Chapter Text
It's 7am and the persistent ringing of his alarm jolts Yuuri from his deep slumber. He turns towards his bedside table, hands groping around for his shrieking cell phone while his eyes stubbornly remain shut. The sound of an object hitting the ground causes his eyes to fly open while his brain hurriedly tries to process the noise. Terrified that his phone has been unmercifully shattered by his pristine hardwood floor, Yuuri swings his feet off the bed in an attempt to locate his glasses and make out the blurry shapes around his room, and hopefully try to salvage what remains of his new smartphone. His efforts are rewarded with a crunch and a sharp pain on the sole of his left foot. Yelping, he hops away from the culprit and slowly leans down to bring the object into focus. It's his glasses, the lens shattered under the weight of all 120 pounds of Yuuri. Upon closer inspection, he discovers that his phone lies safely on his bedside table, still happily screeching away. Yuuri can't help but level a stern glare at his phone while turning off the alarm with probably more force than is necessary. It isn't the phone's fault that Yuuri is a giant klutz anyway.
The pain in his left foot reminds Yuuri with growing urgency that he is in pain and in need of dressing the wound as well as cleaning up the mess on his bedroom floor. But first, to regain his ability to see more than 1 foot in front of him. Yuuri limps his way to his bathroom, relying on the familiarity of his abode while still managing to bump his shoulder against the doorframe. Fantastic. Yuuri just knows that he's going to develop a bruise the size of a ping pong ball. From there, it's a methodical and painstaking process of putting his contacts in and fighting against the reflexive tears that threaten to escape. On the way back to his room, Yuuri grabs the first aid kit and the broom from his closet, then wearily resigns himself to the fact that he will have to fork out a couple hundred dollars to get his glasses replaced. Quickly, he sweeps up the broken pieces and then sits on the edge of his bed to examine his foot. Nothing too bad, and it doesn't seem like any pieces got embedded in, so Yuuri dresses his wound with a generous blob of Polysporin and a small bandaid.
A quick glance at his phone reveals that he has just enough time to get dressed and grab his usual order from a local coffee shop before he has to check in on his medical patients 30 minutes before his first appointment. Yuuri haphazardly throws on a blue turtleneck and some jeans, realizing that wearing the same color probably isn't the most fashion-conscious decision he's made, but it's 7.30am and his fashionable roommate is still asleep, and thus there is no one to witness the fashion disaster that is Yuuri. He pauses at the doorway before opting not to wear his trusty blue scarf since the weather forecast seems to indicate a lack of punishing snow. His boots crunch on the salt covering the pavements and he amuses himself for a bit by stomping through the fresh cover of snow that has settled overnight. He has completed approximately half of the 30 minute walk from his apartment to the clinic when a sudden wind picks up and slams into Yuuri full force. Yuuri breaks out into a run for the remaining mile while bitterly berating himself for leaving his scarf back at home.
When he bursts into the coffee shop situated a block from his clinic, the tips of his ears are numb from the cold and he has developed a pounding headache from the unexpected wind chill. The barista, a friendly yet verbose lady named Mila, enthusiastically waves him across the empty shop.
"Yuuri! Can I get you something other than your usual order..."
Yuuri tunes her out as she rattles off his order and waves her hands about dramatically while describing all the pastries and sandwiches that they offer. He's heard her spiel at least 500 times and he's only been frequenting the coffee shop for the last 365 days. He feels slightly guilty that he's never actually bought anything other than a regular sized caramel macchiato, but he is nothing if not a man of routine, so he flashes an apologetic smile at Mila for the umpteenth time.
"Ah...sorry Mila. I'll just get a regular-sized caramel macchiato to go for today please." And every day after today, please, he silently adds, before shaking his head and reproaching himself.
Mila doesn't seem too bothered by this, and she quickly turns to make Yuuri's drink after he has paid for his purchase. I really should invest in a coffee machine, Yuuri winces as the machine gobbles up $6 greedily. He makes sure to drop a $2 tip for Mila in the jar.
