The Thirty Day Roommates

by nicetwin123

America and Russia have a tense relationship, so in an attempt to improve it America's boss makes America host Russia in one of his houses for a month. Neither one of them is thrilled with this, but try and not fight the best they can. Even though they clash on just about everything they can't help but both agree that they can't wait for the thirty days to end.

36. Forget-me-nots and Sunflowers

A/N: At last! The final set up chapter is here ladies and gents! Time to dress up our main duo and friends in their Sunday best! Dresses, suits, ties and high heels. There shall be NO JEANS WHERE WE'RE GOING, DEAR READER! Only the finest may enter! And don't forget the flowers. ;) Can't take someone on a date without flowers…if you get my drift. No more stalling, let's go!

Future note: Oh god, I just found out I have to work everyday this week. R.I.P. my sleep schedule. Anywho, here's 15,000 words.

_IVAN_

The drive home the next day had been uneventful. Due to having to wake up before the crack of dawn to get home in time to pick up Ivan's sisters, and with them staying up late the previous night, they had barely enough energy to even drag themselves to the car let alone have a proper conversation. Of course, Alfred had somehow forgotten to bring coffee or tea with them, and without a proper caffeine fix Alfred had opted out of driving. Not that Ivan would let him, seeing as the younger nation only had enough willpower to help pack up their things in the car before curling up in the back seat and promptly passing out again.

Thankfully for them, Ivan was used to waking up early with little sleep, (not that he had slept that night anyways), so he had been able to get them home, only taking a brief break to stop by a starbucks to help Alfred get some caffeine in him before his caffeine headache got any worse, earning him a starry eyed look from Alfred.

If he had known that coffee had such an effect on him during the cold war, Ivan thought with a silent chuckle as Alfred practically breathed down his drink, he probably would have won the cold war without trying. Ah well, he at least had the upper hand on wooing him now. He was sure if he asked Alfred out with a fresh pot of coffee he would be set.

With that cheery thought bouncing in his head, they finally made it back to the apartment around 10am. They had decided beforehand that Alfred wouldn't go to the airport due to Belarus being there. So after dropping Alfred off with their bags, he braced himself as he drove himself down to the airport. It would be fine. He had been rehearsing what he would say to Belarus the whole drive down, and he could act under pressure. It would be fine. They would be fine. He would be fine. He chanted those last few thoughts like a mantra as he parked the car, walked into the airport, and hovered awkwardly by the luggage belt, nervously checking his texts as his sisters got closer and closer to him.

He didn't have to wait very long, as not even five minutes later after they had texted that they had gotten off the plane he heard his older sister let out an excited gasp from behind him, and as he turned around he almost toppled over as Ukraine ran over and jumped onto him, pulling him into a bear hug.

"Vanya! How are you?! Let me get a good look at you!" She practically sang.

"Privet, Katya." Ivan said in amusement as she pulled out of the hug and grabbed his face, studying him with a surprisingly firm look on her face. It seemed like his sister was as spirited as ever.

"Listen, Belarus is a little bit behind me because she had to use the restroom. Tell me now, how are things between you and Alfred?" She whispered, glancing over her shoulder before quickly turning back around. "Were you able to get the gift done in time?"

"It is going very well, and I was able to get it done last night." Ivan reassured her as he gently removed her hands from his face. "How is Belarus?" He asked, glancing nervously at the entrance.

"Upset, but not more than usual. She did throw a small fit last night, but I was able to calm her down enough for her to promise to be on her best behavior. Do not worry, I made sure to check the luggage and her clothing. Short of using the back of her earrings or a pair of heels, there isn't anything she can use to hurt Alfred." She said with a rather pleased expression. "I even took her passport from her as soon as she landed so she can not go anywhere!"

Ivan let out the breath he had been holding in. "Remind me to buy you something nice after this is over. You are an angel. I do not know what I would have done without you."

"Just one present?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Two?"

"Keep going." Ukraine said with a slight smirk, patting Ivan's cheek playfully before stepping back. "You still owe me from the last meeting, and you will owe me for your outfit for the party." She held up a bag to emphasize her point. "These were not easy to get. I will need at least three presents from you."

"Two. I gave you earrings for the party." Ivan said playfully as Ukraine handed him the bag.

"Three. I am helping you get with your golden haired boy next door. I expect quite the present for that." She said with an even bigger smirk as Ivan's cheeks went slightly pink.

"Not so loud." He hissed, nervously looking back at the entrance.

"We are fine for at least a minute. That said," she leaned in closer so no one around them could hear them, "Have you decided what you are going to say to him at the party?"

"I already told you that I was not going to-"

"Ivan. I know about your little get away." Ukraine said with an uncharacteristically exasperated huff. "Canada told me."

"Why would he tell you? Wait, how did he know?"

"Alfred told Canada where he was going so he wouldn't freak out when you guys vanished, and because he wanted my help with Alfred's outfit for the party. So, star gazing? Very sweet." She teased, patting her brother on the back as his cheeks turned a darker shade of pink.

"I did not think you two were so close." Ivan said, pouting slightly at his sister's teasing.

"Well, if things work out at the party tomorrow we may be in-laws soon. It is always a good idea to get along for the future." She said, and as Ivan gave her his own exasperated look she just smirked up at him.

"I am not-"

"Oh no, you are. Ivan, sometimes I am not sure how you've become so dense. Alfred is sending you neon signals that he likes you, yet you cannot seem to pick up a hint."

"What?" Ivan asked, his eyes widening in surprise as his sister continued, not noticing her brother's change in demeanor.

"He has asked you to go with him to party. He blushes every time he looks at you. He picked out a personal present just for you. Apparently he got you a vodka fountain? He doesn't even like vodka! Ivan, he took you away to look at the stars together, just the two of you. Without telling anyone but his brother. He didn't even tell his boss." She explained, reaching over and poking him in his side with an irritated huff. "Tell me, short of him kissing you, what is it going to take for you to get a dang clue. He even told me you look good in everything the other night!"

"He did?!" Ivan asked too quickly, his mouth hanging open at this point and his cheeks turning a darker and darker shade of red as his sister spoke.

"Yes! So please get your head out of your butt and ask him out already before someone else snatches him up!" Ukraine said with a huff, smacking the back of his head none too gently. "God, I can already see you dying alone due to your stupidity."

Ivan would have usually been offended at such words, but due to her dropping that bombshell on his head he just kept gapping at her as she clicked her tongue disapprovingly at him.

"But-I do not- he can not-" Ivan stammered, unable to comprehend his sister's words. "But he couldn't-"

"He does."

"Did he tell you that? We cannot be sure how he really feels." Ivan finally protested only for his sister to smack him over the head again.

"He doesn't have to say anything when he's been acting like a love sick puppy around you, you absolute moron!" She finally half whispered, half shouted, continuing to smack him. With every word she spoke, she smacked him. "Why. Can't. You. See. What. Is. In. Front. Of. You?"

"Katya, stop! People are staring!" Ivan whispered frantically, covering his head as his sister continued her onslaught.

"I. Don't. Care!" She finally gave him one last smack, before she finally let out a huff and stepped back. "You are going to ask Alfred out during the party, or so help me I'll tell him myself!"

"Katya!"

"Do not Katya me! If you run away from him now, you will never find the courage to ask him out again! Tell me, do you love Alfred or not?!"

"Of course I do!"

"Then tell him already!"

"Fine! I will! Stop hitting me!"

"At last! Some progress!" She said, suddenly smirking up at him. "Now that you've finally come to your senses, why don't we talk about your outfit to the party?"

"My outfit?"

"Yes. I called Alfred a few days ago to get some ideas and ask him what he likes in a man in a suit. I was quite lucky, you know. He was half asleep when I called so he was unusually honest."

"Katya!"

"What? If you weren't going to do anything to get a love life, I had too!"

Ivan groaned, covering his face in embarrassment as she continued to speak, ignoring his now glowing face.

"So, apparently he really likes blue, so I was thinking about an all blue suit. Maybe some black undertones to make it pop. I've already picked out everything, so all you have to do is let me dress you up and you should be all set to get your man."

Ivan paused for a moment, before he slowly lowered his hands and shook his head with a frown. "I do not think that is going to work." He said.

"What? Why?" Ukraine asked, giving her brother a cross look. "We're all going to be wearing blue! This way it'll be subtle enough that Belarus won't suspect anything."

Ivan gestured for her to come closer to him, and leaning down he whispered something to her. The longer he spoke, the more her angry expression faded, replaced with a genuinely surprised and impressed look. As soon as he pulled away, she nodded slowly.

"I suppose that could work. We would not have to change too much…"

"What are you two talking about?" Belarus asked from behind them, and they both jumped as their youngest sibling looked up at them with a slightly curious look. "What are we changing?"

"Natalia! What have I told you about making noise when you approach someone!" Ukraine wheezed, clutching her chest as her sister's gaze rested on her brother, who froze as she studied him.

"Why is your face red?" She asked, and before Ivan could even come up with an excuse Ukraine spoke up.

"I was teasing him about how he has no taste in fashion and has little to no sense when it comes to picking up social cues." She explained.

Ivan wasn't sure to be grateful for the quick cover or feel offended at her somewhat accurate words. However, the lie must have worked well because his younger sister took her older sister's words in stride, merely shaking her head in amusement.

