"I hope I can ask you a favor now that we are friends,"

France smiled to his guest, his newly found power made him look more confident than ever "It's nothing too important, I don't mind if you say no. I wouldn't be surprised if you were still tired after your latest defeat and unable to help a new friend in need."

Russia's gloved hand squeezed a wine glass lightly, not enough to break it however, as it was just an unintentional reaction to the charming man's words. They were friends now, there was no need to get provoked only because France mentioned something Russia would rather forget.

But it was something impossible to forget as it was the only reason why they were friends now. Russia wasn't sure did he like this kind of friendship.

The truth was that Russia had lost a war against France not so long ago. It was almost remarkable how much France's new boss had managed to strengthen his country, he had made him a power to be reckoned with, even more so than before. This also made him a dangerous competitor, there were many countries who wished to crush him, stop him before he claimed everything that should belong to them instead – Prussia had been one of them, he had failed. Russia had been one of them, also he had failed.

"You can always ask," Russia answered politely "but I can't promise you anything beforehand" he continued, offering a sweet smile to France.

He could at least listen what France wanted to ask from him. Despite the fact that he was technically a defeated country, France had mostly treated him with the uttermost respect. The same couldn't be said about Prussia, whom France had basically subjugated into his personal kitchen maid after wrestling Poland from him. Not that Russia wouldn't have done the same in his place, the naughty little German really needed to learn his place. And aprons with frills suited him surprisingly well.

"As you know, almost the whole Europe is now either under my direct or undirect control. We can achieve so much more together than separately, so much more lovely opportunities for everyone – be it business or pleasure! You can't even imagine the reforms my boss has planned for all of us," France's voice sounded almost doting.

"But the problem is that there is this certain country who doesn't like this and doesn't understand his own best either." France frowned and looked then at Russia, like encouraging him to guess who he was talking about. The answer was way too easy.

"England?" Russia guessed.

For some reason these two were always fighting. Not that Russia cared, it was only a good thing if possible enemies beat each other into pulp. They would become ripe to pick this way, and maybe someday Russia could teach them to be friends and live in peace. He smiled at the thought.

"Exactly!" France snapped his fingers. Now that we are friends and Prussia is too weak to challenge me, the only obstacle is England, as usually. He will continue to try to stop me as long as he runs free. To defend myself, I need to make him harmless."

A gentle warm wind blew from the river, making the raft they were in sway a little bit. Russia looked into the water, wondering what France could ask from him. His navy couldn't challenge England, England and his brothers ruled the waves, even France couldn't deny that. He decided to continue to play along so he could hear more.

"Da. England always sticks his nose where it doesn't belong, I agree."

France nodded his head "I knew we would understand each other perfectly. It's not easy to bring England on his knees. His home is in a too good spot, he's always protected by the ocean. That's why my boss came up with a brilliant plan – I just need to make the ocean switch sides and make it my ally instead."

Russia tilted his head a little bit and shifted his gaze to an empty glass on the small table beside France. They were only drinking some puny wine, nothing too strong. Nothing that would make France sound so delusional "You mean…?"

"Yes, I mean the plan to isolate him from everyone and everything. Even though I'm pretty sure the old caterpillar eyebrow would love that at first, he would eventually need to crawl to me if he wanted something to eat. He would need to beg me to take him as my underling," France chuckled at the thought.

"But this will fail if I don't get his trading partners on my side. All of them need to stop trading with him, and I mean all, no exceptions. And this is where you come into the picture, mon ami," France winked his eye to Russia "And no, I'm not only asking you to stop trading with him. There's something else I want you to do, too."

"What is it, then? And will Russia get something out of this, too?" Russia asked, still smiling innocently.

"Oh, of course…"

"Poland?"

"No, you can't have Poland, I already told you he's under my protection now and not for sale, even if you own a piece of his lands," France sighed "just listen and let me finish." France said and took something out of the nearby cabinet. Russia watched as he set three pictures on the table.

