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“This isn’t fair, Yakov.” Yuri said, grinding his teeth. In another time, when he was younger, he would’ve been shouting and pointing fingers in people's faces, but now, after too many unsuccessful arguments and being called immature, one too many times, he learned that it wouldn’t matter the volume of his voice. He needed to make his point in a way that was respectful, even when the argument against him was stupid.
“I never said it was fair, Yuri. But I warned you, back when you took this case, that this could happen. Unfortunately there’s not enough money to keep an animal that can’t do what they were brought here for.” Yuri glared at Yakov, who didn’t flinch. “I’m sorry, but if you want to keep the tiger, you need to find a way to make her reproduce, this is your last chance Yuri, I can’t keep giving excuses to the investors.” Yakov turned towards his paperwork, a clear sign that the conversation was over.
Yuri got out of the chair and marched out of the room, slamming the door on his way out. He was more mature but even then he couldn't hold back that much. He knew, when Yakov first presented this case to him, the consequences of taking this specific animal under his wings, but it wasn’t like he had any other options. Unfortunately, it took a single look at the Siberian tiger rescued from some random corner of Russia, for Yuri to fall in love, immediately. He named her Valeriya, after a long discussion about managing expectations with Katsudon that he ignored. Yuri knew he would give all his energy to make her as comfortable as possible, and that meant keeping her in the zoo, where she could be fed, taken care of and looked after.
Valeriya's story was a sad one, similar to many of the other animals at the zoo, a victim of men being too greedy and thinking that hunting her was enough to prove that they didn’t lack masculinity. Yuri would argue that it only made them monsters. She used to live in a protected area, but the hunters didn’t care. She was hurt but, thankfully, saved before they could end her life. The same couldn’t be said for her three cubs, which were taken for her never to be seen again. She couldn’t be kept in nature with her wounds, so she was sold off to a few zoos, mostly focused on showing off animals, until Yakov made the final purchase looking for an animal that could help them with their reproduction/conservation projects.
The only problem was: Valeriya hated other animals.
She hated most things, if Yuri was honest, it took them months before she would allow him anywhere near her habitat. Any type of exam was like pulling teeth, needing special trained guards with gun sedatives. But she hated other tigers with a passion, Yuri assumed that she probably was wrongly introduced to other animals in the previous zoo’s she’s been to. Which meant, despites Yuri’s best efforts, Valeriya still hadn't had a partner, much less cubs. Leading to his current issue: She was going to be moved away.
The zoo was kept with donations and investor’s money, since it was a place used for research in behavior, reproduction and animal nutrition. They were susceptible to the interest of the public and their investors, meaning that Valeriya wasn’t exactly the best attraction, since she tended to stay away from the public eye, in her safe zone, out from prying eyes. Cubs, however, would give back a significant amount of money, since they were eye-catching and adorable. Valeriya didn’t seem to care about that, despite the multiple amounts of time Yuri pleaded her to behave better, she wasn’t looking for any contact in the near future.
–
Yuri entered the workers canteen and walked to his usual table, dropping in the empty chair and sighing.
“I assume that Yakov didn’t budge?” Yuuri asked, with sympathy in his eyes.
“No, he said I’m on my last chance, if Vally doesn’t manage to get pregnant in the near future she is as good as gone.” He drops his head on the table, feeling his shoulders heavy and tight.
“You should try changing career paths, Yurio. Big cats are too wild and unpredictable!” Viktor commented looking at his nails, the smile on his face proved that he was just messing with Yuri. Almost everyone they worked with knew that Yuri was absolutely fascinated by big cats, they were the reason why he went to veterinary school to begin with, so Valeriya was his first big opportunity to focus his studies on his favorite animals.
“Not anyone can work on something as easy as dogs, Viktor.” He said, voice muffled by his arms.
“They aren’t dogs.” Yuri couldn’t see him, but he knew Viktor rolled his eyes.
“ Lupus…” Yuri murmured, teasing.
“We are NOT starting this whole discussion again!” Yuuri intervened exasperated.
“Of course, my love. Anything for my favorite piglet!” Viktor jumped from his chair, going over to Yuuri to kiss his cheek “You also have a meeting with Yakov to go over your current results, right?”
“Not many people care about my line of work, Vitya. It’s not cool like wolves or tigers…”
Yuri scoffed, finally raising his head. Viktor was massaging Yuuri’s shoulders, the Japanese looking pleased with the contact.
“You’re ridiculously smart and manage to save a whole ass species of wild boars, Katsudon. Only you could still have imposter syndrome after that.” Yuri nagged.
“A lot of our co-workers were part of it too, it was a project run by multiple people.” Yuuri shrugged blushing, leading to Viktor giving his shoulders a much stronger squeezy, making the Japanese welp.
“But you coordinated the whole research group project. Managing people, creating a new routine to use for estrus management along with protocol for insemination.” Viktor listed his fingers.
“It wasn’t nothing!” Yuuri said, blushing brighter.
“You know, if the whole artificial insemination thing wasn’t so complicated on felines I would’ve definitely asked your help already, Katsudon.” Yuri lifted his head, propping his chin on his arms.
“Do you have a new plan to keep Vallychan around?” Yuuri changed the subject, still bright red, avoiding eye contact with both Russian’s.
