Archive of Our Own

26th of April, 1986

Today I had porridge for breakfast. I don’t own anything else, so I had to eat it by itself, but that’s okay! I didn’t mind it much. It was very good.

I’ve been observing operations at the Chernobyl Power Plant for some days now. Everything seems to be going accordingly, and the workers are quite kind to me! Maybe I’ll be able to make friends with the engineers. I really hope I can. 

Lately, Ivan has been distant. I am worried about him. Sometimes I find Natalia at his door, holding a plate full of his favorite food. She always glares at me once I catch her and never tells me what the plate is for, but I know that he’s not eating and that worries her greatly. Seeing her so heartbroken pains me. I wish I could help more, but Ivan won’t even look at me. I’m unsure of what to do.

Irunya brought her pen up to her mouth and slightly chewed on the end of it. For a few years now, she’s been keeping a journal of sorts to express her feelings.

She started after Gilbert gushed about how useful it was for keeping track of one’s memories. Not only that, but it was great for expressing how “awesome” you were to future generations. Irunya thought the idea of maintaining a journal would be fun, but decided that she’d leave out the “awesome” part.

She leaned back into her chair and stretched as far as she could go. Walking around the power plant so much caused her back to ache, but it’s not like Irunya minded. She was helping the best she could, even if it was only a little.

She looked back down at her journal. The ink from the pen slowly dried onto the paper, just like it had for all the other pages. Something was different, though. Irunya watched carefully as the small puddles of ink rippled slightly. She found the movement mesmerizing. Soon, the ink fully dried, leaving just Irunya and her thoughts.

She wondered to herself about the cause of the ink rippling ever so slightly. It was probably one of the reactors. They can cause slight movements elsewhere, she decided. Irunya closed her journal and packed it into her crossbag, along with her pen. She had things to do, so there was no time to waste on writing.

When Irunya first arrived at Chernobyl, she was quite overwhelmed. She was terrified of breaking something or accidentally injuring someone, but despite her fears, the staff was incredibly welcoming towards her. And after a while, she got the hang of working there. Of course, she still preferred to farm, but it was nice to try something new now and then.

The corridors of Chernobyl were quiet. The plain gray walls, illuminated with such a bright yellow light that it hurt Irunya’s eyes, became almost home-like to her. The staff uniform, with its scratchy texture, made her feel like she was truly a part of the crew. And the large reactors that once frightened her made her understand the beauty in what they were doing. It was safe to say that Irunya enjoyed her new job very much.

She turned down the hallway leading to reactor 4 and paused. Yells echoed from down the hall. Her friends seemed stressed about something, but the terrible echo made it almost impossible to figure out why. Despite a voice telling her to turn back, Irunya began running down the hall to her coworkers.

The yelling got louder and louder until it ended suddenly. Irunya paused right before entering the section. Something was wrong.

Before she could even blink, the building around her exploded. Parts of the building came flying at her, cutting her and knocking her to the ground. A burning heat engulfed Irunya’s body as the building tore itself open. Everything went silent. The blast had been so loud that her eardrums had burst. And shortly after that, everything went black.

When Irunya regained consciousness, she found herself lying in her bed back at home. Her mind felt fuzzy, her eardrums were ringing loudly, and her eyes felt like they were melting. No matter how hard she pressed her hands into her face, the pain wouldn’t stop. She couldn’t even comprehend what had happened. One moment, she was standing outside the entrance to reactor 4, and the next, she was in an excruciating amount of pain that seemed like it would never subside.

Her cries for relief fell on deaf ears. Her prayers for her siblings were left unanswered. Her pleas were ignored.

Days after the accident, Irunya was finally healed enough to move. Her mind was no longer fuzzy, nor did she feel like she was going to die.

Carefully, Irunya attempted to stand up from her bed. Her legs were shaky, but she found that if she held onto something else while she walked, then she wouldn’t fall. As fast as she could, she made her way to her bedroom door. 

The door had been left ever so slightly cracked open, meaning that someone must’ve checked in on her recently. The thought of her siblings worrying about her made her heart warm a little. They really do care, Irunya giggled to herself.

Cautiously, Irunya opened the door and peered out of her room. The hallways were silent, as usual, but something felt off. Irunya wanted to figure out what was wrong, but the bright lights of the hallway started to give her a headache. She retreated into the room in defeat.

She wasn’t quite sure what to do. Her curiosity was killing her, but so was the pain that still attacked her body. Irunya’s mind flipped through possible decisions before being interrupted by a loud bang.

The noise startled Irunya more than she’d like to admit. From down the hall, she could make out the yells of her sister, Natalia.

“Don’t ignore me! Big brother!” Irunya heard Natalia call from outside her room. Irunya guessed that Natalia and Ivan were arguing for whatever reason, but it was very unlike them to do so.

“Not now, Natalia.” Irunya could hear Ivan say. A sharp growl emerged from her sister’s throat before her yells continued.

“I know something’s wrong, let me help! I can help!” Irunya felt bad for Natalia. All she ever wanted to do was make Ivan’s life easier, but he always pushed her away.

Irunya peered into the hallway again, trying to shield her eyes with the door. She could make out the silhouettes of a man and a woman walking down the hall, but the lights made it difficult to see them in detail. Irunya squinted her eyes and tried to make out her siblings' faces the best she could.

“Irunya?” A man’s voice called out to her. Irunya jumped up at the sudden mention of her name. She was so focused on properly seeing her siblings that she hadn’t even realized that they were standing right next to her.

“You should be in bed,” Ivan said calmly before opening her bedroom door and letting himself in. Now that he was closer to her, Irunya could make out the details of his figure. Everything was the same as usual, except for his cold smile and the fact that he was wearing his military uniform.

“Sorry, I’ll go lie down,” Irunya told her brother with a smile. She grabbed onto the furniture in her room and used it to retreat to her bed the same way she had used it to get to the door.

“Let me help you,” Ivan said, lifting a hand to her shoulder. However, Natalia smacked his hand away before he could touch Irunya. She placed her arm under her older sister’s and helped her to her bed. Natalia laid Irunya down, placed the covers over her, and tucked her in nicely.

“There. Sleep.” Natalia said coldly. Irunya smiled at her sister.

“Thank you, Natalia.” 

Natalia turned away with a huff. “Whatever. Don’t go making problems for Big Brother.”

Ivan stood at the entryway of the room, observing. He was usually quiet today.

Just as Natalia turned, Ivan began speaking.

“Thank you for your assistance, Natalia. I have to speak with Irunya now, so you may go.” Natalia looked at her brother with a hardened expression.

“I’m not going. I can help you, big brother. Let me help!” She begged.

“This is a private conversation, Natalia. It doesn’t concern you.” Ivan's face hardened as he spoke. It was an expression that Irunya had never seen before, and it unsettled her.

Natalia didn’t try to fight Ivan’s request anymore. She quietly walked to the door, closing it with so much force that the pictures on Irunya’s wall shook as she left. Ivan turned his attention to his older sister. Calmly, he traveled over to her bedside and stood over her.

“Ivan-” Irunya let out.

“Are you alright?” Her brother interrupted. “That was quite the accident.”

Irunya’s eyes widened. “What happened? I don’t remember much but-”

“You just fell and hit your head, that is all,” Ivan informed her with a smile. Irunya grew confused. She hit her head? There was absolutely no way that was possible. She remembered the loud boom, the blinding white light, and the force so intense that her skin felt like coming off. She couldn’t have just hit her head.

“Are you sure that’s what happened? From what I can recall, it seemed like an explosion had occurred-” Irunya told Ivan before being interrupted once more.

“You hit your head, Irunya. Nothing else happened.” Ivan reassured her as a dark smile grew across his face. “Only that.”

Irunya wasn’t sure what to say. She knew he was lying, but she didn’t have the strength to argue with him. Even if she did, she wouldn’t want her little brother to be angry with her.

“I see…Thank you for telling me, Ivan.” She said hesitantly. The darkness in Ivan’s smile vanished, and he patted Irunya’s head. With that, he left her room without another word.

He stood outside her room for a moment, seemingly in thought.

Everything is alright, nothing else happened. Nothing at all, he told himself repeatedly.

^^^^

An alarm clock rang out the American national anthem as it struck 8:30 in the morning. From under the bedcovers beside the alarm came a shaky hand. The hand patted around the bedside table, attempting to locate the clock. After a few seconds, the hand finally located the clock and turned off its alarm. Grumbling came from underneath the bed’s covers as a body emerged. 

Alfred stretched as he sat up. He sat quietly on his bed for just a moment before he hopped up and quickly grabbed his glasses from the bedside table. 

“Alright! Time to start the day!” He yelled out enthusiastically. It was a part of his daily ritual, one that he started after the Soviet Union collapsed. He knew exactly why he started doing it, but he refused to tell himself the truth.

Every morning, at exactly 8:30 AM, he’d run downstairs, greet Tonny, who was usually eating breakfast on the couch, and pour himself a bowl of cereal before sitting next to Tonny. For about an hour, he’d watch TV with his best friend, then he’d run back upstairs to get dressed for the day. Alfred enjoyed keeping up with the younger generations' fashion, so lately he’d always wear baggy jeans, a simple graphic tee, and his old pilot jacket. He thought it made him look cool.

Whenever he didn’t have a world meeting, he’d hit the town with Tonny. They’d buy video games, junk food, and outrageous gadgets they saw on TV, and try their hand at things like skateboarding and music making. Alfred always had a blast leaving his responsibilities behind.

When he did have a world meeting to attend, he’d try to make the most of it. He’d always bug Arthur and purposely play dumb just to irritate him. Once Arthur snapped at him, Alfred would go and find Matthew. He always kept a baseball and mitts in his bag, so the two usually spent their free time playing ball. Alfred knew it made Matthew happy, so he kept doing it just to see his twin smile. After a while, Ludwig would yell at them for slacking off, and the twins would go their separate ways. Just before he left, Alfred would travel around whatever building the meeting was being held in to let his mind wander. It was a good way to relieve stress, and no one was around to bother him. Well, usually.

