10 Years Ago

"Come here, boy, let me introduce you, this is Victor Nikiforov. From now on, he's your brother, okay?" the silver haired woman who brought him home after his grandfather funeral – claiming that they, she and her husband, were both Nikolai's friend. "Victor, this is Yuri Plisetsky. He's the grandson of uncle Nikolai, you remember him, right? From now on he will be staying with us. We're adopting him." The woman continued.

His parents had passed away when he was barely old enough to remember, and he had been taken care by Nikolai, his grandfather, simply because his aunts and uncles thought he was a bother to them. The couple – who introduced themselves as Evgeni and Anastasia Nikiforov, had visited his grandparents a few times although Yuri barely open up to both of them. However, he had no choices because he had nowhere to go after his grandfather had passed away.

Evgeni put him on his feet after carrying him all the way from the car, with Anastasia walking beside him, all sunshine smile, hoping to ease the boy's fear, which was apparent on his face. Yuri was brought in front of a teenager, looking a lot like Anastasia with the most vibrant azure blue eyes he had ever seen. Another kid with stoic face stood a little far back, looking all dark especially with the kind of butler-like outfit that he wore.

"Hello, Yuri. I'm Victor. From today onwards, let's be brothers, okay? You can call me Victor," Victor smiled at the golden haired boy, kneeling down and offering his hand for a handshake, making his green eyes captivated by the beautiful smile, although he was actually more surprised to find out that the teen in front of him was actually a guy. Yuri had assumed Victor would be a girl with that long silver strands that suit his appearances.

Yuri took his hands carefully, still a little afraid, but he tried, making Victor chuckled at his cute attempt. He stole a glance on the dark haired boy again and Victor seemed to notice. "That's Otabek. Otabek Altin. He's my retainer in training. He and his father, the head butler here, came from Kazakhstan."

Yuri looked at the boy again, his eyes now gleaming with interest. "O.. ta.. beka?" he said, tilting his head facing the Kazakh boy, making him slightly blushed, losing his stoic face. Victor laughed noticing his stoic retainer in training flushed red from a kid misspelling his name.

"My, my, Otabek. I told you don't be so stoic around us. It's okay to be relaxed around us," Anastasia said, noticing the little blonde's interest.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but my father said-" Otabek was about to finish his sentence when he was interrupted by the older Nikiforov.

"Otabek, I know Mr. Altin is a very strict person, but it's okay to be behaving like a kid around your age. Relax a little and enjoy your childhood. I'm sure Victor won't mind. He said you are more than capable as his retainer and that it was okay if you wanted to relax from time to time."

"True~! You're making me stressed if you keep that scary face, Altin," Victor chirped, pinching both side of Otabek's cheeks forcing his lips to form a smile.

Victor was clearly trying to humor the new kid, but it seemed to have failed as Yuri stared at them flatly. Probably he was still feeling sad after his grandfather's death.

"Come on, Yuri. I'll show you your room," Victor offered his hand to the blonde kid. He silently refused it, making Victor pulled his hand back and let the kid follow him quietly. Otabek followed not too far behind.

Victor showed the room that had been prepared by the maids previously. The mansion was big, and Yuri was afraid of getting lost inside it, but luckily the way to his room didn't have that many turns. The room Victor showed him was big, bigger than the living room at where he and his grandfather used to stay. The bed was big, big enough if four of him wanted to play pillow war on top of it and jumped around. The room was well lit from the windows alone but there were curtains at the side, in case it gets too bright. A big wardrobe was at the side of the room, filled with clothes that he could wear. There were bookcase and a table for studies as well. It was perfect.

"Do you like it?" Victor asked softly.

Yuri nodded. "Thank you," he said softly, even if he didn't want to talk, but his grandpa had always told him to say his gratitude when someone gave him something.

"Well, I'll leave you here first, I'll ask Otabek to pick you up when it's time for dinner okay? It'll be about an hour from now," Victor smiled at him again, ruffling his soft golden locks before waving and close the door. He saw Otabek bowed at him before the door was closed and left with Victor.

Yuri sat slowly on the bed, feeling himself sinking on the mattress. It was fluffy and soft, not even the bed at the furniture store he begged his grandfather to buy him could compare to this. The little boy knew he should be happy about this, he knew he should be grateful that the Nikiforovs brought him home when there were no one that wanted him around, he knew, but he couldn't stop the tears streaming down his cheeks as he remembered his grandfather.

