The walk home was a long, torturous one, with Nikolai berating himself the entire way. He was useless, stupid! How could he have let this happen? He had let Aliya down when she needed him the most. And the worst part was that he hadn't even noticed she had needed help. He had no right to stay by her side when he couldn't even protect her from some drunken idiots. What kind of pathetic excuse for a man can't protect the girl he loves? Especially when she was always looking after him in every way imaginable, and he let this happen to her? She had tried to put a rational spin on it and say the whole thing wasn't a big deal, but clearly she was emotionally shaken. And there hadn't been a damn thing he could do about it, since he had missed the chance to act in the moment.

Thankfully, when he arrived home his parents had already gone to bed, and he was able to avoid them entirely, instead spending most of the night torturing himself. When daylight trickled through his window and his alarm sounded, he slapped it off impatiently and resumed staring at the ceiling. After a few minutes, he convinced himself that he should get up and face the day, even if it was on zero sleep.

After getting dressed, he briefly considered breakfast, but quickly ruled against it. He bypassed the kitchen altogether and went for his black bag in the closet. The sound of the closet opening attracted his otousan's attention, and Yuuri's voice called from the kitchen, "Nika, is that you?"

Not wanting any conversation, Nikolai shouldered the bag and called back, "Hai, Otousan. I'm not hungry, so I'm just going to head to the rink early." Not waiting for a response, he walked to the door and shoved his feet into the closest pair of shoes that fit.

As he was ducking out, he heard his otousan's voice call behind him, "See you in a little bit, Nika." A brief pang of guilt struck him, but not enough to force a response out of him before closing the door.

He was relieved to see the lights were still off when he arrived. He let himself in, thankful not to have to deal with the receptionist's overbearing amounts of peppiness today. He entered the arena and turned the lights on, allowing the sound of the electric buzz to fizz in his bones. Impatiently, he laced up his skates, and stepped onto the pristine ice. He started speeding around the edge, gaining momentum. Without hesitation, he stepped onto his left foot, lifted his right leg, and launched himself.

As his feet left the ice, he knew that his attempt at a double Axel was going to fail. His center of balance was all off, and he felt like the world was tipping around him. He barely completed one rotation before he crashed to the ice, a desperate tangle of limbs and blades as he tried to figure out which way was up.

Eventually, he stopped sliding, and his body flopped limply onto the ice. He stared up at the steel beams of the ceiling, and let out a hollow laugh. He had given up hockey because he wanted to be with Aliya a bit longer, and see where it had gotten him. He wasn't a man that could protect her anymore. He wasn't a man who could protect anyone important to him. Hell, he wasn't even a man who could land a double Axel. He laughed like the empty shell he had become.

As the remnants of his laughter echoed around the empty arena, hollow and booming, he sat up and sifted his fingers through his hair. He needed to pull himself together. All he had to do was get through this week, and then he would go back to hockey. He could see now that his path was clear. He had given into his feelings for too long, when he should have been focused on protecting the people that were dear to him. And his negligence had resulted in the most important person of all getting hurt. But no more. He would rededicate himself to hockey, as soon as the week was over. That was the only way he could protect everyone.

A voice calling to him over the ice interrupted his thoughts, and he snapped his head up to see Dmitri standing next to his otousan, waving at him. Quickly, he stood up and pasted what he hoped was a convincing smile on his face. "Hi, Dmitri!" he called.

"Hi, Nikolai Victorevich. Are you ok? Why were you sitting on the ice?"

The smile became a bit more strained. "Oh, I had just fallen, and was picking myself back up. Are you ready for practice today?"

Dmitri's face brightened. "Yeah!"

Nikolai's smile relaxed a little as he saw the genuine enjoyment on the boy's face. "Well, have fun, and don't mind me. I'll stay out of your way as usual."

"Ok!" Dmitri answered brightly. Nikolai's eyes met his otousan's briefly over the boy's head, but he hurriedly broke the gaze and turned away. Thankfully, Yuuri seemed willing to give him his space, and they shared the ice uneventfully until Nikolai felt a buzzing in his pocket.

He stepped off to the side by the gate. He had forgotten that he even had his phone in his pocket still. Unlocking it, he saw that the notification was a text from Aliya. His pulse leapt into his mouth as he anxiously read what she had to say: Hey, Kolya. Thanks for last night. I don't know what I would have done without you there.

Nikolai's lip curled up a bit in disgust at himself over the memory. She didn't know what she would have done without him? What had he actually done? Walked her home? What good was that? His reply formed itself from his dark emotions. I didn't really do anything.

Yes, you did! I was really freaked out. You helped a lot. I'd like to bring you lunch today to thank you, if that's ok.

His immediate reaction of self-loathing was tempered by the hidden plea of the last line. He sighed, defeated. Of course it's ok. You can come by in about an hour and a half, the first class should be done by then.

Ok! See you in a bit!

He stared at his phone for a few seconds, not sure what he was feeling. He decided it was easiest to ignore his feelings, shoved his phone back in his pocket, and took off over the ice again.

