hetalia | [Fanfic] Let it Snow! Chapter Two

The second chapter of the Russia/America Christmas fic I'm working on. The first chapter can be found here.

Title: Let it Snow!
Author/Artist: inner_wings
Character(s) or Pairing(s): Russia, America, Lithuania, China, Ukraine, others who appear too briefly to be mentioned ;; Russia/America mainly; China/Japan, Lithuania/Belarus and Canada/Ukraine hinted at.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: I tried to write humor, but then Russia went and got angst all over the place. Dammit, Russia.
Summary: An innocent invitation to the ballet turns into more than America and Russia bargained for. Chapter Two: Russia gets a figurative door slammed in his face by roughly half the world, and America puts enough Christmas lights on his house to make it a fire hazard.

The ballet ticket was still sitting innocently on Russia's desk the next morning. He circled the desk slowly, frowning at the offending slip of paper. He had been too sleepy the previous night to question America's motives, but now that he was awake he was suspicious. What kind of game was the younger country trying to play with him? Was he trying to get Russia to let his guard down? Was this some kind of bribe? A weak bribe, in that case, but still.

Or worse, was this...pity? America had half-joked that Russia would spend Christmas Eve getting drunk by himself...did he know that was more or less what he had done for the past few Christmases? Was America just offering to spend time with him because Russia struck him as so pathetic? Russia shuddered. There were a thousand things he would rather be than pitied, especially by America.

No, surely it wasn't that. More likely this was just that irritating, insincere way America tried to be friends with almost everyone. Stupid, petty, thoughtless little gestures that didn't mean anything. He didn't really want to spend time with Russia, he just wanted to be the good guy. Do something 'nice' so he can feel good about it afterward. Disgusting.

Russia felt stupid for even considering taking him up on the invitation last night. He didn't need America and his stupid ballet ticket. He had plenty of people he could spend the holidays with! Sure, he had spent the last few years alone, but he had chosen to celebrate them that way. A bottle of vodka could be very good company! If he had wanted, he could have called one of his allies to spend time with him...he just chose not to. He didn't need to have anyone around...but suddenly he felt the need to make plans for the 24^th of December. That would show America. Russia had a hundred better things to do than waste a night with him, and he certainly didn't need the younger country to keep him company. And he absolutely wasn't lonely. Not one bit.

And he wasn't nervous about calling up some of his old allies and former house guests to ask them to spend time with him, but he had a drink first anyway, to take the edge off (not that there was an edge to be taken off, of course.) And then another drink. And then a third. After the fourth he definitely wasn't feeling nervous. Lithuania's number was the first in his phone book, and his fingers hesitated for just a second before he punched in the numbers. Just be friendly, he reminded himself. Nothing to worry about, just be friendly.

“Privet, Lithuania!” Russia sang in what he hoped was his nicest voice when he heard the phone pick up.

“Er...good morning, Russia.” Lithuania's voice was somewhat less enthusiastic. “Have...um...how have you been lately?”

“Good, good! Wonderful! Splendid!” Ha, what had he ever been worried about? Being friendly was easy! He could do this all day!

“...Have you been drinking, Russia?”

“What? Nyet, of course not!” There was a pause on the other line. “Ah, maybe a little. Lithuania knows me too well~”

“Russia-”

“Oh, don't say anything about that. I have more important things to talk with you about! Such as...ah...” Damn, what had he called for again? The liquid courage had done wonders to calm his nerves, but now his head was a little fuzzy... “Wait, I remember! The 24^th! Are you busy on the 24^th? I hope you aren't!”

“Oh...um...I'm sorry, but...well...I do already have plans.”

“....oh.”

“I-I am sorry about this,” Lithuania said, but the fact that he honestly did sound sorry didn't do much to raise Russia's quickly plummeting spirits. “I made plans to spend the whole week with-”

“Fine. That's fine. Don't sound so worried, I'm not angry. Have...have fun.” He hung up quickly before Lithuania could respond. Well, that didn't go as well as he had hoped. But that was only one person! No need to get depressed over that. He'd find someone else easily.

China's number was next. It rang and rang. No answer. Russia hung up and tried again. Still no answer. Leaving that one for later, he tried the other Baltics. Sealand answered the phone at Latvia's house and told him to stop bugging Latvia unless he wanted a rocket punch in the face. Estonia claimed that his computer had a virus and he was much too busy trying to fix it. Russia scratched their names off his list and tried China's number a third time.

