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When Otabek and Sofia are released from the hospital on New Year's Eve, it already feels like a lifetime has passed in the three days since her birth.
Victor and Yuuri drive them home from the hospital and follow them up to their apartment with the excuse of carrying their bags, clearly hoping for a chance to hold the baby before being sent away.
Yuri and Otabek are trying to limit their visitors while they adjust to parenthood. Germs are a great excuse, but it's really mostly so they won't have as many witnesses while they try to figure out what they're doing.
When they open the door to their apartment, Mila is sitting on the couch entertaining Potya with a toy mouse. She had agreed to check in on the cat while they were in the hospital and has conveniently timed today's visit for the moment of their arrival.
Otabek sits in the recliner as Yuri takes Sofia out of her carseat and looks up at their three friends standing hopefully by the door. “Okay, but just for a few minutes,” he says with a sigh.
Victor is the first to rush over and reach his hands out for the baby. “Wait. Have you ever held a baby before?” Yuri asks.
“No,” Victor says, still holding his hands out.
“Sit down first.”
Victor sits on the couch and Yuri carefully places Sofia in his arms. “Make sure you support her head, and if you upset her I’m taking her back.”
Sofia doesn’t seem bothered as Victor cradles her in his arms and beams down at her. "She's so small, she hardly weighs anything."
"She's not that small," Otabek grumbles from across the room.
"She lost a few ounces, but she was eight pounds," Yuri says, still hovering nearby as Victor continues to look down at her.
"Okay, give someone else a turn," Yuri says impatiently, reaching down to gently pick her back up. "You've done this before, right?" he asks as he turns to Yuuri.
"Yeah, but it’s been a while."
Victor has a ridiculously fond expression on his face as he watches Yuuri hold the baby. After a few minutes he leans over and whispers something in Yuuri’s ear that makes him turn bright red and that’s enough.
"Okay, if you two are going to be disgusting I want my baby back."
Sofia wakes up and fusses for a moment as Yuri picks her up."Shhh, it's okay Sofka," he says as he gently bounces her. It doesn't take long for her to settle back down.
"Do you need anything?" Yuuri asks as they head toward the door.
"I don't think so," Otabek says, not taking his eyes off of Yuri and the baby.
"Yeah, there's one thing,” Yuri says. “I was going to have to go out this evening for formula but I'd rather stay here."
"What kind?" Yuuri asks.
"I don't know, the label is blue. There's a little bit of it in that bag," Yuri says gesturing toward the bag of things the hospital sent home with them. "They only sent enough for a day or two and we weren't expecting to need it yet." Otabek looks down and frowns, Yuri gives him what he hopes is a reassuring look.
Victor pulls the formula sample out of the bag and shows it to Yuuri. "Do you need bottles?" he asks.
"We have a couple, but it wouldn't hurt to have a few more."
"We'll be back soon," Yuuri says as they head out the door.
Yuri turns to Mila after they leave "Did you want a turn too? I think she's calmed down now."
"No, I just want to look," she says, stepping closer as Yuri shifts her to his other side. "Oh, she looks just like Beka, look at her little face."
"Wait until she opens her eyes again, she got those from Yuri," Otabek says.
"We really don't know that for sure yet, they might get darker," Yuri says.
"I'll leave you alone now, but keep sending me pictures. Showing them to Yakov calms him down when he starts complaining about how many practices you're missing."
Yuri rolls his eyes. "I told him I was going to need at least a week."
"I know. It'll take you longer than that to get out of shape and forget all your choreography, but you know how he is."
"Yeah, I'll see you next week," Yuri says as he watches her leave.
As the door closes, Sofia starts fussing again. "I think she's hungry, can you hold her while I fix a bottle?" Yuri asks.
"Yeah, give her here," Otabek says, holding his arms out.
Yuri digs the formula sample out of the hospital bag and takes it into the kitchen. He tries to hurry when he hears Sofia start to cry, but he accidentally overheats the water and has to start over again.
It probably didn't take more than a few minutes, but even seconds feel like too long when the baby is upset. When he walks back into the living room, Otabek looks distressed. He looks up at Yuri and breathes a sigh of relief. "Look, papa's coming. Everything's okay," he says with just a hint of desperation.
Yuri hands the bottle over to Otabek, who accepts it gratefully. She instantly calms down when he puts it in her mouth. "There, that's all better, isn't it?"
“If you have her for now, I’m going to go ahead and put our stuff away while I’m still awake enough to do it,” Yuri says, bending down to kiss Otabek on the cheek and gently brush his fingers through Sofia’s unruly mess of dark hair.
Three nights of trying to sleep in a chair didn’t do Yuri any favors, so he’s relieved to be home even though it means they no longer have nurses to fall back on if they aren’t sure what to do. He tosses their dirty clothes into the laundry basket and puts the clean ones back in the closet before stepping into the kitchen to put away the leftover snacks they packed, then he carries the rest of the baby’s things into her room.
