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1
November 2018: Papapapapa…
"Papapapapaaaaa…"
Ilya laughs, tickling the baby girl's tummy. "No, Zolotse, I am not your Papa. I am your Dyadya Ilya." He lets the Amber chase after his finger curiously. Lesser Pike would murder him if he found out Amber called Ilya Papa before him. "Or Uncle. Uncle Ilya is what your older siblings call me." The baby was said to be delayed quite a bit with her speech but Ilya knows she would be just fine.
He turns to look at Shane who was busy tending to quiet Arthur, overwhelmed by all the noise his older sisters are making.
Ever since the Lesser Pike's defective singular braincell decided to work effectively one time and figured out Shane's relationship with Ilya, they have become regular babysitters in over just a month since the reveal. In some way, Ilya supposes, this is Jackie and Hayden's way of getting time for themselves, while giving Shane and Ilya more excuses to also be together outside of game days.
It was quite sweet of them, actually. Ilya also appreciates the fact that he can see how Shane is with adorable children.
With all the time Ilya spends with the Pike children, he had become their Uncle, and as much as he hates favoritism, he can't help but admit how soft he feels towards the youngest Pike child, Amber. Maybe it was because she was only a baby, but Ilya couldn't help but feel so paternal towards her moreso than the other kids.
Wiping the drool off her chin, Ilya makes her face Shane. "See that man there with pretty freckles, malyshka? In Russian, it's called venushki. I love kissing his freckles." Ilya swoons, lovingly. He bats his eyelashes at his boyfriend.
Shane flushes red and turns away.
"Uncle 'Ily, give me kiss! Like Uncle Shane!" One of the twins— Ruby?— patters up to him.
"But you don't have venushki, though." Ilya teases.
She pouts pointing at herself, stomping her feet. Ah, so she's Ruby. Her face and arms were stained with child-friendly marker. Most cases Ilya would tell her to wipe the stain off first, but maybe he'll just do that later. The household is as peaceful as it can get for the moment. He doesn't want to ruin the careful peace that they have right now.
Ilya smiles. "Alright. Come here, Moy Rubochka." Shifting so that he could carry Amber with one arm instead, he reaches out his now freed arm towards Ruby. She immediately clammers up to his side, giggling when Ilya presses a long kiss on her forehead.
Ruby gives him a cheeky smile, resting her head on his chest to take a closer look at her little sister.
"Ambie, can you say 'Uncle Ily'?" She asks her.
Amber pops a spit bubble, some of it landing onto Ruby's face instead.
Ruby makes a disgusted and disturbed expression on her face that Ilya couldn't help but laugh at. He was ready to pull Amber away though if Ruby decided to hit the baby the same way she would with Jade and Arthur if they did what Amber had just done.
"You're a gross baby." Ruby shudders, wiping the spit off her face. "But it's okay. Since Mommy says you're the 'youngest' and I can't hit the baby of the family, and you also can't talk yet, I'll make you my slave when you're older instead."
Ilya bursts out laughing, jostling the girls in his arms.
"Ruby, why would you want to make your sister your slave?" Shane frowns, confused.
"Why not, Uncle Shane?" Jade asks, right beside him.
"Siblings are just like that, Moy Lozhka." Ilya hums in amusement.
Shane scrunches his nose up, head translating the word. "Spoon?" He says. "Why would you call me a spoon?"
"Because we spoon all the time." Ilya hums, watching Ruby play with Amber's socked foot. "How about you go back to playing with Jade? Yadichka must be very lonely."
Ruby nods, leaving Ilya almost immediately to go back to reigning terror over her twin sister, and ultimately, back to stressing Shane out as well.
Amused, Ilya goes back to tending to Amber.
"Your Uncle Shane is very boring." Ilya tells her in a faux whisper.
"I heard that!" Shane glares at Ilya, making the other toddlers in the room giggle. Ilya knew that Shane wasn't actually upset. He knew that Ilya was only joking.
