AN- Today is Hinotorihime's birthday, so I wrote her a thing. Since she ships Lithuania with everyone, I just wrote ten little drabbles of various characters interacting with him. So, I thank you and hope you (and Firebird especially) enjoy this, and please remember I only own my own ideas. -Twilight Joltik
Poland's eyes shine with that telltale gleam, the "Liet I just had an idea we need to do it now" one, the one Lithuania could probably identify without looking by this point. He doesn't say a word, but his thoughts are as loud as sirens, even above the roar of the party.
"You know," he starts after a minute of just standing there, eyes flitting to random patches of wall.
He doesn't even let his old friend finish. "It's fine if you leave," he assures him.
A hand grabs his wrist, and suddenly, predictably, Poland's pulling him towards the door. There's no need to tell him there was no "let's go" in that sentence, he extrapolated it from thin air, but he's used to it.
America's smile is wide, but something in the way he keeps tugging at his sleeves and refusing to entirely meet his eyes feels off. Not to mention he, hardly the one to ever shy away from conversation, has been attempting to get something out to say to Lithuania for the past thirty seconds with little success apart from "ums" and "ers".
"Are you alright?", Lithuania finally questioned, hoping to at very least get a conversation started.
Eyes widening in sudden shock, America lets out an oddly thin laugh and waves his hands in front of him. "Oh no, no, I'm totally fine!", he assures him. "I just… um…"
A deep breath, a sigh. "Sorry man, it's just been ages since we've really talked. Like, I mean, not since the 1920s..."
Seventy years elapsed in reverse with those words, and he finds himself smiling. "Don't worry about it, Mister America," he assures him.
Some odd guilt flashes on America's face, but he shakes his head as to throw off the feeling. "You don't have to call me that," he protests with a pout.
Prussia throws the mesh mask off with a dramatic gasp for air. "Wow, you're pretty good," he says, like it some high form of praise. "I mean, not as good as me, but…"
To be fair, Lithuania wasn't particularly good at fencing, and a bit rusty, at that. He'd just had a long time to learn swordplay.
Despite his grins, ones implying his victory had been by a much wider margin than it actually was, Prussia looks even paler than usual and downs half a bottle of water in one gulp.
He would have asked if he was alright, but that just seems like the wrong thing to say. So instead, he takes his own mask off and sits on the bench opposite his opponent. "Do you want another round?", he questions, hoping it will prompt a simple "no, I'm good", tipping him off to something being wrong.
But despite his continued gasps for air, Prussia stands back up and grabs his sword once more.
Considering Romano looked like he was ready to strangle someone with the tangled cords he was holding, he felt offering help couldn't hurt. He really shouldn't have underestimated Romano's pride so severely.
"I- I don't need help!", he insists through his teeth, half trying to bite the cords undone in a way that couldn't be safe. "I've got it, I'm almost there…"
He really just wants to yank the cords away, tell Romano he's making things worse, but he wouldn't dare. Not just because he's a little scared of how he might react, but because it just seems a bit rude at this point.
So instead, he just bites his tongue and walks away, calling back with a carefully phrased "Good luck, then!", hoping it doesn't come off as condescending.
And as he's leaving, he swears he hears a soft "thanks".
Russia is smiling at him, a sight that sends chills down his back. Biting the inside of his cheek, Lithuania braces himself for whatever he was about to say.
"Are you having a nice day, Lithuania?"
It takes a minute to understand what he was saying, and a few more to realize it was simply meant as a polite question. Did Russia do polite questions?
"Um, fine, I suppose," he answers, a weird cough worming its way into the sentence. "A-and you?"
Somehow, Russia's smile grew even broader. "Oh, it's lovely, thank you!"
Belarus stares out the window listlessly, eyes reflecting the passing landscapes. Taking a deep breath, he tries for the ten thousandth time on this train to say something to her.
"Um, Belarus, you, um, you…"
She turns towards him this time, just as disinterested in him as the landscapes. "What?", she snaps, more energy in her voice than anywhere else in her body.
He considers gulping back the words, considers forgetting it, but he manages instead to finish the sentence.
"You look very nice today."
Despite appearing thoroughly unamused, she mutters a "sure, thanks" before looking back out the window.
Romania grins wildly as Lithuania opens the door, holding out a battered old book to him.
"Sorry it took so long for me to finish this!", Romania apologizes, prodding Lithuania's arm a few time with the book. "It was really good though, thank you for lending it to me!"
Looking down at the cover, Lithuania realizes slowly that he recognizes the book. In fact, it had belonged to him. Or at least, it had several years ago, and he'd been looking for it for quite some time.
As he took it from Romania, he had to wonder, did he forget loaning it to him, or did Romania forget to tell him he's borrowed it?
Greece looks over at the sound of the hiss. The cat in front of Lithuania, the one that looks like it wants to murder him, he asks rather flatly "Is this yours?"
It takes a moment for him to respond, but he nods. "Yes. One second."
He lunges for his cat rather slowly, before picking it up by the scruff of its neck. Lithuania can do little more than look on as the cat continues to hiss as its owner pulls it back.
"I'm very sorry," Greece softly states. "He's normally a lot more gentle, I can't say what got into him."
Shaking his head, Lithuania mutters that it's "not a problem" before turning back and going on with his day.
He swears he can feel Greece still staring at him, hear the sound of breath catching like he meant to say something more, but when he turns back, he's already leaving as well.
Ukraine turns to give him a smile as she jams the bowl of egg whites in the refrigerator. "Thank you again for helping me with this! Sorry, I know it's your day off, and I really hate to-"
"No, I'm glad to help," he assures her for what feels like the thousandth time that day. "I'm supposed to add the sugar into the yolks, right?"
She nods and rushes to grab the flour as he does so. Once the yolks became white from the sugar, she sifted the flour in the bowl.
"This is a lot nicer than doing it alone," she mutters under her breath. "Are you having a good time?"
Truthfully, he couldn't say that was the case, but her sheer gratitude more than made up for that. "Um, yes, of course," and he searches for some subject to change it to so she doesn't feel anymore need to apologize. "Can't wait to try this. It's been awhile since I've had your solozhenick."
Germany's front door creaks open, and Lithuania's heart nearly stops until he realizes it was just the house's owner returning.
"Y-you're back so soon?", he questions, and Germany just shakes his head in a way that indicates he'd rather not talk about it.
Instead, he smiles and bends down to pet Berlitz, who had rushed towards him the second the door opened. "Thank you again for watching them," he says, probably directed at him, before straightening back up and getting out his wallet. "They were good, weren't they?"
"Oh, your dogs are always lovely," he quickly explains. "Always happy to watch them."
"You're about the only one they'll let me leave them with," he counters as he hands him his payment. "Now, um, I hope you have a nice evening."
Lithuania takes that as his signal to leave. "You as well," he calls back as he slides out the still open door.