I do not own Hetalia, okay? I don't have much to say here so enough of this A/N, on with the fic!
As winter turned into spring, Alfred sighed, knowing that Ivan was far away. So far, the package he had sent for valentine's day hadn't been delivered yet, at least not according to the tracking, but when he looked at it today, he saw that it was actually out for delivery. If it's out for delivery, it is likely very early. He thought as he looked at the clock nearby. "Holy shit, I didn't realize it was that late!" He placed his books down and stretched. "I do need to rest." He then sent Ivan a text and headed to bed. If he was going to pass his classes, he needs to rest.
Meanwhile, Ivan was making himself a cup of coffee with a lot of milk and sugar. He normally drank tea, but for some reason he was wanting some coffee. Sipping, he smiled as he heard a buzz from the phone. "Ah Fredka…." He smiled as he opened the text. "Hey Vanya, I have to go to bed and get some sleep now but I saw the tracking and your Valentine's gift will be showing up today. Yeah, I know it's almost Easter but it's the thought that counts, does it not? Anyway, have a good day at work and I'll let you know when I am up again so you can call if you want. Can't wait to see you this summer. And Mattie said he'd love to see you when we're at his wedding." Ivan smiled. He knew that the package he had sent would arrive soon, he had paid a little extra to expedite the package as he couldn't wait to hear Alfred's reaction to the job. He had painted up the Matryoshkas in the kit to look like him, and then Alfred to show that he was in his heart. In the last one, he had put a copy of the orders with a translation of what it said. This was it, it was official, and he was already finding himself looking at apartments, dreaming of the day that he and Alfred would be together. Alfred had told him about what Matthew had planned for his wedding and how he had been doing research of places to have the bachelor party in Toronto. He had insisted that Ivan help him with that. He reluctantly agreed. As he sipped his coffee, he heard a knock at the door.
"Can I help you?" Ivan asked casually.
"Package." The mailman said as he shoved the box into his hands and walked away with a huff.
Ivan shut the door behind him and looked at the box. Smiling, he looked at the label he saw Alfred's handwriting and one made in a translator from English and Cyrillic, remembering that while Alfred would be getting better at speaking Russian, he wasn't very good at writing it. He and Alfred had also been taking to writing to each other, as he had insisted to Alfred that the old-fashioned love letter and Alfred had tried to write "I love you" in Cyrillic. However, when Ivan got it, he could only tell what Alfred was trying to say by the English translation. "I guess that is to make sure that both countries could read each other's address." Ivan said as he opened the box to find a large bear with faux sunflowers and a large box of candy. There was a card attached as well that fell to the ground. Ivan picked it up and smiled. "I know you like sweet things so I sent you some of the best candy I know of. And there's a few pictures of me in there as well so you can keep me in mind. Ivan blushed as he saw what they were and the last one was one that Alfred was talking about, that he was ashamed of, the first album label. "You still look good." Ivan smiled. "But not as good as you do with your blonde hair." Ivan said as he placed the photos on his coffee table. "But I have to go to work, and I will see you later my love." He said as he blew a kiss at the picture. "But I will also have to go to Katyusha and Dimitri's here this weekend." He moaned.
Alfred woke up with a panic. He had fallen asleep once he had sent the text to Ivan and knew that he would need to get rest before his classes today. "Awwwww fuck!" He said as he looked at the clock seeing it was half way through his first class. "Shit, shit shit shit..." He said as he ran quickly into the bathroom and changed his clothes and instead of taking a shower, he had covered himself in too much body spray when he had run past Arthur who sighed and grabbed Alfred by the collar.
"Just what do you think you are doing boy?" Arthur sighed.
"I have class today!" Alfred said as he kept running while Arthur pulled him back and shoved a piece of toast with marmite in his mouth. "Gross!" He said, spitting it out.
"Calm down, you're not going anywhere." Arthur sighed.
"What the fuck?" Alfred said. "You are the one who said I had to go to school if you were going to let me stay here?"
"Indeed." Arthur said, "But use your head. I do teach school myself. Why in the bloody hell am I still here?"
"I dunno? Took a day off?" Alfred sighed. "Spent too long a night of passion with Papa?"
"You haven't looked outside?" Arthur said. Alfred paused as he headed to the window and saw snow midway up the house. "We are snowed in. Nothing is going on for a few days at least."
"Oh." Alfred said as he blinked at the snow. It kind of reminded him of Ivan. He had teased that he was Russian, he knew all about snow.
"I assumed you knew about the weather and that is why you slept in." Arthur said. "Do not tell me that you forgot to set an alarm."
