Work Text:
“Set!” Called Nikolai when he spotted Alina, who was busy carrying a tray of sandwiches in the scorching afternoon sun. She stopped as he did, and his fancy tennis tutor, seeing her, shook his head before leaving, Nikolai approaching the fence like a puppy wagging his tail. Alina, who was probably suffering from dehydration, stared. She was 90% sure she was seeing a tail, but maybe it was a hallucination. “Alina, hi! How are you? Come to see me?”
“No, madam Yelizarova asked for some finger food, so I’m, you know, doing my job.” She replied, staying in place. Nikolai reached through one of the tiny gaps in the fence and grabbed a sandwich for himself. “They’re Camembert cheese - do tell me if I said that wrong, that woman is picky with pronunciation - and fig.”
Nikolai put it back. The two watched the sandwich sadly deflate, and then Nikolai’s eyes turned to Alina.
“Why don’t you stay and play a game with me, then?” He offered, bright as the sun, and Alina did her best to not cover her eyes. The sun was behind him, shining off his golden hair and blinding her.
“I’m working.” A beat. “Listen, let me deliver these gross sandwiches before they’re grilled cheese and fig, and I’ll deliver you some Gatorade, and I’ll even stay and watch for a while. How about that?”
Nikolai smiled, the imaginary puppy tail wagging.
“Put it on Aleksander’s tab and done.” He grinned, and Alina nodded. He gripped the metallic fence, uncaring about the sweltering hot metal on his hands. “God, I wish I could kiss you.”
Alina turned her nose at that.
“All sweaty and smelling like Camembert? How brave of you, Nikolai.” She joked, and he grinned. “Later. When I’m off my shift.”
“It’s a promise.” He said, and Alina nodded. “Go on, get rid of these foul smelling things that dare themselves sandwiches and come back to me, my love.”
She laughed, pretending her heart wasn’t beating so fast in her chest that she could hear it on her ears. It was the dehydration, she told herself.
“Stop reading those bodice-ripper novels, dumbass. Love you!” She told him, before going back, missing Nikolai’s in awe look.
It was only when she was arriving on madam Yelizarova’s tea party that she realized what she had said, and had to avoid screaming fuck as loud as possible - mostly because she feared the old woman would get a heart attack and die.
God, this would come back to haunt her later. More specifically, whenever she ended up delivering that Gatorade.