He checked himself in the mirror for the thousandth time and wondered where was all the nervousness coming for – it probably made its appearance because of Viktor who was simply restless ever since he woke up, at 6 AM. It was almost unbelievable that more than a month had passed since they became parents but it was normal for their first check up to come. It was a standard procedure and they never expected to be excused just because they were public figures but that didn't mean they were less stressed about it. They knew they had to make a great impression and because of that they were very stiff, cleaning everything and making sure they looked presentable.

As Lola just had her first haircut and her curly hair was reaching her shoulders, Viktor decided two pigtails were enough for today, especially because she was already impatient to play. She looked adorable, dressed in light-coloured rompers that matched her baby blues perfectly and she seemed a bit fussier than normal. They had to talk to her and explain what was going on, knowing she didn't usually react well to new faces so once he brought her usual apple juice, Yuuri decided it was the perfect time to inform her about their special guest. She was playing with Legos, looking as content as ever when they both sat down on the couch.

"Lo, could you come here for a bit?" She was confused but left the toys behind so she would go closer and be picked up by the brunet before being placed in his lap. "Someone called us and told us that today a nice lady will come to see how you are."

"She wants to make sure you're happy with us here. And she'll probably ask to see your room and ask you questions, do you think you could answer her?" She furrowed her brows and in that moment Yuuri knew she was worrying unnecessarily.

"We know you don't like to talk to people you don't know but we'll be with you all the time and you only have to tell her what you feel, okay?" She nodded slowly and grabbed the cup of apple juice, slowly draining it. Viktor bent to kiss her head sweetly and then they went back to playing until they heard some knocks on the door and the raven-haired man felt his anxiety hitting the roof. But he had to keep it together, for their wellbeing, for Lola. He never would have imagined how balanced he would become once he would become a father; it was nothing forced but he had something to focus on and he knew their daughter's happiness was above all the overthinking and the panic. He cleared his throat but Viktor was already focused on their apartment's entrance. They both tensed and Yuuri went to open the door.

They hoped for someone young, as selfish as that might have sounded, because they were aware that Russia was still Russia and old people were rarely open-minded, so they were surprised when they saw a 50-ish woman standing in front of them.

"Good evening!" Yuuri said right away, trying not to stare or freak out.

"Good evening, Mr. Katsuki-Nikiforov! My name is Ekaterina Ovechkina and I am here to check on your daughter." She nodded towards Viktor who just got up from the playing mat, her light blonde hair bouncing around her petite head, making her black eyes look less hostile.

"Please come in, can I fix anything for you? A coffee maybe?" She shook her head and in that moment she looked like she wanted to get her shoes off Yuuri rose both hands. "Please don't bother, come in!" He was hoping she wasn't staying long enough so she would feel uncomfortable in those tall high heels shoes. She was looking impeccable, in a suit that almost looked like a uniform on her slender body and Viktor wondered how could she look so scary while hoping a child would open up to her and tell her about her/his feelings. As soon as Lola heard the clanking of the shoes hitting the floor she hurried next to her Papa that cradled her head gently, feeling the tug on his pants.

"You must be Lola" The woman said, her English a lot better than they expected and Viktor began to gently caress the little girl's neck, encouraging her to nod shyly. "It's so nice to meet you, darling!" Her attitude changed completely but it was clear the child could see right through her because she didn't relax. "I came here to make sure you're okay, do you think you can help me look around?"

She hesitated before she came to a conclusion.

"Papa too?" Ekaterina furrowed her brows but accepted.

"If you want that, sure." She was obviously not happy but there was no way Lola would have played along by her rules, too uncomfortable to do that. "Are these your toys?" She nodded, enthusiastic at the idea that they all belonged to her and the woman started to look around for anything that could be considered unsafe. But everything has been baby proofed in the first week she arrived because they were both scared that something might happen to her if they weren't taking care of that first. "Are these your only toys?" Lola shook her head. "Where are the rest?"

"Room" She said and the woman was surprised, probably because she wasn't used to such short sentences.

"Whose room, yours or your fathers'?" Lola raised her shoulders because they were in both but the social worker insisted. "Could you talk in sentences?" As soon as that has been told, Lola's agitation grew and she looked scared at her Daddy who sensed the change in her mood. They didn't like when their daughter was pressured by people who had no idea how much she progressed in the past weeks.

