Longest chapter in this whole story, but also the cutest in my opinin
Enjoy as always!
As the days flew by, I only became closer and closer to the Baltics, watching as they became more relaxed around me, smiling much more, and actually hearing them let out a small laugh now and then. Since the whole week I had been here, I had been spending most of my time with the Baltics, and hardly seeing Russia, who mostly kept himself pent up in his office.
The Baltics gave me tips to help remember what each room was and ways to get there, and warn of hallways that would only get me lost in the gigantic house.
Every night I called Francis and Sebastian, telling them about daily things I did, and forcing them to tell me news of anything happening in my nation. Besides always worrying about Francis and Sebastian, I always had to know every single little thing that happened in my nation that day, which of course, caused a lot of anxiety on my part. Thankfully, with me even being away from my country, I still only ever heard good news from the other side of the phone. Apparently, both Russia's boss and mine were getting along very well together, and we were getting a lot of help from the gigantic country. I was thankful that Russia did not try to take over my country or treated it like he use to treat the Baltics. I felt grateful to Russia for all that he was doing for me.
About a week into my stay, I sat next to the window reading a book that Toris had given to me, saying that it always gave him a thrill, such as it was currently doing to me. I look out the window and see that the huge blizzard that had died out a day or two ago, had left a large amount of snow sprawled onto the ground, and an idea popped into my head, and so I ran to go get the Baltics.
Once they had all gathered in the first floor living room, lit a glow by the fire place, I announced to the Baltics "Why don't we have a snowball fight outside?" Giving them a small playful smile, I turned my head towards the winter wonderland outside. I turned my head back to the Baltics, watching Ravis's glowing face, while Lithuania looked down, trying to hide his big grin so I couldn't see it, and Eduard's slightly disapproving, slightly anxious face, like he already knew this was not going to go well. Taking in the majority's reaction, I smiled as I walk over to the front door, already fully dressed for the harsh winter snow, and begun to reach for the door handle, when I heard light Russian music playing upstairs...
"Wait you guys," I tell them, turning around to see their bright and exited faces. I sigh, knowing they weren't going to like this, but saying it anyway. "We should really invite Russia to come with us," I look down at my shoes, but can already feel there fear and anxiety levels rising beyond the roof. I look up and see their faces full of shock and nervousness, Eduard actually taking a step back. I decide to make a deal with them and say "I promise, I'll talk to Russia and make sure he goes easy on all of you, why don't we just give him a chance though?" I looked back up at their faces, sad and uneasy, when Lithuania took a step forward, and simply said "Do it," with his head bowed down low, both his brothers looked at him with shock. I couldn't help but walk up to him and wrap him in a hug, just whispering a quick, "Thank you," and ran up the stairs to Russia's office.
I walked up to Russia's door and lightly knocked on it, hearing him as he said his usual "Come in," just loud enough to hear over the music. I walked into his office, straight over to his desk, and waited for him to acknowledge me. He looked up for a second, giving off his usual facade look, though I could tell he was startled to see me in his office instead of it being one of the Baltics. "I came to ask you if you wanted to join the Baltics and me in a snowball fight held outside today," I asked him, seeing his surprised face, which caused me to give him a little smile. I saw him blush the tiniest bit, going straight to his cheeks as he answered "Da, I mean, ok then, if you want me to," I actually had to resist myself to let out a little "awe..." as I saw him try to hide his embarrassed face as he turned around to go grab his coat off of the wrack next to his desk. While he silently slid his arms into his heavy tan coat, I added "Though, the Baltics want you to go easy on them, since chances are, your throws are as deadly as bullets" He laughed at my words and I put my arm out so that we could shake hands, signifying we had a deal. I heard him gasp as he pulled his large calloused hand away from mine and darted his eyes over to the door, where his feet began to take him. I smiled, wanting to see his reaction to my incredibly soft hands, which Italy, once while I was over, kept petting for over an hour, humming out loud, chanting every five minutes "Ve~ how do you get your hands so soft?" This whenever I remember, always makes me laugh. Though in a way, it was sad, since these hands really showed my lack of hardship or pain, while Russia's showed that his were never going to really be the same again. My mind swept back into reality as I followed Russia, through the long of hallways, to the front door, and out into the endless forest of snow, smiling devilishly at the thought of pelting the Baltics with snowballs.
We all stood in a circle, watching the little flakes from the sky fall onto the surrounding soft snow, covering me almost to my knees, causing my moves to be somewhat jerky and unstable, while Russia had absolutely no trouble moving around, even the deepest parts of the snow. The Baltics and I then started to propose the idea of teams, with the end results being The Baltics vs. Russia and me. We gave the Baltics a couple minutes to spread out, then me and Russia both looked at each other for a few seconds. I questioned him asking "You can handle yourself, right?" He turned back to me, giving me a confused glance, before saying "Da, but..." and I swooped out into the woods, crawling on my hands and knees, making my way into the forest, a hunter after her prey.
The only good part of being short in this situation was that behind the long, snow white winter coat I happened to have brought along with me on my trip, I was almost completly camouflaged. I kept on crawling, trying to concentrate on my surrounding area, rather than the fact my hands and knees where going numb. I stop behind a snow covered bush, and look up and see Toris in his green military coat, walking around the surrounding area, trying to keep low to the ground, often stopping behind a tree and searching his surroundings, before continuing walking, keeping his eye out for foes. I quickly made a snowball, thankful for all the times Latvia had shown me how to make them using dough, as he cooked with it. I make a couple, before aiming at Toris, who had slid behind a tree, looking around very carefully, thinking he had heard a noise. I quickly ambush him, shooting snowball after snowball at him, and watching him as he yelled out in shock, so loudly, the birds flew out of all the nearby trees. I stumble over to him, and help him up, telling him "Be more careful next time, you got yourself killed," He laughed, walking back to the house, raising his arms above his head to signify he was out (though the scream was definitely enough of a sign), and to wait until the start of the next game.
