Humming to himself, Russia was walking down one of the hallways of the building where the current world meeting was being held at. Germany had called for a lunch break ten minutes ago, giving each of the present nations some time to eat and relax.
He had wanted to do that together with his Baltic friends but that annoying Polish country had interfered by dragging Lithuania away from him. The other two, who he had just been standing next to a few seconds ago, were nowhere to be seen. Although he was a bit hurt that he would have to eat alone (Ukraine went with someone who's name he constantly forgot and there was no way he would eat with Belarus if there was just the two of them), he shrugged it off and went on his way.
Rounding a corner, he heard quiet mumbling.
Confused, he looked around and saw a slightly opened door on the left side of the hallway, a few doors down from where he was standing. Out of curiosity, he neared the room and peaked inside.
A small female nation was standing on her tiptoes, probably trying to reach something on top of the shelf. Although her back was turned towards him he could still recognize her as Liechtenstein, a quiet nation in the care of Switzerland. Come to think of it, Russia couldn't see him anywhere, which was strange since he had heard that they were rarely ever apart from each other.
After watching her struggle for a bit, Russia decided he could lend her a helping hand and fetch whatever it was that she was reaching for.
His cough to grab her attention was quiet but it still managed to startle the small nation. She whipped around and her left hand immediately shot to her side, gripping at something that was covered by her red dress. Once her eyes focused on the tall figure, her grip on whatever it was got even tighter and she gulped audibly. Russia was aware of her uneasiness and tried to lighten the mood by smiling at her in a – what he hoped to be – reassuring way.
"Ah, I'm sorry that I scared you, Liechtenstein. I was only wondering what you were doing in this small room and if could help you."
She relaxed a bit at his statement, however, her posture was still stiff and the look in her eyes was wary, albeit being friendly as well. She was even going as far as giving him a small smile, something he rarely received. It made him feel happy and his smile got broader and more genuine.
"It's alright, Mr. Russia. Actually, I could really need your help. It would be kind of you if you got that gun from the top of the shelf. I saw a nation stealing it from my brother and hiding it in here. I want to get it back to him but I can't reach it."
He stepped inside the small room. "Da, I will get it for you."
Reaching over her, he grabbed the polished gun and carefully lifted it down. Liechtenstein thanked him politely and when she moved her hand from her side to take it from him, Russia caught a glimpse of what she had been holding onto before. He shouldn't have been so surprised that she was carrying around a gun with her (she was trained by Switzerland, after all), yet, he couldn't help but think that she didn't look as if she was capable of shooting anyone. Still, the Russian knew he shouldn't judge her by her appearance for looks can be deceiving.
Focusing back onto the situation, he watched her as she put away the gun into a pocket of her dress before shifting her gaze to him. It took him a few seconds to understand that she wanted to get out of the small room but she wasn't able to move around him, since there wasn't enough space. Instead, he turned around and reached for the door knob, since the door seemed to have shut itself earlier.
Surprisingly enough, he wasn't able to open it. He tried it again and again but it wouldn't budge at all.
"What's wrong, Mr. Russia?", Liechtenstein asked, a mixture of curiosity and worry in her voice.
"I cannot open the door."
"Does that mean we're stuck in here?"
"Not necessarily, I could try to break it down." Her hand grabbed his coat.
"Please don't do that, we would have to replace it and my brother hates spending money on unnecessary things." She fidgeted a bit, unsure if it was a good idea to restrain the powerful and unpredictable nation. However, she didn't let go of his coat.
Russia sighed. "Alright, though it can take some time until someone finds us, which means we probably won't have any lunch before the next meeting session."
Shifting her gaze to the floor, Liechtenstein mumbled an apology.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Russia, I didn't want to ruin your break. I really shouldn't have asked for your help."
The sincerity of her statement formed a light smile on his face, not that kind he liked to use to get what he wants but a genuine one.
"Don't worry about it, that way I was able to make a new friend." A surprised look passed her face.
"We- we are friends?" The excitement in her voice made him giggle.
"Da, we are friends." They smiled at each other and sat down. Or rather, tried to sit down. Russia was taking up so much space that Liechtenstein didn't have a choice but sit directly in front of him, their knees nearly touching. It embarrassed him and thus shifted around to give her more room, although these attempts were futile.
"Ah, I'm sorry about that."
