Yuri's head was pounding as he got off the train near the skating rink. He coughed as he went outside and the cold air hit his irritated lungs. Practice was going to be rough, but he would power through it. So he wasn't feeling great, no big deal. Practice was more important. He wasn't going to let a little thing like this stop him. It was just a bit of a cough. And a stuffed-up nose. And a headache. And aching muscles. And, judging by the cold sweat dripping from his forehead, probably a fever. Okay, he was pretty sick, but he was still going to practice anyway, because there was no way he was going to miss it.

He walked into the rink, laced up his skates, and started warming up. By the time he was finished with his warm-up routine, he had broken into several coughing fits, and the other skaters were noticing. He told them it was a dust allergy that was acting up because they were having new carpet put in at his and Otabek's apartment. Whether they believed it or not, Yuri didn't care, he just needed to skate through the fog in his head.

Victor was gone on a publicity tour, so he and a bunch of other students had been given to a substitute coach for the time being. The substitute coach eyed Yuri, noticing the dripping sweat and labored breathing.

"Working hard today, I see" he said, "Don't hurt yourself in warm-ups, kid, I want to give you back to Victor in one piece."

"Y-Yes sir" Yuri said, trying to keep his voice from cracking. All the coughing was making his throat scratchy.

"Okay, here's the practice regimen Victor gave me for you. Go through it, and I can help or give critiques as needed." the coach said, handing over a sheet of paper.

Yuri looked at the paper, having to concentrate to read over the pounding in his head. This looked pretty routine, but it was going to be tough with his sore muscles. Oh well, he was just going to have to push through it. He began working through the routine, starting with the spins, then moving on to jumps. His balance was a bit off, but this wasn't too bad, right? He could do this. As he moved into a quad axle, he started panting harder than usual. He couldn't seem to get enough air. He only got in three rotations before landing, and his vision started to go black. He gasped for air, triggering another coughing fit. His balance went haywire and he buckled, not knowing which way was up.

The next he saw was the ceiling of the rink, and another skater looking down at him.

"Pretty impressive fall, there. I'll help you up." he stuck a hand toward Yuri.

"Thanks" Yuri muttered, embarrassed. He took the other skater's arm and managed to get to his feet.

"Dude, you're burning up. Are you feeling okay?" he said, genuinely concerned.

Yuri's collapse had attracted the attention of the coach.

"Yuri, are you okay?" the coach said, sliding up next to them

"I'm fine, just-just a little dehydrated" Yuri said, desperately trying to keep his breathing steady.

"No you're not," said the other skater, "It's obvious you've got a fever, and you've been coughing all morning. It's not just allergies, you're sick."

The coach reached out and put a hand on Yuri's forehead. Yuri tried to shake him off, but the jig was up. He glared at the other skater for ratting him out.

"He's right, Yuri, you're burning up and you just collapsed. You're going home." The coach said, leaving no room for argument. He turned to a couple of older skaters that had come over to see what was going on, "Get him off the ice and help him gather his things. I'll call someone to pick him up, Victor left me a list of emergency numbers."

Yuri was furious. All he wanted to do was practice, but there was no way that was going to happen now. As he was escorted off the ice, he overheard the coach dialing the emergency number.

"Hello, it this Otabek Altin?"

How the hell did Victor know that Otabek would be the best person to call? Did he know that he was sharing an apartment with Yuri? Great. Otabek would be there to pick him up in less than twenty minutes, and there was no way he was going to escape before then. The two skaters who had escorted him off the ice had taken his skates off and shut him in the locker room. He gathered his stuff and resigned himself to waiting and seething, punctuated by occasional bouts of coughing.

When Otabek arrived at the rink, Yuri was escorted, or more accurately, carried, out of the locker room by two taller skaters around Otabek's age. Yuri's coach came over to fill Otabek in on the details.

"Hello, you must be Otabek, here to pick up Yuri. He has been coughing all day. He said it was just allergies, but then he collapsed. He keeps saying he's fine, but it's obvious he's not. I've made an appointment with a local doctor who takes care of all of Victor's skaters. Here's her office address. I hate to rush off but I've still got practice to coach. Thanks for doing this."

"No problem," Otabek said, "It wouldn't be the first time I've had to bail the little twerp out of trouble."

