Merry Christmas, everyone! Here's a little RusAme Christmas one-shot I actually managed to write this year~

Human/country names used interchangeably.

Hope you enjoy. :3

Ivan didn't hate Christmas. It just wasn't widely celebrated in his home as it was in other places. Christmas often took a backseat to New Year's Eve; that was the holiday that his people were most fond of.

But Christmas could be nice too when you had somebody to celebrate with.

Sometimes Ivan would get lucky and see his sisters around the holidays. Katyusha would always come over if her boss would allow her. Natalya tried so often to come over that Ivan had to have drastic measures taken against her trying to get into his home. But they would almost always call to wish him happy holidays even though it wasn't the same.

A few years ago, Katyusha had surprised him with a visit to his home, Natalya naturally tagging along. Aside from a bit of fighting and occasional uncomfortable moments Ivan would prefer to forget, it was a nice, lighthearted family dinner. Just like old times.

The Russian had caught wind of Alfred's grand Christmas party and had been debating for weeks whether or not he would bother to go. Alfred personally invited him to the event which was a surprise in itself, but Ivan figured it was just part of his holiday spirit. Not that it didn't make him incredibly happy. Really, though, even if he hadn't been invited, there was no way for him not to have known about the event. It was the worst-kept secret there ever was. Alfred wouldn't shut up about it. Every other sentence out of his mouth was about the grand event he was hosting: the music, how awesome the decorations would be… The spirit was nice at first, but there was a limit even to that. Although the party was a nice distraction from the things the American usually talked about…

Honestly, did the overactive child even listen to half the things that came out of his mouth?

Was a party really worth all the effort the American was putting into it? All the plotting and planning, the constant work on an event where most of the Nations would just get plastered to the point where they wouldn't remember it the next day anyway? It was certainly the hottest talk around; as November started to come to a close, all the Nations would constantly go on about it. Ivan heard it in whispers or during lunch breaks even at world meetings and as soon as December 1st came around, the gossip got worse.

One thing Ivan could always look forward to at one of the young blond's parties was amazing blackmail stories. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all. There was bound to be enough hilarity and drunken activities to keep the Russian entertained well into the new year. But there was something else on Ivan's mind. Something far more important. He needed to see Alfred...

Ivan glanced at the clock. It was late in Moscow now, but Alfred was eight hours behind him. The blond loved starting his parties fairly early—usually between three and five for some reason—but if he left soon, he should have more than enough time to make it to America, adjust to the time difference, and get to the American's house.

He pulled the drawer open to his desk and felt around inside, smiling when his fingers closed around the camera. He saved this particular camera for special occasions, making sure to always keep it at full charge. Ivan didn't want to miss a single minute of what was to come.

He opened another drawer at his desk and pulled out something small, quickly stuffing it in his pocket and smiling again. If everything worked out well, maybe there could even be a little more…

When Ivan finally reached Alfred's home, the sun had set at least an hour ago. He watched the sunset from a park bench, taking in the twisting, warping colours of the sunset. Alfred had a wider expanse of colours in his sunsets, Ivan realised, slightly jealous. Even despite the snow that was falling. His sunsets were often a warm orange or yellow with an occasional hint of red, but here there was pink and purple and different varying shades.

His were beautiful, but these could be something else.

The American's house was bright enough to be seen from down the block. Just what was going through his head when he was setting that up? If his goal was to blind everybody who walked by, he succeeded. There were even lights on the roof. The electric company must have loved Alfred during the holiday season.

Alfred was wearing a tacky red, green, and white Christmas sweater when he opened the door, resulting in a cocked brow and a chuckle from the Russian. The reindeer antler headband was the icing on the cake; Ivan couldn't get over how silly the American looked.

"What?" Alfred said when Ivan finally started laughing. "It's Christmas. I'm celebrating accordingly and getting into the holiday spirit. Which is more than I can say for some people." Ocean-blue eyes scanned over Ivan's familiar army coat and scarf. "I see you're still as boring as ever."

Ivan shrugged, following the blond inside. He brushed the snow off his hair and coat, stomping his boots clean. "We cannot all wear such tacky Christmas sweaters in the presence of others. Some of us care about our appearance, Alfred."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You're just jealous I can make anything look good without even trying."