"Katya, you are always so mean to Big Brother."

"I'll stop being mean to him when he gets a brain."

"I am right here." Ivan said, not bothering to hide his pout as his older sister chuckled at his distress.

"Don't worry, I am on your side." Belarus said, and she pulled Ivan into a quick hug, giving him a small, but genuine smile. "But she is right."

"Why are my sisters always so mean to me?" He asked, finally giving up as both his sisters laughed at him.

"I would have been nicer, but you have not spoken to me for almost a month." Belarus pointed out, pulling out of the hug and glancing around them, scanning the room with a neutral expression. "So you deserve it. Speaking of which, is America here?"

"No. He has been busy with some last minute tasks for the party, so he did not have time to come with me today." Ivan explained, and while Belarus's expression didn't change, he saw something dark flash behind her eyes.

"Pity."

"Indeed. So, shall we get going?" Ukraine asked quickly, steering their conversation back to safer waters.

"Of course. So, what were you two talking about before? What are we changing?" Belarus asked, looking at her sister with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Apparently-," Ukraine said with a huff as Ivan grabbed their bags and they started walking to the exit, "-my sweet little brother is not happy with my choice of suit colors! Can you believe it?!"

"I told you he would not want to dress in one color." Belarus said, chastising her sister slightly. "It did not fit our theme. We both will be wearing two colors, he would have looked odd."

"Even worse, he wants to have a purple accent! Purple! Where are we going to find anything in purple on short notice?"

"Purple?" Belarus asked, furrowing her brow in confusion and shooting her brother a questioning side glance. "Why purple?"

Ivan smiled slightly, and reaching out he patted his little sister on her head, causing her to let out a playful huff as he said, "I have become quite fond of a certain flower as of late. Tell me, are you familiar with Forget-me-nots?"

"Vaguely. However, I thought you liked sunflowers?"

"I do, but I thought purple would go better with the blue color."

"I suppose I can make this work. You do not mind a bit of shopping, do you Vanya?" Ukraine asked, winking at Ivan while Belarus wasn't looking.

"Nyet, I do not."

"And here I thought you would wear yellow." Belarus hummed.

"Maybe another day." Ivan said with a smile. "It never hurts to try something new, Da?"

"I suppose." Belarus said as they finally stepped out of the airport. As they did, they didn't notice Belarus quickly typing something into her phone and slipping it back into her pocket with a smirk.

_Alfred_

As soon as Alfred was able to get into the apartment, he tossed all their bags onto the nearest counter and all but dove onto the couch, letting out a tired groan as soon his head hit the pillows. God, he was stupid. In his excitement to spend time with Ivan he had forgotten his dang caffeine. Now he had a mild headache, was sleep deprived, and frankly he was starving. He really should have packed something else other than hot chocolate, he thought as his stomach let out a growl of protest. Still, he had a hard time suppressing a giddy smile as he pulled the pillow over his face.

The trip had gone perfectly. More than perfect. Beyond perfect. He couldn't help but let an excited giggle escape as he buried his face into the pillow. Ivan's face when he saw the stars had been better than he ever expected, and they had danced! They had actually danced! Pulling the pillow off, he stared up at the ceiling with a huge smile, staring off into space as he basked in his happiness. Honestly, the next time he saw France he was going to give the older nation a pass for all the shit he put him through for the last month. Probably. Maybe. He'd see.

Oblivious to the world around him, he didn't notice a small white blur charging at him till Hero leapt up into the air and onto his chest, knocking the wind out of him. As he let out a cough as he choked, Hero marched over and started meowing angry in his face, batting at his face in displeasure.

"Ack! Get off me! You little shit, are you trying to fucking kill me?!" Alfred sputtered as Hero continued to assault him.

In response, Hero knocked the pillow that Alfred had been holding back onto his face and sat on it, causing him to choke again.

Alfred struggled to push Hero off for a few seconds, before he finally knocked Hero off him and onto the floor, where Hero let out another loud angry hiss. Pulling himself up, he looked down at Hero in shocked annoyance.

"What on earth has gotten into you?!" Alfred yelled, and Hero let out another wail, running over and flopping over at his half empty food bowl. He let out another pitiful meow, rolling around the floor like he was dying.

"Of course. Not two seconds into the door and you're already begging for food." Alfred grumbled, getting up from the couch. Walking up to Hero, he stood next to him with an unimpressed expression as Hero continued to let out small little pathetic meows, batting at his bowl. "God, you're so dramatic." He said with a huff, scooping up Hero and carrying him over to the kitchen counter.

Rolling his eyes at Heros purring, he finally put him down and pulled out a can of food. He was startled slightly by a pair of paws lightly touching his foot. Glancing down, he saw Milashka watching him unusually closely, his eyes never leaving Alfred's face.

"Really? You too?" Alfred asked, and to his surprise Milashka let out a loud, and obnoxiously long meow, pawing at his feet frantically.

"Okay, okay! God, if anyone saw you guys they'd think I never fed you. You know, I know for a fact that I fed you little shits before I left." Alfred glanced down at the dirty bowl on the ground, and paused. That was weird. Why did the cat food look fresh?

"Huh, I'm kinda surprised you guys didn't lick the bowls clean." Alfred said with a confused frown, reaching down to pick it up.

"Well, they did. I gave them more a few minutes ago, but Hero ate it all." An amused voice said from right behind him and Alfred screamed, turning around and swinging at whoever was behind him. Thankfully, he missed as his twin brother jumped away from him with a shit eating grin.

"Hey now, be careful! You could have actually hurt someone." Canada joked as Alfred stared at him in disbelief.

"Mattie! What the fuck dude?!" Alfred gasped, stumbling back against the counter and clutching his poor heart as it tried to leap out of his chest. "Where the hell did you come from? Jesus Christ, don't do that!"

"I was here the whole time. It's not my fault you didn't see me." Canada said smugly as Milashka hissed up at him. "Also, Russia's cat hates me for some reason."

"You did that on purpose! How the hell else could I have missed your giant ass head otherwise?!" Alfred shouted, pointing an accusing finger at his twin. "Even I'm not so oblivious to miss you in my own damned house!"

"My head isn't giant?" Canada asked, looking slightly confused at Alfred's insult.

"Why are you in my house?!"

"Oh! I said that I was going to stop by before the party, remember?"

"What? Of course I don't! How long have you been standing there?!"

At that, Canada smirked. "Long enough to see you wearing that dumb love struck expression. So, I take it the trip went well?"

"Oh, fuck you." Alfred grumbled as his brother broke out into laughter, reaching over and patting his brother's back sympathetically.

"I'm sorry Al. I couldn't resist. You looked so happy, I didn't have the heart to interrupt you."

"It's not funny! I thought you were Belarus!" Alfred admitted with a slight shudder, and Canada paused.

"Why would you think that?" Canada asked slowly, studying his brother with a slightly concerned frown.

"Because she's just about to land on a damned airplane at any moment, and she wants to kill me?"

"Wait, she's already here?!" Canada asked, becoming slightly alarmed as Alfred pushed him off with a slightly annoyed huff. "But she wasn't supposed to be here till tomorrow."

"Yeah, Ukraine changed her plans and decided to come a day early. So she had to bring her."

"Ah. I see." Canada said, suddenly looking a bit more apologetic. "Sorry, if I had known I wouldn't have scared you."

"Yes you would."

"Yes, I would." Canada agreed with a sudden shit eating grin. "Any who, how'd your trip go? Have you guys kissed yet?"

"Oh my god, No!" Alfred squawked. "Nothing happened! Fuck off!"

"So something did happen!" Canada said excitedly, his eyes shining with excitement. "Come on, spill!"

"No! Go away!" Alfred snapped, lightly swatting at his twin. "Get away from me!"

"Come on! I'm your twin! Who else are you going to tell? Arthur? As if!" Canada whined, grabbing his arm and shaking him. "What happened? Did you finally ask Russia out? Did he ask you out?"

"Get off me!" Alfred yelled, pushing his brother's face away from him. "My love life isn't any of your business!"

"Oh cowen on! I juwst wamma hewp!" Canada protested, his voice slightly garbled due to the fact that Alfred's hand was pushing on his jaw.

"No!"

"Stwap bewing Stwubbern! Twell me!"

"I said no!"

"What on earth is going on here?" A voice asked from behind them, and they both froze. Glancing behind them, Alfred was baffled as he saw England and France gapping at them from the front door. Even stranger, they seemed to be holding a ton of hanger bags and boxs with wrapped up and pressed outfits in them. Alfred was so taken aback, his grip on his brother lossend for long enough for Canada to squirm away from him and behind the safety of the other side of the dinner table.

"Matthew, when I told you to let your brother know we were coming over, this wasn't what I had in mind." England commented, pinching the bridge of his nose and letting out a long suffering sigh as France gave Canada a surprisingly stern look, kicking the door closed. "We could hear you two screaming from all the way down the hall."

"Hopefully you are not planning to interfere in his love life?" France asked, and Canada looked away from him, suddenly finding the ceiling tiles above him much more fascinating than his older siblings.

"What? Of course not. I just wanted to know how his trip with Ivan went." He said innocently. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"A likely story." France grumbled under his breath.