“I’m not sure…” Yuri chewed on his bottom lip, “I guess I have to try one more time, the same thing: finding her a new pair, maybe try another approach to introducing them.” Viktor hummed in agreement, “Do you by any chance have a contact that can get me a male Siberian Tiger, Old man?”.
“Maybe I had, before you used that terrible terrible nickname. I may have thought about something, but I’m not sure how worthy you are of my help.” Yuri rolled his eyes at Viktor’s dramatic delivery.
“Do you, actually, have a contact for that?” Yuuri asked incredulously.
“Not… For that, specifically. But I do know about someone that was working with something similar, he is a friend of JJ.” Yuri gagged at the name “Come on! He isn’t all that bad. But anyway, when I was looking into our new contracts for internships, I saw this name… Otabek something? He worked in the same Zoo as JJ for a while and is heavily indicated, apparently he works with big cats and bears?”.
“At least you, being Yakov’s favorite, can help us with something, for once! Are you controlling the whole admission process this time?”.
“After I found this beautiful diamond,” Viktor kisses Yuuri’s hand “Yakov is trusting me with the process, has little to no comments.. Just that I can’t admit anyone that would lead me to an HR complication… Again.”.
“That’s not concerning anymore. Anyone with two functional eyes can see how grossly in love you two are.” Viktor grinned and kissed the bright red cheek of his boyfriend.
“That’s settled then, I will get in contact with him and can arrange a meeting between you two soon enough, Valeriya is going to be just fine.” Viktor assured with a serious face that he reserved for rare occasions, Yuri let the tension on his shoulders drop a little, while Viktor usually was un-trustworthy for most things, when the matter was the animals they took care of, he was very responsible.
–
The meeting came quicker than Yuri was expecting. Apparently JJ’s friend was also preoccupied with the wellbeing of his tiger, having a limited time for how long they could stay at the zoo in Toronto and with nowhere else to take them in. Yuri was a bit skeptical about how professional this man was, if he didn’t even officially work with a zoo. Viktor commented about him being a freelancer which made no sense in Yuri’s mind. Although Yuri’s first focus was to find a way to keep Valeriya with him, he wouldn’t put her at risk by working with anyone that wasn’t a perfectly good professional. With this in mind, he collected his notebook with all the questions he was ready to fire at the guy and made his way to Viktor’s office, the bastard still was way too pleased to have one.
“- and that’s why Chris is not allowed in that habitat anymore!” Yuri heard Viktor’s voice loud and cheerful while he opened the door, without knocking. The man had the ability to charm anyone he met, that was one of the main reasons Yakov trusted him so much with his work, Viktor could get money from any person, no matter how tight their hands were, by simply smiling and telling a compelling story. It was tiring just watching him, if Yuri was being honest, but definitely a good skill to have on their line of work.
Yuri entered without saying anything, waiting for Viktor to finish his theatrics. That allowed him to take a look at the newcomer, who noticed him as soon as he opened the door. The brown eyes that met Yuri’s made him stop in his tracks. The man was beautiful. Simply as that. Shorter than Yuri himself but impressive either way, with a muscular body and strong features, brown hair with an undercut and serious expression, not similar to Yakov’s, that made him look like he was ready to scream at everyone. No. This man's expression showed that he didn’t need to be anything but himself.
“Ah! Yurio! Come on, I have a feeling that you’re going to be satisfied with what we manage to find!” Viktor rounded his table, sitting in his overpriced chair and pointing to the two other chairs in front of him, “Come on, we have a lot to talk about.”.
The man tilted his head, still looking at Yuri, looking like a puppy trying to understand a command, before shaking his head slightly and straightening himself, pulling the closest chair to him and sitting down. Yuri followed suit, looking at Viktor, who was grinning with his fingers interlaced.
“Yuri, this is Otabek Altin. He is a veterinarian, graduated from the Kazakhs National Agrarian University in Almaty specializing in wild live, more specific bears and felines,” Yuri arched a eyebrow, turning his head to look at Otabek one more time, his facial expression continued the same “He also took special courses in the Moscow State Academy! Can you believe it? Around the time you were graduating apparently, so maybe you two know each other?”, Viktor questioned, curious.
Yuri frowned, reaching in his brain the time he was in school to find any traces of Otabek, but he couldn’t find any memory of it. He just shrugged, relaxing a bit into the chair. At least this guy had the background to be a professional, he only needed to find out if he was any good.
“It was a big school.” Yuri answered simply and Viktor nodded.
“Otabek, this is Yuri Plisetsky, one of our finest. He is the main head of research for felines in our zoo, being the youngest researcher in the history of the place,” Yuri made a complaining noise that was promptly ignored by Viktor, “And he is the reason we got in contact with you, see-”.
“I would like to talk about the case myself, if you would allow it, Old-Viktor.” Yuri interrupted, cutting himself off before the insult, Viktor who smiled in exchange and made a ‘go ahead’ motion with his hand. “Well, I don’t know how much he told you about the situation but basically some animals here have… Conditions to continue their stay in the zoo, since its main concern is conservation,” He looked at Viktor for approval, who in turn nodded, “So they can, either, one: Be in condition to be rehabilitated and go back to the wild; or two: Be able to reproduce and help increase the number of specimens.”.
“Whenever we are not able to do that, we find other Zoos we partner with and either trade or donate the animal in question, with a very rigorous check in their wellbeing, of course.” Viktor intervened and Yuri nodded.
