This is based on a prompt from my friend on tumblr. She had a similar experience and wanted to see Yuri in the same situation to make her feel better, so I indulged her. Set post-series. Enjoy!
Getting sick when you're only two weeks out from a competition is never good timing, but Yuri has never had good luck when it comes to his immune system. So when he wakes up with an upset stomach and a fever, he determinedly ignores the obvious signs that he's ill and gets ready for practice. He needs to be ready for this match, and something as small as a stomach bug isn't going to stop him.
His plan to simply skate his way through this illness and not miss training goes without a hitch for the first three days. Sure, he can barely keep any food down and he's beyond exhausted at the end of practice each day, but he pushes all of that out of his mind and skates until he can barely move. He refuses to let an upset stomach defeat him.
The fourth day, he takes a turn for the worse. He wakes up feeling about the same, but as time progresses, his condition rapidly declines. Everything feels surreal, and he's extremely lightheaded and nauseated, making his movements clumsy and awkward.
After he runs through his short program for the fifth time in a row, Yuri is forced to come to a sudden stop when his stomach cramps alarmingly. The pain is so strong that he's forced to double over; it's hard to breathe against the urge to throw up. He blinks against the black spots filling his vision, then decides to just close his eyes against the unrelenting dizziness. He doesn't feel himself start to fall, and only notices that he's not steady on his feet when he feels the impact of colliding with the ice. The coolness of the ice feels good on his burning skin, and he's much too tired to get up. Instead, he just lets everything fade into the soothing darkness.
Yuri's collapse takes everyone by surprise and sparks chaos in the rink. Yuuri and Victor are at his side in an instant, with Yakov hurrying to join them. "Stay where you are!" he commands the other skaters, not wanting to crowd the clearly unwell Yuri.
Between the heat radiating off Yuri and the fact that the teenager hasn't regained consciousness, the adults are left with no choice: they need to call an ambulance. Yuuri and Victor carefully move Yuri off the ice under Yakov's watchful eye, and wait with him. He hasn't moved since he passed out, and his face is deathly white; if his skin wasn't so hot to the touch, one could easily mistake him for a corpse.
The ambulance arrives, and the worried paramedics swarm their little group and take Yuri into the ambulance. Victor offers to ride with the teenager, while Yuuri follows behind in the car.
Victor watches anxiously while they check Yuri's vitals. Upon finding a 40 degree fever, the reason for Yuri's collapse becomes obvious. He wrings his hands nervously; there's no room to fidget in the back of the ambulance, but he's far too concerned to sit still. When they arrive at the hospital, Victor is forced to stay behind in the waiting room while a doctor sees Yuri. Yuuri joins him shortly after, and they exchange a glance before settling down for a long wait.
After fifteen minutes of attempting to sit still, Yuuri is up and pacing the length of the room. Victor is messing with his phone; ostensibly, he's playing a game, but he can't find it in himself to concentrate on something so silly while Yuri is so sick.
A sudden thought occurs to him. "I should call Yuri's grandfather and let him know what happened," Victor says to himself. He dials the familiar number and tries in vain to keep his voice steady over the course of the conversation. Yuri's grandfather is very patient and understanding of Victor's distress, and thanks him for notifying him of the situation.
"He says that he'll be here as soon as he can," he tells Yuuri when he asks. "He's taking the next train from Moscow." His phone buzzes with another demanding text from Yakov, and Victor is forced to report yet again that there's no update on Yuri's condition.
They continue to wait for what seems like an eternity, but eventually a nurse comes out and tells them that they can go and see Yuri now, if they want. They follow her back to the room where Yuri is. "We managed to get his fever down to 39 degrees, and he's on some pretty heavy medication, but he'll probably be coming around soon," she says. The petite teenager looks even smaller than usual, tucked into a hospital bed that's way too long for him.
True to her word, Yuri is blinking awake in a few minutes, groggy and disoriented. "I'm in a hospital?" are the first words out of his mouth. Even doped up, his disdain for hospitals is still intact.