There isn’t much to do, so he goes back into the living room to check on Otabek and the baby. The sight of Otabek smiling down at her as she looks up at him, giving a rare glimpse of her eyes as she finishes her bottle, makes Yuri’s heart leap in his chest. He quickly pulls his phone out of his pocket and snaps a picture before walking the rest of the way into the room to sit on the edge of the couch closest to the recliner.
“Can I see it?” Otabek asks, nodding towards Yuri’s phone.
“Sure,” Yuri says, holding his phone out where Otabek can see the picture.
Otabek cringes. “Don’t post that one.”
“I won’t if you really don’t want me to, but it’s a good picture and so far none of the pictures I’ve posted have you in them at all. People are going to worry.”
“If anyone asks, just tell them I’m fine.”
“Can I at least send it to your mom?”
“I guess,” Otabek sighs.
Yuri texts the picture to Rayana and lets her know they’re home before stuffing his phone back into his pocket.
“You’ll want these pictures when she’s older,” Yuri says.
“We have plenty of pictures of her, I don’t know why I have to be in them too,” Otabek says as he pulls the bottle away from Sofia and holds her upright against his shoulder so he can lightly pat her back to help her burp.
“Are you okay?” Yuri asks.
“I’m tired, but I don’t feel that bad. I definitely feel better than I did a couple days ago.”
“I don’t mean physically.”
“It’s not a big deal.”
“I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong.”
“I thought I would be better at this.”
“You’re doing great, she loves you. Neither of us knows what we’re doing right now, but she seems fine.”
“You knew exactly what she needed a few minutes ago.”
“Her diaper was clean and I was already holding her, that doesn’t leave a whole lot of options.”
The moment is interrupted by a tiny burp and Otabek’s shoulder being soaked with spit up. “I’m sorry!” Otabek says as he shifts her so her face won’t be in her mess.
“It’s normal, remember? She doesn’t even look mad about it. I’ll go get you a washcloth.”
Yuri returns with a damp washcloth to wipe her face with and rub the worst of it off of Otabek’s shoulder. “Do you want me to go get you a clean shirt?”
“I’ll get it. I need to figure out what fits right now anyway.” Otabek says as he passes Sofia over to Yuri and slowly stands up to head into the bedroom.
“Oh Sofka, you ate too fast, didn’t you?” Yuri says as he finishes wiping her off with the cloth. She missed her own clothes at least, so she doesn’t have to be changed.
He’s happy for an opportunity to hold her while she’s awake. She’s been sleeping for most of the past few days. Right now she is looking up at him with a hilariously serious expression that reminds him so much of Otabek. He has to pull his phone back out of his pocket to snap a picture.
A few minutes later, Victor knocks on the door and hands Yuri a bag with the formula he requested and a couple of bottles. He only lingers for a moment this time before excusing himself to go back home. Yuri waits around for a little while longer for Otabek to come back into the living room before saying “I think we should go check on your dad, what do you think?”
Her tiny brows furrow like she’s still trying to figure out exactly what it is she’s looking at. Yuri kisses her on the head as he stands to walk toward their bedroom. The door is cracked, so he pushes it open the rest of the way and steps inside.
Otabek startles at the sound of the door opening and quickly wipes his face. “Beka, what's wrong?” Yuri asks as he carefully puts Sofia down in her bassinet next to the bed.
“Nothing, it’s stupid.”
Yuri can count on one hand the number of times he has seen Otabek cry, and most of them have been this week. It’s probably just hormones, but it still makes Yuri feel helpless. “Tell me, maybe I can help,” he says, sitting on the bed next to Otabek to wrap his arm around him.
“My old clothes don’t fit,” Otabek mumbles.
“Did you expect them to?” Yuri asks in confusion. “It’s been three days.”
“No, but I hoped.”
“Is that why you won’t let me post any pictures of you?”
“Yeah.”
Yuri pulls his phone back out of his pocket and scrolls back to the picture he took earlier. “Do you know what I like about this one?” he asks.
“Sofia looks pretty cute.”
“She’s cute in every picture. I like this one because you look happy.”
“I’m happy. I just don’t want to show everyone that,” Otabek says, pointing to the lower part of the picture where his stomach is still pretty swollen.
“I didn’t even notice,” Yuri says honestly. “I can crop the picture.” He opens his photo editor and crops the picture so that you can’t see anything below his arms. “Is that better?”
“Yeah, you can post it now if you want.” Yuri quickly posts the picture before Otabek can change his mind.
“After everything you’ve seen the past few days, you must think I’m pretty gross.”
