The world meeting had been lasting for no more than three hours so far, but it felt like eternity. With visible relief Gilbert, who had temporarily taken place of his younger brother since the latter had caught a cold and couldn't show up, announced a break.
Everyone seemed to be just as relieved as he was, and the room that was almost always filled with the noise of countless arguments and heated debates quickly became quiet, as the countries started leaving it to take small walk or go down to the buffet. Soon enough there were only three people left: Prussia himself lingered a little longer and wrote a quick message to Ludwig asking how he'd been doing; America took a tasty-smelling burger and a bottle of cola from his bag and decided to have lunch right here; and finally, Russia - the langour of midday had long taken hold of him, so now he was peacefully sleeping in his place using a pile of documents as a pillow. Gilbert quietly chuckled finding the sight somewhat amusing. Scary as he usually was, Ivan did look cute with that little dreamy smile of his and a slight blush on his soft cheeks. He would mumble a couple of words into his scarf now and again, and sometimes his hand would gently stroke the pink cloth, as if the scarf was not a garment but a loving pet of some sort.
Having recieved the answer from Germany and relieved that his brother seemed to be fine, Prussia silently observed the two nations, but mainly Russia. He hadn't seen Ivan in a while and suddenly realized that he had never seen him sleeping before. Gilbert wouldn't ever imagine this sight to be that pleasant - yet, here he was unable to stop grinning at how adorable the Russian was. Truth to be told, he had been feeling attracted to the man for a long time - he didn't even remember when it had started. Perhaps, somewhere in the XVIII century? Or even earlier, when they were just children figuring out the world around them? Prussia frowned. There were some rather unpleasant memories connected with his and Ivan's childhood, one of them in particular Gilbert especially disliked not because it was painfull - but because it was probably the first time he ever felt ashamed of himself, felt like he was the opposite of awesome...
"Well, it's not like he was always nice to me either," Gilbert calmed his conscience. The attempt felt rather half-hearted. Nations' life is hard: it is almost impossible to disobey your boss even if they demand something horrible, your past allies can turn their backs on you as soon as the political climate changes, you may have to team up with a country you hate to achive a common goal - Prussia knew it all first-hand. Russia had caused him a lot of suffering and same could be said vice versa - Prussia had hurt Russia plenty of times over the years. Surprisingly enough, the two didn't hate each other - well, at least Prussia didn't, he couldn't read Ivan's mind of course. They had long burried the hatchet and forgiven each other as countries. And - Gilbert would never admit it to anybody but himself - he secretely hoped that Ivan had forgiven him as a person as well and that one day they could become closer - not like nations but like humans...
His thoughts were interrupted by America's buoyant voice:
"Hey, dude! How's Germany? Hope, he gets better soon!"
"Thanks, he's fine, I'll tell him you were concerned, - Gilbert answered quietly and smiled."
"Why are you whispering? It's not like we're exchanging state secrets, - Alfred chuckled. He appeared to be in an especially great mood today."
Prussia shrugged his shoulders.
"Nah, I just don't want to wake Ivan up. He looks tired."
Alfred turned his head to the Russian and seemed to only just have noticed that he had been asleep the whole time.
"Since when are you so worried about him? Don't you guys, like, want to kill each other?"
Gilbert shook his head wearily. Something in America's demeanor made Prussia a little suspicious. He couldn't tell what exactly it was, but his intuition seldom failed him.
"It was a long time ago. We don't hold grudges."
Alfred nodded in approval and glanced at the clock on the wall. For a second Gilbert's suspicions faded away.
"The break's almost over." Alfred said turning back to Gilbert. All of a sudden a playful smirk appeared on the American's face. "It's about time we woke our sleeping beauty up."
"I don't think it's a good idea," Gilbert seemed unsure, "Estonia once told me that if Ivan is sleeping, you can fire a cannon next to him - and he won't even flinch in his sleep..."
"Well, a cannon might not work - but I know what will!"
Before Prussia had a chance to say or do anything, America ran up to Russia and with one acute movement of a hand snatched the scarf right off Ivan's neck.
Immediately Russia's eyes snapped open.
"Rise and shine, commie!"
Ivan groggily lifted his head and, when the realisation hit him, quickly covered his neck with his left palm.
Kol-kol-kol-kol...
That was bad.
Prussia silently cursed. America kept laughing and playfully teasing Russia with the stolen scarf. Unlike Gilbert, he didn't seem to understand that for Ivan it was more than just a harmless prank.
"I would appreciate if you gave me my scarf back..." the menacing aura around Russia was becoming thicker and thicker. The fact that he didn't even insult America back for calling him a commie indicated how serious the matter was.
