Chapter One
Arthur straightened out his stack of paper, for the fifteenth time, as he pretended to take notes on Francis's too-long speech bragging about his agriculture system. He was exhausted and not a few good mood, considering he woke up too late, arrived late, and wasn't even able to grab a cup of tea before he arrived. His eyelids were heavy with sleep and only getting heavier with boredness. However, he felt the small pin-prick of relief when he looked around the conference and spotted Ivan with his forehead resting against the table, fast asleep. At least he wasn't the only one bored out of his mind.
"And that, is why I think we shoul-"
Arthur let a small sigh of relief slip from his lips as he heard the squeak of a chair leg scraping across the ground as Ludwig quickly stood up from his seat.
"I apologize for the interruption Francis, perhaps you can finish after break?" Ludwig smiled politely and francis simply gave a small nod and smiled smugly and straightened his stack of papers. "Okay everybody, you heard me, I'm calling break. You can head over to the break room or the vending machines. Alfred and Gilbert, when I saw it's break, I do not mean you can leave the building." Ludwig's stern glare swept over the room as alfred and gilbert groaned and muttered grumpily under their breath. Arthur smiled smugly, served them right.
Dishwater tea.
This is exactly how Arthur would describe the cup of milky gray tea in front of him. It was supposed to be Earl Grey, but it was dangerously expired and it smelled musty and sour. Holding his nose, and scowling, Arthur quickly dumped his tea into the sink, glancing around the make sure Ludwig wasn't there to complain about him wasting drinks. Casually humming to himself, he quickly turned around.
"Oof!"
Arthur felt himself crash into something hard, and he stumbled backwards in surprise. Arthur rubbed his head and hissed an insult under his breath. "Jesus, watch where you're going next time, yea-" Arthur quickly stopped himself and bit his tongue, his eyes going as wide as saucers as he found himself staring up into the stone-cold face of Ivan. "Ah, hello Russia! I, uh, didn't notice you there. How's it going? Sorry about bumping into you, big mistake, right?" Arthur chuckled nervously as he forced a smile, slowly stepping to the side. Ivan's cold gaze followed him, his response a simple gruff grunt. "Yeah, well, good seeing you. I have to go, but...yeah. See you later." With an uncomfortable smile still plastered to his face, he quickly pushed past Ivan and headed over to where Alfred and Francis were seated. Alfred was busy stuffing his face and francis boredly scrolled through his phone.
"Angleterre, finally! what did you think of my speech? Very important, oui?" Francis smiled smugly as he set down his phone, shouldering Alfred. "Oh, yeah. Agriculture. Very, er, important." Arthur lied. Alfred nodded his head agreement all the while, shooting arthur a strange look.
"Yeah, sure, whatever. What I'm wondering, is why you were talking to Russia." Alfred mumbled through a mouthful of his food.
"Keep your mouth shut while you're eating! And why do you need to know anyway? It's none of your business." Arthur waved his hand dismissively, shooting a sharp glare at alfred. "Suspicious. Now I'm curious too angleterre, why were you talking to him?" Francis smiled deviously, a curious glint in his eyes. Arthur rolled his eyes and let out an annoyed huff as he finally sat down, still glaring at the two. "If you must know, I wasn't talking to him. I bumped into him and got away as soon as possible, he doesn't look like he's in a good mood." Arthur explained quietly, giving a quick nod towards where Ivan sat alone with a newspaper lying in front of him. "Well obviously! He's not acting as insane as usual. Well...Actually, he is. But you know, the quiet creepy type. Other times it's the weirdly happy creepy type. Ugh. I heard Ukraine is angry with him and, well, Belarus is probably off killing somebody." Alfred explained. Arthur wasn't really listening, his attention had drifted from Alfred and Francis to where Ivan sat silently scanning the newspaper. "He looks lonely." Arthur mentioned, ignoring the puzzled glances Francis and Alfred exchanged. "Uh...Yeah? So?" Alfred took another bite of his burger, shooting a hard glare at the Russian man. Arthur shrugged, feeling more sympathetic than before. "Maybe we should invite him over. He doesn't seem too violent at the moment, does he?" Arthur tore his gaze away as he heard Alfred choke on his food and Francis sputtering nervously. "What!? Angleterre, is your old age really getting to you!?" Francis hissed in a hushed tone, as if Ivan might've overheard them. Alfred rapidly nodded his head. "I agree with Francis on this one! Russia is completely insane, that commie's not coming to my table!"
Arthur ignored Alfred's comment, instead standing up from his chair.
He had never actually had a conversation with Ivan, he had only heard rumors about him being cruel and insane(which mostly came from Alfred) and somehow he could relate, not to the cruel and insane part of course! But he could relate to once being a powerful nation and now the butt of everybody's jokes.
"England? England, where are you going!?"
"Angleterre, come back!"
Arthur ignored the calls of Alfred and Francis as he cautiously made his way towards Ivan's table, smiling hesitantly.
"Iva-Er, Russia! Hello."
Arthur stopped a few steps away from the table, holding up a hand and waving it softly. Ivan looked up, the previous frown still plastered to his face, one eyebrow quirked up in what Arthur assumed was confusion. "Hello Arthur." Ivan gave a bored nod towards arthur, his gaze quickly drifting back down to his newspaper as he flipped the page. "Is there anybody sitting here? I mean, can I sit here?" Arthur nodded towards the chair, watching as Ivan once again tore his gaze away from the paper with a rather exasperated look on his face.
"Why?" Ivan fixed Arthur with a curious gaze, which made him squirm uncomfortably. "You were sitting with Alfred and Francis, right? Why did you decide to come over here?" He sounded almost accusing and his violet gaze had turned cold. Arthur's smile faded just a bit as he shuffled his feet, clasping his palms together. "I don't know. Why not? You looked lonely and..well," Arthur paused, trying to think of something up to say, "We can kind of relate, you know? I mean, I know we don't have, uh, similar personalities, but we have similar situations." Arthur forced a smile as he said this, watching Ivan still staring at him with an overly curious glint in his eyes. "You know, I know what it's like to be lonely. I know what it's like to be a 'used-to-be big nation' too. So, I can relate to you, even if it's hard to believe." Arthur added quietly. Ivan's gaze had drifted, once again, back down to his paper, but Arthur could see that his expression had softened slightly. "If that is all, then дa, you may sit down if you want to." Ivan waved a hand towards the empty seat across from him, saying nothing more, and Arthur gratefully sat down.
"Thank you."
