It was rare for him to cook breakfast, but today was a special day. He wanted to be sure he had everyone's full attention, so he made porridge with fresh blueberries in it! Blueberries were rare to come by sometimes, but it was spring and everything is free in nature, that was the whole point! He smiled and hummed a bit as he poured the cereal into fourteen different bowls painted like the flag emblem of the person who owned it!
Well. He supposed that was confusing at times, since he preached equality in everything and thus almost all the flags looked very similar! They all ate the same food anyway so did it really matter at the end of the day?
Russia set the table and stood at the table, smiling as the others all slowly took their seats and continued their daily routines, settling in as if they hadn't even realized he was in the room. All of his friends! The war had ended several years ago but due to shortages in everything, they all still wore their uniforms from that time, Russia himself included, but he didn't mind one bit. It made them all look so professional! He looked around the table to see if everyone was there, and upon seeing everyone had arrived, he took a step back.
"Morning! Did you like the oatmeal I made for you?" He asked cheerfully, making several people pause in their movements and push their bowls away from them.
"So you poisoned it! I bet you absolutely poisoned it!" Kazakhstan gasped. "And I thought we were such good friends!" She wore all black with a thin veil to keep sand off her face, but in spite of it her long loopy braids framed her face far better.
"Even if it is...you're hungry, right? You're hungry, so eat it," Kyrgyzstan sighed, wearing black with goggles on her head and long braids. The two looked and acted close enough to be sisters, Kyrgyzstan gently putting a hand on Kazakhstan's shoulder.
"You're right! I'm hungry! I don't care if it's poisoned! Like, I'm gonna eat it anyway!" She grabbed her spoon and started shoveling it all into her mouth at a rapid rate.
"I bet I could finish that bowl way faster than you!" Uzbekistan announced, grabbing his spoon and also shoving porridge into his mouth at a rapid rate, some of it flying out of the bowl and landing on the tablecloth that was also often used for a sheet.
"It's made with real blueberries!" Ukraine gasped to herself, smiling. "That makes it more quant!"
"Yeah. Don't know the last time we had fresh fruit like this," Tajikistan nodded.
Latvia let his food cool and instead was sitting at the table reading a book, trying to rest his head in his hand as he did so.
Turkmenistan silently stirred her porridge, blowing on it before putting a spoonful into her mouth.
"I wanted to be sure you all had the proper strength to work hard today! I was told by some of your bosses your morale towards work is slipping. Why could that be?" Russia asked innocently.
"I'm out," Azerbaijan suddenly sneezed loudly, coughing several times. "I got a nasty cold from overworking myself,"
"Get away then! You're going to get the rest of us sick with your shit!" Belarus snapped, trying to wave him away.
"You will only get sick if God wants you to get sick," Lithuania reminded her, stirring his own porridge.
"Shut up," She growled at him instead.
"I agree, you all are annoying," Armenia sighed, taking a drag from her cigarette and tapping the ashes into her uneaten bowl.
Azerbaijan coughed loudly again, hacking into his sleeve.
"Well, I can't imagine why you aren't all working hard!" Russia sighed. "You're just the same as always!"
"Exactly...so you didn't even need to call this meeting," Lithuania offered a nervous smile.
"But I did! I worry about all of you, my dearest friends, and want to make sure I'm doing a good job taking care of all of you!"
"You are! Your cooking skills have really improved!" Ukraine held out her empty bowl.
"Aa href="wwwww"wwwww/a, none left over for me?" Moldova pouted in a childish way, showing off his own bowl. "I ate all mine a long time ago!"
"I'm sorry...maybe during lunch I'll give you some of mine, okay?" She gently ran her hand through Moldova's hair, making him giggle. "Oh, let me brush your hair before you leave!"
"Yes, Big Sister!" He eagerly climbed onto her lap and she pulled out her brush from her bag, brushing carefully through the knots in his hair.
"As if my big-tittied sister needed any more food," Belarus narrowed her eyes. "You spoil her too much. Why don't you spoil me, Big Brother?!"
Russia just continued to smile. "I cooked you all breakfast and wanted to give you a speech to inspire you all! To make you all remember you're not only my good friends, you're your own people and you have a job to do! Make my boss and all your bosses super rich to crush the ideas of that stupid Capitalist America!" An intimidating aura surrounded him that made the breakfast-goers all shiver in fear despite it not being targeted at any of them. "You can work hard and help me burn the pig-dog nation to the ground because together, we all form the greatest and strongest nation of all time!"
