A/N: So, I need to inform you of a few things before we start. This particular backstory focuses around Moscow, Russia and so people will be speaking… well, Russian. I do not know Russian… and I'm sure most of you don't either and so just assume that everyone is speaking in Russian as you read the dialogue.

1. If someone speaks in English it will look like this "Text".

2. Sometimes there might actually be a Russian word typed (looking as it would be written in English) (Or just something that may need explaining), they will be underlined.

3. Anything underlined will be explained at the end of the chapter.

I apologize in advance if I get something wrong with the Russian language or culture… I've been doing some research, but I've never been there.

Story 3 – Sergei Petrov

Part 1

Ten.

Exhaling deeply, a boy brushed sandy bangs from in front of ocean blue eyes, paying no attention to the fog that escaped his mouth as he surveyed the area around him. From a distance, he found fresh footprints littering the snow, and a grin, mischievous in nature, formed on his.

Quickly, he dashed through the trees in pursuit of the one who'd left them. The tracks looked just made and he didn't want to lose his target. It wouldn't have been the first time.

He went deeper into the woods, being careful of uplifted roots and the occasional hidden rock. It was probably dangerous to run in such an untamed place, as it was hard to tell what was under the snow and one misstep could end in injury… but wasn't that was part of the fun?

Much to the boy's disappointment, however, the tracks ended almost as abruptly as they had started with no other lead to follow. It was as if his target had disappeared into thin air, which of course wasn't highly possible. Glancing around, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his winter coat in thought. He doubted the target was that smart. He was just missing something.

Looking back to the footprints, he examined them closer and found that they looked a bit deformed. It didn't take long before the light bulb in his head went off. He'd seen it before in a movie. His target had back tracked inside of his own footprints, but had done a sloppy job at it. They looked weird because it wasn't just one set but two of them lying on top of each other.

Wasting no more time, the boy set off back in the direction he had come from. Halfway to where he'd found the trail, his attention was diverted to the snap of a branch. Looking up, he smirked as his blue orbs met a pair of brown ones, peeking out from atop a branch. "Found you."

From up in the tree, his target clicked his tongue, "Damn it. I thought I'd got you this time. You're too good, Sergei." The boy grinned, dropping down at a dangerous height without the slightest hesitation.

Cossacks and Robbers happened to be one of their all-time favorite games, and something they played quite often. Sergei almost never lost when he played as a Cossack.

With a shrug, the master finder grabbed his target's upperarm, it wouldn't have been the first time he'd tried to run and pretend like he hadn't been caught. "I just know all your tricks, Yuri."

The captive snorted at this and rolled his eyes as he dusted the snow off of his winter jacket, "Well, I don't know about that."

Sergei noticed the challenge in his voice and let out a snort of his own. If it was one thing that he knew about Yuri, it was that he had way more confidence in himself than he should have.

Shoving the 'robber' forward, the two boys headed through the snow-covered trees in a content silence. Sergei himself was never much of a conversationalist and there was no doubt in his mind that Yuri was taking advantage of this silence to go over what he could do to improve his next attempt to hide.

Two quiet minutes passed before the boys came upon a clearing were a group of children squatted. One in particular, the only girl, sat Indian-style on a stump with her back to them, attention trained on the three boys in front of her, who sat in a row around a tree with hands behind their backs.

She was the first to hear Sergei and Yuri approach and turned in their direction, a wide grin spreading across her face. "Hey it's Sergei!" She piped up and hopped off the tree stump. "Sergei's found Yuri!" The girl announced to their surroundings, yelling as loud as her little lungs would let her.

A few of the boys flinched as her voice echoed, making their ears ring. For someone so short, Mishka was probably one of the lowest girls they knew. In response, a few voices shouted back to let her know they'd gotten the message.

"Finally!" One of the boys on the ground groaned standing up to stretch his stiff limbs. Filipp had never liked being a robber, he was always caught first and then had to sit out most of the game. It wasn't necessarily that he wasn't a talented hider, it was just that he took too long to find his 'perfect spot', as he often called it.

