Stay Close to Me (Yuri!!! on Ice; M)

[Spoo]

I've been a mindless zombie due to final exams and a monster of an essay lately, but in between sobbing studying and staring into the void last night I managed to churn this out. I have a ridiculous amount of Yuri!!! on Ice drabbles/fics over on my fetish tumblr, but occasionally I'll crosspost one here because I think it's particularly adorable/likable~  

Set somewhere after the Grand Prix Final and before the first time Yuuri and Victor have their pair skate at the Exhibition (who told these cuties it was okay to run through their routine with colds?  ) Lastly, if anyone is interested HERE is the pair skate they are practicing. Be warned, though. It's TOO beautiful.  

Enjoy!   

 

Stay Close to Me

by Spoo

 

When Yuuri imagined he and Victor practicing their pair skate together, he foresaw lots of laughter and kisses and basically the two of them having the best time. What he hadn’t foreseen was the two of them sharing a particularly troublesome (and super inconvenient) cold.

It all started a few days prior when Yuuri awoke to a sore throat and stuffy nose. He had tried to keep his distance and insist that Victor keep his, but that went about as well as it usually did…whiiiiich wasn’t very well at all. Victor had made it his life’s mission to look after Yuuri, and somewhere between the soup and blankets and tea there were kisses. Lots of kisses. More kisses than Yuuri should have eagerly responded to.  

Not long after that Victor started sniffling, and then coughing, and then they were both useless heaps on the bed, swaddled in blankets and surrounded by an ocean of used tissues. They waited until the worst of the fatigue and other symptoms quieted, but even then it was a struggle to get up, get dressed, and head to the rink.

By the time they were laced up and ready to start, Yuuri felt ready to crawl back into bed. He and Victor had decided before they’d left to not push themselves too hard. They had also made a pact to retire early should the exertion of skating been too much to endure on their recovering bodies (though that would entirely depend on who threw in the towel first, and if they threw in the towel in the first place).

Yuuri was the first to step onto the ice, though Victor wasn’t far behind; he’d gone back into the locker room to grab them some extra tissues (which Yuuri was sure they’d plow through in no time). He muffled a cough into a gloved hand and then exhaled forcefully to get rid of a phlegmy crackle that hadn’t been coughed out. Gross. Sniffling, he started to glide towards the center of the rink when the echoing sound of a sneeze urged him to make an abrupt t-stop.

He turned to look in the direction it had come from and squinted; his blurry vision made out Victor’s figure just outside of the entrance, bent at the waist, and gripping the rink barrier with one hand. His other hand was splayed over his nose, which, Yuuri knew, was the source of the sneeze he’d heard. Although he couldn’t hear the building breaths being so far out on the ice, he watched as Victor’s torso heaved with each teasing one.

Two more sneezes followed. “Hihh’GYSCHHhhhish!—GHHZSCHHHhh’ue!”

Even though his voice was hoarse and not keen on supporting anything more than an ‘inside volume’, Yuuri called out: “Bless you!”

He saw Victor raise a hand in an unspoken ‘thank you’ before the man grabbed a bunch of the tissues he’d brought in; he was still rubbing the balled up cluster under his nostrils when he skated up to Yuuri a few seconds later, red-nosed and watery-eyed.

Yuuri tried not to frown too much as he reached out to brush some of Victor’s hair away from his left eye. The silvery fringe fell right back into place after, of course, but the gesture was still affectionate and appreciated by Victor, who nuzzled his cheek against Yuuri’s hand before it could pull away.

“Are you ready?” he asked, pocketing the crumpled tissues.

“Not as ready as I should be,” Yuuri sighed, and then coughed again. “I’m starting to think we should have waited another day or two.”

“Da, we probably should have,” Victor agreed, sniffling wetly. He reached for his tissues again, gave his chapped nose another swipe, and then pocketed them as he did before. “But we’re here now, so let’s get some practice in. Even if it’s just a little.”

Yuuri nodded. “Yeah, might as well.”

Although he looked tired and stuffed to the brim with cold, Victor’s smile was just as warm and lovely; he kissed Yuuri sweetly on the mouth - they were long past the point of contagion - and then skated backwards when it was time to pull away.

“Stay close to me?” he asked, both a question and the song title of their pair skate, while holding out a hand.

Yuuri pushed himself forward and took Victor’s hand. “You know I will.”

- - -

For the most part, things didn’t start off too bad. They stayed away from the more complex jumps and choreography and mostly worked on the dips and synchronized glides. Having a good flow and form was extremely important, after all.

