Chapter Text
It was cold outside, a normal sight, really, given the current hour of the day and the time of the year. The street lights did little to pierce the darkness of the early morning, but neither twins could have cared less, honestly. Sitting together in the passenger seat of their grandpa’s old, small car, they were way too busy messily eating their rye bread and babbling senseless stories to the man driving beside them, to take notice of the world around them, outside the vehicle.
These kinds of mornings weren’t rare. In fact, they were a constant part of the almost daily routine. Their grandpa would pick up both children around five in the morning, and they would spend the rest of the day together. Even how they would kill the time was already planned out, as it was pretty much the same every time.
When the man finally pulled up, the children had finished their quick breakfast, and were more than ready to jump out the car into the completely empty parking lot, which is exactly what they tried to do once their grandpa opened the door. Luckily, the man had some experience in the matter, and managed to lift both of them up before anybody had the chance to trip and fall and get their little pants all wet in a puddle, residual from the previous night’s rain. Smiling at the eagerness of the younger ones, the man walked up to the lit up building, two little, warm hands secured in his own, a big and full, worn out hockey bag hung on his shoulder.
The warmth inside was a welcomed difference from the wet, chilly temperature that offered the streets. As always, the entrance was like abandoned, with nobody behind the administration counter, nobody to help with rented skates, or even nobody to swipe the floors. Only the security lamps were preventing the place from being in complete darkness, along with the street lamps lightened up outside the building. It was too early for anybody to be at work. The man let himself be dragged by the two very impatient children, off to the familiar, welcoming double door.
Behind said doors was a well-known scene. Sure, the building's entrance was quiet, but the place wasn’t completely deserted. Indeed, every regular was well aware of this fact; apart from Saturdays, Viktor Nikiforov would always spend his morning at the rink, from 5 am till he was too hungry to keep skating. And that, all through his off season as a professional skater, from late spring to early fall.
The trio arrived right at the moment the young skater was landing a perfect looking axel, at least, perfect in the untrained eyes of the older man, and like magic for the two toddlers, who made that fact well known by gasping in delight and running hurriedly to get closer to the rink.
-Vita! called the smaller one, her hands secured on one side of the entrance, her sibling mirroring her on the other side. Upon hearing the mispronounced nickname, the skater turned around gracefully, before skating towards the young duo.
-Good morning, Yulenka, Lyoshenka! He said cheerfully. Good morning, Kolya, he also greeted the older man, who had taken his time going down the stairs. If his voice had been less expressfull, Viktor’s smile had been just as bright as when he had welcomed the twins.
Without giving time for her grandpa to answer back, the blond, the one who had called out to Viktor, shouted again, jumping excitedly.
-Vita! Do it again! Again!
-What do you want me to do? the skater smiled, knowing full well what the small child was talking about, but still wanting to test her always expanding knowledge. Without missing a beat, she answered.
-The asel! Do it again! Even if the name had been awfully pronounced, it was a very good timing for a three year old, and Viktor happily obliged, skating away gracefully to get in position, as Nikolai looked down at his two grandchildren, taking the scenery in.
An outsider would maybe have thought no twins could be more different than these two, which wasn’t entirely untrue, per say. Look wise, so, the very first thing a stranger would learn about the kids, they were almost each other's exact opposites. Yulia was a little more than a head shorter than Alexei, and while she was thin and delicate, her twin was more on the larger side, with strong little fingers and legs. His hair was a beautiful raven black, thick and messy, while hers was a princess-like pale blond, shiny and silky. Up to the shape of their eyebrows, passing by even the diverging shades of their skin, almost everything between them was different. The only signs the two were even related were their identical pairs of mesmerising green eyes, valorised by short, but thick, eyelashes.
Furthermore, when going a little bit more in depth, one would probably notice that, Yulia was way more vocal than Alexei. She was louder, more expressionfull in her timber, and overall talked more than the boy. She was bolder when talking, and needed more attention when doing so. Alexei, on the other hand, would simply let his twin do the talking most of the time. Because of that, he had a lot of trouble making complete sentences, a lot more than other children his age, but not enough for anyone to recommend seeing a specialist on the matter. When he talked, he was quieter, and his tone was almost expressionless for one of a toddler. However, where his voice gave very little emotions away in comparison to other three years olds, his facial expressions and body language largely made up for it. A good example could possibly be that, at the moment, even when he was silent, Nikolai could easily tell Alexei was in complete awe by Viktor’s unofficial show, by the way he was energetically bouncing in place, his hands loudly hitting the metal side of the ice rink’s entrance every time the skater jumped and landed.
