Work Text:
Yuri should have known that everyone would be going crazy at the banquet in Barcelona.
Well, he did know.
He just thought they’d be going crazy over whatever happened with Katsuki and Viktor (he didn’t think they’d actually gotten married, but with those two, who knew?), or maybe, if he was lucky, his win.
And he did hear a lot of that. Everyone thought Viktor and Katsuki were so awesome, and it was such a romantic love story, like Viktor wasn’t a pathetic loser who abandoned Yuri to chase dick. (Yuri was over it, though. Really.)
But he was also hearing people talking about his exhibition skate. Which, yeah, was fucking awesome. He was really glad Otabek came to his senses and agreed to help him.
“Just answer one question for me,” Jean-Jackass said, like Yuri was going to give him any attention at all.
“No,” Yuri said and walked away. He didn’t care what that asshole thought about him.
He was halfway to the champagne when Mila caught his arm. “I didn’t take you for someone with a thing for hands and fingers, Yura.”
“Fuck off, hag.” He didn’t have a thing for hands and fingers, did he? Yeah, sure, Otabek had pulled his gloves off with his teeth, but if anything, that meant Otabek was the one with the kink.
Right?
Otabek!
He found Otabek sitting with some other skaters and grabbed him by the hand. Okay, people were definitely looking at them now, but fuck them. Yuri wasn’t going to run away or blow Otabek off over some stupid rumors.
He wasn’t a total asshole.
“Katsuki and Viktor got engaged, or whatever, and all anyone can talk about is my exhibition skate.” Yuri grinned. “Thanks again.”
“I’m glad I could help.”
“Visit me in the off-season, okay?”
Otabek didn’t visit at first. Mostly because Yuri wasn’t in Piter for very long. For some reason, Viktor and Katsuki dragged him back to Japan, but it was okay, because the onsen was pretty cool and he got to bring Pyotya, his angel. Even Viktor’s stupid dog didn’t bother them much.
The problem was that — well, actually, Yuri wasn’t sure which was farther from Almaty between Piter and Hasetsu. It might have actually been a wash. Either way, the time difference was worse.
He didn’t want to make Otabek get up hours early, and besides, Yuri was old enough to make his own decisions, so he decided to stay up later.
The thing about Otabek was that, besides being really fucking cool, he genuinely liked Yuri. He didn’t think Yuri was dramatic or childish or annoying. He didn’t treat Yuri like a stupid kid. He treated Yuri like an equal; like he deserved to be treated.
So one night, as Yuri sat with a hair mask on (Mari’s idea) and Pyotya purring on his lap, it shouldn’t have come as any surprise that Otabek was hot. Because he was hot. Yuri knew he was hot. It was objective.
Yuri was petting Pyotya softly as Otabek told a story, and it just fucking hit him.
His best friend was really fucking hot.
It shouldn’t have been a horrible, earth-shattering realization. It shouldn’t have made his world tilt on its axis.
But it kind of did.
Mostly because Yuri was sure that Otabek didn’t see him like that.
Otabek liked him, obviously, and they were best friends, but Otabek didn’t want to make out with him. He didn’t want to go on dates with him.
They were friends.
Yuri hadn’t really had friends of his own before.
He could not ruin this.
When Otabek finally did fly out to Hasetsu, Yuri tried to pretend he wasn’t freaking out. Because he was definitely freaking out.
Whatever feelings these were had only gotten worse.
He didn’t know how feelings could get worse without seeing him in person, but they had, and it was a major fucking problem — especially since Viktor and Katsuki were definitely going to be able to tell. Katsuki might be fine about it (not that Yuri was holding his breath), but Viktor was going to be insufferable, and Yuri didn’t know what to do about that.
Even if (when) he told Viktor to fuck off… the damage could be done by that point.
The last thing Yuri wanted was for Otabek to freak out and leave. It wasn’t like Otabek was his only friend (probably), but he was his best friend, and that meant everything.
