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Kissing is gross. Ugh. Why do people do it? To say hello or goodbye, fine, although you could just wave your hand, because hugs? Uugh. In the movies, when the hero leans toward the heroine and the romantic music gets louder, Yura always looks away. Spitting is bad, licking other people's food is wrong, but expressing your love with drool is okay? People are strange.
If anyone should be kissed, it should be JJ. To shove your tongue down his shit-eating throat and let him choke on it! That's what Yura is going to do at Skate Canada, after the free skate, but he changes his mind at the last minute - that asshole is already drooling all over himself, can you believe it? You can't make someone like JJ any worse.
* * *
People are fucking annoying, and that’s putting it lightly. At least there's Grandpa, there's Jacob (who’s okay - sometimes), Lily (rarely), Mila (almost never), and there's also Beka - now he's all right! He’s great, even. You can talk to him about anything, and he’s hella funny and drives a motorcycle. He’s fucking cool.
“I bet you can’t do - this!” Yura turns around with his back to the wheel, imagining that they are not in a garage, but on a track. “They’re chasing us! Hit the gas, I'll cover us! Bang! Bang! Take that, motherf...
Otabek's face is so close.
He's about to kiss me Yura thinks nervously. The thought tastes like a mint on the tip of his tongue. Now... he’s going to kiss me…
“We’re about to take a right," Otabek says, still absorbed in their game. “Hold on tight.”
Yura recoils, realizing that he’s the one who’s about to kiss the other.
* * *
Except that Yura doesn’t know how to kiss. Except he's not just anyone, understood? He's Yuri Plisetsky, he's the best, he should be able to do everything.
And so once he gets over himself, he watches a bunch of videos on YouTube (and then deletes his search history). He practices on peaches. On tomatoes. (Grandpa growls that all his shirts are stained.)
Before practice isn't the best time, but Yura's been cramming theory for weeks, and he's ready. Ready, god damn it!
“Mil, let's make out.” Her face is so astonished that he adds hastily, "teach me. You’ve kissed just about everyone here anyway. Or what, you don’t wanna share your secrets, you hag?”
Mila laughs, hugs him, and tells him he doesn't need to practice. She says that his heart will tell him what to do.
Idiot, even with that she can’t help him.
* * *
“Yuri!”
He slouches, pulls on his hood, but what the hell: it’s already too late anyway.
“Yurochkaaaa!”
That’s what you get for going out for two minutes to buy a coke.
“Oh, my God! It's really you!”
At least it’s not a crowd of groupies, just one. How lucky. Although, maybe that’s actually lucky?
“You're real!” She exclaims, pressing her palms against her cheeks and swaying slightly. “Can I... can I touch you? I can't believe my eyes!”
“Can I kiss you?” He blurts out. What? It seems like a great idea, at least until the girl begins to pale and gulp for air. “Or you kiss me,” Yura adds hurriedly. “I don't care.”
“I can't..." she hisses, settling back against the wall, "breathe…”
Yura rushes down beside her, right on the pavement, and googles "panic attack first aid" as he shares his Coke with her, in hope that would calm her down.
* * *
"After the gold medal," Yura promises himself, which soon turns into "after New Year," "after his birthday," and now it's already May, but Yuri still hasn’t kissed him. It’s not even that Otabek would laugh at him, because he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t even raise an eyebrow. The problem is that he’s not going to like it. And he has to like it. But how? All around, these stupid people keep talking about ‘spring, the time of love!’ People, dammit.
It's a nightmare. There's no one to talk about it with, only Beka would understand, and he’s the only one Yuri can’t tell.
“You ever get the feeling you're kind of… I don’t know, cursed?”
“Most of my life," Viktor nods. Sometimes Viktor is okay, too.
Yura bites his lip as says to himself, “man, don't fall for it," as Victor rubs his hair and kisses the top of his head. You married asshole.
* * *
It's time to admit that there will be no perfect moment. Nor will there ever be anyone like Beka. Fuck it. It's going to be sloppy, awkward, gross... but fuck it.
They are watching a scary movie, and Yura is hugging Otabek from behind. The Khazak boy isn’t scared by the sound effects in the film, but ticklish, that, he is. Ah-ha-ha!
Otabek fights back, they wrestle, the back of Beka’s head hits the floor - ouch!
His face is so close.
I’ll do my best but I’m not good at this, I’m sorry Yura thinks before leaning in to kiss him on the lips, quick and hard.
The second kiss makes his mouth tingle, the third one tastes sweet.
The fourth feels like a dream.
“I've been waiting," Otabek says quietly and smiles.
The fifth is like a wish come true.