Home is where the Heart is [RoChu]

Ivan did not know what to expect. It had been centuries since man attempted to venture out to space, and even though technology had taken a big turn, the dream of transporting ordinary humans through space was still impossible. The astronaut selection was still as strict, if not even harder. Ivan had been lucky to be nominated from the team of scientists to receive training, but no training could prepare him for his first journey into space, to the International Space Station, every scientist's dream playfield.

The trip through the all-consuming emptiness - it was an experience as unnerving as it was fascinating.  Even out of that cramped space, it didn’t mean that he could relax.  Or rather, it was far too relaxing.  His training down in the Roscosmos  was nothing compared to this, this weightlessness, this severing of the metal binds that weighed him onto the earth.  He was scared that this floating business would ruin him, that he would feel like a crippled man when he returned home.

His companion, the sullen yet overly-attached Nikolai, stuck close to him, despite Ivan’s obvious discomfort.  He wasn’t averse to touchy-feely people, but Nikolai’s closeness was unnerving to him, seeing that Nikolai entered training a few years before him but for some reason did not leave the junior’s side when he first laid eye upon the man.  

However, it wasn’t Nikolai’s first trip into the ISS, and since he was already acquainted to certain members of the foreign countries, Ivan could compromise with sticking close to Nikolai for the duration of his service here.

By the time the two Russians were accustomed to their surroundings and actually reached the rest of the residents of the Station, everyone was already waiting for them.

“You took so long, dude,” A boisterous blonde said casually, a big grin on his face, “We thought you were lost or something.”  Ivan prayed that he was Canadian.

“It was only you, Alfred,” A man with a strong british accent and (in Ivan’s opinion) monstrously bushy eyebrows said, frowning at the first blonde.

“Chill Artie!”  The ‘Alfred’ laughed boomingly.

“It’s Arthur, you bloody git!” The Britishman snapped.

A female scientist, a pale blonde with a boyish cut, harrumphed and stepped forward, extending her hand.  “Ignore them,” she said.  A German, Ivan presumed, not only from her lilt but also from her mannerisms and posture.  “Welcome back, Nikolai.”  Nikolai shook her hand swiftly and retracted his hands, to place them behind Ivan and pushed him forward slightly.  “This is Ivan Braginsky,” He said in a clipped tone, “And he is off limits.”  This sentence was accompanied with a glare to a long-haired (definitely French) man at the back of the group.  Ivan didn’t need Nikolai’s warning to be wary of the French.

“Hello Mr Braginsky, is it alright if we call you Ivan?  Everyone’s on first-name basis here,” the woman said a bit tensely.  “Da, it’s fine,” Ivan said, his voice nearly cracking with the minimal use of his throat.  “I am Louise Beilschmidt, the annoying American is Alfred Jones, as you might have gathered,” Ivan bemoaned a bit at the fact, “And his friend from England, Arthur Kirkland.  Francis Bonnefoy is from France,” she gestured to the wavy-haired man and Ivan stifled a chortle at the irony of the name.

“There’s still more people currently working here, but they either are occupied in their own experiments, or just finished the docking process and are sleeping, you should see them sooner or later anyways.”

“Thanks for the introductory talk, Louise,” Nikolai said smoothly, stepping slightly in front of Ivan, “But I’m sure the tea party can wait until later, Ivan and I have a lot of things to do.”

The American’s smile disappeared, as if something Nikolai said had offended him, but Ivan wouldn’t know (nor did he want to) know the mechanics behind a American’s brain (if they even had one).

The group of foreigners dispersed to their own stations, or sleeping quarters, and Nikolai also led Ivan through the Station once, showing him his bed, the toilet, the food, and also gladly pointing out which facilities were funded by the Roscosmos and which ones were not.

Finally they reached their own research area for their experiment this time.  It had a really fancy name that Ivan deigned to memorise, the “Stability of Geographical Position and Configuration of Borders of Bioproductive Water Zones of the World Oceans, Observations by Orbition Station Crews”  or something equally as tedious as that.  In short, it was looking at photos, comparing data, capturing more photos, comparing more data, and analysing it.