Ilya presses a soft kiss on Amber's chubby cheek. "It's alright if you grow up as boring as he is. I think boring is nice. I love your Uncle Shane's boring." He tells her. The baby cooes and kicks through her smiles.
"Papapapa…" Amber babbles to him again.
"Amber…" Ilya chuckles and shakes his head. "No, Zolotse… I am not your Papa." He repeats.
2
June 2019: Keks!!!
It was the 2018-2019 Conference Finals, and since Ilya could only do so much in his first year as a Centaur, the team didn't make it to the Playoffs. That was alright, Ilya thought, it took him four years before Boston won a cup, and Ilya still had plenty of time.
Now, he and Jackie were enjoying some well-deserved rest and relaxation with the kids in his Ottawa House, watching their men play against the Toronto Guardians. Ilya already knew this season wasn't going to be theirs, granted that their main goalie, Miitka, is injured once again, and Drapeau took over, alongside several injuries players from the first, second, and third lines have.
It was a long time coming after all the past brutal games, but still— Still, Ilya hopes that they at least make it to the fourth round because Ilya'll be damned if the most homophobic, bigoted, shittiest team in all of the Eastern Conference wins a Stanley Cup.
Ilya is happy that Jackie and the Lesser Pike knows about him and Shane, because now, Ilya has even more people to show just how much he loves his boyfriend. Mama Yuna and Papa David are wonderful and very supportive, but even Ilya knows talking to a friend about your sex life or relationship problems are easier than talking about them to your parents.
"Thank you so much for inviting us to your home, Ilya. I love your house! It's so clean and spacious. What do you do with all this space?" Jackie leans back against the plush pillow once the first intermission starts.
Ilya thinks about it for a few seconds. "I pretend I am one of those successful, single, babushkas in classic animated movies." He tells her.
Jackie snorts, the wine in her glass sloshing from her laughter. "Ostie, Ilya! The media doesn't give your sense of humor justice."
Ilya shrugs. "Reputation brings me money." He tells her.
Jackie takes another sip from her glass. "I'd let people think I was a…" She trails off, checking if any of the children were currently nearby. "I'd let people think I was an asshole too if I had that kind of money." She says.
"Is why I let them write those articles." Ilya grins.
Behind them, a door creaks open. They both turned towards the door.
"Unca Ily? Mama?" Amber croaks out, her little fists rubbing against her eyes.
"Zolotse! You're awake!" Ilya smiles, beckoning his arms towards her. From their view on the couch, only half of Amber's curly blonde hair could be seen. She immediately runs towards both of them.
"Hello, Ambie. My darling." Jackie sets her glass down by the coffee table to pull her daughter close and press kisses on her hairline.
The toddler took the kisses in stride before she leaves Jackie's arms to climb on Ilya's lap.
"Unca Ily!"
Ilya breathed in the scent of her baby shampoo as the two year old puts her entire weight against his chest. "Amber, kak dela?" He asks. Amber burrows herself deeper into Ilya's arms, and he looks up to her Mother. Jackie gives him a sheepish smile.
"Sorry, Ilya. You know Amber is an Uncle Ily's girl." She lightly taps his shin with her foot.
"Amber?" He says her name, voice low and gentle. "Rasskazhi, kak idut dela?"
The toddler raises her head up and looks at him.
"Khr'sho, Dyadya." She responds, her speech a little lisped but understandable.
Ilya barks out a laugh wrapping his arms tighter around the two year old.
"Tak khorosho! Udivitel'nyy!" Ilya praises Amber. "So good at speaking Russian already! Even better than Uncle Shane!"
"You're going to have people wonder if you're her father instead!" Jackie jokingly glares at him.
"Is not my fault! Amber is— ah— clingy to me like koala." Ilya grins.
"Keks! Unca Ily! Keks!" Amber shrieks in excitement, her hands lightly hitting Ilya in the chest.