"Why don't you let Svetlana and me catch a few people sometime?" a bored looking boy complained, face nearly identical to the more feminine version at his side as they entered the clearing through the trees. His name was Ivan and the girl was his twin sister, Svetlana.

"You caught Filipp," Mishka pointed out thoughtfully.

The twin girl snorted, "Anyone can catch him."

"Hey!" said boy exclaimed.

"Well, it is true isn't it?" Yuri questioned, patting the boy's head.

"No!" he growled, swatting the hand away.

"Sure," one of the boys still sitting against the tree snickered, nudging the other, "That's about as true as when he said Goga's old bull dog didn't make him run home crying like a little baby!"

"Shut up, Dmitry," Filipp yelled glaring at his so-called friends, "and stop laughing Kazimir it's not funny!"

"Sorry," Kazimir giggled, giving him a look of apology as he covered his smile.

"Don't be sorry," Dmitry scoffed, chuckling, "It's only funny because it's true."

Filipp was one of the youngest in the group and Yuri's little brother. No one ever took him very seriously, not even Dmitry and Kazimir who he hung out with the most. The three of them were a bit like a clumsy, dysfunctional version of the three musketeers. Filipp was the self-proclaimed leader of the trio and the other two just let him think that, or rather Kazimir was too nice to say otherwise and Dmitry just liked to laugh behind "the leader's" back… or at his face, it didn't really matter really.

Mishka smiled sympathetically and rested a hand on Filipp's shoulder. "Aw, it's ok. Goga's dog scares everybody. Its lazy eye seems like follow you around everywhere, right?" she asked as she pointed to her own eye, and then laughed at the image that came to mind.

The boy tensed, the anger toward his friends dissolving under her touch. "A-ah, yeah. E-exactly," he stammered, a pink flush highlighting his cheeks as he looked anywhere but at her. The change in his demeanor going noticed by everyone around, but the girl who'd caused it.

Dmitry grinned at him knowingly and Filipp glared, kicking a clump of snow at his face, "What are you looking at?!"

"Not be shy," Yuri cooed, taking a seat on the stump that had once been occupied, "everyone already knows anyway."

"Knows what?" Mishka questioned in interest and Flilpp shot a look of embarrassed horror at his brother, daring him to answer her question.

"Well… almost everyone," he corrected himself and scooted over so a silent Sergei could take a seat beside him. "Boy, your cousin is quite clueless, huh?" Yuri commented lowly as he watched his brother make up an excuse to get Mishka off his case.

The quiet boy shrugged, tugging at the hood of his coat, as he watched the scene with slight amusement. "Your brother is a bit of a mess too," he countered.

"Touché," Yuri hummed, drumming the tips of his fingers on his knee.

xXx

"Mishka, get up," Sergri grunted, staring down at the sleeping girl, who took up most of the couch.

"Nnnnn…" she muttered drowsily as she stretched out her limps, not bothering to open her eyes.

The boy sucked his teeth, tapping her with a tired hand. "Mishka."

"Nnnnnnn…." She nearly whined, turning away from him and burring her face deeper into his mother's favorite throw pillow.

Sighing, Sergei took a seat on the floor and leaned against the couch, letting his head fall back onto the cushion. Closing his eyes, he decided not to let Mishka's stubbornness get to him. He didn't really blame her after all, it was always a pain to walk home from school. Six blocks forward and back everyday wasn't exactly a walk in the park, more so in the snow. Even for a pretty active kid like himself it was a bit much.

"Serii?" a voice called, small hands patting him in the chest.

Opening his eyes, he rested them on a three year old boy chewing on his lower lip. "What is it, Alexsei?"

"Um, um…" the little one paused, thinking. "Where is Mama?" he asked, taking an unwelcomed seat on Sergei's legs, though the older boy did not bother to move him.

"At work," he answered. It was a question that was often asked once Sergei got home. Almost as if one day he was expecting it to be a different answer, or perhaps he had just truly forgot.