There were plenty of pauses between the two of them - to cough, to sneeze, to blow their noses - but Yuuri was satisfied with their progress (however pathetic it was). They were definitely slowing down, though. That much was obvious. It wouldn’t be long before they wrapped up, assuming Victor felt as worn and achy as Yuuri presently did.

In fact, he planned on asking Victor just as soon as he stopped…

“Hhh’GHSCHHhhh’zuh!”

…sneezing.

That was number three, so Yuuri said and then asked: “Bless you. Should we call it a day?”

A productive noseblow preceded Victor’s snuffly response. “Thank you, and I want us to practice the first lift one more time. Then we can go.”

Yuuri felt an uncomfortable tug in his chest that wasn’t related to his illness. Lifts were…well, they were something he was still getting used to. Although he wasn’t chubby anymore, and although he was much more agile and lean then he’d been when he’d first met Victor, there was something unnerving about being suspended in the air like he didn’t weigh anything at all. And it wasn’t like they could switch. Victor was taller and heavier than he was, so Yuuri had to be the one lifted.

“Alright,” he finally replied.

Victor picked up on Yuuri’s hesitance and, once he’d done away with his tissues, he gave hisother half a reassuring rub on his shoulder. “Everything will be fine.”

They’d practiced the lifts a few times before with no problems, but Yuuri couldn’t seem shake a hunch that something would go wrong. As it turned out, that hunch wasn’t a hunch at all. It was a premonition. They’d no sooner started the sequence when Yuuri felt a sharp, prickling tickle spread through his nasal passages like wildfire; it was something he probably should have addressed immediately rather than ignored, but he and Victor were already gearing up towards the lift.

“Vihhctor!” he said urgently, hoping to inform his partner, yet it was already too late.

Victor’s hands were anchoring along his waist and Yuuri felt himself being hoisted upward (for as quick as the move was it felt like it was going in slow motion). He tried to keep the ill-timed sneeze at bay, but as he was turning and coming back down it sprung itself upon him with no further warning.

“Hahp’khtschhh!”

Three things happened then: Yuuri tensed and snapped inward, Victor lost his grip in the awkward and unplanned transition, and the two of them became an entanglement of limbs sprawled along the ice.

Yuuri was the first to react, and quite swiftly at that. He sat up and reached out to Victor, who was slowly sitting up himself. “I-I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Are you okay??”

Victor had sustained more injuries (some major, even) throughout his career, and any unnecessary falls always worried Yuuri greatly. He knew that they hadn’t really fallen - more like tumbled, actually - but until Victor told him otherwise, Yuuri couldn’t help but freak out. He would never forgive himself if he was the one responsible for Victor hurting himself before his comeback season.

Yuuri continued to watch, fretful, as Victor leaned to the side. He thought it had to do with Victor assessing whether he was injured or not, but he was proven wrong when he watched the Russian reach into his pocket to pull out a clean tissue. Instead of using the tissue on himself, he reached across the short distance that separated them and pressed it just below Yuuri’s nose (in his panicking, Yuuri hadn’t even felt it dripping towards his lip).

And then Victor was smiling and saying very gently: “Bless you.”

Heat flooded Yuuri’s face as he scrambled to hold the tissue in place, so that Victor didn’t have to do it for him. “Th-thank you…but you’re not hurt, right?”

Victor rotated his wrists and ankles and then rolled his shoulders and neck. Nothing felt out of place or sore, which was always a good thing. “No, I’m fine,” he confirmed with a sniff. “But I think that was the universe telling us that we’re done.”

Yuuri stretched the tissue out over his nose and blew softly, but even soft it ended up making him cough. Victor rubbed his back through it, and when the fit passed Yuuri felt ten times more exhausted. He also felt cold and shivery from being seated on the ice. With Victor’s help, they got to their feet and started to skate back towards the entrance.

“I’m gonna take a hot bath when we get back,” Yuuri sighed, using Victor’s shoulder for balance as he slipped on his first blade guard.

“A hot bath sounds divine,” Victor commented, wistful. He let Yuuri put on his second guard and then used Yuuri’s shoulder in return, so he could put the guards on his own skates. “Is there any room for me?”

“Even if there wasn’t any room you’d still find a way to…hhh—h-hold on, I hhhave to!—haht’ihschh’uu!”

Victor felt Yuuri shudder beneath his hand, which was still clasping the younger man’s shoulder. “Bless you. My poor Yuuri…”

Yuuri reached for a clean tissue from the heavily depleted box that sat on the barrier and brushed it below his nose. “Ugh, thanks. I can’t wait until we’re over this cold.”