"What is this, a family reunion? Don't tell me you brought Australia and New Zealand too." Alfred grumbled, annoyed that his personal space had been invaded before he had even gotten a chance to relax. "Speaking of which, what are you guys doing here? I only got in a few minutes ago myself."

"Oh please, you know Jack wouldn't look at a suit unless he was forced too." England huffed, waving aways Alfred's words as he gestured the clothes draped over his arms. "As for your other question, France and I spent the last few hours picking out a few suits for you to wear to the party, so we need you to try them on."

Alfred stared blankly at them for a few moments. "Suits?"

"Alfred, don't tell me you forgot we were coming over to help you get ready! We told you we were coming over today!" England chided.

"He probably forgot because he spent the whole night with Russia last night." Canada said with a smirk at his twin.

"Mattie, if you don't shut the hell up-!"

"Ah! So you did use your Christmas present!" France said excitedly, his face brightening at the news. "So, is there any happy news you want to share with us?"

"Francis, that's enough." England cut in, as Alfred looked a few seconds away from screaming. "Stop pestering him. He'll tell us when he's good and ready."

Alfred's eyebrows shot up in surprise at England's words, as did Canada's. France merely pouted.

"Why is it when we want information, you choose to be a reasonable adult?" France whined loudly as England reached over and snagged Alfred's arm.

"Pray tell, who were the ones telling me to respect and listen to Alfred's choices?" England asked with a slight smirk, pulling Alfred out of the kitchen and into the living room, where he pushed Alfred onto the couch and dumped the suits on the baffled former colony. "Perhaps it is time you two took your own advice, hmm?"

"To have our own words used against us! How could you be so cruel?" France cried dramatically, following England into the living room. "And even worse, to actually be right for once!"

"I don't care about being right! I want to know what happened!" Canada declared from the kitchen, leaning against the bar with a huff. "Come on Al, don't leave us hanging."

"I told you, nothing happened." Alfed huffed right back, pushing the clothing off his lap and onto the empty seat next to him.

"But you went on a romantic trip together! You must have done something! Don't tell me you two actually went stargazing and nothing else!" Canada asked in disbelief.

At Alfred's unimpressed look, all his brothers paused, waiting for Alfred to answer. When he didn't, France let out a disappointed sigh as Canada threw up his hands in defeat. England seemed to be the only one who looked pleased at the situation as Canada started to berate his twin.

"Wait, are you being serious?!" Canada asked. "All that effort, just to do nothing? Tell me you at least held the poor man's hand! You at least held hands, right?!"

"Now Matthew, you can't rush these things." England hummed cheerfully as he patted Alfred's shoulder. "If it takes a few years, so be it. In fact, if Alfred needs a few more decades to make up his mind about how he feels about Russia, he is free to do so!"

"Of course you would say that, Angleterre." France huffed as he picked up one of the suits and shot the shorter nation a slightly amused side eye.

"Well, who says he even needs to be in a relationship? He hasn't even been an official nation for three hundred years yet. He still has plenty of time to grow up." England said a little too casually.

France let out a dramatic sigh, and he wrapped an arm around England's shoulder and gravely shook his head. "My dear Angleterre, I know it is hard to see our little one grow up, but we must let him spread his wings and fly! He can not stay in the nest forever."

"Oh bugger off." England said, pushing France off him. Turning to Alfred he added, "However, if you have changed your mind about Russia I wouldn't say I would be torn up about it." He said, looking slightly too hopeful.

"I haven't changed my mind." Alfred said bluntly, and England turned back to the pile of suits with an irritated tisk.

"Damn."

"Are you still against them dating?" Canada asked with a chuckle as Alfred rolled his eyes and France laughed.

"I can't say I'm pleased with his choice in men, but I'm not going to do anything to prevent it." England admitted. "Even if I think he can do better. He could have had any man or woman on this planet, and it just had to be Russia." He lemented, letting out a tired sigh. "Where did I go wrong?"

"Oh my god, stop." Alfred groaned, and Canada had to duck under the bar as he burst out into laughter.

"What?! I'm not wrong!" England said defensively.

"Enough. We're not here to criticize our little Alfred's choices in romantic partners." France said soothingly, patting England on the shoulder and giving him a pointed look.

"Hmm. Fair enough." England agreed reluctantly.

"We can, however, make fun of him for his rather lackluster flirting skills." France continued with a large smile.

"Well, that could be a problem in the future if we don't help him overcome that." England agreed with a slight snicker. "If he can't even look at Russia now, imagine how bad it'll be for the lad on the wedding night!"

At that, Canada, who had just pulled himself up from under the bar, had to duck under it again as he started to laugh even louder.

"You know what!? I'm sick of you guys making fun of me!" Alfred protested, throwing one of his pillows at France's face, which the older nation barely dodged. "I can flirt just fine!"

At his words, Canada's laughter started to sound more like someone choking on something and even France and England were struggling to stop themselves from laughing.

As England and France traded equally amused expressions, Alfred protested angrily, "I can! In fact, for your information, not only did I get Ivan to hold hands with me, not only did we have a freaking grand time under the stars, he even asked me to have his first dance at the party! So ha!"

As soon as the last words left his mouth Alfred froze, as did his brothers. Canada even stopped laughing, shooting up from beneath the counter to stare open mouthed at his twin. As Alfred slapped a hand over his mouth, turning bright red, Canada let out a triumphant shout, pointing an accusing finger at Alfred.

"I fucking knew it! I fucking knew something happened!"

"He did?" England asked in disbelief, only to get knocked out of the way as France ran over and grabbed Alfred's shoulders, his eyes burning with a determined fire.

"Mon Dieu! He did?! He asked you to dance with him first?!" France asked, shaking Alfred in his excitement. "Was that the only thing he said to you?"

"I mean, yeah?" Alfred said, taken aback at France's sudden change in behavior. "I mean, I asked him to meet me in private later so I could give him his gift, but-"

"Wait! Meet in private?!" England asked, suddenly looking much more distressed than before. "Do you mean you're going to confess to him at the party after all?!"

"Umm…maybe?" Alfred admitted, suddenly looking a lot more unsure than before. "I mean, that was the plan if things went well…"

"Do it!" Canada shouted suddenly, slamming his hands on the counter.

"Hush you!" France snapped at Canada, who just gave him a wicked grin. Turning back to Alfred, he asked, "Alfred, how could you try and keep this from us? What were you thinking?!"

"Look, it's no big deal." Alfed said, looking a lot less confident as he spoke. "It's not like it meant anything, he was just being polite-"

"Heaven help this child." France muttered, letting Alfred go and putting his head in his hands as he stood there in disbelief. "He knows nothing!"

"Hey! Rude!"

"Everyone calm down!" England snapped, and the room fell silent as England stood there, a serious look on his face as he studied Alfred for a solid few seconds. Finally, he let out a small huff of amusement.

"Alfred, do you remember what I told you about dance etiquette when you were younger?"

"Uhhh, not really? I kinda try to suppress those lessons as much as I can from my memories." Alfred confessed.

"Well, do you remember when I explained to you what it meant when someone asked for your first dance before a party even started?" He prompted carefully, watching Alfred's expression carefully as he spoke.

As Alfred stared at England in confusion, France had to physically stop himself from blurting out the answer by covering his mouth and turning away and Canada looked like he was going to explode from the stress as the seconds ticked by.

"Um, not really? Maybe it was because that person was really excited to dance?" Alfred finally said, and Canada slapped his forehead with an exasperated sigh and France looked like he was about to burst out into frustrated tears.

"Pourquoi est-il si stupide?!" France muttered under his breath, and Canada could only nod in agreement.

"Poppet, it means that the person might be romantically interested in you." England explained in a surprisingly gentle tone. "As in, Ivan may be interested in you in a more intimate way."

Alfed stared at his older brother for a few seconds, clearly unable to process what was being told to him. "Say what now?"

"It means that Ivan fucking likes you!" Canada blurted out, unable to stop himself. "Al, he fucking likes you!"

"What?" Alfred asked again, and France turned back around, looking completely done with the whole situation.

"Alfred, surely you have noticed that Ivan has been acting close with you for the last few weeks." France prompted. "The way he looks at you is not in a platonic way. Tell me, is it normal for your friends to hold your hands? Is it normal for your friends to carry you like a lover would? Would a mere friend look at you the way he does? Tell me, was there anything else on that trip that you did with Ivan that you would not do with a friend?" He asked, giving Alfed a knowing look.

Alfred sat there for a solid minute, desperately thinking as his brothers watched him with bated breaths. As they watched him, they saw his expression go from one of confusion, to blank, to something that looked hesitantly hopeful.

"Oh my god." Alfred blurted out, glancing up at England as his face started to go pink. "You guys don't actually think-"

"Fucking finally!" Canada said, looking up at the ceiling, throwing up his hands in victory. "He's finally figured it out!"

"Well, let's not get too ahead of ourselves here." England said, holding up a hand to stop the others before they got carried away. "As much as the signs are pointing towards Russia liking him, nothing is official yet. Remember, until Ivan either tells Alfred he likes him or accepts Alfred's confession nothing can be said for sure."

"But…you really think I have a chance?" Alfred asked, and France looked like he was about to cry again at Alfred's doubtful look.

"A chance?! My dear boy, if Ivan's actions say anything it is that you have more than just a chance!" France said, gently holding Alfred's face in his hands so Alfred was forced to focus on him. "For once in your life, why don't you take a chance and trust what your older brothers have to say, hmm?"

