Take four. God damn. I have tried to write this four times and I'm trying one more time. I really hope this one turns out okay. Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia nor the show mentioned.
"Y-you... you what?" Ivan asked, slightly flustered.
My eyes widened. Shit... Think of something... Cover it up...
"S-sorry! I didn't mean it in... that way. I just thought... you know, it might cheer you up!" I said, laughing nervously.
Ivan just shook his head, shrugging a bit. "Okay then."
I bit my lip and scratched the back of my neck. Ah shit, way to make it awkward doofus.
"S-so... when did this start?" I asked, trying to change the subject.
Ivan tilted his head, looking away and thinking about it. "Hm... it was about a month or two after I got here so... five months ago?" I chewed on my lip more. This has been going on for five months and nobody has noticed? "And you're the only one who knows besides me. So please don't tell anyone. I can't let my sisters know." Ivan said quietly.
I shook my head. "Of course not. I won't tell a soul. But I'm glad you told me."
Ivan cracked a grim smile. Instead of trying to talk to him more, I just reached out and brushed my fingers over his carved upper body. I thought I felt his muscles tighten the second I touched him, but I dismissed it and touched a scar that ran over his shoulder. It seemed older than the rest of them, and I questioned Ivan about it.
He smiled widely and said, "That's because it was there long before I arrived in America. Someone tried to attack me in a remote street in Russia, probably when I was about 12, and cut me there, as a threat. He demanded me for money, which I had none of. Literally. We had nothing at that point and it was pointless robbing us. When I told the man that, he searched all my pockets and... forbidden places... but didn't find anything. Like I said. He then huffed and left me alone. It was a strange experience."
My eyebrows pulled together in concern, and Ivan noticed and quickly dismissed it by saying, "Don't worry, I'm fine. It wasn't that bad a cut. Plus it was forever ago."
I nodded hesitantly and continued to run my fingers over him. I wasn't sure what it was, but it was calming just to touch him. It felt nice.
I located one long scar that ran from the top of his shoulder all the way to nearly behind his ear. I held my tongue for this one, not really wanting to know the reason behind it.
I heard him gasp as I touched on that ran along his collar bone, and retracted my hand. "S-sorry." I mumbled.
He shook his head. "It's fine. That one's just a little sensitive."
I nodded, but kept my hands to myself this time. I didn't want to make him uncomfortable.
"Is your hot chocolate cold?" I asked Ivan.
He grabbed his cup and took a sip. "Yeah." He said, grimacing at the taste of cold hot chocolate. I smiled at him and took the cup from his hand. "I'll go heat it up in the microwave. Is there anything else you'd like?" He shook his head and I nodded and headed towards the kitchen. He followed me in as I popped open the microwave and slid the cup in. I put the time for one minute, assuming it was pretty chilled by now. I hit "start" and turned around to find a shirtless Ivan leaning against the table, observing me.
"Hi." I called out. He blinked and nodded at me. "You do realize you're still not wearing a shirt... right?" I questioned him. His eyes widened and he rushed out of the room to find his discarded shirt. I had to admit, I was pretty upset that he didn't leave it off.
When he came back in, he was still sliding the shirt over his head. I giggled at him, but turned to get the mug from the microwave as I heard it beep. I grabbed a potholder and clutched the handle of the steaming mug carefully. I set it on the counter and deemed it too hot to drink, and explained this to Ivan. He agreed and I decided we should do something in the meantime.
"I could teach you some drawing basics, if you want..." Ivan mumbled.
I quickly nodded, excited at the idea of learning how to draw.
Ivan smiled at me and said, "Go find some paper, lots of it, and two pencils. And make sure the erasers work good."
~Later~
"How can you remember all this shit from the top of your head?" I asked Ivan, bewildered by the amount of information coming out of him from a subject as simple as sketching.
"Well, first, sketching is very important, so there's going to be a hell of a lot of information about it and second, I've been drawing since I was a child, of course I know a lot about this." Ivan giggled at my expression. "Sorry. But you're improving. See, you made the circle better." He pointed to a more ovular circle and I glared at him.
His smile dropped and he brushed the tip of his pencil over the paper to make the circle a little more circular and erased the wrong lines.
I sighed and took part in fixing my outline. "Sorry." I mumbled. Ivan smiled and shrugged, continuing to help me make the picture clearer.
