Chapter 3: A Moment's Peace

Otabek stood across from Yuuri in the banquet hall, Victor at his side. They were wearing matching navy suits. Even though Yuri would probably make fun of them when he arrived, Otabek thought it was sweet. Many of the skaters were still arriving and Yuri was nowhere to be seen. Otabek didn't really care much for the other skaters, but he had grown closer to a few from the time they met up with him and Yuri at the restaurant. Despite being in the middle of a conversation, Otabek found he couldn't stop his eyes from checking each time he heard the door open.

He heard Victor coo beside him "Looking for anyone Otabek? I have to say you put on a mighty fine performance earlier today."

"Just waiting for friends to arrive." He said before adding, "Thank you." He assumed Victor was talking about Yuri's exhibition program instead of his own but he didn't really feel like getting into that topic with the older man.

"Victor leave the boy alone." Yuri said, before another skater entered the room, Otabek's eyes quickly confirming he wasn't Yuri. He recognized the man from the dinner they had all had before the competition started. The skater quickly walked over to join them.

"Phichit" he said, smiling.

"Yes, I remember you from the restaurant." Otabek said in response to the other man's statement.

"Likewise" he said before turning to Yuuri and Victor. "I haven't seen you two since the exhibition but that was amazing. So adorable. Too bad it's going to be a long engagement…" Otabek started to tune out the conversation as the doors opened and Yuri walked in.

Yuri always looked good, that was a given, but this time he looked indescribable. A maroon jacket paired with black slacks. A cheetah pocket square sticking out of the coat. Yuri had his hair pulled back into neat braids. He seemed to glow in the semi dim yellow lighting of the room. Otabek couldn't help but smile as he caught Yuri's eyes, the other boy immediately giving him an eye roll. He turned to hide his grin but Otabek was glad they had decided to come. He realized these thoughts were sort of weird for someone to have towards their friend, but he had already admitted to himself that Yuri had passed the boundary from friend to crush at some point, so he allowed them for the time being.

Yuri began to make his way toward the group and Otabek. The chorus of congratulations came as he did so. A few people complimented his exhibition skate, but that topic lay mostly buried. Yuri's eyes lit up at the compliments though. They eventually turned to Otabek.

"So what did you think?" He asked Otabek with a sly grin.

"I hardly think I can be considered an impartial opinion Yuri"

"True" he said, and added after a couple of seconds "What are you doing here with all these old guys come on?" At that, he literally dragged Otabek out of the conversation. Not that he would rather be with them than with Yuri anyway. While being dragged away he heard various protests from Victor and Phichit, Yuuri's only visable reaction was to grin at their retreating figures.

After some milling around and getting trapped in several conversations Yuri stopped abruptly and turned to Otabek. "God there's no place to talk quietly around here."

Otabek chuckled "Well, I assume that would be a little hard since you did win the competition, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah" Yuri said, waving his hand. "They could still give me a moment's peace though. Besides not like they actually care to talk to me."

Otabek was a little saddened by the last part, mostly because it was unfortunately true. Too many people wanted to speak with Yuri just because he had won, just because he had made history. Nobody really cared about Yuri himself.

"How about this?" Otabek asked, looking down into Yuri's eyes. "You can go and talk to the reporters and everyone for an hour and then we can hang out and have fun and do whatever you like."

"Half an hour" Yuri said, eyes narrowing.

"Forty five minutes"

"Deal!" Yuri said. "You know I don't know what Yakov was saying about you being a bad influence. If anything it's the other way around. See you later Beka!"

With that Yuri was gone. Otabek was left standing still in shock. Yakov didn't like him, well after the exhibition skate that was understandable. But that nickname. The nickname Yuri had given him still rang in his head. Beka. He liked it. It fit like the old leather jacket he wore while on his bike. It felt comfortable, and it was only made better by the fact the Yuri had come up with it himself. A small smile twisted the corners of his lips.

Yuri walked away, pleased with himself. He had been looking for the courage to call Otabek the cool nickname that had come to him last night all day and he had finally gotten the chance. He hoped Otabek liked it, he should probably check with the man himself at some point.

He saw a reporter eye him and took a deep breath. He could handle this for forty five minutes, right? Now it may seem like forever but getting to hang out with Otabek would be worth it. Though the hours they'd spend together would probably seem much shorter than this time.

Otabek was walking away from an interview around fifty minutes later when he saw Yuri heading toward him. He was surprised Yuri had been willing to wait longer than the specified time. But then he realized something was off, the sight of the younger boy walking over was slightly unsettling. The answer came when Yuri reached him and started talking, leaning heavily on Otabek's arm. Otabek cut him off.

"Yuri are you drunk?"

"Well you were busy and I was waiting. It's not like I haven't had alcohol before." As Otabek opened his mouth to protest Yuri added, "Don't worry." He put his finger to Otabek's lips. Otabek resisted the memory from earlier that day coming back to him. "I know the drinking age is 16 here but that's stupid, there's a reason we don't have one in Russia."

"Yuri" Otabek said, worried.

"Teaches them to just leave it all out anyway."

"Okay" Otabek said, giving up. The fact that Yuri could drink in Russia at whatever age was still weird to him. The drinking age in Kazakhstan was 21, and though many people would see it as lame he still followed it.

Note: Hey thank you all for reading so far. I have a question and an announcement.

1) I think as far as a schedule goes I'm going to try to post once on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and leave the weekdays for writing.
2) I came up with the idea for a prequel, is that something you guys would be interested in?

Also, :) Beka made its appearance.

New Notes from future me: It has been pointed out to me that I got the drinking ages wrong in the two countries, but for continuity sake I'm going to keep them as they are. (Teaches me to get my info off of Wikipedia without double checking, I know I know better than this. Sorry guys.)