"I-"

"Al, just shut up and accept the fact that we're going to get you a boyfriend." Canada said, looking way more excited than he has any right to be. "And if he does reject you, we'll just murder him! Easy!"

"Indeed. That being said-", England said seriously, his eyes suddenly turning sharp as he gave Alfred a quick once over, "-this means that the situation is a lot more dire than we thought. We're going to have to not only make sure his outfit is perfect if he's going to confess, but plan for a way to keep Belarus away from him so she doesn't ruin our efforts."

France scoffed, brushing England's words away with an eye roll. "I already have that covered. Belarus will be the least of their troubles tomorrow."

"What?!" The rest of them asked in disbelief as France smirked, patting Alfred on the cheek as he stood up again.

"Do not say that I do not make up for my mistakes." He said with a quick wink at Alfred. "Do not worry about anything other than Ivan tomorrow. I pulled in a few favors to keep her occupied."

"What favors?" Canada asked, giving France a suspicious frown.

"You will see." He deflected much to Canada's frustration. "That said, we should focus on the most important aspect of tomorrow evening. One can not walk onto the battlefield of love underdressed, non?" He said with a grin, holding up the suit in his hand.

"For once, there's something we agree on." England agreed with his own smirk. "You know, he could really use a hair cut as well."

"Oh hell no!" Alfred said, snapping out of his daze and covering his head. "You keep away from my hair!"

"Don't be a child." England chastised, walking over and running a hand through Alfred's hair with a thoughtful hum. "It is getting a little long. It wouldn't hurt to give it a quick trim."

"Ooh, we should use some of my products to make it really soft!" France said, perking up. "I brought a bag of supplies! While we're at it, we can get rid of that foul filth he calls shampoo."

"Yes! I've been trying for years to make him use something else!" Canada said excitedly.

"You know what, after this is done I'm just going to use All in Shampoo even harder just to piss you guys off!" Alfred griped as France seemingly pulled out a huge black bag out of nowhere and started to rummage around in it.

"Of course love. However, until tomorrow night we'll be calling the shots here." England said with a smirk. "Matthew, be a dear and come over here and help me unwrap some of these suits please."

"On it." Canada said with a grin, running out from the kitchen and plopping down next to his twin. "So Al, what color suit do you want to wear to the party? We have black, blue, gray, and brown options for the main colors, and we have the whole rainbow for the secondary colors!" He said, cheerfully holding up said choices as he spoke.

"Uh, I don't know. What colors are you guys wearing?" Alfred asked.

"I will be wearing a gray suit with a pink shirt." France said cheerfully as he examined some of the many, many hair products he had pulled out of his bag.

"A brown suit, green shirt." England said, still studying Alfred's hair.

"I'm wearing black and red." Canada said, holding up one of the red dress shirts next to the black suit. "I wanted something festive for Christmas."

"I guess I'll pick the blue suit?" Alfred said, and France nodded in agreement.

"A good choice. It will bring out your eyes."

"Aw, you don't want to match this year?" Canada joked. "You could always dress up in green and we could be festive together!"

"Yeah, no. We're not going as the knock off versions of Mario and Luigi." Alfred shot back. "The Italian brothers will probably have that covered."

"Don't let them catch you saying that! You know how sensitive they are about people making fun of their fashion." France said, throwing Alfred a warning look.

"Like they'd actually ever yell at me." Alfred said with a chuckle. "They already cry if I look at them funny, I can't imagine them being brave enough to actually confront me."

"Still, be nice."

"I think they should let me get away with a hell of a lot this year! After all, it's partially their fault that I ended up in this mess with Ivan."

"How?" England asked, looking down at Alfred with a slightly confused frown.

"Oh, I didn't tell you guys? Yeah, the whole reason Ivan and I went out to that fancy dinner in the first place was because they sold a wine that was super hard to get, and Ivan had some…connections there. The Italian brothers have been bugging me for years to get a few bottles, so I only went with Ivan because he was the one with the connections."

France dropped the shampoo bottles he was holding, turning and staring at Alfred with his mouth hanging open. "You only went out to get Christmas presents for the Italian brothers?!"

"Yup." Alfred said with a shrug. Turning around, he reached behind the couch and pulled out two tall bags, red and green respectively, and showed them to his brothers with a shrug. "Honestly, I can't wait to get rid of them. Do you know how much trouble these things brought me?"

"What? You're going to get rid of them?" Canada asked in disbelief as France dramatically banged his head onto his bag, muttering about how much of an idiot he was.

"Hell yeah! Didn't you hear me? These things are cursed!"

"Don't be silly, there is no such thing as a cursed wine bottle. I should know." England huffed. "You know, if you had just told the rest of the world that story-" he added, giving Alfred an exasperated look, "-the rumors about you two dating wouldn't have gotten so out of control."

"And yet, telling the world the truth about how me and Ivan weren't dating did nothing, or did you forget, Mr. I have a sword?" Alfred said, raising a knowing eyebrow at England.

"I plead the fifth." England said with a straight face.

"Uh huh, try again. You don't have a fifth to plead." Alfred deadpanned back, causing Canada to snicker.

"Well, it was worth a try." England said with a shrug.

"But don't you want to keep them Al? I mean, if you ask out Ivan tomorrow and he says yes, those bottles will be really meaningful keepsakes for your relationship." Canada pointed out.

"Nah, the sooner these things get out of my house, the better." Alfred said, carefully putting the bottles back behind the couch. "I don't play with bad luck. Plus, where else am I going to get expensive as hell wine at such short notice. It's not like I can tell Italy that he isn't getting a present this year. He'd cry!"

"Whatever you say." Canada said with a shrug.

"Before we get too off topic here, why don't you pick out the color of your dress shirt?" England prompted, picking up a few of the dress shirts and holding them up to Alfred. "Which one do you want?"

"I honestly don-", Alfred started to say, briefly scanning the shirts with an uninterested shrug, before he paused as his eyes landed on one particular shirt. He hadn't noticed it earlier due to it being buried underneath the pile of clothes earlier. But now that it was uncovered it was hard to miss.

Following Alfred's gaze, France's eyes lit up. "Oh ho? Now there is a choice that I did not expect! You do not often look at the yellow dress shirts." France reached over and held up a light yellow dress shirt with a thoughtful look, holding it up to the dark blue suit Alfred had picked out earlier with a hum. "You know, this might just work. Not only would the blue color bring out your eyes, the yellow color would complement your hair."

"Huh, perhaps you aren't completely useless when it comes to fashion." England teased. "But why yellow? I thought you weren't fond of wearing lighter colors with suits?"

"Is it because Ivan likes yellow?" Canada asked with a grin.

"Yeah… cause he likes sunflowers."

France grabbed his heart, looking at Alfred with a slightly pained expression, looking like he was on the verge of bursting into tears again. "Il est si pur! How can your love for that brute be this soft!? This pure?! You will be practically declaring that you love him just by wearing this outfit!" France's eyes suddenly flared up with a surprisingly protective fire. "If he does not fall for you as soon as he lays his eyes on you tomorrow, I will kill him myself!" He suddenly shouted. "I will boil him alive!"

"Simmer down there." England said, knocking his knuckles gently on the top of France's head. "Let's save the bloodshed for the last resort. No need to get violent unless there are no other options left. No need to jump the gun."

"How about you guys don't kill my crush at all, thanks?" Alfred asked, only to be met with three unconvinced faces.

"Nah. "Canada said with a soft smile. "If he makes you cry, I'll use his head as my hockey puck for the next decade."

"I'll chop off his vital regions." England said casually as he reached over and pulled a pair of scissors out of France's bag.

"I'll boil him alive and serve him for dinner." France said darkly.

"Good to know. So, none of you are allowed to get within ten feet of Ivan, and all of you are getting double checked for weapons tomorrow." Alfred said bluntly.

"Who said we needed weapons?" Canada asked innocently.

"Mattie, if you so much as touch a hair on Ivan's head I will hide your maple syrup bottle for the next three months."

Canada paused for a few moments, a conflicted look on his face as he weighed the pros and cons of the threat. Finally, he sighed and lowered his head in defeat. "I suppose I needed to cut back my sugar intake anyways…"

"Mattie!"

"Nope, not backing down on this one Al." Canada huffed, pulling his brother into a sideways hug. "We're firmly in your corner, and if the worst case scenario does happen we're going to be there for you, okay?" Canada looked over at his brother with a surprisingly firm look. "Just let us help you this once, alright? That's what family is for."

"God Mattie, you know I suck at emotional stuff." Alfred said, ducking his head down so they couldn't see his face. "Damn it, fine. Just stop being sappy. It's gross." He grumbled, pushing his twin off with a huff.

"There's a good lad." England said with a surprisingly fond smile, ruffling Alfred's hair. "Now," he said as he held up his scissors with a slight gleam in his eyes, "shall we start with your transformation into a proper gentleman?"

"Uhh…" Alfred said, suddenly not liking the way his brothers were eyeing him. "Didn't we already finish? I already picked out my outfit."

"Don't be silly. We have so much more to do! Why, we haven't even picked out your tie-"

"Your shoes-" France nearly sang, holding up a few shoe boxes.

"Your pocket square-" Canada said, holding a huge bag of said cloth.

