Work Text:
Doctor Mikhail Cossack groaned tiredly as he dragged himself out of his warm and comfortable bed, his hand fumbled around on his bedside table to find his glasses before he could even dream of walking around in his dark apartment, his telephone was ringing insistently from its place in his living room.
God he hated getting phone calls.
Finally his fingers nudged by his glasses and the frames were soon placed upon his nose, the Russian man sighed heavily before dragging himself out of his room. Mikhail wrapped a bathrobe over his pajamas to keep out the January chill that lingered inside his apartment.
"This better be important..."
Mikhail hissed irritably when he put the receiver of the phone close to his ear, normally he wouldn’t answer his phone in such a rude manner but it was way too early for anyone sensible to be calling.
"Hahaha! Am I calling early, Mikhail?"
The jovial voice that answered from the other side of the line belonged to the one and only Professor Yuriy Oblast, Mikhail muttered angrily in his tired state which earned him another spirited laugh from his dearest friend.
"It’s four in the fucking morning Yuriy, someone better be dying."
The possibility of someone currently dying was rather small judging from Yuriy's jovial and spirited happiness, though it was possible if the person in question was someone Yuriy did not like...
"Nope, even better, listen here..."
Mikhail heard the sound of shuffling then there was only silence until he heard a very soft whimper, more soft noises followed, a understanding smile crept its way onto his face.
"Congratulations Yuriy, boy or girl?"
Yuriy and his wife had been expecting their first child for nine months now and Mikhail was delighted to hear the little one had finally arrived healthy and happily, Yuriy came back onto the phone.
"Girl, Mikhail get dressed and come over here, I want you to meet her."
The Russian scientist knew there was little room for him to argue with his friend so he promised to appear at the hospital as fast as he could, parting words were exchanged and Mikhail hung up the phone with a smile still on his face.
He was still tired but the happy news had woken him up a bit more.
Mikhail threw on his outdoor clothes and downed a cup of coffee before leaving his apartment to make his way through town then onwards to Moscow Central Hospital, since it was four in the morning the town was relatively dead save for the poor souls who worked during the night or those who were making their way home after a brutally long shift.
Mikhail walked down the snowy streets of Moscow, snowflakes flew around him in a flurry and clung to his clothes and facial hair, a frigid cold nipped at his nose and cheeks that painted them a rosy pink hue, when he rounded the last corner the hospital looked over him like a beacon of welcoming warmth.
He entered the hospital quickly and shook himself free from the clinging snowflakes then turned his gaze towards the waiting lobby. The hospital lobby was rather empty save for the occasional nurse passing by during their night shifts, Yuriy though was there waiting for Mikhail with a beaming smile on his face.
"Everything went well then? No complications for the mother?"
Yuriy shook his head and brought Mikhail through the lit hallways of the hospital, there was not much talking between them safe for when the scientist had to make a slight detour to wash his hands - didn’t want to handle a newborn with unwashed hands.
"So you two are still going through with the divorce?"
Mikhail asked bluntly, he knew very well that Yuriy and his wife had been having rather rough marital problems so adding a baby to the mix did not bode well.
"Definitely, she was very clear on giving me full custody of my daughter, didn’t want anything to do with the girl."
Yuriy's happiness briefly dimmed into a scowl but quickly resumed once more, now was not the time to think about that ugly business.
"Here she is, my little Snowflake."
Yuriy gestured towards a bassinet and Mikhail peeked inside to see a bundle of yellow blankets shifting slightly, a small hand was visible with the usual hospital bracelet and scrunched up face peeked out then whined, gently Yuriy lifted his daughter from her bassinet and put her into Mikhail's nervous arms.
"Support her neck like this...there we go."
The scientist held the newborn baby girl in his arms and got a better look at her, the baby wore a little hat but a few straws of jet black hair peeked out and though her eyes were tightly shut Mikhail briefly caught sight of deep blue eyes. The baby girl had her mother’s hair but her father’s eyes.
