Chapter Text
The gaudy leopard print phone case glittered up at Otabek, taunting him. It'd been sitting on the table when he'd dragged himself home that night, and he had sat here watching it ever since.
The guest room was empty, the dresser was empty. Otabek was...empty. Yuri was gone. He was gone and the last thing they'd done was fight about something Otabek didn't even understand.
"You're RETIRING?!" the blonde had screeched, the pounding music barely covering his outrage.
Otabek covered his face as he remembered the seconds after that kiss. If only he'd kept his mouth shut and enjoyed it.
"You're drunk and high, Yura, what are you doing? You're going to the Olympics next month!"
And Yuri, clever, observant Yuri, had picked up on Otabek saying 'you' and not 'we'.
"Why would you retire when you're still young and-" his voice broke, " and HEALTHY? Are you too much of a coward to risk yourself fucking up your precious knee to do what I thought you loved?"
Otabek had tried to stop him, tried to reach out and grab him, but Yuri had snatched up his roadtrip journal and left, leaving a Russia-sized hole in Otabek's heart.
He'd finished his set half-heartedly, never noticing his sisters (and Faye) slipping out the doors.
Each apologetic text he sent flashed up at him now. Each frantic text from Yuuri, each dramatically worried text from Victor.
Yuri had left his phone. Yuri, who ALWAYS had his phone somewhere near him. He'd left it.
Here with Otabek.
Because he obviously didn't want to be found.
By Otabek.
He snorted at the irony only Yuri could orchestrate, only for his eye to catch on a slip of paper under the table.
He reached down, just to have his hand as well as the paper attacked by Obi. Disgusted, he plucked up the dim-witted kitten and dropped him onto his lap, taking the paper with him.
~Myeloma Bone Disorder: Surgery and Treatment Options~
Otabek wanted to stop reading. He wanted this brochure to not say the things it did. He wanted this not to be the answer to Yuri's behavior.
Terrifying phrases like:
Lyctic Lesions (holes in the bone)
Pathologic Fracture (breaking of the weakened bone)
and the worst:
Spinal Cord Compression
whizzed by Otabek, leaving him breathless, only to be shocked yet again by:
Hypercalcamia (too quick release of calcium that upsets kidney function)
BMA (bone modifying agent)
and Vertebroplasty (cement-like substance to fill holes in the bones)
The brochure was definitely Yuri's, further proven by sarcastic comments written within.
Myeloma was crudely depicted as a Pac-man like alien that ate a stick figure (Yuri, Otabek supposed) "Now my bones look like the Swiss cheese I can't have" was scrawled angrily on the top page. "hope the bone cement doesn't leak into my lungs was cheerfully and horrifically scribbled on the back.
Otabek was just about to call Yuuri to explain, when Yuri's abandoned phone lit up yet again.
This time it was from an unknown number. The text inexplicably read:
"How not to have an existential crisis:"
Another buzz, another text.
"step one:"
Yet another ping.
"Don't Crash in Kazakhstan and kiss your best friend because you've loved him for years"
As Obi pounced on the fascinating paper again, Otabek's heart soared.
All he had to do now was find Yuri and tell him he'd loved him for years too.