"Brother, tell me what is so important to you that it occupies your thoughts, even when I am here."
Russia did his best to ignore Belarus' complaints, as well as her weight pressing against his side. He could never tell her what he was thinking about, seeing as it would likely result in someone's death.
Canada's. It was Canada filling his thoughts again, despite how he'd fought them back earlier on. This desire to know how the blond tasted was overwhelming. To know how he would feel under him, bending completely to his will. Just the though of it make him squirm in annoyance.
"Ivan?" He shook himself at the sound of his sister's voice again. "Is something wrong?"
"Нет, there is nothing."
Dark eyes narrowed suspiciously, but she didn't question him further. "We should get into the conference now. They'll be wondering where we are." And without another word, she slid from the passenger seat of the car, and started walking towards the building. Her not waiting for Russia was an odd sight.
Sighing, he followed suit, locking the door behind him. The meeting this time was in Helsinki, so poor Tino was desperately trying to get everyone's attention as Russia walked in the room. Berwald was just watching, though he'd probably step in and help at some point.
As if drawn by a magnet, his eyes found the Canadian, sitting quietly, attempting to get his brother to sit down so Finland could continue. He wasn't being very successful.
"I do not think you'll be getting his attention any time soon Matvey." He murmured, ignoring the sharp feeling of Belarus' eyes glaring at his back.
He sighed, and let his hand fall from Alfred's sleeve. "I know, but it's worth a try right?"
Russia knew this meeting was going nowhere fast. They were more likely to rant and argue for a few hours, and then maybe get a bit of work done before America's stomach called it a day as per usual, so he turned to Canada, and gestured to the door. "Would you walk with me for a bit?"
"S-sure." He stood and followed the Russian out of the room down the long corridors to rooms that even very few of the nations knew the purpose of. They walked in total, awkward silence for a while, neither knowing what to say. "Is there…anything in particular you wanted to talk about?" Canada finally asked in confusion.
"Da…Actually, I have a confession to make Matvey."
"O-oh?"
He pushed open a door, hoping for more privacy, just in case someone had seen them leave. It led to a large library, well cleaned, but misused. It would do, he figured.
"It's about last month's meeting, when I helped you out with your brother?"
"Yeah? What about it?"
"You know…how I called you America afterwards?"
"Sure."
"The truth is…" He ran his hands through his hair, not quite sure if he could break it to the blond. In all honesty he was worried about his reaction. "I've managed to remember you fairly well since then. I've only forgotten you once or twice, and seeing you hasn't been a problem."
"Wait." Canada bit his lip as he pieced all the events together, and then turned his head slowly to look up at the Russian. "You've been faking this whole time?"
Not good, he looked pissed, not good.
"Da, but I had reasons."
"Do tell."
They'd stopped at a small table with a few chairs surrounding it, and without a word between them, they agreed to sit down.
"I felt that if anyone knew I could see you all the time, it would be strange. I was surprised myself. If I just pretended I couldn't see you, maybe everything would go back to normal and I could stop thinking about it. About you."
He didn't look any happier with that explanation. "You were faking just so you could feel normal? Do you have any idea how much it hurts to be forgotten like that? No, you wouldn't, because even if it's the attention of everyone's suspicion, it's still attention, and that's what you strive for. You just want everyone so absolutely terrified of you so you don't have to be nice to anyone, and can sit in your selfish little bubble!"
To say that Russia was surprised at this outburst would be a massive understatement. As he watched the Canadian rant, he couldn't help but wonder, 'when did this suddenly become about me and my problems?'
Out loud, he started with, "Matvey…"
"What gives you the excuse to purposely forget me? Why should you get to do that?"
"Because I love you!" He burst out, normally pale face now a mottled shade of red.
Canada stopped looking angry almost instantly. The look of rage was replaced with one of pure shock. After blinking a few times, he seemed to find his voice. His regular, whispery voice. "C-come again?"
Ivan gave him a pained look that screamed, 'please don't make me say it again.' And Canada understood, clicking his mouth shut.
"How long?"
"Probably since that meeting. It just took me awhile to…figure it out."
"I don't know what to say…"
The two sat in silence, neither able to look the other in the eye without turning furiously red. A tiny voice in the back of Russia's mind (that sounded oddly like France) was poking his consciousness, whispering, 'now's the part where you kiss him!'
"Matvey."
The Canadian turned to look up at him quickly. "Yes?" Ivan took the moment to capture his lips, conveying every conceivable apology, making every promise never to hurt him again loud and clear.
When Russia pulled away, Canada's face was bright red, but he was smiling. "I'm glad Ivan, that you could tell me."
"I really do care about you."
"Thank you."
"What's wrong?" Ivan asked when he saw that blond's eyes shimmer with unshed tears.
"Nothing's wrong." He leaned foreword, burying his face into the thick coat, and beaming. "Not one thing is wrong right now."
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The first gaze that hit the two when they returned to the conference room was Belarus'. Or France. They were both so quick to stare that it was hard to tell. They even stood at the same time, two shades of blue eyes trained on the intertwined hands.
"Brother!" Natalya hissed at the same time Francis cooed, "Mathieu!" This got everyone else's attention. Hungary was already burning through film on her camera, and they hadn't even done anything yet.
"What're you all staring at?" America muttered, pushing through the now-crowding nations. "Oh. Hey Mattie. Is there- uh…any reason you're holding hands with the commie?"
"Al. Just shut up." Canada groaned, rolling his eyes. He really didn't enjoy the 'Russia hasn't been under a communist government for years' argument (which happened a lot more than you'd think) nearly as much as the 'Americans are run by idiots, yes this includes you Al' argument.
"Awfully sudden, don't you think?" England coughed, unwilling to look at the two.
"Not at all." Ukraine chirped happily. She ran up to the two, dragging them into an awkward sort of group hug. "It's about time." She whispered, kissing their cheeks lightly. "I'm proud of you both."
"Thanks Kat." Matthew replied softly.
The others seemed to have calmed down, except for America, who was glaring darkly at the two. Canada sighed, knowing this wasn't anywhere near the end of troubles his brother would cause. He wasn't even sure this would work out just yet, and he was acting like they'd just announced their engagement or something. The heavy silence was enough to prove that.
"Well, let's get to the meeting, okay?" Finland offered brightly. And for once, Alfred didn't immediately start a fight with someone, or laugh, or declare himself to be the hero, or anything that he typically would. He just sat down next to Arthur in silence, waiting for Finland to get everything started up.
And Canada was disturbed by this. Very disturbed.
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Thanks for reading~!
Look! I'm back! And ready to finish this sucker! Updates will still be slower than normal because of other stories, H.I. work to do, driving school, life in general. But here's chapter 7, and I hope you liked it, and I'm kind of glad to be back!
(Anime North is coming! I've got my Hungary costume all set, and I'm pretty jacked!)
Reviews make me happy, I know you know this, but I cannot stress it enough!