Feliks was the first one to wake up that morning, surprising himself that he woke up before the early bird. He saw that Toyls had gotten more comfortable as the night went on, finding him on his side, facing Feliks. He still had a peaceful look on his face. Feliks guess that this was probably the longest Toyls had ever stayed in bed asleep; even in their days together Toyls was always the first to rise and last to go to bed. It was a nice change of pace, though. Feliks felt like Toyls deserved to be comfortable in bed for a bit longer.
But since Feliks was the first one up, he decided to do something totally nice and make them breakfast, and a damn good one at that. He decided even before he got out of bed, he would make homemade pączki. After all, it was a huge celebration that they were even back togther. So, he had to be quick in his usual morning rituals to accomplishh his goal since the dough alone needed three hours to rise. Maybe after he got the dough thrown together he could take his shower and tend to his animals.
Once he was refreshed after a short shower and his daily hygenine routine, Feliks made sure that Lithuania was still sleeping, smiling when he saw he hadn't moved a muscle. Poland went into the kitchen and pulled out everything he would need for the dough first, the filling could most certainly wait a couple of hours. He skillfully made the dough, feeling joy as he made the special dish for his boyfriend. He finally set the dough aside to rise and decided to look at Lithuania's phone and download those games he talked about before startig his farm chores. Thank God for those icons or else he'd be lost with the Lithuanian programmed phone.
He hummed happily as he set the phone up to his WiFi network, typing in the password ponies. Feliks then got onto the app store and began searching for the games, downloading several when Toyls phone rang loudly with the Lithuanian national anthem. Feliks panicked and quicky silenced the music, letting the phone buzz angrily in his hands until the call went to voicemail. He sighed in relief before it rang again. And again. On the fourth ring, Feliks looked at the caller ID.
Gitanas Nausėda.
Why did that name kinda sound familiar? He stared at it before pulling out his own phone to do a quick search on the name. Oh, it was the president of Lithuania. Huh.
No wait, that was totally bad! It was Lithuania's boss calling from a direct line, if Toyls having it registered said anything. He quickly ran to the bedroom and shook the sleeping brunet, earning a hard smack to his face from him. Okay, well-earned, he deserved that. But back to the matter at hand!
"Toyls, your boss is calling you," Feliks explained as he held the side of his face. He shoved the ringing phone into his face. "Here."
Toyls sat up and quickly answered the phone, speaking in rapid-fire Lithuanian, apologizing to the man, it sounded like. Before Feliks could even get out of the room to give Toyls privacy, he heard the word Rusija. He froze in place and looked at Toyls who went pale as a ghost and started to fluster and stutter.
"Why is he even there—" Toyls paused as he listened to his president. "F-for how long?! Gitanas, this is outrageous. He can't—he can't be there. Don't let him anywhere near my room. No, please for the love of God." Toyls was tearing up as he talked desperately. "And I won't be there either until he's gone!"
Another pause. Toyls was becoming more agitated as the conversation continued. He began scratching at his shoulder and his eyes became distant looking. He spaced out a bit until his president brought him back to attention.
"Yes, I know it was for supposed to be just a week, but I can't be there when Russia is too! Remember the last time you even mentioned going there to meet up with them?"He began crying and scratching at his shoulder harder, digging his nails into the fabric of his sweater. "F-fine, I'll be back the second they are gone but not a moment sooner! Yes, goodbye, Gitanas. I'll see you…soon."
Toyls hung up and let out a loud sob now that he was off the phone. He began to shake in his deep sobs. Feliks gulped and slowly approached Toyls from the other side of the bed. He gently cupped a wet cheek, but Toyls smacked it away hard.
"Don't touch me!" He yelled in Russian. His voice sounded harsh, scratchy even.
He glared at Feliks with a hatred that made the blond's blood run cold. Lithuania suddenly looked ill and ran to the bathroom, hurling his stomach into the toilet, hunched over. His right hand dug deeper into his shoulder, nearly ripping the material in his fervor. He let out a gasping wail, sounding heartbroken and grief-stricken. Feliks ran to Lithuania's aid, only to have the brunet sobbing and screaming.
