Otabek descended down the escalator at the Pulkovo Airport in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He shouldered his duffle bag and saw Yakov waiting for him with his usual angry expression, only slightly less angry than he usually appeared.
The Kazakh was officially transferring coaches, after the last Grand Prix, Otabek had taken Yakov's class when he was younger but now he wanted to train under his coaching to improve himself without losing his love for skating.
Stepping off the escalator, he nodded in greeting to Yakov. Yakov uncrossed his arms, "welcome to Saint Petersburg." Pausing, "practice will be brutal, understand?" Otabek nodded, "I won't go easy on you because you're new." Another nod, Yakov pushed down what Otabek thought may have been a smile, "you don't talk much, d'you, boy?" He shook his head. "A pleasant change from my other stud— Speak of the devil," Yakov's phone began ringing and Mila's name was on the caller ID.
Otabek stood silently as Yakov answered with a huff, "what did you do?" Mila's shrill voice was shouting on the other end, Yakov's face turned purple and he roared, "WHAT?! Where are you now?!" Yakov hung up and growled low in his throat. "We need to stop by the hospital before you can settle in, is that fine?" Otabek nodded.
Yakov's van was out in the parking lot, Otabek put his bag in the trunk and sat up front next to the furious coach who was muttering angrily as he was practically speeding. It made Otabek curious as to what happened.
...
Yuri stared at his phone, his legs lifted in a split. Otabek had posted a picture of his plane ticket to Saint Petersburg almost seven hours ago, he should've landed by now. Scrolling through some of his older posts, Yuri smirked a little at a post of him on his motorcycle in a picturesque setting.
"What are you looking at?" Mila popped up behind him, snatching his phone away. "Ooh, yummy! He'll be here soon, maybe I'll ask him to stay with me until he finds his own place—"
"No way!" Yuri snapped as he reached for his phone. "You perverted old woman!"
She cackled, running away with his phone, "Oops! I accidentally liked one of his old posts!"
"Damn it! Give my phone back!" Yuri chased after her as she ran up the stairs of the bleachers, taking two at a time. She was giggling and running around, avoiding him with ease.
Yuri's stomach went into his throat as he felt his left foot slip and twist and he lost his footing on the steps. Mila's eyes widened, "Yuri!"
He rolled down a couple of steps, his ankle was throbbing and he felt scrapes on his elbows from where they had scraped against the steps' gritty grips. Mila wasn't laughing anymore and Georgi was rushing over to check on him.
The two other skaters helped Yuri to his feet and onto a bleacher. Yuri winced when Mila touched his ankle, "get your hands off me, hag!"
Georgi frowned, "can you stand on it?"
"'Course not! It fucking hurts!"
"Lean on me, we need to get it checked out. Mila, help me get him to my car."
Yuri was pissed off and his body was aching, now he was being lugged like a ragdoll into the backseat of Georgi's car. He gritted his teeth mostly in anger, who knew how far back this injury would set him and the lasting effects it could have on him.
Traffic sucked, but then again, it was lunch hour that was also why Mila had been pestering him, they were on break, especially since Yakov wasn't there to nag at them. Mila was talking incessantly, Yuri snapped, "would you be quiet already?"
The car fell silent and Mila slowly reached out and turned on the radio to break the silence. Yuri pulled up his hood on his thin jacket that was under his patriotic Russia jacket, with the protection against the cold glass, Yuri rested his head against the window and sighed trying not to focus on the aching emanating from his ankle.
This seriously fucking sucks, Yuri thought, his jaw was clenched to the point it hurt. He honestly just wanted to scream in frustration, why did Mila have to be so immature, couldn't act her age? Another thing, the skating rink should've been built closer to a hospital with the number of injuries that happen there, just three days ago some hockey players collided during practice and got concussions.
