Feliks looked at the nervous teenaged boy currently standing in front of him, looking so nervous he might puke. He smirked a bit at the last thing he said to him, although to be perfectly honest, he didn't expect him to have that sort of response to it. After another minute of everyone standing there in silence and watching the boy about to have a freakout,Feliks sighed and stood up from his throne. "How about I, like, totally give you a tour?" He asked cheerfully, smiling at the boy.
"Huh? Oh, um, alright..." The boy responded back nervously, stuttering. Feliks smiled more and stepped down from his throne, then offered his hand to the boy-Toris. "What are you doing?" He asked nervously in halting Polish.
"Well married couples always hold each others' hands, don't they?" Feliks teased, making Toris blush bright red and shamefully take his hand. "Come on, let's go!" He took off running out of the room at a fast speed, soon letting go of Toris' hand and running freely. "Bet you can't catch me!"
A small smile graced the brunette's face; it was a smile of sheer cockiness. "I bet you I can...!" He started running faster than Feliks and very easily passed him, not even breaking a sweat.
"Hey, that's cheating!" Feliks protested with a pout, trying his best to catch up.
"Is it? Then call me a cheater!" Toris saw a stool in his way, but he didn't slow down. Instead, he ran faster, then jumped into the air and landed perfectly on top of the stool, only breathing heavily just a bit. Feliks ran over to him.
"How did you learn how to do that?" He asked out of curiosity.
"Hm?" Toris responded in confusion, not understanding his Polish. He jumped down off the stool. "I haven't run like that in forever! That was fun!" He started stretching and walking away at the same time, only to realize he had no idea where he was going. He stopped and looked back at Feliks.
"Why do you keep talking in that language? What is it?" Feliks tried again, slower this time. He held Toris' hand again and started walking with him down the hallway.
"Language...? It is Lithuanian. You do not know it? I can teach you!" Toris smiled brightly.
"No thanks." Feliks stuck his tongue out at the thought when Toris turned away, but put it back in his mouth when he turned back around. "So, like, is there anything in particular you wanna see?"
"I do not care," Toris caught a strand of his hair on his finger and started twirling it on his gloved finger. Feliks found himself staring at the outfit his future partner arrived in.
Despite it being the first of July, he was wearing a floor-length fur coat that was a dark brown, with black gloves and matching brown boots. Everything looked really heavy and seemed to weigh him down substantially. Maybe that's why he was so nervous and blushy? He was just overheated! It was settled, then, he'd take him back to his room and give him some cooler clothes! He figured they were around the same size; surely the coat and boots were making him look taller than he actually was?
"I have a fun idea!" He announced suddenly, making Toris jump. "Follow me!" He pulled Toris along with his arm, although he made sure he wasn't squeezing him. "Your clothes are unsuited for this climate! Where did you come from, like, the North Pole?" Feliks asked, stopping in front of a golden-painted door.
"I come from a very cold climate," Toris answered in embarrassment.
"But it's summer!" Feliks restated, pushing open the door and letting go of Toris. "Like, welcome to my bedroom!"
"O-oh, what are we doing in here?!" Toris demanded in a nervous tone.
"You, like, need cooler clothes! I will not have my new friend die of heatstroke our first day together!" Feliks pouted, sitting on his bed. Toris noticed how it was a massive double-bed, covered with a white silken curtain and dressed up in shades of deep maroon and bright gold.
"Wait, this is your room? Where is my room then?" Toris asked, already knowing the dreaded answer.
"Silly, we share a room now!" Feliks jumped off the bed and threw open his closet, revealing traditional Polish clothes in almost every color and design imaginable. "What's mine, is, like, totally yours, and vice versa! So help yourself!"
"Take my coat off..." Toris stated in a daze, blushing dark red. "I am fine...!" He covered his face in embarrassment and started trembling.
Oh no, this wasn't good at all! What if he ran out crying, and he got in trouble with the queen because she thought he actually hurt him? Plus, what about his heatstroke?
"No, you'll die from heatstroke! If you won't take it off, I will." Feliks advanced towards him and grabbed his wrists to keep him from covering his face, finding himself lost in his emerald-colored eyes. "So pretty..." He whispered to himself.
"What do you think you're doing?" Toris demanded hotly, his tone changing in a literal second. "Don't you dare touch me!" He easily wrestled out of Feliks' grasp and raised his hand to slap him, but thought better of it. He did flick his forehead, however.
"Ouch! What was that for?" Feliks pouted, more irritated than hurt.
