~Chapter 2: Melting Icicles~

A/N: Decided to add to this, since I came up with something..~

~x.X.x.~

At the next meeting, as Alfred kept throwing out his laughable ideas out to the rest of the UN, Natalya kept staring down, straight at the table in front of her.

Her sister and brother, seated side by side to her, didn't seem to notice her lack of attention to the meeting.

She couldn't look at the American the same way again after what had happened the other day.

"You need to know, Natalia, you look beautiful. Not only now, but always. Just remember that."

Why did the words keep ringing through the girl's head like a gong? They had even begun appearing more in her mind than her precious older brother had.

And barely anything took place in her mind more than her brother and her plans of marriage.

"Natalya?"

The girl snapped her head up to meet the beautiful blue irises of Alfred's.

"Why are you still sitting here? The meeting was dismissed a minute ago."

"What?" Natalya glanced around the room, noticing the turned over seats and the sound of shuffling footsteps in the distance. Wow, had she been that preoccupied with her thoughts to not even notice people moving around her? "Ah, I must've dozed off."

"You were awake the whole meeting, though!" Alfred countered. "But you just kept on staring at the table for some reason the whole time. What's wrong?"

"Nothing that concerns you!" Natalya hissed, shuffling to stand and gather her papers, feeling somewhat awkward for being alone in the room with the American.

Abruptly, after piling up the last of the papers, Alfred's gloved hand shot out and encircled itself around the girl's wrist.

Surprised by the sudden assault, Natalya yelped and dropped her papers, letting them fly around the room, showering the two of them in a flurry of papers.

Natalya turned to stare at Alfred to find he was already doing the same. His mouth hung in midair as if he was trying to say something, but no words came out. He wisely released her wrist from his grip.

"…What was that for?" She demanded, rage bubbling within her.

"I just…wanted to point out you had a stray hair sticking out!" Alfred stammered.

Natalya narrowed her eyes, but fixed her hair with her hands, then turned and knelt down, gathering up her papers, in hopes that they weren't ruined just yet.

After picking up about half of her documents, Natalya turned to see Alfred had knelt down as well, and was helping picking the papers up with her. When paper no longer littered the floor, he decided to speak.

"Sorry about that." He said softly, and stood, offering her a hand for support.

She scoffed, deciding to forgive him, despite how he was getting on her last nerve. After all, he had helped her pick up after herself. "Whatever." The Belarusian took his offered hand and he hoisted her up with ease.

…

But he didn't let go of her hand.

So the duo stood, hand in hand, with papers in their other occupied arms, with their pale blue eyes met for who knows how many moments.

Natalya, instead, had to pull her hand away from him herself. She turned to hide the cherry-colored blush beginning to taint her cheeks.

What the hell?

Alfred cleared his throat, probably to try and rid the odd atmosphere, and took the papers from Natalya's arms. He started stacking them together with the papers he himself had gathered up, and then offered them back to her. "Here you go, madam~"

"…Thank you." Natalya muttered, taking them from him reluctantly. "I can take care of myself though, Alfred."

"Oh, I know that. You live alone, of course you can take care of yourself!" Natalya twitched from the painful reminder, but he didn't seem to notice and continued on. "Only the strongest of people can live on their own without going insane!"

"Alfred." Natalya suddenly snapped.

"What?"

"Shut up. I didn't choose to live alone, my brother kicked me out of his house."

"….Oh." His boastful gaze turned into a look of pity.

"Besides," She started. "Don't you live alone as well?"

"What? Noo! I have Tony with me!" Alfred's usual grin returned, along with a thumbs up.

Only the strongest of people can live on their own without going insane. Natalya quoted to herself. He said that, right? And he lives alone…maybe he's lost it. "Who is this 'Tony'?" She questioned. "He's not a nation, is he?"

"What? A nation! Hell no, he's an alien."

"An…alien." She pronounced slowly, not convinced at all.

"Yeah! You can meet him if you want!" Alfred replied enthusiastically.

The Belarusian scoffed, but decided to play along with the American's whim. "I'd love to meet Tony."

"Seriously? What are we waiting for then? Let's go!" With that, Alfred grabbed her wrist, and started running out of the room, dragging her along.

Natalya had to clutch onto her papers for dear life to stop them from scattering again.

~x.X.x.~

"Who is that?" Tony questioned, pointing one gray, deformed finger up to the Belarusian beau, right when Alfred and said beau had walked into the huge American household.

"This is Natalya, Tony!" Alfred introduced cheerfully. "She's Belarus, the country!"

Natalya turned away from the alien and the American to set down her papers on a nearby table, and to mask her shocked expression. Alfred hadn't been joking about his alien friend at all.. "Nice to meet you." She said hesitantly, but it came out sounding somewhat unwelcoming and bitter.

"…Fucking limey." Was Tony's squeaky response. "You actually brought a good-looking human girl over this time!"

This time? The Belarusian raised her eyebrow up suspiciously.

"Ahaha…" Alfred chucked nervously. "Those are just tourist besties of mine-"

"They're fucking ugly! Compared to this Natalya girl, they're shit!"

"Tony, don't say that about them! And that's true, but saying that is really rude!"

Natalya shifted from foot to foot and stared down, trying to refrain from smiling. Neither of them seemed to be aware they had just complimented her.

"I'm going to go play some video games." Tony announced, before turning and walking off.

The sound of a door slamming in the distance was met with silence in the room Natalya and Alfred were in. Alfred turned to stare at her, and suddenly said, "You know, you should smile more."

"Why is that?" Natalya demanded, and dropped her happy face back to her normal scowl. He had taken notice of her smile after all, even though she had tried to hide it away from him. "Not many things make me smile."

"Because you look really pretty when you smile. It makes you seem more approachable." Alfred explained.

Natalya's eyes suddenly became very interested in her shoes as she began to blush more.

"…I should get going." Natalya replied softly. She turned and gathered her papers in a messy pile, then made a dash to the door.

"Wait!" Alfred barricaded the door with his own body before she could run out.

"What now!" She hissed, clutching her papers to her chest.

"Take this." Alfred turned to his right where a vase filled with fresh flowers stood, and plucked a white rose from the assortment. He then turned to face the Belarusian's and push the rose into her hair. "A pretty rose for a beautiful girl."

Feeling the rose in her hair, Natalya smiled at him, not even bothering to conceal it this time.

Alfred grinned cheekily in return. "It's the hero's job to make damsels smile." He turned around and opened the door for her.

Natalya nodded in thanks, unable to really speak even though she wanted to thank him. She walked out the door, pausing when the door closed with a click!

Taking a deep breath, Natalya continued walking all the way back to her house, the white rose glittering in her hair, and her documents held close.

~x.X.x.~

Upstairs, Tony watched Natalya walk away from a high window. "That girl will be coming back here soon, I hope. Alfred seems to have taken a special interest in her…" With that, he turned away from the view to resume playing his video games.