"He's in my home! He's in my home!" he wailed in Russian, holding his head up from the toilet, his words reverberating off the bathroom walls, making him sound more haunted. "He can't do this to me! It isn't fair to me. It isn't fair to my people. I can't handle this. He's in my capitol."
Feliks went to Toyls' side, reaching out to comfort him, but thought better of it at the last moment. "Liet! Liet, it's okay. Whatever's making you freak out will be okay. Remember, I'm right here, I'm here."
Toyls continued to sob and muttered something repeatedly, making the Pole feel desperate to pull his dear friend out of his delusions. He moved closer to Toyls, but that was a mistake. With the sudden movement in his peripherals, Toyls backhanded Feliks, scratching his face hard with his fingernails. Feliks cried out in pain and held his bleeding cheek, quickly looking into the mirror to see three long gashes. Lithuania had one hell of an aim, just a centimeter closer and he could have gotten the eye.
After his lash out, Toyls squeezed himself between the toilet and the tub, hugging his knees to his chest, hiding, cowering. He went back to digging at his shoulders, whispering what sounded like apologies under his breath, rocking himself. He looked at the ground ahead of him, completely lost in his fears.
"Please don't make me go back there. I'm sorry…I'm so sorry," he kept saying in Russian
Once his initial shock wore off, Feliks looked to Toyls and felt his heart ache for the poor man, caught in the throes of a flashback, or whatever this was. His main concern right now was to get the man to calm down, but it seemed he couldn't get close, lest he be attacked again. But regular words didn't seem to do the trick either. He then noticed blood was starting to seep from Toyls' shoulders. He had reopened scars. Feliks had to end this fast. Thinking quickly, he sat in front of Toyls, across the toilet, and spoke.
"Toyls, shh. It's going to be okay. Don't worry about stupid rosja. He can't get you here, you're in Poland, you're with me, Feliks."
Toyls looked up at Feliks, his eyes clouded over with tears. He looked like he was about to snap out of his trance when he shuddered as he hit a particularly deep nerve in his scars. He hung his head down.
"I can't, I won't go back to you, Ivan," he muttered as he kept digging, he was transfixed once again. He shook his head and frowned. He was so deep in his own head he couldn't think straight.
Feliks paled at hearing Toyls speak Russia's human name. It sounded hauntingly beautiful when Toyls said it, but he wished he would never say it again. He sounded sorrowful, like there was a great anguish on his chest. Feliks gulped some and looked at the growing blood stain, he needed to get Toyls to stop digging at his scars. He suddenly thought of something that might get the Lithuanian to snap out of his trance. He had to reassure Toyls he was nowhere near Russia, so he offered what the Russian could never.
"Toyls, aš tave myliu," he said softly as he smiled warmly towards his friend. The brunet stilled and looked up at Feliks with widened eyes at hearing his language. Feliks took it as a good sign to slowly cup a wet cheek and caress it gently. This was good, very good.
"That's right, Toyls. Come back to me, back to the present. There's nothing here that's going to hurt you and you don't need to hurt yourself either. It's just me here, my prince."
Toyls let out a shaky breath and nodded his head some, slowly moving his hands away from his shoulders. He cupped Feliks' hand with both of his and leaned into him. He blinked back tears as he he stared at Feliks, looking at gentle green eyes instead of cruel violet.
"That's right, you don't have to hurt yourself anymore. Just wake back up, okay?" He leaned over and kissed Toyls' forehead. "I love you," he said warmly.
With those final words, Toyls snapped back to his senses and blinked his tears away. He looked at Feliks with a bit of a stunned expression. "Wha…what's going on?"
Feliks sighed in relief and hugged Toyls tight. "Oh, thank God, Toyls. You had me so scared there! You were really freaking out. Like man!"
"Feliks…" Toyls hugged Feliks tight and buried his face in his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I scared you."
