Chapter 9 - One in a Million

Unlike Japan, Kazakhstan didn't have the same amount of wifi hotspots or data coverage. Yuri exited the gate when he touched down, anxious, worried and excited all at once.

But when he couldn't get a signal, he started to panic. He went to the currency exchange counter, barely got through the interaction, knowing very little Kazakh. Luckily the clerk spoke broken Russian.

He realized, leaving the airport, that he had no idea where Otabek lived. With no phone service, Yuri felt lost and numb.

Yuri found a payphone despite it being 2017. He punched in Otabek's number, but he didn't answer.

Panic turned to regret. Maybe flying down here in the middle of the night wasn't the best of ideas.

He kept trying to reach Otabek, but eventually concluded he was fast asleep, it being 5am and all. Yuri, having not slept in days, finally felt the need to sleep set in himself.

Yuri found a stretch of seats, put his backpack under his head, and passed out cold without a second to think.

Otabek woke up with an uneasy feeling that Monday. He hadn't heard from Yuri since he'd gone out to dinner with the other skaters – on Friday. His phone message said he had no service. He was getting worried.

Especially when he awoke to 5 missed calls, all from the same number, which, when he called back, went unanswered.

Thankfully, his mother was recovering from the several months she'd spent in bed. The combination of his return and new medication got her back to her routine in just a few weeks.

Sofia, just two years his senior, had been struggling to balance work, school and taking care of their mom. She was so relieved when Otabek returned that she slept for a day straight as soon as he got in the door. Though he'd always felt a twinge of guilt for leaving for months at a time, Sofia and his mother had always encouraged him. It helped that some of his winnings could go toward groceries and the mortgage when he was back, but when he was gone... Well, Sofia always told him it was fine, but he knew her enough to know she was lying. But that was okay. She was lying for him, for his peace of mind.

Otabek finally decided to call Mila. Either Yuri was ignoring him, or something was very wrong.

"Otabek? Oh, thank god. He's with you?" she said, mildly distraught, but annoyed more than anything.

"No. I was calling to see if he was around. Haven't heard from him lately." He didn't want to come off as a clingy boyfriend, but he also was genuinely concerned.

"Damn. No, we've all been calling him – Yakov's livid – but nobody's seen or heard from him since he left the restaurant on Friday."

Otabek didn't know why, but he had a feeling Yuri had gone AWOL on purpose. And right after telling him he should come visit.

He had to be honest. "I think he might be here."

Mila replied, "What do you mean 'might be'?"

Otabek told her about their exchange and Yuri's desire to see him. "He might've just… gotten on a plane." As soon as he'd said it, he believed it. "I should go to the airport."

"You really think he'd just up and leave?"

Otabek considered this. "Yeah. He's running on no sleep and bad judgment. And I told him to come visit. I gotta go, I'm gonna go find him."

He rushed down the stairs, put on his coat and told his sister to watch their mom.

"Where are you going?" she asked. "It's 8am."

"I'll be right back. An hour."

Sofia groaned. "I have class at 11, Otabek, it was your day to – hey!"

Otabek ignored her and left the house, grabbing the keys to his motorcycle along the way.

He sped through rush hour traffic, through downtown and twenty minutes down the highway. He narrowly avoided a crash as he made the sharp turn off the freeway at the last second.

He called Yuri's phone as he entered the airport's "Arrivals" terminal. He felt lucky that it was a small airport.

Otabek didn't want to resort to yelling Yuri's name out, but he also felt he had little hope of finding him. The more he searched, the more his belief that he was even here dwindled.

And then suddenly there he was. As Otabek stepped off the elevator to the mezzanine above, he was curled up on a bench, hair somehow flawless despite the rest of him looking rather disheveled.

He sat down next to the backpack Yuri was using as a pillow. "Yuri, wake up." Nothing. "Yuri!" he said a little louder. The blonde stirred.

"Otabek? How in the hell – "

"I had a hunch. One in a million chance."

He slowly sat up, yawning and wiping his eyes. "What time is it?"

"Around 9."

"A.m. or p.m.?"