"Oh," Alexsei pouted, sinking a bit. He was used to his mother being home, but a few months ago she had gotten a job. It was a great financial move for the household, but Alexsei missed her a lot.

"Where is my Mama?" Sergei asked, patting the boy's head. He had seen her on the way in, but the woman was always bustling around the flat. It was hard to keep tabs on her.

"Tetya is in the kitchen."

Nodding, the older boy motioned for Alexsei to get off his legs and stood up. "Let's see if she'll let us have a snack," he suggested, holding out his hand for the boy to take.

"Yeah," the little one agreed, taking hold of Sergei's fingers with his little hands.

The two walked into the kitchen to find the woman in question re-organizing the shelves, a sea of boxes, bags, and containers scattered about on the counters. Stretching, she smiled which she saw them. "What are you two up to?"

"Hungry," Alexsei explained, his free hand going to his mouth to tap his teeth absently.

"Oh, so you're hopping I'll let you sneak a snack before dinner… is that is?" Sergei's Mama probed knowingly, putting away the boxes currently occupying her workspace.

"Alexsei is missing Tetya Sophie. Food usually cheers him up," her son explained with a shrug.

Her smile softened in understanding. "Ah I see, well in that case I suppose it wouldn't hurt to let you have a little toffee?"

"Toffee?!" Alexsei cried in surprise and hopped in place, shaking Sergei's arm excitedly in the process. "Really?!"

Mama nodded, "Would I lie to you?" she asked and presented the box of treats onto the kitchen table. "Just don't eat the all. I'm starting on supper soon, and I don't think Baba would be too happy if you ate all of her toffee."

"Ok!" the little one answered a little too quickly as he ran over to sit at the table.

Sergei opened the container for him and placed a few pieces of individually wrapped toffee into the boy's eagerly waiting hands before taking a seat across from him and grabbing a few for himself. As they ate, he listened silently as Alexei chatted away about what he had down while Sergei was at school. It was hard to understand him with a fistful of toffee in his mouth, but he gave the boy his full attention nonetheless.

His mother on the other hand, continued to flutter around the kitchen putting things away into their new places in the kitchen. She only broke from her concentration long enough to correct Alexsei or grab a piece of toffee for herself to enjoy. Sergei offered to help her, but she declined. For her, it was easier to organize things by herself, she would have ended up redoing anything he put away anyway.

A few minutes later, the slamming of the front door and the shuffling of feet signaled the arrival of his grandparents.

"Perdoon Stary. Why come if you are not going to carry anything?" the rough old voice of his grandmother reprimanded. She shifted two brown paper bags around in her arms with slight difficulty as she walked through the kitchen door, Sergei stood up immediately to help her with them.

"I would my Golubushka, but how can I when you refuse to let me?" his grandfather chuckled, hobbling in after her on his cane. He wore a content smile on his face as he patted the boys on the head and gave his daughter a kiss on the cheek.

"Bah!" the old woman snorted, pulling out the groceries while Sergei began to put them away. "Go sit down before you bust your other knee," she grumbled, waving him toward the table.

"Alright," his grandfather complied contently, limping over to take a seat near Alexsei. The little one immediately began pulling the old man into a conversation about his newest obsession: trains.

Sergei and his mother had watched the exchange between the old couple with hidden amusement. It was a common occurrence whenever the two came back from a shopping trip. Grandpa Boris had ruined his knee in a hunting accident a long time ago and couldn't walk well anymore without support from his cane.

Grandma Alena knew this, of course, and rarely let him carry anything. Her complaining was really just her personality. She was blunt and—in Grandpa Boris' own words—"showed her affection through harsh criticism".

Grandpa on the other hand was much more calm and collected. He didn't mind putting up with his wife and often called her personality "cute", which no one else could really get. It was often said that Boris was probably a masochist.