“You can turn in for a bit, Vanya,” Nikolai said, pressing closer to the man, “Or explore for a bit, but I would prefer if you would sleep together with me.”  Ivan shivered and declined politely.

Bounding aimlessly among the station, he once passed the German Louise, and another female scientist with a headband on her blonde hair.  They seemed to be working with something on bacteria, judging from the setting of their equipment.  Ivan decided not to bother them.

He then floated past a short, tawny-haired, seemingly idiotic man with a weird piece of hair flying out of his head, who squeaked when he saw Ivan, but quickly said, “You- You’re the new guy, s- si? Ni-nice to meet you, I- I need to go!”  Then the man fled, disappearing out of sight in no time.  Ivan shrugged his strange behaviour off.  They would see each other sooner or later anyways.

Then he passed by him.  The Asian paused in his typing once he felt the Russian bound past, looking up.  “Privyet!”  Ivan said cheerfully at the petite person.  He debated a bit on the gender of the person, but soon made up his mind that he was talking with a man.  His eyes widened slightly as he looked at the various pieces of technology surrounding the man.  It was almost double the amount of Ivan’s own.

“Impressive...” he whispered.

“Hello,” the Asian said warily, “You must be Nikolai’s partner.”  He rose unsteadily to greet him.  “I’m Yao, Wang Yao,” he said, “I’m from Japan.”

Yao's long hair was tied up in a tight ponytail, with luke warm brown eyes staring back at Ivan’s own violet orbs

Ivan cocked his head (as much as he could) and asked, “That’s not a Japanese name, da?  Anyways, I’m Ivan Braginsky.”

Yao smiled, his brown eyes chuckling with mirth.  “My father insisted on naming me as per tradition of his Chinese family.  Anyways, you should get some sleep, Nikolai isn’t actually easy on his research partners.”  He slid back into his former position, curled up into that little ball of his and resumed his work, not sparing a glance for the Russian.

Ivan hummed to himself as he made his way back to the residential quarters.  

Yao was right.  As clingy as Nikolai acted, he was super serious at work, insisting on accompanying Ivan on bathroom trips and even talking about their progress as they walked.  Ivan passed the other of the researchers once or twice, who all smiled lightly at him before delving back into their load.  Up here, everyone was busy.

The concept of time had flown straight over his head, and Ivan felt like they had just made a teeny bit of progress when Arthur pulled them out for lunch.  Lunch, really, consisted of cans, cans, and cans.  And bags.  “We usually just take what we want,” Arthur said, “We could survive an apocalypse with the amount of food we have here.  Just stay away from the moose jerky.”  Ivan raised an eyebrow, causing the Brit to cough slightly.  “It’s, uh, Berwald’s.  The Swede you’ll see later.  Just... don’t touch it.”

To Ivan’s delight, he found some borscht, and happily dug in.  He wasn’t extremely hungry per say, but the same could not be said for the American.  He had ten cans right in front of him, and didn’t seem to be stopping.

“Aren’t you afraid of your weight?”  Ivan asked straightforwardly.  Alfred froze, but with a quick glance Ivan saw that all the other researchers were stifling smiles, even Louise who was so professional all the time.

“See, I’m not the only one who says that,”  Arthur said, smug.  Alfred pouted.  “It’s Japanese rice thingy!  Its incredibly healthy!”

“Anything eaten too much will contribute to your weight aru,”  Yao said from the corner, munching on a bar.  Ivan wondered about that strange sound at the end of the Asian’s sentence.

But then, nothing could be stranger than the jumpy idiotic man’s verbal tic.  “Ve, Lou, does that mean I can’t eat a lot of pasta?”

The German woman sighed.  “You’re not eating ten bowls of it a day, Feliciano.”  The man beamed, “So if I eat nine bowls of it a day, I won’t get fat?”

“Italians,” Nikolai whispered in Ivan’s ear.  That explained it all.

