[Again, if I, Author-chan, owned the anime Axis Powers (or World Series or Beautiful World or- ugh. Hetalia in general!) Hetalia this would be a canon episode.]

[A/N: Remember how in my last RusAme story, "New Years'", it talked about "Alfred's coat that Ivan had gotten to shut him up about the cold"?
Yeah. This is how they got that coat.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my little blurb! Thanks for reading!]

-

Ivan sighed and glanced over at his shivering American companion, who at the moment, only had a light jacket on.

It was the middle of Winter in Russia.

"H-Hey, it's not my f-fault that I live in a warm climate and you're like a giant icebox-!"

"I am not a giant icebox, Alfred. You just need to remember to bring warmer clothing when you visit."

The pair continued to walk down the ice-covered streets of St. Petersburg, with a few Russian citizens looking at them curiously as they passed. Well, looking at Alfred anyway.

"- Besides, it is normally warmer in the Summer."

"Does this look like Summer to you?! I'm freezing my everything off!" Alfred snapped back.

Ivan shot an irritated look to the American, "Do not get angry with me. It is General Winter's fault I am so cold."

Alfred tried to give a resigned sigh, but it only came out as a shudder.
"Dang it... still, why does that dude always attack you this time of year?" He asked.

"I am fairly sure he affects Matvey some too, nyet? It happens to all Northern -or Southern, in the case of the lower hemisphere-countries at some point. You just aren't used to it."

Ivan glanced around the square they had come upon. There were shops and people on all sides, and the street lamps had already come on.

While Alfred continued to complain, Ivan scoured the shop windows for something to, to put it nicely, make him quieter.
He mentally "Aha!"-ed when he found the long winter coat hanging in the window of a nearby clothing store.

"Come with me," Ivan ordered, dragging Alfred by the arm towards the shop. Alfred protested only slightly as he was practically shoved through the door, but sighed in relief when he realized it was actually warm in the building.

"Why'd ja' bring me in here?" Alfred asked, glancing around at the large women's section, and then the noticeably smaller men's.

"I am going to buy you a coat," Ivan replied, already walking up to a nice-looking lady at the checkout counter. Alfred followed, feeling quite awkward and not knowing what to do otherwise.

The woman greeted them in Russian. Ivan replied to her, gesturing towards Alfred.

As they continued to talk, Alfred glanced back and forth between them in confusion. They were obviously talking about him, and Ivan had said something about a coat, but it bothered the American that he didn't know what they were saying.

Alfred was yanked down from his dream cloud when the woman spoke to him. Apparently he had looked confused, because she sweetly repeated her sentence.

The problem was, you guessed it, she was still speaking in Russian.
And Alfred couldn't understand a bit of it.

The American glanced back and forth between Ivan and the woman in confusion. Were they expecting him to reply? Doesn't Ivan know that he doesn't know any Russian?

"Uh..." Alfred started nervously, "Private?"

A second passed, and then Ivan burst out laughing to Alfred's chagrin.

"You do not know any Russian, da?" He asked after calming down. Alfred shook his head.
The lady at the counter looked as, if not more, confused than Alfred had previously. She asked Ivan something, and he politely waved her off, turning back to the American.

"I will have to teach you. You will not get anywhere in my country if you do not know my language," Ivan explained, "But I thought you knew some, because you're country is so full of different languages and cultures."

"Well, sorry, but no, I don't know any Russian," Alfred muttered indignantly.

"I will just speak for you, da? Then we will not have problems."

Alfred crossed his arms, turning and glancing around the store like a child shunned out of an adults' conversation. He noticed there was a large variety of clothes, ranging from modest Summer ones on sale to almost ridiculously heavy winter clothing.
Over in the corner of the room was a rack around the middle of that range. It had only a few modest coats, including a dark brown one that reminded him of his bomber jacket. The coat had tan lining, and many pockets lined the sides. The way it was cut, it would be around knee length.

Alfred looked back at Ivan, who still seemed to be discussing things with the lady. Being quiet, he decided to explore some.

Walking around to the other end of the store, Alfred looked through the men's section. Most of the others in the store were all bundled up, and Alfred now noticed the odd looks he was receiving. Feeling strangely self-concious, the American tugged at the jacket sleeves.

"Dang; when was Ivan gonna finish flirting with that girl?!" Alfred thought in irritation. Now, he didn't actually know if they were flirting, but they had been talking for a rather long time.

Ivan suddenly glanced over at Alfred, giving him a look before resuming in the conversation. Alfred froze, realizing that Ivan had kept an eye on him the whole time.

He felt like a teenager being watched by a parent who could care less.

Alfred's rebellious side immediately burst forth, giving him the adrenaline (not to mention the lack of common sense) to push through the racks of clothing and storm back into the freezing air outside.

The cold hit him like a car; it wasn't the numbing kind of cold. It was the stinging, painful kind you get when you can't tell if something is scalding or freezing your skin off. Every inch of exposed skin burned from the wind, and everything not exposed started tingling.

Shivers instantly wracked Alfred's body, but he pressed on into the falling light. The streetlights were on full blast, and there were less people walking on the sidewalk.

Alfred walked until he could stand it no more, until he felt numb and chilled to the core.

He stopped at a bench outside a closed coffee shop, the acrylic-painted sign of a steaming coffee cup swinging to and fro above him.

Alfred knew Ivan was there. What bothered him was when the Russian merely sat down beside him, not saying a word.

Finally Alfred broke the silence.

"Why did you take so long?"

Ivan glanced in his direction, "What do you mean?"

Alfred brought his knees up to his chest, burying his face into his arms. Muffled words came out, but Ivan couldn't understand.

"What?"

"I said, "You know what I mean. What were you doing, flirting?"" Alfred shot back, lifting his head from his arms.

Ivan was confused until he realized something. He smirked, "Oh, Alfred; are you jealous?"

Alfred jumped, "N-No! Why the hell do you think that? I just didn't want to be left alone in your country of all places while you go date some girl!" He defended himself in agitation. And embarrassment, if his red face was anything to go by.

Ivan sighed. What was he going to do with him?

"One, I was asking her what size of coat you would need," Alfred's eyes widened and his mouth opened, but Ivan gestured for him to stay quiet, "and two, I would not leave you anywhere."

Alfred looked up at Ivan suspiciously, "Even if you did have a girlfriend?" His voice almost broke at the end, but Alfred stubbornly recovered.

Instead of answering, Ivan set something in Alfred's lap.

"You were looking at that one earlier. I hope it fits," Ivan said.

Alfred looked down, and saw the brown coat he had seen earlier. Glancing back up at Ivan, who gestured for him to try it on, he undid the buttons on the front, slipping it across his shoulders.

It actually fit well.
"... I guess it would take a while to figure out someone's coat size if you didn't have a baseline..." Alfred thought guiltily. He knew he shouldn't have jumped to conclusions and stormed out of the shop, but he wasn't thinking!
"I probably freaked the people in the store out, too..."

"Fredka? Are you alright?"

Alfred looked up at Ivan, trying to formulate a response.

"Um... sorry 'bout that..."

Ivan looked at the American for a moment before shaking his head.
"Do not worry about it. The important thing is you won't be complaining about the weather any more, da?"

Alfred grinned.
"Nope! I'm nice and warm now!"

Alfred started a conversation about superheroes as the pair began to walk back to the meeting hotel.

After a moment, Ivan seemed to remember something.

"And Alfred?"

"-and he- huh? Yeah?"

"I would not leave you for a girl, either."