"Hej, don't worry about it. I'm just glad I was able to snap you out of it." Feliks smiled and ran his fingers through Toyls' hair gently. "I um, heard you talking with your president on the phone. And then you began talking in Russian and you sounded so…miserable."
The brunet flinched some at hearing he spoke in Russian. He was still too fluent in that damn language and hated it with a burning passion. "I um, heard some unfortunate news from Gitanas. And it triggered me. Badly. I'm sorry you had to see it."
"Like I said, no worries. Wanna talk about what triggered you?"
Toyls bit his lip and curled his hands in Feliks' shirt. "Rusija is in my capitol. He's…visiting with his president."
Feliks tensed some. "Oh god. That's terrifying. I'm so sorry."
"And what's worse, they're staying at the presidential palace for a few days. I'd be back on the last day they're there and I'd have to keep Rusija company on that last day. Alone, showing him around my city. And he could…he could sneak into my room at night." Both Nations shuddered at the thought of being alone with Russia.
"Ugh, boże, Toyls. You poor thing. I don't blame you for freaking out like that. I know I wouldn't want to be anywhere near that freak."
"You and me both," Toyls said with a short laugh. "I told him I'd be missing that opportunity. After what happened last time he…he understood."
Feliks raised an eyebrow. "Last time? What happened last time?" He knew it would be nothing good based on what Toyls just went through. But damn his curiosity.
Toyls tensed some and pulled away from the Pole. He pushed his sleeves up and showed Feliks his self harm scars. Long, thin lines racing down his slender arm all the way from his hand to his elbow. Some were shorter, some were thicker, most were white, faded with time.
Feliks began to feel sick, thinking about what Toyls had to do to get those. He placed a gentle hand on Toyls' knee in comfort.
Lithuania traced a few scars with the pad of his finger. He traced one that went from the middle of his hand to halfway down his arm.
"Last time, Gitanas wanted us both to go to Moscow to meet with Putin and…him. Just the mention of me stepping foot back in that place and I panicked. I made that one the very same night with my Swiss Army knife. I almost cut myself down to the bone with that one. I didn't go with her. Instead, I ended up in the hospital, being chastised like a child by Gitanas and Ingrida, my prime minister, while I was left on suicide watch for nearly a week."
Feliks moved to kiss several of the scars on Toyls' arms, placing feather light kisses on them. He did the same to the other arm, though there were fewer on his right arm.
Toyls flinched with each kiss and started crying again. "Feliks, you're much too good for me."
"Nonsense. You've just forgotten how you're supposed to be treated," Feliks countered and kissed his wrists softly.
"It…has been a long time since I've been treated this kindly. It feels…weird, but in a nice way. But Rusija could be the same way sometimes…"
"Well, unlike him, I won't go back on my kindness. Speaking of that jerk, you had said his human name. You sounded really sad."
Toyls looked away in shame. "I was probably saying something along the lines of not wanting to go back to him. And of course I tried to be as nice as possible to him, but it never really worked. He was always hopeful I'd come back to him one day. Which is why I can't go to Russia or have him come to me. Because I can't go back to him."
"Oh, Toyls. You poor thing. You won't ever have to worry about him, because I'll take care of him. I dare him to try, even!"
Toyls didn't want to even think about the blond and the Russian going at it. Just thinking about it made his stomach form knots.
"Oh, by the way, I need your shirt."
"Huh? My shirt? Why?" He blinked and quickly took his shirt off to see the bloodstains forming around the shoulders and groaned. "Fuck." He paused for a moment before looking up at Feliks sheepishly. "S-sorry for cursing…"
Feliks snorted softly. Only Lithuania would worry about something as trivial as cursing. He looked at the damage done. "You reopened some of the scars again. How often do you do that?" he asked as he stood up from the floor. He pulled out a washcloth and wet it in warm water.
"I'm not sure. It's easy to reopen them sometimes, especially where I can reach them. I often tear them open when I'm under a great deal of stress or pressure, or if I go into a flashback."
Feliks sighed and gently smacked Toyls with the wet washcloth he had prepared. "Well, no more of that, got it? No more damaging your body or wearing yourself down to the bone. I will not have any of it. It's easier to do this if someone else is there to help."
