Summary: Victor is attending a festival with Yuuri on a summer's day in Hasetsu. A very hot and humid summer's day. Feeling dizzy and wanting to pass out just means you're excited, right?
Notes:
I was inspired by the warmer weather finally dragging its bitch ass over here to Canada to write a fic where Victor gets heat exhaustion. (Meanwhile, everyone else is writing Yuri on Stage fics about Chihoko, and I'm over here uploading a whump. This is what my life has come to.)
The streets are packed for the summer festival. People are walking shoulder to shoulder, and it's a miracle Victor hasn't lost track of Yuuri. A head of black hair isn't uncommon among this sea of people, so he grasps Yuuri's hand like a lifeline as they weave their way through the crowd. He doesn't even know where they are headed. Yuuri's voice was lost among the many others, and Victor told himself he couldn't hear solely because Yuuri was facing away from him when he was talking, dragging Victor along and speaking without looking back. Not because of Victor's steadily depleting stamina.
He thinks Yuuri said something about food. Some kind of -yaki. There's a lot of themーtoo many; booths of taiyaki, takoyaki, yakiniku and more all line the street, exuding fire and heat that mingles and mixes with the unbearable humidity only found in a summer's day in southern Japan. The forecast predicted 28°C, but it feels much, much higher. Victor is sweating through his shirt, a dark green tee he had thrown on before they left. (He had been lounging shirtless around the house until then.) While he was thankfully not stupid enough to wear black, it's still certainly absorbing more sunlight than he thinks he's able to deal with. He feels sluggish and is glad he has Yuuri tugging on his arm to keep him upright.
They finally come to a stop and find themselves waiting in a line. Victor lets out a breath, feeling a bit dizzy at the sudden loss of air. A bit concerning, but he brushes it off. He looks ahead down the way-too-long line and reads the kanji on the sign of the booth. He recognizes the character for "ice" from the fact that their careers revolve around the word, and tries his best to put his finger on the hiragana in front of it. After much frustration, he gives up and asks Yuuri. Kakigoori, he translates for Victor. Shaved ice with syrup.
Ice. Ah, what a lovely word. The world around him was too hot, and ice would surely do wonders. The most frustrating thing about the heat was that nobody else seemed bothered by it. The merchants at the booths called and cheered in a loud voice, inviting in customers and passerbys. Festival-goers everywhere smiled and laughed and talked in excited Japanese much too fast for Victor's tired brain to keep up. He can barely bother to keep up a conversation of his own, and vaguely notes that he had not responded to Yuuri.
"Sounds delicious," he says with much forced enthusiasm.
Yuuri nods. "It is. Especially in this heat," he exhales, pulling at his tank top. It's a blue colour, lighter than Victor's and a lighter material as well. His bare shoulders and arms are exposed and very toned, and Victor tells himself that's the reason his mouth is so dry. He licks his lips.
"Speaking of heat," Yuuri starts and Victor fights a blush, worried he had been caught staring, "how are you holding up?" Yuuri asks.
"Huh? Oh, I'm fine!" he responds automatically and much too quickly. It's a lie, and a twinge of pain forms at his temples as his too-cheery tone rings in his ears. It's obvious from Yuuri's expression that he doubts Victor's words, and Victor doesn't blame him. He is honestly not doing well, but he can manage and doesn't need to worry Yuuri. He's Russian; an Olympic and World champion. If there was one thing he was not, it was weak. He probably just needs some water.
As if reading his mind, Yuuri fishes a water bottle from his backpack and hands it to Victor who takes it numbly, marveling at the fact that his student can carry such a heavy weight on his back despite the tremendous effort it must take in this oppressive weather.
"Drink some water and stay hydrated. It's probably more humid than you're used to in Russia." Yuuri watches to make sure he drinks enough and Victor swallows a fair amount. His mouth feels significantly less dry now, but the water is lukewarm and not at all refreshing, though he's sure it will help his state regardless. He hands it back and Yuuri takes a swig of his own.
The air wavers with the smoke from the numerous food stands. People are standing much too close to him, bumping into him, creating too much heat and it's all so damn smothering! Victor feels a bead of sweat trickle slowly from his shorts and down his leg, and another one down his neck and into the shirt clinging too tight to his skin. His forehead is definitely sweating and his bangs are likely damp and stuck there. He surely looks like a mess, and he feels even worse. His skin is on fire, and he fights with much difficulty the urge to break from this line that's barely moved to find the nearest body of water and fling himself into it. He might even consider the agonizing task of running there if only it meant relief sooner rather than later.