Finally, at the hospital, Yuri had the fun of filling out the paperwork while he waited in a room full of sick and injured people waiting to be seen. Georgi sat next to him on his phone while Mila called Yakov to tell him the news, she hadn't wanted to but because she was the cause of the predicament, she didn't have a choice.
Time passed and Yuri was sitting on the examination table dealing with a nurse who was double checking his abnormally high blood pressure which was just frustrating Yuri more. Shockingly, Lila arrived before Yakov and she was livid.
"How did this happen?" She shrieked upon seeing Yuri's swollen and bruised ankle.
A nurse went to stop her, "Ma'am, are you family?"
"Of course I am! Now get a doctor in here to treat him!"
The nurse scurried off and Yuri almost pitied her, she looked terrified. Lila stared down the three figure skaters with a fierce expression, Georgi pointed "subtly" at Mila and Yuri followed his senior's example.
Mila noticed and gave a betrayed look, "in my defence, Yuri didn't have to chase after me!"
"You snatched my phone!" Yuri argued.
The two were in a bickering match when Lila silenced them. Yakov walked in, it looked like he was about to go postal, Otabek following. Yuri brightened up at the sight of his friend, "Otabek!" He chirped happily making Mila snicker behind him.
It was Yakov's turn to go off, Yuri had to turn his head to try and hide his laughter when he heard that Mila was going to have to run extra laps, sadly, his laughter wasn't as quiet as he hoped and Yakov rounded on him. "AND YOU! You know better than to entertain her frivolity! Are you two children?!"
"I didn't start it! I'm the injured person!" He pointed dramatically at his ankle.
The doctor walked in and looked a little shocked, "can everyone except the guardians leave?"
Mila hopped to her feet, looping her arm through Otabek's and dragging him away with a taunting smile at Yuri who gnashed his teeth and fumed. Georgi followed behind them, giving the doctor a sympathetic look as if to say 'good luck'.
Yakov let him inspect Yuri's ankle before bombarding him with questions about the severity of the injury and the best route for recovery along with the expected time for it to heal. The doctor looked exhausted within minutes, he sighed, "it's a mild sprain, it will take about four to six weeks to fully heal if you stay off of it. We can wrap it and give you crutches, but it would be easier to get a compression sleeve to help with the swelling. So overall, ice it and stay off your feet."
Four to six weeks?! Yuri returned to his pissed off state, thankfully, it wasn't broken or anything more severe than a sprain but still, four to six weeks!
Yuri left on crutches with a beige wrap around his ankle. Otabek looked acutely uncomfortable with Mila using him as a coat hanger, draping herself over him as she talked without an end. Yakov drove them back to the rink while Lila took Otabek and Yuri.
"Yuri, do you want to stay with me while you heal?" Lila asked, her eyes flitting to the rearview mirror.
"But I just moved out and Potya is at my apartment!" Yuri complained. After he had won the Grand Prix, he had moved out because Yakov and Lila got back together and he had wanted his own space. His apartment was within running distance to the skating rink and it had two rooms, one he used as a tiny dance studio or as an extra bedroom when his grandpa visited.
Lila sighed, "Otabek is staying with Yakov and I until he finds an apartment." It was obvious she was trying to pull the 'Otabek card', everyone seemed to think Yuri would agree to anything as long as Otabek was there which wasn't always true.
"He can stay at my place, I have an extra room!" Yuri insisted, "besides, he probably wouldn't want to see a bunch of sickening love scenes between his coaches. Right, Otabek?"
Otabek looked back at him, not agreeing but he said, "I can keep an eye on Yuri at he apartment."
"Yes!" Yuri fist pumped. Take that, Mila!
The older woman reluctantly agreed and dropped them off at Yuri's apartment, not sparing them a long lecture on being responsible and staying out of trouble and no funny business, Yuri got an extra lecture about staying off his feet and taking care of his health.
She drove away and Yuri and Otabek exchanged a look. Yuri couldn't resist smiling, even a small smile played on Otabek's lips. This would be awesome, living with Otabek.