This is the second time I've written Russia from someone else's perspective…it's kind of fun, I like doing it. And it's strangely…easy? Is that a bad thing!? xD Well…I hope this chapter doesn't come across as too, like, depressing… That really wasn't the intention, though I'm afraid I always get more serious than I want to! I hope you keep that in mind. Don't take it TOO seriously, please... xD

Chapter Pairings: None

Chapter 8: My Creepy Russian Friend (Latvia)

Latvia sank down lower in his chair, wishing he could just disappear. History class had barely begun, but he could already tell that it would be a rough day. Their teacher, a tired, middle-aged gentleman, didn't seem to be in the best mood right now. Especially since an out-of-breath Finland had run in a minute after the bell, apologizing for being late even before he'd opened the door all the way. Finland hadn't gotten in trouble for it, possibly because he looked as though he might start crying at any second, but their teacher hadn't seemed amused, all the same. Nope, Latvia was not looking forward to today's lesson. Though, admittedly, the teacher's bad mood wasn't the only reason…

He felt a hand weighing down heavily on his shoulder and though he shuddered slightly, he pretended not to notice it for the time being. He stared at the front of the room, where the teacher was currently writing something on the whiteboard, though Latvia hardly knew what they were studying. Were they talking about American history? He didn't remember. He always found it difficult to concentrate in this class.

His eyes followed the marker in the teacher's hand as he wrote slowly, carefully, printing the heading clearly. An E, then a C, O, N… Economy or economics, he guessed to distract himself, still desperately trying to ignore the fingers now trailing along his upper back. As the hand touched the bare flesh on the nape of his neck, he could barely suppress a whimper, but he clamped his mouth shut and kept his eyes glued to the front of the room. He was definitely shaking now. I can do this, I can get through this class, I can do this-

It was the whisper that broke him.

"Why are you shaking? You are cold, da?" At the sound of the mildly concerned voice, he could no longer pretend. His eyes flicked back to the boy sitting in the desk directly behind his, and his heart felt faint at the sight of that familiar, vague smile.

"I'm fine, Russia," he practically mouthed, hardly any sound escaping his throat. He wanted to turn back around and face the board, but something in Russia's eyes told him he shouldn't yet. He gulped and stared pointedly at the surface of Russia's desk, waiting to see if he had anything else to tell him. But Russia just continued smiling, not saying anything. What's he waiting for…?

"Latvia!" their teacher's voice snapped. Latvia jumped and quickly turned around, blushing.

"Sorry!" he squeaked.

The slightly balding man sighed and asked wearily, "What can you tell me about the economy of antebellum America?"

"Uh…" Latvia panicked as he tried to simply comprehend the question itself. Antebellum? What is that, Latin? Are they asking me questions in Latin now!? Eventually he remembered that, in this case, antebellum referred to the time leading up to the American Civil War. Oh. That's right. He had read about this, a night or two ago, in their textbook. He'd been thorough and had diligently taken notes on it. But that didn't really help him now, since his scare with Russia had left his mind totally blank and his notes were probably buried in his bag somewhere. "Um…well…"

Behind him, Russia giggled innocently at his failure to come up with answer, which only made it harder to concentrate. He glanced to his left and found his friend Estonia looking back with sympathy in his eyes, but he didn't exactly offer up any answers.

"I…I don't know," he murmured eventually. It was embarrassing, to not have anything to give as an answer. This was a private school and the boys here, though they sometimes seemed careless, were actually very academically competitive. Out of the corner of his eye, Latvia saw Prussia from a few seats down shoot a smug look at his cousin, Germany.

He's making fun of me, Latvia thought, and, mortified, he slid down further in his seat. He was a small kid, so he should be barely visible by now. That would be ideal.

The teacher, after giving him a slightly disappointed look, had moved on and asked Austria the same question, promptly receiving the answer he was looking for. He went back to writing on the board, now drawing two columns labeled 'North' and 'South', and went on to explain some of Austria's points in more depth.

Latvia miserably scribbled down some notes and prayed that he wouldn't be called on for the rest of the class. He was hardly surprised when he felt Russia's hand on his back again, pulling at the collar of his jacket and otherwise being annoying. Really, this sort of thing had been happening more and more, lately. He had almost gotten used to it, actually; though he still hated it. Why did he have to be the one to sit in front of Russia? He stared at the clock, willing it to go faster. There was still more than an hour left of class, and his shoulders slumped slightly in distress.

