Hello everyone! It's me again with a rather interesting new fic I've been dying to write for a while. This follows the same path as Sweet, Sweet Feliciano but I'm writing it to where you wouldn't need to read SSF to understand this.

This story is follows up Matthew and Ivan's story. This shows a lot of Ivan's past, his experience with his very, very toxic friendship with a boy named Maksimillian Orell (if you couldn't guess, he's General Winter)and a few rather tragic events that took place, causing him to struggle to live life normally.

Warnings include Cussing, animal abuse, mild violence and angst

I did a lot of research on Russia so I really hope I wrote him well enough. He's probably one of the most complex characters I've come across.

Enjoy

(PS, I had to edit Sweet, Sweet Feliciano a little, like Ivan is homeschooled instead of attending their school, stuff like that)

❅❄❅ When the Snow Falls ❅❄❅

"Stop being such a baby," Maksimillian said coldly towards Ivan, who sat across from him on the bed. Ivan nervously shifted around in place, trying not to look into the cold stare coming from Maks. "We're not going to get caught, now stop whining."

"But that was Kat's necklace, I feel bad for taking it," Ivan muttered, his fear obvious. "She really likes it, too, we shouldn't have-" Maks extended his hand from his jacket pocket and slapped Ivan, just hard enough for the boy to fall over.

"… N-Nevermind." Ivan whispered, trying to hide the tears that streamed down his cheeks by wiping them away, hoping Maks wouldn't notice.

"Hey, Matt, I uh, kinda want to give you a reminder." Francis didn't look away from the road when he spoke. It's weird, Matthew thought, he could be laughing for minutes straight and suddenly get serious.

They were on their way to pick up Francis's friend, Ivan, who Matthew had yet to meet. Ivan was homeschooled, and he didn't socialize much. Francis attempted to get him out of the house before when he and Matthew were doing something, but always declined.

"Ivan's… Still recovering. It isn't that I think you'll upset him at all; I just want you to know he says and does things that are a little out there. He can be scary, and if you're too uncomfortable, it's okay to tell him that. He gets touchy but I think that's when he gets to know you. He's reserved around strangers, but he'll probably warm up to you quickly." Francis let out a laugh, though the way he tapped his fingers nervously on the steering wheel had anxiety written all over it.

Was he that worried? Matthew knew Francis had become friends with him in a therapy group, and his situation was difficult, but Francis never told him what exactly happened to him. 'He'll have to tell you himself, when and if you meet him' is all he said after Matthew had asked.

"And like most people who have been through something, he has his, err, break downs." Francis sighed. "They're unpredictable sometimes but thankfully Ivan doesn't have them as often anymore. But if it does happen, please stay calm." Break downs? Matthew thought to himself. Like, violent ones?

"He likes making friends and he's really excited about meeting you," Matthew blushed a little, flattered. "I just wanted to remind you about all that, everything should go fine, okay?"

"Okay," Matthew replied.

"Ivan," Katyusha greeted her younger brother at the door when he arrived home from school. "We need to talk." Telling by her grim expression, he knew he was in trouble.

Kat kneeled down in front of him and held out her hand. To his horror, the necklace him and Maks had stolen from her the week before lay on her hand. Deep remorse arose in his chest.

Francis pulled into the driveway of Ivan's house. It was a rather large house, a little older looking style-wise. Matthew looked up at it with awe, wondering how it would look on the inside.

Francis got out and shut the door. "Come on,"

"We're going inside?" Matthew unhooked his seat belt.

"Oui, come on," Matthew got out of the car and caught up with Francis

When he rang the doorbell, a woman's voice yelled from inside. "Come in!" Francis opened the door and they walked inside. A lady with short blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes near a large glass coffee table, covered in towels and socks. She sat in a wheelchair, smiling and waving happily. "Hello Francis, it's nice to see you again!" she called in a thick Russian accent.

"Katyusha," Francis approached her and hugged her tightly. "Need any help with this?"

"No, darling, I'm fine," she kissed Francis's cheek. "Is this Matthew?"

Francis nodded, Katyusha rolled the wheelchair over to take a closer look at him. "It's nice to meet you, Matthew. I'm Ivan's sister, Katyusha." She held her arms out to hug him. Matthew leaned over carefully, but she pulled him in and hugged him tightly. He was taken surprise at first but then softly laughed.

"Ivan's in his room," she let go of Matthew and moved back to her place at the coffee table. "Nice of you guys to get him out of his room, and he seems pretty excited about it." She took Francis's hand and kissed it. "Once again, thank you," she wiped a tear from her eye.

"It's no problem, Katyusha," Francis touched her cheek.

"Francis?" Matthew nearly flinched when the voice called and a very tall, large figure appeared in the room. He examined him, almost gasping. Francis said he was attractive but dang, Matthew stopped at that, shaking the thought away. He had an innocent, almost childlike face and a large nose, but there was just something about his almost silvery colored hair –probably soft– or maybe it was his brilliant purple colored eyes, much like his own, that completely threw Matthew off guard.

Matthew was also very fascinated in the way he dressed; normally for the most part with some jeans and a black coat, but the very long, light tan scarf around his neck gave him made him stand out. He looked fit, though a little chubby. Matthew liked that; He looked like a bear, and he loves bears.

"Francis!" Ivan ran over to Francis like a kid would run for an ice cream truck and hugged him tightly. Cuddliness runs in the family, Matthew thought to himself, almost laughing. Ivan suddenly kissed Francis. Not like how Katyusha kissed him, but it was full on lip contact. Francis didn't seem to mind, and looked as though he expected to be kissed. Matthew took a look at Kat, she sat there smiling as if the whole thing was normal.

