fallen asleep next to him. His face is so close to Yuri’s that a little shift in balance would make them touch. His heart skips a beat when Otabek exhales slowly and Yuri feels his breath on his lips. His head still hurts but he is ready to die in peace.
He could kiss him. Right here, right now. He has thought about that. Last night, before he fell asleep. Otabek is a heavy sleeper. It’s very possible he wouldn’t even notice. Yuri could just lean over and place his lips on Otabek’s and it would be his first kiss and he’d give it to his first friend who is also his first best friend and his first crush. It would be nice. Romantic even. But also a little… unsatisfying? He’s not one for fairy tales usually, but when it comes to his first kiss he sure would like it to be a little… magical. And what if Otabek is only a heavy sleeper at night, but is a very light sleeper when he naps in the afternoon (which it probably is right now) and wakes up like fucking Sleeping Beauty? If there is something like magic in this world, it would probably work here, because it would be a True Love’s Kiss ™ . In his case True Love’s First Kiss even! It will definitely wake Otabek up! And what is he supposed to tell him then? “Hey, Princess, glad you’re awake not, how ‘bout breakfast?”, because, now that he thinks about it, he’s really damn hungry.
With a blush that he can feel up to his ears and a grimace he shoves Otabek on the floor. There’s the rumble of arms and legs dropping on the floor and a hissed Kazakh swearword (Yuri doesn’t know any Kazakh but from the tone he’s pretty sure it is one) and then Otabek’s nest of hair and rumpled face rises over the edge of the mattress like the sun over the horizon, just not that bright and more confused.
“Sorry, I think I might have fallen asleep”, he murmurs.
Yuri comments with a sarcastic “No shit” and wants to kiss him.
“You feeling better?”
Yuri explains his status - better but not quite alright and fucking starving - so Otabek volunteers to go and find food for them after he makes sure Yuri stays hydrated by force feeding him almost one liter of 7Up from the small refrigerator.
Their late lunch/early dinner is a feast. Otabek brings food from every food stall within walking distance and they watch TV and eat and it’s perfect. Otabek wets the towel for Yuri’s head under the running water and has it cool down even more in the fridge where a second towel waits already. He’s a helicopter mom by the book and Yuri enjoys every second of it.
In the evening the wind dies down a little. Yuri feels a lot better and suggested they’d head over to the beach at night, but it’s so hot and muggy they stay at the hotel in the end. They sit in the middle of Yuri’s bed surrounded by leftovers that Lilia would lose it over.
“I’d die for a strawberry sundae, Yuri moans when the same Turkish ice cream ad is aired for the 80st or something time.
“There’s a parlour down the street”, Otabek mentions, sitting up. “I can go get you one.”
He is a hero and Yuri has the proof now. When Otabek returns with a monster of a strawberry sundae his eyes are legit heart shape.
Obviously Otabek doesn’t like ice cream though as Yuri discovers. “I don’t like how it melts in my mouth”, he says with a shrug.
“But I feel kinda bad that I’m stuffing myself with ice cream and strawberries and cream and stuff and you just sit there with nothing for you.” He looks from Otabek, who shrugs, to the sundae and back to Otabek. “You like strawberries though?”
Otabek nods and Yuri bites back a grin when he picks the strawberry from the top of the whipped cream and holds it out for Otabek. And then Otabek leans in closer. And then he looks at Yuri and Yuri looks at him and then he opens his mouth and Yuri blushes and FEEDS HIM WITH THE STRAUBERRYaksxcmnkasjjdlkhllhaef!!1!
Yuri has a heart attack and ascends to heaven.
~ The end. ~
...which it is not because Otabek’s lips close around Yuri’s fingers and they are full and soft and to-die-for, but somehow Yuri is still alive; his face very red and his heart very not-beating, but he lives and he has no idea how!
Otabek had his fingers in his mouth before. Back when he bit Yuri’s glove off for Welcome To The Madness, but back then Yuri wasn’t in love with him yet so it’s an entirely different situation. He was busy with his exhibition program in Barcelona too. Now the only thing that requires his attention is the icecream which he literally stuffs into his mouth, hoping it will cool his glowing face down.
Otabek looks at him for a second, smiles a weird smile and turns to the TV again.
For some minutes Yuri feels strange. His belly feels funny, like he has nausea but not like he really needs to vomit. He’s dizzy, but not like this morning when he stumbled to the bathroom. He feels hot and cold at the same time, but he is pretty sure it has nothing to do with the heat or the towel he has draped around his neck. He’s fucking in love. He understands now how Victor couldn’t just let Katsudon alone. Love seems to be not purely psychological. It’s very physical for him at least. That or he might be perishing after all.
Otabek on the other hand doesn’t act different than usually. He sits back against the headboard again, laughing lowly when they show a panda trying to sit up and rolling back a dozen times on TV and asks if Yuri has ever seen a panda in real life (which Yuri has but thinks was a waste of time because pandas are boring as shit). Everything seems to be normal. Just that nothing is normal when Yuri’s fingertips tingle along with his insides.
Yuri sits on Otabek’s mattress that night - again. Watching down on his crush like a total creep - again. And again he doesn’t dare to kiss him.
Tonight is their last night for who-knows how long. Tomorrow they fly back home, Yuri before noon and Otabek two hours later. He doesn’t know how long it will take until they see each other in person again. Maybe he can go visit Otabek for his birthday in October. That’s still some time but he really wants to spend his birthday with him. Or maybe he can invite Otabek over to Russia. They could even go and visit Grampa in Moscow, he’ll be so happy to finally meet Otabek in person after Yuri has talked so much about his best friend already. That way or the other he wants to see Otabek again asap. Until then he’ll just have to memorize as much as he can of him.
With a smile that feels soft on his lips Yuri looks down on Otabek’s face. It’s a pretty face. The lashes so long and the nose so pointy and the brows so weird and cute. There are tiny scars on Otabek’s high cheekbones. When Yuri asked about it Otabek told him he had acne as a teenager and the scars are a keepsake of that. Yuri thinks it looks beautiful. He combs through Otabek’s wiry, jet black hair carefully. “I like you a lot”, he whispers. He’s a coward and he’s ashamed of it, but it feels like the best thing he can get out now. So he repeats it: “I like you. A LOT.” He wants to kiss Otabek. It will feel wonderful, he just knows it. But he also knows that tonight is not the right moment. “Not yet”, he whispers into the dark of the hotel room. And then he leans down and places his lips on Otabek’s forehead. Because he’s so in love but he’s so not ready for it.
He lays down on his own bed and falls asleep smiling.