Matthew woke up to his fiancée trying to move off of the couch without waking him up. "Ivan?" He asked groggily, rubbing his eyes.
"I am sorry, Matthew. I was only trying to get up; I did not mean to wake you." He replied, sitting up. Matthew was still leaning on him, trying to sit up as well. He couldn't find sufficient leverage to put himself upright anywhere except the Russian's bare chest, so he gave up and leaned against the back of the couch.
"I'm sorry for waking you up last night." Matthew told him as he put on his glasses.
"It is okay, Matthew. You were afraid, and it is perfectly understandable." The younger male smiled slightly and stretched.
"Maybe if you're feeling up to it, we could do what you were planning yesterday." Ivan offered uncomfortably, looking anywhere but at Matthew.
"I'd love to. We can go after we get dressed." He smiled wider and carefully sat up, accidentally pulling the blanket off of Ivan's chest. He turned around quickly and blushed, trying not to trip over anything on the floor.
"Are you sure you're okay? You look a little feverish." He stood up to look closer at Matthew. The blushing male nodded and hid his face, quickly leaving the room.
"Mattie? Are you in here?" Francis asked, walking into his son's bedroom, holding one of his hoodies. "I found one of your hoodies in the family room. Matthew? What are you doing?" He stared at his youngest son, who was standing in his closet, throwing clothes on the floor.
"I have to get dressed!"
"So getting dressed requires you emptying your closet of the same jeans, t-shirts, and hoodies onto the floor for the maid to pick up?" He asked as he sat on the large bed.
"Yes!" Matthew called back from inside the closet. Francis sighed and joined him, picking up a nicer pair of jeans and a maple leaf hoodie from the floor on the way in.
"Just wear these. There isn't anything else unless you want to wear a suit." He put on what his father handed and smiled.
"How do I look?" He spread his arms and spun in a circle.
"You would look great if you could be as confident around your unfortunate fiancée as you are around me."
"I'm confident enough. I just don't know how to act around him."
"You'll figure it out, Mattie. Don't worry. It also depends on how he acts around you. It's hard to be nice when somebody else is so rude. Now, what shoes are you wearing?" Francis asked, shaking his head when his son pulled out a pair of dirty, stained old shoes that he wore every day. "You have a brand new pair of converse right there. Put them on." Matthew sighed and did as he said. "Good, now go." He shoved his son out of the walk-in closet when he heard somebody knocking on the door.
Matthew opened the door and smiled when he saw Ivan standing in the hall, fully dressed with his tan overcoat and white scarf. "Are you ready?"
"Yes, I am." He smiled and followed Ivan to the back grounds.
They wandered around the vast grounds that surrounded the estate, talking about everything except the impending marriage. "I should have put on my gloves. It's getting colder than I thought." Matthew buried his hands into his hoodie's too thin pockets. Ivan gently took his hands out of the pockets and cupped them in his own. Matthew blushed, despite trying his hardest to fight it.
"Better, Mattvey?" The Russian asked, looking down at his fiancée. The younger nodded and smiled.
"Why do you call me Mattvey sometimes?"
"In Russian, there is not an easy way to pronounce 'Matthew' and Mattvey is the closest I can get. At times it is hard for me to fight my accent to say your name."
"You can just call me Mattvey, if you want. I wouldn't want to cause you any extra problems." Ivan let go of one of Matthew's hands and they continued walking until they reached one of Matthew's favorite clearings.
"That is very nice of you. Not many people are willing to look past the inevitable accent problems." They sat down on a huge flat rock that made a bench.
"It's no problem. I wouldn't want to make you any more upset than you already are with this situation." He brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. "You are nicer than I thought you were." He rested his head on his knees so he could look at Ivan.
"Look, Mattvey, I have something to say…"
"Can I go first? It's important." Ivan sighed at the interruption and motioned for him to continue. "I know I don't know you that well, but your nice and sweet and you actually notice me, which is more than I can say for other people. I've been having strong feelings towards you. Now what were you going to say?" He looked at his fiancée hopefully, smiling and blushing.
"I should have gone first. I was going to see that this right now is the most that this relationship is going to be. I don't like saying this, but you need to hear it. I will be blunt when I say this; I do not have feelings for you. I do not love you, nor do I have any beginnings of those feelings. I will remain polite and nice to you, as that is how a fiancée should act to make you happy, but I cannot give you anything else."
Matthew's smile quickly turned into a frown as he hid from Ivan's gaze. He sniffled a few times, fighting to keep the tears back. "You're right, you should have gone first." He wiped his eyes with the end of his sleeve and hoped Ivan didn't notice how thick and shaky his voice was. "I'm sorry for interrupting you, it won't happen again."
"It is getting cold, Mattvey, we should head back." Ivan offered his hand to help Matthew stand.
"No, it's okay. I want to be alone for a while."
"I will tell Francis. You don't want a repeat of yesterday." Matthew shook his head and avoided looking up as his fiancée walked away.
As Ivan walked back to the estate, his phone rang. "Ivan Braginski speaking."
"Ivan, you need to come back to Russia. Your mother is very ill and wishes to see you." Alexander Braginski got straight to the point, not one to bother with pleasantries.
"When is my flight?"
"Two hours. The plane is almost to the nearest airport for you, so hurry up."
"Yes, father."
There was no response, as Alexander had hung up. He liked short conversations and despised superfluous words. Ivan went straight to the guest room he was staying in and started packing his small bag, not noticing that he accidentally packed one of the hoodies Matthew had left in his room into the suitcase.
"Where are you going?" Francis asked, leaning on the doorway to the room.
"I closed the door for a reason."
"I don't care, where are you going?"
"Russia, if you must know."
"Does Matthew know this?"
"No. It won't matter."
And with that, he left the estate and Matthew behind to return to Russia.
*lays down on chopping block and hopes for forgiveness*
As always, I suck at life for avoiding writing for so long. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
You are still open to follow me on tumblr,
I'm going to think about writing more often now, so fingers crossed that it works.
Song of the chapter: Alone Together by Fall Out Boy