click.

The constant clicks were the only sounds in the dark room, echoing through the whole house as if they were as loud as a young child screaming and slamming doors.

An empty bottle of vodka joined the dozens before him, yet he didn't feel it. He didn't feel the warmth which should have come with the dizzying intoxication, or the sleep which should have inevitably followed. A small clink followed his thoughts as another bottle was opened, its contents downed before the clicking resumed.

click.

He couldn't believe his luck, after all, he wasn't lucky. Maybe he wasn't turning it right and it kept firing from the same hole…

He raised the gun once more, placing it against his temple, his thumb dully spinning the rounds.

Before his paper thin luck was tested once again, a different sound met his ears.

He sat there in silence, waiting for the light to penetrate the dark of his living room. He knew it was the front door, but he could care less right now. He could hear a pair of feet shuffling about, things being dropped and the jingling of keys before the slam of the door shut out the blizzard.

"I'm back, Russia." The tentative voice floated through the hallways to his ears. He kept the gun in place. Why would Lithuania come back…?

The footsteps were quickly advancing to his position, doors opening, closing, opening, closing, until finally the doors which were originally pulled shut were pulled open, and there the brown haired boy stood, face red from the cold.

He could see the fear flit into the boy's eyes and let a smile grace his lips.

"Would you like to join me, Toris?" Russia replied, sounding oh so innocent despite the finger flexing around the trigger, just waiting until it was time to play again.

"R-Russia! What are you doing?" That fear made him smile wider. Oh, Lithuania was so cute when his face was distorted with terror.

A gloved hand reached out for the vodka bottle and he raised it to his lips. "I'm playing a game; you will play too, da?" He asked before taking a swig and pulling the trigger.

click.

Russia smiled innocently and span the rounds once more before lowering the gun. He saw the pure terror in the other's eyes, as if he truly believed he could be shot.

"I…I don't think…" Toris shakily began. He could feel his heart beating in his chest. He'd known Russia to do some insane things, but this was homicidal!

"It's Russian Roulette." Russia chirped happily. It wasn't dull like Polish Roulette or Turkish roulette- his version was completely random, not a half chance, and it wasn't boring like Poland's attempt- five bullets in the round? No thanks.

He always enjoyed the danger, not knowing when you may die.

"You will play, da?" He repeated in a threatening tone, the smile even more menacing as he held out the revolver. Lithuania audibly gulped, and with shaking legs made his way to the older nation, sitting across from him.

He wanted to try and weasel out of it, but Russia's stare killed all his protests. He wondered what Russia would do if he didn't play the dangerous game.

"I…I don't know how to play." He attempted. Maybe Russia would-

"Ah, its simple!" Ivan giggled, like a child. "You spin this here, point the gun at your head and, BANG!" Toris nearly had a heart attack as Russia raised the gun with his words, and shot at him.

All that was received was a pitiful click once again.

"You will try?" Russia asked. Lithuania wondered if Ivan was oblivious to the fact that he'd nearly killed him, or that the prospect of so scared Toris to the brink of soiling his pants.

When Lithuania didn't reply, Russia gave a huff and spun the rounds again. "It's an easy game." He sulked, pointing the gun at himself and firing. Another click.

"See? Now you try." He passed the gun to Lithuania, and the menacing tone forced Toris to grip at the cold metal with shaking arms. Russia smiled and took another swig of his vodka.

Toris couldn't believe that this game could even be called a game, weren't games supposed to be fun? He could feel his whole body tremble as he looked down at the gun, before looking back up at smiling eyes.

"Spin the cylinder." He offered politely.

Lithuania didn't even feel himself nod as he span said cylinder with obvious distress and difficulty. He could feel the clicks as it span, randomising the bullet which was surely inside. He wasn't completely stupid, he had heard of Russian roulette before, but…

It was silent as Toris held his breath, bringing the gun to his temple. His hand was shaking violently. He didn't want to die, he could practically feel the bullet already, burning into his skull- and just the way that Russia smiled at him, urging him on, he was sure-

"BANG!" Russia yelled.

Lithuania screamed in shock, his hand clenching and for a horrible second he felt the trigger pull back, before-

click.