Alfred made his way through the large Renaissance building. Their meeting had been held at Feliciano’s place, much to Ludwig’s dismay. He said that while the architecture was beautiful, being in Italy would distract too many members from their duties, and that the meeting should be held at his place instead. Of course, everyone disagreed with him, and the meeting was held in Italy.

Looking back on it, Alfred agreed with Ludwig, only a little. Francis and Feliciano kept getting distracted by beautiful women who passed by, Yao kept telling anyone who would listen about how his place has much older buildings that are way prettier, and Antonio and Lovino tried to force Arthur to eat actually good food for once. The whole situation was hilarious to watch unfold. It was even funnier to watch Kiku sit politely among all the chaos, and to watch Ivan chuckle slightly into his hand.

Alfred paused. Stop it. You told yourself you’d never think of him again, he told himself. He had won the Cold War, so there was no reason to think about the past, and that included anything he had with Ivan or Ivan himself. Besides, it’s not like Ivan remembered their relationship.

After the Soviet Union fell, Ivan came back as the embodiment of Russia, and while he remembered the Cold War and everything before that, it seemed like he couldn’t remember a lot of his personal relationships. And that included his feelings for Alfred.

Alfred tried to ignore the pain he felt. He tried to pretend like it didn’t hurt him to be forgotten, but everyone knew he wasn’t okay. He knew that he wasn’t okay, but it didn’t matter to him anymore. He couldn't care less about Ivan.

“Man, this place is huge,” Alfred said aloud to no one in particular. The scale of the building seemed to mesmerize him. From behind him, Alfred could hear footsteps approach.

“Yes, I agree,” the person behind him said. Their voice made Alfred’s teeth grind. He turned around, knowing exactly who was behind him.

“Ivan.” Alfred’s voice held hostility. Ivan smiled kindly at him.

“Hello, Alfred,” the Russian said.

Alfred clicked his tongue and began walking away from the other man. Ivan followed him.

“So much beautiful art came from Feliciano’s home, I’m a little jealous,” Ivan chuckled. Alfred tried to ignore him, but he knew he couldn’t.

“What do you want, Ivan?” Questioned Alfred as he turned to face the Russian. Ivan stood silent for a moment before he answered.

“Just small talk. That is all.” He smiled.

“Well, unfortunately for you, I’m not the small talk type.” Alfred blurted out before continuing on his way. Ivan pouted.

“The War has ended, da? Why stay so cold towards me?” Ivan asked curiously. The question shot Alfred right through the heart.

“Because you suck!” The American yelled as he stomped away, leaving Ivan alone.

“No, no, it’s stupid, Tonny,” Alfred told his friend.

The pair of buddies sat in a diner at a booth, stuffing their faces with burgers and milkshakes.

“I mean, Batman could totally beat Iron Man in a fight. Batman is way stronger.”

Tonny became furious at Alfred’s response. He began spewing curses at the blonde, which drew the attention of the other customers.

Alfred shook his head. “No, Tonny, just because Tony Stark has a metal suit does not mean that he’d beat Batman! You only want him to win because his name is Tony!”

The duo did this every Saturday. They’d go to the diner right by their house and discuss pop culture topics for hours, and today they were discussing superheroes. This was a topic the two were well versed in, and that was very obvious to any poor soul watching them.

“Okay, okay,” Alfred started. “Iron Man definitely can’t beat Batman in a fight, but I will admit, Captain America totally could.”

Tonny exploded at the statement. The alien stood up on the booth’s seat quickly and slammed his hands against the table. Cuss words flew at Alfred as he sat listening intently. One sentence caused Alfred’s head to shoot up.

“I’m not biased towards Captain America!”

Tonny spat more curses at him.

“What? No! Just because he’s America themed does not make me like him more! I like him because he’s a super-soldier and because he’s kind and cares for his country!”

Tonny pointed accusingly at Alfred as he mouthed off to him.

“Huh? I’m allowed to like him for being patriotic, Tonny!”

Tonny flung himself down onto the seat and crossed his arms. Under his breath came a particular sentence that Alfred wasn’t happy to hear.

“Hey,” Alfred said coldly. “Don’t you dare bring him up.” Tonny stared at Alfred for a second, deciding his next move. Out came a few curses that caused his friend to glare at him.

“Ivan is dead and gone. He’s never coming back. So, quit talking about him.”

Tonny cocked his head to the side curiously. He questioned what his friend meant.

Alfred turned his head to peer out the window. The sun shone directly onto his face. Tonny tried to inspect the blonde’s facial movements, but Alfred had gotten good at controlling his expressions. Not only that, but the sun’s reflection on his glasses made it hard to understand his thoughts.

“Let’s just go home,” Alfred said as he pulled his wallet out and dropped thirty dollars onto the table. Tonny watched as he pushed himself out of the booth and walked toward the diner’s doors. He soon followed him. 

Later that night, Alfred lied wide awake in his bed. The conversation he had with Tonny played over and over again in his mind; no amount of tossing and turning would make it stop. 

He let out a sigh. Despite desperately wanting to, he knew that if he told Tonny, or anyone, for that matter, the truth, they wouldn’t understand. The current Ivan isn’t his Ivan; it’s a replacement. They may look and act the same, but it isn’t him. Alfred knew in his heart that it wasn’t him.

Alfred covered his eyes with his forearm and begged whatever god that may exist to put an end to his suffering. To put an end to his feelings for a version of a man that is now dead.

^^^^

Alfred’s daily routine seemed to have cursed him somehow, because the very next morning, Alfred woke up on his own without the Star-Spangled Banner playing. He checked his alarm clock, confused on why he wasn’t presented with American patriotism at 8:30 AM, and was very surprised to find that the clock displayed 10:41 AM on its surface.  Alfred did some calculations in his head for a moment. Wait, if it’s 10:40, that means that I missed my hangout with Matthew. Oh, oh well, I guess. He let his head fall onto his soft pillow. CRAP, I MISSED MY HANGOUT WITH MATTHEW!

He shot out of bed and rushed downstairs, almost tumbling his way to the first floor. Tonny was nowhere to be found in the living room, but Alfred didn’t have time to dwell on that. He rushed into the kitchen and picked up his landline. As quickly as his half-asleep fingers could go, Alfred entered the PIN needed to check his new messages.

A robotic, feminine voice rang through the phone. “You have 34 new voice messages. Press one to play new messages. Press two to replay old-” Alfred smashed the one key repeatedly.

The voice of his brother started playing through the phone.

“Hey, Alfred. Um, I’m not sure if you forgot or if you’re just late, but it’s already 9:15, and we agreed to meet at 9, so…”

Alfred played the next message.

“Alfie, it’s 9:30, where are you? You’re not dead or anything, right? Please call me back when you get the chance.”

And the next one.

“Alfred. I’ve been waiting at this park for forty minutes. Get here now-”

He started flipping through the messages.

“Alfred-”

“Hey-”

“I am gonna-”

“You know, you are the worst-”

“Pick up your phone-”

Alfred skipped through most of the messages, not wanting to sit and listen to his brother yell at him for an hour straight. He decided, however, that he’d listen to Matthew’s last message.

“You’re awful, you know that? I gave up almost two hours of my day in hopes that my brother would show up to this stupid park so we could hang out, but no! You’re so selfish! You don’t care for anything unless it's convenient for you. You, you, you! You bastard, this is why no one can stand to be around you-”

Alfred hung up the phone.

He stared at his landline. If he didn’t have the energy to do anything before, he certainly didn’t now.

Sighing, Alfred ran his hands through his hair. Just then, he heard a noise from upstairs. Playing it no mind, the American walked over to the cereal box sitting on the counter and grabbed it. The light weight of the box made Alfred’s heart sink. The noise turned into footsteps that made their way downstairs.

“Damn it! Tonny, did you eat all the cereal?” Alfred called from over his shoulder, assuming that the footsteps belonged to his little friend. The person quickly made their way directly behind him, and Alfred realized that that was definitely not Tonny.

Cautiously, Alfred looked over his shoulder and was greeted by a very furious looking Matthew.

“Mattie….Hey..” Alfred said.

“Do you want to explain to me why I waited for almost two hours today in the park, only for you not to show up?” Matthew questioned.

“Oh, ha ha! Funny story, dude, my alarm didn’t go off this morning! My bad!” Alfred laughed as he rubbed the back of his neck. Matthew was practically staring holes into Alfred’s head.

“Really? Your alarm didn’t go off? You expect me to believe that?” Matthew asked.

“Yeah, dude! I swear on my place’s flag that I’m telling the truth.” Alfred put his hand up in the air as he spoke. Matthew gave him an unimpressed look.

“Right,” the Canadian said, turning around. “You’ve been out of it for like the past two years, Al. I know that you’re trying to act like nothing’s wrong, but it’s pretty obvious something is. I’m starting to get worried.”

This was the perfect time for Alfred to tell someone his troubles and to be honest with himself. Unfortunately, he was way too stubborn to do that.

“Dude, I’m fine. I told you my alarm didn’t go off this morning.” He said, tossing the empty cereal box into the trash can and missing completely.

“Right…” Matthew responded, suspicious.

After Alfred’s encounter with Matthew, he decided to take a while to really figure out how he felt about his situation.

Did he love Ivan? Well…sorta? He loved a version of Ivan, one that is long gone.

Would anyone else understand how he felt? It was unlikely. No one seemed to bat an eye when Ivan returned, and it seemed like no one realized that it wasn’t the original either.

Should he be dwelling on this so much? Absolutely not. He should just get over Ivan, but it wasn’t that easy. They had something, something that Alfred hadn’t felt in hundreds of years. It was his fault that it was taken away, of course. He knew that. He could still remember the day perfectly: the white snow stained red, his shaky hands, Ivan’s expression before he died. 

Alfred stared at the ceiling as he laid on the couch. He felt hopeless.

^^^^

Lately, it seemed like the world meetings were being scheduled just to torment Alfred. They were tedious, long, and full of people that he didn’t want to be around.

It also seemed like everyone was obsessed with him as well. Arthur and Francis stuck to him like the plague, Feliciano kept asking him dumb questions that he could’ve asked Ludwig, and Yao and Kiku kept staring at him. Alfred wasn’t quite sure what he had done wrong, but he hoped it didn’t have anything to do with what happened with Matthew. He even started praying to god that people wouldn’t randomly decide to start noticing his brother.

