CHAPTER SIX HUNDRED TWENTY FOUR

Minako waited for a little while and listened for a reaction, but at least at first, there was no response. She tapped her knuckle on the door a second time, "Nikki...come open the door, please. It's just me." She explained, hoping the information would at least quell some anxieties. An ear pressed close to the door again to listen, but this time, she heard movement. To her surprise, the lock clicked. The door didn't open though; a series of quick, light thumps retreated from it. Minako quirked a brow, but then tapped the panel a third time, and reached for the handle. It crept open slowly, and Minako looked around the entry hall. She barely caught sight of the blanket pile move before it fell still on the furthest of the two beds, and stepped towards it quietly. Not wanting to startle the teen, she placed her hand on the pile before she sat on the edge of the mattress. She huffed a single, quiet laugh to herself, "You know, I was expecting the 'go away' treatment... I'm glad you let me in." She started, and tried to figure out her way around the blankets. Three had been piled up, from what she could tell of the fabric pattern and the number of corners she could see. She supposed the direction the teen had jumped under from, and started to pull up the corner she hoped was closest to the girl's head. True to her guess, the first hints of that long, wavy, silver hair came into her sights, "After all the stuff you've gone through in the last couple months...I guess it was inevitable that something would break you down. I'm sorry it had to be something like this."

"...This was th-the first thing that..." Nikki started, voice quiet already but muffled by the pile. She had to pause to catch a strained breath, and turned her head to face the gap in the puffy sheets, "That made me think...things were s-starting to get better. But it r-really is true...that...the h-highest highs, come w-with the lowest lows..."

"You've been on a rollercoaster, that's for sure..." Minako agreed, "I never wanted to get into the middle of things since we'd only just met for the first time in Calgary... The last thing I needed was for you guys to think I was some uppity nosy busy-body, getting into your business like I thought I had any right. It's none of my business how other families handle things. But maybe I can nudge my knee in the door now, at least as a friend."

"A friend would be better th-than what I h-have right now..." Nikki admitted, and let the blankets get peeled away enough that her dry, red eyes could be seen through parts in her hair, "I feel l-like I have...n-nothing..."

"That's not true. You've got a whole bunch of people around who care about you." Minako defended, "Is all the traveling for the competitions bothering you? You've basically been in one place your whole life, and now suddenly you're all over the place."

"It's f-fine..." She insisted, and reached in closer to rub her nose, "And I know t-that I'm not alone... It's just... I have n-no one outside of this..."

"Ah...I see. What happened to all your friends back in Banff? I thought you said you'd set up an online group to keep up with them."

"Being online i-is...difficult for me..." Nikki answered sullenly, "I thought it would be fine but I just feel more alone than ever. They're all still together a-and I'm...so far away. And everyone around me now is...so much older than I am..."

"Yurio's in your age group."

"H-he's...here though. He's part of the in-group...someone I can't ever really get away from for long." Nikki pointed out, and pushed up onto her hands in frustration, "And b-besides...he's..."

"...He's...?"

"He's still a big jerk sometimes." She admitted grimly, "He's too...loud and p-proud to just...shut up and listen sometimes."

"Ah...I suppose that must've made Otabek a breath of fresh air." Minako supposed, "He's really quiet."

Nikki shook her head, and reached up to move some of her hair out of her face, "He t-talks... He has a lot to say...he's just..."

"Selective about who he likes to talk to?"

"Y-yeah..." She nodded as she lowered her head, "I even thought I was annoying him for a while...but then, around the time we went to Russia for Yuri's competition...Otabek started talking more. I guess I just latched onto it...because he would answer most of the time... My friends in Canada are usually too busy or it's too late at night, compared to where we are." She clarified, only to find the sting behind her eyes again, and she dropped back down to the blankets, "And Viktor took it all away from me with one stupid conversation!"

Minako blinked, She totally blames Viktor...? "What about your father?"

"I know he's happy about this! I don't need to hear him say it!" Nikki lamented, "He wasn't the one who convinced Otabek to block me though! He's just...riding the sails of how convenient it is..."

"It's going to be up to him though, in a way, whether this situation is salvageable..." The ballerina pointed out, and reached over to gently pat the teen's shoulder, "And Viktor told me what he talked to Otabek about that lead to this. He didn't tell Otabek to block or avoid you. But...Otabek is - apparently - particularly worried what people think of him. He pulled Viktor aside just to ask if Yura was mad at him, because Yura's been ornery lately."

"He's always like that though..."

"Not with Otabek." Minako pointed out quickly, "I've been following figure skating for quite a long time, and the first time I ever saw Otabek smile was when Mari and I spotted him hanging out with Yura in Barcelona. He never even smiled when he won something."

"...I see him smile..."

"He likes you though. Same as Yura." Minako mused, "And therein lies the problem. It's no big deal for Otabek and Yura to be friends, because they're pretty close and age and both boys. You though..."

"...I'm so tired of hearing about how old I am." Nikki grumbled miserably, "I know I just turned fifteen."

"And he turned twenty a few months ago." The ballerina stated firmly, "It's a very precarious situation."

