In the Newly Fallen Snow

Summary: There was something about that crazy Russian that just made him feel… special. Canadaxfem!Russia

"Matvey~!"

The nation of Canada didn't have time to brace himself before a flying Russian girl in a pink coat tackled him into the newly fallen snow. Her long silvery hair flowed around her, adorned by a hat the same color as her coat. A pair of mischievous violet eyes peered down at him.

Matthew groaned in pain. "H-hello, Russia."

"Ivanna," she corrected with a smile, scooting back a little so he could sit up. "I missed you, Matvey."

"You just saw me yesterday," Matthew murmured in confusion. A hint of pink covered his cheeks, though it may have been more from exposure to the cold than embarrassment. "I missed you too," he added when he noticed the sad look on Ivanna's face.

Ivanna giggled and leaned forward to rub her nose against his. "You're very cute. I'm happy we're friends."

What was undeniably a blush darkened Matthew's cheeks more. He found himself stammering a response, his mind and heart racing. No one had said that to him for many years; not since he was a child. Not his papa, not England, not his brother… (He was rather glad for the last two. That would have been weird.) Gillian was constantly calling him "hot stuff" but he didn't think that counted since she always cackled when he turned red and then would move on to harassing her younger brother. There was also that bizarre day when Eli, of all Nations, hit on him.

"Matvey is very red," Ivanna said teasingly. "We should go inside, da? I can help warm you up."

At that point, Matthew began to pray for a distraction. There he was, sitting in the snow with a very pretty Russian in his lap, getting called "cute" by said Russian (which really shouldn't affect him as much as it did), and his mind kept jumping to rather inappropriate things.

He blamed America, of course. His brother had gone off on a rant over pancakes the other day about how Russia was only pretending to be friends with him. He'd then rambled on about communism and devilish females for a while before finishing by saying that Ivanna was plotting to make him "become one" with her.

Admittedly, it was probably Matthew's fault too. Asking Alfred to elaborate on that statement had led to an awkward hour.

"Sister~!" Called a heavily accented voice.

Ivanna's eyes widened as she quickly sat up straight. She looked around so quickly that Canada feared she may get whiplash. Her delicate, gloved hands fisted in her coat and her breath came in frightened puffs. "O-oh no… not him…"

"Little sister!" Called a second voice-that time a girl who sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

Ivanna trembled in terror.

Matthew took advantage of the situation to ease her off of his lower body and stand up. Then he took her hand and pulled her to her feet. "Come on," he said softly. "I know a place to hide."

Ivanna looked at him, her lips parting in surprise.

"Sister, you can't hide forever!"

"B-Belarus, you'll scare her! You're scaring me!"

Ivanna quickly nodded, her fingers curling around Matthew's hand as he tugged her away. Her long coat caught in the snow, hindering her progress. Matthew quickly noticed and maneuvered her to follow behind in his footsteps, all the while keeping a tight grasp on her hand. He pulled her around buildings, doing everything he could to put something between them and Ivanna's siblings.

"Sister Russia~!"

Their voices began getting quieter as snowflakes danced around them. Still, they hurried on.

"Matvey, where are we going?"

"Just over here," Matthew replied, spying an old storage building not too far away. He knew from experience that no one would find them there. And even if someone did happen to peek inside, it was most likely that he would go unnoticed. So long as Ivanna hid behind him, she would stay safe if her siblings stumbled upon them. It was one of the few times he felt thankful that he was invisible to most countries. (He just had to hope Ukraine wouldn't say anything when she saw him, as she was one of the few who noticed him without problem.)

The pair continued their journey through the powdery snow until they reached the door. Only then did Matthew release her hand to grip the handle and slowly drag open the frozen door. He stopped when the gap was wide enough for them to squeeze through and gestured for Ivanna to go inside.

"Give me a minute, there's something I need to do first," he told her as she shuffled through the snow into the dark shed.

Ivanna almost said something when Matthew began walking around the small building, but quickly realized what he was doing. Even though it was snowing, her sister and brother would have no problem following their trail in the snow and would soon find their hiding place. However, if Matthew made it seem like they went to the shed and then changed their mind and left, there may be a chance that Belarus would go search elsewhere. It wasn't the best of plans. Her little brother was very persistent. He would hunt in every corner before giving up and leaving.