As the lecture about the differing economies of the northern and southern states continued, Russia slowly grew bored of poking and playing with Latvia and withdrew his hand. Latvia finally got some peace. Well, that was an improvement, at least. He sat up a little straighter and paid more attention to the class, knowing that this material would be on a test eventually.

After ten minutes of nothing from Russia, Latvia was feeling good. He even raised his hand to answer a question as the memory from his readings the night before began to come back. He didn't get called on, but he'd made the effort. Maybe I can get through this… he thought optimistically. Maybe…

Then Russia grabbed a few hairs from the back of his head and pulled. Hard.

He gave a yelp, a combination of surprise and pain. The teacher, and everyone else in the class, turned collectively and gave him a look.

"I-I'm sorry…" he stuttered. His teacher did not seem impressed. He looked downright annoyed, truth be told.

"Latvia, I will have to ask you to stay after class if you disrupt again."

"Y-yes, sir," Latvia whispered. Russia laughed gently and gave him a little pat on the head.

No, his first instincts were right. It was going to be a long day.

…

It hadn't always been like this.

Latvia's freshman year had been relatively normal. He'd met Estonia and Lithuania during their first week, and the three of them had stuck together ever since, inseparable. Latvia wasn't even sure why they were such close friends, but he'd always felt really comfortable with them; he found them easy to be around. He'd had some other friends during freshman year, too, most notably Poland. Poland and Lithuania were close friends, and he was the unofficial fourth member of their little Baltic group. And there were a few others, too. But…after sophomore year, most of those others began avoiding them. Because that's when they'd met Russia.

The three of them, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, had never really interacted with the strange, intimidating Russian boy before. He'd been pretty much a loner the entire first year of school, keeping to himself. Although one always had the feeling that he was constantly watching everything around him, and the small smile always tugging at his lips didn't exactly inspire trust in those who saw it. In all honesty, the guy kind of creeped Latvia out, but really, he just seemed a little sad and lonely.

So when Russia had approached them during their first week back at school, they hadn't known exactly how to handle it. He sort of forced his way into their small group, deaf to any and all hints that he was not wanted there. He had this sort of obliviousness about him, as though he lived in his own little world where the three boys from the Baltic nations and Poland were his best friends, and they didn't exactly have a say in it. He'd slowly inserted himself into their friendship, becoming more and more comfortable around them, spending more time with them, as the weeks and months went on. It eventually got to the point where Latvia suddenly realized one day that Russia was always around, always in their presence. Still, Latvia hadn't minded so much at first. He just thought the kid wanted some companionship, and though he was kind of weird, he was harmless, right?

Oh how wrong he'd been.

At that point, midway through sophomore year, there had been five of them. Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, and Russia. But ever since Russia had shown up, Poland and Lithuania's friendship had become strained. Poland thought that Russia was bad news, but Lithuania was just too quiet and reserved to speak up against him. Then, one day, Poland had just disappeared. Latvia didn't know exactly what had happened, because Lithuania never spoke of it, but he'd hardly even seen the Polish boy in the last two years or so. Poland had been the first casualty, the first sign that something about Russia was wrong. But it had been too late, at that point.

Russia became their self-appointed 'leader' after Poland left, and none of them had been able to stop him. Latvia himself was just too eager to please and too frightened to disappoint anybody, even Russia, to challenge him; not to mention, Russia's superior size and strength definitely scared him. Lithuania hadn't seemed to be able to say anything to Russia ever since the Poland incident, and Latvia always wondered if there was some deeper layer to the relationship between the two of them that he couldn't quite see. And Estonia; well, Estonia just remained calm about the whole thing, and he somehow didn't seem too concerned about it. He always managed to avoid the worst of Russia's madness. So, without any resistance, Russia inserted himself into their lives, telling them what to do and when and how to do it, all the while getting a perverse satisfaction out of it. And things had continued to go downhill from there, at least, for Latvia.

Russia had discovered his favorite pastime of harassing Latvia sometime during junior year. Anything that caused Latvia to react, verbally, physically, visibly; anything that showed some level of discomfort seemed to just light up Russia's life like nothing else. But that wasn't even the worst thing. Russia didn't even seem to realize he was doing it. He was always asking Latvia if he was feeling okay, or why he looked so scared, or why he was shaking. Like he still lived in that little fantasy world where everything was good and normal, and he was just a regular, concerned friend. Or like there were two different Russias, the tormentor and the caretaker. It was unnerving.