"We're working on that, we're going to a nice speech therapist twice a week, right, Lo?" She nodded, remembering the beautiful lady that would show her images and play with her and tell her all kind of things. "We'd appreciate if you wouldn't force her to..."

"I'd appreciate if you'd not intervene in my line of work" The words were harsh and Viktor almost wanted to snap back at her for talking to his husband like that but he knew it wouldn't have been wise.

"I apologise" Yuuri said, faking a smile.

"I want to hear everything from Lola. So could you show me your other toys?"

"Yes" Her voice was small so Viktor rubbed her shoulder gently, trying to console her in a not very obvious way.

"Let's go" The little girl looked at the hand that was offered to her and took it, but not before looking back to see the both her daddies joining hands and smiling at her. She didn't like this woman who just raised her voice, she didn't like the way she was looking around and inspecting everything, asking to know things as if it was her right but she was asked to be nice and that was she was going to do. She didn't want anything bad to happen and she wanted to stay there. She first stopped by her bedroom that the woman inspected with sharp eyes, wondering if there was anything wrong around this house. She was ready to ask something when a ball of fluff ran by her and stopped beside Lola. The girl smiled at the pup and began to pet him, earning a few hand-licks and sniffles. "Is the dog yours?"

"Saka" She murmured and continued to caress the soft fur as the woman turned towards the parents.

"Is the dog vaccinated?"

"Of course, we had him checked the week we adopted him. That was a month or so before we adopted Lola." Viktor said, almost defensive at the woman's words.

"Do you get along well with Saka, Lola?" The little girl blinked rapidly and then wrapped her arms around the poodle's head, pulling him closer.

"I love Saka" She said and kissed his nose, much to her daddies' amusement. The woman smiled at the picture and then asked if she could see some of her toys. They were all suited for her age and they all looked good, the plushies were mainly very clean (beside the ones she played with in the last few days) and everything was safe. When Lola headed for the next room the woman was confused. "My toys" she explained and as soon as they got inside the bedroom, Yuuri felt his face heating because it was the only part of the house where he didn't have the chance to clean properly. So there were bitten apples on one of the nightstands, toys on the undone bed and beside it and Ekaterina almost stepped on a Lego but Saka was a smart puppy and pushed it aside with his little paw.

"Close" Yuuri whispered towards Viktor and the latter nodded, realising he held his breath. "I apologise for the lack of..." The blonde turned around, surprisingly enough – smiling.

"No one expects your house to be squeaky clean with a toddler around"

"Of course" Viktor flashed his famous grin.

"Everything looks fine but I'd like to have a little chit-chat with all of you if that is alright"

"Of course – are you sure you don't want a cup of coffee or tea?"

"Tea would be fine, after all" She accepted so they all went back in the kitchen where they sat at the rather tall table. Lola sat on her special high chair because it was the only one that allowed her to reach the flat surface where her own tea was placed a few moments later. They were feeling more confident after that small smile and also very curious about what she was going to ask.

"Could you please inform me about your income? Raising a child requires money and it's obvious you don't lack it but I have to ask what are you doing for a living – you're not figure skaters anymore, if I remember well."

"We're not figure skaters but we are still public figures, we film commercials, we are very popular online, we have interviews and other such jobs" Viktor explained. "We also earned quite a lot during our careers so there is no financial problem."

"Do you have plans for any future job?"

"We've both been thinking about coaching, I have a degree too so that might be another option" Yuuri said calmly. "But we decided to stay home and focus on Lola for a few more months. We are lucky to be able to do so."

"Certainly. I've heard you had all her medical checks done too, which is very good. Now I have a few questions for Lola if that's okay" The little girl looked up once her name was called and put down the cup she was holding. "Are you happy here, Lola? Are you feeling safe?"

"Yes" She said, her voice raspy, and looked over towards Viktor who winked at her.

"Do you think anything is lacking? Do you like having two daddies instead of a daddy and a mommy?" That question was beyond unfair, almost provoking but they bit back their words and looked at their daughter patiently.

"I love Daddy and Papa" She said and frowned. "I don' wanna..." he sentence remained suspended and soon the woman nodded, convinced. She had doubts about this, she didn't think homosexual couples could take care well enough of children because men were overall so irresponsible but it was evident that the Katsuki-Nikiforovs were an exception. A few more questions followed, basic ones but they were all answered calmly and favourable for everyone. The woman was ready to leave when she bent to smile at Lola.

