"Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you." ― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones Nina finished the last stroke on her makeup and put the brush onto the edge of the sink. She was wearing her costume for her short program already under her clothes – the red-white outfit on the Winter Olympics (Youth and Senior) of Russia. She mainly used just the jacket, a red-white zipper with the Olympics' logo on the back, the Russian flag on the right and the Russian crest on the left sleeve, with a big, white 'RU' being tapered across the chest, but now she settled with adding the red pants too – she just had to do her hair and her makeup – before she was ready to go. She narrowed her eyes and turned her head to the side, try to spot any flaws in the finished work, but the final judgement was it is satisfying. She had to put way more effort in it now that she looked like a refined zombie from a series, thanks to her injury. Her pale, cold toned skin had a greyish hue now and the dark bags framing her eyes were so big, she felt she could put her clothes in it instead of her suitcase if she would wish... Her eyes were slightly red, and her usually sharp look - what many couldn't handle and she ended up people snarled at her to turn her witchery gaze away – .was dim and eery emptiness was looming in it. "Well, shit." She summed up, and rolled her eyes after she checked her phone: it showed its half past four. God, she slept like two hours after she was carried back to her room by Emil... She was not supposed to get up so early, but she got used to it... Zakhar ordered her to stay in her room instead of going to the official practice, which was old news to Nina, as she was usually held back from the trainings with the others, doing something else on her own, only appearing on the warm-ups with her group. She was never flustered about that because she was not fond of people in general and she loved to stay away from the bitter gossiping and biting what went down between the older skater girls in the locker rooms. She got her fair share of that anyway, and she was not the one who would waltz in asking for more. The door of her room opened and she suddenly saw Zakhar's face in the mirror. "I thought you be up." "Of course... You trained me to be an early riser." "The body only can be trained until a certain point. You were and early riser by nature. Lucky for you." "I inherited it." "At least some good came out of that you are related to Nikiforov." "You mean beside figure skating?" "And your looks, of course." "Excuse m-WHAT?" Nina was so perplexed she stumbled into the chair what she put in front of the mirror but finally didn't use because she was too short to sit down. "Don't be an idiot!" Zakhar snapped. "How many times I have to recite, you have to know exactly how you can make an impact and for that, you need to be keen. This half-assed modesty leads you nowhere, especially when it comes to me... Don't forget, I know you." The man stepped to Nina and before the girl could even blink, he grabbed her arm, twisted it and pulled it behind the Russian skater's back, forcing the girl to turn toward the mirror. He clutched her jaw with his other hand and squeezed it until Nina let out a small cry. "See yourself?" Zakhar whispered on a husky voice. "Now let's take a good, long look... No surprise people call you an angel... Only painted saints have these features." "And my brother." Nina managed to choke out. "Yes... Him. Kind of. But it's about you now... Just look at this face, these eyes, these lips, this silky hair..." Zakhar released Nina's jaw and slowly traced his fingers along her face, following his words. "You smell good..." He hid his face into the raven locks and took a deep breath from Nina's freshly washed hair. "Are you..." Nina hesitated for a moment. "That tempted by me?" "Most people could be... Easily could be..." Zakhar pulled away a little to look into the girl's eyes. He put a finger onto Nina's lower lip and slowly caressed it. "You want me to be?" The black haired skater softly smiled and tilted her head to the side a little. If it would be a few years before, she would be screaming in her head, but now, she put that aside for later