"Feliks, sometimes you know I can't help it, the stress and the flashbacks—"
"I'll help you whenever we're together, just like I did now. And with me, you shouldn't feel stressed out, you know? So, I'm here to take your mind off everything that could ever be ailing your little heart. Because I will not have you die on me; I am drawing a line and being selfish. Because it's bad enough that you went all those decades through torture, I don't want you to keep torturing yourself."
"And how do you know they're all from torture, Feliks?"
Feliks paled and threw the washcloth at Toyls. "No! Don't you dare do that to me, Toyls. Those scars on your back are from battles and torture, there can't be any other reason. And even if there is, I don't want to hear it, got it, Toyls Laurinaitis? Now clean your wounds while I get the blood out of your sweater."
Too stunned to speak, Toyls watched Feliks disappear from the bathroom. He felt like he crossed a line he wasn't meant to say, he would need to apologize to Poland when he came back. He stood up from his hiding spot and looked at the mirror, seeing the damage he had done and where the blood had run down his chest and back. He steeled himself to wash the wounds first and took it one shoulder at a time. He hissed in pain when he reached the bleeding skin.
"Fuck I forgot how much this hurts," he grumbled to himself.
Feliks went to the kitchen sink to wash the blood out of the fibers of the sweater. He huffed to himself as he scrubbed, thinking back to what Toyls had said. How else would he had gotten his scars if not for rosja torturing him? It's not like he inflicted those nasties onto his own body, that would just be ridiculous to think about. He looked at the sweater in his hands and watched the the water drain in the sink, thinking. Toyls wasn't like himself anymore, he would have never done these kinds of things in the past, it wasn't like him back in the day. His time with Russia changed him, and for the worse, putting horrible ideas into his head, making him blame himself for everything.
Wait. That's right. Toyls' mind didn't work the same, he probably only thought he was harming himself when it was really Russia making him because he rebelled or disobeyed him. That's probably what Toyls meant. Right? Well, if that was the case, Feliks would have to get those darker thoughts out of his head. It wasn't good for him to dwell on those darker parts of the past.
He sighed heavily as he scrubbed at the fabric with his hands, watching the fresh blood run out of the fabric until there was just a faint stain. He finally saw the water run clear and looked at the sweater, hoping it wouldn't stain after going through a wash cycle. It would be a shame to lose such a cute sweater that thoughtfully matched his. He quickly got that done though so he could get back to Toyls.
He went back to the bathroom to see how Toyls was doing, seeing that he was done getting the blood off. "Ready for the next bit?" he asked as he got to his first aid kit under his vanity.
"Before that, Feliks, could we talk about what happened?"
"If you mean from before, no. Like I said, I didn't want to hear it."
"Some were self-inflicted," Toyls said anyways as he clenched onto his pant legs.
Poland bit his lip and shook his head. "Why did you have to say that? I was better not knowing!"
"It was either me or my brothers," Lithuania explained. "Rusija gave me a choice, and I had to protect them at all costs. I couldn't just sit there and let them face Rusija alone!"
Feliks let out a loud sigh of relief and steadied himself on his cabinet. He ran a shaky hand through his hair. "You big idiot, that's not the same thing! It was one of rosyjski mind games, Toyls. It wasn't like you had a choice."
"But I still—"
Feliks shook his head. "Nie, just a mind game, Toyls. Y'know, for being so smart, you can be so dumb sometimes. How could you not see that was part of his tricks? He tricked you into thinking you were doing that because you wanted to, not because he was forcing you." He wiped his brow and looked to Toyls. "Okay, I need to focus on getting your wounds cleaned up and then tend to my animals."
Toyls sighed in defeat and nodded. "At least I'll have actual antibiotic cream and not just have to use vodka as disinfectant. That ends up stinging a lot in the long run, especially over such a large area."
"I can only ever imagine, Toyls," Feliks said with a dry sigh. He had Toyls sit on the edge of the bathtub, thankful to see the brunet already flushed his sick away. Poland examined the damage done, not too bad, all things to consider. The wounds were open but not bleeding anymore, Toyls got the brunt of the work done by being so thorough. "Well, it looks really good, you made my job really easy."