“What do you want?” China snapped before Russia could say anything. “You keep calling and calling! This better be important!”

“It is important,” Russia assured him. “Do you want to do something with me on the 24^th? A nice friendly get-together, da?”

There was an irritated sigh on the other end. “Do you have any idea how busy I am?”

“...Very busy?” Russia guessed.

“Yes very busy! I don't have any time to waste with personal meetings-”

Russia could hear another voice pip up in the background: “But Mr. Wang, what about your plans with Mr. Honda-”

“Ah, shut up, shut up!” China's voice shot up an octave as he tried to silence the other man before turning his attention back to Russia. “I-I was saying, I only have time for business these days.”

“Business and Japan,” Russia muttered sullenly.

“Th-that's just a business meeting, aru!” China growled, his speech tic slipping back in as it always did when he was flustered. “And even if it wasn't, it doesn't concern you. Bother someone else, aru!”

Russia put the phone back down and tried not to feel discouraged. The liquid courage was starting to wear off and he felt much less sure of himself. Who else could he call? He tried Poland.

“Pol-” he began, but was cut off by a click as Poland hung up on him. Well. Maybe he should have expected that.

He called Germany next. Prussia answered instead, and told him to stick the phone in a place where phones didn't belong. Georgia said frankly that she'd rather have teeth pulled than hang out with him. Kazakhstan didn't answer the phone and Russia didn't bother to leave a message. Czech Republic was spending the holiday with Slovakia and didn't want any third wheels. France already had plans to go to a party. So did England. Finland said he would be extremely busy on Christmas Eve and didn't bother to elaborate.

It seemed pathetic and desperate to turn to family in such a situation, but he was running out of options; he called Ukraine.

“I'm so sorry, brother!” she said tearfully when he asked her the same question. “Canada already asked me to spend Christmas with him...I'm so sorry! It's just that you always keep to yourself over the holidays and I didn't think you wanted to do anything so I said yes to Canada and I can't just break my word but I'm really sorry and maybe if you ask Canada he'll save you some pancakes-”

It was hard to make himself sound cheerful when he told her it was fine and that he hoped she had fun with Canada. He only had one choice left...Russia poured himself another shot, took a deep breath and called Belarus. To his surprise, she didn't answer. Normally she picked up on the first ring when he called. He tried again, but there was still no answer. Concerned for his little sister's well being, he called Ukraine back.

“Didn't you hear, brother?” Ukraine asked when he told her about what had happened. “Belarus agreed to spend the week at Lithuania's house! He was so excited...and the doctors said his broken arm and sprained ankle will heal soon, so it should be nice for them both-”

Russia slammed the phone down, suddenly wanting to cry. This was what he had feared; there really was no one to spend the holidays with. That was the nagging worry that kept him home alone over the holidays in the past, that if he tried to call anyone he would just be rejected. And now to have that fear confirmed...

No, he shouldn't be sad. He knew all along that everyone thought he was poor company. And...and that was fine. He had already accepted that. He didn't really want to do anything on the 24^th anyway. He didn't celebrate Christmas until January 7^th, so why should December 24^th bother him? And he still had vodka, didn't he? Vodka really was good company. It made him warm, and sometimes he could imagine it was as warm as a person...but it wasn't a person, and now he found himself desperately wanting to be with someone. He shouldn't have tried to contact anyone. It just woke up the old needs that he had buried in himself. It was America's fault for stirring this up.

America...he was the only person available to Russia now. How pathetic that all he had was some insincere offer to spend time together. A hundred years ago Russia would have believed that America just honestly wanted to be with him, but not now, not after so much had happened between them. It was a trick, or a game, or a mean joke. He'd probably be annoyed if Russia actually took him up on his offer.

Well, fine. Let him be annoyed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was entirely too easy for Russia to pack his bags, buy a plane ticket and fly over to America's house. Russia found himself wishing it had taken longer, because it wasn't until after he had gotten through both airports, the nine hour flight and the taxi ride to America's house that he realized this was a Bad Idea. It seemed very obvious now, and he wished the revelation had come some time before he found himself standing in America's front yard with a suitcase in hand. What had he been thinking? He hadn't, that was the trouble. America was rubbing off on him.