But, looking past all these apparent things, one could easily tell, if paying enough attention, that the twins were actually very similar. Both were very passionate about skating, yes, but they were also very shy, simply, in different ways. They both loved scribbling with a variety of colorful markers, they both had an unnecessarily passionate hatred for any green vegetables, they both would always get back up on their feet before starting crying when they fell off. They both had troubles waking up, no matter how many hours they had slept. They both were more prone to sneezing when they were tired. They both loved Viktor very much. And they adored their grandpa more than anything else. Just so many little things, that were so hard to take notice of, but oh, so obvious, at least, for Nikolai.
To finish his little performance, Viktor bowed down, one hand on his chest, and the over flailed in his back in a theatrical way, before skating back to the entrance. He clearly was tired and ready for a small break, his respiration loud and his legs slightly shaking. He had been going too hard again. He gave the children a bright smile as they applauded him in a very childish manner, and sat on the bench to take a breather. This was the twins' clue to start pulling at their grandpa’s coat, looking up at him with hopeful eyes, which they didn’t lose any time before beginning. According to the routine they followed, if Viktor was out of the ice, it meant it was their turn to skate.
Like Viktor, Nikolai asked the children what they wanted, receiving an eager answer.
-The skates, grandpa! Want to put on the skates! Yulia shouted, letting go of the coat to flail her small arms around as she spoke.
-And what do we say? the man asked, crouching down to be at the twins’ height. The little girl stopped to think for a second, looking truly lost, before she figured out what her grandpa meant, and answered.
-Please!
-Good job, Yulenka. The praise had her glow in pride, a huge toothy smile cutting her face. The man then turned to face her silent twin. It was important to encourage him to speak more, for him not to fall behind in speech. Or, at the very least, not more than he already had.
-And you, what do you want, Lyoshenka? he questioned simply. His answer took longer to come than his sister’s, and Nikolai waited patiently for the boy to find the right words.
-Want put on skates, please, was his answer, which earned him the same praise Yulia had received.
Nikolai stood up, which had the children run hurriedly up to the closest bench, which was the same one Viktor was launched on. They both climbed on it in a way that suggested they had done the same exact thing many times before, which was actually the case, and sat not so patiently, swinging their legs back and forth, waiting for their grandpa to bring over the hockey bag he had settled down farther up the stairs. As the man did so, Viktor stood up, stretching his arms up over his head. However, the children weren’t alarmed, neither reacting to the movement, as it was simply part of the routine, and simply took off their big winter coats to reveal adorable, but warm, matching jackets. Once the bag was set down and opened, Nikolai handed Alexei’s skates to the sixteen years old, who took them without any question and started helping the toddler putting them on, while the man did the same with Yulia’s. Once they were both finished, Nikolai sat himself on the bench to put on his own pair, while Viktor helped the two little ones walk up close to the rink, take off their guards and step over the edge of the entrance. Soon enough, everyone was on the ice.
The first time Nikolai had brought the twins skating had been very different from the later ones. At first, it had only been a fun activity the grandpa had thought about to keep the younger one entertained on one of those regular days he was on babysitting duty. In his young years, he had, himself, been a hockey player, never dedicated enough to make it very far but good enough to assume himself able to teach skating to three years olds. So the trio had went, one afternoon, to the local ice rink. And it had been a disaster. The place hadn’t been exactly crowded, but there sure had been a lot of people present that day. Trying to find a quiet spot to set the equipment and get ready had been hard, but it was only the beginning.
Only when everyone was on the ice that Nikolai had realised his mistake. His very big, obvious mistake.
He was a single adult trying to teach skating to two children, children who had just turned three and had zero experience on the ice. He had no idea how to help them both keep up right, and the moment he was helping one, he had to watch out for anybody who might run into the other one.
They had stayed on the ice for about fifteen minutes, all of them spent pulling up each kid on their feet, just before the other one fell off. A lot of crying and shouting had happened in those fifteen minutes, and a decision had been taken.
No more skating until Nikolai found someone to come with them.
The decision hadn’t last very long.
Two weeks later, as Nikolai had picked the twins up to spend the day with them, Alexei had spoken up.
It was surprising, having Alexei speak first. At that time, he would never say a word without being addressed first, and even then, it was mostly monosyllabic answers. More often than not, he would either let his twin do the talking for both of them, or try communicating his needs by pointing at things and shaking his head. So, the quiet voice was almost unheard, even at three years old. Which explains the quick turn Nikolai’s neck did when the sound pierced the air, for the man to almost glare at the toddler.