"I did set an alarm..." Alfred said. "I must have been really tired, sleeping though that..." He blushed knowing that one of his dreams last night likely helped him to ignore the alarms set.
"Well, it doesn't matter anyway." Arthur said. "I am proud of you."
"Did you get Papa or Matthew mad at you?" Alfred laughed.
"No." Arthur said crossly as Francis came in with a slight laugh. "Piss off Frog." Alfred started to laugh. "Can't a father be proud of what his son has done?"
"When it comes to you, my dear stick in the mud, no." Francis laughed as he poured himself a glass of juice. "And we are stuck in here for a while, yes?"
"A few days at least." Arthur said.
"Wouldn't expect blizzards in March." Alfred said.
"It can happen. It did when you and Matthew were once about 4 years old." Arthur smiled. "Once the snow got down a little bit, we made a snowman that was a good 6 feet tall at least. Did not melt until May." He sipped his tea and smiled. "I should look in the photo album again. I mean I will need some for the presentation I am going to give at the rehearsal dinner." Alfred rolled his eyes. "Oh behave. The way you are about that Ivan chap, I'll need to break it out again for that in a year or two." Alfred blushed and looked away. "I see I am onto something here."
"Why do you need to ask about that?" Alfred sighed. "I mean I am like 26 years old after all, and you're acting like when I brought Josephina over before prom..."
"Oh, that reminds me, you got a package yesterday before the storm blew in." Francis said.
"Papa! Why didn't you tell me?" Alfred moaned as he looked over to see the box.
"Why when you came home you were so anxious to get started studying, I didn't want to bother you." Franics said earnestly.
"Well, this is something I had been waiting for!" Alfred said as he took the package, noticing that it was Ivan's handwriting, who Alfred had to admit he could write in Latin letters much better than he could with the Cyrillic alphabet. Taking it upstairs, he opened the box and saw the matryoshka dolls, nothing that they looked like both Ivan and Alfred and inside was a letter. Alfred took it with excitement. "'Dearest Fredka, I have the best news, I have been given the American assignment and will be joining you soon. I cannot wait until your brother's wedding to see you again. I dream of you nightly and cannot wait until the day I can hold you in my arms again and keep ahold of you for the rest of time. I love you, Vanya." At this Alfred smiled so wide he could feel a pain in his cheeks, he hadn't smiled this big since his band got a proper agent who wanted his old band to be signed to their label. Alfred was so happy he paused, he couldn't feel really anything until he read the letter a few more times and the impact sunk in.
He sat down on his bed and sighed. So, it was finally true. He knew that Ivan had mentioned that the company was expanding to America and while he was likely to get it, Alfred was not sure that it would actually go through. Sure, he had spoken with some of Ivan's bosses when he was working on the designed class to help adults and teenagers learn about the cybersecurity industry and while he didn't seem that he was going to do something against the project or just abandon it because of the bigger bosses was stuck in the cold war. "I really should think about getting my own place. I want to have something when he comes over. It will be a long trip and he shouldn't have to live in a hotel while working that job..." Alfred said as he looked at the clock. "You know it would be about 6 over there..." He pulled up his phone and smiled. "I should let him know that the package came in."
Meanwhile Ivan had put a pot of solyanka on, sighing that he was the only one to have his dinner with at the time. He wanted to give Alfred some of the foods he had loved knowing that the time they had together, Ivan could not cook much for Alfred but he knew how much he loved to eat. Looking at the ingredients of the broth, he had to wonder if it was something that Alfred would like. It was made from olives, capers, tomatoes, lemon, lemon juice, kvass, and marinated mushrooms. But Alfred was an adventurous eater from his own claims and some of the failures of cooking he had described from his father. At this thought, he growled at the idea. He recalled the first time he had met Arthur was after that fight they had on Christmas. That a father would say things like that to his son on Christmas. It's vile. And egotistical. He thought as he chopped the cabbage for the stew, growling at that image. He had remembered that Arthur seemed nice when he was introduced to him at a proper dinner. At this, he heard his phone ring. "Ah, Fredka, don't you have school now?" He said as he looked at the time, keeping in mind the time difference.
"We got a blizzard and I can't get out of the house for a few days." Alfred said. "Hopefully there's no power outages or anything like that. Don't worry about it, likely won't happen, but there will be a lot of snow for a while and it won't be opened up for a few days. Likely I'll have to shovel out the driveway." Alfred gulped hearing what he swore was an angry growl. "I mean it's great exercise and my dad would likely have a heart attack and my papa would cry about breaking a nail. Besides, I can't get to the gym for a while, so I can get my workout done that way. You have to know that I practically live off McDonalds, how else will I have this smokin hot bod?"
