I promise, Heir Of Slytherin is the next thing I'll post, but I couldn't help but write this! Based off a prompt on Tumblr. This is written as an Otayuri one-shot, but you could see it as platonic if you want to.
Disclaimer: I own neither Yuri! On Ice, nor the characters, nor the amazing fanart I used for the cover. Meaning, I own nothing.
"Otabek, don't be a baby!" Yuri scolded.
Him and Otabek were standing outside an old abandoned house. Ever since Yuri could remember, the house had been there and his grandpa said it had even been like that when he was a kid. That meant it was old. Very old.
And like with every old and abandoned house, there were stories about it. Yuri remembered other kids telling others about them and daring one another to go inside and explore it. Even though he'd moved away from Moscow and to St Petersburg quite early in his life, those stories stuck to him and he found himself staring at the house every time he visited his grandpa.
However, he had never gone inside. He hadn't really had a reason to do so. He had always been curious, though. He told himself that perhaps one day he would go inside.
And he decided that that day would be when Otabek came to visit him. Between competitions and intense training sessions, the older skater had found time to come to Russia to see him and Yuri couldn't have been happier. They had stayed in St Petersburg for a few days, planning to go to Moscow later on. Those few days had been excruciating, not because of Otabek, but because of that idiot Victor and his boyfriend, who had decided to move in with him. The two of them had been all over Yuri like overprotective parents and he was honestly relieved to finally be away from them.
On the way to the small restaurant her had wanted to take Otabek, they had crossed the house and, of course, the Kazakh had been curious about it as well. So, through dinner, Yuri had shared the stories he'd heard with him.
Supposedly, the house had belonged to a family of four, a father, a mother and their two children, one girl and one boy. The father left town a lot for work, leaving the rest of his family behind for even months at a time before returning. The mother slowly became unstable because of the repeated times she was left without her husband. She missed him and was determined to do anything to keep him to herself.
One night, the husband announced that he would soon be leaving again to go on another business trip. The woman had lost it, screaming at him that if he left, she would kill their children so he wouldn't ever have a reason to come back, if that's what he wanted. The man tried to calm her down and eventually left the house, leaving a friend behind to make sure she didn't do what she'd threatened to do.
However, while the friend was sleeping, the wife told the children that they would help her cook and led them to the kitchen with her. There, she took a knife and stabbed them, first the boy and then the girl. The boy died instantly, but the girl managed to run to the friend's house and wake him right before dying herself to let him know what was happening.
He tried his best to get the mother to relax, but she was too far gone, now almost insane. She tried to kill him too, but he knocked her out in self-defence. He didn't expect the blow to be the cause of a serious injury that caused her death, though.
Plagued by guilt, he buried the mother and her children behind the house and wrote to the father, telling him that they suddenly fell ill and died and to not return.
The spirits of the mother and the mother and children haunt the house to this day, waiting for their father to return. Some say that the closer to the back you get, the more you can hear the children scream as their mother murdered them.
Otabek had said it sounded, foolish, but Yuri insisted that they should check it out. Eventually, though, the younger boy had managed to convince him, and that's how they found themselves standing outside the abandoned house in the middle of the night, equipped with flashlights.
The problem was, they had been standing outside it for a good ten minutes because Otabek was scared.
"I just don't like the idea of dead people, Yura," he said, "I saw my grandma die and it wasn't a pretty picture."
"For God's sake, Beka, it's just crap kids say!" Yuri exclaimed, "It's not real, just a story."
"Then why are we here?" Otabek insisted.
"So we can post a picture of us outside and say that we're about to go into a haunted house and then boast about it later to scare the shit out of Victor," the blond said.
His friend still seemed nervous and unsure about going in, so Yuri decided that there was only one thing he could do to convince him. He sighed. "Here," he said, "If you get scared, you can just hold my hand."
"Are you sure?" the other boy asked him, letting his insecurity show.