The paranoia and irritation from all those little things that Russia did just kept adding up, until Latvia lived in constant fear for the moment when Russia would do something really bad. And the sad part was that even though Latvia knew that it was coming, he couldn't do anything about it. He always hoped that if he just made Russia happy, maybe he'd get left alone. It had yet to happen, but Latvia tried to remain optimistic, and did his best to please the overbearing Russian, despite the cost.

All he could do was keep trying, right?

…

History class was finally, finally, almost over. It had seemed like the longest hour and a half of Latvia's life. Now, with only five minutes left, Latvia was sitting on the edge of his seat, leg jiggling under his desk as he waited to make a run for the door the instant the bell rang (if Russia didn't make him stay back and carry his books or something).

That's when their teacher uttered the words that every awkward schoolchild most dreads.

"We'll be working on a partner project on the American Civil War all next week. You can choose your own partner, but only two in a group. When you've chosen, come up and I'll give you a topic and a rubric." Then he sat down at his desk and sorted a stack of papers, probably completely unaware of the panic now rampaging through Latvia's chest as the boys around him rose from their seats and called to their friends across the room. Partner projects, a common object of dislike in high schools, were especially hated by the three Baltic representatives because of an obvious reason.

Quickly, Latvia turned to his left, only to find Lithuania and Estonia already standing together and walking towards the teacher's desk. Lithuania shot back an apologetic look, but he didn't jump to offer Latvia any assistance or anything. Not that there was anything he could do, anyways, at this point. Latvia no longer had a choice.

He gulped and took a few seconds to mentally prepare himself before he turned around slowly in his seat, his head hanging somewhat as he faced Russia's desk.

"Uh, Russia…" he said, hearing his voice tremble slightly. He cleared his throat and continued, "I'll go get the rubric! I mean, if you want…"

"What? What are you talking about, Latvia? Did you want to be my partner? Are you shaking again?" Russia sounded overjoyed with the last sentence, which was pretty normal, but the rest of it baffled Latvia. He finally raised his eyes and found Russia standing beside the desk of a (dare he describe him as pretty?) long-haired, delicately-featured Asian boy. It was obvious they were going to be working together.

Isn't that China? Latvia wondered, feeling an enormous weight being lifted off his chest and he spoke quickly. "Oh, uh, no! No, no, no! Sorry! I mean, not that I wouldn't want to, but if you already…I mean, I just thought that…that, uh…" Russia seemed amused as Latvia continued struggling for a few seconds before coming up with a somewhat plausible excuse. "That I would offer to get your rubric for you guys…?" he finally said somewhat lamely, and at Russia's smile, he sighed resignedly and walked to the front of the room.

He took four papers (turns out the topics were randomly selected and included on the separate rubrics), for Russia, China, himself and his…partner. His shoulders slumped as he realized he still had to find someone who would want to do this project with him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had the choice to pick someone other than Russia or Estonia for a partner (Poland and Lithuania had always chosen each other back in the day, and now Russia usually took him), and he didn't have any other close friends. Boys milled around him as the class began dividing itself into pairs, and Latvia just had to find where he fit into it all now that he had a little freedom, a new concept. A somewhat frightening concept.

Yup, it's gonna be a long, long day, he thought with a little half smile as he handed Russia his papers and then struck out into the crowd. But there was something exciting about this. Something new. Russia had deliberately chosen someone else to be his partner, which felt like a good sign to Latvia. Maybe he'd finally succeeded in pleasing the Russian enough to deserve a break. Maybe Russia had gotten bored with the Baltic boys after all this time and was moving on. Latvia felt a small smile on his lips at the thought.

The grin on his face widened as he saw that another quiet student, Canada, was still partner-less. He approached the shy boy with as much confidence as he could muster (which wasn't much, but still) and couldn't help but think; maybe things really are going to get better!

But somehow, as he slipped on a stray paper lying on the floor and heard Russia's mild, yet condescending, laugh floating from across the room as he fell flat on his back, he still had his doubts.

I'm sorry, I feel like a lot of these earlier chapters are really just setting up relationships and situations that will be resolved later. : ( I hope you aren't finding it too boring, it WILL get more interesting, I think, as time goes on… *crosses fingers*

By the way, I hate choosing partners for projects… xD I'M SUCH AN AWKWARD CHILD!