A Game of Chess

Chapter 11: Illusion

Matthew chuckled at the sight of the two. "It's good to see you Alfred. Arthur was just telling me about how worried he was for you just now." He said meekly, placing his hands in his pockets.

Arthur reeled his head, an embarrassed and baffled expression on his face. "L-Lies! What exactly are you going off on my boy?"

"Aww you are?" Alfred cooed, the two brothers teasing the red-faced man.

"Quiet! Both of you!" He yelled, hushing the both of them. "Anyways, you need to go and greet the host Alfred!" He covered his mouth with his gloved hand, hiding his rosy red embarrassment.  "I know you two are on opposite sides of the political world but-"

"What?" He said sarcastically, in an amusing tone. "Don't worry about it, me and Ivan agreed on keeping political life out of our friendship. He respects my ideals and I respect his." Alfred said, patting Arthur on the back comfortingly.

He looked at him, a surprised yet delighted reaction. "Well then, that's good to hear. Thank god I don't have to tell you how to maintain professional relationships between you and your enemy."

"Yeah, yeah I've really got this under control."

Arthur stood there dumb-founded, giving him an odd stare. "Really?" he said hesitantly.

"You don't have to baby me through this, I've got this." He stood there, an expectant expression on his face. It wouldn't be hard to greet him, especially since they were so close.

Arthur still seemed unconvinced, but reluctantly said, "Very well then. I suppose these are still your roads to take." He huffed a bit, looking the American up and down disappointedly. "Straighten your suit young man, and fold your handkerchief properly!" Quickly, he fixed his clothes, while he loudly complained about being treated like a child. After a moment, he took a couple of steps back, a satisfied look on his face. "There. All better. Good luck America." He turned away, waving farewell along with Matthew.

Alfred sighed in relief, grabbing a note from his suitcase and quickly scribbling something onto it while no one was looking. There was another thing that he looked forward to when coming to Russia other than Ivan. Because of how things were formed and set in stone, he didn't see Toris very often. This meeting wasn't quite technically G8, it was more of an international meeting. That meant countries from all over the world were visiting, hence why Mr. Marshall was so adamant on first appearances. That also meant that Toris would be coming and he could barely contain his excitement.

He walked to the front of the large meeting table where most of Eastern Europe stood, glancing around a bit. There were just so many people, he could barely see through the crowd. And the bright lights weren't doing him any good either, dammit he just wanted to talk to his friend. It didn't take long till he realized that the baltic group was standing on the other side of the room, strangely Toris still wasn't there. The meeting was going to start soon, he didn't have many options left to choose from.

Quickly, he walked over to the quiet group, letting his presence be known with a loud opening.  "Hey guys! It's been a while since I've seen you all huh?" He widened his smile and walk towards them with open arms.

They flinched at him, the timid expression of dread taking over their faces before quickly disappearing. Although it lasted long enough for Alfred to notice, definitely long enough to cause him suspicion.

"Hello Mr. Alfred." Eduard said meekly. The Estonian and the others looked uncomfortable, just standing there with him. A part of him almost felt hurt, but then again they didn't talk oftenly so he shouldn't be right?

"I don't mean to bother you guys, but do you know where Toris is?" He asked awkwardly.

"He went to the restroom, he hasn't been feeling well for a while." Latvia piped up loudly, earning a glare from the other.