"America, really," to Alfred's utter surprise, Prussia didn't seem to be on his side, "stop it, please."
"C'mon, it's fun..." he answered and immediately switched his attention back to Ivan. "What's with you holding your neck like that anyway? Is your head going to fall off? Or you have something ridiculous tattooed there?" he asked mockingly.
Gilbert mentally facepalmed.
For a moment Ivan seemed to shudder but quickly returned to his threatening demeanor. He demanded, his voice hoarse and filled with quiet rage, not a trace of the usual creepy smile on his face,
"You. Will. Give. It. Back. Now."
At this rate, even Alfred noticed that something was not right. Normally Russia would only get "playfully" mad at this kind of miniscule shenanigans - and as scary as that was, it has never been even close to his current reaction.
Not wanting to escalate, America gave up and handed him the garment. Russia slowly stood up and took it, than said still hiding his neck,
"I will be back in a minute."
He left the room and his steps echoed in the hallway. Gilbert had noticed that his hands had been shaking ever so slightly.
"Dude, this guy is freaky... I mean, what's the big deal - it's just a scarf!"
For some reason Prussia felt outraged and... guilty? Well, it wasn't exactly "some" reason - a certain picture from Gilbert's memory flashed before his eyes...
* * *
"Stupid Russia and his stupid boss!" Little Prussia, at that time known as the Teutonic Order, muttered to himself while writing in his diary. "They tricked me to fall in that damn lake! And it was cold as fu..." he glanced around the room quickly hoping there weren't any adults to reprimand him for swearing.
Fortunately, there was nobody but his faithful Gilbird to listen to his complaining.
Suddenly an idea manifested in the boy's head.
"Awesome!" He exclaimed, the bitterness of recent humiliation completely disappearing from his voice. "Listen up, Gilbird, I have a genius plan how to take revenge! This crybaby will regreat defeating me..."
The bird chirped jubilantly in agreement.
...The very next morning Gilbert stood in front of a small somewhat run-down wooden house knocking on the door.
Soon a trembling voice was heard,
"Wh-who's there?"
"Open up, I want to talk!" demanded the boy already anticipating his sweet revenge.
The door slowly, as if the owner was hesitant, opened, and in front of him stood Ivan. Gilbert couldn't help marking to himself how shabby his clothes looked. He, of course, knew that his recently appointed arch-enemy had to live under the Tatar Yoke and didn't have many nice things - but he didn't expect him to look like this. "Nah, he's just too pathetic to break free," - Gilbert managed to suppress the arising sympathy in his heart.
"T-teutonic Order?" Ivan's large lilac eyes stared at him with fear and careful curiosity. "Why are you here?"
Gilbert cleared his throat and started the speech he had spent an entire evening preparing:
"I've been thinking a lot about you after we fought last time. And I decided you aren't as dumb and weak as I used to belive - in fact, I now think you're actually kinda awesome... Not like me, of course, but close enough. So I was wandering if maybe you would want to be friends and-"
"Friends?" Little Russia's eyes lit up as if tiny stars appeared inside them for a moment. "That would be fantastic! I am so happy!"
All of a sudden, he failed to contain himself and squizeed Gilbert in a tight hug. The latter gasped, surprised by such fervent reaction, and awkwardly petted the boy's back.
"Mein Gott, you're choking me..."
Ivan let him go and apologised profusely. Soon, however, he returned to his previous state staring at Gilbert with the mixture of disbelief and excitement.
"Well," the young Teuton said, "since we are friends now, how about we go and play together? I know a nice place in the woods."
"Sure!"
With every second Ivan's smile seemed to grow wider and wider. For a brief second the boy hesitated and then asked a bit shyly, a cute blush covering his face,
"Um... can we hold hands on our way there? I heard it's a thing friends do..."
"Haven't you ever had friends before?" asked Gilbert with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
Ivan shook his head. Gilbert sighed.
"I suppose we can, i don't care."
"Thank you..."
The blush on Ivan's cheeks became more visible as their hands touched. To his own astonishment, Gilbert suddenly thought that the Russian boy looked adorable and his palm felt surprisingly warm, despite the fact that he had no gloves on and it was early spring when the snow hadn't even melted yet.
Maybe, he thought to himself, he shouldn't really proceed with his plan to take revenge? After all, it could be nice to just spend a day playing with this weird but seemingly kind boy, without any plotting...
Gilbert mentally slapped himself. He is the great Order of Teutonic Knights, he is going to take revenge for having been humiliated like that - it is the matter of honour. "And this sneaky Russian can be scary, yes! Like that last time during the battle - his sweet appearance is no more than a deceit!" Gilbert convinced himself.