"I'll see you soon; take care, sweet Lola!" She nodded and then hurried to Yuuri while Viktor announced he was going to walk her outside. Ekaterina was ready to step outside the door when she turned around and raised her brows. "Why a girl, though? Wouldn't it have been a lot more easier for you to adopt a boy?" Maybe – maybe not, he had no idea.

"The gender didn't matter to us, Mrs. Ovechkina; we fell in love with our daughter the first moment we saw her." He assured and she flashed a big smile.

"I'm glad to hear that, I wish you well!" The goodbyes were spoken and as soon as the door closed he almost ran towards the kitchen where Yuuri seemed just as relieved as he was.

"Oh my God, we did it" Viktor finished with a chuckle and hurried towards his husband, grabbing his face with both hands and crushing his lips against his a little too forceful, making the other yelp surprised but answer right away. When they parted they saw Lola was staring displeased at their display of affection so the Russian picked her up, making sure she wasn't feeling like an outsider. "You were wonderful, malysh!" He kissed her cheek soundly again and again until it became ticklish and she giggled, trying to squirm out of his arms only to be picked up by Yuuri.

"We should celebrate that with a visit at the playground" He suggested and kissed her hair, realising he prepared nothing for lunch. "Lunch sounds like a good idea too"

It was Thursday and that was the day of the week when Yuri and Otabek would come over for dinner, happy to get away with free food. They were both young and busy so they could understand that a warm well prepared meal and company was a blessing even if Yuri would have never admitted that that was how they felt. They settled on Katsudon because they didn't have that in a while and before they got home they went to the grocery shop that was the closest, picking up some sweets too.

The couple appeared at least an hour earlier than they were expected and as soon as that happened Viktor chuckled at the sight of them because Otabek was wearing a large black shirt with a huge cat in the middle of it, matching the terrible clothes Yuri was wearing – his style unchanged after all the years that passed.

"I suppose that was a gift?" He asked pointing at the monstrosity and Otabek felt his ears heating at the comment before nodding. "I thought so."

"What do you know about fashion anyway, baldy?"

"Yuri! I swear to God that I'm gonna send him to you the next time he will have a Yuuri-am-I-going-bald-fit!" Yuuri hissed and the blond chuckled before jumping on the couch and looking around to see Lola was playing with some little plastic horses.

"Hi" He said rather bluntly and she waved, faking lack of interest. The truth was, she came to like Yuri a lot because whenever they came around he would give her attention and play with her, sometimes he would even braid her hair or help her paint her nails. With Otabek, on the other side – there was no real interaction. She knew he always visited when Yuri did and she saw they were holding hands like her Papa and Daddy were doing but he never did more than saluting her and telling her goodbye, which was somewhat okay because she didn't like him a lot. He looked scary.

"Hello" His quiet voice filled the room and Lola answered with a small "hi" without raising her eyes from her pile of toys.

"So how did it go today?" Yuri obviously knew about the check.

"Fine, it's all alright, as expected." Yuuri answered and the blond burst into laughter.

"You didn't sound so smug yesterday, when you were freaking out over the phone" The older man rolled his eyes but felt his cheeks heating because it was all true.

"More important than that ~" Viktor sang and threw an arm around his husband's shoulders. "I met Yakov the other day ."

"So? We meet him every day, not a big deal" The figure skater said, gripping the glass of water that was placed in front of him so he could cool his thirst.

"I don't know how we ended up talking about that but – he told me what a fan of mine you were when you were younger." Yuri almost spit the water at the sound of those words and an inhuman growl came out of his throat. "You begged him to let you see me skate at every competition, that's so sweet! I never knew you admired me so much~"

"There was nothing to admire – I know that now!" The tone was raised so much that his voice turned weird and his face unbelievably red.

"Wait a second" The silver man disappeared in the hall only to come back a minute later holding an envelope. "I've also received this!" The enthusiasm was hard to handle and as soon as green eyes landed on the letter, Yuri jumped off the couch and tried to grab it but failed miserably because Viktor was still taller and his arms were still longer. It was an old letter, one the skater wrote when he was 7 and never sent. Viktor cleared his throat. "Dear Viktor – you are a good skater. I wish you would teach me how to do complicated jumps. You deserve gold. I want to be like you." The signature was a trembled "Yuri" and a cat drawn beside it and Viktor swooned at the adorable words, melting against the couch.

"Fu-" Yuuri cut him off.

"Language!"

"F-u-c-k off!" He was obviously embarrassed and he was wondering if they would ever let it go. That was so uncool!