Thankfully, he was able to get away from everyone by saying he had to use the bathroom, then escaping through the window. He stood in a large courtyard, with trees so tall they touched the building’s roof and grass so green that he thought just standing in it would make him sick.

Alfred closed his eyes and rubbed his chin in thought. “Has Arthur’s place always been this green?” He asked himself out loud.

“What?”

Alfred’s eyes snapped open and shot over to the voice. Sitting on a bench nearby, running her fingers through her hair, was Natalia. She gave him a look that was a mixture of confusion and unimpressed.

“Oh! Sorry,” Alfred laughed. “I was talking to myself.”

Natalia narrowed her eyes at him before turning away. It was rare to see Natalia by herself; usually, she was following Ivan around.

A thought popped into Alfred’s mind. Wait, she’s the closest person to Ivan, right? She’s like obsessed with him, so she should’ve recognized that he was different when he came back! Alfred glanced at Natalia, planning his next move. Slowly, he began sidestepping his way over to her. 

Natalia didn’t notice at first, too caught up in her daydreams, but as Alfred kept approaching, her attention shifted.

“Get away from me, you disgusting hamburger muncher,” she told him. Alfred stopped encroaching on her territory and pouted.

“But I wanted to ask you something, dude!” He said sadly. Natalia’s eyes narrowed at him again, and a frown grew on her face.

“What do you want?” She asked him, voice full of hostility. Alfred smiled and hopped down onto the bench next to her.

“It’s about Ivan.” Natalia’s face shifted at his words.

“I’m not telling you anything about my brother, you freak.”

“C’mon! You moved out of his place, right? It’s not like he’ll know about anything you tell me! Besides, it’s a serious question, I can’t ask anyone else.” Alfred said. Natalia took a moment to think.

“Fine, ask. Make it quick.” She said, her voice cold and hardened. 

Alfred gulped. He wasn’t actually expecting her to hear him out.

“So, uh, well,” he stumbled over himself. “Do you think…Ivan is the same? Like, the same person as before, everything that happened?”

Natalia’s eyes widened at the question. She whipped her head away from him and towards the grass in front of her.

“No.” Alfred could hear sadness begin to consume her voice. “He’s not the same. He’s different. He’s been different for a while now.”

The two of them sat on the bench in silence. Relief washed over Alfred; he wasn't going crazy, someone else saw exactly what he saw.

“Why do you care?” Alfred snapped out of his moment of bliss as Natalia spoke.

The American didn’t know how to respond. He wanted to be honest and tell her it was because of his feelings for Ivan, but knowing Natalia, she’d probably gouge his eyes out after learning the truth. Still, something compelled him to tell her.

“I have a thing for Ivan, that’s why.”

Alfred sat leaning back on a couch as he held an ice pack to his eye. Things didn’t go too well after he told Natalia the truth. She immediately started freaking out at him, and just like he thought, tried to gouge out his eyes. She didn’t do any serious damage before he subdued her, but she did manage to break his glasses and scratch his right eyelid.

Arthur was pouring rubbing alcohol onto a rag across from where Alfred was sitting. He was the first person the American ran into after being attacked, much to his dismay.

Arthur placed the bottle of alcohol on the counter next to him and turned to look at Alfred.

“You have a history of irritating people; I know that, but what did you do to get her to attack you?” Arthur asked. Alfred sat and stared at him.

“Really? Nothing to say? Matthew was right, something is up with you. You haven’t been yourself in a while; you’ve been eating less than usual, buying useless crap, and, worst of all, you’ve been freakishly quiet. It’s starting to freak me out.” Arthur admitted to Alfred as he moved the American’s hand from his eye and placed the rag there instead.

I knew it! Matthew did tell him. That maple leaf loving traitor! He’ll pay for this, Alfred thought to himself.

“Alfred, please. If something’s wrong, I want you to tell me,” Arthur started. “I know that we’ve had our differences, but you're still my family.”

Alfred knew he was right; everyone was always right. He should start being honest with people, but when he tried that, he almost lost an eye. 

The American chuckled at the thought. Woah! I can’t believe she actually attacked me! I mean, I knew she was going to, but it’s still hilarious to think about. 

The chuckle turned into a hearty laugh. His situation was so stupid that he couldn’t take it seriously anymore.

“What’s the matter? Why are you laughing?” Arthur’s voice became frantic. 

“It’s so dumb! Why am I freaking out so much over all of this? I never have before!” Laughed Alfred.

Arthur stared at the other man, dumbfounded. He was glad to see Alfred laughing again, but it was so sudden that he feared Al had gone crazy.

“Alfred-”

“Okay, okay, I’ll tell you,” the American cut Arthur off.

“You can’t get mad at me for anything I tell you, got it? Or I’ll never tell you anything again.” Arthur shook his head in agreement with Alfred’s terms.

“Okay, so basically, me and Ivan had a thing going on for like the entirety of the Cold War. I know, I know, not good at all, get over it. But after the Soviet Union fell, and he came back, he was different. He doesn’t seem to remember our history together, and I guess I let it get to me more than it should’ve, but it’s whatever now. Oh, also I told Natalia that I had a thing for Ivan and she went psycho.” Rapidly explained, Alfred.

If Arthur wasn’t dumbfounded before, he most certainly was now. 

“Wha… what? Wait, hold on. You have a thing for Ivan, and now that he’s regenerated after the collapse of the USSR, you think he’s changed? That’s bloody ridiculous!” Arthur snapped.

“Hey, I told you that you can’t get angry at me!” Alfred pouted as he spoke. He smacked Arthur’s hand away from his eye and crossed his arms.

“I’m allowed to point out just how outrageous this situation is, Alfred,” sighed Arthur.

Silence fell over the pair. Recently, it seems that silence followed Alfred everywhere he went. He wasn’t quite sure he liked it, though.

“Sooooooooooo…” Alfred started, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction. “How’s it going with Francis?”

Arthur’s expression changed from one of disappointment to a flustered one.

“Don’t change the topic, you diabetic pig!” Yelled the British man, clearly bright red from embarrassment.

Alfred laughed. It was always funny when Arthur got mad.

“This conversation is about you and your obscene feelings for Ivan!” Arthur shouted just as the room’s door opened. From behind, it came Matthew and Francis, who both stood in shock.

No one spoke, no one even moved. The situation grew more and more embarrassing for Alfred as they all stood around. He desperately wanted to flee but knew he’d be stopped almost immediately.

Suddenly, Francis broke the silence.

“Oh mon Dieu! I can’t believe it!” Francis blurted out as he pushed Arthur out of his way to get to Alfred. “Obscene feelings? For Ivan! Mon cher, why didn’t you tell me? I can help you express your love for him, but first, I must ask, why Ivan? He’s not very pretty, nor does he have a sparkling personality such as moi.”

Arthur clicked his tongue in disappointment. He stomped his way over to Francis and grabbed his collar, yanking him back aggressively.

“Oi! Knock it off! You’re being annoying, you stupid frog.” Arthur spat at the French man. Francis smacked Arthur’s hand away from him.

“You’re going to ruin my coat! This is the pinnacle of fashion; do not soil it with your filthy English hands!” Francis pushed Arthur away. In retaliation, Arthur grabbed onto his coat and began pulling it. The pair of men continued yelling curses at one another as they fought. Matthew and Alfred watched, almost impressed at their never ending beef.

“Alfred,” Matthew said, sitting down next to his brother.

Alfred knew exactly what the Canadian was going to say next.

“I know, I know. I should’ve told you. Sorry.”

Matthew frowned at his twin’s response.

“You did tell me, about,” he paused, looking at his hands as if counting. “About 30 years ago.” Alfred’s eyes dashed to Matthew’s face.

“Ah…really?” Alfred asked, confused. Matthew glared at him before sighing.

“It doesn’t matter. Even if you did remember, you wouldn’t have talked to me about it. You know, I’m starting to think that you don’t really trust me, or that you just don’t respect me as a person.” Matthew admitted, his voice trailing off at the end. He turned away from Alfred, obviously embarrassed by his statement.

“I do trust you. I just…” Alfred paused. “I just don’t really trust myself. That’s all. But I’m gonna start being honest, because that’s what a hero does. And I do respect you, kinda.”

Matthew’s frown inverted into an unimpressed smile, and he leaned against Alfred’s shoulder.

“Thanks, Alfred.” The Canadian said sarcastically before continuing. “I’m glad that you’re trying to help yourself.”

Alfred wanted to smack his past self upside the head. Honesty? Honesty????? Being honest was incredibly hard, and Alfred had no interest in doing anything difficult right now. No amount of promises to his brother would ever change that fact. If anything, it made being honest harder because now it was embarrassing. 

Thankfully for him, his family didn’t tell anyone what they knew, and it seemed like Natalia had kept her mouth shut about the whole situation. He was grateful for their silence, because if he actually wanted to start being truthful, no one could know until he told them.

Alfred paced around his living room as Tonny sat watching TV. Moving around helped him think; Arthur always said that he probably had ADD, but Alfred wasn’t sure how he could possess the addition formula.

Be true, be honest, be real, Alfred repeated to himself. It may be embarrassing, but you do embarrassing stuff all the time! You just gotta have confidence in yourself, Alfred! Yes, that’s all you need! I’ll boost up my confidence again, and then I'll ask Ivan out. What’s the worst he could say? Hmmmmmm…….probably something like “Why would I go out with you? You’re disgusting, an idiot, and fat. I’d rather die than be seen with you.” Yeah, probably something like that. 

The sound of Tonny’s voice brought Alfred back to reality. His friend was asking him about what he was doing. Alfred smirked at the question. This is the perfect time to be honest!

“Okay, dude, listen up! I was thinking about asking Ivan out on a date, and I need ideas on how, so it’s your time to shine. Ready, go! Give me ideas on how to woo a Russian!” Alfred pointed confidently at Tonny as he spoke. Being suddenly put on the spot threw the alien off guard, and he blurted out the first thing he could think of.

