Chapter Text
The cold, bright ice glinted menacingly beneath his skates, the sharp scraped of metal on ice filling his ears, drowning out the roar of the crowd. Yuuri knew, without looking, that he was at the Grand Prix. He glanced up to the stands, saw thousands of faces staring down at him expectantly. The Japanese man breathed in, then out, fighting to still the trembling in his limbs.
The music started up, and he began to move. Something was wrong; he could feel it. His movements were sloppy, delayed, his balance wavering in ways it shouldn't. His knees gave way beneath him, and he crashed to the floor, curling into a ball as the deafening cries of outrage from the audience filled his head. His temple pressed into the ice, eyes welling with confused tears. He didn't know what was happening; where was Victor? The thought of the silver-haired alpha had him pushing up on his elbow, glancing dazedly around the rink in search of his mate.
There! Victor stood at the edge of the rink, hands clutching at the barrier as he looked at Yuuri. The omega tried to call to him, apologize for failing his routine, but no sound left his throat. The younger man tried pushing himself up on his elbows, trying desperately to reach his mate, but his quivering arms gave out beneath him.
Yuuri collapsed back against the ice, wide brown eyes staring pleadingly at his alpha to help him. Victor looked away, face pained, and slowly turned to begin walking away from the rink. Yuuri watched, mouth open in a silent scream, as the Russian man slipped through one of the doors of the arena and left.
The omega sobbed, tears pouring from his eyes and splattering onto the ice. A deep, all-encompassing emptiness clawed through him, tearing through him so painfully he thought he might pass out. Victor was gone. Victor was gone.
Yuuri gasped, shooting up in bed and blinking as the image of his mate's turned back slowly faded to reveal the dark bedroom before him.
"V-Victor?" the omega whimpered, clawing weakly at the sheets beside him, heart dropping as his hand closed around empty air. "Victor!"
A low whine fell from his lips and he began to tremble, pushing himself up onto his elbows as he frantically scanned the room for his lover. There was no sign of the Russian. Panic and loneliness welled deep inside him and he mewled. Victor left. He doesn't want me.
He wondered if this was what drowning is like - to watch, helpless, as the dark waters closed in around your sinking form, stinging your skin and filling your lungs until you, too, became a part of it. The loss and heartache were too much to bear. He couldn't lose Victor. He couldn't.
The Japanese gave a pained gasp, chest heaving and shuddering as he began to bawl in earnest, a series of hacking coughs erupting from him at each anguished cry. Everything hurt. The fear and pain of losing the most precious part of his life was unbearable and he found the sob bursting out of him with more and more desperation, a huge tidal wave of grief flooding through him with such force that it was difficult to breathe.
Suddenly, a loud bang reverberated through the room, startling the omega into flinching backwards, breath shallow and eyes wide as he stared at the source of the disturbance. The door to the room was flung wide open, cold white light spilling in from the hallway and illuminating the raven's tear-streaked face as he blinked, uncomprehending, at the sight of his mate standing frozen in the doorway with a look of wild panic across his features.
Before the younger man could open his mouth to question if this was real, Victor snapped out of his shocked stance and rushed forward to where the omega had curled up against the headboard. Strong, pale arms wrapped around Yuuri's trembling frame and pulled him into the Russian's lap, azure eyes scanning frantically over Yuuri's body in search of what could be causing his love to make such pained cries. Yuuri, on the other hand, all but collapsed into the alpha's chest, sobs continuing to burst from his lips as he locked his arms in a vice grip around the taller man's chest, coughing and sputtering against his shoulder.
"Don't leave me," he choked, eyes wide and scared.
Victor clutched at his omega, heart pounding as he tried to calm both himself and his mate. "Never," he whispered. "Never." He'd just gotten back from a quick trip to the pharmacy when the frantic screams and burnt scent of his love's despair had slammed into him like a freight train. He'd been more terrified in those few seconds than ever he'd felt in his life, and he knew that the sounds of Yuuri's cries would haunt him for many years to come.
"Oh, lyubov moya," Victor murmured, rocking the younger skater back and forth. He fought back tears of his own as the omega continued to fall apart in his arms, the sharp scent of his pain flooding the through room and making each inhale bring fresh waves of helplessness to the alpha. He continued hushing and cooing as Yuuri wept, whispering quiet reassurances to his mate as he fought to keep his own emotions under control.