"Keks?" Jackie asks curiously, sitting a little more upright in the couch. "What is that?"
Ilya groans as he stands up from the couch, toddler in tow, his joints cracking from the movement. "Cakes. She wants some of the cake that I promised she'd get." He makes his way to the the kitchen, towards his fridge.
"Why only Amber?" Jackie takes another sip of her glass.
"Because I couldn't go to Amber's birthday party, but I still want to give her cake and spoil this little girl." Ilya explains, taking out a small, clear plastic container, with a slice of chocolate cake decorated with pink frosting and edible fondant unicorns.
"Ilya, you know we invited you." Jackie frowns.
Ilya shakes his head, pressing multplie kisses on Amber's chubby cheek as he starts to feed her little forkfulls of the cake.
"Jackie, I know I was invited, but I also know I won't be welcome around the other Voyageurs." Ilya sighs, sadly, wiping a few crumbs off Amber's mouth.
Jackie says nothing to that. She knows what Ilya was saying was true. The Voyageurs still disliked Ilya even after Shane and Hayden tried to convince them Ilya was not as bad as the media protrayed him to be, and even after the Foundation was announced.
Ilya hoists Amber further up his waist when she started slipping from wiggling around. "Besides, is better for me to have my own time eating keks with my Zolotse." He sticks his tongue out at her, making Amber scrunch her nose adorably back at him.
3
September 2020: Moose
Ilya was entertaining Amber by eating the plastic food she cooked from her Little Tikes Play kitchen. It was old and green, and had a pull out table beside the stove. He remembers Jackie telling him that the play kitchen was hers back in the 90s and that she was glad her children were now playing with them.
Ilya had to eat the food with only one hand though because his other hand has fresh glittery blue nail polish drying on it. The one he was using to "eat" with had already dried enough as he had only painted on one layer.
He was getting ready for his "wedding" with Shane.
Ruby and Jade were busy putting a flower head band on his mop of curly hair and Arthur was struggling in tying a sequined bowtie around his neck. Shane was "hiding" behind the couch because the twins insisted that it is bad luck to see each other before the ceremony starts.
But Ilya can see the very top if a hat peeking through.
"Dyadya Ilya?" Amber whispers.
"Yes, Zolotse?" He turns his attention towards the three year old.
"Unca Shane is er— gonna be your moose, right?" She asks him, playing with her sleeves.
The corner of Ilya's mouth quirks up at that. "Muzh. It's muzh, malysh. But good job remembering what husband is in Russian."
The three year old pouts. "Nuts." Still so young, but already such a perfectionist. She hates when she gets things wrong.
Ilya's eyes drifted back to the couch where Shane was hiding for a split second before looking back at Amber. "Is okay to say wrong words sometimes. I still forget some English words even though I've been speaking for more than ten years. There are times I also forget Russian words, even though I've been speaking it my entire life."
"Really?" Amber looks up at him.
"Yes," Ilya nods. "Really."
"Uncle Ilya can you stop moving your head? The flower crown keeps falling off!" Ruby groans in frustration when the crown moved from it's place from his nod.
Jade sighs, exhausted. "What Ruby said. We don't know where Mommy hides her bobby pins and clips so you really need to keep still."
"Unless you want us to use chip clips." Ruby grins mischievously.
"Ahah! Rubochka!" Ilya laughs nervously, remembering just how dangerous those chip clips are. "I will stay still. Don't use your chip clips on me. Please. Ya ne khochu byt lysym." He mutters the last part to himself.
"Lysym!" Amber repeats, giggling. "Uncle Ilya will get bald!"
"Uncle Ilya doesn't know if he will or will not, Amber." Jade tells her sister. "Daddy's hair is getting shorter and shorter and Uncle Randy is already bald and he says it's because he got married." She shrugs.
Ilya hears Shane snort from behind the couch.
"Alright! We're done with you, Uncle Ilya! Just don't move a lot!" Ruby declares.