"Grandpa.." he muttered as he silently sobs.


Otabek went back to Yuri's room after Victor asked him to help Yuri preparing himself for dinner, concerned that the kid will be having trouble adjusting himself to the new environment. It was some of the qualities he loved about his master. Victor treated him as an equal human being, he wouldn't order Otabek around, at least that's how the Kazakh felt about the Russian teen, as Victor always say 'please' politely when asking for a favor. He also knew that Victor really loved his family, and would do anything to protect them. Now that Yuri had become part of his family, he would do anything to make Yuri felt comfortable around him.

Otabek cleared his throat before knocking on the door, mimicking his father gesture before he knocked on Victor's room to wake the teen up every morning.

"Master Yuri, it's Otabek. May I come in?" he asked loudly, making sure the boy could hear his voice. He was answered with silence so he just opened the door carefully to make sure that Yuri was inside and he was okay.

His eyes widen as he saw Yuri curled up on the floor, at the side of the bed, sobbing silently, trying hard to muffle his voice so that no one heard.

"Master Yuri, what happened?" Otabek asked carefully, kneeling in front of the blond haired. "A-are you feeling pain anywhere? Or is the room not to your liking?" Otabek stuttered, clearly inexperienced in dealing with this situation.

He saw Yuri shook his head a little as he continued to sobs, although he didn't try to conceal his cry anymore. His sobs become clearer as he saw Yuri's back quickly moved up and down.

"Um, would you like to tell me what's wrong? I.. I'll help you in anyway I can," Otabek said softly. He saw the boy flinched a little before raising his head, staring at his dark eyes with the unusual color of aquamarine orbs, still brimming in tears.

"I.. Gramps.. I want to meet Gramps.. Please?" Yuri begged to the older boy, making him unsure of what to do. Otabek knew that Yuri's grandfather had just passed away, but he couldn't think of anything to soothe the blonde.

"Um, I.. I'm really sorry, Master Yuri. I couldn't help you meeting with your grandfather. He's gone to a far and better place than this. Please don't cry, you don't want to worry him, right?" Otabek finally said, smiling softly as he wiped Yuri's tears softly from his cheeks with his thumb. "In exchange, I'll be the one to accompany you. I might not be able to accompany you like your grandfather, but I hope you'll let me try?"

The blonde haired cry even louder as he moved to hug Otabek. He was surprised with the sudden contact but still smiled softly at the younger kid. He didn't mind the messy tear stains on his suit, nor the fact that Yuri hug him really tight that he couldn't move freely. He hugged Yuri back, letting him rest his forehead on his shoulder, continuing his painful sobs as Otabek ran his fingers through the golden locks, attempting to calm Yuri down.

As he noticed the sobs turned to soft sniffles, Otabek smiled again. "Feeling better?" he asked.

Yuri nodded as he let go of his hug. "Thank you, Beka," he stared at Otabek with his swollen eyes, his face still flushed red.

"Beka?"

"I can't call you that?"

Otabek smiled and ruffled Yuri's hair. "Of course you can. You can call me anything you wanted."

"Mm," Yuri mumbled as he hug Otabek again. "You smell like Gramps."

"You mean I smell like an old man?" Otabek asked, not wanting to believe what the younger kid had just said. His heart warmed as he saw Yuri giggled a little from his reaction. Even as an 8 year old brat, he knew he would do anything to protect that beautiful smile.

"No, you smell like the sun, Beka. I love it," Yuri said afterwards.

"Hmm, I'm glad you like it," Otabek smiled.

"Beka? Friends?" Yuri asked for a handshake.

"Sure, friends," Otabek welcomed the tiny pale hands in his palm.

"Gramps always call me Yuratchka. Will you call me that too?" Yuri asked.

"But master Yuri.. I can't-"

"Beka. Friends call each other by name. Please?" Otabek couldn't handle it as the blonde begged again, puppy eyed. "Please?"

"Alright. But just when Mr. and Mrs. Nikiforov are not present. Yura," Otabek sighed in defeat, calling Yuri by the name he wanted. Yuri's eyes gleamed with happiness as he hugged the Kazakh boy again.

"Can I marry you in the future, Beka?" Yuri smiled innocently, making Otabek blushed shyly.

"Well, well, you kids get along so well," a chuckled was heard from the direction of the door, making both startled with the sudden appearance. "Well, Otabek, will you please help me with this tray while I turn on the light?"

