Learning To Count(Otabek x Yuri) [boyxboy]

Chapter Fifteen

There was something in the air that evening- something that seemed laced with possibilities and effervescent with tension. Yuri could sense it as he walked home slowly, hands shoved in his pocket and head low. He didn't know whether it was just a projection of his own anxieties or a result of the depression before a predicted storm bringing a crackling static that rose the hairs on his neck. He had a few hours to kill and this was his reason for walking with such leisure, added to which he was doing his best to avoid his friends who were just up ahead. All day long they'd been hounding him about his hickeys, asking who the girl was and whether he could set them up with someone. It made him uncomfortable to lie to them so easily when it would directly affect his ability to tell the truth; the less he told them now, the angrier they'd be later.
'Mum, Otabek's coming over later,' He called as he walked in the door and stamped his feet on the mat. When no reply came, he assumed she'd be at work or something. He chucked his bag onto a chair and flopped down into the sofa in the sitting room, switching on the TV and mindlessly flicking through the channels until he found one slightly less mind-numbingly boring than the rest. It slowly hypnotised him into a restless sort of sleep from which he constantly awoke uncomfortable and wracked with hunger pangs. By the time he was permanently roused, it was eight o'clock. He groaned and rolled off the sofa, lying on the floor for a second and trying to get his wits about him before he stood up and straightened himself out. He didn't exactly look respectable in his uniform that he'd been wearing for the majority of his time at secondary school, with all its motheaten holes in the jumper and the grass-stains on the knees of the trousers, but it'd have to do. He forced himself to stay away from the door because it felt way too desperate and flighty to wait beside it, but this only made him more nervous. He didn't know why he was so het up about a simple question when Otabek had been drunk when he'd said he wanted to ask it- for all he knew, he could be asking what his favourite colour was. When the doorbell finally rang he jumped and took a few deep breaths as he walked down to it. Otabek was stood on his doorstep wearing his signature leather jacket and biker boots with a roguish expression on his face. Mismatched with his mainly serene exterior were his hands, which were knotted together behind his back and fidgeting anxiously. That was not a good omen.
'Hey,' He grinned, flashing his teeth.
'Hi,' Yuri breathed, tucking his hair behind his ear and waving him in. 'What did you want to ask?'
'Unimportant for now. Have you eaten yet?'
'Yeah, I-'
'Liar. I brought food. Hope you like Thai,' He brought his hands round and revealed a carrier bag full of takeaway. Yuri gulped hard; takeaway was so greasy and terrifying to him. Nevertheless, he and Otabek sat down at the kitchen counter and he watched him unpacking everything.
'Do you have any chilli powder?' Otabek piped up as he passed Yuri a box.
'Uhh, sure. Spice rack over there.'
Otabek nodded and walked over to where he was directed, at which point he turned round to stare at Yuri in horror. He looked mildly offended and majorly disgusted.
'What?' Yuri frowned, looking past him to see nothing wrong.
'This is just salt, pepper, cinnamon and chilli flakes! That's not a spice rack, that's tragic.'
'I don't really eat spicy food,' Yuri explained, although it wasn't because he didn't like it- it was just absolute hell to purge anything hot. He wanted to preserve as much of his throat as was possible with the already corrosive acid coming up.
'Sorry, I forget sometimes...'
'Forget what?'
'That you're white.'
Yuri giggled and shrugged nonchalantly, watching Otabek practically empty the pot of chilli powder into his food. He poked at his own food, not even wanting to look at it in case the calories jumped from the picture in his mind to his stomach. It felt wrong to even smell it. Could he ingest calories from breathing in its scent? He pushed it away uneasily, his head swimming. He didn't know if it was fear or he was just dizzy from starvation, but he suddenly felt nauseated.
'What did you want to ask me?' He quickly brought this up so as to distract Otabek from the fact that he wasn't eating.
'Oh, right,' Otabek put down his fork, took a long sip of water and stood up, his hands wringing together again. Yuri was struck by how anxious he looked, and it in turn rubbed off on him. 'Look how nervous you're making me.'
'Me?' It went straight past Yuri that he could possibly be the cause of this. He was always the flustered one, not the flusterer.
'I'm totally helpless,' Seeing Yuri's bashful smile made Otabek brave and he plucked up what courage he had in his cowardly lion mind. He inhaled cool air to steel his nerves and took Yuri's hands, pulling him up. 'I wanted to ask you if you wanted to make this a serious thing.'
'Oh,' Yuri gasped and felt his knees go weak. 'Is this a joke?'
'No, you idiot! Jesus, as if it wasn't hard enough to ask...' Otabek saw how pale his face had turned and how his hand had grabbed at the tabletop. 'I meant it.'
'Then... Yes,' Yuri surprised him by saying, no hint of uncertainty in his voice. 'But I'll need to tell everyone. I can't keep lying.'
'Yeah, of course. When?'
'I mean... Tonight? My mum will be home soon. I'll text my friends tonight or something. Will you stick around while I tell her?' He didn't want to admit he just needed somebody's hand to hold in case she got angry.
'Whatever you need,' Otabek kissed his head. 'I will be right here.'