Just as in everything else with their strictly regimented lives, Yuri and Otabek quickly fell into a routine during Yuri's stay in Almaty. Most mornings they would wake up, snuggled close together. Yuri had taken to stealing Otabek's shirts and sweat pants to sleep in, although the last couple of nights he had forgone the pants and just slept in whatever shirt he had stolen out of Otabek's dresser. The Kazakh normally teased him about it, but he had to admit that seeing Yuri in his clothes was probably one of the sexier things he had ever experienced.

The teasing would normally lead to them making out for a few minutes, ending only either when Otabek would push Yuri away and mumble an excuse before running into the bathroom to take a (presumably cold) shower, or Yuri would scrunch his nose and start complaining about Otabek's morning breath. The two of them had become so domestic that it was nauseating, and Yuri couldn't help but inwardly laugh at the irony of them becoming a married couple practically overnight, and before they had even had sex.

On this particular morning, five days after arriving in Almaty, Yuri was in a good mood and so had decided to start making breakfast while Otabek was still in the shower. It was probably becoming one of his favorite things to hear the small intake of breath come from the doorway when Otabek walked into the kitchen to find Yuri in nothing more than one of his stolen t-shirts. Although Otabek's shirts were rather large on him, they didn't hide the endless length that was Yuri's legs. The blonde had taken to wearing a compression sock of sorts over the injured knee, claiming it was to keep the swelling down, but also because he was secretly self-conscious of the angry, red scars that had resulted from the incisions. Yuri hadn't admitted this out loud, but Otabek damn well knew. Yuri's legs had always been the one part of his body that he was confident about, probably because he recognized their beauty and strength that came from years of training on the ice and in ballet. Of course, Otabek couldn't care less about the scars, especially if they meant Yuri was healing and would return to the ice sooner rather than later, but he decided to allow him this small piece of vanity.

Without realizing what was doing, Otabek came up behind Yuri to wrap his arms around his middle, burying his face in the blonde hair draped over Yuri's shoulder. Yuri laughed and warned him that the eggs would burn, but Otabek mumbled a soft "Don't care," while his lips ghosted the nape of Yuri's neck.

"Beka, let go or you won't have time to eat before you have to leave for practice," Yuri scolded, but laughed when Otabek whined like a small child.

Eventually, Yuri was able to extract himself from Otabek and make the man eat some food. While Otabek was getting ready to leave for his morning off-ice training, Yuri had been diligently going to physical therapy almost every morning. It was slow going and painful, but he was determined to get it done and get back to skating as soon as he was physically able to.

Their afternoons consisted of Otabek's on ice training, and Yuri almost always tagged along for that. Much to the chagrin of Otabek's coach, Dalen, it was commonplace for Yuri to step in and start snapping at Otabek about where his form was sloppy and how he could improve the choreography. Dalen may or may not have had to intervene a few times and tell Yuri to butt the fuck out, and that more often than not led to a verbal altercation between the two until Otabek had yell at them both to shut up and grow the fuck up. Yuri would pout, make one more snide comment, then resign himself to sitting on the bench for the rest of practice until Dalen released Otabek from training so they could leave and have the rest of the day to spend together.

And maybe the rest of their day together typically involved a heated make out session in the locker room so that once it was time to leave, they were both flushed hot with arousal and whining into each other's mouths. Thankfully they were able to agree that their first time should not be in a locker room, and so were only just barely able to stop themselves from tearing each other's clothes off right then and there.

Otabek's DJ gigs had also continued to pick up recently, and Yuri had found that he was more than happy to tag along to every single one of those—especially if Kamila, Alina, Roman, and Alexei were going to be there. It was odd to Yuri how easily he fit in with their small group…he was clearly shit at making friends, and even with Mila it had taken him years before he was able to audibly admit that he maybe didn't hate her quite as much as he pretended to.