"A.m. It's Monday."

Yuri's eyes bugged out of his sockets. "I lost an entire day?!"

"When did you get here?"

Yuri blinked a few times but said he wasn't sure.

Otabek stood him up and guided him toward the parking lot. "Well, that can happen when you don't sleep for a month straight," he said, oozing sarcasm. When Yuri didn't have a snappy comeback or some expletive to yell at him, he turned to him. He almost looked like a zombie.

"You okay?" he said.

The blonde nodded. "Tired."

"Still? After sleeping for a day?"

"Been up for five or six." Seeming to come back to the real world a bit, he explained, "Sleep debt. The longer you don't sleep, the more sleep you'll need to make up for it later."

Otabek didn't say anything as they mounted his bike. Then, holding onto Otabek as he started it, Yuri said sheepishly, "Are you mad?"

"Of course not" was all he said as they drove away, the engine too loud to talk further.

Yuri pondered how he'd been able to sleep so long, but mostly thought about how Otabek had found him. He must've had a sixth sense.

That's when it started to dawn on him what he'd done. Yakov would be furious. Mila would be pissed and/or worried. Probably just pissed. Nobody seemed to care much when he went to Japan last year. Except, of course, his coach. But nothing Yuri did got his stamp of approval anyway.

Otabek eventually pulled up to a small house in a rather poor neighborhood. As they headed toward the door, Otabek said, "My mom's… a lot. I don't know what kind of mood she'll be in."

Yuri just nodded as they entered.

Immediately his senses overloaded. The house smelled strongly of some sort of savory broth, and there were framed oil paintings everywhere. It was also very, very dark.

Yuri followed Otabek into the living room, where his mother was seated, knitting, covered from the waist down in a blanket. "Hello, mother," Otabek said. "This is my Russian friend I told you about, the skater. Yuri Plisetsky."

The middle-aged woman, much younger than Yuri anticipated, smiled and nodded. "Nice to meet you." Then, as if the two had disappeared, turned back to knitting a blue scarf, staring at it with intensity, as if she were threading a tiny needle.

"He's going to stay with us for a few days, is that okay?"

Then she seemed to turn back on. "Of course." Then back to her scarf. Otabek and Yuri went upstairs.

Sofia almost ran into them. "Good, you're back. Hi, Yuri, right?" she said quickly in English. "Sorry, I don't speak Russian. Anyway," she turned back to Otabek and spoke Kazakh so fast that Yuri didn't get a word of it. "I'm off, I'll be back around midnight. Her pills are in the drawer, she gets 2 at 4pm and 4 at 9pm, got it? Alright. See you." And she pushed past them and out the front door.

Yuri raised his eyebrows. "She won't be home till midnight?"

"School, then work, plus travel time," Otabek explained. "She hardly had time for mom; it's a good thing I'm back, at least for now."

Otabek's room was the very epitome of minimal. Nothing on the walls, plain white bed, dresser and desk. No clutter in sight.

"Wow, you sure are a clean freak," was the first thing Yuri could say. Otabek laughed.

Yuri sat down on his bed. "So… a few days?"

"What?"

"You told your mom I'd be here for a few days."

Otabek shrugged. "I don't know. What… what are your plans?"

Yuri stared at him for a minute. "I guess… I just wanted to see you."

The other man nodded. Then he perked up. "Oh," he said, pulling out his phone. "I should tell Mila you're here."

Yuri grabbed his phone as he was dialing. "Don't. I don't want to go back. Not yet. Please."

Otabek sighed and started thinking. Obviously he couldn't stay forever, unless he were to train here. But Otabek knew that wouldn't happen. Lilia and Yakov, despite how Yuri talks of them, are like his parents. But Otabek's mom was his parent.

It seemed impossible. But he believed they could figure it out. "Okay," he said, "two days. Then you have to call Yakov."

Yuri grinned with glee. "Thank you." And he grabbed Otabek by the shoulders and kissed him deeply.

When they separated, Otabek said, "I still have to call her. I'll tell her I couldn't find you at the airport."

Yuri nodded as he made the call.