"Your watch-"

"Your belt-"

"Your tie clip-"

"Your socks-"

"Your cufflinks-"

"Your vest-"

"You know what, I'll just not go." Alfred said, a sense of dread rolling over him as his brothers grinned wickedly down at him. "Too much pressure. I'll just ask him out next year, okay?"

"Come now, who ever said that dressing to look good was easy! If you want him to accept you, you must do the bare minimum!" France chided, suddenly looking a lot more serious than Alfred thought possible. "Matthieu, keep him there. He will not be allowed to leave until I am satisfied with the results."

Canada put his hand on Alfred's shoulder with an iron grip, pinning him to the couch. "Done and done!"

"Screw you Matt." Alfred said, and as France started to pull out bottle after bottle of hair products, and England and Canada shared a mischievous grin, Alfred wondered if it was too late to escape to Maine yet.

_IVAN_

It had taken them a few hours to find what they needed for his suit, and even longer for Ivan to try on enough different suit combinations for Ukraine and Belarus to be satisfied. By the time he was finished, he had somehow traded his lighter blue suit for a dark navy one, his shirt for a light purple, and his black tie for a dark purple one. Belarus had surprisingly been the picky one out of the two sisters, not having been satisfied with any of the outfits till they finally found a purple that matched his eye color. Even then, she had spent tens of minutes examining the ties until Ukraine had forced her to pick something, nagging her to get a move on.

By the time they had made it to the hotel, all three of them were dragging themselves through their hotel room door. Ivan due to trying on what felt like hundreds of articles of clothing and being sleep deprived, and Belarus and Ukraine due to the long flight and shopping trip. As Ukraine collapsed onto the nearest bed, Belarus and Ivan dropped onto the couch with all their bags falling to the ground around them.

"I can not believe we forgot about our luggage." Ukraine said, her words slightly muffled from her face being buried in the bed. "I would not have brought so much if I remembered we had to carry those up as well."

"It was worth it." Belarus said, closing her eyes and dropping her head against the back of the couch. "Though I will admit, we will have a harder time bringing all this home with us."

"Do not remind me." Ukraine whined, and Belarus chuckled at how ridiculous her sister sounded.

"At least we are done." Ivan grumbled, not even bothering to open his eyes as he slumped against the side of the couch. "All we have to do now is get ready."

"I supposed." Belarus agreed.

They all just sat there for a few minutes, basking in the silence. It wasn't until a few minutes had passed that Ukraine let out a muffled gasp, slamming her hands down on the bed. Rolling over, she looked over at her siblings with an excited smile.

"Ivan! We have not shown you our outfits for the party yet, have we?!" She asked excitedly, all her depleted energy suddenly flooding back as she quickly pushed herself off the bed and made her way over to the suitcases.

"No more clothes." Ivan pouted.

"Do not be rude." Belarus huffed, lightly whacking her brother's leg. "She has been talking about her outfit for weeks now. Indulge her or I will smack you again."

Ivan opened his eyes, and watched as his older sister cheerfully rummaged around her suitcase. To be honest, he had been slightly curious about his sister's dresses. Especially his older sister's, as she so rarely had the time or money to dress up in nice things, and she had changed it from the one she had before.

He was not disappointed as his sister let out an excited, "Ah-ha!", and pulled out her dress. In fact, he couldn't help but stare as his sister pulled out a stunning mermaid style dress. The top of the dress was a sapphire color, which glittered brightly as she shifted the fabric. The further the dress went down, the more the color lightened, until the whole bottom of the dress shone in bright silver. There were delicate sleeves coming off the bust of the dress, see through except for the delicate blue and silver flower patterns that ran up and down the arms. She beamed as she held up the dress against herself, spinning so Ivan could see the whole dress.

"What do you think?" She asked proudly. "I got my boss to pay for it!"

"I will not allow it. You will end up with too many boyfriends if you go out like that." Ivan teased, and her face flushed as she shot Ivan an exasperated look.

"Ivan."

"It is true. You will have to beat any man that approaches you violently in order to stay single."

"Do not tease me." She said with a huff, but she couldn't quite hide the pleased expression on her face as she turned around and admired herself in a nearby mirror, still holding the dress.

"But I am not teasing." Ivan said, raising an amused eyebrow. "I am being serious. I expect you to carry at least one stick the whole night, and refuse any man that asks to dance with you by hitting him in the knees."

"I second this." Belarus agreed. "No one is good enough for you Katya."

"Hmm, and what if I want all of that attention?" Ukraine asked with a playful smile.

"Then I will beat them instead." Ivan said, only partially joking.

"We shall see. You know, I was eyeing that cute brother of America's." She joked, and Belarus froze as Ivan merely rolled his eyes. "You know, that cute Canadian one?"

"You can not fool me a second time, Katya." Ivan said with a shake of his head as Belarus let out a silent sigh of relief as Ukraine giggled.

"Aw, and here I wanted to see you two get flustered." She said, turning away from the mirror and grinning at her siblings.

"Very funny." Belarus deadpanned.

"You two are no fun. That said, why don't you show Ivan your dress, Natalia? You were so excited by the matching earrings he sent you."

"I am glad the packages arrived in time." Ivan said, as Belarus hopped off the couch and opened her own bag.

"I am grateful they did. They matched our dresses so well." Ukraine said with a grateful smile.

"I am glad they still match. After all, you did change your dress." Ivan pointed out. "I have to ask, why did you do that? I thought you loved the blue and yellow combination."

"Oh, no real reason." Ukraine said casually. "I just suspect that someone else may use those colors this time. I wanted to stand out."

"But you always wear blue and yellow to parties. Who else would dare to wear that?" Ivan asked, and she simply smirked.

"Oh, you'll see. How is the dress coming along, Natalia?" She asked suddenly, quickly changing topics.

In response, Belarus held up her dress with a bored expression. It was a dark blue, sleeveless asymmetrical dress, with the front of the skirt resting just above the knees, and with the back of the dress reaching to just above the ankles. The borders of the skirt had a white ribbon around it, as did the waist of the dress. Unlike her sister's shimmering dress, Belarus's dress was much more simple, with the only similarity being the delicate flower pattern. Unlike her sister's, the flower pattern covered the top of the bust and up to the neck.

"Do you like it?" Belarus asked Ivan, tilting her head curiously up at him.

"Very much so. It suits you well." Ivan said, honestly impressed with the dress. "You two will be the envy of the party." He said with a soft smile, reaching over and ruffling his younger sister's hair, which she slightly blushed at, seemingly pleased with the praise. "You will also beat anyone that asks you to dance, da?"

"Of course."

"Very good." Ivan said, beaming at her response. "This is why I do not have to worry about you, unlike your older sister."

"Oh please, you're just jealous that I am cuter than you." Ukraine huffed, shooting an amused glance at her brother as Belarus carefully put her dress back into her suitcase.

"That is doubtful." Ivan shot back.

"Keep telling yourself that."

Ivan opened his mouth to shoot back a response, when they were interrupted by a shrill ring of a cell phone. They all pulled out their phones, only for Belarus to let out an annoyed huff as she stood up. "It is my boss. I must take this." She quickly answered the phone, shooting a quick greeting in Belarusian to the person on the other side of the phone as she quickly made her way to the door and into the hallway, snapping the door behind her.

"That is odd. I thought she said that she was on vacation until New years." Ukraine hummed.

"It is probably her boss begging for her not to cause trouble." Ivan hummed back.

"You may be right. He was a mess when I told him that she would be coming to the United States. He kept muttering something about disasters and being killed if anything went down between her and America."

"That sounds about right."

"Anyways, come here for a second Ivan. I have been meaning to give you something." She said, sitting down on the bed and patting the empty spot next to her.

Curious, Ivan sat down as Ukraine reached down and pulled a small box out from one of her shopping bags. "I snuck away for a little while when you were trying on some of those shirts with Natalia. It was a bit of a rush job, but I was able to get you a fresh boutonnière."

Opening up the box, she showed Ivan a small collection of blue and purple Forget-Me-Nots, which had small jasmine flowers weaved in between the stems of the flowers. The base was covered by a small silver pin in the shape of a vase. Ivan looked at them in awe as his sister softly smiled at him. "You can not ask someone to become your lover without flowers, now can you?." She said, gently pressing the box into his hands.

"You did not have to get real ones." Ivan said softly, his eyes never leaving the box.

"Don't be ridiculous. You can not ask Alfred out while wearing fake flowers." She scoffed. "You only bring fake flowers if you want a fake relationship."

"How did you even get these on such short notice?"

"I have my ways." She said with a sly smile. "Also, google maps." She admitted, holding up her phone. "I saw they had a flower shop nearby. So, did I do well?"

"Katya…I…" Ivan said, stumbling over his words slightly as he was slowly overwhelmed by how grateful he was for everything his sister had done over the last few weeks. He took a moment to compose himself, before he finally said, "They are perfect. Thank you."

Ukraine's expression softened as Ivan spoke. Deciding not to comment on her brother's behavior, she instead said, "You are welcome, Vanya. You will have to keep them in a fridge until tomorrow evening to keep them fresh. Will you be able to hide them back home, or do you want me to keep them here? They would be safe here, seeing as Natalia does not know their true meaning."

"I believe they will be fine back home. Alfred will not be staying at the house very long tomorrow, as he has to go to the U.N building to oversee the final preparations for the party."

