Victor pulled a chair out sitting opposite his mother and Yuri quickly took the seat next to him. The two had spent the last hour or so just messing around in Victor's room. After a good half-hour of chatting, cuddling and making out, Victor had put on a film to watch and they had settled down next to each other. But after only twenty minutes they had both become distracted again. It started out subtly, with a few discrete brushes here and there, but as the film continued they edged closer and closer together. They shared a few sweet kisses at around fifteen minutes in, but it quickly escalated and when they were called for dinner it was all one big rush to smooth down their hair and clothes, though there was nothing they could do about their equally distressed lips.
"So did you enjoy doing your schoolwork? Did you get it done?" Mary asked with a knowing glance at both Victor and Yuri as she picked up her fork.
Victor who had picked up his glass of water to take a sip burst out coughing and poor oblivious Yuri next to him just rubbed his back asking if he was ok. Victor nodded quickly, placing the glass down and holding a hand to his mouth to catch the occasional coughs as he tried desperately to get air back into his lungs.
"I-I'm fine," he rasped.
The concerned look didn't leave Yuri's eyes but he dropped his hand from Victor's back. Once Victor had pulled himself together he looked up at his mother who was sat, her elbow on the table, propping up her head.
"Yes," Victor hissed across the table, "we got out schoolwork done."
Mary hummed in reply before picking up her fork and digging into the meal. Yuri noticed this and looked to Victor for confirmation before picking up his own fork and stabbing a piece of chicken. It was delicious. He doubted that this was how Victor ate every night, but still, to have a parent that would actually cook such a meal was, to Yuri, incredible.
"Thank you for having me over," Yuri smiled between mouthfuls, "this food is amazing."
"Oh, it's my pleasure," Mary said, glancing at Victor with a wide smile as if to say 'He's so polite!'
Victor grinned in recognition.
"So Yuri, are you in many of Victor's classes?" Mary asked.
Yuri quickly swallowed the mouthful he was eating before he opened his mouth to speak, "No actually, we only have English together."
"He's too clever for me," Victor added causing Yuri's face to light up crimson. He could tell Victor was really trying hard to show him off to his mother, but it was really quite embarrassing for him.
"It's not like that...we only take two of the same subjects," Yuri mumbled.
"He got into the school with one-hundred per cent scholarship," Victor added.
"So are you already thinking about universities for a couple of years time?"
Yuri nodded, "Yeah, I don't really know exactly where I want to go yet or even if I'll be able to go but I've thought about maybe applying to places like Oxford or Cambridge."
Mary's eyes went wide and out of the corner of his eye, he could see Victor's lips curl into a proud and knowing smile.
"So your grades at the moment must be really good if you're looking at Oxbridge." Mary inputted as if informing herself instead of everyone else at the table.
"He's a straight-A student," Victor hummed in delight.
"Well maybe you could teach Victor here a thing or two," Mary said, sending a slight-glare towards her son, knowing full well that he would be lucky to get higher than a C in anything that wasn't sport related.
Yuri chuckled at Mary's remark and found his thoughts flying back to shortly after they had first met, Victor, asking him for help with the English essay.
"I'll give it a go," Yuri smiled.
Everyone around the table smiled and they took the break in the conversation as an opportunity to get down to eating. So far Yuri had been pleasantly surprised. He wasn't always the best at dealing with new people as he always found it hard to keep a conversation going, but Mary was easy to talk to and having Victor there helped too in some ways.
Subtly Victor slipped one hand under the table, he prodded at Yuri's elbow which was hanging off the side just out of his mother's view and as Yuri looked over he rolled his eyes a little before also slipping his hand under the table. Victor entwined their fingers and rested their hands on Yuri's thigh. He turned his attention back to the table though gently moved his fingers below, brushing against Yuri's leg.
Yuri squeezed Victor's hand, grabbing his attention before glaring at him. The last thing Yuri wanted was to be called out for being inappropriate at the table. But Victor didn't care, he smirked right back and nudged their hands a little closer to the inside of Yuri's thigh.
Immediately Yuri shoved Victor's hand away, leaning close to his ear and hissing a 'Stop it!' into his ear.
"You know I can see what you're doing right?" Mary queried, her voice amused.
Yuri's face instantly lit up in flames and he gave Victor a light shove before burying his head in his arms. Victor too flushed red but sniggered at Yuri's reaction and only leaned over his food to continue eating without looking at his mother.
"Yuri dear," Mary started and Yuri slightly lifted his head out of his arms when he heard his name. Victor laughed again at Yuri's rosy cheeks only for Yuri to throw another glare right back at him. "I was just wondering how your mother is? You see, we used to work together...it must have been some ten years or so ago now..."
As Mary's words finished tumbling out of her mouth Yuri began to sit up straighter. The blood began to flee from his face and he could feel his skin pale. He knew it wasn't her fault for asking, if it was ten years ago that they worked together Mary would have known his mother as a happy, healthy, alive human being.
Yuri carefully placed his fork down and allowed his hands to fall to his lap. He could feel both Mary's and Victor's eyes on him and as he looked up again he could see concern etched into both their faces.
"Actually..." Yuri took a deep breath, sighing out the air before bring himself to say the words, "She passed. A few years ago now."
He could feel the emotion from all those years ago welling up inside him. He was thirteen when it happened, not that old, but old enough to know what it meant, that she was dead and she was never coming back.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked," Mary said, tilting her head towards Victor and giving him a hard stare. Victor didn't need to be told, he was already up out of his seat. He pushed the chair out of the way and hauled Yuri out of his seat too.
Tears were beginning to prick the corners of Yuri's eyes as Victor led them through the doorway into the living room, closing it gently behind them. He quickly took a seat on the sofa and patted the spot next to him for Yuri to come and sit down.
Before joining Victor Yuri wiped his eyes with his fingers. He didn't want to cry here, they were having a nice evening and he didn't want to be the one to ruin it.
As he finally slumped down into the sofa Victor wrapped an arm around his shoulders, drawing him into his side.
"I'm sorry, it must've been really hard for you," Victor mumbled, trying to comfort Yuri as he rubbed circles into his shoulder with his thumb.
"No, it's fine," Yuri tried to assure, blinking away the tears and trying to smile, for Victor's sake, "Really, it was three years ago, I should be over it." He sighed, leaning his head into Victor's shoulder.
"She was your mother, Yuri, no one is going to expect you to be over it."
Yuri nodded silently taking Victor's words, but it contradicted everything he'd ever been told since the accident. His father had foolishly drunk them into debt and at the age of fourteen, he was the one left to pick up the pieces. There was no time to cry in his life, no time to mourn.
"What time is it?" Yuri whispered against VIctor's neck.
"Quarter past five."
"I'm sorry for ruining dinner."
"You didn't ruin dinner," Victor sighed, picking his hand up to run his fingers through Yuri's raven locks, "We had all pretty much finished dinner and either way it wasn't your fault."
Yuri hummed in response but he wasn't convinced.
Victor felt Yuri's hot breaths against him as if it were igniting a flame within him, he was determined to cheer him up and he knew exactly what would help.
"How about I get some ice cream from the freezer and we watch a movie?"
"Ok."
A.N. Should I write another chapter today? It's 21:26 and if I start I'll be up until midnight...