Chapter Text
“Hey, Beks.” Leo took a seat on the couch beside Otabek, disrupting his work. Otabek sighed and saved his progress on his project – a composition integrating illusion spells to create interactive music based on an alignment of crystals on a table – before taking off his headphones and staring silently at Leo. His friend would understand that was all the invitation he needed to continue. “Does it seem to you that since last week’s big reward, Yuri’s been in a worse mood than usual? Guang Hong says he stormed out of class today when the professor started talking about how sometimes, magic can be finicky, and that if anyone wanted to talk about what they saw or heard last week, they could come to him for help unraveling any complications.”
Last week, as usual, the freshmen at the academy who had passed their first-year exams were rewarded with a trip to visit the Magic Mirror and allowed to ask one question. The question could be anything they wanted to know, but they were always warned that the answers may not be what they wanted or expected to hear, or even necessarily answer the question they thought they were asking. It only answered the question that was specifically asked, which is why it was important to word your question extremely carefully.
Two years earlier, when it was Otabek’s turn, he had asked specifically for the correct words to say when he introduced himself to Yuri Plisetsky to have the chance at turning his longtime admiration into a friendship. The mirror’s answer had been very short, and at the time, Otabek couldn’t understand it. “Get on, Yuri!” didn’t seem very helpful. It was then made significantly worse when he ran into Yuri asking him a question and the words he was given were not at all appropriate for the situation. He’d had to walk away without saying anything and just trust that another chance would arrive. It did the next day, and it made perfect sense then – Yuri was running from fangirls, and Otabek was on his motorbike. He tossed Yuri a helmet and told him to get on, driving him away from the fans and to a park where the two of them could talk properly. It had worked out perfectly. He just had to be patient and wait for the appropriate time.
Otabek had asked Yuri what he’d asked, and all he got was a snarl. Which, to be fair, knowing Yuri, might actually be what he’d asked – Yuri was rather loud about preferring his magic straightforward and not twisty and touchy and needing hours of interpretation. The magic mirror question seemed exactly like the kind of thing Yuri would deliberately fuck up as a form of protest against not getting what he considered a better reward, like getting to visit a tiger or cat café or something. “I don’t know about worse than usual, he’s been in some bad moods before, but he is irritable. Did you hear he told Isabella that if JJ said one word to him before he told her it was okay, he was likely to shove a knife in him or rip off bits of his anatomy? Isabella says she honestly couldn’t tell if he was serious or not.”
“You gonna try to talk to him? Because you’re probably the only one who can,” Leo said. “Maybe Isabella, but that seems like it was more about getting a warning to JJ.”
“Already did.” Otabek shrugged and reached for his laptop. Leo would understand his need to work on his project, and he could talk and work at the same time just fine now that they were through the part that required Otabek's full attention. “I got nothing. He’ll come to me when he’s ready, and if he doesn’t, me pushing is more likely to ruin our friendship than anything else. I’m hoping when he goes home to visit his grandfather, he’ll talk to him about whatever’s bugging him and be ready to talk next time I see him. If not, he and Isabella are actually friends. Maybe when he's calmed down a bit he'll be able to talk to her properly.”
Leo nodded and pulled his legs up to his chest. “Guang Hong told me he asked the mirror how to use flowers to tell action stories. He figured if he was going to get an incomprehensible answer, he might as well ask an incomprehensible question. The mirror told him to study poetry, so he’s taking a songwriting class with me next semester.”
“He’d be okay with you telling me that, right? Or should I pretend I don’t know and just assume he’s taking the class because he wanted to be close to you?” It was no surprise that Guang Hong had talked to Leo, but most people didn’t share their questions or answers with others. Too intensely personal most of the time. He didn’t even know what Leo had asked, and the only reason he knew what JJ had asked was that he’d done a very public proposal almost immediately afterward where he told Isabella the mirror had said she wanted to marry him as much as he wanted to marry her.
Leo grinned. “He said he’s following Phichit’s lead and is planning on posting about it on his social media. You’ll see it there soon enough.” Phichit’s question, according to his social media, was how to prove that hamsters were the cutest of all animals. He claimed the answer was to create a skating show. There were a lot of people who refused to believe that that was really what Phichit had used his question on, but honestly, Otabek believed it. Guang Hong’s was definitely believable.
“Any other silliness I should be aware of about the reward? There’s always drama, but it sounds like Yuri may be handling this year’s allotment all on his own.”
Leo shook his head. “I think everyone else is being normal about it, or at least, keeping their drama within their friend groups instead of making it the whole school’s problem.” He stood up. “I’d better get back to work on my project for the semester… good luck with yours.”