"You were going to strip me!" Toris crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"So you don't die of heatstroke! Excuse me for caring about you!" Feliks scoffed and stormed out of the room, ignoring Toris' soft protests for him to stay. "Come get me when you're done." He slammed the bedroom door, leaving the Lithuanian all alone.
"Damn it!" Toris yelled as soon as Feliks had left in Lithuanian. "Why did I have to blow it so soon? I really need this alliance to work...for the future of my country...and for my girls!" He gasped, thinking of them. "My girls!" He started to run out of the room, but figured the Pole might've had the right idea on heatstroke, so he hurriedly stripped off his black gloves and thrust them into the pocket of his coat, then slowly unbuttoned his coat and neatly folded it up and left it on the floor of Feliks' closet, not quite sure where he wanted that.
Underneath he had on much lighter brown traditional clothes, and he stretched afterwards, glad to have that feeling of heavy fur gone from his body. He then took off, searching the hallway for his two girls.
##########
Feliks beat a retreat to his library, trying his best to remain upset at the Lithuanian but eventually found himself unable to. After all, could his behavior really be blamed? He kept walking the long aisles of books, not wanting to read but just wanting to think about things.
His thoughts, however, were soon interrupted by the sound of heavy books being thrown to the ground. Was that Toris? Excited, Feliks ran in the direction of the sound, finding himself at the fictional literature section of his library. He drew in his breath when he saw the noise-maker: not Toris at all, but a very young-looking girl, struggling to reach some books on the tall shelf, only to give up and throw some nearby ones down at the ground in frustration.
"Need some help?" Feliks offered politely, coming out of the shadows. The girl instantly froze and held up a thick book in her hands up to her face as a sort of shield. Now that he was closer, he could see this girl was just simply adorable. She was very short, only about 5'3 at best, and she had dark blonde hair to her waist pinned back with a green bow in her hair. Her violet eyes, on the other hand, were piercing and full of ice, so vastly different from Toris' warm and inviting green ones. He looked away from her eyes.
"Don't hurt me!" The girl cried in Lithuanian. "I'll hit you!"
"Wait!" Feliks held his hand up to stop her advancement towards him. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"I don't speak that language, shithead." The girl responded back in irritation. At least she had lowered her book.
"Do you know Toris?" Feliks tried again, and her eyes noticeably softened at this. She put the book she was holding back.
"Toris? You know him? You know where he is? Can you please bring me to him?" The girl asked in a rush, running over to Feliks and giving him a pleading look.
"I know Toris, but not where he is." Feliks assumed she was asking where he was. She pouted at his response.
"I want Toris! He's the only thing in this messed-up country that makes sense!" The girl ran off, and Feliks ran after her, afraid of her getting into more trouble. She ran out of the library and down the hallway, and both had the luck of plowing straight into Toris himself.
"Toris!" The girl said, overjoyed. She tightly hugged his waist, as she was much shorter than him. And much taller than him, Feliks realized in annoyance. He would only come up to his shoulders at best.
"Natayla! I was worried about you! Did you get yourself in any trouble?" Toris played with her hair and spoke to her softly in Lithuanian.
"Nope! He found me in the library!" She smiled slyly and pointed to Feliks. "Have you seen my sister yet?"
"No, but I'm not worried about her. She's four years older than you, she can take care of herself." Toris looked over at Feliks. "Room for her?" He asked in slow Polish.
"A guest room? Sure, although I wasn't told you were bringing guests." Feliks responded.
"They are my girls. They follow me where-ever I go." Natayla let go of Toris and stuck her tongue out at Feliks.
"You little brat! Come over here!" Feliks snapped, and Natayla simply laughed and ran off. "She's, like, a totally immature girl." He instantly brightened and held Toris' hand again. "Come on, let's continue on with the tour!"
"U-uh, alright..." Toris stammered, his shy composure returning. Feliks was more focused on his height, however. Who knew he'd be so tall? Was that just a normal thing for Lithuanian men, to be freakishly tall? Maybe he'd ask the boy about it once his Polish was better.
"So, anything in mind you wanted to see?" Feliks asked nicely, and Toris simply looked at him and shuffled his feet. "I could show you the library, or the kitchen, or the art gallery..."
"Do you have...uh..." Toris struggled to think of the proper word for it. What if he said the wrong word? Or asked for it in a simple, rude way? The Polish court seemed so polite and fancy...he'd most certainly be laughed right out of his treaty if he botched this up! "Never mind..."
"Alright..." Feliks stared at him suspiciously, knowing he needed something, but had no clue what until the boy spoke up. "Let's go outside into the garden!"