-Go skate? The question had been clear and simple, but Nikolai had hesitated. He had told himself they wouldn’t unless he found someone to go with them, which, unfortunately, he had yet to succeed in. Well, he hadn’t actually tried either, assuming the twins wouldn’t have any wish to go back, looking at the way their first experience had gone. But Alexei had spoken up for the matter. It must have been very important for the little boy. So, Nikolai had taken a decision, this once, one he would follow.
-Not today, but next time we see each other. Alright, Lyoshenka?
The toddler had nodded, and the rest of the day had gone as per usual, up to the moment the older man had come back home after dropping off his two grandchildren.
Starting from then, he had started working to get the kids what they wanted. Throughout the day, the man had been thinking about how to do so, had come up with a handful of solutions, and had selectioned the best one. He had grabbed the phone from the small table beside the old couch as he had sat on the comfortable cushions. He had turned the wheel a few times, calling a number he had remembered from years ago, before setting down and letting the phone ring next to his ear.
The man’s eyes had drifted off, taking in the scenery in front of him. Even when they had to clean after themselves before leaving their grandpa’s house, the twins somehow always found a way to let their presence known, leaving their mark on the place. A tiny blue crayon mark had been visible on the wall, near the floor, from when Yulia had grown tired of coloring the sky in one of her drawings, and had thrown her crayon in an anger fit. Small wheel’s marks had been carved all over the carpet, souvenirs from Alexei running around, pushing his miniature fire truck in front of him. And these had only been the ones from that day’s babysitting. All over the small, old house, tiny dents, dirty doors, messily organised shelves. The place was slowly falling apart.
And Nikolai adored his grandchildren more than ever.
Finally, the phone had been answered, pulling the man out of his thoughts. He had repositioned himself in his seat as a rough, deep voice spoke up, sounding somewhat accusatory, had resonated in his ear.
-Who is this?
Nikolai had smiled warmly before answering.
The next day, Nikolai had picked up the twins way earlier than he usually did. He had called his daughter the evening before to make sure everything was prepared so that he could do so, for example, that the twins got to bed earlier than normally. Nonetheless, the two of them had looked ready to drop down at any given moment, which had been expected. Their sleeping schedule had suddenly been thrown away, disrupted, changed unexpectedly. There was no way they would have fallen asleep the moment their head had touched the pillow. They must have spent a long time in the dark, unable to sleep. So, their grandpa had picked them both up in his arms, nodded at his daughter who promptly closed the door, and gone to set them up in his car.
The trip to the ice rink had been completely eventless, which hadn’t been surprising. The twins had been fast asleep on the passenger seat, using each other as support to be more comfortable, and very few cars could be seen driving this early in the morning. The place was a few towns over, making the trip a good forty-five minutes long, but it was the closest one that had been available for them to use at this hour.
Soon enough, Nikolai had parked the car, woken up the twins with a gentle but firm shake, and off they were.
The man he had rang the day before was one of his old hockey partners, who had continued to work in the sport after the now grandpa had dropped off to focus on his own career and family. He now worked in the administration part of the job, which was why Nikolai had called him. He had asked if there was an ice rink that would be open very early in the morning, at an hour the man knew no one would be up, ice skating. Perio’s answer had been quick and simple. Apparently, there was one rink close to Nikolai’s town who did have such hours. And that was all Nikolai needed. After hanging up, he made another call, this one to his daughter, and things had all been set up.
Normally, Nikolai almost never called the young woman, simply because he didn’t had to. She would call him nearly every evening, asking for her father to babysit her children the day after. So, the man could always either tell her what he wanted to when she called, or when he came to pick up the twins. Also, the few times he tried to call, he mostly had been told she was too busy to talk. But this had been a special occasion, so he had taken the chance.
The trio had slowly entered the building, the two younger ones still half asleep in their grandpa’s arms. The man had seen no one at the entrance, which was, at the time, very strange to see, but he had decided to continue on. If there truly was a problem, they would simply leave when asked to. So, he had opened the double doors with one foot, and entered the rink area.
The twins had never woken up so quickly, and would probably never do so ever again.
Maybe it had been the sudden change of air temperature, the ice rink being colder than the entrance in order to keep the ice in good condition. Maybe it had been the ice rink itself, as the place was what the kids had been waiting for. But Nikolai would have bet his money on the loud thud that had echoed in the whole arena the moment the door had opened.
What had produced the sound had been quick to be figured out. In the middle of the ice had been a young man, with long, somehow silver hair, looking like he might just have fallen down from his skates.
