It Is Very Cold, Da?
((Joyful Note: I know I should work on my Manual fic. But that takes some actual thought when I'm writing it- this is easy, plus it won't go away for me to do my homework in peace. So I'm writing down this idea in a little one-shot. I like to think of it as canon in my head.))
'Russia is always so cold,' Lithuania thought to himself as he changed out of his usual uniform and into his pyjamas. Out of respect, his fellow Baltics were waiting outside for him to finish before coming to bed.
He changed rather quickly, as the chill in the air did not bode well for those with minimal clothing. He always wore socks into the big bed that the Baltics shared together. When he said he thought that Russia was cold, he was of course referring to the physical country. Though perhaps it could also be considered the man as well. Russia who always sat apart but, even when he slapped you on the back (sometimes hard enough to send you sprawling on the ground) and called you 'comrade', seemed distant. Was he cold? His voice never showed it, his face never showed it, but somehow Lithuania had the impression that if he ever touched him skin to skin he would be as chilled as the air in the bedroom.
Of course Lithuania would never be so suicidal as to touch Russia with his bare hands.
Finally secure and snug inside his woollen night wear, Lithuania hurried to the bedroom door and opened it to find Estonia and Latvia huddled together on the other side.
"F-f-f-finally!" little Latvia wailed and ran toward the bed, diving for the far side next to the wall and burying himself beneath the blankets. He liked the side with the wall. He felt security that he wouldn't be able to fall off the bed if he decided he felt uncomfortable sleeping too close to the others and pushed himself backward without thinking. (As he had done on several occasions before Lithuania insisted he switch spots with him.) "H-hurry up, it'll w-warm up faster if we're all in!"
"Y-yes, we know Latvia," Estonia said with a weary smile and slipped his glasses from his face to place on the bedside table. 'It's on nights like this I'm actually glad Russia thinks us all insignificant enough to shove into one room- at least there's no shortage of body heat,' the tech-savy country gave a small, pleasant sigh as he pulled the covers back and snuggled into the center of the bed. Yes, this space offered the least elbow room and made bathroom visits a nightmare to undertake as one tried to free themselves from various sprawling limbs, but it was always the warmest location and therefore for Estonia it was the optimum location.
Lithuania smiled tiredly at his bed mates and went to extinguish the small oil lamp that had been burning before heading into bed himself. He liked the edge of the bed facing the room. Sure, there was the odd occasion that Estonia had kicked out in his sleep and sent him onto the floor, but it was good to know that he could get up in the morning without disturbing the others and start breakfast so that they could sleep in a little longer. As he slipped into his place in the bed he noticed that already the material of the mattress and sheets was starting to radiate a pleasant heat that starved off the frigid Russian air. He pulled the sheets up to his nose and sucked in air slowly, his lungs savouring the feeling of breaths that didn't feel like they were sending tiny spears of ice into them.
"Goodnight," Lithuania said politely before closing his eyes and breathing ever deeper.
"G'dnigh'," Estonia mumbled, sounding as though he was edging on sleep.
"Mm..." Latvia hummed, too far gone to even mumble. Lithuania paid no mind to this though, the bed was so warm now with the three of them contributing their body heat together. At least if they were together, they could starve of Russia's cold. Together, they could find a sort of peace even in these harsh conditions...
Lithuania's eyes snapped open when he heard the creak of the bedroom door. He had been close to sleep at the time, but years in service to the scariest nation on the planet had made him paranoid to every little sound that was out of the ordinary. It seemed he wasn't the only one.
"M-Mr. Russia? What are you d-doing here?" Latvia's voice asked somewhere to Lithuania's right, shaking not from cold but from fear. It seemed that no matter how far into sleep you were, Russia could make anyone snap to attention.
