A/N: Why hello! I bet you didn't expect me to upload so soon! But it is I, the author! Mmm, yess indeed. Your very, VERY stupid author. Oh, well… I actually didn't mean to write stupid per say, I think my tablet is trying to tell me something. I am very sleep deprived, as you can probably tell. Ah yes, this is prime time for writing! FORWARDS! I'M GOING TO ROT ALL OF YOUR TEETH TODAY! *EVIL LAUGHTER* You know, I yell too much. I should fix that.

Belarus P.O.V

Belarus had been having a rather nice morning. She had just gotten back to her house after spending a few days at her sister's home. Before she had left her sister had fretted over her and given her a new pair of gloves she had made for her. Ukraine had fussed that her gloves were too thin, and that she needed to bundle up more, and then demanded she take home some leftovers from the previous night. Belarus couldn't help but stare fondly at the gloves in her hands as she sat in her kitchen. Her sister had always been a little overprotective of her and their brother.

She couldn't help but remember when they were little, when her sister had given her brother his scarf. Belarus remembered with slight amusement that she had cried for days afterwards about not getting a gift as well. Katya had just laughed at the time, patting her head and promising that she was already making her something, and that she had to be patient. She had given her a beautiful pair of white and blue mittens soon afterwards, which she still had. Unlike her brother's scarf, she had grown out of her gift, so she had stored them away for safe keeping. Her sister often made gloves for her after that. Belarus had a whole chest full of them in her room for when they got too frayed. For some reason she was always reluctant to throw them out.

"I need to go to the store soon and buy some yarn." She hummed to herself, glancing at her sewing and knitting basket in the corner of the room. She hadn't stocked up yet this season. She had been a little busy with her brother's situation for the last week, so she had forgotten about it. Putting the gloves carefully on the table, she reached over and grabbed the basket and lifted it on the table. She had just started to go through the basket, making mental notes on what to buy, when she heard the shrill ring of her work phone from her office.

Sighing in frustration, (someone always seemed to call when she tried to start her crafting projects), she reluctantly got up and briskly walked to her office. It wasn't a very large room. It just had a small desk with a computer and her land line on it, as well as a bookshelf against the wall to hold her work binders and a small filing cabinet under the desk. Glancing down at the caller ID, she was slightly surprised to see that the man she had hired to watch America was calling her. Slightly curious, she picked it up.

"This is Arlovskaya." She said cooly, sitting down behind her desk, one of her fingers tapping on the desk impatiently. "Why are you calling me, Lebedev?"

"Who the hell are you having me follow?" Lebedev asked, his voice surprisingly unsettled.

Belarus raised an eyebrow at his tone, but decided not to remark on it. "Have you forgotten our deal already?" She asked with a hint of amusement in her voice. "Perhaps you are getting a little forgetful in your old age, yes?"

"Listen, I'm serious. I've been doing some digging on this guy, but I can't find anything! He's a ghost up to a few years ago. It's like he just fell out of the sky one day and everyone just accepted it! Then we find him working in the U.N. building-"

"You are digging up information about him!?" Belarus hissed, her eyes narrowing dangerously at the phone, her tapping finger pausing just above the desk. "Who told you to dig up any information about him? Your orders were to watch his home, not to follow him around the city! Tell me now, how far have you gotten? What do you know?!" As she spoke, she felt a small twinge of fear in her chest. If this had gotten too far, she could have exposed all of them to the world. Of course, it would be nothing a little bit of a cover up, (assassinations), couldn't fix, but she did not need the extra paperwork that came with that.

"We don't know much." Lebedev admitted reluctantly. "Only that he is around his early twenties, that he used to be a home decorator, and that he seems to be rubbing shoulders with some very important people in the government. Or governments, seeing as you are involved in this."

Belarus frowned as he spoke. America used to decorate peoples houses? That was weird. Disregarding that small piece of info, she allowed herself to relax again, her fingers now drumming on the table nervously. Good, they still thought America was normal then. Then again, it would be a bit of a leap for someone to think he wasn't anything other than human. Still, this had been too close…

"Listen to me well, Lebedev." She practically spat out the man's name. "Stop looking into him. All you had to do was watch his home. I gave you one job, and one job only. I did not hire you to think for yourself, nor to stick your nose where it might be bitten off. You would do well to remember that you are not the big fish in the pond, nor the smartest fish. Let me warn you now, if you continue to look into him, or into me or my brother, know that you will not escape my grasp. You are playing a very dangerous game, one that I guarantee you will not win. Do you understand?"

"…Yes."