The other researcher who had been working with Louise glided in, reaching for some of the beef jerky.  “I’m Emma, from Belgium,” she said sweetly, “You must be Ivan, ne?”

Nikolai glared at her.

Another man entered the room.  He gave Ivan the barest of nods and- reached for the moose jerky!  This must be Berwald, Ivan thought to himself.  Berwald was easily the largest man in their mismatched group.  His thin wired glasses only contributed to his solemn look.

“That’s Berwald Oxenstierna,” Emma explained, catching Ivan’s look, “We think he’s married.  I think he’s gay.”

“Emma,” Louise said warningly.  “Well, Tino doesn’t sound really woman-ish to me, ne?”  Emma argued, “And Ber doesn’t care anyways.”  She turned back to Ivan, who was reaching for some beef jerky as well, “He looks pretty evil, but he’s a real gentleman to everyone.  Besides, when he actually speaks its all about Tino,” she said.

“I’m heading back now, Emma,” Louise said, getting up from next to Feliciano, “You better hurry too.”

“Don’t ya worry!”  Emma said cheekily.  When the German left, she sighed.  “That girl needs to get laid.”

A sudden creepy laugh spread through the group.  “Oh cherie, do you need to... ah, get laid?”  Francis appeared from nowhere, shocking Ivan so much that he backed up quickly, and ended up crashing into Nikolai, who wrapped his arms around the larger man soothingly, pressing his cheek to Ivan’s broad back.

Emma, however, just rolled her eyes and pushed the Frenchman away roughly.  “Oy!”  Arthur said crossly, “Do you bloody know how to respect a lady?”  

“Ah, if you are half the lady Emma is, then perhaps I would listen to you,” Francis winked at Arthur.  Arthur exploded.  “You- you bloody frog!” He growled, face flush with anger.  “Oh cher, are you blushing?”  Francis teased further.

“Kay, kay, it’s time to get back to our experiments, eh, Art?”  Alfred said, dragging the Brit away forcefully.  As expected, the smaller blonde turned his fury onto the American.  Ivan could still hear Arthur’s anger as the two disappeared to their labs.  Perhaps that American wasn’t as American as Ivan had thought, or maybe the other foreigners had rubbed off his American ways.

Too late did Ivan realise that Nikolai’s arms were still tightly embedded around him, locking the Russian in an iron grip.  “Um... Nikolai?”  He asked tentatively.  “Tak?”  Nikolai murmured.  “Do you mind- um- releasing me?”

Nikolai turned to face Ivan fully, but did not let go.  His icy blue eyes stared straight into Ivan’s own orbs, giving Ivan the impression of someone who had seen a thousand adorable puppies get killed in front of him, and Nikolai had been the killer himself.

“For- for- forget I said anything-” Ivan squeaked.

Emma was edging away from them, gripping her own bar tightly as she gravitated to the somewhat safety (?) of Feliciano, who seemed ready to piss his own pants.  A melodious voice caused Nikolai’s head to snap towards Yao.  “Release Ivan, Nikolai,” the Asian said offhandedly, like he didn’t give any care about Nikolai’s murderous glare.

“Why?”  Nikolai whined, but the intent was clear in his voice.  “Ivan needs to eat aru, if he doesn’t eat than you guys can’t go back to your lab.”  Nikolai narrowed his eyes at Yao, who returned the glare with a level stare.  Finally after weighing the odds, Ivan felt Nikolai’s grip retreating from him, and he let out an involuntary breath.  He flashed a grateful smile towards Yao, and Yao responded with a slight upward lifting of his lips.  Suddenly Nikolai’s hands gripped Ivan’s which was holding his borscht.  “Maybe if I feed you,” Nikolai said, the crazy glint back in his eyes, “Then we can return to our lab faster.”

//

And life went on.  Ivan settled by pampered/spoilt/freaked out by Nikolai during the communal times, in exchange for serious progress on their research.  Some times when all the scientists were all relaxed, they would stop and chat, asking about family, training experience, so on so forth.  