"But I just-"

"You just want to be friends. I know." Minako reassured, "But I'm also not blind, and neither is anyone else in this house. Everyone sees it. You have big ol' googly-eyes for Otabek."

Nikki's face turned bright red, but all she could do was bite down on a blanket and whined quietly.

"And I can't blame you," The ballerina clarified, "He is easy on the eyes. And he's easy-going, confident, determined...and according to Yuri, dependable, trustworthy, and honorable. But the key thing is that he's single. And you know something? You said he didn't talk to you much in the beginning...I bet it's not because he thought you were annoying. It's because he was just starting to date Mila."

"...Eh?"

"And then when they broke up - well, fizzled out - soon after that...he was suddenly more available."

Nikki lifted her head again, still red-faced, but with an annoyed look on her face, "Are you saying I'm his re-bound?"

"Oh no no, no nooooo no no...!" Minako protested, waving her hands around, frantically, "I was trying to play off what Yuri said about him... I'm saying he wasn't that talkative before because he's loyal. Otabek is really worried about what people think of him, and he must've considered what it might look like to Mila if he was chatting privately with another girl."

"Oh..."

Minako leaned forward on her knees and rubbed her head nervously, "I'm really not saying what I came in here to say... It's like I'm trying to sell Otabek's qualifications like some kind of impromptu match-maker or something. Ugh..."

"...What did you come here for then...?"

"I wanted to figure out where you stand on this whole debacle so I could go to your dad and ask him to chill out." She answered, eyes on the ground, "Because the only way this is really going to get fixed is if Mik says it's okay for Otabek to talk to you."

"Papa's never going to say that..."

Minako glanced back over her shoulder, then sat upright again and slouched slightly, "I don't think it's impossible. Mik's just...projecting the worst of himself and is getting worked up about it."

Nikki blinked in confusion, "The...worst of himself...? Why would he do that?"

"Because that's what dads do, I think." She explained tepidly, "They want the best for their kids, and that goes for partners, too. In Japan, papa is still head of the family, and for any guy wanting to woo his daughter, making the best impression to dad can make or break the entire thing. For those with a Russian cultural background..." She paused, and smiled to herself, "I actually looked into this a bit when your dad and I started going steady. I was really disappointed with him because of it."

"...D-disappointed? Why?"

"Your papa was so worried about being taken advantage of that he practically didn't admit we were dating until he proposed. The Russian tradition is very romantic. Buying flowers, holding doors, never letting their lady-friend carry more than the weight of their own small hand-bag...and most importantly, always making the girl feel taken care of and honored. Girls in Russia will spend a lot of time and effort looking nice for their dates, and their dates, in turn, are expected to spend a lot of time and effort appreciating it. Otabek may not have grown up in Russia, but Kazakhstan was a part of greater Russia for a long time, so I imagine the cultures are very similar."

Nikki watched and listened in wonder, and her head slowly turned towards the birthday gift sitting on her nightstand. She picked herself up on her hands and knees and crawled the few feet towards it, then pulled it off the top and into both hands. The cord didn't let her go far with it, but she looked down into the single carnation encased in resin, and the lightbox it sat on, "...He...said he got the idea for this from Papa's gift..."

"Hmmm...a single flower. What a romantic overture." Minako teased, only to button up again, "Damnit I keep doing that."

"...Do you really...think he likes me...?" Nikki wondered nervously, and eyeballed the woman, still holding the carnation in her palms.

Minako hesitantly perked up, and considered her words carefully, "...Uhm...I think...it's important that I don't put words in his mouth. And that I try not to project myself onto you the same way Mik is onto Otabek. I trust Yuri's character-assessment of Otabek so I feel comfortable knowing you and him are friendly. But, I also have to consider what Yura said about how Otabek sees his younger friends - at least Yura himself - as being like a younger sibling that he's protective of, and that may extend to you, too."

"...Oh..."

"...But let me ask this much of you." Minako started up again, "If and when this all sorts itself out, and you can talk to Otabek again...no matter what else is said about it, can you be careful in the way you act around him?"

"...Careful...how...?"

"Just being friends. The way you guys are now is totally fine. But...even though you like hugging people and being really close, understand that he probably can't and likely won't return it until he won't get in trouble for it. And...that assumes he's even interested. I can only really speak about this from our side of the equation."

"...So...how do we...find out...? What do I even do now?"

"Come with me downstairs to talk to your papa. Help him understand that his blasé attitude to Otabek blocking you is hurtful and unnecessary. And then...maybe convince him to talk to Otabek to clear the air."

Nikki went red again, "I could never convince him to-"

"Do you ever want to talk to Otabek again?" Minako asked pointedly, giving a serious look.

The teen sank where she sat, and looked from Minako back down to the carnation bauble, then to the fixed phone-screen that she still believed had been repaired on her friend's dime. She sighed and slouched where she sat, "...I wish I was older...then this wouldn't even be a problem." She said quietly, but then nodded, and tried to regain her esteem, "I don't want to lose a friend over something this depressing. I'll...try my best."