Sickfic feat Viktor Nikiforov (yoi, m, illness)

[Sitruuna]

Oookay. I had planned to make this more sneezy but now it has literally only one sneeze haha... If someone thinks this should be in related bwcause of that then I apologise for the trouble for who ever has to move this.

I haven't really edited this much so sorry if it's awkward.

 

 

”hetsh!”

Yuuri turned around when he heard a sudden sneeze from behind him. Viktor looked the same as usual, or rather his back looked the same as usual as Viktor was going through his closet looking for clothes. Or did he? Something about him (his posture? The way he carried himself?) was different and Yuuri squinted to see better. The way his muscles were contracted and weird stiffness of his posture and – Viktor shivered. He really was feeling cold.

”Is something wrong?” Yuuri asked. He heard Viktor sniffle as he pulled on a warm undershirt (another peculiarity as Victor tended to dress lightly for practice), and cleared his throat.

”I have a cold”, Viktor said with another sniffle. His tone was hesitant and knowing Viktor admitting this hadn’t been as easy as one might expect. The Russian had his pride.

”Oh… maybe you shouldn’t come to the rink today”, Yuuri said. He tried not to sound disappointed or too worried but wasn’t sure he succeeded at that. Viktor finally turned around while pulling on another shirt, head popping out of its hole with a gentle yet also a little amused smile drawn on his face. His nose was tinted a little more red than usually and there were bags under his eyes but otherwise he looked fine.

“I’m not too sick to couch you, Yuuri.”

Yuuri wasn’t convinced. The longer he kept looking at Viktor the more subtle signs of an on-coming illness he could spot. There was the weariness and the slight sluggishness as well as the reddened nose Yuuri had already noticed, but Viktor’s nostrils also kept flaring in the way they might flare if he tried to deal with slight congestion without truly dealing with it. And he kept swallowing and almost-coughing, clearing his throat almost unnoticeably. Either he tried to avoid coughing or his throat was itching in the way that wouldn’t respond to his attempts to quell the irritation.

“I’m taking it easy, okay?”

Once they got to the rink and were skating it was easy for Yuuri to forget Viktor wasn’t feeling his best. Despite the cold the Russian skater glided through the ice effortlessly, making everything he did look light and easy. But that only lasted as long as Viktor kept moving; whenever he would stop Yuuri noticed the too heavy breathing, the glimmer of mucus on Viktor’s upper lip before he could pull out a tissue (which he had stuffed plenty into the pockets of his sweatpants), the shivering and the slight cough. The contrast between the Viktor he was seeing and the Viktor he was used to imagining was shocking.

Viktor may have said he'd take it easy but he seemed to have forgot about it during the practice. They changed their original plan of practicing their pair skate to Yuuri practicing his own routine but before long they slipped back to practicing together. Viktor was itching to skate, it happened easily.

Yuuri stopped skating with a sharp turn when he heard Viktor yelp and shout something in Russian as he fell. Yuuri didn't see the fall but he knowing what Viktor had been doing and seeing his current position Yuuri could guess how bad it had been.

”Viktor!” Yuuri yelled as he rushed to the other skater, kneeling beside him. ”What happened? Are you hurt?”

”Got dizzy.”

Viktor sounded worse than before. His voice was rough and congested and his words slurred a little. Yuuri assumed the dizziness hadn't fully passed.

”Help me up?” Viktor asked, confirming Yuuri's suspicions. Yuuri felt weird: anxious and worried but also like he was witnessing something special and rare. He wasn't sure whether the tightness in his chest was anxiousness or love induced excitement. Or maybe both.

Getting up on his feet, Yuuri extended his hands to Viktor and pulled him up when he grabbed them. Viktor staggered and Yuuri wrapped his arm around his waist for support. He felt like a furnace against Yuuri.

Yuuri helped Viktor off the ice and to the benches. Viktor sat down, resting his elbows on his legs and digging his hands into his hair as he waited for his head to clear up. He sniffled wetly on every other breath until he felt good enough to raise his head again. He covered his face with one hand while getting a tissue from his pocket. 