"I thought you and Alfred were going together?"

"We will. He will return in the evening to get ready."

"I see." Ukraine hummed. "And are you ready?"

"Ready?"

"To see him all dressed up? For real? He's not just putting on nicer clothes than usual, you know. He's actually going to be dressed up." She teased, gently bumping her shoulder against Ivan's. "You might get overwhelmed and blurt out your feelings without thinking."

Ivan chuckled, gently closing the box. "I suppose if that happens, I will have to face the consequences head on."

"We shall see if you are brave enough to back up those words." She said, patting Ivan's knee. "Any plans on how you're actually going to confess to him?"

"He has asked me to meet him later in the evening to exchange gifts in private. He is surprisingly shy about showing the rest of the world his gift to me, so is going to plan a time for us to meet. I plan to tell him then."

"Oh! That is a wonderful plan." Ukraine said, beaming at her brother. "Especially with the present you're giving him. Speaking of which, did you have a picture of it? You never showed me the finished product."

"I do not, but I will show it to you tomorrow."

"Are you sure you're just not showing me because I'm better at knitting than you?" She teased.

"Nyet. I merely forgot because I was up all night finishing the final designs on the-"

He stopped mid sentence as his phone suddenly buzzed. Pulling out his phone, he couldn't help but let out a bark of laughter at the S.O.S Alfred had sent him. Apparently he was also having trouble with his outfit. It seemed his brothers were bombarding him with questions about cufflinks. He showed his sister the texts as well, and she also laughed.

"Only Alfred can treat a suit fitting as torture." She giggled. "He really does hate dressing up, doesn't he?"

"Da, he does." Ivan said, and Ukraine had to stop herself from cooing as the corners of Ivan's eye's crinkled from the fond smile he was giving his phone.

"Watch out, you may get laugh lines." She teased, poking his cheek. "Then you'll look like the old man you actually are."

Ivan merely smiled even wider. As he did so, he couldn't help but think that if it was for Alfred, he wouldn't mind getting a few wrinkles. Especially if it was from laughing with Alfred as he held him in his arms.

_Meanwhile, Belarus_

As soon as the door snapped shut behind her, Belarus dropped the respectful act, scowling at the phone in her hands. Still speaking in Belarusian, she snarled, "Lebedev, what part of do not contact me again do you seem to not understand?"

"Well, maybe I wouldn't have to call you so much if you had kept your side of the bargain!" Lebedev snarled back.

"I do not remember making any deal with you." She spat.

"My man, you witch! You were supposed to return my man to me! Where is he?" He shouted, and Belarus heard him bang his fist down on his desk. "You told me if we followed through with the delivery, that you would return him alive!"

"Oh, so he showed up dead, did he?" She said with a cold laugh. "Figures."

"No, he hasn't shown up dead! He hasn't shown up at all!"

"I fail to see how that is my problem." She said, leaning against the wall and tapping her arm impatiently.

"You were supposed to know where he was!"

"Oh, I never knew where he went." She admitted casually. "I have no idea what happened to that useless rat when he disappeared. All I know is that he was a very useful excuse to get you to do what I wanted." She admitted, and she smiled as she heard dead silence on the other side of the line.

"Hello? Are you still there?" She mockingly called out when Lebedv failed to speak up after a minute.

"You bitch. You heartless bitch." Lebedev whispered, his voice shaking with barely contained rage. "He has been missing for days now! DAYS! And you have the gaul, the fucking gaul to tell me you never knew what happened to him?!"

"He can be replaced. Though, I will admit he was slightly useful in the end. I do hope you find him, so you can thank him for being such a useful tool."

"We can still destroy your plan, whatever that is!" Lebedev screamed. "I'll get my men to take your damned package and throw it out the window and you'll never get to do whatever the hell it was you planned to do!"

"With what team? I know for a fact that none of your men will be able to get close to that building till after Christmas." She said in amusement. "You've already ordered them all away as per my instructions, and it will be shut down to the general public and outsiders, and the security there will not allow your men to even get close without the proper security clearance. However, I doubt you will have time to do anything. I was speaking to my boss recently, and it seems you have bigger fish to fry soon."

"What the fuck are you prattiling on about?!"

"I received a rather interesting text from my boss this morning, you see. I do not take my security lightly, and in light of you snooping your nose where it did not belong, I decided to tell my boss that you have stumbled into something you shouldn't have. Of course, he was not pleased with me, but he did promise to tie up the loose ends. So he dropped an anonymous tip to the American authorities about your illegal activities."

"What the fuck did y-!"

"You should have stayed in your lane, Lebedev." She said darkly, dropping all the false cheer out of her voice. "I wouldn't have had to go so far if you had just followed my instructions. Now that you're no longer useful, it is time to dispose of you."

As she spoke, she could hear sudden banging noises from the other side of the phone, and loud voices shouting, getting closer and closer to the room that Lebedev was in. Right on time.

"I'LL TAKE YOU DOWN WITH ME, DO YOU HEAR ME?! I HAVE YEARS OF EVIDENCE ON YOUR DIRTY DEALS! YOU AND YOUR BROTHER! DON'T THINK YOU'RE SAFE!" Lebedev yelled hysterically. "DO YOU HEAR ME?! YOU'LL BE HUNTED TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH!"

"Oh please, you'll never be able to touch me." She said with a cold laugh as she heard the authorities trying to break down the mob bosses' doors. "After all, you can't prosecute the law of the land itself. Goodbye, Lebedev. I can't say our time together was pleasant, but it was interesting."

"WHO ARE YOU?" He screamed again as the door of his office was bashed in, with voices yelling at him to surrender. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TWO? WHAT ARE YOU?! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY MEN?! WHO IS ALFRED JONES?!"

As the door finally crashed in, and Belarus heard Lebedev being thrown to the ground, she smiled to herself as she decided to answer one question of his, for old times sake. "Alfred Jones is the man who is going to listen to me, or the man who will find himself at my mercy." She said, her eyes burning in triumph. "Now go to hell, you fat bastard."

With a final cold smile, she hung up the call. Finally, she had gotten rid of that thorn in her side. Taking a moment to compose herself, she allowed herself to relax slightly as she dropped her hand to her side, clutching her phone tightly in her fist.

While she had to admit that this problem had been caused partially by her own actions, it didn't mean that she regretted her actions. Quite the contrary. She had accomplished everything she wanted to do, and taken care of her broken toys. Now she only had to wait for one more day for the party. Now she finally had all the tools to deal with her biggest headache. America.

The cold smile on her face slowly turned into sneer as she thought about the blond man. Fucking America. No matter what happened in the world, it always seemed to trail back to him. Now he was even trying to take her brother away again.

She couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed by the fact that she could not simply kill the man and be done with him, but she didn't need to. No, she didn't need to kill him physically to break his spirit. All she had to do was be patient, and she would make sure that by the time she was done with him, he'd never be able to smile again, let alone feel any kind joy. It was unfortunate that it may hurt her brother, but after she explained to him why she did it, she was sure he'd forgive her. She was doing this to protect him, after all.

Feeling slightly better at that final thought, she took a deep breath and nodded once. It would all work out in the end. Her family wouldn't be broken up again. She wouldn't allow it to. She'd protect them. With that final thought, she let out the breath she had been holding. Putting the phone back into her pocket, she turned around and walked back into the hotel room, where she saw her siblings bickering about something.

She couldn't lose him again.

_Later, Ivan_

Ivan spent the rest of the afternoon with his sisters, and to his surprise he found himself enjoying it for the most part. He had expected his younger sister to have been angry at him, or at the very least a bit cold towards him but she seemed to be in good spirits. In a rare display of playfulness, she had even gone as far as to tease him by teaming up with Ukraine to try and make him wear some of their makeup, claiming they needed a test dummy. He had barely escaped by holding up a tea tray between them like a shield until the food that they had ordered had finally arrived.

The bellhop, who had walked in on his sisters cornering him, brandishing their lipstick and mascara at him while laughing hysterically, had been tipped handsomely by Ivan for saving him. The bellhop had then wisly retreated, a very confused look on his face as he did so.

The rest of the evening was much more tame, with them enjoying an early dinner as his older sister filled them in on some of the rumors she had heard about the upcoming party, including things such as who was wearing what, who was going with who, what presents would be exchanged, and the small stake betting pool on who would bring the fruitcake this year. He was rather impressed by just how much information she had accumulated in such a short time.

By the time he had decided to return home in order to finally get some badly needed sleep, the sun had started to dip in the sky, causing the sky outside to explode into different shades of orange and pink. While his younger sister had been reluctant to let him go, Ukraine had all but thrown him out, giving him his suit and boutonnière box and giving him a knowing wink, whispering, "Good luck, Vanya!" with an excited giggle, slamming the hotel door on his face.

It did not take him long to get home, but by the time he had parked the car and had started walking up the stairs to the front of the apartment building, he was struggling to stop himself from letting out a rather large yawn. Rubbing his eyes, he entered the lobby, where to his surprise he saw both Greg and Carol sitting at the front desk, seemingly celebrating something. They were both holding champagne glasses, with the open bottle sitting in between them on the desk. They were both grinning widely, whispering between themselves.

"You are having a party?" Ivan asked curiously, walking over to the pair. "What is the occasion?"

