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Zendaya watched from her position slightly behind Maks as the Chmerkovskiy brothers embraced their grandmother. The Russian flew from their mouths as easily as it probably had when they were children living in the Ukraine. Sofiya leaned over to hug Maks, wrapping an arm around his waist and pulling him close. The brothers seemed to melt, Val moving in close behind her and kissing her cheek. From where she stood, she could not see Maks’ face but she could imagine how happy he appeared.
The photographers and gathered crowd snapped a few pictures of their interaction, the flashes nearly blinding in their intensity. Sofiya finally released Maks to turn and face Val, hugging him before turning to briefly talk to Peta. Surprisingly, Sofiya turned back in Maks’ direction and approached her. She said something in Russian, quickly and with such finesse that all Zendaya could do was stare. Sofiya took her hands as Maks translated.
“She says that you danced as beautifully as ever.” Zendaya’s mind quickly ran through the few phrases that she had been practicing for a moment just like this.
“Bol – bolshoe spasibo,” she said, attempting to pronounce the Russian expression for thank you. She had been practicing for a few months in her free time and had a few basics down…she hoped. From the way Sofiya’s eyes lit up, it appeared that in this instance she had been successful.
Bolshoe spasibo.
Val’s eyes widened and he glanced over at Maks. His brother was already looking at him, his surprise evident in his expression.
“Did you know that she was learning Russian?”
Val shook her head, but before he could say anything else Babushka started talking again. Her words washed over him, nearly bringing him to his knees. She was sohappy to have someone new to talk to, someone else who would finally be able to understand her completely without a translator. Someone who wanted to know her mother tongue enough to reach out and learn it. Zendaya had accurately pronounced the Russian words that meant extreme gratitude, but his grandmother was the one who was grateful.
“I – I’m sorry, that’s about all that I know for now,” Zendaya said. Despite the fact that either he or Maks would probably have to translate for her if their conversation graduated to more complex words and statements, she directed them towards Babushka and not towards them. That was one thing that many people struggled with, uncertain who they should speak to in those situations. But Z, ever the people person, directed her words at who she was talking to. Babushka spoke again and Zendaya kept her gaze connected with hers, never once glancing over at him or Maks.
“She asked how long you’ve been learning,” Val said. That was a question that he wanted answered as well. She must have heard it in his voice too, because she glanced over at him before looking back over at Babushka.
“Since mid-October.” Val translated quickly, his gaze remaining on Zendaya.
Babushka dropped one of Z’s hands as she reached up and tilted her face down. She placed a kiss on Zendaya’s forehead before grasping her hands again.
“Thank you,” Babushka said, the English words sharply accented on her Russian tongue.
“You’re welcome.” Babushka squeezed her hands one final time before turning towards Serge, Sharna, and Tony. Val slid around Maks, inserting himself between Zendaya and his brother.
“You’ve been learning Russian in your classes?” he asked quietly.
“No,” she answered. He glanced over at her and found her looking directly at him. “I’ve been trying to learn in my free time. Mom got me the program that I was looking at for my birthday, but I was so busy with filming that I wasn’t able to start until October.”
“You’ve…you’ve been doing it in your free time?” He figured that she had simply added a course to her schoolwork. The fact that she was doing it on her own surprised him. She could have easily mentioned it to him and he could have helped her. It wasn’t like they didn’t talk on the phone nearly every night anyway; they could have added in some Russian practice.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I knew that would offer to help and I wanted to take the first step on my own. I wasn’t sure that I would be able to stick with it and I didn’t want to disappoint you if I couldn’t.” Disappoint him? For attempting to learn his first language on her own time? For choosing it instead of it simply being a requirement that she had to fulfill.
“And I wasn’t doing it for you,” she continued. “I mean, finally being able to understand your rants in Russian would be an added bonus but…” Zendaya trailed off, her gaze slipping over to Babushka. “I did it for her.”
“Why?”
“Whenever I see her she tries her best to speak English, even though she can’t speak as much as you, Maks, or your parents. She has to be most comfortable using Russian, because that’s what she’s spoken nearly all of her life, but she always puts herself out there to try to make me feel comfortable.” Zendaya turned towards him and shurgged. “I figured it would be nice to return that favor.”
He opened his mouth to say something but the words got caught in his throat. Most people were uncomfortable with the idea of stepping outside of their own language and trying to learn a new one, but instead she had reached out in an attempt to bridge a gap that she felt should be spanned. After knowing her for nearly two years, he shouldn’t have been surprised…being giving and kindhearted was inherently part of her personality.
She shuffled her feet in the silence. “I mean, I know I’ll probably never be fluent in it, but it would be nice to be able to hold my own in a conversation.”
He knew that he needed to say something to show her that he wasn’t upset with her decision. According to her body language, apparently she needed that reassurance. He always knew what to say to her, but for once he was at a loss. How could he possibly express how incredibly grateful he was to have her in his life? To be closer to her now than he had been at the end of their season, when he had thought that they could get no closer. There were no words in either language that, when strung together, would allow him to tell her how much this small, simple action meant to him. For her to take the time to learn Russian for his grandmother, in between filming, school, working on her new album, supporting him during his season, and practicing for Sway…it made his eyes sting.
So he did the only thing that he felt he could do, in front of an audience of their families, their fans, and the photographers. He reached over and pulled her into a hug. Her arms wrapped around him, reciprocating the contact as easily as if they had been created to do so. He brushed his lips against the side of her head before he pulled her in even closer.
“Zendayachka.”
She rested her head on his shoulder and nuzzled her face into his shirt. His heart melted in his chest. God he loved this girl.