Ivan rolled his eyes, not bothering to dignify that with a response. The American wasn't completely wrong, however; he did manage to look incredible even in such a silly ensemble…

Perhaps this year will be the one that…

"…so there's going to be cake, food over there, then later…" Ivan half-listened as Alfred ran through the night's itinerary, attention lost to the overall setup of the room. Alfred was mentioning something about music and some stupid event he probably wouldn't be participating in anyway, so paying attention made very little sense to Ivan.

The Russian had his own reasons for attending as it was.

Ivan loved the bright, colourful decorations strewn across the room. There was garland in festive red, silver, and gold, ornaments of all shapes and sizes—he particularly liked the ones shaped like little presents—bright lights, fake snow… The large room was decked out to the nines, reflecting the host's love for the holiday. Ivan couldn't help but smile; it really was incredible.

His favourite piece in the room had to be the tree. The evergreen stood at least three metres tall, easily towering over everything and everyone in the room. It was a rich, deep green that stood out against all the decorations. It was artfully decorated and Ivan wondered if Alfred had done it himself. It had twinkling lights and ball ornaments and at the top stood a bright silver star that glowed fiercely.

"I am surprised," Ivan confessed, cutting Alfred off in the middle of a sentence. "All these decorations are very nice… Did you do it yourself?"

"Huh?" Alfred blinked, staring at the Russian. Did he put something in the eggnog he didn't remember putting in there? Was Ivan complimenting him? "Uh, yeah. I always put up my decorations at the beginning of the month. Took me the whole day to get everything perfect. Had to do it before the snow started coming. I also might have almost fallen off the roof once or twice while setting up…" Alfred rubbed his head and laughed a little, not sure why he bothered to tell Ivan that. "But it was totally worth it!"

Ivan smiled. "Da, I must admit you did a very good job."

Alfred felt his cheeks heat up slightly and he had no idea why he was reacting this way to such a simple compliment from Ivan no less. "T-Thanks. Anyway, uhm…yeah, the party…"

Ivan raised an eyebrow when he noticed just how flustered the other was getting. It was so cute… "I am sure it will prove to be very entertaining," he said simply, giving the American another smile as he went to get himself a drink.

And the party was very interesting, much to Ivan's great joy. It didn't take long for all the Nations to have reached their limit, bringing on the drunken portion of the night. France quickly shed his clothes and harassed the drunken England, whining until the Brit pulled him into a forceful kiss that he would deny in the morning. As if he could; Ivan had captured that moment on film.

Prussia's laugh echoed around the room as he went around groping the vital regions of whoever he could find. Matthew, growing slightly more jealous in his intoxicated state, marched up to the Prussian as he began chasing Spain around and didn't take long at all to work up the courage to make out with the Nation he had a thing for.

"Kesesesese! I guess you're ready for mein awesome five metres, Birdie?"

The two of them disappeared shortly after and weren't seen again for some time.

Lithuania was talking happily with Feliks after the Polish man had talked him into taking a few shots of vodka so he'd loosen up a bit. He was leaning against the blond who was still talking as excitedly as ever, the only difference being some of his words were slurred. Poland wrapped an arm around him and laughed, Toris much too out of it to push him away. Latvia had disappeared with Liechtenstein sometime during the night, much to Switzerland's dismay, but even he started to relax as he had a couple of drinks to deal with everybody's crazy antics.

Alfred was pulling some stupid stunts in front of everyone and trying to show off in general. He was being cheered on by Italy who wouldn't let go of Germany and even Japan had—surprisingly—enough drinks to be getting cuddly with Greece. It was a rare occurrence in itself and what surprised the Russian even more was seeing the two share a quick kiss.

Finland had donned his Santa suit sometime during the event and was parading around happily, his cheeks bright red as Sweden stayed beside him at all times. The rest of the Nordics were putting on a concert in front of the tree, complete with dance moves, but 'officially' kicking off the concert once they convinced Tino to join them. Berwald was apprehensive, but after his wife had given him the puppy dog eyes, he couldn't say no.

It was all so exciting, Ivan thought happily. Definitely worth the trip.

Ivan watched Alfred closely as he downed the rest of his vodka, tilting his head when the blond grabbed a microphone and stood next to the great tree. The chaos had died down almost instantly and the Nations that disappeared earlier rejoined the group. This must have been that event Alfred was talking about earlier that he didn't bother to pay attention to.

Would he ever get the chance to carry out his plan? There had been but one thing one Ivan's mind all night and surprising as it was, blackmail wasn't it.

"It's time for the Secret Santa!" Alfred exclaimed excitedly. The rest of the Nations cheered, but Ivan simply sighed. He hadn't heard a word about this beforehand, so there was no reason for him to be present during this. He slipped out onto the balcony, sure that nobody would even notice.

