For the love of Yuri

A walk in life

Nervously I glanced at Yuri. Why was he coming to the skating rink too? I thought. Otabek walked at his sides. His leather jacket hanging on him making him look more of the bad boy. It would have worked better if he wasn’t smiling up at the sun like some kind of five year old. I eyed him. Why was he here? He seemed to go wherever Yuri went.
“Yuuri?” Victor drew my attention back to him. “What is it that you get out of teaching little ones to skate?” He arched a silver eyebrow at me. I smiled thinking about the young kids.
“A paycheck!” Yuri cried. “Look old man just follow and keep quiet!” he yelled looking more sour than usual. I still was shocked that he had managed a decent exchange with me that morning. I ducked my head to watch the sidewalk glide by under my feet.
“Yuuri?” Christophe’s smooth voice purred out my name. I blinked at him. He had been a grade above me for a long time. I hadn’t really had much interaction with him.  He failed last year putting him in our grade. It wasn’t that he wasn’t smart. Its just that he cared more about sex now.
“Yes?” I asked when he didn’t go any further.
“Are you a virgin?” What? I screamed inside my head. My face already giving away my answer.
“What does it matter to you?” I tried to be forceful, my voice cracked at the end. He laughed.
“Oh, how cute!” He swung up beside me to wrap an arm around my waist. “Now tell me, are you into girls or guys?” he purred seductively.
“Yuuri!” A friendly voice called out. I managed to shake Christophe off.
“Yuuko!” I smiled waving back. She would be the other instructor working with me. I rushed forward to get away from the unwanted questions.
“These are my friends from school. They want to skate while I take care of the paper work.” I explained.
“Takeshi can get them set up.” She waved to them. We headed in. Yuuko directed them to the counter where her boyfriend Takeshi waited flipping through a magazine. Once he was busy getting them all skates, she lead me around to the employee entrance. We walked up the stairs to the office.
“Yuuri, I see you brought some business, good for you!” Yakov cried as I came in. He handed me a clipboard with a bunch of papers on it. Directing me to a table out in the hall he told me to fill everything out. I thanked him and went to complete the paper.
It took me almost an hour to get everything done. Finally I set the pen down. Flexing my fingers as they began to cramp up. I looked around. The walls were painted a light mauve color. Orchids sat in a vase on a glass table in the corner. It was pleasant. Standing my back cracked. I took the clipboard into Yakov. He handed me my schedule. We looked it over.
I would be working Monday, Wednesday and Fridays after school from four to eight. Then on Saturdays from eight to four. “Saturdays we have several different things going on. In the morning the little kids come in for class. That lasts an hour. You have a fifteen minute break then forty five minutes to get set up for the ten to two rush. That’s the open skate for teens. We play music, you Yuuko and Takeshi along with Leo will be guards on the ice. Make sure no one falls, gets hurt that sort of thing. Every other Saturday we have a band come in. That will be eight to midnight. You will work the first Saturday of every month for that. Any questions?”
“No. That sounds great.” I told him. He clapped a hand to my shoulder.
“I think you will work out great here, Yuuri.” We shook hands and he let me go to skate with my friends. By the time I got my skates on and met them, they were all getting bored. Otabek was the only one who looked like he was still enjoying the ice.
“Yuuri, you made it!” he called. He swished the ice as he came up to me. The others were lining the boards. “Lets see what you can do.” He gestured toward the near empty ice. I smirked.
“I’m not warmed up yet.” He skated around a few times with me. I had stretched out my legs in the dressing room. He swung up beside Yuri. I glanced around at them. They were all watching. It made me nervous.
“Don’t fall on your face, piggy.” Yuri called. That made me all the more anxious. A hand slipped into mine. Looking over I saw Yuuko. She smiled up at me. Together we separated. Swinging out we flowed as one over the ice. Making sure we kept our distance from each other. We did spins, jumps and step sequences. It was fun having her there with me.
When it was over we stood facing each other. Our hands lightly touching. The applause started slow but picked up enthusiasm. We bowed to each other than to my friends. Christophe and Victor looked awed. Otabek looked pleased that someone else knew how to skate. Yuri looked like he sucked on a sour lemon.
“Yay, the piggy didn’t fall.” He glared at me as if I had ruined his life. I skated over to them Victor pulled me into a hug.
