This Obsessive Game We Play

1 - Preparing the pot

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Alfred's gloved finger lightly tapped against the table. He leaned back against the cushioned chair in the booth, picking up a soggy lukewarm fry from his tray and promptly popping it into his mouth. He chewed slowly, noting how sad these fries tasted. Alfred glanced to the Russian across the booth, he seemed to be enjoying his time (and surprisingly the food) here. Out of the corner of Alfred's eye, he saw a teenage boy stride up to their table.

"Hey! You're mister America right?" The boy asked with a tinge of uncertainty in his voice. Alfred leaned against the table and held his head up with his hand, making eye contact with the boy and making sure to tilt just a little to show off his metal name tag. The boy glanced at the tag, "Mr. America" it read. A wide grin spread across his face as he thrust his hand towards Alfred, "Can I please get a handshake?". Alfred sighed, smiling at the boy and returned the action, he made sure to give a good few shakes before letting go. The boys face lit up as he looked over at the booth in the corner of the diner which, presumably, sat his friends.

Alfred looked over to a stone faced Ivan who had a tinge of some other emotion in his eyes Alfred couldn't pinpoint. Before the excited teenage boy could walk off he gently grabbed his arm, "Hey, don't you want a handshake from my buddy here too?" Alfred asked with fake puppy eyes. The teenager looked at a very obviously confused Ivan with a nervous expression. He smiled weakly and extended his hand towards Ivan too after looking at his silver name tag that was similar to Alfred's. Ivan grasped the boys hand with maybe a little too much force and gave a small smile and nod. The boy nodded back and with a wave, practically ran back to his booth.

Ivan turned back to Alfred with a frown. "Whyd you do that?" He asked. "Listen bud! As long as you're with me, nobodies gonna ignore you." Alfred picked up a fry, leaning back and using the fry as a pointer as he talked, "That kid was gonna get a handshake from me and leave, and I didn't want you to feel left out! It's what buds do!" He shrugged and ate the fry, ignoring how cold it had gotten. "Plus I need to make sure the public sees us as buddy-buddy as possible!" Alfred added in his head. He flashed a smile to Ivan who had that same blank expression he had before. It was hard to tell what the guy was thinking sometimes.. Ivan tilted his head down, his bangs shielding his face from the other. He poked at the mostly eaten burger and fries left on his tray, not knowing how to respond. Unbeknownst to Alfred, a smile was spreading across Ivans face.

It'd been a while since Ivan had a good friend. He had his sisters, but they didn't count as real friends (sorry Belarus and Ukraine!). Now that America was an ally of the USSR, both their bosses wanted them to become friends. Ivan really didn't care that it was business that forced them to be together like this, he really liked having a friend. Living most of his life in cold isolation left a nagging feeling of loneliness in his heart, and it stung. But, this connection he felt with Alfred soothed that pain, and although it left Ivan utterly clueless as to what to do or say, he liked having a friend. Alfred glanced between Ivan and the plate he was silently poking at. He really didn't like hanging with the commie, but what could he do. His boss's word is kinda absolute!.. Ivan was decent company he supposed. Ivan was a good listener, polite, and could somewhat be likeable. Alfred hummed, Ivan wasn't too great at socializing or social cues but it was fine really, all he had to do was leave that part to the hero and it'd be fine!

Alfred spoke up after a second, "I see you ate most of your food! Didya like it?" Ivans head snapped up, his smile dissolved as he was pulled out of his thoughts. He slowly nodded (to be polite), "да, it was good." In all seriousness, the food was a greasy mess, but he felt that he needed to lie to spare Alfred's feelings. Alfred watched from across the table as a suddenly timid Ivan subtly fidgeted with his hands under the table as he spoke. He was too easy to read sometimes! "Dude! If you didn't like it that's fine! Don't sweat it!" Alfred leaned across the table, putting a hand on the side of his mouth to shield others from hearing him, and whispered, "To be frank I didn't either! I've gone to way better diners." Ivan giggled, smiling at the American. Alfred returned the smile.