I'm so sorry I was so late today! Had to run halfway across the state and back to pick up a friend for Karaoke, taking her home tomorrow, but hopefully I'll be able to get the chapter up before I leave!

Thanks for the reviews! You two are awesome!

Anywho, on with the show!

Disclaimer- Chapter 3

It took almost fifteen minutes to calm Ivan to the point where he wasn't on the verge of hyperventilation. Ellen gave him a slap on the shoulder as they started making their way to the door, her husband slid an arm over her shoulder in a protective manner while she laughed. "Hope to see you around, but get a few drinks into your system before the next game, alright?" She laughed as Ivan looked down at her, nodding. She could still see worry etched in his face and sighed, shaking her head before they headed separate ways for their cars. Mattie unlocked Ivan's door before running around to the driver's seat, seeing the man look down at his lap as he sat a little too quietly.

"Are you alright?" Mattie asked, now that they were alone and the feeling of triumph from their domination that night ebbed, he realized how badly the other was honestly shaken up.

"It- The game was a little overwhelming." Ivan took a steadying breath. "I don't know why I panicked like that. I'm sorry, Matvey." He sighed, his eyes pinned on his hands in his lap.

"If anything, I should be sorry. I was a little caught up in the excitement and guess I didn't realize how bad I was picking on ya, eh. Sorry I didn't correct her sooner." Mattie watched as Ivan finally looked over and just shook his head, a nervous smile slid onto his lip.

"Нет , It's fine. I guess I'm a little too 'high strung', as you put it." He took a deep breath in, then out, trying to pull all of his tension into the out breath. "Wherever you want to go, I'll pay." Ivan stated, glancing over and Mattie felt a bit of the tension drift away from the man.

They pulled into the restaurant after a shorter drive, and after Mattie asked if Ivan liked Japanese food. They walked in to hear a familiar laugh after a split second. "We're only friends my ass!" Ellen laughed, causing Ivan to pale. "After saying that you guys come alone to the best dating spot in the neighborhood! Sam, get a table for four, will ya?" She turned to her husband who looked up at Mattie with a shrug of his shoulders. Mattie sighed and nodded, a slight chuckle coming to Sam's lip. Mattie never could say no to his wife. Reminded him too much of his brother.

"So you're American?" Russia asked while Ellen nodded, a grin sliding on to her lip.

"I was born there, but I got my citizenship done so I'm Canadian now." Ellen watched as Ivan frowned, his eyes narrowing and tilted his head to the side.

"That explains."

"Alfred?"

"Da."

Sam chuckled, having heard this thought before, while Mattie shook his head. "I still need to thank you from saving me from him earlier. That was... such a horrible situation I walked right into." Mattie shook his head, remembering his embarrassment at the situation.

"What happened?"

"My brother's dating uh, well, this guy and he asked me for a dating spot. I guess I didn't quite approve of the relationship, and he threw a fit saying since no one ever remembers me, of course I wouldn't have a date!" Mattie's cheeks turned red as he remembered. "I kind of just snapped and told him I did have a date, which is not at all what I'd meant to say, and Ivan called me over and just kissed me to shut him up. It's a miracle I lost my head as much as I did at the kiss, because he started in on his 'commie bastard' shit and all I could do was yell that Russia is a socialist country and stormed out. I may have given Ludwig a heart attack, and I'm pretty sure Romano cringed. I only thought Veneziano had that effect on them." Mattie sighed and looked up at Ivan, who was hiding his mouth behind his hand. "Yeah, it was weird."

"Let's go out then." Ivan looked down with a gleam in his eye, letting Mattie know he had a whole process here. "We go out, get familiar with each other, and at next few meetings, we terrify him." Ivan grinned and Mattie frowned. "We'll be platonic boyfriends, da?"

"Oh, that could work, too." Mattie looked up at him with wide eyes. "We could completely mortify him! We'd have to convince the others too, but it could be awesome!"

"I think Alfred would be harder to convince than the others. They don't know you so well. Only Alfred, Arthur and Francis would be the ones to worry about, but I have no problems with scaring them all." Ivan chuckled and Mattie sat up with a grin just in time to hear a choke from behind them.

"Mattie?" Mattie turned, seeing Alfred and Arthur come in and stare at the four people at the table, all of them in a little bit of shock. Alfred walked over and looked down between Mattie and Ivan and frowned. "Are you serious? I thought you were yanking our chains earlier."

"No, we're actually going out." Mattie stated, though a blush filled his cheeks.

"I saw you at the game!" Ivan laughed a little, seeing them turn to him with surprise. "Up in the nosebleed section." He looked over at Ellen, who laughed, having just taught him the term an hour earlier.

"And where were you?" Alfred crossed his arms and Ivan could only grin, holding up the badge on the lanyard, still around his neck.

"In front row, with spouses and guests." Ivan glanced down at Mattie with a grin, who high fived him, a little cheer refilling from his epic takeover of the game.

"And... where was Mattie?" Arthur asked, glancing down, watching as Mattie's eyes widened slightly. He didn't remember he'd seen him on the court?

"Your son is the captain of his team, da? You honestly don't remember watching him win half hour ago?!" Ivan stared, honestly surprised at the situation.

Something in Ellen's head clicked. Mattie was Arthur's son. Arthur and Alfred were holding hands. Alfred and Mattie were brothers. "Wait, you're dating your son?" Ellen stumbled along before really looking at him. "There's no way. You're like the same age, right?"

"Something like that." Mattie grasped his beer and just chugged, surprising both Ellen and Sam. "My family doesn't age, and we're all weird." He stated and Ivan shook his head.

