What's in a Name

Chapter 10

Belarus skipped along the corridors of the house. It wasn't often that she was in this good a mood, it only occurred when she knew that she had done something that would please her beloved someone. This someone, of course, being Russia.

"Russia, dear?" She peered around the doorframe at the end of the hallway, knowing that the person she was looking for was seated inside.

Russia, who had been mapping out something on the table, stiffened slightly before appearing to relax as Belarus entered the room. "Ah, Belarus." He smiled up at her, "And what brings you to my study?"

"I've got some news for you." She made herself comfortable on the sofa next to the taller man, fiddling aimlessly with the ends of his scarf. "I think you'll be interested."

Belarus rarely smiled, and if she did the expression was usually pointed towards the gang leader, who was obviously something of an idol in her eyes.

"Is that so?" Russia's smile flickered wearily and he shifted slightly further away from the girl. "What kind of news?"

Belarus shuffled closer again, leaning on Russia's arm. "Now I couldn't just tell you, could I?" She teased, "I need persuasion."

Russia sighed, turning back to the map he'd made himself, ignoring the girl's words.

"Russia, dear?" She nudged his foot, "Russia?" Still no response.

A knock at the door ended Belarus's attempts to get the man's attention.

"Oh, Natalia! I didn't know you were here." The woman standing in the doorway had her hands clasped over her rather large chest, her face showing obvious worry.

"I arrived a few minutes ago, big sister." Belarus's expression had turned steely, but she continued to hold onto Russia's arm.

"I was just wondering if you wanted anything to eat." She rushed out, turning her attention to Russia.

He turned to look briefly at the older woman, "That would be pleasant, Ukraine." He smiled fondly, carefully avoiding Belarus's glare as he showed her older sister more affection than he had shown her.

"I do wish you wouldn't call me that." She sighed, squeezing her hands tighter together, "I'm your sister, not another member of that gang of yours."

"It doesn't matter." Russia stated simply, turning away from the doorway. "So, that news?" He changed the topic, now ignoring his elder sister in favour of his younger sibling.

"Oh, yes." Belarus said quickly, leaning in to whisper in her brother's ear. "I just know that you'll be pleased with this..."

Alfred flopped back on the grass almost panting after running for so long. It was refreshing being able to just let go and run once in a while, it was a freedom which he had forgotten in recent months, what with moving away from home to go to a new college. The grass was cut short and prickled his neck as he lay on it, but the blonde continued to stare up at the sky, grinning shamelessly.

"Why on earth did you make me run all the way here?" England gasped from beside the younger man. He was doubled over with his hands on his knees, trying to suppress the stitch in his side as he caught his breath back. He peered around the small green that Alfred had practically dragged him to. It really wasn't anything special, in his opinion. A swing set and slide were positioned in one corner for children to use, but the rest of the area was empty space.

Alfred sat up, laughing slightly at England's apparent exhaustion. "Because," he ran his hand through his hair, brushing any grass clippings away, "I used to come here loads when I was a kid. Oh, come on! You could look a little more excited!"

England looked decidedly grumpy upon hearing that Alfred had apparently brought him to this particular spot to reminisce about his childhood. In fact, to him it sounded like one massive waste of time.

However, he noted much to his amusement, even Alfred could look cute when he pouted like that.

Straightening up again, England wandered aimlessly over to the deserted swing set, taking a seat on the swing that didn't look like it was about to fall off its chains. It was actually nice to be in such a place. It was peaceful; especially since there weren't any children around at that particular point in time. He kicked his legs back, letting the swing move gently, helped slightly by the breeze that had picked up.

Alfred watched the older man front his spot sitting on the grass. The wind had blown his hair even more out of place than it was normally, but also made him look more natural. He just looked right sitting there with the trees creating the suitable picturesque background. They framed him beautifully.

The wind also carried something else, a soothing sound that Alfred hadn't expected to hear. England was singing, no, humming really. His low register piercing through the sound of the rustling leaves as it reached Alfred's ears. And by God, could that guy sing. Bikers' voices were usually raw from shouting over the engine noise, and were often known to be practically deaf for the same reason if their helmets weren't worn properly. But England was absolutely pitch perfect. Indeed his voice was absolutely incredible (awesome even).

