wandered around. He'd ended up in the pub Angelo had found him in.
“The rest,” he said grandly, “is history.”
“What am I going to do with you?”
Yuri laid his head on Angelo's shoulder. He breathed in the other man's scent. He was using some new kind of soap, and a different cologne, but underneath he was just Angelo. He smelled like home. “I missed you,” Yuri said.
“God, prin—Yuri. You can't say shit like that.”
Yuri pulled back and looked at Angelo's face, but in the dark, it was mostly all shadows. “Why not?”
Angelo ran a hand through his hair. “Because you just can't.”
Too tired to say anything more, Yuri leaned back against Angelo's arm and drifted off.
The next thing he knew, Yuri was in a lift. “How'd I get here?”
Angelo snorted. “How do you think? If you remember any of this tomorrow, it'll be a miracle.”
“I've been a bad, bad boy.” Yuri looked up at Angelo owlishly. “You should punish me. It's your duty.”
“My duty. Right.” The lift doors opened and Angelo tugged Yuri out of it by his elbow. “This way. That's my door. Don't vomit on the floor while I'm unlocking it.”
“'Kay. Yuri had reached the state in his drunkenness when things were supremely difficult to do. Even easy things, like standing. Still, he did his level best. Luckily, he had a wall generously helping him to remain vertical.
“Come on.” Angelo propelled Yuri through the now-open doorway.
He steered Yuri into his small, but modern and sleek, kitchen and sat him down in a stool set by the countertop. It was black stone with swirls of white and gray and even pink drawn through it. Marble? Maybe? Yuri laid his cheek down on it and loved the coolness he felt.
“This is lovely. Good countertop. I approve.”
Angelo snorted a laugh. “I'm not sure I could've lived with myself if you didn't.”
“Well I do, so bullet dodged. This is way nicer than a castle,” he said wistfully. “Probably less drafty, too.”
“Probably.” Angel brought a glass of iced water over to Yuri and put a few pills down on the counter. “Drink this. Not too fast, or you'll probably hurl again, and take the pills. I'll make you a sandwich.”
“Don't wanna sandwich,” Yuri said sulkily, but he took the pills obediently. After he swallowed, he frowned. Those pills could've been anything and yet he'd still shoved them in his mouth. It was a dumb thing to do, but this was Angelo. “You might hate me but you'd never poison me.”
Angelo put a plate of sandwiches on the counter and grabbed one. “Eat,” he demanded. “And why do you think I'd poison you?”
“But I don't.” Yuri blinked at Angelo. Hadn't he made that clear already? “Said so. You wouldn't poison me. Probably more likely to push me off a mountain.”
“The next time we're home and you piss me off, I'll keep that in mind.”
Both men fell silent then, thinking of their parents' ultimatum.
“Eat your sandwich,” Angelo eventually said. “It’s your favorite.”
And of course it was. Ham, Emmental cheese, dijon mustard, and a very thin layer of raspberry jam. Angelo had always maintained it was utterly disgusting, but he still had picked up a sandwich and now took a huge bite out of it.
“No raspberry on yours?” Yuri asked just to have something to say. Being with Angelo was strange. It had been a while since they’d been like this, sitting in a kitchen and eating sandwiches and not sniping or fighting… or doing other things. It was nice, but also unsettling.
Angelo’s cheeks and ears darkened slightly. He was blushing.
“Wait,” Yuri said. “Just wait one damn…” He floundered about, his inebriated brain having discarded all useful words, then it came to him. “Second. Right. That’s it. Or minute? Is it minute?”
“Does it matter?” Angelo took another bite of sandwich but continued to blush.
“Prob’ly not. But have I brought you over to the dark side?”
Angelo startled. “What?”
“Dark side. You know. Where we put raspberry on ham sandwiches.”
“Oh.” Angelo seemed to be a bit relieved for some reason. “One day I was feeling nostalgic, I guess, and I made one just to remember how vile it was, but… it wasn’t.”
Yuri crowed in triumph. “Yes! You finally admit I’m right about something.” He put down his sandwich and leaned forward to Angelo. “Maybe I’m right about all sorts of…” he belched hugely. “’Scuse me. Things. All the things.”
“Let’s not go too far. Eat your sandwich, Yuri. Finish your water.”
“Then what?”
Angelo gave Yuri a look he was far too drunk