"You always stared at me, I thought you didn't like me at all" Viktor continued, much to his annoyance.

"I fu—hate you!"

"I know you don't" He cooed and rubbed the crown of blonde hair. "It's adorable either way, I'm keeping it"

"I really hope you go bald" Yuri muttered and as soon as Yuuri announced he was going to get everything prepared he went with him, feeling like he couldn't face the amused expression on Otabek's face for one more second.

"Can I see that?" The Kazakh asked and was offered the yellowish paper only to find a few side drawings on it. It was cute because there were snowflakes and stick figures everywhere so he couldn't stop himself from taking a photo of it.

"He was a very grumpy kid too." Otabek knew, after all, he still remembered the hardworking Yuri that was the best from the ballet class even at such a young age. His determination was almost scary but his goals were clear and he knew he could achieve each one of them and that was admirable.

In the meantime Lola began to draw on the coffee table – creating nothing palpable but receiving praises from her Papa for each work of art she was presenting. Viktor couldn't help himself, he loved to see the way her eyes would light up with each word and he surely didn't want to discourage her from doing something she enjoyed so much. They were talking pleasantries when she came closer and leaned on the older man's legs, looking him in the eye.

"Can I help you, dorogoya moya?" She pointed towards a white paper.

"Butter" She said and Viktor understood right away she wanted to have a butterfly done, the only problem was that his butterflies were absolutely abstract, or rather said, run over by cars. He consoled himself with the idea that he couldn't be good at everything.

"You know Daddy draws better than Papa, Lo" He said and then he had an idea. "But maybe Beka will help you if you ask him nicely." So she turned towards him, shyly, and stared long at the imposing brunet that watched her with endless calmness.

"Pease" He couldn't resist those baby blues so he nodded and soon moved closer to the coffee table.

"What colour would you like it to be?" She offered him the pink colour and as soon he drew the first butterfly she already wanted more so she kept offering him different colours, until the paper was filled and she was settled on his lap. He was not used to such a tiny human because a lot of time has passed since his baby sister was that size. He was also younger back then but that never stopped him from always holding and playing with her; she was, after all, his favourite ally. "Do you like it?" She nodded hurried and offered him an orange crayon.

"Ephant, pease" She smiled cutely and he knew he lost from the first second so he began his work, amused when he saw she started to colour his previous works. They were enjoying themselves when Yuri came to tell them dinner was ready and his mouth fell open at the sight. They were so concentrated that they had no idea they were watched, Lola preoccupied by the explanations she was giving Otabek about what he should draw next. He took his phone out and snapped a few pictures and uploaded the sweetest one on Instagram with the caption #harmlessdarkhorse.

"Katsudon is waiting for you" He said and went closer to look at the papers. "Looks like you found a common passion, eh?"

"Beka d'aws nice" Lola said and looked at the brunet who smiled bashfully.

"He sure does." The blond grinned, his eyes locking with deep browns. "Come, I'm hungry" His stomach was indeed growling and, before they got up, Otabek turned towards the little girl.

"Can I pick you up?" She nodded and gasped because of the easiness with which he did that, gripping on the strong muscles of his shoulder. He didn't hold her like Papa or Daddy but it was clear he was doing his best to be gentle and was treating her like she could break anytime. Viktor and Yuuri looked borderline shocked to see someone else holding their child because that never happened before but their first reaction was to smile brightly because it seemed that their daughter saw something in Otabek that she didn't see in other people. As bulky as he was, the Kazakh was a softie and Lola saw right through him.

After they filled their tummies they moved to the living room where they continued to have long conversations and at one point Lo fell asleep in Beka's arms, the man being the only one to hold her during all that time. After Viktor took some pictures, Yuuri suggested it was time for her to be tucked in and followed the brunet towards their bedroom where the girl was placed in the middle of the double bed and her bunny was placed near her. She was looking beautiful so he had to take a few seconds to look at her.

"I think she likes you a lot" Yuuri whispered as he checked to see if the blanket was covering her properly. Otabek smiled widely before turning to the older man. "We should go back before Yuri kills my husband, I'm not ready to be a single father"

"I am not ready for jail visits either." They both chuckled and hurried towards the well-known source of loudness.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed softy Otabae (who wouldn't?) and my-ever-so-loud-cat-son! This story will soon reach its closure - the 11th chapter will be the last one so I thank all of you who took the time to read and review! I hope you will like the last chapter too but until then ~ take care! x