The swing lurched dangerously, almost catapulting England off the seat as Alfred leapt unceremoniously onto it behind him. He pushed the swing further forward, making it rock higher into the air as he stood on it behind the now rather disgruntled man.

"What in blazes are you-?"

"Relax!" Alfred laughed, continuing to push the swing back and forth. "Just hold on tight and try not to fall off. Besides, it's more fun this way!"

"You're unbelievable!" England almost yelled after he was nearly flung off the seat a second time and grabbed the chains tighter, cursing under his breath.

"Is that your way of saying awesome?" Alfred smirked, peaking down at England quickly, being careful not to tip the swing up backwards.

England huffed, elbowing Alfred in the knee, although he regretted this action when the leg twitched violently, nearly sending him flying off the swing and onto the ground. In fact, what actually happened was that England attempted to jump off the swing when he felt Alfred's leg move, tripped, and fell onto the grass face first, rolling over to see Alfred still standing on the swing looking quite perplexed as to how the other blonde had managed to fall over quite that spectacularly.

Alfred swung on the seat a couple more times before leaping off and over England's form on the floor, landing poorly on his feet and stumbling over to join the other lying on the grass.

A snort from next to him brought Alfred's attention back to England, who, unbelievably, had started laughing at Alfred's excursion. This usually cynical grumpy man was laughing at him.

"It wasn't that funny..." Alfred pouted, rolling over to lean on his elbows, secretly enjoying watching England actually relax for once.

"Sorry, sorry!" England lay back onto the grass, briefly glancing over at Alfred, smiling quickly, before returning his gaze to the sky. "It was a good choice, you know, this place. It's nice." He closed his eyes and let the breeze wash over him, blowing his hair over his face.

"You're really weird." Alfred stated, "Being all annoying one second and then suddenly deciding to be interesting. And of course it's nice here! I wouldn't have come here otherwise!" He readjusted his glasses, watching England lying back in the short grass.

"I'm weird?" England chuckled, "Says the one who's scared of monsters that don't exist."

"Shut up!" Alfred poked him hard in his side, "Everyone's scared of something, including people as awesome as me!"

"Yeah, yeah. I've heard it all before." England opened one eye to look at the frustrated blonde, still smiling. "It's good to be able to relax like this once in a while, even if I am going to get it in the back when we get home. They're going to kill me for going out when I was told to rest."

Alfred finally settled down on the ground again, smirking slightly at the thought of England being lectured by the others when they returned. "It's my fault really." He breathed out a laugh, returning England's gaze, "I dragged you out here."

"Then you won't mind me blaming you, then?" England smirked, showing Alfred one of his almost pirate-like expressions.

"I never said that!" Alfred jabbed England again, only causing the older man to laugh again and swat his hand away.

"I don't know." England's smile widened menacingly, "It certainly sounded like that's what you were saying."

"No it didn't!" Alfred joined in with England's teasing, shoving him to the side slightly, his grin matching England's.

"I think it did." England nodded to himself as if to end the dispute.

"Argh! I don't like this evil side of you!" Alfred mocked defeat, rolling over in the grass so that he was closer to where he had pushed England. "A hero like me has to stop evil from running its path!"

England stopped, turning his gaze away from the excitable teenager. It was like the weight that had been lifted from his chest as they had been talking had suddenly fallen back onto him with a great impact. It was painful hearing words like that directed at him. It was like hearing someone pushing the blame for the things that he knew only too well were his fault straight into his face. The gang, the violence, all of it. He shook his head; there was no way Alfred could have known what those words meant to him and what they did to his head. He wasn't to know that they dug at the corners of his mind.

"Evil, huh?" It was all he could muster. There was nothing he could say to soften the words that Alfred had said, even if he had not meant any harm by them.

Alfred watched England in silence. He had no idea how to address the older man when he was so deep in thought and it made it that much more difficult to carry on a normal conversation when the person he was conversing with was obviously struggling with his own emotions.

