Several weeks later, Ivan was on his way to Germany to meet Gilbert. Since he had a free schedule that day, he decided it might be nice to go relax with his boyfriend. He was feeling very skittish lately. But it wasn't as if he didn't have reason to be! You know how you have to always know where the poison ivy is in your yard? Because otherwise you would step in it and be itchy forever?

Well, that was how Natalia was, except you wouldn't end up itchy. You'd end up in the hospital. If you didn't know where she was at all times, you were running a huge risk of being stabbed. Some called it stalking. He called it keeping tabs for his own safety. If he could just never worry about the bitch again, if he could just ignore her existence, he would be happy. But no. He had to know where she was, otherwise she would stab him again, obviously.

That little country was so horrible! He didn't see how she was crazy like everyone said, but she was definitely terrifying. And, to be honest, she was quite a pain. Always with the, "Big brother! Marry me!" How could one girl make him want to hide in a corner and beat the living daylights out of her with his pipe at the same time? It was positively baffling to poor Ivan.

As he approached the Prussian's mansion, Ivan could already feel himself relaxing. He wasn't entirely sure what it was about Gilbert, but he always felt safe with him. Even during the hardest times, just Gilbert's presence helped to calm Ivan. Just last week, Latvia had messed up his dinner while Gilbert was over. And, instead of beating him like he normally would, Ivan just settled for slapping the tiny country. (He had to do something!) It was strange that someone so egotistical and arrogant could be so level-headed when it came to others.

Ivan let himself into the large house. He smiled. It's so warm here. He started to make his way to Gilbert's office, but he heard his boyfriend's voice in the kitchen off to the right. He popped his head in curiously. Gilbert was talking to Germany. "...Und Italien hat dir nichts gesagt?" "...And Italy said nothing to you?"

"Nein. Nichts. Warum? Was ist passiert, Gilbert? Sag's mir." "No. Nothing. Why? What happened, Gilbert? Tell me."

"Oh... ha ha... nichts. Nur..." "Oh... ha ha... nothing. Only..."

"Was?" "What?"

"Nichts. Vergiß es." "Nothing. Forget it."

"Gilbert–"

"Excuse me?" Ivan said sweetly from the doorway, a large smile on his face.

The two men stopped their banter and looked over at the large Russian who had just somehow gotten into their house. "Oh, hi Ivan!" Gilbert greeted him brightly, clearly glad to find a way out of his conversation.

"Hello Russia."

"How are you, Germany?" Ivan beamed. He loved talking to new people.

"I am fine," the blonde replied politely. "Excuse me. I must speak with Italy." With that, he brushed past the big man with visible fear on his face.

How sad.

"Ivan, what are you doing here?" Gilbert asked a bright smile adorning his white face. "You've come to see the awesome me, right? Of course you have 'cause I'm awesome."

"Yes Gilbert. I came to see the awesome you," Ivan said warmly as he pulled the albino up against his body for a chaste kiss. "I need to relax."

Gilbert looked a little concerned at this. "What's going on? Is it Belarus?"

Ivan cringed and tensed up. "She's not here is she?" He looked around suspiciously.

The Prussian chuckled a bit at this. "No. She's not here, I promise. Come and sit with me. We'll drink beer."

"Don't you have anything stronger?"

"Our beer is strong."

"It's a soft drink in my country."

"Not anymore."

Ivan smiled at Gilbert's attention to his laws. "You're right. But it's barely alcoholic."

"And vodka is barely palatable. So get over it. Beer's awesome."

"Fine. But you're going to run out."

"I'm sure I'll be fine."

The two sat comfortably on the couch in front of the television, which was still off. Gilbert almost cuddled up against the man, but decided that his brother could come in at any moment, and he could not see that. So he settled for pulling Ivan's arm around his shoulder. "So what's on your mind, Vanya?"

Ivan sighed. "Work is stressful." Gilbert grunted in agreement. "And Lithuania gets boring."

"What do you mean?"

"Yesterday he forgot to clean the kitchen, so my food was disgusting. So I beat him with my pipe." Gilbert grimaced. "But it was no fun. He's no fun anymore."

"Maybe you should find something less... destructive to do."

"What do you mean?" Ivan had a strange purple aura surrounding him as he stared down at Gilbert.

"Ha ha! I didn't mean anything. I'm just playing around." Shit he's scary!

At this, the Russian smiled, reverting back to his regular, only slightly creepy face. "Good," he said lightly, showing his teeth.

"So Lithuania is boring?" Gilbert asked after a short silence, his tone, indicating that Ivan should continue to recount his stressors.

"Da. And do you know something?"

"What?"

"Belarus hasn't spoken to me for weeks."

"Isn't that good?"

"Good?"

"Ja."

"It's not good at all! I keep telling you, if she leaves me alone, she's probably planning something. And it's nothing good."

"Maybe she's given up. Moved on. All that awesomeness."

"Unlikely. But it's making me really paranoid."

"That's silly."

"Silly?" Ivan grinned at the word.

Gilbert snorted a bit. "Yes, silly." He stuck out his tongue when the man laughed lightly.

God, he's such a kid sometimes. "I hope it's silly. But I can't help but feel like there's something going on that I don't know about."

You have no idea. "I wouldn't know." Damn, I hate lying to him. Stupid Francis and his stupid rules. So un-awesome.

I'm REALLY REALLY sorry for not posting! I was grounded and it was my fault and I suck and I fail at life. Blaaaaaaaahhhh! Stupid Bella, stupid Bella, stupid Bella!