Well, I thought I would post it as my birthday gift to dear cute Latvia... 4 days in advance.

Birthday present doesn't necessarily have to be about birthday... right?

And this is my first Hetalia fanfic, and I really wanted to emphasize the cute part of Ivan...

and ended up like this.

Please, forgive my rudeness, Ivan-san and readers...

It was starting to get dark when Ivan caught a glimpse of his huge, but old fashioned house. His usual smile was somewhat frozen into rigid and weird smirk, due to the harsh wind. It was his fault, insisting that he would walk to the town which was about half an hour away on foot. Still, as he approached to the mansion, he remembered the big car accident on the only road to the town, and was happy that he didn't take his car. Otherwise he would have been caught in that unbelievable traffic, thus arriving much, much later than he expected. Opening the door, he felt the warmth flowing over his frozen body, and at the same time, heard one of his subordinates' yelling cut Ivan's words.

"I'm ho-"

"But I'd rather be with Germany! Ivan-san scares me to death!"

Ivan stood still, right in front of the door. His smirk remained as well, though his body was warmed up enough. Then, without making any sound, he rushed up the stairs in incredible speed and headed to the room where he could hear other two of Trembling Trio whined, but in much softer voice. Through the slightly opened door, he could see those three, dear Raivis facing the opposite way. He crept into the room, while his smirk warned the other two from telling little boy about his presence.

"At least, Ludwig-san was looked like a nice person when he was with Italy, so I guess he can be nice to me, too!"

"Um... Raivis...?"

"I think... you'd better... shut your mouth..."

"Huh...?"

"Why, Toris and Eduard, let this little one talk as much as he wants. I was just getting interested in how Ludwig can be so nice."

When Raivis heard this too delighted voice that kept on putting strong accent on certain words, his face went pale, really pale as this snow covered mansion. Without turning back, he could feel the doomed atmosphere ringing 'kolkolkol' out loud, flowing from his back. Moaning silently slipped out from his half opened mouth, and his head went completely white, afraid of the consequences.

"Raivis, why don't you continue? I know that Ludwig seemed to be gentle with Feliciano, so I want to hear your opinion about him, too."

"Uhh... Ivan-san... I, I'm sorry! Just don't kill me, torture me, or press my head, please! I don't want to get any shorter, just please, forgive my rudeness!"

Raivis burst into tears as he turned around and begged for his life. Toris and Eduard left silently, both mumbling about getting tea and dinner ready. And dear Raivis just stood there, repeating how sorry he was, as Ivan, too, stood without any action. The tall blond man said nothing for a long time, and when Raivis realized that this was out of ordinary, he slight lifted his head to see Ivan's face. Surprisingly, his smirk was back to normal smile. Or rather, a lonely smile. Ivan looked a bit sad than usual.

"I wasn't going to... Well, I guess you don't want to talk about Ludwig with me, so I think I'll just go back to my room."

As the tall figure turned around and went out of the room, Raivis stared at his back with his blood shot eyes, wondering what was wrong with him. He had never seen Ivan like this; he either had that naive smile that hid the cruelty which himself didn't knew about, or that sick face whenever he thought about his sisters. But soon, he remembered that he had survived without actually getting pressed into the ground this time, and shook his head to erase that painful experiences. Then, he merrily skipped to the kitchen where his comrades, who dumped him in the most awkward situation, would be making dinner.

"That's weird..."

Toris came back into the kitchen where Eudard and Raivis were having their meals. He was supposed to call Ivan for dinner, but it took way longer than usual. And the other two asked without bothering to say something with their stuffed mouth, but with sparkly, wondering eyes.

"Well, I went to Ivan-san's room to call him, but he said he's going to eat in his room. So I had to get the dishes for him, and some bottles of vodka, too. It's unusual for him to stay in his room like that."

"Sure is. Did he meet one of his sisters on his trip to the town?"

"No way. Didn't you see the way he crept on us? He would've gone straight to his room if he met his sisters. But it really was weird how he didn't do all the other creepier things to me..."

The trio sat down thinking quietly about Ivan's behavior. Yet, all they could do was to keep wondering, as they all took turns to get more vodka to his room. All they could see when they went in the room was Ivan sitting in front of his desk, which the empty bottles were laid down carelessly, facing the huge window that depicted the snowy wood surrounding the house. And when Raivis just put down three more bottles, he heard the lowest of Ivan's voice for the first time, reapeating 'Ludwig, huh... Yeah, he's nice. He's a gentleman... Strict-potato-headed-gentleman...' Raivis freaked out and apologized about comparing him to Germany before he ran out of the room. As the night deepened, both sulk Russian and clueless Latvian seemed to get more worried about something they would never have imagined they would.

Next few days, the Trembling Trio found themselves in the most peaceful time they ever had in this huge Russian mansion. Ivan was still stuck in his room ,though he seemed to be working through his complicated papers rather than drinking. The trio were left by themselves to take care of their chores, and when they were done with it, they could do whatever they wanted; a freedom that they couldn't enjoy for long time. But, while Toris went to see Natalia and Eduard went over to have some chat with Tino, Raivis sat in the vast livingroom, still curious about Ivan's attitude. Or, he thought, worried about him, even though he didn't want to admit that he worried about someone who just enjoyed scaring hell out of him.

"Well... Maybe it's just that me that's acting weird... Why should I feel worried?"