“What?” Alfred stated, surprised. “Tonny, I can’t do that! That’s immoral, dude!” 

Tonny threw his hands up in defeat. He huffed out a few lines of dialog before turning his attention back towards the TV. 

“Jeez, dude, you need to get off the internet. Hm..I guess I could just ask Francis how he picks up chicks…but Ivan isn’t a chick, and Francis would bug me till the day I die about details of our relationship, so that’s a no-go. Maybe Feliciano? He’s a womanizer and pretty stupid, so he wouldn’t ask questions. Wait, no, he’s in a relationship with Ludwig. I think. Actually, I’m not sure what their relationship is-” Alfred’s tangent was cut off by Tonny hitting him with a couch pillow. 

“Hey!” Alfred whipped towards him. He grabbed another couch pillow and smacked Tonny in the head with it. Tonny stood up on the couch, grabbed the pillow from Alfred’s hands, and hit him with it. The two of them fought intensely with pillows, as if they were going to war for the safety of their homelands.

All of a sudden, ding dong! 

The doorbell rang loudly throughout the entire house. Alfred and Tonny stopped in their tracks, both looking in the direction of the front door.

Alfred nudged Tonny. “Go answer it.”

Tonny cursed at Alfred and threw himself back down onto the couch.

“Fine, I’ll go do it,” the American walked over to the front door.  Alfred assumed that Matthew had come over to check on him, but when he opened the door, he was surprised to see Irunya standing in front of him. Behind her stood Natalia, who glared at him from over her sister’s shoulder.

“Woah, what a surprise! What  are you two doing here?” The American asked in a friendly tone.

Irunya brought her hands up, revealing a basket of baked goods before she spoke.

“We wanted to speak with you if that’s alright.”

“Of course that’s alright! C’mon in!” Alfred moved himself out of the way, allowing them inside.

He led them to the dining room, where Irunya placed the basket on the table.

“Can I get you two anything? Cola? Root Beer?” Alfred asked, walking into the kitchen and opening his fridge. Irunya looked at her sister with a nervous expression. Natalia responded to her expression with a sigh before opening her mouth.

“We don’t want your sugary poison. We’re here to talk about Ivan.” A shiver went down Alfred’s spine.

“Ah…Let me guess, you wanna talk about what I told you during the last world meeting, right?” He gave the girls a silly smile, pulling out a bottle of Coke from the fridge afterwards.

“Yes, that’s right,” agreed Irunya. She decided to pull out a chair from the dining room table and sit down. She tried to get Natalia to sit as well, but she refused. Alfred watched the sisters’ short interaction closely, noting how uncomfortable they both looked.

“Well, there’s not much to talk about if I’m being honest. I like Ivan. What else can I say?” The American leaned against the counter as he spoke.

“Can I ask why, or how, or just…” Irunya trailed off. It seemed like she was struggling to collect her thoughts. 

Suddenly, Natalia spoke. “You told me you thought he was different. How did you notice that? And why do you actually care? What are you planning to do with my brother, you stupid fat b-” 

“Natalia! Be nice.” Irunya cut her sister off before she could finish her sentence.

Alfred thought about her questions for a moment. He knew Ivan was different because all of their memories together were gone, but there was something else he couldn’t pin down. And he cared because the Ivan he loved was now gone. And he wasn’t actually planning to do anything with him, but it would be funny if he were. Casually, Alfred popped open his soda and took a swig of it before speaking.

“Firstly, I noticed that he was different when he couldn’t remember any of our memories together, and I mean those were unforgettable memories, dude,” He started on. Natalia narrowed her eyes at his last statement. “Secondly, I care because…well, I’m in love with him. Lastly, I don’t have any plans for your brother…not yet at least.” Alfred snickered to himself.

Natalia gritted her teeth. Obviously, she wasn’t as assumed by his remark as he was.

“So you do love, Ivan…That makes me happy.” Irunya said with a soft smile. She arose from her seat and made her way over to Alfred. Gently, she took his hands in hers.

“I never thought someone other than me and Natalia could love him, but seeing how deeply you care, it warms my heart. Thank you, Alfred.” Irunya told the American. Alfred was a little taken aback by her words, yet he couldn’t help but feel thankful himself. This was the first time that someone didn’t treat his love for Ivan like it was a bad thing.

“Ahem! What are you doing, Irunya?” Growled Natalia as she ripped her sister away from Alfred. “This is awful! Big brother doesn’t need anyone else! He has me! He doesn’t need this bastard! He’s the reason why Big Brother isn’t the same as before!” Natalia gripped Irunya’s shoulders and thrusted her back and forth, trying to knock some sense into her.

Alfred watched as Irunya squealed in fear and as her sister increasingly became more and more aggressive with her. Jeez, I knew she was obsessed with him, but I didn’t think she was THAT obsessed, he thought to himself. 

He placed his soda on the counter before he grabbed Natalia’s shoulders and pulled her away from Irunya. The woman began freaking out at his touch, however, and tried to scratch his eyes out like a cat. Irunya tried to help calm Natalia down, but ended up being scratched by her sister, which caused her to start tearing up. 

The chaos continued until Alfred’s phone rang. Everyone stopped in their tracks as they watched it buzz on the wall.

“Well, go answer it, stupid,” Natalia spat out at Alfred. He did as he was told and picked it up.

“Yo yo yo, Alfred speaking!” The American cheerfully said into the phone. For a second, no one answered until an awkward voice came from the other end.

“Ah, hello, Alfred. This is Ivan speaking. I know this is sudden, but I heard that-” 

“Nope, sorry! I’m busy!” Alfred hung up the phone.

“Who was that?” Asked Irunya, who was wiping her tears away.

Alfred kept silent for a moment before turning towards her with a nervous smile.

“No one…important-” He tried to say, but the phone rang again. Quickly, he picked it up and held it closely to his ear.

“What.”

“You hung up on me,” Ivan stated, obviously dejected.

“I’m busy. Call back later.” Alfred told him.

Natalia got close to Alfred, attempting to listen in on his conversation, but he put his palm on her head and pushed her away. Natalia smacked his hand away and tried to regain the distance lost. Alfred kept moving away from her every time Natalia got closer to him. The sight amused Irunya.

“What are you doing?” Ivan asked.

“Nothing. Call back later, dude.” Responded Alfred. Natalia tried to snatch the phone from him, but was intercepted by Alfred putting her in a headlock.

“I won’t be able to, I have many meetings to attend later, and this is important,” Ivan told him.

Alfred grumbled something to himself before he responded, “Fine, what is it?” 

“Ah, I heard a rumor.” Alfred’s heart dropped. Did everyone know about his crush????

“Did you now? What about?”

Ivan took a minute to respond. Alfred could hear him go “ah…” quietly through the phone.

“It’s embarrassing, but…I heard that you liked me.” Ivan admitted. 

“Oh…..really…well uh..” Alfred wasn’t sure how to respond. Be honest, be honest, be honest, he told himself.

He opened his mouth, but before he spoke, he hung up the phone.

Natalia pushed his arm off of her and whipped around to face him.

“Who was that?”

“No one.”

“That was Big Brother, I recognized his voice.”

“Nope! You’re wrong.”

“I’m right, you jerk!”

Irunya observed the two as they argued, curious herself about who was on the other side of the phone.

“Alfred, if that was Ivan, you can tell us. I’ll do anything I can to help you out.” Irunya smiled.

“Hmmmmm..” Alfred hummed to himself in thought. “Alright, yeah, it was Ivan. He said that he had heard a rumor that I liked him. I got nervous and hung up. Whoops.”

Natalia smacked him in the arm, causing Alfred to let out a loud “ouch!”

“Idiot! Call him back! I will not let you make Ivan upset!” She yelled at him. Alfred pouted at her words and sank into himself like a child.

“No way! I already hung up twice, I’m not gonna call him again.” 

“You don’t have to call him again, but if he already knows about your feelings, you should confess!” Irunya chimed in. Her sister hissed, which caused her to jump back in fear.

“It wasn’t an important call, so there was no harm in hanging up.” There was plenty of harm in hanging up, actually. Alfred basically admitted that he liked Ivan by not admitting it, and now that he had rudely hung up on him, he wasn’t sure how Ivan felt about him. At that moment, he decided that being honest was too hard and that he’d quit trying.

“Welp,” he started. “It was great seeing you, lovely ladies, but I’m a man with many things to do, so if you would please leave.” Alfred began pushing the sisters out of his dining room.

“Wait a minute! I’m not leaving!” Natalia shouted, but her refusal was ignored as she was shoved to the front door. The women were brought to the front door and swiftly pushed out of it by Alfred.

“Thanks for the goodies! See ya!” He called before shutting the door. Natalia tried to claw her way back in, to no avail.

“Bastard! Open this damn door! I’ll get you if you put your hands on my brother! I’ll get you!” Screamed Natalia, banging on the door. Irunya looked towards the sidewalk, only to see that the neighbors were staring at them.

“Ah! Natalia, stop it. It’ll be alright, so there’s no need for that.” Irunya whispered to her sister. Natalia whipped her head.

“He has bad intentions! For Big Brother’s sake, I have to get rid of him!”

Irunya sighed. She placed her arms around her sister’s waist and hauled her off away from the house despite her protests.

Irunya sat on a park bench, watching her sister pace around her as she ate ice cream from a small cone. While she admired Natalia’s devotion to their brother, she knew that it would go unappreciated. Though Irunya understood her. She thought back to a time when she was once as devoted as Natalia was, back when she was actually allowed to see her brother.

After the events of Chernobyl, Irunya did everything she could to truly understand what went on in her brother’s head. She knew that he loved her and that he did everything he could to care for her and Natalia, but half of her assumed that Ivan resented her in some way. He was secretive and cold with his tone, violent with his actions, and uncaring about how he was perceived. Despite all that, Irunya could never bring herself to hate Ivan. He was her little brother, even if the little brother she remembered from her childhood was long gone.

She didn’t blame Natalia for that devotion either. Most of it stemmed from her just wanting Ivan to be happy, which Irunya also understood. She always wished that Ivan could be free from his responsibilities and just be allowed to enjoy the world the way he wanted. She knew that he longed for something more, but she was never able to give him that. No matter how hard she tried, Irunya could never provide Ivan with what he wanted, and he shut her out because of it. 