”Is your arm all right” Yuuri asked when Viktor did everything from unfolding the tissue to blowing and wiping his nose, folding it again in the middle and crumbling it up when he was done with only one hand.

”I think I fell on it”, Viktor said. His tone was oddly calm for the situation in Yuuri's opinion.

”Fell on it?! It's not broken is it? Please tell me it isn't broken.”

Viktor lifted the arm up a little, rotating the hand slowly and curling his fingers to make a fist. Everything up from his elbow seemed to be all right but moving his wrist and anything down from there was a little difficult.

”I don't think it's broken”, Viktor concluded. ”Broken wrists hurt more.”

Yuuri looked at Viktor in surprise. That definitely sounded like he was speaking from experience. Yuuri was staring, which he only realised when Viktor raised his eyes to stare back.

”What is it, Yuuri?” he asked.

”N-nothing”, Yuuri responded hastily. ”I just… I guess it never crossed my mind before that you could hurt yourself while skating.”

Viktor's expression went blank for a second before turning amused. He even laughed, which quickly turned into a fit of increasingly less-dry coughs, while Yuuri was left feeling awkward and embarrassed at his confession. He did understand how ridiculous this was.

”You couldn't have thought I was born a pro skater”, Viktor said, still sounding amused. Yuuri felt his face heat up in embarrassment.

”No! I mean… I guess I never thought about it? I just…”

”It's all right, Yuuri”, Viktor said, tugging on Yuuri's shirt with his healthy hand to pull him closer. He rested his warm head on Yuuri's stomach. The energy spike he had just experienced was quickly coming to an end, which was clear from how heavily he leaned on Yuuri, how his shoulders were now sagging and how heavy his breathing was. 

”You said you'd take it easy”, Yuuri said, putting his hand on top of Viktor's head. They should get that hand treated and then get Viktor back to bed.

”I forgot”, Viktor mumbled into Yuuri's stomach. ”Sorry. I don't think we can practice any lifts before my wrist heals.”

”You are not going to practice anything before you get over that cold.”

Viktor hummed in agreement. For Yuuri this all felt twisted, a little like a dream where something was off but you couldn't tell what. He felt like their roles were reversed, that it should have been him who was sick and injured instead of Viktor simply because this was Viktor, the man he had looked up to since he first saw him skate as a child. As bad as he felt for Viktor it was also comforting to see him like this. To see Viktor be so human, someone who Yuuri could be an equal to instead of an unreachable ideal.
 

Edited December 24, 2016 by Sitruuna

[pastelglaceon]

so good!! illness + injury is

[bazzpop00]

aww poor Viktor! If you planned on writing more of this it's off to a great start, but it's also great left alone!!

3 hours ago, Sitruuna said:

Once they got to the rink and were skating it was easy for Yuuri to forget Viktor wasn’t feeling his best. Despite the cold the Russian skater glided through the ice effortlessly, making everything he did look light and easy. But that only lasted as long as Viktor kept moving; whenever he would stop Yuuri noticed the too heavy breathing, the glimmer of mucus on Viktor’s upper lip before he could pull out a tissue (which he had stuffed plenty into the pockets of his sweatpants), the shivering and the slight cough. The contrast between the Viktor he was seeing and the Viktor he was used to imagining was shocking.

btw I loved the image of Viktor you made right here

[Sitruuna]

On 25.12.2016 at 0:52 AM, bazzpop00 said:

aww poor Viktor! If you planned on writing more of this it's off to a great start, but it's also great left alone!!

btw I loved the image of Viktor you made right here

I usually don't write multi chapter stories and this, too, was written to be a one shot. : )

Thank you for the comment and nice feedback though.

 

On 25.12.2016 at 0:41 AM, pastelglaceon said:

illness + injury is

Agreed : D

[Hedgehog]

This was a sweet little story, Sitruuna. I like your descriptions of Victor's slowly worsening cold.

[Sitruuna]

1 hour ago, hedgehog said:

This was a sweet little story, Sitruuna. I like your descriptions of Victor's slowly worsening cold.

Thank you. I'm glad to hear you liked it! : D