Yuuri smiles a little, glad to see the teen acting like his normal self. "Your fever was very high," he explains gently. "They had to give you some antipyretics to bring it down, and they also gave you some medicine for your stomach. Do you feel any better?"
Yuri gives a tiny nod. "A little. But I feel a little weird," he responds, his voice barely above a whisper. He sounds rough and raspy, and Yuuri feels terrible for not noticing how sick he's been sooner.
"That's probably the painkillers," Yuuri soothes.
Despite the residual fogginess clouding his mind, Yuri narrows his green eyes suspiciously, refusing to be comforted. "When can I get out of here?" he demands, slowly starting to become more alert.
Yuuri fidgets uncomfortably, knowing that Yuri isn't going to like the answer to that question. He looks desperately over at Victor for assistance, but his fiancé is on the phone with Yakov. It's up to Yuuri to deliver the bad news. He sighs heavily. "I'm afraid that I don't know," he admits, and Yuri immediately opens his mouth to protest.
"What do you mean you don't know?" the teenager demands as loudly as he's currently capable of, sitting up indignantly. He winces as the movement jars his stomach, but refuses to lay back down. "I don't have time to be laying around in here. I need to be practicing!"
Yuuri tucks a pillow behind Yuri's back to help support him. "Yuri, you're very sick. You were running a very high fever, and although they managed to get it to go down a little, you still need to stay for observation until it's completely gone. Unfortunately, we don't know when that'll be." He pats Yuri's hospital gown-covered shoulder. "But I'm sure that if you get some rest, you'll feel better soon."
Yuri gapes at him as if he just suggested that Yuri quit ice skating and herd goats instead. "Do you even listen to me, katsudon? I have a competition coming up, I can't sit around and do nothing!"
"You're not doing the competition," Yakov announces brusquely as he walks into the hospital room.
"Yakov, are you serious? I can't miss this competition, or I won't be able to make it to the Grand Prix Final!"
"I think that your health is a bit more important than a skating match, don't you?" Yuri doesn't answer him, just glares and crosses his arms. What the hell is Yakov talking about? "Even if by some miracle you were better in time for the competition, I'd have to be completely irresponsible to let you skate."
The expression on Yuri's face goes from furious to miserable. "But, Yakov," he croaks out, sounding on the verge of tears. Yuuri gently rubs the stricken teenager's back, trying to console him. A few tears slip out and Yuri wipes them away angrily, swallowing hard against the lump in his throat. He feels awful, and to make things worse, he's going to miss the whole season? The thought causes a soft sob to slip out of his mouth, and he clamps a hand to his lips, willing himself to stop crying already.
"Fortunately, I spoke to some of the higher-ups, and they've agreed to let you skate in one of the later qualifying matches if you're healthy enough," Yakov announces, and Yuri's head shoots up, his eyes filled with hope.
"Thank you," he whispers gratefully.
"Don't scare me like that again, brat," Yakov scolds. "And I don't want to see you at the rink for at least another two weeks after they let you out of here."
"What?" Yuri squawks, shifting to being outraged again. Yakov doesn't acknowledge his complaint, already on his way out.
"What am I going to do sitting around in here all day?" Yuri grouches to Yuuri and Victor. "I'm bored already. And how long are you two going to stick around and bother me for?"
"You mean you don't enjoy our company?" Victor teases. Yuri scowls at him and sticks his tongue out.
Yuuri sighs at the antics of the two children in the room. "Your grandfather is on his way, but we thought that we'd hang around until he arrives, if that's okay with you?"
"Whatever, I don't care," Yuri huffs, making a futile attempt to keep his eyes open. Yuuri smiles at the obviously sleepy teenager and carefully removes the pillow from behind his back, gently pressing him back to the bed. Yuri grumbles incoherently but doesn't struggle. As soon as his head hits the pillows, he can feel sleep tugging at his mind.
Yuuri chuckles. "Go ahead and get some rest. We'll be here when you wake up." Yuri doesn't respond, but his lips twitch up in a tiny smile.
Thank you for reading! Please leave a review if you liked it.