“I have a Siberian Tiger that is under condition 2, however, she hasn’t been very welcoming to a new mate. We have tried 4 different tigers and she just rejected them. And I have tried a few different ways to introduce a new animal to her habitat but none worked. She is in her last chance, unfortunately, meaning we need to find her a mate and successfully manage a new pregnancy. If not, she is going to another place and… Yeah.” Yuri finished with an exasperated sigh. He didn’t plan on showing how exhausting this whole situation was, but he couldn’t help himself. He cared about Valeriya a lot, she was his first chance of showing he was a good professional and they just bonded, as much as one could with a wild animal.
“So there’s where you enter, Otabek.” Viktor said with a smile, “You have a male specimen, so if everything works out and we manage to introduce the two of them and breed them, we would be able to keep both in our installations!”.
“Ayu would have a place to stay, permanently…” Otabek murmured to himself, nodding.
“Ayu?” Yuri asked, confused.
“Ah, sorry,” Otabek scratched his neck, blushing a little, “I know it’s… It’s just that this animal, he is very important to me. Ayu is the name I gave him, meaning ‘bear’ in Kazakhs.”.
“Can you tell us a little bit of how you and Ayu got in this situation?” Viktor asked, voice friendly.
“I used to work in a Zoo in Almaty, where I’m from.” Otabek started, looking at his hands, “Most of my research was with bears but, one day, this tiger cub appeared out of nowhere, he couldn’t be more than a few years old. He was rescued from a house, where he was kept as a pet… They got him from the blackmarket and kept him as a house cat but he is a wild animal,” They all nodded, Yuri could feel the rage build inside him, “He reacted one day to something that scared him by attacking and he hurt one of them. They tried to…” Otabek talked in a low voice, fiddling fingers. The pause was enough to make Yuri and Viktor understand the circumstances, “They hurt him a lot. Thankfully, someone from the neighborhood made a call to the police and it all ended as well as it could. They were charged but nothing major happened, but, most importantly, Ayu was rescued and sent to us. My boss didn’t want to stay with him, however. There wasn’t that much space at the zoo and he didn’t really work well with the animals we already had. He has a rough time adapting too… Ayu… He was raised to be a pet, but he has his normal instincts, so it’s hard to deal with him.” Otabek breaths out.
“He usually is too afraid of other animals, but he's incredibly friendly with humans. At the same time, however, he is scared easily by people, so he mostly keeps to himself in the zoo and that isn’t… Very good when there’s the idea of profit based on a tiger exposition,” He took a deep breath, rolling his shoulders, “Ayu is 4 years and physically able to mate now, he is even showing signs for it.”.
“I’m sorry that this all happened to him.” Yuri murmurs and Otabek nods in acknowledgment.
“So… You bonded with Ayu and that made you quit your job and go searching the world for a new zoo to take him?” Viktor questions, with an arched brow.
“Basically, yes. I just couldn’t stay there after some things I heard from my boss. So I found a loophole and managed to be responsible to him,” Yuri can’t help but notice Otabek’s leg bouncing as he speaks, “But I want him to be stable, he deserves a place to stay for more than a couple of months.”.
“Toronto Zoo wasn’t it?” Yuri can’t help the question.
“JJ helped me a lot, managing a space for Ayu for a little while, but they don’t want another tiger in their exhibit, something about the size of their habitat. So, yeah. That didn’t work.”. Otabek shrugs.
“What do you think, Yura?” Viktor turns to Yuri, “It’s your call.”.
“Yeah…” Yuri looks at Otabek, who continues to look at his hands, “Let’s give it a try.” Viktor nods, pulling the contract for them to review.
–
It was a bit curious to Yuri how easy the bureaucracy to bring a wild animal from Canada, that was originally from another continent, was. He thought that it would take more time than a month to bring Ayu over but apparently JJ has friends in high places, something about him being from an important family, and Viktor was… Viktor Nikiforov. So the whole thing went smoothly and faster than expected, Ayu and Otabek were at the Zoo and Yuri had to coordinate the biggest responsibility he had so far.
“You seem nervous.” Otabek said in a monotone voice.
They manage to talk over emails and texts in the past weeks, going over their game plan, showing each other links to research and talking about different possibilities for the introduction of Ayu and Valeriya. They even facetimed a couple of times, something that made Yuri more comfortable than he was willing to admit. Otabek was easy to talk to or, in Yuri’s case, rant to. He mostly kept a straight face while Yuri went on and on about the strategies he was studying for their case. Yuri would say they were great co-workers so far, maybe even friends.
“Of course I’m! Otabek, this is huge. If it doesn't work-” Yuri gestured with his arms, feeling his hair sticking to his forehead from sweat.
“It’s going to work,” Otabek interrupted, saying as if there was no doubt in his mind, “Yuri, you’re great at your work. This is going to go smoothly.”.
“How do you even know that? You can’t say that for sure!” Yuri felt his face getting hotter, blushing, “In fact, if you look at the recent events, I have more failures in my resume than-”
“I know that it will work out.” He intervened and looked ahead, as if thinking his next words, “Did I tell you we’ve met before?” Otabek asked, looking back at Yuri and tilting his head to the side.
“No?” Yuri frowns, thinking back on their conversations.
“Well, we met when I was in Moscow, at your university. I was lost after graduating, I knew I wanted to work with animals but there wasn’t… My parents wanted me to focus on horses so I could inherit their Stud farm, but it wasn’t my passion-”.
