Chapter 10. On love: Maestro
A pile of cute little pancakes with apples and cinnamon, a tiramisu with starfruit, a piece of decadent looking rum-chocolate cake, Kazakh style milk pudding with nuts and – of course – Otabek's thick pancake with caramel walnuts.
"This is heaven", Yuri muttered. His eyes were shining as he admired the various sweets. "I don't know where to start."
Otabek picked up the small fork and separated a piece of the pancake from the rest, pricking it with the fork. "Start with the tiramisu so you know if it really goes well with the wine."
The pancake was delicious and he chewed the crispy nuts and fluffy dough watching Yuri following the suggestion after taking the inevitable photo for instagram. The blonde's face lit up when he sucked the creamy treat from the spoon and he reached out for the wine glass. The way he very carefully tried the beverage made it obvious that he had never drunken wine in his life before. He seemed to like it though, as after the first tiny sip he dared to take some more. "That's really good", he said and focused on the sweets again. "Yakov would never let me have all that. Especially not the wine", he explained in between two bites. "He says that it destroys the brain and the organs. But I know it's not true, because Victor is still alive and he was never sober when we were at Katsuki's place." He chuckled and took another sip. "I guess it all depends on the amount, right?" When Otabek nodded he seemed content. "And it's not like I'm getting all wasted. I'm used to worse stuff."
Otabek tilted his head. "You are?"
Licking his lips Yuri shrugged. "Yeah, sure, I'm not a virgin." He stuffed tiramisu into his mouth and blushed and Otabek didn't believe a word he said.
It turned out that not only the tiramisu went well with red wine but the chocolate cake as well and after Yuri had finished off the cake and the second glass of wine he ordered a third one although he decided to leave the rest of the desserts for tomorrow.
"Do you mind if I take a photo of you?", he asked hesitantly, blushing, then explained: "You really look good with make-up and that light here. I mean you always look good, but… I mean..." He fell silent, his hands clenching around his phone.
"Feel free", Otabek answered, delighted when he noticed how Yuri seemed to regain his self-consciousness, opening the camera app on his phone.
"Just stay exactly how you are", he said and Otabek tried not to move. He really didn't understand why Yuri wanted to have that photo, but he would do the Russian fairy the favor.
Yuri took three or four photos with slightly different angles, then locked the screen and put the device back in the pocket of his zip-hoodie again.
"What are you drinking?", he asked and leaned across the table with pink cheeks to examine Otabek's glass.
"It's Whiskey", he answered. "I drink vodka usually, but pancake and vodka isn't a good combination."
Yuri laughed. "We're all Soviet, everything goes with vodka." He gestured towards the glass on Otabek's side of the table. "Can I try a little?"
"Sure." The Kazakh pushed the glass over to Yuri who rose it excitedly. At the very moment the liquid came in contact with his tongue he made a face that made Otabek laugh out loud. He put the glass down and hurried to push it back towards him. "Why?", he blurted out, his face still in disgust. "That's fucking awful! Why the hell do you drink something like that?"
"I like it", Otabek said with a shrug, still grinning. "I knew you wouldn't like it. You better stick with your wine."
"That's exactly what I'll do." With those words Yuri took another gulp of the dark red liquid that seemed to make the taste of the whiskey go away. "I wanna sit beside you, that whole driving backwards bullshit gives me nausea."
He got up and sat down on the bench next to Otabek without even waiting for the black-haired's approval. He stared out of the window and didn't have any problem with being very close to him, but then again he had never been avoiding closeness to begin with. Now that Otabek thought about it he noticed that Yuri always seemed to try staying close by his side. He was very touchy-feely and how he snuggled up against Otabek every night before he fell asleep was really cute. And for some reason Otabek, who had considered himself a loner who didn't like people at all, had no problem with that. He didn't know why Yuri was like that, especially towards him who'd most likely never react because of general grumpiness, but he for sure wouldn't complain. He didn't have hopes that Yuri felt about him the way he felt about Yuri at all, so he didn't show how much he longed for the blonde, and he certainly would not ever approach Yuri, but he'd never push him away either, although his self control had a hard time keeping his heartbeat and breathing and blushes under control sometimes. Maybe one day he'd tell Yuri how hard he had a crush on him but now was not the time. He wouldn't make Yuri's life even more complicated than it already was by making him deal with an infatuated, socially awkward fellow skater on top of everything.
"You've any plans for tomorrow?", Yuri asked and looked at him while running his fingers through his hair, messing them up in a very beautiful way.
"Nothing in particular, do you?"