On a Thursday night almost two weeks after getting to Almaty, Yuri was once again drinking with the group while Otabek was up in the DJ booth. He'd shown up in another pair of black skinny jeans and a cropped metallic silver tank top that laced up in the front. He hadn't missed the way Otabek's eyes lit up and followed him every time he looked up from his equipment, and Yuri was sure to do something to put on a small show every time Otabek looked at him. This was anything from dipping his finger in his drink and shamelessly sucking the liquid off, to going out onto the dancefloor and showing off his undeniable skills as a dancer, on or off the ice. Usually Otabek would keep that stoic look and go back to his set, but Yuri knew him well enough to see the flustered blush creeping up his neck. He was confident that it was only a matter of time before he drove Otabek over the edge.

He was a few vodka tonics in when Alina sauntered her way up to him, an evil glint in her eyes. Yuri had gotten to know her well enough over the last couple of weeks to suddenly be very wary of whatever it was she had planned. She leaned forward and whispered in his ear, and Yuri couldn't help the smile that cracked across his face at the suggestion.

"Alina," he laughed, "You are pure evil and I love it."

With that, she dragged him out into the center of the dancefloor, right where they knew Otabek would see them. The beat had picked up to something quick, and the music was blaring over the speakers. It was hot as hell in the club with all of the bodies, and Yuri could already feel the sweat dripping down his back in what he was sure had to be totally disgusting and not sexy at all. Before he could comment on this though, Alina had spun him around and started grinding against him in time with the music.

"Quit thinking so hard, Yuri. We'll put on a show for Otabek and he'll go nuts, then take you home and have his way with you." Alina hissed while flipping her hair over her shoulder. It was amazing how she could be both demanding and flirtatious all at once.

"Fine," Yuri sighed, "Let's do this."

It was barely a minute before Yuri felt eyes boring into him. While he and Alina continued to dance together, hips gyrating and Yuri purposely leaning into her personal space, he made sure to make eye contact with Otabek through a curtain of loose hair. Alina, being the evil shit that she was, leaned close enough to Yuri's ear to whisper, "You see how Beka's staring? He's losing his cool. I've never seen him do that before. You must really be something."

Sure enough, the glare Otabek was fixing the two of them with was a mix of rage and pure lust. Yuri hoped he wasn't pushing it too far, but he figured Alina knew Otabek even better than him, so if she said it would work, he more or less trusted her on it. He just hoped that Otabek didn't actually think Alina was leaning in to get him to make out with her or something.

Without losing eye contact, Otabek leaned over and pushed a few buttons before the song changed. It was a little faster than the previous song, and something about the lyrics had Yuri smirking…it was something sexy, about how the singer needed their lover right then and there. Yuri just hoped that the glint in his eyes was evident across the dimly lit club, but somehow he knew just what Otabek was thinking.

So why you standing over there with ya clothes on

Baby strip down for me

Go on take 'em off

Don't worry baby,

Imma meet you halfway

'Cause I know you wanna see me

Yuri licked his lips and had to keep himself from audibly groaning at the lyrics, truly hoping that they were indicative of what would happen when they got back to the apartment later that night. Locking eyes with Otabek, the DJ winked and went back to his set as if nothing had happened.

Yuri wanted to splutter in complete shock and instead let out an indignant squeak. Alina threw her head back and laughed as she watched the scene unfold.

"Oh Yuri, honey, he's got it so bad. You'll see," she giggled and gave Yuri a reassuring pat on the cheek before leading him away back to the bar so they could order some more drinks.

Yuri mumbled and just hoped to God she was right.

It should have come as no surprise that everybody had somehow stumbled back to Otabek's apartment once the club had closed for the night and Kamila and Roman had announced that they wanted to keep drinking. Someone had produced a pizza from seemingly nowhere, while a bottle of bourbon was passed around. Otabek somehow didn't own a single shot glass, and only had about three water tumblers that he kept around, which had at one point in time been a set of 4 until Roman had supposedly broken one a few years back, and all of those were of course fucking dirty. So somehow the group was sitting around the floor, eating greasy pizza off paper towels and taking turns taking long swigs from the bottle of Maker's Mark. (Roman had bitched because he knew Otabek was hiding a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle and called him out for being a cheap bastard, to which Otabek told him to fuck off and that he would gladly take the Maker's Mark back and leave Roman with nothing but water for the rest of the night).

