Author Note: C/N = Country Name... Yup! You get to decide!
Grumbling, you could see the smoke your breaths caused once they made contact with the wintry air. You crossed your arms, not out of frustrations, but to keep your freezing hands warm. Sigh. You closed your eyes, remembering the hectic morning you went through in order to arrive at the World Meeting on time, forgetting one of the most important winter clothing: your gloves.
Once you had realized your forgetfulness, it was too late; you had driven for 30 minutes and had another 30 to go in order to get there on time. Preferring to have the nations not criticize for your tardiness over protecting your slim fingers from being frostbitten, you just kept speeding, beating all the stoplights that threatened to hinder you. Not caring if you cause high speed chase (which wouldn't be your first nor last), even though you were only borrowing one of America's prized cars. (Your persistent pleading had finally pushed the obnoxious nation to edge. However, he warned you – dark aura oozing out of him – not to get a single scratch on his precious baby. Then, when he was out of your radar, you burst out laughing and shouted, "Like I care!".)
Coming back from the quick flashback, your e/c eyes widened in surprise. How long has Russia been standing there?! You flinched at the sight of his signature smile plastered on his face. Though you've been with these personifications for quite some time, attending every world meeting ever since you had been deemed worthy to, you still couldn't help but be intimidated. You. The hyper, strong-willed young nation that popped up very recently (in history terms) and has more potential than anyone thought. (Because of that, you only accepted very few nations to be your friend since you found out about the others' intentions.) And one of the few who can predict Russia's next move.
"Hello, C/N~" Russia broke the tense and awkward silence. For some reason, he leaned in a bit, probably adjusting to your short height.
However, him leaning forward instantly made you feel cornered thus leading you to be more defensive; you were already intimidated! You forced a smile though, "Hi, Russia! Um, haven't seen you around lately... hehe." It was true. You looked up at the taller nation, whose hair is as pure as the surrounding snow, eyes the color of lavender, and expression sincerely innocent, looking guilty as you remembered all the times you two spent privately spent together.
When you were old enough to understand and take responsibility, you realized that there were many things your small land can't produce. Gas had been one of them. And, Russia was one of the closest ones to trade. Begrudgingly, you accepted and the gas trade had been peacefully continuing for a decade... Until the Russian ships with the precious gas weren't on port at the expected time. Somehow trade relations with his uptight boss had become sour.
Forced to take action by your boss, you had to "hang out" with him in order to mend the trading relationship. For months, the two of you planned several rendezvous, meeting each other behind the nations' backs. It was actually quite a lot of fun and you learned more about him than you excepted. Despite all of the great memories, you were persuaded by the countries' rumors of Russia's monstrosity and cold heart. You kept an open but... Russia did too many shady things that your image of him became blurry. Although it was the 21st century, the modern age when this rarely happens, you terrified of an invasion. The rendezvous ceased and the last time you privately met him was at your office, when he came in to renew the gas trade... Six months ago.
"Da, it has been a while since we talked to each other, huh," Russia stated, reeling you back to reality. There was a slight shift in his tone, you noticed. But you were distracted by his questioning look. "Why were you sleeping while standing up, C/N?"
You tilted your head, confused. What? Sleeping while standing up? "Silly Russia!" you giggled, making Russian even more confused. "I wasn't sleeping! I was just thinking with my eyes closed!" You didn't see it because of his thick, hand-made scarf, but he had blushed at your childish way of answering.
"Oh," he said, burying half his face on the scarf, "I see." Then, he did something that amazed you.
He laughed.
How you truly missed that.
"Hello, C/N?" Russia waved his gloved hand in front of you, breaking your dazed expression. "Are you okay? You know, it's not nice space out when someone is talking to you, C/N." His unhidden pout looked so cute!
"Ah! Sorry, Russia," you laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of your head. Cute? Where'd that come from, you thought. You tried to play it cool (just like how Big Bro America taught you!), but your act shattered when you yelped. Russia had grabbed your other hand and started to blow on it. "What the hell are you doing?!" You tried to pull away, but the grip on your wrist wouldn't budge, instead, it tightened.
After a few more minutes, Russia finally let go of your wrist. He smiled proudly. "See? Now you can feel your hand!"
He was right. You felt the blood rush into your defrosted finger tips but... That wasn't the only place the blood had rushed to. There was an evident blush on your cheeks. "Um... Thanks?" You clenched and unclenched your hands, rotated your wrist, to ease the blood flow – and keep you distracted from that baby face.
"Your welcome, C/N," Russia said cheerfully. You had expected a odd request (like "Be one with me please!") to follow,however, what Russia said next caught you totally off-guard. "Hey, C/N, where are your gloves?"
You e/c eyes widened again, shocked at the sincere concern in his voice. It took you moment before you tried to compose yourself by brushing off the pile of snow on top of your h/c hair and then answer. "W-well you see, Russia," that one stutter caused to mentally berate yourself. "I-I was r-running late to get her on time and I forgot them on the counter."
"Oh," Russia simply said. "Well, are you going back to your home now?"
You nodded. "Yup! As soon as America gets here, I can finally leave!"
Russia giggled.
"What's so funny?"
"I'm sorry, C/N, but I advise you to leave without him."
"Why?" You raised an eyebrow. Strange... America would always tell you when something came up! You instantly suspected that Russia had something to do with this.
"America was forced to clean up the meeting room after he had started this 'throwing war' and accidentally hit Germany. America looked quite funny when he was trying to get out of his own mess."