"Oh, okay! That's great." Ilya smiles, lifting an arm once he notices Amber crawling her way to his side.
Ruby points at him sternly. "Now, just stay there and don't peek at Uncle Shane! Jade and I will get ready—"
"And Arthur?" Arthur points at himself.
"—Jade and I and Arthur will get ready." Ruby nods.
"What about Ambie?" Arthur asks.
"Amber—" Jade looks at the little girl pressed against Ilya's side, thumb in her mouth. "Amber just wants to stick to Uncle Ilya and we won't judge her for it!"
"Alright!" Ruby nods. "Jade, Arthur, come with me. Uncle Ilya, no peeking at Uncle Shane!" She reminds him one last time.
"I won't! Like you said, is bad luck." Ilya giggles, tightening his arm around Amber.
Once the older girls and Arthur scurried upstairs, Amber took her thumb from her mouth.
"Dyadya. Svad'va is fake?" She asks Ilya in a whisper.
"Hm? Ah, yes, Zolotse. Is only pretend." Ilya answers. But this wedding feels very much real to me. Ilya thinks to himself.
"But Dyadya Sheyn will still be your muzh?"
"Yes. Kogda-nibud." Ilya lifts her up by her armpits to press a kiss on her cheek.
"When Dyadya Sheyn becomes your muzh, I will wear pretty dress." Amber grins from his cheek kisses.
"Krasivoye plat'ye dlya prekrasnoy printsessy. Moy Zolotse, you'll wear the prettiest dress." Ilya confirms.
A few minutes later, Amber would watch as Ilya and Shane got "married", Ilya wearing a flower crown and glitter bowtie and Shane wearing a magicians cape and top hat, glittery pink and purple plastic rings barely fitting on their pinkies.
She would think to herself about how much her Dyadya Ilya and Uncle Shane looked at each other the same way her parents do.
4
July 2021: Tsvetochnitsa!
"…And thank you. For helping me with my cufflinks and for…" Ilya trails off, "…everything else."
David shook his head, smiling at Ilya tenderly. "No— Thank you, for making Shane so happy. Thank you for loving him in the way his mother and I wished he would be loved. You're so good for each other."
Ilya chuckles. "Yes… And it's time for the world to see just how good we are."
Just as David was about to say more, the door to the room slammed open and the sound of tiny dress shoes pattered atop the hardwood floors.
"Dyadya Ilya!" Amber shouts, jumping into Ilya's already awaiting arms.
"Zolotse!" Ilya spins them around.
Once they stopped spinning, Amber took Ilya by the shoulders and started shaking him back and forth. "Look at my dress! Rah-zve mo-ye plat'ye ne krasivo-ye?" Amber asks him, her Russian slightly accented but understandable.
All the time she spent around Ilya had paid off.
The Lesser Pike now had a Russian speaking child.
"Ochen krasivaya, Zolotse!" Ilya affirms. "Your dress is very beautiful!"
Amber starts kicking her legs, indicating that she wants to go down. Once her feet hit the ground, Ilya and David watched as she started twirling around in her dress.
"I am a tsvetochnitsa! I throw flowers!" Amber giggles. "I can throw flowers at Ruby and Jade!"
Ilya shakes his head. "No, Amber. We don't throw flowers at Ruby and Jade." He chides.
David barks out a laugh before he could stop it.
Amber stops and turns to stare at David.
"You're Uncle Shane's Daddy!" She points at him. "Dyadya Ilya, Dyadya Ilya, it's Shane's Daddy!" She pulls at his suit.
"Yes, Amber. It's Uncle Shane's Papa." Ilya ignores the cracking of his knees when he squats down to her eye level. "And what do you say to Uncle Shane's Papa since you didn't greet him earlier, moya prekrasnaya tsvetochnitsa?" He asks her.
