sentences for once.
'I shouldn't have run off like that, I know. It was stupid, but I'm stupid and my mind makes me do stupid things. I'm just not used to talking about it. In fact, I don't even know why I told you, considering we met yesterday.'
'Apparently I have a thing for people,' Otabek smirked, and Yuri was enchanted by it. 'I always have. I'm like a siren; I lure people in and they tell me all their secrets.'
'I don't think that's what a siren does.'
'You think I study Greek mythology?'
'Well, what do you study? I mean, shouldn't you be at university?'
'Gap year.'
'And you're not travelling?'
'No. I don't go to different places- I prefer to collect people. I've been exploring the world through conversation, you know?'
'Not really. Am I a collectible?'
'Partially. You're like a rare collector's item.'
'Why? Am I the limited edition anorexic Ken doll?'
Otabek chuckled softly and they started walking together, somehow falling easily into step in spite of their size difference and the fact that Yuri's legs were scraped up from his tree-climbing escapades.
'There's just something about you,' Otabek struggled to find a way to word it that didn't sound odd, but he couldn't. 'You're a real human.'
'Oh, thanks. Thought I was an alien for a second there.'
'No, not like that!'
'Then what?'
Otabek didn't answer; he couldn't, he didn't know how. How could he explain to Yuri that being near him was strangely compelling, that he hadn't noticed until he'd returned home the day before how much of an effect he'd had on him? There weren't apt words to describe what he was feeling, though this came as no surprise to him as he couldn't understand it himself. All the other people he'd met and instantly sparked a friendship with had all been just as nice, and certainly a lot more levelheaded, but Yuri carried with him this enthralling energy that was completely inescapable. He had no idea what was happening to him, but he didn't dislike it.
'I should probably get you home,' He eventually sighed, beginning to steer him back towards where he assumed the Tube station would be. 'It's going to take a few hours to find our way, and it's already starting to get dark.'
In the end, it took half an hour to find the Tube station, twenty minutes to get back to Paddington and then another hour to make it back to Reading. Yuri didn't really talk much on the way back, clearly exhausted from all that dashing around and divulging shocking secrets, so Otabek did all the talking for him. He explained how he'd quickly grown a popular internet persona because of his peculiarly interesting pictures of mundane life, then how followers had persuaded him to start a blog, and then he related what being a people person was like. He could pretty much make anyone feel comfortable with him, and Yuri felt a little patronised by this, but Otabek hurried to assure him that while this might be the case now, the strong feelings of friendship were entirely mutual. When Yuri's train arrived, Otabek walked right up to the doors with him and hugged him tightly before setting him free, making him promise to take care of himself 'until next time'. Yuri dawdled over to a seat, his every atom still reeling from both the embrace and a promise of next time. For the first time in what felt like forever, he didn't weigh himself that night. Although he refused dinner, he didn't obey the compulsive exigencies of his mind that demanded he measure each and every inch of his marvellously flawed body. Instead, he fell asleep without tears, something he had not achieved in a month.