“That was fantastic, Yuuri. Can you show me how to do that?” he cried. Laughing I told him I would try. It was hard to be down around Victor. The only one that seemed to manage it was Yuri.
We spent another hour on the ice. I showed Victor and Christophe how to do simple spins. Victor actually was able to do a double axel before we left. It was nearly four by then. We walked together until someone had to part ways as they reached their road. Christophe and Victor were first.
Yuri walked sullen beside Otabek. “Hey, when did you learn to skate?”  Otabek suddenly asked me.
“Oh when I was young we had this neighbor who used to do ballet. She became a teacher when she blew out her knee. Her daughter was a few years older than me. We started practice together. Then I met Yuri in kindergarten.” I glanced at the sullen face. He looked like he wasn’t listening but I saw his jaw clench.
“His mother used to give us rides. Come first grade though…” My voice trailed away as I looked down at the road.
“Wait, you guys were friends?” Otabek looked totally taken aback by this. I only shrugged. What did it matter now. It was ten years ago.
“Yeah. In another life.” Yuri muttered. It was so low I wasn’t sure I heard him correctly. We were nearing my home. Here more tourists were out in the streets.
“Oh I missed my road!” Otabek laughed. “Guess I got caught up in your story, Yuuri.” He chuckled.
“YUURI!” I heard my name cried out. Phichit was standing beside the gate that lead up to the inn my parents owned. The cherry blossom tree had rained petals in his black hair. He looked cute.
“Cute, Phichit.” I giggled turning my attention to picking out the petals from his hair. Phichit laughed.
“I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” He stated.
“Well here he is, now go away!” Yuri grouched.
“No way, you live in a hot spring!” Otabek was reading the sign beside the door.
Laughing I nodded. “Yeah. You know, you can come use it some time.” I offered.
“Do you just love all the fucking guys hanging on you? Are you a gay little piggy?” Yuri suddenly exploded. “Why can’t you just keep your little piggy hands off of at least one guy?” he continued to yell.
“I uh…” I stammered.
“Yuri, chill. Dude I told you I was gay. You said you were fine with that. Yet your calling out Yuuri like that?” he looked shocked and a little hurt. “You don’t even know if he is gay.” He said.
“I, uh, well I am.” I stuttered. I saw them all turn to look at me. Until now I hadn’t said it out loud. When Phichit had asked me I had only nodded. Although he was bi, we didn’t hook up. We were friends and we were great with that. He did have a pen pal Minami that he talked to a lot. They had never met in real life yet.
“You, you are?” Otabek looked surprised. “I think I need to get my gaydar fixed.” He joked.
“Why?” I asked anything to keep Yuri calm.
“I guess the way you just shove everyone away. Like when Christophe was clinging to you. Then that girl Yuuko at the rink….” He shook his head. “You looked pretty taken by her.”
“Oh, well she is pretty. I can see that but she is just a friend. Takeshi and her have been dating for awhile now.” I explained.
“And Victor?” Yuri spat the name out. Before I could say anything my face flamed bright red. “You like that ass twink?” Yuri cried.
I shrugged. “He's nice. And those eyes…” my voice trailed away as Otabek laughed, Yuri scowled and Phichit nodded.
“Yeah he does have interesting eyes.” Otabek agreed. “I like green myself.” He added as if in an after thought. I blinked. I knew Yuri's eyes were a brilliant emerald green. Did he like the blond?
“Um, do you guys want to come in?” I asked.
“What so we can all bathe together?”  Yuri grumped. I sighed.
“I guess there is no pleasing you is there?” I asked. Uncharacteristically I glared at him. “Well I think this little piggy will go wallow in the hot springs. Have a good night, Yuri.” I stormed turning to Otabek. “The offer stands whenever you want to come by. See you in school tomorrow.” I said a little less rude. Taking Phichit's arm I dragged him toward the front gate.
“I thought piggy’s liked mud!” Yuri yelled.
“What do you think my bedroom is?” I yelled back as the door closed. I heard Otabek laughing.
“STOP IT! IT WASN’T THAT FUNNY!” Yuri screeched. Phichit and I looked at each other. We both burst out laughing. We fell to the ground holding our stomachs we laughed so hard. Mom had to come yell at us to get inside since we were disturbing the guests. Together we rushed up to my room. Phichit ended up spending the night.