Following his grandfather's example, Sergei put up with his grandmother as she instructed him with great detail on where all the food items were to go and how he was supposed to place them. Like his mother, she was very specific on where things were mean to be, but the difference was that she didn't mind having someone else place it for her as long as she supervised.

When he was finished putting up the groceries, the two women shooed the males back into the living room where they sat around the television to watch whatever channel the three of them could agree on. After, of course, finally waking up Mishka and sending her into the kitchen to help. Being half-asleep, the poor girl almost ran into a wall on the way in.

After a few minutes of a certain little boy commenting on everything that took place in the show, the front door opened again, this time revealing an exhausted looking blond woman in a pencil skirt and a tight fitting blouse. Upon hearing her come in, Alexsei instantly shot off the couch and latched himself around the woman's knees. "Mama!"

The woman, Sergei's Aunt Sophie, smiled. "How was your day, Alexsei?"

"Good! Tetya taught me how to count by twos!"

"She did? That's wonderful, you are going to be so smart when you start school next year," she praised him, learning down to give him a big hug. "Where is your sister?"

"In the kitchen with Tetya and Baba."

Standing back up, she greeted everyone with a kiss on the cheek and headed into the kitchen to see the women. Alexsei, happy after finally seeing his mother, began to pull Sergei and his Grandfather into another conversation about trains.

By the time it was over, the table had been set and everyone gravitated toward it just as the door opened for the third time, letting the bearded and slightly husky man known as Sergei's father walk in, whistling Korobushka.

Sergei's mother smiled instantly, setting down the last of the food on to the table with a little more force than necessary, before ripping off her oven mitts. She half trotted, half jogged, toward him and flung her arms around his neck. "Welcome home," she greeted eagerly and he kissed her forehead in response.

After helping Papa out of his coat, Mama followed him to the table and sat at one end of it, while he took the other. Nods and greeting were given before everyone dug in to their meal.

Around the table, everyone exchanged stories of their day. Sergei's mother began by talking about Alexsei's progress in counting by 2's. She quizzed him a bit to show everyone how far he could go. He was able to reach up to twelve by himself and then whenever he got stuck Grandpa Boris would lean over and help him with a hint. He made it to twenty before he got bored and stopped.

Aunt Sophie was then next, and as per her usual she complained about a few of the idiots at the office she worked for and how annoying it was to have to remind them that she was an accountant, not a secretary. She attempted to code some of her harsher insults about them, for the children's sake, but Sergei understood most of it and Mishka even caught on to a few.

Deciding to add to conversation, Grandma Alena talked about an idiot cashier that she'd had to deal with, who'd—in her own words—"tried to rip her off". Grandpa Boris, having been there to witness the altercation, defended the poor boy a bit by stating that she'd just read the sales signs wrong. The woman denied it, but everyone knew it to probably be true. It was a well-known fact that she needed glasses but refused to wear any.

Aunt Sophie brought this up, to which Grandma Alena snapped and flipped it around to her daughter's lack of a love life. She didn't like that Sophie was divorced with two children and didn't hesitate to bring it up whenever she got the chance, no matter who was in the room. "You should be re-married by now," she told her between bites of food.

"Must we do this now, Mama?"

She was ignored as Baba continued her little rant. "What you need is a good Russian man with a job so that you don't have to go to work and your sister wouldn't have to raise your children."

"Mama!" Sergei's mother objected.

Aunt Sophie held up her hand, signaling to her sister that she could handle it. "There are no good Russian men out there. They are either married, gay, or don't live here in Moscow."

"Nonsense. I could find you a good man."

"I don't need your help, Mama."

"Bah!"

Sergei's mother decided to interrupt a second time before the conversation could get any more heated. Must to her son's displeasure, she brought the attention onto Sergei who had yet to share his day.

Staring at his plate, he gave a nonchalant shrug. He wasn't really much of a storyteller, and usually tried to avoid it when he could. Though, feeling he needed to say something he gave a few small details about Yuri volunteering him and Ivan as his partners for their class presentation in a few weeks.