Azerbaijan punctuated that by coughing hard for several seconds, groaning. "I'm going to bed,"
"Nonsense! You're perfectly hardy enough to work!" Russia grabbed Azerbaijan and pushed him back into his seat, making him sneeze and the dishes clatter. Latvia looked up from his book with a gasp, trying to steady everything.
"W-What happened...?" He asked shyly.
"Everyone is being entirely unreasonable and unfair," Georgia had kicked his feet up onto the table, running his hands over some bills in his hands. "I was of the hopeful mind that this would be a pleasant, quiet breakfast,"
"Do we ever have quiet breakfasts? Do we ever really?" Kyrgyzstan sighed.
"Once in a blue moon," Tajikistan said.
Turkmenistan had finished her food long ago and was instead silently hemming another rug in green with a starry night pattern.
"I made a plentiful amount of money last week. Perhaps I would be able to acquire a car in the near future!" Georgia finished counting his money with a smile. "Fancy that, a car! The only one of you to own such a object!"
"Cough it up," Armenia rolled her eyes, taking another drag from her cigarette and adjusted her position so she could toss her floor-long braid over her chair and stop sitting on it. Azerbaijan coughed and hacked again, spraying his food on the table. She grimaced. "Gross! Not you!"
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan finished their eating contest and pushed their bowls away, Uzbekistan smirking at her.
"Good job!" He slapped her back.
"Who totes won though? Me or you?" She asked, blinking curiously.
"Does it fucking matter?!" Belarus snapped. "You're both hot-headed bimbos and one has a small dick and the other has small tits,"
"It's really hard to fill out!" Kazakhstan pouted.
"I'm sorry she insulted you like that!" Kyrgyzstan gasped.
"She's right. We got way less to eat than the Europeans," Tajikistan adjusted his glasses.
"You're imagining shit, I barely got anything either," Belarus said before looking over at Armenia. "And don't kill your lungs alone, give me one!"
Armenia handed her a cigarette and even helped her light it up with her lighter, Belarus taking a long drag.
"Ummmm...don't you work around gasoline all day?" Latvia asked shyly, peeking over from the top of his book.
"What's it to you?"
"What are you reading?" Ukraine asked him nicely, tying up the remainder of Moldova's hair. "You look so grown-up! Go look in a mirror before work, alright?"
"Thanks, Big Sister!" Moldova hopped off her lap and smiled politely before dashing out of the room.
"Is it more poetry?" Lithuania asked.
"No," Latvia shook his head and held out the title. "It's about food processing. I have a bunch of new factories but I'm clueless about how to run them...s-so I'm reading about it,"
"Good job!" Russia gently placed his hands on Latvia, making him tremble ad look away. "Comrade Latvia cares so much about bettering himself and being efficient! You all could learn from him!"
Turkmenistan held up her rug to the light, trying to see where she needed to hem next. Georgia ran his thumb over his pile of bills. Azerbaijan coughed again. Russia sighed and stepped away.
"Well then! Off to work for all of you then! Work hard and bring us strength and prosperity!" He swiped the rug out of Turkmenistan's hands, making her features darken and took one last look around the table, his eyes stopping on the one person who arrived but had said nothing throughout the whole meal because he was passed out drunk, face-first into his bowl, a half-empty vodka bottle beside him. "Comrade Lithuania, can you wake up Comrade Estonia before you go? He may be drunk but we all have to work regardless!"
Lithuania sighed but still poked Estonia, making him jolt and look up. "Time for work,"
"Oh," Estonia grabbed his head and took a swig from his bottle, wiping off the porridge from his face. "It's not five in the morning?"
"I wish," Latvia pouted as he closed up his book and followed the three of them out of the room.
"Another day in the fields!" Ukraine tried to remain cheerful, adjusting her hair.
"Easy for you to say," Belarus took a drag of her cigarette again. "That little brat not following you to work today?"
"I'm sure he'll come later...we could eat lunch together!"
"Another day in the fields...tell me about it," Turkmenistan mumbled quietly to herself, eyeing the rug still in Russia's hands.
"Time to go! No need to worry! We'll be fine! Comrade Russia will give that rug back to you after work! We just gotta work hard!" Uzbekistan tried to reassure her. "Nice weather to pick cotton in!"
"I need some tea for my throat," Azerbaijan rubbed at it, coughing. "I hope I get some during my break,"
"I have far more bills than I originally anticipated! Perhaps if I am wise and save up more, I can possess a house as well!" Georgia said to himself as he fanned himself with his money.
"Again, cough it up," Armenia blew a bunch of smoke out of her mouth.