The two reached a lovely clearing in the nearby woods. When they stopped and it was time to let each other's hands go Gilbert couldn't help having some small regrets: though he wouldn't admit it, holding hands with Ivan felt good.
"You were right, this place is nice!" Russia said ethusiastically. "Now, what would you like to play?"
"Why don't we play hide and seek?" proposed Gilbert trying not to give away his doubts. "I will hide, and you close your eyes, count to twenty and than try to find me, alright?"
"Can I be the one hiding? I have to hide from others a lot, so I'm pretty good at it."
"No-no, I want to hide," he rushed to convince the Russian otherwise, for it was necessary for his plan that Ivan should have his eyes closed and be distracted with counting, "I can let you hide next time."
"OK," Ivan nodded, "we can start then?"
"Yes."
"And after we are done playing we can go to my home and I will bake us some pirozhki! My big sister makes them the best, but I can bake tasty pirozhki too - especially if it is for my friend!"
He seemed completely oblivious, much to Gilbert's advantage. Yet, for some reason it didn't make the Teuton as happy as he imagined it would.
Ivan finally turned away, his eyes shut, and started to slowly count.
"One... two... three..."
If only he had the slightest idea what a heated debate was taking place inside his new friend's mind as the counting went on!
"...four... five... six..."
"We can play today - and tomorrow I'll take revenge!"
"No, it's a dumb excuse! I'll do what I've planned to do - I'm not a coward!"
"...ten... eleven..."
"He seems lonely... And other nations seem to always bully him. Why hurt him even more?"
"Pity is for loosers, besides, he was so creepy while choking me on that ice - he deserves it!"
"...seventeen... eighteen... nine-"
Before the boy managed to finish "nineteen", Gilbert, having made up his mind, jumped up to him and grabbed his treasured scarf.
"Ha! Got you, idiot! Ksesese..."
Ivan turned back to him and stared in utter confusion. He looked like a person who had just woken up from a long sleep and hadn't quite grasped what was happening around him yet. His lips quivered as if he was about to cry.
Gilbert smirked, pleased with himself. He had long ago noticed that Ivan would never take his scarf off, it surely was his most beloved possession. It was only natural to take it away as a revenge.
However, there was something Gilbert hadn't expect to see. He barely managed to contain a shocked gasp as his gaze slid to the boy's exposed neck.
It was marred with scars. Some of them seemed old, but some looked fairly fresh - as if he was subjected to some kind of torture on a regular basis.
Having noticed, what his "friend" was looking at, Ivan quickly covered the scars with his hands. He asked in a somewhat broken voice:
"Wh-why did you d-do it?"
Gilbert did not like how it felt.
He was anticipating satisfaction, a triumph - yet, there was none if it. He felt angry - not even angry with Ivan but rather with himself for not enjoying the long awaited moment and for something way more important, something he hadn't fully realised yet...
Irritated and confused, he yelled with fake confidence:
"Because I hate you, ksesese! Yes, I hate you!"
A couple of crystal tears fell from Ivan's eyes.
"But I thought we were..."
Gilbert didn't - couldn't - let him finish.
"Did you really believe someone would want to be friends with you?!" the Teuton made a couple of steps back. "You are creepy! And a crybaby! And..." for a second he hesitated, but then continued, "and those scars you have make me want to throw up! If I were you I would be too disgusted with myself to even leave the house, even with this silly scarf on!"
At this point Russia's eyes looked almost empty. The tears didn't stop, but the boy himself didn't look upset or confused anymore - he looked like something had just broken inside him.
Kol-kol-kol-kol...
Gilbert's hands suddenly went limp and the scarf fell on the ground. His eyes met Ivan's for one last time, than the silver-haired boy turned around and quickly disappeared in the woods. Overwhelmed with fear and unexpected anguish, he even forgot that he'd originally planned to take the scarf with him as a trophy...
He spent the rest of the day sitting silently in his room, not even talking to Gilbird. When the sun was already setting Gilbert took his diary from the drawer and made a short note.
"Dear diary, today I have taken revenge on that Russian kid for my defeat. Everything went awesome!..
Why don't I feel awesome?"
* * *
Gilbert slowly but confidently made his way to one of the bathrooms. This one was in the very end of the hallway, hence it was the fartherst from the entrance and most of the conference rooms. As expected, Gilbert saw only one person there.
Ivan stood in front of the mirror. He seemed to have splashed his face with water in an attempt to calm himself down and now a couple of cold droplets were sliding down his cheeks reminding Gilbert of the tears he saw the day of his childhood revenge. Unnoticed, he stood at the threshold and observed the man nervously fiddling with his scarf. Every couple of seconds Russia would lower it and gaze at the scars - less prominent than they used to be, but still very noticeble.