Lithuania bit his tongue to tell Feliks something but thought better of it. Years of practice made it easy to judge what he needed to do in terms of cleaning up his wounds. "Thanks, Feliks."
Feliks gulped some as he grabbed the antibiotic cream and gently smoothed it over the wounds, listening closely to Toyls. There were no hisses of pain or objections, so he kept applying until there was a nice even layer to the wounds. He then applied some gauze pads and taped the edges down to keep the ointment in place. He gently kissed Toyls shoulder blades. "All done, Toyls. That went by fast, didn't it?"
"Yes, much faster and with less neck pain," Toyls said with a small smile. He moved to turn around, a gentle blush on his face at Feliks' soft actions towards him when he suddenly lurched forward, touching the blond's jaw. "Oh god, Feliks, did I do that to you?"
"Oh, um, yeah, but it doesn't hurt. You just had me startled when you lashed out so suddenly!" He laughed nervously and patted Toyls' hand gently.
"No, it needs to be cared for. Here, let me help you, Feliks."
"It's no big deal, Toyls," Feliks defended.
"You can't sit here and preach if you aren't going to follow your own advice," Toyls huffed softly as he took the first aid kit from Feliks.
The blond pouted. "I can do it myself, no need to get you all stressed."
"It's easier to do if someone else is there to help."
Now he just pouted. "No fair using my own words against me, Toyls."
"Hush now, Feliks," Toyls gently chided. With practiced skill, he had the scratch marks cleaned and covered. "There we go. It should only take a day to heal, so that's good."
The blond sighed softly. "Alright, thank you very much." He suddenly got serious as his eyes clouded over.
"The both of us…like Europe's hackie sacks or something. Always getting kicked around and beaten up, even if we didn't do anything wrong. But together, the burdens we have aren't so difficult to deal with anymore, right?" He suddenly burst out into a wide cat-like grin; his serious tone gone.
"So, since that stupid rosja is in your capitol, you'll be staying bit longer here. How about we go on a two-day date down to Kraków and sightsee and visit our castles and our old kings," Feliks said with determination and fire in his eyes. It made Toyls feel a bit more secure and not as lonely.
"That sounds great, Feliks." He smiled and cupped Feliks' unscratched cheek. "I'm sorry if I scared you so much. I didn't mean t—"
"Like I said, don't worry about it. I'm more concerned about you relaxing while I make us a big batch of homemade pączki!"
"Don't those take a few hours to make though?"
"It's been about thirty minutes since I started. Oh, why don't you go shopping around in my closet and pick out some outfits for us to wear on our date! Yeah, that sounds super fun, doesn't it?"
"Oh, I guess I could," Toyls said a bit unsure.
"Great! Then it's settled. Don't be afraid to borrow anything I have; most everything I own should fit, 'cept maybe some of the pants. How come you're so tall anyways?" Feliks said with a teasing smile, baiting the Lithuanian to smile and laugh.
It worked as Toyls gave a short snort of laughter and smiled back. "I'm not that much taller than you, silly."
Now Feliks laughed and hugged Toyls tight. "You're finally loosening up! Good."
Toyls blushed and looked off to the side. "Oh? Do you think so?"
Feliks giggled and kissed his cheek. "Tak. And it's a very good thing! Okay, I'm gonna go feed my animals and then make breakfast. And I don't want you to step foot in that kitchen!"
"I won't, I'll be too busy going through your closet," he chuckled softly. Feliks also laughed and ran his fingers through Toyls hair.
"Make sure to brush your teeth and take it easy, Liet."
Toyls nodded. "I'll be sure to do just that. Go take care of your animals."
Feliks nodded and smiled warmly before leaving to tend to his animals. When he was alone, Toyls got up and checked Feliks' work in the mirror. He did a good job at patching him up, which shouldn't have surprised him. They had to patch each other up all the time back in the day, so Feliks would know.
