Chapter Text
no1 - Motion
yuri’s skating isn’t tight—otabek has heard him describe it as such before, but the word has never quite fit; he watches yuri’s jumps, his step sequence, trying to determine the nature of the power he knows sits just under the surface.
maybe that’s it: that it’s barely-contained, seemingly always on the verge of bursting free, only brought to bear out of ability and sheer, indomitable will.
no2 - Cool
it happens a few days after the final: otabek sends him a blurry, terribly positioned selfie, and with that yuri finally understands that otabek’s cool guy exterior extends no further.
(yuri still saves the picture, though.)
no3 - Young
he is thirteen, and he sees a boy so small, like a sprite, a wisp of pale blond—and yet, for years, that boy takes up more space in his mind than anything else.
no4 - Last
“i’ve never come in last in anything in my life,” yuri says dryly.
otabek eyes him for a moment; that’s all the warning yuri gets before he breaks into a sprint, heading in the direction of the hotel and leaving yuri spluttering in his wake.
no5 - Wrong
“you could have told me that you didn’t know how to do a braid,” yuri says, trying not to smile too broadly at the mirror even as he takes in the misshapen state of his hair.
no6 - Gentle
“be careful with the accelerator, it doesn’t need—yuri, please slow down—”
no7 - One
yuri is kicking himself for having forgotten his jacket, but then otabek is draping his jacket on yuri’s shoulders—it smells like him, christ—and he can’t bring himself to be too upset anymore.
no8 - Thousand
otabek wins him a tiger plush that’s nearly as big as he is, and of the many (and there are many) he already owns he knows he won’t be forgetting the story of this one anytime soon.
no9 - King
“did you see jj’s fall the other day?” yuri asks.
“who?”
otabek’s confusion only mounts when yuri can’t find breath to speak due to laughing so hard.
no10 - Learn
“your hips aren’t open enough,” otabek says, the words rolling down yuri’s neck and landing somewhere around the spot where otabek grips his waist.
no11 - Blur
yuri looks away from otabek to glance at his phone; he frowns to find it’s later than he expected, time having slipped away without his realizing.
no12 - Wait
yuri’s never really had to deal with waiting to see someone; for otabek, three years makes him almost an expert.
no13 - Change
“i’ve been thinking about cutting my hair—“
“no.”
yuri goes still, not having expected otabek to respond so quickly—or at all.
when he turns to look at otabek, he finds his surprise mirrored on otabek’s face, and he can’t help but smile at the pink tinging otabek’s cheeks.
no14 - Command
“hold still,” yuri mutters, and before otabek fully realizes what’s happening yuri’s freezing hands are in his pockets, linking their fingers together.
no15 - Hold
“how did you get that picture, chulanont—“
“oh, it was pretty simple, otabek’s hands are practically tied to yours as it is—“
no16 - Need
as yuri grows older, what was once soft longing becomes something firmer, something not-so-distant and nigh-impossible to ignore, but still otabek keeps it to himself.
no17 - Vision
he meets yuri’s eyes during his free skate, and he doesn’t quite remember seeing anything quite so clearly in the middle of a program.
no18 - Attention
“you’re like a cat,” otabek mutters as yuri nudges his head under otabek’s chin, and yuri’s affronted sound only confirms this.
no19 - Soul
yuri’s frenetic energy sliding against otabek’s steady longing feels like rough edges being worn smooth, like gaps being filled, yielding something firm and whole.
no20 - Picture
it helps, he’s learned, to envision otabek standing at the edge of the rink.
no21 - Fool
“has he kissed you yet?”
“victor, i swear you are the most embarassing person i have ever had the misfortune to meet please stop—“
no22 - Mad
otabek blinks, taking in yuri’s wide eyes and reddening face and feeling uncertainty rise in his throat; he lowers the hand holding the bouquet and asks, “are you upset?”
no23 - Child
“he’s known you that long?” victor asks, and yuri nods, even though he himself still struggles to wrap his mind around that knowledge.
no24 - Now
“you waited three years?” yuri asks, almost more of an exhale than a question.
“i’m realizing now it’s been much longer than that,” otabek says into the scant space between them, and yuri feels like he inhales the words instead of the air.
no25 - Shadow
at first, he didn’t recognize otabek’s respect, having spent so much time in the shadow of someone else—the clause tacked onto the end of the sentence about russia’s greats.