and just wanted this to end now. She concentrated to that Zakhar ruined her makeup a little and she need to fix it... His coach's tortures, his games, she knew them all very well and even their variations formed a rhythm as well, like the changing of the tide, she could predict exactly what is coming and how she needs to act to make it finish faster and less painfully for herself. It was a game for two and she learnt how to play it, even though she was in the serious disadvantage of not knowing the rules and playing against the creator. "Try to find out what I want..." She whispered. "A lady won't give out her secrets so easily." "I see no lady here." "Then what holds you back? You were never that hesitant type." Nina leant backward to the man's chest, looking up with a half demanding, half sheepish look, waiting. Zakhar's grin was haggard and without any trace of joy. "Good, you always learnt very fast... My clever little angel... You think, I can't surprise you anymore, right? Well, you are seriously wrong." With that, he twisted Nina's arm even more and tossed the girl so hard to the wall, it was nearly a throw. He buried his other hand into her hair and squeezed it, in the meantime, pushing her head into the tiles more and more until he saw the first tear running down his skater's face. "See?" He hissed. "When you learn how to bewitch me, how to make me yours, you are going to be ready... But until..." He suddenly released Nina and stepped back, letting the girl's knees buckle and fell onto the ground. "You are MINE. Understood?" "Ye-yes." Nina rattled on a hoarse voice. "Good. So until that..." Zakhar grabbed the girl's hair again and pulled it back making her facing him. "Know your place." With that, he bent down and kissed his skater's cheek. "My golden girl... I'll be back before we need to go to the ice, get yourself together by that time." After her coach left, Nina slowly gathered the strength to stand up and stumbled to the bathtub, helping herself with the sink. She slowly stooped to the edge and covered her face with her hands, taking slow, deep breaths. Yes, she knew this game very well, but that didn't mean it couldn't hurt her anymore... Water drops ran over Nina's face like tears, mixed up with the real ones she cried. She just sat under the shower for at least a half an hour, hugging her knees and sobbing silently. After her tears ran out she turned off the water, put on her clothes again and tried to make herself acceptable, but even after she put all the makeup on, the girl who looked back to her from the mirror, was everything except that, so she just stared at her reflection grumpily. This wasn't a rare moment of her being still and deep in thoughts. She could stay like this for hours, but now it lasted perhaps five seconds, until somebody knocked on her door. To her surprise, Georgi, Mila and Yuri were in the doorstep, the young blonde Russian was held by the girl, making clear he was forced to come here. Behind them, Yakov was standing with a stern face. "What... What are you doing here?" "Uhm … Do you want to come with us?" Yuri asked angrily after Mila elbowed between his ribs and stepped onto his foot. "Wh- are you in your costume already?" Nina shrugged. She looked very tired and her eyes were red. Yuri wanted to resist, but before he could do anything, he already asked. "Are you okay?" "Yes, why?" "Your eyes..."Georgi leant closer to Nina who took a step back instantly. "Did you cry?" 'Damn,' Nina thought, 'it's written onto my face so clearly?' "What kind of question is that?" She narrowed her eyes at Georgi, who realized what a big mistake he did. "I'm sorry. It's none of my business." "You're right. It's none… And I don't go to the practice." "Why?" Mila and Georgi asked in the same time. "My coach told me to stay." "No way, you have to come!" Mila grabbed Nina's hand, who winced and jumped back a little, hiding her hands behind her back and the other girl had to notice, the black haired skater's fingers are ice cold. "No. I don't have to and I won't. And now, excuse me." With that, Nina slammed the door to the face of the other Russians. "I'm sorry." She whispered to the empty air. The notes throbbed so loud in her ears it hurt, but Nina was