“Horses are boring.” Yuri interrupted and Otabek smirked.
“They are fine, I grew up with horses. I went to Moscow to search for something, to be away from home for once and… I just entered this classroom one day, where a study group was giving a presentation. I didn’t know what it was about, but at the time I was going anywhere to see if anything stuck to me. When I entered, there was this kid, definitely not a graduate or even close to being a senior, but he had so much passion,” Otabek smiled and Yuri lost his focus for a little bit, thinking how someone with a handsome face like his could look even better by simply smiling, “Something about wildlife and preservation, how felines were important to the ecosystem and it was ridiculous how their natural habitats were destroyed. He said, at the end, that he would do something about it, with his own hands if it came down to it. I remember his eyes… Your eyes, Yuri.” Brown eyes meeting green ones, “You looked like a soldier. Ready to battle the world for a cause you believe in and that was the moment I found what I wanted to do. I wanted to have as much passion as you.”.
Yuri let go of a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Otabek continued to look at him, searching for something that Yuri couldn’t benign to understand what it was, his face as blank as ever but brown eyes sparkling with an emotion the blond couldn’t identify. Eventually their staring contest was cut short by a janitor walking past them.
“So… Bears?” Yuri asked after they started walking again, feeling his cheeks heated.
“Bears… I always thought they were interesting creatures… And big cats… Because…” Otabek let the phrase open.
“Yeah…” Yuri acknowledged it, “Big felines are the best!” He smiled smugly, Otabek smirked and nodded.
“I know you got this, Yuri. Now, let’s get to work.” Otabek bumped his shoulder against Yuri’s, who didn’t notice they were walking so closely, and walked ahead of the blond, leaving him thinking about the conversation.
–
Introducing two animals to the same habitat is a complicated and slow process. Especially when said habitat is being occupied by one of the animals for years, meaning it’s theirs . Tigers are complicated creatures with weird habits, one of those is their territorialism. These factors are complicated by themselves, when you add the fact that Valeriya is a pain in Yuri’s ass most days making the whole project practically an impossible mission.
But, thankfully, Otabek had so much faith in Yuri that the blond didn’t allow himself to doubt their success, even for a second.
They start small. Ayu is in a different enclosure, far away from Valeriya, in a secluded part of the zoo, where they quarantined the new animals. After a thorough medical check up with several exams appointing a clean bill of health for the male tiger, Yuri and Otabek started on the task of introducing smells from Ayu’s enclosure to Valeriya’s using a blanket used by the male.
Valeryia's first reaction was to pee on the blanket, after a few moments sniffing it.
Yuri almost smashed his head against the wall. Viktor laughed, the bastard. And Otabek, sweet, sweet Otabek, said it wasn’t so bad, that it was a good starting point.
“She didn’t react as badly as she could, we just have to continue working slowly.” He pointed, while Yuri felt like crying.
And slowly they went. Small objects were exchanged between the animals.
Ayu was easier, much like Otabek, he had a calmer temper, even though he was a male and was supposed to be more annoyed with his territory. Otabek commented that he probably didn’t felt like this was his territory yet, and the fact that he was raised as a pet, meant his instincts were a bit off. Ayu would just sniff the things they brought back and accept it as a new decor, sometimes even interacting with it in a positive way.
Valeriya was more like Yuri. Skittish and cautious of new things. More than once she took the new items and dropped them in a specific place, like she was throwing them away or hiding them from herself. She, thankfully, stopped with the signs of rejection more intensely, never being aggressive towards it.
Viktor and Yuuri were happy to compare the two animals to their keepers, sharing laughs over lunch breaks about Yuri’s personality matching Valeriya’s. Annoyed and catty, Viktor commented once, which led to Yuri throwing a bit of coffee in his baby blue shirt. It wasn’t the best way to prove a point but it was fun.
In contrast to the slow pace Ayu and Valeriya’s relationship was going, Otabek and Yuri’s friendship was fast and nonstoping. They saw each other everyday, insisting on having as much time with the two tigers as they could. When they weren’t in their habitats or the observation room, Otabek was helping Yuri with his other tasks. Yakov had contracted the Kazakhs as a temporary employee, meaning he didn’t have a fixed station and could do random jobs for everyone, he mostly kept himself next to Yuri. At home, both would text constantly. It started as talks about new strategies, research about the behavior they were observing but it quickly changed to cat memes being exchanged and deep talks about their past living in Kazakhstan and Russia.
One day, a bad one, Valeriya was reacting to everyone, not letting a single person get even close to her enclosure to give her food. Everyone was safe behind the bars that connected the gallery, where they put the food and the animal, but it was still scary and most of the employees avoided her when they could, meaning, when Yuri was willing to put himself in the line of her annoyed eyes and snarling teeth. Otabek didn’t seem fazed by it as well, helping Yuri clean her water container while the blond finished preparing her meal with a wild animal staring at them, walking from side to side and snarling every once in a while.
“Doesn’t this scare you?” Yuri couldn’t help but ask. He trusted the facilities he worked in, but he still felt a chill over his bones with every growl that would come out of Valeriya’s mouth, reverbaring in his heart.
“I know you’re smart enough to not put yourself in a dangerous situation, so I trust that I’m safe too.” Otabek shrugged, “Do you know what has gotten into her today?” Valeriya wasn’t the most friendly animal, but she was used to being treated at the zoo, accustomed to the usual employers that worked with her. It was one of the reasons Yuri was adamant about keeping her, changing habitats, zoo’s and staff would be terrible for her. So, although she was normally moody, it wasn’t a regular occurrence for her to be this violent.