Yuri was sitting with his back to the arm of the couch, legs shameless sprawled over Otabek's lap while the older man had his arm draped so that it appeared to be just over the back of the couch; everybody in the room knew was because he was doing the cheap high school boy ploy of wanting to put his arm around his date without making it obvious. (Too bad it was painfully obvious). Otabek had turned down the slice of pizza Yuri offered him, shrugging and saying something about still needing to get through the Four Continents and Worlds before he could go off his competition season diet. Yuri shrugged and shoveled the whole mess of melted cheese in his mouth, deciding that maybe this was the one upside of being forced to take the remainder of the season off.

Yuri didn't miss the way Otabek was looking at him from the corner of his eye. He hoped it was because of the little show he and Alina had put on in the club earlier, and not because he was repulsed by Yuri's ability to shove an entire slice of pizza in his mouth in one go. He tried to suck the excess cheese from his fingers and make it appear like it was something sensual, but Otabek grunted and turned away.

Fuck, I hope I didn't take it too far. Yuri berated himself. Although he mostly thought it was because all he had achieved was looking like a greedy slob, rather than hot like he was hoping.

Alina suddenly stood up and stretched while letting out a dramatic yawn. "Alright guys, I'm out. This old lady's gotta get to bed."

Alexei cocked an eyebrow at her from his spot on the floor from the other side of the coffee table. "You're kidding. Since when are you the first one to leave?"

"Fuck off, I'm tired! People get tired sometimes," Dark eyes narrowed as Alina tried to send him a wordless message.

Alexei clearly wasn't getting it.

Thankfully, Kamila was much quicker on the uptake. "Roman, sweetheart, I'm pretty beat too. Let's hit it."

Roman whined and tried to chug what remained of the bourbon, but Kamila plucked the bottle from his lips and handed it back to Otabek before grabbing her boyfriend's arm and dragging him out the front door. She looked back over her shoulder and yelled a quick "Goodnight!" before the door slammed and the sounds of them bickering about the sudden exit could be heard as they disappeared down the hallway.

Alina turned to Alexei and said, "Hey, walk me home?"

Alexei looked at her strangely and replied, "Don't you live in this building too?"

She sighed, and gave an apologetic look to Yuri and Otabek, although Yuri didn't miss the flash of hurt in her eyes. "Yeah, but…fine. Never mind. Goodnight."

Alina then turned on her heel and exited the apartment, leaving only Alexei, Otabek, and Yuri in the living room.

At that point, the conversation felt like it had come to an abrupt and awkward halt. Yuri looked over at Alexei and said, "You know, that was seriously a dick move by refusing to walk her home, even if she does live in the same building."

Alexei stared back at him, clearly perplexed by Yuri's outburst. "I wasn't trying to be—"

Yuri cut him off, pissed off at him on Alina's behalf. "I know you weren't. But it was still a dick move and you should apologize to her."

Alexei looked like he had something further to say, but just as he opened his mouth, his phone started to buzz. He looked down and upon seeing whatever notification he had received, said something had come up and he needed to go. So with an awkward wave, he threw his shoes back on and bolted out the front door. Yuri definitely missed that part where Otabek quickly shoved his phone back in his pocket and looked over at Yuri.

Admittedly, Yuri was slightly confused by the other man's abrupt exit, wondering if Alina had sent him something and he had felt guilty after Yuri had chewed him out. That being said, he was still mulling it over when Otabek's voice cut through his thoughts as he heard him drop the mostly empty bourbon bottle on the side table and grumble, "Fucking finally."

Next thing Yuri knew, Otabek had spun him around on the couch and was kissing him hungrily. The blonde let out a surprised squeak at first, but immediately melted into the kiss. There was no preamble to any of it—tongues were thrust into each other's mouths and Yuri quickly found himself straddling Otabek with a knee on either side of his hips, Otabek's hands rubbing up and down Yuri's sides until they settled on his ass. He was so enthralled with the kiss that it wasn't until Otabek shifted under him to roll his hips upwards that he was hit with a sudden wave of pain in his bad knee as he remembered that he should really not be in a kneeling position.

