It was a well-known fact that Nikolai Braginksy loathed Elena Laurinaitis.
Well, to everyone else, anyway.
To everyone else, Nikolai avoided Elena; he looked down at her, he accused her of everything he could and blamed her whenever his sister got upset. It was an awfully easy act considering the glaring contrast between the two.
Nikolai was the younger brother of Anya Braginski, a woman that made people tremble with her eerie, sweet smile. And Nikolai was the only person who could scare her, though it didn't seem as if he himself knew it.
Nikolai knew how to fight, to handle knives; he was silent, cold, intelligent and possessive, with piercing indigo eyes and platinum hair.
For Elena, he was simply intoxicating.
Nothing had ever fazed her before, nothing as much as Nikolai did. He made her knees go weak, sent burning heat to her cheeks and a thrilling shiver down her spine. But then, she knew that her little crush was way out of bounds. For why would Nikolai Braginsky spare her a second glance; the shy, unnoticed secretary?
Oh no, Nikolai was not for Elena. Elena was the girl people passed by but never gave attention to unless they needed help.
And besides, them, together? That would be almost laughable. And what would people say? Feliks, Elena's best friend, would throw a hissing fit at her. And the others...
Well, what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.
They didn't need to know of it all; of secret, sometimes stolen kisses in narrow halls and darkened offices, of few silent seconds after closing time after everyone else had left.
The first time was long ago, in the corridor leading to Elena's small office on a quiet night. It was a kiss far too long and hungry to be innocent. He didn't talk about it afterwards, he had left. The next morning he still said nothing and remained cold towards her.
For Elena, however, it had haunted her for days on end, plaguing her dreams and daydreams and driving her imagination crazy.
As did everything that came after it.
But he was always as if it had never happened. They would pass in the halls, with Elena's heart pounding wildly in her chest as she hoped for any kind of reaction, but there was never any as he would brush by her. It was some sort of maddening cycle, one she desperately tried to escape.
First were those few, breathless, intoxicating moments, and then after that came nothing at all, after breaking apart. But neither would acknowledge the other until his next move. Oh, if Feliks knew. These kind of relationships he would make a face at and call 'pathetic'. If he knew it was Elena and Nikolai's relationship...well, all hell would break loose.
Nobody hated Anya and her family as much as Feliks.
But Nikolai had told her not to breathe a single word about it. He'd told her only once, in a dark corner of her office and with a steely glint in his eyes, but it had branded into her memory forever.
"You are not to tell anyone, you understand, Elena?"
If she closed her eyes, she could remember everything. Lips grazing her ear, fingers closed tightly around her wrists, her name in his voice and...and...him. Everything.
But why Nikolai did it, to kiss her in that corridor on that night long ago, Elena never knew.
It was simple, really.
In Elena, Nikolai saw a fire that burned brightly and passionately. Yet, it was hidden under that mask of submissiveness to others, especially to Anya. This was the girl who had beaten Gilbert Beilschmidt, the fighter. But at some point, somehow, Anya had gotten to her. And here she was.
But despite his cold, silent act, she knew, or at least, tried desperately to convince herself that he felt something for her. She had to have seen it, even for only a glimpse in those eyes. Oh, he hardly ever talked to her, even in those moments. Like the first, he would always leave without a word and she was left in the hallways confused and angry and alone. There hadn't been a single exchange of a simple "I love you". Of course Elena would practically slap herself whenever the thought came to mind.
Nikolai. Saying that. To her. What a joke. No. Elena was completely enamored with him and he had her totally wrapped around his finger and both of them knew that far too well.
Pathetic, as Feliks would call it again.
Nikolai gave her nothing but empty expectations and nervousness and crazy dreams and disappointment and...well, those dizzying few moments.
Maybe she could wait just a bit longer.
This was originally in my compilation of Hetalia drabbles and one-shots, "Words", but I made it its own thing along with its sequel.
Uhh, hi. It's been a while since I've written, forgive me and my writing. I'm just going to explain a few things on Elena.
Right, so anyways some might get angry at the portrayal of Elena in this fic. I guess I did make her seem a bit weak and, well, some girl pining for some guy, didn't I. Again, I'm sorry. I know fully well what she and her original counterpart is capable of.
Also, for those wondering about Nikolai's surname- " Arlovskaya" seemed a bit...off to me. Sorry. Also, in this AU (human AU, by the way) he is Anya's actual younger brother.
The original idea for this was a small ficlet of her admiring Nik from a distance or something, but the concept of both of them having this strange, maddening (for Elena) relationship was wayyy to tempting for me NOT to write. What Nikolai makes of it, I leave that to your imaginations.