“Yes,” Yuri tilted his head, looking at the tiger that batted her paw at the grid, “You see how she is not pulling her full weight on her behind leg? The right one?”. Otabek stopped his ministrations for a few seconds to observe the animal and nodded, “She is a rescue, got shot by a hunter when she was young. Was rescued by an ONG. She was supposed to go to a sanctuary but… They wanted a petting animal, and she was hurt by humans, Vally would never fully trust a person, much less behave enough to be petted by children. So they gave her away to other places, she was mistreated a lot for her ‘bad habits’”, he did the air quote with his fingers, “Until she ended up here. Her former keepers only talked about how good of a breeder she could be, perfect age, perfect reproduction health… When we met her the first time she was so skinny…”, Yuri looked at the food in front of him, “She wouldn’t eat, she had a limp on the leg that was shot, the fucking bullet was still inside,” He closed his eyes, rage overcoming his body, “She was almost dead. I put my full efforts into her. Days and nights spent searching for a way to connect to her, help her get better. When she was more stable, we did surgery on the leg.”, Yuri let out a breath. Otabek was quietly waiting for him to continue.
“Otabek… When recovered, it was like a different animal altogether, she was happy. She would run around her habitat like she was back in the wild. It was beautiful.” Yuri smiled, “But we noticed that some days, she would get like this,” He gestured to Valeriya, “She is in pain, is a bad day, like people with leg surgery, I guess, feeling it because of the weather or something like that. I’m not sure, I was always more into behavior studies than surgery,” He smirks and Otabek scoffs, “Anyway… She was no longer an option for release, Yakov said I needed to find her a mate or… Well the rest you know.” Otabek agreed and they continued their jobs quietly with the roars as background sounds.
–
Valeriya showed them a positive sign a few days later. She just… Dropped on top of the new blanket they put inside her habitat, rolling on it for a little. Like a kitten in a fluffy bed. Yuri hugged Otabek without thinking twice about it, so happy about their little win.
He only realized his actions when strong hands closed around his waist, after he grabbed Otabek’s shoulder leaning back to look his eyes. Otabek had a happy smile and sparkling eyes. Yuri was sure his own were wide and unsure. He was trying to keep their relationship professional, or at least, friendly. Pushing down his unrequited crush like it could kill him. And at this moment, looking at Otabek's brown eyes and pretty smile, he sure believed it would kill him.
–
The next phase was putting Ayu into the habitat next to Valeriya’s. The space was built in a way they were connected, specially to trials like this, for moments where you wanted to make contact between two animals at a slow pace. They would be able to smell and hear each other first, then they could take the wood planks that prevented them from seeing each other, so they could observe through a window. Given it all worked well, they would be able to lift the separation completely and have them contact each other in the same enclosure.
Ayu was curious, he kept getting close to the division in between their spaces, walking and sniffing around. Valeriya, on the other hand, tended to stay away from the shared fence, keeping herself as close to the other side as possible. The exchange in objects kept happening, with Valeriya getting more amicable to them as time passed by. Eventually, she started to walk more freely around her habitat again, even sniffing closer to the fence in a few instances.
Yuri was happy with how the animals were progressing. His and Otabek efforts had more results than previous experiments he did. At this point, Valeriya would’ve already met her mate prospect and strongly rejected them, sometimes going as far as being aggressive and needing interference. Maybe he tried to do this way to fast the past times, but he didn’t have a partner next to him as smart as Otabek, so Yuri will keep blaming his past errors on his previous partners.
–
“Today is an important day, right Yuri?” Yuuri asked, while picking at his bento box, “You and Otabek are going to open the door that keeps them from seeing each other?”.
“Yes,” Yuri nodded, taping his fingers on the table, “It’s essential that they don’t try to kill each other. That’s why Beka is going over to their habitats to check if Valeriya shows any signs of stress.” Yuuri arched his brow, “What?” The blond questioned, annoyance easily filling his voice.
“Beka?” Yuuri smirked.
“Shut up.”
“I thought you didn’t like nicknames? Something about them being dumb?” Yuuri feigned innocence.
“I call you Katsudon all the time, it’s a nickname, isn't it?” Yuri rolled his eyes.
“More like an insult, really. Beka sounds like a sweet, caring, loving nickname.” Yuuri teased.
“You’re spending too much time with Viktor,” Yuri complained, making the Japanese laugh, “It’s just easier to call him Beka, that’s all.”.
“Next, it’s going to be Beka Bear?” Chris interrupted, grinning while sitting next to Yuuri.
“Sorry, have we met?” Yuri arched his eyebrow and Chris laughed.
“You wish you could meet me again like it was the first time, baby.” He said, flirtatious. Yuri faked a gag.
“Don’t you have peak-cocks to take care of?”.
“You have to agree that Beka is just a bit out of character to you, Yurio.” Yuuri intervened. Always trying to de-escalate the situation.
“Don’t call me that,” Chris and Yuuri exchanged a look between them, leading to Yuri rolling his eyes again, “Anyway, wish me luck.” He marched to the tiger's habitat.