grateful for this kind of pain... It washed trough her like a cold wave. She took steady, deep breaths, imagining herself doing her short program. She was lying on the floor, with her legs up on the wall and her muscles sometimes twitched a little as they remembered the movements connected to the music. Every time she did this, Nina completely lost track of time. It was not just an exercise, it was a getaway for her and it was always there as she always had competitions. She didn't know when she actually fell asleep, but she woke up to a light thrust on her shoulder. She opened her eyes and blinked in the sudden, strong sunlight pouring into her room. "Angel." Zakhar was kneeling next to her. "What the..." Nina tried to sit up, but her muscles were tense and sore from sleeping in an uncomfortable position. "Hey Angel... Take it easy." The man tried to help Nina to sit up, but the girl crawled farer from him. "Thank you, I'm perfectly capable to manage myself." "Then, answer me, what the hell were you doing a few hours before a competition?" "Sorry." The girl mumbled as she finally managed to gather herself and started to rub her muscles. "Don't give me that! You should know better!" The man growled on a low tone. "You are a professional!" "I know okay, and I'm really sorry!" Nina snapped and slowly stood up. Zakhar raised an eyebrow and followed his skater. "I prefer to hear a little bit more respect." "Shut up..." Nina muttered, kicked her boots off of her feet and started to warm up her left, cracking her toes and circling her ankle. It would be a much more graceful view, if she wouldn't needed to hold onto the wall with a painful grimace as she put weight on her injured foot. "You are managing it quite well..." "Quite well?" Nina echoed, stopped moving her foot and sat down to her bed. "I sleep worse than usual and I'm a complete mess; so 'quite well' can be our umbrella term for 'fucked up'." Zakhar took a seat next to her and snapped with his fingers. "Foot." "Here." Nina put her leg into her coach's lap. The man pulled out a syringe from his pocket. "Surprise. Happy early birthday." "That is not a surprise... It's from my suitcase, I brought it here." "Don't ruin it." "Oh, my apologies." "Are you ready?" The man pulled off the wrapping from around the injection. "Did you take any pills?" "Course not!" Nina rolled her eyes. "Just the spray. I don't want to fall asleep on the ice." "Fair enough." Zakhar nodded. He bit on the lid of the syringe and spit it down to the floor. "Ready?" "It wouldn't matter either way, right?" Nina focused on the injection. It didn't scare her; she got her fair share from blood tests and examinations as a competitive figure skater, so she welcomed what is coming as an old friend. "Of course not." "Then why wasting your breath?" "You got a point again, Angel. Pain makes you sharp." "And that's a compliment that a girl doesn't hear every day..." "So?" "Bring it on." Nina silently watched as the clear liquid emerged into her foot trough the needle, took a deep breath and around the fourth time in her life, she sent a little prayer to all the Saints of Russia who might listen to it, even though she was sure since she was eight that those saints either not exist, or they hate her... and the worse was she couldn't even blame them for it. Despite of every cell screaming 'NO!' in her body, Nina took a deep breath and pushed the door open. The muffled voices of talking went silent for a moment and every head turned to see who arrived. "Hi." The girl clutched the strap of the bag of her skates. She never brought anything else to competitions just her skates, her phone and some products to correct the little flaws what might occur on the makeup what was already applied to her face. "Nina!" Angelique waved to her from a corner. "Over here!" "Angie..." The Canadian girl was wearing a light lilac-pink dress with rose flower appliqués on it and her hair was in a difficult braided updo with small, light pink sparkles on it. She was skating her short to the 'Dance of the sugarplum fairy' and Nina would bet J.J.'s hand was mainly in this choice, she herself couldn't find something better for her either; Angelique looked perfect in her costume, and the Russian