A funny word called Love

Chapter 48

It had been a learning process, being parents. Yuri had to learn that anger was not the way to handle childrens's mistakes, and Otabek had to learn how to make his approval visible, for as Yuri pointed out, most people couldn't even tell when he was smiling compared to his normal expression. But they got better. They learned together, how to be parents, how to be a part of a family, how to love their children unconditionally. How to help their children and be the parents that their children needed. How to be supportive, and loving, and kind, and patient, and all of the other things that make parents great.

And now, here they were. Five years later. Serik was eight, and Anara was five. Both of them were lovely children. They had their problems of course, as every child does, but over all, Otabek and Yuri felt very lucky. And now, they were about to go ice skating with their children for the very first time.

Earlier that day, Serik had found a small closet where all of Otabek and Yuri's awards were kept. Neither of them liked to flaunt their awards, so they just kept them stowed away, and this was the first time their kids had ever asked about them. "How come you two have all these medals?" Serik asked.

"Well you know how Otabek helps coach figure skating and I judge figure skating competitions?" Yuri said.

"Of course!" Serik said. It was kind of hard for him not to know. Yuri was mostly a stay at home dad, but would occasionally have to go on trips out of the country. Otabek was always at the ice rink during the day, and went to competitions as a coach with his pupils. However, Yuri and Otabek made sure that one of them was always home with the kids, except for the occasional family vacation where they all went, but stayed a few days after the competition.

"Well, we both used to compete," Otabek finished for Yuri.

"Well I want to learn!" Serik said enthusiastically.

"You've been to figure skating competitions before, why the sudden interest in them now?" Yuri asked.

"Well I didn't realize that you two used to be skaters in those competitions!" Serik said.

"What different does it make that we competed?" Otabek asked, curious.

"It makes it sooo much cooler!!!" explained Serik, as if it were obvious.

"Well, come on, let's go!" Yuri said, already grabbing his coat.

"What?" Otabek and Serik asked at the same time.

"Let's go ice skating! Otabek and I will teach you and your sister, okay?" Yuri said, his eyes glimmering with excitement.

"Yay!" Serik shouted.

"Anara, do you want to go ice skating?" Otabek asked his daughter, who was nearby, but not paying attention to the conversation.

"Sure..." she replied.

"You sound hesitant, are you afraid?" Otabek asked.

"Yeah," Anara admitted.

"Don't worry, you won't get hurt!" Yuri reassured.

"But what if I fall," Anara said quietly.

"Then we'll help you back up. Otabek and I have both fallen more times then you'd ever believe. It doesn't matter if you fall. It only matters that you get back up afterwards," Yuri explained, and his daughter, seeming to agree, got her coat and they were soon heading off to the ice rink.

Once they all got their skates on, they started moving in slow circles across the rink, Otabek and Yuri rotating between their two children, helping each one with the smooth motion, helping them gain control of themselves on the ice. Though their children fell, they always got back up, and Otabek and Yuri couldn't have been more proud as their children slowly started to pull away from holding their parents's hands, and opting to try moving without anybody else's help.

After a while, Yuri moved to the side to watch his kids glide across the ice. He was tired. Though he still went skating relatively frequently, his stamina just wasn't what it used to be. And as he watched his children meander across the ice, freely, beautifully, he began to reflect on his life.

He had discovered another ancient greek word for love recently. Philio. The love between friends, and tender affection. His life sure wasn't what he had expected it to be when he was fifteen. When he was fifteen he had thought that nobody would ever love him. When he was fifteen he was afraid to trust anybody. When he was fifteen he still didn't know how to handle his thoughts about his mother and his father. When he was fifteen he was confused and lost and instead of talking through it with someone, he blocked it all off. Until Otabek came along and slowly helped him until he was the person he was today. And today, his life was filled with two things. Agape and philio. Unconditional love, love between friends, and tender affection. As Yuri watched his kids skate around, and Otabek help them up when they fell, Yuri realized something. He was truly happy. The love that was now surrounding him made him truly happy, and he was so grateful for the beautiful family that he was now so lucky to be a part of.