He sighed softly and did his own morning routine and made sure to brush his teeth for longer than normal. Toyls then went to Feliks' large closet and began going through the dozens of clothes. He hummed a few classical tunes in his head as he searched, finding a few suitable outifits for them. He also made an outfit including a skirt for Feliks, thinking he would like to see that. He also wanted the blond to know he was comfortable with Feliks being himself. Toyls was sure it would make the blond happy.
Once he picked out several potential outfits for Feliks, he got dressed for the day, choosing blue jeans and a long-sleeved maroon shirt. After checking his outfit in the mirror, Toyls went to grab his backpack and took his morning medication, stepping foot into the kitchen to just grab a bottle of water. Toyls figured the blond wouldn't mind that, he was barely even in the kitchen and didn't touch anything else. He then realized that he didn't have much else to do so he sat on the couch and turned the living room television on to pass the time.
Time passed and eventually Feliks came back in an hour later smiling. "All that hard work's making me hungry. Welp, back into the kitchen I go to make the filling. Any kind you prefer, Liet?"
"Whatever you like is fine, Feliks."
"Nie, you pick a flavor. This is a special occasion. Be a little selfish~"
"Ah, um. Okay, if you insist. How about plum? Or maybe apple would be a bit more common. You would have apples before you had plums. I forgot we're in your house, not mine…"
Feliks snickered softly at Toyls' little ramble. "I totally have apples! They should be nice n crisp still!"
Poland rummaged through his kitchen and triumphantly pulled out several apples and displayed them in his hands. "Ta-da! Apple filling it is! You stay there and keep watching TV, this will be done in like another hour. Can you wait that long to eat?"
Toyls nodded. "That should. Be fine, Feliks. I'll just drink my water."
Feliks eyed him suspiciously. "I thought I told you not to step foot into the kitchen, Liet!" he teased.
"I thought it would be okay, I had to get water to take my pills and I—"
"Toyls, I'm just kidding around. I wasn't that serious about it, just didn't want you making anything. You're my guest, I can cook for you. It's the least I can do." Feliks giggled and smiled wide at Toyls.
"Oh, okay. Thank you, Feliks," he said in Polish. Feliks squealed in delight and clapped his hands together.
"You sound so good when you speak Polish! I totally love it. Maybe you can pick up more as you watch TV? That'd be totally cool!"
Toyls thought for a moment and turned the television off, getting up to go into the kitchen with Feliks.
"Hej, I told you to go wait in the living room."
Toyls ignored Feliks and held his hand. "I need something to do with my hands. Breakfast should be done faster if we work together, right? Maybe I can make use of the time and make some eggs while we wait for the dough? Did the hens lay anymore this morning? The dough should have used the last of the eggs."
"Oh, um! Y-yeah, totally. Let me just…go grab those." Feliks blushed deeply and squeezed Toyls' hand in his. Wow. And without any prompting needed! "I'll just…go now."
Lithuania smiled softly when Feliks didn't move. He kissed his hand and let go of the Pole's hand for him. "Po?"
"Huh?"
"Eggs?"
Feliks blushed and nodded. "Right! Eggs! Haha…" He smiled and quickly ran to get the basket full of eggs he meant to take in anyways.
Toyls gave a small laugh of appreciation for Feliks and pulled out a pan for the eggs. He also pulled out vegetables from the crisper drawer in the fridge. He would make omelettes for them, a special treat while the donut dough was still raising. Feliks had fresh mushrooms, spinach, and cheese, so those would certainly go into the eggs. It would be a nice offset to the sweet and filling donuts.
Poland came back with six eggs and saw all the ingredients Toyls pulled out. "Remember, Liet, take it easy with your shoulder all torn up."
The Lithuanian jumped some when Feliks suddenly talked, letting out a small yelp of surprise. "Oh, Feliks! Don't do that to me. Please." He placed a hand on his racing heart.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I forgot!" He frowned and hugged Toyls from behind. He kissed between his shoulder blades as an apology. "I won't do that again, promise."
