Time To Say Goodbye
NOTE BEFORE READING: If you've been reading my current WIP, "The Bonds We Choose", and don't want to be spoiled about Otabek's and Mila's daughter's name and birth date, I recommend NOT reading this ficlet until I finish posting TBWC in December. While it can be read as a standalone one-shot, it is technically a sequel to TBWC. I've actually been planning this for a few months to serve as an epilogue of sorts for the "It's Complicated" series, but when the prompts for YOI Spooky Week were posted and I realized that it coincidentally fit Day 6's themes of "graveyard" and "zombies", I decided to finish the ficlet and post it much earlier than originally intended. (Sorry, it's really not spooky at all, though!)
For those who haven't read any of the "It's Complicated" stories and still want to read this story anyway, all you really need to know that Yuri is asexual, Otabek and Mila are bi, and Yuri and Otabek are queerplatonic partners, while Mila and Otabek are romantic, sexual partners. Mila and Otabek have a daughter, which they're raising together with Yuri, and Nikolai passed away during the events of TBWC. This story takes place in the summer of 2026, about three-and-a-half years after the end of TBWC.
"Hey, Grandpa, Grandma. Long time, no see."
Yuri stood in front of a small double headstone engraved with the names Nikolai Grigoryevich Plisetsky and Evgenia Fyodorovna Plisetskaya. Over three years had passed since his grandfather's death, yet his heart still ached every time he visited his gravesite. Inhaling a deep breath, Yuri placed two bouquets of lilies in front of the gravestone, then took a seat cross-legged on the grass, still damp with morning dew.
"Um, kinda have some big news to share," he announced, feeling silly as usual for talking to his grandpa as if he was really there. Yuri had no idea if such a thing as an afterlife truly existed – and even if it did, he would expect departed souls to have much more interesting things to do with their eternity of free time besides hanging around a dreary cemetery on the off-chance a loved one might come by to visit their grave – but as embarrassing as it was, he had to admit he always felt a little better after having one of their one-sided "chats". "I – No, we're moving to Almaty. Yeah, now that he's won gold at the Olympics and finally retired from competition, Beka's been offered a coaching job at his old rink. Yakov offered him a position, too, but it's always been Beka's dream to inspire other Kazakhstani skaters, you know? And we've kept him here long enough. He's stayed in St. Petersburg the past seven years for his skating and for us, but I know his heart has always been in Kazakhstan.
"It's a big change, but I'm kinda excited," Yuri continued. "Though Beka says most of the people there also speak Russian, he's been teaching us some Kazakh. I'm getting pretty good at it, I think, although Mila totally sucks." He rolled his eyes. "Luba's Kazakh is almost as good as her Russian, but he's been talking to her in Kazakh since she was born, so that's no surprise. Oh, the rink where Beka's gonna coach? They've also asked me to be their in-house choreographer, which is cool, and Mila's gonna teach a couple of dance and yoga classes. Her passion is still making costumes, though. Her design business has been boom—"
"Yuraaaaaaa!"
Yuri looked over his shoulder just in time to see a cute little girl barreling toward him as fast as her short legs could take her, her fiery red pigtails flapping in the wind behind her. He only had a few moments to prepare for impact, letting out a soft "omph!" as she came up behind him and threw her arms around his neck.
"Lubasha, no running or yelling in a cemetery," Mila said, the lecture coming too late. She and Otabek were taking a much more leisurely stroll toward Yuri's grandparents' grave, Otabek's arm circling around her waist.
"Yeah, or else you'll wake the dead and start a zombie invasion." Yuri pulled Lubov into his lap and playfully pretended to bite her head as she shrieked in delight. "Bwahahaha! Let me eat your delicious brain! Nom, nom, nom!"
"Yura, she's only three years old," Otabek said once they had caught up. "Don't scare her by saying things like that."
"I'm almost four, Papa!" Lubov stared down at her hands and held up three fingers, looking back at Yuri for confirmation that she was holding up the correct number. He gently unfurled her pinkie for the fourth. "See, four!" she said, triumphantly holding her hand up to her parents.
Otabek chuckled. "My mistake."
"And I know 'zombos' aren't real," she added with a huff, nose in the air.
"For a couple of people born on Halloween, you two sure are no fun when it comes to monsters," Yuri said grumpily, chin resting on his fist.
"I know!" Mila agreed, playfully slapping Otabek's upper arm. "It's such a waste."
"Sorry for not living up to your expectations," Otabek said in a deadpan voice.