The pained shout that came from Yuri scared Otabek for a second before he took note of the position they were in. Feeling incredibly guilty, he instructed Yuri to put his arms around his neck before he stood up, wrapping Yuri's legs around his middle and walking towards the bedroom. Yuri groaned and began kissing down Otabek's neck.

Once in Otabek's room, he gently laid Yuri down on the bed before crawling on top of him to resume their heated kissing. It wasn't long before Yuri's hands were pawing at the hem of his shirt, whining and begging for him to take it off. He obliged, rocking back just long enough to tug the shirt over his head and throwing it somewhere across the room. Then he leaned down and set to work on Yuri's shirt, the damned laces in the front frustrating him to hell.

A bark of laughter above him caught his attention as he looked up at Yuri to find his boyfriend laughing at him. "What?" he gruffed.

"Beka, you don't actually have to unlace it. It just comes off," Yuri snorted as he sat up and, proving his point, tugged the tank top over his head and threw it in the same general direction that Otabek's shirt had landed.

The red shade that Otabek's face turned rivaled a tomato, but Yuri did his best to soothe Otabek's embarrassment by leaning in and returning to their fevered making out, now made even more exquisite by the fact that they were both shirtless. The added feeling of skin on skin sent new sparks of arousal straight to Yuri's dick, and from the hard jab he was feeling in his hip, he had a hunch that Otabek was feeling it too.

"Beka," Yuri moaned, experimentally rolling his hips and making sure that their clothed erections ground together.

The groan that tore from Otabek's mouth was the most beautiful sound Yuri had ever heard. He took that as a sign to keep going, to keep lifting his hips and grinding into Otabek's cock until he was panting and begging for Yuri to slow down or he was going to come in his pants like a teenager.

Otabek pulled back for a second, trying to catch his breath. Yuri reached for the zipper of his jeans and waited for a second, meeting Otabek's eyes before the dark haired man nodded his approval. He no longer hesitated as he undid Otabek's jeans and pulled them down his legs, then doing the same to his own pants while Otabek struggled with his for a second trying to get them off and tossed on the floor.

Finally left in nothing but their boxer briefs, Yuri didn't even wait before hooking his fingers in his own underwear and tugging them off. He didn't miss the hitch in his partner's breath at the sight of his naked body and he couldn't help but smirk, trying to let his usual cocky attitude cover any insecurities he had about himself in that moment. The flaring of Otabek's nostrils in response was enough to let him know that it had worked.

"Your turn," he nodded at Otabek, who hesitated for only a brief second before tearing off his own underwear.

Yuri couldn't help himself from licking his licks at the sight of Otabek's very attractive and very naked form. They caught each other's eyes and Otabek reached down and gave himself a few shameless pumps of his thick, leaking cock and Yuri couldn't stop the wanting noise that came from his throat.

Yuri took a minute to appreciate every muscle and nuance of his body, acting on impulse to lean forward and start running his hands over every inch of skin he could possibly touch. He was overcome with such a strong feeling of want and lust, that he found himself unable to keep his hands to himself, exploring and mapping out the body of his best friend turned boyfriend. He couldn't help but think to himself how amazing it was that two people could know each other for so long and be as close as they were, and yet still know so little about each other's physical forms until now.

Finally, he allowed his hand to wander between Otabek's legs, watching for his reaction as he gently grasped his throbbing cock. Brown eyes rolled back in pleasure at Yuri's touch, and after he let out a pleased groan, Yuri took that as his invitation to continue.

He experimented for a minute, getting used to the weight of it in his hand and feel of smooth skin as he ran his hand up and down the shaft and over the sensitive head. After a few teasing flicks of his wrist, Yuri lowered himself down until his face was level with Otabek's dick. Otabek might have said something, but he ignored it as he stuck out his tongue and gave the head a small, kitten-like lick. This wasn't his first time giving a blow job or even having sex, but Yuri was suddenly overcome with the nervousness of someone entirely new to physical intimacy, probably just because it was Otabek, the best friend he had loved and admired for so damn long. Beka wasn't like all of the dumb hockey players he was used to fucking. He was the most important person in Yuri's life, and because of that he suddenly felt a great pressure to make sure this was the best sex of both their lives.