"...Yeah, I'll let you know if anything comes up. Bye."

Otabek closed his eyes before turning around to see Yuri practically asleep sitting up. Despite sleeping for more than 24 hours, he was still out of fuel.

"Why don't you get some more sleep," Otabek said. "I know it's early, but it looks like you need it." He expected Yuri to protest but he just yawned and nodded, laying back on the bed.

"I'll wake you up for dinner."

Otabek just watched as the blonde slowly fell asleep. He shook himself off when he realized he was smiling.

Was this really just a friendship? Otabek believed so less and less every day that they talked for hours, yearned to be in the same place. Mila was right all along. He was falling for him.

The two spent their two days trying to pack in as much time together as they could before Yuri went back to Russia.

They laid in bed and talked for hours like they would online, but this time holding hands and Yuri cuddled against Otabek. They passed a few bottles of wine back and forth and fell asleep in each other's arms.

The next morning, Yuri's phone rang. He had service.

It was, much to his horror, Yakov.

He endured the verbal beating, but begged him to let him stay a while longer.

"ARE YOU KIDDING?" Yakov responded predictably. "GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!"

"Please, look, maybe I can train here, I can still – "

Yakov was angrier than Yuri could've imagined, interrupting him to say: "Either you get on a plane by the end of the day, or I'll make sure you never make it to Worlds."

Yuri's face started turning red. "That's not fair!"

"You're bipolar and you're off your meds. You're going to come back and get your shit together, then train like a dog for Worlds. Lilia and I have invested in you. You can't be flying off to another country whenever you want!"

"You're not my dad, you can't tell me what to do!"

The line was silent for a moment. "I can't. But if it should... come to the attention of the right people, you being sick could bench you from the ice. For a long time."

Yuri's eyes bugged out, all while Otabek was processing how wrong he was, how readily Yuri said he would train in Kazakhstan.

For once, stunning Otabek once again, Yuri took a deep breath and said "Okay. I'll leave tonight." And hung up.

Immediately tears started streaming down his cheeks.

Otabek pulled him into a hug. "Don't worry. We'll see each other again soon."

"I wanted to do so much more."

"I know. But we'll take it slow."

Yuri just nodded and sighed.

Because he couldn't bear it, Otabek bought his plane ticket online.

"It'll be good to get back on your meds, Yuri," Otabek said to the blonde, head buried in Otabek's pillows while Otabek stroked his arm.

"I won't be the same."

"I don't care. I'll still love you." Otabek immediately stopped. "I mean…"

Yuri sat up. "I love you too, Otabek."

The two sat in silence for a while before Yuri started to kiss him. Much less worried about taking advantage of him, Otabek allowed it. They kissed for what felt like just a few seconds before night fell and Otabek and Yuri headed back to the airport.

"It was nice to meet you," Yuri said to Otabek's mom, who'd spent most of Yuri's time there on the couch or in bed. He hadn't even seen Sofia again since he first arrived.

It seemed Otabek's mother was in an odd mood. She said "Goodbye. I have to go lie down." Her tone was positively morose.

"She's doing better. Slowly," Otabek said. They left the house, drove the thirty minutes to the airport and said goodbye at the gate.

"This isn't fair," Yuri said in frustration. "I wish things were different."

Otabek nodded. "I know. Life's not fair."

Exasperated, Yuri said, "Is there any way, any scenario where you could see yourself with me, in Russia? Even just... a one in a million chance?"

The other was taken off-guard. But he thought. Sofia would be done school in a year. Always having been their mother's favorite, she said she didn't mind taking care of her when Otabek was gone for months at a time. Maybe it would be possible.

"I… I can't let my sister do it all alone, not now. Maybe… when she finishes school."

Yuri just nodded and stared at the ground.

"I'm sure I'll see you before then."

Yuri nodded. They kissed goodbye and Yuri went through security. He gave Otabek one last wave, and he was gone.

A/N: So sorry for taking forever, I had terrible writer's block, but decided to pound it out before I had to start NaNoWriMo. So it'll be at least a month or two before the next chapter, sorry~