Ivan didn't see Alfred's blue eyes following him out the entire time.

With a sigh, the Russian leaned over the railing, taking in the lights of the other houses. They were still on even this late at night, twinkling away in the distance. The snow had picked up sometime during the party, turning his silvery locks pure white. Ivan was angry with himself, with Alfred, with this whole stupid holiday. It wasn't the American's fault, he knew that much, but it made him feel better to have somebody else to blame too.

He stuffed his hands into his pockets, fingers brushing against the small box. He had spent weeks going to different stores, trying to find the perfect gift for Alfred and now there wasn't even any point. The blond hadn't said anything to him for most of the party and he didn't bother to go up to him to change that…

Ivan sighed again, watching the snow fall in front of the lamppost. "Another year and I have messed it up… I was hoping this would be the year I could tell you how I felt, but it seems I will just have to wait again…" His hand closed around the small box as he muttered Russian curses under his breath.

"You don't have to wait," came a soft voice from behind. Ivan whirled around, violet eyes widening as he took in Alfred's form, sweaterless and shivering. Those reindeer antlers from earlier were nowhere to be found now. "Ivan, I… The whole reason I planned this Secret Santa thing was…" The American's face was flushed and Ivan wasn't sure if it was from the cold or his nerves. Alfred walked up to Ivan, standing mere inches away from him. "I-I did it for you. This whole thing was rigged, you know. I made sure everything would go the way I wanted. That's why you had no idea; I made sure nobody else would get you anything but me."

Ivan blinked. "For me…? Alfred, I… There is something I wish to tell you."

"Hold on a second. Let me give you your present first. And there's something I have to tell you too." Alfred pulled his hands from behind his back, holding out the brightest bouquet of sunflowers Ivan had ever seen. They were wrapped with festive paper and tied with a red ribbon. Ivan's hand tightened around the box in his pocket and he took the flowers carefully with his free hand, eyes widening even more when he saw a small silver gift sticking out between two of the sunflowers.

"Alfred, it is beautiful," Ivan said softly, a rare, genuine smile on his face. "I have a gift for you as well." He pulled the box out of his pocket, holding it up to the American. Alfred blinked at seeing the snowflake covered box; he wasn't expecting anything from Ivan and the Russian lit up at seeing his surprised face.

"Ivan, this is… You didn't have to do this. What is it?"

"Open it and find out, da?"

Normally Alfred would have torn into his gift like a ravenous animal, but instead he threw his arms around the Russian, hugging him tight. Ivan returned the gesture, pulling him as close as possible. "Alfred, I cannot hide it anymore. I love you. And I want to be with you for as long as you will have me."

"I've loved you for a long time, Ivan… But I couldn't bring myself to admit it. I tried to deny it, but no matter what I did, I couldn't stop loving you. I can't lie to myself anymore. I want to be with you for as long as possible…" Alfred looked up, eyes sparkling with tears. "I love you too, Ivan."

Ivan couldn't contain himself. He was floating. Everything he could have ever wished for was coming true right here, right now. He pulled the American into a passionate kiss, tongues dancing together, years of hidden feelings and lust pouring out into that one kiss. Ivan was on fire. Alfred tingled. It wasn't enough for either of them. They broke away for a moment for air before kissing again. Two turned into three turned into six or seven until they lost track of just how long they had been out there in each other's arms.

"I have been wishing for this for many Christmases," Ivan confessed, running a hand through Alfred's snow-coated blond hair. "Wishing that I could tell you how I felt and wishing that you would feel the same way. And finally my wishes have come true. I could not have asked for a better holiday."

"I'm sorry it took so long… But this will be my favourite Christmas ever. Even better than the ones we'll spend together in the future because this is the one that started it all. I love you. Really."

"Oh, just climb into bed already!" came a shout from behind the glass doors. Alfred and Ivan blinked, turning to the source. All the Nations were gathered around the balcony doors, some grinning widely and others making kissy-faces at them, causing them to blush darkly.

"This is such a wonderful Christmas!" Hungary exclaimed from beside Austria, trying to hold back a nosebleed.

Ivan just chuckled despite the blush that dusted his cheeks, tilting the American's chin up so they locked eyes again. "Merry Christmas, my dear sunflower."

"Merry Christmas, Ivan," Alfred quickly mumbled out as they shared another kiss that was hot enough to melt the snow around them, forgetting about the others watching them.