Ivan then approached Matthew, looking down at him with interest and curiosity. Did it get a little cold in here, Matthew thought to himself, smiling up at him. "I'm Matthew, nice to meet you." He told him, confidently, though he kept a mellow tone of voice. He had nothing to worry about, Francis assured him of that earlier.

Ivan gasped in excitement. "I'm," he cleared his throat and blushed a little bit. "I'm Ivan, and I'm happy I've finally gotten to meet you," The most Matthew expected was a hug, but like Francis, got a kiss on the lips. He froze in place, not knowing what to do. Ivan's lips were soft and cold on his, and it wasn't bad, just sudden. He instinctively grabbed onto Ivan's arms. When Ivan pulled away, he clung onto Matthew's arms back and giggled. Matthew blushed and looked at Francis; he just shrugged. I just want you to know he says and does things that are a little out there, Matthew remembered.

"It's nice to finally meet you, too, Ivan," Matthew kissed his cheek. Casual kissing, he thought, I kinda like that.

"Ivan," Kat touched the boy's shoulder. "Do not cry, I just want to know why you took my necklace." Ivan couldn't answer that. He didn't want to take it, nor was he the one who stole it in the first place.

Ivan let go of him and ran to his sister. "We're going," he kissed her on her right temple. "Tebya lyublyu, Kat," he pecked all over her head. "Will you be alright being here without me for a little while?"

"Yes, go have fun now, besides, I have Natalya," Kat laughed, giving his cheek a few kisses.

"Big brother," Matthew jumped, not noticing the younger girl who was standing behind him. He wondered when she showed up and how he didn't realize she was there. She looked much different from Kat and Ivan, face wise, and her hair was long. She had a very elegant look to her, she wore beautiful dress and her makeup was probably flawless. She glanced at Matthew with her dark blue eyes and looked back at her brother. "Are you leaving?" she asked in a worried voice.

"Yes Natalya, I'll be back tomorrow," he walked over and kissed her forehead. "I'll be fine,"

"Who is this?" she glanced back at Matthew.

"That's Matthew, a friend of Francis's."

"Okay," she hugged him and kissed his cheek. "Be careful," she took another glance at Matthew before letting go of Ivan and taking a place on the couch by Katyusha.

"I'll bring him back tomorrow morning," Francis assured them, grabbing Ivan's bag and walking towards the front door.

"Bye!" Ivan waved at his sisters and followed Francis.

It was nice to meet you!" Matthew added shyly, and went after the two at the door.

"You know you're a piece of trash, right?" Maks said, taking a sip from his glass. Ivan didn't respond and swayed gently on his swing. He didn't know why Maks had to remind him again. "How long are you grounded?" he laughed.

"For another week, I have to get back inside before it's another two weeks," Ivan hopped off his swing and fixed his scarf.

"Bitch," Maks muttered, just loud enough for Ivan to hear him as he walked back into the house.

Ivan sat in the back, directly behind Matthew, and asked him questions the whole way to Francis's house.

"Do you like my sisters?" he asked, leaning over towards Matthew and putting his hands on the back of the seat he was sitting on.

"Yes, they both seem very nice," Matthew smiled.

"Really? You don't think they're strange?" he asked, surprised.

"No, not at all," Matthew replied.

"Do you have sisters?" He asked.

"No, two brothers, none of which are blood related to me," Matthew replied. "It's complicated but I come all the way from Canada, I've known my adoptive parents all my life but they took me in about 9 months ago, and my brother Alfred in 2 years ago" Ivan looked deeply interested at this point, so he continued. "I lived with my grandmother because my parents couldn't take care of me. But then she passed and my parents were nowhere to be found, so Mr. and Mrs. Kirkland took me in." Matthew looked at Ivan again, he now looked distressed.

"Oh no, don't worry about me, I um, I'm perfectly at peace with everything's that had happened." Ivan smiled a small smile. "So tell me about your…" he stopped, deciding that question is possibly the worse question to ask him. "… Self."

"Uhh… I dunno," Ivan looked down at the floor of the car.

"Ivan likes knitting," Francis cut in. Ivan got flustered.

"Who doesn't?" both Matthew and Ivan snapped back at him at the same time. Matthew gave him a comforting smile and giggled.

"Oh and Matthew likes cooking, too, you guys have some similar interests."

"I do like cooking," Matthew told him, avoiding any questioning. Ivan nodded and loosened his scarf.

Francis glanced at Matthew and mouthed, "Good job" at him. This is nice, Matthew thought, Ivan doesn't seem so bad. Though, I do wonder what had happened to him.

Ivan picked himself up from the cold winter ground. Rubbing his swollen eye, he looked up at his one and only friend.

"You know," Maks told him, staring down at him with his sharp, icy eyes. "If you weren't such a wimp maybe you wouldn't get beat up."

"Maks…" he reached out to him, just to get kicked right in the stomach. "Oh!" he cried. By the time Katyusha came running outside, Maks had left.

"Ivan, who did this to you?" she asked urgently, and before Ivan could yell out Maks, he found himself wondering what he would do without a single friend, and what Maks do if he told someone about what he did.

Ivan shrugged. "I don't know, Kat," he cried as Katyusha helped him into the house. What am I to do, he asked himself. The only answer he knew was nothing, he couldn't do anything else.

Fun fact; Ivan canonly kisses people as a greeting. (In this story, since Francis has known him for awhile, he's quite used to it.) I don't know about ballet but he also canonly likes cooking and knitting.

Thanks for reading, I hope you guys enjoyed it. I'll be sure to work on the next chapter very soon!