Disclaimer: As much as I want it, Hetalia and Hello Kitty will never be mine.

Being a member of the student council is hard. Having to deal with the same student over and over again is harder. Especially if said student happens to be Ivan Braginski.

Yao sighed. It was winter break and of all things he was thinking of that delinquent? He must have been out of things to do. Well, yes, he was quite interested in that quirky sixteen year old who acts like he's five. What really pulled him in, though, was Ivan's eyes. Not only are they a pretty color, they also seem to hold so much more experiences and emotions than just beating up multiple thugs and getting in detention every day. Those are the eyes that betray his overly cheery disposition.

Yao wanted to help him, he really did. It was partly why he never handed over Ivan's case to anyone else. It was also partly because no one wanted to do it. They were either too scared or just lazy bums.

"Yao-hyung! We're home!" His thoughts were interrupted by his brothers, Yong Soo and Li Xiang who just arrived home after going out to who-knows-where with their friends. They were only in middle school but his parents were very liberal about things and also expressed very clearly how they want their children to treat them the same way, minus the curfew, of course. For some reason, his brother, Kiku, finds this ironic.

"Gege, what's for dinner?" Li Xiang asked, tugging Yao's too-long sleeves, as he always does when he asks him for something.

Right. Dinner. He inwardly slapped himself for forgetting. He really was getting old after all or at least he felt like he was. After a small mental debate, he decided on something warm, simple and totally perfect for the winter day. He suddenly remembered it was almost Christmas too, but he pushed that thought aside. There were more pressing matters at hand.

"How about wonton soup?"

"Yeaaaahhh! Wonton! Wonton!" Yong Soo shouted, running around in circles before dashing to his room.

"Call us when dinner's ready. And, oh, you need to get the groceries, I suppose," Li Xiang remarked, going after Yong Soo.

Yao sighed. To the grocery store it is then!

It was late afternoon when Yao was trudging home, grocery bag in hand. The snow came early, something he didn't expect. They drifted slowly onto the houses, the roads, and the tops of Christmas trees, lighting up the eyes of enthusiastic children.

Traversing the alleys, he noticed signs of a recent gang fight. Small blood splatters on the pavement and the walls, ripped pieces of clothing, weapons, blunt and sharp alike, lying on the ground. He won't be surprised when he hears reports of teenage delinquents in possession of a gun. It hasn't happened yet, but he didn't really expect much from the young ones. He couldn't help but wonder, Is Ivan involved in all this again?

As if on cue, when he turned the corner, he saw Ivan sprawled on the ground effectively blocking the alleyway. The boy looked injured, so of course, Yao's motherly senses started tingling. He approached him, leaning in to get a better look at the Russian's face. There were a couple of visible cuts and bruises and a few less apparent ones, the most notable one being a cut on his left cheek. His eyes were closed, making him look like he was asleep, though his breathing told otherwise. He either hadn't realized Yao's presence or was simply ignoring him, so he decided to make him notice.

"Ivan! Were you in another fight?" He asked in the tone he uses specifically for Ivan, receiving a groan from said boy.

He sighed. "Come on, sit up and let me take care of those cuts."

Ivan complied and sat up, leaning against a wall. Yao followed, putting his grocery bag down sitting next to him. He gestured for the boy to turn around so they were facing each other. Without wasting a second, Yao began inspecting each and every cut on Ivan's face, sometimes touching them to elicit a reaction. Not much seems to faze the boy, so Yao opted to disinfect the cut on his cheek and stick a band-aid on it, as he didn't want it to leave a scar, small as it may be.

He was slightly happy that the mini first aid kit he always kept in his pocket came into use, thus making him able to prove Li Xiang wrong, but that was irrelevant. The silence started to get overwhelming, so he decided to strike up a conversation.

"Who were you fighting with this time?" He asked.

"It was that ублюдок, Alfred. I didn't even want to fight him but he and his group ambushed me! I managed to chase them away, but…" Ivan hesitated, avoiding Yao's eyes. "It still hurts…"

Yao grimaced as he carefully stuck on the band-aid. It was Alfred again. The kid's apparently a prodigy who got accelerated classes, causing him and Ivan to be in the same grade. He was also instantly put in the then empty position of the student council's vice president. Though no one in the council even agreed to the decision, it didn't stop the higher ups.

Sure, he's a well-meaning kid, but he tends to be rash and obnoxious. Quoting his statement about Ivan, "That fucking Russian thinks he's so badass. I'll show him." Yao thought it was funny that such a popular kid was jealous of a loner like Ivan but when they started fighting, it wasn't funny anymore.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" He asked, feeling a twinge of guilt. It wasn't his fault but he couldn't help it, since he was indirectly put in charge of Ivan and felt it was his duty to protect him. He felt like an old man just thinking about it but he brushed that feeling away.

"Yeah, but I can handle this much, it's not that bad," he shrugged.

Yao didn't buy it at first, but the determined look in Ivan's eyes convinced him. "Okay, then I'll be going now. See you later," he smiled, stood up and picked up his bag. He was just about to leave when Ivan hugged his waist tightly.

"Don't leave me alone!"

"I need to go home, Ivan. I haven't cooked dinner yet and my brothers are waiting," Yao reasoned, trying to break free of Ivan's grasp to no avail. He didn't really want to stay since it was getting late, but part of him didn't want to leave a lonely, beat up boy in an alley either. As he was contemplating whether to stay or leave, he listened to Ivan muttering soft 'please's.

