Alfred winced as Ivan wrapped a clean bandage around his chest. Alfred had wanted to do it on his own, but when he tried and failed, the other man stepped in to help. Ivan wrapped the bandages a little too tight for Alfred's comfort but it stopped the bleeding better than his pathetic attempt.
"How come you came out of this unharmed?" Alfred huffed, crossing his arms. He glared at ivan, his eyes narrowed.
Ivan chuckled and patted snow from his pants, "Because I am not stupid." He walked further into the forest, looking around. The red stained snow stopped just outside of their comfortable tree. They had moved the dead beasts to another part of the woods, marking the way they had come. Hopefully, the two wouldn't get lost again, but with the way Alfred led, getting lost was an option to be considered.
Ivan squinted , trying to think of a way out of these woods. They hadn't heard a car engine at all since they had found themselves here. He wondered, for a second, about why they had gotten lost in the first place. His thoughts were broken thanks to a young blonde.
"Dude! Let's get moving!" Alfred said brightly as he took the lead. A smile danced at the corners of Ivan's mouth. This arrogant, obnoxious and highly oblivious young man had saved his life and for that, the Russian was highly appreciative. It wasn't everyday someone said that to him. Ivan's expressions softened as he watched the back of the American.
He noticed how proudly the young man walked, he noticed how much it suited him. Ivan noticed how he was fit with a strong frame even if he was a smaller man than Ivan. He twirled his long pipe absentmindedly as they walked. He didn't mean to notice these things about Alfred, but the guy had a nice body and Ivan liked it. His eyes lingered on Alfred's shoulders and butt.
Alfred had an unnerving sense that he was being watched. He didn't want to make things awkward by turning around and finding Ivan staring at him. He sighed and continued on, trying to shake the feeling. His blue eyes gazed along the snow covered forest, trying to see anything that meant that they were safe.
He saw nothing of the sort.
There were just trees. The young man tried to see past the trees, but there was just barren shrubbery amongst the bare trees. He sighed loudly and kept trudging on, not really watching where he was going. He only noticed the crunch of crisp snow underfoot.
Alfred felt something catch his foot and the cold air whipping around him as he got a face full of snow. He pushed himself up and looked round, his blue eyes full of worry. How could he not have noticed the trip wire? He mentally groaned.
"Alfred!" Ivan called out, extending a hand, but only reaching the frigid air and falling snow. The young man he had tried to warn, was now laying in the snow as a deafening siren began to wail. Alfred's hands had gone to his ears and his lower body compressed underneath his midsection.
"It's just a drill. It's just a drill…" Alfred muttered to himself. He was overtaken by many flashbacks and emotions. He had gone through many drills and now a similar siren screamed, triggering the painful memories left behind from previous alarms. He shivered, not wanting to think about what happened while such a siren wailed. He felt hot tears roll over his cheeks as he feared the worst.
Ivan dropped to his knees, placing his hands on the other man's back. He gently yanked up as he grasped the other man's leather jacket, pulling the American closer to him and into a hug. He closed his violet eyes and wiped the tears from Alfred's face with his thumb.
"Shhh Fredka," he cooed. "Everything will be fine. It is just noise you have triggered." Ivan kept his voice low and comforting. Alfred opened his watery eyes and looked at the silver haired man, sniffling.
"I think it's stupid, just like you…" Alfred tried. He really tried to throw an insult at the man who was comforting him, but nothing to bad came to mind. Ivan just laughed and brought both of them up to their feet.
Alfred stepped away from the chord he had tripped over with a frown. What was up with these woods? First some failed experiment attacked them and now he was going deaf thanks to some stupid siren. Ivan had already started heading in a different direction. He went left instead of straight which would have led them back to the tree that the monsters attacked them at.
Alfred ran to catch up the long distance between the two.
"Hey dude! Slow down!" he called before finally reaching the older man. Ivan ignored the blonde and continued walking. The wailing siren has ceased and the forest had a sickening silence about it.
"Hey, dude… The siren stopped. Dude! DUDE!" Alfred's voice got louder and louder as he spoke. "DUDE. I'M PRETTY SURE IT'S OKAY TO TALK AND STUFF." He screamed. Ivan didn't even glance at him. By now, Alfred was getting pretty angry. He wasn't one to take kindly to being ignored. He harshly punched the other man in the shoulder.
Ivan turned to see Alfred practically red in the face from anger. He rubbed the spot where Alfred's fist had made contact with his arm. He was dazed, confused and he noticed a silence coming from Alfred's moving mouth. He blinked a few times.
" Hey! Commie, can ya even here me?" Alfred said, a venomous tone attached to his words. He wasn't liking this unresponsive version of Ivan. He looked at the other man with question.
Ivan sensed that something was wrong. Alfred's pie hole never moved and didn't make some God-awful sound.
"Stop playing games on me, Alfred. I know you're just moving your mouth without making sound." Ivan glared at Alfred, not taking any of the younger man's jokes.
Alfred grabbed Ivan the shoulders and lightly shook him. "Dude! I'm not playing with you!" Alfred's blue eyes were full of worry. What happened to Ivan? Was the man not used to the siren?
Ivan narrowed his eyes at the other man, then opened them again as a flood of sound came to him. He groaned and rubbed his ears. What was that? He blinked his violet eyes and looked into Alfred's blue ones in apology. He looked around the forest. It was still silent, but at least he could hear the wind whip by and the crunch of snow underneath Alfred's boots as he shuffled around.
The two men sighed a harmonious sigh of relief before smiling at each other. They slowly broke out into laughter. It was the kind of laughter that brings closure and comfort to a close situation. It was a laugh that broke down the wall of stress that was surrounding them.
"That was close, man," Alfred breathed in between chuckles. Ivan nodded, a wide grin plastered on his face. Alfred covered the other man's less than comforting smile with his hand.
"Let's keep that creepy smile far away from us, okay?" Alfred patted Ivan the back and the confused man looked left and right, wondering what that was all about.
Ivan then took on a puzzled look. He looked straight ahead, his lips pressed together at a slight slant.
"You do know what happens after a siren like that, da?"
A/N:: Okay, so I'm pretty happy that I got anything done this summer. I'm so sorry I didn't get things out sooner! I'm going to say some lame excuse but in reality, I sat at my computer for weeks on end without doing anything because I'm lazy. I'm a pretty bad person BUT I drew a pretty bad ass cover for this story. I don't have a tablet or a mouse or any of that fancy stuff, but I do have a butt-ton of colored pencils and a high quality scanner. I'll get that up soon.
I love all the reviewers/ reviews. You guys probably don't know it, but every time I check my email and there's one about you guys reviewing, I fangirl over you and it makes my life. Thank you all! You are all so great!