Amber takes a deep breath and opens her mouth. "Hello Mister Uncle Shane's Daddy! I am Amber! I just turned four last last month! I am the youngest of my four siblings. I am the Best One! Ruby is the Worst One!" She shouts excitedly. "What's your name, Uncle Shane's Daddy!?"
Ilya bites his lip from how adorable Amber was introducing herself. She's usually the quietest out of all the siblings, but she is only ever loud in front of her family or Shane and Ilya.
"Well, hello there Amber. My name is David." He bends down quite a bit and holds his hand out for Amber to shake.
Amber takes his hand and shakes it. "Hello, Mister David! I like your hair! It's grey! Like a wolf! Awooo!" She howls.
David laughs again. "Cool right?" He brushes his fingers through his hair. "My wife, Yuna, calls me a handsome silver fox, though."
"Yuna is Uncle Shane's Mommy right?" Amber tilts her head.
"Smart girl." David praises. "Yes, Yuna is your Uncle Shane's Mommy."
"She's with Uncle Shane?" Amber adds.
David doesn't mind entertaining all her questions. It's been such a long time since he had been near any child. Shane is an only child without any cousins or cousins who had children. And this is the first time that David had met any of Hayden Pike's children face to face.
"Yes, Amber." He replies.
Amber narrows her eyes and crosses her arms. "Good. She needs to make sure Uncle Shane doesn't peek at Uncle Ilya because it is bad luck for the people getting married to see each other before the wedding starts."
"Quite the strict lady, aren't you?" David straightens himself up, smile never faltering.
"I am not strict— I just wanna make sure they have good luck!" Amber corrects David.
"You must love your Uncles." David looks at Ilya who was already looking at Amber so fondly.
Amber nods. "I love them so much! When Mommy and Daddy are busy, Uncle Shane and Uncle Ilya are like my other Mommy and Daddy!" Then she pauses. "Wait. They're both guys..." She mutters to herself. "Uncle Shane and Uncle Ilya are like my two extra Daddies! That's why I want them to be real muzh-es." She then says.
"Zolotse." Ilya chokes out through the welling of his tears. He never expected that the little girl would see him and Shane as father figures, but hearing that she feels safe enough around him to think of him as such, means so much to him.
A knock interrupts their moment.
Everyone in the room turned towards the doorway where Jackie was standing.
"Mommy!" Amber squeals.
"Come to your Mama, Moy Tsvetochnitsa." Ilya gently nudges Amber and he watches as the little girl runs to Jackie.
"Excuse me…" Jackie chuckles, pressing Amber against her body. "All the guests have arrived and are now waiting for the husbands-to-be."
Ilya stands up tall and nods at Jackie.
"Thank you, Lady Pike."
Jackie snorts, rolling her eyes as she goes back outside, Amber still by her side.
"I'm a pretty tsvetochnitsa!" Amber says over and over again as they are greeted by the other guests.
David clears his throat, patting Ilya on the shoulder, with a proud fatherly smile that Ilya would have killed to get from his father before he tragically passed. But no. He would not let the memory of his father ruin such a special day for him.
"Let's not keep everyone waiting. Son." David says.
Ilya grins. "Alright… Dad."
5
October 2022: Odinoko.
"Why the long face, Zolotse?" Ilya tickles Amber's chin, hoping it would elicit a laugh, but there was no reaction from the girl at all. They were both sitting by the top of the staircase, looking down into the living room. Her parents had asked if Shane and Ilya could watch over Amber for a couple of weeks while her three older siblings recover from chicken pox.
Apparently the grade school they were in had a school wide pox outbreak.
Amber, still being a kindergartener, was safe from infection, and her parents wanted to keep it that way.
Of course, it was a bit of a struggle, seeing as it was the start of the season and Shane and Ilya were out more often than not and Amber is supposed to have school. Thank gods that Yuna and David were around to take care of her when Shane and Ilya could not.
And one benefit from the rise of technology was that Amber's kindergarten allowed her to attend class through Skype.