He could still leave. He could turn around and walk away, get back to the airport, hopefully catch the next flight back to Moscow and pretend that he hadn't just done something so stupid on an emotional whim. Now that he had calmed down from the disappointment from earlier he saw how ridiculous he was being. He had managed by himself for years; being faced with one more year alone wasn't reason to run off to the only person who had expressed any wish to spend time with him, whether or not it was a cruel joke.

America was, at that very moment, standing on a ladder while trying to attach what Russia assumed to be a giant plastic reindeer to his roof (though in Russia's experience, reindeer didn't have such massive eyes...or red noses.) He was thankfully too occupied with his task to notice Russia's arrival, and was singing while he worked. It must have been a Christmas song, but it didn't sound like any Russia had heard before...

“She'd been drinking too much eggnog,” America belted out over the clatter of his work. “And we begged her not to go! But she'd forgot her medication, and so she staggered out the door into the snow~”

He could still leave before America saw him. Not too late. Could still leave-

“When we found her Christmas morning at the scene of the attack, there were hoof prints on her forehead and incriminating Claus marks on her back. Oh~, Grandma got run over by a reindeer, coming home from our house- Hey! When did you get here?”

“Privet,” Russia answered, hoping it came out nonchalant. “I just arrived-”

“Wait, hold that thought,” America interrupted. “D'ya see that cord on the ground?”

There was an orange electric cord, connected to what appeared to be a hundred other identical orange cords, laying in the brittle brown grass at Russia's feet. “Da.”

“Awesome, go plug that in for me! There's an outlet right there on my house- no, over there, look where I'm pointing.”

“Why? What will it do?”

“It'll make my yard look awesome, so hurry it up!”

Russia had a feeling it had a better chance of making his yard explode into a fiery inferno than make it 'look awesome.' In fact, considering how many cords he could see now all over the yard, it seemed to be a very likely scenario. And considering how much trouble America had made for him, Russia felt he deserved it. He dragged the cord over to the indicated wall and pushed the plug into the socket.

America's yard burst into light, but not, unfortunately for Russia, into flames. America had managed to put strings of multicolored lights onto almost every imaginable surface, giving the impression that some kind of gigantic, radioactive spider had made a big glowy web all over his house. A large plastic Santa Claus in the middle of the yard was also glowing in a way Russia usually associated with nuclear reactors, and the reindeer on the roof had lit up in a similar fashion. America whooped happily, punched the air and nearly lost his balance on the ladder.

“Oh yeah! Fucking gorgeous. Another job well done, if I do say so myself!”

Russia would have described the yard somewhat differently (the term 'eye-watering' came to mind) but America was quickly scaling down the ladder and a wave of irrational anxiety made his words dry up.

“So what are you doing here, huh? We don't have a meeting scheduled today or anything, do we?”

“Oh no, nothing like that,” Russia assured him, pleased that his voice sounded calm and unconcerned to his own ears. “Did you forget? You invited me to your home, and here I am.” He gave his suitcase a little shake for emphasis.

“What, you mean...” America's brow furrowed, and Russia's heart sank. “But you didn't sound like you were even interested in spending a few hours at the ballet with me yesterday, and I only said you should come down the day before the show, not a whole week-”

And there it was, the rejection. America didn't want him here.

“Then you would rather I leave. I understand.” His voice didn't sound nearly as steady as he would have liked this time. He knew from the start that America didn't really want him around, and now he had proof. At least this simplified things-

“No way!” America exclaimed, grabbing Russia's hand eagerly. “I mean, I definitely didn't expect you so early, but this is perfect! I've got a billion things to do before Christmas and you can help me! And then we can go to the ballet together! It'll be great!”

“Then...then you do want me to stay?” It took Russia a moment to realize that those words came out of his mouth; it sounded much too soft to be his own voice. The warmth of America's hands was making him feel very strange. The cold, heavy feeling in his chest had been replaced with something warm and fluttery. It was wholly unfamiliar to him; was something wrong with his heart? Maybe he needed to see a doctor when he got back home.

“Of course I want you to stay!” America said happily. “I was going to have to do all this stuff by myself, but now I've got you. You can help me with my Christmas tree, and the presents I still need to buy, and some volunteer work I agreed to do...okay, that sounds like a lot, but don't you worry! I'm going to make sure you have the most merry, jolly, magical Christmas ever.”

Russia couldn't help but think there was something mildly horrifying about the way America said all that with a straight face.

[Fanfic] Let it Snow! Chapter Two

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