Otabek waited for a reply from the other end. His heart was still pounding in his chest, and the phone felt like it would slip away from his hand at any given moment as he held it against his ear. He tried to ignore the eager faces of the people around him, which included Phichit practically biting into his fist to prevent himself from commenting too much on what was happening around him. There was also Yuuri, who seemed to have a permanently smug look on his face. He still didn't know the deal between him and Viktor.

"Otabek?"

He breathed out a sigh of relief, unaware that he was actually holding his breath, because for a moment he had wondered if maybe Lei had disappeared all of a sudden.

However.

"You know my name?"

Yuuri laughed loudly at that, while Phichit silently reacted by pretending to freak out; or maybe he really was freaking out. He seemed way too excited about everything and Yuuko had to hold him back in place. Otabek could hear another voice on the phone go 'way to go, Lei' and he tried to keep himself from smiling, but failed in the end, allowing a small smile to grace his face.

"Aw, look, he's smiling," Viktor cooed softly, which led Leo to motion for him to keep quiet.

"Sorry," came the voice from the other line, followed by another soft 'ow!' in the background. "I heard it from your friends, I didn't really mean to, it was when I was walking away and I just... heard it..." There was a slight pause, in which Otabek wasn't sure if he was supposed to speak again but then Lei continued. "So yeah. Hi. Date?"

Otabek's face heated up immediately as he heard the last word. Was he really agreeing to this?

"Yes," he found himself saying. "I would like that."

It began to dawn on him that this was actually happening, he's talking to somebody and making plans for a date, and panic began to seep in as Otabek worried over if he would end up saying the wrong things, or make some other form of mistake that would end up with things going wrong. He fidgeted in his seat and swallowed dryly as he waited for Lei's response.

"Wonderful!" She chirped, her voice slightly going higher. The tone of excitement almost washed away most of Otabek's nervousness, but just almost. "Absolutely great. Do I text you? I mean, not like I have your number, but... well, not yet. Unless that was the number Grand Prix Pizza has but-- not that I saved that one I just meant--"

Otabek listened on, the small smile from earlier growing wider, and all traces of worry suddenly disappearing. He let out a small laugh, his free hand coming to his face to cover his mouth. The others raised their eyebrows at him in surprise, and he smiled slyly at them, peaking their interest. Otabek mused to himself that it was nice to know that Lei, despite coming off as a cool and collected person at first, could also blunder up like a normal human. Specifically, like Otabek, because he thought he was the only one who got really shy in their current situation.

"Really smooth," the voice in the background said again while a slightly muffled 'keep quiet, Yuri' came from Lei, probably farther from the phone.

"What I meant to say," Lei finally continued, back to being beside the phone as she cleared . "Is can I have your number?"

"Sure," Otabek shyly replied. "I'll text this number later."

Phichit nodded in reaction to that, mouthing the word 'niceeee' and sharing a high-five with Leo. Yuuko was pretending to wipe a tear away, muttering something like 'our Otabek is all grown up' while Viktor hit her shoulder. Guang Hong continued to stare at Otabek with wide, curious eyes.

"That will be awesome," came Lei's reply. "I'll look forward to it. I can't wait. I'm really excited. This is so unreal. I should really stop talking now."

Otabek chuckled, "I think so, Lei."

Yuuri snickered at that, and leaned closer to the phone to speak, "she's gonna die because you said her name."

"Maybe just a little," Lei laughed and said over the phone, catching Otabek off guard with the bluntness.

There was a sudden loud thud from the other line, followed by a vague mess of what sounded like Russian, in the background.

"Is... everything okay there?" Otabek asked, concerned, but also genuinely amused that whatever his reactions were would end up mirrored on the faces of everybody else, as he also managed to get the others worried as well.

Lei voice came on, sounding about 99% done with life, "I have to help my roommate with some stuff, he just realized he only has 30 minutes left till the deadline and rolled off the sofa. Holiday homework is the worst, right? We'll be fine though. I'll talk to you later?"

The last bit had a hopeful tone to it that made Otabek hold back a grin again, because there was actually going to be a later, and everything suddenly seemed a bit too good to be true. It was still odd considering the beginning of their... relationship? Can he call it a relationship? Friendship, maybe, for now. Pouring over his paper that night didn't feel like such a bad thing anymore.

Okay, and the pizza was good too.

"Yeah," Otabek said. "I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"No 'I love you' this time?" Lei teased.

It succeeded in making Otabek's face a certain shade of red again, as he opened and closed his mouth like a gaping fish trying to come up with an answer, much to the amusement of the others around the table. He was not in a dazed state, since it was close to the middle of the afternoon and he was not extremely tired, which meant what he heard was definitely not some sort of illusion.

"It's so easy to get him flustered," Phichit chuckled. "Look at his face, man."

Lei spoke again since Otabek was still trying to process an answer.

"I'm kidding, Otabek," Lei's now-familiar laugh rang in his ear. "I have to hang up, I'm being dragged away. See ya!"

Otabek put the phone down, staring at it in his hand for a few seconds before Yuuri waved his own hand in front of his face, snapping him back to the present. Phichit released his fist and along with the rest, was grinning widely.

"You're actually going to get it on with the pizza girl," Phichit said, wiggling his eyebrows. "We could get unlimited supply of pizza!"

"That's not how it works, Phichit," Otabek tried to say seriously, but couldn't help but laugh in the end.

Yuuri nudged his hand, still containing the phone.

"Get her number, I have to go bring pizza back to my dorm."

Otabek dutifully whipped out his own phone and copied down Lei's number, while the others started making small talk over what happened. Yuuko was still whining over how she had no idea how Lei looks like, while Leo focused on commenting about Otabek's extreme blushing reactions. Guang Hong was repeating how it was so nice, and so cute, and how he's so happy for Otabek while Viktor nodded along- he had been strangely quiet ever since Yuuri came around.

"Done," Otabek said softly, before holding the phone back out to Yuuri.

"A'ight, catch you guys later," Yuuri his heels and began to walk away. He stopped a few steps away and looked back. "Bye Viktor!"

Viktor rolled his eyes and took a sip of water, not looking back.

"Harsh as always," Yuuri continued, grinning for some reason, before he sped off.

Leo eyed Viktor with narrowed eyes, "I'm more interested in you and Yuuri now that things are going well for Otabek over here."

Otabek beamed, thankful for the change of focus.

Yuuko nodded in agreement, "yeah, have you ever mentioned that guy? Why didn't we have any idea that you had a pizza boy of your own?"

"Was he the guy you mentioned back in the dorm?" Guang Hong asked innocently.

"That," Viktor chuckled as he stood up, stopping anybody from asking more questions, "will be a story for another day. Can we go back now? I'm going to sleep."

There was really nothing left to be said, so Leo shrugged and agreed, but under the premise that Viktor had to tell them eventually. The others realized that they had a free day and that sleep was definitely an option. The hype about Lei for the day was over, Otabek had her number, his friends had their fair share of teasing him and also getting into the excitement themselves. They all stood up and prepared to leave, with Yuuko slinging an arm around Phichit's shoulder, chatting him up about different pizza flavors.

Meanwhile, Otabek was lost in thought about how and what he was going to text Lei.