Chapter Text
“I’m sorry for saying such mean things earlier. But I’m glad I did. We’re better apart, after all.” Sara’s eyes sparkled as Michele hadn’t seen in years, not since the first time she landed her triple lutz-triple loop combination. It had almost been sheer luck: it had been weeks before she had managed to land what was now her signature move again. “Oh, Seung Gil’s starting. Later!” Her next words brought him back to the present. He stared for a moment, mouth open in bafflement, before being distracted by the journalists wanting to interview him at the kiss and cry.
Later, he wasn’t all too upset for not having passed the selection for the Grand Prix Final. Sara had still her free skate the next day, but he had no doubts that she would make it. He would go with her to Barcelona, of course. He was walking with her when Katsuki appeared in the corridor, and Sara went to congratulate him. He had a weird, almost apathetic look to his face, and he reached for Sara to hug her.
“What are you doing?!” Michele couldn’t stop his reaction.
Katsuki’s only answer was a ribs-crushing hug that surprised Michele enough that he let out a small shriek. He barely registered Emil’s voice coming from behind him.
“Was that Michele screaming?”
This Czech is everywhere, thought Michele as Katsuki disentangled himself from him and moved on to hug Emil and every other person he could find. Emil came to stand next to him as they finally watched the Japanese skater leave, and put his arm around Michele’s shoulder with friendly demeanor.
“He sure must miss his boyfriend,” said Emil.
Michele tsked and took Sara by her hand, ready to be done with the day.
“Sara, andiamo.”
“Hey, Mickey! Sara! Let’s grab a bite together!” Emil followed them.
Sara glanced back, certainly ready to accept his invite, but Michele was faster. “Sara has to skate tomorrow, she needs to rest.”
“So? She’ll still need to eat, right?” Emil caught up to them.
“Yes, I will,” said Sara. “Mickey, come on. You’ve barely made friends because you’re always alone with me. What we talked about earlier isn’t just about skating, you know. We need to start making friends with other people, too. Be independent. I’m not asking you to change from one minute to the other, but won’t this be a good transition? Us two and Emil?” She had said all this in Italian.
Michele knew she was right, of course. He just wasn’t ready to let her go after twenty-two years of being completely inseparable. He’d never felt lonely, having her, but he knew Sara was not him. She was more extroverted, and Michele simply wasn’t enough for her anymore. He would give her twin sister the moon and every planet if she asked for them, so why was this so hard?
“You’re right.” He said it because it was the right thing to do, but his throat was tight as he did.
Emil had watched this exchange with a curious look, but he must have sensed the mood and the conceding tone in which Michele had spoken, because he grinned and pulled them both in for a quick hug.
***
They ended up, of all places, at an Italian restaurant. Which was really more of a pizzeria, in Michele’s eyes. Emil had insisted to try Italian food with them, being tired of borscht and other Russian dishes. Michele and Sara had both winced at the idea of trying it abroad, but had given in to Emil’s insistence, and had settled in a brief exchange, in Italian, that they actually were kind of curious to see how bad the food would be.
Their plates came. Quattro stagioni for Michele, Prosciutto e funghi for Sara and a plain Margherita for Emil, who said it was the best pizza he’d ever tried. Michele and Sara went on a tirade about how bad the cheese was, among other things. “It’s clearly not mozzarella,” said Sara.
“But I like it this way,” was all Emil replied to their critiques, with a calm smile. At this point he was likely just keeping his act to hear them ramble about food as if it was the most important thing in the world. Well, it kind of is, Michele thought.
He was getting tired of Emil watching his sister argue, and he was aware of the way he had noticed how her hand gesturing got more pronounced as she got fired up. He often looked at Michele, too, likely to make sure he was making his intentions with Sara clear. Not a chance.
They paid and went back out to the cold Russian night. They were all staying at the same hotel, merely five minutes away from the restaurant, and Sara and Emil finally set aside their food talk and settled on the more neutral topic of today’s free skate. Michele tried his best not to separate or interrupt them, but he was also hurt that Sara seemed to be able to interact with other people so easily, whereas he was always an awkward mess. He was happy for her too, and it was all so damn confusing.
Back at the hotel, the male and female athletes were staying in two different floors, so Sara gave Michele a peck on his cheek and waved Emil goodbye, and headed to her floor. A slightly uncomfortable silence fell between the two boys when they noticed they needed to walk in the same direction to reach their rooms.
“You were good today,” said Emil, after having cleared his throat.
“Ah, thanks. You were good too. I mean, we’re all good at this level, but we can’t all win. We’re still better than most of the world population.” This is why he should stick to monosyllabic answers.
Emil only smiled and said, “I’ve got nothing else to do tomorrow, and, well, I was going to watch the female skaters anyway, so do you mind if I come along with you and Sara?”
They had reached room’s door and Michele searched for his key. “Fine.” His tone was nowhere near convincing.
“Hey, if you don’t want me I can go on my own, but you’ll be alone watching Sara otherwise, won’t you? I just thought you might prefer having company.”
Technically, Michele and Sara had their coach, and he was company enough. Also, Michele would only be separated from Sara for a few minutes, while she was skating. But he thought Sara might want this for him. This. Whatever it was. Making friends. Interacting with others for more than just technical commentaries on their performances. And whatever it was that Emil was looking for in Sara…Michele didn’t want to think about it, but he knew she was beautiful, and sooner or later someone would take her away from him.
“I said it’s fine. We’ll meet in the lobby at 10 for breakfast.” He didn’t turn around to say goodbye, wishing the evening to be over, but Emil gave him a quick hug from the side, while saying something that sounded an awful lot like yay.
That was the second surprise-hug Michele received that day, and he kept thinking about how weird it all was until he fell asleep.