"Yura," Otabek whined above him, reaching down to run his fingers through Yuri's blonde hair.

At that, Yuri allowed himself to finally go down on Otabek in earnest, like he'd been dreaming about for some time now. He gave a few long licks up the sides and bottom of the shaft, before taking it in his mouth as far as he could go. Otabek's cock was certainly quite large, and so he wasn't quite able to get all of it in his mouth before he started to gag. "Easy," he heard Otabek murmur as he continued to pet and stroke the side of Yuri's face.

Yuri, of course, ignored him because that was what he always did. He took Otabek in his mouth again, as far as he could comfortably take him, and then hollowed out his cheeks as he began bobbing his head up and down. The cry that came from above him only encouraged him, and he used his hand to stroke the rest of the base that he was unable to take in his mouth. His knee was giving him some mild discomfort from his position on all fours in front of Otabek, but he pushed the pain to the back of his mind and concentrated on pleasuring Otabek instead. Just as he finally got a rhythm going and was mentally prepared to let Otabek come in his mouth, his partner suddenly yanked him back by the roots of his hair and pulled Yuri off his cock with a wet 'pop'.

"Yura, keep this up and I'm not going to last. Please..."

In understanding, Yuri nodded and leaned backwards until he was lying on his back with his head situated comfortably in the pillows. Otabek disappeared for a second to lean over and grab something out of the bedside table before reappearing with a pack of condoms and small bottle of lube.

Yuri found himself all but panting in anticipation as Otabek went to work opening the bottle and squeezing a liberal amount of lube onto his fingers, rubbing the slick substance back and forth until his fingers were completely coated in it.

With a light smack to Yuri's thigh, the blonde lifted his legs and rested them on Otabek's shoulders. "Your knee okay this way?" He asked, and Yuri nodded.

"Hurry up and fuck me, Beka. I've waited long enough," Yuri growled, although neither of them were sure if he was referring to this moment in particular, or the years of pining they had done for each other.

Otabek paused for a moment to plant a feather-light kiss to one of the scars on Yuri's knee before leaning forward to insert a single finger into his entrance. The groan Yuri let out at the feeling was enough to make Otabek's mind cloud with lust as he set to work stretching and prepping Yuri. By the time he added a third finger, he'd hooked his fingers in just the right way that found Yuri's prostate, causing the man beneath him to howl in pleasure.

"FUCK! Beka, just…just fucking fuck me already," Yuri whined.

Otabek had to chuckle at that. "Eloquent as always, Plisetsky," he laughed as he leaned back for a minute to roll the condom on and lube his cock up. Part of him wanted to draw it out into a long, teasing show, just to get back at Yuri for all of the times he had been a little shit thus far in their relationship. But if Otabek was being honest, he was every bit as eager to be inside of Yuri already, as Yuri was to move on to that part.

Finally, Otabek lined himself up with Yuri's hole and pushed his dick in as far as Yuri could take him. They both threw their heads back at the new feeling of each other, not even trying to hold back their cries of pleasure anymore. Otabek bottomed out and then held still, waiting for Yuri to give him the okay to start moving, although he admitted it was one of the hardest things he had ever done to not just start mercilessly pounding into the other man right then and there.

Yuri began to wiggle underneath him after what felt like an eternity and uttered a single command. "Go."

And so Otabek rocked back until he was almost completely pulled out before slamming back into Yuri. He repeated this motion over and over again until he was pounding into Yuri at a harsh pace. The Russian clearly loved it though as he mewled underneath him, eventually moving his legs so that they were wrapped around his waist and therefore putting Yuri in a position where he could cling to Otabek's shoulders. When Otabek hit a particularly sensitive spot that caused Yuri to see stars, he made sure to leave long scratch marks down his partner's back as he practically screamed his pleasure. Otabek made sure to leave bite marks along his neck and shoulders in retaliation each time.