"Make sure you do." She growled. "You have failed me. Stop watching him, and tell your men to never get near him again. I will pay you your final check tomorrow, but after that you will not be hearing from me again. Be thankful I am not ripping out your tongues and eyes as well. Any information you have on him is to be burned or destroyed. If I find even a scrap of information that you shouldn't have on you in the future, know that your life will become very unpleasant. Never call this number again."

With that, Belarus slammed down the phone on the receiver. Breathing heavily for a second, she let out a short, irritated scream and slammed her fists down on the desk. Cracks appeared where she hit it, and a few splinters flew off and imbedded themselves into the wall, but she didn't care. She sat like that for about a minute, breathing heavily and staring down at the desk, her hair hanging down over her face. She had to think about what to do next. She had just lost her eyes and ears in America due to their stupidity putting her in danger, and now she had no way to know what that American was planning to do to her brother. Irritated, she stood up and paced her office, chewing nervously on her thumb nail.

Due to her siblings, she couldn't just fly over to U.S.A and confront America immediately. Even if she did take her passport back, her sister would raise the alarm. Nor could she call her brother as he had been ignoring her calls since she had last spoken to him. She could ask her sister to check on them, but her sister would not give her any important information in fear of her getting angry. There was no way her boss would tell her anything. None of the other nations would help her either, in fear of what her brother would do to them if he found out they were spying on him. She had nothing! No options left, no allies, nothing!

In a fit of anger, she picked up the phone and was about to throw it against the already broken desk when a sudden thought came to her. The Christmas party. Her sister had told her America had said she was still invited to the Christmas party. Slowly, she put the phone back on the table as she thought. It wasn't a perfect solution. The party was still almost two weeks away, and she still wouldn't be able to do anything till then, but she would still be able to check on her brother then, and if needed talk him out of whatever scheme that bastard American was cooking up.

A humourless chuckle escaped her as she thought about it. It was deliciously ironic that she would be able to get into America's county and destroy his schemes because he had invited her himself. This was nothing more than a little set back. All she had to do was be on her best behaviour for a little while, and then her efforts would be rewarded. Yes, she had to be patient. Just for a little while. Smiling at the thought, she turned and left the office, not even noticing that her one of her hands had blood dripping from it.

Lebedev P.O.V

Lebedev sat in his chair, his phone still up to his ear as he listened to the dial tone droning on. His face was pale, and his free hand had turned white from clenching it too hard.

"Um, boss?" A lackey asked hesitantly, glancing nervously between the phone and his boss's face. "Is everything okay?"

Lebedev didn't say anything for a minute, instead slowly putting the phone back onto its receiver and leaning back into his chair with a worried expression. He took out a box of cigarettes and shook one out of the box and lit it up, taking a good, long drag from it.

"I'm not sure." Lebedev finally sighed, smoke slowly filling the room as he did so. "I think we might have gone too deep on this one. Round the boys back in. Tell them this jobs done."

"That's it?" The lackey asked in disbelief. "We do all this work, and dig through countless records, and we're giving up now? Sir, we don't even know who this person is-"

"I just said that this job is done." Lebedev interrupted, glaring at the other man, who quickly clicked his jaw shut. "We just aren't going to dig any further into this man's past. Something tells me the less we dig, the better we'll be in the long run. But that doesn't mean we're done with Mr. Jones. No, I smell something fishy here. Here, look at this." He handed a stack of papers towards the other man, who took them and scanning over the text, his face darkened.

"Is this true?" The lackey asked, and Lebedev nodded.

"Apparently there were reports of some undercover feds in the area." He said, gesturing to the papers with a scowl. "Isn't it interesting that this kid shows up just as this report roles in? Isn't it just a fucking coincidence that he shows up in my restaurant with that big wig Russian politician like it's nothing, just for some bottles of wine? Isn't it odd that he had a cover story just ready to give out, like he was expecting questions to be asked? What are the odds, hmm? It would explain why he was trying to get close to that Braginski character as well. He knows quite a bit about us, so it would make sense to try and information out of him. The only thing I can't seem to understand is why he decided to get so close to us. What was he looking for?"

"I'm not sure, but it does look rather suspicious." The lackey admitted, throwing the papers back onto the desk with a frown. "But it seems a little convenient doesn't it? It's too easy. It's almost like he's holding up a sign saying, 'look at me!', you know? Maybe we should do a little more digging before we do anything."

"What else is there to look into?" Lebedev asked in disbelief.

"Maybe he's not looking into us, but Braginski." The lackey suggested. "That man probably has enough dark things in his past to justify it. Or maybe he really is just a casual friend of Braginski. He could be helping the man look around for places to live while he works at the U.N. Just because he works there doesn't mean he can't do other things in his free time. As for the lack of social media, maybe he didn't get it until recently. I didn't bother getting it until a few years ago myself, it's not out of the realms of possibility."