The first picture had a smirking face of Denmark on it. The country was always looking so confident, Russia had been his ally many times. Norway - his partner - was behind him, gazing something with his empty looking eyes. Russia was almost sure he saw things nobody else did. It was a talent only some countries had. Like Russia's little sister, who said she was able to see ghosts. Or maybe it was madness, nobody knew and nobody cared, they all were mad in their own ways. You weren't able to live forever and stay perfectly sane, after all.

In the second picture was… Portugal? The country looked so much like his neighbor Spain that you needed to look carefully to see the differences between the two of them. The southern nation looked warm and happy. Like something you would like to hug and squeeze, keep forever and persuade him share the warmth with you.

And in the third picture was a face of stoic Sweden, he was one of his old adversaries. Even if it was just a picture, you could feel those cold eyes burrowing into your soul. Behind him you could see Finland – just a nation, not a country - smiling a little bit nervously. Russia liked shy and nervous smiles. Even more he liked to be the cause of shy and nervous smiles.

"These are the European countries who are still trading with England." France interrupted Russia's thoughts "The union of Denmark and Norway, Portugal, and Sweden." France pointed at the pictures.

"I want you to help me to convince them that it's better for them to abandon the alliance with England and become my friends instead. I know you are a master of making people to change their minds, so I'm sure I would succeed with you on my side. Your brutal strength… uh, I mean your excellent negotiation skills would make this a lot easier for me."

So, this was what France had wanted from the very beginning. The task didn't sound too hard, and even if France had said this was nothing important, Russia could hear from his voice that he wanted his help almost desperately. Why not, it could be useful to ally with the current dominant power, at least for now. If France was desperate enough, he could be even ready to pay whatever Russia wanted him to pay for his help.

"That's the least I could do for you, you have been very friendly to me. It could even be fun." Russia shrugged.

"I knew I could trust you… despite what Poland tried to tell me about you…" France murmured the last sentence and almost jumped up from his chair, stepped closed to Russia and touched his arm gently. He took the picture of Sweden from the table with his other hand and moved it closer to Russia's face.

"I think you should make Sweden your first target, I can try to reason with Portugal and Denmark." France whispered in a quiet voice, like being afraid someone could hear them. It was impossible, nobody was able to sneak in the middle of the river without getting caught.

"Use whatever means you need; talk with him, threaten him, start a war with him, kidnap his partner and blackmail him, I don't care what you will need to do," France shook his head, looking a little bit sad.

"If you need to resort to blackmailing, I don't mind if you keep Finland as your reward for your hard work. And this will be only the beginning if you stick with me, I can help you to defeat the Ottoman threat and even more."

France ripped the picture in two, leaving Sweden on the other half, separating him from Finland.

"It would be a shame to end one of the slowest developing love stories ever, a story where one is too socially awkward to tell how he feels and is too afraid to surrender himself to hot, but oh so sweet passion, and the other one is too dense to understand the not-so-subtle hints… but… if it has to be done then it has to be done. This is way too important."

Russia nodded his head, only half-listening France's babbling. He would need to make plans, even if Sweden wasn't as powerful he used to be, he was still unpredictable. He had a bad habit to stay angry a long time after Russia took something from him. And even if Russia wasn't sure was there a love story going on like France had described – France had a bad habit to see love stories everywhere –Sweden was just as interested in having underlings as all the other countries were. The only thing that was sure was that he wouldn't be happy to lose one of them to him again.

"I will do my best." he promised to France with a friendly smile after he saw the man was looking at him expectantly.

"Ah, we need to celebrate this mutual understanding between us. I know, let's order Prussia to bring us some more wine and maybe something to eat," France said, clapping his hands loudly together "all the work can wait until tomorrow!"

Author's note: This is a pretty old fic which I have started to translate and modify a little bit. I think I already have a little bit similar fanfiction here (unfinished), but it's not the original one and it's a bit messy with all the different characters, so I try to post this here as I haven't done anything for a while.