At some point, Otabek noted that Yuri's cock was going woefully unattended to, and so reached down between them to begin pumping it time with his thrusting. Yuri was chanting his name by now along to the rhythm, "Beka, Beka, Beka-!" and listening to his own name groaned on the lips of his lover was one of the damn sexiest things Otabek had ever heard.

"Fuck, Yura, you feel incredible," Otabek was panting heavily at this point, the physical exertion starting to tire him out.

It all felt too soon before Yuri was whining, warning him, "Beka, I'm about to come."

"So come, baby," Otabek whispered in his ear, licking a long line up Yuri's neck to emphasize his point.

Yuri wasn't sure if it was the new pet name, the pleasure, or just because biologically-speaking he was going to have to come eventually, but he released with a loud cry, screaming "Beka!" one last time as his orgasm sent shockwaves through his body.

Otabek followed quickly after, his thrusts slowing down and becoming more erratic until he came with a loud grunt. With that, two collapsed in a pile of sweaty, naked limbs, reveling in the aftermath of post-orgasm bliss while they tried to regain control of their breathing.

"Yura, that was amazing," Otabek smiled, turning on his side so that he was facing Yuri.

Much to his shock, tears were streaming out of the green soldier's eyes he had come to love so, so much. Panicking, Otabek sat up and scooped Yuri up into his arms, murmuring apologies for what, he had no idea, he was just so upset that he might have done something to make Yuri cry that all rational thinking had gone out the door.

"Oh my God, asshole. You didn't do anything wrong. I was just overwhelmed. I do this sometimes during sex," Yuri half-heartedly smacked at Otabek's shoulder, but also buried his face into his chest, clearly embarrassed by the whole thing. "You know, emotions and all of that shit."

A wave of relief crashed over Otabek and he allowed Yuri the privacy of hiding his face until the tears subsided. Otabek knew how much crying in front of anybody was Yuri's idea of his own personal hell, so he just sat there and held him, gently stroking his hair and humming a nonsensical tune until he could feel Yuri physically relax into the touch.

"Thanks, Beka. You're pretty fucking amazing, you know that?" Yuri laughed, finally looking up to place a chaste kiss to Otabek's lips.

"You're not half bad yourself," Otabek teased, earning him another smack from Yuri.

"Whatever. Shut up and go get us a washcloth or something to clean up with," Yuri rolled his eyes and pushed Otabek away, who was still laughing as he got up to do as Yuri said.

Once they were cleaned up and Otabek had gotten back under the covers, Yuri wrapped himself around his partner and sighed contently into the cuddle. He was in that state of fucked-out bliss that was only achieved after fantastic sex and a hard orgasm, and he officially had no intention of moving again until morning. He told Otabek this, and he laughed again, saying he had never taken Yuri for a post-sex cuddler.

"It's surprising what you find out about someone when you actually have sex with them," Yuri sneered, but his heart wasn't in it and he was lacking his usual venom when it came to sassing Otabek. He was too tired to care at this point.

It wasn't long before Yuri was mumbling a quiet "Love you, Beka," before drifting off into a deep sleep. Otabek smiled and responded in kind before falling asleep as well.

The next morning, Otabek found himself unable to move as a very much still unconscious Yuri had somehow managed to wrap himself around Otabek like a barnacle that would not come off. He shifted a little, trying to get more comfortable without waking up Yuri, but he failed in his mission when he heard a soft, "Beka-? What time is it?"

"Sorry," Otabek replied, placing a soft kiss on the crown of Yuri's head. "Go back to sleep."

"Mmph, that wasn't my question," Yuri yawned before sitting up, finally disentangling himself from Otabek. "Whatever, I'm up now. You're off today, right?"

Otabek sank farther into the pillows. Yes, it was his day off, but unlike Yuri he just wanted to spend the whole day asleep and cuddling. When he whined and told Yuri this, the blonde smiled but poked him, saying "Come on, let's go for a ride on the bike and maybe get breakfast somewhere."