When Ivan finally regenerated, Irunya felt like she had lost a relationship that never truly existed. The little brother she had previously known had now been replaced with a newer version, a version that didn’t remember much of their past together in the Soviet Union. Her desire to know exactly why he did what he did, to know why he let her cry in pain for days after the accident, to know if he actually hated her, would go unanswered. The knowledge of that pained Irunya greatly.

Recently, however, a new opportunity was presented to her. Even if she wasn’t able to see Ivan, she could still help him be happy. And if Alfred really was in love with Ivan, she’d do anything to make sure it worked out between the two of them. Her love for a version of Ivan that no longer existed made sure of it.

Ice cream dripped down her cone to her hand, rolling off onto her shirt. Irunya didn’t seem to notice the mess, too lost in her own thoughts. Natalia continued to pace around her sister, mumbling curses that Irunya paid no mind to. 

Natalia halted in front of Irunya, turning to face her with her hands on her hips. She huffed loudly before she spoke.

“That pig! I should’ve stabbed him when I had the chance! He doesn’t deserve Big Brother, not at all.” Natalia leaned down to be face-to-face with Irunya. “Why did you thank him? Why did you tell him to confess?”

Natalia’s angry questioning snapped Irunya out of her daze, and she let out a small yelp.

“Oh, well….I just thought that if he confessed…then it would make Ivan happy, and I’d like to see him happy.” Answered Irunya, shyly wiping the ice cream from her clothes as she spoke.

“He can be happy with me! He doesn’t need that fat American!” Natalia straightened her back and went back to pacing.

“Hold on! Think about it for a moment, Natalia. Ivan seemed very intrigued by Alfred during their conflict, yes? So, I just thought that maybe his intrigue never left and that he still finds Alfred interesting.” Irunya’s reasoning made Natalia whip back around and glare at her.

“Stupid! That’s stupid!” Natalia yelled, stomping away from her sister. 

Irunya was left alone with ice cream dripping down her hand. She was worried that her reasoning really was silly, and that the tiny bit she knew about Ivan was just a figment of her imagination. 

She didn’t get to ponder longer, however, because Natalia quickly made her way back towards her.

“If you’re right and Ivan is interested in that giant loser, then how do you suppose we help him talk to Alfred?” Natalia asked as she walked up.

Irunya smiled widely. She knew her sister had a kind heart deep down.

“Well, we’d probably have to help Alfred talk to Ivan instead, but that’ll be easy! We’re his sisters, we know everything about Ivan!” Said Irunya, already pumped to help out. She didn’t actually know everything about Ivan, there was an entire section about how she felt like she didn’t know him at all just now, but what she did know were little things that could be useful to Alfred.

“Alright!” Irunya said, jumping up. “We have to go make a plan!”

“A plan?” Questioned Natalia, who clearly was not assumed at all.

“Yes! A plan that we can use to make Ivan’s and Alfred’s first date go well!”

Irunya ran off excitedly after her sentence, leaving Natalia to comprehend what she had just said.

“First date? First date! Like I’d ever let Alfred go on a date with Ivan!” She yelled at her sister as she ran after her.

Alfred sat on his couch eating the baked goods Irunya brought him as Tonny lazily flipped through television channels. It was nice to just sit down and ignore how chaotic his life had been for the last couple of days. All the stuff about his feelings for Ivan was draining him mentally, and everyone was forgetting that they should pay attention to him, not because of his crush, but because he was the best.

Tonny landed on one of those game show channels and decided that that was what they were going to watch. Alfred actually really enjoyed game shows. He would imagine himself as one of the contestants, coming up with ways he’d win the show. For trivia game shows, he’d use his vast knowledge about his home and pop culture to blow away the audience and the host. And for physical game shows, ya know, like Wipeout (which was totally a thing in the 90s), he’d use his strength and agility to beat all of the other contestants. The thought of effortlessly destroying his competition made Alfred smirk, and he kissed his bicep while flexing. Tonny looked at him weird after that.

Suddenly, the pair of friends could hear the landline ring from the kitchen. Alfred sank back into the couch as he groaned.

“Tonny,” he started. “Can you go answer it?”

Tonny narrowed his eyes at the bum of a friend and spat out a few curses in a questioning manner.

“I’m so sick of answering the phone! It feels like I get never ending calls, I swear!” Alfred complained, sinking ever further into the couch, to the point where his entire lower half wasn’t even on it anymore. 

Tonny huffed at his friend’s response, hopping up to go answer the phone. When Tonny picked up the phone, all he could hear was hushed whispers and arguing. He leaned in closer to try to get a better listen.

“What am I supposed to say?” A voice so quiet that it was almost impossible to hear came from the other line.

“Tell him that I’ve decided to help him in his endeavors of love!” An accented voice replied in a loud whisper.

“Be quiet, you idiot! Matthew, tell him that we’ll be coming over shortly to discuss something important, and that he'd better be dressed and have his house clean. I’m not in the mood to play housewife with him.” A third voice said, rudely.

“Hon hon hon, housewife? I think it would be more accurate to say that you’re pretending to be his mother!” Laughed the second voice before a whack was heard from the other end of the phone. Loud arguing erupted in Tonny’s ears afterwards, and he debated hanging up.

The first voice cleared his throat and spoke, this time at a level that Tonny could actually hear. “Eh, Alfred, hi, it’s Matthew. Arthur, Francis, and I were going to come visit you soon to talk to you about something important, so it’d be dandy if you were ready. Well, I’ll see you then, by-” Tonny hung up the phone before Matthew could finish his goodbye.

The alien walked back through the house to his friend, only to find Alfred snoring on the couch with crumbs and drool falling out of his mouth. Tonny huffed and hopped back onto the couch, ignoring his friend in favor of his TV show.

Loud banging awoke Alfred from his lovely nap. He had somehow made his way onto the floor right next to the couch with a blanket half draped on top of him. He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

Man, that was a good nap, Alfred thought before rising to his feet and slowly becoming conscious of the loud noise.

“The hell is that?” Alfred said aloud, curious about the strange noise he was hearing, just before a British voice yelled his name at full volume. Moments later, Arthur appeared in front of the living room entrance, hands on his hips and very obviously upset.

“Hey, wait, what are you doing here?” Alfred could barely get out before Arthur grabbed him by his collar and began shaking him back and forth violently.

“Wanker! You were supposed to be ready when we got here! We’ve been trying to get your attention for the past half hour!” Arthur shouted into Alfred’s face, still shaking him around.

Through all the violent shaking, Alfred could make out the figures of Francis and Matthew standing in the living room entrance.

“Mon Dieu, Arthur! You’re such a violet man.” Francis said, dramatically tossing his hair. Arthur turned his attention towards the French man, shooting daggers at him. 

“Why are you guys in my house? And what the hell are you talking about? You never told me to be ready when you got here, I didn’t even know you were coming over!” Alfred announced loudly, pushing Arthur off of him. Arthur looked back at Alfred, obviously unimpressed with his stupidity.

“Matthew called you earlier today and informed you that the three of us were going to stop by,” spat out Arthur. Alfred thought to himself for a moment. They called me? When? It hit him that Tonny must've been the one to answer their call, since he couldn’t remember ever talking to them.

“Dude,” Alfred started. “Tonny was the one to answer the phone, I was asleep on the couch.”

Arthur’s facial expression changed from being unimpressed to being furious. He kicked Alfred in the shin before Francis pushed him aside. Alfred rubbed his leg with an angry, pouty face as Francis began to speak.

“You may be a lazy bum, my dear Alfred, but under my guidance you’ll be a shining star that no one will ignore!”

Alfred’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Huh?”

“I’ve decided that I shall help you romance Ivan!” Francis announced, flipping his hair again.

Alfred and Arthur stared at Francis, both too stunned by his statement to respond immediately. After collecting himself, Arthur spoke.

“You bloody fool! What makes you think that your advice will help him? I’m the one he should be listening to! He’ll make a fool of himself if he doesn’t.”

Francis puffed at the British man’s response.

“France is known as the country of love, so why wouldn’t he listen to me! Besides, listening to you will only make him into a bushy browed loser!” Francis pushed Arthur with his shoulder.

“You perverted freak! Why’d you even come in the first place? Shouldn’t you be romancing your own women?” Arthur pushed him back.

The two of them continued like that, pushing one another like children, as Matthew walked up next to Alfred.

“Dude, I’m confused,” Alfred said to his brother, who looked embarrassed.

Matthew rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, you see…Arthur wanted to come over to make sure you weren’t planning to do anything stupid, and when Francis learned that he was coming to see you, he decided that he was going to help you go out with Ivan.”

Alfred nodded slightly, making it clear that he understood what Matthew was saying.

“How’d you get roped into this? It’s not like you to go along with these guys’ stupid ideas,” questioned Alfred. 

Matthew’s face grew more embarrassed than before, and he began playing with his fingernails.

“I was a little worried that you’d do something silly as well,” he admitted.

Alfred’s angry pout returned,d and he sighed loudly.

“You guys have no faith in me! Seriously! I don’t need your help! Get out!” He yelled, grabbing the three men and pushing them all towards the front door.

“Wait! Think about this, Alfred! You have no charisma!” Francis said pleadingly.

“I have charisma!” Alfred responded.

“What part of only talking about hamburgers and superheroes, being obnoxious, and being fat do you think constitutes charisma?" Arthur rebutted.

Alfred forced the three men out of his front door, causing Arthur to trip and fall on top of Matthew, pulling Francis down with him.

“I’m not fat! I’m big-boned! There’s a difference!!!” Alfred slammed the door shut.

“Well, that went splendidly,” Arthur said sarcastically, pushing himself off of Matthew.

“It would have gone better if you weren’t here.” Francis sassily said as he hopped up and fixed his hair.

“Excuse me? Don’t blame this on me, you pig face!”

“Your insults are awful. If you’re going to be rude, at least be creative, you pathetic, sad, lonely, failed empire,” huffed Francis. He began walking off Alfred’s front porch and onto the street, Arthur angrily following him.

