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Mischa is 14 years old when he is hugged for the very last time in his entire life. It isn't by his mother, or one of his old friends, or his fiance, who he hasn't met yet. It's by an overeager social worker, and lasts for all of five seconds. It's short, and uncomfortable, and he nearly recoils at the touch. Who is this random person, to be so cheery when his life is in ruins?
He knows it's not the social worker's fault, not at all; it's not their fault that his father walked out when he was three, it's not their fault his mother worked at cleanup at Chornobyl since she was sixteen, it's not their fault she's dying, while Mischa's a continent away, unable to help, and it's certainly not their fault that his adoptive "parents" were expecting a two year old. They're just trying to extricate themselves from the situation in a socially acceptable way for the moment. That doesn't make it sting any less.
He wonders, four years later, as the rollercoaster cart goes off the rails, as the girl in the cart behind him let's out an ear-shattering scream, as he clings to the stupid safety bar until his knuckles are white, what he would have done if he had known that would be the last time anyone hugged him. Would he have pushed them away so fast, would he have rejected all of Constance's offers for him to join the choir group hug, which was really just her and Ocean while Noel and Ricky stood close by?
Mischa doesn't have time to dwell on it for long. His train of thought, the neverending list of regrets is cut off as he's flung out of the car, the handle slipping out of his hands like butter as he begins to plummet, and all he can think to do is scream. He falls through the air, and he's no longer thinking about missed opportunities or his regrets or what-ifs.
All that exists is the ground that's closing in and him, and the vague awareness that he told Talia he would text her in the morning. Then the earth is inches away, and then there's nothing.
---
Mischa is 18 years old when he is hugged for the first time in his new life. He wakes up in a hospital bed with blurry memories of singing and a fortune teller machine, battered and bruised and broken, but alive. The nurses tell him it will be a long time before he's healed completely, but that he should make a full recovery as long as he rests and doesn't do anything too reckless. He asks if he can use one of their phones to call Talia.
He's not sure how long he stays in the hospital for; after the first day or two, they all become a blur. Ocean woke up first, to no one's surprise. She always had to beat them all, even when it came to waking up after nearly dying in a tragic roller-coaster accident. They talk for a bit, though she spends most of her time talking with her parents and Constance.
Everyone else follows suit, eventually, and while Mischa is certainly not alone in this place, cluttered with wellwishers, it feels like it. Everyone else has visitors, people who stay with them from the second visiting hours begin until they're ushered out by the staff. Mischa recognizes some of them; he sees Constance's little brother, who leaves sticky handprints on everything he touches, and Ocean's parents, followed around by the scent of essential oils, and Noel's mom, who barely ever leaves her son's side for the entire first week. Ricky's parents are there, updating Ricky on all of their cats, or at least that's what Mischa assumes from the pictures of cats they bring.
No one comes to visit him. Who would? His adoptive parents were probably jumping for joy at the thought of him not coming back, ever. He's honestly a little surprised they're even paying for his hospital bills. His mother has been dead for months now, and Talia, despite her best efforts, hasn't been able to save up enough yet to fly to Canada.
No one comes to visit Jane-no, Penny either, he learns, some amount of time into his stay, once the days have all collapsed in on themselves. She was apparently the least injured of them, somehow, and so while the rest of them are confined to their beds for an indefinite amount of time, the nurses allow her to roam around a bit, as long as she doesn't exert herself.
Her parents are in jail, at the moment, and her brother out of town at the moment for some reason or another, and so they stick together, the best they can. It makes his room feel less empty and barren, to have Penny in it to make fun of whatever kids show is on the TV with him and to commiserate with. As soon as the nurses say it's okay, and that it won't mess up his healing bones or anything, he asks her for a hug almost immediately. Life is sometimes unexpectedly short, he's learned, and he doesn't want to risk dying again without being hugged since he was fourteen.
It's a little awkward, and Penny has to maneuver a bit to not bump into his casts, but it's nice. Mischa had almost forgotten how much he liked hugs.
---
Mischa is nineteen when he hugs his fiance for the first time, in a crowded airport in Kyiv. He almost immediately bolts for Talia the second he gets off the plane, Ocean's chiding voice fading into the background as he searches the crowd frantically. He knows he should probably grab his stuff from baggage, but the second he catches sight of Talia, in person, for the first time in his whole life, it quickly becomes Noel or Penny's problem.
He barrels into the crowd, barely screeching to a halt before sweeping her up in his arms, as they both giggle and cry at the same time. He's finally home again, and he's finally able to hold the love of his life in his arms.
"If this is all a dream, please never wake me up," she says, her arms flung around his neck for the first time ever, face flushed with excitement.
"I would never, my love." The rest of the world fades away for a moment, leaving just the two of them, and Mischa can't help but grin like an idiot. He's finally home, and as he holds Talia as close as possible, it's like the world rights itself.