Work Text:
I.
Otabek is all of two hours into his first visit to Moscow when he commits an unforgivable betrayal. Yuri has shown him the room and gone off to make a snack for them both, and when he returns, it’s to find his long-haired cat, Sasha, curled up and purring on Otabek’s lap.
“What the fuck,” he blurts out.
Otabek looks up at him, still stroking Sasha’s fur soothingly. “I sat down for a second and she jumped up,” he says, as though this is perfectly normal.
“What. The fuck,” Yuri repeats, blinking.
Otabek’s brow creases almost imperceptibly. “Is it a problem?”
“She’s been ignoring me for days,” Yuri replies dumbly, watching as Sasha tires of her current position and decides to claw her way up Otabek’s front until she’s resting her head on his chest, staring at him.
Otabek grins, scratching behind her ears, and does not complain about the fact that her claws are almost definitely puncturing holes in his chest. “Why? What did you do to her?”
“Rude,” Yuri huffs. “I didn’t do anything, she’s being a brat because I’ve been gone so much lately.” There’s more than a tinge of guilt there, but Otabek doesn’t acknowledge it.
“She’s beautiful,” he replies instead, almost croons. Sasha nibbles his fingers affectionately.
Yuri will realize later (much, much later) that this is the moment he begins to fall in love with Otabek Altin.
II.
Yuri wakes up to three text messages from Otabek, and is immediately on edge. ‘Good morning’ texts are common–the three hour time difference usually means that by the time Yuri is out of bed, Otabek has been up and practicing for a while already. But he’s double-texted Yuri maybe twice in the course of their three-year friendship, so Yuri is more than a little apprehensive as he opens them to see what the hell is going on.
Don’t hate me, the first one says. The second and third are both images, the first of which is so blurry that there’s pretty much no point to even looking at it. The second, though, resolves itself into–
otabek what the fuck
It’s a dog.
i can see its a fucking dog
when did u get a dog???
I rescued it yesterday. It was going to get put down.
Yuri’s heart stutters a little, which is weird. He rubs at his chest, frowning. Maybe he’s dehydrated or something. how the hell r u going to take care of a dog when ur never home?
One of my sisters will take care of it when I’m not around.
A moment later: Do you want to come meet him?
If Otabek thinks Yuri won’t have noticed the change in pronoun, he is sadly mistaken. Yuri’s heart does another thing, so Yuri takes a few deep breaths to try and steady it. im not a dog person, Yuri types, and erases. Types again. Erases again. Otabek’s plans to visit for his birthday had fallen through because of family issues, and they haven’t seen each other in months. Long-distance friendship has turned out to be easier than he’d originally expected, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t nice when he actually gets to see him for real.
fine. but next time ur coming to visit me and sashenka. she misses u. He snaps a picture to prove it: Sasha, curled up on top of the sheets next to him, head tilted and eyes bright. He kisses the top of her head and tells her she’s the most photogenic cat in the world. She bats at the ends of his too-long hair, in response.
Otabek sends him a thumbs up and a smiling cat face emoji. Yuri does not smile fondly at his phone like an idiot.
III.
Yuri does not love Otabek’s dog. It might be a little cute, the way he pads quietly over and presses his cool nose against Yuri’s fingers, then decides that he likes him enough to bump his head into Yuri’s palm gently, in a shy request for a head scratches. (Yuri obliges, because his weakness for all things Otabek apparently extends to his pets as well.)
Also, it is maybe a little adorable watching the little mutt sprinting through the grass at the park, trying to catch the sticks Otabek (and sometimes Yuri) throws for him before they hit the ground.
And okay, maybe, just maybe Yuri’s heart melts a little the first time this ridiculous dog pads over to him from Otabek’s lap, walks tentatively across the couch (because Otabek is a huge liar who’d kept saying he wouldn’t let any pets on the furniture) and sits next to Yuri. He might even reach out to pet him; but he definitely doesn’t let out a high pitched squeak when the dog flops down and settles his head right on Yuri’s lap. Nope. Absolutely not.
(Okay, fine, he loves the fucking dog.)