"Yeah, you can even break it if it's absolutely necessary," Yuri said. He didn't like sounding like Victor and Katsudon, but he couldn't think of anything better.
"Alright," Otabek finally agreed, "Let's go."
They turned their flashlights on and walked in through the hole in the wall that they found. Being figure skaters, they had very slim figures, so they easily fit.
Inside, the house looked like out of a horror movie. There was old dusty furniture, some broken, some still in its place, some just thrown down. The room they'd gone into must have been the dining room, because there was a big table with chairs around it, as well as what must have been a cupboard if it hadn't fallen to the floor as if it had fainted. On the wall was an ancient picture frame, but whatever had been in it was gone, torn and in no way recognisable.
The two boys walked around, shining their flashlights across the room, but staying close to each other. "Wow," Yuri commented, "It's just as creepy as I'd imagined." He wasn't going to say that he was getting a little nervous himself.
The next room was the kitchen. There weren't bloodstains everywhere, as they'd imagined there to be, it just looked like an ordinary kitchen. The floorboards creaked as they stepped on them, and Yuri had to keep himself from jumping. As if on cue, his flashlight flashed and turned off.
"Shit!" he exclaimed and Otabek was immediately by his side.
"What's wrong?" he asked him.
"The batteries must have run out," he replied, "I'd forgotten how long it's been since I've used these. They've probably been dying for years. Is yours still working?"
"Yes," Otabek answered, "Let's just stick with this one and not wander off too far away so we can find each other."
Yuri nodded and they moved on.
The next room had an old couch with springs sticking out of it and the material it had been made out of seemed like it had been mauled by an angry beast. On the floor and in pieces was a small wooden table. Some broken lamps decorated the walls as well as more old picture frames. There was even a staircase, leading to the top floor. The two skaters decided that they shouldn't risk going up, in case they collapsed. Their coaches would kill them themselves if they broke any bones.
"Should we go close to the back?" Otabek asked and Yuri nodded. His heart was beating a little faster with every room and he decided to stay close to Otabek, just in case the older one got too frightened and needed his support. But, to be honest, he was handling things pretty well so far.
He pulled the black jacket he was wearing closer to himself. Otabek had told him he was foolish for wearing only that when it was snowing outside, and maybe he had been right, because Yuri was feeling a little chilled now. He dragged his sneakers across the floor as they neared the back of the house, knuckles almost white with the force with which he was holding his jacket.
Otabek's flashlight was shining the path in front of them and they could hear the floor creaking with every step they took. Yuri was all but pressed to the older boy's side.
Suddenly, they heard a crash.
Yuri leaped into the air and clutched Otabek's hand as if his life depended on it. He was shaking as he said, "It's okay. It's normal to be scared."
"But I'm not scared," Otabek replied.
Yuri could hear more than see his smirk.
"Yeah, me neither," he said, letting go of the other's hand and trying to sound brave, "I was just worried about how you were doing. You know, show some sympathy... What was that, though?"
"Wanna go see?" Otabek asked and there was a slight tone of amusement in his voice.
"Sure," Yuri said, trying to sound confident, even though he'd just given himself away.
They walked towards the source of the sound. Yuri did his best to stay as far away and yet as close to Otabek as he could. The crash had actually come from the back of the house, where they'd been heading in the first place. They couldn't tell exactly from where, but they guessed it must have been caused from the small table or whatever it had been that had fallen down and was now in pieces.
"I wonder what knocked it over," Otabek thought.
Yuri swallowed. "I don't know," he said, "There's a bunch of things out here at night."
"Including ghosts, as you've been telling me," his friend supplied.
"Oh, come on, Otabek," Yuri said, feeling uneasy once again, "You know it's just stories, right? I mean… It… It's just… A story. Just a story."
"Maybe," Otabek agreed, "But you never know."
Yuri knew that he was playing tricks with him, but at that moment, he was instantly filled with dread. He didn't say anything, feeling like his voice would betray him if he did.