He reached out to touch England's shoulder. He just had to try and comfort him in some way. It was way too hard to just watch him suffer by himself like that.

England jerked away from Alfred's hand, not expecting the usually quite clumsy boy to be so gentle, his hands were larger than his own and, while they were rough and appeared to be slightly scarred in some places, were careful in their touch and by God they were just what he had needed. Just some sign that there was someone there with him. Someone who could see that he was in pain, and were kind enough to try and ease it in such a simple, yet caring manner.

"Yeah." Alfred spoke quietly, just loud enough for England to hear his voice over the sound of the wind rustling the leaves in the surrounding trees. "Evil that I'm going to get rid of and save the world."

Honestly, how could he speak of such childish things with such a serious tone of voice? It was illogical, England thought, yet strangely endearing.

Alfred's hand moved to England's cheek, brushing his hair away from his eyes. They were exactly the same colour as the grass, he noted. That brilliant green that stood out amazingly even when England was acting as a single-minded biker, used to bloodshed and violence. He moved so that he could look down into England's face; he needed to get a clear look at him. He needed to see his face to know what he was thinking, his emotions almost screaming out hurt from those deep emerald eyes.

All England could do was stare back at Alfred. He wasn't used to seeing the boy look so serious. In the time that they had known each other it was an expression that he rarely displayed to any of them, especially England. No, usually he'd act terribly goofy and naive, as if he wasn't even aware of the troubles that he'd brought himself so close to just by knowing England and his friends. It was so stupid, but at the same time reassuring to know that there was someone who was still willing to treat him as a normal person and not just some thug who only cared about causing damage to society's perfect ideals. Alfred was different to them. He didn't overlook the danger; he just casually avoided it as best he could.

"Alfred..." He finally broke the silence, bringing both of their attentions back to where they were.

Alfred started away, falling back onto his hands blushing terribly, the redness reaching his ears. He had been so lost in thought that he'd almost completely forgotten that he'd had his hand resting on England's cheek. Almost, but not quite. He'd known that he was looking at England, trying to discover what the smaller man was thinking, what he was feeling. But it was impossible not to get lost in those utterly beautiful eyes.

"S- Sorry..." He stuttered out, finding his voice and willing his face to cool down.

England raised his hand to his cheek, feeling the heat radiating off of it from where Alfred had touched him and knew that the flush on his face must have matched Alfred's. "That's- That's perfectly alright." He sighed, trying to gather his thoughts, "You didn't mean anything by it."

"Yeah..." Alfred muttered, really hoping that England was right about the last part. Even he wasn't sure of what he was thinking anymore. Being with him at that moment had felt so perfect that he'd forgotten himself for just a second and had acted in such a way that he had confused not only England, but himself as well. Just what had he meant by touching him like that? Oh hell...

"We should be getting back." England pushed himself to his feet, rubbing the base of his spine trying to get some of the feeling back into his back. "The others will be wondering where we have gotten to."

Alfred staggered to his feet, staying a few paces away from the older man. "All right then." He smiled around at the familiar surroundings quickly before catching up with England's pace as they left the green.

"This is completely your own fault, you know."

As soon as England had stepped back inside his apartment he had been bombarded by questions, mostly coming from an extremely agitated woman with long brown hair.

"If you had just done as Tino had told you then you wouldn't be feeling as awful as you are now."

"Leave 'im be, Elizabeta." A taller blonde muttered from next to England while taking the shorter man's temperature.

"Shut it, Berwald." She snapped, shooting a glare at the doctor. "If he's well enough to go running around town, then he's well enough to work. Roderich and I don't have time to deliver the prescriptions in between all of the other work at the surgery."

"You really shouldn't have gone out." Tino interjected, handing Berwald his bag. He gave the man a soft smile which he quickly hid from the other occupants of the room. "It wasn't the best decision."

"Don't you start as well." England grumbled, holding out his arm for Berwald to inject some other type of medicine into it.