A polite smile was directed at him. "Don't worry about it, Mr. Russia, I have enough space."
Instead of responding, he gave her a half apologetic, half embarrassed smile.
A few minutes of silence followed with both of them sinking deep into their own thoughts.
However, it was soon interrupted by a timid voice.
"May I ask you a question, Mr. Russia?"
"Da?"
"What do we do as friends? I've never really had any..." She looked flustered and turned her head away when he looked at her.
"First of all, please stop calling me 'Mr. Russia'. You can call me Ivan."
"Um, okay, Mr. Rus- I mean, Ivan. You can call me Lily."
"That's a pretty name, it really fits you, Lily." Russia gave her a small smile, which was returned immediately.
"Thank you. I think Ivan sounds nice, too."
"My older sister Ukraine gave it to me when I was little."
Liechtenstein pressed her hands to her mouth, trying to suppress her giggles.
"Somehow I can't imagine you as a small child." Russia only chuckled in response.
It felt as if the ice between them was finally broken. The mood between the two of them improved greatly, going from tense and awkward to light and relaxed in a matter of minutes. They talked about all different kind of things, about their favorite food, their siblings and what they liked to do. That way, they found out that they both really enjoyed ice-skating and that they both had a soft spot for hot cocoa at the end of a cold day.
They talked about all different kind of flowers, about the pet of Finland and Sweden (surprisingly, Russia liked fluffy things as much as Liechtenstein did), the colors of the sky and the best place to enjoy a sunset. Liechtenstein's knowledge about different guns and rifles was remarkable as Russia noticed during their heated discussion about which firearms were the best.
Time flew by and before they even knew it, lunch break was over.
"It seems that they still haven't found us. Maybe I should really break down that door." She was just about to protest when suddenly, they could hear a ringing tone. They looked around confusedly, not sure where it was coming from, until Liechtenstein's eyes widened and she hurriedly searched trough her dress pockets. She fished out an old looking cell phone and quickly answered it.
"Hello brother. … I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you. .. I had forgotten that I even had a cell phone… Yes. …. I'm stuck in a room. … No, I will explain it to you later... the third floor... yes... okay, I'll wait." She hung up.
"Was that your brother?"
"Yes, he was a bit mad at me because he hadn't seen me for nearly an hour. I'm so sorry that I didn't think of my cell phone. We could have gotten out much earlier and eat a proper lunch. I'm really sorry."
"I told you before not to worry about it, da? Besides, that way I was able to make a new friend." Russia ruffled her hair in an affectionate manner.
The gentleness of this action might have surprised most of the other nation since they weren't used to him acting like that, however, she knew that he was a very soft person at heart.
The only reason why he rarely showed that side of him was because his bosses had always reminded him not to be too nice, or else his fellow nations wouldn't recognize him as a powerful being.
It saddened her and she felt stupid for being scared of the tall nation at the beginning of their meeting since he turned out to be such a kind person.
The smiles he sent her way weren't the usual intimidating ones but filled with real cheerfulness and amicability, something she had never seen before in the smiles of any of the other nations.
She was sure they would get along very well in the future and continue being friends for as long as they could.
Russia's thoughts were going along the same lines.
He had discovered that below her reserved exterior and polite smile, a fire was burning. It was still quite small but whenever she talked about things she enjoyed greatly, he could see it flare up in her eyes, quickly making its way to her heart and filling her whole existence with a passion even Spain couldn't achieve.
It was very delightful to watch her and he silently thanked his curiosity which had gotten him into this pleasant situation in the first place.
Their silent musings were interrupted when they heard someone, probably Switzerland, fumbling with the door knob. The door opened and Switzerland was about to set one of his feet into the room when he noticed that his sister wasn't alone in the room.
He wasn't amused that of all the nations who could have sat there, it just had to be the crazy Russian world power (in his opinion, only France would've been worse).
Russia soon found himself being face to face with a Swiss gun before any of the two had the chance to say anything to calm the trigger-happy, overprotective and overreacting nation down.
"You have exactly ten seconds to explain what's going on here before I blow your brains out."
A/N: I hope you liked it and if you did, it would be nice to leave a review. If you don't, please tell me what I can do better next time.
If you notice any grave grammar mistakes it would be nice if you told me so I can fix them. Thank you!