Lubov, losing interest in the zombie conversation, pointed to the gravestone. "Hey, Yura, why were you talking to a rock?"
"I'm not talking to a rock." He sighed, resting his chin on top of her head and hugging her from behind. "I'm talking to my grandpa."
She looked around, her brow furrowed in confusion. Nobody else was around, that area of the cemetery deserted except for their small group. "Your grandpa? Where is he? I don't see him."
"He's…" Yuri swallowed, his eyes burning with a sudden onset of tears. "He's, um, up in heaven," he said in a strained voice. If such a place indeed existed.
"Oh… With Potya?" she asked.
"Yeah." Yuri had made the difficult decision to put Potya down last year after he was diagnosed with heart failure.
"Are you sad?"
"Yeah, a little," he admitted, holding Lubov tighter.
"Want me to give you a kiss?"
"I'd like that."
Turning around in his lap, Lubov planted a big, wet smack on his cheek. "Aba-dada-bra, sad go away!" she said, wiggling her tiny fingers in front of Yuri's face as she cast the "Happy Spell" Mila had taught her for extra measure.
Yuri couldn't help but laugh, pulling her in for another hug. It still amazed him how much joy Lubov had brought to his life – to all of their lives, really. She had been born a few months after his grandpa's passing, and though it had taken him some time to warm up to the idea of raising a child with Mila and Otabek when they had first learned about Mila's unplanned pregnancy and suggested the idea, her birth had helped alleviate some of his grief. He only wished Grandpa had lived long enough to meet her...
"You finished saying your goodbyes?" Otabek asked. "I promised Lubasha that we would spend some time at the zoo before heading back to the airport for our flight. She wants to see the lions."
"A girl after my own heart." It had been a lifetime ago since he last visited the Moscow Zoo. As a kid, it used to be one of his favorite activities on the rare days when Grandpa had a day off of work from the factory and he had a light day of training. "Yeah, I'm about done, I guess." After helping Lubov back to her feet, Yuri stood up as well and brushed the grass off the back of his jeans as best he could. He then brought a hand to his mouth and kissed the tip of his fingers, pressing them against the top of the granite.
"Goodbye, Grandpa," he said softly. "Take care of Potya, and give Grandma a hug for me." Yuri didn't really remember his grandmother, who had died when he was only a toddler, but he had always enjoyed the stories Grandpa had told him about her. "It might be a while until I can come visit you again, but I just want you to know… I'm happy." He glanced back over his shoulder at his family, sharing a private smile with Otabek while Mila retied one of the zebra-stripe ribbons that had come loose from Lubov's twin pigtails. Lubov was excitedly listing all the other animals she wanted to see at the zoo, quickly running out of fingers to count on. "Really, really happy, so you don't have to worry about me anymore."
"Come oooooon, Yura!" Her bow retied, Lubov ran back over to Yuri and began yanking on his arm, surprisingly strong for a tiny three-almost-four-year-old. She no doubt got that from her mother. "Time to go to the zoo!"
Yuri laughed. "Okay, okay! Let's go."
The four of them headed back to the entrance of the cemetery, Lubov still holding onto Yuri's hand. She excitedly swung their arms back and forth, skipping along side of him. "Yura, guess what, guess what, guess what!"
He tapped his chin. "You won a hundred million rubles in the lottery?"
"Nooooo!" She giggled. "Silly Yura!"
"Too bad. What is it, then?" he asked, knowing that Lubov would let him keep guessing until the end of time if he didn't put a stop to it.
"Mama and Papa say when we move to our new house, we can get a new kitty," she revealed. "Maybe even two!"
"Only if Yura says he's okay with the idea," Otabek said, reaching for Yuri's free hand and giving it a firm squeeze as he lowered his voice. "If you're still not ready, we can wait –"
Yuri smiled. "No, a new kitty sounds like a great idea." He'd been thinking it was about time to adopt a new cat, anyway. Enough time had passed, and Lubov had been begging for one for weeks.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I am," he assured him, Otabek leaning over to tenderly kiss him on the cheek.
"Yay!" Lubov cheered, throwing her arms around his waist in a tight hug. "I love you, Yura!"
Smiling, Yuri affectionately ruffled her bangs. "I love you, too, squirt."
DISCLAIMER: "Yuri! on Ice" doesn't belong to me.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Written for Day Six of Spooky Week, Themes: Graveyard and Zombies. I hope you enjoyed the story!
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