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“You know, you are supposed to throw water onto the stones?”
“Why the fuck would I throw water on there?”
“That’s how a sauna works Yura. You are closer to the water, could you please?”
Helsinki, ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2017. After returning to the hotel after a long day on the ice, Yuri Plisetsky got a message from Otabek, calling Yuri to join him as Otabek’s team was going outside for the evening. They had rented a cottage or something, and Yuri was promised food, good company (=Otabek) and a sauna. Without really consulting with his own team, the Russian lad had thrown his stuff together and joined the Kazakhs team downstairs. They were already on a taxi going to the place when he had decided to actually inform Yakov that he was going to be spending the evening with Otabek and his team.
Yakov had protested.
Yuri had decided to shut his phone down.
The cottage itself had been rather nice, it smelled of wood, there was a nice fireplace going on and food was getting prepared as they got in. Yet for the first thing the team asked for the people who wanted to get to the sauna first, and the only one to actually volunteer had been Otabek. Naturally Yuri had volunteered with him, so he poor guy could get to the damn sauna as he so wanted. So, as the rest of Otabek’s team started getting cozy at the cottage, he and Yuri were shown to the sauna, where they could leave their clothes, where they could wash themselves, and then they were left alone to… Do sauna.
Yuri figured out quickly that it was going to be very similar to Japanese bath houses, like the one at Hasetsu, but still something very different. He kind of just followed Otabek, who seemed to know how this place worked: You took away your clothes, you got in to the shower, and then you went to sit in a dark, hot room for a while.
Yuri had really enjoyed Hasetsu and staying at the other Yuri’s house, as they got to bathe every day after Victor had tortured them with his insane training. There was something relaxing about water, and just relaxing at a hot spring, listening to your muscles cry out in pain. This sauna shouldn’t have been half bad after a long day on the ice, right?
It was… Totally different. Instead of the soothing sound of water there was the soothing sound of fire crackling in the pot, a warm light that came from the fire and just silence between the two guys at the room. Yuri wasn’t sure if it was the sauna, the warmth, the fire or just Otabek’s presence that got him to relax in no time, leaning on to the warm wall behind him.
It was nice. All countries should have something similar, either hot springs or hot rooms to relax in.
Otabek was sitting on the other side of the dark room. It wasn’t a big sauna, it seemed like it was made for something like 5 people, so there was enough space for both of them. Yuri took all the space he could, letting his feet rest, and on the other side Otabek was almost mimicking his position. In that dim light they really couldn’t see each other well, but at that moment they really didn’t need to: They were just there relaxing.
Until Otabek started talking about throwing water on to the stove.
Yuri didn’t protest even if moving meant that he was going to lose his nice warm spot that he has grown to like. He turned around, finding a bucket full of water and a dipper in it. He looked at Otabek to make sure that the other one was serious. He could see his dark eyes watching him from the other side, eyes half lid, relaxed, hair falling onto his face. Yes, he seemed serious. Yuri took the dipper with some water, unsure of what was going to happen if he threw the water onto the stove, but he did.
Water started evaporating as soon as it hit the dusky stones on the stove, and then a wall of hot air his Yuri’s face. He leaned back, covering his face with his hands as the room got warmed. On the other side he could hear Otabek giving a small laugh.
“Dude, it’s hot!” Yuri complained.
“That is the point of it”, he got told, and as he looked over at his friend he noticed that he had not even flinched, “you can leave if you can’t take it.”
“I can take a bit of heat”, Yuri declared immediately, dipping more water and getting ready to throw it on the stove again, “you want more of this?”
Otabek nodded, and closed his eyes, and as Yuri threw in more water he watched closely on how his friend was going to react. As the room got hotter again, warmth coming down from the ceiling, Otabek seemed to relax a bit more. The hot air seemed to have a similar reaction on Yuri too.
“Do you want more?” He challenged.
“That’s enough for now”, Otabek said, calmly, so Yuri took the dipper, some water, and leaned back to the wall, splashing some of that water on to his face.
“This remains me of Japan”, Yuri said after a while as the temperature went down again, “but there were a lot more naked old men. Only two naked men here.”
“I hope I don’t seem like an old Japanese man to you”, Otabek said, and somehow he didn’t even manage to make it sound like a joke. He was way too calm for that for the moment.