Lithuania squinted into the dark of the bedroom door and made out the large familiar silhouette of the towering Russian. He felt himself beginning to shake as well. Russia never entered the Baltic's sleeping quarters except to inspect them in the mornings. (God help them if they weren't spotless and a penny couldn't bounce off the sheets.) For him to come so late... Lithuania prayed that he wasn't drunk and holding his water pipe right now.
"M-Mr. Russia is here? Ah- where are my glasses..." Lithuania quickly leaned over and grabbed Estonia's glasses for him and handed them to his neighbour who fumbled to get them onto his face. All three were now sitting up, feeling the frosty chill crawl up their backs as they looked at their master in terrified confusion.
Eyes finally adjusting to the dark, the Baltics could now see that Russia was, at the very least, shuffling his weight from foot to foot, as if he had something on the tip of his tongue to say and couldn't quite find the words. Lithuania's eyes gave up trying to figure out precisely what expression he was wearing on his face as it was too far hidden in the shadows, and instead allowed his gaze to drift downward. It was then it occurred to him he had never seen Russia in his pyjamas before. They were some kind of dark colour, but that was really all he could make out in the night. His gaze travelled to the floor and his eyes widened.
"M-Mr. Russia, f-forgive me for saying so b-but... d-don't you think it's a little cold to be walking around on wood floors with bare feet?" Lithuania asked, a little surprised at the edge of concern that had slipped into his voice.
"L-Lithuania!" Estonia gasped and grabbed onto the older nation's wrist, looking as if Lithuania had signed all their death warrants. It wasn't as if he didn't have reason, they all knew that it was probably suicide to question anything the powerful Russian did.
"Da, it is very cold," the voice that came from Russia's figure was shockingly soft. To the Baltic's intense surprise, he even gave a visible shiver. "My bedroom is very cold, I could not sleep..."
"Er... would you- I mean if you... wanted..." Lithuania cast a helpless look at his bed mates. Latvia looked bemused, not picking up what Lithuania was close to offering but Estonia did and from his expression seemed to think Lithuania had lost his mind.
"Da, Lithuania?" came the suddenly hopeful voice of Russia. Estonia sank backward, closing his eyes and suppressed a moan of despair. Now it was too late, Lithuania would have to finish his statement.
"I-if you'd like, I could prepare some warm milk for you, or tea! O-or even hot chocolate if you would prefer..." Lithuania stammered quickly. Estonia immediately opened his eyes and stared at the brunette. Oh, he had been wrong to doubt Lithuania's sanity. For a moment there, he had been horrified that the brunette would invite the snow monster into bed with them.
"Oh... and here I was hoping my little Litva would invite me to share his warm bed with him and his brothers..." Russia sighed heavily, scratching his toe absently on the floorboards.
"AH!" in a rare moment of true synchronisation among the Baltics, all three let out the involuntary shriek at once.
"Hmm... so I am to assume you don't want your bed to become one with Russia?" to the Baltic's increasing anxiety, the temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees in an instant and a steady stream of angry 'kolkolkols' issued from Russia's direction.
"N-no! Of course not! We would love for you to come into our bed Mr. Russia!" Estonia hastily garbled out, forgetting any ill thought he had to Lithuania moments early.
"Y-yes, th-there's plenty of room, m-make yourself at home! O-of course, th-this is your home but..." Latvia broke off into nervous laughter.
Lithuania promptly jumped out of bed and bowed to his master. "P-please, m-make yourself comfortable!"
"Oh, my Baltics are too kind to me!" Russia grinned, his angry aura melting away in the blink of an eye and the room, while still freezing, warmed considerably as the giant nation lumbered over to the bed.
Estonia and Latvia immediately crowded as close to the wall as possible. Latvia was now not quite so fond of the wall. It may stop him from falling out of bed, but now he was so tightly pressed against it that he might be flat in the morning, not to mention escape would be completely impossible until the Russian left in the morning. And if Latvia had to go to the bathroom... he didn't want to think about it.