Mila chatters on about her girlfriend Sara as she makes his drink, and Yuuri finds himself nodding politely at acceptable intervals and humming out his assent or dissent when appropriate. After 5 minutes of awkwardly shifting his weight from one foot to another, Yuuri is handed his drink and manages to hide a grimace at his name on the coffee cup. Urie. As usual, he shyly waves and softly wishes Mila a good day ahead as he cradles his warm drink between his hands and tries to scurry out of the store to Mila's shouts of "bye Yuuri see you and your fabulous ass tomorrow", his cheeks a vibrant pink.
Yuuri steps into Poodle Paws at precisely 8.18am, the veterinary clinic he has been working in for the past year ever since he finished his DVM degree. Minami is already at the front desk, stocking food onto the shelves. The undergraduate student beams when he sees Yuuri and hastens over with a loud "Yuuri-sensei", bowing deeply in traditional Japanese fashion which has Yuuri frantically gesturing for him to straighten up and to just call him Yuuri since he is not worthy of any honorifics. Minami just looks at Yuuri with tears in his eyes and exclaims "Yuuri-sensei is too kind", which has Yuuri muttering something about checking up on his patients before he slinks upstairs.
Yuuri greets Seung-Gil politely and gets out of the way, the assistant's arms ladled with bowls of dog food as the canine boarders make their presence and hunger known by barking furiously. He makes his way into the room housing the medical patients and finds JJ, the technician on duty, poring over the charts. Yuuri grimaces slightly as JJ begins to speak loudly, JJ's booming voice doing nothing to appease the pounding of Yuuri's head. Thankfully, there is only one feline patient, and Yuuri checks her vitals and progress before clearing her for discharge later today. He tries to duck out into his office, but JJ engages him in conversation and Yuuri is too polite to excuse himself at that point. Yuuri is sure that JJ is nice, but between his lack of composure under stressful situations and his inappropriate humor, JJ is not the ideal technician that Yuuri wanted to work with today of all days.
When Minami calls up and lets him know that his first appointment is running late, Yuuri uses that as an excuse and heads down to his office. He quickly brings up the appointment book for the day and sighs in relief when he sees that most of the appointments are simply annual checkups. He notices the name Phichit Chulanont on the schedule and makes a mental note to remind his best friend that for the umpteenth time, he does not specialize in exotics. Since he only has two appointments in the morning, Yuuri decides that he can take his time to type up his notes from yesterday's consultations and follow up on a couple of patients who have undergone spays or neuters in the past month. It'll be a slow day, Yuuri thinks, and for the next while his drink stays untouched beside him.
When 9.30am rolls around and his first appointment still hasn't shown up, Yuuri pages Minami and asks for an update. The young man is a stuttering mess when he reveals that the client has not answered his queries as to when they would arrive except for a curt "we'll get there when we get there" before hanging up. The when turns out to be 15 minutes later, and Yuuri quickly dons his lab coat. On the way, Yuuri can hear JJ loudly singing tunes and makes a mental note to remind JJ of the importance of professionalism, calm, and quiet for both patients and clients.
Yuuri is greeted with a blonde young man hugging a chubby cat on his front, and a taller and broader black-haired man who politely introduces himself as Otabek and his partner as Yuri with no trace of a smile on his face.
"Where's the old man, pig?" Yuri asks, and if looks could kill, poor Yuuri would be six feet under by now.
"Ahh I'm sorry Mr. Plisetsky, but Dr. Feltsman is away on vacation right now, so I'll be Potya's doctor for today. I hope there aren’t any issues, and I'll be happy to assist you in whatever concerns you have about Potya."