Mishka, seeing how uncomfortable her cousin was, then took over and told a lively tale about the story she created for a class project and the grade she'd received on it. She was good at anything that had to do with her being creative and it was no surprise that it was one of the best in her class. She had worked her butt of writing and illustrating the story. Grandpa Boris asked her to read it to him as soon as she got it back.

The conversation moved on and everyone looked to Sergei's father to retell his day, but he managed to get out of it by stating it had been "no different from any other day" as he always did. It was safe to say that Sergei got his personality from his father.

The rest of dinner was filled with debates on whatever came up in their banter. When everyone was done, no one left any food on their plate and barely had room for Mama's Pirog, but that managed to eaten up too. When it came time for bed, the children were excused while the table was cleared.

Alexsei protested a bit at the notion of going to bed, but Mishka and Sergei happily complied. It had been a long day, and all they wanted to do was feel the sweet softness of their pillows. Jumping into bed as soon as it was in sight, Sergei went to sleep with the sounds of his father and grandfather's drunk laughing echoing down the hall, into the crack of his opened bedroom door.

xXx

Crushing the fallen snow in the palms of his hands, the dirty blond was caught off guard as an icy ball kissed the side of his face.

"Bull's eye!"

Cringing at the cold sensation, Sergei glared in the direction of Yuri who grinned victoriously a few feet away. "Cheap shot," he complained, his frown turning into a smirk as he ran toward his friend, newly formed snowball at the ready.

Seeing the incoming threat, Yuri sprinted away instantly, a vengeful Sergei at his heels. The ball was thrown and he ducked, the snow missing him completely and hitting an unsuspecting Svetlana dead in the face, cutting her off mid-sentence in her conversation with Mishka.

Both boys froze instantly, Yuri backing away to Sergei's side as the girl's face went from shocked to furious. A few moments of dangerous silence passed by before the males bolted, Svetlana not too far behind as she did her best to grab as much snow as possible in retaliation.

Giggling, Mishka hopped up on her stump and shouted, "Snowball fight!" to the rest of their group, who didn't hesitate to pick sides and get in on the fun.

Alliances were formed: Sergei, Yuri, Mishka, and Ivan versus Flilpp, Dmitry, Kazimir, and Svetlana.

And the terms were simple: Ten minutes to make a fortress, no hiding rocks inside of snowballs, and the first team to surrender or have their fortress overrun/destroyed loses.

Since no one had a watch, Dmitri tried to cheat by firing a snowball prematurely, hitting Ian in the back of the head. In response, Yuri returned fire with one of his own and sparked the start of the battle with only partly finished defensive barriers on both sides.

The battle was a fierce one. With the experience of Yuri and Sergei, their team's throwing was precise and the snowballs themselves were packed so tight it almost hurt to get hit by one. They were almost as hard as baseballs.

Filipp's team on the other hand was like a snowball machine. They could make double the snowballs it took the other team to make, but sometimes they weren't packed tight enough and crumbled in midair before they could even hit their target.

A classic fight of quantity versus quality.

"It was a bad idea to piss off Svetlana…" Ivan told his team captain as he did his best to dodge snowballs and finish off their snow fort at the same time. "She's got the best aim next to you and Yuri."

"It's Yuri's fault for ducking. He should have just taken a snowball to the head like man," Sergei grunted jokingly as he threw another snowball over the barrier.

"Where's the fun in that?" Yuri interjected, not bothering to crouch behind the fort as he tightened a snowball Mishka had handed to him. "Anyway, a pissed off Svetlana just makes for a better game," he chuckled and of course, as he said this, a rather large chunk of snow connected with his head.

Svetlana laughed at him from the other side of the clearing. "Bull's eye," she purred, repeating his phrase from earlier.

Trying to look annoyed, Yuri attempted to frown but he lips couldn't help curving into an amused smirk. "Very funny."

Thirteen.

"Wait for it…" Sergei could hear his Papa command in a hushed tone just to the right of him. "Line it up. No sudden movements."