...
...
...
"I didn't know you could do that..." Yao murmured, fascinated with my techniques for drawing.
"Yeah, you can just push it down harder and you can make it darker, instead of finding another pencil. But it only works for certain pencils, okay?" I said, trying to make sure he didn't accidentally mess up a future picture because of my misinformation.
Yao nodded and added shading to the neck of the character he drew with me. His hand was a little unstable, but that was normal for beginners and it would go away after a while. The character he was currently shading was me. He insisted he drew me, since I'd already done one of him. I couldn't deny.
I helped him with the different shades of my pale gray hair and the creamy white colour of my now gone scarf. When we were finally finished, I leaned back and took in what we just accomplished. The lines were a little wobbly, since I insisted Yao do them, and the colours would sometimes leak out of the lines, but overall, it looked pretty good.
"Wow, nice job Yao. It looks amazing." I said, glancing towards a proud looking Yao.
He said to me, "Well you did most of it..."
I shook my head. "No I didn't. I guided you through most of it, but you did all of it."
Yao smiled at that and nodded. I smiled back and checked my phone to look at the time. It was nearly midnight. Yao didn't seem to care.
"Hey, let's watch something on Netflix!" He said excitedly.
I shrugged and he grabbed the remote from the coffee table to turn the TV on and switch it to Netflix. We argued for about ten minutes until we finally agreed on a show called Cosmos. It was basically about the universe, and we were both pretty interested in it. As it started, the amount of information flowing into my ears was a bit overwhelming, but as I adjusted, it just fascinated me, the amount of space in the universe.
We were silent the whole time, not in an awkward sense, but in a sort of fascination of everything we were learning. I soon felt myself drifting off, barely hearing what the man on the screen was saying, and before I knew it, sleep had taken over my senses.
...
...
...
Ivan was asleep. It was the second time I got to see him asleep today. I loved watching his peaceful slumber, and even fell asleep next to him, the show boring compared to Ivan's sleeping form. My head resting on his bulky shoulder and my feet curled up under me on the couch, we slept until I woke up first. I slowly gathered my senses and sat up, rubbing my eyes. I glanced at the still-sleeping Ivan and smiled. We hadn't had a chance to set up anything to sleep on, so we were still in our clothes from yesterday and his shoes were even on. I pushed down the urge to touch his silky looking hair and stood up, bending backwards to pop my back. He stirred a little, and I tensed, but he let out a sigh and went back to his sleeping.
I went towards the kitchen and flicked on the lights. Everything was still the same, but the damn hot chocolate was still on the counter. I laughed to myself. We had forgotten it over the events of drawing and Netflix. I dumped out the contents and put the mug in the sink. Walking over to the fridge, I went over the items in it to see what I could make for breakfast. I wanted to make something good for Ivan, but I wasn't sure what he liked.
After about thirty minutes of contemplating of what I should make, I decided to just go get some donuts. I left a note on the coffee table explaining where I was going, in case he woke up, and left the house.
~Later~
Ding!
The soft tinkle of a bell above my head sounded and a woman at the front counter looked over towards me.
"Hello! Welcome to Little Dots! How can I help you?" She chirped from behind the counter.
I smiled brightly at her and said, "Good morning. Can I have a to-go case of six donuts? The variety pack please."
She nodded and typed my order up on the computer and headed to the back of the store to presumably grab my order. As I waited, I looked around the shop. It was the same shop that I had asked Ivan to meet me at, when I learned that my mother had died. There was the same paintings, same colours, and the same girl that had taken our orders.
I smiled. I hadn't missed her gossiping about us that day, when I was clinging to Ivan like his lover.
My face turned red. I did look like his lover. Was that how I always acted? Do I treat him like I would a... boyfriend?
I thought about it. Ivan was currently the most important person in my life. I don't really like anyone right now but him, and...
Oh shit I do love him.
Yeah, yeah I know I ended both on a similar note. But holy shit I am so sorry this has taken me so fucking long to write. I've had a writers block this entire time and it hasn't been easy. This chapter sucks ass, and I know it, but I'm attempting to get this shit along. Everyone is figuring out their feelings so hopefully everything will be okay in the next chapter. Anyway, thank you to all who has favourited, followed, or reviewed, they help me a lot. Hope you have a nice day and happiness!
~mmbazb