"Breathe, detka, breathe," he murmured, heart clenching as the younger man succumbed to yet another harsh coughing fit. The heat radiating from the omega was startling, and as soon as the Japanese man's sobs began to lessen into a constant, quiet whimpering, Victor scooped him up and hurried over to the bathroom in search of a thermometer. The younger skater didn't even seem to notice the change in location; he simply continued to clutch weakly at the alpha's shoulders as silent sobs shook his thin frame.
The alpha gathered the man back towards him, running a soothing hand through his hair and murmuring gentle assurances. The thermometer beeped, and Victor retracted it from Yuuri's mouth to check the number: 39.1. Victor frowned. Any higher and he would have to take Yuuri to the hospital.
Pushing back the wave of concerned panic threatening to rise in his chest, the Russian rinsed off the device and then lifted the smaller man off the counter, heading towards the kitchen. He stopped to pick up the heavy plastic bags he'd dropped in his earlier rush to get to Yuuri. They were stocked to the brim with supplies for Yuuri's sickness, and he silently thanked his past self for having the foresight to buy fever reducers.
After scanning the instructions to find the right dose for the omega, he gently coaxed the younger man into taking the pills. At this point, Yuuri had fallen into some sort of half-asleep delirium, so it was fairly easy to convince him to take the meds. Afterwards, though, the omega seemed to droop even further, as though even that small action had taken too much energy out of him, slumping wearily into Victor's arms with another quiet whimper.
The alpha sighed, wrapping his arms tightly around his fiancee's overheated body and peppering kisses over his raven locks. "I never should have left you alone in this condition," he whispered, dismayed, as he carefully transported them back to the bedroom.
A small, selfish part of him that sounded suspiciously like his inner alpha felt giddy at the chance to finally care for Yuuri in the way the Japanese man so often denied himself of, but the rest of him was too worried at seeing his love so a weak and vulnerable to glean any sort of satisfaction.
"V-Vitya?" the omega whispered as he was gently deposited on the bed, hands reaching out to grasp Victor's wrist as though he was afraid the alpha would vanish if he let go.
A pang of guilt flashed through Victor, and he used his free arm to quickly shrug off his jeans before climbing into the sheets and gathering the smaller man towards him. He knew it might not be the best idea for Yuuri's fever, but he needed to be close to his mate, for both their sakes.
oOOo
"-ri. Yuuri." A deep, soothing voice pierced through the haze in Yuuri's mind, and he opened his eyes with a small groan.
"Vitya?" he mumbled, squinting at the blurred form before him. A low whimper built in the back of his throat as he registered the merciless headache throbbing behind his eyes, the strange fuzziness coating all his senses.
"We need to check your temperature," the alpha murmured, gently guiding his mate into a sitting position before something thin and cold was pressed against the omega's mouth. Bemused, Yuuri parted his lips to allow the foreign object access, blinking up into the blurred pair of blue eyes that hovered before him.
A thermometer, his mind belatedly supplied. He closed his eyes and fought back a whine as a wave of dizziness swept over him. Not a moment later, a quiet beep pierced the air of the room, causing the omega to wince as the pain in his head spiked. The device was retracted from his mouth, and Yuuri blinked up to find Victor holding the device in his hands and frowning at the numbers flashing on its screen.
"Whatsit say?" Yuuri slurred, exhaustion pressing down on him like a weighted blanket.
The alpha pursed his lips, gazing down at the thermometer for another second before leaning over to place it on the beside table. "It's still too high," he announced. "We're going to need to cool you off a bit to help it go back down, okay?"
Yuuri fought back a whimper at that. He already felt terrible; he want to add feeling cold on top of everything else.
Sadly, though, it seemed his alpha had other ideas, for soon several of the thicker blankets Yuuri had piled onto the bed were being firmly tugged away from him, leaving nothing but a thin white sheet that did little to stop the cool night air from sweeping across his skin. Shivers wracked the skater's body, and this time Yuuri was unable to suppress his whine. Victor's warm fingers laced through his own, gripping tightly in a gesture of comfort.
"I'm sorry, lyubov," the Russian whispered, fighting back the urge to wrap the omega in his arms. He knew that his body heat would only add to the blazing fever coursing through his mate's body, so he clenched his jaw, steeling himself. This was what's best for Yuuri.
Yuuri's whines gradually eased into quiet whimpers until finally, exhaustion won out over his discomfort, and he drifted into off a restless sleep, hand clutching tightly around his lover's.