Only by conversation did he find out that Arthur was the black sheep of the European Space Agency, with four brothers ditching out halfway in training before him.  But Arthur had stayed and was the youngest Brit to ever make it up to space, and probably one of the youngest in space history.  

Louise and Feliciano, in fact, knew each other even before training.  Feliciano was still so jumpy around Ivan, but they could still hold a normal conversation along as Louise was there.  The Italian depended on her a lot, while Louise, although seemingly exasperated, always had a small smile tugging on her lips.

He and Berwald got off the wrong foot the moment they spoke.  Ivan’s offhanded remark about Danes and Finns got Berwald on edge immediately, and left without a word.  Arthur gave him a comforting pat and informed him that Berwald was now a lost cause to him.

Emma, so it seems, was also a newcomer like Ivan was.  She also made a point to eat with Ivan (and Nikolai) and started to be brave enough to warn Nikolai from excessive PDA.  She also bemoaned the fact that there were no waffles in space, and Ivan found out that her dream had actually been to open a waffle shop, instead of coming up to space.

Francis, when there weren’t girls around, was actually the rational one of the group.  His wife had died in a car accident a few years back, and he had a young son that needed him.

But Ivan liked chatting with Yao the most.  The Asian had a quirky habit of making a point to say goodnight to everyone before he went to sleep, even though none of them bothered with the concept of time.  Very often, Ivan would also sleep at the same time, while Nikolai took his shift in observing the graphs, and the two of them would end up talking to each other.

They talked about everything.  Yao went to sleep not because he needed to, just because he wanted to uphold his promise to his little brother, that he would have enough sleep in space as well.  “Kiku is the most adorable child in the whole galaxy aru!”  Yao always insisted.  Ivan thought back of his own sister Natalya (and realized how alike Nikolai was with her) and thought to himself that any younger sibling would be better than his own.

One night/day/before sleep (depends on how you see it), Yao asked him, “Ivan, what’s your birthday aruka?”  Ivan froze midway in tightening the straps that bound him to the bed.  “I’ve forgotten,” he said truthfully, “No one celebrates it anyway.”  The Asian shot up (as much as the straps allowed) and exclaimed incredulously, “No one? But birthdays are the most important of all festivals aru!”  Ivan offered the Asian a small smile.  “My family doesn’t think the same, apparently.”

“Come to think about it, you’ve never told me about your family.  I’ve told you about little Kiku and Mei and Xiang, but you’ve just briefly mentioned a Natalya.”  Yao remarked casually as he settled back in bed.

“My family? They’re no way as interesting as yours, Yao-yao,” Ivan said cheerfully, “Our family hails from Outer Mongolia, but our father moved us back to Russia in his generation.  Then he died, and my mother remarried to my stepfather.  We call him Winter all the time.”

“We?”  Yao prodded further.

“My sisters and I.  I have an elder sister, Katyusha.  She’s in Ukraine, working for the government or something like that.  Then there’s Natalya, who’s younger than me.  She’s almost graduating from college.”

“Ah girls,” Yao said wistfully, “Raising them is easier than boys aru.”  Ivan chuckled low under his breath, Yao couldn’t be possibly more wrong, and Ivan said it aloud.

“Natalya’s... she clings to me a lot,” he elaborated, “She’s a pretty girl but none of the boys seem to be able to appease her.

“Katyusha’s a crybaby,” he further explained, “She’s really clumsy and has big... uh...” a faint blush stole over his cheeks, “Assets.”

Yao burst out laughing, but his blush was even deeper than Ivan’s.  “You think about girls much, Yao?”  Ivan asked.  Yao was silent for quite a while.  “I’m... what do you Europeans call it aru? Gay.”  The Asian man was nervous, Ivan could see, he was staring up at the ceiling.  “I suppose I’m bi,” Ivan replied, hoping to ease the other man, “I dated a German girl and a Canadian kid back in high school.”

The two men were silent, then, and Ivan almost fell asleep when Yao finally said, “I’m going back home in a few days.”

