Work Text:
It was evening in Sretomlrozsk. Snow was picking up in the village, causing the air to be frigid and still.
In one of the houses of this small town, a house was more active than others. The Kresnik torch was lit, and warmth filled the air. Two men were sitting on a plush red carpet, looking down at a piece of paper on a dark wooden coffee table.
“So uh…how do I cross multiply again?”
The young hunter squeezed his eyes at the simple math problem. His right hand squeezes the pencil tight as he furrows his mint brows.
Besides the hunter is his enigmatic tutor, with flowy short white hair, and a flowy cloak.
“So you multiply the 2 cups by 60, then the X by 24. So, what's 2×60?”
The hunter looks down at his fingers, then groans.
Not giving up, the tutor gives a warm smile and talks softly.
“Okay…what's 2×6?”
“Twelve.”
“Good! Now add zero to that…and you get…”
The golden eyes of the hunter lit up, he shot up from the table.
“120!”
“Perfect! Now we multiply 24×X…and that is..”
“Easy. 24X.”
“Excellent! Now for the tricky part…”
The curly hair tutor gets close to the tutor, and scribbles down the formula.
“Okay 24X=120. We need X by itself. What do we do?”
The hunter thinks for a moment, as if he was back in the blizzard, trying to single out a deer among their herd.
“We get rid of the 24…but I don't know how…”
The scarf on the tutor moves around to get to the hunter's hair and pats it.
“You got the idea! Now I'll show you how.”
In a quick motion the tutor scribbles two lines underneath the two numbers and underneath that line 24.
“We have to divide 24. Because when you divide something by itself -”
“-because X turns into one!”
The tutor's violet eyes shine in excitement as he grabs his student's shoulder
“Yes that's it Alyosha! Thats-”
Realizing what he was doing, the tutor's face turns bright red and collects himself. Alyosha
“Ahem…now we just need to divide 120 by 24. If you don't have that memorized, let's add 24 until we get it.”
Alyosha nods and he adds up 24 until he gets to 120. Adding up 24 twice got 48, then he had to carry the one with the next addition to get 72, which then he got 96, then Alyosha had to carry the one twice to get…120.
Then, he taps his pencil by each number.
The tutor sees the work, and leans against his cloak, and gives Alyosha a warm smile.
“So..what is X?”
“Five. So five cups to make 60 cookies. Is that right, Mitya?”
Mitya gives a thumbs up while his blue scarf around his cloak follows his action, giving another thumbs up.
“Yep that's it. Now you know the magical equation on how I calculate the amount of elemental energy I need for experiments.”
Alyosha crosses his arms, grumbling but a small smile.
“Sucks that I needed this much math for making enough cookies for my village. But…I know that they'll appreciate it. Thanks Mitya.”
Mitya chuckles and waves his right hand.
“Ah, it's nothing. Glad I can shine some of my pristine knowledge onto you~”
Alyosha huffs and nuzzles into his white and red wood, as he looks over to the torch.
“I’m…glad to know you as my neighbor. Without you teaching the mechanics of my gun, my hunting career would be in shambles. And…do this nice surprise for my people….”
Mitya’s scarf wraps around his face, covering the bashfulness on his face, muttering,
“Heh…glad my tutoring isn't going to waste.”
The two sat silently now staring at the torch. Suddenly, the window on the left side of the room opens from a large gust of the blizzard. Alyosha curses under his breath and slowly gets up to fix the lock, and sits back down next to Mitya and sighs.
“Don't think it's safe for you to go back to the armory palace tonight. Will Valeriy be mad?”
The scientist shrugs and looks away, chuckling.
“Unless he wants to stalk me on my day off, I think I'm okay. Don't worry. I don't put myself in trouble with him all the time.”
Alyosha giggles, followed by a yawn.
“-aaaah, good.”
More silence fell between the two men. Another yawn came from Alyosha, as his eyes flicker, trying to stay awake. His body droops downwards. Mitya peered over to his student. His long mint hair, half open golden gaze, an embroidered black turtleneck, and a white fur coat…it was all modest, leaving the scientist with thousands of theories in his mind. Mitya shakes all equations out of his mind, and speaks in a hushed tone.
“Alyosha, you alright?”
The hunter perks his head slightly, then leans over to the scientist's shoulder, muttering.
“Hm? Yeah…just tired…it was a long day for me…”
No quantum mechanical equation could solve what was going on in Mitya's head. Part of him wanted to just stay there, enjoy the solace, the other part of him wanted to run away from this connection. The fact of the matter is, the two were technically on opposing sides. And whenever those devious equations appear in his head, mind becomes a vector of swirling anxiety and unknowns. Right now m=a, and Mitya is exhausted too.
“Heh, guess we're both on the same boat…”
A minute passed, and Alyosha was out like a light. Nothing could be heard besides the soft, gentle breathing on Mitya's shoulder, the swirling blizzard, and loud snores from Tugarin, curled up besides the touch. It was the most peaceful atmosphere the scientist had in a long time.
Maybe, some things can be left unanswered for now.
Mitya also leaned up against Alyosha, slowly feeling his eyes droop, little to no force keeping them up. The soft textures form both of their cloak and coat was divine, the perfect place to rest.
This equation may be undefined for now, but who knows what answers will appear in the future.