"What good luck everyone has today." Russia mused, offering Lithuania the vodka he'd been so cheerfully drinking. "But it's getting kind of boring…"

Toris hadn't even noticed the offering. He could swear his life flashed before his eyes and quite frankly, he felt like throwing up.

"My turn, my turn!" Russia cheered, slipping the gun from the numb fingers and rearranging it in his own, spinning the cylinder and giggling happily.

Lithuania suddenly snapped back to the harsh reality as Russia positioned his hand with practiced ease, pulling the trigger.

"NO!" He screamed, lunging at the taller man, knocking him back the precise moment the gun jerked and the bullet was released with a deafening

BANG.

Russia was dazed. He hadn't expected that, nor the heavy body atop him, not moving, shallowly breathing. He raised the gun in his hand to his face, frowning before tossing it aside. Well, that ended that game.

"Toris, you're heavy." He blankly stated. Without the prospect of excitement, he was just angry.

Lithuania didn't respond, he just kept breathing, shaking.

Russia's frown deepened, "Lithuaniaa! You're heavy!!" He complained, moving to push the boy off, but as his hands clenched around the other boy's arms a pained yell broke through the room.

Russia let go as if it burned.

He slowly began to realise that the breathing wasn't breathing at all, but slight whimpers and pants as Toris tried to keep what looked like tears at bay. The shaking was intense. Maybe the vodka was finally settling in.

"Lithuania?" Russia asked, concerned as Toris didn't speak to him. He could feel something warm seeping through his coat, something oddly familiar.

With extreme difficulty and more than a few yelps and gasps, Lithuania pushed himself up, one arm hanging limply as he stared down at the elder.

Russia saw the red, seeping through the fabric surrounding a hole in the other's left shoulder, he felt the shock of it run through him. He had shot Lithuania.

"T-Toris-"

"Ivan!" Russia flinched. Although Toris' voice was shaky and breaking, the underlying tone which was more than angry seeped through loud and clear. "Why would you play such a game?!"

Russia knew better than to reply, so he simply stayed quiet, his brow creased as he watched Lithuania's face, contorted in pain, pale- he didn't find it as enjoyable as he would have thought.

Carefully, Ivan pushed himself up, putting an arm behind Toris' waist to hold him in place and make sure he didn't topple backwards, though the movement did make Toris slide into Russia's lap, opposed to sitting on his stomach.

"I'm sorry." He silently murmured.

Lithuania just stared at him, eyes slightly dilated, his body still shaking, his breathing still shallow.

Russia moved his eyes to the others shoulder and Toris flinched, trying to move away, pushing at the bigger man's chest weakly. "N-no-! d-don't!"

He gasped as white hot pain shot down his arm, despite how careful Ivan was trying to be with him. Russia gently caressed the wound, feeling his stomach clench at the pained yelps he was enticing.

"I'm sorry." He repeated again before pressing his face into Toris' chest and wrapping his arms around his waist tightly. "Don't hate me! Don't leave!"

Lithuania felt his world spinning. The pain was unbelievable but the words were sincere, he wasn't sure he wanted to trust those words, he wasn't even sure he could form a sentence to reply as black licked his vision.

"I'll fix you." Russia silently muttered. Before Lithuania could even begin to worry about what he had meant, the arms tightened and suddenly the ground left his feet. His right arm instinctively reached out to wrap around the taller man's neck for support, his legs lightly clinging around the man.

The room was gone in a matter of three, maybe four long steps, and as the sliding doors were kicked aside, Toris could distinctly make out what appeared to be a bullet hole in the dark wood.

At a very far place in the back of his mind, Lithuania was contemplating the pros and cons. Well, a pro would be that Russia was safe; a con was that he had lost all feeling in his arm a few minutes ago. Pro, the bullet wasn't inside him at least. Con, he just knew he was getting blood everywhere, which…is logical, but he'd have to clean it up, right?

With a groan of pain and surprise, Lithuania was brought back to the world as he was placed as gently as Russia could in his panicking state, on the larger nation's bed.

Russia had instantly left his side, which would usually fill Toris with great relief, but this time, he had the sneaking worry that Russia might not come back, that Russia would just leave him-

No, Lithuania shook his head wearily and reached up to feel his forehead with his right hand, No, Russia wouldn't do that. Sure, he usually left him alone when he had hit Lithuania so hard he bled, but that was different. That wasn't a shot to the shoulder.

