Ivan ran out of his house, tears flowing down his face for the first time in years. His Uncle, who made Ivan call him General, was abusing him again. After his parents died, 'General Winter' AKA his uncle Lydll Winter, Had custody of him and his two sisters. He had held strong for two years now, but only to keep his sisters safe. He would persevere through punches, kicks and even rapes. All to keep General away from his sisters that He so dearly loved. Now that his elder sister, Yekaterina, had moved back to Russia, bringing his younger sister Natalia with her, he had nothing left to hang on to, nothing left to protect, so he ran away. It was the middle of the night, while General was sleeping. He collapsed, some twenty minutes away from his house, in a large pile of snow. Ivan didn't mind, he was used to the cold, seeing as his Uncle would make him sleep outside most nights. He sat, his face in his hands, crying out all the tears bottled up inside.

Alfred walked through the snow, glad he had his coat. Running late-night errands was a pain, but he supposed it was better than dealing with his dysfunctional family. On the road back home, he heard crying coming from a drift somewhere off the path. He stopped and turned, curious and worried. "H-hello?" Moving forward, he found the person and recognized him. "Ivan?"

Ivan jumped slightly, not expecting to see anyone this late. He furiously swiped at his face, riding it of tears. He looked down, hoping his hair covered his black eye. "A-Alfred?" He asked, recognizing the voice. Shit. It just HAD to be someone he knew to see him down and weak.

"Hey, what are you doing out here?" Alfred asked, immediately aware something was very wrong. Ivan was strong. He'd hardly ever seen him frown, much less cry. "Kinda late for a stroll, isn't it?" he half-chuckled. He wondered why he had been crying but decided not to ask directly yet.

"Да . I could ask you the same thing..." He stood up, coming over to stand beside Alfred. He sighed, sticking his cold hands into the pockets of his one and only jacket. It was tattered and thin, but it was better than nothing.

Alfred gave him a smile, "Just finishing up some business." He blinked and frowned, noticing the black eye. He didn't comment on it yet, but he didn't like the idea of anyone hurting his friend. Although they could hardly be considered friends, he still thought of him that way.

"...You're probably wondering why I was crying, Да?" He asked, sighing.

"Well, yeah, kinda...D..Does it have to do with that black eye of yours?" The blonde leaned forward a little to get a better look.

"Да ... I kinda get beat up a lot..." He admitted for the first time in his whole life. He never told anyone before this.

"You?" He tried to joke a little, cheer him up maybe. "Beat up? Wow, I wonder where that puts /me/. " He shook his head and returned to normal. "Who? Who does it?"

"G-General Winter... My uncle... The one with custody over me..." He mumbled quietly, tears threatening to spill over his eyes once again. This was the one and only subject that could, and would ever, make Ivan cry.

Alfred immediately hated him the one time he met him. And now he made Ivan /cry/? That just put him WAY beyond hate. His fists clenched, but he tried to focus on Ivan. "H-hey, don't...Ivan, don't cry." he moved forward and put a hand under his chin, forcing him to look at him. "Ivan, it's alright." He smiled wide. "You're alright."

Ivan attempted to smile back, but it was way too forced to be real. He shook his head. "I-I'll have to go back home s-sooner or later..." He muttered, one lone tear escaping. He adverted his gaze at the ground, finding it to be interesting at this moment in time. He shut his eyes, keeping the tears in.

"No. You're not going back." He huffed, grabbing his shoulders. "Ivan, you're going to stay with me until we can fix this, alright?" It was a perfect plan, he thought. He'd just gotten his own place away from his family, and he'd needed a roommate or something. "You don't have to go back!"

"But..." He trailed off. It Did sound better than going back...

"No buts! Look, you're out here cause you ran away right?" Alfred had guessed after finding out he was abused. "You'll need a place to stay for the night at least, you can't stay out in the snow! Let's just try."

"Okay... I really don't want to go back..." That went without saying. He blushed, awkwardly reaching out and hugging the other boy, grateful for his generosity. He pulled back, directing his eyes at the snow on the ground again, a deep pink dusting his cheeks.

Alfred laughed when he was pulled into the hug, returning it quickly. "Alright then, no use freezing out here! Let's go!" He grabbed his hand and started off in the direction of his apartment, not very far.

Ivan stayed in pace with the other, smiling faintly. They didn't talk the entire way, and soon they walked up the the door of the building. They entered and stepped into an elevator. "What floor?" Ivan asked.

"Top! I got lucky, it's a pretty nice place for so cheap. I'll sleep on the couch until we can get something more permanent." The American nodded, pressing the button. Alfred hadn't even noticed he was still holding onto his hand. Ivan didn't notice either.

"Н-нет... I'll sleep on the couch, you sleep in your bed. It's your house."

"Right, my house, my rules! You're taking the bed!" Alfred shot back, grinning. He hadn't really talked to him in a while but it was easy to talk with him like this.

Ivan sighed. "Fine."

After a moment, Alfred realized they were still linked. Blushing a bit, he dropped Ivan's hand. "Oh s-sorry...Ah, here we are!" The elevator dinged and opened, and he moved down the hall to his door.

Ivan blushed when Alfred let go, only then realizing they had been holding hands. " 'ts Kay..." He mumbled, following the American down the hall to his apartment.

After fumbling with his keys, he opened the door. "Home sweet home! Oh uhm...ignore the mess, I'll clean it up...eventually." he muttered, immediately shuffling around the room and picking up trash and dirty dishes and such.

Ivan smiled, going to help him pick the stuff up. "Hey Alfred..." He asked.

"Yeah?" he answered, dropping the trash in the bin and dishes in the sink.

"Why are you being so nice to me? We used to hate each other in middle school, Да?"

"Oh yeah, we did." Alfred shrugged, turning back to him. "I dunno. I guess I got used to you? Do I really need an explanation to be nice?" There was a slightly different reason, but this was close enough.

Ivan shrugged. That was good enough. "I see... Oh, remember that one time I brought a snowball in from outside and threw it at you in the hall?" Ivan asked, chuckling. Ah, memories. That was before his parents died... The happy days.

"Dude, that thing had ICE in it...come to think of it, did I ever get you back for that?" he laughed, tossing a pillow from the couch at his face.

He threw it back, laughing. "Now you did." It felt so good to laugh again.

"H-hey Ivan..." Alfred mumbled, catching the pillow before it hit him.

"Да?"

"I think I love you..."

AN

Okay. I KNOW I shouldn't start another story but, I had to. This ides struck me HARD. Like, really hard. RIGHT IN THE FEELS! The third chappie of Something Old, Something New is almost done (Well, about halfway) so it'll hopefully be up soon! Bye for now! PDP-APH-Fan~~