A Heart Beats At Night

Chapter 28

"I should have talked to Viktor before he went out," groaned Yuri, slumped over the kitchen table. "Fuck, it was the perfect time, and I just-"

Otabek wrapped his arms around Yuri, propping his chin on the blond head, and let the still-surreal thrill spark between their skin. He's here, he's really here.

"When he gets back will be fine too, Yura," he murmured. "It'll be okay."

It'll be okay. Yura. Words that, a month ago, he could have never imagined crossing his lips again.

Yuri wore a tank top despite the December chill. Sleeves didn't really make a difference, he'd told Otabek, without body heat to hold in. The bones of his shoulders pressed through pale skin, Yuri's collarbone arching as he sighed. Otabek ducked his head, leaving a soft kiss on the crook of his neck. You're here, of course everything will be okay.

The corners of Yuri's eyes crinkled, his vampiric version of a blush.

"You don't have freckles anymore," said Otabek, half trying to distract Yuri, half distracted himself. "Your shoulders used to have freckles all year."

Yuri shrugged. Vampire thing, he meant, but Otabek was caught in another train of thought, staring intently at Yuri's back. Yuri twisted around as Otabek ran his hands across one shoulder, then the other, looking for the telltale splotch of ink.

Where is it? Trickles of panic crawled through the air as he looked at where Yuri's tattoo should have been, whispering it's not real it's not real you're dreaming.

"Beka?" Yuri turned, cupping Otabek's face in cool fingers. "What's up?"

"Your tattoo." Otabek swallowed, trying to clear the lump from his throat as he remembered Yuri grinning at him as the needle hummed across his skin, tracing the outlines of a cat across his shoulder blade. "It's not there."

"Hey, Beka, it's okay," Yuri said softly. "Everything healed, all my scars, the tattoo. I was so pissed off when I noticed."

Otabek took a deep breath. It was easier to ground himself with Yuri's eyes on his, the medicine beginning to work its way through his body.

"All of them?" Otabek looked more closely. Sure enough, the handful of faint marks left over from Yuri's brief bout of teenage acne were gone. He thought about his own crop of scars, pearly lines that contrasted with his darker skin. "Pretty convenient, I guess."

"Really fucking weird," Yuri muttered, shifting in his seat. "Like, all of them."

"Yeah?" Otabek tilted his head, noting Yuri's brief glance at his stomach, and sudden not-blush.

"It's, um, kinda freaky," he said, looking away. "I don't- I didn't actually realize it was a scar, until..."

"Oh. Oh." Otabek tried to hide his blossoming grin and failed. "You don't- can I?"

Yuri lifted the hem of his shirt, revealing perfectly smooth, unmarked skin.

"Vampires don't have belly buttons." Otabek laughed then, the simple absurdity taking over. "Oh my god, Yura, you don't have a belly button."

"Go fuck yourself, it was very startling," Yuri insisted, scowling and dropping his shirt again. "You don't think it's weird?"

"Wolf, Yura," Otabek reminded him. "You have to work a lot harder than that to bother me."

"I'll get you sometime," Yuri grumbled, looking vaguely disappointed in his lack of dark mystique, and leaned back against Otabek. He looked up, and Otabek had a split second to prepare himself because Yuri had a question in his eyes, one of the heart-pounding, breath-stealing questions.