A/N: Graaaaahhh my foot hurts so much and the nail is falling off and I'm panicking because I don;t want to know what the skin under the toe looks like! DX I'm squeamish...

So if you all liked the last chapter and were excited about Alfred"s silly mistake, you're going to love this one~

To pengirl100and2 (because she didn't login again!): Well, at least you're back! With a lot of reading to do...and I'm such a hypocrite! I hate reading a chapter that ends with a cliffhanger but I do it anyway DX I'm so mean to you guys! At least you only have to wait until the next day to see what happens next!

Alfred sat hunched over in a chair, back in Ivan's dining room. His hands were clasped together on his lap, pressed against his rolling stomach. Scared blue eyes occasionally lifted from the carpeted floor to watch Ivan pacing in front of the doorway to the hall before falling back down.

What had he been thinking when he shouted out he loved Ivan? He could have come up with any name, any random name that popped into his head! Then why had he spouted out his? By the way Ivan was glaring at the floor, he was sure the Russian was going to kill him before his sister could even come back to the house.

He groaned. Any name at all!

Ivan turned to Alfred at the sound, his eyes wide like he had forgotten that the blond was even there. He started to walk towards Alfred, but paused and turned away, muttering low under his breath.

"Ivan, I don't know what I was saying! I was just-"

"Shouting nonsense, da? That is all you ever do."

Alfred's jaw dropped. "What?" he asked meekly.

"You need to think before you speak, Alfred! Did you even bother to think about what Natalia would do? You are lucky – extremely lucky – that she did not turn on you after that."

"I was trying to distract her."

"And that was your first thought?"

"Well, I thought that the only way to distract her was to have someone else love you too, since that's all she seems to care about."

"Natalia cares about other things." The sudden coldness in his tone made Alfred flinch.

"I didn't mean to-"

Ivan shook his head. "It is more than just Natalia too. I do not know if your words were true or not."

"You mean if I really love you? I was trying to help you, not go out with you!"

"But with the sudden confession from Matthew and your insistence on becoming friends at the same time…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold it there for a sec big guy. You think me becoming friends with you was a competition between me and Mattie? That's so disgusting! I just wanted to be friends!" Ivan raised an eyebrow at him. Alfred sighed. "No, dude. I do not love you. I like you as a friend and all, but that's it."

"You do not love me."

"No, I-" Alfred hesitated. If he had said those words so easily in that moment of panic, didn't that mean something? Oh, ew, no. He did not love Ivan! Sure, he liked hanging out with the guy, and he felt proud when he got the snowman to laugh or smile, but it wasn't like he wanted to spend all his time with Ivan and do everything together! Or…did he?

Oh my God, why was he questioning himself about this? They were just friends! He couldn't love a friend. Especially Ivan! He didn't feel anything for the guy, except maybe a little bit of warmth when he spotted Ivan, but he didn't get angry of frustrated when Matthew told them both he loved Ivan. Just a bit of…jealousy?

"Alfred?"

He jumped. "U-um no, man, I-I most defiantly don't like you, dude", he blurted.

Ivan watched him for a few seconds more, much to Alfred's frustration, before nodding and turning away. "Natalia will want to talk to you-"

"Don't you mean mutilate me?"

"-Mutilate you, when she is finished chatting with your brother."

"Hopefully Mattie will be smart enough to say he doesn't love you in front of her."

"Da. And what will you do?"

Defiantly not tell her I might possibly like Ivan more than I should? "Throw something in her face and run like hell's on my heels."

"She can run faster."

He blanched. "Really? Oh, man. Fine. I'll just tell her that I was being a hero and hero's make mistakes!"

"And hopefully she will believe that. I like you, Alfred. I do not want to have to attend your funeral any time soon."

Alfred fidget in his seat and nodded.