No, I couldn't stay here any longer. Or so he thought until Ivan started sobbing. Yao sunk back down, finding himself hugging the sniffling delinquent as his motherly instincts kicked in again. He patted Ivan's back to comfort him as if he was a five year old whose toy just broke in half, slightly taken aback when the boy just cried harder. The tears stained Yao's jacket, but he didn't notice as he finally realized just what to do.

"You can tell me Ivan, I'll just listen," he whispered.

Ivan gasped, his body tensing, before he spoke hesitantly, forming incoherent sentences. Yao guessed that he probably never done any of this 'heart-to-heart' talking with anyone (even though it was one sided). Despite the seemingly unsuccessful start, after a while, he began talking more fluently and his body relaxed into Yao's embrace. Only stopping for occasional breaths, he vented non-stop, letting his thoughts run free. True to his words, Yao really did just listen, all the while holding the boy close.

Putting all the less significant talk aside, he discovered quite a lot of things about Ivan's family, past life, fondness for sunflowers, sensitivity towards cold (which made him wonder how he survived in Russia for so many years), and even about his scarf, which seemed to have a past of its own. He also mentioned his sisters who he felt were leaving him behind.

The most important part to him was the extent of Ivan's loneliness. He said that he often felt left behind and hated. Sometimes he dreamed of abandonment and, at other times, of being trapped alone in an infinite black space. Violence is the only way he could forget about all that. Though, occasionally he gets carried away and regrets it. What baffles Yao was that Ivan never said anything about disliking it, which hints on a more dangerous side. But everybody has it just on different degrees so he deemed it normal.

"You… understand, right?" he ended, asking the question Yao had been expecting.

"No, I don't," he smiled.

Ivan looked up to him, shock and confusion strewn all over his face. He really is just a kid, Yao chuckled.

"Even if I tried, I could never understand. Only you would be able to fully understand how your heart feels," Yao said sagely, pointing his finger to Ivan's heart.

Tears started forming in Ivan's eyes again, understanding hitting him like a wave. But before they started falling, Yao wiped them off and pushed some hair away from the now flustered Russian's eyes, all with a motherly smile stuck on his face. "But, you know what? Even if you think you are alone, your loved ones will always stay in your heart and you, in theirs, even if you're not always in their minds."

"So, does that mean I'm in your heart too?" Ivan asked, eyes shining with hope.

Uh-oh. Well, it wasn't like he hated him or anything. "O-of course you are," Yao patted his head awkwardly, feeling the blood rush to his face. It's probably the cold, he dismissed.

"Really? You'll always be in my heart too, Yao!" Ivan squealed in delight, hugging the orient tighter, to the point where it gets hard to breathe.

"Aiyah! I know you're happy, but you don't have to crush me!" he yelled, pushing the boy away. But despite that, he was grinning wide. He felt oddly happy, albeit the odd stares the people passing by were giving them and the fact that this was the Ivan Braginski that could beat you into a pulp at about any time of the day. He wanted to stay like that longer, but in the end, his butt lost to the coldness of winter snow.

"Hey, my bottom is getting cold, let's stand up," he said, letting go of the oh-so-sweet embrace. He got up, not forgetting the bag, of course, and held out his hand to help his still cheerfully smiling friend. The smile was different than his usual smile, though, and Yao guess that it was a true one, from the bottom of his heart. Again, he felt old thinking like that, but he couldn't help it, couldn't he?

Ivan took Yao's hand and stood up, staring at him with a certain emotion he had never seen stirring in his eyes. The more he looked at those swirling purple orbs the more entranced he became. It was embarrassing but Ivan was just too cute, smiling (and sort of shining) like that. He wished Ivan would always stay like that but he couldn't really expect too much.

Knowing he wouldn't be able to say anything if he kept staring, he looked away. "Umm... Would you like to h-have dinner at my place tonight?" he asked nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. It didn't really feel like he was asking someone to stay at his house for dinner. But, really, it was just dinner. Come on, get a grip, Yao.

"Wow, really? Of course I would!" Ivan rejoiced, hugging him yet again. Yao had a feeling they were going to be great friends. The feeling only lasted so long until Ivan kissed his cheek, short and sweet. He had been kissed a lot by his siblings, but this one felt different, like static, just a lot fluffier and without the pain. At that moment, though, it was twice the shock, but more in the positive sense of the word.

He touched the spot where he was pecked and tried to process what just happened. Ivan… couldn't, but… wha? He…

Without him realizing, Ivan was ahead of him and called out, "What are you doing, Yao? Hurry up, I'm hungry!"

"O-oh, right, right! Coming!" He answered, catching up with the boy. It wasn't Christmas yet, but he felt as if he had gotten his gift. He felt content and delighted and so much more. Nothing would ever compare to it. Not even the most expensive Hello Kitty merchandise.

OMAKE ~T'was Christmas~

"Onii-san, that one's from me. Open it, I had a feeling you would like it."

"OH MY GOD! LIMITED EDITION HELLO KITTY! I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS ONE FOR FOREVER! THIS IS THE BEST GIFT EVER! LET ME HUG YOU KIKU!"

So much for 'nothing would ever compare to it'.

END

-hyung: a Korean suffix used to call your older brother. Works similarly with -niisan.

Gege: Chinese for big brother.

Ублюдок (ublyudok): Russian for bastard, at least that's what Google told me.

Wow. I actually finished this before Christmas, what a miracle. This is my first time writing a non-hetero so I felt slightly awkward at first. I'm sorry I made Alfred seem so mean here, I love him, I really do. If you guys want it, I'll write an AmeriPan accompaniment fic, but now, I'm just tired.

Sorry for any grammar and spelling mistakes. Cookies for all my beautiful readers. I hope you have a great holiday.

*OrdinaryXtreme