bite - otayuri

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"Don't you wanna see a man up close

A phoenix in the fire

So kiss me on the mouth and set me free

But please, don't bite"

-"Bite" by Troye Sivan

Humans have fascinated Yuri from a young age. He couldn't help but find them strange... Their backs looked so bare without wings. Their hair looked dull and prone to frizz. Most off all, they seemed fragile. In warmer temperatures humans have to rub lotion on their skin to protect it from the sun. When it comes to cold weather...

Yuri emits an annoyed but worried huff. Yuri has never seen anything like this happen before... He has never seen a human's skin color change and grow just as cold, if not colder than the snow. Or so he imagines. His grandfather always told him to avoid humans. "Fragile things, who have everything to lose are the most dangerous of all," his grandfather would always say.

For quite a while, Yuri agreed with his grandfather. After all, when he was little the only humans he saw were hunters... Hunters that would search for and chase animals. Animals would always seek refuge with them, but his grandfather would scare them away. "Them hunting is you is just nature's course. I know better than to stop nature! Go before I kill you myself!" The animals would run. The animals would hide. The animals would be found by the hunters and they would plead for their lives. The hunters didn't understand. The hunters didn't hesitate to kill them.

Yuri stares at the unconscious human before him. Perhaps he shouldn't save him. After all, he could be a hunter... Then again, why would a hunter spend so much of his time on the ice?

With his left index finger, he taps the human's head. The man's hair is surprisingly soft and... Surprisingly cold. Shockingly cold. Shouldn't someone who had been skating for so long be warm? Shouldn't someone who had been skating for so long be sweaty?

"The cold really has gotten to you, hasn't it?" Yuri asks the man, who, of course, isn't able to respond. Just to be sure... Just to be really sure that the skater is dying, Yuri touches him a few more times.

Yuri pokes his cheek, his neck and his right hand. Every one of them feels as cold as the ice below them.

The ice distracts him. It glimmers and glistens. It calls to him. "It is your job to support me," it seems to say, "if I want to kill the man, I'll kill the man. You won't stop me. You can't stop me."

"Like hell you will," Yuri shouts, with the searing hot sensation of anger coursing through his veins. "My grandfather was your slave. He was your slave until the very end. 'It my final job to die, Yuri. Let me die, Yuri.' I did and I regret it! I regret it so much." He hisses at the ice (and himself) as tears blur his vision. "I'm going to save him. If you try to stop me I'll end winter! Do you want that?"

Nature doesn't respond. Wiping his eyes with the sleeves of his white shirt, he lifts the man. Or rather, tries to. Yuri struggles to lift him, even with the help of his wings. Settling for a half carrying, half dragging motion, Yuri brings the man to the closest cave.

By nothing short of a miracle, Yuri manages to find everything he needs to start a fire.

By nothing short of a miracle, Yuri manages to start a fire.

The fire helps, but not by much. Even though Yuri has the man nearly sitting in the fire, he still looks quite cold. A few pokes confirm that man still quite cold. Knowing very well that humans can die quickly, Yuri is faced with a difficult decision. He can do the unthinkable, or he can let the man die.

After thinking for a few minutes, Yuri can't help but laugh at himself. "There's nothing to think about, is there? After all, I'm already doing the unthinkable. I'm defying nature."

Yuri inches closer to the man.

Yuri hesitates.

Yuri acts.

He kisses the man. The man's lips are incredibly chapped... They are incredibly cold. The man's lips only grow colder as Yuri sucks the cold out of him.