Having gathered the courage, Prussia decided to make his presence clear and called,
"Ivan."
Russia didn't as much as flinch, but in the mirror Gilbert saw the startled expression on his face. When Ivan turned around, however, he was already wearing his signature smile, not a trace of anguish he - Gilbert was sure - had just mentally gone through.
"Has the break ended already? I'm coming..."
"Ivan," Prussia repeated with sterner voice, "you don't have to pretend in front of me. I know."
He approached the man and put a hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. Gilbert knew very well what it was like to always have to hide your vulnerability in front of others
For a brief moment Russia tensed at his touch, not entirily trusting his intentions. Between them was an awkward silence.
Again Gilbert was the one to break it.
"Listen, America is an idiot, no doubt here, but he just didn't know about the whole scarf... hm, thing..."
Prussia silently cursed himself. This wasn't going well.
"It's alright, I am not mad at him," Ivan smiled a bit wider, "I did consider using my magic metal pipe of pain on him, though..."
The menacing aura of his appeared for a split second. Before Prussia had the chance to express his objections, he went on,
"...but it's OK now. I have way more things to be mad at America for."
He let out a small giggle and Prussia sighed in relief: Russia finally sounded like his usual unintentionally scary self which meant everything was going to be fine... Gilbert hoped so at least.
"Shall we go back then?" he suggested, but Ivan suddenly stopped him.
"I... didn't overreact too much, did I?" he asked with caution.
"Nah," Prussia shook his head and added jokingly, "nobody is lying on the floor dead, so you didn't."
Ivan's smile became softer and somewhat more real.
"Overreact!" Gilbert chuckled, all of a sudden feeling compelled to share something. "You should have seen that time a guy said I was a demon spawn which should be burnt, because I'm an albino! My boss had to call two guards to stop me from straight up murdering that jerk!"
Centuries ago, when it had happend, this memory was rather painfull to recall - but nowadays it would usually bring the Prussian a sort of satisfaction: after all, it was fun to see the offender scared out of his mind when Gilbert was about to finish him off...
"People used to bully you too?"
Ivan sounded genuinely surprised.
"Not a lot," Gilbert shrugged his shoulders, "but it was bound to happen: you remember how they used to feel about albinos in older times?"
"Oh, I do..." Ivan contemplated something for a moment, "it's just that you have always seemed so confident, I could never imagine you getting mocked by others... Honestly, I even envied you when we were kids."
With the topic of childhood being brought up again, Russia's gaze drifted slightly to the side as if he was recalling something.
With a pang of guilt it occured to Prussia that, despite the fact that they had forgiven each other as nations, he never really apologised for his attempt to take revenge when they were children...
Ivan was already about to step over the threshold, when Gilbert stopped him. Looking the Russian directly in the eyes he started, not entirely sure what exactly to say:
"I... well, I'm glad you are doing fine after that whole mess and also... I'm sorry. I truly am."
"But it wasn't your fault, it was America..."
"No," Prussia shook his head, "I'm not talking about today."
Ivan's eyes widened and Gilbert saw realisation reflected in them. Before Prussia could fully comprehend what was happening, Russia brought him into a somewhat careful, yet, warm embrace.
"Thank you..." he said quietly, "I really hoped that you would say this someday and then we would be friends for real."
"And I was an idiot for not doing it the very next day... and for having said all those things to you in the first place..."
Russia squeezed Prussia a bit tighter. It was true, very much time had passed - but most of the people who had hurt him never even thought about saying sorry or did it simply out of fear after Ivan would threaten them back, that's why Gilbert's genuine apology meant a lot.
This time the latter didn't complain. Ivan's hands felt just as warm and gentle as they did long ago and being that close to him was so... comfortable? Almost like they both were wrapped in a warm blanket...
Cosy as it felt, it had to end eventually, as the time had come for them to go back.
"This means we are friends now, right?"
Ivan was way more reserved as an adult, but his lilac eyes sparked just like they did when Gilbert had first offered him friendship.
Prussia nodded. A childish giggle escaped Ivan's mouth.
"Then we can hold hands on our way?"
Not bothering to wait for an answer he took Gilbert's hand. The Prussian was a bit taken aback but didn't try to break free, only said with a smirk,
"America will be laughing his ass off if he sees us like that."
"In that case you will help me to hide his body afterwards, won't you?"
"Well, helping each other IS what friends do, ksesese!"
Entering the hallway Gilbert silently admitted to himself that he hadn't been entirely honest: deep inside he hoped they would eventually become a little more than friends...
A/n: sorry if there are mistakes, I'm writing from my phone. Hope you liked my story ☺️