Matthew laid sadly on the porch, nose red from falling face first onto the hard concrete. 

“Please…don’t leave me here.”

Alfred stomped around his living room. His family’s arrival had soiled his perfectly good mood from his nap, and now he wasn’t quite sure what to do.

“I have charisma! I’m very charismatic! If I wanted to, I could get Ivan to go out on a date with me all by myself,” he said aloud, trying to make himself feel better.

He paused in the middle of his living room for a moment. “Wait, how’d they get inside my house?”

Suddenly, Tonny appeared behind him and answered his question.

“The door? What door- Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, that one. Right, I forgot that me and Matt’s houses were connected. Wait, where have you been, Tonny?”

Tonny explained that he was playing on the PlayStation upstairs.

“Oh, okay. Heyyyy, why didn’t you tell me that they were coming over?” Alfred asked. Tonny gave him a look before pointing to the couch, which had crumbs and a blanket on the floor next to it.

“Oh. Right.”

Irunya happily skipped down the sidewalk of a residential neighborhood, Natalia in tow. The sun had begun to set, but Irunya was determined to help Alfred, no matter what.

On their way down the sidewalk, the sisters came upon a pair of blonde men who seemed to be arguing intensely. The shorter man with fuzzy eyebrows was hurling insults at the one with longer hair, while the one with longer hair was ignoring him as he walked. As the girls passed the duo, the long haired man turned to Irunya and complimented her on her figure with a wink before Natalia pushed her sister along, and the shorter man smacked his companion on the head.

“Huh,” Irunya mumbled. “That man looked familiar.”

“Ignore him, he’s a dirty pervert,” Natalia responded almost instantly, with her teeth gritted.

It didn’t take long for the sisters to arrive back at Alfred’s house. Excited, Irunya ran up to the front gate and swung it open, hearing a strange whack as she did.

“What was that?” She questioned.

Natalia looked around. After finding nothing, she shrugged.

“I think you’re going crazy,” Natalia stated, walking through the now open gate. Standing right behind the gate, obviously unseen and holding his leg, was Matthew, who slumped to the ground sadly as the girls left.

Knock, knock, knock, came from the front door as Natalia banged on it.

“Wait! We didn’t bring him a gift, it’s rude to show up to a house without a gift, Natalia.” Irunya whispered to her little sister.

“We brought him one earlier. And besides, I don’t have any money in my wallet, and neither do you,” her sister responded.

Irunya gave her a confused look.

“Then how did we afford that ice cream I ate earlier?”

“Huh?” Natalia let out.

“Huh?” Irunya said.

As the sisters were confusing one another, Alfred opened the front door, obviously annoyed. Natalia shifted her body to face him before she spoke.

“Let us in, you stupid ugly fat-” Her sentence was cut off by Irunya quickly placing her hand over Natalia’s mouth.

“We’re so sorry to bother you again, Mr. Alfred!” Irunya apologized. 

“Uh-huh,” Alfred yawned, placing his left hand under his shirt to scratch his stomach. “What do you want?” 

Natalia tried to release herself from Irunya’s grasp, which made the older woman panic a little.

“Um, are you thinking about going on a date with Ivan, because we can help you! We know a lot about him and- Ah!” Irunya spat out before Natalia broke away from her hold and jabbed her sister in the side.

“What is with you people and- Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You dudettes are actually willing to help me ask out Ivan? Seriously? Like…both of you?” Questioned Alfred, almost suspicious. They were over earlier that day, so he knew that this wasn’t a ploy done by Arthur and Francis to try to “help” him, but he couldn’t help but be cautious.

“I’m not willing. I think you’re a disgusting capitalist with a personality problem, but she thinks this will be good for Big Brother,” Natalia said, pointing at Irunya.

“Ummmmmmmm, get me a minute,” Alfred told the women as he shut the door.

This could work out for me, he thought to himself. Irunya and Natalia were Ivan’s sisters, the closest people to him, so they’d know a lot about him. Even then, Alfred couldn’t help but feel like they were trying to set him up for failure. Natalia hated him. Like, to an almost unhealthy degree. It wouldn’t be out of the question to think that she’d make him do something ridiculous and piss off Ivan. He didn't want to risk that. He wanted, no, needed Ivan to think the same way about him. At least, think about him the way he did before the collapse of the USSR. Alfred was desperate for that.

Alfred opened the door.

“Alright,” he said, seriously. As long as it isn’t those idiots trying to help me.

Irunya began clapping happily, with a stupidly excited expression on her face.

“Yayyyyyyyy!!! Okay, let’s get started!”

The women made sure to jam as much information about Ivan as they could into Alfred’s head. To the point where they were up all night going over Ivan’s favorite things and what the American should say to him. Irunya said it was to make sure that their first date went well and that it was super important that Alfred didn’t accidentally anger Ivan.

Irunya laid sleeping on the couch, cuddled up in a thick blanket, while Natalia stood next to Alfred, who was forced onto the floor by the TV.

“What’s Big Brother’s favorite flower?” Natalia asked in a strict, soldier like tone.

“Sunflowers,” Alfred responded quickly.

“And what are you going to show up with when you meet up with him?”

“Sunflowers,” he responded again.

“What are you going to say when you see him?” She asked, catching Alfred off guard.

Alfred, in a panic, responded with a “sup dude”.

Natalia smacked him in the head furiously.

“No! Stupid! Again! What are you going to say when you see Ivan?” She yelled.

“Ah! Good morning! It’s nice to see you, dude!”

She smacked him again.

“Stop saying dude, you teenage caricature!” 

“I’m sorry!” 

Irunya yawned and sat up, still wrapped in the warm blanket. 

“You two are still awake?” She asked, rubbing her eyes. Her attention turned to the light peering through the curtains, which showed that it was morning.

“I’m making sure he knows what to do,” Natalia told her sister.

“Yeah, by giving me brain damage!” Alfred protested. He rubbed the top of his head sadly.

“You already have brain damage!” Argued Natalia.

Irunya chuckled. It was nice to see that they both cared so much about this.

Natalia flipped her hair, turning around as she did and walking over to the couch. She sat down with a thump and crossed her arms.

“I’ve done all I can. I guess you’re ready now. Go. Call big brother and ask him on a date, but don’t you dare say the word ‘dude’!” Natalia said.

Irunya clapped as Alfred stood up, as if to encourage him. He made his way to the kitchen quietly. There, on the wall, hung his landline, just waiting to be used.

Alfred swallowed back his nervousness and picked up the phone, dialing in the numbers. Shortly after, the buzzing began.

What time is it in Russia right now? Would he even be awake? What if he’s out doing something, or if he has company over?

The phone clicked, and a soft voice came through the speaker.

“Hello?”

Alfred’s breath hitched, and he had to clear his throat before he spoke.

“Heyyyyyyyyyyyy,” his voice was raspy, probably due to his and Natalia’s constant back and forth.

“Who is this?” The other voice asked.

Alfred could feel his face turn red. It wasn’t often that he got embarrassed, actually, he never got embarrassed, so this was a new experience.

“It’s Alfred,” the American admitted.

Alfred could hear a soft “ah” come from the other end.

“Privet, Alfred, it’s rare for you to call me,” Ivan said cheekily.

Alfred let out an embarrassed cough before responding.

“Yeah, well, I wanted to ask you somethin’.”

“Ask me something? Could it be related to the phone call we exchanged yesterday?” Ivan asked, shyly.

“Yao told me that it would be better if we didn’t speak about that. He said that it could worsen the affairs between our homes more than they already are,” he added.

Alfred’s eye twitched at the mention of Yao.

He immediately went and asked Yao for advice??? So everyone DOES know about my crush, Alfred thought.

“It’s kinda about yesterday. Just…” Alfred felt himself begin to panic.

He couldn’t give up, not now. After all the pain and suffering Ivan’s sisters put him through, he couldn’t not say the truth. Besides, he told Matthew that heroes were honest, and he’s a hero.

“I wanted to take you on a date sometime soon, probably. How does Friday work for you?” Alfred’s heart nearly pounded out of his chest as the words left his mouth.

Ivan didn’t respond immediately. Alfred assumed that he was either stunned into silence or quietly judging him through the phone. 

“So…is that a no?”

“I’d love to join you for a date, and Friday is a perfect day for me. But will we be at your house or mine?” Ivan questioned.

Alfred’s face became beet red in a matter of seconds. He honestly thought that Ivan would reject him.

“Mine works! There’s a ton of super cool stuff here to do! Welp, I’ll see you Friday, cya dude!” Alfred quickly hung up the phone before Ivan could respond. He shuffled his way into the living room, getting more and more red by the minute.

Irunya sat on the couch smiling widely, on her lap laid Natalia, who must’ve been so tired that she passed out. Irunya patted the spot next to her on the couch, signaling Alfred to sit down. He obliged without resistance.

“I heard everything,” Irunya told Alfred in a whisper. She took his head and laid it on her shoulder.

“I honestly thought he’d say no. After everything we’ve been through, after all our hatred and pain, I’m surprised he likes me enough to say yes.” Alfred told her.

“Ivan’s much nicer than you may think. He’s just scared of being hurt.” Irunya began running her fingers through his hair.

“I know that deep inside he just wants someone to call his friend, but now that you’ve asked him on a date, he’s definitely more than overjoyed.”

The thought of Ivan’s eyes lighting up at Alfred’s proposal warmed her heart. There was a chance that she’d no longer see her brother with dead eyes, but with eyes so bright they could replace the stars. That’s all she’s ever wanted.

“Thank you, Alfred.” She said, but to no response.

“Alfred?” Irunya looked down, only to find that Alfred was fast asleep on her shoulder. The sight made her smile grow even wider.

It wouldn’t be just her anymore. It would be her, Natalia, Ivan, and Alfred. They were a family now.

A week came and went without much of anything happening. Alfred went to work like normal and tried his best to act cool in front of Ivan.

Actually, that was a lie. A lot did happen in the week before his date, but Alfred just decided to ignore it all in favor of pretending that everything was fine.