These were the same words he'd been telling him for months now during their practice sessions, but he still felt that they helped him. His father's voice had always been a calming one. He felt his shoulders relax and adjusted his line of sight. Looking through a scope still took a lot to get used to.

"That's it, you've got it," his grandfather added in encouragement on his left. He had been so quiet Sergei had nearly forgotten he was there.

"Easy now, don't get distracted," Papa warned and the teen nodded.

Taking a moment to blink, Sergei focused his attention on the white ball of fluff a few yards away. It was a rabbit, blatantly unaware of their presence as it munched on the few treats they had placed out to lure it. The little creature would soon be his first kill. His father and grandfather had taken time out of their day for the last few months to get him prepared for it.

Sergei had already known how to shoot a gun. He had already practiced on cans and bottles, but it wasn't the same as shooting animals. There were certain places on different animals that his Papa preferred the prey be shot. It ended their life quicker and made it less likely to make a mess or leave shrapnel in the good part of the meat. His family hunted, but they tried to do it humanly.

"Anytime you're ready."

Inhaling, he took that as signal to shoot and aimed the barrel of his shotgun to point just behind the rabbit's ear. Exhaling, he pulled the trigger and watched as the animal hit the ground, blood pouring out of a fresh wound. It wasn't breathing.

"Good job," Papa complemented, patting his son's shoulders roughly as the three of them got up to get a closer look at the lifeless body

Feeling uneasy, Sergei kept himself at a bit of a distance, face paler that usual. A bit of guilt seemed to push at his chest as he looked at the little thing. He had eaten rabbit meat on more than one occasion and loved the taste, but at the moment he wasn't really looking forward to eating this one.

His grandfather cast him a knowing glance. "Don't worry. You'll get used to it."

xXx

The sickening snap that followed his fall out of the tree was all that Sergei heard before a numbing pain shot up his nervous system and he was on the ground foaming at the mouth. "Ah!" he choked out, clutching his leg. He didn't need to look at it to know it was bending out at the wrong place.

"Crap," Yuri's voice entered his ears as her came to his aid. "Ivan, go get his mom."

"Ah!" Sergei repeated, squeezing his eyes shut as hot tears began to run doing his face.

"Oh man, I think it's broken…" he friend deduced, sounding a bit sick at the sight, but Sergei barely heard him over his own moans and heavy breathing.

"It… feels broken," he replied after taking amount to swallow all his excess saliva. He squinted his eyes in an attempt to make out Yuri's face, but the pain in his leg was clouding his head.

"Uh… It'll be fine," the teen assured, trying to hid his slight panic, "It's probably not that bad…"

Squeezing his eyes shut, he took a deep breath, not having enough energy to tell Yuri that his lying wasn't really helping much.

"Sergei!" the familiar voice of his mother cut in and he opened his eyes long enough to see her rushing toward him. She looked frantic, something he hadn't really seen on her face before. It made her look kind of like a deer caught in headlights… and if he wasn't in so much pain he may have laughed.

But the pain was getting to him and he could feel himself losing consciousness. He could hear them telling him to stay awake, but all he wanted to do was sleep. So he did.

xXx

Sergei stared boredly at the cast on his leg and took it was a reminder of the stupidest thing he'd ever let Yuri talk him into doing.

Jumping from the tree to the shed roof? What was he thinking?

Nothing, according to Grandma Alena. She practically chewed him out about the whole thing. "You are just like your grandfather," she had told him, "young and reckless and stupid" to which Grandpa Boris had stated that he had actually done things more reckless than simple height jumping. "Don't encourage him," she had warned, and then hit them both in the shoulder.

His mother and father hadn't approved every much of his actions either. Though they hadn't been as nagging as his grandmother, they had forbid him from trying it ever again. Not that he would ever do it a second time.

Propping up his pillow, Sergei directed his stare toward the ceiling and let out a sigh.

Over the week he'd stayed in his room because of his broken leg. A week of nothing but sleeping, eating, and occasionally being checked up on by his mother.