“Mmm,” Victor hummed, slipping on his second guard and then hugging Yuuri against him. “Don’t worry. We’ll be better soon.”

Yuuri leaned into the embrace and kissed his favorite spot on Victor’s chest - straight over his heart. “And then we can practice our pair skate.”

Victor nodded, kissed into Yuuri’s hair, and echoed: “And then we can practice our pair skate.”

 

END.

Edited January 17, 2017 by Spoo

[Kaze Wo Hiku]

God I literally had a similar idea with this but woman you blew whatever I could have scraped together out of the park!!!! Hhhhhhnnnngggg, the fact they're both sick and adorable and YUURI FREAKING OUT WHEN HE THOUGHT HE HURT VIKTOR!!!

Soooooooo goooood Spoo always always

[Juto]

SPOODLES!!! 

I already flailed a little over this! But I need to tell you that:

1. Sharing a cold during the pair skate practice was an absolutely adorable idea!!! ((And the fact that Yuuri caught it first but Viktor was so attentive (and kiss-demanding) that he caught it too aahhhhhg *happy sigh*))

2. The way you write Viktor's sneezes KILL me!!!!! (And Yuuri's are so adorably kittenish I wanna cuddle the little cube all better) 

3. These:

I can’t wait until we’re over this cold.

We’ll be better soon.

 

4. The tenderness of the ending and the way Yuuri kisses Viktor's chest!!!! 

Just. So. ADORABLE!!! 

 

[Shamaël]

I don't know the fandom, but I still love your writing. This is amazingly well-written and cute - and the spelling is great. I don't have much to say, because I don't know the characters, but I loved the situation and the interaction between them.

[bazzpop00]

Spoo! I love your writing so much!!

The sneeze you added during the lift literally killed me  I just love it when both of them are sick!!

 

[valemari2012]

Spoooo, I always read your drabbles although not had an account :'D i loved this, the fall was soo sheepish >ω< and Yuri so cuteee 

Keep posting drabbles here!! Love you!!

 

Typical comment:

I'm latin, sorry the bad english ^^

[queenie]

Truly adorable. I'm a sucker for any YOI sickfic, and you knocked it out of the park. 

[Voodoo huntress]

This...this is what dreams are made of

[alias]

Okay I have to come out of hiding to say THIS IS LOVELY.  Beautiful.  Adorable.  Heart-warming.  Ship-indulging.  Loveliness.  Your writing is so strong and you've captured each character perfectly.  <3 

[san kyu]

Oh no, that fall! You've got a very poetic style of writing which I really enjoyed. Everything about this was so nice!

[JQLovesSneezes]

My goodness, I FINALLY got to watching Yuri on Ice and ended up binging it in a day.   I don't think I've felt such a wide range emotion from an anime before (or shipped a couple quite as hard), so now I'm tracking down all the ViktorXYuuri sneezefics I can.  This was SUPER adorable! I love how Viktor is so cool after Yuuri knocks him over, it's so in character and SO CUTE!!  Keep up the awesome work, Spoo!! 

[RachTheCool]

can I post on here? That last post was soon enough to reply on here? I'm gonna give it a good enough. SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! *jumps through the screen and glomps you*

 

AAAAAAAAASASFNDQWEOFJOEWQJGFIQEROHJDCOFHOERHJCOERJO

This was majesty. MAJESTY. Both of them? BOTH OF THEM??? YOU'RE KILLING ME. NOT TO MENTION IT HAS AMAZING WRITING, AMAZING SCENARIO, AMAZING EVERYTHING AOSFJOSAJFOAWJEFOWEJFOWEJFWOEJ I just love you so much

I LOVE YOU, YOU ARE LIKE BLAAAHHHH the BEST YOI writer!!! AFSIHDOJAWFAOWJEDOJ Marry me

NO AMOUNT OF KEYBOARD SLAMS CAN EXPLAIN MY HAPPINESS FOR:

1 ) Yuuri warning Viktor each time before he sneezes

2 ) fluff

3 ) good writing

4 ) WE WERE. BORN TO SHIP VIKTUURI!

5 ) I love you

6 ) That gif.... there... at the top... that gif..

This fic makes me glad to have watched yuri on ice. Have I mentioned that I love you???

[lsbn]

Oh my GOD that was amazing!!! Thank you so much for writing!!!!!! Their every interaction was so caring and adorable!!! 😍😍😍