Secret Santa for Monochrome (Yuri on Ice)

[luckyleprechaun]

Hey @monochrome! I'm your secret Santa! Sorry it took so long! When I saw Yuri on Ice under your list of fandoms, I got really excited and decided to write some sick Yuuri.  I hope you like it! (I hope the formatting's okay)

Also, thanks to @MoonDuck for being my beta!

Yuuri was sure he hadn’t felt like this when he woke up this morning.

 

He had gone to bed early the night before. For some reason, it seemed that practice had taken more of a toll on his body than usual. Sure, he had done well, but he barely had any appetite for the katsudon at dinner, and he had almost fallen asleep right at the table. Victor had given Yuuri a strange, concerned look and told him to get a good night’s rest, though he didn’t say anything specifically about Yuuri’s condition. They had a competition coming up, after all, so practices were not only intense, but essential. He couldn’t even think about missing one.

 

Yuuri also hadn’t given as much thought to the small, but slowly intensifying, headache that had begun to form as he walked to his room. He had simply detoured to the bathroom, taken some over-the-counter pain medication, and continued to bed. It had been a long day. I need to sleep, he had thought. I don’t want to let Victor down.

 

He had also ignored how the headache had returned and gotten worse the next morning. There was absolutely no stabbing pain behind his eyes that made it hard to think. The tickle in the back of his throat was imaginary as well, and it most certainly did not make him wince as he swallowed.

 

“Hh’ICHHh!”

 

The sneeze had taken him by surprise, making him bend at the waist as he hastily cupped his hands over his mouth. He had felt the wet spray coat his palms and shuddered, heading to the bathroom to wash it off them. If another, slightly stifled “EH’nxsh!” had come out on his way back, it couldn’t have been that big of a deal. It had to be his allergies, he reasoned, ignoring the fact that, as far as he knew, he did not have any.

 

Yuuri was absolutely, perfectly and completely fine. That’s what he kept telling himself and what he had told Victor when his coach gave him a concerned look after he sniffled too many times at breakfast, trying to manage his runny nose. Fine.

 

However, while he reassured himself, things continued to go downhill at an increasingly worrying pace. Victor had made him take more medication after he caught Yuuri rubbing his forehead, trying to ease the ache, but if anything, the drugs only intensified the pain. As he was entering the rink, the change in temperature had made him shiver and triggered a set of three stifled sneezes into his elbow. Victor had said nothing, simply holding out the Makkachin tissue box. Yuuri had muttered his gratitude and taken a tissue, blowing his nose as quietly as possible.

 

Today, he was simply running through his free skate routine repeatedly, trying to polish his jumps as much as possible. It wasn’t just the quad flip that was giving him trouble today, though. He missed his triple axel once, a move that he could usually land without any issues. Now, he was going through his step sequence, his skates gliding effortlessly across the ice. Suddenly, he stopped, his foggy mind muddling the steps that had been meticulously etched into his brain. He turned to the side and muffled a harsh cough into his sleeve. That one cough quickly turned into a full-blown fit, each one tearing at his sore throat.

 

He barely registered Victor skating over to him and calling, “Yuuri?” Even though the fit had ended, it had turned his head into a hotbed of pain. He forced himself to look up and meet Victor’s slightly widened eyes. “Are you alright?” The words sounded slightly muffled. When had he gotten that congested? He tried to take an experimental sniff and discovered that he couldn’t breathe through his nose at all.

 

Still, it didn’t matter. He had to keep practicing. If he didn’t have the quad flip nailed by the Grand Prix Final, there was no way he could get the gold medal. “I’m fine,” he muttered, his eyes drifting away from Victor’s face and landing wistfully on the bench next to the rink.

 

“Yuuri.” Victor’s tone was soft and sympathetic. “Why don’t you take a break, okay? You look exhausted.”

 

Yuuri was exhausted. The stamina that usually propelled him through his routines was gone, replaced by a sense of tiredness that seemed to weigh him down. He wordlessly turned and skated away from Victor, heading towards the bench. Victor followed close behind. He passed by Yuuri and carefully exited the rink before him, grabbing the tissues. Yuuri sat down and took a sip from his water, ignoring how the liquid made his throat hurt even more. He then looked at Victor, who was handing him a tissue. Yuuri grabbed it and blew his nose, once again trying to be quiet but failing miserably.

 

The sudden tickle in Yuuri’s nose startled him. “V-Victor…,” he said, his breath hitching rapidly. “Tissues,” he rushed the word as he broke into a loud sneezing fit. “HEIH’SHheh! EHXCH! H-heh h’KSCHH!” He broke off into a series of coughs, each one more painful than the last.

 

Eventually, he looked up to see Victor giving him the same concerned look from the night before. As Yuuri stared at him, sniffling constantly as his horribly stuffed-up nose somehow continued to run, Victor’s eyes narrowed and his mouth flattened into a thin line. “Get your things, Yuuri. We’re going home.”