Accepting that he was not going to get any more sleep, Otabek sighed and agreed, pushing himself up and off the mattress before heading to the bathroom to take a shower. He was still exhausted and ended up just sort of leaning his head against the tile while the hot water ran down, so he was startled when the curtain opened and Yuri slid in to the shower with him.

"You're taking too damn long," Yuri stated matter-of-factly, before reaching around Otabek for the body wash.

Yuri could tell that Otabek was still half-asleep, so he set to work on washing him first, taking extra care to massage his tight shoulder muscles as he did so. "Jesus, no wonder your flexibility is such shit," Yuri mumbled. "You're stiff as a board. Don't you ever stretch or do yoga?"

"Hm," Otabek hummed in response. He was not a morning person, Yuri was coming to realize, and he found that oddly adorable given that as professional athletes, they almost always had to be up before the sun in order to get to practice. He wasn't sure how Otabek had made it this far into his career and not learned to be more of a morning person, but then again he couldn't remember a time when Otabek didn't have a giant cup of coffee in hand when he left for practice, so maybe it made sense after all.

Shrugging, Yuri grabbed the shampoo and started massaging it into Otabek's scalp. He was pleasantly surprised to hear the contented moan that came from Otabek at that, so he made a mental note that Otabek was clearly into having his hair played with. One more of many things Yuri was excited about exploring with the man as their relationship went on.

Once Yuri had washed himself, the water was starting to run cold, so he reached over and turned the water off. Otabek whined at the sudden cold air hitting his wet skin, and Yuri just sighed and handed him his towel. "How do you function on your own?"

"I do just fine, thank you. You're just impatient and want to get going too early," Otabek retorted, grabbing his towel wiping himself down as he made his way back to the bedroom to get dressed.

By the time Otabek had remerged from the bedroom, Yuri was fully dressed and waiting by the door, bike helmets in hand. It was cute how eager he was to get going, and Otabek had to smile as he took his helmet from Yuri and placed a gentled kiss to his forehead. "How's your knee this morning? I didn't do anything to hurt you last night, did I?"

Green eyes rolled dramatically at that, but Yuri couldn't stop the blush as memories of the previous night flooded into his mind. "I would have told you if I was hurting. I'm fine, though."

Otabek nodded his understanding and gave Yuri a sweet but sensual kiss on the lips before leaning over to grab the keys from their place hanging on a hook near the door.

They headed out the door and down to the parking garage where the bike was parked. He'd barely gotten the engine turned over before Yuri was sitting behind him, arms wrapped tightly around his waist and chin resting on Otabek's shoulder.

"Where to?" Yuri asked over the roar of the engine as Otabek shifted into gear and drove the bike out of the garage and down the main road.

"I know a great little café that you might like. Great pastries and coffee." Otabek called back over his shoulder.

"Sounds great," Yuri responded, and buried his face in Otabek's back, taking in the smell of leather and Otabek. What he didn't say out loud was, I'd would go anywhere so long as it was with you.

About twenty minute later, Otabek pulled into a parking spot on the street and nudged Yuri to let him know that they'd arrived.

As they were walking into the small but crowded café, a thought suddenly hit Yuri. He realized that this was more or less their first actual date since they had established their feelings for each other a couple of weeks prior. Yuri suddenly felt a wave of anxiety crash over him and tried to mentally count backwards from ten like he often saw Katsudon do when he was trying to combat one of his anxiety attacks.

Otabek must have sensed his nervousness because he felt a warm hand clasping his suddenly, and a soft murmur of, "Yura, breathe. We're just getting breakfast, nothing we haven't done before." And with that, Yuri felt a small amount of the anxiety leave his body. He still wasn't quite sure how to feel about it though, since this wasn't just breakfast anymore, but a breakfast date with his boyfriend.

True to his word, Otabek ordered them each a coffee and a pastry, and Yuri couldn't help but take a picture of Otabek smiling over his cup of coffee and upload it to Instagram. He tried to keep the caption vague by simply saying " otabek-altin is showing me around Almaty and we got breakfast at this great little café! #coffee #almatyadventures #yuritakesalmaty #figureskatersoffice" and tried to leave it at that. Of course, the comments immediately blew up with speculations, but he figured it didn't matter at this point.