"But that doesn't explain why the Boss Lady decided he was a threat to her brother." Lebedev argued. "If he was just a casual acquaintance to her brother, she wouldn't think twice about it. And while him looking into Braginski may be plausible, that still might bring up the possibility of him turning his eyes on us someday. Most of the illegal deals he's made here has been through us, or through his psycho sister. And she's made enough deals with us that if he investigates Braginski, he'll definitely look into her next. That's probably why she wanted us to keep a close eye on him in the first place, so she makes sure he doesn't to get close to her own secrets. Not to mention that Braginski doesn't have friends. He's never had friends. Hell, I don't think he's capable of being anything other terrifying. You'd have to be a nut to try and befriend that freak."

"All the more reason to look into things before we do anything." The lackey argued, tapping at the papers in the desk. "All we have right now are theory's, and if we act too rashly we could get end up in something we might not recover from."

Lebedev sat in silence for a few moments, studying the papers in front of him thoughtfully. "Is there anyway to get any more information on this kid? Any close relatives, friends, neighbours?"

"No to the first two options. We've already tried to look for some kind of close relatives, but he doesn't have family living in this country. He also doesn't seem to have many friends either. However, we may be able to get some information on him from the other tenants in the building if we do it right. Theres always a few people in an apartment building that don't like you."

"I suppose that could work. See if you can find any chatty old bats, they always have some information to share. But if we find anything, and I mean anythingthat makes it seem like he could be a threat to us, he has to go." Lebedev said, giving the lackey a steely glare. "I don't care about the boss lady's secrets or about that psycho brother of hers, but if that kid wants to walk into my house he has another thing coming his way."

"Yes, Boss."

"Make sure what we've discussed doesn't leave this room." Lebedev added as he put out his cigarette out in the ash tray next to him. "You're going to be responsible for getting the information, no one else. We need to play this close the chest for awhile. That said, bring the boys back and tell them to keep their mouths shut, and burn everything we have on this kid except for the file in my cabinet. Make sure all the video and electronic evidence is wiped. Understand?"

"Clearly." The lackey agreed.

"Get on it then." Lebedev said, waving at the door.

Alfred/Ivan's P.O.V

"Ivan."

"Hmm?"

"I'm bored."

"Mhmm."

"Let's do something fun."

"Like what?"

"I don't know."

Ivan sighed, lowering the book he was reading down enough to give Alfred an exasperated look. Alfred and him were sitting on the couch together. More accurately, Ivan was sitting on the couch. Alfred was laying upside down so his head was nearly touching the floor, and he feet were draped over the top of the couch. His glasses were crooked, and Hero was currently chewing on his hair. Alfred didn't seem to mind though, as he was casually watching the T.V like nothing was happening. Ivan didn't even know what to make of this scene, so decided to ignore it completely.

"Why are you asking if you do not know what you want to do?"

"Because I'm bored. Come on, you should think of something for us to do!" Alfred said, poking Ivan's leg. "Come on old man, I'm sure you have some ideas rattling up there in your head."

"I am not old." Ivan huffed.

"You so are."

"I am not."

"Maybe not as old as China, but you are old." Alfred said with a grin.

In response, Ivan reached over and flicked Alfred in-between his eyes. Alfred let out a squawk of protest, and Ivan smirked as he leaned back into the sofa. "Serves you right comrade."

Alfred pouted at him for a second, before rolled his eyes. "Fine. Anyways, we need to do something. Let's go out and do something." Alfred said, pushing Hero away from his head. Hero meowed sadly as he was pushed away. "Come on you big baby, you've had your fun." Alfred said, giving a quick scratch behind his ears before reaching out a hand to Ivan. "A little help?"

Ivan grabbed his hand and with surprising strength pulled Alfred up with a single tug. "I still can't get how strong you are." Alfred said after he had straightened himself out again. Hero hopped up onto his lap and kneaded happily on his owners knees, looking quite pleased with himself.

"Why?" Ivan asked. "I was once the only other super power in the world with you. It would make sense that I would be stronger than most."

"I guess, but it's not like you show it off or anything." Alfred pointed out. "You usually only do that weird death aura thing instead. I think the last time you really showed off your strength is when you stopped that tank."

Ivan grimaced slightly at the memory. "That was a less than pleasant time in my life. If it were not on my boss's order, I would have not done that."

"Still, it was pretty impressive. Batshit insane, but awesome." Alfred said. "I think one of the heaviest things I've intentionally stopped was a car. Of course, it wasn't gunning for my face, but still."