 

The way that Victor called Hasetsu his home made Yuuri’s heart race, but his words stifled his joy. “No, I have to practice.” He felt his breath beginning to hitch, but he concentrated and managed to avoid the potential sneeze.

 

“Yuuri, look at you. You’re in no condition to skate. How are you supposed to jump if you keep sneezing? You’re shivering, too. I’ve been with you for several months now and you’ve never shivered while skating.” He hadn’t realized it before, but Victor was right. The heat he had been feeling earlier had shifted into a bitter cold.

 

Regardless of that, he had to skate. He needed all the practice he could get. “No, Victor, I’m fine.” He went to stand up and head back to the rink, but his vision blurred and he staggered to the left. If Victor hadn’t rushed to catch him, he would have hit the ground. For a moment, his vision went dark, but before long, he was staring into Victor’s bright blue eyes, which were widening more by the second.

 

“Yuuri!” Before he could say anything, a cool hand was on his forehead. It felt so good, and he felt himself leaning into the touch. “Yuuri, Yuuri, Yuuri.” Victor kept saying his name, desperate, concerned, and sad all at once. Yuuri was able to get out of Victor’s arms and stand, but he found himself leaning heavily on him, gripping his arm like a lifeline. He was guided back to the bench and sat down. Victor still kept a strong hold on him as he grabbed his bag and began to rummage through it, pulling out a thermometer. Yuuri’s mind was too foggy to question why he had that in his bag in the first place before it was in his mouth.

 

Victor didn’t say a word as they waited for the thermometer to beep. He was too busy unlacing his skates and then Yuuri’s, sticking them in their respective bags. His only reaction to the results once it did was a grimace. “Your fever’s too high. Why didn’t you tell me about this before?” Yuuri didn’t answer. “Come on, we’re going.” This time, Yuuri didn’t protest. Victor grabbed their bags and then stood up, extending a hand for Yuuri, who grabbed it and stood up as well, his vision still a bit blurry. Then they made their way out of Ice Castle, past Yuko, who simply looked at the way they were leaning on each other and said nothing, and headed back to Yu-topia.

 

As they approached the doors, Yuuri muttered, “Thank you, Victor,” in almost unintelligible Japanese.

Victor smiled. “You’re welcome, Yuuri. Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of you.”

[monochrome]

!!!!!!! oH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!! I'm super into YOI right now and THIS IS WRITTEN SO WELL!!!!!! I'M SO HAPPY AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH 

Okay, I'm making a (long) list because I'm so in love with this---

• I was already screaming by the first line, it just points to how fast the illness came on 
• Yuuri doesn't even have an appetite for katsudon? M-my heart 
• Victor staying silent about it on the first night (presumably because he trusts Yuuri?) but still telling Yuuri to take extra care of himself is super sweet 
• "I don’t want to let Victor down." Victor's his lifelong idol, so it totally makes sense that Yuuri would worry over this! ( It still breaks my heart, though ;_; )
• I'm in love with the fourth paragraph!!! such beautiful denial <3 <33 
• He's so careful about it, like he goes and washes his hands after just one sneeze xD The way you write Yuuri is so adorable 
• I really like your sneeze spellings! They're totally my type 
• Being cold from the rink --> sneezing?? //melts
• Victor being a super prepared caretaker... he can tell Yuuri has a headache and hands him tissues when he needs them?? Yes. Yes. YES. 
• Descriptions of illness. Yes. I'm just... they're so good. So, so good. I'm incoherent. Just. 
• His cold interfering with his ability to perform... is something that shows up in practically every single YOI headcanon of mine.  
• "When had he gotten that congested?" The fact that Yuuri doesn't even notice stuff like this is incredibly precious. <33
• Yuuri being self-conscious and trying to blow his nose quietly?? *sings over history maker playing in the background* can you hear my heartbeat??  
• Confrontation! I am utter trash for confrontation scenes
• Victor just flat out insists for Yuuri to go home, no room for protest.  
• Victor calls Hasetsu his home!!!!  It's going to... take me awhile to get over this... //digs my own grave
• "I’ve been with you for several months now and you’ve never shivered while skating." he's so perceptive, even over small things like this <3
• Yuuri and his inhuman motivation to keep skating <3 he doesn't agree to rest until he almost passes out, which sounds... completely like him, actually. xD
• The water doesn't help his sore throat ;_; And neither does the medicine... nothing makes him feel more comfortable except Victor's hand on his forehead. Which makes sense. Victor's the only one who can make him feel better    
• Victor already knew this would happen, so he packed a thermometer just in case...  the fact that he was so prepared made me laugh, he's like the perfect caretaker! and Yuuri's too dazed to protest in the end so he just lets Victor fuss over him... totally my kind of scenario 

Sorry, my comment got long and filled with lots of faces D: But seriously, THANK YOU!!!! This fic is perfect, it's so fluffy and sweet <3 I hope you're happy, because this is allllll I'll be thinking about for the next month