kiramaru7 | Cross-posted from hetachallenge & fanfic bake-off

Title: Winter
Characters: Russia, mention of Prussia, Germany, and Belarus
Challenge: Drabble/Doodle Challenge June 2012: Pretend
Bonus Words: love, real, forget, denial, hate
Rating: G
Summary: Russia hurries home…
Author’s Notes: First time writing Russia. Please note this was also written for Fanfic Bake-off’s “Rise” prompt with an additional bonus of “Time.” Pelmeni are little Russia meat dumplings similar to meat raviolis.

Russia felt the wind whip up, making the ends of his scarf rise up in protest. He hated the cold and wished it was summer, but no amount of pretending on his part could change things. He did, however, love the way the wind blew the snow up into the air as it was pretty, but not as pretty as his beloved sunflowers. He trudged on, wondering if he could pretend long and hard enough to believe it was really summer and forget the cold. But as his footsteps softly crunched in the snow, he knew that winter was just too real to deny it and he would be a fool to think otherwise. He would leave denial to those who excelled at it like Prussia and his younger brother Germany and others he was too cold to think about at the moment.

Russia trudged onwards, when he suddenly snorted in amusement as he realized he was in denial about his sister Belarus. There was no way she was ever going to leave him alone unless she got what she desired from him, no matter how much he would pretend otherwise. He smiled, she could wish from now until forever, but that was one union that was never going to happen. The winter wind blew again, tossing snow up in the air, as if in agreement with his sentiments.

Russia shivered. He was nearly home where he could enjoy the warmth of a fire as well as the delicious warmth of vodka as it went down. A light dinner of pelmeni would add to the feelings of warmth he was striving for in the dead of winter. He could almost taste the sour cream on top as he came out of the forest and hurried towards home, leaving winter behind…

Title: A Lover’s Quarrel
Characters: Sweden and Finland, mention of Germany and Italy
Challenge: Drabble/Doodle Challenge June 2012: Pretend
Bonus Words: love, real, forget, denial, hate
Rating: PG
Summary: A “lover’s quarrel” between Sweden and Finland…
Author’s Notes: First time writing Sweden & Finland. Please note this was also written for Fanfic Bake-off’s “Rise” prompt, with an additional bonus of “Time.”

For Jen, who loves these two…

“Sve,” Finland said; a hint of crankiness in his voice.

“Hmmm?” Sweden replied, not looking up from the book, he was reading. Calm and placid, nothing seemed to faze him.

“Stop pretending, I’m your wife!”

“I’m not pretending anything.” Sweden smiled inwardly as he loved it whenever his beloved fellow country got annoyed. It always seemed to bring a bit of color to his cheeks that had nothing to do with the cold.

“Now you’re doing that stupid denial stuff again!” Finland cried, his voice rising in frustration. “I hate when you do that!”

Sweden marked his place and closed the book. “I swear to you, I’m not doing anything, and you know as well as I do, that I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you or…” Sweden smiled with a mischievous glint in his eye, “annoy you.”

Finland folded his arms across his chest. “And what about the time you-”

“Forget that as it doesn’t count.” Sweden started reading again.

Finland narrowed his eyes at him. “Oh really? And what about the time you… Sve? Are you even listening to me?” He took a few steps closer to his fellow country. “Put that book down and pay attention!”

“You sound like Germany.” Sweden looked up at him, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

“What?!”

“Nothing… You just reminded me of all the times Germany yells at Italy to pay attention during World Meetings.”

Finland put his hand over his face and sighed as hit him. His beloved Sve was just teasing him and as if to show him that was exactly the case, Sweden got up and wrapped his arms around him, holding him close. As real as their little spats often were, the love they had for each other was even more real…