A funny word called Love

Chapter 45

It had been two months since Yuri had moved in with Otabek. It had also been two months since Yuri had posted a photo on instagram. He knew that if he did, Viktor and Yuuri would inevitably see it, and figure out that he wasn't living in Russia anymore, and then freak out and be insufferable, annoying messes. Yuri had wanted to avoid having to deal with that, but one day, he just couldn't resist.

Monetka was curled up in a chair in the sunlight, completely surrounded by Otabek's surprisingly large stuffed animal collection that lived on said chair. It was just too precious of a sight to not post it to instagram.

He realized an hour later that this was a terrible mistake. His phone buzzed, and he gotten a text from Viktor that read, "Where are you right now. That's not your place in St. Petersburg."

"Why do you care," Yuri texted back.

"How long have you been in this place. Where is it. Are you living there now? Are you living with somebody else? I haven't seen you much since your retirement. Are you even still in Russia?" Viktor replied almost a second after Yuri's response.

"Ugh I don't want to deal with this, you idiot," Yuri replied, quickly tiring of Viktor's enthusiastic questioning.

"Okay so I'll take it that you are living with somebody else. Who are you living with????" Viktor replied, and Yuri tossed his phone across the room, deciding that he did not have the time, the patience, or the energy to deal with this shit.

Yuri went out into the kitchen to find Otabek making dinner. "Is something wrong Yura?" Otabek asked when he saw Yuri's dark scowl.

"Nothing's wrong," Yuri said quickly.

"You say that a lot, but it's never true. So what is it that's happening?"

"I was an idiot and posted a picture on instagram because Monetka was being too adorable."

"So?"

"So, Viktor saw and now he's being an ass."

"You mean he's overly curious?"

"Yes, exactly! And I know that if I told him that I was living with you in Kazakhstan he'd take it completely the wrong way and it'd be so goddamn annoying so I was trying to avoid the situation by not posting anything on instagram but I couldn't resist. Monetka was lying in your stuffed animal pile and it was just too perfect to not post! And now Viktor will not stop bugging me about it and I just don't want to deal with it!"

"You realize that you could just tell him the truth, right?"

"But what if he thought I was lying or some shit like that."

"You know that he wouldn't do that. I don't know much about Viktor, but from what you've told me, everything would be a whole lot simpler and a whole lot less dramatic if you just explained it to him instead of avoiding it. He has a flare for the dramatics, as far as I can tell, and if he shows up here in a few days just because you didn't want to explain everything to him, it's your own fault and you can't complain about it."

"Ugh, fine, I'll text him after supper," Yuri said as they started to eat, but by the time they finished their meal, Yuri had forgotten that he said that.

It was two am, and a knocking noise rung through the house and woke Otabek up. He went over to Yuri's room and shook him saying, "Yuri, somebody just knocked on our door."

"I'll go grab my knife shoes," Yuri responded sleepily.

"We should at least check who it is before we go to violent measures."

"Fuck."

"What is it?"

"I, I forgot to text Viktor. I bet it's him. That idiot must've gotten on the first plane out of St. Petersburg to Almaty. I'm definitely getting my knife shoes."

"I'll go let him in. Ugh it's way too late for this," Otabek responded, walking over to the entrance and opening it to see Viktor.

"You don't even look shocked to see me here!" Viktor whined when he saw Otabek's blank expression.

"What the fuck are you doing here!" Yuri yelled, wielding his ice skates like weapons.

"Ah so I was right, Yuri is living here," Viktor said, amused.

"How much money do you have? You seriously just flew over here just because you were curious as to where I lived????" Yuri yelled, his exhaustion making his anger even worse.

"Of course! And I had a suspicion that I would find you here," Viktor said, smirking.

"How did you know where I live?" Otabek questioned, completely perplexed.

"I have my sources. And now, since Yuri was so rude to me earlier, would you mind explaining to me how it got to be that you two are living together," Viktor said, his eyes glimmering with curiosity.

"We're living together because we wanted to," Yuri snapped.

"I already got that, so do you care to elaborate? Are you two, in a relationship, perhaps?" Viktor said.

"Yes," Otabek said at the same time as Yuri said, "No."

"Hmm, now that's an interesting reaction, I'm going to go with Otabek's answer, because honestly, Yuri, you're not very trustworthy. So, how long have you two been dating?" Viktor asked.

Otabek could tell how angry Yuri was at this insinuation, and, deciding that it would be best if Yuri didn't talk, for fear of the invectives that would come out, Otabek said, "Yes, we're in a relationship, but not in the way that you would probably define one."

"Well, what does that mean?" Viktor questioned, looking confused and curious.

"We're both ace and aro as fuck," Yuri said before Otabek could answer in a calmer fashion.

"And what does that mean?" Viktor said, wanting Otabek and Yuri to just get to the point.

"Ace is short for asexual, which means having no sexual attraction to anybody, and aro is shot for aromantic, which means having no romantic attraction to anybody. So, we're in a relationship, a qpr, or a quasi platonic relationship. It's like dating, except without any sexual or romantic feelings involved."

"Oh!" Viktor said, his eyes lighting up in understanding, then saying, "You know, Yuri, you could've just explained that to me over text. Then I wouldn't have had to fly all the way over here."

"I didn't ask you to show up at my door at two fucking am. That is all on you," Yuri said coldly.

"But I was curious," Viktor whined.

"Well it's two am, so we should all sleep. Viktor, if you want you can sleep on the couch," Otabek offered.

"You're inviting him to stay here???? You're way too polite Beka," Yuri said before retreating to his room.

The next morning at breakfast Viktor said, "Yuri I'm so proud of you for figuring out your identity! Remember all those years ago, I think you were only 16 back then, and Yuuri and I tried to help you and you were so confused!"

"And you two were absolutely no help," Yuri retorted, and after seeing Viktor start to pout, he grabbed Viktor and shoved him out of the apartment.

"What was that for?" Otabek asked.

"He showed up at two am just to see where I was living, and you were polite enough to give him the couch??? He does not get the luxury of finishing breakfast," Yuri answered.