–
Everything was going according to Yuri and Otabek's plan. The first contact in between the two animals was surprisingly uneventful. Ayu looked over at the female enclosure and promptly ignored for the rest of the day, only getting a little curious when it was feeding time, since Valeriya was usually fed first. Her, for once, didn’t seem to have a negative reaction to the whole ordeal. Yuri took that as the win and offered Otabek a beer after work. That ended up with Otabek sleeping on his couch after they talked the night away. It made sense, his house was closer to the zoo.
The next logical move, after a few weeks of their first contact, without any negative signs from either, was to try and allow them to meet each other. Meaning: Taking the division off.
This move was a bit riskier, it took more strategy than any of the other steps before. If something went slightly wrong they could jeopardize the life of one or both animals. That meant they needed to keep people on alert with a loaded tranquilizer gun in case of trouble. Yakov also wanted to make a bigger deal out of it, inviting every worker at the zoo to witness what was going to happen. He arranged a little event in the observation room, where everyone could watch the two enclosures through the one way glass windows.
That’s how Yuri ended up making a speech in front of all his co-workers, something that he managed to do without a frown only because he focused his attention on Otabek’s bright brown eyes.
“This is a big step for us. It could indicate a new opportunity to reproduce animals that are in concerning conditions and complicated risks associated with behavior.. We, as professionals, know how hard it is to see some of the animals leave, sometimes you get too attached to them, which is something that Yakov would not indicate.” He smirks, watching for a second the vein in his boss's forehead pop, “But Valeriya and Ayu became two important parts of our families and I know that everyone here is anxiously waiting and hoping we have a few new members in the following months! Thank you all for being part of this and helping me and Otabek along the way. Let’s get this show on the road.” Yuri gestured to the workers that were controlling the door dividing the enclosures.
Everything slowed down. Valeriya was sitting under a tree, not really caring for the whole thing happening. Ayu was walking from one side to another of his enclosure, confused by the noise the door was making. He was the first one to notice the wall changing, curiosity getting the best of him as he approached the division.
Valeriya kept a watchful eye on the other side, eyes clocking on the younger tiger as soon as the division finished rising. Ayu slowly approached her, no signs of aggression that Yuri could see. Valeriya didn’t look too concerned about him.
This was it. The moment that could make or break their long and hard work. If they hated each other, both Yuri and Otabek would lose them… And they would lose each other.
Yuri didn’t think about the implications this combination not working would lead to, in regards to his friendship with Otabek. This whole time he was focused in the animals and their interactions, how he didn’t want it to go bad because he didn’t want to lose Valeriya, but, for the first time, he thought that the biggest lost would’ve been Otabek away, in a different country, most likely, not working next to him.
The tigers met. Ayu stood, looking at Valeriya, who didn’t move a single paw. The tension within everyone was so heavy, Yuri was sure he could’ve cut it with a knife.
Ayu dropped to the ground, lowering his head, staying there, not moving. Valeriya stood enough to get closer to the younger tiger. Yuri could feel the chill down his spine. Otabek took his hand, squeezing with all his strength.
Valeriya approached Ayu and… Licked him. Grooming the other animal, before laying back on the ground and closing her eyes.
For a second everything was quiet, until:
“Yura… We did it.” Otabek murmured and Yuri turned to him. Brown eyes met green ones, matching smiles on their faces.
“We did it!”
–
Although the introduction was a big concern, Yuri knew the danger wasn’t over yet. The conditions stipulated for the animals to continue in the Zoo was being able to create offspring, which was a challenging job on its own.
“I wish they were easier to breed in vitro, it would make our lives a lot easier.” Yuri commented to Otabek on one of the days they were watching the animals interact. They needed to wait until Valeriya was showing signs of heat.
“Yes. But I do think it’s interesting to watch them interact with each other, it is one of the reasons I decided to work with animals…” Yuri nodded. “What about you? What made you want to become a Vet?” Otabek turned to observe Yuri’s profile.
“Ugh… It’s kind of embarrassing,” He blushed, scratching his neck, “When I was younger I thought tigers were amazing animals, they were strong and fearless, I wanted to be like that. I used to do figure skating, starting when I was a child, my main desire was to be called the Russian Ice-Tiger or something,” Yuri laughs, “But well… I had a nasty injury before I was able to join the adult competition. When that happened, I thought I lost everything that I was, I couldn’t think of anything else to do…” Yuri could see in his peripheral vision Otabek turning his head to the side, trying to take a closer look at his face. It was one of the habits the Kazakhs had that Yuri thought was adorable, his constant need to be able to see peoples expression so he could access their emotions clearly. “One day, after a few months without leaving my house feeling like shit, my dedushka dragged me to the zoo, he made me walk around the whole place and finally stop at the tigers habitat, he pointed to the animals and said ‘Yuroshka, you were always as fearless as those animals. You were never only a skater, you’re a fighter. Anything you decide to be will lead you to greatness, because it’s your destiny.’... I think my brain just associated that with working with animals, tigers in particular, so now…” He gestures aimless.
“I don’t think it’s embarrassing, Yura.” Yuri turned to Otabek, examining his serious face, “I’m sorry you were robbed of your work because of an injury, but I can’t say I’m not glad to be able to have you right here with me.” Yuri felt his face heating up. “Your dedushka is right, you’re born to greatness.” Otabek gives him a small smile and turns back to the animals, a comfortable silence falling over them as Yuri’s mind runs a hundred miles an hour.
–
“So…” Viktor elongated the vowel, “You have a crush on our new addition?” He poked Yuri’s side, a malicious smile on his lips.