Amber was so excited to stay with her Dyadya and Uncle, but as the days went by, she just became gloomier and gloomier. It also worried Ilya greatly because he does not want to see his little gem sad. Even Shane, who had a bit of a hard time connecting with kids, saw that she wasn't feeling well.
"Amber. What is wrong?" Ilya furrows his brows.
"Dyadya Ilya, ya ne nravlyus rebyatam v shkole." Amber bites out. "…Oni govoryat… chto ya ne takoy, kak vse."
Ilya's eyebrows shoot up in alarm. "Ty ne takoy, kak vse!? Amber. Why do they think so?"
"I am quiet. I am weird. I don't understand when kids are joking or not. People like Ruby, Jade, and Arthur more. They're interesting and fun. I'm just… me." Amber sighs. She curls into herself even more. "I don't think anyone would notice if I were gone."
From the corner of his eye, he can see dark spikes of hair peeking behind the gym doors. Shane was listening to their conversation. And Ilya thinks— that maybe Shane might understand what Amber is going through on a much deeper level.
"Amber, no. Never say that." Ilya clicks his tongue. He brushes a hand through her dirty blonde hair.
"I just want to be like everyone else. Tabarouette— I don't know. Ya ne osobennyy. I'm just boring Amber. The kid no one wanted." Amber sniffs, "Dyadya… Mne tak odinoko." Her voice cracks.
"Zolotse, if you are boring, then being boring is the special part of you." Ilya starts. "I call your Uncle Shane boring all the time, does that mean he isn't special?"
Amber immediately shakes her head. "That's Uncle Shane! He is different!"
"Is it really?" Ilya asks. "Your Uncle Shane has a hard time talking to people and understanding his jokes. Some people also call him quiet and weird. The same things other kids say you are. Would people not notice if he disappeared?"
"Dyadya, vy menya ne ponimayete." Amber groans.
"Ya vas prekrasno ponimayu." Ilya places a hand on her shoulder. "Zolotse, you are only five and you are already thinking these things. That should not be."
"I don't know why. I shouldn't care that the other kids don't like me. Mommy says that one day, I'll find good friends who'll stay with me for life. Friends who love me." Amber leans against Ilya's frame. "I wonder what that feels like."
Amber squeals when she's suddenly tickled in the stomach by Ilya.
"Dyadya! Perestan! Shchekotno!"
"Kogda ty byl malyshom, tebya vsegda shchekotali vot zdes." Ilya doesn't relent, smiling when he hears Amber start to laugh brightly. "I remember something I told you when I was tickling you exactly like this. Do you remember?"
Amber shakes her head, tears from her laughter pooling in her eyes. "Nyet! Ya zhe byl mladentsem! Kak ya voobshche mogu eto pomnit?!" She sighs in relief when Ilya finally stops tickling her.
"Then I have to remind you." Ilya chuckles. "When you were a baby, I told you that it would be alright if you grow up as boring as your Uncle Shane. I think boring is nice. I love your Uncle Shane's boring, just like I love yours."
He brushes a loose hair behind Amber's ear.
"Zolotse, I am just saying. You're already so loved. Your Uncle Shane and I love you, your Mama and Papa love you, your siblings, even Yuna and David. So many of us love you already. Focus on the love you have right now. Focus on the people you are with right now. And one day, you'll have friends who will love you the same way your Papa loves your Uncle Shane."
Ilya grunts when 40 pounds of little girl slams against his chest, tiny arms, tiny hands, trying to squeeze him to death.
"Amber— I can't breathe." Ilya wheezes.
"Ya tebya lyublyu, Dyadya Ilya." Amber whispers.
Ilya sniffs. "Ya tozhe tebya lyublyu, Zolotse."
+1
August 2027: Bratishka…
Amber held her Mother's hand tightly as they approached her Uncles' home. She hadn't seen them in weeks because their new baby was born premature and thus, immunocompromised. It's only now, they're letting other people visit and see the baby.