"No, you're normal. Your brother and father are the weird ones. Shoo, you're interrupting our date." Ivan made a shoo motion with his hand and Ellen stared as Alfred pouted and stated he'd lost his appetite.

"First time for everything." Mattie grumbled as he waved the waitress down, getting another beer, and Ivan frowned.

"Let's do shots, da?" Ivan stated as Alfred and Arthur left.

"Wow, your brother's a dick." Ellen frowned. Mattie looked up at her and sighed.

"Even though you're an American, you can say that? That you don't find some sort of interest in him?" He asked.

"No, he's a douche. You must have been adopted, you're nothing alike." Ellen stated and Mattie felt his eyes widen, tears in the corners of his eyes.

"Is alright, Matvey." Ivan watched as Mattie sat up and nodded, trying to hide a bit of emotion over the words he never thought he'd hear. "I agree with her, except the adoption part. I just think you took after the mother." Ivan watched as Mattie glanced up and smiled, giving a happy nod before Ivan called the waitress over.

It was two hours later that Ivan stumbled into his hotel room, a very drunken Mattie in his arms. He'd had to take a taxi and prayed it wouldn't be too hard for Mattie to go get his car the next day, but he could barely see straight, and he knew Mattie driving right now would be even worse. He tossed the Canadian on the bed and sat hard on the other side, untying and sliding off both of their boots before turning and laying straight down.

He fell asleep so fast it didn't even register it had happened til the next morning, when he sat up and glanced over, wondering what the thud was to find half of a mop of hair and an arm still on the bed. He stared for a second, trying to remember what in the hell had happened when he recognized the hair and sighed. "Доброе утро. Я надеюсь, вы хорошо спали."

"Huh?" Mattie stared, confusion settled on his face as he realized Russia was there, he'd spoken another language, and he was not in his bedroom. "What happened?"

"English." Ivan started, trying to remember the language to speak in. "Good morning. I hope you slept well." He said before thinking over the question. "You passed out in restaurant. We take taxi here. I don't know where you live, so I couldn't take you home." Ivan stated and Mattie nodded. It made perfect sense to him.

"Let's go get my car. I'll make you breakfast back at my place." Mattie stood and stretched and Ivan shrugged.

"Might as well. My flight left two hours ago." Ivan stated, his eyes focused on the clock.

"Should we get you to the airport, then?" Mattie turned, feeling a bit guilty for keeping him back.

"Нет , I don't want to go back yet. It's warmer here still." Ivan stretched, a yawn breaking from his chest and Mattie nodded.

They packed up Ivan's things and had him check out of the hotel. They'd go get his car, then they'd head to Mattie's, and while he was making breakfast Ivan would use his computer to book his tickets back to Russia.

This worked well. Perfectly well. Up til the last part.

"What do you mean, no tickets to Russia for three weeks?!" Ivan panicked and Mattie frowned, looking up to see him stare with fear. "Can't be that big of a storm! Russia is a big place! I should know!" He listened for a moment before sighing. "Then what do you suggest? Is there a flight... to Belarus?" Quiet. "Ukraine?" Quiet. "Estonia." Quiet. "Northern China." Quiet. "Hokkaido?!" Ivan sat there, staring ahead with shock evident on his face. "Nothing anywhere near Russia for three weeks. What about a personal plane? Do you rent those?" He listened for a moment before grinning. "No, I can get landing permission easy. What number do I fax to?" Mattie heard him scribbling down numbers before thanking the man and hanging up the phone.

"For three weeks? Really?" Mattie asked and Ivan sighed, laying his head down.

" Huge storms blowing through. Nothing to anywhere in Eastern Europe or Russia due to the storm for a week. After that, all planes are booked for people flying out for the hockey game. All flights are booked for two weeks, so for three weeks I'm out here." Ivan didn't mind Canada, but it just didn't feel right to him. The warmth was nice, but it just didn't feel as comfortable.

It wasn't home.

"You can probably hitch onto our plane, but we won't be leaving for a week." Mattie said, watching as Ivan frowned.

"I do not want to be a problem." Ivan pouted and Mattie shook his head, laying a plate of pancakes with blueberries and whipped cream, covered in maple syrup before him.

"It won't be a problem. We're each allowed to bring an extra person with us for moral support. No one else ever goes with me, so it would actually be kind of nice." Mattie stated, watching as Ivan nodded.

"In that case, I would like to take your offer. Большое спасибо." Ivan watched as Mattie just smiled before sitting down.

Ivan's eyes shifted to the plate before him. "It smells like Блины."

"I don't know what that is." Mattie watched as Ivan cut into it, nibbling one of the cakes before he dabbed the bite into the cream.

"It tastes like Блины. It's a food in Russia. Tastes similar, but a little different, but looks very different. Is good." He looked up with a smile and Mattie released a slight breath, happy the food was being enjoyed.

"Why don't you just stay here until the flight? It'll give us a chance to actually get to know one another outside of restaurants and bars. Not to mention, staying in a hotel around here for a week is gonna cost a fortune." Mattie stated, glancing up as Ivan glanced up, nervous.

"I'll not be a bother?"

"Nah, It'll be nice to see someone else around here. It gets..." Mattie trailed off, looking for the word, but once he caught it, he realized how pathetic it sounded.

"Lonely." Ivan stated, his own eyes shifting down. Mattie knew instead of a pitying look, it was the look of someone who understood. Mattie simply nodded. Ivan looked up and frowned. "I feel like I'm taking advantage. You let me stay with you and give me flight back home. How can I repay you?" Ivan asked, looking up with worried eyes and Mattie smiled.

"Just keep me company, alright?" He grinned just before the doorbell rang.

That's it for today!

До свидания!

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