A hand jars him out of his thoughts and he realizes it's Yuuri's around his wrist pulling him as the line advances. His lips are moving, but Victor can't hear anything over the ringing that's made its way into his ears. It's immediately followed by another wave of dizziness that forces him to close his eyes. When he opens them again, he find himself leaning against Yuuri. His voice is clearer now and very worried.
"Victor? Are you alright?" Yuuri asks. Victor nods and mumbles something that he hopes would assure Yuuri that he is. "You don't look alright," he remarks, and Victor doesn't find it in him to respond. "I think you need to sit down for a bit," Yuuri says as Victor closes his eyes again.
Yuuri keeps a hand on Victor as he keeps him upright. He's looking less like he's about to collapse on the spot, but only marginally, so Yuuri keeps supporting him just in case. His eyes scan past the crowds, looking for an open spot free of people, preferably with shade. He finds the first, but without the second. With no other choice, he leaves the line with Victor's arm draped over his shoulder.
"You've been feeling off for a while, no matter how much you try to deny it," Yuuri lectures as they walk. He pointedly interjects the last part against Victor's assumed protest, but in truth, he was too exhausted to argue. "I think all this heat is getting to you."
The spot Yuuri brings them to isーlike many things todayーtoo warm as he's lowered to the ground. Yuuri removes his backpack and again withdraws the bottle, already half empty. Victor can smell the water evaporating off of the blades of grass, the smell sweet and of summer. He sprawls out onto it with a sigh and lets his eyes slip shut.
"Don't fall asleep just yet. Not in the sun," Yuuri urges him gently but firmly. "We don't want this to get any worse." Victor wonders briefly how he could possibly feel any worse than he currently does now, but figures Yuuri has experience with this sort of thing and thinks better of arguing.
"Drink this," Yuuri orders, and Victor reluctantly sits up and obliges. "I'm going to get an umbrella to block out some of the sun. That should hopefully help. Wait here until I get back, and stay awake. Can you do that for me?" Yuuri asks intently.
He nods shortly and Yuuri gets up, promising to hurry back before heading off and leaving Victor alone. The water bottle is empty now, and his head has been aching since Yuuri helped him sit up to drink. He rests his head in his hand. His bangs are dampened with sweat, and the rest of his hair is hot to the touch from the direct sunlight beating down. He closes his eyesーjust resting them, he tells himself. Not nappingーand focuses on deciphering the voices around him and making sense of the foreign syllables.
He's not sure how much time has passed, but Yuuri is in front of him again and his hand is on Victor's shoulder. He flinches from the touch, like fire in a sauna, and jerks his head up and notices the newly produced shade over their heads. He hopes he didn't fall asleep while Yuuri was gone, but he honestly can't say for sure if he did or not.
"You okay?" Yuuri asks.
"My head is warm. And it hurts," he complains.
"I'm sorry, I should have been more careful. I forgot that you're not used to the humidity," Yuuri apologizes as he hands Victor a fresh water bottle. It's blissfully cool to the touch, beads of water forming on the outside, and he presses it to his cheek for a moment before opening it. He drinks some, and reapplies it to the other cheek.
"I'm pretty sure you have heat stroke, or at least some degree of heat exhaustion," Yuuri provides. "We'll rest in the shade for a while, then see how you feel. How does that sound?"
"It sounds wonderful," Victor sighs and he closes his eyes. "Can I take a nap now?" he asks, and he hopes the answer is yes because he's already losing the battle for consciousness. He leans heavily on Yuuri who guides his head into his lap.
"Sure thing, Vitya. I've got you," he says.
Victor is still too warm, and it's humid, but the shade is helping, and Yuuri's lap is making an excellent pillow. He falls asleep.
Notes:
Disclaimer: I'm not an expert on heat exhaustion, but from what I've Googled, this should be fairly legit.
Translations in order of appearance:
-The title "Atsui Matsuri" literally means "hot festival" and I chose it because it rhymes, kind of. Plus it's very fitting.
-Taiyaki: Fish-shaped pastries filled with cream
-Takoyaki: Octopus balls/dumplings
-Yakiniku: Barbequed meat
-Kanji: One of the 3 Japanese writing systems. Consists of picture-words
-Hiragana: Another one of the 3 Japanese writing systems. Consists of phonetics
-Kakigoori: Shaved ice with syrup
For anyone actively following my writing, (once again and many times over, thank you!) just a heads up that my uploads will be more irregular. Just experiencing a lack of inspiration mixed with little time to write, but I am still motivated! I'll try for every second week at least, but no promises.
Also, I am looking for beta readers! Hit me up if you're interested!
As always, comments are more than welcome! Thanks for reading!