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(I'm melting, I'm melting) In your eyes I lost my place, could stay a while. And I'm melting in your eyes like my first time that I caught fire. Just stay with me, lay with me now.
Yuri had had these… faint black lines on the left side of his chest for forever. He remembered asking his grandpa if he knew if they were some sort of birth mark, but his grandfather only ever told him that he would understand in due time.
And he did, when they finally covered soulmarks at school when he was around thirteen, which was the usual age at which people started getting them. They could apparently be anything that the other person loved about you, appearance or personality wise. It varied even between soulmates themselves, one getting a word and the other getting like a hand drawn neatly in black somewhere on their bodies.
Needless to say he was shocked to find out that these lines were the beginning of his soulmark. How long had he had them? How come he couldn’t remember when he got them?
He felt weird now that he knew what they actually were. He used to scrub them with a towel as he dried himself off after a shower with the littlest bit of care. Now, he barely touched them, afraid that they may fade. He had heard of that, too. There were records, however scarce, of people losing whatever shapeless mark they had on their bodies because they had met their soulmate but hadn’t interacted with them long enough to allow the mark to develop.
Who had he met as a kid and made such a significant impact on this person to bind them together for life? And where was this person now?
He spent hours sometimes trying to reminisce, trying to remember a face that might have stood out as he grew up, but no one ever came to mind.
So, he usually just shrugged and decided to go on with his life. Desperation would get him nowhere. If he was destined to be with this person, they would meet again. That was how it worked, right?
It didn’t help that most of the people he knew had their marks almost fully developed and knew exactly who their soulmate was. It was nerve-racking to have those lines there, unchanging, for such a long time. When he turned fifteen, he had practically given up hope, and by now had spent years focusing solely on his skating.
Which led him to that chance meeting with Otabek in Barcelona. When he had called him an asshole in front of JJ and his fiancée in the hotel’s lobby, Otabek had looked him straight in the eye, making Yuri feel an unfamiliar sting sensation on his chest.
However, it was Otabek’s comment about his eyes –which apparently resembled those of a soldier– later that day which made the skin on his chest burn a little too much. The only thing keeping him from bending over in pain was Otabek’s soothing voice as he continued telling him about that summer camp five years before…
And wow, why couldn’t he remember meeting this guy? Otabek’s voice wouldn’t have been the same back then, but surely he would have remembered him…?
That was when he realised Otabek had turned and asked him a question. Yuri had been too distracted to hear what the question was but knew that when someone offered you their hand, you should probably shake it. That was the polite thing to do, right?
And so, he did and accepted becoming Otabek’s friend apparently. The sting got more and more persistent as their hands touched, the day slowly turning into night in the background. The pain subsided slightly as they chatted peacefully at a café before the old mad and Katsudon interrupted them. Were those two blind?! Couldn’t they see that they were interrupting a private conversation? Not to mention the fact that they invited the entire competition to join them!
By the time JJ and his fiancée appeared, and everyone vacated the table after paying for the food, he had forgotten all about the pain in his chest. Until he got on the back of Otabek’s motorcycle and they went back to the hotel. He ignored it for the time being, though, relishing on the feeling of his new friend’s leather jacket against his face and then on Otabek’s sweet voice wishing him a good night before heading to his own room on the next floor.
Yuri fell asleep with a smile on his face for the first time in a very long time.
The Russian skater had grown so accustomed to seeing those same lines every day that he didn’t pay any attention to his skin as he changed into his training clothes the next morning, still tired from the previous day’s unexpected adventures. Nor did he pay attention when he showered, dried off and changed into his outfits for the GPF the following days.
What he did notice was Otabek’s left hand, which was resting on the edge of the rink, flinching when he yelled “Davai!” from the stands before his friend’s SP, and how he unconsciously touched the inside of his left wrist before the music started.
It happened again when Yuri heard Otabek’s “Davai!” before his own FS. Yuri’s green eyes found his brown ones staring back, and the sting on Otabek’s wrist came back full force. The almost-there throb, which had started while he spoke to Yuri back in Park Güell two days ago, had now become painful.