"Hey! What was that supposed to mean?" Yuri said indignantly, his voice starting to get raspy.

"You know exactly what it means. Come on, we're going to the doctor." Otabek said, firmly grabbing Yuri's arm. Even through his jacket, he felt abnormally warm.

"I don't wanna go! I don't have to do anything I d-don't..." his defiant outburst was cut off by another coughing fit.

Otabek snagged Yuri's practice bag and hauled him out of the rink. For such a small guy, he put up quite a fight. He struggled against Otabek's iron grip as they walked to the train station. He kept fairly quiet on the train, even he knew that a packed train was a bad place to make a scene. Or maybe the fatigue of being sick was starting to get to him. He still made his opinion on the whole matter abundantly clear through facial expression, however. Otabek had to hold back laughter seeing him, cheeks flushed with fever, eyes clouded, yet still managing to give a look that could melt steel. Like a defiant child.

The second they left the train station, Yuri made another break for freedom. Otabek had had enough of this nonsense and slung Yuri's tiny frame over his broad shoulder. He kept fighting, but he was clearly wearing himself out. Thankfully, the doctor's office was only a couple blocks from the train station.

Otabek walked into the doctor's office with a protesting, squirming Yuri over his shoulder and was greeted by a nurse who was clearly trying not to laugh at the ridiculous sight.

"We were told you would be bringing Mr. Plisetsky in, please go to exam room 1, right through that door on your left, and wait. She'll see you in a moment."

As Otabek walked into the room, he heard muffled laughter from the nurses. He had to admit, it was pretty funny. He sat down, holding Yuri on his lap to keep him from escaping.

As the nurse had said, it was only a moment before the doctor came in, a small woman in a white lab coat with a clipboard. As she opened the door, Yuri made one last, hard attempt to free himself, to no avail. She smiled at Otabek and Yuri.

"Ah, you must be Otabek Altin. Yuri's coach said he was sending you. Put Yuri on the examination table, please."

Yuri made a hissing noise as Otabek set him on the table, but stopped struggling. He was temporarily defeated. Otabek didn't like the way he was eyeing the door, and strategically stood in front of it to block another escape attempt.

"Yuri, your coach said you collapsed at practice after coughing all morning, can you tell me exactly how that happened?"

Yuri sighed with some resignation. He was stupid, but not stupid enough to lie to a doctor. "I was working on jumps, I felt like I couldn't get enough air, I started coughing, and my vision went black. The next thing I remember, I was staring at the ceiling."

"Okay, that actually tells me a lot. I'm going to do a little examination, and we'll get this figured out."

"Fine." Yuri said with a scowl.

The doctor quickly took Yuri's temperature, raising an eyebrow at the reading

"Thirty-eight point five and you expected to skate? No wonder you collapsed."

"Yuri…" Otabek glared.

Yuri folded his arms and glared right back.

The doctor continued her examination, looking into Yuri's eyes, listening to his wheezing lungs, and peering down his throat. As she made a note on her chart, he broke out into another coughing fit.

"Quite a cough you have there, Yuri. How long has that been going on?"

Yuri looked from the doctor to Otabek, then back to the doctor.

"This is day...three."

"Yuri!" Otabek broke in "you've been going to practice with a cough for three days? I thought winter was an odd time to have an allergy attack like you were saying."

"...I thought I would be fine if I could just power through it." Yuri said sheepishly.

"Have you had any headaches or muscle pain?" the doctor asked, trying to move on with her diagnosis.

"Yes. Both." Yuri said

Otabek put his face in his hands in exasperation.

"And it looks like the coughing has made your throat raw, does it hurt?"

"Yeah, a little."

The doctor made one final note and turned to Otabek "Well, this is a pretty straightforward diagnosis. He collapsed because he couldn't get enough oxygen. The strenuous activity combined with the upper respiratory inflammation put him in oxygen deficit, then when his cough reflex was triggered, he couldn't breathe in and collapsed."

"Hey! I'm ri-right here! Otabek isn't my m-mom, I can take care of myself!" Yuri was trying to shout, but his sore voice kept cracking.

"Yes, and you're clearly doing a bang-up job of that" Otabek said sarcastically.