Pretty soon, kids began trickling in for the class, and his otousan greeted them all individually as they got their skates on. Nikolai chose to stay out on the far side of the rink until his otousan called him in to divide up the class into small groups. Mechanically, Nikolai greeted his group of students for the day and led them off to practice their newest skill, hardly even noticing what he was teaching them. He managed to get through it somehow, and sent them off to his otousan when he called for the whole group to gather together for a few last exercises. Rolling his head around his neck in an effort to return to the real world, he began skating towards the benches and immediately saw something that finished bringing him back to reality.

Aliya was sitting on a bench, her back to him, leaning away from a figure towering over her.

Evgeny.

Nikolai wasn't sure how fast he got across the ice, but it felt like the slowest he had ever skated. It must have been faster than he thought, though, because he collided with the gate in a misjudgment of the distance between himself and his target. He didn't bother opening it, instead choosing to swing his legs over the partition, the motion feeling oddly light without his hockey gear on. He ignored this feeling and stalked over to the bench, snarling, "What the fuck do you think you're doing, Dadonov?"

He relished the look of surprise as Evgeny looked up and saw Nikolai stalking towards him. The expression didn't last long, however, rapidly morphing into something more sinister. "I'm just talking to this lovely lady here. What's it to you, goluboy?"

By now, Nikolai had reached them, and shot his hands out roughly, propelling Evgeny violently away from Aliya. As he did, he stepped in front of the bench, positioning himself firmly between his love and Evgeny. The other boy stumbled back a few paces before catching himself. He snarled, "What the fuck is wrong with you? I was just talking to her."

Nikolai's veins crackled as he shot back, "She clearly didn't like it! When someone's leaning away from you, maybe you should leave them the fuck alone!"

Evgeny's eyes grew wide with shock, then promptly narrowed into angry slits. "Whatever, pidor. It's not really your business either way, is it?"

Subconsciously, Nikolai's body readied itself for a fight. His knees bent as his stance dropped, and his head lowered down to glare at his opponent as he hissed, "I'm going to protect her."

Evgeny smirked. "Yeah? You think you can do that? You're weak as shit. You aren't even a real man, you're just some figure skating gomosek. There's no way you can protect anyone."

Blind rage filled Nikolai, and he launched himself forward. As he shifted, however, a weight suddenly attached itself around his waist, halting his motion. Startled, he looked down, and saw Aliya's arms anchored around his middle. Craning his head back, he saw her face, blue eyes holding in tears as she choked out, "Kolya, leave him alone! You shouldn't hit him!"

Her plea hit his heart like a dagger, and he used it to whet the edge off his fury. Turning back to Evgeny, he ground out, "You'd better take your brother and get out of here. I don't want to see you near her again, or next time I won't stop before I hit you, understand?"

There was a flicker behind the other boy's eyes as he replied haughtily, "Whatever. She's not even worth the trouble." His eyes shifted away nervously to locate his brother, and he called, a bit shakily Nikolai noted with satisfaction, "Fyodor, hurry up. We're leaving." Not waiting for his little brother, Evgeny turned around with a last sneer. He couldn't' seem to resist a parting jab as he walked away. "Seems kinda pathetic that you have to have your girlfriend take care of your fights for you, though."

Aliya's hold tightened, but Nikolai just clenched his fists to vent the extra rage. He watched carefully as the Dadonovs left, only relaxing his body as the door swung shut behind them.

Aliya's arms dropped at the same time, and he was suddenly free to move. He didn't take advantage of this, however. With his back still to his friend, he asked softly, "Are you ok?"

Her answer came hurriedly, "Yes, Kolya, I'm fine! He didn't really do anything, he was just being pushy. Thank you for coming, though. I was getting really uncomfortable, and didn't really know what to do. I don't know what I would have done without you―"

"Stop saying that!"

Aliya's voice faded into nothing for a second, and then she ventured timidly, "K-Kolya?"

He cut her off, brutally, forcefully. "Stop, Aliya. I'm fine. I just…I think it's time we ended this."

Her voice was tremulous now when she spoke again, as if she'd had to gather up the quivering strings of her throat that had been shattered by his harsh outburst. "Wh-what? What do you mean? End what?"

"Our partnership. It's just not working out."

Voice gaining strength now, Aliya protested, "Why would you say that, Kolya? We've been working really well together! And you still have a week before you can go back to hockey, why don't you just stay and finish this out with me like you―"

"I'm not injured, Aliya."

The stunned silence coming from his back hung in the air like fog. "Wh…what did you say?" she finally asked softly.

Nikolai gritted his teeth. "I said, I'm not injured anymore. When I went to the doctor last week, I lied about not being healed. He said I was cleared to go back to hockey. But I lied about it. I thought we could make this work out. But now I see I was obviously wrong. Let's just end this here, Aliya." His fists tightened, and he had to force out his next words as if he was pushing a truck single-handedly. "I'm going back to hockey, starting today. Thank you for having me as your temporary partner. I'll see you around." And, without looking back, he strode out of the rink.