He had checked it as soon as he got back to his hotel room that night but nothing seemed to be wrong with his wrist. It didn’t hurt when he moved it or when he skated, it just stung, as if there was this needle constantly pricking his skin. His heart skipped a beat as Yuri jumped and almost fell on the ice. The Russian recovered quickly and went over the next step sequence as gracefully as always, but Otabek’s heart could not stop beating erratically.
A needle pricking his skin… like a tattoo. He smiled and clapped, trying to appear calm as his friend collapsed on the ice, overwhelmed by the feelings flooding his body. All the while, Otabek’s insides were in absolute turmoil.
He went to the bathroom after all of the reporters left the rink and locked himself inside one of the stalls. He sat down on the lid of the toilet and took a deep breath. Could it really be that…?
He had been worrying about his lack of a soulmark for so long. He was nineteen and there was nothing on his skin, anywhere. He had checked, multiple times, even using mirrors he had stolen from his mother and sister to check places he wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. He blushed a little at the memory, but who could blame him? He had heard stories about… weirdly placed marks. He had to make sure he hadn’t missed it.
He was about to uncover his left wrist when his phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and saw Yuri’s name flashing on the screen. He answered immediately and cleared his throat before he greeted him.
‘Hey,’ Yuri said. ‘Where are you? I completely lost you after the photographers swamped the edge of the rink.’
‘Hi, I’m heading to the bathroom. Congratulations, by the way, you were incredible… I tried getting near the podium but it was impossible,’ Otabek hoped his voice sounded steady.
‘Thanks. You were amazing, too, though. It should have been you with me and Katsudon up there, not JJ,’ the disdain in his voice made Otabek laugh despite himself, which in turn made Yuri’s heart race inside his chest.
Even through the phone, Otabek’s voice was still soothing and it made Yuri feel warm all over. He wanted nothing more than to hear Otabek laugh again. The Kazakh hissed a little as the sting got worse and he was suddenly reminded of why he had locked himself inside a stall. Yuri heard him and asked him what was wrong.
‘Nothing, don’t worry,’ Otabek tried to reassure him. ‘I just hit my hand against the door handle.’
‘Oh, well, I wanted to ask you if… Hold on,’ Yuri told him as Otabek heard three different voices speaking in rapid Russian.
He needed to practise a little because he was obviously rusty, only being able to get a few muffled words. He heard the words friend, motorcycle, banquet and what he thought were some whispered insults coming from Yuri. He waited patiently, until he heard a door click and silence reigned once more.
‘Sorry, Lilia and Yakov wanted to make sure I go to the banquet tonight. Apparently the gold medallist isn’t allowed to celebrate however he wants,’ Yuri told him, annoyed by his coaches’ attitude towards him. ‘But, if you’re up for it, I was thinking that maybe we could, you know, go for a ride around town afterwards, like we did a few days ago?’
Yuri hesitated towards the end and it ended up sounding like a question. He hit his head with his free hand. Why was he so nervous? This was just Otabek. So what if he was cool and Yuri felt completely unworthy of calling himself Otabek’s friend even though the other boy had clearly stated that he wanted to get to know him?
‘Sure, I’d like that,’ Otabek smiled into the phone and heard what he thought was little sigh of relief.
They hung up soon after, and Otabek finally lifted the sleeve of both his team jacket and costume along with the shirt that covered his left wrist.
There, in impossibly neat writing, were the beginnings of a word. He was getting a word. What would it be? What could he have done that apparently impressed Yuri Plisetsky of all people? Yes, it had to be him. He was sure of it. It had all started when their paths accidentally crossed again. There was no doubt in his mind that it was Yuri.
He smiled again and felt his cheeks warm up. He exited the stall and went directly to his room, ignoring everyone around him as he did so. Once he closed the door behind him, he leaned his back against it. There were so many emotions going through him in that moment that he wanted to laugh out loud!
He had found him, he had found his soulmate and it felt as if his heart were dancing inside his chest.
The banquet went excruciatingly slow for both Yuri and Otabek, but for different reasons: Otabek couldn’t wait to maybe try and talk to Yuri about his soulmark, while Yuri felt trapped because he was seated with JJ, his fiancée, his parents, Lilia and Yakov, and finally, to top it all off, with the old man and Katsudon.
The last two, surprisingly, were the most annoying of them all since they had recently understood that they were, in fact, soulmates… It took about a day while at Hasetsu for Yuri to figure their tattoos out, and these two spent eight months literally dancing around each other. Unbelievable, he thought, as he scanned the room with bored eyes.
