Chapter Text
Two hours.
Just two more hours.
Yuri sniffled for probably the hundredth time in the past hour and grabbed his phone. Yakov sent him on a ten-minute break after he failed to land a simple double salchow again.
Normally, he would be mad, immediately getting up and doing that particular jump over and over again until it was perfect in his eyes. Today, however, he couldn’t bring himself to care.
Yuri suspected he was getting sick when he woke up this morning with a pounding headache, his whole body sore. Neither of those feelings were anything unusual for the skater so he just brushed it off and got dressed, heading to the rink.
Maybe if Yuri cared enough, he would notice his usually cold hands and body overall, definitely felt much warmer. However, at that moment, he couldn’t care less, his thoughts going a different way.
Yuri continued scrolling on his phone, completely ignoring the two men in the rink right behind him. He wasn’t stupid, he knew they were talking about him even though they tried their best to keep their voices down. Or at least Yuuri did.
Victor, on the other hand, felt no shame in stepping off the ice and waltzing towards Yuri.
„Yurio!“ The grey-haired man yelled out, coming closer to the smaller blonde while he put the guards on his skates. He stopped right in front of him, flashing one of his signature smiles. This time though, it didn’t quite reach his eyes as they were filled with worry.
Yuri knew Victor and Yuuri cared about him, and even though he would never admit it, he didn’t entirely hate it.
Since he was a little boy, he always had only his grandfather, for whom he was so grateful. He was there for him when he said his first word, when he made his first steps, and he was also the one who got him into figure skating. It was always his grandpa and him, never his parents.
When Yuri was younger, it didn’t bother him that much. He was just happy he had his grandpa who was there for him all the time. Of course, he missed his parents, but it didn’t really hit him until he was a teenager. Being so young, yet already famous brought so much joy but also despair. He loved what he was doing, but he really wished his parents were there for him.
„I’m busy.“
„I can’t come.“
Those two sentences were all Yuri heard from them. He really wanted to be understanding. After all, they were the ones paying for everything he needed, but he would still rather have some of their time than a new pair of skates.
It wasn’t until he came second to JJ that it really hit him. He saw the Canadian's parents there, cheering for him loudly and Yuri finally understood that he would never have that. Because his parents didn't care about him. His grandpa was in the hospital because he broke his hip bone and he forced the doctor to discharge him a day earlier just so he could watch him skate, but his parents couldn’t be bothered to show up to a single performance in all those years.
They weren’t busy.
They just didn’t care.
„Are you okay, Yurio?“ A voice suddenly snapped him out of his gloomy thoughts.
Yuri lifted his eyes from his phone which he had been blankly staring at for God knows how long and turned to the left, facing the two men.
„What?“ Yuri asked, tilting his head in confusion.
„I asked if you are okay. You seemed out of it.“ Yuuri asked carefully, not wanting to upset the younger boy.
„I’m fine.“ Yuri said with a deadpan expression on his face, his voice wavering which caught the attention of Yuuri and Victor immediately.
„Last time you said you were ‘fine‘, you ended up in the hospital with a concussion so forgive me for not believing you.“ Victor huffed, folding his arms on his chest.
„That was one time, stop being dramatic, old man.“ Yuri rolled his eyes, turning his phone off. Before he did so, he caught a glance at his lock screen. A small smile appeared on his face as he stared at the photo of him and Otabek they had taken when Otabek visited him two weeks ago.
He really missed him.
He knew they would see each other next week, but once a month for a week wasn’t enough. Yuri knew what he was getting into. He knew it would be difficult considering they both live in different countries. However, nothing and nobody could prepare him for how much he would actually miss his boyfriend. At times like these, he was more than grateful that skating was keeping him busy most of the day. He couldn’t even imagine being at home, not doing anything, and just thinking about his boyfriend who lived almost 3,000 km away.
„Yurio.“ Victor said in a serious voice, grabbing Yuri’s phone from his hands.
„Give me my phone back.“ Yuri glared at him, getting annoyed.
„You don’t need it right now anyways.“ Victor retorted, a winning grin on his face which made Yuri even angrier.
„Doesn’t mean you should have it.“ Yuri spat out angrily, his patience running low. He had a headache, his whole body hurt and his nose was running constantly so Victor’s annoying attitude did little to brighten up his mood. God, maybe he really was sick.
„I will give it back to you once you answer me.“ Victor said in a serious voice, his eyes focused on Yuri and nothing else.
„What do you want?“ Yuri grumbled, plopping down on a bench. He hadn’t felt this tired ever since he went to practice after not sleeping for two days.
„What’s going on with you? You couldn’t even land a simple jump.“ Victor looked at Yuri with furrowed eyebrows, looking the younger boy up and down as if that could help him figure out what was going on.
„Like you’ve never had a bad day.“ Yuri scoffed, laying his back on the bench. He put his arm over his eyes, trying to block the lights as much as possible.
Yuri was sure he was falling asleep but didn’t even try to fight it. He was so tired and his whole body hurt. He could deal with Yakov yelling at him for slacking off later. Right now, all he wanted was to crawl into his bed with his cat and sleep.
„Victor, he is burning up.“ Yuri was so tired he didn’t even notice the black-haired man approached him, his hand lying on Yuri’s forehead.
He slowly raised his arm, having to uncover his eyes, and blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the brightness. He looked at the older man who was slightly crouched above him, a cold hand still resting on his forehead.
„Do you feel sick?“ Yuuri asked in a soft voice, brushing Yuri’s hair from his eyes.
„No.“ Yuri said in a small voice, clearly not convincing anyone.
„Why didn’t you stay home? I told you you can’t do this, Yurio!“ Victor raised his voice, running his free hand through his hair in frustration.
„Victor, calm down.“ Yuuri said, trying to calm his husband down, but to no avail.
„Я сказал тебе, чтобы ты остался дома, когда ты болен.“ (I told you to stay home when you are sick.) Victor yelled, switching to his native language.
„Ты не моя мама, Виктор.“ (You are not my mum, Victor.) Yuri sneered back with as much venom in his voice.
„Нет? Кто заботится о тебе, когда твой дедушка не сможет?“ (No? Who takes care of you when your grandpa can’t?) Victor stared at Yuri with eyes full of fury. Yuuri could see him taking a deep breath before wanting to continue so he finally decided to step in. He had no idea what most of those words meant, but he could tell it wasn’t anything nice.
„That’s enough.“ Yuuri said sternly, placing a calming hand on Victor’s shoulder.
It was quiet for a while, neither of the men saying anything. They haven’t had a fight like this in a long time, and to say it was an unpleasant feeling was an understatement.
„Прости.“ (I'm sorry.) Yuri said in a quiet voice, catching Victor and Yuuri’s attention.
„No, you have nothing to apologise for, Yurachka. I’m the one who should be sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you, I’m sorry Yurio.“ Victor said sincerely, running a trembling hand through Yuri’s hair.
„It’s okay.“ Yuri nodded his head but refused to meet Victor’s eyes. He wasn’t mad. He wasn’t exactly hurt either, because he knew Victor was right. It has always been him or Yakov who were taking care of him when his grandpa couldn’t. Especially in the past two years, ever since Victor met Yuuri, those two really were like his family. Always making sure he was okay, that he had everything he needed, ate something, or got enough sleep. At first, Yuri found it annoying, because who were they to impose on his life like that, but after a few weeks, he got used to it, and couldn’t imagine his life any other way.