"What was the largest thing you stopped unintentionally ?" Ivan asked, slightly curious.

"Honestly? Hmm, that's a hard one. I'd have to say a steam train." Alfred hummed thoughtfully, and Ivan's eyes widened in shock. "Oh, I didn't win." Alfred added quickly with a laugh as soon as he saw Ivan's expression. "I didn't mean to get run over, I promise. I just didn't get out of the way fast enough. It took months for me to recover from that one. You should have seen Mattie's face when he came to pick me up from the hospital. I thought he was going to kill me."

"Is this the same train that your brother mentioned to me when you used to be a sheriff?" Ivan asked, slightly disturbed by the thought of being run over by a train.

"Oh, he told you about that?" Alfred asked, raising an eyebrow. "Seems Mattie's turned into a chatter box about me lately.

"He did not tell me how injured you were. I was under the impression that you had bounced off." Ivan admitted.

"I wish! Nah, I went right under it. I missed the wheels and thank god for that. Reattaching my head or limbs after having them cut off would have been a little too much for the locals to take in. My bones did get crushed, but that's a lot easier to explain away. Dude, trying to convince those damned doctors to not cut off my legs was hell. If Mattie didn't grab me when he did I was going to be in a world of hurt!"

"Maybe we should talk about something else." Ivan said with a grimace, his stomach slightly turning as Alfred spoke.

"Oh, sorry." Alfred said, giving Ivan a quick apologetic smile. "I forgot some people aren't comfortable with talking about stuff like that. If it makes you feel any better, the second biggest thing I stopped was a tracker, and it was to save a family of ducks crossing the road. The farmer wasn't paying attention to the road, so I had to grab it. I didn't get hurt that time."

"So, ideas for going out today." Ivan said, closing his book with a snap and clearly ending the topic. "Perhaps we should find an activity to do?"

"Did you want to back to the skating rink?" Alfred suggested.

"Yes, that is a good idea." Ivan agreed, glancing out the window. The sky was a clear blue, but there was still snow on the ground from the last few days. "It is a good day for it."

"Sweet." Alfred said with a grin, and he quickly grabbed Hero and dumped him on Ivan's lap as he stood up. "Keep him company for a bit, I'm going to grab my gloves. Thank you dear." Alfred teased with a laugh, and he quickly left for his room. Ivan only shook his in amusement as Hero meowed in confusion at the sudden displacement.

_A LITTLE LATER_

There were few things in life that made Ivan very happy on this world. First was warm weather. Anywhere where General Winter could not follow him was perfect to him. Second was his cat Milashka. Having a small friend that loved him always made him happy, especially when said cat would curl up on his lap in front of a warm fireplace. But today he had another third thing that made him very happy. That was, he thought with a chuckle, Alfred absolutely slipping, sliding, and falling around the ice rink with absolutely no thought for his well being.

"Ivan! Look!" Alfred yelled happily from the other side the rink, where he was clinging to one of the walls for dear life. He raised one of his hands and waved excitedly at him. "Look! I made it to the other side this time!"

"Yes, you did very well."Ivan yelled back, trying desperately not to laugh at the over excited American, who looked exactly like an overly excited golden retriever puppy who had just caught its first ball. This had been the fifth time Alfred had tried to make it to the other side of the rink. The first two times had resulted in falling face first on the ice because he had over corrected his stance. The third time he had forgotten how to stop himself and he had almost crashed into a wall. The forth time he had crashed into a wall. Each time he had insisted on starting all the way back the beginning and trying again.

Ivan smoothly slid over to the shorter nation and grabbed him gently from the wall. "You are forgetting to bend your knees." He said, correcting Alfred's stance again. "Remember, if you are as stiff as a board you can easily be pushed down. Relax."

"Sorry, I guess I just panic." Alfred said with a grin, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "It's just so much fun, I keep forgetting what I'm supposed to do. Okay, I'm going to try again."

Ivan felt fondness swelling in his chest as he watched Alfred trying to correct his feet position as he slid away back towards the other wall, a look of pure concentration on his face. The last time they had been here, Alfred had lashed out at him and had kept his at arms reach at every opportunity. Now he was literally tripping over himself with excitement to show him how much he had learned. It was very cute.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he saw Alfred starting to wobble out on the ice. Deciding that Alfred had bruised himself enough that day, Ivan quickly skated over and grabbed Alfred under his arms just as he was starting to fall backwards. Alfred laughed as he looked up at Ivan's amused face.

"Why, hello there. I didn't see you there." Alfred said as he pushed his glasses back up his nose.

"You know," Ivan said as he lifted Alfred back on the ice, "you can always skate with me. It is not unusual to hold on to another person when you are learning to skate."

