The rest of the day went by uneventfully enough. They made good progress in practice despite Nikolai's inner torment over having to give up his place by his friend's side soon. At least Aliya seemed to have had her tension allayed. She was her usual bright self during practice, and showed no signs of her earlier concern.
Nikolai was a different story, however. By the time he got home that day, he had worked himself into a tangled mess over his feelings about his upcoming doctor appointment. He had been so busy planning things to do with Aliya, and just focusing on her in general, that he hadn't really thought any further about the ending of their time together, and now that reality was all coming crashing back down around him. He brooded quietly throughout dinner, not speaking much to his parents. As they all settled into their evening activities, Nikolai gathered up his black bag and quietly exited the apartment, heading for the only sanctuary that he knew.
His next couple days fell into this same pattern: lessons in the mornings, lunch with Aliya, then skating practice with her, dinner, and return to the rink for his own private stress-relief skating sessions. Each day, he offered less and less interaction to those around him, a fact that he didn't even notice.
Finally, on the day of the appointment, he woke up earlier than usual. He had been unable to sleep well the night before, due to his apprehension. He got himself dressed efficiently and was out the door before his parents could wake and offer to go with him for moral support.
Since he had left the apartment so early, he had plenty of time before the appointment, and decided that he should walk. He took a meandering path, through the park near his house, over the bridge that led into more urban areas, forcing himself to think of nothing at all as he walked. By the time he stood in front of the doctor's office, it was only about 20 minutes before his appointment time, and he decided he would check in and wait inside.
Not many people were in the waiting room, and it wasn't long before Nikolai's name was called and he was ushered back into the bowels of the building. The doctor prodded at him, and instructed him to move his arm and shoulder around in various ways, poking at it and asking questions the whole time.
Finally, he sat back on his stool and pronounced, "Well, it seems to me that you're fully healed."
Dumbly, Nikolai asked, "What?"
"Yes, your sprain has healed. You should be all clear to go back to your normal activities. I understand you play hockey?"
Wordlessly, he nodded, a feeling of numbness beginning to pervade his bones.
"Do you need me to write a note for your coach saying you're cleared for physical activity?"
Reflexively, he nodded again.
"All right. Wait here, I'll be back with your papers in just a moment, and then you're all set to go. I'll want to see you again in a week or two to make sure everything is continuing to heal, but other than that, I think you'll be just fine." The doctor stood and exited the room, leaving Nikolai speechless in his wake.
A few minutes later, he had received his papers and stood outside the office building, staring down at the slip in his hand. The paper that he was to deliver to his coaches. The paper that would end the happiness he had built around himself for the past week. He wished fervently that the paper didn't exist.
Suddenly, an idea came to him. There was no reason for anyone else to know that the paper did exist. Nobody else had come to the appointment with him. Other than the doctor, he was the only one who knew what he had been cleared to do.
He began walking back towards the apartment, warming up to this idea. He could simply go home, hide the papers in his room, or even file them in the medical file. Nobody ever looked in their filing cabinet, and then it wouldn't be like he was deceiving anyone. The records were there, if anyone bothered to look. He began to get exhilarated by his idea, and his pace sped up to match his enthusiasm as he worked out the details.
By the time he got home, he was thrilling with the excitement of carrying out his plan. He quickly stuffed the papers into the filing cabinet, and took out his phone to call Coach Kravetz, fending off an excited Makkachin the whole time.
The phone rang twice before it clicked to life, and the coach's rough voice sounded from the other end. "Hello?"
"Hi, Coach Kravetz, it's Katsuki-Nikiforov."
"Hey, kid, how are you doing? How's the shoulder?"
Nikolai tried to put regret into his voice as he answered, "Well, that's actually why I'm calling you. I just got back from the doctor, and they said that I'm still not ready to play with it yet. I'm going back in another week for them to take a look at it, and they said maybe by then it will be healed enough for me to come back to practice. I'm really sorry, Coach."
"Don't apologize, you just take all the time you need to heal. We'll manage around here for a little bit without you, so you just focus on fixing that shoulder, ok?"
He felt a little twinge of guilt at this kindness, but still persisted with his charade. "Will do, Coach. I'll call you next week with the results."
"All right. Take care of yourself, now."
They both hung up, and Nikolai pumped his fist into the air in silent triumph. Coach Kravetz had totally bought it. Half of the battle was over. Now he just had to convince his parents, and Otabek. This would be the more delicate part of the operation.
He gathered up his figure skating bag and headed out to the rink. On the way, he rehearsed his story over and over in his head, acutely aware that he would only have one chance to get this right with his otousan and make it convincing. He was the one Nikolai was the most concerned about. Those dark eyes saw through everything. When he had been a small child, his papa had told him that his otousan had eyes in the back of his head, and he had believed it for years. Even now, he wasn't entirely convinced that it wasn't true.
His feet led him all too quickly to the rink, and happened to do so right in the middle of Yuuri's break in classes. Nikolai took a deep breath, waved to the overly-cheerful Emiliya, and pushed open the door to the arena.
He located his otousan, seated on one of the benches, looking anxiously at his phone. Yuuri noticed him immediately, and jumped up. "Nika, I was just wondering if you were done with your appointment yet," he called.
Nikolai strode towards him, smiling in what he hoped was a reassuring, yet slightly bitter way. "Yeah, I figured it would be faster to come here."
"I wasn't sure if you were coming here or if you were just going to go to hockey practice," Yuuri replied carefully.
Arranging his face into a slightly mournful expression, Nikolai said, "Well, that's just it, Otousan. The doctor said that my shoulder still needs to heal more before I go back. Said the way the ligament tore still needs to heal more before I can use my stick again."
