Morning After

Even though hungry, Eva headed straight for her room to put some clean clothes on, thus considerably reducing the quantity of walk-of-shame comments. As she got down to have a breakfast, she bumped into Alfred.

"Hey." He nodded as he passed her by.

"Hello," she muttered. Than it came back to her - their drinking, dancing and making out.

"Al?" she shouted to stop him. He turned to face her.

"Mmm?"

"If you don't mind me asking..." Eva moved closer so the others wouldn't hear them. "We were quite hitting it off last night. How come we didn't…" She obviously had a problem with the word.

"Hook up?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah."

"Why don't you ask your boyfriend?" he retorted.

"I'm sorry?"

"Now that I've come to think about it, I don't really blame you. You just wanted some time with the hero. It's the two of you that need to have a chat."

She blinked, confusion distorting her delicate features.

"Honestly, Alfred, I'm not aware of having a boyfriend at the moment."

"You don't?" Now the blond seemed lost, too.

"Let's start with the beginning. What exactly happened?"

"Well." He took a moment to think. "As you said yourself, things were getting pretty hot and we were about to move it to my room, when your… friend came around, shouting 'That's as far as you're getting with her!' and dragging you away."

"My friend?!" Her mouth parted slightly.

"You know, tall, skinny, ponytail, skin as pale as yours...?"

"Lithuania?"

"Yeah, that's him!" he exclaimed triumphantly.

"But... Why would he-?" Eva wondered.

"Don't ask me, I was shocked, too. He used to stay at my house, such a nice and easy-going guy, always minding his own business. So when I saw him freaking out like that, I kinda assumed you were his-"

"His business," the Slovak muttered.

"Yeah." He shrugged.

They remained silent for a while.

"Alfred... I'm so sorry I ruined your birthday," she then breathed. "But whatever Liet did that for, he was right. I'm not built for one night stands. I wouldn't be able to deal with it afterwards. I was just drunk. Lonely. And horny."

"Oh, we all were. That's the essence of all parties!" The corridor seemed to shook with his laughter. "And you didn't ruin anything," he purred, brushing a strand of hair off her face. "Last night, I saw you having fun for the first time in what seemed like forever. That's the most amazing gift I could have asked for."

Eva blushed, all moved.

"And I got laid anyway," Al promptly added.

"Good job!" The brunette burst out laughing and high-fived him.

"So... Are you alright with us being just friends?" she asked, back to her serious self.

"Sure. And should you change your mind, we can always add some benefits."

"I'll keep that in mind," Eva whispered, kissing lightly his cheek and trailing off.

Once on the staircase, the young Slav smiled to herself. She'd grown fond of the American. He might be obnoxious, but every time we meet, he cheers me up and doesn't judge. And someone like that can't be a bad person.

But as for Toris, there's something I've missed, Eva realized, looking around the room in search of a vacant table. Somebody waved at her from the back. It was Estonia.

"You can eat here if you want," he offered, digging into his full English.

"I'd love to." She sat down and ordered some coffee and pastries.

"I haven't seen Toris today. I actually thought you would be getting down together."

"I guess not." Eva shrugged dismissively. "He told me to go away and I won't insist if he doesn't want me around."

"But... That's all he ever wanted," Ed muttered to himself. And froze as he realized he had actually said it out loud.

"How come?" She looked at him, intrigued. "What do you mean?"

Eduard's brain was working at full speed. I don't want to do things behind his back, he's one of my true friends. But what do I do? It's too late now that I blabbed. Anyway, this has been going on for long enough as it is.

He put down his fork and looked away.

"He never told me anything, so I can't be sure. I can only tell you about the things I've seen. I've seen him toss and turn every other night, mumbling your name. I've seen him pretending to chase Belarus around, just to forget whom he'd rather be chasing. I've seen him talking to Canada, asking him to make you happy and dying inside when it actually happened."

She said nothing, just contemplated her meal, letting those words sink in. A while later, she bit her lip, then looked at the Baltic.

"Eduard?"

"Yes?"

"It's a good thing he never told you anything. That way you didn't betray him."

They smiled at each other.

"I need to go."

"Take this, Eva." He handed something that looked a lot like a blank credit card.

"What's that?"

"A master key," he whispered. "I got it for... security reasons." His ears turned slightly red.

"Not my place to judge, Ed." The Slovak gave him a grateful smile and left.

Once in front of Baltic's room, she took a deep breath and knocked. Nothing. Eva tried again. No good.

She unlocked the room. Empty. Except for the vapor slowly crawling from the bathroom.

"Toris?" She knocked on the semi-open door. "Do you think I can come in?"

He turned his head. As he saw her, a part of him desperately wanted to hide under the foam. The other part was too upset to even ask how she managed to get in.

"You might as well. You've already seen the worst part of me anyway," he sighed. She sat down on the edge of the bathtub. For a moment, no one said a word.

"Rumor has it you have some kind of crush on me," she said without ceremony.

Toris didn't like being put on the spot like that. He didn't acknowledge her question, he didn't even look at her. That was as good an answer to Eva as any.

"Since when?"

"Since you left," he admitted, still facing away.

Since 1989, she realized. That's... Twenty years. Hardly a crush.

She couldn't believe it. It felt like a dream. She reached out to touch him, just to make sure he was real, but slipped and went falling, head first, to the tub.

His hand saved her from a blow, their faces now only millimeters from each other.

The time stopped for a while as the two pairs of lips met in a timid kiss.

Then, abruptly, it grew into a deep and hungry one. Only when the need for air became desperate did they move apart.

"Twenty years," Eva murmured. "How come you never told me?"

"You never left me the chance." He shrugged and smiled, leaning in to kiss her again.

She helped him remove her drenched clothes. It was nothing compared to what they had been through. He'd already seen her naked heart and soul and that was as intimate as two people can get.

You put me on the right track when I was going against myself.

You never gave up on me.

Of course, it's you I've been missing this whole time, not him. We were torn away from each other so quickly, I never got a chance to get over it.

I couldn't give my everything to another man. I've never stopped loving you in the first place.

Eva wanted to say all that aloud, but, feeling his naked body against hers, decided they would talk later.

The couple kissed and caressed each other, their movements steadily picking up pace. Then, they hugged closer and their heartbeats melted into one, his body finally joining hers after twenty years of foreplay.

-THE END-