girl felt somehow plane next to her friend. "Are you nervous?" She teased her as she kicked down her pants and her boots, and started to pull her skates onto her feet. If there was somebody who was usually as indifferent as her about the pressure, that was the Canadian skater girl. "Of course... I'm totally terrified." Angelique threw the ball back. "Bash and Jean are here to cheer for you, right?" "Yes... It's still a little bit strange though. I got used to that I'm with Seb." "Oh, boo hoo, do you need a tissue to cry in it?" A spiteful voice joined them from the side. "Get lost, Morozova." Nina said in Russian, finished tying the laces of her skates and stood up. Even in them, she was no match to the other girl in height who was also wearing skates. She could be the poster girl of Russia, tall, lean, blonde and blue eyed with a perfectly symmetric face and white teeth. She was wearing a white-gold costume and a small crown on her head. "How sweet, defending your ONLY friend..." The blonde Russian didn't forget to emphasize the word, 'only' as she spoke in English. "At least I'm picky about who I let close to myself..." Nina put her hands into her pockets. "I would guess when you buy your friends, you would be more aware of for what you are paying for." "I can imagine how that picking went... 'Who wants me because me and how wants me because I'm Viktor's sister, always just Nikiforov 2.0?'" "Talking about seconds... I heard you stay in Junior for one or two years more... Such a shame... But, hey, you will taste how winning feels at least when you defeat a few thirteen years old, being eighteen yourself. And then, they outgrew you too..." "YOU LITTLE-!" The taller girl snapped. "See..." Nina grinned, interrupting the other. "Maybe I'm the second Nikiforov, but I AM a Nikiforov... Whole Russia, no, the whole world knows our name... So, who are you again? Oh and by the time you crawl your way into senior, I will be at least a three times consecutive champion, so good luck for that. And I have to mention, it was such a shame I didn't see you at the youth Olympics, neither on the podium of the Junior Worlds either. What happened, daddy got bankrupt?" "Your daddy can buy you an ice rink;" Angelique added with a sparkly smile, dark flames dancing in her bluish eyes. "Your daddy can buy you skates, music, costumes, choreographers, coaches, maybe a few judges too... But what daddy can't buy, is real talent. "You bitches!" The blonde Russian muttered. "Oh, don't be so sweet, Katia." Nina cooed. "You know you can't get away with flattery. And now, step aside, we want to go out." Katia gave them space, but she couldn't hold back herself, she had to continue. "No surprise you are so wretched Nina. You got it from your Belarusian whore mother." "You thought you hurt me with that?" Nina stopped and looked back over her shoulder. "Really? Let me tell you something. The woman, who didn't abort me only because of a vague possibility of something could go wrong with HER, the woman who let my stepfather verbally abuse when I was too young to even know myself properly, the woman who was married when I was born, but my father is not is his husband, the woman who never show a single spark of interest about me... That woman... She is a Belarusian whore. At least you got that right, not as your routines." With that, Nina pushed open the door and marched out to the corridor with Angelique on her side. "Chto liačysia?" Zakhar – who was leaning against the wall until this time – emerged from the shadows. He needed only a moment to see the look on his skater's face. "JA ŭ paradku." Nina shrugged. "Drenny dziejanni, maja zalataja dziaŭčynka, drennaja akciorskaja." "Katia. Jana pateliefanavala maja maci bielaruskuju prastytutku ... alie jana nie mahla być boĺš dakladnym." "Jak tvaja naha ciapier?" Nina looked down to her skates. "Pretty numb. It's strange." "Good." "How did you get hold of those lidocaine injections?" Nina asked against her better judgement. "Robbed an ER?" "Almost." "Almost?" The girl echoed. "Really want to know?" "Yes... I think." "Note that I never lie to you, Nina. Never." "I know." "Then, I paid for them. Everybody and everything has its price, you just have to negotiate it out."

