"Which apartment is yours?" Otabek asked.
"Oh, it's 310. It's on the third... God damn it!" Yuri cursed. His apartment was up three flights of stairs and the building was old and therefore didn't have an elevator. "Nevermind, I'll manage to get upstairs."
Otabek stepped in front of him and crouched down, "I'll give you a lift."
Yuri turned red from embarrassment, "I don't need it!"
"Yuri!" He insisted, "you're injured and I'm pretty sure Lila will tear me limb from limb if your ankle gets worse under my watch."
"But you're carrying your bag too," Yuri pointed out.
"It's just clothes, nothing too heavy. Will you just get on, Yuri?"
Reluctantly, Yuri climbed on his back, wrapping his arms around him as well as his legs. Otabek's hands went to his thighs to hoist him up before grabbing his back and Yuri's crutches. Yuri clung to him as he began walking upstairs.
Otabek was pretty short but still taller than Yuri, but he was surprisingly strong. Up three flights of stairs and he was standing in front of Yuri's door. Yuri stood on one foot as he dug his wallet from his pocket and pulled out his key out of his wallet and unlocked the door.
A blast of warm air hit him and he sighed as he hobbled in, he loved the warmth after spending most of his time in the cold skating rink. As he walked to the kitchen he was stripping off his jackets, his T-shirt, his pants until he was standing at the fridge in a pair of shorts and a tank top.
"Otabek, you want something to drink?" He turned and saw Otabek still standing by the door looking a little confused. "Otabek?"
The Kazakh began to laugh, he dropped his bag by the door and took off his shoes and joined Yuri in the kitchen. Yuri puffed up his cheeks and crossed his arms, "what are you laughin' at?"
He was still smiling, Yuri liked seeing his smile, it was warm and comforting. Otabek leant against the counter, "you left a trail of clothes to the kitchen." Yuri looked back the way he came and saw his Russia jacket on the back of the couch, his black jacket on the floor, then his T-shirt a couple steps further, then his pants at the entrance of the kitchen,
Otabek took the bottle of water Yuri offered him, "why do you wear so much?"
"In case you haven't noticed, I'm skinny and don't retain much body heat. I spend all my time in a freezing room, I'm fucking cold!" Yuri took a drink of his water and yawned. "I'll show you to your room, the bed is a cot but I got a pretty nice mattress for it. I sleep on it when Grandpa visits."
He took Otabek to the other room. It had a floor to ceiling mirror on one wall with a barre in front of it and speakers on the other side of the room. In the closet, there was a folded up cot with a mattress beside it. It was far more comfortable than an air mattress. Otabek took out the bed and set it up against the far wall under the window.
Yuri realised something, "Oh, I forgot to introduce you to my baby. Potya! C'mere, kitty!"
Potya was a fluffy, slightly chubby, grey cat came running into the room, rubbing up against Yuri's uninjured leg. He bent down and picked up the cat, "Potya, say hi to our new roommate!" He held up the cat's paw and gave Otabek a cute wave.
Otabek walked up to them and petted Potya's head, she meowed and butted against his hand happily. Yuri was smiling, "she likes you!"
"I'm glad," Otabek smiled softly, he looked at Yuri's beaming face and moved his hand to pat Yuri's head. "Your hair's gotten longer."
Yuri stared at him, if anyone else had patted him on the head he would've smacked their hand away but he knew Otabek wasn't patronising him or any other mocking intentions. Yuri cleared his throat, "Um, I was thinking about just ordering something for dinner. It's been a long day and you had a long flight so—"
"Sounds good. Now go sit down, you're not supposed to be on your feet."
Yuri nodded, taking his water bottle and cat to the couch with him. He sat down and turned on the television. Otabek came over and sat next to him, "what do you want to order?"
"Hm, pizza!"
Yuri watched a documentary on some quack talking about aliens, mainly to mock it. Otabek was ordering their dinner before getting up to shower. He came back in basketball shorts and a black wifebeater, putting his feet on the coffee table and taking Yuri's feet into his lap.
He inspected Yuri's injured ankle, undoing the compress wrap that had been loosening. "You should ice this while we're eating, okay?" Yuri nodded as Otabek rewrapped his ankle carefully. He kept Yuri's feet on his lap, his hands warming Yuri's skin through the compress.
The doorbell rang half an hour later, Otabek moved Yuri's legs gently and got up to get the pizza, stopping by the kitchen to get more drinks as well as one of the many icepacks in the freezer. As he sat down, he pulled Yuri's back onto his lap and placed the icepack onto his ankle making him cringe.
Yuri took a piece of pizza from the box, before taking a bite he asked, "why didn't you text me when you landed?"
"What?" Otabek looked at him with slightly raised eyebrows, "my phone died."
Yuri nodded and looked away, he wondered if what he had just said sounded childish. "Your family...how do they feel about your transfer to Russia?"
Otabek took a drink of his soda, "excited. Saint Petersburg is a three-day drive but it's much closer than America."
Yuri stared at the untouched crust from his pizza, "Grandpa only drives up here once in a while. It's a nine-hour drive and he has a bad back." The icepack was taken off his ankle and Yuri stood up, glancing back at Otabek, "I'm going to go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow."
He stopped at the hallway and looked back at his new roommate, "Otabek?" He looked at Yuri and Yuri looked at the floor, "I'm glad you're here."
When Yuri was trying to rush to his room, his cheeks burning, he heard Otabek say, "me too."