He saw Otabek chatting amiably with the other skaters at his table, and Yuri’s heart longed to hear whatever it was that he was saying. He thought he could probably enjoy pretty much anything so long as it was Otabek speaking to him. He noticed, as the silly thought crossed his mind, how Otabek touched the inside of his left wrist… like he had done before skating his SP the day before.
Otabek’s eyes then moved around the room until they inevitably connected with Yuri’s just a few tables over to his right. They looked at each other for a second too long, and the moment was not missed by Viktor, who saw Yuri’s hand touch his chest beneath his suit jacket and traced what could only be his soulmark.
Viktor decided to corner the blond in the bathroom once dinner was over and asked him about it.
‘I see you’ve got your mark, huh?’ Viktor said innocently as he washed his hands and looked at Yuri in the eye through the mirror as the latter froze just outside the bathroom stall.
‘W-what? What are you babbling about old man?’ Yuri snapped, trying to hide his blush with the help of his hair as he moved to the sink and washed his hands.
‘Well, it’s kind of obvious, isn’t it? I saw you and Otabek sharing this look, and then you touched your chest. I’m sure it was unconscious on your part but I just wanted to tell you that I’m happy for you, Yurio,’ Viktor smiled as he dried his hands and talked. He even put a reassuring hand on Yuri’s shoulder before he left him alone in front of the sink.
Obvious?! Viktor was talking to him about soulmarks being obvious?! The nerve of that man, Yuri thought to himself before his eyes drifted towards his chest in the mirror, hidden by his jacket and shirt.
Yuri made a decision, locked the entrance door to the bathroom and then he shakily started unbuttoning his shirt. He swallowed before shrugging off his jacket and putting it on the counter next to the sink. He moved his shirt out of the way and gasped.
The black lines were not just lines anymore. They now formed two sort of ovals which looked suspiciously similar to his eyes. He couldn’t be sure just yet but it seemed like there was a little bit of green in the middle of each. As if on cue, his mind instantly replayed Otabek’s comment from two days ago: You had the unforgettable eyes of a soldier.
His heart was racing as he buttoned his shirt back up, put on his jacket and exited the bathroom.
Viktor was right. It had been Otabek. He had met Otabek at the summer camp when he was ten and the faint outline of his eyes had appeared on his skin right after. It was exhilarating and terrifying all at once. He felt like he couldn’t breathe properly.
He had found him, he had found his soulmate and it felt like his heart wanted to jump out of his chest.
He walked to the main hall once more but he didn’t really want to go in so he sent a message to Yakov letting him know that he was leaving and then another to Otabek to meet him outside where his bike was parked.
Yakov responded saying that he shouldn’t stay out too late and to be careful, since he barely knew this guy and, even if he had lost, he was still competition. Yuri scoffed at the message as he shivered in the cold night. If only Yakov knew that he had nothing to worry about. Otabek would never hurt him, he seemed too kind to do such a thing on purpose.
The trust Yuri had felt when Otabek tossed him a helmet in that alley was enough to make him feel warm all over again. Which is how Otabek found him, shivering slightly but smiling nonetheless.
‘Hey,’ he said, leather jacket and helmet on already, as he handed Yuri his spare one. ‘You’re cold,’ he added as he walked to his bike and rummaged through the compartment under the seat. ‘Here.’
Yuri fumbled with his helmet and grabbed the sweater Otabek was giving him. He quickly got rid of his thin suit jacket and Otabek put it in the compartment before sitting on the bike and kicking it, the sound loud in the quiet night.
Yuri finally put on the sweater and fastened the helmet around his chin and just stared at his friend for a second. If he sat behind him right now, Otabek would hear the concert his heart was putting on. He didn’t want to admit it but, he was kind of scared.
‘Yuri?’ Otabek called him and Yuri snapped out of it, quickly sitting behind his friend but not holding onto him. Otabek sighed and grabbed Yuri’s hands, wrapping the younger man’s arms around his torso. ‘Yuri, if you don’t put your hands around me, you might fall and I really don’t want Yakov to kill me.’
‘Okay,’ was all Yuri managed to say before they took off into the night.