And so, Feliks dragged Toris outside to the garden, which was in full bloom for the summer. He let go of Toris and watched as the boy's eyes widened in joy and ran around to see all the different plants.
"It's...beautiful! " Toris smiled slightly, and Feliks nearly felt his heart melt. Why was he so freaking cute when he smiled? If only he could do it more.
"It is, isn't it? I, like, did all of this myself! Do you like to garden?" He asked, standing beside him.
"Me? No." Toris said simply. "My girl, Katia. She gardens."
"Nice! I haven't met her yet. She pretty?" Feliks grinned, obviously teasing.
"Yes, but she's too old for me." Toris wandered over to a tall weeping willow, and promptly sat under the shade it provided.
"Like, whatever! Love is love!" Feliks continued to tease, sitting down beside him.
"I do not love her!" Toris insisted, scooting away.
"This tree is my thinking spot. A lot of people think I'm airheaded or ditzy, and, like, totally don't take me very seriously. So whenever I have an idea but I can't share it, I come here, and look up at the sky. It's peaceful here." Feliks rambled on, looking up at the sky.
"The sky is very pretty," Toris commented lamely. He nervously shifted around in his seat.
"You need to learn more Polish. I could, like, teach you if you want!" Feliks grinned widely.
"Alright...!" Toris slowly smiled back, making Feliks' heart melt even more.
"Our first lesson is on basic expressions! You must learn how to properly greet people if you want to be a noble!" Feliks sat in front of him.
"Expressions...?" Toris asked in confusion. As they sat there, a random servant from inside came out and started collecting water from the nearby lake in a bucket.
"Oh, yeah! I have my own lake! Isn't it pretty? We could go swimming, if you want!"
"Lake...?" Toris looked over and did indeed find a lake that was only a few short feet away. How did he miss it? It wasn't particularly big, but it still should've made some sort of noise. "It's quiet." He squirmed even more.
"Yeah, it doesn't fill up very much in the summer for some reason. But there's still enough water to go swimming in! It goes up to my shoulders!" Feliks boasted proudly. "Although on you, it'd probably only be to your waist!"
"I'm very tall." Toris said lamely, focusing on the servant filling their bucket. They had filled two buckets already and was working on their third.
"Why is that? Is that a common thing in Lithuania? To be super tall?" Feliks coaxed.
"Uh-huh." Toris nodded. "I think I am fairly average though."
"I'm the average height here in Poland! I'm-!" Toris suddenly stood up and nervously danced around.
"Pardon me, I don't mean to interrupt, but...uh...oh no!" Toris covered his face in embarrassment, and Feliks waited for the cause of his embarrassment, but it never came.
"Like, what's wrong?" He asked, standing up and stretching.
"Ah...ah..." Toris blushed a heavy shade of red. "How do you say..." Here, he mumbled something under his breath that Feliks couldn't make out.
"Speak up!" He suddenly demanded, grabbing Toris' wrists and pulling them away from his face. "What. Is. Wrong. With. You?" He punctuated every sentence slowly and clearly, hoping that was enough for Toris to understand. Thankfully, he finally seemed to get it.
"I have to piss," Toris admitted in a blunt and rude way, not knowing the more formal term for it. Thankfully, Feliks didn't mind, in fact, he burst out laughing.
"Is that all? I thought you were sick! Come on, I'll show you where the privy is!" He let go of the taller boy and started walking away, checking behind him to make sure Toris was following.
They came to a small dip in the lake, complete with small stepping stones, and Toris gracefully stepped onto each one individually, never once losing his balance. God, why was he so adorable? If Feliks didn't know any better, he'd say he was falling for the gentle commoner, but he did know better. Besides, two boys didn't belong together, even if they were nations and weren't necessary for reproduction. They just didn't get together, no matter what.
"Here it is!" Feliks pointed it out to him with a grin and a bow. The privy itself was a simple brown shack, although it was kept-up very nicely, as one would expect from royals.
"Thank you very much," Toris mumbled and ran inside, shutting and locking the door. Feliks couldn't think of anything else to do, so he simply stood outside and waited for him to come out.
About a minute later, he did, and became flustered at seeing Feliks. "I-I'm sorry! Did you need to use it too?"
"No, silly! But you seem to be feeling better!" Feliks smiled nicely, and to his delight, Toris smiled back, although he questioned if he truly understood what he said. "Now, let's continue our tour!"