Otabek nodded and hurriedly receive the tray from Victor, who then turned the lights on, revealing the food he carried into the room.

"I figured both of you have trouble here since you practically missed dinner time so I offered to bring the food to you both," Victor smiled as he walked towards Yuri. "I brought hot chocolate too." He pointed to the two glasses, one with leopard prints and one with a teddy bear prints.

"Thank you, Victor," Yuri said shyly as he cupped the leopard printed glass and blow to the liquid, hoping it to cool down faster.

Victor smiled fondly at the younger kid. "So you like Otabek?"

"Ma-maste-" Victor shushed Otabek and winked telling him to stay put. Both smiled as Yuri nodded shyly as he sipped the brown liquid.

"Hot!" Yuri said, making Otabek hurriedly helped the younger kid by taking the glass and take a spoonful of the hot chocolate and blow on it to cool it down before feeding Yuri with that. Victor smiled looking at such act, knowing fully well that his new brother will be taken care by the right person.

"Hey, Yuri?" Victor smiled again. "Do you want to go and play around with Otabek tomorrow?"

"I can play with Beka?" Yuri's eyes brightened up as he looked at Victor.

"Of course you can. I'll arrange it for you. With that being said, Otabek, can you please do a favor for me?"

"Anything, master," Otabek replied politely.

"Hm, I like the you who play around with Yuri just now, but whatever. Please take care of Yuri. Okay?"

"But I'm your.."

"I'll be fine, Otabek. I'm grateful that you care about me, despite being so young, but Yuri seems to like you, and I want him to be happy here. Please just be his friend?"

"I.. If you say so.."

"Then can Beka sleep with me?" Yuri tugged Victor's shirt, hoping that the man will allow it.

"Of course. And Otabek, before you say anything, I'll tell my parents and your dad about this. Don't worry. Just stay by Yuri's side."

Otabek nodded, still feeling conflicted between being happy for being able to stay beside Yuri or for leaving Victor's side as his aide. Nevertheless, Otabek was still happy to see Yuri smiled. For him, Yuri's smile was bright and warm, like the sun, something that he was not capable of doing. It suited the child's precious innocence more than his crying face.

"Now, both of you need to eat and take a bath, I'll ask the maid to bring your pajama, Otabek. I'll leave you two here. Don't sleep too late, kids," Victor said as he leaned to kiss both kids' foreheads and leave them alone.


"Beka, I want to go ice skating!" Yuri whined as Otabek ignored him to tidy up his bed. He felt happy as Otabek hugged him through the night, but he wanted to play. Even his new older brother had given him permission. The child pouted.

"Yura, wait a minute, I need to tidy this up, okay? We'll have breakfast then we'll go play, anywhere you want. I promise," Otabek gave up and ruffled the blonde hair, smiling as the younger kid trying to make funny faces to catch his attention.

"Hurry up, hurry up~"

"Alright, alright," Otabek answered briefly.

Yuri continued throwing tantrums, which Otabek obviously thought was cute as he softly chuckled at the blonde kid.

"Okay, Yura, I'm done," Otabek finally said, making the blonde cheered. It has been three days for him to stay in the Nikiforov estate – the couple had arranged for his new school in St. Petersburg which didn't start until the next week, and he should feel thankful for all the things the family has done for him, but he only really opened up at Otabek. Victor once mentioned it was probably because their close age gap compared to the rest.

Otabek was kind, spoiling him in many ways, such as hugging him to sleep, singing him a lullaby, despite the low and deep voice – but Yuri love it anyway, listening to his random bickering, reading stories to him, and secretly giving him treats after meal. He felt like having a big brother instead of a best friend. He still missed his grandfather dearly, but Otabek's presence made it much better for him.

The driver, whom Victor had asked to take care of them and help them go anywhere they wanted, took him to the nearest ice rink from the estate.

"Gramps brought me here before!" the kid said excitedly, oblivious of the fond look that was given by the dark haired kid. "Have you skated before, Beka?"

Otabek shook his head. "Will you teach me?"

"I will! It's fun! I want to be a skater in the future!"

"Hmm? Really?"

"Yes! Trust me! I'll win gold medal and I'll show it off to you!"

"I'll be waiting," Otabek said, amused.

They arrived at the rink after a while, continuously chatting randomly on the trip. Yuri did most of the talk, talking about him and his Gramps.