Yuri grunts and reluctantly places Potya on the examination table, before crossing his arms across his chest and huffing loudly. Otabek shoots Yuuri something that resembles an apologetic smile, before elbowing his partner and whispering "be nice". Yuuri graciously pretends not to notice and instead focuses his attention on the cat in front of him. Gently, he listens to Potya's heart and extends her limbs, then takes a rectal temperature, a procedure that Potya seems to tolerate save for the tail slap Yuuri gets on the face. Yuuri then combs Potya's fur for any abnormalities, checks her ears and eyes, before taking a look at her teeth. Satisfied that Potya seems to be in a clean bill of health, Yuuri administers the vaccines with little trouble and allows the cat to relax on the table while he enters his exam results in Potya's file.
Frowning slightly at the previous data, Yuuri walks back over to Potya and carefully lifts her onto a scale. He blinks. That can't be right. He repeats the process and when confronted with the same result, he lets the slightly disgruntled cat settle herself comfortably back onto the table, while he updates the weight on the file. Yuuri then turns around and begins lightly petting Potya, who starts to purr loudly.
"Um...if I may ask, what diet is Potya on? The file seems to indicate that she's on the adult brand of wet food that we sell here."
"Puma tiger scorpion is on the adult brand of wet food. We feed her 2 cans of food a day," Otabek replies.
Yuuri chokes down the splutter that has built in his throat.
"I see...well usually we recommend 1 can of food a day, 1/2 a can in the morning and 1/2 in the evening for a cat her size."
Otabek nods, but Yuri's face reddens with unconcealed rage.
"But she's always hungry, doctor," he bites out venomously, "are you suggesting we starve her?"
"No no no no," Yuuri frantically backpedals, terrified of offending a client. "It's just...cats sometimes cry out for more food, and if you keep giving her more, she will take it as reinforcement of the behavior, which can lead to problematic obesity problems in the long run."
When Otabek nods again solemnly and Yuri seems a little repentant, Yuuri continues.
"I can tell you both really love Potya. While she is not obese, her weight has increased dramatically since her checkup last year. I would suggest cutting down on treats and for her health, you might wish to consider a weight management diet that will cut down on the calorie intake. I can refer you to a chart on how much to feed Potya and I can guarantee that she will not feel..."
Yuuri cuts his sentence off with a hiss of pain as he suddenly finds his hand embedded in Potya's jaws. He hears quick apologies from Otabek, who claims that Potya is usually very docile and has never acted up before, and stomps on his partner's foot as said partner is desperately trying to stifle his giggles.
Yuuri waves off their apologies and tells them to ask Minami for more details on the diet, bidding them a good day before hastening out of the examination room. He has made it all of 3 steps away before he hears Yuri's guffaws and Otabek's desperate but halfhearted attempts to silence him. Yuuri rushes to the closest sink away from prying eyes and runs cold water on the bite, not stemming the flow of blood so that the majority of bacteria that has entered his system is flushed out. He patches himself up with a simple antibiotic cream and some gauze, mindful of the potential bacterial infection from Potya's sharp teeth. It's nothing too deep, but it still hurts, and Yuuri is once again reminded of how much his day has sucked thus far.
When Phichit breezes through the door at 11am sharp with his boyfriend Chris in tow, Yuuri is half tempted to send Phichit on his way, but instead launches into a rant about how he is not qualified to see exotics, and that Phichit should really stop using Yuuri's photos and anecdotes to bribe Minami into booking an appointment.
"But Yuurriiiiiiiiii," Phichit whines, giving his best puppy eye impression, although Yuuri personally found it simultaneously adorable and disturbing.
"Oh mon dieu! Yuuri, how can you resist this face," Chris chimes in while leaning over to place a soft kiss onto Phichit's lips.
"Please refrain from eating each other's faces off in front of me. I do not need to see my best friend like that," Yuuri remarks dryly as Phichit begins enthusiastically responding to his boyfriend.