"You didn’t actually name her Snowflake, right?"
Mikhail glanced up at his friend with a teasing smirk on his face which earned him a snicker from Yuriy.
"No that’s my nickname for her, her name is Anastasia Yekaterina Oblast."
Little Anastasia whined and shifted in Mikhail's hold then settled down once more, the scientist smiled when he heard the name the girl was given. Yekaterina was the given name of Yuriy’s mother who would no doubt be over the moon when she got the news of her granddaughter's birth.
"And you’re still set on making me her godfather?"
Yuriy crossed his arms and just gave his friend a raised brow, like he was asking him why he was still questioning his choice.
"Mikhail, you’re pretty much my brother, why wouldn’t I pick you? If you ever got a kid then I’m sure you’d ask the same in return."
The scientist chuckled in acknowledgement and looked down at his goddaughter, the thought of him ever cradling a child of his own felt astronomically far away but who knew? Maybe one day...
"You’d be the first on my list Yuriy."
The professor nodded in satisfaction and gently took his daughter from his friend then put her back in her bassinet, the baby girl was sound asleep once more.
"Good, going to stick around for when mother shows up or are you going back home?"
Mikhail hummed in consideration and glanced at his wristwatch, it was already approaching five in the morning and he had a scheduled meeting at nine...
Eh, what the hell, he could stay a bit longer.
"I’m not getting any sleep for a bit, thanks to you."
Mikhail elbowed Yuriy jokingly, both laughed quietly and sat down at a nearby bench together. The two men looked rather tired but neither wished to admit it just yet, a nurse approached the pair with a piece of paper.
"Mr Oblast, here is your daughter’s birth certificate."
Yuriy thanked the nurse and inspected the information on the paper, Mikhail grew a bit curious and peeked over his shoulder to see as well.
Name: Anastasia Yekaterina Oblast
Date of birth: January 11th 1993
Time of birth: 03:27 AM
More information showed her weight and height as well as the names of her parents, Mikhail calculated that the girl was already an hour old.
"So, you got your eyes set on that big citadel outside the city?"
Yuriy’s sudden question made Mikhail jump a bit and he spotted a bit away from his friend who gave him a bit of a reprimanding look for peeking at his daughter’s birth certificate.
"Yes, it might be a little big for just me but it does give me room to have a fully equipped lab all to myself."
Mikhail currently lived in a apartment in downtown Moscow which suited him just fine but that left no room for a lab all to himself so that left him in a bit of a spot of bother whenever he needed to actually do his job - he felt really bad when he needed to constantly borrow Yuriy’s university labs.
"A bit big? Mikhail that house could room a whole family of 10 or even more! Are you really sure you don’t want to move in with me? I wouldn’t mind having you."
A kind offer from his friend and pretty much brother but Mikhail would not want to intrude upon Yuriy in such a way, especially now that he was a father of a newborn baby girl, he shook his head in decline.
"I’ve asked so much of you already I couldn’t possibly do that, I’ll stick with my citadel."
Yuriy sighed in defeat, Mikhail was both a considerate but stubborn man, there was no convincing his friend.
"Very well then but do visit my house often, you need the human interaction or else you might go insane, and do keep with I said in mind Mikhail. Having a family might do you some good, lifeless machines can’t really replace that warmth."
Mikhail contemplated Yuriy’s words and gazed over to Anastasia's bassinet, a family of his own? He’d never really had that before save for Yuriy and his family.
His friend might be right in his words, but only the future would tell if such a thing would ever come to pass, and who really knew if he had that parental spirit in him.
"My friend Thomas made a robot unlike any other last year, Blues could feel and think like a living being, maybe I should build myself a child like Thomas did."
Yuriy huffed and shoved Mikhail slightly.
"You’re hopeless."
Mikhail just chuckled quietly and kept his lingering gaze at the bassinet, a bright idea having just taken root in his mind but it would take a few more years before he would actually go through with it and welcome his first child into the world, robotic as that child would be.