Can't believe I'm on chapter 14 already. It's shorter than the last chapter, but it's from Russia's point of view. I'm incredibly nervous about it so be gentle. Let me remind you that this is based mostly off history rather than canon so don't be weirded out too much by the middlish bit. Anyways, enjoy!
England woke the next morning for the first day of the Meeting feeling exhausted, and hadn't wanted to get out of bed. However, she did, once Russia had gotten out of bed and had taken a good portion of the warmth with him. He got the bathroom first, and so she occupied herself with her other preparations such as picking out her clothes and organizing her papers and so forth. He ignored her and she ignored him when they switched places with England taking the bathroom.
She felt guilty and awkward, but didn't feel the need to apologize. They were silent on their trip to where the nations were meeting, and she almost missed the way they had been talking before America had interrupted. Still, she walked calmly beside Russia and gave no hint of the troubles between them. Russia was doing the same, and his ominous presence kept the other nations at bay for the moment.
Upon entering the building, England heard a guttural growl of, "You!"
England didn't even have to turn to know it was Belarus. She had had some of the men her boss allowed her to subtly keep her occupied and unaware of their wedding ceremony, but she had known that such subterfuge would eventually lead to this. She had only hoped that her new sister-in-law would have had the tact to choose a more private setting for her confrontation. Belarus continued to stomp towards her, ranting in Belarusian, and England couldn't understand a word.
Instead of walking forward the last few steps, Belarus leapt at her. She wrapped her fingers around her throat and knocked her to the floor. She continued to curse at her, and England could feel the spit hitting her face.
"Belarus!" Russia bellowed, physically pulling his sister off of his wife. She struggled to be released, but she couldn't escape from the headlock he'd put her in. She quieted when he began speaking to her, his voice cold and deep. England couldn't understand what he was saying, but watched Belarus's reaction to his words as she stood. She was still angry and annoyed, but she was listening to him. Hopefully, that would be enough; otherwise England would have her own words for her.
He released her and she stormed off. Russia looked to England. "Thanks, but I didn't need your help," she said.
He sent her a look that bordered on confusion. "I'm perfectly capable of handling her myself," she told him, taking a step forward, "Next time, please don't interfere."
He frowned, but didn't argue with her. She turned on her heel and headed into the meeting room. She didn't bother looking back as she could hear his footsteps behind her. She was greeted by the sight of a large table and a good number of nations already sitting in their usual seats. No nation's seat had been changed to accommodate the new marriages. England took her seat between America and France, leaving Russia to take his seat alone amongst the other Slavic nations.
Ukraine was seated next to him. They said nothing to each other in greeting. Russia had stopped attempting to reconcile the past between them long ago. They had grown comfortable with the silence that occupied the space between them. He paid attention to the first five minutes of the opening speech before wandering off into his imagination. He stopped taking notes and began doodling whatever popped into his head to make it look like perhaps he was still taking those notes.
"Congratulations," Ukraine said quietly to him, without alerting anyone else to their conversation.
He stopped doodling and waited for her to say something else. "You got to marry your first crush," she said bitterly.
He didn't know where she was going to strike, and so stayed silent. "Knowing you, you'll manage to ruin that, too. I admit that your skills of persuasion were much better than what I expected, but it was her water mains that broke her wrist, yes?" she asked, glancing at him out of the corner of her eyes.
He clenched his jaw and was unwilling to admit how precise her aim was. "You are insinuating false accusations," he warned her.
"You do know I've been calling with her, don't you?" she asked, now smiling slightly.
"What for?" he asked, returning to his doodles, but listening intently. He hadn't known that Ukraine was so keen on knowing his business or his wife. He tapped the tip of the pen harshly onto the paper. He didn't like this conversation.
"She's my sister now. She doesn't deserve to be hurt by you. I was hoping you wouldn't ever marry, but I promised myself I would keep any new sister of ours safe from you," she said, lightly tapping her fingers against the wood of the table.
"She won't be hurt, and what does any of it matter to you?" he assured her fiercely and spit the question back at her. He was ignoring the eyes his question drew.
"She's family now, and I'm just informing you. We're all watching," she said, shifting her eyes back to the speaker.
Russia glanced around the room at the faces of all the nations. Their faces were blank and their eyes were studying the speaker, judging his words. Not one was looking at him, but he knew that his sister was telling the truth. None of them trusted his half of their marriage. Everyone was waiting for him to make a mistake, to stumble and fail. He wouldn't let them see it happen.
"I'll be sure to return the favor when you marry," he said lightly, returning to doodling.
He didn't react when he saw her frown. She didn't say anything else to him. He continued to doodle and half pay attention to the speeches the other nations were making. He wouldn't be speaking until close to the end. It was his usual slot, and he was well aware that it was long after the point most nations stopped listening. He could probably give it in Russian and no one would notice he wasn't using their communal English.
He stood with everyone else as they broke for lunch. Before he could even take a step, he saw England being led away by America. The two women were followed by Canada, Australia, France, and Ukraine was even quick enough to join the group as they were leaving.
"I'm sorry," China said politely as he finished gathering his things at his own pace. Russia knew his friend was being saved a seat by his wife.
"That's not going to help us," he commented, half wanting to just push out his arm so that all of his things and papers would fall over the edge of the table.
"To them, that doesn't matter," he said as he moved towards the door, "Come on, let's go catch up."
He nodded and followed China. He remained a step behind the other nation as he led him to wherever America had decided to dine. It turned out to be a small and crowded restaurant. It was filled with chatty people wearing fashionable clothes enjoying simplistic but appetizing meals. Russia expected it to be a place America would choose to eat at, and he rolled his eyes. "Let's get our own table," China said, gesturing to a free table near where everyone else had gathered. The restaurant had accommodated the group by pushing a few tables together.