His phone buzzed a couple of times with new text messages, and he tried to ignore them. He was surprised when one came from JJ, even if it said Congrats, kitten! With a thumbs up emoji, so he ignored it. Mila sent him a series of texts that were just inappropriate emoji innuendos. For a second, Yuri hesitated on responding to her, but he really did want to tell someone how excited he was that he and Otabek had finally had sex, but didn't want to get into it with Otabek sitting right across from him. So he sent Mila an eggplant emoji and the smiling devil face emoji, with another message that said I'll call you later.

Mila just responded with a smiling cat face emoji and a series of exclamation points.

Once done with their breakfast, they decided to wander around the area a little bit, ducking into shops that caught their interest and doing some sightseeing so Otabek could show Yuri some of his favorite places in Almaty. Yuri of course took lots of pictures and posted lots of videos and images to Snapchat.

Several hours later, when it was approaching lunch time, Yuri heard his phone going off while he and Otabek were perusing some clothes in a small boutique. Confused, he looked down to see the name 'Katsudon' flashing on his screen to indicate the incoming call. They had been texting back and forth some about Almaty and how things were generally going, but nothing important enough that warranted an actual call. He showed the screen to Otabek and indicated he was going to move towards the bathroom so that he could have a more private conversation. Otabek nodded and hung back while Yuri walked away, checking out some jeans that were on display.

"What do you want, pig?" Yuri gave his version of a greeting as he hit the 'answer' button while he walked into the single person bathroom.

"Hey, Yurio, is this a bad time?" Katsuki sounded nervous, but Yuri was pretty sure that was just his natural state.

"A little, yeah. I can spare a minute though," Yuri was approaching this cautiously, as he did not have a great feeling about where this conversation was going.

He heard shuffling on the other end followed by a door clicking shut, so Katsuki must have moved into a more private room in order to speak with him as well. That was not a good sign.

"So remember how we said if any more publicity got out about you and Otabek, then we'd have a talk about it?"

"Yes…?" Yuri replied, feeling his stomach sink.

"Well, there were more pictures of the two of you released a couple of nights ago. More of you with Otabek at one of his DJ gigs, and another this morning of the two of walking around Almaty holding hands…"
"The fuck? That last one must have been from the last couple of hours!" Yuri was definitely starting to panic now.

He flopped back against the fake wooden door with a loud 'thud' and was only half-hearing what Kastuki was saying to him.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Katsuki sighed. "Look, the point is we might need to address this now with the media. Rumors are going rampant and a couple of sponsors have already threatened to pull out for next season. Frankly, Viktor and I don't care what position you decide to take on this, but we need you to make some kind official statement one way or another."

"Shit," Yuri groaned. "This is so new. I'm afraid to talk about it with Beka, but—"
"Yurio," Yuuri cut him off. "Be a fucking adult about this and talk to him. Then call me when you get your shit together and we'll decide what to do from there."

When Yuri heard the familiar beep indicating that the line had gone dead, he stared at his phone in silent shock, a million thoughts running through his head at once. He was almost positive that knew exactly where he and Otabek stood, but that didn't mean he was looking forward to having a conversation about this. Yuri was shit with anything involving emotions, and Otabek was hardly skilled in verbally expressing himself most of the time either. Hell, he realized that they hadn't even talked about the fact that they had sex for the first time last night, and now he was expected to force Otabek to make some kind public announcement with him about where their relationship stood? That seemed unusually cruel to a couple that still hadn't quite worked it out between themselves yet.

Fuck, we make quite the pair Yuri couldn't help but think caustically to himself.

Sighing, he leaned against the door and slowly slid to the floor of the bathroom, burying his face in his hands.

"Fuck," he groaned. Because despite everything and how happy he was with Otabek, this was something he had hoped to keep to themselves just a little longer—before the public knew about it and both the media and their fans decided to butt into their business and put any unnecessary stress on their relationship that normal couples didn't have to deal with.

With that, he stood up again, took a deep breath, and walked back out the door towards his lover.