"No worries, Feliks. It'll take time to remember. For the both of us." Toyls smiled and took the eggs from the counter and cracked them into an awaiting bowl. "Would you like to chop up the mushrooms and spinach, Feliks?"
"Oh, totally!"
Feliks smiled and grabbed a cutting board and a knife, getting to chopping. He had it done in no time and handed the board to Toyls. The brunet put the chopped mushrooms and spinach into the eggs and whipped them all up with the cheese before pouring the mixture into a heated pan.
It didn't take long to get the fluffy omelette done and they were eating in no time. Feliks loved that Toyls wanted to cook for him again and he wanted to return the favor. He shooed the brunet away from the kitchen as began preparing the filling.
The filling was made with love and care before long and then the wonderful aroma of fried dough filled the air. The house was also filled with happy chatter and laughter as the two came together to the dining room table to eat their fill of hearty donuts.
Once breakfast was finished, Feliks jumped to his feet and grabbed Toyls' hand. "I'm so excited for our trip to Kraków. I can't wait to see the outfits you picked out, looks like you found ones that fit you well. I'm glad I had something, oh, and you have got to take the nightgown I found for you last night. It fits you so well, it even has little deer on them they're totally cute!"
Toyls laughed at Feliks' energy. He certainly had a lot of it, and it was easy to have it rub off. "I also picked out a couple of outfits for you too, if you even like them. I'm just glad you approved of what I'm wearing right now. I think you'd think it was too plain."
"You're not plain, you're handsome," Feliks said quickly in response. He giggled and walked to the bedroom with Toyls, going over the clothes on the bed. He squealed when he saw his favorite pink skirt on the bed. "Oh my god, you even picked out my fave skirt to wear," he said as he held up the light pink swing skirt.
"I thought you might like having the option to pick."
"Pick? All these outfits are great, I simply can't choose!"
"We're only going to be there for two days, aren't we? So, two outfits with an extra one just in case? We don't need a lot for the trip."
"But we both need something nice to wear when we go visit our kings, after all, it'd be totally disrespectful if we didn't dress the part." Feliks went back into his closet and began rummaging.
"I thought what I picked out was fine, you also have to remember, it's a tourist area, people aren't going in fancy ballgowns."
"But they can go in style," Feliks reminded as he came out with two suit jackets, smiling. One was a dark blue and the other was a burnt orange. "Ta-da~! The blue one should fit you nicely and the brown one is like my favorite."
"It looks more orange to me," Lithuania giggled softly. "But it's a good color for you."
Feliks blushed faintly and smiled. "Oh, totally! It's like my lucky color right after pink!"
Toyls smiled warmly and nodded. "Like I said, it's a good color. So, you want to wear suit jackets to visit the castle?"
"Yeah, why not? It's perfect for visiting our kings. We need to look sharp. Oh, we also need nice shirts too. Gimme a second and I'll find something." Feliks disappeared back into the closet and rummaged around for another five minutes before coming back out.
Poland came out with silk blouses, one cream and one light green. Toyls could only guess which one was going to be his.
"You love dressing me in green, don't you?"
"It's your color, though! I always think of you in greens, it's the color of grass and home."
"Home?"
Feliks nodded. "Yeah, home. That or brown, cause it's the color of earth and you used to worship that earth god or whatever."
"The mother goddess," Toyls corrected. "But I guess I should take it as a compliment you'd even think of me in that way."
"Yeah, totally! Plus, isn't that what one of your flag color means? Green for the earth?"
"Ah, for my forests, technically, but it works well with nature too."
"Right, right. So your colors are totally earth tones and neutrals."
"And yours would be warm colors, like yellows and oranges?"
"Now you're catching on! And here I thought you'd always be hopeless when it came to fashion. Remember how I always had to pick your outfits out for court? We were always the best dressed ones there."
Lithuania chuckled softly and nodded. "I do seem to recall that. So, we have one outfit planned. Did you like any of the other outfit I picked out?"
