"America peered over his mother's shoulder and saw her masterpiece of masterpieces..."

The hall was quiet. Only the soft clacking of shoes on the polished marble floor was present but I felt as if it couldn't have been any louder.
Russia was dressed in midnight navy with drops of silver and a ruby clasp wrapped around his collar. Fine embroidery lined the cuffs of his frock coat and trousers, which were cut off by a pair of black mid calf boots. Even his ushanka was made fancy somehow!

The room was fixated on the Russian's new appearance, both negatively and positively. I was no exception for I had seen my mother's work before but this was madness. Perhaps detailed so fine that it would be on par with mine. And Russia...

Let's just say, if someone were to tell me this was his long lost twin, I would definitely believe it.
He walked with grace that no one would have expected from that rough and barbaric country. Not to mention the tight-fitting clothes that contrasted his usual bulky and loose sweaters and coats that hid his outline well.

Russia was tall. Duh, Everyone could see that- hell, I'd say he's a skyscraper but I've always thought of him to be built like a box.

I was dead wrong.
He had a dancer's body. Lean, slender, fragile yet somehow powerful. His movements were smooth and refined, unlike the way he normally stumbled and trudged. He was perfect, not a single visible flaw in his visage. Well... all but one flaw.

"We tried to get him to take off his ushanka but that thing must be fused with his skull or something," Belarus grumbled as Russia walked- glided rather, over to us with a wrapped gift in hand. I nodded and placed it upon an overflowing table without lifting my eyes from him or make a sound the entire time. He gave me a slightly confused look and walked into the ballroom without a word...

We followed him into the party soon after where people began to vie for my attention. Canada and Ukraine excused themselves from the crowd and Belarus began to plan a full scale invasion on the buffet tables.

"Lovely party, Ame!"

"Happy Birthday, Ame!"

"You look awesome, dude!"

Bits of conversation floated by as I desperately attempted to squirm out of their attention. I made my way over to Aussie for help, "Bro, I think you should introduce everybody to Audrey. I'm sure they are dying to meet her."

Hearing this, my beaming brother quickly reached under the tablecloth and retrieved a gigantic scrub python.

"GUYS!!! MEET AUDREY!!!" he called. The mob that had been previously busy tailing me was now on the other side of the room, screeching about snakes and monsters or fixated on the creature; just as I had hoped. With this distraction on hand, I made my way through the other guests until I spotted him perched on the balcony looking out into the garden. Normally, I would have ignored and moved on but it was peculiar how he was acting.

So... well... I went over. Yes, irrational me at work.

He didn't seem to hear me approaching. His tricolored skin shone in the moonlight, giving him a silver aura. His usual emotionless face was nowhere to be found. Instead, it had been replaced with unmistakable sorrow. It was quite fascinating how human he looked but it only presented me with more curiosity about how he would express anything other than negativity, now that I knew he could express anything at all. Suddenly recognizing how creepily I was behaving, I decided to announce my presence.

"Ahem."

He flinched, obviously not very keen to be caught off guard.

"Oh, it's just you, " he breathed as his face returned to lifeless stone, "What is it?"

"I just wanted to see how you're doing?" I shrugged. He replied by turning away again. Irritation tugged at my insides. So much for trying to start a conversation. After an uncomfortable gap of silence, I decided to try again.

"So...................... uh... How's the party to your liking? Belarus told me it's your first?"

Silence. More staring into space; which really started to tick me off.

"Hello? An answer would be much appreciated-"

"I guess... not really," he muttered, "But it's what I expected. If I were to be honest, I'm surprised something hasn't gone terribly wrong yet."

I didn't know whether I was hearing things, but it sounded like disappointment. This brought a small twinge of pride into my soul and I continued.

"Y'know, you should ditch the coat more often. Suits suit you."

"I hate it..."

His remark lit a fire in my soul and burned away the previous giddiness and replacing it with fury. "What?!" He gave me a confused glare, startled by my outburst but I continued, "You hate it?! Well I'm sorry my mom's handcrafted awesomeness, that she spent nearly the whole night making, isn't good enough for you," I spat sarcastically. His confusion turned into surprise, then into annoyance.

"No, you misunderstood. I hate how beautiful it is."

Now it was my turn to be confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He stared at his cuff, tracing his finger over the delicate embroidery. "How could I stand wearing something like this? I remember back then, my brothers and sisters and I couldn't even dream of laying eyes on something this precious. No, I feel out of place. It just doesn't seem right. Now I feel especially terrible for inconveniencing your mother." he explained, "I'm not worth it."

It was then made clear to me that his self esteem had hit rock bottom a while ago. Joy had been drained from this character until all that remained was hardened cruelty. I'm not sure whether it was pity or just genuine concern but right then and there, I made it my business to show him how to enjoy a party.

"You know what? This simply won't do. I can't have you here bumming me out so because it's your first party, I'm going to have to teach you how to properly live it up."

I smiled mischievously, "It's my role as the host to see to all my guest's comfort and entertainment and since I've experienced so many shindigs..."

He rolled his eyes, "Huh, tell me something I don't know."

"Alright then," I exclaimed as I grabbed his arm, "Lesson number one: A real party doesn't start until you hit the dance floor!"

Russia let out a surprised yelp as I spun him back into the ballroom. He stumbled into a group of people, accidently knocking over a few cups and spilling juice all over a girl's dress. She shrieked and cursed at him furiously while her friends had to hold her back. The dazed Russian boy recovered and glared at me with a "your-birthday-will-also-be-your-death-day" glare. I blew a raspberry and dipped into the crowd.

A new song began. But instead of dancing, Russia and I decided to play cat and mouse. We ended up knocking over a few more drinks and plates, receiving a few more glares and curses, but in the end I had fun. Once Russia was bored of choking me, he let me go and huffed, " You're an evil little shit."

I was grinning from ear to ear even though I just had my life wrung out of my neck. "Play nice, it's my birthday," I chortled, "Besides, wasn't that fun?"

We both lay on the floor, gasping to catch our breath and covered in spilled beverage. Tables were knocked over, plates lay broken and people were more than bewildered. My mother and father observed the chaos from the upper level with disappointment. Everything was basically a mess and I was loving it.

He sat up first though he was still dazed.

"No. That was not fun," he replied but he sounded insincere. My suspicions were confirmed when I also sat up to behold one of the rarer sights...

Author's Notes: Wow. I forgot ... Shame on me. AND THE FACT THAT WATTPAD COULDN'T SEEM TO SAVE HALF OF MY CHAPTER AND FORCING ME TO REWRITE IT 3 TIMES DID NOT HELP

Also, I named the picture above "When America Uses Too Many Filters" XD
(Edit: I redrew it cuz I hate old art <3)