Love Sucks

This was one of those 'weird' days at work.

"So... How do I look?"

I groaned, looking from Alfred to where his eyes could not seem to draw themselves away from. "I don't know. Like you usually do, I guess."

"And that's awesome," Alfred let out a whistle. "Okay man. What do I say?"

"What?" I asked him, slightly surprised. Alfred was going to talk to a woman. A woman who happened to be the sister of two of my previous crushes. This is why I do not think I would be the best person to ask. "The last girl I went out on a date with broke my hand, Alfred. I'm not the best person to ask."

"Feliks is like a girl," Alfred shrugged. I groaned again.

Feliks was not like a girl. He was ten times more difficult than a girl. Just because he is my roommate and we have been friends forever does not mean I knew how to deal with him. Currently he is after Elizaveta, who is still trying to decide between Gilbert and Roderich, and Roderich is still dealing with all of those issues with Ludwig and Vash...

And here I am giving advice to my latest crush about how to get together with my ex's sister.

Love sucks.

"But I'm not going out with Feliks," I insisted again, though Alfred just laughed. Like he did when he thought someone was pulling his leg. I wanted to pull his leg. Enough to make him fall over and rethink his situation.

Unfortunately, I find that I am too nice. And here I was helping him get together with the girl with the largest rack in the building. Hopefully that was not all what was attracting him or he was going to have everyone trying to kill him by the end of the day. Kat was too nice for that.

But he is my friend. I had to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"I think my luck's up today!" Alfred rubbed his hands together and headed down the stairs. "Oh!" He stopped, spinning around to face me. "Make sure Ivan doesn't interrupt me, okay?"

"Wait, you want me to stop Ivan–"

"Thanks Toris!"

The rest of my words were left in a gargling mess in my mouth as he ran down the stairs to somehow get Kat's attention before she went anywhere. I found myself staring in horror, waiting for something to go wrong.

Yeah, like I could stop Ivan if he saw Alfred hitting on his older sister. No one would be able to stop Ivan at that point. Alfred was asking for a miracle.

And what could I say in the meantime to distract him? All I could hope was that Ivan would not be in the vicinity.

"Toris!"

And speak of the devil. Alfred should have been checking my luck as well before he decided that everything was going to work for him today. Ugh.

It is not that I do not like Ivan or anything. We get along fine as long as neither of us brings up certain topics. But I always feel like an idiot around him. And if I was not usually nervous around him for a reason before, now I had another one.

"Ivan!" I responded brightly, turning around to face him. Then I realized that if he looked over my shoulder and past the railing he might be able to see Al and Kat. I moved over to one of the desks. "Long time no see!"

"If hour is long time... da." He nodded. Right on cue, I felt like an idiot.

Damn it Alfred, why do I have to take the fall?

"Did you manage to solve your problems with the charts?" I asked, my mind finally landing on something which might be a good conversational topic. Unless he had not, then he would be irritated at my mentioning it. Maybe it was not so much of a good idea.

"One hundred percent," he said happily. "Eduard fixed it. He vas lots of help."

"That's good," I nodded, probably looking like a bobble head. "He was having problems with that same program earlier, but if he has it figured out it seems the rest of us don't have any reason to worry! I always end up deferring to him when it comes to these things. Ah... looks like the lunch break is close to over, we should probably head back to the meeting room."

Way to go me, ramble your heart out. I never knew when to shut up, it seems. Ivan was still staring at me thoughtfully.

"I like it vhen you put your hair up," he mentioned.

I choked on air. "What?" I asked, before it sunk in. "Well... the draft." Ivan was just staring at me and I knew I was floundering. I leaned back against one of the tables. "The draft in the building. My neck gets cold. So I don't really put my hair up anymore."

I smiled, hoping he would just go away and leave me alone with my embarrassment. I do not know if he got the message, but he awkwardly nodded. He said something about seeing me at the next meeting and started toward the stairs.

But Alfred was down there. Hitting on Kat. And I was supposed to be keeping Ivan from killing him.

"Ivan!"

I grabbed my hair with my right hand, circling my thumb and pointer finger around it for a makeshift ponytail.

"You like it... like this?"

Ivan was staring at me. I just wanted to die. The things I would do for Alfred. I hoped he was enjoying himself, because if I was an angrier person I would have to take revenge for being put into this situation.

Then he was walking over. If my heart beat any louder I would be having a heart attack. His hands were behind my head, one taking my hand and lowering it, the other still in my hair.

"More loose. Still down, but... so I can see your face."

His face was too close to mine for comfort. I knew my face was probably redder than Alfred's shirt. I really did not want to like this, but I did. I think Ivan knew I liked it too, because that explained the large grin he had on his face. And suddenly I was thinking that maybe I should thank Alfred, because I doubt this would have happened if I was not covering for him.

Speaking of which, there was Kat.

"Ivan! I have a da–"

Kat may have been very happy telling her brother she had a date, but I knew better than that. Take one for the team, Toris. Keep one of your friends from killing another one of your friends. I yanked Ivan down by his scarf and kissed him.

Kat must have gotten the cue to stop talking, because I did not hear her voice anymore. I hoped that she had left. I hoped that Alfred was not here to see this.

"What the hell?"

Damn it Alfred.

Ivan looked like he really wanted to ignore Alfred, but the fact that it was Alfred kept him from doing that. He pulled back from me and turned around. "Vhat do you vant?"

"Let's not interrupt!" Kat laughed nervously, pulling at Alfred's arm. I could have hit myself, except for the fact I was still processing the fact I just kissed Ivan.

"Don't touch him, Kat. He's probably diseased."

"But we're going on date tonight!"

I think the world stopped turning for a moment. Kat was sweet, but I think somewhere she missed the point that her brother was overprotective. She sort of missed a lot of things.

"Why don't we make it a double date?" I suggested. FYI, it was to save Alfred's ass. Ivan was going to kill him otherwise.

And maybe it was for my own selfish reasons. I dunno.

"Sounds like fun!" Kat said happily. Alfred did not look happy, but for all I was concerned, Alfred could just deal with it.

Ivan turned back to stare at me. "Are... you asking me out on date?" He was trying to sound shocked, but he was grinning too widely for that.

I nodded wordlessly.

Believe it or not people, this is not the weirdest day I have ever had at work.

At first I was going to base this on history, but it came out like they were all working in the same building or something. I believe I left it ambiguous enough that they can either be regular people or Nations, take your pick. I realize I can write more with this if I want to... and I might. I like writing things that I can write more with at a later date.

Not as happy as you probably wanted, nor as fluffy, but but it was not angsty. Just confused humour... at least, I hope that is how it turned out. Hope you like, EmoLollipop!