He playfully grabbed Toris' arm and pulled him away from the privy and happily showed him the rest of the garden, boasting a large amount of fruit trees.
"I, like, totally grew all of these myself. Ask your girl Katia if she wants to join me next time!" He grinned.
"Okay..." Toris continued to look around, soon pulling a green apple off a tree and taking a bite out of it. His face turned up at how sour it was, and he promptly spit it back out. "Yuck! Disgusting!"
"The apples aren't in season yet, doofus!" Feliks playfully tugged Toris' hair, making him drop the apple.
"Right..." Toris laughed awkwardly. Why, oh why did he keep messing up? If he blew this...
"Why don't we go back inside? I haven't shown you my vast library yet. You look like you like to read. Come on!" Feliks tugged on Toris' arm again and dragged him back inside the palace, not paying attention to where he was going and bumping into another girl, startling her.
"Who's there?" She called out, turning around and revealing her expansive bust. She brightened when she saw Toris. "Toris! I was looking all over the place for you! This palace is so big, have you gotten lost in it yet?"
"I haven't really had the opportunity." Toris laughed nervously, pulling his arm out of Feliks' grasp. "But hopefully you're okay?"
"Of course! Natya told me about getting lost in the library earlier. Is that where you two are going? I'd love to go with you?" Katia smiled.
"Of course!" Toris smiled back and looked at Feliks. "Well? Library?"
"Uh...right!" Feliks announced, trying his hardest not to stare at Katia's breasts. Where did Toris keep finding these women, anyway? And how many more of them were there? "To the library!" He started proudly leading the way again, marching.
They soon stopped in front of a massive brown set of double-doors, which Feliks easily pulled open to reveal a massive, sprawling library. "Knock yourselves out! I have every kind of genera you could possibly imagine in here..and more!"
"It's beautiful!" Katia gushed, then ran off to find some cookbooks. Toris, however, nervously remained.
"Oh, you want some suggestions?" Feliks teased, leading Toris to the romance section purposely. "I totally have some for you. Read this!" He tossed a random book at Toris, who caught it and nervously looked at the cover. He blushed dark red, which Feliks smirked at. "Heh, i knew you were a virgin! You had that look!"
"No..." Toris blushed more and handed the book back to Feliks. "I can't read Polish..."
"O-oh...!" Feliks blushed slightly as well, flustered by his mistake. Why did he even assume such a dumb thing? The poor boy could barely speak the language, why would he be able to read it any better? He slipped the book back into its spot. "Uh, can you read German? Or French? I might have a few of those books lying around here..."
He pulled out a tall ladder and started climbing up it.
"I can read a little bit of Latin..." Oh no, the boy was shaking now!
"Latin? Oh, so you're a smart guy? You know medicine? You going to cure my many ailments?" Feliks joked to try and lighten up the mood, but Toris simply looked down at his feet.
With a defeated sigh, Feliks pulled out a collection of poems all written in Latin and tossed it down to him from the ladder. Toris caught the book and opened it up to the first page, and his blush slowly faded as he got invested in the book, something Feliks smiled at.
"So, where'd you learn Latin?" He asked out of curiosity, climbing up the ladder a bit higher in search of more Latin books.
"My boss, an older one...he wanted me to be more cultured in the hopes I'd attract a wealthy, cultured nation to form an alliance with me..." Toris didn't even look up from his book.
"So I'm wealthy and cultured to you? How funny!" Feliks laughed and leaned back on the ladder, then let out a large burp. Toris started laughing loudly before catching himself and covering up his mouth in embarrassment. Feliks smirked. "You're such a fourteen-year-old boy!"
"I am a fourteen-year-old boy." Toris smirked slightly, finally looking up from his book.
"So we have that in common! And we both totally love gross things!" Feliks climbed down the ladder.
"I have a very weak stomach." Toris admitted.
"Me too! We're so compatible!" Toris giggled a bit, covering his mouth.
"So, you think an alliance is going to work out?" Toris asked nervously, shutting his book.
Before Feliks could answer, however, he was interrupted by a loud gurgle coming from Toris' stomach that made him blush deeply and clutch it. "Sorry...I'm hungry..."
"Then let's eat lunch!" Feliks laughed and walked out of the library. Toris called to Katia, telling her he'd bring her and her sister lunch in their rooms, and ran to catch up with him.
"How many women did you bring here? You're a player!" Feliks laughed while they were out in the hallway. Toris blushed again.