Estonia was starting to have his misgivings as well about his position in the center of the bed. He knew he was crushing Latvia, but he was terrified of even brushing against Russia in the slightest, not knowing what would set the bigger nation off at such close quarters. He was even too scared to reach across him and hand his glasses to Lithuania to put back on the bedside table and felt them dig into his face as he laid himself down on his threadbare pillow.
Russia looked perfectly content as he snuggled under the blankets up to his chin. "So warm!" he giggled and smiled up at Lithuania who was gaping down at the bed and coming to a sudden realisation.
Although when the three Baltics shared the bed there appeared to be plenty of room for another body, even with Estonia pressing Latvia into the wall Russia's girth left the oldest Baltic with precious little space to squeeze into. In fact, Lithuania would go as far as to say he wouldn't fit at all. Not unless he asked Russia to move over and the thought of doing that nearly made him faint in panic.
"Is my little Lithuania not going to get into bed?" Russia asked suddenly, noticing Lithuania was lacking any sign of movement.
"Eep..." came the twin sounds of Latvia and Estonia on Russia's other side. Lithuania gulped.
"I-I would, b-but..." Lithuania swallowed, feeling a blush rise to his cheeks and sting against the cold. "Th-there's no room for me..."
Russia appeared to gape at the smaller nation for a moment before a giant grin crossed his face. "Of course there is room for Lithuania!"
"Er... th-there is?" Lithuania asked, hoping that Russia meant to move himself over.
To his horror, Russia did not seem to have this in mind and instead pulled back the covers from himself and gestured to his chest. "Lithuania can lay on top of me, da? He will be my extra blanket!" this statement was punctuated by another giggle, but Lithuania somehow did not think he was joking.
"I-I-I-I-I..." Lithuania began shaking harder and when Russia noticed that he seemed caught on a loop his arm shot out and grabbed his pyjama front, yanking him down over the top of him horizontally. After a strangled yell, Lithuania (with some guiding hands from Russia) was arranged more vertically, facing Russia's chest with his head resting a little uncomfortably over the white haired nation's shoulder. Luckily it was the shoulder facing the room, because Lithuania didn't think he could bear seeing the faces of the other Baltics when he was in such an embarrassing position. Russia did not seem at all perturbed however, instead yanking up the covers around both of them. They had grown cold while they bunched that the bottom of the bed, but Lithuania knew they would soon warm up again.
"Goodnight my Baltics!" Russia sang merrily, and Lithuania felt his breath ghosting on his ear.
"G-goodnight Mr. Russia!" Latvia squealed without hesitation.
"G-goodnight Mr. Russia," Estonia said, and Lithuania swore he could hear his Adam's apple bobbing.
"G-goodnight Mr. Russia," Lithuania said softly, knowing he was close to Russia's ear and not wanting to speak too loudly.
With that, all four Northern nations closed their eyes. Latvia and Estonia, if they ever calmed enough to go to sleep, would likely be very sore in the morning for sleeping curled together against the wall so tightly. Meanwhile, Lithuania couldn't help but feel some discomfort as stiffness grew among the muscles he dared not to so much as twitch in fear of what would occur if he accidently awoke his surrogate living mattress.
Still, if there was one thing Lithuania noticed as the sounds of slow breathing serenaded him into a more drowsy state, the Russian beneath him was certainly not as cold as the room. In fact, as his cheek pressed against the Russian's neck, he would even go as far to say he was about as warm as Estonia and Latvia. Although admittedly, that might not have been the case if he wasn't snuggled into the bed with them.
'Well... perhaps Mr. Russia isn't always cold,' Lithuania decided sleepily as he finally dared move his arms to either side of the Russia's torso and was finally taken by the threads of unconsciousness.
((Joyful Note: Hmm... well as far as one-shots go, I think I did an alright job. Kind of written on the spot, but there you go. Please leave reviews, I like reviews. Even if it's just 'SO CUTE' or 'YOU HAVE TPYOS OMG' or 'THE SQUIRRELS ARE COMING' I am happy. So please review!))