“Sometimes, yes. But don’t worry, you look a lot better than them”, Yuri told him.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Well you better, because it fucking was!” Yuri realized that he was rising up his voice a bit too much, so as a punishment he threw the rest of the water from the dipper to the stones. The room got warmer again, and he could feel his body getting all wet from sweat. This time he could also see Otabek flinching as the warmth hit him, but he proceeded to swipe the sweat away from his face, so Yuri wasn’t sure if it was for the hotness of the air or what.
“How much can you take?” Yuri asked as the question popped on his head, and the other guy on the room opened his dark eyes to look at him.
“What?”
“Of this?” Yuri pointed at the water and then the stove, “how much of this can you take.”
“More than you could.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’ll be running out the door in no time if you keep throwing water like that”, Otabek nodded at the door.
“Yeah, right, we’ll see about that!”
“Taking up the challenge?” Otabek leaned forward, finding another position to sit in, “you know the song Катюша?”
“The old folk song?”
“Right, that one. Every time there is “hey” you throw in more water. Once you can’t handle anymore, run out to the snow.”
“That’s insane”, Yuri said, “the song doesn’t even have any “hey” in it.”
“You’re going to do this with me or not?”
“You sing your stupid song and I’ll do the water, ok?” Yuri prepared himself, not sure of what he just signed in to. But if Otabek was going to do it, then he could do it, and he could do it better.
“Ready then?”
“You bet your pretty little ass I am.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment too.”
And then he started singing.
Расцветали яблони и груши,
Поплыли туманы над рекой.
Hey.
It wasn’t pure singing no way, but it took Yuri’d breath for a moment, and he missed the “hey” that Otabek added there between the verses, as he stopped to listen to him singing. Damn was there a thing this guy was not good at? Other than ballet!
“You didn’t throw the water”, Otabek noted, smirking.
“Well, you know, fuck you”, Yuri said quickly, picking up the task he said he’d do, and threw the damn water on the stove. As he did so, he guy sitting next to him took a breath and continued with the song. Yuri heard right away that his DJ:ing had played off: Otabek had a damn nice voice for singing.
Выходила на берег Катюша,
На высокий берег на крутой.
Hey
Выходила на берег Катюша,
На высокий берег на крутой.
Hey.
The room got warmer with every hey, and breathing was getting harder because of the hot steam coming from the stove. Yet the older skater didn’t seem too bothered by it, he had only covered his face as the third hey-water got on to his face, while Yuri was breathing with pinching pain through his teeth.
“That’s it, I though there was going to be more-“ Yuri challenged, getting a look from Otabek, who without a pause just started the verse again, forcing the Russian lad to hurry up with the water. This time the tempo was quicker, and there was little to no pauses, as he didn’t even have time to listen up Otabek’s voice while trying to catch the “Hey” between the verses.
Third hey, and Yuri decided that this challenge was lost.
“No, really, fuck you!” He shouted, as he quickly got himself out of the sauna.
“To the snow!” He heard Otabek shouting, reminding of the what he had promised to do.
“FUCK YOU!” Yuri yelled back, but kept his word as he hurried outside, not even bothering to take a towel with him. Without thinking twice he jumped to the snow, and about the same moment as he did so he wanted to get back to the sauna.
Back in the hot room Otabek also got up after his challenge victory, got out of the sauna and unlike Yuri, he took a towel with him as he got out, where there was a cursing Russian skater getting up from the pile of snow.
“Is this really something people fucking do for fun!” Yuri yelled, as he was continuously failing to get out of the white stuff.
“I’m having fun”, Otabek said, and as a reward for his victory he got a sloppy ball of snow to his knee.
“I’m going back!” Yuri declared.
“It’s going to be too hot for you right now.”
“Fuck you. I want a remach!”
“You’re on.”
That’s when Yuri learned the differences and similarities between Japanese onsen and Finnish sauna: Both broke the barriers of being awkward and naked with someone, allowing the chance to relax in a very natural way, but the way two young males sang, relaxed and bonded over at sauna was something that would most likely not have happened in a more modest environment in Japan.
All and all after a good hour and a half with Otabek in sauna Yuri made the decision that one day he would take his best friend to Japan with him and he would get a full round revenge at other Yuri’s place.
In a world full of experiences and things to try out Yuri wanted to share that world with Otabek, to get him laugh again in weird, unexpected places like this, and who knows, perhaps get him to sing again?