Catch Up With Fate

“Not gonna sit next to me now, huh?” Viktor grinned when I folded myself to sit on the floor in front of the coffee table. Thanks to the small actual table in the kitchen we usually ate there instead of in front of the TV, but to watch the All Star game we were making an ‘exception’.

“Haha, no,” I chuckled. “I’m going to make a mess with the soy sauce if I don't have it right in front of me.”

“Aww, you poor messy eater you,” he teased me and then folded his giant body to sit next to me. “Who are you rooting for?”

I shrugged and poured some of the dangerous soy sauce onto a corner of my plate. “Don't really care, I guess.” On one team there was Jon and on the other Marc... “You?”

“Same.”

I looked at him for a moment, unsure if he was just saying that to please me or because he really did not have an opinion. It didn’t really matter though, I decided then, and shrugged it off.

Like always when I ate sushi, I ran into the problem of either biting a piece off a roll and losing half of it as it dropped to my plate uncontrolled or stuffing the roll into my mouth and having lockjaw. Viktor of course did the latter and he also put an ungodly amount of wasabi on his rolls, too, but he was a guy and could get away with it.

“What’s wrong?” he asked when I just eyed my delicious tuna roll.

“It’s too big to eat as a whole and it will fall apart it I bite something off holding it with the chopsticks,” I explained my rather silly dilemma.

“So eat it with your fingers,” he suggested simply. “No one around to see anyway.”

“Just you.”

“Just little ole me, the tidiest eater around, yup,” he chuckled. I smiled and picked up the roll with my fingers, dipped it into the soy sauce and bit a piece off, holding the rest in my fingers. Simple.

“It’s starting,” he said then and we returned our attention to the screen.

“What! Ugh! Why Ovi?!” I made a face when Ovechkin opened the scoring only fifty seconds into the game. Viktor laughed at my obvious dislike for the Capitals’ captain. Five minutes later Team Staal was up by four goals and Sharpie already had two assists, along with Mike Green and David Backes.

“Well, looks like Lidstrom’s losing,” I commented dryly after Giroux’s goal. We both knew that I actually meant Jon, not Lidstrom.

I had spoken too soon though. Team Lidstrom came back and when the first period ended, the teams were even in goals. Then they went on to outscore Team Staal until it stood at 11-9 in Lidstrom’s favor and even the hometown captain’s goal twenty seconds before the end couldn’t catch them up anymore, so Lidstrom and subsequently Toews and Kane won eleven to ten.

.

“Tasha?” Viktor knocked on the bathroom door as I was getting ready to head to bed. After the game we had spent some time just talking, but now the day was over and sleep was calling.

“Yeah?” I called back to him. “Come in.”

“Hey, nice braids,” he grinned upon opening the door.

“Shut up,” I rolled my eyes and put my glasses back on after taking off my makeup. “What’s up?” I grabbed my toothbrush, put some paste on it and started brushing my teeth.

“I don’t know if you had noticed, but we have a six game road trip coming up,” he said slowly. I stopped brushing my teeth.

“Uhm, I hadn’t,” I nodded, trying not to spit around too much of the foam in my mouth. “Are you leaving tomorrow?”

“Yeah, we’ll be back on the 13th.”

I nodded again and went on brushing my teeth with him watching the whole time.

“I’m sorry I didn’t say something earlier,” he apologized but I waved him off.

“I'm not mad,” I told him. “I should have noticed, I am supposedly capable of reading.” I turned to look at him the right way finally, instead of through the mirror. “Just gonna be a little lonely around here, I guess...”

“Are you gonna miss me?” he grinned.

“Of course I’m gonna miss my driver,” I grinned back and squealed when he pinched my side. “Yes, I am going to miss you, Viktor,” I said honestly then. “You better behave on the road!” I wagged my finger at him, but it was only a joke. On the second thought I wasn’t even sure if we were ‘exclusive’ as the fancy Americans liked to say. One date was hardly anything serious, but our other circumstances were about as unusual as it got.