Ivan hummed slightly under his breath, but offered no reply.  The two of them fell into companionable silence then, and the Russian listened to Yao’s breathing even out.

//

When the Japanese spacecraft departed, Ivan and Nikolai were holed up in their working area, the Belarusian pressed firmly to his side.  "So, Yao's gone."  Nikolai commented casually.  “Da?”  Ivan answered, sliding his hands lightly over the photograph.  “The two of you were pretty close, weren’t you?”  the other man said.  Ivan did not reply.  “We hardly see each other when we get back to earth, you know,” Nikolai continued, “So it’s best not to get attached.”
“Thanks for the warning, Nikolai,” Ivan said stiffly, “But we should return to the experiment.”

The older man sighed lightly behind Ivan, “You’ve been staring at the same photograph for the past five minutes, Vanya,” Nikolai reprimanded.  He gave Ivan a comforting hug from behind, but this time, Ivan did not press away.  

//

Soon all things must come to an end, and after a period of rootless drifting, Ivan found himself bidding goodbye to Feliciano (the only one left of the original crew), and stuffed himself into the small Russian spacecraft alongside Nikolai. It was a prison, compared to the spaciousness in the ISS. It suffocated Ivan.

Ivan looked gloomily out of the small rounded window, watching the billions of space junk and chunks of stars flying past beside them. The auto-piloted craft sped further and further away from the ISS,  but Ivan couldn't turn his head to see the space giant disappearing from sight.

It seemed like eons, but in truth it only took a few hours or a few days when the windows were tinted blue from the planet earth. "Close your eyes," Nikolai said, his voice cracking. This was the first sentence both of us had said since boarding the craft.

Ivan obeyed.

Before long, he suddenly felt a jolt of unfamiliar gravity tugging at his navel, drawing him back home.

//

The craft safely landed near a Roscosmos facility, skidding to a halt with a deafening thud.

Finally the motion stopped. "Craft secured. You may now step outside." A delicious female voice, in Ivan's lovely mother tongue, said from the satellite communication system.

Nikolai pressed a button by his arm, and the small spacecraft door slid open. Light spilt into the tiny area. The older man wriggled to the door and stepped out. From Ivan's position. Nikolai looked to be collapsing, but the man held through and disappeared from sight.

Ivan, too wriggled towards the door but as he moved, he felt himself getting heavier and heavier, as if there were shackles weighing him down.  He blinked his eyes against the blinding sunlight, and blindly reached out for a nearby arm to help him stand.  When he finally regained his bearings, he was greeted by dozens of smiling Roscosmos workers and a few cameramen.  Then all past into a whir as he was led into the facility, his feet dragging him down like lead.  The floor had a magnetic force to it, threatening to bring Ivan down to his knees.

He was then led into a room furnished simply, with a stark white bed and a big sofa.  The workers guided him in and helped him out of his uniform.  Ivan’s head hit the bed and he was out.

When he came to, he was greeted by a familiar face.  “You’re finally up,” Nikolai sighed, “Everyone’s been waiting for you for hours.  The Belarusian was clad in a long beige trench coat, accenting his slim figure.  It was strange to see Nikolai dressed so... casually, as if he had just been walking on the streets.  Dimly, Ivan became aware of the fact that he had only seen the other in his uniform or training suit.  “Who?” Ivan said groggily.  Nikolai stretched out a hand to ruffle Ivan’s platinum locks.  “Your family, Vanya.  We’re back on earth, Ivan.”

In a daze, Ivan accepted the spare clothes Nikolai handed to him, another beige trench coat, and Ivan’s white scarf.  “You always wore it back in Moscow,” Nikolai said as he handed Ivan the scarf, “You never put it down except for training.”

Ivan’s heart warmed up and wrapped his trusty scarf back around his neck.  Following Nikolai, they passed by various Roscosmos workers, who offered them congratulations for their success.  “Our research is being catalogued and further analyzed,” Nikolai explained, “This is your first mission, but the procedures grow familiar soon after.”

