Yuri!!! On Ice Book 1

Chapter 37

**Author's Note!**

Hey guys.... sorry it's been SOOO long!!!!!!!! I completely screwed up my update schedule, I know that and I'm so sorry! My only excuse is one as old as time itself; school. I'm in an all honors course load and the homework is INSANE! I actually have a completed Narrative about the Great Depression due tomorrow (Oct. 4) and I'm only halfway through. This is me procrastinating! Also- me being the DUMBASS I am, I have started ANOTHER fanfic..... I know. It has 12 chapters so if you want you can check that out, it's Otayuri based and called The Unexpected. So, SORRY again, and if this chapter is shitty you know why! (Also, I swear to god I'm not recycling material, I had the idea for this chapter WAY before The Unexpected. Okay, that's it. Enjoy! (I hope)

November 20th, 2017 (Three days after the last Otayuri Chapter!)

Yuri's POV 1st Person

I sigh as I watch the head of silver hair in front of me, Victor gazes out the window out at the city below us. I wish I knew what he was thinking. It's been five days since the scene at the rink and our relationship has been.... tense, to say the least. I've been going to practice as usual but he hasn't accompanied me and I haven't pushed him too. I've been making do with Yakov for now and he's a great coach, just not Victor. I glance at the clock; 8:29, I really should be getting to bed. I have the Cup of China's Short Program tomorrow and I can't afford to be underslept. I hesitate to call Victor in however, he looks so peaceful, when in reality I know he's not. We've barely spoken to each other for a week now, me trying to give him space and him seeming to wholeheartedly take it. 

I'm trying to decide how best to broach the question when my phone buzzes, taking me by surprise and making me jump. I look down at the small glowing screen in my hands to find a reminder, it reads; Remember to talk to Victor about tomorrow's competition!

I sigh, how could I forget? I have no idea what the protocol for tomorrow will be. Victor will be with me during the actual judging process- this I know- but will he come for the practice? If so, will he help me or will us working together be as counterproductive as it was last time? Does what we did even count as working together? 

I sag down onto the bed with my mind whirling around me like the wind. This is a bad state to go into a competition and tonight will be sleepless which won't help matters. Even if we do somehow manage to work things out tonight, I don't know how that could happen, but even if we did my anxiety is powerful- a force to be reckoned with at the best of times. But I can't let that get in my way, I tell myself quickly, pushing the anxious thoughts out of my head. In the past, Victor's always had to be the strong one, making up for my staggering lack of most attributes. This time he's the one broken and hurting, I have to do for him what he's done for me- I need to be strong and help him get back on his feet. The one thing I'm not clear on is how, but I know it's definitely not by breaking down myself; that's for sure.

The glass door to the balcony slides shut and I look up as Victor walks into the room, not looking at me. He balances on his left leg, leaning his crutches against the wall and begins getting changed. He's having some difficulty as the pants he wears go under the knee brace, which is incredibly difficult to remove. You have to be very precise about it and have the leg perfectly straight or it won't work- something his leg is not. 

"Can I help?" I ask him quietly, trying not to make this more humiliating for him than it has to be. 

"No." He says without turning around, "Go to bed. You need the sleep." His voice is hard and I choose to believe it's just because his leg hurts. I also pretend not to notice how admonishing his tone was when he told me to go to bed. 

"Alright," I say in a falsely unbothered voice, "See you in there," He jerks his head, the only indication of him having heard me. 

I lie quietly in bed as I listen to him struggle with the brace in the next room, physically forcing myself not to offer help- that would just make it worse. I can't have him thinking I see him as weak or an invalid, it's not true and while I know that, Victor's been having a hard time lately and I think he'd take my help as a personal affront. At last the bed creaks as Victor lies down, carefully on the edge of the bed, as far away from me as he can be. It's been a while since we slept together.