Chapter Twenty-Six: Double-Date

Valentine's Day.

Two days after his talk with Francis, Ludwig had asked Kiku out, trusting himself not to make it kinky. "How about we have our first date on Saturday—Valentine's day. And… ask your house-mates to come with us, okay?" Sure-fire way to know you won't get kinky? Go for a double-date!

The girls were absolutely ecstatic about the whole thing. They could keep an eye out on their couple—Elizabeta's orders—and still enjoy Valentine's Day together without things getting awkward between them. (Creeping around often got Natalia a bit cranky, if you can believe it.) Besides, Natalia, at least, wanted to get to know her housemate's boyfriend. She was curious as to the stories told by Kiku about him. And Kiku? Well, it was his first date and all! (They had been calling and emailing since they were established back at the beginning of January. And Kiku still came in to the café regularly, but then he was picking up the other Gilmore boys for lunch or on a coffee run for Poppy Crafts and such and such and such.)

Natalia was all ready dressed on the day of the double date. Katyusha was as well, but Kiku was having issues, so Kat had gone to help him prepare. Natalia was sitting at the counter in the kitchen, texting Heidi about her end of the Valentine's Day dates. Feliciano and Lovino were both at home moping. Heidi had just informed Natalia that she was about to call Feliciano over to Lovino's for some Valentine's Day 'bro-time.' Natalia was just wishing her little blonde friend good luck. Her phone buzzed a few seconds after the text to Heidi was sent.

Hey Nat. It's me, Ivan.

Oh shit. Natalia wasn't sure if she should answer or delete it. She decided to do nothing about it, and went back to her home-screen (a picture taken by Mattie of her, Katyusha, and Kiku after a particularly silly day at work). She closed her phone just as Kiku and Katyusha emerged from Kiku's room, Katyusha wearing a lovely silver dress, and Kiku wearing a man's white blouse and black pants.

"Planning on pillaging Spain?" Natalia asked, smoothing her little black dress as she stood and picked up Kiku's keys from the key bowl.

"What?"

"She thinks you look like a pirate, but I think you look fine," Katyusha chided, looking at her girlfriend with a slight glare.

"Should I call Arthur and ask if he has any eye-patches left from Halloween?" Natalia asked as they made their way into the garage to get into the car. Kiku tried to snatch the keys from the Belorussian, but she growled him into the passenger seat, uprooting Katyusha into the back.

"You look fine, Kiku, and not like a pirate," Katyusha replied from the back, patting the Japanese man's sleeve with a mother's touch.

"Just don't come running to me when the Spaniards arrest you for burning down their colonies in the New World," Natalia replied, turning on the car. Kat swatted her playfully with her sparkling clutch-purse as they backed out of the garage into the night.

Dinner was just being served when Natalia's phone buzzed in her purse. She started to sweat as she thought about it. Maybe it was Heidi with the verdict, or maybe it was Ivan again… she didn't know. And she didn't want to ruin dinner for her friends. Kiku and Ludwig were giving each other cute little glances across the table, and Katyusha's hand rested neatly upon Natalia's thigh until the dishes of food were brought out.

Katyusha saw her girlfriend's face twist up in pain and reached into Natalia's purse to grab her phone for her, but Natalia was quick as lightening and snatched it before Katyusha could lay her pretty fingers on it. She looked. It was from Ivan, again.

I know we're broken up, Nat.

I just wanted to say hello to my sister, but she isn't picking up her phone.

Katyusha looked at Natalia expectantly for a good minute. "Ivan wants to talk to you, Kat."

"I know." Katyusha replied.

There was a tight silence in the ranks before Ludwig decided to break it. "Have you told him about your relationship, at least?" he asked.

Katyusha blushed and put her napkin to her lower face in an attempt to hide it. Natalia sighed and shook her head, "We can't. Katyusha here doesn't want me to get hurt."

"But… Natalia has been the one beating Ivan down, right?" Kiku asked, knowing the most about Ivan and his fits.

"Yes, but if he knew that it was Natalia… well… you all know how Matthew came to us," Katyusha replied.

"Yes, but Matthew is a scrawny thing, with no muscle to fight back with," Ludwig pointed out. He then smiled at the white-blonde sitting next to Kat and said, "Natalia here can probably take down a bear…"

"And Ivan is just a big Russian bear," Kiku said to Kat, shrugging his shoulders at her.

"Yes, and he goes to Russia every summer to fight them, and for the last three years, he's been winning," Katyusha pointed out.

"But I know how to fight! Yao has been teaching me a few things, and I have all the basics from Toris!" Natalia hissed.

Katyusha bit her lip prettily and sighed, closing her eyes against the glow of the candle in the centre of the table. Finally, she opened her eyes and nodded, "Then we can tell him. He'll probably just throw a fit and I'll—oh shit."

"What?" Ludwig asked.

"Natalia and Katyusha locked Ivan in the shed on Christmas and left him…" Kiku told Ludwig.

"He doesn't remember any of his fits. He just remembered the feelings he felt during them…" Natalia explained quickly, taking a bite of the food on her plate. "And that's definitely not it. What is it, Kat?"

"Well… anything involving me makes him get into his fits, right?" Kat asked.

"Yes," Natalia answered, quick as a chess-clock thumper.

"And you know he gets some weird super-strength in his fits, right? It's how he can fight those bears in Tynda," Katyusha mused.

"Oh… I'm going to have to train much harder," Natalia said, "I'll call Yao when I get home and tell him I want the full training…"

Katyusha sighed, "Then we're definitely not telling him until you feel absolutely ready to fend him off…"

There was another tight silence, and then Ludwig coughed lightly before opening up the next topic of discussion: "So… are you all excited for the World Cup? I'm really hoping Germany wins it all this year…"

WHOO! Finishing up two chapters of two different fics is amazing. Anyway... Natalia gets ready to beat down Ivan, Katyusha gives in and stops being her hero, and Kiku and Ludwig finally have a date!

Please review. They fuel my soul a little bit ^^