“Our family is here?”  Ivan interrupted.  Nikolai gave him a sidelong glance, but didn’t say anything.  Soon the two pushed through various corridors and arrived at a lobby-like area.  There, sat two familiar female figures.  Both of them were clad in their best clothes, their identical white blonde hair combed perfectly.

Kat abandoned all pretence of being dignified when she spotted Ivan.  Her sister’s breasts mashed into his chest as she held him in a killer hug, tears already soaking the coat.  “Oh Vanya, my little Vanya,” Katyusha sobbed.  Ivan put a hand on her back awkwardly.  When Katyusha finally released him to cry into her own hands, Natalya stepped forward.  The girl had grown so much since he had last saw her, before he went into intensive training.  Natalya had been 15 when he left - now, she was already an adult, with an air of maturity to her.  “Brother,” She breathed, “Welcome back.”  Her violet eyes gleamed as she latched onto him.  

“Marry me, brother,” She hissed under her breath, “I’m legal now.”  Ivan flung her off immediately.  “Oh Ivan, they didn’t starve you, did they?”  Katyusha sobbed.  “No,” he replied truthfully, “It was very fun up there in space, sestra.”

Nikolai, who had been with his family, came over then.  Shaking hands with Kat and Natalya, Ivan was suddenly struck by how mature the man could act.  “Ivan has been a wonderful addition to our crew, ma’am,” he said to Katyusha.  Kat blushed and tittered under the attention.  “I must thank you for taking care of our Vanya, Mr- I’m so sorry, I never asked!”  She looked about to burst into tears again.

“Arlofsky, Ms Braginskaya,” He introduced his family member, a woman in a pink coat with mittens, to them.  “This is my sister, Anya Arlofskaya.  Sister, this is Ivan Braginsky, my partner, and his sisters.”

Kat’s face lit up at having another girl to talk to, and Anya seemed to be the type of girl that Kat liked.  A shiver ran down Ivan’s spine at the notion.  Nikolai pressed closer to Ivan and said huskily in his ear, “We can leave with our family after we pack up, and have a long holiday until our bosses call us into work again.”

A slip of paper was pressed into his hands.  “My email,” Nikolai whispered, “Stay in touch.”

Then Nikolai went back into the staff area to pack, as Anya and Katyusha talked.  Natalya slipped close to Ivan.  “Brother,” she asked with a dangerous glint in her eyes, “Who is he?”

“Ah... my colleague,” Ivan replied, slightly unnerved.  

Natalya narrowed her eyes.  “I will kill him,” she said venomously, “No one touches big brother like that except for me.”

Ivan sighed.  Earth was good and all, but he longed for space.

//

It was an entire month until he received a call from his boss, asking him to go to an International Space Exhibition held in China.  Ivan sighed.  He seemed overtly fond of this expression of feelings since he had returned to earth, but nothing seemed to delight him anymore.  He wasn’t unhappy, but there was just something missing in his life.

Just as he was packing, Katyusha saught him out.  “Vanya,” she said, “Is there something we are doing wrong?”

“No, sestra,” Ivan frowned, folding his socks into the suitcase.

“Then why are you so lonely all the time?”  Katyusha sighed, sitting down on Ivan’s bed.  “Vanya, look at me.”

Ivan put away his socks and turned to face his sister.  His mouth opened, and closed again.

“Vanya...” Katyusha pleaded in a teary tone, her blue eyes wide and watery.

“It’s nothing about the two of you,” Ivan finally said, “The problem’s with me.”  Kat’s eyes overflowed with tears.  “Oh Ivan! Why do you say so depressing words?”

Ivan let out a deep breath.  He knew it would come down to this.  “I... met someone, sestra,” he admitted truthfully, “And I miss him.”

“That Nikolai Arlofsky?”  Katyusha asked, suddenly alert, “I’m chatting with his sister, you know.”

“No, not Nikolai,” Ivan said.  The Belarusian had proved to be a distraction of sorts, and seemed, to some extent, understand the stage of withdrawal Ivan was going through.  He offered a much better companionship online than face to face.