"Ivan! Good to see you, my boy!" Greg said, catching Ivan off guard by how nice he was being towards him. "Come and join us!" He said, waving Ivan over cheerfully with a wide grin.

Carol gave her husband a rather amused side eye, and leaning over to Ivan she said in a staged whisper, "Don't mind him dear, he's had a little bit too much of the fun juice tonight."

"I'm not drunk!" Greg declared, but his flushed cheeks told Ivan another story.

"Of course dear. Next you'll say the moon is made of green cheese." She chuckled, patting her husband's arm lovingly as he looked down at her with a dopey grin. "We just heard some good news this afternoon. Apparently the side project we have been working on for the last three years is coming to an end, and we've decided to finally fully retire in a few months."

"Congratulations." Ivan said, and Greg beamed at him.

"That's right! We're thinking of selling this building and moving down to the coast to be closer to our grandchildren. We got a very nice payout you see!"

"Alfred will be disappointed to hear about you leaving." Ivan commented.

Carol sighed. "Yes, I'm sure he'll be upset to see us go. Now that I think about it, his lease agreement will be up in three months, so he'll probably decide to move as soon as he hears the news."

"That is a shame. I suppose that also means you will no longer be assigned to watch over him." Ivan commented with a knowing smile, and they both froze.

They stared at him in disbelief for a few seconds, before Carol let out a huff and pouted slightly. "You nations are no fun. Alright, what gave it away? Was it this dummy watching you like a hawk?" She said, jabbing her thumb towards her husband.

"It was a few things. However, it was actually the story you told me at the soup kitchen about how you met your husband. I remember there being much gossip in the espionage department about a pair of spies carrying on a whirlwind romance across eastern europe. That, and I do believe I've seen your husband before. I just put the pieces together."

"Ha! I told you I was the better secret keeper!" Greg cheered, toasting Ivan with a cheeky grin, earning him a small swat from his wife. "No hard feelings, right? The cold war was some years ago, and the only thing that I ever took from you was my darling wife." His wife swatted him again, this time blushing slightly.

"Greg!"

"I regret nothing!"

"I do not hold anything against you." Ivan agreed with a chuckle. "As you say, that was some years ago."

"You won't tell Alfred, will you? The president may get upset if Alfred figures out that he posted bodyguards on him without his permission." Carol asked, looking slightly embarrassed.

"I will not say anything. I am curious though. What was your side project?"

"Oh, we had a second mission. We were helping take down a local crime ring in the area. You know, finding their goons and taking them in. We found one of them just outside the building the other day pretending to be a policeman of all things! Can you believe it?! Then, just as we were in the middle of interrogating him, we received the mother of all tips this morning, and we just busted the case wide open. We just got news that the ring leader was arrested a few hours ago." Greg explained. "Some guy called Lebedev."

Ivan paused at the name, before he smiled a little. Oh? He had almost forgotten about that man. Ah well, he had never particularly liked Lebedev anyways. It would be a pity to see his restaurant get shut down though. His food hadn't been half bad.

"Honey, I think you need to go to bed. You're spilling information you shouldn't be again." Carol sighed.

"Oops, sorry darling." Greg said, looking a little embarrassed as his wife lovingly rolled her eyes.

"Do me a favor and pretend you didn't hear any of that, please and thank you." She said, giving Ivan a slightly bemused grimace.

"Perhaps I should go before I learn something too important and you have to get rid of me." Ivan said.

"Yes, please. I'll deal with him. Remember, not a word to Alfred." Carol chuckled, waving goodbye as Greg winked at him, and Ivan continued walking towards the elevator.

It only took a few more minutes for him to get to the apartment. As he was unlocking the door, he heard frantic voices erupt from the other side of it. Ah, so it seemed like Alfred's family was still there. As soon as he unlocked the door, he had only opened it an inch before the door was forcefully slammed shut again, with who he assumed to be Canada shouting, "Not yet! You can't come in yet! Stay there for a minute!"

"But, I live here." Ivan said in bewilderment, completely taken aback by the command.

"I don't care. Wait." Canada huffed.

As Ivan sat there, he heard loud crashing noises and England hissing to someone, "Go in the bedroom! He can't see it yet!" He then heard frantic footsteps towards the bedrooms, and as soon as he heard Alfred's bedroom door slam shut Canada opened the front door with a calm expression like it was a completely common occurrence to block someone from entering their home.

"Ah, Ivan. How are you doing?" Canada asked, trying to block the scene behind him as England and France hurriedly stuffed articles of clothing into a large box.

"Umm. may I please enter?" Ivan asked slowly, unsure on what to do in this situation.

Canada glanced behind him as France threw the final shirt into the box, and he said, "Sure. Sorry, we couldn't have any spoilers on Al's outfit until tomorrow. I'm sure you understand."

"I…suppose?" Ivan said, honestly not sure how to respond to Canada's words as he walked into the apartment.

"So, how was your trip?" Canada asked casually as he closed the door, and the other two nations froze as Ivan shrugged.

"It was good."

"I see." Canada said with a knowing smirk, patting the other nation on the back. "Good for you. Just make sure it stays good, yeah?"

Ivan stared at Canada, lost for words as England face palmed and France sighed.

"Matthew, stop making Russia uncomfortable. We were just about to leave. We'll be out of your hair in just a minute. We just needed to finish cleaning up." England said, and Russia nodded, slightly uncomfortable by the amount of people in the apartment. He retreated to the kitchen to put his boutonnière box away, and to watch the other nations gather their things.

Thankfully, Alfred burst out of his room just a minute later, dressed in a pair of basketball shorts and an old tee shirt. Slightly out of breath, he hurried into the living room and as soon as he saw Ivan he grinned.

"Ivan! Thank fuck!" Alfred said, bouncing into the kitchen and hiding behind the larger nation and pointing an accusing finger at his brothers. "These absolute psychos have been making me try on suits since you left! Seriously, they talked about cufflinks for an hour! An hour! You have to save me! They were talking about trying god damned cologne next! I can't do this anymore!" Alfred rambled, and Ivan felt himself relax slightly as the tense atmosphere shattered.

"Oh?" Ivan asked in amusement.

"It was torture!" Alfred declared, and Ivan was further amused by the fact that Alfred looked like he was actually being serious as he glared at his brothers. Studying the younger nation, he saw that his hair had been trimmed slightly, but only enough to neaten it up a little. When he looked closer, he also saw that it seemed that Alfred's hair looked slightly fluffier than before.

"Did you do something to your hair?" He asked, and France beamed.

"Ah! You noticed!" France said, holding up a bottle of hair product. "We were able to throw out his filthy shampoo and forced him to use proper hair products."

"It looks good." Ivan said, and France had to restrain a squeal as Alfred looked down at Ivan with a look of betrayal.

"Not you too!" He said in dismay.

"I told you your hair would be softer if you got rid of your shampoo." Ivan said, reaching over and ruffling it, causing it to fluff up even more. He smiled a little as Alfred started to pout. He really did have cute reactions to being teased.

"Oh, be quiet." Alfred huffed, gently smacking Ivan's hand away. "As soon as you guys leave I'm ordering my usual stuff."

"Not before the party you won't!" Canada said with a grin, earning him a glare from his twin.

"Get out of my house." Alfred said, playfully pointing at the door. "You're dead to me."

"Oh, I see how it is." Canada said with a playful huff. "We go through all this trouble to help you look like a respectable host for your guests, and you throw us away as soon as you have no more use for us."

"Exactly. But for real though, it's getting late and I need to get up early. Plus, I'm exhausted. I haven't slowed down since this morning." And he wasn't lying. When Ivan looked closer, he noticed that while Alfred was acting as energetic as usual, he was drooping slightly and his eyes were struggling to stay open.

"Is it?" England, glancing up at the clock. "I suppose it is. Time does fly when you're having fun, doesn't it?"

"I wasn't having fun." Alfred grumbled, but he was ignored as his brothers grabbed their things.

After they had grabbed the rest of the bags and boxes, Canada gave his brother a quick hug. "Remember, meet us by the entrance when you get back from getting ready. We want you nearby just in case Belarus is planning to ambush you." He said, before letting Alfred go and giving his brother a bittersweet smile. "Be careful, yeah?"

"I'm always careful." Alfred scoffed.

"Now there's the lie of the century." England huffed. "Alright, we'd better get going here. I suppose I'll be seeing you tomorrow then?" He asked, glancing over at Ivan, who simply smiled back at him.

"Of course."

"Good. If you got cold feet I'd have to do something unpleasant." He said, causing Alfred to shoot his brother an exasperated look.

Ivan's eyebrows crinkled in confusion as Alfred herded his brothers out the door, scolding them in annoyed whispers as they laughed. With a final push, Alfred threw his brothers out, quickly closing the door behind them. As soon as he was sure they were gone, he let out a very tired sigh, slumping against the door.

"Oh god, I thought they'd never leave." He said.

"Are you alright?" Ivan asked, and Alfred nodded.

"Just tired dude. You have no idea how much stuff they made me try on. So many ties. So, so many ties." He said with a slightly traumatized expression.

"Why did they make you try on so many?" Ivan asked as Alfred pushed himself off the door and stumbled over to the couch, collapsing onto it with a sigh of relief.