They both rented pairs of skating shoes – the receptionist helped them to fasten them up, and Yuri quickly get to the ice. Otabek was worried at first as the blonde suddenly run forward to the ice but smiled as soon as he watched Yuri glided beautifully and effortlessly on the ice.

"Beka, Beka! Look! Isn't it fun?" Yuri shouted from his spot, raising both arms in the air, showing off his limited skills on the ice to the older kid. "Hurry up and come here! Catch me!" He said as he circled the rink flawlessly.

Otabek walked slowly and carefully, worried about his own balance, but it was all for naught when he finally stepped on the ice and immediately slipped and fall hard on the ice, making his ass hurt and Yuri giggled as the blonde glided towards him.

"That hurts," he said, still sitting on the ice. "And cold."

"It's ice! Come on, stand up, stand up!" Yuri said, offering his hand towards Otabek.

Otabek smiled mischievously before yanking Yuri towards him, making Yuri yelped as he fell, his head on Otabek's chest. "Gotcha," he said.

"Beka! That's unfaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiir!" Yuri whined as he made a small punch towards Otabek's arms, making the older kid giggled.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. Now help me up and teach me, Yura," Otabek said as he ruffled the blonde locks.

The blonde pouted but helped him anyway, up, standing steady on the ice. "I'll teach you, so watch me. So you do it like this, this and this, then you glide! Easy!" Yuri explained more with his movement than with words.

Otabek frowned. How was he supposed to understand? Even standing on the ice took a lot of effort for him.

"Come here," Yuri offered his hand, holding both of Otabek's palms with his tiny hands. "Start moving, slowly."Otabek moved according to Yuri's instruction, still shaky, but much better.

Left. Right. Left. Right. Otabek slowly got the hang of it after a few hours of practice. He was usually a fast-learner, but it would be another case if it requires flexibility. Yuri, on the other hand, showed off by skillfully circling the rink, making the other people in and out the rink looked at him in awe, including Otabek.

Once they got home, Otabek didn't wait to tell Victor, who seemed to be excited about the newfound skills of his baby brother. He introduced Yuri to Lilia Baranovskaya, Yakov's – his mentor and his father's right hand, after Yuri agreed to learn more about figure skating.

Yuri, of course, asked Otabek to join the ballet class with him, one of the class Yuri must take to prepare him for his future figure skating career. He laughed almost in every class as Lilia scolded Otabek every time since Otabek seemed to be really really not talented in ballet. Even the most basic move became something robotic once Otabek tried it. After a total of 15 meetings and a countless begging, Yuri finally let Otabek only accompany him in the class instead of actually joining one.


As years passed by, Yuri gradually grew closer to the Nikiforovs, although Otabek remain his closest companion, Victor being the second. Of course, Yuri looked up to Victor as his role model: handsome, perfect, confident, a perfect student with high leadership skill, a truly capable heir for the Nikiforov family. He aspired to be just like Victor in his own way.

Yuri joined his first ever figure skating competition at the age of 10, five years after he was adopted to the Nikiforov, at a competition held by the local rink for their winter festival. He placed second, a little disappointed for the flukes he made on his performance, but still earned praises from his mentor, Lilia, and of course, Otabek and his family, who proudly put his first trophy among many other achievements that belonged to Victor.

Yuri also attended his first ever public event – which was Victor's 22nd birthday party, after Victor asked Yuri attending the party as his gift. It was also a Christmas party, in a way, so the Nikiforov invited various business partners and their families, friends, and among them, many of Victor's friends.

Despite being a kid, Yuri was not stupid. He knew many talked about him, but to actually being the center of attention in the middle of the crowd and their negativity was not one he was fond of.

"Look, isn't that the Plisetsky kid?"

"He finally appear, huh."

"I heard he's taking figure skating lesson?"

"What a joke, Nikiforov owns a business empire, if they took him as their child, at least they'll prepare him properly like Victor."

"True, he is nothing like Victor."

"Maybe Anastasia and Evgeni only took a pity on that child."

"I heard he's not even that talented. He only placed second."

"Victor always the first."

Yuri tried to ignore the whispers that followed wherever he go. Otabek wasn't there with him so he did his best to just stand in the corner quietly as Victor, Anastasia and Evgeni greeted the guests.

"So you are Yuri, huh?" a kid a little older than him approached, probably the same age as Otabek.

"I wonder why a child of the Nikiforov family didn't enroll at our school? Maybe because of that commoner blood," another child made his remarks. Yuri tried to ignore, knowing well that replying wouldn't do him any good.

