'It will be a great idea!' he had said.
'Think of how cute it will be!' he had insisted.
'It would mean so much to him; he misses you, you know.' And he didn't need to hear outloud know that 'And so do I' was hanging in the unspoken space that followed.
So Russia found himself at a frozen lake. The sun was setting, and it was just him, America, and their son, Alaska. He was standing on the ice behind America, who was kneeling in the snow, tying the laces of Alaska's ice skates. Not too far from them, a fire was burning in a fire ring for when they got too cold. 'It'd be more fun at dusk,' America had insisted. He didn't say it, but Russia knew it meant, 'It will be more romantic.'
His first indication that this wasn't going to be as great as America said it would be happened when America moved to stand after he finished tying Alaska's skates. He seemed to have forgotten he was going to be standing up on ice, and didn't balance properly as he stood. Thankfully, Russia saw this as it was happening, and moved to catch him before he even started to fall.
Alaska giggled as he carefully stood up himself. "Daddy! You hafta be careful cuz ice is slippy!"
America at least had enough sense to be embarrassed at having to be reminded about this basic fact by his son. "You're right, kiddo. Now, are you ready to learn how to skate? It's real easy! Like...walking on ice!"
Russia looked up at the sky, biting the inside of his cheek. He could tell already something that should be simple as this was going to be an adventure in and of itself.
Alaska smiled and reached out, taking America's hand. "Yay! I'm gonna be an awesome skater! An' I can play hockey with Uncle Canada and Mama!" Russia blushed a bit. He still wasn't sure how he ended up being the 'Mama' in this relationship, because he certainly didn't remember it happening that way.
America's ankles looked like they were shaking unsteadily as he stood with Alaska. "Ok, kiddo. All you got to do is, uhm...shuffle your feet forward like you do when you're skating on Daddy's floor in your socks. Got it?"
When Alaska nodded eagerly, America let go of his hand. Russia sighed to himself and skated over to catch Alaska in case he lost his balance. The child's strides were slow and shaky, but he kept his knees from buckling and maintained his balance.
Russia looked over at his shoulder, where America was watching them while not moving at all himself. "You are going to come skate with us, da?"
"Of course! I just wanted to watch for a bit first. You know, cuz you guys are so cute together and all."
America laughed a bit and started skating over to them. If it could be called skating, anyway. It was more like he was sliding, stumbling, and tripping all at the same time, and before he could fall onto Alaska, Russia moved to catch him again.
"Are you sure you know how to skate?" Russia raised a brow as he looked down at America, who was blushing in his arms.
"Oh, ah, yeah! Of course! Canada's always making me skate with him!"
Russia wondered why Canada would continually subject himself to this. Then again, Canada probably just let him fall all the time. He sighed and stood America up again, making sure he was balanced before turning back to Alaska. "Ready to learn the proper way to skate?"
Alaska smiled brightly and nodded. "Ok, Mama!"
Russia smiled and took his hand. "Ok, what you're really supposed to do is push your foot forward, like this. Then put your other foot down and push it forward. Just do like Mama's doing." Great, now he was calling himself Mama.
He smiled as he moved slowly along with Alaska, whose tongue was sticking out of the side of his mouth in concentration as he watched his feet. A crash behind them told him that America had tried skating again. He'd have to keep an eye on him more than Alaska!
"America, do you need to hold my hand, too?"
Alaska brought a hand up to his face in an overexaggerated show of trying to hide his laughter. "Mama! I dun need to hold hands! I can do it all by myself! Watch!" Russia let him pull his hand away, and he continued to make his slow cautious strides, only shaking on occasion. He was certainly better than his Daddy. He was joustled out of his thoughts as something collided with him from behind, moving around his waist. He glanced over his shoulder, down at the blushing America.
"...Ok, I might need a little bit of help."
Russia raised a brow. A little seemed like an understatement. He sighed and took America's hand, then turned back to Alaska who was holding his arms out while he made himself turn. The little one was something of a natural, it seemed.
"Mama! Daddy! Lookit! I can skate by myself!"
Russia felt America squeeze his hand lightly and smiled. "That's very good, da. You're better than Daddy already." He laughed a bit when America shoved him, then clung to him for balance.
Later, Russia carried Alaska on his back as he watched America put out the fire under the moonlight. Sure, he had spent more time keeping America on his feet than teaching Alaska, but everyone seemed to have a lot of fun that day. Really, once he learned how to balance himself, Alaska didn't need much help anyway.
He walked over as America finished and stood, dusting the snow off his pants. "I guess this wasn't such a bad idea, after all."
America turned to him and smiled, but before he could ruin the mood with one of his stupid replies, Russia leaned over and kissed him lightly.
"Ew! Gross!"
Ok, maybe they'd have to put Alaska to bed first.