Learning To Count(Otabek x Yuri) [boyxboy]

Chapter Three

Otabek caught sight of Yuri before he even got through the ticket barrier. It was hard not to notice him with his bitter aura exuding ten inches from his body, adding at least some magnitude to him. He waved to him, and was shot a worried looking gaze.
'Hey,' He smiled, understanding that he'd be nervous meeting somebody for the second time after only a day. Less, even.
Yuri felt severely underdressed stood in front of Otabek, who was obviously a keen follower of fashion, sporting an exquisitely tailored leather jacket, black jeans and a pair of combat boots that looked as if they might genuinely be military grade. He himself was wearing just a plain, motheaten grey knit sweater and jeans that no longer fit him. They were baggy around his legs, though- he deeply regretted- not baggy enough.
Otabek, however, didn't notice that Yuri appeared underdressed. Instead, he saw that he was underweight. Alarmingly so. His collarbones jutted out above the collar of his sweater, casting shadows in the hollow between them and his neck. The parts of his arm that had visible shape (due only to where his sleeves were draped off of them) were so tiny he was sure he could touch his forefinger and thumb around them. Not for the first time, he wondered if Yuri might really be sick. He certainly looked it. Even his face was thin; his cheeks were hollow and his eyes were slightly sunken, giving him the haunted appearance of the kind of orphan boy one might see on a poster for a charitable cause.
'So, umm, what are we doing?' Yuri hazarded this question, still not sure why exactly Otabek had been so eager to meet him when they barely knew each other.
'You tell me. I don't usually do this kind of thing with my friends, but I figured I'm up for trying something new. It's my New Year's Resolution, actually.'
'Oh,' Yuri was left unenlightened by this vague answer. 'I don't really do this either.'
'How about we just go get something to eat and we can decide on something better?'
Yuri shrugged nonchalantly, but his heart was going a million miles an hour in the face of his worst fear- namely, food. He trailed after Otabek into the shopping centre and towards a standalone coffee shop, where they joined the queue. Otabek ordered something or other that sounded like heaven to Yuri's starving mind, but when it came to his turn he skipped deftly from the queue and ordered nothing.
'You don't want anything?' Otabek arched an eyebrow, and Yuri hoped he hadn't raised any suspicion. He shook his head silently, but Otabek's eyes didn't leave him and he felt pressed to disclose a reason. Of course, he had hundreds of excuses that he'd tried and tested for every plausible situation. This was an everyday occurrence for him.
'Had a really big breakfast,' He said this with the exact pat of his stomach he had done before this had become a lie, and paired with the knowing widening of his eyes it always worked beautifully. Otabek accepted it without doubt, but then he had no reason to disbelieve him, especially given that he didn't exactly look like the sort of person who skipped meals. It hadn't been that 24 hours yet, and although there were a few consecutive 24 hours before this one, it still wasn't long enough. They sat down, surprised that there was a free table on a busy morning such as this one, and Otabek ate his food so refreshingly normally. It was actually oddly therapeutic to watch somebody with a healthy relationship with food.
'What do you usually do, then?' Otabek asked once he'd finished, sitting back and sipping at his coffee. 'With friends, I mean.'
'I don't know,' Yuri shrugged, not too keen to admit that he didn't really have any anymore. He'd been popular once, before this disease had pervaded every inch of his life and denied him the right to socialise, since usually with hanging out with friends came eating. His friends still tried to invite him places, but he always fobbed them off with weak excuses and he didn't expect they'd keep it up for much longer. 'How about you?'
'Well... All my friends are really different. They all have different things they like to do. You have hobbies, right?'
'Not really...' Again, he'd lost all motivation for anything but losing weight. That was his top priority and he couldn't allow anything to get in the way of that.
'What about trainhopping?'
'What?'
'You get on a random train, roll a dice and get off at that number of stops.'
'Isn't that... illegal? Like, you have to buy a ticket, and-'
'We get the train to London and take the tube if you're that fussed.'
'I'm not fussed. It's okay.'
'London it is!'