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“Yuri~,” Tetsu hugged Yuri Himemiya from behind around his middle. He spooned him on the bed where Yuri lay on his side wearing a pair of pyjama shorts and a light tank top. Yuri always dressed very properly at school and in public, but all the times Tetsu had invited himself over to his home Yuri never even bothered to put on shoes. It might be a different story if Yuri had done the inviting, but in their three years of Stride if the two of them spent time together outside of practice it was because Tetsu dragged him into it. Tetsu wasn't even sure if he had friends outside the team, but Yuri would probably excommunicate him if he asked.
Tetsu was only a inch taller than Yuri but significantly more muscled and filled out, so while laying there together it felt like the difference between them was bigger than it really was. He joined his hands together and squeezed Yuri closer in an attention-seeking move, but Yuri barely reacted, refusing to reward him even with negativity. He'd been in the house for a full forty minutes and Yuri had been on his phone the entire time.
“Yuri, stop e-mailing people.”
“I didn't ask you over,” Yuri replied bluntly, continuing to type on his phone. From what Tetsu could read on the screen, he was messaging Dozono about their training schedule for an upcoming race against another school. Tetsu made an annoyed noise and nuzzled into the crook of his pale neck, pressing Yuri's sharp shoulder blades flat against his chest. “You said I could come.”
“I said to do what you want. I didn't say I'd make time in the day for you.”
“So mean!”
“Leave if you don't like it.”
“Hmph.” Tetsu scooted back a bit and picked up a handful of Yuri's hair. It was black and shiny on one side and soft and blonde on the other, but no one at school seemed to know which was his natural colour. His Russian father was a handsome blond and his mother was a dark haired beauty, so looking at them didn't do anything to solve the mystery.
At school he wore it in pigtails that resembled the bi-coloured headdress of a harlequin with a parting separating the colours almost perfectly, but at home it hung down to his shoulder blades and the precise parting was gone. The colours tangled together at the centre of the back of his head and Tetsu began separating them and stroking them to occupy himself. Yuri didn't let him get very far, almost instantly he slapped away his fingers with the back of his hand.
“Get out of my hair.”
“Why?” Tetsu pouted. “It's pretty.”
“Exactly why I don't want you touching it.” Yuri turned his head to look at him, his glaring magenta eyes sparking dangerously. Tetsu held his hands up defensively as if to prove he was without a weapon, and that seemed to satisfy the shorter boy, who settled back down on his side and went back to texting Dozono. Yuri wasn't fond of the guy, and to be honest neither was anyone else on the team, but he was the best man in school for the job, and unless another student stepped up to join before the end of the year that had his eye for strategy, then Yuri was willing to put up with him until they graduated.
Tetsu sighed and glanced around the room. “I'm bored.”
“Go watch my TV or play a game if you aren't going to leave.”
“Can I take you out for lunch?”
“I've eaten.”
“Can we go for a walk in the park?”
“Only if that walk is a run and the rest of the team comes.”
Tetsu made an annoyed noise and buried his face between Yuri's shoulder blades, who continued fiddling on his phone. He'd asked Yuri out a lot in the past three years but Yuri was rather good at mixed messages. When he'd ask Yuri to go somewhere with him, or Tetsu would ask if he could follow Yuri somewhere, and Yuri would say “Do what you want” or “If I have nothing else planned”. And often Tetsu would attempt to get close to him like he was at that moment, snuggling against him and kissing his cheek or giving his knee a flirty squeeze, and Yuri would remained relaxed and receptive. Every time Yuri shot down one of his advances he'd be accepting of another.
“Yuri?”
“What?”
“Can I bring you a bouquet of flowers?”
“Do what you like.”
Tetsu let out a long sigh and moved up a bit to rest his chin on Yuri's pale shoulder, watching his fingers move speedily over the screen of his phone. He slid an arm around Yuri's waist and held him tight, breathing in the smell of his deodorant for a moment. “Hey, can we have sex?”
Finally, this made Yuri react. He dropped his phone onto the pillow and looked back at him, eyes wide with shock. “I'm a man, idiot.”
“Technically.” Tetsu grinned, but this didn't amuse Yuri at all. In two smooth motions, he broke out of Tetsu's arms and shoved him off his bed and onto the floor. Tetsu yelped in pain as he crash-landed nose first and his hands flew to his face, cupping it in case it started bleeding. Yuri watched him from the bed, his face cool and slightly malicious.
“What was that for?!” He demanded, his voice slightly muffled by his hands.
Yuri huffed. “For offending me obviously. The entire school nicknaming me princess is one thing but disgusting comments like that are another.”
“It was a joke!”
At that, Yuri glared at him hard enough to send a shiver through him, and suddenly Tetsu was regretting ever coming over that day. Yuri looked more pissed off than he'd ever seen him, and that was saying something. “I'm... I'm sorry Yuri, it was a bad joke.”
Yuri continued glaring harshly, a dangerous light glinting in his bright violet eyes. Yuri had such stunning eyes, not that he had any part of him that wasn't stunning, but it was terrifying to have them turn on you. Despite his small frame and childish hairstyle, the runner had the gift of giving off an air of threat and command wherever they went. He was apathetic to people most of the time, but when he didn't get his own way he had no reservations about putting his scary charisma to good use. Tetsu could only swallow thickly and clench his fists till his knuckles turned white.