“Shut up, Old man.” Yuri glared at the silver haired man, but didn’t denied the accusation.
“I think it’s nice, Yurio.” Yuuri commented while trying to put Viktors sleeve back in place, the Russian had a tendency to lose his clothing when he was drunk “Otabek is a very nice person.”.
“Shut your mouth too, Katsudon, not everyone wants to fuck their co-worker like you two do!” He pointed an accusing finger to both. The couple exchanged a look and turned to the younger.
“And here I thought it was just a small, harmless, sweet teenage crush! Yuuuuuriooo~~! You’re too young to be thinking of these things!” Viktor said, swinging from side to side, somehow keeping his beer from spilling over.
“I’m not a teenager, Old man! You’re just jurassic!” Viktor made an affronted squeak.
“He is, in fact, not a teenager anymore Vitya, as much as he acts like one,” Yuuri gave a pointed look at Yuri who choose to ignore the comment and take a big sip of his beer, “But we really thought it wasn’t anything more than a crush, is it more, Yuri?” Yuri murmured something unintelligible, “Come on, talk to us. We know you don’t really like to listen to our advice but sometimes we can help!” Yuuri stared at the blond with his big puppy brown eyes making Yuri turn fast to the other side, he knew how convincing the Japanese could be when he wanted to and there was no way he would fall to his charms.
“I just think he is incredibly competent, that’s it.” Viktor and Yuuri both gave him unimpressed looks. “Ok! Maybe I think he is cool too! But it’s not like that!!”.
“Well, either way I think he has a crush on you too, Yurio.” Viktor teased.
“What are you going about? Are you actually getting senile now?” Viktor rolled his eyes at the comment.
“He does look at you in a different way,” Yuuri murmured, “He is polite and very nice but he changes when you’re around, Yuri, it’s like he has a different energy, he carries himself in a different way…” He fixed his glasses, making a contemplating face “Like a peacock.”.
“Otabek is the farthest personality to a peacock that I can think of, that’s more like JJ or Chris.” The blond snorted.
“Maybe, but he does look like a bird looking at his chosen mate.” Yuuri pointed with his finger. Viktor laughed, throwing his head back.
“MAYBE HE WILL APPEAR ONE DAY WITH A SMOOTH ROCK AS A GIFT TO YOU, YURIO~~!” The Russian said before getting hit by a napkin.
–
Valeryia showed signs of heat a few days later, starting the betting pool for all the employees about how long it would take to see a cub running around the habitat. Otabek and Yuri choose not to partake in the betting. Oddly enough, Otabek was incredibly superstitious and thought that betting on it would jinx it on some level.
They took turns watching the animals to see any matting interaction happening. The zoo had cameras on the habitat, but Yuri would be damned if he didn’t see through every second of this procedure. They still spent most of their time together, talking about anything and everything while waiting for any different movement from their animals.
On a sunny morning, Yuri and Otabek were both at the observation station having coffee and updating themselves on the most recent gossip around the zoo. Valeriya and Ayu started interacting in a different way, something that Yuri noticed fast, she was walking slowly with the male tiger following her at a small distance. Valeriya started lowering her behind with Ayu getting in position behind her.
“BEKA!” Yuri shook the Kazakhs by the shoulders “IT’S HAPPENING!”.
“Yes, Yura. I can see it!” Otabek said, a calm tone to his voice that was betrayed by the glint of excitement in his eyes.
Yuri was going through his mental checklist: The animals were at a good weight; they seemed to like each other and were interacting on a good level; They had a nice habitat that mimicked what they would have in the wild; Valeriya showed signs of heat, meaning that her body was ready for a pregnancy; The only wild factor was if Ayu was able to do his part, since he was young and go be fairly clumsy. They had a good chance of things going well.
“I have a good feeling, Yura.” Otabek murmured.
“Me too.” He smiled and looked over at the animals again. Ayu was in position, the whole scene playing out like Yuri studied time and time again, their vocalization and actions positively perfect.
Yuri felt Otabek by his side. Their pinky fingers brushing and shoulders touching. They watched amazed as the scene played out in minutes. After, Ayu got away from Valeriya who started rolling on the floor. That was it. They would still go over the same routine for a few days, but at the end, the only thing left to do on their part was wait and see if it worked. Otabek closed his hand around Yuri, giving it a firm squeeze.
–
Valeriya was having three cubs, according to their ultrasound. Their team went on a celebratory outing to the local bar, under Viktor’s structions to relax and enjoy the free beers paid by Yakov, who simply complained the whole walk to the bar.
Yuri was walking on clouds. They still had a long time to go, the pregnancy could last for about 100 days, and a lot of things could go wrong, but at this moment, he could only focus on the buzzing feeling brought by the alcohol and Otabek’s deep voice next to him, talking amicably with Pitchit about different rodents species.
“Don’t you think, Yuri?” He heard his name being called over at the end of the table. Chris was next to Viktor and Yakov, face propped by his hand, expecting an answer.
“What do I think?”.
“We need to starting planning Otabek’s go away party, I know it’s a long time before the cubs are born but a good party takes time.” Chris used his free hand to gesture in the air. Viktor was staring with an odd look at the Swiss. Yakov looked like he was actively ignoring the conversation.
“Go away?” Yuri frowned, confusion fogging his brain.
“You know! After this whole thing is sorted, Ayu will stay at our zoo and he can finally go back to Almaty.”
