Прыгожая (pryhožaja) – Beautiful (Belarusian)

The first time Alfred saw her, she didn't seem to notice him. Of course, this was untrue; she noticed everything. But as Alfred and Matthew watched the two gymnasts practising from the gallery, they noted that the silver haired girl appeared to be completely absorbed in her work. Everything she did was executed with technical perfection.

"So which one's her? Katy... whatever." the American asked his brother. Matthew had insisted that Alfred came with him for his first meeting with his pen-pal of two years.

"Katyusha. She's the taller one, with the slightly darker hair in a plait," the Canadian started to look nervous, "I almost can't believe I'm meeting her in real life... hey, that means the other one must be Natalia, her half sister- I didn't know she was here too! Al, did I tell you that we're the same in that aspect too-"

"About a million times, Matt. Calm down, you look like you're about to explode! I'm meant to be the over excited one!"

The blond smiled and blushed slightly. "I'm sorry... I still can't believe Katyusha is really here! Hey, did you know that her real name is Ekaterina, but Katyusha is like a diminutive form of it?"

Alfred sighed. Yes, he did know this, as well as literally every other detail about his brother's internet pen pal. His brother had always been very introverted and quiet, but he could talk about his Ukrainian friend for hours on end. At first, he didn't like the idea of his little brother talking to strangers online- but then he saw how happy he was. How his face lit up whenever he got an email. How when he heard her cheery, mellifluous voice for the first time over the phone, he didn't stop smiling for three days.

How when he found out she was coming to compete in the Olympics in America, he fell off his chair.

Yeah... he had a right to be excited to meet her.

Alfred's eyes wandered back to the sister, Natalia. While Katyusha was quite pretty, Natalia was something else entirely. She couldn't have been more than five foot four, but her presence seemed to fill the room. Her face was delicate, from what he could see from the gallery, and although her hair was tied in a high bun, the platinum blonde strands still shined brightly. The ribbons in her hands bowed to her command, winding in intricate loops and coils around her as she danced, and in one fluid movement they were thrown into the air, their handler running hard and somersaulting once, twice, before landing and catching the ribbons with an illusion of ease, her feet not moving from where they had hit the ground. But while Katyusha performed with a smile on her face, Natalia's expressions were fixed with grim determination, and her eyes were dark.

Alfred was fascinated.

Third-wheeling at a cafe wasn't really Alfred's idea of fun. At the end of Katyusha and Natalia's training session, the Ukrainian had run up to the gallery and bear hugged Matthew, nattering away through happy tears. The girl with the platinum blond hair had gathered her things and swept past them, exiting wordlessly. Now just the three of them were sharing a table at a quiet place Matthew had chosen. Alfred sipped on his coffee and leaned back into his chair. As well as his coffee, he had ordered the most obnoxiously coloured cupcake he could find; Katyusha had chosen a slice of Victoria sponge ("don't tell my coach though, he'll go nuts!"); Matthew had asked for "the normal, please, thank you", which turned out to be freshly made pancakes with maple syrup. He's so Canadian, Alfred couldn't help but smile at his brother.

"Katyusha, I didn't know Natalia was coming too." Alfred's attention snapped back to the conversation at the mention of Ekaterina's sister.

"Oh, yes, she qualified too! One of the girls on the Belarusian team got injured during practise, so she's on the team instead now."

"Hang on, so you're both going to the Olympics?" Alfred asked.

"Yes, that's right. Unlikely, I know, but correct!"

"But representing different countries?"

"Yes, me and Nata have different fathers, much like Matt and yourself." Katyusha shrugged.

"Oh, that makes more sense. Oh, speaking of her, what was with her today? She looked kinda angry." Alfred could practically feel his brother shy away from the impolite wording of the sentence. Katyusha responded nonetheless.

"She was frustrated because she couldn't get one of the movements perfect."

"She looked amazing though!" Her performance, I mean, Alfred thought.

"I know, both me and our coach told her so. But she doesn't listen. She goes through the same routine every day. She needs everything to be perfect, or she's failed. My sister is obsessive- but her perfectionism does pay off." The Ukrainian noted carefully. It sounded like she had had to tell this to many people before.

"You looked beautiful when you were practising. I-I mean you still do now, of course, but, your smile and... ignore me." Matthew stammered. Katyusha smiled kindly.

"Matt, you are too sweet," she laughed when the Canadian blushed "I guess I smile when I do gymnastics because I love it. Nata does gymnastics because she needs it."

A/N – so I'm back! Firstly I hope none of the characters are OOC because this is my first time writing them ;)

Also I don't speak any Belarusian (unlike Swedish which I am learning) so google translate is to blame for any mistakes in the words at the start of the chapter.

Also about Ukraine's name- Himaruya said Katyusha is a possible name for her and after a bit of research it turns out Katyusha is a pet name for Ekaterina, so I'll be using that as her full name.

See you next chapter!