I keep stumbling deeper and deeper into the forest, keeping my eyes glued in all directions, until I finally spot a navy blue military jacket, hiding way up in the trees, and smiled softly to myself. Of course Eduard would be smart enough to hide in the one place not many would think to look; up in the air. The only flaw in his plan was that the trees around here were tightly packed together, so I started to make my way up the tree right next to his, until he was basically right in front of me. He was so occupied with looking at the ground through the binoculars he had brought; he didn't even notice me right in front of him. Before I let him notice me and pull a perfectly made snowball out of the bucket sitting next to him, I scrapped some snow off of the branch I was sitting on, made it into a snowball, and threw it at Eduard's jacket, right over where his heart was suppose to be. We had all agreed before that any hit over the heart or head would count as a direct kill, no questions asked. He looked up at me, finally noticing me, and was so shocked; he almost fell off the branch he was sitting on. He looked at me for a second, then let out a small laugh, climbing down the branch's telling me that "I sure got him out!" and I watched as he dropped off the last branch and began to walk back to the house.
I smiled thinking 'Only one more to go' letting my naturally competitive nature get ahead of me. I smiled, remembering all the times Sebastian told me when we were younger, that I always 'played to hard' and 'why couldn't I be like all the rest of the girls' which would cause me to scowl, then we would burst out laughing at each other's reactions. Out of the corner of my eye, I see one of the nations trying to hide behind a bush, and before I could help myself, I launched myself into the air at the nation. This was before I noticed his thick, tan winter coat, or his white, snow covered hair. Suddenly I had my arms wrapped around the nation's neck, and he turned just so I could see that it wasn't Latvia I had a hold of...but Russia. Suddenly are faces were only inches apart, and all I could see where his bright violet eyes, and his whole head covered in the powdery white snow, and I could feel my glasses fogging up. The bobby pins holding my platinum blonde bangs back were gone, leaving them to sweep across my forehead.
Since I happened to be related to Italy, well...instead of having a trademark, gravidity defying curl like his, I had my natural platinum blonde bangs, that nobody, not even Sebastian or Francis knew was...my "erogenous zone". I could see all the blood rushing into Russia's face and I suddenly had the overwhelming urge to close the distance between us, leaning forward... when suddenly both me and Russia where hit square in the face with snowballs. I look back up, my glasses crooked, to see Latvia standing in front of us, his face burning with heat and passion, finally claiming victorious over the only two things standing in his way. I stand back up, fix me glasses, and run over to him, giving him a quick smile and congratulating him on his victory. Russia stood back up, and I could see Latvia's body tense up, looking down at his shoes. Russia, walking straight up to him, trying to look him straight into the eye, and stopped in front of him for a second, staring at the scared stiff Latvian. Ravis finally looked back up into the eyes of the huge Russian man standing in front of him. Russia burst out into laughter, thrusting his arm out and telling the nervous laughing Ravis "Nice job," Ravis looked at Russia with confusion for a second, then with acceptance, which made his whole face light up like a firework. We played a few more rounds, mixing and matching more teams, running around or running away, snowballs flying everywhere, and I could see in the way that they all seemed to be enjoying themselves, that they haven't felt this good for awhile.
-
We all walked back into the house, the Baltic offering to make everyone hot chocolate, with Russia ordering a shot of vodka in his, and everyone smiling at the comment. The Baltics fled into the kitchen, while I sat down in a wooden chair by the fire, soaking wet and still covered in snow.
"You enjoyed yourself today, da?" I heard someone question from behind me, and I turn around to see Russia's tall figure, walking over to stand next to me by the fire.
"Yes, and I am very happy that you decided to accompany us," I tell him, turning over to see through the fire's eerie glare, his already pink cheeks turned a shade or two darker before responding "Da, I am very happy I came," and he turned to walk away, leaving me to stare back into the fire's flames as it licked the air above it.
"Oh and by the way," I hear a voice suddenly call me out of the daydream I had just started to fall into of Sebastian, having been with us, me staring at his cold, wet hair, dripping water droplets down his face, his cheeks a light pink color, with his dark green eyes bright against the fire. I look back at the doorway and see Russia standing there, looking shy and a little hesitant as he muttered, just loud enough that I could hardly hear him "You can call me Ivan if you want too,"
I smile at his shy face and say "Ok then Ivan, let's go check and see if there done with our hot chocolate yet," I see his beautiful purple eyes look into mine, as I get up and walk over to him, and we slowly make our way over to the kitchen. I felt his hand bump into mine a couple times, as if he wanted to grab it, but was scared that I would not accept it, Though, at the time, this was beyond my comprehension, since I was blind and naive, following the path of love known as Sebastian, though, if I had been willing to look beyond of what was right in front of me, I could of found a better one, this one called...
Do you think she acts so kind to him just 'cause she's grateful, personally, I think not ;D
Yes, call me what you want, I am evil to leave you with a cliffhanger (AND IT MIGHT NOT BE THE YOU THINK :O)
Also, I would like to point out for all of you people out there who suffer from "I didn't notice even though it's right in front of my face" syndrome, but I think Ivan's starting to fall in love! *SQUEAL*
Then again, a certain sister of his might have something to say about THAT :D
P.S.!
First, let me point out, that Mabel isn't the only one with extremely soft hands O.o
I have actually had random kids from my school, some younger, some older, walk up to me and ask "If they can pet my hands O.o" I am telling the 100% truth, and it's definitly happened more than a few times...
See you Next chapter!