Looking down at the wound, he cringed to see that it had nearly soaked his whole top red by now, and the fabric was clinging around the small, dark wound. He tried his best to force one of his fingers to move, but all he could accomplish was a little twitch which sent his nerves up in flames.

His small cry seemed to have called Ivan back into the room, as he was now hovering over Toris with wide violet eyes, his face distraught with worry.

"We need to take your top off da, clean the wound," He muttered more to himself than to the other as he began to help Toris into a sitting position. The Baltic nation tried his best to help Russia with the simple task, but when he tried to undo the buttons on his jacket, his hands were shooed away.

So Ivan took on the duty in complete silence, with slightly shaking hands. The jacket was simple enough to remove, but Russia still took great caution when slipping the sleeve off of Toris' arm. But when it was tossed aside, he started onto the white, now crimson, button down.

Lithuania at least got the dignity of removing his tie, but as he thought on it, there wasn't really much dignity in removing one's own tie. And then he had to remind himself that this really wasn't the time for dignity and then the world was spinning..

Russia let Lithuania lean against him but quietly reminded the smaller to stay awake. Lithuania briefly thought of disobeying, because, he'd pass out soon anyway, right? He liked the idea of going to sleep better than passing out. So just when he let his eyes seep closed for a second-

Toris jerked in complete shock at the pressure against his lips. Was Russia-He was! Russia was kissing him! But…But why?! With a startled gasp Lithuania's eyes shot open and faced an angry glare.

Russia pulled back and cupped Toris' face with shaking hands. "Don't. Don't go to sleep." He whispered.

With a mute nod Toris slightly agreed and Russia slowly went back to work, bringing out his vodka, no doubt to clean the bullet wound, then bandages…

As the burning sting of alcohol engulfed his wound, Lithuania bit down on his palm to try not to scream. But soon enough the pain was gone as the wound began to grow numb all over again.

Russia forced his hand from his mouth in agitation, looking at the bite marks angrily; Lithuania just kind of…slumped, not looking back. He was having a hard enough time dealing with everything to even think twice about maybe biting through his own skin.

"Talk to me Toris." Russia asked gently as he began to tightly wrap white bandage around his torso, "Talk to me or you might fall asleep again."

Lithuania wondered about what he should say. "…Shouldn't we go…to a hospital?' He forced out through clenched teeth. It was getting a little hard to breathe through the tight binding against his chest.

Russia let out a laugh, a small, hysterical laugh. "You're strong Lithuania." He replied, "You're strong, you'll get through this. You always do, whenever you're hurt. You always get back up and push on."

True, Lithuania mildly thought. But it didn't mean it didn't hurt. And he usually had the fear that if he were to die from battle, Russia would curse him even though he was dead already and begin hurting everyone he knew, America, Lithuania, Estonia…

He felt the soft sheets beneath him as Russia rested him back and brushed his fringe from his face. In those violet eyes, Lithuania felt the flitting maybe run through him. Maybe he could get through this after all.

"R-russia." He addressed quietly, seeing black again and hearing everything through an unseen veil.

Russia lent down and held his hand. Which was nice, for a change. "Da?"

Lithuania tried to force a weak smile, to try and reassure the elder that he'd be fine, really, so stop worrying so hard- "No more…games, from now on…okay?"

There was that small relieved laugh from Ivan, like he wanted to believe that Lithuania would be alright, but he would worry even if the other told him not to. "Alright, no more games."

And then Lithuania really did smile, and before the darkness consumed him, he closed his eyes and gently squeezed Russia's hand back.

--------

Russia gazed down at Lithuania's sleeping face. He was in pain, so, so much pain. And he had caused it all, once again.

Leaving the boy's side, Russia moved over to his desk and sat down, placing his head in his hands. There would definitely be no more games.

His eyes flitted to the desk drawer and one hand crept down to drum against the sleek wood. A moment of silence rushed by before he reached to pull the drawer out and reach inside.

The revolver he recovered was just like the one before. He liked to keep a few around the house. Snapping the cylinder open, he removed five of the six bullets before snapping it back closed and spinning it idly.

Well, he mused, perhaps there won't be any games…with Toris playing, anymore.