Snowflakes swirl through the air as we walk down the scarcely populated street. There are very few people out walking through the freshly falling snow, but there were a few people who when they had seen us gave a smile or even a wave of recognition. Yuri has only been considered a Russian skater for less than a year, but he has already amassed quite a bit of popularity amongst the fellow skaters and fans alike. He has received fan letters from Russian and Japanese fans alike, it seems that his move to Saint Petersburg has only increased his once blossoming popularity.
"What are you thinking about Victor?" Yuri asks, bumping into me playfully with his arm.
"Nothing too important." I confess with a smile.
"Then why space out?"
"Good question," I interlace my fingers with his. The warmth of his hands bleeding through my gloves and warming my palm with their pleasantly familiar and lovely warmth. "I apologize for leaving you all alone."
"You didn't leave me alone." He murmurs quietly. "You are right next to me." I smile from the bottom of my heart as I pull him closer to me, our arms brushing against one another as we walk. He always gets likes his whenever he gets embarrassed, and I always love to hold him close to me, slowly soothing the humiliated burn that is scorching its way through his body. My presence somehow acts like a balm on the burn that his mind inflicts upon him, soothing the heat and the soreness that is left behind. "You look really cute." He whispers. I look over at him with a smile.
"Oh?"
"With the antlers on, you look really cute." He whispers, a flush of pink coloring his cheeks with a radiance that cause his skin to glow even more than usual. Its beautiful to behold in the light of the rising stars and the faint glow of the streetlights that we are walking underneath. It has been such a long time since Yuri and I had stopped to take a moment like this. To just enjoy each others company away from all responsibilities. No dogs, no trainers, no practice, no cameras. Just him and me.
"Thank you, you are too kind." I reply with a laugh. "They look rather charming on you as well." I reach up and adjust his antlers slightly. "I guess it is a good thing that your mom had sent us these, huh?"
"Yeah." He smiles. "Good thing she is always buying things that I would never buy." I can't help but laugh as I squeeze his hand in mine.
"It's true, she is the you that you always needed." Yuri gives me a sideways glance and all I can do is smile as he holds my hand in his, gently refusing to let me go. If only he realized by now that even if he let go of me I would grab back onto him and pull him back to my side. No matter how hard he tries he will never truly be rid of me. The only way he can be rid of me is for me to die and I have no intention of going anywhere for quite some time.
"It's true that I always need her, she's my mom, but is it really accurate to say that she is me?"
"In a way, she is an extension of you Yuri."
"I know that she made me, but that doesn't exactly make her into me."
"Yuri, you're being too literal." I reply with a laugh. "She isn't literally you," I give his hand a squeeze. "That would be rather horrifying to be honest. I was merely saying that a part of you is also in her. We learn from our parents and in ways that we are yet to realize we are much like our parents and they like us." Yuri gives me a look that makes me pause. "What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Just trying to figure it all out." He murmurs as he continues to look at me.
"Figure what out?"
"How you got all that from looking at two pairs of slide on antlers that my mom probably picked up at a dollar store somewhere?" My lips twitch as he stops and comes to stand right in front of me, his hand still interlaced with mine as he looks up into my eyes intently. "I don't understand how your brain works just yet."
"Has that been something you've been trying to figure out?"
"Since the day I met you."
"Oh, and how much progress have you made?" I ask with interest, pulling him slowly closer.
"Not even a single percent." I can't stop the laughter that explodes out of me at his answer and his cheeks begin to color into a harsh shade of red. He tries to pull his hand away from mine but I tighten my grip as I continue to laugh uncontrollably, wrapping Yuri in my arms and holding me tight. "Your train of thought is very difficult for me to follow sometimes." Yuri mumbles, his face continuing to glow a bright shade of red. "I'm kind of ashamed that even after all this time you are still like a perfect stranger to me. We're supposed to be partners and I can't even guess what you are thinking or predict what you are going to do in a certain situation. It's like we don't know each other at all."
"I don't feel that way at all."
"Well, of course you don't." he mumbles. "You can practically read my mind at any given moment. Sometimes it feels like you know what I am going to do before I do, you are like a superior being to me when it comes to relationships."
"Superior being." I repeat quietly. "Well, it is rather flattering to be considered so highly, but you need to realize that all of that mind reading you were just talking about," he looks up at me curiously as I pause for a moment. "It's all guessing."
"You can't be serious."
"I am making a bunch of guesses and hoping that I made the right one, sometimes I feel like you are just humoring me."
"But you always kn-" I cover his lips with my hands, finally silencing the babble that always seems to fall from his lips.
"I know just as much as anyone else does about what someone else is thinking." I reply slowly, sternly. "Yuri, love and relationships are not about how well you know the other person or how capable you are at predicting their next move. It's about being there with them in the moments that they surprise you. Love and Life is all about surprises and how you choose to handle them." I slide my hand away from his lips. "I choose to live everyday as if I am meeting you for the first time. I always learn something new about you while remembering everything else that we have ever experienced together. You don't need to be able to predict my next move Yuri, because in knowing what I will do there will no longer be any surprises, and where is the fun in that?"
"How do you always sound so composed and well spoken like that?"Yuri asks quietly, a gentle smile playing on his lips. "You always something beautiful like that and I don't know how to respond."
"Surprise me then." I whisper quietly into his ear, his cheeks coloring as he looks away from me briefly. Those beautiful eyes tentatively finding their way back to mine.
"I think you should have been a poet instead of a skater."
"Why not both?" I ask with a faint laugh. "I think I could be both."
"You probably could be both. You're always surprising me like that."
YOU ARE READING
Agape (book 2)
أدب الهواةVictor was used to a life of solitude, but that all changed when Yuri came into his life. Now Yuri lives with him in Russia and is engaged to be married. Everything is going beautifully, but there is still quite a ways to go before they can reach th...