‘Anywhere special you want to go?’ Otabek asked as they stopped at a red light after driving through the winding streets of Barcelona aimlessly for a while.
‘Not really,’ he replied honestly. ‘Just… just wanted to spend more time with you before going back home.’
That made Otabek heart’s skip a beat again.
‘Is that okay with you?’ Yuri asked him before the light turned green again.
‘I actually kind of wanted to talk to you about something,’ Otabek confessed. Yuri only nodded against his friend’s back and tightened his hold around Otabek’s middle.
They rode in silence for another ten minutes and finally parked the bike near a 24-hour café, the very same one they had gone to after becoming friends two days before. They ordered and sat down across each other in one of the many empty booths.
Neither knew if the other had felt any changes on their skin, so they didn’t know how to approach the subject. Otabek took off his leather jacket after they sat down, feeling a little too hot now that they were inside. Then he, having been the one to suggest going to the café, decided to speak first once he realised Yuri wasn’t going to say anything unless Otabek did.
‘Look, Yuri, I-I know we’ve only really known each other for a few days now but… ever since I saved you from your fans the other day, I’ve… the, um, the skin on my left wrist…,’ he trailed off, not knowing how to go on after that.
He had thought about what he would say a million times during the banquet and he still managed to screw it up. He kept his gaze on the steaming cup of coffee on the table. He was nineteen years old, renowned figure skater, and yet he couldn’t tell the boy in front of him that they were bound to spend the rest of their lives together. He covered his face with his hands and his long-sleeved shirt fell down a little, revealing a sliver of black on his wrist.
‘Does that have anything to do with… what you were trying to say?’ Yuri asked, voice uncharacteristically soft.
Otabek lowered his hands and noticed the part of his body Yuri was looking at, eyes unmoving.
‘Yeah, I-I wanted to tell you that I finally started getting my mark a few days ago… while we were at Park Güell,’ he gathered enough courage and looked at the boy in front of him.
The green eyes that had captivated him all those years ago staring at him, mouth slightly open.
‘May I see it?’ Yuri asked, timidly.
Otabek pushed the sleeve up his arm and laid his arm on the table for Yuri to see. Yuri’s fingers felt warm as he traced the outlines of the word there. He smiled, recognising his own handwriting. Otabek would carry that word with him for the rest of his life, which meant that, wherever he went, Yuri would always be with him in some way.
‘May I see… yours?’ Otabek asked him after a few minutes of Yuri’s meticulous studying of his mark.
The younger boy blushed and immediately let go of his wrist, making Otabek feel guilty for asking. He was fifteen. Maybe he hadn’t even got it yet.
‘Not… here,’ Yuri whispered before taking a sip of his cup, and now it was Otabek’s turn to blush as he realised that Yuri had his tattoo in an area that wouldn’t be appropriate to uncover in a public place. ‘Later, when we get back, i-if you still want to see it, of course.’
‘I would, yes,’ Otabek smiled at Yuri, and the younger boy, despite his blush, decided to start telling him about JJ and his stupid comments during dinner.
Soon enough, an hour and a half had passed and it was nearing midnight. They had lost track of time as they exchanged story after story.
‘Shit,’ Yuri exclaimed as he checked his phone. ‘We should probably get back.’
Otabek didn’t utter a word as they got up and walked out of the café towards the bike. The ride back was comfortably silent as neither boy wanted to ruin the mood.
They parked, took Yuri’s suit jacket out of the compartment and he changed quickly out of the sweater. They rode the elevator together, Otabek walking Yuri to his hotel room, and the Russian sent a picture to Yakov letting him know that he was safe inside his room. What he, of course, failed to mention was that he was not alone. But there were certain things that Yakov could live without knowing, at least for now.
Otabek stood awkwardly next to the closed door as Yuri dropped his jacket on the bed.
‘Thank you for lending me the sweater earlier, by the way,’ he uttered, his back to the Kazakh.
‘Don’t mention it,’ Otabek replied, biting his lower lip and not really knowing what else to say.
‘I guess this is it, right?’ he said as he turned around and started unbuttoning his shirt for the second time that night, making Otabek suck in a breath.
Yuri had his mark somewhere on his torso and all of a sudden Otabek felt a little light-headed in the warm room.
