Soul Art - Otayuri AU

Chapter 41

Otabek, Viktor and Yuuri all stared silently at the door, the same door that Yuri Plisetsky had slammed shut thirty seconds prior. It took them a full minute to exchange looks of worry and guilt, and Otabek ten more to speak.

'He's right. It's my fault, I have to apologise.'

'Don't be so hard on yourself, Otabek,' Yuuri spoke rather suddenly, 'He understands what having a dream feels like, too.'

'Yeah, but I have to at least show that I still care about him!'

'He knows you do, but I know Yurio, and he isn't easily persuaded.' Viktor replied solemnly, 'Especially not when he feels like he's losing his only friends.'

'What should I do?!' Otabek sat down, evidently resisting the urge to bite his nails. 'W-What if he breaks up with me?'

Yuuri dashed to his side, patting his shoulder carefully. 'No, he would never, he still loves you.'

'Ugh. I hope so.'

The rest of the school day drooled on, both Yuuri and Viktor not taking their eyes off Otabek in their final two periods. He was quiet the entire lesson – unusually quiet, since he would always answer questions in algebra. His face looked a wreck, and as soon as the final bell went, he was dashing through the corridor in search for the certain blonde that had whisked him off his feet months before. But to no avail, of course.

Instead, the blonde walked home. He had locked himself in the bathroom without a word, soaked in the tub for more than an hour, and came out in absolute silence. The Nikiforov family were downstairs eating dinner, something Yuri was grateful for. He didn't want to have to face Viktor, he wanted nothing more to do with his cousin. Yuri pulled on whatever pajamas were comfiest and stomped downstairs, leaving the bathroom surprisingly tidy. He darted straight for the kitchen, bolted open the fridge and grabbed a bottle of Powerade, chugging it down like it was some sort of life-saving medicine.

'Yuratchka, dear? No dinner?' It was Lillia's voice from the dining room.

'No.'

'Why not?' She popped her head round the corner, and found Yuri clad in his pajamas already, eyes lifeless and hair a mess.

'I'm not hungry. I'm just gonna go upstairs and finish my homework.'

Lillia stuttered, unsure of what to think. 'O-Okay. Good to know you're working hard, sweetie.' Still wearing her oven gloves, the Russian woman walked forward and pecked her nephew's cheek.

'I won't be down anytime soon, 'kay?'

'Okay, Yuratchka.'

Once the blonde had vanished upstairs, Yakov grumbled his suspicions from the other room. Viktor, however, swore loudly, his head falling into his hands.

'Vicho? What's wrong, do you know something?'

'Yuri had a fight with us at school.'

There came a pause. 'Us meaning his boyfriend in particular.'

'Mhmm. This is pretty hard on him. You should've seen the two of them last Friday, they wouldn't let go of each other. I just hope he doesn't ignore me tonight.'

'Alright, what did you do?' Lillia rubbed her chin in thought. 'Wait, is this about graduation?'

'Yeah.'

She frowned, arms dropping to her side. 'He's lonely.'

Viktor felt something obstructing his throat as all he could say was another, 'Yeah.' He needed to apologise to his cousin, big time. So after dinner, the Russian walked upstairs and opened the door to his room as discretely as possible. Yuri was lying on his bed, stroking Potya with trembling hands, his body occasionally shaking. His phone was opened on Whatsapp and discarded on the end of his bed, and it was Otabek's chat. And as Viktor scanned Yuri's restless form, he realised something. Yuri wasn't wearing his red bracelet.

The next morning, Viktor walked into school reluctantly, sitting down with a sigh. Yuuri dashed to his side, firing a few questions about the fellow Russian that was (hopefully) their friend.

'Did Yuri talk to you?'

'No, not once.'

Yuuri frowned, sitting back slightly and leaning helplessly against his locker. Otabek walked in a few minutes later, as unreadable as always, and the two followed him into homeroom. There they found Yuri, laughing easily with Mila and swiping through his phone as if nothing was bugging him. The redhead must've pointed, for Yuri turned around, glaring fiercely at Otabek in particular – his eyes narrowed. And his face fell; he no longer looked mad, just upset. Yuri barged out of the door and right past his friends, walking briskly and not stopping to turn around.

The three of them immediately became aware that what happened the day before wasn't a one time thing – Yuri would be mad at them for as long as possible, and he wouldn't make an effort to apologise. In other words, he no longer wanted anything to do with them.

A week dragged on for the four of them, and even conversations between Yuuri and Viktor died down. Otabek had been spending most of the week locked in his bedroom, but instead of studying as usual, finishing [piles and piles of books. They were his only escape from the world, and continued to be when Yuri had so suddenly yelled at him. Otabek felt remorse, of course, and hated himself more than anything for forgetting Yuri the way he had.

It was Thursday afternoon, and the blonde made his way to the school library. He had given up on his art homework and thrown it away, ready for whatever punishment his art teacher would give him the next day. Instead he got to work on his algebra, staying there for two whole hours. He couldn't feel the tears trickling down his cheeks, and was deaf to JJ's voice.

'Are you crying, Yuratchka?'

Yuri heard his nickname and immediately tensed, suddenly becoming aware of his surroundings and that a bitch was sitting next to him. So he turned around to face him abruptly, and realised that JJ's face was but inches away from his own. But he didn't back away, he just glared back ravenously. 'Y'know, I would be more nice to the person I've got a crush on if I were you.'

'Certainly not how you're treating Otabek.'

All the air was stripped out of Yuri's lungs and tears came cascading down his face, the taste on his lips getting even saltier when he felt hands crawl around his waist. He couldn't speak, nor could he move, until a rough hand cupped his cheek. It was tanned yet unfamiliar, and each time it touched his cheek, it stung instead of tingled. Yuri began to squirm, trying his utmost hardest to leave JJ's grasp, but knew he was too weak to do so. And then a pair of lips had crashed against his own – they were rough and bitter. A snake-like tongue pushed its way into his mouth and tackled his tongue. And then Yuri went limp, eyes dry from all his crying and lips immobilised against JJ's. He made no effort to fight back. What was the reason to do it, anyway? Otabek didn't love him. If he really did, then why was deciding to leave Yuri so easy?

'Yuri?'