It came out that everyone did, in fact, know about Alfred’s crush, and now they all knew about his date. It started with Francis finding out, then Francis told Antonio and Gilbert while drinking one night, only to have Antonio tell Lovino the next day. Lovino told Feliciano, and the number of people who knew grew from there, and by the time of his date, every country in the world seemed to know about Friday.

Pretending that no one knew anything and that nothing embarrassing was happening was the only way Alfred managed to keep his head on straight.

Friday finally arrived with Alfred’s mentality still in one piece. It was a little impressive that he managed to survive the week, actually.

He stood in front of his bathroom mirror, fixing his flannel. Alfred thought his outfit looked fine, but Natalia kept saying that he looked like a bum, so now he was stuck in the bathroom, self-consciously trying to make himself look better. He wasn’t exactly sure why he was so determined not to look like a bum, maybe it was because he wanted to look nice for Ivan, or maybe it was because Natalia had broken him down more than he’d like to admit. Whatever the reason, Alfred needed to be perfect.

“Are you done yet?” Natalia asked, banging on the bathroom door. The sudden noise startled Alfred.

“Give me a second!” The American shouted in response. 

Perfect, I need to be perfect, he kept telling himself.

“You’ve been in there for 10 minutes. I will not let you leave Big Brother waiting!” Natalia’s voice yelled through the door.

Alfred stopped messing with his flannel once he decided that it looked acceptable. He quickly grabbed his comb and did one final sweep across his head before opening the bathroom door.

“Okay, I’m ready.”

Natalia gave him a look.

“You look the same as you did earlier.”

The comment stabbed the American in the heart, and he was tempted to go back into the bathroom to fix himself up again.

Irunya walked up from behind her sister and looked over Alfred’s outfit. First, she started with his hair, which she seemed to approve of, thanks to her gentle nod. Then she examined his clothes next. She patted down a few wrinkles and made sure his collar stayed flat, but otherwise, it seemed that Irunya approved. Finally, she made sure his shoes were nice and clean before clapping happily and giving Alfred a wide smile.

“You look very nice, Alfred!” Irunya complimented him excitedly. The compliment made Alfred’s cheeks flush a little, and he gave her a toothy smile in response.

Natalia stood off to the side and watched their interaction, obviously unimpressed by their happy expressions. She sighed loudly before she spoke.

“Are you two done yet? He has a date to get to.” Her emphasis on the word “date” made it very clear she didn’t like the word or that she didn’t consider Alfred and Ivan going out together to be an actual date.

“Right,” Alfred put his fist in the air before he continued. “Let’s do this!!!”

In a nearby park, Matthew, Arthur, and Francis sat in a bush, observing the surrounding area in search of something.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Matthew asked, clearly uncomfortable.

“Shush!” Francis said quickly. He had binoculars pressed against his eyes as he scanned the area. “I must focus.”

“Mattie is right, this is ridiculous," agreed Arthur. 

Francis removed his binoculars as he turned to look at Arthur.

“Think about it, without our help, Alfred will make a buffoon of himself! And then what? Ivan will speak to him no longer, and he’ll make that our problem! Do you want that very uncute boy to cry to you about his relationship problems, Arthur?” Questioned Francis in a whisper.

Arthur thought about what he had said for a moment, which angered Francis.

“He’ll probably be stuffing his face with hamburgers as his snot pours down your shirt.” The thought of that happening made even Francis himself shiver with fear.

“You’re right, that boy most certainly can’t do this on his own.”

“Exactly! That’s precisely why I’ve conjured up multiple events that will make Ivan fall head over heels with our dear Alfred!” Francis flipped his hair as he spoke rather loudly. People stared at the strange men sitting in the bushes as they passed by.

“What?” Matthew asked before being interrupted by Francis, continuing his ramblings.

“Firstly, I found out that he placed an order for sunflowers at a floral shop, and while sunflowers are beautiful, they certainly aren’t romantic. So, I used my good looks to persuade the florist into giving him roses instead. Then, I learned that Alfred planned to take Ivan to an aviation museum, which is very unromantic, so I snuck into his house and replaced his note with one about taking Ivan to a beautiful lake close by,” rambled Francis.

Arthur and Matthew stared at the French man, confusion eating them alive.

“You…you snuck into his house? How???” Arthur asked, concerned.

“The French make great spies,” giggled Francis as he winked at Arthur. 

“Yikes…” Matthew said quietly to himself. He knew that this date was going to be a disaster.

Jogging lightly through the streets of his city, Alfred made his way to the local flower shop to pick up his gift for Ivan. Well, one of his gifts. Natalia made sure that he had multiple just in case something happened to the others, so now he was carrying around a gift bag containing a giant bottle of Vodka and a few Russian sweets whose names Alfred couldn’t pronounce even if he tried.

Alfred entered the overly decorated floral shop. Different types of flowers lined every wall and surface that he could see, but he had no time to gawk at the pretty fauna, he was already late thanks to his bathroom shenanigans.

“Excuse me, I placed an order for a bunch of sunflowers over the phone. I’m here to pick them up. The name’s Alfred F. Jones.” Alfred told the lady at the front desk. She smiled back at him and left to go grab his order.

When she came back, however, Alfred was shocked to see a bouquet of roses being presented to him.

“You said you ordered sunflowers, but the only flowers we have under your name are these,” said the florist.

“Wow! What a silly mix up, ha ha! You don’t happen to have any sunflowers in the back, do you?” Alfred asked with an assumed tone. The florist shook her head in response.

“Hmmmm, well, that’s unfortunate,” the American told her. “These will have to do, I guess!” He took the bouquet from the woman and waved goodbye before jogging out of the store.

From behind a tree, Irunya and Natalia watched Alfred closely.

“Why does he have roses? He’s supposed to have sunflowers! Those are big brother’s favorites, not those perverted, boring flowers!” Natalia gritted her teeth.

“Maybe there was a mix-up?” Irunya explained.

“There better have been!”

The first thing Alfred saw when he walked into the park was a man who very obviously didn’t fit in. The man was wearing a knit sweater and a scarf in the middle of summer, and his platinum blonde hair reflected the sun in such a way that Alfred’s breath hitched.

It was Ivan.

He was waiting patiently for Alfred to arrive.

Alfred’s head began to race.

Uh oh, he knew that feeling. The one he got when laying in bed after their fight in Cuba, the one he let race through him when they had their first kiss in that overgrown garden, the one he relished in after shooting Ivan for the last time, the one he mourned after realizing that the man he loved would never love him the way he did again.

He was so sure that the feeling would make him puke, but he knew he couldn’t give up on this opportunity. He had to see if he could get him back, his Ivan.

Alfred tried to quietly sneak over to Ivan, planning on surprising him with a face full of roses. Unfortunately, he can’t be quiet for the life of him and accidentally stepped on a twig, which alerted Ivan to his presence.

Ivan did his usual smile before greeting Alfred. The American knew that that was the smile he always had on his face, but he couldn’t help but feel his face flush.

“Privet, Alfred. You’re late.”

All the romantic butterflies Alfred felt washed away at the Russian’s words.

“Yeah well…I got caught up in something.” Alfred poorly explained before presenting Ivan with the bouquet.

“I ordered sunflowers, but they gave me the wrong ones. Sorry.”

For a moment, Alfred could’ve sworn that he saw Ivan’s eyes light up.

“Ah, thank you,” Ivan said as he accepted the roses. “But why were you going to get me sunflowers?”

“Because they’re your favorite.”

There it is again, his eyes lit up, Alfred thought. He quickly handed over the gift bag, eager to see that light again.

Ivan accepted the bag and looked inside curiously. Just like Alfred wanted, his eyes lit up before going dark again.

“Thank you for the gifts. I am quite surprised by your kindness and your attention to detail,” said Ivan.

“Well, a hero pays attention to everything! Now, c'mon!” Alfred grabbed Ivan's hand and pulled him out of the park. The pair began walking down the populated streets, stopping every once in a while so Alfred could point out a fun feature of the city.

Alfred noticed the feeling coming back, much stronger this time. He decided to embrace it for once because he could finally love Ivan the way he wanted.

The two finished their walk around the city, and by some strange miracle (or involvement of a certain French man) ended up at a lake, which confused Alfred. He looked down at the note he had and read the address again.

“Huh.”

“What is it?” Asked Ivan curiously.

“Nothing, doesn’t matter,” Alfred told him before placing the note back into his pocket. Could’ve sworn that was the address to that super cool aviation museum I had my birthday party at last year…oh well.

Alfred walked down the sandy beach, Ivan watching him intently. He removed his shoes and threw them on the sand before stepping into the lake, letting his feet feel the warm, fresh water.

From at least 15 feet away, crouched Natalia and Irunya in a bush, observing the date.

“What is he doing? Why are we at a beach? Is he stupid??” Rapidly fired Natalia, who was gritting her teeth so loudly that Irunya could hear.

“I don’t know…but I’m sure Alfred knows what he’s doing!” Irunya quietly told her sister. At that moment, something caught Irunya’s eye.

Far away, in another bush, sat two blonde men and a ghostly figure who seemed to be watching Alfred and Ivan’s date. Irunya couldn’t quite make out their faces, so she pointed them out to Natalia, who then seemed to become even more furious.

“I know those bastards! Those are the guys who hang around Alfred and argue with him at meetings! The British and French ones!”

“Ohhhh, that makes sense. Why are they here, though? And what’s that creepy figure next to them?” Irunya asked, shaking. Her attention immediately shifted back over to Ivan, however, as he placed the gifts on the sand.

He didn’t move closer to Alfred, all he did was watch, but there was something in his eyes that Irunya didn’t, or couldn’t, recognize. 

“Alfred,” his voice rang out, catching both his sisters off guard.

Alfred turned towards Ivan, letting the Russian know that he had his attention.

“Yeah, dude, what is it?” Alfred asked.

“Why did you ask me out on a date?” Questioned Ivan.

The question made Irunya’s heart drop.

“Because I wanted to go on a date with you, obviously,” Alfred responded rather quickly. He kicked around the water as he spoke.

“You have never been a very good liar. Tell me the real reason.” Alfred’s brows furrowed at Ivan’s sentence.