"Yes, yes." Ivan said.
"Oh, and I got your package." Alfred smirked.
"You did?" Ivan asked with his heart racing in anticipation. "So...what did you think?" He knew that he put the letter where he told Alfred about the work assignment and he didn't seem to be screaming his ear off.
"Well, the candy is good, and you did a wonderful job on the Matryoshka dolls, love your ideas on this. It showed a real amount of dedication and work that I never knew you were so artistic. I mean you do great work hacking and with your security programs, but that's being a detective a cybercop. Keeping up the law and the cyber safety of all." Alfred laughed as he laid back on the bed. "You must send more of that one with the cranberry and chocolate with that wrapper with the blue bear on it. I never thought this stuff could be so good. Really sweet."
"Yes, Russian candy is sweet." Ivan said nervously. Did he not see the letter? Ivan began to wonder if he somehow forgot to put it in or let him know or did Alfred not find it?
"Oh, and let me know when you get everything squared away and need a place to stay, because I am already scouting out townhomes and apartments so we can have a place of our own." Alfred smiled.
"Now Fredka..." Ivan began. He had to admit he loved the idea of having Alfred all to himself and in a place of their own, he knew that Alfred would have a place to be closer to him, to come home to him or after a long day of work, that he would see Alfred waiting on him with a candlelit dinner where a few glasses of wine later they would be spending the night together in passion and would wake up again for yet another day. "It's still a little way away..."
"I know, but it's happening." Alfred said. "Gives me something to think about when Easter comes along."
"What's wrong with Easter?" Ivan said. "I will be spending it with my sister soon. Making sure that Dimitri man she is dating is actually taking care of her. I will be bringing Makovnik, Kulich and Kulebyaka"
"Huh?" Alfred asked.
"Makovnik is poppy seed pie, Kulich is an Easter cake and Kulebyaka is a salmon fish pie. Easter is a time for feasting and property. I know Katyusha said she would take care of most of it, but I could not stand being her guest and not bringing something to help." Alfred made a noise to agree. "I will send you the recipes if you want to try them. And one day I will make it for you, my love."
"I can't wait. Next Easter, you and me." Alfred said.
"I would love that." Ivan said. "But why would you be dreading your Easter?"
"I mean, Matthew is coming with his fiancée Emma." Alfred sighed. "Don't get me wrong, it would be nice to see Mattie again without having to facetime him or something..."
"But..." Ivan began as he knew that Alfred was trying to get something off his chest.
"But I am worried that something would happen like at Christmas, and I wouldn't have you to cry on. You are the one who made that holiday bearable. You saved me from sleeping in that car when it was really, really cold out. As much of a drinking buddy that he is, he's not one to really take much care of me." Alfred laughed.
"Well hopefully your dad learned his lesson." Ivan said. "And you said your brother had told him why he was wrong." Alfred hummed in agreement. "And even if your father wants to ignore the achievements you had in the music industry, one cannot deny the skills you developed and how hard you have worked to make something for yourself after that."
"That's true Vanya." Alfred said. "Let me know how it goes. And tell Katy I said hi. Can't wait to see her when I am there with you before we go see my brother's wedding. Like I said, I have to plan the bachelor party and come up with a good speech. Honestly, he's been there for me more than the rest of my family. Maybe it's a twin thing, I don't know but I have to thank him for helping me to make the best decision of my life."
"Well then there's one thing I can thank your father for, the fact that if he did not make you angry enough to have those, how you say, Thorogood specials, I would never have met the love of my life. The poet with a siren song. I love you."
"Love you two Vanya." Alfred said.
"Love you too Fredka." Ivan smiled. "Let me know how your Easter goes."
"I will." Alfred said. "And you will be what keeps me warm."
"So are you." Ivan said. "But I must get back to my stew."
"Eat hearty." Alfred said.
"I will." Ivan said.
With this Alfred hung up and Ivan poured himself a bowl of the stew and sat down at the kitchen table. He had to admit that it was lonely without Alfred around. Hearing his voice was not enough. Seeing him, even when he was bare, was not enough. He was determined to get in Alfred's arms again and be the one to protect him and keep him close so no one would hurt him, or Alfred ever again.
SO how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. I know it has been a little bit since I had updated but I will finish this. I don't have much else to say here other than to read, well you just did, and to review. Ciao for now,
Otherrealmwriter
Aka
Realm.