"Lith-u-a-ni-aaa~~"
Russia opened yet another door, smiling widely before it instantly fell. Lithuania wasn't in here either.
He let the wooden door swing close with a sigh, "Where is Lithuania, da?" He mumbled as he made his way thought his house. He'd nearly searched every single room and yet the boy was nowhere to be seen, he hadn't spotted the other two Baltic countries all day either
Opening another door he didn't bother with the happy greeting, instead looking inside gloomily, "Lithuania?" He asked.
A small squeal followed and Latvia jumped out from behind a bookcase, shivering in fear as Russia sighed. "A-A-ah, R-Russia-san!" He hastily greeted as Russia made his way into the room.
"Na, Latvia, where's Lithuania?" He asked.
Latvia squeaked and jumped again. "I-I-I'm not sure, I haven't seen him all day." Latvia was jumpier than usual, more shifty eyed than natural, Russia reached out a hand in questioning and Latvia yelped before running away.
Russia let out another sigh, feeling his mood grow even darker.
pflip.
The violet eyes slowly trailed down to what looked like a folded piece of paper with a sticky note attached to the front, he tilted his head before retrieving the item.
'Raivis, don't lose this!' was scrawled in that strangely familiar handwriting. Intrigued, Russia moved on to open the letter.
'THE PLAN.'"Eh?" Russia muttered in surprise, the bold heading shocking him. "'Meet me in the garden tomorrow, don't forget to bring that! Oh, and make sure Ivan doesn't follow you, we need all the time we can get!'"Russia felt a pang of suspicion. It sounded like a…an escape plan? The date at the top was yesterdays, which Ivan noted with almost alarm. Was that why Lithuania wasn't around? Was that why Latvia was so scared?
Russia shook his head. No, no. They wouldn't leave him, would they? With wary eyes he lifted his head to look around the room once more before sighing heavily. Latvia was completely gone, so he couldn't even ask.
"Maybe I should just go see." He hummed lightly, re-folding the paper and putting it back on the ground, "Yes, I shall go see, da."
As he made his way towards the garden he didn't notice the small cowering form of Raivis, hiding behind the bookcase. "I-I'm sorry Toris." He muttered, watching the retreating nation, "I blew it!"
xoxoxoxoxo
"Waaah! It's so hot today!!"
Estonia let out a sigh, though he didn't disagree- today was unnaturally warm for the usually freezing temperature they were used to. But then again, they had built this green house for that very purpose – heat.
"Perhaps I should go get us a drink." He sighed, pulling the gardening gloves off his hands and dumping them into the white bucket near his feet, "It wouldn't do us any good if we passed out on the job."
"Yeah- oh, when you get back, you'd best change the light bulb! We don't want these dying, especially after the trouble America went through to smuggle them to us…"
Lithuania leaned back and put a hand on his hip, the other wiping at his brow as he heard Estonia leave. He let out a deep sigh as he reviewed his work.
"Good, they seem to be alright for now." He happily announced to himself as he pulled another tall plant out of its pot and quickly arranged it with the others, securing its base with soil before watering the whole bunch.
"Yes! Done!" He cheered, wiping dirt off of his cheek and sitting back. Would Russia be surprised or what??
He heard footsteps approaching and span around happily, "Estonia! Look, they're all-"
He cut himself short as violet eyes bore into his own.
"A-ah…R-Russia…" He choked.
Russia just stared. His face was distorted in confusion, slight anger, sadness and a strange spark Lithuania had only seen when he mauled other countries.
It was silent for a long time; Lithuania felt himself shrink back when those violet eyes left him and looked beyond, his expression showing absolute vulnerability.
"I…It was su…supposed to be a…surprise." The Baltic nation murmured, looking down and avoiding the stare he would receive.
"I found this…."
Lithuania risked a peek to see Russia holding out the small notepad he instantly recognised as the one he'd given to Latvia.
"I thought you were going to leave me." Lithuania felt a shudder run through him and met Russia's face again.
"We'd never leave you." He whispered.
Russia was silent for a moment more before glancing over the brunette's shoulder and taking a hesitant step forward. "What…?"
Sensing the malicious aura recede, Lithuania took a step to meet him, holding out a hand and pulling the taller nation closer.
"You've been so sad lately; we wanted to do something special for you." He started gently, "America…and China, the allies helped us. America had plenty and he was willing to share."
Sunflowers. Golden sunflowers. And warmth which was too warm to be real, touching across the heavy trench coat making him uncomfortable as things became warmer, and warmer.
A broken gasp caused the Baltic boy to snap his attention back up to the nation he'd tried so hard, just to make him smile, just to make his day just that little bit happier.
Lithuania could count the times he'd seen Russia cry easily on one hand, but he'd never seen the man cry like this; it was the same, the complete unguarded expression, the helplessness- but this time there was no loneliness.
"Toris…" Russia sobbed, bending down and resting his head on the boy's shoulder. Lithuania put a hand up and pat his head gently.
The golden sunflowers surrounded him, on a bright, warm day. And he cried, a strange sensation bursting in his chest as his beloved little nation whispered six words:
"We love you- I love you."
And he cried, a strange sensation flooding in his chest, as the sunflowers surrounded him on a bright, warm day, as his beloved little nation held him close.