@valiantxunion | continued
At first the youngest of them hadn't even completely registered what he was seeing when he'd met his teen self. It was the bewildered reaction from his counterpart and a really brief, accidental spilling of a few words that put the pieces together. Confused as he was, Yuri had been about to head off on his own to look for a way back when, well, Yuri had stopped him and suggested staying together for now.
Part of it was that yeah, the two of them were completely lost and unsure why people - at the very least the older adults - were staring absolute holes into them. The other part of it was just Yuri's instincts kicking in and taking hold of the child's wrist before he marched right off and got into some kind of trouble. As much as he insisted he was fine on his own, his older self had doubts about that, and the odd setup they were in didn't help.
Despite going around with a child he could easily just refer to as his brother in the meantime, people seemed oddly concerned and befuddled at seeing them together. Eventually the elder of the two decided it was time to start asking questions, confronting a few of the adults who seemed younger and less confused, albeit seeming to try to figure out why something felt off looking at the two of them.
After a few attempts, someone finally told them to hold on for a bit while they went to get someone. Turned out it was Hanks they went to get, which was a mixture of relieving and just as confusing as everything else. Why did they need to get Hanks of all people? In this moment at least, the older Yuri was entirely positive neither of them had kicked up a fuss over anything or gotten into anything chaotic.
Just like the others though, Hanks was taken aback when he saw them and for a good few long seconds, totally lost for words. He had even reached for a hand on each of them to confirm they were physically present, leaving the two of them feeling even more lost when it took the man a bit longer than expected to let go. After near stifling confusion, Hanks explained he knew someone who looked just like them and that that person lived here.
Lived here? Both Yuris looked at each other. But... they lived here. They had never seen each other, let alone this third guy. Of the two, the teen already knew what he was dealing with with his younger self, but the kid had no idea what to expect looking at himself at around double his age. The only reason he was even able to figure that out was because his teen self had blurted it out in an attempt to make sense of the situation to himself.
With all the weird looks they'd been getting though, when Hanks suggested bringing them somewhere else so they could work this out, they had both agreed. It was just too eerie for them being watched like that. The Lower Quarter never looked at people like that, much less their own people. To say the least, it was... uncomfortable.
On their way to the inn, the younger self began wiggling his hand from the hold of the teen's, almost squirmy. "I don't need you holding my hand, you know." It wasn't a question; just a plain statement. He was right though, and it wasn't like the older of the two expected him to just run off. He was hard to control for sure, if only because the teen knew that firsthand, but he wouldn't just scram the second he found an opening for no particular reason.
"Yeah, yeah, I gotcha." He didn't tell his smaller self, but it was just that same instinct kicking back in. Even if this was a little him, he was still a child and Yuri's first reaction to dealing with a confused lost child was to take care of them until help was found. And, it may have been Yuri himself, and he may have hidden it entirely too well for a seven year old, but he was definitely freaked out at the position he'd found himself in.
When Hanks went to get the apparent lookalike, neither of them had spoken to each other. They were too busy trying to come to terms with understanding their surroundings. It wasn't until the third of them arrived that their bafflement returned immediately. In the teen's case, it was pretty obvious what Hanks was referring to, and it really didn't help that this man dressed too similarly to him. In the youngest's case, he could see the resemblance between the two elders and he already knew who the teen was to him.
The now newly eldest of them seemed intent on keeping them all together, with the youngest being reluctant to have to follow them around like, literally, a lost child. The now middle child couldn't help the absolute pout that exposed itself with the way his elder self expressed preferring to do other things with his time instead of hanging out with him.
The youngest sighed, still somewhat unaware of the problem. Sure, they were... each other, but if they could get that around and tell people not to worry about it while they worked on figuring something out, surely it wouldn't be a problem? "I still don't really get it... but I guess it makes sense we can't leave you unattended if you couldn't be trusted to just come here on your own and old man Hanks had to lead you here. You must get into trouble a whole lot if you couldn't even be trusted with something that simple."
Ouch. The teen among them winced. "Like you're any better..."
"And actually!" Well, the kid found his voice again. "Why would I be Tiny Yuri, anyway? Why can't you be Biggest Yuri or something? Why do you get to keep our name? What, because you're the oldest?"
At that point the teen's mind had already drifted as he shut the complaining out. "I'm... going to be in so much trouble when I don't show up back home tonight..." At first he'd be in trouble, and then everyone would start to panic if he was missing for too long. Was he missing? Was he technically there still? Maybe they could find something out later in the Public Quarter...