"Don't be like that, come on. Yuri, let's be friends, okay? It's a little hard to find children at our age," another one approached, clearly pretending to be nice.

Yuri continued ignoring the three as they continued talking about how great the Nikiforovs is. He knew, he knew it really well, after all he was staying at their mansion for five years. He was close with them. But it caught his attention when they started talking about something else.

"I heard from my parents that the Nikiforov couple was close to that certain elderly who passed away 5 years ago. Who was he again?"

"Nikolai. Nikolai Plisetsky. I'm sure he just leech of from the Nikiforov. What else does the commoner want?"

"No, my grandfather didn't do that!" Yuri shouted, enraged from the mean comment about his grandfather. They could talk about him, said that he wasn't worth it, but not about the man who had taken care of him since he was small. Not his beloved grandfather.

"Oh, so you're the grandson, huh? I just knew it. Before it was the grandfather, now it's the grandson who leech off from the Nikiforovs. I pity them."

Yuri couldn't say anything back. Being too small was an excuse, but still, he couldn't hold back his anger. Otabek was nowhere in sight to keep him in check of his temperamental issues – one that became apparent as he heard what the guests at his house always said when they visited and saw Yuri by chance. He was angry, angry to be too young to do anything, angry to be too little to be heard. Sometimes he lashed out, which only Otabek knew, hugging him until he calmed down so he wouldn't destroy any furniture, just in case, but he surely didn't want to create more troubles for the family that took him in and treated him nicely.

Yuri was tired, tired from holding back, tired from listening all the nonsense comments about him, about his grandfather, about his new family. So he did the one thing he knew would silence the older guys without him having to shout, clearly taking them by surprise, without thinking twice of the consequences. Yuri raised his hand and slapped the shortest among the three.

The sudden commotion, followed by a loud cry made a few guests' attentions turned towards them. Yuri's face flushed red, trying his best to hold his tears back.

"What did you just do to my son?!" a woman appeared, running towards the kid Yuri had just slapped and hugged him. "Did he slap you, Andrei?" Andrei nodded and cried louder in his mother's arms.

"You! Apologize to Andrei, now!" the mother said.

"No! I did nothing wrong!" Yuri answered back, his voice almost sound choked. "He.. He started it."

"There's no way that my Andrei started it, you liar!" she said it, blaming it all to the small blonde child. "You.. You really are not worth the name of Niki-"

Yuri felt a pair of slender hands on his shoulder, gentle, but firm. He looked up to see Victor stood behind him. "Did my brother did something to offend you, Mrs. Verenich?" he asked calmly, eyeing the woman and the crying child – who now had stopped after seeing Victor. Yes, Victor was that mesmerizing.

"Oh, Victor! No, no, nothing, it's just a child bickering, that's all," Mrs. Verenich said, sugarcoating everything.

"Oh really. It seems that my brother hit your son, didn't he? I'm really sorry about that," Victor said calmly, putting on a smile Yuri had never seen before. A beautiful smile, but it was just not Victor.

Who is this man?

"But Vic-" Yuri couldn't continue as he felt Victor tightened his grip, as if telling him to stay put.

"It's okay, you know. They're just kids. Sorry to make a commotion at your party, Victor."

"No problem. I hope this matter is settled then," Victor smiled again.

"Yes, yes of course."

"Good. But Mrs. Verenich, you know, when you said it was a child bickering, I didn't realize that you were part of it. Well, it's okay to act so young, but it wasn't quite your age anymore, isn't it? You're like, Yuri's age tripled?" Victor chuckled, coldly.

No one could say a word, not even Yuri.

"And I would like to say it nicely, while I can, Mrs. Verenich. Don't you ever say that Yuri is not worthy of the name Nikiforov. He is my brother, and my parent's son too, so I would like it if you stop insulting him, please? I'll keep this matter to myself for now, but please be reminded that if this ever happens again, I'll make sure the Nikiforov would stop any business with the Verenich. Am I making myself clear?" Victor said, still beaming a smile with no trace of warmth in his eyes. In fact, his words was ice cold and sharp. Mrs. Verenich could only see him with a horrified look in her face and nodded slowly.

"Well then. I hope you enjoy the rest of the party. Merry Christmas to you, Mrs. Verenich," Victor said one last time, turning Yuri around and walked off with the kid.