Yuuri is itching to throw them out of the clinic and suggest that they return home before things get more explicit, but he clamps down on that desire and instead exasperatedly checks over the 3 hamsters that scurry around his hand and squirm when picked up. Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary, and he relays that information succinctly. Carefully ushering Phichit and Chris to the door and not-so-subtly motioning for them to leave, Yuuri forgets that his hand currently has a poorly wrapped bandage around it, and of course Phichit chooses that very moment to stop making gooey eyes at Chris.
"YUURI! What happened to your hand?!"
Yuuri blushes sheepishly and waves off Phichit's concern.
"Ah it's nothing Phichit-kun, I just got bitten by a fat cat named Potya this morning."
Evidently that's the wrong thing to say, because Phichit grabs hold of Yuuri's hand and tugs the vet towards him, trying to survey the extent of the damage.
"NOTHING?! Yuuri this is not nothing. How could you be so careless. You know that's the hand a future ring will go on. You have to take care of yourself better! What if it scars? What if your future hot husband doesn't want to put a ring on a scarred hand?!"
Yuuri feels a tinge of pain at his hand being jostled but snatches it out of Phichit's grasp anyway, trying to placate Phichit by telling him that the wound is only superficial (not that big of a lie) and that no he is boring and thus no one hot (or human for that matter) would want to put a ring on his hand so his concerns are invalid.
"Yuuri you know that's not true. You are so much more than you think you are. You are kind, dedicated, driven, and probably the smartest person in the whole wide world. In fact, just the other day I was talking to..."
Yuuri exchanges an exasperated glance with Chris as Phichit starts going off on a tangent, but the Swiss man is completely enraptured by Phichit. Yuuri has been friends with Phichit long enough to know that the best way to deal with a Phichit speech was to let it run its course, nodding every time he stopped to take a breath. When Phichit finally stops his long tirade, Yuuri has nodded exactly 47 times. It's become somewhat of a game for Yuuri to count how many breaths it takes before Phichit stops talking, the current record being 66. Unfortunately, Phichit has also known Yuuri long enough to know that Yuuri has long since stopped listening.
"You didn't hear a word I just said, did you," Phichit asked dryly.
"Nope," Yuuri replies, popping the p sound, "I stopped listening once you began spouting off false compliments. Now can you please leave? It's been an hour and it's time for my lunch break. Minami has a smoked turkey sandwich waiting for me in my office."
Phichit puts a hand to his chest dramatically and fakes a wounded look.
"Fine. I see how it is. Come on Chris, we are obviously no longer welcome here."
Yuuri shakes his head fondly at his best friend's antics as Chris dutifully follows Phichit out, skilfully maneuvering the too-large hamster cage past the barely wide enough door. Right as they are about to leave Phichit pops his head back in and tells Yuuri to facetime him the minute he gets home.
"Phichit, for the last time, we live together," Yuuri retorts back.
"Don't think I didn't notice the blue turtleneck with the blue jeans Katsuki Yuuri. We are having a serious conversation when you get home."
Yuuri rolls his eyes. "Yes mom. And you had better be decent when I get home today at 5pm. Both of you."
Phichit just laughs and waves goodbye to Yuuri.
Yuuri heads back to his office, hands stuffed in his pockets. He's so tired and it is still only 12pm. Maybe now I can finally drink my caramel macchiato, Yuuri happily thinks to himself, eager for the boost of alertness that the caffeine and sugar are bound to deliver. He reaches for the cup of coffee, only for it to slip from his fingers and drench the entire right side of his lab coat. Fantastic. He mourns the loss of his caffeine before quickly removing the sodden coat to prevent the coffee from seeping through, and then he throws it onto the corner of his desk. He’ll wash it when he gets home. For now, he sinks into the worn armchair all of 3 seconds before there is sudden screaming from the reception area. From his office, Yuuri can just barely make out the words "dog", "glass", and "lots of blood". Giving himself a slap on the cheek since it is the best arousal boost he’ll likely get today, Yuuri hurriedly leaves the office to tend to the emergency walk-in patient, but not before wistfully looking back his sandwich which is undoubtedly going to go uneaten.
So much for his slow day.