I Will Be Your Knight

Chapter 7

The first few hours of your shift go by without a hitch. It's busy, so you don't get much of a break to stop and think about your interaction with Ivan that morning, or much of anything else for that matter. It's so busy that you haven't even been able to say much to Alfred, except for a short greeting. He's working his tail off bagging for as many lanes as he can, but no matter how busy it is, he never fails to give each customer a huge grin. 

Several times a customer has commented to him how busy it is, and they shake their heads in amazement that he can keep up. To this Alfred always replies, "Its because I'm the hero!" with his signature smile and thumbs up. 

Feli isn't here today, though, because he asked off. He mentioned something about going to visit his brother, Romano, today. His brother goes to a different college in another city because, according to him, he can't stand his happy-go-lucky brother for long periods of time. Romano's decision to go to a college in a different city made Feli quite sad for a while, but now he uses it as an excuse to take off of work. 

The two of them are brothers, but they're nothing alike. If Feli is always happy, then Romano is always grumpy. You've met Romano a few times, and you can't say he's your favorite person in the world. Feliciano always goes on and on about him. It's Lovino this and Lovino that. Feli's the only one who can call Romano by his nickname and get away with it. Anyone else would get cussed out of the county. 

Your thoughts are interrupted by Ludwig. "You can go on your break now (y/n)."

"Alright. Thanks Germany!" You've gotten better at remembering when to call him that and when to call him Ludwig.

He smiles at the use of his more formal name, and walks away. You smile as you walk towards the clock to punch out. Ludwig should smile more often in your opinion. You walk into the empty break room after you punch out. You open your locker and pull out your purse. Then you sit at a table and grab your phone. Since it's a cheap old thing, it's not a touchscreen, and you have to slide it to reveal its keyboard. You do so only to find you have a text.

It reads:

Hello there (y/n). When do you get out of work?

 -Ivan

You smile and enter his number into your contacts. You debate whether or not to put hearts next to his name, and decide against it. You don't want to be one of those people. You quickly type out a reply and hit send. In a few moments your phone buzzes with Ivan's response. 

He sent:

Alright. I'll see you then, da? ^J^

You giggle at the emoticon he sent. That face suits him very much. The way he uses punctuation and good grammar in a text is also very Ivan. You can barely contain your excitement thinking about Ivan picking you up. You're still lost in thought when you punch back in after your break. The store is much quieter now, and you allow yourself to daydream about Ivan. You don't notice Arthur talking to you until he starts to yell.

"Hey (y/n)! Listen when someone's talking to you, you git!" Arthur exclaims.

You give a start as you snap out of your daydream. "W-what?" you stammer out.

"I asked," Arthur explains in an exasperated tone,"what's on your mind tonight. You've got the look on your face that Matthew gets when someone brings home maple syrup."

A smile tugs on the corners of your lips when you imagine the scene England is describing. The youngest of the four brothers, Matthew, or Canada to most, has a strange love for maple syrup. Not the cheap stuff that's mostly corn syrup, but the real deal that's made out of tree sap and all. Once you were invited to his birthday since you know his other three brothers, and you didn't know what to get him. Based off what you'd heard from his brothers, you assumed syrup would be your best bet. When you arrived for the party the first thing you did was ask to use their kitchen. When it was time for presents you walked into the kitchen and brought out a steaming, freshly made stack of pancakes you had whipped up, dripping with maple syrup. Matthew had almost passed out when he saw it.  He liked it so much that you had to make another batch for him and pour the rest of the syrup you brought along with you on it. Now every time you go over to play video games with Alfred you have to make Matthew a big stack of pancakes.