Yuri felt his stomach drop. Of course, Otabek would go back to his family after this. The whole thing was temporary, a way to find a home for Ayu, but not…
He looked over his shoulder, watching Otabek interact with Pitchit and now Yuuri who joined the conversation. He seemed at home, able to hold a conversation and even appeared to be having fun. But he probably had better places to be, people he cared to go back to and… Yuri wasn’t one of those. He was a good co-worker, competent and friendly, but he wasn’t anything other than that, they could stay friends and live away from each other, there was nothing holding Otabek to the EUA.
“I need to-” Yuri bluntly got up, almost dropping his chair in the ground “I think someone is calling me, I’ll-” He pointed to the door and marched his way out, faintly listening to his name being called over the noise.
Yuri felt the cold night air hit his face, feeling a little less drunk and a bit more anxious by the second. He didn’t have the time to work around his feelings about Otabek. Yuri wasn’t used to feeling his heartbeat quicken when someone walked into the room, he only associated this mushy feelings with Viktor and Yuuri, the couple being the epitome of love and romance. That was until Otabek appeared. It wasn’t the same, though. This feeling wasn’t all consuming, it wasn’t something that made him want to make out with the Kazakhs in public. Rather, it was a slow and warm feeling, like a long hug after a tiring day or a warm beverage on a cold day.
He couldn’t lose that. But Yuri also knew better than to get in the way of someone’s life.
“Yura, is everything ok?” Yuri observed as Otabek opened the door and walked out of the bar “It’s cold outside. Are you finished with your call?”.
“Call?” Yuri frowned and Otabek leaned against the wall by his side.
“Weren’t you on a call? That’s what you said.”.
“Oh… That, yes, it wasn’t anything in the end.” He lied and Otabek nodded.
“Why are you lying about this? If you don’t want to talk, it’s ok, but I’m hoping we are close enough friends for you to trust me.” Friends. That was it. Friends and co-workers.
“It’s nothing really, Beka.” He looked up at the sky. “Chris was talking about your go away party. I don’t know if it was supposed to be a surprise, if so, please act surprised about it when it comes around.”.
“My go away party?” Otabek frowned.
“Yes. When the cubs are born and Ayu has a permanent home, you can go back to Kazakhstan.” Yuri avoided the constant gaze of brown eyes.
“Are you all that excited to send me away?” Yuri jumped at that, looking into Otabek’s eyes.
“What? No!”.
“Does sounds like it.” Otabek turned his back to the wall, propping a foot on it and hiding his hands in his pockets.
“Of course not, Beka! How could I be ok with you leaving?” Yuri took a step around him to be face to face with Otabek “But it’s a matter of time, right? You want to go back to your family, your job, and work in your field.”.
“I do miss my family and I plan on visiting them when all of this is over. But Yakov was talking to me about an open position as a veterinarian, he said he wanted to change a few things on the bear habitats and maybe do a new conservation project.” Otabek said seriously.
“Beka…”.
“And also,” Otabek took a step forward, getting close to Yuri, “I want you to know what I want to be here, Yura. Working with you, meeting you, all these days have been some of the best in my life. I want to continue doing this for a long time, if you will have me.” Yuri letting go of a breath he didn’t realized he was holding, Otabek now close enough to feel it in his cheeks.
“I want that.” He whispered and Otabek nodded, smiling softly.
“Good.”
They stayed right there, looking into each other's eyes, observing and waiting for… Something. A car drove by at a high speed, the noise breaking the spell they were under. Yuri jumped back a bit and Otabek smirked. He pointed to the door and led Yuri inside.
–
“I think something is happening.” Otabek commented, looking into the grass part of the habitat where Valeriya was having a tendency of gravitating towards during the past days.
“I swear, if this is another false alarm!” Yuri complained getting up from the chair, he was sure his butt print was imprinted into it by now. Valeriya apparently wanted to mess with them, going for 107 days of gestation, she liked to give wrong signs of birth just to get them excited. By now, Chris, Phichit and Viktor lost the betting pool, the remaining being Yuuri, who was weirdly competitive about it, Yakov and Lilia.
“She is licking something, I think there’s a cub we can’t see.” Otabek pointed to a small patch of grass behind Valeriya, a place that was unable to be seen by them directly.
“Let’s see if the cameras pick up something.” Yuri walked to the computer monitor and amplified the camera set to record that part of the habitat “So far… I can’t seem to see much either…” He turned into the second angle “Oh, wait, Beka come take a look.” Yuri pointed to a small grass patch.
“Is that…?”
“It does look small and stripy…”
They shared a look and turned back in sync to the monitor. A small tiger cub lifting his head, as if it’s a struggle to do so, Valeriya cleaning around his face with her tongue.
“IT’S HAPPENING! BEKA! SHE IS GIVING BIRTH!” Yuri jumped up and down, clapping his hands “WE DID IT! BEKA, WE DID IT!”.
“Yes, we did it!” Otabek looked from Yuri to the monitor and back “Congratulations, Yura!”.
“We are Grandparents now!” He laughed, throwing his head back.
“Now, there’s only one thing left to do.” Otabek commented and Yuri looked at him confused. Until he feels strong hands holding his face in a delicate way, “Can I kiss you?”.
“Yes, please”, Yuri whispered, right before feeling soft lips touching his own.
At that second, he knew: That was the happiest moment of his life. So far.