“You just had my baby, gross isn’t a word that comes to mind. I think you’re amazing.”
They’re interrupted by quiet whimpers coming from the bassinet. Otabek starts to stand, but Yuri gets there first. “I’ve got her, just rest.”
As Yuri picks Sofia up he smells the reason she’s upset. “This is pretty gross,” he says, making a face. “She’s worth it though.” He carries her into her room to get her cleaned up. He’s not sure how such a cute, tiny little person can make something so foul. He has to fight back the urge to gag a few times, but he gets through it. After she’s clean, he gets her changed into some warm pajamas and carries her back into his room.
“Can I have her?” Otabek asks as he walks in.
“I guess I’ll share if I have to,” Yuri says, before passing her over.
She’s already drifting back off to sleep. Yuri decides he’s going to do the same after her next bottle. There’s no point in trying to sleep right now when she’s probably going to be hungry again within the hour.
“I feel like I’m right behind her,” Otabek says, yawning as he leans back against the headboard.
“I never thought we’d be ready for bed at eight PM on New Year’s Eve.” Yuri says.
Otabek laughs. “I forgot that was today.”
“It’s been a long week, I’m surprised I remembered.”
It’s a little after nine when they’re finally able to go to bed. Sofia has just eaten and is fast asleep in her bassinet. After three nights of sleeping in a chair next to Otabek’s hospital bed, Yuri is just glad to get to sleep in his own bed, even if he’s sure it isn’t going to be for long.
“I missed being the big spoon,” Otabek says as he wraps his arms around Yuri from behind.
“Yeah, this is nice,” Yuri says, snuggling closer as he drifts off to sleep.
It doesn’t feel like it’s been long at all when he wakes up to the sound of Sofia crying. Otabek is already sitting up and reaching for her. “Go back to sleep, Yura. You can get her next time.”
Yuri nods and sinks further into the covers as Otabek takes her out of the room. The crying continues for a few more minutes as Otabek fixes a bottle. By the time she’s quiet again, Yuri is awake. He glances over at the clock and sees that it’s almost midnight, so he decides to get up and go join his little family to ring in the new year.
He makes a quick stop by the kitchen and grabs two champagne glasses out of the top cabinet, then looks in the fridge and spots a bottle of apple juice and pours a little bit into each glass. He carries them into the living room where Otabek is sitting on the couch feeding Sofia.
Otabek raises his eyebrows at the sight of the two glasses. “Where did you even get that?” he asks.
“It’s just juice,” Yuri says, sitting them both down on the coffee table. “It’s going to be midnight soon, I thought we could still celebrate.”
“This might be the smallest New Year’s Eve party I’ve ever been to,” Otabek jokes.
“Well you can’t beat the company.” Yuri says as he pulls out his phone to check the time. There’s still a few minutes, so he looks through his notifications. “That picture I posted earlier is a hit.”
“Of course it is, we made a very cute baby,” Otabek says.
“You did most of the work,”
“I couldn’t have done it without you.”
Yuri opens a countdown on his phone and turns the volume down low so it won’t bother the baby and holds it up so Otabek can see it too. When the clock strikes midnight he leans in and kisses Otabek, then they each bend down to kiss Sofia on the cheek before clinking their glasses together. Yuri very lightly taps his glass against Sofia’s bottle before downing his juice.
He leans in toward Otabek and takes a selfie, careful to get all three of them into the frame. He holds the picture up for Otabek’s approval and gets a nod, so he posts it with the caption “First New Year as a family.”
Only a few seconds pass before the first comment pops up from Lilia that just says “go to bed.”
“Soon I hope,” Yuri responds before putting his phone back down. Sofia is finished with her bottle and it shouldn’t take long to get her back to sleep. In a couple hours he’ll be up to do it all over again.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this tired in my life,” Yuri says as they walk back into their bedroom.
“We’ve been up since last year,” Otabek says, very quietly so he won’t wake the baby in his arms as he slowly places her down in her bassinet.
“Really? A dad joke already?”
“I’m a dad, I’m allowed.” Otabek says as he climbs back under the covers.
Yuri’s heart does a little flip at that. It’s been doing that any time somebody refers to either of them as a dad. They made a tiny little person and now they get to keep her. It still doesn’t feel real even with the baby asleep in the same room.
“I think this is the best New Year’s Eve I’ve ever had,” Yuri says.
“Me too,” Otabek says as he closes his eyes and starts to drift off.
Yuri is already dreading his next competition. Being away for an entire week sounds horrible. Going back to practice in a few days is bad enough. He’s just going to have to spend as much time as he can with Sofia now. The thought has him almost wanting to sneak back out of bed just to hold her for a while, but he refrains. She’ll probably wake him up in a couple hours and he can cuddle her then. For now he just scoots closer to Otabek and tries to sleep.