Striking

Chapter 5

I almost forgot to update on Wattpad. Again. Want to ensure you get your updates on time? Read on AO3! 

Chapter 4 recap: We get no straight answer about what actually happened in the garden (did they kiss? Did they not kiss?) tehe, but something has changed in our protagonists' relationship. Now, Otabek is sure, the romantic attraction is reciprocated, and both he and Yuri act on it subtly, their interactions growing more and more flirtatious. Just on the cusp of a serious advance, though, they're informed by Nikolai about another alliance revision they'll be handling; Opolica is a strong nation they've been partners with for centuries, and they only renew their treaty once every fifty years, a fact which speaks for itself about their relationship. Sadly, though, Opolica's old ambassador has just died, and his son has stepped up to take on the mantle. At this news, Yuri becomes worried, and, without letting on to his grandfather, he later explains to Otabek that the younger ambassador (Kyunvac Jr.) is... difficult. He does not elaborate, but he becomes steadily more anxious about everything as the renegotiation grows closer, and he begins to pull away from Otabek's help. This culminates in them getting into a shouting match over the best possible way to introduce their new civil rights policy to the treaty renegotiation (they call this The Equality Act), and Yuri storms out. Later, Otabek finds him asleep in the library, and (parallelism!!), wakes him up, finally getting him to open up about why he's so concerned. After this little heart to heart, Yuri tells Otabek that he still trusts him, but he just needs to deal with this alliance alone. Reluctantly, Otabek agrees to step back.

I'd like to take a moment to say that, while other nations in this fic are based on real places (Murmyanka, San Piter, Almatia, Venicia (mentioned), etc.), Opolica is entirely fictional and based on no real place or people. Thank you.

Okay, guys, this is where the Rape/Noncon archive warning comes in. The very end of this chapter and the beginning of the next feature an attempted sexual assault; it's not graphic, but, please, sensitive parties, be warned. The scene cuts out before anything happens, but when you arrive at "He'd dealt with worse," (in Yuri's POV, at the very end of this chapter), you may want to stop reading. There will be a summary of the skipped portion of text in the end notes.

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The remaining three days before Kyunvac arrived were a whirlwind, and, true to his word, Yuri allowed Otabek to help with none of it.

They'd get there.

Eventually.

For now, Otabek busied himself with the small things he could accomplish without Yuri's notice or concern: he helped out coordinating a few activities for after the treaty's signing, like with Murmyanka. He requested that the chef prepare several different options for meals to suit the Opolican ambassadors' tastes. He played with Sasha and kept her out of the way when Yuri told her, more kindly than he'd spoken all day, yet harried all the same, that he really couldn't hunt a dragon, right now.

In short, Otabek did everything short of his actual job and couldn't help but feel the slightest twinge of disbelief at the way Yuri was carrying on. Their talk in the library had cleared a lot of questions up, but Otabek still thought that Yuri was taking this whole thing a bit too seriously. Because, of course, he was. Yuri was a general; he'd put himself in the grave from overwork if someone didn't stop him (Otabek hoped to be that someone), and he prepared for everything as though it were the end of the world. He was an overdramatic workaholic, and Otabek hoped, desperately, that he'd get through the five-day stay of the Opolican group without a nervous breakdown, a heart attack, or stroke, or some combination of the three.

It never occurred to Otabek in as long as he'd been aware of the severity of Yuri's worry over the alliance, that he wasn't exaggerating.

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