The Unexpected

Chapter 2

March 1st, 2025

Yurio's POV 1st Person

I sleep for a long time, waking up around 5 am the next day. As I open my eyes I'm met with the bright morning sun and close them immediately, going blind at the sight. I reach my hand over to the other side of the bed, feeling for my sleeping husband next to me. He's not there. I find his side of the bed empty, only Potya curled in top of a pillow to accompany me. I roll over so I face the wall and immediately regret the movement. My stomach twists tightly and I stumble out of bed; trying to get to the bathroom on unsteady feet.

Otabek's POV 1st Person

I'm dead asleep when I'm woken by a crash. Something light falls across my body and immediately starts to rise, stumbling away from me. 

Yuri. 

I follow his muffled footsteps into the bathroom and catch him as he reaches the toilet just in time. I hold his hair as he pukes, heaving for a good 15 minutes. When he finally slumps down by the basin, eyes half shut and looking exhausted he seems to realize for the first time that I'm here. "Beka?" He asks me weakly, his voice coming out quiet and small, "Why were you on the floor?" I bite my lip, feeling guilty that he tripped over me,

"You were too sick to be left alone, I'd have slept on the couch but I thought I'd be too far away to hear you if you needed me- I guess you did," I say motioning to our surroundings and giving him a small smile,
"Yes, and how helpful you were," Yuri says sarcastically, his previously drooping eyelids suddenly going wide. He whips around, dropping his head back in the toilet as he begins throwing up once again. I rub his back gently, wanting to help but not having any idea how. When it finally subsides he leans back into my arms, his body trembling slightly, the force of being sick too much for him in his currently weakened state. "Feeling better?" I ask quietly, and receive an infinitesimal nod in return. "Do you think you're ready to go back to bed?" Again I get a nod, but he makes no move to get up. I move away as gently as I can, holding him to my chest. He's as light as a kitten, tiny and feeble, curling up in my arms. 

As I lay him back in bed I give him another kiss, pulling the covers up to his chin, and watching as he wraps his long limbs around himself and morphs into a little ball. I leave some saltines and water next to him and resume my previous position on the ground, this time careful to be out of his way if he has to make another mad dash to the bathroom.

***

Somewhere around two hours later I return to consciousness and am immediately relieved to find the house silent. I stand up and look over at the bed, Yuri lies there, stretched out like a kitten and perfectly still. I smile at my beautiful husband and make my way slowly down to the kitchen. We haven't been to training in two days, Yuri obviously too sick to go and me refusing to leave him alone while he's so fragile. I pour some water in the electric kettle and set it to brew, needing coffee in the morning to function. Once it's finished I drop into a kitchen chair and let myself enter the zombie-like state I so often assume just waking up. 

After a while, I'm awake enough to become aware of my surroundings once again and register the light slow footsteps that drag across the floor. I stand up and meet the small pale figure in the doorway, letting him lean on me for support. "Good morning," I say quietly, giving him a light kiss on the forehead, 

"What a strange sense of humor you have," Yuri mumbles against me and I laugh, guiding him to another chair and grabbing a glass from the cupboard. I pour him some orange juice and he wrinkles his nose at the taste, although forcing himself to swallow anyway. He pushes the drink away from him in obvious disgust and turns slightly green as he does so.

"How do you feel?" I ask him gently, putting a hand out to move his bangs away from his face. He mumbles something that sounds like,

"Shit," and I take a second to examine him. He's pale-er than usual and a light sheen of sweat covers his face. The rest of his body looks relatively normal, if shakier than before and, to my delight, lacking in the bruises that normally cover it due to our lack of practice. Not to say Yuri falls a lot, that would be the exaggeration of the year, he's perfect out there, but that skating for five to seven hours a day every day leaves irrefutable marks of abusive on your body. And Yuri, being the most dedicated skater and human being I've ever met, normally encompasses those bumps and bruises tenfold, practicing harder than any of us and taking fewer breaks. One of the qualities that often worries me.

I get up and walk over to the fridge, pulling it open, and looking through its contents, "What do you feel like you can keep down?" I ask my husband, and he shakes his head weakly. "Yuri, you haven't eaten in two days," I tell him, "You need to have something, not eating won't help you get better any time soon," Yuri reluctantly agrees, but I suspect he's just too tired to argue with me, and heaves himself up for the chair, looking like it's the hardest thing he's ever done. I watch guiltily as he comes to stand by my side, seemingly dead on his feet. Maybe I should've made him go back to bed earlier. "What do you want?" I ask him, gesturing to the open fridge. He looks at it for a moment before pulling out a small silver packet and crossing the room to the cupboard, from which he takes a bag of chips. 

I raise an eyebrow as he opens the packet, containing our favorite kind of 'fancy cheese' as Yuri calls it and watch as he dips a chip into it. He looks up slightly, as blushes, "Leave me alone," He mutters and turns away, letting a curtain of his long blond hair block his face from view. "I'm sick I'm allowed," I shake my head slightly, amused, but don't remark on the oddity that is Yuri's eating habits. As much as the combination looks disgusting, I can't help but feel a smile form as I watch him eat, in love with just about anything he does. And at least he's eating.

Much too soon however he stops and puts his head down on the table, having only eaten about a handful of chips. Hopefully, that was enough. I clean up after him and finish my own -normal- breakfast before realizing that he hasn't said a word since he finished. I lift his hair to find his eyes shut, completely asleep. Gently, I lift him away from the table and carry him upstairs, depositing him in the bed before tucking him in. He stirs slightly at the movement but stays asleep, merely curling into a tiny ball as is his custom. I'm glad he does too, today must have been tiring; two vomiting sessions and walking around on a next to empty stomach. I sound like an idiot, I'm fully aware of this, but I can't help it. I'm his husband, it's my job to be overprotective and worry about silly things. I stroke Yuri's soft blonde hair as he dreams, a small smile on his lips. And seeing him there, relaxed and happy is the best sight in the world for me.

**Author's Note!**

Happy birthday Yurio! (March 1st is his birthday if you were not aware) I was going to put in birthday fluff, but since Yurio was so sick I decided to have him forget (obviously) and Otabek forget and focus on taking care of him instead. Sorry if that's disappointing! See you next chapter!