“Of course,” he replied in a tone that let me know that he was a little miffed I’d even mention the idea. “You too.”

I let out a chuckle. “You don’t need to worry about that, you’re the only exception to my no dating rule.”

“You are the only exception,” Viktor song completely off-key and I laughed.

“Stop making my ears bleed, Vik,” I joked.

“Yeah, you’re the songbird in this apartment,” he agreed. “I’ll call you from the road and we can text whenever you want,” he suggested then and I almost got the impression that he was worried we’d lose contact.

“Sure,” I agreed gladly.

“I’ll leave you the car keys on the table, Niklas is picking me up. Please be careful, the weather’s supposed to get really bad.”

“Yup, blizzard warning. Yay.”

“Tasha.”

“I will drive at 200 km/h like a race car driver in the deep snow, yes,” I joked. “Of course I’ll be careful, I promise.”

“Good. If you need anything, let me know. I’m sure you could stay with Abby for a few days if it gets too bad.” He really looked worried and it was really cute.

“Thanks for worrying about me so much, Viktor. I’m sure I’ll be fine,” I told him with a smile and kissed his cheek. He wrapped his arms around me in a short hug.

“God natt,” (good night, Swedish) he told me when he let go.

“Gute Nacht,” (good night, German) I smiled back and went into my room. It didn’t take more than a few moments until I fell asleep, I’d had a very good day.

.

“You sure you got everything?” I asked Viktor, carrying my cup of coffee into the living room to get a first class seat for the spectacle of Viktor running around to do his last minute packing.

“Uhm, yeah. I hope,” he answered slowly and ran a hand through his hair. “If I forgot something, I’ll just have to buy something new.”

“Is that the reason why you have five iPhone chargers?” I had been utterly amused to find a charger in almost every room of the apartment. When he pulled the one in the living room from the socket and stuffed it into his carry-on bag, I could only laugh.

“See you on Sunday in two weeks, I guess,” I smiled a little sadly when he finished buttoning up his coat.

“Don’t have too much fun while I’m gone, okay?” he said, coming around to the couch. “If you want to have your bandmates over, you can.”

“Alright, thanks,” I nodded and stood up. “Take care and play well, Vik,” I told him as I wrapped my arms around his neck in a hug.

“Will try,” he replied, squeezing me tightly. “Don’t become a hermit.”

“Aw, but being a hermit is so much fun!” I joked. “I promise I’ll hang out with some friends.”

“Good. See you on Sunday in two weeks.” He kissed the top of my head and turned to leave, gathering his bags.

“I’ll get the door,” I told him and followed him to the door. “Lycka till,” I added, finally remembering the phrase for good luck.

“Tack så mycket,” he thanked me and I closed the door behind him.

Maybe ten second had passed when there was a knock. I put my cup down and went to open the door.

“Did you forget something?” I asked highly amused when he stood in front of me again. Without a word he took my face into his hands and pressed his lips to mine.

It couldn’t have surprised me more, so I just stood there frozen for a moment or two, but then my brain finally came back. I closed my eyes and kissed him back.

“Couldn’t leave without this.”

“Of course not,” I almost giggled. Then you could hear a phone start to vibrate.

“That’s probably Niklas,” Viktor explained but made no move to answer it. “I have to go...”

“Well, I guess then you have to go,” I nodded and, although my knees were shaky enough to be made of cooked spaghetti, leaned up on my toes and kissed him again. “You should hurry.”

“I’ll call you tonight,” he promise with this really goofy, happy grin on his face and really left this time.

I closed the door, leaned against it and slid down all the way until I was sitting on the floor. ‘One of these days that boy is going to kill me,’ I thought, touching my lips where I could still feel his.

“You have it bad, Natascha,” I said to myself and just let my head fall back against the door. “I give up. He’s just too great to be true.”