"I have no idea where you learnt about right and wrong," Nina shook her head "but you sure have missed a few fundamental rules at the beginning."

"And yet, I'm still your coach."

"Everybody makes mistakes."

"Are you going to win a gold for me, angel?"

"Did you make a bet on me?"

"No gentleman bets on what is sure."

"Then why the question? And if I'm not a lady, you are not a gentleman... "

Zakhar stopped and looked at Nina, examining her face.

"Your makeup skills are significantly improved. Nobody would think how you look like underneath."

"That's the point, isn't it?" Nina started to walk again and her coach walked in peace with him. "And how would I explain the bruise on the side of my face? I ran into a parallel bar or something in my room?"

"You have a bruise?"
"A light one. Nothing serious." Nina lowered her voice, even though she was sure, nobody around them spoke Belarusian. "But if I can give you one advice, I would refrain from hurting my skater's face, especially before a competition... The rest, I can cover up, but that... It's a little hard." They reached the ice rink and stood next to the railing, waiting. She could sit down as she was performing later and she should consider her foot, but she felt she needs to stand. She grabbed the railing and her fingers dug into the metal.

"Stop that." Zakhar cautiously touched her knuckles with the back of his hand, making Nina startle.

"Don't touch me."

"Go, sit down."

"Don't. Touch. Me."

"Go, sit down." Zakhar repeated, and even though his tone was the same, Nina felt exactly she can't argue with him now, so she jolted into the first free plastic chair she saw.

"Happy now?"

"Pleased."

"So you did not make a bet on me."

"Angel, I, ALWAYS make bets on you. On every single occasion. And I always win. Don't ruin this for me."

"Are there any people who make bets with you after all this time?"

"Of course... There are idiots everywhere."

"And... getting a lot of money out of the bets?"

"Far not enough."

"You mean" Nina was playing with her martyoshka pendant "beside that what you get from my sponsors?"

"You are lucky that you don't have to pay me... You are fourteen, there is no way you can work that much to make a living."

"Now I think about it, yes... I never paid you. Not even at the start."

"Because somebody is pretty popular between sponsors."
"I guess the name 'Nikiforov' open lots of doors..."

"The name what I meant was VIKTOR Nikiforov."

"Well," Nina released her necklace "at first, I'm sure that was how it was, but after, I guess, I earned it on my own right."

"Guess? You usually more self-confident."

"No, I'm not."

"At least," Zakhar straightened his long limbs "that sounded pretty confident."

"Shut up..." Nina mumbled.

"Don't you think they are cute?"

The man asked as they stood up to listen to the Italian anthem for the last medal ceremony before the juniors started. From the little girls who were standing on the podium, two were Russian and one was Italian.

"Was I that cute ever?" Nina asked after the music finished.

"You? Never."

"Thanks..."

"Angel, sweetheart, you could never be cute. You seen too much for that, thank God."
"Should I understand this?" Nina leaned on the railing and rested her face in her chin.

"Cuteness, REAL cuteness means that you are innocent." Zakhar followed the girl's gaze and rubbed his face. "And innocence is one form of ignorance. I would go crazy with innocent people around me."

"You could change them easily; you could corrupt even a saint." Nina still avoided eye contact with her coach.

"You think too highly of me." Zakhar purred.

"I don't think so." Nina's voice was cold. "You are rotten to the core."

"And I make my skaters high class in the meantime."
"SkateR. You only have me."

"Of course. I wouldn't waste my time on some lower ranked idiot."

"You know, sometimes I just don't know if you are racist, sexist, both or just the biggest asshole on planet Earth... Wait, not on Earth, in our solar system."

"Oh, how I would miss you."

"I'm not going anywhere."
"Theoret0ically, I mean."

"I wouldn't miss you. I mean theoretically." Nina echoed her coach. "Are we finished? I have to skate soon."

"Sure... I let you concentrate."

"I appreciate that." Nina put in her earplugs.

"And our last contestant" The announcer started as Nina skated to the centre of the ice "is one of Russia's most priced upcoming skaters, the fan favourite, Viktor Nikiforov's younger sister."

"If somebody would doubt that," the second added "now it became sure, it runs in the family... This little beauty is the just finished Winter Youth Olympics' winner in Ladies single, team, and her team ranked on the first place too. One could guess why... Plus, she is the first Russian ladies' singles skater to score above the two hundred mark in total score, she is the first ladies' skater in history to win two World Junior titles, she is the winner of two consecutive Grand Prix Junior titles, also she is the current world record holder for the junior ladies' short program, the junior ladies' free skate score and for the junior ladies' total score, with her world standing being number one. And I didn't even add the numerous European championships where she snatched the gold too..."

"That is nearly too much to list." The first announcer laughed a little. "If she would be a boy, her brother could start to worry as she debuts in Senior soon..."