When Ivan offered no follow-up explanation, Katyusha said, “You should go find him, you know.  Until then can you feel at home.”

“I’m already home, sestra,” he frowned.  

“Home is where the heart is, Vanya,” Katyusha said cheekily.

//

Ivan came to terms with the fact that he had been starting to lack human contact ever since he went up to space.  Fellow geologists Laurinaitis and Galante were engrossed in a debate over Mars’ topography, and Ivan wasn’t able to participate.  He understood fully what they were saying, after all he had been there out in space, but it was hard to maintain a conversation with them.  

Mumbling excuses, Ivan fled the scene.  The two hardly noticed.  Sighing to himself, he wondered again why his boss had ordered him here.  He wasn’t going to make a presentation here, and this event was for the private companies, not for State-owned agencies like Roscosmos.  

Wandering aimlessly in the convention hall, Ivan found himself staring up at the large Earth model they had erected in the centre.  “Impressive, aruka?”

Ivan spun around, like a deer caught in the headlights.  

He was clad in a semi-traditional Chinese outfit, and his hair was much loosely tied in his ponytail.  But his amused brown eyes hadn’t changed a bit.  “Y-Yao!” Ivan squeaked.  “Nice to meet you too, Ivan,” Yao said.  “I wouldn’t imagine you here.”

“My-my boss sent me,” Ivan explained, “Why are you here, then?  You’re Japanese, aren’t you?”  

“I organised it,” Yao said proudly, “I’m half Chinese, and I was hoping to gather some of my old colleagues here.”

“And you succeeded.”  Ivan said, arching an eyebrow.

Yao laughed.  Ivan was mesmerised by the curve of his throat, that slim waist accented by his shirt.  “I did more than that.  Come with me?”

Ivan followed the older man obediently, and Yao led him into the staff area and presumably to Yao’s office.  A lone picture with a younger Yao and a few kids stood on the desk.  Yao locked the door with an audible click as Ivan observed his surroundings.  “It’s good to see you, Ivan, it really is,” Yao said warmly.  “I couldn’t stop thinking of you after I returned to earth.  Ivan could feel his cheeks flaming, and there was an equal blush creeping up Yao’s face.

“D-da,” Ivan croaked, “Me too.”

“I like you, Ivan,” Yao murmured, stepping closer to the Russian, “And I’m willing to skip a few steps to get to final base.”

“That’s an American reference,” Ivan replied huskily, his violet orbs fixed onto Yao’s own brown ones.  “You know I hate Americans, Yao.”

“Perhaps,” Yao said, “I didn’t have time to get... friendly with you.”

“We have all the time in the world,” Ivan smiled.  The two were now mere inches apart.  “Yes we do,” Yao smirked back.  Stepping forward boldly, Ivan raised to cup Yao’s cheek and kissed him.

Yao tasted like herbal tea, and everything that made Yao unique.  Yao’s brown eyes fluttered close and he let Ivan press him lightly to the desk.  Their lips parted briefly for air, but reconnected immediately as Ivan tilted his head lightly.  His tongue snaked out to seek for entrance, lightly lapping at Yao’s lips.  Yao granted his access briskly, and as they fighted for dominance Yao held a hand back to let down his hair.  His black hair dropped elegantly onto his shoulders, framing the Asian’s face perfectly.  A few strands tickled Ivan’s cheeks.

“The door’s already locked,” Yao said huskily when they parted, “Let us get... acquainted, shall we?”

//

Ivan was happy to be back in space.  He spent time reacquainting himself with the facilities in the ISS.  Things hadn’t changed much, except for the people.  Louise and Arthur were back though, and Ivan was happy for that fact.  He wasn’t much fond of the fact that he would have to become friends with the obnoxious Turk or his lazy Greek partner if they weren’t there.  

Ivan bounded along the rooms happily until he passed by him. The Asian paused in his typing once he felt the Russian bound past, looking up.  “Privyet!”  Ivan said cheerfully at the petite person.  “Nice to see you again, Ivan.”  Yao said slyly.