Your jaw dropped. What?! A "throwing war" without moi!? Russia laughed harder once he saw your "why-didn't-he-include-me!" face. Finally closing your jaw after it was starting to get sore, you hmph-ed and walked away to the parking lot. "Thanks, Russia, for telling me." You stopped and looked back, smiling. "I would've been trapped in a giant block of ice if you didn't tell me!"
Before you could take another step, you were stopped by a huge calloused hand. You turned your head, "Russia! Stop scaring me like that!"
His brows furrowed, a frown on his childish face, "I'm sorry, F/N..." Your heart skipped a beat when you heard your human name come out of his lips. It had been a while... "Sorry, Ivan," you sighed, letting him hold your hand. "It's been a long day."
His cute smile returned. Ivan let go for a moment, taking the warmth along with him. You looked up, eyes begging to hold his hand again. Giggling, Ivan removed the glove which you just held onto and held it out. "Your other hand must be cold, right? Here put this on." You just stared at the beige glove for a moment then put it on. Again, the cutsy-yet-unpredictable personification grabbed your bare hand and held it gently. "Let us go before the roads get blocked!" Defeated yet grateful, you allowed him to walk with you to the parking lot.
It wasn't very far from the main building, however, the thick snow was hard to trudge through. But... You felt warm, maybe more. Then you felt Ivan's fingers entangle with yours. For some reason, this just felt so embarrassing even though you two held hands before. Many thoughts and questions zipped through your head. Amidst all of them, you were only focused on one question: Why am I blushing?
"Ne, F/N," Russia said, looking up at the snowing sky. You only hmm-ed. "Isn't it weird how our hands can be warm just by touching each other."
You looked up, funny look on your face
He noticed out of the corner of his eye; he looked down at you and smiled. "To be honest, I think it's because it's more than body heat."
"Why do you say that?" You finally responded. Not talking really wasn't your style.
"I guess it's because of something I heard about why people have ring fingers."
Tilting your head, your E/C sparked with curiosity. "What'd you hear?"
Ivan kept smiling but he looked straight ahead to the iced concrete. "I forgot where and who I heard this from, but the person told me that there's a reason why people chose the third finger, finger between the pinky and crude middle finger." He paused; you waited. "The person told me that the ring finger has the vein that connects directly to the heart. So that is why the ring finger was called vena amori, which translates out to "vein of love."
Though you felt your mushy imsides go "aw", you were still confused. "Well, what does that have to with our hands being warm?"
Ivan's smile grew bigger and you could've sworn that his cheeks were pink. "Love is warm, isn't it? And since love comes from the heart, our hands are very warm!" After he said that, Ivan turned to face the concrete again. You were speechless, which Ivan took it the wrong way. "Thought I would just share... You can forget about it once we go our separate ways."
You froze. His words replayed over and over in your head. Does this mean... "F/N? What's wrong?" Pulling away your hand away, Ivan turned around, face contorted with worry and guilt.
Ignoring the painful stab you felt in your chest upon seeing his face, you kept your stern composure. "Ivan Braginski! What the hell are you talking about?!" The said person caved in, about to back away and run. To prevent that from happening, you swiftly stepped in and grabbed his wrists together. You knew that he was much stronger but you didn't care. "I want to know why you told me all this!"
Ivan looked like a frightened child who was about to be punished for not explaining the answer clearly. Upon seeing the fear and sadness in his glazed, amethyst eyes, you took deep breaths and loosened your grip. But, that still didn't help him to open up. "Ivan," you said in a much softer tone, "please, tell me."
Ivan looked into your pleading eyes; he swallowed down the suffocating lump that was stuck in his throat. "F/N," he breathed. There was no turning back now.
"I love you."
How many time have your eyes widened today? Letting go of his wrists, you backed away a few steps. Your heart was pumping faster than anything; your eyes sparkled with shock; your mouth made the cute little "O"; your body froze from unbelief.
"F/N?" Ivan, again, took the silence the wrong way. "Please say something..." His voice was shaky and eyes filled with panic. Please, F/N, I'm scared... I'm scared of being rejected again.
As if reading his thoughts, you shook your head to snap you out of your shocked awe. Staring at directly at him, eye-to-eye, you breathed out your reply. "I love you too, Ivan."
He immediately hugged you. "I love you! I love you! I love you, F/N... I love your silky soft H/C hair, gem-like E/C eyes, velvety S/C skin, gorgeously toned body! Everything about you I just love!" You wrapped your arms around his neck, petting his soft hair. You just let him babble on, enjoying the over-the-top compliments, there was no rush. "I missed you so much that I felt like I could have died..."
Once he grew silent and you felt tears drip down on your shoulders, you slightly broke the hug. You tiptoed and stretched your neck as far as you could and connected your lips with his. Your eyes were kept open to stare into his teary orbs. Ivan broke the small kiss but you were fine with that. "F/N..." he breathed, his breath visible in the air.
This time, Ivan kissed you. This time, no one broke it. This time, it was passionate.
This time. You felt the Warmth.
Meh. Sucky fluff story is sucky. Oh well!
Anyways, something that popped inside my head and I finally found the time to write it. Now, I'm too lazy to edit and stuff and this is my very first ReaderxCharacter fic so pwease be patient with me.
Please review! I do appreciate it! "So do I because it's about me!" ^]^ "Russia! How the hell did you get in here?!" :O"You're window was open.""Oh... That explains a lot..." -_-" "Anyways, do you wanna say something to the readers too?""Da! Be one with Mother Russia, please!" ^]^"Uh-huh... Typical. Well, you heard him folks. Be one with him, okay? Now, I'm off to do my usual tomfoolery! Bye!" *goes back to the internet*