Wringing her hands, Ivanna could only wait for Matthew to finished stomping around in the snow, not daring to step outside. Her Canadian friend was back within minutes, grunting softly as he pulled the door closed. Small holes in the ceiling and walls enabled enough light to filter in for them to see their surroundings, though it took their eyes a while to adjust to the change.

"There, we might be okay now," Matthew said, sounding much more sure of himself than he felt.

Ivanna reached out and clutched the sleeve of his coat, gently tugging him closer. "Belarus will find me. He always does."

Matthew offered her a small smile, not really knowing what to say to make her feel better. He felt his cheeks heating up as she moved closer to him, his senses heightened from his adrenaline rush. He could smell her perfume - sunflowers, of course - and feel the warmth of her body, though that may have only been his imagination and his body heating up like it usually did when he was around her.

"Sister~!" Belarus's voice reached them, as well as Ukraine's chocked sobs as she tried fruitlessly to stop her little brother. Through the stammering and sniffling, they could make out that she was trying to convince him to go back to the meeting room before they were late.

Ivanna gasped softly when she heard the crunching of footsteps in the snow. She closed her eyes tightly and pressed herself against Matthew, who automatically wrapped his arms around her like his papa used to do when he got scared.

They remained silent, cowering in the shed while they listened the Belarus stomp around, calling for Russia.

"Brother, please, we should go back," Ukraine begged. "It's getting cold. You know sister doesn't like the cold. She's probably inside fighting with America right now."

There was a brief moment of stillness as Belarus stopped walking. Then, he spoke carefully. "You are right. I should go help sister beat that Capitalist pig."

Russia and Canada stayed silent as they listened to the two retreat. Belarus's gravely voice faded in the distance as he began talking about how he would one day marry Russia and that they would live happily ever after in a big house and he would never, ever leave his sister again.

"I think they're gone," Matthew whispered a few minutes later.

Ivanna didn't move, instead clinging more tightly to her friend.

Matthew looked at her curiously, thankful his eyes had adjusted so well to the darkness. He could see her much better and could even make out the difference in color between the main body of her coat and the fur accents. "Ivanna, he's gone. It's safe now."

Ivanna slowly nodded. "I know." She opened her eyes and lifted her head so she could see Matthew's face. As if to reassure herself that it really was him and not Belarus in disguise, she lifted her hand to cup his cheek. Her lips curved up, pleased at the confusion in his violet eyes. Her fear melted away, replaced by a sort of playfulness she only felt when around the Canadian.

Without giving much warning, as she was apt to do, Ivanna leaned up and lightly kissed Matthew's cheek, her action so fleeting that he didn't have time to react before she latched onto his hand and set to dragging him back out into the snow.

"Iva-"

He cursed mildly as she threw open the door and the force of the sunlight glinting off of freshly fallen snow blinded them both. He heard Ivanna squeak in surprise and jerk him to the side, back into the shadows of the shed where they remained for several long minutes so their eyes could readjust to the outdoors.

"Now I know why Al wears sunglasses in winter," Matthew commented weakly.

Ivanna giggled, but didn't disagree. Instead she happily rested her head on Matthew's shoulder, her eyes half closed as she watched the snow fluttering down. "We should go do something fun, da?"

"But the meeting-"

"Is not fun," Ivanna interrupted, cutely wrinkling her nose. "And brother is there. I want to do something warm." She turned her gaze from the snow back to him, a small smirk playing across her face. "I did promise to help warm you up, da?"

Matthew turned a shade of red at her statement and couldn't help but think that, if he was around to see them, Alfred would be torn between howling with laughter and determined to protect his "little" brother's virtue at all costs.

As Ivanna took his silence to mean "yes, lets go get warm" and dragged him back out into the blinding whiteness of winter, Matthew felt thankful no one else was around, especially not his eccentric family.

End

This came into being when I realized I've come across Russia x fem!Canada stories (or both female) but no Canada x fem!Russia. (If there are any, there are so few that there deserves to be more.) I decided to fix that.

I was half tempted to genderbend Ukraine, but I thought it'd be cute if she was around to provide a more welcoming presence to Russia.

By the way, Gillian is Prussia and Eli is Hungary.

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