"Just those two, they're my girls. They were the very first countries I ever conquered, back in the 1300's, and they've been with me ever since. Sometimes, at night though, they speak longingly of their brother back in Russia. I've tried multiple times to conquer him too, but he always slips right out of my grasp..." Toris explained in Lithuanian, making Feliks stare at him blankly. "Uh...they're my girls. I own them." He explained much more lamely in Polish.
"Why are they here?"
"They go where I go." Toris said firmly, and that ended that conversation.
"You know, if you're so nervous about speaking Polish, I could teach you. You already know the basics, so I could jump right into more advanced stuff!"
"Alright..."
The two reached the dining room, which wasn't sealed by a door, oddly. Once they walked inside, Toris hung back in the doorway and held his breath at all the splendor he was looking at.
A golden chandelier hung over the table, lit up with a dozen tiny candles. The table itself was made of white marble, with matching chairs, eight of them. He blushed slightly with the realization of how little he seemed to fit into the decor.
Feliks looked back at him and motioned that he could come in and sit down, and Toris slowly did so, sitting beside Feliks at the dinner table. Their bosses soon came in and sat at the head, and the chefs soon came in and brought them their food.
"What exactly is this?" Toris whispered to Feliks, who was already eating.
"Just a stew." He shrugged.
"It looks so...gross!" Toris finally snapped and threw down his spoon. Everyone looked at him in shock. "I can't eat something I don't know! I can't get sick! I have to make a good impression! But I can't do that, can I? I suck! I don't care what you say or do to me, you and I are not compatible! You are annoying! And your food is nasty!" Toris jumped up and flicked his wrist at his bowl, spilling the stew everywhere.
"Toris...!" Feliks' boss gasped in surprise. "Surely you don't mean that? You're stressed!"
"I know what I said and I mean what I said! I can't do this anymore! I ruined my image!" Toris stammered, finally breaking down and crying. "I ruined our relations...I'm sorry Feliks!" He darted from the room, leaving everyone sitting there in stunned silence.
Finally, Feliks stood up. "I'll go talk to him. He's just stressed out!" He laughed, but in reality, Feliks felt like Toris truly did mean what he said, and as soon as he was out of eyesight of their bosses did he start sprinting down the hallways, desperately searching for Toris.
Toris himself had shut himself up in a study room with his two girls futility trying to cheer him up.
"Toris, you're just stressed out! We need this alliance! So cheer yourself up and get back out there!" Natayla snapped, lightly tugging on his hair.
"Toris..." Katia simply sighed.
"I blew it...!" Toris sobbed, his face buried deep in his knees.
"You're still young, surely they won't hold this against you for long? You've only been a nation for three hundred years. They'll understand it was just your nerves." Katia continued to soothe, and finally Toris looked up at her.
Feliks burst into the room at that time, making everyone look at him. Seeing Toris so vulnerable like that nearly made him fall to his knees and start crying too, but he took a deep breath and kneeled beside him.
"Toris, you didn't ruin anything." He started, and Toris buried his face in his knees again. "It's just your nerves of your first alliance, and it honestly could've been a lot worse. you're just, like, totally nervous. you've been all day, and you just picked a wrong time to explode." He started playing with Toris' hair. "So please cheer up! I hate seeing you cry! I was hoping we could be, like, totally best friends!"
"Best friends...?" Toris asked, looking over at Feliks, He sniffed.
"Of course!" Feliks smiled, and Toris smiled back weakly. The blond soon started laughing, and Toris' smile quickly faded.
"What, what's wrong?" He demanded.
"Y-your nose! It's, like, totally running!" Feliks barely managed between his giggles. Toris rubbed his nose with his sleeve and started softly giggling as well.
"You don't have to eat the stew, I got a cook of mine to make you some nice bread." Feliks helped Toris up to his feet. "You can eat that, right?"
Toris simply laughed-an actual laugh, not an awkward one. "Of course I can eat bread!"
"And after lunch, we'll get started on your Polish lessons, alright?"
"If you teach me Polish, I'll teach you Latin!"
"Sounds like a deal!" They both giggled and ran off to the dining room together.
####
After their lunch, Toris mimed that he wanted to see where the kitchen was, and Feliks sighed and pushed open a side-door that led to a smoky room. A few servants were running around, chopping up food, pouring liquids, or simply observing the work, but it was easy enough for Toris to find a clear counter and pull out a pot.
"What are you doing?" Feliks asked.
"Cooking. To thank you." Toris explained simply, looking around for the ingredients he needed.
"What'd I do?" Feliks insisted.
"Made me happy again." Toris spotted a bucket of water sitting at a nearby counter that nobody was using and happily dumped it all into his pot and set it on the stove so it could boil.