It was safe to say that his days were rather dull, and he actually found himself wanting to go to school and see his knuckleheaded friends. It defiantly sounded better than staying home with nothing to do.

Absently, he wondered what time it was. Mishka and Alexsei should have been on their way home soon. At least around them it wouldn't feel as lonely and empty. They tended to talk a lot, but that was fine. Sergei didn't mind listening, he just wasn't much of a talker.

Adjusting his pillow, Sergei decided to take another nap. He figured, if anyone needed him, they knew where to find him. Though, just as he closed his eyes to sleep, his mother stepped into the room, giving a soft knock on the open door.

Inwardly, he sighed, it would only figure that the moment he stopped wanting company, someone would decide to come to him. Opening one of his eyes, the teen answered his mother with a slightly tired, "Yes?"

Mama frowned, "Oh. Where you sleeping?" she pointed down the hall, "Your friends want to see you. Should I send them away?"

Straightening himself at the information, he shook his head. "No, let them in."

The woman smiled, "Alright."

She left the room and a moment later his group of friends filled in, led by Yuri and Mishka who showed them all the way.

"You look bored," Yuri grinned, plopping down on the edge Sergei's bed, "Miss us?"

"I was enjoying the silence, actually," the injured teen joked, lightly kneeing his friend in the back with his good leg.

"That's an awesome cast," Flilpp commented with interest, eyeing Sergei's injury for the first time. "Can I write on it?"

"If you can find something to write with…"

"Awesome," he grinned, and went hunting around the room for a marker.

"Oh, here's the stuff you missed in class," Svetlana explained off handedly as she pulled out a stack of papers from her bag. She handed them over to her brother, who handed them to Sergei.

"Thanks," he told her, setting them down on his nightstand.

"When can you go back to school?" Yuri questioned, eyeing the cast.

"Monday. I'll be on crutches though."

The blond nodded absently. "Well, you missed all the fun today. Filipp completely embarrassed himself in front of a certain someone today."

"Eh? When? Who?" Mishka interjected with curiosity.

Flilpp went tensed, pausing in his search to glare at his brother. "Shut up, Yuri!"

"Fell flat on his face trying to be all impressive at football," Svetlanna snickered alongside Ivan.

"Oh I remember that!" the boy's 'secret' crush giggled.

His face went red and he turned his glare onto the twins, "Dmitry tripped me!"

Said male held up his hands in a defensive gesture, "Not this time. It was all you buddy."

"Sounds like fun," Sergei commented with a chuckle and watched as Flilpp turned back to continue his search, albeit a bit furiously. "Check the middle drawer under the desk," he guided as the boy seemed to get a bit more frustrated at the lack finding a decent utensil.

"Yuri's one to talk," Ivan interjected coyly, "Didn't Svetlanna's team score half their points during your so-called 'full proof' defense strategy?"

The blond huffed at this, "Only because I let her. It would be embarrassing for her if we had been her with too much of a spread in the score. What would be the fun in that?"

"Let me?" Svetlanna scoffed, leaning forward. "Why don't you just admit that I out smart you in strategy?"

"Then I would be lying." He smirked.

"Found it!" Flilpp called out just in time to start the argument from escalating any further.

Watching as everyone gathered to sign his cast, Sergei found himself smiling.

* Cossacks and Robbers is basically Cops and Robbers.

*Tetya is Aunt.

*Baba is sort of a child-ish way of saying Grandma.

* Perdoon Stary is Russian for Old Fart.

*Golubushka is Russian for Little Dove.

*Korobushka (Tetris Song) is a popular Russian song. It's awesome, look it up.

*Pirog is a pie filled with various fillings that are usually sweet, which is why it's typically saved for desert.

Hopefully this was alright. Sorry if you see any mistakes or anything, I'm a bit drugged up on pills I have to take for having my wisdom teeth removed. Also, sorry this took so long. Slowly but surely I'm getting everyone done. Hope I didn't disappoint!