The alarm went off at 5 A.M. sharp and he got out of the bed, ignoring the darkness from the room. He pressed the button with one swift move and got up from his bed, stretching on the way to the bathroom. He was always sleeping curled, on a side and he knew it was bad for his posture but he simply couldn't fall asleep any other way. His short hair was rather messy so he took the orange elastic and tied it in a ponytail so it wouldn't bother him anymore. A shower and then his routine: 20 Releve Plie, 20 Parallel Pile Pulse, 30 Rond de Jambe, 50 Arabesque lifts. He started doing ballet when he turned four so it was not hard to push it to the extreme, especially now when he had little time. Today he started high-school and his schedule was overturned by education but he couldn't ask private teachers because they didn't have the money. He was the only one providing for his family from skating and ballet and they needed food, facilities and money for his training/costumes/shoes.

His exercises were done in silence, like usual in the morning and after he was done with them he realized it was already 7 AM and his grandfather was probably up.

"Yura, breakfast is ready!" The hoarse voice of an old man collided with his door and he got up, tiptoeing to the kitchen.

"Morning" He mumbled and his grandpa nodded, placing the plate in front of him and sitting at the table himself. There was coffee but Yuri was having none for he was not a fan. Instead, he took the bottle of water and poured himself some, drinking it before beginning to eat.

"There's nothing shameful in starting high school later" Grandpa said and Yuri nodded. He was a year later and he knew it was weird in the eyes of the others. "Most teens haven't done what you've done so far" He nodded again. "I've made some piroschki for you"

"Thanks!" The blonde smiled, taking the paper bag that he stuffed inside his leopard print backpack. "I'll go and change" he announced and hurried towards the room in search for a black large hoodie and some sweat pants. They didn't have a uniform so he decided to wear what he wore on a daily basis until then. Sneakers on, headphones on and after he said goodbye he played music until he reached the damned grey building. They were not living in a big city so it was a mediocre building, probably filled with mediocre people. "Fuck this shit" he mumbled; he spent all his life running away from mediocrity. He's got the name of the headteacher of his supposed-to-be-class so he went to the secretary and asked where he could find the woman. He presented himself to the blonde woman and tried not to frown to bad when she said he was supposed to present himself because school started a week ago. Well, it wasn't his fault he had to participate and win the Russian Olympics.

When he entered the class there were more than 20 people talking and yelling and his annoyance hit the roof. He didn't have the time for this kind of bullshit. The teacher yelled so she could catch their attention and an awkward silence enveloped the room while everyone turned to look at his frown. Well, fuck them.

"This is your new classmate, Yuri Plisetsky" the teacher said and he did a simple wave, before picking a place to sit. Everyone began to murmur and he knew they recognized him from the TV and magazines. No one approached him that day but he could swear some of them took pictures of him. He sat alone at lunch and ate his piroschkis which were delicious and after the classes ended he hurried towards the skate-rink where he was usually working with Yakov. No one was there so he began doing his exercises and skating around in circles, trying some of his jumps to make sure he still could do it. It was the first season he was allowed to make such complicated jump but he's been nothing but professional so far.

"Yuri, you're early" Yakov said, entering the place.

"You're late, old pig!" He yelled and the man sighed, ordering him to do as many triple axels as he could. He managed them all and soon his teammates arrived and they followed the usual path until night-fell and he got home where grandpa was already sleeping. After the Olympics his life turned monotone, he didn't want to accept but he kinda missed Viktor and Yuri along with the other fuckers. Now everyone was back in their own country and it was fucking boring. He took a shower and jumped in bed, deciding to check his Instagram. It seemed everyone was having fun, they were either with their families or visiting or training. Only he was the high-school loser. He wanted to grow up already. He liked a few pictures, commented some other and then something pinged and he looked to see he had a new message. It was from Otabek Altin and it wrote "Hi". He stared at the screen a little bit confused and wrote a "hi" back.

Otabek was the first person to ask if he wanted to be his friend. As he never had one before, Yuri was confused. What were you supposed to do with a friend? Put it in a jar and make some holes so he could breathe? His relationships with humans were complicated, that's why he preferred felines. Another ping.

OtabekAltin: How was the first day of high school? He sighed. Deplorably.

Yuri Plisetsky: I hope they all die and go to hell.

OtabekAltin: High school sucks compared to college. Otabek was old enough to be in his first year of college, he was studying English which was rare for Kazahstan, the country he was from. In fact, he was living on his own in Astana which was the capital.

Yuri Plisetsky: ... How the fuck should I know that? A few minutes of thinking for a proper answer. The truth is, he was kind of lonely and there weren't many people wanting to talk with him. Otabek was weird, he suddenly appeared and told him they took ballet classes together when they were younger and asked if they were gonna be friends. Out of the blue.

OtabekAltin: Were they mean? Yuri growled lowly.

Yuri Plisetsky: Don't need your pity. Like I give a fuck about what they are.

OtabekAltin: Had training today? Yuri sighed and rolled on his tummy and rested his head on a pillow, making Sofyia, his cat, stir and come close to him. She began purring for attention so he petted her a bit until he started to type.

Yuri Plisetsky: Yes, tomorrow ballet too.

OtabekAltin: You take ballet seriously. Well, yes, it was an alternative and it made him very flexible for ice-skating. Also, he was not satisfied with only two or three competitions per year and he needed another hobby.

OtabekAltin: How many years?

Yuri Plisetsky: 12 now.

OtabekAltin: That's a lot. Are you coming to ISU Challenger Competition? It was held in Moscow and it was held 2 months later. He was planning on participating because it was light and fun after all the stress he's gone through with the last competition.

Yuri Plisetsky: Yea, I'm gonna win.