"Yeah." Gilbert chuckled, appearing next to the group. "He's had enough of all that from this witch."

"Say that again and I will not be held responsible for my actions." Elizabeta shot at him, tossing her hair over one shoulder, "After all, you could have come and made your round of deliveries, but no. No, you decided to skive off again!" She ignored Gilbert's protests, "Just because you're Roderich's cousin doesn't mean I have to be nice to you." She huffed and sat down stiffly on the sofa next to Antonio (who had somehow managed to hold Lovino in place on his lap).

"Stop arguing, will you." England sighed, wishing that he hadn't come back home so quickly. He massaged his arm where Berwald had stopped pressing a wad of cotton wool against it to stop the bleeding from the injection, "If you must blame someone for my going out, then blame him." He jerked his head at where Alfred was perched on the kitchen counter, smirking at his reaction when Elizabeta snapped her head round to glare at him instead.

"Hey! I thought you were joking about blaming me!" Alfred whined, shuffling further away from where the angry brunette was seething. "Besides, you were the one who suggested going out in the first place."

Gilbert took the opportunity to move closer to England, leaning down to speak so that no one else could hear him, while Elizabeta was busy arguing with Alfred. "Your phone's been ringing all day." He muttered into England's ear.

"What?" England met Gilbert's gaze, realising the tone his voice had taking couldn't mean anything good. "Who?"

"Him." Gilbert emphasised the word, fully aware that England would know who he meant. "He called me as well, said that you had to come to the meeting today 'or else'."

"But he knows that I'm-" Gilbert held his hand up, stopping England from continuing.

"Belarus saw you leaving today." He sighed, leaning on the arm of England's chair. "He said that if you were well enough to go running through town, then you must be well enough to attend the meeting and carry out the tasks he expects of us all."

"Bollocks..." England swore. Just his luck, Russia's most loyal lackey had seen him. Brilliant, just brilliant. "Gil, I really don't think I should be-"

"I know, and I agree." Gilbert cut across him again, his expression strangely serious. "I was gonna say that if you tried to go then I'd let Liza tie you to that chair of yours. She'd probably do it anyway if you tried to go out again. I won't go either."

"Something wrong?" Alfred peered down at the two of them, having finished his row with Elizabeta. "You two look way too serious."

"Ah, no, Al." England smiled up at him, thinking it unwise to inform him of the details of his and Gilbert's conversation. "It's nothing, don't worry." He stood up, stretching. "Tell Roderich I'll be back in work tomorrow, Liza." He crossed the room to her, smiling expectantly.

"Only if you're feeling one hundred percent better by then, okay?" She sighed, knowing when to give up.

"Got it." He picked a bottle out of the fridge and tossed it to Gilbert. "Don't get too drunk this time, you've got class tomorrow."

"Yes mother." Gilbert cackled, raising the bottle in thanks, recognising it as England's way of telling him to keep their conversation a secret.

"So they decided to ignore my warning."

Russia leant back against his bike, surveying the members of the gang who were present. Their numbers had greatly depleted in recent months, less than half of the original members remained, the others either having disappeared from the area, too afraid to face the leader's wrath, or had been dismissed by Russia and had suffered the consequences that everyone who was forced to leave the group was subjected to.

"What a pity. I was hoping that I had scared them enough to convince them to come." He drummed his fingers against the handlebars, displaying his displeasure to the rest of the group even though his face continued to show his constant smile.

"I could go back to the apartment block to watch out for them." Belarus piped up, moving forward from the small crowd of bikers.

"No, no that won't be necessary." Russia stated calmly, continuing to tap his fingers against his bike. "Not if what you said earlier was true. It will only be a matter of time before they have no choice but to come here, all three of them." He let his eyes drift over the group, seeing the majority of them hold their breath as his gaze passed over them. "Estonia."

"Yes, Russia sir?" Another man stepped forward, his body language displaying his nervousness to the gang leader.

"Take a group down to that place that I told you about earlier. I want you to find something." Russia's smile widened as he played out his thoughts in his head. Yes, it was only a matter of time now.