She was the first out of her siblings to visit. Her Dyadya Ilya said he wanted to make her first meeting with the new baby a very special one. Especially since she was the youngest. But Ruby and Jade tell her it's because she's the favorite niece. They even tease her about it. Not that they hold it against her.
After Amber, it would be Arthur next, her Uncle Shane said.
"—I need you to be very careful with the baby, okay, Amber? Hold the baby just like how I taught you with your sisters' old play dolls."
"Yes, Mom."
"And remember to never kiss the baby—"
"I know, Mom!" Amber groans. "You told me that, like— A million times."
Jackie sighs. "I just want your first meeting with the baby to go well."
Amber smiles, "I'll be fine. Trust me. Just let me do this on my own."
With hesitance, her Mom lets go of her hand and Amber knocks on the familiar mahogany door.
The door opens, her Uncle Shane was holding the nob. He looked quite exhausted and messy. He doesn't look like he slept in days.
"Uncle Shane!" Amber greets him.
"Hello, Ambie." Shane greets back, voice rough. "Your Dyadya, is by the living room, feeding the baby."
"Spasibo." Amber slips past him, running for the living room, where, as Shane said, her Dyadya would be with the new baby. Ilya looked just as exhausted and messy as Shane. His curls look close to matted and he had deep eyebags the color of bruises.
"Zolotse." Ilya smiles up at her. "Podoydi syuda. Prikhodite poznakomit'sya s malyshom."
Amber takes a seat right beside Ilya, peering over the tiny one month old. He was swaddled in a navy blue cloth. Wrapped tightly, he looked more like a missile than a baby. "On mal'chik?"
"Da." Ilya confirms, his gaze never leaving the baby boy. He looks at the baby the same way he looked at her. "Dragotsennyy malysh."
"I vpryam dragotsennyy." Amber leans against Ilya's bicep, still staring at the baby. "He's very quiet, isn't he? I thought babies were always noisy."
Ilya hums. "This baby is always quiet. He doesn't cry much. He doesn't make much noise. Sometimes, your Uncle and I wake up in the middle of the night because he is too quiet, even though he has an owl sock." He brushes out a stray blonde curl back under the swaddled baby's head.
"Imenno poetomu vy oba tak uzhasno vyglyadite?" Ilya let's out a quiet laugh.
"How are not a hockey player, again? You chirp so well." He asks her.
Amber scoffs. "Dyadya Ilya, you know I have no interest in hockey." She reminds him, a painful topic for her hockey obsessed family that they somehow can not get over. She's a ten year old girl, they remind her. "She could be a late bloomer of sorts!" They say. She's not.
She's interested in making builds in Minecraft. She's been obsessed since Arthur introduced the game to her when she was six. When she grows older, she wants to be in architecture. Something more reasonable and safer than a sport that gives you concussions, missing teeth, and broken bones.
Jade might be the only sibling she has hope with, because Jade is much more into hockey analytics than playing the actual game. Ruby and Arthur have both already lost teeth to the game.
Ilya sighs, jokingly. "I know. You wish to be boring architect and support your Uncle Shane with his real estate post-retirement plans."
"Dyadya!" Amber giggles, mindful of her volume so that the baby doesn't wake.
"Do you want to carry him?" Her Dyadya asks her.
Amber nods, holding her arms out. He gently places the baby boy in Amber's arm. Teaching her where to support his head and body. The baby opens his eyes to look up at her, and her breath hitches.
"Kak yego zovut?"
"Yego zovut Yuri." Ilya replies.
"Yuri." Amber says again, name still quite unfamiliar.
"It's both Russian and Japanese. Mama Yuna approves too." Her Dyadya explains.
Amber smiles at Yuri. She smiles at this newborn she knows she'd work hard to love and protect. Was this how her sisters and brother felt with her?
"Yuri…" Amber repeats his name. "Moy bratishka."