“Why would that not be the real reason?”

“Because you have spent the last five years avoiding me, and if you were not avoiding me, you were openly hostile towards me. So, forgive me, but I do not believe you wanted to ‘just go on a date with me.’” Ivan explained.

Natalia and Irunya sat silent as they waited for Alfred’s next move, and so did the two blonde men and the ghost.

“Yeah, you’re right, I do kinda have an ulterior motive for asking you out.” Admitted Alfred, spinning around in the water.

“The truth is…” The American started.

Honesty, Alfred.

“The truth is that I don’t believe you’re the Ivan I love, or…loved. That Ivan died December 26th, 1991, and I killed him.”

Irunya’s heart sank into her chest as Alfred spoke.

“So, you don’t love me?” Ivan asked.

Alfred looked at him with an expression so full of hurt that Irunya honestly thought he would start crying.

“God, I wish! Do you know how hard it is to try to come to terms with the fact that the guy I love will never see me in the same way again? Even if the love we had wasn’t really love and it was all just hatred mixed with lust, it’s awful to feel this way! Sometimes I wish that I had been the one to lose that day, so that I wouldn’t have to stand here and remember all those memories that I can’t get back!” Alfred’s outburst seemed to take Ivan by surprise.

“I feel like I’m going crazy! No one else seems to understand what we’ve been through together, they don’t understand that you’re not you! You’re not the man who laughed at me while he hit me, you’re not the man who was so desperate for just one dance with me, you’re not the man that I shared my first kiss with, Ivan! That’s not you, and nobody seems to get that!” Tears streamed down Alfred’s face as he spewed his heart out.

Ivan looked like he was at a loss for words, and so was Irunya. She hadn’t realized how hard dealing with this must’ve been for Alfred, but now that she was witnessing it, she couldn’t help but pity him.

“This was a bad idea; I shouldn’t have let anyone convince me that it wasn’t.” Alfred wiped the tears away from his eyes. He exited the water and went to retrieve his shoes, which were a length away thanks to him throwing them earlier.

“Alfred-” Ivan started, but was cut off by Alfred talking over him.

“Just shut up. It doesn’t matter anymore. You have Yao, right? Go on a date with him instead, I’m sure it’ll go better.”

Ivan’s expression quickly changed. Irunya watched his eyebrows furrow and his mouth fall into a frown. That’s a new expression, she couldn’t help but think.

“What are you saying? Are you accusing me of having romantic feelings for Yao?” Badgered Ivan.

“You might as well! You two were always so buddy-buddy, even when you were supposed to be mine!” Accused Alfred, aggressively putting on his shoes as he choked back tears.

“I was yours, Alfred!”

“You weren’t! And you definitely aren’t now!” Alfred tried to stomp past Ivan, only to be grabbed and spun around.

“Don’t go, please.” Ivan’s words practically shook Alfred to his core. It was the first time he’d ever seen the Russian make such a serious face.

“Look, I’m sorry for asking you out, so just…” The American took a deep breath in. “When we see each other at work, please just pretend this never happened, for both of our sakes.” With that, he pushed Ivan off of him and walked away.

Irunya and Natalia sat quietly in the bush, trying to wrap their heads around what had just occurred. Irunya looked at the blonde men; they were just as horrified as the sisters were. No one moved a muscle out of fear that they’d make the situation much worse than it already was.

“Alfred,” Ivan suddenly spoke. “I do remember small pieces.”

The American stopped dead in his tracks.

“Like what?”

“I remember knitting a gift, a spaceship.”

Alfred whipped around so fast that he almost fell.

“I remember giving it to you and how nervous I felt,” Ivan admitted quietly, obviously embarrassed.

“Anything else?” Alfred desperately asked.

“Not much, just…” Ivan moved his hand to his lips and looked away shyly. Alfred understood what he meant. How could he not? That kiss was the only one that felt truly loving in any way.

“I apologize that I can not remember much more from our past together, Alfred.”

Alfred’s head hung low. His fist curled up so tight that his knuckles went white, and he bit his bottom lip so hard that Irunya worried that it’d bleed.

“Don’t be.” Alfred choked out. “I’m sorry that I freaked out at you. It’d be better if we went our separate ways anyways, no point in trying to live in the past.”

Ivan observed Alfred’s movements closely before he said anything.

“Why not make a new relationship? One that is set in the now and not the then.” He proposed to the other man.

The American didn’t respond to Ivan’s proposal, instead, he grabbed the Russian by his scarf, pulling him down just enough so that Alfred could kiss him passionately.

Irunya’s eyes widened, and she immediately slapped her hand over Natalia’s mouth to prevent her sister from screaming.

Alfred pulled away from Ivan, only enough to say the words “I’d like that” before he kissed the taller man again. The two of them stood at the edge of the beach, embracing one another as the sun quietly set behind them. They pulled away from each other after what felt like minutes to their observers.

“Grab your stuff, dude, we have a dinner reservation soon,” Alfred said in a goofy tone as he lightly punched Ivan’s arm.

Alfred noticed that Ivan’s body language seemed to have shifted and that the light from earlier returned to his eyes, only much brighter this time.

“Da!” Ivan agreed, grabbing his gifts off the sand before letting Alfred lead him away.

Once they were gone, Natalia pushed Irunya off her and popped up out of the bush.

“He…he…he kissed him!” She growled. “He kissed Ivan! He put his disgusting lips on my wonderful brother! I’ll kill him for trying to soil my brother’s soul!”

Irunya stood up and placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder.

“Maybe wait until tomorrow to kill him? Please?”

Just then, one of the blonde men popped up.

“Bloody hell!” He yelled, almost dumbfounded. The other blonde man popped up, but he wore a satisfied expression.

“See, Angleterre, I am the master of love!” He said while spinning around, a floral aura strangely forming around him as he did. “Sure, there was a slight hiccup there for a moment, but all was resolved!”

Once the second blonde man stopped spinning, he noticed the sisters, who were staring at him. 

“Oh? There seemed to be another group interested in our dear Alfie’s love story, hon hon hon!” The man laughed. His companion looked at the girls, and they watched as his face dropped.

“Oh my- FRANCIS!” He screamed into the other man’s ear. “Those are Ivan’s sisters!”

“Ohhhh, I see, explains why I felt a draw to their uncanny beauty.” The stupid blonde man blew a kiss to the girls, which went unappreciated by both girls.

The rest of his date went pretty well for a guy who basically had a mental breakdown in front of his crush, and Alfred felt extremely satisfied with himself as he sat across from Ivan at the fancy restaurant they were dining at.

He got what he wanted.

Not only could he look at his lover’s wonderful face again without embarrassment, but he also got to feel his soft lips once more. What more could he ask for?

Of course, a part of him would always mourn the first version of Ivan, his version, but he knew he couldn’t stay hung up on his mistakes forever. Not when he could make new memories with Ivan, better ones than before.

Alfred leaned back in his chair as he raised his wine glass in the air. 

“Let’s make the best of the rest of our date!” He grinned right before downing the rest of his wine.

Sunlight crawled in through the gaps of Alfred’s curtains and landed right on top of his eyes, forcing him awake. He grumbled to himself before opening his eyes, finding himself laying in his bed with an awful headache.

Alfred thought about what happened last night. He picked Ivan up from the park; they went sightseeing at the nearby lake; he had a breakdown after that… Being reminded of his tantrum made the American’s skin crawl. He shook the thought away as he tried to remember the rest of the night. They went to a fancy, upscale restaurant after that and had delicious food and a few drinks. Now that Alfred was thinking about it, he probably had way too many drinks. He didn’t drink very often, but when he did, he usually only had a single glass. Not last night, apparently.

Alfred cursed at himself as he pulled himself up into a sitting position on his bed. His body seemed to hurt all over, and when he thought about why, Alfred remembered tripping over a curb and landing hard on a concrete sidewalk.

“Dammit…” He said aloud, again cursing himself for the pain he felt. Suddenly, a rustle came from behind him in the bed. Looking behind him, Alfred was greeted with a sleeping Ivan, who was completely nestled up in his blanket.

Alfred’s heart skipped a beat. Multiple actually.

He couldn’t remember ever inviting Ivan inside his house, let alone inviting him into his bed.

One of Ivan’s hands slowly crept out of the blanket and went patting around where Alfred’s body had been. When he couldn’t find Alfred, his brows furrowed, and he slowly opened his eyes. Alfred could feel his heart fluttering violently.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you, dude.” Alfred apologized quietly. He stretched and rubbed the back of his neck as he did.

Ivan’s eyes made their way over to Alfred’s back, lingering there long enough to start making the American uncomfortable.

“Lie back down,” Ivan’s soft voice said. “I’m cold.” The Russian’s words made Alfred chuckle.

“How are you cold? You look pretty warm to me.”

“I want your warmth.”

Alfred’s heart fluttered violently again, and he quickly laid back down. Ivan snuggled up to him sleepily. Alfred was very sure his heart was going to beat out of his chest.

“How’d you end up in my bed?” Alfred asked.

“You got very drunk last night and refused to let me leave your house. You pulled me into your room and forced me to lie down with you. I was not able to escape since you were completely wrapped around me,” explained Ivan.

Ah, the American thought, a little embarrassed but ultimately unsurprised by his actions. After all, he was Arthur’s little brother.

“It was a shame; you fell asleep so quickly that we couldn’t do anything fun,” Ivan said, closing his eyes.

“Huh??? What do you mean? Ivan? Hello? Dude, what do you mean by ‘fun’? Hello????”

Later, it broke out among the other countries that Alfred and Ivan had started dating. No one was surprised; after seeing how the two of them acted around each other, it was only a matter of time before they decided to link up.

Dating Ivan was a very obvious confidence boost for Alfred. He’d place his hands around Ivan during meetings, kiss him on the cheek, and flirt with him right in front of everyone. Alfred also made it a point to flaunt his relationship in Yao’s face, which caused some fights to break out.

All in all, Alfred was incredibly happy with how his life was turning out. He was being honest with himself and others, like he told Matthew he would, and the feeling of dread he’d felt for years finally vanished.

He had the man he loved in reach. That was all he could ever want.