Yuri smiled. He seemed to be a little tipsy by now. "I've been thinking 'bout that for a while now", he began and blushed. "I really wanna know how to make piroshki. like, how grampa used to make them, y'know, because after grampa died I thought that I'd never eat some again in my life but then I found this." He pulled his wallet out of the pocket and opened it to pull out an old piece of paper. He unfolded it carefully, like it was very precious. "It's his recipe. I saved it when they… When they came to clean the house." He swallowed. "My mother had no interest in any of his stuff, but I kept some things. I'm so happy I found this. He prolly didn't use it anymore, cause he knew it by heart for sure, but it looks like he used it a lot before, doesn't it?"
He was right, the paper was tattered and stained and the ink faded.
Otabek nodded. Yuri hadn't talked about his grandfather a lot before and Otabek was glad he now did. He didn't know anything about Nikolai Plisetsky, but he had for sure been a kind person. Otabek wished he had been given the opportunity to get to know him. He had been the man who had raised the wonderful young man who sat so close to him right now after all.
"It's not even his handwriting", Yuri murmured with a weak, affectionate smile, looking down on the paper. "I guess my grandmother wrote it a long time ago and he kept it after she died. I can't ask my mother 'bout it though. Whenever I asked her about dad's side of the family she'd avoid it and say don't know. As if I'd believe that." His laugh sounded bitter.
"I'm pretty sure that's a woman's handwriting", Otabek said and it made Yuri look up to him again with a smile.
"Yeah, right? Thought so as well! Wanna try it out tomorrow?"
Smiling, Otabek nodded. "Let me see if we need to go shopping first, I don't know if I have all the ingredients at home." He bent over the old paper that Yuri had laid down on the table. Reaching out for his wine glass Yuri placed the right hand on Otabek's knee to keep his balance.
"Otabek", he said after leaning back again and sipping on his wine, "can I ask you something and you promise you'll be honest with me?"
Otabek looked at him. Their faces were so damn close again! And why was Yuri's hand still on his knee? "Yes, sure."
"Do I bother you?"
Otabek was surprised about the question. Why would Yuri ask that?
"Tell the truth. Even if I bug you. I can handle that. I just want… I just don't wanna get in your way."
Otabek sat back and took Yuri's hand in his out of reflex or maybe because he thought that it was the right thing to do now. "You don't", he said very firmly. "What gave you the idea?"
The look in the tourmaline eyes became soft, when Yuri looked down on their hands. He moved his around and entwined their fingers. "You're fine by yourself. You live by yourself and you like it that way. You study and you skate and here I come and disturb your daily life and all and I haven't even asked you if it's okay for you. I didn't even think about if I was a nuisance when I came here. The only thing I could think about was that I wanted to be with you, no one else, only with you, because I… I..." He fell silent, his hair hiding his face like a blonde curtain and Otabek heard his breath going like he was about to cry.
"It's okay", he said in a hushed voice. "I said that it's fine if you stay with me as long as you want to, didn't I? Look at me Yuri." The blonde did, eyes shimmering with tears and Otabek continued: "I like you being with me. I'm so glad you made that decision and came to my place. I really like you and I want to help you and I want to protect you and the only way I can do that is when you are here with me, right? Am I right?"
Yuri nodded, the half empty wine glass in his left hand long forgotten.
"I don't care if my life changes because of that. It actually hasn't changed that much either. And even if it did, I'd be glad if it changed because of you. You are my friend Yuratchka, more than that even. You are my best friend and I'd never ever consider you a nuisance or bothersome." He reached into the pocket and pulled the box out. "This is not like I imagined that to be, but screw it, and screw outshining Katsuki, I need to do that now." He opened the box and took the ring and he slid it onto Yuri's finger, his heart beating hard. "I want you to stay with me. As long as you want to. Will you do that?"
Yuri nodded and finally put the wine glass down to wipe his eyes with the back of his hand, then looking down on the ring again.
"And tomorrow we will make some delicious piroshki, okay?"
Yuri nodded again and then he smiled brightly. "You know", he sniveled, "sometimes I wish I was a girl, so you could be my boyfriend. You're so super thoughtful and smooth and when you are so serious with that super pretty face of yours and all that, I'd totally hit on you so hard." He giggled and rose his hand to his face to examine the ring close up. "And then I'd have insisted that you slide that ring on my left hand."
Otabek's insides scorched.
"So, first thing after breakfast tomorrow is shopping and then the maestros get to work!", Yuri concluded oblivious of the chaos inside the heavy beating Kazakh heart and he emptied his wine.
"Chefs", he sighed. "For cooks it's Chef, not Maestro."
"Yes, Chef!", Yuri said and saluted. "Can I have one more wine?"
"Order me a double gin tonic", he replied and rubbed his temples. Those were the things that would take him to an early grave.
t.b.c.
BGM: Debussy
I imagine Yuri yelling "More wine!" like in a middle age movie. He's super cute when he's tipsy.
Remember that alcohol doesn't solve any problems, so be careful.
Rated M for: partial and complete nudity, strong language, underage drinking and Yuri's sorrowful family situation. Two more to come ^-^