He couldn’t ruin it. He didn’t even want to risk it, but what choice did he have? Telling Otabek to fuck off and stay in Almaty? Yuri was trying his best to be a good friend to him, and he knew good friends didn’t do that.
He couldn’t meet Otabek at the airport (no one would drive him, assholes), but he did meet him at the train station. Without thinking, he hugged him.
To his surprise, Otabek hugged him back. “Sorry it took so long. I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too,” Yuri admitted, only just remembering to add, “Asshole.” Then, because he couldn’t help himself: “It’s okay, though. I forgive you. It’s just been really annoying dealing with Viktor and Katsuki.”
Otabek didn’t tell him that he’d pretty much picked Viktor and Katsuki over Piter; Yuri was grateful for that. He didn’t know how he’d deal if Otabek pointed it out.
“Come on. Let’s go.”
Having Otabek around actually turned out to be pretty fucking great. Yeah, okay, sometimes Yuri would kind of freak a little bit (always internally, though), because Otabek was really hot. And nice. And he smelled good. And whenever they hugged, he felt all warm and solid and it made Yuri’s insides turn gooey, which he hated.
Viktor and Katsuki and even Mari and Katsuki and Mari’s parents figured it out. Yuuko pulled him aside. He couldn’t tell whether or not Takeshi noticed, but the triplets were giving him looks.
Weirdly, though, no one said anything.
Yuri didn’t trust it.
It turned out he was right not to.
One day, he and Otabek took a walk together without anyone else tagging along. Good. Except, again: Otabek was really hot and by now Yuri was pretty fucking sure he was in love with him.
It was fine.
The walk reminded him of Barcelona in a weird way, and about halfway through, Otabek stopped. Yuri stumbled to a stop next to him.
“Yura.”
“Beka. What’s up?”
Otabek cleared his throat. “Viktor and Katsuki approached me…”
Oh no. “They’re idiot liars. Don’t listen to them.”
Otabek paused for a second, then said, “You know I love you, don’t you?”
What? “O-obviously. I love you, too.”
“No. I’m in love with you.”
What? No way. “Beka.”
“If you don’t feel the same, I’ll drop it forever. You’re my best friend.”
Yuri swallowed. He felt frozen. What the fuck was wrong with him? Otabek was in love with him! He needed to tell him the truth!
“Yura?”
Before he knew what he was doing, Yuri surged forward and kissed him. He’d never kissed anyone before; he hoped he wasn’t fucking it up.
When Otabek pulled away, he rested his forehead against Yuri’s.
“Is that a yes?”
Yuri really thought he could keep it hidden. Otabek agreed to keep it a secret for now, which only made Yuri feel a little bad. All the kissing definitely helped make up for it, though.
Yuri loved kissing. He’d kind of thought before that kissing might be gross, but with Otabek, it was really fucking nice. It made him feel things, too, which he probably should have hated, but didn’t.
He knew they had to go public at some point — no one would actually care. Yeah, Viktor and Katsuki would be annoying, and whenever he saw JJ, he’d probably be even more obnoxious, but like. It was Otabek. He was worth it.
Yuri just wanted to get through the off-season first.
Maybe that was a mistake. Things were going to be harder once the season started; maybe it’d be easier if everyone knew by the time they started competing again. They could even share a room.
(Maybe even a bed — they hadn’t had sex yet, but Yuri was thinking about it, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to risk it in Katsuki’s house.)
Katsuki’s house actually turned out to be the problem. One minute, Yuri was kissing Otabek in the privacy of his own room.
The next, the door flew open and Viktor was saying something about — Yuri didn’t even know what, because he stopped mid-sentence. “You two are finally together?”
Even worse: Katsuki was behind him. “I think I owe Pinchit a drink.”
“Fuck off!”
Yuri stood up and shoved them out of the room. He turned to Otabek. “I’m sorry they interrupted. I’ll kill them.”
Otabek hummed. “We’d better beat Phichit to social media. If you want to.” He blushed.
Yuri didn’t even think. “Absolutely.”
He took a picture of them kissing and posted it. Take that, Viktor.