"And if you would shut up," Nina muttered. She took a deep breath and looked around the audience, spotting her coach, J.J., Emil, Angelique, Sebastian and after a few moments, Aleksandar in the ring of unfamiliar people "that would be nice..." She ran her look down on her dress. She was wearing a high necked, long sleeved, midnight blue dress, spotted with thousands of tiny Swarovski crystals and her nude coloured skates - she had three pairs exclusively for competitions, one white, one black and one nude, all custom made, with the Russian and the Belarusian flag on each side of the back of the skates; their blades were also special; they had a light, blue-silver colour with frost and snowflake pattern on them - while her hair was a simple, tight bun. Compared to most of the other skaters, she seemed a little bit simple, but that was the exact reason why she stood out. Her coach might be an ass, but he was doing his job perfectly.

"And to what our little martyoshka doll is dancing to?" The first announcer asked on a joking tone, as Nina started to skate on her music.

"Maksim Mrvica's Croatian Rhapsody. watch?v=3CdKrA3viNw An interesting choice, but this little lady was always full of surprises..."

"Watch this beautiful step sequence... I can almost say it's a Russian privilege to skate that gracefully, but Nina goes far beyond that... Her movements are so smooth, so collected, so clean... Oh and a layback spin followed by a Biellmann spin, which is hyper-extended, with more than eight revs... we can say, 'as usual'!"

"Yes... Her spins... I just love them; maybe even more than when she jumps..."

'Of for fuck's sake...' Nina rolled her eyes mentally as she skated.

"I wonder what she has for next..."

'Making my dinner?'Nina commented as jumped into her flying spin. Her right foot was very strange, but it was still better when she felt the pain... And this was only a short program... There's no way, she would mess up that...

"And a triple axel with one hand up! Beautiful! Followed by her spiral sequence... Not many female skaters can land triple axels, and certainly not in Junior..."

"What is my personal favourite in Nina's jumps is that she always jumps with one or two hand raised and does this with such grace... Not many skaters are able or willing to that, even though the plus points... And the aesthetic elegance too..."

"Plus those little sweet things she always adds into her choreographies, small sequences, positions, or her favourite ballet and mazurka jumps, what she never misses to do as we see..."

'Another two morons disguised as commentators.' Nina noted in herself.

"And now," the second commentator grabbed the opportunity to speak again, "her next required element, the jump combination: a triple Lutz with one hand up, and a triple toe loop jump with both hands up! Impressive! And a shorter step sequence, immediately followed by a triple flip... Oh, and she done it, with one arm up!"

"Now what is still needed her spin combination... I hope she surprises us again..."

"Aaand... A camel spin with a backward entry, changing of edges... more than eight revs... next, a pancake spin, still changing edges, and now, changing foot... A doughnut spin and finally an I spin, more than eight revs again and changing edges... Perfect, just perfect, almost unbelievable! Ladies and gentlemen, this Russian lady delivers quality every time she steps on the ice!"

'God lord please someone remove the microphone from them...' Nina thought gasping, as she stood in her finishing position. This wasn't supposed to be a hard short of her, but because of her foot and the lack of sleep, it took out more than her as she thought... But the audience was cheering for her, throwing flowers and stuffed animals to the ice, so she smiled and bowed as it was expected from her. Most of the plush toys what she got were little moles, most of them was wearing blue trousers, hats or some funny clothing. The little mole was Nina's favourite cartoon when she was young... Or, more precisely, it was still her favourite. She had t-shirts, pyjamas, hoodies, pencils, notebooks and even mug with the little mole on it, didn't mention she had all the books which came out with him and all the episodes of the cartoon on her laptop. As she was skating towards the kiss and cry, she picked up one – a bigger one with a blue-yellow hat – and squeezed it to herself.

"Well, it could be worse." Zakhar muttered as he took away the stuffed animal until Nina put on her jacket and the edge protectors of her skates.

"It always could be worse." Nina retorted.

"Let's say you are better when you are not injured."

"Surprise, surprise..." The girl muttered as they walked to the bench and sat down to see her points.