"Oh, yeah! The grey sweater is totally coming with us. And the black leggings will look good with it too. And for the final outfit…ah, as much as I do wanna wear the skirt, it's probably too cold for it now. So I'll just go with some skinny jeans and like a long sleeved shirt."
"That actually sounds pretty reasonable of you," Toyls said with a laugh.
"Hej, I know how to travel light, okay? I just chose not to usually because I have my beauty products and everything else."
"Well, we'll only be gone for two days. And I'll still have my backpack too."
"We can share a suitcase, Liet. Everything can fit into my medium sized suitcase. Oh, let me see what hotels are like in Kraków and see how we can get there."
"Don't you just want to drive? I can drive us to and from there."
"Yeah, you could. But I kind of liked having your full attention. So we can take a bus or train cause I want to hear you recite Romeo and Juliet to me while we travel~" Feliks smiled as he began going through his phone for travel planning.
"Oh, that's right. You did want to listen to that. Well, that shouldn't be too much trouble then. It should be pretty fun, actually. I think I can find the play online and just recite it that way."
"Sounds good!" Poland was excited to hear Toyls recite more Shakespeare. It sounded so romantic when he did it. He scrolled through buses and trains going to Kraków and hummed softly while doing it. He found really good ticket prices. "Hey, get this, Toyls! We can ride the train as youths!"
Toyls laughed. "We haven't been youths since the eleventh century, Feliks."
"Yeah, but our passports and IDs say we're nineteen, right?"
"Well, yes. Though it does get old being just nineteen sometimes."
Feliks snickered and looked through the time frames. "I guess. But it's awesome getting to be young forever! Okay, so…there's a train leaving in a couple of hours, so I'm gonna book that one so we can get there soon and then get a hotel for the night. Oh, and we totally have to go out to dinner when we get to Kraków too! A dinner date!" Feliks squealed and bounced on his bed.
Toyls smiled and sat down next to Feliks, looking over his shoulder as the blond typed away on his phone. His eyes wondered over the Polish text on the screen, the numbers, dates, times. Lithuania at least knew numbers. "So the train leaves at four?"
"Yeah, so we still have like three hours to get ready and to the station. No big deal, I'd say."
"Still, let's get packed and then we can really relax. Maybe I can even start Romeo and Juliet early while we wait?"
Feliks perked up. "Oh! You're a genius, Liet!"
Toyls laughed as he watched Feliks run about his room and the bathroom, gathering his toiletries and personal items to take with him. As Poland did that, Toyls went into the living room and grabbed his backpack.
"Hey, can I use your washing machine and dryer to wash my clothes?"
"Oh, of course you can! And if you need anything else, I can just lend you it. Your sweater is in the kitchen, by the way!"
"Thank you," he said in Polish, making Feliks float on cloud nine.
"You're welcome!" Feliks chirped back, though he didn't know if Toyls would recognize the phrase. So he repeated it in English for him.
Toyls smiled and gathered his three days worth of clothes to put into the washing machine and quickly got that running. Thank goodness he could at least work a washing machine. "There we go. Let's get my toiletries into the suitcase too and then I'll just have to wait for my clothes."
Lithuania returned to the bedroom and saw Feliks had 'packed' the suitcase. Though it looked like a mess still. "Feliks, this won't work at all. The clothes are all over the place and your products can spill onto the clothes. You need to put your opened products in bags."
Toyls began unpacking the suitcase and reorganized, folded clothes, bagged Feliks' hair care products and other toiletries. It took less than ten minutes. Feliks just watched, smiling. He loved watching Toyls work with such efficiency and precision and purpose. His mess of a suitcase was packed neatly and even had room left for Toyls' few clothes. Toyls sighed softly and sat on the bed next to Feliks.
"There we go, all done and packed, besides my clothes."
"Awesome! Hej, hej…can you start reading the play right now?"
"Oh, I could, yes. It would be interrupted though by the wash and then the ride over to the station."
"Yeah, I don't mind! I just wanna hear you talk~" Feliks said with a giggled.
Toyls blushed slightly and pulled his phone out, searching up the play online. He found a free version and smiled, beginning to recite:
"'Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene…'"