And then, as they were standing still, shining the one flashlight they had around the room, the floorboards creaked again.
This time, Yuri did scream and he did latch onto Otabek's shoulder. "Beka, get it away!" he yelled in fright.
But Otabek was too busy laughing. Yuri looked up from his shoulder, confused, only to discover what it was that had frightened him so much and had made Otabek laugh like that.
On the floor in front of them, sat a small tabby kitten.
"I can't believe Yuri Plisetsky, the king of all felines would be so terrified of a single kitten," Otabek said as he laughed harder than Yuri had ever heard him.
"It's not funny, Otabek!" said boy snapped as he kicked his companion's butt with his signature kick. He kept on laughing, though. The kitten stared at them with big green eyes.
Overcome by his love for cats, Yuri crouched down in front of it. The little cat made a move to run away, but didn't after looking at him for a little longer. Yuri stretched his hand out to pet its head and behind the ears.
"Hey, little devil," he said, "Was it you that scared the shit out of me?"
"That's not the best way to talk to a kitten," Otabek commented and Yuri fought the urge to say something insulting.
The kitten purred and rubbed its small body against Yuri's hands, causing the blond skater to smile. He continued stroking the little cat and slowly sat down and lifted it so it could sit in his lap as he did so. It meowed and snuggled close to him. He heard a click that came from a phone's camera. He turned around and saw Otabek, phone in hand.
"Soft Yuri Plisetsky isn't one you see every day," the older skater commented as he turned the device off and put it in his pocket.
Yuri was about to threaten to kill him if he posted it, but the kitten's purrs intensified and he couldn't help but look down at it with eyes full of adoration.
"Beka, can we keep it?" he asked, looking up at Otabek with hopeful eyes.
"Don't you already have a cat, Yura?" Otabek asked in reply.
"Yes," Yuri said, "But this could be our cat. I mean, look at it. It's so cute and small! We can't just leave it here."
"Right, the ghosts will come after it," Otabek said cheekily.
"I mean it," Yuri insisted, "My grandfather won't mind. All the neighbourhood's cats already come to our place anyway so that we can feed them. One more won't kill him. And you can help raise it. Please!"
Otabek was about to say that they couldn't just take in every stray cat they came across because Yuri liked them, but he little animal looked up at him from Yuri's lap and he couldn't help but agree with him, the poor thing was too small to be left alone.
"Its mother might be looking for it," he said instead.
"They hide them if they leave and they're too young," Yuri said, "She must have died to abandon it."
That statement made Otabek's heart clench. He couldn't help but fall in love with the small fluffball. He sighed, knowing that he would probably regret his decision when he was back in Kazakhstan and all Yuri sent him would be pictures and videos of this cat.
"Okay, Yura," he said, "We can keep it."
Yuri squealed in delight and got up, startling the kitten. He stroked it to calm it down and then gave it to Otabek, who hadn't realised he'd been holding his arms open, asking if he could hold it too. The animal melted into his touch and he thought that maybe he wouldn't regret this after all.
He gave the cat back to Yuri in order to hold onto his flashlight, which he'd left on the floor. "Now let's get out of here," he said, "We don't need any angry spirits eating us alive now that we've got another cat to look after."
Yuri snorted in response and they slowly made their way out of the old wreckage. As they walked through the snowed streets and back to Yuri's place, the kitten fell asleep in his arms.
"So, what are we going to call the 'little devil'?" Otabek asked, referring to how Yuri had called it when he'd seen it.
"You mean, him," the blond said.
"How do you know it's a he?" Otabek asked him.
"It's not hard to tell," Yuri replied, what he was implying causing Otabek to laugh again.
"Okay, I get it," he said, "Have you thought of a name?"
Yuri nodded. "Lucifer."
So, that's it. I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know if you want to! Okay, thanks for reading my story! See you later, guys. BYEEEEEEEEEE!