After they walked quite far from the crowd, Victor stopped and kneeled in front of Yuri. "Yuri, are you okay?"

"Just let me go, stupid Victor!" Yuri said, yanked his arm away and ran back towards his room.


Yuri curled in his room, crying. Yes, he did cry a lot. He didn't even bother changing his clothes.

Beka. Where are you?

He took a glance at the clock. His vision was blurry so he tried to wipe away the tears that had been flowing out of his eyes for a while. Just then he heard someone running towards his room. Towards him.

"Yura! Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? I heard from master, he said-" Otabek couldn't finish his sentence as Yuri pulled him in for a hug and cried on his chest. "Yura.." he said softly as he run his fingers through the blonde locks.

"Beka.. They said.. They said my gramps.."

"Ssh.. I know. I heard. But we all know its not true, right? No one in this house think so. We all love you, we are proud of you."

"They say I'm not worthy.. I'm not good enough. I'm not like Victor," Yuri continue to sobbed.

Otabek smiled fondly. He caressed Yuri's cheeks and lift his face up, the green orbs met with black. "Listen to me. You are not Victor. Nobody in this house want you to be him. Just be the Yuri that you are, the Yuri that I know. Victor is Victor and you are you. It's that simple."

"Really?" Yuri looked at him, a little calmer now. Otabek really could do wonder on him.

"Really. Now let's go to the family room and talk to your family. You should tell them, Yuri. It's important for you to talk. Let them know what you think and let yourself hear their opinion and be honest with each other. Okay?"

"I.. I'm afraid.."

Otabek sighed and leaned in to Yuri. He softly kissed Yuri's forehead, making Yuri blushed but keep quiet and let Otabek did what he did. "You shouldn't worry. It'll be okay. In fact, they are really worried about you once they heard what happened from Victor. Let's go?"

Yuri nodded. He let Otabek wipe his face with a wet towel and dry them and change Yuri's clothes to the tiger printed pajama that Victor bought him for his birthday the previous year. Otabek didn't let go of his hand until they reached the family room and excuse himself, saying that Yuri should have some family bonding time with them.

"Yuri.." Victor was the first one to speak up. Yuri kept his eyes on the floor as he stood still. "Come and sit here?" He said again, patting the empty spot beside him. Yuri moved and sat a little further from Victor.

They spent few minutes in silence. The Nikiforovs seemed to be patiently waiting for their youngest to speak up.

"Um.. I.. Beka told me to talk to you," Yuri started, hugging the pillow cushion close to him. "I just.. I feel out of place. That I don't belong here. I mean, I was thankful that you guys take care of me, letting me do what I wanted but I can't be like Victor. I can't be the son you expect me to be. I.. Everytime they talked about me, I felt like I really am not worthy to be your son. I'm sorry I snapped today but I couldn't hold it when they talk about my gramps like that. I don't- I mean, I just-" Yuri spoke fast, as if he was mumbling, and stopped only when he couldn't find words to explain it.

"Yuri," Evgeni was the one to reply first while Anastasia only looked at him, trying to empathize what the 10 years old could have felt. "You are our son. There's no worthy or not worthy when you're one. You are part of the Nikiforov family, no one could tell you otherwise."

Yuri didn't reply, only nodding at his voice.

"Yuri," this time was Anastasia. She left her spot to hug Yuri close. Yuri was taken aback, as he never really let anyone in the house to hug him other than Otabek, but he didn't move. "You are our son. Just like how Nikolai had always treated us like his son. We are family, although we weren't connected by blood. You are you, and Vitya is Vitya, you don't have to be like him. We don't expect anything from you, we just want you to be happy, have a proper education, do what you wanted and one day, when you are ready, you can choose what or who you wanted to be," Anastasia said softly.

Yuri didn't cry and instead, he felt calm. Safe. Warm. He let Anastasia patted his back.

Maybe this is how it felt to be in your mother's embrace.

Yuri nodded, hugging Anastasia back.

Maybe I should say it. Maybe. I hope they'll be okay with it.

"Thank you, мама, папа," he said. Anastasia let go of the kid, both her and Evgeni were surprised at the sudden call, the first time Yuri called them father and mother. The first time Yuri finally accepted them.

"And," he continued, moving to Victor and hugged the silver haired man. "Thank you, большой брат, for everything. Really."

Victor smiled, ruffling the soft blonde hair. "Anytime, baby brother. Anytime."

So this is how it felt to have a family.