His otousan's face immediately reflected tender empathy as he said soothingly, "Oh, Nika, I'm sorry. That must be very frustrating for you. I know that you love hockey. You must feel upset not being able to go back to it yet."
A stab of guilt hit him, but it was too late to go back now. He had already lied to his coach, he was committed. "Yeah, it kinda sucks. But the doctor said that I can do other activities again, it's just the specific forward motion that I'm not supposed to do with any force right now." He steadied himself, and continued, "When he said that, I asked him specifically about the figure skating. He said that anything I want to do with that would still be fine. Even lifts." Nervously, he looked at his otousan for a reaction.
A flicker of surprise went across Yuuri's face. "Oh? Is that what he said?" he asked mildly.
Unsure what to make of that reaction, Nikolai pressed, "So, since I still have another week before I get my next checkup, is it ok if I continue practicing with Aliya until then?"
His otousan regarded him seriously. "And I take it you plan on incorporating lifts and throws into your routine during this week?"
Hurriedly, Nikolai said, "Not throws, but lifts should be fine."
His otousan sighed heavily. "Well, I'll have to talk to Otabek about this, since he knows more about coaching professionally than I do, but I don't see a reason why you couldn't do that. Since the doctor cleared you to do so." His eyes bored intensely into Nikolai for a second before relaxing to their normal, gentle state.
Nikolai was so happy that he hardly noticed the momentary scrutiny. He grinned widely, and exclaimed, "All right! I'll go call Aliya now and let her know, then!" He spun around to find a quiet corner for a phone call. He heard his otousan placing his own call to his papa as he walked away.
The phone barely had time to ring before Aliya answered breathlessly. "Hello, Kolya?"
The sound of her voice brought an irrepressible grin to his face. He had just secured another week with this mellifluous voice. "Hi, Aliya! I have news from the doctor appointment. He said that I can't go back to hockey practice yet, since my shoulder can't move forward right now. But he said that I can do any other type of activity again. So I talked to my otousan, and he's going to talk to your әкем, but I should be all set to keep practicing with you."
For a moment, there wasn't any response, and Nikolai wasn't sure if she had even heard him. Then Aliya exploded with questions. "Kolya, are you sure you're feeling ok? I mean, if you can't go back to hockey, maybe you shouldn't be practicing with me. Did you not wear your sling enough? Is that why you're still hurt? Are you sure you're going to be ok? When's your next doctor appointment?"
Laughing, he cut her off. "Aliyen'ka, hold on there!" He chose to answer her last question. "My next doctor appointment is in a week, and they'll let me know then how I'm continuing to heal. I don't hurt anymore, I'm really fine. They're just concerned with the amount of power a forward is required to use for his shoulder, so I'm restricted from that. He even cleared me to do lifts, though! I asked specifically."
Aliya gasped. "Kolya, are you insane? You can't be lifting me! The doctor said you're still hurt!"
"No, I'm not. I'm healing, just not enough for hockey. And the doctor said I can do lifts. Besides that, you're tiny. What do you weigh, like 45 kilos?"
"That's not the point! That's still a lot of weight for someone with an injured shoulder!"
Nikolai sighed. Why did she have to be so overprotective? At the same time, however, he grinned fondly. It felt nice to be cared for by the object of his affections. However, he protested, "Aliya, you're worrying too much. My otousan didn't even fuss over me this much."
A dead silence hit him over the phone. Tentatively, he asked, "Aliya? Are you still there?"
"Oh. Yeah, Kolya, I'm still here. Look, you're right, I'm probably worrying too much. If your otousan and my әкем think it's ok, then I really shouldn't be nagging you."
"Hey, I didn't say you were nagging―"
She cut him off. "Since we're going to have practice like usual today, I'll pack up my stuff and head over now. I made some lunches today since I wasn't sure if you'd be going back to hockey or not, so I'll bring those. I'll see you in a little bit." Abruptly, she hung up.
Nikolai stared at his phone. What had that been all about? Was she disappointed that she was still going to be stuck with him? Had she been looking forward to having some free time to look for a new partner?
Still holding his phone, he wandered back over to the rink, and noticed that his otousan was finishing up his own call. As he walked up, Yuuri hung up the phone, and said to him, "Well, Otabek wants to watch you in action a little bit, but none of us see any reason why you can't start doing lifts in practice."
Smiling hollowly, Nikolai said, "That's great. Thanks, Otousan." The happiness he had felt mere minutes ago was replaced with a perplexed unease.
His otousan picked up on this, and gently asked, "Nika, what's wrong?"
He sighed heavily, and plunked himself down on the bench next to his otousan. "Well, I just called Aliya to tell her that I could keep practicing with her, and she just…didn't really seem happy about it. I even told her I could do lifts, and she just got upset at me. I don't know, Otousan. It feels like we've made a lot of progress with our relationship lately…I mean, with being friends! But every time we start getting closer, there's this…wall there. She's hiding some of her feelings from me, and I don't know why. I'm worried that it's because she doesn't really want to deal with me. Maybe she just wants me out of the way so she can find a new partner? What if I'm getting in her way by being here?" He realized he was babbling, and shut his mouth decidedly.
His otousan was regarding him carefully. "Some of those things you've been concerned about before. To a certain point, you're never going to know everything that another person is thinking, but there's absolutely no chance if you don't ask her what's on her mind. You should ask her about why she reacted that way when you said you could keep practicing with her. You'll never find out if you don't talk to her."
Nikolai chuckled. "That's pretty much your life advice, huh, Otousan?"
Yuuri smiled at his son. "Well, I've made some mistakes that could have been easily solved with communication. So yes, I find that it's generally good life advice to talk to people you care about."
Nikolai sighed heavily. "All right, Otousan. I'll talk to her when she gets here."