"What are you, like, making?"
"Stew!"
"But you complained about my stew!"
"Mine's better." Toris smirked.
"You little cheat!" Feliks grinned. "What do you, like, need?"
"Uh, lots of vegetables. Beets and carrots and potatoes." Toris recited, seemingly from memory. Feliks nodded and yelled at a nearby maid to bring him those from the kitchen pantry outside, and she nodded and left.
"Anything I can do?"
"Just sit and watch!"
The maid returned with the requested vegetables in her apron, then she dumped them out onto the counter, curtsied, and left. Toris instantly got to work slicing up the carrots, seeming very much like he was in his element. Once the carrots were done, he slid those to the side and got to work on thinly dicing the potatoes, then finally the beets.
By then, his water had boiled, so he slid the vegetables into the pot and started to stir them with a wooden spoon.
"What are you making? For real, don't, like, totally tell me stew again!" Feliks teased.
"A dish my girl, Katia, taught me. It is popular in Russia and Ukraine and Belarus. It is called borscht." Toris said simply.
"Isn't that a peasant dish?" Feliks tried to hide his disdain. "Why are you making me that?"
"Am I not a peasant?" Toris kept stirring. "Besides, my girls have to eat too, and they would appreciate some local flavor of their own."
"Stop calling them your girls. Are you dating them or something?"
"Maybe." Toris smiled slightly.
"Did you add any spices?" Feliks peeked into the pot.
"No, Katia says that ruins the natural flavor of it. And it's almost done, anyway. Get me some bowls and cups and spoons and a tray, please!"
Feliks rolled his eyes, but called for those objects to be brought to him, and soon enough, they were, just in time for Toris' stew to be done.
"I sure hope you like it..." Toris aid nervously, serving Feliks' bowl first and handing it to him. As Feliks stared at the mess inside his bowl, Toris poured the remainder into two bowls for Katia and Natayla, and a final one for himself. He glanced back over at Feliks. "Do you want something to drink? Do you have milk?"
"Of course I have milk!" Feliks asked for some, and a pail full of fresh dairy milk was brought to him by another maid, and he smirked at Toris.
"Katia especially will love this." Toris said in Lithuanian, pouring the milk into cups for him, his girls, and Feliks. He gave Feliks his own cup, then motioned for him to try the borscht.
"I don't know...it's not spiced or anything! That's, like, totally not how you make stew!" Feliks protested.
"Please just try it once. For me?" Toris gave him cute puppy-dog eyes, and Feliks finally rolled his eyes and took a small sip from his spoon. His eyes widened slightly, and so did Toris' smile.
"Wow, this, like, totally isn't half-bad!" Feliks brightened, sipping more of it at a fast pace.
"I knew you'd like it!" Toris giggled, then picked up the tray. "Let's go give this to them." He nodded, then walked out of the kitchen. Feliks slowly followed behind, still eating the stew.
Toris knocked on the door of the guest bedroom and smiled when Natayla answered it.
"Lunch was late." She pouted slightly, and Toris held out the tray.
"I made you two borscht and milk! I thought you'd appreciate some local flavor here."
"Oh, you're too sweet!" Natayla's eyes got stars in them as she took her own bowl and cup. "Big Sister Katia, go look at what Toris brought for us!" She called into the room, and soon Katia came to the doorway.
"This is quite a surprise! Thank you for doing this for us!" She kissed his forehead and took her own food, then closed the door.
Feliks laughed at the display. "Are you sure you're not dating them?"
"Oh, be quiet!" Toris teased, chucking his spoon at Feliks, who ducked. "Did you like my borscht?"
"Very much!" Feliks nodded eagerly and showed off his empty bowl, which had even been licked clean.
"Do you want more?"
"Yes!"
Toris smiled and started eating his own. "Do you honestly think this alliance will work out?" He asked, still in his slow, awkward Polish.
"If you keep making food like this, anything's possible!" He put his empty bowl and cup on the tray and playfully tackled Toris, making him drop the tray on the ground and spill food everywhere.
"My food!" He cried in pretend shock.
"It's okay, you still have, like, a whole potful in the kitchen." Feliks reassured him, playing with his hair.
"Oh yeah..." Toris gently pushed Feliks off him and got up.
"Want to get started on those advanced Polish lessons?"
"If we do them out in your garden, anything's possible!" Toris laughed.
"Race you there!"
"I'll beat you!" They both got into a running stance.
"And...go!" They both took off running to the garden together, as best friends should.