"Ni, hey!"

The girl turned around, still holding the mole and a few flowers. The last member of the press just left and she felt a throbbing pain starting in her temple. She wanted to send away whoever was calling her name, but it was Aleksandar who tried to break through the crowd.

"Alek..."

"You were awesome!" When the young man tried to hug Nina, she took a step back.

"It was just a short program..." The Russian skater muttered after a few awkward moments, and a light pink colour stole itself onto her cheeks.

"Are you all right?" From the emphasize of the question Nina understood he meant her foot.

"Yeah, I'm fine... A little bit tired..."

"And?"

"And? Nothing."

"You sure?" Alek hesitated, when he saw Nina shivering.

"No, I'm not, but I'll live. I promise. Thank you for coming to see me... Apparently, with that, you did more than my brother dearest..." The girl was not sure why she said that, it just slipped out before she could think. Maybe last night wouldn't be so hard for her if she would have Viktor by her side... But she as the one who didn't tell him she is injured... Maybe because he would demand her to withdraw from the competition...

"Ni...We talked about this already."

"Then why are you the one who is here and not him?" Nina didn't really want to keep up this topic but this whole situation made her snappy.

"You are just saying that because-"

"Because" The girl interrupted the other's sentence "I can't even tell him I have an injury while you know? When this became so twisted?"

"You miss him now more than usual, right?"

"I don't know why..." The girl muttered. "I just feel, something is different..."

"What?"

"I-don't-know!"

"You are just worked up, if you calm down a little, I'm sure-"

"NO! Just no... Please Alek..." The girl let out a shaky breath and leant against the wall, closing her eyes. After a few moments, she silently started to speak again, as if she would be talking only to herself. "After I moved into my biological father's place, Viktor was glued to me so much, he literally took me everywhere with him, and now... People are drawn to new things, they treasure them, but with time, everything becomes granted... I became one of the things in life which were granted... But for me, he was the only thing what I could take granted... And I lost that too... I think that is what I'm feeling... Somehow... losing him. This is crazy, right?" Nina's laughter was shaky. "How could I possibly feel something like that? I know he is home in St. Petersburg, walking Makkachin or at the ice rink, practising... He always made Yakov crazy with how arbitrarily he took his training sessions..."

"You know, sometimes you not sound like a fourteen year old at all."

"Zakhar always says I was born middle aged, and he didn't need to raise me at all. Like if he would have raise me... Belarusian asshole."

Alek chuckled, and suddenly Nina felt his warm breath tingled on her skin as he spoke. "Everyone who takes you granted is an idiot, even if that someone is called Viktor Nikiforov. See you later."

In the next moment, she felt a light kiss on her cheek. Nina's eyes popped wide open, but she only could see Alek's back as he walked away. He kissed her exactly on the same spot where Zakhar did earlier...

"Sweet." Somebody snorted behind Nina. "I thought you wanted to get somebody to skate with, but it seems like you catfished some idiot who actually stayed after and turned into your boyfriend."

"I didn't catfish him." Nina didn't even turned back to see who is speaking. "And he is not my boyfriend. I would never catfish anybody. That's a horrible thing to do... And even more horrible you know what catfishing means."

"You know it too."

"At least I feel ashamed about it."

"No, you don't."

"Okay, I don't."

"You.. Well..."

"Hm?"

"You... were quite... nice... out there before."

To that, Nina squinted at the talker. It was of course Yuri. He was already in his costume but still in his shoes, while the girl was in her skates so momentarily, she was taller than the boy.

"Thanks... I like what you are wearing."

"Why? It's nothing interesting." The blonde Russian had black pants on and a light brown long sleeve under his usual blue jacket which he left open now.
"You don't look like a try hard Christmas tree. I appreciate that."

"Stay to watch the rest of today?"

"You mean staying to watch your short program? Sure. Especially because you did the same."

"I don't need a favour form you."

