Poor little Latvia...
"To be hurt, to feel lost, to be left out in the dark To be kicked when you're down..."
xxx
He stands frozen in the middle of their living room, eyes tightly closed. Russia sees him first and calls for Estonia, knowing that he's not a good person to comfort a panicked Latvia.
But the young nation won't move. He stands still and shakes.
"Ivan?"
He nods, questioningly.
"Coat." Suddenly understanding, Russia shrugs off his heavy overcoat and wraps it around Latvia. The boy still doesn't budge. Russia picks him up, like a sack of potatoes, and carries him upstairs, still wrapped in the coat. Estonia follows, sighing deeply. It's so hard for Latvia. So many years of abuse from so many different countries acting under orders from bosses have worn him thin, so he has panic attacks nearly two times a week. His hands twitch and he jumps sky high when people walk into a room.
Russia sits down in an armchair with Latvia still in his arms.
"Estonia, do you think you should-"
"Sure."
Estonia takes Latvia from Russia and shifts him to a comfortable position in his arms, so the country's head is tucked between Estonia's face and his shoulder. Latvia's eyes do not close until Russia turns off the lights and he calms down a little bit.
Even with the lights off, they can see a family picture on Latvia's bedside table. Russia is holding a much younger Latvia with bruises all over his face and a bandage almost covering one eye. It's the most recent picture of all of them together. It was right before the Soviet Union collapsed. Ukraine and Russia are standing far apart, like they've been arguing. Estonia and Lithuania have their arms around each other and Belarus's hair bow is white, not blue.
They look like a family. Estonia looks closer at Latvia. He's seriously underweight, unsurprisingly. His eyes are too big for his face. Five bad bruises on his face and neck. It looks like smiling hurts him.
He'd bet that this picture was taken by Belarus playing with the timer. She's always been a shutterbug. Ukraine looks as angry as Ukraine can look, which means she looks slightly like she's not willingly smiling.
Russia is looking at the whole picture, in general. He remembers why he was holding Latvia that day- Latvia had been badly kicked and beaten by America over something involving nuclear weapons. He was scared and in pain for days after, not caring who was holding him as long as it was someone in his family. Belarus had wanted to take a picture of them all together, knowing full well that the Soviet Union was hanging by a thread.
Latvia had spent a major part of that day sleeping in Estonia's arms.
Ukraine had stormed out of the house and Russia had sat on the porch talking to Belarus about nothing at all. Russia remembers how he used to call her Bella when she was a toddler. Jeez, back when she was a toddler... Then Nat when she was older and liked to be called Natasha.
"Ivan?"
"Uh-huh?"
"I think he's asleep."
"Good." Russia sighs. "Do you think he'll ever do any better...?"
"I hope so." Estonia lays a hand on the boy's head. "I can't say for sure."
"All things come to pass." Russia looks at the photograph. "We all fall down and have to get up again. You know this."