"Because France is a perfectionist and an asshole." Alfred sighed, waving Ivan's words away. "Anyways, enough about me. How'd your meeting with your sisters go?"

"Surprisingly well. Natalia was even in a good mood." Ivan replied.

"Wait, really? She was happy?" Alfred asked in astonishment, pushing himself up and staring over at Ivan in disbelief. "Get out of here!"

"It is true. She barely mentioned you at all. She only inquired about if you were also picking her up, and then she never spoke of you again." Ivan said with a slightly thoughtful hum. "It was not what I was expecting."

"Do you think she's gotten over us being friends?" Alfred asked, perking up at the idea.

"No. I think she simply is being on her best behavior at the moment so she does not get in trouble with her boss." Ivan said, and Alfred drooped.

"Oh."

"You should not be so optimistic with her. She may be biding her time as she decides on what to do with you." Ivan explained, walking over and sitting down next to Alfred with a grimace.

"I mean, I guess." Alfred hummed. "Well, I really doubt there's much she can do. You'd have to be completely insane to attack someone in front of the entire world. She's crazy, but not that insane."

"That is why you must never be alone." Ivan said, and Alfred was slightly worried by the unusually serious expression on Ivan's face. "It is like you said, she would never attack you in front of others. She will attack you if she has a chance to separate you from the rest of the party. You must be careful not to be fooled into being alone for a moment."

"I mean, what's the likelihood of that actually happening though? I'm the host, and other than meeting up with you later to exchange gifts there's no other time that I'll even get close to being alone. Plus, my brothers will be watching me like a hawk the whole time." Alfred said, rolling his eyes at the thought. "I'll be fine."

"You know speaking like that is bound to bring bad luck." Ivan said bluntly.

"Dude, I'll be fine."

"You cannot guarantee that."

Huffing, Alfred reached up and cradling Ivan's face in his hands, which made Ivan's cheeks go pink, he said in an exasperated way, "Ivan, the secret service will be there. The regular security service will be there. My family will be watching me. Your sister will be standing guard. The whole world will be there. You-" he said, squishing Ivan's face slightly to prove his point, "-will be there. I will be the safest person in the world at that party. Short of the world ending, no one will be able to touch me. So, trust me, okay? We'll be fine."

Ivan's face softened as Alfred continued to stare determinedly up at him. "You believe in me that much?" Ivan asked, and Alfred nodded.

"We're ride and die."

Ivan, unable to stop himself, burst out into laughter. Of all the things he had expected Alfred to say, that had not been one of them.

"What?! I was being serious." Alfred said with a goofy grin as Ivan continued to laugh. Unable to hold himself up, Ivan doubled over as Alfred let go of his face and he ended up having to rest his head on Alfred's shoulder. This caused Alfred to laugh as well, and soon they were both clinging onto each other, laughing like lunatics as the weeks of stress they'd gone through slowly bled out of them.

It took the better part of five minutes for them to stop giggling. As Alfred wiped the tears from his eyes, he suddenly found himself being pulled into a proper hug by Ivan. However, unlike the other times Ivan had hugged him, this one felt odd. It wasn't a playful hug, but a sincere one. Slightly taken aback, he returned it in slight confusion.

"Ivan? You okay?"

"Thank you." Ivan said, and although he couldn't see Ivan's face at the moment, he could hear the sincerity in his voice.

"For what?" Alfred asked.

"For being my friend. For trusting me. For going to the party with me. For giving me a chance." Ivan said.

"Aw, Ivan. You don't have to thank me for that." Alfred said, a little unsure on what to do. "Uh…ditto?"

Ivan laughed again. "You really are bad at this, aren't you?" Ivan pulled back, and Alfred's heart leapt as he saw the overly fond smile Ivan was giving him.

"Um…" Alfred said dumbly, unable to come up with a response as Ivan beamed at him.

"I am very happy that we were able to spend this time together." Ivan said. "I am happy that I got the chance to meet Alfred Jones, not just America."

"Ivan, what are you talking about?" Alfred asked, getting slightly concerned at Ivan's words. "You're acting like you're leaving or something. We still have, like, a week together after the party to hang out dude."

"I know. I am simply fond of you." Ivan said sincerely, still holding Alfreds hands. "I suppose I am simply sad that I will have to go home soon."

Alfred's face burned at his words, but he ignored that as he looked up at Ivan with a concerned frown. "Ivan, we have a week left dude. Plus, even after this project finishes, there's nothing stopping you from hanging with me. You always have an open invite to my home. All fifty of them. You know that, right?"

"Of course."

"Then stop acting like I'm going to die tomorrow or something." Alfred half joked, half said seriously as he nervously squeezed Ivan's hands. "It's freaking me out a little."

"I will, but only if you promise to be careful." Ivan said again, and as Alfred looked into his eyes, he saw that behind the smile that Ivan was giving him, a silent desperation laid behind it. "Please. Promise me."

"I-"

"Please." Ivan asked again, on the verge of begging.

"Okay. Fine, I promise." Alfred said, still confused by Ivan's strange behavior. "Just stop acting weird with me. I'm not going to die dude! It's literally impossible."

"I know." Ivan said, and Alfred saw a dark look pass over Ivans face as he pulled him into a hug again. "I know…"

Alfred floundered slightly, not entirely sure how to respond to Ivan's words. He wasn't used to seeing Ivan act like this. Like…he was scared of something. Glancing over at Ivan, he frowned slightly. While he didn't know why Ivan was acting this way, it was obvious that if he didn't do anything Ivan was going to be upset for the rest of the night. So, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

"Ivan, how long have you been awake?"

Ivan, slightly thrown off by Alfred's question, responded, "About thirty eight hours? Why?"

"Go to sleep. You're acting weird and clearly not thinking straight." He said with a huff, poking Ivan's forehead. "Come on, it's getting late and we need to get some shut eye if we're going to make it till tomorrow evening."

Smirking slightly, he grabbed Ivan by the front of his shirt, and yanking him down he forced him down onto the couch, so they were laying side by side. Ivan's eyes went wide as Alfred grinned at him. "Better?"

Ivan nodded, too overwhelmed to answer as Alfred's face was mere inches from his.

"Feel a bit calmer?"

"D-da…"

"You're not going to freak out anymore?"

Ivan shook his head, and Alfred beamed. "Good. Now-" Alfred said with a chuckle, pushing himself up and grabbing the blanket on the top of the couch, throwing it over Ivan, "-go to sleep."

Before Ivan could protest, Alfred flopped back down so he was sitting next to Ivan and said loudly. "I'm comfy, so I'm gonna hang out with you for a while, okay? You don't mind if I watch something while you chill, do you?"

"I-"

"Cool." Alfred said, cutting off Ivan so he couldn't protest and turning the tv to a random program.

As Alfred watched the tv, Ivan pulled the blanket over his face as he felt his cheeks burning. They sat like that for about fifteen minutes, Ivan laying down and Alfred casually leaning against him, neither of them saying anything.

Eventually, overcome by the events of the day and with the pleasant hum of the show lulling him to sleep, Ivan finally felt himself drifting off, but not before he mumbled a quick thank you to Alfred.

"It's cool dude." Alfred said, and when Ivan cracked open a tired eye, he saw that Alfred was looking at him with a bittersweet smile. "You know, I'm no damsel in distress. I'm the hero, remember? You can count on me."

Ivan hummed in agreement. "But who protects the hero?" he asked.

Alfred didn't answer right away, waiting until just before Ivan finally drifted off. "You, you big dummy. That's who." Alfred huffed, not seeing the small smile on Ivan's face as he finally got up. "Now go to sleep."

And so he did.

A/N: You know, as I write this final set up chapter, I find myself getting a little nostalgic. Four and a half years. That's how long I've spent with these characters, and while I didn't create most of them, I've somehow come to almost see them as mine. So as I start to write the finale and wrap up the plot points I gripped about all these years, I've come to the sudden realization that it's almost time to say goodbye to them. It's a rather bittersweet feeling, to be honest. I'm so proud of myself for making it this far, but sad to let it end. Now, that said…

*Evil laughter.* Ohhhhhhh, you have no idea what's coming up. I've only ever wanted to write one chapter for this story. The party chapter. It's been in my head for so long. 4 AND A HALF YEARS! FOUR AND A HALF YEARS I'VE WAITED! THAT SOME OF YOU HAVE WAITED! SINCE FUCKING 2018! THROUGH SICKNESS, JOB LOSS, LEAVING THE STORY FOR A YEAR, AND THE END OF THE WORLD, WE MADE IT! NO ONE AND NOTHING IS GOING TO STOP ME NOW! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! WE. WILL. HAVE. ALLLLLLL THE FUCKING ROMANCE! ALL. OF. IT! I WILL BURY YOU ALL WITH THE AMOUNT OF FLUFF I HAVE PLANNED, THEN I WILL BREAK YOU! PREPARE YOURSELF DEAR READERS, BECAUSE THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE MY MAGNUM OPUS! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Anyways, my insanity aside, let's not waste anymore time. The next chapter is going to be a MEGA CHAPTER! That's right, the party is probably going to be close to 30,000 words or more, so buckle up! We're going out with a bang! There will be a few chapters after the party to wrap things up, but honestly the climax is going to be the next chapter. So stay tuned. ;)

Take your bets here! Who will confess first? Alfred or Ivan? Let me know!