"This is not a favour. I'm interested. Here." Nina held out the little mole plushie. "Rub his belly."

"What? No! And don't shove that into my face!"

"It's not in your face... Don't be such a whiner, do it, it brings good luck."

"Why are you so attached to this... whatever is this."

"You didn't watch it when you were young? The little mole?"

"I had better things to do... Like raising money for my family... Not everyone can live off from her surname alone."

"Well," Nina's voice turned to ice cold "I had to watch it to forget I'm the most unwanted person at the place where I'm living and what I suppose to call 'home', with the persons who I supposed to call my family and who are loathing me... If I could trade that name or that money for a dad who picks me up after a practise, I would do and I know you would too. But unfortunately we can't choose our families, and you understand that just as well as me, so why don't you stop mocking me because of it?"

Yuri puckered up his lips and shrugged like if wouldn't care, but finally he reached out and poked the mole's belly with one finger.

"Happy know?" He muttered.

"You can have it."

"I don't want it!"
"Just take it already!"

The blonde Russian's face was like he was forced to eat a whole lemon, but he grabbed the plushie and mumbled something which vaguely sounded like a 'thanks'.

"Come, let's go." He waved to Nina and started walking.

As the girl put weight on her foot, sharp pain ran through her body.

"God damn!" She cursed under her breath.

"Your injury?" Yuri stopped and looked back at her.

"Yes... The medicine wears out slowly... But at least it's good for my headache."

"What?"

"You can only feel the worst pain in your body... If my foot hurts, my head doesn't. Well, at least I can forget about it a little bit."

"Know what? Spare me your weird biology facts... Can you walk or not?"

"Can... Just slowly."

"Don't you want to change into your shoes?" Yuri started to walk again, but in a slower peace, so Nina could keep up with him.

"It wouldn't help... But not a bad idea."

"Will you win gold like this tomorrow?"

With that question, Yuri echoed Nina's deepest fear at the moment.

"Honestly?" She sighed. "I don't know."

"Are you afraid?" The blonde Russian asked casually.

"No... I'm terrified." Nina admitted. "What if my foot never heals normally? What if my skater career ends here?"

"Your coach said, it's going to be fine, right?"
"What if he was wrong?"

"Then, you can thank it to yourself. I told you this might happen."

"Don't say that..." Nina whispered. He turned away her face, but Yuri caught the glimpse of tears in her eyes. "And don't be such an asshole. Not now. Not about this."

"Know what? If you are that scared, I can offer you to rub my plushie mole's belly tomorrow. They say it brings good luck."

"Thanks." Nina couldn't resist letting out a faint giggle. "Very kind."

"Nia... What I said earlier about you and your money... I didn't mean to-"

"I know."

Suddenly Nina was a child again, standing in the kitchen of the small apartment which smelled of coffee and cheap cigarettes. Yuri's father was sitting in the living room watching the TV with a glass of vodka in his hand while his mother was in the kitchen with curl-papers in her hair varnishing her nails with a cigarette in her mouth. They were not bad people, just old fashioned in the term how they saw their only son. According to them, children had to do what was told by the parents, especially if it was about free labour like cleaning the car, washing the dishes or taking the garbage down. They didn't have the nerves neither for noisy children, neither to listen to any whining, stories or fantasizes. They had their 'grown-up lives' and they certainly didn't have time for their son's figure skating career. Next time Nina was in the apartment, it was after they returned from the cemetery. They attended to Yuri's father's funeral. Since then, Yuri was a half orphan and the main provider for his family, while Nina was always the 'bad seed' between the Nikiforovs, living in the shadow of her older brother. They never said it out loud, but on that day while they were sitting next to each other dresses in black, eating cheap, dry shortbread, they formed a pact, swearing they never let anybody take advantage of their situation. They would show the world that even if not together, they will go forward without hesitating, proving they can't be defeated...

And here they were: their generation's best skaters, having no one to stand against them when they stepped onto the ice.