OtabekAltin: Not if I'm participating. Yuri smirked. The older bastard had some guts.

Yuri Plisetsky: It's a bet then. He didn't know what else to say and soon he received a video. He tapped on it and saw it was with cats doing random stuff, like making Christmas trees fall off or being scared by cucumbers. He got his laptop and signed in before watching it til the end.

OtabekAltin: Saw this and it reminded me of you. Thank God he was alone because he felt his face heating and yelped, annoyed. No one said these kind of stuff before to him, it was weird to hear those from him but maybe it was normal in a friendship.

He couldn't remember the last time he went so late to sleep. He must've fallen asleep around 2, Otabek too because they kept small-talking and accidentally touched the subject "cats" so because of Yuri they couldn't see the end of it. When he woke up he was the absolute zombie but he's done his routine and then went to school where he fell asleep in the middle of History class. Who needed that bullshit anyway? He kept his phone close but there was no trace of message so at lunch he decided to turn it off until after ballet. At lunch he went to pick some food and then a table where he began eating, all in silence. It was annoying.

"Is this seat taken?" He looked up to see a black-haired guy, a lot taller than him, with glasses. He shook his head.

"The other 4 are free too" He mumbled sarcastic and the guy laughed. He continued to eat without asking/saying anything.

"So you're really Yuri Plisetsky" Yuri nodded and took another bite from the potatoes. "That's awesome, dude, you're like a celebrity" He shrugged his shoulders. "Your fans are called Yuri's Angels, right?"

"More like devils" he grunted and the guy laughed again. They were always chasing him and taking pictures of him and wearing those cat-ears.

"So you delayed school for skating?" He nodded. "Are you still training?"

"Of course, my career is only at the beginning, I will be the best skater of all times" He said loud enough for a few to turn their heads. He glared at them rudely and they resumed their previous conversations/activities.

"I'm Dimitri, by the way" The blonde nodded at him and the boy smiled. "We have the same Geography class" Whatever he said. The guy continued to bug him but it was a nice type of bugging, he was not rude or anything and the truth was he was feeling kind of lonely. He kept asking him if he knew the other skaters, if it was true he had a close relationship with Viktor Nikiforov, the former best skater, how many countries he's visited so far, trivial things anyone would have asked if they weren't afraid. "I was thinking about going out after school, wanna come?"

"Training" Yuri said bored and the other gasped.

"How much do you train a day?"

"Depends. On a week day four hours of skating, three if there are two hours of ballet too and 7 on the weekends" The other guy opened his mouth shocked, he couldn't imagine doing something so exhausted for so many hours. He realized the guy was stunned so he stopped his chewing. "What?"

"That's a lot" It wasn't easy when you wanted to be the best. "Can I come see you training sometimes?" Why not? After he accepted he picked his trail and sent it to the cleaning room and then headed for Math where he tried not to fall asleep once again. Then skating. Yakov must've slept bad too because he exhausted them, demanding the highest jumps and the most complicated turns. He was in a straddle, his foot behind his neck when he turned on his phone and took a big gulp of water. As soon as he got online his phone pinged. It was a GIF with a cat saying hi and it was from Otabek. His ears got red by the time he answered with a simple hi. He explained he was at training but one thing lead to another.

"No messaging during training, Plisetsky" Yakov yelled and the 15 yo almost dropped his phone.

"Shut up, old man, I'm coming in a minute!" He left his phone down after a quick bye and then went back to business. Ballet broke his back so once he got home he had a shower, had a nice talk with his gramps and then went straight to sleep, announcing Otabek about all those. The next few days they kept texting back and forth. When he woke up, he was messaging Otabek or the other way around, at school, at night, sending silly videos of cats. He sometimes thought of calling him but it was too weird, he guessed. One day he got out of the shower when his phone rang and he picked it up by reflex, wondering if it was one stupid skating mate.

"Hi" It was Otabek's low voice that made him drop the towel he was holding and check that his door was closed.

"Hi" he said a little unconvinced. "How're you doing?" It was uncharacteristic but it was all he could get out because he was feeling weird.

"I just finished training and I was on my way home, have you listened to that song I've sent you?" It was a indie rock song that he enjoyed a lot so he replied with a short yes and they began talking about it for a while. He was walking fast because he was breathing hard, not that it was bothering Yuri.

"Are you living far?" He held the phone with his shoulder while tying his hair in a ponytail, his bangs too.

"5 more minutes, am I keeping you from anything?"

"Nope" Yuri said simply, looking at himself in the mirror. He was wearing his black pajamas.

"Have you eaten today?" What a weird question.

"Yes, grampa made me piroschki again" The other one chuckled.

"Those seem to be your favorite" The blonde suddenly was enthusiastic.

"They are if they're made by him! I will bring you some at ISU"

"Thanks" Another few minutes in silence. "I've just reached the apartments, I'mma text you after I take a shower"

"Okay, bye" Yuri hung up and then went to his grandpa who was reading a magazine. They made sure they spent as much time possible together everyday. Grampa was his only family; his father was not there when he was born and when he was only a toddler his mother ran away too so he felt nothing towards them, instead he put all his love in the old man who took care of him and encouraged him in everything. Nikolai Plisetsky was not a soft man but he raised Yuri as he could and never stood between the boy and his dreams. The next few weeks passed just the same and his discussions with Otabek turned deeper and longer. It was a week before the ISU when a package came for him and he signed the paper confused, wondering what was inside. He was sure he didn't order anything. He cut the paper off with his nails and found inside a backpack that was like the head of a tiger and began to hyperventilate around the room because it was "purrfect". Inside that thing was a note that wrote: I am waiting for the piroschkis, may the best win! There was no signature but he knew too well who sent it.