‘You… you don’t have to show me your mark if you don’t feel comfortable doing-’
‘I-I want to,’ Yuri interrupted him as he finished with his shirt.
He, then, shrugged it off, and Otabek felt slightly short of breath at the sight. Was he dreaming right now? Was Yuri Plisetsky, one of the most gorgeous people on Earth, really his soulmate?
Yuri stood there, beet red in the face, as Otabek focused on the clear lines above his heart. He smiled softly as he realised they were Yuri’s eyes. The mark wasn’t fully formed, which was understandable since soulmarks took years to develop, and they had just met, or… met again, actually. It didn’t make the situation any less overwhelming, though.
Otabek moved forwards and looked Yuri in the eye, silently asking for permission to touch it. Yuri nodded and Otabek’s fingers traced the soulmark on his chest so delicately and so lovingly that Yuri’s heart started beating even faster than before. And Otabek felt it.
He raised his eyes from the mark and met the beautiful green orbs that had made such a lasting impression on him five years before.
They both moved without realising what they were doing, their lips touching sweetly as Otabek’s palm rested on Yuri’s chest, feeling his irregular heartbeat, sure that his own heart was dancing to the same rhythm.
Yuri broke the kiss first, only to grab Otabek’s left wrist and trace the mark there with his thumb, feeling his pulse, too, in the process. Their eyes connected again and their second kiss was anything but chaste.
Their lips moved in perfect synch and their tongues slowly, timidly, started exploring this newly-found territory. They broke apart for a second to try and get their breathing back to normal before diving in again, both of Yuri’s hands on Otabek’s neck now as the other boy moved his to Yuri’s hips and brought him closer to his body.
Yuri now understood what Viktor and Katsuki were constantly talking about. Kissing your soulmate was intoxicating, like a drug you couldn’t get enough of. Otabek’s hands felt hot against the skin of Yuri’s hipbones, and the way he caressed them with his thumbs made a shiver run down Yuri’s back, making him arch against Otabek.
In the meantime, Otabek could not think anything; the only thing he was aware of in that moment was Yuri’s fingers buried in his hair as his other hand rested against the side of his neck. The feeling of having him so close was overwhelming, and when he felt Yuri arching against him, he realised that he needed to put a stop to this before it got out of hand.
‘Yuri,’ he mumbled against his soulmate’s lips, only to have another kiss as a response. ‘Yuri,’ he tried again, his tone a little more serious, putting some distance between their bodies but keeping his hands on the younger boy still.
‘Yes, Otabek?’ Yuri’s voice was strained and his beautiful green eyes were glazed over. Otabek had to swallow twice before he found his voice again.
‘We, um, we should stop this now before we do something we might regret in the morning,’ he whispered. Did he look as wrecked as he sounded?
‘But-!’ Yuri, suddenly embarrassed by what he was about to say, stopped talking.
‘What is it, Yura?’ Otabek pressed, kissing his forehead, and Yuri actually felt how his knees almost gave out from under him.
‘Kiss me again,’ Yuri said, slightly breathless.
Otabek complied and kissed him more deeply than before, showing him just how much Yuri meant to him. When they separated again, Yuri felt like his heart was going to burst from pure happiness and closed his eyes as Otabek peppered his face with kisses.
‘I should probably leave, it’s late,’ Otabek said before planting another kiss to Yuri’s swollen lips.
‘Yeah, you probably should,’ Yuri agreed, albeit reluctantly.
They moved to the door, and Otabek was about to open it when Yuri stopped him. The blond grabbed Otabek’s left hand, lifted it and kissed his soulmark, now a bit more defined than before. It was such a loving gesture that Otabek felt his heart start fluttering in his chest again. Yuri looked up at him, scared that he might have done the wrong thing because of Otabek’s silent stare.
Instead of talking, Otabek just kissed him on the lips for a brief second before he lowered his head to kiss Yuri’s soulmark, right above his heart. After that, they kissed a final time and said goodbye, promising that they would spend as much time together as they could before they had to get home the next day.
By the time they boarded their respective planes, their marks had developed even more. Now, Yuri could definitely see his green eyes looking back at him whenever he looked at himself in the mirror, and Otabek was able to read the outline of a Russian word on his wrist: голос, or voice in English.
It was all still very new, but they already couldn’t wait to see each other again.