After what felt like forever, Yuri huffed again and picked up his phone to resume his texting. “Go home, Hachiya. I'm tired of you.”
Tetsu blinked. “No, Yuri, you're still mad, I want-”
“You want me to be a girl.”
“I...Eh?!”
“That's why you think you're in love with me isn't it?” Yuri's snapping was angry like before, but it was a weaker anger that was more bitterness than anything else. He kept his eyes downcast, looking anywhere but at the man in front of him, twisting some long hair with his fingers in that way he did when he was annoyed or nervous. “You told me you thought I was a girl when we first met. You're not the first person to do that, I can't control what people see even if it annoys me, but you've known me since we were first-years. That's plenty of time for you to get over your stupid misconceptions but you still wont leave me alone. Go find a real girl to annoy, just because you like my face doesn't mean I'm going to magically turn into one.”
With that, he got off the bed and marched past Tetsu and out the bedroom door. Tetsu stared after him for a moment, too dumbstruck to move, then he collected himself and hurried after him. He found him in the kitchen preparing some tea, slamming the cupboard doors open and shut a bit too hard while retrieving the teabags like a child throwing a tantrum.
Not really sure what to do, Tetsu hovered in the doorway with his hand on the doorknob in case Yuri told him to leave again.
“Yuri,” He took a breath and steeled himself, “Do you hate me or like me? Because I find a lot of evidence for either and I'd like to know for sure.”
Yuri kept his back to his team mate and put the kettle on the stove. It was an old fashioned one that needed to be heated up, Tetsu had once asked why he didn't use the electric one that his mother used and Yuri had just said that he thought the old fashioned way taste better, though Tetsu couldn't tell the difference. Maybe it was a purism thing. “It doesn't matter if I hate you or like you.”
He seemed receptive to talking, so Tetsu let go of the doorknob and walked few steps towards him. “Are you sure you don't like me back even a little? You like me better than Dozono right?”
Yuri gave him a tired look “I like most people better than Dozono, that's too low a bar to set for you.”
“...So is that a yes?”
“I already said it doesn't matter. I'm not a girl.”
“Ugh!” Tetsu let out a loud noise of frustration; He was actually beginning to feel dizzy from the verbal circles they were going in. “I know you aren't a girl! But I thought you were gay, you have gay porn on your computer don't you?”
All the blood in Yuri's body seemed to suddenly jump to his face and his eyes went impossibly wide. “I-How did you know about that?! I mean I do not! I am gay but I don't... Don't look at my private things!”
“So if you're gay and you like me then what's the problem?!”
“You are, you ass! You like women!”
Tetsu felt like he had to lie down at that. A picture was beginning to be painted and if what he was seeing was accurate then it was the stupidest picture he had ever seen. He pulled out a chair from the kitchen table separating him and Yuri and took his glasses off to pinch the bridge of his nose.
“Wait.” He took a bracing breath. “Have you been rejecting me for three years because you think I'm straight?”
“...Aren't you?” Yuri sounded uncertain of something, a rare occasion indeed.
“I'm bisexual, I like both girls and boys!”
“What?! You never told me that! And I haven't ever seen you ask any boys out!”
“That's because I like you right now! When was the last time you saw me ask any girls out either?! I've been confessing to you for three years and you really thought it was just because anything slightly feminine looking would set me off?!”
“I...That is... You..!”
Tetsu could practically see cogs in Yuri's head turning as he speechlessly pieced the information together, his expression slowly turning from one of irritation and confusion to dumbfounded shock.
The kettle suddenly started whistling. Yuri calmly took it off the stove, switched the stove off, then walked around the kitchen table and out of the room without another word. Tetsu stayed where he was, unsure if he should follow him or leave, but a moment later Yuri came back in and sat next to his team mate, clenching his hands anxiously in his lap as he refused to meet his gaze.
Embarrassment. Yet another rarity for Yuri Himemiya.
“Sorry.” Yuri finally said in a very careful manner. There was just the slightest bit of hesitation in his his voice, but he was being genuine. “I've been foolish.”
He turned his head to look up shyly through his fringe at Tetsu, carefully studying his face for his response. Tetsu didn't even have to think about it; he forgave Yuri for the misunderstanding in an instant.
“Aw, Yuri~!” He put his arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug, forcing the shorter runner to lean across the gap between their chairs. Yuri allowed himself to have his face buried in Tetsu's chest, only turning his face away slightly so he could breathe. After a moment of hesitation, he raised his hands up to cling to the back of Tetsu's shirt, and Tetsu thought he might die of happiness right there. He nuzzled his cheek against the top of Yuri's head with great affection, then stood up, pulling Yuri with him. “Come on, let's go out!”
“I'm not dressed!” Yuri frowned.
Tetsu glanced up and down and remembered the pyjamas. “Okay, then get dressed and while you're doing that I'll run to a florist and get you some flowers.”
“Do what you want but I don't have any vases.”
“Then I'll get you one flower and you can put it in a tall glass!”
“Ugh... Fine...” He sighed in exasperation and turned away to twist some hair with his fingers, but Tetsu could definitely see just the slightest hint of redness in his cheeks. He couldn't resist pulling him into one last embrace before leaving.