"I don't feel so good...I ate too much...what if I vomit later?! Ohhhh..." Kazakhstan gasped. "Especially if I have to be at any test sites today...!"
"You'll be fine, you'll be fine!" Kyrgyzstan tried to reassure her. "Uh, chin up and all that!"
Tajikistan simply left without a word, accidentally running into a panicking Moldova.
"What the-"
"I'm sorry! Big Sister must've left without me on accident!"
"Then go catch up to her, kid,"
Russia smiled and waved at them all, glad to see them all so happy. They would all work so hard and make him so proud, he knew it! As he left for work himself, he took a look at a picture taken right after the war ended of everyone together. He cherished that picture more than the one of him and the Allies, putting that one below the one of his new friends. Ukraine and Belarus were holding onto his arms in the picture, smiling on either side, and Moldova was peeking out from behind Ukraine's skirt like the little child he still was. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan had to sit on stools due to their sickly natures, but both smiled a strained but polite smile each. Tajikistan was crossing his arms while Uzbekistan stared at his watch and not into the camera. Turkmenistan kept her eyes downcast, nearly hidden by her veil. Georgia had a polite, formal smile, keeping away from the others, while Azerbaijan posed with a tea pot and pointed at Georgia. Armenia looked shy and folded her hands in front of her, such a demure side to a fiery girl now. The Baltics stood on the other side of the picture, still badly roughed-up from the war, not even attempting to look pleasant or friendly. Then of course there was himself, smiling from being surrounded by so many happy friends.
He loved them all so much! He waved at the picture and then left for his own job with his boss, excited to hear what tales the others will tell at dinner concerning their own respective duties.
Just another day in the wonderful Union of Soviet Socialist Republics!
Historical notes in case any references weren't clear:
Azerbaijan having a bad cold references how the Republic was a rich one until the sixties when Russia used up all the oil in Azerbaijan and then refused to let them drill underwater, leaving the nation to basically rot economically and become the second-poorest Republic in the Union.
Ukraine and Moldova's relationship is referencing how Russia gifted all of Moldova to Ukraine to care for and Ukraine did see it as a very motherly relationship. Belarus' quip about Ukraine being spoiled is also a reference to that as for a majority of Soviet times Russia spoiled and doted on Ukraine more than other Republics, showering it with gifts and praising its culture and identity.
Armenia smoking and using her food as an ashtray is to reference how the nation was heavily-industrialized during the Stalin era but suffered from pollution and a bunch of environmental issues. Soviet Russian assessments of the Republics from around the eighties claims Armenia was the most polluted of the fourteen.
Georgia counting his money is referencing how despite slow-growing the economy of Soviet Georgia was, a lot of people saved up so it was the Republic with the highest amount of car and house ownership.
The Central Asian Republics tended to be the poorest in general when compared to their European counterparts, hence their comments about not getting more food than the others, especially since some such as Kazakhstan suffered from government-inflicted famines. Similar genocides happened in Belarus and Moldova, trying to kill off huge amounts of the resistant populations without making it too 'obvious'.
Latvia's book is a reference to how the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic was considered to be the most high-tech, intelligent, and advanced of the Republics. The population received better education and the latest technologies went to Latvia so they received a lot of work concerning food and oil processing, chemicals, machinery, and techno-electrical communications.
Estonia being drunk references how seventies reports indicate the Republic had the largest amounts of alcoholism in the whole Soviet Union.
Turkmenistan making a rug and Azerbaijan wanting tea and posing with a teapot reference two major exports of the nations to Russia, as well as national symbols of pride and artistry from them. Azerbaijan is pointing to Georgia because tea is also a major part of their culture and was also exported to Russia quite frequently.
Kazakhstan being extremely sick references how badly the nation suffered under Soviet rule; it was used as a test site for nuclear bombs, was forcefully starved through famines, and was the location of a large political prisoner camp for female prisoners. Kyrgyzstan was one of the poorest Republics in the Union if not the poorest.
The two girls having a sisterly relationship is in reference to their closeness throughout history, and likewise Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were turned into cotton-industry-producing giants in the Soviet era hence them working together in this.
This fic takes place in the fifties during the Stalin era, hence the military uniforms as they were protocol to wear even after the war to show unity and patriotism. Almost all of the events and statistics I referenced tended to come from later studies done in the nation because of more liberal policies and openness in the Soviet Union in later decades, but since Hetalia plays it fast and loose timeline-wise a lot and this is meant to be a more comedic fic, I figured it wouldn't hurt anyone to make these references even if some aren't super timely.