Two Can Keep A Secret

Chapter 11: The Acquiring of Friends

30+ missed calls from My Child (1) & others

-

Alfred opened the door to his apartment, motioning Ivan to follow him. Ivan hands him the umbrella as he steps in, observing the pictures in the hallway.

As Alfred shakes the water off of the umbrella, Ivan asks with a small smile,

"These are your children, da?"

Alfred turns, looking towards the aforementioned images.

"Ah, yep! All 50 of them. They all appeared as toddlers, so I sadly don't have any baby pictures."

He bemoans dramatically, striding up to stand next to Ivan. A genuine smile creeps up on him, and he points towards the specific states in each photo.

"That one there's Washington, you don't wanna get between her and work. Pennsylvania sits on the edge over here, she's of prussian descent, so sometimes has that 'Im awesome!' verbal tic."

His smile grows with each state he points to, Ivan making sure to memorise a name to a face.

'Although I like bragging to him about my kids, what excatly are they gonna do when they meet him?'

He ponders this until he reaches one of the last states,

"And there's Alaska!"

He says with joy, gesturing to one of the tallest in the picture. Ivan can't help it, he stares, shocked.

He looked... almost exactly like a mixture of him and Alfred. His nose, Alfred's golden hair, his violet eyes and Alfred's tan skin.

He stands there, gobsmacked, until Alfred took pity on him.

"You doing alright there buddy?"

Alfred asks, amusement radiating off of him in waves.

Ivan huffs, shaking his head.

"Perfect. I just.. wasn't expecting him to look like a combination of us."

Alfred laughs nervously as he makes his way to the living room, followed by Ivan.
They both collapse on the coach, sighing in relief.

"Well, he was called Russian America for a while, y'know? I guess that had some influence when it came to his looks."

Alfred pipes up, shrugging off his signature bomber jacket and throwing it carelessly over the couch where Ivan is seated.

Alfred freezes, patting himself down quickly.

'aawwe shit. Where is my phone?'

Frankly, Alfred couldn't even remember bringing it to the café. Suddenly, a memory strikes him and he rushes off to his bedroom, ignoring Ivan's confused look.

Nearly crashing into the bedside table in his haste, he mumbles for the charging phone. He quickly unplugs it, before taking a deep breath.

'Please tell me no one called please tell me no one called-'

He glances down.

"AUUUUUUGHHHH!"

-

Ivan glances up, startled at the loud groan of annoyance. He was sat on the couch, fingers playing with the fur on the neckline of Alfred's jacket.

'What was that for? Is he alright?'

Slightly unnerved, Ivan releases the jacket before standing up and slowly making his way to the doorframe.

"Alfred? Is everything alright?"

He calls outs, worriedly waiting for his response. He reaches up to tighten his scarf, a nervous tick of his.

"Yeah, all good! Everything's... Just fine!"

He hears Alfred echo back, although through gritted teeth. Footsteps sound through the hall as he hears Alfred open the bedroom door. Once Ivan is able to see his face again, he notices a slight tick of frustration he hadn't seen before.

Ivan stares as he approaches him, his socked feet making no sound on the wooden floor. When he finally gets to him, Alfred plops his head down onto Ivan's chest.

This shocks Ivan, as he goes stock still waiting for Alfred to move. Seeing as he isn't doing anything, he slowly moves his arms around him, embracing him in a light hug. One that's comforting, but stills makes it easy for him to escape.

Alfred sighs, bone-deep and weary.

"Some of my states are coming over."

Ivan hums.

"Is that not a good thing?"

"Yeah well, when you haven't told your kids you've become friends with a guy you went to war with, you can only assume what their reactions are gonna be."

Alfred complained, sagging deeper into Ivan.

But Ivan didn't mind.

His thoughts were still running wild, on one specific word.

'He.. considers us friends?'

Slowly, hesitantly, Ivan asks,

"You.. consider us friends?"

Alfred freezes, detaching himself from Ivan,

"Sorry, are we not? Is, is it too fast? I'd just assumed that-"

He pauses.

He feels something drip onto his hand from where he still clung to Ivan.

"Ivan?"

"..Da?"

"..are you.. are you crying?"

"..Da.."

Alfred's eyes soften, and he asks Ivan,

"What for?"

Ivan chuckles as he wipes away tears, his violet eyes sparkling as he does so.

"It's... Been so long since I've had a friend. Thank you, Alfred, for giving me another chance."

Alfred laughs along with him, all pretense of sadness now dissipating into the air.

"Hey, thank you for putting up with me again. Not many people can do that, y'know?"

He teases, wagging a finger in Ivans direction. They both dissolve into small fits of laughter, Alfred still clutching Ivan's arm and Ivan swiping away the remainder of his tears.

As they continue, they fail to notice an insistent knock on the door. One that gets louder, and louder, and louder, until-

SLAM

"OI, PA! WATCHU DOING NOT ANSWERING YOUR PHONE?? MAKING US THINK SOMEONE GOT TO YOU OR-"

"..."

"Pa, who the fuck is that?"

-

Heyoo, I am so tired rn lmao so sorry this is late. I want to thank the people who commented on chapter 8,9 and 10, you both literally made my day. Anyways, I'll try to stick to the every second day updating, but as soon as exams start next week I might have to switch to every 3-4 days. Also, regarding the states looks/appearances, I want to leave that up to you guys. Obviously, I'll give gender, accent and eye colour, but I want the rest to be up to y'all. You decide what you think they look like, there's no canon for them, so that makes it all the more fun! Anyways, Goeiemorê, aand middag of nag!