"Why?" he asked, not understanding the reasoning behind sitting by themselves.
"You don't know how this works, do you?" he asked, looking disappointed.
"I don't even know what you're talking about," he answered plainly, unashamed of ignorance of whatever China was talking about.
"Just, go with it. I'll explain later," the shorter nation said as they were lead to the empty table by a waitress, and then given menus.
They occupied a few moments of their time surreptitiously watching the other table. England was bickering away with France, and occasionally switched to America. He had forgotten how argumentative she could be as she was always so quiet and calm around him. He wished she could say so many words to him, even if they were hurtful or anger filled. She would at least be telling him something, interacting with him. Last night had been wonderful in that aspect from after the cockroach until America had butted in.
"So how is your marriage?" China asked, drawing Russia's attention away from his wife and back to him, "I know I probably should have called you, but America keeps me busy."
Russia decided it would be better if he did not ask with what. "It's been…mostly bad," he admitted.
"What exactly have you been doing?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" Russia returned, leaning his forearms on the table.
"I don't know," he shrugged, "Do you do anything together? I mean, aside from living in the same house."
"Well, we went to a gala, but that didn't go very well," he said then frowned, "I took her out to dinner last night, and then America messed it up. Your wife is a nightmare."
"I don't agree with you there, seeing as I married her, but she knows what she did was wrong," China leaned around Russia to give his wife a harsh glare.
Russia turned around to see America with a confused expression before glaring at him. He returned the sentiments before turning back to their table as a waitress came to take their orders. They handed the girl their menus, and returned to their conversation when she left. "So aside from what my wife messed up, how has it been otherwise?" China asked.
"Not much," he told him bitterly, "We have an issue or two to sort out that we haven't yet, but that's about it."
"That doesn't sound too bad," he remarked frankly, "What sort of issues?"
Russia rubbed his cheek and decided to skimp on the details. He didn't particularly want to explain the whole touching thing to anyone as he was certain it would be misconstrued. "Not sure, she's just too complicated sometimes," he said before resting his chin on his hand.
"You'll figure her out eventually," China assured him, "You're good at puzzles, aren't you?"
Russia chuckled briefly at that. "But perhaps not good enough for this one," he muttered sourly afterwards.
"You just have to be patient. I recommend figuring out what upsets her first, and then not doing whatever that is," he informed him.
"Is that what you did?" he asked, resisting the urge to turn around and see his friend's wife sitting next to his.
"Yes, I think it's worked out rather well," he answered sincerely, "But I'm not going to tell you how to piss her off. That's probably one of the things."
"Probably? I thought you knew," Russia teased lightly.
"No, not everything, not yet, that comes with time," China replied, and then sighed, "Lots and lots of time."
"That sounds…awful," he said, not wanting to imagine the horror of spending so much time with America.
"That is not my opinion. Most of that time is wonderfully spent," he pointed out, "Anyways, back to your marriage. Are you happy you did it?"
"Of course," he said automatically, "Even if it's not fantastic, at least I've married her."
"So you've accomplished your goal of getting her to marry you. Now what?" he asked. Russia couldn't respond right away as the waitress returned with their food. They thanked her, and ate a few first bites of the admittedly nice, but not spectacular food before orienting back onto their earlier conversation.
"I now have to get her to like me," he answered.
"Doesn't she already?" China asked, leaning to the side to catch a glimpse of the nation in question, "She married you."
"It doesn't always seem like it," he muttered sourly, viciously stabbing the next bite of his meal with his fork.
"From what Hong Kong has told me, she didn't seem like someone who'd marry. You must have done something right to convince her to marry you. You're at least incredibly lucky if nothing else. I think you just need to let her take her time, and it'll be fine," he explained between mouthfuls, waving his fork around regardless of whether or not he'd eaten all of the food off of it.
"Take her time?" he asked, tilting his head and pausing his eating.
"Yeah, it's a lot to get used to, moving in together and all that. Me and America fought all the time after moving in together, and we were much closer than you two are," he said, looking up as he remembered the first few months of his marriage.
"We…haven't actually fought about that," Russia said, currently concerned if his marriage was just going to be wrong entirely forever.
"You haven't?" China asked, sounding genuinely surprised, "You've either done something right, or it's going to happen soon."
He ran a hand through his hair, "Why do I feel like it's going to be the latter?"
"Wait, if you're having problems with England and it's not about you moving in together, what are you having issues with?"
"I don't think she'd want me to tell you, really," he said, not sure if he even wanted China to know what had been going on between them, "She's just so frustrating."
He held back a sigh, and glanced up from his food to see that his friend was attempting to decode his words. He took that moment to turn around and steal a glance at his wife. He then added, "And absolutely tantalizing."
"I'm sorry, what was that last bit?" China asked, interrupting Russia's thoughts.
"It was nothing," he answered, and returned to his food. China could press all he wanted, but Russia didn't think he needed any more advice.
Ah, poor Russia. One sister hates your wife, the other is giving you grief because you had the gall to get married, America is playing keep away with your wife, and your wife snapped at you when you were just trying to be helpful and protective. At least, China is trying to help you. (Btw, Ukraine hasn't forgiven Russia for the Soviet era and she's not trying to hurt their marriage but rather trying to dissuade Russia from doing anything that could hurt England with the knowledge that others will act on her behalf if he does. Just want to make that clear)
And isn't tantalizing just such a great word? Yeah, the relationship is a bit one-sided but England is quite a slow burner in the emotion department. Besides, the next chapter is fluffy which I'm sure you all will love.
I've also started writing two new fem!EnglandxRussia stories and I should stop because I have other fics I need to work on. Anyways, please review! (and Happy New Year!)