"Anyway," the doctor continued, "he has influenza. It's common, especially this time of year. It's not too serious on its own, but it can lead to serious complications if the person does not allow themselves to recover." She shot Yuri a chastising look. His defiant scowl wavered. "Keep him in bed and away from other people. It's very contagious, I wouldn't be surprised of other skaters end up in my office in the next few days with this. Make sure he stays hydrated. If he doesn't start to get better in a few days, call me. He's pushed himself too far already, and I don't want him to end up with pneumonia or bronchitis from this."

"Trust me, he won't be leaving the house till I say he can." Otabek said.

She smiled warmly "I like you, Mr. Altin. Take good care of him,"

"Call me Otabek."

"All right, I'm sure I'll see Yuri again at some point, hopefully not soon. I leave it to you to take him home, Otabek."

Otabek took Yuri's arm and led him out of the doctor's office. He was clearly running out of fight and had resigned himself to steel-melting glares through his fever-glazed eyes. They got back to the apartment, and Otabek didn't let Yuri go until they were in his room. They shared an apartment, but had separate bedrooms. Yuri was only sixteen, after all. He picked up Yuri's pajamas, carelessly thrown onto the floor, and tossed them at him.

"Put these on and get into bed, this is not up for discussion."

Yuri shot back a particularly lethal glare as he peeled off his sweat-soaked practice gear and put on the oversized t shirt and silk pajama shorts. He took a few deep, controlled breaths, trying to avoid another burst of coughs, and launched into a tirade, punctuated with voice cracks.

"What the h-hell was that? Do you think you run my l-life? You may be 'The H-Hero of Kazakstan' but I'm not some flighty little d-damsel who can't do anything for herself! I don't need y-you to get involved where you're not w-wanted! I'm not h-helpless! Why do you keep butting in and-"

"Because I love you!" Otabek shouted, bringing Yuri to an abrupt stop, "I want you to be happy, I want to keep you safe. I won't think ill of you because you're not at your best. I fell in love with all of you, and i'm not going to abandon you. I hate it when you don't let me see your pain. I want to be with you, not just the you that everyone else sees. If you refuse to take care of yourself, I will, because right now, it looks like I love you more than you love yourself, and that's saying something! I can't stand to see you suffer in silence because I love you!" Otabek stopped, taken aback. He hadn't realized he's been shouting.

Yuri was stunned. He was used to being the tough kid, never showing any weakness or flaws. He hadn't realized it, but he had left a wall between himself and everyone else, afraid that they would see him as weak or vulnerable and try to take advantage of him. And yet...here was Otabek, the person he had fallen in love with, begging to be let through that wall. He wasn't much of a talker, but he said "I love you" with all the devotion of agape, a concept Yuri had struggled so hard to understand. He loved Yuri. He loved this arrogant brat who just tried to push him away. He had broke the wall that no one else had even approached. Yuri was too weak to keep up the facade even if he wanted to. HIs expression softened, and tears welled up in his blue-green eyes.

"Beka…" He sobbed.

Otabek ran over and wrapped Yuri in a big hug. He was feverishly hot and starting to shake with fatigue. This was Yuri without his tough shell, showing how he was truly feeling. He clung to Otabek as if his life depended on it, sobbing into his shoulder. His deep sobs triggered a massive coughing fit, and his knees buckled. Otabek took his small weight and sat down on the bed with him, gently brushing his hair out of his eyes.

"You don't have to constantly prove your strength to me, Yura. I know how strong you are, but I also know that even the strongest have times where they feel weak. Let me be your strength right now. You're sick, you're exhausted, and it's time to get some rest."

"Okay, Beka" Yuri rasped, sniffing.

As Otabek tucked him into bed, he heard Yuri's stomach growl.

"Bring me food. I am too weak to get it myself." Yuri said, some of his attitude returning.

That was more like it. Yuri's tough act was gone, but he would always be the same could not be said of his voice. It was fading fast. Otabek ruffled his already bedraggled hair.

"I'll make you some hot soup, does that sound good?"

"Yes," Yuri said, smiling genuinely.

As Otabek started to get up, Yuri caught his wrist.

"Beka," he paused, looking into Beka's soft brown eyes, "I love you too. And...thanks. For everything." He choked up and started coughing before he could continue.

"No problem, my kitten. Now stop talking before your voice goes away completely."