He also had seemed to not have noticed the newcomers, which Nikolai had not known if it was a good or bad thing. But he hadn't really cared either, as he had kept walking up to the benches, doing his own thing and taking care of the twins. The man had almost been done setting the children up in their skates when the skater had taken notice of them.
- Well, hello there! he had called out, cheerfully, as he had skated up to them. He had been smiling, but when Nikolai had turned to look at him, the expression had looked as fake as one could possibly be. It had been a smile created, produced for cameras, interviews, and persistent fans. It had no place on a child’s face, yet there it had been seen.
A tug on his coat had the man turning around once more, this time to face the kids.Yulia had been the one grasping at the fabric, trying her best to hide behind her grandpa, while still staring at the silver haired stranger. Alexei, on the other hand, had been fully hiding behind the man’s large form, looking down as if to make himself unnoticeable. Contradicting the children’s actions, Nikolai had moved off to the side, just enough for the young skater to see them. The reaction had been immediate on both sides.
-Oh! Hello! the kid had repeated, waving his hands at the twins, who had hurriedly moved back, to hide behind their grandpa. Seeing as he wasn’t getting any answer from them any time soon, the skater had turned to look at the older man to continue the small talk.
-What are you doing here this early? Nobody comes normally. He said in a light tone, like he was talking to one of his friends, even though it had still sounded slightly fake to Nikolai.
-Didn’t want the ice to be full. What about you? He answered simply. Nikolai was a man of very few words, never seeing the point in unnecessary babbling.
-I’m practicing my skating. I had my coach set things up for me so that I would have a time to practice more, without having to deal with the crowds open hours bring in, which happened to be very early in the morning. I won’t complain too loud, because I’ve seen how hard Yakov worked to get the administration to be okay with opening up the place out of the normal scheduled hours, and letting it without any adult supervision, but it's soo earlyyyyyy. But it’s way nicer than late at night, because the ice is still new, so at least there’s that. You should have seen the old man’s face. Yakov never liked dealing with paperwork, and I was asking him to schedule me a few hours alone at an arena he has never set a foot in. It was almost funny, to be honest.
Well, the kid certainly didn’t share Nikolai’s opinion.
After a few minutes of small talk, the skater, who had introduced himself as Viktor Nikiforov, went back to his training. He skated in circles a couple times, picking up speed, before going to do a jump the man had no idea what it was called. He landed, slightly wobbly, but keeping up his stance, and that had been the clue for the children to come out of their hiding place.
Their faces had lit up with amazement.
They had promptly turned to look at eachother, all wide eyes and face stretching smiles.
-Yuka, Alexei had almost whispered, pointing at the skater, while Yulia had called, way louder.
-Yoka! Look! Look! He jump in the air! He jump and spin and fly!
And that’s all it had taken to break the ice. The first few moments, they had still acted shy, not completely trusting of Viktor, but soon enough, they had warmed up, and even allowed him to help them keep up straight once they were on the ice.
The few months following the unexpected meeting, Viktor had always been there each and every morning, except, as mentioned before, Saturdays. After the time was up, however, the young man had to go back to Saint-Petersburg, where his coach was waiting for him, ready for the upcoming skating season. He had explained to Nikolai before hand, that, the only reason he wasn’t back in the other city all year long was because he had, was expected to, go back to his parents, who lived near Moscow, when he was off season. But he had also told the older man that he was glad he had decided to be obedient, since, well, if he hadn’t he wouldn’t have met him, nor the twins.
Telling the sad truth to said twins, however, hadn’t gone as well as Nikolai would have wished. The two of them had already grown overly attached to Viktor in the few months they had spent in his company, and the skater leaving them looked truly heartbreaking. They had screamed, held onto the young man like their life depended on it, cried and begged. Both men had to deal with a tiring amount of tantrums, which, at first, Viktor truly hadn’t seemed to know how to deal with. The kids had gotten over it eventually, but still were extremely sad and fussy when the skater had actually left for the far away city.
Luckily, both children had, at that point, gotten good enough on the ice for Nikolai to keep taking them to the ice rink each morning, even if he was alone while doing so. Of course, they would still fall every few meters, but they rapidly made impressively significant progress, and they no longer required an adult to hold on to to keep their balance. So, it was now envisageable for the older man to simply help one twin get up, without the other one falling while he did so. Plus, if what Viktor had told him was true, there was no reason for the ice rink to stop opening up early in the morning, so the three of them would still have access to the empty arena while the skater was gone.
In short, the twins now had a new passion, a new friend, and something to look forward to. It was great.