"Why, Mr. Ivan! Are you flirting with me right now?" Alfred asked in mock shock, putting his hands over his heart. "Hand holding in public? How scandalous! People might get ideas!"

"I am afraid we are well past the point of scandal." Ivan chuckled, holding his left hand out to Alfred.

"Well, I suppose. Yeah sure. That actually might help." Alfred agreed, taking his hand. He noted that even though Ivan was wearing gloves, he could still feel the warmth from his hand. It was nice.

They skated around the edge of the rink a few times, Ivan giving Alfred advice every once and awhile, and Alfred correcting himself. Ivan noted that Alfred was smiling the whole time.

"You know, I never thought you would be this good of a teacher." Alfred said on the fourth lap around the rink, still watching his feet. "I always imagined you as a sink or swim kind of guy."

"You are not entirely wrong. In certain things I am, but I find that it is not a very efficient way to teach people." Ivan explained. "It does not help that most people are afraid of me. They often panic when I try to help them with things, so often I start getting impatient with them, which scares them even more, and so they often just run away."

"Aw, that's a bummer." Alfred said sympathetically. "I usually have the opposite problem. I get over excited when people try and teach me things, so I mess up a lot. People often get annoyed with all my questions, and me rambling about other things, so they often just walk away. Also, I am terrible at teaching people." Alfred added with a snort of laughter. "I'm sure you can tell by my lack of presentation skills."

"I have to admit, they are very poor." Ivan agreed. "Though not as bad as your brothers. He has absolutely no stage presence at all."

"I've tried to help him with that before, but the poor dude is just too soft spoken." Alfred said, shaking his head. "But that's probably for the best. If people actually heard how savage he is when he speaks the rest of world would lose their minds. He has no filter because he thinks no one notices him. It's fricking hilarious. If you ever want a laugh during the meetings sit near him."

"I will keep that in mind." Ivan said, making a mental note to keep an ear open next time.

Alfred glanced up at Ivan, and he couldn't help but grin. "Hey, you have your nice smile on again."

"Do I?" Ivan asked, suddenly feeling self conscious. Without thinking, he lifted up his scarf to hid his face.

"No, don't hide it!" Alfred whined, suddenly stopping and grabbing the sides of Ivan's face with his hands. "Come on, show me! It looks so nice when you do that."

Ivan stared down at Alfred in disbelief as the younger nation pouted up at him. They were so close he could see his reflection in Alfred's eyes. Ivan suddenly felt a sudden burning sensation from where Alfred was holding his face, and he realized in horror that he had started to blush. Alfred noticed it too, and as if he just realized what was doing he quickly let go, a small blush of embarrassment on his own face.

"Uh, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." Alfred said quickly, suddenly very interested in the clouds above him. For his part, Ivan pulled is scarf up again, trying to hide the now very noticeable blush on his cheeks.

"It is okay. I am just not good with compliments." Ivan admitted, firmly staring ahead of him.

"I see." Alfred replied awkwardly, obviously floundering on what to say next.

They stood there in agonizing silence for a good thirty seconds, before Ivan cleared his throat. "It is starting to get cold out here, perhaps we should find somewhere to warm up?"

It was an terrible excuse for a topic change, and he knew it but Alfred clasped onto it like a life preserver. "Oh, totally. You know, there's this really good little diner near here. The food they make is absolutely divine. They make these really excellent dipping sauces for the fries, and they're all hand made as well." Alfred said, rambling as he turned around and started to quickly skate towards the exit. "I go there all the time when Mattie comes over. It's been there for years, and let me tell you-"

Ivan nodded along with Alfred's ramblings as he followed him to the exit. Thankfully, the awkwardness disappeared by the time they returned their skates. It only occurred to Ivan that Alfred had perfectly skated away from him at the rink when they reached the restaurant.

Prussia's P.O.V

Prussia stood on the edge of the Ice rink, gaping at the spot where America and Russia had been standing just a minute ago. The drink he had bought earlier was laying on the ground next to him, and nearby skaters where throwing him dirty looks for it, but he didn't notice. His brain simply couldn't compute what he had just seen.

He had just gone out to have some fun. He had tried to get west to join him, but he was too busy with his papers. He had just come here to skate for a bit, not to spy on other nations love life's. They had definitely been flirting. That was not banter, hell that wasn't even joking around. Those idiots were fucking blushing and shit.

Aw hell, Hungary was going to win to win the bet.

A/N: So, i finally got some sleep last night. Also, i would personally like to welcome back my bad habit of introducing plots points into the story. It's nice to see that some things haven't changed, lol. I can only give a short A/N, because i'm in a rush. Thanks, bye!