He put a cup of tea that he's been sipping down on the table and stood up. He thought that clear winter breeze would help him get over this, and perhaps take this unknown stomach cramps that he's been having since the day he saw Ivan's lonely smile. It was somewhat close to guiltiness, but different. As he put his coat around, he thought about how Toris had blabbered about similar emotion, but soon shook his head. He assured himself that he couldn't have fallen in love with someone like Ivan, as well as that the reddening cheek was because of the cold wind blowing against his face as he opened the door.

The sky was clear, with bright sun ray reflecting on snow covered areas. The evergreens stood tall, and blended into beautiful scenery. Raivis regretted not coming out of the house a bit earlier, thinking that he missed this wonderful landscapes just to stay warm. And he slightly looked up at the house. It looked beautiful too, yet somewhat mysterious and creepiness mixed in, that he could have enjoyed living in this mansion only if it wasn't him doing the housework. Then, his eyes were fixed on the window of Ivan's room. His stomach was filled with butterflies once again, and he had to self-hypnotize that it was just because he was afraid of Ivan. He shook his head slowly, as if he was trying to forget about it, and walked out further to enjoy his stroll. It was then, he heard someone calling him.

"Stop! Raivis, stay there!"

The urgent and desperate voice was from Ivan, a mild surprise to Raivis. He was wondering why Ivan would be running toward him only without his coat, his precious scarf carelessly tossed around his neck, and most of all, his face turning into sad, worried look. Then, the tall man hugged the shorter one tightly in his arms, that Raivis just stood without any reaction, except his cheeks turning into rosy pink.

"Don't leave me, please, Raivis! I'm sorry about calling you shorty, when it was me who pressed you down so hard! I'm sorry that I wasn't as nice as Ludwig, but-"

"Huh..? Ivan-san, what are you talking about?"

"Just, don't leave me... You don't have to become one with me, so just... stay here, with me."

Raivis could feel that Ivan was shivering from cold, and... something else. He also felt little warmth squirming inside his heart. He didn't understand why Ivan chose to rush all the way and hug him, saying something that made no sense, but he somehow thought that he should hug him back. As the small hands were put around his backs, Ivan lifted his head from Raivis hair, bending down to see what the little one has just done.

"I don't really know what you were talking about, but... I'm not leaving you. I mean, it's not that I don't want to leave, but I'm your subordinate after all, so I'm staying with you."

"...Eh?"

"And about Ludwig-san... Um... I think you are... not that bad, no, I didn't mean that you are not worst at least, but I was thinking that for whatever reason you came all the way here to stop me from whatever I was doing without even putting your coat on-"

"I thought you were trying to escape..?"

"Why would I do that?"

"You were looking at my window, trying to see if you could run away when I'm not watching."

"No, I was kinda... worried about you."

"And... Why did you?"

"Well... You've been stuck in your room for long time, and I thought I did something wrong, since it was after you had that lonely smile... no, I didn't say lonely, um, since it might only be my imagination-"

"You were right. I felt kind of lonely..."

Raivis looked up Ivan's face. He was smiling, not the usual creepy smile, either that lonely smile, but somewhat comfortable, and calm, gentle smile. Raivis didn't even realize that he was dazing at the Russian's violet eyes, until it bent over him closer. He closed his eyes, thinking that Ivan was going to try some new torture, perhaps headbutt now, but the only thing he felt was gentle lips touching his forehead. He yelped, as soon as he realized that Ivan had just kissed him on the forehead, and feeling confused why he felt so happy and excited about it.

"I thought that you liked Ludwig more. Well, maybe you do... But, I'm sure that... I like you more than Ludwig would."

"...Ehhh?"

"Sorry about pressing you down, but you're so cute when you whine and frown, that I can hardly resist it. By the way, I'm happy that you are so little, since I can just hug you right in my arms!"

Looking at Ivan's face, especially his slightly pink face, Raivis just grabbed his shirt tighter. All the anger that he had for this tall man had just... melted away. Feeling the pure affection from him, Raivis could do nothing, but carefully put the scarf around Ivan's neck so the cold breeze won't touch the bare skin. He could understand all the worries that he had now. Even though he was tortured all the time, deep inside of his heart, he already knew that that's just how Ivan was. And he liked being around this man, who couldn't express himself well, but had cared about others in his own little way.

"Um... Sorry if that whole thing about Ludwig-san made you sad..."

"I'm sorry too, if my way of loving you had offended you."

The childish smile returned on Ivan's face, and Raivis smiled shyly as he hid his blushed face in his chest. Hearing Ivan's heart beat, he felt like his head was going to explode from all the romantic stuff going on, when he actually felt the pressure pushing him down again. Ivan was tugging him as hard as he could, happily, though, rather than in a creepy way.

"But I'm not going to stop it, since it's so fun! Just accept this as my love!"

"Wha- Ivan-san, it hurts!"

"Oh, by the way, did I tell you that there is another reason why I like how you are so small?"

Raivis felt the pressure removed, only to find out that he was high up in the air, and landed on Ivan's broad shoulder. This man was carrying him as if he was a luggage, right back to the house.

"I can carry you to the bed so easily!"

After the bright sentence that Ivan said, there was a shriek from Raivis' mouth, which was quickly hushed as the door slammed shut. Even though Ivan's way of love might be little bit weird than the others', Raivis knew that he would have to live with it. Since he was already used to his way...